Sonny tries to get Emily to see how he would be bad for her. Her medical career would be at stake. Emily disagrees, and does her best to convince Sonny that she is not as fragile as he thinks. She tells him she will leave if he wants, and no one will ever know what happened between them. After all, she is the best person at keeping up appearances. Sonny says no, he does not want her to leave. They both agree to take things very slowly and not to keep any secrets. Neither one of them wants to be sneaking around. Sonny asks her if she has plans that night, and she says she is free after class. She agrees to let him pick her up at the hospital and then they will go to dinner. Then he surprises her with a beautiful watch for her birthday. They share a passionate kiss before Emily leaves. When she's gone, Sonny calls the Metro Court to make dinner plans.

Carly makes a call to Mike and finds out that Courtney and Nikolas took his jet to the Dominican Republic. Jax is furious that she could have let this happen, but Carly makes things worse by wondering if the two of them might have gotten married along with Courtney's divorce. Meanwhile, the man who just finished up Courtney's divorce asks if the two are ready to get married. Although they did not ask for a wedding ceremony, he just assumed they would also be getting married since they were obviously very much in love. At first, Courtney is against the idea, but then Nikolas warms her to it. This is how they got together, spontaneously. Also, their friends and family would fight them a lot less knowing they were already married. They start to go through the ceremony, but just before the judge declares them man and wife, they decide to stop the ceremony. They want to have their family and friends there to stand at their side when they become husband and wife. Nikolas and Courtney decide to go back home. On the plane back from the Dominican Republic, Courtney and Nikolas discuss plans to get married. They both want to get married quickly, but they still want to get married in a church with the people that love them. They decide to have dinner at the Metro Court to celebrate her divorce and their engagement. Courtney wants to call Carly first, though. As she rummages in her purse for her phone, it starts to ring. Carly is calling her. With Jax listening in, Carly talks to Courtney and feigns happiness for her and Nikolas. Courtney tells her about her divorce and agrees that Carly can tell Jax if she sees him before she does. When they hang up, Carly tells Jax that all they need is a plan. Just then, Carly is informed that her ex-husband will be dining there tonight as well. Carly is thrilled. Everything is coming together just as she wants.

Alan tries to convince Mac and the rest of the group that Luke killed Tracy. Lulu and Skye both stand up for Luke, but Mac decides to put an APB out for Luke anyway. Skye does her best to calm down Georgie, Lulu, and Dillon. Dillon is still upset, knowing that he is the reason why his mother is missing and possibly dead. He knows his mother would not let him believe she was dead. She would let him in on her plans. Lulu turns around and sees Tracy in the window and screams. When she turns back around, Tracy is gone. She is convinced it was just the shadows and trees playing tricks on her eyes. She's upset and thinks she's going to end up just like Laura. She apologizes to both Dillon and Georgie for upsetting them and leaves. Georgie tries to comfort Dillon the best she knows how, and they go upstairs to cuddle on his bed. Meanwhile, Alan sits down on the couch drinking a glass of water. As he turns around, Tracy comes in looking quite disheveled and he drops his glass. He's furious at her for worrying Dillon so much, but she reminds him that Dillon was the one that set her and Luke up.

Liz sees Emily looking awfully nice and asks her what's up. Emily explains that her class was cancelled so she had time to get ready for her date. Not knowing that Patrick is behind her, Liz hopes out loud that Emily is not going out with that arrogant jerk, Patrick. He surprises her by answering that he's not going out with her tonight. Just then, Sonny steps off the elevator. Jason and Sam walk out into the lobby just in time to see Emily and Sonny together. Sonny walks over and tells Jason that the two of them will talk about this later. He knows how Jason feels about him and Emily seeing each other. Jason agrees that he's not happy. Before Sonny and Emily leave, Jason wishes Emily a happy birthday. Patrick sees how worried Liz is about Emily and the two banter back and forth until Lucky arrives. He got off work early, so she suggests they go out to eat and to a movie. He tells her he just had to pay some bills, but she thinks she has some spare money until she remember she had to buy Cameron some new snow boots. Patrick walks up and hands Liz money, telling her she dropped it when she was going through her purse. When Lucky leaves, Liz gives the money back to Patrick and tells him she doesn't want his charity.

Jason is concerned that Sam could be a carrier for the gene that caused her brother's mental illness. They decide to go to the doctor to check is out and then make a decision as to whether or not they still want to try to have kids. When they get to the hospital, Robin comes in and tells them she's covering for Dr. Lee. Sam is upset and doesn't want her to treat her at first. But she can't wait any longer to find out if she's a carrier for the fragile X gene. She tells Robin that her brother has Fragile X Syndrome and since her and Jason are contemplating having a baby, she wants to get checked out. Robin doesn't seem phased by the request and tells them it's a simple blood test. She should be able to get the test results back today. Sam gets a clean bill of health and since she is not a carrier for the Fragile X gene, she and Jason decide to start trying for a baby right away. After they fall asleep together on the couch, Sam dreams that her mother is telling her not to get married. If she gets married, she'll mess everything up. Sam wakes up startled.

At the Metro Court, Jax worries while Carly sits back and watches the action begin. Emily and Sonny arrive and sit down at a table. Sonny glances over at Carly, but tells Emily he doesn't want to go talk to Carly. They ignore Carly's presence and begin to talk about med school. Meanwhile, Courtney and Nikolas arrive. Nikolas is unhappy to see Emily there with Sonny. Carly makes a bet with Jax that Nikolas will be the first one to erupt. The two of them won't have to do anything. Nikolas will do it all for them.

While at the Metro Court, Jax and Carly decide to make a bet on who leaves first. Carly puts $20 on Courtney being the first to leave. Of course, she is right. Nikolas is so distracted by Emily dining with Sonny on her birthday that Courtney gets fed up and leaves. Nikolas follows and tries to reason with her, but Courtney tells him that even if Emily wasn't there, she would still be in the middle of their relationship. In an effort to help Jax, Carly suggests that Courtney disappear for a while. At least until the baby is born. Courtney thinks this may be a good idea. Jax is stirring things up, though, by telling Nikolas that he intends to win Courtney back. Meanwhile, Emily tells Sonny that maybe they should go. Everyone seems miserable. Sonny asks her if she is miserable, and Emily replies that she is not. He thinks they should stay because it's her birthday. Emily agrees. She's not going to be manipulated by other people anymore. After dinner, Emily makes it apparent that she still has feelings for Nikolas. Sonny decides to put a hold on their relationship until Emily figures out what she wants.

Back at the Quartermaine Mansion, Georgie and Dillon walk downstairs in time to see Lulu eavesdropping on Alan and TRACY! Dillon confronts Tracy about her faking her death, but Tracy tells him it was just an accident. She was planning on taking the shaker with poison to the police department and another car drove her off the road. Skye puts two and two together, though, and knows that Alan had to help her. Dillon is upset, but still relieved to know that his mother is alive. Lulu leaves the group and decides to call the police and report another murder, but then changes her mind. She decides to try to win Tracy's trust instead. Meanwhile, Skye tries to convince Mac to call off the APB on Luke. Mac is determined to bring Luke in, though.

Brook Lynn has dinner with Lucas, and after her prodding he tells her he is gay. She is glad that he finally came clean, especially since she knew it all along. She tells him his secret is safe with her because she plans on leaving town. She mentions meeting up with a friend, Frank, and they decide to go to Jake's. While at Jake's, Dillon, Georgie, and Brook Lynn convince Lucas to play a game of pool with Frank. Lucas ends up alone with Frank, who seems interested in him. Georgie and Dillon later find Lucas badly beaten.

Though Georgie urges her injured cousin to seek treatment, Lucas balks at going to the hospital for fear that the truth about his sexual orientation will come out. Carly arranges for Courtney to travel to South Carolina and take up residence in a comfortable beach house for the duration of her pregnancy. Skye comes to the courthouse to lend a grateful Lorenzo some moral support before he takes the witness stand. Lucas blurts out to a startled Maxie that he's gay and was beaten by a man he picked up at a bar. Emily shows Liz the watch Sonny gave her for her birthday, then confides how their special dinner was marred by an upsetting encounter with Nikolas and Courtney. Carly snarls at Lorenzo following his testimony in the Ruiz case. After penning a farewell note to Nikolas, Courtney explains to Emily why she's leaving town. Maxie asks Jesse for help catching the creep who hurt Lucas. Skye and Lorenzo commiserate about their unrequited love for Luke and Carly. Jesse decides to go undercover as a lonely gay man in hopes of luring "Frank" into another attack. Desperate to keep the judge from issuing a bench warrant, Sam convinces him to give Jason one more hour to answer Alexis' subpoena. Jax reads the notes Courtney left for him and Nikolas. Sam tries to bring out the worst in Manny but soon lives to regret her rash actions.

