Secrets Revealed Chapter 7
Do You Know Where You’re Going To?


2016
El Paso Texas
Police Dept.

Nikolas Cassadine would be the first to admit that he was in
a foul mood. Something about having his in laws murdered and his
only child turn up missing did that to a man. He had lost Kim and
he had lost their son. He would not lose their daughter. Stephanie
was all he had left of the wife he had adored. If getting her back
meant that he had to cooperate with the authorities than he would
do just that. At least for now.

“Maxie,” he began and then backtracked at the cool look in
her eyes. “Detective Jones. Is there someplace in private where you
can fill me in on the details of my daughter’s appearance and the
fine efforts your officers have undertaken to find her?”

“That’s the Cassadine charm that I remember,” Lucky
smirked from behind his laptop. “I bet it fails with the lady
detective.”

Maxie and Nikolas turned to Lucky almost simultaneously.
“Shut up Lucky.”

“Ouch,” Lucky grinned “My feelings are hurt.” His
expression turned serious for a moment. “Actually if you don’t
mind, Detective, while you fill my loving brother in on the details of
his daughter’s disappearance, I’m going to go use the pay phone to
check on my wife.”

“You’re wife?” Nikolas whirls in disbelief. “You got
married again? That’s....great. Unbelievable. When do I get to meet
her? I’m only sorry that Kim isn’t..” His voice trails off
uncomfortably.

Lucky sighs. Nikolas is, when all is said and done, his
brother. They had been getting closer before Lucky had left Port
Charles to be with Emily and Jonathan. Maybe he should enjoy
these last few minutes of brotherly love before things got ugly when
Nik learned the truth. “I heard about Kim’s accident. I’m sorry. I
know that it sounds really inadequate, but I do know what you are
going through. I really liked Kimberly and it was obvious to the
whole world how much you loved each other.”

Nikolas looks at his brother closely. In six years, Lucky
hadn’t really changed physically but it was apparent that he was not
emotionally the grieving husband Nikolas remembered. Whoever
this new wife was she had obviously healed the deep wounds left
behind by Liz’s death. “Thanks” He reaches out and grips his
brother’s hand in a strong handshake. “I don’t have any idea how
you managed to be here, but I’m glad you are. Stephanie will be
delighted to see her favorite uncle again. I just hope to God that we
find her.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find them.” Lucky’s voice holds no
room for doubt. “He turns to Maxie. “Let me make this phone call
and then I’ll handle that small matter for you.”

Maxie looks at him. Translation, he needs to let Emily
know that he is about to tell Nikolas the truth. Maxie nods.
“Nikolas and I will be in interrogation 3.” Maxie indicates the rarely
used room. With DNA and forensics finding new ways to link
criminals to crime scenes on a daily basis, such methods as
“grilling” a suspect until they talked were rarely used anymore.
These days criminals “talked” in a thousand different ways that
were easily held up in a court of law.

Lucky nods and starts to leave Maxie and Nikolas alone. He
is halfway to the front reception area when he hears Nikolas call
out.

“Do I at least get to know her name? Maybe even meet her
someday?”

Lucky turns and walks back to stand before his brother.
“Her name is Emily Bowen-Quartermaine. And I do believe you’ve
already met.”

And with a whistle Lucky leaves his stunned brother and
goes to make a phone call that he would give all that he had not to
make.

Spencer House
Port Charles



Michael Quartermaine was about to kill his best friend. The
fact that she was a girl and his cousin had nothing whatsoever to do
with anything. She was still dead meat as far as he was concerned.
He had been working and training and practicing for this
assignment for months. At 17, it was time for the boy to become a
man.

“Don’t even think it Quartermaine,” Ruby Spencer’s
muffled voice sounded from her perch on her bed. “You know that
you haven’t got a chance against me. No one can beat a Spencer on
her home turf.”

Michael looked up from the video game he was playing just
long enough to glare at Ruby who glared back in between the pizza
bites. The second he took his mind off the game was long enough
for his man to get hit by a stray laser shot and blown to
smithereens. He scowled at Ruby. “You distracted me on purpose.”

“Of course I did,” Ruby replied casually. “You should know
by now that Spencers never play by the rules.”

“Well Quartermaines do.” At Ruby’s long look, he
amended. “Okay, Quartermaines play by the rules in everything
except anything involving ELQ.”

“It must be tough being so wealthy,” Ruby mocked. “The
servants probably drive you crazy.”

“Truthfully, they do. Except for old Reggie that is.” Micheal
leans back against the bed. Besides being cousins, he and Ruby had
long been best friends despite the three year age difference between
them. In many ways he considered her mom, his aunt Laura, to be
his mom too. “Actually the mansion is not that bad once you get
used to having to decide daily whether to go riding or play tennis or
swim in the pool or race the go-carts my dad put in or.”

