Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.
AN: This is nearly six months after the current episodes. Jason, even if he doesn't on the show, gets bad migraines because of his accident.
Chapter One:
Jason Morgan opened his eyes slowly. The meager light from the dimly lit room stabbed at his brain, forcing out a groan as he clenched his eyes again. A tiny hand slipped into his and a welcome, familiar voice murmured into his ear, "Squeeze my hand, Jason. I'm here."
The sound was familiar, but Jason was so disconcerted he couldn't place it. Jason's grip tightened around the hand in his and he visibly braced himself to open his eyes again. A soft touch threaded through his hair, bringing remembrance to Jason about the owner of the voice. He relaxed into the touch, recognizing his guardian angel. "Sam," he murmured, leaning into her palm.
Samantha McCall smiled as her fiancé struggled to full awareness. After several moments, he could finally open his eyes without feeling as though his head was being attacked by pins and needles. "Sam?" he questioned weakly, looking around their bedroom at the penthouse. "What happened? Are you okay?"
Sam smiled at him gently. Trust Jason to be worried about her first and himself second. "I'm fine, Jason. You protected me, just like you promised."
He nodded, leaning back into his pillows as his eyes drifted closed in a tired blink. "What happened, Sam? Why did you need protecting?"
"There was an explosion at the warehouse, Jason. You pushed Sonny and me out of the way and took the brunt of the explosion."
Jason shifted, taking private stock of his body. "How bad?"
Sam sighed, taking his unbandaged hand in her own. "You're pretty burned, Jason. There's a burn across your cheekbone, from a rafter that fell and caught you across the shoulder and the face. Another burn on your shoulder goes up and over your shoulder, before heading down your chest and your back. You'll wear the scars the rest of your life, Jason."
Jason managed a weak grin. "Think it'll make me scarier?"
Sam smiled, rolling her eyes and shaking her head in denial. She knew he was only trying to ease her anxiety and she loved him the more for it. "Not likely, Jason. You're plenty scary without them."
"Why am I at home?" he asked, with a groan as he tried to push himself into a sitting position with his good hand.
Sam leaned over, helping him quietly, smiling slightly as he didn't even protest the help. "We're worried about you."
"Okay. I should be in the hospital, Sam, if the burns are as bad as you say."
"Sonny thinks he knows who the target of the explosion was. He took measures to keep them safe," was all Sam said, being purposely vague unless he asked for a straight answer.
"Who was the target? Sonny? You? Who was it?"
"The target was you, Jason. They were trying to kill you."
Jason shook his head in confusion, feeling a headache start to form behind his eyes. As always, the headaches made him feel disoriented and disconnected from what was going on around him. "Why?" he asked, struggling to keep focused on the conversation.
Sam had long ago learned to read the signs of Jason's headaches and migraines and took his hand in hers, rubbing his palm with the pads of her fingers. "We don't know yet, Jason. But until we do, Sonny has confined us to the penthouse. Neither of us are allowed to leave. We've got orders; you to rest and to heal, and me to make sure you stay in bed."
Jason grimaced, trying to get out of bed. "We'll just see about that."
Sam reached out and shoved him back, knocking him over as easily as though she was pushing over a child. "Jason, I have to agree with Sonny in this instance. You're too weak. If it wasn't for Monica's painkillers, I'm pretty sure that you would be in a lot more pain than you already are. Take it easy and get some rest. Let me take care of you for once."
Jason watched her for a second, seeing the worry lines between her brows and the uncharacteristic dark circles beneath her eyes. "How long have you been worrying about me? How long have you been sitting in that chair, waiting for me to wake up?"
Sam sighed, knowing that she could never hide anything from Jason. He saw everything about her, worrying endlessly about the day that his job finally hurt her. Reaching out, she ran her fingers through his hair, murmuring her confession, "Nearly a week, Jason. Sonny's going outside of his mind. I am outside of my mind. I've been worried sick that, despite everything Monica said, you weren't going to wake up. And I'm completely selfish where you're concerned, Jason. I can't imagine my life without you in it. I won't have my life without you in it."
