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Ever Wonder How Nikolas and Emily became NikE?
What's In A Name

The couple began their search by reading about Constance Quartermaine and Blackthorn the Pirate in an old journal that had been discovered. The clues within the journal would hopefully lead them to the treasure. The treasure was eventually discovered, but not before a near drowning and a strange murder left the two wondering if it was all worth it.

The treasure was set to be auctioned off at the Port Charles Hotel in a grand gesture that would finally see the Cassadine fortune restored. A traumatic hotel fire changed everything, however. Many barely escaped with their lives. In the last moments before the final explosion that utterly destroyed the building, Nikolas placed a wounded Emily on a helicopter and sent her off to safety. She tearfully watched from the air as the building exploded around him. Emily let out a terrible, desperate scream. How could anyone survive that?

Family members tried to console Emily and help her accept that Nikolas had perished in the blaze. It had been days since the fire went out and she still had no proof and could not accept that he was dead. Sitting at his desk in Wyndemere, clutching his shirt and looking at his picture, she tried to come to grips with the fact that he was truly gone from her life. This would not be the case, however. Nikolas appeared in the doorway, battered and bruised but determined to get back to his Emily. The couple reunited, only to face the next crushing blow. Zander was believed to have been in the building at the time of the fire and Nikolas was now wanted for his murder. An apparent blow to the head left him unconscious and unable to escape the burning building.

Zander was still alive, however. Appearing to Emily briefly in the park but not saying anything led her to believe that she was imagining things. She began to have nightmares and was haunted by terrible feelings of guilt over how she had ended things with him. Nikolas tried his best to alleviate her fears and sense of guilt over Zander's drastic self destructive behavior. Finally, looking for peace of mind, Emily went to the cottage that they had shared briefly as husband and wife. She began speaking to the empty room, asking Zander to forgive her. She had made promises that she couldn't keep and she had let him down. Zander suddenly appeared and demanded that she leave the country with him. He thought she still loved him and that they would be happy again - away from Nikolas. Through a lot of discussion, Emily began to get through to him. But it would be too late. Police now surrounded the house. They were ready to take Zander into custody and wanted him to surrender peacefully. As he and Emily walked from the house, Zander pushed her to the side and pulled a gun from his coat, drawing the gunfire of several policemen. He died several minutes later in Emily's sobbing arms.

Meanwhile, Nikolas was on his way home from the airport and a cancelled business meeting. When he heard the shocking news of the shooting on the radio of his car, Nikolas began to turn the car around and head for the cottage. In his panicked state, he ran the car off the road and suffered a severe head injury. Dazed and confused, he stumbled from the wrecked vehicle and into some nearby woods. Fate took a cruel turn as Nikolas collapsed at the doorstep of Mrs. Mary Bishop.

Mary dragged his lifeless body into her home and shut the door. When he awoke, Nikolas found that he had no memory of who he was or where he had come from. He immediately confronted Mary about his identity. She assured him that he was her husband home from the war in Iraq. Mary's real husband, Connor, had recently lost his life during the war. Consumed with grief, Mary saw Nikolas's arrival as her opportunity to escape the loneliness and isolation that had consumed her since her husband's death.

For months, Mary continued the lie. And Nikolas, now calling himself Connor, tried his best to settle into a life in which he felt out of place and uncertain. He and Mary grew closer despite his misgivings and eventually the two decided to renew their wedding vows. "Connor" felt drawn to a Mexican vacation spot that he read about and made arrangements for them to travel there for the ceremony. Unbeknownst to him he had, as Nikolas, already purchased tickets for he and Emily to go spend time there as a getaway. Emily and Nikolas' brother, Lucky decided to use the tickets and try to gain some focus after the turmoil of loosing a fiancée and brother. Emily had held up well, but was still grieving.

It was in Los Rocos, Mexico that Emily finally spotted Nikolas peering out over a balcony right beside her own. She was stunned to learn that he was now "in love" with a war widow and had no idea that he had been lied to since the accident. Fearful that simply coming out with the truth would cause her to loose him all over again, she kept the knowledge of who he was to herself. Instead she befriended him and learned all that Mary had done to keep him isolated and away from his family. "Connor" felt an instant attraction to his attentive new friend. She was beautiful and easy to be with since she didn't expect anything from him. Emily was able to encourage "Connor" to seek hypnosis and other forms of memory therapy in an effort to gain his memory back. He was grateful for her help and began calling her when encouraging news came from the doctors. Their easy friendship turned intimate one night when Emily took "Connor" on a tour of Wyndemere. It felt right to them both, but the moment was shattered when "Connor" received a call that Mary had almost drowned in the river near her home. Racked with guilt, he vowed to stay by his wife's side and told Emily that they could no longer see one another.

