Claudia answered the phone.

"Claudia, I need to talk to Sonny." Johnny responded.

"He's in a meeting right now, besides John, he's going to be pissed. Dante called saying you and Jason flaked out."

"Fine, then let me talk to him."

"You better have a really compelling reason, and banging the cougar isn't going to work." She couldn't believe that her brother and Olivia Falconeri were still dating. Especially after finding out that Sonny's latest hire was Olivia's son, Dante. Who happened to be the same age as Johnny.

"Claudia, please!"

Claudia opened the door from the foyer to the living room. Sonny was sitting on the couch with his lawyer, Dianne Miller. As she heard the door creek open Dianne stopped mid-sentence.

"Not now." Sonny remarked.

"It's Johnny, it sounds important."

Sonny looked annoyed, but since Ric allocations that Claudia may have had something to do with Michaels' shooting he often did around her. He didn't have any tangible proof, she knew that, or she'd probably be dead, even if she was carrying Sonny's baby.

"I'll take it on the terrace." Claudia handed the phone over and he walked outside.

"Give me one good reason that you are not landing a shipment right now." Sonny ordered.

"Carly's unconscious, she was brought to General Hospital." He answered.

"What?" Uttered Sonny. "Was there any sign of a struggle? Anyone else in the house? What about Jax? Where is Jax?"

"No, there was no forced entry. No sign of a struggle, and nobody there until Michael came over."

"You mean Candy boys wife is eight months pregnant, with a blood condition, and he's nowhere to be found?"

"Apparently, Olivia is trying to get a hold of him. Meanwhile Michael is sitting in the chapel and Jason is leaving tread marks in the waiting room."

"I'll be right there."

***********

"Jason, can we talk?" Patrick looked apprehensive.

"Yeah, how is she?" Jason asked. He hated waiting, he wanted to see her, be with her.

"Not good, we don't have a lot of time, and a choice has to be made."

Jason looked around the room. There was no Bobbie, no Jax. Nobody but him. "What choice?"

"We found a clot in the vein that runs from the hippocampus to the brain stem. The oxygen to the brain stem is severely threatened and if we don't remove the clot her organs will shut down and Carly will die."

'Carly will die.' The three words Jason prayed he'd never hear. "Then remove the clot."

"In order to do so we need to stabilize her. Bring her blood pressure down and prep her for brain surgery. She would lose the baby."

So, there it was the choice that he had to make. Save Carly, or save the baby. His heart was screaming out to save Carly, no matter the cost. "If the baby was taken out, what chances would she have in being healthy?"

"Actually, as far as Dr Lee can tell, the baby is fine. She's 36 weeks along, not even what we consider premature at this point."

"And if we stabilize Carly and go through with the surgery, what is the likelihood of success?"

"Honestly, not great."

Jason sat down on the couch behind him. A tear formed, falling from the corner of his eye down his cheek. "I suppose the 50/50 odds I was told in April are going to sound good in comparison."

"Yeah." Patrick said, taking the seat next to him. "If we go into surgery now she has a 30 percent chance of survival. If we wait and take the baby out and then try, the odds fall below five percent."

Jason was normally good at staying calm in difficult situations. He was known for being Stone Cold, but he felt like his world was caving in on him. He wanted to scream from the rooftop.

Patrick continued, "I know this is difficult, but we have to move, one way or the other or we're definitely loosing both of them."

"I can't." The only thing he could do was shut down. "Jax or Bobbie should be doing this."

"They're not here. And you know that she would trust you with this."

"What would you do?" Jason asked.

"Looking at the odds? I'd take out the baby." Patrick answered. "If it were Robin, I think I'd risk anything to save her."

"Even if it meant loosing Emma?" He asked.

Patrick took a deep breath. "I don't envy your position Jason. But, if it helps. Take out the numbers, and look at the situation. Then remember that this is Carly. This woman brought Michael back by sheer force of will. She never gave up."

"Less than five percent." Jason repeated. "I can't make this decision."

"You have to."

"She told me to save the baby."

"What, when?" Patrick asked.

"You wouldn't believe me?" Jason recalled the look on the EMTs face

"We're saving the baby? I'll let Dr Lee know."

His throat knotted, unable to speak he nodded yes.

"Can you sign the papers?" Jason reached out his hands, clasping the pen and the clipboard. He scribbled his name by the X.

"Jason." Patrick offered a sympathetic smile. "Do you want me to get Monica?"

