The Ripple Effect
Chapter 13
~Kelly's~
"Wait up Nikolas."
Hearing his name Nikolas automatically came to a stop, turning around he couldn't help but sigh when he recognized who was calling him. "Hello Gia."
Slowing her pace to a leisurely strut she frowned at his less than warm welcome. "Don't act so happy to see me."
Trying to swallow his frustration Nikolas deliberately smoothed out his features and worked up a slight smile.
"Better," crossing her arms over her chest she waited.
"Was there something you wanted Gia or did you just stop me to stare again?" He prompted after another moment.
The urge to smile came over her and Gia deliberately buried it. A smile didn't fit her image but a smirk would, so that's what she did. "Don't flatter yourself."
"Alright I won't. I'll just leave," he replied easily and turned away.
"Wait." Gia snapped immediately and took a step after him, he really had to quit walking out on her. She'd fought long and hard with her conscience for hours over whether or not she should tell someone about Zander. Her earlier attempt had ended in failure so she was about to let it slide, but in the end, couldn't. It wasn't in her personality to voluntarily give information yet at the same time it wasn't in her to let someone get hurt if she could help it either. Besides if Zander did do something to Elizabeth, she knew somehow, someway the blame would fall squarely on her.
"Gia?"
"I saw Zander today." She blurted it out before she could change her mind yet again.
Instantly concerned Nikolas moved closer. "Are you okay? He didn't hurt you did he?" His eyes raked over her, remembering her earlier confrontation with Zander on the docks.
Blinking in surprise at the genuine concern she saw in his face, she shook her head. He was concerned about her even though he really didn't like her. She didn't think men like him existed outside of fairy tales.
"What happened?" Nikolas asked.
Picking her words carefully Gia launched into the story she'd carefully prepared beforehand. She may be giving information but there were certain details that she had no intention of telling anyone. "I ran into him on Charles Street. He started asking me a lot of questions."
Putting a hand on her back Nikolas led her to one of the small tables and pulled out a chair for her before sitting across from her. "Questions about what?"
"Elizabeth mainly. Our cop killer seems to have a healthy fascination for the waitress, no accounting for taste," she muttered under her breath causing his eyes to narrow in warning.
"Did he seem suspicious of her?"
"No, he's interested in her, as in wanting to date her." She rolled her eyes in spite of the warning. "Whatever it is about her, she's snared another one with it. What is it about her? Is it the grease smell of the diner?"
"Gia," his sharp voice cut her off. "Did he do or say anything else?"
"Not really. I ran into him and he pumped me for info about Elizabeth." Gia deliberately kept her eyes on his. "There is one other thing. While we were talking that guy no one wants me to meet went by us."
"Who?"
"Jason. Emily's scary brother," she explained. "He walked by us and Zander seemed to recognize him."
"Does he know Jason knows Elizabeth?" Nikolas asked quickly.
Gia never even hesitated, the lie rolled off her tongue with practiced ease. "I don't think so. He never mentioned Jason by name, I just saw the recognition on his face."
Nikolas was quiet while he pondered her words. He didn't like the fact that Zander liked Elizabeth. If they went through with Lucky's plan tomorrow night that little fact could hurt them. Elizabeth's plan, though a little scary, was starting to look more appealing to him.
"Earth to Nikolas," Gia snapped her fingers in front of his face to get his attention.
"Sorry." Manners had him apologizing quickly.
"I also found out where the rave is being held," Gia offered. "I told your creepy brother when I saw him."
"You saw Lucky? Where was he?"
"He's on the docks." Gia answered and when she saw his eyes shift in that direction she knew she was about to get ditched. Not wanting that to happen she got to her feet first. "So I came and told you and now I'm leaving this dreary place."
Rising automatically when she did Nikolas nodded. "Thanks for telling me."
"Yeah well I knew if I didn't somehow I'd get blamed if the waitress got hurt." She retorted sourly.
"Wait," he stopped her before she could move far and held out some money. "Take a cab home. It's too late for you to be walking alone or to be on the bus."
