Part I
(This part is based directly on the dialog from 9/14's episode of GH.)
"I don't want to take you to court, Liz. But I will, if we can't come to an agreement. That is my baby." Lindsay heard Jax's voice coming from around the corner and thought about turning around. The last thing she needed right now was to get in the middle of another argument between Jax and Liz over the baby. Agreeing to this surrogacy may have been the biggest mistake any of them had ever made. But when she heard the tone in her brother's voice, she decided to stick around. This is what I get for craving a cheeseburger, she thought to herself as she rounded the corner and saw the scene unfolding in front of Kelly's.
"So, you've told us Jax. At least a hundred times." Lucky was just about to boil over. Whatever had happened before Lindsay arrived had to have been pretty intense.
"Just stop pretending that you want this baby, Jax. All you want is to dangle it in front of Courtney like a trophy." Nikolaus interjected, stepping up between Courtney and Jax.
"You need to stay out of this, Nik. Especially with that kind of nonsense." Lindsay joined the emotional conversation, gathering for herself a glare from her step-brother and his new girlfriend. Lindsay couldn't even believe they had the gall to be seen there together.
Throwing a look of thanks in Lindsay's direction, Jax continued, "Exactly. You can have Courtney, but stay the hell away from my child.." Turning his attention to Liz and Lucky, he said, "I came to you in good faith offering to share custody."
"I understand that."
"Well, then don't let Nikolaus talk you into cutting me out of my child's life. Nickolaus doesn't care about what's good for you or the baby. He proved that when he broke up my marriage. Don't let him push you into a fight you don't want."
"All right, that's enough." Lucky stepped in, the indignation brimming from deep within him. Lindsay recognized that look and knew it wasn't good for Jax.
"We have an agreement, Lucky."
"That's right. We do have an agreement." Elizabeth stepped in, also sensing what was about to come next from Lucky. "I agreed to give you and Courtney this baby. You changed the terms, not me."
"And I gave you a number of reasonable options." Jax came back with. "I suggest you agree with one of them. Because understand this Elizabeth, this will be an ugly battle. If I'm forced to do this, I will bury you and Lucky and anyone else who gets in my way."
"Is that a threat?" Lucky looked as if he were going to pounce.
"It's a fact." Jax spat back. Sliding his gaze toward where Nikolaus and Courtney were standing, he said, "Now unfortunately my circumstances with Courtney have changed and you don't think that I should be a single parent, but that's not for you to decide, Elizabeth. I am not going to lose this child."
"Do you even care about the happiness of this baby?" Liz wanted to know next. "This is a child's life we are talking about here."
"I understand that and it's all I care about! This is MY child's life." Frustrated with the turn this conversation had taken, Jax raked his fingers through his hair. This is not what he wanted any of this to come to.
"This is just another competition to you, isn't it?" Lucky said between clenched teeth. "Well guess what, Jax, you are definitely not getting this one."
"Lucky." Lindsay put her hand on her brother's arm and tried to pul him back away from Jax before he threw the first punch.
"I'm sorry you both feel that way." Lindsay couldn't be sure, but she thought she detected a bit of defeat in Jax's voice. "But like I said before, that's not your decision to make."
"I have to get to work." Liz flatly stated, glaring at all of them. Lucky moved forward and kissed her forehead, but you could tell by the look on her face that this wasn't over for them.
Jax's cellphone rang at that moment and he moved away from the group to answer it.
Lindsay, sensing the need to move Lucky away from the situation, herded her brother through the front door of Kelly's saying, "Treat me to a burger, Luck."
Lucky was in the mood for more of an argument and began to protest, "Lindsay, I..."
"Now. Come on, I've been saving lives all day and am famished." Over her shoulder, she gave Nikolaus a look that told him that he and Courtney weren't invited to join them for dinner. Nik knew exactly how Lindsay felt about his relationship with Courtney, and he also knew Lindsay well enough to know that he wasn't going to change her mind about it tonight. Taking his cue, he and Courtney headed off toward the docks.
"That guy is such a jerk." Lucky said, settling into a chair at one of Kelly's tables.
"Which guy...or girl...are you talking about?" Lindsay asked, sitting across from him.
"All of them."
"And you were a real prize out there yourself, right?" Lindsay grinned as Lucky scowled at her. Giving her brother a few moments to simmer down, Lindsay ordered a couple of burgers from Mike and waited until Lucky was ready to talk to her. Out the front window of the restaurant, she saw Jax peer in to where they were sitting. Lindsay shook her head in a warning to him not to pursue this any further. He gave her a slight smile and headed off.
"I'm not hungry." was what Lucky finally said to her.
At least he was calmer. Smirking at him, Lindsay replied, "Well I just thought you should put something into your mouth besides your foot." He glared at her for a minute, but then a slow smile came to his face. "Now," she said, "would you like to tell me what that was all about and how Nikolaus got involved?"
"Nikolaus offered us the money to fight Jax in court. Lawyers, resources, whatever we need."
