Hold Me (in your beating heart)
Heart + Heart series, part four
Sequel to In the Aftermath
Chapter Two
What have I done?
The thought repeated itself over and over again as she remained hunched over his body, her hands pressed to the gaping, bleeding hole in his chest as she desperately tried to stem the flow of blood. But it wasn't working, his blood kept coming, covering her hands, rising around up her, soaking her legs, her knees.
Please somebody, help me.
But her desperate plea went unanswered and she felt him grow cold.
Suddenly a bloodied hand wrapped around her wrist and her head snapped up. She watched as Diego's eyes opened suddenly and stare right at her as he asked her the same thing she'd asked him the night she killed him.
Why?
Gasping awake Georgie, who was curled up on her side, drew her knees tightly to her chest as she held back a scream, not wanting to wake Maxie. Her sister had taken to sleeping in the same bed as her since that night, both to reassure herself that Georgie was alive and safe and to be there for Georgie when she inevitably had a nightmare. Or rather the nightmare.
She knew it was only a dream, that she'd never touched Diego and she'd never had his blood on her hands, but it all felt real enough and fed the well of guilt building inside her.
Feeling the pillow beneath her head grow damp Georgie wiped at her eyes and took a deep breath. Once she was sure she had some semblance of control over her emotions she turned onto her back and let out with a squeal of surprise.
Maxie was sitting seiza on the bed next to her and watching her.
"What the hell Maxie!" Georgie exclaimed, quickly sitting up.
"Morning," Maxie greeted her, a serious look on her face.
"Were you watching me sleep?" Georgie asked suspiciously once she had a minute to recover from the early morning shock.
"Yes," Maxie replied nonchalantly before adding, "it's not creepy."
"How long were you watching me sleep?" Georgie challenged, an eyebrow raised.
Maxie paused and looked away. Pursing her lips she thought about her answer and then admitted maybe she'd been watching her long enough for it to be a little creepy. Her older sister then shrugged her shoulders and said, "I'm not going apologize."
Groaning Georgie threw back the covers and reached for her robe. "You're not going to apologize for being a total creep?"
"No, because I didn't do it intentionally," Maxie said. "I'm just worried about you."
"Maxie..."
"No, enough! You haven't talked about it and I know you're having nightmares, you're barely eating, and you were crying just a minute ago. This is eating away at you and you need to talk about it. So talk to me," Maxie pleaded. "Please."
But Georgie remained steadfastly quiet. Sighing in defeat Maxie got out of the bed and made her way toward the door. One hand on the handle she turned back to Georgie and said, "If you won't talk to me about it, talk to Dad, to Robin. Call mom. Anyone. Just don't hold it inside anymore."
The sister's shared a long look before Maxie finally shook her head and started to open the door to leave, that was when Georgie stopped her. "I didn't want to kill him."
The words were said quietly, but they were enough for Maxie who shut the door and joined her sister who'd sat back down on the edge of the bed. "I know you didn't," Maxie assured her, taking one of Georgie's hands in her own. "Georgie you did what you had to do, if you didn't you might not be here. I still can't believe you were stupid enough to go to the park alone to face him," Maxie scolded her for the hundredth time since that night.
And once again Georgie was sorely tempted to tell her sister that she wasn't alone that night, that Jason had been there with her and that if it wasn't for him she probably wouldn't be here today. But she knew that she couldn't, not at this point, and she swallowed the urge and focused on what Maxie had said instead.
"I'm not so sure about that."
"About what?" Maxie asked.
"That I did what I had to do," Georgie admitted. "I keep thinking there must have been another way. I should've aimed lower, shot him in the leg, or the arm. Why did I shoot him in the chest? Why did I aim to kill?"
"Georgie, no. You've got to stop beating yourself up about this," Maxie told her. "You reacted on instinct, to protect yourself. I know you Georgie and if there had been some other way, you of all people would've found it."
"It still doesn't feel right," Georgie said after a long pause and after she'd had some time to think about Maxie's words.
"No, it probably doesn't and to be honest it would worry me even more if it did feel right," Maxie assured her. "I can't imagine that it will ever feel alright, because you're not a killer Georgie."
"That's where you're technically wrong Maxie. I am a killer because I took someone's life," Georgie argued. "If I hadn't gone to the park a week ago, Diego might still be alive."
"That's true, but I might be dead," Maxie countered bluntly. "Sam might be dead. Or Carly, or Elizabeth. They found the hit list in his pocket and if you hadn't killed him when you did anyone of us might have been strangled and murdered. Would you rather make that trade?"