Caught off-guard once again by the unaccustomed manners and concern for her well being Gia was slow to take the money he offered.
"I'd take you home myself but I need to speak to Lucky." Nikolas explained before holding out another bill and this time she took it. "I'll be in touch about tomorrow."
"Alright." Out of sarcastic comments for the moment Gia merely smiled once in farewell.
Nikolas waited for her to leave the courtyard before heading for the docks. Lucky and him were long overdue for a talk.
~Studio~
Reacting before he even fully registered the gun in his face Jason ducked and brought his hand up slamming it hard against the hand holding the gun, altering its position and trying to force his assailant to drop the weapon entirely. His other hand automatically moved to the gun that should have been snug against his back and belatedly realized he had moved it to his ankle holster in anticipation of seeing Elizabeth. Changing his focus instantly he began moving again only to come to a halt when he recognized the person he was jousting with. "Francis?"
"Jason." Francis relaxed his now stinging grip on the gun and put it back in its holster. The adrenaline he always felt in the heat of battle was still with him and it took a moment longer for his nerves to settle. "I see you still have those catlike reflexes."
Shaking his head slightly Jason corrected his friend. "And you still keep a firm grip on the gun. I would have been dead," he announced taking the hand Francis had extended in welcome.
"Ah male bonding. Isn't that so sweet?" Elizabeth spoke from behind Francis and both men glared at her. "Am I allowed to come inside now?"
"It's your place," Jason informed her with a wry grin and moved out of the way.
Rolling her eyes Elizabeth thrust a dripping ice cream cone at Francis and bent over to pick up some of the mountains of piled laundry that was against the wall. She was very careful not to let her own ice cream cone drip on her now clean clothes.
Jason stepped out in the hall to help while Francis disappeared inside the studio with a basket of clothes. "Let me help."
"Thanks," Elizabeth made sure she grabbed the basket with her under things and led the way in the studio. "Just put it on the bed, I'll put them away later."
Nodding Jason did as he was ordered. Shifting to let Francis go by him to get more laundry his curiosity was aroused. What was Francis doing with Elizabeth? Setting down the basket on the now overflowing bed he turned in time to see Francis open a cabinet next to the sink and put the laundry detergent away. He opened another cabinet and tucked the fabric softener out of sight. The ease and familiarity in which Francis made the movements told Jason that it wasn't the first time that he'd done it.
Puzzled his focus shifted to Elizabeth who had just said something to Francis that he couldn't hear. The ease in which she was standing and her proximity to Francis spoke volumes to him. He didn't see any of the distance she normally put between herself and other men. Instead she seemed very comfortable with Francis. A strange and unfamiliar emotion settled in the pit of his stomach. Her tongue darted out to lick at her melting ice cream and another emotion gripped him lower than the previous one. He must have made some noise, because both Francis and Elizabeth turned to look at him.
Jason may not have known what the emotion was that was twisting his gut but Francis had no problem reading the mixture of anger and jealousy in his friend's eyes. Seeing it he deliberately shifted away from Elizabeth not wanting to give Jason even more of a wrong impression. Her words from the Laundromat came back to him and if he could he would have cursed. Judging from the way she was trying not to look at Jason, she hadn't been talking about Lucky at all. And judging from the way Jason was watching her she definitely wasn't misreading the signs, like she'd thought.
That mean the advice he'd given her wasn't the right advice. His advice had been meant for Lucky not Jason. Shit he'd messed up. Elizabeth broke the silence by taking a bite of her cone and the sound spurred him into speaking. "I didn't know you were back in town Jason."
"I got back a few days ago," Jason explained. "I heard you were on vacation."
"Yeah I just got back as well." Francis threw his cone away and went to the sink to wash his hands.
Jason was struck again at the familiarity Francis seemed to have about Elizabeth's studio when Francis opened a drawer and pulled out a clean towel.
"Did we have a meeting I forgot about?" Elizabeth asked Jason.
"Yeah we had a date."
