"Daddy how much longer?" Cameron waved his cast covered arm and attempted to wiggle his leg. "They itch!"
"We go to the doctor tomorrow and we'll find out then ok?" Lucky grinned. "But if they itch, it won't be much longer now." He remembered the feeling well. At first the cast was cool, a badge of pride and honor. By the end they stunk and itched like crazy.
"Yeah!" Cameron cheered. "No more chair?" he asked hopefully.
"If no more casts, then no more chair." Lucky reached out to steady the bouncing three-year-old and couldn't help but laugh. It hadn't been fun by any stretch of the imagination but Cameron had come through it better than he had hoped. He patted his son on his head and glanced sideways at him. "You may even go back to school soon."
Cameron was doing better with Elizabeth being around the house. He was talking with her just a bit more freely. Elizabeth denied it but he was somewhat sure that he had even seen Cameron start a conversation. But school was going to be a different story altogether. It was one thing to see Elizabeth when she could leave the house but school was going to be a whole new ballgame.
Lucky shook his head. And just when he convinced Elizabeth there was no need for her to worry about drama.
"And my friends." Cameron chimed in happily.
"And Miss Elizabeth." Lucky added cautiously. It was better to start this process with Cameron. He was sure to be far more logical about this.
Cameron rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Daddy. She has the babies. I not in with the babies."
"Of course you aren't." Lucky agreed quickly, trying not to laugh. Why hadn't he thought of that? It wasn't going to phase Cameron one bit because he wasn't in her "baby" class. Maybe Elizabeth's need to invent drama was contagious.
The knock at the door interrupted his enjoyment of the moment. Making sure Cameron had everything he needed for breakfast in easy reach, Lucky went to answer it. Opening the door, the calm he had just experienced was taken over by confusion. What was Cruz doing there? Even if he took out the whole dating Aunt Bobbie thing out of the equation, Cruz did not show up at his doorstep before breakfast. "Cruz, what are you doing here?"
Cruz looked nervously over his shoulder, making sure he didn't see anything that was obviously out of place. He had seen all the cars parked on the street before. No one was camping out on any of the neighbor's lawns just yet. He felt a little thing that felt like hope rise in his chest. Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as he thought.
Then he caught sight of Cameron waving at him over Lucky's shoulder and the hoped died right there. It may not be as bad as he thought. It was probably going to be worse.
"I need a reason to see you and Cameron?" He asked, trying for levity as he pushed past Lucky on his way into the house. There was no way he was giving this news to Lucky outside. Too many possible witnesses.
"Normally no, but when you've been avoiding me for the better part of two months then yes." Lucky fixed his friend with a quizzical stare as he closed the front door.
"It's not been two months."
"No it's probably closer to nine months actually but you know details." Lucky shrugged as he moved closer to the table. "You still haven't answered my question you know."
Cruz blanched at the causal mention of his months of lies. He should have expected it. Lucky took forever to get mad and took forever to forgive someone. His friend could manage civil but it would take him forever to be truly ok with something. He crunched the paper he held behind his back between his fingers. Maybe he wasn't the right person to do this.
"What is that behind your back?"
"Nothing." Cruz denied, moving the paper further behind him.
"Daddy! Our house in the paper!" Cameron pointed excitedly at the paper scrunched in Cruz's hands. "Look! Cruz has a picture of our house!"
Lucky moved quickly and snatched the paper out of Cruz's hands before his friend had a chance to leave the area. His eyes widened as he recognized the publication was not Cruz's magazine or the local paper but The Star. Cruz watched as Lucky's breaths became deeper and deeper; his body tensed and his knuckles became white from holding the paper so hard. "Now Lucky, it's not that bad..." He tried to start.
"Kitchen." Lucky could barely restrain the anger coursing through him. "Kitchen."
If he went into that kitchen, Cruz rationalized he would have one angry Lucky Spencer with an entire room full of sharp objects to throw at him. If he stayed out here, he could do lasting psychological harm to an almost four-year-old by forcing him to watch his father implode. Realizing he was screwed either way, Cruz followed Lucky into the kitchen.
"How the hell did they find my house?" Lucky demanded, his voice dangerously low and even.
"I don't know but it only seems to be the one."
Lucky began to pace, not expecting answers to the statements he was making. "Tony's going to have a field day with this one. It's only a matter of time before more show up. We'll have to move."
"Lucky it's one picture." It was probably useless to try reasoning with him, but Cruz had to try. "In a paper no one believes anyway."
"It only takes one."
"I thought Elizabeth was the drama queen" Cruz muttered under his breath.
"I heard that."
"Sorry." Cruz apologized quickly. "Look they only think this is your house. They still don't' know who Elizabeth is exactly. They are no closer to finding out about Cameron. You can still control this."
"How do you figure that?"
"Give someone an exclusive. Admit you have a son but don't give details. Say you're dating someone but don't go into details. If they press use the old keeping your private life private line. Or, hell, call someone who owes you a favor and hand feed them the story."
Lucky lifted one of his eyebrows carefully in Cruz's direction. "Someone in the press who owes me a favor? Who could that be?"
"You're making this harder than it has to be you know."
Lucky sighed. "I know." Blowing out a frustrated breath, he met his friend's eyes for the first time in two months. "Hey Cruz? Is Axe working on any stories?"
"I think I can rearrange some."
