Chapter 14 - Waiting for Tonight
Aly returned to Port Charles very late. She headed straight to bed once she arrived back at Fox Hollow. She wanted to call Lucky, but it was too late and she didn't want to wake him. She'd call him first thing in the morning.
The morning greeted her with warm sunshine and chirping birds. That wasn't the only sound she awoke to -- it was also the buzz of her cell phone on the table.
She answered without looking at the caller id, "Hello?"
"Did I wake you?" a familiar voice asked.
"No, not at all. I was going to call you this morning," she said with a smile.
"Looks like I beat you to it," Lucky said.
"Looks like it. Sorry I didn't call when I got in last night. It was so late, and I didn't want to wake you," she apologized.
"Don't you ever worry about waking me up, you can call me anytime," he told her.
"Okay, I'll remember that," she said.
"What are your plans for today?" he asked.
"Well, believe it or not, I have to go to work," she said.
"You're going back to work at the hospital?" he asked.
"I am. After these past two weeks in Pine Valley, I'm feeling really good about things. I think it's time," she said confidently.
"Wow, Aly, that's great. I'm so happy for you."
"Thanks."
"You think you're ready to go out on that date?" he asked.
"I am so ready," she flirted.
"How about tonight? Meet me at the Metro Court at 7?" he asked.
"Sounds good," she smiled.
"I'll see you tonight then," he smiled.
"I can't wait," she said and hung up.
At the hospital, Aly was like Dorothy in the Land of Oz. It seemed so surreal to be back. She went to her office, the name plate still on the door -- Dr. Alexandra Russell it said. She ran her fingers over it, remembering how it felt when the maintenance man had first put it up. She walked in, only to find her closest friends at the hospital waiting for her.
"Welcome back!" they all shouted. Aly looked around her office to see Patrick and Robin, Elizabeth, Nadine, and Monica. Epiphany, Lainey, Leo and Kelly came in from behind. Aly realized then how truly blessed she was to work with such an amazing staff.
After chatting with her colleagues for a bit, Aly got right to work. She spent most of the day doing paperwork in her office. The pediatric unit was slow, which is a good thing, but Aly was anxious to get back to doing the part of the job she loved, and that was caring for children.
Aly went to the nurse's station to look over some patient files before leaving for the day. She was having trouble finding what she needed.
"I leave for a few months and you guys move everything around on me?" she teased.
Elizabeth handed her the file she had been looking for. "Here you go" she said.
"Thanks," Aly said, and thumbed through the file.
"You okay?" Elizabeth asked, noticing Aly's nervousness.
"Yeah, I'm great. I guess I'm just out of routine," Aly said.
"Okay. You sure there isn't something else?" Elizabeth inquired.
"That obvious?" Aly asked.
Elizabeth nodded, "What's going on?"
"Well, some of it is being back here. I didn't really know what to expect when I got here today, it's been a little overwhelming, I was nervous to come back. But I think I'm more nervous about tonight," she admitted.
"What's tonight?" Elizabeth asked with a smile, almost like she already knew.
"I have a date," she said shyly.
"That's great, Aly. Who's the lucky guy?" Elizabeth asked.
Aly laughed. "What?" Elizabeth asked.
Aly gave her a look as if to say 'you should know who it is' but said nothing.
"Wait a minute. It's Lucky, isn't it?" she asked with a smile.
"Is that weird for you?" Aly asked.
"Not at all. We've been through this already, Aly. I'm happy for you. Go and have some fun for once," Elizabeth said, encouraging her friend. Aly thanked her for being such a great friend. Then she realized the time and bolted out of the hospital.
Back at Fox Hollow she rushed around getting ready. She showered, and messed with her hair for what seemed like forever. She couldn't decide on wearing it up or down, straight or curly. Finally she decided down and straight. Then she headed for her closet. Finding something to wear was easier than she had expected. She decided on a black dress and heels. She finished up her makeup, put on some earrings and headed downstairs.
"Wow!"
"What?" Aly said with a laugh.
"My Noble sister looks like a beauty queen," Spinelli said.
