Lucky Spencer had first started volunteering on Pediatrics when his sister Lulu had a bone marrow transplant for aplastic anemia in July 1996. He was basically there all the time for Lulu anyway, so it wasn't a big deal to help Emily make a few extra balloon animals for other kids or push that games cart down the halls of the Stem Cell Unit. Despite the circumstances that had created the situation he had enjoyed the time. At least until the interloper had tried to visit his sister!

July 17, 1996

Lucky Spencer waited outside the Pediatric Stem Cell Unit at PCGH while Emily Quartermaine swiped her volunteer badge and then he pushed the heavy cart of games and craft supplies through the double doors.

"So do you want to see Lulu first because you miss her already or last because then we can spend more time?" Emily asked.

"How about last but if she wants to play Hungry Hungry Hippo, I love you both, but I am so out of there," Lucky said.

Emily laughed as she slipped into one of the disposable isolation gowns. "Oh, I see how it is," she said as she picked up several tubs of play dough. "I'm sure that Ezra just wants Play Dough replenishments and apparently he missed the memo that Salt dough is so much better and doesn't smell," she added as she started to open the door to the first room.

Lucky shook his head. As much as Emily might claim that her early childhood growing up in Boston being raised by a widowed social worker was different than life in Port Charles with the Doctors Quartermaine he was pretty sure that both were polar opposites to the Spencer way. That had never bothered him before but somehow everything had been different since Lulu had gotten sick.

The whole Spencers against the world had fallen flat when he hadn't been a match to save his own sister. It wasn't that Lucky wasn't grateful for the random match that had saved his sister. It was just that he felt like that was his job and he had failed. Then as if things weren't upside down enough something was up with his parents. His mother seemed to be avoiding his father even more than she had when she had been against his partnership with Sonny Corinthos.

Those thoughts had plagued him as he went through the motions and pushed the cart while Emily distributed toys and games to the children in isolation. Eventually they reached Lulu's room, but something felt off.

While he was putting on his isolation gear, he saw the guy in his sister's room and burst into the room desperate to not let her down again. Adrenalin and pent-up anger and rage fueled him, and he quickly had the larger boy pinned against the wall.

"Lucky! Stop!" Emily cried from behind him.

Lucky ignored her and jabbed his fist squarely into the intruder's jaw. He winced at the pain. "Stay away from my sister!"

The intruder rolled his eyes. "Your sister also happens to be my sister so I cannot accommodate that request," he said.

"How is that even possible?" Lucky asked.

"I think that is a question for our mother. Since she has not deigned to talk to me since she abandoned me, I suppose you will have to ask it," the intruder said. Then he extricated himself from Lucky's grip and made his way toward the door. "I came all the way here to donate my bone marrow so she could live, and I have no intention of staying away from my sister. I am not like our mother; family matters to me," he said before he left.

Lucky could only gasp and look over at Lulu who had somehow slept through the entire incident.

As much as Lucky had wanted to believe that the guy who had walked out the door was delusional or at least lying, his mother had tearfully admitted that what he had said was true. Nikolas was the son she had conceived with Stavros Cassadine but left behind when she fled the Cassadine Isle in January 1980, roughly one month after his birth. He was also Lulu's bone marrow donor.

Over time Nikolas had also seemingly shown, much to Lucky and his father's displeasure, that he wasn't going anywhere. His Uncle Stefan had taken over as PCGH CEO and Nikolas was the volunteer coordinator for Pediatrics. That had almost been enough to convince Lucky to stop volunteering. But only almost, because Emily and Allison Quartermaine were persistent and then Sarah Webber moved to town. For both of those reasons he was on his way to spend his Friday evening helping with the Halloween Party on Pediatrics.

XXXXXXXX

When one of the NICU nurses found him in the OR waiting room and offered to take him to his son, Ned Ashton was afraid to ask how his wife was. He was almost certain that no news was not a good thing, but he couldn't bring himself to press the issue. So, he just followed Jana Hawthorne back to the elevators that would take them back to the ground floor so they could make their way back to the East Wing which comprised the new Women & Children's Pavilion. It was kind of Jana to hike all the way over to find him, even though he suspected he was being given special consideration since his family had been major contributors to the construction of the new East Wing that finally opened in early 1996 and then ELQ Enterprises had basically single handedly funded the NICU expansion that had been completed nine months earlier in January 1997.

