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When Cassidines Fall
"Thanks. Just page me okay? And pencil me in for the morning
opening." Lesley searches through her bag. "Oh Dang it."
"What is it, Grandmother?" Nik asks as he pours himself
a second cup of coffee.
"I forgot to give Luke Lulu's multivitamins. Oh well. I'll
have to give them to him at the hospital when we go to visit your
mother." Lesley frowns when there is no reply from Nik even
though none is needed. "You do understand why Lulu had to go
with her father last night, right?" Nik shrugs and takes a
sip of his coffee. "You have a lot of unresolved issues with
Laura because you didn't spend time with her growing up.
Hell! Laura has issues with me because she was raised by the
Vinings. It's time for Luke to put Lulu first. And we're
going to make sure that happens."
"And if he decides to go gallivanting off to Istanbul or
something?"
"Then we'll offer for her to stay with me, or God willing,
Laura. And if Luke wants to go and take Lulu with her then we'll
make sure she can get in touch with us. Get her one of those
international satellite cell phones or something. But that isn't
going to happen, Honey. Luke isn't going anywhere as long as
Laura is here... as long as his family is here. Yes, Luke will
never be... conventional." Lesley reaches out and takes
Nik's hand. She squeezes it to get his full attention. "But
he is like you and Lucky. Don't laugh-- I'm serious as a heart
attack. Family is everything to Luke. He has a different way of
showing it. Not bad... just different."
"Grandmother, I might be okay with that... support it even.
But the problem with Luke's concept of family is that it has
never included me. He will cut me out of my sister's life in a
heartbeat."
"That's not going to happen." Lesley says resolutely.
"And if I have to get in Luke's face to make sure it doesn't
then I will. Honey, Luke will never cut me out of Lulu's life and
I'm staying right here." Lesley taps the kitchen counter of
Wyndemere Lite. "Fact is you kids have done such a good job
of spoiling me, I doubt I'll ever leave."
"That would be fine with me."
"Enough mushy stuff. I need a ride to the hospital. You can
tell me about this Ricky guy and why he's got you all torqued up."
Liz hesitates as she is about to rap on the door of the apartment
over Luke's club. Just as legendary as Luke's blues collection is
his lack of skills in the cooking and cleaning department.
Whatever she saw wouldn't surprise Lucky but if Nik asked.... She
exhales and knocks. Lulu answers the door. "Hey Elizabeth."
"Hey yourself, Lulu. You ready to go?"
"Yeah, wait here. I'll get my stuff." Lulu turns around
to go into the apartment. Liz takes half a step into the
apartment, looking around curiously. Like the club, Luke's
apartment decor is... eclectic and crowded. She is about to call
out to Lu again when she spots Luke crashed out on the couch.
Lulu comes back and had her finger to herlips. "Shhh...
Daddy's sleeping. He was up late last night firing Claude and
making the tape for Mama."
"Oh Okay. Did you get breakfast?"
"I had cereal. Daddy has Apple Jacks. I got the milk from
the club though. It's not good when the milk container starts..."
Lulu makes a motion with her hands as if expanding.
"No, Not good. Don't even open it cause it will reek. That's
why Lucky and I use the milk over at the house and don't even
keep any in the fridge at our place. We don't drink enough of it...
cept when Lucky gets on a cereal kick." Liz agrees. "You
know what your dad needs? One of those Dry Erase boards like Nik
has at his place. So you could leave a note for your Dad that you
left for school. I can pick one up at the University Bookstore."
"Princess?" Luke growls half asleep.
Lulu goes over to the couch. "Daddy, I'm going to school."
She says softly.
"Okay." Luke turns over, his head tangling in the
earphones of the stereo system and then his eyes come open
momentarily coherent and he turns back over practically
strangling himself with the cords. "Damn it." He pulls
the headphones off and rips them out of the stereo to get himself
untangled. "Lulu..."
"Yeah, Daddy?"
