"Mom?" Lucky called as he walked through the front door, glancing around at the empty leaving room. He descended the small step and called out again. "Mom?"

The house was quiet as he walked towards the dining table, noticing a small, white note lying on the dark wood. He picked it up, quickly reading his mother's scribbled words:

Your sister and I went to the grocery store. We'll be back soon.

I Love You, Mom

P.S. Save your appetite Mr.! All your favorites tonight!!!

"Favorites," Lucky sighed aloud as he placed the note back down upon the wood, moving slowing away from the table and wondering what the Hell his favorites even were anymore. If he had to eat barbequed anything at this point he'd vomit. He trailed his finger lightly over every surface that his hand found in it's path as he made his way around the room. All the surfaces that had once been so familiar to him. It was all so soft. Even the hard wood of the end table felt soft in comparison to...in comparison to steel. Silver, stainless...steel. It was all so warm. Even in the middle of January. Warm.

He walked over to the fireplace, reaching out almost hesitantly to touch the picture frames that sat atop the mantle. They were all the same. Each and every one a still shot of some long lost memory.

Lucky had never understood his mother's seemingly desperate need to hold on to every keepsake she'd ever owned, every image ever captured on film. He just never quite grasped the importance of some paper image, but now he did. He'd come to understand the concept of cherishing paper images very quickly in that small room. Pictures, the only way he could caress her cheek, or touch her wondrous lips.

He could still remember the day that Faison had taken her from him, the glossy image that represented her, that was. Why had it happened? 'Oh yeah,' Lucky thought to himself. 'It was after the third time...the third and final time I tried to escape...he found it...the photo of her that he had taken at the docks...he found it in the drawer...my punishment for being stupid, stupid...'

Lucky sank down upon the couch as the inside of his stomach began to burn and cramp in reaction to his own memory. He could still see the flicker of the flame. Faison's thumb pressed menacingly against the lighter. The corner of the photo turning dark brown, then black and curling, curling into nothingness. He could still smell it. The sulfur. The smoke. It made him choke even now.

Faison's words rang clear in his ears. His venomous, disgusting voice. "Fire...a horrible, horrible thing....You know Lucky...people aren't always as........lucky as you were...Tragically most people succumb to the smoke before the flame even touches their tender....young flesh."

Faison's threats: always veiled, yet never obscure enough to conceal their meaning. It was then that he knew that he could never risk getting out on his own again. His only hope was a rescue.

Lucky closed his eyes and leaned his head against the couch as his breathing sped to a rapid pace. 'Calm down,' he thought, inhaling deeply through his nose. 'She's ok...you're ok...you're not there...you're here now...and everything is ok...everything's fine.'

He licked his lips and tryed to fight the tightening of his chest. 'It was fine...you had those other pictures anyway...the one's from New York that you hid under the drawer...he never knew about those.' Lucky sighed and leaned forward, clasping his hands together under his chin. He shook his head.

But she wasn't fine, was she? And why the Hell wasn't he with her now? 'Because she told you that you could leave that's why...and isn't that what you wanted? It's a good thing right? It's a good thing that she's able to be on her own tonight...right? Isn't it?!...Yes! Of course it is..you have got to just take a deep breath and relax here. You can't spend every waking moment together...you're no good to her when you're like this anyway...and it's just...it's just not possible to be together every single minute...but why?...You just can't! That's why! It's not good for either one of you...you're just letting all of this stuff get to you...Faison...your father...Nikolas..it's all making you crazy...and God, would you just talk about that already? Yes...TALK...what a novel concept...but we...she...God, I don't know what to do...she tried to...no. No she did NOT try to do anything. She told you that she didn't MIND if she died...isn't that different? Isn't that?...Hell no it's not different! Damnit...'

Lucky stood up, throwing a pillow he hadn't even realized he'd been clutching back down to the couch. He scratched the back of his head as he rounded the room twice, thinking of how he could free himself of his thoughts. Thinking of how to occupy his time until a "reasonable" amount of time passed between holding her and not holding her. There was no way he'd be able to stay in this house all night long. He knew that now. He was all ready going stir crazy. He had to get out, but where would he go? He felt as if he were a traveler just passing through town.

