Chapters 37 & 38

 

Chapter 37 Easy To Read

Lucky opens his apartment door to find Emily standing on his doorstep. "Emily!"

"I know I should have called first but I didn't know I was coming until I drove into the parking lot." Emily looks around nervously. "Maybe I should come back later..."

Lucky grabs her hand and pulls her into the apartment. "No, I'm glad you came, honestly. In fact you being here will keep me from feeling sorry for myself." He looks around the room for a chair and spots one by the desk. He pulls it out for her while he sits near her on the bed. "Sorry, I haven't had a chance to really fix this place up yet."

Emily looks around the stark surroundings, noting the only furniture seems to be a bed, a dresser, a desk, and a chair. On the dresser is Lucky's duffle bag from traveling, which is still full of clothes. "It's fine, in fact, it's very you."

"Thanks..." Lucky grins sheepishly as he looks around at his room, probably for the first time. "I think. So what you brought you here? You seem a little sad."

Emily shrugs and gets up from the chair to begin ambling around the room. "It's nothing really, just the usual. I wasn't ready to go home yet and I really didn't have anywhere else to go." She fingers his duffle thoughtfully, then turns to him. "You look like you could be ready to leave any moment. Thinking of taking off again?"

Lucky quickly crosses the room to pull her into his arms. He kisses her temple gently as he rubs her back reassuringly. "I told you, Em. I'm not going anywhere."

Emily leans against him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "If you had to leave for some reason, you'd tell me before you left, right?"

Lucky frames her face with his hands and forces her to meet his eyes. "What's this about, Em? This is about more than the duffle, isn't it? What happened?"

Emily fights to keep the tears from her eyes. "Please... just tell me the truth. If you had to leave, would you come and say goodbye first?"

Lucky strokes her hair lovingly as he continues to gaze into her eyes intensely. "Yes, I would come and say goodbye first... but I'm telling you, I'm not going anywhere without you. You're everything I want." He covers her trembling lips with his, drawing her into a tender kiss. Emily melts, parting her lips to invite him to deepen the kiss.

Lucky takes her up on the invitation, stroking her tongue with his, showing his devotion to her the only way he knows how. He buries his hands in her hair, pulling on it gently to tip her head back. Lucky grazes her chin with his lips, trailing kisses down her exposed neck.

Emily groans in response, her hands finding their way under his tshirt to rub his leanly muscled back. "God, it's so easy to forget everything but you."

Lucky breaks the embrace reluctantly, taking several deep breaths to bring his breathing back under control. "I think us being alone like this is dangerous. I almost forgot my promise to take things slow..." He trails a finger down her chin. "And I don't think you would have stopped me."

"Probably not, I was having too much fun myself." Emily captures his finger in her mouth and sucks on it seductively. At Lucky's groan of protest, she releases his finger and plants a kiss on the palm of his hand. "God, how I miss the way we used to be together... in my room above Kelly's. Everything seemed so perfect between us, no interference. Just you and me.... simple."

"Something has happened.. you're upset." Lucky leads Emily back to his bed to sit down. "Did you have a fight with your parents about me?"

Emily sighs heavily. "I'm that easy to read, huh?"

Alexis answers the door to her penthouse and finds Tom standing there. "I thought I'd stop by and to give us another chance to talk things out," He begins, his voice wary. "Is this a good time?"

Alexis gives a short nod and opens the door wider to admit him. "Come on in, I happen to have a little time now. I was planning on paying you a visit later today."

Tom's eyebrows go up in surprise. "Really, with as much time as has gone by, I figured you'd written me off. I basically came by in hopes of salvaging our friendship."

They sit on the sofa. "Our friendship is very important to me as well." Alexis looks at her hands as she chooses her next words carefully. "I want to apologize for my... extreme behavior the last time we spoke. I said some cruel things, I was pretty upset and I said whatever I could think of to get you to leave. There's no excuse, but I hope you will forgive me anyway."

"You weren't the only one who needs to apologize. I've done a lot of thinking since our argument and I realized I was an arrogant SOB in assuming I knew what was going on with you." Tom lays a hand on one of hers. "I was way out of line analyzing you... I'm afraid I have a nasty tendency of doing that, even in my personal relationships. I'm surprised I don't get slapped."

Alexis smiles wryly. "Well, I was tempted. There's nothing more infuriating than being told what's wrong with you, especially when there's truth to it." She puts her free hand on top of his and squeezes it briefly. "I'll make a deal with you, I promise not to attack you if you promise not to analyze me unless I ask you directly for your opinion."

