The Los Angeles offices of the WSB were located in a nondescript warehouse half a mile away from the railroad tracks in North Hollywood. To ensure security for the top secret organization, the WSB had purchased four city blocks and converted them all into a secret labyrinth of underground tunnels and offices and complexes. There were several classrooms, a weapons development area, and a shooting range. There was even one entire block devoted to parking, the WSB’s way of giving in to the California obsession/need for cars. Lucky had been to the New York offices once or twice. No parking anywhere.

Smiling, Lucky turns down the stereo of his car as he maneuvers it through the gate into the warehouse. Once the doors close behind him, he uses a remote device to activate the platform and lower himself and the car to the underground parking garage.

Once parked, it takes him about five minutes to manipulate the maze of tunnels until he finds his and Robin’s and Frisco’s offices. It had been five months since they had solved the Quartermaine murder and been rewarded with these larger and more spacious offices. They had nothing on Em’s offices at ELQ, no private bathroom with a shower and a Jacuzzi tub or an exercise room attached, but for the WSB this office was a luxury.

Lucky threw his keys down on the desk and turned on his computer. It was a Saturday and he was coming in early to catch up on some paperwork. One of the problems working for the WSB was that secretaries were a precious commodity. The WSB hired only the most trustworthy secretaries to handle the top secret and classified information that regularly filtered through here. Most of the better ones ended up transferring to the academy for field agent training.

All of which explained why as the junior agent among the three of them, Lucky was here at 7 am in the morning playing secretary when his two partners were probably still sleeping in. Lucky grinned and indulged in a quiet daydream about what would happen if they ever brought in a fourth agent who he could boss around.

Shaking his head and trying to connect again with reality, Lucky clicked on his email and checked the messages downloaded there.

One from Sly who was interning with the Times London offices after graduating early from Columbia. Lucky smiled as he read the note. Sly had just met the woman of his dreams, again, and was getting a little tired of writing fluff pieces on the young Prince. Saving the email from Sly to answer later, Lucky checked his other messages. One was from Emily and he smiled when he read it and tried hard not to blush. Grinning widely, he saved that one too. A message from Nikolas he deleted without even reading it. He wished his brother well or at least he wished him no harm but that didn’t mean he wanted to communicate with him. The last message was from someone he didn’t know and it was sent directly to his email. Most of his messages. those from Nikolas or Sly, were routed through a series of electronic mailboxes aliases to ensure that no one knew his private email. Outside of the WSB, only Emily had the direct link to his private email. He looked at the address but it wasn’t from either Emily’s ELQ computer or her home computer.

With a feeling of foreboding, he opened the message. and silently read the one sentence it contained:

Every game has a beginning

Lucky stares at the message for a long while his heart drops and his throat goes dry. It couldn’t be. It was just a joke. Someone’s idea of a practical joke. He tries to trace the message back to its point of origination but there’s a block and he can’t get past it.

His hand shaking, he picks up his cell phone and presses a familiar number. He lets it ring and can feel the tension rise with every echo. Come on. Answer dammit. Answer. He is just about to hang up and head to the airport when he hears the click as the receiver picks up.

“Emily Quartermaine.”

He lets himself breath again. She’s okay. She’s okay.

“Hello?”

He forces his voice to stay even as he answers. “It’s me.”

“Lucky?” The pure pleasure in her voice restores him like nothing else. “This is a surprise. Middle of the day? They must be giving you WSB agents a pay raise or something.” She teases softly.

“I wish,” Lucky responds in kind. “How are you?” Are you safe? Do you lock the door at night? Is anyone hanging around that shouldn’t? Am I losing my mind? He’s dead. He can’t hurt you. It’s a fluke. Just a fluke.

“Besides missing you and this head cold I can’t shake?” Emily shrugs taking a pile of papers off her desk and depositing them in the trashcan. She’ll have to dig them out later of course, but the gesture makes her feel better. “I’m fine. Just the typical problems.”

“I don’t suppose you’d care to be more specific. Besides which, we both know your problems are never typical.”

Emily sighed. She thought about lying to Lucky, but it never worked. “Stefan Cassadine.”

“Stefan? Don’t tell me. Another offer to buy out ELQ. ” The slow burning anger that surfaced whenever he thought of any of the Cassadines was still there.

“Yeah.” She hears the unspoken anger in his voice. “ Lucky I can handle this. I’ve already declined Stefan’s offer.”

“The bastard shouldn’t have made it. It was bad enough when he sent Nikolas when Edward was barely dead but to keep after you.”

“Lucky, it’s business. Hell if I was Stefan maybe I’d be doing the same thing. The Cassadine’s could use ELQ International.” She hesitated. “Just promise me you won’t do what you did when he made his offer last month.”

