Family Secrets

Luke glanced about his office once again, taking note of everyone before him. His nephew-in-law was standing near the entrance to the club, arms duly crossed across his chest. Todd Manning and his troublesome niece were standing near the street exit in the same stance. For all intents and purposes, his way out was firmly blocked and for a man like Luke Spencer that wasn't a good thing. He had learned a long time ago to always keep your back to the wall and in this case, his wall had turned into a corner. His eyes finally landed on the person sitting directly across from him. Her green eyes sad and piercing.

They were the same eyes that had been haunting his dreams since Carly had accidentally left her photo behind all those weeks ago. He shook his head quickly dispelling those thoughts away. It had been nagging him. The fact that he knew this woman from somewhere in his past, but he couldn't remember from where.

He stretched back in his chair and propped his feet up on the desk looking between his four guests. "I still don't get what you want from me," he told them in a bored tone. "I already told you that Blondie here looked familiar, but I was wrong. I don't remember her. Never seen her til Caroline came by with her picture three weeks ago."

"Luke, come on," Carly sighed, throwing her arms in the air. "How many times have you told me that if I ever needed anything, I could come to you? Well, here I am and I need your help."

"Can't help you right now, darlin'."

Luke shifted uncomfortably in his chair and Jason narrowed his eyes curiously at him. He was nervous and he was showing it. Something was definitely going on, that much was for sure.

"Luke, please!" Carly continued.

Again he shifted in his seat, sensing that his niece was not going to budge from his office. "I already told you, darlin', I don't remember much from those days and what I do remember, I'd like to forget."

Carly bit the inside of her cheek swallowing the words that she wanted to scream at him. She knew that her uncle was lying. She could feel it down to her bones. "Luke," she began sweetly. "I know what you said and maybe we're wrong," she shrugged. "But could you do us another favor and just look at these pictures? Maybe you'll recognize something."

Luke knew that his niece was trying to pull a fast one on him, but he smirked at her anyway. "Fine," he sighed. "Anything for you darlin'."

Carly didn't want to mention that Blair had recognized him. If he did know something and was trying to lie about it, she would know. Her eyes were just as shrewd as Jason's and she knew her uncle was unnerved. She stepped forward to hand him the stack of photos. She could tell he was hesitant as he stared at the photos in her hand for a brief moment before he actually took them.

Luke pulled his feet down from his desk and sat forward as he began to flip though the photos quickly. They were pictures of a woman he definitely did not recognize. Large eyes and a kind smile. He let out a breath and handed them back to Carly.

"Sorry, darlin', she doesn't look familiar. Never seen her in my life," he told her with a shrug.

"Fair enough," Carly replied. "What about these?"

She handed him another stack of photos and before he could get past the first picture his eyes focused on the little girl with large green eyes. There they were again. He lingered on the photo for too long because Carly was soon on the attack.

"You recognize her," she stated, not giving him the chance to deny it.

He had to pull his eyes away from the photo with all of the will he could muster. "No," he croaked. He tried to hand the photos back to Carly, but she refused them.

"Why don't you flip though through the rest of them, Luke," Jason advised.

Luke glared at the younger man. "Alright," he finally sighed. "But I don't see the point."

He flipped to the next photo and yet again another alarm rang in his head. But the harder he tried to remember, the faster his memories trailed away.

"What aren't you saying?" Blair finally demanded.

His eyes darted from the photo to Blair. The same green eyes bore into him. "This you, darlin'?"

"Yeah," she muttered, "it is."

He nodded slightly and flipped to the next photo.

The same little girl. The same sad eyes. And it was only then that he finally remembered when he had seen her first. The forgotten memories all came flooding back in that instant. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the photo in his hand. After all this time and he still remembered clearly.

The little girl had haunted his dreams for weeks after he had convinced Barbara Jean to put her daughter up for adoption. What would be worse, his niece living the nightmare of their lives as they were or taking a shot at adoption? The adoption choice always won in the end.

Bobbie hated him for a long time after that. She hated him for making her do what she did as a means of survival. She hated him for taking away the chance to be a mother. She hated him for holding her own daughter longer than she did. But as it always was, the hate soon dissolved. Years later Bobbie finished nursing school and moved to Port Charles. He followed not long after. His long lost niece forgotten and pushed away from conscious thought. It was the way it should be. And the little girl with the piercing green eyes was just a forgotten memory until now.

