CHAPTER SIX

Luke reached his wife's side. "Tracy!" he gasped. Her pale complexion gave her an eerie ghostlike appearance. "Tracy," he said more calmly, shaking her slightly, but she just lied there motionlessly. 'Tracy." Buckets of sweat poured from her forehead. Her dark brown hair had been beyond soaked. He called out her name once again, "Tracy." This time, Luke sprinkled some water on her face. When her eyes fluttered open, he smiled. "Hi Spankybuns."

"Mmm," she murmured as she put a hand over her face. "Mmmm," she said again.

"Aww, not happy to see the husband?" He handed over his bottle of water. "Here. Drink this. All of it. I got more in the bag, so don't worry about it."

Tracy didn't speak. Without hesitation, she took the water and sipped it slowly. Luke brushed her drenched hair behind her hairs. Tracy didn't pull back.

"Better?" Luke asked.

She put the bottle down, so she could rub her temples. "You wouldn't," she cleared her throat. "You wouldn't happen to have some Tylenol in that bag, would you?" Her breathing was fast and shallow.

"Headache?" Luke asked. He didn't want to act too concerned.

"Yeah," she whispered. "Whew. Um—" She didn't know what to say exactly.

Luke answered her question from 2 seconds earlier, "Nope, no Tylenol. Dr. VanSkeemerman only has tic-tacs."

"Oh, please, Luke. Don't even start with that nonsense."

"I do have tic-tacs, you know."

She chucked quietly.

Luke held out his hand. "We should probably get you back to the villa."

She wanted to tell him "no"; that she could take care of herself, but she couldn't. Tracy Quartermaine felt exhausted, and there was no way she'd be able to get to where she wanted without passing out again.

"You could probably use a cold bath."

She rolled her eyes, "I can handle that myself, thank you very much."

Luke laughed, "Come on, my precious little pink popsi—Well, I guess you're anything but a popsicle now."

"Ha," she said dryly.

He was still holding out his hand. Tracy took it and carefully stood up on her own two feet. "Hmm," she closed her eyes.

"You okay?" Luke supported her the best he could without getting too close.

"Yeah, just a little dizzy." She hated needing his help. She hated needing anyone's help.

"Any nausea or anything?"

Tracy squinted her eyes, "You think you're a doctor or something?"

"Yes, I do. Dr. VanSkee—"

She put up a hand to signal him to stop, and he obliged. "Sorry, I—"

"It's fine, Luke. Just get me back to the villa…the cottage…whatever."

"Will do, Mrs. Spencer." He handed her another water bottle. Once again, she gratefully accepted. "Um, Luke. This, uh, what happened, I…It doesn't change anything." She was almost definitely sure of herself this time. The divorce would be the only way to go.

He pretended to be clueless, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm still going through with the divorce."

The words hit him harder than he expected. He just saved her life. She could at least cut him some slack.

"I know what today is, Spunky."

She had a hard time believing he remembered the anniversary. If he did, he stupidly chose to celebrate it with a woman who wasn't his wife. And there she went again. Maybe it had come down to Holly Scorpio after all. Or maybe, Holly Scorpio was the final straw. That's what Tracy preferred to think.

"Do you really want to divorce me on this very special day?" he played up the sentiment. "I know you know, Spankybuns. You don't forget these things."

Yep. He knew all right.

Tracy just sighed, "I want to happy today, Luke, and freeing myself of this marriage—"

"Will make you happy?" he looked at her strangely.

The two of them stopped walking.

"Yeah," she whispered.

In that moment, Luke reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the rock. "Does this make you happy? Happy anniversary, Tracy." She noticed that he called her by her real name. Not Spunky. Spankybuns. Sugar Plum. None of that.

Tracy laughed, "You got me a rock for our anniversary?"

"Not just any rock. A very shiny rock." He held it up in the sunlight.

"Oooh," she laughed again. She looked so beautiful when she smiled. Her entire face lit up, and Luke enjoyed seeing her like this.

"I, um, don't have anything for you. I honestly didn't think you'd remember." She swallowed.

"Well, how's this? We go back to the shack. You get your cool bath. I promise I won't watch," he added.

Tracy squeezed out a smile.

"And then we can talk about this whole divorce thing."

They started walking again. "I don't think that's very fair, Luke. You give me a rock, but I'm supposed to give you your marriage back."

"Technically, you never took the marriage away."

"I returned the ring and promised to get a hold of Justus as soon as I could. Unfortunately, that seems to be a lost cause out here, but—"

Luke realized that she never did contact Justus. Lulu had set the Haunted Star story up…as he expected. He'd have to thank her for that, though. Otherwise, he might have not gone after Tracy as soon as he did, and well…he shuddered at the though of what could've happened.

"Luke?"

"Hmm?"

"Thinking about Holly?" Yeah, she was going there again. "Never mind. Let's just head back." Her breathing had returned to normal, and she no longer depended on Luke for full support and balance.

Luke nodded in agreement.

The rest of the walk was rather quiet and peaceful, surprising considering the two people who were walking. A little over an hour later, they reached the villa. Tracy finally decided to say something. Barely audibly, she told her husband, "Uh, thanks."

"What is that Spankybuns?" he asked loudly.

"Thank you for having extremely good timing and stumbling upon me," she didn't sound as sincere as before.

"I saved your life, Pumpkin."

"Now that's being overdramatic."

"I saved your life. You save our marriage. It's up to you, you know. I'm not the one filing divorce papers here."

She lowered her eyes, "That's low, Luke. Really low."

"What?" he shrugged. "I'm not blackmailing you."

She sighed. "Forget it."

"All right. I shouldn't have suggested that," he gave in, very unusual for Lucas Lorenzo Spencer.

"I, uh…Let's just—"

In that instant, Dillon and Lulu joined their parents outside.

"Mom!" Dillon said.

"Dad!" Lulu cried out.

"What was taking you so long? How could you leave us with Tarzan and Jane in the other room?" Dillon questioned.

Tracy scrunched up her face, "Um, Tarzan and Jane?"

"You should hear the noises Super Spy and um, Holly, are making," Dillon said. "Uh, never mind."

"Yeah, um, never mind," agreed Lulu.

Tracy inspected Luke's face. He didn't seem the tiniest bit irritated that Robert Scorpio was getting all the action with con-artist turned murderess turned tramp.

It still doesn't change anything.

"Uh, Mom?" Dillon asked, finally taking notice of his mother's rather frail appearance. "Did something happen? You look um…Well, I get that the outdoors aren't your best friend, but you look worse than you did earlier."

She took another sip of water, "I'm fine, darling. I'm sure I look worse than I feel."

"Spunky here has a bout of heat exhaustion. She'll be fine." Luke told the teenagers, careful not to go into details at that time.

"Well, it is pretty hot out here," Dillon noted. "But better out here in the heat than in there with the uh, you know—" He was cut off by Robert and Holly's entrance.

"Look who's back!" said Robert.

"Isn't it wonderful?" Holly spoke in a sarcastic tone. "Um, what happened to you?"

Tracy could only glare. "I'll be inside," she said.

"You're going to have us let move the bathtub out of living room," Luke laughed.

"Oh, right. Not all women find pleasure in flaunting themselves in front of anything with a p—." She stopped herself. "Never mind."

"Well, not all women have something to flaunt," Holly whispered.

"You tart," Tracy spit out.

"Ladies, ladies," Luke stopped them before thing got uglier.

"It's gonna be a long night," muttered Robert.

PREVIEW: Luke isn't ready to give up.