Chapter 35 In the background the CD changed and a new song came on. Emily didn’t even notice. She was too stunned by the new turn of events. Her mouth was dropped open and she gaped at Nikolas. “W-what did you say?” She stammered in amazement. She had no idea that his feelings for her were that strong. “I said I love you.” Nikolas grinned at her. “I love you.” Emily swallowed and lightly touched the medallion around her neck. “Wow. I think I need to sit down.” She went back over to the table and sat down. Nikolas followed her and kneeled down in front of her. “What’s wrong?” He cupped the side of her face and lightly stroked her cheek with his thumb. “I—this is just so unexpected.” “Why? Is it that much of a shock for you to believe that I love you?” Nikolas asked softly. He reached for her hand and gently squeezed it. “Well…yes, it is! I’ve always wanted you to like me…” “I’ve always liked you Emily.” He interjected. “I meant like me, like me. I never thought of you loving me.” Emily looked down at their hands. “Why wouldn’t I love you?” Nikolas asked. “You’re sweet and kind and…” “You don’t have to…” Emily rubbed her forehead and sighed. “You love me.” He smiled and nodded. “Yes I do.” He arched his eyebrow. “Don’t you have something you want to say to me?” Emily blinked and sat up. “I…well…that is…” She stumbled over her words. Nikolas dropped her hand and stood. “Are you trying say that you don’t love me?’ Emily rushed to stand also. “Of course I do! I just never thought I would ever say it out loud…to you.” “Emily, say it.” He demanded softly. She bit her lip and nodded. “Yes, I love you too.” Nikolas drew her into his arms. “Now was that so hard for you to say?” He smiled crookedly at her. Emily shook her head. “No. Here, I’ll even say it again. I love you Nikolas Cassadine.” She smiled broadly as she said the three words she’d been waiting to say to Nikolas. Nikolas bent his head and softly brushed his lips across hers. “I love you.” He whispered. *~*~* Later That Night Nikolas held Emily’s hand tightly in his as he walked her to the door of the Quartermaine Mansion. Occasionally they would look at each other and smile. After their confession of love the two had slow danced in each other’s arms for hours. After a while they had sat down and finished their now cold dinner. They then moved over to the small couch and snuggled while listening to slow jams. Emily had been content to just stay in Nikolas’ arms all night but Nikolas had insisted on taking Emily home so as to not worry her family. Emily had protested but gave in of course. She didn’t want to ruin the mood. Emily opened the front door and Nikolas followed her in. “Would you like to stay for a little while?” “No I should get home. I don’t want to leave you though.” Nikolas said softly. “Then stay for a while.” Emily insisted with a smile. Nikolas shook his head regretfully. “If I stay for just a little while, I won’t want to leave and that wouldn’t make your family very happy now would it?” Emily shrugged. “Forget my family. It’ll make *me* happy. We could stay in my room, they would never know.” Nikolas resisted his urge to smile and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Tempting but no.” Emily pouted. “Nicky…” “Not going to work this time.” Nikolas tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ll pick you tomorrow, okay?” “Tomorrow?” Emily frowned. “What’s tomorrow?” “Your group session, remember?” Nikolas reminded her. “Oh.” Emily had completely forgotten about everything but Nikolas after he dropped his bombshell on her. The another thought came to her head. “Oh.” “‘Oh’ what?” Nikolas asked. Emily pressed her free hand to her mouth. “Um, I have my group session tomorrow.” Nikolas nodded. “Yes and I’ll pick you up afterwards.” “No, no, I have a group session. With Tino.” A frown darkened Nikolas’ face. Tino, she was worried about Tino. “So what? So he’s there. And?” “Well, he doesn’t know… about you know.” Emily widened her eyes and shrugged. “He probably thinks we’re still together.” “You aren’t.” Nikolas stated forcibly and drew her into his arms. “Of course.” Emily readily agreed. She wrapped her arms around Nikolas’ shoulders. “But what am I going to tell him?” “You tell him you can’t see him anymore because you love me.” Nikolas smiled. “Simple.” “But…” Emily thought back to Tino’s fierce possessiveness about her and that day he exploded at his friend for daring to touch her. Nikolas frowned. “What? Do you think he might do something? If you do, just wait until I’m there with you. My Tai Chi practice isn’t just for show.” Emily forced herself to smile. “No, don’t worry. Nothing’s going to happen.” I hope, she thought. Nikolas still wasn’t convinced. “Are you sure?” “I’m sure.” Emily brushed her lips across his. She wiped away her lipstick with her thumb and smiled when he nipped at her finger. “Now if you’re not going to stay then you should go. That way the sooner I get to sleep the sooner it is tomorrow and I see you again.” Nikolas reluctantly left her go. “You’re right. I’ll see