Part 2

At General Hospital, the paramedics, along with Dr. Patrick Drake and Nurse Bobbie Spencer wheeled Tracy into a room. The men from Shady Brook were standing by.

"We'll take it from here," Patrick advised.

"She's a mental patient. She needs to be supervised in case she runs off."

"She's in no condition to escape. Now, get out and let us work." Reluctantly, the men left. "All right," commanded Patrick. "Bobbie, I need a CBC, Chem 7, lytes…"

"Well, that's more than you bargained for," noted Alan, but Tracy just ignored him.

"Um, shouldn't we just start with an abdominal exam?" Bobbie said, as she was in on the plan.

"I want to be thorough, and need I remind you, I'm the doctor here—"

"No, I am!" Another doctor said in a bold tone upon entering the room.

Tracy breathed a sigh of relief. She could tell, even with the mask and glasses that the doctor wore, that this man was her husband.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Dr. Drake.

"I am Dr. VonSkeemerman, General Hospital's newest trauma surgeon."

Dr. Drake seemed skeptical. "I've never seen you before now."

"Because I am new. Or don't you remember?"

His accent was thick and a bit unbelievable. Tracy did her best not to laugh.

"What's your name again? And where are you from?" Patrick inquired.

"Dr. VonSkeemerman. I come from Austria. The Quartermaines have requested that I examine this woman because I am the best."

"Oh, brother…" Alan commented.

"Now, excuse me," Dr. VonSkeemerman ordered.

"Bobbie, do you know this doctor?"

"I do," she nodded. "He is very, very good, and if Monica and Edward requested that he examine Tracy, then we should respect their wishes."

"Fine," he said, almost shoving the medical chart at Dr. VonSkeemerman.

"Thank you, Doctor," he responded as Dr. Drake stormed out of the room.

When Luke was sure that he was gone, he walked over to his wife. "I've missed ya, Spankybuns," he said tenderly.

She could've cried, as happy as she was. "I've missed ya too," she said, trying not to get teary-eyed.

After sharing a much too short of a kiss, Bobbie reminded them of the business they had to take care.

"We'll finish this later," Luke whispered into his wife's ear.

"All right, you two." Bobbie reached into a drawer and took out a surgical nurse's cap and a patient's gown. "Here, Tracy, put these on…"

Afterwards, Bobbie proceeded to cover her from neck to toe with the hospital bed sheet. "We're gonna pretend we're taking you upstairs for an operation," she explained.

"Then what?"

"It's a surprise." Luke winked.

"Oh, Tracy, Tracy, Tracy," Alan continued to irritate her. "This does count as another unconscionable thing, you know. You're never gonna get rid of me now."

Ignoring him, she told her husband, "Let's do this."

Luke wasn't discrete about his actions, but he wasn't tactless either. Wheeling Tracy through the halls, he announced, "Patient here. Move. I got patient. Needs operation. Move please." He received several strange glances, but no one approached him. Less than a minute later, the three (four with Alan) arrived to the elevator.

"We made it," said Luke.

"In the clear." Bobbie smiled.

But the siblings had spoken much too soon. The elevator dinged as they were going up, and Monica Quartermaine entered.

"Hi Monica!" said Alan, brightly.

"Monica!" Bobbie said cheerfully. In this second, Luke decided to cover Tracy completely with the sheet. Then, he made sure his surgical mask was over his face.

"Lose a patient?" Monica asked sadly.

"Yeah. Transport never came, so we're taking her to Pathology ourselves."

"For an autopsy?" Monica knew the hospital didn't perform autopsies often. Usually, the cause of death was known, and there was no need for one.

"What else would we be going to Pathology for?" Bobbie said, uncomfortably.

Monica looked strangely at her. "I'll, um, see you later," she said as the elevator dinged and she exited.

"Close call," muttered Luke.

"Ughhhk," Tracy sounded. "Get this sheet off of me."

"Sorry, Wife," Luke said, removing the cloth.

The elevator dinged yet again, and this time, the doors opened to the hospital roof. "This is our stop?" questioned Tracy.

"Yep, and that helicopter is for us."

Bobbie reached under the gurney and pulled out Tracy's bag of normal clothes. "Don't forget these."

"Thank you, Barbara."

Tracy also thanked her, appreciative of her help in all of this.

"You're welcome. Now go before you get caught. And be careful!"

"Right, right…" Luke mumbled as he led Tracy into the helicopter.

"Tight squeeze, huh, Wife?!" he shouted over the loud noise.

"Yeah!"

"Kind of like old times!!!"

Luke reminded her of the hotel fire in 2004, before their marriage, when the both of them were evacuated at the same time in the same copter.

"I remember!"

"But this time is so much better!!!"

It was getting hard to hear. "What?!"

"Much better! This time!!!"

"I can't hear you, Luke!!!"

"THIS TIME IS MUCH BETTER BECAUSE NOW…I CAN DO THIS!" He leaned forward and started to kiss her passionately. He never kissed her like that before, and his warm lips firmly planted on hers made her want to melt.

The pilot noticed the sudden silence. "Everything all right back there?"

