Nikolas Cassadine didn’t care about the camera crews or onlookers that had gathered to watch the rescue. He didn’t care that his clothes were filthy or his eyes bleary with exhaustion. He didn’t care about anything but the voice coming through that thin wire.

The voice that was the only thing keeping him sane at the moment.

He could hear the fear in her voice, the increasingly disjointed nature of her thoughts. They were losing her.

God what was taking them so bloody long to get her out?

“Coffee?” Jessica Buchanan knelt beside Nikolas, her eyes wide with sympathy and her own fear. “How is she?”

“I don’t know,” Nikolas ran a hand through his hair, not caring that he made it look even more wild and dirty looking than it had been before. He covered the mike with his hand. “What’s the hold up?”

Jessica shrugged. It had been over two hours since they had first heard Emily’s voice through the rubble. Almost three hours since the mall had exploded. The scene in front of her was growing more unreal by the moment. She’d watched as bodies were uncovered and taken away. Police investigators had began to sift through the debris for evidence. The media were gathered around the entrance, their lights glaring in the growing darkness, waiting like vultures to pounce on the story.

Jessica wondered just how many of them were wishing that Emily died so the headlines would be more dramatic.

Jessica shrugged the thought away. Coming from a media family, she needed to hang onto the thought that most of the reporters gathered outside were just doing their job.

“The Quartermaines are here. That detective is keeping most of them at bay, but I think it might be good for Emily to talk to them.”

Nikolas nodded heavily, reluctant to relinquish his position at the mike, his link to the girl he loved. His eyes caught hold of a silent figure standing just beyond the debris.

“I think there’s someone who needs to talk to her first.”

Jessica looked up and nodded. She turned to make her way to that figure.

“Jess?” Nikolas stopped her and she turned around. “Give me a few minutes, okay?”

Jessica nodded softly.

Nikolas removed his hand from the mike. “Emily?” He waited a second, trying to dampen his panic. “Emily?”

“Nik?” He could almost hear the chattering of her teeth. The shallowness of her breath. “It’s getting cold.”

Nikolas swore inwardly. He glanced at the paramedic who was sharing his vigil. The man shook his head slightly. Shock. If she was getting cold she was going into shock. People died of shock didn’t...

He stopped himself from completing the thought.

“I know,” he kept his voice free of the worry that was coursing through him. He knew he had to keep her calm. Keep her still so that she didn’t accidentally dislodge any of the debris threatening her. “It’s getting dark, that’s all love. You can handle it. Just think warm thoughts. You know you, me, a blanket, a blazing fire.....”

“Edward with a shot gun at the door.” Emily finished for him. Nikolas smiled.

“As long as he was on the other side of the door...” His voice trailed off. “I love you Emily Quartermaine. Nothing has changed that and nothing ever could. You know that don’t you?”

He waited a minute for her reply. “I know that Nik. I think I’ve always known that.” Her voice was infinitely sad. “Love isn’t the problem, trust is....”

“Emily I...” He stopped himself. Now was not the time or the place to convince her that they still belonged together. Right now all he now he had to concentrate on keeping her alive or the question of their future together was a moot point. He felt a hand on his shoulder. “Listen there’s someone here who wants to talk to you, okay? I’ll be back. I’m not leaving here until you’re safe. Just hang on Emily, okay? I don’t know how to live without you and I’m not about to learn so you need to stay strong. Emily?”

He could hear her crying. “I’ll try Nikolas.”

“I never doubted it for a second.” Blinking back his own tears, Nik handed the mike to Jason and made his way blindly away from the debris to the staging area.

“Nik? You okay man?” He looked up into Will’s concerned face.

Nik shook his head. “No, I’m not. And I won’t be until she is.”

Unmindful of the gathered onlookers, Will pulled Nik into a comforting hug. The same kind of hug he had once given a younger Nikolas when the loneliness of boarding school had hit them both. “I know Cassadine. I know.”

Jason Morgan held the mike, his heart beating rapidly, his thoughts scrambled. He wasn’t used to feeling so helpless, to have things beyond his control. He had power. The kind of power that most men and women could barely even begin to imagine. Yet none of his power or wealth or status could save his sister.

He had to depend on God to intervene for him and despite years of faithfully attending Mass, Jason wasn’t that sure that God existed. Or if he existed if he would listen to the prayers of a man who had violated his commandments over and over. He looked up to see Jess watching him, her blue eyes filled with compassion as she nodded at him encouragingly.

He took a deep breath.

“Emily.”

“Jason?” There was a moment’s pause. “Oh God, Jason. I’m so scared. I don’t want to die.”

“You won’t. They’re going to get you out of there. It’s going to be okay.”

“I keep telling myself that but it’s kind of hard to believe.”

“I know. But aren’t you the one who’s always telling me that its when its hard to believe that you have to believe the most.”

