So I didn't get any reviews for the last chapter (so far) but here is the next one. I'm excited for the end of this story. I hope that you have all enjoyed it so far, because I've had a blast writing it. I'm thinking that we will have four or five more chapters after this one. Enjoy!
The park was full of laughter, people and fun when Maxie, Lulu and Amelia walked through the entrance. Amelia's eyes were wide as she struggled to take in everything.
Maxie grinned when she caught Lulu's eye. "Remind you of all those years we spent skating here?"
Lulu mirrored her friend's grin. "Yeah. But I seem to remember Georgie being the ice princess though."
Rolling her eyes, Maxie tugged Amelia's hand. "Just because I was on my butt nine times out of ten doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it."
"Your butt, your face, you were just down on the ground a lot; I bet the view was good from down there," Lulu replied dryly. She hefted the bag on her shoulder that held their skates. "Come on, let's get laced up."
Even as Lulu knelt on the ground to help Amelia with her skates, the little girl was still wide-eyed. "Wow! This is so cool! Mommy, how come we don't have ice-skating at home?"
Lulu smiled up at Amelia. "Because, Sweetie, it's not cold enough. One day we'll go to Switzerland and go skiing."
"They have ski slopes here too," Maxie murmured, barely glancing up as she laced her own skates. Lulu shot her a warning glance and patted Amelia's knee.
"There, all set. Now just let me get mine on and we'll see if Aunt Carly and Josslyn are here."
"There they are!" Amelia's hand shot out, pointed across the rink as her voice rose excitedly.
Lulu lifted her hands, waving until Carly saw her. Then she glanced down at Amelia. "Perfect timing, uh?"
Amelia teetered a little on her skates, but nodded, slipping her mitten-covered hand into her mother's. "Then can we skate?"
"Of course we can, Mel!" Maxie exclaimed. "That's why we're here, after all."
"Hi all," Carly said, a little breathless as she and Josslyn hurried toward them. "How are we this morning?" she directed the question at Lulu who managed to successfully dodge it by dropping to her knees to lace up Josslyn's skates.
Maxie frowned, catching Lulu's deliberate action and Carly's loaded question. "Are we ready then?" she asked when Lulu helped Josslyn to her feet.
She nodded and reached for Amelia's hand. "Come one, Mel. I'll give you a lesson in ice-skating. We probably shouldn't trust Aunt Maxie."
"Like you're any better than I am," Maxie said with a snort, grinning down at Josslyn. "She thinks she's so good. We'll show her."
"Amelia inherited the Spencer's great sense of balance," Lulu answered loftily as she stepped foot on the ice. She waited until Amelia had taken a step. "See Mel, it's not that hard. Come on, we'll go slow."
Amelia frowned as she watched Josslyn take a weightless step onto the ice and skate away as though she'd been born on it. "No! Mommy! I want to skate with Josslyn!"
Lulu met Maxie's eyes and managed to hide a grin. "Well Honey, Josslyn's skated before. This is your first time. We should probably go slowly for now."
Amelia shook her head stubbornly. "No," she pouted.
Carly arched an eyebrow, grinning at Maxie. "And the Spencer's tenacity as well, evidently."
Lulu sighed, glanced up as Josslyn lapped them. "All right, go ahead. But stay where we can see you. There are a lot of people here and we don't want to lose you." She looked at Carly who narrowed her eyes at her own daughter.
"Same for you, Josslyn. And go easy on Amelia. She's never been skating before," Carly added and waved the girls away. "They'll be fine," she said to Lulu, who watched Amelia take to skating like a pro. She knew it was selfish of her, but her heart tweaked just a little with the realization that her baby girl was growing up.
Maxie waited until the three of them were halfway around the rink. As she skated, she turned her head, fixating on Lulu with a raised eyebrow. "Okay, Lu. Spill. What was Carly talking about when she first got here?"
Carly frowned, her eyes narrowed. "Lulu!" she admonished. "You didn't tell your best friend what happened?"
Lulu shrugged and skating a few steps ahead. "It hadn't come up," she called back over her shoulder.
Maxie looked between the cousins as she tried her hardest to stay on her feet. It just wouldn't do if the editor-in-chief of Crimson magazine ended up with a face-plant. "Carly," she reasoned, "you tell me because obviously, Lulu here isn't saying much."
Carly leaned closer to Maxie as they made the first turn in the rink. "Lulu showed up at my house last night in tears because she slept with you-know-who."
Maxie's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "What?" She could barely make out the word.
Carly nodded knowingly. "She was angry at herself for being stupid and for letting him think that they still had something."
"Lulu!" Maxie hissed, glaring at her friend. "And you didn't feel it necessary to tell me why?"
Lulu turned around, skating backward as she faced them. "Because it was a stupid move on my part—again—and I won't do it again. There's nothing between us and despite Amelia, we will never be together. It just isn't in the cards," she added sadly.
Maxie narrowed her eyes, taking a bigger step to meet Lulu's stride and still praying to whatever god was listening to ensure that she stayed upright. "Okay, Lulu. Be a girl for a minute. How was it?"
Carly snickered and flanked Lulu's other side. "Yes, give us the details."
Lulu frowned at Maxie and looked at her cousin helplessly. Defeated, she threw up her hands. "It was spectacular. Fireworks. Same as it's always been."
Satisfied, Maxie closed her eyes, basking in the glow for a minute. She vaguely remembered the one-night stand she'd had with Johnny back when he and Lulu had still been dating. She wished that she'd experienced fireworks with him. But they obviously weren't meant to be together.
