What Happened to Forever?

Chapters 15-16

~*~Chapter 15~*~

Emily wakes up to the sound of her phone ringing. Annoyed at whoever is on the other line for interrupting the wonderful dream she was having about Nikolas, she answers angrily, "Hello!"

There's a chuckle on the other line before the caller speaks. "I guess you're not a morning person. Maybe I should call back later?"

Emily softens as she recognizes the voice. "Nikolas, hi. I'm sorry for snapping at you. I guess I'm just kind of cranky this morning."

"No problem. I was going to ask if you wanted to do something today, but if you're in a bad mood, then maybe it's not such a good idea..." he trails off.

"NO! I mean, I'm better now. Hearing your voice cheered me up." She winces at how corny that sounds. "I'd love to hang out with you today."

"Great. Why don't I pick you up at 11? That'll give me time to get everything ready."

Emily perks up at that comment. "Get ready? What do you have to get ready?"

"If I told you, then it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?" he teases.

Now she is really curious. "A surprise? Come on, give me a hint or something!"

He refuses to give any details, so she tries another angle. "Fine, you don't have to tell me. But at least tell me what the dress code will be. I don't want to wear something inappropriate!"

Nikolas laughs at her attempt to trick him. Unfortunately, he can't say no to her for too long, so he gives in and tells her to dress casual and comfortable. "Make sure you wear pants. But that's all I'm telling you!" They laugh, and say their good-byes.

After hanging up, Emily gets out of bed, stretches, then heads for her closet to pick out an outfit. She has a feeling that he has something really special planned, and she wants everything to be perfect. Realizing she only has two hours to get ready, she quickly heads off to the shower, humming to herself, her bad mood suddenly gone.

~*~

The doorbell rings downstairs and she glances at the clock over her vanity. '10:59. Well, no one can say he isn't punctual!' She takes a deep breath, glances back in the mirror one last time, and heads downstairs.

Nikolas is waiting in the foyer, chatting with Reginald, when Emily floats down the stairs. His breath catches when he sees her. 'Wow, she looks more beautiful every day!'

Emily smiles as she sees his eyes widen. She walks up to him and does a little twirl. "Is this okay? It's hard to get dressed when you don't know where you're going" she teases.

He finally finds his voice again. "Um, yeah. It's fine. You look...perfect." He blushes slightly when he realizes he just said that out loud, but Emily is too happy to notice. He holds his arm out for her to take, and they head out to his car.

Once they're on their way, she turns to him. "Okay, out with it. Where are you taking me?"

"I guess you're going to find out sooner or later...fine, we're going to Spoon Island." He turns to see her reaction. She looks confused.

"We're going to your house? That's the big surprise?"

"Now I never said that was the surprise. The surprise isn't the island itself, it's what's on the island. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll love it." 'At least, I hope she does' he thinks, starting to doubt himself.

They get off the launch, and he immediately covers her eyes. "Okay, you can't look yet. Just walk where I lead, okay?"

She's even more confused than ever, but she's so happy that he's touching her, even if it's only to keep her from seeing where they're going, that she doesn't care. "I'd follow you anywhere" she mutters.

"What was that?"

She hadn't meant to say that out loud. She tries quickly to cover it up. "Oh, I said I hope I don't trip."

"Don't worry, I wouldn't let you fall." Just then he stops and turns her to face him. He takes his hand away and beams at her, and she feels like she's going to melt. "We're here" he announces, before turning her around.

Emily gasps. It's the most wonderful thing she's ever seen. He has a huge picnic spread out in the middle of a beautiful garden overlooking the lake. She turns back to him, grinning. "Oh Nikolas. I never knew that there was anything this beautiful in Port Charles! I love it!" She hugs him excitedly before heading over to the blanket.

Mrs. Lansbury had made a gourmet feast for them, and Emily's stomach began to growl. "I'm starving!" she exclaims before seating herself on one side of the blanket.

Nikolas sits across from her. "I figured this would be nicer than Kelly's, and at least here no dogs can find us." He smiles, remembering how close they had come to kissing yesterday. They began to eat, talking about Emily's English project. Nikolas was explaining the finer points of Romeo & Juliet when Emily started to giggle. "What's so funny?"

"You have some mayonnaise on your chin." She reaches over and wipes it off with her thumb. As their skin makes contact, a small shock runs through them and they're momentarily paralyzed. They stay that way for what feels like an hour, although it's really only about 2 seconds, before Emily pulls her hand away. Nikolas reaches up with a napkin to rub his chin, his eyes never leaving hers. Their hearts are racing.

Emily clears her throat. "I'm sorry, you were saying?"

Nikolas is so flustered by what just happened, he has no idea what he had been talking about. "Hm?" is all he can say.

"Romeo & Juliet. Remember?" She smiles, noticing that he was as affected by her touch as she was.

He finally snaps out of it and they launch back into their discussion. When they're done eating, he stands up and offers his hand to help her up as well. She stands and brushes some crumbs off her pants. "Okay, now what?" she teases.

"You'll see." He leads her around the stables. He remembered that she once mentioned how she used to ride back in Arizona, and that she missed it. She squeals with delight when she sees where they are going.

He lets her ride Sheba and takes Stefan's horse. They have a wonderful time riding around the island, and he's surprised at how good she is. After a few hours of riding, they make their way back to the stables. He helps her dismount, smiling. "You're a good rider. I think Sheba really likes you." She stumbles as her foot gets caught in one of the stirrups, and she falls into his arms. She looks up at him, embarrassed. He just complimented her riding, and then she falls on her face trying to dismount! Her shame fades quickly when she notices how intently he's looking at her. Before she can think about how close they are, he's kissing her. It's electric. She kisses him back, sending chills down his spine. It's more amazing than either of them had dreamed. After a few minutes, they part, breathless.

