Babble: And you're even reading Part III? Can you tell your fast becoming my favorite person????
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The Rave: Realizations
Part III
~Studio~
"Elizabeth?" Emily called opening the door to the darkened studio, "she's not here." She turned to face Nikolas who entered the studio after her.
"Let's wait for her here." Nikolas said closing the door and flipping on the light. "She'll be here eventually," he moved to the couch and sat down wearily.
She frowned at him. "You don't think she'll go to Kelly's?"
"No," he scrubbed at his eyes. "Since Lucky lost his place at Jake's and had to move into Kelly's, she's been spending more and more of her time here."
"I know." She fiddled with some brushes on the table, she didn't feel like arguing with Nikolas tonight, but she had been feeling that it was time to get off the Elizabeth and Lucky bandwagon. She knew he didn't feel that way though, so she moved on. "I'm surprised you're so calm about this though, I mean a half hour ago you were waving a sword around like a Samurai."
"Because she's with Jason?" He leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes. "I'm just glad she's away from Zander."
"Kind of like the devil you know?" She asked moving over to sit on the arm of the couch, resting her feet on the cushion beside him.
"Something like that." Nikolas said with a slight chuckle. "But I don't think Jason is a devil."
She reached out and put a hand on his forehead. "Did you drink anything at the rave? That almost sounded like you didn't mind that Elizabeth was with Jason."
He reached up and took her hand, "I didn't say that." He looked up at her. "I'm never going to be Jason's biggest fan, but I know he does care about her."
"Okay now you're starting to worry me."
He looked down at her hand. "I've realized you can't control who you care about. You can try to fight it, but in the end, you'll feel what you'll feel." He tugged on her hand, so she was sitting on the cushion beside him. "I almost lost Elizabeth entirely because of her relationship with Jason, I'm not going to risk it again."
"They weren't involved then, they were just friends, and you were in love with her." Emily said quietly, that still bothered her at times.
"No." His answer was immediate. "I wasn't in love with her, I thought I was, but we were never more than friends. I've only been in love once in my life."
"Not with Katherine, please tell me you didn't really love her." She demanded.
"No not Katherine." He agreed.
"Sarah?"
"No." Nikolas still had her hand and looked at her.
Unnerved by the way he was looking at her she backed off slightly. If he wasn't in love with Elizabeth, Katherine, or Sarah, who did that leave? The devil inside her said it was her, but she couldn't believe that. It was true he had kissed her earlier tonight, but he only did that because he was afraid he might die. He had never given her any indication that he thought of her as more than a friend, and she once spent so much time hoping for that, she would have noticed. She realized that several minutes had passed while they were looking at each other, and he still had her hand. "Then wh… never mind." She shifted so she was sitting with her feet on the floor, but she didn't move her hand. "I'm tired." She changed the subject by putting her head on his shoulder.
"Get some sleep then, Elizabeth should be here in the morning." Nikolas murmured, resting his head on hers. As far as he was concerned the morning couldn't take long enough to get here.
~Room 24~
"It's Thander Stith." Zander spit some ice out of his mouth and tried again. "It's Smith, I need to have a meeting with Mr. Sorel as soon as possible." He swallowed a groan when he got off the bed. "Yeah I know what time it is, that's why I'm calling you and not him. But I have some news that he needs to hear, so set it up." He moved for the bathroom, "10:00 a.m. at the warehouse? I'll be there."
He switched off the phone and studied his face in the mirror, the evening was evident on his face. His left eye was swollen shut, and he had a large bruise on the right side of his face. He also had a series of cuts, thanks to a fucking sword. There were a lot of people that he was going to be dealing with in the morning, and the name at the top of the list was Elizabeth.
~Jake's~
Jason moved closer to the bed and couldn't resist brushing the hair out of her face. The moonlight coming in from the window, illuminated her pale skin, he had worried she might have nightmares, but since he had carried her upstairs about an hour ago, she hadn't stirred. He ran his hand lightly down her cheek, and then reluctantly moved over to sit in the chair, that he had moved closer to the bed, in case she needed anything. He settled in it again to wait and moved quickly when his cell phone chirped.
"Morgan." He said quietly.
"Sorry to bother you." Sonny said.
"Is everything okay?" Jason asked quietly moving towards the window and farther away from the bed, so he didn't disturb her.
"Yeah I just need to tell you something and I don't think it can wait."
"What?"
"Zander had a couple of visitors after you left, Nikolas Cassadine and Emily."
"What the hell were they doing there?"
"Looking for Elizabeth, apparently Nikolas went after Zander with a sword." Sonny shook his head that was a new one.
"A sword?" Jason pinched his nose.
"Yeah he scared the hell out of Zander. The thing is Emily stayed outside, but Zander saw her and he knew who she was." Sonny explained the reason for his call. "I don't like that he knows her, and I wanted to tell you."
"There's more. Elizabeth and Emily know something about Ted Wilson, in fact I think they know where the body is."
Sonny rubbed his hand over his chin. "We need some information from them then."
"I know I tried to get more out of Elizabeth." He looked over to the bed, "but she was pretty out of it, I'll ask her again in the morning."
"Is she okay?" That was the other reason for his call, to check on her.
"Yes, but this should have never happened to her, Sorel and Zander are going to pay."
"Call me in the morning, apparently Zander has a meeting with Sorel at 10:00 so I'll let you know what happens."
"How do you know that?"
Sonny smirked. "Well while Zander was unconscious from his meeting with you, I had Francis put a bug in his watch."
Jason shook his head, "I'll call in the morning."
"You might call Emily and let her know that Elizabeth is okay." Sonny said before hanging up.
Jason frowned, checked the bed and then called his sister's cell number.
~Studio~
Emily jerked when she felt something vibrating against her side, it took a few more vibrations before she realized it was her cell that she had hooked on her hip huggers. She had put it on vibrate, knowing she wouldn't be able to hear it at the rave.
She moved slowly, so she didn't wake Nikolas who was still asleep beside her. Letting go of his hand she got to her feet. "Hello."
"Emily."
"Thank god, is she okay?" Emily whispered.
"Yes, she's asleep." Jason said quickly, he should have realized earlier that Emily would have been worried about her.
"Did you get to her in time?" Emily held her breath.
"Yes she's fine."
"Thank god." Emily sighed heavily and rested her head on the windowpane. That was a question she had been dreading the answer to. "Jason we need to talk tomorrow, there's some things that you need to know."
"I know, I'll see you tomorrow." Jason agreed. "I've missed you."
Emily grinned, "I've missed you too, so has Elizabeth." She paused, "You know Lucky's back right?"
"Yes."
"Well they are not together, and their not going to be." Emily told him. "I think she wants to be with someone else, in fact I think she has been waiting for that someone else to come back."
"Goodnight Emily."
"Night Jason." She'd work on him tomorrow. She pressed end on her phone, switched it back to ring mode then looked at the couch. Nikolas had shifted so he was lying on his side. She could wake him up, they could go home now, there was no reason to wait here any longer.
She moved back to the couch, there was enough room there that she could lay down beside him. She thought about it for another minute and then lay down, closing her eyes, when his arm came around her stomach holding her in place.
Nikolas waited until she settled before he opened his eyes and smiled in the dark.
~*~
Emily gradually became aware of a tickling on her face, she swatted at the irritant without opening her eyes.
Nikolas grinned and blew on her cheek again sending a strand of her hair dancing over her skin.
She groaned and swatted at the hair again this time hitting Nikolas as well. That caused her eyes to shoot open, "Nikolas."
He rubbed at his jaw, "what's left of him anyway."
"I'm sorry." Emily turned so she was lying on her back, looking up at him.
"It's okay." He smiled down at her.
"What time is it?" It was strange waking up next to someone, especially when that someone was Nikolas. Didn't he ever look bad? She knew her make-up had probably smeared, making her look like a raccoon, but he didn't seem to notice it, at least he didn't mention it.
"Early, I think it's around 8:00." He reached down and brushed some hair out of her eyes.
"We should probably go then." Emily said but she made no effort to move.
"Probably." He agreed before lowering his head and kissing her.
Emily couldn't help but respond. She'd liked him since she met him years ago, and the idea of kissing him had been her dream for so many years that she couldn't help but give into him.
His hand moved to her hip, while hers went to his hair, tilting his head, when he deepened the kiss. He shifted slightly moving his leg between hers, his hand tracing the exposed skin on her waist.
"No." She said suddenly breaking the kiss, and shoving at his chest so she could get off of the couch. "We can't do this."
Nikolas swallowed a groan, sat up and studied her, "Why not?"
"Because…because…" She trailed off, why shouldn't they? "Because we're friends, and there's Juan to think of."
"You broke up with Juan." Nikolas countered, he knew that he might not have picked the best time to tell her about his feelings for her, but it was done, so now he would have to make it work.
"But I still care about him, we're trying to work this out." Emily said desperately.
Nikolas swallowed his smile, for once she said she cared about Juan, not that she loved him, he considered that a victory. "I just want a chance."
"What-What are you saying?" She demanded.
"I'm answering the question you didn't want me too, last night." He told her getting to his feet to stand in front of her. "The person I'm in love with is you."
"Y-you don't mean that." Emily whispered.
"Yes I do. I've never been surer of anything in my life." Nikolas put his hands on her shoulders. "I just want a chance with you Emily."
"I've fallen for you twice Nikolas and both times I've ended up with my heart broken," she looked up at him. "Why would I want to risk it again?"
"Because you can't help who you care about, you can't help who you love."
"This is just too much to take in." Emily ran her hand through her hair. "I mean yesterday we were just friends and today you say your in love with me. Do you know how crazy that sounds?"
"Saying it out loud makes it real." Nikolas repeated the words he had used with Elizabeth.
"You're my friend if we try for more, we could lose that." Emily argued.
"Then why were you encouraging Jason last night on the phone. Him and Elizabeth are just friends why are you pushing for more?" Nikolas pressed her.
"Because I know he likes her, and I know she lo…" she trailed off.
He walked over and picked a sketchpad off the floor. "She started working last night for the first time since Lucky returned." He flipped it open. "This is what she was drawing."
Emily looked at the pad, it was a sketch of her brother on his motorcycle.
"I think she more than likes him."
"And you're okay with that?" Emily asked.
"I'm not thrilled but if he makes her happy I'll stand behind her." He moved back to her. "As long as someone I love is happy, I won't do anything," he put his hands on her shoulders. "But when they're not happy, then I will do something. That's why I'm speaking out. You're not happy Emily. Why don't you just see if I could make you happy?"
"Nikolas…" Emily stopped when the studio door opened and Lucky entered the room.
"I was hoping that Elizabeth would be here." Lucky said oblivious to the tense scene he interrupted.
Emily stepped back from Nikolas.
Nikolas mentally cursed his brother, when she withdrew. "No she's not here, but she's fine."
"How do you know?" Lucky demanded, he had spent most of the night looking for her, and had come by here finally in frustration.
"Someone found her before Zander could do anything to her." Nikolas explained shortly.
Emily's cell began to ring and she walked over to the window to answer it.
"Who found her? Why aren't you with her?" Lucky asked. "You know she needs you."
"You're right Lucky, she does need me, as a friend. And I will see her as soon as I can." He looked at the sketchpad that was open on the floor and went on. "But as much as I hate to say it, she is with someone that she needs a lot more than any one of us."
"Who could that be?" Lucky asked in confusion, the people who cared about her the most, with the exception of her Grandmother, were in this room.
"Jason."
"Emily's brother?" Lucky was shocked. "How could you let her stay with him?"
"Because she wants to Lucky."
"But you love her."
Nikolas rubbed his eyes, "Yes I love her, but I'm not in love with her."
"Yes, you are…" Lucky started automatically.
"No I'm not, I'm in love with Emily." Nikolas told his brother, causing him to go even paler in shock.
"Nikolas we need to go." Emily said walking over to them.
"Is anything wrong?" Nikolas asked taking her hand.
"No, but there's someone we need to see." She pulled him towards the door. "If you see Elizabeth and Jason later tell them to call me Lucky." She said before heading out the door.
Lucky moved wearily to the couch. Nikolas was in love with Emily, and Elizabeth was with Jason, things just didn't make sense anymore.
~Jake's~
She woke up with no warning at all. One minute her eyes were closed, her breathing deep, the next she opened her eyes and sat straight up in bed, looking around the room in confusion. Jason immediately got out of the chair and went to the bed. "Elizabeth." He kept his voice low so he didn't startle her. She looked at him, but her eyes remained unfocused and confused. He sat down on the edge of the bed. "Are you okay?"
She closed her eyes tightly and he watched her lips move, she was counting to ten. He couldn't help but smile while he waited for her to open her eyes. She mouthed the word ten, hesitated and then slowly opened her eyes. "I'm still here Elizabeth."
"J-jason?" Her voice was hoarse.
"Yes." He saw the doubt in her eyes, and frustration made him snap. "Touch me if you don't believe me. Or better still," he pulled out his pocketknife, "I'll cut myself, I'll bleed if I'm real won't I?"
She put her hand on his arm, stopping him before the blade could touch his skin. "Don't, I'm sorry I'm just confused."
"No I'm sorry." Jason said immediately, putting the knife on the bedside table. "It's just I want you to know that I'm here."
Her hand shook a little when she brought it to his face. He leaned into it, and watched her smile bloom.
"Jason." She said before moving closer to hug him, "I've missed you."
"I've missed you too." He told her.
"When?" She coughed, "How?" She pulled back to look at him, she couldn't believe he was really here. She coughed again, "when," only to stop and cough again.
"Are you okay?"
"My throat it's so dry." She said softly, actually it felt like it was on fire.
"I'll get you some water." He headed for the bathroom.
Elizabeth glanced around the room. Where was she? She looked down and saw the bruises on her arms, and that worried her.
"Here." Jason came out of the bathroom and handed her a glass of water.
She drank it all greedily and then another glassful. "Thanks." This time when she spoke her voice sounded like normal.
"Does your head hurt?" He asked setting the empty glass on the table.
"No, but it should right?" She asked. "What happened to me? How did I end up here?"
"How much do you remember?"
She frowned and tried to clear the fog that seemed to have replaced her brain. "Nikolas picked me up for the Rave. I was tired, I didn't want to be there." She closed her eyes, "Zander." She paused remembering the tall guy she had been talking too, she remembered him giving her a drink. "Oh god."
Jason watched her fair skin turn even paler, "It's okay he can't touch you."
"Is…did he hurt me?" She looked at her arms and the bruises there. They were the only part of her that hurt, but that didn't mean anything. "Did he…"
"No." He touched her chin, forcing her to look at him. "Nothing happened with Zander, except him trying to kiss you. You got away from him, and then I was there."
"Thank you." She said softly.
"Do you remember anything else?" He pressed her. He wanted her to remember parts of last night, even though he already knew she probably wouldn't.
"Did we go for a ride?" She asked after a minute.
Leave it to her to remember his bike, he couldn't help but grin. "Yes we did and no you didn't drive."
"Bummer."
"That's what you said then." His face turned serious. "We need to talk about some of the things you said last night."
Her eyes widened, what had she said to him? Why was he here? "Can it wait a minute? I need to use the bathroom." She asked stalling for time.
Jason got up and headed for his dresser and pulled out a gray T-shirt. "Here, if you want to change."
She climbed out of bed, grabbing the headrest when she got dizzy. She saw that she was still in her rave clothes, and reached for the T-shirt. Their hands brushed and she couldn't stop the shiver of reaction his touch caused, her eyes searched his to see if he had felt it too, but they were unreadable. "I'll be out in a few."
Jason stepped back and let her pass into the bathroom. "I'll get us some coffee."
Elizabeth nodded and closed the door, she let herself lean against it for a minute in relief. He was finally home. He was home and she was hiding in his bathroom. At that thought she moved to the sink to study herself in the mirror.
"God, I look awful." She muttered before washing her make-up off. Fifteen minutes and no memories later she walked out into the other room.
Jason turned from his spot at the window when he heard the door. He caught his breath, she looked so much younger without her make-up and swimming in his shirt the way she was. She smiled at him slightly then moved to sit in one of the easy chairs, tucking her feet underneath her.
"I got you a coffee." He said handing her a cup.
"Thanks." She sipped at it when he sat in the other chair. "So how did I end up here?"
"I found you with Zander and I brought you here. I didn't want you to be alone." Jason explained.
"I'm glad." She looked away from him, "I didn't know you were back, how long have you been here?" She frowned, "Where is here anyway?"
"We're in my room above Jake's."
"But I thought Lucky had to move, because there was some problems with the housing board." She asked.
"Actually he had to move because I told Jake I needed him gone. I didn't want anyone to know I was in town."
"Oh." Lucky had moved into Kelly's two weeks ago, so that meant Jason had been back for two weeks and she had never known it.
"About last night…"
"How did you know I needed help?" They spoke at the same time.
"You told me last night that you went to the rave to find a murderer." Jason went on, "and you ended up leaving with Zander after he slipped you some drugs."
"I told you that." Elizabeth looked at the cup in her hands.
"I've been watching Zander for a couple of weeks, so when you showed up at the motel with him, I knew about it." Jason explained.
"That was good." So he hadn't been looking for her. Why did that make her sad?
"It was more than good Elizabeth, Zander is probably the killer you were looking for." He told her bluntly.
"What?" Her head shot up and her hand started to shake.
"You mentioned Ted Wilson last night, I need you to tell me about him, and then I'll tell you about Zander." He moved and took the cup from her hand before the coffee could spill on her. Then he crouched in front of her. "Talk to me."
She wanted to touch his face.
"Go ahead." He said.
Her face colored when she realized she had spoken aloud, she tried to withdraw, but he took her hand and pressed it to his cheek. "Now talk to me."
She swallowed hard and looked into his eyes, "It all started when Juan wanted to go to a rave."
~Penthouse~
"So that's it, we have Ted on ice so to speak, and we were trying to find out the guy who framed me." Emily said. "We found out last night that his name is Zander Smith, but it was too late to warn Elizabeth."
Sonny sat back in surprise. His eyes moved from Emily and Nikolas, he was surprised at their story, no it was more like he was stunned by it. He couldn't believe what they had been living with for almost a month now. "So who all knows about this?"
"Just Juan, Gia, the girl who blackmailed Emily, Lucky, Elizabeth and us." Nikolas said. "And probably Jason by now."
Sonny pinched his nose. "Are you sure the freezer is secured?"
"Yes. With Stefan missing, no one questions me at Wyndamere." Nikolas explained.
"Okay." Sonny got to his feet and headed for the door. "Johnny."
"Yes?" Johnny opened the door.
"Get Max and Adam, they're going to go with Mr. Cassadine to pick something up, have them store it at that old drop we used to use on Pico Street until I tell them to move it." Sonny ordered. "Johnny it's a Type A package."
Johnny nodded and stepped in the hall to use the phone.
"What are you going to do?" Nikolas asked.
"I'm going to make this disappear." Sonny said. It was as much of an explanation he was going to give the kid. The only reason he was here at all was because Emily wanted him to stay. But his affection for Emily only went so far.
"What…"
"Nikolas don't push it." Emily said, moving to his side. "Just be grateful."
"Emily I need to speak with you for a minute." Sonny paused, "alone."
Nikolas looked at her, and she nodded. "I'll be outside."
She waited for the door to close, "What did you want to say?"
"Why didn't you come to me when this happened?" Sonny asked.
Emily shrugged, "I didn't know if you would help."
"How can you say that? You know I would do anything for you."
"When I first found out about you and Carly, I came down on you really hard, because I blamed you for Jason leaving." She headed for the couch again, "I didn't know how to turn around and ask you for help."
He followed her to the couch. "You asked me for help with Juan."
"That was different, you already wanted to help Juan because of Lily, and this was about me, not him." She lowered her head. "Besides I didn't know if you would believe me. Jason would, but I didn't know if you would."
"Emily look at me," Sonny said when she finally did he went on. "There is nothing that could ever happen that would make me not help you."
She nodded slowly. "I think I better go."
Sonny nodded and led the way to the door. "Emily this will all be over in a couple of hours, I promise you."
She smiled in relief, "thanks Sonny."
~Jake's~
"You're awfully quiet." Elizabeth said after the silence got too loud. She had explained everything that had happened in the past few weeks and Jason had yet to say a word.
"I'm sad I guess, all this stuff was going on with my sister and I didn't know it. You were willing to risk your life to help her, and I didn't even know she was in trouble." He said finally from his spot by the window.
She crossed over to him and put her hand on his back. "She wanted to tell you and yet she didn't, she was afraid you would be disappointed in her."
He turned around to look at her, "That could never happen."
"I know. But there was also the fact you weren't here." She frowned, "although it turns out you were."
"Only for the past two weeks." He said quickly taking her hand so she couldn't walk away. "You can't repeat this."
She nodded.
"We knew Sorel has been increasing the drug movement in the city. He was using raves to help move it. We were watching Zander to find out who else was in the network, with Sorel." Explanations weren't something he was used to making, so it was difficult to know how much he could say. "No one was supposed to know I was here. If Sorel knew there was a chance he would switch to another network and we didn't want that."
"So I blew your cover huh?"
"Yes but I'm not sorry," he stopped with a frown. "I mean I'm sorry you were drugged, but I'm not sorry that I get to talk to you again," he brushed his thumb over her cheek. "It's been hard just watching you without talking to you."
"You watched me?" The surprise was evident in her tone.
"I had to see you, and when I did, I knew I had to see you again." He explained.
The hope she felt when she heard his words seemed to fill the emptiness she had been feeling for so long. "Is it wrong for me to be glad that I was drugged?"
Jason shrugged. "I'm sorry you've been sad."
"I'm not anymore." She said softly.
"You said some other things last night, things that I would like to talk about now."
She took a nervous step back from him. "You know you probably can't put much stock in what I said last night, after all I was under the influence so I probably wasn't thinking to clearly."
"I thought that was when you spoke the truth, when you can't think up a reason to lie." Jason took a step towards her, and she countered by taking another one back.
"Well since I can't remember what I said, it doesn't count." She told him before turning around.
"I can tell you what you said." His voice came from right behind her and she couldn't help but shiver in reaction.
"How would I know if it was the truth?" She asked keeping her back to him.
"Because I don't lie."
"Oh that's right."
"One of the questions you asked me last night, I didn't answer, I would like to do that now." He said turning her around so she faced him.
"Alright." She nervously bit her lip.
"You wanted to know if that last day when I told you goodbye, if you would have kissed me, would I have stayed."
She closed her eyes, "well that was mortifying."
"I didn't answer you because I wanted you to hear and remember my answer." He told her softly.
"Okay I'm listening then," she took a deep breath and opened her eyes. "Would you have stayed?"
"No."