Chapter 32: Running out of time

"Don't let it fall, Cowboy, keep running!" A laughing Luke told the little 5 year old boy as he ran next to him on the beach. "That's it, all right now, keep steady."

"It's high!" Lucky remarked as he looked at the kite flying high above him in the blue afternoon sky.

"You bet it's high," Luke agreed, looking at the same place Lucky was. "See, now, Cowboy, if you run real fast, you might be able to fly like that kite." Luke teased his smiling son.

"Will not," the boy answered. "If God wanted us to fly, he'd have given us wings!"

"Maybe, but God wanted us to swim, yet he didn't give us fins, now, did he?" Luke asked and saw the confusion come up on Lucky's face. Luke bit his bottom lip, which was all he could do not to laugh.

"I guess," Lucky allowed, looking at the kite. His dad was right. He was able to swim and he didn't have fish fins, so why shouldn't he be able to fly even if he didn't have wings? "Reindeers fly and they don't have wings," the little boy thought out loud.

"That's right," Luke said, amazed at the boy's power of deduction, even at such a young age.

"All right, I'll do it!" Lucky said as he looked at his father with a determined look.

"Do what?" Luke asked, confused for a moment.

"I'll try to fly. You have to tell me how, though." Lucky said, confident that his father knew everything.

"Ok," Luke smiled at his little half pint of a man. "First you have to take your kite back to the ground so that it doesn't crash. That's bad luck when you are trying to learn to fly."

To his amazement, Lucky started taking his kite down carefully, not wanting the kite to crash and bring him back luck with his flying lesson. When the kite was carefully put on the ground, the blond haired boy turned to Luke. "Now what?"

"Now you have to walk back to the end of the beach. When I say GO, you have the run towards me as fast as you can. When I say go again, you put your arms up like wings and you jump as high as you can."

"Got it!" Lucky yelled as he started running towards the other end of the beach. "I'M READY!" He yelled, wanting to make sure that his father heard him. Truth be told, he yelled so loud that the whole beach probably heard him.

"GO!" Luke yelled back and he saw the joy of his life run back towards him as fast as his little feet could carry him. Luke winced as he saw the boy lose his footing and fall flat on his face. Lucky didn't give up, though. He ran back to where he had started, before running back towards Luke again. "Ok, spread your arms NOW!"

Lucky did as he was told, and jumped up. Luke was there to catch him when the boy started to fall down again, and Luke started to turn around and around fast, holding Lucky up high, while the little boy spread his arms out wide. "I'M FLYING!" A laughing Lucky told his father. "MOMMY LOOK, I'M FLYING!" Lucky told his mother as she appeared on the patio of their beach house.

"Like a real eagle," Laura nodded with a laugh. She saw Luke throw Lucky up in the air and then watched as he caught him again. "You're going to drop him someday." She admonished her husband.

"That will never happen," Luke said, throwing a laughing Lucky up again. "No matter where I am, no matter what I do, I will always be there to catch my boy when he falls."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Lucky woke up with a start and he looked around disoriented, trying to figure out what had woken him up. he wiped his eyes, trying to focus. He used to be able to wake up and be alert in three seconds, but this morning he couldn't seem to do it. He looked at the clock and saw that it read 6:45 A.M. He groaned and threw his arm over his face. No wonder he was tired, he had slept something like 2 and a half hours since he put his daughter to bed after her midnight bottle. A whimper came to him again and he knew what had woken him up. The little piggie was hungry again. He got up and slowly put his sweat pants on. "I'm coming," he muttered as he heard his daughter's whimper turn into a full fledged crying fest. "Don't wake uncle Ari and uncle Andreas up, Larissa." Lucky said as he walked into the kitchen, bare chested and bare footed.

He prepared her bottle and heated it up, while he changed her diaper and played with her a little as she lay on the kitchen table. "I dreamed of your grandpa," Lucky told his daughter as she wiggled her feet. "Well, not your biological grandpa, but the one who raised me. I can't wait for you to meet him. You're going to love him." Larissa cooed and Lucky smiled. "Yeah, he's a real weird man, but weird in a good way. Most of the time." The baby sneezed and Lucky laughed. "Weird how? Well, how many grown man do you know that still act like a kid? Never mind that, you only known 3 men so far."

