7

Two days later…

Everyone was in shock by the return of Lucky and Elizabeth and Nikolas and Emily were considered heros by all except of course Luke, who still saw the youngest Cassadine as worthless, even if he saved his son’s life. Laura came back to herself, Stefan and Nikolas grew closer and Nikolas ended up breaking up with Katherine and began dating Emily. Lucky and Liz were closer than ever before but decide to put off New York for a later date.

Everyone except for Stefan Nikolas was at Luke’s celebrating Lucky and Elizabeth’s safe return home. Emily glances at her watch as she waits for Nikolas to arrive. She’s growing worried by the second. What if Helena had him?

"He’ll be here. Don’t worry. He wouldn’t miss his brother’s welcome home party," Elizabeth walks up behind Emily and squeezes her hand.

"I know. It’s just that…Helena is still out there. She must have it in for all of us. Especially Nikolas," Emily sighed. "He should be here by now."

"He probably got held up with Stefan. You know how much his father hates this place."

"I know. But still…"

"You girls having fun?" Luke Spencer asked, wraping a arm around each girl.

"A blast Mr. Spencer," Emily forces a smile.

"Good. Eat, drink, be merry! Because soon the wicked witch will be dead when I find her!" Luke laughs. "Where’s Cowboy?"
"Over on the other side of the room talking to Jason. I think he feels guilty about the bike garage burning down," Elizabeth spots Lucky on the other side of the room deep in conversation with Jason.

"Good. Good. I’m glad Cowboy is burning bridges," Luke grins. "Have fun girls," He head for the exit, wanting to check in with the bouncer.

"Claude, remember my orders!"

"Yes sir," The big man nods. "No Cassadines allowed. If there’s a problem ring you up."

"Good man," Luke pats Claude on the back and slips back into the club.

"Luke," Laura appears behind him, a big smile on her face. "Isn’t this wonderful? Our son is back home."

"Yes it is Angel," Luke hugs his wife.

Suddenly his pager goes off and he clears his throat. "Excuse me. Trouble at the front door."
"Ok," Laura nods letting him go. Lucky comes up behind her.

"Where’s dad going?" He asked curiously.

"Trouble at the front door he said," Laura shrugs.

"Owner says no Cassadines," Claude stands in front of Nikolas barring his way into the club.

"But this is my brother’s welcome home party! I was invited!"

"Luke said no Cassadines, no exceptions. Sorry kid. Now I suggest you turn around and leave before Luke gets out here. I don’t think you want his kind of trouble." Claude shakes his head in sympathy for the kid. It wasn’t easy being denied entrance because you had the wrong last name.

"My brother invited me! I’m not leaving unless he comes out and tells me too!" Nikolas stands toe to toe with Claude.

Claude opens his mouth to speak again when Luke emerges from the club. He nods to Claude.

"It’s ok Claude. I’ll take it from here," Luke crosses his arms.

"Sure. Good luck kid," Claude disappears inside the club.

"What are you doing here Nikki?" Luke crosses his arms.

"This is my brother’s party. He asked me to come."

"Oh he did did he? Now why don’t I believe that? What makes you think he’d want anything to do with you after all your family has done?"

"Because for one we’re brothers. Two, I saved his life."

Luke laughs. "Oh really? And I guess Miss. Quartermaine wasn’t there? Just because you happened to accompany Miss Quartermaine on this trip doesn’t give you the right to assume that makes you a part of my family or that you’re welcomed in my club. If I was you, I’d just walk away."

"I can’t do that. And I won’t."

"You really are asking for it aren’t you kid?" Luke takes his hands out of his pocket. "You’re not getting in."

"I am going in because My brother invited me," Nikolas moves to go pass Luke, but ends up meeting Luke’s fist that sends him down to the ground. He looks up and his eyes widen. Luke’s holding a gun on him.

"You’re going no where Nikki. You are a worthless Cassadine, nothing but trouble. The only reason I don’t kill you now is because you’re Laura’s son…"

"How dare you!" a very angry voice speaks up from behind Luke.

Luke clears his throat. "Lucky…it’s okay. I’m just taking care of business and…"

Luke is taken aback when Lucky angrily brushes pass him and helps Nikolas up to his feet.

"Are you ok?" Lucky asked, concerned.

"I’m fine. Probably have a black eye tomorrow. But I’ll be fine," Nikolas reassures his brother. "What made you come out here?"

"I had a feeling my brother was in trouble so I came out here to check it out," Lucky angrily turns to Luke. "How dare you hit him and then hold a gun on him! He saved my life and this is how you thank him!"

