The restaurant at the MetroCourt Hotel was ablaze with adults, all talking at once. Some were sipping elegant drinks at the bar, some were chatting idly at tables.

Why was everyone at the MetroCourt you ask? Well, today was the day of the Michael Corinthos Foundation Carnival. The carnival didn't start for a couple of hours. This was just the kickoff party.

Carly Corinthos-Jax was standing in the corner, surveying the bustling crowd. She put her hands over her visible baby bump happily.

Olivia came up to Carly.

"Hey Carly." Olivia said, bumping her lightly with her hip. They smiled at each other.

"I just put the finishing touches on the carnival in the hospital parking lot. We are good to go." Olivia said.

"That's great, Olivia, thanks. I don't know how Jax and I managed without you before."

Olivia just smiled.

**********

Robin and Patrick stumbled through the doors of the restaurant, hand in hand.

"Finally! An excuse to get out of work!" Robin exclaimed, collapsing in a seat at the bar. Patrick slid in next to her.

"I can't wait to get to the actual carnival. Your gonna come on all the rides with me." She smiled sweetly at Patrick.

"All the rides?" Patrick said with his cute smirk. Robin nodded, laughing. She turned her head slightly. There stood Andrea Floyd, the mayor's evil wife, by the entrance.

**********

Alexis was walking around, martini in hand, looking for her good friend Jax.

Instead she bumped into Mac, almost spilling her drink all over him.

"I'm so sorry Mac." Alexis said, biting back a smile.

"No big deal Alexis." Mac answered back.

"This is a pretty good crowd, and this is only the kickoff party." Mac remarked.

"I know. Can you imagine how many people will be at the carnival? Plus with all their screaming kids running around." Alexis asked with a chuckle.

"It's gonna be a blast. Now excuse me, I have to find Jax." Alexis said, with one last smile to Mac.

Alexis passed Andrea at the door.

"Enjoy your freedom while it lasts Alexis." Andrea said nastily, referring to the supposed "fling" she had with the mayor, and of course, hitting Claudia, and killing her baby. She really didn't hit Claudia; it was her daughter, Kristina. But she had to protect her daughter at all costs.

Alexis opened her mouth to say something. Instead, she closed her mouth, ignored Andrea, and walked away.

**********

Jax was walking around, thanking people for coming, and for supporting the fund. Sure, Michael had woken up from his coma, but the fund was kept alive, because there were plenty more coma patients that needed help.

Really the whole time, Jax was thinking how he couldn't wait to get back to Carly, then take the boys to the carnival.

"Jax!"

"Oh, Alexis. Hey." Jax said to Alexis, who had appeared beside him.

"Just thought I'd say hi. And um, why is Andrea Floyd here?" she hissed.

"She's here?" he looked around and spotted her in her spot by the door.

"Well, the mayor was obviously invited to this, so I guess she would have come along, but I didn't think they would show up. Sorry Alexis."

She decided to ignore it, and anything having to do with Andrea Floyd today.

She leaned in and whispered in his ear.

"You look bored to tears."

"Don't I know it." He whispered back, and they laughed together.

**********

Sam and Jason weren't at the party. They probably should have been, but it wasn't really their thing. Instead, they were sitting on the couch in Jason's apartment. Sam was begging Jason to go to the carnival with her.

"Come on Jason! It will be fun." Sam said, daring to look in Jason's hypnotic eyes.

Jason looked right back.

"Why do we have to go again?" he asked her.

"Well it is for Michael's foundation. And your extremely close to him."

"I'll write a check." He shot back. Sam tried a different approach.

"We decided to get back together and you haven't taken me on a date yet?"

Jason sighed but didn't answer. Sam stood up of the couch.

"You're right. I have work to do.: she said, pouting. She started heading for the door.

Jason caught her arm.

"Alright, I'll take you to the carnival." He tugged on her arm and she fell into his waiting arms.

"And you weren't even gonna give me a goodbye kiss?" he asked with a smirk. Sam pulled his face to hers and kissed him deeply.

"How's that for a goodbye kiss?" she asked when she was finished.

"Yeah, but now you're not leaving."

She laughed, kissing him again.

**********

"You ready to go?" Claudia asked Sonny cheerfully, as he came down the stairs.

Sonny looked at his watch, the carnival started soon. They had missed the kickoff party, not that he minded.

