Tiffany went up to her long time best friend, hugging her tightly.
"This can't happen. He can't be gone," she whispered in Laura's ear.
"He's not," Laura said, trying to regain control of herself.
"What?" Tiffany asked, as she released her friend and stared at her. "You just said..."
"I didn't say he was dead. He was brought into surgery right away and no one has come out to tell me anything. I'm sorry if I made it seem like he had died. I just hate thinking of him being in there, fighting for his life. None of this should have happened."
"So he's still alive?" Sean asked, as he gathered his wife into his arms.
"As far as I know, he still is," Laura said, starting to shake again. "I feel so helpless right now. I can only sit here an wait."
"We'll wait here with you, Laura. And don't worry about Luke. He's not going to let a Cassadine get the better of him," Sonny said.
Nikolas walked away from the group and stood by a window, looking out into the dark night. He heard Sonny's words and wondered if Sonny meant Helena or him. Luke had risked his life to save a Cassadine. He recalled the other two times Luke had saved his life, but none of which endagered his own. But now it was different. He never would have imagined that Luke Spencer would put his life on the line for any Cassadine, even Laura's son. But he did when it counted. Would he have done the same if their roles were reversed? He doubted it. He would have figured his mother and sister would be better off without Luke in their lives. But as he stood here, seeing how much pain his mother was in, imagining the kind of pain his sister would be in, he started to question how much better off would they be without Luke.
Stefan walked over to his son, seeing the internal conflict. "How are you doing?" he asked.
"I'm fine. It's Luke who's fighting for his life right now," Nikolas answered coldly. He still couldn't forgive Stefan for the lies he told, not only to him but to his mother. He couldn't forgive a man who was so obsessed with revenge, he didn't have time to repair his relationship with his son.
"I am aware of the situation, Nikolas. Do not concern yourself about Spencer when you have to concentrate on your own health at the moment. How is your head?"
"I'm fine, Stefan. There's nothing wrong with me other than a slight headache."
"I still believe that you should get examined while we're here. You could have a concussion," Stefan insisted.
"I rather just be alone right now. I will be examined once I know Luke is okay. He saved my life. I will never forget that, unlike the other times he saved my life. This time I know the truth."
"Which is?"
"He's not the man you claim he is. You've told me about every horrendous act Luke Spencer has committed against our family. However, it's just your version of the truth, and we both know just how much you value that."
"Nikolas. I tried to explain that the reason I kept your paternity a secret is because of Helena. You have now witnessed Helena's capabilities against people she believes do not deserve her kindness. As Stavros' son, you were spared Helena's wrath. As my son, you are a target for her revenge."
"As your son, I will be able to be the man I choose to be rather than be a man that I was chosen to be by others. I never asked to be Stavros' son. I never wanted that responsibility or that title. Now I have a choices in my life, and I plan on being independent of the Cassadines. All of them."
"Son, you must understand the danger you are still in. And you must believe that I will be there to help you when you need my assistance."
"I would like to believe you, but until I see proof of it, I cannot put my faith in your words. You did come to the island to save me, and I thank you for that. But don't think that it will erase everything I've learned about you. There's one thing you can do for me, if you truly mean you'll help me when I need you."
"Whatever you ask of me, I will do," Stefan said.
"Once Luke is better, allow him and his family to live in peace. You owe him for saving my life. If you respect me, you will not try to destroy the man who could have easily let me die today," Nikolas said, leaving before Stefan had a chance to reply.
Lucky woke up in the attic, next to his little sister, who was still fast asleep. He envied her in many ways. She was completely oblivious to the danger they were still in at the moment. She was able to sleep in an attic as if it were her bed at home. And she continued to have faith that everything would turn out right in the world. That was something Lucky was losing faith in quickly, ever since the Cassadines came to town. He grew up knowing what it was like to be on the run from someone who wanted revenge against his family, but he always did what was expected. Using guns, bombs, etc., any kind of violence Smith could use, he did. The Cassadines didn't do the expected, which he hated. They didn't try to kill you until you were fighting amongst yourselves, or were alone and had no protection. Divide and conquer... a practice his father had taught him about at a very young age. It's easier to take one person down at a time than to take on a whole group of people. And the Cassadines mastered in that.
Lucky got up and walked around, trying not to disturb his sister's sleep. There were boxes filled with Steve Hardy's belongings that Audrey had kept, as well as boxes of stuff kept for her other relatives. Lucky approached a box that had Elizabeth's name on it, and opened it up to see what was inside. There were a lot of stuffed animals, some beaten up from the test of time. He also found report cards, and opened one of them up. "A girl after my own heart," he said, as he saw the not so impressive grades in the boring subjects.
Elizabeth snuck up behind him as he was looking through the box. "Do you make a habit out of snooping around when you're hiding out?" she asked him.
