Nikolas: Got it.
Emily: Yeah? Let me see.
Nikolas: Our official marriage license, signed and sealed by the state of New York.
Emily: It's really happening, then. We're getting married.
Nikolas: Yeah, I kept pulling it out on the way home and reading it over and over, just to make sure.
Emily: We should have it framed, put it out on the mantel where everybody can -- oh, no, the salt. I --
Nikolas: Why do you have that? What does it do?
Emily: I was trying to get the stain out of Grandmother's dress. I'll clean it up. I --
Nikolas: No, no, no -- aren't you supposed to -- yeah, yeah, you take a pinch of salt and throw it over your shoulder for good luck. I forgot which shoulder, though.
Emily: Were you always this superstitious and I just never noticed?
Nikolas: Not until helena put that curse on us. Seriously, I mean, look at what's happened since the wine spilled on that dress. The church burned down, that nurse who identified you suddenly dies.
Emily: Nikolas, those were coincidences -- unfortunate, but that's all. You and I are going to be married, we're going to have a wonderful life, and nothing -- no curses, no evil grandmother, nothing -- is going to keep that from happening.
Nikolas: Okay.
Nikolas: All right, listen, I got it all worked out, okay? We're going to get married in secret. Helena and Tracy won't even know we're doing it.
Emily: Have you thought about a date?
Nikolas: The justice of the peace is on his way over. He'll be here any minute.
Emily: What? You mean, we're doing it today?
Nikolas: That's right. Right here, just the two of us.
Emily: And what about our family and friends and --
Nikolas: Oh, well, you know, we'll have a big reception after we're safely married. We'll invite whoever we want, okay?
Emily: You know, you're right. This is our chance to take control of our lives and prove once and for all that Helena's curses are nothing but empty threats spoken by a madwoman.
Nikolas: Well, my grandmother's threats are never empty.
Emily: She can't hurt us anymore, Nikolas. Never again.
Nikolas: Come on.
Helena: Are you clear on what you must do?
Tracy: It's not that difficult.
Edward: Are you clear on what must absolutely not happen?
Helena: I believe we've covered that subject thoroughly.
Edward: Well, let's cover it again, shall we? The object is to make sure that Emily and Nikolas do not get married. This is an alliance of necessity. It has to be done. But let's understand each other -- I do not want anything, under any circumstances, to happen to my granddaughter.
Helena: That could be out of our hands.
Edward: Don't -- don't even tell me that. I know very well that Emily's being accused of killing Mary Bishop. She didn't do it. I'm not going to see her wind up in prison.
Tracy: My father's right. We mustn't do anything to hurt Emily.
Helena: Agreed. Now go. The launch is waiting for you.
Tracy: You're not coming with us?
Helena: I have other commitments.
Edward: We'll do fine without you.
Nikolas: Oh. You look like an angel.
Emily: I thought simple would be best.
Nikolas: I wasn't talking about the dress.
Nikolas: Listen, I know that you're upset about the wedding gown. I'm sorry.
Emily: No, grandmother would want me to be happy, and -- and she knows I am. I can feel it.
Nikolas: No regrets about getting married in private?
Emily: I have you. That's enough.
Nikolas: Yeah, I feel the same way. I always will.
Knock on door.
Mr. Hawthorne: Mr. Cassadine?
Nikolas: Yeah, Mr. Hawthorne.
Mr. Hawthorne: Nice to see you.
Nikolas: Nice to meet you. Thanks for coming. This is my wife-to-be, Emily Quartermaine.
Emily: Pleased to meet you.
Mr. Hawthorne: A pleasure. Congratulations.
Emily: Thank you.
Mr. Hawthorne: Any questions before we begin?
Nikolas: No, none at all.
Mr. Hawthorne: Would you two mind standing here in front of me? Well, it is my duty and pleasure today to join you, Nikolas, and you, Emily, as --
Edward: All right, stop right there.
Tracy: This wedding has just been canceled.
Tracy: Nikolas is under indictment for shooting that Mary Bishop person. I don't want you to be part of that.
Edward: The Cassadines are a bunch of inbred lunatics. Your children will be homicidal maniacs like the rest of his ancestors!
Emily: All right, get out! I am not going to let you ruin this day for us.
Edward: Emily, please, will you face the truth before you make a disastrous mistake?
Nikolas: If you really care about Emily, stop trying to destroy her happiness.
Tracy: If she marries you, she'll never have a happy day in her life!
