Lucky drives Emily home. They enter the Quartermaine mansion, Emily still having an unsure feeling about where they stand, but figures she'll just go with the flow...'I won't seem too anxious,' she tells herself, even though she was dying for Lucky to clear the air.

The two walk in. Emily can't believe the house is quiet. Lucky speaks up first.

"Well, it's 10:56pm, looks like everyone's gone to bed." He whispers.

Emily corrects him. "But believe me, they're not sleeping. They were waiting to hear my key in the door...AND grandfather is probably waiting to hear you leave!" They laugh, then they both stifle their laughs, remembering it's late.

Lucky quiets down. "So, did you have a good time tonight?"

Emily looks at him, smiling. "Yes, I had an absolutely wonderful time. By the way," she teases. "I didn't know you were such a good cook! Where did you learn to cook like that?"

Lucky contemplates lying his head off, but thinks better of it. "Well, since my lies may find me out later, I may as well tell you that Mike helped me...just a little, though. But I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."

"I really did." Emily says. She noticed that she was starting to get that nervous, butterfly feeling again.

Lucky looks a little uneasy, not really knowing what to say next. He knew what he wanted to say, but wasn't too sure if he should say it.

Emily, feeling the tension, tries to find anything to talk about. "Oh, and thank you again for the gift, and the candy...and the flowers, they're really beautiful. It was all really very sweet of you."

Lucky turns and notices the arrangement of the bouquet of flowers he had sent to her earlier. He turns back to Emily.

"Anything for a beautiful lady." Lucky says. 'I'd better say this now or never...' he thought to himself. He decided to go for it.

"Emily, um..." he starts off, uneasy, "could I ask you something?"

"Sure." Emily replied, not knowing where this was going, Lucky takes her hands in his and stares into her eyes.

'I wish he would stop staring at me like that...' she told herself, 'if he only knew I couldn't think straight when he did that...'

"Emily..., would you like to go out with me? I...I mean, like, all the time? You know, like..."

Emily interjects. "You mean, like a couple?" 'Oh no,' she told herself, ' what if that's not what he meant, stupid!'

Lucky, glad for the interpretation, sighs. "Yes! Emily, would you be my girlfriend?

Emily, trying to hide her elation but decided she really didn't care if he knew she was the happiest girl in the world.

"Yes!" She replies. 'I must be dreaming!'

"Yeah?" Lucky says. " I mean, I'm not being too pushy, am I? I don't wanna push you into anything..."

"Oh Lucky, of course not." Emily says. A worried look crosses her face. "But Lucky, you don't care...about, well, I mean...it's no secret, everyone knows about my past. That doesn't bother you?"

Lucky looks at her as if she had three heads. "Emily, I couldn't care less what people think! Emily, no one else matters. You're the only one that matters...we're all that matters. That is, if you're sure you want to be....you know..."

Emily moves into Lucky, bringing her hands to his face. "Yes, Lucky, I would love to be your girl." She kisses him lightly on the lips.

They stand there, smiling. "So," Lucky asks, "where do we go from here?"

Emily answers, "Hey, heck if I know."

They both laugh, Emily quiets him as she looks to the staircase. "I think we'd better be quiet before we wake someone..."

"...Someone like who?" Edward announces. Lucky and Emily nearly jump out their skin as Edward approaches them.

"Grandfather! You nearly scared me to death! How long have you been...down here?" Emily asks leery.

Edward holds up his sandwich plate in his defense. "I was just...I was hungry so I decided..."

Emily and Lucky both look at him accusingly. "...Yeah..."

"...so I decided to come down for a late night snack." Edward tried to cover his tracks.

"Grandfather, you were spying on me!" Emily couldn't believe the lengths this man went through.

Edward admits defeat. "Alright! Alright, I wasn't spying on you, I was just making sure that you were safely in by your curfew and that this...young man here was well on his way back home." He turns to Lucky, "I see that you haven't departed as yet. You know, curfew means that you bring her back by 11:00, and that means you leave by 11:01..."

"Grandfather!" Emily grunts, her eyes sending him warning signals.

Lucky knows Edward, and he knows how to get his goat. He decides to play along with his act.

