Chapter 36

General Hospital

Bobbie had just informed the Quartermaine family on Emily’s status when she saw 
Stefan, Nikolas and Carly come rushing in.  “I’ll be back in a minute.” She 
whispered to Monica before moving over to her family. Monica nodded.

“How is she?” Nikolas asked. He’d been worried on the ride over. What had 
happened to Emily? How could she be hurt?  

She smiled sadly at Nikolas and reached for his hand. “Nikolas…”

“Is she going to be okay?”  He demanded furiously. He snatched his hand back. He 
wasn’t about to be coddled. 

“What happened, Mama?”  Carly asked.

“From what I was told there was a car accident.” Bobbie said bluntly. The best 
way to handle this was to get it over and done with, she decided. “I don’t have 
all the details yet but the car flipped over and she was thrown out.  I suspect 
there was some drinking involved.”

“Can I see her?”  Nikolas asked quietly as he tried to take in all that she just 
told him. 

Bobbie shook her head. “I’m sorry sweetie. She’s in ICU right now.”

“I can see her soon, right? She’s going to be okay and when she’s moved to 
another room, I’ll be able to see her?”  Nikolas said. It sounded as if he was 
trying to convince himself more than anyone else does.

“She was very hurt in the accident. I don’t think…”

“She is going to be okay.” Nikolas stated firmly. 

“You’re just going to have to wait and see.” Bobbie said as gently as she could. 
She hated having to dash his hopes but she was trying hard to be realistic.

“Nikolas we should go over to the side and sit down until there is more word on 
her condition.”  Stefan suggested quietly. “Unless you would like to speak with 
her family?”

“No.”  Nikolas shook his head forcefully. “I want to be near Emily. How close 
can I get to where she is?” he asked Bobbie.

“Not very close.”  Bobbie informed. “Here, I’ll take you as close as possible.”

“I’ll come with you.”  Stefan offered. He didn’t want Nikolas to be alone. He 
needed someone with him.

“No, I… I want to be alone.”

Bobbie looked at Stefan sadly. She knew that he wanted to help Nikolas in anyway 
possible.  “Come with me.” She started to lead him away when Carly called after 
her.

“Um, Bobbie. Did you call Jason?”  Carly asked. She had checked the area for him 
but she couldn’t find him. She wished he would get there soon, she needed him by 
her side. She nervously looked around.

Bobbie nodded. “Right after I called Stefan, he should be here soon.”

The elevator dinged behind them and Carly turned around. She watched as Jason 
stepped out of the elevator with Johnny and Frances trailing behind him. He 
walked with a determined stride towards their little group. 

He stopped besides Carly and placed his hand on the small of her back. “How is 
she?” He asked in a low voice.

Carly shook her head and leaned into his side. “It’s not good, Jase.”

Jason closed his eyes briefly. “What happened?”

“There was a car accident and she got banged up pretty badly.” Carly informed 
him. “I didn’t want to say anything with Nikolas here but… Jason, I’m scared.”

He pulled her closer to him. “When will anyone be able to see her?” 

“I don’t know…”

~*~

Nikolas was deep in thought as he followed behind Bobbie. He didn’t care that he 
couldn’t see Emily, couldn’t talk to her or hold her. All he wanted to do was be 
as close to her as he could. So that she would know that he was there. 

Then out of the corner of his eye he saw Tino walking with a nurse. He did a 
double take and stopped to make sure it was Tino. It was. He had a bandage on 
his forehead and his wrist was wrapped up. Nikolas narrowed his eyes and charged 
towards Tino. “You!  I’m going to kill you!”

Shock registered across Tino’s face as Nikolas lunged at him. There was no way 
he could avoid the fist that landed square in his face, breaking his nose. Blood 
squirted everywhere as Tino ineffectively tried to dodge Nikolas’ attack. 
Nikolas no longer thinking as he let his rage and grief overpower him. He forgot 
all his Tai Chi lessons and reacted with pure fury. 

Nikolas punched him in the stomach and Tino doubled over. Nikolas pushed him 
down to the ground and began kicking him. “You hurt her, damn you!  You almost 
killed her!” He emphasized each word with a kick.

The crowd had watched this, bewildered. The unexpected was happening before 
them. Nikolas Cassadine had lost his temper and was attacking someone in the 
middle of General Hospital. Everyone was frozen to his or her spot, even Stefan 
who could only watch in horror as Nikolas savagely beat the young man. Carly was 
the first to recover.

