The Quartermaines are all gathering in the study. Edward, Monica, Alan, AJ, Keesha and Lila stood around, whispering amongst each other. Bobbie Spencer is there too, wondering what she had to do with any of this. Emily comes downstairs, wondering why everyone was standing around, looking suspicious. Monica had called her down to meet with them.

Emily walks into the study. She sees Monica and gives her a 'what's going on' look.

Monica walks over to her, whispering. "We got a phone call a little while ago from Lucky Spencer, saying he had to come over right away, something very important . Do you have any idea what it could be?"

Emily frowned. "I have no idea...do you think something's wrong?"

"No, no...he sounded quite pleased when he called. I could practically see him smiling through the telephone." Monica looked towards the rest of the family. "We were told to gather in this room at 7:00pm...no clue, no reason..."

"Mom," Emily whispered to Monica. "I don't know what's going on, but something sounds pretty fishy..."

Edward walks over to Emily and Monica. "Emily, what's going on? That 'beau' of yours has called a family meeting...and he's not even part of the family..."

"Yet..." Emily cuts him off.

"Over my dead body!" Edward points his finger at Emily.

Monica interferes. "That CAN be arranged, Edward!" She smiles at Emily. "We'll just have to wait and see what he..."

Just then the doorbell rings. The Quartermaines stop fidgeting as Reginald answers the door. A few seconds later, Lucky Spencer enters.

"Good evening, everyone!" Lucky says as he enters the room, face beaming. He spots Emily across the room. "Hi, honey!" He blows a kiss across the room to her. Emily blushes.

Edward is disgusted. "Oh, for crying out loud...did we all interrupt our schedules to see a reenactment of 'Romeo and Juliet?"

Lucky turns to Edward. "No, Mr. Quartermaine, you didn't." He looks around at everybody. "I have a surprise for you all..." He walks back into the hall and reappears, with Carly and Michael in tow.

All the Quartermaines just stand around, mouths agape. Alan speaks up. "What's going on here?"

"Ms. Roberts has something to tell you...all of you." He steps aside and lets Carly come into the room.

Carly, extremely nervous, figured she'd better hand Michael over to Lucky before she dropped him. Lucky had no idea what kind of truths this evening was going to unfold. She handed Michael to Lucky, then she turned to everyone in the room.

"Hi, everybody. Um...I don't really know how to say this, so I'm just going to 'say' it, okay?" She looked back at Lucky, who's eyes were telling her he was in her corner. She smiled at him, then turning back to the crowd. "I'm here to apologize, I've really been acting like a...well, I've been such a...a..."

"Would you like me to help you out?" Monica interjected.

Carly looked at Monica. "Yeah, I guess I could say I deserved that one. Anyway, I would like to apologize for how I've treated this entire family as far as Michael is concerned." She looked at Lila, which caused all of her reserve to dissolve.

"I've been a terrible person. I should never have tried to keep Michael away from you all. It wouldn't be fair for him to grow up without his family...I know that wouldn't be easy. Hey, I did it...and look at how I turned out." After no one seemed to find that last comment amusing, Carly really felt out of place. She took one more look back at Lucky.

Lucky came up behind her and whispered in her ear. "It's okay, you can do this. I'm here for you, okay?" He steps back with Michael, giving her the go-ahead. "Go on, Carly."

Carly, taking a deep breath, figured now was as good a time as any. "I want Michael to be raised here, in this house."

It was Lucky's turn to almost drop the baby. Everyone else's mouths dropped even further to the floor.

Emily walked over to Lucky. She whispered to him, "What is Carly doing?"

"I have no idea...she didn't tell me this was part of the confession." Lucky whispered back.

Edward walked over to Carly. "Well, Carly dear...what does Jason have to say about this?"

"Jason HAS no say in this, Edward." Carly said, about to fall apart from shaking so hard. "He's not Michael's father..."

"Good Lord..." Monica said. "Then who is?"

Carly looked around the room, her eyes falling on no one in particular. "AJ's"

A sea of responses came forth from everyone in the room. AJ just stood there, staring at Carly, not knowing what to think...was she lying? Then again, why would she?

AJ decided to ask. "Carly...what do you mean, I'm Michael's father? We had the blood tests done..."

"They were fixed, AJ! It was all fixed...from the beginning." Carly was crying now, knowing that she was probably giving up her rights to her baby as she spoke. "I didn't want you to be the father, AJ...it just happened that way. I knew you would take the baby from me if you knew it was yours, so I decided to not let you know..."

