Emily let out a small cry of pain as the masked man held her down.
He slapped her hard across the face and said, "I told you, not a sound!"
She stared up at him with terror.

        AJ saw the masked man hit Emily and launched himself at the man
throwing him to the ground. Nikolas arrived just behind him, and went
quickly to his aid. Together they quickly subdued the attacker. "You hold
him," AJ said to Nikolas as he quickly went to Emily's side. "Em," he said
helping her to her feet and giving her a tight hug. "Are you okay?"

        "I think so," Emily said, still shaking with fear. "I don't know."

        "Well, we're getting you checked out anyway, no argument!" AJ said
determinedly. "The rest family should be on the other side..." He was cut
off by Nikolas gasp and horrified statement, "MR. MURTY!?!" They turned to
find that Nikolas had removed the attackers ski mask and was now staring in
amazed horror at a teacher that he had respected and even liked. This man
had attacked Emily and Lizzie, he didn't even want to think about what he
had done to Lizzie...and had tried to do to Emily. "HOW COULD YOU?!"
Nikolas said, his anger apparent in his voice.

        AJ couldn't believe it. "This is despicable! Your a teacher. People
trust you with their children!" He pulled out his cell phone and dialed
911. "Hello," he said to the person on the other end of the line. "I'd like
to report  an attack that occurred in the park...We have the attacker under
control...The victim is a young female...Yes, we'd like an ambulance."

        "AJ," Emily protested. "I don't need an ambulance."

        "Well, you're getting one," AJ said before he continued his
conversation. "We're in the park near the fountain...Yes we'll stay right
here...okay...thanks." He hung up the phone. "The police and the ambulance
are on their way." He lead Emily over to a bench while Nikolas kept a hold
on Mr. Murty.

        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Lucky quickly crept out of Justus' penthouse and was relieved that
Renaldo was still in with Jason. He walked quickly out of the building and
over to the car and was annoyed to find that Nikolas was no longer there.
He threw the file in the front seat. "Nikolas, where the heck are you?" he
thought to himself. Just then he saw the Q's limousine pull up and saw
Alan, Monica and Edward pile out. "I say, young man," Edward blustered.
"Have you seen Emily?"

        "No, not since this afternoon. Why?"

        "We had a fight and she ran out. We think she might have headed to
Jason's," Alan said.

        "Wait, she didn't go through the park did she?" Lucky said,
frightened for his best friends safety.

        "We think so. We sent AJ after her out foot and came around to
cut..." Monica stopped at the sound of sirens as two police cars and
ambulance pulled up in front of the park entrance. Taggert and Garcia
jumped out of one of the cars and raced into the park followed by two
uniformed cops and the paramedics.

        "Not again!" Lucky yelled as he ran after them, followed closely by
Alan and Monica. Edward stayed with Lila, too frightened to go see what had
happened to his granddaughter.

        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Nikolas was relieved to see the detectives and the cops show up and
he practically threw Mr. Murty at them. "Take him. I can't even stand to
touch him." He noticed Lucky show up close behind the cops, and knew what
he was going to do almost before Lucky did. He stepped up in time to grab
Lucky as he launched himself towards Murty. "YOU B*****D," he shouted,
struggling against Nikolas' hold. "I"M GONNA KILL YOU!" Garcia went quickly
over to Lucky and Nikolas, knowing full well that Lucky realized that this
was the same guy that had raped Liz.

        "Calm down, Lucky. He's going to get what he deserves now. Let the
courts handle it." Garcia said soothingly.

        "Courts!" Lucky said derisively, though he did relax some. "He'll
go away for what? Ten years? Fifteen? It's not nearly enough! Not after
what he did! He doesn't deserve to LIVE after what he did to Liz! He should
rot in hell! And I wanna be the one to send him there!"

        "Lucky," Nikolas said. "That won't help Liz or Emily. The last
thing that Liz needs is for you to be sent away. She needs you too much
right now. Let it go. Let the police handle it." Nikolas had said the one
thing guaranteed to get through to Lucky. He calmed down immediately.

        "Okay, you can let me go now." Lucky said calmly. "I'm fine. I
won't do anything stupid." Nikolas let him go and Lucky turned his back on
Murty with his fist's clenched.

        Alan and Monica had gone directly to Emily and AJ, who were sitting
together on the bench AJ was holding her close and Emily was leaning her
head against AJ's shoulder. The four of the had watched the exchange with
shock. When Lucky felt a little calmer, he and Nikolas headed over to the
bench where the paramedics were taking a look at Emily.

