Chapter 17

Emily yawned softly and rolled over.  She threw her arm out and snuggled up to 
her pillow.  That's when she noticed something.  Half awake, she rubbed what her 
hand had fell on. It felt warm, hard, and muscular. Her pillow felt the same.  
Emily's eyes flew open.  She was sleeping on Nik.  They must have fallen asleep 
during the last movie.

Emily lifted her head off his shoulder and looked at him.  He was sprawled out 
on his back with his arm around her and his mouth slightly open.  He snored 
softly.  Emily stifled a shimmer that went through her.  She had slept with Nik.  
Sure, she had told herself that she was over her crush on him and that they were 
just friends but still.  Nik is a good-looking guy. Who was in her bed.  Emily 
sighed.  

He really needs a shave, she thought.  Her hands itched to run along his jaw to 
see what it felt like.  But she instead sat up and patted Nikolas on the chest.

"Hey, wake up, Nik."  She said.  "Wakey, wakey."

He slowly came awake.  "Hmmm, huh?"

"Time to get up."  Emily climbed out of bed.

"What happened?"  Nik said with a yawn. He stretched and Emily couldn't help but 
watch.

"We must have feel asleep during Halloween."  Emily drew open the drapes. She 
checked her watch.  "It's a little after seven in the morning."

"Yow." Nik covered his eyes as the light came through. "That movie was more 
boring than I thought."

Emily laughed.  "You can use my bathroom.  There's new toothbrushes in the 
medicine cabinet.  And in the closet are washcloths and towels if you want to 
wash up."

Nikolas padded sleepily into the bathroom.  Emily tried cleaning up a little by 
brushing the popcorn off the bed and straightening the covers. She was starting 
to rewind the videos when Nik came back.

"Good Morning." He smiled.

"Hey, don't worry, I'll take the movies back this afternoon."  Emily assured 
him.

Nikolas sat down and started to put his shoes on.  "Right.  You remember I have 
to go out of town today but I will be back Tuesday."

"I remember.  We're going horseback riding. Can I ride Sheba?"  She asked 
brightly.

Nikolas gave her an ‘Are you crazy?' look.  "No one but I rides Sheba."

"Oh, please bestest friend?"

"That only works for popcorn."  He laughed.

"You're no fun."  Emily pouted.  "Do you need me to walk you out?"

"No, I doubt anyone's up now."  Nikolas stood and gave her a quick kiss on the 
cheek that nearly caused her to melt.  Hopefully he didn't noticed. "I'll see 
you Tuesday. Don't stay cooped up in here all weekend.  See if Liz or Lucky 
wants to do something."

Emily nodded.  "I will.  See ya."  Emily closed the door behind him and went off 
to take a quick shower.

Nikolas jogged lightly down the stairs.  Just when he went to open the door, it 
opened itself.  On the other side was Lois.

"Oh!"  She said.  "I didn't know anyone was up.  What are you doing here so 
early? Wearing the same clothes as yesterday's?"  

"We fell asleep."  Was all he said.  "Bye."  He moved past her and left the 
house.

Lois went upstairs to Emily's room.  She knocked on the door then went in. She 
took in the popcorn all over the place, the empty soda bottle, and the stack of 
videocassettes.  Emily came out of the bathroom in her robe.  She was startled 
by the sight of Lois.

"Lois! What's up?"  She asked.

"I just saw Nikolas leaving."

"Yeah, we'd fallen asleep while watching the movies."

Lois looked skeptical.  "Hmm, really?  Emily I don't want to sound pushy or 
noisy but that's all that happened?"

Emily laughed.  "Lois you really don't think I'd do something with Nik?  In this 
house?  Geez, and besides, we're only friends."

"Oh."

"So you don't have worry.  And I have a question for you.  Why are you wearing 
yesterday's clothes?"  She turned the tables on her.

Lois blushed.  "None of your business."  She left the room quickly.

Emily shrugged.  "I really didn't care."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later That Day

Emily said into the phone.  "Yeah, okay.  I'll meet you at Kelly's in twenty 
minutes.  See you then, Liz."  Emily hung up the phone and dashed out of the 
room.  She started down the stairs when she saw AJ, Carly and Michael in the 
hall.

"Hey, AJ, can I borrow your car? I'm meeting Liz."

AJ dug into his pocket.  "Morning, Emily.  I'm doing okay and so are Carly and 
Michael."

Emily blushed.  "Sorry.  Didn't mean to be rude.  Hi Car, Mikey."  Emily gave 
each a quick kiss on the cheek.

Carly smiled.  "That's okay."

AJ tossed Emily the keys.  "Be careful with it."

Emily raised a hand.  "I swear I will handle this car with the same respect and 
care I give Nik's."

Carly laughed.  "From what I've seen, your car is in for a world full of trouble 
now!"

Emily just grinned and went out saying, "It's too late now."

Carly turned to AJ.  "I see her all the time over at Wyndemere lately."

"Same here with Nikolas. Hey, do you want to go to lunch with me and Michael?"

"Uh, I don't know." Carly wasn't sure what to think of AJ's offer. She was sure 
he had some sort of ulterior motive.  Even though she and AJ had become 
friendlier for Michael's sake, they weren't any way near the friends they used 
to be.

"What's one little meal going to hurt?"

"Oh, alright."  Carly shrugged.  

"PC Grille okay with you?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"No, that's alright.  I'll go to the meeting instead, Justus.  Port Charles 
Grille, right?… Hey we'd be fools to do something illegal out in the open, they 
can't touch us."  Jason hung up and started out the door.  Just then Robin came 
in.  He stepped out of the way so she wouldn't walk into him.

"You came back."  Jason stated with no emotion.

Robin dropped her overnight bag.  "Yes."

Ever since that night with Carly five weeks ago, when he'd come home smelling of 
Carly's perfume, Robin has lost some of her trust in him.  She knew he used his 
"business" excuse and went to see Carly.  So she started questioning everything 
he did.  The night before they'd gotten into an argument when she started 
yelling at him when he was about to leave.  She accused him of running off to 
see Carly.  He'd yelled back, telling her to back off, which shocked her 
speechless.

She'd stormed into their room and packed up some clothes.  She'd informed Jason 
that she was going to Mac and Felicia's.  He made no move to stop her and didn't 
even come for her later that night.  So she returned on her own.

"Are you going somewhere?"  She asked the question that seemed to start most of 
her conversations with him lately.

"Yes, I have business."

Robin couldn't help it.  "Do you really have business or are you just using that 
as an excuse to avoid me?"

Jason sighed and looked up at the ceiling.  "I was on my way out before I knew 
you were coming back. I thought you said you weren't coming back?"

Robin laughed.  "People always say things in the heat of anger that they don't 
mean."

"I meant everything I said.  Didn't you?"

"No."  Robin gasped.  "I can't believe you thought I was going to leave you and 
you did nothing to stop me!"

"If you wanted to leave, nothing I could say would stop you.  Robin, you know I 
have no time for games."

"So you were just going to let me go? And where were you off to?  To tell Carly 
she could move back in?"  Robin sneered.  "You were going to let that wh…"

"Damnit!"  Jason roared and slammed his hand against the wall making Robin jump.  
"This is about you and your games!  None of this has to do with Carly!  I… I 
can't take your paranoia right now."  Jason started walking out.

"Jason!  Don't you dare walk out on me!"  Robin screeched.

Jason paused and looked at Renaldo.  "Shut the door."  He said quietly. Renaldo 
quickly closed the door on Robin.