Laura stood up to see who was coming through the office door. When she saw his face, for a second she honestly thought someone was playing a cruel joke. Her son was dead! He couldn't be here standing in front of her. One look into his eyes, though, and her doubts vanished. She opened her mouth to speak, but only a breathy whisper emerged. "L-Lucky?" He was directly in front of her now. Her hands slowly moved to his face, touching the beloved features that she never thought she would see again. She pushed his hair off his forehead and, with her finger, softly traced a tiny scar that he had gotten from a skateboarding accident when he was eight. She looked into his dark blue eyes, now filling with tears, and she found her voice. "Lucky!" she sobbed, as he enfolded her in his arms. "How....How?" she was gasping. "How can it be? I saw you! Oh, God, I SAW you! You were...you were dead! I watched them bury you, they buried my baby..my baby...". Laura was on the edge of hysteria now and practically hyperventilating.
Lucky gently helped her back into the chair and kneeled at her side. "Mom, it wasn't me! It wasn't me they buried. I'm here, I'm OK Mom!"
Laura's gasping sobs had turned into a soft weeping as she looked at her son in wonder. She wrapped her arms around him again, running her fingers through his soft hair, just as she had when he was a tiny child. Finally she pulled back and took the tissue that Luke offered her, but even as she spoke to him she couldn't tear her eyes away from her son. "Thank you." She wiped her eyes and sniffed, then the questions started. "What happened? Where were you?"
"It's a long story, Mom, and I haven't even told Dad yet. All I wanted to do last night was sleep."
When Laura heard this she shot an accusing look over to Luke. "How long has he been here?"
Luke held up his hand. "It was just since last night, I swear." He paused, then said shortly, "I tried to call you, but you weren't home."
Laura knew that Luke was assuming she had been with Stefan, and she said, "I was at the neighbor's. Mrs. Peterson was sick last night, and since she lives alone, I was with her until very late."
"Oh." Luke glanced at her apologetically as he pulled up another chair to the little table, and got coffee for all of them.
Lucky was watching his parents, sensing that their relationship had changed since he had been gone. He had accepted that they were drifting apart, and that his mother had a relationship with Stefan, but he had always hoped...bringing himself to the matter at hand, he sat down in the chair his father had provided. "Where should I start?" he wondered aloud. "I don't remember anything before waking up in a stainless steel room and wondering where I was. The last thing I remembered was talking to...talking on the phone, then blowing out some candles before I went to sleep."
Laura briefly wondered why he hadn't wanted to admit he was talking to Elizabeth, but she let that go. " That must have been the same room where Faison had Felicia a while back," she mused. At Lucky's questioning look, she said, "We'll tell you about that later."
Lucky told his parents about his captivity, about the room he was in, and about his limited activities while he was there. "Just don't ever ask me to play chess," he said, rolling his eyes. He told him about his attempts to escape and how Faison had threatened Elizabeth's life, if Lucky did escape. "He showed how close his goons were to her, and how, at a moment's notice from him, one of them could hurt her." Anger boiled up in him anew when he remembered Faison's evil taunts. He'd never realized he could hate someone so completely until all of this happened.
"Well, how did you end up escaping then? Did he quit threatening her?" Laura asked. She didn't know that Lucky had ended up with Helena.
"I never would have, because I believed Faison's threats, but then they moved me." Lucky took a sip of his coffee and paused for a moment before he dropped the next bombshell. "I've been at Wyndemere for the last couple of months."
His mother's reaction was exactly what he had expected. She gasped audibly, and cried, "Wyndemere? You were at Wyndemere??!! How...?"
"I really don't know the details, Mom," he said. "They took me there blindfolded, and I didn't even realize that was where I was for awhile. Then Helena came to visit me." He nodded when his Mother's mouth dropped open and she stared at him in disbelief. She said that she had her own plans for me and that "Poor Cesar" was going to have to live without me. That was when I started making plans to get out of there. She assigned a few different people to watch over me, and they thought they were brainwashing me. I cooperated with them completely, and eventually gained their trust."
He grimaced when he remembered the lies he'd had to tell, about how he hated his father and the rest of his family, and how he was going to team up with Helena to ruin them. It had made him almost physically ill to say those things, but he had convinced them that they had won him over. After that it was a simple matter of waiting until one of his captors would trust him enough to leave him alone temporarily. That opportunity had presented itsself yesterday, when the man assigned to watch him had left for a few minutes to take a phone call. Lucky was able to pick the lock (this prison was not nearly as high-tech as Faison's) and sneak through the labyrinth of tunnels. He stowed away on one of the launches leaving Spoon Island, and found himelf on the docks, where he'd remained hidden until Luke had found him.
"I still can't believe all of this," said Laura. All this time we thought...." She broke off and wiped her eyes again, then took a steadying breath. "Well, now what do we do? Are you...ready to come home?"
"I'm ready to come home, Mom." Lucky said, and Laura released her breath in a whoosh. She hadn't realized she had been holding it.
"First things first," said Luke. "I've got a call into Mac, and he should be showing up here anytime now. Til then Lucky needs to lay low."
"Luke, is he in danger?" Laura asked in alarm.
"My guess is that the guys working for Helena headed for the hills as soon as they realized they'd lost him. The only man working for Helena who was known for his loyalty ended up with an ice pick in his back for all his trouble. Helena's disappeared for the time being, so you don't have to worry about her either. But better safe than sorry, it won't hurt to have a guard put on the house for awhile.
"Well," said Laura, I'm going to go ahead home then. I don't want to shock my mother too much, so I need to break this gently to her. Then there's Lulu, I'll have to tell her, and try to make her understand, without confusing her too much.
"I'll be there soon, I hope," said Lucky. "That is, unless you've rented my room out," he joked, and missed the guilty look that Laura shot Luke.
"I'll, um, take care of everything," said Laura, as she gathered up her coat and purse. She hugged Lucky one more time and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you later, if I can manage to get myself out this door. I hate to leave you!" She smiled mistily at him.
"Don't worry, Mom, I'll be there." He gave her a little wave as she walked out the door.