With four simple words, Nikolas Cassadine felt his entire world stop spinning on its axis. He had been in this place too many times, listening to someone apologize to him when they showed up to deliver the bad news. He'd watched too many women slip through his fingers in his short lifetime, from his own mother that he barely had the chance to know to the mother of his own son to the love he'd believed would endure the rest of his life. Now, sitting in a stifling waiting room at General Hospital, he was listening to his brother and one of his closest friends search for the right words to tell him that he was losing someone again.

"No!" He wasn't sure where the protestation came from, but before he knew it, he was on his feet. He refused to accept what Elizabeth and Lucky were trying to tell him. He was not going to lose Nadine. She had forced him to stay here and be with his family when he wanted to leave. Now that the tables were turned, he was not about to lose her. She was going to get through this and be the wife and mother Nikolas and Spencer needed her to be. "I need to see her. Where is she at? Take me to see her now."

"Nikolas, you need to listen to me," Elizabeth said carefully, resting her hand on his shoulder. She looked down at him with the same concerned eyes as she had in the days following Emily's funeral. He hated that look because he knew what it represented – compassion, empathy and pity. He didn't need those things from her. He just needed answers. "I was trying to tell you that they took Nadine into surgery. I was apologizing because they couldn't tell me anything else."

Lucky stood beside his ex-wife holding her hand tightly while she delivered the news to his brother. He had never seen Nikolas look so completely broken and shattered. His heart went out to him. He had been in his brother's position, waiting in a hospital to hear word if the woman he loved was going to live or die. The memory of watching Elizabeth struggle with a recovery of her own made him reach out and pull her closer to him. She looked up at him startled but nestled her head against his shoulder for comfort.

Raking his fingers through his hair, Nikolas started to pace up and down the length of the small waiting room. He felt so restless. "I have to get out of here. I have my cell phone on me. Call me if there is any word," he called over his shoulder as he headed out of the room. He wasn't sure where he was going; he just knew that he couldn't do any good sitting in that room without Nadine. He needed to feel close to her. An idea popped into his head as he headed for the elevator. After a quick stop at the gift shop, he headed up to the pediatrics floor.

He remembered Nadine talking about one of her patients last week. It had been a particularly trying day for her at the hospital, and she had returned to Wyndamere emotionally spent. He had held her on the couch while she talked about the little girl who was fighting terminal brain cancer. She had wept openly as she told him stories about Haley's tenacity and bright smile. That was exactly where he needed to be right now. He knew that Nadine would like that this is where he was. It's something she would have done herself.

"Hello, Haley," Nikolas called from the open doorway of her joint room. The little girl looked up at him with a bright smile and waved her hand for him to come into the room. Her bald head was covered with a bright pink handkerchief to match her plaid pajamas. There were stuffed animals and balloons and homemade cards all over her small space. "I know that you don't know me, but I'm a friend of Nadine's. I thought I would come down and visit you."

"You're Prince Nikolas!" the little girl exclaimed suddenly. She would have recognized him anywhere with his coal black hair, glittering brown eyes and caramel skin. He looked just like the picture that Nadine kept tucked in her tote bag. She's showed it to her last week after they'd gone down for another scan. "Nadine told me all about you. She said that you have your own island and that you live in a big castle. You even have your own horses, right?"

Nikolas grinned at the little girl's energy, not believing that she could possibly be dying. "Yes, I have a full stable of horses. Nadine just helped me pick out a new pony for my son a few weeks ago. I'm still not sure what I am going to name it. Maybe you can help us pick something out," he offered to her. "She has black and white spots."

Haley tapped the side of her head in deep contemplation. "I think you should name her Mayflower," she decided. "That was always my favorite story when I still got to go to school. My dad promised me that when I got better I could get a dog and name her that. I don't think that's going to happen now, so maybe you could do it for me. I think Spencer would like that."

Apparently Nadine had told Haley a lot about their life together as she even knew the name of his little boy. "Mayflower is a wonderful name," he agreed. "So, I come bearing gifts. I remember Nadine telling me that you loved dogs, actually, so I thought that I would bring this by to you. I saw it, and it reminded me of you."

Taking the lavender gift bag from him, Haley smiled excitedly as she pulled the oversized stuffed dog out. The dog was soft and a golden yellow, much like the Labrador she had seen once in a book. "Thank you very much, Prince Nikolas," the girl said softly as she squeezed the dog. He only nodded and told her that there was more. Haley pushed away the tissue paper to reveal a pair of hardback books. "I have wanted to get some new books. They never put new material on the reading cart."

"Tell me about. When I was in here with my tumor this spring, Nadine was always trying to pass the same magazines and books off on me," he commiserated. "I used to bribe my brother and sister to sneak me in contraband."

Haley smiled knowingly before asking him the inevitable question. "You had a tumor too? Were you sick like me?" she asked him. "That must be how you met Nadine. That's kind of sweet when you think about it. The Prince met and fell in love with the nurse as she took care of him. That'd make a nice fairytale."

