New York City
The Apartment of Nikolas Cassadine and Emily Quartermaine

The phone rang just as Emily was making her way
slowly out of the shower, her long brown hair wrapped in a
towel and a blue silk robe pulled tight around her slender figure.
The clock on the mantel said 10 a.m. which meant that Nikolas
was in the middle of his rounds at Columbia by now and she
was on her own for the day.

God she hated being out of work. Hated it with a
passion. She had even taken a minor part in an off off
Broadway production just to have something to do with her
free time. She knew she was being impatient. Her agent had
told her time and time again that it would take some time and
she needed to relax. It was good advice, advice that Emily tried
really hard to follow most of the time. It was just some times
the frustration got to her. It felt like she was eighteen again and
starting out. Instead she was 24 and starting over.

The last two years had been hell. Her kidnapping, her
fall off the roof, the long and slow and hard recovery, and then
the return to New York to try to reclaim the life she had lost.
She had broken almost every major bone in her body in that fall
and the process of healing had been excruciatingly painful. Even
the natural beauty of Greece where Nikolas had taken her had
not really mitigated the ordeal she endured trying to get better.

And now here she was. Except for a stiffness in the
morning and on cold rainy days she was pretty much back to
normal. Maybe not back to jogging in Central Park everyday,
but able to function on her own. Still fearing her own addictive
nature (the effort to stay sober following the heroin she had
been injected with during her kidnapping was not one she
wanted to remember) Emily steered clear of prescription pain
killers and preferred to settle for aspirin and natural remedies.
And twenty minutes in the Jacuzzi daily didn’t hurt.

Emily smiled as she pulled on a pair of khaki pants and a
cream blouse. She could still remember how indignant Nikolas
had been when the landlord had refused to let him install a
jacuzzi tub for Emily. They had discussed moving but they both
really liked the old fashioned character of the building and the
friends they had made here. So Nikolas had surprised her one
day by simply announcing that he had bought the building.
Emily had been flabbergasted and then amused at the typical
Cassadine move. But when he had knocked down the wall
between their apartment and the empty one next door and given
her the jacuzzi, she had rewarded him with a demonstration of
other things that a jacuzzi could be used for.

The phone rang and Emily picked it up.

“Quartermaine/Cassadine Residence.”

“When are you two going to make it officially just the
Cassadine residence?” Emily’s agent Janet kidded good
naturedly.


“What makes you think that Nik wouldn’t change his
name to Quartermaine?”

“If you asked him to, that man would change his name
to Santa Claus.”

Emily giggled. “The scary thing is that I’d probably be
the first in line to be Mrs. Claus.”

“Well try not to do it today because it might be a little
difficult to convince Steven Spielberg to audition an actress
named Mrs. Claus.” Janet finished smugly.

Emily almost dropped the phone. “What? Steven
Speilberg? You have to be kidding?”

“Nope. He’s looking for a young relatively unknown
actress to play a supporting part in his next movie. I’ve seen the
script, the part is small but it has breakthrough written all over
it.”

“Oh my god,” Emily sank down to the bed. “I can’t
believe it.”

“I can.” Janet grumbled. “I had to practically agree to
sleep with his casting director to get him to see you, but then
the guy is drop dead gorgeous and single to boot. The catch is
that Spielberg can only see you today. “He’s heading off
tomorrow to Chile to begin preproduction and the original
actress came down with a virus.”

“Chile?” Emily’s euphoria begins to die down. “The
shoot will last three or four months. But you should only have
to be there three months. You don’t mind location shooting do
you--Doesn’t your family own an airline?”

“TWA. ELQ bought it last year when Ned went on his
buying frenzy after he and Alexisis broke up again.”

“Then what’s the problem. You know that Nikolas is
solidly behind your career. Besides, I think you should focus on
getting the part first then figure out the living arrangements.”

“I guess you’re right. Okay give me the time and the
place and I’ll be there.”
A few minutes later, Emily hung up the phone quietly.
Three months. She and Nikolas had not spent one night apart in
five years, except of course for the time she had been
kidnapped. She looked around the large bedroom and all she
saw were signs of him. His clothes in the closet. His textbooks
on his desk. The scent of him on their bed. The idea of spending
even one night away from him shook her beyond belief.


She closed her eyes briefly before opening them
determinedly. At the very least, it wouldn’t hurt to go to the
audition. She probably wasn’t going to get the part anyway.

Columbia Medical Center
A Few Hours Later

It hadn’t been easy. From the moment he had started
medical school four years ago, Nikolas Cassadine had had to
fight to earn the respect of his classmates who thought that his
money and his name had paid for every privilege in his life. But
gradually, they had come to see that although he had money,
Nikolas Cassadine worked as hard, studied as hard, and
endured as much in medical school and during his first year of
his internship as anyone else. When Nikolas had pulled out of
Columbia when his fiancée was kidnapped and later recovering
from her injuries, some had even missed him. When he returned
a year later to complete his final year of medical school and then
begin his internship, many had even welcomed him back.

Nikolas picked up his messages from the nurse’s desk
and casually thumbed through them in his first five minute break
in almost six hours. There was a message from Stefan and
Nikolas threw it away with a grin. Having given up on any hope
of getting him to go into the Cassadine business empire, Stefan
had recently switched gears and started urging Nikolas to join
the internship at GH. Nikolas had no intention of leaving New
York, not unless Emily went with him and they both were
content to stay clear of Port Charles except for the occasional
visit home. The second message was from Lucky- Liz’s
ultrasound had revealed twins. Nikolas pocketed that message.
He couldn’t wait to share the news with Emily. although he was
pretty sure that Liz would have called her by now. The third
message was from Emily herself breaking their late lunch date
because she had an audition. He smiled, disappointed that he
would have to wait until the end of his 18hour rotation to see
her but glad to see her get an audition, he knew how frustrated
she had been the last few months. If he could figure out a way
to do it without Emily ever discovering the truth, Nikolas
would have used his money or influence to get her an audition.
Not that he really needed to do that. Emily was talented enough
to get work on her own.

Nikolas mentally shifted gears as he picked up the
clipboard that he had used on rounds this morning. There were
several patients that he needed to go check on. Daydreaming
about his beautiful fiancée wasn’t going to help him concentrate
on his work.

His first patient was a seven year old boy suffering from
a rare and deadly form of
leukemia. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny
silver object.

“Hi Matthew,” Nikolas greeted the young boy who was
sitting at the window, looking out at the scene below. A couple
book and crayons lay abandoned on the table next to him.
Several IV’s ran from his thin arms to a large rack. Nikolas
checked the IV bag and the radiation drip carefully. “The nurse
said you weren’t feeling to well this morning.”

“I threw up.” The little boy confessed. “All over the
place. It was a mess.”

“I can imagine,” Nikolas supressed a grin. “Have you
eaten yet?”

“I’m not hungry,” Matthew said.

“I know.” Nikolas pulled a chair up beside the child.
“But remember how we talked about this last time. The
radiation is doing its best to fight the bad cells that are making
you sick but you need to eat so that your body can join the
fight. You would’t send Batman in to fight the Joker by himself
without Robin would you.?”

“I suppose not.”

“You suppose?”

“I know not,” The boy giggled and Nikolas smiled.

“Good. I’m going to ask the nurse to bring you in some
soup and I want you to try to eat as much as you can.”

The boy nodded and Nikolas continued. “And I have a
surprise for you.”

“A surprise?”

“Just for you. Remember how I told you that I had a
friend who was a real secret agent.”

“The one who helped save your girlfriend?”

“Yeah, that one. I was talking to him about you
yesterday and about how you want to be a secret agent when
you grow up. And he pretty much guaranteed me that he could
get you into the secret police academy when you got old
enough. He said you sounded just like what the WSB is looking
for. So in order to make sure that you don’t join any other
agency like the CIA or the FBI, he made me promise to give
you this.”

Nikolas watched the little boy’s eyes glow as he held
out the real WSB badge complete with the name Matthew
imprinted where an agent’s number would be. Jonathan would
have to send Frisco a case of Scotch or something to thank him
for this one.

