"Hey, Nikolas," Liz said, looking at Lucky.

        "Hi, Nikolas," Lucky said. "Is it something that we have to talk
about right now? I have to get Lizzie home by eleven."

        "I can wait while you go. I'm in no hurry to go back to Wyndemere."
Nikolas said disgustedly.

        Lucky looked surprised. "I guess that the meeting with Stefan
didn't go the way that you had hoped."

        "You could say that," Nikolas said. "But look we can talk about it
when you get back...That is if you don't mind my staying here." He didn't
sound very sure of himself. He wasn't quite sure how to act around Lucky
anymore. They really did have a lot to talk about.

        "Sure you can stay here," Lizzie said her eyes trained on Lucky's
face. She could tell that he wasn't sure what to say either. "Right, Lucky?"

        "Hm? Oh yeah. No problem," Lucky said. "Make yourself at home. I
should be back in about a half hour."

        "Thanks," Nikolas said, a small smile on his face. Lucky and Liz
started to leave. "Uh, Liz." They stopped and turned to face Nikolas who
now had a serious look on his face. "Liz, I'd just like to say that I'm
sorry that I was so rude in the park today. If I had had any idea what was
going on I wouldn't have pressed so hard."

        Liz smiled gently at him. "That's okay, Nikolas. You didn't know. I
realize what my reaction must have seemed like to you. That along with my
protection here," she smiled at Lucky, "must have been very confusing."

        Nikolas smiled back at her, this was a side of Liz that he hadn't
seen before. She had always seemed so angry and rude to him. Well, of
course, that was when he was he was going out with Sarah. Maybe that was
the entire reason behind it. Sarah could get on anyone's nerves and having
to live with her must be quite a trial. (I was actually starting to like
Sarah , UNTIL that stunt she pulled in Kelly's.) Liz had a different kind
of anger now, which seemed more connected to intense pain than anything
else. It made him feel for her. He now understood the all-encompassing
anger that Lucky was feeling towards the person who had hurt her and his
intense desire to protect her at any cost. "Thanks for understanding, Liz,"
he said. "I'll see you later."

        "See you," Liz said.

        "Yeah," Lucky said. "See ya." He smiling slightly at Nikolas.

        Lucky and Liz went out to the car. Nikolas watched as Lucky opened
the door for Liz and helped her into the car. They seemed so in sync with
each other. Nikolas turned and walked into the cabin shutting the door
behind him. He sat down and waited for Lucky's return.

*In the Car*

        "You know," Liz said as they drove towards her house. "I'm
beginning to kind of like Nikolas, myself. When he isn't around Sarah, he's
actually kind of interesting." She sounded surprised. "I never thought that
I could ever see him as anything but a spoiled arrogant creep, but today,
he seemed...I don't know."

        "I know what you mean. Today, it's like a lot of that arrogance
that I'm so used to seeing is gone. I wonder...?"

        "What?" Liz asked.

        "I don't know. So many things have changed in such a short time.
All of the truths that I've held onto so hard all my life feel like they're
falling down around my feet. Maybe the only reason I hated him was because
my dad told me I should," Lucky shrugged his shoulders. He was feeling
completely confused. "I don't know," he said again.

        "Lucky," Liz said. "Maybe you should just take this one step at a
time. Talk to him. Tell him how you feel. Maybe you can reach an agreement,
or find some common ground. Whether you like it or not, he IS your brother,
and I think that if you give it a try, both of you would be happier if you
could get along." Lizzie laughed at herself. "Listen to me. I probably have
one of the absolute worst relationships with a sibling in the history of
the world, and I'm trying to tell you how to be friends with your brother.
Oh well."

        "You're right though. Everything that I've ever believed my entire
life has been based on what my father has told me and he told me to hate
everything Cassadine. I'm sure that Nikolas was raised to hate everything
Spencer. Nikolas IS my brother, but neither of us has really been willing
to give it a chance, until now."

        "And hey, if you and Nik become friends, then maybe there's hope
for Sarah and I." Liz started to laugh. "Not that I really see THAT
happening."

        Lucky laughed with her. Sarah and Liz really didn't have much in
common besides their last name. They pulled up in front of Liz's house.
Lucky got out and went around to open the door for Liz. He helped her out
of the car and they walked up to her front door, holding hands. "I had a
great time tonight, Liz." Lucky said.

        "I did too," Liz said, kissing him on the cheek. "It was the best
date that I've ever had. I really mean that."

        "Same here." They stood in front of the door just looking at each
other for what seemed like an eternity, until the door suddenly opened and
they found Audrey standing in front of them.