Jesse shows up at Jake's bar to see if the guy who attacked Lucas is there. He sees the guy playing pool and looks over at him. The guy just smiles at him. Jesse pretends to look interested in him sexually to make the guy think he could be gay. However, Maxie shows up and sits down at one of the tables. Jesse isn't too pleased with her interference while he is working undercover. The guy he is after approaches Maxie's table and sits down and orders a bottle of something to share with Maxie. Maxie pretends to be a little interested in him. Jesse doesn't like the guy hitting on Maxie and approaches the table and tells the guy that Maxie is his date. The guy leaves the table. Jesse tells her off for interfering with his plan and tells her that he can take care of himself and doesn't need her to babysit him. Maxie tells Jesse that she got the guy's phone number for him to check out. Meanwhile, Georgie tends to Lucas while he is hiding out in Dillon's bedroom. She makes him some tea and along with Dillon tries to persuade him to press charges against the guy who beat him up in the park. Lucas tells them he isn't ready to tell anyone he is gay and wished they would not pressure him to come out of the closet. He explains to Georgie and Dillon that he told a teacher in junior high school once about being gay and the teacher told him that he could learn to not be gay by acting differently and learning to be a "normal" boy. Maxie and Jesse show up at Dillon's room to tell them that they found out the identity of the guy who beat Lucas up and that he has no police record. Lucas still doesn't want to press charges but takes matters into his own hands when he goes to Jake's and finds the guy and punches the guy in the face and knocks him to the floor.

