Alexis opens the door to the Gatehouse. She convinced Ned to hand over his key so she can come in early and get started on her surprise dinner. She was sure Ned had no idea she would need to get started at 9:30am.

She goes to the kitchen and puts down the various grocery bags. She then stands in the middle of the kitchen, not knowing where to start.

'I'm in big trouble...' She thinks to herself.

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

Alan, Emily and Monica share an actual quiet moment in the Quartermaine mansion. Reginald pops his head into the sitting room with his hand over the receiver.

"Ms. Emily, you have a phone call."

Emily jumps up and runs for the foyer. She grabs the phone from Reginald. "Thanks, Reg!"

He looks at her quizzically...never having been referred to as 'Reg'. When he's out of earshot, Emily turns and smiles into the phone. "Hello?"

"You poor thing, you must be really, really tired." Lucky says on the other end, leaning on the counter at Kelly's. His grin let's Lizzy, who's staring at him, know exactly who he's talking to.

Emily smiles. "And why am I so, so tired, Mr. Spencer?"

"'Cause you've been running through my mind all day." Lucky whispers.

"Oooh, that is so cute!" Emily feels that burning sensation in her toes again as he whispers in her ear. She felt as if he were right there beside her and not down at Kelly's. She notices Edward coming in, handing Reginald his coat. He eyes her on the telephone. She turns her back to Edward and continues her conversation with Lucky.

She was trying hard to conceal the grin that's threatening to crack her face. "So...I've really been on your mind all day, huh?"

"I miss you." Lucky says. He looks at Lizzy who, after hearing this sickening sappy exchange of sweet-nothings, grabs a plastic spoon from the counter and sticks it in her mouth, as in 'gag me with a spoon'. Lucky laughs out loud at Lizzy and attempts to throw a menu at her as she runs back into the kitchen laughing.

"I miss you too." Emily says. Edward is walking past just in time to hear the sugar-sweet jargon.

"Oh for crying out loud...of all the gobbledygook!" Edward says as he walks into the sitting room, ranting about teenagers, phone bills and...whatever else he always rants about. Emily turns back to her conversation.

"It sounds like you're having a party over there." Emily says, wishing she could be there with him. She didn't want to seem too pushy, even though it was Saturday. But she felt she should give him his space.

"Yeah..." Lucky said. He didn't want to push her, but he really wanted her to come down to Kelly's for awhile. He didn't know if she would want to just hang around while he worked, but her just being there would be all he needed.

"Emily...do you think you could...would you like to hang out with me today? Just the two of us?

Emily thought she would burst from glee. "Well, I'm not doing anything really...I would love to hang out with you, Lucky."

"Great!" Lucky exclaims. "I have a couple more hours here before my shift ends, so I guess you could come down now and wait for me or maybe you wanna come by after my shift..."

"I'll be right there." Emily cuts in.

Lucky smiles. "Okay, see ya."

"See ya. Bye." Emily hangs up the phone and goes back into the sitting room. She picks up the book she was reading and turns to go upstairs. She calls out to Alan and Monica. "Oh, I'm going over to Kelly's. I'm going to hang out with Lucky for awhile, okay?" She's already half out the door.

"Why sure, honey. Enjoy yourself! " Monica calls after her. She smiles. Even though she had been hoping that Emily would spend some quality time with them, she figured a teenage girl in the throes of infatuation did pretty good to give her parents three hours on a Saturday.

Edward, after hearing the door slam, says to Alan and Monica. "Don't you two think she's spending way too much time with that Spencer boy? It can't be healthy..."

"Edward". Monica says. She wasn't willing to get into an argument over her daughter with Edward...again.

Edward notices the brush-off. "Well, I don't approve...I think you should give her some rules and guidelines. That little convict will ruin my granddaughter."

Alan puts in his two cents. "Father, put a sock in it, would you?"

Edward looks at the two of them, shaking his head. "You'll see...you'll see."

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

Jax walks into the PC Grill. He's pretty much without a life, now that Brenda's taken off to the great blue yonder. He wanders over to the bar and motions to the bartender.

"Hey, can I have a double Vodka. Thanks." He turns to see a young lady at the bar, looking quite wasted. She turns to see him staring at her.

"Can I help you?" Lorraine says, annoyed that he's just standing there...staring.

Jax smiles. "No, I was just wondering how many more drinks you were going to down before you puked your guts up?

