The sleek lines of his Jaguar were definitely out of place in the working class neighborhood of Angel’s square Nikolas thought uneasily as he clicked on the alarm and took one last look at his car. His uneasiness must have shown because Will, who was walking towards the diner with his arm casually around Emily, stopped, looked back, and pronounced in a not so subtle stage whisper, “Relax Nikolas the car is insured.” He grinned at the uneasy Cassadine. “Besides Angel Square isn’t as bad a neighborhood as you think.”

“Don’t worry about Nikolas,” Emily smiled up at Will. “When you’re raised on your own private island in the Mediterranean, anything else is just slumming. Give him five or ten minutes and he’ll adjust to reality sooner or later.”

“Right. Like the Quartermaine mansion can be considered middle class.”

“But you forget Nickey,” Emily bowed as Will held open the door to the diner with a flourish, “that I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth.” Tossing her head back playfully, she allowed Will to escort her into the diner so they could catch up with Jess who had run ahead to find Christian.

The door almost shut on Nikolas and he stubbed his toe trying to catch it. Damn and double damn, Why had he agreed to do this? Why had he flat out lied in order to make this afternoon happen? Why was he feeling so off balance around Emily all of a sudden? And most of all, why was he standing here talking to himself when Will and Emily had found a booth together in the corner? Quickly he rejoined the group.

“Wow, this place has really improved since I was here last,” Emily exclaimed fiddling around in her purse to see if she could find some change for the jukebox.

“You’ve been here?” Will let his surprise show through as he captured her hand and stopped the rummaging, instead reaching into his own pocket for a couple of quarters and gallantly handing them over to her.

Emily’s smiles were almost contagious Will thought as she beamed up at him. She really was a wonderful girl. He had no clue why Nikolas was idiotic to mess around with that Katherine person when he could have been keeping company with Emily. Too much in-breeding in the Cassadine family line he supposed. Emily had made him laugh the whole time they were driving here from Llanfair. The size of the backseat necessitated them sitting rather close together and the two of them had kept up a private conversation, punctuated with just enough laughs and touches to draw Nik’s attention the entire ride.

“Let’s see.....the last time I was in Llanview we didn’t come here because Jess and Christian were I think fighting over some girl in high school who liked Christian so the rule of that trip was no mentioning Chris’s name and no going anywhere he would be, so it would have to be the trip before that.”

“So you’ve met Christian?”

Emily shook her head. “Nope. He was out of town I think. I’m going to go put this quarter to good use. Any requests?”

Will grinned. “Something romantic because the two of us are here together..”

“You got it.” Emily returned his grin before sliding out of the booth and heading to the other end of the diner.

“Jesus, Rappaport, how old was that line anyhow. Something romantic because we are here together.” Nikolas scowled. “You actually expect that line to work.”

“You remember Betsey Ann Mayberry?”

Nikolas has a mental flash of a pretty girl with an empty brain that was more than compensated for by other parts of her that overflowed, the much older sister of a classmate. “Yeah,” he answered slowly not liking the direction this conversation was going in.

“It worked on her.” Will smiled innocently, the sight of Nikolas trying to hide his growing jealousy was almost entertaining enough to make him forget about his own as Christian and Jess appeared, arm in arm, in the kitchen doorway.

Emily, returning to the table, took one quick look at the sour expression on Nik’s face and the suddenly shuttered look on Will’s and made a decision. She was here to have fun. And no one, especially anyone by the last name of Cassadine, was going to rain on her parade.

Ignoring Nikolas completely, something it felt strangely good to do, she held her hand out to Will.

“Dance with me.” She commanded with a smile.

“Here?”

“What they didn’t teach you to dance at that boarding school? I know they didn’t teach Nikolas but I thought someone as brave and bold as you would have picked up some dance steps along the way.”

“Actually my mom taught me when I was home one summer.”

“Then dance with me,”

Out of the corner of his eye, Will saw Jess and Chris approach the booth they were sitting in.

“Why not?”

" When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we'll see
No I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me

The music was a slow steady rhythm and soon both Will and Emily fell into it, dancing together in intricate patterns that were both smooth and spontaneous.

Their hands touching and interlocking before separating to the rhythm of the dance as he both twirled her around and dipped her and pulled her tight, they soon began to draw a crowd.

And darlin', darlin', stand by me,
oh now now stand by me Stand by me, stand by me

For Emily, who’d always had a dream to occupy the spotlight and counted the Nurse’s Ball as an annual highlight, the moment was about the music, the rhythm, and the enchanting partner whose every movement seemed to match hers. She knew that this thing with Will was just a light flirtation, but she was determined to enjoy the moment. She liked the feeling of being flirted with. Nikolas had ignored her. Juan had just sort of claimed her. Will, even if he didn’t mean it, was wooing her and it felt wonderful.

If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
And the mountains should crumble to the sea
I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me

For Nikolas, it was a moment of discovery as he realized that he wanted to be the one dancing with her, bringing that smile to her face, lighting up her eyes. The thoughts tumbled through a mind not ready to accept them and he shook his head. It was loneliness. It was overprotectiveness on his part because he felt bad for how he had treated Emily this last year and a half. It was a rebound thing after Liz. He knew about rebound relationships because his mother had made a point of cutting out an article from some magazine called Cosmopolitan on how rebound relationships never lasted and leaving it on his desk for him to read. It was a trick of the lighting. It wasn’t real.

Maybe if he repeated it often enough, he would believe it.

And darlin', darlin', stand by me, oh stand by me
Stand by me, stand by me, stand by me-e, yeah

For Jessica, standing with Christian’s arm around her shoulder in the possessive way he always did when Will was around, like he was marking his territory, it was the aching realization that the friend who made her bubble up with laughter earlier now made her burn with jealousy. She shook her head, trying to look unaffected. She had Christian. Em was probably her best friend. Next to Will. If her two best friends found happiness that was a good thing, right?

Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me,
Oh stand by me, stand by me, stand by me

Darlin', darlin', stand by me-e, stand by me
Oh stand by me, stand by me, stand by me

Christian Vega smiled as he watched the pair dance, surprised that Will actually had rhythm and glad that the other man had found somebody else and would now leave Jessica alone.

When the dance ended, there was a moment of silence among the patrons of the diners before they broke into applause. Having not realized that they had gathered such a crowd, Emily blushed gracefully and buried her head in Will’s shoulder and let him lead her back to the booth where Nikolas waited in stony silence.

After a few minutes of pleasant chit-chat, Jessica turned to Christian. “Emily and I were planning to do some Christmas shopping and we were really hoping you could join us?”

“I thought you were done with shopping?” Christian asked.

Emily giggled. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that you never actually finish Christmas shopping? Christmas just sort of comes around and you stop, but no one ever really finishes.”

Christian shook his head trying to figure that last statement out and Nikolas decided to take pity on the neander...huh Christian and translate.

“In Emily speak, that means she has money to burn and the stores are having sales.”

“And you thought you’d never understand women,” Will teased.

“Oh Nikolas has had plenty of experience understanding women as long as they are at least two decades older than him.” Emily groaned as the words slipped by unintended. She couldn’t help it, every time she thought of Nikolas using her as an excuse to hang out the mansion for his daily sexercise with Katherine she saw red and got impulsive. And did stupid things. She took a deep breath and tried to even her temper. She flashed Nik a quick smile. “Sorry.”

Nik looked at her puzzled. She’d sounded almost bitter. But she couldn’t be bitter unless she was hurt and she had told him over and over that she was okay with his relationship with Katherine. “No problem,” he said smoothly, hoping to bring the smile back to her face he was about to suggest that she help him pick out a present for Lulu when Will interrupted.

“Of course you’ll help me pick out a present for my little sister Jen. She’s spending the holidays with friends skiing in Switzerland but I should send her something.”

“I’d love to,” Emily grinned “but you better tell me your price limit before we get within five miles of the stores or it might be a little dangerous.”

“For you there is no price limit.”

Jessica smiled. “You know you are playing with fire when you say those words around Em, don’t you Will?”

“In that case I can only hope that the fire is red hot.”

Nikolas rolled his eyes and Emily giggled.

“Then it’s agreed. We spend the afternoon shopping,” Nikolas says not really sure why he cares except that he’ll say anything to change the subject from this flirtatious banter between Emily and Will He watches Emily with what he thinks is discretion. She can’t be falling for this can she?

“Can I talk to you for a moment in private Jess?” Chris asks.

The two of them head to a quiet corner of the diner.

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” Christian says earnestly.

“What? Hanging out with my friends?”

“Shopping. Spending money. I know who the Quartermaines are. Her monthly allowance probably equals what my mom makes in a year. I don’t want to go shopping with some rich girl who only cares about spending money. Nothing personal Jess, but you’re friend is just a little on the shallow side. I guess that makes her a perfect match for Will though.”

“Nothing personal?” Jessica can’t believe Christian is saying these things. She knew that the difference in their backgrounds had once been an issue, but she thought it was an issue they got past ages ago. “For your information Emily Quartermaine is one of my best friends on this planet, She helped me through my parent’s divorce and a lot of other rough times. She’s had a tough time of it herself. She lost her mother when she was 10, her adopted family is the definition of dysfunctional, and her best friend died in a fire in March. So if she wants to spend her time here dancing to old songs on a jukebox or shopping at the mall or just having fun, I’m going to be doing those things with her. Sometimes Christian Vega, life should just be about having fun.”

With those words, Jessica turned her back on Christian and walked back to the booth where the others were waiting.

“Let’s go,” she says picking up her purse.

“All right,” Emily says hesitantly, wondering what happened between her friend and her boyfriend to cause such tension in Jess. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Jess says with a determined smile and a glare at Chris . “Chris has something more serious to do so it will just be the four of us.”

Emily is about to say something, but then shakes her head. She’ll wait until she and Jess are alone. Maybe she’ll shake the boys at the mall, heading into Victoria’s Secret should do it. Unless Nik decides to pick up something there for Liz.....acid burns in Emily’s stomach at the image that thought brings to mind. Pushing it aside for the moment, she smiles brightly at Jess. “All right then let’s go. But I think I have to borrow Nik’s cell phone first.”

“I’m going to hate myself for asking, but why?” Nik asks.

“To call the stores and let them know that Emily Quartermaine is in town of course. They should have some kind of warning don’t you think before I sweep in and buy them out.”

Without meaning to, Nikolas laughs and his eyes meet Emily’s for a moment before they both look away. Without giving any thought as to why the day seemed suddenly brighter, Nik smiled as they left the diner, and Christian, behind.