Bailiff: Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

The young girl on the stand, although standing pale and rigid, nods, biting down on her tongue to stop the protest that comes to her lips. Even now, even here, she can't believe this is happening.

Girl: I do

The attorney approaches carefully, cautiously, as if she too knows what is at stake with this testimony.

Dara Jenson: For the record, can you give us your full name and occupation.

Girl: Emily Bowen-Quartermaine. I'm a senior at Port Charles High.

Dara: Thank you. Now Miss. Quartermaine how would you characterize your relationship with Elizabeth Webber.

Emily: Friends, I guess.

Dara: Friends. (A pause) when was the last time you and your friend saw each other?

Emily: Six or seven months ago.

Dara: Really? In a small town like Port Charles? The two of you shared the same friends. In fact, your best friend was her boyfriend, right. It must have taken a lot of work on your part to avoid Elizabeth Webber like that.

Alexis: Objection your honor. Ms. Jenson is drawing conclusions she is unqualified to make.

Dara: I withdraw the statement. Now Miss. Quartermaine, tell us how it happened that you and Miss. Webber, despite the closeness of your relationship, had not communicated in six months.

Emily: I don't know. It just happened, you know. Liz was happy with Lucky and I ..I had just broken up with my ex-boyfriend Juan. I didn't want to be around Liz and Lucky so I started hanging around Lark and Amy. Lark Madison and Amelia Barrington. And then I started seeing Nikolas.

Dara: Nikolas Cassadine? The man who once dated Elizabeth Webber. Lucky Spencer's half brother?

Emily: Yes.

Dara: So your decision to cut off your relationship with Elizabeth was simply because of "circumstances."

Emily: I didn't....(sigh) yes.

Dara: Who is Jason Morgan?

Emily: Jason? Jason is my brother.

Dara: He's also a reputed mobster.

Alexis: Objection. Calls for facts not in evidence.

Judge Scott Baldwin: Objection denied. She said reputed. That gives her some leeway.

Dara: Thank you your honor. You and your brother were very close before he left town, weren't you.

Emily: I love my brother.

Dara: Right. Why did your brother leave town Miss Quartermaine?

Emily: For a lot of reasons.

Dara: Your honor, please instruct the witness to answer the question.

Alexis: Your honor, please instruct the prosecution to ask a meaningful and relevant question.

Scott: The witness will answer the question. The defense attorney will remember that as I'm the one cooking dinner tonight she had better show more professionalism in my court.

Emily: My brother left because there were threats against Elizabeth's life and he wanted to protect her.

Dara: So your brother loved Elizabeth Webber more than he loved you?

Alexis: Your honor. ADA Jenson is neither a psychologist nor a writer of lonely hearts column. And considering the current state of her love life, neither is she an expert on relationships.

Scott: Objection sustained.

Dara: Miss. Quartermaine at various times had your brother's reputed association with mob boss Sonny Corinthos put your life in danger?

Emily: A few times

Dara: And when that happened, what did your brother do?

Emily: He usually put a few more guards on me.

Dara: He's never left town to protect you? Walked away from family and home to protect you?

Emily: (quietly) no.

Dara: But he did that for Elizabeth Webber?

Alexis: Objection. Asked and answered.

Scott: Agreed

Dara: You and Elizabeth's fiancée were best friends growing up, weren't you?

Emily: (with a slight smile) The best. Lucky helped me through some tough times.

Dara: Like your drug addiction? I'm sure your best friend was there to help you through that ordeal? And the murder of your mother's lover- Pierce Dorman? Your best friend was there to help you through that?

Emily: No

Dara: Why not? Where was Lucky Spencer when these terrible things were happening to you?

Emily: He had other interests. We had....drifted apart.

Dara: And would one of these other interests have been Elizabeth Webber?

Emily: I don't

Dara: And when you and Mr. Spencer had managed to repair your relationship, what happened next? Wasn't Mr. Spencer presumed dead in a fire caused indirectly by Elizabeth Webber? Didn't you blame Elizabeth Webber for taking your best friend away from you?

