******Author’s note: Try to envision this as a montage of sorts. The song is "Angel" by Sarah Mclachlan. The song
lyrics have the ** by them. And if you have the song handy, read the chapter first and then try playing the song and
imagine what’s going on in this chapter. If I’ve done this right, you’ll get the feeling I was hoping you’d have:)******

**Spend all your time waiting
for that second chance
for a break that would make it okay **

Laura peered out the window one last time. She was emotionally exhausted. Their arrival into Port Charles was still hours away.
She leaned her head against the glass. Her breath created a tiny spot on the window. She wiped it off. Looking out on the
ocean, a tear escaped her eye.

**there's always one reason
to feel not good enough
and it's hard at the end of the day**

Rays of lights illuminated the feeble deck adjacent to General Hospital. Cars were intertwined with one another. Portions of the
ceiling now carpeted the floor. Gaping holes above led to the strong emergence of the sun.

A pile of rubble began to shake. From underneath, a tattered and somewhat stunned Alan Quartermaine was slowly crawling
out. As he came to his knees, the light caused his eyes to squint at the outstretched hand before him. A guard helped him to his
feet and aided in returning Alan to the hospital.

**I need some distraction
oh beautiful release
memory seeps from my veins**

Bobbie hung up the phone. She had tried to call Lucas for hours now. The phone had been out the whole time. She was
worried. The feeling was composed all over her now tired face. She reached into her purse and fiddled around. Pulling a picture
of Lucas out, Bobbie’s head looked toward the sky. She said a mental prayer while sitting down. She placed her hand across
her mouth and closed her eyes.

**let me be empty
and weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight**

Jason glanced over towards Robin. She was silent and still. She looked beautiful even now he thought. He loved the way she
looked with her eyes closed. And he loved to see them open too.

But that would never happen again. Robin would never see the sunshine draped along her corpse. She would never think of
how much she loved Jason. He could only see her from her right side. He was unaware of the horror that had taken her life. He
touched her face and felt its coldness.

**in the arms of the angel
fly away from here**

The boxcar was no longer standing. Lucky’s belongings were one with the land now. The building took only seconds to
collapse. Most of his things were beyond repair with the exception of the tiny stuffed animal Elizabeth gave him weeks ago. He
held on to that bear for dear life most of the time. It was her first sign to him he thought, and it always kept his mind on her.

**from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here **

Kelly’s stood strong but ultimately succumbed to Isis. The tables adorning the front were scattered throughout the restaurant
and streets. Glass littered the floors and only shells of the windows remained. Three stools were lying on the ground. Chairs
were snapped like toothpicks and silverware staked places wherever it could. Knives created steps along the walls. The main
doors swung back and forth at a slow pace. They were clinging on to the hinges. Their fight ended and both collapsed to the
ground.

**so tired of the straight line
and everywhere you turn
there's vultures and thieves at your back**

The Quartermaine mansion faced no major structural damage. It still stood in all its glory. The gate house was another story. Its
quaint beauty was devoured and digested across the lawn. The roof no longer protected those living below. Two cars owned
by the family ended up on separate ends of the lawn. One was flipped onto its hood with all windows broken. Another was
flattened by a falling tree. The patio furniture now swam through the pool. An umbrella rotated gently to the deep end and sank.

**and the storm keeps on twisting
you keep on building the lie
that you make up for all that you lack**

Stefan and Nikolas were untouched in Wyndemere. Spoon Island was practically spared from Isis, but she did create a few
problems. Sheba didn’t appreciate the removal of her stall from over her. A Cassadine boat went careening into the walkway
and shattered into multiple pieces.

Helena’s yacht reappeared out of nowhere like some vision. It was completely unharmed. She walked out onto the railing and
smiled. If there was one thing she liked more, it was Port Charles in a mess.

**it don't make no difference
escaping one last time
it's easier to believe
in this sweet madness
oh this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees**

The Hardy house was brimming with water. The downstairs finally started receding after hours of flooding. Pictures, furniture
and everything not attached to the ground floated aimlessly around.

Upstairs, Audrey teetered on her bed for hours. She was trembling. She was afraid.

"Where is she?" she thought incessantly. "She must be alright."

She rocked back and forth thinking about and pondering numerous possibilities. She felt that Elizabeth was OK, but she wanted
visible proof.

"I should have never let her leave yesterday afternoon," she told herself once already.

Her hands continued shaking. They were clasping a framed picture of Elizabeth. Her gaze was steadfast on the picture as she
lowered it for another look, the hundredth at last count. Her eyes watered as she looked downward. She returned the picture to
its original position. She held it close to her heart and refused to let it go.

**in the arms of the angel
fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here**

Elizabeth was groggy as her eyes opened that morning. There was some water splashing against her pants. Her eyes caught a
glimpse of Lucky. He was still pale and weak she thought. She moved her hand around him and placed the other on his head.
She placed her head on his much like he had done when they danced. She felt his pulse after much searching. It was extremely
faint. Lucky was close. He could only survive so long. He needed help desperately. She realized he was bleeding again.

She heard a siren echo through the street. Water was low enough for people to drive, although it still was not the best idea to do
so. It surprised her when the closet door opened. A man looked at her and Lucky and helped them up. She told him that Lucky
needed help immediately. He ran to his ambulance, retrieved his partner and some equipment.

They placed Lucky on the stretcher and hoisted him into the ambulance. Elizabeth climbed in and rode with them. She held his
hand the whole time over to Mercy. General Hospital was virtually incapable of helping new patients at the moment. For some
reason, Isis left Mercy Hospital alone.