“What?” Astonishment forced Ruby to hold onto the pillow
she had been about to throw at him. “Your dad put in a go-cart
track. Way too cool. When are you going to teach me to drive.”

“Who says I’m going to teach you? Maybe I like the idea
that there is one thing in this world that I know how to do better
than you. And it really wasn’t my dad’s idea. It was the old man’s.
An early birthday present Edward said.” Michael’s voice becomes
somber. “I guess now I’ll have to share it with my new cousin.”

“How about you share it with your favorite aunt first?” The
two teenagers looked up at Emily’s voice from the doorway. She
smiled as she came in. “It’s still hard to believe that you are the
same little boy who used to spit up his milk all over my blouse.”
Emily smiled at her nephew. “I swear it was always my favorite
blouse and always when I was running late for a date or something.
I do believe you were solely responsible for my abdominal lack of
social success in high school young man.”

Ruby got her second shock of the last ten minutes when
Michael actually blushed.

Ruby looked at the young woman carefully. She may have
won Michael over with all of her baby talk, but Ruby wouldn’t be
so easy. Michael was a Spencer by blood but raised by the
Quartermaines. Ruby was not only raised a Spencer but she was
raised by the Spencer. She would be much harder to crack.

Emily smiled, a shy, hesitant, and charming smile and Ruby
found herself automatically smiling back.

“You have your brother’s eyes.” Emily said softly.

Ruby looked up. She had only vague memories of her
brother before he left but what she does remember is a man who
would be happily playing with her or LuLu one minute and the next
look like he wanted to cry. She didn’t remember what his eyes
looked like.

“I was hoping you had a computer I could use.” Emily
requested softly.

Ruby nodded and pulled the slim notebook computer off the
top shelf.
Emily expertly flipped the computer open and then turned it
on. She was online in a matter of seconds.

Curiousity overruling her determination to play it cool,
Ruby watched Emily .

“What are you doing?” Ruby asked.

“Tracking down the bitch who stole my son,” Emily replied
ignoring the startled look on the teenagers face.

“You know who did this?” Michael asked with a growing
tinge of excitement.

“Let’s just say that I don’t that many fifty something
blondes working for Helena Cassadine. In fact I know only one.
Katherine Bell.”

“I remember her. She and my dad dated once. I think my
dad described her as the date from hell.” Michael quipped.

“At least AJ has grown more astute about women in my
absence,” Emily replied.

“Wait a minute- you’re hacking into official records aren’t
you.?” Ruby asks.

Emily nods. “You don’t stay married to a computer whiz
like Lucky for so many years without picking up some skills. He
won’t admit it, but I think sometimes I’m better than he is.”

Ruby was just about to express her awe, when Em’s cell
phone rang.

Emily answered it quickly. “Lucky? Thank God. I’ve been
so worried about you.”

Ruby motions to Michael. “Come on let’s give her some
privacy.”

Michael looks up startled. “But the only place to go is
downstairs. With them.”

“I know,” Ruby pulled him by the arm. “Consider it your
good deed for the day.”

“More likely for the month.” He looked at his aunt for a
moment. Then like a lamb heading to slaughter, he followed Ruby
downstairs where the rest of the Quartermaine clan was still
gathered.


“I’m fine,” Lucky replied finding himself able to breath
again at hearing her voice. God he missed her. “How are you?”

Emily sighed and plopped herself down on Ruby’s bed.
“Surrounded by the enemy. I guess somebody told you’re mom that
I was on the verge of flying to El Paso myself so she went looking
for reinforcements to keep me. The Q’s have descended in mass.
Somebody I know owes me a vacation somewhere quiet when this
is over.”
Lucky chuckles. “I promise. When this is all over you and I
and Jonathan will rent some quiet cottage at the beach somewhere
and just relax.”

“That sounds like heaven,” Emily says wistfully. “Especially
that part about you and me and Jonathan. I miss him.”

“You’ll have him back. He knows what he’s doing. We just
have to trust him in this. He managed to get away from his
kidnappers in Miami and he escaped from the Stewart house alive. I
just have to trust that he will contact us.” Briefly he explained his
theory about the classified ads.

“He’s only 12 years old,” Emily reminded her husband.

“And what were we doing when we were his age. We made
it across the country in one piece. Trust him Emily. Trust us that
we taught him what we needs to know.”

There is silence for a moment. “I miss you,” Emily whispers
into the phone.

