“I am so huge!” Emily exclaims, looking at herself in the mirror. “How can you even look at me?”

Nikolas chuckles and walks up behind her, wrapping his arms around her. “Are you kidding me? Em, you’re beautiful. In fact, I think you look even more beautiful pregnant!”

She turns to look at him suspiciously. “Nikolas, what are you smoking? I’m a whale!”

“I don’t care. I still think you look amazing. Stop being so hard on yourself. You’re carrying our child, and I can’t wait until the day he or she comes into this world. In only a couple of months, we’ll be parents.”

Emily turns back to the mirror and rubs her stomach. “Of course you can’t wait, because then I won’t be fat anymore!”

Nikolas groans and throws his hands up in the air. “I give up! I can’t win with you.”

“Now you’re starting to get it!” she laughs. Turning serious again, she sits down on the edge of the bed and looks up at him. “Have you heard from Lucky lately? I try to visit him at Sonny’s every now and then, but lately I’ve been staying away. I think seeing so pregnant makes him sad, you know?”

Nikolas nods, sitting down next to her. She rests her head on his shoulder. “I know. I spoke to my parents the other day, and they said that V was almost done with his CD, so they should be doing a release party soon. They’re not sure yet if Lucky will agree to perform, though. From what I hear, most of the stuff on his CD is about Liz in one way or the other. I’m surprised he’s even letting them release it.”

“I think he’s hoping she’ll hear it somehow, wherever she is. It’s kind of far-fetched, but it could work. Lucky’s good, so I bet the CD will do pretty well.”

“Yeah, it’s almost too bad he won’t let L&B capitalize off of his story. If the public knew what he’s been through, they’d probably be more interested. I know it sounds kind of horrible, but that’s life, right?”

Emily nods. “True, but I have to admire him for wanting it to sell because of the quality of the music, and nothing else. He won’t even let them use his picture on it!”

“Really? I hadn’t heard that. What are they using, then?” Nikolas asks.

“I think he’s putting a bunch of Liz’s paintings on the cover. As a tribute. Isn’t that sweet?”

Nikolas smiles. “Very. Then again, that’s my brother for you.”

~*~

Lucky opens the door and walks into the house. “Anybody home?”

“Lucky!” Laura greets, rushing down the stairs. “What a surprise! How are you?” She quickly hugs him, then steps back to inspect him.

Laughing, Lucky steps around her into the living room. “I’m fine, Mom. I just thought you guys would like to know that V somehow convinced me to sing a couple of songs at the release party. It’s next month, but she hasn’t decided where to have it yet.”

“What about Luke’s?” Laura asks.

Lucky shakes his head. “No, I can’t do it there. That’s where I did the showcase.”

“Oh,” Laura says, remembering that the showcase was the last night Liz was with them. “I understand. Well, how about Jake’s? Or does she want somewhere bigger?”

“Jake’s...” Lucky thinks for a minute, then remembers his vow to avoid the bar, and at the same time, hopefully avoid Kimber. Every since he moved into Sonny’s a few months ago, he hadn’t seen her, and was hoping to keep it that way. “I don’t know. V probably doesn’t want to use such a small place. Maybe the Outback.”

“Maybe. I’m sure Mac would love to have it there. Are you excited?” She smiles, trying to raise his spirits.

Lucky shrugs. “I guess. I just can’t get into it yet. Maybe once I actually have the CD in my hands, it’ll hit me, but for now it doesn’t seem real yet. It’s funny, a year ago I would have never even considered recording for L&B, and now here I am getting ready to do a release party!”

“Well, things chance, honey. I know in your case they didn’t necessarily change for the better, but you have to keep going. We’ll find Liz, you know we will. In the meantime, you have to keep living your life, and if this is what makes you happy, I’m all for it!”

Lucky smiles sadly at his mother. “Thanks, mom, I guess most of the time I’m happy doing music. It’s just that when I start thinking about her and where she might be, it brings me down again. Have you guys heard anything new?”

Laura is quiet for a minute, trying to decide whether or not to tell him. Remembering that she swore to herself when he was rescued from Faison that she would never lie to him again, she figures there is only one choice. She turns to him and nods. “Your father is out right now tracking down a new lead.”

Lucky jumps up from the sofa. “He’s what? Why didn’t you tell me? I should be out there with him!”

“Lucky, wait,” she says, grabbing his arm so he can’t go running our of the house. “It’s not a strong one. It’s just one of those calls from the Unsolved Mysteries show. He’s checking it out to be safe, but neither of us thinks it’s going to turn up anything. We didn’t want to get your hopes up like this, only to have to dash them later when it turns out to be a dead end.”

Lucky sighs and sits back down on the couch. “Maybe this time it will be different. I mean, it doesn’t have to lead directly to her, just give some little hint that she’s still out there somewhere. Right now it’s like she just completely vanished, and that’s not possible. No one just disappears like that. They have to go somewhere!”

Laura rests her hand consolingly on her son’s shoulder. “I know, Lucky, and we’ll find her. It’s just going to take some time, that’s all. You never know, in the meantime, maybe she’ll find you. It’s always possible. I should know, I vanished once before myself.”

Lucky smiles and shakes his head. “Yeah, but that was because of Helena. She’s dead now, so we can’t keep using her as an excuse for everything. Man, sometimes I think this would be easier if she were still alive. At least then, we knew who our enemies were!”

