Lucky slept for a few hours.  No one left, though.  Alexis and Stefan
sat back by themselves, discussing the situation.
“Who do you think this Daniel is?” Alexis asked.
“I have a pretty good idea, but I might as well wait and explain it to
everyone.” Stefan answered her.
“Does that mean you are going to help them?
“We, Alexis, we are.  It has nothing to do with Spencer, but Lucky is an
innocent child, and Nikolas seems to have started a relationship with
him.  Besides, this has to do with my mother, and she needs to be
stopped.”
Nikolas himself was sitting talking to Emily and Liz.
“I feel so bad for him.” Liz said.  “He helped me through, well, a lot
of stuff, and I don’t know how to return the favor.”
“Liz, just you being here helps him.” Nik told her.
“The same could be said for you.” Emily said.  “I think he likes having
a brother”.
“We just spent one day together, because we both happened to have
nothing else to do.  It doesn’t mean we are on the greatest of terms.”
Emily smiled at him.  “No, but it does mean those terms have improved.”
Lucky woke up, and came back out from his room, where his father had
moved him.  Everyone prepared themselves once again.

Lucky was little uncomfortable now, after pretty much having a break
down in front of everyone.
“Where did I leave off?”  Lucky asked, his voice dry.
“Not so fast.” Luke said.  “There’s something you need to know first.
What happened was not your fault.  You’re not a bad person.  You did not
commit murder, Daniel Forst did.  He is the one that pulled the trigger.
If he hadn’t put his hands over yours, you wouldn’t have done it.” Luke
leaned forward.  “Lucky, you can’t blame yourself for that.  Your mother
and I don’t.  You did nothing wrong.  You have to believe that.”
Lucky let the words sink in for a little while, but didn’t know if he
still fully believed it.  “I guess I know that in my head, but I can’t
convince my heart.”
Luke felt his own heart break yet again for his son.  He would find this
demon soon enough, and he would be punished for what he did.
“Anyway, that happened about four months after I was taken there.
Before that, I had only….. seen him kill people himself.  The whole
time, though, he tried to teach me his… business.”
Now Stefan looked up outraged.
“This man tried to teach a seven-year-old child how to kill people?”
Lucky looked at him a little surprised that he spoke up like that, but
nodded.
“Anyway, a few days after that, Daniel had a big job going down.  Some
terrorists had hired him to bomb a post office, I think.  But someone
double-crossed him, and the bomb ended up in the mansion.  I was
supposed to be in the car, because we were taking off.  I thought it was
my chance, though, so I got out to take off.  I got up to the house to
get some cash, when I saw Daniel and Luis arguing in some room.  Daniel
was saying that Luis betrayed him, but he swore he didn’t.  Then
Daniel,” Lucky swallowed hard,  “picked up a knife and plunged it into
him.  He was dead before he hit the ground.  Then the bomb went off.  I
was trapped underneath some beams.  A month later I woke up in the
hospital, not remembering what I’ve just told you.  Another month mom
and dad showed up.  I told them what I could remember.  That I got
separated from them, and that I found Luis.  I thought there was some
plan, so I said that Luis made us lay low for awhile.”
“That’s why it took us awhile to find you.”  Luke said dully.  “We
finally started checking all the hospitals.  The doctors’ told us they
thought you and Luis had mistakenly gotten in the middle of a terrorist
job gone bad. They told us he was dead, and you were okay.  Is that
everything?”
“Yeah, except for when I woke up, the nurse gave me the medallion.  She
said I had it on when I came in.  I think I wore it the whole time I was
gone.  I’m sorry I never told you about it, but something about it
scared me, made me think that I shouldn’t tell about it because it would
only cause trouble.”
Laura reached out patted his knee.
“Thank you for telling us Lucky.  I promise you that we will try to make
everything all right now.”
Stefan looked at Alexis, and she nodded.
“That goes for us too.” Stefan said.
Everyone, including Nikolas looked at him surprised.  Stefan and Alexis
looked back a little uneasy.  They answered everyone’s looks together.
“What?”

