A stunned silence fell over the diner. A million images flooded Lucky's mind, everything from the day his baby sister was born at General Hospital with the widest eyes he had ever seen to the last time he had seen her standing behind the counter of the very same restaurant he was currently in. Lulu was missing and the person she counted on most in this world had been too wrapped up in his own problems to even notice. He immediately felt overwhelming guilt consume him as he stared blankly at the young blonde man standing in front of him. How had Dillon known when he was a thousand miles away and Lucky had been oblivious in the same town?

"How long has she been gone? What do you know?" he asked, looking from Dillon to Jason. His earlier conversation with Elizabeth was long forgotten as he grabbed his hooded leather jacket and headed for the door. Reaching for his cell phone in his back pocket, his first instinct was to put a call into the station. Mac could have an APB out on Lulu in seconds and every man would be out combing the streets of Port Charles for his baby sister. He was about to push the connect button when Jason reached out and snatched the phone away. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Jason stared hard at Lucky for a minute before looking past the detective's shoulder at the petite brunette peering out at them from inside the café. "We think that her disappearance has something to do with Johnny Zacharra. If the cops start looking for her, there is a chance that whoever has her will just move her again. This has to be kept quiet for her sake. The less they move her, the easier it will be to find Lulu," he explained calmly. "Spinelli is keeping Logan and Johnny busy looking for her so that I can actually search. My guys are on it, and since she is your sister, I thought you should help. After what she's been through, Lulu is going to want to see you."

Sometimes, if he looked hard enough, Lucky could still see the semblance of the man that had almost been his friend once upon a time. He knew that there had to be some good to him if Emily had loved him so devoutly. Still, this was the man partly responsible for ruining his life. He hated that he had to work with him, but there was absolutely nothing he wouldn't do to make sure that Lulu came home safely to her family. "I will do whatever I have to do to protect my sister," he proclaimed coldly. He turned to Dillon and extended his hand to rest it on his shoulder. "How did you find out?"

"My mom called last night to see if I had heard from Lulu. She hadn't shown up for a few days, so she was starting to get worried," Dillon explained. Lucky could tell that he was nervous and clearly shaken up about Lulu's disappearance. He had long thought that his sister's brief affair with Dillon was more than a flash in the pan and the anxious way that Dillon stood before him now answered any reservations that he might have had. "I don't know where she could be, Lucky. I haven't talked to her since Christmas. The last time we talked, Lu was so angry at me. We fought. I hate that we left it like that. I won't forgive myself if anything…"

Shaking his head firmly, Lucky refused to let him finish the sentence. "Nothing is going to happen to my sister. She is a strong woman. Hell, she's a Spencer. We've survived worse," he retorted, more to himself than anyone else. "The three of us are going to work together to bring Lulu home. Between my resources at the station and Jason's manpower, we will find a way to do this. I was too worried about my own life to see what was happening right in front of my eyes. I let Lulu down once, and I refuse to do it again."

Looking up at Lulu's brother, Dillon felt the impact of his last sentence. Like Lucky, he had let Lulu down once – more than once, if he was truly honest with himself. He owed her this and so much more. He hadn't been the man she needed him to be during the pregnancy, and he hadn't fought hard enough to hold onto her in the months that had passed. He was going to make sure that he brought her home, and when he did, he was going to tell her exactly how he felt about her. Looking to Jason, he nodded resolutely. "Let's do this. Let's do whatever we have to do to bring her back."

Dillon's grand announcement was answered with a calm silence from Jason. He didn't say anything, choosing instead to lead the two men to an idling limousine in the back alley. This journey was one that was bound to change their lives, but he had to do this just as much as they did. Lucky was looking for redemption, doing his best to make up for a time when he hadn't been the brother that she needed. Dillon was searching for answers, trying to figure out how he felt about the vivacious blonde that reminded Jason all too much of another woman in his life. And Jason, well, he was trying to find forgiveness from that certain blonde for how he had lied to her. For all of them, getting Lulu back was the only resolution.

Once they were in the limo, Jason began to explain his plan of attack. "I had Spinelli run a trace on her cell phone. The last known activity it had was with a tower just north of town. Its signal pinged two days ago just after midnight. I already have guys out there searching. I've put taps on Trevor Lansing and Jerry Jacks because somehow, this has to be connected to Zacharra."

