Emily Rape Aftermath  January 28 - May 3, 2005 - 4 hours

Emily sits by Lucky's bedside, Lucky weakly tells her to be happy with Nikolas. Later, Emily, Liz, and Skye are devastated when Steven comes out of Lucky's room and tells them that Lucky has lapsed into a coma. Emily is distraught and blames herself for Lucky's shooting, but Liz reminds Emily that none of it is her fault, and she continues to worry about her friend and try to get Emily to open up about Connor. Alan and Skye also worry about Emily, but she refuses to leave the hospital, and chalks up her despair to Lucky's shooting and Helena kidnapping her, never mentioning her repeated flashes of being raped by Connor.

Lucky goes into cardiac arrest and sees Emily during an out of body experience. Tony tells Bobbie, Skye, and Emily that it is a miracle that Lucky survived. He informs them that Lucky had a stroke and is in a coma still. Emily surprises Monica when she tells her she couldn't see Nikolas and tell him about Lucky. Monica asks her why she couldn't see him since Nikolas is her husband. Emily tells her she couldn't do that to Nikolas while he is sitting in prison already feeling helpless. Monica realizes Emily could have seen Nikolas if she wanted to but for some reason is avoiding visiting him. Emily continues to be in denial about the rape. Elizabeth tries to get her to see someone for help since she is acting so upset lately. Emily denies anything happened other than that he attacked her and she killed him. She asks Elizabeth to leave her alone and stop asking questions. Emily goes to sit with Lucky and tells him that she is going to make herself forget what happened with Connor by not talking about it any longer and eventually everyone will forget what happened and stop asking her questions about it.

Elizabeth meets up with Emily at the hospital and urges her to see the Dr. Meadows about her problem. Emily holds in her emotions in front of the doctor and tells Elizabeth that everything is fine with her and that they need to be more concerned with Lucky. After Dr. Meadows extends an unwelcome invite to Emily to come see her when she's ready. Emily blasts off at Elizabeth, angry that Elizabeth won't leave her alone about the suspicion that Connor raped her. She blames her shakiness on killing Connor, being kidnapped and almost killed by Helena, and witnessing her best friend, Lucky, take a bullet that was meant for her. Emily tells Elizabeth once again that Connor didn't rape her.

Emily stays in the waiting room and finishes up some nursing work. She turns in her paper to her supervisor and he hands her another case study to work on for an assault victim. With one look over the case, she has flashbacks of Connor raping her. Steven walks past her and touches her shoulder with upon greeting, but didn't get the greeting he expected, as Emily screeches at him, "Don't ever touch me." Steven tries to calm her, but she screams at him to stay away, until Liz arrives and Emily realizes what is going on. She immediately apologizes to Steven, who tells Liz that Emily needs help. Liz promises to stand by her friend through everything, and Emily begs Liz to help her not be afraid. Lucky remains in an unresponsive coma, and when Luke arrives they discuss taking Lucky off of life support. Bobbie, Liz, and Emily demand that Luke reconsider, but with the opinions of both Tony and Steven, Luke feels he has no choice but to save his son from a life he'd hate.

Emily visits Lucky in his hospital room. She reminds him of the time when they were young kids who ran away from their families and tells him she needs him now like she needed him back when they were just kids. Elizabeth comes in with coffee for Emily. Emily tells her about how the family is grieving for A.J. even though he was estranged from them for a while now. Steven sees Emily in the hallway and stops her. He asks her if she knows where Jason is hiding. Emily tells him she wouldn't tell him even if she did know. She apologizes for lashing out at him still but won't tell him anything more. Steven tells her that Jason could be seriously wounded and needs medical attention. Emily tells him she doesn't know where Jason is. Elizabeth approaches them and tells Steven to leave Emily alone since she is going through enough right now without him badgering her. Emily takes off.

Monica goes back to the hospital and finds Emily still hanging around. Monica tells her she should be home and getting some rest. Monica whispers to Emily that she thinks Jason is going to be all right. Steven overhears her whispering to Emily and asks her if she went to help treat Jason. Emily runs into Sam outside of his room. Sam tells her that Jason went to the memorial service because he loves her and Monica and wanted to support them. Emily tells Sam that she is glad that Jason has someone to love. Sam notices that Emily is acting strangely and asks her if anything is wrong. Emily tells her she will be fine and tells Sam to hold on to Jason and not to let anyone stand between them ever. Emily asks Sam not to mention their conversation to Jason and walks off.

