NOTE: Loke going to steal my brain. How cool. :o) I wanted to apologize for the lengthy update process, the muses weren't liking me and we had power outages – I lost a good chunk of a section and had to rewrite it. But I really appreciate all your reviews. I'm glad everyone liked the twist and I hope you all continue to enjoy the story. And, as always, breaks are gonna look like this -- !BREAK!

After two days of Quartermaine craziness, the hospital's second biggest patrons, had finally began to settle down. Edward had been the biggest problem, but Patrick learned that Luke's threat of hogtying and muzzling him had reigned the eldest Quartermaine in. At least for now. "Any nausea?" he asked Emily.

They had her up and walking a bit yesterday, but today they were going for distance, he hoped to cover the floor three times before returning her to her room. "Nope," she answered. "But this is more about my legs isn't?"

"Considering your medical history there was some concern," Patrick replied, "but so far you're looking good. And as an added bonus your butt is not hanging out this time," he cracked.

"Gee thanks Doc," she snickered. "Though I have a feeling people wouldn't mind if your butt was showing."

A grinned flashed across his face. "We wouldn't want to start a riot now would we?" he shot back. Patrick had to admit he liked the rapid fire banter he'd shared with Emily over the last few days. He'd gotten a glimpse of her spunk the night of their date and then again in the elevator, but not to this extent. He found her frankness refreshing.

"Riots," she chuckled. "Nice one Patrick. Your ego is astounding."

He shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? I'm very good at what I do, and I look good while doing it."

"Extremely good," she agreed and Patrick noticed that she sounded slightly out of breath. They'd finished the second lap and he knew she'd push herself through the third without complaint. "I think you need a rest," he said steering towards the nook on the floor where they kept visitor couches.

"I feel fine," Emily protested.

"Don't you know it's not polite to argue with your doctor? Besides you wouldn't want go messing up my good work now would you?"

"Well when you put it that way, I wouldn't want to ruin your record," she said lowering herself to the plush brown couch.

"Good. I have to run to the lab for some test results," Patrick told her. "I'll be back in ten minutes to walk you back."

"I have to say I'm enjoying the personal touch Doc."

"Who knew there was someone better then me at shameless flirting?" Patrick joked.

"Everyone needs a talent," she countered.

From across the floor Lorenzo heard the doctor escorting Emily laugh. He'd been hoping her accident would draw Skye out, but she hadn't come running home. So now that her sister was awake he prayed that Skye would contact Emily somehow. In some traceable fashion so that he could find her and his child. Thinking of his baby made him ache. It also infuriated him. How dare Skye keep him from their child?

He watched the doctor brush his hand along Emily's arm before he left her on the couch. She was finally alone. Lorenzo didn't expect to have another opportunity to approach her so he crossed the distance between them with quick, urgent steps.

Her head was back and her eyes closed when he reached her. Her long hair was up in a haphazard ponytail. She was dressed in gray sweats and Lorenzo couldn't picture Skye every looking that causal. Skye was always chic and luminescent. Though they were only sisters by choice and not blood, he had noted one similarity between the two women. A poise they both had that made everything they did seem graceful. Everything that was save leaving him. "Miss Quartermaine." His voice was rough with emotion as he broke her from her reverie.

Lorenzo noticed that she tensed at his greeting even as she opened her eyes. She smiled politely up at him. "Hello."

Her greeting puzzled him. He'd anticipated hostility. Perhaps even hatred but she sat there wary and expectant. "I wanted to speak to you about Skye," he informed her.

"Who?" she asked her dark eyes clouded with confusion.

Lorenzo felt his composure slipping. "Acting like you don't know your own sister won't stop me from looking for her. Or finding her," he warned. His words hung between them and before she could respond another voice filled the air.

"Get away from her," Elizabeth ordered harshly. Her instinct to protect her friend had her stepping between Emily and Alcazar.

"This is a private conversation," he enlightened her coolly.

"Emily doesn't know where Skye is – no one does because of you," Elizabeth pressed on.

"Ms. Spencer—"

She cut him off. "This is a hospital Alcazar. A place for people to get better. Not accosted. Emily is recovering from an accident and she doesn't need you pestering her with questions she can't answer. Now I suggest you leave before I call security."

Elizabeth felt the weight of his heated eyes. Anger and frustration came off the man in waves but she didn't waver. "This discussion isn't over," he cautioned before leaving them.

