Sly only had time to let out a short yelp before the pillow smothered him. He struggled to get any minuscule amount of air into his lungs, but it was futile. In a last ditch effort he pushed and clawed at the arms holding the pillow, but they were too strong. Then miraculously the arms seemed to disappear and the pressure on the pillow went away. He pushed the pillow away frantically and coughed in his effort to get as much air into his lungs as possible. When his vision became clear again he saw two figures wrestling on the ground, fighting for control. It took him a few moments to realize that the figures were Lucky and Cole.
Lucky finally gained control. He dug his knee into Cole’s chest and slammed his fist into the man’s throat, effectively cutting off his airway. Lucky reached for his gun and pressed it to Cole’s forehead.
“Can’t say I’m surprised you showed up.” Lucky ground out. “I just didn’t think you were stupid enough to do it five seconds after I left the room.”
“Call me a rebel.” Cole spat.
Lucky raised his hand and quickly and brought the butt of the gun down on Cole’s head, hard enough to shake him but not hard enough to induce unconsciousness.
“Where’s Cassadine and what kind of deal does he have with Faison?” Lucky asked shortly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Cole said strongly, though he looked disoriented from the blow.
Lucky raised his arm and struck him again, a little harder this time. “Try again.” He growled.
Cole’s eyes glazed over momentarily and his head rolled back. After a few moments he focused his attention back on Lucky and gritted his teeth against the pain. “I wouldn’t tell you even if I thought you really were going to kill me, why would I tell you now?”
A slow feral grin spread across Lucky’s face and Cole felt a knot of fear form in his stomach.
“I don’t need to find out anything from you.” Lucky said coldly, his eyes looking like ice. “I will eventually find Cassadine and Faison. They both want to kill me, I’m not worried about finding them.”
“Then why do you need me?” Cole asked forcefully with the last amount of courage he had. He was starting to fear that Lucky would really kill him.
Lucky clocked him on the side of the head again, causing Cole’s vision to dim. Lucky leaned to look Cole in the eye. “I don’t.” Lucky hissed.
He pressed the muzzle of the gun into Cole’s forehead, his finger steady on the trigger. Sly looked on, his eyes riveted to the scene before him but unable to move. He’s actually going to kill him. Sure Cole was a dirtbag, but he was a dirtbag with information.
Suddenly the door opened and Frisco and Levi came rushing in, with Sean trailing in behind. It took both men to get Lucky off of Cole. Levi pushed Lucky out into the hall while Frisco took care of Cole.
Frisco brought Cole to his shaky feet and pushed him face first into the wall and cuffed his hands behind him.
“What was that all about?” Sean asked dangerously.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Frisco said flatly.
“I thought that was all over, I thought Lucky had this under control.” Sean hissed.
Frisco looked at Sean sharply. “He does. He was just apprehending a suspect.”
“He was going to kill him.”
“Well he is a bad guy, we’re allowed to kill the bad guys remember?” Frisco snapped and nodded toward Sly. “And I don’t think this is the place to be discussing this.”
Frisco shoved Cole roughly out the door and into the wall across the hall. Lucky practically jumped at the noise.
“You taking him downtown?” Levi asked.
Frisco nodded. “I’ll have Mac hold him, and then we’ll see what he has to say tomorrow.” He said as he pushed Cole down the hall.
“You know you are skating on thin ice young man.” Sean said looking at Lucky threateningly.
Lucky was leaning against the wall, his face flushed and covered with a thin sheen of sweat. He was almost shaking.
“Hey Sean man, lay off.” Levi said coming to stand beside Lucky.
But Sean ignored him. “I’ve warned you before Lucky, I don’t want this happening again.”
Lucky nodded weakly as Sean walked off.
“You okay?” Levi asked after a few moments.
Lucky took a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Well you’ll never guess who I saw tonight.” Levi said grinning; knowing that all Lucky wanted was to get his mind off of what had just happened.
“Who?”
“Non other than Dear Old Dad.” Levi smirked.
“You saw Luke?”
Levi nodded. “He saw me around Rob’s room and decided he was going to get info on his son out of the other WSB agents.”
Lucky nodded. “Yeah that sounds like him.”
“I don’t know what I expected, I just…” He trailed off, not really knowing what he expected.
“I know, and we’ll tell him. I’m sure he won’t be too shocked, this town is probably long overdue for a long lost illegitimate child showing up.” Lucky joked.