"Almost." He answered her, pouring himself a drink.

"Ok." Claudia answered and plopped down on the couch.

"Are we gonna pick up your kids?" she asked.

"No, I think we are gonna call Dominic to bring them there. he will be their guard for the evening." Claudia nodded as Sonny flipped out his phone and called Dominic Pirelli's number.

**********

Dominic had all of Sonny's kids and Sonny's niece in the car.

It was carnival time!

The carnival was loud and full of clowns, food, and games. A ton of people were there already when Dominic and the kids arrived.

"Wow!" exclaimed Morgan and Molly. Kristina and Michael smiled at their younger sibling's excitement. Dominic came over after paying for their tickets.

"Where to?" he asked.

Morgan and Molly looked at each other and then at Dominic.

"The Sizzler!" they cried.

Dominic smiled.

"Sounds good to me." He looked over at Kristina and Michael.

"Hey you two." They looked over at him.

"Go have some fun, I won't babysit you. If you have any trouble, call me." After exchanging numbers, Kristina said

"Thanks Dominic." And they took off. Dominic turned back to the younger kids.

"To the Sizzler!" he yelled. They laughed and Molly and Morgan led the way to the ride.

**********

Michael and Kristina were walking around, listening to "Funhouse" by Pink that was blaring through speakers throughout the carnival. There was so much to do, but they were unbelievably bored.

"It's times like these that I miss Cancun." Kristina said to Michael. Michael chuckled, kicking at the ground with his hands in his pockets.

"I guess." They walked some more and a few minutes later, Keifer found them.

"K! I've been looking for you." Keifer said sweetly. Michael could feel his hand clench at his side.

"Keifer!" Kristina said, hugging him tight. Then she turned to look at Michael.

"Cover for me?" she asked. Before Michael had a chance to reply, Keifer had whisked Krissy away, leaving Michael alone. They walked away, hand in hand. Michael looked away, disgusted.

**********

Lulu and Johnny came through the entrance.

"This is awesome." Lulu said.

"I haven't been to one of these in forever." Johnny chuckled at the joy on Lulu's face. "What do you want to do first?" he asked.

"I don't know." Lulu said, "Let's walk around." They walked around for awhile, their arms wrapped around each other. They weren't paying attention and almost bumped into a clown.

"I'm so-"Johnny started, but stopped when the clown turned around. It was Spinelli!

"Spinelli?!" Lulu said, cracking up. "What are you doing dressed as a clown?" she asked through her laughs.

"Maximista is trying to help the Jackal overcome his ridiculous phobia of clowns." Spinelli said, smiling and handing them a balloon. Johnny held the balloon as Maxie walked up behind Spinelli.

"Hey guys." Maxie said. "How are you doing Spinelli?"

"The Jackal feels more strange than usual." Johnny bit back a laugh, sounding like he was choking. Lulu nudged him as Maxie glared.

"Spinelli let me fix your makeup. We'll catch up with you guys later." Johnny and Lulu nodded as they walked off, and then cracked up.

**********

Patrick and Robin were in the dunk tank or the Dunk a Hunk as people were nicknaming it. Patrick was currently in the tank.

"Show me what you got woman!" he called to Robin.

"You wanna see what I got?" she yelled back, and tossed a ball, it missed by a lot.

"Is that all you got? Seriously, that was pathetic!" he taunted. Matt walked through the tent flap.

"Finally, some competition."Patrick called from the tank.

"Matt, will you please dunk your brother's smug little ass in that tank?" Robin asked. Matt laughed and paid the guy who was manning the station.

"Take this bro!" Matt threw the ball. It hit the target dead on, but Patrick didn't go under.

"Better luck next time bro!" Patrick laughed.

"Hey man! That's a rip off!" Robin and Matt exclaimed. The man running the tank just shrugged.

**********

Sam was practically pulling Jason through the entrance of the carnival. They were late because they spent some more time together before leaving.

"What should we do first?" Sam asked.

"Pay for tickets?" Jason suggested.

"Oh yeah." Sam laughed and waited as Jason paid.

"Ok, so what do you want to do?" Jason asked as they walked, fingers intertwined.

"Doesn't matter." Sam answered.

"Oh so you dragged me out here to walk around?" he asked, humor tainting his voice.

"Hmm… could I get you to go in the Dunk a Hunk? Get your fortune told?" Sam asked as they passed those tents.