“Um, you just said you would help.  To the Spencers.” Nik said.
Alexis sighed.  “I realize we aren’t the best of friends, but this
obviously has something to do with Helena.  I don’t think anyone here
could deny that even we are not on the best of terms with her.  For once
I think we could work together to bring down a common enemy.”
Stefan nodded in agreement, and Nikolas and Laura smiled at them.  Luke
looked a little angry.  Work with Cassadines?  Then he glanced over at
his son.  His son who had been through so much when he should have been
growing up in a normal town, leading a normal life.  All right, for his
son he would do this.
“Fine.  But how can you help?” Luke asked.
“I believe we can easily find out who these two people, Luis and Daniel,
are.” Stefan said.  “Lucky, did Daniel say anything to you when you saw
him talking to Helena?”
“Yeah.  Helena had asked me how I was, and I asked her why she cared.
Then he turned around and said that was no way to talk to a lady.  He
came over to me, and stuck his hand out.  He said his name was Daniel
Forst.”
“What happened then?” Alexis asked.
“Well, I couldn’t move.  I was too stunned.  And he just stood there
smiling at me, like he knew that I remembered him.”
“How’d you get out of there?” Luke asked.
Lucky answered, his voice sounding surprised, like even he didn’t
believe it.
“Helena.  She shook my shoulder, and told me I should probably get home
before dinner.  It was kind of weird, though.  Normally when I see her,
she has all this hate on her face for me.  This time, I don’t know, she
was different.”
Stefan was a little worried about that, but put it aside for now.
“All right.  I think I can tell who Luis is.  Luke, did this man have
brown hair, that looked nearly grey?”
Luke nodded.  “And brown eyes.”
Then they finished together.  “And a thin moustache.”
“So you knew him?” Luke asked.
“I was related to him.  The man you’re describing is Luis Traken,
Helena’s brother.  He wasn’t blood to my family, but he still wore a
medallion.  He and Helena were up to something, and hired Daniel many
years ago.  But I believe Daniel started to take over.  He believed
himself more worthy of ruling our family, and even had medallion
himself, the one Lucky now has.”
“And what plan was it that he was hired to do for Helena?  And why is he
back now?”  Luke pushed.
“That’s what we have to figure out now.” Stefan said.  “Before it’s too
late.”

Chapter 12

Luke sighed as he fell back on his bed.  He rolled over on his side and
put his arms around Laura.  “What are we going to do, babe?”
“I don’t know,” Laura replied, “It’s tearing me up inside that all this
happened to our son without us even knowing.  And now this monster is
back, and we don’t know why.”
“We’ll find out soon enough.”  Luke rubbed his temple with the tips of
his fingers. “Lord, can you believe I just spent the night having a
civil conversation with the Cassadines?”
“It was pretty amazing,” Laura chuckled, “they seem like they really
want to help, though.”
“Yeah, they do.  Laura, I-,” Luke breathed deeply, “I really need to
apologize to you.  I’ve been horrible to your son.  But I promise now, I
won’t stand in the way of you seeing him anymore.  Tonight, Lucky was so
vulnerable, and Stefan was sitting within five feet of him, but he never
took a shot at him.  That’s one favor I owe to the old bat.  And if
Stefan can put things away for our children, I can too.”
By the time he finished Laura was crying.  “Luke, you don’t know how
much this means to me.”
“Yeah I do, angel.  I saw what it was like for you tonight.  There was a
time when I too lost my son.  I’m so sorry.  And not just for that.  But
that I made friends with that mad man.”  Luke shuddered as he remembered
how much he trusted Luis.  “And I let my son fall right into his hands.”
Laura gripped Luke’s hands with her own. “Stop that.  It’s not your
fault.  I knew that man too, and would have handed Lucky over to him
without a second thought if we were in danger.  We can’t go back and
change what happened, but we can prevent anything else from happening.
Luke, we will keep our son safe.”
Luke buried his head in Laura’s hair, and held on to her for dear life,
as they both cried themselves to sleep.

The next day, Stefan and Alexis and Nikolas were over at the Spencer
house, discussing Helena.  There was a knock at the door, and Laura
opened it to find Jason there.  He nodded to her as he stepped inside.
She was about to ask where Lucky was when he appeared in the doorway,
his bag on his back.  Luke got up and stood behind Laura.  Lucky cleared
his throat and looked down at his feet.
“Um, I thought that, since you know everything and don’t blame me for
it, and you know that I got over your mistakes a long time ago, that
maybe I could come home?”
Luke and Laura were silent, but happy.  Lucky misread their reaction
though.
“Unless I was wrong,” he said with fear in his voice, “Unless you are
mad at me for…”
“Whoa, stop right there.”  Luke said, “We are not mad at you.  Remember?
You did nothing wrong.  You didn’t kill that man, Daniel did.”
Lucky nodded, and was able to hold the tears back this time. “Does that
mean I can come home?”
He still didn’t get a response to his question, but knew the answer as
his parents hugged the life out of him.  He ran upstairs then, to put
his bag away, and smiled as he saw that his room was exactly the same.
 