“This is for me?”


“Just for you. See he put your name on it to make it
official.” Nikolas gently pinned the badge onto the boys pajama
top. “Matthew Kincaid you are now a WSB agent in training.”

“Wow.” Matthew looked up, his eyes filled with tears.
“Wait till my mom sees this. Thank you Dr. Cassadine.”

The little boy throws himself into Nikolas’s arms and
Nikolas returns the embrace, tears threatening to fill his eyes
too.

He looks up and spots Emily standing in the doorway,
her own tears running down her face.

A few minutes later, leaving Matthew to fill his drawing
book with pictures of superheros and spies, Nikolas walks into
the hospital corridor and Emily walks straight into his arms.

“I love you,” she whispers as she reaches up to gently
kiss him on the lips. He smiles as he pulls away a minute or so
later.

“Come here,” he says as he pulls her into the privacy of
the staff lounge and proceeds to kiss her deeper, harder, and
more urgently.

Emily giggles shakily as the kiss ends and she stays
within his arms. “What will the rest of the interns and doctors
say if they were to come in and see us.”

“They’d tell me what I already know. That I am one
lucky bastard. That my fiancée is the most beautiful woman in
all of New York.” He punctuates the words with a gentle kiss
that lingers like fine wine.

“God you are good for my ego Nikolas Cassadine.”
Emily whispers.

“All I want in this world is to make you as happy as you
make me.”

“I think I should surprise you like this more often. I like
the results.”

“You do and I don’t think I’d be able to get a bit of
work done.” Nikolas looks at
his watch. “Which reminds me, I need to get over to the lab to
pick up some results.”

“Are you trying to get rid of me?’

“Never. Not ever. If I had my way I’d never leave your
side.”

“But then all those patients in there would never get to
know what I know”

“Which is?”


“That you are the most wonderful man in the entire
world.”

“You are pretty good for my ego too Ms.
Quartermaine.”

“I guess that makes us a pretty good pair.”

“The best.” He kisses her softly. “Does your being here
mean we are back on for a late lunch?”

Emily shakes her head ruefully. “I have to go back for a
second round of
auditions.”

“Good part?” Nikolas says absently, his mind already
on his next patient as leads Emily out of the lounge and into the
corridor.

Emily smiles ruefully. “Yeah, but I’ll tell you about it
later.”

Nikolas looks slightly abashed. “Sorry Em, I’m just a
little worried...”

Emily stops him. “You don’t ever have to apologize for
your dedication to your patients. It’s one of a very long list of
reasons why I love you.”

“I love you too.......What list? How many reasons?”

“The list I’ve been keeping since we first met. I think
I’m up to 277 by now.”

“Are you kidding?”

She shakes her head as she gives him a quick kiss and
turns to leave. “I don’t kid about things like that.”

He stands and watches her in a bemused state and
befuddled state..

Halfway down the corridor, she stops and turns around.

“Hey Cassadine, “ she calls gaily. “Make it home by
midnight and I’ll show you reason number 232.”

Blushing furiously Nikolas ignores the smiles from the
nurses and the off color comments by the doctors as he mentally
begins to calculate the latest he can leave here and still get back
to the apartment by midnight.


Emily smiles as she enters the elevator. She loves
throwing Nikolas off balance, he can be so sexy when he
blushes.

“I hear young. Cassadine is the front runner for the
opening in pediatric oncology. Is he really that good?”

“He’s better. He has a natural rapport with kids and
great technical skills. I really see him going far.”

“Well, he could never find a better teacher to learn from.
Your department has the
reputation of being one of the best in the nation.”

“Thanks. Which reminds me I wanted to ask you about
this....” The two men open the elevator doors and disembark
leaving a thoughtful and perplexed Emily staring after them.


Four hours later, a still quiet and thoughtful Emily lets
herself into their apartment, her hands full of groceries from the
corner deli. She has just finished putting the groceries away
when the phone rings.

“You got the part.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Janet’s excited pitch echoes in the
phone. “Spielberg liked you. He said and I quote “she has the
right combination of strength and vulnerability we are looking
for.”

“I can’t believe this,” Emily says stunned. “It’s too fast.”

“I told you, the first girl got sick. He needs to start
filming soon or he’s going to fall behind budget. His office is
sending over a contrat and a script and a ...”

“Wait.” Emily breaks in. “Wait. I can’t do this. I can’t
accept this part.”

“I must be losing my mind because I could have sworn
I just heard you say that you were turning down this part.”

“I did. I am. I can’t leave New York for three or four
months right now. Nikolas is deep into his internship.”

“So he stays and you go.”

“I can’t. I can’t go without him. I just can’t.” Emily
hastily hangs up the phone before her agent can try to talk her
out of her decision.

A Spielberg picture. She had turned down a Spielberg
picture. She tried to shrug nonchalantly. There would be other
pictures. Other parts. And by then Nikolas would be able to
travel with her like they had talked about. She had tried all
afternoon to imagine life without Ink and she couldn’t do it.
Not for one month or one week or one day or even one hour.
Nikolas was too important to her life. God in many ways he was
her life. The thought of getting on that plane and leaving him
behind was more than she could bare at the moment.

She had spent the afternoon thinking about this after her
second audition. All of their relationship up until this point had
been about Nikolas making sacrifices for her. Nikolas flying to
New York in the middle of the night because she called.
Moving to New York because she lived here and wanted to
build her life here. Standing by her side when her grandfather
died. Giving up medical school to stay with her during her long
and painful recovery from the fall.

How could she ask him to leave the work that meant so
much to him? He would never ask her to leave acting. She
knew that instinctively. How could she ask him to leave
medicine? Even for a little while. The answer was she couldn’t.
Being in love was about sacrifices. So far it seemed like Nikolas
had done all of the sacrificing to this point. Now it was her turn.
There would be other roles and other opportunities. There was
only one Nikolas Cassadine.

Determinedly, Emily went about getting ready for
Nikolas to return home.


Nikolas entered the apartment at five minutes before
midnight and smiled. The dining room was lit by candles with a
table for two romantically spread out. He grinned as he
recognized his favorite deli dishes.

“You didn’t expect me to cook, did you?” Emily’s soft
voice carried over the muted strands of music that filled the
room. Nikolas turned and caught his breath. She was wearing a
long champagne colored sheath that clung and molded to her
slender figure like a second skin. Her hair was piled into curls
on the top of her head except for a few tendrils that fell loosely
to frame her face.

“You are beautiful,” he says simply. She smiles as she
approaches and he catches her , pulling her up against him, and
delving into her mouth. She feels her knees buckle even as his
hands gently roam over her body, eliciting various moans.

“What about dinner?” She whispers not really caring...


“That’s what they invented microwaves for,” Nikolas
insists as he picks her up and carries her into the bedroom.
“Besides you promised to show me reason 232.”

“This isn’t reason 232,” Emily says gently. “It’s reasons
257 though 267.”

“Who cares?” Nikolas whispers as his mouth claims
hers. Emily is about to protest
when she feels herself starting to agree.


An hour later, Nikolas is sitting up with Emily lying her
head on his shoulder and trailing her fingers absently across his
chest while he strokes her hair gently.

“I have something for you” he tells her.


She smiles. “A third time?”

He groans. “No that. “ He reaches into his coat pocket
and pulls out a packet and hands it to her. “This.”

Her heart beating fast, Emily opens the packet and
withdraws a roundtrip airplane
ticket to Chile.

“How did you know?” she asks softly.

“Janet called me at the hospital to let me know what a
Neanderthal I was for not letting you go. She calmed down a
little when I told her that I didn’t know what she was talking
about.” He kisses the top of her head. “I know what you told
Janet, but I want to know why you really turned down that part.
This is what you’ve been working for for years.”

“I don’t want to leave you. I don’t want to be without
you. I don’t want to even
think about learning to sleep without you next to me.”

“It’s only a few months.”

“It will be forever.”

“It will only seem like forever,” Nikolas consoled
gently. “If you want me to I’ll come with you.”

“No way. I can’t ...I won’t ask you to do something that
stupid. You love your work.”
“I love you more.”