"Well, it's about time." Lindsay sneered, not bothering to hide her contempt. She was not so happy with Nikolaus' behavior in all of this nonsense and wasn't shy about telling him so. "It's the least he can do. Are you going to accept?"
Lucky shrugged. "Liz hopes it won't come to that."
"Liz is a smart girl. You should listen to her more."
"Are you really going to sit here and bust my balls, Lind? I thought you were on my side in this whole..."
Lindsay interrupted him, shaking her head. "I'm not taking sides, Lucky. You know that. This whole situation sucks. For something that started off as a beautiful thing, it's really disintegrated into a mess. God, I just want to knock Nikolaus and Courtney's heads together for being so stupid."
"Not taking sides, huh?" Lucky raised an eyebrow at her.
"Not between you and Liz and Jax. Nikolaus, though, I want to throttle. And Courtney?" Lindsay rolled her eyes, prompting a grin from Lucky. "Don't even get me started. I didn't know her very well before this and now I don't want to."
"Well you might just have to. It doesn't look like she's going anywhere any time soon." The tone of his voice told Lindsay that Lucky didn't like it any more than she did.
After Mike brought them their burgers, Lindsay popped a french fry into her mouth and said, "What I don't understand is, why are you directing all of your anger at Jax? He's only trying to do what is best for his child."
"Are you really buying that load of crap?"
"Yes." Lindsay answered simply, taking a bite of her burger.
"You and Liz both." Lucky muttered, smothering ketchup all over the top of his cheeseburger.
"Liz is a very smart girl. You should listen to..." Lindsay began before Lucky cut her off.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm just a big lug with a badge and a gun."
"I happen to have a soft spot for big lugs with a badge and a gun." Lindsay grinned at him, evoking memories of her late husband, Detective Simon Donovan. "But, you didn't answer my question."
Lucky pushed his dinner aside and looked his sister squarely in the eye. "This baby is a trophy for him. It always has been. Even before Courtney slept with Nikolaus. He just wants to win."
Lindsay shook her head. "I don't believe that." she said, wiping the corner of her mouth with a napkin. "Jax loves this baby, Lucky. This whole surrogacy situation was his idea. It IS his baby, after all. He's only doing what he thinks is in the baby's best interest...just like you and Elizabeth are."
"He's treating it like a business deal..."
"It is a business deal. You and Liz signed a contract."
"With him and Courtney!" Lucky lowered his voice when he realized that he was yelling at her.
"But Jax didn't break that contract, Lucky." She hated to see this pain and confusion in her brother's eyes. This was not how he had expected things to work out. "Courtney did. When she slept with Nikolaus!" She lowered her voice, not wanting Mike to overhear them. "Jax went into that contract in good faith, too. Just like you and Liz. He didn't think his marriage was going to fall apart like this. I mean, OK, he went a little overboard being protective about Liz and the baby. But if I have to hear one more time about how neglected Courtney was feeling...God!" Lindsay shook her head in disgust. "She bailed on their marriage, not Jax. He didn't deserve this, Lucky, and you know it."
"Deserved it or not, now he's using his money and power to threaten us." Lindsay could hear from the tone of his voice that he was not thoroughly believing his own words.
"Because he thinks you are trying to take his child away from him!" Lucky looked down at the table and didn't have an answer for her. "He's throwing his money and power around. That's how he deals with things. You go around punching people. Is that any better?" Lindsay reached across the table and took his hand in hers, wishing she could fix this for him."What's really going on? Why won't you even consider joint custody?"
Lucky ran his thumb across Lindsay's skin and finally looked up at her. "I don't want to give Jax anything. I want to get him out of our lives before he tries to take Liz away from me."
Lindsay pulled her hand away, resisting the urge to smack him in the head. "Are you nuts? Lucky! Liz adores you. She has her entire life. She came up with this whole surrogacy idea to pay your medical bills! She doesn't want Jax."
"I know. I know." He shook his head again, "This whole thing is so screwed up."
That was an understatement. "I know and I'm sorry."
They sat in silence for a little while, just listening to the sounds of Kelly's dinner crowd all around them. Finally, Lucky looked up and grinned, "You know what Liz told me? That Jax couldn't possibly want her along with the baby because he's too busy wanting you."
"Me?" Lindsay almost choked on her burger.
"You two have gotten pretty close lately." He raised an eyebrow at her again, this time in a teasing manner.
"I'm Liz's doctor. And his baby's doctor." She dismissed his comments and hoped that it was the end of this part of the conversation. But Lucky wasn't done.
"Come on, Linds! You jumped right to his defense today."
"I did not!"
Lucky just continued looking at her, grinning.
"I was trying to be the voice of sanity in an out of control situation!"
Changing the subject, but not entirely, Lucky suddenly asked, "Have you dated at all since Simon's death?"
Lindsay sighed. "I went out a few times in back in New York. But I haven't really had time since I came back to Port Charles. It was all I could do to get everything settled...Sophie in her new pre-school, getting us a place to live, and getting back into a routine at the hospital."
"Liz says that you and Jax would make a good couple." Lucky shook his head. "I don't see it."
"I should hope not." Lindsay came back at him and they both laughed.