When Lucky came back down, he heard Jason talking.
“I’ve put my best men on Helena,” Jason said, “they say they’ve seen a
man fitting Lucky’s description of Daniel visiting the yacht late last
night.”
As Lucky took a seat, Stefan asked him a question.  “Lucky, do have an
idea why Daniel would have taken you?”
Lucky shook his head.  “No.  I remember that he was planning a trip for
us, though.  That’s why we were leaving the night the bomb exploded.
There was something Daniel wanted to do in a town in Colorado.  I think
the town was called Polk.”
Alexis smiled at Lucky.  “That’ll be a great start to research,” she
said.  “Another thing I wondered about,” she continued, “Was about this
person that double-crossed Daniel and put the bomb in the mansion.  Do
you think they might have something to do with why Daniel was leaving?”
Lucky sat and thought for a minute.  “That’s a great possibility,” he
replied, “It did seem kind of weird that one of his employees would do
it.  They were all scared.  And Daniel didn’t even have a clue the bomb
was there, so it had to someone a little craftier than the people he
worked with.”
Stefan sat back and sighed.  “So for now,” he thought out loud, “We find
out what’s in Polk, Colorado, and who would be bold enough and smart
enough to betray Daniel.”

In her yacht, Helena finished packing.  She’d need to be ready when the
time came.  The goal of this plan didn’t seem so important anymore,
though.  She cursed Stavros under her breath.  He was the reason she
started this plan so long ago.  She was glad he was dead now.  To bad he
didn’t die before he made it nearly impossible for anyone to control the
Cassadine assets.  Crossing over to her desk, she picked up a paper
Stavors’ had written on.  He really had gone a bit nuts there at the
end.  She read it to herself.

Enemies great, though we may be,
Our sons together hold the key.
In a steel box, locked away,
A precious stone does gently lay.
Though we all might try best we can,
The children hold the key in their hand.

Helena smirked at the poem.  What a way to put it.  Yes, the children
did hold the key, right in their hands, and they didn’t have a clue.
 

Chapter 13

Lucky and Nikolas were sitting down on the floor with the backs leaning
against the couch as they waited for the adults to find information
about the town in Colorado.  “Can I ask you something?”  Lucky said.
“Sure.  What’s up?”  Nikolas replied.
“Careful there, Niky, you’re starting to sound like an American.” Lucky
grinned.
Nikolas pretended to turn stiff.  “Well, we certainly can’t have that,”
Nik said in the most sour voice he could manage without laughing, “You
must be a bad influence on me, my uncle will not be pleased.”
Lucky chuckled.  “Wow, I never knew you had a sense of humor.”  Lucky
said without thinking, “Wait, I didn’t mean that in a bad way.”
“I know what you meant.”  Nikolas said sadly,  “I guess there are a lot
of things we don’t know about each other.  So what was it you wanted to
ask me?”
Lucky thought about the best way to phrase this.  He didn’t want to make
Nik mad when they were just starting to get along, but he really needed
to ask this.  “When you came to Port Charles to help out Lulu, how come
you just wanted to see her?”
Nikolas looked at him not quite understanding.  “What do you mean?  She
was my sister, and I never knew about her, so I wanted to meet her.”
“I know, but how come,” Lucky said as he looked down, “how come you
didn’t want to meet me?”
Nikolas was a little stunned at his words.  But Lucky was right.  He had
only wanted to see his sister.  “I guess I was jealous of you.”  Nik
said, choosing his words carefully, “In my eyes you were someone chosen
over me.  It was like you were standing in my place for a family.”
Lucky nodded and swallowed.  “Yeah, I guess I started to see you as
competition after that, too.”
“You wouldn’t have hated me if I had wanted to know you too, would you?”
Nik said softly.
“I can’t be sure,” Lucky said, “But I know I wouldn’t have been so
protective of Lu and mom if you had.”
Nik laid a hand on Lucky’s arm to get him to look up.  “There doesn’t
have to be just one place, though, does there?”  he asked.
Lucky smiled at him as he answered, “No, I think we could squeeze two
in.”
“Make that three!”  Lulu screamed as she ran over and flopped down on
both of her brothers.  Nik and Lucky looked up to see Laura standing
there, blushing now that she got caught listening to them.
“Um, I was just coming in here to, uh..”  Laura could not think of a way
out of this.
Nik and Lucky smiled at each other.  “Yeah, yeah, I think you were just
eavesdropping on us.” Lucky teased.  “What do you think we should do
with her, Nik?”
“Well,” Nik replied as they stood up with Lulu,  “I think we should
suffocate her in a group hug.”
Lucky moaned, but Laura just pulled him close to her and relished in the
fact that she had an arm around each of her sons, and her daughter
buried somewhere between.
Luke cleared his throat from the doorway as he walked in with Stefan and
Alexis.  “I hate to break up this Kodak moment, but I think I must.”
Luke had tried to make his voice gruff, but he had a small smile on his
face, as did Stefan.  Laura turned around and wiped a few tears from her
eyes.  “Did you find anything out?”  she asked.
“Babe, you won’t believe what we found.”  Luke replied.  “ Guess what
happens to be lying in a bank at the little town of Polk, Colorado?”
Laura shook her head and Luke smiled at her as he pulled out a cigar.
“The one and only,” Luke said, pausing to light his cigar, “Ice
Princess.”

