Laura: "Luke."
Luke: "Hi."
Laura: "Hi. When did you get back?"
Luke: "About an hour ago, really. None too soon, I guess."
Laura: "Are you ok?"
Luke: "Yeah. I--I am fine. How is Princess Lulu Le Belle?"
Laura: "She will be thrilled to know that you're back."
Luke: "And how are you?"
Laura: "I'm--I'm better now. I--I was worried, you know. Mac told me about what happened with Faison."
Luke: "Oh. Yeah, well, that's pretty bizarre, huh?"
Laura: "I was a little bit worried that this trip had something to do with Faison."
Luke: "Faison's dead, darling."
Laura: "Yeah, I know. I know. You told me that. But is it over?"
Luke: "I'm not dwelling on it."
Laura: "Did you find what you were looking for?"
Luke: "Not a trace."
Laura: "Sorry."
Luke: "It was a long shot."
Laura: "Yeah, I know. You said that. Well, I'm glad you're ok."
Luke: "Me, too. Would it be ok if I came by to see lulu later?"
Laura: "Yeah. I think she'd be thrilled to see you. See you."
Luke: "Bye. Bye."
Luke sees Laura first, and has a moment to prepare for her questions. Laura was completely excited when she saw Luke, but she immediately checked herself. He was mellow, knowing what he knows and chooses not to tell her. I was very happy that he saw Laura first, even if Felicia did know he was in town and was waiting for him. But he raised his voice to her about not dwelling on things, and she shot him that patented eyebrow raise of hers.
Terry continues: "Hey, Amy, she's sitting in Luke's chair again: Flea is sitting in Luke's chair, watching Roy doing the books. She volunteers to help. She starts quizzing Roy about where Luke has been, and he deftly handles her questions without revealing any information. He tells her that he thinks Luke could use a friend like her right now, which causes her to look concerned. Roy leaves her there to await Luke on her own."
"Were your ears burning?: Luke goes outside the diner to tell Francis he wants to speak to Sonny immediately. As he waits for Francis to contact his boss, Laura walks by on her way into the restaurant. She's surprised to see Luke, and asks him if he's okay. He says he is, and she tells him she's worried about him, esp. since she's spoken to Mac about what happened with Faison."
Sonny: "What's the problem?"
Luke: "Look, I've been gone, what, two weeks? When I left, Elizabeth was fine."
Sonny: "She still is."
Luke: "Man, she's got a shadow out here with muscle. Apparently, she's in danger."
Luke: "Elizabeth? Can I talk to you for a second?"
Elizabeth: "What, another Spencer special?"
Luke: "No, no. Thanks, though. Can you make me a promise?"
Elizabeth: "Sure."
Luke: "Will you follow Sonny's safety instructions?"
Elizabeth: "Sure."
Luke: "No exceptions, no experiments."
Elizabeth: "To the letter. How's that?"
Luke: "Yeah, ok."
Elizabeth: "Good. Now, did you get enough coleslaw?"
Luke: "Enough to stuff a Bulgarian weightlifter's brassiere."
Elizabeth: "It's really good to see you."
Luke: "You, too."
Luke: "That little girl will have a piece of my son's heart for the rest of her life."
Sonny: "I know that, Luke."
Luke: "Well, then know this, Corinthos--I have a high stake in her being ok. Keep her safe."
Elizabeth: "How is everything between you and Luke?"
Sonny: "Uh--not good."
Elizabeth: "I know from Lucky that the two of you are close friends. He's overreacting. You know that, right? As soon as this whole Sorel thing is over with--"
Sonny: "There's still going to be a chill in the air because, according to Luke, I betrayed him."
Elizabeth: "Well, he's got to be wrong."
Sonny: "What makes you think so?"
Elizabeth: "You're not the betraying kind."
Sonny: "Well, that's where you're wrong. I stab a lot of people in the back--people who deserve better from me."
Terry winds up: "Take another little piece of my heart, now, baby: Sonny joins Luke in Kelly's (did Laura get her carryout order? She's nowhere to be seen) and Luke lets the mobster know that he (Luke) is unhappy that Liz requires guarding. He wants to be sure nothing happens to her, because she'll 'have a little piece of my son's heart for the rest of her life.'"
