Chapter 22

Tino looked from Emily to Nikolas. They were just standing around. "Did I 
interrupt something important?" 

Emily touched her lips lightly and looked over at Nik, who avoided her eyes and 
ran a hand through his hair.  Emily narrowed her eyes as she realized that he 
was about to act like the kiss never happened. Well she was tired of it.  She 
said brightly, "Nope.  You didn't interrupt anything at all."

Nikolas then cleared his throat and stared at Emily.  He wondered what was going 
on in her mind.

Tino grinned and said.  "Cool.  Hey Nik, the non-boyfriend."

"It's Nikolas."  He corrected him before turning to Emily.  "You told him I was 
your non-boyfriend?  What does that mean exactly?"

Emily shrugged.  "He came up with that.  Ask him.  But you'll have to do that 
some other time because you were just leaving, weren't you, Nikolas?"

Nik didn't want to leave her alone with this Tino guy but they did have to start 
the experiment.  "I'll see you in a couple of weeks, Em."

He started towards the door but then paused and went back over to Emily. He 
glanced at Tino, who was watching his every move, before brushing his lips 
across Emily's cheek.  Emily stiffened as he did this.  She didn't know what 
kind of game he was playing or what he was trying to prove.  

"Remember the medallion, okay?"  He whispered.  He looked at Tino once more 
before walking out.

Tino watched him and said, "For a guy who's not your boyfriend, he sure is 
possessive."

Emily folded her arms.  She had had enough of trying to figure out Nikolas 
Cassadine. "Only when it suits his purposes.  So, Tino, you said you like the 
Yankees right?"

~~~~~~~~~

Nikolas stood on the launch, looking out onto the water, waiting for it to get 
underway.  Just then Carly came rushing up to the dock, laden down with shopping 
bags.  

"Wait for me!"  She called.  She got on and came over to Nikolas. "Hey, Nicky, 
what's up?"  
  
Nikolas just shrugged and continued to look at the water.

"Uh-oh.  Something's wrong. You let me call you Nicky.  Something happen between 
you and Emily?"  Carly placed the bags down in front of her.

"Why would it have to do with-I don't mind it when you call me Nicky that much 
anymore. You do a lot of shopping today?"  He nodded towards the bags at her 
feet.

"They're all for the most important man in my life.  Michael's growing out of 
his clothes and he needed some new ones." 

"All that's for Michael?"

Carly shrugged.  "I want Mikey to be the best dressed Spencer-Quartermaine there 
ever was."  Carly shook her head.  Luke and Edward had insisted that Michael be 
named properly so his full name was now Michael Robert (in honor of the real 
Carly Roberts) Spencer-Quartermaine, though Carly still preferred to call him 
Michael Morgan at times.

She leaned against the railing and glanced over at Nik.  "So tell me, what's 
bothering you Nicky."

"I don't want to talk about it with you."

"Who are you going to talk about it with?  Bobbie? Aunt Laura? You sure they 
won't embarrass you?  Stefan?  Oh, yeah, I'm sure he'll understand whatever teen 
trauma it is you're going through. I don't know how close you are to Lucky 
nowadays so you can try him.  But I do know that this has to do with Emily or 
you would have talked it out with her by now and things would be fine.  So I'm 
the only one who's left and today's your only chance.  It's rare that I'm in the 
mood to help my fellow man with his problems. Spill it, little stepbrother-
slash-half-cousin."

Nik sighed.  He knew that Carly would continue all the way back to Spoon Island.  
And besides, she was right.  Who else would he talk about this with?  Lucky had 
made no sense the last time they talked about Emily.

"Okay, I kissed Emily."  He said to begin with.

"What?"  Carly said shocked.  "You did what?  And Emily didn't tell me?  When 
did this happen?"

"This Wednesday and today."

"Okay, I think you need to start over, from the beginning."

"Well, it all began on Wednesday, when I found her flirting with this guy. I got 
jealous afterwards and somehow I ended up kissing her twice. But I told her I 
just wanted to be friends because I do.  I have all these…feelings about her 
that I never thought about before that kiss and I didn't want to ruin our 
friendship because of something that probably wouldn't have worked out."

"Idiot."  Carly muttered.  "Keep going."

"Then there was today.  Gail Baldwin wants to do this experiment where Emily and 
I don't have any contact for the next two weeks.  Just to see how Emily would 
react if our friendship ever ended. Dr. Baldwin doesn't like how close we are."

"Sounds good to me."

"Well it didn't to me.  I think the whole thing is ridiculous and I'm only going 
along for Emily's sake."

"If you truly are her friend then you would."

"I am.  Now the next kiss was after I brought her home.  We were just standing 
there and… I can't believe I'm pouring my guts out to you."  He said suddenly.

"Stranger things have happened."  Carly smiled.  "Go on."

"Well, I was about to leave and I kissed her.  Just kissed her. And I don't even 
know why.  I just did it.  Then the doorbell rings and it's the guy that she was 
flirting with.  He asks if he had interrupted us and instead of telling him yes, 
she says no and acts like nothing happened at all!"

"Maybe she was taking her cue from you."  Carly suggested.

"Huh?  What was I supposed to do?  Kick him out of her house so I could have her 
all to myself?"

"Yes.  Some girls like the barbarian approach, maybe Em does too."

"I don't think Em's like that."

"You never know until you try."

"Well, I can't for two weeks.  Two whole weeks while he gets to be around her. 
It's not fair."

"Nicky, my little stepbrother-slash-half cousin, life is never fair.  Take it 
from me."  Carly patted him on his back.

"Carly, tomorrow you take Michael over for his visit with AJ, right?  Could you 
just…"

"See how Em's doing for you?"  Carly finished for him.  "Sure."

"Thank you." 

