Every Christmas I come back to this town/I come looking through some lost and found/Wondering if you're still hanging around down here
Lucky Spencer sighed, rolling his neck from side to side as he shifted in the driver's seat of his truck, squinting into the darkness of the never-ending interstate in front of him. He shook his head at the falling snow, wondering for perhaps the millionth time why he only came home at Christmas. Upstate New York was a beautiful place, but the snow was insane.
He sighed again, knowing why he came at Christmas. His yearly appearance kept them from hassling him too much about not coming back more often and Christmas was close enough to both his mother's birthday and his parents' anniversary to count as being there. Besides, they understood why he kept his distance.
With the holiday lights they line these streets/Where I once loved you and you once loved me/I'm sorry, it just gets to me
Finally, he saw the exit sign he was looking for and pulled off the interstate, grimacing as always at the "Welcome to Port Charles" sign lit up in red and green lights. It was fairly late in the evening and traffic was light. He wasn't fully paying attention to where he was going and he had already turned down her street before he realized what he was doing.
"Moron," he muttered at himself. "You know she's not even there." He knew from his brother and sister-in-law that Elizabeth and Audrey never hung around town for the holidays, instead heading to Nashville to stay with her brother or California to be with her sister. Still, he couldn't help slowing down as he neared Audrey's house, her only holiday lights the tasteful battery-operated candles in each front window. Still not paying full attention, his mind far away in Christmas past, he almost didn't see it – a petite, dark-haired woman letting herself in the front door. Had they not gone out of town this year? For one crazy second, he wondered if he had fallen into some weird kind of "It's a Wonderful Life" situation - he almost reached for his cell phone, ready to dial the numbers that came back to him with no effort at all.
Then the door shut behind her, the front light went out and he shook his head. "Moron," he grumbled again and drove on to his parents' rambling old house, forcing himself not to glance behind him.
I wonder if I called up your house/If your momma would let you out?
Maybe, baby/I'll see you this Christmas, what do you say/Or maybe, baby/I'll see you on New Year's Day
Lucky pulled into his parents' driveway and barely had one foot out of the truck before his baby sister was flying out of the house.
"Lucky! You're here!" Lulu squealed as she hurled herself at him and he laughed.
"Hey kid," he grinned. He'd last seen her in August, when he flew her out to join him in Chicago for her 14th birthday. She was chattering away excitedly as he grabbed his bag and she dragged him towards the house.
"He's here, he's here!" she announced to the group assembled at the Spencer home for Christmas Eve. Laura rushed forward to hug him tightly, Luke smiling behind her. Lesley and Bobbie swooped in as soon as Laura set him free and he hugged them both and made small talk as best he could, but his mind was a million miles away, thinking of that first Christmas together – the first time he'd told her he loved her. Thinking of the snowball fight in the City the next year. Thinking of all the Christmases they hadn't been together – nine of them now.
I remember your eyes with the snow outside/You said, "This place always looked a little better in white."/I wanna look up and see your face one more time
Finally, he wound up in a corner of the room with Nikolas and Emily. They seemed to be having one of those unspoken conversations that long-married couples often have and finally he just said, "Okay, what's going on?"
Nik glanced at his wife, who shot him a pleading look and finally he shrugged. "Fine, go ahead."
Emily flashed him a quick grin and then looked at Lucky, looking serious again. "Listen – I think you should know – Nikolas doesn't agree, but you're my oldest friend and I think you need to know, in case you run into her or something – Elizabeth and Audrey didn't go away this year. Steven and Sarah both came here for Christmas."
Lucky nodded, putting a, he hoped, surprised look on his face. He definitely did not want them to know about his drive-by stalking of Audrey's house. "Oh," was all he managed to say and Emily continued talking anxiously.
"I just – I know you two have been over for years, but you haven't seen her in all this time and I just didn't want –"
Lucky cut her off, speaking quietly. "It's okay, Em. I appreciate you letting me know, but it's no big deal. It's all in the past."
"See?" Nik said, a little smugly. "I told you it was all good."
Emily rolled her eyes and Lucky shot his brother a reproving look. "Don't get all high and mighty here, bro. It is nice to have the heads up."
"Thank you, Lucky," Emily smiled, kissing his cheek. "You know I just want you to be happy. We both do, right honey?"
Nikolas nodded. "That is true."
Lucky smiled back and mercifully the subject changed to his latest photo project, to his nephew Spencer, to the latest goober crushing on Lulu, to – God, please – anything but Elizabeth and their long-ago relationship.
Somehow Lucky made it through the rest of the evening until everyone finally said their good-nights and headed home so that Santa could come. Once alone in his old room, he collapsed on his bed, suddenly exhausted from the long day of driving, from the shock of seeing her, from the memories crashing over him.
