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The Quintessential Q
Chapter One Hundred
(that's right the century mark) It's My Life
The last of the guests leave Spoon Island. Maddy looks around the ballroom and absently starts picking up glasses and consolidates them into one area for the cleaning staff to pick up.
"Leave those." Stefan insists breaking form enough to loosen his tie. "Mrs Lansbury has a staff coming in to put the place to rights."
"Sorry. Habit." Maddy grins. "It was a pretty good party for a bunch of stiffs."
"Thank you I think." Stefan says wryly. "Actually Thank you, Madeliene."
"For what?"
"Dealing with..." Stefan tries to remember what Maddy had called her. "Cruella DeVille."
"Every party has one." Maddy shrugs. "There's an old saying about it not being a party until something gets broken. I try not to buy into that one."
"Well the something broken at a Cassadine Gathering is usually human."
"Read about that one in the papers. Katherine Bell taking a swan dive off the parapet." Maddy remembers. "Good thing this was in October. Not too many people wanting to freeze their toes off out on a parapet tonight."
"My mother is... difficult." Stefan understates carefully.
"Niknik says she is evil." Maddy cuts to the chase. She goes over to the picked over buffet table and finds something to nibble on. "And he doesn't want to know why."
"It is too late for why. It is sufficient to know that it is and take precautions accordingly."
"Well I got the feeling that Mrs L and Nik both gave orders for her to not be allowed into the party."
"My mother has her ways." Stefan is resigned to Helena's disruptive presence.
"Probably the smugglers tunnels under this place." Maddy guesses accurately. "You really got to wonder how this place stays standing with as many tunnels as there are underneath. The place should sink like Atlantis with such an undermined foundation."
"Yes, I think it long overdue for me to start closing off those access points."
"Concrete does wonders. You could ask Nik whom he recommends. He's got some good connections with the trades now." Maddy suggests. "You can still get through but I bet you'd hear the jackhammers as they were trying to break in."
"I'll take it under advisement." Stefan hands Maddy a small plate for her grazing. He'd discovered over the course of their association that Maddy's high metabolism demanded frequent feedings. She never turned down food. "I am in your debt for this evening." Maddy looks at him blankly. "I owe you a favor-- for making everything go so smoothly. I believe you collect them."
"If you're offering one then I'll take it." Maddy shrugs.
"And bank it for the future." Stefan nods knowingly. A favor from him... at least two from Nikolas, Maddy's favor account is growing steadily.
"Yeah, that's the thing with favors. You never know when you're going to need one. Better to have one to spare." Maddy covers a yawn. "Sorry. That was rude."
"It's been a long night. Let me take you back into town."
"Nik's not going to be at the house." Maddy warns. "He was driving Emily over to Carly Quartermaine's house. You can bet he'd going to make the most of the opportunity."
This is the golden opportunity. Nik realizes. The moment he'd been waiting for since realizing Emily was all grown up. That had happened the night of the Cook/Porter Wedding at the Quartermaine estate. It seems only fitting that on the night they are all celebrating the nuptials of Ned and Alexis that he make his move. Removing one hand from the wheel he pats the pocket of his jacket. Yes, it's there. His mother's engagement ring. Emily is still a minor but only by months.
"It was a pretty good party. I think Alexis and Ned had a good time." Em's voice breaks into his thoughts. "Even with Helena showing up."
"Yes, luckily Maddy was able to contain her."
Emily snickers. "I love watchin' Maddy blindside people. They never know what hit them."
"You do the same thing."
"Excuse me?" Emily turns in the front passenger seat of the jag. She quirks a brow at Nikolas' comment. "I'm not anything like Maddy."
"You have different styles, it's true. But you both allow yourselves to be underestimated."
"I knew from day one that Maddy was a player." Emily shakes her head.
"Perhaps you had an advantage over the rest of us, having spent more time with Carly Quartermaine." Nik turns into the drive to the Happy Family house and pulls up to the front door. Emily is looking around intently and looks somewhat disappointed. "Is something wrong?"
