Chapter Thirteen
3:20 AM
As Luke cruises on the highway, about halfway to Llanview, he begins shivering with a cold, sick, feeling of dread slowly creeping up his legs and taking over his whole body. Shaking it off, Luke wonders, What in G*d’s name was that? Luke reaches over to his car radio, his hand frantically searching for a good blues station to occupy his mind and shake this most unwelcome feeling.
Kelly’s 7:30 AM
Jason Morgan is sitting at a table in Kelly’s diner. He sips a cup of coffee, sets it down and looks over at Liz Webber, who is seated beside him.
"Thanks so much for stopping by for breakfast, Jason," Liz says as she polishes a teaspoon with her napkin. "I really thought we should talk about the last few days."
Jason wordlessly nods.
"I can’t tell you how much I’ve appreciated your friendship, Jason," Liz says. "Taking those motorcycles rides with you and just being with you – talking and laughing. It’s taken a real load off of my mind. I was so caught up in Lucky and his problems with his family and his own life, that I just forgot to take care of me."
Jason examines his coffee, then looks into Liz’s eyes. "You’ve been a real friend to me, too, Liz," he says softly. "I never thought I’d open up to a girl again after what happened with Robin, but you’ve helped me to trust again, and I’m working now on myself and my reactions to things." Jason nervously taps his foot on the floor. "I’m going to try my best to forgive Robin and not expect people to be so perfect. I mean, I’ve made a couple of mistakes myself." Jason cracks a small smile and shakes his head.
"Yeah," Liz says, cupping her chin in her hands. "I think I’ve expected Lucky to be a combination of Superman and Brad Pitt all rolled into one. The perfect hero and perfect boyfriend. When problems started happening, when we thought Lucky had died, and when he came back different somehow -- I just wasn’t mature enough to handle those changes. I blamed Lucky for everything and became real snappy and difficult to talk to."
Jason nods in understanding. "I am taking control of my life now, Liz. I’ve decided to leave Sonny and the mob life. I’m enrolling in medical school in Paris."
"Oh, Jason! That’s wonderful!" Liz exclaims. "Does Robin know?"
Jason laughs. "Well, it was her idea, actually. I called her last night, and we talked for over four hours. I’ve really missed our conversations. She encouraged me to follow my original dreams, and I agreed."
Liz touches Jason’s arm and kisses him on the cheek.
Jason says, "What I want to know is if my good friend Liz can drop me off at the airport. I have a flight to Paris that leaves in two hours. Oh, and Liz, can you take care of my bike for me in exchange for an occasional ride?" Jason dangles a set of keys before Liz.
Liz claps her hands, grabs the keys, and shouts, "Yes…to both!"
~*~*~*~
8:15 AM
Luke arrives at Llanfair and steps out of his pink Cadillac. As he looks around him, he lets out a low whistle. Man, this mansion puts the Quartermaines to shame. I never thought there could be this much money in a backwater town like Llanview, PA. But then whodathunk -- Port Chuck hides just as much dough and has vampires and Princes to boot. Llanview has its Lords and Port Charles has its Princes. Ha! Luke shakes his head as he walks to the front door and rings the doorbell.
The door to Llanfair flies open, and Luke is greeted by a tearful Emily.
"Luke, thank God you’re here!" she says. Emily reaches out to hug Luke and grips him tightly. After a minute, Luke pulls Emily from his arms and asks, "Darlin’? Are you okay?" Luke looks around the foyer. "Where’s Lucky?"
Vicki enters the foyer and extends her hand to Luke. "I’m Victoria Lord Carpenter. I assume you’re Lucky’s father?"
"Luke Spencer." Luke takes Vicki’s hand. "Is my son here?" he asks.
A worried look crosses Vicki’s face, and Luke is starting to feel nervous.
Luke looks over at Emily and says with a flat edge to his voice, "Emily, where’s Lucky?"
