From the Ashes

Authors Note: Chapter 6 is up. I had a bit of what you would call writers block so it took me longer to write this one This chapter is relatively short lol. Its afternoon in Port Charles at the beginning of this chapter. Just to warn everyone...this is going to be one long evening in Port Charles. Like I said before...there is a lot of Lusky coming up. Tracey and Helena are important players in the upcoming chapters too. I'm testing the waters with Courtney and Jax, so tell me what you think about what I wrote for these two. And I'm in need of some fresh ideas to do with Georgie/Dillon. I got something, but I don't know if I want to go that route. If you want to send me your ideas...my email is: skittles272002@yahoo.com. Thanks :D

Thanks for the feedback for Chapter 5 (

And finally...don't forget to review! I love reading reviews and it encourages me to write more and more often than if I didn't get any lol

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Afternoon:

Luke Spencer walked into the Haunted Star's main casino room where all the gambling went on. He had to check on his latest investment to make sure it was still in one piece. Faith had been making several threats since she was slowly getting booted out of the partnership. Luke didn't need the feisty blonde's mob business anymore, he had enough business elsewhere.

He still had to come up with a place to take Skye for dinner. Skye was like a diamond in the rough in that family people called the Quartermaine's. She gave him a whole new outlook on life besides moping around over Laura. She saved him from self destructing numerous times, he was grateful even though he didn't show it a lot of the time. Skye was important to Luke and he didn't know what he would do with himself if she weren't in his life anymore.

Thinking about restaurants once again...Luke was having some trouble coming up with a place to take her. Since the PC Grill was no more, and he didn't feel like taking her to Luke's, he opted to try one of the new places that had opened up. He sat down at the casino's bar racking his brain on where to take her. Lets see...there was: Mystic Heart, The Blue Note (AN: People who watch Days of our lives should recognize this one lol ) and Misty Cove. Finally deciding on Misty Cove, Luke picked up the phone to make the reservations.

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Skye Chandler Quartermaine put on her coat and grabbed her purse off the table. She was heading out to the store to buy something to wear out to dinner. She hoped it was a formal dinner because that was what kind of dress she planned on buying. She took one last look around at her cottage and opened the door and walked out. She headed walked out to her car and got in. Once she had started up the car, she pulled out of the driveway heading towards down town Port Charles.

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Tracey Quartermaine slithered up to the door of Skye's cottage once Skye's car was gone. Her gloved hand reached inside her purse and pulled out a key. She smiled wickedly to herself as she placed the key into the keyhole and quietly turned it. The door responded and opened to Tracey's delight. She waltzed in like she owned the place, flicking on the lights. Her eyes scanned the room unsure what she was looking for. Tracey was hoping to find a calendar of some type....a note...a PDA...something that had anything written on it about what she was doing that night. Tracey was still in the dark to why Helena wanted to know this, but wasn't going to ask any questions. Sighing to herself, she started going through some drawers looking for what she wanted.

There it was.....a simple sticky note with today's date written on it. Underneath the date, was written 'Dinner with Luke....6:00.' Tracy took a mental note of that and looked for the place. Finding none, she tried turning it over hoping it was on the back...nothing.

"Darn it anyway...." She hissed through clenched teeth. Sighing in annoyance, Tracy pulled out her cell phone to call Helena. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Jax opened up the door to his Penthouse and gestured for Courtney to go in. He had moved into this Penthouse after his burned down in the fire. He couldn't leave Courtney as upset as she was at the docks, so he decided to take her to his Penthouse. Hopefully he could calm her down and brighten her mood a little bit.

Courtney walked inside and looked around. "This is a nice Penthouse, do you like it better than your old one?" she asked trying to start a conversation so he wouldn't ask her what was wrong.

Jax closed the door once he walked in. "Yeah...this one is nice. Less bad memories are here, so that's a bonus." His thoughts drifted back to his old Penthouse. He had memories there of Brenda, Sam...and others. Jax walked over to his mini bar. "Can I offer you a drink?" he asked. "I have....-"he was cut off.

"I'll have anything you got." Courtney said taking a seat on his couch.

Jax nodded and poured the drinks and went over to Courtney taking a seat next to her. He handed Courtney her drink and took a sip of his own drink. "I know you are probably thinking that I'm going pry and see what was wrong back at the docks, but I'm not going to do that." He said.

Courtney was confused and surprised all at the same time. "Your not?" she asked looking over at him.

