"I'm pretty sure Lucky had a suitcase…" Nikolas let his sentence trail off in shock when he saw the room. It was a complete mess. Clothes were thrown everywhere, and the furniture was overturned. Liz and Nikolas walked in the room slowly, taking it all in. Suddenly, Liz threw herself into Nikolas' arms and started to cry.
"Oh my God, Nikolas. How could we have missed this?" Liz sobbed.
Nikolas tried to ignore how good it felt to hold Elizabeth in his arms. He gently patted her on the back. "It wasn't easy when Lucky kept pushing all of us away."
"But I thought Lucky and I were connected. If something was wrong with him, I should know!"
"Liz, you're not a mind reader. Maybe Lucky is depressed. That would cause him to act differently."
"Yeah, you're right." Elizabeth pulled away from Nikolas and dried her eyes. "Sorry, I, I got your shirt all wet."
Nikolas smiled at Liz. "It was no problem." He longed to comfort her and tell her everything would be all right, but he could not. Instead, he started to pick up some of Lucky's things. He found a small suitcase, which he placed on the bed. "We can put his clothes in there." He picked up a chair and placed it right side up.
Elizabeth carefully folded some of his clothes. She picked up one of his shirts, and held it to her face, breathing in Lucky's scent. She folded the shirt.
Soon, Elizabeth and Nikolas were finished. They took a look at the now neat room. "Come on, I'll give the key to the bartender." Nikolas led Elizabeth out, but they both stopped to look for a minute. Nikolas wasn't sure why he did, but he hoped that maybe, just maybe, this meant Lucky was leaving something behind there, and that he could move on.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
A well-jeweled hand reached to pick up the telephone receiver. "Must you wake me this early?" Her face took on a scowl as her contact spoke. "What?" she growled. "How did this happen? He was supposed to be watched!" She sighed. "Well, who's treating him?" She tapped her long fingernails on the mahogany bedside table. "Then get me all the information you can on Kevin Collins." She hung up the phone.
Lucky Spencer seeking help could be a real problem, one that Helena Cassadine was determined to avoid.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Ned and Alexis walked to one of the rehearsal studios in L&B. "So you wrote a new song? I thought you wanted to leave Eddie Maine behind."
"Eddie Maine, yes, but Ned Ashton still loves to write music. My guitar is in here, and I'd love to play it for you." Ned opened the door for Alexis, and they were both shocked to see Emily and Sly on the verge of kissing.
"Oh, sorry!" Alexis said, backing away. Ned still held the door.
Sly and Emily instantly jumped when the door opened, and they stepped away from each other. What just happened between us, Emily thought.
Ned cleared his throat. "Sly, why don't you see if the rest of the band is ready?"
Sly took one last look at Emily, who wouldn't return the gaze, and left.
"Emily, may I see you for a moment?" Ned asked. Emily sighed and followed Ned and Alexis into Ned's office.
"What is going on? What did we just walk in on?" Ned asked.
"I don't know," Emily said honestly.
"What about Juan? I thought the two of you were pretty serious," Alexis gently questioned.
"I don't know!" Emily said again. "I haven't even given myself time to think about it!"
Ned opened his mouth to say more, but Alexis held up her hand. "Let's not give Emily the third degree."
"You're right. Just be careful, Emily. I don't want to see you end up with a broken heart."
Emily walked out of the office in a slight daze. "Don't worry about me."
In the meantime, Sly had walked back to the room where Jon was trying to teach Juan the songs.
"Great! You're a quick learner, Juan." Jon smiled. "Hey, Sly. Looks like we're all set."
Juan smiled, too. "I can't believe it. My demo is finally getting off the ground!"
Sly looked at the floor. "Yeah, that's great." He nervously shifted from foot to foot, but Juan didn't notice.
"We'll get started in a minute, Juan. Just let me go over something with Sly. Why don't you head into the studio?"
"Yeah, great idea." Juan quickly left the room.
"What song is up first?" Sly asked.
" 'Almost Doesn't Count', the Mark Wills version, of course." Jon smiled but noticed Sly didn't do anything. "Of course, we could do up the pop version, but I'm not sure the steel guitar would really fit."
"Yeah, whatever." Sly couldn't get what just happened with Emily off his mind. It had only been a few days, but Sly could already feel himself falling for her.
"Sly, look at me." Sly lifted his head. "Your eyes are all red. You've been crying, haven't you?"
Sly quickly looked away. Jon, his oldest friend besides Lucky, and co-head of the band, knew him too well. "Yeah," he said softly.
