Lulu: Ow! Aw.

[Lulu groans]

Johnny: What is wrong?

Lulu: Ow, stupid shoes. I don't know how Maxie does it. I could never sacrifice comfort for fashion.

Johnny: Well, you look beautiful. Oh, man. We're supposed to go out tonight.

Lulu: Don't you want to?

Johnny: No, no, no. Of course I do. It's New Year's. I want give the most beautiful woman in Port Charles a good time.

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Nadine: If you tell me you cooked this meal, I may pass out.

Nikolas: Wow. I should have had Alfred announce you.

Nadine: Never in my life did I think I'd be in a situation where a butler named Alfred had to announce me. You do realize that normal people don't do that, right?

Nikolas: I know, but that's how I grew up. I find it comforting.

Nadine: Hmm, well, I find it quirky.

Nikolas: Quirky? What, are you calling me quirky?

Nadine: And charming. This looks amazing.

Nikolas: Well, I didn't think you'd be in the mood for a New Year's celebration. I just thought a nice, quiet evening at home, just the two of us would be nice, yes?

Nadine: Yeah, that's really considerate and generous. And, truthfully, if I were with anyone else tonight, I don't think I'd get through it.

Nikolas: Sit.

Nadine: Thanks.

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Maxie: What took you so long?

Spinelli: The building's abandoned, it's empty. Maximista shouldn't be here. No one should.

Maxie: Spinelli, listen to me. I need you desperately.

Spinelli: You do?

Maxie: Yes. And I don't care if we have to stay here all night; you have to fix my computer. It won't turn on.

Spinelli: That's because there's no power. The hotel has been plunged --

Maxie: I know that. You have to fix my computer. My life depends on it.

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Carly: Hey.

Jax: Well, in case you haven't heard, we're actually closed tonight.

Carly: I can't believe it. We had a great New Year's Eve party planned with live music and a fabulous sit-down dinner.

Jax: Yes, all thanks to the genius, you made New Year's Eve at the Metro Court the place to be. Yep -- oh, that was you, wasn't it?

Carly: What a waste.

Jax: If we had electricity, this place would be rocking right now.

Carly: Yeah.

Jax: How'd you get up here anyway? The elevators aren't working.

Carly: No, they're not.

Jax: You climbed 25 flights of stairs?

Carly: What's the point of having a back-up generator when it doesn't work? And how come every other restaurant and hotel seems to be just fine?

Jax: Well, maintenance is still trying to figure out the problem. We had to evacuate the hotel. By the way, the management at the Cosmopolitan thanks us --

[Carly laughs]

Jax: Because our loss is their gain.

Carly: I bet.

Jax: Hopefully they were able to accommodate everyone.

Carly: What about the prime rib and the poached salmon for 350 people?

Jax: I had the staff walk it down to the local homeless shelter.

Carly: Wow. Leave it to you to think of something so generous.

Jax: But you probably heard all this from Marty all ready. Which begs the next question, did you climb 25 flights of stairs because you didn't believe him or because you wanted to see me?

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Johnny: Okay, just give me a few minutes to shower and change, and we'll get out of here.

Lulu: You don't have to rush. Our reservation isn't for a little while.

Johnny: That's all right. It's New Year's. We should get out there and start celebrating.

Lulu: Are you sure? Rive gauche is really expensive. I would understand if you don't want to spend the money.

Johnny: We'll figure it out.

Lulu: I'm just saying, I just would totally understand if you don't want to blow the rent on this.

Johnny: Okay, first of all, I have socked away the money that Jax gave me for the refund on the penthouse. Plus the money I made at the Christmas tree lot, and I made a lot on tips. So, if I'm going to blow my money on anything, it's going to be giving you a New Year's Eve to remember, okay?

Lulu: Okay.

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Maxie: Kate finally gave me my first article. Well, not if you count the issue I got to do while she was in the hospital. But I was up until 4:00 in the morning writing it, and then I spent all day today polishing it. It was laid out, ready to be sent to the printers and suddenly we lost power. I need you to get that back for me.

Spinelli: Even the ace of cyberspace cannot create electrical power were none existed.