"My updating difficulties continue as, the tape suddenly starts to rewind and I have to hustle to switch to another one. In the process, I miss the details of a scene in which Liz, growing ever more Robinesque, tells Sonny she knows he's not the bad guy, Sorel is the bad guy."
V. Luke Fills Felicia In (1/31)
Felicia: "I am way too happy."
Luke: "It's too late. You can't take it back now."
Felicia: "Well, you're in good shape."
Luke: "It's an act. It's just a big bloody act."
Luke comes to the doorway from the bar, leans on the frame, still in shades, and gives his first line. They then embrace, and he swings her around. Quite a welcome. But as they still embrace, his face changes, and she, even though she can't see it, pulls away. They are both serious, but they stand close, facing each other most of the time.
Felicia: "Yes. Please, tell me."
Luke: "It's against my better judgment."
When he tells her that Lucky may be alive, we do not have the usual cut to her face to see her response. It is Luke's face that matters, tilted slightly up, not quite hopeful, not quite pleading.
Felicia: "Do you have any idea what he was going to say next?"
Luke: "Any idea? Sure. He was going to say, 'Your son is alive, and he's waiting tables in Cleveland.' 'Your son is alive, and if you help me escape, I'll tell you exactly where he is.' 'Your son is alive, and now you can spend the rest of your life wondering if I'm telling the truth'!"
Luke: "No, no, I didn't. So you see? All I got is this hunch. I've just got a crazy hunch, which was really the last mind shag of a psychopath. It's pathetic. Do you think it's possible? Do you think that my son is out there waiting for me to come and get him?"
Felicia: "Oh. This is just so Faison."
Luke: "You're right. I don't want to hear this. No Mac, no cops. No Mac."
Felicia: "It could be very helpful."
Luke: "I shouldn't have told you."
Felicia: "No. It could be very helpful. He has contacts that you could use."
Luke: "Look, I have contacts of my own, Felicia. I don't want Laura to know about this. Not yet. And Mac might think that was the right thing to do, to tell her. And it wouldn't be because she lost lucky once. I'm not going to put her through it again. I'm doing this alone."
Felicia: "No chance. You need help, and that's what I'm giving you."
Luke: "Then no Mac."
Felicia: "Mac will understand your feelings for not wanting to tell Laura. I think it would be cruel to get her hopes up. But you can trust him."
Luke: "You trust him, blue eyes. Don't ask me to. This conversation ends here."
Felicia: "Ok. Then we're back to what I said. I know you're going to see this through even if you have to turn over every rock on the earth."
Luke: "Which I can do."
Felicia: "What parent wouldn't? But you don't have to do it alone."
Luke: "I don't know, blue eyes. We barely squeaked through last time. Hell, we don't even know if this isn't the reason Faison came here in the first place--to deliver this message that my son was alive so I'd spend the rest of my life looking for him and you'd get into it."
Felicia: "Because I want to be."
Luke: "Then tell that to your husband."
When we come back, Luke is back behind the desk, with it between them, wringing his hand. When they talk about Mac, he plants himself in his chair, adamant.
This, for me, was the moment Felicia truly chose Luke over Mac. She could have brought Mac in on it anyway, risking Luke's ire but having the police on the job straight away. She could have risked Laura finding out and joining the search immediately. This wasn't about protecting Laura, and it certainly wasn't about protecting Mac anymore. She chose Luke. What interested me is that he insisted that she tell Mac one way or the other that she wanted to be there. I thought of his begging Laura to choose, to just say that she wanted to be with him or with Stefan. And I wondered if he was that conscious of what he was saying--if he was identifying with Mac, not knowing, in that moment.
VI. Stefan Stops By the Office (1/31)
Luke: "I said I'm busy. What do you want?"
Stefan: "I want to discuss the real connection between Helena and Cesar Faison."