"Are you actually having a conversation with your new born daughter?" Lucky heard from behind and he turned to greet the new comer.

"Hi, Andreas. And yes, I am. You'd be surprised at what kind of conversation Larissa and I had last night and this morning." Lucky grinned at his new friend, taking his place in the rocking chair with the baby crooked in his arms.

"Oh, and what did she say about my brother and me?" Andreas asked as he prepared some coffee.

"She said that you guys were the best uncles a kid could have. Of course, she doesn't know my brother Nikolas yet," Lucky teased as the baby greedily drank her breakfast.

"She'll still loves us best," Andreas predicted. "After all, we're 2 of her favorite uncles, Nikolas is alone. Right, Larissa?" Andreas asked the girl just as she burped. "I'll take that for a yes."

Lucky laughed and he put his daughter back in his arms. "So what's the plan for today?" He asked as Andreas poured himself a cup of coffee.

"I'm staying here with the princess," Andreas said, "while you and Ari go to the hospital to keep up appearances. Can you do it?"

"I don't have a choice. I'd sleep with the devil if I was sure that it would keep my baby alive."

Lucky answered honestly and his mind drifted back to Luke and he smiled as he remembered the dream he had. Flying had been only a small part of the things that Luke had shown Lucky that he could do, against all odds. Lucky knew that he would always take example in Luke with Larissa, to show her how to be everything she could be. Luke had shown him everything he ever knew, from how to love, to how to defend his family against the enemy, passing through how to play and have fun. If there was anything that he could give his daughter, he wanted to give her the kind of love he had received from Luke. "She has to believe that I still think the baby died, or Larissa won't be safe. As long as she doesn't suspect that I know the truth, she will look for the girl but less frantically than she would do if she suspected I am also looking for the girl."

Andreas nodded and started making breakfast. "I hope you know that I will never let anything happen to your daughter. You don't know how much it means to me that you trust me with her life."

"Ari trusts you, Andreas, and I trust Ari. He saved my daughter. He betrayed his loyalty to Helena to save what was the most important person in my life. I won't repay his trust by turning my back on his twin brother," Lucky replied honestly. "He trusts you, so I trust you."

"Good morning," Ari said as he walked into the room. "Good morning, angel of my heart," he cooed as he kissed the baby's head.

"Don't you even think about kissing me!" Lucky said with a laugh and Ari got up.

"I wouldn't dream of it. Ok, let's go over this one more time before I go meet with Helena to make sure we have our stories straight."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Where the hell is that baby?" Luke whispered to himself as he, once again, looked at all the babies names on the little beds. "I know that Helena gave birth, and I know that it wasn't a still born. She had a daughter, dammit!"

Luke had arrived at the hospital in the middle of the night. He had right away dressed as an orderly, and found Helena Cassadine's room by looking into the computer like Lucky had taught him. Finding her room number, he had walked to it and stood over her while she was sleeping. Every strength he had had to be used not to put a pillow over her head to suffocate her to death. He couldn't do it, though. Not before he had time to ask her where his son was, and what happened to the baby. Luke had looked at her file and saw that the baby was a girl, and yet, he couldn't find her!

"Can I help you, sir?" A nurse asked him. He truly looked like hell. He hadn't shaved in a couple of days, his hair was messed and he really needed a shower.

"No, thanks," Luke said with a reassuring smile. "My daughter just gave birth, that's why I look like this. I was with her the whole time. Now I'm just happy looking at my beautiful granddaughter."

"Which one is she?" The nurse asked with a smile. She often saw fathers and grandfathers looking like they hadn't slept in days after going through labor with the women in their families.

"Third one on the left," Luke said, pointing to the cutest little ankle biter. "Angelica is really a beautiful child, isn't she?"

"Yes, she sure is," the nurse assured with a smile. "Have a good day."

"You, too," Luke said as he watched her walk away. "She's a bundle of wrinkles, how can you tell if she's cute or not?" He said gruffly and moved away from the window. For some reason, his granddaughter wasn't there and he wanted to find out why. "Lucky, where the hell are you? How can I help you if I can't even find you? Why do I have the impression that time is running out?"

"Maybe because it has?" Luke heard from behind as he felt the cold barrel of a gun pressed against his side, the words spoken with a voice he would recognize anywhere, even if the man had lost his German accent.

End of chapter

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