"No, not really. I was kind of hoping Johnny would be here by now. He must have gotten hung up at work." Em says absently. "I called him from the island and he said he was going to try to get here at a decent time."
"Cook." Nikolas says grimly. "I didn't realize you would be meeting him, that you were seeing him."
Emily unfastens her seatbelt. "You don't know how much it means to me that you've been so patient... so understanding with me. You're a good friend, Nikolas. I've almost blown it with you so many times... throwing myself at you. And you were always a perfect gentleman with me. I cringe when I think about the way I threw myself at you when I was so mad at Grandfather after Cookie and Judge's wedding."
"Em..."
"No, let me finish okay? I just want you to know how important you are to me. If there is ever anything you need... anything I can do for you. I want to be there for you the way you've always been there for me." Impulsively Emily reaches over and plants a kiss on Nikolas' cheek and then reaches for the door handle. She is out of the car and to the door to the house before Nikolas can react. Looking back over her shoulder she waves at Nikolas and steps into the house.
Damn. Nikolas steps out of the car. It isn't going to go like this. Walking around to the front door he raps impatiently.
"Nik?" Emily asks curiously.
"Now it's my turn." Nik steps into the house and shuts the door carefully behind him.
Nik pulls up to Wyndemere Lite, staring up at the project he'd put so much into. So much wasted time. Emily had tried to spare him revealing his feelings for her by making her feelings for Cook clear first. Had she realized? Or was she just being kind. He wouldn't put it past her. He slams his open hand against the steering wheel of the jag. Damnit. Damn her. No, Damn me. I'm the one who procrastinated. The one who treated her like a child. Looking back he'd had so many opportunities. Opportunities blown. From the Christmas that Emily had kissed him outside the mansion so many years ago. He'd blown her off and gone to Katherine. Katherine! "I'm an idiot." Sliding out of the car, he stares up at the monument he'd built to Emily. "Oh for a couple of gallons of gas and a match."
As the dark and disparing thoughts race through his brain a pounding beat reverburates through him. At first he thinks it is internal another sign he's slipped over the edge. Then he realizes it's coming from inside the house. The kitchen lights are on as is the back porch light. Maddy's there. So much for being able to burn the place down in peace. Sighing heavily he drags himself up the backstairs as he reaches to insert his key he realizes the windows are vibrating with the volume of the music. It's one AM; sure, it's a Saturday but still the middle of the night. He looks in the window of the back door and sees Maddy dancing in the middle of the kitchen. She still wears the cheongsam but has ditched the narrow black full length skirt she'd worn beneath it. Tossing her head abruptly to the side, loosens the comb that had held her hair in the intricate twist and her hair falls down around her face. Nikolas realizes Maddy is singing along with the song. Not a blues number, not a jazz number but a defiant rock anthem. He frowns and concentrates on the words.
THIS AIN'T A SONG FOR THE BROKEN-HEARTED
NO SILENT PRAYER FOR THE FAITH-DEPARTED
I AIN'T GONNA BE JUST A FACE IN THE CROWD
YOU'RE GONNA HEAR MY VOICE
WHEN I SHOUT IT OUT LOUD
IT'S MY LIFE
IT'S NOW OR NEVER
I AIN'T GONNA LIVE FOREVER
I JUST WANT TO LIVE WHILE I'M ALIVE
(IT'S MY LIFE)
MY HEART IS LIKE AN OPEN HIGHWAY
LIKE FRANKIE SAID
I DID IT MY WAY
I JUST WANNA LIVE WHILE I'M ALIVE
IT'S MY LIFE
Nikolas comes into the kitchen, silently letting himself in-- not that she'd have noticed. Maddy's voice harmonizes with the lead singer's. Her voice is loud, clear and strong, demanding and insistent. It's impossible to not feel the music, feel the words. His breath quickens. A fire he'd contemplated and here it was. A flame in the middle of his kitchen burning in it's intensity, burning him, quickening him. Forcing him to look, unable to turn away.