"Your note. It's on the coffee table." Luke starts
sorting through all the stacks of albums on the coffee table. He
holds up an envelope triumphantly. "Here you go."
"Thanks." Lulu tucks it into her Hello Kitty. Luke
gives her a smooch on the cheek which sets her to giggling when
his beard tickles.
"Mr Spencer, Lu gets off school at 3:05. I'll stop by the
office and update her emergency numbers with your cell phone
number." Liz offers.
Luke grimaces; he hates the damn cell phone. "Thanks
Elizabeth. Have a good day, Princess."
"You too, Daddy. Tell Mama hi for me. I finished my picture.
It's on the table." Lulu and Elizabeth leave shutting the
door behind them. Luke sighs. He'd forgotten this part from when
Lucky was coming up. How did he end up with two kids who actually
liked school? He stretches his neck out and then rises
from the couch. Luke turns on the stereo and flips on the tape to
see if he got everything on it. While he is listening to the tape
he searches for something to wear, shifting piles of laundry til
he comes up with the clean stuff and then heads to the shower.
KC strides up to the nurses station on the neuro floor. "Hi
Denise right?"
"Right." The black woman with the close cropped hair
smiles at the new doctor. "Dr Ryan, Laura had a quiet night.
The trip didn't seem to cause any complications."
"Well that's good news.""Dr Jones was looking for
you last night but you'd already left the hospital."
"Okay. I'll have to check in with him today. Denise, how
soon can I get Mrs Spencer in for a CT?"
Denise pulls out a file and scans down the sheet. "This
morning. But Dr Jones needs to sign off on all procedures."
"When will he be in?"
Denise glances over to the clock on the wall. "He'll be in
within the hour."
"Great. I'll just check on Mrs Spencer and then I really
need some coffee."
"The Coffee on the floors is horrible. The cafeteria is on
the first floor."
Luke strides into the hospital. In one hand he has a boombox and
the rolled up picture that Lulu had completed. He makes his way
to Laura's room. KC is kicking back in the chair next to Laura.
She has a cup of coffee by her and is reading the Port Charles
Herald aloud. "Do you know any of these people?" KC
asks Laura. "There is something in here about the District
Attorney Justus Ward implementing new security procedures in the
courthouse something about a shooting."
"Did they shoot Justus?"
KC glances up after scanning the article. "Nope, just held
hostage."
"Damn. I knew I couldn't get that lucky." Luke puts the
boombox by Laura's bedside table. He plugs it in.
"May I?" KC asks. Luke nods. KC puts on the earphones
and hits play. Her eyes close and her head starts nodding with
the beat... and her toes start tapping. Her eyes open back up.
"Oh yeah, that'll work." She gives Luke the thumbs up.
Reaching over to the earphone jack she pulls it out and the music
fills the room and spills out into the hall. "What else?"
"Lulu finished this." Luke holds up the rolled butcher
paper. "Are you sure about this?"
"Sensory Stimulation. If you want I can find you the
articles on it. But I think it's just common sense. If it's quiet
and dark what else is there to do but sleep?" KC shrugs.
"But if any piece gets through... visual, auditory, tactile
then there is a reason to come back up. Until we know there is a
physical reason for the coma then I say pull out all the stops."
Luke slaps the rolled picture into KC's hand. "Well then do
it up."
KC opens up the picture and whistles. "Your girl has got it
going on. Reminds me of a gal back home. My idea of drawing is
stick figures." KC goes over to her purse and pulls out a
small container that holds thumb tacks. "I was hoping you
took me seriously." With that she kicks off her and climbs
on Laura's bed being very careful to not step on the patient or
any lines. She tacks the poster into the ceiling right over
Laura's head.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing?!"KC looks
over at the middle aged man standing in the doorway wearing a
white coat. "Dr Jones, I presume?" Damn it must be
me. This always happens. Trying to create an impression and what
am I doing? Creating an impression.