"Just a few minutes before midnight here on WBPC, Port Charles' favorite radio station," an announcer said over the airwaves, connecting the residents of Port Charles all over the fair city. Elizabeth Spencer reached down and twisted the knob severely to the left, bringing a comforting silence to her car. She gripped the steering wheel tighter, willing herself to focus on the snow-covered road in front of her. Just a few more miles and she would be home safe at Grams and Cam.
"It's almost 2007, baby," she murmured to her womb, rubbing her stomach absently as she slowed the car. Reaching down, she flipped the lid open on her travel mug and allowed the warm honey tea to pour down her throat. Sitting the red cup back in its holder, she started to hum to the happy song pouring from the speakers. Tapping an erratic beat on the steering wheel, she squinted as the blinding white pounded against her windshield.
"Man, it's really coming down out there," she mumbled, worried that she wouldn't be home before the stroke of midnight. Epiphany had tried to convince her to leave General Hospital for a couple hours, but after a patient had gone into labor, she had refused to leave. She wanted to help the woman, someone undeniably in a situation similar to hers. And she could use the extra money, so she had stayed. Only now was she beginning to regret her choice, wishing that she had left when the sky and the roads were both clear.
Stretching for the cup again, Liz grumbled to herself as its hot contents poured out onto the floorboard. Shaking her head and muttering curse words under her breath, she tried to reach for the cup while keeping the car straight on the road. Suddenly, she felt her car start to veer off the icy road, sending a wave of panic through her petite body. Jerking the wheel, she felt the car start to spin beyond her control. Seconds later, she heard a loud crash and then everything went dark.
"You have a call," Detective Rodriguez barked at Lucky Spencer as he walked by, pointing to the old black rotary telephone sitting on his bare desk.
Lucky looked up at the man and shook his head before pulling the receiver off the cradle. "Spencer," he chirped.
"Lucky, it's Bobbie. You need to get to General Hospital right away. Elizabeth is here, Jason Morgan just brought her in. There's been an accident," his aunt told him.
He felt his entire body go cold as he dropped the phone against the heavy wooden surface, sending a loud, hollow thud throughout the precinct. Without a word to anyone, he yanked his coat off the back of his chair and starting running as fast as his legs could carry him to his car. Two blocks from the hospital, he pulled his phone from his pocket and automatically dialed the first person to cross his mind. Her cursed to himself as her voicemail picked up. "Lu, it's me. Liz was in an accident. Call Nikolas and meet me there when you get this."
Jason Morgan paced frantically in the empty hallway just outside the Intensive Care Unit. It had been more than an hour since he had brought Elizabeth in to GH. He had found her hunched over her steering wheel unconscious. Her car was smashed beyond recognition, and there was gasoline pouring from the tank on the rear of the driver's side. His own safety hadn't been a factor as he had worked quickly to get her from the vehicle. Two minutes later, the entire thing had gone up in flames, sending a storm of pink ash into the winter night sky.
Laying her in the backseat of the dark SUV, he prayed that she could hold on long enough to make it back to General Hospital. Her breathing was shallow and uneven, but she was holding her own. There was visible bleeding on her right arm. Covering her with his leather jacket, he placed a quick call on his cell phone before heading out into the winter storm.
"Monica, it's me," Jason said as soon as his mother answered her office phone.
Monica could detect the worry in his tone. "What is it, Jason?"
"I just found Elizabeth Spencer unconscious. There's been a car accident. I had to move her, the car was leaking gas. It's burning now. I need you to call someone out here to put the fire out. I'm on my way with her."
"Maybe you should wait for an ambulance…"
"There's no time," he insisted before ending the call. The drive had been long and hard, nearly impossible in the harsh wintry conditions. Periodically, he'd look back in his rear view mirror to make sure that the bleeding hadn't intensified and that she was still breathing. He kept talking to her the entire drive, insisting that she would be okay. He wasn't sure if she could hear him, but he hoped that he could. Not sure of how he felt about her, he just knew that he didn't want to lose her.
"Elizabeth, I prayed that your baby was ours," Jason began. "I don't know if you know that, but I wanted it to be mine. I loved it as soon as you told me that you were pregnant, even though I knew that the chances of it being mine were slim. I started imagining what it would look like. I wondered if it would be like you or me. I was already making all these plans in my head. I never do that. I don't believe in that kind of thing."