He stopped pacing as a name suddenly popped into his head. A name he hadn't thought of in a while, and a reunion long overdue.

 ~~~~~~~~~

Nikolas walked through the door staring wordlessly as the conversation between his grandmother and his father ceased instantaneously.

Helena smiled widely at her grandson as he walked further into the room. The 4 karats of diamonds that adorned her ears catching the light in the study. She'd been so happy to go back to her yacht and reclaim all her precious wordly possessions. "Hello my dear Nikolas...how are you?...I hope - "

Nikolas shivered at her mere glance. "Cut the crap grandmother," he snapped, wanting so badly to strangle the life from her very body. "Don't act as if I don't know what you did! This is one time in your life when you aren't gonna be able to hide the fact that you lied! You miserable, old.... God, you make me sick. Grandmother how could you...how could you fake his death?! Kidnap my brother, and come back here acting as if it were just another day? Yet another one of your schemes to hurt my mother and Luke Spencer?!"

The room was quiet as Nikolas continued upon his tirade, now turning his attention to Stephan. "And you! How could you let her in this house?! You - you pretend to love my mother and then invite evil itself into your home?! Father what - "

"Nikolas!" Stephan interrupted, moving slightly towards his infuriated son. "I can assure you that your grandmother won't be residing here for any amount of time...why she ventured here in the first place is incomprehensible...she was just leaving," he added, staring coldly into his mother's eyes. Nikolas could not know of their alliance. Not now, maybe not ever.

Helena returned his hateful gaze, before softening towards Nikolas. "I know you think my actions harsh against Lucky Spencer, Nikolas...but one day I hope you'll see that my actions really weren't in the least bit malicious. I've only wanted what was best for you my dear."

"Best for me!? Best for me!?" Nikolas screamed.

Stephan eyed his mother coldly, silently demanding her exit. She complied immediately. "Forgive me Nikolas...I know you don't understand my methods...I'll leave you and your father to discuss things now."

Nikolas sighed loudly in indignation as Helena retreated through the door. He couldn't believe her gaul. Couldn't believe she'd suggest that kidnapping Lucky had been in HIS best interest. What possible reason could she have concocted? Why was he even surprised that she'd say such a thing?

He turned to his father as the door closed behind her and his body suddenly shuttered. A menacing chill having skipped through his body. He couldn't help but think back to the conversation he and his father had nearly a week ago. He had come to Wyndemere in shock. In complete and utter astonishment at the knowledge that his brother was alive. Alive and sitting in Elizabeth's hospital room at GH, but his father...his father had seemed almost unphased by the news. How was that possible? It hadn't meant anything had it? Just as Helena's being at Wyndemere this afternoon hadn't meant anything.

"Father," Nikolas said, almost whispering. "You...you didn't know...did you?...I mean you couldn't have right? You were just as shocked by Lucky's death as the rest of us were?...And..and...when he came back...you were equally as shocked...right?"

Stephan's eyes grew wide in mock anger. "Of course Nikolas!...How -how could you even perceive otherwise?"

Nikolas nodded his head slowly, and breathed in deeply through his nose. "I'm sorry...you're right it was ridiculous to even think that...I just - all this stuff with Helena...what she said..."

Stephan smiled at his son, taking him into an embrace. "I know...I know. Pay no attention to what Helena says son. She will be dealt with...everything will be dealt with."

~~~~~~~

"Coming," Elizabeth said again as she walked slowly towards the front door, wondering who it could possibly be in the middle of the evening. 'Maybe Lucky?!' She thought to herself. 'Maybe he came back because he knew I couldn't be without him and he felt the same way about me...maybe...'

Her pace quickened at the mere thought, but her face fell at the realization that the only one at her front door was Taggert.

"Hi," she said weakly, as she stepped aside, allowing him entrance into her living room. "Can I help you with somethin'? "

"Nope," Taggert said grinning. "I'm here to help you...is your grandmother home?"

"Yes, detective," Audrey said as she walked out of the kitchen, holding her teacup. "What can we do for you this evening?"

"Well...as I was telling Ms. Webber...it's what I can do for you.."he added, glancing at Elizabeth.

She stood with her arms folded over her chest. She knew exactly what he was there for. More talk about the "accident." She swore if she had to talk about it one more time she'd scream.

Taggert cleared his throat as he proceeded, noticing her sullen expression. "I suppose you knew I had to come back some time, right Ms. Webber? We had to discuss it at some point..."

"So what? What is it? A fine? What? How much do I have to pay?" Elizabeth snapped, annoyed that she even had to deal with this now.

"Elizabeth!" Audrey said, glaring at her granddaughter.

"It's ok Mrs. Hardy," Taggert responded nearly smiling. "Actually," he said turning back to Liz. "It was gonna be more like 90 days in the lockup for driving under the influence, reckless endangerment...the list goes on and on and on...but, Ms. Webber since I like you...I pulled a coupla strings..." his voice trailed off as he noticed he'd picked up her attention. "You interested in hearing the details of your cruel and unusual punishment?"

"Yeah...sure," Liz said sheepishly, biting her lip. She was suddenly a bit sorry for having been so rude to him before. He was always trying to help her and she was always such a witch.