"No!" Georgie was horrified by the picture that her sister was creating and knew that Maxie was trying to make a point, but Georgie wasn't a hero because she'd killed Diego, and said as much to her older sister.
"You're right and I'm not saying that you're a hero for what you did, but your actions spared all of the people on Diego's list because we would've been next and not all of us would've survived," she said and then reiterated her earlier point. "Georgie you did what you had to do."
Georgie also circled back. "I didn't go there to kill him, I didn't want to kill Diego," she repeated, emphasizing his name, her voice thick with tears.
Wrapping an arm around her sister's shoulder, Maxie gave her a tight side hug. "I know. I also know that if the Text Message Killer had turned out to be anyone else you wouldn't be beating yourself up like this," Maxie pointed out. "You wanted to save Diego, you saw something in him, you saw past everything that he had done and you forgave him. You reached out to him in prison and tried to help him. And even after he tried to help Lulu ruin your marriage you still wanted to be his friend. I don't know why and to be honest if it had been me I would've washed my hands a long time ago, but you didn't. And when you thought he died, after Sam shot him, you went to his funeral, and you mourned for him," Maxie said.
"What is your point Maxie? That I failed, because I think I got it," Georgie replied angrily.
"You didn't fail him, that's not what I'm saying at all," she replied, frustrated. "I'm saying that you did everything you could for him, that you fought harder for him than probably anyone else in his entire life. You cared about him, maybe not as much as he would've liked but you still cared and that's why you need to forgive yourself, because if you don't you'll never be able to grieve for him. And if you don't grieve for him, you'll never be able to move past this."
"Please tell me I'm wrong," Ric said after Scott Baldwin had long enough to look over the file he'd handed him. "I think in this case I'd be happy to be wrong."
Scott flipped back to the beginning of the file and took a second look at the contents and decided that it was hard not to come to the same conclusion as Lansing did. Tossing the file onto the District Attorney's desk Scott sat back in the chair and said, "you're not wrong, there's definitely probable cause, the question is what are you going to do about it?"
Standing Ric looked down at the file and groaned. Inside was the final report relating to the death of Diego Alcazar, detailing all of the evidence, the scene, and the hospital reports from Alcazar's autopsy and details from Georgianna Jones's physical examination following the incident. All in all it was damning for Ms Jones.
The phone recovered at the scene detailed messages that indicated that Georgie was attempting to lure the TMK to the park, going along with what Alcazar had suggested in an attempt to get him to meet, to draw him out into the open. Then there was the gun which Georgie had used. While the police commissioner's daughter claimed that the gun fell out of Alcazar's pocket during a struggle and that she had never seen it before, her fingerprints were the only ones on the gun. Add to it the fact that they'd traced the gun back to the Port Charles Police Department evidence locker and discovered that it was one of the weapons that had gone missing during a break in.
Then there was the medical report released by General Hospital. Georgie Jones hadn't sustained any injuries synonymous with a fight or a struggle, which added to Ric's doubt about her claim of shooting Alcazar out of self-defense.
Granted there was the cord that had been discovered at the scene which did have Alcazar's fingerprints on it and the handwritten list located in his back pocket with the names of all of his victims and potential victims which pointed to Alcazar almost certainly being the Text Message Killer. But even if that was the case, what Georgie had done was tantamount to premeditated murder. A conclusion which was hard to rectify given what he knew about her.
She was the daughter of a WSB agent and the stepdaughter to the police commissioner. Georgie was a straight A student and a volunteer in the community, she worked at Kelly's and had babysat for Kristina and Molly. That she could've committed murder, especially premeditated murder, seemed impossible. But all of the evidence suggested otherwise and he couldn't ignore it just because she seemed like a good girl. Or could he?
Scott seemed to read his mind and asked him point blank, "are you going to look the other way on this one?" Sensing Lansing's hesitation, Scott gave him a bone, albeit a bone that could get Scott his job of DA back, but a bone none the less. "I wouldn't blame you if you did."
"It's going to be a hard case to try," Ric said.
Scott nodded in agreement. "I've got to admit it, it won't be easy. Not with a reputation like hers or with the family connections," he warned.
Scott watched Lansing discreetly, hoping that he would make the right choice, or at least the right choice for Scott. The DA moved back to his desk and reached for the phone.
"What are you going to do?" Scott asked.
Dialing a number Ric looked up at the Special Prosecutor and said, "I'm going to petition for a warrant, for the arrest of Georgianna Jones."