“And I love you more than I can express just for
offering, but I can’t let you make that kind of sacrifice.”

“I can’t let YOU make that kind of sacrifice,” Nikolas
insists. “And it isn’t necessary. With my shifts at the hospital,
we don’t see much of each other these days anyway. You go off
to make your movie in Chile, I’ll stay here in New York, and
we will work things out. There are planes and phones and
emails. I’ll miss you like crazy, but think of what it will be like
when get home. I’ll be the only intern at Columbia who’s wife is
not only famous but beautiful also.”

There is a silence between them for the longest time.

“You make it sound so easy.” Emily whispers.

“Oh it won’t be. I hate the idea. I’ll miss you every
second that you are gone. But I hate the idea of you losing
something out of your life because of me. This has been your
dream since high school. Your dreams deserve to come true.
All of them. Always.”

Emily looks into Nikolas’ eyes and slowly shakes her
head. “After all of these years and everything we have been
through don’t you know that you are my dream. My only real
dream is to be here with your in your arms. Everything is else is
just a wish. My love for you is the most important thing in my
life. Always and forever and beyond, remember? “

“And we will have that. I swear to you, we will. After
everything we have been through, three months apart will be a
breeze. I loved you all those long years when I thought I had
lost you because of my stupidity. We’ve come back together
from the edge of hell these last two years and its made us
stronger. All that this is going to do is separate us
geographically. In every other way we will always be together. I
swear this to you. And you want this part, I can tell.”

Emily sighs. “It’s a great part.”

“Then it’s settled.”

“I love you Nikolas.”

“I love you Emily.”

Five months later


Emily Quartermaine grabs her overnight bag and is off
the plane as soon as it lands at JFK. It’s been six weeks since
Nikolas’s last visit to Chile and she can’t wait to see him, to
touch him, to feel him. The last five months have been
incredibly hard, both work wise with Spielberg being one of the
most demanding directors. Film was such a different medium
than the stage, no audience energy to feed off, long long waits
between takes. And they had gone over budget and over
schedule. Still, she knew that she had done great work and her
agent assured her that the offers had been coming in steadily.

Emily didn’t care about her career at the moment. All
she wanted was to see Nikolas.

“Emily!” She turned at his voice and saw him standing
there, a hundred feet away with a bouquet of flowers in his
hand. She ran into his arms and he caught her, lifting her up,
and holding her tight. “God I’ve missed you love.”

“I’ve missed you!,” Emily’s soft cries were muffled as
she hid her face against his chest.

“Come on,” Nikolas whispers. “I want to take my
beautiful fiancée home and make love to her over and over
again.”

“Nikolas.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m tired of being your fiancée.”

“What?”

“I want to be your wife. I want us to get married. I want
to be Emily Cassadine. Dr and Mrs. Nikolas Cassadine.”

Nikolas smiles a broad smile. “I want to be your
husband. What about in June? That will give us four months to
plan the wedding.”

Emily smiles tremulously. “I don’t think we should wait
that long.”

Nikolas’s eyes lock on hers. “You mean?”

“I’m pregnant.” She nodded.

“Oh God! Oh God! This is so great. I love you. Is this
bag too heavy? Should I get a wheelchair for you? Are you
okay? Have you seen a doctor? How long have you known?”
Nikolas rattles off the questions.

“No. No. Yes. Yes. Four weeks. I wanted to wait to tell
you in person. And I love
you too.”
“Come on, let’s go home. We have a wedding to plan
and a baby to set up for,” Nikolas put his arm around Emily and
led her through the airport. “And we have to start thinking of
names.”

“Wait a minute.” Emily pulls Nikolas to a stop. “What
happened to spending the
afternoon making love?”

“That is an absolute given,” Nikolas whispers as they
step into the limo he has waiting. “I love you Emily. You are all
that I need and all that I want .”

“I love you too,’ Emily smiles as he pulls her into his lap
as they sit in the back seat. After a moment of intense kissing,
she hesitates. “Are we really going to make love in a limo?” She asked shyly.

“Don’t worry. You’ll love it.''

And she did.