“Ouch. It’s not fair of you to throw my own words back at me.” The words were punctuated with a fit of coughing and the last one trailed off a little too much for Jason’s liking.

“Emily? Come on Em. Talk to me.” Jason’s voice was uncharacteristically frantic. “I know. Tell me what you want for Christmas.”

“Jason it’s July.”

“I know, that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate Christmas in July.” Jason paused. “So, tell me what you want.”

Emily closed her eyes as images of what she really wanted flooded through her. “A new computer? Maybe one of those fancy laptops?”

“What? No jewelry? Clothes?” Jason kept his voice lightly. “No private Ricky Martin concert.”

“I don’t know Em. If Jason can arrange a private Ricky Martin concert.....” Jess’s voice broke in. “I think you ought to take him up on it. Provided your allowed to invite your best friend.”

Emily tried to laugh, but it came out more like a choking cough. “What would Will say if you spent the evening checking out Ricky Martin?”

“Will who?” Jess responded brightly.

Jason groaned. “Maybe I spoke to soon.” He paused. “I just want you to be happy Em. That’s all I ever wanted for you was happiness.”

A silence. “I know Jase. I know.”

“I love you little sister.”

“Me too.”

Jason would have said more, but the fire chief came up behind him. “We’re ready to try. Tell her to cover her face with her hands if she can.”

Jason relayed the commands.

“I’m scared Jase. I’m really scared.”

“It’s going to be okay. These guys know what they’re doing. They won’t let anything happen to you.”

“You know it Em. Besides if they screw up, Jason will put out some kind of contract on them or something like that.” Jess smiled at the startled expression on the paramedic’s face. ‘Just kidding’ she mouthed. “Em. You’re my best friend. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“I love you Bucktooth.”

“Same here Quarterbrain. Definitely the same here. You better hang in there because I refuse to marry Will without you as my maid of honor and you do not want to be responsible for my being a lonely old maid with a dozen cats in a studio apartment, do you?”

This time Emily laughed relatively cough free.

“Somehow I just can’t picture it.”

“Well, neither can I so don’t make it happen. You’re going to make it through this.”

“I guess I have to now.”

“You bet your life you do.”

“Jess?”

“Yeah.”

“If..if I don’t ....Tell Nikolas I love him.”

Jess bit back tears and shook her head. “You tell him yourself Em.”

“We have to clear this area.” The fire chief gently pushed Jessica and Jason away from the mike and back to the staging area.

Nikolas walked up to them anxiously. “What’s going on?”

“They’re getting ready to get her out.”

“They have to wait a minute.” Nikolas knew how dangerous what they were about to do was for Emily. One wrong move and she would be crushed beneath tons of debris. “I have to talk to her. I have to tell her...”

He made to move forward but Will caught him. “You can’t. It’s too late. You go in there now and you’re going to screw this rescue up.”

Nik shook his head. “But I have to tell her...”

Jess interrupted gently. “You don’t have to tell her anything. She knows, okay. She already knows.”

Jessica felt Will’s arms go around her and pull her close against him even as she heard Nikolas expel a deep breath.

“I hope so. God I hope so.”

Nikolas found himself holding himself tightly as he watched the rescue workers maneuvering their equipment carefully, trying to prop up the debris so that they could pull Emily out without the entire mound of debris collapsing around her. He watched as they used a crane to hold back the largest piece of debris, using it as a block against the smaller pieces, the force of the pressure caused the crane to groan.

“Move quickly people. This isn’t going to hold for long.”

Nikolas’s heart leapt at those words and he almost wished he could close his eyes as the paramedic disappeared into the debris.

He found himself reciting every prayer he had ever heard over and over.

After the longest few minutes of his life, Nikolas watched as the other rescuers helped pull the first paramedic up, a slender figure in his hold.

“Emily!” Nikolas’s cry carried through the now destroyed mall and for a second he saw Emily turn in his direction and their eyes met.

Then the line holding back the debris snapped, the crane crashed forward, and for the second time in just a few short hours all hell broke loose.

When the dust settled, Nik, Will, Jess, and Jason all converged on the rescue operation, frantic for some sign that everyone was okay.

Nik caught sight of the paramedic who had been holding Emily, his body crushed by a large piece of debris, Emily sandwiched underneath him.

“Over here,” Nik cried. Or maybe Will or Jason did. He didn’t stop to figure it out. All he knew was that they were there and between the three of them and a few of the rescuers who had thrown off their initial shock they were lifting off the large piece of marble.

Nik winced at the sightless eyes of the paramedic, remembering the man’s compassion as they had maintained their vigil by the microphone.

Carefully, he and Will removed the paramedic’s body off of Emily.

“How is she?” Nik called to Jessica who had scrambled to Emily’s head to check her pulse.