What they didn't know was that Mary had seen them together and realized that her charade was nearly over. She became desperate and told "Connor" she wanted to get pregnant. Learning this news set Emily on a new course. She was determined to bring Nikolas home with her immediately. She didn't waste any time in confronting Mary and insisting on telling Nikolas the truth. Nikolas, however, already thought he knew the truth and threw Emily out. He believed that she was a woman from his past who was attempting to ruin his marriage and he shouted at her to leave at once. In tears, Emily ran to Lucky, convinced that it was finally over with Nikolas.

In the end, it was Mary herself who let the truth out. Believing that Emily had told him who he was, she called Nikolas by his real name. This sent him reeling into a fiery rage directed at everyone. He promptly left Mary and moved back into Wyndemere, but was bitter and hurt by all the lies. Nikolas shut down on everyone who loved him and began drinking heavily. This gave Helena a perfect opportunity to swoop in and try to steal the Cassadine fortune. She set out to prove that Nikolas was incompetent and mentally unstable.

Emily stayed close and tried to make Nikolas know that she continued to love him, despite everything that had happened. He rejected her time and again; insisting that she couldn't possibly love him. She didn't know him. And more importantly he didn't know himself. When Helena tried to have Nikolas committed to a mental hospital, Lucky and Emily helped him to escape the police and Emily hid him in her family's boathouse on the Quartermaine estate. He was beginning to trust her, but hated seeing the hurt in her eyes when he looked at her. It was painful for him not being able to remember and be the man she needed him to be. He planned to go on the run to avoid his grandmother and the police who now wanted him on assault charges.

Things changed, however, when he overheard a conversation between Emily and her mother. Monica pleaded with Emily to let Nikolas go and the two of them discussed Jason's memory loss. Monica talked about how desperate she had been to have her son back and that she ended up pushing him away and making their relationship worse. She told Emily to move on and live her life again. Nikolas suddenly realized that he didn't want her to let go and asked her to forgive him. The two made love that night and promised to start over with each other, with or without the memories.

Although Nikolas and Emily were together at last, their troubles were far from over. Helena and the police were still after Nikolas. Mary offered her help in getting him out of the country, but Emily was emphatic about not trusting her. Nikolas decided to go with Emily's plan of having a psychological evaluation that would prove his sanity before Helena could have him committed to Shadybrook. While he waited in the boathouse for Emily to return with the Doctor, Helena arrived with three orderlies who overpowered Nikolas and took him away. When Emily arrived at the empty boathouse, Mary was there...but no Nikolas. She was devastated to learn that he had been taken to Shadybrook and heavily medicated.

Trying to get through to him proved impossible for Emily, as the medication was in such high doses that he had almost no idea what was going on. Helena was determined to turn her nephew into the Prince she always imagined him to be. She tried to brainwash Nikolas into rejecting Emily and embracing only his Cassadine legacy. Although initially loosing the battle to Helena, he was able to fight back and soon started palming his medication. Emily became close to Nikolas by having herself committed to the institution for a twenty-four hour period. Nikolas was afraid for her safety but relieved to see her and let her know that he was alright. Unfortunately, Helena saw her, as well. She promptly had Emily restrained and drugged and locked in a nearby room. It didn't take Nikolas long to find her. He was deeply affected by seeing what his Grandmother had done to her and began screaming at the orderlies and at Helena to let her go. Instead he was removed from her side and thrown back into his own room. It was in that moment that all of Nikolas's memories flooded back to him. After five long months, Nikolas Casssadine finally knew who he was. Relief flooded over him, as well as a fierce determination to free his love from Helena's clutches.

Miraculously, Nikolas managed to escape the institution with Emily over his shoulder. He returned with her to the boathouse, trying not to be seen. Once inside, Emily began to become aware of what was going on and he shared the news of his memory returning. The couple blissfully shared the moment, finally knowing each other completely again.