"I heard about what happened with your cousin. I'm sorry. Look, you don't have to be here. I can supervise for now, and you can come record your parts tomorrow."
Sly smiled slightly at Jon. "Thanks for understanding, but I'm ok. Let's go do it."
Jon pushed Sly out of the door. "This may not be too bad after all. I had my doubts, but I think Juan can pull it off."
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Juan walked into the recording studio and found Emily sitting at the soundboard. She looked upset and shaken up.
"Emily, what's wrong?" Juan asked, his good mood completely gone the minute he saw her.
Emily looked up to Juan and a wave of guilt washed over her. How could I have almost kissed Sly? I have a boyfriend, she thought.
"Is it because of what I said before? Emily, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I was just worried about you, that's all. Of course you had to be there for your friend. I'm proud of you for that."
Emily looked at Juan, and she felt the strangest mixture of guilt and gratitude. She gave Juan a fierce hug, catching him off guard for a second. He quickly returned it.
Just then, Sly and Jon walked into the booth as Emily whispered to Juan, "I love you." The sight of Emily hugging Juan like that made Sly strangely jealous. Why should I be jealous, he wondered, Emily is Juan's girlfriend.
Emily looked up from the hug into Sly's big brown eyes. She instantly felt the same rush of guilt, heartache, and desire, and it made her more confused than ever.
Jon cleared his throat. "Sorry to break this up, but it's time we got started. The engineer and the rest of the band are coming in a minute."
Juan brushed a piece of hair out of Emily's face. "You ok?" She nodded. He turned to Jon. "Alright then, let's do it!"
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Soon the players were in place, and Vincent, the engineer, was behind the board with Emily, who was observing. "We're ready to go, Sly, when you are," he said over the talkback.
"Thanks Vincent. All right, Juan, here's what we're going to do. We will have a run through of the song with the whole band, so you can get a feel for it. Then we will all individually record our parts. Sounds canned and horrible, I know, but that's how we'll get the best quality production. We just have to get the best possible performances on a faster pace than most big name artists. The faster, the better. Just come in at your cue, Juan. Go to it boys, one, two, one, two three four…" Sly said, counting off for the band.
Soon the band had the song in full swing, and Sly nodded to Juan to start singing.
Almost made you love me
Almost made you cry
Almost made you happy, baby
Didn't I, didn't I
You almost had me thinkin'
You were turned around
Everybody knows
Almost doesn't count
Emily was impressed with the band's playing, even if it was a rough take. Juan was also doing a good job signing, even if he sounded a little out of place with the country instrumental backing.
Almost heard you saying
You were finally free
What was always missing for you, baby
You'd found it in me
But you can't get to Heaven
Half off the ground
Everybody knows
Almost doesn't count
Emily heard the song take a stronger turn into the chorus.
I can't keep lovin' you
One foot outside the door
I hear a funny hesitation
Of a heart that's never really sure
Can't keep on tryin'
If you're looking for more
Than all that I could give you
Than what you came here for
Sly played his part with fervor, trying to block out the wave of emotions that he was feeling. The whole night and day had been one giant emotional rollercoaster. What he really wanted was Emily to hear the words of the song. Pay attention, Emily, he silently thought.
Gotta find somebody
Not afraid to let go
Want a no-doubt be-there kind of girl
You came real close
But every time you built me up
You only let me down
And everybody knows
Almost doesn't count
Emily looked into the studio, so proud of Juan. She then looked at Sly, whose eyes were piercing holes into Emily's soul. She couldn't bear the sight, so she looked away, trying to focus her attention fully on Juan.
I can't keep lovin' you
One foot outside the door
I hear a funny hesitation
Of a heart that's never really sure
Can't keep on tryin'
If you're looking for more
Than all that I could give you
Than what you came here for
Emily, listen. Just listen, Sly thought.
Maybe you'll be sorry
Maybe you'll be cold
Maybe you'll come runnin' back
From the cruel, cruel world
Almost convinced me
You're gonna stick around
But everybody knows
Almost doesn't count
Maybe I'll be here
Maybe I'll see you around
That's the way it goes
Almost doesn't count
The band finished the song. "So, what did you think, Juan. Was it to your liking?" Jon asked grinning.
"It was terrific!" Juan beamed.
"Good, then let's get started on the instrumental parts so you can get started on your singing. Into your booths, men!" Jon commanded jokingly.
Sly picked up his guitar to go to one of the isolation booths, but as he passed the window that looked into the studio, he mouthed these words to Emily.
"Almost doesn't count."
Song credit: "Almost Doesn't Count," Written by Shelly Peiken & Guy Roche from Mark Wills' album, Permanently.