        "Hi, Mrs. Hardy," Lucky said quickly.

        "Hey Gram," Liz said, a little embarrassed.

        "Lucky, Elizabeth," Audrey said. "I heard the car pull up. Did you
have a good time?"

        "Yeah, we did," Liz said smiling at Lucky. "I'll see you later?"

        "Yeah," Lucky said. "I'll call you tomorrow. See you later Mrs. Hardy."

        "Goodbye, Lucky," Audrey said.

        Lucky walked towards his car and stopped just as he was about to
get in. "Hey Liz." Liz had been just about to go inside with Audrey, so she
turned and looked at Lucky.

        "Yeah, Lucky?"

        "Dreams of gold." With that he got into his car and drove away.

        "Thanks to you, Lucky...I think I will," Liz said softly to
herself. She turned to Audrey and together they walked into the house.

Chapter Eighteen

        Lucky drove slowly back to the cabin, thinking over all the things
that he and Nikolas had to talk about. There were so many things that
neither of them knew about the other. There were so many things that they
didn't know about their pasts. It was about time that they got together and
figured out what had happened and what they WANTED to happen in the future.
Lucky drove into the cabins driveway. He jumped out of the car and walked
into the cabin. He was surprised to find Nikolas asleep on the couch.

        "Huh," he thought to himself. "I thought that this was important.
Oh well, Now, should I wake him up, or wait for him to wake up on his own."
Lucky considered his options and decided that since he really wanted to
know what had happened when Nikolas talked to Stefan, he'd just have to
wake him up.

        "Nikolas," Lucky said, shaking Nikolas' shoulder. "Hey Nikolas,
It's time to wake up. "

        "Huh? What?" Nikolas said sleepily.

        "Rise and shine," Lucky said with a cocky grin. "I'm back."

        "Oh, okay," Nikolas said yawning.

        "So, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about? Still couldn't
get a straight answer from Stefan?"

        "Not even close. It's like the only thing everyone has agreed on is
to keep us in the dark about what applies to us, but to keep us well
informed about what will hurt the "other side" as they see each other. I
feel like a pawn in some game that has everything to do with me, yet
nothing to do with me. Helena and Stefan both want control of me, Luke
wants me dead, and Laura, well I have no idea what Laura wants. I'm so
confused, and I can't believe that the only person I trust is you, when
we've barely said a civil word to each other since we met."

        "I know how you feel," Lucky said. "Though I do have to correct you
on one point. As mad as I am at him right now, I think that you should know
that there is no way that Luke would ever hurt you. With all of his faults,
he loves mom more than he loves life, and he would never do anything to
hurt her. I think that you are the only Cassadine that he could ever like,
after all, you're a part of her. I think that you're in for a huge surprise
as soon as he realizes that. If you think me being civil to you is weird
wait until Luke starts."

        Nikolas laughed, "Lucky there is no way that that is going to
happen. Luke may not hurt me himself, but I don't think that he'd shed any
tears if I died."

        "You'll see, after all, he helped Jason save your life. Let's move
on. This conversation will get us nowhere fast. What did Stefan say?"

        "He said that you must have heard wrong. He said that he had told
her to leave for my sake, no mention of a secret. He said that all he said
was that it would be better for me if she left as her husband wished."

        "Yeah, well I guess we still learned something."

        "What? I don't see how that conversation means anything at all,"
Nikolas said.

        "Well, it's a big enough secret to make Mom leave, but Stefan
doesn't really want it out anymore that Mom does," Lucky said.

        "How do you figure that?" Nikolas asked.

        "Well, if it was a secret dealing just with my family, he would
have told you no problem, like with the whole rape thing. It must have
something to do with you as well, otherwise you would know it by now."

        Nikolas was about to say something when the cell phone that Helena
had given him rang. Lucky held up his hand to make sure that Nikolas
remained silent, as he answered the call.

        "Hello?"

        "Ah, Lucky," Helena said. "How are you?"

        "I'm fine, Helena," Lucky said, rolling his eyes. "And how are you
this fine evening?" Nikolas smothered a laugh. Lucky was truly a character.

        "I'm fine, thank you. Now to get down to business. How are you at
cracking safe's? I need a bit of information, pertaining to the Tony Jones
trial, and I want you to get it for me."

        "Actually, I'm quite the hand at safe cracking. Of all the skills
that dad taught me, it's my specialty. Whose safe do you want me to break
into."

        "Justus Ward's."

        "Okay," Lucky said slowly, digesting that information. "What do you
want me to get?"

        "Anything that would be of use in getting Dr. Jones free. It is a
test to see how resourceful you are. Oh and I'd like the information by
tomorrow." With that she hung up the phone.

