"Geez, I'm sorry I brought that up. I should have realized he still
felt guilty about that." Emily said, as the three of them got out of the
car. "He knew that he wasn't supposed to go, but he followed anyway. It was
some mob hit. He was really close to dying. Laura decided that the life
Luke led was too dangerous for the kids and they split up for a while. I
think that he's always blamed himself."

        Emily and Elizabeth helped carry Nikolas' stuff into the cabin.
They wanted to give the impression that they were staying right where they
were to be sure that Emily's guard didn't call in a report that it looked
like they were leaving town. They put Nikolas stuff down next to the bags
that Lucky had carried in. A much calmer Lucky was waiting for them. "Sorry
I blew up guy's. It's just that I always feel so stupid when that story
comes up. People always blame my dad when I knew that I wasn't supposed to
be anywhere near there. Let's just forget about it okay?"

        "It's forgotten," Lizzie said. Nikolas nodded.

        "Great," Lucky said relaxing. "Just let me get my bag packed and
then we can put my plan into motion."

        "Sure." Nikolas said. Lucky quickly packed a bag.

        "Oh," Lizzie said. "Can I call V now? I want to make sure that they
know that I'll be gone for a while."

        "Sure," Lucky said. Lizzie pulled out the card that V had given her
and dialed the number on it.

        "Hello? Detective Ardanowski? Hi, it's Elizabeth Webber...I'm okay
thanks... Look I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be going out
of town for a couple of days...Yeah, I just want to regroup a little bit,
sort out my thoughts ya know?...Okay... Okay...Yeah, I can give you a
number that you can reach me at..." Lucky gave her a slip of paper with a
number on it and she read off the number. "Yeah, thanks a lot...I'll talk
to you later...Thank you."

        "She said that it's fine and that she'll get ahold of me if there's
something that they really need me for."

        "Good," Lucky said. The four of them went outside. Emily and
Nikolas sat down on the porch and Lucky and Liz walked around the corner of
the cabin holding hands.

        Emily's guard had his car situated so that he could see the kids,
but where they weren't likely to notice him. To him they looked like too
happy couples about to spend some quality time together. The man guarding
Emily kept a lookout for trouble. He didn't expect anyone to come after
them out here, but you never knew. He saw Lucky and Lizzie go around the
cabin and figured that they were headed down to the water. Nikolas and
Emily sat close together on the porch, in deep conversation.

        The guard watched as Nikolas pulled Emily into his arms for a deep
kiss. He saw Emily laugh and pull away. She got up and moved a little way
away from Nikolas who followed her and pulled her close for another kiss.
When it got to serious, she again pulled away and walked further away from
him. The guard  began to get worried at the look that crossed Nikolas'
face. "Uh oh," he said softly. He saw Nikolas step menacingly towards
Emily. Emily held up her hands and said something to him but he kept coming
and he grabbed ahold of her. There was no mistaking the look of fear on
Emily's face. He saw Nikolas say something to her and her try to pull away.
Nikolas wouldn't let her and pulled her into another kiss as she struggled
to get away.

        "That's my cue," the guard said to himself as he jumped out of his
car and ran toward them, pulling his gun. "Hey, what do you think you're
doing," he yelled at Nikolas. "Let her go now!" Nikolas looked at him
surprised and let go of Emily, the guard grabbed Nikolas. "That's the last
mistake you'll ever make kid," he said. "Didn't you hear the lady say no."
He pointed his gun at Nikolas, and then slumped to the ground as Lucky hit
him over the back of the head.

        "Took you long enough," Nikolas said. "I thought that he was going
to shoot me for sure."

        "Yeah, well, that's what Jason told him to do," Lucky said,
grinning at Nikolas. "But don't worry I had the timing down. You were in no
danger at all."

        "Sure," Nikolas said as Lucky turned the guard over, not really
believing him. "Whatever you say."

        "Sorry, Charlie," Lucky said recognizing the guard. "I hope you'll
understand." He and Nikolas dragged the guard into the cabin and tied him
to the chair. Lucky gently woke him up.

        "Hey, Charlie," he said. "Look, I'm really sorry about all this,
but we gotta get out of town without anyone following us. You should be
able to get yourself free in a couple of hours, and by then we'll be long
gone. We'll call Jason in five to eight hours to make sure that you're
free, just in case. Your gun's over there on that table along with your
cell phone."

        "What are you doing Lucky?" Charlie asked, confused from the hit on
his head.

