Prologue
"Please….help….me." The shapely woman staggered into the General Hospital emergency room door and reached for a white clad worker. Her breathing was labored, and she was pale. A she trembled; she was wracked with a massive bought of coughing.
"Orderly!" Lesely Webber called out as she supported the woman. This was her first day back working at General Hospital and it was proving to be quite an interesting day indeed. This young woman was in obvious distress and the hospital was understaffed.
"Please help me…" the woman mumbled, deep in her own delirium. "Mama help me." She whispered raggedly as her knees folded in and she collapsed into a graceful heap on the floor.
Lesley swore as she hurried to the nurse's station. She fumbled with the buttons of the phone before giving up with a cry of frustration. So much had changed since she had last worked at this facility! She rushed back to the woman and began taking her pulse. The poor thing was burning up and her pulse was rapid. She was in trouble.
"MOM!" A tawny haired young man rushed into the ER and skidded to a stop in front of Lesley and the woman. Lesley was concentrating so much on the young woman that she barely took notice of the new presence.
"You, please help me get her into an examining room." She said in a proficient businesslike voice.
"What? Huh?" The young man looked down at his mother for a moment. Didn't hospitals have people to do that? Wasn't that why they had come here? When the older woman tapped her foot in a way that clearly said if he didn't get moving, she'd give him a tongue lashing, he hefted his mother in his arms. Lesley led the young man into a curtained area, thankful that she had just examined the ER layout.
"Just put her down there. I'm going to page some of the doctors." Lesley said with what she hoped was a reassuring look. The maternal instinct in her came out and she patted his hand warmly. "Don't worry, your mom will be all right"
The boy nodded and sank down in a bedside chair. "Mom the lady's right. It will be OK. You have to hang on. Arianna is just outside. You have to hang on for her, for me, mom. We need you. Don't let this sickness take you."
~*~
"Sonny I didn't mean to do it." Carly said in a rush. She glanced over at the towel that bound his hand, noting with some alarm that it was turning redder by the moment. "Does it hurt a lot?" She asked as she winced.
"Does it hurt a lot?" sonny asked in an incredulous tone. "I don't know what hurts more, the fact that you stabbed me or the that ride from hell here."
"I can't help it if I never learned to drive." Carly stuck her lower lip out and gave him her most hurt look. "You know the knife in your hand was a mistake and it wasn't my fault that you didn't want to call an ambulance.
Sonny rolled his eyes. She just didn't get it. "And I didn't want to be brought here either." He said in an exaggerated tone.
Carly glared at him. "What was I supposed to do, let you bleed to death. It isn't my fault that you got the smart idea to give the guys the day off. Hello Sonny they're your guards. They're our protection. What were you thinking?"
"I don't know what I was thinking." Sonny lied through clenched teeth. Actually, he did. He was going to seduce Carly with no chance of interruptions. The elevator had been jammed, the guards given the day off, the phones turned off. What possible interruption could there have been?
Until Carly had struck. She had been hungry; she said and had gone into the kitchen. Then she had called him to help her pry a knife out of the counter. He never expected that she would have gotten it loose, her momentum plowing the sharp blade into his palm. Then, she had pulled it out. Didn't the girl ever watch ER? Even he knew you were supposed to let the doctors do that!
"Come on, let's fine a doctor." He muttered as a woman rushed past him. "Excuse me!" Sonny called out, but she didn't appear to be listening. Carly marches over and planted herself in the woman's path.
"Hey you, my boyfriend is bleeding." Carly said as she touched the woman's arm. When the older woman looked up, Carly recognized her, but only in the vaguest sense. "Are you gonna help him?"
"As soon as I can." Lesley replied. Where were all the doctors!
"Do you know who he is?" Carly asked the woman. "He's Sonny Corinthos. Who can be more important?"
"Pleased to meet you Mr. Corinthos." Despite her tension Lesley couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from twitching as a smile threatened to break through. Turning serious, she spoke again. "I have a critically ill woman here and we have no doctors around. You'll have to learn some patience, miss. And Mr. Corinthos please try to relax."
Carly glared at the woman's retreating back. " The nerve." She muttered before going to the phone. "Hello? I need to be connected to Stefan Cassadine's office. There is an emergency in the ER."
~*~
Emily Bowen Quartermaine walked rapidly toward the Emergency room of General hospital. Someone upstairs had informed her that her mother was down here. Emily and Monica had gotten much closer after the whole Ted mess of the late summer and she was going to surprise her workaholic mother with some takeout from Kelly's.
The girl curled up in one of the hard plastic ER chairs and tried to burrow into herself. Everything was falling apart! Mom was sick, Patrick was taking all the responsibility for the household and what was she doing? Nothing but crying. She wondered how her mother and twin brother were doing, but she couldn't bring herself to venture beyond the large white doors.
No one had to tell Arianna James that her mother was dying. It had been obvious for weeks now as their mother got weaker and weaker. It was the house, Patrick thought, so she and her mother had gotten into the car while an unlicensed Patrick had driven them hundreds of miles. When mom saw the sign for Port Charles, she had decided this would be their new home. Would she ever see it or would their new town be their mother's final resting place?
