A/N: Whew, I feel like I'm running a marathon with writing this story :) but I'm just on a roll and I can't seem to stop! So, I'm going to address some of the questions that I've been getting on the reviews… Firstly, I also used to like Brook on GH and I can assure you that she's not the "villain" in this story… but she's definitely not a saint… that's all I can say without telling you what happens and I'd hate to spoil the story… secondly, don't worry… you guys will find out what exactly happened to Aura soon enough… have I ever left you guys hanging? And the last point is that everything that has happened in the JoLu story up until now still holds... meaning Logan is still dead, they went on the run, Lulu went to Shadybrook, and so on and so forth. I know I used a shot in the trailer with Logan in it but Logan is in fact dead in this story. Alright, I think that clears up most of the questions that I got in the reviews… Onwards with the next chapter!

Holding back the years
Chance for me to escape from all I've known
Holding back the tears
'Cause nothing here has grown
I've wasted all my tears
Wasted all those years
And nothing had the chance to be good
Nothing ever could
I'll keep holding on…

"Holding Back the Years" – Simply Red

Chapter 3 – Keep Holding On

Johnny hated this house.

It was dark, gothic and depressing. The walls were blood red and all of the furniture was crafted from dark Mahogany. It was a good thing he couldn't remember this house or growing up here when he was little. When Brook had told him that he had a rough childhood, at first he was skeptical but taking a look at the house, evil seemed to ooze out of the walls and he immediately believed her.

The house was in his possession and had been deserted for almost two years. He finally was able to track down his father's whereabouts… a clinic for the criminally insane and that immediately made him scrap the idea of visiting his father and he was still debating whether or not he should contact his sister or not. Brook had said that they hadn't spoken in over five years and he decided that he would table the idea of calling her until he felt that it was necessary.

Brook had been reluctant to bring Johnny to his childhood home here in Crimson Pointe and he was starting to understand why but he couldn't help but to get stir crazy after being confined to the mansion for almost three weeks after he was released from the hospital.

"Johnny? Do you want anything from the kitchen?" Brook asked, poking her head into the study.

Johnny, who was sprawled out on the couch near the window, looked up at her and shook his head. The entire purpose of this visit to Crimson Pointe and Port Charles was to get his memory back but for some reason, Brook seemed to be wary of letting him go into town, citing that she was worried about his other injuries. He knew that she meant well but he was going to lose his mind if he didn't get out of this stupid house.

He slowly eased himself off the couch, wincing in pain as he stood up. He could hear Brook on the phone in the kitchen, arguing with either her mother or her manager about taking so much time off to take care of Johnny. He tiptoed towards the oversized antique front door and opened it slowly so that it wouldn't creak. The cool evening air hit his face and for the first time since he woke up in that hospital bed, he felt alive. He made his way down onto the main road, taking slow steps so that he wouldn't aggravate any of his other injuries, and began walking. Dusk was settling and clouds were rolling in. Another storm was heading this way and Johnny immediately regretted not taking the car, even though he wasn't supposed to be driving. At least he should've brought an umbrella. Almost out of nowhere, Johnny found himself atop of a steep hill, staring down into the cluster of lights down below him. He could see ships in the harbor in the distance and a few high rises nearby. A warm sense of familiarity washed over him as he looked over the small city and he smiled.

That must be Port Charles.

"Well, well, well… look at who's back in town…"

Lulu rolled her eyes as Coleman leaned across the bar and smirked at her. Jake's hadn't changed since she last saw it and neither had Coleman.

"Yeah… I'm back from France…" Lulu said, setting down her leather jacket on her chair.

"How is your beautiful mother doing?" Coleman asked, who was already preparing a drink for Lulu, and she laughed.

"You'll never change…" Lulu said shaking her head.

"And that's why everyone loves me…" he said, sliding over a martini to her, and she laughed again before taking a sip of her extremely strong cocktail.

"My mother is fine… thank you very much for asking… I'm sure that she'll be delighted to hear that you asked about her…" she said sarcastically.

