Christmas Miracle


Once upon a time Emily Bowen-Quartermaine had been naive enough to believe that nothing, absolutely nothing, could be more fraught with tension than a Quartermaine family dinner.

She’d been wrong. The last forty five minutes had outdone any Quartermaine get together for awkward silences and uncomfortable moments. She sighed as she looked around the table. It wasn’t the setting, the Palace was a lovely hotel equal to anything Port Charles and another night Emily would be enjoying the ambiance of the holiday decorations.
It wasn’t the food. hers at least had been grilled to perfection and the service had been lovely. She supposed dining with the step-granddaughter of the owner had some benefits.

What was spoiling the night was the company, pure and simple. Juan had been remote, Jessica preoccupied, Christian merely glowered, and Nikolas was a million miles away, probably dreaming about Liz she thought trying to quell the hurt that thought brought. If it hadn’t been for Will and the steady stream of banter the two of them had managed to engage in, Emily had a feeling that the night would have been ten times worse than it was.

Not that she had a clue how that could be possible.

She smiled at Will. “You never did tell us how you and Nikolas met, besides the fact that it was at boarding school?”

Will grinned and arched an eyebrow in Nikolas’s direction, pretending to ignore the sudden flush of color that swept his friend’s face. “Did I forget to tell you that story?”

“ I was kind of hoping you had just plain forgotten that story,” Nikolas grumbled.

Juan smiled, not an altogether pleasant smile. “A deep dark secret about the little prince here? Do tell?”

Emily glared at Juan, she’d meant to start a conversation not make Nikolas uncomfortable or embarrassed. “If Nikolas doesn’t want us to know....” She began and Nikolas flashed her a smile that momentarily made her heart skip a beat and left Juan openly glowering.

“It’s okay, Em.” Nikolas deliberately used the nickname. “I have no secrets from you.”

“Not anymore at least,” Juan goaded.

“Not ever again,” Nikolas said regally, his eyes locking with Emily’s.

Just before World War III could break out at the Palace, a slender brunette made her way to the table.

“Oh hell,” Will muttered under his breath as all eyes turned towards the newcomer. Jessica’s blue eyes darkened but she kept a smile plastered on her face.

“Roseanne,” she said calmly while Emily’s eyes widened. So this was Roseanne, the little slut who had tried to break Christian and Jessica up. Emily sighed, too bad she hadn’t succeeded. Christian had been as much fun this evening as a sack of....amend that a sack of potatoes would have been more fun. She was trying hard to see what Jess saw in him, but it had to be something at the subatomic level because it was definitely escaping her.

“Jessica.” The cool acknowledgement, then “Christian. You didn’t tell me that you were going to be here tonight.”

“You must be Christian’s secretary,” Emily grinned impishly as she looked over Roseanne. “Study hard and see if you can increase your typing speed and improve your filing skills and I’m sure my grandfather can find you a position in the typing pool at ELQ if you ever want to relocate to Port Charles.”

Roseanne sputtered and Will grinned, deciding to sit back and enjoy this encounter.

“I am not his secretary,” Roseanne clipped the words out as she stared at Emily, not failing to notice the natural grace and elegance that came with growing up a Quartermaine.

“Oh I am sorry,” Emily smiled a huge false smile, the kind she practiced giving Katherine over the last year or so. “Well all the better than, I’m staying here for another week or so and I’m absolutely dying to get my nails done before Christmas so if there’s any possible way you can squeeze me in......”

“I am not a manicurist.” Roseanne’s temper was rising as Will was openly smirking at her. She tossed her hair back and shifted her body so that every male present would notice the red mini dress she was wearing. Emily noted with a perverse sense of satisfaction that Nikolas seemed more bored than interested in Roseanne’s display and Will’s eyes were openly resting on Jessica.

She smiled at Roseanne, deciding that the would be Lolita was no threat to her, not even a blip on the radar screen.

“Well, then,” Emily smiled condescendingly. “What are you?”

Jessica decided to intervene, although she’d been secretly enjoying Emily’s game. It was so hard when the person you actively disliked okay down right hated the most was your boyfriend’s best friend. There was so much she wanted to say to the tramp, but things between her and Christian were tense already and attacking Roseanne would only make Christian defend her. She could already tell that he was ready to come after Emily any second.

“Roseanne is an old friend of Christian’s,” Jessica said smoothly.

Emily turned to Will. “At least I was right about the old part.”

Roseanne literally gasped. “Well, I never!”

“Never? Honestly? I would never have
guessed!” Emily decided there were some advantages to having Carly as a sister-in-law.

Having neatly routed her almost opponent, Emily turned to Juan. “Do you want to dance?”

Juan tore his eyes away from Roseanne’s sensuality and back to Emily. “Actually, I’m kind of tired if you don’t mind.”

Emily frowned. “All right, maybe we could just take a stroll around the gardens.”

“I don’t think so,” Juan replied smoothly determined to avoid being alone with Emily.

“I..” Emily was saved from having to reply by Nikolas who stood and reached for her hand.

“Dance with me,” Nikolas commanded softly, his eyes glowing. “I know that I’m no Astaire like Rappaport over there but I’m not half bad.”

Emily looked at Juan expecting him to protest but to her surprise he merely smiled and nodded. Bewildered and confused by Juan’s lack of response and the suddenly intense beating of her own heart, Emily allowed herself to be led by Nikolas to the dance floor.


