Three Days Ago
"Ok, I want you both to be on your best behavior." Laura said as she paced
in front of them. "No wisecracks, no smart remarks, and no plotting to make
him like silly. I want a nice normal family dinner. You are to behave
yourselves. Do you both understand me?"
Luke folded his arms. "Darlin', I think you're being a little ridiculous."
"Yeah." Amy said, "We're not children."
Laura eyed them. "Yeah but when you two get together you're worse than
children."
"You have nothing to worry about." Amy assured her. She placed her hand on
her chest. "*I* don't have anything against the guy anymore. If he's who
you say he is then problem solved, right?"
"And would I do anything to make any member of my family uncomfortable?"
Luke said. "You know me better than that."
"Yeah and that's why I'm not trusting you tonight." Laura said.
"It's not like he's going to uh, loosen the top of the salt shaker or
something." Amy laughed.
Laura narrowed her eyes. She called out to her mother in the kitchen. "Mom!
Check the salt shaker!"
"Got it!" Lesley called back.
"Thanks Ames." Luke murmured.
Lulu came down the stairs. "Is he here yet?"
"No, baby." Laura said. "Lulu, come here. I want you to watch your daddy
and Aunt Amy, okay? Make sure they don't do anything they shouldn't be
doing to Nikolas."
"Okay." Lulu chirped.
"Not you too, princess?" Luke mock cried. "Everyone's turning against me."
Lulu giggled. "Don't be bad, Daddy, and I won't tattle."
Luke grabbed her and tossed her up in his arms. "I see we're going to have
to come up with a bribery system that guarantees you'll look the other
way."
Laura shook her head and went to the kitchen to help her mother. God help
her but tonight was going to be a good night no matter. No one was going to
ruin her special occasion.
~*~*~
"Emily, hey."
Emily paused on the Spencers' porch. She said over her shoulder, "Laura
invited me over. If that bothers you, I really don't care. She wants me
here."
At the bottom of the stairs, Lucky slipped his hands into his pockets and
stared at the ground. "I want you here too."
Emily forced herself to turn around and to remain cool. "Oh?"
"Ok, I deserve the cold shoulder. I know that. I was rough on you
yesterday." Lucky admitted.
"Rough?" Emily repeated. "Lucky, you were a complete jackass to me."
"I know." Lucky walked up the stairs to her. He took her hand. "I'm sorry."
"All you can say is 'I'm sorry?' You're going to have to do better than
that." Emily said.
"Come on, Em!" Lucky growled. "You can't be that mad at me. You're still
wearing my ring."
"And that means I can't be mad at you?" She said.
"Emily…Em…" Lucky moaned and tugged at her hand until she stumbled closer
to him. She stared in his eyes. He tangled his fingers in her hair. "I
shouldn't have taken my anger out on you but God, that guy makes me so
crazy! He pushes all my buttons, especially when it comes to you."
"Well…" Emily bit her lip. "I did hide my relationship with him…But Lucky,
you can't let him get to you like that anymore. He's your brother now and
Laura's determined to have him in all your lives."
Lucky nodded. "I know, I know. But I promise, the next time I won't take it
out on you."
"And there will be a next time." Emily rolled her eyes.
"I told you, he gets to me." Lucky said. He asked softly, "So are we okay
again?"
"I *am* still wearing your ring." Emily said with a smile. When it came to
him, she really couldn't stay that mad for too long.
Lucky grinned. "But someone just told me that the ring doesn't mean a
thing. I need a more definite answer than that."
"You are such a dork sometimes." Emily laughed. She tilted her face up and
kissed him softly. Lucky slid his arms around her and held her close.
"So it's dinner *and* a show tonight?" Nikolas drawled behind them.
Still holding onto Emily, Lucky glanced at him. "Nikolas."
Emily blushed. "Hi, Nikolas. We were just about to go in."
"I can tell." Nikolas muttered.
Emily stepped away from Lucky. "You know what, we should set some ground
rules before we go inside."
"What kind of rules?" Lucky said warily.
"Laura wants a nice family dinner. So for her sake, please no fighting.
Okay?" Emily pleaded. "Call a truce or something for tonight. Make her
happy."
"I can be civil even if he can't." Nikolas smirked.
Lucky shot him a dark look. "As long as he doesn't push me."
