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On the following Monday afternoon-

EMILY walked into the mansion after work and saw Dillon and Alice in the living room.

Alice whispered, "He was here again."

"Who?" asked Emily, whispering.

"Thatcutegangster guy from the other night," Alice said "Luckily your Grandfather was out."

"You have a real thing for bad boys, don't you?" Dillon asked

"No, of course not."

Dillon said, "Hmmm. Zander kidnaped you..."

"That was a misunderstanding."

"Nikolas comes from a clan who is bent on world domination."

"But he isn't like Helena or Stavros."

"And then there was Sonny." Alice added.

Dillon nodded. "Right, can't forget Mr. Scary Mobster Murderer. The Godfather of Port Chuckles. Need I say more? You would think there are no non criminal types around this town for you to date."

"Are there?" Alice asked

Emily looked at Alice. "Did Milo leave me a message?"

"A gift." Alice smiled. "It's in your room."

LAINEY listened to Max tell her about his deep and abiding love for Carly for 50 minutes. At the end of the hour she told him the same thing she told him every week, "You have to tell her how you feel or move on."

"Okay." Max said

"Okay?"

"I'll tell her this week."

He said this every week.

Lainey nodded, "You let me know how that goes at our next session."

"All right, doc." he said, happily, as if all his problems were now solved.

When he left, Lainey sighed. A smile curved her lips. Max was adorable but hopeless when it came to love.

Of course, Lainey didn't consider herself much better. Last night she had sat and held the note that came with the painting Ned sent her. It read

I loved spending time with you. I'll take my cue from you. So call if you want to gamble a little more...on the Haunted Star or on that four letter word it is too soon to mention. But I am thinking it.

Hope to hear from you,

Ned

She wanted to call. She wanted to see if he could make her smile again, make her forget to feel terrified of love and life and chances.

Lainey wanted to feel all she felt at the Charity Ball. She reached for the phone.

Her hand shook as she clutched it, then just as fast she let it drop. Images of the past flooded her mind, going back years, to when she felt out of control and broken over love.

Her hand went over her heart. This wasn't going to be as easy as she hoped.

LIZ was at her studio when there was a knock on the door. After asking who it was, she opened it.

"I came to see the artist at work," Pete said, he leaned against the door frame, giving her a lazy smile.

"Who told you about this place?" she asked, smiling despite herself.

"You did."

"Don't think so, Professor. Come on, fess up. I need to know which one of my friends to kill."

"Didn't you use to date a hitman? You really shouldn't throw around words like kill lightly. People might get the wrong idea."

He walked a past her into the room and she closed the door.

Liz said, "Oh you got all the dirt, I see. Hmm. Who could have told you? It wasn't Lulu. Who else do you know? Hmm. Patrick." Liz snapped her fingers. "You made your old college buddy pump Robin for information on me, didn't you?"

"He asked Kelly actually. I don't think Patrick and Robin are speaking much these days. I tried to warn him about relationships but he wouldn't listen."

"I wonder why."

"What does that mean?"

Their eyes met, the usual challenge there.

"Like you know anything about love." Liz said "Or women. If you did..."

His voice dropped. "What, Elizabeth?"

Her bit her lip, loving the sound of her name on his lips. Damn, this man is frustrating! she thought.

She told him, "Women aren't gerbils you can keep in a cage and take out to play with when the mood strikes. You have to be there through the worst of times, too. And don't run away."

"You talking about me or your hubby?"

"You don't know a thing about Lucky."

"I don't want to know a thing about him, either. I want to know you." He walked toward her easel. "What are you painting these days? Nude self portraits?"

"You wish," she smirked and hurried over to stop him from looking at it. "No free peeks. You want to see mine, show me yours."

He eyes met hers, a smile played on his lips, he said "Okay." and started to unbutton his shirt.

"Yeah, I meant that." She rolled her eyes. "Your novel, Peter. You want to see my painting then show me your novel. If it exists."

His mouth dropped. "Um... it's not ... really done yet..."

"Either is my painting."

"You think there is no novel, don't you?"

She crossed her arms over her chest, and raised an eyebrow.

"There is," he said. "It's just a rough draft right now though.."

"Sure, it is."

"You think I won't call your bluff? That I will be so scared to show you my work that I will just leave here and avoid you from now on, don't you?"

She shrugged. Then walked over to the door and opened it, "Come back when you are ready to show me your soul."

"You get ready to show me yours." He said and then left.

NIKOLAS was sitting behind his desk when Lucky walked in carrying Cameron.

"We are here for our play date." Lucky said

Nikolas was lost in thoughts of Kelly, reliving their kiss, and taking the moment further. He imagined pushing her gently into her apartment, their lips never parting, and using his foot to push the door closed behind them.

