-4-

Tracy glanced over at Luke and watched as he slept, oblivious to the fact that everybody was departing the shuttle around him. Once they were the last two still on, she leaned over and softly planted a kiss on her husband's cheek. "Luke."

Luke slowly awoke and looked around and saw they were alone on the shuttle, "How long was I out?"

"Only twenty minutes."

He nodded silently as he sat up and slowly got himself reorientated. Sighing heavily, he looked at her, "Why are we the only ones still on the shuttle, wife?"

"Because I didn't want to wake you till I absolutely had to. You are actually kind of cute when you aren't drinking my father's booze."

Luke rolled his eyes, "I love you too, Spanky. Let's blow this joint, we gotta kid to meet."

Nodding, Tracy grabbed her purse and slowly followed Luke off the shuttle. Once they stepped on the platform, Spencer looked around, "Where are we meeting her?"

"Well, she was flying into LaGuardia, and she said she was going to meet us at Carmine's for drinks."

"Great," Luke said dryly, "We'll get hammered as we hash out the good old days."

The woman sighed deeply as they flagged down a taxi, "You know, Luke, you aren't exactly Mr. Innocent yourself."

"Well, I'm sorry, Tracy, it's just that you are the second wife I've had to keep a kid from me. I'm starting to get a little pissed off here."

"Luke," Tracy said quietly, putting a hand on her husband's arm to get his attention, "this is an entirely different situation. Laura was kidnapped and slept with her captor, I did not. I legally gave my baby--"

"Our baby," Luke interrupted.

"Our baby," she corrected herself with a sigh, "I legally gave her up for adoption. To me, that chapter of my life was closed thirty years ago. I had made peace with it. Layla was the one who contacted me. Please, don't compare me to Laura. All my life, I've never been treated like I were my own individual."

"I just need some time to wrap my mind around this, Tracy. This was thrown at me out of left field."

She nodded, "I understand."

Walking side by side, the two haled a cab and made their way to Carmine's, each nervous about what laid ahead.

Layla sat down in a booth at Carmine's on 44th Street in Manhattan. Sighing quietly, she pushed aside the burgundy linen napkin and tried not to seem so anxious. Glancing around, she spotted a waiter and flagged him over and then rewarded him with a smile when he got to the table. "Apple martini, please."

Smiling softly as she watched the waiter walk towards the bar to place the order, Layla let out a sigh as she reached into her bag and pulled out a file to go over as she waited.

"Do we even know what she looks like?" Luke whispered in his wife's ear as they entered the restaurant.

"No," Tracy admitted, before adding, "However, Layla said she'd be wearing an emerald green dress."

Spencer nodded as he placed a hand on the small of his wife's back, gently rubbing. Sighing, he looked around the crowded restaurant and spotted a young woman seated in a booth, clad in a green wrap dress. "Think that's her?"

Tracy's eyes followed where her husband was gesturing, "She seems about the right age. I guess we can always take a stab in the dark."

Luke nodded again as the two approached the young woman. Clearing his throat, Luke spoke softly, "Layla?"

Layla quickly set her file down and glanced up at the man and woman who were staring down at her. Taking in a deep breath, she slowly exhaled as she stood up, nodding, looking between the man and the woman, trying to quickly determine who she resembles, "Mr. and Mrs. Spencer?"

Luke nodded silently and extended his hand to the woman, "Luke, please."

Layla nodded as she shook his hand and Tracy gave her a smile, "And I'm Tracy."

Nodding again, she tucked a blonde ringlet behind an ear and Tracy grinned at her, "I see you were cursed with your father's curls."

Luke smiled at her, "My apologies."

Layla laughed quietly as she gestured for them to have a seat, "I've ordered myself an apple martini, can I get either of you something?"

Luke glanced up at the waiter who had mysteriously appeared, "Bourbon," he said.

The waiter nodded as he jotted down the order and then glanced at Tracy, "And you, ma'am?"

"I'll just have a white wine, thanks," Tracy answered.

The waiter drifted back towards the bar, leaving the trio alone. Luke and Tracy stared at their daughter, mesmerized by her. "So, what is it that you do?" Luke asked.

Layla smiled quietly, "I'm a cardiologist in Los Angeles. I'm actually in New York for a seminar as well as this meeting."

