Chapter 19

Wednesday afternoon 

Nikolas was on his way out of Wyndemere when Stefan stopped him. 

"Nikolas? Where are you off to?" Stefan laid down the papers he was going over. 

"I promised Emily I would meet her after her session this afternoon. We're 
having a pool party at her house with Lucky and Liz." He informed him. 

"Ah, yes, Ms. Quartermaine." Stefan ignored the mention of Lucky Spencer. "I 
have noticed her spending a lot of time here." 

Nikolas could hear what was coming. Another lecture on who should be his friend. 
His uncle never thought anyone was good enough for him. First Sarah, then Robin, 
and now Emily. 

"She's my friend, Uncle." He said simply. 

"Yes and I have also noticed that you been seeing plenty of that young lady 
lately. Are you two… involved?" 

"Involved?" Nikolas repeated. "No, we are just friends. Why did you ask?" 

"I am simply concerned for your welfare. She comes from a troubled family and 
she has a history of instability. I understand she once was addicted to drugs?" 
Stefan raised an eyebrow. 

"Emily is *my* friend and I would rather not listen to you talk about her in 
that manner. Uncle, *I* come from a troubled family also, if you haven't 
noticed. I have a history of landing in the hospital and that hasn't scared 
Emily off so I don't think her former drug problem is going to do that to me. 
Friends accept each other for who they are, flaws and all." He said vehemently. 

Stefan sat back; amazed that Nikolas spoke to him so strongly. "I was…"

Bobbie cut him off by coming into the room and saying, "Lay off him, Stefan. 
She's his friend and there's nothing you can do about it." She smiled at 
Nikolas. She had heard a part of their conversation and could tell Nikolas 
didn't appreciate Stefan sticking his nose in where it didn't belong. 

"Thanks Bobbie." Nikolas said. 

"Anytime, sweetheart."

"But Barbara," Stefan began. 

"Leave it alone, Stefan. Did Carly leave all ready? She had wanted a ride." 

"Caroline left about a half-hour ago." Stefan told her. 

"Oh." Bobbie frowned. "She must have be in such a rush that she couldn't wait 
for me. Huh, I wondered where she was rushing off to. Did she take Michael with 
her?" 

Stefan shook his head. "She left him here with Miss Leticia." 

"Okay." Bobbie turned to Nikolas. "Were you on your way out?" Nikolas nodded. 
"I'll walk with you. I have to get to the hospital." 

She bent down and kissed Stefan quickly. She was straightening up when Stefan 
pulled her back in for another kiss. Nikolas averted his eyes. Since Bobbie and 
Stefan remarried, Stefan had become free with his public displays of affection 
for Bobbie. He heard Bobbie whisper, "See you later, lover." And then she and 
Nikolas left together. 

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

A While Later 

Carly paused in front of the penthouse door and stood silent. Renaldo looked at 
her questioningly. 

She raised her hand before he could speak. "Don't let me in just yet. Is he in?" 

He nodded. "Ms. Scorpio's out."

"Okay." Carly nodded back. "I just need a moment."

Carly sighed. She couldn't believe she was doing this. Swallowing her pride and 
going to Jason. But she had thought long and hard about it for the past three 
days and had decided that she and Jason needed to talk. 

She needed to know her place in his life and his place in hers. She wanted to 
know where they stood. Carly had come to terms with the fact that she'd take 
just about any kind of relationship that he offered. She wanted; no she needed 
him her life. After Michael, Jason had to be the best thing in her life and she 
didn't want to lose that. 

But she needed to move on with her life. Everywhere she turned there were happy 
couples all over the place. Stefan and Bobbie were so happy they made her sick. 
Uncle Luke swore the sun rose and set just for Laura. Lucky couldn't live 
without his Liz. Carly had heard from Bobbie that Lucas had a little girlfriend 
at his boarding school. Even the Quartermaines had someone for each of them. 
Monica and Alan stuck it out year after year. Lila saw something in Edward that 
no one else did. AJ, with all his problems with her, was still married to 
Keesha. And Nikolas and Emily seemed to be making a go at it even if they didn't 
notice it themselves. 

Jason had Robin to complete his life. So, it was time that Carly looked for 
someone other than Michael to complete hers. 