"I told Lulu to stay away from that scumbag," Lucky muttered. Lulu had been angry, telling him that she had been taking care of herself for long enough. However, she was desperate for an escape. She had seemed so tired of living her life. Now, Lucky understood that it wasn't her life she was tired of, it was a lie. She didn't want to go on pretending that she cared about Logan. She wanted to use Johnny to feel numb. Like her older brother, that was the kind of thing you did when you didn't want to feel the pain of a love lost. For a long time, his had been Elizabeth. Hers was Dillon, and now, he was starting to think that he was mourning the loss of Sam.

""Where could they be hiding her out there?" Dillon asked, trying to wrack his brains for a possible location. Time was wasting and the longer this went on, the more danger Lulu could be in.

Lucky thought for a moment. There were a few abandoned houses, a rundown biker bar and a dive café that hardly anyone frequented. However, just past what was considered the 'slum' of Port Charles, there was a gated fortress. "The monastery," he realized aloud. As soon as he said it, he was sure that was where she was. He also knew that time was of the essence, and that he needed to get to Lulu now. She wasn't the type to give in easy, so she was going to fight. He knew better than anyone what she was like when she fought. It could get her in trouble.

For the past hour, Lulu had been absently kicking the door in hopes that the guard would get annoyed and come back in the room. It wasn't much of a plan but in her exhausted state, it was the best one she could come up with. Someone had dropped off a tray of food a few minutes ago, but it looked fairly inedible. Besides, she wasn't going to give her captors the satisfaction of eating. She was determined to get sick because she knew that the monks would have to help her. It didn't matter how much they were being paid to keep her there, it was their moral obligation to help someone in distress. Still, as her stomach turned over and growled in protest, she figured that a small nosh couldn't hurt. She could eat just enough to get her through the night and settle down her racing mind. Maybe if she could think about something other than her hunger she would be able to come up with a plan that might actually work.

With a final kick against the bolted door, Lulu crawled across the room to the low table where her food tray sat untouched. There was some kind of nondescript meat in brown gravy, shriveled corn, a hard rye roll and a handful of waxy carrots – hardly the gourmet cuisine she had grown used to at the Quartermaine mansion thanks to Cook. However, in the smallest corner of the tray sat the answer to her prayers. The brittle cherry cobbler hardly looked edible, especially to someone as allergic to cherries as Lulu. She knew that one bite of the putrid dessert would cause her body to break out into hives and her throat to swell shut. It wouldn't kill her, but it would do enough to scare anyone else around her. Picking up the fork, she took a deep breath and hacked into it willingly. An allergic reaction would be the perfect diversion.

Ten minutes later, she was happy when the first red bumps started to appear on her smooth skin. Standing in front of the mirror, she opened her throat wide to inspect her tonsils. On cue, they were becoming lined with white pockets and swelling twice their usual size. "Help!" she called out before collapsing to the floor. She was going to pretend to be a little weaker than she was to get that additional sympathy. "Please, someone help me! Something's wrong."

An older man came into the room, a look of dismay playing in his gentle features. "Oh, dear," he gasped as he knelt at her side. Brushing back her golden hair, he ran his open palm over her forehead to check for a fever. Like she had predicted, Lulu was burning up. The man stood up and called out for someone else to come. Letting her eyes fall closed, she felt the men lift her and carry her out of the room. She gasped a few times for added affect, letting them think that she was having difficulty breathing. "It's okay, my child. We are taking you to the infirmary. Brother Frances will be able to heal whatever ails you."

Lulu felt slightly guilty that she was deceiving these holy men, but desperate times called for desperate measures. This was a game of survival and if her faceless enemies were going to play games, she was going to give them hardball. "Please help me," she implored softly. Her voice sounded so weak and frail. Her skin crawled with untamed itchiness as more hives swept over her entire body. Shaking off the physical pain, she tried to act clueless as she looked back at the robed. "What is happening to me?"

"We're getting you help, my child," he promised as they came into a bright room. She recognized the sterile smell of disinfectant as the men laid her own a hard gurney.