Elizabeth's eyes went wide and she inhaled hard. Unfortunately for her she'd just taken a bite of her cone and immediately began coughing when it went down wrong. Her eyes were brilliant with unshed tears, and she had two very large and worried men crowding her when she finally got her breath back. "W-what?"
"We were going to talk about the car you wanted to buy," Jason explained.
Francis groaned and shook his head. "Tell me you didn't go back to Easy Al's. Elizabeth I told you the guy is nothing but a thief. Any car you get there is bound for Lemonville."
"Shut up Francis." Elizabeth ordered and bypassing the sink she chose instead to lick the dripping ice cream from her hand.
Jason's eyes couldn't help but follow every moment of her small pink tongue and the unaccustomed feeling turned into one he recognized as desire, as an oblivious Elizabeth continued her ministrations and moved to the couch.
Never being an oblivious person Francis cleared his throat and knew it was time to go. "I have to leave." He could see the desire on Jason's face, but more than that he could see the caring as well and that reassured him. But at the same time he could see the obliviousness on Elizabeth's face. She was right she didn't know how to read the signs, and unfortunately for her Jason didn't give out very many.
"No don't go." Elizabeth shot off the couch and closed the distance between them quickly. She didn't want to be alone with Jason, at least not yet. Not until she was sure she wouldn't make an idiot out of herself by making a pass at him or something. She kept replaying those kisses she'd caught him off-guard with last night and earlier in the day and was afraid she'd try for another one if she were left alone with him. And that could lead to rejection. She didn't deal very well with rejection.
"I promised Johnny I would meet up with him so I got to go." Francis' move to the door was stopped when a sticky hand clutched his arm. "Elizabeth."
"Stay," she hissed under her breath and pleaded with her eyes. "Please."
Francis pulled her loose and shook his head. "Forget what I told you earlier and talk to him."
"What did you tell her earlier?" Jason's question reminded them of his presence and her eyes filled in distress.
"Just some junk about when to add bleach, I remembered I was wrong," Francis gave a very lame excuse. "Remember what I said about not doing laundry by yourself at night anymore."
"I won't have to now that my laundry buddy is back," Elizabeth tried to grab his arm to force him to stay but he was too quick for her. Reluctantly she trailed him to the door. The temptation to grab a hold of him and not let him out of the apartment was strong. "Talk to you soon?"
"Yes." As if reading her thoughts he shot her a warning glare before focusing on Jason. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
Jason nodded in dismissal.
Stalling as long as she could she waited for Francis to turn the corner before slowly closing the door. The latch didn't catch right away and she pressed on it again until the door caught and then slowly turned around. Her eyes widened when she realized how close Jason had moved without her realizing it. "So what did you find out about my car?" She asked a little breathlessly.
"I don't want to talk about the car right now," Jason said softly before moving even closer.
Swallowing hard she did her best to keep her eyes on his face. "What do you want to talk about?"
Coming to a stop, inches away from her Jason reached out and touched her cheek. Drawing first one finger than another down the exquisite softness of her skin he brought his finger to the corner of her mouth, and touched the remnant of ice cream that was there.
"What kind of ice cream?" Not bothering to wait for her reply he brought his finger back to his mouth and licked it in experimentation.
Hypnotized by his movements her reply sounded like it was coming from a long way off. "Strawberry," she whispered. "I'd offer you some but it's all gone."
"Not quite," his voice was low and compelling, bringing his finger back to her mouth he rubbed lightly at the small spot of ice cream, but it had dried to her face.
His eyes met hers and she saw a gleam in them that she'd never seen before. And whatever it was caused the air to back up in her lungs. Surprising them both, he lowered his head his tongue flicked out cleaning off the spot of ice cream that remained on the corner of her mouth. Before she could fully comprehend what he had done he shifted his head, and his tongue swirled against the other side of her mouth.
"I always liked the taste of strawberry," he murmured huskily. The temptation to work his way over her lips until all trace of the ice cream was gone, was strong. And judging from the invitation he saw, in her half-closed eyes, she wouldn't stop him.
