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Beginnings
In 1995, the character Emily Bowen was introduced as an 11-year-old girl, who was with her mother, Paige Bowen, at an Arizona cancer clinic. It was there that she met Dr. Monica Quartermaine through her mother. Paige and Monica became close friends at the clinic, and Monica even invited Paige and Emily to live at the Quartermaine mansion in Paige's last months. When Paige died, Emily was devastated. Alan and Monica made the decision to adopt Emily, since so little was known of Emily's biological family. The adoption wasn't a very smooth transition for Emily who took a long time to adjust to losing the only mother she'd ever known. Within a year, Emily became good friends with Lucky Spencer, who became the subject of Emily's first crush. In 1997, Emily made another friend by the name of Matt Reynolds, who introduced her to drugs. Life at the Quartermaine home was particularly stressful at the time, because it was just revealed that Monica had been having an affair with a younger doctor, Pierce Dorman, at the hospital, and Dorman was suing Monica for sexual harassment. Emily turned to drugs without the Quartermaines' knowledge, until one day when her hallucinations caused her to try to "fly" off the Quartermaine roof, that Ned Ashton finally realized the problem. It was also learned that Monica's lover Dorman had been the one who was supplying drugs to Matt, and thus to Emily as well. Matt died of an overdose, and Dorman also turned up dead, which was unsurprising considering the number of enemies that he had acquired (he was murdered in the General Hospital morgue). Emily who had been in General Hospital detox at the time, was initially considered a suspect and then cleared. A year later, with her ordeal with drugs behind her, Emily set out to establish a modeling career. Emily was shocked when she received a nude photo of herself in the mail one day with a blackmail note attached. Someone had put Emily's face on the nude body of another girl and was threatening to put the photo on the internet if Emily didn't come through with money. Emily turned to Nikolas for help and they in turn asked Lucky and Liz to help them also. Lucky and Nikolas Cassadine were unlikely allies, but they both wanted to help Emily and catch her blackmailer. In the process, the friendship between Liz and Emily deepened and Lucky and Nikolas put aside their differences, for the most part. Using Nikolas' computer, Lucky and Nikolas began their search to expose the person blackmailing Emily. As it turned out, a photographer named Tom Yergin was the culprit. When Liz and Emily realized this, Tom held them at gunpoint and locked them in the darkroom at the photography studio. In the process, Tom also admitted that he had been the person who had raped Elizabeth Webber in the park. Lucky and Nikolas rescued Emily and Liz, while Tom was arrested. Tom went on trial for blackmailing Emily, but couldn't be prosecuted for Liz's rape because there was no evidence. Emily's modeling career, however, soared due to all the publicity she had received. Relationship with Juan In June of 1999, Emily formed a relationship with Juan Santiago, an immigrant from Puerto Rico. Juan was a runaway who had come to Port Charles with the mistaken belief that Sonny Corinthos was his father. In time, Emily convinced Juan of the truth -- that Miguel Morez, not Sonny, was Juan's biological father. Emily and Juan were determined to see each other no matter what Alan or Monica said and Emily even hid Juan in the Quartermaine mansion when Juan ran away. Eventually, Juan's father gave him permission to stay in Port Charles and Alan and Monica agreed that Emily could see Juan, under certain conditions. Emily encouraged Juan in his pursuit of a music career and helped him get a job at L&B. When Ned told Emily that L&B couldn't take Juan on as an artist, she went behind Sonny's back to get money to jump start Juan's career. At this same time, Ned agreed to perform as Eddie Maine for one night to raise money for L&B. Wanting to lure Ned back to ELQ and ruin L&B in the process, Edward had Ned locked in a closet as he was about to go on stage. At Emily's urging, Juan took the stage as Ned's opening act and was a huge success. Alexis Davis managed to free Ned, who ended up wowing the crowd as Eddie Maine. Emily, Juan, Nikolas, Lucky, and Liz attended a rave together. After an argument with Juan, Emily's drink was secretly drugged and she left the rave with a man named Ted. Liz, Nikolas, and Lucky were worried when they couldn't find Emily at the rave. Meanwhile, Emily woke up nude next to Ted's corpse in a seedy hotel room with no memory of how she had gotten there! Emily reached out to her friends, who promised to help her. Not wanting to involve the police for fear of what might happen to Emily, Lucky and Nikolas hid Ted's body in a freezer at Wyndemere. A short time later, Emily received a mysterious phone call from a girl who said she knew what Emily had done! Zander Smith Emily's mysterious caller demanded money in exchange for her silence. Lucky and Nikolas then set out to catch the blackmailer and caught a young girl named Gia Campbell near the place the money was supposed to be dropped off. Gia claimed innocence, but Lucky and Nikolas weren't buying it. Lucky then started