2

Nikolas Cassadine rubs the sleep out of his eyes as he awakens in the the middle of the night. After a wonderful night with his brother and best friends, he should have been content. But he wasn’t. Something was nagging him at the corner of his mind. Something wasn’t right. Sighing he decides to get up and get dressed. He prepares to leave for town. Looking at the clock there was a chance that Lucky may still be up. Maybe a talk with his brother would give him some peace of mind.

Fifteen minutes, he is about two blocks away from Lucky’s when he hears the sirens and smells the smoke. The sense of doom deepens in him as he races to his brothers apartments and his world shatters. The building containing his brother’s apartment was now nothing more than a skeleton of beams. Burned debris hung everywhere.

"Nikolas?" mac appears behind the young man. "What are you doing here so late?"

"Lucky," Nikolas stares up at the ruined structure. "He lives here…"

"Uh Nikolas…maybe you’d want to go back home…" Mac stammers.

"My brother lives here!" Nikolas angrily whirls on the police commishioner. "Where is he? He must have spent the night with Elizabeth. That’s it. He’s going to be devastated about the apartment. They both loved it here."

"Uh Nikolas…about your brother…"

"Police Commishioner," Audrey Webber appears behind Nikolas. I heard the sirens and came to see if you needed any help. "Oh my…" Audrey looks up in shock at the structure. "This is Lucky’s apartment."
"Mrs. Hardy…can I go get Lucky and Elizabeth. Lucky needs to know what happened," Nikolas turns to the Liz’s grandmother, who for some reason had unshed tears in her eyes. Why was she crying? She must be worried about Lucky, afraid he’d have no where to go. Well no worry. He can stay with Nikolas. He’d love the company.

"Oh Nikolas," Audrey begins to sob.

"Lucky is staying with you right? Elizabeth had another nightmare and he stayed there with her right? Please Mrs. Hardy? Tell me Lucky’s with you."
"I told her it was aright. I knew that nothing would happen between them…that she was too tired to walk home so I told her it was ok…"

"What? What was ok?" Nikolas asked, dread rising in her stomach.

"Audrey…we found two bodies. They were wearing these," Mac holds out the token that Liz had given Lucky and the ring that Lucky had given her on valentine’s day.

"This is Lucky’s," Nikolas picks up the chain and the token. "Liz gave it to him…he never took it off. And the ring…Lucky gave that to Liz on Valentines day…it never came off her finger. Where did you find these?"

"On the bodies," Was Mac’s flat reply. "I’m sorry. Do either of you want to identify them?"

"We both will," Audrey quickly grabs Nikolas’s trembling hand, impressed that he was keeping his composure.

"It can’t be Audrey. It can’t be them…I was with them just a couple of hours ago. We all four swore to be together forever. Lucky wouldn’t lie…he wouldn’t go back on his promise. Would he?"

"No darling, he wouldn’t," Audrey squeezes his hand, keeping her own composure, for Nikolas’s sake. "Come. Let’s confirm that these aren’t Lucky and Liz."

"Well actually mam, the bodies are burned beyond recognition. We’re going to need your permission and the permission of Lucky’s parents to open their records so we can make our confirmations," Taggert steps up.

"Well you have my permission," Audrey nods.

"…I’ll go get Laura…and Luke. They’re going to want to know about this," Nikolas fights against the tears coming to his eyes. He had to remember that nothing was confirmed yet. This can all be a plot against the spencers worked out by who else, his grandmother. Liz and Lucky were probably alive and well at Luke and Laura’s right now, telling Luke what had happened.

"Nikolas…do you want me to come with you?" Audrey stops him from going any further.

"Uh…no. I’ll be fine. I guess I’ll see you at the morgue with Luke and Laura."

Audrey only nods and watches Nikolas disappear into the dark night.

Nikolas finds Luke and Laura still awake. They were setting at the kitchen table talking about the state of their marriage when he rings the doorbell. It’s Luke that opens the door.

"Why Nikki! What brings you by?" Luke announces Nikolas’s arrival.

"Is my mother here? I need to talk to you…both of you."

"Nikolas what is it?" Laura asked, appearing behind Luke.

"….the police…they need you down at the morgue for permission to open Lucky’s dental records."

"What? Whatever for?" Luke asked, crossing his arms, his eyes shining with mistrust.

Nikolas sighs, trying to keep his optimism up. "There was a fire at Lucky’s apartment. They need confirmation that the body isn’t Lucky."

"What?!" Laura’s face goes pale, her hand flies to her mouth. She knew it. All night she had that nagging feeling that something was wrong with one of her children…she should have known.

"But don’t worry. I’m sure it’s not Lucky’s…Lucky…he’s smart, he would have gotten out of there," Nikolas tries to comfort his mother, as well as himself. The body belongs to someone else."

