Dante was driving Lucky's car because Lucky didn't trust himself behind the wheel. His mind was spinning in a thousand different directions as they sped through the streets of Port Charles toward the hospital. Dante understood his need for quiet reflection, so he didn't try to make conversation as they rode. They arrived at General Hospital, and Dante drove Lucky up to the front entrance of the hospital. "You ready for this?" Dante asked him.
"No. But what choice do I have?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna go park the car, and then I'll meet you up there."
"Thanks, man. I really appreciate this. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't still been at the station tonight." Lucky got out of the car, breathing deeply as he watched Dante pull away. Squaring his shoulders, he entered the hospital doors and walked over to the elevators. He rubbed his forehead and sighed before stepping into the elevator, his hand fussing with his shirt cuff in his nervousness. He finally reached the OB/GYN floor. Everything in him wanted to run, but he forced himself to approach the Nurses' Station and ask for Elizabeth's room number. LuLu came out of Elizabeth's room to meet him. "Are you ok?" she asked him, putting her arms around him and hugging him soundly. "Yeah. I think so. I'm not really sure right now."
"How did you get here? Did you drive yourself?"
"No, Dante drove me in my car. He's downstairs now, parking. He said he'd meet us up here. Where-" he paused—"where are they?"
"Come with me," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him forward to Elizabeth's room.
He went into the room almost fearfully, so afraid of what he would find as he approached the hospital bassinet. He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, looking over at a dozing Elizabeth before reaching down for the baby, and lifting him out of the bassinet. He took in the sleeping form tightly wrapped in blankets. The tiny cap covering the little head. The little face that was so unmistakably his own. For a moment, he felt his legs sag as a feeling of dizziness swept over him. LuLu held his arm to help steady him. He lifted his eyes to the ceiling, trying in vain to blink back the tears forming and beginning to roll down his cheeks. Elizabeth stirred and fully awoke when she realized he was in the room. She looked at his face, and began to cry. "Lucky, I'm so sorry. You should have been here, but I didn't know! We didn't know! We had two paternity tests done! This shouldn't have happened! You should have been here," she sobbed. A sudden feeling of rage came over him, so intense that he thought surely the baby must feel it, and he placed him back into the bassinet. "It's ok, Elizabeth," he said softly, wiping his tears with a tissue LuLu handed him. "I know you didn't do this. I know you aren't responsible for this. Where is Nikolas? Where—is—he?" he asked LuLu sharply when she didn't answer him. LuLu pulled him to the corner of the room. "What are you going to do?" she whispered in a quavering voice. "Don't worry," he whispered back. "You'll still have three brothers at the end of the night. I just want to talk to him. And I need you to do me a favor. Call Claire for me. Tell her I need her over here. I'm going to find our brother."
"Lucky, just don't-"
"Don't what, LuLu? Don't hurt him? Don't kill him? Don't worry," he repeated too calmly. "I just want to talk to him."
When he exited the room, he saw Dante leaning against the Nurses' Station, speaking in low tones to Nikolas, who was nodding as they spoke. They both straightened up as he approached them. "Could you excuse us, Dante? I and my brother need to speak privately."
"Yeah, sure. I'll go in to see the baby, and sit with LuLu."
He and Nikolas walked over to the fourth floor lounge area. He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Nikolas interjected, "I suppose LuLu called you. I was hoping she would. You and I haven't talked lately, but I wanted to thank you for encouraging her to come to me, to repair the rift between us. That meant a lot to me."
"I'm not a cruel man, Nikolas. But I didn't do it for you. Being caught in the middle was hurting her, and I didn't think that was fair. That's all."
"I didn't imagine you did it for me; all the same, thank you." They regarded each other for a moment. "Did you do this?" Lucky asked him, his voice low, angry.
"What? What exactly are you accusing me of? No one was more surprised than I was when Aiden was born, and we got a chance to see him…"
"Oh," Lucky asked softly, "is that my son's name? Aiden? Thank you for telling me." Nikolas closed his eyes in exasperation. "Lucky," he began, but he was quickly cut off. "Oh, I know. This has Helena's cloven hoof prints all over it for sure. But I don't believe she acted alone, not after two paternity tests. You told me to my face your plans for Elizabeth. How you wanted her for yourself. How likely was that to happen if the baby wasn't yours? See, genetics is a funny thing. You might never have gotten caught if the baby hadn't been born looking exactly like me."
"I can't believe you think I'm capable of something like this! You know how Spencer was kept from me when he was born! Why would I deliberately put you through something like that?"