Emily sighed and looked at the sky. "Fine. Just stay away from each other
if it's possible."
"Come on, Mom's probably wondering where we are." Lucky took her hand and
led her over to the door. Opening it he said, "Hey look who I found
outside. And Nikolas."
Luke, Lulu, and Amy were sitting on the couch together talking. Lesley was
setting the table. Everyone stopped and turned to look at them. Laura came
out of the kitchen. "Nikolas, you're here!" She smiled brightly.
"So am I, Mom." Lucky muttered.
Laura gave him a chiding look but didn't otherwise acknowledge his remark.
"Nikolas, come. Let me introduce you to everyone."
Nikolas tossed Lucky a smile as Laura took his arm and led him over to the
couch. Emily pulled Lucky back when she felt him start to lurch at Nikolas.
"You already know Luke and Lulu. With them is my sister Amy. She's a nurse
at General Hospital." Laura said.
"We've met." Nikolas murmured. He remembered her delight in taking the DNA
sample from him.
"Really?" Laura said.
"Yeah. I took his sample for the test. I was kinda rough on him." Amy
explained. "Sorry about that. But you know how it goes."
"And that's my mother, Lesley setting the table." Laura said. "We named
Lulu after her."
"Hi Nikolas." Lesley smiled at him.
"Well, I guess that's everybody." Laura said.
"I guess." Nikolas said looking around. He felt like something under a
microscope. Everyone just stared at him as if they expected him to do
something, anything. "So uh, what's for dinner?"
~*~*~
Emily found herself in an awkward spot. Some how when they all gathered
around the table and sat down, she ended up sitting with Lucky on her left
and Nikolas on her right. Now she had Nikolas's thigh pressed hard against
hers and Lucky held her hand under the table. She wondered if things could
get any worse.
And it did. The conversation around the table was stilted. Every now and
then some one would speak up.
"Pass the spinach."
"Thank you."
"This chicken is very good."
"Pass over the rice, thanks."
"I need the salt."
"Could I have a roll?"
"Pass me the butter."
"I dropped my roll."
"Lulu, eat your spinach and stop trying to hide it in your napkin. I see
you. And stop eating so much bread. Eat the rest of your food."
"Does anyone know how Carly is doing in the hospital?" Emily finally asked
to get a conversation going.
Luke nodded. "I spoke to Barbara this afternoon. She's out but Barbara said
she woke up for a few minutes. She's doing okay."
"What about Sonny?" Laura asked. "Have you heard anything about him?"
Luke shook his head. "Nobody would tell me anything and I didn't want to
ask Barbara to check in on him."
"He'll be ok, I'm sure of it." Laura said, assuring. "Amy, do you know
anything?"
"He was in surgery this morning." Amy said. "He's in ICU. It's pretty much
a wait and see thing."
"Thanks."
"So Luke…" Amy drawled. "You know Sonny pretty well. What's going on with
him and Carly?"
"Beats me." Luke shrugged. "I didn't even know they knew each other."
"It's pretty weird. But it's so like Carly, isn't it?" Amy sighed. "To go
from Jason Quartermaine to Sonny Corinthos? One extreme to the other? He is
so exciting though."
"Amy, please." Laura said.
"Oh, I'm sorry Nikolas!" Amy exclaimed. "You probably have no idea who
we're talking about. Well, you know Carly because of the whole DNA
Cassadine thing. Sonny is this dangerous club owner and it turns out Carly
was with him last night when they were suddenly *gunned down*. Anyway up
until a few weeks ago Carly was engaged to Dr. Jason Quartermaine, good
boy, white bread, great eyes, cute tush. Then suddenly bam! They break up
and Carly's got her picture in the newspaper with this other guy, some
business mogul. But who cares about him because Carly was on a date with
*Sonny* last night."
Nikolas nodded blankly when it was clear that she was done. She gazed at
him expectantly. He turned his eyes to Emily and nudged her leg with his.
"Huh?"
Emily shook her head. "You don't want to know."
"I totally forgot about Jason being your brother Emily. Sorry about that."
Amy sheepishly.
"It's…let's just forget about it." Emily said hoping that Amy would just
completely drop the subject.
"Thank you, Amy, for that recap." Lesley murmured. She looked at Nikolas.