~~~~~~~~

Monday

Jason sat alone in the penthouse on the couch staring at the phone.  Robin was 
out somewhere, doing only she knew what. Probably L&B related, Jason didn't know 
what and he'd stopped trying to keep tabs on her all the time.  Jason glared at 
the phone, daring it to ring.  He hadn't heard from Carly since Wednesday, when 
she showed up to find out where they stood.  That was the last time he saw her.  
He guessed she was busy but he still wanted to see her.

He knew he could just call her up and ask to see Michael and she'd arrange a day 
for them to get together and maybe, maybe she'd stay for the visit.   However, 
no matter how much he loved Michael, right now he just wanted to see Carly 
alone.  He missed her. But he wanted her to call *him*.  He knew she wouldn't 
want to come to the penthouse in fear of having a run-in with Robin and that was 
the last thing he wanted.  If she'd only call, he'd go wherever she wanted.

Jason heard the door open behind him but didn't pay attention to it.  He could 
hear Robin say, "Jason, I'm home."

He turned and looked at her.  She was carrying several shopping bags. 

"I did a little shopping."  She smiled.

"A little?  I've never seen a woman shop that much since…" Carly lived here, he 
finished the sentence in his head.

Robin ignored the unspoken name she knew he was thinking of. "I just had to pick 
a few things."

"What things?"  He asked, not really interested in her answer.

Robin smiled secretively and briefly touched her stomach.  "It's for a surprise.  
You'll find out soon enough.  But never mind that, you looked deep in thought 
when I walked in.  What are you thinking of?"

Jason knew he couldn't tell her who he was really thinking of, he had had enough 
of the fights with Robin.  "I was thinking that I might ask Carly if Michael 
could spend the night."

Jason didn't see the quick face Robin made at the mention of Michael.  She sat 
down on the couch next to him. "I don't think AJ would like that very much." She 
gingerly laid her hand on his shoulder.

"Who cares what AJ thinks!"  Jason stood up quickly.

"He is Michael's father."  Robin reminded him.

"And Carly is his mother and that's who I'm asking."  Jason looked down at her.

"I don't think it's a very good idea, Jason.  AJ and the Quartermaines didn't 
like it when you spent the day with him, I don't think they are going to approve 
of a sleepover."

"Robin, I wasn't asking for your opinion, I was *telling* you what I was going 
to do."  Jason told her.  "I treated Michael as my son for a year and if I want 
to have him over, I will!"

Robin finally got sick and tired of Jason talking down to her and yelling at 
her. "Fine, Jason, do what you want.  You always do! You don't care how your 
actions affect everyone else around you at all! So fine, play Uncle or Daddy or 
whatever to Carly's little brat but don't expect me to stick around to watch 
you!  I'm going to Uncle Mac's and yes, I will be back."  

Jason watched as Robin swept up her packages and stormed out of the penthouse. 
He flopped back down on the couch and held his head between his hands.  Why I 
always get into fights with her, he thought. What's wrong with us?

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

The Q Mansion

Lois, once again back in Port Charles, stood in the family room going over 
papers pertaining to L&B business.  She almost rubbed her hands together in 
glee, she was so excited to get back to running her business.  Suddenly she felt 
a pair of strong hands grab her from behind and bring her into a tight embrace.  

She gasped.  "Oh my God!"

She heard a deep chuckle in her ear before a familiar voice said, "Did I scare 
you, gorgeous?"

"Ned, you scared the life out of me."  

Ned laughed again and kissed her on the neck.  "Sorry, I just haven't seen you 
for the past couple of days."

"I've been busy, you know."  She tried to wiggle out of his arms. "Ned, let me 
go before someone sees."

Ned sighed as he reluctantly let go.  "I don't know why we have to creep around 
in secrecy.  Everyone would be happy that we've gotten back together."

"Who said we were back together? Ned, I told you I want to take things slow.  I 
just want to be sure, ya know what I mean?"

