when jackson returned to the role, he was given multiple emotional storylines that continually put lucky in tragic situations. as jackson resumed the character in october 2009, lucky is unaware that elizabeth, his fiancée again, is having an affair with his brother nikolas. what started as a joke grows into a physical relationship the same night elizabeth accepts lucky's remarriage proposal. herbst explained to "comcast": "i truly believe that [elizabeth] is in love with lucky and has been in love with him her entire life. but what happened with nikolas caught her by surprise as much as everybody else. it's hard for her to articulate it. she just knows that nikolas did make her feel more like a woman and that in her relationship with lucky she's very much still that 16-year-old girl that constantly needs to be saved. that's kind of the role that lucky has played in her life." when lucky eventually walks in on her with nikolas, he does not say anything and instead trashes his house and resumes drinking. j bernard jones from entertainment website "zap2it" described that lucky: "generally was an emotional wreck, careening all over the place like a pinball. on the other hand, whenever lucky was with elizabeth or nikolas he was cold and detached, imbuing just enough of jackson's trademark sincerity (some would say over-earnestness) to knock the two cheatin' hearts off-kilter." lucky is irate by the time he confronts them. herbst described the scene: "jonathan actually seemed like one more step and he was going to take my head off. honestly, it was not so hard to be present when he was yelling at me like he did." jones from "zap2it" stated that in the confrontation scenes: "jackson accomplished a much harder task than simply reclaiming the lucky mantle: he has bridged the gap between his previous run, jacob young's and most recently, greg vaughan's. now lucky seems like a whole person once again, as opposed to a fractured character sliced up over the years by the writers, and fractured by fan loyalties." lucky, nikolas and elizabeth soon learn that elizabeth is pregnant, and either brother could be the father. jackson explained lucky's position: