"What are you doing here?!" Nikolas yelled.
"I came to pay my respects. Isn't that what a person does when someone dies?"
"Not you. You only wish that you had murdered my uncle instead of some accident taking his life," Nikolas continued to scream. He wanted to run up to Luke and punch him out, but a few people were holding him back. "I hope that heart of my uncle's gives you trouble in your miserable life."
Laura handed Lulu to Lucky and told him to bring her into the house so she wouldn't have to witness anything. Lucky quickly complied, and took Lulu away despite her attempts to run to her father. "I want to see Daddy," Lulu kept calling out.
Luke tried hard not to breakdown at his daughter's cries for him. Once Lulu was out of sight, Luke focused his attention on Nikolas once again. "Well, you seem to hate the idea that Stefan saved my life, so I'll give you a compromise.... I'll stand here and let you take this heart out with a spoon, but not before I have had my chance to speak."
Luke looked towards Laura, but quickly turned away when he noticed how angry she was getting. He looked beyond the crowd to the house where Lucky had taken Lulu, remembering that his daughter had to cry out for him because he was never around for her anymore. He then looked at his hands... hoping to find the words he needed to say, and hoping for once that he appeared to be sincere and not taken as a joke.
"I don't have much to say, but it must be said. I don't know what to make of any of this anymore. Like Nikolas and Alexis, I have questioned why my life has been saved by a Cassadine. I've been up a number of nights now questioning why was I chosen to be able to live out my life and he wasn't. Why does a man who intentionally shoots himself, trying to commit suicide, get a second, third, fourth chance, yet a man just driving home doesn't get that same chance? And no one can tell me that maybe he's used up all his chances and I haven't because I think I've been stealing other people's second chances. Just add that to the list of my many crimes."
Luke looked around, watching everyone's expressions. He didn't know what he was doing up there in front of everyone, speaking at an enemy's funeral. He looked at the corner towards his family... Laura looked more worried than angry and Lucky had returned and held no emotion at all. Nikolas calmed down a little, but still had a look on his face like he was going to take out that silver spoon and start digging his uncle's heart out. 'This is wrong,' Luke thought to himself.
"I'm sorry, everyone. I shouldn't have come by and wasted your time," Luke said, as he quickly walked by Stefan's grave, whispering, "You won," as he dropped an envelope next to it, and departed from where he came.
Nikolas went to run after him, but Alexis held him back. "It's over, Nikolas. He didn't cause any harm. If he meant to make a mockery of this, he decided to change his mind, probably because his wife and son are sitting right there. Don't let him anger you on this day of all days."
Laura stood up next to Nikolas and said, "I'm sorry he disrupted the funeral. I had no idea he was going to come by, but Nikolas, I don't think he intended any harm."
Nikolas turned angrily towards Laura and said, "You're still defending the man? He just came by my uncle's funeral, an event he knows he's not invited to, and you think I'm going to feel better because you think he didn't intend any harm?"
Alexis, took Nikolas by the shoulders and pushed him back into his seat, telling him to calm down. She went over to the podium and said, "Thank you everyone for coming."
Later that night, Nikolas was standing near his uncle's grave, thinking about the time he did have with him. He wanted his uncle to still be around, but he knew that was impossible now. This wasn't some fake death like his mother had done once. This was real, and his uncle was never coming back.
Nikolas knelt down in front of the grave, his hand gently touching his uncle's name. He tried to hold back his tears, but it was a futile attempt. He took a deep breath before saying, "Uncle, you were too young to die. You had too much to live for yet. What does Luke Spencer have to live for that you didn't? I guess he has a daughter who will need him, but he obviously doesn't value his family as much as you valued yours. He's never around his daughter anymore. I think you would have made a great father if you were given the chance to raise your own child. I know you raised me, but I would have liked to see you raise a child of your own... possibly a daughter. Luke Spencer didn't deserve to live over you. You had more to give and now you can't. He just bides his time until he dies. Why did this happen?"
The tears started coming down too quickly for him to regain control. He went to stand up, but lost his balance and fell to the ground. Beside him was an envelope underneath the flowers that were left by Stefan's grave. Nikolas picked it up and began to read...
Stefan,
I guess you won the war. You may not have outlived me, but now I have to go on with my life knowing that I have my enemy's heart inside me. I have to live with the knowledge that it was my enemy who saved my life. I also have to live with everything else I destroyed or harmed in my lifetime. That's worse punishment than death. It would have been easier for me never to have received your heart and to die in that hospital bed, however, you kept me alive to live with the pain I have caused in my lifetime. So you won the war.