        "Hey, Em," Lucky said quietly, relieved to see that though scared,
she didn't look anything like Liz had when he had found her. He was still
worried though. Nikolas knew what he was thinking by the way that Lucky was
studying Emily.

        "Don't worry Lucky," he said. "AJ and I got to her in time. He
didn't have a chance to..." He cut off not really wanting to finish the
sentence. He was relieved to see Lucky relax even more.

        "Gosh, Em," Lucky said, tears filling his eyes as he dropped to his
knees in front of his best friend. "I don't know how I could have forgiven
myself if...I'm so sorry."

        "Lucky, did something like this happen to Liz?" Emily asked
tearfully, knowing the answer.

        "Something worse, Em, cause I got to her to late. He was gone and
she was...She was hurt really bad. I would have told you to be sure you
kept away, but she doesn't want anyone to know...He raped her, Em. He raped
her," Lucky couldn't control the tears. "I'm sorry, Em. I should have made
sure you stayed away. I..."

        "Lucky, it's not you're fault. You warned me, Nikolas warned me. If
I hadn't been so stupid..."

        "No, Emily!" Monica said. "It isn't your fault. It's his fault,"
she said glaring at the now handcuffed Mr. Murty. "You should be safe
walking through the park regardless of the hour." Monica's started to cry
at the thought of what Liz had gone through, WAS going through. The thought
that Emily had almost endured that...She didn't even want to think about
it. The paramedics finished their examination of Emily and said, "She looks
okay but we can take her to the hospital to be checked out if you want."

        "Yes," Alan said. "And please no arguments Emily," he said the fear
apparent in his eyes. "If not for you, for our peace of mind."

        "Okay," Emily said, knowing that her father needed to be sure that
she was alright. They all watched as Taggert read Murty his right's and led
him away.

        AJ helped Emily to her feet and Alan and Monica enveloped them both
in a hug. "Oh, Em, we're sorry about the fight. We'll discuss it calmly
tomorrow, and see if we can work something out." Alan said, willing to do
anything to keep his daughter safe. "Right now we're going to take you to
the hospital and get you checked out. Then we can go home."

        Garcia went over to them and said, "We're going to need statements
from Miss. Quartermaine, Mr. Quartermaine and Mr. Cassadine."

        "Can it wait until tomorrow?" Monica asked. "It's been kind of a
rough night for Emily."

        "Sure, she can give her's tomorrow, but if I could speak to you
gentlemen now," Garcia said looking at AJ and Nikolas in turn.

        "Sure." Nikolas said.

        "No problem," AJ said. The two of them started to walk away with
Garcia.

        "Detective, Garcia?" Lucky said.

        "Yes, Lucky?"

        "Can I call Liz? She's been so worried about this whole thing. She
sees him everywhere she goes. This might help, if she knows he's been
caught."

        "Yes, you can call her. We'll need her to do a voice line-up to be
sure that it's the same person. Does she know him?" Lucky nodded. "Then
don't tell her who it is. We want to be sure to do this by the book. See if
she can come to the station tomorrow. You can come with her is she wants."

        "Thank you," Lucky said. "I'll call her now." He walked over to the
Quartermaines. "Please don't tell anyone about Liz. I'll tell her that you
know, but she has to decide when anyone else knows. Please."

        "Of course, Lucky," Monica said. "It will stay between us."

        "Thank you," Lucky said..

        "Lucky?" Emily said, walking a little closer to him.

        "Yeah, Em?"

        "I want to be sure that you know that this isn't you're fault."
Lucky nodded. "And please tell Liz that...that I'd like to see her, to just
talk, you know, if she feels like it, that is."

        "I'll tell her," Lucky said.

        Emily leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Could you talk to
Jason? I don't know if they'll let me call him and I really want to see him
tomorrow. The fight was because they think he's to dangerous and if I can't
see him I want to tell him face to face. Could you ask him to come to my
house after the trial?" Lucky nodded and gave her a quick hug.

        "No problem," he said. The Quartermaines led Emily out of the park
to the limo where her grandparents were waiting. They were relieved to see
Emily looking well for the most part. They all got into the limo and went
to the hospital.

        Lucky got out his new cell phone and quickly called Liz. Audrey
answered and he quickly apologized. "It's Lucky. I'm sorry that it's so
late, but I felt that this was important enough for me to call. Can I talk
to Liz?"

        "Well, Lucky, it is very late. She's asleep."

        "Mrs. Hardy, they found him."

        "What!?"

        "He attacked Emily in the park tonight, but was caught by Nikolas
and AJ before he could do anything. Can I talk to her...Please?" he begged.

