Jason Morgan never wanted to find himself back here. More than ten years ago, he had sat in this very waiting room, spending hours praying for the best but expecting the worst. He knew the darkness of numerous sleepless nights while you waited for the news that had the power to change your entire life. He knew what it was like to have to make decisions that would determine whether someone lived or died. He had promised himself that he would never be back here, and there was only one reason that he would even think of putting himself in that situation. His reason was in the next room fighting for her life.
He shouldn't have been the one that they called but he was so glad that he was. One call in the middle of night had brought him straight to General Hospital, tears burning in his piercing blue eyes as he sped through the dark streets of Port Charles. There had been too many of those calls over the years concerning her, but he never failed to show up when she needed him. She was the one thing that he could always count on, and the fact that she needed him was the one thing that had kept him grounded. If it wasn't for Carly and the boys, Jason would have left town a long time ago and never looked back. However, his family was here, and that made Port Charles his home. Carly was his home.
"I should know something by now," he muttered to himself, eying the operating room wearily as he waited for word from one of the surgeons. Carly was only two months into her pregnancy, and yet, they were already waiting to find out if carrying this baby meant that he was going to lose her.
Jasper Jacks was pacing the small waiting room a few feet away. Other than Jason and Bobbie, he was the only other one there waiting for word on Carly. Morgan was at Greystone with Sonny, the truth well hidden from the little boy. Jason had offered to keep him, but Carly had begged him to be at the hospital. She needed him there. He was her good luck charm, her sanity. Besides, she knew that he would be climbing the walls if he wasn't there. He needed to be close to her just as much as she needed him.
Epiphany Johnson came out of the waiting room, her surgical mask wrapped around her neck. Her eyes were tired and regretful, never a good sign from the otherwise stoic nurse. Jason jumped to his feet immediately but hung back to wait for Jax and Bobbie to speak with her first. It was still hard for him to respect Jax's place in her life, especially after all the times he had left Carly. However, his best friend was in love with the blonde Aussie and that made it important to Jason.
"Mr. Morgan, can I speak with you privately for a moment?"
Both Jax and Jason were shocked by the nurse's request. Out of the three people present, he was the only one not legally related to Carly. However, all three of them knew that he was the one closest to her, the one person other than her sons that she ranked highest in her heart. He was her family in every way that counted, and in her mind, it made sense that he be the one that the medical team spoke with first.
"Shouldn't you talk to his over with Jax or Bobbie?" Jason asked confusedly. He had no idea why Epiphany wanted to talk to him, but he refused to be the one to tell Carly's mother and husband that things had gone wrong. He wouldn't be able to hold himself together enough to deliver that news. "It can't be me that you want."
"I have very strict orders," Epiphany countered professionally. She was exhausted from the extensive surgery and just wanted to get off her feet. However, the patients always came first with her, and Carly Jax had been especially generous to General Hospital during its rebuilding. Shifting the clipboard from one arm to the other, she looked back up at the mobster and smiled kindly. "Carly's medical records clearly indicate that you are the one to make any medical decisions in the case that she should ever be incapacitated or unable to speak for herself. We need to get you in to talk to Dr. Lee immediately."
He shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense," he disagreed. "You must have an old chart or something. There is no way that I'm still the person of record. She changed that when she got remarried to Jax."
Epiphany glanced down at the chart again. "I'm afraid not, Mr. Morgan," she revealed. "Carly was just in here two weeks ago to have everything updated. Now, if you will just come with me..."
"He'll do no such thing!" Jax exclaimed, springing into action. He was just as confused as Jason was about Carly's inexplicable decision, especially once he realized that she had purposely came to General Hospital to put that criminal in charge of her destiny. He didn't care if Jason was her best friend. Jax was supposed to be the man that she was in love with. "I am her husband, and I will be the one to make decisions for my wife concerning her health and that of our child."
"Again, Mr. Jacks, Carly made this decision two weeks ago to put Jason in charge of her medical decisions. While the husband would normally make those decisions, Carly has a notarized order that states otherwise," she informed him evenly. She felt for the man but was not about to let him throw a fit on her watch. "Jason, please come with me."
Following the woman down the hallway, he was led into a small private office just off the operating room where they had taken Carly. Jason took the only empty seat in the room and cradled his head in his hands. It had been four weeks since he had told Carly that she was pregnant and three weeks since they had learned of all the risks. She had hidden the condition for Jax, only trusting Jason enough to know the truth. He had held her while she cried and confided all her fears.
Jason was the only person Carly truly trusted, no matter how much she claimed to love her husband or value her other friends. He had been by her side through both pregnancies, saving her each time. He had been the one to save her life when she had nearly died giving birth to Michael. Jason had been the one to find her when she had been kidnapped by Ric. He was her safety net, the one pair of arms that would always catch her when she fell. And now, Jason needed her to catch him because he was falling fast, but first he had to make the call that would determine if she would be there at all.
