Alexis arrived at the Quartermaines', seeing Sean sitting there waiting for her. "I'm glad you made it," Sean said.
"I told you I'd be ready. So, did I pack as instructed?" Alexis asked, sarcastingly
"It seems so. Edward has agreed to give us the jet, so I guess we should be on our way."
Just as Sean and Alexis head out the door, Sean's cell phone rings. He picks up the phone and angrily answers, "I thought I told you not to call me."
"I wouldn't have if it wasn't important, Commissioner," Garcia said on the other end. "We got a phone tip on some drugs in a warehouse."
"Then get a warrant and check it out."
"I would, sir, but the warehouse is Moreno's. If this is the evidence we need, I thought you would want to be there yourself."
"Are you sure about this, Garcia. I don't have time to waste on some phony tip you got."
"Can we risk not checking it out? I can handle it, sir, but I wanted to know if you wanted to be there too. To actually get evidence on Moreno is something that we never really expected to happen, and to make it stick, we should have the police commissioner there as a witness."
Sean started pacing, thinking about his options. Bring down Moreno or beat Luke to Greece. He knew he couldn't be in two places at once, so something had to be sacrificed. He looked at Alexis who was tapping her foot impatiently. He knew she wouldn't like it if they had to delay their departure, but he really had no other choice in the matter. "Okay, Garcia. Get a warrant and I'll meet you there. Which warehouse?"
By the time Sean got off the phone, Alexis' eyes were filled with anger. "I heard. So, what am I supposed to do while you do your job?"
"Wait here until I get back, Ms. Davis. I'm going to make it quick, but this is important. I should be back in an hour. Even with the wait, we'll beat Luke to Greece since he has to take a commercial flight." Sean left before Alexis had a chance to respond.
Alexis started pacing back and forth across the room. She didn't want to wait until Sean returned. This was her nephew's life that they were talking about, and the longer they waited, the less of a chance they would have in rescuing him. Alexis grabbed her stuff and headed for the Quartermaine jet herself.
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Sonny got off the phone with Jason and walked over to Luke. "Donnelly's already left for the warehouse, so we've got him occupied like you asked."
"Good man," Luke said, grabbing the rest of his stuff. "And Alexis shouldn't be stupid enough to go to Greece herself, so that's two down."
"What about Laura?" Sonny asked.
"Yeah, she's the other one. Well, my wife is taking a shower at the moment, so if you can pack the rest of the gear, then I'll go talk to Lesley right now. I'm pretty sure I can convince my mother-in-law that I'm only thinking about Laura's safety. And being the mother that she is, she'll help us." Luke padded Sonny on the shoulder before running upstairs.
"I sure hope you're right, pal," Sonny said quietly when Luke was out of sight.
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Luke walked into Lulu's room, finding Lesley, Lucky, and Lulu playing a board game. He walked over to Lesley and said, "Can we talk for a minute?" Lesley nodded and told Lulu to play for her too, and they both left for Lesley's room.
Once inside, Luke looked out and made sure that the shower was still running in the bathroom. Once he was convinced that they would have a little privacy, Luke closed the door quietly, and sat down on the bed next to Lesley. "Okay. I need a favor from you," Luke said.
"What is it?"
"It's Laura. She's determined to follow me to Greece, and I can't have that Les. You don't have to tell me that Laura can make her own choices. I know that already. But I'm telling you now, think about what the Cassadines did to you all these years. And think about how they have already kidnapped Laura once. If anyone in this family has to put their life at risk, then it's going to be me, and only me."
Lesley thought over what Luke said, and she did agree with him, but she also knew that her daughter didn't. She learned long ago she couldn't force Laura to do something she didn't want to do. She was a very stubborn woman, and right now, she was even more stubborn than ever. "What can I do about it?" Lesley asked.
"Make sure she stays here, Les. It's bad enough I have to go, but if I have to take care of Laura too, then it's going to make things more complicated. And I know you can take care of the kids yourself, but they need their mother here with them. Lucky's unpredictable, and I need Laura here to watch him. She can tell when he's got some plan running through his head."
"How can I make sure she stays here? Tie her up to that chair over there?"
"Would you?" Luke said, laughing. "No, I don't need something extreme, but just talk to her. I'm going to be gone right now, before she has a chance to get out of that shower. I know she's not going to be happy about that, but right now, I don't see any other choice. If you see any sign of her planning on taking off, get Lulu to ask her for something. Laura can't resist that face any more than I can."
