Emily walked softly through the woods on the edge of the Buchanan estate, her feet kicking up soft clouds of snow as she did so.

She sighed softly. On the outside, the last two days had been lots of fun. She and Jessica had taken charge of decorating Llanfair for the holidays and with the help of Jessica’s mother’s credit card, had had a blast picking out a Christmas tree and decorating it. They’d put up garland and even indulged in several boughs of mistletoe put up in strategic locations throughout the mansion.

By unspoken agreement, neither of them had mentioned Will or Nikolas and they had managed to avoid them, no small feat considering they were living on the grounds. But Emily had been determined to put distance between herself and a certain individual. She needed time to think, something she had always seemed incapable of when Nikolas was there. Funny how Juan never seemed to cloud her thinking that way.

She kicked her feet a little more forcefully as she walked. She was supposed to be thinking about Juan. She was supposed to be remembering all the things about Juan that made him loveable. Instead all she could think about was Nikolas. Nikolas was buying a ring for Liz. Emily shuddered. If she was a better person, she would probably be able to convince herself that she was happy for them. They had both lost someone special and they were able to find happiness together. She should be glad.

But she hated the idea. Flat out. She knew she was jealous, but somehow it went beyond that. How could Liz go from one brother to the other. Who outside of witches like Carly and brainless twits in soap operas did that? The thought of some day having to congratulate Nik and Liz on their engagement made her sick. She couldn’t do it. She wouldn’t do it. Maybe she’d do something really terrible and get sent to boarding school for the rest of her life.

Emily stepped out of the woods and into a clearing lit by sunshine and almost immediately her bad mood disappeared under the sheer beauty of the scene in front of her

The sunlight on the snow turned the soft flakes into spun crystal and the blue sky was the brightest blue she had ever seen on a winter day. If she was silent, she could hear a few song birds left over from the winter migration.

Almost afraid to touch the virgin snow, she made her way to the center of the clearing. Holding her hands out, she let herself fall straight backward into the snow behind her.

“Emily!” Her name being called in a frantic tone caused her to open her eyes and look up, into Nikolas’s dark eyes. She frowned, Nikolas was looking at her like he cared. She closed her eyes and opened them again and that same expression was in his eyes.

“Emily?” Nikolas had been at the edge of the clearing coming from the opposite direction when Emily had fallen and his heart was still beating fast in his chest. “Are you hurt? Should I go get help?”

Emily smiled as she carefully stood up. “You’ve obviously never made snow angels in Greece.”

“Emily, we rarely got snow in Greece. It explains the terrific tans and all that.” He looked at her suspiciously. “I can’t imagine it snowed all that much in Arizona.”

“No, but I have lived in Port Charles a while. Jason and AJ showed me how to make snow angels when I first moved here. I think it was part of their plan to get my mind off my mother.”

“So what is a snow angel?”

Emily pointed to the shape in the snow she had just created. “There.”

“It doesn’t look like an angel.”

“Oh. And I suppose you could make a better one?” Emily challenged.

“It doesn’t look that difficult.”

“All right Cassadine. Put your money where your mouth is and try it.”

“Your money where your mouth is...why would I want to...never mind. I give up trying to understand American slang. So show me how to make an angel.”

For some reason unaccountably shy, Emily came to stand right in front of Nikolas and reached out her arms to show him how to position his arms. As she touched him, she made the mistake of looking up and their eyes met and locked. Emily felt the intensity of his gaze burn through her in a way that Juan’s kisses never could. Don’t be an idiot Em, she scolded herself harshly as she tried to control her breathing. You heard himself, he’s as good as engaged to Liz. Let it go.

“Nikolas you need to fall.”

“What?” Nikolas found it hard to focus on her words when all he could do was stare at her.

“To make the angel Nikolas. You need to let yourself fall.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that he already had, but he bit the words back. Whatever was going on here, he couldn’t afford to hurt Emily again for any reason. Until he was sure of what he was feeling......

He closed his eyes and let himself fall.

Llanfair

Jessica answered the door quickly and pulled Will inside and into the library where he took his jacket off and laid it across the couch.

“All right,” He turned to Jess as she put another log on the fire. “I’m here. What was so urgent?”

“It’s Emily....”

“Oh, you mean the way she’s going out of her way to avoid Nikolas...”

“She is not...I mean...okay she is.” Jess admitted. “And that’s the problem. Llanfair is big but its not that big. I’m afraid that Emily is going to give up on just avoiding him and want to go back to Port Charles. I don’t want her to leave Will.”

Will watched Jess silently, as always that look of worry on her face made him want to gather her close and make the rest of the world disappear. He forced himself to keep his distance. The right to comfort Jess belonged to Christian, even if the jerk didn’t deserve it.

