Chapter 1

Lucky Spencer squinted up at the sunlight and winced. He’d been out all night and exhaustion weighed on every muscle. The rave had been a disaster, with Juan crawling all over the debutante. What was wrong with him? Lucky balled a fist slowly; the anger that he had felt when confronting the little punk some hours ago was still coursing through his veins. Now, Emily was missing and it was all Juan’s fault.

Lucky tried to breathe deeply in and out as he bought a bottled water from a vendor at the edge of the park. The smoky atmosphere and the force of his shouting the night before had made his voice raspy. Lucky took a few slow swallows and wondered where Emily was? After she had run out of the rave, no one had seen her. He Nikolas and Liz had been searching for hours. Now, the sun was up and no sign of Emily. Lucky had been to her house three times so far, had checked the catacombs and the docks in the seven hours since they had split from the rave. He ran his hand over the slight light brown stubble on his chin and sighed. "Come on Em where are you?" Could she be at the fountain in the middle of the park?

Lucky took another deep drag on the water and strode into the park fast. As he surveyed the morning calm, he noticed a few joggers taking advantage of the glory of as summer’s morning in Port Charles. There were a couple of vagrants stretched out on the park benches as well. Lucky reflexively turned to the bench. It didn’t need any other name to Lucky. For a moment, he recalled the fateful night two years ago, When Elizabeth had been brutalized and battered and his life had turned upside down. "Was it really two years ago?" Lucky asked himself, before his vision cleared and he saw a man sleeping there. Man? That was no man, it was the little punk Juan! Lucky made his way over to him, intent on making sure Juan got exactly what he deserved.

~*~

Dr. Tony Jones cherished his early morning walks in the park. After he and Carly had split up, he hated the sunlight and avoided it much as a vampire would. But slowly, after a lot of healing he had not only begun to enjoy the feel of the sun on his face, but he got up early to enjoy it. Whenever Lucas wasn’t with him, Tony’s routine took him on a walk through the park. Even though Port Charles was in the throes of Forth of July fever, the park looked pristine. Undoubtedly, it would be a mess with the picnic and holiday fireworks. Tony smiled at a couple of the early morning joggers then walked at a leisurely pace toward the fountain. He had a new medical thriller in hand and loved to read there, the sound of water seeming to wash away his worries.

In all honestly, Tony knew his life was a lot better off then he could have imagined a year ago. After his morning in the park, he'd be going to his clinic, to see patients and then his evening would be spent on duty at the hospital. He knew that he hadn't fully been forgiven for his past crimes, but his solid reputation was building toward that. The first step in his recovery had been the truce between he and Bobbie. After that, he started seeing his son more often. Gradually, his former friends had stopped treating him like a pariah. It had made a big difference. He felt that he live in harmony with the residents of the town without finger pointing and whispered words about the doctor gone mad reaching his ears.

He moved past the fountain, towards the bench that he normally used. He liked to watch the children make their wishes in the fountain. Life seemed so much easier then, as if a piece of copper had magical properties. It always brought a smile to his face, and gave him time to remember when he was able to do that with his own children. No longer did the happy memories of his little girl who had died so tragically to save his niece, haunt him. He was lost in one of those thoughts when he realized that his bench was already occupied, and that his former nephew was standing in front of it, pushing whoever was laying there.

"Lucky? What's going on?" Tony asked, picking his pace up and clearing the space between him and the young Spencer. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong Tony, I can handle this," Lucky said harshly, not looking up at his former uncle. Unfortunately he knew that probably wasn't the case. Spencer honor had prevented him from kicking the sleeping form awake. However, when Lucky had reached around to pull Juan off of the bench and wake him up, he had encountered something cold and wet. He wasn't sure what the substance was exactly, but the metallic scent was heavy in the air, confirming his guess was that it was blood. He wiped his hands on the back of his jeans, hoping Tony wouldn’t notice. "Just keep on going where ever you were going, and I'll handle it from here."