Carly took at deep breath, stood up straight, and looked over at Renaldo. "I'm 
ready." And then she added. "Tag Cassadine on at the end of my name."

Renaldo knocked and Jason called out his usual "Enter!"

Renaldo opened the door saying. "Ms. Spencer-Cassadine to see you." 

Carly marched in and stood in front of Jason. "We gotta talk. About us." 

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

(This is happening at the same time) 

Emily stood and stretched. She had just finished her first session with Gail 
Baldwin's teen group. It hadn't been as bad as she thought it would have been. 
The kids weren't crazy and the focus of the group wasn't hashing out each 
other's suicide attempts over and over again. The best thing was it wasn't 
incredibly depressing. They talked a lot and there were the usual jokers. The 
main thing was to help each other get through the week. But, she thought with a 
smile, I have Nik to help me with that. 

Emily walked to the door, still lost in her thoughts about Nikolas. She loved 
hanging out with Nik and was glad that he seemed to actually want to be around 
her. She wasn't that "pathetic girl with a huge crush" trailing after him. They 
were real friends. She felt lucky to have him in her life. He could make her 
laugh and feel happy when she's feeling blue. Or if she just needed not to talk, 
he understood. 

Not watching where she was going, Emily walked into someone. 

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She said and stepped back. 

"Hey, it's all right, pretty girl." The kid she walked into told her. He was a 
part of her group, one of the jokers. She didn't remember his name but he was 
very cute. He stood a little over six feet and had jet curly hair black hair, 
dark eyes, a bright smile, dimples, and a nice build. (Think of a younger, 
taller Maurice Benard) 

"I was paying attention." Emily smiled. 

He smiled back, flashing his dimples. "But I was, so I could have stepped out of 
the way. I see you're new in our group. What's your name, pretty girl?" 

"Emily Bowen" she hesitated. She wasn't sure if she wanted to let him know that 
she was a Quartermaine. People changed their attitude when they found out she 
was one of those wacky Quartermaines. But she added it anyway. "Quartermaine." 

"Emily Bowen-Quartermaine." He tried out the name. "Such a big name for such a 
pretty girl." 

Emily blushed. She couldn't help it. And she noticed how he said nothing about 
her being a Quartermaine. "What's yours?" 

"Mine's Constantino Rodriguez. But a pretty girl like you can call me Tino." He 
winked. 

At that moment, Gail Baldwin came past them. "Every one calls him Tino. Don't 
fall for it Emily." She warned with a smile. 

"Hey, you just ruined the whole thing, Dr. B!" Tino said but he was smiling. 

Gail just shook her head and went on her way. 

"That's alright. I wasn't really falling for it anyway." Emily let him know. 

"So I had no chance at all?" Tino frowned. 

"None." Emily said cheerfully. "Well, maybe not none. Maybe if you'd tried a 
little harder." 

Tino nodded. "Next time. Hey, can I give you a lift somewhere?" 

Emily was going to say no when she heard a male voice say behind her. "She 
doesn't need one. I'm her ride." 

Emily turned around and saw Nikolas. "Hey Nik." She smiled brightly. 

Nikolas came up next to her and dropped an arm around her shoulders. He drew her 
in close to his side. The move was purely possessive and Tino took notice of it. 

Emily, not even noticing what was going on, introduced them. "Nik, this is Tino 
Rodriguez. Tino, this is Nikolas Cassadine." 

Tino glanced at Emily, who seemed to have started to glow the minute she saw 
that guy. "This is your boyfriend? So I *really* didn't have a chance, huh?" 

"What? No, Nik's just a good friend of mine. Right, Nik?" Emily looked up at 
him. 

"Yeah." Nik didn't like the look of this guy. "We should get going. Remember Liz 
and Lucky are coming over to go swimming?" 

"Oh, yeah. I'll see you later, Tino." Emily waved. 

"Hopefully sooner, pretty girl."

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

Jason was surprised that Carly had came to see him. He'd stopped trying to 
contact her after seeing her at the Grille with AJ. He was unsure about his 
feelings for, about why he reacted so strongly to her hugging AJ. 