THIS IS FOR THE ONES WHO STOOD THEIR GROUND
FOR TOMMY AND GINA WHO NEVER BACKED DOWN
TOMORROW'S GETTING HARDER MAKE NO MISTAKE
LUCK AIN'T EVEN LUCKY
GOT TO MAKE YOUR OWN BREAKS
Maddy turns around and sees Nikolas standing there. She pauses in mid step but just grins and shakes her head. If anything, her voice gets louder as sings along. If everyone has a theme song this is one of hers. Bon Jovi isn't her thing but she'd heard this on the radio one day on her way to the kiosks and the song had called to her. So many times life could have kicked her ass. Did kick her ass and she'd always kicked back. There was no way she'd end up like her mother. Looking for life through the bottom of a bottle of booze, a haze of pills and other drugs or Mr Right Now.
The visit from Pete had been great but it had also brought back memories of the worst of times as well. Granny Rosa hadn't been the first dead person she'd seen, but had been the first person she'd cared about. Granny's death had been the ultimate wake up call. She'd been the most caring, together, vibrant woman Maddy had ever known. One instant with a long life in front of her and the next with none-- just a bloody shell. Nobody knows how long they're going to be here.
Every second has to count. It just has to. Maddy works her way over to Nik with a smooth sideways move. Reaching out she takes his hands and tugs his resisting frame to the middle of the kitchen. Every move urging him to dance with her, to sing along with her. To realize it too...
IT'S MY LIFE
AND IT'S NOW OR NEVER
I AIN'T GONNA LIVE FOREVER
I JUST WANT TO LIVE WHILE I'M ALIVE
(IT'S MY LIFE)
MY HEART IS LIKE AN OPEN HIGHWAY
LIKE FRANKIE SAID
I DID IT MY WAY
I JUST WANT TO LIVE WHILE I'M ALIVE
'CAUSE IT'S MY LIFE
Nik pulls Maddy to him, their steps somehow meshing. He was no fast dancer by any gauge of the word but being classically trained he finds the beat and improvises. His hand firmly holding hers as his other slides to the base of her waist, spanning her back easily. Feeling the live wire running through her shocking him shocking him out of the place he'd been. But not completely-- the anger is still there, the fury and disappointment. The urge to control, to make the situation his own. Maddy stiffens in his arms and looks up into his eyes. She reads what she hadn't in his face before. She attempts to pull away. Nik holds her more firmly, sliding a thigh between hers backing her up, maintaining eye contract. Maddy's eyes narrow. Nik brings his face to hers ravishing her mouth kissing her hard.
BETTER STAND TALL WHEN THEY'RE CALLING YOU OUT
DON'T BEND, DON'T BREAK, BABY, DON'T BACK DOWN
Maddy clamps down on Nik's lower lip, drawing blood. At his instinctive inhale and winces of pain, she releases her bite and pushes with both hands, forcing Nikolas away from her and stumbling back herself. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Nikolas takes in her sudden change of demeanor and stance. Maddy has bladed her body to him making herself a less obvious target and her hands are clenched in fists at her sides. He recognizes the fighting stance from his training with Stefan.
"Maddy." Nikolas reaches a hand out to her. She sidesteps, maintaining the distance.
"Answer my question." Maddy demands in a growl. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Nothing... everything." Nik holds up a hand in front of his face in a stopping motion and then with the same hand runs it over his forehead and through his hair. His eyes close. Damn. She'd done nothing to deserve the way he'd tried to use her. Nothing but be there.
IT'S MY LIFE
AND IT'S NOW OR NEVER
'CAUSE I AIN'T GONNA LIVE FOREVER
I JUST WANT TO LIVE WHILE I'M ALIVE
(IT'S MY LIFE)
MY HEART IS LIKE AN OPEN HIGHWAY
LIKE FRANKIE SAID
I DID IT MY WAY
I JUST WANT TO LIVE WHILE I'M ALIVE
Nikolas walks over to the boombox and turns it off. The silence is thick between the two of them. Maddy keeps her distance suspicious of his every move. Nik exhales and goes over to the kitchen table sitting down like a martinette cut free of its strings. "I'm sorry. This isn't about you. That wasn't me."