"So what are your plans?"
"My plans?" Nikolas repeated.
"Yes, your plans. Are you staying here or are you returning to Greece?"
Lesley asked.
Once again every one was staring at him waiting for his answer. "I'm going
to stay here."
"Have you decided about the apartment over Luke's?" Laura asked.
"You're giving him the apartment over the club?" Lucky said. "Dad, you're
actually giving it up?"
"It was either the club or a room at Kelly's." Luke shrugged. "And Nikolas
hasn't said if he's going to take it or not."
Nikolas glanced at Lucky. He was originally going to turn down the offer to
stay in the apartment but just knowing that it would upset Lucky was reason
enough to make him want the place. He looked over at Laura. She wanted him
to take the apartment badly, he could tell. It would make her happy and
Emily wanted him to make Laura happy.
He finally said. "Actually I am going to take it. When can I move in?"
"Any time you want." Laura beamed. "Though sooner will be better. We have
to get you off of Courtland Street. Do you need help packing?"
"No, I don't have much." He declined politely.
"Well since you're staying here, have a place to stay, what are your
further plans for the future?" Lesley asked.
"I'm not sure what you're talking about." Nikolas said.
"Are you going to enroll in school? Get a job?" Lesley clarified her
question.
"I, uh, really had no immediate plans." Nikolas shifted uncomfortably in
his seat.
"What were you doing in Greece before you left?" Lesley asked.
"Mother, please." Laura broke in. "Why are you grilling him like this?
Nikolas, you don't have to answer."
"No, let him." Lucky said. He looked at Nikolas with a sarcastic twinkle in
his eye. "I'd really like to know Nikolas's goals in life. Tell us,
Nikolas. Please."
"Lucky…" Emily murmured.
He turned to her. "What?"
"Stop it." She whispered and squeezed his hand under the table. She looked
up and caught Luke watching them. She smiled at him quickly.
Nikolas fixed Lucky with a look. "If you really must know, *dear brother*,
I'm going to try and find a job. And I have no plans to go back to school
any time soon."
"Well my curiosity has been satisfied." Lucky announced to the table. "What
about everyone else?"
Laura cleared her throat. "So you're looking for a job? Luke, is there
anything open at—"
Nikolas and Luke spoke at the same time.
"Laura, thank you but…"
"Now darlin', I'm sure he doesn't appreciate you completely taking over…"
Laura looked at the both of them. "Now what's wrong?"
Luke spoke first. "I was only saying that I don't think the boy enjoys you
completely taking over his life."
"And *I* was only going to tell you that while I *do* appreciate the fact
that you found me a new place to live, getting me a job at Luke's is just
too much." Nikolas explained.
"Kelly's…" Laura hinted.
"That's too much also." Nikolas said.
"Come on, Mom." Lucky said with a smirk. "He's not a baby. He can take care
of himself, find his own apartments, his own jobs, his own girlfriends.
Can't you, Nik?"
"Oh Lucky." Emily groaned and covered her eyes with one hand. The idea of
the truce had been completely erased.
Nikolas answered Lucky with a smirk of his own. "I can find all those
things on my own, yeah. But it's nice having help sometimes." He slid his
glance over to Emily.
Lucky's eyes darkened. "I'll bet."
"Lulu, what are you doing?" Laura suddenly asked, unaware of the high
tensions around the table.
Caught, Lulu looked up embarrassed. While the conversation flowed around
her Lulu had been hollowing out a dinner roll and stuffing the spinach in
it. "Nothing?"
"My baby sister at home tries the same thing." Nikolas laughed. "Mama
catches her every time though."
"Oooh, tell us about Greece, Nikolas." Amy gushed. "How is it there? It
must be a beautiful place to live. And your family there, what about them?"
"Uh…" Nikolas glanced at Laura. He felt odd talking about his other family
in front of her.
"Go ahead, Nikolas." She said softly. He nodded.
"Well, there was this one time I took her and her older sister to the
beach…" Nikolas began with a soft smile on his face.
~*~*~
"Tell me again how I got roped into clearing the table and doing the dishes
while *he* sits out there like he's king of the world." Lucky grumbled as
he helped Emily rinse the dishes and stack them into the dishwasher.
"Because you're a good son and you volunteered?" Emily suggested.
