Venomous
Started at 9am the other day (thanks to the site being down), finished 20 hours later. Random as hell thing that invaded my brain and wouldn't let me work on anything else. Umm. Will have a sequel eventually. Thanks as always to Ruby. 3 The boys aren't mine. Enjoy!
All he can think about as he paces in front of the hospital bed is that this should never have happened. Not to Spinelli. Not to someone so wholeheartedly innocent ad trusting. He's on the phone again, yelling at, screaming at, begging for any leads on who might have done this because three days of this slow torture have passed and Jason still has no idea. "God damn it, I want to know who did this! I want to know right now! And I want to personally wipe them off of this planet!" He growls, somewhere between infuriated and desperate. His eyes dart for the thousandth time to Spinelli's form, and the various machines he's hooked to. One is monitoring heart rate, another gauging blood pressure, yet another - not going anymore, but it had been previously -cycling his blood through a dialysis machine. And then there's the one that is breathing for him. That one scares him most.
Jason kicks at the chair he has been occupying more than he hasn't and leans against the wall. "What happened to you?" He asks Spinelli, hoping to hear the younger man's voice instead of the monotonous beeping that indicates Spinelli is still alive – which has been too close to call a few times. He slides down the wall, with his knees pressed against his chest. He drags a hand down his face, his blue eyes staring fixatedly at the younger man's unconscious form. Can't look away.
"Jason?" Maxie's voice reaches his ears from the doorway. As Spinelli's acting Medical Proxy, the mobster has banned everyone but himself and Maxie from visiting Spinelli. No need to tempt fate if someone they both know is responsible for this. He won't even allow Winnifred in to see him, FBI or not. On the plus side, his and Maxie's constant feuding has met a temporary truce.
He waves her in, and she crosses quickly to claim her own chair. "Any word yet?"
She'd only left to run home and sleep, shower, change. Been gone maybe three hours at most. But Jason can't blame her. He asks the nurses every hour when they come in to check on the Jackal.
Jason shakes his head. "Nothing."
"I take it Max didn't find anything on the security tapes from outside your building." She comments more than she asks, and Jason shakes his head again. Just a guy wearing all black and clearly avoiding the cameras.
The vision of finding Spinelli comes to the forefront of his mind again, as it has three hundred and twenty seven other times in the last three days, and Jason lets it wash over him each time. Masochistic as it may be, he wants to remember something small that might give him a clue.
It's late when he gets home from yet another meeting with Raynor about the missing, presumed dead, Anthony Zacchara. Jason has really pretty much accepted that he's going to have to turn Sonny in to keep Spinelli free.
"Hey," He calls absently into the well lit penthouse. And then he sees Spinelli.
The younger man is sprawled on the ground by the couch and vacant green eyes stare up at him, some choked sort of sound gets Jason quickly moving.
He's kneeling on the ground beside the other man, searching frantically for a pulse, which he does find. Good, he thinks, thank God. But if he has a pulse, his eyes should not look like that.
Then they move. Green eyes move around, but as if he's not seeing Jason. Awake and alive. Good, but confusing. He calls for an ambulance before trying to figure out what is actually going on. "Spinelli, come on. Talk to me." He prompts, a hand shaking Spinelli's shoulder lightly. "Come on, what happened? Tell me."
The younger man looks as if he's trying to talk, but with little success. Then the seizing starts. Violently thrashing about to the point where Jason has to intervene before he cracks his skull open on the floor. He remembers reading something once about rolling people who are seizing onto their sides so they don't choke, so he does that, and also takes care to cushion the younger man's head.
"Hold on, okay?" Jason begs, but when it all finally stops, there is nothing. No sound, no movement, just a very lifeless Spinelli and suddenly vacant looking green eyes are drifting closed and now there is not a pulse under his fingers. He can't breathe, Jason thinks frantically. He can't breathe he can't breathe he can't breathe. "Damn it."He growls frantically, pinching Spinelli's nose shut and covering Spinelli's mouth with his own. Lips are blue, fingers, too, he notices. He breathes for the younger man once twice and then shifts to push down on Spinelli's chest, and he can hear himself talking to Spinelli even though he has no clue what he's saying anymore.
