Chapter 11

Lucky sat up slowly, and walked over to the nightstand that stood at the side
of his bed. He opened the drawer, needing to see the two of them, happy
together and in New York City. He sighed aloud, wishing he could see that
smile up close once again, feel those soft, lucious lips against his once
again. He looked towards the heavy door that stood between he and the rest of
the world and wondered when his father would walk through it. Had he been
kidding himself? Had Luke missed his message all together? Had he even
received it at all? Maybe he didn't believe it. Maybe he thought someone was
playing a joke on him. These questions whizzed through Luckys' mind all at
once, causing him to rub at his temples and flop down heavily on the bed.

The familiar sound came suddenly, as it always did. It was the sound of the
door sliding open. The sound of his captor returning. 'Oh God,' Lucky
thought. 'It's true...my dad met with him. My dad really did JUST wanna meet
with Faison. He has no clue that I'm alive.'

As quickly as that thought entered Lucky's mind, it disappaited. It, along
with any other thought he had been contemplating, disappeared into thin air
as his eyes adjusted to the reality of who stood before him. His father.

Lucky breathed in quickly through his nose as his lower lip began to quiver.
He bit down upon it and closed his eyes, willing the dream to stay just a bit
longer. He opened them again slowly, as a single tear decsended down his
cheek. He wiped at it with the back of his hand and glanced at his watch.
"What took you so long?" he asked, smiling. His voice thick with emotion.

Luke looked into his son's eyes and grinned slightly. He nodded then. His son
was ok. His son was still, after eight months of God only knew what kind of
terrible torture, he still had a sense of humor. He was still Lucky. Luke's
tired eyes shown with tears as he wordlessly walked over to his son and
embraced him, harder than he ever had before.

They laughed, oddly through their tears as their manly slaps on the back
slowly subsided. Soon they were both still and completely silent. Luke placed
a hand atop Luckys' head and then kissed that spot, realizing for the first
time that he'd grown about 3 inches. He pulled back reluctantly and looked
into his son's eyes. The two men spoke volumes to each other in that moment
without words, but knew there was much more to say, far more to express. But
not then, not under the watchful glare of the witch that stood just outside
the door. Luke could feel her eyes on him.

"I hate to break up this touching reuni -"

"Sonny...get her out of here!" Luke barked, never taking his eyes away from
the blue depths of his son's.

Luke took a deep breath as he heard the footsteps behind him retreat. "I'm
not going to ask you if you're ok," he began. "That would be..."

"I am Dad," Lucky said, cutting him off. His voice caught in his throat. He
saw the guilt in his father's eyes, as he knew he would if he ever got to see
them again, and he knew he had to help ease it. "I'm fine."

Luke nodded quickly, knowing Lucky's plan, 'Operation: Ease Dad's Guilt.'
Lucky could say whatever he wanted, but no matter what, the guilt would stay
with Luke forever.

He tryed to change the focus. He didn't want to break down. "What did they
do?" he asked. "Did they hurt you?" he continued, his eyes searching his son
at close view now.

"No," Lucky said, shaking his head. "Well..."

"What?!" Luke said, his eyes widening.

"Well nothing really," Lucky answered. "Faison only lashed out when he was
provoked."

"What do you mean?" Luke asked, his eyes getting even larger with fury,
impatient to be released.

Lucky grinned a bit. "I tryed to jump him a couple of times."

Luke smiled back. "Smooth cowboy."

The silence that fell upon the room when that word escaped Luke's lips was
deafening. It was a simple word. Merely a childhood nic name, but it
represented so much. It represeneted a time when things were good. A time
when Lucky had a dad who was his bestfriend. A time when Luke had a son who
was his confidante. It even represented a time of estrangement and they both
sighed as they realized what it also represented: lost time.

Lucky looked down, spotting the picture of Elizabeth, that had been left
lieing on the bed. "No...Faison's favorite form of torture was
physcological...how is everyone Dad?"

Luke followed his son's gaze and knew full well what he really wanted to
know. but the truth was that he wasn't quite sure. He'd lost touch with so
much of the world after Lucky's "death," that he had no idea how anyone was.
He saw Laura only when it was necessary to gain access to his daughter, and
as for Elizabeth...who knew? She, like him had lost contact with the world as
well, but he wasn't about to tell Lucky that.

"We're fine Lucky...she's fine," Luke stated, trying to sound positive. "I'm
sure she needs you though...we all do."

Lucky picked up the picture then and ran his thumb across the smooth surface.
He looked up into his father's eyes, seeing a safe place for the first time
in months. "Dad...I wanna go home."

Chapter 12

Elizabeth balanced the cordless phone on her shoulder as she ran a round
brush through the ends of her curls with the other.

"Nikolas...really, I'm fine. I just don't feel like going out and ringing in
the New Year ok? I think I'm just gonna stay home."

Nikolas had been trying to get Liz to celebrate New Year's Eve with him for
the last 20 minutes, with no luck. He hadn't seen her since Wyndemere...since
her "episode." He called her everyday, and each day she said she was fine. If
he hadn't known her better, he might've believed her. She was very
convincing. "I really think you oughtta let me take you out to dinner or
dancing or...something tonight," he replyed, trying one last time.