"Thank you," she said, giving him a hug.
"Have fun tonight," he said.
"I will. I've been waiting for tonight," she said as she grabbed her purse and keys and left.
Lucky was waiting for Aly in the lobby at the Metro Court. As soon as the two saw each other huge smiles graced their faces.
"You look amazing," he said.
"Thank you, so do you," she said.
The two went to the restaurant. Lucky was a perfect gentleman, opening doors and pulling out chairs for Aly. There was plenty to talk about, none of which included Logan or Sam.
"So I don't think I've ever asked you why you moved to Port Charles in the first place," he said.
"I needed to get away from the city. I remembered coming here when I was a child, and I had a lot of happy memories here. After my parents' death, I needed something to hold on to, and being back at Fox Hollow helped."
"But why pretend to be someone else?" he asked.
"I wanted to create a new life for myself. A normal life, something I wasn't accustomed to before. I wanted a normal job, a normal lifestyle. Fox Hollow isn't a normal place to live but I wasn't going to give that up, it's the reason why I came."
"I guess I don't understand how your life was abnormal before coming here," he admitted.
"I just, I didn't have your typical childhood. I didn't have normal social experiences. I never went to school; I never had friends my own age. Most girls have slumber parties and go to the prom. I didn't do all of that, and I guess I feel like I'm missing out on something."
"I understand what you are saying about having the same experiences as most people, but things like the prom don't define who you are, at least they shouldn't. But some of the experiences, you can still have them."
"I think I'm a little old for the senior prom," she laughed.
"That may be true. But who wants to be like everyone else? Most people can say they went to the prom, but very few people can say they went to medical school when they were sixteen."
"Yeah, instead of learning how to drive, I was learning how to cut people open," she said. They both laughed.
The evening was going really well. Good food, good conversation, it was perfect. They danced on the terrace after dinner, the moonlight perfectly in place. It couldn't have been planned.
At the end of the night, Lucky walked Aly to her car.
"I had a great time tonight," she said before getting into her car.
"Me too," he said.
"Call me soon okay?" she asked.
He nodded with a smile. She got in and was on her way. Later she lay in bed thinking about the night's events. She realized he hadn't kissed her. Her mind raced with scenarios of why he didn't. Was it her? Was it him? Did it not go as well as she thought? She barely got any sleep, and the morning came much too early. It was a silly thing to lose sleep over. She was just so sure of everything but couldn't come up with a reason for him to not kiss her.
At work, the day dragged by. She was busy but the time was going slowly. She went to the nursery to check on some new patients. She loved babies. They were amazing in her eyes, precious gifts from God. She held a new born girl and sang softly.
It's not that unusual
When everything is beautiful
It's just another ordinary miracle today
The sky knows when it's time to snow
Don't need to teach a seed to grow
It's just another ordinary miracle today
She felt someone's eyes on her. She looked up at the window, only to see Lucky standing outside, smiling as he listened to her. She laid the baby back down and went out to see why Lucky was there.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I needed to see you," he said.
"How long have you been standing out here?" she asked, nervous that he had heard her.
"Long enough to hear you sing like an angel," he smiled. "Can we go somewhere to talk?"
"Sure," she said and led him to the rooftop where they wouldn't be interrupted.
She turned to face him and before she could say anything, he kissed her.
"What was that for?" she asked, surprised by his actions.
"I should have done it last night. I don't know why I didn't. I guess, I was nervous. What you make me feel is something I've never felt before. It's special and I guess maybe I didn't want to ruin it last night."
"I'm pretty sure if you would have done that last night, it wouldn't have ruined anything," she teased.
"Yeah?" he asked playfully.
"Oh yeah," she smiled, and he pulled her close and kissed her again.
They were interrupted by Aly's beeper.
She checked it. "I gotta go. I'll call you later," she said, gave him another quick kiss, and left.
The rest of the day, Aly was in much better spirits. It was as if she was walking on air. Her happiness did not go unnoticed.
"What's gotten into you?" Nadine asked, as she noticed Aly humming a song while she looked at files at the nurse's station.