More breaths, more chest compressions, countless times until the paramedics come storming in and push him out of the way.
He's exhausted from his life saving attempts but he refuses to be left behind when they finally get Spinelli out the door.
Poison. The doctor's say it's some sort of neurotoxic poison. It paralyzes. Causes temporary blindness – if you live long enough for the poison to wear off. Disorientation. Seizures. Cardiac arrest. Ordinarily, it should only take about 24 hours for the poison to work through the system, but for some reason it's taking much longer in Spinelli. Higher dose, purity of the source, how it got into his system – there is a needle sized injection site on Spinelli's neck – for some reason, the neurotoxin is still hiding in Spinelli's system.
"Octopus venom." Maxie snorts in utter disbelief. "Who would poison anyone with octopus venom?" Blue-ringed octopus venom, if they're being specific.
Jason has to disagree though, the poisoner made a good call with his method. No antidote. And in high enough doses anything can be fatal. It's sheer luck that Spinelli is still alive at all. Luck and the advances of medical technology.
"I'll get him." He promises, though he doesn't know who he's trying to reassure at the point. Spinelli, Maxie, or himself. Maybe all three of them.
"He likes you, you know." Maxie says, quite nonchalantly. Lie she's talking about the weather and not their mutual friend near-dead on the bed between them.
"I know." He replies, because they're friends. Why wouldn't they like each other?
She seems to guess that that was his thought as well. "No. I mean he likes you."
Jason swallows. "Oh." He says, eyes moving to land once again on Spinelli's form even as he speaks to Maxie. "How long have you known that?"
"A while. We realized that we were never going to work together as more than friends. Not long after that he told me." She explains, glad that Jason took that news well. "He made me promise not to tell you, but…"
He nods in understanding. "Yeah."
"If he… when he wakes up," She corrects herself promptly. "Do you think maybe… you could give him a chance?" She's watching Spinelli intently as well, but her blue eyes meet Jason's for the briefest of seconds.
"If that's what he wants." Jason answers after a long moment of silence. "Are you sure that's what he wants?"
Maxie confidently answers. "Very sure." She says, and then stands. "I'm getting some coffee. Want some?"
"Sure." He replies and manages to withhold a sigh until she's out of earshot. Now armed with this new information, maybe it will make a difference. He wraps both his hands around one of Spinelli's and tries to figure out how far he's willing to go to save Spinelli. Far enough to turn Sonny in. But far enough to let Spinelli even further into his life?
Yes.
"Hey, come on." He starts and his hands move of their own accord, thumbs moving in little circles over Spinelli's skin, though he's careful of the various tubes and wires. "Listen, Spinelli. Maxie told me the truth. That you like me." The words are hard to say – not so much because of what they mean. More so because he knows he's not getting an answer. Jason doesn't talk much when people are listening; it's even more awkward to talk when you're not so sure. "Don't… be mad at her. Don't worry. I'm not… upset or anything. And if you wake up soon, we can talk about it. Whatever you want okay? We'll do whatever you want. But, you have to wake up."
Not surprisingly, that doesn't happen. There is no heart wrenching scene like in the movies that has Spinelli blinking up at him with a smile on his face. However, rather alarmingly the machine monitoring Spinelli's heart rate gives off a slightly faster beat.
"Interesting." Maxie notes, having been just outside the door while Jason spoke. Jason releases his hold on Spinelli's hand and the beeping falters back to its previous pace. The subsequent changes in beeping prompt her interest. "You should keep talking to him. He seems to like it." She offers him one of the two cups of coffee she holds – his is black, she's learned - and returns to her seat across from him.
When he makes no move to continue his one sided conversation with Spinelli, she stares at him expectantly. "Well?"
"Well, what?"
"Talk to him. Like you were before." Maxie prompts. "Go on, maybe it'll help." He makes no move to do so, and she gets the hint. As long as she's here, he won't. So she sighs instead. "Have any suspects yet?"
"If I had even an idea as to who did this, I would be out there tracking them down." He says sternly, the rest of that sentence involves significantly injuring the culprit before killing them and dumping them in the Atlantic. But he's definitely not telling the police commissioner's daughter that, no matter how close she and Spinelli are.