"Luke," Carly sighed quietly. "What are you hiding?"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Luke Spencer was intent on one thing and that was dumping the new mouth his baby sister was intent on bringing into this world. He loved his sister. He loved her with his entire heart, but there was no way that he could take care of someone else. He was barely able to take care of the two of them. So he needed to be the bad guy. He needed to dump his niece and never worry about her again. He slowed his steps as he came to the front of the small orphanage. The kid would be their problem now.

He rang the doorbell and one of the nuns answered the door shortly after. "I'm here to see Sister Marie," he told the nun.

"Yes, of course. Follow me."

He did as instructed and walked behind her through the lightly lit halls. He fought the shiver that went down his back and told himself that he was doing the right thing. Aunt Ruby had told him just as much.

They stopped walking and he was told to wait outside an office by the nun. A few minutes passed and a small girl with blonde hair and green eyes appeared before him.

"Hi," she smiled a toothless grin.

"Hey," Luke answered in reply

"Are you here to adopt someone?" she asked him curiously.

He looked at the child closely and finally saw the fading black eye on her face. "What happened to you? You fall?"

A small frown appeared on her face and she casually tried to cover her eye with her overgrown bangs. "My last foster dad wasn't a nice man," she told him quietly.

Luke didn't know what to say. He knew all too well of what the little girl was talking about. He had lived that life as well. But was this the life he was condemning his unborn niece to?

"That happen a lot?" he finally asked her softly.

She shrugged slightly and took the empty seat next to him. "Sometimes. The sisters told me that there's bad people out there, but the perfect family is out there somewhere too."

"Do you believe that?"

She looked up at him, her green eyes so inquisitive and sharp that he had to look away from her. "No. not anymore," she told him quietly. "Everywhere they send me, no one wants me. I ran away a couple times, but they always find me . . . are you here to adopt someone?" she asked him again.

"No."

"Then why are you here?"

"You ask a lot of questions for such a little girl, darlin'."

"That's what everyone tells me, but it's the only way to learn things."

He couldn't argue with that. "What's your name?"

"What's yours?"

He couldn't help but smile. "Luke."

She nodded approving of his name. "My name's Blair."

"Pleasure darlin'."

~~~~~~~~~~

Luke tiredly ran a hand over his forehead. Thirty years later and here she was again. The same green eyes that were now shrouded in sadness. She wouldn't remember. It was too long ago, but the endless curiosity got to him. He wanted to know what happened to her.

He chose to ignore his niece and focused his attention on Blair. "You say you grew up in Florida, darlin'?" he asked her, once again going through the photographs, the mask of indifference back on his face.

Blair didn't know why, but Luke Spencer brought back feelings in her that she didn't want out. She had been searching her mind for the past few days trying to place the man somewhere from her past.

"Yeah," she told him simply. "If you want to call it that."

His eyes settled on the picture that first triggered his memory. "Where were you when this was taken?" he asked her, showing her the photo.

"I don't know," she muttered.

"You don't know?" he echoed.

"I said I don't know," she told him angrily.

She stood to leave, but Todd stepped forward placing his hands on her shoulders. "Blair come on, sit down."

She wanted to yell at Todd too. He knew how much this was bothering her. This wasn't something she could suck up and take or roll with the punches. She felt raw and overexposed. Todd saw the pain on her face and tried to smile. He brought his mouth close to her ear so that she would be the only one to hear him.

"You're not that scared little girl anymore, Blair. Show this old bastard that strong woman we both know you are."

Todd's words struck deep and she knew he was right. She had been through far too much to let an old coot like Luke Spencer make her break. She kissed Todd softly and sat back down.

"What do you want to know?" she asked Luke coldly.

His eyebrows went up in surprise. "How old were you when this was taken?"

"I don’t know," she told him. "Why don't you check the back."

He did and saw the faded handwriting that simply read 'Blair - Age 7'.

~~~~~~~~

"Today's my birthday," she told him suddenly.

"It is?" he asked her. "Well happy birthday, doll face." The corner of her mouth curved into a smile. "What did you wish for?"