"How could you DO that to me, Carly?" AJ snapped at her. "Do you realize that I have missed the most important times in my child...my son's life?" AJ shook his head. "What makes you think you have the right to play God, Carly?"

"I'm sorry, AJ, okay? There's nothing else for me to say but I'm sorry! I knew it was wrong and I was so afraid of losing him, I didn't care...I'm sorry!" She looked around at everyone. Her eyes landed on Bobbie and Monica. "I'm sorry, for not letting you get to know your grandson." She turned to Lila. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Quartermaine...your great-grandson should have been here from the beginning." She turned back to everyone else. "But, now that you all know, I want him to be raised here. I'm not good enough to raise him, I'm sure you and your servants will take very good care of him. If you'd like, I'll give you Graciella's credentials and you can..."

"Wait...just like that? You're going to give up your baby, Carly?" Lucky walked over to her with Michael. "Carly, we were supposed to come to an understanding today, we weren't supposed to give up your baby." He looked around to everyone, not being able to read their faces. He turns and hands Michael to Emily. "I think you'd better take him, this is liable to get ugly."

Emily takes Michael from Lucky's arms. "I'll take him upstairs, okay...in my room." Lucky nods as Emily takes Michael out. Lucky walks back to the center of the room.

"Look, everyone...we have to come to some type of happy medium, here." He looks at AJ. "Are you going to try to take Michael away from Carly?"

AJ looks at Lucky, then past Lucky to Carly. "With everything that's in me...I'm going to get my son as far away from her as I can..."

"See, man, that's why she lied to you in the FIRST place!" Lucky said, angry. "I'm not saying she's right, but do you think it's easy to have something taken away from you...and you have to live with it?" He looked around. "Do you all know how you felt when Carly wouldn't let you near Michael? Well, multiply that pain and that's what Carly's gonna go through if you, AJ, try to take Michael from her. Would that be fair? Would it be right?" Lucky stopped to take a deep breath. "Look...I know she was wrong for lying to you, AJ...I had NO idea you were Michael's father, so this is just as big a shock to me as it is you. But that doesn't darken the fact that Carly was here, she came here trying to find a way that everyone could be happy. She wanted to share Michael with you all...Aunt Bobbie included."

Lucky turned to Bobbie. "Aunt Bobbie...you know how it feels to have a child taken from you. Please don't let this happen again. That's it...it's happening again. History repeating itself." Lucky laughs to himself. "My God, what's happening here?" He turns to AJ in one last attempted plea. "Please...AJ, work out some type of visitation with her, whatever you have to do. Just don't take Michael from Carly. She wants him to live here, isn't that enough? She's made her move, man...now you have to make yours."

AJ glared at Lucky, because he knew he was right. "If I can get it in writing that she will admit that I am the father and she won't ever try to leave the country with him or anything..."

"We can work something out." Lucky said, hopefully.

AJ nodded. "I'll go talk to her."

Keesha looked at AJ. "Why are you going to go talk to that woman, AJ?"

Edward blocked AJ, adding on to Keesha's comment. "Are you crazy? You're going to go negotiate with that...that..."

"Grandfather, this is MY child, not yours. I'm going to go talk to his mother, okay? Excuse me." AJ walks past Edward and takes Carly by the arm and they walk out onto the veranda.

Monica turns to Lucky. "So, you mean you had no idea all this time that AJ was Michael's father?"

Lucky puts up his hands in protest. "I swear, Dr. Quartermaine, I had absolutely no idea." Lucky looked around the room at all the sour faces and wanted to escape. "I'll go check on Michael, excuse me." He exits the room.

Lila sits there, shaking her head. "Oh dear...I do hope AJ and Carly can work this out. "

Alan walks over to Lila. "Don't worry Mother. I think they'll figure something out. It's important to all of us."

"Yes, I agree. And it's also very important to that young man that just left this room...I think he's depending on it." Lila said as she exited the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucky comes upstairs to finally find Emily and Michael. She had him in her bedroom, sitting at the window with him. Lucky came in, closing the door behind him.

Emily looked up and saw the distress on his face. "Didn't go good, did it?"

Lucky walked over to where she was. "Well, not as bad as I thought. Then again, this isn't what I expected when I came over tonight."

"What made Carly come over here tonight anyway, Lucky?" Emily asked, getting up to put Michael, now sleeping, on her bed. She turned back to Lucky. "what made Carly want to bring Michael here of all places?"