“Me?” His tone was playfully innocent. “I didn’t do anything to poor old Stefan.”

“Lucky”

“All right. I’ll let you handle Stefan on your own this time. But I have to tell you that personally I thought that virus was a stroke of genius.”

“Right. I’m sure Stefan appreciated you infecting his computer system with a virus that put happy faces at the end of every sentence instead of periods.” Emily almost giggled at the thought despite her efforts to sound serious. She paused. “What’s wrong? Really.”

Beyond the fact that this madman who pretty much destroyed my life might be back. Except that he can’t be because he’s dead.

He shrugs. “Just a tough case.”

“That’s all?”

“No. I needed to hear your voice. I miss you.”

“Me too,” her voice softens. “Did you get my message?”

This time its Lucky’s turn to hesitate.

“Emily I...”

“It’s okay, Lucky really. I know you don’t want to come to Port Charles. I’ll see you for New Years and bring you your present than okay? You know ELQ owns that hotel in the Bahamas. We can stay there and ...”

“Emily take a deep breath and relax,” Lucky smiles at her nervousness, it reminds him of their teenage years. “Not that I mind a Caribbean vacation at ELQ expense, but I’ve decided to come to Port Charles. I don’t want us spending Christmas apart. We spend too much time apart as it is. So I hope there’s room in that condo of yours for a visitor.”

“I could put you up at the PC Hotel.”

“Why? Unless you plan on staying there I won’t be sleeping there.”

“My condo it is,” Emily smiles. “And Lucky?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you.....”

“Just don’t expect me to go caroling at Wyndemere and I’ll be fine.” Lucky grins as he tosses the nerf ball on his desk into the hoop attached to the wall. “So tell me what you want for Christmas and think my budget, not yours.”

“What? You mean your not buying me that Lamborghini for Christmas?”

“Two things- One- I’ve seen you drive and I’m not putting you behind the wheel of a car with that much muscle. Two- you’re the billionaire you can buy one yourself.”

Emily laughed. “Working billionaire thank you very much. And I’m not the one with four speeding tickets.”

“Speeding tickets are a rite of passage in LA. You’re not really considered “in” until you’ve gotten a speeding ticket and been shot at in a drive by. Besides, thanks to a little WSB wizardry, those tickets no longer exist.”

“And driving off a mountain road?”

“I did that to save your life. I’d do anything to save your life. You are the most important thing in the world to me.”

“Same here,” Emily can feel the tears threaten to overwhelm her. “All I want for Christmas is to wake up next to you.”

“So...does that mean I can spend the money I’ve been saving for your present on this new computer game I’ve got my eye on.”

“Not if you want to live.”

“Gotcha.” Lucky paused and glanced at the computer screen in front of him. “How’s that security system I had them install in your condo?”

“Fine....”

“And you’re being careful aren’t you?”

“Lucky, you know that AJ put security on all of us. I know you know he did because I know you suggested it to him. Now do you want to tell me what happened?”

“Nothing. I’m just nervous about your safety. Can you blame me after what happened?”

“Johnny is dead. Carly is dead. Jason is in prison. I’m safe.”

“Emily you’re the major stockholder of a multi-billion dollar cooperation. That makes you a prime target for every would be kidnapper in the country. I get scared for you.”

“I know. Just like I get scared for you every time you go on the case.” Emily says softly. “I don’t want to ever lose you.”

“You won’t. I’m not leaving you. Ever.”

“Then tell me what’s wrong?”

Lucky shifts uncomfortably in his chair. “I can’t pretend with you, can I ?”

“No.”

“Listen. I know we need to talk. There are things you need to know. But not over the phone, okay? We’ll do it when we’re together at Christmas.”

“Okay.”

“And Em?”

“Yeah?”

“I do love you.” Silently Lucky hangs up the phone and looks back at the screen.

Every game has a beginning.

“Not this one,” Lucky whispers to himself as he hits the delete button on his computer. “Not this one.”

He picks up the phone and makes a second call.

Robin Scorpio pulls her light silk robe a little closer around her as she feeds the juicer cut up orange bits piece by piece. She wasn’t sure when, but some where she had picked up this domestic streak that had her making orange juice fresh instead of buying it in the cartons at the grocery store. Maybe it had something to do with all the nights spent in hotel rooms across the globe that made her revel in the feeling of waking up in her own home.

She smiled as she felt a warmth come behind her and she was pulled back against a solid length of masculine strength, her neck nuzzled in a way that sent sparks flying along her nerves.

“Morning beautiful,” Frisco whispered as he turned her around for a proper kiss. After a minute or so, he lifted his head, his eyes darkened with passion. “I don’t suppose I could convince you to spend the day here in bed.”

