 |
||
The Quintessential Q
Chapter Fourteen
Secret Faces
Deception 11am.
Ned walks into Emily's office. "Em, what are your plans for...." He looks around and sees an empty office. Then he sees the portrait. "Holy Shit!" He walks over to the portrait and stares down at it. For a half a second he hadn't recognized who it was. The expression was one that he had never seen on Emily's face before-- cold and regal. Strong yes, but always warm and giving. The dark blood red fingertips extend over the arms of the chair, her arms tightly dressed in an outfit that matched her nails. The skirt flows down over her legs but the bodice of the dress is form fitting and low cut. Emily's skin is pale, paler than he'd ever seen outside of the time that she had been in the hospital. And her eyes...
"Did you find her? Has she already made lunch plans?" Jax runs into the back of Ned. Then he steps aside to see what is fascinating Ashton. A chill runs up his spine. "Is that..."
"Emily. In another universe or dimension." Ned nods. Ned goes over to the desk and pulls up Emily's schedule. "She's already left for the day. Her last appointment was with the Vogue rep that she had a shoot with this weekend."
"Looks like your little cousin is all grown up, mate." Jax's eyes are drawn back to the portrait. "I can't believe the difference-- she looks like some pagan queen overseeing a sacrifice. No insult intended but up until right now I never saw Em as a model. I mean, I dated models and she's nothing like them."
"Thank God." Ned breaths out heavily. "I think I'm beginning to think like grandfather."
"Lay down until it passes."
"Come on, this is EMILY. This modeling thing can't be good for her. Look what it did to Brenda!"
"The way I look at it, Mate, you don't have a chance in Hades of getting her to quit unless she wants to. The girl has been taking lessons. She's been kicking ass around here. The R&D nerds would kill for her. And the art department is actually rational-- which is something I've never seen in a 'creative' company. Absenteeism is at an all time low. And I haven't heard a single disgruntled employee. Disgruntled minority stockholder perhaps."
"They just hate Katherine."
"That too. Speaking of disgruntled minority share holder, you seen Katherine here today?"
"She's off counting paperclips somewhere. Trying to stay out of my sight." Ned fumes.
"HOHO-- trouble with the ex?" Jax grins.
"I don't want to talk about it. Lets go to lunch. For some reason I'm in the mood for some red meat."
11am at the Second floor nurses station.
Emily is talking to Bobbie. "Okay here is my list; I need room numbers on these people and any dietary restrictions or allergies. Have you talked to any of these folks is there-- anything that they need?"
Bobbie looks over the list. "This guy loves Tom Clancy-- intestine resectioning from too much red meat probably. This lady is doing her first round of cancer treatment. You remember what that is like?"
Emily winces. "Her hair starting to come out in clumps yet?"
"Yeah, She's being brave but it's scary. This little guy busted his leg in about 3 places skateboarding. I'm not looking forward to when he finally gets out of traction and into a wheel chair. He reminds me of Lucky. He'll probably be popping wheelies and running over nurses. This last one is a preemie up on the neonatal floor. His parents have been here day and night since he was born."
"Okay, thanks. I'm suppose to meet Mom in an hour down in the cafeteria unless I can talk her into walking down to Kelly's. Will you let her know I'm in the building and to just page me?"
"Sure Em."
"Hard ones first" Emily says to herself after first making a stop down in the gift shop. She heads off to the too familiar cancer wing where she'd lost her mother and darn near lost Monica too. She finds the room she is looking for and knocks then enters. There is the sound of retching coming from the bathroom, then the sound of the toilet being flushed and water running. A woman comes out of the bathroom and leans against the doorway. "Almost makes you wish you were living out west, doesn't it? Pot would settle your stomach and let you eat. Hell, it makes you ravenous." Emily holds out her hand extending a bouquet of flowers with a simple card. "I'm Emily. You go to Queen of Angels with me. I want you to know there are a lot of people praying for you. But since miracles can take awhile, how about I teach you some of the tricks I learned from my Moms?"
