What Happened to Forever?

Chapters 35-36

~*~Chapter 35~*~

Nikolas and Emily are walking along the docks. She can see that there's something on his mind, but she doesn't want to push him into telling her. She's been talking about her English project, which she had finally finished, but he doesn't seem to be hearing her.

"Nikolas? Did you hear me?" she asks, putting her hand on his shoulder to get his attention. He turns and looks at her.

"What? I'm sorry, I'm not being a very good listener today, am I?" he asks with a small smile.

"It's obvious that there's something on your mind. Do you want to talk about it? You know you can tell me anything, right?" She's starting to get worried now.

He decides that he has to tell her. He just hopes that she will understand. "Let's sit down," he suggests, leading her over to a bench.

'Uh-oh,' she thinks. 'This can't be good. He isn't breaking up with me already, is he?'

He clears his throat, trying to think of the best way to break the news to her. "All right, here goes. I've been trying to think of something really nice to do for your birthday, so I went to that little church in the woods. You know, Liz and Lucky's church?" She nods, smiling. She didn't realize he knew her birthday was coming up. "I thought that maybe if I sat there for a little while, some inspiration would come to me. I'm not really sure why I thought that, because it didn't really work. Anyway, when I got there, Liz was there, too. She was sleeping on one of the pews, and she seemed to be having a nice dream, so I just sat down, trying not to disturb her. Her dream must have taken a bad turn, because she started whimpering and stuff, so I went over to try and wake her up. She must have still been dreaming when she woke up, because she thought I was Lucky and....and she kissed me" He rushes to say the rest before she can get mad.. "I didn't kiss her back or anything, I swear. And once she realized that it was me, she got really embarrassed and started apologizing. I think it really freaked her out." He takes a deep breath, relieved to have gotten that off his chest, but afraid of what Emily's going to say. He's not prepared for how she reacts.

She starts laughing. Nikolas looks at her, really confused. "Why are you laughing?"

She waits until she catches her breath before speaking. "Because I can't believe you were so worried over something like that! Did you think I'd get mad?"

Nikolas shrugs, feeling kind of foolish now. She puts her hand on his cheek. "Oh, Nikolas, I don't care about that. She thought you were someone else, and as soon as she realized she was wrong, she stopped. Liz is still really grieving, and she does strange things sometimes. And you, I know you would never move in on her, even if I wasn't in the picture. You have too much respect for Lucky for that. If I haven't told you before, I think it's wonderful how you look after her. She's very lucky to have such a good friend in you. A girl could get jealous, you know?" she jokes.

Nikolas smiles. "You have nothing to be jealous of, Em. Liz is just my friend. I care deeply about her, true, but not in a romantic way. I want to protect her, you know, like Lucky did after she was raped. I want to make sure she knows that she isn't alone."

Emily nods, a tear falling down her cheek. He is so sweet. "I know. You are a wonderful, caring, compassionate friend. That's one of the things I love about you." She doesn't realize what she had said until she sees the look on his face. 'Oh my God, did I just say that?' she thinks, afraid that he's going to run away, screaming.

Tears spring up in his eyes. "Did...did you just say..."

She tries to talk her way out of it. "I...I didn't mean to....it just came out...I mean, I meant it, but..." she isn't able to finish her sentence because he's suddenly kissing her.

When he finally breaks away, he whispers, "I love you too, Emily."

Her face lights up. "You do? Oh, I love you so much! I was just afraid to tell you so soon. I was so worried just now that I scared you away..." He pulls her into a tight hug, reassuring her.

"I'm not going anywhere, Em. I love you, and I'm never going to leave you. You can count on that." He pulls back and looks into her eyes , reaching up to wipe away her tears. He leans down and kisses her again, losing himself in her. They stay like that for long time before finally breaking apart.

Nikolas chuckles, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. "As much as I love sitting here with you, I better get you back to the Q's before they send out the hounds. You were supposed to be home ten minutes ago."

Emily looks at her watch in shock. Had they really been here that long? "They're gonna kill me!" she exclaims, hurriedly standing up, pulling Nikolas up with her. They rush to the mansion, and he walks her to the door. Now that they're finally here, she doesn't want to go in. She looks up at him and smiles. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being you. For being honest with me about what happened with Liz. For loving me."

He kisses her softly and smiles. "You're welcome. Although, that last part is easy. Loving you is something I feel like I was born to do." She hugs him, and kisses him again quickly before retreating into the house.