Emily: All right, quiet! Stop it! All right, I realize that you're acting out of concern, however misguided. But Nikolas is the man I love, and I'm marrying him whether you like it or not.
Tracy: Ooh, you ingrate.
Nikolas: All right, you got two choices here. Okay? You can either leave, or you can stay and be witnesses to our wedding.
Tracy: Aren't you listening? We don't approve!
Edward: All right, all right, all right. We'll do it your way.
Tracy: What? We'll do what?
Edward: We'll witness the wedding.
Tracy: Have you lost your mind?
Edward: No. I want my granddaughter to know how much I love her. The way things look now, it's the best way to do it.
Emily: Thank you, Grandfather.
Tracy: And what about Helena's curse?
Nikolas: Well, I thought that you didn't believe in my family's -- "bombastic hoo-ha"?
Tracy: Well, I probably wouldn't have if I didn't see what happened to Luke and Laura.
Emily: There is no curse. There's just Nikolas and me in love and devoted to each other.
Tracy: Oh, I'm sorry, I think I'm going into sugar shock.
Edward: Just a minute. Where are you going? Emily's a Quartermaine. She wants to get married, we'll stay and witness it, and we'll support her.
Tracy: If you insist. But you and I both know that this marriage is going to make her miserable.
Nikolas: Okay. We're ready. Just keep it short, please.
Mr. Hawthorne: I'll go straight to the vows. Do you, Nikolas and Emily, take each other to be husband and wife? Nikolas and
Emily: We do.
Mr. Hawthorne: Then, by the power vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you --
Mr. Hawthorne gasps.
Edward: Well, is he all right?
Emily: I'm not sure.
Tracy: This curse of Helena's is becoming more believable by the moment.
Nikolas: Come on, get out. Tell him to get up.
Edward: Are you crazy? The man's unconscious.
Nikolas: It's an act. Helena paid him to collapse before the ceremony was completed.
Helena: Now, that is preposterous.
Emily: She's been trying to convince us that her curse is working, and this time she tried too hard.
Nikolas: We knew you were hiding in the tunnel. Everything we said today was designed to set you up.
Helena: It's over. You can go.
Mr. Hawthorne: I've got three kids, and my wife lost her --
Nikolas: Just get out, just get out.
Tracy: My father and I knew nothing about this.
Nikolas: Tracy, don't even bother denying it. Helena wanted you here so you could play all alarmed and upset when the justice of the peace had his well-timed collapse.
Emily: Yeah, I'm not surprised tracy went along with this, but I'm disappointed in you, Grandfather.
Nikolas: You had the church burned down, too, didn't you?
Helena: Destroy a church, Nikolas? Honestly, where do you get these ideas?
Nikolas: I want the three of you out of here immediately. Go on, get out.
Emily: And don't expect an invitation to the real wedding when it happens.
Nikolas: Which it will.
Edward: Emily, please --
Emily: No, that goes for you, too, Grandfather.
Edward: It's for your own good.
Tracy: You know, maybe you should marry him. I think you deserve all the misery you get.
Helena: Think what you want, Nikolas. But it's my duty to protect you.
Helena walks over to the salt shaker on the sidetable and starts playing with the spilled salt.
Helena: Hmm. They say that a tear must be shed for every spilled grain of salt. Perhaps you'll shed a tear for these while you're in prison for Mary's murder.
Emily is in the bathroom, preparing the water in the bathtub.
Nikolas: Room in there for two?
Emily: Only if it's a certain prince I'm going to marry for real someday.
Nikolas: I'm sorry that you -- you had to go through the almost-ceremony earlier.
Emily: No, I'm not. We needed to show Helena and my family that nothing they do -- not curses --
Nikolas: Hmm.
Emily: Or scheming or paying public officials to fake heart attacks -- that nothing they do is going to stop our wedding.
Nikolas: I like your attitude. I'll be back with champagne.
Noise.
Emily: Nikolas?
Nikolas: Give me a minute. I'll be right there. You know, we didn't even get married today, but it still feels like our wedding day. Sorry -- make that wedding night.
As Nikolas talks from the other room, Emily is relaxing in the claw footed bathtub. The camera pans in on her hands resting on the rim of the tub when they all of a sudden clench and start gripping the sides tightly. We see her slowly sink into the water, completely submerged.
Nikolas: Maybe we should make this a ritual. Every time we see our families, we spend the next four hours in a tub. All right, champagne is ready. I hope that you are, too.
Emily is underneath the water, drowning.