"You're asking me to divine your motives? I would never have thought you would be capable of betraying me by chasing after and sleeping with my fiancée, either. What do I know about your reasons for what you do? You see something, you want it, you go after it. Businesses, international holdings, women, children—it's all the same to you. And if I really think about it, this is a bit of a pattern with you, isn't it, Cassadine? After all, wasn't Courtney someone else's wife when you got ahold of her?"
The sudden rage on Nikolas' face was fearsome. "How dare you? How do you dare to say that to me? Don't even go there! The situations aren't even close to being the same!"
"From where I'm standing, I don't see any difference. There truly is no end to how low you will sink to get what you want. I put nothing past you." Lucky shook his head in anger and disgust before stalking away, leaving Nikolas red-faced and furious. He was heading back into Elizabeth's room when the elevator doors opened, and Claire stepped out. "Lucky, what-" is as far as she got before he reached for her, clutching her closely. He buried his face in her neck, and she knew that whatever was wrong, it was serious and it was bad. "Baby," she said, moving back and looking into his tear-stained face, "talk to me. What's the matter?"
"Elizabeth just had the baby tonight, Claire. For now, they're calling him Aiden. He's my baby, Claire. He's my son." She gasped and her hand went over her heart as if to keep it in her chest. Her knees went weak. "What?" she whispered. "Are you serious? Of course you're serious. Why would you lie about something like this? What happened, Lucky? I don't understand. I really don't understand!" Her voice rose in a combination of fear and puzzlement. "Shh. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blurted it out like that. Come over here. Let's sit down, ok?" He led her over to the lounge area, throwing a scornful look at Nikolas, who sat huddled and dejected in a chair against the wall. "Ok, explain this to me. I thought there were two paternity tests done. I thought both of them showed that your brother was the father of Elizabeth's baby." "There were, and they did. But I think Helena did something to alter the results. This is a specialty of hers, altering test results. She didn't count on the baby looking just like me when he was born; otherwise, her machinations might have worked. We haven't had another DNA test done, but I don't need one. That baby is 100% Spencer."
"My God. So what are you thinking? How are you feeling?"
"Right now, all I feel is a burning rage. I missed his birth. If they didn't record it, I'll never get to see it. All throughout the months of his development, I was missing out. I feel incredibly cheated, and that makes me angry enough to strangle someone with my bare hands. I'm afraid to go hold my own son because I'm too pissed off right now, and I don't want any of that negativity transferring to him. So I'm missing even more." He leaned his head against hers before kissing her softly. "Thank you for coming so quickly. I felt like I was going to come out of my own skin."
"You don't have to thank me—of course I'm going to be by your side when you need me! I know you have to stay, but do you want me to stay with you? Will that be awkward?"
"I don't care how awkward it is. I need you here. I'm going to go ask Epiphany if there are any empty rooms on this floor so that you can lay down and rest, but I need you nearby, ok?" LuLu was walking towards them, and she heard the last part of his sentence. "I'll stay with Claire if you want me to, Lucky. Elizabeth is asking for you."
"Thanks, LuLu. Let me get her settled in a room and then I'll go back in with Elizabeth."
Epiphany found an empty room, and Lucky helped Claire onto the bed, smiling a little for the first time since LuLu's phone call. "Who knows? In a few months' time, you might be right back in this very room. I'll just be down the hall, ok? I want you to rest, or watch tv. LuLu will keep you company. If you get hungry, let me know, and I'll make sure you get something to eat."
"Lucky, don't worry about me. Go handle what you need to handle. I've always been self-sufficient, so I can take care of myself."
"Yeah," he retorted, "and sometimes you're too self-sufficient. I'm always going to worry about you, so don't forget what I said." He thanked LuLu again, and then took a moment to clear his mind before reentering Elizabeth's room.
When he entered the room, Elizabeth held her hand out to him, and he hesitated for only a moment before walking forward and reaching back for hers. They remained that way, their hands clasped securely until Lucky sat down on the edge of her bed. For a time, neither of them could speak. Finally, Lucky broke the silence. "I don't blame you for this, Elizabeth. I know you aren't responsible for what happened. I fully blame Helena for this. I don't know what her motivation was, other than making me suffer, but I will find out. In the meantime, how are you feeling?"