"This is where I was going. I come here in the mornings to enjoy a cup of coffee and a little peace time before I head off for the daily grind of the hospital." Tony looked between Lucky and the man who was sleeping on his bench. "You sure that everything is OK? Has he been asleep there long?" When Lucky shrugged, Tony reached out and gave the sleeping for a shake. There was no resistance stopping him from the gentle nudge, so he rolled the body over, to find a prominent red stain on the front of his shirt. With expert hands, he searched for a pulse and found none. "Is this how you handle things now Lucky, is that why your friend is dead?"

~*~

Nikolas Cassadine had never been so exhausted in his life. He had been searching for Emily with the others for much of the night. He still could not imagine how Juan had been arrogant enough to find pleasure in the blonde’s arms. She was pretty, but she was hardly as unforgettable as Emily was. Nikolas sighed, his thoughts on his oldest friend in Port Charles. Emily had been equal parts best friend and little sister to him for so long that he had learned to take her for granted. Now, he was faced with the fact that his friend could be in likely danger and the feeling of impotence aroused his fury.

"Where are you?" Nikolas asked in a hoarse tone. He had checked the Quartermaine house multiple times, the docks, the park, L&B, The Port Charles Hotel and Ned’s gatehouse. Between all of their efforts, someone should have found her by now. With a resolute look at his cell phone, Nik decided to call home for his messages. The plan had been if anyone found Em, they would leave him a message on his home phone. They all seemed to want to bypass the sometime streakiness of cell phone service. As Nik waited for the call to go through he shifted his weight from foot to foot.

One ring…two…three…. didn’t I put the answering machine on? Nikolas considered this question as he mentally paged through the last few hours. He had called his machine a few hours ago and it had picked up on the first ring. Had he misdialed? He hung up and dialed the phone again. This time, a busy signal met his ears. "What is going on here?" Nikolas asked as he hurried to his Jaguar. He needed to go home now.

~*~

Emily Bowen Quartermaine awoke with one humdinger of a headache. She looked around blearily, trying to orient herself. Where was she? How could she have no knowledge of where she was or how she had gotten there? She sat up in the bed, wiping the slumber from her eyes tiredly and looked around the room, not recognizing it. She knew she hadn't stumbled home, which was probably a good thing considering her condition at the rave. Home, she had to call home, and try and explain why she didn't show up there last night. She'd just tell the family she decided last minute to stay at Liz's house, that ploy would buy enough time for her to try and remember what had happened the night before.

She checked around the room again, making sure no one was there with her, before picking up the bedside phone. "My parents are going to kill me for this, I just know it," she said to herself as she dialed the familiar number. That's when she noticed it, the blood on her palms. She dropped the phone in shock, vaguely hearing it clatter to the floor. Emily barely noticed the sound; all she could see was blood, and she had no idea how it had gotten there.

"Think Emily, what happened last night," She said to the walls of the room, turning her hands over, to see if she had somehow gotten a scratch of some sort that would bleed profusely but leave no pain. Her palms appeared smooth under the layer of blood, and there was not a scratch on the other surface. Perfect skin that's what she'd been told since her modeling career took off, but the blotches of blood were marring that perfection.

Nikolas drove the short distance from town to his cottage in a state of nervous panic. Had something happened to his cottage? Was someone there? He pulled into the drive and got out, closing his car door carefully so as to not make any sound. He approached his door slowly, and opened it cautiously. However, as soon as he stepped into the foyer, he slipped on some wet clothes and fell to the floor with a bang.

Emily heard a door open, and couldn't fight the first gut wrenching reaction to scream for help. Under more normal circumstances, she would have been able to keep her calm, but this was more then she could handle. "Is someone there? Help me!"

"Emily?" Nikolas scrambled to his feet and dashed up the stairs. He burst into his bedroom and saw her standing by his phone. She looked so shocked and alone. "What happened? Are you all right?" Nikolas pulled her into his arms. Only then, did he realize she was unclothed. He didn’t know of a delicate way to point out her state of undress so he just held her close.

"I don't know. Did you bring me here last night?" Emily was so relieved that she appeared to be in good hands with Nikolas. "Where am I even? I don't remember much after getting to the party last night."

Nikolas gently led her to his bed, taking note of the rusty stains on the blankets and sheets. "Em you’re at my cottage. Lucky, Liz and I have been looking for you all night." He swallowed hard, trying to avoid looking at her body. "You left the rave alone. There were problem with Juan."