Chapter 14

“You’re kidding!” Laura exclaimed.
Luke shook his head as he sat down.  “Nope.  Stefan said the ice
princess was stolen not long after the famous weather machine fiasco.
And it appears Stavros left a paper trail to it to this bank.  But it
has some kind of weird key to it or something.  No one’s figured out how
to open the box it’s in.  I’m sure it’s there, though, because we also
found out that Helena made several attempts to get the box open after
Stavros’ death.  Then she cooled of for awhile.”
“But Daniel wanting to go to Polk with Lucky proves that he knows about
it too, doesn’t it?” Laura asked.
Luke nodded and added, “Yeah, and him being back again, we can’t rule
out the possibility that he’s after it again.”
“But what does this have to do with Lucky?” Nikolas asked.  “There had
to be a reason that Daniel kidnapped him and wanted to take him to Polk
with him.”
“I don’t know,” Stefan said shaking his head, “but we might find out
soon.  Jason’s men told us that Daniel seems to have moved onto the
yacht, and has been seen bringing computer disks in with him.  If we see
what’s on those disks, it could be helpful.”
“So what’s the plan to get on the yacht?”  Lucky asked, like it was no
big deal.
“Hold up there, son.” Luke said.  “We’ve got a plan, but it doesn’t
involve you.  This is dangerous, and if we get caught, we could be face
to face with Daniel.  I don’t want you anywhere near him.”
“Dad, please..”  Lucky started to say.
“I said no, Cowboy.” Luke said cutting him off.
“Dad, look at me.”  Lucky said as he walked over and stood directly in
front of Luke.  “I need to go with you.  I can’t stay here at home and
hide from Daniel Forst.  If I start doing that, I’ll never be able to
stop.  I can’t live my whole life being afraid of him.”  Lucky took
another step forward, looking his father in the eye.  “I can’t, and I
won’t.”
Luke looked at his son with pride.  He looked over at Laura, who nodded,
and then looked back at Lucky and smiled at him.  “All right, Cowboy,
you’re in.”
Stefan smiled, though he tried not to.  He would never admit it, but if
you were on the same side as the Spencers, it was hard not to admire
them.  “Well, let’s sit down and discuss the plan then shall we?”  he
asked.
“That we shall, Steffie.”  Luke said.
Stefan shook his head.  Of course, just when he started to think Luke
was tolerable, he had to go and be a pest again.
“Okay, after we found out what Jason’s men told us, we happened to take
a walk on the docks.”  Alexis said.  “We being Stefan and I.  Helena and
Daniel were standing there talking.  Stefan had met Daniel a few times
after Helena had just hired him.  They had always been civil to each
other, so it was easy to invite them to dinner.  Of course, Helena
didn’t want me there, but Stefan told her that for Nikolas’ sake, the
whole family should get along.”
“So while those two step out for a family dinner tonight,” Luke picked
up, “You and I,” Luke nodded to Lucky, “will let ourselves on the yacht.
She only has Ari to guard the place, and I know from experience that
it’s not to hard to temporarily get him out of the way.”
“So am I going to the dinner too?” Nikolas asked.
“I’ll leave that up to you.”  Stefan replied.  “It will not be pleasant
to sit there with those two, but it would make Helena less suspicious.
“Then I’ll be there.”  Nikolas responded.  He wanted this plan to go as
smoothly as possible, for Lucky’s sake.
 
That night at 8:30, Nikolas, Alexis, and Stefan took a deep breath as
Daniel and Helena entered the Port Charles Grill, and sat down with
them.  They weren’t too worried, though.  Of course, Helena would be a
bit suspicious as to what this was about, but she would never guess that
they were working with the Spencers.  The thing that most troubled
Nikolas was sitting there smiling as he was introduced to Daniel Forst,
when he wanted to tear his smug eyes out for Lucky.

Luke and Lucky, both dressed in black, silently walked onto the yacht.
They watched through the window as Ari got up and walked into the other
room.  Quickly they went inside, Luke paused to pour something into
Ari’s drink, and they hid behind the bar.  It wasn’t long after Ari came
back and sipped on his drink while he read the paper.  Soon his head
began to nod, and he fell asleep.  Luke and Lucky smiled at each other
as they got up to search the place.  “Just like old times, huh dad?”
Lucky asked.  “Sure is, Lucky,” Luke said, “we always did make a good
team.”

Laura sat at home, with an open book in her lap that she really wasn’t
reading.  Everyone had a part in the plan tonight except for her, which
left her all alone worrying herself to death.  She was startled by a
knock at the door.  Opening it, she found Liz and Emily on the other
side.  They smiled warmly at her as they stepped inside.  “I’m sorry,
but I’m the only one home right now.” Laura said.
“We know, Mrs. Spencer.” Liz said.  “We stopped by Jason’s, and found
out what was going on tonight.  We figured you could use some company,
before you go crazy with worry here all by yourself.”
Laura smiled at them, touched.  “You’re right, I could use a couple
people to talk to.  But one thing, call me Laura.”
Liz and Emily nodded, and all three sat down, trying not to think of
what was happening at that moment, but still praying everything went
okay in the back of their minds.

