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Emily wearily walked down the remaining steps and stood in the living room, watching everyone as they watched her. Jax and Alexis watched her with something akin to pity in their eyes.
“Hi guys,” Emily said quietly.
Everyone watched as Jason walked over to his sister and gave her a warm hug. “You don’t have to do this now, we can wait a little while to you feel better,” he said softly.
Emily shook her head. “I don’t think I’m ever going to feel better Jase. I have to do this now. Its already too late,” Emily said, tears forming in her brown eyes.
Lucky walked up to Carly and sat down next to her. “Hey,” he said.
Carly stared up at Lucky with red-rimmed eyes. “Hey yourself,” she said as she turned her attention back to the napkin that she was currently shredding in her lap.
Alexis got up and motioned for Jax to follow her. “Are you sure you want to be here? I know what ever Emily is going to say about the Q’s isn’t going to be remotely nice,” she said, giving Jax the option to leave.
Jax stared at Alexis in surprise. “I have no intention of leaving. I’ve known Emily for years and she’s a sweet girl. I want to help, even if it means working with Jason and Sonny,” Jax said the last part quietly. Seeing the shape Emily was in put a lot of things in perspective for him.
Alexis smiled, knowing that she could count on Jax to back her up when she went up against the Q’s. Suddenly, Alexis paled as she realized that someone was missing from their talk. “What about Ned?”
Luke and Bobbie drove towards Jason’s penthouse in silence. Suddenly, Bobbie turned to Luke, understanding in her voice. “The Quartermaines are responsible somehow. That’s why Carly wouldn’t let me call Monica,” she said.
Luke looked at his sister and gave her a small smile. “I knew you didn’t lose the ‘Spencer Intuition’,” he said. Turning back to the road, Luke concentrated on getting to his destination, hoping that Lucky was somehow there.
Bobbie stared out the window, furious at Luke for not directly answering her question.
Vincent looked into Jason’s living room from the building across the street and cursed himself for not bugging the penthouse like he wanted to. Things were falling together. Using his binoculars, he focused in on Emily as she stood next to her brother. “Such a beauty,” he said to himself. Vincent narrowed his eyes as two more people came into view, Jasper Jax and Alexis Davis Jax. “Oh well, more people to keep tabs on,” he said, but Vincent grimaced, knowing that Jax could cause some serious trouble, him and his brother Jerry.
Turning in his chair, Vincent’s foot ruffled the paper bag at his feet, grabbing his attention. Looking down, Vincent smiled at the things he got on his little adventure earlier in the day. It had been so easy to slip onto the Quartermaine Estate, into the mansion and then into Emily’s bedroom. Smiling, Vincent remembered laying on the young woman’s bed as he looked through her photo albums. Hearing someone in the hall, he had to leave before he was caught, but not before getting a souvenir.
Grinning, Vincent buried his nose in Emily’s favorite sleep shirt. He sighed as he picked up the scent of her favorite perfume. “Soon Miss Emily. Soon,” he said, turning his gaze back to the penthouse.
Sonny watched as Jax and Alexis went to a remote corner to speak to each other. He wasn’t able to hear exactly what they were saying but he did hear one word, ‘Ned’. Fuming, Sonny wondered if the former CEO of ELQ knew about what was going on with Emily. Before he could ponder the question anymore, Alexis moved back to the couch, Jax behind her.
“Have a nice conversation?,” Sonny asked.
Before Jax could start, Alexis put her hand on his shoulder and silenced him. Turning back to Sonny, she spoke. “None of your business."
Lucky watched as Jason sat Emily next to him on the couch, wishing that he could be the one next to her. He didn’t understand these feelings that he was developing for his best friend, but he wasn’t about to question them, not now. Glancing towards Carly he spoke. “Did you call my Dad too?,” he asked, realizing that Luke was missing.
“Nope, I don’t remember getting a call,” Luke said as he opened the door, Bobbie right behind him. “Hi princess,” he said, noticing Emily looking at him.
“Hi Luke,” she said, a shadow of a smile on her face. Glancing behind him, she saw, the woman standing behind him. “Hi Bobbie”
Seeing that everyone was basically there, Alexis spoke. “Well, now that everyone is here, are you ready to start?,” Alexis asked staring at Emily.
All eyes turned to the pale brunette, waiting for her to begin.
AJ sat in the family room, going over his business proposals. Monica paced the room as she watched AJ being calm as ever. “AJ, why are you so quiet? Are you all right?,” Monica asked, concern in her voice.
