Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who read this story. Thank you for all of your great comments. The story is now over, but I'm glad that you all enjoyed it so much.

"This feels wrong." Nikolas looked down at his hands. There wasn't the slightest tremor in them anymore. He felt healthier than he'd been his entire life. He was alive and well, but his brother was gone. "My uncle is planning a wedding. As we sit here, he's in the office on the phone, calling people to make arrangements. This doesn't feel right."

"Do you not want to do this anymore, Nikolas?" Emily looked up at him, and there was such desperation in her eyes. Such pleading. "Do you not want to get married?"

He shook his head. "It's not that. I love you, Emily, and I want to marry you, but… I don't know how to do this without Lucky here." He sighed. "It's hard to do this without Lucky here. To have Uncle doing all of this, helping."

Even when the Musketeers broke up, Lucky had been behind this love that had grown between Nikolas and Emily. Like he'd been waiting for it to happen, expecting it to happen, and he was just so glad that they'd finally realized it. That Emily had seen that this was more than a crush. That Nikolas had realized how much he loved Emily.

It was the only time that the four of them could sit together and be on good terms. With the focus on Nikolas and Emily, it was like the old days. It was back when Lucky and Elizabeth were going to be together forever. The four sat around at able at Kelly's and planned the wedding of the century. But now… Now, it was all shattered.

Lucky was gone, and this time, he wasn't coming back. He wouldn't make a miraculous appearance. They wouldn't go on some dangerous mission to make sure that he stayed alive. Lucky was gone, and there was no Lucky and Liz.

Elizabeth had Alcazar. She would be there for the wedding. She would stand next to Emily as though things were the same, but Lucky wouldn't be on the other side of Nikolas, making eyes at her. Of course, it almost meant that Liz and Lucky wouldn't be fighting, either, but that was a small price to pay to have him there.

Elizabeth was still around, but in the end, it was now just Nikolas and Emily. They would have a wedding with friends and family. They would have a wedding with Cassadine business associates. Even Emily's mobster brother had agreed to attend the wedding. But Lucky wouldn't be there, and it seemed wrong to be concentrating on something that would exclude him, when it originally had so much to do with him.

"Lucky wanted this," Emily told him. "He wanted us to get married, and… he wanted your uncle to stop fighting us. Ya know, Lucky was really selfish sometimes, and he let himself get caught up in the Cassadine versus Spencer thing, but in the end… Ya know, I think he'd be glad that if nothing else came out of this thing, that it meant that we wouldn't have to fight Stefan for our wedding."

"I know. I can hear him grousing and grumbling, annoyed that Uncle is in the middle of it. Telling us that he'll take the wedding over for himself, but he'd do it with some satisfaction because at least he was helping instead of hindering."

"So, let's think about that, okay?" She swallowed hard. "I've cried so hard, and I'm still crying. I'm crying with you. For you. For Lucky and everybody else, but… We have to live, Nikolas. We've said goodbye, and now we have to say hello to our life. And if that sounds selfish, I don't know what else to do. I don't know what else to say."

"You're not selfish, Emily. You're right. I just… I have to go forward, because if I go backward, I'll never get forward again."

"Pop would have come, but he didn't think that he should be here." Diego looked nervously around the room. He didn't know most of the people there, but he bet his father knew them. "If you don't want me here, I can go."

"Diego, no, it's fine." Carly sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm glad to see you looking so well."

He'd felt the need to be there. To stop by and give his condolences. Sure, the other people there wouldn't care to see him, but Carly had saved his life. If it weren't for her, he would have been dead. If nothing else, he had to give her some kind of support. It was the decent thing to do.

"I told Pop that he should come with me, but…" Diego shrugged.

Carly picked up his sentence. "But, he didn't want to cause me anymore grief." She sighed. "That's your father. Always thinking about me. That's something about you Alcazar men. You do a lot of wrong things, but when it comes to us, you do what you think is right."

That was a strange way of putting it, but Diego guessed she was right. He didn't know his uncle that well, but hadn't he done the same thing for Elizabeth Webber? Saved her the trouble of an uncomfortable situation, even though he wanted to be there with her? Diego had been there for his friends at Justus's funeral, even if they didn't really notice that he was there. Well, Georgie did, but Dillon was in his own world. But that's how it went with funerals. Your own world, your own place to mourn.

