CHAPTER EIGHT

Inside the room, Tracy Quartermaine removed the ring in front of her husband before whispering, "How about you give me the joy and honor of being a really good friend?"

Lulu's smiled faded. That's not what she was going for.

"Friends would be good," Dillon thought aloud.

"What about a really good husband?" Luke responded to his wife in a rather perky tone. He knew it wasn't any use, but he wasn't one to give up completely.

"Nice try, Lukey."

He needed to accept it. "So, that's it?"

She nodded. "That's it." Tracy leaned in to hug him. "That's it."

Luke didn't have the words. He just stared at her, looking very empty and old all of a sudden.

"I, um, want you to know," she spoke delicately, "that it's not just because of Holly."

"I know," he nodded. He was aware at how horribly he treated her long before Holly entered the picture.

She closed her eyes and swallowed, "I deserved better."

Her sharp voice pierced Luke's heart. He tried again, "You did deserve better. I can do better. I—"

She pressed a finger to his lips. "Shh. That's it," she repeated.

"I need to do the right thing, Luke, and hmm," she laughed. "This is the right thing."

"Are you sure?" he went to caress her cheek, but she moved his hand away.

"Yes, I'm sure." And for the first time since she made her decision, she was sure.

An icy silence took over the room, and the teenagers who were waiting behind the door noticed. "Why did it go quiet?" Lulu whispered to Dillon. "Shhh," he replied.

"Lulu! Dillon!" Tracy called out.

"Oh, we are so busted," Lulu covered her hand with her face. Luke walked over the door and saw his daughter and stepson sitting on the ground. "Well, hello there!"

"Uh, hi dad," she waved as she and Dillon stood up.

"You two heard everything, didn't you?"

Lulu nodded. "You tried really hard to get Step Monster back. I'll give you an A for effort, Dad."

Tracy laughed at her.

"And you, Mom," Dillon entered the room. "Get an A for doing the right thing…that is, if you follow through."

"Oh, I plan on following through, all right. She was suspicious of her son though, "I thought you liked me being marrying to Luke. Why would you want us to divorce?"

"I liked having Luke as a stepfather. There's a difference," he noted. He was careful not to divulge the entire truth…that he didn't wish to see his mother get her heartbroken.

"So, now what?" wondered Lulu.

"We fly back to Port Charles hopefully sooner than later and make this all official," Tracy told them.

Luke didn't argue anymore.

"But before that?" asked Dillon.

"Dinner!" cried Robert Scorpio. "Roasted snake for Sparky and Luke's anniversary! Come and get it!"

Tracy rolled her eyes. "Roasted Snake? On our anniversary?" She gagged.

"Bet the rock I gave you is looking like a pretty good gift right about now."

"You gave my mom a rock? Oh, Luke!"

The 4 of them laughed.

"What? It was a really nice rock!" he insisted. "Show it to 'em, Spanky." She proceeded to open the drawer to the nightstand next to the bed. Luke reached into the drawer and pulled it out, "Isn't it a beauty?"

There was more laughter.

Robert called out again, "Dinner!"

"Ready to enjoy one of our last dinners as husband and wife? You can even wear the ring if your heart desires," he waved the piece of jewelry in front of her.

Dillon answered for her, "She doesn't care about the jewelry. She cares about doing the right thing."

"God! How many times are we going to repeat that?" Lulu loudly asked.

Tracy looked directly into Luke's eyes, "How's this? I'm ready to enjoy one of our first dinners as really good friends."

"I'm getting the feeling that we're repeating ourselves again," Lulu spoke in a sing-song voice.

Luke held out his hand, "Sounds good. What are we waiting for?" Tracy smiled slightly and took his hand. Nothing wrong with having a really good friend escorting her to dinner. "Happy anniversary," he whispered.

"Happy anniversary."

She was happy. Luke could see in her face, hear it in her voice. He wished it was good enough for him. It should've been good enough. After all, if she was in fact happy, then he should've been too. But since he wasn't, he held onto the reality that she wasn't cutting him out of her life completely. No—Luke Spencer would have another chance to prove to Tracy Quartermaine that he was worthy of being her husband.

"You two coming?" Tracy asked the teenagers.

"Yep," Lulu and Dillon followed their parents out of the room.

Within the hour, dinner had been served and eaten, err picked at, and Tracy once again found herself in the back bedroom…alone…and with nothing to do. Her main source of entertainment for this trip thus far had been a novel. Unfortunately, for her, it had been stashed away with her other belongings on the ELQ jet, some miles away.

Oh, what am I going to do? Tracy didn't feel like sleeping. She felt like talking…to her soon to be ex-husband, and secretly, she hoped the door would creak open at any moment, and he would saunter in. He didn't. Hmm. Luke Spencer does not give up just like that. No. He doesn't. He'll be in soon, hopefully groveling at my feet. She laughed out loud. "Gosh, I love the sound of that."

It was later now, and Tracy looked at her watch. 48 minutes passed since she first came into the room. Still no Luke. Could it have been an act? That he didn't want to make things work? Luke Spencer didn't give up that easily. Maybe everything that happened was an act. He didn't want to make things work. He didn't want to be a better husband. He just didn't want to lose. She was getting the best of him, and he couldn't take it. No, don't think that. But what if it's the truth? Is it the truth? Oh, how do I know? I don't know. Oh…

Suddenly, the right thing didn't feel so right anymore, and then she realized: This isn't about my ignorant husband. This is about me and what I want, and if I want the divorce, then I'm gonna get the damn divorce. And besides, do you really want Luke all of people pining for you? You should be happy that he stopped groveling, that he hasn't been in the room in— She paused. 50 minutes. Hmm. Almost an hour. Goodness, why is he doing this? Is he trying to make me second guess what I want? Damnit, Luke Spencer. If that's what you're doing, it's working. Ugh. Her mind needed a rest from pondering all of this, and so she closed her eyes and let her exhausted self fall asleep…

"Tracy," a voice whispered. "Tracy. Are you still awake?" Once Luke realized she was sound asleep, he tip-toed out of the room. "Luke?" she sat up in bed.

"Hi there, Spunky. Sorry for waking ya."

"You didn't wake me," she said through a loud yawn.

"You're lying, but that's okay. Um, I needed to tell you something—"

"The divorce will be finalized no matter what."

"Yeah, I know," he didn't want to believe it. "But, I should still be allowed to speak to you, right?"

"Of course."

"Well, then," he walked over to her and practically lifted her out of bed. "Come on."

"Where we going?" she asked suspiciously. Luke had something up his sleeve again, and even though she wasn't interested, she didn't have the energy to fight it.

"Shh," he whispered. "I don't want to wake up all of them in the living room."

"Everyone's sleeping in there?"

"Yep. It's like a sleep over. Maybe after this, we can join," he winked.

The thought of all of those people being in one room and lying on the filthy ground in cheap sleeping bags didn't sit well with her. "How about not? Look, Luke. Say what you want to say, so I can go back to sleep."

"Not here, remember?" He guided her through the dark hallway. "I'd ask you to close your eyes, but something tells me, you'd refuse."

"Something tells me you'd be correct," she retorted as they reached their "destination." "Oh my God." She didn't have any other words upon entering the other bedroom.

PREVIEW: Luke has a surprise for his wife.