Chapter 5

Late on Christmas Eve...

Luke sat back in his chair and took another long swig of Gin. It was warm,
and soothed his throat as it went down. He slowly turned his head to look at
the picture of his son sitting on his desk. 'All cheeks and hair,' he
thought, smileing to himself at the vision of the 11 year old child he once
knew. "Merry Christmas Lucky," he said aloud raising his glass in salute.
"Your mother and your sister are over there at Wyndewierd
tonight...celebrating this...joyous occasion." He said, as he continued to
address the framed 5x7.

It was the family's first Christmas without Lucky. Well, what was left of the
family. Laura and LuLu were at Wyndemere so often they should have just moved
in, and the club had become home to Luke long ago. Suddenly Luke sighed and
reached for the laptop that sat, dust laden on the shelf next to his desk.
"You'd have my hide wouldn't you son?" he asked, chuckling and directing his
question at the picture. Oh the things Lucky would say if he saw what shape
the almost brand new computer was in.

Luke carefully pushed back the cover and surveyed the screen. Lucky had set
it up for him to do the books for the club, and since business was
sickeningly slow on Christmas Eve and they were closed tomorrow it was the
perfect time to use the last gift his son had ever given him. Little did Luke
know, another gift was coming at it would be the best he'd ever gotton.

He opened the program and then selected the November file. He needed the
totals for the previous month before moving on to December. He slowly
scrolled down the spreadsheet, becoming hypnotized by the numbers as they
passed in front of his tired eyes.

"What the..." Luke sighed aloud, pulling his finger away from the scroll key.
There, in the middle of the page, an entire section of prices and quantities
had been deleted. In their place was something else. Something that sent a
shiver up his spine and made his breath catch in his throat.

          The Fish Look Dry Why Buy 3?

A question that meant nothing to anyone. A question that would seem odd or
silly to the average person, but a question that meant the world to you if
your name happend to be Luke Spencer, Laura Spencer, or Lucky Spencer.

Luke read it again, swallowing hard. The T in The stood for "To." The F in
Fish stood for "Fake." The L in Look well the L stood for any of four names:
Luke, Laura, Lucky, or LuLu. And the D in Dry stood for "Death." All
together, the letters stood for "To fake an L's death." Now the second part
of the phrase, "Why Buy 3?", was only relevant for the number which it
contained. Luke had always been represented by the number 1, Laura by 2, and
Lucky by 3.

He gasped and looked around his office, scanning the room from top to bottom.
There was no one. His eyes moved back to the screen, that first sentence had
not been the last of the message.

    I promise you dad, this isn't a joke. I can't talk long because Cesar
Faison is watching every move I make. Yes, dad. I said Cesar Faison. He's
alive. I don't know where I am. In the beginning I thought maybe I was in
Port Charles, but now I'm not so sure. I'm ok, but I need you to come and get
me dad. I don't know why, but I've got this gut feeling that Helena is
involved in this. I don't think he's working alone. I'm not dead, dad. Hurry,
but be careful. He's got his eyes on all of you. This is NOT a joke.

                                                                           
Cowboy,

Luke was up form his chair a second later, screaming at the top of his lungs.
"Who the Hell is doing this?! Who the Hell is here?!"

He stalked out of his office, searching the club frantically for anyone
stupid enough to have played such a dangerous game with him. Upon hearing his
screams, Claude came running out of the kitchen. "What's wrong boss?" he
asked worriedly.

Luke bound towards him like a madman, pushing him towards the bar. "Did you
do this?!" he asked, his eyes wild with desperation. "Did you?!"

The man who had grown to respect Luke as a friend and a boss was at a loss
for words. "Wh -what boss? What?"

Luke looked into Claude's soft, unknowing eyes and realized that he had
nothing to do with any of this. "I'm sorry," he said, stepping back. "Go on
home Claude. Close up and go on home."

Cluade took in the emptiness of the club and Luke's bizarre mood change and
decided he'd better do as his boss asked.

Luke walked back into his office. He reread the code and the paragraph that
followed, 10 times. It was becoming clearer and clearer that no one but his
son could have written it. He ran a hand through his thinning hair and sighed
again. 'This can't possibly be...but nobody else knows...'he thought.

He picked up the phone and dialed her number quickly, not caring that it was
1 am and her children would be sleep, her husband in bed lying next to her.

"Hello?!" she asked frantically, just knowing that at this hour it had to be
someone from the presinct calling to tell her that her husband had been shot
in the line of duty.

"Felecia. It's Luke. I'm sorry to wake you - "

"It's ok Luke," she sighed, feeling a bit relieved. "I actually wasn't
asleep...I got kinda caught up in this book I'm read - "

"Felecia!" he said cutting her off. "I need you to meet me at the club. Now."

By the sound of his voice she new it was serious and that her needed her.
"Ok," she said. "Just let me find something to do with the girls."

