Emily looked up from her tears at Jason’s words and her eyes momentarily flared with anger at her brother’s over protectiveness. Stiffening her shoulders, she shrugged Jessica away and approached her brother.

“You will not hurt Nikolas, do you hear me Jason?”

“He hurt you.”

Emily closed her eyes for a moment. “I know that. Trust me I know that. But you cannot hurt every guy who hurts me. It doesn’t work that way.”

“It should.” Jason said evenly.

Emily smiled. “I love you Jase. I love the fact that you defend me. But what happens between Nikolas and I is just that, between Nikolas and I.”

“He cheated on you.”

Emily shook her head, knowing that as hurt and angry as she was at Nikolas she couldn’t let Jason hurt him. She may be a first class fool but she still loved the guy. “Not really. Technically, what happened between him and Liz happened before we started going out.” Emily was so intent on calming Jason down, that she missed the “I told you he wouldn’t cheat on her” look that passed from Will to Jess. “Nikolas’s mistake was lying to me about it. Mine was thinking that somehow I meant something special to him.”

“You do.” Jess spoke up softly. “You know you do. He loves you.”

“At the moment. But for how long? Nikolas and I have...a history. I thought I could forget about it or bury it, but ever since I saw that first picture, ever since I realized he slept with Elizabeth.... I’ve always been an after thought with Nikolas. I’ve never been first, not really but these last few months...” Emily shook her head as the tears threatened to overwhelm her. “I don’t know if I can ever believe anything he says again.”

“I’ll kill him for you.” Jason says softly. “I hate to see you in pain.”

“Thank you, but no. I think its about time I grew up and started to fight my own battles instead of relying on you or the Q’s to pick up the pieces for me.” Emily’s eyes darkened with pain. “That means dealing with what happened with Nikolas on my own.”

A gentle hand lifted her chin up and she found herself staring into Will’s eyes. “On your own maybe, but never alone Quartermaine. Not when Jess and I are here for you every step of the way.”

Emily averted her eyes. “Thanks Will but I know that you and Nik are best friends and...”

“You and I are friends also Emily. I thought we decided that last Christmas. I hope to God you and Nik can work this out, but no matter what happens we will always be friends.”

Emily nodded somberly. “Thank you.” She took a deep breath desperate to change the subject and find something else, anything else, to think about for a while. “I could really use some fresh air. Why don’t I show you and Jess around Port Chuck for a little bit?”

Jessica looked at Jason and he nodded. Jessie shook head as she walked up to Emily. “Actually it’s about time I call my mom and check in before she makes Asa send a posse after me. Why don’t you and Will go for a walk and enjoy the afternoon, I’ll use Jason’s phone to make some calls and then we’ll meet up later?”

A confused look crossed Will’s face but he nodded. “Who am I to pass up the opportunity to spend the afternoon with a beautiful model? Are you sure you don’t mind? We can wait for you...”

Jessica shook her head. She loved Will like crazy but sometimes he could be really dense. “You know my mom. She’ll turn a five minute check in conversation into a full blown inquisition. Why put us both through that? I’ll call you on your cell when I’m finished and you can tell me where to meet you.”

Emily and Will nodded as Jason pulled Emily to the side to speak to her privately. Will turned to Jessica. “I’d rather be with you.” He kissed her in that way he usually reserved for when they were alone that left her breathless.

Looking into his eyes, Jess bit back the impulse to tell Emily to take care of her own problems while she made passionate love to her boyfriend right then and there. That would be a story for Kevin and Jason to exchange...

She sighed. “I know. Me too. But Emily needs someone with her right now.” Jess frowned. “There’s something really wrong here and Jason can help me figure it out. I need to know if those pictures are doctored and if so who would do that. Jason can help me with that while you keep Emily company. Besides the sooner I figure out who is trying to break Emily and Nikolas up, the sooner we can begin working on getting them back together.”

“I don’t know. Nik really screwed up this time. You don’t begin a relationship with a lie. Although judging from her reaction, I can understand why he didn’t want Emily to know that he and Liz slept together.” He pulled her closer. “Just promise me that we won’t let any lies come between us.”

“Total and complete honesty, Will. I promise. Nothing is going to break us up.” Jess vowed as he claimed her lips with his.

Overhearing the last part of their conversation, Emily felt a pain tear at her insides and she turned away at their obvious closeness, the almost tangible connection between them. She and Nikolas had had that once. Would they ever feel like that again?

She was distracted from her depression by a strong arm wrapped around her shoulder. “You ready to give me the grand tour?” Will said cheerfully as he led her out of the penthouse. “I want to see the real Port Charles....you know the courthouse where your delusional sister-in-law shot her ex-husband who also happened to be her stepfather after he kidnapped her son who he thought was his until she passed him off as someone else’s even though the father......”

Jessica waited until the elevator closed on them and then turned to Jason, a determined glint in her eyes. “How soon can we get some answers on these photos?”

Jason handed the photos to Johnny and nodded. “An hour. Maybe less.”

“Good. That will give you time to tell me everything you know about Elizabeth Webber.”

Elizabeth Webber sat where Nikolas had left her, idly sipping the iced tea he had ordered for her.

She smiled softly as she thought back over their conversation.

“I take it things went well with loverboy?” A hard edged, mocking voice sounded from behind her and Liz grimaced.

“Go away Juan. I’m trying to enjoy my afternoon.”

Ignoring her request, Juan Santiago sat next to her. “Tell me.”

“Don’t order me around. Your not a mob boss yet and I’m not your second-in-command.”

“The key word there is yet. And don’t worry, when I take over for Sonny I won’t have a traitorous little bitch like you working for me. Selling out your supposed friends isn’t very nice.”

“I didn’t hear you complaining when I approached you.” Liz’s eyes darkened. “Besides, Emily Quartermaine ceased to be my friend the moment she stole the man I love away from me.”

“Hey, I thought Spencer was dead.” Juan remarked pointedly.

A deep anger burned in Liz’s eyes. “Don’t ever make jokes about Lucky.” She paused. “I can’t bring Lucky back, but I can make sure my future looks bright. Nikolas is charming, good looking, and wealthy. With him by my side, I will have everything I want.” Adding a silent almost to that statement, she turned to Juan. “Nikolas loves me and we were happy together. When he broke it off before Christmas last year, I was sure that once he had time to think about it he would realize that we were good together. And he would have if Emily hadn’t followed him to Llanview and thrown herself at him. Nikolas and Emily are a mistake. All I need to do is to make sure that Nikolas figures that out for himself.”

“As long as it leaves Emily free for me.”

“Why? What’s the big attraction with little Orphan Emily?”

“For her herself? Not much. For what she means as far my role in Jason and Sonny’s organization goes- a lot.” Juan’s expression grew angry. “By all right’s Sonny’s organization belongs to me. He took his territory from my grandfather. As my mother’s only child, all of it should come to me. If playing house with Emily gets me what I want, then I’ll do it.” A pause. “Cassadine isn’t going to win this time. Emily might love him but when it comes down to it he has walked over her so many times that she can’t trust that love. He’ll break her heart and I’ll be there to pick up the pieces and twist them anyway I want them.”

Elizabeth Spencer, looking more like the Lizzie who had first arrived in Port Charles than the Elizabeth who had found love with Lucky Spencer, simply smirked..

Early evening, Luke’s

Emily stood outside the club, listening to the strains of a local jazz combo drifting from inside. Despite the lingering animosity between Nikolas and his one time stepfather, this place had been a favorite hangout of theirs. Luke hadn’t cared that they were underage, as long as they stuck to cokes and left big tips. And being around Luke, had in some strange way made her, made both of them, feel closer to Lucky. “Your’s and Nikolas’s place?” Will asked softly They’d been to the docks and to the park and even to courthouse in the hour or so they had been walking and talking. Will had concentrated on making Emily laugh and to her surprise she had. She’d found herself telling him all about herself. She told him about Paige’s death and meeting Lucky and then running away. She told him about pizza for Thanksgiving and the whole dysfunctional yet somehow functioning Quartermaine family. In return he’d told her about his sometimes close, sometimes distant relationship with his own father and mother.

They had in fact talked about almost everything under the sun but Nikolas.

Emily shrugged as she stared at the doors to Luke’s. What was it she had been telling Jason? Something about needing to handle what had happened with Nikolas on her own? That had to translate into not pretending places didn’t exist just because she and Nikolas had been there.

“Do you like jazz?” Emily asked Will who nodded. “Then let’s go in for a while. We can call Jess from here and she can meet us for dinner.”

Five minutes later they were seated at a corner table, drinking strawberry lemonade, and listening to the jazz combo playing.

Emily sat in silence, trying not to cry as thoughts of Nik came flooding over her.

“Do you want to leave?”

Emily looked up and shook her head at Will’s question. Her eyes were bleak as they focused on Will. “What do I do next?”

“I don’t know. What do you want to do next?”

“I want....” Emily closed her eyes. “I want Nikolas.” She paused. “I just don’t know if things will ever be the same between us.”

“They won’t be.” Will said softly. “Things between the two of you won’t ever be the same. But that doesn’t mean things can’t be good between you again.”

“I don’t know...” Em shook her head. “Right now I’m so angry and hurt. There’s a part of me that wants to just crawl into a cave and hide and then there’s a part of me that is fantasizing about Nikolas and instruments of torture.” Emily finished ruefully.

“Hey, I’m his best friend and I frequently fantasize about Nikolas and instruments of torture.”

Emily giggled despite herself and Will smiled. “There’s that smile I’ve been waiting for.” He looked around the almost empty club. “Would you like to dance?”

“No one else is..” Emily said softly.

“And since when does that stop us? I have this really clear memory of somebody asking me to dance in the middle of a diner.....” Will’s voice trailed off teasingly. “Come on, for a few minutes let’s see if we can’t forget all about old what’s his name....”

Will coaxed Emily up and a few seconds later they were in the middle of a makeshift dance floor. The musicians smiled at them as they danced to the rhythm of the music that filled the room, the tempo slow and easy they moved naturally with and near each other.

As the music slowed, Emily found herself moving closer to Will, placing her head on his shoulder as she gave herself up to the moment, temporarily putting aside all thoughts off Nikolas and the pain she felt. She focused instead on the warmth of the man she was dancing with. She felt her heart begin to race a little but she didn’t back away. God forgive me Jess but I need this, I need him, for just a little bit she thought to herself before closing her eyes and giving in to the sweet intensity of the moment.

Nikolas Cassadine sat in the living room of his cottage, the room dark in the early evening shadows and silent in the utter stillness of the occupant.

He wasn’t sure what he was waiting for. He’d spent thirty minutes arguing with himself about going over to the Quartermaines and forcing Emily to listen to him, but in the end common sense and the knowledge that pushing Emily before she was ready would be a big mistake. He had to trust that once she had calmed down, once she remembered everything they had, Emily would know that he loved her. She would forgive him. He had to believe that because if he didn’t believe it than he didn’t think he could go on.

He had stopped by the private investigators his father used after seeing Elizabeth, he’d given them the picture and asked them to look into it. He wanted answers. He wanted to know who had deliberately hurt Emily like this. The Cassadine in his blood wanted, no needed, to make that person pay.

He thought over his conversation with Elizabeth. He felt ashamed that his thought when he saw the pictures were that they had come from her. He should have known that Elizabeth wasn’t capable of something like that. Besides what would be her motive? She was happy for him and Emily. She’d said so several times. He and Emily had even double dated with this guy from Liz’s art class a few times.

So it had to be someone who knew about that one time with Liz, but who? He hadn’t told a soul and he assumed that Liz hadn’t. Maybe someone who saw him leaving the Webber house that morning? But he kept coming back to the fact that whoever had done it had quiet clearly wanted to hurt Emily. Who would want to hurt Emily like that?

He had just about decided to go find Will and Jess, when the doorbell rang.

He opened the door expecting to find Will and Jess waiting for him.

What he found instead was Jason Morgan, accompanied by two of his men.

A cold anger burned in Jason’s eyes.

Nikolas didn’t back down. “Can I help you Jason?”

“Nah. I don’t need any help to do what I came here to do?”

“Which was what?” Nikolas asked with casual arrogance.

“Kill you for what you did to my sister.”

Coming Next: Jason confronts Nikolas, Juan finds a new ally in his conspiracy against Emily and Nik, and Jessica makes a discovery.