"That was … intense," Emily said as Elizabeth turned to face her. She knew the creamy face was suppose to be familiar to her. She'd overheard Jason speaking to her in the hospital corridor the other day. The brunette had wanted to know if he thought it would be a good time to approach her. Emily had been relieved that Jason advised her to wait. She had already had a arduous visit with Alan and Monica and she hadn't been ready to face another hopeful person.

"I know you probably don't like people telling you what to do, but Em you really need to stay clear of Alcazar. He's dangerous and if Jason found out that he was questioning you about Skye …" she trailed off and Emily got the message loud and clear. Jason didn't like Alcazar. Considering his need to protect her and the extremes she knew he was willing to go she figured that it was better that he didn't know anything about the encounter.

"All right. I'll steer clear of him in the future if you promise not to tell Jason about this."

"I don't know," Elizabeth replied worrying her lip. Jason would want to know – that look was written all over her face.

"He's kind of on a short fuse at the moment," Emily stated.

"Yeah he is," she concurred. He wouldn't like it when he found out and Elizabeth figured he would. But for now she believed as Emily did that it was for the best that he didn't know. "I won't tell him, but you really should let him know if Alcazar approaches you again."

"Deal," Emily agreed. "Even if I knew who this Skye person was," – Alcazar's comment about her own sister rang her in mind – "I wouldn't have told him. That guy was giving off serious creep vibes."

"The Quartermaines haven't mentioned Skye?" Elizabeth queried.

Emily took a moment to search through the few memories she had. "No I don't … Alan started to say something," she confided remembering yesterday's visit, "but Monica hushed him up. I thought they were talking weather and that she didn't want to bore me."

"I could—"

"Please don't," she interrupted. "I have more then enough people telling me about myself at the moment."

"Well," Elizabeth sighed. "The offer is there if you change your mind."

She started to turn away and Emily felt guilt shoot through her for her quick brush off. "Patrick mentioned that you two were the best of friends."

"Yeah we," she paused, "… sorry. I don't know whether or not to say are or were."

"Look, Elizabeth, you think you know me but you don't," Emily stated point blank. "I'm not Emily Quartermaine anymore. I'm not really anyone and I don't know you … … but I'm not apposed to knowing you. Patrick and Jason like you. So as long as you can accept that I can't be her – you know react like her or whatever, then maybe we could try and be friends."

Her offer made Elizabeth beamed, "I would really like that."

!BREAK!

"Carly," Jason sigh, his exasperation clear in his tone, "you can't help me with this." After barging into his penthouse she'd spent that last twenty minutes trying to badger him into talking.

"Of course I can," she countered. Her long blond hair swung as she stepped towards him. "Jase, I'm your best friend. And you've always been there for me when my life's been a mess. In shambles," she said dramatically. "Now it's my turn to be here for you."

"I appreciate that," he told her. "But there's a difference. You wanted to talk things over. I don't."

"Well just brooding alone isn't going to help you," Carly challenged. Frustration added an edge to her blue eyes. With her hands on her hips Jason knew there wouldn't be a chance of getting Carly to stop poking at him. There was only one choice really and that was to talk about his feelings; which was something he desperate to avoid.

"I can't change what happened," he said barely controlling his ire. "I can't undo my actions. Or anybody else's. I pushed Sam away. I hurt her and because of that she—" Jason choked on the words. It hurt just thinking about Sam with Ric and saying it was near impossible. "That can't be taken back."

"I know," Carly said. Her voice was filled compassion, but it did little to sooth him. "I know you hate what happened between them Jason. I hate it too, because it hurt you, and I don't like seeing you hurt. You're the best guy I know. You're MY guy and I want to see you happy. And I don't know why," she said with a shake of her head, "but Sam made you happy. You could have that back."

"No," he breathed out harshly. "I can't … I don't know how to forgive her that."

"If it been anyone else could you?" she prodded.

He took a deep breath while he considered. "Probably."

"Then don't let Ric win. You know that's what he wants. He wants to beat you, he always has," Carly reminded him. "Don't let him take away your happiness Jason."

Jason scrubbed his hand over his face. "It's more then that Carly. You know that. And, I can't focus on Sam right now. On fixing things. Emily needs me."

Carly raised her hands in aggravation. "I know you love sister, but Emily would want you to be happy. So if you want to help her be happy."

"How?" he asked in a near yell. "How can I be happy when I can't get past seeing Sam with Ric? How can I be happy when my sister," his voice cracked, "looks at me and sees a stranger."