Lulu tried to sit up but fell back pitifully. She was a little weaker than she had thought she would be but still coherent enough to have control over the situation. Another man, this one in a robe with a red cross on the left breast, hovered over her with a flashlight. He began asking her a series of questions as he examined her.

"It appears that she is having an allergic reaction to something," the doctor told the man who had been guarding her. The other two men who had carried her stood nearby, watching carefully over their patient. "We do not have the proper medication here to treat you. We are going to have to transport her into the city to General Hospital."

"That is not possible," the guard informed them coldly. "Lulu is a very disturbed girl and something like that could have an even worse affect on her. You tell me what she needs and I will find a way to get it here immediately."

Peaking up at her doctor, Lulu saw the man nod before following the guard out of the room. The other two men remained behind. The first one who had found her padded over to the edge of the bed and took her limp hand in his. "We cannot just leave her here like this," he told the other softly. "I do not know what this guard is up to, but this girl will surely suffer if she does not get help now. We have to find a way to get her to the hospital."

Opening her eyes, she looked up at the man and smiled. "I think I might have a way."

Nikolas snapped his phone shut in frustration. He had been trying to call his brother all afternoon with no answer. He had also tried Lulu several times, but like Lucky, he had been unable to reach her. Alone in his hospital room, Nikolas was becoming more restless by the minute. Robin had come by to visit awhile ago and Lesley had picked up Spencer again as promised. It was only when he was alone again that his mind began to race.

It was night time that Nikolas dreaded most. It was also the time that he missed Emily the most. More often than not, he would conjure her up in his mind and allow her to comfort her. However, his earlier conversation with Nadine left him feeling slightly guilty. He didn't want Emily to see him like this.

"I can see you anyhow," she called out, clearly reading his mind. She was leaning in the door way of the room, her hair tousled slightly like she had just finished working a long shift. Every time he saw her in the hospital, she looked like she had just gotten off work. Dressed in her standard blue scrubs, this was the Emily he remembered at the hospital. It was strange how she would transform to fit his surroundings. "Did you have a good visit with Spencer earlier? I can't believe how big he has gotten in the last few weeks since we've been here."

Smiling a private smile reserved only for her, Nikolas nodded thoughtfully. Sliding over in the bed, he made room for Emily to perch on the edge. "Nadine brought him by for another visit. Every second that I am away from him, I feel like a part of me is missing. It's only when he's here at the hospital that I become whole again," he explained. He knew that Emily would understand even if he didn't quite get it himself. "I guess it's a lot like I feel when you leave. I'm not at peace until you're back again."

Small silver tears filled the corners of Emily's gentle eyes. "Nikolas, you know that I'm not really here with you. I am going to disappear again. Maybe it's time you star trying to find a way to be at peace without me," she retorted. He looked at her defiantly, but Emily reached up to cup his cheek. He softened under her warm and familiar touch. "You can't depend on me anymore to make you whole. If you do, there is always going to be a piece of you missing. I know that you don't want to let go of me, but I can't hold you back anymore."

He wanted to fight with her, but he knew that he would only be screaming at himself. Turning away, he fought back the tears that threatened to crest over the wall he had built behind his eyes. When glanced back, Emily was gone. Instead, Nadine was the one leaning in the doorway with tousled hair and blue scrubs. "Oh, it's you."

Nadine was jarred by the distance of his greeting. "Sorry, I just thought I would come by to check on you. I'll leave you alone," she apologized icily. Turning on her sneakered heel, she started to go until Nikolas called out to stop her. Glaring at him with her arms crossed, she waited for an apology. When it didn't come, she began to tap her toe impatiently. "Well?"

"I'm sorry," he said finally, looking down at his folded hands in shame. Nadine smiled brightly and shook her head. Nikolas bit his bottom lip to keep from smiling back at her. It hadn't taken much to convince her to let it go – only two simple words. The ease of it all reminded him so much of Emily. "She was just here. I looked away for a minute and then she was gone. When I looked up again, you were there. It was strange, that's all."

She studied him carefully, searching for the words to express what she was feeling. "You keep looking for something that isn't there anymore, Nikolas. I know what that feels like more than you know," she replied. "But eventually, you're going to stop looking up and expecting to see her. When that day comes, I'll still be here. You need a friend right now, and I want to be that for you. Emily isn't here anymore, but I promise you that I am not going to go."