"400 hours community service, AA meetings, and mandatory counseling until your shrink sees fit to cut you lose on society."

Liz's mouth hung open in shock and extreme annoyance. "What?!...Are you kidding me?...No!...I'm not doing that."

"You most certainly will," Audrey chimed in, sitting her teacup upon the coffee table.

"You can't tell me what to do Gram! I'm an adult."

"Yes, Ms. Webber you ARE an adult, and as an adult...you should be serving adult TIME...but you're not. You're gettin' a slap on the wrists...a slap that I believe will actually be more for your benefit than it will be for society's."

Liz sighed, refolding her arms. "Ok...fine...I'll do the community service, but the rest...no way."

"You'll do the rest of it too," Taggert interjected staring into her eyes. "Oh...let me guess...you're not an alcoholic right?...Well, too bad! You're gonna have to suck it up and attend your meetings like a good little trooper...and as for the counseling - "

"I'm not - "

"Ah-ah-ah," he interrupted, quickly turning to face Audrey. "Mrs. Hardy what have you been feeding this girl? She's quite honory isn't she?"

Audrey tried stifling a laugh as Taggert continued, "You WILL go to counseling Ms. Webber."

Liz bit her lip and shook her head, happy that they found her life so amusing.

"Come on Elizabeth," Taggert said then, lowering his voice. "You mean to tell me that with all the crap that's gone on lately...it wouldn't be cool to unload on somebody?"

He stood for a moment watching her as she pouted. He smirked suddenly and began his walk towards the door. "It's ok Ms. Webber....you can thank me later."

~~~~~~~~

Lucky licked his lips nervously as he waited for someone to open the door. He'd rang the doorbell what seemed like hours ago, yet only a minute had passed. He shifted his feet anxiously against the concrete when finally the door swung open.

"Hey Em....long time, no see."

Chapter 32

Emily smiled brightly as she walked through the double wooden doors and out into the crisp winter air. It was the first time in her life that she'd been rendered completely speechless. She'd known he was alive. She'd heard the news at every corner. She remembered the night her mother had come home with disbelief in her eyes. But this, seeing him on her doorstep, and seeing with her own eyes that it was true, was almost too much to handle. She was smiling so hard the muscles in her cheeks hurt. She took a deep breath. "Come 'ere," she said then, extending her arms. Her voice suddenly sounded strange to her own ears. A weird mixture of laughter and sadness.

Lucky licked his lips and smiled, as her arms wrapped around him. 'Jeez, she's gotton like 5 inches taller!,' he thought. Funny how random thoughts like that seemed to pop into his head at odd moments like those.

He laughed suddenly at how tightly she squeezed him, and how she moved them both back and forth. He closed his eyes as she stopped moving. Everything suddenly becoming very still and quiet.

"Hey," he said, over his shoulder, unable to see her face. "You better not be crying back there," he said, his own voice betraying his true emotion. He ran a hand down her back, knowing she was indeed crying.

She pulled away then, looking him in the eyes as she wiped at her own. "Don't tell me what to do," she cracked. "I'll cry if I want to."

Silence set in once again, as the friends stared at each other wondering what to say. Lucky thought about how this moment always came eventually. The moment when time stood still, and you and the shocked person - whoever it was at that point in time - had absolutely no clue how to move forward. What to say to ease the tension in the air.

Emily looked down at her shoes, and then up again into his eyes and she could no longer control her emotions. She wept unabashedly. "I'm so glad you're back...I missed you,"she wailed, her words nearly indistinguishable.

Lucky wiped furiously at his own tears as he hugged her once again. "I missed you too Em...I missed you too."

She pulled away after what seemed like forever and proceeded to sock him in the shoulder.

"Ah!" Lucky cried, grabbing his shoulder. "What'd you do that for?!"

"You think you can just die and not tell anyone?!...You think you can come back from the dead and not tell me immediately?!"

Lucky smiled. God he had missed that classic Emily sense of humor. "I'm sorry," he sighed, looking down. "Things have been...things have been tough, you know?...Elizabeth was in the hospital...it's just been crazy."

"Yeah," Emily said, grabbing his hand as they descended the porch, and began walking towards the rose garden. "I heard about that...how is she doing?"

Lucky scratched the back of his head. It suddenly dawning on him that Emily hadn't been to visit Elizabeth once while she was in the hospital. It also dawned on him that Elizabeth has failed to mention Emily even once, since he'd been back.

"She's," Lucky began, looking down once again at the sparkling, green grass. "She's...like I said, it's been tough...but she's....she's great you know?......She's Elizabeth."

Emily nodded, amazed at the love still so apparent in his voice. After all these months and after everything that had happened he still loved her without reservation. Still loved her with every fiber of his being. Even though it had been, "tough" as he called it. 'Yeah..tough..I wonder if he knows how tough?' She thought.

"So, how have you been?" Lucky asked then, shaking Emily from her reverie.

She looked up, smileing. He was actually asking about HER? After what he'd been through? "Good...great actually!..School is great. I'm actually doing well in my math course...Oh Lucky, you'd love it! You should...," Her voice trailed off and she swallowed hard, realizing what she'd just done. She watched as he kicked softly at the grass beneath him, staring at some unseen spot in the dirt. She sighed, wanting to smack herself for being so stupid. "I...I'm sorry Lucky...I'm such an idiot. I shouldn't have - "

"Hey, now!" Lucky said, looking up swiftly. "If you're doin' well in math, you owe it all to me anyway. So, I WANT to hear about it....you got that?"

"Yeah, I got that," Emily laughed nervously. She knew he was only trying to be...well, trying to be Lucky. Even when the real truth was that she had definitely hit a sensitive nerve with her comment. He'd missed out on so much.

"Anyway," she said suddenly. "PCU's not that great anyway...I mean just ask Elizabeth. I've seen the look on her face at campus...I'm quite sure she wishes she would have taken the art academy up on it's offer, afterall."

Lucky stopped in his tracks, looking his friend in the eyes inquisitively. "Offer?"

Emily smiled, shaking her head. "You know...the scholarship. The one they offered her to go there?...She must've told..." Once again Emily's sentenced trailed into the great beyond as she realized just how deep her foot had planted itself inside of her mouth. She quickly tried repairing the damage she had done. "I'm sure she meant to tell you Lucky...but you know...with all the excitement of you being back and all..I'm sure it just completely slipped her mind."

"Yeah...yeah, that must be it," Lucky said, his voice thin and hollow.

That hadn't been it at all. It hadn't just "slipped" her mind. She hadn't forgotten. She'd lied. Plain and simple...lied.