you tomorrow. Get some sleep.” He went over to the door. “I don’t think that’s possible.” Emily whispered as she closed the door behind him. *~*~* Carly threw down the book she had been pretending to read when Nikolas came into Wyndemere. “Well? How’d it go?” She asked with an expected smile. She glanced at her watch. Wow, was it that late? It must have gone very well. She looked back at Nikolas. He smiled at her slowly. “It went exactly the way it was supposed to.” Carly grinned. “Well it was about time!” ~*~*~ Jason strode through the halls of Mercy Hospital with a determined look on his face. Just fifteen minutes earlier he had gotten a call that one of his men had ended up in the hospital. Probably Moreno’s work, he should be lucky the guy was still alive. He came up to the Nurses Station. “I need to see a patient, Lou Harris. He was just admitted.” He told the young nurse. “L-Lou Harris?” The girl stammered as she repeated his question. This was her first day at Mercy and she was still a little confused and now she had Jason Morgan right in front of her. She recognized him from the newspapers. He was just as good looking and foreboding in person as he is in the newspapers. She shifted nervously under the force of his steady gaze. He had to have the bluest eyes, she thought to herself as she gaped at him. “Harris?” He reminded her. She blushed and shuffled through some papers. “Oh, yes, Lou Harris. He’s in room 342.” “Thank you.” He nodded briskly before heading over to the elevators. Just when he was about to press the button the elevator doors opened and a small pregnant blonde came barreling out talking to a tall brunette. “Robin’s going to be so excited!” She said excitedly to the brunette. She would have walked straight into Jason if it weren’t for his quick reflexes. He quickly reached out and grasped her by the shoulders catching her before she could bump into him. “You okay, ma’am?” The girl nodded. Her friend snapped. “You should’ve been more careful, Stella.” “Listen to your friend.” Jason advised. “You don’t want to hurt your baby.” “Yeah that baby’s worth a fortune.” The brunette sneered. “You can’t be damaging it.” Jason frowned. Stella hissed. “Shush! This is Jason…Jason Morgan.” The brunette screwed up her face. “So? Let’s go.” She grabbed Stella by the arm and dragged her away. Jason watched them go with a perplexed look on his face. What had that been about? *~*~* Wednesday Emily started tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for Gail to finish up the session. Tino reached over and touched her on her knee, stilling her leg. “Hey, it’s almost over.” He whispered. Emily nodded and smiled a little at him. She moved his hand from her knee. She saw the puzzled look he gave her but she looked forward and tried to pay attention to Gail. She reached for the Cassadine medallion Nikolas had given her and started to twist the chain. She hadn’t had a chance to speak to Tino yet. She’d arrived at GH late and when she saw him the first thing he did was kiss her and drag her into the meeting. He had been quiet during most of the session barely saying a word to any one. Emily thought that something was wrong but she couldn’t put her finger on what. She didn’t dwell on it she was just waiting for Gail to end the meeting so she could try and talk to Tino before Nikolas showed up. It would be disastrous if he did. Gail turned to Tino. “So Tino? How are you today?” Tino shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Emily wondered what was wrong. “I’m fine, Dr. B.” Gail leaned forward. “Are you really? Tino, you know you don’t have to hold anything back. The group is here to help.” “Dr. B… I don’t want to talk about it.” Tino protested. “Tino you should really get it out.” Gail insisted. “Yeah, Tino.” Piped up Sharon, a girl who was always pushing the others to talk more. “We want to help.” Tino sighed and slumped down in seat. “As most of you probably know, today is the anniversary of the day my big brother Julian was killed at the docks. He took a bullet meant for someone else.” Emily sat up in her seat, surprised. She hadn’t known at this at all. She started to reach out and touch his back to comfort him but she stopped herself. She wasn’t sure if he wanted that. “Julian and I were close. Marisa and I were close, cause we’re twins but Julian and I were real tight. We did every thing together. Where I went he went and vice versa. Except for that night he went out to the docks. I was supposed to meet him but I changed my mind and went out with the guys instead. How was I supposed to know?” Tino leaned forward and buried his face in his hands. Emily’s heart started to break for him. “Julian was the best, you know? You needed something done, you asked Julian; you needed some one to talk or get some advice, you went to Julian. Every body in the neighborhood looked up to him. He wasn’t perfect you know, you never wanted to get on his bad side.” Tino laughed softly at some long ago memory. “But he was a great guy.” “After Julian’s death, I just lost control. Got