"Okay, Doctor, you can go tend to the patient," One decided, yanking on her arm. "Lulu will assist." Emily shot a look at her the blonde as they were pulled toward the couch where Robin was still laying. She had been asleep for hours, her body completely spent from the exhaustion of undergoing first a gunshot and then an impromptu surgery. Laying her hand flat against the doctor's abdomen, Emily made a verbal note of her condition.
"How is she doing?" Lulu asked worriedly. She didn't know what the different terms Emily had spouted meant. Lulu only knew the fear in her voice and the worry in her usually gentle eyes.
Emily wiped an invisible line of sweat from her forehead absently. "I don't know what else to do," she admitted. "I'm still just an intern. I've never done anything like this before."
Lulu looked at the gunman posing as the leader. "We need to talk to Patrick again."
"And what will I get in return?" he asked cockily, pointing the gun at her and then Emily.
Forcing herself to remain calm and not lash out, Lulu shrugged. She didn't have any idea of what else to offer him. "What do you want?"
"What do I want?" he repeated, pacing behind the length of the couch where she was laying. "I think that I have everything I want."
Finally, Lulu didn't know what else to do but beg. "Please, you've come this far without actually killing anyone. Just let us call Patrick."
One stared at her, hardness and anger in his eyes. Inside, he was surprised to feel a pang of human kindness for the blonde. She had fought so hard for everyone, claiming self righteousness for the pregnant nurse, dark prince and dying doctor. "Fine, you get five minutes. If you talk a second longer, I'll shoot one of you."
Emily looked at Lulu questioningly, who nodded her approval. "Thank you," Emily muttered as she shifted the compression from her hands to Lulu's. She took the cordless phone from the gunman and waited for someone to answer on the other end of the line. When Lucky's thick voice filled her eardrum, Emily nearly started to cry again. "Lucky."
"Em," he breathed, relieved to know that she was still okay.
"I can't talk," she noted quickly. "Please put Patrick on."
"Okay," he agreed, muffling the mouthpiece while he yelled for the doctor. As he watched Patrick make his way over, he asked Emily the only thing he could. "Are you okay?"
Closing her eyes, Emily wished she could tell him yes with confidence, but her normally cool façade had long faded. "I'm doing what I can."
"Just keep it up, Em," Lucky murmured before handing the phone to Patrick. "I'm so proud of you."
His comment was enough to set a single tear free before Patrick came onto the line. "Emily, how's she doing?"
"There's still internal bleeding," Emily explained. "She's been out for awhile."
"What are her vitals?"
Emily answered, noting that she wasn't completely sure given her equipment. Patrick gave her a few directions, having her check a few things the old fashioned way. By the time she was finished, Lulu had signaled that they had one minute. Robin shifted beside her, her heavy eyes fluttering open. "Is that Patrick?" she managed.
Emily nodded her head and brought the phone receiver by Robin's lips. "You only have a few seconds," she warned.
"Patrick?" Robin ventured weakly.
"How are you feeling?"
"Oh, you know," she brushed him off. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. I shouldn't have fought with you. And I love you."
"I love you, too," was all he said before Emily's voice came back over the phone.
"We have to go," she said before turning off the phone with three seconds to spare. Handing it back to One, she returned to taking care of Robin, pressing the dark hair from her forehead and monitoring her breathing.
"Very good," One declared as he took the phone and set it on the desk. "Since you did as I asked, I will allow someone to go in and check on Baby's Breath."
"Elizabeth," Lulu realized aloud.
"That's right, Lulu, Elizabeth," he said cruelly. "I believe she is in there with Nikolas. Who knows, we might even have a baby by now?"
Outside, Patrick handed the phone back to Lansing and put his hands behind his head. Turning around in a circle, he wasn't sure if he felt like downing an entire bottle of tequila or putting his fist through a brick wall. He knew that he wouldn't be doing either. "Mac, I heard Robin. She's hanging in there," Patrick told the police chief. "Emily and Lulu are taking care of her."
