All The Family You Need.
Ever since Lucky had stormed out of the Haunted Star, he'd been driving, just wandering aimlessly around the streets of Port Charles, reliving his latest run in with his father. Maybe calling Luke "Ethan's father" would be more accurate, because despite Luke's protests that he loved Lucky, he wanted to be Ethan's father, and it burned. Luke had chosen a stranger over his own son. Suddenly, an old blues song came on the radio, and its opening riff jarred Lucky back to the first time Luke had played it for him, years ago when he'd thought his dad was the coolest thing in the world. He snapped the radio off and considered ripping it out and throwing it out of the car altogether.
Out of the corner of his eye, down the street, he saw the familiar red and yellow handlebars of Cameron's tricycle parked on the lawn by Liz's front door. He hadn't even realized where he was. Strewn on the ground near the trike were a large assortment of brightly coloured balls, bats, and any other age-appropriate sports equipment Lucky could find and convince Elizabeth that Cameron needed. Lucky had chosen his sons, too, he supposed. The only difference was that he hadn't disowned one yet.
Crossing the street, he picked up most of the mess on the lawn and deposited the toys in the bin that Cameron delighted in ignoring. He bounced a pint-sized soccer ball a couple of times before plopping down on the step in front door. He smiled at the size of it. Cameron would need a bigger soccer ball soon, and he'd be trading in the trike next summer for a bicycle with training wheels. He was growing up fast. Lucky tried to picture a grown up Cameron, and wondered if some day he too would disown his little buddy, if Cam would grow up into a different man than Lucky envisioned.
He pictured the sound of the screeching tires of a motorcycle in the driveway, and a drunken Cameron stumbling threw the door, before slamming it loudly, tossing a leather jacket on the floor, and flopping on the couch, laughing uproariously. He pictured Cam pulling a cigarette out of a pack in his breast pocket and lighting it. He pictured himself, older, with Luke's unfashionably wispy, receding haircut, and the makings of a middle aged pot belly just visible underneath his respectable, middle aged polo shirt. Cam would sneer derisively.
"Come downstairs to arrest me, old man?" he'd growl, and then laugh uproariously again.
Suddenly, the soft thwack of a Nerf football hitting his head brought Lucky back to reality.
"Ow!" he said, wincing and rubbing his cheek.
"Baby!" Elizabeth teased, picking up the football again, and bouncing it repeatedly and expertly off of his head until he was forced to tackle her and try to wrestle it away from her. She laughed as he finally got the upper hand by tickling it away from her.
"So why were you sitting on my step all mopey like that? You have a key, you know. You could have gone inside. Oh, don't tell me, more of this Luke and Ethan stuff. What happened this time? Did you have another run in with Ethan?"
"No, actually," Lucky smiled, "I was thinking about Cam. I was trying to picture him grown up."
"…And?"
"He drove a motorcycle. And wore a leather jacket. And drank underage. And smoked. And he still slammed the door."
"Well, considering how rebellious both Zander and I were as teenagers, I think that's kind of a likely possibility." Liz smirked.
"And I had my father's hair. And a pot belly." Lucky seemed far more disgusted with these points.
"Aww…" Liz said, running her fingers through his hair, "Well, how about I promise never to let you duplicate Luke's hair. Except," she whispered, "If you do that platinum blonde Jheri curl thing. Grawr." She laughed as Lucky squirmed away in mortal horror, picturing himself with his father's old signature hairstyle.
"Never! Not in a million years!"
"Oh, come on, Officer Jheri Curl!"
"That's Detective Jheri Curl to you!"
"Alright, Detective Jheri Curl, so how did you react to our future thug of a son? Is he grounded for life?"
"I'm thinking about it. At least until he's thirty five. But I didn't stop loving him. I didn't disown him. Actually, I thought his rebel act was kind of cute. He reminded me of another certain "rebel without a cause" I met when I was a teenager, outside of a diner somewhere." He gave her a kiss on the forehead. Liz smiled nostalgically.
"That was such a long time ago."
"You were still cute. You're not too bad right now either." He said, flirtingly. Liz blushed, elbowed him, and changed the subject back to Cam.
"So basically, our son has you wrapped around his little finger, is what you're saying."
"Basically."
"Well, try not to let him know that for a couple of years, will you? He'll run all over you, that kid."
"Oh, I'm pretty sure he already knows." Lucky smirked thoughtfully.
"I'm pretty sure, too."
"So what's really bugging you?" Liz asked again, intuitively.
"Luke." Lucky admitted.
"That's what I thought."
"Ethan's not really his son, or at least that's what Holly told him…not that anyone can trust anything Holly says. But that's not the problem, because it doesn't really change anything. Luke still treats Ethan like a son, and me like…like…"
"A stranger?" Liz said. She sighed heavily and paused for a second, before continuing. "Lucky, how many times have you met my parents?"