into heavy drugs and then I just didn’t want to live anymore. Every day I wondered why I was the one who lived and not him.” Emily wanted to tell him that it wasn’t his fault, that there wasn’t anything he could have done to prevent an accident but she that’s not what he wanted to hear. “Then that night I was driving and I saw that wall and I thought, what the hell? Why not? So I drove straight into it and… Could I not talk about this anymore Dr. B.?” Tino sat up and asked his eyes shiny and bright. Gail nodded. “Yes, that’s all the time we have for today. Tino, if you want we can talk for a little while.” Tino shook his head. “No, I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Gail nodded again. “Okay, guys, I’ll see you next week.” Emily stood up with Tino. “Tino? I’m sorry about your brother. I didn’t know.” He brushed off her concern. “It happened a while ago.” “I know what it’s like to lose a loved one. My mother died when I was eleven. We were very close.” Tino scratched the back of his ear. “Uh-huh. Emily, I meant what I said, I don’t want to talk about it, okay?” “Okay, we don’t have to talk about it.” “Could we just go somewhere?” Tino got a pained look on his face. “What’s he doing here?” Emily turned and saw Nikolas leaning in the doorway. He was glaring at Tino. “I’ll be right back.” She told Tino before going over to Nikolas. “Hey.” She said. “Hi, did you tell him?” Nikolas asked right off the bat. Emily shook her head. “I didn’t have a chance to and well, today’s not a good day for this anyway.” “Why not?” Nikolas demanded. “He’s having a bad day. He really needs a friend.” Emily said. “Well, I really need you.” Nikolas said softly. Emily looked down at the ground. “Don’t do this. He needs a friend, okay? I want to be there for him. Just for today, all right?” Nikolas sighed. He knew that Emily had a huge heart and that was just one of the reasons he loved her so but still… “Well…” “Nikolas, it is just one day. I’ll tell him tomorrow.” Emily swore. She made an “X” across her chest and recited the pledge she used to use as a little girl. “Cross my heart.” Nikolas arched his eyebrow in a silent question. “It means I really promise to do this.” She explained. Nikolas rubbed his chin as he thought it over. Even if he told her not she was still going to do it so why not. He didn’t want to fight with her. “Okay, okay, just give me a call later on. Maybe I’ll come over.” “Maybe?” Emily asked. “Maybe.” Nikolas repeated and smiled. He wanted to kiss her so badly but he couldn’t. Not with Tino glaring at them from across the room. He grabbed her hand and kissed that instead. “Don’t stay out too long, okay?” “I’ll try not to.” Emily promised. “I’m not being too demanding am I?” He asked. Emily shook her head. “No, just being your usual Cassadine self, wanting everything your way.” “Now is that bad?” “No, it’s cute.” “As long you think it is.” He smiled. “I’ll see you later.” “Bye.” She went back over to Tino. Tino folded his arms. “So what did Nicky boy want?” Emily looked back to see if Nikolas had already left. He did. “Um, we were supposed to do something today but I decided to change our plans. Are you doing anything today?” “Nothing really.” Tino shrugged. “I see your wearing his necklace again.” Emily looked down at the medallion. “Yeah, he gave it to me last night. Hey you want to go to the movies? You think Marisa would like to come also?” Tino narrowed his eyes. “Emily, you don’t have to…” “ ‘Have to’? I want to! So you think Marisa and the others would be up to it?” Emily smiled brightly. “So how about it?” Tino shrugged. “Okay, let’s go. We can call the others.” *~*~* Later That Night Emily laughed at some dirty joke Andres told her. “That is sick! You are too funny!” After meeting up with Tino’s friends the group had gone to the movies and ended up at Callie’s house. Emily was having a good time and she was trying hard to make sure that Tino and Marisa have one also. Tino had laughed a lot and Dominic was doing his best to keep Marisa smiling. Rosanna giggled. “That’s why we keep him around. He makes us laugh.” “He might make *you* laugh but I’ve heard all his tired old jokes already.” Marisa muttered. “Have you heard the one about the elephant and the ant walking in the jungle?” Andres asked. Marisa shook her head. Emily leaned forward to catch the joke. “Okay, there was this elephant and this ant walking the jungle one day and the elephant fell into this deep hole. He goes to the ant ‘Help me! Help me!’ The ant goes and gets…” Callie came back into the living room interrupting the joke. “Hey guys. Mark just called, there is a party at his house.” Marisa frowned. “A party? On a Wednesday?” Callie nodded. “Yeah, his parents are like gone for the rest of the week. His cousin’s bringing over the drinks and there might even be a DJ!” Tino clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Anyone up for a party? Cause I am!” Emily made a face and checked her watch. “Well, I… it’s getting late and I was supposed to call someone tonight.” “Oh, come on Em.” Tino got down beside her and pleaded. “You have to come. You can call whoever it is from the party or I’ll take you home early. Say you’ll come with us?” He smiled at her, flashing his dimples. Emily couldn’t resist him. She was so happy to see that he wasn’t upset anymore. “Well, I guess…” “Great!” Tino stood. “I knew you’d go. It was the dimples wasn’t it? Gets them every time.” Emily shook her head and smile. Nikolas shouldn’t be too mad if she called him a little late. “Alright let’s go party!” *~*~* Nikolas was sitting in his suite trying to act like he wasn’t waiting for Emily’s call even though he was. He knew that he should have at least gone out. Maybe seen what Liz and Lucky were up to. But he hating feeling like a third wheel and that is all that he ever felt when Liz and Lucky went into their “cute couple” mode. Nikolas sighed and stood. Even if he were just going to take a walk or go for a drive it would be better than sitting in his room waiting by the phone like some lovesick fool. Besides Emily had his cell phone she could reach him at any time. If she was in trouble she would no trouble getting through. But nothing was going to happen to Emily. Of course not. He was just being silly worrying about Emily because she was with Tino. It was his dislike and jealousy of Tino that was overshadowing the truth: Tino wouldn’t hurt Emily. Nikolas was sure of that or at least he hoped he was. But it *was* getting late and still haven’t called yet. Someone started to bang on his door. “Come in!” He shouted. Carly barged in. She was breathless. She closed the door behind her and pulled up a chair. “Good, you’re here. Cause you’re like the only one I could talk to. Mama’s at work, Emily would be no help, Leticia couldn’t care less, I don’t think Mrs. Landsbury likes me much and of course it would just be too weird talking to Stefan about this. So you are it. Last choice, I know that sucks but well, what are you going to?” She finished in a rush. Nikolas rubbed his temples. “You mind running that by me again?” Carly took a deep breath and said. “I need for you to tell me no.” “No?” Nikolas repeated. “Yes. No. I’ve been in my room coming up with all sorts of reasons for me not to move back in with Jason. I mean not so soon, you know? I mean I’m thinking about packing up right now and calling him over to get Michael and me. I miss him so much. But I can’t because I was the one who said no rushing; it’s too soon. The place probably still reeks of Robin! I can’t go back on my word so…tell me no. Tell me I can’t do this. Tell me to wait and not to rush this.” Nikolas nodded and went along with her. “No. You can’t do this. You have to wait and not rush this.” Carly through her hands into the air. “Oh, you’re not helping at all! Michael could be more convincing!” Nikolas stiffened up. “You sought me out not vice versa.” “I know, I know.” Carly sighed. She looked at Nikolas strangely. “Are you okay?” “What?” Nikolas asked surprised. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just waiting for Emily to call that’s all. She was supposed to call me. I thought it would have been earlier than this.” “Where is she?” Carly asked curiously. She had wondered why Nikolas wasn’t with Emily. After last night you would have thought the two would be inseparable. “She’s out Tino.” Nikolas tried to say it as if he didn’t care but Carly could tell. “Tino? What’s she doing out with Tino?” Carly couldn’t believe it. Nikolas shrugged. “I think something happened at their group session. I don’t know but she kept saying he needed her tonight and…” “You decided to play the understanding boyfriend.” Carly nodded to herself. “What would you have done in my place?” “Me? I would have been a bitch and made a big stink about it and get into some huge argument. So maybe you did make the right choice.” “It doesn’t feel like I have. I’m just so worried about her.” “Why? Nothing’s going to happen to her. She’s been out with the guy before. They even went all the way to New York together.” “That’s true but I just have this feeling in my stomach that something is not right.” There was a crisp knock. “Yes?” He asked. “They get a polite yes and I get a harsh come in?” Carly arched her eyebrow at him. “They know how to knock.” He pointed out. Stefan pushed the door open. “Nikolas…” He began. “Hey Stefan, what the hell I might as well ask you. I have this problem.” Carly looked as if she was going to launch right into it again but Stefan held up his hand silencing her. “Nikolas,” He started again. “There has been an accident.” “No.” Nikolas rose from his chair. His stomach twisted at Stefan’s words. “No.” “Nikolas, Emily is in the hospital. It doesn’t look very good.” Stefan said sadly. “Oh my god.” Carly whispered. She covered her mouth. “I need to see her.” Nikolas demanded. “Yes, I will take you to the hospital.” Stefan said. “The launch is waiting for us.” “I’m coming with you too.” Carly scrambled out her seat. “I was expecting that. Miss Juarez is looking after Michael. Come, we may not have much time.”