Luke hung up the phone then, wondering if it could be true. Could the last 8
months of his life have just have been one big hoax? Could his son really be
alive? How could it be, he'd seen the body. Laura had seen the body. If
anyone would have known it wasn't Lucky...she would have. Wouldn't she? She
always had a way of knowing these things...But those damn candles...it never
had made any sense to him.

He stared at the picture once again. The picture that somehow seemed clearer
now. Just a moment ago it seemed as if it had been taken a lifetime ago..but
now, now it seemed like yesterday. 'Please God,' thought Luke. 'Let it be
true...let it be true...'

Chapter 6

"I'm sorry to bother you so late at night," Luke said, ushering her into his
office. "But you are the only one who can help me with this...did Mac have a
fit?"

"No," Felecia said, sitting down and placing her purse on the desk. She knew
now more than ever that something was horribly wrong. Luke had refrained from
referring to Mac as 'Bubba.' "He's actually working right now." She stated.

"Oh, " Luke sighed, lighting a cigar.

"Luke," Felecia began slowly. "Tell me what's wrong."

He slowly sank into his chair, the message from Lucky still illuminated on
the screen of his laptop. He took a long drag from his cigar and finally
looked up into her sympathetic baby blues. "I need you to tell me everything
you know about Cesar Faison."

Felecia cocked her head sideways. "What?...Luke why? He's ancient his - "

"Please Felecia," Luke said, quieting her.

Felecia sighed and leaned back in the high backed chair. "Well, for one...he
liked to smoke those."

For the next two hours, Felecia told Luke everything she knew about Cesar
Faison. Everything from what he looked like to what he was capable of. Luke
nodded in all the right places. He wanted to kick himself. All of the signs
had been there, but he'd been too blinded by his own grief to notice them.
When Felecia asked why he wanted to know all of these things, he simply
smiled. Felecia didn't need to be involved in this, at least not unless
absolutely necessary. At the end of their conversation he told her to leave.
To get her daughters from the sitter, call her husband, and to go home and
lock the doors. Felecia stared at him for a long moment, realizing that the
bottom was about to drop out of Port Charles once again, and Cesar Faison was
at the center of it all.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Sonny rolled over in his satin sheets and grabbed for the cell phone on his
nightstand. "Hello!"

"Corinthos...remember when you offered to put a guard Lucky?"

"Yeah," Sonny said, sitting up in bed and wondering what the Hell Luke was
rambling about at 3:15 in morning. 'Is he drunk?' he thought, turning on the
lamp.

"Well...you've got another chance to help my kid...Will you help me?

"Yeah partner, yeah."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It took Helena a few moments to realize that the cool metal she felt against
her throat was not a dream, or a wierd feeling of deja vu.

"Good morning my sweet," she wispered. "To what do I owe this honor."

"Shut up Helena!" Luke said, pressing the knife deeper into her flesh. "We're
not doing that. Not this time. There will be no....flirting. I'm not playing
your game. I have one question, and I want one answer...where is my son?"

"Dear Luke...I'm afraid you've become delusional again," she said turning
over. "Your son has been dead for over 8 months."

Luke pulled her towards him by her shoulders and once again held the knife to
her throat. "No...but you will be in 8 seconds, if you don't tell me where he
is."

"Luke," Helena said, her voice raising. "Your son is in the Port Charles
Cemetary!"

Helena felt it then, the edge of the hard metal dig into her flesh. She saw
the blood begin to trickle down to the white satin of her sheets.

"Do you understand, "Luke began. "That I have nothing left to lose? The only
thing I have left is my daughter..and she spends more than half of her days
in that damn house with your son, so I know you can't touch her....Helena I
WILL KILL you if you don't tell me where my son is."

Helena looked at the blood on her pillow and looked into Luke's eyes. They
were colder than she'd ever seen them, and she knew then and there that Luke
was not bluffing. That he would end her life in an instant. Helena decided to
play his game for a bit.

"I assume then, that you are aware of my alliance with Cesar Faison."

"Yes," Luke snarled.

"How did you - "

"Don't you worry your pretty little head about that Helena. Where is he and
where is he keeping my son?" The knife pressed yet again into her flesh,
Helena fought to maintain her composure.

"I will take you to your son Luke, but the Ice Princess...you must return the
diamond to me at once."

"Do you think I care about some diamond!? You can have the damn diamond as
soon as soon as I have my son!"

"No, "said Helena. "The diamond must be in my possesion first." If she was
going to play this game, she had to make certain she got something for all of
her trouble. Faison would not be the only victor in this battle.

Luke lost it then. "Do you really think you're in any position to call the
shots here?!" he shouted. Once again, Helena felt the heat of his blade
against her throat. "Helena, " he said calming. His voice becoming eerily
quiet. "I want to ring in the new year with my son...you MAKE it happen."