3
It’s two days after graduation, three since the dinner at Nikolas’s cottage. Lucky stood at his window of his apartment above Kelly’s, just watching the people below go about their normal lives. Normal. That was something he wasn’t and never would be. No matter how much he pretended otherwise.
"Lucky?" Elizabeth called, using her key to enter. She hadn’t seen him since the morning of graduation. So instead of waiting by the phone, she decided to just drop by. After all,, he had told her to stop by anytime.
"I’m here. Just watching the people going to and fro," he turned to Elizabeth. "Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes."
"So are you. Why are you hiding out?"
"Hiding? Who said I was hiding?"
Elizabeth smiled, wrapping her arms around his waist, frowning as she noticed just how thin he was. "Have you been eating well?"
Lucky laughed. Ever since the rescue, Elizabeth had been a mother hen; hovering over Lucky constantly. "I’ve been eating fine. Despite the fact that my parents are constantly at each other’s throats right now and I have a new sister that hates me for no good reason."
"So…Laura’s
still angry about the other night?"
Lucky nodded, turning back to the window. "She says
she’s over my dad; but I if so, why is it such a big deal
that he’s spending time with Faith? And what are
Faith’s feelings for my dad by the way?"
"I think she still has feelings for him," Elizabeth cleared her throat.
Lucky nodded. "And my dad
has feelings for her, which is driving my mother crazy. You
know…I think deep down, she still loves him."
"Me too. We should make a promise. If things fall apart
between us, we won’t let fear keep us from being open with
one another."
"Sounds good to me," Lucky sighed, squeezing her hand.
"Elizabeth sighed with delight as he pulled her close. His arms were something she had missed terribly for the past two days. "We’ll be together forever. Right?"
"Of course," Lucky kissed her forehead just as the doorbell rang. "Who can that be?" Lucky frowned, releasing Elizabeth to open the door to Nikolas and Portia.
"Nikolas…Portia….what are you two doing here?"
"I need a favor from my favorite brother," Nikolas grinned.
Lucky rolled his eyes in amusement. "I’m your only brother. What do you want?"
Nikolas and Portia exchanged hesitant glances and then turned back to Lucky. "I need you to get me into Luke’s."
Lucky blinked in confusion. "Luke’s is open to the public…"
"You remember what the rule is. I’m not allowed in unless you’re with me."
"Which is stupid. Is Luke always like this?" Portia’s eyes narrowed in contempt.
"Only when Nikolas is concerned," Elizabeth nodded.
"But Portia’s with you…have you tried already?" Lucky looked at his brother. It wasn’t that Lucky didn’t want to do this for his brother, it’s just that spending the night in a noisy club was the last thing he wanted to do. Instead, he wanted to spend a quiet evening at home with Elizabeth wrapped in his arms.
"Of course I did. But Claude wouldn’t let me in. He said Portia was welcomed, but without you, I wasn’t."
"Why do you want to go to Luke’s anyway?" Elizabeth looked at Portia. "I thought you hated him."
"I do. But I just want to know what’s so great about this blues I keep hearing about. But if Nikolas can’t come, neither can I."
"Well? Will you do it?" Nikolas asked.
"Do I have a choice?" Lucky laughed. "Sure. I’ll do it. Just give Liz and I time to get ready and then we’ll head out."
"Great! Thanks bro," Nikolas grinned, pulling Portia out of the apartment.
~*~
One hour later, the foursome are standing outside the club, ready to go inside and introduce Portia to the blues.
"B.B. King?" Portia frowned as Lucky led the way into the club. "What’s so special about him?"
Lucky turned to stare at his sister in clear disbelief. "What’s so special about B.B. King? Why he’s only the greatest blues musician alive. In fact, he played here on opening night."
"Wonders never cease. I never thought I’d hear Lucky brag about this place ever again," Elizabeth giggled.
"Lucky….am I glad to
see you here," Claude approached. "These two should be
reminded of your father’s rules. No Cassadines unless they
have proper escort."
Lucky rolled his eyes at the stupid rule. His father should be
grateful to Nikolas, and Portia was his daughter. "Claude,
clearly my dad forgot to tell you that the rule has changed.
Nikolas and especially Portia are welcomed here whether I’m
with them or not."
"Sorry Lucky, but until Luke says otherwise, the rule still
stands."
"Cowboy!" Luke exclaimed happily as he exits his office. "What a surprise to see you here! And look, you’ve brought your sister with you!"
"Hi dad," Lucky accepted the hug. "We have a problem here."
"And what is that?"
"You forgot to tell Claude that Nikolas and Portia are allowed here anytime they want. Whether I’m with them or not."
Luke frowned. He shook his head as if to clear it of debris. "Oh. Sorry about that. Claude, the young lady here is welcomed here whenever she wants. In fact, she’s privy to the same privileges as Cowboy here."
"Sure thing boss," Claude nodded.
"Uh dad….what about
Nikolas?"
"What about him?" Luke shrugged, pretending that he
didn’t understand what Lucky was saying.
"Lucky it’s ok. I’m really not going to be coming here all that much anyway…" Nikolas interjected.
"No it’s not ok
Nikolas. You’re my brother. You should be allowed here
whenever you want. Plus my old man owes you more then anytime
admittance to his club. Don’t you think so dad?"
Luke sighed tiredly, looking at both his son and his daughter. He
knew that he didn’t have much of a choice. "Alright.
You win. He can come anytime he wants. Whether you’re with
him or not. Happy now?"
"Very," Lucky grinned, turning to his brother. "See. Everything’s just fine. Let’s go listen to some blues."
Nikolas looked at Luke, knowing how hard it was for him to accept him as a part of his family’s lives. "Thanks Luke. I know how hard this is for you, but it’s for the best that we all get along. Not only for Portia’s sake, but for Lucky’s sake as well."
"Just go before I change my mind Prince," Luke waved him away as he headed back to his office.
Finding that the others have gone off to look for a table, Nikolas hurried to catch up.
"So Portia…what do you think?" Nikolas slipped into a chair.
"I…I…it’s loud," Portia took in her surroundings. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw the nude portrait of her Grandmother hanging above Luke’s office door for all to see. "Is that my grandmother?!"
"Dad really should take that down," Lucky hesitantly nodded.
"Helena in all her glory," Nikolas snorted.
"She was evil," Lucky’s eyes never left the painting, his face was void of all emotion…all except fear.
"Lucky honey?" Elizabeth took his trembling hand. "It’s just a painting. Helena’s dead. She can’t hurt you anymore."
Lucky’s eyes reluctantly slid away from the painting and turned to Elizabeth. He forced a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. "I know that. She’s dead. I’m glad she’s dead. I hate her," his eyes burned with a cold intensity that Elizabeth had never seen before; and intensity that scared her.
"Lucky…," Elizabeth stammered.
"Why isn’t it the Cassadine Prince," a burly young man came to tower over Nikolas and Portia. "I thought this was one place we poor folk could be free of the rich and powerful. I guess not huh?"
"What do you want Conner?" Elizabeth glared at the boy, who had once had the nerve to hit on her, knowing that she was with Lucky.
"And who is this pretty thing?" Conner ignored Elizabeth as her eyes fell on Portia. "Hey, a Cassadine Princess. What do you say baby? Spend the night with a real man instead of all these pretty rich boys?"
"Get lost," Portia kept her eyes on the table. Helena always said, when faced with the unwashed masses of the world, avoid all eye contact. Eye contact meant that they were worth your attention.
"Oh that’s not nice," Conner grabbed her arm roughly and forced her out of the chair. "What’s wrong? Non-royalty is not good enough for you? Well I’m going to have to change that!" Conner roughly pulled Portia to him, ignoring her struggles, he pressed his lips to hers, stiffling a coming scream. He was tightening his grip when all of a sudden a heavy blow knocked him away from her. He looked up to see a seething Lucky Spencer glaring at him as he stood in front of the shivering girl. "Spencer. I should have known."
"You stay away from her Conner," Lucky growled.
"What’s wrong? Isn’t Lizzie enough for you anymore?"
"Shut up," Nikolas placed an arm around Portia.
"Well don’t worry. You can have a turn once I’m done with her," Conner laughed, not paying attention to Lucky’s rage until he was being thrown across the table and hard punches found his face and stomach.
"Lucky!" Elizabeth screamed in shock. Lucky was pummeling Conner nonstop, in a rage she had never seen him in before. It took both Nikolas and Luke to pry him away.
"Cowboy stop!" Luke gritted his teeth as he struggled to keep a hold of his son, who was still trying to get to Conner. "What’s going on here?!"
"This scum bag was trying to force himself on Portia and Lucky began beating on him," Elizabeth explained.
"That’s a lie," Conner glared at Elizabeth. "I wasn’t forcing myself her! We were just talking when Lucky attacked me for no reason."
"She said no man. We all witnessed it," Nikolas shook his head.
Confused on who to believe, Luke looked at Portia and knew that Elizabeth and Nikolas were telling the truth. He stared coldly at Conner as Lucky stopped trying to break free and just looked tired. "You have to the count of five to get out of here or I’ll pummel you myself."
"But…" Conner began to protest, but thought better of it when Luke began counting. He had heard a lot of things about Luke Spencer and didn’t want a confrontation with the man. Stumbling to his feet, he was out the door.
"Are you ok?" Luke turned to Portia, who was rubbing her bruised arm.
"I’ll be fine," she frowned, looking at Lucky. "How about him?"
Lucky looked at his son and gasped in surprise. Lucky was slumped in his father’s arms, fast asleep. "Nikolas…do me a favor. Help me get Cowboy here up to my apartment and then take the girls home."
"But what about Lucky? Should I come back?"
"No. I’ll take care of Lucky. You take care of the girls."
Nikolas nodded. "Keep us
posted."
"I will," Luke watched as Elizabeth said good-bye to
the slumbering Lucky.
Ten minutes later, Luke sat in the chair just across from the bed, watching his son sleep. This was extremely strange. Lucky beating someone up and then falling into a deep sleep afterwards? Only one person could be responsible for this. Helena. Even in death, the witch was still torturing his family.
A tear leaked from his eye as he went to kneel next to his son. Gently he stroked Lucky’s dark blond hair, wanting to protect him from whatever Helena had planted in his head. "We’ll fix this Cowboy. Whatever that witch did to you, we’ll fix it."