Maxie sips her coffee slowly, one hand holding Spinelli's - though it does not spur the same increase in heart rate as Jason did. "I want to know how anyone got enough octopus venom to do this and where the hell they got it from. I mean, it's not like you can just go fishing and catch poisonous octopi."
Jason sighs, an idea coming to mind. He pulls out his cell phone and calls Raynor – only because he doesn't have Agent Leeds' number. He asks for her and is quickly transferred. Raynor has been generous the last few days with the deal – obviously because if their bait does not make it, they no longer have Spinelli to hold over Jason's head. "Agent Leeds, yeah. Hi."
"Stone Cold." He cringes every time she calls him that. "Can I be of service in your quest to find out who harmed the Jackal?" She sounds way too alert and hyper in comparison to the still and silent Spinelli.
He almost hates that he's asking for her help, but the only other person he knows who can hack is somewhat incapacitated at the moment. "Can you look into incoming shipments of blue ringed octopus venom? How someone might get their hands on something like that?"
"Of course!" Jason can practically hear her preening at receiving a request from the Jackal's Stone Cold one and the sound of tapping on keyboard can be heard in the resulting background noise. "There are no records of anything coming into the country through customs. But there are a few aquariums stateside that have blue ringed octopi on display. I'll get in contact with them and check some other avenues before I get back to you, Stone Cold." She tells him, and Jason cringes again.
"Thanks." He replies coldly.
She's not done yet though. "Do you think mayhaps that I could come visit the-"
Jason cuts her off before she's even finished the question. "Sorry, no. Only limited visitors. Hospital policy." He lies. Originally he hadn't even allowed Maxie in either, but she was really the only other person he trusted around Spinelli. And in the hopes of something turning up and Jason having to run off to take care of it, he definitely wanted someone he could trust with Spinelli.
"Oh… very well." The FBI agent squeaks in a very unprofessional manner, but she's still typing when they end the call, so he figures he hasn't totally ruined the opportunity for useful information.
"You asked her for help?" Maxie asks incredulously. Clearly Jason is not the only one who doesn't like the Agent Provocateur. "Eugh."
But, it stands that he has no other option. "Do you know how to hack into various government sites?" She shakes her head. "Exactly. And Spinelli can't really help us at the moment, so we'll have to make due with her." A slight growl escapes him after that. "If she keeps calling me Stone Cold, though, we're going to have trouble cooperating."
Maxie nods. "Spinelli's nicknames are Spinelli's nicknames. I know I wouldn't like it if anyone else called me Maximista." She agrees.
Jason stands and paces toward the windows of the expensive room. One of his common activities. He leans against the frame and watches as the city moves on around them. The newly remodeled hospital lies mostly below them, partially above, but everyone is still buzzing about with activity, oblivious to Spinelli's life hanging in the balance.
The sound of a cell phone vibrating keeps Maxie from asking him anything else about the hunt for Spinelli's poisoner. "That's Mac. He wants to see me." She sighs. "Call if anything changes." She says, as she always does. She kisses Spinelli's forehead and quickly leaves the room.
And just like that Jason is back by Spinelli's side, sitting on the edge of the bed as opposed to the chair beside it. "Just you and me now, okay?" He makes himself start talking again. Jason captures the younger's hand between both of his like he did before and then he just starts talking. He tells the unconscious Spinelli about the deal with the FBI, how he's going to turn Sonny in and then they'll both hopefully be free. At least Spinelli will be. About frantically searching for him in the hospital fire. About how – in the collective hour he's been at the penthouse since he found Spinelli – home is so unnervingly quiet without Spinelli there, too. He tells him about everything.
There are still no fairy tale endings where Spinelli opens his eyes and looks up at Jason, but the doctor who comes in to check on Spinelli seems impressed by the change in his heart rate, so there's that, at least. Which is enough to make Jason keep talking once they're alone again. "I'm going to catch whoever did this to you, you know that, right?" He says this time, still waiting on word from Winnifred. He's moved back to his chair, and instead of holding, he's now more or less absently playing with Spinelli's hand. "And, once you wake up, I am not letting you out of my sight."