        "Okay Lucky," Audrey said. "I'll wake her. Just a moment." A few
minutes later Lizzie picked up the phone.

        "Lucky, is it true? They caught him? How's Emily?" She said.

        "Yeah, they got him. Emily's fine."

        "Who was it?" she asked. "Do I know him?"

        "I can't say,Liz," Lucky said. "They want you to come to the
station tomorrow to do a voice line-up. They want to be sure to do it by
the book, and if you know who was caught, it might color your judgment."

        "Okay," Liz said. "I can wait. Will you come with me?"

        "Of course," Lucky said. "I'll pick you up tomorrow, around ten?"

        "Yeah, thanks Lucky."

        "Liz?"

        "Yeah?"

        "I'm sorry, but Emily and the Q's, well, they know what happened to
you. I lost my temper and well, it just sorta came out. They promised not
to tell, and Emily wants to see you if you want. I know you're mad and you
have every right to be, but I am sorry."

        "It's okay, Lucky. I am a little mad, but I understand. We'll talk
about it tomorrow okay?"

        "Yeah. Well you should go back to bed. I'm sorry that I woke you,
but I thought you'd want to know right away."

        "You were right. Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Lucky."

        "Good night, Liz." He hung up the phone just as Nikolas came over
to him.

        "I'm done. Did you talk to Liz?"

        "Yeah, she took it okay, but I don't know how she's going to react
when she finds out who it was."

        They walk out of the park and headed for Lucky's car. "Oh," Lucky
said. "I told Emily that I'd talk to Jason. Let's go up now. Emily wants to
see him tomorrow."

        "Okay," Nikolas said. They walked into the building, and got into
the elevator.

        "Hey, Nikolas," Lucky said. "Thanks for holding me back. You're
right, no matter how good it would have felt to get in a few punches, it
wouldn't have helped anybody."

        "No problem," Nikolas said.

        ""Hey, why don't you crash at the cabin tonight. It'll be really
late by the time we get back."

        "Okay," Nikolas said. "I don't feel like going back to Wyndemere
tonight anyway."

        They got off the elevator and walked over to Renaldo. "Hey man,"
Renaldo said. "Didn't you just leave?"

        "Yeah, but this time I have to talk to Jason, and this time it's
urgent," Lucky said.

        Renaldo turned serious and knocked on the door. "Boss," he said.
"Lucky and Nikolas Cassadine are here to see you. Lucky says it's urgent."

        "Let them in," they heard Jason call from within. They entered the
penthouse. Jason was sitting at the desk and Carly was on the coach.

        "Hey, Lucky what is it?" Jason said, eying him and Nikolas with
curiosity.

        "I don't know how to say this man,...but Emily was in a fight with
her parents so she was headed over here. She went through the park,...and
she was attacked. She's okay. AJ and Nikolas got to her before he could
do...what he had planned. She asked me to come tell you, and to ask you to
go see her tomorrow, after the trial gets done."

        Lucky could see the shock on Jason's face. "What do you mean,
before he could do what he had planned?" His anger was apparent in the way
he clenched his jaw. Carly went over to him and put her hand on his
shoulder.

        "He was going to...rape her," Lucky said.  They all jumped as Jason
slammed his fist down on his desk.

        "RENALDO!" he yelled.

        "Yeah, Boss," Renaldo said, sticking his head in the door.

        "From now on, there is to be a man on Emily at all times. If anyone
tries anything I want them dead. Do you understand!"

        "Yes, sir."

        "And make sure that they stay out of sight. I don't want to scare
her. I'll tell her about him tomorrow night."

        "Okay, boss. No problem." Renaldo left.

        "Lucky, thanks for telling me." Jason said.

        "No problem, man," Lucky said shrugging.

        "And, Nikolas, thank you for helping her. I can't ever thank you
enough."

        "It was nothing. AJ had it under control anyway." Nikolas said
embarrassed. "Besides, Emily is my friend. I'd do anything for her."

        Lucky was looking at Carly, unsure of what to say. He hadn't spoken
to her since before he found out she was his cousin. "Hey, Carly," he said.
"How are you?"

        "I'm fine, Lucky," she answered surprised at his neutral tone. "I'm
surprised that you're not yelling at me. It seems like a favorite pastime
for the rest of you're family."

        "Yeah, well let's just say that I'm not to thrilled with the rest
of my family right now and leave it at that. I'm willing to give you a
chance. I'd like to get to know you and Michael. I've decided that from now
on, I decide how I feel about someone, instead of relying on other people
to tell me what to think."