        "Sorry, can't answer that one. I just want to tell you again that
we're sorry. Good luck getting free. Last one I tied up like this, it took
'em about four hours to get free, let's see if you can break that record.
See ya." With that the four of them grabbed their gear and loaded it all
into Lucky's car. They all climbed in. "Next stop, North Carolina," Lucky
said.

        Charlie struggled with the bonds and managed to get free in about
three and a half hours. He went immediately to the phone and called Jason.
He got no answer so he gathered together his belongings and ran to his car.
He arrived in Port Charles in about fifteen minutes and went directly to
the Penthouse. He rode up in the elevator and was greeted by Renaldo. "What
happened to you? You're a mess. Hey, weren't you supposed to be watching
Emily?"

        "Is Mr. Morgan here?"

        "Yeah, what's up?"

        "You'll hear it when I tell Mr. Morgan." Renaldo opened the door
and they walked in. "Could you get me some ice?" Charlie asked Renaldo.
"Lucky kinda gave me a crack on the back of the head."

        "Lucky?" Luke asked.

        "Charlie, what happened? Aren't you supposed to be watching Emily?"
Jason said.

        "Yeah, boss. Luke I'm glad that you're here. I was watching the Q
mansion, and Lucky showed up around eleven with Nikolas Cassadine and a
girl, I'm not sure who she is."

        "That would be Elizabeth Webber," Luke said. "Lucky was with Nikolas?"

        "Yeah, well they went into the house and a little while later all
of the Q's filed out. Probably headed for the trial. A while after all of
them had left, Lucky left, taking the Cassadine kids jag. He got back
around a couple of hours later in his car. He went into the house. He
didn't look too happy. The Q's came back and a little while later the four
kids left, Emily had two bags." Renaldo comes in and hands Charlie an ice
pack which Charlie hold to the back of his head. "Thanks, man."

        "Like she was packed for a while?"

        "Yeah, so then they go to Audrey Hardy's house, presumably to get
the other girl packed. They come out with another large bag. Then they go
to the cabin, you know, where we found Doctor Jones."

        "Yeah, Bobbie's letting Lucky stay there. What happened then?"

        "They all went inside the cabin, right? They brought in all their
stuff, so I figured hey, they must all be planning to stay there. Anyway,
they all come out of the cabin and Lucky and this Elizabeth girl go around
the side of the building, I think, okay, they're going down to the water.
No problem, I can still see Emily. But then she and Nikolas start to kiss,
it seems okay with her at first and then he won't stop or let her go, so I
go after him and when I have ahold of him, pow, Lucky hits me from behind."

        "Charlie, Charlie, Charlie," Luke said, shaking his head. "You were
done in by the oldest trick in the book."

        "Huh?" Charlie said.

        "They lured you out into the open and then they ambushed you. Emily
and Nikolas were the bait. You reacted exactly how they wanted you too.
What happened then?"

        "Well, I woke up tied to a chair. Lucky said that he was sorry but
that they were going somewhere and they didn't want anyone following them.
It took me three and a half hours to get out of those knots."

        "Only three and a half hours?" Luke said. "Wow, you got out of them
fast. Lucky's good at tying those things. "

        "Luke, you sound so proud. Why aren't you worried?" Jason said.

        "Easy, where's the only place the Lucky and Nikolas would want to
go together without anyone following them?"

        "Laura!" Jason said.

        "I can almost guarantee it. Call the men you have on Laura. They'll
tell you when they get there. Oh, and if you get a call from my kid, don't
tell 'im that I know where he's headed, or that you do for that matter."
Luke heads for the door.

        "Wait, Luke," Jason said. "Where are you going?"

        "North Carolina." Luke turned and walked out.

        Jason shook his head and called his men in North Carolina. He told
them to contact him the minute that the kids show up in North Carolina.

Twenty-Nine

        Lucky had been driving for three hours. He saw a diner up ahead and
pulled in, deciding that it was time to get a little dinner. Everyone else
had fallen asleep a couple of hours ago. He pulled into the diner parking
lot. Elizabeth woke up when she felt the car stop. "Hey," she said.

        "Hey," Lucky said smiling over at her. "You hungry?"

        "Starved," Emily piped up from the back seat.

        "Me too," Nikolas said, yawning. "Where are we?"

        "I'm not sure," Lucky said. "Somewhere in Pennsylvania. I figured
we'd get some dinner and the girls could call their families, so they don't
get worried and start calling each other."       They piled out of the car
and headed into the diner. The girls went to the pay phones while the guys
sat down.