She stood up and walked over to the pool table, dragging her fingertips along the felt like fabric. She sighed and closed her eyes. She had been holding everything inside for so long. If her feelings were bottled up and locked away, they couldn't touch her but that wasn't a way to live. She had built too many walls around her after Aura died and her divorce from Johnny. She never wanted to hurt like that ever again.

Lulu picked up a pool stick and racked up the billiard balls. She wondered if she could still do that trick shot that her father had taught her when she was ten. She hadn't been in a pool hall in over six years and she had wanted to put a billiards table in the brownstone in Manhattan and convert the basement into a game room but other things came up in their life and it never came to pass. She leaned over the table, eyes focused on the cue ball for a good break, and struck quickly. The balls dispersed all over the table and a number of them slipped into the pockets. Lulu smiled and told herself that she would have to challenge Carly to a game of pool soon.

"Oh my—"

Lulu's brow folded into a questioning glance. Nothing ever fazed Coleman and to hear him be genuinely surprised by something was… surprising. She looked up and her heart stopped. She never understood the expression of one's blood running cold up until that moment….

Because standing no more than ten feet in front of her was Johnny Zacchara.

This had to be an out of body experience.

Because there was no other way to describe how he was feeling.

Johnny had managed to make it into town before the rain started and came across a small dive bar on the fringes of Port Charles. The neon sign above read "Jake's" and for the first time in a while, something seemed familiar. Acting on the familiarity, he walked straight in. The place was almost empty probably because of the incoming storm and the lights were low and hazy.

"What can I get for you?"

Johnny turned towards the direction of the voice and when their eyes met, the man standing behind the bar's jaw dropped. At least Johnny was right to suspect that he had been there before. The bartender had clearly recognized him.

"Oh my—" he whispered.

Johnny was about to say something when he heard a loud noise. He looked over and there she was. He didn't know who she was but some part of his unconscious that was buried deep within him sent his heart racing. The entire world seemed to fade away as he looked at her.

So beautiful…

Her hair was blonde and fell past her shoulders in loose golden waves. She was slender but with subtle curves in all of the right places. Her stance was statuesque, almost warrior like, leaving him to believe that she had a fiery personality. Contrastingly, her features were very soft… almost angelic and he was absolutely mesmerized by her. The noise that turned his attention to her was from her pool stick that she had dropped and that was now sitting at her feet.

He must've known her.

There was no way that he could have this strong of a reaction if they hadn't known each other and it was clear that she knew him too, like she had seen a ghost. He swallowed hard and took a step towards her and she responded by turning around and running out the back door.

"Wait!" he called, darting after her.

It had already started to rain when he pushed the back door open. It was raining hard and he called out to her again as she ran into the storm but she finally relented and stopped to turn around to face him slowly. Her blond hair was now wet and so was the red sweater that she was wearing. He couldn't tell if the wetness underneath her eyes was from the rain or if she had started crying.

"Please… don't leave…" he said, reaching out for her arm.

It was almost instinctual for him to reach out and touch her. She looked up at him, her bottom lip shaking and her eyes brimming with tears, and Johnny felt like he wanted to die for seeing her like this. It made him sick to think about what he could have possibly done to make her react like this and he didn't know why. She quickly ripped her arm away from him and took a few steps back.

"You don't get to tell me what to do, Johnny…" she finally said.

"Can we at least get out of this rain? There's something that I need to explain…" he said, trying to bring her back inside.

"I don't need to hear anything that comes out of your mouth!" she screeched.

"Please… just give me two minutes…" he begged.

"Why? After everything that's happened between the two of us, why should I give you anything?" she yelled.

"Because I was in a car accident… I have amnesia… I—I don't remember anything about my life before a month ago…" he said and immediately he saw her eyes flicker through a million different emotions until one won out.

Anger.

He didn't even see her hand flinch. He just felt the sting when she slapped him clear across the face. He staggered backwards and placed a hand where his cheek stung. He looked back up at her and knew that he probably deserved that slap for something that he had done a long time ago.

"That's low… even for you, Johnny…" she hissed.

"I'm not lying… why would I lie about this?" Johnny cried.

"Because it's what you do! You lie like it's the easiest thing in the world!" she shot back.

Her tone shook him. He must've done a number on this girl. A part of him didn't want to remember how he hurt her but apparently, it was bad.