Lorraine gives him an evil eye. "Look, Mister...just because you happen to be incredibly good-looking, doesn't mean you can go around insulting women." On that note, she stands to leave, only to sway on her feet and sit back down in her seat.

Jax notices this unsteadiness and comes to her side. "Miss, do you think you should try to leave now? I think you need...have you eaten anything before you decided to drown your sorrows at the bar? Besides, it's too early to get sloshed."

"No time or room for food." Lorraine snaps back. I wanted a drink so that's what I came in for." The room started to spin slightly. "I guess I should've stopped and ate something first, huh?"

Jax is already guiding her from her seat. "Well, I was just about to have an early dinner, why don't you join me? You could just eat a bite, something to steady yourself." He helps her off the bar seat and leads her to a chair at one of the tables. She takes the seat gratefully and the waiter comes by and hands them two menus.

"May I get you a drink before dinner?" The waiter asks.

Lorraine almost heaves at the suggestion. Jax sees the green around her gills and smiles. He turns to the waiter. "No, I think the first thing on the agenda is a pot of your strongest coffee."

"Coming right up, Mr. Jacks." The waiter walked off. Lorraine looked at Jax with surprise.

"So, you're Jasper Jacks...Jacks cosmetics...Brenda Barrett..."

"Yeah, the one and only." Jax says. Somehow he didn't feel good about the association with Brenda.

"So," Lorraine leans into the table to whisper to him. She was also grateful for the support of the table to steady the room. "Are you always trying to find a damsel in distress so you can rescue them?"

Jax gets offensive at the implication. "Look, I just saw that you were having a hard time, and I was trying to help you out a little. But if it's going to be a problem, I can just leave you to yourself." Jax moves to get up.

"No, wait..." Lorraine puts out her hand to stop him. "I didn't mean to be so cynical. I just...I don't know." Lorraine sits there, wondering what she was doing sitting here with this guy and how many times has her evenings ended like this. She at the table, or the bar, with a good-looking guy, trying to get him to her hotel room or dorm or...wherever her situation found her.

"Look, I'm sorry, Mr. Jacks. Can we just start over?" Lorraine looks at him, realizing she hopes he doesn't walk off. It's not like she has too many other friends in Port Charles. As a matter of fact, he may be the first.

Jax takes his seat again. He smiles at her as he extends his hand. "Hello, I'm Jasper Jacks. And you are...?"

"Lorraine...Lorraine Miller." She takes his hand and smiles. The waiter comes back to their table.

"Are you ready to order, sir?" The waiter asks.

Jax looks at Lorraine. "Well? Are you ready to eat something?"

Lorraine realized she was famished. "You know, I think I'm ready to eat everything on this menu!" She opens the menu and orders.

Jax sits there and watches her. Something about her attracted him, he wasn't sure what it was. She was very, very pretty. Strong features, along with a strong attitude. Not like Brenda...or Miranda.

Lorraine looked up at him. "Hey, are you going to order?"

Jax breaks his gaze. "Sure." He picks up his menu and orders dinner. Lorraine watches him as he orders something on the menu in French.

'He is gorgeous...' Lorraine thought to herself. 'I wonder where Ms. Barrett is tonight, that he actually has a free minute to spend with another woman?' Lorraine let these thoughts not take over the fact that she was feeling comfortable with this guy.

'This could be an interesting evening...' she smiled to herself.

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

Nikolas and Sarah at Wyndemere in the sitting room. They're watching 'Gone With the Wind' . Sarah finds the movie intriguing and exciting, but Nikolas finds Sarah more intriguing than the classic movie.

The movie ends and the credits roll. Sarah sits there, teary-eyed. Nikolas couldn't help but wonder why girls were always so emotional about fictional stories.

Nikolas slips his arm around Sarah's waist, pulling her to him. Sarah melts into his arms.

"Nikolas, wasn't that a beautiful movie? We should do this more often." She looks up at him. He's looking down at her with such love she can barely contain herself.

Nikolas looks at her, taking in her beauty and the love that's reflecting in her eyes. "I love you...Sarah." He bends to kiss her, she doesn't resist his actions. She wraps her arms around his neck and deepens the kiss. She feels Nikolas' hands under her sweater...she pulls back.

"Nikolas...what if your Uncle walks in?" She says. He's not paying attention to her, he's trailing kisses along her shoulder.

