The beeps and whirrs of the monitors didn't sound any different than when he had spent time with Robin in this very hospital almost three months ago. The room didn't appear to be decorated any differently. The nurses still walked in and silently checked the levels on the various machines and fluid-filled bags hanging on poles near the bed. But the ache in Lucky's chest told him how very different this situation was.

Cameron lay still, and if the room had been completely dark, Lucky may have convinced himself he was just sleeping. But in the dimly lit room, the bandages covering Cameron's forehead were visible. The angry red stitches lined his face as a roadmap of pain. A neck brace that looked almost small enough to be a gag on a comedy show, circled his small neck. The left side of his body was covered in casts. Lucky worried he was in pain, but the nurses reassured him the medicine that was being delivered intravenously would keep Cameron comfortable.

He held onto his son's hand, covering his tiny one with his larger one, using his free hand to wipe away the tears he had finally allowed to fall. He was scum. He should have been spending time with his son, not sitting at home acting like a pouting two year old. This wouldn't have happened if he had just gotten his butt off the couch and actually interacted with his son. When Cameron got better it was going to change. Everything was going to change.

He'd quit his job. It wasn't like he needed the money. Over the years he had saved most of it and he didn't spend lavishly. They could live comfortably for years. He'd spend every waking moment with Cameron. No more shuffling him off to the baby-sitters. No more fake publicity dates. If he didn't realize he had no talent in the area, he'd consider home schooling.

"I'm sorry, buddy. I swear I'll make it up to you. I'm sorry." He whispered, rubbing the top of Cameron's head.

"It's not your fault you know." Bobbie's soft voice carried over from the doorway. Carefully she made her way to Lucky's side, pulling a chair next to him. She rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently. "It was an accident."

"I shouldn't have let him go. He should have been with me." Lucky sniffed.

"You didn't know this was going to happen and Cameron loves to ride with Lulu."

"And he was only there because I was too selfish to pay attention to him. All I had to do was put aside my own shit and this wouldn't have happened."

"And if I had driven BJ to school instead of sending her out to meet the bus, she'd still be here." Bobbie managed quietly.

Lucky sucked in a breath at the mention of his cousin. Her death had nearly destroyed his aunt's entire family. He couldn't remember seeing either his father or his Uncle Tony cry before that day. Bobbie had been a shell, and it was months before she could even catch a glimpse of Maxie Jones without bursting into immediate tears. In that second, Lucas had taken it upon himself to be his parents' caregivers and became as active as Laura was in keeping the Spencer family close together. "BJ died because of an accident Aunt Bobbie." He managed.

"And I still convinced myself there was something I should have done. If I had sent her out a half a second later. If I had driven her to school. If I had kept her home for some reason or another. If I had been different, been a better mother, then my daughter would still be here."

"Lucas thinks the world of you. You're a great mother Aunt Bobbie."

Bobbie leaned her chin on her nephew's shoulder. "And Cameron thinks you hung the moon. You didn't cause this Lucky."

"I have to change everything. I can't let anything happen to him again." Lucky stared distractedly at the steady rise of Cameron's chest, reassuring himself his son was still breathing. "I can't fail him again."

"You didn't fail him. And you can't protect him from everything Lucky. For one thing he has my brother as a grandfather." Bobbie paused to run her fingers through Lucky's short brown hair. "Believe me I know the impulse. I wanted Lucas no more than an arm's reach from me after we lost BJ. I was going to pull him out of soccer. Home school him. Quit my job and spend every second I had with him."

Lucky turned to face his aunt, for the first time in three days meeting her eyes. "But you didn't do that."

"No. Because of something, ironically enough, your father said to me." She paused to chuckle lightly at the memory. "He told me quote I was in serious danger of suffocating the boy. Boys need room to move and I was going to quote make Lucas one wimp of a Spencer and a discredit to his family name end quote."

Lucky groaned at the sound of his father's words. "There is a reason he doesn't write sympathy cards."

"Yes but in his own backwards way, he had a point. By keeping Lucas close to me, I was denying him any chance to be who he was supposed to be. I may succeed in keeping him safe, but would he be able to stand on his own? Probably not. I had to learn to live with my fear and let Lucas be Lucas." Bobbie looked directly into Lucky's eyes. "And you will have to learn to do the same."

"How?"

"With time. You'll figure it out with time."