Maxie: But you're the Jackal, you can do anything. Gesundheit. Where's your laptop?

Spinelli: I left it. Maximista called and said she needed me immediately, that it was New Year's Eve and the need was great.

Maxie: The need is great. I need you to get into my computer and get my article. You're the only person I know who could figure it out.

Spinelli: You know I would move mountains for you if I could.

Maxie: Spinelli, this is a disaster. What if it's gone? What if all my work has disappeared into cyberspace, never to be seen again?

Spinelli: Look, there is no need for negative conjecture. All we need is your flash drive where all your data should -- oh, no. Maximista neglected to back up her documents despite the Jackal's repeated admonitions.

Maxie: How about you not remind me about what I should have done, and you tell me how we are going to fix the problem now.

Spinelli: Oh -

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Luke: Happy New Year, Tracy.

Tracy: Apparently not. Nobody showed up at your big party.

Luke: I had a guest list of one. And she's here.

Tracy: Luke, New Year's is the most profitable night in the casino business. The Haunted Star has the only gambling license in miles. What did you do this for?

Luke: You. You're the only one I want to play with tonight.

Tracy: Oh, that'll fix it. You throw away my investment for some meaningless, romantic gesture. I don't understand your priorities, Luke.

Luke: Yes, you do. That's why you're here.

Tracy: I'm not doing this.

Luke: To resist is futile, wife. You miss me. You want me as much as I want you. I have groveled until my knees are raw, and you've bent as much as you're capable of.

Tracy: I guess we're at an impasse.

Luke: Exactly. That's why tonight we're going to put the "new" in new year.

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Johnny: Hey, what are you doing?

Lulu: Checking to see how much cash I have.

Johnny: I told you tonight is on me.

Lulu: Hey, you're taking care of dinner, the least I can do is pay for the cab. I thought I threw a twenty in here.

Johnny: Hey, problem solved, I will drive.

Lulu: No, it's New Year's; we're going to want to drink champagne.

Johnny: Rive Gauche is not that far away, I can handle it.

Lulu: It's not just you that I'm worried about. Everyone's had too much to drink, and if someone's car is going to get smashed up, it should the cab's and not yours.

Johnny: Okay, fine. If it makes you fell better, we will take a cab.

Lulu: Okay, great. I will order one now. Yes, hi, I need to -- okay, I'm on hold already.

Johnny: Let's just take my car.

Lulu: I have already explained to you.

Johnny: Why does this have to be so complicated?

Lulu: I don't know. Why does it?

Johnny: Because we'll end up late, and you'll be disappointed.

Lulu: Why would I be disappointed?

Johnny: Because you went to all this trouble. You got all dressed up, and you look beautiful. You made all these plans, and you were really looking forward to having New Year's Eve at Rive Gauche.

Lulu: Me? You're the one who wanted to go out tonight.

Johnny: I do not want to go out. Do you want to go out? Okay, moment of truth here. And I want you to be honest, 100%. Forget about the money. Forget about what you think you want me to hear. If you could spend your New Year's any way, how would it be?

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Carly: Marty told me that you handled the evacuation, and you dealt with the employees. Then he said you disappeared. Marty thought you went home. Then I saw the lights on in the penthouse so I thought you were there as well.

Jax: So why did you come up here?

Carly: I can't tell you. It's too embarrassing.

Jax: Embarrassing? What are you talking -- I'm the guy who pulled sea urchin spines out of your butt on our honeymoon. You have to go a long way to beat that, so -- wait a minute. Did you come up here for the tiramisu?

Carly: Who told you?

Jax: You did. You wrote it on the plate, big, big writing, "Do not touch, property of owner."

Carly: You did not give that to the homeless shelter, did you?

Jax: Of course not. I learned a long time ago not to touch your stuff.

Carly: I like to start the New Year with something sweet. I think it's tomorrow in Tokyo.

Jax: Yeah, trust you to manipulate time in your favor.

Carly: Try it. Let's pretend that everything bad that happened this past year didn't.

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Maxie: Whew. I don't understand why we had to steal the battery out of Jason's car.

Spinelli: It's not stealing. Stone Cold authorized the Jackal the use of the vehicle for the evening. There was no stipulation on if the parts should remain in their original positions.

