Deliverance
Author's Note: This story focuses on Luke and Skye with a little bit of Alexis and Ric thrown in. Alexis and Ric are married but are not expecting a baby. Luke is not and was not ever married to Tracy. Everything else is self explanatory.
It was a normal day in the Davis-Lansing house. Alexis and Ric were both rushing to get ready for work, after six months of living together they still hadn't figured out how to share the bathroom and they still argued over who was going to make the morning coffee. It usually never got made. Once they finally pulled themselves together there was just enough time to dress Kristina and get her to preschool before they had to be in court.
Their soon normal day was suddenly turned upside down when Alexis picked up the phone as they were about to leave. "Hello?"
"Natasha." Helena breathed. "I need you to get to Wyndemere right away."
Alexis froze at the sound of her voice. "What do you want Helena?"
"Let's just say that I have something that you might be interested in."
"What would that be?"
"A redhead." Helena hissed before disconnecting the call.
"Helena?" Alexis screamed into the phone. "Helena?"
"What's wrong?" Ric asked his wife, taking the phone from her hand and placing it back in the cradle. "What did Helena say to you?"
"She said to get to Wyndemere right away."
"Family business?"
Alexis shook her head. "Helena has Skye." she breathed out. "Luke, this is about Luke."
"Alexis, what are you talking about?" he questioned. "You're not making any sense. And why would Helena have Skye?"
"I need to find Luke." she told him. "I need you to call the Quartermaine's and tell them to get to Spoon Island as fast as they can. Then drop Kristina off with Sonny and get to Wyndemere."
"Alexis, you never answered my question. What the hell is going on?"
"It's complicated." she told him. "Please, Ric just do what I asked."
Alexis barged through Luke's bedroom door at the Haunted Star. "Luke!" she bellowed. "Get up!"
It was more than apparent that he had went to bed totally wasted but it wasn't going to stop her. She yanked the blankets off the bed only to find Faith Rosco snuggled up next to him. "Luke Spencer you better get your ass up right now!"
Faith's eyes flew open. "Why the hell are you here?" she asked, propping herself up on her elbows. "And why are you shouting?"
"Because I want Luke to wake up." Alexis snapped.
"Luke's gonna be hung over." she told her. "He had a lot to drink last night."
"That explains why he's in bed with you."
"Counselor, you should really watch how you talk to people." Faith warned. "Or you'll never get what you want."
"Look, I don't have a lot of time so I want you to get him up. I don't care what you have to do, just wake him up." Alexis pleaded, desperately. "I'll get him something for his hangover."
Alexis left the room and made her way into the main room at the Haunted Star. By the time she fixed something for the hangover Luke appeared in the doorway. "Here, drink this." she instructed.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Drink and I'll tell you." she told him. And so he did. "Helena called me about ten minutes ago and I rushed right over here. She said that she has Skye."
Luke quickly downed his drink. "Let's go."
Alexis and Luke quickly made their way out of the Haunted Star and onto the ferry. "What did Helena say when she called?" Luke asked.
"Some ole stuff. How are you, how's your daughter, would you like to have your throat slit.?" she replied. "Typical Helena."
"What do you think Helena's gonna do to her?"
Alexis shrugged. "The question is what has she already done to her? It may already be too late. Helena might have called just to gloat." she told him. "She may have drugged her into oblivion or she may have placed a curse on her."
"Maybe she has something on her."
"That's true." she agreed. "She may be after you and using Skye as bait."
"If she were using Skye as bait to catch me, she would have approached me, not you."
"Or she could be playing us all. What better way for her to put on a show then to get your attention, my attention and the Quartermaine's?" Alexis asked. "Other than that I have no idea what she could be planning."
"Whatever it is, you can believe that it's gonna be big." Luke replied. "Helena craves attention."
"Luke?" she said softly. "How long has it been since you've seen Skye?"
"About seven or eight months." he answered. "She got on the Quartermaine Jet and took off."
Alexis nodded. "Why do you think she left?"
"I don't know." he replied. "Things were kind of rocky and she just up and left without any explanation. Why do you think she left?"
"I don't know." she shrugged. "Skye obviously left because something was going on she didn't want you or anyone else to know about."
"Do you know something?"
"No." she answered. "I don't know what could be going on with Skye. She and I aren't the best of friends but we manage to get along."
"What if it's too late?" he asked. "What if Helena has already killed her? What if the only thing Helena is leading us to is Skye's body?"
"Then we have to make sure that Helena doesn't get away this time."
When the ferry arrived at the Island, Alexis and Luke were met by Ric and the Quartermaine's.
"Why are we here?" Ric asked, wanting his questions from earlier answered.
"Helena called me this morning and clued me into the fact that she has Skye." Alexis told them. "She wanted me to get here right away and I thought that if I enlisted all of your help that we'd find Skye faster."
"Why would Helena have Skye?" Tracy asked, her arms folded across her chest. "It doesn't make any sense."