Just after they had passed the town limits, their mother had passed into a state of delirium. Within a minute she was twitching and shaking, so Patrick had driven right to the hospital. How upset would he be to know Arianna had stood frozen at the ER doors, unable to help her mother inside. She couldn't bear to see her mother like this. "Oh God what are we going to do?"
Emily stopped, struck by the anguish in the young woman's voice. Her mom and the food could wait. Emily approached the young woman quickly, sitting beside her. "Hi what's wrong?" She asked, parting the sandy brown curtain of hair that covered the girl's face.
Arianna looked up at the intrusion. Tendrils of hair stuck to her face and she brushed them away as she looked at the girl. She seemed to be about the same age as Ari. "Hi." She said shyly. "My mom's in there, she's really sick."
Emily immediately empathized. "I lost my mom a few yeas ago." She shared. "And she was sick a lot of the time. Can I sit with you? I have food too, if you think you can eat."
"I'd like that." Ari wiped her hand carefully on her shirt and extended her hand to the other girl. "I'm Arianna James."
"I'm Emily Quartermaine." Em replied, slipping an arm around her new friend's shoulder. "And your mom will be ok. This is the greatest hospital out there."
"I hope so." Ari whispered, knowing it was unlikely that her mother would live through the day.
~*~
Lesley rushed back to the young man and the critically ill woman. "I'm waiting for some of the other doctors to get here." She shared. "Why don't you step outside and I'll begin the exam."
Patrick gave her a strange look. "Are you sure. I don't want to leave her…"
"I'm positive." Lesley replied. There was no need for the young man to know that his mother was her first patient in many years.
"All right," Patrick sighed. He should go check on his sister anyway, he supposed. "Mom I love you. Stay strong" he whispered
"Don't go too far," Lesley called over her shoulder. "We'll need you to give us the basics on your mother's illness."
"I won't." Patrick replied softly. "I won't leave you mom."
~*~
Stefan Cassadine hurried down to the emergency room. His secretary had received a call that there was a problem there and he had been unable to get in contact with the nurses. There were some days he wished he had relinquished his role at the hospital and this day was certainly one of them. He strode purposefully into the ER, noting with astonishment the empty nurse's station. Where was everyone?
Turning, he spotted a young man. "Hello?" Stefan asked as he moved closer.
Patrick heard someone speaking to him so he turned, hoping it was one of the doctors. When he saw the man, he broke into a big smile. Now everything would be okay. "Papa we missed you!"
Chapter 1
"Oh thank God someone's here." Lesley Webber said in relief as Monica Quartermaine entered the cubicle. She didn't want to admit that she wasn't exactly comfortable with her foray back into medicine.
Monica eyed the other woman in surprise. "Hello Lesley." She said coolly to her one time rival. "What have we got here?"
Lesley flushed at Monica's cool tone, wondering why she couldn't let the ancient past stay there. "Young woman, Early-mid 30s. She collapsed at the door of the ER. I don't know her symptoms yet."
"Well find them out ok? Monica softened her tone. It must not have been easy for Lesley to return to doctoring after all of these years. She wasn't going to make things even harder for her. "Did she come in alone, Les?"
"No, her son is right outside the curtained area."
"Well, go get him." Monica said as she paged one of the nurses. Amy or Gabriela would be in soon and they could start to unravel this mystery, but until they had the facts there wasn't much they could do.
Lesley resented being treated like a medical student but there wasn't much she could do? She would have to serve for a time under a doctor; that was in the patients' best interest. She knew that despite her years of training there would need to be an adjustment time, but she wished that the realization didn't cause her to feel this inferior. She closed the curtain and walked out to the young man. "Sir? We need to talk to you about the patient."
Patrick looked at his father, then at the woman. "All right, I'll be right back. Mom's really sick." He remarked as he turned away. He briefly wondered about his father's lack of a reaction before his thoughts were consumed with worry about his mother. "How is she?" He asked as the woman led him back into the curtained area.
"The same." Lesley said quietly. "This is Dr. Monica Quartermaine. She's the best we have here. Why don't you tell us how she got sick."
"Hi." Patrick's voice was a whisper. "Can you help her? I don't know exactly what happened but about a month ago, mom started getting sick. She has Lupus but it's in remission and these symptoms are so different." He raked a hand through his hair. "We lived in a house that wasn't really safe so I suggested that maybe a change of environment was what mom needed, but when we started driving she got worse. She's been shaking and throwing up and said she was having terrible back and stomach pains."
"For how long?" Monica questioned. "And what was unsafe about your house." He reminded her so much of someone, but she just couldn't place the boy.
"The symptoms were bad two weeks ago and then came back about two days ago. She's been getting worse. And about the house, we were midway between two factories, Horrible air quality." He wondered if the move had been a case of too little too late.
"All right." Monica said with a nod. "Thank you. You've been a great help. We'll call you when we have some idea of what's going on. Do you have anyone to sit with you?" Monica watched his expression take on a hopeful look.