I notice at this point that Luke is in black, Felicia in black and white, and Stefan in grey. Luke's hackles rise when Stefan mentions Laura, and we cut to Felicia for a reaction shot. I was reminded at this point of all the Tom and Luke v. the Cassadine scenes that Felicia was privy too, as well as her own dinner party at Wyndemere when she went on Bobbie's invitation.
Luke: "Something count Vladimir just said has really made me wonder why Faison would take lucky. I mean, what would his motivation be? The fire that supposedly killed my son was long before I took Faison's diamonds. He had no real reason to want me to think that my son was dead. Helena, however, has got a bucket full of good reasons. 'Your son is alive, and Helena's got him.' what if that's what he was trying to say?"
Terry: "I am loving my Stefan these days. He's intense everywhere--with Andreas, with Luke. That was fun, but too short. And why the hell wouldn't Felicia leave the room? I guess Stefan doesn't really mind indications of the intimacy between Luke and Flea, of course, but it was frightfully rude. Now if only they'd show some of Stefan's intensity in a few scenes with Laura--I want him to sweep that creature off her feet and tell her she needs to stop waffling and come back to his bed."
Judy: "Way too short. But I loved it!"
Joan: "Me three. Take Stefan away from the emasculating effect of this go-nowhere story with Laura (but not from Laura per se, as we have seen when it's written well) and he sizzles as of yore. Oh, for more yore!"
Amy: "Sorry, but I am bored with Stefan. All of this is falling flat. This was another Cassadine scene out of the blue; the only reason Stefan went was because he wanted to see Luke's reaction, or rub the fact that Laura might be in danger and he'd be the one to protect her now in his face--no way he thought he'd actually learn anything. Instead, he tipped Luke off onto making the Helena connection. And after the 'I have nothing to gain from tormenting Luke' line--as he stroked Laura's face--I was really pissed. Feels like Laura's still just the prize to him, when the writing should be letting them work out their relationship. Ptttttth. They deserve each other, at this point, for all the wrong reasons of boredom."
"The stuff with Andy is cute, but underdeveloped. It all feels like Guza's trying to bring the Cassadines back in some kind of alignment with each other, but it's not there for me yet."
"Meanwhile, the spoilers I read about Stefan and the Lucky stuff piss me off more, and serve only, from what I can tell, to make it clear for the squillionth time that Luke should be Laura's choice, and would be, if only she'd believe that he was an option. Poppycock and pttttth, indeed. Shouldn't have to be that way. In character, maybe, but the emphasis on his secrecy--especially versus Luke's patented version--seems a strain to make these two men come back in line as a direct comparison after months of separateness."
"All in all, there's potential, but things have been herky-jerky, and Stefan's just been jerky, for me."
VII. Some Luke and Laura Things
I participated in a thread on Luke and Laura about this point, and I'll include my musings here:
On the question of fault:
What I don't see in there is that any of this is Luke's fault--or Laura's for that matter. It's Felicia's fault, it's Tammy's fault that Laura's not comforting Luke? I don't think so. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that I'm not sure Luke might have opened up to Laura that night--because he wanted to protect her, because of the tension between them, because he would have wanted to comfort her and be strong for her--for any number of reasons. And even if they'd clicked that night and helped each other, that's certainly no guarantee to me that anything else would have been different. Luke's been working really hard at moving on, as has Laura. And while she's looking mighty wistful right now about him, changed circumstances on that one night would not, in my opinion, mean they'd be back together right now.
On the question of forgiveness:
It seemed to me that Liz's rape and the aftermath showed quite clearly that they'd both made better peace with Luke's rape of Laura than they ever had before. For me, if I had to pick one thing that ultimately drove them apart, it was Luke's realization that she loved both him and Stefan. (Oddly enough, Laura can say that to Stefan's face and he gives no visible reaction and she seems to expect him not to have one.) And if he could get over the fact that she loved Stefan in the past, he couldn't get over the fact that she loves Stefan in the present...and that she lied about it. For me, the rape will always inform L&L's relationship, but it's not the driving force in their breakup, by a long shot.
