Emily Spencer watched the sun rise from the deck of her house. She was dressed in a pair of loose fitting jeans and one of Lucky’s oversized plaid shirts. She smiled as she remembered helping him pick the shirt out. They had been staying in Minnesota and Emily had insisted that they all needed clothes that fit in more with the Minnesota landscape. . It had taken all of her skills of persuasion, and some considerable bribes that he collected that evening, before he had agreed to usher her and Jonathan to the nearest Wal-Mart. The huge plaid shirts had been on sale so Lucky had decided that he needed one. Emily grinned as she remembered that afternoon. Poor Jonathan. Lucky had used him as a model to try on every color combination of plaid imaginable before settling on the blue and the gold one. Poor Lucky. Jonathan had never let him forget that that was the color Jonathan had suggested in the first place and that Christmas Jonathan had found a matching plaid shirt in his size under the tree. The bond between father and son had been like that. Something incredible to watch as it grew and strengthened over the years.

She closed her eyes and fought back the flood of tears. She was tired of crying. Tired of railing against fate. Tired of feeling like a helpless victim wondering who Helena was going to strike next.

Could she do this? She was four and a half months pregnant and sicker than a dog most of the time. There were days when it seemed an accomplishment to get out of bed. She looked at the bottle of prescription medicine the specialist had ordered. A rock and a hard place. Once again Emily Bowen Quartermaine Spencer was caught between a rock and a hard place. Why weren’t her choices ever easy ones? To tell Nikolas or not to tell Nikolas she was pregnant? To leave town and keep her child safe or stay and risk it all? To open herself to Lucky’s love and risk his safety or keep him safe and stay away.

Her eyes go blank as she remembers that day in Alaska when Lucky left everything he knew to be with her. She had tried her best to convince him that it was too dangerous and that he deserved better, but all he did was laugh at her gently...

She would remember his words and the look in his eyes forever. “You are not God, Emily, just my goddess. You don’t get to make this decision for me. As far as I’m concerned it’s a done deal. I’ve said good bye and cut my ties in Port Charles. My life is with you. And with Jonathan. For however long we are given. The only danger in loving you is being without you. Helena and her goons don’t scare me as much as the thought of having to walk out of this cabin without you scares me.”

Emily pulls the sleeves of the shirt closer her around. “We weren’t given long enough Lucky. Not nearly long enough.”

She puts her hand gently on her stomach and tries to imagine for a moment the child nestled there. She hopes it looks like Lucky. She hopes it will have his spirit, his ability to love. She’s always scoffed when Lucky teased her about the privilege of being a “Spencer.” But now, standing in the cold morning air on the first day she has to manage to make it through without him, she finds herself reassured that this baby will be a Spencer.

I’ll tell you all kinds of stories about your father, she promises the baby and then swallows as it strikes her that she might not be around to tell this baby anything. Her children have lost their father. In a few months or maybe sooner, Helena might have succeeded in killing her too.

She wants to scream and yell and throw something, but she does none of those things. At least not outwardly. Instead with a calmness that she is far from feeling, Emily walks back into the house and pulls out a small locked box in the hall closet. There is a combination lock inserted into the padlock, but Emily knows the combination by heart. It takes her less than a minute to open the box. She pulls out a small, compact, and ultra deadly automatic pistol, loads it, and picks it up. She picks the pistol up and sights a coffee cup on the counter and pretends to squeeze the trigger. She smiles softly before unloading and putting the pistol away and locking the box back up.

A rock and a hard place. If she dies, than her children will live unprotected in the same world as Helena Cassadine. Oh, Jason and Nikolas will try to protect Jonathan and the baby, but it doesn’t matter how well guarded you are, Helena Cassadine has a way of finding your weak points.Yesterday proved that. Emily can take Jonathan and run again, but somehow she doesn’t have the strength without Lucky and if something happens to her, the last thing she wants is for Jonathan to be alone with strangers. She shakes her head. Both the baby and Jonathan belong here in Port Charles with people who will love them and care for them. If she goes after Helena herself and if she fails, she knows that Helena will not have any qualm about killing her and thereby robbing her child of even the slightest chance of living. Helena Cassadine must die in order to ensure the safety of her children, both the one living and the one yet unborn. But the chance she takes, the ramifications if she fails, are horrible. Jonathan had lost his father, he can’t lose her too. But if she does nothing, then Helena could strike at any moment. Or the infection could kill her. And her son would be even more vulnerable. Could she succeed where so many others had failed? This game of cat and mouse that she and Helena have been playing for the last 13 years has helped her to understand Helena Cassadine better than anyone else. Even Luke. In the end, as it was in the beginning, this is going to come down to a standoff between Helena and her. The sooner the better.

Emily sits down in the chair and absently twirls the orange juice that Lucky made her promise she’d drink every morning.

A rock and a hard place. Emily sighs. The choice was already made. Now all she had to do was live with it. And hope that wherever he was, Lucky would understand.

PC Hotel

Maxie wakes up slowly and stretches, smiling deeply when she realizes that the act of stretching causes only half the pain today that it caused last week. She closes her eyes and revels in the last few minutes of sleep and the realization that maybe, just maybe, the doctors are right and she will be as good as new someday soon.

She turns on her side and stretches out a hand to stroke the warm fur of her cat and realizes in a split second that she is instead stroking the broad shoulders of a man.

All thought of sleep disappears instantly as she scurries to sit up.

Her mind registers the grateful fact that except for her shoes, she’s dressed in the same clothing that she wore last night. The fact that she is completely clothed tells her without having to look that its not Jason in her bed.

She looks closely at the man sleeping next to her, who was thankfully also completely clothed. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Oh God Nikolas.

“Nikolas!”

Nikolas opens one sleepy eye. “Shh. Some of us are trying to sleep.”

Maxie glared at Nik. “Some of us want to know how they ended up in bed with a stranger.”

“We’re not strangers,” Nik grumbled. “And us sleeping together was your idea Ms. Jones so come down from your high horse and go back to sleep.”

“My idea?” Maxie croaked. Except for that one weekend with Jason, the closest Maxie had come to having a guy sleeping in her bed was the cover of a romance novel. Working first on the beat and then as a detective did not leave much time for romance. And after being burnt badly by Jason, Maxie had preferred it that way. “My idea?” She repeated incredulously.

Nikolas sighed and opened both eyes this time and was glad that he did. She made an adorable sight, even confused and tousled she was breathtaking. He smiled. “Don’t you remember? We practically closed down the hotel bar last night talking. Neither one of us felt like going home yet, so you suggested we get a hotel room. Something about the fact that since my company owns the hotel we might as well take advantage of it. We kept talking, it got late, so we went to sleep.” Nikolas looks at his watch. “I think that was all of an hour ago.”

“Oh...” Maxie whispers, more than embarrassed.

“I suppose I should get up. Mac and Felicia are probably frantic by now.”

Nikolas shakes his head. “Called them last night from the bar. Your father was glad to know that you were renewing old friendships.”

Maxie looks at Nik suspiciously. “We were never old friends.”

“You don’t consider babysitting you an act of friendship?” Nikolas teased.

Maxie groaned and hid her face under the blanket. Then shot back up.

“What about Stephanie?”

“She’s fine. She’s with her governess.”

“Ohh.....” Maxie’s voice trailed off. “Shouldn’t you be at your mother’s?” She asks hesitantly, reluctant to remind Nikolas of the trauma of the night before but pretty sure he hasn’t forgotten about it either.

Nikolas sighs, a bleak and utterly heartfelt sigh. “I will. Later on. Laura said something last night about planning some kind of memorial service for Lucky. And I really want to check on Emily and Jonathan this afternoon.” Nikolas smiled at her warmly. “But you really want to know what I want to do right now?”

“What?” Maxie asked, enchanted by the warmth of his gaze.

“I’d like to just lie here and hold you and try to get some sleep. If that’s okay with you?”

Maxie stops to think about the implications of that statement and then decides that she’s too tired to think. She nods instead and moves closer to Nikolas and as his arms go around her she closes her eyes and drifts back to sleep.

Two hours later
The Big House In The Woods

Emily sat on the barstool by the counter, a long list of things to do scribbled onto a notepad in front of her.

Hesitating, her fingers shaking, she picked up the cell phone and dialed a number.

“Morgan.”

“Jason?”

“Emily?” Jason’s voice deepened with concern. “How are you and Jonathan doing this morning?”

Emily hesitates. It’s a terrible question without any good answer, but she knows Jason means well. “Okay,” she says simply. “Michael picked Jonathan up a little while ago. They were going to spend the day together. I think it will be good for him. I’m on my way out myself. I need to take care of some things.”