Little did he know that Liz did have plans, they just didn't include him. A
few days earlier a couple of girls from her English class had invited her to
their New Year's Eve bash and although Elizabeth had declined the offer, she
had woken up this morning feeling as if she should go.  'Didn't I decide that
it was time to get on with my life?' She thought to herself. 'Time to start
over? A party is exactly what I need. This is exactly the kind of thing I
would have done before I...'

"Nikolas...I really appreciate the offer, but I'm just going to stay home
with Gram and watch the ball drop...you know how she loves Dick Clarke."

"Well maybe I could come over then and - "

"No!" Liz shouted interrupting him. Elizabeth planned on having fun tonight,
maybe getting a little crazy, and she didn't want Nikolas or anyone else
spoiling that. "I mean...I'm sorry Nikolas, but I really do wanna spend some
quality time with Gram you know? I've been kinda out of it lately...don't
think I don't know that...and I wanna make it up to her."

Nikolas grinned on the other side of the phone. Maybe Liz was ok. Maybe she
was finally ready to move on. For the first time since Lucky died, she
sounded good. She sounded like herself.

"Ok," Nikolas said, giving in. "But promise me...you'll spend the day with me
tomorrow."

"You got it," Elizabeth said, with more cheer in her voice than she really
meant. She brushed a finger over the tiny, gold band on her left hand. It
caught the light and sent shimmers dancing along the walls of her bedroom.

"Goodbye Liz...Happy New Year."

"Bye," Liz said, as she pressed the 'talk' button on the receiver, ending
their conversation. She walked over to her closet and searched for the
perfect dress for her night of fun. A night with no thoughts of the past.

She spotted it then. The tiny, black number with spaghetti straps that she
bought when she first came to Port Charles. She remembered wanting to wear it
for Lucky. She rememebered wanting his eyes to buldge out of his head when he
saw her in it, but she had never gotton the chance. Something had always
stood in the way - Sarah, the rape, and then..."it's perfect," she said
aloud, shaking off her next thought. She wasn't going to think about that
anymore. Lucky was no longer an issue. She was sure this dress would have the
desired effect on someone. It didn't really matter who.

A speck of light danced across her closet door and she once again looked down
at the ring that sat on her finger. Ever since Christmas at Wyndemere she ahd
tryed to take it off. She had tryed to seperate herself form the love that
she knew had to end, from the love that she knew was never coming back, but
each time she tryed she failed. It seemed to grow a bit more snug, and
sparkle a bit more each day. Tonight it was so bright it nearly blinded her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lucky took a deep breath as the lights of Port Charles slowly began to come
into view through the dense fog that hovered over the town, waiting to roll
in for the night. The buildings still looked like miniature and the cars like
ants, but that didn't stop his heart from pounding as if were about to hop
right out of his chest as he peered out of the jet window.

Luke placed a hand over Lucky's and grinned slightly as his son's eyes got
bigger and bigger. Lucky turned his head and looked at his father. He smiled,
knowing that his father understood exactly what he was feeling. Suddenly a
tiny ringing sound permeated through the stillness of the moment.

Luke reached into his coat pocket and retrieved the small cell phone.
"Hello!" He barked, a feeling on intrusion washing over him quickly.

Lucky watched as Luke's brow wrinkled in frustration.

"Jason what are you telling me?!....How?...Damn it!!!...Ok...No...I'll take
care of that first...yes...no...there's no way he's going to get far."

Luke hung up the phone then, leaning his head against the seat and grunting
in anger. He glared at Helena, as she sat stone faced across from him. She
would pay too...all in good time.

"Dad?" Lucky said, his eyes searching his fathers' worried face."What's goin'
on?"

"Faison," Luke said slowly. "Looks like I'm going to have to bring him back
home...it seems he didn't realize that he was my guest...permantly. He
escaped."

Suddenly a look like none that Luke had ever seen settled upon Lucky's eyes.
It was a steel-like coldness. He recognized it in his own, but it scared him
to see it in his son's.

"Well...it looks like we'll have to show him the error of his ways," Lucky
stated flattly, looking out the window again.

"Lucky...I want you to let me handle - "

"What?!" Lucky shouted, turning to his father, and causing Helena to grin in
amusement. "You gotta be kidding me...Faison stole - he stole my life dad.
He's gonna pay for that. If it's the last thing I do...he's gonna pay."

Luke nodded slowly, following his son with his eyes and knowing that he was
dead serious. Lucky continued, "Someone has to find Elizabeth...if he's out
there..."

Sonny, who had remained quiet in the back of the jet, interrupted softly.
"She'll be ok Lucky. I've had a tail on her since the beginning..since I
thought it was Moreno that had....for some reason I never called him off. I
guess somewhere in the back of my mind..." He didn't want to continue. He
didn't want to admit that he too had the feeling that something wasn't right.

Lucky nodded. "I know...I spotted your guy a couple of times when Faison was
busy torturing me with home videos...thank you."

Sonny simply nodded his head.

The silence that ensued was broken suddenly as a voice boomed over the loud
speaker. "Please buckle your seatbelts...we are now making our final descent
into Port Charles, New York. The weather report says it will dip down below
50 degrees tonight and we may get some of that famous PC fog...but other than
that it should be a wonderful New Year's Eve...happy new year."