Dr. Webber walked over to Jason in the waiting room. "Mr. Morgan, Mr. Spinelli is stable for now. He is still unconscious for the time being. We were able to remove all of the bullets. But he is suffering from internal bleeding and one of the bullets has destroyed his liver. We are going to put him on the donor list but it can take a very long time for a match to come through and Damian just doesn't have that sort of time. But for now all we can do is remain optimistic. I know that he has a lot of friends and people that care about him. Partial liver donation is an option. That is where we take part of a living person's liver and transplant it into the patient. Technically, you can live with only a piece of a liver. And over time the liver will regenerate. In a healthy donor the liver can start to regenerate in a matter of days and is often back to normal in about a year or so."

Jason stood up as soon as Steve Webber approached him. He stood stoically listening to the doctor talk about Spinelli's condition. Jason said "If I am a match I will donate a portion of my liver. What do I have to do to make that happen?"

"Well, we already know that you two have the same blood type. You will have to have a physical preformed to ensure that you are in good health. We will want to do an X-ray, an abdominal ultrasound, and an EKG. If everything looks alright we can prep you for surgery in a couple of days. We will remove between 40% and 60% of your liver. After you donate your liver we will need to keep you in the hospital for a couple of days...maybe more depending on how your recovery progresses. And after you are released it could take a couple of weeks for you to fully recuperate." said. Dr. Webber. "Another doctor will sit down with you and explain all of the dangers and risks that are posed in this donation."

"How long will it take for Spinelli to recuperate?" asked Jason. He didn't care about himself. He wanted to know how long it would take for Spinelli to be on his feet again. Jason blamed himself for the predicament that Spinelli was in. He was always telling Spinelli to be careful but this time the blame landed solely on Jason's shoulders. He had tasked Spinelli with a dangerous mission and it had very nearly killed him. Jason's mind ticked over the people that would know that Spinelli did research for him. The Balkan had to be watching them closely. What troubled Jason is that he didn't let anyone get close enough to make those types of conclusions. This led him to believe that the Balkan was someone that he had been in the presence of.

"Well, when someone suffers a gunshot wound. Infection is always a possibility. We are going to be keeping a very close eye on him. However, given the trauma that he has experienced I would say that Mr. Spinelli will probably need several months to get back to normal and that is saying that his body does not reject the liver." said Steve. "I will have a technician come over and draw your blood and Epiphany can schedule a time for you to come in for your physical." said Dr. Webber. Dr. Webber waved over a young female technician. "This is Sara she will take the blood sample from you so that we can compare it to Mr. Spinelli's' blood."

Jason said "I am not going anywhere. I want that physical as soon as possible. Tonight would be preferable. I don't want anything standing in the way of Spinelli getting the liver he needs as soon as possible." Jason had a seat so that Sara was able to draw a vial of his blood.

Sara took a vial of his blood and then walked away.

Jason stood up and walked back over to Dr. Webber.

Dr. Webber said "I will make sure that we get everything scheduled as soon as possible. You can go in and see him now. He is in ICU 3. You can only be in with him 30 minutes at a time. For right now he is breathing on his own but if his O2 stats drop any lower we will have to intubate him."

Sam stood up and walked over to Jason. She had come to the hospital as soon as she heard about Spinelli. "Do you want me to go in with you?" asked Sam.

Jason said "Just give me a minute alone with Spinelli before you come into the room." Jason walked toward Spinelli's room. The doors slid open as he walked into the room. The machines beeped rhythmically. Jason walked over to Spinelli's bed. He couldn't help but think that Spinelli looked so pale and so near death. Jason felt responsible for Spinelli. He had been taking care of the young man for years now. Jason hadn't felt this much pain since Michael was sent to prison. Once again he felt like he had let down one of his young charges.

Spinelli's chest slowly rose and fell as he lay in the bed unconscious. His skin looked pale. Spinelli's sandy brown hair stuck to his sweaty forehead. He was running a fever possibly from infection.

Jason stood next to Spinelli's bed not sure what to do or say at first. Jason flashed back to when Michael was in a coma after being shot in Sonny's warehouse. Jason reached out and took Spinelli's feverish hand as he had a seat next to Spinelli's bed. The only solace he could find at the moment was that Spinelli was still breathing.

Sam walked into the room quietly and walked over behind the chair Jason was seated in. She rested her hands on Jason's shoulders and felt her heart drop seeing the shape that Spinelli was currently in. Sam said "You should talk to him Jason…let him know that he isn't alone." Jason wasn't a man that expressed himself often but she knew him well enough to know how he truly felt about Spinelli.

"I don't know what to say to him…" said Jason. His eyes never left Spinelli's unchanging face. Jason found himself hoping for even a twitch of an eyebrow at the moment. He longed to hear Spinelli's overly complicated explanations for everything. He longed to hear Spinelli gush about Brenda being the divine one. Suddenly, Jason regretted never telling Spinelli just how important he was to him.