"Well, at least he's letting Emily help," Mac said as he looked forlornly at the hotel. "Sorry, I have to go over logistics with Lansing. I'll get back to you if I hear anything."
Patrick nodded as the man left him alone. His place was soon replaced by Lucky. "How's Robin?" he asked worriedly. He really wanted to ask about Emily, but felt that he should at least as about the doctor's girlfriend first.
"She's strong," Patrick announced resolutely before turning to the cop. "And Emily is, too. She's doing okay, Spencer."
"This is a nightmare."
"Well, wake me when it's over," Patrick said dryly. "I never thought a day would come when you and I would agree on anything. Or that we would have to work on something like this together."
"Did you hear anything about Lulu?" Lucky asked, following Patrick's gaze to the front doors of the Metrocourt. "How's my little sister?"
"I could hear her talking to Emily," he offered. "She sounded okay."
"I'm just afraid that she's going to try to play the hero or try to fight," Lucky admitted. "There is too much Spencer in her veins. We never stay quiet. I've been trying to convince Dillon that she'll be okay, but I'm almost worried about her the most. I'd be devastated if any of them got hurt, but Lulu…she's my baby sister."
Patrick nodded to acknowledge the comment, not sure how to fill the empty, awkward pause. He was quickly reprieved as Dillon joined the duo. "Any word?"
Lucky quickly filled him in on the short conversation and then revealed that his father was already formulating a plan. "I'm going in with him."
Dillon and Patrick quickly exchanged looks. "Me too," they said in unison.
"No, it's too risky," Lucky insisted.
"The woman I love is inside," Patrick emphasized. "You are doing the same thing I am doing. I won't just sit out here helplessly while she drifts away. If there is even a chance I can save her, I have to take it."
Lucky nodded, knowing that the doctor was right. "Alright."
"What about me?" Dillon asked.
Lucky didn't want to add anyone else to the team. "I'm sorry, Dillon. You know that Dad's first priority is getting Lulu out of there."
"But if I go in, he can focus on getting Emily or Nikolas out," Dillon pointed out. "You're obviously going to go for Liz first, and Patrick is most worried about Robin."
Lucky was surprised that his first thought hadn't been of Elizabeth but of Emily. Suddenly, images of a few summers ago flashed in his brain. Their trip to the Caribbean when Nikolas had left with Courtney was still one of the best times of his entire life. "My first priority is the first person I can get out safely," Lucky recited, allowing his police instincts to kick in. "Dillon, it's just too risky."
"I've been on these adventures with your family before, Lucky," Dillon said. "I've spent the majority of the last two months helping your sister through another. It's my fault that she's in there, and I need to be the one to bring her out. I just need her." The desperation in Dillon's voice was enough to break anyone's heart. Lucky wondered briefly if the young man knew just how much he loved his little sister.
Nikolas looked at the clock in the corner of the room, mentally trying to figure out how long it had been since they had seen anyone else. Elizabeth was dozing now, going in and out of consciousness. Her cramps had subsided temporarily thanks to a gentle massage to her womb from Nikolas. He was willing to do pretty much anything he had to do to make this okay for her. As she stirred in her sleep, he pulled her closer to him for comfort. The honey scent of her hair filled his nose, giving him the only sense of familiarity in an otherwise alien situation.
"How are you feeling?" he murmured as she woke up.
"Okay for now," she said. "I was just dreaming about Cam."
"I've been thinking about Spencer all night."
"Nik, I have to ask you a question," she said softly. "I know that you'll tell me not to think about it, but just answer me. It'll make me feel better."
"Okay, go ahead," he permitted.
"What will happen to them if we don't make it out? Who will take care of Cam and Spencer?"
"We still have family out there," he reminded her. "Lucky and Audrey would make sure that Cameron had everything he needed, and Lucky would take care of Spencer, too. I'm sure that Alexis would help him with my son."
