"Emily. Em, wake up." Lucky gently nudged her.

"What?" Emily drowsily lifted her head from his shoulder.

"We're almost there."

Emily rubbed her eyes. "That quickly?"

"Yeah, it would be quick for someone who was asleep for two hours." Carly grinned, sitting with Michael in her lap, across from them.

Emily got up and stepped over Lucky to sit in the empty seat on his left. She stared out the tiny window of the jet. Through the thin layer of clouds, she could see the ocean and a small strip of land.

"Attention, would the passengers please secure their safety belts for landing."

"Three weeks on the island will be paradise." Carly smiled as she buckled herself and the year old boy. "Nothing but sunbathing, swimming on the beach-"

"And best of all, no Quartermaines'." Emily joked.

"How about a little adventure while we're there." Lucky said.

"No way," Carly replied. "I get all of the adventure I want in Port Charles."

"Well, who knows." Lucky shrugged. "Something could turn up."

Emily Bowen-Quartermaine stared out the tiny window, grinning happily as the plane descended.

The island wasn't small. In fact, it was quite large. There were many tiny boutiques and shops and restaurants with fabulous food. The beaches were private and beautiful, with the sun casting brilliant glows down onto the ocean water.

The house in which they were staying in was an old, adobe and held many antiques, from antique chairs and tables to old oak dressers. The house stood atop a hill, with many fruit and oak trees surrounding it, and it had a beautiful view of the ocean.

They drove up the long driveway to the house. Emily stepped out of the jeep and glanced around her. Oh, how she loved it here.

"Hey, this place is great." Lucky said as he looked around.

Emily opened the trunk and with Jason's help, started taking out the bags.

"It is, isn't it." She glanced out at the ocean.

"Are all of the beaches private?"

"Most are, to those who live on this side of the island. Near town, there's a public beach and a boardwalk."

Emily carried a suitcase inside. Lucky followed with his own.

"Choose a room." Emily said. "There are plenty."

Emily walked into a light yellow room that had a view of the ocean. She dumped her suitcase down on the bed and started to unpack.

A few minutes later, Carly stuck her head in the doorway and said,

"Hurry and unpack. We're going to go eat in town."

Emily nodded and finished putting her clothes away. She met up with Lucky, Carly, Jason, and Michael outside and soon they were driving into town.

They had dinner in a small Italian restaurant, having a lighthearted, fun conversation and passing jokes back and forth.

The sun was just setting when they got back to the house. Emily climbed the stairs to the outside patio and watched the waves in the ocean. She turned as Lucky came up beside her and sat down next to her.

"So, do you like it here?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, it's great. A little adventure would suffice, but you know, you can't have everything." Lucky grinned.

Emily laughed. "You won't get any adventure around here, trust me."

"Hey, Em?"

Emily looked over at her friend. "What?"

"Didn't you say that the beaches on this side of the island were private?"

Emily followed his gaze down onto the sand. She saw a figure on a horse that was galloping right by the shoreline. Emily quickly stood up and rushed over to the railing of the patio. She leaned out a little to get a closer look at the figure. Her eyes grew wide in recognition.

"Nikolas?"

Emily ran down to the beach, her sandals slapped against the stairs. She ran out onto the cool sand.

"Nikolas!"

She came to a stop and stared after the figure. He was halfway down the beach now. Too far for him to hear her. Lucky walked up beside her and watched as the horse galloped away. Emily folded her arms across her chest.

"I wonder what he's doing here." She whispered, feeling puzzled. She glanced over at Lucky and watched as his eyes narrowed as he thought of his half brother.

Well Lucky, she thought as she turned back to watch the small figures in the distance. You just might get that adventure that you wanted.

"I'm glad that we came here, Jason." Carly said as she put the leftovers from the restaurant in the refrigerator.

Jason looked up from his work. "Yeah, me too."

Carly walked over to the playpen in which they had set up and picked up Michael.

"You're enjoying it here too, aren't you Michael?"

The little boy giggled. Jason smiled and glanced back down at his work.

"I have to go back to Port Charles in a few days. I have some business to take care of." He looked up at Carly. "Will you be alright here?"

Carly nodded as she put Michael back down. "Yea, we'll be fine."