“Well, isn’t someone going to do something? Someone stop him!” Carly exclaimed. 

Marisa came charging from around the corner. She too had a few bandages. “What 
are you doing to my brother!” She screamed.

This time someone reacted. Jason rushed over and pulled Nikolas off of Tino. By 
that time Tino had curled into ball and was taking the kicks as if he deserved 
them.

“Okay, leave him alone now.” Jason said calmly as he pushed Nikolas away. Marisa 
ran over to Tino.

“Tino? Are you okay?”  She asked quickly.

“He’s the reason.” Nikolas pointed down at Tino. “You should let me kill him. 
He’s the reason Emily’s in that damn bed clinging to life. He was supposed to 
take care of her but he didn’t.  You were driving weren’t you?  You were drunk 
too?  Am I right? Am I right!”

Tino didn’t say anything. He just lay on the floor. He coughed a little. Marisa 
knelt beside him, rubbing his arm. “Get Tino up. Come on.” 

“Were you the one?”  Jason asked quietly. His voice was laced with steel. It 
demanded an answer. “Were you drunk while you were driving my sister around?”

“Yes.”  Tino mumbled from the floor. “I was driving drunk.”

Jason’s eyes iced over and he gave into his urges. He viciously kicked Tino in 
the stomach.  “Stop it! Please!”  Marisa cried out in terror. “He’s already 
hurt.”

Jason ignored her and led Nikolas over to Stefan and Carly. “Nikolas what did 
you think you were doing attacking that boy?”  Stefan began. Behind them and 
orderly had arrived and helped Tino up and led him away, Marisa trailing behind 
them.

“Oh stuff it Stefan.” Carly threw out not caring what he thought. She could tell 
he was taken aback by her statement. But now was not the time to yelling at 
Nikolas. “Are you alright?” She asked with concern.

Nikolas started to nod but then his shoulders sagged. “No. I hate him. If it 
weren’t for him she would be with me right now. She wouldn’t be in some hospital 
bed.”

He continued talking to no one in particular. “I just saw her today. She was 
being Emily, bright beautiful Emily. She was convincing me that she should go 
out with him tonight. I didn’t want her to but she thought he needed a friend 
and you know how Emily is. She never leaves her friends alone when she thinks 
they need someone.” Carly nodded. Not saying a word just letting him ramble. “I 
didn’t get to hold her, to kiss her, or tell her I loved her before I left her. 
I just let her walk away with nothing from me.”

“Hey.”  Carly said softly. She touched his hair.  “She’s going to be all right. 
This is Emily, remember? She’s a fighter. She’s not going to give up.”

“She was going to before.”  He reminded her. That night on the bridge came 
flashing back to him. He remembered the way his heart had stopped when she told 
him: ‘Yes, Nikolas. I want it all to end. I want to die.’ He was able to stop 
her then but just two days later she had slit her wrist. 

“But that was before she had you to live for.”  Carly said with a small smile. 
“She just got you, she’s not going to leave you behind.” 

Nikolas wished he could believe her but he was having his doubts. Stefan, who 
had moved away quietly while they were talking, came back. “Nikolas, come with 
me.”

“What is it?”  Nikolas asked in exasperation. It wasn’t the time for Stefan to 
reprimand him for brawling in public.

“I spoke with Barbara and she has arranged for you to see Miss Quartermaine for 
a few minutes.” Stefan said quietly so no one could overhear him.

“Thank you.”  Nikolas said gratefully and Stefan took him to the room where 
Emily was held.  

Bobbie stood outside the room. “You only have a few minutes, okay?  So try to be 
quick. She’s been medicated so she’s sleeping and uh… this was taken off of 
Emily.” Bobbie dropped a chain into his hand and folded her hand over it and 
squeezed gently.

Nikolas looked down and realized that it was his medallion that he’d given Emily 
the night before. He closed his hand tightly over it. “Thank you.” He managed to 
mumble.

Nikolas quietly slipped into the room. He stood by the door for a second letting 
his eyes drift over her. She lay very still, her chest rhythmically rising and 
falling.  She was hooked up to a couple of machines.  She looked small, so very 
small. Her right arm was in a cast, her head was wrapped in a large white 
bandage and there was a long white bandage on her face along with a few other 
scratches. Nikolas frowned, she looked small, so very small.  But she was here. 
She was still here, in this room, in that bed. She hadn’t left him yet.

