Your Bright Baby Blues

Luke walked rapidly down the hallway to Dr. Roche’s office. When Robin called 30 minutes prior, it sounded important, but they didn’t want to discuss it on the phone. He was running around not knowing which end was up. He had just put Robert on a plane for Russia. Luke’s French private investigator had located Helena’s chemist in St. Petersburg, and he had agreed to talk with Robert about Helena’s project.
Apparently, he had second thoughts after he discovered how Helena had used the drug, which had never been made completely clear to him. She had funded one of his research projects in exchange for his creation of the drug. However, he now feared that many of his grants from other pharmaceutical companies would be cancelled if they learned of his part in her diabolical
plans.
Nikolas had arrived at the chateau and was waiting to talk to Luke as well. Apparently, he had discovered some information about Helena that Luke needed to be made aware of. Luke’s head was spinning from it all. Helena’s house of cards was coming down fast yet not fast enough!
Luke saw Robin waiting for him in the hallway. He tried to read her face - searching for indication and reason why Roche wanted to see him again.
"What’s going on, Robin?"
"Dr. Roche has some ideas about an alternative form of treatment that he wants to discuss with you."
Luke nodded, saying. "Well, you know I’m open to anything. Lay it on me!"
"Luke," Robin hesitated. "I don’t think you’re going to like it. It’s considered very experimental."
Luke stared at his Goddaughter. He trusted her but saw that she was being evasive. "What aren’t you telling me?"
"I think Dr. Roche should explain it to you."
"Fine," Luke said. "Let’s go."
"Luke," Robin said, cautiously. "Keep an open mind. It’s just a suggestion."
Luke turned and looked at her closely. He noted. "It doesn’t sound like you’re too keen on whatever it is."
"I don’t want to influence you one way or the other."
Luke shook his head in disagreement. "Uh, I want you to influence me!"
Robin took his arm and ushered him into Roche’s office, saying. "Let’s discuss it inside."
When Dr. Roche saw them enter his office, he nodded and motioned for them to each take a seat.
Luke held out his hand. "Doc," he said.
Dr. Roche shook his hand and didn’t mince words. "I have been examining your wife’s file extensively and her test results. My initial conclusion is that until we find a possible antidote to the chemical compound that is keeping her in this suspended mind-state, we might want to consider Electroconvulsive Therapy or ECT as it is called."
Luke looked from Dr. Roche to Robin. His eyes squinted in a way that showed he was mentally trying to breakdown the words and figure out what it meant. "I don’t like the sound of that," he said. "What exactly is it?"
Robin was biting her lips, trying to figure out how to delicately explain it to Luke. It was a controversial form of treatment and one that she was not comfortable with. She knew Luke, and was bracing herself for the verbal explosion that was about to come. "It’s a kind of therapy where seizures are induced with electricity at the temporal lobes..."
Dr. Roche jumped in before Robin could soften the harshness of the explanation. He said very excitedly in his thick, French accent, "If we can shock the brain into activity," and he balled his hands and jolted them on either side of his head to show Luke what he meant. "Then we can possibly bring her out of this deep-rooted state of Catatonia."
"What?!" Luke yelled. "Are you insane? No! No! No! No! You aren’t going to use my wife in some kind of Frankenstein freak-show experiment!" Luke turned to Robin, stunned and asked. "Are you in agreement with this?"
Robin said softly, "No. It’s not something I would suggest doing, but I’m too emotionally involved. I love Laura - she’s family, and that fact is making me conservative in my approach. Dr. Roche is an expert in this field, and he believes it could possibly work."
Luke waved his hands, dismissing the idea, ranting. "I don’t care if he’s Dr. Seuss or Dr. Doolittle or if he talks to the animals.......NO ONE is going to run electrical current through Laura’s brain to shock her back to reality! I don’t want her shocked back into anything. She’s been to hell and back and back again! What is the matter with you psychiatric wack-jobs?" he asked, directing his comment to Dr. Roche.
Robin grabbed his arm, trying to calm him down. "Luke," she said. "I know how you feel. I’m not comfortable with it either, but Dr. Roche said we needed to discuss and rule out every possibility. I told him that I didn’t believe you would support this method of treatment."
"Damn Straight!"
Dr. Roche stood erect, not allowing the barrage of insults to deter him in this pursuit of treatment. "I assure you sir," he explained. "ECT is a commonly accepted method of treatment for this severe a case of Catatonia given that nothing else has worked."
"We don’t know that nothing else has worked!" Luke said, exasperated. "We haven’t tried anything yet! Hell, we don’t’ even know what we’re up against yet! Isn’t that the stated assumption I left here with this morning?"
"This is a way to jump-start your wife’s healing process," Dr. Roche replied. "There is no guarantee that it will work, but I have seen many good results using this technique."
Luke smirked and said slyly. "Listen, Pal! If anyone is going to be jump-starting my wife, it ain’t gonna be you, and it certainly ain’t gonna be involving electrical current shot into her brain!"
Robin bowed her head and smiled. She knew Dr. Roche would not get the gist of what Luke was saying, but she did. She couldn’t help but be amused by Luke even in the most dire of circumstances. He was a rare character - especially in times of crisis. Robin cleared her throat and put on her professional voice. "So, I think it’s safe to say that we will not be pursuing this method of treatment for Mrs. Carmichael."
Luke nodded his agreement. "That’s correct, Robin," he said in a calmer albeit sarcastic tone.
"I’m more comfortable with us all sitting around a candle-lit table with a planchette, and asking a Ouija Board what our next course of action should be before considering this."
Robin bit her lip again, trying hard not to laugh, and replied. "I understand." Then she turned to Dr. Roche. "Thank you so much for the suggestion Dr. However, I think we’re going to wait and see what my father finds out from the Russian Chemist. In the meantime, we’ll continue to monitor Mrs. Carmichael’s condition."
"If that is what you wish," he said rather cooly. "Then, I will wait for further information and instruction. I’ll continue with my research to see if I can come up with any other ideas."
Luke smiled sarcastically. "You do that," he said.
He and Robin walked out of the office and Luke rolled his eyes. "Do you really trust this guy?" he asked.
"Yes," Robin assured him. "He’s a very progressive and unconventional doctor but he means well. I won’t let him do anything that you aren’t comfortable with."
Luke patted her cheek, lovingly. "Thanks," he said, looking at his watch. "I’ve got to meet with Nikolas.....something about Helena....it just keeps getting better and better."
"Be careful," Robin cautioned. "I’ll see you later."

