Summer Heat 16

Two Days Later

Will stood in silence next to Nikolas amid the noise and chaos of the docks during the early morning hours, both of their eyes were drawn to the luxury yacht in it's docking slip below them.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Maybe we should have Jason or..."

Nik shook his head. "I have to do this. It's my fault Emily is missing."

"You're fault?" Will looked at Nik incredulously. "You were drugged Nik. Drugged. God you were out of it for almost 24 hours. What Liz set up...what Emily saw...as horrible as it was it wasn't your fault. When we find Emily and we explain, when she knows what Liz did, it will be okay."

"No it won't, don't you get that. Emily may never trust me again. May never believe in my love again." Nik felt like punching something as his rage swept over him, anger at Liz, anger at himself. "Liz knew how to destroy Emily's feelings for me. What must Emily have thought? And it's my fault. If I had never had that damned affair with Katherine, if I had never used Emily as an excuse to sneak into the Quartermaine house so I could fuck Katherine.....God I gave Liz the tool to hurt Emily again just like I hurt then. Why the hell didn't I realize how I felt about Emily back then? I love Emily. I've always loved her. If I had been smart enough to realize it back then, Liz wouldn't have been able to recreate Emily's deepest nightmare."

"Look Nikolas," Will grabbed him by his shoulders, "despite what you've been told by your uncle and by your servants and everyone else in your life since you were old enough to talk, you are not God. Do you hear me Cassadine? I repeat you are not God. So it took you a while to realize that Emily was the one for you? Big deal. Remind me to tell you about the time when I was positive I loved Roseanne and was going to spend the rest of my life with her. Hell, I might even have gone through with it if Jess and I hadn't conceived Megan." Will looked at Nik directly. "The important thing is that that you did realize how you felt about Emily. And she realized how she felt about you. And yeah maybe it would have been nice if you had fallen in love off the bat like some characters in a soap opera, but then maybe you needed to go through the whole fiasco with Katherine and the debacle with Liz to help you appreciate what you had, what you will have with Emily." Will shook his head. "As I can't think of anything that explains your obsession with Sarah, I'll just gloss over that little period in your history, thank you very much." Will smiled. "The point is .....hell the point is that Emily loves you and you can't give up on that. You can't give up on the future the two of you can have." Will stopped. "Okay, no more speeches. Just are you sure you want to do this? Confronting the big bad wolf is not something you should do when you can barely stand on your own."

"It's been over 48 hours since Emily disappeared." Nik's voice was firm.

"Yeah and you've spent most of those hours either completely out of it or vomiting profusely."

Nikolas's expression didn't change. The last two days had been a nightmare, a kind of living hell he wasn't sure he would ever wake up from until Emily was in his arms again. If the drugs in his system hadn't already left him physically sick, then Johnny's blow by blow description of what he had seen, what EMILY had seen, would have. He couldn't for a moment begin to even imagine the pain Emily must be in.

And to that his overwhelming fear for her physical safety, Jason had asked Karen to test the blood as a favor and it had turned out to not be Emily's which had made everybody breath easier.

Of course the fact that Johnny had heard a gunshot, the guards were knocked out, and more than 48 hours later Emily was still missing meant there was still room to worry. Plenty of room to worry.

Enough room that Will had pretty much not left Nikolas's side since Jess had been released from the hospital and Nik had woken up at the penthouse.

And Jess, Will knew, was pretty much helping Kevin keep Jason from doing something stupid since the Mafia head had been just barely in control of rage since Johnny had delivered the news. Will shuddered to think just exactly how out of control Jason would be if the blood had been Emily's.

It wasn't a thought that was going to help him get to sleep at night.

Mentally shaking his head, Will turned to Nik. "You really don't need to do this."

Something in Nikolas's expression shifted and changed even as Will watched, a hard coldness settling in, cynicism replacing optimism, if only momentarily. Nikolas's jaw tightened "If Grandmother had anything to do with Emily's disappearance Jason and Kevin think, then I'm the only one she's going to confess to." A heartbeat. "If only to gloat and tell me how she's doing all of this to protect me from the evils of the world."

"And if she did."

"I'll get whatever information I can from her."

"And then...."

"I'll kill her," Nik's eyes glinted. "I'm not a Cassadine for nothing."

"Nik...."

"What? Are you going to tell me to let her live? Lock her up in some prison somewhere? In the meantime never knowing if my family, no not my family but the people I love, are safe? I'm not living like that. I refuse. The bitch has screwed up enough people's lives. My mother's. My real grandmother's. And now Emily's. No more Will. It stops and it stops tonight if I have to jam the knife in her throat myself."

"Nik?"

"What?" Nik turned on Will with an almost feral expression on his face.

Will sighed. "Let me know if you need help getting rid of the body."

Nik smiled, a slight smile, but the first to cross his face since he had awoken to this nightmare. He winked at his closest friend before turning to head up the gangway to the yacht.

Someplace Unknown

"Em? Emily?"

Emily heard the voice calling her from a distance and tried to get through the haze of sluggishness that surrounded her to respond.

"Nikolas?" She tried to speak but her voice came off cracked and rough and virtually incomprehensible.

"Emily?"

She opened her eyes and flinched at the bright light, quickly closing them again. A few seconds later she tried again, slower this time, giving herself a chance to adjust

Her head pounded and her body felt stiff and sore. The hard surface she was on was not her soft bed or Nikolas's couch or even the spare bed in Jason's penthouse. It wasn't anywhere she was used to waking up, or anyplace she wanted to wake up.

And then she remembered.

Nikolas and Liz in bed naked together, Liz moving over Nikolas in movements that could be nothing other than sex. Fleeing the room, then the house. Johnny. Her decision to go back into the house and confront Nikolas.

She closed her eyes again. That was when all hell had broken loose and....

Her eyes flew open.

"Juan?"

His familiar face hovered over her. "Yeah, it's me." He helped her sit up, gently

supporting her. "Are you okay?"

"Me?" Emily shook her head. "They shot you."

Juan grimaced as he touched an obviously hastily bandaged shoulder. "Yeah. I noticed." He gave her a grin and then destroyed the effect when he winced with pain.

"Oh God," Emily moved closer to him, all of her past unease around him forgotten as she saw the obvious pain he was in. "What can I do?"

"You're doing it just by being here with me. I don't think I could do this if you weren't here."

"Where are we?" She looked around the small room, windowless and devoid of any furniture except for a large mirror on one wall and a single light overhead, although she didn't see any switchs for that light. "How long have we been here?"

"I'm not sure. A day. Maybe two. You've been out of it since they brought us here."

Emily smiled at him and then frowned. "What happened? I was at Liz's house and I was going to go in the house when you showed up..." She spoke slowly and haltingly as she tried to piece together her recollections. She didn't want to think about what had happened before, would not think about what happened before.

Juan nodded. "I was coming to talk to Liz."

"Liz? Why were you going to talk to Liz?"

Juan looked down ashamed. "I .....I felt really bad about the way I treated you. I mean if you want to be with Nikolas and Nikolas makes you happy, I should respect that, shouldn't I? I mean isn't love about wanting the person you love to be happy no matter what? Oh hell, I'm not saying this very well but I guess what it comes down to is that if Nikolas is what you want than he's what I want for you." Juan ran his hand through his hair. "I just think you deserve someone who will treat you with respect and put you first instead of..."

Not wanting to hear it, Emily cut him off. "Juan..."she began but he stopped her.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to knock Cassadine. If he's what makes you happy, go for it."

Emily stared at her fingertips, each word cutting into her heart. "Why were you going to Liz's?"

"I thought she could help me apologize to you. After what I said, I didn't think you'd talk

to me without a referee."

Emily leaned back, trying to ignore the pounding in her head. "I remember seeing you walking up the path and then there was a shot...."

Juan nodded. "These guys came out of nowhere. I saw them grab your guards behind you and knock them out and then they were going to hurt you. I tried to get to you but they shot me in the shoulder. They hit you on the head." Juan released a shaky breath. "I've been so scared for you Em. You've been out of it for so long that I was beginning to think you weren't going to wake up and I God as much as I hate the fact that were not together I'd hate it even more if you died and...." Emily looked up as he stopped and she could tell that his shoulders were shaking.

"Juan?" She whispered. He looked at her and she could see the stark terror in his face.

"Oh Juan, it's okay." She murmured as she moved to hug, holding him tight until he relaxed and the shaking stopped.

"Do you know where we are? Or who kidnapped us?"

"I don't know who they are, but I think I know why." Juan whispered as he drew back. "I heard them mention getting Sonny and Jason to do whatever they wanted with us as their bargaining chips. Although they probably mean you more than me since we all know how important I am to my dear stepfather." He finished the last thought bitterly.

"Juan, Sonny cares about you. You know that." She took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. "Sonny and Jason will get us out of here."

"I hope you're right."

"I know I am." Emily felt his familiar, uncomplicated warmth as she relaxed against him. For a minute, she wished that she had met Juan before she had ever heard the name Nikolas Cassadine. Juan was cute, funny, sensitive, and sweet.

She deliberately crushed the voice inside that said he was also possessive, boring, and dull with the thought that she would never find Juan with another woman. She had always been first with Juan, always. Juan had always been there for her, hadn't he? He would never sleep with another woman. Never have sex with Katherine on her birthday. Of course Juan had never met Katherine but she still didn't think....she lost her train of thought and tried to recover it, giving up after a minute.

Mentally she shrugged. What was the point of what ifs? The bottom line was that she had loved Nikolas before meeting Juan, she had loved him on some unconscious level all the time she was with Juan, and even if she had to watch him walk off into the sunset with Liz she had a sinking feeling that she would always love Nikolas.

And when she was out of this mess, after Jason and Sonny had freed them, she would have to face Nikolas and find out the truth about what she had seen.

If that truth was that she had once again come in second in Nikolas's eyes.....

She shuddered, she didn't want to think about it. Wouldn't think about it right now. Truth to tell, she wasn't sure that she could think about anything in too much detail. Her head continued to pound and everything felt she was experiencing it from a distance, like she was watching herself from a distance and it didn't matter what happened.

Juan felt her shiver. "Em? It's going to be okay. Jason will do whatever he needs to do and we'll be back home soon."

Emily tried to smile. "I know....."

She stopped as two burly men in black opened the door, automatic rifles slung over their shoulder.

"You!" They pointed at Juan and one man separated the two teenagers with his weapon, shoving the weapon into Juan's shoulder, causing him to cry out. "Come with us." He pulled Juan to his feet.

"Wait a minute," Emily cried and tried to step forward when the other man held her back with his weapon pointed at her forehead. "Where are you taking him?"

"You don't want to know." The second man said curtly as they shoved Juan out of the room and then followed, leaving. He turned back to Emily. "We'll be back for you." A second later, the only light in the room turned off leaving her alone in the darkness.

Her knees suddenly unsteady, Emily sank to the floor and overwhelmed with everything began to silently cry.

Outside in the hallway, Juan got to his feet angrily, turning to the first man he grabbed his weapon. "What the hell do you think you are doing? That hurt."

The man smiled. "You wanted us to make it look real."

"Shut up." Juan snarled. "Don't forget that I'm your boss now." Juan pulled the dirty strip of cloth off his shoulder, revealing a neatly stitched wound. "I don't think Mrs. Cassadine would appreciate your shooting her associates."

Petrov smiled. "Mrs. Cassadine PAYS us extremely well to shoot her associates." His smile was glacial. "Fortunately for you our orders are to work with you." For now, he added mentally. He didn't like the boy, he was too arrogant and cocky.

"Don't worry, Helena will be quite pleased when this little ruse drops Emily back into my lap for good."

Juan grinned. Everything was going exactly according to plan and what a plan it had been. Destroy Emily's relationship with Nikolas once and for all. Then, with Helena's help, arrange a kidnapping to isolate Emily from everything she knew and make her dependent upon him for her well being. He moved to the two way mirror they had set up so they could watch what Emily was doing. Well almost everything was going according to plan. Liz had disappeared after the whole scene with Nikolas had gone down, but he wasn't worried. He had more important things to think about. Emily was already emotionally unhinged from the little scene he and Liz had set up. A few days of being locked up in that room with only himself to rely on and they would be closer than ever. When Emily was his again, he'd stage a rescue and set himself up as a hero in Jason and Sonny's eyes for saving Emily from an unknown assailant.

Of course just to make sure that Emily fell in with his plans he had had Helena's doctors administer a drug that kept her out of it and susceptible to his strong will.

Everything he wanted.....Emily, his position in Morgan and Corinthos' organization...all of it was within his grasp.

He continued to watch through the two way mirror as Emily sat in the corner and cried.

And the smile on his face grew bigger.

To be continued... >