"Physically, I'm fine. It was an easy birth, as births go. No complications. I'm sore of course, but I have pain medication in my IV, so the pain is marginal. So physically, I'm ok. Emotionally is another story altogether. It's like a never-ending nightmare. I can't believe that you missed out on so much. That we didn't get the chance to share everything to do with Aiden. I can't tell you how much I hate that you weren't here to see his birth."
"Did anyone record it?"
"We were going to, but then we forgot the camera at the house, and Nikolas was here to see it, so…" Lucky closed his eyes as the disappointment rolled through him. "So his birth went well? Ten fingers, ten toes? Everything normal?"
"Yes. He's perfect."
"Aiden?"
"If you don't like the name 'Aiden,' we can change it."
"How did you come to choose it?" he asked.
"It's a name I've always liked."
"So you chose it?"
"Yes, it was my idea."
"Then we can let it stand. Aiden is a good name. But I would like to add 'Lorenzo' to it. Aiden Lorenzo Spencer. What do you think?"
"I like it, Lucky. I love it." They shared tentative smiles. "Would you like to hold him again?" "Yeah, I would," Lucky said, rising from the bed and walking over to the bassinet, and his son. Gently he scooped Aiden into his arms, crooning softly to the infant as he began to squirm slightly. "It's ok, baby. It's ok, my son. I've got you." Aiden opened his eyes, appearing to look directly at his father upon hearing his voice. "Well, hello there, Aiden," Lucky murmured sweetly. "Welcome to the world." He nuzzled his son briefly before dropping a slight kiss on his forehead. He stood there, swaying gently back and forth, gazing down into Aiden's face, watching the expressions flit across it. Elizabeth sat quietly, taking in the scene, then asking, "What do we do now, Lucky? This changes everything, don't you think?" "What do you mean?" he asked, returning his gaze to hers.
"Well, we need to talk about his future. Our future."
"I don't think the hospital is the appropriate place for us to have this discussion, Elizabeth. Why don't we wait until you're well enough to go home? We can talk once you've been released from the hospital."
"But we have a lot of things we need to talk about now! A lot of issues between us that need to be resolved! We still have to tell the boys and Spencer what's happening!"
"And we'll do all that, but not here, not right now. Nothing is going to be solved tonight, anyway. For the time being, we can enjoy the fact that you're both here and safe and well. Right now, that's all that matters." He spied a rocking chair in the corner and sitting in it, he began rocking his son slowly back and forth, still captivated by his little face. "It's freaky," he eventually uttered aloud, "how much he looks like me. It's a good thing, too, otherwise they might have gotten away with whatever they were planning."
"They? Surely you don't believe Nikolas was in on this with Helena? He wouldn't do that to you, to us."
"In my opinion, there are no bounds to what my brother wouldn't do to get what he wanted. You're preaching to the wrong choir, Elizabeth. I don't know if he was involved. But I will find out." He sat for a few more minutes before rising from the chair, and walking toward the bassinet to lay Aiden back down. "Or do you want to hold him? I can pull the bassinet closer to the bed." "I'll take him," she responded. "Where are you going?" she asked him after he placed Aiden in her arms.
"I need to go check on Claire, and then go run a quick errand."
"You're leaving the hospital?"
"Only briefly, but Claire is here. She's just down the hall, in another room. I wanted her to rest, but I also wanted her close by." Elizabeth regarded Lucky for a moment, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Lucky, we really do need to talk."
"We will, Elizabeth. We will." He left her room, closing the door softly behind him, before walking down the corridor to where Claire was staying. Entering there, he saw Dante and LuLu sharing a lounge chair, both dozing quietly. Claire was leaning up on her arm, channel surfing. He gave her a slight buss on the lips. "Why aren't you sleeping?"
"I did fall asleep for a little while, but this isn't my bed, and it isn't the most comfortable thing in the world… Is everything all right? Did you get a chance to see him?"
"Yeah, I did. Everything's fine. We're going to stick with the name Aiden. Aiden Lorenzo Spencer."
"I like it. 'Lorenzo,' huh? I guess that makes him an official Spencer," she added, chuckling softly aloud.
"Very funny. I suppose it does make him official. We've got to have an 'el' name in there somewhere. Listen, sweetie. I need to go out for a while. I hate to wake Dante up, but I need him to go with me."
"I'm just going to go back home and wait for you there, ok?" He looked into her eyes, then gently kissed them shut. "I want you to wait for me here. I'll be back in a while, and we can go home together. Dante can take my car, and I'll pick it up later on today. I won't be long, I promise. Ok?" He extracted her promise that she would wait for him, and then he woke Dante, shaking his shoulder. "Dante." Dante's eyes flew open immediately. "What's up? Everything ok?"
