Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Five:
Weighing the Options

Nikolas' Apartment Building, Parking Garage.

Nikolas walks across the concrete towards his car, still feeling completely detached from his surroundings. This feeling hasn't left him in days. It's like being on really bad sedatives. It's taking every ounce of will power he can access to continue to function in any real way… And today he has to find a way to function.

Having been faced with yet another sleepless night, Nikolas is finding himself concentrating more than he would have expected on Lucky's absence and Helena's whereabouts. The two questions are linked in his brain and he can't shake a feeling like the answer is going to cause more problems rather than less. After all… Lucky might be skilled at disappearing into thin air, but his Grandmother's ability to seek and destroy was mythical at this point. It was hard for him to trust that his brother was actually safe. He was still relieved, as tense as the conversation had been, that Lucky had called him. At least he had some clue what to expect now. Short blunt phone calls out of nowhere. As such he was now giving undue worry to his cell phone battery and it's continued health. Not that he had anything new to tell Lucky. But he didn't want to be unreachable.

Reaching the car, Nikolas pulls his keys out of his pocket, flipping through them to locate the car key. He freezes as a shadow appears in the corner of his line of vision. He looks up to see Luke Spencer standing on the other side of the vehicle, a malevolent smile on his face. Nikolas scowls at him.

Nik: Don't you ever use a front door?

Luke: Why would I when the back one is always unlocked? (Nikolas turns away from him, unlocking the door to his car)

Nik: I don't have anything to say to you.

Luke: I don't know about that. (Nikolas looks up at him)

Nik: I might have been someone different to you a couple of days ago, but you're the same person you've always been to me.

Luke: Don't sweat it, kid. You're still less than nothing to me. (He stops and thinks a moment) Now… No. Wait a moment. I just might have some use for you… Yeah. I think for once, I actually have reason to talk to you. Even if you are messing with my family… AGAIN. (Nikolas blinks at him)

Nik: Not even YOU can blame me for this.

Luke: Oh yeah? Try me.

Nik: I wasn't THERE. It's not my fault that I'm not the son of the person they always said I was. But you're sure as hell going to make me pay for it, aren't you?

Luke: It's crossed my mind.

Nik: (coldly) Do what you want. It doesn't matter to me.

Luke: Really? You're ready to give up everything you were raised with and become one of us peasants, Nikolas? Not that you'd ever REALLY be one of us, huh? No… You'll still be a Cassadine. Hell, at some point, you'll probably even inherit all the stuff that you've been waiting for. Just a little later… And with a hell of a lot less chance at redemption.

Nik: You're unbelievable. You'll do anything, won't you? You'll do ANYTHING to make us suffer! There is NOTHING to be gained by using this against me! Nothing but causing my father and my MOTHER embarrassment, nothing but robbing me of the destiny I was raised to… Yeah, I can see how that would make you feel really good. Does it? Does the idea make you feel important? Because in that case, go for it. Just ignore what it might do to Laura and Lulu… The important part is that I suffer, right? (Luke stares at him a long moment, then breaks out in a grin)

Luke: “Go for it?” (He laughs. Nikolas glares at him, then pulls open the door to his car).

Nik: I'm leaving.

Luke: “Go for it.” (Luke's smile snaps off. He narrows his eyes at him) Exactly how much time have you been spending with my son?

Nik: Why don't you ask him? (Nikolas stops and gives his forehead “V8” smack) Oh, right! You can't. You don't know where he is!

Luke: (darkly) Do you? (Nikolas stops and meets Luke's gaze. Not to be trifled with. He looks at him defiantly)

Nik: You KNOW Lucky wouldn't tell anyone where he went. It's a violation of the most basic rules of Spencerhood. (Luke continues to stare at him without blinking, without any emotion at all, just that same old undercurrent of intimidation.)

Luke: (coldly) Have you been in contact with him? (Nikolas stares at Luke, for the first time in his whole life, feeling like he has something the man wants. He knows a hell of a lot more about Lucky right now that his own father does. He feels a rush of power. He's been waiting for this. For four years, he's been waiting for Luke Spencer to need something from him. And he REALLY wishes he could enjoy the moment. But even with Luke's hostility, his cold and threatening manner, Nikolas can see just the slightest flicker of vulnerability. From Luke. A man he hates without reservation. And as much as he'd like to hit him with an emotional sucker punch he knows, without a doubt, that whatever he could do would just turn around to bite him. Or if not, then Laura… Or even Lucky. He silently debates what Lucky would want him to do. Finally he comes up with an answer.)

Nik: I don't have anything to tell you about him. (Luke absorbs this, then leans across the roof of Nikolas' car, his voice dropping to a growl)

Luke: Listen to me. You want to keep your little lifestyle you got going here... You're right. I don't care. But you were the last person to see my son before he left, weren't you?