That had been a painful day. His grandfather had delivered a speech about children representing the future and how ELQ would always embrace that as a company. It sounded nice in theory, but it had been hard to swallow as he had been grieving for the daughter he and Lois had buried. Now that day was coming back to haunt him as he prayed that perhaps the NICU his family company had funded might save the life of his son.

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Disguised as a witch, fifty-year-old Irene Stanton entered the PCGH Pediatrics Fourth Floor Playroom with trepidation. As the third child, and only daughter of Ernest and Catherine Stanton she had grown up surrounded by wealth, opulence, oppression, and abuse. Her mother, a victim herself, had done the best she could and eventually sent her off to school away from her prime tormenters—her elder brothers Avery and Rexford. Distance had been sufficient reprieve from Avery. Rex had gone out of his way to find her and visit to continue the abuse. She spared her mother the knowledge of that because she truly believed that she had tried her best. Generational trauma just really messed with your mind.

By the time she had graduated from high school her eldest brother had married, had a daughter, and buried his wife under suspicious circumstances. Of course, the Stanton name, and to a larger extent the Stanton money helped dismiss all suspicion, so he purchased a new estate in Hampton Bays, NY and essentially started over. Except that wasn't possible because generational trauma just really messed with your mind.

By the time she had graduated from Alden College in 1969, her niece, Dominique, had suffered at least a dozen fractures and multiple concussions. When she found the courage to report her brother to the authorities, her efforts were rewarded with psychiatric commitment. It was only after Avery's death and Rex's incarceration that her niece had managed to break the chains of generational trauma and free her from her institution. 1989 was a great year because Avery was dead, and Rex was still incarcerated, and she and Dominique had a chance to make up for lost time. Irene would always cherish that time. Those memories inspired her to continue to fight the bonds of generational trauma so that she could have a relationship with her great niece, Dominique's daughter, Serena.

"Oh, there you are, Faye! I was worried you were going to be a no show again. I suppose better late than never, right?" a very plump woman with brown hair said. She smiled with much more smugness than warmth.

Irene just nodded.

"Well, come on, remember that Amanda assigned us to help with that stupid Jack-O-Lantern toss," the obese brunette prattled on.

Reluctantly Irene followed the brunette over to a bean bag toss set up. She wondered if the real Faye was going to no show. It would really be a mess if she showed up late because then that would raise question of who she was. But without a better option, Irene decided to just go with it.

XXXXXXXX

Dr. Eve Lambert unwrapped one of the miniature three musketeer bars in the bowl on the table in the fourth floor Pediatrics Playroom and popped it in her mouth. Halloween was seriously her favorite holiday. You didn't need to be religious to celebrate, you definitely didn't need a boyfriend, and you got to eat chocolate. What was not to love? She was about to grab a milky way for good measure when her colleague Dr. Chris Ramsey came skulking over.

"Have you seen Julie?" Chris asked.

Eve shrugged her shoulders and grabbed her chocolate. "Aren't you rotating with her?" she asked. Then she popped the candy in her mouth.

"She left early because she was on call last night again. Don't you live with her?"

"I haven't been home since this morning," Eve said. Normally she would harass Chris about his crush on Julie, but she suspected he was uneasy partly since when Julie had been abducted before he had been the last person to see her. "But now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure that she and Frank are dressing up like a horse so just look for the unmounted, mounted patrol. I think one of his friends is also having a party tonight and they're going there after they get done horsing around here."

Chris rolled his eyes. "You aren't funny," he said.

"Humor is in the eye of the beholder," Eve said. "Lighten up, here, have a chocolate," she said as she pushed the bowl in his direction.

Chris rooted around in the bowl until he found the 100 Grand Bar.

Eve shook her head. "Of course, that would be your favorite. Aww look, Dr. Quartermaine's mini me just walked in," she said when she saw the blonde three-year-old dressed in toddler sized blue scrubs and with a white coat who appeared to be clutching a genuine Littman stethoscope. Her teenage older sisters were also wearing scrubs and white coats but looked less like Mini Monicas and more like they could be medical students themselves in a few years. Which technically Eve supposed they could, and likely would be.