"I know it wasn't about me but it sure as hell was you." Maddy crosses her arms in front of her, tilting her chin even further back. He wan't going to get away with pulling that crap with her. She positions herself between Nik and the doors. Either the back door or the basement-- the back door if it looked like escape was a necessary move... the basement if retreat behind the finest deadbolt on the market would be sufficient.
The words are pulled from Nikolas reluctantly. "Emily's with Johnny Cook. With him. Intimate."
Maddy shakes her head. "Em wouldn't tell you something like that. She doesn't kiss and tell. Well not to another guy anyway."
Nik goes rigid in his seat. "What do you know?"
"As much as you do but I don't see why it has anything to do with you. It's not like Em's your first. What gives you rights to be hers? Is this some Prince thing? Is she damaged goods now or something? Gawd Candy, it's not who gets there first it's who gets there last and sticks. And if you react to competition by jumping the first thing in your path-- talk about a Quartermaine style relationship."
"Then you think I have a chance..."
"I didn't say that. That's your call or rather Emily's. But I'll tell you something flat out right now; I'm not going to be some toy you pick up and play with when Em's not available."
"It's not like that!" Nik protests. The rest just seems to bubble up from within him. "I don't think about Em when I'm with you."
"Oh Bull, Candy. Maybe you need to stop lying to yourself. Figure out why the little sex games with me are about power and control. I let it slide once I won't again. Why is it when you're pissed you try to get over on me? Cause that is what it is... getting over. You want to be on top and in control. You don't wait for me to give it to you, you just grab and take."
"I said I was sorry."
"Sorry doesn't cut it. Sorry is just a word people use so a mark will drop their guard to be screwed over again later." Maddy moves in closer so that she is right behind Nik. Her words are a breath against his ear.
"It's my life, Nikolas Cassadine. I decide who stands beside me, who lies beneath me. I'll finish your house for you, plan your party but then I'm out of here."
Nik turns around to protest but in that whisper of time Maddy had already disappeared down into the basement.
Happy Family House. two AM Saturday night/Sunday morning. Emily banks the fire in the study. She relaxes against the couch staring into the flames with something soft playing on the stereo. At the sound of a door clicking behind her she turns around not too surprised to see Johnny standing there. "Hey."
"Hey yourself. I was surprised to get your call."
"Carly and AJ are out of town again this weekend. Everyone knows I hang here when they're gone. It gives me a break from the mansion."
Johnny leans over offering Emily his arm. She rises from the floor. He holds her at arms length and then raising his arm spins Emily slowly around like a music box ballerina. "You look beautiful."
Em sees his opinion mirrored in his eyes. "Thanks. Gary Winslow sent something for me and for Alexis to wear to the party tonight."
"How did that go?"
Emily pauses long. "It was... interesting. Guess who Maddy was there with?"
"Maddy was there? I didn't know she ran in those circles."
"I didn't realize how tight she was with Stefan either. I mean I know they play chess regularly." Emily leans in close. "She was Stefan's date. But that wasn't the weirdest part."
"It gets weirder?"
"Helena Cassadine was there. I thought sure Nikolas was going to blow a gasket. Alexis and Helena don't get along --it's a whole blackmailing attempted murder thing. Maddy stepped in before Nik could freak and started managing Helena."
"Managing?" Johnny laughs-- that he could believe.
"Oh yeah, isolated her away from the party next to the fire. Got her hot tea, treated her like she was at death's door with her hand on the bell. She stopped just short of getting her a laprobe or something. Fetched people to Helena and then intervened before they could tire her out."
"Ha. you mean before Helena could get any good plots going."