"No, I don't.  What's wrong with me wanting you and Brook back here full-time 
instead of every couple of days?  What's wrong with me wanting to see you every 
morning instead of watching you slip out of the gatehouse late at night? And 
what's wrong with me wanting to kiss you without being afraid that someone is 
going to see us?"

"Ned."  Lois said in her warning voice.  "Don't push me on this."

Ned sighed.  This was not the time.  Later would be better. "Okay, okay.  So 
what are you working on."

Lois grinned, glad to move the conversation to something positive. "Well, it's 
almost final.  Soon I will once again be the proud owner of L&B Records."

"That's great!"  Ned took a step towards her but stopped.  "Is it okay that I 
hug you? I know you don't want any…"

"Oh don't be silly!"  She said and flung herself into his arms. He returned the 
hug.

"So Brenda really wants to get rid of the company?"

Lois nodded.  "She's anxious to be rid of the company ever since she met that 
tycoon from Italy, Jax ran off with V Ardanowski, and she and Robin had that big 
fight about Jason. She wants to go off to Italy and just be a rich man's wife."

"So she's serious about him?"

"Well,” Lois hesitated.  She didn't want to put down her friend but she knew how 
she was.   "Right now she is."

"As long as she's happy. Now about making me happy…" He trailed off.

"Ned." Lois said but not in a stern warning voice.

"Here's a suggestion.  You leave Brook with your mother and tell her that you 
have some important business trip you have to go on, regarding L&B.  I tell my 
family that there's something happening overseas that only I can take care of 
and this weekend, you and I check into a nice cozy bed and breakfast for the 
weekend?  Whaddaya say?"
  
"Sounds…” Lois smiled as she left him hanging for a few seconds. "Very tempting.  
You're on!"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Upstairs, Emily lay stretched out on her bed talking on the phone to Liz, while 
loud dance music, blared in the background.  

Emily groaned.  "Nikolas told you to check up on me?"

"Yeah, he's just worried about, Em."

"I know but he also told Lucky, cause Lucky called me Saturday *and* Sunday.  He 
would have called today if I hadn't told him to back off. Nik must have told 
Carly the same thing because when she dropped off Michael on Saturday, she kept 
asking me how I was doing and if I was all right."

Liz laughed.  "It shows he cares, Em."

"But it's so humiliating.  I thought he knew that I wouldn't fall apart. I can't 
believe he thinks I need someone always checking up on me! He can be such a 
jerk."  Emily pounded the mattress.

"Calm down.  It's not that big of a deal."

"I'm not all that mad about that.  It's just his attitude that gets me.  Friday, 
he kissed me again."

Liz gasped.  "He did and you didn't call me!"

"Well,” Em said sheepishly.  "I wasn't sure how close of friends we are. I 
didn't know if I call you about things like that."

"Em, whenever you want and whenever you need to, you can call me, okay?"

"Okay and the same goes to you too."

"Cool.  So…tell me about this kiss!"

"He had just given me his Cassadine medallion…"

"He did?  Cool. Don't mind me, continue."

"Well, he was leaving and he always gives me a kiss on the cheek goodbye. This 
time, I don't know, he misjudged or he just wanted to, but he kissed for real.  
Then the doorbell rang and it was Tino."

"This Tino kid again?  I have to meet him."  Liz said.

"Yeah, so, he asks if he had interrupted us and I wait for Nik to say, yeah you 
interrupted us or something like that or anything at all but he never does!  He 
just stood there with this stupid look on his face and he kept running his hand 
through his hair!"

"Idiot."  Liz muttered.

"My thoughts exactly.  I got mad because I knew that Nik would have pulled out 
that crap about just wanting to be friends if he had a chance so I couldn't wait 
for him to leave.  But Tino's being there and calling him the non-boyfriend…"

"What?"  Liz said laughing.  "The non-boyfriend?"

"It's something Tino came up with, not me.  Anyway, that must have made him a 
little jealous because he made this big production of hugging me and kissing me 
goodbye, on the cheek, of course.  And then he left."

"And that's it?"

"Yep, but I did go to the Yankee game with Tino who loves the Yankees almost as 
much as I do."

"Really?"  Emily went on a date with Tino to forget about her problems with Nik, 
Liz thought.  A good way to forget about guy.

"It was soo much fun.  We got to Manhattan early so we would have time to just 
go around the city before heading to the Bronx for the game. Tino almost caught 
a ball and I ate so many hot dogs, it's a miracle I didn't get sick, at least 
that's what Tino said."

"Sounds like you had a good time."

"A real good time. I don't think I've ever laughed that much in a long time, not 
even with Nik."  Emily smiled as she thought back.

"Now, I really need to meet this guy."

"You will.  That's why I called you.  To let you know that I don't need a ride 
to the new teen dance club this Saturday after all.  Tino offered to take me so 
now you'll get a chance to meet him."

"And look him over.  I can't wait."