Chapter 2

Luke Spencer stood over his still sleeping son with frown on his face.
He didn’t remember Lucky being so thin.  He looked worn out, too.
“You say he came by here late last night, huh?” Luke asked.
“Yeah,” Jason answered, “he looked like he needed to be somewhere around
people for a change, so I let him stay.  That a problem?”
“No, I know this place is well guarded.” Luke said as he thought it out,
“I should actually thank you, for giving my son a night of the streets
for once.”
“It was no problem.” Jason said,  “Want something to eat?”
Luke looked over at the table, where Emily sat feeding Michael.
“Sure, but I’ll make it quick.  I don’t want to be here when he wakes
up.  Weird that he’s not up all ready.  Lucky normally gets up at the
crack of dawn.”
They ate in silence for awhile, till Jason spoke up.
“Luke, I’ve been thinking, would it be all right with you if I offered
Lucky a permanent place here?  I wouldn’t get him involved in anything;
it would just be a place to stay.  But Robin’s moved back to the cottage
now, so things have quieted down.  I finally decided to move into
Sonny’s room, so Lucky could have mine.” Jason said.
“I guess I don’t have a problem with that.  Anything is better than that
boxcar.”
Emily watched this with a smile.  Maybe her and Lucky could be friends
again.  She really missed him being there.
“That would be great!” Emily squealed,  “Lucky could help out with
Michael.”
“Well, he’d certainly try, but you might need someone to watch him,
too.” Luke said smiling,  “I seem to remember him feeding Lulu once, and
most of the food ended up on him.”
They started to laugh when they heard Lucky mumbling in his sleep.

Luke got up and went over to the couch, where Lucky was now tossing and
kicking the covers off.  He sat down and gently shook his shoulders.
“Lucky?  Hey kiddo, wake up.”
Lucky woke up with a start, and it took him a minute to focus.  His head
was spinning, and he felt like he was going to explode.  The dream
again.  It didn’t matter where he went, he thought, this dream was going
to follow him.  He finally realized his dad was sitting next to him.
For a minute he wanted to just fall into his arms and tell him
everything.  He wanted his father to make it all go away.  But he didn’t
think that was possible, so he did nothing.
Luke saw the longing in his son’s eyes, and sat there saddened as
nothing resulted from it.  He cleared his throat and scooted back a
little.
“You okay Cowboy?”
“Yeah.  Yeah, I’m fine.  What are you doing here?” Lucky asked.
Luke allowed himself a small smile as he realized his son’s tone didn’t
have the harshness in it that it normally held when he talked to his
father.
“Just dropped by to see Jason about the club.”
“Oh, well, uh I better get going.  I got someone I have to meet.”
Luke stood up quickly so he could get up.  Lucky was quickly tying his
shoes when Jason spoke.
“Hey, Lucky, you know I like to keep an eye on my employees, which
includes you since your washing my cars now.”
Lucky nodded, wondering where he was headed.
“Anyway, I’m going to be moving into Sonny’s old room, so if you picked
up a few more odd jobs around here, I’d be willing to let you stay in my
old room.”
Lucky thought for a minute.  There’d be more chance of running into his
father here, but the boxcar was losing its' comforts now that fall was
nearing.
“Please say yes, Lucky,” Emily pleaded, “it would give us a chance to
catch up.”
He did miss Emily, that was a fact.  And Liz wouldn’t worry so much
about him here.
“All right, deal.” He relented.
Jason and Emily smiled at him, which he returned as he hurried out the
door.
Luke looked over at Jason, relieved that Lucky had accepted.
“Thanks Jason.  And if you wouldn’t mind, keep an eye on him?  I’d like
to know what that nightmare was about.”
 “Sure thing.  And Luke, I will keep him safe.”
Luke smiled and nodded as he too headed out the door.

Chapter 3

Lucky jumped down from the boxcar with his bag on his back.  He had lied
when he said he had someone to meet, but he really needed out of the
penthouse right then.  The dreams were too disturbing.  Another second
and he might have spilled everything to his father.  He had stopped by
Liz’s house, to tell her where he would be.  She was doing much better
now, and he knew she’d be okay if he wasn’t around as much.

When he arrived at the penthouse, he nearly collided with Nikolas as he
walked in the door.  His surprise at seeing him there stopped him from
picking another fight with him.  He just nodded, and Nikolas did the
same, as he walked out the door.