"More than fair. I think I can hold up my end of the deal." Tom smiles in relief. "Thank you, Alexis."

Feeling anxious with their physical closeness, Alexis gets up from the couch and pours herself some water. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No thanks." Tom replies. "The only remaining question I have is where we stand. If all you want is to be friends, I can accept that. But I'll be honest, I'd really like to see how far we can go."

Alexis takes a seat across from him. "Frankly, I don't know if we can be more than friends, or if I am ready to be more than friends with anyone. What I learned in the last week is that I have to take it slow. I know I have to leave Sonny in the past, but it's going to take some time to do it, and I have to do most of the work on my own. If I rush anything, I'll just be hurting myself and anyone I become involved with."

Nikolas catches sight of Laura staring out into the lake as he climbs the steps to the house from the launch. "Good evening, Mother. Are you expecting someone?"

Laura gives him a small smile. "No, just getting some fresh air... and I needed some time to think."

Nikolas nods and gives her a peck on the cheek before passing her to go into the house. When he's a few feet past her, she turns to him. "Nikolas? Have you seen Lucky lately?"

Nikolas stops his ascent into the house. "Not since I visited him the day after he returned to Port Charles... why?"

"I just wondered how he seemed to you," Laura explains. "I'm worried about him... he seemed so angry and bitter when I saw him earlier today."

"That about sums up my conversation with him," Nikolas replies. "It isn't surprising really. Given how he feels about you marrying Stefan."

"I know... I guess I just foolishly hoped he'd find a way to get past it so we could be close like we used to." Laura looks at her hands as she bites her lip. "I'm at a loss as to how to bridge the gap... or rather if I should try. Maybe he needs time and space from me."

Nikolas walks down to the landing Laura is standing and paces in front of her. He appears to be wrestling with something. Finally he stops and looks her in the eye. "I know what it is like to be where Lucky is now. To be the son that doesn't fit. To be on the outside looking in... waiting for whatever scraps of attention you would spare me. At times I would think there was something wrong with me and at other times I hated you..." He shakes his head. "I don't know if I should be telling you this."

"Please go on," Laura prods. "As difficult as it is to hear, I need to. For you, and for Lucky."

"When I found out you faked your death... that you let me believe you were dead, I was so angry I wanted to hate you... I even needed to hate you. For a while I did... because up until that point I had hoped that you would eventually accept me. That you would love me like you did your other children. And the fact that you faked your death forced me to realize how ridiculous that hope was." Nikolas starts to pace again. "But I couldn't keep hating you, as much as I wanted to. I eventually accepted that I came last after your REAL family. It wasn't easy, even while I accepted it, it still hurt."

Laura nods sadly and lets a silence fall between them for a minute. "I wish there was some way to go back in time and do things differently... and undo some of the harm I did to you. What I did to you, the hurt I caused, was inexcusable."

Nikolas shakes he head emphatically. "That is not the point here. The point in my bringing this up isn't to reopen old wounds. Nothing can be done to change the past. No, the point is Lucky. You have a chance to do things differently this time. Not to repeat the same mistakes you made with me."

"But how? I wish I knew what to do, what to say to make things okay for him, for us, again. But I'm afraid there is no way." Laura lets out a tortured sigh. "He said he will never forgive me for marrying Stefan, and I believe him."

"That is because he sees your marriage as choosing Uncle over him. He believes you turned your back on him. He doesn't think you consider him important anymore." Nikolas puts his hands on her shoulders and pleads with her. "Prove to him that he is wrong, prove to him that he is still important to you, as important as ever. And don't give up until he believes it."

"Thank you. You're right.. I know you're right." Laura wraps her arms around Nikolas' neck and hugs him tightly, her eyes misting slightly. "Do you know how precious you are to me? How proud I am of you? You are a wonderful young man, full of compassion and generosity. I don't deserve you as a son, I certainly didn't have anything to do with the man you've become."

 

Chapter 38: Promises, Promises

"Mom!" Lucky exclaims in surprise as he invites Laura into his apartment. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong with Lulu?"

"No, it's nothing like that. I just needed to talk to you.. I didn't like how we ended our last conversation. I want to try to make things right between us."

Lucky turns his back to her. "It's a little late for that, isn't it Mom? You made your choice when you married Count Stiff. You're a Cassadine now, not a Spencer."

"No, I won't accept that, not ever." Laura grabs Lucky's arm and spins him around to face her again. "No matter who I'm married to or what happens between us, I will ALWAYS love you. Nothing will change that."