Lucky ran his hands through his hair as he sat at the window. "We were going to just try to make everyone happy, you know...get Carly to bring Michael over to the Q's every now and then..."

"You convinced her to bring him here, didn't you?" Emily asked.

Lucky shrugged. "Well, kinda...I guess. I was just trying to..."

"Oh, I love you so much..." Emily said, shaking her head at him. "You are the most wonderful guy in the world!" She wrapped her arms around him. "You're trying to end the madness, aren't you?"

Lucky wraps his arms around her waist, lying his head on her shoulder. "I'm just tired, Em. Tired of all the fighting, the lying, the feuds...don't you just ever get tired of it all?" He sits there, breathing in her soft scent, relaxing against her. "I just hope AJ and Carly work something out where everyone can be happy. They went outside to talk things over."

"Wow, that would be great." Emily said.

Lucky sits up, eyes closed. "Uugh, I have a tremendous headache." He rubs his temples with his fingers. "I guess too much emotional trauma for one day, huh?"

Emily takes his face and brings him towards her. She rains kisses along his hair, down the side of his face. "I wish I could take the pain away..."

"Em, it's just a headache, baby." Lucky smiles weakly.

"No, I mean all your pain. In here..." she places her hand over his heart.

Lucky places his hand over hers. "Do you love me?" He asked.

Emily smiled at him. "More than anything..."

"Then that's all I need. My world is complete." Lucky stands and bear hugs her tightly. "I love you, Em."

Just then, AJ and Carly burst into the room.

Carly calls out, "Emily? Is Michael...oh, I'm sorry." Carly grins as she sees Emily and Lucky break their embrace. "I didn't mean to interrupt, they told me downstairs that Michael was in..."

"It's okay, Carly." Emily assured her. She noticed that AJ was standing there, too. "AJ...what's going on?"

AJ came into the room, looking down at Michael. He looked at Carly. "He's sleeping...should I pick him up now?"

Carly smiled. "Sure, it's okay." AJ reached down and picked up Michael. The baby stirred but was still sleeping in his arms.

AJ looked down at Michael. "Michael...Michael Morgan." He looked up at Carly. "A name change is in order, you know."

"Hey, it's your call. He's your son. How about Michael Alan Quartermaine?" Carly suggested.

Emily and Lucky stood there, confused. Lucky came forward. "Uh, excuse me, what's going on here. Can I safely assume that..."

Carly practically leaped on Lucky in a hug. "Thank you...thank you so much, Lucky. I would have never been able to do this without you." She was holding him so tight Lucky felt his breath cutting off.

"Carly...Carly, wait a minute." Lucky pulled her away and looked in her eyes. "You mean, everything is settled?"

Carly beamed at him. "We're going to raise him...together. Well, he'll live here...and so will I." Carly looked at AJ. "We figured that Michael shouldn't be deprived either parent so, we'll both raise him here, together. You know Edward's always loved me...ha, ha...he suggested that we all stay together for the time being until we figure out the big picture." She put her hand to Lucky's face. "I have you to thank for this, Lucky."

Lucky hugged Carly. "I'm glad I was able to help." He looked at AJ. "Thank you, AJ...for being so understanding."

AJ was enthralled with Michael. He looked up, eyes clouded. "I have a son. I have a son, Lucky...I don't have time to try being anything else but a Dad." He looked back at Michael, again lost in his child.

Emily came up to Carly and Lucky. "I'm so happy for you, Carly." She looked up at Lucky. "And I'm so proud of you."

"You really should be, Em." Carly said. "He's a sweetheart...but you already know that, don't you?" Carly turns to AJ. "So, AJ...I guess we should figure out which one of these rooms is for Michael, huh?"

AJ looked up at her. "Yeah...I guess the one closest to mine will do." He laughed. "I guess you'll take the other across the hall, because I'm not going to be the only one getting up at 3am for feeding time..."

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Carly says as she holds the door open for AJ to step out with Michael in his arms. She turns and looks back at Emily and Lucky. She smiles at Emily. "Hold on to this guy, Em. He's great. Then again, I guess I'm partial to 'family'. " Carly laughed to herself, at the fact that she could actually use the word 'family'. She closed the door behind her.

Lucky turned to Emily. "She's got it all wrong...I'd better hang on to you." he said as he kissed her forehead. "I'm the 'Lucky' one...no pun intended."

She grabbed his hand. "Come on, let's sneak downstairs and see what madness is going on now." They exit downstairs, laughing as they hear the loud voices from the study arguing about what color Michael's nursery will be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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