Emily goes to Pentonville to see Nikolas in prison, but it's clear that she can't put his physical resemblance to Connor aside. Nikolas tries to touch and be close to his wife, but Emily evades him and pushes him away. She chalks her unease up to Lucky's dire condition, and she tells Nikolas that Luke wants to remove Lucky from his life support. Nikolas doesn't believe that Luke will go through with it, but Emily's fear at being touched by Nikolas cause her to lash out about Lucky's bad state, and the fact that he could soon be dead thanks to Luke. Nikolas tries to calm her down by hugging and kissing her, but Emily's attempts to not think of Connor are futile and she shoves Nikolas away, screaming for him to never touch her.

Emily catches Liz writing a note to Nikolas and assumes she's telling him about Connor and the rape. Emily snaps at Elizabeth and tells her that if she sends that letter to Nikolas she will never speak to her again. Elizabeth gets a call on her cell-phone from Nikolas. He tells her he thinks he knows what happened with Emily and wants to talk to her. Elizabeth shows up at the prison. He tells her he thinks that Emily blames herself for killing Connor. Elizabeth realizes that Nikolas doesn't suspect anything about the rape and she doesn't tell him. She tells him that Emily has a lot going on right now. Nikolas tells her not to tell Emily that she came to see him at his request.

Emily goes to visit Lucky, who is still in a coma but is in a private room instead of I.C.U. Emily tells him she wishes he was awake so she can ask for his help since he has always been there for her to help her through a difficult time. She tells him her life is falling apart. Emily apologizes to Elizabeth for lashing out at her. Elizabeth tells her she would never have sent the letter without showing it to her first. Emily gets a call on her cell-phone from Nikolas. Nikolas tells her the warden allowed him another visit with her today. Emily tries to make an excuse why she can't come but Nikolas tells her he just wants to talk to her. Emily agrees to come see him. She gets there and Nikolas tells her he realizes she has gone through a lot lately. Emily shocks Nikolas when she tells him she came to ask him for a divorce. Nikolas doesn't believe her, and asks her what's really going on. Emily cries as she tells Nikolas that it's over. Nikolas refuses to let go of Emily because of what happened with Connor. Nikolas knows that Emily blames herself for Connor's murder and is trying to punish herself as penitence for the murder. He tells her that she was just trying to defend herself. But she tells him that he's got it all wrong, that she can't live like this, constantly visiting him in prison. She feels trapped every time she visits the dreadful walls and unwelcome place. Emily calls herself weak and selfish, and tells him that she doesn't like being there. "I can't be married to you anymore; there's too much pain..."

Emily leaves the visitation room, in tears. Nikolas sits at the visitation table and rethinks Emily's breakdown after his kiss. He stands up and kicks his chair into the wall in frustration. The warden comes in, threatening to take him back to solitary, but Nikolas needs to call his wife again. The warden, David, tells Nikolas that everything's different because he's in jail. But Nikolas disagrees, and knows that there's something else going on, vowing to figure it out. Nikolas leaves Emily a message on her machine: this will be the last call in a while, and he's used up all of the visits, so he tells Emily to take care of herself and to do whatever she needs to do. The machine beeps to end the message just before he could tell her that she loves him.

Emily returns to the hospital and announces to Steven and Elizabeth that she has asked Nikolas for a divorce. Elizabeth tries to talk Emily out of a divorce, saying that it's just the rape talking, "divorce is not the answer." Emily insists that she's trying to save Nikolas from any more pain, and that everything's different with them, so there's no use in hoping for a miracle to keep them together. Elizabeth pleas with her to quit shutting her out. Emily sits at Lucky's bedside and holds his hand as she tells her best friend since they were teenagers that she misses the innocence of being a kid. Emily admits that her life is becoming more complicated, darker and is convinced that she is loosing it. She's disappointed that she can't even talk to her husband, Elizabeth, Jason, or her parents. She pleas for something to go right for her faith to be restored, and at that moment, Lucky opens his eyes and squeezes her hand! Emily breaks down in tears - Lucky is awake!

Emily shows up to see Kristina and Alexis. Emily assumes that all three of the children have been found. Alexis informs her that Michael is still missing and that he may be dead. Emily tells Alexis she will tell the family the disturbing news. Emily arrives at the Quartermaine's and tells them that Michael got a hold of Faith's cell-phone and called Sonny and that Sonny heard a gunshot after Faith caught Michael with the phone and they haven't found Michael yet. Edward reacts angrily to the news and refuses to believe his great-grandson is dead since they only are guessing what happened just because they only found a little bit of blood and a muddy shovel with Faith's fingerprints on them. Alan goes after Edward and Emily comforts Monica.

Skye accidentally learns that Emily was raped. Concerned for Emily, Skye reaches out to help without says what she knows. At General Hospital, Bobbie notices how many hours Emily has put in at work and suggests she should go home and take care of herself. Emily tells her she needs to keep busy and is fine. Alexis approaches the nurses' station and sees how exhausted Emily is. Alexis tells them that Ric had to leave for the police station and she is going to get a cab home now that she has been released from the hospital again. Emily jumps up and tells Alexis she was just about to leave anyway and will give her a ride home. Bobbie finds it odd that Emily suddenly changed her mind about going home so quickly. When they arrive at Alexis' apartment, Emily tries to fine excuses to stick around instead of going home to rest. Emily offers to make Alexis some tea and help her settle in since Ric is at work. Alexis tells her she should go home and rest and asks her if everything is okay with her and Nikolas. Emily tells her she misses him but doesn't see how he will be able to be released soon since Helena is still in hiding. Alexis tells her that she is going to do everything in her power to get Nikolas released and that enough people saw Helena to prove she is still alive. Emily talks a little about how she feels different inside after she killed Connor. She doesn't admit to being raped and then decides to go home before she blurts out something.

Monica is worried about Emily attending the service. She's afraid it will be too much for her. Emily tells her that she will be fine. Alan makes a biting comment and Emily confronts him. She yells at him for having no compassion for Jason's situation and storms out of the room. Monica too yells at Alan, telling him that if he can't control himself then she would prefer that he not attend the service. At the service, Liz asks Emily if Lucky has arrived yet? Emily is relieved to hear Lucky is well enough to attend. Father Coates begins the memorial service. During Emily's reading, Sonny reminisces about the discussion he and Michael had that led to Michael calling him daddy.

Lucky moves himself into Wyndemere. Emily reacts badly after she inadvertently learns that Luke had raped Laura and that Skye knows and still supports him. Just as Lucky wraps a comforting arm around Emily, Elizabeth walks in. Liz is a bit disturbed to see Lucky giving Emily physical comfort on the sofa. She steps back into the hallway as Lucky and Emily discuss Emily's emotional upset. When there is a lull in the conversation she makes her presence known, not letting on that she'd been standing in the hallway for a few minutes. Emily is quick to make her excuses, asking Liz if she minds staying with Lucky while she runs a few errands.

Emily returns to find Lucky alone. She tells him that she has picked up wine and some appetizers. Emily is reminded of their picnic in the park last summer when Lucky had told her that he was in-love with her. When she mentions it to Lucky, he tells her that a lot has changed since then. Smiling, Emily confides to him that he has no idea how many times she had thought about that day, wondering what would have happened if she'd chosen him and how things would be different if she had.

Emily stops by Jason's for a visit. Sam seems to sense their need for privacy and makes her excuses to leave. After Emily hands a tin of her homemade chocolate chip cookies to Jason, they sit down on the sofa. She begins to tell him about Helena being alive and the plan that had been devised to draw her out of hiding. She goes into detail about the time she spent with Connor in the cabin and ends with the revelation that he had raped her. Jason is shocked. He gently asks her if she had been tested yet, but Emily becomes agitated, telling him that the idea of anyone touching her at this point makes her skin crawl. She goes on to share with him the problems she is having with Nik. She explains that the last time she had seen him, he had sensed that something was wrong with her but that he loves her anyway. The problems, she tells Jason, is that every time Nik touches her, she can't help but see Connor and remember how he had violated her. Jason is understanding. He asks her permission to hug her and Emily is appreciative of this consideration. When he does hold her, Emily tearfully tells him about the nightmares she's been having. Jason suggests that she move in with him, but Emily declines. She makes him promise not to tell Sam or anyone about what she had confided to him. When she mentions getting back to take care of Lucky, Jason notes that she's the one who needs taking care of but Emily brushes the idea off. She admits that taking care of Lucky helps to keep her mind off of her own troubles.

Emily and Lucky discuss the past. Emily seems to regret not having chosen Lucky the day he confessed to loving her. Lucky points out that much has changed since then and reiterates that they are the best of friends. He goes on to discuss Nikolas and more specifically the love that Emily felt for him on their wedding day. He gently advises her to hold onto those feelings. Later that day, Emily is napping on the sofa and having a pleasant dream about a romantic evening she shared with Nik. The dream turns into a nightmare when violent images of Connor raping her intrude. Having heard her cry out during the nightmare, Lucky walks into the living room just as Emily awakens. He tries to get her to talk about the dream, which Emily does but she stops short of mentioning Connor or the rape. She switches topics by apologizing to him about coming onto him earlier that afternoon. Lucky dismisses it as nothing but a natural reaction everyone has during a difficult period.