"Good. Johnny and Benny will be here, just in case. I've got other guys on the island too. I don't want to take any chances."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about us." Carly's face grew puzzled. She set down the blue stuffed animal beside the small boy and turned to face Jason, her hand on her hip.

"Jason, what chances?"

Jason stood up, putting his work away. "Nothing."

"Tell me Jason, what chances?" She grew angry at Jason's simple response.

Carly watched angrily as Jason started for the kitchen, ignoring her question.

"What chances, Jason!" she yelled.

Jason silently turned around and stared at her.

Without blinking, he said, "chances on your life."

Carly stared at Jason. "What do you mean?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

Jason turned and walked out onto the balcony, where he could see the ocean waves tumbling onto the shore.

"You heard me, Carly."

Carly slowly walked over to the doorway. "Tell me what's going on. If our lives are in danger, I want to know about it."

"You don't need to know."

"I don't want to be left in the dark! Tell me, Jason. I want to know what is going on."

The front door slammed shut. Jason walked off of the balcony and said quietly,

"Not here."

Emily and Lucky walked into the den.

"Hi, what's going on?" she asked.

"Nothing, why?" Jason wanted to know.

Emily smiled. "'Cause you two look so serious. Lighten up, we're supposed to be having fun."

"Oh, and we are. In fact, Jason and I were just going to have a fun talk." Carly raised her eyes pointedly at Jason who sighed and led the way to the study.

"I wondered what's going on with those two." Lucky said, coming in from the kitchen and handing Emily a soda.

Emily just shrugged. "Something's always going on. Why should this day be any different?"

"'Cause we're in danger." Carly shouted. "This is my life that's in danger. This is Michael's life that's in danger. This is your sister and her friend's life that we're talking about here, Jason, I can't believe you weren't going to tell me!"

"I didn't want you to worry." Jason said quietly.

"Well, now I know and now I'm worrying. So tell me everything. I mean it, Jason. I want to know everything that's going on."

Jason leaned forward in his desk.

"Sit down."

Carly obeyed and sat down in the chair opposite him.

"Here's the deal. Moreno's out of jail." He held up his hand to silence Carly when he saw her shocked expression. "Let me continue. He's out to destroy the business and he's out to destroy me. I know how he works. He wants to get to me. And what better way to do that than to target my family. I want to keep you guys safe-"

"So, you brought us here." Carly interrupted. She nodded, understanding.

"Right. He knew that you were living with me. He knew that Michael was there. And he knew that Emily almost always came over to the penthouse. I figured that you three would be his first targets and I couldn't let that happen, I wouldn't let that happen. I wanted you out of Port Charles."

"Okay," Carly said, her anger gone. "So what do we do now. Does he know that we're here, does he have people on the island?"

"Anything is possible with Moreno, everyone in this business knows that. For now, you stay low. I don't mean staying in this house until we leave, but just be on the look out for anything suspicious and always have Renaldo, or Johnny, or Benny with you."

Carly nodded.

Jason leaned forward. "Carly, do you trust me?"

"Of course, Jason. I trust you with my life."

"Good, because that's exactly what we're talking about here. One other thing." Jason's face showed how serious he was. "Promise me that you won't tell Emily or Lucky. They can't know."

Emily's face appeared in the doorway. "Too late."

"Emily." Jason immediately stood up. "I wish you hadn't heard that" he said quietly.

"It's already been said, and I already heard everything. Is it true, Jason?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Look, come on in." Emily stepped inside the doorway, followed by Lucky. "You understand what's going on, right? I don't want you to worry, that's not why I brought you here. I wanted you to have a good time."

"And to keep us out of danger." Lucky interrupted.

Jason nodded. "Yeah. It's not very likely that he'll know where we are. But in this business, everyone has connections."

"You're going back to New York?" Emily asked quietly.

Jason nodded. "Yeah, but you don't have to worry. I've got my men working on Moreno. I want at least one of them always with you, you hear?" Jason looked from Lucky to Emily. The two nodded in understanding.

"Okay, I'm leaving the day after tomorrow, but I'll keep in touch with you." Jason waved Emily and Lucky off. "Go, go down to the beach or something. Do something fun. I'll talk to you guys later."

As Emily and Lucky left, Carly closed the door behind them.

