CHAPTER ONE

Author’s note: Chapter one starts off the night after the dinner at Kelly’s. Lucky was never kidnapped.

He screams once again as the whip comes down. He hopes and prays that the beating stops, he’d die if they didn’t.

"You little bastard!" The dark figure raises the whip again.

Lucky reaches up to grab the dark figure’s wrist. He bolts awake, clutching Elizabeth’s wrist in a death lock. At first he doesn’t recognize her but his vision clears and he sighs in relief.

"Lucky? Are you okay?" Elizabeth sets on the side of the bed, stroking his hair away from his face.

Lucky nods, letting go of her wrist. "I just had the dream again. It’s nothing to worry about. What are you doing here this early?"

"That exa m remember? You wanted to get to sleep early so you wouldn’t miss it," Elizabeth explained. "I didn’t see you at school so I came here to see if you were still here or not."

"Oh no the exam!" Lucky hopes out of bed and begins getting dressed. "I’m late!!!"

"Lucky it’s okay. Mr. Brandy said you can make the exam up this afternoon. Just be at the classroom at three o’clock sharp," Elizabeth touches his arm.

"You talked to him for me?"

Elizabeth nods. "I knew you haven’t been sleeping well so I explained things to him and he was pretty reasonable."

Lucky pulls her into his arms and hugs her tightly. "You’re the best girlfriend, you know that. I don’t know where I’d be without you."

"Still living in the boxcar," Elizabeth giggled. "But really Lucky, I’m the lucky one. You’ve gotten me through so much."

"We’ve gotten each other through so much," Lucky grinned, kissing Elizabeth deeply. The kiss doesn’t stop. They’re moving towards the bed when there’s a slight knock at the door.

"Am I interrupting anything here?" Nikolas asked, peeking his head through the door, Lulu was in his arms.

"No. Nothing," Lucky pulls away from Elizabeth. "Hey Lulu," He opens his arms for his sister to fly into them. Elizabeth smiles down at them. It was amazing how close he was with both his sister and brother. She could only wish to be that close with Sarah and Steven.

"Lulu wants you to join us. Laura wants us to take Lulu shopping for a bathing suit this summer," Nikolas explained.

"That sounds like fun," Elizabeth smiled.

"Well then we’re in," Lucky grinned, anything to forget that nightmare. "Let me just get my wallet."

"Is he okay?" Nikolas whispers to Liz, having noticed the bags under Lucky’s eyes.

"He hasn’t been sleeping well. I’ve tried to get him to talk about it, but he refuses. So I just let it drop."

Nikolas only nods just as Lucky returns.

"Let’s hit the street," Lucky grins already out the door. Ten minutes later, Jason leads a shabby looking man and woman up to the apartment across from Lucky. Both people have deep southern accents and it’s obvious that they’re poor.

"It’s small, and it needs a lot of work. Are you sure this is the place for you?" Jason asked.

"It’s all we can afford right now," The man glowers at Jason. "Who’s over there?"

"Oh one of my employees. He’s pretty quiet, even when he has company. If they get too loud though, just knock on the door and they’ll quiet down."

"Teenagers huh?" The woman glances at the door.

Jason nods. "They’re pretty good kids though. Well if you need anything I’ll be downstairs at the shop or call my partner here at this number," Jason hands them a card. "Enjoy your room," Jason disappears back down the stairs.

"Nice fella," The woman watches Jason disappear into the bike shop.

"Cold as hell if ya ask me. Got that picture we swiped from Earl’s cabin?" the man asked.

"Sure do. I still can’t believe after all these years we tracked our son down to this small town."

"And to think, Earl thought he could keep us off the trail forever. Leaving all those pictures out like that was a big mistake if he was trying hide Lucas from us."

"Let’s go in and get settled. Then we can search for him today," The woman leads the man into the small apartment.

Earl hides in the alley until the small group is well pass him. Then he slips out and follows from a distance, making sure not to be seen. Luke Spencer had taught Lucky all he knew, especially about how to shake a tale. If he made his presence known now, he’d never be able to catch up. He’s hoping to get a chance to talk to Lucky soon, before the McCoys have a chance to.

From what Luke has written him, Lucky didn’t remember none of it. The dreams stopped in Lucky’s seventh year and it’s been smooth sailing ever since. Earl was going to make sure it stayed that way.

Two hours later,

Lucky, Nikolas, and Lulu set outside the dressing room watching Elizabeth model bathing suit after bathing suit. Both Lucky and Nikolas was enjoying the show, but Lulu was growing restless.