 ~~~~~~~~~

Liz ran upstairs, flopping down on her bed. She stared up at the ceiling, blinking rapidly to stop the onset of tears. Angry tears that had no business coming. "AA?" she said aloud, her voice thick with emotion. "AA and counseling?!...God, I don't need either of those!"

She shook her head against the comforter and wiped harshly at her damp cheeks. She hadn't even the faintest clue as to why she was crying. Hadn't Taggert been right? Hadn't she gotten off easy? Why was she so upset? So unwilling to do this?

'Because, I just want everyone to leave me alone,' she thought, grabbing Boris and hugging him to her chest. 'I just...I'm fine...at least I'll BE fine...all I really need is Lucky...all I need is for everyone to leave us alone. Let us live our lives...I wish they'd all just leave us alone...Taggert...Nikolas...I just need Lucky. I don't need therapy, and I certainly don't need AA...I mean ok...yeah...Gail is nice...but I SO don't need someone asking me how I feel and WHY I feel it right now! That's not gonna help me..I'm fine...I just need Lucky...I just need...........Elizabeth, who are you kidding? Really?' She thought, tossing Boris back to his side of the bed.

'You know you're a mess! Even with Lucky you're a mess....even with him RIGHT here in your room with you, you felt like smashing that mirror into tiny, little pieces! Is that normal? No, it's not...of course it's not. You DO need help! You're just SO afraid to get it. You're afraid they'll all know just how messed up you really are. Afraid Lucky will know, and leave you! Leave you for someone that doesn't come with 100 pounds of baggage and someone that doesn't lose it all the time!...But that's what therapy is for right? To help you with that stuff...ugh...' She sat up then, staring at the picture of she and Lucky that sat on her nightstand. The picture they'd taken so long ago at the No Name.

'He'd want you to do this,' she thought. 'It helped with the rape...it helped you to be able to love him...to...yes, you KNOW he'd want you to do this....God, face it Liz...you're no good to him like this anyway. He deserves to be with someone that can love him without being afraid all the time. Someone who won't fall apart and start crying whenever he mentions the last eight months. Someone that can be strong for HIM....you have to do this Liz. If not for yourself...then for him.'

~~~~~~~~

Luke slid the switchblade down the crack between the door and it's splintering frame, quickly gaining access to the posh sitting room. He remembered the many confrontations he'd had with her here. He remembered the time he'd seen her hand come into fierce contact with his son's face in this very room. On this very yacht.

He should have done it then. Should have killed her the first time she'd posed a threat to him. Hell, he should have killed her the day Lucky was born. Maybe, even before that.

He walked further into the room, spying a sheet of floral stationary placed nicely on the cherry wood table. He picked it up, reading it quickly:

We'll meet again soon my darling, Luke.

Your Beloved, H