He agreed with Jess. He didn’t want Emily to leave either and it wasn’t just because he liked her company. It had to do with how happy Jess was. Even though he hadn’t seen her in the last two days, Joey had filled him in on how much more alive Jess seemed with Emily around and how much more at peace she was over Megan’s death. The last thing he wanted to see was Jess retreat into that shell she had hidden in the last month.

“We’ll leave. I’ll take Nikolas skiing or something. That way you and Emily can feel free to enjoy the rest of her holiday.”

“No,” Jess blurted out the word in horror before she could stop herself and then had to cover. “I mean, running away doesn’t solve anything. At some point those two have to live in the same town again. Maybe if we got them in the same room......”

“I don’t know. I saw the look on Emily’s face when Nikolas mentioned buying his girlfriend a ring. I think if they were in the same room she’d probably tell him off.”

“Well, maybe she should. I mean what kind of person gets engaged to their dead brother’s fiancée. It’s barbaric.”

“I know. Nikolas is my best friend and I wish I could shake some sense into him....” Will shrugged. He hadn’t yet given up on his plan to get Nikolas to admit that he had feelings for Emily. The state of depression that Nikolas had settled into these last few days had convinced him he was right and he had no clue why Nik was buying Liz a ring. The thought annoyed him so much that he hadn’t brought it up himself for fear of saying something that would ruin their friendship. He’d kept his mouth shut about that tramp Kathleen and Nik had eventually woke up to reality. Hopefully the same thing would happen with Liz. If not, Will had connections who would help him kidnap Nikolas until he came to his senses.

“What we need,” Will shifted his attention to Jess who was still talking, “is a chance for them to be together where they can do something fun and not think about Nik’s girlfriend and maybe reconnect as friends.”

“What about the ice skating party that Andrew arranged for the kids at the community center tomorrow? Between the ice skating and helping out they should be able to find other things to talk about.”

“Or at least they’ll be able to talk.” Jess impulsively gave Will a hug. “I knew I could count on you for help.”

“Don’t you know by now that you can always count on me?” Will said softly, holding her in his embrace for a second longer than he needed to but far less than he wanted to.

Jess could feel the pounding of his heart (or was it hers) as she looked into his eyes. “I....”

But whatever she was going to say was lost when the doorbell rang again.

She went to open it and stood in shock.

“What are you doing here?”

On the grounds

It took ten snow angels (five each) before Nikolas would agree that when it came to making snow angels, Emily’s delicate or in some cases not so delicate touch was preferred. He’d spoiled his graciousness at accepting his defeat, by remarking that it was okay for Emily to win since making snow angels was more the domain of the fairer and somewhat weaker sex.

As the only representative of that sex around, Emily had been honor bound to challenge Nikolas to a snow ball fight.

She’d won, Nikolas having difficulty grasping the fine art of snowball making. Most of the snowballs he threw broke apart before they traveled a foot through the air.

Now, laughing as they trudged back through the woods to Llanfair, Emily was hard pressed to play the gracious winner so after a few minutes she gave up in and gave in to the impulse to lord it over Nikolas.

Nikolas didn’t mind. After two days of feeling like he was in Siberia because she was avoiding him, he was just glad to have the pleasure of her company.

And of course the chance to redeem himself on the pool table at Llanfair later.

“I don’t know Nikolas,” Emily taunted with a smile. “I’d hate to beat you three times. I might do irreparable damage to that ego of yours.”

“Typical Quartermaine- don’t play the game unless you are hundred percent sure you are going to win.”

“On second thought, you have money enough to pay for years of therapy so I say you are on. One game of pool.”

“And what are we playing for?”

“Are you suggesting a bet Nikolas?”

“Unless you think you are going to lose....”

“Oh no, beating you at pool will be a snap.” Emily said with a smile. “So, what do you want to bet? Five? Twenty? A hundred?”

“Not money. A favor. The winner gets a favor from the loser.”

“What kind of favor?”

“That’s up to the winner.”

Emily considered the possibilities as they left the woods and walked through the more formal gardens. “You’re on.”

“Good.” A silence descended between the two of them that Nikolas reluctantly broke. “I wanted to talk to you about what you heard me tell Will...”

Emily interrupted him. “Your relationship with Liz is your business Nikolas.” Emily looked down.

Stopping in front of her, Nikolas lifted her chin. “That’s just it, there is no ....”

Whatever Nikolas is going to say is lost as a voice interrupts them and a nervous Emily takes a step back.

Nikolas and Emily look to see Jess and Will making their way across the grounds to join them. Both stare in shock at the third figure trailing slightly behind the first two.

“Hey girlfriend,” Emily stares in complete disbelief and Nikolas instinctively stiffens as Juan Santiago greets her with a smile.