As she descended the stairs, Laura felt the pit in her stomach growing. She had caught the tail end of Luke's toast, and would be lying if she didn't admit it hurt.
Okay, so maybe it hurt a lot, but she didn't have a lot of time to overanalyze the situation.
Luke paused, his face dropping, as she faced his guests.
"Mom?" Lulu set down the champagne flute in her hand to reach for Laura, and Laura accepted the hug easily. "What on Earth are you doing here?"
Laura dropped her arms, taking a quick inhale to steady herself.
"I'd like to know that myself," Tracy said, her eyes narrowing. Luke put a hand on her shoulder, setting down his own flute. Laura wondered if he should have been drinking, but didn't let the issue linger in her mind.
"I apologize for intruding," Laura said, catching the words in her teeth before releasing. She looked past Tracy to Luke, and lifted an eyebrow. "Can we talk?"
"Talk about what?" Tracy stepped towards Laura, her head held high with her shoulders squared. "Because if this is yet another attempt to drag Luke back into your storied past, don't bother. Your relationship has been rehashed, recounted, and regurgitated far too many times. Luke and I are looking toward the future. In fact, this is our engagement party."
The venom in Tracy's voice grew centerfold, and Luke's expression shifted, his confusion being replaced with gentle frustration.
"Believe me, Tracy, I know where I am welcome," Laura said, focusing on Tracy. There was a pause, as the women continued to stare each other down.
"Mom, please don't take this the wrong way. I love you, and I'm glad to see you," Lulu said, looking between the women. She stepped closer to Laura. "But has something happened? Are you on the verge of another relapse?"
"Oh, honey, I'm fine, really. I just wanted to stop by and wish your father and Tracy well," Laura said, touching her daughter's shoulder, and giving a gentle rub. "After all, he's getting remarried, right? He's so lucky to have found someone to share his life with."
As her smile came across, Laura hoped her emphasis on the word 'lucky' was enough to trigger their old code.
The rest of the people in the room, including Carly and Sonny, didn't appear any wiser. Laura didn't want to wager a guess as to why Scott was there. "There's no doubt in my mind, he'll whisk her off to some beautiful honeymoon, and we'll be lucky if we ever see him again, am I right?"
She looked to Luke, their eyes locking. It wasn't the time for tears. His expression shifted again, and he put an arm around Tracy's shoulders. He then kissed the side of Tracy's head, and smiled.
"Pumpkin, I'm a little more exhausted than I thought, do you mind if we cut this shindig short?"
Tracy's arm rested across his back, as her voice lowered. It was softer than Laura ever could remember the elder Quartermaine using. "Are you sure that's what you want?"
"It is," Luke said. "Show our guests out, and have the car pulled around. I'll be ready to go by the time you get back."
Tracy's eyes narrowed at Laura.
"I'll help you, Tracy." Lulu piped in, and Laura was never more grateful for her daughter's somewhat naïveté. She offered a small smile at Lulu, catching a familiar look in Luke's eye.
Scott walked past with his hand in the small of Bobbie's back. Laura felt the bile growing in her throat.
The room cleared, and Luke watched everyone exit before he spoke. Laura found she couldn't look at him, the embarrassment of walking in on his and Tracy's engagement party stronger than she had hoped.
"So—" Luke said, clearing his throat. He then licked his bottom lip, before full on staring at her. "Nice job. It's been a long time since I've had to decipher one of your codes. I almost believed what you were saying."
Luke looked at his watch. "I've cleared the room, and we have roughly three minutes before Tracy comes back. We'll need to make this quick. Something's happened to Lucky?"
Laura felt the burden of Lucky against her chest lift. "He was staying with me in Paris. I came home one day from the clinic, the flat was trashed, and Lucky was nowhere to be found."
"You're sure the two are correlated?"
Laura shook her head. "I highly doubt anything I've done recently would cause my home to be turned upside down and our son taken away."
Luke sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Laura noticed the sudden weariness to his features, the dull of his generally brilliant silver hair.
"Then we'll have to assume its something you've done that isn't recent."
Tracy reentered the lounge, and Laura had to give Luke credit. Three minutes had been a pretty accurate assessment.
"Good, I see you're both still here," Tracy said, descending the steps. "That's a first in this town. When things happen, you two have a habit of wandering off. By land, by sea, by Cassadine."
"Tracy—"
"No, Luke, I want to know why your ex-wife barged in here during our engagement party and you kowtowed and dismissed everyone. Yeah, don't think I don't notice the way you two 'communicated' from across the room." Stepping between Luke and Laura, Tracy made air quotes with her hands. "Even I can see through the disgusting remnants of your co-dependency."
"Tracy, our son is missing," Luke said, and Laura's head tilted. She had expected a lot of things, but for Luke to blurt out why she was there was not one of them. Tracy's face scrunched, and then softened.
"What?"
"Someone nabbed Lucky at Laura's place in Paris, and we don't know why. That's why Laura's here."
Tracy turned to Laura.
"Why didn't you say that to begin with?"
"You think I want to announce our son's disappearance in front of a room of people? You may be his fiancée, but you're nothing to me," Laura replied, her annoyance growing.
Luke glared at both of them.
"The important thing is that we figure out who took Lucky, and then we figure out how to get him back," Luke said. "For everyone's sake, I hope we're not dealing with any more long lost Cassadines."
"Are there any of them left?" Tracy looked to Luke. "Last I heard, after your recent escapades, the Dragon Queen was roaming Port Charles like an invisible Cruella DeVille."
"Yeah, she's out there," Luke said. "But, I don't think Helena would stoop to taking Lucky again. She doesn't act out of spite. She calculates as part of a much bigger game."
"I know after what happened with Lesley Lu that Nikolas keeps fairly decent tabs on his grandmother," Laura said, leaning to one side while crossing her arms. "He would have called me if Helena had made any strange moves."
"Alright, let's say we give Nikolas the benefit of the doubt, and count the Cassadines out, who else does that leave?" Tracy asked.
"The other 98% of the planet," Luke said, with a sigh. "Mobsters, loan sharks, double agents, enraged one-eyed monsters. You name it, we've encountered it in one form or another."
"Ahh yes, the curse of being Luke and Laura, humanity's greatest superheroes," Tracy said. There was another moment of silence, as her left hand drifted down Luke's right arm. "Tell me what you need, husband."
"I need a clue, wife," Luke said, trying to give a small smile. "And, about eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. I wasn't exactly lying when I said I was a little more tired than I expected."
"I think rest is a good idea," Tracy said. "We can start looking for Lucky first thing in the morning with fresh eyes. I'll call some people."
"No," Laura said. "No one else, for right now."
"Why not?" Tracy asked.
"Because everyone we've ever encountered doesn't look well on law enforcement," Laura said.
"Including the Parisian authorities?" Tracy asked, to which Laura shrugged. Tracy turned to Luke. "You two aren't an item anymore, which means more people are exposed to your harried past. Do I need to start making phone calls to make sure my children are safe?"
"I'm sure you don't," Luke said, looking to Laura. The look in his eyes now was a familiar one, reassuring with a slight bit of concern. "We'll find him, Laura. I promise."
"I, uh, have booked a room at the Metro Court in the short term. If either of you need me," Laura said, once again feeling the words catch in her teeth. Olive branches were far too hard to come by right now, but she was going to do her damnedest to extend one.
Even in the worst of times.