“Wow, you guys actually didn’t bite each other’s heads off for once.”
Emily said surprised.
“Chalk it up to being caught off guard.  Never expected to see him
here.” Lucky replied.
“Well, I invited him over.  He’s not that bad if you know him, really.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet.  I won’t get into that right now.”
Lucky walked into his new room and dropped his bag.  When he walked back
out Emily was sitting on the couch flipping through a magazine.
“Hey, Em?” Lucky said.
Emily looked up at him a little uncertain of how to react.  They really
hadn’t talked forever, but him calling her Em made it seem like old
times again.
“I, uh, wanted to talk to you about, well, I mean, we haven’t talked in
ages, I know, but,” Lucky took a big sigh and continued, “I’d like us to
be friends again, if we could.  I know I wasn’t there for you when I
should have been and..”
“It’s all right, Lucky, you had your own problems, too.”
“But it was no excuse, Em.  We need to get this out, so we can get
passed it, otherwise, I think there would always be a barrier between
us.”
Emily looked at him uncertainly.  She really wanted to just forget
everything and move on, but she did get her feelings hurt when he
started to ignore her.
“Well, okay, I know when you got back after your mom, um, after she…”
“After she faked her death,” Lucky said emotionlessly, “with the rest of
my family helping her.”
“Yeah, well, I know you called then, and I did brush you off because I
was hanging out with Matt and, well, doing drugs.  But I kinda always
wondered why you didn’t come around more after all that.  I’ve always
thought it was because you were disgusted with what I did and
everything.”
“No, man, that wasn’t it at all, Emily.” Lucky said shocked,  “I’m sorry
you I had you believing that.  I’ve always thought a lot of you, and the
drugs didn’t change that.  I didn’t come around much because…”
There was a long pause as Lucky looked down.  He didn’t know how to
explain this to her.
“Look, when I was growing up, I never really had that many friends.  I
mean, I’d meet kids and play with them, but by the time I got to know
them, we’d have to leave again.  After awhile, I just stopped trying.
I’d stay close to my parents, and wouldn’t talk much to anyone.  I kept
feeling so horrible over lying to friends about who I was and where I
came from and then just disappearing on them one day.  But when we came
here to Port Charles, I thought I finally had a home.  I allowed myself
to finally relax and settle in, and get to like this town.  I even let
myself get to know someone besides my parents.  Emily, you were the
first real friend I had that I didn’t think I’d ever have to lie too.
But then this whole thing came up with my grandma being alive, and…, and
it was just like being on the run again.  Suddenly we had to lie to
everyone we’d known and disappear again.  It hurt that I had to lie to
you.  But I, I thought it was just the normal way of life.  That as soon
as you got to know someone, you had to leave them.  Then I got back, and
you were having a lot of hard times, and I hadn’t been there, and I
didn’t think you’d want anything to do with me.  I mean, my parents have
lied to me, and that’s a big thing to me.  I can’t deal with lies, so I
thought you wouldn’t want to deal with me after all that.  I’m sorry for
all of that Emily.  If I could take it all back, I would tell you the
truth about my mom, I would tell my parents how wrong it was to do what
we did.”
Lucky looked down, unsure if what he said made any sense.
“Lucky..” Emily sighed and continued,  “It’s all right.  I guess I
understand what you’re saying.  I forgive you.  I have to, it seems like
you were beating yourself up over this enough anyway.  I don’t think
there’s any reason for me to punish you further.  But if you ever do lie
again, which I hope you don’t, I hope you realize now that you can still
come to me and talk it out.  No matter what you do, I’ll always listen
to you.”
“So everything’s okay now?” Lucky said smiling.
“Yeah, for once, everything’s okay.” Emily said returning the smile.
“So how about we take a walk down to the docks and get a couple grape
sno cones?”
“You got it!”
Emily still had plenty she wanted to ask him, not about their
friendship, but about his own problems.  They could be saved for another
day, though, she decided.  They had already gone through enough today.
Now was a time to just have fun.

Chapter 4

They had him again.  Whoever it was, they had grabbed Lucky from they
car yet again.  He couldn’t get lose.  He kicked and squirmed and bit,
but nothing worked.  The person would not let go of him.  As he clawed
to get away, he ripped a chain off from around the neck of his attacker.
There was something heavy on the end of it, like a big charm.  Then
something heavy came down on his head, and he fell to the ground as the
darkness overtook him, his hand still clasped around the chain.

Lucky sat up panicked and sweating.  It always happened like that.  Just
when he would black out in the dream, he’d wake up in real life.  He
silently thanked Jason that he had his own room now.  If he had been
seen having this nightmare twice, he was sure they’d ask questions.  And
he just didn’t feel like hashing through all of it right now.  He
doubted that he ever would.
 
Rolling over, Lucky got up out of bed and walked over to his bag on the
floor.  It still held everything in it, since he had never unpacked.
Habit, he guessed.  Why scatter everything around when you might have to
leave at a moment’s notice?  Slowly he unzipped a side compartment and
pulled out the chain with the charm on it.  The same one from his dream.
This proved everything had really happened.  His mind just decided to
forget about it for a little while.  Studying the chain, Lucky carefully
stretched it out on the floor.  He’d always wondered what was so
important about it that he held on to it, even through his years on the
run.  His parents didn’t even know he had it.  It had hurt him not to
tell him, but he knew there was some reason that he couldn’t.
 
It was a secret, though.  A secret he had kept from his parents.  He
supposed he deserved all that was being thrown at him now.  The bible
said an eye for and eye.  So he figured a secret for a secret was
equally just.  He hated secrets.  Growing up on the run, he believed
with all his heart and soul that he and his parents had to be able to
trust each other completely.  Any secret between them could get them
killed.  Thus, secrets meant death.  That wasn’t something he could stop
thinking over night, but it was what his parents seemed to want him to
do.  They wanted him to get over their mistakes and come back home.  But
they didn’t know that he had done that.  He had gotten over their
mistakes, but he still couldn’t come home.  He was waiting for the
punishment.  They were all healthy as could be, and that wasn’t right.
Was that why he worked for Helena and then went to Jason for a job?  Was
he trying to put his life in danger because he believed it should be?
Lucky shook his head and tried to think of other things.  This afternoon
had been great.  Emily and he had relived old times, while at the same
time beginning a new, stronger friendship.  Like the one he had with his
parents long ago….  Stop it, he cursed to himself.  He could not keep
coming back to them.

Looking up at the clock, Lucky realized how late it was.  If he didn’t
get some sleep, it would be apparent to everyone that he had had a rough
night.  Picking up the chain, Lucky gave one more look to the charm on
it.  Then he quickly stuffed the Cassadine medallion back into his bag
and went back to bed, where he eventually fell asleep.
Chapter 5

Quickly, all the passengers from flight 324 out of Boston filed off of
the plane.  The last man in line stopped for a second to look around.
No need for him to rush off to the luggage rack, he carried all his
stuff on him.  Walking out into the sun, he pushed his sunglasses on
over his hazel eyes.  He was tall and rather stocky, probably mid 50’s.
His hair was starting to gray and there were several wrinkles on his
face, but he still gave off a sense of intimidation to those around him.
A dark car pulled up near him, and the man walked to it and got in.  He
had a meeting to attend now, one he was looking forward to.

