Title: Sands of Time

Author: Mackenzie

Email: "General Hospital"

Category: Luke/Tracy; General

Spoilers: Everything, just to be safe.

Disclaimers: I don't own anything except for original characters.

Author's Notes: EXTREMELY alternate reality. This story takes place in somewhat present day, only Alan is alive, Laura never went catatonic and she wound up remarrying Scott Baldwin and the whole "who killed Rick Webber?" thing has never happened. Another thing, Lulu isn't 18 in this story, she's her actual age, which is 12.

-1-

Tracy Quartermaine-Spencer sat within the confines of the wing chair in the Quartermaine living room, lost in her own thoughts. On her lap, sat an envelope, a letter peeking out. Ever since it arrived a few weeks prior, she's transfixed herself on the past. Looming in the doorway was her husband, Luke Spencer.

Watching his wife, Spencer couldn't help but mask his concern. He definitely picked up something on his radar that was out of the ordinary. Luke cleared his throat softly to get her attention, "Trace."

Jolted back into reality, Tracy quickly tucked letter into the chair and looked at her husband, "Have you made it a habit of spying on me, Luke?"

"Spying?" Spencer walked in and gently moved Tracy's feet aside and sat down on the ottoman in front of her. "I am a concerned husband, Spanky, watching his wife, wondering what the hell is going on."

Tracy looked at her husband for several minutes. Nodding silently, she stood up and walked over to the doorway, checking to see if any of her family was lingering around in the wings. Once the coast was clear, the woman walked back in and sat down, facing her husband, speaking softly, "I have a confession to make."

Luke sighed deeply, "I hate it when women start conversations like that," he admitted. "Laura started a conversation like that, right before she told me about Nikolas." Pausing, hoping to get a smile out of her, he added, "You didn't have an affair with a Cassadine, did you?"

"No," Tracy said, "I had an affair with a Spencer."

Looking at her, her husband had a face of confusion, "I don't get it... It's not an affair if we are married."

Sighing heavily, the woman stood up and began to pace, her fingers kneading her forehead. "Luke, I don't think I have to remind you what happened twenty-eight years ago," turning, she faced him, "do I?"

Luke looked at her, speaking softly, "You were engaged to marry Mitch... I worked for Smith... it's ancient history, Tracy."

"Ancient," Tracy repeated. "Only not dead and buried."

Luke sighed as he stood up, "Wife, I'm having a hard time going where you are going. So how about you quit the melodramatics and just tell me what the hell is going on?"

"You and I slept together," Tracy blurted. "Mitch and I had had a fight, a big one. I was upset, I went to your disco and you were there talking to Laura while she waited for Scott, remember?"

Luke swallowed audibly and then nodded, quietly, "I do."

Keeping her eyes on him, she spoke softly, "Scotty picked up Laura and it was just you and I. You had some song playing, I think it was a Gloria Gaynor song or something. Anyway," sighing again, she leaned against the wall, "we had sex, and I got pregnant."

Luke looked at her, his eyes wide, stunned, "What? How?"

Giving him a look, she responded, "I don't think I need to review the birds and the bees with you, Luke."

Taking in a quiet breath, the man stood up and walked over and closed the doors so they could have more privacy. Approaching his wife, he looked at her, speaking softly, "Tracy, what happened to the baby?"

"I put her up for adoption," she whispered softly. "Daddy assumed it was Mitch's baby and Mitch refused to acknowledge it, so he sent me away to California where I gave birth to our daughter. I immediately signed the papers and a social worker picked her up while I was asleep."

Luke took a step back and then turned his back, pacing the room, "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Because we were kids, Luke! You weren't even close to being ready to be a father, and I was too selfish to be a mother. Plus, you were fawning over Laura. Besides, you left shortly after Mitch was killed and I was too upset to even bring up the topic."

He turned and looked at her, "You've had twenty-eight years, Tracy, to tell me."

"Yeah," Tracy admitted, "and let's take a look at what happened in those twenty-eight years. You were married to Laura for twenty of those, had two kids with her, you two went on the run for years, living in Canada and God only knows where else, I had Ned and Dillon, I was banished from my family, you and Laura divorced, Laura remarried Scott, I left Port Charles and lived in Paris for twelve years... need I go on?"

Luke shook his head, holding his hand up, "You should have told me! My kid has been out there for almost thirty years and I've never met her! I don't even know her name!"

"Layla," Tracy said quietly. "Her name is Layla."

Taken aback, he looked at her, softly, "How do you know?"

Walking back over to the chair, Tracy dug the letter out and walked over to him. Taking a deep breath, she handed it to him, quietly, "She sent me this letter. She wants to meet her biological parents."

Too stunned to speak, Luke walked over and sat down, slowly pulling the letter out. Unfolding it, the man lowered his eyes down onto the paper and read the words written in the girlish handwriting of a daughter foreign to him. "It doesn't say whether or not she got into a good home," he observed quietly, "just that she's going to be in New York for a seminar. It says nothing about if she's married, had kids..."

"Luke," Tracy said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. Taking a deep breath, she continued, "I'm going to Manhattan. I want to meet her. I want you to come with me."

Nodding quietly, he folded up the paper and handed it back to her, "I need to let Laura know where I am, so she doesn't worry. Also, I want to tell Lulu that I'm going to be out of town for a few days, so she doesn't think I just disappeared. I don't want to remake the mistakes I made with her."

Tracy nodded quietly, "I haven't said anything yet to Ned, Dillon, or anybody else. I don't want to make it known until we get back."

"No, that's a good idea," Luke said. Leaning in, his brushed his lips across his wife's cheek, "I'm going to go see my kid. I'll be back in a few hours."

Watching her husband leave, Tracy sat back down in the chair again, once again losing herself in her thoughts.