"I left by myself?" She closed her eyes and tried to place the events of the night. "Juan was with someone else, and I got mad." Emily said after a minute of silence. "Right?" She asked, wondering if it hadn't all been a dream instead of reality. "But that doesn't explain how I got here."

"Juan was with Allison Barrington." Nikolas admitted with a nod. "You came together I think but there was an altercation when you saw him with that girl. You got upset and mad and left before any of us could find you. We’ve been looking for you since." Nikolas looked into her eyes, judging her clarity of thoughts. "Did you drink anything that was in a glass there Emily? Remember we said we’d only drink canned drinks and never leave them alone."

"I might have. Liz and I saw someone we knew from school, and they offered us some water." She was remembering more things, but they were still a little fuzzy. "These were girls we knew Nikolas, they wouldn't have given us anything bad. Hold on, I think I had some water when I got here too. I'd been running, someone had followed me, and I was soaked and so thirsty when I got here."

"Someone followed you?" Nikolas asked. "Did they come in or try to force an entry? Is that why your clothes are all downstairs?"

"My clothes?" She hadn't realized she was naked before but that wasn't that much of a surprise. She was often unclothed in front of make up artists and the people who dressed her for her shoots. She grabbed a sheet and pulled it around her, blushing slightly at the thought of Nikolas seeing her nakedness. A photographer or makeup artist seeing her nudity were considerably different then the boy she'd had a crush on most of her teenage years. "I think I lost whoever it was, I wouldn't have come here if they were still following me Nikolas."

"Tell me everything you remember about last night Em." Nikolas was very concerned. "Actually you know what? I think I’d like to take you to the hospital. Make sure you weren’t given anything dangerous." Nikolas said offhandedly. He wondered if he could get her to consent to a rape test as well.

"No, I'm not going to the hospital." She insisted, knowing her parents would find out. Emily could never allow that to happen. "Which means we deal with what I can remember about last night. I left and was cutting across the docks. I thought I could get home without any problems, I didn't want to call Reginald and get lectured on the way home. But someone saw me, and started to chase me." Emily started to shake, and pulled the sheet closer around her, relishing the feel of Nikolas arms around her shoulders. "It was rainy, which is how I got wet. When I finally got here, I was soaked, and took off my clothes, because I didn't want to drip all over your stuff. I got something to drink and came up here to borrow a shirt, but I guess I never did. That's all I know."

"You don’t know who was chasing you?" Nik asked carefully. "You don’t remember lying down?" He paused a moment wondering how to ask his next question. "How did you get the blood on your hands?"

Emily shook her head, feeling totally overwhelmed and ready to cry. "I don't know. It's all kind of fuzzy and unreal." She looked at her hands again, as if they could tell the story of what happened to her. "I must have laid down, or fallen into bed. Maybe that's how the blood got there." Wishful thinking on her part, but she didn't have a more plausible explanation.

"You’re unhurt?" Nikolas asked, checking her over carefully. "No pain at all? No drugged feeling?" He asked, awkwardly, motioning over her body. "No cuts anywhere?" When she shook her head, he sighed. "Looks like we have a mystery on our hands."

~*~

"Mommy mommy is Lucky still an angel?" Lulu Spencer ran as fast as her little legs would carry her and hurtled herself onto her mother’s bed. Laura opened one sleepy eye and stroked her daughter’s hair.

"Why do you ask that sweetheart?" She asked, her voice rusty from sleep.

"I dreamed that he was all goned again. Can we go see him, please?" She turned a pitiful gaze to Laura.

"Oh honey I don’t know if Lucky wants to see mommy." She admitted with a sigh. When Lulu’s lower lip trembled and tears ran down the little girl’s face, Laura sighed. "OK honey, we’ll go to see Lucky then have breakfast at Kelly’s so you can see ‘lizabeth too."

"Lucky and ‘Lizabeth?" Lulu’s eyes widened and she clapped her hands, scampering off to grab her favorite stuffed animals. She would bring her big brother and her special friend a present each.