Sitting on the couch, AJ pretended not to hear her. “Oh, so now she wants to pay attention to me, after the harlot disappears,” AJ thought to himself. Angrily searching through his papers, AJ tried to control his anger. Breathing deeply, he calmed himself and continued to work.
Monica watched as her son, concentrated on his papers. She was sure that he heard her, but he had yet to answer her. “AJ, sweet heart, did you hear me?”
Sick of being watched, AJ decided to answer his mother. “Wha-what did you say?,” he asked, pretending not to have heard her the first time. “Die b*tch, die”, he thought to himself, watching as Monica began to get ‘motherly’.
“I asked if you were feeling all right. You seem preoccupied,” Monica said, placing a hand on AJ’s shoulder.
AJ had to restrain himself from shoving Monica’s hand off his shoulder. Bracing himself, he smiled up at her and spoke. “I’m fine mother, I just have some business stuff to do,” he said.
Monica smiled. “That’s good dear, keep at it,” she said, her parenting for the day over.
“B*tch,” AJ said, as he watched his mother leave the room.
Ned Ashton walked inside the lobby of the Port Charles Hotel and walked up to his favorite concierge. “Hello, do you know if Mr. and Mrs. Jax are in?”, he asked, hoping to see Alexis. He had been in Milan with Chloe for the past week, trying to get Gertrude to get off all their backs. Chloe had elected to stay in Italy for the next two weeks to wrap up some business, leaving Ned to go home by himself.
The concierge, Andrew, smiled at the Quartermaine. He was probably the only one out of that whole messed up family that was remotely sane. “Mr. and Mrs. Jax left about thirty minutes ago. I believe Mrs. Jax said she had business to do with someone named Corinthos,” Andrew said, thinking about what the kind lawyer could have to do with Sonny Corinthos.
Not noticing how the concierge was staring at him oddly, Ned left the hotel and prepared to make his way to Harborview Towers.
Emily stared at her hands nervously, trying to figure out where she should begin. She knew that everyone was waiting for her to speak, but fear kept her silent. Glancing up slowly, she saw everyone’s eyes on her and she knew that she couldn’t back out of the conversation, it was time. “Um.....I don’t even know where to begin,” she said to no one in particular.
Watching as Emily wrung her hands in her lap, Alexis spoke. “Just take your time, no one is going anywhere. By the way, is it okay if I take notes? If, no, whenthis goes to court, I’m going to need them,” she said, hoping that Emily would agree. If she didn’t get a sworn statement from the girl, there was no way she could ever use any of it in court. As it was, poor Emily didn’t stand a chance of getting away form the Q’s, not without a miracle.
Emily nodded her head at Alexis’ request. She knew that it would come to that. “Go ahead, tape the conversation or whatever,” Emily said, giving Alexis a small smile.
“Thank you,” Alexis said, taking a small tape recorder out of her brief case. “Can you start from the beginning?”
Not daring to look at anyone in the room, Emily began to speak. “It all kind of started after the car accident with Jason and I think some stuff with Carly”
Jason and Carly glanced at each other, shock on their faces.
“What do you mean?,” Carly asked, fearing the worst.
Emily looked at Carly. “Um, well, after the stuff with Michael, you and Jason, AJ got.....um....mean,” she said, turning her gaze back to her lap.
Jason clenched his jaw as Emily answered Carly’s question. “This is all my fault,” he thought to himself.
“No Jason, this isn’t your fault,” Emily said, practically reading his mind. Taking one of his hands in hers, she squeezed it lightly. “I’m taking the blame for all of this”
“What do you mean, ‘your taking all the blame’?,” Luke asked curiously. The other people in the room nodded at his question.
Before Emily could answer, someone burst through the door.
Everyone turned around in shock as Johnny burst in the room without knocking. Sonny and Jason stared at him, waiting for him to tell them why he barged in, but Johnny seemed to freeze after he realized what he did.
“What?,” Sonny asked, impatient with the body guard.
“Can I speak to you and Jason in the hall please?,” Johnny asked, trying to regain some composure.
At that request, everyone in the room turned to look at each other. If the usually calm and collected Johnny burst through the door like a teenager, something had to be very wrong. Jax actually narrowed his eyes as he watched the scene play out.
Jason stared at Sonny and then turned to Emily. “Are you gonna be okay while me and Sonny go talk to Johnny?,” he asked, holding her small hands in his.
Emily glanced around nervously as Jason finished talking. She knew that no one in the room would hurt her, but she was still scared. “Its time to be brave,” Emily thought to herself. Smiling, she turned to Jason and answered. “Sure, I’ll be fine.”
