Freedom's Just Another Word

by Rebel

1:25pm

Jake's Place.

Nikolas motioned Coleman over to refill his glass for the third time.

Tonight he was celebrating his freedom.

How ironic his life was turning out to be. As devastating as it was when Emily asked for a divorce, he hadn't seen a reason to fight it. What did he have to give while he was facing a life term in prison? His Emily, his heart, his soul, deserved to be happy even if he was going to rot in jail for the rest of his life. So with a heavy heart he'd signed his name and set her free.

An hour later the guards dragged him from his cell again. A beaming Alexis was waiting for him with the wonderful news. A judge had overturned his conviction. He'd been swayed by the dozen sworn affidavits attesting to Helena's lurking presence in Port Charles. He was a free man.

But it was too late for his marriage. All that was left of Emily at Wyndemere were her lingering cosmetic touches. In reality, Emily left Port Charles weeks ago with no forwarding address.

The Quartermaines threatened to have him arrested when he arrived on their doorstep, so he'd gone to Lucky for answers. No amount of browbeating his brother had pried Emily's location out of him. Lucky infuriated him further by saying that it was best if he just left Emily alone. "If she wanted to be with you, she'd still be here. She's been through enough, leave her alone."

Hurt and angry, Nikolas swung out at his brother and they'd ended up tearing apart Lucky's room above Kelly's. Liz's arrival at the doorway had ended the brawl. Bruised and depressed, Nikolas had retreated to the bar.

To drown the pain.

To nurse his broken heart.

No.

To celebrate.

He raised his glass in bitter salute.

To freedom. Cassadine men: always free, forever alone.

Raucous laughter from the makeshift dance floor caught his attention and he turned around on his bar stool to get a better look. The jukebox was playing a tune he didn't recognize. A blonde young woman revolved on the floor, sandwiched by two drunks who had their sweaty hands all over her. He found the display rather distasteful but given where he'd been until this afternoon, not that shocking. He was about to turn away until the woman thrust her chin up so her face was fully revealed. Startling blue eyes in a beautiful face, jaw set in angry defiance.

It was Maxie Jones.

He hadn't seen her in months and months, long before he went to prison. She'd disappeared from view shortly after Zander's death. He'd never had many dealings with her outside of the hospital, but she always seemed like a nice girl. Conscientious, a big heart. What was she doing at Jake's with men pawing after her?

Nikolas considered the advisability of calling Mac Scorpio when the decision was made for him. The taller of the two men grabbed Maxie by the back of neck and kissed her roughly. She struggled against the kiss while the other dance partner chortled. "She's a live one, Earl. Let's get her upstairs for some fun." Maxie broke the kiss by kicking the man in the shin.

Forgetting the damage from his earlier brawl with Lucky, Nikolas was off the bar stool toward the escalating scene. He landed and absorbed several punches before Coleman broke it up and kicked the drunks out.

Panting out of exertion from the fight, Nikolas turned his attention to Maxie. "Are you all right? Did they hurt you?"

"Where do you get off butting in?" Maxie spat, wiping the drunk's ugly kiss off her mouth with the back of her hand.

"What?! Those guys where assaulting you!"

"And I was handling it," Maxie bristled. "You don't know me so stay out of my business."

"Fine, I'll stay out of it ," Nikolas retorted, pulling out his cell phone. "Just as soon as I give Mac a call and tell him where you are."

Maxie snatched his cell phone out of his hand, dropped it on the floor and ground it under her heel. "Not going to happen."

"You just broke my cell phone!" Nikolas was absolutely incensed.

"So?! You just ruined my good time." Maxie turned her back to him and headed toward the bar. Pulling a bill from the pocket of her jeans, she slapped it on the bar. "Yo, Coleman. Another Budweiser!"

Coleman shook his head. "You'd had enough, Honey. Time for you to take off before you cause more trouble."

She raised her voice. "I'm going to cause a hell of a LOT MORE TROUBLE if you don't SERVE ME NOW."

"No way, Sugar. You know the rules. You can come here so long as you don't make a scene."

Maxie shoved off the bar. "FINE. I'm out of here."

Nikolas grabbed her elbow before she made it through the door. "Where do you think you're going?"

Maxie yanked her arm free and glared at him fiercely. Nik let go in the face of her piercing eyes. "Get your hands off me if you want to keep them."

"What's wrong with you, Maxie? I'm just trying to make sure you're okay and you're acting like I'm a criminal. What have I ever done to you."

"It's people like you and Emily.... "

"Woah. What's this got to do with Emily?"

"If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you."

"Listen, if your issue is because of Emily..." Nikolas began again. "We're divorced."

Maxie laughed. "Boy it didn't take her long, did it?"

Nikolas blinked "Those drunks could still be out there waiting for you. I just want to make sure you get home safely. "

"Oh I just bet you do. Is that what you said to Emily before you took her away from Zander? Before you KILLED HIM?!"

"What?!"

"You and Emily. You didn't care who you hurt so long as you were together. The ultimate uber couple. Emily had her Prince Charming - Everyone was supposed to be happy for her. Well not me!" She crossed her arms and studied Nikolas more closely. "I guess you weren't much of a Prince after all, were you. Too bad she didn't figure that out before destroying Zander."

"You were a friend of Zander's."

"I was a friend of Zander's and now he's dead." She raised her chin defiantly. "And I'm not going to be another notch on your headboard, Nikolas Cassadine. Not everyone is gullible enough to fall for that 'charming' act of yours. Stay out of my way and we won't have any problems."

Nikolas shook his head. "And I'm supposed to let her walk out of here."

"Yep," Coleman piped up from behind the bar. "She's been doing this nearly every night since Zander got himself killed."

ARGH, I went over

2:35pm