A Strange Little Town (GH Fanfiction)

EP 1: Back to Town

Tracy couldn't help worrying, even though she realized she was wearing a hole in the Persian rug- Monica's rug! As if Monica needed yet another excuse to remind her whose house she was in. But it had been days since Tracy had gotten Luke's package- a single bottle of the same Tequila which had played part in their first "marriage." There was also a tag that had been scribbled on, in Luke's hand; it read, "With two of my favorite ladies in one room, not even death could keep me away."

But that had been three days ago, and Tracy hadn't heard anything since- not a peep. She worried that Helena had finally bested Luke; the old witch had left behind a DVD, a sliver of hope, knowing that Luke would run off in search of a cure; one that Tracy was beginning to suspect didn't exist. Maybe that had been Helena's cruelest plot of all, sending Luke away and making sure that he wouldn't even get to say goodbye.

"Oh Luke," she sighed, clutching the bottle to her chest only to find that it was a poor substitute.

"Oh, Spanky," the voice came from over her shoulder; it was weak and raspy, but Tracy could still hear that bit of laughter there, that mischief. She spun around and there he was.

"Luke!" She hadn't meant to, but she dropped the bottle. It crashed at her feet, soaking the rug. She hesitated only for a moment, before rushing into Luke's arms. "I didn't think I would ever see you again!" she admitted, wrapping her arms about his neck, enjoying the solid feeling of his frame- he was real.

"Like I'd let a little polonium poisoning keep me from- "he peeked over her shoulder, at the wet spot and shards of glass scattered over the Persian pattern of the rug, "from my Tequila." Tracy stepped back, half-heartedly pushed Luke away and was preparing to offer a snarky retort, when she got a good look at him. It was as if someone had snatched every word from her and she could only stare at him in barely repressed shock: Luke's cheeks were gaunt, his skin a slight sickly yellow; the lines in his face had deepened and he'd lost a bit of that mischievous gleam from his eyes- they were glossy and distant now. He'd become so thin! Even standing there, Luke seemed in danger of toppling over.

Tracy swallowed the sob that was growing in her chest and straightened her spine. She reached out for his hand, then half pulled-half guided him over the Tequila and glass until they'd reached the couch and they sat down together. When she was certain that she had buried the sob down as far as it would go and that her voice would not shake, she took Luke's hand in her lap and asked, "What happened?"

It was clear that the question exhausted him; clearer that he had no clue where to start. His eyes darted from side to side as he reviewed the whole sordid tale in his head, and he stayed there for a moment before a single detail escaped his lips. The most important part, he'd decided, was that he had found Jerry; He'd spent a week swatting mosquitoes and avoiding malaria in a Brazilian rain forest after a contact of his had gotten word that Jerry might have been holed up in a shack somewhere in Rio.

"The place with the colorful birds? Why would Jerry go there?" Tracy asked.

"That's just the animation, sweetheart. The real Rio is like a labyrinth of stone shacks." Luke explained, "Finding someone there is like looking for a needle in a large pile of needles."

Tracy shrugged and Luke continued on: He'd found Jerry on a muggy Wednesday afternoon, in a shack that doubled as a bar.

"Did he have the cure? Did he give it to you?" Tracy asked, her face full of hope.

It made Luke sigh- if he was gonna go, he was going to miss Tracy the most and the way she always got straight to the point.

"No," he said, gingerly. But it was clear it was still a blow to Tracy. Luke was one of few who could see pass her manufactured steeliness and he could see that he hadn't given Tracy the answer she had wanted. "But I didn't come home empty-handed."