Chapter 28

Carly crossed her arms and leaned against the door.  "What do we need to settle?  
It's over."

Jason ran a hand through his short hair and started to pace. "This is not over 
just because you say it's over.  Don't I get a say in this?"

Carly shrugged.  "No."

Jason stopped pacing.  "We can work things out, we have to!" Jason was not one 
to beg but when it came to Carly, he found himself wanting to break all of his 
rules.

"Jase, there is nothing to work out.  It's over, finito, kaput!" 

"Carly, you can't seriously mean to throw this all away?" He came closer to her.  
"You can't just leave me like this."

Carly struggled to breathe.  "Jason…I have to." She tried to back up but there 
was nowhere to go, she was already pressed up against the door.

"No."  He whispered and started stroking the side of her face. "There's no way I 
will ever let you go."

"What about Robin?"  Carly had to ask.

"What about her?  This is about us, Carly, not Robin."  Jason murmured. "Don't 
bring her into this."

"This was never about her, you know."  Carly said softly.  "I just needed a good 
excuse."

"Why?"  Jason asked.

"Because I can't take this anymore. I can't take seeing you for an hour or two 
and then having to send you home to Robin.  Do you know how much that hurts?  
Knowing that she has the one thing, other than Michael, that I've ever really 
wanted?"  Carly said suddenly. She didn't know why on earth she told him that.

"Carly…" Jason began to speak when a commotion outside the door attracted his 
attention.

They both could hear Robin arguing with Renaldo on the other side of the door.  
"I *live* here and if I want to go in then I will go in!" They heard her screech 
and then there was Renaldo's reply, "The boss is busy, Miss Scorpio, no one is 
to go in."

Jason groaned and pulled away from Carly.  Carly let out a sigh then moved away 
from the door.  "Guess that's my cue to go, huh?"  She said with a half-smile.  
"Robin's home."

Jason just opened the door instead of replying.  "It's okay, Renaldo, she can 
come in now." 

Robin smirked at Renaldo before walking in laden down with shopping bags. She 
dropped the bags on the couch before turning to Jason.  "Do something about him, 
Jason.  He tried to keep me out my own home." She completely ignored Carly.

Jason glared at Robin.  "He was doing his job.  You know the rules, if I'm 
having a meeting, you aren't supposed to be here."

"You were just talking with Carly."  Robin shrugged.  "She's nothing."

"And you're nothing to me, either. Thank god, I won't ever have to deal with you 
again."  Carly finally spoke up.  She looked at Jason. "Goodbye, Jason.  It was 
nice knowing you." She started to walk out the door.

"I will see you later, Carly."  Jason's voice was thick with determination.

Carly turned back with a sad smile on her face.  "No. You won't."

*~*~*

Emily fumed quietly as she sat in Nikolas' car. They drove in silence.  She 
hadn't said a word to him in the elevator or during the walk to the car.  

Nik drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and looked out of the corner of 
his eye at Emily. Wonder what's bugging her, he thought. "Hey, Em, do you want 
to practice your driving?"  He offered suddenly.

Emily just crossed her arms and looked out the window.  Nikolas pulled the car 
over and twisted around to face her. He waited for her to look at him but she 
continued to stare out the window.  Sighing, Nik reached out and grasped Emily 
by the chin and turned her face towards his.

"What's wrong with you, Em?  Back at GH, you were so happy to see and now you're 
acting like you wish you weren't here." 

Emily maintained her silence.  Nikolas got upset over this. "Emily, speak to 
me!" he demanded.

She finally said. "I don't need to practice driving. I practiced all week with 
Tino."

Tino…always Tino, Nikolas thought bitterly.  "Is that all you have to say?"

"You acted like a jerk, Nikolas."  Emily said quietly.

"What?  When?  What are you talking about?"  Nikolas was very confused.

"At GH, with Tino.  Nik, I didn't like the way you acted. Especially that line 
about me not coming home tonight."

"What?"  Nikolas asked, feigning innocence.  "I've spent the night at your 
house, what's wrong with you staying at Wyndemere?"  

"You know that the way you said implied something completely different." Emily 
said harshly.

"Okay, so I'm sorry.  Is that all?"

"No, that isn't all. I don't like your attitude about Tino."  