“She’s unconscious, but she’s has a pulse and she’s breathing.” Jessica’s voice shook with relief. “She’s alive.”

Nikolas was sure that he had never heard two more beautiful words in his life.

The Hardy Home

Liz reached over and turned off the TV just as the television began to show images of Emily’s still unconscious form being carried out on a stretcher and loaded into a hospital.

An angry scowl crossed her face as she saw Nik staying by Emily’s side.

She’d been so close. She remembered that look on Emily’s face when she had interrupted the intimate conversation.

She smiled to herself. Nik had been glad to see her. She was sure of it. That smile on his face that he reserved only for her had been there.

Muttering angrily to herself, Liz gracefully moved off her bed and walked over to her closet. Moving aside some old clothes, she found herself staring at the pictures lining the back of her closet. Pictures of her and Lucky. Some of them photographs. Some of them drawn by her. A wistful smile touched her face as she traced his figure with the tip of her finger. It was replaced by a frown as she moved to the next wall where she had put up pictures of her and Nikolas. The Nurse’s Ball. Dancing at Kelly’s. The Carnival he had taken her to.

Nikolas was supposed to be hers. Lucky had been taken from her in that damned fire, but Nikolas had been given to her as a replacement. Nikolas who was gentle and kind and good-looking. But most of all, Nikolas was his brother. The closest thing she could get to having Lucky back.

She smiled as she thought of the future she and Nikolas would share. A society marriage, like the one Lucky had snuck her into for Brenda and Sonny. They’d make their home in Wyndemere. She’d have all the time in the world to paint while Nikolas worked for his father.

And best of all would be the children they would have. Children who were part her and part Nikolas and even part Lucky too. Maybe one of them would even inherit their uncle’s blue eyes.

The yearning deep inside her made her shake. God had taken Lucky from her. But he’d given her Nikolas so that she would always have something of Lucky in her life.

And there was no way that Emily was going to make her lose someone she loved again.

There had to be a way to break them up for good and she would find it.

One way or another she would have what she had always wanted.

GH

Nikolas watched the double doors carefully for any sign of the doctors or nurses who were working on Emily. So great was his focus, that he barely noticed Emily’s parents, brothers, or even her grandfather ranting and raving. He didn’t even blink when his father silently joined the vigil.

He could feel Will and Jess on either side of him, but they weren’t real. Weren’t important. The only thing of consequence at this moment was those doors leading to the room they had taken Emily to.

When they swung open, he stood up.

Dr. Chris Ramsey, on the tail end of a twelve hour shift, rubbed his eyes for a minute and focused on the group of people in front of him. He tried to at least appear more awake than he felt since one of those people was his boss,

“How is she?” Nikolas asked.

Chris sighed and reviewed his notes. “Better than we expected considering what she went through. She has a broken wrist and a few broken ribs, she’s breathed in a lot of dust and dirt so we have her on an oxygen line. She’s also suffering from a mild case of shock from the trauma. What concerns me the most is her head injury.”

“Head injury?” Jason felt a sickness in the pit of his stomach.

Chris nodded. “Apparently she suffered two blows to the head, once during the initial explosion and then again when the rescue attempt collapsed. We ran a CAT Scan that showed no major damage but I’d still like to call Tony Jones in for a consult now that she’s awake and.”

Nikolas stopped listening at those last words and made his way instead to Emily’s room, Jess and Will following closely behind him.

He stopped outside her door, watching her through the glass. She looked bruised, shaken, and paler than he ever wanted to see her again.

But her eyes, her beautiful brown eyes were open and a half smile played on her lips when she saw him.

Feeling relief course through him, he opened the door and entered the room, followed by Will and Jess.

The nurse smiled at them, checked Emily’s IV, and quietly left the room.

“Nikolas,” Her voice was scratchy but it sounded like music to him. He approached her and gently touched her hand, needing to feel the connection between them.

“Hey!” He whispered softly, his smooth tongue failing him as his emotions rapidly began to overwhelm him.

She was alive.

“You look beautiful.”

She blushed, lowering her eyes shyly. Looking up again, she spotted Jess and a puzzled frown crossed her face.

“Jessie? What are you doing here?”

Nik frowned. “What do you mean, what is she doing here? Jess and Will are visiting, remember?”

Confusion filled Emily’s eyes as she shook her head and then winced at the pain the movement caused.

“Will? Jess I thought you and Christian were still engaged?” Emily looked up at Nikolas. “And Nik, I’m glad you’re here but where’s Juan?”

“Juan?” Nikolas felt like the bottom had dropped out on him. “Juan Santiago?” He repeated stupidly.

Emily looked at him with exasperation. “Of course Juan Santiago. You know, my boyfriend.”

That last statement was meant with a shocked silence that echoed loudly through the room.