Lulu shot a side-glance at her friend. "Quit making that face. If you want him so bad, go get him."
Maxie opened her eyes slightly, eyed Lulu. "No. Nothing we experienced could be compared to fireworks."
"That settles it," Carly said, "you and Johnny are meant to be together."
Lulu shook her head quickly. "No, not happening. Now come on. Quit talking about me." She raced ahead, through a glance over her shoulder. "I bet that I can lap the both of you twice. I may have lived in a warm climate for the past six years, but I haven't forgotten how to skate!"
Maxie and Carly looked at each other, grinned. "You're on!" they said in unison.
And skated ahead, intent on taking the win.
GH*GH*GH*GH*GH
Breathless, Lulu dropped onto the bench. Blowing on her gloved hands to warm them, she grinned as Maxie dropped next to her. "You did well, Jones."
Maxie blew her bangs out of her eyes and mirrored Lulu's grin. "I did, didn't I? I only fell twice."
"And my girl took to the ice like she's been on it her entire life," Lulu said proudly. She craned her neck to see Amelia and Josslyn out on the ice.
Maxie smiled and followed Lulu's gaze. The girls were twirling like ballerinas. Like ice-princesses. "She did do just that." Then she sent a slanted gaze at Lulu. "And if you lived here all the time, Mel could skate all the time. She could even join the club at the rink."
Still smiling at the sight of her daughter's enjoyment, Lulu shook her head quickly. "Maxie," she said warningly.
Maxie shrugged. "It's true."
"Be that as it may, as soon as I'm sure that my dad is out of the woods, Amelia and I are back on a plane to Greece," Lulu replied. She turned her head, looked at Maxie. "I'm sorry."
Maxie shook her head, "no. Don't be sorry. I get it, but I can always hope."
"Sometimes I wish that I could come back," Lulu said softly. She turned away from Maxie's gaze. "Sometimes I think of how my life would be if I'd never left."
"Do you wish that you'd never been pregnant?"
Lulu whipped her head around, shook it. "No. No, I don't regret my daughter. But I do regret who her father is. And I regret that I had to leave in order to raise her."
Maxie wasn't sure what to say. "Lulu—"
She shook her head quickly. "No, don't worry about it. I'm just venting. I still feel ridiculous for what happened last night."
Before Maxie could respond, Carly and the girls were walking toward them. "I have to little girls who are frozen through. I think some hot cocoa is in order."
Maxie rose to catch Amelia as she stumbled in her skates. "Hi sweets, how was it?"
Amelia looked up at her god-mother, her cheeks red, but her grin wide. "It was so much fun! I want to go again after the hot chocolate."
Carly smiled at Amelia, sending a worried glance at Lulu. "Hey, are you alright?"
Lulu shook her head, jumping up as she spoke. "I'll go get us the hot chocolate." She hurried away as if she were being chased.
The problem was, Maxie was almost certain that she was running from something. And Maxie would bet her next pay check that the thing Lulu was running from was none other than her past at large.
GH*GH*GH*GH*GH
Lulu blew at a breath as she waited in line at the concessions stand. She knew what Maxie was thinking. Maxie thought that Lulu was running. In truth, Lulu felt that she was running. But the race had only begun when she'd come back to Port Charles.
In Greece, Lulu was allowed to be a different person. She was mistress of the Cassadine compound, an award-winning author and a good mother. But in Port Charles, she was the same old Lulu Spencer, daughter of the famed Luke and Laura, who had one of the sweetest romances in recent history. She was headstrong and compulsive. She was the mother of Johnny Zacchara's child.
So maybe Maxie was right. Maybe Lulu was running from something. But there was no way to let it catch up with her.
Because if it did, her life as she knew it—and the life of her child—would be forever changed.
"Can I help you?" the barista behind the counter asked as Lulu blew on her hands to warm them.
Lulu smiled and pulled out a twenty from her pocket. "Can I get five hot chocolates, please?" She stepped aside as her order was prepared and pulled out her cell phone from her pocket.
That was the picture Johnny saw when he stepped through the park entrance. Lulu with her long wool coat covered in just a dusting of snow. Her blond hair was pulled back into a neat tail at the nape of her neck. She was perfectly delicious, he thought as he took a step towards her.
"Lulu," he said, quietly, low enough for her ears only when he was close enough. Her head whipped up as her phone fell to the ground. Her mouth formed a perfect O in shock.
"Johnny," she whispered, her eyes never leaving his. "What are you doing here?"
"I always walk through the park on my way home. I saw you when I was near the rink."
"I think we said everything we need to say already," She said stiffly, glancing behind her worriedly.
"We need to talk, Lulu. I love you. I don't get what you don't get. We can work things out, I promise. I—I just can't lose you again," He added, his voice cracking at the end.
She shook her head. "Not here. Not now. Not ever. I'm sorry, Johnny." She smiled at the barista as her order was placed on the counter. Turning around, she stepped around him. "I'm sorry," she repeated.
"Mommy!"
And then her world came to a crashing halt.
So, this is me grinning wickedly. Sorry for the cliffhanger but I originally had written more for this chapter but it was getting too long so I split it into two chapters. I should have the next chapter up in the next few days. This story is slowly wrapping up, I'm sad to say. Now, please review! I love hearing what my readers think of my work and they truly inspire me to write more!
