Stefan peered down at the still
form before him. He strained for a clear
view of the face. Sighing, he straightened
up.
"Pity, he was one of my better men."
Taking note of his surroundings, he considered what to do with the body.
"Well, it didn't work with Katherine
Bell, I highly doubt it would work
this time........."
He tried to come up with another idea. Frustrated he sighed.
"He did serve me well for several
years, I suppose he deserves a proper
burial."
Stefan replaced his pistol in his
coat pocket and began heading to the
launch to get help.
************************************************************************
Tony smiled to himself as he removed
his surgical mask. He had just
performed his best work yet. He
had been so nervous going in.... after
all, at one time, this boy had
been his nephew. But now he had to view
him as a patient. That's a doctor's
job....... suspend all emotion and
get to work. And that's what he
did. He worked furiously and it had paid
off........ Lucky should have been
dead, but now he was expected to make
a full recovery. He couldn't wait
to tell Bobbie and Amy...... they'd be
so relieved.
************************************************************************
Amy stared at the corridor impatiently
waiting for Tony to show himself.
She glanced at Bobbie who sat across
from her. Her head was bowed like
she was praying.
"Bobbie?"
Her head slowly lifted to face Amy.
"What's taking them so long?"
Bobbie answered hoarsely.
"I don't know....."
"You don't think they're keeping something from us........"
Amy straightened up when she saw
Tony round the corner. Bobbie, noticing
Amy's reaction spun around to face
Tony.
"Tony?"
She breathed a sigh of relief as
she watched a smile spread across his
face.
"The surgery went beautifully........
Lucky's expected to make a full
recovery. In fact, he's doing so
well, we're moving him to his own room
as we speak."
He watched as Amy and Bobbie hugged
and cried tears of joy. His smile
slowly faded.
"Now that we've got the good news
out of the way, we need to have the
more difficult part of the discussion........
we've placed Lucky under
suicide watch....... All objects
he could potentially use to hurt
himself have been removed. He's
going to need counseling, we'll send
someone down. But in the meantime,
Lucky should be coming to soon."
Bobbie nodded her head absently.
"Can we see him?"
"Yes, but first, you know it's customary
for friends and family to
donate blood........ I promise
it'll only take a couple of minutes. You
don't have to but Bobbie, it'd
be especially helpful if you'd
donate....... we're running short
on type O and I'd like to have some
standing by in case there's an
emergency and Lucky needs it."
Bobbie's brow furrowed in confusion.
"What?! You mean B-, B- not O........"
Tony matched her confused stare.
"I'm sorry, I could've sworn your blood type was O......."
"It is........."
She trailed off as she realized
the truth and all it's implications. She
raised a shaky hand to her mouth.
"Oh my god....... He's O?......... He's O? You're sure?!"
"Well, I just operated on him, of
course I'm sure....... Bobbie what's
going on?"
"Luke's blood type is O!......... It's O........"
Amy gasped and sank into a chair.
"What are you saying?" Tony asked more out of shock than inquiry.
"Luke is Lucky's father......."
************************************************************************
Turning the page, Nikolas closed
his eyes. He marked his page and set
the book down on the table next
to him. Leaning back, he tightly shut
his eyes and rubbed the bridge
of his nose. He had a pounding headache,
and all this reading wasn't helping,
but he just didn't know what to do
with himself. He didn't want to
admit it, but that run-in with Luke had
really disturbed him........ He
had seen Luke angry before, that's
almost all he ever saw him as........but
this was different........ it
was almost as if he was scared.
Nikolas leaned forward, running his
hands through his hair. He froze
when he saw smoke wafting up from under
the door. His eyes widened in horror
as he ran to open it. He jerked his
hand away as soon as he touched
the doorknob, swearing in Greek as he
frantically shook his hand.
"Oh god...... oh....... god! What do I do?!"
Running to the window, he looked
down, realizing it would be an
immediate fall t his death. He
only had one choice. Running back to the
door, Nikolas used the corner of
his shirt to turn the doorknob, and ran
into the hallway, screaming for
his uncle.
************************************************************************
Luke stumbled blindly through the
woods. If that little brat Nikky
hadn't called the cops he could
have....... well, he didn't know what he
was going to do with Stefan, but
he would have done something. His
determination not to kill Stefan
changed when he saw those custody
papers. His emotional side had
finally overcome the last few shreds of
rationality he had left, and now
he had a taste for blood. His anger
rose as he considered how long
Steffie knew. He had had time to draw up
petitions for custody.........
oh yeah, Count Vlad was probably having a
pretty good chuckle at his expense
for a while now. Luke was going to
see to it that that was put to
an end.
Luke slumped up against a tree attempting
to catch his breath. His eyes
frantically combed the woods for
cops. Momentarily reassured, he slid
down and knelt on the ground with
his head in his hands. This was all
just one big, nightma......
An explosion erupted, rocking the
peaceful woods. Flickering fire
illuminated the forest, casting
ominous shadows on the wild vines and
brush below. Luke threw his arms
over his head in a protective position
to shelter himself from the shrapnels
of glass that rained down around
him. Feeling the last of the glass
fall, Luke slowly stood.
"What the hell?!"
He could see the fire burning in
the distance. Luke turned back to the
direction in which he had been
running, than back towards the source of
the explosion. His curiosity getting
the better of him, he turned and
ran toward Wyndemere.
************************************************************************
Slipping through the cloak of darkness,
the sleek plane would have gone
undetected in not for the small
lights on it's sturdy underbelly, and
soft purr of the engine. Inside,
elaborate furniture lay atop a plush
red carpet. It sank under the shiny
black shoes crossing it. A man in a
suit walked over and sat on the
large couch across from the desk. His
eyes involuntarily narrowed as
they tried to adjust to the dim lighting.