He had to agree, their story did have a ring of fate to it. She had come into his life at exactly the right time when he needed her. "I didn't have cancer, but I did have a brain tumor. I was ready to give up on treatment when Nadine reminded me that I had a lot to live for. She was the one who convinced me to have the surgery that I needed so that I could stay around and be a father to my son. If it wasn't for her, I don't think that I would be here today. She was my saving grace."

"Nadine has helped me a lot, too. I mean, my case is a little different. There isn't really much they can do to help me at this point, but she makes it better. She comes and sits with me every day, even if she isn't working. She's always bringing me little things or coming to tell me about something that you did for her," Haley told him. Wisdom shone in her baby blue eyes, showing that she knew much more than her ten years should have given her. "I guess I get to kind of live through her. I don't really have a lot of friends anymore since they quit visiting me. It's just my parents and me. She's been like my sister and my best friend wrapped up in one."

"Well, I can tell you from experience that she makes a pretty incredible best friend. I know that she thinks quite a bit of you, too. She is always talking about her favorite patient," Nikolas revealed. "Of course, you can't tell anyone that. She might get in trouble if Epiphany ever found out that she plays favorites!"

The little girl shivered at the thought of the wrath of Epiphany. The matronly nurse was forever getting after the nurses, must to the entertainment of the kids in pediatrics. They loved watched her fume, joking that steam sometimes actually came out of her ears. "Speaking of Nadine, where is she? I know she worked earlier, but she told me that she was going home to hang out with you and Spencer. If you're here, she must be around here somewhere."

Nikolas looked down at the floor, trying to decide whether he should tell Haley the truth or if he should keep it from her. She was mature enough to understand, but a part of him wanted to protect her like the little girl that she still very much was. Just as he was about to tell her about the accident, his cell phone rang from inside his pocket. "I'm sorry, will you excuse me?" he asked politely before slipping into the hallway. "Lucky, what is it?"

"You need to come back down here. Patrick just got out of surgery, and he won't tell us anything until you're present," Lucky told his brother. "He also won't let anyone see her until you come back either. You better hurry because Leyla is demanding to see her best friend."

"I'll be there in just a minute," he promised. Nikolas hung up the phone without saying goodbye to his brother. He stuck his head back into Haley's room. "That was my brother. I have to go take care of something important. I will come by later and visit some more."

"Thank you for my presents, Nikolas," she called out to him from her bed. She held the stuffed dog to her chest in a tight embrace. "Bring Nadine with you next time. I have to see the way you smile at her. She is always talking about it."

The little girl's unknown confession was enough to bring a smile to Nikolas' face. He had managed to temporarily forget anything bad for the few minutes that he was with her. He now could understand the magic that she had, something that Nadine spoke of frequently. She had told him that no matter how bad her day was, she only needed to spend a few minutes with Haley and everything suddenly got better. Whether it put her blessings in perspective or just brought a smile to her face, he didn't know. He just knew that there was a certain truth to Haley's so-called magic.

However, whatever happiness he had felt with Haley suddenly evaporated as he returned to the waiting room. A stoic Leyla sat frozen in the corner, her eyes lowered as she stared at her tennis shoes. Lucky and Elizabeth were speaking quietly to Robin Scorpio and Patrick Drake in the corner. Nikolas caught his brother's eye as he came into the room. Before he came over to join the group, Nikolas went over to Leyla and knelt down at her side. "Leyla, can you come over and listen to Patrick with me? I don't know this medical stuff as well as you, and I know that Nadine would want you to know what is going on," he asked softly. "Afterwards, we'll go in and see her. She's going to get through this."

Leyla looked at the Cassadine prince gratefully, accepting the hand that he was holding out to her. She had never doubted why her best friend had fallen in love with the man, but for the first time, she fully understood and appreciated what a good man he truly was. The two made their way over to the group, which immediately stopped talking when Nikolas cleared his throat. "Please, just tell me the truth."

Robin exchanged a worried look with Patrick before turning back to her friend. "I'm not going to lie to you, Nikolas. The surgery went as well as it could have, but Nadine is still in a very touch-and-go situation. She lost a lot of blood in a very short time. One of her lungs collapsed and had to be repaired. Her heart stopped for several seconds, but we were able to stabilize her. She still hasn't regain consciousness. The next 24 hours will be very crucial. We should know a lot more when she wakes up."

Nikolas covered his face with his hands and sighed deeply. "Is she breathing on her own?" he asked warily. "Was there any kind of paralysis or brain damage?"

"Nikolas, we really won't know a lot of those things until she wakes up," Patrick reminded him. "For now, you should know that she is breathing without a respirator, which is a very good sign. We're administering pain medication so that she is comfortable and are monitoring all over vitals around the clock. Nadine is getting the best possible care."

"I want to see her."

"I figured you would," Robin nodded as she started to guide the foursome out of the room. Leyla and Nikolas led the way with Lucky and Elizabeth in toe. "She's still in ICU so she can only have one visitor at a time. Who wants to go in first?"