"Uh…maybe later." Jason answered, smiling down at Sam. She looked cute with her sunglasses on. He had bought them for her when they went to Mexico to get Kristina and Michael. Sam laughed, knowing there was a slim chance of getting him in either of those tents.

"Alright."

"Want to go on some rides?" Jason asked.

"Uhh, rides aren't really my thing." She lied.

"Since when?" he asked, but when he saw her face, he didn't push the matter. Sam was glad Jason dropped it. She wouldn't have minded going on some of the rides… but she couldn't. She had a secret that she hadn't yet told Jason.

She was pregnant.

She knew she should tell Jason, since it was his baby, and a miracle baby at that. He would be ecstatic. She wasn't supposed to be able to have children, but this was just a miracle. She was glad it was Jason's baby this time around.

Sam had gone to the hospital about two weeks ago when she had been feeling very nauseous and she was throwing up. When Kelly had come in to tell her that she was pregnant, she couldn't stop crying. She wanted to tell Jason, and she wasn't really sure why she hadn't. Guess it never seemed like the right time.

She could tell him right now. She could have told him many times before. But something always held her back. She guessed it was because she didn't want to throw another baby on his plate. He already had to give up Jake, because of his business. But she wouldn't keep this baby from him. But, what if he didn't want the baby?

All of a sudden, Sam stopped walking "Oh my God Jason!" she said, staring straight ahead.

"Sam, what's wrong?" he asked, concern spreading on his face, feeling extremely worried.

"I want that bear." She said very seriously, then smiled.

"Sam, don't ever scare me like that again." He scolded her, bringing her into a hug as his heart rate receded. Then he turned to see what she was talking about. It was a game stand. It was one of those shooting games where you had to shoot the small star in the middle. Piece of cake for a trained hit man. He turned back to Sam.

"You want that bear?" he asked, with a growing smirk on his face.

"I want that bear." She said, still smiling back.

"Then I will get you that bear." He said, as he walked over to the stand.

Coleman was running the stand.

"Well, look who it is!" he said as Jason and Sam approached.

"Care to try? It's for a good cause." He said, waving a wad of cash in front of him.

"And how much of that is actually going to the foundation, and how much is going in your pockets?" Sam asked.

"Oww, easy girl. I wouldn't do that." He said with a knowing grin. Jason handed him some bills anyway and took the gun. He lined it up and shot a series of 10 bullets in a matter of seconds. All of them missed the star.

"He never misses that bad!" Sam cried, laughing at the expression on Jason's face.

"This game is rigged!" Jason handed Coleman more bills, shot, and missed again.

Jason got irritated and pulled his real gun out of his pocket and prepared to shoot the target.

"Alright, easy Jason." Sam said, grabbing his arm.

"I don't need it that bad."

Jason put the gun away.

"My bad." He said, with one of his smirks.

"Oh take the bear!" Coleman said, handing her the cutest, softest, pink bear.

"Aw, thanks guys." Sam said, hugging the bear.

**********

"Oh, hey dad." Michael called out as he was his dad and Claudia walking toward him.

"Hey son!" Sonny said, pulling Michael into a hug.

"I've been looking for you guys everywhere." He said smiling.

"Where is everybody else?"

"Dominic took Molly and Morgan on the Sizzler, and Krissy went with Keifer."

"Keifer? I really don't like that guy. I don't want that guy anywhere near Kristina." Sonny said, as Michael nodded in agreement.

"Oh, let her be." Claudia said.

"I bet you she really likes that guy. Let her have some fun." Sonny looked at Claudia and smiled.

**********

Dominic, Morgan, and Molly had just gotten off the Sizzler. They had waited in line for a long time, but for the kids, it was worth it.

"I don't know about you, but that ride killed me." Dominic said.

"Not us." Molly said sweetly.

"It was really fun, thank you Dominic."

"No problem." Dominic said, ruffling her hair.

"Yeah thanks." Morgan said, just before a loud noise erupted behind them. They whipped around, just in time to see the Sizzler break down, with people on it. Seats were disconnected and it was smoking in parts.

"Good thing we got on and off when we did." Dominic said, getting nervous. He thought he could see some bodies, and he heard someone calling for paramedics. He cleared his throat.

"Let's go." He said, ushering the kids away from the commotion. They didn't need to see this. And frankly, this was too close of a call.