He went over to the bed and pulled up a chair. He reached out to touch her 
cheek. She didn’t react.  “Emily…” He closed his eyes for a second. 

“Emily, you were supposed to call me if you were going to be late.” He tried to 
joke. “But that’s okay. When you get better I’m going to give you hell for that 
but not right now. You just get better… please.”

He reached down and grabbed her hand. “As soon as you get better we’ll do 
whatever you want. Anything you want to do I’ll do it. Just don’t ever mention 
Tino Rodriguez to me ever again.  I almost killed him a couple of minutes ago. 
If it wasn’t for your brother intervening I might have. If you don’t get better 
I just might…”

“But you’re going to be okay. I know it. I can feel it.” He pressed a soft kiss 
to her hand. “Carly keeps telling me you will and she’s very convincing. When 
you get better you can pick out the movies whenever we do movie night. I’ll even 
watch your gross out movies without complaining. Just get better.  Can you do 
that for me?”

He dangled the medallion in front of her. “I think you lost this. I’ll hold it 
for you until you’re a little better. The next time I put this on you it’s never 
coming off, okay?  Even when we fight and I know we’ll do that, you aren’t going 
to take this off. You just look at it and remember how much I love you.”

Nikolas wanted to take her into his arms but Bobbie has said he shouldn’t move 
her. “I love you. I love you so much Emily. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you today 
but I know you know that I do.”

“You can’t leave me, all right? You are going to have to fight, please fight.  
You can’t give up. I won’t let you. I fought you before and this time I’ll be 
fighting with you but you are not going to leave me, damn it. I love you too 
much to lose you.”

Bobbie stuck her head through the door. “Nikolas, it’s time for you to go.”

Nikolas spoke without taking his eyes off of Emily. “I just need another 
second.”  

Bobbie nodded and disappeared. Nikolas looked down at Emily. He rubbed his thumb 
across her knuckles. “I have to go now but I’m not leaving the hospital. I will 
just be out in the waiting room with your family.  You would be proud of them. 
They’re actually behaving themselves, even your grandfather. I’ll try to get 
back in to see you soon. I love you.” 

He brushed his lips across her slightly warm ones. He stroked her cheek and 
regretfully left the room. Stefan was waiting outside the room. “How are you 
doing?”

Nikolas took a deep breath and tried to pull himself together. “I will be fine. 
Emily…I don’t know.”

Stefan nodded. “Come.  We should get back to the waiting area.”

Stefan and Nikolas had just came into the area when Lucky and Liz came rushing 
over to them. “Hey, we just got here. How are you doing?” Liz asked softly.

Nikolas wanted to know why everyone insisted on asking how he was doing. Emily 
was the one who was hurt. “I’m… Emily’s the one you should be worried about.”

“Do you know how she is?”  Lucky asked.

“I, uh, I was just in there with her. She… she’s hooked up to all these machines 
and…” Nikolas trailed off and looked away.

Lucky shifted uncomfortably. He didn’t know what to say to the guy. He could 
tell that he was hurting and that he was worried. Lucky was worried about Emily 
too but he could see that it was hitting Nikolas a lot harder. “We, uh, just got 
the full story about the accident…”

“What happened?”  Nikolas asked coldly as he focused his attention on finding 
about exactly how Tino had hurt Emily.

“She was with Tino, his sister and their friends. They were coming back from a 
party and they’d all been drinking. She was in the back seat with three others 
and she wasn’t wearing a seat belt. Tino was driving and I think he was drunk 
also.”

“He was.”  Nikolas spoke through clenched teeth. “He admitted it after I beat it 
out of him.”

Lucky raised his eyebrow in surprise. He would have liked to been around to see 
Nikolas’ control snap like that.

“What else?”

“Tino was going way over the speed limit and ran a red light. He hit another car 
with enough force to flip both cars over and to send Emily and two others flying 
through the back window.”

Nikolas briefly thought of the cuts on Emily’s face. That’s where they came 
from. “Is that all?”

Lucky nodded. “Yeah. So… what do we do now?”

Stefan stepped in as the adult. “We wait.” His voice was commanding and soothing 
at the same time. 

~*~*~

Several hours had passed after Stefan’s advice to the teenagers. The waiting 
room was littered with the large group waiting for word on Emily’s condition.  
The mood was tense; no one had said a word in hours not even Edward, which had 
stunned most of the group.