Lucky opened his mouth, closed it, and thought for a second.
"Well, none, but…"
"Doesn't it amaze you that I've lived in Port Charles for twelve years now, graduated highschool, and nursing school, had two children, and I don't even know how many weddings now – let's see, ummm one, two, three – FIVE – five with you, and two with Ric makes seven. Seven weddings! And my parents haven't shown up to one yet. Luke at least showed up to most of ours…granted he was drunk at most of them…and I think he did try and talk you out of it at least once, but Lucky, he came."
"Well, you have Audrey…"
"And you have Leslie. And Bobbie. And you have your Mom back. And you have me. And the boys. And Nikolas. And Lulu. Lucky, you have all of these people who love you. Who like you, just the way you are. Who think you're fabulous. Why do you need Luke too?"
"I – I don't know, Elizabeth." He looked at the ground for answers, and finding none, kicked at it. "He was my hero, growing up, you know? I thought he was the coolest guy ever. And everything he said – everything about family, and pride, and sticking together, and doing the right thing – this black and white view of the world – it stuck. And I wanted to be that guy, that great dad, and husband, that guy who kept on fighting. And now I find out that not only is my father no longer that guy, but he never was that guy, and he hates that guy – he HATES him. He's given up fighting, and he's given up on our family. What does that say about me? What's to say that I won't turn into him, that I won't wake up one day, and just not care, and decide to drink myself into oblivion? Or take pills again. Give up on you, and the boys, and the rest of my family, and my badge. Go back to drugs. Run cons on the road. What's to say I won't do that, Elizabeth?"
Liz looked at Lucky's intense ferocity out of the corner of her eye, and looked away.
"You know, I went to the Haunted Star a few days back," she admitted, "and I had a talk with Luke."
"You didn't."
"He says that he loves you, you know, and that you're not giving him a fair chance."
"A fair chance?" Lucky snorted. "It's really hard to give someone a fair chance when he's off God knows where most of the time, and busy disowning you the other half."
"He said that you were more alike than you knew. He said that one day – that one day you were going to get tired of me, and the boys." She paused for a moment to study his face. "He said that one day, you were going to figure out that a life of being tied down wasn't for you, and that you'd leave, or worse, hurt me or one of the boys." She looked at him pleadingly and then looked away for a moment, afraid of what his answer would be.
Lucky laughed. He laughed so hard that he rolled over onto the ground. He laughed so hard that tears streamed down his face.
"What's so funny?"
"Seriously? You think I'm going to leave you?"
"Well – are you?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Elizabeth, I've been kidnapped. I came back to you. I've been brainwashed, and granted, it took me a while, but I came back to you. I've been shot, half dead, and in a coma. I came back to you. I've had parts of a train rip through my body, and then had a tunnel cave in on me. I came back to you. I've been used as a lab rat for a deadly virus. I came back to you. I did some incredibly stupid things, like try to throw my life away on drugs. I came back to you. You've been in love with other men. You've been married to other men. I came back to you. Hell, I've tried to move on. I've tried to date other women, but that never lasts, because they're not you. And guess what? I come back to you every single time. Hell, even after that fight with Luke, look where I ended up. On your doorstep. And the hilarious part is that I didn't even plan it. It's the only thing I can do right. I've tried leaving, and I can't get anywhere. I end up coming right back. What on earth makes you think I'd leave one day?"
Lucky looked at Liz incredulously, and Liz smiled.
"Good. That's what I told him. So, here's the deal. I'm going to tell you a secret. All of these years, I've never had my family around, I've never really complained. Want to know why?"
"Because…you're a better person than I am?"
"Because I have you. Whether we're just friends, or we're something more, Lucky, I know that if my life is falling apart, I can come see you, or you'll find me. I know you're going to be there, even if my parents aren't. Or Sarah. Or Steven. Or Audrey. You're all the family that I need. And I'd like to think that even if you didn't have Luke, that me and my boys, well, we could be all the family you need too."
Lucky smiled as the idea dawned on him. He reached over and pulled Liz into a tight hug.
"So," he mulled it over, "if you're all the family I need, then it doesn't matter how many times Luke runs off, or that he's adopted Ethan as his new partner in crime…."
"You've got it."
"I'm still going to worry about him. And Lulu. And Nik. And my Mom. And Bobbie. And Grandma Leslie."
"I wouldn't expect any less."
"And in return, I never have to leave you, or my kids, and I can keep my job, and you're not going to judge me, and you can never leave me."
"Even if you have a receding hairline and a pot belly."
"This is a really good deal for me."
"It is."
"Just you and me, against the world."
"Just you and me against the world. And the boys."
"And the boys. How did I ever end up with someone so smart?"
"Just Lucky I guess."
"You're never going to stop with the name puns, are you?"
"Nope."