Chapter 6:

Sonny was lying on the floor. At first, Mike couldn't see much, except the blood on his son's wrist, and both he and Kate ran to him, expecting to find him dead, but as they knelt on the floor, they could see his shoulders shudder, and they realized he was sobbing. Looking at each other with trepidation, they tried to ease him upright. Mike grabbed his wrist, and was surprised at how quickly Sonny pulled away.

"No!" Sonny exclaimed in terror, cradling his bloodstained wrist. "It's Michael's!"

"Sonny," Mike started patronizingly, "Sonny, when was the last time you took your medication?" Sonny stared at him wild-eyed. Mike motioned to Kate, who went to the dresser and brought back a container of pills.

"No! I don't want any pills! I want to see my son, Mike! I want my son back! And I want them all to pay, damnit! I want them all to pay!"

"Sonny," Kate whispered, "look, why don't you just take a shower, and we'll get you some new clothes, and then we can go to the hospital to see Michael, alright?"

Sonny looked at her coldly for a moment, and then laughed. "That's what it's all about with you, isn't it? Just put on some new clothes, put on a new name, dress everything up and then you can pretend it never happened. Isn't that right, Kate? Isn't it? Do you think a new suit can make me forget my son was shot? DO YOU? Oh, or maybe it will just help you forget, Kate."

Kate didn't know what to say. She was on the verge of tears. Mike looked apologetically at her and wrangled his son into the bathroom, and shut the door behind him.

"I'm sorry, Kate," he apologized for his son, "he just…he doesn't know what he's saying."

"He knows very well what he's saying," Kate whispered, voice quivering, and ran out.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, the shower had gone on. The water burned, but Sonny didn't care. Fire. The Zaccharas. His son hooked up to machines. He punched the tile wall of his shower a few times for good measure, and then watched his son's blood drip off of his hand and curl in pink eddies around the shower drain.

Lulu looked up at the stars. There were so many stars and they all seemed so close, like little fires burning in the distance. Little fires. Something tugged at the edge of Lulu's mind. She stared across the hood of the car at Johnny, lost in thought, lying oh so still.

"You're unusually quiet," she teased. "What are you thinking about?"

"Do you ever wonder what's up there?" he asked quietly, almost a whisper.

"What do you mean? You're not asking me if I believe in aliens, are you?" Lulu asked suspiciously.

"No no…I mean, what's really up there. You know, what happens to us after we die?"

"Do I believe in Heaven? I don't know. I guess I've never thought about it," Lulu said dreamily, looking up at the sky. "I…I guess I believe in it. I think it would be pretty sad if someone like Georgie, who was nice to everyone, even me – and I was awful to her – didn't get to go somewhere nice after she died." She looked over at Johnny to see if he approved.

"What about for guys like me? Do you think there's a heaven for guys like me?" He looked over at her, and his intensity startled her a little bit.

"You're a real mood-killer tonight. You know that?" Lulu gave him a strange look. "Why are you bringing this up? We're both young. We have our whole lives to live. Speaking of which, I say it's time we take advantage of that and do a little living." She rolled across the hood and on top of Johnny, grabbing his head and pulling him into a kiss. He was strangely unresponsive. Lulu broke away to look at him. He was still staring up. "Will you stop?" she chided him. No response. "Fine." Grumbling, she pulled away. It was then she noticed that her hand came away slick and red. She looked back over at him. "…Johnny?" Something was wrong. There was a crack on the windshield above his head. "Johnny?!"

"Well then, why isn't she awake yet?!" Tracy lambasted Robin Scorpio, outside of Lulu's room.

"I don't know, Tracy," a very tired looking Robin Scorpio protested. "Look, brain injuries are very difficult to gauge sometimes. There's brain activity, but Lulu's not conscious for some reason."

"Well, if you don't know, you had better find someone who DOES know, and speaking of which, are you sure you're a doctor?" Tracy looked at her sceptically. "You still look like you're 15 years old."

Robin sighed. "Yes, I'm a doctor. I studied at Yale and the Sorbonne. I interned at the American Hospital of Paris. I specialize in research on brain injuries."

"Well, I've already lost one of my nephews to brain damage, and I don't plan on losing my step daughter as well." Tracy thought for a minute. "Oh…you liked Jason…Is that why you?...Oh, he's a lost cause. I don't think there's anything left in there…"

Lucky shut the door to Lulu's hospital room.

"Do you think we should help her out?" Nik asked, looking worried.

"Nah, Robin is descended from a line of super spies." Lucky replied coolly, "She can handle the interrogation. Besides, Tracy isn't that bad." Liz and Nik looked at each other, puzzled, and looked back to Lucky even more puzzled.

"Brain injury isn't contagious, is it Elizabeth?" Nik smirked. I think some of Lulu's brain injury may have transferred over to Lucky.

