The change within

Chapter 10

Julius and Emily sat at one of the tables in front of Kelly's. He winced slightly as he pressed the ice against his jaw. It really didn't leave any damage, no bruise would show up, but that didn't mean some pain would come from it.

"I can't believe Nikolas did that." Emily told him, again. Nikolas's actions were as puzzling as ever.

"I can." Julius said, taking off the ice for a second. He inched his face closer to her. "You know why?" He flirted.

Emily's brows rose. "Why?" She asked.

"Well, because you're beautiful, smart, and very passionate and everything a man could want." He smiled at her.

"Then why did he want a divorce if I'm 'everything a man could want'?" Emily asked him.

"Because you're meant for someone better than that jerk; it's how fate works Em. When something doesn't work out, it's usually for the better in the end, even if we don't want to admit it in the beginning." Julius explained, replacing the ice again.

Emily laughed and shook her head. "And now your going to tell me that that someone better is you." She narrowed her eyes in playful teasing.

He cracked a smile. "Why not," He asked her.

Emily threw her hands up in feigned surprise. "Julius! You are becoming more predictable by the second." She laughed it off though and smiled. She really was much happier and best of all, Nikolas was miserable. Serves him right….

"Well, I don't know about you but I'd prefer the predictable rather the unpredictable." Julius commented.

"I'm a doctor, Julius." She replied back.

"Another great point," Julius responded. "That is one of the things I like about you Emily, you are too frank sometimes, but yet at the right times."

Emily frowned. "I wasn't always this frank." She admitted. "I married Zander for all the wrong reasons but I couldn't admit it to myself and then I thought Nik and I were set as well; wrong both times."

"You were sick Em; you thought you were going to die. You weren't thinking straight, you just wanted someone to rely on and live your dreams before your thought time came. You wanted to marry and have a family, because you thought the worst, so you jumped on a chance. Sick people never think logically, they are convinced it's the end of the world." Julius explained to Emily.

"Everyone makes decisions like this. I made a decision like it. I knew in the back of my mind that Lydia was seeing someone else even before we got engaged, but because I thought I loved her, I ignored it and blamed it on my imagination. The proof was all there, but until you actually see it, you just can't believe it."

Then came the positive motivation, "Besides, haven't you heard the third time is the charm?" He grinned at her for some emotion rather than regret or sadness. It made her look old.

"You still believe in that?" Emily shook her head. "I wanted to think so too, but it never comes true. In fact, you have no idea how sick I am getting of love! I'd take respect and honesty at this point."

"Then you got me." He told her and laughed, agreeing with her last point. "But, you have to watch out for that love thing. Valentine's Day is in a few days and you will have to stand all those couples." He told her.

Emily groaned and put her hands on her face. "Uh, this is so not the right time for the holiday." She complained.

Julius laughed. "No, it isn't, but I have always thought the holiday is just a hallmark holiday to get money. I never celebrated even when I was seeing someone. But just to get you through the day, what do you say that night we rent a bunch of horror flicks and make it Halloween?" Julius suggested.

Emily brightened up immediately. She loved Halloween. She laughed and smiled again, answering, "Great idea, Julius! My place or yours," She asked.

"Uh, how about mine, I have a bigger screen. Do you want to do popcorn or movies?" He asked her, making arrangements despite his uneasy feeling of inviting Emily to his place for the first time. It was like he was undergoing puberty again.

"I'll do movies; I don't trust you to pick out the good ones." Emily teased him.

"Hey, as long as you get one of the Halloween ones, I'm good. A scream might be good too. Have to love that mask." Julius requested.

"Your right, we should also try chainsaw massacre or the exorcist even. I'll see what the rental place has." Emily told him.

"As long as you don't get any of those Final destination ones, they get old by the third premonition murder." Julius insisted.

"Agreed, did you know rumor is that they are coming out with a third one?" She shook her head. "Everyone died!" Emily exclaimed.

They got into an avid conversation about horror movies and had the time of their lives. They were still in deep conversation when a skimpy blonde came by and stopped by the table.

"Hey." The woman said seductively.

Julius and Emily looked up, but Emily stayed quiet. She had faith Julius could take care of it. She was talking to him, but she also knew he wasn't buying it either. She became such a phony and quite predictable by the start.

"Sorry, not interested in your services, unless you're the waitress of course." Julius gave a crooked smile amusingly.

Courtney's eyes flared angrily. Dumped twice in one day! "No I'm not the waitress! What would happen if I broke a nail?" She said dramatically.

"Then you would go and get it done again?" Julius supposed.

"Do you even know who I am?" She demanded.

"Yes, Courtney Matthews Quartermaine Morgan Jacks, or commonly called now a days, the town slut." Julius answered frankly.

"I am not a slut!" She denied his insult.

"You have slept with every guy except me in Port Charles, while married and seeing someone else on the side. Dictionary definition says people who sleep around like that is a slut, even though at this point you're reaching prostitute or whore." Julius went into a detailed explanation.

Courtney's anger flared again, but turned to Emily. "You did this. You made everyone-"Emily interrupted her.

"See the truth? Food for thought, if you don't want to get caught, doesn't make out at a public place like the docks or noticeably leave with the guys." Emily smiled. "Oh, by the way, I hope your using protection, because I tell you its going to be heck if you find out your pregnant and you have twenty guys asking you for paternity tests. Not to mention the custody cases…" Emily shook her head dramatically.

She looked back at Julius. "What do you say Julius? You think a judge would allow an unstable adulteress murderer, a past stripper, and now a whore keep a child?" She hoped he would play around in messing with Courtney. This was way too much fun.