"Yeah, but I have something I need to do, and I need your help. It won't take long."
"Sure. Ok. Yeah, let's go." Dante slid past LuLu and they left the room, and the hospital.
"Are you sure about this, man?" Dante asked as they surveilled Helena's yacht.
"Surer than I've ever been of anything. Enough is enough, and I have had enough."
"And you're pretty sure there is only the one guard?"
"As far as I know, Thor is the only one."
"And you want me to…"
"Incapacitate him by any means necessary."
"Yeah. I can do that. Just be careful."
"No sweat, but I want this finished once and for all." They crouched down low as they approached Helena Cassadine's yacht, stopping to listen before continuing on. Lucky climbed aboard first, then Dante, both with guns drawn. With his eyes and hands, Lucky told Dante to circle the perimeter of the yacht, while he would go below. Dante nodded, and they took off in opposite directions.
Helena's eyes snapped open when she felt the cold steel against her forehead. "Good morning, Helena. It's very early, but it's still morning. No," he said sharply as she reached for the lamp switch, "don't move. I'm in a very strange mood this morning, and besides, this conversation is better conducted in semi-darkness. The moonlight is sufficient enough." She huffed a contemptuous breath. "I don't know what you think you're doing, but when Thor discovers you…"
His eyes adjusted to the darkness as he stared at her. "I wouldn't be depending on Thor right now, Helena. Thor has his own problems by now. If all he ends up with later on is a sore head, he can count himself lucky. See there," he went on, laughing at her anger, "I made a funny. Maybe my sense of humor is returning to me. It's been sorely tried tonight. Sit up, slowly."
"What is the meaning of this outrage?" she asked him cattily. "If you wanted to see me, all you had to do was approach me like a gentleman."
"Don't get this wrong, Hels. I'm not my father. He might find you inexplicably attractive, but all I feel for you is repulsion. But let's talk about meanings. Two questions. Why did you switch the paternity tests for my child? Was Nikolas in on it?"
"I don't know what you mean," she blustered haughtily. "Ok. See, I'm tired," he replied as he removed his gun from safety mode. "I've been up all day and now all night. My patience, what there is of it, is wearing incredibly thin. I won't be responsible for what happens if you make me snap, because I am in no mood to play your petty little mind games. One last time," he said, racking a round into the chamber of the gun, then looking back at her, his head cocked to the side. "Why did you change the paternity test results for my son, and was your son of a bastard grandson in on it? Answer me!" She jumped as she realized she was seeing something in his eyes that she'd never seen before. "Of course I changed the results," she said, deciding to brazen it out. "Who else could have pulled this off so perfectly, for so long? Why did I do it? Because I could! Because making you suffer in whatever way possible is the least you and your rotten family deserve!"
"Fair enough. Now. What was Nikolas' involvement in your little plot?" They stared at each other—Lucky unmoving, waiting her out. Finally, she tossed her head slightly as she grudgingly said, "He had no knowledge of what I had done. He was not involved in any way. No matter how angry he might be with you right now, he would not have approved."
"Hmm. Glad to hear it. Now I'm gonna talk, and you're gonna listen, and take heed. This is life or death, Helena. Your life. Your death. My son was born last night. Aiden Lorenzo Spencer. I missed his birth because of your evildoing. If it weren't for the fact that he looks so much like me, something you stupidly didn't count as a possibility, I might have missed out on his life. The thought of that alone tempts me to put a bullet in your head right now. I've missed out on a lot of things in my life because of you. I'm not missing one more thing. This is how it's going to be. You're leaving for Greece, today. I don't care how you do it—by plane, by this piece of crap yacht, on your broomstick. I have to go check in on my family, but I will be back, and you'd better be gone. I'm not my father. I find nothing charming or purposeful about your existence. When I come back, if I find you still here, if I find you still in Port Charles, I will end your life. You need to think about this. There is no one on this earth that would miss you, and there are too many people who would be willing to either look the other way, or help me get rid of the body. If you've never believed anything I've ever said to you, you'd better believe this. If I ever see you again, if you ever return to Port Charles, I will end you. You might not even see it coming."
He backed slowly out of the room, joining Dante on deck, giving an unconscious Thor a vicious kick to the kidney. "Is everything ok?" Dante asked him. "Yeah. Everything's ok," Lucky replied.
"Is she still alive?"
"Yeah. For now."