"It does if she wants to get back at Luke." Monica chimed in. "What better way to get his attention than to steal his...business partner?...friend? What were you and Skye to each other Luke?"
"It doesn't matter what they were to each other." Alan interrupted. "Luke's the reason she's in this mess."
Edward nodded in agreement. "I knew that you were going to be the end of that girl."
"Could we not argue and just concentrate on finding Skye?" Luke asked.
"Why are you even here, Spencer?" Edward asked. "Don't you think you've caused my Granddaughter enough pain?"
"Listen up!" Alexis yelled. "I want to know who the last person was that heard from Skye and when it was."
"I talked to Skye about a week ago." Alan replied. "She's been living in Paris for the past eight months and she said that she was thinking of returning home to Port Charles."
"Are you sure that she was in Paris?" Alexis asked.
Monica nodded. "Absolutely. Dillon and Georgie stayed with her during spring break."
"You've know where Skye was the entire time?" Luke asked, outraged. "You told me that you had no idea where she was."
"She didn't want you to know." Tracy pointed out. "I can't say that I blame her, you're constantly drunk, you're slumming around with Faith Rosco, you look like death warmed over and your hair is worse than Dillon's."
"You're so charming, Tracy." Luke replied dryly.
"All right that's enough!" Alexis yelled. "Ric and I are going to search the towers. Edward and Tracy, you're going to join Nikolas and Emily in the house to search there. Luke, you know the grounds so you'll be searching them. As for Alan and Monica, one of you can come with Ric and me and the other can go into the house, that way when we find Skye she can get medical attention right away."
"What makes you think that Skye will need medical attention?" Alan asked.
"Because she wouldn't go willingly with Helena." Alexis told them. "She took her by force. So let's get a move on it, we don't have much time."
Everyone went in their separate directions, splitting up the way Alexis advised them.
"How many rooms does this mausoleum have?" Tracy asked Nikolas as they paraded from room to room. "We'll be searching til sunrise. The police should have been called, they have more manpower than the nine of us."
"Bringing the PCPD into this would only make it worse, Tracy." he told her. "You don't have to be here searching if you don't want to."
"Then I'd have to hear about it from the rest of the family." she huffed. "It's not my fault Helena snatched her."
"If you want to blame someone for this, blame Luke." he told her. "He's the one who started this entire thing of the Spencer's hating the Casssadine's."
"Then Luke should learn to keep a closer eye on Skye or stay away from her all together."
"Do you actually care what happens to your niece?" he asked, leading her down yet another hallway. "Or did you have something to do with my Grandmother kidnaping Skye?"
"What makes you think that I had anything to do with it?"
"Well, Tracy, it wouldn't be the first time you've partnered up with her."
"I had nothing to do with this." Tracy insisted. "And when we find Skye, she'll tell you the exact same thing."
"We're never going to find her!" Alexis whined. "It's entirely all my fault Helena got to her."
"Why would it be your fault?" Monica asked. "They way I see it, it's entirely Luke's fault, not yours."
"Because I should have killed Helena a long time ago." she replied as they climbed the tower stairs.
Monica opened the door at the top of the stairs. "Skye?" she called out. There was nothing, no sound, no movement, noone inside. "She's not here."
Alexis opened the door and stepped out onto the balcony, she looked over the parapet and down to the icy water. "Monica."
"Yeah?" she asked, walking out to where Alexis was standing.
"Do you think that Skye was troubled?"
Monica looked out at the surroundings and then her eyes traveled downward to the rising water and rocks beneath. "I think that Skye had more than her share of problems." she answered. "I also think that she was doing a really good job of turning her life around."
"What if she slipped off the wagon? What if something set her off into a destructive mode? Do you think she would be capable of hurting herself?" Alexis asked, softly. "Do you think that she would intentionally put herself in harm's way to get Luke's attention?"
"If you're asking if Skye would willingly come to Helena in order to get Luke, she wouldn't." Monica told her. "She's the one who left Port Charles and as for committing suicide, I really don't know. I guess if she were hurt and alone and she felt that she didn't have anyone to come to, maybe."
"So there's definitely a possibility that Skye came here on her on, jumped off the parapet, crashed on the rocks below and Helena found her and lured us all here just to get back at the Quartermaine's and at Luke?"
"As much as I hate to admit it, yes." Monica said, cautiously. "Skye's a recovering alcohol, anything and everything could have set her off. She could have just snapped, but then again Helena could have kidnaped her. So, we're going to find Skye and then we're going to ask her exactly what happened."
Alexis nodded in agreement and the two of them stepped back inside the tower. They made their way down to the bottom where they met Ric. "Any sign of her?" Monica asked.
"I found this." Ric said, holding up a burgundy colored scarf. "It was caught in a tree branch off the third story balcony in the tower I searched."
"It could belong to anybody." Alexis replied. "What makes you think it was Skye's?"
"Look, there are initials on the bottom." Monica commented as she took the scarf from Ric's hand. "AQ."