She tugs on Lucky’s shirtsleeve. "I have to go potty," She whispered to her big brother.

"Ok. Nikolas, we’ll be right back," Lucky whispers to his brother, who stares straight ahead and nods. Lucky narrows his eyes. "And remember, she’s my girl okay?"

"Oh sure thing," Nikolas finally looks at Lucky and nods.

"Good," Lucky laughed, getting up and leading Lulu out of the bathing suit department and to the restrooms. "Here you go. I can’t go in, but I’ll stand right out here. If you need anything just yell. Okay?"

Lulu readily nods and enters the restroom, leaving Lucky alone to lean against the wall and stare at the ground.

"Beautiful child," Earl walks up to Lucky, taking the teen off guard. Lucky tenses at the sight of the stranger and nods.

"Yes she is."

"You must be a good big brother to her."

"I try my best," Lucky shrugs. He looks closer at the man. He shivers. The man looked familiar, but Lucky couldn’t remember where he saw him from. He’s suddenly on guard. "Do I know you?"

Earl smiles and is about to answer when Nikolas and Elizabeth show up.

"You made a decision," Lucky asked, going over to his girlfriend.

"Yes. I got the one you liked best," Elizabeth holds up the suit that had hid practically nothing.

"I’m ready!" Lulu exits the restroom.

"What’s next?" Lucky asked.

"Laura’s. I told her we’d stop by for lunch. She wants us to meet at Kelly’s I think," Nikolas picks Lulu up. "Are you up for it?"

"Of course," Lucky shrugs a huge grin on his face. Earl forgotten, he follows the others outside.

Earl smiles. Lucky certainly did seem well adjusted. No signs of the earlier abuse were there. His heart swelled with pride as he realized he really did do the right thing. He starts to go after the teens when a rough hand clamps his shoulder.

"Well Paula, look at what we have here! Our old farm hand! The one that kidnapped our little boy and gave him away to complete strangers!" an all too familiar voice snarled.

"Not to me," Earl turns to face his ex-employers. "That boy’s better off without you. Leave him be. Leave all of them be!"

Calvin and Paula McCoy laughed. "Now why would we do that? It’s your fault the farm got run down. If we still had Lucas he would have worked the land and we’d still have everything."

"You know, where I come from there’s a thing we do for people like you. Having you ever heard of a rope hanging from a tree?" Calvin crosses his arms.

"Are you threatening my friend here?" Luke Spencer comes up from behind Earl, his arms crossed, his blue eyes burning for a fight.

"Who are you?" Calvin glares at Luke, hatred pouring from his eyes.

"Luke. Luke Spencer. Now what’s your beef with my friend here?"

"None of your business! Come on Paula! Let’s get out of here!" Calvin grabs his wife’s hand and drags her out of the store.

"That wasn’t necessary," Earl sighs. "Now you’ve given them their first clue to find Lucas…I mean Lucky."

"What are you talking about Earl? What could those two want with my son?"

"Luke…Those are the McCoy’s. They want their son back," Earl just stares at Luke pity in his eyes. It’s obvious how attached Luke had grown to the boy he rescued all those years ago. "Well too bad! They’re wasting their time! They have no son!"

"Luke…"

"They don’t even know what the kid looks like," Luke laughed. "Lucky doesn’t even remember them."

Earl sighs and stares at his hands. "It was a accident Luke. I left all those pictures you gave me out on the table, I was looking at them. I had no idea that Paula McCoy would come by for some sugar and spot them. I’m so sorry."

"What? Are you telling me that those hicks now know what Lucky looks like?!"

Earl nods. "I came here as fast as I could to warn you. To tell you to protect Lucky."

Luke laughs over his anxiety. "Believe it or not, that kid is even more of a Spencer than I am. He takes care of himself pretty well. But you’re right. I won’t sleep well until they’re out of town."

"What are you going to do?"
Luke sighs and strokes his chin. "Well Lucky and his girlfriend Elizabeth are planning to leave for New York City soon. Maybe I can give them a early housewarming gift. With school over with, it’ll be perfect. A week for two in New York City. If Liz can’t go, lucky can go and stake out some neighborhoods."

"Are you sure he’ll go for it?"

"Trust me. I know Lucky. He’ll jump at the chance. He can even take Nikolas if he wants."

"Oh yeah, where did that kid come from?"

"Long story. I’ll tell you about it sometime. Now come on. Laura’s at Kelly’s. It’s best that we tell her as soon as possible," Luke leads his friend out of the house.

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