Jason gave Emily a small smile, kissed her on the forehead and left behind Sonny. “I won’t be long,” he said, talking over his shoulder. As Jason walked towards the door, he caught the gazes of both Luke and Lucky. He barely nodded to them as he left.
Johnny paced the living room as Sonny and Jason watched him with hooded eyes. He could practically feel the tension rolling off them in waves.
“Okay, you’ve got us over here, now tell us what’s wrong,” Sonny said. He could see how Jason was barely controlling himself and remembered the look in his eyes when he had to leave Emily’s side.
Johnny decided to cut to the chase. “Something is up with Moreno”
Jason shrugged. Moreno was always up to something. “So? What else is new?,” he said impatiently.
Johnny sighed. This wasn’t going to be easy. “One of the guys heard Sorel saying some things that didn’t sound right. Things about taking over after you two are gone. This wasn’t his usual rantings. Something isn’t right,” Johnny said, pleading with Jason and Sonny to believe him.
“So you think that he’s going to make a move?,” Sonny asked.
“Yeah, but I think he has someone’s help. I’ve heard....rumors....about someone is Port Charles, hired to kill you. A professional,” Johnny said stiffly.
Sonny and Jason exchanged ‘looks’. It wasn’t often that Johnny became so rattled that he spoke to them like this.
“I know what I have to do,” Jason said.
“What do you think is going on there?,” Luke asked his son quietly.
“I dunno. Johnny seemed frightened, and that’s saying a lot for him,” Lucky said, his voice low. He didn’t want anyone to hear him, especially Emily. She seemed to think that everything in the world was her fault and he didn’t want her catching wind of this. Suddenly, a light caught him in the corner of his eye by the window. “What the Hell--”
“What?!, what do you see?,” Luke asked. He followed his son’s line of vision and found himself gazing at the building across the street.
“Someone was staring at me from across the street,” Lucky said, alarmed.
“Huh? What did he look like?,” Luke asked, staring at his son as he pulled the shades.
“I dunno, but he wasn’t your average ‘peeping tom’. This guy had binoculars and he was looking straight at us,” Lucky said, as he gazed at Emily thoughtfully. “We gotta tell Jason. Something is really wrong here.”
“Yup, you’re right on this one, Cowboy,” Luke said, equally alarmed and proud.
“Damn it! Damn it!,” Vincent said, cursing under his breath. The stupid building lights cast a glare on his binoculars and the damn kid saw him. “Oh well, I guess he’ll have to die first.” Vincent carefully packed up all his equipment and cleaned the room of his presence, knowing that he could never come back here. This spot was too hot now.
Bobbie sat in a chair by the couch, staring at Emily thoughtfully. “This cannot be happening,” she thought to herself. “What’s going on Emily?,” she asked out loud, desperately wanting answers.
“Momma, leave her alone,” Carly said quietly.
“What do you mean ‘leave her alone’?! I want to know what the hell is going on!!,” Bobbie said hotly.
As an argument broke out in the middle of Jason’s living room, no one except Lucky noticed how Emily began to shrink into herself. Quietly getting up, Emily made her way to the dark staircase and began to cry.
Lucky went to Emily and gathered his best friend in his arms, picking her up. Silently, he made his way up the steps, cradling his precious cargo in his strong arms. Taking her back into her bedroom, Lucky put Emily down on the bed and went in search of Kleenex. Walking into the bathroom, he noticed the faint red smudges on the floor and instinctively knew that those were the remnants of Emily’s botched suicide attempt. Stifling a sob, he found some tissues and went back into the bedroom to see Emily standing at the window, a blank look on her face. “Em...I got you some tissues.”
Emily turned her head to the side and stared into Lucky’s deep blue eyes. “Come here Lucky,” she said quietly.
Lucky made his way over to his friend and tried to give her the tissues. “Here.”
Emily took the tissues from him and put them on the window sill. Giving all of her attention to Lucky, she spoke. “I need you to do something for me Lucky,” she said in a serious tone.
Lucky stared at Emily. “All you need to do is ask,” he said, wondering what she wanted. It didn’t matter because at this point in time, he’d do anything to make her happy.
Emily gathered her fleeting spurt of courage and spoke. “I want...I want you to k-kiss me again,” she said, oblivious to the stunned look on Lucky’s face. “When you kissed me before, I felt safe and happy. Please help me,” she said, breaking down in tears. “Kiss me.”
Leaning forward, Lucky Spencer, her best friend for years, recently returned from the dead, did just that.