"But with you, this baby, I allowed myself to do it," he continued. "I let myself consider the fact that I might actually be a father. I love Sam, but I would have found a way to love you. You would have been the mother of my child. I've never regretted our night together, even now."
As the conversation washed over Jason in the waiting room, it became too much for him to handle. He pinched the bridge of his nose as Bobbie Spencer paused to tell him the latest news. His best friend's mother looked at him with concern, wrapping her arm around him in a sign of support. "She's still in surgery, Jase," Bobbie informed him. "There is some internal bleeding, and she has lost a lot of blood. They're waiting on Lucky to get here to make a decision on what to do next."
"It's that bad? It's come that far," he whispered, not believing what he was hearing. "What are his options?"
"Well," she retorted, looking down at her hands, "it may come down to saving her life or the baby's. Since Lucky is the father, he will have to make a decision should it come to that."
"No one should ever have to make that decision," he replied as thoughts of Carly and Michael flashed through his mind. He had been there, justifying saving one life over another. "I've made that decision. It's the hardest thing in the world."
"Bobbie!" a deep voice called out as pounding footsteps came toward them. Jason looked up to meet the anxious gaze of Lucky Spencer. The redhead rose to her feet, bringing her only nephew into her embrace. Jason couldn't hear the hushed words they exchanged. Another doctor, his father, came in to join them.
"Bobbie, can I speak to you in private?" Alan asked, looking down at the chart in front of him. He lifted his eyes to look at Lucky before his gaze fell on his son. Twisting his mouth into an uncomfortable smile, Alan turned his back and started to confer with the head nurse.
Lucky sat down, dropping his head in his hands. "Do you know what happened? Do you know how my wife is?"
Wife, Elizabeth was still Lucky's wife. She was still having his baby. "I found her on the annex road that leads to her grandmother's house. She wasn't conscious, and her breathing wasn't very strong. I don't know anything about her condition since we got here."
"She has to be alright," Lucky whispered to himself, tears starting to form in the corner of his strong eyes. "I don't know what I am going to do if I lose her. I can't lose Elizabeth, she's my life. Her, Cam and this baby are my family."
"A decision has to be made now," Monica said as she came into the room, joining the impromptu medical conference between Alan and Bobbie. "Does she know?" Bobbie nodded in response. "Who wants to tell them?"
The two women exchanged a look and peered up at Alan. As head of medicine, this fell into his realm. He took a deep breath and nodded resolutely. He couldn't believe what he was about to say. "We need to talk to you both about Elizabeth," he announced to Lucky and Jason. "Elizabeth has internal bleeding. We are doing everything we can to protect the baby, but it may come down to Elizabeth or the child. In most circumstances, the father would make that choice. However, this situation is a little more difficult."
"Why?" Lucky cried as Jason asked, "Alan, what's going on?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know how to tell either of you this, but Elizabeth's baby isn't yours, Lucky," Alan said. "It's Jason's."
"What!" three voices exclaimed in unison. Rage shone in Lucky's eyes as he looked at Jason in disbelief. Jason looked down at the floor, the weight of his father's words sinking into his brain. Behind him, Sam McCall heard the unexpected announcement blow up over and over again in her head.
"What do I need to do?" Jason asked suddenly, realizing that he had to make a choice.
Alan frowned. "I' m not sure of protocol here. Lucky is her husband, and you're the father."
"You can't let Elizabeth die," Lucky implored.
"You might feel differently if it was your child," Jason spat.
"She already has a son here that can't lose her," Lucky shot back.
Until that moment, Jason had forgotten about Cameron. Unlike Lucky, the boy wasn't an immediate factor in his decision, but he was right. Cam did need his mother, and he knew that Liz would never want to leave him. "You heard him," Jason agreed. "You can't let her die. Do what you have to do."
Two hours later, Alan and Monica came out and told both Lucky and Jason that Elizabeth was fine. They had even managed to save the baby. Slowly, the brunette nurse was starting to come out of her heavy fog. She was asking for Jason.
Sam watched wordlessly as Jason walked aimlessly toward her room. For the past two hours, she had sat by his side, praying that everything would turn out the way that it was supposed to. A senseless accident had revealed something life altering, and he hadn't said a word to her an entire time. She had tried to reach for his hand, to give him some sign of support, but he had automatically snapped his hand back, recoiling at her touch.
