Chapter 3

Emily tapped her fingers on the table in boredom waiting for Lucky and Nikolas 
to come back. Liz sat across the table watching Emily gaze out at the sky. They 
were all at the grille on the terrace waiting to be served. Or at least they 
were until Lucky and Nikolas ran off. Liz cross her arms, ‘What's going on?’ 
Emily was beginning to hum a song in sync with her rhythm she created with her 
patting on the table. Liz sighed, “What's taking them so long?” 

Emily laughed, “I'm thinking…"She leaned over the table intriguing Liz and 
whispering, “Nikolas fell in and Lucky's trying to help him out.” Liz burst into 
laughter with Emily as they pictured it in their minds. Liz stopped when she saw 
a gorgeous man approaching. He had straight dark brown hair reaching his 
shoulders, green eyes, and a beautiful smile. Liz's eyes widened, “Oh my god, 
he's cute!” She exclaimed to Emily in a whisper.

Emily was still smiling when she turned to see the man but her smile quickly 
faded. He looked at Emily with a grin, “Emily, sweetheart, so nice to see you.” 
The man greeted in a smooth deep voice as Emily rolled her eyes, sat back, and 
crossed her arms angrily.


Meanwhile…

Nikolas looked into the bathroom mirror trying to get in the frame of mind he 
wanted. How could he tell her how he felt? It would be so… different from what 
the way they were and if it wasn't for the best it would definitely be for the 
worse. 

Lucky sighed, “Man, you have got to tell her. You're going to drive yourself 
crazy. Just tell her."

Nikolas shook his head shaking his head, “I don't think that's such a good idea, 
bro."

"Ah, come off of it! What happened to my brother?! Nikolas Cassadine! The man 
who didn't mind a little tension between himself and others.” Lucky joked

"He disappeared the day he realized Emily thought of him as nothing more than a 
friend and finally got the hint,” He paused, “He was in love with her the day 
she left."

"Fine!” Lucky surrendered in anguish, “If you won't tell her at least come back 
with me so we can all eat! I'm starving!” Lucky said feeling his stomach rumble.

"Ok.” Nikolas nodded glumly and they began to make their way back to the table 
but stopped when they saw a man towering over Emily as she stared off into the 
distance and Elizabeth's worried look, her gaze bouncing from Emily to the man 
and back to Emily. Nikolas felt a surge of jealously and anger while he thought, 
‘Who the hell is the guy and why is he anywhere near Emily?' 

Lucky saw Nikolas' look and patted him on the shoulder leading him to the table. 
Nikolas cleared his throat when they reached the table and grabbing the man's 
attention. Emily just rolled her eyes beginning to move her legs impatiently 
after crossing it over the other. The man turned to Nikolas and Lucky, “And I 
assume that these are your escorts.” He examined both Lucky and Nikolas for a 
minute and then pointed to Nikolas while looking back to Emily, “I'm assuming 
this is your… date.” He let his gesture fall and laughed, “Oooo, soooo plain.” 

He shrugged while walking away leaving everyone but Emily in shock. He turned 
back for a moment and looked at Emily's still turned away figure, “Emily, you 
know how to get me if you want to."

Emily stood quickly throwing her chair back, “You listen to me you egotistical 
piece of trash! I hate you! If I had to choose between you and death! I'd drop 
dead!” 

He flashed her a grin, “But you're talking to me… something you said you'd never 
do again.” Emily's eyes turned furious as she stared into his, “I'll be in town 
for a while, sweetheart, don't forget to drop me a line.” He told her before 
blowing a kiss in her direction and walking away. 

Emily hands strangled the air as she stomped her foot, “Bastard!” She shouted 
and made everyone even more curious as to what was going on.

"Emily?” Liz said in a slightly intimidated voice, “Who was that?” 

Emily crossed her arms again and inhaled deeply, “That, my friend, was E.J. My 
pathetic ex-boyfriend.” She explained.

"Boyfriend?” Nikolas asked with surprise and sadness.

"Ex!” Lucky quickly added and everyone looked at him oddly, “I mean he's your 
ex-boyfriend?” 

Emily chuckled angrily, “Oh yea, he was until I caught him in bed with my room 
mate. Which brings up the reason I'm back in PC.” Her expression drifting from 
anger to completely serious, “I came back because…" Emily struggled running a 
hand through her hair while everyone waited anxiously for her to finish, “I've 
been seriously thinking about coming back.” Everyone still looked confused so 
Emily added, “For good."