following Gia in the hope of learning more about her. Lucky and Nikolas also learned that Ted had been an undercover cop. During this time, Emily pushed Juan away as she couldn't confide the truth in him and was still hurt over his flirting with another girl. Lucky, Liz and Nikolas teamed up to get information about Gia and soon proved that she was Emily's blackmailer. Gia, however, didn't know about Ted's death and was blackmailing Emily because she thought Emily had been using drugs at the rave. After much debate, Lucky, Liz, Nikolas, Emily, and Juan decided to enlist Gia's help to catch Ted's killer and Gia agreed, for a price. To that end, the group went to another rave, where Gia pointed out Zander Smith. Lucky then came up with a plan to catch Zander at the next rave. To that end, Lucky devised a scheme in which he and Nikolas would place Ted's body in the trunk of Zander's car. The plan failed, however, when Emily went against Lucky's orders and showed up at the rave. At this same time, Taggert and his men also arrived. Zander panicked and took Emily hostage and forced her to drive off with him. Lucky and Nikolas then came clean with Taggert and the search for Emily and Zander began. As it turned out, Zander had been working for Sorel, who wanted him dead for the trouble he had caused. While being held by Zander, Emily began to see him in a new light and realized he was just another one of Sorel's victims. Emily had several opportunities to escape from Zander, but didn't act on them. The bond between Emily and Zander continued to grow while they remained on the run. Jason and Lucky tracked Emily and Zander down just moments before the police arrived and were prepared to rescue Emily and turn Zander over to the cops. Jason and Lucky were then shocked when Emily begged them to let Zander escape. Jason and Lucky did as Emily asked and Zander took off for Canada. Jason brought Emily home, much to the delight of the Quartermaines. Emily thought she would never see Zander again and was shocked when he appeared outside her window. Emily kept Zander's presence a secret from Juan, who was growing suspicious of her actions. Zander wanted Emily to run away with him, but she said that was impossible. Emily did, however, arrange to get some money together to help Zander. One day, Nikolas and Lucky saw Zander in town and they tackled him. Zander was arrested and Emily was horrified over what had happened. Emily accidentally told Taggert that Sorel, not Zander, had killed Ted and Emily vowed to help Zander with or without the Quartermaine's blessing. Emily found herself being drawn to Zander more and more and they even shared a kiss. Despite the Quartermaine's objections, Emily vowed to continue to try and help Zander. Emily continued to stand by Zander, much to the worry of her family. Emily and Zander grew closer and Emily broke up with Juan. With his deal to testify against Sorel in place, Zander was released from jail on bail, which Sonny paid. Zander then moved into Alexis's penthouse, a fact that did not sit well with Ned. At the start of 2001, Emily refused to back away from Zander. Thinking they were acting in Emily's best interests, Alan and Monica sent her away to boarding school in California. Emily was livid but had no choice but to pack her bags and leave. A short time later, Zander appeared outside Emily's window and they decided to run away together. Emily and Zander spent several days on the road but then decided to return to Port Charles. After spending one last night together and sharing a kiss, Zander prepared to turn himself in. Edward, however, beat Zander to the punch and had him arrested. Alexis later arranged for Zander to be released on bail and he moved back in with her. Emily was furious at her family's actions and she moved out of the mansion and into a room at Kelly's. Zander finally testified against Sorel. Sonny was grateful to him and it looked as though Zander's life was turning around. Then Edward was mugged and Zander was accused of the crime. Edward told Emily he would drop the charges if Emily broke up with Zander. Emily agreed to the plan. Zander and Emily broke up when he returned to his former life after believing that she had betrayed his trust. He soon realized that his love for Emily was stronger than anything else and he asked her to take him back. Emily forgave him and on prom night, the two made love for the first time. Emily was as shocked, as any of the Quartermaines, when Skye Chandler arrived at the mansion and revealed herself to be Alan's illegitimate daughter. The threats from Sorel continued to plague them, and they decided to leave town in order to be safe. Jealous of all the attention that Emily received, Skye told her that she would give Emily and Zander money so that they could leave town. Wanting to be safe from Sorel and free of her family's manipulations, Emily agreed. Unfortunately, the bus that Emily and Zander took out of town was involved in a crash, and Emily was left paralyzed. Emily had to be sent to a rehabilitation center away from Port Charles. Zander refused to be told where she was sent, so that he wouldn't cause her any more danger. Though his love for her remained strong, they had to stay apart until Emily was well, and the danger had passed. |
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