        Lucky rolled his eyes again. "Geez, dad wasn't kidding when he said
the old bat was loony toons."

        "What does she want you to do?" Nikolas asked.

        "She wants me to break into the Penthouse home of a Mob Bosses
Lawyer. Then she wants me to crack said Mob Bosses lawyer's safe, to get
her information that she isn't even sure exists, all in order to free
neurosurgeon Tony Jones, aka psycho kidnapper slash babystealer. I think
it's quite obvious that she's wacko. Tell me, is there anyone in your
family that's sane?"

        "Hey!" Nikolas said.

        "Just kidding, but honestly, you do have quite a few murderous,
world freezing, lunatic's in the family tree. It's amazing that you're so
sane."

        "Yeah, well, Uncle and Alexis have always seemed pretty sane, but
lately I've been beginning to wonder about uncle."

        "Ah, yes, Alexis, the elusive Natasha. She does seem pretty sane. I
have no idea about Stefan but it's certain that the old bat is a few cards
short of a full deck." Lucky said, unaware that Nikolas had no knowledge of
Alexis' true identity. (I have no idea if Nikolas was told this or not, or
if Lucky knows, but in this version Nikolas wasn't told and Luke told Lucky
for a reason unknown even to me:-)

        "What did you say?" Nikolas said, shocked.

        "I said Alexis seems pretty sane," Lucky said giving Nikolas a
funny look.

        "No. What did you call her?"

        "Natasha. You didn't know," Lucky said surprised. "Why do you think
she's so scared? The old woman is gunning for her. Mikkos' illegitimate
daughter. No wonder she's terrified. If she so much as looks the wrong way
she could be dead in a heartbeat. That's the only reason that she's working
for Helena."

        "She's working for Helena? God, there are so many things that I
don't know. I can't believe that uncle never told me that Alexis is
Natasha. Does he know that Alexis is working for Helena?"

        "I don't know, but I'm sure that he must have known that it was her
only option when he turned his back on her. Which brings me to another
question. What happened to make him disown her?"

        "She set it up to make it look like Katherine was Natasha. She felt
that Katherine would only cause the family grief."

        "Well, I have to think she was right." Lucky said.

        "What do you mean?" Nikolas asked, not sure what Lucky was getting at.

        "Well, Katherine could bring down the whole Cassadine empire
through sheer stupidity. She gets so sure that she's right, that she does
the stupidest things due to her convictions. I had my dad's office bugged,
temporary due to constant checks, but do you know that she went to my
father and told him that Stefan would never hurt Laura, because she was the
only other (yeah, right, try only) woman that Stefan had ever loved. I mean
what's she trying to do? I thought she was supposed to love Stefan. When
you love someone you do not tell something like that to their worst enemy.
It's almost asking for them to be killed."

        "There was a time that I would have taken offense to that entire
statement, but I must say that Katherine has been getting on my nerves
lately."

        "Well, what do you think?" Lucky asked, impatiently.

        "About what?" Nikolas asked confused. He couldn't keep up with
Lucky's thought process.

        "About Stefan. Does he? Love our mother, I mean, 'cause
Katherine,...well, SHE sounded pretty convinced."

Chapter Nineteen

        "I don't know Lucky. I really don't know. Helena seems to think
that he does, and well, HE'S always denied it, but considering how often he
lies to me, it wouldn't exactly surprise me. I don't know. I'm totally
confused."

        "Well, I guess it really doesn't make that much of a difference. I
have to get going anyway," Lucky said his mind turning back to the task at
hand.

        "How are you possibly going to pull that off?" Nikolas said
surprised that Lucky was actually going to attempt such a feat.

        "Well, I wouldn't exactly say that I have much of a choice. Justus
used to be pretty good friends with my dad and Jason's pretty cool and I
know something about them. Anyway, it wouldn't seem that weird for me to go
over there. What excuse could I use? Let's see...I've got it!" Lucky said a
smile of triumph on his face.

        "What are you going to do?" Nikolas asked curious.

        "Ask for a little legal advice, and hope that Justus isn't in!"
Lucky said.

        "Huh?"

        "Nothing, I'll tell ya later if it works," Lucky said with a grin.
"Hey, you wanna come?"

        "Why? Do you need a partner for this plan?"

        "No, but I need a getaway driver...and someone to bail me out if I
get caught!"

        "Sure, why not? I'd love to see the master at work!" Nikolas said
with a grin of his own. "When they drag you to jail, I'll be right behind
you. It's not everyday that I get the opportunity to visit Port Charles'
fine jails."