"This is more serious than you're making it sound, isn't it?"

Jason didn't answer.

"You know, Jason, all of this time I have been straight forward with you. I expect you to be the same way with me."

Jason looked up and stared at her, unblinking. "This could get ugly, Carly. It's my job to make sure that it doesn't. It's my job to keep you, and Michael, and my sister, and Lucky safe. And that's what I intend to do. This has got to stay confidential. If it doesn't, then who knows what could happen. I got you out of Port Charles, now it's Moreno's move."

Carly stared at him.

"Let's just hope that it isn't checkmate."

Emily flopped onto her bed and tasted a spoonful of chocolate ice cream.

"How can you eat plain vanilla?" She asked as Lucky sat down next to her with his own bowl of ice cream.

"How can you eat chocolate?" He asked back.

"'Cause chocolate's more…tasteful." She swirled her spoon in the dark brown ice cream as it started to melt. "Where do you think they came up with those words anyway? I mean, sure chocolate fits, but vanilla?"

Lucky smirked and shook his head.

"What?" Emily asked.

"You are one strange person."

"Speak for yourself, mister." Emily grinned and moved to a more comfortable position. "So what do you want to do? It's only nine thirty."

"Beach?"

"Tomorrow."

"Boardwalk?"

"Tomorrow."

Lucky looked at her. "Nikolas?"

Emily stared at him. Finally, she broke the gaze and as she put down her bowl of ice cream, she grabbed her light-weight jacket. "Come on." She said. "Let's go."

"Go where?"

"Listen, I'm every bit as curious about Nikolas being here as you are. So, let's find out."

"What are we going to do?"

Emily shrugged. "Say hi."

"Em, in case you haven't noticed, Spencer's don't say 'hi' to Cassadines."

"But neighbors do. If you want to stay, then stay. But I'm going." And with that she was out the door.

Lucky threw up his hands in exasperation and followed her out the door, muttering, "how do they do that?"

"So how do you know which house is his?" Lucky asked as the two walked along the sand.

Emily shrugged. "I don't." She glanced up at the house they were nearing. The house was huge, perhaps even bigger than the Quartermaine mansion, and it stood on a hill above the sand. There were steps leading from the sand all the way up to the front door and Emily could see a stable set in the back with a beautiful brown horse.

"This is it."

Lucky stopped walking and stared at the house.

"Are you coming?" Emily asked.

Lucky shook his head. "You know that Cassadines and Spencer's don't mix, Em."

"Then why did you come?"

"'Cause, I didn't want you to come here alone. Go on. I'll be right here waiting."

"Spencer, you are one weird person."

Emily hurried up the steps to the large gray mansion. She turned around as she neared the door and saw Lucky on the sand, watching her. She gave a small wave and walked the rest of the way. Emily hesitated before ringing the bell.

The door opened. She turned around to find Nikolas.

"Emily?" he asked, surprised.

Emily smiled. "Hi Nikolas."

"What are you doing here?"

Well, we came to the island for vacation. I saw you riding on the beach and so I came to say hi. How are you? I haven't seen you around lately."

"I've been good. Not much has been going on around here."

Emily nodded, agreeing. "I'm surprised to see you here."

"Yeah, well, we needed a vacation too. I'm here with Alexis." Nikolas gestured inside. "Do you want to come in?"

"Um, I can't." Emily replied. She pointed to the figure on the beach. "Lucky." She said, indicating that he was the figure gazing out into the ocean.

Nikolas nodded. "Well, hopefully you and I can get together while you're here."

Emily smiled, "yeah, hopefully."

They said their goodbyes, and Emily ran down the stairs to the beach.

Lucky turned around as Emily walked over to him.

"What'd he say?"

"He's on vacation, Lucky. Why are you so curious?" Emily started to walk off, leaving Lucky to catch up with her.

"He's a Cassadine, Em." He said once he caught up with her. "Cassadine's always have secrets."

"This is Heaven."

"Hmmm." Was Emily's only reply. She lifted her face to the sun and felt it's warm rays.

Underneath her black sunglasses, her eyes were closed. She could feel herself falling asleep. Between the waves in the ocean and the sunshine, it was easily luring her to sleep.