Sam is attacked at Kelly's and manages to get a knife off of the counter during the struggle but is quickly overwhelmed by the two men again. Just then Emily, standing behind the counter and holding the shotgun aimed at the men, demands that they release Sam. Sam manages to make it to the counter and sensing that Emily is about to shoot both men, tries to talk her out of it. Emily begins having flashbacks of being raped by Connor. Jason arrives just in time to stop Emily from shooting the two men threatening Sam and Mike. Jason sends Emily home. Emily fills Lucky in on what happened early in the day at Kelly's and finally admits that Connor raped her. Realizing that Lucky knew that all along, Emily lashes out at Liz and accuses her of betraying their friendship. After insisting to Liz that she doesn't need therapy, Emily returns to Lucky, who says she can deal with her ordeal any way she wants.

Alan meets with Emily for dinner at the same restaurant at her request. Emily tells him she knows he was responsible for the hit and run accident that almost killed Alexis and Ric. Alan is surprised she knows about it. Alan explains that he was drunk that night and when it happened he got scared because of his history with drug abuse and his police record for driving under the influence. He tells her that Tracy talked him into not turning himself into the police. Emily tells him he shouldn't listen or trust whatever Tracy says or does. She reminds him that Dillon covered up for him and could be charged as an accessory because of it. Alan knows he did a bad thing but got scared. Emily urges him to turn himself in and tell Ric and Alexis what he did. Alan approaches them at their table nearby. He confesses to what he did to them and understands if they don't forgive him. Ric and Alexis ball him out about it. Alan informs them that he is planning on turning himself in to the police. Alan returns to his table with Emily. He tells Emily that he thought when Lila died; the family would lose all sense of morals. He tells Emily that she reminds him so much of Lila. Emily tells him that despite what he has done and what he has lost recently, she has always known he is a decent and wonderful man.

Emily asks Jason what he would do if Sam were raped. Jason's response inadvertently validates Emily's decision not to tell Nikolas she was raped. Lucky tries to get Liz to go out with him for a romantic evening but Liz doesn't have a sitter for Cameron as her grandmother, Audrey, is out of town. She asks Brooke-Lynn who is unable to help out. She has plans to go to a concert with Diego. Emily overhears the exchange and offers to watch Cameron for Liz. At first Liz is reluctant, worried that it might be too much for Emily after everything that she's been through lately, but Emily is insistent. Later, after Liz leaves to get ready for her date, Emily is talking to Cameron who is in his stroller before leaving the hospital. Skye spots them and joins Emily for a few minutes. She assures Emily that Luke will soon find Helena and bring her back so that Nikolas can be released from jail and the two of them can start the family that they've always dreamed of. Emily tells her that it's no longer possible because too much has changed. Knowing she is referring to the rape, which Skye still isn't suppose to know about, she tells her not to let Helena succeed in destroying Emily and Nik's happiness. Feeling uncomfortable with the direction of the discussion, Emily quickly makes her excuses and leaves with Cameron.

At Wyndemere, Emily awakens from a nightmare about Connor's attack and lashes out at Lucky. However, when Lucky worries about Emily's state of mind, Emily fibs that she has just been stressed out by all of the recent events, including Michael's death. Emily arrives at Jason's and Sam tells her that Carly has been monopolizing Jason's time. Emily warns Sam that the only approach that ever really works with Carly is to take a firm line with Carly and demand that Carly learn how to solve some of her own problems without constantly depending on Jason.

At the hospital, Emily overhears Lucky confide to Elizabeth that he plans to remain at Wyndemere in the hope that Emily will open up to him about Connor's attack. Later, Emily informs Lucky that she does not need a baby-sitter and convinces Lucky that the time has come for Lucky to return to his room at Kelly's.

Jason slips into the Quartermaine Mansion and overhears Emily arguing with Edward. After Edward leaves, Jason explains to Emily that Jason believes that A.J. has Michael and is hiding the boy at the Quartermaine mansion. After Jason asks Emily to stick around the mansion and report anything unusual to Jason, Emily decides that she will stay at the mansion after all. Emily meets Monica when Monica returns home and informs Monica that Emily is coming home to live and does not want Monica to sell the house! Monica joyfully agrees to take the house off the market immediately!