        "Hey," Lucky said pretending to be insulted. "I'll have you know
that I rarely get caught. I AM the master, after all! Anyway, you're
welcome to come, you just have to be ready in case I'm in need of a fast
getaway."

        "Yes, sir," Nikolas said with a laugh. It was amazing how much fun
he was having helping Lucky plan a felony. His life was rarely this
interesting.

        Lucky went into the back of the cabin and quickly changed into a
dark colored out fit. He and Nikolas then left the cabin and Lucky headed
straight for his car. "Hey, Why don't we take mine?" Nikolas said, eying
Lucky's beat up car distrustfully.

        Lucky laughed, "Are you kidding? We want to be inconspicuous. That
thing hollers 'Hello I'm a Cassadine.' You can't miss it."

        Nikolas sighed, there was so much that he didn't know about all of
this "cloak and dagger" stuff. He was a little amazed at how natural it
seemed to Lucky, but then he had grown up being trained to stand out, while
Lucky had been taught to blend in.  He got into Lucky's car and sat through
fifteen minutes of hell. Lucky wasn't exactly what you'd call a careful
driver, and he thought that the car was going to fall apart any second.

        "Hey, relax will ya," Lucky said, turning the radio up a little
higher. Nikolas just looked at him like he was crazy and continued to hold
onto the door for dear life as they screeched around another corner. He
breathed a huge sigh of relief when the pulled up across from Jason's
apartment building, which was next to the park.

        "Okay," Lucky said. "Be prepared to leave in a hurry. I'll try and
be as fast as I can." He got out of the car and was about to shut the door.
"Oh, and Nikolas?"

        "Yeah?" Nikolas said.

        "Try not to stand out too much," Lucky said laughing.

        "Ah, get out of here," Nikolas said smiling. Lucky headed into the
building and Nikolas got out of the car and stood leaning against it.

        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile at the Q Mansion

        "I can't believe we're going over this again!" Alan yelled. "Emily,
Jason is a criminal and I don't think that it's a good idea for you to see
him anymore!"

        "Alan, calm down," Monica said. "But Emily I have to agree.
Entirely too many people have been getting shot around Jason lately. I
don't think that you should spend so much time over there. His enemies
might start to consider you a target."

        "Might," Edward sputtered. "I'm sure they already do."

        "But Dad, Mom, he's my brother, he's your son. I can't just stop
seeing him," Emily said desperately. "Please!"

        "No, absolutely not," Edward sputtered again. "If your parents
don't forbid it, I will!"

        "Edward!" Lila said. "Stay out of this. Leave this to her parents."

        "Emily, we said no. You will not visit him anymore," Alan said with
an air that told Emily that it was final.

        "This is so unfair!" Emily yelled. She ran out of the room crying,
but instead of running up to her room, she ran out the front door. She just
felt so trapped in that house. She had to get out.

        "Emily! Where are you going?" AJ shouted as she ran out the door
past him. "Emily!"

        He hurried into the room where Alan, Monica, Edward and Lila were
looking at each other wondering if they had gone too far. "Hey," AJ said.
"What's going on? Why did Emily just run out of here like she was being
chased by the devil?"

        "We told her that she had to stay away from Jason," Alan said. "Too
many people have been injured around him lately. We don't want her to be a
target."

        "When you said out of here, did you mean out of the house?" Monica
said, remembering the conversation that she had had with Emily earlier that
afternoon.

        "Yeah, she ran right out the door. She didn't even acknowledge me."

        "Oh god," Monica said.

        "What is it?" Alan said, worried at her tone of voice.

        "When I talked to Emily earlier, she told me how both Lucky and
Nikolas warned her not to walk in the park alone. They wouldn't say what
had happened but it sounded like the park was dangerous. If she's headed to
Jason's, well..." Monica cut off.

        AJ finished the sentence, "The quickest way is through the park!
What are we waiting for!?" He headed for the door.

        "You go on foot," Monica said to him. "She's more likely to listen
to you since she's mad at us. We'll meet you on the other side by Jason's
apartment building." AJ nodded at them and then he took off running as the
rest of the Q's piled into the car. (They made sure that Lila came, because
they knew that Emily wouldn't get in the car for anyone else! )

        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Lucky walked confidently into the building and took the elevator to
the top floor. He got off and walked nonchalantly over to the guard outside
Jason's door. "Hey, Renaldo, What's up?"

        "Lucky. How ya been? I haven't seen you in a while." Renaldo said.
(I don't really remember, but I imagine that Renaldo worked for Sonny too,
therefore Lucky would know him because Sonny was a good friend of Luke's.)