        "Okay," Carly said. "Drop by sometime and we'll get to know each
other."

        "Okay, Lucky said nodding. "We gotta get going. See you later."

        "Goodbye," Nikolas said. They headed out the door and went to
Lucky's car. Lucky gets into the drivers seat and they head back to the
cabin. "Hey," Nikolas said. "I forgot to ask. Did you get what you needed?"

        "Sure did, though I'm not thrilled about giving it to Helena. I
guess I don't have much of a choice though, do I?" They drove into the
driveway of the cabin and headed inside. "But I can think about that
tomorrow." They quickly got ready for bed and went to sleep. It had been a
long day for both of them.

Chapter Twenty-One

        Lucky was up bright and early the next day. He had a lot on his
mind and a lot to do. "Hey Nik," he said shaking Nikolas' shoulder. "Hey,
wake up, will ya!?"

        "What do you want, Lucky?" Nikolas said sleepily. "And it better be
good if you're getting me up at this unearthly hour."

        "Geez, Nikolas, It's eight o'clock. Not exactly sunrise or
anything. Besides, I'm just telling you that I gotta leave. You're welcome
to stay and sleep til noon if you want to."

        "Where are you going?"

        "First up, Helena's yacht. Just thought you should know, with what
I found last night, she'll probably get Tony off. Then I'm taking Liz to
the police station for the line-up and maybe to go see Emily."

        "You're going to see Emily? Maybe I'll get up and come with you. I
didn't really get a chance to talk to her last night. The Quartermaines got
her out of there incredibly fast."

        "Sorry, but the visit to Helena is all me. The last thing that I
need is for her to think of me as a way to you. Anyway, I need to talk to
Liz."

        "Like I want to see her! I'd wait in the car for that one thank you
very much. And don't worry, I'll give you plenty of time to talk to Liz
alone. It's not like I want to go into that house. Sarah lives there you
know."

        Lucky couldn't help but laugh at the look on Nikolas' face. "Not
too thrilled about seeing the ex. huh?"

        "Every time I see her, she comes over and ask me what she did, to
give her another chance, and on and on and on. Then she starts to get upset
and starts making the accusations, 'You like Robin, don't you? Admit it.
Admit that you dumped me for her.' I can't stand it anymore. She's driving
me crazy!" Lucky laughed at Nikolas' perfect mimic of Sarah.

        "Man, am I glad that she picked you. So did you?" Lucky couldn't
help asking.

        "Did I what?" Nikolas asked.

        "Dump Sarah for Robin."

        "No, Robin and I are just friends. She's pretty cool but I'm only
interested in her as a friend. She's still in love with Jason, anyway."

        Yeah, Robin's pretty cool."

        "You know her well?"

        "Know her? We're practically related. Dad was best friends with her
father, she was always around. We were all pretty close. I haven't seen her
in a while though. Okay, you can come, but you're gonna be spending an
awful lot of time sitting in the car."

        "Okay, here's a plan. I'll bring you to where you need to meet
Helena, then I'll go to Wyndemere to change and pack.

        "Pack?"

        "I'm tired of living with the lies, so I'm going to find somewhere
else to stay for a while."

        "Well, you're welcome to crash at the cabin. I have a feeling that
there are still a lot of things that we need to work out."

        "You really don't mind? I don't want to intrude."

        "No problem, man. Anyway hurry up. I told Liz I'd be there at ten
and who knows how long Helena will drone on."

        Nikolas hurried to get ready and they left the cabin. "Do we have
to be low profile today or can we take my car?"

        "What's the matter? Don't like my driving?" Lucky said, pretending
to be hurt.

        "Let's just say that I'm not in the mood to risk my life today and
leave it at that."

        Lucky laughed and got in the passenger side of Nikolas' car "Man,
this is a sweet ride."

        "Maybe you can drive it sometime." Nikolas said. He gave his head a
little shake. Had he actually said that? He pulled out of the driveway and
headed towards town.

        "Really? That would be cool," Lucky said excitedly. He was
surprised by the offer.

        "That is, if you could keep the speed down and you're eyes on the
road," Nikolas added in hopes that both he and his car would come out of
such an experience intact.

        "I think I can handle that," Lucky said sarcastically. "I've only
been driving since I was nine."

        "WHAT!?" Nikolas exclaimed.

        "Dad thought that it was an important skill to learn. He doesn't
give a whole lot of thought to the law ya know. He thought that I might
need to know how to drive in order to survive so there was no way that he
wasn't going to teach me just because the law says you have to be sixteen."

