Hey Nineteen

Lulu sat at the vanity in her bedroom at the Quartermaine mansion and stared into the mirror.  She remembered a time, long ago, when it was her seventh birthday. She was with her mother at Laura’s dressing table, and her mother was brushing her hair. Laura bent down so that her face was right next to Lulu’s.
They were looking into the mirror when her mother said in a voice as if she were telling Lesley Lu a fairytale, "Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who’s the fairest of them all?"
Lulu giggled and whispered, "You are!"
Her mother shook her head in disbelief, pointed to the image in the mirror of her daughter and said with wonder in her voice, "You are, Baby Girl!"
Lulu closed her eyes, holding back the tears. She would give anything in the world to have her mother back to share this day with - to share spoonfuls of pink birthday-cake icing. She could see them spending the day together shopping, then going for their sundaes and perhaps, a walk in the park. It would be like a girlfriend day - just she and her mother. Her mother would probably take her someplace special for lunch, and she would ask her about college and work and all the boys who wanted Lulu’s heart.
The Quartermaines had given her a muffin with a candle in it, and Edward had told her not to forget to make her wish. She had closed her eyes and done as requested.  As the smoke whisped in the air, she thought about her wish: to spend this day with her mother. Nineteen. Her mother and father had gotten married when Laura was 19. She couldn’t image it. Perhaps, it was that she couldn’t imagine that they were still as much in love almost 26 years later.  Yet, they were.  It gave her hope, knowing a love like theirs existed.
"Lu," Nikolas called to her through the door.
"Yeah," she replied. "Come on in."
Nikolas came into the room with two gifts - one long, slender box and one small, square one.
"Happy Birthday!" he exclaimed, kissing her cheek.
"Thanks," she said, smiling at him. "Wow! What beautifully wrapped presents."
"Oh, these?" Nikolas teased. "They’re for Emily."
Lulu playfully swatted her brother.
"How are you doing?" Nikolas asked, knowing how especially difficult it was for her to be away from their mother.
She shrugged her shoulders, saying. "Alright, I guess."
"I hope you haven’t made any plans tonight," he said. "We’ve lined up a party for you at Bobbie’s. Grandma Lesley, Emily, Lucky, Liz and Spinelli will be there."
"You didn’t have to do that," she said.
"Give me a break," he said, rolling his eyes. "Lucky and I aren’t going to let you spend your birthday alone. We’ve been planning this for over a month with Bobbie’s help. I can’t guarantee the cake will be as good as the home-made ones Mom made, but Bobbie has made a brave attempt."
They laughed and Lulu wiped the tears from her eyes. "Don’t get me started."
Nikolas hugged her again, saying. "This is from Mom. She specifically asked me to give you this hug, when today came. Stand still so I can do this right."
Lulu stood there while Nikolas wrapped his arms around her and rocked her back and forth.
"I feel stupid doing this, but this is how she sent it to you."
Lulu buried her head into her brother’s chest and tried valiantly to suck-up the tears that began to pour down her cheeks. "That’s always the way she hugged me on my birthday," she said, sniffling.
"What is this? Like a frontal bear-hug, rocking afterthought move?" Nikolas asked, gently rubbing her back.
"Stop it!" Lulu playfully demanded but not in an angry tone. She started to laugh, informing him.
"That was my special birthday hug."
"She loves you so much, Lu! You’ve got to know that."
Lesley Lu took a Kleenex from the vanity and wiped her eyes. "I know," she said. "I just miss her!"
"We all do," Nikolas agreed. "There’s some really promising leads that your father is discovering about LS-49. It effects might not be as permanent as we thought."
"Really?" Lulu questioned with excitement in her voice. "Have you spoken to Dad?"
"No," Nikolas told her. "We relay messages back and forth through one of my Russian employees."