With a sigh, Lucky threw the rag into the pail.  Finally done, for today
at least.  He was starting to think ten dollars an hour for waxing and
washing all of Jason’s cars wasn’t too much after all.  A room had
eventually come with it too, though, so he figured he was living up to
his name right now.  It was still early afternoon, so he decided to take
a walk down by the docks before going back to the penthouse.  Jason had
decided to have a small dinner party that night.  Well, decided might be
the wrong word, Lucky mused.  He would almost bet his life that his Aunt
Bobbie had talked him into it.  She wanted to see her grandson and show
him off to everyone.  Lucky really didn’t want to go, but he knew he
couldn’t back out of it after Jason gave him his own room, it just
wouldn’t be right.  If it had only been Mike and Emily who were coming,
it would have been all right.  But Bobbie had decided that Luke and
Laura needed to get to know their great-nephew as well.  As long as his
parents didn’t say anything about wanting him to come home, though,
Lucky thought he could at least be civil tonight.  After getting Jason’s
okay, he’d invited Liz to come too.  With her there he knew he would be
fine.

Helena Cassadine stood on the docks by her yacht, nervously fiddling
with her medallion.  She was thinking back to the past, to a horrible
mistake she had made.  She hated to admit it, but it was her mistake.
Needing someone to full fill an extremely important job, she had hired
who she thought would do it precisely and thoroughly.  Well, she had
been right about that.  But then the unexpected had happened.  She, a
Cassadine, had lost control of the situation.  Daniel Forst had proved
himself to be a man with his own agenda.  And here she was waiting to
meet this monster yet again, though not of her own free will.  When
Daniel called, there was no choice.  She quickly turned around when she
heard the footsteps behind her, changing her expression to one more
confident.  It would do no good to show your fear to the enemy.

“Thank you, Ari, for driving Mr. Forst from the airport.  That is all we
will need for now.” Helena said.
As Ari walked off, Daniel studied Helena with a smirk on his face.
“And just what is it that you find so amusing, Mr. Forst?”
“Come now, Helena dear, there is no need to use such formalities.  We
are old friends, are we not?  I was admiring how much you haven’t
changed since we have last met.”
“Well, Daniel, don’t be so sure that I’m still that same naïve woman you
knew long ago.” Helena replied dryly,  “Though I may still look the same
on the outside, I have definitely gathered many regrets of some of my
past actions.  Hiring you tops that list.”
“Now, now, my dear, don’t be that way.” Daniel said chuckling,  “I’ve
always been quite fond of you.  I can’t help it if I just slightly
disagreed with the way you wanted things done back then.” Daniel changed
his tone to one more threatening as he continued, “And you would be wise
not to pick a fight with me about it.”
Helena let down her false charade and frowned at him.
“Why are you back now?” she asked.
“We have unfinished business.  It seems that I never accomplished what
you hired me to do, so I’m just back to finish the job.”
“You know very well that what you think so desperately needs to be done
was never part of my plan.”
“It is now, though, and you’d be better off if you didn’t fight me on
this.  That is, unless you’d like meet you maker a little early.”

Before Helena could respond, she saw Lucky walking down the steps.  She
silently prayed that he would turn around.  But he didn’t.  He gave her
a slight look when he saw her, but continued on his way.

“Hello Lucky, how are you this afternoon.” She said pleasantly as she
could.
“Like you care, Mrs. Cassadine.” Lucky retorted.
Daniel turned around and smiled his biggest smile at Lucky.  “Now young
man, that is no way to talk to a lady.”

Lucky stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the man.  Instantly
images flew through his mind, but they were to fast for him to grasp.
He stood there stunned as the man walked towards him.

Daniel extended his hand as he spoke.  “Lucky, was that your name?  Nice
to meet you son, I’m Daniel Forst.”

Lucky still didn’t move.  Daniel studied him with delight.  So the boy
remembered him. This should be interesting.  Helena just stood watching,
cursing herself.  She was feeling pity at the moment for a Spencer.  But
even the son of her worst enemy didn’t deserve to be taunted by this
man.

“Well, Lucky, it’s getting near dinnertime.  Shouldn’t you be getting
home?” Helena asked.

The words seemed to go right past him.  He finally snapped back to
reality as Helena shook his shoulder.  He glanced up at her and saw
something in her eyes he had never seen before.  He couldn’t tell what
it was, but they didn’t hold the pure hate for him that they normally
did.  Taking one more glance at Daniel, he turned and walked away.
Helena stared after Lucky as he left.  They were both in for it now.

Chapter 6

Lucky nearly ran back to the penthouse.  All he wanted was to get that
man, Daniel Forst, out of his head.  But it seemed to be the one thing
he couldn’t do.  Why couldn’t he just forget, he wondered, as he picked
up more speed.

Everyone else had already arrived at the penthouse, and were chatting
quietly when Lucky burst through the door.  He hadn’t waited on Renaldo
to open the door, who was now standing behind him perplexed.  Everyone
looked at his appearance in shock.  He was pale and sweating, and looked
like something had knocked his breath out of him.  Not taking note of
all the people around him, Lucky started to his room when Luke jumped up
and grabbed his arm, spinning him around.

“Lucky, what’s wrong?” Luke asked quietly and panicked,  “Did something
happen?”
Lucky stared at his father, his heart screaming at him once again to
just break down and spill everything.  But he could barely speak right
now.
“Nothing happened, I’m just a little tired because I decided to take a
jog.” He lied.
Laura walked over to them and took his other arm.
“Sweetie, are you sure that’s it?  You can tell us anything, you know.”
She said.
Lucky looked at her for a moment before responding.
“I know mom, but nothing’s wrong, really.  I’m just worn out from the
jog, so I think I’ll just go lie down for awhile, okay?” Lucky asked.
“Yeah, that’s fine.  But if you want to come out or talk or something,
we’ll be here for awhile.” Laura replied.
Lucky nodded and walked out of the room.