His phone rings before he can say anything else, and he finds an unknown number calling him. Winnifred, he imagines, and answers with his usual greeting. "Yeah?"
"Stone Cold is not going to be pleased with the outcome of my searches." She begins, ignorant of the fact that she is coming perilously close to understand why Spinelli calls him that.
"You didn't find anything?" He asks, guessing that's what she means.
"No, in fact, I did. But… the results lead directly to the Zacchara organization, and more importantly, to Mr. Corinthos." More frantic typing. "My research shows that there was a break-in at an aquarium in California – one of only a handful of locale's permitted to carry the deadly Hapalochlaena lunulata. The aquarium had a supply of venom from the nasty little creatures and that was all that was taken." The Agent explains. "I did some digging into the case – the police caught the guy who broke in, but he'd already sent the venom to the guy who paid him." More hastened typing. "The account links back to a known alias of Michael Sonny Corinthos Jr."
Jason is fuming by the time she gets through her dissertation.
"Sorry, Stone Cold, for this most unfortunate news. I am aware that you were not planning to turn-"
He hangs up on her. Partly because he was planning on turning Sonny in as a trade off for Spinelli's freedom and partly because he now has to resist the urge to go after him for that very reason.
He decides to focus on Spinelli instead.
Back on the edge of the bed, he sits, and he finds himself brushing Spinelli's hair out of the younger's face. "What the hell was he thinking?" Jason asks aloud. He's talking and he's working out how this could have happened at the same time. "Did he think I wouldn't turn him in if he killed you? Could he really believe that?"
Jason tries to imagine what must have happened before he came home.
Spinelli was probably hacking – even though he shouldn't be – into something or the other. Maybe for Maxie, maybe for Jason, maybe for himself, who knows?
A knock at the door, maybe. Spinelli probably didn't think anything of it. Someone coming in search of his mentor.
Sonny storms in – if Sonny actually carried out the act himself. Sonny probably yells at him a bit, just to make him miserable and easier to manipulate before he strikes.
The needle pierces skin and seconds maybe minutes pass before Spinelli falls, Sonny standing over him as the paralysis kicks in. And Spinelli would have only been able to stare up at him with wide betrayed green eyes – assuming the blindness hadn't already hit him. And then Sonny would leave as if he'd done nothing so many shades of wrong.
"You won't have to worry about Sonny anymore. The FBI can have him. And if he ever gets out of their custody, I'll step in and make sure he never comes near you again." Jason promises. "I'm not going anywhere either. As much as I want to. I'm going to stay here with you. And you're going to wake up and we're going to try this out, alright? You and me."
His phone rings again. Winnifred. He doesn't answer. Doesn't care. He's not out hunting Sonny down, so they have no reason to worry. If they are concerned, well, they can find him where he's been pretty much for the last three days.
Another ring, he sets the device to silent and tosses it to the chair.
"Spinelli, come on." Jason continues to uncharacteristically beg. "Wake up for me. Come on."
He wanders back to the window for a moment, wondering if he'll see any sirens or helicopters headed toward Sonny's place. If he's smart he won't be there. But it doesn't matter, because there are no flashing lights, and the only helicopter in the sky is the MedEvac bringing some patient to GH. He sees the light from his phone come on again and this time he answers with a biting, "what?"
It's Raynor this time, though. "It's about damned time." The annoying FBI agent snarks. "We have word that Corinthos is headed to finish what he started. Get a nurse to move your boy's room and do not kill Corinthos. You do, and I'll toss Spinelli in jail for life, rare octopus poison or not."
"I'll give you everything you need to get Sonny. But if he gets near Spinelli, I am not taking chances." That is Jason's final word on the matter, and he presses the call button for a nurse.
The one who answers the cal is familiar, and she enters calmly – signaling Jason that there's nothing particularly hectic going on outside. "Mr. Morgan?"
"I need to get Spinelli moved to another room. The guy who poisoned him might try to do something else and I don't want to take any chances." He explains briefly, and also requests that security be notified concerning the FBI's imminent arrival.