Emily goes to the hospital and tells Monica that she is moving back into the mansion so she can keep an eye on Alan. She asks Monica if she thinks Alan is hiding A.J. Monica explains to her that Alan may see this as a second chance to come through for A.J. after he spent years pitting A.J. against Jason and that Alan realized after he thought A.J. was dead that he treated A.J. just like Edward treated him, with disapproval. Monica comes into the room to find Alan and is shocked to see A.J. in the room. She grabs him and hugs him and tells him how happy she is that he is alive. A.J. asks her to let him take Michael out of the country with him to show that she loves him as much as she loves Jason. Monica admits that she wasn't the best mother to him but that he knows she and Alan love him and tells him what he is doing to Michael is cruel. A.J. accuses her of loving Jason more even though he isn't her biological son. Monica hugs him and tells him she loves him and walks out of the room, Monica cries and looks over at the telephone in the foyer. She walks over and picks up the receiver to call Jason. Alan grabs her from behind and drags her to the basement. He locks her up in the old storage freezer. He tells her she will be comfortable there and he will let her out after A.J. leaves the country safely with Michael.

Emily has peeked around the corner just as Alan was locking the lock on the cooler he's put Monica in. Alan asks what Emily is doing in the basement and she says she wants a celebratory bottle of wine for Monica deciding not to sell the house. Alan rushes her into the cellar. Emily later lets Monica out. Monica tells Em that Alan is hiding Michael and AJ in the Q Mansion. Emily asks if Monica is going to call the police. She says no, she's going to let Jason get Michael back to Sonny and Carly. AJ surprises Emily and says, "Hey little sis, you don't look that surprised to see me". Emily gives AJ the third degree about what he has done to the family, by kidnapping the children, and how she mourned the loss of a brother and even thought AJ is still alive she's can say that from what she's seen she's still mourning the loss of her brother. AJ throws it up in her face about how she and Jason have been the "golden pair" ever since they came into the family. Emily turns to walk off. AJ grabs her and she slaps him. AJ then almost hit her back, but Alan steps in and prevents it.

AJ is starting to crack and wants to put Emily in the freezer. Alan stops him and comes to his senses by telling AJ he won't help him any more. AJ then pulls a gun on Alan and Emily. Alan says he doesn't think AJ would shoot him but if that's what he had to do then go ahead. Alan turns to walk away and AJ shoots him then takes off. Emily then tends to Alan's wound as AJ is going back to the attic.

Jason and AJ wrestle over the control of a gun at the top of the stairs of the Quartermaine mansion. As the struggle, the gun goes off and both men end up crashing through the banister and plummeting to the ground below. Meanwhile, Emily is screaming for help between giving an unconscious Alan mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but to no avail. The paramedics immediately take over, deciding to use the paddles to start Alan's heart. Monica and Emily are greatly relieved when they announce that they were successful in reviving Alan's heart.

At GH, Emily approaches AJ's gurney. She holds nothing back as she yells at him for shooting Alan and kidnapping Michael. When she finishes yelling at AJ, she tells him that she wishes he were dead. Jason and Monica pull her away and comfort her while AJ is taken to his room. Later, Liz lets Emily know that she had just sedated AJ who was resting. Emily walks into Alan's hospital room; she seems spooked and confides to Monica that she had been worried about Alan after experiencing a feeling that something bad had happened. Monica makes an excuse to leave the room, leaving Emily alone with Alan. Emily reminisces about her childhood after coming to live with the Quartermaines. She lets him know that she thinks he's a wonderful father. Monica rejoins Emily and Alan. Emily tells her that there is no change in Alan when she is paged. She looks and tells Emily that it's regarding AJ. They both leave the room but stop off at Jason's room where Sam is help. Everyone gathers in AJ's room, as Steven continues to try to resuscitate him. Eventually resigned, Monica orders Steven to call AJ's time of death. Emily goes to tell Jason that AJ has died. He comforts him as she weeps over the loss of her older brother and then she leaves to sit at Alan's bedside.

Alan wakes up slowly to find Emily sitting at his bedside. He asks after AJ. Emily starts to tell him about AJ but Alan misunderstands and suggests that they fly in specialists to oversee AJ's recovery. Emily is finally able to get the words out that AJ is gone. Alan is devastated and filled with regret as he breaks down in tears.

As everyone gathers in the reception area, Steven hands Monica a copy of the autopsy report. He shares with her the findings; AJ did not die of natural causes. He was murdered. Upon hearing the news, Sonny immediately walks away while everyone else stands in a state of suspicious disbelief looking at each other. Steven reports that A.J. was smothered with a pillow.