Chapter 15

     Nikolas was in agony.  He was convinced that if Daniel ever had
trouble taking out the people he was hired to kill, he could just talk
to them for a few hours and they would die from boredom.  Discretely
looking down at his wrist, Nikolas checked his watch for the millionth
time that night.  It was 9:30.  They had been here for an hour.  He
hoped Lucky and Luke had finished searching the yacht.  Most of them
were already done with dinner.  Nikolas was still picking at his
dessert, trying to stall.  Half an hour more was probably the longest he
and Stefan and Alexis could keep Helena and Daniel there.

     Laura brought in a tray of three hot chocolates and cookies.  It
screamed motherly solution, but she needed something to do, and as silly
as it seemed, it put her at ease to do this.  Emily and Liz smiled at
her as they each took a cup and a cookie.
“So, tell me I’m not the only one worried here.” Laura said.
“No, I think both of us are going crazy here too, Laura.”  Liz said.
Laura smiled at the girls.  “You both care a lot about my sons, don’t
you?”
The both nodded.  “Yeah, they’ve both been great friends to us.”  Emily
said.  “Lucky helped me when my mom died, and even though we’ve been
distant for a while, we talked the other day, and we’re like we used to
be.  And Nikolas really helped me through my, my drug problem when I
didn’t have many other friends.”  Laura smiled.  “I’m glad they were
there for you, but I know you’ve helped them just as much.  The same
goes for you, Liz.  Lucky didn’t just help you after...” Laura dropped
off, remembering Emily was there.  “It’s okay, Laura.”  Liz said.
“Emily and I have done a little bonding lately, and she knows about my
rape.  And you’re right.  Lucky and I helped each other through so much.
And Nikolas was great about not telling anyone I was raped when he found
out.”  Emily spoke up a little timidly now.  “Laura, Liz and I would
like to help you and Luke and Lucky and the Cassadines.  I know neither
of us have as much training in things like this that you do, but I Liz
and I have learned a lot from Lucky.”
Laura frowned slightly.  “I don’t know, girls.  Taking down Helena and
this Daniel could get very dangerous.”
Liz spoke up, feeling bold.  “Laura, we realize that, but this is
something we both have to do.  Nikolas and Lucky have been there several
times when we needed them, and pretty much saved our lives.  Now we’d
like to do the same.”
Laura saw the determination in both girls’ eyes.  “Okay.  I think I’d
have a hard time fighting you two on this, so I won’t even try.  You
know, I’m not only proud of my sons, but also the wonderful girlfriends
they have.”
Emily and Liz exchanged rather shocked and embarrassed looks.  “Uh,
Laura, I think maybe you have the wrong impression…” Emily started to
say, but was cut off by Laura.
“No, I’ve seen the way Nikolas looks at you Emily.  And Liz, you and
Lucky seem to have become each other’s life.  I know this is way in the
future, but I can’t wait to have you two as daughters’-in-law.”
Liz and Emily blushed, but giggled along with Laura.

On the yacht, Luke rummaged through the last drawer of the last file
cabinet.  Helena kept stuff well hidden.  They had found Daniel’s
computer, but no disks anywhere.  “Find anything, Cowboy?”  Luke called
to Lucky, who was crouched down on the floor under the desk.  “Not yet,
Dad.”  Despite the stress of the situation, Luke smiled to himself.  It
was great having his son back with him.

Lucky slid his hand along the underneath side of the middle desk drawer.
Suddenly a compartment flew open on his right side.  Inside were several
disks.  “Dad, get over here!” he shouted.  Luke ran over and grinned at
his son.  “Jackpot.”  He reached over and thumbed through the disks.
Lucky and Luke exchanged a look of triumph when they saw the one labeled
Helena.  Luke checked his watch.  “Great going kiddo, but we gotta get
out of here now.  They’ve been gone for an hour and a half.”  Lucky
nodded.  “All right dad, you go check to see if anyone’s out there yet,
and I close this back up.”  After Luke got up, Lucky paused before he
shut the compartment.  Another disk had caught his eye.  He stared at it
as he picked it up.  Hearing Luke call for him, he quickly pocketed it
and shut the compartment, and then ran out to the docks after his
father.  They just made it out of sight when the Cassadines and Daniel
arrived.