"I'll go work on that." There's a 'but' coming, Jason can feel it. "But, with the life-support hooked up, it will take a little while to arrange."
Not what he wanted to hear. But he doesn't have another option. Those things are keeping Spinelli alive. "Alright."
Just as she steps out the door, though, the power flickers out. And there's only one reason that would be happening. Sonny's already here. And Sonny has evidently figured out that his stealthy, creative technique of trying to kill Spinelli is not going to work. He's probably going this route out of spite for the younger man.
"Back-up generators?" He asks the nurse, who ducks back into the room. But they don't come on.
"That's not good. The lights should be on by now."
The machines, Jason realizes. The machines keeping Spinelli alive are no longer doing their job. "Damn it." He growls, moving to stand beside the other man, as does the nurse.
She's watching the machine that is breathing for Spinelli. Which is no longer working, it's numerical display completely dark and no longer alight with the pertinent information. She grabs a hand held resuscitation bag, and removes the tube that previously connected Spinelli to one of several machines and replaces the tube with the bag. "Know CPR?" The nurse inquires. And Jason nods. "Good, two squeezes on that for every thirty of my compressions." She explains, just in case he doesn't know that. Just in case he didn't do this just days ago.
They keep that up for what seems like forever, and still the lights do not turn on. "Come on, Spinelli." He begs, pleads. Another nurse enters and replaces him, and all he can do is watch and hope and pray.
And talk.
He talks as if the nurses aren't there trying to pull him back to life. He tells Spinelli how much he means. How many people care about him. Maxie, Lulu, Johnny, Sam, Diane, Max, Milo, Winnifred, and of course, Jason. How when he first found Spinelli working with Alcazar he treated the Jackal so carelessly when in reality that was the best thing that could have happened to him. Becoming Stone Cold was the best thing that could have happened to him.
"Stop." One of the nurses says, and Jason is about to demand that they do no such thing when he realizes Spinelli's hand is moving. Trying desperately to get their attention. The CPR stops, and Jason moves closer, looking down at wide, terrified eyes that are still not focusing on anything.
"Can… can we take the breathing tube out?" He asks, because it's not serving much of a purpose at the moment.
The newer nurse nods and tells Spinelli to hold on for just a second, and she carefully removes the tube. "Don't try to talk yet, honey." She tells him, and he nods weakly. He still seems afraid, but Jason's hand catches the younger's and he stills.
Jason again smoothes the hair out of Spinelli's face, which seems to calm him even more. "Relax, okay?" He prompts, as the smaller hand in his own squeezes lightly. He moves away to grab his discarded cell phone from the end of the bed, but even that much distance between them freaks Spinelli out.
"I'm here." He says again, now with phone in hand. He curls his free arm around Spinelli's shoulders and that seems to help even more than holding his hand did as the nurses try to assess their patients condition. "Raynor. Spinelli's awake, but Sonny's cut the power and the back-up generators. I'm telling you again, if Sonny tries anything I will not hesitate to protect Spinelli." He reminds the Agent, who tries to argue. Raynor tells him they're close, just seconds away from the hospital now, and, please, Jason, please, do not do anything stupid.
Spinelli whimpers slightly, the first sound Jason has heard from the younger man in three days aside from that horrid choked noise he got upon finding him. He drops his phone again, caring very little about the FBI, even disregarding the fact that Sonny is on the loose in the hospital somewhere. Because Spinelli needs him.
Jason's hand rubs soothing circles on Spinelli's back, just as Spinelli starts coughing – one of many results of having a tube down your throat for three days, and one of the nurses scurries out to fetch him some ice chips to help him.
"St- Cold." Spinelli manages, eyes still moving blindly. "Wha-"
"No. No, no, no. Don't try to talk yet, okay?" He hushes the younger, helping Spinelli into a sitting position.
The nurse returns a moment later, looking considerably more nervous than she did when she'd left the room. Jason can only think of one reason for that. Sonny.
He maneuvers himself to the other side of the bed quickly, really wishing he'd brought his gun with him. Jason guards Spinelli as much as he can given their current situation, and sure enough, Sonny comes traipsing into the room just seconds behind the nurse, a gun of his own in hand.