"Well have you heard from him anytime tonight after the dinner?" Luke stares at the prince, his face looks old and haggard.

Nikolas glances down at the ground and sighs. Luke was right. Lucky would have gotten in touch with him. But what if he couldn’t find a phone? What if both him and Liz were at the cottage right now waiting for him? "I’ll go to the cottage. Maybe Lucky headed over there. I’ll meet you at the morgue. I’ll bring Lucky with me."

"Nikolas wait!" Laura calls, but it’s too late, Nikolas is already in the jag driving away.

"Ah let him go. Maybe he’s right. Maybe Cowboy is at the cottage waiting for him. But in the meantime, let’s go and prove that whoever that body belongs to, it’s not our kid," Luke goes back inside and grabs his car keys.

The Spencers briskly walk into the morgue, all their attention focused on proving that the body didn’t belong to Lucky. They didn’t see Audrey Hardy setting there sobbing into her hankerchief.

"Bubba!" Luke calls for Mac. "We’re here! Now what is this about you needing me to open Lucky’s records?"

"We need them to identify the body Luke," Mac somberly replied, already knowing the answer to his questions, but he couldn’t just go by the fact that Mrs. Hardy’s granddaughter was identified. They would need the proper identification for Lucky as well.

"Ok then. Open the records and let’s have a look," Luke snorts.

"Audrey?" Laura approaches the sobbing woman, finally taking notice of her.

"You! You Spencers! This is all your fault!" The woman lashes out. I trusted that you raised Lucky well! That you taught him common sense! Now your foolishness has costed my granddaughter her life!"

"What are you talking about?" Laura furrows her brow.

"Come on Laura, let’s go in the other room. We don’t need this. Besides, Nikolas will be coming through that door along with Lucky any minute now."

"Oh that poor boy," Audrey sighs. "He must be in denial."

"Denial about what?" Laura asks, turning back to Audrey.

"Come on Laura," Luke pulls on Laura’s arms.

"Why the fire. That both Elizabeth and Lucky are gone. I’ll never see my Elizabeth again!" Audrey wails, her heart breaking again and again.

"Fire? Lucky? Liz? Gone?" Laura backs up. "you must be mistaken."

"If only I were," Audrey sighs.

"He wasn’t at the cottage," Nikolas runs back into the room. "Mrs. Hardy…did you find out about who that was in the apartment?"
"…It was Elizabeth Nikolas. It was my Elizabeth," Audrey sobs. "I’m so sorry."

"Liz? You have to be mistaken. Liz wouldn’t leave Lucky. They were always together. And that body isn’t Lucky…it can’t be."

"Mr. and Mrs. Spencer, we’ve looked at the report on the body and the dental records. Everything matches," Mac comes out, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "I’m sorry. You don’t know how sorry I am."

Laura backs away, shaking her head in denial. "No. No that can’t be my son in there. He can’t be gone! He can’t!" Laura shakes her head and backs up into Luke just to collapse into his arms. "No!!!"

"I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am for your loss. Liz and Lucky…they were good kids," Mac bows his head. "I’ll leave you to your grief now.

Mac brushes pass Sonny and Jason as they enter the morgue. "Luke? Laura?"

"You!" Laura whirls on the two mobsters. "We trusted you! You swore to us when you gave Lucky that room that you’d look out for him! That you’d keep him out of your business! That you’d protect him!" She rushes up and pounds on their chest. "You killed my son! You killed my baby!!!"

"Laura. Laura stop," Luke pulls her away from the men. "This isn’t helping. This isn’t going to help Liz or Lucky."

"NO!!!"

"I don’t believe this. I can’t," Nikolas shakes his head. "They can’t be gone."

"The dental records match prince. There’s no getting around that," Luke replies, his voice dead, his face has aged ten years. "My cowboy is gone."

"No!!!"

"Mrs. Hardy. You do believe me don’t you? You know Elizabeth isn’t gone. She wouldn’t leave you. And Lucky…we were just becoming brothers…he wouldn’t leave me…I know he wouldn’t."

"Nikolas…my son…my only son now," Laura reaches for him, wanting to hold him close so no harm can come to him too. Nikolas goes to her and wraps his arms around his sobbing mother. She just clings tightly to him, afraid that if she lets go, he’ll disappear just like her youngest son did.

"I better get them back to the house. I have to break the news to Lulu," Luke sighs, turning to Audrey. "I know you don’t want to hear this…but I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry Liz. She was a great girl and I hope and pray that she and my son are in a better place now…together."

Audrey just glares at him as he leads Laura and Nikolas out of the morgue, leaving Jason and Sonny alone with Audrey Hardy, both knowing that they had lost two valuable friends that night.

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