Lucas struggled to smile through the pain in his ribs and under Carly's glare. If she was happy to see him, he couldn't tell. Then again, she was always at her angriest when she was worried. He could practically hear her collecting the questions in her head, preparing for his interrogation. So he spoke before she could ask anything.

"You scared the cute nurse away," he smiled, remembering how Felix had stumbled out of the room, after getting their family tree down. Felix had only stopped to compliment Carly on her assemble, a royal blue flow-y number that dipped low in the back, and then scampered away with Lucas's chart in hand. Lucas had been sad to see him go for a lot of reasons, but mostly because there was nothing to stand behind him and Carly's assault.

"You're in Port Charles for less than a minute, and you're already in trouble?" Carly said, side-stepping his diversion. She tossed her hands up in frustration; having to worry about Michael and Morgan was enough, she wasn't expecting that she'd have to worry about Lucas too. Last she'd heard, he was in Seattle being wildly successful and searching for love. At least that's how Bobbi had put it.

Carly stepped closer to get a better look at Lucas's injuries. He was stubborn and swatted at her when she cupped his chin. But she held on and turned his head, so that the bad lighting in his cubicle hit the side of his face.

"It's just a few scrapes and scratches." He said, but Carly could see where a black welt was preparing to make its debut on her brother's face. She'd seen enough of Sonny's handiwork to know when somebody had been at the wrong end of a fist. She couldn't think who would want to hurt Lucas...but she was about to find out and whoever it was would have hell to pay.

"Who did this?" Carly asked and Lucas could practically hear his assailant's death happening in her head.

"Why? So you can run to Sonny, and add a new piece to his Pine Barron's collection?"

"Who?" She demanded.

"It doesn't matter, Carly. I'm fine!" Lucas shifted uncomfortably, Carly wasn't letting up. If he didn't know better, he would've thought she'd of made a great detective- she'd done such a great job of turning his hospital cubicle into an interrogation room. Not to mention she had a way of looking at people like she knew what they were hiding. He had to reassure himself that there was no way she could know the truth, that was impossible. No one knew, and no one could know, not if he wanted to keep Carly safe.

The thought alone sent him right back to last night. Carly was ranting, threatening his imaginary attacker, and worrying over him all at the same time. But he didn't hear much of it, he was somewhere else in his head. He could practically smell the fish.

Lucas had been surprised when he'd been called to the boss's office. The boss usually sent everyone away when the dangerous blonde woman came to visit. But this time was different. She'd shown up and after a moment with her, the boss had called for him.

He dragged his feet along the cold granite floor of the gray hallway. He had a bad feeling, something that made his stomach go nuts and his mouth particularly dry. There was barely any lighting in the hallway, except for the pathetic glow of a few naked bulbs. The shadowy dark only added to the ominous feeling twisting his gut. He tried to calm himself before he pulled open the heavy metal door, and stepped into the iron room.

The boss hadn't been much for decorating, he'd left the only office in the old canary exactly as he'd found it. There were still old crates scattered along the floor and a fishy smell to the building. But the boss had added a thick dark desk, a massive chair for himself and a pair for "guests." The moment Lucas opened the door, the boss offered him one of those seats. The dangerous blonde stood back watching, she was always watching. Lucas couldn't help noticing that she always seemed to be watching all the other pieces, waiting to make her own moves.

"Lucas," the boss said as a way of welcome. He smiled and laid a hand on Lucas's shoulder and Lucas had to look up at him from the chair to smile back. "You might be wondering why we called you here."

"The thought had crossed my mind," Lucas relaxed into the chair and tried to look at ease. If he wanted this to work, he couldn't let them see how worried he was. It would make them both suspicious.

"After you found us, I asked you what you meant to do with us..."

"And I said I just wanted to belong," Lucas offered and the boss smiled.

"Yes, yes you did. But we were a little worried letting you have that chance, given your old ties." Lucas shifted, he was talking about Carly. "We needed you to prove yourself, and you have, which is why we know we can trust you-"

"My brother thinks he can trust you," the blonde woman corrected. She had practically hissed from a dark corner of the office that had only enough light to reveal the scowl on her face and vicious steel blue of her eyes. Her red dress and everything else was lost to darkness and she could've been a shadow if she'd tried hard enough.

The boss swatted at her words with half-hearted irritation.

"My point is that you're one of us. You may have been raised by someone else, but you're family." He held out his arms, to drive home his point. "And as family, you are a part of this business."

"I really appreciate it, boss," Lucas said.

"Oh please, call me Julian. You're amongst family, right Ava?"

Lucas didn't need to look at the woman to know she was on the verge of spitting fire. He was sure that she had argued against this move, but Julian had ignored her warnings and left her in a corner to sulk like a child. He could feel her eyes boring into the back of his head, murderously. But he tried to play it cool.

"And can I call you Ava?" he turned to her long enough to see her scowl and then back to Julian. "Does this mean I'm getting a promotion?"

Julian laughed and gave him an approving pat on the shoulder.

"Something like that," he said. "We're starting to make bigger moves, everything is falling into place. But there are a few loose ends."

"Like?"

"You're sister," Ava offered from her corner. Lucas felt the twisting in his gut pick up, it almost made him sick- and the fish smell wasn't helping. He swallowed it all down and turned to face her. She looked positively evil and Lucas worried what would happen if Ava went after Carly. There had to be a way to keep her out of this. Carly hadn't been with Sonny for years, she had nothing to do with his business. Lucas had assumed he'd only need to protect Michael and Morgan, but now there was a target on his sister's back as well.

"What about her?" He asked and it took everything to keep the worry out of his voice.

"She's suspicious of me."

"And with good reason," Julian added.

"Whatever her reasons, she's dangerous. She's already had me investigated; sent a funny little creature with a speech impediment, called a Spinelli, after me." Ava stepped forward, so Lucas could see her clearly. "I put a stop to it. But the next time, we may not be so lucky."

"Carly's impulsive, she thought you were a danger so she sent the Spinelli." Lucas tried to explain, without sounding as if he were defending Carly. He needed them to believe he was loyal. "But she also has the attention span of a goldfish. Don't draw attention to yourself, and she'll forget all about you."

"Doubtful." Ava countered. "My daughter is engaged to her son and now your sister is like a dog with a bone."

Lucas started to argue, but Julian stepped forward and held up a hand.

"Ava is right about the threat, but wrong about the solution." He squeezed Lucas's shoulder, reassuringly. "She wants to put a bullet between Carly's curious little eyes. But I say we just need to give Carly another bone to chew on." The boss called for one of the thick necked men he surrounded himself with.

"Boss?" The man said, in a deep bass. He was muscle piled on muscle and it sounded like even his larynges worked out.

"Boris, we'll be needing another Morgan special." Julian said, as if he'd simply ordered room service. The pile of muscles smiled and balled the same fist that had nearly shattered Morgan's ribs. Lucas got to his feet and held up his hands.

"Wait, what the hell is going on here?" He yelled. Boris was looking at him like a hungry dog who'd just spotted a cuddly little rabbit. He moved closer and Lucas stepped back, until the massive desk was right up under him.

"As you said," Julian began, "Carly doesn't commit to much, she'll forget about Ava soon enough. Of course, it doesn't hurt to toss her a distraction, speed up the process a bit."

"So you're going to kill me, to make Carly back off?" Lucas felt a familiar dizziness. He gripped the edge of the desk and did his best to hold himself up. His heart was racing and all the resilience had gone out of his knees.

Julian laughed. "Of course we're not going to kill you. You're no good to anyone dead." He said as if Lucas should've known. "We're simply going to give Carly something else to investigate."

Before Lucas could argue, Boris stepped forward. The first punch was to his gut, he'd bowled over and gasped for air that just wouldn't come. The second and third sent him to the floor and the fourth made everything go dark.

He woke up in the back of Julian's car long enough to be reminded of the plan. He could feel a thumping in his head and the side of his face beginning to swell. He rolled his tongue in the thick metallic blood that filled his mouth and tried to talk. But the effort made him choke, he hacked up more blood and his ribs paid the price. It felt like Boris's fist had completely shattered every bone.

The pain made him dizzy and he could hardly hear Julian over the pulsing in his ears.

"...almost there...two minutes...

...the plan...or Carly gets hurt...Ava..." Julian was starting to sound as if he were miles away and Lucas felt himself drifting. "And remember, I'm Derek. Derek Wells."

That was the last thing he'd heard, before he was gone completely, before he woke up in a hospital bed.