Luke and Laura sat back down, worried now about their son.
“He was lying.” Laura said sadly,  “His mind is going through something
right now, and he won’t tell us.”
Luke reached over and grabbed her hand, seeing she was close to tears.
“I know baby doll.  We just have to be patient and try to find a way to
get through.”
Emily spoke up from her spot next to Liz.
“Mr. Spen-, I mean, Luke, maybe Liz and I could get him to talk.  Lucky
and I had a talk the other day, and he told me he stayed away from me
for so long because he thought I couldn’t forgive him for lying to me.
Maybe it’s the same kind of situation.  Maybe he’s just afraid to talk
to you because he’s scared that there is something you won’t forgive him
for.”
“You think he’d say anything to you?” Luke asked.
“He might.  I did tell him the other day that he could tell me anything,
and he seemed to believe me.  And he already tells Liz everything.”
Liz blushed but looked up at the Spencers.
“Yeah, I think the two of us together could get something out of him.”
Liz said.
Luke smiled at the two girls and thanked them.

“Well, shall we go ahead and eat?” Jason asked.
Mike looked at him amused.
“Is food all you think about?” he returned.
“You gotta eat to live, right?” Jason said seriously.
Bobbie chuckled as she lifted Michael into his high chair.
“At least I’ve got someone raising my grandson that has the necessities
of life down.” She said.

In his room, Lucky sat staring at the Cassadine medallion.  It had
belonged to that man he just saw, Daniel.  He was the one that pulled
him from the car that day.  He was the one that---  Lucky’s thoughts
were interrupted by a knock at the door.  Opening his bag, he hid the
medallion as fast as he could, and reluctantly opened the door.  Liz and
Emily were on the other side, and came in his room and sat down on the
bed.

“Hey Lucky, how ya doin?” Liz asked cheerfully.
Lucky gave her a questioning look, but replied.
“I’m fine.  What did you two want?”
“Do we have to want something?  We’re you two best friends, right?
Can’t we just come in to talk?” Emily asked.
“Of course you can, but like I said out there, I’m tired.  So unless
this is important, I think we could ‘just talk’ later.”
Liz and Emily frowned at him.  Maybe this wouldn’t be as easy as they
thought.
“All right, we’ll skip the small talk then.” Liz said flatly,  “We’re
worried about you, and we think there is something you’re not telling
us.  So spill it.”
Lucky looked at them uneasily.  Maybe they were two people he could
tell.
He took a deep breath as he pulled up a chair and sat across from the
girls.
“I saw someone on the docks tonight.  I think I know him, from my past.
I can’t remember where or how, though.  He said his name was Daniel
Forst, but that doesn’t sound right to me.  And he was talking to Helena
Cassadine, too.”
Emily and Liz looked at each other worriedly at his last statement.
“Lucky, don’t you think that if this involves Helena that you should
tell your parents?” Liz asked.
“I can’t!  I can’t talk to them about this!”
“Why Lucky?  You have to work at getting over the mistakes they made.
They were just mistakes.”  Emily said.
Lucky became panicked now, and his words came out in a rush.  He didn’t
notice Luke and Laura were now standing in the doorway.
“I have gotten over them.  That’s not the problem!”
Liz looked at him confused.
“Then what it is?  If your not mad at them for what they did anymore,
why can’t you reconcile with them?”
“Because I lied to them too.  Something happened when we were on the
run, something bad.  I did something that I’m completely ashamed of.
But I never told them.  For awhile,  I guess I blocked it out, but
recently I’ve been having these dreams, that bring back everything.  Now
I can’t tell them because they’d never forgive me.”
“How can be sure if you don’t even give us the chance?” Luke spoke up.
Lucky jumped at Luke’s voice and stood up stunned.  Tears were filling
his eyes, and he backed up against the wall, almost like he was afraid
of them.
“Lucky, there isn’t anything so bad that we wouldn’t forgive you for
it.” Laura said.
“Yes there is.” Lucky whispered as he went on, “Yes there is.”
Luke and Laura walked over to their son.  Laura reached out and laid a
hand on his arm.  It shocked her when her son jumped and drew back.
“How about we go out to the living room and talk about this, okay?” Luke
asked.
Lucky shook his head and scooted down the wall.
“No, I just want to be alone right now.  I have to… clear my head.”
Lucky said.
“It feels better to talk things out.” Laura said, still trying,  “Don’t
you want to give it a try?”
“Not now, please.”  he wiped the tears away as he looked up at them,
“Maybe later, okay?”
Laura was going to protest but Luke stopped her.
“All right, Cowboy, we’ll leave you alone for now.  But don’t think this
conversation is over.”
Liz and Emily stood up from the bed and walked out, Luke and Laura
following them.  As soon as the door was shut Lucky let all his tears
out.  He was going to have to tell them now.  He couldn’t avoid it any
longer.  All he had done for the moment was simply delay the truth from
coming out.
Chapter 7

Helena sat at her desk, studying the latest reports that had been handed
to her.  The man she had put on Lucky had discovered that he was staying
at Jason Morgan’s penthouse.  Not only that, but the Spencers seemed to
be regular visitors there.  If this had been a normal day, she would
have been furious that the rift between parents and son seemed to be
closing.  But after Daniel’s visit, this was good news.  Lucky was going
to need his parents to get through this.

She would never admit she cared.  It was just concern.  Concern for a
boy that she accidentally put in danger at a young age.  It could just
have easily been Nikolas.  All she was doing was following the example
of Stefan and Luke.  No matter how much they feuded, they would not harm
each other’s children.  Picking up a picture of Lucky, she ran her
fingers over his face.  For a Spencer, he really wasn’t all that bad.
He was intelligent, knew how to handle people, and could think on his
feet.  Had she been able to totally break his loyalty for his parents
when he worked for her, he would have been an invaluable asset.  Luke
and Laura Spencer didn’t deserve him.  They had named him right, though.
The boy had lived through ten years on the run, been shot, stabbed,
fallen into a bog, and once survived Daniel Forst.  She silently prayed
he could do it again.

