A/N – I feel your Lucky hate, but he will serve a purpose. Thanks for the review.

Chapter 25 – Brother against Brother

The next day, Lucky went over to Windemere to talk to Nikolas. He wants to see if Nik is on his side. He thought about the whole situation as the launch moved smoothly over the water. It was easy for him to rationalize his intentions because of the violence. He felt so twisted up and angry inside.

"Your brother is here to see you, sir."

"Really? Send him in."

Lucky walked into the room.

"I'm surprised to see you."

Lucky moved closer and they shared an awkward hug.

"What can I do for you?"

Things had not been the same between them since the Liz affair.

"I need to talk to you about Liz."

Nikolas swallowed some of his drink. He wasn't sure where this conversation is headed.

"Go ahead."

"I came back here because I found out that Liz was shacking up with Michael Corinthos."

Nik gave him a knowing look.

"Is that the only reason you came home?"

Lucky ground his teeth as he stared at his brother. He was hoping that he didn't have the nerve to bring up the kids, but he ignored the question.

"I'm concerned about the kids."

"But not Liz?"

"Liz and I are through. She can do whatever she wants to but those kids are innocent bystanders."

"From what I've seen, Michael treats all of them very well and they seem to be happy."

Lucky was fuming. He is trying hard not to go off on Nikolas.

"What is Michael, like twelve?"

Nikolas chuckled. "Sometimes, you can't put a number on love."

"How could you sit here and let her do this? Why didn't you try to stop her?"

Nikolas stood and then moved away, refilling his drink as he spoke.

"I gave up Liz because I decided that keeping peace in the family was more important than my needs and love for her. She was guilty and kicking herself for hurting you and she was also scared that if she left you, that you'd go back on drugs. Somewhere in that mess, we found each other. It wasn't done out of spite or to hurt you, Lucky, but of course, there are consequences to every action. Our love affair came out and you and Liz went off the deep end, and everything fell apart." He put the drink on the table.

"We could still be together now; a big happy family, but I had to let her go."

"No one forced you to."

"Yes, Lucky, I had to give her up. Now I know that sometimes doing the right thing isn't always the right thing to do. Although, I have to wonder that if Liz and I had continued if you would have shown up here demanding that she couldn't be with me because of Helena."

Lucky leaned towards him. "Well, since you threw me under the bus and went after the woman I loved which literally drove her to a mental breakdown, you nobly stepping aside was more about realizing that your love was torturing her soul, but you'll never know now, will you?"

"You are the one that tortured her. You knew she didn't want to be with you, but you kept pushing. You had to have the prize. She pushed you away and tried to make excuses not to be with you. It was written all over her face, but you saw what you wanted to see and ignored what she wanted as usual. You didn't care what made her happy. It was all about what Lucky needed. Just face it she was not that into you."

A low guttural scream came out of Lucky and he charged Nikolas knocking him to the floor. He punched him once but then Nikolas quickly rolled over and got the upper hand and decked Lucky in the face, busting his lip, and then pinned him to the ground.

"I'm warning you, brother, if you hit me again, I will show no mercy. You need to take your ass back wherever you dragged it from and leave town. Those boys are finally having a normal life again. They are really happy and now you're going to come back and ruin everything with your childish, selfish bullshit. It probably kills you that she isn't crying over you anymore."

Lucky yelled and bucked Nikolas off of him and then grabbed a heavy crystal decanter and lifted it above his head like he was going to smash it on Nikolas.

They stared at each other for a moment.

"Wow, you'd stoop so low as to kill me? Do you think Spencer will appreciate that? I'm almost sorry I named him after your family at this point. Who the hell are you?"

Lucky started to cry and put the decanter down. He backed away from Nikolas and stumbled out.

Nikolas pulled himself up and grabbed the phone.

"Get the other launch ready for me and see to it that Lucky leaves the grounds."

He grabbed his chin and rubbed it.

IiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiI

Nikolas knocked on Liz's door. Milo answered and asked him to stay there while he went inside.

"Nikolas," Liz said smiling at the door. "What are you doing here?"

They hugged.

"May I come in?"

She opened the door wider and he moved inside.

Cam ran from around the corner.

"Nikolas!"

He grinned and spun Cameron around.

"Where's Spencer?"

"He's at a riding lesson. I promise we'll have a play date soon, okay?"

He put Cameron down and he ran upstairs. Liz smiled at the interaction.

"So, what's going on?"

"Lucky just visited me."

Liz stared at him. "Is that what happened to your mouth?"

She grabbed some ice and wrapped it up and put it on his lip.

Michael entered the room and is surprised to see them.

"Nikolas."

"Hey, Michael, sorry for the intrusion but I just needed to talk to Liz."

"No problem, I can go to my office."

"No, it's okay. You can stay and hear it too."

"Okay."

They sat.

"Lucky came to see me and needless to say, there were some ugly words spoken and a few punches were thrown."

Michael shook his head.

"He's very angry about you two being together and he's concerned about the violence."

"Unfortunately, he's determined to take the kids away from me."

"I'm sorry, Liz. I know that you and the boys are happy. That's all I ever wanted for you."

Michael cringed at their closeness. He knew their history and it made him feel a little insecure.

"Nikolas, it's not your fault."

"If you'll allow me, I wanted to use my connections to find out what Lucky has been up to while he was away. Who knows, maybe I could dig up something that will help you with the custody battle."

Liz smiled. "You don't have to do that."

"No, let him. If Nikolas can help us keep what we have, I'll take all the help that he can give."

Nikolas smiled. "It's settled then. I'll get back to you when I have something to report."

He stood.

"Thanks for coming by. We appreciate it," Michael said.

Liz hugged him and after he left, she turned toward her fiance.

"Well, that was nice."

Michael nodded.

Liz could feel that Michael seemed a little tense.

"Does seeing us together bother you?"

Michael sighed. "I'm not going to lie. You have a really deep connection and it does unnerve me a little bit."

Liz pulled him into her arms. "You have nothing to worry about. Nikolas did mean a lot to me, but that was over a long time ago. We'll always be friends, but since I plan to be with you for the rest of my life, that is all it will ever be. Don't you get how much I love you?"

Michael smiled. "Yes. I love you too."

"Good, then it's settled. Help me pack up the boys so I can get Cameron over to his t-ball game."

Michael kissed her and then they headed upstairs.