"Mamma, thank you so much for doing this. We only have a couple of hours before Jax needs to take off." Carly explained, again.

"You're welcome, but Morgan is always welcome. I just can't believe that Jax is taking off, not with Thanksgiving this week, and a wife that is eight months pregnant." Commented Bobbie. Her daughter seemed to be glowing, genuinely happy; Carly was counting the days that she could welcome her own daughter into the world.

"Tell me about it, Kate Howard has been out of Port Charles for six months and he's still picking up after the mess she left. Does he really need to find a new editor anyway? Maxie has been doing amazing; the numbers have increased since she took over." After finding out that Kate had been blackmailed into leaking Crimson spreads Jax fired her from the magazine. He was working on a full time replacement. Maxie Jones was handling things to the best of her ability, with a lot of help from a newly rehired Clarice, and the best first assistant, Lulu Spencer. Jax still felt the magazine needed a little more credibility; he was going to Manhattan to hire some renowned fashionistas. "Besides, at my last check-up Dr Lee said that my baby girl was healthy and strong."

"What about the mother?" Bobbie asked.

"Her mother is struggling with the fact that she's turned into a Macy's Thanksgiving balloon, but otherwise I'm doing well."

"Your stress?"

"Jax and Olivia have taken over the hotel since I've reached my third trimester. The Quartermaine's are actually doing a fairly decent job of keeping Michael out of trouble."

"That's shocking." Bobbie added. "Not that I don't trust Monica."

"It's just Edward." Carly finished her mothers' thought. "I know, but Sonny's business is slow. Jason is keeping Claudia away from me. All and all, I'm living stress free."

"Just what the doctor ordered." Bobbie said relieved. She was not sure how to respond when Carly told her about her blood clotting condition. Any normal person would have terminated the pregnancy and gone directly on the drug protocol that would ensure their survival. Not Carly, she was as stubborn as they came. She dismissed the 50/50 odds as if it were a discussion of a coin toss. Any why not? Michael's prognosis was much worse and he was now awake, and living the life of a normal seventeen-year-old boy. He was a senior in high school who was planning college, driving around town with his friends, and debating which girl he was going to take to prom.

"I should get going, big night planned. Morgan, come here and give your mom a kiss goodbye." She shouted to her nine-year that was entranced with the video game on the screen in front of him. Within the minutes that it took to drop him off and catch up with her mother, Morgan had somehow been able to get the Wii up and running, and into the second level of the game.

"Ewe, mom!!" He whined. He dropped the controller, after reaching a safe point, to give his mom a hug. Carly sneak a kiss on his forehead. He used the back of his hand to wipe it off.

"You have fun with Grandma Bobbie tonight. I'll be here in the morning to pick you up." She instructed.

As Morgan started walking back to the television set Carly stopped him. "I love you."

"I love you too, mom."

Bobbie chimed in, "and I love you, sweetheart. Have a good time tonight, but not too good. We don't need her coming a month early."

"I love you too, mamma."

As the door closed behind her, Carly grabbed the rail outside the brownstone. A sudden bought of dizziness struck. She had been struggling with them for a couple days, afraid that her family would freak out if they knew, she kept it to herself. 'Close your eyes and count to ten' she instructed herself.

The dizziness passed, she walked to her car and drove back to the house. The house was newly built and designed completely by Carly, regardless of the say Jax thought he had. Luckily he was quite agreeable. It had only been a couple of months since her, Jax and Morgan had moved in. She had hoped that Michael would have come with, but he was still concerned about how his impulse control issues would affect his mothers' health. She walked up to the door and noticed it cracked open.

"Jax," she shouted, wondering if he had gotten home early.

"Not exactly." She heard a familiar voice answer back. She walked into the living room to find her brother-in-law sprawled out on the couch with his feet on the coffee table.

Carly snickered. "There goes the 100,000 dollar security system Jason put in here. What do you want, Jerry?"

"I heard by dear brother was off to Manhattan tonight, I thought you might want some family for the holiday."

"I think I can manage." She responded coldly. She hadn't heard from Jerry since a car bomb almost killed him and Jason in April. Jerry disappeared from the garage, she had guessed to avoid questions from the cops about his faked death only months earlier. "What are you really doing here?"

