"You were the son I never had, Nikolas. The only child I could have ever truly wanted." Stefan gently rubbed his nephew's head. Nikolas was unconscious and, according to Emily, had been that way since arriving at the hospital. "I was unable to sit beside you during the ride, but I am here now. Know that I will not leave you, Nikolas."

Nothing that Nikolas suffered had ever been this painful for Stefan. The closest he could imagine was watching the agony when he donated bone marrow to Lesley Lu Spencer. At the time, however, there was something worthwhile in the endeavor. Though Stefan wasn't emotionally invested in the child's health, his lovely Lasha would be eased. Nikolas would be reunited with his mother. This, however—

There was nothing good that could come of this illness. There was no brighter lining to Nikolas's suffering. His life hung in the balance, and Stefan didn't know if Nikolas even realized that. Was his brain so incapacitated by this unknown virus that he didn't even know that he could die? That he didn't know that, should the worse happen, his uncle would be holding his hand to the end?

A rifling noise behind him made Stefan turn. He looked at Emily Bowen Quartermaine with a placid expression. The grief and fear that twisted his features while looking at Nikolas were replaced with straight, blank lines in the seconds that it took him to turn. Surviving Helena Cassadine gave one ample experience in controlling their emotions. Some things were not meant to be seen by others, and this was definitely one of those things.

Stefan had never approved of Nikolas's relationship with the young girl. There was no nobility to her birth. There was no finishing grace about her. While he had nothing personal against her, there was no place in the prince's life for someone who could never be a worthy bride.

Of course, Nikolas had argued that point with him before. Was Laura Spencer a woman of noble birth? Had Stefan cared that she wasn't descended from royalty when he fell in love with her? He had pined his life away for a woman who could never love him the way he deserved to be loved. Didn't Nikolas deserve to have that woman if she would let him?

He was too emotional. Stefan knew this would happen if he connected to closely with people in Port Charles. Had he not welcomed the interference of his brother and his friends, then he would see that despite the logic in his words, they didn't apply. Stefan wasn't the first son of the first son. He didn't have duties to attend. He didn't have expectations weighed on him. Nikolas, on the other hand, did.

She kept him preoccupied. More than once, Stefan was forced to step in to keep Cassadine Industries from going under. Too many times did Stefan have to tear Nikolas away from his precious Emily to handle his duties as the head of the Cassadine family. The only saving grace in any of these situations for Emily was that she had never argued. She allowed Nikolas to save his family, often encouraged him to handle business, told him that she could wait, because family seemed of some importance to her. It was the only thing that made Stefan tolerate her as opposed to actively trying to rid their family of her.

Though, currently, she seemed to be gaining another saving grace.

"He will probably not awaken for hours."

Emily shrugged. "Doesn't matter." She leaned against the wall and folded her arms. "I told him I wasn't going to leave him, and I'm not about to just because you're here."

This girl should have been afraid. Stefan had smelled the fear on her in the past, like a rancid stench floating off of her. But now, when he was at his most staunch and unrelenting, she would not back away. "This engagement can not go on."

"Excuse me?" Emily rolled her eyes and Stefan stifled the urge to inform her of the lack of grace in the action. It was an action that he had long ago broken Nikolas of, and had re-emerged when he decided to play the role of commoner. "You can't tell Nikolas who he can marry."

"I am his guardian."

"You were his guardian. Nikolas is of age now, Stefan." When had she begun to address him by his given name? He couldn't remember when Mr. Cassadine had become Stefan. "He can make his own decisions. I'm not all that bad, ya know." She stomped her foot, and again, Stefan wanted to give her lessons in etiquette and eloquence. "You just don't like me because I'm a Quartermaine."

"I don't approve of you because you are not right for my nephew."

"How am I not right? Because I'm not royalty? Well, there's not all that much of that left, ya know. And-- Don't I give enough of myself for him? Haven't I let him go and save his family at times when I needed him? Haven't I done my best not to interfere? Okay, so I've told him to do things that you didn't like, but—He's not a baby. He's a grown man, and he can make his own decisions. And I'm a grown woman and I can make my decisions. My decision is to stay with Nikolas until he doesn't have to be in this hospital, anymore."

Stefan started to speak, but she wasn't the one who held any weight here. If he could convince Nikolas to end this engagement, he wouldn't need to speak to Emily. Stefan turned back to his nephew and Nikolas was stirring. His head lolled from side to side and he grimaced in pain.

"Where are the imbeciles in this hospital who call themselves doctors?" Stefan leaned forward and put a hand to Nikolas's head. He lightly brushed the hair back from his forehead. Sweat made the lower layers cling to his skin, and Stefan had to pick each hair up individually to get it all out of his face. "All of this hair. You need a haircut."

Stefan shook his head and let out a heavy sigh. There was a towel beside the bed, and he picked it up. It was nearly dry, and he had to regrettably leave Nikolas's bedside to dampen the towel again. When he came back, Emily was in his chair. He looked down at her angrily and she just shrugged. She didn't even look at him. She just knew that he was there.

"I am not leaving him." She held on to Nikolas's hand tightly. She finally turned to Stefan as he began to walk around to the other side of the bed. "Would you leave him like this? Could you look at him like this and leave him?"

"The answer to that should be evident."

"Then you should know why I'm not leaving him, either." Emily sighed. "Just let me stay here with him. I don't know who else is sick. I don't know if my family is alright, and yeah, I should probably check on them. But, I always think about them. Right now, I'm selfish. I have to be with Nikolas. I have to be sure that he's okay, and unless something drastic happens, or security comes in and drags me out of here kicking and screaming, I can't leave him."

Her concern and fire were touching, as was her selflessness. She said that she was being selfish, but in the end, she was doing the same thing that Stefan was doing. She was exposing herself to a potentially deadly, unknown virus so that Nikolas might not be alone.

Stefan turned away from her and gently laid the towel against Nikolas's head. Already, he had bulled the hospital into getting Nikolas a room. In comparison, dampening is forehead was an easy feat to accomplish. A feat not so easy, however, would come when either Nikolas woke up, or Emily finally left the room to find out how many others were in the hospital, and just who they were.

Nikolas was sick. He was in pain. He could die. He needed no more burdens laid upon him, but Stefan knew that his nephew would take them on if he were to find out that his half-sister, Lesley Lu Spencer, had been the second person admitted with this virus.

Stefan shook his head and sighed. He knew that the Spencers would be the downfall of Nikolas. That Lesley Lu was the second admitted and her father, Luke, was the first identified case, Patient Zero, he believe he had been called-- The Spencers were pulling Nikolas down with them, and should his nephew die, Luke Spencer would find out that the Cassadine family truly never relinquished vendettas. They merely let them simmer and intensify.