Chapter 1

Please come out, please come out, Carly said to herself over and over again. Jason hadn't come out of the hospital yet, and she was scared that he was trapped in the burning building.

"Carly, he's going to be okay," Jax said.

"The building is burning, and my best friend may be trapped in there. I should be in there looking for him," she said, tears starting to fall.

"No, there is no way that I would let you risk your life. He can take care of himself. The most important thing is that you are here with me."

"That's funny. Jason said the same thing when your plane crashed. He said that you could take care of yourself, and he wanted to make sure I was okay. And then I left him," she said, now crying.

Jax started to hug her, but then Jason, Sam, and Spinelli came running out of the hospital.

"Jason!" she screamed. She ran to him and gave him a huge hug.

"I was so scared that you were trapped in there."

"I needed to stay in there to find Spinelli," he said.

"I know. I told everyone that you would never leave him there. But, Jase, if you had died in there."

"But I didn't."

She noticed that he sounded weak, and he was putting pressure on his arm. "Jase, you need to get checked out."

"I'm fine; I just need to get my arm bandaged."

"No, I want you to get a full checkup. Jase, please?"

"Fine. You're okay, right?"

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Good. How about I come over when I get done with my checkup that you're forcing me to get."

She smiled. "That sounds good." She gave him another hug, while Jax watched. He was getting really tired of watching Carly lean on another man.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you, too," Jason replied.

Later that night, Jason kept his promise and came over. "You came!" she squealed.

"I told you that I would be here. Where's Jax?" he asked.

"He went to the hotel."

"He left you? What if you get sick?" He was furious; she was exposed to a potentially deadly poison, and almost died, but Jax left her?

"Jason, I'm fine, really, I am. What about you?"

"They fixed my arm, and they gave me a clean bill of health."

"Good. Jason, I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to you."

"It goes both ways. I was so glad that you got out. When I found out that the board room had been exposed to the virus, I was so worried about you."

"I'm fine, though." She sighed. "This was supposed to be a good night. It was supposed to be about Michael, and giving money to help an important cause."

"I know." He knew that she would be upset. That's part of the reason he came over. "This wasn't your fault though."

"Why couldn't things have just gone right for once? My son is in a coma; is it to much to ask that we have one nice party in his honor?"

Jason wrapped his arms around her, and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "You can have another event. The hotel would be a nice choice; you probably wouldn't have to worry about poison."

"Yeah, but the ceiling would probably fall in or something," Carly said before changing subjects. "I'm hungry. Do you want something to eat?"

"What do you have? Frozen pizza and cheese puffs?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"It's a wonder that you stay so thin with all the crap you eat."

"Good genes. Okay, so it's one frozen pizza, cheese puffs, and beer?"

"I'll have beer. You can have soda."

"Jase-"

"No arguments."

"Okay, fine." Carly stood up, but she had to take a second to steady herself.

"Carly?"

"I'm fine. I just stood up to fast," she said. But when she walked toward the kitchen, she felt really dizzy. She felt herself losing her balance and falling. Before she hit the floor, Jason looked up and noticed her. He jumped her and caught her.

"I feel dizzy, Jase."

"Okay, that's it. We're going to the hospital."

"I'm probably just tired. I don't need to go to the hospital."

"Humor me. You made me get checked out, and now I'm doing the same for you. If you're okay, then we can come back here, and you can go to sleep. But we need to make sure you're healthy."

"Okay." She still felt dizzy, so she leaned on Jason all the way to the car. Once she was in the car and on the way to the hospital, she fell asleep.

A few minutes later, Jason was shaking her gently. "Carly, we're here. You need to wake up."

She opened her eyes, and she felt better, for the most part.

"I parked as close to the hospital as I could. Can you walk?"

"Yeah, I'm really feeling better. We can just go home."

"No. Carly, you passed out. You need to be checked out."

"Okay, okay," she said, giving in.

As they walked into the hospital, Jason acted like she was dying. "We need help over here."

A doctor rushed over to help them. "What's wrong?"

"I just got a little dizzy, but I'm fine," she insisted.

"She was exposed to the poison at General Hospital earlier tonight, and she passed out," Jason said.

"Okay," the doctor said. "Let's get you changed and then we'll run a few tests."

The doctor came out, and said she wanted Jason there when they were asking her questions and doing tests.

He walked in to Carly's room and saw nurse taking her blood pressure and asking her questions.

"Your blood pressure is normal. Is there a chance you could be pregnant?"

Carly shook her head. "No, at least I don't think so."

The thought of Carly sleeping with Jax made his stomach turn.

"Okay. We just need to draw some blood, and we'll be done."

As the nurse cleaned Carly's arm, she noticed Jason standing at the door. "Hey."

"Hey." He walked over to her bed, and held her hand while they drew blood.

"Okay, the doctor will be back when the test results are in."

"How are you feeling? Is your breathing okay?"

"I feel fine, Jase. I'm just really tired."

"Go to sleep. The doctor and I will wake you when you're results are in."

She nodded, and then fell fast asleep. Jason held her hand and watched her sleep. He hoped the poison hadn't affected her because if she was sick, he didn't know what he would do.

About an hour later, the doctor came back to Carly's room, and Jason woke Carly up.

"Mrs. Jacks, we have your results. I'm going to have to ask you to step outside," he told Jason.

"No," Carly insisted. "I want Jason to stay."

Jason sensed something was wrong. "Is it the poison?"

"No, we don't think Mrs. Jacks was affected by the poison. Have you been feeling tired lately?"

"Yes, but I have a young child and a hotel to run. I'm busy."

"What about nose bleeds? Dizziness?"

"I haven't had any nosebleeds, and I haven't felt dizzy besides tonight. I thought it was because I was tired from the disaster tonight. Is there something wrong with me?"

"We did several tests, and we found that your white blood count was high."

Jason felt Carly tense up, and he was getting scared by what the doctor was saying, but he didn't show it. He tightened his grip on her hand, and he stroked her hair with his other hand.

"What does that mean?"

"Mrs. Jacks, you have leukemia."