Emily leaned her head back against the smooth wall and pulled her knees up to her chest. She'd lost track of time and she had no clue how long ago they had taken Juan or when they would come for her. Her head pounded unmercilessly and her throat was dry and swollen. She couldn't seem to think or to focus on anything but the spiraling pain in her head and the images she couldn't block out.

Or the rising fear that this time there would be no rescue.

Maybe they wouldn't come. Maybe they had decided to leave her alone to die. How long did it take to starve to death? Weeks? Months? She supposed it was a good thing that she would die of thirst long before she starved to death

Emily Quartermaine, she berated herself sharply as forced herself to focus, when did you become such a pessimist?

Maybe when her mother had died trusting the Quartermaines to take care of her. Or maybe when her best friend died. Or maybe when an entire mall had fallen on her. Or maybe when she had walked in on the guy she loved with another woman.

Not once. Twice.

She shivered. Okay, maybe it hadn't been an entire mall but enough of it to make her realize that in this lifetime at least her karma was seriously damaged. She sighed. It was like some twisted and decidedly amateur Steven King type was writing the story of her life and was determined that she suffer over and over again.

God knows she had stopped expecting a happy ending. That didn't mean she wouldn't settle for a happy moment or two somewhere along the line.

Stop it. You'll get out of this. Jason will rescue you. Jason's good at rescuing you. And when this is over you'll figure things out with Nikolas.

Everything she knew about Nikolas screamed at her that he wouldn't do that to her. If Nikolas was going to break things off with her he'd tell her first, he wouldn't just have sex with Liz. Especially if he knew Liz was expecting her.

If he knew. Emily's eyes widened at that thought. What if Liz hadn't told him she was coming over? What if Liz had set her up?

Right. And Liz drugged Nikolas, stripped him of his clothing, and made it look like they were having sex.

Come on Emily stop making excuses for him. You did that last time remember? Remember how YOU apologized to him after that fiasco with Katherine.

Where is your pride Emily? Why do you let Nikolas keep doing this to you over and over again? Why do you keep settling for being Nikolas Cassadine's second choice?

Because I'm not. I'm not. She argued with herself as she hugged her legs tighter, trying to keep her thoughts on track even as they drifted back to that one night in Llanview when she'd began to believe somewhere inside of herself that she wasn't Nikolas second choice but his final choice.....

"I'm sorry," His voice was low and somber and filled with just a trace of self-hate. "I'm sorry that I was stupid enough and immature enough to be tangled up with Katherine but I'm even more sorry that you got hurt by it. I would never willingly hurt you." He swallowed. "Hurting you is the last thing I want to do."

"It's okay Nikolas," she started to repeat the old lines from memory but he stopped her.

"No, it's not." His voice was firm as he gently forced her to look up at him. "All this time I thought I was so mature and grown up and I only saw you as a kid. Sweet. Charming. Someone to talk to and laugh with, but still just a kid."

"I know. Your little sister."

"I was wrong. You're not just a kid, you never were. Ever since I've known you you've been one of the most mature and level headed people in my life. You would have seen through Katherine, hell you did see through her while all I could think with was...well we both know what I was thinking with, don't we? The point is Em that if one of us was immature and needed to grow up, it wasn't you- it was me. You were fifteen going on thirty and I never saw it. There I was so sure of myself as the adult but the truth is that this whole last year or so I've been acting like a spoiled little boy. I hurt the people I cared the most about over and over. My father. My mother. You. I don't know enough ways to say I'm sorry," he finished softly. "All I can do is hope that you will forgive me."

Emily closed her eyes against the rush of emotion and when she opened them all she could see was Nikolas, standing in silence and waiting for her benediction. She nodded. "It's okay Nikolas, we will always be friends. Always." She even managed to smile as she said it, determined not to break until she was alone. Away from him. She started to head back to the dining room when he stopped her, not with his body but with his words.

"I want more than friendship from you Emily Quartermaine."

She must have heard him wrong. She stopped, but made no move to turn back to him.

"I want a chance to win your heart."

Despite everything, Emily smiled to herself when she remembered how nervous he was when he blurted out those words. She'd rarely seen Nikolas Cassadine less than confident and it was that air of uncertainty, as much as his words, that had forced her to stay. They had talked, about Liz and his relationship with her, about Lucky, about their own friendship and then.... They had kissed.

