Without a price

Chapter 8

When Emily got back it was late, late enough to know some of her neighbors would complain the morning. They probably all thought she went out and partied all the time and came home late. That was not the case though, not at all. It was just that her life was just that busy and complicated, so much so she did not even know if she could put it in words.

Normally she liked being this busy, but recently she has just saw all the life she once had slip away, piece by piece so that she was only an empty shell of herself, not really feeling alive. Not that that was new, she never has felt truly alive, it just never got this bad before. Her entire life was falling apart and she could do nothing about it. Tonight was just the breaking point.

Why did she always have to be the adult? For once couldn't she have been the ignorant one, the one who was weak? She was so sick of being the strong and responsible adult in these types of situations. She tried so hard but it was never enough, there was just one more thing to come and ruin her life. It was no secret that she had to grow up fast but if only she was not the person people came to for everything.

She knows that she could make a stand and say no, but somehow she feels like she owes it to them to say yes but she has by far made up for her debts by now. What did it matter now? Still, she knew what she had to do. She had to quit her job. She didn't want to, she really liked it and the leaders treated her so well but if she took anymore time off it would seem she would be taking advantage of them. That was the last thing she wanted to do, but when it came down to it if she was to ever get her life back on track she needed time.

Time to figure out her problems, do what needed to be done, get her life on track again. She only hoped that when that was done they would take her back but right now it was so hard to handle it on top of everything else. No one said being noble and right was easy and lacked consequences.

When Sam came back from her dentist appointment, she found out that she was right when she said that all Eleanor would do is sleep. The child liked sleeping so much it almost frightened Sam, but upon closer look, found it was common for babies less than three months to sleep most of the time. Nonetheless, she was so happy to see her child again, finding the parting harder than she thought.

Jason had to leave right after to fix a small shipment problem after Sam picked up Eleanor. With Sonny on vacation, Jason was the lead guy at the moment, making Sam wonder why Jason just did not quit being the hit man and become the partner only. It really was not any of her business though, so she just shook off the question and went on home.

When she got home she was excited to see that she had two messages waiting for her. The first was saying when the social worker would come and the second was a receptionist asking Sam to call to schedule an interview for a position she applied for. It did not pay much and was a temporary job, only lasting for three months while the pregnant woman was on maternity leave, but it was a job and certainly a start in making she look like a respectable parent. That was what was important and she could always look for other positions, more permanent during that duration. It would just have to hold her over for now, her and Eleanor that is.

In the future it would be different; she was sure of that when she looked down at her daughter fast asleep in her crib, always wiggling and waving her feet and hands as she slept. She knew that Eleanor deserved a father which she could wrap around her finger, and maybe she would get that someday, it was just right now she needed to be able to count on herself. It was said not to worry about tomorrow, to concentrate on the today and that was what she had been doing, but there had to be some changes if Eleanor was to stay.

That hope that she been missing before restored, Sam left her daughter to her privacy and made that appointment for the interview.

Jason got home late but for some reason found it unable to sleep so he flipped open the file he had been studying for a while now. He held hope that he was just overlooking something, that piece he so very much needed to make that connection his gut sensed before he knew it was there. Frustrated, he rubbed his eyes, and then glanced down to see a yellow piece of paper from the side of his vision. Curious, he grabbed it, not caring that he was messing up the sequence.

He looked at it, shocked that he could have missed it; for goodness sake it was yellow! That kind of made it stand out, or it should have at least. Shaking his head, he read it through, and satisfaction filled him as he found exactly what he was looking for and that was when it hit him. The last name, it seemed familiar to him but he couldn't place the name. It was at the tip of his tongue but didn't quite reach speaking level. Adelaide, the father's last name was Adelaide.

Even though he could not remember why the last name should mean anything to him, he knew it was the connection that he had been looking for, the clue to the solution of the puzzle he started. He would have to do further research on the family, maybe that will loosen his tongue and lead him to the name's significance. He only hoped he wouldn't uncover too much, because as far as this record knew, Eleanor's father was still alive and as such, had a credible guardian argument.

The next day, Lucky ran into Emily at the docks, quite literally. Emily was looking for something and took one step forward too much and collided with Lucky unknowingly, who had also been not looking where he walked, watching the dock water move in its serene way. They both ended falling on the dock's wood floor, with only their pride hurt. Lucky had wanted to see Emily that day to tell her about Elizabeth but that was not the way he exactly saw it happening.