Lucky dropped the report card and quickly turned, a little embarrassed at being caught. He didn't want Elizabeth to know that he was interested in her. "I'm sorry. I just got a little bored up here. Hiding out can make a person restless," he said.
"Well, it looks like your sister is handling it just fine," Elizabeth said, as he looked over at Lulu curled up into a little ball, fast asleep.
"I noticed. I don't know where she gets that from since neither of my parents like hiding out. My father goes crazy being confined, and my mother worries about everyone, but mostly my father since he can go stir crazy if he feels helpless," Lucky said, remembering his life on the run. Actually his father enjoyed it a lot and was definitely able to sleep at night, but he didn't like being in the many safe houses they had found themselves in between their many travels.
"You've done this a lot?" Elizabeth asked, interested in the kind of life the Lucky had lived.
"Yeah, you can say that. I spent more than half of my life on the run from one man. I've lived around the world in the rarest of places, and I've had more alias than anyone you'll ever meet, except for my parents since they were on the run before they got married."
"Wasn't it scary?"
"Not really," Lucky said, surprised at his own response. "I always knew that my parents would get us somewhere safe. They're masters at what they do. It was just lonely, though. Any friends I made, I had to give up when we took off again. And never going by my own name was difficult at times, but I got used to it. Some of the names I had were really bad, though, so I was happy to move to another place just to change the name. But overall, it was my life. I didn't know what it was like to live in one place until I got here. And I did have fun on the run too. It allowed me to get really close to my parents because they were my only friends."
"I wish I could have that with my parents," Elizabeth said, as she started looking through her box of stuff. "My grandmother keeps most of my childhood things in her attic since my parents moved to Bosnia. They couldn't bring a lot with them, but they wanted to keep these things, so Gram took them in."
"That was nice of her."
"It was. I just wish my parents weren't so dedicated to their job and were more dedicated to their family. But my father couldn't pass up the opportunity to do some good in a place that needed help," Elizabeth said, as she closed up the box.
"Do you wish you were with them now?"
"I wish they were here, but I had a choice whether I would go live with them or not. I just couldn't go though. My life is not there, even if my parents are. I'm not as close to them as you are with your parents. My life is here, and if that means I can't be with them, then I have to accept that."
"I'm sorry. I know it's tough to be without your parents. I always had mine around, but there were times when my parents had to separate in order to stay safe. And now they're gone again, on another adventure, but hopefully when they get back, everything will get back to normal," Lucky said, knowing that this adventure was going to bring his parents together again.
"Normal? From what it sounds like, you don't live a normal life," Elizabeth said, laughing.
"Well, who wants normal? My father says normal is boring. But I'd like to go back to what the Spencers consider normal," Lucky said, laughing also.
"And what would that be?" Elizabeth asked.
"Maybe you'll find out when they get back," Lucky said, hoping that once this was over, Elizabeth and him could get to know each other more under better circumstances.
After several hours of waiting, a doctor came out to speak to the group waiting for an update on Luke's progress. Laura pushed everyone away, and quickly made her way to the front, as she saw the doctor approach. "Mrs. Spencer?" he asked.
"Yes?" Laura asked quietly, fear almost paralyzing her.
"Your husband is out of surgery now, but we won't know how it went until tomorrow morning," the doctor said evenly.
"What do you mean?" Laura asked.
"Your husband has lost a tremendous amount of blood and we had to replace it. But his body is extremely weak right now, and he's trying to fight off the infection that was caused when someone sewed him up. That did save his life, but it's also causing some difficulty with his recovery at the moment. If he makes it through the night, then we can be optimistic about his chances. But we really won't know anything until the morning. He was lucky the bullet missed his all of his vital organs. I'm sorry."
"Thank you, Doctor. Can I see him now?" Laura asked, remaining strong for her husband.
"I will allow you to visit with him, but he will be asleep. Everyone else must agree to stay out of the room, however."
"Thank you," Laura said, as she followed the doctor into Luke's room.
Laura walked into Luke's room, and gently closed the door behind her. She slowly went up to the man who lay in bed at the moment. That man who was her husband, her lover, her partner, her best friend, etc. He was extremely pale and looked very frail, but she was confident he would survive. They had too many things to live through still. She took Luke's hand and held it tightly, making her presence known to him. She wanted to speak, but couldn't find the words, so she sat there in silence, taking in the comfort of having him with her still. She knew once this was over, she wouldn't let anyone keep her away from her family ever again.
"Prepare the yacht for Port Charles. The Spencers may have gotten the better of me this time, but they will not be able to get to their children in time," Helena told her men before they exited. She looked over the report her men had faxed to her on Luke's progress in the hospital. "You could have prevented this, Luke, if you agreed to stay with me. But since you've made your choice, I've made mine, and your charming ways won't be able to save you or your family anymore."
