Author: Regency

Title: Secret Heart

Characters: Spinelli, Robert, Lulu, a little bit of Anna and Luke

Rating: YTEEN--PG

Summary: Spinelli’s got this secret: he doesn’t just like Lulu, he loves her. And he’ll do anything to make her happy, even the impossible.

AN: Sort of completed in answer to LSpencer’s Before Mother's Day Is Over

Disclaimer: I own none of the character’s in this wee story.

Earlier today, he’d been looking for the Blond One. She’d done one of her usual disappearing acts in preparation for her date with Dillon. He’d looked everywhere: Lucky and Liz’s house, the Quartermaine mansion—they hadn’t appreciated his visit---and Kelly’s before he showed up at the hospital, thinking she’d stopped by to see Liz. After speaking with his quasi-sister-in-law, he began to wander the halls hoping to randomly run into Lulu.

He didn’t particularly need to see her, but he was definitely in the mood. However, luck was not on his side, and he managed to make it from the pediatric ward to intensive care before he had another idea. She was at Shady Brook, she had to be. It was where she always went when she really needed to bolster her confidence. Her mother did that for her, just by sitting there. The memories Lulu had seemed always to be enough.

So, he’d hightailed it to the quiet side of town where Laura Spencer spent all her time. He’d recently made a few adjustments to her patient file, including adding himself to her authorized visitors list. The nurse on call let him straight through—obviously a new girl.

He’d slipped down the hall and peeked through the window to her room, expecting to see two blond ones—instead he saw one and another guy. His stomach dropped as the guy presented a syringe with the intent of injecting the blond mother with it. He’d acted without thinking---there wasn’t time---and shoved his way into the room, scaring the guy into dropping the needle on the floor, thereby rendering it useless.

Spinelli stumbled, but stood firm. “Look, I don’t know what you think you’re doing to the Blond One’s mom, but I’m not gonna let you hurt her.” He glowered balefully at the gray-haired man, crouching in front of Laura’s unmoving form.

The man sighed and looked towards the ceiling as though making a direct appeal to the Higher Power. He stood with a groan, absently dusting schmutz from the knees of his khakis. “I wasn’t going to hurt her, mate. I was hoping to heal her. And you just ruined the only chance I had of doing that.”

Spinelli blanched, staring at the syringe leaking onto the carpeted floor. He watched enough medical television drama to know it was no good now. He gulped.

But now to the business at hand.

“And you are?” Spinelli immediately inquired. Not many people ventured to visit Laura aside from the family, and even occasionally, himself. Certainly no men with distinct Australian accents.

The man in question dampened his lips and he extended his hand in a gentlemanly fashion.

“Robert Scorpio. You must be The Jackal.”

Spinelli’s eyes practically bugged out of his head. The Scorpion? No way. This man was a legend with the State Department and, having himself read their records front to back, him. What he didn’t understand was how he even showed up on The Scorpion’s radar. He shook the proffered hand with a stunned expression.

“You are aware of The Jackal?”

Smirking, Robert suavely tucked his hands in his pockets. “You’re sort of a celebrity in my area of expertise. You can hack systems more sophisticated than anything we’ve managed to design so far. For some time there’s been a buzz about recruiting you, but just before we managed to get a word in edgewise Alcazar snapped you up. I guess you could say you were a bit beyond our reach at that point. Now that you’re working for Corinthos, you’re untouchable.”

Spinelli struggled to take it all in. His idol was telling him that basically he was on the wrong side. He could be out in the world--saving the world! Yet, he was here, making a mess of things as usual. He inclined his chin towards the still figure of Laura Spencer.

“And what of the Blond Mother? Why are you injecting her? If she could be cured you would’ve done it by now.”

“Not that simple, I’m afraid. You see, this elixir has existed for some time, but it’s been damned hard to procure. An old enemy of Luke--you know him, I presume--and Laura’s had it in abundance but wasn’t in a sharing mood. So, we had to swipe a bit; just enough for analysis and later to administer. We had just enough.” He rubbed his face, clearly distraught beneath his calm exterior. “Now, we don’t have any.”

Spinelli stared at the back of her head, guilt pressing insistently down upon him. He’d messed up, big time. He’d taken Lulu’s mom away from her forever, maybe. He didn’t think he could live with that on his conscience.

“You said there was more though, right?”

“I did.”

“Then, let’s go get it.” He had no idea what he was getting himself into, but he knew there was no alternative. He had to do this.

“Whoa there, buck. What exactly are you saying?”

Spinelli’s leg began to twitch impatiently on the floor. At this point, he was perfectly willing to run the distance. He stood tall and brave. “The Jackal is declaring his intention to assist the Scorpion in obtaining as much of the Elixir of Life as is necessary to resurrect the Blond Mother.” Upon recognizing Robert’s near complete lack of comprehension, he simplified, “Her family needs her. You probably know that better than I do.” He looked down at his shoes.

Robert nodded, his expression darkening. “Her absence has left a considerable void in this town. Hell, my motives are purely selfish,” he shrugged. “I miss my friend.”

Spinelli nodded, sensing something else beneath the word friend, yet deciding that some things were better preserved in silence. “Then, our path is clear. The sooner we accomplish our goal, the sooner she reaps the benefits.” He had begun to take on Lulu’s cause as his own. Could there be anything more wrong than an innocent woman imprisoned within her own body?