“Not half as much as I miss you.” Lucky’s voice was low.
“Do you realize this is the first time we’ve been apart more than a
few hours since I traced you and Jonathan to Alaska.”

“I know.”

Silence again.

“Em, I hate like hell to bring this up when you’re already
dealing with so much,” Lucky’s voice is hesitant. “Nikolas arrived
in El Paso.”
“Nikolas,” Emily’s heart skips a beat. She hears what Lucky
isn’t saying. “You want to tell him the truth.”

“His daughter is missing. He deserves to know why. He
might even be able to help if he understood Helena’s motivation.”

“He’ll hate me you know,” Emily’s voice is suddenly hollow
with fear. “He won’t understand. He’ll try to take my son away
from me. Away from us.”

“No one is taking our son.” Lucky assures her hiding the
fact that the thought has crossed his mind more than once. A
custody battle with Nikolas was not what he wanted. “We agreed
that it was time to tell Nik the truth. Let me do it here and keep you
out of it.”

“Keep me out of it?” Emily gives a short laugh. “You can’t
do that Spencer. The story sort of revolves around me.”

“Okay, let me tell him so that he takes his anger out on me.”

Emily shook her head. There were some things in this life
that Lucky could not protect her from. The wrath of Nikolas
Cassadine was going to be one of those things. Whether he learned
the truth from Lucky or from herself or from a man on the street,
she and Nikolas would eventually have to have a “discussion” about
why she had kept the existences of his son a secret from him all
these years.

“Whatever you need to do to get our son back,” Emily
voice is stronger than she expected it to be. “Nothing else is as
important.”

“That reminds me, I need you to pass some information on
to Jason’s men. I want them to check out the...”

“The warehouse in the Asian Quarter that Katherine Bell
rented two months ago using an assumed name and a dummy
corporation.” Emily finished for him.

“Okay,” Lucky’s voice takes on a teasing quality. “Who let
you near a computer and how did you know that the woman who
Jonathan described was Katherine?”

“Ruby had a lap top and women’s intuition.”

“Remind me never to doubt your instincts again,” Lucky
laughed then turned serious. “I better go. The sooner I get this
scene over with Nik the faster we can concentrate on finding
Jonathan. And Stephanie.” His voice drops an octave. “I love you
Emily Bowen Quartermaine Spencer.”

“That’s good because I love you Lucas Lorenzo Spencer.
Please be careful.” Emily can feel rather than hear his nod on the
other end as he disconnects the call.

She holds the warm cell phone in her hand. “Don’t worry
little one,” She touches her stomach protectively. “Your dad and
your brother will both be back soon. I guess its time to head down
to face the rest of your in-laws. Just don’t let them scare you into
never coming out of there. Their bark is definitely worse than their
bite.”

She heads downstairs not realizing that she has left the
information she was seeking displayed on the computer for two
very curious teenagers to find.


El Paso, Texas

“Okay, we’ve been walking for twenty minutes now
Lucky,” Nikolas eyed his brother wearily. “Do you want to tell me
what we’re doing?”

“First we’re looking for the kids. Maxie is checking on
some leads and ideas we have, my Dad and Jason are checking
their contacts, which leaves you and I the obvious choice to check
out places where the kids might hide in plain sight so to speak.”

“You expect us to walk into a park and spot Stephanie and
your son playing on the slide. Are you expecting them to walk over
and hug us?” Nikolas can’t keep the edges of sarcasm out of his
voice.

Lucky tries his best to keep his temper under control. “No,
I would expect my son to make sure we weren’t followed and then
find some way to contact us.”

“Followed?” Nikolas looks around. “The only ones
following us are my bodyguards.”

Lucky shakes his head. “Try to be more observant big
brother.” He casually motions to a red station again parked
underneath some trees. “We’ve been followed since we left the
police station.”

“What? Why aren’t we calling the police?”

“Number one they haven’t done anything illegal. Number
two I like the element of surprise being on my side. I don’t want
them to think we know what they are doing. Number three, if they
are following us that’s two less men looking for Jonathan and
Stephanie.” He led Nikolas to a bench surrounded by trees.

“Jesus Lucky- when did you get to be so good at this
espionage stuff. Those years working for Jax in Europe must have
been something.”

Lucky lets out a deep breath. He’s been putting this off for
as long as he can, but the time has arrived. “Nikolas there’s
something you need to know. I haven’t been working with Jax in
Europe all these years. I’ve been living with Emily and our son.
We’ve been on the run for the last six years.”

“On the run? From who?”

Lucky meets his brother’s eyes. “From your grandmother.
Helena has been trying to kidnap Jonathan since he was born
twelve years ago.”