"I only volunteered because I couldn't stand to hear another one of his
*stories*." Lucky said as he loaded the last glass. "I mean, god, that guy
can just talk about himself all day."
Emily poured in the detergent then snapped shut the door shut. She switched
on the dishwasher. She dried her hands slowly on the dishtowel that Lucky
handed her. She was quiet the whole time.
Finally Lucky said. "What?"
"I was thinking that wasn't the purpose of tonight was for the family to
get to know Nikolas? Wouldn't he have to talk about himself a few times?"
Lucky rolled his eyes. "You know what I meant."
"And wasn't there a truce that you were supposed to stick to? Something
about letting things go so that Laura could be happy, at least for
tonight?"
"Hey, he didn't exactly stick to it either." Lucky pointed out.
"And I don't think Mom noticed anything. She was just so blissfully happy
that *her* Nikolas was here." He muttered.
Lucky leaned against a counter and folded his arms. "For years I watched
her mourn the kid, watch her walk around the house like a ghost whenever
she thought about him. I knew I wasn't her firstborn or her first son. I
got that. I understood that. I wasn't enough to replace the child she lost.
But I was here. That has to count for something, right? All those years on
the run? It was me that was with her and Dad. But as soon as Nikolas pops
up again it's like all that doesn't matter cause her *son* is back."
"Oh, Lucky," Emily dropped the dishtowel on the counter behind her and
placed her arms around him. "It's not like that and you know it."
"My whole life he's been there, hovering in the background. And I've felt
like I've been competing against him all this time and I've been barely
winning. And now he's here and that's it. Game over. He's won."
"Laura's love is not some competition. Nikolas isn't winning anything over
you."
"Mom's out there practically doing backflips to please him." Lucky said
harshly. He stopped himself and sighed. "I'm being selfish and a whiner,
aren't I?"
Emily didn't answer.
"I know I should be happy that Mom has a second chance with him and that he
turned out to be Dad's and not Stavros's. I should happy for everyone but
I'm not. All I can think about is me." He turned his back on her.
Emily wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his
shoulder. "It's understandable. Have you ever told Luke or Laura how you
felt all this time?"
Lucky shook his head. "Dad and I, we never really talked about it. And I
didn't want to bring this up to Mom and make her feel bad."
"I think you should bring this up to them. This is something you should all
sit down and talk about. And then maybe once you fix this with them, you
might be able to actually get to know Nikolas better. Maybe you'll find you
have something in common and you guys could end up being friends."
"Em, I love it when you're supportive and I love your optimism but Nikolas
and I will never be friends."
~*~*~
Later that night Luke and Laura lay in bed discussing the dinner. "I think
tonight went well."
"Right." Luke murmured.
"It did. Nikolas agreed to stay at the club. I think that was progress. I
still think he should work at Luke's with you."
"You can't push a job on him that he doesn't want."
"I only want him to know that he's a part of this family too."
"He gets it." Luke assured her. "Or he will soon."
"It was nice to have the whole family around the table." Laura sighed.
"I think we've got a problem." Luke said suddenly. He'd been thinking about
it all night.
"What are you talking about?" Laura rolled on her side and faced him.
"Lucky, Emily, and Nikolas. There's a problem brewing there." Luke told
her. "You didn't see the tension between those three?"
"Well Lucky wasn't too happy to find out that Emily knew Nikolas and she
didn't tell anyone but I don't think he's still angry over that." Laura
said.
"No, it's more than that. He's not just angry because they knew each
other." Luke said. "Lucky's jealous."
"Of what?" Laura laughed. "Lucky knows we would never replace him with
Nikolas."
"Lucky's not thinking about this place in the family. He's jealous about
Emily. There's something going on."
"With Emily and Nikolas?" Laura scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous."
"I'm just saying what I saw." Luke insisted. "I kept catching Nikolas
watching Emily."
"And?"
"He was giving her looks that a guy doesn't give to his brother's girl."
Luke told her.
"That doesn't mean anything. Emily wasn't returning them, was she?" Laura
asked quickly.
Luke shook his head. "None that I saw."
Laura sighed in relief. "See? There's nothing to worry about. I don't know
what you're so upset about."
"I'm just saying that something is going to happen with the kids and we
should be prepared."