And the scene in his mind played like a movie, with a soundtrack surrounding them. "Sweet like candy to my soul. Sweet you rock and sweet you roll. Lost for you, I'm so lost for you. You come crash into me, and I come into you, I come into you. In a boys dream, in a boys dream..."(Dave Matthews band)

The room was dark and in that lack of light they could only feel each other, give to each other, discover and reveal, and never think... thinking was the last thing he allowed in that fantasy.

"Hel-lo? Nikolas." Lucky turned to Spencer, who was in a crib nearby. "Hey, kid, did you know your daddy is a drooling goofball?"

"Goofball," Cameron repeated

Nikolas snapped out of it, "I am not."

"Oh, back to earth, brother? Who had your mind otherwise occupied?"

"A business deal."

"Sure, sure. I drool over my work all the time."

Nikolas stood up and said, "I didn't expect you to be the one bringing Cameron over. Liz is letting you see him, alone, these days?"

"Yeah. Amazing, isn't it? I thought I lost her trust forever."

Nikolas smiled, happy for whatever small amount of progress they might be making.

"Don't get too excited." Lucky said "I heard she had a date last weekend."

"Yeah, a professor from PCU."

"How do you know? Did Emily tell you? Cruz mentioned seeing her at the ball but calmed up after I started grilling him."

Nikolas looked away, then walked over to the crib to pick up his son.

Lucky rolled his eyes, seeing he would be stonewalled this time too.

Nikolas said,"I was at the Ball myself. But not with Emily."

"Robin?"

"Why would you think she was my date?"

"I always thought there was something there..."

Nikolas remembered the way she tutored him as a teenager after he lost his voice due to a gunshot wound. She had been the sweetest woman he ever met, up to that point. But out of his league, even then. Though people thought of Nikolas as worldly, he thought of Robin as even more so. She seemed to understand the way of the world, even back then, much more than he did.

"I was with Kelly. Dr. Lee."

"Wow."

"Yeah, it was pretty... great."

"And was Emily there?" Lucky never stopped looking out for his best friend. And it was a delicate balance he had to strike between being Nikolas brother and Emily's oldest friend.

"She was." Nikolas looked at Spencer, thinking, as he often did, that Emily should have been the mother of his son. "And you will not believe with who. I barely restrained myself from going over there and telling that guy to back off."

"Not Sonny again?" Lucky's expression was horrified. He had held his breath the whole time Emily and the mob boss dated, just waiting for that phone call that said she was a the latest victim in the mob war.

"Close. His body guard. Mick or Mark or something."

"Max? Milo?"

"The younger one."

"Milo. Oh man. I should go talk to her." Lucky said

"She won't listen."

Lucky mouthed a curse word, knowing he couldn't say it aloud around the kids.

"That is exactly what I'm thinking." Nikolas said "But there is nothing to be done about it. She makes her own choices."

"You could tell her you still love her, that might change who she wants to be with."

Nikolas looked away. His eyes were dark when he said, "My love only hurt her. She can do better than a love like I gave her."

A moment passed. Then Lucky said, "So, Kelly has no chance than?"

"What do you mean?"

"With that sort of attitude you have."

"Kelly is not Emily. Things could be completely different with her. Unless, it is me. Unless I am..." Nikolas' voice trailed off.

"Don't say it. Don't let that grandmother of yours get in your head and convince you that you will never be happy!"

"I have no intention of doing that."

"I hope not." Lucky said

Nikolas pictured Kelly and the way she looked, her dark eyes softly gazing at him, when she whispered "Good night," on Saturday night. He wanted to see her again, to feel like their was still some chance left for him to fal lin love again.

EMILY walked into her bedroom and found a wrapped gift and an envelope sitting on her dresser. She opened the gift and saw it was a CD.

Inside the envelope was a note that read:

This song makes me think of you . You ever need another favor, you know who to call.

More than anything else, Emily, know I am your friend.

Milo

She was smiling when she played the CD and heard

Her face is a map of the world
is a map of the world


You can see she's a beautiful girl
She's a beautiful girl


And everything around her is a

silver pool of light


The people who surround her feel the benefit of it


It makes you calm
She holds you captivated in her palm

Suddenly I see
Suddenly I see


This is what I want to be!


Suddenly I seeSuddenly I see
Why the hell it means so much to me

Why the hell

it means so much

to me

KT Tunstall lyrics

NOTE- I have no idea how long this story will be. I haven't finished it yet. But I have a feeling it may be a really long one, since there are so many characters to contend with. Just wanted to warn you.

The next chapter has a Scrubs scene, a Liz and Pete scene, and reveals who won the Hottie Award.

Thanks for reading,

Sara

MERRY CHRISTMAS !