"Ahh, Spinelli." Sonny greets quite cheerily. "Glad to see you awake. Means I'll enjoy it even more when I get to end you."
Jason growls, eyes focused on the threatening gun currently in the hands of an even more threatening man. "Sonny." Jason warns, hoping that maybe, maybe, just maybe, some of the power he used to have at controlling Sonny's insanity still remains. "You don't need to do this. It's over no matter what you do. The feds have you. Not even for what they want you on, for trying to kill Spinelli. So give it up. They're on their way." He doesn't really have anything to bargain for here, all he can really do is stall until the FBI gets there to back him up.
His speech doesn't seem to appease Sonny at all, if anything, the older man looks even more agitated than before. He waves his gun at Jason dismissively. "I just don't understand. What did that freak do to you to turn you into this… traitorous rat?"
The two nurses are cowering in the corner, and Spinelli's hand is griping Jason's arm for dear life, but he remains firmly in Sonny's path.
"Traitorous…" Jason groans quite incredulously. "Which one of us went running into the Zacchara organization, Sonny?" He growls out. "That would be you." He reminds his current sworn enemy. He's really wishing he had a weapon of some kind. Wouldn't even kill him. Just an injury, to make him feel some of the pain he inflicted on Spinelli.
Sonny steps brazenly forward, just feet from Jason, but Spinelli's darting eyes stop him. "What's wrong with you, freaky boy?"
"He's blind from the poison you injected him with." Jason growls. The gun is pressed against his own chest now, but that is better than aimed at Spinelli. On the plus side, at least Spinelli will not have to see this.
That actually makes Sonny laugh. "What a shame. The kid's so easy to terrify." The gun moves off of Jason and presses against Spinelli's head and its clear the younger knows exactly what is in contact with his skin. He squeezes his eyes shut and whimpers out something that might have been "Stone Cold." But his voice is still hoarse and raspy, so it's kind of hard to take.
"BANG!" Sonny shouts, his laughter continuing, gun still in place.
That's enough for Jason, though. He's done watching Sonny torture the most undeserving person of such actions in the world. He grabs the gun and aims it up, away from Spinelli. After a long and stressful struggle, Jason manages to lay claim to the gun, and takes great pains in firing a shot into Sonny's shoulder. The least he deserves for sure.
To exact further almost revenge until the slow as molasses FBI Agent's show up, Jason presses the gun to Sonny's head. Since it's been recently fired, it might burn little bit, but Jason doesn't care much about that. He cares about Spinelli who is still cowering in fear because Jason hasn't said anything yet to indicate that he's the one with the gun now.
Sonny knows he'll shoot. Especially now that he already has. "Bang." Jason echoes quietly, hoping that the FBI come storming in soon, which they do, just a few seconds later.
Spinelli yelps in surprise at the swarm of voices that erupt, and Jason quickly relinquishes both the gun and the overseeing of Sonny in favor of returning to his grasshopper's side. All he has to do is touch Spinelli's arm and the shaking stops. "You're okay." He says, for what is not the first time altogether, but is definitely the first time he won't be wrong. He sits on the edge of the bed and Spinelli curls against him comfortably.
Raynor comes in a good while after they've dragged Sonny out, and tells them that as long as Jason – and maybe even Spinelli, are willing to testify against him, then they'll be free from the deal and the evidence against them destroyed. "A second chance." Raynor says firmly. "Might I suggest some legitimate business dealings this time around?"
Jason nods, and the agent leaves him alone with Spinelli again, only for him to be kicked out a moment later when the doctor's come to transfer Spinelli to a room that was not used as ground zero for a shootout. In addition to that, they spend a long while evaluating his progress before Jason is allowed near him again.
Words like 'remarkable recovery' and 'statistical anomaly' are used when the doctor's explain Spinelli's rapid improvement to him. There's still the matter of his vision having not returned yet, but the doctor's seem hopeful that it will gradually come back to him. If he continues such progression, he'll be out of the hospital and recuperating at home in no time, they tell him. And for the first time in three days, almost four now, Jason feels a wave of relief wash over him.