"Please." Jason going to his mother for support was a fairly new development, but she helped immensely after Michael was shot. Jason sat motionless, listening to himself breath, remembering the relaxation techniques he tried to teach Carly when Michael was going in for surgery. Usually, they came naturally to him, but he struggled to keep him mind wandering to the worse possible scenario.

Johnny gently pushed the door open, he noticed Jason starring out into space.

"Michaels' in the chapel, Sonny is on his way. Olivia called back; Bobbie is leaving Morgan with Lucas and will be here soon."

Jason just nodded.

"Has Patrick come back yet?"

"Yeah."

"Brain clot?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah."

Not one of a lot of words on a normal basis, Johnny wasn't expecting much, but maybe a little more explanation. He was worried, he hadn't realized how much he cared about Carly. When he showed up in Port Charles his life was spinning out of control. He was taken in by the Spencer's. Lulu loved him inexplicably, her father Luke became a male role model of sorts, saw him standing on the edge and dared him to jump off. Carly was the strong female guidance that he lost after his own mother was killed. She didn't like his relationship with her little cousin because of the danger she knew it inherently created, but she understood and she listened. After Claudia came back, and Michael was shot, Johnny kept him distance from Carly; he knew that he could never make up to her his role in what happened to her son.

"Michael should be back soon. Unless there's anything else you'd like me to do, I'm going to go back to Sonny's and stay with Claudia." Johnny said code for 'try to keep her away from here.'

"No, that's fine." Johnny wasn't sure he should leave Jason alone, he'd never seen him this heartbroken. Even after Michaels' shooting Jason appeared to hang on to his strength, probably for Carly's sake.

"I can have Max bring your truck over from the garage."

"I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

Johnny knew he didn't have to ask the next question, it slipped out anyway, "It's bad, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Jason answered, but then reassuring himself went on to say. "But she's stubborn. If anyone could pull through, it's Carly."

"You're right." Bobbie said, walking through the door. "Patrick already caught me up. And if it's any consolation, I'm not sure I could have made the same decision. But I'm glad you did."

Bobbie was optimistic, she knew the odds were against Carly, but that's when Carly prevailed. She was an unstoppable force, and Bobbie was going to hang on to that. Besides, this was her daughter, and she knew in her heart that she would know if Carly was slipping away from her. Until she felt that pang of separation, she had no reason to worry; everything was going to be fine.

Jason stood up to give Bobbie a hug. Johnny ducked out of the room. "I still don't know." Jason confessed. "But I know it's what she wanted."

Bobbie smiled, "So trust her."

Michael walked through the open door. "Dad is talking with Dr Drake now." He explained. "Is it true, Jason?"

"Is what true?" Jason asked.

"You chose to save the baby over my mom?"

"Michael, it's more complicated than that." Bobbie explained.

"I was here." Michael said "why didn't you consult me?" He was angry. He was angry with the baby as soon as he woke up, for a brief period he thought the baby was a way of replacing him. As he realized that his mother still loved him with every fiber of her being, he realized that he wasn't being replaced. However, he was told of the risks that carrying this baby caused and he couldn't help but blame the baby for the illness that his mother was living with, and the risk it put on her.

"Because this was a decision that nobody wanted to make." Answered Jason.

"Because I'm a kid?" Michael asked. "I'm seventeen. In a couple months I'll be eighteen, an adult. I'm her son, you're nothing! You gave up your right to make these decisions when you handed us over to dad!"

"Enough, Michael." He heard Sonny say. "Could you please go with your grandmother for a moment? I need to talk to Jason."

Michael obeyed without argument. Michael followed Bobbie into the hallway where she greeted him with a giant hug. "She's going to be okay, Michael. He didn't choose against her. He gave the baby the best chance, and is trusting Carly to do the rest."

"I don't believe this, what were you thinking?" Sonny yelled inside the waiting room.

Jason sat back down, he knew Sonny had to let his anger out, but didn't have the energy for a one-on-one confrontation.

"She trusted you, Carly trusted you with her life. She would do anything, anything to protect you and you promised to do the same! You were the one that I expected to make the hard decisions, the ones not even she could."

"I know." Jason uttered.

"But what? If you just would have convinced her to terminate the pregnancy when I asked you to, this wouldn't have happened. We wouldn't be here."

So that's it, Jason thought, Sonny blamed him for letting Carly continue with the pregnancy. Nobody was going to tell her otherwise. Especially because it was obvious that this was her last chance to have the girl she always wanted. "Are you done?" Jason asked calmly.

"I hate it here." Sonny confessed.

"Me too."