Nikolas groaned.  "Why, why, why are we talking about Tino?  Today is supposed 
to be just for the two of us, not the three of us!"

"Tino has become a big part of my life now and-"

Nikolas cut in.  "The experiment's over, you don't need him anymore."

"I don't *need* him but I *like* him…"

Nikolas cut in again.  "What do you mean, you *like* him.  Does this mean you 
two are dating now? He's your boyfriend?"  Look at what happens when I let her 
out of my sight for two weeks.  I lose her, he thought sadly.

"No, I mean yes, I mean, yes, I guess we're dating but no, he's not my 
boyfriend.  I've only known him a couple of weeks now."  Emily shrugged. "But 
why do you care?" We're just *friends* remember? She thought acidly. That's how 
you wanted things.

"Because…because you're my friend and I don't want you getting hurt by this guy. 
Emily, you know how much I care about you."  He said softly. "Now, I don't want 
to talk anymore about him.  I just want to enjoy our evening. Can we do that?"

Emily nodded.  She and Nik could work out things later.  Right now she just 
wanted to pretend things were the way they used to be.  

Nikolas smiled and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.  "Good."

*~*~*

Jason was still staring at the door.  The way Carly had left made things seem so 
final.  If she thought that he was going to just let her walk out of his life so 
easily, then she must be crazy.

"Jason?  Jason!"  Robin snapped. 

"What?"  Jason turned.  He wasn't in the mood for whatever Robin was about to 
lecture him about.

"Did she mean it?  Is Carly out of our lives for good?"  Robin asked gleefully.

"What?  No.  She's not of my life but she is out of yours.  Stay away from her, 
Robin."  Jason warned.

"What do you mean? I haven't done anything wrong."

"No more ambushing and attacking her. I want you to stay completely out of her 
life and in return she'll do the same to you."
 
"Jason?"  Robin asked in a trembling voice. "Why are you being so mean to me?  
Carly is the whore, she's the one who should be told to stay away, not me!"

"Robin, enough!"  Jason made an angry gesture with his hands. "Don't you dare 
talk about Carly like that. As of now, she and her relationship with me are off-
limits.  Understand?"

"You know what you could do Jason?  Bite me!  I spend all day shopping for your 
surprise and what do I come home to? I can't get into my own home and then you 
yell at me.  All because of that slut!"  Robin grabbed for her bags. One slipped 
out of her hands and the contents spilled onto the floor.  

Jason knelt to help her pick it up but a small pink cloth caught his attention.  
He lifted it up and asked.  "Baby clothes?  What are you doing buying baby 
clothes?"

"Give me that."  Robin snatched it out of his hands and stuffed it back into the 
bag with the rest of the stuff. She grabbed the other bags and almost ran out of 
the room.

"Baby clothes?"  Jason said again.

*~*~*

Nikolas drove up to the entrance to the park and Emily looked out in disbelief.  
"You brought me to the park?  Nik, we could have hung out on Spoon Island 
instead." 

"No, we couldn't have.  Some one would have kept interrupting. Come on." Nik got 
out of the car and came around to open Emily's door for her.

"Where are we going?"  Emily asked as he took her arm and led her into the park.  

"You'll see." Nikolas led her to a small deserted area.  Nikolas nodded to the 
man standing guard.  He nodded back and left the two alone. Nik continued to 
lead her further in.  He stopped by a picnic blanket and a big picnic basket. 

"What is this?  A picnic? At night?"  Emily asked as she lowered herself to the 
blanket. Nikolas sat down beside her.

"Yes.  It seemed a good idea at the time."  Nikolas shrugged. "And there are 
lights."  As soon as Nikolas said that white twinkling Christmas lights that had 
been strung through the trees came on.

Emily laughed in delight.  "Do you like it?"  Nikolas asked, glad to see a smile 
on her face.

Emily nodded.  "It's very nice. So…" She was going to let Nikolas lead the 
conversation.

"How is everything with you? I've missed not knowing what's going on."

"Everything's…good, I guess.  Um, my father is supposed to be getting out of 
rehab again but we don't know for sure."  Emily looked down at the ground.

"Em, we don't have to talk about Alan."  Nikolas said.  "Why don't you tell me 
what I missed these past two weeks?"

Emily shrugged.  "Not much.  I went to the Yankee game with Tino, he caught a 
ball and that dance club was pretty nice, I wish you had been there.  You would 
have gotten a kick out of Tino's sister, Marisa. She was something else."  Emily 
smiled.

"Oh."  Nikolas tried to put a smile on his face but he couldn't help frowning.  
It was always about Tino wasn't it?  "Em did anything else happen that didn't 
include Tino?"  Nikolas asked a little more harshly than he meant to.

Emily wasn't surprised.  "Nik, how many times do I have to tell you? Tino has 
become a part of my life now."

"Well, do I have to hear about him all night?  What do you see in the guy? Em, 
he's a jerk."

"Just like you and you're still my friend."  Emily glared at Nik. "Look, Tino's 
fun to be with and he likes me and I like him, okay?"

"Are you trying to say that I don't like you and that I'm not fun to be with?"  
Nikolas glared back.

"What?  No. Oh, jeez."  Emily sighed.  "I consider you my best friend but my 
feelings for Tino are a lot different than the way I feel about you. Understand?  
I like him as a guy and he likes me as girl and that makes me feel good because 
it's been a long time since a guy that I likes actually likes me back." 

Hurt, Nikolas sat back.  "I didn't mean anything like that, Em. We're friends 
remember?  Only friends."

"How could I forget?"  Emily said bitterly. She stretched her legs out and 
pulled the picnic basket over to her. "Why don't we just end this conversation 
for now?  No more talk of Tino at all.  Let's enjoy this picnic."

Glad to have that ended, Nik nodded.  "Sure, I don't think we succeeded in 
ruining the whole mood."  He helped her pull out the covered dishes.

"So why don't you tell me what you did during our time apart?"  

Missed you, mope around Wyndemere, Nikolas thought.  He didn't say that aloud, 
instead he shrugged and said.  "Nothing much.  I scheduled some classes at PCU."

"Liz told me you spent a lot of time with Sarah.  Isn't it *great* that she's 
back?"  Emily asked sarcastically and barely kept herself from rolling her eyes.

"Uh, yeah. I was quite surprised to see her."

Emily asked trying to be casual about it, "So are you two getting together 
again?  I know that you two broke up because of your feelings for Robin but 
since that never happened…"
 
"We are not getting back together."  Nikolas said firmly.  "For some reason, 
Sarah has decided that we should be friends."

"Oh."  Emily said, disbelieving.  Why should I worry?  She asked herself. I have 
Tino now and Nikolas and I have said over and over that we are friends and only 
friends.

"Em, could we not talk about Sarah or Tino or anybody else for that matter?"  
Nikolas reached over and grasped her hands in his.  "I just got you back today 
and I don't want to fight anymore." 

"Okay, tonight is for us."  Emily smiled.

"Right."

*~*~*

Carly slammed into Wyndemere and put Michael down on the floor. He immediately 
ran off to Leticia who somehow knew the exact moment that Carly and Michael 
would return. "Leticia, take Michael upstairs and get him cleaned up please?  He 
got all grubby at his godfather's and I didn't want to take the time and wash 
him there."

Leticia nodded and carried Michael up the stairs.  Carly shoved her fingers 
through her hair. She flopped down on the couch and buried her face in her 
hands.  "What have I done?  I just gave up the second best thing in my life.  
Why?"

Stefan came strolling out of the library and noticed Carly sitting on the couch.  
"Caroline?  Is there something wrong?"

Carly immediately sat up.  "What?  Oh, there's nothing wrong.  Is my mother 
here?  I need to talk to her."

Stefan sat down beside her.  "Barbara had to work a double-shift at the 
hospital.  Could I perhaps help you with your troubles?"  Stefan asked 
completely shocking himself.

Carly was shocked also.  Big Bad Vlad actually wanting to help her, actually 
taking the time to notice her? 

"Uh, thanks but no thanks. Thanks for the offer though." Carly quickly stood up. 
Having Stefan's total attention was bit much and something that she wasn't used 
to.  In all the time that she and Michael had lived there, Carly and Stefan had 
not shared one serious conversation and now wasn't the time to start. "When 
Bobbie comes home, could you let her know I needed to talk to her?" 

Stefan nodded.  "Of course and should you need it, my help is available."

"Okay."  Carly said nervously and nearly fled the room.