* * *

Luke scratched his chin, thinking. "She bought an island in the Aegean," he said slowly. "Interesting. What’s your take?"
Nikolas shrugged, replying. "I won’t know until I get there. But, I think it’s safe to say it isn’t good. Helena doesn’t do anything without a specific purpose and most of them are evil, as we keep discovering."
"She’s got to be stopped this time," Luke said.
"I don’t know why I didn’t kill her after what she did to Lucky....and how it devastated Laura? It’s not as if that wasn’t a clear indicator of what a psycho she is."
"I think, if I remember correctly," Nikolas said, trying to cut Luke some slack for the guilt he was feeling. "Lucky asked you not to. He wanted the hostility between the Cassadines and Spencers to end. He and I saw that it didn’t serve any purpose except to continue a feud that no one was going to win. You and Lucky were healing your relationship and you honored his request," he paused, looking at Luke. "At least that’s how I remember it."
He couldn’t help thinking what a long way he and Nikolas had come. He was trying to comfort Luke...Laura would be pleased by it.
Luke nodded as the memory came back to him of his Cowboy begging him to not retaliate. "Let it go, Dad!" Lucky pleaded, grabbing his arm to make him stop and think it over. "You hurt them, they hurt us....It isn’t worth it, Man! Next time, it could be Lulu...or Mom..." Those words had stopped Luke dead in his tracks, and he begrudgingly let it go.
Luke looked at Nickolas and said. "I won’t be so generous this time."
"I’m not asking you too," he replied. "Although I have something in mind for Helena that will be more justice for what she’s done than a swift death. I’d like to run it by you....see what you think?"
Luke poured himself and Nikolas a drink. If anyone had told him 28 years ago that a Cassadine would be on his side, he’d have laughed in their face.
Luke took a sip of the scotch, letting it ease slowly down as that dark place within him stirred. He handed Nikolas the other drink and locked eyes with Laura’s first-born son. "What’s on your mind?"