She stirred on the lounge chair and opened her eyes. The bright sun glared brilliantly down on her. She turned next to her to see Carly in the same position; arms down at her sides, head tilted up toward the sun, eyes closed.

Emily reached over and picked up the glass of iced tea from on top of the cooler. She took a long drink and then returned it to it's spot.

"What time is Jason leaving?" she asked Carly, sitting up and leaning on her elbow.

"Later this afternoon." Was her answer.

"Oh." She lay back and stared out at the ocean. "Will he be coming back?" She asked, sitting up again.

Carly sat up and took off her sunglasses. "What's with all of the questions, Em?"

Emily shrugged.

"You're not worried about Moreno, are you?"

"No, not at all."

"Good. You should be enjoying this vacation." Carly settled back in the chair and put on her sunglasses once again. Emily followed her example and did the same. She stared up at the clouds as they moved swiftly along with the breeze.

It's not Moreno I'm worried about, she thought, but Jason.

Jason zipped up the last suitcase and picked up his jacket from the bed.

"You know what my instructions are." He said to Renaldo.

The bodyguard nodded. "We have men all over the island, as well as in Port Charles."

"Good." Jason replied as he walked into the kitchen. "Lucky, I want you close to Emily at all times."

Lucky chuckled. "At all times?"

Jason tried hard not to smile. "Don't get smart with me. You're too young."

Lucky held up his hands to defend himself. "Hey, I didn't say a word."

Jason grinned. "Right. Renaldo, I want you, Johnny, and Benny watching over these three round the clock, understand? We can't take any chances." His cell phone rang. "Especially with Moreno", he finished. Jason took the phone out of his back pocket and answered it.

Lucky opened the fridge and surveyed the contents inside before grabbing a soda.

"Call me as soon as you hear anything more." Jason was saying into the phone. He hung up and tossed it onto the table.

"What's going on?" Renaldo asked.

Jason faced the two of them with his arms folded, his face blank. "Apparently Moreno has made his first move."

"So, what exactly did he say?"

Lucky shrugged as he walked in pace next to Emily along the beach.

"He wouldn't get into it with me. All he said was that there was something going down in good ol' Port Chuck."

"Oh." Emily looked at the ground thoughtfully. "You don't think that it was a diversion or anything, do you?"

"Nah." Lucky said. "I don't think that it's anything to worry about." He avoided her eyes, afraid that she would see that he was lying. Truth was, he knew what had happened in Port Charles and he knew what was going on. Emily stared at Lucky. He could see that she knew he was lying, but she didn't press him.

Lucky looked at Emily and suddenly grabbed her hand.

"Come on!" he yelled as he started running.

"Where are we going?" she shouted as the water rushed upon her bare feet.

Lucky just grinned and pulled her alongside him into the water.

"Lucky, no, the water's freezing." She protested. Lucky easily lifted her up into his arms and walked out into the water. "Lucky Spencer, don't you dare!"

Lucky let go of Emily and laughed as she fell into the water. Her clothes were soaked when she came back up to the surface. She looked evilly at Lucky.

"You're dead, Spencer, come here!" she said, trying not to laugh.

Their laughs and screams echoed throughout the quiet beach, as someone watched with a smile on their hidden face.

"I thought that you had this place watched!" Jason yelled at one of his bodyguards.

"We did, sir."

"Then how could this have happened?" The fury in Jason's voice kept the bodyguard's mouth shut.

Jason looked around the Scorpio's living room. "Where is she?"

The bodyguard hesitated. Jason turned to stare at him. "I asked you a question."

"She's in the hospital, sir."

Turning around, Jason spoke to his other men. "I want Robin's hospital room watched 24/7, do you hear me? No one goes in or out of there without you knowing. And you…"he pointed to the first bodyguard. "You're fired. Get outta here."

The other men kept blank faces as the door closed.

"Where's the new kid?" Jason asked.

"He's talking to Justus about legal matters, sir."

"Alright, when he's done, I want to see him. I've got a job for him."

"What are you going to do now, Jason?"

"It's our move, Moreno knows that. But this time, I'm not going to play by the rules."

Although it was ten at night, it was anything but dark. The boardwalk was filled with light and laughter as crowds shopped and went on the rides. Emily looked around her, wondering about this happy lifestyle that the people on the island must have.