Seeing his pain Carly reached out and embraced Jason. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she repeated holding him tight. "I know this hard for you," she said looking up into his stormy blue eyes. "I know it brings up bad memories for you."

"They're doing it again," he said sadly. "I know they're trying not too, but the Quartermaines are pushing her like they did me. Carly I ran and I'm just afraid that Emily might decided to run further then I did. I could lose her," he whispered his worst fear.

"You won't," she promised. "Jase she already feels comfortable around you, and trust me, I know what it is to be loved by you. No one would ever want to run from that. So you won't lose her."

"Maybe," Jason replied. "But she might not regain her memory Carly. I know how hard it is not to know anyone. To feel like you don't belong anywhere because people are expecting you to be someone else. The pressure of that, the frustration and anger. It's the worst feeling in the world and I never wanted Emily to experience that. She's been through enough. She shouldn't have to go through this."

"I know—" Carly stopped unsure what to say. How to make it better. "Didn't you tell me that Patrick said that there wasn't anything physical causing the amnesia? That means it may not be permanent like yours. She could remember," she offered hopefully.

"He did," Jason confirmed. "Once she's feeling up to it they're going to have Lainey talk to her, but right now she doesn't remember Carly. And I have to protect her – from the Quartermaines, from Nikolas, from everyone whose trying to force her into being the Emily they remember. I won't let her face this alone. She's my priority and I need you to respect that."

"I do," she assured him. "I really do Jase. I just worry that you'll be letting your chance at happiness slip by you while you do and I know that Emily, the old one and the new one, wouldn't want you to lose out because of her."

"If I keep my sister, I'm not losing out," he declared.

!BREAK!

Sitting on the bench in the locker room Patrick stared into his open locker. He hadn't had any surgeries today, but his shift had gone from good to feeling dire after visiting April. She was getting worse; deteriorating before his eyes. It hurt to see it, and her wondered how Robin could have dealt with watching someone she loved slowly slip away.

This is why he never got emotionally involved with patients. The risk were too great, but he hadn't been able to stop himself with April. Under normal circumstances she wasn't a person he ever would have met. If they'd bump into each on the street he wouldn't have given her a second glance.

But she had been brought to his ER and he'd been the doctor on call. – a doctor willing to take a chance on a risky surgery. Even now, worn out from the protocol and emotionally weary, Patrick didn't regret his decision. His job was to saves lives. And it didn't matter if people like Miss Sneed didn't see the value in the lives he saved. He took pride in every successfully surgery and did his best to learn from those he couldn't help.

He'd done it all from a distance before and that had made the job easier for him. Lately though, distance was something he was having trouble with and that concerned him. It was one thing to be a doctor, but to become emotionally attached to a patient was another. Then there was his counseling and consoling of Elizabeth. Being a buddy was one thing, but a reliable shoulder was another, but she wasn't the only woman he was doing that for either. There was Robin and Emily.

He was tangled up in their lives – in their problems – in a way that was new to him. In way he promised himself never to caught up in. But the part that troubled him the most was that he didn't seem to mind. God, I'm going soft, Patrick thought.

"Hey you feeling all right?" Robin asked as she entered the locker room.

Patrick blinked his muddled thoughts away and looked up at her. "Yeah," he answered. "Just tired."

"I know the feeling," Robin replied sinking down on the bench next to him. Rubbing her neck she informed him, "I just saw April. Her white count is getting low – too low, but her spirits are up."

"Thanks to you."

Robin smiled, "And you," she said looking over at him. "You've been really great with her Patrick. It's nice to see that you can have a bedside manner that doesn't involve your ego."

"Well that's a haphazard compliment if I've ever heard one," he remarked reaching into his locker for a clean shirt.

"It's just nice see and surprising considering," she teased. He knew she was referring to the God-complex she faced when they first met. When he pulled off his old shirt instead of commenting, she continued. "And, I think you're doing a great job with Emily as well. I know that can't be easy with the Quartermaines breathing down your neck."

"They have been an experience," he agreed tugging his NASCAR t-shirt over his head.

"It's just really hard on them. They've been through it before with Jason. I thought they'd learned from that, but," she sighed, "it doesn't appear that they have. They pushed Jason so hard to be the man he was before the accident that he …"

"Went in the complete opposite direction and became a gangster," he offered.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Jason's not a bad person."