"Are they in Russia?"
Nikolas shook his head, saying. "No, Don’t worry about where they are. Your father is taking good care of Mom. Just know that they are working really hard on reversing this drug."
Lulu hugged her brother. "That’s the best birthday present you could give me!"
Nikolas raised his eyebrow just the way their mother did. He pretended to be happy with her statement. "Oh, then I can take these back?"
Lulu swatted him again. "You just love giving me a hard time, don’t you?"
He smiled, saying. "It’s one of the benefits of having a little sister. I want you to open this one first, and this one after I leave."
Lulu seemed surprised but didn’t say anything right away. She opened the card with the small, square box. She could feel Nikolas’ eyes on her while she read.
She smiled at him and lightly kissed him on the cheek. "You are so sweet! I love you!"
Nikolas nodded. The connection between them was profound. His marrow had saved Lulu and they truly were part of one another. "I love you too."
"The box is so pretty," she said. "I almost don’t want to open it."
"I think you will."
She looked at him questioningly while she opened the box. Inside was a heart-shaped key ring that had round solitaires of everyone in her families birth stone: Luke, Laura, Lucky, Nikolas, Bobbie, Ruby, Lesley, Spencer and Jake as well as her own. Dangling from the end was a key. "It’s lovely, but I don’t understand."
"Mr. Cassadine," Alice called. "There’s a delivery for you downstairs."
Nikolas looked at Lulu. "Bring the key-ring and follow me," he said, steering his sister down the stairs and outside.
Lulu stopped dead in her tracks when she saw it. There in the circular drive was a deep blue Mitsubishi Eclipse. Lulu threw her hands up, cradling each side of her face.
"Oh My God! Are you kidding me?" She squealed as she ran to the car. She pulled the door open and looked inside at the soft leather interior. It was loaded. It was grand. It was perfect. It was her dream car! She ran to her brother and practically jumped into his arms. "How did you know?"
Nikolas was laughing. It felt good to make her smile - to give her a moment of pure, joyful happiness. He remembered what his mother had told him last November, "if you want to know what I would do, just follow your heart..." He had seen the magazine ad with the page turned down and her flowery handwritten "someday" next to it one day when she was studying at Kelly’s. He took his mother’s advice and followed his heart. "There is one rule," he warned.
Lulu looked at him. "Name it."
Nikolas pointed his finger up as if he were her parent, but, in a way right now, he was. "No speeding. Promise me no speeding."
She hugged him again. "I promise."
"Okay," he said. "My work here is done, now I have to go pick up balloons."
Lulu shot her eyebrow up just like her mother. It was a trait that both she and Nikolas had inherited. Lucky too.
Nikolas pulled out his own keys, "I better hear a lot of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ over them tonight too," he said in mock consternation.
Lulu pulled her hand up to her forehead and saluted. "You’re the best!"
Nikolas winked then turned back to her. "Oh, I forgot to give you these. They go with the gift upstairs."
He handed her two cards. One had a disc inside but her father’s handwriting was on it. The other one had her mother’s handwriting on it.
Lulu gulped. She hadn’t expected this. All she wanted to do was run upstairs and open the cards and gift. Nikolas saw on her face what she felt on her insides. He nodded his head to the door.
"Go on. I’ll see you tonight at Bobbie’s after you’ve driven the speed limit to get there."
"Yes! Yes!" she exclaimed, waving to him and running upstairs with both cards in her hands. She closed and locked the door, then sat on her bed. Her mother had wrapped the box. It looked like a Laura-Spencer-wrap-job. She smiled and opened the pink envelope. It was a beautiful card that a mother would pick out for her daughter. In her mother’s handwriting, it read:

"Your father and I spent an afternoon last fall at a jewelry store in New York City picking this out together for you. I hope you like it, Baby Girl. Some I picked and some he picked. I think you’ll know which are which, but I wanted you to know that we chose this together. Please wear it today, and know that I am still-always with you!  Happy Birthday, Honey!   Do something fun today and take me with you...
Always remember - forever and ever...
Mom loves you!

Lulu carefully unwrapped the gift and opened the lid. Inside was a gold charm bracelet. It was heavy so she knew it was solid. Charms dangled and twinkled at her as she turned it around to take in all it’s beauty. Memories. Her parents had found a way to give her happy memories today. The tears came again and she let them flow down her cheeks as she held each charm in her hand and examined it: There was a number 8 encrusted with tiny diamonds. Mom, she thought. There was a rose gold gumdrop charm. She smiled - Dad. There was a tiny silver and gold angel with a dangling bell from its wing. The bell had a tiny crystal clapper. She moved it and the bell rang a tiny, high-pitched ring. Definitely Mom. There was a fish that had a diamond accent in the eye. Her hand shook as she held it. Dad. There was a four-leaf clover that had tiny emerald stones in each circle that made up the clover. Her mother always said she had taken their 3-leaf clover and made it the Lucky 4 when she was born. She smiled. Mom was behind the clover charm. There was a gold nugget made into an acorn and across the top were small diamonds. This was a private joke between her and her Dad. She couldn’t believe he remembered that.
Next was a butterfly charm filled with pink crystals. Her mother’s hand prints were all over that charm. Laura always told Lulu that butterflies mean that angels are near. Ever since she was a little girl, when Laura saw a butterfly, she’d whisper to Lesley Lu that "the angels are near." She traced her finger over the outline of the butterfly and thought of her mother.
The last charm was a candle. The stick was white gold and the flame was yellow gold. Engraved in the stick was the word "Blow" and she began laughing uncontrollably.  Her father. She remembered him hollering that word to her because, one year when she was really little, she wanted to let the candles burn all the way down and he kept telling her to "Blow, Baby!" "Blow!" "Blow, Lesley Lu!" "Come on, Honey! Blow the damn candles out for Daddy!"
Oh God. It was beyond the best present she could have gotten. They had done this together. She could see them looking at charms and her mother laying them side-by-side to see how they would look. She could see her Dad getting impatient because he’d say, "does it really matter what the actual bracelet looks like?"
And, her mother would put him in his place and say firmly, "Yes, Luke! It matters." She could see this in her mind, so clearly, as if she had been there.
She clasped the bracelet around her wrist and let it dangle. She felt happy and special. Her mother and father had managed to do it again. She felt their love. It was a comfort on this day.
She looked down and saw the envelope with her father’s hand-writing. She opened it and set the disc aside - anxiously reading the card:

"Gumdrop, I’m not always good at telling you exactly what I mean. I tend to leave a lot of lines for you to read between. So, here’s a little something, Darlin’, to always remember this day. I think you’re much more special than you’ve ever heard me say. I love you, Lulu!
Happy Birthday! -Dad"

On the back side of the card he wrote: "In your closet, Alice was suppose to have left my special gift to you. Go get it, then play the disc."
Lulu ran to her closet and found on the dresser a silver tray that had a shot glass, bottle of tequila, wedge of lime and a candle with a lighter. As she opened the cd, she noticed taped to the top was one last charm. It was the number 19 all sparkling with diamonds.
On the tray, there was a note in her father’s handwriting that said, "If I were there, I’d take you out for this drink. Do it with me, Gumdrop because wherever I am, I’ll be having one in your honor. You’re an adult now, and I can share some of my likes with you - get to know your old Dad a little better. I’ve always liked this song, and it seemed like a good father-daughter bonding moment to share with you on your 19th Birthday. Don’t forget the Cuervo Gold, Baby! I love ya!"
Lulu shook her head and laughed. She put the cd in the player and poured herself the drink.
She paused for a moment and listened.

http://youtu.be/ipc9pL27krs [Hey Nineteen/Steely Dan]

She took a bite of lime and tossed back the shot. This wasn’t, after all, the first time she’d done this with a family member. The tart liquid fire slid down her throat as she thought about her Dad. She attached the number 19 charm to her bracelet. When she saw the candle charm that said "Blow", she smiled. Lulu walked back to the silver tray, moving to the beat of the music. The "gold"as her father called it, had begun to work it’s magic. She felt a little lightheaded. Lulu lit the candle and held it up in the mirror thinking about "the fairest of them all" and "wishes" and "wonderful things", then she made her wish and blew.
The trail of smoke wisped above her head as the small ember went out. The song said "nice".
Perhaps tonight would be a wonderful thing and maybe, just maybe, her wish would come true. It was looking good so far...

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