Also he had been concentrating on Robin. After telling her that he wasn't ready 
for children, she had seemed depressed for the past two days, not talking to him 
or going out to her classes, to work at L&B, or to even leave the penthouse. 
Jason had been worried until she came bouncing out of bed that morning with a 
secret smile. She had greeted Jason with a cheerful kiss and a request that he 
let her dump the bodyguards for the day. Against his gut feelings Jason had let 
her go without the guards. Jason worried even more now because he had no idea 
what she was up to. 

"Spencer-Cassadine? You're using that name now?"

Carly shrugged. "I dunno. I'm trying it out. Bobbie and Lucas use it and I want 
to feel more apart of the family, ya know." Carly wandered around the room, 
looking at all the redecorating that Robin had done. 

Jason stopped her by touching her lighting on the arm. "You said we needed to 
talk about us?"

"Yes." Carly took a deep breath. "Where do we stand?"

"What do you mean?"

"Let me start over. I want to apologize for that night in your limo…"

"You were drunk, Carly." Jason didn't want to go back to that night. 

"No, well, yes but that's the easy answer and I'm done taking the easy way out. 
I *was* drunk but I knew what I was doing. Even though I know how much you hate 
games, I purposely lead you on." Carly looked down at her hands. "And I'm sorry. 
I don't know what I was doing, well I do know but I won't tell you because I 
just realized things that you knew from the beginning and I was just too blind 
to see. But I need you to spell it out for me. Straight out, what am I to you? I 
need to know so I can move on with my life." 

Jason started to pace around the room. "You know what you are to me, Carly. I 
don't know why we're even having this conversation. You are my friend; you'll 
always be my friend. The best friend I'll ever have. What do you mean, move on 
with your life?" 

"So, I'm your friend and nothing more? I can deal with that." Maybe, she 
thought. "I have to. I just meant that I can't keep pining away after you while 
you live your life with Robin. I deserve some happiness, some one special in 
*my* life."

Jason paused and glared at Carly. Angrily he said, "And by some one special, do 
you mean AJ?"

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

Nikolas swam along lazily as Emily slathered on sunscreen. The sun beat down on 
them but there was a slight breeze. Music blared from the boombox Emily had 
brought outside. 
 
"Why don't you come in? The water's great." Nikolas said and floated on his 
back. 

Emily was thankful for the shades that covered her eyes. They hid the fact that 
she was looking him over. Nikolas in swim trunks was a sight to behold. 

She rubbed some sunscreen on her leg and said, "I want to wait until Liz and 
Lucky get here. I want Liz to check out my new bikini before it gets all wet." 

Nikolas got out of the pool and padded over. He dropped down into the pool chair 
next to hers and wiped at his face with a towel. He glanced over her. 

"It's a nice suit." He commented. Just very, very tiny, he thought. She's 
showing *way* too much flesh. Then he thought of the topless beaches in Europe. 
Those never bothered him so why should a small bikini? 

"Thanks." Emily flashed him a quick smile. "The last time I went shopping with 
Carly, she dared me to buy it." 

"Hmm" was all he said. "Do you want me to do your back?"

"That'd be great, thanks." Emily passed him the bottle and turned so that her 
back was facing him. 

"So, Emily," Nik squeezed lotion on to his palms. "That guy you were talking 
to…" 

"Tino?" Emily interrupted. She wondered why he was bringing him up. He hadn't 
said a word about him during the car ride back. 

"Yeah…Tino. How do you know him?" Nikolas rubbed the lotion on her shoulders and 
started working his way down. 

Emily closed her eyes and enjoyed her mini-massage. "I just met him today in my 
suicide group. Why?" 

"No reason. He was flirting with you, wasn't he? That's what all that stuff 
about having a chance and calling you pretty girl was about." 

"Maybe." Emily shrugged. "I admit the pretty girl line was a bit tired but I 
thought it was cute at the time." 

"You liked it? You were flirting back weren't you?" Nik started rubbing the 
lotion in harder as he flashed back to the scene earlier when Emily was talking 
with that guy. 

"What if I was? He's cute, I'm single, those things mix right, ya know what I 
mean?"

Nikolas grunted. "So, what you want to date that guy? Did he ask you out?" 

Emily shrugged again. "He didn't have a chance but if he did, I might have said 
yes."

Nik stopped rubbing in the lotion. "Really?" He couldn't believe it. 

