Chapters 42 & 43   CHAPTER 42: THE NIGHT AND THE DAWN Lu wipes away a tear before entering the stables. In the minutes that it takes her to get here, she's planned exactly what she plans to tell Dylan. Taking a deep steadying breath, Lu walks into the stables and looks around. The only light is the light of the full moon streaming through the open door. All the horses are in their stalls, and Lu doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Except no Dylan. Not that she could see in the shadows, anyway. Just above a whisper, she calls out, "Dylan, you here?" He steps out of one of the empty stalls into the moonlight behind Lu, "Right here, Princess." She gasps a little as she turns around to face him, "Don't scare me like that," she says harshly. Putting his hands up in the air, he apologizes, "I'm sorry, Lu. That was insensitive, under the circumstances." She walks slowly towards him, still limping, "It's okay, I'm still a little jumpy." she sees the aircast still on the lower part of his arm, "How's the arm?" "Well," he says, moving his arm around, "I can move it some at the elbow and wrist, because it was only one of the bones in my lower arm. This aircast just holds the bone still, I can take it off to shower and stuff." "Does it hurt?" "Only if I push on it." He wraps his arms gently around her, "It won't stop me from holding you." He pulls her tightly but gently to him, "All I've wanted to do since the night of the accident is hold you." Lu pulls back from him, "Dylan, we need to talk." "What's the matter?" She gulps, swallowing the lump in her throat, "I can't see you anymore." Quickly, he rushes, "Whatever I might have done, I'm sorry, but please don't just push me away. Give me a chance to make it up to you. I love you, Lu." She shakes her head, tears rolling, "It's not you, Dylan, it's me. I'm the one that's sorry." She backs up a couple of steps, but he quickly closes the gap between them and takes her hands in his, "You haven't done anything to be sorry about!" She nods, "Yes I have! I wasn't paying attention to Staci and because of me, she could be dead for all I know. What if this guy strikes again? I can't bear the thought of hurting anybody else." Dylan cries softly along with Lu, his heart breaking for her. He holds her again, "You didn't cause Staci to be kidnapped. We tried to get her back, and you got shot in the process. There's nothing you could have done differently." "You don't understand, Dylan. Because of me, not only is Staci gone, but Mom was so freaked she had to be hospitalized. You wrecked your bike and broke your arm. Daddy's really upset, and so are Nik and Gina. It's all because of me!" Dylan looks at Lu for a minute. She looks so sad with the tears streaming down her face. "Lu, I don't blame you for anything that happened and if it happened again, I only wish there was more I could do. I would've much rather taken that bullet than you." He wipes away first Lu's tears then his own, "I love you Lu, and I want to be here for whatever you need." She smiles and gives him a big hug, "I love you too, Dylan, it's just that I need to focus on my family right now. I can't do that and be sneaking around with you. Please understand." He nods slowly, "I'll try to understand, Lu. I don't like it, but I'll try. Can we spend some time together tonight, one last time? Please? We won't be sneaking around, we'll be right here on the island." She can see the love, and she wants to be with him. She finds herself wrestling between her family and Dylan. Her dream from the previous night still haunts her memories. But the man in front of her isn't the same as in the dream, at least not in personality. He slowly caresses her face, "I've never seen you more beautiful than you are right now." She looks down at her nightgown, with the light robe thrown over it. Suddenly embarrassed, she pulls the robe tighter around her and holds it closed. "I, uh..." He silences her with a quick kiss, "There's nothing to be embarrassed about." He leans down and kisses her again softly. She takes his hand in hers and silently leads him out of the stables. Just before dawn the next morning, Lucky is still sitting on Lisa's couch with coffee in hand. Lisa stands by the window, watching the sun begin to rise. Lucky runs a hand through his hair impatiently, "Lisa, you're avoiding me." "I've answered all your questions, Lucky," she says tiredly. He turns around on the sofa to look at her, "You're dancing around the issues. Point blank, one question, one answer. True or false, is Luke Spencer your father?" She glances back at him, "After three and a half hours, you finally just come out and ask it." "I was hoping you'd volunteer the information," he admits. She returns her gaze out the window. Lucky rises to come up behind her, "True or false?" Quickly and quietly, she says, "True." In one big gulp, Lucky downs the last of his coffee and hurls the mug violently across the room. Lisa watches as the mug shatters against the far wall. Looking down, she adds, "I'm sorry, Lucky." "Why the hell didn't he tell me?! Tell my mother?" Lucky spits out through gritted teeth. "He didn't know." Lucky jumps on that, "Then how do you know it's true?" "For years, my mother used to defend Luke to my uncle and grandfather. Until he shot my grandfather, that is. Nothing