"Laura got out of bed slowly, feeling every one of her years for a few short moments. She stretched slowly then began pinning her hair up. The last thing she wanted to do was to antagonize her son, but she had to reassure Lulu. In a world that was constantly changing, the little girl needed to feel some security. "Where do I find you Lucky?" Laura asked. Suddenly, the answer came to her. He had to be staying at the boxcar. She’d take Lulu there and if Lucky didn’t want her to stay, he could supervise his sister for a short while.

Laura bathed and dressed her daughter in short order, glad for a moment that her mother was in North Carolina. Lesley would protest and suggest that she give Lucky space but Laura wouldn’t be dissuaded even if Lucky were to react badly again. She would never give up on her children again, for in giving up she was admitting her defeat as a mother.

Laura hoisted her daughter up into her arms as she traversed the short distance from her car to the boxcar. Perhaps in taking her son off guard, he would be relaxed and open to talking with both of them. When Laura was a few feet away she called out. "Lucky? Your sister had a nightmare and wanted to see you. Are you here?"

Liz yawned and rolled over, reaching for her pillow. When only hardness rested under her cheek, she opened one eye. Why was there a voice her room? When had her bed become wooden? Curiosity compelled Liz to open both eyes and sit up. She instantly recognized the boxcar, but had no recollection of getting there? "Lucky's not here, but I am." She called out to the voice she finally recognized as Laura Spencers.

"Liz?" Laura poked her head inside. "What are you doing here? Did Lucky just leave? I brought Lulu by to see him." Laura had been under the impression that her son and Liz weren’t back together but if she was in his boxcar something must have happened.

"No, Lucky isn't staying here right now. I must have come here last night after I left the party last night." Liz had no recollection of leaving the rave or coming to the boxcar, but how else would she have gotten there. "Last I saw Lucky he and Nikolas were going to look for Emily, she was pretty upset last night."

"What happened?" Laura asked, concern lacing her voice. Lulu was wiggling every which way in her efforts to hug Liz, so Laura gingerly put her down, watching her daughter scamper over to a dazed Liz. "That must have been some party.’ She remarked as she watched her almost daughter in law holding her head.

"Lizabeth!" Lulu cried out excitedly as she ran over. "Hi hi!"

Liz didn't have time to do anything but grab the little girl as she was jumped upon. "Hello there princess, how are you?" She hoped that giving Lucky's little sister a hug, she'd quiet down a little. Her head was killing her, and she wasn't feeling very well. "You know Lulu, if you keep yelling like that, you're gonna wake all the birds up, and you don't want to do that do you?"

"It’s morning the birdies are all awake!" Lu said in a happy voice. "Birdies go tweet tweet tweet" she sang gaily.

"Lulu." Laura said in a gentle voice. "Liz has a headache I think. Can we tone it down a little bit?"

"Oh you sickie Lizzie?" When Liz nodded slowly, Lulu handed her a stuffed bumblebee. "This is stinger. He is one of my friends. But now he is yours. It’s pwesent day."

"That is very nice of you Lulu, I'll keep stinger with me always." She took the little stuffed animal from her young friend and gave it a swift hug. "Even if I'm not feeling to good, I don't think I've been given a nicer present ever." She stroked Lulu's cheek, and forced a smile for the thoughtful girl.

Lulu smiled widely. "We wanta see Lucky too 'Lizabeth." She shared. She leaned in close and sniffed. "You smell funny."

Laura winced. "Lulu that's enough." She said in a gentle voice

"I don't know where Lucky is sweetheart, I'm sorry. I haven't seen him since last night." Liz took a deep breath and realized that she did smell pretty funky, like smoke and every day dirt and grime. "I'll have to go home and take a shower or maybe a nice long bubble bath. And next time, I won't sleep outside in the rain. That will probably make me smell better."

"Liz would you care for a ride home?" Laura asked gently. The young woman seemed out of sorts and she wasn't sure she should impose her daughter upon Elizabeth, yet she didn't want to leave her son's former girlfriend alone either. "Come on honey we'll go to Kellys. You'll feel so much better."

"If it wouldn't be much bother, I'd appreciate it." Liz pushed herself up, and noticed that she could barely put any weight on her right wrist. "I must be coming down with something, because I just don't feel very well."