Emily: I didn't..I don't...You're twisting it all around..

Dara: And after Lucky Spencer's supposed death, didn't Elizabeth Webber grow closer to Nikolas Cassadine, the person that you were in love with. In fact, before she fell for Jason Morgan, your brother, weren't Elizabeth and Nikolas dating.

Emily: They weren't dating really...

Dara: So let me get this straight...First you lose your best friend because of Elizabeth Webber....then the guy the whole town knows you had a crush on starts dating Elizabeth...and then you beloved big brother Jason leaves town, leaves you, in order to keep her safe. (Pause) I don't suppose its any wonder than that you took a knife to Kelly's that night, found her working late, alone, and stabbed her. You weren't about to lose anybody else to her, were you. Miss Quartermaine

Emily: I didn't kill her. I wouldn't do something like that.

Alexis: Objection your honor. Is Ms. Jenson questioning the witness or giving her closing arguments?

Scott: Object sustained. Ms. Jenson was there a question in there? If so can you find it and ask it before my daughter graduates high school?

Dara: Yes your honor. Miss. Quartermaine, where you the night of April 15?

Emily: Home

Dara: The whole night?

Emily: No. I was home until about 9 and then I got a phone call.

Dara: A phone call? From who?

Emily: From Elizabeth. She said that she needed to talk to me.

Dara: And what did you do?

Emily: I got in my car and I drove to Kelly's.

Dara: Let me get this straight. You haven't talked to Elizabeth Webber in months but she calls and you immediately leave the warmth of your house to meet her late at night.

Emily: It wasn't that late. And I wouldn't exactly use the term warm to describe the Quartermaine mansion. (Pause) Besides, I thought maybe she had heard from Jason and she couldn't tell me about it on the phone.

Dara: Was there anybody around when you got to Kellys?

Emily: No. It was dark.

Dara: How convenient. Kelly's is right below a boarding house isn't it. Was there anybody home at the boarding house?

Emily: No. Tammy and Mike were at a charity function The Lila Quartermaine Foundation was holding to build a women's shelter. Sonny bought an entire table.

Dara: And you knew this how?

Emily: Juan Santiago. My ex-boyfriend. He asked me a few days earlier to be his date. I told him no because I was planning on going with my family.

Dara: So you knew days in advance that the boarding house would be empty and that Elizabeth would be alone at work.

Emily: Yes but I didn't

Dara: Miss. Quartermaine, you just testified that you didn't go the charity event with Mr. Santiago because you wanted to go with your family. I have a picture of your family taken at the event and there is no sign of you with them.

Emily: I wasn't feeling well so I decided to stay home.

Dara: Yet when Elizabeth Webber called you came running.

Emily: I already explained that...

Dara: Right. I think we've all heard enough of your explanations. Just a few more questions. Miss. Quartermaine when the police arrived at Kelly's what did they find.

Emily: (Anguished) Liz was dead. She was lying on the floor near the jukebox. There was blood everywhere.

Dara: We've heard from the coroner that Miss. Webber died of over a dozen stab wounds inflected with a butcher knife. One of them directly to her heart. What did the police find in your hands when they broke the door of Kelly's down?

Emily: (Softly) A knife.

Dara: I'm sorry Miss. Quartermaine, can you be a little louder.

Emily: A knife.

Dara: What kind of knife?

Emily: A butcher knife.

Dara: A butcher knife. But not just any butcher knife. You were found leaning over the victim's body with the murder weapon in your hands, weren't you Miss. Quartermaine?

Emily: Yes but I didn't kill her. I didn't.

Dara: No further questions. Your witness.

Alexis: Emily, did you consider Elizabeth a friend?

Emily: Yes. She was my first female friend. You know I never had many friends growing up. Lucky. Sly. Then Nik. Liz was the first girl I could be friends with. We used to giggle about boys and listen to music and stuff like that.