"Probably that date she had last night," Elizabeth said with a grin.
"A date?" Nadine teased.
Aly looked at the both of them with a huge smile. The three girls just laughed.
"Alright, that's enough. You can continue your episode of Gossip Girl later. This is a hospital, and there is work to be done," Epiphany demanded. The girls smiled at each other and got back to work.
After a busy morning, Nikolas went out for a drive. His visions of Emily were becoming less frequent, which disturbed him, and the blackouts were happening more, even worse than before. When he saw Emily the last time, out at the pier after talking with Alexis and Lucky, she was wearing her favorite jeans, her green top, a light black jacket and black boots. She even wore her hair down. 'She never looks more alive than she does in that outfit,' he thought. He continued to drive and think.
His need to hold onto Emily for as long as he could was very strong. He was determined to do anything to keep her, at any cost. While he was stopped at a light, he reached into his pocket and took out the bottle of pills from Dr. Devlin. He opened it, took out two, picked up the bottle of water and swallowed them. He thought, 'this has to prolong my time with her. The doctor said it would but it can't improve my condition. This is the chance I have to take.' After a few more minutes of driving aimlessly, he decided to head back to Wyndemere. He had enough for one day.
Alfred greeted him as he walked through the door and into the hallway. "Good afternoon, Mr. Cassadine. Master Spencer is upstairs enjoying his nap, and Miss Lesley has gone home. May I get you anything?"
"No, but thank you, Alfred," he said as he walked into the study. He sat down at his desk. His will was in a folder, and he needed to review the changes he made. The first order of business was to make sure that Spencer was properly cared for. He stopped and thought about a conversation he had with Alexis not too long ago about this. He told her that Diego had killed his reason to live, and that's why he chose not to have the surgery. He thought back to the night of the Ball. 'It was supposed to be the most incredible night of our lives, and it was all taken away from us in a heartbeat.' He picked up the folder with the will inside, then he put it back down.
Instead, he looked at business papers for the Cassadine Company. He was able to stare at the papers only for a short time before his head started pounding. He went over and layed down on the couch and fell asleep. He had a restless sleep. It was filled with many images of happy times with Emily, the clothes she wore, if she wore her hair up or down, her perfume, and the way she felt against his skin. He would never forget that. He remembered everything about her. He woke up in a panic, believing Emily was still alive and with him. Within seconds, it all came crashing back to him.
His thoughts were interrupted when Alfred knocked on the study door and came in with Spencer. "It's dinner time, Mr. Cassadine. He was up and looking for his father. I felt it was only right to bring him in to you."
"Daddy, Daddy…," Spencer said, as he ran into Nikolas' waiting arms. He tried to calm himself down and smiled at his son. Nikolas looked at him as if he saw him for the first time, amazed at how much Spencer looked more like him with each passing day. Someday after Nikolas was gone, Spencer would find out and maybe understand that his father died for love, and the reason why. He hoped that Spencer would be able to forgive him.
"Thank you. We'll be in for dinner in a couple of minutes," Nikolas said. Alfred left the study. Nikolas and Spencer sat together and played for a little while. Even though his visions of Emily were very important to him, at that particular moment, this was all that mattered to him. He held onto his son as if he'd never let him go.
After dinner, Nikolas took Spencer upstairs and put on cartoons for him to watch. He went across the hall to his room, the one he shared with Emily. He felt her spirit here the strongest. They spent a lot of time in here together, planning their future and the life they had dreamed about. The last time he was truly happy in this room, it was the beginning of the Black and White Ball, and they were waiting for the guests to arrive. He was wearing his black tuxedo, white shirt and tie, and she was wearing her beautiful, long white strapless gown. 'It was going to be happiest time of our lives,' he thought. He had just proposed to her, and after many trials and struggles, she once again agreed to be his wife. It was going to be picture perfect, and it was going to last for the rest of their lives. She looked absolutely radiant and dazzling. She wore her hair down and curly. She was his princess, and he would always see her that way.
Still thinking of her, he crossed the room, went over to the dresser and opened the drawer. He took out one of her shirts, held it close and closed his eyes.