"You know, you're right, Mr. Quartermaine, I was just on my way out." Lucky turns and walks towards the door. He turns back, "Oh, almost forgot," he walks back over to Emily and, right in front of Edward, he takes Emily's face in his hands and kisses her firmly, slowly on the lips.

Edward standing there, appalled, clears his throat. No response. He clears it again, louder this time.

Lucky pulls back, looking into Emily's eyes. "Goodnight, Em. I'll call you tomorrow."

He walks towards the door. He turns back again. "Oh, Mr. Q, I almost forgot you..." He walks towards Edward, arms outstretched and lips puckered.

"D...Don't you dare, you maniac!" Edward backs away. Emily is doubled over, trying to stifle her laugh.

Lucky moves away, backing out the door, smiling. "Okay, next time, then, Mr. Q. " He looks at Emily one more time. "Bye." He whispers.

"Bye..." Emily waves as Lucky closes the door. She turns to Edward, who is standing there in shock. She walks over to him and plants a kiss on his cheek. "Goodnight, Grandfather. Oh, I am allowed to kiss you, aren't I?" She burst out laughing as she takes one of her roses from the arrangement and goes upstairs.

"Unruly scoundrels!" Edward grumbles to himself as he walks back into the kitchen.

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

Lizzy sat on her sofa for a long while. Defeat is not something Lizzy is used to admitting, but her being alone tonight...with Lucky out with Emily and Sarah with Nikolas...'This is ridiculous', Lizzy thought to herself as she jumps up. 'There's got to be someone...some fun in this one-horse town!'

With that, Lizzy headed upstairs and proceeds to make what's left of this miserable night worth something. She creeps back downstairs, in a knockout skin-tight long sleeved red dress. She sneaks her coat and bag from the closet and tips out the door, heading for who knows where?

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

Ned looks down at a sleeping Alexis. She looked so angelic laying there...peaceful. He stroked her hair softly, as if she were a newborn baby. Alexis stirred and snuggled closer to him, her breathing low and steady.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, Alexis..." he whispers into her hair. "You must remember that. I will protect you with my life, no matter what." With that he planted a kiss in her hair and wrapped his arms around her, his breathing falling in rhythm to hers.

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

Lizzy ends up at the PC Grill. She figured everyone knew her at the Outback, and Nikolas and Sarah may have been there anyway. She figures she could just mingle in with the crowd here.

'Well, here goes nothing...' Lizzy tells herself as she removes her coat. Immediately, all heads turn...especially the men. Lizzy notices the attention and, with a little more self-confidence than she had a second ago, saunters over to the bar. She hops up on one of the chairs at the bar and the bartender walks over.

"May I get you something?" The Bartender asks.

Lizzy is wondering should she order a drink and risk being carded, or play it safe and order a Ginger Ale?

"I'll have a Ginger Ale, please...with a twist." Lizzy didn't want her cover blown this quickly, especially not by the bartender.

"Coming right up." The Bartender says, giving her the 'you don't fool me' look.

Just then, Detective Garcia walks into the Grill. He's looking for no one in particular, being alone tonight was just like any other night. Alec realized that all his nights started to blend together into one big hole in time. He walks over to the bar and takes a seat. He looks to his right and notices a woman two bar seats down...all alone AND beautiful.

'Is this my lucky night?' Garcia thought to himself. He didn't really feel like the 'come on' scene right now, for he had tired of meeting women that weren't interested dating a 'cop'. But for some reason, he was attracted to this woman. Something about her was very...what?

Lizzy turns and notices Garcia staring at her. 'Isn't he a cop? Oh great,' she thought, 'my luck would have a cop sit next to me...this is just, just great! Now my cover's blown! '

"May I buy you a drink?" Garcia asks Lizzy.

Lizzy comes out of her private conversation and realizes that Garcia is speaking to her.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Lizzy asks.

Garcia slides over one more chair and asks again, "May I buy you a drink? Or are you waiting for someone?"

Lizzy smiles. Garcia's offer to buy her a drink lets her know that her cover isn't blown. That still doesn't change for the bartender, who is standing there...seemingly daring her to order any form of alcohol.

"Waiting for someone?" Lizzy says. She then smiles seductively at Garcia, noticing that this handsome specimen was actually checking her out.

"I was waiting for someone to catch my eye," Lizzy flirts at him, "I guess my wait is over."