The muted ringing of his cellphone stopped him before he could decide and Jason didn't even bother to stop the curse as he reluctantly backed away. With an apologetic sigh he opened his phone and all but snarled in the receiver. "Yeah?"
~Pinecone Motel~
Shifting in her seat V Ardnowski tried in vain to find a comfortable position. The spring that she'd been meaning to get fixed, kept jutting out against her back and it made the idea of comfort laughable. It was times like this that she missed her police cruiser. As ugly as the car was it had provided lots of legroom, which came in handy during a stakeout.
Frowning at the gearbox in the floor she realized the one impulse buy that she'd ever allowed herself was going to have to be replaced. The emerald green Mazda Miata had been a fun car to tool around in, and it cornered like a dream, but it was not a car you wanted to spend hours of a time in. Regretfully she realized she was going to have to trade it in for something more practical.
Inhaling deeply she caught a whiff of new car smell and her frown deepened. The car was fun and she didn't want to give it up. But she knew she needed to be practical. Sometimes she hated being practical. Sniffing again, her nose wrinkled when she thought she caught a whiff of coffee. Not just any coffee, good coffee she could tell that much. Inhaling again she jolted in surprise when the passenger door opened and a long, lean body poured its way into the low bucket seat.
"What are you doing here?" V demanded.
"Entertaining my lover?" Jax offered with a wry grin.
"Jax I'm working here. You need to leave, now," she ordered.
Ignoring her order, Jax set one of the steaming cups of coffee on the dash and opened the other cup, inhaling the rich aroma with a deep sigh, he took a sip. From the corner of his eye he saw the way her eyes had locked on the coffee, and barely managed to swallow the grin. He'd learned early on in business that if you wanted to get anywhere with hostile takeovers you needed to know your opponent's weaknesses. Coffee, good coffee, happened to be V's. "What are we looking for?" He asked conversationally.
Trying to ignore the coffee, V strove to hang on to her anger. "We are not doing anything I am on a stakeout, and you are leaving."
"I always wondered where they came up with the name stakeout." Ignoring her groan he took another sip and deliberately sighed.
"I don't know where they got the name," she retorted automatically. Was that Irish Crème or Bavarian roast? Working for and being with Jax had one definite benefit, she was able to feed her need for good coffee, without breaking her budget.
Knowing he was winning he decided to play his ace. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a wrapped piece of candy, the wrapping was distinctive even in the dark interior of the car and he heard her inhale sharply when she placed it. He slowly unwrapped the Butterscotch Truffle, and heard her sigh. He was keeping the Australian company The Chocolate Boutique busy with his frequent orders of the Bonbonniere confectionary, in an attempt to make V happy. "So I ask again what are we looking for?" Jax asked.
No one could withstand the sight and smell of truffles and coffee. Giving in she snatched the truffle out of his hand before he could eat it and settled back in her seat. "The hotel manager remembers a lot more than he told the police. Like the fact Ted Wilson used to come here with a lot of different girls, and that he remembers seeing him the night Wilson disappeared." Stopping her story she sunk her teeth in the decadent chocolate and almost moaned.
He'd never been jealous of chocolate before he met her. Shaking the realization off he held out the extra cup of coffee to her. "He was here with a girl? That doesn't say much for his fiancée does it?"
"We don't know for sure what was going on," V reminded him tartly her defense of a fellow police officer was so ingrained it came out naturally even though she was no longer a cop.
"Right," not wanting to fight he focused on the motel again. "Anything else?"
"Several things. Another guy showed up a little after Wilson, and apparently he comes to this hotel a lot as well. Alejandro wasn't extremely happy but he finally told me that the other guy spent a long time talking to someone in a Caddy before they disappeared around back, near the room that Wilson always rented," she shot him a grin. "You'll never guess who drives a Caddy pretty much everywhere he goes."
"Somehow I bet you're not talking about Luke Spencer." Jax replied sourly.
"No this Caddy was black not pink. Black like the one Sorel drives." V's smile was a brilliant flash of light in the dark car. "You want to hear what else I found out? It's pretty interesting."