        "Yeah, well I've been busy. Tell me, is Justus in?" Lucky said
nodding towards the door to Justus' apartment. "I'm kinda in need of a
little legal advice."

        "No, Justus is out of town for the night. He'll be back tomorrow
morning, but seeing as how the trial's still going on, he won't be back
here til late."

        "Oh," Lucky said, sounding disappointed, while inwardly
congratulating himself on his good luck. "I guess it's not that important."

        "Do you want me to let him know you were here?"

        "Nah," Lucky said. "I'll get in touch with him later. It's nothin'
too pressing."

        Just then the door to Jason's apartment opened and Jason stuck his
head out, "Renaldo, I have some things we need to discuss." He noticed
Lucky. "Oh, hi Lucky. You looking for anyone in particular?"

        "He was here to see Justus," Renaldo answered for Lucky. "I just
told him that he was away."

        "Oh, legal troubles?" Jason asked Lucky with a smile.

        "Yeah," Lucky said. "But nothing to fret about. Hey, I'm glad that
you got Michael back safe. I know Aunt Bobbie was worried sick. I can't
believe Tony would do something like this."

        "Yeah, well, neither could a lot of people, but he did."

        "Yeah, I guess a lot of people do things that you wouldn't expect
of them," Lucky said, a sad glint in his eyes, thinking of what his father
had done.

        "Hey, Lucky," Jason said, recognizing the hurt in Lucky's eyes and
wondering what had caused it. He decided to let the comment go at face
value.  "You haven't met Michael yet have you? He's asleep right now, but
maybe you should get to know him and Carly. She doesn't have much family
right now you know. I think you two might get along."

        "Yeah, maybe I'll do that." Lucky said. Heck, he didn't have much
family right now either, not the kind that counted to him anyway. Carly had
seemed nice enough to begin with, but could he really like her after what
she had done to Bobbie? Well, he was willing to give her a chance. "Maybe
I'll come by tomorrow, if that's alright?"

        "Sure."

        "Look," Lucky said. "I gotta go, but tell Carly that I said hi."

        "Sure," Jason said.

        Lucky walked a little way down the hall and pretended to be waiting
for the elevator until Jason and Renaldo had entered Jason's apartment. He
walked back to Justus' door, and using a small pick he quickly jimmied the
lock and slid inside Justus' apartment. "Piece of cake ," He said quietly
to himself. He went quickly to Justus' desk and looked over the paper's on
top of it, knowing full well that all the papers pertaining to the case
wouldn't necessarily be in the safe. Who in the Port Charles would really
want Tony free? Besides Helena that is. And if they did, how many of them
would break into the home of a man that wasn't even directly linked to the
case? "Or hire some idiot to do it," he thought condescendingly to himself.
He didn't see anything on the desk so he went quickly to the safe and had
it open in a matter of minutes. (I'm not sure that this is possible, but
work with me here!) He looked through the papers. He came across a file
that looked promising, "Jackpot," he said as he studied the contents.

        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In The Park

        Emily walked quickly along a path in the park, wiping her tears
away with the back of her sleeve. She couldn't believe her parents! How
could they do this to her! Jason was the one person in her life that she
could trust to tell her the truth. Besides, not seeing Jason meant not
seeing Michael and she didn't want to give up on her Godson.

        She was passing the fountain when she thought she heard a sound
from the bushes. "Is somebody there?" She called frightened. She suddenly
remembered that she had promised Lucky and Nikolas that she wouldn't go
into the park alone, and here she was walking through the park in the
middle of the night. That was the last thought she had before somebody
grabbed her from behind. Liz's rapist had found his next victim, but this
time he made a mistake. Unlike when he had grabbed Liz, he didn't get his
hand over Emily's mouth quickly enough and she managed to let out a short
scream before he threw her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. He
leaned down close to her and whispered in her ear, "Not a word!"

        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Another Area of the Park

        "Emily?" AJ called. "Em, it's me. You shouldn't be out this late
alone. Emily!" He continued jogging through the park hoping that he hadn't
missed her. He was getting close to the fountain when he heard somebody let
out a small scream before being quickly silenced. He felt a chill travel
down his spine as he broke into a run in the direction that the scream had
come from. He prayed that he wouldn't be to late to help her.

        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside Jason's Apartment

        Nikolas got tired of waiting for Lucky quickly and decided to take
a walk in the park. He figured that Lucky would be at least a half an hour
before he was done. He was just walking slowly through the park,
approaching the fountain when he too heard Emily scream. He immediately
thought of what had happened to Lizzie and ran quickly in the direction of
the scream. There was no way that he was letting that slime get away with
such an act again!
 

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