"One of my kids is a doctor," Luke grinned at Tracy.

Layla laughed quietly, "So you two have other children?"

"Not together," Tracy responded. "I have two sons from previous marriages and Luke has a son and a daughter from his previous marriage. Your father and I weren't married when you were born. We actually only got married a few years ago."

"Ah," Layla said with a nod, sipping her drink, "So I was the result of a drunken tumble in the hay?"

Luke chucked quietly, "Something like that," he said.

The younger woman nodded, "I see... Now it makes perfect sense."

"What does?" Tracy asked.

"Why I was given up." Layla responded, looking at her new found parents, "The two of you didn't want the burden of me."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Luke said quickly, "That's unfair, Layla. I didn't know about you until forty-eight hours ago. Your mother gave you up for adoption because she was young and inexperienced when it came to child rearing."

Layla glanced down at her bright green drink, "Do either of you want to know what kind of a home I grew up in?"

Luke and Tracy nodded, "We do," Tracy said quietly.

"My father raped me when I was nine," she said.

Luke flinched visibly and then his hands formed tight fists as he waited for her to continue. Layla took a deep breath, not looking at either of them, the bitterness still apparent after the passed years, "It happened from the time I was nine until I was fourteen, when I stopped it."

Tracy swallowed the lump in her throat as she reached a hand slowly across the table and placed it on Layla's, quietly, "How did you stop it?"

"One afternoon," she began softly, "After he was done with me..."

Luke closed his eyes, his mind briefly flashing back to a different time.

1999

"And then when it was over and I looked at you--"

"You mean when you were done," Laura corrected softly.

Luke closed his eyes, whispering softly, "When I was done, I looked at you. I reached for you. And you made this sound, this sound like a kid who knows nothing but beatings. And I knew then. I knew the price I'd have to pay, and I was willing to pay it. And I've been like a man with a noose around his neck waiting for the hangman to come ever since, but he never comes. Why is that?"

Luke opened his eyes and swallowed hard, paying attention to Layla's words.

"After he was done with me, he had passed out on top of me in a drunken stupor. I reached across the bed and opened the bedside table drawer and pulled a gun out." Taking a deep breath, Layla finally looked away from her glowing green drink and looked at her parents. Clearing her throat, it was clear to Tracy that she had found a new piece of confidence, "I cocked the gun and said to myself no more. No more would this man come into my room at night and put his dirty, grimy, smelly hand over my mouth and lift my nightgown with his other, no more would this man ever think of doing to another girl what he had done to me for five long, agonizing years. I made Colt Higgens pay his price. I placed that gun at the back of his head and pulled the trigger."

"Dear god," Tracy whispered softly, a tear falling.

"Afterwards," Layla said quietly, "when the police were questioning me, I excused myself to the bathroom. There was a window in that bathroom and I opened it and jumped out and ran. I just kept running until I was out of Nebraska."

"Excuse me," Luke said abruptly, feeling the bile rise in his throat. Tossing his napkin down, he quickly pushed his chair back and stood up and raced through the restaurant towards the exit.

Watching her husband in concern, Tracy looked at Layla, "Would you excuse me for just one moment please? He must have had something that didn't agree with him."

Layla nodded, confusion clouding her eyes as Tracy stood up and quickly made her way through the restaurant, following her husband. Stepping outside, Tracy looked around and followed the sounds of a man retching to the side of the restaurant. Stopping, she watched as Luke threw up, sobbing at the same time. Unsure if she should disturb him, she saw him look around for something to wipe his mouth. Tracy reached into her purse and pulled out a small package of Kleenex and walked up behind him, handing it to him, quietly, "Husband, what's going on?"

Luke sighed as he stood up erect, his back facing her as he fumbled to open up the plastic package of tissues, "Something I ate came back to bite me in the butt."

"That explains the vomiting, but not the crying." Tracy reached out and placed a soft hand on her husband's shoulder, whispering, "Why were you crying?"

Luke shook his head, wiping his mouth with the Kleenex. "Please," he said softly, "not here." Turning, he looked at his wife and saw the confusion and concern in his eyes. Sighing quietly, he reached out and cupped her face with his hand, "Later," he promised softly.

Tracy nodded, quietly, "Can we go back in?"

Her husband gave her a quiet smile and a nod as they walked back inside.