was ever said about him to me, ever. What I learned, I learned by sneaking around; being in the right place at the right time. My mother wouldn't have lied about Luke being my father to my grandfather or Damianj since she knew there was no love lost between the Spencers and the Smiths." Lucky takes a deep breath and returns to the sofa. Lisa crosses back over to the nearby chair. Lucky asks, "Whatever happened to your mother?" He hopes maybe, somehow after all this time, he can get another lead on his little brother Richard. Lisa dashes his hopes by saying, "I don't know. She disappeared ten or so years ago. I haven't heard from her; I'm assuming she's dead." Lucky raises an eyebrow, "You don't seem real upset about that." Lisa shrugs, "I wasn't much older than Lu when she left. No word about where she was going or why, and no contact since." She smiles weakly, "There was no love lost between me and my mother either." Lucky sits and watches her for a minute, trying to read her expressions and judge whether she's telling the truth. Decided that Lisa seems sincere, Lucky asks her another question. "I know you have information that can help me find my niece." "I have a few theories." Before she can say anything else, Lucky cuts her off, "Don't we all, babe." Testily, she retorts, "Just listen for a minute. First of all, whatever I tell you can't go beyond this room. Second, I'm not going to give you all this information so you can run out and save Staci yourself. No cowboy routines, deal? You're likely to get yourself killed. I want to be right there, you're gonna need backup." Lucky leans forward towards her, "Now look, this is MY niece we're talking about. You have NO RIGHT to make demands." Lisa stands up and walks towards the door, "Fine, I can do it alone. You can't. I have a funny feeling there are forces involved that you don't even know about." She opens the door for Lucky. He doesn't budge off the couch, "Fine. We'll do this your way. I just want Staci back." Lisa nods, closes the door and goes over to the phone. "What are you doing now?" he asks. "Calling Jason Morgan. He might be able to give us a hand." Mrs. Lansbury rushes around, placing food all along the table for the breakfast buffet. There is enough food to feed the whole Cassadine clan at least three times over. On one end of the large table, there are six different types of bagels, different cheeses, croissants and scones as well as omelets and waffles. Various types of fresh fruit sit in delicate serving dishes on the other end of the table. On the smaller, separate table, Mrs. Lansbury sets out coffee, milk, orange juice, apple juice, tomato juice and cranberry juice. Making sure everything is just so, she positions the napkins and utensils in ornate rows. Stone is the first one bounding down the stairs, "Morning, Mrs. Lansbury," he says brightly. She smiles, "Good morning, Master Stone. Help yourself to breakfast." His eyes light up at the sheer volume of food laid out before him. Grinning from ear to ear, he quickly piles his plate and retreats to a nearby table in silence. Stefan and Laura walk in quietly. Mrs. Lansbury gestures towards the tables, "Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Cassadine. Is there anything else I can get for you?" Stefan shakes his head slightly, "No thank you, Mrs. Lansbury." Mrs. Lansbury quietly takes her leave. Stefan turns to say something to Laura, but stops as he sees Nikolas and Gina enter. Nikolas turns to Gina and motions towards the food, "Help yourself." He smiles politely at both Stefan and Laura. As Gina begins to silently fix a small plate, Laura notices Stone for the first time, "Good morning, Stone. You're practically hiding over there, aren't you?" Stone nods while stuffing food in his mouth. Laura goes over and rests a hand gently on Gina's shoulder, "You okay?" Gina nods, "Last night was rough. I keep having these terrible nightmares." "I know what you mean. Everyone keeps saying it's gonna be okay, even me, but every time I close my eyes, I see the kids. All of them, all the images blurring together. Especially Staci." Gina sits her plate down, "How am I supposed to just sit here while God only knows who has my daughter?" she asks forcefully. Nikolas comes up behind Gina and puts his arms around her; turning her in towards his comforting embrace. Laura rests her hand briefly on Nikolas' shoulder in support before walking over to Stefan. "Even Mrs. Lansbury is upset by all this." Curiously, Stefan asks, "How can you tell, Lasha?" She motions back towards the food, "Look at all that food. She only cooks like this if she's upset." Stefan smiles and turns towards the doorway as Lu comes in. He goes over and hugs her gently, kissing her forehead, "How are you this morning, Angel?" She nods, "Okay." "Help yourself to breakfast, honey," Laura says softly. Lu shakes her head slightly, "No thanks, I'm not really hungry." Stefan frowns, "Is everything all right, Angel?" Lu looks down, hoping no one can read her expression, "Yeah, sure." Before Lu can say anything else, Lucky saunters in, "Hey all." Lu sets her plate down and crosses over to Lucky. Hugging him, she says, "Hey Lucky!" He hugs her tightly, "Hey Lulu, how ya feeling?" She nods, "Okay, now that everyone is in one place." She looks down at the ground and quietly adds, "Almost everyone, that is." Lucky walks over to Laura and whispers to her, "You were right about Lisa. She is Dad's daughter." Laura looks up at him and nods, "Are you okay with that?" Lucky shrugs, "Do I have a choice? What's fact is fact. Doesn't mean I have to like her."   