"I haven't had the chance to thank you," he told her. "You didn't have to do what you did, and I know that you really didn't do it for me. But, you did go out there, and you brought back a cure. I should thank you for that."

"Ya know, Diego, I think I did do it for you, in a way." She shrugged. "I did it for you, and even though I didn't like him, I did it for your uncle, because if the two of you died, Lorenzo would be lost to everybody. He'd go back in that place, ya know? It's not safe in that place, that zone he goes to in his grief. He went there for a while with Sage, and I really didn't want him to go there again."

"So, you're saying you did it for Pop?"

"I'm saying… I don't know what I'm saying." She sighed and shook her head. "I did it for Lorenzo, but I did it for you, too. He loves you, Diego."

"I know. I mean, I know that, now." He shrugged. "We had a lot of problems, ya know? But, when I got sick, he was right there. I kept trying to tell him to go on his date, and he kept telling me that I was more important. I never thought that I'd be more important than anyone else in his life."

"You're his son, Diego. Trust in that, alright? Trust that he loves you and… don't let this whole thing have been just one thing you forget in your past. Remember what happened, and how we all got to where we are, because that's important."

"And where are we, anyway?"

"We're… we're at a point where everything has changed, and we have to accept that. We've all got hard choices to make, but yours are easy."

"And that is?"

"Love your father, Diego." Carly turned slowly and her eyes settled on Morgan sitting on the sofa next to Kristina, both of their heads down. "Love your father, and tell him that you love him, because you never know when the chance to do that will be taken away from you."

His leg seemed even weaker, now. As Luis moved around his brother's home, leaning heavily on his cane, he could feel his leg trying to give out on him. It screamed like it had done back when he first began to walk on it. The pain was almost unbearable, but he had to fight through it. He had to be back on his feet and able to move without giving too much away. He always had the cane, would always have to use it, but he didn't have to leave so heavily on it.

As soon as he was back to normal, he could go back to his yacht. Luis was waiting for construction on his house to be finished. The yacht had been temporary, when he didn't know that he would be staying in Port Charles. Now, though, he had reason to stay. He knew that he would only be leaving if forced, and he didn't see anything happening that would cause that any time soon.

He was going to stay for her. He knew that was the reason, else he'd have already been gone. Luis had a wandering soul, he'd once been told. Staying in one place for too long made his skin crawl, but for Elizabeth… She was the reason he stayed in Port Charles, and the idea of staying in town suddenly didn't seem so foreign, or so horrible.

"Why are you up? I knew I should have tried harder to make you stay in the hospital." He looked up and Elizabeth was standing there, watching him with disapproval. She held Cameron by the hand, and the little boy tried to pull away from her. "I, um, the guards let me in."

Luis nodded, then turned to walk towards her. He moved slowly, and his leg shook with each step. "I have to be on my feet, Elizabeth," he said softly. "I'm not the kind to sit and wait for things to happen."

"You're still weak, Luis." She moved towards him, and for a second, he thought that her steps would falter. Was there some look on his face? The only thing he could think that he would be showing was pure adoration. "I…"

"Cameron apparently has some issue with being here."

"What?" She looked down at him, then shook her head. "Oh no, it's not that. He's been asking for you for days." She stopped short, pressing her lips together. "I could only keep him away for so long. Apparently, resting isn't his strong suit, either."

"Then let him go, Elizabeth. I'm still strong enough to hold a young child in my arms." She stared to speak and Luis put up his hand. "I'll even sit down for him. I wouldn't pick him up when I know that I might send us both crashing to the floor."

She didn't say anything, though Luis had expected her to protest in some fashion. Instead, she waited until he was seated on the sofa, then let the boy go. Cameron ran across the room and jumped up into Luis's lap. Luis held back the pained scream that threatened to crawl up from his throat. He bit his lip, then smiled at Cameron. A child hadn't run to him with such enthusiasm since Sage was a little girl. He wasn't going to let his pain ruin his moment.

"I'm sorry," Elizabeth said quickly. "This is my fault. The pain your in…" Luis looked up to see her head shaking. "Lorenzo made it my choice, and I shouldn't have… I just… I thought pain was better than you dying, and for all I know, you might be wishing that I'd just let you go, but I couldn't do that. I couldn't stand by and watch you die if I could do something. Cameron has already lost his father, and he lost Lucky long ago. We both lost him before you ever came into our lives. I couldn't take someone else from him. I couldn't… I couldn't let myself lose someone else. So, if you don't even want to see me again, if you're mad that I let you be in such pain, then just say it, and I'll go. I'll still let you see Cameron if you want, because he wants to see you, but I—"

"Your mother rambles," Luis told Cameron with a soft smile. The boy nodded and Luis laughed. He looked up to Elizabeth and told her, "I don't want you to go anywhere."