"Let me see," Liz went over and pretended to examine Lucky's head. "No evidence of trauma…"

"Cut it out!" he batted her away, laughing. "You know, Tracy really cares for Lulu, and she really cares for my dad, too. And Lulu is really going to need her, since my dad is…I don't even know where to start looking for him." Lucky sighed and looked over at his sister. "Why isn't she awake yet?"

"Sometimes, the brain tries to protect itself from things it isn't ready to accept yet," Liz said, throwing a look at Nikolas. Feeling the heat of her stare, he looked away. He was not ready to give up Emily, damnit.

"I wonder what she's thinking about," Lucky said. "Is there anything we can do to help her? You know, bring her out of it? Make her feel safe?"

"Sometimes familiar voices help," Elizabeth offered, "I know that Luke's not here, but I'm sure hearing the sounds of your voices is really helping Lulu. I'd talk to her. Try and make her feel comfortable."

Realization dawned on Lucky. "I have an idea!" he said suddenly, rising from his chair and grabbing his jacket. "Keep talking to her, I'm going to go get something and then I'll be right back." He trotted out the door.

Elizabeth and Nik shrugged at each other.

As the elevator doors opened, Lucky was surprised to see Jerry on the elevator. Jerry smiled weakly at Lucky and Lucky narrowed his eyes at Jerry. Jerry was up to no good.

"So, what brings you to the hospital, Jerry?" Lucky asked, appraising him.

"Surely you've heard about my nephew, Detective Spencer." Jerry said in mild protest. "Terrible thing that happened. Got to be here to support my family, you know."

"Hmm."

"What's wrong, detective. Don't believe me?"

"Nope."

"Well, I must say, I'm hurt, Detective Spencer. What on earth would make you think I wouldn't visit my own dear nephew, Michael?"

"Well, for one, Michael's room is on the same floor that I got on the elevator."

"Oh, well, you see, after I visited Michael, I went to see your Aunt Bobbie to chat a little. You know I really haven't caught up with her since I've been back. Such a great lady."

"She's off today. She's watching my kids."

"Oh, well, that's what the nice lady at the desk told me."

"Uh-huh…" Lucky said, sarcastically. The elevator reached the lobby and Lucky got off. Jerry stayed on the elevator, and Lucky looked at him even more suspiciously.

"Parking garage." Jerry shrugged. "I'm afraid we'll have to continue this conversation another day, Detective Spencer." He quickly hit the elevator door close button before Lucky could change his mind.

Things had fallen silent inside of Michael Corinthos' hospital room. Jax stared anxiously at his watch. He kissed Carly on the head and then stood awkwardly.

"I'm going to umm…I'm just going to go home for a bit, and shower and change, maybe bring some things from home. Some of Michael's toys, maybe? A change of clothes for you?" he started.

Carly looked up at him. "You're leaving me?"

"Just for a bit, sweetheart. I'll be back soon." He kissed Carly and gave Michael's had a squeeze, and left.

Jerry Jax waited around the corner until the morgue attendants went out on their smoking break, and slid in through the doors of the autopsy bay. Rifling through a few file folders, he found a couple that he was interested and skimmed through them before heading over to the cold storage freezer. Carefully opening the drawers full of corpses, he was able to quickly find the one he was looking for. Ian Devlin.

"My my my, Ian, you look terrible." Jerry mused jovially at the dead body. He slapped on a pair of latex gloves and examined the body for signs of life. "You really are dead. Wonderful. Saved me the awful business of having to kill you myself after it was all over, but I must say, you're not a very good shot. You really did do me a favour, though. Offing both the Corinthos boy and the Zacchara boy will set off a mob war of epic proportions, with the spoils going to the only survivor, and that man is going to be me. Cheers, old friend. Excellent job. Excellent job."

Sonny pushed the elevator button, and waited impatiently for the doors to open. He had pulled himself together, and even taken his pills, and put on a suit. Kate and Mike were right. He needed to see Michael more than anything else. He had to focus on Michael or the darkness would swallow him whole. Finally, the elevator doors opened. When they did, he was face to face with Jerry Jax. Sonny glowered.

"Hello, Sonny. I can't tell you how sorry I am for Michael. What a terrible, terrible tragedy." Sonny stared stonily at Jerry. "Well then, nice talking to you," Jerry continued on nervously, "Lots to do today. Oh, look, I'm late already. If you'll excuse me…" Jerry sped out of the elevator. Sonny's eyes followed him.

Lulu found herself looking up at the stars again. She looked over at Johnny, hands tucked under his head, looking up at the stars too. Something was wrong with that. Something…something happened before. She shook it out of her mind.

"I like it here," she said, returning her gaze to the stars. "It's peaceful."