~Dock's~
"Hey Emily," Lucky greeted her at after a minute but kept his focus on Spoon Island.
Rocking on the balls of her feet Emily looked at the island as well. "So what's going on?"
Lucky shrugged. "I was just thinking."
"About what?" Emily asked. He didn't look upset so that either meant that he hadn't seen Nikolas yet or he'd forgotten about it. Neither option was very appealing.
"Everything," he slanted a grin in her direction, "and nothing."
"That's helpful," she answered with a grin of her own. It was rare she saw him in this sort of playful mood, he used to be like this all the time, but that was before the fire.
Feeling unusually free at the moment Lucky moved quickly and picked her up spinning her around in a wide circle.
Unprepared for the move Emily gripped his shoulders in alarm. "Lucky put me down."
"Nope." Eager to tease Lucky spun her again this time faster than before. Emily let out a little screech, which he interpreted as a laugh and spun again. When someone yelled his name from behind them he almost dropped her in surprise.
Emily's heart was pounding when her feet finally found the ground again and almost instantly she found Nikolas by her side, pulling her further away from Lucky.
"Are you okay? He didn't hurt you did he?" Nikolas' eyes raked over her looking for injury while he demanded an answer.
"I'm fine. He just startled me." Emily answer was weak because she was still a little out of breath.
"Of course I didn't hurt her," Lucky sniped. "Jeez what is your problem?"
"You've hurt her before," Nikolas informed his brother icily.
"I've never hurt Emily, I would never hurt her." Lucky retorted, his anger fading into shock when Nikolas merely pushed the sleeves of Emily's shirt up exposing a series of angry looking bruises on her arms. "What happened?"
"Do you not remember doing this to her yesterday?" Nikolas asked. He hadn't planned on confronting Lucky this way, but when he'd heard Emily's scream all plans fell by the wayside.
"Nikolas," Emily tried to pulled her sleeves down.
"I-I did that?" Lucky stuttered, reaching out he took her hand to study the bruising on her wrist.
"Yes you did. You also scared the hell out of her yesterday afternoon, and again last night." Nikolas coolly took Emily's hand away from Lucky and shifted so he was between her and his brother.
A part of Lucky recognized Nikolas protective stance and that part of him recoiled. "You think I'll hurt her again, don't you?"
"I don't know what you will do Lucky and it's painfully obvious that you don't know either. So until you get yourself under control again I don't want you alone with either Emily, Elizabeth, or Lulu."
"Nikolas," Emily cried out sharply in protest, the pain on Lucky's face getting to her.
"And," Nikolas arched a brow in her direction. "Emily has agreed not to be alone with you either," he saw her flush and lower her eyes and turned back to his brother. "You need help Lucky."
Shaking his head Lucky tried to block the words but they filtered though anyway, and try as he might he couldn't banish the image of the Emily's bruises from his mind. He couldn't have done that. He would never hurt her, yet he remembered her stark white face the day before, he remembered her yelp in fear and pain, and the memories began to scare him.
"Lucky you attacked her. And if you add that fact to your blackouts and there is obviously something very wrong with you." Nikolas pressed.
Stepping back as if he'd been punched Lucky shifted his accusing glare on Emily. "You told him. You broke your promise and told him."
"Don't yell at her," Nikolas ordered. "She told me because she realized that you needed more help than she could give you."
"I'm fine." Lucky snarled "I know what I'm doing, I just seemed to have trusted the wrong people." When he saw Emily flinch he smirked.
"So you meant to put bruises on Emily and almost rape her yesterday?" Nikolas asked bluntly.
"Nikolas!" Emily smacked his back trying to get him to shut up. "It wasn't that bad."
Nikolas ignored her protest, his face remained locked on his brother. At his words Lucky seemed to close himself off and a strange look crossed his face. It was a look Nikolas had never seen before, but one look in the vacant eyes told Nikolas he never wanted to see it again. For the first time he finally let himself consider the fact that there was something seriously wrong with his brother.