“I know, honey. Just have faith that your dad will track her down. Who better to find someone that’s disappeared than someone who is the master at disappearing himself?”

Before Lucky can answer, the door opens, and a very tired-looking Luke stumbles inside.

“Luke, what happened?” Laura asks, jumping up to go over to him. “You look terrible!”

He smiles and sits down in a nearby chair. “Thanks, darlin’. I was kind of hoping you’d like the new look.”

“Well, Dad, did you find anything?” Lucky asks impatiently, not wanting to wait for his parents to finish their witty banter.

Luke lifts his head and sighs. “Sorry, Cowboy. It was another dead end.”

~*~Chapter 46~*~

Elizabeth lays down on the sand and stretches out to sun herself. She sighs as she squints up at the sky. “You up there, Lucky?” she whispers, then chuckles to herself. “Cause if you are, I bet I look like a beached whale from there right now!”

A breeze picks up and she moves her hand up to shield her eyes from the flying sand. “I almost hope you can’t see me right now. I look horrendous. I’m so huge, I sometimes swear I’m having a litter! But, they’ve done sonograms, and they swear it’s just the one kid in there. I won’t let them tell me if it’s a boy or a girl. I want to be surprised. I think I figure that’s what you would have wanted, too.”

She pauses for a minute, gathering her thoughts. “I sometimes wonder if you would have liked Sergei, under different circumstances, of course. He reminds me a lot of Nikolas, and not just because he looks like him. I don’t know, I’m still not sure what to think. I want to trust him, after all, he’s the father of my child, but then I remind myself that he’s just Helena’s pawn, and he does everything she asks. At least, that’s the way I see it. I don’t really know that for sure, but I think I know Helena well enough by now to know how she works.

“You know, she told me the other day that she was watching us at our wedding. I guess she was using one of those surveillance cameras Faison had installed in our church back when they were holding you. She said she cursed our marriage that day, the same thing she had done when your parents got married. Now, I know they haven’t had the easiest marriage in the world, but they’re still together, and probably happier than ever, so her curse must not have worked too well. Then again, it’s been over 20 years since then, so she’s had a lot of time to practice. It looks like she got it right this time. I’m here, having your brother’s child, and you’re dead. How much more cursed can you get?”

With much effort, she pushes herself up into a sitting position. “If it’s a boy, I wanted to name him after you, but Helena won’t allow it. She’s already decided the names for us. For a boy, it’s going to be - get this- Mikkos Stavros Sergilovich Cassidine. How awful is that? She’s still insisting on following the family tradition of the boy’s middle name being the father’s with the “ovich” at the end. I decided if it is a boy, I’m going to call him Mickey when she’s not around. I need to do something to rebel, right?”

She chuckles at the thought, then continues. “If it’s a girl, she wants us to name it Nadia Helena Cassidine. I can’t decide which is worse, they boy’s name, or naming the girl after her! At least Nadia isn’t too bad. God, I hate that woman so much!”

“Be careful, you don’t want her to hear you,” Sergei said from behind her, startling her. She twisted around to look at him, hoping he hadn’t heard everything she said.

“Why do you always sneak up on me like that?” she asks angrily.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I promise, that thing about Helena was all I heard.” He walks over and crouches down on the sand next to her. “Were you talking to Lucky again?” he asks gently.

Liz sighs, looking out at the water. “Yeah. I don’t know why I still do it. I guess old habits die hard, right?”

“I guess. I’ve never really had any, so I wouldn’t know. How do you like the new CDs?”

“They’re great. Thanks again. How did you pick them out?”

He shrugs. “I just asked the lady at the counter what was popular. She picked them for me.”

“Well, make sure you thank her for me sometime. And the next time you go to get them, use her again. We must have the same taste in music.”

Sergei smiles and nods. “I will. Just let me know when you’re tired of these, and I’ll get some more the next time I’m on the mainland.”

“Okay. Um, can you help me up? I don’t know what possessed me to sit here, but now I can’t seem to get up on my own,” Liz says, smiling sheepishly at him.

He laughs and offers her his hand, grunting as he pulls her off the ground. She laughs and rolls her eyes. “Hey, I’m not that heavy!”

“Are you kidding me? You’ve got a whole other person in there, of course you are!” he jokes. Liz smiles at him, proud of herself for being able to finally bring him out of his shell a little bit. Lately, the Spencer in him has been showing a lot more than usual.

~*~

Helena leans back in her chair picks up the phone. “Any news?” she asks.

“Yes, it’s been done. He took the bait,” the voice on the other line says.

“Good, good. Just keep calling in tips. The more we can keep Luke Spencer running in circles, the better. He’s never going to find his precious daughter-in-law.”

“When would you like me to call in the next one?”

“Give it a week. This time....make it somewhere in Canada. Send him on a little road trip.” She chuckles as she hangs up the phone.

“Oh, Luke, you’ve gone soft on me. Don’t you know by now that you can’t kill me? I vowed a long time ago that I would outlive you, and I refuse to ever break my word. If you only knew that she was in the most obvious place possible. All you have to do is stop and think about it. Too bad I’m supposed to be dead.”

She laughs again, turning to gaze out the window. “After living in Port Charles for so long, I thought you would have been more suspicious of death. After all, no one ever stays dead in that town, especially the villains!”

Graphics Courtesy Of: