Chapter Two 

“So did you come for that rain check? I had Chinese food for lunch but I know a 
Mexican place that makes a mean chicken fajita. That is if you don’t mind going 
with a slightly greasy mechanic.” He grinned wryly as he looked down at the 
grease on his jeans and T-shirt. 

“I, uh…” Emily was speechless. She had hoped she would meet up with Mario again 
but the last place she thought she would see him was at her brother’s garage! 

“The grease is a bit much, huh?” Mario smiled crookedly. “I live upstairs, I 
could dash on up and take a quick shower if you’ll wait?” 

“Well, I…” Emily wished she could form an actual sentence. Mario must think I’m 
an idiot, she thought. 

“Was that a yes or a no?” Mario teased. “Hey, how do you know the boss anyway?” 

Finally finding her voice, Emily latched onto his last, easy to answer, 
question. “Jason is my brother.” 

“Your… brother?” Mario dropped the rag he had been holding. Oh great, what have 
you done now, Mario? Jason’s going to kill you. 

Pleased that she wasn’t the only one in the room shocked, Emily smiled. “You 
aren’t scared away by the fact that Jason is my big brother?” 

Mario shrugged nonchalantly and tried to get a hold of himself. “Your being 
Morgan’s little sister doesn’t scare me, it just makes you off limits.” 

“Really?” Emily cocked an eyebrow and grew bolder. She was enjoying this. “I’m 
off limits because you work for my brother, is that it?” 

Mario narrowed his eyes. “You know that.” 

Emily lazily walked around the garage picking up and discarding tools. “So, I 
can’t have my own friends because of my brother?” 

Mario frowned. “You know I don’t mean that.” 

“Okay, you mean, I have to run all my friends by Jason first for his approval?” 
Emily looked down to hide the small smile on her face. 

Mario noticed her smile before she could hide it. “Alright smarty.” He folded 
his arms across his chest. “I get you.” 

Emily paused in front of him. “Good because Jason would never try to tell me who 
I can see and who I can’t. That’s my grandfather’s job.” She said with a half 
smile. “So let’s start over. Hi, I’m Emily Bowen-Quartermaine. Nice to meet 
you.” She thrust out her hand. 

He grasped it in a warm and secure hold. “Mario Vega. Nice to meet you too. What 
are you doing around here?” 

Emily smiled. “Well, I was trying to find my brother but he isn’t here so I 
guess I’ll go home. However, I just got this craving for chicken fajitas. How 
about you?” 

“Now how about that, baby girl?” He threw out the endearment as if he’d know her 
for years. “I’ve got a craving also. I know a great place and my bike is right 
outside.” 

“Well, what do you know?” Emily grinned. “I’ve been wanting a motorcycle ride 
all day.” 

Mario trailed his finger down Emily’s neck and she shivered. He smiled. “Then 
it’s your lucky day.” 

Just as Emily was about to reply, Jason walked in. Jason immediately noticed 
that there was something was going on. He saw how close Emily and Mario were 
standing to each other. He didn’t say anything but looked at Mario. Mario took 
the hint and stepped away from Emily. 

Emily didn’t notice. She turned to Jason with a bright smile. “Hey Jason! I was 
looking for you.” 

“For what?” He said flatly. 

Emily went over to him. “Are you going to the Nurses Ball? Lucy wants to know so 
there won’t be any surprise entrances like last year’s. Don’t forget, it’s in 
two weeks.” 

Jason nodded. “Sonny and Carly are coming and Sonny’s…making me come to.” 

Emily gave him a half-smile. “You’ll enjoy it even though Robin isn’t here.” 

Jason shrugged. Robin left in January, claiming that she didn’t want to stick 
around and watch the mob destroy him. Ever since then Jason didn’t do much. All 
he did was live in the old cottage, visit Michael at Sonny and Carly’s and work 
at the garage whenever he wasn’t doing what Sonny’s right hand man did. 

Jason scratched the side of his nose. “That’s the only reason you’re here? Is 
something happening at home?” 

Emily shook her head. “That’s all. Everything at home is…quiet for once.” 

“Good, good.” Jason nodded. “So, Mario did you get Joey’s bike finished?” 

Emily tapped Jason on the shoulder. “Hey, is it alright if Mario cuts out early? 
We were going to go get some Mexican food.” 

Mario held up his hand. He saw the look in Jason’s eye. “Actually, Em, Jason 
just reminded me, I still have to finish up here. I think we’re gonna need 
another rain check.” 

Emily frowned. She was very disappointed; she had been looking forward to a ride 
with Mario. “Okay, some other time.” 

“And now you know how to find me.” He smiled. 

Emily nodded. “Right. Upstairs…” 

“Apartment B. Come on up anytime you feel.” He supplied ignoring the way Jason 
was looking at him. 

“Got it. See you later then. Bye Jason.” Emily called out as she walked out. 

Mario waited until Emily was out the door before turning to Jason. “Okay, what 
is it?” 

“What do you think you’re doing with her?” 

“We were just going out for something to eat.” Mario told him. 

“She’s a kid. She just turned 17, you’re 25, you’re too old for her.” Jason said 
plainly. 

“17? She seems a lot older and she is you know. There’s this sadness about her 
but there’s also this strength. You know what I’m talking about.” 

“I don’t care what age you think she is. You just stay away from her.” Jason 
told him. 

“Isn’t that for her to decide? She told me just minutes ago that you wouldn’t 
try to tell her who to see and who not to see. She said that was her 
grandfather’s thing, not yours.” Jason winced at being compared to Edward. “Come 
on, boss, we were just going for some food and a little ride on my bike. I 
wasn’t going to hurt her.” He vowed. 

Jason wasn’t convinced. “Just stay away from my sister. I don’t want to have to 
hurt you, you’re my best mechanic.” 

~*~*~ 

Emily walked into the Quartermaine mansion humming the Fever song. She was in 
such a good mood since coming from the garage. Mario was a cool guy, she 
thought. So I don’t know him that well but if he works for Jason he had to be 
all right. 

“You give me fever.” She sang softly as she went into the living room. The sight 
of Katherine sitting on the couch greeted her. Emily stopped short; the last 
person she wanted to see was Katherine. She was about to wheel around and walk 
out when Katherine called out. 

“Emily? Just the person I wanted to see.” Katherine said with a fake smile. She 
rose from the couch. 

“Really?” Emily said, unable to keep the disgust out of her voice. “Why? And 
make it quick, I’m very busy with the Nurses Ball.” 

Katherine ignored the tone of her voice and kept smiling. “The Nurses Ball, 
right, you’re doing a little skit in that.” 

Emily folded her arms in front of her. “I’m doing *two* little skits *and* I’m 
Lucy’s assistant.” 

“You sure you don’t have too much to handle. I mean you’re so young and it just 
might be too much for you.” Katherine said with fake sympathy. 

Emily rolled her eyes. “I thought that for you, being younger means getting the 
job done better.” 

Katherine pursed her lips. “Emily, I wanted to talk to you about something. 
Nikolas told me he told you something very important the other day.” Katherine 
went behind Emily and shut the door. 

“If it’s about you and Nikolas… sleeping together,” Emily spat out. “I told him, 
I won’t tell anyone.” 

Katherine sighed in relief. “Good, thank you, Emily. I told Nikolas to wait but 
he just got so excited and… thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. I would never tell anyone about you two. Who would believe me? 
No one and you want to know why? Because it’s disgusting, it’s immoral; you were 
going to marry his uncle! And the fact that you kept this thing a secret for so 
long tells me that you know how… wrong, this whole thing is!” Emily shouted 
before running out of the room. 

She ran into Nikolas. “Hey, Em, what’s wrong?” He caught her arms. 

Emily jerked out of his hands. Just who she needed to see. “Don’t touch me. 
Don’t ever touch me!” 

Nikolas stepped away and just looked at her. “Okay, I won’t touch you. What’s 
wrong?” 

“You. You and your… Katherine. Tell her that I want her out of this house and I 
never want to see you here again.” Emily finally said the words that she’d been 
carrying around in her for days. 

“What?” Nikolas tried not to laugh. “Did you and Katherine get into a fight?” 

Emily just shook her head. “No, I… I am so disappointed in you. What’s your 
uncle going to say when he finds out about you two?” 

Nikolas shrugged. “I never really gave it much thought.” 

Emily gaped at him. “You should have. Do you have any idea how much this going 
to affect just about everyone? Or did you just think about what you wanted and 
said to hell with everyone else?” 

Nikolas folded his arms. “Why are you being like this? Why can’t you just be my 
friend and be happy for me?” 

“You better get used to my reaction because believe me, this is how everyone 
will react. Everyone!” Emily pushed away from him and ran up the stairs. She 
slammed into her room and flopped down on her bed. 

I can’t believe I acted like that. He must think I’m hysterical, she thought. 
Emily reached into her desk and pulled out her diary. She opened it and began to 
write. 

“Today was so hectic. I was running around doing just about everything for Lucy 
all morning. I swear she was trying to drive me nuts. But I won’t complain since 
I was the one who said I could do this. I told them that I could handle the 
responsibility and I know I can. But today I was just so frustrated and then I 
spent like all afternoon at McDonald’s, at least it felt like that to me. But I 
did meet this guy, he was nice and when he touched me I swear I felt something, 
I did! His name is Mario and he works at Jason’s garage and he has a motorcycle. 
I don’t know much about him but I don’t care. He promised me a ride on his bike 
and I’m going to hold him to that. 

Nikolas almost got a hold of me during rehearsal but luckily I was still at 
McDonald’s. I saw Katherine though and she didn’t even seem sorry about sleeping 
with a boy young enough to be her son! She was just worried I would tell her 
secret. But like her told her, there’s no way anyone would believe me. I just 
wish Nikolas had never told me about it. Now I have to hold onto this for two 
weeks and pretend to be just as shocked as everyone else. And Nikolas seems to 
think that nothing’s going to happen when people find out. Man is he delusional. 
And I also get the feeling that Katherine isn’t as involved as Nikolas is. I 
fear that Nikolas is really in love and Katherine is just using him.” 

Emily laid down her pen and took a deep breath. Everything’s going to be all 
right Em, she told herself. Don’t let this get to you; don’t get too worked up 
over it. Two weeks and you can give them hell along with everyone else in town. 

The phone next to her rang, causing her to jump slightly. She quickly picked it 
up. “Yes?” 

“Emily, its Jason.” 

Emily sat up. “Jason? What is it? Did something happen?” 

“No, I’m just calling you to tell you to stay away from Mario.” 

“What?” Emily exploded. “I expect this sort of thing from Grandfather but not 
from you.” 

“Emily, he’s too old for you.” 

“Too old for me? Jason, we just met. Who said we were going to get romantic? Did 
Mario say that?” 

“Mario didn’t say anything.” 

“So there you go. You can stop worrying. I can handle myself and I can pick my 
own friends.” 

*~*~* 

Mario heard the knocking but it took a few seconds to realize that the knocking 
was at his door. Who the hell was knocking at his door in the middle of the 
night? He shoved his legs into a pair of jeans and walked over to the door. 
“Yeah?” He asked as he jerked open the door. 

Emily stood there with a small smile. “Hey, wanna go on that ride now?” 

Mario rubbed at his eyes. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Emily? What 
are you doing here so late?” 

“You said I could come by anytime.” Emily moved past him and walked in. Mario’s 
room was a mirror image to Lucky’s. 

Mario shut the door. “I meant in the daytime or during normal, non sleeping 
hours.” 

Emily was just about to sit on the bed. She immediately straightened up. “Oh, if 
you want me to go then…” 

“No, you can stay.” Mario knew that something was wrong. She seemed to be very 
sad. “Okay, baby girl, what’s wrong?” 

Emily sat down and shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep and…” 

Mario sat down next to her. “That’s not it, now what’s wrong?” 

Emily looked down at her hands. “I have no idea why I am here. I don’t even 
remember how I got here. One minute I’m lying in bed wishing I could go to sleep 
and the next I’m climbing out my window and voila! I’m here.” 

Mario covered her hands with his. “Emily, you can tell me.” 

“Probably. The thing is I really couldn’t sleep. I’ve been doing so much this 
past week getting things ready for the Nurses Ball and I know the next two weeks 
are going to be even worse.” 

Mario tilted her head up so she would look into his eyes. “You wanted to tell me 
something, that’s why you’re here, now tell me what’s really bothering you.” 

“I have this friend and I just found out that he has the… relationship with this 
older woman who lives in my house.” 

“How much older?” 

“Very, she has to be near forty and he’s only 18.” Emily admitted. “He claims 
they love each other but…” 

“If they love each other, why is this bothering you?” Mario tried to understand. 

“This whole thing is wrong. She was going to marry his uncle but they broke up 
and I think she’s only with my friend because of revenge. She’s just using him 
to hurt his uncle. This has been going on since December! She has just decided 
that they are going to go public after months of hiding this. I wish he had 
never told me.”

“Ah, baby girl.” Mario wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. 

“The worst thing about it is, he’s been using me as a way to see her at my 
house. Do you know how much it hurts?” 

“Bastard.” Mario muttered. 

“So could we please go for that ride now?” Emily hoped he would say yes. 

“How’d you get here?” Mario asked. 

“I took a cab.” She admitted. 

“Okay, if it will get you to smile again, then I’ll give you a lift home.” Mario 
told her.