Even the sight of Emily's bruises, and hearing her story, hadn't caused him this much concern. A part of him had believed that Lucky couldn't have changed that much. But now faced with the walking proof of that change, reality crashed into him hard. Lucky was in need of serious help.
Lucky could see the confusion and uncertainty on their faces and a part of him wanted to reassure them. He wanted to tell him that he was fine. But another part of him was feeling so incredibly angry that all he wanted to do was lash out at both of them. Emily for telling his secrets, and Nikolas for confronting him.
But then there was the voice in his head again. It was a voice he could never identify, but one he could never ignore. And it was telling him that he was never, ever supposed to hurt Nikolas. The voice won out, as it always did, his anger drained, and his expression cleared. Now when he saw the concern on their faces he knew what to say. "I'm sorry I hurt you Emily. I'm even sorrier that I scared you," his words were sincere, as was the look on his face.
"Its okay I know you didn't mean it." Emily was always quick to forgive.
"Still it shouldn't have happened and I promise it won't happen again," Lucky continued.
Slightly unnerved at Lucky's sudden calmness Nikolas refused to let his guard down and instead kept the pressure up. "What about the blackouts? Like the one you just seemed to have?"
"I didn't have a blackout," Lucky corrected him. "I was just trying to find the words, not to mention come to grips with the fact that I'd hurt my oldest friend."
"You're lyin … oww." Nikolas turned to glare at Emily when she stomped hard on his foot.
"What Nikolas means to say is that we both think you need to see a professional so we can find out what is causing these memory lapses, and your anger." Emily interjected.
"My anger?"
"Yes your anger. You never used to go around starting fights, sure you'd hit me for no reason every now and then, but I tend to think that was because I was special. But as a rule you never used to attack people." Nikolas pointed out sarcastically and earned another stomp on his foot from Emily.
"No doctors." Lucky immediately shook his head. The idea of seeing a doctor was enough to make him upset again.
Deliberately shifting out of Emily's range Nikolas kept his tone reasonable hoping to get through to his brother. "Lucky it's obvious that something is wrong with you. If I were honest I'd have to admit that it's been obvious ever since you first returned to town. Whenever it started, the fact remains I can't keep ignoring it anymore. You haven't been acting like yourself and it's more than just the fact that you were locked up for months. At times you act like a different person, and that person isn't someone any of us wants to know."
"Why do you say that?" Lucky immediately went on the defensive. "Is it because I'm saying things that you don't want to hear? Or is it because I'm saying things the your too afraid to say yourself. Like the fact that you're in love with and want Elizabeth."
Emily held her breath watching Nikolas closely to see his reaction to Lucky's taunt but Nikolas' expression never changed.
"You just proved my point Lucky," Nikolas answered calmly. "You never used to be deliberately taunting like that and you would have never disrespected Elizabeth like that. Something is going on with you and I'm not going to ignore that fact any longer."
Not liking where the conversation was heading Helena Cassadine chose that moment to make her presence known. "Nikolas I thought I recognized the delightful sound of your voice."
Nikolas didn't even try to keep the anger from his face when he faced his Grandmother. "Believe it or not Helena I am glad to see you."
His words caught her by surprise but Helena was too seasoned to show it. "I am flattered that the Prince is happy to see me. What can I do for you?"
"I need you to do me a favor." Nikolas moved closer and lowered his voice so the others wouldn't hear.
"I would do anything for you. You should know that by now."
"Good then tell me what you and Faison did to my brother," he demanded.
"Why must you always view me with suspicious eyes?" Helena asked. "I have tried to give you what it is you want. I knew how terribly you missed your brother so when I discovered he was alive I did everything I could to return him to you. I asked nothing from you in return, but perhaps a smile. Instead I received nothing but suspicion and second guessing as to my true motives."
"Wrong Helena I've always watched you with suspicious eyes, my uncle taught me that," he corrected her smoothly.