        "When are you going to call Jason?" Nikolas asked.

        "When we're done eating, I guess. I want to be sure that Charlie
got out of the cabin okay. I figure that he did, he's one of Jason's best,
but you never know. I might have hit him harder than I thought or
something. I don't want to take the chance that he's seriously injured and
can't get free or something."

        "Yeah," Nikolas said. The girls came over and sat down.

        "How are things on the homefront?" Lucky asked.

        "Okay," Lizzie said.

        Emily rolled her eyes. "They were still arguing, can you believe
it? Grandfather answered and the entire time he was talking to me he was
yelling at the rest of the family. It seems that since Carly's in jail,
they're going to go after Michael again. I swear, they never learn. The
funny thing is though that Ned and AJ are on the same side. They're both
trying to get the family to leave Michael with Jason. I never thought that
I'd see the day when the two of them would agree on anything."

        They ordered their food and had a quick meal. They were at ease
with each other. Lucky could hardly believe that he was on a road trip with
Nikolas Cassadine on his own free will and that he was actually getting to
like him. They finished their meal and paid. They went outside and Lucky
pulled out his cell phone and called Jason.

        "Hello," Jason said as he answered the phone.

        "Hey, Jason. It's Lucky."

        "Lucky!" Jason said. "Where are you? Is Emily all right?"

        "She's fine. Sorry, I can't tell you where we are. I take it
Charlie got free alright."

        "Yeah, it took him three and a half hours."

        "Really?" Lucky said with a grin. "Tell him I'm proud of him.
That's a record."

        "No problem. Can I talk to Emily?"

        "Sure," Lucky said motioning for Emily to take the phone. "He wants
to talk to you."

        Emily took the phone. "Hey, Jason," she said. "Sorry about all this."

        "That's okay. Next time just tell me you don't want a guard, okay?
I would have taken him off."

        "No you wouldn't have. You would have told me that you had taken
him off. Tell him that I'm sorry, okay?"

        "Sure."

        "Oh, and Jason, please don't tell my parents that I'm gone quite
yet. They'll find out soon enough anyway."

        "Okay. You take care of yourself, alright? And come home soon,
before I have to send out a posse after you."

        "Sure, Jase. Talk to you later."

        "Bye, Em." They both hung up.

        "Well that's settled," Emily said. "He's not going to tell, so we
probably have until at least tomorrow morning."

        "Great," Lucky said. "Well, it's time to get moving again. Wanna
take you're turn, Nikolas?"

        "Sure," Nikolas said climbing into the front seat. Emily took the
seat next to him and Lucky and Elizabeth took the back. Emily and Nikolas
talked for a while about, different subjects. They soon noticed that Lucky
and Lizzie had fallen asleep in the back seat, leaning against each other.

        "I can't believe how great they seem together," Emily said softly.
"I've never seen two people who seem so in sync with each other except
maybe..." She cut off realizing what she was about to say.

        "Except who?" Nikolas asked.

        "Luke and Laura," Emily said softly, looking carefully at Nikolas.
"I know you don't like Luke much, but one thing that you can never doubt is
that Luke and Laura were meant to be together. You haven't seen them very
often when they haven't been on edge. When they're just together, it's like
they're practically one person. Lucky and Liz seem to be close to that."

        "You sound sad," Nikolas said. "Do you...?" He made a motion with
his head toward the backseat.

        "Do I what? Love Lucky? No. There was a time when I thought that
we'd be together, but that died out fast. We're friends, but that's it.
I...I just wish that I had something like that. Someone who loved me like
that."

        "Oh," Nikolas said, not sure exactly what to say. What could he
say? It'll happen someday? You're so special that a person would have to be
blind, deaf and dumb not to appreciate you? That when he had been kissing
her, it had felt so right that he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed before
how special she was? "Emily?"

        "Yeah?" Emily said, wishing that he'd say what he was praying for
him to say, but not really believing that it would happen.

        "This afternoon. When we were baiting your guard."

        "Yeah."

        "I just wanted you to know that all of it wasn't acting. When I
kissed you...It was something special, and I hope...I hope that you feel
the same way." He clenched his hands on the steering wheel and stared
straight ahead carefully avoiding glancing at her.