As everyone continued to argue downstairs, Lucky and Emily continued to kiss passionately upstairs in the bedroom. Leaning in, Emily wrapped her slender arms around Lucky’s waist and pressed her body against his. Moaning softly, Lucky kissed her more deeply, moving towards the bed, both teens oblivious to the world around them.
“What the Hell is your problem?!,” Carly yelled, as she paced the room. “I don’t know why Luke brought you here!”
“Why shouldn’t I be here?!,” Bobbie asked hotly. “I want to know what’s going on!”
Carly seethed with rage as she stared at her mother. “For the last time, It. Is. None. Of. Your. God--”
“Caroline,” Luke said, warning her.
Jax and Alexis watched as the Spencer clan had an all out fight in the middle of the living room. At any minute, Alexis expected Bobbie to haul off and smack her daughter and according to the look in Carly’s eyes, she’d hit back.
“Uh...you wanna make a run for the door?,” Jax asked, only half joking. “All this fighting can’t be good for Emily to see”
Alexis looked around the room. “Hold on, where is Emily?,” Alexis asked, alarmed. She hoped that Emily didn’t leave and do something drastic. Before she could say anything, Jason opened the door, Sonny and Johnny right behind him.
Lucky cradled Emily next to him as he continued to kiss Emily, placing little kisses along her jaw line, totally immersed in the moment. Suddenly, he jerked back.
Emily stared up at Lucky in surprise. “What? What’s wrong?,” she asked placing a hand on Lucky’s cheek.
Lucky slowly worked his way out of Emily’s embrace and sat up. “Em...this can’t happen. Not now,” he said quietly.
Shocked, Emily sat up and stared at Lucky. “What? Why not?,” she asked, starting to panic.
Lucky turned to gather Emily’s small hands in his. “Because you’re using us...this to escape. You can’t do that Em,” he said quietly.
“Use us? This? What are you talking about?,” Emily asked hotly.
“Emily, you can’t use sex to try and forget your problems. Its only going to create more problems,” Lucky said quietly.
Tears of rage began to gather in Emily’s eyes. “So you don’t want me? Is that it?,” she asked as she launched herself off the bed to pace the room.
Cursing, Lucky got up to stop her pacing. “No Emily, I want you...I love you so much it hurts, but we can’t do this now. You have to believe me Em, if we sleep together now, its only going to hurt us in the end,” he said.
Hearing his words and seeing the truth in them, Emily collapsed and slid to the floor. “God Lucky, I don’t know what to do anymore! I can’t take this! Why can’t it all go away? Why can’t I just go away?,” she cried, staring at her bandaged wrists.
“I don’t ever want to hear you talk like that Emily. Never. I care about you too much to let you hurt yourself again,” Lucky said angrily.
Bowing her head in defeat, Emily sobbed in Lucky’s arms.
AJ paced his bedroom angrily. Things could not fall apart not now. Suddenly, there was a knock at his door. “WHAT?!,” he bellowed, jerking his door open.
“Geeze, relax,” Reginald said. “Lila just wanted to ask you if Carly and Michael were home yet,” he said, spitting out Carly’s name like it was a curse. That woman got on his nerves.
Raking his hand through his hair, AJ spoke. “I don’t know where she’s at. She’s probably with her mother,” he said, slamming his door in Reginald’s face. “Yeah right, that b*tch is with Jason,” he said to himself. It was time to speed up the plan. Picking up his cell phone, AJ dialed a now familiar number. Things were not going to fall apart on him, not this time.
Jason stood in his living room, watching everyone. Things had fallen apart as soon as he and Sonny left. Bobbie and Carly were having a ‘stare off’ as Luke watched them warily, watching for potential bloodshed between mother and daughter. Alexis and Jax were sitting on the couch, ready to bolt at any second. Emily and Lucky were....”Where is Emily,” Jason asked tightly. Suddenly, everyone turned to look at him.
“Uh..she didn’t leave, I would have heard the door slam,” Jax said helpfully. Jason just glared.
“I think I saw her on the steps, with Lucky I think,” Luke said. “I’ll go upstairs and pushed the bedroom door open, he glanced over to meet the questioning eyes of his father. Not knowing how long his father had actually been standing there, Lucky panicked. Easing Emily up, Lucky placed her under the covers on the bed and kissed her goodnight. Walking over the door, he opened it fully and looked up at his father. “Hi Dad”
Luke stared at his son, trying to figure out what to say. “Um, Cowboy, we gotta talk”
General Hospital's Friendship Forever