"Oh…," said Alan, crossing his arms in disappointment. "I'm sure it's never been better."

o0o0o0o

Hours later, Tracy had placed her regular clothes over her hospital gown. Luke had changed out of his Dr. VonSkeemerman ensemble and into a tan suit and a blonde wig and mustache. The couple had reached their destination, a popular resort area in Orlando, Florida.

"Orlando, Luke? Orlando?! Too close to Port Charles."

"Relax, Sugar Plum. They're expecting us to go far. No one is gonna suspect that I took you to Mickey Mouse's house."

"And what about all these people? Won't someone recognize us if they put are pictures on the news?"

"Look at me," he said, gesturing to his blonde hair. I have a whole bag of disguises." He held up his luggage. "I suggest you change into something else. How do you feel about a hot pink wig?"

"Oh, God."

"Kidding. We'll worry about your costume later. Just sit tight over there, while I check in."

o0o0o0o

"So, let me get this straight. Since I've been gone, you've been arrested and committed to a mental institution?"

Luke and Tracy, in their normal attire, were resting comfortably in their hotel suite about to discuss what to do next.

"That's right." She pretended not to let it bother her that she virtually traded places with the chair-bound one.

"Wow, Tracy." His voice was filled with regret. "I'm, um, sorry."

"Ah, well, you couldn't have seen it coming. I know I didn't."

"I tried warning you!!!" Alan popped into the room.

"Anyway…" Tracy made sure to focus herself on her husband, not her aggravating, deceased brother. "We need a plan."

"Yes, I agree."

"I tried blackmailing Scott into dropping the charges. He, uh, has a son…In Port Charles, actually. Tracy was careful not to mention that this son was involved with Luke's daughter. "Left the pregnant mother years ago. Thought I could use that against him, but I have no proof that this one kid is indeed his."

"And why didn't my Spanky get proof?"

She imitated, "'Cause your Spanky was confined to a damn 12 by 12 box!"

Luke moved back from her. "Fair enough. No need to get feisty, my little, luscious, lolly pop."

She planted her face in her hands. "I'm sorry. I'm just a little, uh, stressed, about this whole thing."

Luke held a glass of scotch in front of her. "Here, have this."

It looked good. God, it looked so damn good. But, Tracy pushed it away. "I need to be able to focus. And so do you. I thought your escape plan was all worked out!"

"Part 1 was," he said sweetly.

"Oh, I bet you're happy now, Trace!" Alan piped in.

"Shut up!"

"What?" asked Luke, and then he understood. "Ohh…Alan is here, isn't he?"

"Uh, no. No. No." She was obviously lying.

"Luke, please, don't give me a hard time. I don't need this right now."

Luke noticed a sense of apprehension and sadness in her voice, which wasn't normal for his wife. This worried him. "You all right there?"

"I'm fine," she told him. But she wasn't fine. No way in hell did she ever want to return to Shady Brook. The place was full of despair and could send even the most rational person round the bend. But unless Tracy could demonstrate that she was indeed sane, she feared she'd once again end up there. "I just need to figure out what to do about this."

"Well, you won't have to do it alone." He was sitting across from her but decided to stand up and sit beside her. "Not anymore," he said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Reluctantly, she accepted his comfort. "I'm here now, and we're going to figure this out together."

Alan noted, "Wow, he actually sounds sincere."

Tracy bit her lip to keep from yelling out his name.

"Tracy?"

"Hmm?" She was trying so hard not to let her brother's presence be known.

"Do you want me to go get you a coffee or something?"

"No, I think I'm rattled enough, don't you?" she said in a high-pitched voice.

He nodded. "Good point—Okay. Trace. We have to focus. Focus. Focus. Focus."

"I'm focusing," she responded quickly.

"All right. First things first. We actually don't need proof that Scott has a son."

"Wait, what?"

"We're no longer guilty of kidnapping."

"Why'd you give me such a hard time about getting proof then?"

"Was just having fun," he shrugged.

"And, why did you wait so long to tell me about this?!" She slapped his shirt in frustration.

"I didn't wait that long. I just got confirmation about a half hour ago."

"From?"

"Lulu."

Tracy remembered Luke being on the phone with someone earlier at the check-in desk. She never questioned him about it, but she now suspected that it was his daughter. She wondered out loud, "What kind of information does Lulu have?"

Luke explained, "She's been in contact with Natasha—"

"Alexis Davis."

"Yeah, Natasha. She was working on an appeal, remember? And…she just got the decision reversed." Luke went on to inform her that Nikolas had guardianship just like before and was choosing not to press charges.

Tracy let out a sigh of relief. "All right. Good. So, we're in the clear."

"But what about meeeeeee?" said Alan, using his stupid ghostly tone again. "How do you get rid of meeeeeee?"

Luke noticed that Tracy was fidgeting in her seat. "Alan's bugging you, isn't he?"

"Just a little," she said, signaling with her thumb and index finger.

"Alan!" he yelled. "Wherever you are, just give her a break, will you?!"

"He's not going anywhere until I confess to forging the will, remember?" she reminded her husband.

"That's right," affirmed Alan.

"Ohh," Tracy groaned, putting a hand on her face. At this rate, she was never going to be released.