"I have some business; I was hoping that you could keep Sonny and Jason off my back."

"Why would I do that?" Carly asked. She already had regrets about helping Jax get Jerry off of charges after the Metro Court Hostage Crisis.

"What if I promised you answers?"

"What kind of answers?"

"Watch this." He handed her a DVD, the swirl design on the cover looked familiar for some reason. "Carly, I really do care about you and your family. Remember that." She watched him close the door behind him.

"Psycho." She said aloud. Looking at the DVD she let curiosity get the better of her. She went to the television set and pressed play.

'Hello Carly. I do hope to be able to meet my niece at some point. However, for that to happen, I need your help. Jason has found a link between myself and Ian Devlin. We had worked together before the late doctor met his ultimately demise, and we technically were working together the night Michael was shot.

I know this cannot be easy to hear, but Claudia Zacchara hired me to take out Sonny. I had my reasons for not doing the job myself, and foolishly brought Ian Devlin into it. I'm sorry, I half wish I was the shooter that night because I never would have gone through with the shot knowing your child was in the warehouse. I tried to get to him when I heard of Michaels' attendance.

There's nothing I can say to rectify the damage that has been done, or the year that my mistake cost your son. Just please, don't blame my brother for my mistakes.'

As the DVD ended Carly starred at the screen. Her brain moving a million miles per second. Claudia, the woman now married to Sonny, Michaels' father, was responsible for the hit that almost killed her son. She was going to kill her, but how? A gunshot to the head would be poetic justice. Too humane, though. More torture should be involved. She could send her flying off a cliff, at least then she could savor the thought that Claudia we revisit every sin committed before she died. Alternatively, how about hanging her from a meat cleaver in a walk-in freezer, she could listen to her beg for her life for awhile, besides it was a classic.

"Carly, what are you watching?" Jax asked as he stepped into the room.

She wasn't sure how to respond, she wasn't sure how he would react. Jax wasn't on the best of terms with his brother, but could he handle this?

"Are you okay?"

She struggled to form the words. "Claudia, she hired Devlin."

"Who told you?" Jax blurted out.

"Who told me? You mean you knew?"

"No, of course not. I mean how do you know? Claudia, really?" He tried back pedaling.

"I can't believe you."

"Carly, I can explain." He tried.

"Oh, really? I'd love to hear this. Please, let's start with when? Before or after Michael woke up?"

"Before. Jerry sent me a DVD. I didn't want to hurt you."

"Too late." She said angrily.

"It was right before I found out you were pregnant, then I found out about the blood condition. I was afraid for your life." It was the only justification he had, he struggled at first with telling her the truth, afraid that she would hold him partially responsible, but after finding out that too much stress could kill her keeping the secret became a matter of life and death.

"Instead you let my seventeen-year-old son move in with the psycho that put him in the coma!" She screamed. She was never completely comfortable with Michael living under the same roof as Claudia, but until now had no reason to believe she was a physical threat to her son. Luckily he was now living with the Quartermaine's.

"I never wanted that to happen, and he's safe now."

"You could have stopped it, told me, told Jason!"

"But then Jason would have gone after my brother."

"Out." Carly pushed Jax toward the door. "Get out now!"

"Carly, you need to calm down."

"You need to get out of my face!"

"This isn't good for the baby, or you." He tried.

"No, you know what's not good for my baby, letting him anywhere near Claudia, you knew that, and you let it happen anyway! Why? Because your child was too important to risk. Was it ever about protecting me, or was it about protecting your baby and your brother!"

"That's not fair." He shot back, "I asked you to terminate the pregnancy, I told you our family was complete. I didn't need you to risk your life to give me a baby. But dammit, I'm going to protect my family."

Carly could feel the dizziness resurfacing. "Just get out!" She screamed, pleaded.

"Not now, Carly, not like this." He knew this was the last thing she needed, he was afraid that if he walked out now there wasn't going to be anyone to come back to.

"Please, go."

"Only if you promise to calm down."

Carly's eyes shut tight, fighting off the nausea. She took a breath, opened her eyes, and calmly pointed to the door, "go." As soon as the door shut Carly collapsed on the sofa. The room was spinning and her head pounding. There was only one person she knew that could make this better. Her fingers trembled as she dialed the telephone.