So this is just sheer self-gratuitous fun. I've gotten so tired of Emily taking Nik's abuse and begging for forgiveness. This is what I'd say to him if I were her. Maybe some of you agree?
Disclaimer: If I owned it, this would be happening on your TV set, not your computer.
The Right
As Emily listened to Nikolas rant at her, yet again, something finally snapped.
"- what gives you the right to make my decisions for me-" His voice was strident and accusatory.
"You did!" She interrupted him, and if his voice had been hot with temper, hers was icy cold. "Maybe you've lost sight of it, and I tried to make allowances for you, because you're in so much pain, but kiss my ass." He gaped at her. "You act so self-righteous, as if only you are having a hard time. My fiancZe, so far as I knew, was dead. And I find you again, and you look at me straight and have no idea who I am, and go on about your one true love. Someone I thought was my friend."
Nikolas tried to speak. But she wouldn't let him. "No! Shut up! You yell at me all the time. You say horrible things. So it's my turn. You ask what gives me the right? You do. Not the selfish, petty asshole you've become, but the man I loved. He trusted me, and believed in me, to put him first, to do the best I could by him, to love him, and do right by him. And by god I tried. Even when it tore me apart, I. Have. Done. The. Best. I. Can. So fuck you."
A flash of conscience weaved through his agony. "Look, Emily-" He reached out to her, but she batted his hand away.
"No! Go to hell!" He tried again, but she hit him full across the face. "No! You're going to make it better now?" Her voice rose, no longer cold, but now a little hysterical. "You call me a bitch, you say I manipulated you. That I'm no better than Mary? That I'm a spoiled brat? Well who are you now? Huh? You push your family away. You hurt them." Emily surrendered to the pain that had been a constant in her life since the night his car had gone off the road. "Who were you before? You act like you're mister pristine. You've lied too. You were spoiled once. You done things for love that put my efforts to shame. I've tried to give you the best of who you were, which was pretty damn great. But don't walk around thinking you're some paragon of virtue. You're no better than the rest of us. You're just the same. So if you can find your way around to," her voice dripped with sarcasm, "forgiving me, just keep that in mind."
He stood still on the deck, and watched as she stormed away.