Jax shook his head. "Nope, I figure this....if you want to tell me, you will tell me." He said with a slight grin.

Courtney relaxed a bit after hearing him say that he wasn't going to ask her a zillion questions. "Thank you..." she said softly and took a sip of her drink.

Jax looked over at her. "Your welcome. I couldn't just leave you there seeing how upset you were." He said.

Courtney smiled slightly at him. "I really appreciate it....I hope I'm not ruining your plans for the day or anything."

Jax shook his head. "Of course not." He said in response.

Courtney bit her lip figuring she might regret this later on. "I'd like to tell you why you found me like I was...." She said.

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Skye looked through the dresses on the wrack at the clothing store that she was in. She was looking for the right dress for her upcoming dinner with Luke. Something that she looked good in, but not too unprofessional. That was why Luke invited her to dinner...right? Work...business....

Skye sighed softly to herself. There were times where she didn't understand Luke Spencer or how he thought, other times she did. Her fingers fell upon a dress. It was a royal blue dress. She picked it up off the wrack and held it up to her. Skye didn't even hear a salesperson come up behind her.

"Can I help you miss?" she saleswoman asked.

Startled, Skye jumped a little bit. She spun around and saw it was only a friendly salesperson. "Oh, hi..." she started. "Actually, I'm trying to find a dress for a dinner date tonight..." her eyes scanned through the dresses landing upon one. "Actually, I think I've found my dress." She said putting the royal blue one back on the rack and picking up the other dress.

The saleswoman nodded and walked off leaving Skye looking at her choice. "This one looks perfect...Luke should like it...-." She stopped mid sentence. *Why should I dress for Luke?? Its not like we are more than friends....* she thought to herself. She shook her head trying not to think about it and looked at the dress again.

"That dress is too pretty for the likes of you." A voice came from behind Skye.

Skye clenched her free fist when she heard that comment. She already knew who it was, and it was typical of that person. She turned around. "Tracey." She hissed through clenched teeth.

Tracey laughed knowing she was getting to her. She loved this about Skye, she was so easy to get to. "So what's the dress for? Got some hot date or something?" she asked. Tracy had a mission, to get the information to where Skye was going to dinner out of Skye herself.

Skye chose to ignore her. "Don't you have someone else you can pester?" she asked rolling her eyes.

Tracey sighed. "Nope, sorry....besides, its fun pushing your buttons." She tried to reach for the dress but found Skye pulling it away from her.

"Find another dress Tracey." Skye said. "This one is pretty, but it couldn't help you look good at all." She gave her a look of warning. She was in no mood for this.

Tracey huffed. She was glad Skye was no longer going to be a pain in her side after tonight.

"You wouldn't be buying that dress for Mr. Luke Spencer would you?" Tracey asked with a smirk.

Skye sighed. "What difference does it make if I am? And why do you even give a damn?" she asked wondering what Tracey was up to.

Tracey sighed. "What is Luke taking you to some whacked up restaurant? Is that why you're in such a foul mood?" she asked. The bait was set, she would get answer now.

Skye was getting tired of this. She did not feel like standing there and talking, the word was very loosely fit, with Tracey Quartermaine. "FYI Tracey, I don't know where Luke is taking me...and quite frankly, why do you even care to ask...unless you are up to something." She looked over at Tracey. *Okay Tracey, what are you up to now?* she thought silently to herself.

"Of course not...are you that paranoid?" Tracey replied. "I'm just seeing if you were finding good use of your time. Your hanging around the Mansion is very annoying." She casually took a look at her watch. "Great, I'm running late." She muttered flat out lying. She didn't have anyplace to be, she just wanted to get out of there before Skye became more suspicious of her.

"Don't let me keep you." Skye said coolly in response.

Tracey sighed and then turned around and exited the store. She got nowhere with that conversation. The only things she got out of it were information she already knew and an insult.

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Maxie sighed softly to herself as she tapped her fingernails against the countertop of the front desk, where she was working. She had a few hours left on her shift and she couldn't wait to get home today....Mainly because of Zander. Maxie wondered how he was doing and figured he had to be bored by now. She really wanted Zander to stick around Port Charles and wondered if that could be possible. Beck was dead, Lansing had nothing to do with Zander anymore since Elizabeth lost the baby, Emily was happily married to Nikolas, Zander was basically out of Faith's Mob Ring since it had been a little over a year now that he had worked for her. Maybe it was possible, least Maxie hoped it was.