Lucky shrugs her hand off. "Words, that's all they are. They don't mean ANYTHING. Just because you say them over and over doesn't make them true. The truth is you're a Cassadine now. Sure Lulu can tow the line, be a part of that godforsaken family, but I'll NEVER be. And that means I don't rate with you anymore, I'm just the forgotten son... the son you left behind to make a new life."

Laura's eyes flash angrily. "That's not true! You're NOT forgotten. The whole time you were gone I thought of you, worried about you! Every day I wrack my brains for a way to bridge the gap between us."

Lucky scowls disbelievingly. "Again, they're just words. The fact is you've brought Lulu over to see me a few times and you've said a bunch of meaningless words. Besides that, you haven't done squat."

"I'm here, aren't I?" Laura argues. "Up until now, I've been giving you the space you wanted.. that I knew you needed. I respected your wish to be left alone... I knew you wouldn't have wanted me to hunt you down when you left town, so I didn't. I honestly thought if I gave you time to handle this on your own, we would have a better chance of making peace... of being close again. I knew if I crowded you, you'd just take off and be harder to find."

"You're right, I did want to be left alone," Lucky replies coldly. "But you're deluding yourself if you think I'm ever going to accept your marriage to Count Vlad. So the best we can have is what we have now, leave it alone. I've accepted my place in your life, it's time you accepted your place in mine."

"No! I won't accept this..." Laura waves her hands between them, "this hostility between us. I won't be shut out of your life. I love you, Lucky, as much as I love any of my other children.. in some ways more.. because I've raised you from a baby.. Nikolas I had to leave when he was still a baby.. Lulu, she's just starting to grow up. But you I've raised to adulthood... I fed you, loved you, sang to you, bandaged your knees when they were cut and held you when you cried. I'm not going to let that bond shrivel up and die. I love you too much to let it happen!"

"Fine, you love me, you care about me. And yeah, you raised me from a baby. And I guess I should be grateful for that.. that you didn't leave me as a baby like you left Nikolas... that you waited until I was an adult to turn your back on me..." Lucky angrily swipes at the tears in the corner of his eyes. "But you know what? I don't feel so lucky. I think it almost would have been easier if you'd left me as a baby. Then I wouldn't know what it's like to grow up feeling loved and cherished, and then have the fantasy ripped from me in a blink of an eye."

Laura gulps painfully, straightening her back and refusing to let the agony she feels surface. It's more important for her to make Lucky understand than to let loose her tears. "It's not a fantasy, it's the truth, I DO love and cherish you. Who I marry doesn't have anything to do with how I feel about you."

"You keep telling yourself that, Mom, maybe one day one of us will believe it," Lucky retorts, his voice laced with bitterness. "You've done your duty, Mom. You've reached out to your 'troubled' son and told him you loved him. You gave it your best shot, it's not your fault it didn't work out. Now you can go home to Spoon Island guilt-free knowing you're still a wonderful mother."

"That's not why I'm here, I'm not here because I feel guilty, I'm here because I refuse to accept the distance between us. I know you don't trust me, that I've hurt you. Maybe I made you believe by giving you space that I didn't care about you." Laura takes Lucky's face in her hands and forces him to look at her. "You can try all you want to shut me out, to push me away. But I'm not going anywhere. I will be here always. I'm not walking away from you, EVER. I will not lose you and I will not let you lose me. We have a bond that is too strong and too uniquely precious to ever be severed, Lucky. Ever." She kisses both of his tear-stained cheeks. "At this point, those are just words. You have no reason to believe them. But I intend to prove it to you. I can't undo the mistakes I've made, but I can do everything in my power to make up for them."

Laura pats Lucky's wet cheek one last time before walking herself to the door. She pauses at the doorway before leaving. "And whether you want to admit it to yourself or not, you need me."

The Port Charles Grille. Alexis sits at a table doing paperwork when Justus spies her from the doorway. A grin crosses his face as he joins her. "Good Afternoon, Counselor. I have to admit I'm a little surprised to see you here. I expected you to be at home doting on that boy of yours."

Alexis smiles brightly at him as she pushes away her paperwork. "Hello, Justus. Normally I am at home but I just finished an appointment and I needed to get something to eat. What brings you here?"

"I had to get away from the office before I strangled Edward. He's been feeling his oats the last few days and decided to make an impromptu visit to the office to check things out." Justus sighs dramatically. "And of course the first thing he did was declare a state of emergency. He's taken over the building and is bullying all the secretaries and lower executives. I just hope he doesn't do serious damage to himself before Monica and Alan can get him to go home. They are on their way over there now to do a family intervention."

Alexis smirks in amusement."So you decided the best course of action was a strategic retreat."

"You got it." Justus leans over the table and smiles at Alexis charmingly. "Any chance you'll take pity on a poor lonely guy and have dinner with me?"

Alexis laughs. "Oh please! Do I look that gullible? You could have your pick of the eligible women in Port Charles! If you're lonely, it's by choice."

Justus shrugs his shoulders. "True, I could have my pick, but why would I want to dine with some vane uninteresting woman when I'm sitting across from my heart's desire?" He puts his hand on top of one of hers and watches as a look of alarm crosses her face. His voice is low and gentle. "I know, I promised to give you all the time and space you needed, and I meant it. It's just.. you've been on my mind a lot since that night we spent together. And seeing you here makes it darn near impossible to keep that promise. Just have dinner with me... let me look at you over a meal and talk about nothing important."

The feel of his hand on hers causes Alexis to gulp nervously. "I... I don't know if that's a good idea..."

"What kind of trouble could we get into having an innocent meal in public?" Justus begs.

"Plenty," Alexis mutters under her breath, but she relents when her eyes meet his pleading ones. "You don't play fair, you know that? You're irresistible when you beg. Fine.. I'll have dinner with you, but that's it."

Justus beams at her triumphantly. "Great! I'll behave, I promise." Then he winks at her mischievously."At least as much as you want me to behave."

Wyndemere. Laura holds her round stomach as she crosses the empty living room. Halfway to the study, she stops and grabs the back of the sofa for support. Her face contorts with pain and she pants, the knuckles grabbing the couch going white with the strength of her grasp. "Stefan!" She gasps, her voice coming out in a mere whisper.

Half a minute later, her face relaxes and she stands upright again. "Stefan!" She yells loudly. "STEFAN!"

Rapid footsteps can be heard coming closer to the living room. A moment later, Stefan arrives in the doorway, with Lulu at his heel. "Lasha?"

Laura smiles at him bravely. "It's time, I'm sure of it!"

Stefan is rooted to the spot, almost not comprehending. "Time? TIME?!" Suddenly he is at her side, ushering her to the couch. "Give me a few moments to your suitcase and we'll be off. Sit down."

Laura shakes her head and refuses to sit down. "No!.. I mean no, the pain is better if I'm standing."

"You're in pain? Where? We must get you to the hospital immediately!" Stefan turns to Lulu. "Angel, find Mrs Lansbury immediately, have her call down to the launch." He turns back to Laura. "Where is the pain? How is it? Maybe I should call your doctor before we leave."

"No... I only feel pain during the contractions and I've already called Dr Goldstein... Ohhhhhh!" Laura squeezes Stefan's hand as another contraction hits, causing Stefan to wince at the force of her squeeze.

"MRS LANSBURY!! NIKOLAS!!" A terrified Stefan bellows helplessly as he supports Laura during her contraction. "How frequent are your contractions, Lasha? Are you certain you can make it to the hospital in time?"

Laura just nods, using her Lamaze breathing to manage the pain. A moment later the contraction subsides. She smiles up at him with love and joy in her eyes. "We'll make it to the hospital, Stefan, if I have to cross legs to keep the baby from coming. Don't worry, I've been through this three times before. Everything is going as it should. We'll see our baby soon, and everything will be fine. I know it."

A moment later the room is full of servants and family. Gina holds onto Lulu as Nikolas and Stefan escort Laura out of the house and down to the launch.

In the maternity ward at General Hospital, two nurses bustle around an empty hospital room getting it prepared for an arrival. "Everything has to be perfect, Louise. This isn't for just anybody, this is for Mr Cassadine's wife. If anything is out of place or if anything goes wrong with the birth, there will be hell to pay."

The second nurse, Louise, sighs. "It must be nice to have all that power and money, don't you think? To have the whole hospital staff shake in fear whenever you walk down the hall. I wouldn't mind being Mrs Cassadine, though. I've seen how he dotes on her. Like she's a queen or something."

Outside the room, a dark haired woman lurks, overhearing the conversation between the two nurses. She slips down an side hall and picks up the receiver to the pay phone. She punches in a number and waits a moment for the other person to answer. "Yeah, it's me. It's time. Get everyone in place. Make sure the plane is on standby and ready to take off at a moment's notice. If everything goes as planned, we all live the good life. If anything goes wrong, none of us will live to tell the tale."