Stefan sat uncomfortably in his hard plastic seat, gripping a now cold cup of 
coffee. He made a mental note to himself to have the chairs replaced and to look 
into seeing if there was a way for the cafeteria to make a decent cup of coffee.  
He gently squeezed Bobbie’s knee. Bobbie’s shift had ended hours ago. She’d had 
tried to keep herself busy by taking a few of the others nurses cases. Stefan 
finally had stopped her and convinced her to sit with the rest of them after he 
saw how hard she was pushing herself. She looked up and smiled sadly at him. She 
then turned her worried gaze over to Nikolas. 

Nikolas sat close to Liz and Lucky. He didn’t look good to Bobbie. He looked 
worn and tired to Bobbie. He hadn’t said a word to anyone. He just sat hunch 
over in his chair, his eyes on the look out for a doctor or a nurse coming to 
tell them about Emily. 

Across from them sat Carly and Jason. Carly was curled up against Jason’s side 
trying hard to stay awake. Jason sat stiffly in his seat. Carly wished he would 
relax or show her how much he was hurting but he continued to hide his emotions. 
Carly sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. She reached down for his 
hand. He let her take hold of it and then surprised her by gripping her hand 
tightly. 

The Quartermaines were on the other side of the room. Monica, who was worrying 
about how to tell Alan about the accident, had started to cry quietly an hour 
ago and Lois was trying her best to comfort her. Ned sat in his chair with his 
head in his hands thinking about what if. AJ was slumped down in chair watching 
Carly and Jason with envy wishing that Keesha were there with him and not away 
on yet another trip. Edward alternated between pacing back and forth and 
brooding quietly in his seat. He hated not being able to do anything but he 
wouldn’t say anything about it.

Just then a nurse came into their area.  Nikolas noticed her immediately and 
jumped up. “Is it Emily?”

The others rushed to their feet as well and looked at the nurse with hope and 
fear etched across their faces. The nurse smiled and nodded. “Miss Quartermaine 
has just been transported from the ICU to a private room.”

“Does this mean she’ll be okay?”  Nikolas demanded.

The nurse hesitated. “Well… we still have to wait but I’m sure that…”

Nikolas closed his eyes as he let the good news wash over him. Emily was going 
to be okay; Emily was going to be okay. 

“Can we see her?”  Monica asked as she wiped away her tears.

The nurse nodded. “She’s still sleeping right now but yes. However only two of 
you can go in and… strictly family.”

Bobbie saw how dejected Nikolas looked at the news. She smiled at the nurse. 
“Lisa?  Could he just…” Nikolas caught her eye and shook his head. He’d already 
seen her tonight. He would let someone else go instead. It was enough to know 
that she was okay.

Monica spoke up. “Okay, I’m going in. Edward, would you like to go in with me?”

Edward cleared his throat and wiped at his eyes, which were suspiciously bright. 
“I, uh, I’m going to go call Lila and let her know what’s happened.”

Monica nodded knowingly. Edward quickly walked away from them. Monica turned 
around. “Would anyone else like to come with me?”

“No Mom, you go in by yourself.”  AJ offered.  Monica smiled gratefully and 
followed Lisa down the hall.  Their little group began to disperse. Liz and 
Lucky said goodbye to Nikolas and Bobbie and went home. AJ, Ned, and Lois sat 
down to wait for Monica’s return.

Carly rubbed her tired face. “I can’t believe it’s over.”

“It’s not over.” Jason said quietly. “She’s not well yet.”

“But she’s going to be.”  Carly said. “Don’t be so negative.” She looked Jason 
up and down. She finally saw the toil the night had taken on him. She rubbed his 
arm. “You need some sleep. I was able to catch a couple of quick catnaps but 
you… you’ve been up all night and who knows what you were doing before Bobbie 
got a hold of you. You need some rest.”

“I’m not tired, Carly.”  He denied.

Carly ignored him. “You are going straight to the penthouse and getting into 
bed. I’m coming with you to make sure that you do.”

“I’d rather just stay here and wait for Emily to wake up. I don’t want to leave 
her.”

“So you can scare her half to death with bloodshot eyes and that horrible face 
you make when you don’t get enough sleep?”  Carly laughed softly. “I don’t think 
so. It’ll be awhile before she wakes up. We’re going.”

Carly went over to Bobbie and Stefan. “Jason and I are going home.”  Carly told 
Bobbie. “He needs to go to sleep and I know that if he goes home by himself he 
won’t sleep at all.”