"Ok, I want you both to be on your best behavior." Laura said as she paced
in front of them. "No wisecracks, no smart remarks, and no plotting to make
him like silly. I want a nice normal family dinner. You are to behave
yourselves. Do you both understand me?"
Luke folded his arms. "Darlin', I think you're being a little ridiculous."
"Yeah." Amy said, "We're not children."
Laura eyed them. "Yeah but when you two get together you're worse than
children."
"You have nothing to worry about." Amy assured her. She placed her hand on
her chest. "*I* don't have anything against the guy anymore. If he's who
you say he is then problem solved, right?"
"And would I do anything to make any member of my family uncomfortable?"
Luke said. "You know me better than that."
"Yeah and that's why I'm not trusting you tonight." Laura said.
"It's not like he's going to uh, loosen the top of the salt shaker or
something." Amy laughed.
Laura narrowed her eyes. She called out to her mother in the kitchen. "Mom!
Check the salt shaker!"
"Got it!" Lesley called back.
"Thanks Ames." Luke murmured.
Lulu came down the stairs. "Is he here yet?"
"No, baby." Laura said. "Lulu, come here. I want you to watch your daddy
and Aunt Amy, okay? Make sure they don't do anything they shouldn't be
doing to Nikolas."
"Okay." Lulu chirped.
"Not you too, princess?" Luke mock cried. "Everyone's turning against me."
Lulu giggled. "Don't be bad, Daddy, and I won't tattle."
Luke grabbed her and tossed her up in his arms. "I see we're going to have
to come up with a bribery system that guarantees you'll look the other
way."
Laura shook her head and went to the kitchen to help her mother. God help
her but tonight was going to be a good night no matter. No one was going to
ruin her special occasion.
~*~*~
"Emily, hey."
Emily paused on the Spencers' porch. She said over her shoulder, "Laura
invited me over. If that bothers you, I really don't care. She wants me
here."
At the bottom of the stairs, Lucky slipped his hands into his pockets and
stared at the ground. "I want you here too."
Emily forced herself to turn around and to remain cool. "Oh?"
"Ok, I deserve the cold shoulder. I know that. I was rough on you
yesterday." Lucky admitted.
"Rough?" Emily repeated. "Lucky, you were a complete jackass to me."
"I know." Lucky walked up the stairs to her. He took her hand. "I'm sorry."
"All you can say is 'I'm sorry?' You're going to have to do better than
that." Emily said.
"Come on, Em!" Lucky growled. "You can't be that mad at me. You're still
wearing my ring."
"And that means I can't be mad at you?" She said.
"Emily…Em…" Lucky moaned and tugged at her hand until she stumbled closer
to him. She stared in his eyes. He tangled his fingers in her hair. "I
shouldn't have taken my anger out on you but God, that guy makes me so
crazy! He pushes all my buttons, especially when it comes to you."
"Well…" Emily bit her lip. "I did hide my relationship with him…But Lucky,
you can't let him get to you like that anymore. He's your brother now and
Laura's determined to have him in all your lives."
Lucky nodded. "I know, I know. But I promise, the next time I won't take it
out on you."
"And there will be a next time." Emily rolled her eyes.
"I told you, he gets to me." Lucky said. He asked softly, "So are we okay
again?"
"I *am* still wearing your ring." Emily said with a smile. When it came to
him, she really couldn't stay that mad for too long.
Lucky grinned. "But someone just told me that the ring doesn't mean a
thing. I need a more definite answer than that."
"You are such a dork sometimes." Emily laughed. She tilted her face up and
kissed him softly. Lucky slid his arms around her and held her close.
"So it's dinner *and* a show tonight?" Nikolas drawled behind them.
Still holding onto Emily, Lucky glanced at him. "Nikolas."
Emily blushed. "Hi, Nikolas. We were just about to go in."
"I can tell." Nikolas muttered.
Emily stepped away from Lucky. "You know what, we should set some ground
rules before we go inside."
"What kind of rules?" Lucky said warily.
"Laura wants a nice family dinner. So for her sake, please no fighting.
Okay?" Emily pleaded. "Call a truce or something for tonight. Make her
happy."
"I can be civil even if he can't." Nikolas smirked.
Lucky shot him a dark look. "As long as he doesn't push me."