"Stone Cold?" Spinelli asks, eyes darting in the general direction of what the younger man has presumably assessed as the door.
"Voice is better, I hear." Jason says, taking deliberately loud steps as he nears the new hospital bed. Only a couple machines are now monitoring Spinelli's vitals. A welcome relief. "You feel any better?"
"Rather like someone just hit by a truck, but significantly less terrified of not being able to see with you around." He answers, and his shoulders untense when Jason's hand catches his own. "When can we return to Casa De Stone Cold?"
"As soon as they let you." Jason says. It all depends on how well Spinelli does the next couple of days. "But I'll be here until you can come home."
At that, awkward, somewhat self-deprecating Spinelli makes his return. "Nonsense, Stone Cold." Ah, how Jason loves hearing that name from the right person. "I'm sure you have more important things to do than stand guard over the Jackal."
Jason sits on the edge of the bed, reaches out, and brushes the hair out of Spinelli's face once more. "Hey, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, alright?" He leans against the raised back of the bed and manages to get himself mostly on the bed, which allows Spinelli to rest soundly against his chest. Now is as good a time as any to talk about what Jason's been talking about since yesterday. "Ugh, I don't know whether or not you could hear me while you were out, but Maxie told me-" Jason cuts himself off abruptly, realizing that oops, he hasn't told Maxie the news yet.
He sends her a text message quickly, knows he'll get one very long tirade of a phone call later for it, and then sets his cell phone on the table beside the hospital bed.
"Maxie told you… What?" Spinelli inquires, now that the sound of depressing buttons is gone.
Jason shifts. Not really a conversation he's ever had to have before. "That you might… might like me as in not like a friend like me." He explains, very much awkwardly.
Spinelli bites his lip, and looks down even though there's nothing to see. "I, ugh, that is the Jackal might indeed harbor such feelings as mentioned by the fair Maximista towards you, Stone Cold." The younger man says quietly, and if Jason were not currently residing within Spinelli's personal space, he probably wouldn't have caught it.
"Spinelli." He says, hoping to at least pull the younger man's thoughts out of whatever worrisome void they've fallen into. At this point, after all that's happened just since he's discovered Spinelli's hidden feelings for him, he's pretty sure that a chance is the least he can give Spinelli. Jason is fairly certain that he's willing for this to go way passed chances and tries now. But no need to push this too hard. "Once you get out of here…"
"I should find a new place to live?" Spinelli asks, with a deep frown.
"What? No." Jason recoils. "The Jackal is welcome at Casa De Stone Cold for as long as he wants to be there."
The younger smiles softly at the use of Jackal-speak from his mentor. "Then what were you going to say before I presumed incorrectly?"
"That I think we should give this a chance. If you want." Jason explains, still equally as discomfited by the conversation as before.
But then there is a very happy Spinelli beaming up at him, and even the non-focusing eye thing isn't weirding Jason out so much anymore. "You… are you sure?" The younger asks, the previous depression in his voice replaced with pure delight at the very prospect Stone Cold is proposing.
"Yes." Jason answers simply. "And I imagine we'll have Maxie to thank for sharing that information. So don't get mad at her for telling me."
"I heartily promise that getting mad at the most wondrous Maximista is not my intention." Spinelli leans his head back and looks into what would be Jason's eyes, if he could see. "Are…" The cautious tone is back. "Are you still going to give me that chance if I don't get my sight back? Not only will your Jackal be comparatively useless on a computer, but also even more worthless an asset in the field as previous."
Having thoroughly had it with Spinelli's self-deprecating for the moment, not that he can blame the man for being concerned about the loss of his eyesight, Jason decides some further prompting is in order. He tilts Spinelli's head just a bit, his thumb gently brushing over the younger man's bottom lip. "You're not getting rid of me." He says, just before his own lips meet Spinelli's in a soft and chaste kiss.
When he pulls back, he imagines that a smile that matches Spinelli's is on his own face. Spinelli's eyes, closed, open slowly, still vacant and looking slightly the wrong direction.
"Still can't see?" He asks, very much not expecting a fairy tale ending to that one. Spinelli shakes his head. "And I'm still here, right?"