"Isn't it a pity about Stefan?" Skillfully she changed the subject and noted the way Nikolas' eyes grew shadowed at the mention of Stefan's name. The sight of that pleased her. "If he would have turned those suspicious eyes, as you call them, on the real threat to his safety he might still be alive. But he was too blinded by his misbegotten love of Laura to realize that death was stalking him in the form of Luke Spencer. Or perhaps it was Laura, after all, who did him in."
"Neither my mother nor Luke killed my uncle, if he is in fact dead." Nikolas maintained some hope, and tried to swallow the grief and pain his uncle's disappearance caused. Instead he focused the conversation back on Lucky. "I want to thank you for proving my point about Lucky, Helena."
Confusion flittered briefly over Helena's features. "Whatever do you mean?"
"If Lucky were acting like himself he would have been all over you after those remarks about Laura and Luke. Even when they didn't get along he still defended his family, especially to you." He turned to look at a pale-faced Lucky who was quietly listening. "The fact he didn't proves that either you or Faison did something to him," he turned back to her again. "And I want to know what it was."
"Lucky don't you have something to say to that?" Helena focused on the boy. "Nikolas seems to think I'm somehow controlling you, or some such nonsense."
Her voice prodded Lucky out of his trance and he glared at Nikolas. "So because I've decided that I'm tired of being punished because of what my parents did to me and lied about in the past, and I've decided to shut them out of my life. And because I've decided that I'm not in love with Elizabeth anymore and that I think she might make you happy, and you make her happy, that means I've lost my mind?"
Refusing, for once, to be put off by the anger, Nikolas merely shook his head. "I didn't say you've lost your mind. I said you need some help. You're losing time Lucky. You're hurting people, you can't control your temper. Those are the reasons why you need help."
Shaking in anger and ignoring the voice that was screaming in his head, Lucky stalked over to Nikolas. "I think you're the one who needs help Nikolas. And since you seem to think I'm dangerous to be around I better leave."
"Lucky wait," Emily hurried after him only to jerk to a halt when faced with the cold expression in his eyes when he turned on her.
"I trusted you Emily," Lucky whispered harshly. "Out of everyone in my life I chose to trust you and you betrayed me. Nikolas may be right. I may have changed, but so have you and it's not for the better. You've turned into a true Quartermaine Emily. And we all know what kind of lying, manipulative, and untrustworthy people they are,"
"Lucky!" Nikolas cried sharply.
Ignoring him and ignoring the tears in Emily's eyes Lucky turned around and disappeared into the night gloom of the docks.
"Well that was most unpleasant." Helena commented with a sly smile. Her smile faltered when Nikolas focused on her again. The expression on his face was one she'd never seen him wear before. But it was one that she'd seen before from both Stavros and Mikkos. The sight of it now, although a little unnerving, thrilled her. Nikolas was becoming a true Cassadine.
"If I find out that you had something to do with what is wrong with Lucky." Nikolas broke off, uncomfortable with the revenge minded thoughts filling his mind. "Emily I'll take you home, it looks like a storm is coming.
Nodding slowly Emily wiped at the tears and moved quietly when Nikolas took her arm. Lucky had looked at her with such a look of betrayal in his eyes that she knew she'd never forget it. They left the docks quietly neither one sparing Helena so much as a glance.
The placid expression remained on Helena's face until she was sure that Nikolas was gone. This wasn't working out the way it was supposed too. It seemed she had killed Faison before the indoctrination of Lucky Spencer had been completed. She loathed being wrong and loathed failure even more. If things didn't pick up soon she may be forced to concede her Lucky plan. She didn't like that idea, and if she had to do that the punishment would be severe and widely felt.
Maybe another trip to Brazil and the Doctor who had provided the drugs was in order. Turning to go back to her yacht she lost her breath when she came face to face with Luke Spencer.
Blowing a perfect smoke ring in her face Luke studied his foe. "Now that was an interesting conversation. But you know what? I prefer intimate ones. Kind of like the one you and I are about to have." Moving quickly, like the crafty fox he was, he took her arm and dragged her into the shadows.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Any guesses on what happens next?