in early 2000, helena lets lucky (now young) go and it becomes clear he has been brainwashed. helena uses the ice princess diamond to make lucky act violently and erases lucky's memories of love for elizabeth. elizabeth fakes her death to help nikolas (then stephen martines, credited as coltin scott) gain helena's trust, and lucky's visions of her and their love help him break helena's control. they reunite, but he is unable to regain his feelings and in december 2001, elizabeth stops their wedding when she realizes the truth. they struggle to start over, and elizabeth breaks up with lucky after she finds him kissing her sister sarah webber (then sarah laine). in august 2002, lucky and nikolas try to cover up the death of laura's stepfather rick webber (chris robinson) when they think luke killed him. when laura is told she killed rick, she has a mental breakdown and has to be committed. luke acts self-destructively and nikolas takes control of laura's treatment, causing tension between luke and lucky (now vaughan). when lucky's girlfriend summer halloway (brittney powell) is pushed off a cliff, he joins the police academy to help find evidence. luke is unhappy that lucky has become a cop, causing various rifts between them. in february 2004, lucky almost dies during a fire at the port charles hotel. when nikolas (reprised by christopher) is presumed dead in april, lucky comforts emily (now natalia livingston) and develops romantic feelings she does not return. lucky is suspended for helping nikolas when he presumably kills helena. lucky finds helena, who shoots him, putting him into a coma. luke unplugs his ventilator, causing him to breathe on his own. meanwhile, lucky and elizabeth reconnect. their financial struggles prompt elizabeth to become a surrogate mother for courtney (alicia leigh willis) and jasper jacks (ingo rademacher), upsetting lucky, but elizabeth miscarries in september 2005. they marry in october, and lucky takes on raising liz's son cameron as his own. lucky almost dies in a train crash on the way to their honeymoon, and again during an encephalitis outbreak in february 2006. in april, he has a serious back injury while trying to save elizabeth from manny ruiz (robert lasardo). overcome by his injury, financial trouble and guilt over the death of his partner jesse beaudry (matt marraccini), lucky becomes addicted to painkillers and has an affair with maxie jones (kirsten storms). elizabeth walks in on them, and sleeps with jason morgan, becoming pregnant. she lets lucky believe he is the father to avoid him relapsing. maxie fakes a pregnancy in an unsuccessful attempt to keep lucky. elizabeth divorces lucky, but they remarry after he completes rehab. in may 2007, elizabeth gives birth to jacob spencer. her relationship with jason makes lucky jealous, and their marriage struggles. lucky starts dating jason's ex-girlfriend sam mccall (kelly monaco) as they divorce. in november 2007, lucky discovers the truth about jake, but agrees to the secret to protect him from jason's dangerous lifestyle. lucky and sam break up.