Chapter Four - The Island

Luke awakened the next morning in the hut; Laura snuggled up in his arms. To his horror, his beloved Laura was burning up within the grips of a fever. She was moaning incoherently in her sleep. "Laura, you're delirious," he said as he brushed his lips against her warm, salty brow.

Hearing Luke's gasps of worry, Robert came to investigate. "Is something wrong in there, mate?" Robert asked as he peeked his head inside the hut. "How's Laura... and the baby?"

"She's not well. She has a fever," Luke lamented. "She needs medical attention. Something to bring the fever down."

Robert brought Luke a coconut shell filled with cool water. "Use this on her forehead," Robert instructed. "Don't leave her side. I am going to go search for help."

"Help?! What kind of help are going to find on this godforsaken island?" Luke asked in annoyance.

"I have an idea."

"Ahhh man, I don't like the sound of this," Luke said. "Does this idea involve a beautiful woman?"

"How did you know?" Robert asked with a laugh and a smirk.

"Cuz I know how your mind works..."

"Listen, I have seen signs of life on the island. I got up early this morning and I found something... on the beach."

"What was it?" Luke questioned as he pressed a moist, cool cloth to Laura's forehead.

"It was just what you said - beautiful women - in bikinis."

"You're not serious!"

"A little monkey lead me there. It was Alexandria Quartermaine, Tiffany Hill, and a few of the other ladies we saw on the ship. They were sunbathing on the beach in their bikinis while a couple of guards stood nearby."

"I bet you got an eyeful."

Once again, Robert smirked. "I think I might have an ally here on the island."

"And who would that be?" questioned Luke.

"I will give you all the details later. Just take care of Laura. I'll be back soon AND I'll do my best to return with some medicine."

"Thanks, pal," Luke said as he looked down at his beautiful angel. He was worried sick about her.

Not long after Robert's departure, Laura began to toss and turn. "No, Luke ... No!" she whimpered. "Stop it! STOP! It hurts!"

He recoiled as he pressed the piece of damp cloth against her fevered brow. She seemed to be relieving something horrific. Was she having some sort of nightmare about what happened that awful night at the disco? His first instinct was to bolt, but he knew that she needed him. "Baby, no... I'm here," he crooned. "I am not going to hurt you. I love you... and everything is gonna be okay."

"Luke, Luke," she murmured as she reached out to him blindly, trapped within the throes of a complete delirium. "Hold me... please."

Luke cradled her in his arms as he tenderly held her, brushing the tepid tendrils of hair out of her lovely face. "I won't let you go, angel. I promise," he said as he softly kissed her cheek.

Laura was heavily pregnant. He was concerned about her and their unborn child. Why was Laura so sick? Had she contracted some sort of strange and exotic island illness?

Finally she quieted, resting in Luke strong arms. He held her as he continued to try to bring down her fever with the damp piece of fabric. He knew she needed medical care, but he could not provide it for her. He could only hope that Robert would return with some sort of help for his beloved.

"Baby, we are going to get through this," he swore, but in truth he wasn't so sure. Would they ever make it back to Port Charles and their precious little Staci?

~*~o~*~

Robert stood near the beach, hiding within the thick vegetation. He had made eye contact with the alluring Miss Tiffany Hill, Victor Cassadine's girlfriend. He had to stay well hidden, so the guards wouldn't see him or Alexandria who he was certain would rat him out in a heartbeat.

Miss Hill made up a story about a monkey stealing her straw hat. "He was cute and brown... and he just snatched my hat right off my beach towel!" Tiffany said in a gasp, telling the guard that she had to go after her hat. After all, she just couldn't get a sunburn.

Alex rolled her eyes at Tiffany's dramatics. "That's why we are out on the beach. We are trying to soak up some sun and get a nice tan!" Alexandria said. "Who cares about your silly straw hat?!"

"But I just have to have it," Tiffany said as she wandered away into the vegetation, supposedly after a straw hat that didn't even exist. It was just a pretense so she could see the hot-looking guy who had been eying her on the beach while she had been sunbathing.

After she followed the man a short distance into the jungle, he turned back around and said, "You lost your straw hat, did you?"

"I think a little monkey stole it," she said as she eyed him up and down, just as he was taking in all her curves in her apricot-colored bikini.

"Why were you staring at me?" she demanded. "Who are you? And why are you on the island?"

"My name is Scorpio. Robert Scorpio," he said. "I am travelling with two companions... and one, a pregnant woman is very ill."

"What in the hell are you doing out in the jungle on an island with a pregnant woman?"

"I've asked that myself many times," he said. "But none of that really matters... You see, she's really sick. She has a fever... and it's not good for her or the baby. Can you help?"

"I can try," she said. "But Victor, Tony, and their older brother Mikkos are watching our every move. They have guards. They could be here any second."

"Please, Miss..."

"My name is Tiffany Hill. I'm Victor's girlfriend... or well, I was..." she explained. "He's a jerk and a total asshole... and I am done with him. Totally done. You should see the way I have been treated since we have arrived on this island. They almost wouldn't let me out of the compound, so I could get my tan."

"Do you have access in and out of the compound?"

"Well, yes... but it isn't easy to get out. There are guards everywhere."

"I need you to bring me a first aid kit, medicines, anything you can to help bring down the fever," he said urgently. "Meet me outside tonight... near the beach."

"I'll do what I can," Tiffany promised. "But what will I get in return?"

"I don't know. What do you want?"

"How about a kiss?" she asked provocatively as she stared into his luscious, sexy blue eyes.

"A kiss?" he said as he too was thinking about her dancing for him on the beach in nothing more than that sexy string bikini.