Nik: How do you know that?

Luke: I know my son. I know that nothing he was doin' made any sense and the last thing I'd expect him to do if he was blowing town is check in with you… Which is why he probably did it.

Nik: I don't think his being here had anything to do with you.

Luke: That kid is a part of my blood. From the day he was born, nothing I ever did wasn't about him somehow. Same for him. (Nikolas stares at him. He's never been able to figure out why that sort of ownership, that kind of possessive talk Luke makes about the people he loves doesn't send everyone running the other way. Or maybe he just doesn't want to. People seem to want Luke to think that he owns a part of them… Because if he doesn't see you that way, then you're not worth anything to him. Nikolas clears his throat)

Nik: If I have anything… If there is anything I can do to help Lucky, he knows I'll do it.

Luke: He doesn't need your help.

Nik: He might feel differently.

Luke: (heatedly) Look! He may have taken something from you, he may have seen a way to use you as a means to an end, but no way in hell does he need you… and you better not be laboring under that impression. (Luke stops, realizing that this probably isn't helping Lucky). Look. You can try and feed me any story you want, I know what I know. I KNOW my son has not been himself lately. I know he was confused and angry and that he probably made some decisions he didn't think out all the way… And I know you had something to do with that. (He points a figure at Nikolas, warningly) I'm keeping an eye on you. You know ANYTHING about my son, I'm giving you twenty-four hours to come to me with it.

Nik: Don't hold your breath.

Luke: (exploding, hitting the roof of the car with is hand) DON'T MESS WITH ME, BOY! Don't you push me ONE inch further. I'm giving you some time to think about it, THANK ME for that, it's as much of a favor I'm ever going to do for you. I will do ANYTHING for my son…

Nik: Whether he wants you to or not. (Luke stares at Nikolas without incomprehension. WANT? WANT has nothing to do with this! He grounds himself, giving Nikolas a look of pure malice.)

Luke: Twenty-four hours, Sweet Prince. Or the walls of Wyndemere come a tumbling down. (Luke turns and walks away, leaving Nikolas to his thoughts. Nikolas watches him, feeling the tension in his back doubling. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. This isn't about Luke, he tells himself. Not for him. He pulls the door the rest of the way open, and gets in the car.)

The Golden Horseshoe Motel

Emily sits up in bed, having propped herself up against the headboard, nervously fiddling with her locket. For once, she was awake when Lucky left on morning errands… specifically in search of breakfast… but she's still feeling anxious. Actually, a surprising amount of nervous energy is pulsing through her body. She slept solidly the night before right up until four A.M. From that point on she'd kept returning to the waking world for no apparent reason. It had been comforting, however, to have Lucky beside her, at least. She knew he hadn't been sleeping particularly well. That was part of the reason he was never around when she woke up. She wasn't sure exactly what was going on in his head right now, but she knew it was nothing good.

Emily leans back against the pillows and looks around the room. It's being wonderfully still today. When she turns her head it still sways a little, but for the most part, it's staying where it's supposed to be. Her headache is even a little better. It's all relative. This would probably count as one of the world's worst headaches if she hadn't been living in severe pain for the last almost-week. She can even focus enough to read a little. She has tried to read in Lucky's absence, but can't make herself care about the content of what she was examining.

She hears the sound of keys outside the door, and she tenses automatically. There's no cause for concern however, as Lucky appears. She looks at him nervously, and Lucky smiles at her, making it instantly clear that he's not planning on acknowledging last night. Oh, good… This is healthy. On the other hand, she doesn't feel like spending her time rehashing how horrible she feels. She returns the smile.

Em: Hey.

Lucky: Good morning. Again.

Em: That was kinda quick. (Lucky shrugs)

Lucky: Incoming. (Without really thinking about it, he tosses the paper bag containing breakfast at her. Emily reaches up and catches it, then freezes and looks at the bag in her hand. She looks up at Lucky in amazement. He looks equally shocked) You caught it.

Em: I know.

Lucky: Does that mean you're finally seeing straight?

Em: (Knitting her brow) It's getting harder to tell. (She looks over at him) It'd be about time. But it would be just my luck to be able to catch flying objects but not be able to find the floor.

Lucky: Yeah, well do me a favor… eat something before you try that particular mission again.

Em: Yes, sir. (She opens the bag). Oh.

Lucky: Uh yeah… That was all they had. (Emily nods, taking a croissant out of the bag.)

Em: Sure. (She stares at it, feeling tears begin to well up in her eyes. She shakes her head determinedly, then looks up at him, holding the bag out. Lucky takes in her reaction, then slowly crosses the room, opening a bottle of carton of orange juice as he walks. He puts the carton down on the nightstand and takes the bag from her. Emily bows her head and stares hard at the croissant, ripping off the end and popping it into her mouth. She doesn't taste it as she chews it, then swallows purposefully. Lucky flops down on the bed beside her).

