The News: Luke Kidnaps Lucky on GH
by Linda Susman

The anguish Luke had been feeling since Lucky moved out several months ago was exacerbated upon Luke's return to Port Charles last Friday. Laura, Lucky, Lesley Lu, Liz, Emily and Nikolas were at Wyndemere, celebrating Nikolas' birthday and the fact that Tom, who raped Liz and was blackmailing Emily, had been arrested. "Luke's standing on the docks, staring across at Wyndemere that's lit up for this grand party, and he just sort of stares daggers at the island--his 'if looks could kill glare,'" head writer Robert Guza Jr. says.

"Seeing us there pretty much tells him that something strange has been going on while he's been gone," adds Jonathan Jackson (Lucky), in character.

Luke has been incommunicado since he left town a couple of months ago upon learning that Laura and Stefan had had an affair years ago, and that Nikolas is really their child. No one knows Luke has returned--until Lucky goes back to the docks after taking Liz home, to look for a bracelet she lost. "Lucky bends down to pick up the bracelet, looks up, and there's Luke standing over him," Guza says. "Luke kidnaps him. He says, 'We're having this out once and for all. My family is too important to me. I'm going to put it back together--and it starts with you, cowboy.'"

Lucky does not go willingly, but he knows he has no choice. "This is not like, 'Get back to me on this, Lucky,'" Guza says, laughing. Luke leaves Laura a telephone message so she'll know Lucky is safe, but Lesley Lu gets so excited at hearing her daddy's voice that she erases the message without Laura ever hearing it.

True to his word, Luke locks his son inside the cabin. "They start getting into arguments and stuff, and Luke's explaining where he's coming from," Jackson says. "I think Lucky would like to have a relationship with his family if there were certain things they understood. But he can't really relate to his dad or connect to him the way Luke is right now, and he can't respect him. And until Luke changes, there's no way. It's kind of like both characters waiting for each other to change."

The schism may have started when Lucky learned that Luke raped Laura 20 years ago, but Jackson says his feelings have become less about that and more about the kind of person he believes his father to be. "Luke's always relating everything to how it affects him and how it hurts him, and a think it's hard for Lucky to have sympathy for someone who's self-interested all the time."

Lucky does break the stalemate, in a manner of speaking, when he manages to outsmart Luke and lock him in the pantry. He races off to phone Liz, who tells Laura, "I talked to Lucky. He's OK. He's with his father." On the one hand, Laura is relieved. But Luke being such a wild card, and having been away and out of touch for so long, "She has no idea what kind of mood he's in or what he wants to do," Guza says. "She knows Luke would never hurt Lucky, but that's all she knows."

Laura asks for Stefan's help. "She knows Stefan has been following Luke and is totally tapped into what Luke is doing," Guza explains. Stefan pleads ignorance. Nikolas realizes Stefan won't lift a finger to help the Spencers get back together, and Stefan admits to him that he wants nothing more than for Luke to cause his own downfall.

It begins to look like Stefan may get his wish. Unable to affect a rapprochement, Luke lets Lucky take off. Shortly after, Luke gets caught in a bear trap and is hurt badly. "The only one who knows where Luke is is heading down the mountain in a car on the way home," Guza says. Complications from Luke's injuries make him feverish and delusional, and he has an awful nightmare, where a horrific time in the past pays an unwelcome visit to the present. At the same time, Lucky decides to return to the cabin. He walks in while Luke is in the midst of his dream "which is huge. Lucky realizes what Luke is dreaming, and they ultimately get to a certain kind of peace. This is not to suggest that he totally forgives his father, 'cause he doesn't. But they come to a kind of understanding, and then Laura walks in."

After surveying the scene, Laura is hopeful that maybe there is a happy future ahead for the family after all. "But," Guza warns, "barely will the Spencers have staggered off the mountain before Stefan plays the next card."