~*~Chapter 36~*~

Felicia lets herself into Luke's office, knowing that he's waiting for her.

"Hey, partner!" he greets. "Are you ready to start scheming?" He rubs his hands together excitedly.

She laughs at his energy. "I'm always ready for that! Where is everybody else?" she asks, looking around the surprisingly empty room. She had assumed that everyone who knew about Lucky would be there to help with the plan.

"After what Natasha overheard at the Count's office, I figured that he was probably watching me, so it would be too obvious to have all of them here at once. Since you and I have been working together on the whole Lila and Edward thing for a year now, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for you to be here, right?"

She nods, confused. "That makes sense, but how are we going to come up with a plan if we can't talk to everyone else?"

Luke winks, his eyes twinkling like they do whenever he's up to something. "Conference call, my darlin'. My phone is safe from taps, and I check this office almost daily for bugs, so it's the safest way. I also know that Laura's phone is safe, from our Frank Smith days, and of course Sonny and Jason have theirs protected, too. The only worry I have is Alexis, since he would have no reason to tap my sister's phone. I'm assuming that having the threat of Helena over her head for so long, Natasha would have fixed her phone too. So, we should be safe from prying ears."

Felicia just shakes her head in amazement. He certainly had everything taken care of. She finds it amusing that most of his friends and acquaintances have one reason or another to have anti-tracking devices on their home telephones! 'I guess that's what happens when you're friends with the mob and former Cassidines!' she thinks.

Luke is setting up the call, and finally gets everyone on the line. After everyone greets each other, he gets down to business.

"Okay, here's where we stand. Faison expects me to be meeting him in six days. He plans on calling in 5 to tell me what his 'payment' will be, which we all know is most likely my son. Now, I'd like to be able to get him out of there before any of that is supposed to happen. I was hoping we could do this in 2 days. What do you guys think?"

Everyone murmurs that it's fine with them. "Great! The sooner I get my boy away from them, the better. Now, here's what I have figured out. Natasha and Barbara, I need you two at the hospital, to keep an eye on Count Vlad. We can't have him coming home early while we're there. Do whatever you have to, just keep him at GH. Natasha, the reason I want you there too, besides the 'ol 'two heads are better than one' routine, is that I know Ned will kill me if I get you directly involved. I still remember how he almost took off Jax's head for that whole Sahara Desert escapade."

Alexis chuckles. "Thanks, Luke. I appreciate the thought. I want to keep Helena and Stefan from suspecting me, too. I'll be glad to help Bobbie distract him."

"Okay, now for the rest of us. I'll go to Spook Island with Sonny, Jason, and some of their men. Laura and Felicia, you'll stay back on the shore and keep watch." Felicia starts to object, but Luke stops her. "Don't argue with me partner. I don't want Bubba on my back any more than Ned. You and Laura will have walkie-talkies so we can keep in contact. This way, if someone gets hurt and we need an ambulance or anything, you can call from shore." He doesn't have to say that by 'someone' he means Lucky - everyone knows what he means. "Plus, you can keep others from coming to the island. And Laura, if the Prince shows up, do whatever you have to, just keep him away. We don't need him mucking things up."

Laura smiles on her end of the phone. Even though he made sure to sound antagonistic towards Nikolas, she knows that he is actually trying to protect him. She never thought she'd see the day when Luke accepted her other son, but here it was. The Prince comment was a nice touch, though.

"Sonny and Jason, I'll need you to take care of the guards and watch the door when I go in. I'll take care of Faison and Helena, and then get Lucky. We'll figure out the specifics once we see how the place is set up."

The two men murmur their agreement.

Luke grins. "Well, that's the plan. You guys think it'll work?" They all agree, and he ends the call. He leans back in his chair and looks at Felicia. "Well? What are your thoughts on the whole thing?"

"I think you're a genius, as always. They won't know what hit them!" She gives him a quick hug and leaves, promising to be in touch soon.

He's thankful for her kind words, but knows that his plan is far from foolproof. After all, Faison and Helena are two of the deadliest people he could be going up against, and now he will be trying to defeat them both at once. He just hopes that Lucky is not harmed in the process. Even if he were to be killed, it would be worth it if it resulted in his son's safety.

'All right, Luke, stop thinking such dark thoughts. You're a Spencer, and Spencers always win!' He lights a cigar and sits back, running through his plan again.