Lucas returned to Port Charles around noon and stopped by the Day Care Center. He had really missed Chase and it was an excuse to see Elizabeth. He walked in and saw Emily, but not Elizabeth. "Hi Emily.""Oh, you're back. Let me find Chase for you." At that moment, Chase and Loren came running into the room. "Daddy, Daddy, you're home." Lucas caught him in his arms and held him close.
"I missed you, Cowboy. Did you have fun with Loren and Elizabeth?"
He nodded his head and Loren said, "Can he come over again?"
"Of course he can." God, that child was so beautiful, so like her mother. He felt such a bond to this little girl. He wished he knew what it was all about. "Honey, is your mamma around?"
She shook her head and Emily spoke, "She went to Luke's to have lunch with Sonny. Luke's is a blues club over on..."
"I know where it is. I think I'll go over there and try to catch her, thank her for watching Chase. I need to talk to Sonny anyway." He looked at Chase. "I'll pick you up in a little bit, Chase and we'll do something fun tonight."
"Okay, Daddy." He put him down and turned to Emily. "I'll see you later."
He drove the short distance to Luke's and as he pulled up to park his car, he realized that he had not seen this club since coming to town, yet he knew exactly how to get there. He looked up at the sign and was hit with another powerful wave of familiarity. Luke. That was his father's name. He sat immobile for a few moments in the car. His father. Where were his mother and father now? Why couldn't he remember?
Finally, he got out of the car and went inside. Once inside, he was rocked by a memory so powerful his knees felt weak and his hands started to shake. He must have been fifteen or so. He had walked into this very bar and seen his father drinking a clear liquid from a glass. He had walked up to him and his father had said, "Hey, Cowboy, you're home. How are things in North Carolina? What can I get you to drink?"
He had smiled at his father; "I'll have what you're having".
His father had said, "Claude, let's see if he can handle one of these."
Claude, the bartender, had handed Lucas the drink and when he had taken a drink, he had spit it out. "It's WATER! Jesus. Dad, I can't believe you're drinking this vile stuff."
And his father had laughed until he almost cried.
The memory was so strong. What did it mean? Could he and his father really have been in this very club? Did his father own this club? And his father had called him Cowboy, the same nickname he called Chase. He was beginning to wonder what was missing from his past. There were so many things he couldn't remember.
He saw Elizabeth sitting at a table in the center of the room. There weren't too many other people there. He walked up to the table and when Elizabeth looked up at him, he felt his face flush from the memory of the things he had imagined in his motel room the night before. It was almost as if she could read his mind.
"Lucas? How did you know I was here?"
"I stopped to see Chase and Emily told me. I needed to see Sonny, too, so I came on over. I wanted to thank you for watching Chase."
"Oh, it was wonderful. They were up at 5:00 a.m. They couldn't wait to get up and play."
"Well, I hope he wasn't any trouble."
"Of course not. In fact, Loren and I are going to the Carnival tonight and I was wondering if you and Chase would like to go with us."
"That would be great. Let me take you two to dinner to thank you for watching him."
She smiled up at him, "We'd like that. Thank you. But you should go home and take a nap first. You look really tired."
"Yea, I guess I am. I didn't sleep too well last night. Being away from Chase I guess."
"Well, I can put in a word for you with Sonny, so he won't ask you to do anything else today."
Sonny walked out from the back and said, "What about Sonny? Oh, hey, Lucas, how did it go?"
"Fine, no problems."
"Good. I got another job for you."
Elizabeth spoke up. "No Sonny, not today. Look how tired he is. Let him go home and get some sleep before he has to pick up Chase. Besides, we're taking the kids to the Carnival tonight so he has to be on his toes. Please Sonny."
"You know I can never say no to you. Let me just show you what I have in mind, see if you'd be interested."
Lucas smiled at Elizabeth, "Thanks, then turned to Sonny, "Sure, show me what you have." He looked at Elizabeth again, "Will you wait for me? I'll walk you to your car when I'm done."
"I'll wait."
Sonny spoke. "Come on back to the office with me."