* * *

Robert was in Russia; Nikolas was on his way to the Greek Isles, and Robin was working overtime at the hospital. Luke wandered around his room in the chateau. It felt so empty. Laura was in the room directly below him. It gave him an unexplainable comfort to know she was so close. He opened the French doors and walked out onto the terrace into the warm August night. The grounds of this place were stunning. Laura would be like a kid in a candy store amidst all the flowers in the gardens below.
Off in the distance, he heard the rumble of thunder.
Luke got up and walked back into his room, snatching his MP3 player as he headed downstairs. He stopped in the dining room and grabbed one of the candlesticks.
The nurse was in a chair, quietly reading as he entered Laura’s room. Laura still sat by the window, staring out into the darkness that had begun to descend. Softly, Luke spoke to the nurse, telling her that he would be staying with his wife that evening and she could take the night off. She gave him an odd look, but simply nodded. After she left, Luke closed the door just as a clap of thunder boomed overhead.
He walked to the window and carefully lifted Laura from the chair. "How’s my Angel?" he asked, carrying her to the bed. He had carried her a thousand times over the years. Tonight, he was remembering the time he carried her up the stairs of the mayor’s mansion on that glorious day in ‘83, when she had miraculously returned to him. What he wouldn’t give to have that moment back. He kissed the side of her cheek as he laid her in the bed. He kept one arm behind her head as he fluffed the pillows before he gently placed her head against them.
Lightening bolted just outside the window as it made contact with the ground and more thunder cracked through the air. He looked at Laura and rubbed her cheek. "It’s okay, Baby!" he said softly. "I’m right here."
Luke walked around to the other side of the bed and sat down, removing his shoes. Then, he lit the candle that was on the night stand. He pulled the covers back and crawled into bed beside Laura. He picked up the MP3 player and smiled to himself about how far technology had come since the days of the micro-cassette player. The rain was beating against the window. Luke was lonely and melancholy. Tonight would be a good night for some Jackson Browne. He leaned his head against the headboard and closed his eyes as the sad, soulful voice filled the room. Luke could identify with this guy. JB knew and understood pain. He’d seen his share of it too.
The candlelight flickered, casting shadows that danced against the wall. Luke pulled Laura close to him and thought about all the nights they had danced in the candlelight - all the nights they had held each other, moving gracefully to whatever sound was playing but not needing it to find their magical rhythm. She moved with him like they were one, singular form. Laura flowed from Luke as he twirled her away, then pulled her back to him as their breathing - their heartbeat progressed to a perfect synchronicity. He never knew where he ended and she began....She was habit, just like every other function he needed to survive.
He could see them dancing on the docks - the night they became engaged; at their wedding; in the mayor’s mansion when she wore the beautiful blue robe that was only outmatched by the beauty of her blue eyes. He could see them in the Triple L. Every anniversary. And that last dance...the wedding...where they celebrated that moment 25 years earlier when his life began. Her eyes never left his as they danced.
It was a magnetic energy that ran from him to her, and it generated a heat that warmed his soul. He fed off of her, finding that Laura was the only nourishment which gave him any true fulfillment. When she looked at him and arched her eyebrow in the special way she did, every sense in him came to life. That was the truth of the matter: Laura brought him to life. She was
the one person to ever do that for him, or give him peace of mind...peace of heart...peace of soul.
Luke had one arm around Laura and one hand holding hers. All he ever needed was her. The only thing of any value to him was their love. Right or wrong, that’s how it was and how it had always been.
He kissed her forehead, laying his head against hers as the tears fell.
In his mind’s eye, he could see her bright baby blues. They made him smile. He longed to be back at the end of their gaze. His eyes ached to see her again - full of life, and whole, and his again....
As a violin moaned in the background, Luke thought of Laura’s bright baby blues...his arm tightened around her as the thunder rumbled. "I love you, Baby!" he whispered. "Dear God. How I love you...."


https://youtu.be/2HBYyMbl5lo[Jackson Browne/Your Bright Baby Blues]
https://youtu.be/VcJDI7a_1lk [Jackson Browne/These Days]
http://youtu.be/IU1rZa8Ur_Q [Jackson Browne/For a Dancer]