Author's Notes: I hope you enjoy this surprise! We're having a celebration and decided a triple update would be the last thing anyone would expect!

Laura hummed a happy tune as she set the table with a few extra placemats. Her adventure-seeking husband had finally come home and with him he was bringing the only friend she, herself, had ever approved of her son and her nephew having, Cruz Rodriguez. During their college years, none of the boys had been independently wealthy, but Cruz had had an especially difficult time. He had been incredibly dedicated, still was from what she was told, and fought tooth and nail for every grade he had ever received. She assumed that was why he was granted a small sum of money in a scholarship, one that was insufficient for a college student's expenses. Around finals, Laura would see him at her door and she would keep him fed and clothed. It was something she had never told anyone, not even Lucky. She had married Luke Spencer against the advice of everyone closest to her, so she knew what it was to be unfairly judged.

Lost in thought, she put a hand to her heart when she felt a familiar pair of lips press against the side of her neck. "I missed you, Angel." Luke murmured, taking the plates from her and setting them on the table.

"Don't go away and you won't have a chance to miss me." Laura suggested, folding her arms and tilting her head at his solemn expression.

"Now, Buttercup, don't be that way." He goaded, reaching for her hand and leading her out of the dining room.

"I have to finish setting the table." Laura argued, taking one longing gaze back at her unfinished product.

"That's why we had kids. Lesley Lu, set the table." Luke called up the stairs, opening the door and closing it behind them before she could deny him.

"Where are we going?" Laura wondered, relieved that none of her guests had shown up just yet. The last thing she wanted them to find was an unfinished table setting and a grumbling eighteen-year-old.

"We're going to take a ride on the wild side, baby." Luke told her, motioning toward a shiny new motorcycle.

"You can't be serious." Laura gave him a sideways look. Her mouth about hit the pavement when he released her hand and patted on the seat of the monstrous motorcycle.

"You're not turning down an adventure, are you?" Luke gave her a lopsided grin.

"That's not an adventure. That's a horror story. Besides, I have to finish dinner. I don't want it to burn." Laura reminded him.

"I want to show you something, but you're going to have to get on the bike." Luke explained.

"We could just take my car or we could walk." Laura suggested.

"Your car makes me claustrophobic and it's too far to walk." Luke shook his head.

"Is this a mid-life crisis ten years too late?" Laura asked, dancing from one foot to the other.

"Laura, only old, insecure men have mid-life crises." Luke stated.

"My mistake." Laura couldn't help but giggle.

"God, I missed that smile." Luke lunged toward her, wrapping his arms around her waist and twirling her around.

"Are you going to change for dinner?" Laura inquired.

"Who would you like me to be baby?" Luke chuckled.

"I want you to be presentable just in case we have one more guest for dinner." Laura shook her head at him.

"You make it sound like it's a certainty." Luke pressed his forehead to hers.

"Well, I did get a very nice call from Audrey Hardy about an hour ago." Laura admitted, swatting at a mosquito much like Lucky's old cat, Rusty, used to do.

"Audrey Hardy is coming to dinner?" Luke guessed.

"No, but her lovely granddaughter might. Oh, Luke, it's just too perfect!"

"What is?" Luke felt as if he had gone to sleep and slept a hundred years for all the sense this made to him.

"Lucky and Elizabeth. Apparently, she was Cameron's teacher and they hit it off beautifully."

"Have you been plotting?" Luke raised a brow at her.

"No more than anyone else. We created an opportunity for them to spend some time alone together."

"The charity?" Luke supposed.

"Yes!" Laura exclaimed. "I've been telling that son of yours to go out and meet new people, but he's like a tomcat, never settling on one for too long. When Mrs. Hardy told me about their kiss--"

"A kiss? Now we're getting somewhere." Luke's ears perked up just like Foster's used to do.

"It was fairly innocent, but then Lucky never called her."

"That son of a bitch." Luke muttered, suppressing a laugh when Laura narrowed her eyes at him.

"It's a win-win. She loves Cameron, and, if my sources are correct, they were very comfortable with each other in your son's truck this afternoon."

"That's my boy." It never bothered him that she blamed him for their children's mistakes.

"This is why I think he might be bringing her to dinner."

"It seems a little soon, doesn't it?"

"You never know."

"Cruz is running a little late. He said not to wait for him." Patrick announced, brushing his black leather loafers against the Welcome Mat, glaring at his uncle for the chuckle he heard.

"I do hope he's alright." Laura took Patrick's coat and hung it in the closet nearest the door.

"I'm sure he's fine." Patrick reassured her.

"What time is dinner?" Luke interrupted.

"The same time it always is. Seven sharp." Laura clarified.

"Okay. I'll be back in a while." Luke promised, giving her a quick kiss.

"Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, stop right there!" Using his full name was never a good sign. "Leave that motorcycle alone."

"Motorcycle?" Patrick's eyebrows shot up.

"Yes. Your uncle has decided to celebrate his belated mid-life crisis." Laura told her nephew.

"Damn it, woman, we've been over this." Luke grumbled. Laura gave him a dark look. "Patrick, you want to help?"

"I actually have a call to make, but I'll be out after while." Patrick countered, leaving his aunt and uncle to share an unspoken argument.

"You're going to go out there and get all dirty. What was the point of you putting on a suit if ten minutes in you'll have it covered in oil and grease?" Laura wanted to know.

"I need to make sure that it's in working condition if I'm going to convince Lucky to let Cameron ride on it." As if on cue, Lucky came through the door, Cameron in tow. "You agree that it's necessary, don't you Son?"

"Not falling for it." Lucky had learned long ago to not agree to anything his father asked him when he just walked through the door.

"You don't even know what I was going to say." Luke argued.

"Grandpa!" Cameron squealed and ran towards Luke.

"Don't need to. It was most likely something that would get me in trouble with mom." Lucky moved to put Cameron's discarded overnight bag next to Patrick's shoes.

"Hey Motorcycle Man." He greeted his only grandchild just to get a rise out of his wife.

"Oh the motorcycle." Lucky laughed in a knowing tone. "In that case I don't agree at all."

"That's my boy." Laura wrapped Lucky in a hug, her face buried in her son's sleeve. "Come sit down. Would you like some coffee?"

"No thanks. I had some before we left Tony and Lisa's."

"What were you doing there?" Laura asked in a nonchalant tone.

"Well someone had to baby-sit Cameron while my mother set me up on a quasi-date." He leaned down and kissed her cheek.

"What makes you think I had anything to do with that? I mean what? I don't know what you're talking about." Laura backpedaled.

"Someone's busted." Luke called out.

"Are you going upstairs to shave?" Laura implored.

"Of course." Luke replied, skipping up the stairs with Cameron in his arms.

Laura turned back to Lucky. "I pray he doesn't let Cameron do the job for him."

Lucky rolled his eyes. "Oh he most likely will."

"Are you going to keep me in suspense?"

"Suspense about what?"

"About you and Elizabeth. How did the date go?"

"Before or after she laughed at me?" Lucky bit his inside cheek to keep from smiling. Let his mom sweat it out just a little bit.

"Why would she laugh at you? Oh God, you didn't get pointers from your father, did you?"

"No Patrick actually."

"Patrick Drake, get in here this instant!" She was tapping her foot when her nephew came a-running with his head bent.

"Yes, Aunt Laura?"

"Why do you insist on making Lucky's love life miserable by setting such a bad example?" Laura's tone said he needed word his answer carefully.

"I'm a bad example?" Patrick sounded pained.

"Yes. An absolutely horrible one." Lucky deadpanned with a straight face

"You stay out of this!" Patrick warned in what sounded like a growl.

"I'm waiting Patrick."

"Yeah Patrick. She's waiting."

"I've tried to get him to enter into the dating game, Aunt Laura, but he refuses each time saying that he's too busy with work." Let Lucky wiggle his way out of that one. Laura glanced back at her son.

Lucky glared at his cousin. So that was the way he wanted to play it? "I'm the only support my son has. I can't lose my job oh self-employed one."

"You think being self-employed is a piece of cake?" Patrick shot back.

"Boys, please." Laura interjected.

Lucky knew all he had to do was throw Robin's name out in the ring and the spotlight would be right back on Patrick. But he wasn't going to play that card just yet. It wasn't fair to Robin. Deciding instead to just let it go, Lucky shook his head and offered out his hand. "Sorry man. It's been a long day of driving."

"You're forgiven for now." Patrick dropped his cell phone into his pocket and walked into the kitchen to get himself a "Light" beer. Oh, Laura, he thought dejectedly.

"See what sending me to Buffalo does to me?" Lucky asked as he sat down on the couch.

"I see what it leaves you with." Laura responded, reaching for a tissue and wiping off Lucky's upper lip. "Did you get any of your meal in your mouth?"

"Most of it actually."

Laura clamped her hand over her mouth as something occurred to her. "The...biscuits." She wailed, rushing into the kitchen.

The doorbell rang, heralding the arrival of further guests. Lucky jumped off the couch and made his way to the door. Opening it, he found himself looking down on his youngest cousin. Bending down to get a high five, he grinned widely. "Lancelot! My man! What's shaking cuz?"

"Lucky, can you show me that secret handshake?" Lance asked in a small voice.

Of course dude." Lucky stood up to let Lance, Lucas, and Bobbie inside. "But we have to wait till later." He pointed to his aunt. "No girls can know the handshake."

"I know." Lance rolled his eyes and followed behind his grandmother, his plan to extract the brownies she had brought for dessert. Patrick followed the treat with his eyes.

"Lance!" Cameron bounded down the stairs and ran towards his cousin. "You here!"

"I here, all right." Lance was barely able to lift Cameron off the ground. Lucas looped his arms around each little boy and looked over at Laura. "Where should I drop them?"

"You can put them in the playroom. We're still waiting on Cruz."

"Cruz is coming?" Lulu asked, entering from the kitchen. "Good! I wanted to ask him something."

"What would you want to ask Cruz?" Patrick made a face at her.

She shrugged. "I was going to ask if his magazine did internships." Lulu had finally picked her major as journalism.

"Isn't that his entire staff?" Lucky wondered out loud.

"What staff?" Patrick chuckled.

Bobbie arched her eyebrow at him. "The one that got him nominated for those awards."

"Nominations? Awards? What are you talking about Aunt Bobbie?" Lucky tilted his head to left, clearly confused.

"Yeah, what do you mean?" Patrick wondered.

Bobbie silently cursed herself. Shit. He hadn't told them yet. Thankfully Laura came to her rescue.

"Oh isn't it wonderful he was recognized by the state association? I know he's going to win."

"I'm sure he will." Patrick snuck a glance at Lucky. "Did you know about any of this?"

"No. Did you?"

Patrick shook his head.

"Been distracted lately?" Lucas inquired, staring at Patrick.

"Let's see." Patrick got a faraway look in his eyes. "Asshole clients, vengeful ex-girlfriends...nothing out of the ordinary."

"That's funny, because I seem to recall--" Lucas began.

Two cries of "Daddy!" erupted from the playroom. Lucky and Lucas headed up the steps to solve the latest crisis.

Patrick let out a sigh of relief. "Aunt Laura, can I help?"

"No, but Lulu I could use you in the kitchen."

Lulu rolled her eyes. "Oh sure. Send the girl to do it."

"I think I'm going to check on Luke." Patrick excused himself, but Luke met him at the stairs.

"How's it look?" He tilted his head back for inspection.

"Like your neck." Patrick answered noncommittally.

"Why do I ask you anything? You can't even tuck in your shirt." Luke grumbled, moving to hug his sister. "Barbara Jean, you are glowing."

"And you, dear brother, look very nice. Nothing like yourself at all."

"Did you miss me?"

Bobbie hugged her brother hard. "Of course I did. The bigger question is what is going on with that motorcycle?"

"I'm prepping it for the grandchildren."

"He's having an episode." Laura argued.

Lucky came down the steps with Lucas close behind him. "Grandchildren? You only have one old man."

"Not according to your mother. From what she has told me--" He grunted when his lovely wife elbowed him in the stomach.

"Mother..."

"I didn't even suggest grandchildren!" Laura defended, shooting a dangerous look at her husband. Luke's reaction was to kiss her.

Lulu came out of the kitchen then. "Hello! Impressionable children present!"

"And she keeps asking us to refer to her as an 'adult.'" Luke said just loud enough for his daughter to hear him.

"I was going to say 'dinner was ready,' but now I lost my appetite."

"More for us then." Patrick smiled.

Lulu patted her cousin's stomach. "Do you really need more?"

"That's all muscle, little girl."

"Oh, Patrick has developed an even greater sweet tooth." Lucas explained. He had Lance on his shoulders.

Lucky laughed, helping Cameron down the last of the steps. "Yeah. He's developed a weakness for all 'sweet indulgences' these days."

Patrick turned red at this. "Some things should be savored."

Lulu looked confused. "What are you guys talking about?"

The doorbell rang out. Bobbie, being closest, went to answer it. She felt a smile grace her features when she recognized who stood on the other side.

"Well hello Cruz. We were all waiting on you."

Cruz stood dumbstruck. When Laura had invited him to dinner tonight, she had neglected to mention it was a full family dinner. Avoiding Patrick's questions were going to be hard enough without having to pretend he wasn't extremely familiar with Bobbie at the same time. He forced himself to breathe. "I hope not too long. I told Patrick I was running late."

"He told us. Cruz, won't you come and have some coffee?" Laura asked.

"Coffee? I thought we were waiting on him to eat?" Luke pouted.

"He might want coffee." Laura retorted.

"We really shouldn't starve the children longer than necessary." Lucas piped in.

"Oh." Laura looked torn.

Trying to hide the snicker, Lucky attempted to look concerned. "Mom, are we waiting for anyone else?"

"I suppose not." She muttered, taking her seat.