"Jason, sorry to keep you waiting," Patrick Drake apologized as he came into the room and shut the door behind him. "As you know, you're here about Carly. The procedure that we performed was quite invasive and we were able to remove much of the blood clot. However, to keep clots from reforming, we would have to start her on a medicinal protocol immediately. I just spoke with Dr. Lee. She wanted to come in here to speak with you herself, but she is in with Carly right now. Dr. Lee reconfirmed that there are severe risks for the baby if we put Carly on the medication."
"Are you asking me to decide between Carly and the baby?"
Patrick looked down at his hands and frowned. He loved being a doctor most days, but these were the moments that he dreaded. It had been especially difficult since he had almost lost Robin in the wake of Emma's birth. His heart went out to Jason, though he wasn't entirely sure why he was there rather than Jax. "I'm afraid so," Patrick answered. "It was the last thing Carly said before she went into surgery. She said that if anything was to go wrong that you would know what to do."
"Dammit," he muttered beneath his breath, raking his fingers through his sandy blonde hair. Carly had put him in this situation once, and he had made her promise him that she would never do it again. Didn't she know how hard this was? He would never want to do this to her. Then again, she was the only one he would trust to make the right decision for him. "I need to see her first."
"Of course," the surgeon agreed solemnly. Patrick guided Jason down the hall toward the private suite in intensive care. Jax and Jason had both doled out sizable donations to make sure that she had the most comfortable accommodations GH had to offer. Patrick would never tell anyone that Jason had paid more than Carly's husband. "We'll just give you a couple minutes to make your choice. Jason, I really hate to put you in this position, but you need to hurry. Time is critical either way that you decide."
A silent nod was his only reply as Patrick and Kelly left Jason alone at Carly's bedside. It was only once the door was firmly closed that he let himself start to breakdown. Her body was completely still, her beautiful blue eyes closed and her breathing steady and even. He reached for his hand and brought it to his mouth, brushing a kiss over each knuckle. "Carly, tell me what to do."
He could still remember the day he had read the pregnancy test to her so well. The joy and the fear in her eyes had left him feeling every feeling on the emotional spectrum. He was happy that she was finally getting the miracle that she wanted and deserved and terrified out of his mind that he could lose his best friend. He felt selfish when he wanted to ask her to terminate the pregnancy and relieved when she told him that she wanted the child. He was jealous that the baby wasn't his and worried what the loss of another child could do to her.
Jason knew what he wanted to do, what he had to do. Slipping his cell phone from his pocket, he dialed a familiar number and waited for it to connect. He knew that he wasn't supposed to have it in the ICU but he had always been a rule breaker. "Bring Morgan to the hospital," he told Sonny, not waiting for his reply before hanging up again. Their boy had to be there for this. She would need both of them to get through what came next.
"God, Carly, dammit," he cursed, his voice angry but sad. "I told you to never do this to me. Why do I have to be the one person that you trust? I promised that I would always be there to save you, and you sure have kept me to my word. If it was anyone else, I would know exactly what to do. I would refuse to make the choice. I would disappear without another word. But it's not anyone else, it's you. You're the one thing that has always mattered to me, and now I could lose you. Even if you make it through this okay, I run the risk of breaking your heart. I can't be the person that does that, Carly, not again. I know what I have to do. I just wish you didn't have to make me do it."
Her fingers were warm but lifeless in his hand. He would have given anything to feel even the slightest movement. If she was going to suddenly be okay for anyone, it would have been him. He was the one person that she had always come back to. The night she had nearly drown the last time she was pregnant, it was Jason that convinced her to come back from her dreams. "Alright, I can do this." He was trying to reassure himself as much as he was her. "I promised you that I could be that man for you long before I knew what it meant. You're counting on me, Carly, I won't let you down. I can't, can I? It's not just you and me anymore. I have to think about Morgan, too. I just pray that you'll forgive me for this. I'm not sure that I could if I were you."
"I'll be there to help you get through this," he promised, brushing one final kiss over her lips as he stood up to go. "Whatever happens, Carly, I'll be by your side. I love you."
The trip back to the waiting room was the longest walk of Jason's life, one that had seen more heartache than any one man should ever see. Bobbie and Jax were sitting anxiously in the chairs, Patrick and Epiphany speaking softly at the nurse's station. All four pairs of eyes met his as he stepped into the small room.
"I've made my decision," he announced, looking between Carly's husband and mother.
He knew how Jax would take this. It would be the opposite of how Jason would react. While he would save her at all costs, Jax would be concerned about the safety of his child. It was a difficult place to be, and even though the baby wasn't his, Jason still felt that connection to it. It was apart of Carly and that made it apart of Jason. Bobbie, on the other hand, would accept whatever choice he made. She understood that this choice was his. It was what Carly had wanted, what she would have always wanted.
"What did you decide, Mr. Morgan?" Epiphany asked politely.
Turning away from Carly's family, she focused all of her attention on the two medical professionals. It didn't matter what anyone thought. This had to be about Carly. It had to be about what she would want and what was best for her.
"Save Carly's life," Jason answered numbly. "Whatever it takes, just save her life."