Laura helped the young woman out of the boxcar noting with some concern the slow way she moved. "You do seem stiff honey. Did you exercise too much?"

"No, just must have danced to much, that's all." Liz didn't recall dancing any, but there wasn't another explanation that would sound logical. "Thanks so much for helping me out. This will teach me to party to much the night before. Work isn't going to be fun at all today."

Laura gave the young woman a sad smile. "There is usually a severe payback for a night of fun."

~*~

Sonny could see them clearly. He often dreamed of Lily but he never had a dream about Juan before. Juan was approaching his mother and embracing her..... He focused on Lily's face seeing her lips moving. Was she saying Why Sonny? He saw Juan turn, waving goodbye to him. Goodbye? The kid was only seventeen! Sonny bolted upright in bed. The tropical breeze that swirled around him seemed cloying and he kicked the covers off. The dream still resounded in his head. He looked over to the wet bar then shook his head, pouring an ice water instead.

"Sonny?" Carly called out in a sleepy tone. "What's wrong baby, did Michael wake you up or something?"

"Bad dream." Sonny said shortly. His heart was still racing. "Go back to sleep Carly."

"I've slept a lot the past week, I'll wait up with you." She didn't want to argue, but he looked to rattled for it to be just a bad dream. "Want to talk about it? It might help, you never know."

"No I don't." Sony replied with a shake of his head. "It was just a nightmare that's all I get em all the time. That was true but they usually focused on his childhood, on his abuse from Deke. He'd never had a bad dream about Juan before. And in truth, the dream wasn't so bad. It was what it represented that had Sonny rattled.

Carly sighed and sat up, crossing her legs indian style and watched him, waiting to see if he was planning on coming back to bed. "Just because you get them all the time, doesn’t mean that you can brush them off, like they didn’t effect you. But you don’t have to talk about it. We can just lay here and hold one another if that would be better."

"Thanks but no." Sonny shook his head. This dream was clinging to him. "We need to go home." He suddenly announced.

"Right now, this second?" That shocked Carly more then anything he’d said recently. They had been happy here, and going home, so suddenly could throw off the balance of their whole relationship again. But his serious look made her think about arguing. "Ok, I’ll get Michael, you arrange transportation."

Lucky stood by numbly, watching as Tony attempted to revive Juan. He was obviously dead. With a shake of his head, Lucky stepped off a pace to call Nikolas. This went way beyond Emily just being missing. He pulled out his cell phone, dialing Nikolas' cell phone. All the while, Lucky was very aware that Tony had his eye on him. "I'm not going anywhere Tony ok?" he snapped.

Nikolas heard his cell phone ringing, and was torn. He wanted to continue to hold Emily offering support and a shoulder to lean on, but he knew that it could be Lucky or Liz, and they would need to know what was going on. "Em, let me get that, it could be Lucky or Liz, and they need to know that I found you." He gave her one last squeeze and took his cell phone out of his pocked. "Cassadine." He curtly answered.

"Nik it's Lucky. We have big problems. I haven't found Emily yet but I did find Juan. Dead. In the park." He paused a beat to let Nikolas absorb the news. "And Emily's nowhere to be found."

Dead, Juan was dead and he had one very upset Emily with blood all over her hands and his bed. "I’ve got Emily here. I think we might have a problem Lucky. Can you get over here?" Nikolas got up and headed for the door. This wasn’t a conversation to have with Emily in the room. "I’ll be right back Em," He said, covering the mouthpiece of the phone, and pulling the door shut behind me. "How did it happen?"

"Chest wound." Lucky replied feeling relief coursing through him. "Could be a bullet but looks like he was knifed. I'll get over there soon. Tony Jones found me with the body and if I run I bet he cries murder. Is she ok?"

"She is right now. But I don’t know how long she will be." He took a deep breath before continuing. "I found her in my bedroom, naked and with blood on her hands. Lucky, she doesn’t remember what happened last night, and she doesn’t know how she got into my bed."

"She's in your bed?" Lucky asked in shock. "With blood on her hands? My Emily Quartermaine has grown up. Let's just hope she skipped the class on how to conduct a murder offered from the Q college of dysfunction."