I still own nothing. Thanks for reading.

Chapter Two

Luke Spencer slammed the phone down as he met another dead end. This was beginning to piss him off. He was friggin' Luke Spencer for crying out loud. People were supposed to respond to that name.

In the underground worlds of spies and Cassadines anyway.

How the hell was he supposed to get anything done if none of his contacts would return his call signals? Even the guy who smuggled his Cubans was ignoring him. The solution was simple. Something drastic had to be done to find out what was going on for him to be blacklisted.

He needed a famous Spencer plan.

"Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, what are you up to?" called the voice of an angel.

His angel, Laura. She had been cured from her catatonic state with the same miracle drug that brought another Spencer back to them by the name of Michael. Luke still figured that the only reason Sweet Caroline put up with Robert Scorpio's kid was part of some twisted promise to God if the drug worked. And it had, bringing home the two missing members of the Spencer clan.

"Ah, my angel. Just in time. I need a plan. You see--" He begin to point to a piece of paper on his cluttered desk at the newly reopened Luke's as Laura shook her head with a vengeance, trying to shut him up.

"Just in time for what, Luke? No one needs one of your hair brained schemes."

"I'm a Spencer, Laura. We have plans, not 'hair brained schemes' and I need a plan so I can find out why all my contacts won't get in touch with me. That could be a sign of danger lurking around good ol' Port Chuck, you know?"

"Danger? Really, Luke?" She asked in a very sarcastic voice.

"Well, probably not. To be honest, I'm more concerned that my guy who transports my Cubans won't call me back more than anything. I'm running low."

"But it could be something?"

"Well, yeah. I haven't had anyone check in with me about the vampires in about two weeks."

"LUKE."

"I'm excluding Prince Nikky, of course, and Natasha. I refuse to believe Samantha even is a vampire Cassadine. That would be like … crossing species or something for poor Cowboy."

********************************************

Jason Morgan left the sweetness of his dreams to witness another beautiful sunrise in South Africa, taking his leave almost three years ago from the people he loved in Port Charles to try and find himself again in the place he had read to Michael about when he was a baby. He tried not to think of Michael. He had not spoken to anyone since he had left. Michael could've died or gotten worse, and Jason wouldn't even know it.

In fact, Jason spent his entire life trying not to think of those he left behind. A long time ago, he couldn't see the 'what-ifs' of life and now that was all he could think about.

He thought about what if Jake had been his son. What if he had forgiven Carly for sleeping with Sonny. What if he had been Michael's father. What if Jason Quartermaine had never gotten in that car with AJ. All he thought about was what if, and it was killing him.

Mostly he thought about that night he left and where he'd spent it.

Sleeping with Carly hadn't been on his agenda, but he knew he couldn't leave Port Charles behind without seeing her one last time. It was probably a mistake, and Carly would probably never forgive him for leaving her asleep, but he couldn't have left if those big blues had been watching him.

He had never been good at leaving her. In Jason's life, it had been only her and never her for so long he didn't know if he truly could function on his own. The shock of losing Jake to Ric though had staggered him. Losing a son for a second time to another man had hurt Jason to the bone, and he knew he had to leave to get his head on straight.

She had loved him in a way no one else had before as their bodies said words their mouths didn't know the language of anymore. At least when it came to each other. And then when she woke up… Jason had been long gone.

It had been almost three years, and he could still taste her.

Sighing as he collected his thoughts, Jason figured maybe it was time to go home … go home to Carly.

*********************************************

"Lucy, I'm home!" Nadine said in a Ricky Ricardo voice as she juggled her purse, her gym bag, and three sacks of groceries as she came in the door of the apartment she shared with her soon-to-be baby's faux-daddy, Lucas Jones.

"You are no longer allowed to watch TV Land, okay?" Lucas told her as he swooped in and saved the floor from unwillingly scrambled eggs.

"No fair. The baby likes it."

"I'm sure he does. So … how was brunch with the girls? My sister on her best behavior?"

"Carly owns the place. She could throw water balloons in the lobby and all the concierge could do was close his eyes on impact."

"I'll take that as a no. What happened?"

"Well, you know that Patrick slept with that skanky Elizabeth Webber, and Robin caught him mid-thrust… in their bed … on the anniversary of the day he proposed, right?"

"Yes, I know all of this. He's my step-brother. Moving on…what happened today at brunch?"

"Well, we got on the subject, and we're discussing it. Out of nowhere Sam, Robin, Maxie, and Carly are having a heated discussion about women who sleep with married men and vice versa, and then poor Robin says she doesn't see how anyone could sleep with someone besides their spouse."

"Oh, I get it. My promiscuous sister and my equally promiscuous cousin and cousin-in-law are trying to defend themselves despite the fact Robin was speaking about hypothetical situations and her own experiences."

"Exactly. It got a little out of hand."

"How out of hand?"

"Let's just say that I'm glad Carly owns the place, or we'd be facing one major cleaning bill." Nadine shrugged and Lucas laughed.

"I'll bet Hurricane Carly's raving about that."

"Don't you know it," Nadine said as she looked at her ringing cell phone. Johnny Zacchara, the true father of her unborn son and her former lover. Loving Johnny had never been an issue. It was everything that came along with loving him that had her passing their son off as the next Spencer, and after what had happened to Michael Corinthos and even Johnny himself as a small boy, who could blame her for that?

Especially with Anthony Z for a grandpa.

*********************************************

"Mom, what the hell happened in here?" asked the nearly sixteen Michael Corinthos III as he sauntered up to his mother dictating duties to several maids in the destroyed Metro-Court dining room. His ginger hair had faded to rust, and his one-time baby face looked back at her with the strong jaw shared by the Quartermaine men and the same piercing eyes that stared at her in the mirror. His height rivaled Lucky's, and he was still growing into a man any woman would be proud to call her son.

Carly flung herself around to glare at him with her hands on her slim hips.

"Watch your mouth, Mr. Man. I didn't raise you to curse at your mother."

Michael rolled his eyes before waving his hand to return her attention at the task at hand, ignoring the cheap shots he knew other teenagers would take at a mother with a past like Carly's. Normal teenagers, but after living the life he had, Michael was anything but ordinary.

"Brunch got a little out of hand," She shrugged.

"That's why five volatile women shouldn't be best friends.""No, that's why we should."

***********************************************

Staring out over the railings of her lavish yacht, Helena Cassadine laughed haughtily as she thought of the plan she had in store for the Spencer trash and the rest of his clan, ungrateful Natasha and her brood, and ineffectual Nikolas with his half-breed children.

Her return to Port Charles would be well worth the wait.