Author's Note: Before I begin, I do not own, nor am I in any way affiliated with ABC or General Hospital (though I wish I were)! Characters belong to the aforementioned, though I will use these characters for my own intents and purposes. Also, first fanfiction, so criticism of ALL types is appreciated. Since I wrote this a long time ago, I already have a substantial amount written, and criticism will be strongly considered but may not be apparent until later in the work. Enough talk, enjoy the amateur!

Chapter 1

Emily was looking forward to spending the day with her friends. The original four musketeers; back together again. Lucky went away for awhile, trying to define who he was now, on his own, after the big mess with Helena. He had recovered after is "vacation" but felt that he had to reconnect with his family and friends. He was wrong. His family had welcomed him with eyes wide open and an amazing understanding of how he needed to clear things by himself, for himself. Em, Nik, and Liz were glad to have their friend back, but noticed he held back in some situations.

Nik was the first to approach him while the girls were walking in front of them, in their own little world.

"Hey, so how have you been?"

"Okay, you're scaring me. I just saw you yesterday. We went to the movies together, remember?"

"I know, but I was talking about something else, and I didn't know how to say it, so I'm just gonna say it. It's amazing having you back. It was really hard without you, but we understood. Everyone has changed, but we're all still together. What I wanted to know was why do you walk on egg shells in certain situations?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, take yesterday for example. We went to the movies and Liz and you were sitting next to eachother. She had some popcorn and offered every body some. You both reached in at the same time and you touched her hand, then moved away like you just burned your hand or something. It was like, I don't know, you were afraid that she would take it as a romantic gesture."

"Well, I know, I see what your saying. It's just… your right. I don't wanna give her false hope, letting her think that there's something that can happen in the future, when it can't."

"I think she already knows that. She's kinda with Ric."

"Oh, I forgot about that."

"Obviously! But… do you have feelings for her?"

"I thought about that for a long time, and I came to a conclusion. I like her, hell I love her, but not in that way. She will always be my friend no matter what, and I'll be here when she needs me. As for the romantic aspect, we're not where we were before, things changed. It was the right time for us, and now it's not." Lucky wondered why this walk to Kelly's took so long. It seemed to last a lifetime.

"Well, I'm glad all this is resolved now. Everything is in the open, nobody has secrets, nobody is holding anything back, and we're all hungry." Nik looked in front of them and wondered what the girls were talking about. They always looked so secretetive, and claimed it was all 'girl talk.' He turned and looked at Lucky. "Well, maybe some of us do have secrets." Both Nik and Lucky laughed like they were truly happy and carefree. No matter what, the four of them would always be together.

Liz and Emily were the first ones to reach the diner. They yelled to the boys to hurry up. "And they always say that girls take forever" yelled Liz.

Elizabeth, the girl that had been through a lot when she lost Lucky. She put up an incredible brave front, but inside wanted to die. She blamed herself for his death and almost fainted when she saw him again after two years. Two years of mourning, emptiness, and pain. After a few weeks of being with him again, she accepted that they would never be together again, with surprising calmness. She still loved him, and always would, but they were two different people now and had the past to reflect upon but headed towards the future. They were friends again now, and talked about just about everything. All was right in her world.

Nikolas was relieved that all of them were together again. Finally. Although he was older than everyone, they were the only true friends that he had ever had, and he would do anything for them. When Lucky came back, he was relieved. He loved the girls, but he needed another man to hand with. They were his family. At last separating himself from Stephan, he still had Alexis and Kristine to love and care for. He had so much in his life to finally be grateful for. And he was.

Everybody ordered what they usually did at Kelly's. Emily was sitting facing the window when she was thinking about something, but quickly changed her thoughts and paid attention to what was going on around her. Ordering a chocolate sunday, as usual, she wondered how the saying was true: chocolate made people feel better.

Breaking the silence, interrupting everybody's eating, Emily thought aloud. "You know guys, some things never change, and some things stay the same, like our friendship."

Lucky couldn't resist. "And like your bad taste in men."

No one noticed Emily flinch at the phrase. She was especially good at hiding her true feelings and emotions. It took awhile to get it, but she got it. "Really, and what about you? I don't see anyone around your shoulder?"

"She got you there buddy" Nikolas joked.

"Yeah, but I'm not looking for that right now. You know, some of us go to school so we can do big things. We actually have to work for it."

"Now, that wasn't fair" Nikolas replied in an adorable fake 'I'm hurt' tone.

"Okay little ones, shall I pick out the stick?" No one could hold their laughter in on that one. "So Emily, how is Patrick doing, really?"

"Oh he's fine, just fine."