Jason watched her eyes blaze at him defiantly, and couldn't stop the smile that crept across his lips. "All right. We'll stay here. But the second my staying here endangers you, we're gone. Understood?"
Sam nodded, leaning forward to catch his lips with her own. "I'll be fine, Jason. With you here to protect me, how can I be anything else?" she asked, with a teasing smile.
Jason smiled back, feeling his eyes start to drift closed as his headache acted as a sedative, dragging him under the veil into sleep. "I love you, Sam. You know that right?"
"Yeah, Jason. I know. I love you too. More than I can ever truly express."
Jason smiled sleepily at her, reaching out to drag her body relentlessly under the covers. She laughingly protested as he pulled her body from the chair and into bed, despite being full clothed. He rested his head in the hollow of her throat, giving a deep sigh at the familiar, comforting position. "You, Samantha Jane McCall, are my whole world," he confessed drowsily, before his eyes slipped closed and he slipped under the influence of Morpheus and his land of amazing dreams.
As the week progressed, Sam stayed constantly at Jason's side. Jason's nephew, Michael, dropped by every once in awhile with his mother, Carly, but Jason was rarely awake long enough for Sam and Carly to butt heads with each other. About three days into his convalescence, Jason had tried to get out of bed on his own. His hurting body knew immediately that this was a bad idea and dropped him like a stone to the floor. Sam had come running at his pained cry, fussing for a second over him before getting mad at his reckless attempt. She turned right around and went to get Sonny. The mob boss, and Jason's best friend, arrived within minutes, laying into Jason with all the capabilities of a best fried, a father and a brother. Each role only made Jason feel guiltier. But Sonny's argument for Sam were what truly did Jason in. "Sam would never get over it if something happened to you, Jason. You remember when the Sandovals went after her? And you got mad, arranging their deaths? Well, that's kinda what Sam would do. Except the only death would be hers. It took a lot for me to realize that Sam was something special. I didn't treat her very well. You knew she was special from the beginning. Don't take away everything she lives for, just because you can't sit still. Stay in bed. Get some rest. Make love to her. And get well. That's an order, Jason. No matter how much I love you, man, you're still my employee."
Jason nodded, slumping back into his pillows, his stubbornness all but drained out of him. Sonny nodded once at the acquiescence on his second's face, before patting the younger man's shoulder gently. "I'm going to go and get Sam. Stay in bed!"
Jason nodded again, meekly, his eyes riveted on his hands in his lap. Sonny ruffled his hair in a rare gesture of affection, before turning and leaving the room. Sam looked up from the couch. "Well?"
"I think he's going to stay put now. You can go on up."
Sam nodded and trudged up the stairwell. She stopped in the doorway for a second, watching his face as he fought the urge to toss and turn from the pain. He was shirtless, the bandages around his torso and down his right arm stark against the burn-reddened skin. The pain was obvious in the cut of his brow, but those that knew him could tell from the set of his jaw that he wouldn't complain. The blast had caught him mostly in the back and along his right side. He didn't like sleeping on his stomach, and so day in and day out, he laid on his back, silently enduring the pain.
Making up her mind as she watched him toss onto his side restlessly, a small groan wrenched from between his lips, she strode into the room. She pulled a pair of pajama pants and a tank from her dresser, changing and climbing into bed with him. Jason looked at her, his piercing ice-blue eyes curious. "What are you doing?"
"Coming to bed," she replied, stretching out next to him.
He smiled at her, before reminding her, "It's barely noon."
"I know. But there's this really hot guy in my bed. He's all broken and stuff. And I could find a lot more reasons to be in bed with him than out among the real world at the time."
Jason nodded, rolling carefully onto his right side, laying so that he could face her. Sam rolled her eyes at his consideration, before pulling him onto his stomach over her, her body keeping his at a constant angle. He smiled and relaxed, content with the position, as he rested his head in the hollow of her shoulder. "Thank you, Sam."
"You're welcome. I can tell when you're being silent and long suffering."
He smiled and silently fell asleep listening to the steady beat of her heart. Sam ran her fingers through his hair, humming a soothing lullaby softly, just watching him sleep for a moment, before she too fell into the land of Morpheus.
Meanwhile, Dr. Monica Quartermaine, Jason's adoptive mother, was sitting in her sitting room on the phone with her grand-niece, Kirsten Cohen, or as she had once been, Kirsten Nichol. Kirsten had just gotten out of rehab and Monica was just checking up on her favorite niece. "How are you, K?"
Kirsten smiled at the childhood nickname. "I'm fine, Aunt Monica. How's Port Charles?"
"Your cousin is going to drive me insane."
Kirsten chuckled, hearing the fond undertone under Monica's exasperation. Her sons, Seth Cohen and Ryan Atwood, looked over at her from their Playstation, confused. She shook her head, covering the receiver with her hand. "I'm just talking to my Aunt Monica. Go back to your game." They glanced at each other and nodded, returning their attention to the TV. "Which cousin? Dillon? Emily? Who?"
Monica took a breath and confessed, "Jason."
Kirsten jerked. Last she had heard, Jason Quartermaine, AKA Jason Morgan, had cut himself off from the family, to be heard from only rarely and only when he was in trouble. "What? I thought Jason wasn't speaking to the Quartermaines."
"He won't speak to Alan, Tracy or Edward, but he'll speak to me and Emily. And he used to talk to Lila all the time while she was still alive."
Kirsten glanced at the floor at the remembrance of her Grandmother Lila. "I miss her."
"So do I, honey. We all do, Emily and Jason most of all."
"How is Jason? I haven't heard anything since he divorced Courtney."
"He's fine. He's happy. He's engaged to this beautiful woman named Samantha. She makes him smile."
"Jason smiles?" she asked in shock, before blinking and continuing, "Are we talking about the same Jason? Jason Morgan? My cousin, who used to be a Quartermaine? He actually smiles?"
"And laughs, too. Sam is so good for him. It's almost like he's my Jason again. I know he'll never get his memories back, but when he's with her, he's Jason Quartermaine again."
"He still work for Corinthos?"
"Yes."
"Do you think I could get a picture of Sam and Jason? Would that be okay?"
"First I have to get Jason to stand for a picture. But yeah, I think that would be okay. If anyone can talk him into it, it's Sam. I'll get back to you okay?"
"Sure." She paused and then remembered something, "Why's he going to drive you insane?"
"He was caught in an explosion. And I just found out from Sam that he tried to get out of bed today. A whole week and three days after it happened."
"He was caught in a what?" Kirsten exploded, causing her sons to whirl toward her again. She didn't even notice. "How was he caught in an explosion?"
"One of the other families is trying to kill him. We don't know who yet. Though, if I know Jason, and I do, then he won't take this lying down. It'll be okay. And Sam'll take care of him."
"She's okay with the fact that he nearly got killed?"
"Sam has never tried to change him. She's different from Courtney that way. She will stand beside him, regardless of what's going on around them. She loves him. Period."
"But…."
"I don't understand it either. But she's exactly the kind of woman that Jason needs. And I've seen them together. He needs her, K, desperately and completely. He's hopelessly head over heels. And so neither you nor I, or anyone else, will ever change his mind. Carly Corinthos tried to pay her five million dollars to leave him. And she wouldn't. She loves him. All we can do, is hope that it's enough."
Kirsten nodded, sitting back in her chair. "When do you think I'll see him again?"
"I don't know. Jason doesn't take vacations. But I'm going to schedule him one anyway. I'm his mother. And his doctor. He needs a break. So does Sam."
"Well, our home is always open."
"I'll keep that in mind, K. Look. I gotta go, so I'll talk to you later."
"Yeah, Aunt. Thanks."
"Hey, I'm proud of you. You got help. Tell Sandy and the boys I said hi. I love you."
"I love you too, Aunt," Kirsten told her, before hanging up the phone.
Seth's eyes were wide. "Who was in an explosion?"
"My cousin, Jason. He's okay. Just, driving his mother insane with his insistence that he's fine."
"Oh," Seth muttered, before Ryan asked, "Why was he caught in an explosion?"
"I'm not at liberty to say. Just trust me when I say that it has to do with the work he does."
"What kind of work does he do?"
Kirsten smiled, recalling his cover, "He's a coffee importer."