"Not h..home." He says. He continues to sweep kisses all over her. Sarah knew that Stefan was going to be at the hospital till late, she had taken a peek at the schedule at the hospital early that morning. That's why she had planned to come over and watch the movie tonight, for Stefan Cassadine gave her the creeps.

Sarah interrupts again. "But Nikolas, what about the servants?" She was trying to keep a clear head, but Nikolas was making it quite hard for her to do this.

"All gone....to bed." He says between kisses. He brings his lips from her throat to meet hers. "Please..." He puts his fingers to her lips. "...no more t...talking." He brings his lips down on hers unabashedly, trying his best to fill himself with her. He leans her back against the couch, landing on top of her.

Sarah notices her resolve is fading fast. The scary thing about it being...she didn't care. She wanted him just as much as he wanted her. She remembered last time they were in this situation, she was afraid...not ready. But tonight, she didn't know if that same scared girl was present. She wraps her leg around his, not caring if someone walked in at that moment or not.

Nikolas can feel her reserve gone and his had gone out the window long ago. "Oh, Sarah..." he says, whispering in her ear. "I...want you..."

Sarah decided she would do the talking, knowing she knew what she wanted, and not wanting Nikolas to be intimidated by his speech.

"Make love to me, Nikolas..." Nikolas looked into her eyes, as if to ask her if she were sure. Sarah was very good at reading his facial expressions by now. "Yes, Nikolas, I'm sure...I want you, too."

Nikolas gets up and pulls her up behind him. She takes his hand and leads him to the stairs.

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

Ned walks into the gatehouse. He hears noises coming in from the kitchen and a smile spreads across his face.

He speaks loud enough for Alexis to hear him from the living room. "Well, well...seems like someone's cookin' up a storm in here..."

Alexis comes mad dashing out of the kitchen, covered in flour, spices, and...whatever else a kitchen holds.

"Hiya, Ned!" she says, smiling, not realizing her appearance is one that could evoke shock.

Ned stands there, his grin now turning into full-blown laughter. 'She's so cute' he thought to himself.

Alexis' smile fades. "Are you laughing at me?"

Ned walks over to her, tears in his eyes from laughing so hard. He takes his index finger and wipes it across a streak of something on her chin...most likely from her latest taste test. He brings his finger to his mouth, playfully savoring the taste.

"Let's see...let's play 'Name that ingredient'! I believe that was a dash of cinnamon and...cream cheese..."

"Ned, stop!" Alexis swats him with the dishtowel. "I've really exhausted myself trying to get just the right taste for the dessert and..."

Ned closes her comment with kiss. Alexis doesn't know where this came from, but she sure wasn't going to fight it.

Ned pulls away and looks down into her eyes. "You look SO beautiful right now...I wish I had a camera."

"I'm a mess!" Alexis says, looking down at herself. She looks up with a grin, "But dinner will be great!"

"And so will dessert?" Ned says, nibbling at her neck. Only she knew that he wasn't talking about anything she had baked.

Alexis tries to control her desire to forget dinner and head straight for dessert. "Dessert will be exquisite, but first we have to have dinner, AFTER I clean up." She pries herself from Ned's arms and heads upstairs. "I'll just take a quick shower, change and I'll be right down." She darts up the stairs.

Ned, with a 'little bad boy' grin spreading across his face, yells up after her. "I'll be right there...you know how I try to conserve water." He darts up the stairs behind her.

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

Lucky and Emily sit on the waterfront. Lucky holds Emily in his arms, trying to shield her from the cold. Emily is not really cold, but she figured why tell him and risk being out of his arms for two seconds?

Lucky looks down at her. He just sits there, staring down at her face. He looks lower and notices the gold heart he had given her for Valentine's Day. He realized that she must never take it off.

Emily feels his stare and looks up at him. She feels that toe-tingling sensation again as she looks in his eyes. She started to say something, but she didn't want to break the blissful silence between them. She never knew that two people could communicate without saying a word.

Lucky must have felt that she wanted to keep the silence. He decided against telling her she was beautiful again, or how much he loved being with her...he didn't want to seem too sappy. Instead, he brushes her hair from her face and bends to kiss her forehead. He allows his lips to linger there, on her skin, inhaling her perfume and feeling as though he's never felt this close to another human being.

Emily leans back against him, her eyes closed. She smiles lazily as she realizes that, at this very moment, her life, for a change, was perfect.

