Chapter One Nikolas Cassadine stopped his car on a deserted road and looked around. He'd been driving aimlessly all night. He wasn't sure where he was but he didn't feel like driving any more. He spotted a well-worn path leading into the nearby woods. `Well,' he thought, `Might as well throw caution to the wind and take a walk.' He walked along for a while and got a little tired but he still didn't feel up like returning to Spoon Island. His uncle and Bobbie were driving him crazy, running around Wyndemere like newlyweds do. Nikolas smiled slightly. Maybe he should be glad that his uncle was finally happy. After Katherine died Stefan had seemed to shut down completely. But during his trial Bobbie had surprisingly been a friend and the two had grown closer. When Stefan was freed, everyone, Nikolas included, had been astounded to hear Stefan and Bobbie announce their plans to marry. In fact half of PC turned up to watch them get married in a lavish ceremony. Luke and Laura sat in the front row, Nikolas was the best man, and Carly had been Bobbie's attendant. So now Uncle and Bobbie were wrapped up in each other and the only other person left on the island was his `stepsister', Carly, who had moved in with them. And Carly had her hands full with Michael and the Quartermaines. Speaking of the Qs, Nik realized that he hadn't seen a certain Q, Emily lately. It's been months since he's last seen her actually. The last time he talked to her, she'd been all excited about being a model. He'd heard through Bobbie that the whole modeling thing didn't go through and Emily had gotten very depressed afterward. He wondered if she was okay. `Maybe I'll tag along the next time Carly takes Michael for his weekly visit with AJ and see how she's doing.' he thought. Nikolas came upon a stone bridge and saw that someone was sitting on it looking out onto the water. It was Emily. He called out to her, "Hey, Em! I was just thinking-" Nik stopped short when Emily turned to him, her face covered with tears. "Are you-are you okay?" Nik asked with concern as he slowly approached her. Emily tried wiping her face with her hands. "Yeah, sure. Um, hi Nik. What are you doing here? I thought I was the only one who knew about this place." Nik shrugged, "I was taking a walk. Emily, you really don't look okay." "Look, Nikolas!" Emily snapped. "I said I was okay, alright!" "S-sorry." Nikolas looked at her. Emily was acting strange. "Was there anything else you wanted to say? Cause I'd *really* like to be alone. I need to… think." Emily turned back around. Nikolas didn't know what to say. Something was wrong with Emily and he didn't think he should leave her by herself. "I, uh, did I ever thank you for helping me with my speech?" `Oh, good going, genius.' Emily looked at him dumbfounded. "What? Do you know how long ago that… nevermind. Besides all we did was play chess and pretend to fence, kid stuff. Robin was the one who got you to talk." Nik climbed up and sat next to her. Emily shot him a look and then ignored him. He tried another tactic. "Well if you hadn't given Robin the idea of using French novels to help, I'd still be carrying a notepad around." He smiled at her. It's too late for smiles, Em thought. "Whatever." "I heard about the whole modeling… gig? I'm sorry it didn't work out for you." "Nikolas, just save it alright? Just… save it. It's a few months too late for it, okay? Now I know you're a busy little Cassadine, so why don't you go run along, huh?" "No, Em, I'm not leaving until I find out what's wrong with you." Emily laughed. "And you thought that a bunch of half-baked compliments would do the trick? Just go away, Nik." Em looked back out at the water below. Nikolas climbed down, thought for a second, then grabbed Emily and turned her around to face him. "I told you. Please, please just leave." Emily looked as if she was going to start crying again. "Please Nik. You shouldn't be here. Really." "Emily, what is going on with you? Tell me." Nik demanded. Emily started crying. "No, I can't tell you. You'll find out after…" "After what?" "After… Nik, please go. I don't want you to see this. You shouldn't. I don't think I can do this with you here… and I have to. It's the only way to stop it." "Stop what, Emily?" Nikolas was afraid he already knew. Emily looked at him with tears streaming down her face. "Stop everything. Stop all these feelings. Stop me…" Nikolas shook his head. "No, Emily, you don't mean it." "Yes, Nikolas. I want it all to end. I want to die." Nik looked at her in horror. "Emily, no." "Yes. Now go. So I can… go." Emily smiled sadly. "Goodbye Nikolas." Emily started to turn around but Nikolas grabbed her again and pulled her down. Emily began to put up a fight. "Nikolas! Put me down now!" "No, I'm not going to let you do this!" Nikolas looked left then right trying to figure out where the path was. Making a quick decision he went left, dragging a struggling Emily along. Nik kept going until he came to where his car was. He dug into his pocket with one hand while he kept the other around Emily's wrist. He opened the car door and shoved her in. "Stay!" He barked. He ran quickly around the hood and got in. Emily stubbornly crossed her arms and said, "You can't stop me." Nik looked over at her. "I just did." He started the car. Emily gazed out the window. "This time. Soon as you let me out, I'm doing it." "No, you won't. Because I'm making sure you won't get another chance." "Whatcha gonna do? Tell the Qs? Oooo, I'm scared." Emily snorted. "They can't stop me. They don't even know I'm there half the time. This is my life and I will do anything I want." "Really? I don't think so, this just isn't *your* life. Do you have any idea how suicide will affect everyone who cares about you? It's the coward's way out, Em." "I left them a letter. It explains everything so that they will understand." "Em, the only one who can explain is you, not some letter." After that, Emily remained quiet throughout the rest of the ride. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE Q MANSION The Quartermaines were sitting around the living room being Qs. Monica was bitching to AJ about not seeing Michael enough. Ned was on his cell talking to Lois about her plans to bring Brooke Lynn up for a visit. Keesha was in a corner doing her nails. Alan was missing because he'd been put into rehab. His third attempt so far. And Edward was being Edward. Nikolas dragged Emily into this circus. Monica looked up from her tirade. "Oh, good evening Nikolas. Emily, I didn't know you'd gone out." "See, they didn't even know I was gone. They won't care." Emily muttered under her breath. "Shut up." Nikolas hissed. Edward overheard him. "Now see here Cassadine! You don't come in here and tell people to shut up." Monica realized something was happening. "Emily? Nikolas? What's going on?" "Mrs. Quartermaine, I'm sorry to tell you this but,” Nikolas took a deep breath, "tonight I found Emily about to jump off a bridge. She was going to kill herself." At that moment all hell broke lose. Monica yelled, "What!?!" And ran over to Emily to hug her. Emily reluctantly went into her arms. Keesha frowned. "Why'd you do something like that, Em?" Ned said into the phone, "Lois, I'll call you back. We have a situation here." AJ went over to Emily. "Em? Are you okay?" Edward blustered, "Young lady, what do you have to say for yourself?" Ned was the first to recover his head. He went over to Nikolas and clapped him on his shoulder. "Thanks for bringing Emily home to us. You can go." Edward agreed. "Yes, you can leave now." "I can't leave just yet." Nik protested as Ned steered him towards the door. "Yes, you can." "Wait a second." Nik tried again as Ned got him to the front door held open by Reginald. "Listen, just keep an eye on her, all right? She's told me that she's going to try again." "Okay, Cassadine, we'll take care of her now." Edward was saying something about "first flying off the roof and now this!" Nik tried one last time, "Just watch her!" as the front door slammed in his face. "Dammit!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WYNDEMERE Nikolas slammed into the room. The couple on the couch jumped slightly. Stefan disentangled himself from Bobbie's embrace. He stood up and dusted off his clothes. "Is there something wrong, Nikolas?" "Yes! There is something wrong." Nikolas spit out. "Hey, don't talk like that to your uncle, Nik." Bobbie said from the couch. Nikolas ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "I'm sorry, Uncle. It's just been a bad night." Bobbie walked over to Nikolas. "Something happen?" "Yeah. I just saved Emily Quartermaine from committing suicide and her family couldn't wait to kick me out!" "Oh, Nikolas, that's horrible!" Bobbie hugged Nikolas, who looked as if he needed it. Nikolas returned the hug as everything that happened finally caught up with him. "I was so angry when I realized what she was going to do that I didn't really think about it. But now, my god, Bobbie, she was going to jump. Off that bridge. She kept trying to get me to leave. She was being rude and I almost left her there. She said,” He swallowed. "She said she couldn't do it if I was there. And I had almost left her. What, what if I had left her before I knew? Oh my god…” Tears sprang up in Nikolas' eyes as he realized what had almost happened. Stefan, unable to bear the sight of his nephew hurting, drew Nikolas into a close embrace. "Nikolas, it will be all right." Stefan murmured "She is with her family. They can take care of her. You needn't worry." "But that's what worries me the most. Her family. I tried to warn them that she'd threatened to try again. And I don't think they believed me." Bobbie tried to comfort him. "I'm sure that Monica will not take your warning lightly. She loves Emily and will do anything to keep her safe. Okay?" "Okay." Nikolas didn't believe her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FOUR DAYS LATER At the Q mansion, Emily sat alone in her room. Monica had finally stopped hovering around her so she had some time alone. Emily finished her letter and put the pen down. She slowly raised her razor and stared at it for a long time. ~~~~~~ Nikolas gazed out from his perch on the parapet wondering if Emily was all right. He'd tried to contact her but some Quartermaine kept telling him that she was "busy". Busy, ha! At least Edward Quartermaine had the guts to tell him point blank, "I don't like you, Cassadine, and I don't want you calling my granddaughter!" Nikolas guessed that they'd gotten Emily into some sort of facility to help her. But he wished he could see her, just once to let him know that she was on her way to being better. "Nikolas?" He turned around and saw Carly standing there with a weird look on her face and a phone in her hand. "Yes?" "Uh, phone for you. It's Bobbie." The look on Carly's face told Nikolas that something wasn't right. He grabbed the phone. "Bobbie? What happened?” He demanded. "Nikolas, honey. Emily just came into the ER. She tried to slit her wrists."