"Doubt it, what would she teach the child? How to sleep around? Besides, if she can't even take birth control, how could she be smart enough to take care of a child? She obviously wants a lot of attention and if a child comes the only thing that will get the attention is the child and they she'd probably throw a fit like a little kid." Julius acted like Courtney wasn't there.

"Agreed, have you seen Courtney's sister in law? She and this rival had a fight and all she could do was throw mustard and ketchup bottles at them. I don't know about you, but that's an immature three years old, not an adult. By then you should be at least able to slap if not a punch." Emily didn't usually gossip like this in public, but if you could see Courtney's face….breaking this rule was so worth it.

"Really? I guess there wasn't much damage done then." Julius came to his own conclusions.

Now Courtney was streaming mad. "You do know I'm here, don't you? Just wait until I tell Carly about this." She threatened.

Emily smiled at her. "Oh, your still here, I thought you left to find another victim. Oh, by the way, go ahead. I mean what's the worst thing that Carly can do? Cover my shirt with ketchup?" Emily assumed and at this point Emily and Julius started cracking up, as Courtney ran away like the coward she was.

When they stopped laughing, which wasn't very soon, they caught their breath. "That was so fun," Emily said and laughed a bit more.

"It was, man did you see her face? It was priceless; I only hoped I had a camera." Julius agreed.

Then Emily stood up. "Well, this has been a blast, but I've got to go home now and see that everything is in order." Emily pushed the chair back in.

He got up himself. "Let me drive you, besides I'm holding your luggage hostage." He chuckled and they walked to the car.

He drove her home and helped her with her luggage, which she could have handled on her own, but Julius insisted, being the gentleman. She opened the door and found an unusually exhausted Lucky. He was never calm or stable anymore, but he wasn't yet at exhausted when Emily left. What just happened while she was away?

He quickly looked to her. "Oh, it's just you." He said and leaving the explanation out.

"Well, that's quite a welcome home, Lucky." Emily said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry Em, welcome home." Lucky got up and hugged her glad to see her whole and happy again, rested up.

"Well, thank you." Emily smiled and went back to the couch, knowing Julius would just watch from the background while she handled this. "Now, what happened?" She demanded immediately. It was obviously driving Lucky….bothering him.

Lucky considered denying it, but gave up and stood up to pace. "Elizabeth came along again, crying all about being lonely, thinking I'd play her games again." He scoffed and shook his head. "Never again, until she stops ignoring her problems, lives in reality and stops volunteering for life-changing things impulsively without consulting the people concerned and actually thinking about it…" He cut himself off and took a breath. "I'm just not doing it again." He finished.

"I hate to say this Lucky, but she's not going to give up. Like you said, she lives in a fantasy and expects everything to fall in place by itself. This is how she has been like for years, we just kind of ignored it until now." Emily said, probably not being the best comforter at the moment, but she knew Lucky, he didn't need sympathy now, he needed the truth. It was what he was silently asking for.

"So maybe you just move somewhere she wouldn't expect." Julius suggested from the doorway of the entrance of the hallway. He had taken Emily's bags into her room.

Lucky and Emily looked at Julius. Lucky spoke up first. "What do you mean?" He asked, not seeing his solution.

"Emily said your ex is not going to give up, so she's just going to continue coming here to this apartment. And work possibly, but you're a police officer you can easily brush her off, you can't here." Julius explained and sat down in a recliner.

"With all respect Julius, I don't have a lot of money for rent at the moment, not to mention my other bills are the moment." Lucky replied.

"I know that, and you could go live with your brother too, but Liz could find you there easily too?" At Lucky's nod, he continued. "So the only logical thing is to go to another person's place Elizabeth doesn't know, and as long as all that is involved keeps their mouths shut, she won't be bugging you at home at least." Julius explained a little more in depth.

Emily's eyes narrowed at Julius, knowing what he was going to say. "Julius, are you sure about that?" She appreciated the gesture for Lucky's sake, and it really wasn't a big issue to her, as long as Lucky was more lively, but he would be giving up a lot.

He nodded to Emily. "Yeah, look Lucky, all I'm proposing is I have a place, but I'm having trouble actually living there. I paid for a couple months advance in rent; all that would be needed to pay for is food and bills. Liz doesn't know me, probably by reference maybe, but we have never met. She'd never find you there and you can get a little peace."

"Where would you live then?" Lucky asked before his eyes opened in understanding. "Emily, that okay with you?"

Emily smiled. "Fine with me," She responded, Lucky looked interested, and an extra side is that Nikolas would freak if he knew Julius was living here. Of course she wouldn't up and tell everyone, but it could be some great ammo to throw out just to get a reaction out of him and if he tried to do anything outrageous.

"Do we have a deal then?" He asked Lucky.

Lucky hated taking such charity compromises like this, but sometimes it was necessary to ask for help such as this, it wouldn't hurt his pride too much, it was only a temporary arrangement until he could get a little more on his feet. "Alright, I'll do it."

A/n: Oh, I'm evil aren't I? Very, very bad person. Thanks to all the previous reviewers, I loved finding the reviews in my inbox…keep them coming if you have time. You're always free to point out mistakes and things you don't like or what you would like to see for that matter.

Whoever asked for more Lucky/Emily scenes, I hope you liked at least that part of the chapter. I hope to do more parts; I always loved their scenes-until GH took a turn for the worst. But that's a whole different issue...still for those who don't review but read-Thank you! I hope I keep you interested if I'm not, feel free to complain through reviews, email, or any contact. My aol instant messenger is evilcleo123, so you could use that as well.

Until the next update…

Evilcleo aka Cleopatra1