"Yes, really." Emily turned around with a smile. "Nikolas, don't tell me you're 
jealous!"

Nikolas abruptly stood. "I'm *not* jealous! Why on earth would *I* be 
jealous!?!" 

Emily quickly lost her smile. "Calm down, Nik, I was just kidding around, 
sorry."

The fire went out of Nik. "No, I'm sorry. I… I don't know why I reacted like 
that." Nik knew exactly why. He *was* jealous. He didn't want to hear about how 
much Emily wanted to go out with some guy. But he was her friend and if that's 
what she wanted to talk about then that's what they'd talk about. After all, he 
owed her for all those times he went on and on about Robin. 

Emily stood up and stretched. Nikolas pretended not to watch. "It's cool Nicky."

Nikolas groaned. "What did I say about that?" 

"About what, Nicky?" Emily said with a fake wide-eyed innocence. 

"Calling me Nicky. You know I hate that." 

"Okay, okay…*Prince* Nicky." Emily grinned. She knew he hated being called 
Prince almost as much as being called Nicky. 

"That's it, brat!" Nikolas came up behind her and pushed her into the pool. 

Emily hit the water with a loud splash. She came up sputtering and gasping for 
air. "I'm going to kill you, Nicky!" 

Nikolas laughed so hard that he doubled over. "I'm so scared."

Emily growled and climbed out of the pool. She lunged for Nikolas. He was 
unprepared for her and they fell back onto a pool chair. They laughed at 
themselves until they realized their positions. Emily was sprawled out on top of 
Nikolas, her face very close to his. Their eyes connected. 

** 
The strands in your eyes that color them wonderful 
Stop me and steal my breath 
Emeralds from mountains thrust toward the sky 
Never revealing their depth 
Tell me that we belong together 
Dress it up with the trappings of love 
I'll be captivated 
I'll hang from your lips 
Instead of the gallows of heartache that hang from above 
** 

"Um, hey, isn't that, that song you like?" Nikolas whispered. He hadn't let 
himself notice before but Emily was a very pretty girl. 

Emily swallowed and nodded. This was very awkward, she thought. She liked being 
on top of him, this was the closest they've ever been but Nik probably didn't 
like it. She raised herself up slightly and opened her mouth to speak. 

** 
I'll be your crying shoulder 
I'll be love suicide 
I'll be better when I'm older 
I'll be the greatest fan of your life 
** 

Nikolas whispered. "Your hair's all over."

He reached up and gently tucked a few strands behind her ear. He then gently 
caressed her cheek before bringing his hand down to trail his fingers along her 
jaw. 

Emily held her breath as he did this, afraid to move or speak in fear of 
breaking the spell that had seemed to come over them. 

** 
Rain falls angry on the tin roof 
As we lie awake in my bed 
You're my survival, you're my living proof 
My love is alive not dead 
Tell me that we belong together 
Dress it up with the trappings of love 
I'll be captivated I'll hang from your lips 
Instead of the gallows of heartache, that hang from above 
** 

Nikolas looked deep into her eyes and thought to himself that she had beautiful 
eyes. He murmured, "Beautiful." 

Then his gaze shifted to her lips and he whispered, "Emily." 

** 
I'll be your crying shoulder 
I'll be love suicide 
I'll be better when I'm older 
I'll be the greatest fan of your life 
** 

He moved his hand behind her head to bring her closer as he lifted his own head. 
Their lips met briefly. 

Emily closed her eyes and sighed. She loved this moment. She had been waiting 
for this for as long as she had know him and it was finally happening. 

** 
I've been dropped out, burned up, fought my way back from the dead 
Tuned in, turned on, remembered the things that you said 
** 

Nikolas brought her in for another kiss and Emily laid down fully on him. This 
time the kiss lasted longer. Emily heard Nikolas moan as it ended. 

** 
I'll be your crying shoulder 
I'll be love suicide 
I'll be better when I'm older 
I'll be the greatest fan of your life
The greatest fan of your life 
** 

They looked at each other in wonder. They sat speechless. Then just as Nikolas 
was going to apologize they heard Liz call out cheerfully, 

"Hey, hey, hey! We're here!"



*Note* The song is ''I'll Be'' by Edwin McCain and it was used in Chapter 3, I 
liked to think of it as N&E's song. :-)