"I feel better knowing that at least Lucky's not in here," she admitted. "At least there is someone."
"I know," he replied as she started to cry softly into the soft material of his white button-up shirt.
"There is still so much I needed to tell Lucky. He still doesn't know that…"
"What?"
"The baby isn't his, Nikolas," she said softly, ashamedly. "It's Jason's."
"Elizabeth!"
"I know I should have told him," she lamented, "but I was afraid. I was scared that Lucky would go back to drugs or that Jason's lifestyle would put us in harm's way. It just seemed like the easiest option at the time, and once you get headed down that road, it's so hard to turn back."
Nikolas had been there and under normal circumstances would have laid into the petite brunette for such a vicious lie. But this wasn't normal and she wasn't just anyone. This was Elizabeth, the kindest soul he'd ever known.
"I was going to tell him," she continued. "And I promise that it will be one of the first things I do as soon as I get out of here, right after a trip to the hospital and hugging my son. Please don't be angry at me right now, I don't think I could take it."
"I'm not," he assured her, reaching for her with his free hand. Entwining their fingers, he held them up for her to inspect before laying a soft kiss on her knuckles. "This is going to be fine. We'll find a way to make it work."
"No one else knows, Nikolas. Not Emily, not Grams," she mumbled. "The only person who knows is my doctor."
"We'll figure it out somehow. Right now, we just need to focus on keeping you calm. Do you want me to tell you a story to keep your mind off things?"
Elizabeth nodded like a small child, "Please."
"Do you remember when Lucky caught us dancing at Kelly's all those years ago? He was so jealous that you were in my arms," Nikolas remembered.
"I remember telling him that there was no way you would ever look at me like you looked at Sarah," she said. "I was nothing special compared to my sister back in those days. She was the object of your affection and Lucky's."
"You've always been special, Elizabeth," he said. "You were beautiful in a completely different way, fiercely independent and determined to get what you wanted. You knew how to play the game better than any of us. You were the first to break the impenetrable friendship of Lucky and Emily and force yourself inside. Without that tenacity, the four of us might have never become friends."
"The Four Musketeers," she sighed. "You know, I always thought that Lucky had a thing for Emily. I kept waiting for the day when he would wake up and realize how amazing she was. I was so jealous of the way he admired her."
Nikolas traced her dainty wrist with his thumb, brushing it over her silky skin. "Emily has always had a special place for Lucky. A few summers ago, they were almost there, and I stopped it. They could have ended up together so easily when you were with Ric."
"Life would certainly be different if they had," Elizabeth decided. She peered up at Nikolas, a question pricking her brain. She was almost afraid to ask it. "Do you ever think how different things would have been if she ended up with Lucky, and I ended up with you?"
"I never could have handled you back then," Nikolas taunted before turning serious. "I admit, the thought has crossed my mind, but you know, life turns out how it's supposed to. I had to be with Emily to find Courtney. I had to be with Courtney to find Spencer."
"I know what you mean," she said. "Looking back, I hate the time that I spent with Ric because it's probably the worst time of my life. But I don't regret it because it led me to a night in bed with Zander. And that night brought Cam into my life, and nothing as good as ever happened to me since."
"I guess the same goes for Jason."
"Even if I didn't have this baby, I wouldn't regret that night. I needed that night to put Jason behind me for good," she acknowledged. "There aren't any more questions in my mind anymore. I know that I don't love him."
"So you love Lucky?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "I'm not in love with anyone except my children," she answered. "They're what I am choosing to live for, they're my family. Grams, Cam and this baby are all I have."
"That's not true," Nikolas insisted, turning to her. Raising her chin so that her eyes were staring into his, he did his best to remind her of what she had. "You have Emily and Lucky. And you have me."
"Nikolas, I'm scared," she whimpered, admitting the fear fully for the first time. She wasn't sure if she meant that she was scared of the situation outside or the one obviously going on inside the room. Ether way, the fear was very real.