Lucas followed him, but realized that he would have known the way without Sonny. He walked into the office and knew he had been there before. A dozen memories came back to him, mostly vague, of talking to his father in this very room, sitting in the chair opposite the desk as his father spun his tales.. He felt that he was losing his footing, and the room started to spin. Sonny noticed his unsteadiness. He placed his hand on Lucas's shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Yea, yea, I think so." He wasn't ready to discuss this with anyone. He needed to think things through and try to make sense of it all. He needed to know if what he was suspecting was true. Could he be this Lucky that Sonny had told him about? But how could he be? He name was Lucas. Lucky could be a nickname for Lucas. But he had no memory of being "Lucky". Or was that what was happening? Maybe his memories were coming back to him in bits and pieces. And if it were true, where did Elizabeth and Loren come in?
"I think I'm just tired, Sonny."
"Okay, I'll make this quick. Are you good with computers?"
"Yea, not bad."
"Well, our bookkeeper just quit and I need someone who is good on computers. If I do the books, I have to do it by hand, cause I don't know jack about computers. And my partner, Luke, is out of town."
"You own part of this club?"
"Yea."
"Well, I can do that for you, no problem."
"Good, I'll pay you $500 a week."
"Sonny…"
"No arguments. Do you know how hard it is to find good help, someone you can depend on? By the way, here's the rest of your pay for what you just did.." He handed Lucas another envelope and said, "I really appreciate your help, Lucas. It means a lot to have someone you know you can trust."
"I'm just grateful for the work, Sonny. Thanks."
Lucas went back out to where Elizabeth was just as she was standing up and gathering her purse and sweater. She smiled when she saw him approaching, but her expression changed as he got closer. "What's wrong, Lucas? You look so pale."
He motioned for her to walk in front of him toward the door. She stopped to give Sonny a hug on her way out. When they reached her car, Lucas opened the door for her.
"Are you okay, Lucas? We don't have to go to dinner or the carnival tonight."
"It's nothing. I'm just tired. I think I will go home and get some sleep before I pick Chase up. Should we just leave from the day care center to go to dinner?"
"Sure. That would be great."
Lucas and Elizabeth had decided to eat dinner at the carnival, since the kids would probably just want hot dogs anyway. He had told her that he still wanted to take her to dinner soon to pay her pack for watching Chase. They had a great time at the carnival, mostly watching the kids having such a good time. When it got late, they went back to Elizabeth's house and put the kids to bed. It was decided that Chase would spend the night again, since both kids had fallen asleep in the car on the way home.
Now Lucas and Elizabeth were in her living room, Lucas sitting on the couch and Elizabeth in the chair.
"What is it Lucas? You've been so quiet since we left."
He thought for a moment. "It's kind of complicated. I don't know if I can explain it."
"Try. I can tell something is troubling you."
"When I asked you to watch Chase for a minute at the carnival, it was because I though I saw my parents."
"Your parents? Where?"
"They were across the street. I saw this woman, a blonde. She was with a man, taller than her and she was looking in my direction, pointing at me. My heart starteed pounding and I looked away for a second to see if she was looking at someone else, but there was no one behind me. When I looked back she was falling against the man she was with, like she was going to faint, and he was holding her. I tried to get across the street to get to her to see if she was okay. I felt so drawn to her. By the time I got across the street, they were gone. I know it was my parents, Elizabeth. But why would they be here?"
"Where do they live, Lucas?
"I don't know. That's part of my problem. I can't remember a lot about my life, like someone just wiped out my memories. But things in this town keep bringing them back. Some are so subtle I just can't wrap my head around them. Others are so powerful, they make me feel weak, but I still can't get a sense of when they happened, or where."
"Is that what happened at Luke's?"
He nodded. "I've been there before, with my father. His name is Luke."
She got up and walked over to the couch and sat down beside him and touched his arm. "Do you think you have amnesia?"
"I don't know. I just don't know." He looked at her. "I only know that I feel a connection to almost everyone I've met in this town. And Sonny told me I look like someone he used to know. His name was Lucky."
She looked at him, willing him to remember. "What else did he tell you about him?
"Just that he had disappeared mysteriously a few years ago, and that I look just like him." He turned to her. "Did you know him? Did you know Lucky?"
She looked down at her hands and had trouble finding her voice. She felt the tears stinging in her eyes as she said, . "Oh yes, I knew Lucky."
"And do I look that much like him?"
She put her hands on either side of his face, the tears falling now, as she said, "Don't you understand? You are Lucky."