"But…"

"Lorenzo has told me everything that I said in delirium, and you need to know that I meant every word. The fever and the illness merely gave me the freedom to say them. I've fallen in love, though I tried my best to not do that, but I have. Knowing that selfishness caused this pain makes it all the more bearable. Because it means that you care enough for me to be selfish. So, the question is not whether I want you to leave, but if you will sit here with Cameron and me, and give me a moment of happiness that relieves the pain instead of a pill."

Luis put his hand out to her, and he didn't have to wait long. Elizabeth took his hand. She sat down. And for a while, the pain wasn't quite so bad.

Sam watched at the funeral as one after another, people who had to be mob affiliated came up to Jason to lend his condolensces. She watched at Sonny's house as they came to him and paid tribute. She listened as whispers of a meeting were made, and talk was made of Jason's obligations. And she listened while Jason told them all that he would handle everything when he came back.

She wasn't stupid. Once the shock of Sonny's death had worn off, Sam's mind went straight to what it meant. Jason would have to take his place. He had never wanted to run the territory, but there was no way he would give it to someone else. Everything had been left to him, and he had to take care of things. He had to push his own grief aside and take care of business. But he said that it could wait.

"I told Danny that we would go to Hawaii," he said with a groan. They were back in the penthouse. Danny was asleep upstairs. Jason stared out the window, his hands in his pockets. His suit jacket and tie were gone, but the slacks and black shirt were still there. He looked wholly uncomfortable. "I told Danny that we'd go, and that's what we're doing. We're going to Hawaii, and the rest of this mess can wait until we get back."

Sam sighed and walked up behind him. She pressed her cheek to Jason's back. She wrapped her arms around his waist. She squeezed him and let out a heavy breath. "Danny will understand, Jason. You have important things to do here."

"Danny shouldn't have to understand. You shouldn't have to understand. How many times did business get put to the side because Sonny had to—" He stopped and ran his hand over his head. "I can't believe I'm even thinking about this. I shouldn't have to do this, Sam. He wasn't supposed to die on me."

"Why? Because Sonny never dies? Because everyone else dies and he lives? Jason, sometimes, this happens."

"But he wasn't supposed to die. Is it my fault?"

"Jason?"

"I didn't think about him, Sam." He turned away from the window and Sam slid around his body. When he stopped moving, her head was against his stomach. Arms still around him, Sam leaned back and looked up. "When I went to get that chimp, I was thinking about you and Danny."

"You're allowed to have your own family, Jason. I'm sorry that he's gone, but… Don't beat yourself up over this."

"He was like a brother to me, Sam. We've been through a lot together, and yeah, Sonny's taken a lot from me, but I always forgave him. How could he forgive me for letting him die?"

"Jason, you did what you could. You can't do everything. You can't help everyone. You can't save everyone." Sam sighed and shook her head. "Maybe it is good that we go to Hawaii, now. You can't handle this, and you need to get away. This isn't our vacation, Jason, it's yours. You have to be ready to take over, and you can't do that until you've had time to think. Until you've had time to grieve."

"I've grieved," he told her. "I've cried. I've done everything that nobody expects the robot Jason to do."

"You're not a robot. You're a person, and you just handle things differently. You're taking this all in without any thought to yourself. It's about what you promised Danny. What you promised me. What you owe the other families. What you owe to Sonny. What do you owe yourself, Jason?"

He started to speak, then stopped as there was a knock on the door. Max peeked his head inside and said, "Jason? Lorenzo Alcazar is here to see you."

Jason sighed and before Sam could tell him to make Alcazar wait, Jason said, "Okay, Max, send him in." He looked down at Sam and admitted, "I owe myself a break."

"Then take one." She stretched herself up and it was Jason's cue to lean down. He kissed her softly and Sam murmurred against his lips. She lowered herself back to her feet, then pulled away from him. "I'll be upstairs with Danny," she told him. "We'll start packing." Jason nodded, and Sam left him to handle his business.

Because it was his business now.