Adjusting his suit in a proper
manner he attempted to get the attention
of the occupant of the chair behind
the desk. The chair, ever-unmoving,
spoke to the wall.
"Status?"
"The men have been informed of their duties......."
The chair didn't move.
"We should be arriving in Port Charles within the hour."
The chair still didn't move.
"Our man on the inside has a close
eye on your grandson madam........
he's watching his room right now."
The chair slowly spun around, casting
a soft light on Helena's wicked
smile.
"Yes........ we'd hate for anything
to happen to ''my grandson'', now
wouldn't we?"
Stepping out of the brush, Stefan
paused to straighten his suit and
brush himself off. His eyes narrowed
as they fell upon a small group of
security guards huddled together
at the end of the dock. One guard
looked behind him, finally noticing
Stefan's presence.
"Mr. Cassadine!"
He immediately stood at attention,
as did the others. That was when
Stefan noticed the two security
guards on the ground.
"May I assume this is the work of Luke Spencer?"
"Yes sir, security footage confirms it."
Stefan nodded his head grimly. He
opened his mouth to say something but
was cut short by shouting and frantic
footsteps on the stairs.
"We need help........ Mr. Cassadine!"
The man went rigid.
"M....Mr. Cassadine... I'm sorry....
I ........ I didn't
realize...... I just assumed......."
Stefan, annoyed by the guard's nervous banter, rolled his eyes.
"What seems to be the problem?"
The guard gulped down his fear.
"We got a distress call from the
main house a while ago, some guards
went up to check it out.......
sir...... W..... Wyndemere is on
fire....."
Stefan's eyes widened in horror.
"If this is some kind of joke I assure you there is no humor in it."
"N.... no sir, I would never....."
"THEN WHY AREN'T YOU DOING SOMETHING?!?!"
Stefan's voice thundered over the
sound of distant sirens. The guard,
snapping out of his fear-induced
paralysis quickly nodded and ran
towards Wyndermere with the other
guards close behind. Stefan put his
hand to his mouth, sudden tears
of terror stinging his eyes. His voiced
rasped forth in a whisper.
"Nikolas......"
************************************************************************
Luke watched in awe as the warm
yellow and orange flames engulfed
Wyndemere. A small smile spread
played across his lips. He couldn't
help but be mildly amused at the
destruction of his enemy's home......
Afterall, hadn't it only been months
ago that he had intentionally
started a fire on these grounds?
Compared to the stables this was much
more entertaining..... and he wasn't
responsible for once..... Who
was? There was a question......
this couldn't possibly be an
accident...... so who torched the
place? Maybe Steffie pissed off some
business associates..... Maybe
Helena thought it best to discipline her
kid by burning down his house......
Maybe Sonny decided to "take care
of" Stefan without killing him.....
he had asked him not to kill
him..... he had also asked him
to check on his son.
Luke sighed and closed his eyes.
Lucky....... How could he love somebody
who was the flesh and blood of
the very man he despised? But how could
he not love the boy he raised?
As much as he wanted to hated him he
couldn't ...... he knew that the
minute he thought he might loose
him...... And if he died............
Luke shuddered at the thought. The
only son he knew...... his only son,
could be dead. He shook his head.
He couldn't think about that right
now. He had to focus on.....on.....
what the hell was he doing anyway?
He should be with Lucky, not prancing
through the Cassadine
woods........ He could kill Stefan
later. His son needed him now......
if it wasn't too late already.
Luke turned and started to walk
away when something caught his
attention....... he paused, concentrating
on the noises around him. The
popping and crackling of the fire,
sirens in the distance.... there it
was again. Luke whipped around
and stepped forward, studying the fire
intensely. His body stiffened when
he heard the cry again...... a cry
for help...... Nikolas' cry for
help. Luke stood frozen to the spot.
This was his chance..... this could
be his greatest revenge against
Stefan...... to sit and watch his
precious Nikolas die. Every other time
he went in to save that kid he
did it for Laura....... Laura's
feelings weren't an issue anymore.
She took his son...... now he could
let her son be taken....... an
eye for an eye.......
Luke began walking away. This was
his chance to get rid of that kid.....
this was too easy. Get rid of him,
and don't even haffta worry about
hiding evidence or keeping secrets.............
Secrets. Luke smiled
bitterly. In all his years on this
earth Luke learned that learning
life's little lessons never turned
out so little...... it always
seemed that there had to be an
explosive event to initiate any type of
learning response in him, and this
was definitely one of them. In the
course of one day he had learned
more about trust, love, and secrets
than he had in his whole life.
And with those lessons came
resolutions......... be more careful
who you trust, the only real thing
that makes a son yours is love
so love him with all you got-- before
it's too late, and secrets are
the most dangerous weapon and he would
never turn a weapon on the people
loved again. He saw how it hurt
people, not just hurt them, but
destroyed them. Lucky...... that poor
kid suffered so much because of
secrets. He had watched him fall apart
the minute the existence of Nikolas
came to light.... and it was never
quite the same after that. He became
like a threatened animal......
lashing out trying to defend himself.
It hurt not being able to help
him...... he knew Lucky wished
he didn't exist and so did Luke. It
reminded them both of the hell
that Laura went through...... but then he
saved Lulu. And Luke couldn't deny
his existence after that...... the
kid confused him...... he was destroying
his son, but saving his
daughter and threatening the trust
between him and his wife. Well, now
the trust was gone, his son annihilated......
but Lulu, the one child he
might still lay claim to, was still
here.
Luke stopped in his tracks as another
cry for help echoed in the
distance. He inhaled deeply, pushing
down the uncertainty that rose as
he turned began running back to
Wyndemere.