        Nikolas digested that. "Did you ever have to use this valuable skill."

        "Yeah, once," Lucky said getting a far away look in his eyes.
"Someone had caught up with us, I don't remember who. I was ten, I think.
Mom and Dad sent me ahead in a car, to go to the house of a friend. They
stayed behind to face whoever it was. It was over a day before I found out
that they were okay, and that whoever it was, well those particular hired
thugs anyway, wouldn't be after us again."

        Ten years old! Nikolas couldn't believe it. He wondered if it had
been his family. Probably the mob, but still. He could understand why Lucky
had hated him. He had been on the run all his life from people who would
have killed him in an instant. He finally get settled, has a HOME when the
Cassadine's show up and he has to run AGAIN. When Nikolas was ten, the
biggest danger he faced was falling off a horse. Lucky had been on the run
from men with guns that had wanted nothing more than to kill him and his
entire family. Ten years old! He could hardly fathom it.

        "What are you thinking about?" Lucky asked, noticing that Nikolas
had gotten very quiet.

        "I was just thinking about your childhood compared to mine, and
wondering how often your running was caused by my family."

        "Oh, well, I think that most of the time it was the mob. I'm not
sure though. I just knew that the mob and the Cassadines were our enemies
and that we had to avoid them at all times. That's what I was raised to
believe. We had to survive and the way to survive was to run, so we ran. My
most important lessons usually involved breaking the law. That's all that I
knew. My childhood was filled with hatred and fear, but also as much love
as you can imagine. Their love for each other and their love for me got us
through a lot. My parents were the only constant in my life. My dad was my
hero. I wanted nothing more than to be exactly like him. Guess that's out
the window, huh?" Lucky asked sarcastically.

        "Lucky..."

        Lucky smiled ruefully, "Don't worry about it Nikolas. Besides I
don't want to talk about it anymore."

        Nikolas decided that Lucky was serious so he let it slide, but he
wished again that he hadn't told Lucky the truth about his father. He was
beginning to realize how big of a mistake it was and how THAT secret above
all should have remained in the past. It had helped no one, except maybe
Helena, and the last person that anyone wanted to help was Helena.

        They pulled up a little way from the dock, not wanting Helena to
see them together. Lucky jumped out. "Okay Nikolas, I'll see you back here
in about fourty-five minutes. Have fun with Stefan."

        Nikolas groaned, he hadn't even thought about facing Stefan,... and
Katherine was bound to stick her nose in the whole thing. "Why'd you have
to bring that up. I'm hoping that he isn't there. I'm in the mood to slip
in and out and leave him hanging."

        "Yeah, that would be a great idea. I can just see him showing up on
the porch of the cabin with the cops. 'This young hooligan kidnapped my
nephew, I want him arrested.' Either that or he'd have me 'taken care of.'
I'm not in the mood for one of those conversations, and regardless of my
recent behavior, I'm not really in the mood to die either."

        Nikolas sighed, "I guess you're right. I'll leave him a note if I
can manage to get in and out without seeing him. It's not too likely
though. Since I didn't go home last night he probably has everyone on watch
to alert him the moment I step on the launch."

        "Good luck, that's all I can say. See ya." Lucky took off towards
the docks and Nikolas headed to the garage and parked his car. He then got
in the launch and made the trip to Spoon Island.

        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Lucky walked quickly onto the docks. He hurried aboard Helena's
yacht wanting this meeting to be over quickly. He was let aboard by Ari.
"Mrs. Cassadine is expecting you," he said as he ushered Lucky into the
living room of the yacht.

        "So, Mr. Spencer," Helena said. "Did you find anything interesting?"

        "Only if you really want him free," Lucky said.

        "I do," Helena said. "Show me what you found."

        "Here you go," he said handing the folder that he had taken from
Justus' safe to Helena. "I think that this is what you were looking for."

        Helena looked at the contents of the folder and an evil grin spread
across her face. "Yes, Lucky, this will be very helpful."

        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Nikolas walked slowly up to Wyndemere dreading the inevitable
confrontation with his uncle. He opened the door and walked into the foyer.
He found his uncle waiting for him in the living room. He let out a sigh
and said, "Good morning, uncle."

        "Is that all you have to say? You were gone all night and all you
have to say is 'good morning?'" Stefan said, carefully controlling his
anger.

        "Yes, uncle, that's all I have to say. I'm going upstairs and I'm
going to take a shower and change, and then I'll come back down and you can
talk at me all that you want to." Nikolas turned from his uncle and went up
the stairs to his room, leaving his uncle staring after him with barely
concealed hostility.

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