Levi rolled his eyes. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
~Next Morning~
“That was your boyfriend?” Sly laughed as Emily nodded quickly, laughing to hard to say anything. “Oh geez when I was in Poland I heard that song so much I thought my head was going to explode!”
“I know, he gets famous in one little Eastern European country and it’s Do widzenia Emily!” She said, imitating a wave goodbye.
“Em that must have been hard.” Sly said sympathetically.
Emily smirked. “Well it does help make me feel better that all he’s doing now is stocking shelves in his father’s department store.”
Sly laughed shortly. “Well that’s the least he deserves.” He said softly.
Emily blushed slightly and looked down. “It’s good to see you again Sly.”
Sly smiled widely. “It’s good to see you too Em.” He laughed and shook his head. “I still can’t believe little Emily Quartermaine grew up to be the gorgeous creature sitting in front of me.”
Emily laughed nervously to cover up the deep blush that crept onto her face. “I don’t know whether to take that as a compliment or not.”
Sly smiled as her eyes met his. “It’s definitely a compliment.”
Emily looked down, and laughed nervously. She couldn’t believe she was acting like a teenager with a crush. But in reality that’s what Sly had always been to her.
Sly saw her uneasiness and smiled. “Well as soon as I get sprung from this joint you’ll have to show me around PC. I’ve only been back a week so I haven’t gotten to see everything that’s changed.”
“This is Port Charles, nothing’s changed.”
“Thanks for visiting me Em.” Sly said, smiling genuinely.
“Well I woke up this morning and decided I wasn’t going to let you out of my sight.” She said smiling. “You have a tendency for disappearing you know.”
Sly laughed. “Well I don’t think I’ll be disappearing anytime soon.”
“Yeah the WSB does seem pretty intent on keeping you around.” She joked. Emily looked at her watch and jumped out of the chair she was sitting in. “Oh gosh, I have to meet Grandfather at the Grille. Ever since Grandmother died he insists on having lunch with each member of the family at least once a week. I think I’m the only one who actually does it though.” She said grinning.
“You gonna come back?”
“Oh you just try and stop me.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lucky and Levi walked into Kelly’s, the door jingling loudly. Levi walked up to the counter while Lucky looked around, lost in memories.
“Wow, I can’t believe this place. It hasn’t changed.”
Levi frowned at his brother. “I thought you came here last night. Shouldn’t you be done with all this nostalgic mumbo jumbo by now?”
Lucky rolled his eyes at his brother’s cynicism and ignored his comment. “I was here, but not for too long. You had ordered me to talk to Elizabeth, remember?” Lucky smirked.
Levi shrugged. “Who knew you were going to listen to me?” Levi looked around the relatively deserted diner. “You know after hearing so many wonderful things about this place over the years I would’ve expected better service.” He said a little loudly.
“I’ll have you know, the service here is just the same as it’s always been.” A mocking indignant voice said from the direction of the kitchen.
Lucky turned to see Tammy and Bobbie walking out of the kitchen.
“You know it’s a good thing your father let us know you were alive or you would have given me a heart attack!” Bobbie joked as she walked over to hug him.
“Hi Aunt Bobbie. Hi Tammy, it’s so good to see both of you.”
Tammy smiled. “I’m gonna take a wild guess and say you two want chili.”
“You read my mind.” Lucky said grinning.
“No problem kid, two bowls of chili coming up.” Tammy said and walked back into the kitchen.
Bobbie shook her head in awe at the young man before her. “I still can’t believe it’s all real.”
Lucky nodded. “Yeah I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around it too.”
Bobbie turned to Levi and something about him stood out, almost made her feel like she knew him. He reminded her of someone. “You look awfully familiar.” She gave him a strange look that made him feel like she knew who he was.
Levi swallowed nervously. “Yeah I get that a lot.”
Bobbie shook off the strange feeling and turned back to Lucky, looking at him expectantly.
Lucky smiled. “Aunt Bobbie this is Levi Sims.”
Bobbie smiled at the young man with the familiar eyes. “It’s nice to meet you Levi.”
“So what is this some kind of family reunion? Why wasn’t I invited?” Carly said as she walked into the diner.
Lucky turned around and smirked. “Well if it isn’t Cousin Caroline.”
“Well if it isn’t the Prodigal Son.” Carly mocked back.
“I’m surprised you even know what I look like.”