"I bet that he can hear you and I bet that Spinelli will feel comforted by hearing your voice. He looks up to you so much. He feels safe because he knows that you will always be there to take care of him. You are his mentor…he needs you Jason…" said Sam.

"I wasn't there to take care of him this time." said Jason in a far-away voice. Jason stared at Spinelli trying to find the words to say to the young man. But at the moment Jason was at a loss.

At that moment the monitors started to go off and nurses and doctors rushed into the room.

"He's having a cardiac episode! Get the crash cart." said Dr. Webber. "Mr. Morgan and Ms. McCall we need both of you to step out of the room please."

Jason and Sam walked out of the room and Jason stood outside of the ICU watching the medical team working furiously to revive Spinelli. Jason stood there feeling like he was frozen in a movie that was playing around him. Jason wasn't used to standing around watching things happening around him that he was able to control or at least have an effect on. All of the power that he wielded as Sonny's right hand man wasn't useful to him right now. At this moment he needed a miracle to save Spinelli's life. Jason watched the medical team's progress through the glass doors that led into the ICU bay.

Sam couldn't bear to see them shock Spinelli another time so she walked away from the doors. She felt sick to her stomach as she thought about her sidekick in the P.I. business.

30 minutes later Dr. Webber walked out to Jason and said "We've got Mr. Spinelli stable again. You can go in to be with him if you life. The next 24 hours will be touch and go. If he makes it through tonight…he might have a good chance of survival."

"Thank you." said Jason walking back into the ICU. He sat back down next to Spinelli's bed. Jason thought back to when he first woke up from his own coma. Jason said "Spinelli, you are going to pull through this because you are strong. You were shot three times close range. That would have killed most men. The doctors say that you need a liver so I am going to give you part of mine. Because uh…you are important to me. But I need you to get better and I need you to wake up. I just need you to wake up." Jason felt tears wetting the corners of his eyes.

Sam couldn't remember the last time that Jason talked so much. But she knew how important Spinelli was to Jason even if he didn't like to admit it. "We are here for you Spinelli and we are going to make sure that you pull through this with flying colors."

The doors to the ICU slid open. "Jason." said Max standing in the doorway. "Can I see you out in the hall for a minute?"

Jason said "I'll be back Spinelli." Jason looked to Sam. "Can you sit with him while I am gone?"

Sam nodded and said "Of course Jason. I am not going anywhere until the nurses come back around to kick me out."

Jason stood up and kissed Sam softly before walking out of the room. "What is it Max?" asked Jason.

Sonny walked over and nodded to Max. "Tell him what we've found out."

"With Mac's help we were able to figure out who shot Spinelli. Maxie heard about Spinelli and she went to Mac for help. He pulled the traffic cameras in the area…a dark sedan sped through a red light a block away from where Spinelli was shot…and the driver was Jerry Jacks." said Max handing him a computer printout of Jerry actually waving at the traffic camera.

"Jason, this is your show. You handle this however you want to. I am behind you 100%." said Sonny. Sonny had a team of guards staying with Brenda. He didn't know what the Balkan's next move might be.

Jason took the piece of paper from Max and stared at Jerry Jack's face. Jason never believed that Jerry was dead and now he had irrefutable proof. Not finding his body had always seemed too convenient for Jason's liking. His initial urge was to find Jerry and take the psychopath apart piece by piece in the most painful way imaginable. But he thought better of it. Jerry was a red herring in this situation. He was a brightly colored lure that was being dangled in front of Jason to distract him. In fact Spinelli's shooting was a lure to distract him from finding out the Balkan's true identity. Jason tightly clutched the picture of Jerry Jacks in his hand as he looked back at Spinelli clinging to life in the ICU. He would not be distracted, true justice could only be meted out if Jason located the Balkan. Jerry was just a hired hand. Jason would deal with Jerry later but first he wanted the Balkan. He wanted the man that ordered the hit on Spinelli. Jason said "I want eyes on Theo Hoffman, Carol Chang, Siobhan McKenna, and Suzanne. Make sure that none of them have access to Brenda until you hear different from me." Jason realized that those three people were the only outsiders that had access to Brenda. One of those people had to be the Balkan or at least the link to the Balkan.

Max nodded and said "Alright I will go let everyone know."

Sonny said "What are you thinking?" He could see the wheels turning in Jason's head.

Jason said "The Balkan has been leading us around by the nose this entire time. Every move that we have made he's anticipated it in advance. When we've gotten too close he throws something in the way to distract us or put us on a different path. Spinelli has no real connection to our organization. Anyone looking in from the outside wouldn't know his true purpose and duties. This means to me that someone that we have let get close to us and Brenda is responsible for what happened to Spinelli. One of those people is our connection to the Balkan."

Nurse Epiphany walked over and said "Mr. Morgan are you ready for your physical."

Jason nodded and said "I am ready. Let's get this done." Jason looked toward the ICU and his eyes connected with Sam.

Sam nodded knowing that he needed to go for his physical.