“Okay sweetheart.”  Bobbie gave Carly a hug. “I think everything’s going to turn 
out fine.”

“I hope so. I’ve been saying it all night. Tell Michael I love him, okay?”

Bobbie nodded. “I would say that’s our cue to leave also.”  She told Stefan.

“Yes, I believe it is.” Stefan said as he tried to rub the kinks out of his 
back. He was definitely replacing those chairs. “Nikolas we are leaving.”

Nikolas shook his head. “I’m going to stay here.”

“Nikolas, you cannot stay here.” Stefan forbade him.

“I cannot go back to Wyndemere. It’s too far away.” Nikolas’ tired eyes begged 
him to understand.

“But you cannot stay in this hospital.” He knew that Nikolas wouldn’t want to be 
separated from the Quartermaine girl but it wasn’t good for him to stay in the 
hospital all night. 

Bobbie touched his arm. “What about the PC Hotel? Maybe he could get a room 
there? It’s close to the hospital.” She suggested.

Nikolas latched onto the suggestion. “Yes, that would be perfect.”

Stefan gave in, as they knew he would. “Fine, you may stay in the PC Hotel. I 
will send someone over with a change of clothes for you.”

~*~*~

Carly followed behind Jason as he walked wearily into the penthouse. She watched 
as he dropped onto the couch. He leaned forward, his elbows on his thighs. He 
buried his head in his hands. Her heart ached at the sight of the pain he was 
in. Even though he hadn’t shown one emotion at the hospital except for kicking 
Tino she could tell. She also knew he wouldn’t say a word to her about it.

She shrugged out of her jacket then slipped onto the couch. She stroked the back 
of his head. “Jason?”  She whispered.

He didn’t answer her. She hadn’t expected him to. “Jason, you have to get some 
sleep. You’ve been up all night.”

He didn’t respond. She rubbed his shoulder.  “Em’s out of ICU remember?  That 
means she’s halfway to being better.”

Still no answer. Carly rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. “You’ll be no 
good to her if you don’t get any sleep. It’ll be just an hour or two.”  

She stood and tugged on his arm. He reluctantly stood. Carly led him into the 
bedroom. “Come here.” She mumbled. 

Carly removed his jacket and tossed it carelessly onto the floor. She tugged his 
shirt from his pants, quickly unbuttoned it and pushed it off his shoulders.  
She unbuckled his belt, unzipped his pants and pushed them down to his ankles. 
She motioned for him to sit down on the bed.  She knelt in front of him and 
removed his shoes. She reached for his pants and quickly stripped of those as 
well. She then stood in between his legs and took his face in her hands. 

“It’s going to okay.” She promised him. She bent her head and gently pushed her 
lips across his. He accepted her soft kiss. “She’s going to be okay.”

Jason allowed himself to smile a little at her reassurance. He wished he could 
have a positive view on the situation. Unfortunately he was looking at this from 
a realistic point of view… He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in 
her stomach.  

Carly ran her fingers through his hair and swallowed hard. She let a minute or 
two go by before speaking again. She cleared her throat.  “Okay, bedtime for 
you.” She tried to sound upbeat but even she could tell she was failing. She 
gave him a gentle push on the shoulders and he flopped backwards on the bed. He 
moved up the bed.

“I’m going to be out in the living room.” She told him as she started to walk 
away.

“No.” He said. “Stay here with me.”

Carly was surprised. “Y… you want me to?” 

He nodded. “Yes, come here.” He patted the space beside him.

Carly came over to the bed. She kicked off her shoes and crawled up to where he 
lay. He pulled her close to him and took her into his arms. He settled his face 
in the crook of her neck and breathed in deeply.

“Tell me again.” He mumbled.

“Tell you what?” She asked quietly.

“That she’s going to be okay. When you say it I halfway believe it.” 

Carly was uncomfortable being in the “strong” role for once but for Jason she’d 
do it. “She’ll be okay. The next time we see her she’ll be back to her usual 
self. She’ll be bugging you for motorcycle rides and making me laugh and spend 
way too much money at Wyndhams. She’ll be fine.”

Jason closed his eyes as Carly began to rub his back in circles. “She’ll be 
okay.” She mumbled again. She listened as Jason’s breathing began to even out. 
She held him while he fell asleep. “She’ll be okay.” This time she was telling 
herself.