“And leave poor Lucky to do all the paperwork on his own?”

“Didn’t I read somewhere that completing mounds of paperwork was good exercise for growing WSB agents?”

Robin laughed. “Somehow I don’t think Lucky would see it that way.” She hesitated for a minute. “Besides I want to call Sean and talk to him about what we talked about last night.”

Frisco sobered slightly. “Transferring to the New York office.”

Robin nodded. “These last few years living in California have been great, you know that. We’ve handled cases all around the Pacific Rim from New Zealand to Alaska. I love the life we’ve built for ourselves here.”

“But you want to be closer to Port Charles?”

“I think we both do. You have two beautiful daughters who need to see their father more often. And now that Mac and Felicia know the truth about my work and our relationship, I think we can all see more of each other. I don’t want to live in Port Charles. I’m not ready for that. But if we were based in New York we could begin by visiting more often.”

“And Lucky?”

“I don’t know,” Robin says softly. “I don’t know how close he’ll want to get to Port Charles and everything. I do know that he and Emily will see more of each other if he’s in New York. I think he’ll go for it.”

“Sean will jump at the chance to have us working directly under him in New York.”

“So,” Robin looks up at her fiancée. “Do we make the move?”

Frisco looked at his lover. “You know its probably cold and grey and foggy in New York right now.” He sighed. “I guess we better stock up on sun lamps.”

Robin is distracted from her reply by the sound of the doorbell ringing at the same time the phone does.

“I’ll take the door, you get the phone.” Robin says with a laugh as she goes to answer the door.

She opens it to find a delivery man holding a bouquet of red roses.

“Robin Scorpio?”

She nods and signs for the flowers and tips the man before closing the door.

She takes a moment to inhale the scent and enjoy the beauty of the roses before her confusion takes over as she wonders who they could be from. As far as she knew, Frisco hadn’t done anything lately that called for sending her flowers and it wasn’t an anniversary or special occasion.

She shifted the flowers in her hands and searched for the envelope. Smiling she pulled out the card. The smile disappeared as she read the card with a puzzled frown.

Everything worth having is worth waiting for.

There was no signature anywhere and Robin’s confusion began to give away to fear. As she held the card in her fingertips, the flowers fell out of her hands and hit the floor.

Frisco walked into the hallway, his face pale and his expression unreadable. “That was Lucky. He got an email that he thinks came from...” He pauses.

“Faison,” Robin finishes as she turns to Frisco Her eyes filled with remembered anguish, she kicks the flowers away from her and drops the card. Frisco grabs her before she can collapse and she turns into his shoulder.

“I thought it was over,” she whispers unevenly. “But it’s not, is it?”

Frisco says nothing, just holds her tight as she begins to cry. Port Charles

It’s just turning dark when Emily Quartermaine heads up into the converted loft that’s been her home for a year and a half. After her grandfather’s murder, she had contemplated moving back to the mansion but has decided not to. She loved her parents and her grandmother, but the losses were easier to endure here than at the mansion, where there were reminders everywhere. She missed her grandfather so much. She hoped somehow that he knew that she had finally found happiness. She had it all. A job she loved for all the headaches it gave her at times and a guy she loved even with all of the small problems a long distance relationship entailed.

She grinned as she unlocked the door and put down the bag of groceries she was carrying. Placing her purse next to the counter, she pressed the play button on her messages.

There was a message from Michael telling her that he and his daddy were going to the zoo on Saturday and could she come. She smiled and made a mental note of telling AJ in the morning that she’d love to go. A day with her brother and her nephew sounded like fun. She wondered what zoo AJ had in mind. The last time he told his son they were going to the amusement park, AJ had surprised Michael by flying him to Disneyworld for the day.

The second message was from Monica asking about Christmas. Lucky was coming to Port Charles for Christmas. Emily felt the happiness bubbling up inside of her.

The third message made Emily stop and stare at the machine. Frowning, she replayed the message, turning up the volume. There was no voice, no greeting, just a sound in the background like the clanging of a cell door shut. She shook her head, chances were that it was a wrong number and what she heard was probably someone’s TV playing in the background. Still....she thought of Jason in jail for Edward’s murder and wondered if the message was related to that. She saved the message, deciding she would ask Taggert about it when he picked up Lark for lunch tomorrow.

Twenty minutes later, Emily had just emerged from the shower and was trying to figure out what to fix for dinner when the doorbell rang.

Checking first, Emily opened the door slowly and in shock.

“Liz?” she whispered.

Elizabeth Webber Cassadine nodded nervously as both young women stared at each other in silence.