“If I were you I’d be more surprised if I didn’t know what you look like, the way these people put up pictures of you.” She said walking towards him and giving him a hug. “Nice to meet you Lucky.” She said softly in his ear.
Lucky pulled back and winked at her. “Nice to meet you too Caroline.”
Carly smiled. “So who’s the new guy with the nice eyes?” She said smirking at Levi.
Lucky laughed. “This is my associate Levi Sims.”
“Another Secret Agent Man?” Carly smirked.
“Nah, I’m more of a troubleshooter, a specialist they only call when the real agents can’t handle it.” Levi said giving Lucky an evil smile.
“Yeah, or when they just need a common thief.” Lucky shot back.
“Thief?” Carly said raising an eyebrow.
“Thief is such an ugly word, I prefer Obtainer of Currently Owned Items.” Levi said with a wink.
Carly rolled her eyes. “Sounds like one of Uncle Luke’s rationalizations for illegal behavior.”
Lucky and Levi shared a nervous glance that did not go unnoticed by Carly, but she let it go.
“So Aunt Bobbie….” Lucky started, but Bobbie cut him off.
“She’s not here Lucky. She left for the gallery early this morning.” Bobbie said walking back into the kitchen.
Carly rolled her eyes. “Why are you looking for Hell’s Angel?”
“Carly she hates it when you call her that.” Jason said walking into the diner.
Carly smirked. “Oh yeah, I’ll watch out for those painters on hogs, they can be dangerous.”
“If she stands up to you, she has to be dangerous.” Jason joked as he leaned down to give Carly a kiss on the forehead. Jason straightened and his face turned cold as he turned to Lucky. “Lucky.”
“Jason.” Lucky said stiffly.
Carly and Levi both looked back and forth between the men as they stared each other down. “Now do we have to have a pissing contest right here, I really don’t think Bobbie and Tammy would appreciate it.” Levi joked, standing up from his stool.
“Stay out of this Levi.” Lucky ground out.
“Don’t hurt her Lucky.” Jason said, ignoring Levi’s interference.
“Don’t worry about me hurting her, I love her.”
“Just because you love her doesn’t mean you can’t hurt her.” Jason said, his voice as cold as his eyes.
“Oh and you’ve done such a good job of protecting her haven’t you Jason?”
“Hey Lucky back off! It wasn’t Jason’s job to protect Lizzie.” Carly said, standing up to defend Jason.
“Carly stay out of this.” Jason said quickly.
“Huh, Jason? Did you protect her when she was vulnerable? Did you protect her when she lost the baby? Did you protect her when Tom came after her again?” Lucky spat
“Well the least I can do is protect her from you.” Jason growled.
“I’m not the one she needs protection from.”
“Oh really? Cause I’m pretty sure that you’re the reason she can’t sleep at night. You’re the reason all of her paintings scream of pain and darkness. And you’re the reason she can’t bring herself to love again.” Jason’s voice was almost at a scream by the time he finished, but he barely had time to take a breath to continue when he was shoved against the wall. His feet were almost off the ground as Lucky held him up by his throat. He wondered briefly when little Lucky Spencer had gotten so strong before Lucky squeezed his hands around Jason’s throat cutting off what little air he was getting. Jason was staring into Lucky’s eyes and they were darker than he thought blue could get.
Lucky could feel Carly beating on his back and pulling on his arms but he didn’t budge, he couldn’t. Then he felt Levi’s stronger grasp on his shoulder, pinching into the joint and causing a jolt of pain to run through his arm and he loosened his grip. Levi quickly pulled Lucky away from Jason and pushed him out the door. Before he followed he turned back to Jason, who was trying to catch his breath. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay out of Lucky’s way. And mine.” Levi said darkly and left.
Levi watched Lucky pace as he shut the door.
Lucky stopped and looked at Levi accusingly. “Don’t you dare tell me I had no reason to attack Jason.”
Levi shrugged. “Oh no you had every right. And if he wasn’t a mobster I probably would’ve helped you, heck if you still want to I’ll go in there right now and help you kick his ass. But silly me I thought it would be a bad idea to kill Elizabeth’s best friend.”
“He’s not her best friend! I’m her best friend!” Lucky yelled.
Levi kept his face calm and neutral. “Not anymore.” He said softly.
Lucky ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath to calm himself. He knew logically that he had no reason to be mad at Jason, but he just couldn’t help himself. Just the thought of Jason and Elizabeth together sent his blood boiling. He felt like his lungs were caving in on themselves.