Garcia motions to the Bartender. "Two more of whatever she's drinking."

Lizzy froze. She looks at the Bartender, as if to ask him to please save her life.

The Bartender smiles. "Two Scotch and sodas coming up."

Lizzy's eyes scream at the Bartender, 'Thank you!'

Garcia can't seem to keep his eyes off this beautiful woman. She turns to look at him and he notices that she has the deepest, most beautiful blue eyes he's ever seen. Her features were exotic, but somewhat innocent. And her body! He was suddenly reminded of the advertisement 'Milk does a body good!'

'Down boy,' Garcia tells himself.

The bartender comes back with the drinks. He sits one down in front of Garcia. He then takes the remaining drink and, to eliminate any confusion, hands it to Lizzy. "And this one is for you, the beautiful young lady."

Lizzy takes the drink from the bartender, knowing it was no more than another Ginger ale on the rocks. "Thank you." She says, with a look of gratitude in her eyes.

The bartender smiles and walks away. Lizzy takes a sip of her drink, all the while feeling Garcia's eyes boring into her like two laser beams. She nervously puts her drink down and turns to look at him.

'My, my...he sure is cute. Gorgeous is more like it.' she thought to herself. 'There sure is a difference between a boy...like Lucky, and a man...like this!' Lizzy figures if she is going to live this part to the fullest, she should start acting more like an experienced 'woman'.

"So," Lizzy says, sliding over closer to Garcia. "What is a gorgeous guy like you doing alone on a night like this?"

"The same thing a beautiful young lady such as yourself is doing sitting at a bar, instead of being wined and dined and treated like a queen." Garcia says as his eyes bore holes through Lizzy's soul. Lizzy shifts nervously under his stare, he notices. He figures he'd better find out a little more about this one...

"Funny, I don't recall ever seeing you around." Garcia states.

Lizzy wonders how she'll cover this one. "Well, I haven't been here in Port Charles for too long. I've been pretty busy since I've arrived so I haven't had a chance to really get around town..."

"Oh, that's too bad," Garcia interrupts. "If you ever need someone to show you around town, let me know." He extends his hand. "I'm Alec, Alec Garcia."

Lizzy takes his hand. His large, strong hand swallows her petite one. The sensation sent tingles down to Lizzy's toes. "Nice, to meet you, Alec. I'm Lizz...Elizabeth." Lizzy figured the last thing she needed to tack on was a childish pet name.

Garcia speaks up. "Well, what are your plans for the rest of the evening, Elizabeth?"

"Whatever comes to our minds." Lizzy flirted. 'Are you crazy?' she told herself.

Garcia stares back at her, he leans in closer and whispers in her ear, "Well, hopefully our great minds are thinking alike."

With Garcia so close to her, Lizzy thought she would faint. She was used to guys at school, trying to get close or trying to come on to her in their unsure and gawky ways, but that was nothing compared to THIS. Just the nearness of his extremely tooled body and strong shoulders made Lizzy want to throw herself at his feet.

Lizzy looks into his rich, brown eyes and feels her head start to spin. His face is inches from hers. "Well, w..what is your great mind thinking?"

Garcia, notices that she is very nervous but he doesn't know why, figured he'd better back down a bit. "This great mind of mine was thinking...I'm starved!" He moves away from her, giving them a little breathing space. "Would you like have dinner with me Ms....I'm sorry, I didn't catch your last name?"

Lizzy, knowing the name 'Webber' would give her away, thinks quick. 'Favorite color? No...favorite actor? Ah ha!'

Lizzy smiles and says, "Nicholson...Elizabeth Nicholson."

"Well, Ms. Nicholson," Garcia says, "would you join me for a late supper? I would hate to eat alone."

Lizzy puts the thought of Audrey killing her for being out past Midnight with this stranger out of her head. "Why yes, Mr. Garcia, I would love to."

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

Nikolas brings Sarah home. They come in, not turning on the lights.

Sarah looks around. "I guess everyone's gone to bed." She turns to Nikolas and he takes her in his arms.

'Nikolas..." Sarah says.

Nikolas looks at her. "What?" He says.

"There are people upstairs," she whispers. She's trying to fight him off, only pretending to use force. She gives up after awhile.

Nikolas looks into her eyes, smiling. "Sarah..."