Carly goes to see Sonny just as Emily comes over to see Sonny as well. Carly is rude to Emily as usual and tells her that she has a more important reason to talk to Sonny and tells her to leave. Emily tells Carly that she has no plans to go back to Nikolas even if Courtney plans to go back to Jax someday. Carly tells her that Courtney is her best friend and that she needs to get away from both men so she can take care of her baby in peace. Carly also tells her that what she has going on with Sonny won't work also. Sonny comes into the room and overhears what Carly says to Emily and tells her to stop harassing Emily just so she can vent on someone. Carly tells her she only came to see him to tell him that Jason needs to be sent home from whatever job he has him on because he is supposed to be at the courthouse before they have him arrested for contempt of court. Carly storms off. Sonny apologizes to Emily for having to deal with Carly's behavior. Emily tells him that Carly is just being her usual self and it doesn't bother her. Sonny thinks Carly knew all along that they were going to be at the hotel restaurant at the same time as Courtney and Nikolas and wanted something to happen. Emily tells Sonny that she has thought about what he said to her earlier about having feelings still for Nikolas. Emily tells him that she isn't in love with Nikolas and that she wants to keep seeing him. Sonny tells her that he wants her to take her time and not rush into a relationship with him. Emily tells him she has to get back to the courthouse to testify at Manny's trial. Meanwhile, Courtney sits in the park and tells Nikolas that she doesn't know if she's in love with him or not and that she doesn't think he is really in love with her. Nikolas gets upset and tries to explain his reaction to seeing Emily on a date with Sonny and insists that he will always care what happens to Emily. Courtney can't look at him in the face and tells him it is over between them and she can't be with someone who isn't in love with her. Nikolas starts crying. Meanwhile, Jax goes to Courtney's apartment and finds a letter addressed to him. She tells him she needs to leave town until after the baby is born and asks him not to find out where she is and follow her. Jax also reads the letter she wrote to Nikolas. He finds Nikolas at the park and tells him that Courtney has left town and won't be back until after the baby is born. Nikolas can't believe she could have left town and never told him. Jax tells Nikolas that he is going to find her and convince her to come back to him and feels Nikolas' crazy family is a danger to her safety and she and the baby deserve a real family. Nikolas goes back to Courtney's apartment and finds all her dresser drawers are empty and that she did leave a letter for him. He reads it where she tells him she thinks he is a good decent man who she feels still loves Emily but feels obligated to Courtney. Nikolas goes to see Mike at Kelly's to find out where Courtney went so he can go after her and convince her they belong together. Mike doesn't know where she is but agrees to give her a message if she calls. Courtney calls Carly while she is on the airplane. She tells Carly she is on her way now to South Carolina like Carly arranged for her. Jax overhears Carly talking on her cell-phone to Courtney while at the courthouse and realizes she knows where Courtney is going to. Jax pleads with her to tell him so he can go after her and convince her they belong together. Carly refuses to tell him at first. Courtney arrives at her rental house in South Carolina and meets the landlady and asks that she let no one know she is there. Courtney looks around the house and feels at peace with her decision to stay there but doesn't notice a shadow of someone in the doorway watching her. Later, Nikolas runs into Emily at the courthouse. Emily admits she already saw Courtney at her apartment earlier and learned about her plans to break up with him and that she was leaving town to have her baby. Nikolas can't believe she would take off like that. Emily tells him that she told Courtney off after learning about her plans. She also tells him that she believes Courtney is in love with him and lied to him. Nikolas tells her that Courtney doesn't believe that he loves her and is convinced that he still has feelings for her and the two of them will come back to each other. Emily tells him that she isn't in love with him and has moved on with her life. Nikolas tells her that he reacted the way that he did at the hotel because he is concerned about her getting involved with Sonny. Emily tells him that Sonny is a kind, decent man and that she wants to be with him. Nikolas grabs her arm as she walks away and tells her that she needs to stay away from Sonny before she gets herself killed and becomes another on Sonny's long list of "whores." Sonny walks in and overhears his remark outside the courtroom. Nikolas looks over and rolls his eyes when he sees Sonny standing there. Meanwhile, Jax arrives at the rental house in South Carolina and hollers to Courtney that he convinced Carly to tell him where she was staying. He comes into the house and notices that the house has been ransacked and furniture has been knocked or turned over. He realizes Courtney is gone and something bad has happened to her. Courtney wakes up to find herself handcuffed to a couch. She looks up and finds Helena Cassadine looking smug while telling her she is her new guest.

Sam provokes Manny while he is in the visitor's room in handcuffs. She taunts him about how he is not going to get away with what he has done and she is going to make sure he pays for everything he has done to her and everyone else. She hides her cell-phone and uses it to record their conversation to use as evidence. She gets the response she wants when she pushes him too far and he grabs her and throws her against the wall. He rips her blouse and tries to fondle her and tells her that he is going to be her new boyfriend. Sam yells at him to stop and let go of her. He still knocks her around and tries to grab her. He finds her cell-phone and finds out what she is doing with it. He throws it and smashes it against the floor and calls her a bitch. She hits him hard in the hand just as Alexis and Ric come into the room. Sam tells them that Manny attacked her again. Manny lies and tells Alexis and Ric that Sam ripped her own blouse and came onto him. Sam tells them she got proof of his true colors when she recorded everything on her cell-phone before Manny grabbed and smashed it against the floor. Ric picks up the cell-phone and he and Alexis manage to retrieve some of the recording but the rest of it is damaged because of what Manny did and can't be retrieved. Sam insists she had proof of him attacking her even if it wasn't on the recording. She tells them she will prove it one way or another. Ric looks at Manny and starts to wonder if Sam is telling the truth. The trial reconvenes. Emily takes the stand. Ric questions her about how different Jason was before his accident ten years ago compared to how he is today. She admits that Jason was totally different than he was before and that the brain trauma he suffered caused it. Alexis calls Sam to the stand. Sam becomes hostile when Alexis asks her about Jason's case being similar to Manny's case. Sam refuses to answer the question and instead argues with her about how Jason is a decent man. Alexis asks the judge to order Sam to answer her questions. Sam still stares down Manny and starts taunting him again to try to provoke him into revealing his true colors in court. She insults his manhood which causes Manny to make a fist with both hands but he still appears calm. Alexis asks Sam to tell them what Jason really does for a living. Sam tells her that he is a coffee importer. Alexis tells her she is under oath and that she needs to reveal that Jason is a hired hit man for the mob. Sam still refuses to answer her question.