        He had actually said it! Exactly what she had been hoping! "Oh,
Nikolas," she said. "I did feel it. I...I just didn't want to say anything
in case you hadn't." Nikolas smiled at her and she watched him as he drove,
glancing her way every once in a while. They drove in silence for a while,
just enjoying being together, even though the circumstances that had
brought them to this point were less than desirable. Emily was about to say
something when she heard Elizabeth start to whimper in the backseat. Her
fear was apparent. "Nikolas, pull over," she said. Lucky had woken up at
the first sound from Elizabeth, and started to try and wake her up.
"Lizzie," he said. "It's okay. It's all over. Wake up."

        "What is it?" Nikolas asked as he pulled to the side of the road.

        "Another one of those d**n nightmares!" Lucky said. When they had
come to a stop he gently shook her. Her reaction was similar to how it had
been the last time he woke her from the dream. She didn't know who it was.
Tears were streaming down her face and she couldn't see Lucky. All she
could see was him, only now he had a face. She saw him grin evilly at her,
and she screamed. She woke slowly, struggling against him the whole time.
Hitting, kicking him with everything in her. Emily and Nikolas watched in
horror as Lucky tried unsuccessfully to wake her. The pain and fear that
she had gone through was clearly shown in her struggle against the
assailant that they couldn't see. Elizabeth was determined that this time
he wasn't going to hurt her. This time, she would get the best of him. He
was talking to her. What was he saying? Then she recognized the voice. It
was Lucky's voice. Her eyes popped open and she saw that she was in the car
and that it was Lucky she had been hitting. Lucky that she had been
kicking. She stopped struggling immediately. "Oh, Lucky," She said. "I'm so
sorry. I..I didn't know it was you..." She was sobbing.

        "It's okay," Lucky said, pulling her close. "It's not you're
fault." She rested her head on his chest, and he talked to her, trying to
calm he down. "It'll be okay. Somehow." He bit his lip, tears streaming
down his face. He wished so much that he could take the pain away.

        "I thought that they were getting better," Elizabeth said. "I
thought that I was over them. They had finally stopped. Then I knew who it
was, and this was the worst one that I had because I could see his face. I
could see him. When will they stop, Lucky? When will I be able to sleep
again? When will I be able to go outside after dark and not jump at every
sound? When will it stop hurting? When will it stop?" She couldn't stop
crying.

        "I don't know, Lizzie. I wish I had the answers to all of those
question, but I don't. I wish I could take away all of the pain, Lizzie. I
wish...I don't know." They stopped talking because there was nothing left
to say. Lucky just held Elizabeth close while she slowing relaxed.

        Emily and Nikolas had left the car soon after Lizzie woke. They had
felt that Lizzie and Lucky had needed some time alone. Emily was crying. "I
had no idea," she said. "How could one thing cause so much pain? How could
a person do that to another person."

        "I don't know," Nikolas said. "I really don't know."

        "She'll never get over this, will she?" Emily said, looking towards
the car.

        "I don't think so Emily. It's not the sort of thing that just goes
away."

        "I didn't understand before, why Lucky was so upset over what
happened between his parents all those years ago. But now, after seeing
that, I would wonder about him not being upset. To see someone you love go
through that and then to know that your father did something like that to
your mother...I can't imagine what he must be going through."

        Nikolas had no idea what to say, so he just pulled he close and
held on to her. They stood like that for a long time in silence. Feeling
pain for Elizabeth, and hatred for the man that had hurt her so badly.

        In a short while Lucky stepped out of the car and walked over to
Emily and Nikolas. He had some scratches on his face and his left eye was
beginning to redden, but besides that he was okay. "She's doing better," he
said softly. "Are you okay to drive a while longer or do you want me to
take over?"

        "I'm okay for a while," Nikolas said. "Are you ready to get started
again?"

        "Yeah," Lucky said. "Lets get going." They walked back to the car
and climbed in, more somber than the last time that they done so. Lucky put
his arm around Liz again, continuing to comfort her. She rested against his
shoulder, she was comfortable, but she knew that there was little chance of
her falling asleep again this night.

        They drove the rest of the way straight through, stopping only for
gas and for Lucky and Nikolas to switch drivers periodically. They arrived
in the town near Laura's place in North Carolina at about five o'clock in
the morning. "Should we go now?" Nikolas asked. "Would anyone be up?"

        "No, I don't think that they'll be up for at least another couple
of hours. Let's go get some breakfast, and come back," Lucky said. They
pulled into a 24 hour diner and got breakfast. They arrived at the house at
about six thirty. The four of them went to the door, Lucky and Nikolas
standing in front of the girls. Lucky knocked and a minute later the door
opened to reveal Laura.

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