“Well, Helena, Daniel, I hope you had nice time tonight.  I hope we can
do it again.”  Stefan said.
Helena just nodded.  “I know this evening was about something, Stefan,
and I will find out.”  Stefan just nodded as she and Daniel disappeared
on the yacht.  He put an arm on Alexis and Nikolas, and steered them to
their waiting limo.  Before they went home, they intended on checking on
the Spencers.  None of them were too surprised when they got in and
found Luke and Lucky already inside.  “I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t
smoke in my car, Spencer.”  Stefan said as he pulled the cigar from
Luke’s mouth.  “Aww, relax, Stefan, I’m just celebrating.”  Alexis and
Stefan looked at him curiously, but it was all they could get out of him
until they got to the Spencer house.

Laura jumped up as the door opened, and practically knocked Luke and
Lucky down as she threw herself on them.  “Hey now, darling,” Luke said,
“you weren’t worried about us, were you?  Sneaking onto Helena’s yacht
was a piece of cake.”  Laura batted playfully at him as they all went
inside.  “Well, what you do, decide to have a party while we out?”  Luke
asked.  “Hello girls.”  Emily and Liz smiled at him.  “Well, I guess we
all just decided to worry together.”  Laura said.  Luke laughed when he
saw Jason enter from the kitchen.  “Don’t tell me you got all anxious
about us, too.” Luke teased.  Jason smiled, and slapped Luke on the
back.  “No, I just got here.  I wanted to see if you found anything out
tonight.”  Jason replied.
Luke turned as Lucky came down the stairs with his laptop.  “Well, we’re
about to find out.”  He said, as he pulled the disk marked ‘Helena’ out.
He handed it to Lucky, who inserted it into the computer.  Everyone
huddled around the screen, on which flashed information about how much
Helena was paying Daniel when she hired him, and other details like
that.  Scrolling down, Lucky finally found something useful.  “It says
here Daniel was hired to kidnap me and take me to Polk, Colorado by
Helena and Luis.  He had to keep me for so long in the mansion because
they were waiting for someone else to join them.  Luis and Daniel were
told by Helena that whoever they were waiting for would meet them there.
Then Daniel realized someone had double-crossed him on the bombing job,
but it was before he knew the bomb was in the mansion.  He accused Luis,
and even though he denied it, he killed him.”  Lucky swallowed hard at
the memory of witnessing that event.  Luke put his hand on his shoulder.
“Any clue as to who they were going to meet?”  He asked.  Lucky shook
his head.  “No, but from the way things were written, the other person
was about as willing to come with them as I was.”
Nikolas then pointed at the screen.  “What’s that poem about?”  He asked
as he read it out loud.  “Enemies great, though we may be,  Our sons
together hold the key.  In a steel box, locked away, A precious stone
does gently lay.  Though we all might try best we can,  The children
hold the key in their hand.”
“I don’t know, but it appears to be written by Stavros about the Ice
Princess.”  Stefan said.  “Alexis and I will research this some more,
and see if can find out who they were waiting for.  Luke nodded at them,
and everyone but Jason went home for the night.

“You got guard on the girls, right?”  Luke asked Jason.  “Yeah, even a
few on the Cassadines.”  Luke grunted but didn’t say anything.  “You
going to hang around here for the night?”  Jason nodded.  “Yeah, I’d
think it would be best if I stayed close.  I’ll just crash on the couch,
okay?”  Luke nodded, and threw some blankets and a pillow at him before
he went upstairs.

Jason had just settled in, when he heard footsteps on the stairs.
Adjusting himself slightly and quietly, he saw Lucky walk down and sit
at the computer.  Jason realized he must not know that he was staying
there tonight.  He got up and walked over to Lucky, who had inserted
another disk in the computer and was staring intently at the screen.
“Uh, hey, what’s up?”  Jason asked.  He didn’t want Lucky to think he
was spying on him, but knew he should make his presence known.  Lucky
jumped as he spoke, and pushed the screen down.  “Hey, what are you
doing here?”  He asked.  “I thought it would be a good idea if I stuck
around.  I didn’t mean to scare you.”  Jason replied.  “Is it all right
if I ask what you’re doing?”