"I didn't say he was," Patrick countered. "In fact, he's been the only person who hasn't pushed Emily. I might not like or approve of what he does, but I am able to respect him for that."

Robin nodded, pleased that they weren't going to have to rehash an old argument. "He's been there. I don't think anyone can understand how alone and confusing not knowing anyone, especially yourself, can be. And, I think it really helps that you didn't know Emily all that well before the accident. You can just accept and treat who she is now."

Patrick wanted to argue Robin's point. He had known Emily. They went on an eventful date. Hell Sonny Corinthos had threaten him because of that. Still after that night and until the night of the blackout they hadn't said more then a few hellos. But he had gotten to know Emily better then most people realized, he was just able to accept this new Emily because he had no expectations of her.

And to him she seemed similar – she was still honest, spunky, brave and intelligent. Not to mention a looker, which he shouldn't be thinking, Patrick chastised himself. "Does she really seem that different?"

"It's hard to say," Robin answered. "I've known Emily for a long time. I watched her go from gawky teen to an elegant woman, but I wasn't there for all of it either. When she was younger she was more out spoken like she is now. The things she said to and about Carly," she let out a wiry laugh.

"I bet you enjoyed that," he predicted.

"Oh, believe me I did," she confirmed with a grin. "But things changed after fire. When everyone thought that …" Robin trailed off. She wasn't sure how much Patrick knew and explaining a faked death and miraculous return wasn't something she felt up to at the moment. She wanted to finish thanking him for being such a support to April and Emily, and then go home to a quiet dinner and a glass of good red wine.

"Lucky was dead?" Patrick queried. When Robin nodded with surprise he explained that: "Elizabeth filled me in. It's hard to believe that people I know lived through something so sick and twisted. It's a like something out of a bad 80's thriller movie. Almost too ridiculous to believe."

"Tell me about it," Robin said thinking of her own mother and father's return from the dead. "The unbelievable seems to happen on a regular basis here. Anyway," she said shaking the thought from her head, "that's when Emily changed. When they all did really now that I think about it.."

"I would consider it a life changing event myself," Patrick remarked.

"Death always is," Robin stated. "And, this conversation is getting depressing. All I really wanted to say is that I think you're doing a great job with Emily. And with April. They're both really lucky to have you." What she left unsaid was that she also thought Patrick was lucky to have him. They were making him a better doctor and in turn a better person.

!BREAK!

"You were really great with boys," the man continued. Emily kept her arms crossed and her head down while he spoke. The man was Sonny Corinthos and he'd come to speak to her before. The only reason she hadn't kicked him out like she had Nikolas was because she knew he was a friend of Jason. She was trying really hard to give people who Jason and Patrick seemed to deem worthy the benefit of the doubt because they were the only basis she had. Most everyone else who knew her seemed ... off or pushy, if not down right deranged.

She hadn't regretted her attempt with Elizabeth this afternoon. They had chatted for a few more minutes before Patrick came to collect her and it had gone well. Her mistake was to think that it could happen twice in one day.

She should have told Sonny to go away when he knocked, politely, on her door and asked if he could sit with her. If he had barge in, as Nikolas had, she would have said no. But he had asked when so few people had. The polite thing do was agree to the visit. Emily wasn't sure where this ingrained sense of manners came from but she was silently cursing it now.

I don't want to hear who I was or what you expect me to be. Why can't you and everyone else but Jason get that? she wondered feeling her patience begin to snap.

Sonny was just like everyone else. Another person who loved and adored Emily Quartermaine, but unlike others they'd been intimately involved. She could understand the attraction, but from what information she'd gathered Sonny broke up with her. It could be considered sweet that he was attempting to stir something in her. Some emotion or memory – anything to connect her to her past.

But it wasn't. It felt like she was attending a lecture about herself and she had enough of that feeling thanks to Edward. At this very moment she didn't care about the past that she couldn't remember. She just wanted to left alone in the present, un-pressured to be herself, whoever that was.

Unable to take it anymore Emily finally cut him off. "Wait, just wait a minute," she seethed. "Back when I could remember you – when I was supposedly in love with you – you ended things. Right? At least that's what they tell me." He started to protest but she steamrolled over him. "You gave up the right to be concerned about me then," she pointed out, "and now that I can't remember anything you want to what?" Emily challenged. "Save me from myself? Thanks but no thanks. I might have listened to you then but I certainly have no interest in your opinion now."