Lucky: (softly) You miss them, huh? (Emily shakes her head)

Em: (a little high strung) They drive me crazy every day of my life, everything I do is about getting out of that house and doing what I want to do without having to deal with their judgments and demands every day of my life… (She smiles at him weakly) But… I guess that… It's just not knowing, not being able to find out… What are they doing, are they worried? That kind of stuff.

Lucky: (heavily) Yeah… Well, Jason's taking care of it.

Em: They're still probably completely hysterical.

Lucky: That's sort of a state of being for them, isn't it? (Emily tries to smile again, but fails miserably. Lucky reaches out and pulls her against his chest. She gratefully rests her head against him, laughing bitterly at herself).

Em: This is it. Welcome to day three of the Emily Bowen Quartermaine Mood Watch: Melancholy.

Lucky: Don't worry about it.

Em: Stay tuned tomorrow for expected morning bitchiness. A repeat performance.

Lucky: Em… (Emily giggles slightly, and buries her face against him)

Em: Sorry… I'm just…

Lucky: Melancholy. I get it. (Emily sighs heavily, then looks up at him)

Em: Hey, how are you?

Lucky: Uh… Fine. (Emily looks at him a long moment. Lucky, aware of her gaze, tries to find something to do. He leans over and picks up her abandoned breakfast) Just do me a favor and eat something. (Emily shifts against him, taking the croissant from him again, and tears off another section, forcing it down her throat. They sit in silence a long moment until Emily finally speaks).

Em: Tomorrow's Saturday, right?

Lucky: Yeah.

Em: So… That's a week from the accident.

Lucky: Yeah, it is.

Em: Which means... I might have been released, like… Tomorrow or Sunday. (Lucky looks down at her)

Lucky: Where are you going with this?

Em: I'm just thinking, maybe I can't walk today, but by Sunday I'll probably be able to stumble unassisted. Which means that I'm kinda better. (Lucky nods. He slides his hand up to rest against her head. Emily closes her eyes at his touch, then opens them again, feeling a surge of excitement… her mood having officially swung up again) I just mean, once I'm out of the “hospital zone”, are we going to stay here, or does that mean we can go someplace else?

Lucky: Uh… Where do you want to go?

Em: I don't know. I just was wondering how long we stay here. I mean… I agree, this was a good place to go when I could barely move, but once I'm better, we should probably find some place a little more remote, right? (Lucky nods distractedly) Or are we sticking around here for another reason?

Lucky: No, we can go someplace else.

Em: Any ideas. (Lucky shook his head, his stomach tightening. There wasn't really any reason they couldn't just take off to wherever. There had to be a million other places they could go. But this one was close to Port Charles, It was a quicker commute. He is pulled out of his thoughts when he realizes Emily is looking at him). Can you give me, like, a CLUE as to what's going on here? I mean… Besides the fact that you went to talk to Nikolas and you've already called him once…

Lucky: I needed to know where things stood in Port Charles.

Em: Where do they stand?

Lucky: Right where we left them.

Em: So what now? (Lucky, getting visibly tense, shakes his head)

Lucky: I don't know. It's kinda hard to figure out until… (He stops.)

Em: (prodding) Until…?

Lucky: Until we know what Helena's going to do about the fact that we left. (Emily furrows her brow)

Em: Or maybe what Nikolas is going to do about what she does? (Lucky sighs heavily)

Lucky: (Firmly) Nikolas won't do anything stupid. He's the rational one, remember? (Emily looks at him, clearly unconvinced. However this is her third attempt to find out what happened with him and Nikolas and it's been just as successful as the first two. Something tells her not to push it. She rolls away from him and struggles to sit up against the headboard again.)

Em: Well, it's not like I have had a chance to get bored with this place yet. I mean, besides the walls of this room.

Lucky: You want to stick around a bit? (Emily can't help but notice a note of hopefulness in his voice. She suspects sticking around isn't his gut reaction, the something in his head is telling him moving is a good idea, just like it is for her.)

Em: I can handle that. (She gestures to a brochure on the table) I was reading that while you were gone, there's some stuff to do down here.

Lucky: You were reading?

Em: Yeah… I tried yesterday and it didn't make me feel worse, so I thought I'd give it another shot today.

Lucky: And?