Helping each other up, they cleaned off their pants, trying to get the dust and dirt off that they received from the ground. "You should really watch where you going Em, even if you are looking for something" Lucky commented, teasing her.

"I can say the same thing for you Spencer," Emily returned the comment, the tone just as teasing as Lucky's comment.

"True," Lucky agreed. "So what are you doing in Port Charles?" Emily did not usually come here, and if she did it was usually at night after she got off work.

"I'm doing a private assignment," Emily said vaguely, knowing Lucky would understand the need for silence and not ask any questions.

"And is searching for something on the ground part of that assignment?" Lucky asked curiously, not expecting any deep answer if it was, but he doubted it had something to do with it. He could not see an assignment that would designate such attempted discoveries.

"No, but I could have swore I saw something reflect the sunlight. Some type of jewelry or other metal object." Emily said, shrugging, figuring "I guess I was just seeing things".

"Apparently so," Lucky responded, then launched into the news he felt he needed to share, quite bluntly too. "Elizabeth is gone."

"Stayed longer than I thought she would have," Emily supposed, not really showing surprise, but then again that would surprise very few people in Port Charles. Most people would be like, "…again?"

"Yeah, I was surprised she was around as long as she was. For a second I actually thought she meant to fight for something and face her problems rather than from running from them. I guess I was wrong." Lucky admitted, too shrugging when he found he was incorrect.

"Yeah, well, Nikolas isn't any better." Emily mentioned by passing. Nikolas had gone back to Greece for "business" and had not come back, saying in the end that he missed the island. Both Emily and Lucky knew better than that though, knew he was just running from the fact he had lost his mother again, not really wanting to face that reality. This did not surprise them either.

"No, I guess not." Lucky nodded at her explanation for his brother's disappearance. "We don't seem to have much luck with families." He noted this observation based on his lack of family and Emily's apparent disinterest in it.

"A family is only a temporary solution to loneliness that falls apart when one person cannot handle what life has given them and brings down everybody else with them, alienating the ones who stay to fight." That had been Emily's opinion on the concept of family since even before Lucky knew her. He had thought she was always wrong and was being too cynical but now he actually had proof to admit that may just be true.

"Yeah, I know," Lucky just said, not wanting to agree or disagree with that statement just yet. "Then what is the use of families if they don't stick together?"

"As far as I can see, they don't have any. I thought they did at one point, but as usual I expect that people will actually face their problems without setting off a domino path that leads to destruction and I'm wrong every single time." Lucky acknowledged that was one good analogue to his present family situation but had to note the strong cynical attitude Emily had. He wondered what happened to make her more cynical than usual. Of course, Emily's cynical side has only appeared recently, the result of too much disappointment he always figured.

He opened his mouth to ask as her cell phone went off. Emily took it out of her pocket and glanced at the number and person calling, opened it and closed it, literally hanging up on the person. Shaking her head, she put it in her pocket, "it's not anyone who I want to talk to at the moment". Emily excused it on, but Lucky was not so sure about that, seeing it as one of her extra stubborn moments where she could keep grudges for weeks.

"You cannot keep a grudge against Monica and Alan that long Em" Lucky told her, believing that was the subject of her anger and impatience but would not be surprised if it turned out to be someone else. Not at this point.

"You have no idea how long of grudges I can hold if I want to," Emily replied, giving a bit of mystery in the air as her cell phone went off again. Emily gave in and answered it this time. Like he guessed, it was one of her parents, to whom she firmly addressed as "Dr. Quartermaine". Yeah, her anger was only growing if she went that far. He decided to stay out of it though and waited while she finished the conversation, which was pretty short.

Lucky decided not to broach the issue at this given moment, leaving that for another time. Besides, he had to head to work and Emily needed to get back to her assignment, whatever it was. They parted and they both went their separate ways, where Emily's phone went off again. Cursing the person, she answered it. Couldn't they get the message that she did not want to talk to them?

"Don't hang up," the other person on the line begged as soon as they were sure she was listening. She did it before.

"Give me one reason why I should give you the time of day" Emily demanded, angrily.

"I overreacted earlier, I know and I also know that I never did anything to earn your trust in the first place, it's just….I am…." The person paused in their response.

"You are what?" Emily asked, not in the mood for games.

"In big trouble."

Author's note: Long time no see huh? Sorry, I know I'm horrible on updating but I am down to 3 weeks including finals and then I'll be able to update again, probably sometime before Christmas. Now if only I can find some motivation to actually finish off this semester strong…