Chapter 16

     Lucky was silent for a moment, then pulled the screen up again.  On
it was a picture of a fair-headed man about 35.  “I found this other
disk on the yacht tonight.”  Lucky said in a sullen voice.  “I didn’t
tell dad about it.  It was marked ‘Employees’.  You see, Daniel kept
track of everyone that worked for him.  This is the guy that I…  that
Daniel killed with me there.”
Jason sat down beside him and took the disk out of the computer, leaving
the screen blank.  “Don’t do this to yourself, Lucky.”  He said, staring
straight at him.  “You have no reason to feel guilty for anything that
happened back then.”
Lucky nodded, but didn’t look up.  Jason reached out and turned Lucky’s
head towards him.  “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Jason leaned back a little.  It looked like Lucky was starting to
believe him.  “Jason, can I ask you something?”  Lucky asked.  Jason
nodded.  Taking a deep breath, Lucky rested his elbows on the table.
“What, uh, what was it like when you first woke up in the hospital?”
“Well, it was very confusing.  I couldn’t remember anything.  All I
wanted was one thing that looked familiar to me, to reassure me.” Jason
said.
Lucky nodded.  “Were you scared?”  He asked.
“Yeah.”  Jason replied.  “It was one of the scariest things in my life.
I felt so helpless, like I couldn’t do anything.”  Understanding why
Lucky was asking all this, he placed a hand on his shoulder.  “Is that
how you felt when you woke up in the hospital after the bombing?”
Lucky nodded, a few tears coming to his eyes.  “It seemed like I woke up
from a bad dream that I couldn’t remember, and for the first time, my
parents weren’t there to make it better.  It was different because I
didn’t forget everything, but it was still horrible.  I didn’t know
where I was, why I was in the hospital, or where my parents were.  All I
knew was that whatever had happened, it was bad.  When mom and dad
finally found me, I told them I got lost and found Luis, and we somehow
got caught in a house that had been bombed.  I just didn’t want them to
know that I couldn’t remember.  Cause even though I didn’t, I still felt
guilt when I woke up.  I just wanted to go back to my life before all
that, when I was happy.  I thought if I pretended it wasn’t there, it
would go away.”  Lucky leaned back in his chair and sighed.  “Sometimes
I still just want to go back.  To those times on the run.  When all it
took for me to be happy was to be with my parents.  We were all each
other’s lives, back then, and all that mattered in life was that we
stayed together.”
“Can I ask you something now?”  Jason said.  Lucky nodded.  “Sure,
anything.”
“What was it like to remember everything”
“It was scary.  It would all come to me in dreams for awhile.  I didn’t
think it was real.  Then I started having flashbacks when I was awake.
They would really shake me up.  It was like someone else’s life had
gotten into my mind.  I still couldn’t believe I had lived all those
things.  But when I saw Daniel, everything kinda clicked, and I could
finally piece it all in as it happened.  It was real.  Of course, then I
freaked out about all of it.”  Lucky said as he gave a short laugh.
Jason smiled at him for a moment, then let it fade.  “Sometimes I worry
about remembering my past.  I’m afraid it could wreck the life I’ve
struggled to have since the accident.  What if it meant that I’d have to
go back to being Jason Quartermaine?  Or what if things I remembered
were horrible.”
“I don’t think it would be like that.”  Lucky said.  “It would take time
to get used to it all.  And there would be moments when you couldn’t
believe it was really your past.  But it wouldn’t change you.  You’d
still have control.  It’s hard, but I didn’t let all this turn me back
into the scared uncertain boy I was when I got kidnapped.  And I knew
Jason Quartermaine.  You wouldn’t remember anything too awful, except
for living with the Q’s.”
Jason chuckled.  “Thank you Lucky.”  He said seriously.  “There aren’t a
lot of people I feel too comfortable talking about all of this with.”
Lucky shrugged.  “Hey, I brought it all up.  It helped me a lot to talk
all of this out.”
Reaching out and picking the disk up again, Jason held it up.  “It okay
if I hold on to this now?” He asked.
Lucky nodded.  “Yeah, I don’t think I’ll need it anymore.”
“All right, it’s getting late now, why don’t you go get some sleep?”
Lucky smiled mischievously as he spoke.  “Yes, mother.”
“Very funny, you little rat.” Jason replied as he playfully wrestled
with Lucky.  “Seriously, though, I’m beat myself.  I’ll see you in the
morning, okay?”
“Yeah.  Good night Jason.”
“Night Lucky.”
Lucky walked up the stairs to his room then, and Jason laid back down on
the couch.  He was feeling a lot more at ease now about something he
never even realized had been bothering him.
Chapter 17