The man on the other side of her watched in disbelief as the cold mobster retreated toward his wife. Kicking his foot against the wall, he threw the plastic chair against the ground before stalking out of sight. Sam couldn't blame him, his life was falling apart too. It was amazing how much had been ruined because of one night. Lucky had worked so hard to get clean for Elizabeth and the baby. Sam and Jason had just found their way back together. But now, none of that mattered, and both relationships were over. It wasn't official, Sam thought, but she knew that it was over. It had long been clear that Liz loved Jason, and now, she saw that he was in love with her, too.
"Elizabeth, I'm here," Jason murmured as he settled onto the awkward stool next to her bed.
"The baby is yours, Jason," she said softly, her voice hoarse from the tube in her throat. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I wanted to protect the baby. I realize now how wrong of me that was. I've known for awhile that I wanted to tell you. I tried the night you were shot, but you didn't remember. And then you found your way back to Sam, and I didn't want to ruin that. Please don't hate me."
Jason managed a smile. "I could never hate you," he reassured her, stroking her chestnut hair. "You're the mother of my baby. I'm not going to pretend that I'm happy that you kept this from me for so long, but I am happy that I am going to have a child."
"D-does Lucky know?" she asked worriedly.
Jason nodded. "They told us at the same time."
"How'd he take it?"
"Not well, but he stayed until he knew that you were okay," Jason told her. "You can't worry about him right now, you need to focus on the baby."
"Our marriage is over," Liz declared. "It's been over for awhile, but this is the final nail in the proverbial coffin. I just don't want him to go back to pills."
"Like I said, you can't worry about him right now. You need to focus on the baby."
"Will you help me, Jase?" she whimpered as he leaned over and wrapped his arm around her, pressing a tender kiss to her temple.
Jason nodded against her body. "I'll do whatever you need, Elizabeth," he soothed. "I'll take care of you and our baby."
Sam sank to the ground in the hallway, his words echoing in her head. Our baby. The air around her was hot and she found it suddenly hard to breathe. It amazed her how quickly she had lost her entire life. She had been shot because of Jason. She had lost her baby with Jason. She had nearly went to jail, committed murder, lied, done everything for Jason. And what did she have to show for it? A broken heart.
Mimicking Lucky's earlier escape, Sam jogged down the hallway. She could hear a few people call out her name as she passed by in a blur, anxious to find fresh air again. Punching the button on the elevator, she was far too impatient to wait for it to return to her floor. Instead, she opted for the stairs, taking them two at a time until she reached the roof. The cold January air hit her face as she threw the door open, snow fluttering down all around her as people all over Port Charles rang in the New Year.
"Hey, Stranger," a voice muttered from the corner. Sam spotted Lucky hunched over the ledge, an amber bottle of liquor in his hands. "Fancy meeting you here."
"Ho w much have you had to drink?" Sam chuckled as she padded over to Lucky. Happily discarding her own coat, she reached for the bottle of whiskey. "Mind sharing?"
Lucky shook his head. "I have no reason to be sober now, so go on ahead," Lucky laughed. "Did you know my wife is having your fiancée's baby?"
Sam shot him a look. "I'm pretty well aware. I'm also pretty well aware that I'm over caring." She took another long sip, allowing the warm liquid to infiltrate her throat. "how much more of this do you have?"
Lucky opened his flannel shirt to reveal an array of travel-sized alcohol. "Who knew that the hospital kept so much alcohol on hand? I guess those staff parties must get pretty wild."
"Give me half," she demanded, lining the miniature bottles on the ledge of the hospital. "I plan to do a lot of drinking tonight. I don't want to stop…"
"Until you can't feel anymore," Lucky said knowingly.
"Wait, aren't you on some kind of program?"
"I was addicted to pills, not alcohol," he retorted pointedly.
Sam shrugged. "Whatever. Bottoms up."
Lucky nodded and lifted his tiny bottle before downing the vodka in one long gulp. Throwing it on the ground, he laughed as the glass crashed against the concrete. Sam followed suit, throwing the empty tequila container down as well. The strains of a nostalgic song filled the chilly air as people around them celebrated. "Do you hear that?" he asked, grabbing her wrist and pulling her across the rooftop. "People are celebrating. It's 2007. I forgot."
"I'm starting this year with nothing. I wish I could forget."
"Then don't start it with nothing," Lucky ventured drunkenly, stilling holding onto her hand. He pulled her into his arms, wrapping his strong hands around her waist as she melted into his body. "Start it with me."