"Something I'll never get," she told him smoothing out the skirt of her dress.

"And what's that?"

"If I told you, silly, it really won't come true, will it?"

"I guess not," he conceded. "So how old are you? 20?"

"No," she rolled her eyes. "I'm only seven."

"Seven. Wow, that's a good age."

"Do you have any kids?" she asked him curiously.

"Nope."

"Do you want any?"

His first impulse was to say no, but her large eyes were hopeful and so he lied. "Not right now. I'm kinda busy taking care of my little sister."

"Oh. That's really nice of you. I always wanted to have a sister. Is she very pretty?"

Luke couldn't help but smile. "Not as pretty as you, doll face."

Her eyes sparkled in return. She reminded him of Bobbie when she was her age.

"Mr. Spencer?" the sister finally called coming out of her office. She noticed the little girl sitting next to him. "Blair, sweetheart, why aren't you in the cafeteria having lunch?"

"Sister Karen told me to come and talk to you 'cause I pushed Lily Craig in line, but she really deserved it."

Luke couldn't help but chuckle and Sister Marie shot him an admonishing glare. "I need to speak to Mr. Spencer, but then you and I will discuss your punishment."

"Yes, Sister," she muttered quietly.

"Mr. Spencer, we can discuss your matter further in my office."

He nodded slowly and rose from his seat. "Try to stay out of trouble, doll face."