"Sure, a kiss... and help me get off this horrible island and away from the Cassadines!" she cried out. "I hate it here! They are awful, just awful."

"I promise I will help you escape, if you help me take care of Laura."

Tiffany nodded in agreeance. She then stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his in a long delectable kiss. As she swooned in his embrace, she forgot all about Victor, her supposed boyfriend.

"See you tonight," she said after the kiss.

The guards were calling out to her, searching through the vegetation. Robert had to hurry away, back to the little waterfall and Luke and Laura.

"How is she?" he asked, out of breath when he returned to Luke's side.

"Not well," Luke said. "I am worried about her and the baby."

"I found help. Tiffany Hill was on board the ship. She was dating one of the Cassadine brothers and she is going to come to the beach tonight with a first aid kit and some medicine."

"Can we trust her?" Luke asked.

Robert shrugged. "Right now she's the best chance we've got. And she knows her way in and out of the compound. She can help us get inside, so we can defeat the Cassadines as soon as Laura is well."

~*~o~*~

As promised, Tiffany returned to the beach that night, carrying a first aid kit and a bottle of aspirin. It didn't take long for Robert to signal her to follow him into the jungle. "How's your friend?" she asked as he took her hand and guided her toward Luke and Laura's location.

"She's the same," he replied.

Minutes later, they arrived at the waterfall and the adorable little hut Luke and Laura constructed. Seeing Laura lying so still inside the hut, Tiffany gasped. "I saw her on the Titan. I thought she was one of the maids. You're stowaways!"

"Yes, we are... and we here to help defeat the Cassadines."

"Mikkos has some sort of sinister plan. He wants to take over the world. He has a weapon of mass destruction," Tiffany told Luke and Robert sadly.

She handed over the first aid kit and the bottle of aspirin. Luke began to crush up two aspirins into a fine powder so he could add it to a little bit of water and administer it to Laura. "She's really sick," Tiffany observed when she saw Luke tenderly caring for Laura. "She needs a doctor. I think... I think she's about to give birth any minute."

"Well, I hope not," Luke said as he placed the coconut shell containing medicine to Laura's lips so she could consume a tiny sip.

"Come on, baby. Take your medicine," he coaxed.

Laura choked but got most of the medicine down. Now they could only hope that it would be enough to combat the fever, so Laura could start feeling well again.

"Thank you for risking your life and bringing us the aspirin and first aid kit," Robert said. "As soon as Laura is well, could you help us into the compound?"

"Yes, I'd do anything to get off this dreadful island and away from those psychotic Cassadine brothers," Tiffany replied. "I think Mikkos has killed a couple of the guests. I haven't seen them since we first stepped foot into the compound."

Robert and Luke looked at each other with great concern. It was obvious that the Cassadines had nothing but the cruelest of intentions. "Who knows what they have concocted with the Ice Princess Formula," said Robert. He was certain the Cassadines were about to use a deadly weapon of force so they could take power over the world.

"We have to get into the compound and stop them. Laura, please, you have to get better," Luke said as he kissed her and cradled her lovingly in his arms.

"I have to be going back now. If they catch me out here..." Tiffany stated with worry.

"I'll walk you back," Robert said.

"Sure, if I get another kiss," she bargained.

"Anything for a pretty lady," Robert said with a devilish smirk.

~*~o~*~

When Luke awakened the next day, he discovered that Laura's fever had broken. Whatever had caused her sickness seemed to be fading away. She was stirring in her sleep, but her limbs were slightly stiff. She was hungry and overcome with weakness. "Luke, what happened?" she questioned.

"You were incredibly sick," he said. "I thought... I thought I was going to lose you... and our baby."

Laura wrapped her arms around him, trying to comfort him as he looked so sad. "I'm going to be okay, Luke. And so is our baby."

She pressed his hand to the extremely large mound of her stomach, so he could feel the vigorous kicks of their child from within. "He wants to come out and join us soon."

"No, he better stay in there. I am not delivering another..." Suddenly he just stopped talking, staring at Laura. "Did you just say he?"

"Yes, I think we are having a boy this time," Laura said happily. "Staci is going to get a little brother."

Laura was laughing at Luke's expression. He seemed shocked for some reason. Then a huge smile broke out on his face. "A boy would be just fine," he said. "But most of all, I want you and our child to be healthy."

"We will be, Luke. This is one lucky little baby."

"Can we name him Lucas Lorenzo Spencer?" he asked.

She grinned. "Of course... after his daddy."

Luke whooped with joy. Laura was better.. and they were going to be having another baby soon. He was exceedingly happy, but before they could have too much of a celebration, there was the nasty business they had to see to first - taking care of the Cassadines.

"Baby, just as soon as you feel up to it, we are breaking into the Cassadine compound," Luke said. "I know it's going to be risky as hell, but we have no other choice."

"I feel up to it," she said. "You and me against the world, Luke... but this time, we'll have Robert's help."

"He keeps cozying up to Victor Cassadine's lady," Luke remarked.

"I heard that!" Robert exclaimed right outside the hut.

He peeked in to see that Laura was doing so much better. "Glad to have you back, love," he said to her with a smile.

"It's good to be back," she said. "Now which one of you men are going to go out and snag me some breakfast? I am an extremely pregnant lady. I am ravenous, so I demand..."

Luke and Robert burst into chuckles. "Breakfast for the pregnant lady coming right up," Robert stated.

"I do like hut service," Luke said with a smirk as he lay down on the make-shift bed beside his lovely Laura.

Author's Note: Stay tuned for Chapter Five - Luke Saves the World