"Affirmative." Spinelli grins. "But, ugh, just in case…"
Jason gets the hint and ducks his head to kiss Spinelli soundly again, just as the door to the room blows open and a very irate Maxie Jones comes bursting in. "Spinelli's awake, you found out Sonny tried to kill him, Sonny tried to shut down the whole hospital to try to kill him again, Sonny's been arrested. You've changed rooms." She finally realizes just what she's interrupted. "And now you're together? Anything else I missed? Did you get engaged while I was at home, too?" She growls in Jason's general direction. "Is it that hard to pick up a phone and call me?"
"The first four things you listed kind of all occurred at once. There wasn't a whole lot of time to think about making phone calls." Jason explains. "And the room change was a direct result of all of the above. And this," He gestures between himself and Spinelli. "Happened just before you walked into the room."
She sighs in defeat, unable to argue with most of Jason's countering arguments, but that doesn't stop her from glaring intently at the older man. Which is about when she realizes Spinelli is looking at the door. Rather like she is still standing there. "Is… is he okay?" Maxie asks, waves of concern flooding her voice now. Spinelli's eyes dart in the direction of her voice.
"The Jackal is suffering from hopefully temporary blindness as a result of the octopal poison." Spinelli answers, before Jason can do it for him. "The medically inclined ones seem to believe that my vision will return within the next few days." He frowns again, but then recalls that even if he does become useless as the Ace of Cyberspace, Jason isn't letting him go.
Maxie rushes forward to hug her best friend tightly. "Oh, Spinelli." She says sadly. "I am siding with the medically inclined ones on this argument."
Jason voices his own agreement. "Me, too." And then the door opens again, this time to reveal Raynor and Winnifred both of whom look somewhat startled by Jason and Spinelli's current proximity. "Can we help you, Agents?" His arm curls around Spinelli's shoulders even tighter, daring them to say anything.
"Just wanted to inform you that we won't be needing your testimonies after all." Raynor says. "Sonny Corinthos was found dead this morning on his way to arraignment. Gang attack, seems to be the case. You're still free. But I continue to caution you against any more involvement in the mob." He then takes his leave, but Agent Leeds stays behind.
"Stone Cold, I…"
"Only Spinelli can call me that." Jason finally says. He doesn't care that there's some mass marketed flash game that uses the name. He is Spinelli's Stone Cold and no one else's. "Jason, Mr. Morgan, Case File number whatever. Pick something that is not Stone Cold, okay?"
Winnifred bites her lip. "I, ugh, if that's what you'd like, Mr. Morgan. Farewell, Mr. Jackal, Ms. Jones." The mousy agent looks suitably embarrassed and scurries after her superior in a hasty retreat.
"Was that… really necessary?" Spinelli asks, clueless as to how her flagrant disregard for other people's nicknames has been grating on Jason's last nerve.
"Stone Cold is yours. If she wants to call me something else, she can make up her own nickname." Jason responds.
"I'm sure she has a few ideas in mind after that." Maxie helpfully contributes. "But Jason's right, Spinelli. The names you give us shouldn't default to other people, too. They're special. From you." She agrees, just as her phone goes off again. "Oh, come on. I just left home and Mac wants me back there already?" She glares incredulously at the device as it displays a new text message. "Oh. Nice. Matt flooded the basement trying to do laundry. Really? The guys a surgeon and he can't do laundry?"
Jason laughs as she rants again, but offers a sympathetic smile as she bids them goodbye and promises to return later.
Now left alone again, Spinelli once again sinks back against Jason's hold. "Hey, Stone Cold?"
Jason plays absently with the hospital band on Spinelli's wrist. "Yeah?"
"Just making sure you're still here." He says with a grin, and with a soft laugh, Jason threads his fingers into the younger man's hand and kisses him again and again until the notion of 'I'm. Not. Going. Anywhere.' Has been punctuated beyond measure.
"Convinced yet?" Jason asks, when they're both panting and out of breath. It is a wonder nurses haven't come in to check on the fluctuating beeping coming from Spinelli's heart rate monitors.
Spinelli nods and his fingers dance across Jason's chest. "But, just in case…"