Emily sighed and looked at the sky. "Fine. Just stay away from each other
if it's possible."
"Come on, Mom's probably wondering where we are." Lucky took her hand and
led her over to the door. Opening it he said, "Hey look who I found
outside. And Nikolas."
Luke, Lulu, and Amy were sitting on the couch together talking. Lesley was
setting the table. Everyone stopped and turned to look at them. Laura came
out of the kitchen. "Nikolas, you're here!" She smiled brightly.
"So am I, Mom." Lucky muttered.
Laura gave him a chiding look but didn't otherwise acknowledge his remark.
"Nikolas, come. Let me introduce you to everyone."
Nikolas tossed Lucky a smile as Laura took his arm and led him over to the
couch. Emily pulled Lucky back when she felt him start to lurch at Nikolas.
"You already know Luke and Lulu. With them is my sister Amy. She's a nurse
at General Hospital." Laura said.
"We've met." Nikolas murmured. He remembered her delight in taking the DNA
sample from him.
"Really?" Laura said.
"Yeah. I took his sample for the test. I was kinda rough on him." Amy
explained. "Sorry about that. But you know how it goes."
"And that's my mother, Lesley setting the table." Laura said. "We named
Lulu after her."
"Hi Nikolas." Lesley smiled at him.
"Well, I guess that's everybody." Laura said.
"I guess." Nikolas said looking around. He felt like something under a
microscope. Everyone just stared at him as if they expected him to do
something, anything. "So uh, what's for dinner?"
~*~*~
Emily found herself in an awkward spot. Some how when they all gathered
around the table and sat down, she ended up sitting with Lucky on her left
and Nikolas on her right. Now she had Nikolas's thigh pressed hard against
hers and Lucky held her hand under the table. She wondered if things could
get any worse.
And it did. The conversation around the table was stilted. Every now and
then some one would speak up.
"Pass the spinach."
"Thank you."
"This chicken is very good."
"Pass over the rice, thanks."
"I need the salt."
"Could I have a roll?"
"Pass me the butter."
"I dropped my roll."
"Lulu, eat your spinach and stop trying to hide it in your napkin. I see
you. And stop eating so much bread. Eat the rest of your food."
"Does anyone know how Carly is doing in the hospital?" Emily finally asked
to get a conversation going.
Luke nodded. "I spoke to Barbara this afternoon. She's out but Barbara said
she woke up for a few minutes. She's doing okay."
"What about Sonny?" Laura asked. "Have you heard anything about him?"
Luke shook his head. "Nobody would tell me anything and I didn't want to
ask Barbara to check in on him."
"He'll be ok, I'm sure of it." Laura said, assuring. "Amy, do you know
anything?"
"He was in surgery this morning." Amy said. "He's in ICU. It's pretty much
a wait and see thing."
"Thanks."
"So Luke…" Amy drawled. "You know Sonny pretty well. What's going on with
him and Carly?"
"Beats me." Luke shrugged. "I didn't even know they knew each other."
"It's pretty weird. But it's so like Carly, isn't it?" Amy sighed. "To go
from Jason Quartermaine to Sonny Corinthos? One extreme to the other? He is
so exciting though."
"Amy, please." Laura said.
"Oh, I'm sorry Nikolas!" Amy exclaimed. "You probably have no idea who
we're talking about. Well, you know Carly because of the whole DNA
Cassadine thing. Sonny is this dangerous club owner and it turns out Carly
was with him last night when they were suddenly *gunned down*. Anyway up
until a few weeks ago Carly was engaged to Dr. Jason Quartermaine, good
boy, white bread, great eyes, cute tush. Then suddenly bam! They break up
and Carly's got her picture in the newspaper with this other guy, some
business mogul. But who cares about him because Carly was on a date with
*Sonny* last night."
Nikolas nodded blankly when it was clear that she was done. She gazed at
him expectantly. He turned his eyes to Emily and nudged her leg with his.
"Huh?"
Emily shook her head. "You don't want to know."
"I totally forgot about Jason being your brother Emily. Sorry about that."
Amy sheepishly.
"It's…let's just forget about it." Emily said hoping that Amy would just
completely drop the subject.
"Thank you, Amy, for that recap." Lesley murmured. She looked at Nikolas.