She had been so furious with him, so afraid that she was losing her heart to him again and determined not to let him get close enough to hurt her again.

She shook her head furiously. "I can't do this. You don't have the right to do this to me. Do you know how badly you hurt me? How long it took me to get over you? How many nights I cried? You can't come waltzing into my life and expect me to be your lover when you haven't even been my friend for the last six months. I can't do this," she repeated the words firmly even as she avoided his eyes and fought every instinct that told her to run back into his arms before he changed his mind again. That was what she was most afraid of, that he would change his mind. "I'm getting off the merry-go-round Nikolas, once and for all. I can't let you hurt me again. I won't let you hurt me again."

"I wouldn't."

"Of course you would. You always do. Maybe you wouldn't mean to and maybe you would be sorry, but the end result would be the same."

"Emily there are no guarantees and you know it."

"You're right. But that doesn't mean I'm going to hurl myself into the path of an oncoming train." She took a deep breath, trying to sound more sure of herself than she felt. "It's too late, Nikolas. I've moved on."

Of course she hadn't. Probably couldn't. She traced a random pattern in the carpet as she remembered how Nikolas hadn't given up on her, how he had kept telling her in words and in actions that he loved her until she had admitted outloud what they had both known all along- that she loved him too.

She blinked back a tear as she shut her eyes tight. She couldn't believe that she almost forgotten forever what had happened when she had gone to visit Jess for Christmas last year. How could she have forgotten any of it? It seemed like those memories were engraved in her heart like an etching on fine crystal, a time out of time that had transformed her life forever. Nikolas had told her that he loved her. And then, while she had been operating under the once burned twice shy theory of relationships, he had set out to show her that he could be trusted with her heart, that he needed to be trusted with her heart.

The bottom line was that she loved Nikolas and she probably always would because it seemed to her sometimes that she always had, even before she met him she had loved him. Loving Nikolas was easy, trusting Nikolas....that was another issue.

The room was silent and still and her thoughts kept racing around and crashing into each other, making it difficult to focus but she kept trying.

Trusting Nikolas... That had been easy once. She'd trusted him to be her prince. She'd trusted him to help when she had been blackmailed. And she had trusted him to be the guy who could make her dreams come true.

Until she had opened a door and found him in bed with Katherine.

Until he had seemed to forget about her after Lucky's death and he had spent all of his time with Liz.

But then had come Llanview and Christmas and a miracle that she had stopped believing in.

And she had not only learned to trust Nikolas again she had built her dreams for the future around him.

Only to have them shatter when that first photo had arrived. And then to watch them disintegrate when he had confessed to having sex with Liz.

Still.....She'd trusted him to tell her the truth about Liz when he could have lied. And he had told her the truth. Of course he should have told her the truth when they had first started dating. He knew everything there was to know about her relationship with Juan. She would have understand if he had told her the that he and Liz had been lovers when they had dated.

Or maybe she wouldn't have. Something about the fact that she wasn't sure if she was going to make it through the next few hours alive made Emily brutally honest. Would she have allowed herself to fall for Nikolas if she had known he and Liz had been physically intimate? God it was hard enough trying to handle her own insecurities knowing that Nikolas had been sexually involved with someone like Katherine who had been beautiful even if she was a cold hearted bitch, if she had known that he had slept with Liz.... She shivered. The truth was that she wasn't sure if she could have coped with that knowledge back then. Her jealousy and envy of Liz, although not something she liked to think much about, was deep. After all, she and Lucky had been closer than anything and when she needed him the most he had been caught up with the Webber sisters, first Sarah and then Liz. And when Lucky had died, when she had needed Nikolas desperately, he had turned away from her to comfort Liz. Even Jason..... Emily sighed. Had she always been jealous of Liz at some level? Probably. It didn't make her feel good about herself, but there it was. If Nikolas had told her that he had had sex with Liz, beautiful, sophisticated Liz, she would have never lowered her defenses around him.

And Nikolas probably knew that because Nikolas knew her better than she had known herself.

So okay, the fact that he lied to her about Liz wasn't good, but it was understandable. She would have worked through her anger about that eventually. But then had come the explosion that had taken her memories away. She didn't remember much about that time, but she did the darkness that had surrounded her like a tomb and holding onto the sound of Nik's voice like a lifeline.

And when she had lost her memory, she hadn't lost the strong feelings she had had for Nikolas. She had loved him without even remembering that she did. And the night that Jess had been hurt...well if Alan hadn't interrupted them they would have made love.

Even in the midst of her fear for Jess, she hadn't been able to stifle the incredible joy that ran through her at the realization that Nikolas loved her.

And then less than 24 hours later she had opened a door in Liz's house and all her dreams had come crashing down around her again.

Or had they? She remembered the look of disbelief on Johnny's face and Johnny didn't really like Nikolas. If someone who didn't like Nikolas couldn't believe that Nikolas would betray her than why did she, who loved Nikolas, believe it? Was she letting a lifetime of insecurities push her into making a decision that was wrong? What if she was wrong? What if there was another explanation other than the obvious for what she saw?

What if there wasn't?

She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling and tried to imagine what her grandmother would say.

She could almost hear Lila.

Lila would tell her that love was worthless if it wasn't based on faith. And faith, faith was believing in something or someone no matter what people told you or what you saw with your own eyes. Lila loved Edward. Lila believed in Edward because despite all the things her grandfather had done, Lila had faith in him.

Nikolas loved her. What she had seen at Liz's house....well that was one moment that needed to be weighed against all the other moments that they had ha together. She owed it to Nikolas and to herself to listen to whatever he had to say, even if what he had to say wasn't what she wanted to hear.

It was time to stop running from her problems..

If she lived long enough to see Nikolas again that is.

Helena's Yacht

"Nikolas," Helena stood up as she greeted her grandson, a champagne glass in her hand.. "As always it is a pleasure to see you my darling Prince."

"I truly wish that I could say the same grandmother," Nikolas replied, the hauteur in his tone a direct echo of Stefan's. Helena looked at her grandson measuringly and her eyes narrowed, there was a coldness in his manner, a Cassadine like quality that hadn't been there last month.

Her grandson, her beloved prince, had finally developed a spine. Good she thought. Everything was going exactly as she wanted it, maybe not as planned, but the end result would be the same.

Nikolas would be a Cassadine she could be proud of.

"You seem disturbed my Prince," Helena's voice was soft and loving, or at least as soft and loving as Helena Cassadine was capable of. "How can I serve you?"

Nikolas took a deep breath, resisting the urge to strangle the bitch. He kept his voice cold, the tone emotionless. "You can tell me where Emily Quartermaine is."

Helena smiled innocently. "Miss. Quartermaine? I would assume that she is safe in the bosom of her family although how anyone could describe those people as a family...." She let her voice trail off delicately.

Grandmother," Nikolas almost choked on the term. "I am giving you a chance to save yourself, to save what little remains of our relationship. Tell me where Emily is and you won't suffer." Too much anyway, he added silently.

"Nikolas?" Helena managed to look offended. "Are you implying that I would do anything to hurt your little ......friend?"

"Emily is more than my friend. She is the woman I love and the woman I will marry someday." Nikolas's voice was soft yet somehow slicing at the same time. "You keep going on and on about how someday I will be The Cassadine and you are right, someday the Cassadine Empire will be mine. Mine to rule. Mine to control. And Emily will be my side. It will be Emily who will share the power and the glory and the legacy that is the Cassadine name. It will be Emily to whom you will kneel and pledge your loyalty. Emily who will have all that you have plotted for." Nikolas paused, letting his words sink in. "Emily Cassadine, it has a certain ring to it doesn't it?"

The crystal glass in Helena's hand snapped and her eyes turned cold.

Nikolas smiled. "Does that thought bother you, grandmother?" He shrugged casually as he ignored the broken glass and sat down in the leather chair. "I thought you desired my happiness over all else and you should know that Emily makes me happy."

Nikolas counted silently....one...two...thre...four...

"I will not accept that common little tramp into the Cassadine family." The words exploded from Helena and Nikolas grinned as Helena's face turned dark and ugly. He'd learned something from watching his former stepfather handle Helena. Know her weaknesses. Push her buttons. Get her control to slip. And then strike.

