Leyla pulled her soft terrycloth hoodie tighter around her slim body as she slipped out of Nadine's private room and headed down the hallway toward the private waiting room where the majority of her visitors were still waiting. It had been nearly twelve hours since Nadine had been brought into General Hospital and eight since she had gotten out of surgery. In that time, nearly everyone on the staff who worked with Nadine had been by to look in on the blonde nurse. Lucky, Lulu, Elizabeth, Alexis and Sam had also each stopped by to check on her and show their support for Nikolas. Every minute that someone wasn't by Nadine's side, Nikolas or Leyla insisted that at least one of them be in there with her. Neither of them could stand the idea of her being alone even for a moment. However, as the hours wore on, Patrick had finally put his foot down and insisted that her room be closed off from visitors for awhile. The staff needed time to attend to her and run a few tests, while Leyla and Nikolas just needed time to rest. Nikolas had started to argue at first until a patient Elizabeth had intervened.

She wasn't at all surprised to find Nikolas sitting in the middle of a row of people when she came back into the room. Flanked by his brother and Elizabeth on one side and Lulu and Alexis on the other, he was the appearance of polite listening. However, she could tell from the exhaustion in his coffee eyes that he wasn't really with them. His mind, much like his heart, lay in that room with Nadine. "Patrick is going in now to start administering some of the tests. He said that he would come down to talk to you as soon as he knows anything," she informed Nikolas softly. He nodded and smiled at her automatically, leaving her wondering if he had really heard her at all. "I'm going to run over to Nadine's apartment and pick up a few things that she might want when she wakes up. I could go out to Wyndamere to get anything for her or you that you'd like here."

"Thank you, we would both really appreciate that," Nikolas retorted as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. He had called to check on Spencer a few hours ago, and Norma had assured him that he was asleep and unaware of the night's events. "I will call out to the house to have Alfred gather a few things for you. Leyla, I appreciate everything that you have done for us tonight. I know that Nadine considers you to be like a sister to her. She would be glad that you've been here."

Nikolas watched as the Persian beauty walked out of the hospital like a determined woman on a mission. After a quick call to Wyndamere for Alfred to gather some of the things he would need at the hospital, he leaned back in his chair and allowed his eyes to drift shut for the first time in hours. His body was physically tired, but his mind wouldn't stop racing long enough to allow sleep to come. He didn't want to fall asleep anyways. He knew that as soon as he did, there was a chance that Nadine could wake up. It was a moment that he didn't want to miss. The only thing he had been praying for since he'd shown up at the hospital tonight was for her to open her sky blue eyes and look at him. He needed to see the same adoring gaze that he'd reveled in only a few weeks prior in Texas. He needed something good to take home to Spencer.

"Nik, it's obvious that you're not sleeping and likely won't be any time soon. What do you say that we go for a walk so that you can buy me a cup of coffee?" Lulu asked kindly. Her eyes shone with a yearning to help him, mirroring the way his mother used to look at him. Lucky had gone by Shadybrook to sign her out so that she could be at the hospital with them. She was far from perfect, but her mental health was improving. She told them that it helped her when she was able to help them. "We've been here for hours. I don't know about you, but I could use a change of scenery."

He didn't really feel like going anywhere, but he could sense that his sister needed to help him. She probably needed to get out of the waiting room, too. She had never been a big fan of hospitals and after being trapped in a facility for the last several weeks, she deserved to enjoy her limited freedom. "Sure, the caffeine would probably help my body catch up with my mind," he reasoned as he stood up from his chair and glanced at his brother. "You want to walk with us?"

Lucky looked over at Elizabeth questioningly. She nodded silently in return before shifting her attention back to the parenting magazine open on her lap. "Yeah, I could use a cup of coffee and the walk," he agreed. Lucky grabbed his phone and tucked into the pocket of his jeans. "Call us the minute Patrick gets up here if we're not back."

Elizabeth promised that she would before waving them off dismissively. Lulu slipped her arm through Nikolas' as they headed toward the solarium that overlooked the glittering lights of Port Charles. Nikolas had the addition built in Courtney's name shortly after she died. It was a place that he rarely visited anymore but knew would hold a meaning for Spencer someday. The three siblings sat down side by side on the couch. Their original destination might have been the hospital cafeteria, but Nikolas had led them here. Whenever things got too hard, he always looked toward the lights of the city for comfort. They were the one thing that had been the same since had lived here. He could see the Metrocourt standing out like a crown jewel as well as sweeping illumination of Spoon Island.

"There is something that I need to tell you both."

Lulu exchanged a worried look with Lucky. The two of them had been through everything together since the day that she was born. She could read his mind as easily as she could read Johnny's. Whatever was going on with Nikolas clearly concerned Lucky. Nikolas had lost so much, they all three had. It was a delicate balance every time someone new came into or left their lives. It was clear that this situation had quickly taken a toll on Nikolas. However, she noticed for the first time how tired Lucky was. "What is it, Nik?" she asked with concern. "You know that we're here."

"Before the accident happened tonight, I was going to ask Nadine to marry me," he confessed. He hadn't told anyone outright what his plans had been, but now that they had been delayed, he felt like talking to his family about it. "A year ago tonight, I asked Emily to marry me. Twelve months later, on the night I was going to propose to Nadine, she's lying unconscious in a hospital bed. Either fate has a very cruel sense of humor or the Cassadine curse is alive and well."

Reaching down for his hand, Lulu held her brother's gaze firmly. She had grown up in the shadow of the Spencer-Cassadine feud, the link that held the two families together after Nikolas had saved her life as a small child. No one had ever forgotten that she was the reason the truth had come out in the first place, leaving her feeling responsible in a strange way. "There is no such thing as a curse. Accidents happen all the time. You can't blame yourself for what happened tonight anymore than you can blame yourself for Emily's murder. Neither of them would want you to do that."