"So what are your plans?"
"My plans?" Nikolas repeated.
"Yes, your plans. Are you staying here or are you returning to Greece?"
Lesley asked.
Once again every one was staring at him waiting for his answer. "I'm going
to stay here."
"Have you decided about the apartment over Luke's?" Laura asked.
"You're giving him the apartment over the club?" Lucky said. "Dad, you're
actually giving it up?"
"It was either the club or a room at Kelly's." Luke shrugged. "And Nikolas
hasn't said if he's going to take it or not."
Nikolas glanced at Lucky. He was originally going to turn down the offer to
stay in the apartment but just knowing that it would upset Lucky was reason
enough to make him want the place. He looked over at Laura. She wanted him
to take the apartment badly, he could tell. It would make her happy and
Emily wanted him to make Laura happy.
He finally said. "Actually I am going to take it. When can I move in?"
"Any time you want." Laura beamed. "Though sooner will be better. We have
to get you off of Courtland Street. Do you need help packing?"
"No, I don't have much." He declined politely.
"Well since you're staying here, have a place to stay, what are your
further plans for the future?" Lesley asked.
"I'm not sure what you're talking about." Nikolas said.
"Are you going to enroll in school? Get a job?" Lesley clarified her
question.
"I, uh, really had no immediate plans." Nikolas shifted uncomfortably in
his seat.
"What were you doing in Greece before you left?" Lesley asked.
"Mother, please." Laura broke in. "Why are you grilling him like this?
Nikolas, you don't have to answer."
"No, let him." Lucky said. He looked at Nikolas with a sarcastic twinkle in
his eye. "I'd really like to know Nikolas's goals in life. Tell us,
Nikolas. Please."
"Lucky…" Emily murmured.
He turned to her. "What?"
"Stop it." She whispered and squeezed his hand under the table. She looked
up and caught Luke watching them. She smiled at him quickly.
Nikolas fixed Lucky with a look. "If you really must know, *dear brother*,
I'm going to try and find a job. And I have no plans to go back to school
any time soon."
"Well my curiosity has been satisfied." Lucky announced to the table. "What
about everyone else?"
Laura cleared her throat. "So you're looking for a job? Luke, is there
anything open at—"
Nikolas and Luke spoke at the same time.
"Laura, thank you but…"
"Now darlin', I'm sure he doesn't appreciate you completely taking over…"
Laura looked at the both of them. "Now what's wrong?"
Luke spoke first. "I was only saying that I don't think the boy enjoys you
completely taking over his life."
"And *I* was only going to tell you that while I *do* appreciate the fact
that you found me a new place to live, getting me a job at Luke's is just
too much." Nikolas explained.
"Kelly's…" Laura hinted.
"That's too much also." Nikolas said.
"Come on, Mom." Lucky said with a smirk. "He's not a baby. He can take care
of himself, find his own apartments, his own jobs, his own girlfriends.
Can't you, Nik?"
"Oh Lucky." Emily groaned and covered her eyes with one hand. The idea of
the truce had been completely erased.
Nikolas answered Lucky with a smirk of his own. "I can find all those
things on my own, yeah. But it's nice having help sometimes." He slid his
glance over to Emily.
Lucky's eyes darkened. "I'll bet."
"Lulu, what are you doing?" Laura suddenly asked, unaware of the high
tensions around the table.
Caught, Lulu looked up embarrassed. While the conversation flowed around
her Lulu had been hollowing out a dinner roll and stuffing the spinach in
it. "Nothing?"
"My baby sister at home tries the same thing." Nikolas laughed. "Mama
catches her every time though."
"Oooh, tell us about Greece, Nikolas." Amy gushed. "How is it there? It
must be a beautiful place to live. And your family there, what about them?"
"Uh…" Nikolas glanced at Laura. He felt odd talking about his other family
in front of her.
"Go ahead, Nikolas." She said softly. He nodded.
"Well, there was this one time I took her and her older sister to the
beach…" Nikolas began with a soft smile on his face.
~*~*~
"Tell me again how I got roped into clearing the table and doing the dishes
while *he* sits out there like he's king of the world." Lucky grumbled as
he helped Emily rinse the dishes and stack them into the dishwasher.
"Because you're a good son and you volunteered?" Emily suggested.