“You okay?” Levi said after a few moments.
Lucky shook his head and Levi pushed him towards the docks. “Let’s get out of here.”
Just as they left Elizabeth came into the courtyard from the other direction and walked into the diner. Jason was still leaning against the wall, trying to catch his breath while Carly got him a glass of water.
“What happened here?” Liz asked as walked towards Jason.
“Your little boyfriend attacked Jason.” Carly said accusingly.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes and directed her attention to Jason.
“I’m fine Elizabeth.” Jason croaked.
“Fine! He nearly took your head off!”
“Carly, I’m fine.” He said straightening and taking a sip of the water Carly brought him.
“What happened?” Elizabeth repeated.
“Lucky was here, we had a little fight and it got a little out of hand.” Jason said quickly.
Elizabeth turned to Carly for a little less vague description of events.
“Lucky was here and everything was fine and then Jason walked in and they started doing some sort of macho posturing thing. Lucky said some things and then Jason said some things and then Lucky just snapped. He had Jason slammed up against the wall and was choking him, and if not for Levi I think he really would have killed Jason.” Carly explained quickly.
“Who’s Levi?”
“A friend of Lucky’s.” Carly said dissmissively. “Jason are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine.” Jason looked at Elizabeth, who was staring pensively at nothing. “Elizabeth…”
“I’ve gotta find Lucky.” She said as she walked to the door.
“Liz I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Lucky’s dangerous…” Jason started.
Elizabeth smirked. “Most people say the same thing about you.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lucky walked out onto the docks, Levi a few steps behind him.
“You feel better?” Levi asked cautiously.
“A little. At least I can breathe now.” Lucky tried to joke. “Thanks for getting me out of there, but did you have grab my shoulder so hard.” He said rubbing his now sore shoulder.
Levi shrugged. “Hey, what are brothers for.”
“I can’t believe I lost control in there.” Lucky sat down on the bench and put his head in his hands.
“Hey Morgan wasn’t exactly the picture of serenity.”
“That’s no excuse for me to lose control.” Lucky insisted.
“You don’t have to be in control Lucky.” Levi said softly.
“Yes I do. Nikolas is in town, Faison is planning something, Sean’s breathing down my neck, Sly’s in danger, Elizabeth is in danger, and somewhere in all this we have to tell Luke that I’m not his only son. There’s no way I can not be in control.” Lucky said, his voice strained.
“You just need to slow down, everything will work out.”
Lucky took a deep breath. “Yeah you’re right, I think I just need to clear my head. I’m gonna take a walk.” He said standing up.
“Where you going?” Levi asked a little worriedly.
“You keeping tabs on me?” Lucky said smiling.
“Well you’re my little brother, if you disappeared off the face of the earth I’d like to know where to start the search.” Levi smirked.
“I’ll probably be at the boxcar.”
Levi nodded silently and Lucky left.
Levi watched his brother walk away and sighed heavily. Lucky acted like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and it was his own fault. Nobody asked him to take the blame for everybody else’s mistakes, especially his good for nothing brothers. Levi started to follow in Lucky’s direction, not to spy on him per say, just keep an eye on him. Levi stopped when he heard footsteps approaching from behind him. His instincts took over and he ducked behind a wall. He chided himself silently; he didn’t have anyone to be afraid of anymore. But he thanked his paranoid instincts when Nikolas walked out onto the docks.
Levi’s mind spun. Well great, I found him. Now what do I do with him? He thought to himself. He had no back up, and if he confronted Nikolas on his own probably all that would be accomplished would be that Nikolas would recognize him and run. Then they wouldn’t find him for another two years. Plus Levi knew that Lucky wanted to be the one to catch Nikolas. As Levi debated his options, Nikolas made his way to a motor boat at the end of the docks. Levi moved closer to see, but his foot hit a trash can, which gave a deafening crash when it hit the ground. “And you call yourself a thief.” He muttered to himself.
Nikolas looked up, startled and Levi pressed himself to the wall, trying to stay as still as possible. Nikolas started walking toward where Levi was hiding. Levi looked behind him as he heard someone approaching, hoping it was Lucky. It was a woman looking through her purse distractedly and he barely noticed that it was Emily as he grabbed her and pulled her to him.
“Levi…” Emily gasped.
“Just trust me.” Levi interrupted hurriedly as he brought his hands to her face and kissed her passionately.