Durant smugly reminds Monica that Jason is surely the prime suspect in his brother's death. As Monica and Emily try to discourage Durant from openly accusing Jason of murder, Sam steps up and claims that Jason was with Sam the entire time in the Emergency Room! Emily and Monica arrive in Alan's room and inform Alan that A.J. was murdered. Accusing Emily and Monica of never loving A.J., an emotional Alan orders Monica and Emily out of the room.

Emily visits Alan at the hospital. Alan tells Emily that this is the worst week of his life. He tells her that Monica asked him for a divorce just because they disagreed about A.J. and Jason again. Emily tells him that she doesn't think Monica will go through with the divorce and thinks she is just stressed out about what has happened lately and has been acting strangely, even before finding out A.J. and Michael were alive. Monica shows up and asks him why he called Mac and accused Jason of killing A.J. Alan thinks Jason is a cold-blooded killer and would have no problem even killing his own brother. Emily immediately defends Jason and insists he didn't kill A.J. She tells Alan she doesn't blame Monica for wanting to divorce him after what he just said. Emily storms off.

Luke goes to Kelly's and sees Emily as she is on her way in to Kelly's. Luke tells her that he has plans to trap Helena into coming back to Port Charles. Emily realizes that if his plan works, Nikolas will be let out of prison finally. Lucky sits with Emily in Kelly's. He tells her about Luke's plans to trap Helena into making an appearance in Port Charles. Emily doesn't seem too thrilled at the prospect that Nikolas could be freed from prison very soon. Lucky picks up on her lack of emotion and calls her on it. He tells her that she is reluctant for him to come home to her because that would mean that she would have to tell him about Connor raping her.

Emily sees that Skye and Luke are about to leave Kelly's and she decides to hide around a corner rather than risk running into Skye. As Luke tries to convince Skye that she doesn't really want to end things with him, Emily watches and listens, growing increasingly upset by Luke's behavior and his words. Skye tells Luke that she isn't interested in a relationship with him. Taking a more direct approach, Luke holds a somewhat resistant Skye in his embrace. At that point, Emily makes her presence known. She angrily demands that Luke let go of Skye immediately. Realizing what is motivating Emily, Skye does her best to calm Emily down. She reassures Emily that she is quite all right and asks her to go home where Skye will catch up with her later on. Emily reluctantly leaves.

Later, Skye returns to the Quartermaine mansion where she finds Emily. Emily immediately begins apologizing for her behavior. Skye assures her that she understands perfectly how Emily could have misread the situation because Luke tends to be a handful. Skye then lets Emily know that she has ended things with Luke for good. Emily is sympathetic. Skye then changes the subject, telling Emily that she is determined to find AJ's killer and would like her assistance. Emily is at a loss for words when Skye asks her what she remembers of the night AJ was murdered.

When Emily arrives at Jason's, he senses her agitation and after Sam excuses herself so that she can go make a call to check on Michael, Jason questions Emily. Emily admits that she fears she is losing her mind. She tells him about the encounter with Luke outside of Kelly's. She goes on to tell Jason that she's afraid of Nik finding out about the rape because he'll stay with her out of either loyalty or love, neither of which she wants. She goes on to share with him that she has taken steps to divorce Nik. Jason is shocked asking her if Nik gets a vote in the decision to end their marriage. Emily is emphatic that she can't be with Nik. Emily then confesses that lately she's been filled with rage and admits that the night of AJ's murder, half the night is a blank for her.

Emily answers Skye's questions about the night that AJ was murdered. She tells Skye that both she and Monica were in Alan's room the entire night. Upon further questioning, Emily admits that she did step away, intending to see AJ but had run into Liz. After talking to Liz, Emily claims to have returned to Alan's bedside. When Skye suggests that Monica might have slipped away while Emily was gone, Emily insists that Monica would not harm AJ. Skye accepts Emily's declaration. After Skye departs, Monica arrives home from the hospital. Emily is worried about Monica and asks to speak to her regarding how she is dealing with AJ's death. Emily feels that Monica's sudden desire for a divorce and her absolute refusal to allow the hospital to autopsy AJ's body are not normal reactions. Monica explains herself. She tells Emily that there isn't a good time to end an unhappy marriage by filing for divorce and that her protest over AJ's autopsy stemmed from the desire to give AJ one shred of dignity, something that was denied him in life. She agrees with Emily that she has not been herself since AJ's death but that it stems from grief.

**The End**