"I only volunteered because I couldn't stand to hear another one of his
*stories*." Lucky said as he loaded the last glass. "I mean, god, that guy
can just talk about himself all day."
Emily poured in the detergent then snapped shut the door shut. She switched
on the dishwasher. She dried her hands slowly on the dishtowel that Lucky
handed her. She was quiet the whole time.
Finally Lucky said. "What?"
"I was thinking that wasn't the purpose of tonight was for the family to
get to know Nikolas? Wouldn't he have to talk about himself a few times?"
Lucky rolled his eyes. "You know what I meant."
"And wasn't there a truce that you were supposed to stick to? Something
about letting things go so that Laura could be happy, at least for
tonight?"
"Hey, he didn't exactly stick to it either." Lucky pointed out.
"And I don't think Mom noticed anything. She was just so blissfully happy
that *her* Nikolas was here." He muttered.
Lucky leaned against a counter and folded his arms. "For years I watched
her mourn the kid, watch her walk around the house like a ghost whenever
she thought about him. I knew I wasn't her firstborn or her first son. I
got that. I understood that. I wasn't enough to replace the child she lost.
But I was here. That has to count for something, right? All those years on
the run? It was me that was with her and Dad. But as soon as Nikolas pops
up again it's like all that doesn't matter cause her *son* is back."
"Oh, Lucky," Emily dropped the dishtowel on the counter behind her and
placed her arms around him. "It's not like that and you know it."
"My whole life he's been there, hovering in the background. And I've felt
like I've been competing against him all this time and I've been barely
winning. And now he's here and that's it. Game over. He's won."
"Laura's love is not some competition. Nikolas isn't winning anything over
you."
"Mom's out there practically doing backflips to please him." Lucky said
harshly. He stopped himself and sighed. "I'm being selfish and a whiner,
aren't I?"
Emily didn't answer.
"I know I should be happy that Mom has a second chance with him and that he
turned out to be Dad's and not Stavros's. I should happy for everyone but
I'm not. All I can think about is me." He turned his back on her.
Emily wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his
shoulder. "It's understandable. Have you ever told Luke or Laura how you
felt all this time?"
Lucky shook his head. "Dad and I, we never really talked about it. And I
didn't want to bring this up to Mom and make her feel bad."
"I think you should bring this up to them. This is something you should all
sit down and talk about. And then maybe once you fix this with them, you
might be able to actually get to know Nikolas better. Maybe you'll find you
have something in common and you guys could end up being friends."
"Em, I love it when you're supportive and I love your optimism but Nikolas
and I will never be friends."
~*~*~
Later that night Luke and Laura lay in bed discussing the dinner. "I think
tonight went well."
"Right." Luke murmured.
"It did. Nikolas agreed to stay at the club. I think that was progress. I
still think he should work at Luke's with you."
"You can't push a job on him that he doesn't want."
"I only want him to know that he's a part of this family too."
"He gets it." Luke assured her. "Or he will soon."
"It was nice to have the whole family around the table." Laura sighed.
"I think we've got a problem." Luke said suddenly. He'd been thinking about
it all night.
"What are you talking about?" Laura rolled on her side and faced him.
"Lucky, Emily, and Nikolas. There's a problem brewing there." Luke told
her. "You didn't see the tension between those three?"
"Well Lucky wasn't too happy to find out that Emily knew Nikolas and she
didn't tell anyone but I don't think he's still angry over that." Laura
said.
"No, it's more than that. He's not just angry because they knew each
other." Luke said. "Lucky's jealous."
"Of what?" Laura laughed. "Lucky knows we would never replace him with
Nikolas."
"Lucky's not thinking about this place in the family. He's jealous about
Emily. There's something going on."
"With Emily and Nikolas?" Laura scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous."
"I'm just saying what I saw." Luke insisted. "I kept catching Nikolas
watching Emily."
"And?"
"He was giving her looks that a guy doesn't give to his brother's girl."
Luke told her.
"That doesn't mean anything. Emily wasn't returning them, was she?" Laura
asked quickly.
Luke shook his head. "None that I saw."
Laura sighed in relief. "See? There's nothing to worry about. I don't know
what you're so upset about."
"I'm just saying that something is going to happen with the kids and we
should be prepared."