Author's notes: Lyrics are "Celebration Day" by Led Zeppelin. More Nurse's Ball fun! Rach- thanks!!! Famous99- nope, didn't stop, just hit a little bump in the road...


My, my, my, I'm so happy,
I'm gonna join the band,
We are gonna dance and sing in celebration,
We are in the promised land.

Frisco walked back out to the lobby and grabbed himself a drink at the bar. Frisco took a short sip of his drink. He stood at the bar, watching the crowd. Watching Ric sweet talk Elizabeth, to be exact. The mole was up to something, Frisco could see that much.

Then again, it could just be rampant paranoia talking. He never did trust other spies. Slight occupational hazard.

He turned back to the bar when he spotted Carly heading his direction, a hand supporting her back. She looked as pleasant as ever, which wasn't saying much. Every time Frisco saw her, she seemed to be in a bad mood.

She stood right next to him at the bar, sighing heavily. "Water," she snapped at the bartender. They said nothing to the other, she just gulped down her water and demanded another.

He snuck a glance at her. From this angle her pregnancy was obvious, although the dress did a good job of concealing it. She turned her head and glared at him. "What are you looking at?" she asked angrily.

"Why don't you get on your broom and fly somewhere else?"

"Why don't you go find some terrorists to bust?"

"Who needs terrorists when I've got your husband right here in my backyard?"

"Leave Sonny alone," she ordered, but not in her usual bitchy tone. She looked away from him. "He's a good man."

Something in the way Carly spoke wasn't right. Her whole demeanor changed at the mention of her husband and the defeated look in her eyes didn't jive with the Carly he knew. She looked almost... beaten down, like the women he saw when he did domestic calls as a beat cop. He sighed. Sonny was not worth the energy it would take to argue with her. "Fine. I'm not in the mood to point out the faults in that statement at the moment."

She finished the second glass and the bartender immediately refilled it, before she could get on him. "There are no faults to be pointed out," she insisted quietly. "It's the truth."

Frisco rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Carly, what do you think you're doing?"

Both he and Carly turned to see Sonny standing behind them. "I... I..." she stammered. "I just wanted a drink."

Sonny grabbed the drink out of her hand and slammed it on the bar. "Carly, you're pregnant, you're not supposed to be drinking," he told her scoldingly.

"Hey," Frisco interrupted, "it's just water."

"You stay out of this!" the mobster barked, pointing a finger in his face.

"Excuse me for standing up for a damsel in distress."

Carly opened her mouth to speak, but Sonny stopped her. "My wife is not is distress."

Well, she didn't look like she was going to do it herself, he thought. "I'd say getting yelled at by her husband over nothing counts as distress."

"I do not need you interfering in my life like this, Jones. Now go mind your own damn business."

Frisco looked at Carly before deciding it was probably best to just leave it be. "Fine," he said, looking her in the eye. "I'll be around."

~*~

Frisco went into the Versailles Room, drink in hand, looking for the Cassadines and Anna. Gaming tables were scattered along the walls of the room, along with a few flashy slot machines. Blackjack, poker, craps, roulette, the works. Lucy had decided she wanted the ballroom to look like Caesars Palace, a whole big Las Vegas theme for the event this year. At least as close to Caesars as a ballroom at the Port Charles Hotel was going to get. Sonny had pulled some strings and gotten the tables and machines, there were a few cheap prizes to be won, but all the money went to charity. Mostly Lucy saw it as a fun way for guests to give away their money.

Skye stepped out in front of him, blocking his path. "Ready for tonight?" she asked.

"Of course," he said, grinning flirtatiously.

She was standing near her family, looking quite bored, although she wasn't the only one. Monica was quietly listening to AJ and Edward discussing something quite heatedly, but her glazed over eyes lacked any real interest. Ned butted in with an occasional comment, but stuck mostly to his conversation with Felicia. To his surprise, Tracy was even there, adamantly paying attention to AJ and Edward. She'd come with a date as well, but he was just out of Frisco's view.

Frisco made eye contact with his ex-wife as he approached the group. Felicia glanced away quickly, gripping her champagne glass uneasily. His breath caught in his throat as he saw her. She looked almost angelic. Her long blonde hair was pulled up, a few strands hanging loosely around her face and down her neck. Her lacy pink dress only accentuated her beauty, at least to him.

Skye put her hand on his shoulder. Her superior smirk was directed right at Felicia, challenging his other ex-wife. To his dismay, instead of jealous, Felicia looked anything but. Uncomfortable was more like it. He fidgeted nervously with his tux jacket, fighting the urge to make a beeline for the bar again.