"My father and sister are outside. I'll be fine." He said as he stepped back outside the curtain.
~*~
Emily tightened her arms around her newfound friend as she sniffled. "Do you want to talk about it? What's wrong with your mom, I mean. Mine had cancer." Her voice became hushed as she remembered that difficult time.
Ari took a deep breath. She had to act like she was somewhat balanced if she was going to get anything accomplished. "We don't know. That's a big part of the problem. My brother and I have just been watching her getting sicker and sicker and being upset cause she won't go to the doctors." She tried to hold back a sob, but it came out despite her best wishes.
"Oh Gosh." Emily whispered. "That must be so hard not knowing what it is. Is your brother around?" This girl needed more then a newfound friend to lean on right now.
Ari nodded and motioned toward the door. "My brother is in there, but I couldn't do it, I couldn't bring myself to walk inside." She felt like such a wimp beside her new friend.
"Look don't sweat it. Think I could hang out with you?" Ari was so different from anyone she had ever met and Em found herself wanting to help in any way she could. She would support the girl that reminded her so much of herself in any way that she could.
Ari nodded and met her eyes. "Now you tell me we can do it and lead me in there so we have news right?" She knew she could manage the journey with her friend by her side. Emily's support was different from Patrick's. While Patrick had always been her rock, they were never equals. Patrick had always tried to make up for their dad being gone. His man of the house routine led to a natural leadership role in the family. Even when he was being goofy and a normal teen, the mantle of responsibility hung snugly upon his muscular shoulders.
"No I tell you we're going to do it together." Emily said firmly. She stood and tugged Ari up with her. As the girl unfolded from her position on the chair. Em was surprised to see that they were the same height. "We could almost be sisters." Em teased.
"Wish we were." Ari replied back. She was amazed by the easy way she was getting along with Emily. She could feel her new friend's support radiating outward and offering the strength she needed. She took a deep breath as she looked at the imposing door. "You lead, I'll follow."
Emily nodded. "Deal." She said grabbing her friend's hand and opening the ER door. "Boy is it dead in here. No Docs, no nurses and Stefan Cassadine down at the end of the hall."
Ari's eyes lit up as a dazzling smile spread across her face. "Daddy!" She yelled running to Stefan.
Emily watched in shock. "Daddy? My new friend is a Cassadine? Why can nothing be normal in this town?"
~*~
"I know that woman. I'm going to sue her. I'm going to sue her and this whole miserable hospital. How dare they treat us that way?" Carly's shoes squeaked on the shiny floor as she paced angrily back and forth in the small cubicle. She and Sonny had retreated to a cubicle after seeing that Stefan Cassadine was at the nurse's station.
"Carly first thing, they didn't treat you like anything. I'm the one that you wounded, remember?" Sonny asked a she lofted his hand. "And secondly it looks like they had a crisis. I can wait."
"Well I can't. You need help." She said in an annoyed tone. "Sonny I could have cut a nerve or tendon or whatever else is in your hand. The longer you wait, the more the damage." She hated to overstate the point but he had to stop being so nice here. "Let me just see if there is anyone else out there. If not, I'll shut up ok?"
Sonny gave her a wide smile and nodded. As soon as her back was turned, he muttered to himself. "Carly the day you shut up is the day the world ends."
"What did you say?" Carly asked as she turned to face him. She could have sworn he made some comment about her talking. "Do you object to my talking?" She questioned as she moved closer.
"Not at all." Sonny was the picture of insincere innocence. "You just gotta admit, you do it a lot."
"Oh?" Carly arched a golden brow as she regarded him. He was so transparent. Like she didn't see through his suave exterior. His day of seduction had been ruined by this accident but he still wanted to salvage it and fighting was one way to get their motors running. "There are other ways to occupy my mouth Sonny boy. Have you ever considered any of those?" She gave him a challenging look and leaned in close.
Sonny smiled, flashing his dimples at her. This was more like it! "What have you got in mind? I had an idea before…"
"Oh nothing." Carly replied after he had committed himself. "Let me get a doctor. Wouldn't want to raise your blood pressure Sonny."
Sonny chuckled as she walked out. After all they had been through in the past, he had finally found his match
~*~
Stefan waited a second after the boy came out. When he didn't move, the older man approached him, holding his arm snugly. "Who are you and why are you doing this?" Stefan had never seen the boy before in his life, so why was he referring to him as Papa. He didn't have any children, not even Nikolas anymore. "I won't hurt you, just tell me what game this is of my mothers."
Patrick looked at his father in shock. He was dimly aware of his sister's voice calling for their father and the pounding of her feet as she came closer. "What…. what do you mean dad? I know it's been a long while, but…. don't you recognize us? Patrick and Arianna?"
Ari skidded to a stop next to her brother. "What's wrong papa? Don't we get a hug? We missed you." She looked at the way her father was holding Patrick's arm as alarm rushed through her. "Let him go daddy, you're hurting him?"
In response, Stefan grabbed the girls arm as well and marched them into the nurse's lounge. "Stop this farce. I never met either of you. Why do you persist in calling me your father when we have never met?"