"I was on my way here… to Port Charles when the accident happened…" he began.

"Why?" she asked.

"I don't remember! Maybe I was coming here to see you or maybe not… I honestly don't know…" Johnny said, slightly annoyed by the fact that she still didn't believe him.

"There's only one reason why you would come into town and it's not because of me… god knows you made that abundantly clear four years ago…" she said.

"What?" he asked. It was like she was speaking a different language.

"I don't buy for a second that this amnesia is real…" she growled.

"Look, I don't know what I did to deserve this and maybe this is what I deserve for whatever I did to you but I can honestly say that the person that you're so angry with is not me… I'm not that person… I—I don't even know who that person is or what he was like before this accident…" Johnny said.

She looked at him, scrutinizing his features to tell if he was lying, and she folded her arms across her chest.

"Say I believe you… and you have lost your memory… why me? I'm sure that you have people that would bend over backwards to help you…" she said.

"I know… but I just have this feeling that Brook isn't being as forthcoming as—" he began and her eyes immediately went livid.

"Wait… Brook? You're still with Brook?" she asked, disgust in her voice.

Johnny pressed his fingertips to his temple and sighed heavily. Little by little he was beginning to regret this quest he was on to find out who he was because whenever he found out something new, it wasn't good.

This had to be some really crazy dream.

Or Johnny was the most manipulative bastard that she had ever had the displeasure of being married to.

He had done some horrible things before… to her and to others but she never thought that he could or would stoop this low.

Amnesia?

Did he think that she was stupid? What was he trying to pull? She hadn't heard from him in four years since that day that she left Manhattan. He didn't even try to fight for her after she returned back to Port Charles. He didn't follow her and beg her to take him back… he didn't call every day to apologize and ask for another chance…

He just vanished.

Just more proof that he never gave a damn about her or their life together. She often wondered if he even went to visit Aura's grave but knowing Johnny, she knew that he probably couldn't be bothered with visiting his only daughter's grave when he had a jet-setting pop star girlfriend. Even after all of this time, the thought of Brook draped all over Johnny still made her stomach turn.

So why now? Out of all of the times he could've waltzed back into her life, he had to choose now… when she was trying so desperately to move past all of it. Fate was a cruel and merciless thing.

"Everybody knows about you and Brook… she's famous after all…" Lulu said, quickly covering up her slip about Brook.

"I just—I really need you to help me…" he said.

She looked into his soft brown eyes and a little piece of her heart, that one tiny speck that still cared about him, fluttered. Internally, she cursed his beautiful and soulful eyes. They had made her do some stupid things in her life…

Like fall in love with him.

She sighed heavily and nodded. Johnny always had the ability to talk her into anything. They walked back underneath the shelter of the roof of Jake's, both soaking wet.

"I'm sorry for slapping you…" she muttered sheepishly.

"That's alright… maybe you can fill me in on us and I can understand why you did it…" he said, smiling at her.

She bit her bottom lip and looked away from him. She could tell him the truth but she didn't want to hear it again. She had already lived through it and saying it out loud was probably going to make her emotional and that was the last thing she wanted… and it wouldn't be fair to burden him with the weight of their history. She had worked so hard to move on and she didn't want to look back.

"There's—there's not much to tell… we were friends and we sort of dated for a few months but—but nothing came of it…" she said, fidgeting with her hands.

"Why did we break up?" he asked and she laughed bitterly.

"It's complicated…" she said.

"Why do I always hear that?" he muttered.

"Because you're a very complicated man, Johnny Zacchara…" she said.

"Please? Can't you just tell me?" he begged.

She lifted her head to look at him. He looked different somehow. He still had his impeccable chiseled features, cropped dark brown hair, dazzling smile, strong arms… but he wasn't like the man that she divorced: the man whose eyes were black, cold, and lifeless. Now, there was a fleck of light that was in his eyes. The one that she used to see when he looked at her and when he looked at their daughter. She quickly looked away and swallowed hard. For the first time in god knows how long, she was finally seeing the boy that she had fallen in love with so long ago.

"What is it?" he asked, noticing her emotional state.

