The heat of the afternoon sun burned the Miami streets as Emily and Lucky made their way back to the apartment the street kids called Sanctuary.

Emily deliberately ignored Lucky as she made her way through the alleys and side streets, not once bothering to see if Lucky was following, half hoping that he wasn’t.

Lucky put up with the silent treatment just long enough to put some distance between them and Juan Santiago and to make sure that they weren’t being followed. Once he was sure that both objectives were obtained, he stopped Emily’s progress and pulled her into a doorway.

“What the hell is the matter with you?” Two weeks of frustration and desperation colored his voice, destroying the calm and patient speech he had been rehearsing.

Emily’s eyes flashed anger as she faced down her so called “best friend.”

“Nothing is wrong with me. Absolutely nothing. So you can turn around and head back to Port Charles anytime you want to. Right now would be my suggestion.” She spat the words out in a bitter tone.

Lucky tried to keep a lid on his own temper as he tried again. “Do you know how frantic and worried everyone is about you? Nikolas. Lizzie. Alan. Monica. My God Emily they can’t even be sure that your alive.”

“I’m surprised that anyone even noticed my absence,” Emily said with a degree less hostility as she looked into his blue eyes. “I’m fine.” She said simply. “You’ve seen for yourself that I’m fine. Now you can just go back and tell everyone else that there is nothing to worry about.”

“Like hell there isn’t,” Lucky said. “You look like hell. You look like you haven’t slept or ate since you left. I find you hanging out with street thugs and singing on street corners. Is this fine to you?”

“At least no one is mistaking me for a punching bag,” Emily yelled at Lucky, before lowering her voice. “And at least I’m not hurting anyone else.”

Lucky flinched at the quiet despair in her voice. “Is that what you are doing?” He asks her. “Do you honestly think running away is going to solve any of your problems or make things go away?”

“Things don’t have to go away. I went away and that’s good enough. I’m happy.”

“Well I’m miserable,” Lucky shoots back at her. “So is Jason. So is AJ. So are your parents. Everyone who cares about you wants you back in their life. Back in Port Charles where you belong.”

Emily shakes her head. “I’m not going back,” She looks up at him with defiance in her eyes. “I have people hear who care about me.”

“Like Santiago? Right he cares about you. As long as he can use for his own gain he cares about you.”

“Juan is my friend. He saved my life. He gave me a place to stay.”

“And he’s using you.”

“You don’t understand. It was my choice to sing today, just like it was my choice to runaway, and just like its my choice to stay here.”

“Your friend is a thief. Did you happen to notice that while you were so nicely distracting the crowd, he was stealing their wallets. My guess is he’s out there now running up their credit card bills before the banks can close the accounts.”

“He wouldn’t do that?”

“He did.”

“So what?” Emily tried to appear casual and nonchalant, while inside she was steaming over Juan’s actions- if what Lucky said was true.

“So what? So he made you an accessory to a criminal act. Em, the police could have picked both of you up.”

“So he steals things from people. You do what you have to do to survive Lucky, didn’t you tell me that often enough. Isn’t that how you justified lying to Nikolas and to me and to the whole town about your mother’s death? Juan’s a thief-fine. Maybe all that means is that he’ll fit in better with the Quartermaines. After all mobsters, criminals, addicts, blackmailers, would be murderers seem to come out of the family woodwork all the time. Maybe just maybe, instead of warning me about Juan you should be warning Juan about me. Because I can almost guarantee you that Juan won’t lie to me or...”

She hesitates and Lucky pounces. “Or what? What is happening to you? Why did you run away? Why won’t you let me help you? Why won’t you let anyone help you?”

“Because you can’t.” Emily says flatly and turns to walk away, biting back the tears. “No one can.”

“How can you say that without even giving us a chance?”

“Because,” Emily begins and then stops, aware of how lame that sounds. She can’t explain how she’s feeling, she can’t put it into words that he’ll understand. “Just leave me alone, okay?” Her voice is soft and quietly shattering in its intensity. “Please. Please don’t make me go back to Port Charles. I won’t stay. I’ll run again and next time you won’t find me.” Her eyes are large and filled with pain. “I can’t go back. Not now. Not for a long time. I can breathe here. I feel safe here.”

They stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment, before Lucky broke off contact. “All right. You win. I won’t make you go home yet and I won’t tell anyone else that I found you. But I’m not leaving you alone either. You stay, I stay.”

“You can’t. Your parents. Your sister. School.”

“None of them are as important to me at this moment as you are. Period. You want me to go back to Port Charles, than you come with me. I swear I’ll find a way to keep you safe. You can stay with Jason. Hell, you know my mom and dad would let you stay with us if you wanted to. You have choices.”

“Right. And my choice is to stay right here where I am.”

She started to turn and walk away but Lucky reached for her arm and grabs her. “You have to let me..”

He stops as he is suddenly aware of the sharp point of a knife pushed against his side.

“Let her go,” Juan said in a cold and steely voice. “Now.”

Lucky takes a step away from Emily.

“Querida? You okay?” Juan asks Emily.

“I’m fine,” Emily replies shakily as her eyes focus on the knife in his hand and the familiarity with which he is welding it. “I’m fine,” she repeats a little more forcefully trying to defuse the situation.

“He grabbed you.”

“He was just being a jerk,” Emily conjures up a light laugh. “You can’t knife a guy for being a jerk.”

“He hurt you,” Juan says simply.

Emily sighs softly and touches his shoulder. “Please. I don’t want anyone getting hurt because of me. I’m hungry. Can we just forget about it and take some of the money I made and get something to eat.”

Juan smiles at her and then turns to Lucky. “It seems like today is your lucky day, Spence. The lady is willing to forgive and forget. But first you apologize.”

Lucky turns to Emily. “I’m sorry. I would never do anything to hurt you.”

Emily says nothing but turns away from him and towards Juan.

“I do not care who you work for. You touch her again and you will pay.”

With his arm around Emily, Juan turns and heads back to the apartment. After a second, Lucky follows, his eyes narrowed and thoughtful.

The apartment known as Sanctuary
Later that night

Lucky stretches out on the blanket he has been given on the floor, aware of the half dozen or so kids spread out around him. He has slept in worse conditions, but this place gives hims the creeps and he isn’t sure why. The apartment is small with one bedroom, not in the best of condition or overly clean. Empty cartons of Chinese takeout line the kitchen counter and various clothes and personal items are shoved into the corners of the room. The kids who are here, most no older than himself, do consider this place a kind of sanctuary and they look up to Juan for providing it. A place to sleep where you can close your eyes and actually sleep without worrying about being knifed or molested or assaulted or any of the dozen other dangers that can happen to you on the street is priceless in a street kid’s world. Their loyalty to Juan for providing them with this “sanctuary is clear and apparent and could be a danger to himself if he has to drag Emily out of here by force. In the darkness he can still make out the door to the one bedroom and he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt what is bothering him the most about this place. It is the idea that Emily is in that one bedroom and that she is not alone. After the little altercation in the alley, they’d come back here, sent someone for Chinese, and then spent the evening asking questions about what it was like to work for Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan. Lucky had tried to steer the conversation onto other paths, aware of Emily’s discomfort, but the other kids had relentless. He supposed that for them, stories about a man who lived in a penthouse and rode in chauffeured limos was like listening to a fairy tale. The good thing was that the more he talked about Sonny and Jason the more trusting Juan seemed to become. There had been no further opportunities to talk to Emily alone and he had been shocked when she and Juan had gone together into the bedroom. He looked again at the door. What the hell was going on in there and why did he feel sick to his stomach?

Lucky shifted when he felt a soft warmth press into his body and he looked up and into the face of the girl called Celia.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered in a seductive tone, her long blonde hair touching his chest as she ran her fingers down his muscle. “The only knife I’m interested in right now is the one you have.” She smiled at him as she teased him about what happened earlier. “I thought you looked like you wanted some company.”

Lucky forced himself to return her smile. “I do babe, but I’m not into crowd scenes,” he said meaningfully, letting his gaze drift to other kids.

Celia pouted. “If it wasn’t for his precious Princess Juan would let us use his room.”

“So he and Emily are together?” Lucky forced himself to keep his tone casual.

“Yeah, but not for long,” Celia smiles thinking of the little surprise Emily will encounter tomorrow. She glances at “Spence” and realizes he is looking at her suspiciously. “I mean she’s obviously not his type. Juan is, shall we say passionate. I doubt if the little princess can keep him entertained for long.”

Something in Lucky raged against the idea of Emily entertaining Santiago at all.

Before he can respond, he hears a loud scream coming from the bedroom and freezes when he realizes its Emily. Pushing Celia aside and forgetting about everything else, Lucky heads for the bedroom and opens the door. And stops.

Emily is crying incoherently in Juan’s arms as he drapes a blanket around her and tries to comfort her. Murmuring soft words and dropping gentle kisses on her forehead, he rubs her back for her. Neither looks up right away when Lucky enters, but after a moment Juan does, a look of helplessness in his eyes.

“Shut the door,” he says quietly and Lucky does, blithely unaware that he shuts it on Celia.

Lucky approaches the bed quietly, his heart breaking at Emily’s distress but still uneasy over what role Juan had in causing it.

“She had a nightmare,” Juan looks at him over Emily’s head and realizes what he is thinking. “I don’t hurt females. That’s not my style. And I would never hurt Emily.”

“Good. Morgan and Corinthos don’t allow anyone in their organization to mistreat women and I wouldn’t feel right about introducing you to them if you were like that.” Lucky hopes Juan will buy that explanation for his interest and intrusion. “What happened to her?”

“I told you she had a nightmare. She’s had them before but nothing this bad.” Juan continues to try to sooth Emily’s fear. It was in fact her nightmares that led him to start sleeping in the bedroom with her but he doesn’t explain that to Spence. The guy’s interest in Emily already makes him a little uneasy. Juan shifts his attention back to Emily when her sobs start to quiet. “Querida? Emily? Shhh. You’re okay. No one is going to hurt you again. Never again. I’m going to make sure of that.”

After a few moments, Juan smiles as he looks up at Lucky. “She’s asleep again.”

He moves her gently from him and places her back against the pillow and pulls the blankets around her. Dropping a gentle kiss on her lips, he turns back to Lucky. “You can leave now,” he dismisses the other man.

Lucky nods as he leaves the room. His mind is filled with two thoughts. One is that he has to get Emily to open up to him about what is going on. The second is that however, emotionally intimate the relationship between Emily and Juan is, it’s not physically intimate if the blankets and pillows on the floor beside the bed are any indication. He finds that information intriguing.

Emily awakens slowly the next morning, feeling overwhelmed and extremely tired. She’s alone, but she can tell from the lingering warmth next to her that she hasn’t been for long. She smiles at the thought and then almost immediately frowns. She liked Juan Santiago, a lot. He had literally been her salvation these last two weeks. She trusted him. She had told him things that she hadn’t told anyone. But she knew that there was more to Juan than the caring and tender side he showed with her. She had seen him with the other kids, she knew he could be tough and ruthless. She figured it was just part of the life he led. But the way he held that knife yesterday and his fascination with Sonny and Jason. What Lucky had said about his using her to steal from tourists on the beach yesterday. There was a side to Juan Santiago that she wasn’t sure she liked. It was bad enough dealing with Jason doing what he did. She didn’t want anyone else she cared about hooked into that lifestyle.

It didn’t make her care less about him. Nothing could do that. But it made her think and she really didn’t want to think at the moment. Not about Juan. Not about Lucky. Not about Port Charles. She wanted to do what she had been doing for the last two weeks. Live in the moment and only in the moment. No past. No future.

She sighed as she pulled on a T-shirt borrowed from Juan and finished getting dressed. She had a feeling both past and future were about to come crashing back into her life.

She stepped into the living room and bit back a groan when she saw it deserted except for Lucky. She held up a hand. “I’m not in the mood. I am so not in the mood for another fight.”

Lucky looked at the dark circles under her eyes. He remembered the scream he heard last night. Maybe she was right. Maybe she didn’t belong in Port Charles. Maybe she was safer right here. He shook his head. What was he thinking? She belonged in Port Charles. He would protect her. The question was, protect her from what?

“No fight,” He smiled. “I actually have a message for you. Your friend had some errands to run. He said he would meet you at the beach later.”

“Oh.” Emily couldn’t quite stop the blush that reached her cheeks when Lucky mentioned Juan.

“So,” Lucky decided that he wasn’t going to mention Santiago again. “Do you want to get breakfast? My treat?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Than walk with me? There’s a store around the corner isn’t there?”

Emily looked at him warily. “No pressure?”

“No pressure.” Lucky agreed.

Twenty minutes later, Emily they walked along the street to a park and sat down. Although it wasn’t quite ten in the morning, the air was already hot and slightly humid. The sky was a brilliant blue, punctuated by soft white clouds that seemed to shine too. Lucky watched as Emily took the remains of his bagel and tore it into pieces and laughingly fed the birds that gathered nearby. Grinning, she returned to the bench and sat next to him, letting him pull her into his shoulder.

“It’s good to hear you laugh,” he said with a smile.

“It’s been a while since I I had a reason to laugh,” Emily said reflectively. “Not since my Mom married Dorman and ...”

“And what?”

“And everything fell to pieces....”she finished nervously, pulling away. She sat with her head bowed, playing with her fingers as she stared at the ground.

“Emily, no pressure, but you have to tell someone. Keeping this secret inside you is tearing you to pieces. If you won’t let me help, at least let me listen.”

Emily looks at him for a long moment. “Promise you won’t tell. No matter what. You can’t tell anyone. Too many people will get hurt. Not Jason. Not your parents. No one.”

“I promise.”

Emily closes her eyes and hesitates.

“It’s Dorman, isn’t he? That bastard is the one who is hitting you.”

“It’s not Dorman,” Emily says softly. “And its not Alan.”

“Than who?” Lucky asks as the growing horror of the answer begins to fill him. He cups her face in his hand. “It’s Monica, isn’t it? Monica is the one who’s been beating you.”

Her eyes brimming with tears, Emily nods yes and begins to cry, even as a shocked Lucky draws her close to comfort her.

“When did it start?” Lucky asks as they lie down next to each in the shade.

Emily contemplates pretending to be asleep but realizes she has told him too much to back down now. “After Alan moved out when the affair with Dorman started.” Her voice drifts off as Emily remembers the first time Monica hit her, the stinging of the hand across her cheek, the instant apology in her eyes. The promise that it would never happen again. That promise broken less than 24 hours later. “At first, it wasn’t that bad. She’d slap me when I did something wrong or I disobeyed. But these last few months, it’s been bad.”

“What about Edward or Lila ?”

Emily looks up terrified. “I don’t want them to know. Ever. I kept it a secret all of these months to protect them.”

“Protect them? What about protecting you? Emily no one deserves to be beaten.”

“Maybe I do,” Emily says quietly. “You don’t understand. Monica. Alan. The Quartermaines. They are all the family I’ve got. I lost my dad. Then I lost my mom. I’m not going to lose Monica. Or Alan. I won’t be responsible for causing pain. Do you know how this could hurt Monica’s career? Or the family? I can’t do that.”

“Maybe she deserves to be hurt after putting you through hell.” Lucky says bitterly.

“She doesn’t mean too. She’s just struggling. She’s drinking a little too much. I don’t think Dorman treats her very well. She misses Alan. She doesn’t mean to hurt me.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because she tells me she’s sorry?”

“Is that before or after she slugs you?”

Emily sighed, got up, and started to walk away.

Lucky followed her.

“Em, I’m sorry. I said no pressure and there I was pressuring you.”

“It’s okay.” She says softly. “But do you see now why I can’t go back to Port Charles. All it will do is complicate things.”

“I see why you think you can’t go back to Port Charles,” Lucky hedges, while his mind is already working on ways to change hers.

They are walking back into the apartment building and up the stairs when Lucky looks up and spots Jason, Sonny, Carly, and some guy he doesn’t know walking down the stairs, heading right for them.

Instinctively, Lucky knows that he can’t let Emily see Jason until she’s ready to go home. Thinking quickly, he pushes Emily against the wall of the stairwell and places his hands on either side of her shoulders so that he has her pinned.

“Kiss me,” he whispers, moving his body so that he blocks her view of the foursome coming down the corner.

“What?” Emily’s eyes go wide.

“Just trust me and kiss me,” Lucky whispers and when she hesitates Lucky reaches forward and kisses her.

The kiss, meant to be soft and gentle, turns deep and passionate and Lucky finds his sense reeling.

Jason, Sonny, and Mike don’t give the two teenagers making out in the stairwell a second look. Carly looks back wistfully before focusing on the task at hand.

Lucky pulls away the moment they are out of sight, breathing heavily.

“What was that for?” Emily demands shakily.

It takes Lucky a second to remember and then he has to think quick for a moment. “I just saw one of the guys whose wallet Juan stole. I didn’t want him to recognize you.”

“Oh,” Emily says wondering why she’s vaguely disappointed.

“Listen, are you going to be okay. I want to go take care of a few things.”

Emily is too confused by the sudden kiss to wonder about what those things are. She nods. “Actually, I was going to see if I can find Juan and persuade him to spend some time with me at the beach.”

“Oh,” Lucky says, wondering why he is disappointed that she can get over his kiss so easily. “All right. Are you supposed to perform this afternoon?” When Emily says yes, he promises to be there later before he takes off.