They'd been so stupid. That was the one thought that came to him, over and over again through the years. They'd been so young and so stupid. They'd really believed that love was all they'd need. They'd graduated from high school, they'd moved off to the City, she'd enrolled in art school and found a job in an art supply shop, he'd found a bar that let him work there despite only being 18 and occasionally let him perform his music. It was perfect, at first, as those things so often are. That first Christmas they'd reveled in their Charlie Brown tree, their homemade gifts. By the next Christmas, money was tighter, tensions were thicker, and emotions were higher. Elizabeth was struggling with the realization that she didn't have the kind of talent to make it in the art world. Lucky was dealing with realizing that he didn't really enjoy performing his songs for strangers. Reality was settling in. By the spring of '01, they'd broken up. Screamed horrible things at each other, taking out their frustrations with themselves on the other person. Without Lucky, Elizabeth couldn't afford to stay in New York – didn't really want to anymore - and so she headed back to Port Charles, to a job at Kelly's, a home with Audrey. A brief marriage to a lawyer who encouraged her to consider teaching led to a job at PC High and, after the divorce, a home with Audrey again.
As for Lucky, he got the hell out of New York and just – drifted. For nearly ten years now, he'd been floating around the country, working odd jobs, living the life he thought he'd left behind in childhood. At some point, he picked up a camera and started photographing – well, everything. Entered a contest sponsored by Time magazine and won. Now he did freelance work for all kinds of companies – celeb photo shoots, commercial shoots, news outlets. He came back home once a year and every August, he flew his parents and sister out to where ever he was to celebrate her birthday.
And yet, no matter where he went, no matter how many women he met – and even let himself get involved with, no matter what he did, he could not get Elizabeth Webber out of his head.
Feels like the clock stopped ticking the day that I left/I think of you and I still catch my breath/I'm sorry, you still get to me
"So," Lulu said slowly and Lucky groaned inwardly, wondering where this was going, "tomorrow's New Year's Eve – what are you doing?"
Lucky shrugged. "Figured I'd head out to Manhattan, try and get some good shots at Times Square, whatever."
Lulu's face fell. "You can't leave yet – you barely got here! You have to come to Carly's big party at the hotel – mom and dad are finally letting me go this year and you just have to come with me!"
"You have another brother," Lucky pointed out and Lulu rolled her eyes.
"Yeah," she replied. "Who'll be there with his wife."
Lucky said nothing and Lulu heaved a heavy sigh. "This is about Miss Webber, isn't it?"
Lucky's head snapped up. "What?"
"Miss Webber. Your old girlfriend, right? From when I was little?"
"You know her?"
"She's my art teacher at school," Lulu said, in that witheringly condescending tone that teenagers were so good at. "Don't worry, she doesn't, like, talk about you or anything. She just said she knew me when I was a little girl and I put it together from there. Anyway, trust me, Miss Webber is totally not the partying type. She's not gonna be there. So, please? Come to the party with me?" She looked at him beseechingly and Lucky laughed. She'd had him wrapped around her little finger from the moment she was born and she knew it. He was going to that party.
I wonder if you'll be going out/There's only one party in this town
Maybe, baby/I'll see you this Christmas/I hope and pray/Or maybe, baby/I'll see you on New Year's Day
So, the next evening, Lucky found himself in a suit, hanging around his cousin's hotel, making small talk with relatives and old friends and doing his best not to search the room continuously, looking for her. Lulu had abandoned him almost instantly to giggle in the corner with Georgie Jones – as best as he could tell, they were eyeing a couple of goofy looking teenage boys and he shook his head. Despite all the times he'd wished he could go back and fix things with Elizabeth, he knew without a doubt that he'd never want to be a teenager again.
He set his drink down on a nearby tray and then, glancing idly around the room, his heart stopped for a second.
She was here.
On the other side of the room, she was chatting and laughing with a group of people – a black woman, an Asian woman, a woman he was pretty sure was Robin Scorpio and a tall, dark-haired man he was praying was not her date. Then he saw Robin taking the man's hand, smiling up at him, and he let out a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding.
Baby, it's so strange being back here again/I keep running into all of our old friends/This whole town ringing in one more year/I don't wanna let this feeling disappear/I prayed that you might be here tonight/And there you were standing, shining underneath that light
This was crazy. Absolutely, completely insane. Not to mention, totally cliché. But as the TV screens clicked on to show the ball in Times Square and someone pressed a glass of champagne in his hand, he found his feet moving across the room to where she was standing. He had no idea what he would say, what he would do. He just knew he had to do something.
"10…9…" the countdown started around him, Elizabeth yelling numbers with everyone else, until he reached out and touched her arm.
Screaming at the ball on the TV counting down/Streamers and papers piling up on the ground/Baby, did you come here alone?/Are you maybe looking for someone?/To kiss you?/God, I've missed you
"Elizabeth," he said quietly, yet somehow she heard him. Turned to look at him, eyes going wide with shock.
"Lucky?" she said in disbelief and he grinned crookedly. "What are you doing here –" Her voice trailed off as she stared at him, a million emotions crossing her face.
"Happy New Year?" he said, making it more of a question and she just kept staring at him as the countdown reached zero and the crowd exploded around them, "Auld Lang Syne" immediately starting up.
Lucky felt like time had frozen – until finally, she smiled, that big, beautiful smile he'd missed so much and nodded, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling his head down to hers.
"Happy New Year," she whispered back as their lips met.
Maybe, baby, we didn't get Christmas/But if you stay/Or maybe, baby/We could have New Year's Day/Maybe, maybe, baby/Maybe, maybe