“Can I help?”

Emily shakes her head. “Their just legal things and stuff. I need to do it. It will keep my mind off of everything.” Jason,” she holds her breath for a moment before letting it expire in a sigh..”I was calling to see if there was any news....” Her voice trails off hopefully.

Now it’s Jason’s turn to hesitate briefly before speaking. “Nothing. I’ve had men in boats on the river all morning Emily and there’s no sign. I checked with Mac Scorpio and the dive team and the river patrol have turned up nothing.”

She fights with all her strength to hold on to what little control she has. “Alright.”

“Em?” Jason voice barely penetrates the haze. “ Is there anything that you need ?”

Another stupid question. I need my husband. She says nothing. “I...I think Laura is taking care of the arrangements, although I don’t suppose it matters since there isn’t a body..” her voice cracks and she takes a big gulp and goes on “but I think she’s planning a memorial service. I’m supposed to go over there today, but I don’t think I can. I don’t think I’m ready to set around and figure out what flowers Lucky would like or what music we should play. I can’t do that. Not yet.”

“Do you want me to come over? You shouldn’t be alone.”

Emily focuses her attention on a the design of the tile at her feet. “I won’t be. Running these errands will be good for me. I’ll call if you I need anything. I promise.”

“I’ve still got the guards on you. No one’s going to hurt you.”

There’s nothing left to hurt, Emily thinks to herself. “Thanks,” she says softly and pauses. “Jason?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too Em.”

Emily hangs up the phone slowly. She crosses one more thing off of her list. She walks into Lucky’s office and flips on the light. Sitting at his computer, Emily almost breaks. She has to do this. She has no choice. And it can’t wait. God she wished it could. It was the last thing she wanted to be doing today. Well one of the last things. She hadn’t lied to Jason about not feeling up to planning Lucky’s funeral or memorial or whatever. That can wait. This can’t. Helena could strike at any moment. Every minute she delays the chances of someone else getting hurts simply increases. Helena had already tried to kill her and taken Lucky’s life instead. She will try again and either Emily will die or someone else will. It has to end. She enters Lucky’s code word, works her way through several security layers until she finds what she wants. Personal files. She smiles grimly as she spots one labeled Helena. There’s an internal lock on the file. Emily tries Cassadine. No access. She tries Wicked Witch. No access. Finally she types b*tch and the files open up. It takes her about five minutes to find what she wants. New York. Helena is in New York. Emily closes the file. She hesitates for a moment before closing the computer out and shutting it.

Back in the living room, she takes a moment to put an envelope with Jonathan’s name on it among her private papers. Then she makes one more phone call before heading out the door.

The Estate of Jason Morgan

Jason hangs up the phone with a frown. There was something in Emily’s voice that he didn’t like. Some note of something. He picks up the phone again.

‘This is Morgan. I want the guard on my sister doubled. I don’t want her out of their sight unless she’s in her house.” He counts to ten and gives in to temptation. “Did the guard on Maxie Jones check in yet? She’s still at the hotel. With Mr. Cassadine. In the same room. No. I still want her watched. Discreetly from a distance. Thanks.”

Jason swears not so softly as he hangs up the phone. Maxie would shoot him if she knew he had a guard on her. But there was no way after what happened in Texas that he was going to take any risks with her life.

She’d spent the night with Nikolas Cassadine. The news caused a hole to form in the pit of his stomach. It hurt. It really hurt. More than he could have dreamed possible. He ran a hand through his short blonde hair. He should be happy for her. It was what he wanted. For her to walk away from him and start a normal life. Not that he considered dating Nikolas Cassadine normal. Look how the man had destroyed Emily and Lucky’s life these last few weeks. People who were around Nikolas Cassadine somehow found themselves hurting.

Of course people who hung around him ended up dead.

Maxie with Nikolas. Nikolas with Maxie. Maxie and Nikolas married someday. Maxie giving Nikolas children, little girls with long blonde hair and green eyes just like their mother.

The picture made him want to vomit. He wanted to be in that picture. He walked around his house in a daze. It was large, beautiful, and incredibly cold. Maxie would have made it a home. Just like she will make Wyndemere a home for Nikolas. He closed his eyes and imagined for a moment the empty bedrooms upstairs filled with children. He could see himself reading to them every night. Holding them when they cried. Teaching them what he knew.

He stopped short. Teaching them what? How to run numbers? How to put up bulletproof glass? How to profit from the vices of others? How to keep control an organization through fear?