Peace for them would be short lived, however. Mary had become more and more unhinged at the reality of Nikolas leaving her for Emily. In her mind, Nikolas was really Connor and Emily needed to be eliminated so that they could be together again. She went on a tragic rampage at the Quartermaine mansion that night, stabbing two teenagers. As fate would have it, Emily narrowly missed being Mary's next victim. Nikolas was shocked to learn that Mary had become so dangerous and he blamed himself for what was happening. When he and Mac cornered Mary back at the boathouse, Nikolas shot her to protect Emily. Although Mary survived the shooting, she died the next day at General Hospital of suspicious causes relating to her medication.

Emily soon became the prime suspect in Mary's murder after it was revealed that she was the last one to see Mary when she gave her the medication. During the investigation, Nikolas proposed to Emily, again, while at Kelly's. She enthusiastically agreed. After they asked Elizabeth and Lucky to be the best man and maid of honor, the four musketeers set out to plan a wedding and clear Emily's name.

Upon hearing of the couple's engagement, Helena and Tracy teamed up to keep the nuptials from happening. During a surprise engagement party, Helena put a curse on Emily to prevent the couple from ever having happiness. That night horrible things began to happen; a ruined wedding dress, spider bites and near drowning, fainting and mysterious illness and deaths. Finally, Nikolas whisked Emily off to Garden of Aphrodite to kiss her in the lover's garden. The spell was broken and the twosome headed back to Port Charles.

Once home Helena confronted Emily on the bluffs of Spoon Island. She was nearly successful at pushing Emily off the cliff until Nikolas rushed to her rescue. Nikolas having had enough of his granny's delusional tries at running his life, threw Helena off the cliff and the twosome agreed to never talk of what actually happened. Unfortunately, they were not the only ones on the bluffs that night and a darker cloud was about to move in on their lives. Connor, Mary's "dead" husband, had returned to seek revenge for his wife's death.

After kidnapping Emily, right out of the bathtub, Connor took her back to the cabin where Mary had lived. Emily tried to reason with the man and get him to understand that his wife had become mentally unstable. Just as it appeared to be working, Nikolas came bursting through the door. As the two men were armed and willing to shoot the other, Emily tried to get them to lower their weapons and let things go peacefully. A struggle ensued and the gun went off.

Connor was rushed to the hospital, where he told Elizabeth and then Lucky that Nikolas had pushed Helena off the cliff. The twosome immediately put their heads together with Nikolas and Emily on the best way to extract Connor from thier lives. Nikolas and Lucky decided that the best way was to turn Connor into the MP's. Emily disagreed and helped Connor to escape. Nikolas was completely surprised to arrive home and find Connor there.

When Emily explained her reasoning to Nikolas, he did not agree with it, but told her he would go along with it. In the days afterward, Connor started to open up to Emily about his life with Mary and why he went AWOL. Emily used this chance to show Connor Mary's diary, explaining what Mary had done. Emily felt that she was getting through to Connor until he made a pass at her. When Nikolas found out, he immediately wanted to kick Connor out and confess to the police about what he had done. Emily did not want to hear this. Eventually, Connor was turned over to the MP's and Nikolas confessed to killing Helena.

Nikolas was arrested and things were set in motion for his trial. Emily still wanted to proceed with the wedding, even though Nikolas thought it was being unfair to her. After much persuading, Mac finally agreed to try and get a judge to allow the couple to get married. Tensions ran high as Nikolas and Emily awaited word from Mac. When he returned, he brought good news...the wedding would proceed.

Emily immediately rushed to get everything in place, with the help of her maid of honor, Elizabeth. It was a wedding set for a Prince to marry his Princess. Nikolas and Emily exchanged their vows in a church filled with thier family and friends. There were some laughter and a lot of tears, but at the end Father Coates pronounced them husband and wife. Mr. & Mrs. Cassadine went straight to the Quartermaine mansion for a reception that included all the traditions expected. Once the party was over, the newly wedded couple were escorted, by the PCPD, to a hotel for their wedding night.

They awoke in the morning in each other's arms happy, but at the same time sad. For they knew that Nikolas would be taken back to jail very shortly. Emily was so distressed at having her beloved taken away from her, knowing that he was facing a prison sentence for killing Helena. Pulling on her strong will, she raced over to the PCPD to stand beside her husband and support him.