He meets her lips with his. Sarah feels all her reservations fade away as she melts into his arms. Nikolas tightens his embrace as he deepens the kiss.

Sarah, starting to feel light-headed, reluctantly pulls away from Nikolas.

"Nikolas..." she says, breathlessly.

Nikolas mistakes her breathlessness for passion. He plants soft, light kisses along her throat. Sarah is about to lose her mind when she remembers that her grandmother and kid sister are just one level away...

Sarah's eyes flutter as she tries to remain conscious. "Nikolas...we have to stop..." Sarah's pleaded. She realized her pleas weren't even convincing her.

Nikolas backs away and looks at her, knowing deep down that she didn't want to stop any more than he did. But he understood her logic. It wouldn't look good for Audrey to come downstairs at this time of night, or Lizzy for that matter, and find them in this compromising position.

He smiles as he smoothes a wisp of hair from her eyes. He kisses her on her forehead and hugs her close.

"Goodnight." He says. Then he turns and walks toward the door.

Sarah walks behind him. As he gets outside, he turns to look at her one more time and takes her face in his hands and kisses her deeply, then let's her go.

"Goodnight, Nikolas." Sarah says as he walks down the steps to his car. She closes the door as he drives off.

Sarah sits down in her Grandfather's favorite chair, this time wearing a smile instead of tears.

"Oh, Gramps," she says with a grin. "Lizzy was right, things do change..."

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

Lizzy stands outside of the Grill with Garcia. Their meal was great, conversation was actually fascinating. Lizzy couldn't believe she was pulling the wool over this guy's eyes. Well, she didn't look her fifteen...almost sixteen years tonight. She had to admit she looked every bit twenty-two...

"So, can I give you a ride home?" Garcia offered.

"Oh, no..." Lizzy answered, too quickly. She smiles it off. "I'll just take a cab. It's not far."

Garcia didn't understand. "But why take a cab at this hour when I can just give you a lift..."

"Because," Lizzy interrupts, "I'm a 90's woman, I like to feel independent. Really, it's no trouble at all."

"Okay, it's your call. At least let me pay for your taxi." Garcia hails a cab, it stops in front of them.

"Take the young lady home, please sir!" Garcia asked the cab driver.

"Sure thing, Detective Garcia!" The cabbie answered.

Lizzy was impressed. "Wow, you're a respectable man in these parts, aren't you? I could get used to this royal treatment."

"I would like that..." Garcia says, the dreamy look returning to his eyes. "Can I call you, sometime, Ms. Nicholson?"

Lizzy, stepping into the cab, almost forgot her alias. "Well...I'll call you, Mr. Garcia." The last thing she needed was Gram getting a phone call from Detective Garcia for a Ms. Elizabeth Nicholson.

"Please, it's Alec." Garcia interjected. "And I'll hold you to that phone call, even though yours is the usual brush off line a woman gives when she's not interested."

Lizzy realized she wasn't giving the right signals. The last thing she wanted him to think was that she wasn't interested. 'I can't lose out on this' Lizzy thought to herself as she sat halfway in the cab, Garcia waiting to close the door. 'Think, girl, think!'

Lizzy bravely steps back out of the cab and comes within inches of Garcia. She was so close she could feel his breath on her eyelashes. Lizzy puts her hand on his chest, noticing at that moment that clothes can really hide a great body.

"The last thing I want, Alec, is to never see you again." She whispers, surprised at her own boldness and sex appeal. "I know where to reach you, and you can expect that phone call."

Garcia was two seconds from sweeping her into his arms and not caring that they were in front of a busy hotel. He regained his composure as Lizzy stepped back into the cab.

He could still smell her perfume in the air around him as the cab driver said, "Hey, Detective...I'd like to get her home before tomorrow morning..."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Garcia closes the door and hands the cab driver a twenty. "Thanks." He walks back to Lizzy, bending down to her level. "Goodnight, Elizabeth."

"Goodnight, Alec." Lizzy said. Then, with one last leap of boldness, she presses her two fingers to her lips in a kiss, then presses them to his. Garcia holds her fingers to his lips, locking eyes with her. He lets go and stands.

"I'll be waiting..." He says as the cabbie drove off. He stands there, watching the cab's tail lights fade down the street.

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