Back at the table, Jessica tried to ignore Will’s eyes on her and focus on Christian instead. She was dismayed to realize that Christian was focusing his attention on Roseanne. She touched his arm gently.

“Would you like to dance?” She asked him softly and with a smile as she tried not to notice the possessive glare in Roseanne’s eyes.

“Actually Christian, I was hoping I could talk to you about some ideas I have for the Angel Square Christmas celebration.” Roseanne inserted. “That is if you have time.”

Jessica waited for Christian to speak up, to say something, to tell Roseanne that he’d talk to her tomorrow or something. To her surprise, but not to Will’s, Christian nodded. “I’m sure Jess won’t mind if we talk about the celebration for a few minutes.” Christian smiled at Roseanne. “Jess knows how important the Angel Square Community is to me.”

Jessica was left with no choice but to nod graciously and fume inwardly as Roseanne and Christian left with Christian promising to be gone no more than five minutes.

No sooner had they left than, Juan excused himself for a moment leaving Jessica and Will alone together for the first time since their almost kiss earlier in the day.

“You know he’s a total jerk.”

“Christian just cares about his community.”

“It’s not his community he’s interested in right now Jessica and if you weren’t so damn naive you would see it for yourself.”

“Naive?”

“Yes, naive. Do you really think all Christian is
thinking about at the moment is how many ways we can say Feliz Navidad? Stop kidding yourself Buchanan.”

“Christian loves me and I love him.”

“Wrong. You used to love him and Christian...hell sometimes I doubt if Christian ever loved you.” Will swore softly. “If he loved you he would be by your side at this moment.”

“Christian is very actively involved in his community. That’s one of the reason’s I loved..love him.” Jessica paid careful and thorough attention to the chocolate cake on her plate in order to avoid looking in Will’s eyes.

“If Christian loved you he would be dancing with you right now. If he loved you he would be holding you in his arms as you moved in rhythm to the music. He would tell you that your hair reminds him of the morning sunshine as it cascades across a golden field. He would tell you that looking in your eyes can make a man forget to breathe or look away. He would tell you that your gentleness can hold a man’s attention in ways that the Roseannes of this world never could.” Will’s eyes burned into hers as she found herself looking up and getting lost in him. “And most of all if he loved you he would be telling you so in a thousand different ways a million different times. You would never doubt the way he felt about you. Not for one moment. Not ever.”

Jessica tried to look away. “You don’t know what Christian and I have together.”

“God Jess of course I do.” Will lowered his own eyes for a moment. “Christian was your first love. And sometimes our first loves last forever. But sometimes they don’t. No matter how hard we try not to and no matter how much we pretend to ourselves otherwise, sometimes we just stop loving someone. Sometimes we fall in love with someone else.” His voice lowered on the last sentence and a silence drew out between the two of them.

“I thought you were falling for Emily.”

“Emily is beautiful and graceful and a lot of fun to be around.”

“Oh.”

“But she’s not you.”

“Will...”
“My feelings for you haven’t changed Jess. They never will.”

Jessica looked at Will and she knew, she saw the love shining in his eyes and she knew it was for her. All she had to do was say the words. But what if it didn’t work out? What if somehow she lost Will like she lost Megan? Whatever Will thought of her, Jessica knew there was nothing really special about her. What if someday Will realized that too? Her father and mother had once been in love and that had died. Kevin had been in love with Cassie and he’d hurt her. Joey and Kelly were in and out of their relationship almost daily. With a sad smile, Jess realized that she really didn’t know anyone who fell in love and stayed in love forever.

Losing Megan had devastated her. She had a feeling that losing Will would be ten times worse if she let herself give into her feelings. Maybe Christian would never make her as happy as Will, but he couldn’t break her heart anymore either.

She took a deep breath.

“I love Christian.”

Will sat as if he had just received a heavy blow.

“Then I guess we’re both doomed to love someone who doesn’t love us back.” Will said quietly as he stood up and walked away.

Jessica sat alone at the table. She had done the right thing. She knew it. So did it feel like she had just made the worst mistake of her life.

Towards the edge of the dining room, Juan stood and watched as Nikolas led Emily onto the terraced gardens. He grimly noted the fact that
Nikolas’s arm was around Emily’s waist.

Damn. When had this happened? Not only was Emily looking to break up with him, but she looked ready to throw herself hook, line, and sinker at the boy prince. Last he had checked Emily was barely speaking to Nikolas and Nikolas was hot and heavy with Liz.

He grinned suddenly. He knew a way to fix Cassadine and make sure that Emily was his forever.

He pulled out his cell phone and called Johnny to see if he could be picked up earlier that planned. All he had to do now was to make sure that Johnny caught Emily in a compromising situation with lover boy. Johnny would let Jason know. Jason had no love left for Nikolas for reasons Juan didn’t quite understand but had no trouble manipulating. Jason would read Cassadine the riot act and make sure that he stayed away from Emily. Emily would listen to Jason and realize that she belonged with Juan. Juan would take her back and score points in Jason and Sonny’s eyes by playing the loving and forgiving boyfriend to their favorite “little sister.”


Oh yeah. It was a perfect plan.


Next Chapter:

Nikolas confuses Emily who later makes a big discovery. Jess has second thoughts but it may be too late as Will seeks comfort in another’s embrace.