     A little nervously, Nikolas knocked on the Spencers’ front door.
Luke had told him he was welcome now, but it didn’t make him feel all
that much better about being there.  Just his luck, too, Nikolas
thought, as Luke answered the door.  For a few seconds both of them just
stood there awkwardly.  “Well, come on in.”  Luke said as he stepped
aside.  Closing the door after Nikolas, he turned around and continued,
“Laura took Lulu to the park, but they should be back any minute.
Lucky’s in his room.  You can go on up if you want.”
“Um, thanks.”  Nikolas said.  This felt too strange to him, Luke Spencer
welcoming him into his home.  “I guess I’ll go upstairs, then.”  Nikolas
turned towards the stairs when Luke spoke up.  “Hey, uh, I just wanted
to let you know, that, uh..”  Luke trailed off, finding this extremely
difficult.  Nikolas stood still, wondering what Luke was trying to say.
Luke finally just forced the words to come out.  “I wanted to let you
know that I meant it when I said you could come by whenever you want.
You’re part of my wife, so you’re part of my family.”  Luke turned
around and walked into the kitchen as he finished, but Nikolas still
heard him.  “I’m sorry it took me so long to figure that out and accept
you.”
From his spot on the top of the stairs where he had been listening,
Lucky smiled.  Nikolas looked up and smiled back at him.  They both
realized for the first time just how much they had been wanting this.
For their families to stop fighting and become one.  It was doubtful
that Stefan and Luke would ever be close, but that wasn’t important.  It
was enough that each of them could be close to their mom and sister, and
become the brothers they should have been all along.
Lucky had just finished walking down the rest of the steps when the
doorbell rang.  Opening it, he grinned as he saw Emily and Liz standing
on the steps.  “So are you to just joined at the hip now?”  He joked.
“Seems everytime I see one of you, the other isn’t far behind anymore.”
“Well, I guess we realized we had a lot in common.” Liz said.
“What would that be?”  Nikolas asked coming up behind Lucky.
“Stuff you will never know about, because it would be breaking our girl
code if we told you.”  Emily said.
“Well, come on in.” Lucky said.  “Our house seems to be the meeting
place for all of Port Charles anymore.  With you three over all the
time, and Jason and all his bodyguards, we might as well just turn the
house into a hotel.”
Before Lucky could shut the door, though, Lulu came bounding in, with a
very exhausted Laura behind her.  Nikolas swept her up, laughing at all
the ice cream smeared across her face.  “Did you think the ice cream
would be better on you than in you?”  Lulu just smiled back at him and
giggled.
Liz looked at how tired Laura looked, and took pity on her.  “Laura,
would you like it if Emily and I cleaned Lulu up?  I think you could use
a break.”
Laura managed the best smile she could.  “Thank you girls.  I think I’ll
go take a nap.”  Luke came out of the kitchen grinning at Laura.  “You
know, darling, it’s the children that are supposed to take naps.”  Laura
frowned at him.  “Yes, but children also seem to run on sugar, while I
require rest.”  “Well, I’ll come up and rub your shoulders, okay?”  Luke
asked as he chuckled.  “That would be wonderful.” Laura replied.  “Nice
to see you here Nikolas.”  She said as she quickly gave both of her sons
a quick peck on the cheek before following Luke upstairs.
Emily and Liz, each taking one of Lulu’s hands, took her into the
kitchen to clean her up.  Nikolas gave Lucky a teasing look.  “So, when
are you going to ask Liz out?”
“What?”  Lucky asked, blushing a little.  “Well,” Nikolas continued,
“she seems to be pretty much over everything, and you can’t tell me you
don’t like her.”
“Okay, then, I guess I’ll ask her right after you ask Emily out.” Lucky
said, turning the table on him.  Nikolas looked down, a little
embarrassed.  “Okay, I guess I deserved that.  But really, Liz would go
out with you.  Emily on the other hand..”  Lucky cut him off.  “Oh, come
on, Niky, Emily likes you back just as much as you like her.”
Nikolas smiled.  “All right, you ask Liz, and then I’ll ask Emily.”
“No, no, I said I’d ask after you, remember?”  Both brothers looked at
each other for a moment, then burst up laughing.  “We’re pretty
pathetic, huh?”  Lucky asked.  Nikolas agreed, and then Lulu ran into
the room, her face spotless now.
“I have a message for both of you.”  Lulu said shyly.  “Really?”
Nikolas asked.  “Well, what is it?”
“Lizzie and Emily said neither one of you have to ask first, and they’ll
both be waiting for you to pick them up at Emily’s house at seven
tonight.”
Lucky and Nikolas started laughing again, blushing uncontrollably.  “Are
they still in the kitchen?”  Lucky asked.  “No.”  Lulu said.  “They said
they had to go home to get ready.”
“I guess I’ll go home to do the same, then.” Nikolas said.  “I’ll be
back here for you at about 6:30, okay?”  Lucky nodded.  Nikolas left
then, and Lucky grabbed Lulu up in his arms, tickling her as he walked
up the stairs.

Penthouse
Jason walked over to Alexis and Stefan, who were seated at the table
staring at a computer screen.  They had decided combine their resources
to find out more about Daniel and Helena.  “You two find anything out,
yet?” he asked.  “No,” Stefan said frowning, “we don’t have a clue as to
who..”  “Wait, look at this!”  Alexis cut in excitedly.  “Stefan, you
kept a record of when Helena tried to see Nikolas.  Well, one week after
Lucky was taken at the airport, she contacted you asking to see Nikolas.
You said no, of course, but she was very persistent.  She asked again
and again, every week, for nearly four months.”  Stefan looked at the
screen worriedly.  “You’re right.” He said.  “And look here.  She
invited both of me and Nikolas to Colorado, saying it was urgent.  It
must have been to Polk.  I didn’t remember it, because I just tore up
the invitation without looking at it closely.  But that would have been
nearly the exact time as the bombing that Lucky and Daniel were in.”
“Which could only mean one thing.”  Jason said.  “The other person
Helena was after is Nikolas.”

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