I think that Luke may not be completely over Laura's relationship with Stefan in the past (that brief scene about the letters he'd found didn't wrap that up)--but the point is that it wasn't just in the past. I think he'll always carry that knowledge around, but I don't think that's the main sticking point. My point is not that the past affair doesn't matter to Luke, or doesn't figure in. My point is that the stuff on the island and the rape are not the primary issues between L&L at this point. That they are always in Luke's mind, and that they inform his current behavior? That I'll never argue against.
People complained that Luke lied to Laura, not telling her about Lucky from the time Faison told him, and I responded:
Ah, but this is one of Luke's MOs. He lied to Bobbie about her daughter because he didn't want to hurt her with the news it was Carly. On the flip side, he did not tell Bobbie that they were staging Laura's death because of her involvement with Stefan--and I got just a hint of that, in his pause before he walked away this time. As if he had a moment where he thought he should tell Laura, but then didn't, partly because he'd just seen her with Stefan.
And for me, it makes perfect sense. She had a complete breakdown after Lucky's death, and part of seeing her with Stefan means to him that she is making progress, that she is moving on--which is what he wants for himself too. We saw, vividly, the pain that Faison's claim brought to him. And it makes perfect sense to me--seems in perfect character for Luke--that he wouldn't tell Laura until he knows for sure.
Is it part of what their past troubles have been? Sure. But while the lying was part of the trouble, the main trouble was 1) Luke couldn't get over things and 2) Laura couldn't choose between Stefan and Luke. Another lie isn't the only thing that would keep them apart, just as his telling the truth wouldn't be the only thing that could bring them back together.
The more interesting thing to me is that Laura faults Stefan for lying to her for her own protection, which is what Luke has absolutely done in the past and is doing now--and which is what Laura has absolutely done in the past. She understands that motive and that choice. Which makes it seem, to me, as though the lie is the excuse for her to back away from Stefan.
I don't think Luke cares much past the temporary solution. He's never gone in for the long-term, in much of any sense of the word, after all. He, like his niece, goes for short-term fixes. He, however, is better at it. Lying to protect may be habit, but at least, when the secret comes out, the people he lies to are angry with him, which means that they aren't completely focused on and hurting from whatever it was he was keeping from them. Of course, one would think that it would hurt them not to have him to lean on, but it typical has worked out that no matter how angry they are at him for lying, they lean on him anyway: Bobbie, Laura, etc. So he protects in the short term, and when it comes out, he's still around to listen to the screaming and then help pick up and move on.
The irony is that, while both Luke and Laura lied in their marriage, she always did the above (scream and move on), while he drew the line over which he would not step. But again, I think that line had more to do with her refusing to make a choice (and not admitting there was one to make) than it did with the lies, which became, in the end, symptomatic of other things.
I think Luke counts on people finding out, and always has. He just wants to manage when they finds out. That, really, becomes key in Luke's lies, if you think about it. It's not keeping it forever, it's keeping it as long as he needs it to be kept. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't--but usually it does.
As for Laura's lies, the fact that she would lie about her present feelings for Stefan is symptomatic of the fact that she could not make the big choice between Luke and Stefan, when it came right down to it. She wanted her cake and the eating of it all at the same time, with the chocolate frosting of all 3 kids on top. So it's not the lie(s) that Luke has to realize something about, in my book (though re-learning lessons is not out of the question). It's coming to peace with his fear that Laura might choose somebody else, that she has chosen somebody else, but that despite the other choices, she loves him. That is something he's never learned, in all these years. For him, Laura has always been an all-or-nothing proposition, even if he has, at times, had to bide and wait for proposition to be reality. This time, it was unclear if biding his time was going to bring about the reality, so he made the decision for her.
Now, I'd love for him to be able to love Laura despite these things. But I don't think that the lesson he has to learn is that she lies to him and it can be made ok.
Even though he hasn't learned his lesson, yet, I think that breaking from Laura may have been the best mental health choice he's ever made. While he's recasting certain things about their relationship in his dealings with Felicia, finally that's a different ball of cheese fries. He's getting to work out his issues with trust, with forgiveness, with honesty. And, since it's always already been clear that she might and probably will choose Mac, perhaps it's letting him work that out too.