"Alexandria Quartermaine?" Alexis asked. "Didn't she die during the ice princess thing?"
"Yes." Monica answered. "Then again they could always stand for Antoinette Quartermaine."
"Who's that?" Ric asked, confused.
"Antoinette is Skye's first name." Monica replied.
Alexis nodded. "That's right, I completely forgot."
"You said you found the scarf on a tree branch?" Alexis asked him.
"Yeah." he answered. "It's really light, the wind could have picked it up and it could have got caught in the tree. It could have been dropped from higher up."
"We need to finish searching the towers." Monica told them. "We may be closer than we think."
Edward and Alan helped Emily search the opposite side of the house that Nikolas and Tracy were searching.
"When you talked to Skye last week, did she sound funny?" Emily asked her Father. "Did there seem like there might have been something wrong?"
"No." Alan answered. "Skye seemed perfectly fine. She was debating on coming back to Port Charles. She said that being in Paris had given her a lot of perspective."
"Being away from Luke Spencer would give anyone perspective." Edward added. "She's better off without him, although I do wish he would have left town instead of Skye."
Emily lead them into another part of the house. "I don't understand why Skye would leave to begin with. She was in love with Luke, what reason would she have to leave him?"
"If we don't hurry up and find her we're never going to know." Alan told them.
"Do you think that Tracy might have had anything to do with it?" Edward questioned. "She would do anything to get Skye out of this family."
"Well, she has teamed up with Helena before." Alan pointed out. "I guess it's possible."
"Can we not blame anyone right now?" Emily asked. "We don't have all the facts, we should be concentrating on finding Skye, not fighting about who was responsible."
"Emily's right." Alan agreed. "We need unity on this."
Tracy made her way into another room, quickly searching every corner. "Nothing." she told Nikolas as she met him back in the hallway. "We've searched dozens of rooms and we haven't even come up with an inkling of a clue to where Helena might have her."
"Maybe the other's are having more luck than we are." Nikolas said, hopeful.
"Helena could be leading us on a wild goose chase for all we know." Tracy breathed out. "She could be long gone by now."
"If there's one thing my Grandmother likes it's drama." he told her. "She called us here for a reason, we just have to figure out what it is."
Monica had agreed to search the top floors of the tower while Alexis searched the bottom ones. They were working on the third tower and still the only sign they had of Skye was a scarf that may or may not have been her's. Alexis opened the door at the bottom, she planned to work her way up.
She noticed the room was darker than the other, she made her way over to the balcony and pushed the door open. When she turned around she discovered a bed against the wall and then a form laying in it. Alexis rushed over to the end of the bed. "Skye?" she called out as she quickly approached the bed. "Skye are you all right?"
Alexis felt for a pulse and she barely found one. "Skye?" she called out again, hoping to get her to make even the smallest of sounds. "Skye!"
Ric came rushing in after hearing his wife calling out. "You found her." he breathed. "Is she alright?" he asked, making his way over to where Alexis was.
"Her pulse is weak and she's barely breathing." she told him. "She's really pale."
Ric dashed out of the room. "Monica!" he screamed "We found her, she's in here."
Monica ran down the stairs, luckily she had only been on the second floor. "Is she alive?" she asked, making her way over to the bed.
"Barely." Alexis replied. "There's something wrong."
Monica quickly checked her vitals. "Her pulse is weak and thready, her breathing is very shallow."
"What's wrong with her?" Alexis asked.
"I don't know, it seems like she may be have gone into shock." Monica told her. "Most likely from loss of blood." she pulled back the sheet intending to access Skye better, but when she did she revealed a massive amount of blood. "Ric, call General Hospital and tell them we need a helicopter right away."
Ric immediately felt nauseous, he left the room to make the call as Monica continued her examination.
"What happened?" Alexis asked her.
"I'm not sure." Monica answered honestly. "It looks like she may have had a miscarriage."
Luke burst through the door to see Monica and Alexis hovering over an unconscious Skye. "Oh, Thank God you found her!" Luke breathed. "Is she all right?"
Alexis tried to push Luke away before he seen the blood but it was too late. "What happened to her?" he yelled.
"Monica doesn't know yet." she told him. "She's doing the best she can."
"Luke, how far along was she?" Monica asked, trying to determine just how much blood her stepdaughter had lost.
"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.
"How many months pregnant?" Monica asked, again.
"What are you talking about?" Luke questioned. "Skye wasn't pregnant."
"It appears that she's had a miscarriage." Monica told him.
"I haven't seen Skye in months, if she had a miscarriage then the baby wasn't mine." he replied.
"Alexis, why don't you take Luke outside while I do a pelvic exam." Monica told her.
Luke and Alexis stepped outside for several minutes while Monica finished examining her. They stood outside in silence as they waited for Monica to come out with some news. Finally after it seemed like forever passed, Monica opened the door. "Well, I was wrong, she didn't have a miscarriage."
"I knew it!" Luke said.
"Skye had a baby." Monica informed them. "Less than an hour ago."
TBC...