She could warn him, but would much good come from that.  If she stayed
on the inside with Daniel, she might be able to mess up his plans.  But
if she told, Daniel would have her killed.  Not only that, Luke would
kill her too for what she did.

Lucky woke up late.  He wandered into the main room and found a note.
Jason had some business to attend too, and Emily had gone back home, but
would be around a lot to visit.  He also found that Latecia had taken
Michael out for a walk.  Just then he heard a knock on the door, and
Renaldo stuck his head in.

“Mr. Cassadine to see Ms. Quartermaine.” Renaldo announced.
Lucky stared at Nikolas as he entered.  He was too emotionally worn to
get into another fight today.
“Emily’s not here.  She went home.” Lucky said.
“Oh.  Okay.”
Nikolas stood there, a little nervously.  Was he just supposed to turn
around and leave now?  He found himself wanting to stay there and talk
to his brother.  He was his brother, even if he denied it.  And he
looked like he needed a friend at the moment.  Perhaps he could help.
“Did you want something else, or does it take this long for your brain
to register what I said.”  Lucky said.
Nikolas sighed.  Perhaps he couldn’t help.  He didn’t want to get drawn
into another quarrel started for no good reason.
“No, that was all.”
Lucky regretted what he said as he saw Nikolas turn to leave.
“Hey, Niky, um, I’m sorry about that.  It was just kinda reflex, I
guess.”
Nikolas stared back at him.  Lucky had just apologized to him?  Not only
that, but it had even sounded sincere.  For the second time, he changed
his mind.  Perhaps he could help.
“That’s all right.  Growing up learning not to be nice to Cassadines is
probably a hard habit to break.”
“Yeah, I guess it is.  Truce is still on, right?” Lucky asked.
“Of course.  Anything I hold against you is purely because you’re a
jerk, not because you’re a Spencer.”
Lucky let out a small laugh before he could help himself.  It what just
because of all the stress, though, he told himself.  He would have
laughed at anyone to relieve a little bit of his jumbled mind.  Nikolas
smiled back, though.
“So you here all alone?” he asked.
“Yeah, everyone had somewhere to go, and I just slept in too late to go
with them.”
“I seem to have done the same thing.  Stefan was gone when I got up, and
I missed Emily now, too.”
There was an awkward silence now.  Neither knew what to say, but were
reluctant to end a conversation where they were actually getting along.
“Lucky, uh, are you okay?  You looked a little, uh, stressed out.”
“So what’s new?”
“If you want to talk about anything….. I mean, I know we still aren’t on
great terms, but sometimes it’s nice to talk to someone who’s in the
same position as you.  And if your problems are with you family, I could
certainly sympathize with you there.”
Lucky looked a Nikolas for minute.  Maybe he wasn’t all that bad…
“Well, you know, we should probably stay away from discussing family
problems, or we’d be at each other’s throats again.  But you know, if
you want to just, I don’t know, hang out or something, since both of us
seem to be alone for the day.  Of course you could probably go catch
Emily at the Q’s or something.  Never mind.”
“No, Lucky, I think that would be great.  Have you eaten yet?”
“No, I just got up.”
“Great.” Nik said happily, “You want to go get something at the PC
Grill?”
“Um, I don’t know, I mean that’s rather public, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but that’s okay, right?” Nik said a little hurt,  “Unless you
don’t want to be seen with me.”
“Nah, that’s fine.” Lucky said smiling, “Besides, we can get all those
shocked looks from people.”
Lucky wrote a quick note, and the brothers left for the grill.

Chapter 8

They were halfway through their meal, and everything was going
surprisingly well.  Nikolas talked of what his life was growing up in
Greece, and Lucky shared stories of Lulu with him.
“Lucky, can I ask you something?”
“Sure, what?”
“Well, I’ve talked about my past, but I really don’t know that much
about yours.  I know you grew up on the run and all, but what was that
like?”
Lucky looked down and waited a moment before he responded.
“It was just life.  You know, we had good and bad moments just like any
other family.”
“Except your bad moments were normally life threatening.” Nikolas said.
Lucky nodded. “Yeah.  But it’s not as bad as it sounds.  I was never
really scared.” He lowered his voice to a whisper, “Except for maybe
once.”
“When was that?” Nik asked, carefully.
“There was this one time that I got separated from my parents for
awhile.”
“How long was awhile?” Nik prodded.
“About six months.”
“Six months?  Lucky, that’s more than awhile.  How old were you?”
Lucky replied, his voice flat,  “Seven.”
Nikolas looked at him in surprise.  He had lost track Stefan once at an
airport when he was seven.  They were off to another boring meeting with
some royalty, and he had wandered off.  He’d only been lost for two
hours, and it had scared him to death.  He couldn’t even imagine what it
must have been like to lose your parents for six months.
“How did you survive without them for that long?”
“I knew how to take care of myself.  And we had back up plans in case
something like that happened.  I found a friend of my father’s.” Lucky
said, moving uncomfortably in his chair.  “Eventually, mom and dad found
out where I was.”
“Why did it take them six months to find you, especially if you were
with one of Luke’s friends?”
“It just did, okay?”
Nikolas was about to ask more questions, but the waiter arrived then
with the check.
“Just put it on the Cassadine bill, okay.” Nikolas said.
“No, wait, my half will be cash.” Lucky said quickly.
“Lucky, stop.  Put your money away.”  Nik then turned to the waiter.
“On the bill, as I said.”
The waiter nodded and walked off, as Lucky gave Nikolas a look.
“I can pay for it myself, you know.”
“Yeah, but I’m the one that asked you to come to the grill, therefore I
pay.”
“Well the other time you paid for my lunch here with Elizabeth, you
didn’t invite me, so me paying this time evens it up.”
“Lucky, just shut up and let me pay, all right?”
Lucky regarded him with a suspicious eye for a minute, but then he just
smiled and nodded.
“Fine.  But this is the last time.”
“Whatever you say Spencer.” Nik replied smiling.
“So what now?”
“Huh?”
Lucky got a little nervous and avoided eye contact as he talked.
“Well, I mean, did you want to do anything else today?”
Nikolas allowed himself a small smile.  His brother actually wanted to
spend time with him.
“Sure, what did you have in mind?”
“I don’t know, you want to go see a movie or anything?” Lucky suggested.
“I’ve never really gone to the theater that much.”
“Oh yeah.  Um, well…”
They sat there not knowing what to say.  They didn’t want this to
happen.  They had been getting along so well, but now their different up
bringings were showing up.  Then Nikolas had an idea.
“You ever gone water skiing?”
Lucky look up surprised. “You’re kidding, right?  I mean, yeah, I have,
but you?”
Nikolas smiled.  “Well life as a Cassadine isn’t quite as morbid and
boring as you think.  I got Uncle to let me keep a speedboat out on the
other side of the island.  Thing is, it kind of take two people, you
know, someone has to drive, so I haven’t had a chance to ski in a long
time.”
“Well if you’re serious, I can certainly drive, as well as ski.  When I
was down in Hawaii once, dad taught me how.”
“I don’t know what was more shocking about that statement.  That you
actually got to live in Hawaii for awhile, or that Luke Spencer knows
how to water-ski.” Nik replied.
Lucky laughed as he replied, “Yeah, well life on the run could be
glamorous at times.  And all Spencers are people with many talents.”
They got up to leave then, a Spencer willingly following a Cassadine to
Spoon Island for an afternoon of fun.