"Emily, that's great.” Nikolas responded trying to contain his excitement at the 
thought of her coming back to PC for good.

"Yea, well, E.J. has a lot to do with it. The jerk took over my whole life in 
L.A.! I can't go anywhere without him close behind… ugh! The jerk!” Emily 
shouted in frustration sitting back down. Lucky went to sit back down next to 
Liz while Nikolas took his seat beside Emily. 

Emily let out a sigh of anger, “Ok, here's the story. Once I tell it I never 
have to do it again, alright?” She asked madly and everyone nodded, “I met E.J. 
on campus once but we didn't hook up until I went to go apply for this modeling 
job for some magazine. We ran into each other and then we went out. After that 
we began to take these trips around the world and…" She hated telling them this, 
“I fell for his ridiculous act and fell in love with that useless piece of 
skin.” Emily tilted her head back forcing tears away. She looked at them again 
with her glassy eyes, “So, then, one night after studying until like… I don't 
know, three or four in the morning I went back to my dorm room. While I was 
making my way to my room I had a few friends trying to,” She laughed sadly, 
“Keep me from going to my room but I went ahead  anyway. That's when I found my 
roommate in bed with my boyfriend.” 

Emily shook her head with an angry smile, “Do me a favor, Nikolas, train me to 
wait at least five minutes after I knock to walk into a room. That way people 
could…" She shouted, “I don't know! Finish!” They all took Emily's comment very 
seriously but Liz couldn't help but burst into laughter. Emily tried as hard as 
she could but eventually did the same and Lucky along with Nikolas followed soon 
after. The rest of the dinner continued as if nothing had happened and Emily 
felt more at home then than ever before.


Later that night…

Emily walked along the docks hand in hand with Nikolas. The two of them talking 
about old times and how weird it would be to have all four them back in Port 
Charles once again. As they got closer to the pier Emily started to quiet down 
smiling to herself now resting her head on his shoulder as they waited for their 
launch to arrive. Emily didn't want the night to end. Her and Nikolas being so 
close, Lucky and Liz being better than ever, all made Port Charles worth coming 
back to. She sighed softly closing her eyes as Nikolas grinned while her she 
sort of began to fall asleep. 

Nikolas felt her shiver a little as a cool breeze ran through the air. He took 
it as his cue to make some sort of move. He took the arm nearest to her and 
wrapped it around her body. She graciously except wrapping her arms around his 
waist and smiling, “Thank you.” She whispered snuggling up to his body. 

Nikolas looked up at the sky removing his other hand from his pocket and  
pointing at the stars, “It's beautiful, isn't it?” 

Emily opened her eyes and looked up her smile widening, “Yea, it is.” Nikolas 
looked down at her and saw the stars sparkling in her eyes as her body seemed to 
get even closer to his body. He tried to think of it as nothing. She was just 
cold and needed warmth, that's all it was. But the feeling of Emily's body 
pressing against his made him want to show her how he felt. He wanted to sweep 
her off her feet and make her fall head over heels in love with him all over 
again. She inhaled deeply, “I missed this, you know? Being with my friends and… 
doing things like this. I never had this in Los Angeles. There was always a 
class or a shoot or even a date with a worthless pathetic loser.” Emily was 
rambling and she knew it but she couldn't stand the silence. 

Nikolas was getting like that a lot lately and it worried her. What had changed? 
He was acting so weird around her these days it made her worry endlessly. But 
she intended to hold onto him in anyway possible. She had let him go as a man 
but not as a friend. She wasn't planning on giving that up. She continued to 
look at the sky & stars with admiration, “It's weird. When I was little I always 
reached for the stars thinking that if I jumped just a little higher I'd reach 
one.” She laughed at herself turning her gaze to his focused eyes. She was 
surprised to see them back at her but she didn't mind, “It's not like I had any 
idea what I'd ever do with a star I just wanted one. It was so… unattainable.” 
Her smile faded as she laughed again, “You know what they say… you always want 
what you can't have.” She told him before their launch arrived and she walked 
ahead of him leaving him wondering if he'd ever tell her the truth. 

Nikolas followed once she called out to him but he remained silent for the rest 
of the night.