"You too," she told him with a grin.

~~~~~~~~~~

Carly eyed Luke angrily. Her uncle was known to be an ass, but this was getting ridiculous even for him. He kept pummeling Blair with questions about the foster homes and orphanages she had been placed in. She could tell that Blair was ready to crack with all of the painful memories she had to relive again.

"Luke, what the hell is your problem?" Carly finally demanded.

"I know what I'm doing, doll face," he told her evenly.

And it was then that the glimmer of remembrance entered Blair's eyes. Everything just clicked together. It was as if she finally had the final piece to complete the puzzle. "I remember you," Blair barely whispered.

The air in the small office took on another life form. Tension and surprise swept everyone over as they watched the scene unfold.

"I saw you at one of the orphanages I stayed in." Blair paused again, her mind desperately trying to remember more. She looked at him wild-eyed. She had repressed and buried those memories so long ago that this was one of the first times she could remember clearly.

"I thought you couldn't remember," Luke muttered not looking at her.

"No, I couldn't. But I remember you now. You went to see one of the sisters and I asked you if you were there to adopt someone." Her eyes searched his face trying to remember more details. "You had big poofy curly blonde hair. I remember thinking it was like a clown wig only yellow."

"Hey now," he muttered insulted.

"You called me doll face," she told him softly. "Even though I had that big bruise on my face. That's why I remembered you. I kept hoping you'd come back and get me out of there because no one had been that nice to me . . . But you were there to get rid of someone, not pick someone up."

Her eyes darted to Carly and they held one another's gaze for a moment. Carly. This woman who she had known for such a short time, but looked as hurt as she felt. She focused her attention back onto Luke.

"You knew what kind of place that was," she told him in a barely controlled rage. "You saw what happened, but you left your own flesh and blood there?"

"I had no choice," he shouted angrily as he finally stood from his chair. The insinuation that he would purposefully hurt his niece was something he didn't take lightly. "It was a 50/50 shot that Caroline would do better there than in the streets with me and her mother. The nun told me that they had a good family for her. Someone wanted her because she was a baby, not a seven year old brat!"

Blair's eyes suddenly filled with tears.

And there it was again.

Rejection.

"Luke!" Carly screamed. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Todd was fuming next to her and Carly clamped a hand on his arm to steady him. This was Blair's fight she knew, but Luke had taken it too far.

Luke quickly glanced at his niece and then Blair. He felt like an ass. "Sorry, darlin'," he mumbled softly to Blair, sitting back down behind his desk.

Blair watched him carefully, blinking back the tears. "You know," she began, the southern drawl that was otherwise barely noticeable became thick, "when I was a little girl moving from foster home to foster home, orphanage to orphanage, I kept thinking about that man who was so nice to me and called me 'doll face' when I had bruises on my face and other places. I kept hearing that over and over again and it got me through the days. Sitting here today, I don't know what I was thinking. Because he was never nice. He was never kind. He didn’t give a shit," she spat. "That man probably felt dirty being in a place like that and he probably counted his blessings when he left."

Luke watched Blair carefully. "I had no choice," he told her honestly. "If Barbara Jean had kept her baby, she most likely would of ended up dead or turning tricks next to her momma. Caroline got a good family to adopt her. She didn't know it then or when she first got here to Port Charles, but I bet you that she's grateful that she ended up with Virginia and not with me or her mother."

But Blair wouldn't look away from him. The nagging question in the back of her mind wanted to be answered. "You remembered me," she told him carefully. "Why?"

"I only remembered because of these pictures, I buried the memory just like you, darlin' . . . but those eyes of yours triggered something deep the first time I laid eyes on them. Probably because you reminded me of my sister when she was that age," he added softly. Blair bit her bottom lip. "You were a skinny little thing. Your eyes about as big as your head . . . and I remember you were too smart for your own good, you lived too much and saw too much for such a small age. I didn't want that for my niece, but I had no choice. We were practically living on the streets for god's sake. It's a miracle that me and Barbara Jean survived it, but I knew a baby wouldn't. And now looking back, I guess a part of me hoped for two things. That Caroline wouldn't have to be put through what you did and that you were able to get out of there yourself."

"I didn't," she told him sadly.

"And I'm sorry about that, doll face."

She couldn't help but smile softly. His voice had deepened and was a bit more gruff since she had last heard him call her that, but it was still his voice. And it still brought a small feeling of comfort she had forgotten all about. Her earlier anger was surprisingly beginning to dissolve. She knew that it wasn't Luke's fault her life had taken the course that it had. And she did believe that he was doing what he thought was best for Carly. She stood from her chair and headed for the door. "I think we learned as much as we're going to here," she told her friends quietly. Too much had happened in such a small amount of time that she was in sensory overload. She needed to rest her head or else she was going to have some sort of anxiety attack.

"Blair, wait," Todd called after her.

Todd had been surprisingly quiet during the conversation, but he couldn't hold his tongue any longer. He walked up to Luke's desk and leaned down menacingly. "Look, Spencer, I don't know what it is you're trying to hide and I don’t care. If you know anything about why some freak is sending this shit to Blair and Carly, you need to tell us. Now," he growled.

Luke slowly rose from behind his desk, his eyes never leaving Todd's. "I don't know how many times I need to tell you this, Manning, but I don't know anything about this. If I did I would of told Carly."

"After what happened just now -- I don't believe you."

"I don't care," he countered.

"Look you even admitted you recognized Blair before we showed up here today. You even said so at that damn ball. There has to be something else you're not saying."

Luke remained silent.

"Luke," Jason began. "This isn't a game."

"I know that," he snapped. "Look, there were circles I ran in that will bring you nothing but misery if you go sniffing around."

"I'm not worried about that," Jason told him honestly. "But if these people are messing with--"

"They're not," Luke interrupted. "This ain't their style and it makes no sense."

"Who exactly are you talking about?" Jason asked him curiously.

He paused slightly before answering him. "Frank Smith."

"He's dead," Jason replied immediately. "So are his kids."

"That doesn't mean there's someone not out there on his behalf. But like I said this ain't their style. If they were after someone it'd be me and Laura."

Carly's mouth opened at that comment.

"She's fine," Luke assured her before the words left her mouth. "Look, I don't know anything. It's a freaking coincidence that I recognized Blair in the first place. This, for once, has nothing to do with me."

"He's right."

All eyes turned to Carly. "It doesn't fit the puzzle. It was a coincidence that Luke used the same orphanage to adopt me out as the one Blair was at."

"How did you pick that place?" Jason asked Luke curiously.

"It was the first one listed on a directory the hospital gave me."

"Nothing else happened while you were there?"

"No. how many times do I have to say it?"

"This is all too random," Blair finally added. "I think-- I think the only answers we'll get is if we go to--to Florida."

"Blair's right," Todd sighed.

"I'm going with you," Luke replied immediately and Jason began to protest. "I wanna know who's messing with my family and you need the backup. I know the territory - you don't," he told him pointedly.

After a quick contemplation, Jason finally nodded his approval. "Fine. Bring your own gun."