"I'll do it. Just be careful, and get out of here before she does come out. I'll explain it all, don't worry." Lesley said, giving her son-in-law a hug.
"One more favor. Give this letter to Laura. I feel bad about leaving without saying goodbye, so I wrote a few things down. I hope it makes her feel a little better while I'm away, and it'll give her something that she has asked from me for a while now. So, just make sure she reads it carefully, and tell her that I love her more than life itself."
Lesley nodded as Luke gave her a kiss on the hand and left the house with Sonny before Laura could stop them.
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Laura and Tiffany were on a plane headed for JFK airport. Tiffany watched Laura as she took out of her son and held it close to her heart. "I know you're worried about him," Tiffany said.
"I'm just getting a chance to know him, Tiff, and now I might lose him again. I don't know what I'll do if..."
"I know, but that won't happen, Laura. All of us are going to get him free. Just think positively and it will happen."
"I'll try," Laura said, as she turned to face the window, thinking of what her secret had caused.
Tiffany watched Laura in silence for a while before she started to worry. Laura didn't appear to be as strong as she had hoped, and it looked like the strain was started to get to her more and more each second. She started questioning even helping Laura find Nikolas. Maybe she should have listened to Luke and the both of them could have stayed in Port Charles. But instead, as always, the two of them had to make sure they were in the thick of things too. And Sean and Luke would not be happy when they found out either. Not that she cared all too much, but she did worry about how Laura was going to be able to take Luke's anger after he found out.
Laura continued to just stare out the window into nothing. She figured that by now, Luke and Sonny probably already took off for Greece themselves. She knew that Luke wouldn't wait to say goodbye to her, so it was easy to just pretend she was taking a shower and sneak out of the house. She also figured that by now, her mother probably checked on her and found the note she left. And her mother probably called Luke too, even though she prayed that Luke didn't have time to give her the cell phone number. She didn't want Luke to know of what she had done until they were in Greece and it was too late to go back. If Luke found out already, she knew that he would call every airport around, trying to find out what flights she had booked. And since she used her fake ID, Luke would know who to ask for. He just couldn't find out until she was too late to be stopped, and she hoped her note to her mother would do enough to convince her that this was what Laura should be doing.
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Lesley finished her game with the kids, when she started worrying about Laura. She was taking too long of a shower. She went over to the bathroom door, and knocked loud, calling Laura's name. She continued to knock, but there was still no answer, so she tried opening it. "It's locked," she said to herself, not knowing what to do next.
Lucky came out of Lulu's room and went over to his grandmother. "What is it?"
"You're mother's not answering," Lesley said, as she continued her knocking.
Lucky joined in the knocking, screaming out "Mom" but they got the same result. Then Lucky went and grabbed a chair, picked it up, and knocked the door in. Lucky and Lesley rushed inside to find the bathroom empty. They were about to leave, when Lucky found a note on the mirror addressed to Lesley. "I think you should read this," he said, as he handed her the note.
Lesley opened it up and saw that it was Laura's writing...
Mom,
I'm sorry to worry you, but I had to go to Greece to find my son, and I couldn't risk Luke stopping me. If he's still in the house by the time you get this, please don't tell him that I'm gone. And if he's already left, please don't call him to let him know. I don't want him to try to stop me, Mom. This is too important.
I know I'm already asking a lot of you by keeping this quiet. Please do me one more favor. Take care of the kids until I get back. Lucky is just like Luke, and he'll want to come. I have faith in Luke that he did convince Lucky to stay with his sister, but he sometimes needs to be reminded of that. Just be there for when he needs you and keep an eye on him even if he doesn't want you to. And Lulu, please tell her that her mommy and daddy are going to come home safe and with her big brother. I already know that she knows more than we think she does, so there's no point in keeping the truth from her. Just tell her that we'll be back.
I love you, Mom, and tell my children that I love them too.
Laura
Lesley closed the note and put it in her pocket. Lucky looked at her, wanting an explanation. "Your mother left for Greece and is planning on meeting your father there," Lesley said.
"She left without Dad knowing?" Lucky asked.
"It's the only way she could. Lucky, she wanted me to tell you that she loves you and she's depending on you to take care of your sister while she's gone."
"I will. But this isn't going to help my parents' situation at all. Just another secret my mother kept from my father. Yeah, that'll get them back together in no time," Lucky said angrily, as he went back into Lulu's room.
"Yeah, Lucky, but Laura's putting her child's safety before her marriage like any mother would," Lesley said to herself.