El Paso Texas
Coffee Shop


Maxie absently sipped the black coffee while she perused
the listing of classified ads the newspapers had faxed over. She took
out her marker and circled the ad she had read five times.

Damn if Spencer hadn’t been right after all.

“Did you find something,” Jason’s deep voice broke into her
concentration and in her surprise Maxie knocked over the coffee
cup. Cursing and using language her parents pretended she didn’t
know, Maxie moved to blot the coffee out with newspaper.
Smooth move Jones, she thought to herself. What happened to
cool, calm, and collected?

“Don’t you ever announce yourself like a normal person? Or
at least make some noise when you approach?” Maxie scowled at
Jason. “Where’s Luke?”

“Still making phone calls. He’ll be here in a minute. Where’s
Lucky?”

“We had a complication,” Maxie focused on the paper in
front of her, the clock on the wall, the salt shaker on the table.
Anything to avoid looking in his direction. “Nikolas Cassadine
showed up looking for his daughter. Lucky took him out to search
for the kids and I think to fill him in.”

“Cassadine better not make any trouble for Emily and
Lucky,” Jason growls. Thinking about Nikolas’s reaction to the
news that he has a son keeps Jason from thinking about how
incredibly beautiful Maxie has grown over the last few years. If he
closes his eyes he can imagine her naked form beneath him, her
blonde hair trailing down her back as they made love in his New
York hotel room. He shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

“Nikolas Cassadine is the least of your worries. Helena
Cassadine is the one you need to worry about.” Maxie handed
Jason the newspaper, trying to ignore the shock of electricity that
went through her when their fingers accidentally brushed. “Lucky
was right about the kid placing the ad.”

Jason read outloud: My lucky star- Let’s walk on the wild
side beneath the blazing sun.

“How do you know its Jonathan?”

Maxie shook her head, remembering that she had not fallen
in love with Jason all those years ago for his intelligence. Wait a
minute. Love? Who said you were ever in love with Jason Morgan?
Lovers yes. But that was just a physical thing right? A kind of post
post adolescent rebellion....it had never been about love. Maxie told
the voices in her head to shut up and to her surprise they actually
did. “Lucky Star is an old Madonna song. It fits with what Lucky
told us about the movie. I’m guessing blazing sun is noon. As far as
the walk on the wild side part goes, the kid is a Spencer slash
Quartermaine slash Cassadine. God knows what he considers wild.”

“The zoo.” Jason replies softly. “Kids his age love wild
animals. I remember taking Michael to the zoo in Port Charles
when he was near Jonathan’s age. All of the wild animals on view
thrilled him.”

Maxie watches the play of emotions on his face as he talks
about Michael. It’s the same look that he gets when he talks about
Robin. Somehow inside, Maxie felt something shatter as she
realized that there were probably only three people in his entire life
that Jason Morgan had loved. Emily. Michael. Robin. She had been
a fool to ever believe for a moment that there could be a fourth.

Jason sees the shutter come down across Maxie’s face. Why
does the formality of her behavior bother him? He wants her cold
and reserved and strictly professional- doesn’t he?

“You’re probably right,” Maxie reaches in and pulls out a
cell phone. “But I’m still going to have undercover men staking out
all of the wild places I can think of. We’ll need all the help we can
get on this one.”

Jason nods his head in agreement.


Port Charles
The Spencer House

It took three hours of cajoling and persuading, but the
Quartermaines have finally left, with the exception of Monica who
is enjoying a quiet moment of peace in the Spencer kitchen with
Emily and Laura. The three women are discussing such things as
baby names and decorating ideas, anything to keep them from
focusing on the one thing that is on the minds of all three: the safe
return of Jonathan and Stephanie.

Emily gets up to take the cups to the sink and let them soak.
“This must be especially hard for you with both your
grandchildren missing,” Monica muses to Laura comfortingly. “I’m
sure you know that everything possible is being done to bring both
children home.”

Laura nods. “I knew both of the Stewarts. They were
wonderful grandparents to Stephanie and parents to Kim before her
death. Stephanie is going to be devastated. No child should endure
such a loss at such a young age.”

Monica is about to reply when the angry clatter of dishes
falling against hardwood floors causes both woman to look up just
in time to see Emily fall unconscious to the floor.

“Oh my God,” Monica races over to her daughter’s still
form as Laura calls 911.

“She’s not breathing,” Monica checks Emily’s pulse and
finding it rapid and thready but present, begins to perform rescue
breathing.

By the time the ambulance arrives, Emily is breathing on her own but has still failed to
regain consciousness. Monica rides in the ambulance to GH, Laura looks at the phone,
hesitates, and then grabs her purse and follows the ambulance in her own car.