He started to break down. He couldn't take the torture anymore. It hurt too much. He just wanted it to be over. He wanted to go and be with her forever.
"Sweet Prince, open your eyes," the familiar voice said. "I'm here."
He opened his eyes, and through his tears, he saw his beloved Emily standing before him once again. She looked as radiant and dazzling as she did the night of the Ball. Her hair was once again down and curly, and she was wearing her long white ball gown. She was also wearing the engagement ring that he had given her that night.He had never seen her look more elegant and regal, as pretty as a princess. Their romance had been filled with happiness and sadness, trials and tribulations, but they were finally going to have a modern day fairytale that most people dream about, for the rest of their lives. If anyone deserved it, it was Emily. He was going to make sure of it, until tragedy struck.
"Emily," Nikolas said as he took a few steps and hugged her. "I've been waiting for you to come back. I wasn't sure if you would after I saw you on the pier. Last time you were wearing blue jeans, your favorite green top, and your light black jacket. You wore your hair down and loose. It always looked amazing when you wore it that way."
"Nikolas, I appear to you however you want me to be dressed. Think back. Do you remember the day you told me how much you loved me?"
He smiled. "Yes. My mother had gone back to her catatonic state after remarrying Luke. I realized life was too precious, and I didn't want to waste my time without you knowing how I truly felt about you."
"If you remember, that was the outfit I had on the day we were locked in the stables together. We finally reunited and planned to spend Christmas as a family. Then we went through Spencer's kidnapping with Colleen, but it had a happy ending. That's why I appeared to you in that outfit. It was one of the many happy times we had together. Since you have been doing a lot of thinking and remembering about the Ball tonight, this is how you see me, before everything happened, and your world came crashing down around you. I will always be with you." She looked at him lovingly. "Our time is growing short. The danger is approaching. You need to make the decision to have the surgery."
"I can't do it. You are too important to me to lose. I don't want to stop seeing you this way. I need you so much, and I'm lost without you." He held her hand. "Without you, all I see are the four walls of this house and an empty space."
They sat down on the bed. She had seriousness in her tone. She needed to get through to him about his time growing short and that he had to live for Spencer. If she couldn't do it, she wasn't sure if anyone else could. Emily touched his face. "We had our time together. I will never forget it, and neither will you. But you can't give up and stop living because I'm not here anymore. Remember when you and Alexis got into that fight about having the surgery? I appeared, and I had to stop you. You were saying mean and hurtful things to her."
"But you're a part of everything around me. You are so real to me," Nikolas said.
"It's the natural progression of things to see the person you love in everything you do. You know the reason is the tumor. It is getting worse. You need to have this surgery. If you don't, it will turn all your dreams into a nightmare. Do you think that we'll be together after you die?"
He looked at her. "I'll take that chance. It's worth it to me." He closed his eyes again. When he opened them again, Emily's clothes were different. This time, she had on black jeans and a beautiful blue top that made her pretty green eyes sparkle. She had on shoes and this time, she wore her hair up in a pony tail. "Why have you changed your clothes?"
"This is how you want to see me at this moment. Dressed down and casual, how we spent most of our time in the house."
"We have to be together," he said. "That is the only way that I can live. Nothing else matters to me."
"This isn't you, the real you. You were brought up a Cassadine, and your father hurt a lot of people by being ruthless. I know your greatest fear was growing up to be like your father. But your mother is kind. You are so much like her. She has such generosity, compassion and love. You get that strength and love from her. I see it in you. You don't want to hurt the people that are so close to you, but you are still hurt and grieving over me. These last few months have been a gift to you. Not many people get a chance to look back this way. You were lucky to be able to figure out who the Text Message Killer was. But it's not going to last. It's going to become worse. Time is getting shorter." She looked at him. "Are you still taking those pills? Why are you using them? You need to stop taking them, and pull yourself back together. You need to regain your focus and concentrate on the future and raising Spencer. The pills aren't helping you. How do you know they aren't going to make the condition worse or kill you?"
"I don't know. They are supposed to prolong my condition so you will stay with me. I don't have a choice. I want you here. There has to be a way to keep you here and live my life." He got up from the bed, began pacing and became angry and upset. "Diego killed you, my reason to live. You are my life." Tears streamed down his face. "Why can't we just run off and be together if we want to?"
"Nikolas, you are a romantic and are so in love. But I'm the practical one, you know that. I can see what you want to remember and can't. I can see what's going on inside of you and how ugly it will get." She got up from the bed, grabbed his arms and tried to get him to listen to her. He had to listen to her – she knew it was his only hope. "Your symptoms are getting worse. You will lose control. There will be madness before death. You won't be in charge, and you won't see me this way anymore. When that happens, you can't turn back. You will see me in the way that you're afraid to see me… dying and in pain. But if you really, truly love me, you will do this. I love you." With that, she touched him and walked out of the room.
His head was spinning. He needed to sit down and stumbled a few feet onto the bed. All these thoughts, feelings, anxieties and fears going through his mind. He couldn't make sense of any of it. He tried to force his tears to stop. He needed to pull it together for a little while. If not for himself, then for Spencer, just this once.
There was a knock on his door. "Yes?" he said as best as he could.
"Miss Russell is downstairs and would like to see you."
"Please tell her that I'll be downstairs in a few minutes. Thank you, Alfred." He heard Alfred walk back downstairs. Now he really had a reason to pull himself back together. He didn't want Aly to see him in this state of mind.
Nikolas took a look in the mirror at himself. 'This will have to do,' he thought. He opened the door and went downstairs. As he walked down the stairs, he took deep breaths to calm himself down. He knew this was going to be difficult because Aly can read him like a book, almost as well as Emily could.
He walked into the study. She was wearing blue jeans, a pink top, sneakers, her hair was pulled back, and she was staring out the window. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that it was Emily again. "Hey, Aly. What brings you by?" He tried his best to act calm, cool and collected, but he wasn't sure it was working.
Aly turned around and looked at him. "I wanted to check on you, see how you were doing." She had this wonderful smile on her face, which made Nikolas wonder what was up her sleeve. They sat down on the couch.
"I'm doing the best I can – it's been rough. Before we talk about me, what's going on with you? You have a smile on from here to Texas, so obviously something big happened," he said. It was time to forget his problems for a few minutes and focus on someone else for a change.
She laughed. "Now, I'm surprised you haven't guessed what's going on. You haven't seen me smile like this in quite a while, actually, I take that back…. I haven't smiled this way for as long as I can remember."
Suddenly, it hit him. He thought back to the conversation he had with Lucky on the pier a couple of days ago. "Let me guess, it has something to do with my brother."
"Bingo," Aly said, grinning again. Nikolas broke into a smile as well. "We've been getting along so well. Every week after our meetings, we'd go out for coffee. He finally asked me out a couple of weeks ago, but I had to go out of town so we postponed it, until last night."
"I'm glad that you and Lucky finally got together."
"We went to dinner and just spent time together. I've grown to care about him in a way that I've never cared about any guy before, not even Logan. He is a great guy."
"Aly, you are a great girl. You deserve the best. Lucky is a pretty good guy. You two would make a great couple. I'm happy for both of you. You have my blessing."
She smiled. "Thank you, Nik. That's not really what I came here for, but I'm glad you approve. That really touched me. It's important to me, and he means a lot to me already. I just want your brother to be happy, and I'm happy too."
"I can tell you do. Spend as much time as you can together, and be there for each other. You'll make a great team. You never know when things can change in a blink of an eye. Love can be here one minute, and gone the next," he said somberly. He went from a smile to this sad look, that only Aly, or Emily, would recognize.
His mood change didn't go unnoticed. "Something happened tonight, or in the past couple of days. I'm sorry we haven't been able to catch up till now. Talk to me; tell me what's going on. What's happening with Emily? That has to be it; otherwise I don't know why you just got so quiet and melancholy."
"I'm still seeing her. We talked the other day on the pier, the day I saw Lucky, too. I was running into some of my family. I saw Alexis and went to see Sam. I finally had that long overdue talk with her about that night she was with Logan. I'll spare you the details, but I think I got through to her, and she is doing some heavy thinking."
"I'm glad you got to talk with her. I know you wanted to. Go on, what else happened?"
"As I was on the pier and going back to the car, Emily appeared. She was pushing me to have the surgery, to live for Spencer, and our love would always be in my heart. She also said that it wasn't my time to leave yet. Then she kissed me and disappeared. I thought she was gone this time. But, she came back tonight. We were upstairs in the bedroom talking. She was even more persistent tonight about living for Spencer, my family, and for me. She said that I can't continue to live in the past and that the tumor will get worse. My visions of her are going to change."
"Nik, she's right. Being a doctor too, I can see where she is coming from. A condition like the one you have isn't going to get better or stay the way it is by itself forever. There's going to be a point where things will change and it will get worse. I've done some reading about your condition."
"But I don't want to lose her," he said. "She has been my life so long and I need her here with me."
"I understand that, it's hard to lose someone that you loved so much. I was the same way when I lost my parents. But you can't hide in the darkness and live in the past forever. I learned that. You knew that too when you tried to pull me out of the darkness when I was hooked on the painkillers. We are friends -- close friends -- and we are here for each other no matter what. We are stubborn, both of us, as we know, but it takes another stubborn person to get through to the other. Just remember that." She smiled again.
"I appreciate you being here for me. Emily said something else. My condition is going to keep getting worse, my images of her will become distorted, and I'll see her dying and in pain. There will be madness and I'm going to lose control before death happens. I'm not afraid of dying but I don't want to live without her."
"I understand that, too. From what little research I did about your condition, she's absolutely right. It's going to get a lot worse, and you're going to lose any perception of reality. The tumor is going to grow and put pressure on the brain, and all sorts of things are going to occur. It's not going to be pretty. Are you sure this is what you want to do? Do you want to leave Spencer, your family and friends, and your entire life? Would you really die for love?" She was getting mad at him.
"That's what I want, to be with Emily forever." He got up from the couch and started pacing.
"You have so much to live for. How do you know that you're going to be with her once you die? There are no guarantees in life, or even death. You were given a gift, to say whatever you needed to to Emily, to say your goodbyes that you didn't get to do in this life, and prepare yourself to move on with your life. She doesn't want you to die, and leave Spencer without a father."
She began to rant and became harsher with her tone. "Do you remember what it was like to grow up without your mother? You told me once that she wasn't around in your life as you were growing up. Spencer wouldn't be as lucky, to have his parent come back into his life when he is older like you did. You and Emily are the only parents that Spencer has ever known," she tried to make him understand her point of view and common sense. He stopped pacing and sat down at his desk. "Was Spencer's real mom Emily?"
"No. His real mother Courtney, died not too long after he was born, so he never knew her. I can't think about any of this now. I've made arrangements for Spencer, and after I'm gone, he will be well taken care of. I do know how difficult it was to grow up without my mother being around. The man whom I believed was my father, Stefan, was really my uncle. My father, Stavros, didn't show up for many years. Yes, I know how difficult it will be for Spencer to grow up without his father around, but this is my choice, and you can't change my mind about it," he yelled. He wasn't going to give in to her.
She got up and walked over to his desk. "Do you think that's fair to Spencer to grow up without both of his parents then?" she yelled.
"No, I don't, but I have to do this," he yelled back at her. "Someday maybe he'll understand the choice that I made. I hope that he doesn't hate me and will forgive me."
"I love you as my friend, I don't want to lose you, and I'm selfish. I want you to stay in my life. You mean a lot to me, Nik. I'll do anything I can to help you and keep you here with us," she yelled. She was trying anything to get through to him. She started to calm down again and sat back down on the couch. "Please….just think about what Emily said, and now what I said. Spencer needs you in his life, as do the rest of us. You need to have this surgery." She looked at her watch. "It's getting late, and I need to get back to Fox Hollow."