Alexis: Emily, would you have hurt Elizabeth Webber

Emily: Never. I mean we weren't as close anymore, but we weren't enemies or anything like that. Besides hurting Liz would have hurt Lucky and I would never do that. Never.

Alexis: The A.D.A. has gone to great lengths to make it seem like you were jealous of Elizabeth Webber. Were you?

Emily: No. I mean I was once, but who wouldn't have been. When we first met, Liz was beautiful you know. Guys looked at her, really looked at her.

Alexis: What do you mean?

Emily: I mean she had it together.

Alexis: And you didn't?

Emily: I was too tall, too skinny, too gangly. Does the phrase "awkward teenage years" have any meaning? They did to me but Liz, she just kind of bypassed them you know. I don't think she ever came down with a single pimple.

Alexis: You must have hated her.

Emily: No! She wasn't like that. She was beautiful but she wasn't stuck up or a snob like the other girls at school. She was...(pause) my friend.

Alexis: Did you blame Elizabeth for the supposed death of Lucky Spencer.

Emily: No. What happened to Lucky wasn't anyone's fault except Cesar Faison's and Helena Cassadine's. (She mouthed a quick sorry to Nikolas who merely smiled and shrugged.)

Alexis: And Jason? Was Elizabeth responsible for your brother leaving?

Emily: In a way. But I don't think my brother left town to protect Elizabeth as much as he left town to avoid certain people and certain situations. (Her eyes darted to the back of the room to where Carly, AJ, Michael, and the new baby sat. Her eyes flicked a few rows back to where Sonny stood near the exit.)

Alexis: Did you ever blame Elizabeth for Jason leaving?

Emily: No. I blame Jason for Jason leaving and running away.

Alexis: Finally, what is the current status of your relationship with Nikolas Cassadine?

Emily: We are dating.

Alexis: Just dating?

Emily: At the moment. I....Nikolas and I are just taking it as it comes, you know. Neither of us have the greatest of track records in relationships. I don't know what will happen with Nikolas, but right now at this moment I know that Nikolas is very important to me.

Alexis: And you are just as important to him?

Emily: (blushing) I hope so.

Nikolas: (blurting out) You are.

There is a soft laughter in the courtroom.

Scott: Order in the court. Young man you might be my wife's nephew and it will cost me a week of sleeping on the sofa, but I'll still have you thrown in jail for contempt if you make one more outburst. (Nikolas nods.)

Alexis: Emily, do you know why Elizabeth Webber called you that night?

Emily: No. She wouldn't say anything on the phone.

Alexis: And when you got to Kelly's what did you find?

Emily: Elizabeth was dead. She was already dead.

Alexis: Emily why did you pick up the knife?

Emily: Stupidity? I don't know. I didn't stop to think. I just did. I wish to hell that I had never picked it up. I wish I had never left home that night.

Alexis: One final question so its clear to the jury. Did you kill Elizabeth Webber?

Emily: No. No I did not.

Alexis: Thank you.

Scott: Due to the lateness of the hour, we'll recess and resume with rebuttal questioning in the morning. The witness is reminded that she is under oath and that she is not to discuss any part of her testimony with anyone.

Emily: I understand. (Walking with suddenly shaky feet, Emily debarked from the witness stand and walked across the courtroom. She had barely made it a few feet, when Nikolas grabs her and holds her tight. Sighing, she lets herself drop against him.)

Nikolas: You were great.

Emily: I hope so. (Past Nikolas's shoulder she can see Lucky standing and watching her. Their eyes meet and she winces from the scorching blue of his. Without a word, he turns and leaves. He thinks I did it, she realizes as she tries to keep the world from buckling underneath her by holding tighter to Nikolas. Lucky thinks I killed Liz.)

Nikolas: Emily? You okay?

Emily: No. No I'm not. And I don't think I will be.

And as she lets Nikolas help her from the courtroom and avoid the hounds of the media waiting for her, Emily realizes that whatever verdict the jury brings in has just been rendered moot by the guilty verdict she had seen in those blue eyes. And for the first time since the police had shown up with that warrant, Emily cried.