Ned shifted to one side, allowing Frisco to see the man with Tracy. He thought he was hallucinating. It couldn't be him. Not in Port Charles. Monica, Edward, Ned, AJ and Felicia he expected. Even seeing Tracy wasn't a surprise. He didn't, however, expect to find Adam Chandler standing in front of him.

"Gee, you're still in one piece," Tracy said condescendingly, smiling with her usual fake concern. Just the Tracy Frisco remembered.

"Unfortunately," Adam grumbled. Skye shot her adopted father a dirty look.

As if their run-in in Pine Valley wasn't enough, Frisco suspected his former father-in-law was ready for another round of bickering. "It's always a pleasure to run into you, Adam," he replied flatly.

"We were just discussing some ELQ business," Skye told him, earning her scolding glares from Adam and the Quartermaine men. She smiled slyly. "Alameda Enterprises."

Frisco tried to hide his smile. He should've known she'd take this opportunity to show up Ned and AJ with that little tidbit. "Ah, I see."

Felicia looked between her date, her ex-husband and Skye. "Isn't that your cousin Paul's company?" she asked him confusedly. "He's the one that sends Maxie's immunosuppressants every month."

The group's attention turned to Felicia. "Your cousin?" Ned asked Frisco disbelievingly.

"It's not just Paul's company," he replied, glancing conspiratorially at Skye. "Tony and I own a big chunk of it too."

"You what?" Adam asked in disbelief, his jaw dropping in the process.

Frisco smirked smugly, selfishly satisfied with getting one over on Adam. "You didn't know that? I thought you big business types would've checked something like that out. A simple background check would've told you that..."

"Mr. Chandler, Mr. Quartermaine, Mr. Ashton," a voice said, interrupting. An aging man, with blond hair and a tan, walked up to the group. "Hey pipsqueak," he said softly, bumping Frisco playfully.

Frisco rolled his eyes at his older cousin. The two weren't close, in fact they hadn't seen each other in years, but Paul never failed to treat him as if he was perpetually ten years old. "We were just talking about you, old man," Frisco replied grumpily.

"Hey, watch it with the old man stuff, would you?" Paul replied, feigning offense.

"What are you going to do to me?"

"Stick you in corporate accounting. You'll be begging for mercy in under five minutes." He smiled warmly at Felicia. "How are you, Felicia?"

"I'm good," she said shyly. "It's nice to see you again, Paul."

"How's Maxie? Her heart still strong?"

"She's alright. Her health's great. She's just..." She trailed off, not sure of how to finish that thought, then shrugged. "She's a teenager."

"If she starts blowing up chemistry labs, let me know," he replied, sneaking a glance at his younger cousin. "I think we have something to correct that now."

Frisco rolled his eyes and shook his head. He was never going to live that down. "One little accident..."

"Little?" Paul repeated unbelievingly. "You were making a pipe bomb! The room was totaled and half the building was damaged! I'm surprised you weren't killed!"

"Oh shut up," he grumbled.

"What brings you here tonight, Paul?" Ned asked, watching him warily.

"Obviously, visiting my cousins," Paul answered, his friendliness fading. He glanced around. "Nice place your family has here."

"It's not for sale," Edward snapped.

Paul grinned, a grin Frisco recognized. Like a shark circling, ready and just waiting for the right moment to attack. "Sorry, I don't do hotels. But hey, maybe 007 here will want something like this when he gives up the Bond gig." He patted Frisco on the back. "I think I'm going to go find Tony."

"He's backstage getting ready," Frisco told him, attempting to hold back his annoyance. "Just look for a blinding hula shirt."

"I don't believe this," Adam muttered as his corporate rival sauntered away, glaring at the agent.

"We've survived corporate sharks like him before," Edward told him confidently. "We survived Jax with this company intact, we'll survive him. You can count on that."

Frisco eyed the old man. He had no idea what Paul was planning, but he suspected the Quartermaines wouldn't know what hit them with an attitude like that. "Jasper Jacks is a playboy that raids companies for sport. Paul only plays to win and he doesn't quit until he gets what he wants. And take my word on this, he always makes sure his bases are covered before he strikes."

With that, he turned and walked away, not saying another word to the group. He wandered around, watching the crowd and sipping his drink. Sean and Tiffany had finally showed up and were mingling with old friends. Taggart was talking with Dara Jenson, his girlfriend and Alexis' law partner, and another woman Frisco didn't recognize. Jason was playing craps with Brenda and was leaning in suspiciously close to her as she spoke to him, their significant others noticeably absent from the conversation. Jax was over at the roulette wheel taunting a sour looking Scotty; Courtney was across the room from her fiancé, talking to her brother and father, Carly sitting a few feet away with her arms crossed like a bored teenager.

