Author's Note: This is my idea for an alternative ending to the biotoxin storyline done on GH early this year. It contains mostly Jason in hit-man mode and contains more violence than most of my stories will contain. It is only three chapters. Please review.

When Dreams Become Nightmares

Jason hurried down the stairs toward the front door. Whoever was there sure was insistent he thought. It dawned on him that it must be Carly. Once she decided on a course of action, there was simply no stopping her. She would stand outside his door pounding until he let her in. She tended to bring out the best and the worst in him at exactly the same time. It was not unusual for him to find himself impressed with her while simultaneously wanting to strangle her. It was just the way she was.

Jason opened the door to find that it was indeed Carly who had been pounding on the door. She gave him a big hug as she came in.

"What trouble are you in now, Carly?" He asked immediately. It was how things worked between them. She would get herself into trouble and Jason would risk everything to get her out. She was his boss' ex-wife and he protected her and her kids at all costs.

He had no doubt that she really did love him. She would risk anything for him. It drove her husband Jax crazy that they were so close and she would depend on Jason before anyone else. They were very good friends and it really surprised a lot of people.

"I'm done waiting Jason." Carly announced as she plopped on the couch. This was her signal that they had a lot to discuss. "I want to know why that horrible woman is living with you!"

Inwardly Jason groaned. He did not want to discuss this with her right now. He hated her attitude toward any woman in his life but in particular Robin. Still, he figured she wouldn't leave until she got an answer.

Jason did not talk about it much. Those who knew him would say he didn't talk about anything much. He was always reluctant to talk about himself. With the line of work Jason was in, sharing information was a good way to end up in prison or dead.

Carly was one of the few people who get him to talk about something when he did not want to. However, even she had a hard time getting him to discuss the events that had turned Robin's dreams into living nightmares. She could tell that it hurt Jason to discuss it. Regardless, Carly felt she had to push the point anyway. It was the quest for answers that drove her forward. She didn't want to see Jason hurt but she really had to know what had happened. She had to know how a woman she couldn't trust at all was living with the man she trusted with everything. Jason could never say no to Carly. He was everything to her. Her butting into his life was how she showed she cared.

He knew that really she had no idea of the hell that everyone involved had been through. He sat down beside her on the couch and took a moment to collect his thoughts before he began.

"It started the night the FBI and Agent Raynor were done questioning Patrick about the biotoxin release at the hospital. He came home agitated, which was of course understandable. He had been through hell during the scare at the hospital, the death of his several staff members, and worrying about Robin."

Jason got up and pored Carly a drink he knew she would want soon and set it in front of her before he continued. "Patrick came home and unloaded both barrels of worry on Robin all at once…

'Have you completely lost your mind?' Patrick had screamed as the front door slammed behind him.

Robin had starred at him for a full minute before her fury and her Post Partum Depression overwhelmed her tongue and she said "No, but obviously you have. Most people who almost die don't come home screaming at their wife, they come in thankful to be alive and wanting to see their families."

"Somewhere in the first sentences of that horrible fight, they both lost all grasp of what was going on around them. They had been through too much at that point I guess", Jason said quietly as he looked Carly directly in the eye.

Patrick hollered back as his anger became even more pronounced and more out of touch with what was really bothering him. He told her 'Most of them don't have psychotic wives who are suffering from PPD and refuse to get help. And most of them probably don't have the same wife who lose all touch of reality and take their infant trapsing through a blizzard and then forgetting where the hell she laid her own daughter!'

'I was suffering from hypothermia you ass! That is why I couldn't remember. But I had put Emma in a spot I figured would be safe since it was obvious that we were far from help.'

'If it wasn't for Maxie and Johnny our daughter would be dead because of you.'

'If it wasn't for Maxie and Johnny, both Emma and I would be dead now. But obviously my death wouldn't have bothered you much.' Robin screamed back at him as she grabbed her purse and ran crying from their house.

Never one for alcohol Jason surprised himself, and astonished Carly, when he got up again and make himself a drink. This time he took a big swig before returning to the couch and his story.

"The super called me. He had found her sitting in the hall outside the penthouse door. She was crying uncontrollably and he couldn't understand what she was trying to say. Since he didn't see blood or anything like that, he didn't call the police. He called me."

Carly and Jason each took a big drink at the same time and smiled at each other. Friends are good, Jason thought to himself briefly, even if they do drive you crazy sometimes.

"I was clear across town in a major business meeting but I made it here in about 5 minutes I think. I broke every speed limit and traffic law out there. I just knew she needed me and I was going to come through for her."

"So, I carried her inside. I checked her over for obvious injuries and couldn't find any. Then I wrapped a blanket around her and she laid her head on my chest and cried most of the night."

Jason stood up suddenly and went to look in the fireplace. When he turned around a few minutes later Carly could see he was trying hard not to cry.

"I told her to go back," he said as his voice broke and he struggled to control it. "I told her to go back. I said Patrick has been through too much to process from the whole biotoxin thing. And I told Robin that she probably was suffering from PPD and would need treatment for that and had been through too much to process herself."

Wordlessly, Carly picked up her drink and drained the rest of it in one swallow. Then watched in horror a moment later when without warning, Jason picked up his and threw it angrily into the fireplace. "I told her to go home!"

Knowing she wanted to help him, to make him feel better somehow, Jason smiled ruefully at Carly. "Sorry. I am better now. It just makes me mad when I think about it."

"I told her to go home. That their marriage had suffered a lot in a short time but they could work it out together. She believed me. She even told me I always knew exactly what she needed to hear and said the right things at the right time." Jason's eyes fell from Carly's face and he stared unseeingly at the coffee table. "I told her to go home and I almost got her killed."

Author's Note: Thanks for reading. This was a hastily written story as I struggled to get everything down on paper before I lost it. Please review. Your honest feedback is greatly appreciated!