As the ambulance began its journey, Elizabeth looked at Lucky and then through the window. She noticed something unusual.
The sun looked the same way it did the night before when it set on their first kiss as it did now rising on what could be their last
moment together.

She tightened her grip and placed her head on his arm.

And Isis was gone.

**you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here**
 

                                            Chapter 18

She saw the destruction from overhead.

"Oh my."

Luke turned to her.

"What?"

Laura pointed to some of the shreds of houses and buildings below. From that altitude, the images were hard to see clearly, but
they could tell. Luke had never seen such a mess.

"We’re almost home," he told Lulu.

She giggled for a minute and then leaned up against him.

"I hope the house is OK."

"It will be," he said. "I don’t think anything could destroy that thing."

She smiled at that. It was the first time he’d seen her smile since she received the grim feeling about Lucky.

As they were taking a journey back home, Lucky was busy trying to survive his greatest journey.

He was fighting for his life now. Had he been able to get help hours earlier, there would be no need to worry. But things were
reaching a critical level. A transfusion would be necessary. He still failed to regain consciousness. He made only one movement
the entire trip.

Elizabeth squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back.

"Hey," she told him.

He said nothing.

"Must have been my imagination or something," she thought.

He was having that moment right now, that moment near death when they say your life flashes before your eyes. He saw all
sorts of things from his past, but he bypassed those. He ignored the first time he burned himself on the stove. He ignored
everything that brought him into contact with the memory of his parents, the way he used to know them.

Instead, he reminisced about his angel. He saw her smoking at Kelly’s. It was there that they met, in August a year ago.

"What’s your name?" she asked him.

"Lucky," he smiled.

"We’ll see," she smirked.

Maybe he saw it then, that fire that he loved about her. He knew in his heart now that he could not leave her, not like this at
least.

His mind flashed to the night he found her in the park and then the months it took her to begin healing. They all blurred together
in his mind. His recollections were fading now. He was getting tired.

The ambulance was speeding through the streets. The driver knew which ones to avoid to get to Mercy, but something did not
want him to reach his destination. About three miles away, in the path of the ambulance, an old tree teetered left and right. It
took one minute breeze to send it cascading into the street, crashing onto the pavement and blocking the only rapid way to
reach the hospital.

"What the he..?" the driver said.

He slammed on the brakes.

"That wasn’t there before."

Elizabeth was pushed forwards and then backwards on the immediate halt. It worried her.

"Why are they stopping?" she thought.

They were talking, talking about what to do.

"We can take the other route, but that would take another 30 minutes or so and this kid needs help now."

"But General Hospital said they could not handle anyone at the time being."

"I know, but we don’t have to time take a detour. GH will be able to handle one person."

They knew the gamble they were taking. But "this kid" as they called him was knocking down death’s door. They agreed on the
only possible alternative left. They turned around and headed to General Hospital.

They arrived 10minutes later.

                    ********************************************************

There was no one to greet the Spencer family when they landed at the airport. That didn’t bother them one bit.

They walked out into the waiting area and then to the baggage section. Laura’s bag came around and she picked it up. Luke
was reading a newspaper he bought a few moments beforehand.

"Anything in there about the storm?" she asked.

He didn’t reply. She knew something was up.

"What is it? What’s wrong?"

The paper Luke was holding was from another area in New York. The headline read:

"Isis saves final punch for Port Charles"

The article was printed before the true damage could be assessed. The facts involved were estimates gathered before the paper
went to press. But it still painted a vicious picture. How the reporter got the picture and the story this quickly Luke did not
know, but that was not what concerned him, or Laura.

Her uneasiness returned again. She read the article. It mentioned the tornado warning for Port Charles. It mentioned that one hit
the Charles Street vicinity. It compared Charles Street to an old demolished building, beautiful once, but rubble now.

They headed home.

                    ********************************************************

General Hospital was coming back into order again. The pandemonium of the previous hours was slowly assuaging and the
patients were calming. The power was fully operational again. In fact, the hospital was fit to take in patients now.

Monica Quartermaine came out of her office. It had been a long evening. She saw Bobbie sitting on the bench asleep. Monica
tapped Bobbie’s shoulder.

"Bobbie," she whispered.

Rubbing her eyes, Bobbie rose quickly.

"Is it over yet?"

"Yes. And the phones are working again."

"I’m going to call Lucas."

She went to the phone, Monica behind her. Picking it up, she dialed the numbers.

"Hello?" the voice said.

"Lucas?"

"Hi Mom," he replied.

"How are you sweetheart?"

"I’m OK. Are you going to be home soon?"

"I will sweetie. You just hang tight and I’ll be there in a little bit OK?"

"OK."

"I’ll see you soon. I love you."

"Love you too Mom."

He hung up the phone. She was relived.

"How was he?" Monica asked.

"Acting like nothing happened," Bobbie laughed.

Bobbie looked at a clock. She had been at the hospital for nearly 27 hours.

"I think I’m going to go home."

"I’ll walk you out then," Monica said.

They walked out of the hospital. The sky looked like another fine typical day. The clouds volunteered no clues to the utter
monstrosity that plagued the town mere hours ago. The sun felt good, relaxing, and soothing.

"What a pretty day," Bobbie remarked.

The ambulance came thundering in the lot. The back doors swung open madly. The volunteers piled out of the front and made
an exodus for the back, to Lucky.

"Wonder what that is?" Bobbie said.

They ran over to the ambulance to see if they could be of assistance. That was when Bobbie saw Lucky pulled out, covered in
blood, looking like he was already gone.

                                           more soon...


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