"Lucky…he’s a Cassadine. His family was the one that …"

"He’s my brother and he’s the one who didn’t believe for a second that Liz and I were dead while you were busy drowning in a bottle of vodka!" Lucky angrily yells at his father, causing Liz, Emily, and Laura to come out of the club. "He’s the one that came through for me when you should’ve but didn’t!"

"Lucky…I didn’t know," Luke tries to explain.

"You didn’t want to know."

"Is that what he told you?" Luke asked. "That he was there because I wouldn’t be? He never came to even talk to me!"

"It’s always about you isn’t it dad. The endless excuses. And it’s funny because he was the one standing up for you, saying you didn’t know. You were grieving…and this is how you repay him."

Luke couldn’t believe the anger coming from his son. Lucky hadn’t been this angry since he found out about the rape. Now it was like they were back at square one.

"Luke…what did you do?" Laura stares at her husband, her arms crossed. Stefan comes up behind Nikolas.

"What’s going on here?"

"This doesn’t concern you Vlad," Luke glares at Stefan.

Stefan puts a secure hand on Nikolas’s shoulder. "Any thing that concerns Nikolas concerns me. "Now I suggest you answer Laura’s question."

Lucky answered for him. "He punched Nikolas and then held a gun on him!"

Luke winces when he feels the sharp sting of Laura’s hand slapping his face. "How dare you!"
"Laura…"

"I can’t believe you Luke! After all Nikolas has done you pull this!" Laura glares at her husband.

Lucky glares at his father. "Stay away from my brother. I mean it."
"Lucky…" Luke stares at his angry son.

"Elizabeth let’s go. I don’t want to be where my brother’s not welcomed."

"Uh…good night," Elizabeth politely replies before joining Lucky.

"Are you ok?" Emily gently touches Nikolas’s eye.

"I’m fine," Nikolas nods.

"Come on. Let’s get you back to the cottage and get some ice on that eye. Make the swelling go down," Lucky guides his brother away from Luke’s club, leaving Luke and Stefan staring in shock after both of them. It was obvious to both that the feud no longer existed between their sons and never would.

"Stay away from my son Spencer. Or I will make you pay dearly," Stefan turns to walk away.

"Stefan wait! Will you please walk me home?" Laura asks running up to him.

"Sure Lasha," Stefan guides Laura to his Mercedes .

Luke watches his wife disappear with Stefan and Lucky was already gone. He sighs and goes back to the party. He disappears into the office and drowns his sorrows in the all too familiar bottle of vodka.

"Here you go. A nice big icepack to go on that eye," Lucky hands the plastic bag of ice to Nikolas.

"I guess we’re even now huh?" Nikolas laughed. "I saved your hide and you saved mine."

"That’s what brothers are for," Lucky sat down across from Nikolas. "He wasn’t right Nikolas. You’re not worthless. And you are worth a lot more than trouble."

Nikolas smiled. "Coming from you, that means a lot."

"I’m sorry Nikolas. I should have insisted we go together," Emily apolagized.

"No it’s my fault. I knew how dad was. I just assumed he’d let it drop," Lucky sighed.

"It’s neither of your faults. I knew how Luke was…I knew that he would most likely refuse me entrance, I just thought I was being too pessimistic. Now I’ve done gone and ruined Lucky’s welcome home party and everything."

"Hey it wasn’t a party without my brother there," Lucky smiled.

"So what do you want to do now that the party at Luke’s is out?" Emily asked.

"Well…we can always have our own private party here. Just the four of us," Lucky shrugged.

"I think that’s a great idea," Elizabeth smiled.

"I have food and music here, so there’s no need to worry about that," Nikolas stood up. "How do you all feel about Mozart?"
Lucky just looked at him in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding. I mean don’t get me wrong, I like classical music but like everything else, it has it’s time and place. Tonight calls for something more upbeat…say…Destiny’s child? Uh…Backstreetboys…N’Sync?"

Nikolas shrugged. "Sorry."

"Not to fear. We’ll just turn on the radio and find a suitable station, Elizabeth, Em, go to the kitchen and get us some snacks out here. We’re going to throw a party that’ll put the one at Luke’s to shame," Lucky grinned at Nikolas.

"Uh…Lucky I don’t know about this."

"Trust me Nikky. You’re going to love this," Lucky clapped his brother on the back.

So throughout the rest of the night the four teens stayed up and listened and sometimes danced to the music. They played games like truth and dare and Lucky taught Nikolas how to play strip poker. Hours later they drift off to sleep in the arms of their significant other, unaware of the rest of the world.

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