"How can I ask her to marry me when every woman that I love only ends up hurt?" he asked as tears started to well up in his eyes. Since the earliest days of his relationship with Nadine, Nikolas had constantly worried that something would happen to her because of him. Maybe it was a self-fulfilling prophesy, but he felt responsible. "I love Nadine as much as I ever loved Emily, only in a very different way. Emily suffered so much because of me. I don't want to see her suffer the same fate."

"Nikolas, nothing would ever hurt Nadine as much as not being with you. That girl is completely in love with you. We all loved Em, but we know that it wasn't your fault that she was killed. It's not fair to Nadine to keep her away just because she was in an accident. Car wrecks happen all the time. I'm a cop, trust me. The pavement was wet and the driving conditions were awful. I've worked a lot of accidents at the same spot this year alone. It's just something that happened. It's not a sign."

Nikolas shook his head adamantly. He believed in tradition, in curses, in signs. There was a certain danger that went with being associated with the Cassadine family. He had tried to get Nadine to see it but she had refused. She had loved him too much to believe what he knew to be true. "It's not an easy thing for me to need anyone," he sighed. "After Emily, I promised that I would never become that vulnerable again. I vowed to never give so much of my heart to anyone. I was doing just fine at that until I met Nadine. She was this force to be reckoned with. No matter how much I wanted to give up, she refused to let me. I didn't make the choice to fall in love with her, I just did it. I didn't want to but my heart didn't care."

Lulu leaned her head on his shoulder and squeezed his arm. She had felt much like Nikolas did for a long time after the abortion. Losing Dillon had been like losing a part of herself, even if he didn't die. She hadn't wanted to fall in love again, so she had chosen a safe relationship with Logan. Of course, that hadn't exactly ended up being safe, and before she knew it, she found herself in the arms of someone that she couldn't help but fall in love with. Some people said that was what had led her to go crazy, but she knew that loving Johnny was what kept her sane. Nikolas could have completely lost his mind after Emily died, but finding what he had found with Nadine had kept him grounded despite the tumor. "Nik, what can I do?"

Turning to his sister, Nikolas found the strength to really smile for the first time in hours. "Just being here helps, Lu," he proclaimed softly before looking over at his brother. "Really, thank both of you for being here through all of this. You have your own lives to worry about, so I just want to make sure you all know how much I appreciate your being here with me. I'm not sure that I could get through this without you."

"Sometimes the things we need the most are the needs that are hardest for us to accept," Lucky offered. "It's not like you to want us to put our lives on hold to help you. Maybe that's why it was so hard for you when you started to feel anything for Nadine. We've all three been there. Do you think I want to be in this same pattern with Elizabeth? Lulu knows how dangerous Johnny can be. You were set on living your life in the shadow of Emily's death. Each time, love didn't care what we wanted. It had its own plan. That's what we need to get all of this. No matter what is going on, love always prevails."

"Love never fails," Lulu recited knowingly. "Mom used to read those verses to me when I was a little girl. That chapter of Corinthians was her favorite. It tells all these virtues of love and about its unconditional qualities. I never really understood what that meant before now, you know? I thought I did because I saw how much my dad loved my mom, Lucky loved Elizabeth, you loved Emily. Feeling it for myself, though, it makes it real. It's there with Johnny and me just as much as it's still there between Lucky and Liz. You had that with Emily, and you have a different version of that with Nadine. You're lucky, Nikolas, you get to have more than one great love. So many people don't even get one."

"I am the oldest, shouldn't I be the wisest?" Nikolas chuckled as he looked between his two siblings. He had often been the one to dispense advice and be supportive to his younger brother and sister. However, on the rare occasion where he found himself needing the support, Lucky and Lulu had always shown up for him. They had been at his side in the wake of Emily's death a year ago, and tonight, they were there helping him hold onto Nadine. "You guys, I'm ready to go back. I need to see her."

The three siblings walked back quickly. Lulu and Lucky left Nikolas alone and returned to the waiting room while he headed for the ICU. He didn't even bother to check in at the nurses' desk as he slipped down the hallway for her room. Patrick was outside pouring over a clipboard. "I don't have any results yet."

"That's fine. That's not why I came down here. I just need to sit with her. I know that you said that she needs to rest, but Nadine would want me here. She'll be stronger with me by her side," Nikolas insisted evenly. They both knew that it wasn't really up for debate. Nikolas was going to in there to sit with her. Patrick finally nodded his permission before returning his attention to the charts. Nikolas came into the room that he had come to know all too well and pulled the door shut firmly behind him. "I just went for a long walk with Lucky and Lu. I started thinking about what happened a year ago and I got scared. I started to buy into all the melodrama that I fought so hard to get past. And then they reminded me why I wanted to get past that in the first place."

Nikolas slid his hand in Nadine's and held it against his beating heart. Her fingers were cool and lifeless in his hand, but he could still feel her presence somehow. "You were the reason, Nadine. Nothing can change that, not even the ghosts that still haunt me," he promised. "I wanted more for us than what I thought I could give you, and now that we're together, I know that I can give you that. I will give you that. We are going to get married when you wake up. I know that you can't answer me right now, but I guess that's okay because I already know you're answer. I know that this is what you want."

He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box and flipped it open. "This ring has been in my family for four generations. It's the one thing that I have from my mother's family that really means anything. Most of my things are just Cassadine relics, but this one was from Laura," he smiled as he lifted the ring out of the box. The soft lights from the dim overhead lamp caught the diamond and sent dancing fractures across the wall. He took her hand and slid the ring over her slender fingers carefully. "When you wake up, this is the first thing that I want you to see."