CHAPTER 43: JUST SAY YES Laura pulls Lucky out into the hallway. "What did Lisa say?" Lucky shrugs, "Not a whole lot. She admitted that she is Dad's daughter." Lucky looks into his mother's eyes, "How did you know?" "We looked into Lisa's background. It was easy to find out that she was Jennifer's daughter. Knowing your father's history with Jennifer, I put two and two together." After a moment of silence, Laura continues, "What are you going to do, now that you know?" Sighing, Lucky says, "Wait and watch, I guess." Laura reaches up and kisses his cheek, "Neither of which are your strong suits, sweetie." Pointing back towards the dining room, she says, "Now, come in and eat some breakfast." Lucky looks at his watch, "Actually, I have a meeting to get to. I'll just say goodbye to everyone and head out." Laura looks down, "I'm sorry about Lisa." "What's there to be sorry about?" "Being the one to tell you. I wish I didn't have to do that." Lucky hugs her protectively, not wanting to increase his mother's stress level, "Don't worry about it, Mom. It's not your fault. You didn't know." "Are you going to accept the fact that she's your half sister?" Laura asks curiously. "Do I have a choice? Right now, the only thing I'm accepting is that she might be able to lead me to Staci. For that, she's worth having around." Lisa knocks on the door of the Penthouse suite at the Port Charles Hotel. After a minute, she knocks again. She takes a deep breath as the door finally opens. Derek stands there, clad only in a towel. He smirks, "Well, this IS a surprise." Sheepishly, Lisa holds up a white paper bag, "I brought breakfast. I hope that's not too forward of me." Derek opens the door to let her in, "Of course not. I'm starving." Lisa sits down on the sofa, putting the bag on the coffee table. Derek sits beside her. "Aren't you going to change first?" she asks. Derek shrugs, "Why? There's nothing I've got that you haven't seen." As Lisa pulls two styrofoam cups of coffee out of the bag, she asks, nonchalantly, "Tell me again why we got divorced six years ago." Laughing, Derek asks, "Where did that come from?" "I don't know, pondering the past, I guess." "I believe the papers said irreconcilable differences," Derek says before taking a sip of his coffee. He gives Lisa an odd look, "You remembered." Lisa smiles, "It's easy to remember how someone likes their coffee. What was so bad between us?" Derek reaches up and touches her face, "Remember when we briefly got together in New York two years ago?" Lisa looks down, "Every day of my life since." Derek sighs, "We were in paradise for a week, then one night of hell brought it all crashing down." He scoots closer to her, and speaks in a hushed whisper, "I wanted to start over. I thought you wanted that too." She glances back up at him and catches the look in his eyes, before looking down again, "I did," she says, barely above a whisper. Derek lifts Lisa's chin, so that they're looking in each other's eyes. "What do you want now, Lisa?" When she doesn't say anything, he leans over and kisses her passionately. She returns the kiss briefly, then pulls back, "Derek, I can't do this. Not right now." She stands up quickly, "I'd better go, before we both do something we'll regret later. Enjoy the bagels." Derek nods silently as Lisa hustles out of the penthouse. He stands up, shrugs and walks into the other room to put on some clothes. Out in the hallway, Lisa makes a terrible face. "The things I do for the benefit of others," she mumbles, shaking off the last couple of minutes. "Blech." Nikolas sits at his desk at Cassadine Inc. He picks up the phone quickly as it rings. "Is it done?" he asks the voice on the other end. Nodding in approval at the response, he says, "Good. I'll take care of the rest." He hangs up the phone and opens the file in front of him. "Yagi," he says to the file, "welcome to Cassadine Inc." He picks up the phone again, "I gave you a list of the Yagi Pharmaceutical researchers that have experience in childhood diseases. Take that list and set up a meeting with them. Get back to me with the time," he says curtly before hanging up. There is a soft knock on the door before Gina comes in. Nikolas looks up at her and smiles gently, "What are you doing off the island?" Gina shrugs, "I just wanted to see if you'd heard anything else?" Nikolas shakes his head slowly, "Not yet. You could have called." "I know, but I had to feel that I was doing something." Nik stands up, and crosses around the desk to stand in front of her, "I know what you mean." He takes her in his arms and draws her close, "Do you regret what happened last night, Gina?" She looks up at him, "No. I don't. Do you?" In response, Nik leans down and kisses her, caressing her face. "Not one precious moment of it. Gina, I want to give our relationship another chance. I love you, I've always loved you." Tears trickle down Gina's cheek, "I don't know what to say, Nikolas." Nik wipes away her tears with the pads of his thumbs as he caresses her face, "Just say yes."