It was early evening, as Luke paced back and forth.  Laura stared at him
irritated.
“Could you please sit down, Luke?”
“Laura, our son has been gone all day, and he only left a note that says
‘Gone out to eat, be back later.’  I’ve had Jason check all his normal
places.  He’s not at Kelly’s or the boxcar, or anywhere.”
Liz and Emily entered the penthouse then.  They smiled at Laura, and
noticed how wound up Luke was.
“Hello girls.  Have you seen Lucky?”
“Not since the last time you asked us Mr. Spen, uh, Luke.” Emily said.
Jason walked down the steps, slightly amused at Luke.
“You know, Lucky can take care of himself.  Maybe he just wanted to be
by himself for awhile.  I know what that’s like.”
The door opened then, and Lucky walked in laughing, with Nikolas behind
him.  Everyone looked at them, shock evident on their faces.  Lucky’s
smile faded quickly, and he looked down.
“Uh, hi everyone.”
“Lucky.  You had us worried, you know.” Luke said confused.  “Your note
wasn’t very specific.”
“Yeah, well, I really didn’t know what all I was going to do when I left
today.”
Laura looked at her boys, and couldn’t help but smile.  They looked like
they had been getting along when they came in.  It saddened her, though,
that they looked like they’d been caught with their hand in the cookie
jar when everyone saw them together.
“So what did you end up doing?”  she asked.
Nikolas could see that Lucky didn’t really want to speak up, so he did
it for him.
“Um, well, I came by looking for Emily this morning, but Lucky was the
only one here.  So we went out for breakfast, and then we went skiing
behind Spoon Island.”
There was a deadly silence, then.  Everyone was waiting for the blow up
from Luke.  But it never came.
“Well, Niky, since you’re here, you might as well stay for dinner with
the rest of us.”
Though it didn’t seem possible, everyone’s eyes widened even more at
Luke’s words..  Luke just walked over to the table as if nothing had
happened.  If the Cassadine boy had actually gotten Lucky to enjoy
himself for once, he wasn’t going to ruin it.  He just didn’t want to
see Laura smiling at him about it.  Lucky and Nikolas exchanged glances,
and then sat down with everyone else.  Lulu raced over and sat on
Nikolas’ lap.  Still no remark from Luke, though.  This was certainly an
interesting change in behavior, from more than one Spencer.
Chapter 9

For once Lucky woke up early the next morning.  He shook his head as he
remembered last night’s dinner.  Neither Luke or Nikolas said much, but
they hadn’t fought, either.  And it felt good to have his whole family
there.  Not only that, but his closest friends, Jason and Emily, and of
course Liz.  It made him realize how lonely living on your own could be.

After breakfast, Lucky headed out the door.  He knew that Jason knew he
wouldn’t stay at the penthouse for free, and that was why he said Lucky
could do more odd jobs to stay there.  The thing was, Jason already had
people doing most things for him, so he really had to stretch to come up
with anything for Lucky to do.  And since Jason owned part of Luke’s,
Lucky was now keeping the books there.  He didn’t like doing jobs there,
but he didn’t want to argue.
 
Two hours later, he was almost done.  It had taken him so long, cause,
well, Luke wasn’t all that great at it, and there were several mistakes
that had to be corrected.  Looking up when the door opened, he almost
groaned out loud when he saw his father.  Luke nodded at him.

“So, did you fix everything in there?”
“Well, it wasn’t easy, but I got it all worked out.” Lucky replied,
stretching.
Luke sat down across from the desk and put his feet up on it.
“You know, there is still that matter of telling your mother and I
whatever it is that you’re hiding.”
Lucky was silent.  He knew this was coming.  He didn’t know if he could
survive it.  Well, he was still a Spencer, though, which meant he could
still stall for quite awhile.
“Don’t you want mom to hear this, too?”
“Of course. She’s waiting in the car.”
“You know, I really don’t want to talk with you too unless…”
“Liz is here, too, if that’s what you wanted.” Luke cut him off.   “If
you want to try and stall even longer, forget it.  I even have Jason in
his own car with Emily.”
“Covered all the bases.  What rule was that again, when we were on the
run, 7, 8, 2,000?”
“Now you’re not stalling, you’re just babbling.  Come one, let’s go.
We’ll take this back to the penthouse.”
Lucky thought briefly of running for it.  But what was the use?