"What's down there?" Lucky asked, coming up beside her.

"What's where?" Emily asked.

Lucky pointed down to the beach. Emily shrugged. "It looks like some kind of beach party."

"Let's go check it out."

"No, Lucky, I don't want to butt in on a party."

"There's so many people there, no one would notice." Lucky grabbed Emily's hand. "Come on, please?"

"Spencer, look at me one more time with those puppy dog eyes and I'll deck you." She grinned.

"Great, let's go!"

The rock music grew louder as the two got closer to the bonfire. Kids were laughing and chatting with their friends or dancing to the music. The crowd was large, but not too big to cause a huge disturbance.

"Hey, you're new here, aren't you?" Emily turned around as a teenager her age with curly, blonde hair spoke to her.

"Yeah", she answered him.

"Well, here." The boy thrust a large plastic cup to her and walked off to distribute the rest of the drinks he was holding.

"Hey," Lucky suddenly reappeared at her side.

"Where'd you go?" she asked.

"I got us a drink."

"I already got…from…some…kid." She took a sniff of the drink. "I think this stuff is spiked."

Lucky smelt his own and nodded. "I think you're right." He looked around, and then gave the cups to the nearest couple.

Emily shook her head and laughed. Lucky shrugged innocently, "what?"

"Nothing, do you want to head back up to the boardwalk?"

Lucky replied with a nod of his head and the two started back up the beach to the safety of the boardwalk's lights.

Suddenly Lucky stopped.

"What's wrong, Spencer?"

Lucky's eyes glanced about, never staying still on one spot.

"Lucky, what is it?"

He glanced back to the party by the bonfire, where dozens of people crowded about.

"Spencer, quit scaring me, what's going on?" Emily demanded.

But the sounds of gunfire drowned out his reply.

"Hey, how are you?"

Robin opened her eyes. "I'm okay."

Jason walked over and pulled up a chair to the hospital bed.

"You don't look okay."

"Well, I have been better." Robin replied.

"Can you tell me what happened?" he asked.

Robin nodded. She winced as she shifted in the bed.

"I just came back from GH, I had a check up to go to, and I walked in the house.

I went into the kitchen to get a glass of iced tea." Robin smiled at Jason's patient look. "Petty details. Anyway, I went back into the living room to watch TV, and I heard gunshots. So, like instinct, I ducked."

Jason nodded.

"The gunshots stopped, so I stood up. But then I heard the door open, so I ran."

"Did they run after you?"

Robin shook her head. "No, but they kept shooting." She touched her wounded shoulder. "No pink Band-Aids for me, I guess." Robin chuckled as Jason glanced at the large white bandage on her arm.

Jason squeezed her hand and stood up. "Thanks for telling me. I have to go now, I have an appointment. I've got this place watched 24 hours a day. If you need anything, call me."

"Thanks Jason."

Jason gave her one last encouraging smile before walking out the door.

You're going to pay for this, Moreno. He thought as he walked toward the elevator. The rules have officially been broken.

The night was deafeningly quiet as the gunshots stopped. Lucky slowly got off of Emily, who he pushed down into the sand to protect. He held out his hand and helped her up.

Emily looked about with fear in her eyes.

"You okay?" Lucky asked her.

"Uh-huh." She said, unable to say anything more.

The crowd at the bonfire started to talk again, Emily could hear the fear in their voices.

"Is everyone okay?" Someone yelled out.

The air was filled with a chorus of yes'.

Within minutes, police cars pulled up.

"They'll want to talk to us." Lucky said. "Let's wait here."

Sure enough, a few minutes later, two cops walked over.

"We're questioning everyone around here tonight." A petite blond woman said. "Can you tell us if you saw anyone unusual here?"

Emily glanced at Lucky. "We're just visiting on the island. We wouldn't know."

"You didn't see anyone run off, maybe?"

They both shook their heads no.

The officers thanked them and went to talk to another group of people.

"Come on, let's go back to the house." Lucky put his arm casually around Emily and led her away from the crowd.

Emily glanced back at the darkness that seemed to engulf a part of the beach. She squinted, trying to make out the shape of a person that she barely saw. She almost gave up looking when the figure turned, leaving her to see the glint of a gun in his hand.