"Peaches?" Courtney held up the brightly colored can and Robin accepted it gratefully. "Cantaloupe?" She went on, peeking into the bowl as she went about preparing the fruit salad. It wasn't quite as traumatic as the cookies had been, but she still wanted her roommate by her side in case she added the wrong thing. "Grapes?"
Robin smiled, suppressing her giggle. "Courtney, you have eaten fruit salad before haven't you? You know what goes in it."
"Maybe you add something special because yours always tastes better than any store-bought packages." Courtney emphasized with a whip of her light blonde head.
"It's called fresh fruit. Nothing more." Robin promised, dumping a few dozen grapes into the bowl. Things had been incredibly tense between them over the last few months and this was at least something they could do together and not argue about. No more implied questions. No more clipped answers. It was almost normal. Her next task was getting her best friend and her boyfriend in the same room and forcing them to share a meal with her and have pleasant conversation until it came time for bed.
"Have you decided what you want for your birthday yet?" Courtney asked off-handedly, smiling at the fact that she had caught Robin by surprise. "You thought I'd forget?"
"No." Robin shook her head. "I forgot it was coming up."
"You forgot your own birthday? Roby, that isn't healthy." Courtney made a dramatic gesture with her hand before moving it to cover Robin's forehead. "You don't feel feverish."
"There has been a lot to deal with lately." Robin answered vaguely, not wanting to have another discussion seeing as how the last one had ended quite badly.
"Yeah, but now that that dickless bastard is locked up, you don't have to waste another second of your life thinking about him." Courtney rationalized with a crooked grin.
"Courtney--" Robin want shut her eyes, watching confusion settle in her roommate's eyes at her soft plea.
"You're totally using the 'I drank the last of the vodka and replaced it with iced tea' voice. What's going on?" Courtney's eyes narrowed in wariness.
"It's really up to you if you want to add melons to the salad or not. Some people are allergic, but you know, if the person you're making it for isn't, throw caution to the wind..." Robin could hear the nervous tremble in her voice and found that it'd be better not to make eye contact.
"Robin." The way Courtney stressed her name transformed it from one syllable to two. "What aren't you telling me?"
"I find that this snack is a very healthy substitute for cookies or crackers--I didn't press charges." Robin forced out, hoping the second part of the statement would be overlooked.
"WHAT?" Courtney choked on her indignation. "Clearly you're a clone, because my best friend wouldn't do something this stupid without consulting me first!"
"There wasn't time--" Robin argued cautiously.
"There wasn't time? What the hell, Robin? Have you forgotten what he tried to do to you, what he would have surely done if you hadn't fought back?" Courtney shot back shrilly.
"No. I haven't forgotten." Robin ducked her head, staring down at her tennis shoes.
"Then how can you justify this decision? Stop trying to protect him! You loved him at one time, okay, I totally accept that. But look how he has treated you over the last half decade! Jesus." Courtney spat, running a shaking hand through her hair.
"If I had pressed charges, I would never be free of him." Robin confessed.
"You're not making any kind of sense here." Courtney accused, folding her hands together to battle her quivering fingers. "He could be put away for a very long time if you would just press charges and keep him from hurting someone else."
"If I did that, Logan would win." Robin insisted impatiently. "He'd still be a part of my life...and I don't want that anymore! I've grown so tired of my entire life ending and starting from the moment I found him in bed with that tramp. Everything I have now is a direct result of that horrible day. If I press charges, I'm showing him that he scared me, and that was all he was trying to do."
"That's not true!" Courtney argued pointedly. "You have a beautiful little boy upstairs who loves you and thinks of you as his mother. Logan didn't give him to you."
"I want to be free of him, Courtney. I know Patrick loves me, but I don't want to build a foundation on the fact that I sent his brother away." Robin countered with a long sigh.
"His brother who tried to rape you!" Courtney threw back in, willing to repeat it as many times as it took until Robin saw her side. "His brother who tried to take the one thing that he has no right--hell that no one has any right to take from you. You told him, 'No,' and he ignored you. Don't make him out to be anything more than a coward. He didn't pick you because he's still in love with you; he targeted you because he knows you still have a soft spot where he's concerned." Courtney accused.
"I want it done." Robin reiterated tiredly.
"Then do what you know needs to be done." Courtney challenged, thrusting the telephone toward her. "Call your uncle and tell him you've changed your mind."
"I can't--no I won't do that. Logan has been through a lot more than you realize."
"Do you hear yourself? What Logan's been through? What about what he has put you through? Why are you letting this scum run your life? You're happy. Why can't you do something to make sure it stays that way?" It was the closest thing to a compliment in Patrick's regard that Courtney had ever attempted, and any other time Robin would have been relieved.
"I don't want to talk about this anymore. I've made up my mind. Not you or anyone else is going to change my position on it." Robin retorted stubbornly.
"I bet Patrick will agree with me." Courtney snarled, not through by a long shot.
"Patrick's not to know. Only you and my Uncle Mac know about this so I'll know who to come to if I'm confronted later." Robin threatened darkly.
"I'm not going to tell your secret, but it might be a good idea to—" Courtney began, knowing she wouldn't be able to say another word on the issue.
"I don't need relationship advice from you, Courtney." Robin declared coldly, leaving her alone and running up the stairs.
Courtney stood there for several minutes, her mouth dragging the ground. She couldn't believe her best friend had just spoken to her that way, and with not even a smidge of remorse. There was no way she could, in good conscience, let Logan worm his way back into a life Robin had fought so hard to create and obtain. Desperate times called for desperate measures.