Luke, Laura, Liz, Emily, and Jason sat around the penthouse, waiting for
Lucky to come out of his room.  He had gone in there saying there was
something he needed to retrieve.  There was a knock at the door, and
Renaldo announced a Mr. Cassadine.  As Nikolas walked in, Luke shook his
head.  So that was the urgent phone call Lucky had made before they had
exited Luke’s.  But then Luke really got a shock, for behind Nikolas
came Stefan, as well as Alexis.  Who knows what would have happened
then, if Lucky hadn’t appeared.

“Dad, it’s all right.  I asked that they all come here.”
“Well would you mind if I asked why you invited these vampire bats to a
family discussion?” Luke asked angered.
Lucky’s eyes went dead as he replied.
“Because I’m going to tell you everything, but there are parts that I
don’t know about.  I though they could help explain it.”
Stefan cleared his throat.  He didn’t feel up to the Spencers’ games.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but I really don’t see how my nephew or sister
or I could be of any help to whatever catastrophe you have gotten
yourself into now.”
Lucky slowly brought up his hand.  While holding on to the end of the
chain, he let the Cassadine medallion drop and dangle.  With a quick
glance around, he knew he had everyone’s attention now.  Alexis was the
first to find her voice.
“How did you get that?”
“I can tell you how, but I need a little help with who it belonged to.”
“Lucky, we can figure this out on our own.  Bringing in the devil won’t
help anything.”
“Dad, please.” Lucky pleaded.  “I need to get this all figured out, and
they aren’t the enemy.”
Luke was going to protest more, but something about Lucky’s face changed
his mind.
“All right then, have a seat.” Luke relented.
Liz, Emily, Nik, and Jason moved to the floor as everyone else took a
place on the two sofas.  Lucky sat by himself in the chair, staring at
nothing, but careful not to look at anyone.  Laura decided to start the
conversation.
“Now, Lucky, why don’t you start by telling us what it is you’ve done
that you don’t think we could ever forgive you for.”
Lucky whispered, with all the emotion he had in him.
“I killed a man.”
 

Chapter 10

A long drawn-out silence followed.  Maybe everyone was waiting for him
to say he was joking.  He never did.
“Lucky, what are you talking about?” Laura asked.
“You wanted me to tell you what I did, so I’m telling you.”
“Well maybe you should start from the beginning, Cowboy.”
“You remember when we got separated?” Lucky asked his parents.
Luke and Laura both nodded, worried where this was leading.
“Well that’s when it happened.”
“Lucky, you were seven years old.”  Luke said.
Tears started to well up in Lucky’s eyes now.
“I know.”
No one seemed to know what to say, so Jason just asked the obvious.
“Who did you kill, and how?”
“I don’t really know who it was, but I shot him.”
“There had to be a reason, Lucky.  Why did you shoot him?” Luke asked.
Lucky mumbled, but could still be heard.  “Because I’m a horrible
person.”
Luke was slowly getting angry now.
“Don’t think for a second that I believe that.  I know that if what
you’re saying is true, you probably had a valid reason for it.  Now
there is something you’re still not telling us about that time.  Why
don’t you start from the moment you realized we weren’t there, till this
happened.”
Lucky sighed, and he trembled a little.  He opened his mouth, but no
sound came out.  Nikolas wanted to help him.  Stefan didn’t know he had
spent all of yesterday with him, and that he was starting to like him as
a brother, but that didn’t matter right now.
“Lucky, it’s all right.  There’s no rush.  Just take your time.” He said
gently.
Lucky nodded and continued, still not looking at anyone.
“It was at an airport, somewhere in Canada, right?”
Lucky looked up just long enough to see Luke’s nod before continuing.
“We were in a rush, like usual.  Mom and Dad were hard to recognize
because they had hats and sunglasses on, and looked just like everyone
else there.”
“So you lost track of us, and found my friend Luis there, right?” Luke
finished.
“Not exactly.”
“What?” Laura said confused.  “Sweetie, that’s what you told us
happened.”
Lucky swallowed hard.  “I lied.  I was keeping up with you guys, even
though it was hard.  But then someone, it turned out to be Luis, pulled
me back through the crowd.”
Luke was confused.  “What?  Why?”
“He said it was part of a plan you had arranged.  That we needed to
separate for awhile so it would be harder for Frank Smith’s men to
follow us.”
Luke was angry now.  “I never told him to do that!  The one thing I
always tried to do was keep us together.”
“I know that, but Luis was a friend.  One of the only ones we had…
Anyway, he took me out to his car, and we drove for a long time.  We
stopped off at a few hotels, so I think it must have been three days
later that we finally stopped.  Luis took me to some big mansion.  He
told me that you and mom where inside, but I had to wait in the car for
a moment while he double-checked everything.  While I was sitting
there…”

Lucky suddenly dropped of his sentence.  Luke and Laura were sitting
there in shock, wondering how all of this could have happened without
them knowing, and dreading what Lucky still had to tell them.  Stefan
and Alexis sat a little uncomfortably.  They were a little afraid as to
why they were here. All signs of his story were pointing to yet another
evil act committed by their family, since he had a medallion.  Jason sat
there blankly, no one could really tell what he was thinking.  I mean,
he held the same expression when he was having a good time with Michael,
and when he was changing his diaper.  Emily and Nik sat there with pity.
They’d never heard Lucky talk much about life on the run, and now they
were thinking they didn’t want him too.  Liz, though, crawled over
across the floor and took Lucky’s hand.