Maxie: Gesundheit. Why couldn't we just take my computer to your house and plug it in?

Spinelli: Well, Maximista's computer is connected to a network, and, therefore, changing it to a different location would not do. We have to boot it up already connected to the network.

Maxie: So, you're going to hotwire my computer?

Spinelli: Well, it's not exactly the terminology --

Maxie: Wait, wait, just tell me if it's going to work.

Spinelli: There's about a 63.5% probability.

Maxie: What about the other 40%?

Spinelli: Actually, it's 36.5%.

Maxie: Oh, Spinelli, I know that. I was just rounding it off. I want you to tell me what could go wrong.

Spinelli: Well, hooking Maximista's computer up to an alternate power source could permanently fry --

Maxie: No, no, no frying. We cant do frying, Spinelli. I have a 2,500-word article with pictures in there on the death of espadrilles this summer.

Spinelli: Summer? Why didn't you say that? There's plenty of time to rewrite it.

Maxie: You know as much about fashion as I know about computers. Trust me, this is time sensitive. God, you are the smartest man I know. If you can't help me, who can?

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Tracy: Getting me drunk is not going to change my mind. Didn't I prove that in the Dominican?

Luke: All you proved in the Dominican is that you are not angry enough to end this marriage. You didn't go through with the divorce. That says something.

Tracy: What is says is I can't make impulsive decisions. I think things through. You ought to try it.

Luke: I'll drink to that.

Tracy: Oh, Luke, you drink to everything.

Luke: Oh, come on. You're not ready to give this up. Look how you were when you thought I'd had another coronary.

Tracy: You mean when you faked another coronary?

Luke: You still love me, Tracy.

Tracy: Luke, you're glossing over the salient point. What about your other wife? You know, Laura, who could walk back in here at any moment. Your angel, bringing with her all her memories. Then how hard will you fight for me?

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Lulu: Mmm, mmm, mmm, a little slice of heaven.

Johnny: Wow, I can't believe you'd rather be eating pizza and beer than champagne and caviar.

Lulu: Yeah, well, when I was in school I used to think everyone knew how to have a fantastic New Year's, except for me, and now I know it's you just have to be with the right person. I'd rather be here with you, drinking beer, eating pizza than in some overpriced restaurant with loud people, trying too hard to have a good time. Are you disappointed?

Johnny: Are you kidding? I love it.

Lulu: I mean, seriously, if you could have your own, like favorite New Year's, what would it be?

Johnny: Don't you get it? I'm having it.

Lulu: Ooh.

Johnny and Lulu: Pizza-Y.

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Maxie: What took you so long?

Spinelli: Reinstalling Stone Cold's battery in his car was not an easy task. And neither is hacking into the "Crimson" network.

Maxie: Well, we should get started because I don't think we're going to get power back anytime soon.

Spinelli: I brought some extra candles and a battery-powered torch from my earthquake kit.

Maxie: Why would anyone in Upstate New York have an earthquake kit?

Spinelli: Well, you can never be too prepared, and sometimes the items come in handy for other emergencies, i.e., a power outage.

Maxie: You are totally crazy, and I am grateful. Now let's get to work.

Spinelli: You know, perhaps if the Jackal better understood the urgency of the situation, maybe I could help alleviate some of Maximista's anxiety. I mean, certainly, the glacial one won't threaten to terminate you under these dire circumstances. I'm sure she would just respect and admire your drive and ambition, like I do.

Maxie: I'm not doing this to impress Kate or to show up Clarice, although I would really love that. And who better to write an article on shoes than me? That's my area of expertise, but the problem is I'm a procrastinator, and I finally met a deadline. Now it's ruined.

Spinelli: But once Maximista explains the situation adequately to the fashionistas, I'm sure more time will be granted. And, you know, if not, I'm sure other shoes, worthy of immortalization in print, will come about in the near future. Unless there's something else of significance that I am, as of yet, unaware of?