"I'll take into consideration what you've said to me. You are important to me, too. I'll think about it and we'll talk tomorrow." He got up from the desk, and she got up from the couch, and they walked to the front door. As they said goodbye, he gave her a hug. "I'll call you tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by. It means a lot to me."
"You're welcome. I'll always be here for you. Get some rest. Talk to you tomorrow." With that, she walked out the door, and back to her car. Nikolas closed the door and went back upstairs.
He had a restless night of sleep. More dreams of Emily, some that he remembered and some that he didn't want to remember – happy times, when they first met, what they were wearing, their wedding around Christmas three years ago, and then the night of the Ball and those awful memories were crowding his mind. He wished he could erase all those bad memories, wake up and say it was a dream. Every morning, that was his wish.
As he woke up, something came to his mind that he heard in the last few days.
When you're dreaming
with a broken heart When you're dreaming with a broken heart
The waking up is the hardest part
You
roll outta bed and down on your knees
And for the moment you can
hardly breathe
Wondering was she really here?
Is she standing
in my room?
No she's not, 'cause she's gone, gone, gone, gone,
gone...
The
giving up is the hardest part
She takes you in with her crying
eyes
Then all at once you have to say goodbye
Wondering could
you stay my love?
Will you wake up by my side?
No she can't,
'cause she's gone, gone, gone, gone, gone...
He immediately called Dr. Devlin and asked him to come over. He got Spencer up, fed and he was in the nursery with Lesley in about a half hour.
About a half hour later, Dr. Devlin arrived. Nikolas personally greeted him at the door and led him into the study.
"Thank you for coming by. I wanted to get more of a supply of the medicine for myself," Nikolas said.
"I take it that the patient likes the results he is getting."
"Yes I do. I know it's going to keep Emily around as long as possible and maybe I can live a normal life and keep her with me too. Are there any side effects to taking the drug?"
"Your condition will be prolonged. You will continue to have images of your beloved fiancée but the hallucinations may change and become distorted, or your body may not accept the drug."
"That doesn't matter to me. I'm happy with the results and as long as she stays here, that's the most important thing," Nikolas said. He needed as much of the medicine as he could get.
Dr. Devlin was shrewd and realized that Nikolas enjoyed still seeing his deceased fiancée. "I will offer you a one year agreement for a supply of the drug. However we need to talk about the cost. Ten million dollars."
Nikolas laughed. "Do you think I'm desperate?"
"Yes, seeing how I'm the only one keeping Emily alive for you. What do you think?"
He thought for a minute. "You have a deal."
"Great. I'll be in touch. I hope that none of your servants will mention that I was here," Dr. Devlin said.
"No," Nikolas said. "They are very loyal to me and will not say a word. I'll be in touch." Nikolas led him out of the study and to the front door. Dr. Devlin left, and Nikolas went back to the study. He sat down and began to think.
"Am I worth ten million dollars?" came her sweet voice. She was dressed in white jeans and a red top this time. Her hair was once again down and curly.
"Emily, you are priceless to me. I will do anything to keep you here forever," he said.
"But how do you know what the side effects are? How do you know that it won't kill you? You can't take this chance, even to keep me here. You need to stay here for Spencer and your family. Listen to Aly, Nikolas. Maybe she is the one that can convince you if I can't. This is too risky; you can't keep taking this drug. And I don't like Dr. Devlin, I don't trust him either. There's something about him that I don't like at all. Ten million dollars is too high a price to pay."
"I don't care," he said, taking her hands. "I would spend ten times that amount if it meant you would be here forever with me."
"But you are avoiding the inevitable, and sooner or later it will catch up with you," she pleaded.
"Let's just enjoy the time we have together, right now at this very moment," he said and kissed her. As long as he had her in his arms, all was right in his world.
Nikolas did not want to listen to all the warnings that came from Emily and Aly about the tumor and the drugs. He had no idea that it was going to turn out like this. Nothing could prepare him for what was about to happen.
First Lyrics: "Ordinary Miracle" by Sarah McLachlan
Second Lyrics: "Dreaming With a Broken Heart" by John Mayer