Part Four
Chapter Four: Missed Opportunities
For Five days Emily Quartermain hung by the thinnest of threads and Lucky Spencer
hung with her. He sat silently by her bed, watching her sometimes shallow and often
labored breathing. Every so often he would give in to his need and reach over to check
her pulse for himself. And each time he found himself thanking God again.
For five days, except for the occasional nap or quick shower, he hadn’t left her
bedside.
Neither had Jason.
And although neither talked about it they were both afraid that without them here to
anchor her, Emily’s tenuous hold on life would disappear.
Neither could forget the look on the doctor’s face or his words as he proclaimed it
“unlikely that she would make it through the night.”
But she had. And she had made it the next night and the night after that until even the
doctor had to admit that Emily was stronger than he thought.
Lucky could have told him that.
Jason’s doctor dropped by four or five times a day to check on her. Both Jason and
Lucky had to take turns nursing Emily because it was too dangerous to bring a nurse
in. No one could be trusted at this point.
Jason had even given Lucky a gun, something he hadn’t owned for years. But every
time he had doubts about his ability to shoot another person again, he would remember
the feel of her blood pulsing against his hand.
Jason had replaced the carpet and the couch, but nothing could drive the image of all
that blood from Lucky’s mind. Nothing.
They had seen very little of his father since the shooting. Luke had charactistically
refused to tell either Jason or Lucky more, just that Emily was still in danger. Like
Lucky couldn’t have figured that out on his own.
But he had realized sometime over the last five days that all that mattered was that
Emily lived. Period.
It took Emily a few minutes to adjust to her surroundings. Her body felt strange and
there was tremendous pain and pressure near her chest. Her mind was fuzzy and
refused to focus. She could remember walking through the park but she had been
stupid. She hadn’t paid attention to her surroundings. She had blundered right into the
danger she had spent all these years running from.
Afterwards, she had barely managed to make it to Jason’s penthouse. Only it hadn’t
been Jason who opened the door.
Why were her and Lucky getting their lives so tangled up in each other lately. It wasn’t
fair. Every time she ran into him it was like the day she had left Port Charles all over
again. She remembered that day, trying to pretend like it was a normal day, not getting
a chance to say goodbye to anyone. She had breakfast with her family, gone to visit
Liz at the Diner, and then just disappeared. It had been the single hardest thing she had
ever done .
No strike that, the single hardest thing she had ever done had been to stay away.
Through everything.
She had to leave. Despite the pain she struggled to get up but a strong arm gently
forced her down again.
“Emily relax,” Lucky’s voice stirred gently against her hair. “You need to rest. You’re
safe Em. It was really close for a long while, but the doctor says you’ll pull through.
The IV has pain medication in it. I can give you more if you want.”
“No drugs,” Emily whispered. “I need to think.”
“No you don’t. You need to trust. I was so scared when I thought you were going to
die.”
“Sorry,” her voice sounded weak and she winced.
“Don’t be sorry. Just trust me.”
“I trust you”
“The let me help.”
She turned her head away. “Want to sleep.”
He closed his eyes in frustration. “Okay- just sleep. Everything will be okay.”
Lucky stared at her. She seemed so pale and fragile sleeping there. You could barely
guess at the tempered steel that lie underneath the surface. She was so important to
him but she wouldn’t let him help her. What was she hiding?
After a moment he turned and went to wake up Jason.
The next morning
Jason and Lucky were drinking coffee at the kitchen table. Emily was sleeping in the
bedroom. She had been sleeping on and off since waking up earlier that day. Other
than breaking down in tears when she had seen Jason, she had been strangely silent.
Her silence was scaring Lucky- she reminded him of a trapped animal who would be
gone at the first opportunity.
Lucky sighed and pushed his chair away from the table. “How do we keep her safe
when we don’t even know what the danger is?”
The same question had been haunting Jason for days. He wasn’t use to operating in the
dark.
“We have no choice. She has to leave.”
“What? “ Lucky yelled disbelievingly. “You let her leave and you might as well be
signing her death warrant herself.”
“Calm down, “ Jason growled. “You’re an idiot if you don’t think that they know
where she is. Chances are they watching us right now. The only thing keeping her safe
is that they know I’m not here alone. And so they wait. But if they’ve been chasing her
for seven years, they won’t stop now. Pretty soon they’ll get tired of waiting and go
after her. They’ll have to come through me to get to her.” There words were said in a
dead and empty voice that sent shivers down Lucky’s spine. How much had Jason
changed over the years? “And they will. If your father’s right, we haven’t got a prayer
of keeping Emily safe if they know where she is.”
“So what do we do?” Lucky asked, wondering if they had come this far just to lose
now. His fingers moved unconsciously to the gun at his side. Jason wouldn’t be the
only one they would have to come through.
“We move first and we move fast. The doctor won’t like it, but I’d rather take my
chances with Emily’s injury rather than leave her in danger. Sonny has a safe house.
Tomorrow we’ll take her there.”
“No, “ Lucky started thinking, his mind moving over the problem with cool and precise
logic. “We have to assume that this ‘person’ knows Emily and therefore knows you
and knows Sonny.I have a better idea. Jax still has his beachhouse in Malibu. It’s
practically been abandoned since Brenda died but he’s never sold it. I’ll tell him I need
it for some peace and quiet to finish a project for him. If you can get us to the airport, I
can get her to Malibu and keep her safe.” The last was said out of sheer bravado.
Maybe if he said it often enough he’d come to believe it.
Or not.
“I don’t like it. Malibu’s too far away and too much can go wrong.”
“Hey, I’m a Spencer remember. Stuff like this is in the DNA.”
“That’s what scaring me.” Jason paused, in anyone else Lucky would think he was
making a joke. “ I suppose I can quietly start rearranging my schedule-make more trips
to the West Coast. Seattle first and eventually LA to check in on you. The doctor says
she’ll need at least a month of R and R to recover.”
Jason was silent for a heartbeat. “Let’s do it. But first my baby sister and I are in for a
long overdue talk.”
“I can’t tell you,” Emily shook her head stubbornly and regretted it a second later.
Damn, she hurt. She hated being sick. Hospitals. Doctors. They brought back too
many memories she tried too hard to forget.
“Em, you’re in trouble. I want to help. Hell, I need to help. I lost you once. I can’t lose
you again.”
“I can’t tell you,” Emily pleaded quietly. Desperately.
“Emily ,” Jason’s voice was soft and low as he reached over to take her hand. “I just
buried Lila. I lost Michael to AJ all those years ago. And as happy as I know Michael
is with AJ, it hurts to be Uncle instead of Daddy. Carly took off to parts unknown.
And Robin,” the pain in Jason’s eyes devastated Emily,”I lost Robin through my own
stupidity and I can never undo what I did. I made a mistake and now I’ve lost any
chance of correcting it.”
“You think you are protecting me, Emily. I love you for it. But I’ll take my chances
and
still have you in my life rather than have to learn to live without you all over again.”
There was a heavy silence in the room.
“It began the summer after I graduated from high school....”
Later
Lucky looked up when Jason walked out of Emily’s room. His face was ashen and he
seemed to have suddenly aged.
“She told you?” Lucky asked.
Jason nodded.
“And you are not going to tell me?”
Jason nodded again. He headed to the door after picking up his jacket. “I have to go
make arrangements for the transfer to the airport. Two things before I go. You have to
protect her.” The words were fierce and deep.
“With my life.”
“And when she’s better and she wants to leave, you have to let her go.”
There was a long silence.
“Okay” sighed Lucky not sure that he meant it. Could he let her go?
Still later:
Lucky couldn’t sleep. He sat at the desk in his office. In his hand he held a small
cassette and tape player. He couldn’t believe that he had bugged Emily’s room. He
told himself that it was for security, but she hadn’t been in danger when she had been
talking to Jason.
He had it all on tape. All he had to do was play it and he would know everything. All
of her secrets. All of the things she was afraid to tell him. He would be able to protect
her.
She would hate him.
He stared at the tape for a second more and then with a resigned sigh put it back in the
tape recorder and erased it.