The elder spy looked at the young layman with something akin to pity. Spinelli was filled to the brim with a kind of romanticized idealism---poor naïve boy. Robert sensed that it would be harder than that. There was evil brewing in Port Charles in the form of the formerly adoring Scotty Baldwin and it was imminent. His fear was that they’d return---if they returned---to find an empty chair where Laura had been and she’d be lost to them for good.

“I can’t allow you to go with me. It’s too dangerous. You don’t have the experience.” This kid, for all his genius, had already shown himself to be a liability. Robert couldn’t take a chance that he’d muck up anything else.

“I do have the expertise where computer systems are concerned. I am the overlord of the internet…” Spin put aside his usual lingo in the hopes of impressing the Mighty Scorpion. It was crucial that he made his case clearly. “I can get you in and out of anywhere. And, I’ve got youth on my side. No offense, sir, but, you…don’t.” He winced at his own lack of tact.

Robert narrowed his eyes in response. “No, I don’t. Nonetheless, I can enter and leave a building without an excessive number of people wanting to strangle me. Somehow, I doubt you’re endowed with similar talent.”

Spinelli ducked his head, reddening. No, he didn’t have that one. “Look, Super Special Agent Scorpio, The Jackal is desperate to correct this grievous error--I need to fix this. For the Blond One, for the Unlucky Male, and even for the Absent Papa.” Slipping, he had to catch himself. “If you could just see them, you’d see how much they need her every day. Whatever she gave them they don’t have without her. The memories aren’t enough. Let me go with you and make this right. Let me give Lulu back her mom.”

Robert debated with himself, resisting his instinctual response to say no and be done with it. Young Spinelli had made several key points that he had to consider. They needed his technical skill and his age was also a plus. A young man was more likely to blend in than a man of his distinguished years. So, he did, indeed, need the Jackal. He felt an immense migraine coming on.

“All right. But first things first.” Robert looked around warily, composing a hasty and foolhardy plan. “We need to make the Golden Mother disappear before she really does disappear courtesy of Scott Baldwin. Jack, I need you to shut off the lighting in this wing of the clinic for roughly--and I mean roughly--five minutes while I get her out of here.”

Spin didn’t give himself time to ask why. This was the Mighty Scorpion after all. When he struck--damned be those who stood in his way. He dropped to the edge of Laura’s vacant bed with his laptop at the ready. It was his constant companion, hadn’t let him down yet.

“The lights here will shut down in two minutes and be down for five minutes, twenty-three seconds. Rough enough for ya?”

Robert made an a-okay sign with his fingers before slipping out of the room in search of a wheelchair. Spin allowed his gaze to drift from the screen where he was monitoring the hospital cameras to the empty eyes that seemed to find the window so appealing. Under all the emptiness, he thought he saw parts of Lulu: that kindness she used sparingly, that smile she shone that dragged mere boys down the path to obsession. He saw where she got her beauty from, and her heart.

“We’ll get you back. I promise.” He looked back down to see the timer at the corner of his screen twenty seconds from zero. Just then, Robert eased back into the room and motioned for him to assist in Laura’s transport.

He nodded and positioned his laptop for optimum observation. They guided her stubborn muscles carefully, afraid of breaking the shattered porcelain. She came down easily--and then the lights flashed out. Save for the strong gleam of his plasma screen, they were immersed in darkness.

“All right, now we go. I planned for this. If worse came to worse, Laura would be moved to a different facility where she could receive constant treatment. And I don’t mean her sitting in a chair everyday. I mean actual treatment. That’s where we’re taking her now, just in case the elixir can’t be procured and, therefore, can’t be of help. Move quietly and turn off the computer. Follow me.”

Spinelli clicked the laptop shut and followed docilely, having to rely on his ears to tell him where Robert had gotten to. With stealth James Bond would have envied, they maneuvered through the panicked psychiatric patients and staff out of the building to a picturesque loading dock near a lake. There was a yacht idling gently just off the shore. Robert gave a great whistle and it cruised towards them at low power.

Out of the corner of his eye, Spinelli thought he saw a flash of awareness in Laura’s face but it was gone when he turned his head. He had a feeling. Regardless, he knew they were in negative time and that Laura’s absence would probably be noted immediately as they were likely to do a headcount after the blackout.

An unfamiliar brunette stepped out of the lower cabin to assist them in moving Laura out of the chair. She had a pretty if serious face and her expression didn’t lighten as she took in her old friend’s slack features.

“Oh, Laura, are you even still in there?” Her accent tickled Spin’s ear as well and he filed it away for later.

“She is,” Robert answered for her. “I see her, but she’s far away.”

The dark-haired woman looked over Robert’s shoulder at Spinelli who shuffled his feet. Robert noticed and snapped his fingers. They were out of time. “That’s the Jackal and he’s half the reason we’re here right now.” He held up his hand as she prepared to protest further. “There’s been a mishap and he’s coming with us.” He turned to Spinelli. “Be on the docks tonight. We’ll come for you. Right now, we need to get her as far away from here as possible. You’re probably on record as her last visitor, which means you need to be accessible for a while longer.” He nodded to Anna who revved up the engine full-power. “Tonight!” he reminded him firmly.

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