"Whoever did this is going to pay," Carly was saying and the threat was enough to pull him from his own thoughts.

"Carly, there's no need for revenge." He said and swore that he was fine. "Honestly, you should see the other guy...he has some seriously bruised knuckles." He smiled, but Carly didn't seem so amused.

"You know I should've expected this," Carly sighed and collapsed onto the edge of the hospital bed, by Lucas's feet. "I mean you were fine for the most part, but you are my brother- there was bound to be something wrong with you."

Of course she'd found a way to make it about her. Lucas took the bait and tried to convince her that there was nothing wrong with her...at least not that much.

"Trouble just finds us," Carly continued. "But at least I had Jason to help me. That's what you need." The name alone made Lucas's heart thump a little harder. The machines picked up on it, and Lucas forced himself to take soothing breath. Carly gave her brother a curious look and Lucas searched his mind for a cover.

"Sorry, I'm still thinking about the nurse...I'm pretty sure staying overnight means I get a sponge bath," he laughed and Carly rolled her eyes.

"Do you think you could focus for a second? I'm offering to be your Jason!" Lucas studied his sister for a moment, trying to decide if she was serious.

"Isn't that kinda of like the blind leading the visually impaired?" Carly made another sound of frustration. He was so stubborn... kinda of like her, she guessed. Sometimes it seemed like they were exactly the same person. Sometimes she forgot that they didn't share DNA. She struggled to think what Jason would've done in this situation. It was hard, because there was no one else like her best friend. She still couldn't believe he was gone.

Lucas saw the sadness there on his sister's face and felt a sharp pang of guilt.

"I'm sorry. I'm sure you'd make a great Jason." He offered and Carly sighed.

"No I wouldn't, no one can be Jason except Jason," she relented. "I just want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, Carly. I promise you everything is going to be okay." He really seemed like he meant it and Carly relaxed a little. Even with whatever trouble he may have gotten himself into, he still managed to sound like he had everything under control; he could still calm her down.

"I believe you. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying to find out what's going on though."

"I expected that," Lucas said and relaxed a bit himself.

"Okay, so can you at least tell me what bought you to Port Charles. Bobbi says you were doing great in Seattle."

Lucas searched his head for the answer and the blurred image of Julian's backseat came into his mind. He heard Julian's voice blending with the sounds of the radio, "...Carly gets hurt...Ava. Convince...her...come home...stay."

Carly could see the confusion on his face and the worry settled back in.

"Are you okay? Should I call for a doctor?"

"No, no," Lucas refused. "I'm just a little fuzzy on the details."

"How hard did you hit your head? I'm calling Patrick." Carly started for the curtain, but Lucas called her back.

"I'm here for the big event," he continued to search, until it made his head hurt. "To welcome the newest addition to our family."

"You left Seattle for Lulu's baby shower?"

"Lulu's having a baby?" He asked. He hadn't spoken to Bobbi in months, he couldn't without putting her in danger.

"Kind of." Carly shrugged as if it were too much to explain. "But if that's not the addition..."

"I meant Morgan's impending nuptials. I heard your son's about to tie himself in knots." Carly felt the beginnings of the special little headache that had come with Morgan's surprise engagement. She almost started to complain about her son's latest stunt, when a red flag went off.

"Wait, you didn't know about Lulu's baby, but somehow you know about Morgan?"

Lucas started to explain when Felix slid back in. Lucas couldn't be happier to see him.

"Is it time for my sponge bath?" Lucas laughed and he could have sworn Felix had blushed.

"No, but I do have a lovely dose of insulin with your name on it." Felix said and Carly started to feel like a third wheel. "Also, Dr. Drake will be in to run a few more tests."

"Oh joy." Lucas said, flatly.

"That means you'll have to wait on the other side of the curtain." Felix turned to Carly. She didn't look like she was ready to go, but she nodded anyway.

"I'll be just outside."

"You really don't need to wait around. Don't you have a baby shower to go to?" Lucas nodded at her dress, while Felix wrapped a blood pressure cuff around his arm. "I'm pretty sure you didn't wear that for my hospital visit." Carly looked down at her dress as if she'd forgotten she'd been wearing it.

"No, I was on my way's to Sonny's when I got your call."

"Well if you're trying to make him drool, that would do it." Felix chimed in, but Carly shook her head.

