Chapter 18

"How are you feeling?" Nikolas asked, taking the chair Lucien had been using.

Elizabeth looked at him curiously, then at Carly. "Okay, what's going on? Why aren't you guys telling me that I'm crazy, that he wasn't Lucky?"

Carly smiled and squeezed her friend's hand. "Because we think he's Lucky, too."

Liz's face lit up. "Really? You do? Oh, I'm so happy to hear that! Now, how are we going to make him remember?"

Nikolas shook his head. "We may not be able to. Something has happened to him that has him convinced that he's Lucien Cassidine. He may never remember his life as Lucky Spencer. If he really is Lucky, that is. We still haven't been able to find proof of that."

"I don't need proof, Nikolas. I could see it in his eyes in the restaurant. What about Luke and Laura? I'm sure they saw it too!"

"Laura did, but Luke won't admit it. I think he's too hung up on him calling himself a Cassidine. He doesn't want to believe that his own son would do that." He sighed and looked off into space. "What did Helena do to him?"

~*~

"Did you try again?" Helena asked, beginning to get impatient.

"I got the answering machine again. The beep was really long, so he has a lot of messages on it. I'd say he hasn't been home in a while." Faison answered bitterly.

"But hasn't he called us almost every day?"

He shrugged. "He doesn't have to be in Paris to call us. He's obviously been lying to us for days now. I have a sinking feeling that he's in Port Charles."

Helena's eyes grew wide. "He can't be! If he goes back there, all our hard work could be lost. Too many people will recognize him!"

Faison nodded. "I'm well awake of the implications. I'm having someone check all of the hotel records and airline passenger logs. If he's there, we'll find him and bring him back." He almost hoped that Lucien did go to Port Charles. He was growing tired of Helena's plan, and was losing patience. But, as much as he would have liked to just let Lucien go back, he couldn't take the chance of getting caught.

Helena sighed. "Fine, keep me posted, then. If he's gone to Port Charles, we don't have a second to lose. Thank goodness that girlfriend of his is away at school. I just hope he stays away from the Spencers."

"Well, my dear, you've done a fine job of poisioning his mind against them, so I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. My concern is your son. If Lucien says something to Stefan, he will become suspicious of you. We can't afford to have anyone investigating you now."

"Oh, don't worry about Stefan. I can handle him," Helena said. "I have someone keeping an eye on his at all times, and they haven't said anything ot me yet about Lucien."

"Then maybe we're in luck. Who knows, maybe he isn't in Port Charles after all?" Faison popped a new cigar in his mouth and lit it.

~*~

"Have you found anything, partner?" Luke asked anxiously over the phone.

"Sorry, Luke, they're still looking . Helena has done a good job of making his records inaccessible," Sonny answered.

"All the more reason to suspect that she's up to something. Laura is convinced that he's our son, but I'm not so sure. I'd like to believe it, but he's so different. He looks at me with pure hate. No matter how angry Lucky would get with me,he never looked at me that way."

"Well, like you said, he thinks he's a Cassidine. Maybe he has amnesia, and Helena just planted this new identity in his brain. If he's really Lucky, I'm sure he'll remember sooner or later. It he isn't, then we'll make sure to keep an eye on him," Sonny reasoned.

Luke chuckled. "Lord knows the last thing this town needs is more Cassidines!"

There's a knock at the door. "Sorry, partner. Someone's here. I'll talk to you later!" He hung up and yelled for them to come in.

The door opeend and Carly and Nikolas entered. Luke laughed. "Well, Caroline and Nikolas, there's a pair I never expected to see together. What brings you here?"

They looked at each other, silently debating who should speak first. Carly turned to her uncle and smiled. "Okay, I guess the first thing we should tell you is that Elizabeth is awake, and she seems to be doing well. I know you were worried about her."

Luke smiled, happy to have some good news for once. "That's great, but I don't see why the two of you had to tell me in person. What's really going on?"

Nikolas sighed. "When she woke up, Lucien was in her room, watching over her. He's been there every day, talking to her. I think he feels badly that he was the cause of her collapse. Anyway, she had a similar reaction to him as Laura did the other day. She's convinced that he's Lucky...and we both think she might be right."

Luke is speechless for a moment. It was one thing to have Laura or Liz say that, but another for Nikolas and Carly to be agreeing with them. "Why would you say that? Caroline, you hardly even knew him, and Nikolas, you were convinced that he was your cousin the last time I saw you!"

They both nodded. "I know it sounds far-fetched, but there are too many similarities. He looks like Lucky, he's Lucky's age, he sounds like him, more or less, and the way he is around Elizabeth..." Carly paused to gather her thoughts. "It's hard to explain, but I saw how he was with her when he thought no one was looking. He's so gentle with her, so loving. He was even humming a song to her that Lucky wrote before they started going out. She never plays that song for anyone, just me and Emily, so there's no way Lucien would have known it, unless he was really Lucky!"

A much as he wanted to believe her, he still couldn't let himself get his hopes up. "We need some kind of proof. Has he said anything to either of you that could help us find out who he really is? All I've been able to find out is that Helena's his legal guardian, Stavros was his father, and his mother's name was Anna. The only odd thing we've discovered is his birthday: April 16, 1982. Same year as Lucky, but the day is the same as the fire."

Nikolas's eyes widened. "That is odd. Do you think it could just be a coincidence?"

Luke shrugged. "When it comes to Helena, there are no coincidences. I don't doubt that Lucien isn't really the Cassidine heir, but I'm a little hesitant to believe he's my son. I'm sure you can understand why."

Carly and Nikolas both nodded. Luke had taken his death very hard, and he was just protecting himself from any further pain by being skeptical. Nikolas pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Lucien had asked me to help him find out why he was forbidden to come here, but with Liz showing up, we weren't able to get very far. Most of what he told me you already know, excpet for one thing." He handed the paper to Luke. "That's his uncle's name."

Luke read the name and his face paled. "No, that can't be..."

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