Lucky raised his arms over his head, trying to stretch out his back. One would think, he mused to himself, that a hospital would have comfortable seats for visitors. Apparently General Hospital had not gotten this memo. Cameron had only been in his room for about an hour and already Lucky felt like he had been sitting in the same position for four days straight.

"Can I come in?" Robin asked from the doorway, a surprise behind her back. She hadn't been able to stay away any longer and, though it didn't seem possible, she had heard every one of Luke's jokes already and Lulu was really bad at cards.

"Please. It's really hard talking to myself."

"I come bearing gifts." Robin announced, stepping into the room and feeling the air escape her lungs as she caught sight of Cameron. "How's he doing?" She wondered, setting the basket on the side table.

Lucky shrugged in frustration. "I wish I knew. The nurses keep saying everything looks good but I don't see how. He's not responding. He's not awake. He's not fine."

Robin touched Lucky's shoulder and stared down at the little boy that was his whole world. "You look like hell my friend." She told him matter-of-factly.

"Funny that is exactly how I feel."

Robin motioned toward her basket of goodies. "I have just the thing." Picking out a package of cheese and crackers, she placed them in his hand and went about taking the gift apart.

Lucky looked up at her confused. "What did you do? When did you have time to do this?"

"I had a few errands to run so Patrick stayed behind and told me he'd call my cell if there was any change. It's not a big deal, Lucky. I had to check on Morgan anyway and the bakery is just down the street from Uncle Mac's. Now, would you rather have an apple turnover or an oatmeal cookie? Keep in mind, I brought both. Plus, you've got..." She dug through the basket, "A book of crossword puzzles and a word search. I picked up a hospital pen from the nurse's desk but don't worry. They didn't see me." Robin smirked.

"Good. That one with the braids is scary. I hear all she does is yell." Lucky shook his head at Robin's gesture. Her definition of "not a big deal" and his were obviously widely different. They would have to have a talk about that one of these days. "Hand over the cookie and don't breathe a word of it to my mom."

"I'm good at keeping secrets. Speaking of, I snuck in The Firebrand." Robin whispered, shoving the book and cookie into his free hand.

Lucky grabbed at the book and quickly dropped it to the side of the chair, knowing full well when most of his family was occupied, he would immediately pick it up. He could hear the jokes already if his father or friends ever found out his favorite book was a feminist re-telling of the Trojan War. "I told you Patrick sneaking the flask in wasn't something I could control."

"It was only my wedding, but you're forgiven." Robin nodded, fingering the other items the basket still held: coffee grounds, strawberry jam, and Carrot and Coffee cakes. She had a plastic container of Chicken Marsala in the lounge and would get it if he told her he was hungry for real food. Everyone reacted differently in a crisis, and food was the one thing Robin did well.

"Did you leave any food at the bakery?" Lucky wondered. "Edward Quartermaine isn't going to come down here and take this away is he?"

Robin smiled, settling down into the vacant seat beside Lucky. "I don't know what I should tell you." To say she was out of her element would have been a gross understatement. How did one go about reassuring their friend when she, herself, hadn't been through it?

"That this is a dream would be nice but you can't tell me that."

"You and I both know he couldn't be receiving better care than he is here. We grew up in this hospital." Robin reminded him, trying to find comfort in the memory.

"Robin, coming in for broken arms is not the same as this, but it was a good try. A for effort." Lucky sighed when he heard the bitterness falling from his mouth. Robin didn't deserve this. "I'm sorry," He offered. "I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"Don't worry about it." Robin couldn't stop the tears from pricking her eyes. It wasn't that he had hurt her feelings, only that there was too much truth in his words. "I don't understand why things like this happen."

"If I did I would be handling this much better."

"You're tough as nails, Spencer. Don't you know that by now?" Robin teased him lightly.

"You have me confused with yourself there, Scorpio." Lucky sighed. "What are the rest of them doing? I know they have to be working from some form of schedule for coming back here." Otherwise, he mused, no one else would be sleeping on this floor with the commotion from his father alone.

"I don't really know. Every time I leave and come back, they've changed shifts. I must not be cool enough to know the strategy." Robin mused.

"Spencer group thing. It tends to exclude the non-family members."

"I don't know about that. They seem to have roped Elizabeth into their little club." Robin laughed softly.

"Elizabeth is still here? I thought she would have gone home by now." Lucky hated to admit he had been shocked to see her in the waiting room but he was. She had ignored his phone calls since she ran out of his house. He had assumed his mother or Robin had somehow alerted her to his current crisis but he hadn't expected her to stick around. Not after what he had mistakenly believed about her, however briefly.