Johnny nodded. "This can be our place, if you want, just you and me. We can stay here as long as we want."

"I-I don't want to leave here Johnny." Lulu answered, although she couldn't exactly say why, but the thought of leaving this place scared her.

"Then we won't." Johnny said, smiling. "We can just stay here together, forever."

"Forever." Lulu thought that felt like a long time, but she wasn't ready to leave, so she just smiled and nodded.

Lucky came back into the room with a duffel bag.

"What's that?" Nik asked.

"Familiar voices." Lucky said, matter of factly. He pulled out a stereo, and a stack of cds. "B.B, Ella, Billie, Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters. The Temptations. Gladys Knight and the Pips. Great stuff. Lulu and I both spent hours growing up listening to dad's old collection. His was on vinyl. I just thought that if he couldn't be here…I don't know, that this might remind Lulu." He plugged in the stereo, and popped in a cd. A bass guitar lazily floated up from the stereo.

"Ugh. What is this?" Nikolas wrinkled his nose.

Lucky rolled his eyes. "You know, bro, they did continue to make music after Mozart died. Why don't you try and brush up on music from the past 100 years or so. This is the Temptations, and it so happens to be the music I danced around the house with Lulu to while we were growing up." Lucky closed his eyes and swayed to the beat. "I got sunshine, on a cloudy day…" he began to sing. Nik winced again. Lucky continued louder, "When it's cold outside, I've got the month of May." Delighting in his brother's misery in anything without ¾ timing, he continued, even louder, and held his hand out to Elizabeth, who was beside herself with laughter, to dance. They both swayed to the song, glancing over occasionally, at Nikolas' newfound grumpiness, now just an act to keep the entertainment going. That is why no one saw Sam standing in the doorway.

Lulu heard music floating up from the car stereo.

"Hmmm…I like this song. It reminds me of….something. I forget now, but it makes me happy. It reminds me of…dancing, I think."

"Would you like to dance?" Johnny asked. "We can dance here." He rolled off the car and extended a hand for her. Lulu took it, and they began to dance, slowly and a little awkwardly, but she liked being close to him in this place. It seemed like they had been here an awfully long time. Lulu wondered if they would stay and watch the sun come up.

Jerry sauntered into Alexis' office, and smiled coyly at her

"Alexis darling, do you have time for lunch? I'm a hungry man, and I could eat, well…." He eyed her appreciatively. Alexis blushed and fidgeted with her paperwork.

"Actually, Jerry," she blushed nervously, "I'm a little busy right now. Have you heard about Michael?"

"Horrible, horrible thing," Jerry's contrite act was convincing, "I hope they catch the bastard who did it. I'm just beside myself with grief. If only someone would comfort me…" He lamented, leaning into Alexis' space and playing with her hair.

"I really am busy," Alexis whispered, losing resolve quickly, "I…uhhh….maybe another time?"

"Awww….what are you working so hard on, my love?" he stroked her cheek, and attempted to look at the file she was reading. Alexis snapped it shut, quickly.

"Jerry," she said coyly, "I…uhh…I can't focus on my work while you're here, and I really need to…ahem…focus…on my…uhh…work."

"Very well then. A rain check?" he asked, pulling her into a kiss. A knock sounded at the door. "Miss Davis is in a meeting!" Jerry called out. The door opened. Jerry sighed and looked to see who had spoiled his afternoon.

"Jerry?" Jax looked genuinely shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"I was…just enquiring about what the DA's office intended to do about Michael." Jerry said quickly, hoping Jax hadn't caught his pause. "And, you know, I'm really satisfied with what the justice department is doing to find the brutes who did this to Michael….but…but…you know, I really should go and visit my nephew. Umm, keep up the good work, Ms. Davis. Jasper." He walked very quickly out of the office.

"Thanks." Alexis looked relieved, and wiped her mouth. "Did you find anything? Because if I have to kiss that bastard again after he poisoned my nephew, I think I'm going to have to be sick."

Jax sighed. "No, but the information you found in Jerry's apartment was very helpful. We just got there too late. They moved him again. I need you to keep it up, Alexis. Just a little bit longer. Please. I have to find my brother. I have to find out where that bastard is keeping him so that I can bring him home safe."

Alexis shook it out of her head. "How's Michael? How's Carly?" she asked, sympathetically.

Jax sighed again. "Carly's heartbroken. Alexis, I – I don't know what to do. Michael's in a coma, and I'm not sure he's going to make it out, and I want to be there for her, but it feels like Carly is a million miles away, and what if you find something new about Jerry? I can't just leave her."

Alexis took her good friend's hand, "We'll figure something out, okay. You should go and be with your wife."

Jax looked at her, "You're okay?"

"I'm okay. What are friends for?"