What I want to say at your funeral, but know that I will never have the courage to say is that the feud ends now. I no longer will hold onto my hatred for the Cassadines. Your death will also bring the death of this feud. I won't stand in the way of Nikolas getting to know his sister and mother, and maybe some day getting to know his brother because my son is a great man whom I've taught the wrong lessons in his life. He's learning now that my way is not the right way, and maybe there will come a time they will think of each other as brothers too. Maybe your nephew can bring the happiness to my family that I cannot give them myself.
If you happen to see Stavros wherever you are, tell him I'll meet him in hell as soon as I've finished my imprisonment here.
Luke
Nikolas closed the letter, not believing what he had just read. Was Luke really going to drop the entire feud? Will he allow him to have a relationship with the other half of his family, the family he never knew growing up? He knew he was never meant to read this letter, so he believed it was true. This was meant for Stefan only. Could he drop his own hatred if Luke was willing to drop his?
Laura immediately collapsed on the couch as soon as she walked through the door. The entire car ride home, Lulu had asked when daddy was going to come home. She wished she had an answer for her daughter, but she didn't. At this point, she was questioning if he was ever going to come back home at all.
Lucky came in from the kitchen with a glass of juice for his mother. "It looks like you might need this," he said, as he handed it to her.
Laura smiled and said, "thank you," before taking a sip and just putting it on the table. She really didn't want it, but it was the first time since she was back that Lucky had made the initiative in anything concerning her.
Lucky looked at his mother and started becoming concerned. He kept saying that he didn't want his father around, but his mother was not the same without him. He could see that she was so worried about him, worried that he was going to manage to kill himself. Would she resent him if his father died before they had a chance to get back together? Would she resent him for driving his father to wanting death over life? He was scared to ask because he was terrified of the answer.
Lucky sat over next to his mother and said, "He'll be okay."
Laura looked at him and nodded. "I know Nikolas will be okay. He's a strong young man."
"That's not who I was talking about."
"I know, but I didn't think you'd want to talk about your father right now," Laura said, trying to fight to tears in her eyes.
"I can see you're worried about him. I know your worried about Nikolas too, but you know that you can talk to Nikolas tomorrow and help him through this. Dad, on the other hand..."
"Yeah," Laura said quietly. "Well, he'll be fine. He's always fine."
"I know you don't believe that."
"You can see right through me, can't you?" Lucky nodded his head yes. "I know you may not be too happy to hear this, but I want him back home where he belongs, and yes, I'm worried that he's going to be foolish and do something that might very well end his life. I'd feel a lot better having him here where I could keep an eye on him while he tries to sort everything out, but I know if I force him back, he'll just leave again. So instead, I'm sitting here praying that he will return to me at some point."
Lucky looked into his mother's eyes and asked, "Do you think he's considering leaving you permanently?"
"He definitely is considering it. He has been for a while, but I just hope that if he does come to that decision, he just decides to not be my husband rather than end his life. I would be willing to trade this marriage for his life. I'd never be happy about it, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."
Lucky took Laura's hand and said, "It's a sacrifice you shouldn't have to make."
Laura patted his hand and said, "But it's not my choice, Lucky. If your father no longer wants to be my husband, I can't tie him to that chair and make him stay. We'll never stop loving each other, but he may never be able to get past the rape again, and if he can't, there's no room for us to be a couple."
"Do you blame me?" Lucky asked quietly.
"No, Lucky. I definitely do not blame you for the mess both Luke and I have made of this marriage. While I don't approve of the attitude you have taken with both of us at certain times since you discovered our past, it's not your fault that Luke has left. This is between me and him only, and it's something that shouldn't be an issue between us anymore, but obviously he wants it to be an issue. That's his choice."
"I still feel guilty."
"Don't feel guilty about us. The only person you should be concerned with is yourself right now. If you feel guilt then maybe you should try to talk to your father. Don't throw away everything he's given you since the day you were born."
"I don't know if I can."
"Make an effort, Lucky. Because I know you'll regret not making that effort if he dies before you get the chance. Nikolas never thought his uncle would die, and I have no doubt that he's regretting not telling Stefan how he really felt about him before he died. I don't want you to feel the same thing."