"No, he's hosting the shower at his house," Carly explained. "I'm not trying to make Sonny do anything. That ship has sailed, hit an iceberg and sunk." Both Felix and Lucas gave her an unconvinced look and Carly went from feeling like a third wheel, to someone who was being double teamed.

"Well whatever your plans were, you can get back to them. I'm not going anywhere for now." Lucas gave Carly a look and motioned to Felix with his eyes. She got the hint.

"Okay, as long as you promise not to get into any more trouble." She collected up her things and pointed to Felix, "Keep an eye on him." Felix nodded and she left him to read Lucas blood pressure and give a sponge bath she didn't care to witness.

When she finally looked at her watch, she realized she was well beyond fashionably late. She jogged in heels, while looking through her bag for her phone- she wanted to let Bobbi know she was on her way. But before she could find her phone, she ran into something hard and firm.

Her bag and all it contents went crashing to the floor, but a pair of arms held her up. She looked up into a strange pair of eyes. They were blue and all-consuming, the face they belonged to was pretty hard to ignore too. Carly didn't even noticed that this stranger hadn't let her go just yet.

"I'm so sorry," Carly finally managed, after forcing herself to look away from the stranger's mouth. She couldn't help being a little disappointed when the man finally let her go.

"Don't worry about it. I'd never complain about being tackled by a beautiful woman," he said as if Carly shouldn't have expected anything less and she laughed. She didn't know whether he was being flattering or blunt. "I'm Derek. Derek Wells," he added, extending his hand. Carly studied it, remembering how firmly he had gripped her.

"Carly." she said, but it seemed like old news to Derek- he looked as if he'd expected that. They shook hands and Carly noticed how he managed to make even that feel intimate, more of a kiss than a handshake. There was something magnetic about him and he had this casual self assured-ness that Carly hadn't seen since Sonny. Carly was certainly intrigued, but the feeling wasn't mutual. While she couldn't keep her eyes off of Derek Wells, he couldn't keep his eyes off the curtain of cubicle one...Lucas's cubicle?

"Are you here visiting someone?" Carly asked suddenly. The question seemed to snap Derek out of his trance.

"What? No, not really."

"Because you seem to be a little distracted by cubicle one."

"Yeah, I'm waiting to hear about a patient." Derek actually looked worried, or maybe it wasn't worry- Carly wasn't sure. But there was no denying the fact that he couldn't take his eyes away from cubicle one, as if he could see right through the curtain. Carly was sure he knew Lucas, she just wasn't sure how well he knew him.

"You must be the boyfriend," Carly surmised and felt a quick flicker of jealousy. "I'm Lucas's sister."

"Oh, okay. Well, I'm not the boyfriend, I'm just the guy that found your brother," he said it the way he would anything else. Carly tried to thank him for getting Lucas to the hospital, but he waved it all away.

"Did you see anyone? Do you know who might have done this?" The questions came tumbling out, one after the after. But Derek only offered one response for each and every one.

"I'm afraid I didn't see anything," Carly couldn't be sure, but Derek looked pleased by her frantic interrogation. Just like that, his vibe shifted and Carly was sure he wasn't telling her something. She had found the mystery alluring a second ago, now it was just frustrating. There was so much she wanted to ask him, but before she could ask anything, her phone went off. It was Bobbi, she wanted to know where Carly was, the shower had started and she should've been there.

Carly took a moment to calm Bobbi down and by the time she turned back to Derek Wells he was assuring her he didn't want to keep her - besides he would like to check on her brother before he went. Then he was on the move, heading towards cubicle one and Carly was left with more questions then she'd had before.

When she got off the phone with Bobbi, Carly stop to ask passing medical staff members if they'd seen the handsome impatient-looking man - if they knew anything about him. But no one seemed to know anything. It was strange. Carly felt a headache developing, there were just too many secrets floating around. Of course she would get to the bottom of it all, but first...she had a baby shower to get to.

She caught an elevator to the lobby just as Derek made it over to cubicle one. Derek pulled the curtain back.

"I don't think we'll have any more trouble from Carly. No need to unleash Ava on her" he laughed, before he noticed Felix there in the room. Felix looked between the two, confused. Lucas looked worried and Derek looked positively murderous. Both the nurse and his patient felt something drop in their stomachs. "Well," Derek said, breaking the silence, "It seems we have another problem to deal with."