In the courtroom, Samantha has just wrapped up her testimony, but uses the stage as means to belittle Manny sexually---he's a "little man" who only wants women when they're tied up or scared, she declares to the court before finally returning to her seat.

At Kelly's, Mike and Bobbie discuss their respective children---Mike is sad Courtney had to leave, while Bobbie is concerned Lucas is pulling away from her. She's also concerned he doesn't have a girlfriend.

A seething Lucas attacks his attacker, Frank, at Coleman's. The troubled young man gets in several jarring blows before Coleman, then Lucky and Jesse, separate them---Frank announces immediately he's pressing charges. Lucky hauls his cousin into the PCPD and lets him know that since he didn't press charges for being beaten but Frank did, Lucas is the one in trouble. To save his own skin, Frank outs Lucas to Lucky, but Lucas still won't cop to his homosexuality; Lucky's frustration rises over the mystery surrounding Lucas' beating.

Fresh off posting Lucas' bail, Bobbie joins Lucky in pressing him for answers, and boy do they get them---Lucas emotions' finally boil over and he tearfully shouts to the whole PCPD the true reason he was beaten. Bobbie's stunned expression only upsets Lucas worse; he bitterly absolves his parents of any responsibility during a long, diatribe that echoes off the cold PCPD walls.

Outside the courtroom, Nikolas tries one more time to steer Emily away from Sonny, citing his long list of "whores" (of which his aunt is one, lest we forget) but Emily vociferously commands Nikolas to butt out of her life. And this time it's clear she means business. Jason shows up at the courthouse and is immediately called to the stand---Alexis asks him several questions related to Jason Quartermaine, but Jason Morgan cannot answer any, as he doesn't remember "him". When Alexis asks for Jason's opinion about Manny's about-face, Jason testifies he doesn't buy it. Meanwhile, Carly's eyes are focused only on Emily and Sonny holding hands, but she stays calm and quiet.

Alexis surprises all by calling Manny to the stand---he lies that Samantha ripped her own blouse and attacked HIM moments ago. Sam absolutely erupts in fury and Jason has to escort her outside; he learns of Manny's attack during her attempted setup. Samantha declares that somebody's gotta stop Manny before he can hurt again...then she disappears. Meanwhile, as John is about to cross-examine him, Manny appears to be ill and the judge calls a recess. In the same room he attacked Sam, Manny smiles gleefully as he replays the moment in his perverted mind. Soon, someone Manny knows enters the room...we don't see who. Next, there is a single gunshot---Sonny, Jason, Ric and Alexis find Manny down, and not likely to get back up.

At the Q mansion, Skye insists Lesley Lu and she have a talk---she begs Lulu to let go of her anger towards Tracy. Skye then finds Lulu's packed bags and, knowing her plans, warns her Luke wouldn't enjoy any company right now. She also insists she is not trying to take Laura's place. Tracy overhears the two and decides to evict her stepdaughter on the spot! Skye cautions Tracy that if Lulu is harmed in any way, Luke just might kill Tracy for real.

Lesley Lu beelines to Wyndemere, and is nearly frightened out of her shoes when she witnesses Nikolas smashing his entire stock of glasses after seeing Courtney's photo. (Not eyeglasses, drinking glasses.) She changes his focus by asking him to help her find Luke; he refuses. Lulu pushes him to share what's bothering him, and he does---he's frustrated that he can't stop Em and Court from their own lousy choices. Lulu shares how tough it was to see Laura, then Nik takes her back to the mansion. Later, Lorenzo asks Skye out to dinner.

On the way out, Nikolas is asked by Ned to help get Emily away from Sonny, but Nikolas has given up on that idea.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"Let me clear it up for you. I'm officially THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF YOUR LIFE!!!" --- Lucas, after outing himself to Bobbie. Bobbie "didn't understand" what he meant when he said he was gay.