Emily is the first to speak. "Um...thank you."

"For what?" he asks, confused, still reeling from the kiss, amazed that he had finally done it.

"For catching me. I would have landed on my face if you hadn't been there," she explains. For some reason, she can't stop grinning.

"Oh, well, you're welcome." He's suddenly tongue-tied around her and can't think of anything else to say. They walk back to the launch in silence, both thinking about the kiss they had just shared.

~*~Chapter 16~*~

***Luke's***

Luke is sitting at his desk, thinking about the previous day's events. He can't believe that there's a chance that Lucky is alive. He's angry at the thought that his family had been through all that grief for nothing, especially Laura, who had taken the news so hard.

After a few moments, his thoughts turn to Elizabeth. She is so devastated over Lucky's death. She had tried to show everybody that she was okay, but inside she was dying. She reminds him a lot of Laura, not just because of the way she handled her grief, but because of how strong, caring, loyal, stubborn, and thoughtful she was. She's definitely a Spencer. Seeing her in the cemetery last night almost broke him. He had wanted so badly to tell her that Lucky wasn't dead, but he knew he couldn't. He isn't even sure himself if he's alive. Deep down he knows the truth, but that alone isn't enough proof. Even once he has more concrete evidence, he has decided not to tell her, or Laura. What if something happens when they tried to rescue him? What if they never find him? It's best for everybody if only a few people know about this. Everyone is grieving enough already. If they all know he is alive, and then something happens, they'll have to go through the pain of losing him all over again. Luke wouldn't do that to his family.

There's a knock on the door. "Come in!" Luke shouts.

Felicia enters, grinning like a fool, and waves a file folder at him. "Got it!"

Luke smiles. "I'm impressed. How'd you manage to get it without Bubba getting suspicious?"

"Who says he isn't suspicious?" she teases. "Don't worry. He doesn't think anything too weird is going on. I just told him that you wanted to see them. For closure, you know?"

Luke goes over to his safe to get out his copy. "I love how your mind works darlin'. Now let's see what we have here." He retrieves a thick file labelled 'Cowboy' from his safe and closes the door, spinning the combination lock. He sits down at his desk and digs through the file for the medical papers. He looks them over for a minute before reaching for the file Felicia brought. She hold it out of his reach. "Uh-uh. Say please" she taunts. He shoots her an evil glare, and she decides this isn't the best time to tease him, so she relinquishes the folder.

"The moment of truth," he says, and opens the file.

It takes a few minutes for him to compare the two documents. For a moment he wishes Bobbie was there to help him decipher all the numbers and codes, but then realizes that it doesn't take a brain surgeon to see that the information in them are very different from each other, even if he has no idea what it means.

Felicia is watching him expectantly, waiting for some reaction. Finally, Luke lifts his head, tears in his eyes, and smiles. "It wasn't him. That wasn't my boy in there! Felicia, he's alive!" They both jumped up and hugged each other.

"Oh, Luke, that's wonderful!" When they stop hugging she gets serious again. "Now what do we do? We know he's alive, but how do we find him? He could be anywhere!"

Luke sits down again, thinking. He tells her about Sonny putting guards on the club and Helena, which reminds her of something. She reaches into her purse and pulls out an old photo of Faison from when he was masquerading as PK Sinclair. She hands it to Luke. His eyes grow wide when he sees it. "That's Krieg all right. His hair's a little longer now, but that's definitely him. Thanks, I'll make sure Sonny gets a copy of this. The sooner we find where this creep is hiding, the sooner we'll find Lucky." For the first time in a year, he was able to say Lucky's name without feeling sad. This time he only felt anger, mixed with a little hope.

"I'm going to tell Mac that Faison's in town. If you don't want me to, I won't mention Lucky, but I have to warn him. The Scorpios are to him what the Cassidines are to you. Faison could be planning something against him or me, and I need to make sure he's on guard. I hope that's okay." She looks at him, expecting him to get angry, but instead he nods.

"I understand that you need to protect your family. Just try to avoid mentioning Lucky. Tell him about the diamonds if you have to, I don't care. That should serve as a good enough excuse for him. I have a feeling that Faison has more up his sleeve. I still don't understand why he's going after me. The only explanation is that Helena is behind this somehow. Ever since she confronted Laura in the hospital that day, I've felt that she knows something we don't. Unfortunately, she knows I have people watching her, and always manages to throw them off. I need to find more information on what she's been up to." He thinks for a moment, then picks up the phone.

After a few rings, a woman answers. "Alexis Ashton"

He immediately switches to the tone of voice he reserves only for her. "Natasha, darlin', I've missed you. Where has Nedly been keeping you these days?" Alexis married Ned a few months ago, and Luke stall loves to tease her about him.

She groans. "Hello, Luke. What do you want?"

Luke acts hurt. "Now is that the way you treat all your friends, or just the ones with whom you've conspired to murder?"

He can almost hear her rolling her eyes on the other end. "Luke, I don't have time for your games. You obviously want something, so out with it."

"Fine, we'll play your way. I need to know what Mama Bat has been up to lately. I know you still keep an eye on her, seeing as how she still wants you dead and all. Can you help me out?" She can tell by the tone of his voice that something serious is going on.

"Well, I haven't heard anything lately. I guess she's keeping a low profile. May I ask what this is about?"

"I'd rather not say. Family stuff, you know. Do you have anything I can use against her if the need arises? I'll take whatever ya got, I'm not picky." He's almost pleading now, so she knows this is serious. She thinks for a moment then says that there is one thing, that she'll drop it off in a few hours.

"Great. Thanks a bunch. See you then!" He hangs up and winks at Felicia. "The old hag won't know what hit her."