Chris smiled briefly, then seemed to grimace but then covered that quickly.

Eve decided not to ask. "Oh, look, Serena is a butterfly. I'm going to go say hi. Maybe I should take a picture for Scott," she said.

"So, I guess the grand jury didn't go his way?" Chris asked.

"I don't know. He hadn't heard at least as of last night. I can't imagine they are still deliberating but maybe they are. But better question, are you feeling alright, Ramsey for a minute I almost mistook you for someone who cared for another human," Eve said.

"I'm not exactly a fan of Baldwin, I'm just saying that Serena could probably do a lot worse in the father department, that's all," Chris said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Despite her colleagues feigned nonchalance, Eve suspected there was something there. Especially since Chris had never mentioned any of his family. In the spirit of her favorite holiday, she decided to let it go. "Here, for that brief flash of compassion you get another chocolate," she said as she dug through the bowl and found another 100 Grand Bar which she handed him.

XXXXXXXX

Dr. Alan Quartermaine smiled when he entered the party and saw his three daughters and his niece. Since he ended up needing to cover for Dr. Boardman at the last minute it was convenient that the party was at the hospital. "Ah four of my favorite people," he said when he joined them.

"Serena is a butterfly, and we're doctors! Like Mommy and I have a real stethoscope," Katelyn informed him proudly. She put the stethoscope on for good measure and smiled.

Alan noted that, unlike one of his current residents, his daughter had oriented the earpieces properly so that she could actually auscultate something. He pushed his concerns about Dr. Cerami's clinical skills aside and gave his daughter a hug. "I know, you look great! Speaking of your mom, is she around here somewhere?" he asked.

"If by around you mean at the hospital, then yes. She went to read a STAT Echo that apparently Dr. Devlin forgot he was supposed to read before he left for the evening," Allison told him.

Alan shook his head and then forced another smile.

"She should be back soon. Dr. Desai called her cell phone just when we were walking in and that was almost thirty minutes ago," Emily volunteered.

"Maybe Aunt Monica's ears are burning," Serena said.

Alan followed his niece's line of sight and saw his wife walk into the room. "Perhaps or maybe she just missed five of her favorite people," he said.

"You might want to change that to six. Grandfather is around here somewehere, dad," Allison pointed out as Monica joined them.

"I just passed your father heading towards the administrative pavilion with Stefan Cassadine. Neither of them looked particularly happy," Monica said.

"Unfortunately, I think the same could be said for Lucky and Nikolas," Allison said as she pointed to where Laura Spencer's sons appeared ready to come to blows in front of the punch bowl.

Emily followed her sister's eyes. "I thought they were doing better with each other. Maybe I just hoped they were doing better with each other," she said.

"I'll talk to Lucky. I think it's about time Nikolas helps you go get those boxes of balloon animals we put in his office earlier," Allison suggested.

"I want a Swan!" Serena said.

"Definitely! I'll find you one when I come back first thing," Emily told her younger cousin.

"Does the idea of them mediating the latest Cassadine-Spencer skirmish make you as uncomfortable as it makes me?" Alan asked his wife once his elder daughters had departed.

"It would probably make me uncomfortable even if there wasn't the prior history of Quartermaine women getting caught in the middle of Cassadine and Spencer feuds and paying with their lives. But when you put it that way, yes, it definitely does," Monica said.

Sometimes validation was a great thing and other times it just shattered any hope of protective denial. Alan felt just as much of the latter as the former. "Do you have any suggestions on what we should do about it?" he asked.

"I wish I did," Monica said.

Alan wished she did or that he did, or that someone did. His thoughts were interrupted by the paging operator.

"Dr. Alan Quartermaine please call 2176. Dr. Alan Quartermaine call, 2176," reverberated over the PA system.

"Is the trauma paging system not working?" Monica asked.

"It's working, I'm pretty sure that is the back number into OR 6 which is where Dr. Meadows is. So, I need to go, and you should pray, just pray," Alan said. He pulled a spectra link phone from his white coat and started punching numbers as he headed for the exit to Pediatrics and then the toward the Northeast Stairwell.