Part 1: This story of "the perfect day" takes place the day after the first time Luke and Tracy unexpectedly sleep together. They both freak out and take off before the other one can (or so they think).
She sat at the craps table at her favorite casino in Monte Carlo. She had been here more times than she could count over the years after her failed marriages, her crazy partying days, etc. There was something about this playboy heaven that had always pulled her here when she needed to be alone or needed to escape. She was on her third martini and was finally starting to relax. It had been a long flight and the jet lag was starting to catch up to her. However, she was enjoying anonymously fading into the crowd…something she didn't get a chance to do quite often at home.
She needed to be in a crowded place to crowd out the thoughts that were spinning around in her mind. She knew as sure as she knew her name, that after what happened last night between them, Luke was not going to come back to the mansion. He was probably running to the farthest corner of the earth to try to outrun what he they did last night. It had been almost two years of marriage, and they were actually getting along wonderfully as of late. Somehow the issue of sex was always under the surface, but they were both too cautious. They stifled their growing desires for fear of sinking under the thin ice their marriage was skating on. They did genuinely care for one another and understood each other better than anyone in either of their lives ever had. But last night something happened that changed everything.
She took off her robe and was about to climb into bed when Luke came bounding through her door, without knocking of course. He started ranting about Scotty Baldwin being back in town and wanting to know if she had spoken to him about Laura's brief recovery. However, mid-sentence, his jaw dropped open when he realized she was wearing a tiny little black satin nightgown. He had never seen her in something like this before. She was caught off guard at first and embarrassed. Then anger starting rising up in her. How dare he come into her room and accuse her of talking to Scotty about Laura. "You have no right to come in here (without knocking I might add) and accuse me of anything," she said. "I have better things to do with my time than discuss your ex-wife, love of your life, fairytale princess—whatever she is or was. In fact, you can take your ridiculous accusations and your false proclamations of love and enjoying being my husband and find yourself a new place to live." Her eyes were on fire and she stormed across the room, forgetting completely what she was wearing and the effect it was having on him. She reached out to shove him towards the door and out of her room, but he grabbed her arm and yanked her towards him. Her face was inches from his when he leaned down and kissed her. At first she was fighting it, trying to scream at him to stop. But there had been too many months of desire building up, and she was powerless to resist. Before either of them knew what was happening, they tumbled into bed. Neither of them had time to think about what they were doing or what it would mean. At 6am her alarm clock went off. She woke up in a daze and realized that Luke was curled up against her. "Oh my god," she thought. "How did this happen?" She jumped out of bed and turned off the alarm. She wanted to talk, but she had an important shareholders breakfast meeting she had to wake up for. She nudged Luke and told him they needed to talk and sort things out later. He sleepily agreed and kissed her. But when she got out of the shower and dressed and ready to go downstairs, Luke was already gone.
Tracy somehow made it through her meeting, but her mind kept wandering. She had to get out of there. She had to go somewhere far away from Port Charles because she knew in her heart she couldn't face the impending rejection from Luke when he realized they had made a mistake. "I've been called to an emergency meeting in Europe," Tracy told her secretary. "I will be gone the rest of the day today and tomorrow, but can be reached on my blackberry." She called Dillon on the way to the airport and told him she would be back in a couple of days. She didn't even know where she was going, but when she got to the airport she found herself purchasing a round trip ticket to Europe. By the time she arrived in Monte Carlo many hours and modes of transportation later, she was drained.
She made her way into the casino and quickly surveyed the room to make sure there was nobody she recognized from the old days. She had left quite a string of ex-lovers during her many years in Europe, plus more than she cared to recount of business deals gone sour. When she was confident that the coast was clear, she took a seat in between two obviously wealthy men and let the martini's they kept buying her numb her to the pain she felt inside. She knew it was cowardly to run, and Tracy Quartermaine was NOT a coward by any means. But she knew Luke would run too, and she wanted to run faster. She wanted to be leaving him behind, instead of him leaving her. The evening wore on and finally she was ready to try to get some sleep. As she headed to the lobby, the oil barren from Texas who she had been rolling the dice for all night followed her out. He invited her up for a nightcap. Under other circumstances, she might have agreed, but not now. However, her new friend wasn't taking no for an answer. She yanked her arm away from him, but started to lose her balance.
Just then, a man at the lobby bar got up and heard a woman protesting some sleazy man's advances behind him. This was a sore spot for him, and after a few scotch on the rocks, he was feeling ready to come to the defense of a damsel in distress. "Hey pal…did you not hear the lady? No means NO". Tracy froze in her tracks. There was no way this was happening to her. It must be the alcohol. Of all the places he could be in the world, what were the odds he would be in the Chateau Casino in Monte Carlo in the lobby at the same time as she was? She didn't want to turn around and see him. She wanted to slip away, but as she regained her balance he spun her around and his eyes met hers. "Small world SpankyBuns, huh?" he smirked with a twinkle in his eye. She couldn't even respond. "You O.K? She tried to form words but she was still in shock, so she nodded her head yes. "Well, my little spotted cheetah…I ran fast, but you my dear ran much faster. How did you traverse the globe so quickly?" When she could finally squeak out her voice, she said, "I need a drink." "Me too, baby, me too. Care to join me at the bar?" They sat drinking in silence for a long time. Finally she got brave enough and asked, "So what brings you to Monte Carlo, Luke?" "Oh this is one of my favorite all time stomping grounds…many a deals have been made for me in right in this very establishment. What about you?" Tracy hesitated, but then replied, "This is where I always go when I make a huge mistake and need to deal with the consequences. I came here each time my marriages failed, each time my daddy threw me out of the house, each time a business deal went wrong."
"So I take it you consider what happened between us last night was a huge mistake," Luke said to her with just a hint of sadness in his eyes. "Well, you obviously do as you bolted without even saying goodbye," she said. She quickly turned her head away from him so he wouldn't see the tears beginning to form. Just then, Luke put his hand on her cheek and turned her face to him. "Tracy, we need to have a serious talk about what is going on between us. Right here, tonight before things get out of hand". He called her Tracy, not some silly nickname so she knew he meant business. "I know a great place along the harbor we can get some coffee and sober up and talk." And with that, Luke grabbed her hand and led her outside into the beautiful star-filled night.
"This is where you are taking me for coffee, to some seedy little coffee stand on the docks?" Luke laughed, and then she laughed at the absurdity of it all. They walked for a long time along the docks without saying anything. After a while, they found a bench and Tracy plopped down. "I have to sit down…I didn't pack my walking shoes." Luke looked down at her feet and chuckled at her four inch Manolo Blahnik heels. She kicked them off and sank back into the bench. She knew what was coming and wasn't sure if she was ready to deal with the conversation that was hanging over their heads like a noose. Finally she decided to break the silence. "So you wanted to talk, so talk," she said obnoxiously to cover up her vulnerability. Luke looked at her and could see her defenses getting armed and ready and her walls coming up around her to protect her heart.
Only he had no intention of hurting her--quite the opposite. He was desperately trying to get up enough nerve to tell her that he was in love with her. He had wanted to tell her that morning when they woke up, but she jumped out of bed so fast when her alarm went off that it wasn't the right time. He lost his nerve when she was showering and slipped out of the house. Then as the day wore on, he got more and more freaked out that he could feel that way about another woman again in his life. He went to see Laura to try to make peace with it all, but that just confused him even more and made him less sure of his feelings for Tracy. Then he did what he had grown accustomed to doing his entire life…he bolted. It was the only thing he was sure of. He would get out of dodge and fall back into his old comfortable patterns. And that was fine, until he saw her in the lobby and it hit him like a ton of bricks. He was totally in love with her. Not the fairytale love he had with Laura, but a different kind of love. It had started with game-playing, one-up-man-ship, scheming, manipulating, power struggles, but it had grown to a mutual understanding and respect. There was nobody he had ever met who could match him wit for wit like Tracy. She was not only smart and beautiful, but they had seen each other at their worst and neither one of them would ever judge each other for their past sins. Anything he had done, she had done something equally as horrible. And that was an incredible feeling to not have to live up to someone's unrealistic expectations. They both lived in the moment and Luke knew that the here and now was all that mattered.