“What happened then, Lucky?” she asked.
Looking up into her eyes, he felt safe, and squeezed her hand as he
began again.
“Some man came up from behind the car, and opened the door.  I though it
was Luis, but it wasn’t.  I tried going out the other door, but he
grabbed me.  I struggled and kicked, but he was way too strong.  I
reached up once, and my hand grabbed on to this medallion.  As I kept
fighting, it broke off from around his neck.  Then… then something hard
hit me over the head and I blacked out.”
Lucky saw Liz crying and regretted her being here.
“Liz, I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking about…”
“No, Lucky, I’m crying because this happened to you.” She said sadly.
Luke didn’t want to interrupt, but he had too.
“Cowboy, why have you waited until now to tell us this?” he asked
softly.
“I didn’t remember it.  I mean, I blocked it out, or at least my mind
did.  But I’ve been having these dreams, or nightmares, that brought
everything back.”
Luke swallowed hard, remembering how he and Laura had finally found
Lucky.  This story was not going to be pleasant.
“All right kiddo, go on.”
Lucky kept hold of Liz’s hand as she rested her head on his knees.
“When I woke up, I was in some room, in the mansion.  Luis was standing
over me, along with another man.  The man that I saw the..”
He broke off, realizing he had only told Liz and Emily about Daniel
Forst.  Luke became very anxious, though.
“The man that you saw where, when?  Has this been recently?”
“I- I saw him on the docks two days ago.”
“That was why you came rushing in here looking like the sky had fallen?”
Luke asked, already knowing the answer.
Lucky had nodded.
“What was he doing on the docks?”
“He was talking to someone.”
Luke got a little impatient.  “Who, Lucky?” He changed his voice to
sound more caring.  “Cowboy, this could mean trouble.  I just want you
to tell me so I can help you.  Now who was he talking to?”
Lucky answered in a whisper.  “Helena.”

Liz and Emily knew that was coming, but everyone else had shock and
anger on their faces.  Well, except for Jason, who still held the same
look.  Luke began to rise, but Laura stopped him.
“Luke, sit.  We have to hear the rest of the story.”
Alexis and Stefan exchanged a glance.  Yep, this all led back to their
family.  Lucky got a nod from Laura and went on.
“They were both standing over me, I was asleep on a bed, and I asked
them where mom and dad were.  The man that I saw, on the docks, he said
his name was Daniel Forst, but I don’t think I ever knew his name
before.  But Daniel told me that you guys had been killed by Frank
Smith’s men.  I didn’t believe him, and I got up and tried to run out
the door.  But he grabbed me by the shoulder and turned me around and..”
his voice cracked as he continued, “he hit me with the back of his hand,
and I fell down.  He kept kicking me and hitting me” Lucky breathed in
deeply, sobbing now.  Laura got up and walked over to her son, as Liz
moved back.  She enveloped him and big hug and stroked his hair.
“It’s all right Lucky, it’s all right.” She comforted him.
Lucky pulled back and wiped his eyes.  He was trembling but forced
himself to go on.
“I’m not done yet.”
Laura smiled at him encouragingly, and sat back down by Luke, who was
wiping his own tears away.
“The next couple of days, they kept me in my room.  Luis wouldn’t talk
much to me.  When they let me out, I saw that Daniel ran a sort of
organization.  He was an assassin.  People would come there a lot.
Daniel was normally angry at them.  And when he was angry at someone, he
would have them…killed.  I had to stay in the house, and one day I was
finishing up breakfast when Daniel walked by.  He said he had a meeting,
and that I should sit in on it with him.  The person he had the meeting
with messed up some job.  Daniel wanted to punish him, but he thought……”

Lucky stopped and just sat there.  Alexis was more than curious by now,
and prodded on to find out about this Daniel had gotten the medallion
from.
“He thought what, Lucky?”
Lucky covered his mouth and tried to hold the tears back.
“I can’t say.”
“Why Lucky?” Laura asked.
“Because you’ll hate me if you know.”
Luke and Laura both felt their hearts break.  They wanted to tell their
son that that wasn’t possible, but they couldn’t make their mouths work.
Stefan realized this.  He felt saddened, but why?  This was only the
little Spencer brat, who had been chosen over Nikolas.  That wasn’t his
fault, though, Stefan realized.  Lucky was an innocent child, who seemed
to have been hurt badly in the war between their families.
“Lucky, your parents could never hate you.” Stefan said.  “I’m sure
they’d tell you that themselves right now, if they weren’t shocked at
you even thinking that.”
Laura nodded to agree with him as she bit down on her lips to try and
regain herself.  Nikolas was a little surprised that his uncle had
spoken up, but decided he shouldn’t be.  He always knew his uncle had a
good heart.  He caught Emily’s eye and smiled at her.  She crawled over,
and Nikolas held her close.  Liz took Lucky’s hand again, and kissed it.
Lucky trembled violently now.
“He thought that I should do it.  That I should learn a lesson in how to
make people obey me.  He stood up, and walked over to a cabinet, and
pulled a gun out of it.  He placed it in my hands. I instantly dropped
it, and he slapped me for it, and made me pick it up.  He forced my
hands around it..”
The tears were streaming down his face, but he made no effort to wipe
them away.  Everyone realized that right now he wasn’t with them.  He
was back in that mansion, in that ‘meeting,’ holding that gun.
“The person that had messed up his job for Daniel was a man in about his
thirties.  His hair was blond and his eyes were blue.  His face was so
scared, and his eyes… they were so disturbing.  They had regret and
sadness and pity in them.  Pity for me, when I was the one that had to
hurt him.  I tried to run, but Daniel had a hold of me.”

Lucky dropped Liz’s hand and brought his feet up on the chair, and
hugged his knees to his chin.  No one made a sound.
“He put his hands over mine, and forced me to pull the trigger.  I
killed a man I didn’t even know!”
Lucky’s last words had come out as a shout, and he completely broke
down.  Liz backed up crying and went over to Emily and Nikolas.  Luke
and Laura were over to Lucky’s side in a flash.  But he was too much in
pain at the moment to realize they weren’t going to hurt him like Daniel
had.  He fought them, and Luke had to physically hold Lucky’s arms and
legs down as Laura spoke softly to him.  Eventually he grabbed on to
both of his parents, and cried until he fell asleep.  Luke sighed as
looked down at his son.  There was still much to be told, done, and
talked out, but it would have to wait.  Right now all that was important
was that his son needed him, and he would be there.

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