Somewhere he knew Lucky was smiling.

He turned his attention back to his grandmother. "I take it the news of my impending lifelong happiness upsets you grandmother dearest?"

Helena tried to calm down but the image of having to vow her fealty to that....creature still burned in her head. "Nikolas you are young. You have your whole life to lead. Miss. Quartermaine is even younger. Surely the two of you can't be that serious about each other...."

"Oh but we are." Nikolas paused. "I realized when Emily almost died when the mall exploded that life was too short to waste any time worrying about whether we were too young. You remember the mall exploding don't you, Grandmother?" Another pause. "I understand that you were there that day."

"I had an appointment with a business colleague."

"I see. Of course you did. It makes perfect sense I just have one question...." Nikolas smoothly stood up and approached his grandmother, "when did Juan Santiago become a business partner of yours?"

"He was acting as a representative of Corinthos-Morgan Industries. I was hoping to negotiate a rather tricky deal involving....."

"Nice save," Nikolas cut her off with a wave of his hand. "I might even have believed it if I didn't find it so unbelievable. Really Grandmother, I thought you were a better liar than that. What was it you taught me? The best lies are those that contain an element of truth. Neither Jason nor Sonny would ever do any business with you so what was the real reason you were meeting Juan that day? Did it have something to do with the explosion?"

"No." Helena struggled for composure. "Of course not. The conversation between Mr. Santiago and myself was of a ....personal nature."

Nikolas stared at his grandmother for a moment and then laughed. "Juan? I knew you were desperate for a new boy toy since both Ari and Andreas flew the coop, but Santiago....." Nikolas shook his head. "I thought you had better taste than that. Hell I thought he had better taste than that. God I might need to make an appointment with Kevin Collins to shake that image out of my head." Nikolas shuddered before turning back to his grandmother. "Still....that doesn't explain the fact that you had this in your study." He removed the paper with the plans for the mall on it that Kevin had found when he and Jason had searched the yacht earlier.

"How did you find this? Who gave it to you?"

"You don't think your staff is that loyal, do you? I am the Prince after all." Nikolas's eyes burned with anger when he thought of all that Emily had endured that day and in the weeks to follow. "Don't bother to deny it. I can see the truth in your eyes. You planned that explosion at the mall. You wanted to kill Emily and you didn't care who else got hurt."

"I didn't know you were there."

"But you did know that there would be other people there. Innocent people whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You knew that others would die and you didn't give a damn as long as Emily died too. It must have been quite a shock when she survived."

"I think you should leave now Nikolas. You are becoming upset, delusional. You're imagination is getting the best of you. You said that Miss. Quartermaine is missing and I can understand how emotional you are so I won't hold anything you say against you. In fact we will just forget this entire conversation ever took place and.."

"Cut the crap Grandmother dearest." Nikolas's voice was sharp and angry and for the first time in a long time Helena felt a frisson of fear chase its way down her spine. "You know what's happened to Emily and you will tell me."

"Or what? You won't hurt me dearest, there is too much of your weak mother in you for that to happen."

Nikolas nodded. "You are probably right. I won't kill you." Yet he thought to himself. "But then again I am a Cassadine so I know first hand that there are worst things than dying. In fact dying might be a little too merciful in your case. A little too easy."

"You won't hurt me." Helena almost managed to keep the shakiness out of her voice.

"Do you know how long Emily was buried alive?" Nikolas continued as if his grandmother hadn't spoken. "How many hours she endured that darkness? No room to move. No space. No light. Nothing but darkness all around, death all around. I don't suppose its a surprise that her mind shut down and forced her to forget. Self-preservation I imagine. I've read stories that talk about the way that the need to survive kicks in when your life is in danger. I would guess that Cassadines have a stronger survival instinct than the average person but I suppose we'll know for sure fairly soon."

"You won't hurt me." She repeated her earlier statement, less sure, more afraid.

Nikolas's eyes raked her up and down like she was dirt. "I could. Easily. After all there are a thousand kinds of poison that can paralyze you or eat you alive from the inside or make you think you're going crazy. Poisons that I can put in your food or in your drink."

"You wouldn't."

"Interesting air conditioning system you have here," Nikolas was almost casual in his demeanor. "The air filters all through the yacht doesn't it? It would be so easy to ......" His voice trailed off and he stopped. "But I'm getting off track, aren't I? You're right Grandmother, I probably wouldn't hurt you physically...but there are other ways to make a Cassadine suffer." He withdrew a folded paper from his jacket and handed it to her.

Helena opened the paper and stared at her grandson in shock.

"What is this? It can't be legal...."

"Oh it is. I assure you, it's perfectly legal." Nikolas smiled. "You remember my friend Will, don't you? His father is a lawyer. Sam Rappaport, you might have heard of him, he's one of the best in the country. I had him look at everything- my trust, the company, the family fortune. All of it. He found it .....quite interesting."

"Alexis...."

"Doesn't know a thing about it." Nikolas shrugged. "I figured this should be just between you and me, don't you?"

"Stefan...."

"Is in complete agreement, you will notice that that is his signature below mine. That's a legally binding document. It will hold up in any court of law, either here or Greece."

"You're crazy."

"Not crazy, just a Cassadine." Nikolas smiled with satisfaction as he saw Helena's pallor. "It is really quite simple to understand. Those papers, fully signed and authorized, are a kind of promissory note that turns Cassadine Industries lock, stock, and barrel over to Laura Webber Spencer. That's right Grandmother, my mother, who you kidnapped and held hostage and tortured for years, will be The Cassadine. Not that she'll hold the title, but I don't think that will matter when she'll have the power and the money and everything else that goes along with it." He was a silent for a moment. "I'm sure she will want to redecorate Wyndemere, something light and airy I'm imagining. And this yacht, we'll considering her memories of this yacht she'll probably just ask Luke to blow the damned thing up."

"You can't be serious."

"I can be anything I want to be." Nikolas replied glibly. "Of course mother will need help. I imagine that Edward Quartermaine can give her a lot of advice on how to run an international cooperation. Sonny too now that I think about it. Jax will probably come aboard also. Of course, the easiest thing will be for her to put Alexis in charge and let Alexis run the show...."

"You bastard." Helena's fury was completely out in the open. "I will not lose this family's legacy to that bitch the way I lost my sons and my husband because of her." Her eyes turned dark with anger. "I will see you dead before I let her control the Cassadine treasures."

"I wouldn't. Kill me that is? It won't change a thing and it might make things more complicated since I'm fairly sure you are not as good as you think you are at disposing of bodies."

"I could kill you now and get away with it."

"Probably. But you see I've made arrangements with Jason Morgan, very specific and very clear arrangements. If anything is to happen to me, he will kill you. I tried to limit it to if I die, but Jason felt that would have been depriving him of his fun. This way, if I trip and sprain an ankle or even tear a fingernail, he gets to kill you." Nikolas shrugged. "Who was I to argue with him?"

"Jason Morgan doesn't scare me."

"Now who is the crazy one?" Nikolas muttered out loud. "Hey, but its no skin off my back if you suddenly develop a death wish. Kill me and see what happens next."

Helena hesitated.

"Yeah I always knew those instincts for self-preservation were strong."

"Nikolas you can't do this."

"I can." He grinned. "There is however one way to stop this. Take a look at the codicil attached to the first document."

Helena read and if possible her face got even more white.

"Okay, I admit that its kind of wordy but you get the point. If Emily is returned to me healthy and okay, if she remains healthy and okay, then the agreement to turn over Cassadine Industries is null and void. If Emily is healthy and safe, then Stefan and I retain control of Cassadine Industries indefinitely. However if anything happens to Emily......"

"You can't do this.

"There's that can't word again." Nikolas shook his head. "It's done. That document has been filed with the authorities here in the United States and in Greece."

Nikolas walked up to his grandmother and looked her straight in the eye. "To use an American colloquium, the ball grandmother dearest, is in your court."

Without looking back, Nikolas left the room leaving a stunned Helena behind.

Ten minutes later, Nikolas climbed into a dark mini van parked along the side of the road leading to the marina.

"How did it go?" Will asked anxiously as Nik let loose a ragged breath and gratefully accepted the bottled water Jess handed him.

"Exactly as planned. She fell for it; hook, line and sinker. Man, those phony documents that your father sent over even looked real to me."

"It helped that Stefan went along with it," Jess pointed out before turning to her brother and Jason who were in the front of the van. "What happens now?"

"Now we wait." Kevin answered her. "Hopefully Nikolas's little bombshell will have her running to make sure that Emily is healthy and in one piece."

"What makes you think she won't just call whoever has Emily and tell them to let her go?"

"Helena's too much of a control freak. She'll need to take care of this in person. The possibility of something going wrong and Cassadine Industries being turned over to my mother..." Nikolas shook his head. "That's her worst nightmare and she won't let it happen."

"I hope you're right because right now Helena is the only clue we have to finding Emily." Jason's voice was tight and controlled. "It's the only reason the bitch is still alive."

Kevin laid a hand on Jason's arm. "Relax big boy, when this is all over and Emily is safe you can plan an ending for the Grecian Bitch that is as bloody and violent and ultimately revolting as you want it to be." Kevin grinned.

"And I'll help," Nikolas words were edged with ice.

Whatever anyone was going to say next was lost as Will suddenly sat up. "Bingo." They could all see Helena's car pull out of the marina. "Houston we have contact."

And all five of them fell silent as Kevin pulled the mini van into traffic and started to follow.

She must have dozed off because the next thing Emily was aware of was a strong hand shaking her awake and a pair of brown eyes looking at her with concern.

"Nikolas?" She questioned softly as she struggled to focus on the face in front of her.

Juan scowled. The bitch. Even now she was calling for him.

"No Em," He forced himself to use his usual voice, bland and non threatening, "It's me Juan." His hand brushed strands of her hair out of her face. "Are you all right?"

She managed to nod although a feeling of nausea overwhelmed her. Juan's eyes narrowed, he'd wanted her drugged but that didn't mean he wanted her vomiting all over him. "I'm okay." Her voice sounded foreign to her own ears and she swallowed, trying again. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" Her eyes grew huge as she took in the bruising on his cheek and the black eye.

"I'm okay." He brushed aside her concern gallantly even as inside he was smiling. It had been worth the pain Helena's men had inflicted for this kind of reaction. Everything was going according to plan. A few more hours and then he would find suddenly think of a way to escape their "captors". Emily would be so grateful she would fall into his arms and Morgan.... Morgan would do anything to reward the man who had saved his sister.

Soon that which was his birthright, his grandfather's legacy to him, would be his again.

Emily shivered and he pulled her into an embrace. Grateful for the warmth of another person after being alone in the dark for so long, Emily placed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "I'm scared."

"Don't be. There's nothing to be afraid of." Juan assured her softly. "I'm here and I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"I'm so tired." Her eyelids started to close as exhaustion overwhelmed her. "I just want to sleep."

His hands played with her hair and Emily wondered vaguely why the feeling of his hands on her made her skin crawl. She fought off the feeling and reminded herself that this was Juan, who had been the most important thing in her life once and who was still a good friend.

"Go to sleep Emily. It's okay. Everything is going to be okay. We'll get out of this mess and be back in Port Charles before you know it." Juan's even voice went on and Emily started to give in to the need for sleep as her breathing relaxed. "You've had a really rough time of it these last few weeks. It's no wonder you're exhausted." Juan crooned softly. "First the explosion and then you lost your memory and then you walked in on your so called Prince Charming with another woman. The bastard hurt you Em but don't worry because I'm not going to let him hurt you again."

Emily froze as she was suddenly wide awake. Juan knew about Liz and Nik? But how? She hadn't told him. In the days since they had been kidnapping she hadn't talked to Juan about Nik. Not one word. So how....With a shatteringly sickening moment of clarity Emily put it all together and realized the truth.

Without thinking, she unconsciously stiffened and pulled away from Juan.

And that was when she finally knew just how much danger she was really in when she saw the look on Juan's face as he realized what he had said.

The smile on his face turned from caring to repulsive as the hands that had gently held her begin to gouge into her flesh.

"I guess its time for Plan B." Juan's whisper echoed in the silent room as his fist slammed into her cheek.

Next Chapter:

A rescue comes too late.

Flashbacks courtesy of Christmas Miracle