Maxie bit her lip when her thoughts drifted to her sister. She hoped Georgie was planning on going out with Dillon for dinner. Mac was putting some overtime in at the station, so he wouldn't be around. That way, Zander could get out of her room for a little bit. She picked up the hospital phone and quickly dialed up Georgie's cell phone number making it look like she was placing a hospital call. It rang a few times before her sister finally picked up.

"Hello?" Georgie's voice said from the other end of the phone

"Hey Georgie...its Maxie, I was wondering if you were going to be home for dinner?" Maxie asked and then waited for her response.

"I'm probably going to...Dillon wanted me to eat with him tonight at Kelly's, but I haven't been around lately...and I thought it would be nice for me to spend some time with my big sister." Georgie said.

This wasn't the answer that Maxie wanted. "Georgie...have dinner with Dillon." She insisted. "I'm just going to grab something for dinner anyway." She hoped Georgie would not insist on coming home for dinner. Maxie wanted to tell her sister about Zander being back, but she didn't know if Zander wanted anyone to know he was alive or not.

Georgie sighed softly. "Okay...but I don't know why you are pushing me to...-" she started but was cut off.

"I got to go Georgie, I'm supposed to be working." Maxie cut her off. "Have fun at dinner with Dillon....bye." Maxie quickly hung up the phone and sighed in relief.

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Georgie put her cell phone back in her purse. "What was that all about?...what is up with my sister now?" she asked herself as she walked out of the library. Georgie had gone there to check out some books for her report that she had in English Class. She shook her head as she walked out to her car and unlocked it, setting her books in the backseat.

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Jax sat there and listened as Courtney spilled about her problems with Jason. He felt compassion for her because she was so hurt that she couldn't accept Jason's lifestyle. Once she had finished, he looked into her eyes.

Courtney quickly looked away regret filling her mind. "I shouldn't have told you any of this...." She said softly. "You are Sonny's enemy and you are also my employer, I just needed someone to confide in. Someone who is a third party in a way...someone not connected or involved with the mob."

Jax nodded and gently reached out for her hand. He was a little surprised that Courtney let him take it. "Look Courtney, you don't have to be sorry. I would like to consider you as a friend and I hate seeing you like this." He paused. "Don't worry about Sonny....I won't be telling him anything at all. Its not like we are on talking terms anyway." He smiled slightly. That was an understatement; Jax and Sonny wouldn't shed a tear if the other fell off the face of the earth.

Courtney smiled a little in response. "I know, and thank you for listening to me." She finished her drink and stood up. Courtney decided she had better get going. She didn't want to take up anymore of Jax's time. "Thank you for the drink and the listening ear. I'll see you at work tomorrow." She made her way over the door and opened it. The sound of his voice saying something stopped her from leaving.

"Your welcome Courtney, if you ever want to talk again my door is always open." Jax said. He wasn't just saying that, he meant it. He wondered if she would take him up on what he was offering ever.

Courtney nodded and then left shutting the door behind her. A part of her regretted spilling to Jax, but another part of felt a little bit better after having someone to talk to about it than Carly. Courtney loved Carly like a sister, but Carly would always push for her to reunite with Jason.

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Skye, with her new purchase in her shopping bag, unlocked the door to her cottage. She opened the door and set everything down in the living room. She was too busy thinking about this evenings plans to notice that some things on her desk where not like she had left them. Skye went over to the bag and took the long gown out holding it up to her and smiled to herself.

This dinner may be a business dinner, but she was still looking forward with it. Skye, for the most part, always had fun with Luke. He was a breath of fresh air in her life. She had horrible luck before she found him in her cottage all that time ago. Her marriage had crumbled to Jax, a man she loved for a very long time. Skye still hated Brenda for that, but she was happy for Jax's friendship now. Then there was Ned....what was she thinking? Skye decided to call it temporary insanity. She was glad things ended with Ned. They were like oil and water basically.... The only common interest they had was Alexis' daughter Kristina.

Shaking her head at her failed relationships, she thought about Luke once again. Luke was...one unique man. She never met anyone like him. He was crazy like a fox, but also very cleaver...sweet too...in his own special way. She wondered where he was taking her. Skye hoped it wasn't some horrible place. She had no way of predicting what type of place he was taking her, Luke Spencer was unpredictable most of the time.

Skye headed off into her bedroom with her dress in her hands to start getting ready for her evening out with Luke Spencer.