"What kind of tricks?"
"The kind that make it okay to look in a mirror when you'd rather be breaking it."
"That in itself would be a miracle."
"Nope, a little feminine magic but no miracle." Emily has the woman take a seat and reaches into her bag of tricks pulling out a makeup bag. "You are actually doing me a favor here. I just got this from the guys over at R&D at Deception. You know the cosmetic company? It's something that you wear under your base makeup to take the hospital pallor out of your skin." Emily keeps up a patter of conversation as she swiftly makes up the woman's face. The final touch is a wildly funky silk scarf that Emily wraps into a turban. She takes a step back to look at the woman. "I think that you're ready for the mirror now." She offers the woman a mirror. "What do you think?"
"I look... okay. Better than I've felt for awhile. Thank you."
"No problem. I'm going to leave the base coat with you. Here is one of my cards. Let me know how it works for you; the guys in R&D live for people appreciating the stuff they discover. And this is the card of a shop that does really great wigs. Some people hate wigs though and go the scarf or baseball cap route. But if you've ever dreamed of being a mysterious blonde or a fiery redhead this is the time!" Emily rises. "If it's okay with you, I'd like to come back."
"I think I'd like that."
"Good." Emily strides out the door taking a deep breath as she leaves. Next neonatal. Emily makes all her stops finishing with the grumpy old man dealing with his resectioned intestine. She leaves him his flowers and card. He continues to be a grouch until Emily hands him Rainbow Six, Clancy's latest fiction. "I hoped that you didn't already have this one since it was still in hardback. Gees it's thick enough to last you for longer than you're going to be in the hospital."
"Well you must not read Clancy then, young lady. I'm not going to put this down until I'm finished."
"Then I guess you won't be sleeping much. The nurses are going to kill me."
"I won't tell." The man's eyes take on a wicked gleeful glint. Emily is paged over the intercom.
She looks down at her watch and winces. "I was suppose to meet my mom 45 minutes ago."
"Go, Go-- I've got something to do and you are just slowing me down."
"Do you read his nonfiction?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Just wondering. See you later." Emily waves cheerfully as she leaves the room and makes her way down to the nurses station. Monica is looking around for her. "Sorry Mom, I ran into someone I knew from church and we got talking. Do you still have time for lunch?"
"Sure honey, but I'm afraid it is going to be the cafeteria rather than Kelly's."
"That would be fine." Monica and Emily take the elevator down to the cafeteria and move swiftly through the lines picking out the stuff that seems least toxic. Emily takes a sip of her coffee. "OH UGH that is TERRIBLE. Why can't the hospital get some decent coffee? I'm sure Sonny would cut you a break."
"Em, I'm the acting chief of STAFF. Coffee is Stefan's department."
"There is no hope then." Emily sighs. "Stefan still blames Jason for Nikolas getting shot. Maybe the nurses could go out on strike or something."
"Bite your tongue. That's my worst nightmare. It feels like I haven't seen you since Cook got married. What have you been doing?" Emily hits the highlights avoiding any mention of Carly to keep Monica from getting stressed. And she also avoids any mention of Nikolas or Johnny including Johnny pulling the gun on Nik. And she goes on to avoid any mention of her adventures eluding the cops on her motorcycle. Monica is quickly caught up on Emily's sanitized version of her life. "It sounds like you've been keeping busy. Have you seen Michael lately?" Monica asks. She hasn't seen her grandson forever thanks to that gold digging, bitch Carly.
Emily takes a deep breath. This might get ugly. Michael conversations led to Carly conversations that normally lead to raised voices and vulgarities. "Sure, yesterday at church; like I do every Sunday. I met Jason over at his place and went to church with him and Michael. After we went to Cook's son's restaurant. You really should try it, Mom; he put on an excellent brunch." Emily tries to drag things out with a description of the menu.
"And then after brunch what happened then?" Monica asks tight lipped.
"Oh Look-- There is Nik Cassadine. I need to touch base with him about something we have planned with Lucky and Liz. I'll be right back." Emily rises and quickly makes her way over to Nik who is just seating a volunteer with him at the table. "Save me!"
Nik looks around and doesn't seen any imminent threat. "From whom?"
"Questions from my mother I REALLY don't want to answer. All I need is a few minutes and then she has to go back to surgery." There is the soft clearing throat sound from Nik's companion.
"Excuse me, that was rude. Emily, you remember Victoria Porter. She is going to be volunteering at the hospital."
"Of course, we met at your father's wedding."
Viki makes a barely perceptible flinch. "Yes. I remember you now."
"Have you heard from the Judge or Cook?"
"No. But I didn't expect to either. They are suppose to be back in a few days. I'll be moving back to the dorms then." Viki rearranges the silverware on the table. Was this girl ever going to leave?
"I think Cook told me that you go to PCU? Or was it Rita? Your sister and I have become quite good friends since being in the wedding together and now that she is staying with my brother and his wife while your folks are on their honeymoon."
"My sister has... eclectic tastes in friends." Viki replies with poorly hidden derision. "It's one of the reasons I stayed here in Port Charles-- to keep Rita out of trouble. It's always seemed to follow her home anyway. My father spoils her rotten." Viki shakes her head.
Emily looks carefully at the slim, pretty blonde and does a mental assessment of Viki's comments. Was it her imagination or had this little princess just slammed all of her own family and then started in on Rita's friends (which included Em and Carly). "Have you been to your brother's restaurant yet? He's got all of Cooks skills and I think her rocky disposition as well."
"Johnny Cook is your brother?" Nik asks questioningly. "I can vouch for his rocky disposition. Master of understatement there, Em."
"Yeah, but he also made the cake at the wedding too. I don't think you can complain about that."
"I don't have a brother." Viki says flatly.
Emily looks at Viki and then at Nik. "I think I've already seen this movie before." Emily glances over at Monica and sees her glancing down at her watch and then rising. "The coast is clearing. If you'll excuse me, thanks for the rescue, Nik. And Viki-- it's been interesting to see you again." Emily walks over to join Monica.
"What exactly did she mean by that?" Viki asks with narrowed eyes.
"Only that when I first came to Port Charles, I had a brother I didn't claim either. Things have changed a lot since then. Emily and my brother's girlfriend, Liz had much to do with it. It also made things easier on my mother for her two sons to get along. Since Lucky and I are both stubborn people it took a long time. We're friendly now but there is still an undercurrent as we're still on guard with each other to maintain the truce we've formed."
"I see why my sister enjoys Emily's company. She seems like a charming girl." Viki places a emphasis on the girl trying to change the subject from her father's dirty laundry that was coming back to roost while minimizing the competition.
"She's one of the first people I met in Port Charles. And yes, she's never been anything but a kind and charming woman to me and a Very dear friend. Because her mother works here at the hospital, you'll probably run into her again." Nikolas brings his comments back to the general. He is distracted by the beeper at his belt. "I hate these things. I only wear it when I'm at work here in the hospital. If you'll excuse me..." Nik rises and walks over to the pay phone to return a phone call from the realtor.
"First the brat and then the phone." Viki mutters to herself. She smiles brightly as Nik returns to the table. "I know this seems off the wall but you don't happen to play tennis do you?"
"It's been a while." Nik replies reluctantly with the exception of fencing the only sports he enjoyed are solitary pursuits where the only person he is challenging is himself.
"I'm in a real bind. I've got a reservation with some friends for a mixed doubles match. It's friendly not to competitive but my partner had a family emergency. I was wondering if you could help me out?"
"Like I said, it's been awhile."
"Oh come on. It'll be fun." Viki coaxes.
Nik sighs then smiles politely. "When and where?"