Maxie: Well, I guess it started at Robin's wedding. I mean, watching my cousin marry Patrick, seeing Emma be born, made me look at my own life. Not that I'm jealous or anything. A husband and a baby is so not what I'm about, but I want to feel that kind of happiness. I want to do something that makes me feel good about myself. It's not easy to be amazing. And it's even harder to have people notice. I know that you're thinking this article is just a stupid article about shoes, but it was mine. It was one tiny step away from showing people that I have a unique voice, just one little thing that proved I'm good at something.

Spinelli: Believe me, there is no one in the world more unique than beautiful Maximista.

Maxie: You're so sweet. You think I can do no wrong.

Spinelli: My faith goes deeper than that.

[Computer beeps]

Spinelli: Oh.

Maxie: What does that mean?

Spinelli: Well, we've entered the realm of "Crimson." What is the name of your heartfelt and unique article?

Maxie: "The Death of the Espadrille."

[Computer beeps]

Spinelli: The news is grim.

Maxie: What happened? No, don't tell me. Okay, please, just tell me.

Spinelli: Your article and the espadrille have perished together.

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Nadine: So, I think I finally figured out how the coupling works. Now I want to go see how it's made, but I can't get anyone to return my phone calls.

Nikolas: How did you even know how to contact in the first place?

Nadine: It was in some of Aunt Raylene's personal papers. I left, like a dozen messages. I just can't get anyone, um, to return -- I'm sure they'll call back when they're not so busy.

Nikolas: Yeah, yeah. It's okay.

Nadine: How can they possibly know that --

Nikolas: Hey, it's okay.

Nadine: I'm sorry.

Nikolas: No, don't be sorry. I know what it's like to be blindsided by grief. I mean, you listened to me for months talk about Emily so don't ever feel like you need to hide your feelings from me, okay?

Nadine: I just love rack of lamb. Did I ever tell you that I once considered becoming a vegetarian? I'm so glad that I didn't.

Nikolas: No. You can pick it up with your fingers, if you'd like.

Nadine: No. That's so decadent.

Nikolas: I don't care. Try something new. I don't care.

Nadine: I bet you don't tell Spencer to eat with his fingers or break the rules.

Nikolas: Well, see, Spencer's a Cassadine. He's genetically predisposed to being obsessed with etiquette.

[Nadine laughs]

Nikolas: He can say "please" and "thank you" in five languages, you know that?

Nadine: Wow. Hey, where is Spencer anyway? Why isn't he with us tonight?

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Jax: You know, I was going to drink this on my own.

Carly: Why would you do that?

Jax: Because I came up here to be alone and think.

Carly: Bad idea. Always gets me into trouble.

Jax: Yeah, I like your idea better. A year that went according to plan, not have actually happened.

Carly: Why not? We're here now. It's just us. We can do whatever we want.

Jax: As well as I known you, as much as I've loved you, I don't know how you turn an evening that was a complete disaster into an adventure.

Carly: Try it. Just for tonight. You can hate me tomorrow.

Jax: I'll only hate you a little bit.

Carly: So, you'll share this with me? I mean, it's risky. But it's worth it.

Jax: Mmm.

Carly: See, isn't that good?

Jax: Yeah. I don't know if it's worth 25 flights of stairs, but it's pretty good.

Carly: See, that's the difference between men and women. Women will go anywhere for their sugar. Mmm, it's good.

Jax: Yeah.

Carly: Do I have something on my face?

Jax: No, no. I just -- I love watching you enjoy yourself. It's one of the things I love most about you.

Carly: Ooh!

Jax: This can't be an easy night for you.

Carly: Thanks for noticing.

Jax: Are you going to fill it with work, this party, room full of strangers? You know, when it all fell apart, most people would've packed up and gone home, curled up into a little ball and cried their eyes out. Not you, no. You went in search for happiness. You climbed 25 flights of stairs for tiramisu. So what if it's just dessert? You knew what you wanted, and you went for it.

Carly: What about you? I expected you to have a hot date tonight. Later, fly her off to Rio, Madrid, maybe Montreal.

Jax: No, now that I've had the best, I won't settle for anything meaningless. Besides, Montreal isn't as beautiful to me as it used to be. Maybe I'm not as resilient as some people.

Carly: You know, it's not resilience as much as it's survival -- to keep moving forward. Then maybe anything's possible.

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