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

Sarah was nervous as she followed Nikolas into his bedroom, well...it was more like an apartment. Nikolas closes and locks the door. Returns to her and kisses her again, this time deeper and more hungrily. He comes up for breath and looks at Sarah.

She could tell that he wanted to say something to her, but was afraid. She didn't want him to feel inhibited.

"Nikolas, you don't have to speak..." She quiets him as he tries to speak, putting her finger against his lips.

"Shhh...show me, Nikolas...show me how much you love me..."

Sarah reaches up and kisses his lips softly, slowly. She felt him wrap his arms around her and pull her close to him. Sarah reached down and placed her hands under Nikolas' sweater. Nikolas shuddered at the feel of her hands on his skin.

"Sarah.." Nikolas whispered as she caressed his back underneath his sweater. He knew if her hands felt this good, he mustn't inhibit their exploring. He lets go of Sarah just long enough to reach down and pull his sweater over his head. Sarah almost choked on the air at the sight of him. She had never seen anymore than the top of Nikolas' throat, he was always so conservative. But now, seeing his broad, muscular chest bared right in front of her eyes made her want to scream...run...she didn't know what she wanted to do, so she just stood there and stared at his beauty.

Nikolas started to fold the sweater and place it on the dresser...being how he was taught neatness, but he thought better of it and tossed the sweater to the side of the room.

Sarah giggles nervously. "Well, I bet Uncle Stefan would cringe if he saw you do that..."

Nikolas stops her rambling with his lips. "Shhh...don't be nervous." He whispers against her lips. He takes her in his arms and holds her close. "Dance with me, Sarah..." He takes her hand and leads her around the room.

Sarah felt that his arms were the only place she would ever want to be. She realized there was no music, but before she could state that revelation, Nikolas had danced her over to the CD player. She made a mental evaluation that Nikolas' room was the only place in Wyndemere that had any electronic equipment from the 21st century. He flips the power button and presses play. Phil Collins instantly fills the room.

When I'm feeling blue, all I have to do
Is take a look at you, then I'm not so blue
When you're close to me, I can feel your heartbeat
I can feel you breathing in my ear
Wouldn't you agree, baby you and me
got a groovy kind of love

Any time you want to, you can turn me into
anything you want to, anytime at all
When I kiss your lips, ooh I start to shiver
can't control the quivering inside
Wouldn't you agree, baby you and me
got a groovy kind of love

Nikolas looks down into Sarah's eyes. "I love you.." he says.

Sarah notices the sincerity in his eyes, it made her full of love for him. "I love you too."

Nikolas reaches down and pulls the zipper to the front of her sweater. He feels Sarah tense slightly. She can tell he felt her response.

"It's okay, honey...I'm just a little nervous." She places her hand over his hand and pulls the zipper down with him. She shrugs the sweater off and allows it to drop to the floor, standing there in her camisole.

Nikolas almost looses his footing at the sight of her. "You're beautiful..." he whispers, looking into her eyes. "...an angel..."

When I'm feeling blue ,all I have to do
Is take a look at you, then I'm not so blue
When I'm in your arms, nothing seems to matter
my whole world could shatter, I don't care
Wouldn't you agree, baby you and me
got a groovy kind of love

He stroked the sides of her bare arms with his fingertips, causing Sarah to breathe irregularly. She places her hands on his chest, feeling the finely tooled muscles and wanting to explore every inch of him.

Nikolas bends down and picks Sarah up by the waist, over his head and carries her to the bed. Sarah steadies herself by placing her hands on his shoulders. When they got to the bed, Nikolas brings her down slowly to meet his lips, then he lays her down on the bed in his arms...

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

Ned and Alexis sit in bed, enjoying cold Chicken and over-baked Cherry cheesecake.

"Believe me, it really was perfect" Alexis says, hand-feeding Ned some cheesecake.

"It IS perfect, baby." Ned takes her hand and, holding it to his lips, licks the cherry sauce from her fingers. Alexis thought she would melt through the bed and end up downstairs on the sofa.

Alexis tries to regroup. "Well, are you convinced now that I CAN cook?"

Ned looks at her mischievously. "I already knew you could COOK...now I'm convinced you can cook in the kitchen as well."

Alexis smiles at Ned. Sometimes she wonders why the stars shined in her favor and landed this incredible man at her feet.

Ned notices her staring at him and smiles. "And what are you staring at?"

It's Alexis' turn to get the mischievous grin. "Second helpings of dessert."

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