"Well yeah, but that wasn't what she was saying. After a few hours it was so clear that Helena wasn't going to be able to do any damage and she wasn't going to get next to Alexis or Nik so Helena decided to leave. And then get this... Maddy had Reese escort Helena to the launch to make sure she got down the stairs without breaking her hip."
Johnny starts cracking up but manages to ask. "Who is Reese?"
"Stefan's go to guy. Kinda like what you were doing for Jason and Sonny." Em shakes her head. "I've never really seen it work before."
"What's that?"
"Killin' 'em with kindness." Em pulls Johnny over to the couch and settles in next to him. "Scurge of Eastern Europe meets up with Port Charles' Steel Magnolia. At first glance it looked like Godzilla meets Bambi but Bambi won. Maddy's accent got as slow and thick as taffy. And it's not like Helena could really say anything-- I mean it appeared like she was the center of attention and getting everything she wanted right up until she didn't."
"Maddy's accent isn't that thick."
"It is when she's up to something." Emily reminds.
"Someone better warn Maddy that's only going to work once." Johnny warns. He hugs Emily close and tilts her head up to look at him. "Something is bothering you. Something else."
"Nik drove me to the house. I told him about us." Emily admits.
"Did he hurt you?" Johnny asks grimly. Candy ass rich boy used to getting his own way if he laid one finger on Emily he'd be losing body parts... the short ones first.
"No, I hurt him. I thought he'd be happy-- relieved. That I was over my crush. That I wouldn't be jumping him the next available opportunity." Emily explains. "It's not like he's been around much lately. He's been busy... always busy with something he wouldn't talk about." Emily sits up and looks at Johnny. "Was I out of line? Telling him about us I mean. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. Maybe I overstepped; maybe you don't feel the same way." Em offers insecurely.
"I got no problem with you telling him. I would have told him myself." Johnny pulls Emily back to him brushing her hair back. "Ma would kill me if she heard me talking like this but where you're concerned I feel... territorial." Johnny offers bewilderedly. He'd always thought of himself as a feminist. How could he not be with Cookie for a mother? Johnny knows exactly what women are capable of and unlike Jason or the boss didn't underestimate the so called weaker sex. Guys had it over them with brute strength but that was the only department where a guy could get over. And women have had centuries to learn how to compensate for that one department. "Em, are we going public?"
"Do you want to go public? You know what is going to happen. Grandfather is going to freak. Dad is going to freak. Mom is going to pull her hair out and when we go to Italy for Thanksgiving try to leave me there in some convent school. I have no idea how Ned will react."
"And your friends?"
"Well I think Nik will calm down. Lucky will be cool as long as you fix him some ribs. Maddy thinks you're the neatest thing since sliced bagels. And the rest of my friends-- well they're your family. The lab rats down at Deception might try to grill you; they're very protective. They were planning on storming the castle when I got put on restriction after Submarining Katherine."
"I dont have a problem with that." Johnny nods against the top of Emily's head. "Both of your brothers will be cool and Ms Benson too. I think Ma has been expecting this since before she wed the Judge."
"You mean when she aimed the bouquet at me?"
"Exactly." Johnny shifts around taking Emily with him until she is straddle him on the couch.
Em leans in balancing her hands on the arms of the couch and letting her hair hang down. Johnny slides his hands low on her hips. "You know Grandfather will expect you to court me."
"Court."
"Yeah, you know. Go out on dates with chaperones probably: dinner, the theater that kind of thing. Flowers, candy." Emily grinds against Johnny experimentally. He grips her more firmly against her hips. His fingers digging in some. "Course you know I won't get a bit of the candy. He'll take it all just to make sure you aren't drugging me with some kind of aphrodesiac. And you'll have to come to dinner at the mansion." Em leans in and nuzzles up against his neck. "He'll grill ya about your prospects."
Johnny groans. Em was definitely in her element unleashing the monster. He brings her face to him and stops the teasing commentary. "I'll take care of it. You aren't getting away from me now."
"I'm not going anywhere." Emily murmurs before covering his mouth with her own.
The End.