Jerry cut his way back through the courthouse, and bumped into Mac Scorpio, now rested, clean-shaven, and in a very nice looking grey suit.

"Commissioner." He greeted him bluntly, eager to be on his way. Mac laughed at that.

"Jerry." Mac stepped in front of him, staring him straight in the eye. "So where were you yesterday evening?" Jerry looked at him calculatingly for a second, before going into protest mode.

"Well, I was out of town conducting business. Surely, you can't be implying that I shot my own nephew, Commissioner Scorpio. I could have your badge for that. It's completely unfounded, and quite frankly, I'm insulted." He moved to walk off. Mac stepped in his path.

"Why, of course not, Jerry. Only a complete psychopath would shoot his own nephew in the head. You know, the kind who blow up buildings, and poison innocent people for months. Certainly no one could accuse you of being that." He looked at Jerry pointedly.

"I suggest you look elsewhere, Commissioner Scorpio. You look too hard in my direction and you might not like what you find."

"Oh, I'm just looking at the evidence as it comes in. Certainly, if you had nothing to do with the shooting, it will clear your name. I wouldn't worry too much about me, anyway. Oh, but I've got a speech to give in just a little bit. You should come. I think you'll find it illuminating."

Carly sat staring into nothingness. She heard footsteps behind her.

"Jax, what the heck took you so l—" she turned. It wasn't Jax. "What the hell are you doing here? Get out. Now. Or I will call security." Sonny couldn't quite look her in the eye, but he stood his ground.

"Carly, I need to spend time with my son."

"The hell you do! You put him here! What the hell were you thinking, Sonny? I'll tell you what you were thinking! You weren't thinking Sonny. And someone was thinking, and they probably thought they'd kill you, but then they saw Michael. And Michael's the one lying in that bed right now instead of you!" Carly dissolved into tears.

"Carly, I need to spend time with Michael." He squeezed his hand. "Hey buddy! It's dad. I'm here for you." He tried to put on a cheerful voice for his son.

"Sonny!" Carly said desperately. It felt like she was losing her mind. "Don't make me do this Sonny! Don't make this any harder than it is. I don't want you around my son anymore!" The harshness of the statement made Sonny whip his head around.

"He's my son, too. Carly. No one keeps me from my kids."

"He was shot, Sonny. He was shot by one of your enemies. How can you stand around here like that while they're still out there, Sonny? What do you want? Do you want them to come back and finish the job? Do you? DO YOU? Don't you get it? Michael isn't safe while you're around."

"I—"Sonny tried to think of an argument, but the words couldn't come. "B-but, he's my son."

"No, Sonny. He's my son. Now get OUT!" Carly shoved him. Sonny was taken aback. "Get out!" Carly continued to shove him until he was out the door. Sonny didn't quite know what to do. He didn't want to upset Carly, but...he had to make Michael safe. He strode off down the hall with a new mission.

A modest gathering of reporters, and police officers mixed with onlookers, the mayor, the district attorney, and other city officials in a small conference room, as Mac Scorpio took to the podium. Squeezed behind a row full of flash lenses, Robin leaned over to Maxie.

"What is this announcement about?" Robin asked. "On the phone, you just said it was important."

"You'll see." Maxie said, playfully. She wasn't sure about this whole resignation thing, but she was glad to see Mac get away from his long shifts at the PCPD. Maybe then Mac could get something resembling a social life. She worried about him. Robin gave her a perplexed look. Mac was hushing the crowd.

"What about the warehouse shooting last night?" called a reporter out of turn somewhere at the back. The crowd murmured into life again. "Is this the beginning of another mob war in Port Charles?" Mac motioned for silence again.

"A lot of you might think that this press conference is about the situation last night. As much as I'd like to talk about it, everything is still under investigation at this point, and I'll ask you all to hold your questions until the end. I have something important to say. For twelve years now, I have had the honour and privilege of serving this city as its police commissioner. But I feel that with the escalating mob wars and violence in this town, the police force needs new direction, and fresh leadership. I have worked hard over the years to try and keep Port Charles as safe as I can for its citizens, many of whom I consider family and friends, but now the time has come when I must hand that responsibility over to someone else. That is why I stand before you today to resign as police commissioner."

The crowd erupted into shocked whispers. Robin looked nervously at Maxie and mouthed "What is he doing?"

"Port Charles deserves the best police force possible, and I feel that I have chosen a replacement who can bring the leadership this town needs to get rid of the mob violence once and for all. And so, it is with honour that I introduce you to your new police commissioner…." A figure was escorted into the room. A million flashbulbs went off. Robin and Maxie craned their necks to see who it was. Suddenly, Robin managed to get a look at the smiling face at the podium.

"Oh…… crap." She said. Robin didn't like this at all.