They Came Back
Part Five
July 2015

"It was never a choice!" Nikolas yelled at Emily, as they stood on the bluffs. "It's always been you!"

He had invited her out there for a romantic surprise picnic but she was long past the point of caring- since he spent so long saying he couldn't leave Britt because she was fragile.

The girl had a breakdown just as soon as Emily got back to town. Plenty of people told Emily it was all an act, and maybe it was. Of course Nikolas had to see Britt through it.

Emily understood, but she couldn't pretend her heart hadn't broke to watch them together, and she couldn't pretend that she wanted to be at this picnic with him, either. Life was too short to live a lie.

"It's not you anymore, Nikolas, not for me."

He pulled her close. "Tell me that after I kiss you."

She let him kiss her one last time. "It's not you. I'm sorry."

Stunned, he let her go. "Who is it?"

She turned away.

"Oh no, Emily..." He knew. Of course, he knew. He had always known that if there was one guy who could take her away, that guy would be his own brother.

But Nikolas hadn't thought it would ever happen. Emily and him, they were forever, soulmates.

Only forever had ended in November of 2007. And now they were in the time after forever, where anything was possible.

He had dreamed she would come back to him, night after night for years after her death. Only the dreams never ended like this.

XXXXXXXXX

"You don't have to cook for me."

"I like cooking and you need to eat for the baby."

"Thank you, Jason."

"You're welcome, Georgie."

They made the meal together and sat down to eat, in his restaurant. Things between them were always so relaxed and easy. They came from different worlds but they shared something that had bonded them for life.

"Will you be the Godfather of my baby?"

"My life comes with too many threats-"

"I know but neither me or my baby want to live in a bubble of protection. We want to live...live the only life worth living...one with the people we care the most about."

He looked down. "I can't let you invest in me anymore than you have." Looking up his sad eyes met hers. "I was going to wait to tell you...after the baby came..."

"Tell me what? You don't want to be friends anymore?"

"I want out of the business but until I am...you should stay away."

"You made the choice to push Liz and Jake away, and you said you regretted that. Are you going to repeat the same mistake with me and my baby? I know we mean something to you, Jason, and you mean everything to us."

She got up and walked around the table, sitting on his lap. "Let us stay. It's my risk to take."

A risk she never would have imagined begging for years ago, but now she was a woman who grabbed onto everything she could to make life worth living because, all too often, it was short, brutal and painful, unless you fought with all you had to make it otherwise.

Jason was a good man that made her feel safe. She knew he'd do the same for her baby. He'd make them both happy. Without him- without the way he calmed her down when she was drifting back to that dark place of nothingness that Helena Cassadine had trapped them in- she'd sink back into that ugly, black hole that had almost swallowed her whole when she first came home. She finally understood why some women made the choices they did in life...it made sense, after everything else stopped making sense in the world, to choose love over anything and everything else.

Even safety.

"Jason, let us stay with you.' She leaned her forehead against his.

"I'm getting out, I promise."

"Good." Their lips met in their first kiss and it felt more right than anything else she had ever known.

XXXXXXXX

Jason couldn't believe he had let this happen- let himself fall for Georgie Jones. But when nothing else in his life had been going right, taking walks with her soothed his battered soul.

He knew he didn't deserve an angel like her. She was sweet, kind, giving, loyal and faithful to those she loved. And she loved him. She hadn't said it yet but he could see it every time she looked at him, feel it in every touch.

That is why he had to get out of the mob. This time for good. Whatever it took, by the time the baby came they would all be safe. He'd love them as long as God let him stay on this earth. Be as good to them as he could. And, maybe, just maybe he would be enough to keep Georgie happy.

She deserved to never lose that smile. Jason intended to make sure she didn't. She was putting all her faith in him, not asking him to change a thing, and he was going to change it all for her anyway.

For the life they could have together.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Emily," Lucky spoke to the computer screen.

"Where are you?"

It was the first time they had chatted on Skype since he left two months before. "I miss you."

"I miss you too, Lucky."

"Are you keeping busy?"

"The clinic is running me ragged but I love it. We're starting a program to get teenagers protection to cut down on unwanted pregnancies, and also we got a grant for mammograms so we can offer them free to low income women. I love seeing our work make a real difference in people's lives...I miss you. Did I already say that? And where are you? You never answered. Don't think that slipped by me."

He looked like he was in a car but she couldn't tell anything else.

He chuckled. "Come outside."

"Why?" Her face lit up when she realized what he was saying. "You're here?!"

Emily ran out of the door of her house and found Lucky leaning against his car. She threw herself in his arms.

He hugged her for a long minute. "It's good to be home."

She gave him a quick peck on the lips. His eyes went wide.

She giggled. "I swore to myself I would not let one minute go by without doing that the next time I saw you." She stepped back. "Awkward, huh?"

He pulled her into another kiss. "Awkward, my ass."

Their lips molded together. He threaded his fingers in her hair. She clung to him like a lifeline, which he was. He always had been.

Lucky had tried several times to take them from best friends to lovers but Emily always giggled and brushed him off. As they broke apart this time, she wasn't giggling anymore.

"Come in for a while?"

This time his answer was a smile, as he took her hand and they headed into the house, into a future that finally looked bright again.

He had searched the world for her, risked it all for the slightest chance she may survive and get her life back. There had never been a question, from the moment he saw the video that Helena sent him, what he would do.

He was always going to go find Emily and bring her home. Always. Or die trying.

THE END