"Why does that surprise you? She loves...Cameron just as much as the rest of us do." Robin barely caught herself.

"Considering the last time I saw her she was in tears? I had my doubts."

"How could you think she could do something like that to you? Was Max not enough of a clue as to why she wouldn't?" Robin was torn between her childhood friend and her best friend. It was not a place she liked to be but, if she had to be the buffer between them, she supposed that was okay with her.

"I didn't think it, well not for long. Patrick was the one who believed it. It was stupid, but after fighting with him, not being able to get a hold of her, and you didn't see the date setup Cruz had going on. I admit it sounds insane."

"I know trust is hard after what happened to Jess." Robin whispered, not wanting to trample over sacred ground.

"That was part of it." Lucky admitted. "Finding out I was in the dark about something like one of my friend's HIV status did lead me to not thinking straight."

"I didn't know he hadn't told you." Robin assured him, bowing her head.

"I'm not blaming you on that one. Who would have guessed this would be the one time Patrick decided to actually keep things to himself?" Lucky paused and looked at his old friend. "I am curious as to why I knew nothing about your status." He held up his hand in protest. "I know it's your decision who to tell but I thought we were closer friends than that Robin."

"After what happened to Stone, I was in complete denial. The only other people who knew were Jason and then Logan. After Logan started using it as an argument tactic, I didn't feel comfortable sharing it with anyone else." Robin explained. "You know, your cousin is a lot of things, but it's like he was born without common sense. I told him to leave me in that car, but he wouldn't listen. You have to know I didn't mean to infect him. I told him about my status, but he got me out anyway. I owe him my life...and I could very well have shortened his."

"I don't blame you for infecting him. I know Patrick. I know he's one stubborn ass. I blame him for acting like one and then wondering why everyone is concerned about him."

"He told you his most recent test came back negative, didn't he?" Robin implored.

"He did."

"He's scared, Lucky." Robin told him. "He'll only let me so close. Every time I try to bring it up, he changes the subject." It wasn't fair to ask him to take on anything else with all he was already dealing with. Still, it needed to be said. Lucky could take the information and do with it what he would.

"Well join the club there." Lucky offered out his hand to her. "First one to figure out how to get him to stop tells the other. Deal?"

"You're kind of at an unfair disadvantage." Robin pointed out.

"You're right. I'm not female."

"Eat your cheese and crackers. I'll send Elizabeth in." Robin hugged Lucky hard and then left the room.

Biting her lip, Elizabeth paused to pull at the sleeves of her green shirt. When Robin had come out and whispered to her Lucky wanted to see her, butterflies had taken up residence in her chest. Of all the uncomfortable meetings she had over the course of her life, this was quickly taking the place of her run in with Ms. Osencraft. What did you say to someone who was terrified they were going to lose their child when the last words you said to them had been laced in hurt and anger?

Stopping in the doorway, her hand went to her mouth as she saw for the first time the extent of Cameron's injuries. He looks so small, she thought. So small. Tears pricked at her eyes as she just stood and watched the rise and fall of his chest and listened to the steady hum of the machines that were helping him heal.

She must have made some noise to alert Lucky to her presence. She couldn't bring herself to believe he had merely sensed her presence. Elizabeth offered up a weak wave when he turned in the chair and caught her eyes with his. "Hi." She whispered.

"Hi." Lucky whispered back. Seeing her standing in the doorway had provided him with the first calm feeling he had experienced since Lulu had called him. He stood up as she stepped hesitantly into the room. When she got close enough, he reached an unsteady hand out to hers. Lucky breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't pull away.

"How are you doing?"

"I'll be better once he gets out of here."

"He will." Elizabeth squeezed his fingers as she intertwined them with hers. "I know he will."

When other people had tried to comfort him with those same words, he had felt the irrational urge to smack them on the back of their heads. Somehow when Elizabeth said it, he almost believed it. "Did you get a medical degree when I wasn't looking?" he smiled.

"No but see I know his dad. And his dad doesn't give up. So he won't either."

Elizabeth glanced down at their joined hands and hurried to continue, "And how I know this is see he hasn't given up me and I'm a total spaz. Even when I run out him for stupid reasons."

"His father feels the same way."

Elizabeth managed a shaky smile. "I'm sorry I ran out."

"You're here now. That counts a lot."

Elizabeth pulled him into her arms and hugged him, letting his head drop on her shoulder. "I'll be here as long as you need me." She whispered into his ear.