Em: Non-event. Which is a good thing. (She smiles at him) I think there's just the slightest chance all this bed rest and boredom is finally doing me some good. ANYWAY… did you know they fought part of the War of 1812 up here? There's this place, Queenston Heights, where they fought the battle of… Well, ok. The Battle of Queenston Heights. And there's this big statue of one of the British Generals, or… Canadian? I'm not sure which he counted as. Anyway, he died there, and they built him this huge monument with a bronze statue on top, or… Well, some kind of metal. Anyway, he was pointing off into the distance, or leading some kind of charge or something, so his arm was out, and it got hit by lightening… (She stops to take a breath, aware that she's babbling). Man. I think I'm going through History Class withdrawal.

Lucky: Just a bit.

Em: Well, hey… I might as well LEARN something while I'm here. I mean… (She frowns) I'm still trying to figure out what this all really means, you know? I mean, I had these plans for a whole year, I've been devoting my whole life to them. All my time, my energy, my health… And now it's like “Oh, forget that. Change of plans. Now I'm just going to… Hide out in motel rooms.” (She looks up at him) I think I should be upset about that.

Lucky: You don't look upset.

Em: I'm not. I mean… I guess I've got some perspective. (She holds on hand out, palm up) Death. (She displays the other, parallel to the other hand, like a scale) Berkeley. (She bites her lip and looks down at them) They don't put that in the “stay in school” ads, do they? (She stops dead, then looks up at Lucky) Whoa… Hey, wait a second. Am I a high school drop out?

Lucky: You've missed a week.

Em: yeah, but if I don't get back…

Lucky: Em! Can you seriously see yourself not finishing high school? Come on. (Emily smiles slightly)

Em: True. I guess I can do with the break, anyway.

Lucky: That's the idea. And if it makes you feel any better, we can go see that one-armed statue guy.

Em: Sir Isaac Brock. And I think they fixed him.

Lucky: Whatever. (He leans over and lays a soft kiss on her forehead) Just get better first. (Emily nods)

Em: Hey, what are you doing today, anyway?

Lucky: Uh… A whole lot of nothing, why?

Em: Wanna play cards or something? I'm totally wired.

Lucky: Cards.

Em: Yeah.

Lucky: With you?

Em: Who else?

Lucky: Are you serious?

Em: I need SOME kind of distraction, don't you?

Lucky: Sure… But you never play anything with me anymore.

Em: It's a rare occasion, come on. Don't you want to take advantage of it?

Lucky: I don't know… You're not the best loser I've ever come across.

Em: (steadily) I'm a FINE loser. You're a really rotten winner.

Lucky: I'm not a rotten winner. You're just mad because I have a lot of PRACTISE at being the winner.

Em: I'm BORED. And I can tell in a few hours I'm going to be at the apex of boredom… So play something with me.

Lucky: (grinning) I'm not getting into Bridge or Gin or any of those games you play with Lila

Em: (challenging) Euchre. I'm not messing with you and poker anymore.

Lucky: You HATE Euchre.

Em: Yeah, but I always get close to beating you at SOME point. It gives me hope.

Lucky: (leaning over to pull a deck of cards out of the nightstand) Oh, you can always have HOPE.

Em: And I'm WATCHING you deal, ok? Don't try anything.

Lucky: (mock injury) Don't you trust me?

Em: With my life. But not with a deck of cards.

Wyndemere, Garden.

Stefan walks slowly around the fountain in the still-bare Garden of the Manor, considering what Alexis has just told him. Alexis watches him with concern.

Alexis: I know what you're thinking. It's far too familiar.

Stefan: Not at all. It's unprecedented. (He looks back at Alexis) Katherine was a warning shot. It was the manner in which she chose to let us know that though we had exhausted her resources, she was not out of our lives. I knew from that moment on that her next assault on the family would be her most brutal, her most vicious. I simply can't explain these actions, however. For her to murder before making her first volley to us… And then to leave town on the heels of it… It doesn't add up.

Alexis: That makes two of us. If she's behind the death of Nikolas' lover… I just don't see what she stands to gain through that action. Along with the fact that Nikolas is as certain that she was behind Katherine's death as any of us can be… What does she hope to accomplish? Does she want him to hate her forever?

Stefan: She is old, Alexis, and getting older by the day. I… I must admit, in my darkest moment, I wonder if perhaps she is attempting to simply destroy all that which life has denied her.

Alexis: Including Nikolas.

Stefan: He must be protected… at any costs.

Alexis: I… I just don't know what to think anymore. None of it makes sense to me. And I agree, I'm very worried about Nikolas right now.

Stefan: Nikolas is… He is confused right now. He's not thinking straight, that seems clear. It's imperative that we allay his fears in regards to returning to Wyndemere. No more than ever. (He looks up at Alexis) How is that matter regarding Lucky Spencer that I asked you to look into?

Alexis: In light of recent events, I haven't had a chance to look into it.

Stefan: Do so immediately. I need something to ensure Nikolas understands that we are on side with him. I can't afford for this disenchantment of his to continue. For all of our sakes… most importantly his own.