"It's—it's just weird… you know? Seeing you after all this time… it brings back a lot of memories…" she whispered.

"Some good ones, I hope…" he said and she smiled slightly.

"We had plenty of those…" she said, looking back at him.

"So why did it end?" he asked and she felt her face fall.

"You—you weren't in love with me…" she said sadly.

It was partially true. He didn't love her enough to stay and work it out. He didn't love her enough to not hurt her over and over again until she finally threw out all of her optimism and her thoughts that she and Johnny were meant for each other and left Manhattan.

"I can't imagine why not…" he said softly.

Her head snapped up towards him at his words. Her heart was doing cartwheels in her chest. He didn't even remember her and it was almost like he knew that they had once been each other's entire worlds. She quickly shook her head, trying to eliminate all sentimental feelings that she was feeling for him.

"It's—it's nothing really… it happened a long time ago…" she said, shaking her head.

Johnny started to say something when a sharp crack of thunder boomed throughout the sky. She flinched and he chuckled slightly.

"You don't do thunder, do you?" he joked, flashing that smile that she hated to admit that she loved.

"No, not really… this storm is getting worse… did you drive here?" she asked.

"No… I walked…" he laughed.

"All the way from Crimson Pointe?" she asked.

"Yeah… well, it looks like I'm going to be stuck here until the storm lets up…" Johnny said, leaning back against the wall, watching the rain fall.

She should've left him there. She should have agreed and walked to her car and went back home. She probably would never see him again and that should have been enough for her to walk away. Maybe he would never remember her as his wife… maybe just as the stranger from Jake's. But the thought of that… of Johnny not remembering her or even their own daughter made her heart ache and she did something that she knew was going to only end badly.

"No… you can come home with me and wait out the storm…" she exhaled.

"I don't want to impose…" he began but she shook her head.

"It's the least I can do for being so horrible to you earlier… and maybe I can help you with some of the gaps in your memory…" she said.

"Thanks… I feel bad now… I don't even know your name…" he said.

"My—my name?" she stammered.

"Yeah… what's your name?" he asked.

"L—Laura Webber… my name is Laura Webber…" Lulu lied and he smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Laura…" he said.

Brook paced back and forth in the living room, frantically dialing Johnny's cell phone for what seemed like the fiftieth time. All of the calls went straight to voice mail and Brook was already past the worrying stage. The storm was growing more tempestuous with every passing moment and thinking about Johnny right in the middle of it, still recovering from a head injury, made her blood run cold.

Of course she blamed herself for Johnny's disappearance. It was hard to be around him when he kept questioning her about his past. Not because it was a horrible past to recount but because there was so much that Johnny had never told her. He kept everything inside, never allowing Brook in. It was just another painful reminder that she was never going to have that kind of relationship with Johnny. She knew that he thought that she was keeping secrets from him but she honestly couldn't tell him much because she was in the same boat as he was. She just didn't know.

Suddenly, her phone rang and she answered it on the first ring.

"Hello? Johnny? Is that you?" she asked. There was a ton of static on the other end. Port Charles didn't get the best cell reception.

"Yeah, it's me…" Johnny said and Brook let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank god, Johnny! You had me so worried…" she said, tears slipping from her eyes.

"Listen… I ran into an old friend in Port Charles and she invited me to wait out the storm at her place… I'll be back at Crimson Pointe first thing in the morning…" he said.

"She?" Brook asked.

"What? I—I can't hear you… I think you're breaking up…" he said.

"What's her name?" she asked.

"What did you say?" he asked. The line was about to cut out.

"Who are you staying with?" she asked, raising her voice so that he could hear.

"Oh, who am I staying with? Her name is Laura Webber… ok, we're about to pull into her garage… I'll talk to you later…" he said.

"Laura Webber?" she asked but the line had already cut out.

Brook removed her phone from her ear and stared at it. Something didn't add up here. From her understanding, Laura Webber was still living in France, and probably hadn't been in Port Charles since Aura's funeral. Brook was also pretty sure that Laura wasn't Johnny's friend after the divorce from Lulu and everything that went along with it.

Something was definitely wrong with this picture.