"You can go," Nikolas told Leyla politely, even though he was dying to see Nadine. He needed to sit beside her and hold her hand to see that she was fine, but the gentleman in him needed to remember his manners. Even in the midst of tragedy, his good upbringing still dictated putting others first. Stefan would have been proud.

"Absolutely not," Leyla protested as they arrived outside Nadine's room. "She might be my best friend, but she is in love with you. You're the first person she would want to see. I can wait my turn."

Nikolas smiled at her gratefully, "Thank you." He turned and looked through the glass window into her room. There were too many tubes and machines attached to her body. They had just been in this situation. It wasn't fair that this was happening to them again. They were just finding their life together, and now, it was possible that it could all be ripped out away from them. Shaking his head, he could almost hear her reminding him to be optimistic. He had to believe.

"Oh, baby," he breathed as he came to her side and reached for her hand. The constant beeping of her heart monitor was the only sound in the room. He looked down at the blonde angel, once again asking how this could be happening to them. He pulled the chair over to the edge of the bed and sat down, never letting go of her fingers. Just as he had sat with her weeks ago after the fire, Nikolas laid his head against her arm and listened to her breathe. "I shouldn't have called you. I am so sorry…"

Tears started to stream down his face as he held onto what little part of her he could touch. He wanted nothing more than to crawl up in the bed and hold her as he had been blessed to do every night since she had come home from this place. Even if he was in the same room with her, he couldn't imagine missing someone more. "There was something I was going to tell you tonight. I love you so much, you know," he confessed to the quiet room. He couldn't tell her tonight like he had wanted to, but she still needed to know. He had to believe that she could hear him on some level. "I was going to tell you that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I was going to ask you to consider adopting Spencer and being my wife. I want us to be a family, Nadine, do you hear me? Did you hear that? You have a family to come back to. You can't let us down now that you've finally given me the life I was meant to live."

He had hoped that his confession to her would be enough to wake her from her spell, much like a simple kiss had woken Sleeping Beauty. She was more beautiful than any fairytale princess he had ever seen, and like Haley had said, their love was one of storybooks. However, reality was still very much apart of their current situation, and Nadine wasn't going to just wake up because he had declared his intentions for their future together. The only thing he could do was sit at her side, hold her hand and keep saying his prayers. She was going to come back to him, and they were going to live the life together that they were meant to live.

Lucky and Elizabeth stood alone in the hallway, watching their closest friend hold onto a woman he clearly loved very much. The three of them shouldn't have to be there again. They shouldn't have to struggle with the thought of losing another of their own. Elizabeth looked up at Lucky with tears shining in her doe eyes. He wiped them away carefully with the pads of his thumb before leaning down to press his forehead to hers. "What are we doing?"

"I don't know," she confessed in a whisper. "All of the past, it just doesn't matter when it comes down to it, does it?"

"I love you, Elizabeth Spencer," he proclaimed softly, framing her beautiful face in his palms. "No matter what has happened or what will happen, nothing will ever change that. You are the great love of my life. I'm just sorry that it took this happening to remind me of that."

Elizabeth offered him only a soft smile as she slid her arms around his waist and allowed him to hold her. It felt safe to be in his arms again. "I love you, Lucky Spencer," she promised. "Nothing has ever changed that, and nothing ever will. It didn't take this happening to remind me of that. I've never forgotten it."

He laid a kiss atop her soft hair and held her tighter to him as he watched his brother over the top of her head. "She is going to make it, she has to," Lucky said sadly. "He won't lose her; we won't lose her. The four of us are going to raise our kids together. Emily sent her to us. She's not about to let anyone take her away."

The two of them held onto each other as they turned to look back at Nikolas sitting vigil at Nadine's side. They couldn't hear the words that he was saying, only that he was talking to her. Elizabeth felt her heart break as she watched him bring Nadine's lifeless hand up to his hands and brush a kiss over her fingertips. She could see the tears flowing unabashedly down his handsome face as Robin and Patrick reappeared in the hallway. Patrick slipped his arm around Robin's waist as the four of them watched the couple through the window. "He really loves her," Patrick mused softly.

"Yeah, he does," Robin agreed. She felt tears welling in her own eyes. It was usually easy to disconnect herself from a situation, but she couldn't do it when she watching two people she cared about immensely face something like this. "Nadine saved Nikolas' life when she cared about him enough to make him want to live. Let's just hope that his love can have the same magic."

Leyla had returned from calling Kelly and Lainey just as Robin had started talking. Her eyes were frozen on her best friend and the man who loved her. "Nadine just got everything that she wanted. There is no way she is going to give up a fight. Their love will get her through this. I know it will."

Inside the room, Nikolas couldn't hear any of his friends' conversations. He could only hear her voice in his head, imploring him to believe in their love and keep holding on. "I'm not letting go," he promised as he squeezed her hand. "I will not let you go."