"Tracy, I wanted to tell you this morning, but the timing just wasn't right, then I chickened out, then I ran, but I'm not running now. There is nobody here, nothing to get in our way. It is just you and me on this empty dock. You need to know that I love being married to you. I love fighting with you. I love laughing with you. I love scheming with you or against you. I love your intelligence and your wit. And as hard as it is for me to think I could ever say this to another woman again….I am absolutely, completely in love with you. I even sort of love that goofy, crazy-haired kid of yours too. I love living with you at the Q asylum, and last night was amazing. It was just so unexpected and unplanned and I think it just knocked me for a loop." Tracy could not believe what she just heard. She was all set for a brush off and a lecture about keeping their friendship intact and blah blah blah. She never expected this sincerity from Luke. "Wow…hard to top that one," Tracy said, relying on sarcasm to cover up tears that were once again starting to form. She started to make another snide remark, but something about the way he was looking at her made her change her mind. She could see the love in his eyes and this was not something she took lightly. "The truth is, Luke, I love you too and have for a long time. Last night just made me know that it was right between us. It is very hard for me to trust anyone. I have been burned by love too many times. It is a sign of weakness to me and you know that is a fatal flaw as a Quartermaine. I swore I would never fall in love again—ever!. And I have done a pretty good job of it too for the last 12 years or more. Until you came into my life and tricked me into marrying you. I loathed you, I wanted you out of my life and house in the worst way….but you sort of grew on me…like mold or something." Luke started to laugh and so did she. "You know Dillon adores you and worships the ground you walk on. And Lulu…well she is more like me than either of my sons combined. I am quite proud of her conniving, manipulating skills. She has really fine-tuned them living with me. But…I really do care about her. I want this to work, more than I have wanted anything my whole life." Luke smiled at her and took her face in his hands and kissed her. "Well then let's make it work. I can't promise you I won't take off again from time to time, but I will promise you it is about my need for the adventure, not because I am running away from you." Tracy's voice was almost a whisper. "I can deal with that, on one condition…that you at least just say goodbye before you disappear and that you call from time to time to let me know you are o.k." Luke laughed, "That's two conditions, but I think I can handle that."
They sat like that for a long time on that bench with their arms around each other. Finally they got up to leave. They were both so tired that they fell into her bed in her suite and were both asleep before they hit the pillow. It had been an emotionally draining night. Tracy woke up several times during the night to find his arms around her. She felt so secure and safe. The next morning they woke up early and made love for hours. After ordering room service, Luke realized he had never seen her so carefree and relaxed. Her Tracy Quartermaine armor was off, and she was just Tracy. She looked ten years younger without the stress of real life and her family obligations weighing her down. Although they had talked about leaving to go home, neither one of them was fond of that idea at the moment. "Tracy, I want one day with you here to just have fun…no fancy schmancy posh casinos, restaurants, etc. You are going to slum it with me o.k.?" She was so happy that nothing was going to get in her way. "Okay…you win, you win…I'm all yours." "Great…first things first…do you have casual clothes with you like a sweat suit or something?" Luke asked her? "Hmmmm…let me think about that one…NO! That is not something I generally wear Luke." Then sit tight, I will be right back, said Luke.
About 20 minutes later, he came back into the room with two bags from the hotel boutique. "Wallah...one Gucci warm up suit, a pair of Prada sneakers and a new pair of Chanel sunglasses. How'd I do?" Tracy was about to ask him whose bill he charged these to, but she didn't really care at the moment. She was enjoying this way too much and was determined to prove she could outlast him in the fun department. She knew she could take whatever he dished out. She got dressed in her velour warm up suit, threw on her sneakers and stuck the sunglasses on top of her head. She looked at Luke with a mischievous look in her eye and winked. "Well what are you waiting for Spencer…let the fun begin".