He’d made his choices long ago. After the accident, all he had cared about was the present. The past was gone. The future was this abstract thing that he didn’t quite understand or believe in. He had lived for the moment and his choices had been easy. It was only when he began to believe in the possibility of a future, that he had realized how destructive those choices had been. He’d seen the mob as his only loyalty. Now it was all he had.

He loved her. Loving her meant that he wanted the best for her. Maybe Cassadine was it. Maybe Cassadine could give her the kind of life that he never could. One where she could be who she was without compromise. One full of life and love and laughter.

Not stilted echoes in an empty mansion.

He sighed and poured himself a tumbler of whiskey from the sideboard. Nikolas Cassadine. It could be worse he supposed.

Although at that moment he didn’t have any idea how.

The guard opened the door and Jason looked up and a shield dropped over his face.

“Michael Quartermaine and Jonathan Quartermaine here to see you.”

Jason looks up in shock.

Michael enters and Jonathan follows. Jason looks at his nephew, noting with concern the grief the boy was trying to hide. “I wasn’t expecting you two,” Jason says glibly. “Anything I can help you with or did you just need an escape for a while.”

Michael shrugs. “You can convince my father that no Quartermaine was ever a natural at camping. It was a nightmare. There was no microwave in the trailer. I had to take a cold shower each day. Then he got into his head that we should do a little father/son bonding by going fishing and then we had to clean the fish.” Michael shivers. “I was almost glad that Lucky died because it meant we got to come home early...” Michael realizes what he has said, pales, and turns to his cousin. “God, Jono, I’m sorry. I’m an idiot. A complete and total idiot. I didn’t mean...I shouldn’t have...”

Jonathan shrugs. “It’s okay. You didn’t mean any harm.” Then a glint enters his eyes. “However if you keep calling me Jono I might begin to feel differently.”

“Nicknames are signs of affection, cuz.” Michael says unrepentant. He turns back to Jason. “Anyway we need your help.” He pulls out the vial of liquid that Ruby found at the warehouse. “I was hoping you could tell me what was in here.”

“What is it?” Jason says suspiciously holding the blood red liquid up to the light.

Michael and Jonathan exchange glances. “I’m not sure,” Michael continues hurrying with the story they practiced in the car. “I was assigned this big science project at school. We mixed all of these chemicals to see what would happen but then my lab partner lost our notes so we don’t know what’s in there. The project is worth over half of my science grade this term. I...” He hesitates, he loves his uncle but he is less than comfortable with Jason’s choice of an occupation. “I was hoping you could get some of the people working for you to analyze it and let me know what’s in it.”

Jason looked at Michael. “You’re not up to anything are you? The last time you almost got yourself and Ruby killed.”

“There’s nothing dangerous, Jason.” Michael says adding a silent hopefully. “Just a science project.”

Jason considers. “All right. Give me 24 hours.”

Michael grins. ‘Thanks.”

“Where are the two of you off to now?”

“We are meeting Ruby for an early lunch at Kelly’s?” Michael says. Jonathan nods.

“All right. I’ll see you two later. And Jonathan?”

Jonathan looks back.

“Hang in there okay.”

Jonathan nods before following his cousin out the door.

Once in the hallway, the two cousins wait until they are in the elevator before speaking.

Jonathan turns to his cousin. “Are you sure that stuff isn’t dangerous?”

“I guess. It wasn’t exactly stored like it was dangerous. And it’s been at Ruby’s for weeks and no one there is mutating into some kind of bizarre life form unless you count Ruby and she was born that way.” Michael grins and then looks more serious for a moment. “I can’t believe he bought that science project story. He must be preoccupied or something. I mean, my dad would have bought that story but Jason’s usually more suspicious.”

“I got the impression he was depressed.”

“Jason Morgan depressed? I guess it’s possible....... He and your dad were good friends and he loves Aunt Emily and so maybe....” Michael flushes. “I did it again. I’m sorry Jono.”

“Just tell me one thing before we head to Kelly’s to see if Ruby found anything at Wyndemere.” Jonathan said as they walked out of the lobby to find Michael’s car surrounded by the two guards following Jonathan. “Why Jono? Why not Jonny or Jon?’

Michael shrugged. “You look like a Jono?”

“And what exactly does a Jono look like?” Jonathan mutters as his cousin starts the car and they take off.