Emily springs new tears and says, "Luke, he’s missing. We haven’t seen him since yesterday morning."
Luke sputters, "What? What are you talking about, Emily? I thought you two came here together. Why didn’t you tell your parents when you called them?"
Emily pleads, "Because we didn’t know he was missing then. We split up, but planned to get back together for dinner. We waited and waited, but Todd and Lucky never came back, and we couldn’t reach Todd on his cell phone."
Luke looks back and forth from Emily to Vicki. "Wait. Wait a minute. Who’s Todd? Who are you talking about and what does he have to do with my son?"
Vicki answers. "Todd is my brother. He came by Llanfair yesterday morning, and he and Lucky decided to talk about some computer network problems that Todd was having. They went to the country club for lunch, but they haven’t been heard from since. Emily and I went shopping at Logan’s department store, and they were supposed to meet us back here by 5:00. We waited up for them until 11:00 PM. I’m really very worried. It isn’t like Todd not to phone if he has a change in plans."
Luke prepares to fire off another round of questions to Vicki when the phone rings in the library. "Excuse me," Vicki says, moving over to the library door. "I should get that. It may be important." Luke just stands there, leaning from one foot to another, looking at the intricate design on the marble floor, and Emily sits down on the bottom stair step and begins quietly crying, hugging her knees and placing her head on them.
"Luke." Vicki pokes her head out of the library and calls Luke to the phone. With her hand over the receiver, she says, "It is your wife – for you."
"Laura," Luke answers with a tremor in his voice.
"Luke, something’s happening in Port Charles. I think you need to collect the kids and come home right away." Laura sounds nervous and on edge.
"What’s up, Angel?" Luke asks quickly.
"Stefan called here a minute ago." Luke tenses at the name of his hated enemy and sometime rival of his wife’s affections.
"He sounded very emotional and almost frantic. He said that his mother is back in Port Charles, and he has no idea what she’s up to, but he wanted to warn us that we all were in grave danger. She sent him a telegram a few days ago. Here it is…..I wrote down what he told me. ‘Timoria, my son. All the pawns, bishops, and knights couldn’t save them. Queen takes King. Checkmate.’ What do you think, Luke, should we be concerned?"
Luke’s cheek twitches. He is silent, then replies, "Angel. Stay in the house. Lock the doors and don’t leave to go anywhere. We’ll be home shortly, and we’ll talk then. Can you do that for me?"
"Sure, Luke," Laura says. She is starting to get nervous. First Stefan, now Luke sounds scared.
"Laura, do you know where Nikolas is?" asks Luke.
Now Laura is really anxious. Luke never asks about Nikolas or even mentions his name unless she brings it up. "Nikolas is travelling with Ned on his Eddie Maine tour," she says. "Stefan mentioned that Nikolas would be safest hiding out in the open."
So Count Vlad is stealing my best material now, Luke thinks. "Well, he’s right about that, darlin’. Okay, I’ll see you in a few hours. Laura?" Luke’s voice softens noticeably.
"Yes?" asks Laura.
"You do know that I love you more than anything in this life, don’t you?" Luke asks.
"Yes, Luke, I know." Laura’s heart warms. "I love you, too. Be careful."
"You, too, darlin’ Bye." Luke hangs up the phone and hands it back to Vicki.
Vicki looks at Luke with a puzzled expression. "Why didn’t you tell your wife about your son?"
Luke looks at Vicki and replies, "I’ll tell her when we get home. There’s something going on in Port Charles, and my instincts tell me that we need to get back there immediately. I think that’s where we’ll find my son and your brother."
"Todd has a private jet. I have family permission to use it. Why don’t we fly back to Port Charles?" Vicki suggests.
"Great idea. Ladies, shall we head to Port Chuckles?" Fully in his take-charge mode, Luke directs Vicki and Emily through the front door of Llanfair and into the waiting arms of the pink Cadillac.
Liz gets the creeps
*Claustrophobia*