Disclaimer: I have like twenty bucks in my checking account- is that enough to buy GH???

A/N: So, I decided that I have been neglecting Lulu and Dillon- the whole Quartermaine family, really, so I thought I'd go back to them for a chapter… A moment of contemplation and realization for the dysfunctional Quartermaine/Spencer clan… Very, well, sugary, I guess.

--Chapter Thirteen--

--Quartermaine Mansion--

Lulu chuckled softly as she hung up the phone- she'd heard enough after Carly had dropped her phone to know that Brenda was back in town. And, while Lulu had never really known Brenda, she did know that the woman was one of her cousin's worst enemies. Not that that was saying much- Carly, she thought with a bemused smirk, had a lot of enemies… most of them of the female persuasion. As she placed the cordless phone on the coffee table in front of her, she glanced at Dillon, who had reluctantly passed their daughter to the family patriarch.

Luke, taking a moment to take in the scene before him, thought over the past several months and the countless emotions he'd felt- terror, fright, helplessness, panic, worry, and the list went on. But when he'd seen his little Lulu- his little girl- look down at the baby now cooing happily in her great-grandfather's arms, all of that had gone out the window and, for a moment, he'd seen Laura, holding Lulu for the first time. He'd had one hell of a lecture for her planned for months now, but when he'd seen that look in her eyes- the look that said she would give anything just to see her child smile, to have her safe, and that she loved her and would always be there for her- he'd forgotten the words to that well-planned lecture. In that moment he'd realized something- he'd realized that, despite the countless times he was sure he'd failed Lulu, let her down, disappointed her; despite everything she'd been through in her short life, with losing Laura and the whole mess with Dillon last summer… His daughter had over-come those things. She'd survived and turned out alright- she was a happy young woman with a daughter she loved- not to mention a bright-looking future with Young Spielberg. Her mother would be so proud. He was proud.

Meanwhile, much like her husband, Tracy had become lost in her own thoughts- Lulu and Dillon would get married, she knew. When and where- well, those things she didn't know, but she did know that they would, at some point in time- probably sometime not too far around the corner- end up married. The love they had for each other and the child they had created together- the child she'd watched her son mourn for months- was written plainly on their faces for all the world to see. Tracy thought about Georgie, and how the girl had been Dillon's first love. Not that she'd ever particularly cared for Georgie, but she had been a good first serious girlfriend for Dillon- theirs had been a sweet and innocent love, but a love that had never really been meant to last. Whereas with Lulu… There was fire and passion, sweetness and tenderness- and strong enough to withstand whatever might come their way. If ever Tracy- or anyone else, for that matter- had doubted that (and many, herself included, certainly had), the last hour or so had erased those doubts. Lulu was so much like her father- and Dillon was more like Tracy than her son would ever realize or admit. Tracy turned her pensive gaze to her rouge of a husband- yes, Dillon and Lulu's love would last… And so would the love that Luke and Tracy had somehow accidentally fallen into…

Edward, who was gently rocking his already beloved great-granddaughter in his arms, could think only of his dear Lila, and how much he wished she could have lived to see that moment. He was certain she would be bursting with pride over the fact that little Lulu had named the baby after her- and Laura, naturally. Oh, but Lila had always loved Laura so. The two women had adored one another and, it was the old man's hope that, wherever Laura's mind had taken her, she Lila had found a way to comfort her old friend. Not many would dare to call Edward Quartermaine sentimental- certainly, there weren't many people who had ever seen the man's gentler side- but when it came to his Lila… He had so many regrets- not spending enough time with Lila and their children, not being the father or husband his family had deserved… but as he looked at the precious little child in his arms- a child who would link the Quartermaines to the Spencers of all people forever- he was absolutely certain that things had, somehow, turned out alright- perhaps more than "alright." He placed a tender kiss on the baby's tiny forehead and softly whispered his hopes for his great-granddaughter. "May you always know love and happiness- if you're going to take a page out of anyone's book, little one, on how to act and how to love, let it be out of Lila's- you're great-grandmother was the glue that held this family together, and her love for each of us and her dreams for the future have kept us going in her absence." This little angel, Edward knew, would grow up knowing love- Lulu and Dillon would take care of that. Lulu- the daughter of a man he hated… Dillon- his own grandson… Laura Delilah Spencer-Quartermaine, he thought, had united them forever- like Lila had been, this child was now the glue that would hold their family together… And, for an old man who knew his time would come one day soon, that thought brought a sense of peace and contentment.

Just a few hours ago, Dillon had been mourning the loss of a child he'd thought he would never know and wondering if he'd ever see the woman he'd somehow fallen in love with ever again. Now, he found his gaze traveling the room- resting first on Lulu herself. Lesley Lou Spencer- when he'd fallen in love with her, he wasn't sure, but it didn't matter. At first, she'd been his irritating and rebellious step-sister. Then she'd been his lost and vulnerable friend. Somewhere along the line… she'd become the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. His gaze traveled next to Luke, Lulu's father. A man who had disappeared more times than Dillon really cared to count and let his daughter down so many times- yet, somehow, Lulu still loved him. Whether Luke ever realized it or not, all Lulu had ever wanted wasn't Laura- it was him. She wanted her father's love. And, after this past summer, Dillon didn't doubt that she had it- the man who'd sworn up and down so many times that he had never been meant to be a father had become the dad Lulu had always wanted- always needed. Things for the two of them, Dillon knew, would be okay- rocky at times, as both were ridiculously stubborn, but they would work their differences out. And Lulu would always know that she could count on her dad. Next, his eyes turned to rest on his mother- another complex relationship. He and his mother had never been particularly close, and he wasn't sure they ever would be- but he no longer questioned that she really did love him and his brother Ned- she just had her own uniquely Quartermaine way of showing it. And Edward… The stodgy patriarch of what Dillon swore had to be the most screwed-up family in Port Charles- a man seen as being cold-hearted and aloof… The man his baby daughter had already wrapped around her little finger. Edward had shaped this family, along with Lila, and while it may be dysfunctional to say the least, it was filled with love and loyalty- not that many of its members would ever dare to admit it, for fear of showing their vulnerability. Finally, his eyes stopped on his daughter, whose eyes were glued adoringly to her great-grandfather's face as she listened intently to whatever Edward was whispering to her, as though she could actually understand the words coming out of his mouth. Laurie- there were no words to describe the love Dillon felt for her. He would go to the ends of the earth for her. He knew he would do anything to see her happy and safe- do anything to keep her from ever thinking, as her mother had, that she had not been wanted.

Lulu's thoughts, like those around her, had taken a trip down Memory Lane and moved toward the future, as she thought about all she had been through with her family and friends over the years and all she was likely to go through still. She thought about how lost and alone she had felt for so much of her life, and remembered the numerous moments she'd found her favorite wishing star in the sky and wished to find a place to call "home" one day. She had never, with all her wishing and in all her dreams, thought that "home" would turn out to be this place- with her father and the step-monster, whom she had grudgingly come to love, Edward and the rest of the Quartermaine nuts- even Alice. But most of all, Dillon- wherever Dillon and Laurie were, from now on, that would be her home- but she knew she would always have a family to turn to- Quartermaine, Spencer, and Cassadine. It never ceased to amaze her what love could do- her love for her brothers, and theirs for her, had brought the Cassadines and the Spencers together. And, while money may have initially brought Luke and Tracy together, and lies spun out of love had brought Dillon and Lulu together at first, what had resulted meant more than money or the lies that had been told or the pain that had been caused- a family had been created and a home had been found.