There were just so many people in the room, so many potential dangers Frisco couldn't see. He tried to squelch his sudden rising panic. He downed his drink, setting the glass on an empty table. Someone bumped into him accidentally, immediately apologizing. He clenched and unclenched his fists anxiously, taking slow deep breaths as Kevin had been telling him to do, trying desperately to think of anything else.

Air. He needed fresh air.

~*~

Frisco stepped out onto the terrace, thankful it was deserted at that moment. The sun had set, Port Charles was dark. Luis Alcazar's face flashed in his mind. It had been so long since he'd thought of that night. So many other things to haunt him in the meantime.

He stood at the stone railing. He closed his eyes, trying to get the face out of his mind, the voice out of his ears. The face and voice that belonged to the man he executed.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. This was the last thing he wanted to be thinking about tonight. He was supposed to be having fun.

"Is this a private party or can any old slob join?"

Frisco smiled. The attitude, the words were all Luke, but young, feminine voice definitely wasn't. "Be my guest, Lulu." The girl stood at the rail next to him. "How's your evening going?"

She adjusted her pastel yellow dress. The top was beaded and embroidered, the long skirt was sheer and billowy. Her hair was pulled up and curled, with a tiara securely attached around her updo. "I hate getting dressed up," she grumbled, lifting up her skirt enough to see her shoes as she fidgeted with it.

He snickered when he caught sight of her matching yellow canvas high tops. "That makes two of us. But at least you've got sneakers on."

She glanced down at her shoes. "Gia bought me the dress and Nik got me this silly tiara. They made me dress up. I already feel like I'm wearing a tutu, I wasn't about to wear those stupid little strappy sandal things I couldn't even walk straight in."

"A girl after my own heart."

"At least you got to wear pants." She hopped on top of the railing and leaned far over, far enough to worry Frisco and for him to move with in grabbing reach of her. "So what was Maxie whining about a little while ago?" she asked, pulling herself back up.

He relaxed a little, now that she wasn't hanging off the balcony. "Kyle was arrested and I couldn't stop it."

Lulu arched an eyebrow and grinned, looking very much like her mother. "Couldn't or wouldn't?" she asked knowingly.

He shrugged, leaning his forearms on the rail. "Both," he admitted.

"Maybe one of these days she'll dump his ass. She's the only one that hasn't figured out what a loser he is."

"Yeah, well, right now she's mad at me."

"She's always mad at you."

"She wasn't yesterday," he complained, not really caring that he was unloading on a kid. "This love/hate thing she has for me drives me nuts."

"She's just scared," Lulu replied, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Frisco was taken back. He hadn't considered that possibility. "Of what?"

"That you'll leave again," she told him. "Georgie was, too."

He wanted to kick himself. When he came home, he hadn't thought about how he'd uprooted their lives by staying. They were used to him coming and going from their lives, only staying a few days the rare occasions they did see him. "Was? She's not scared anymore?"

"Don't know. She was just glad to have you here, she didn't worry about it like Maxie does. But Maxie stresses over everything like this."

He looked at the young girl. Her eyes held a soul far older than her age. "That's pretty profound for a thirteen year old."

"Come on, Frisco. My dad is Luke," she scoffed. "One of us has to be the adult with Mom gone. And we both know it ain't gonna be him. Aunt Bobbie always says I'm thirteen going on forty."

"Luke's not so bad."

"He doesn't care about me. All he cares about is Mom," she said, looking down despondently. "Nikolas and Gia want me to live with them."

The sadness in her voice stabbed at his heart, making him wonder how many times someone had had this conversation with his own daughters. "You know, Lulu, parents are human, too. We make mistakes, get caught up in our own pain sometimes. Doesn't mean we don't care about our kids."

"So what are you saying? I have to put up with him?" she snapped. "I'm at Wyndemere almost every night. I'm hardly ever home. He never notices. He's always at the club drinking."

"I didn't realize things had gotten so bad."

"Lucky told Nik he'd support him if he filed for custody of me."

Ouch. If Lucky was backing his brother, then Luke must've really gone downhill. "Is that what you want?"

She thought for a moment before answering. "Yeah, that's what I want."

Just the idea of Nikolas getting custody of her would be enough to drive Luke over the edge, he knew. Perhaps it was the best thing for Lulu right now. One mentally incapacitated parent was bad enough. "Well... Do what you gotta do. Maybe this will be the swift kick in the pants he needs to get better. But when you get over to the island, don't forget him. You, Lucky and Bobbie are all your dad has left. He needs you, whether he chooses to admit it or not."

She pouted slightly, resting her chin on her hand, her elbow on the rail, and chewed softly on her pinky finger as she considered what his advice. "Being the adult sucks," she said finally.

Frisco chuckled. "You can commiserate with Maxie."

Lulu groaned. "Oh joy. I think I'm just going to go drag Dad away from the poker table before he gambles away the Ice Princess."