All Love Can Be

Chapter 7: Gone

Jax and Skye's Bedroom
Later that day

"Hey," said Jax from the doorway

"Hey yourself," Skye replied.

"About last night..."

"Let's not talk about it, ok?"

"Skye I'm trying to apologize."

"I know you are, but it's not just that."

"What is it then?"

"I don't know if I'm ready to have another child."

"Skye we've talked about this."

"I know we have, but when I dropped Cat off today I thought about her birth."

"I know you were scared Skye."

"Do you?"

"I was with you everyday during those first two weeks. She's my daughter too."

"She was so helpless and so sick....I don't want to go through that again...it's too much."

"Who says that it will happen again?"

"I was never supposed to have children in the first place."

"But you did and Cat's here now, as healthy and happy as ever. Was it the house that brought all of this up?"

"No, it was my appointment yesterday."

"Did you get bad news?"

"No, not at all."

"Then what happened?"

"Jax, I'm pregnant."

The Versailles Room
Later that night

Jax and Skye managed to arrive at their table only minutes before Lucy came on stage. As usual Lucy twirled around to show off her dress, a beautiful deep purple gown. After the applause died down Lucy began the usual opening remarks.

"Good evening ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to the 23rd annual Nurse's Ball!"

More applause

"Tonight we have an evening full of surprises for you. We have lots of performances ranging from drama, to dance, to singing, to all three. In addition to the performances, we also have the silent auction, which I hope all of you will visit later on. But right now I'd like to introduce the first act. Here are the Fabulous Foursome, Samantha Ashton, Christina Coe, Catalina Jacks, and Nathalie Cassadine!"

The stage went completely black and the dancers took their places. The lights came up revealing Samantha and Nathalie on stage, talking and then Christina came in and joined them, hugging both of them and talking still.

"Hey Christina, where's Catwoman?" asked Nathalie

"She's coming, she was still practicing when I left. Ever Ms. Perfectionist," said Christina.

The audience laughed.

"Tell me about it," Samantha replied.

"Look who just came in!"

"Isn't that him?"

"Yep, definitely the hottie," Sam said as Dylan Corinthos walked onstage and went over to his table. 

"Hey Chickas," said Cat as she entered from up center stage wearing a tank top that tied on her neck and tight jeans with leather ties on either side.

"Where have you been?"

"Practicing."

"Don't you ever stop?"

"Nope."

"Well tonight, we're doing some real dancing. No pirouettes allowed."

"Yes Ma'am," said Cat with a mock salute.

"Yeah, yeah. Hey Cat see that guy over there?"

"Yeah?"

"Go ask him to dance."

"No!"

"I double dare you."

"You're on. But you see those guys," said Cat pointing stage right to Aidan Quartermaine, Julian Cassadine, and Will Collins.

"Yeah."

"Y'all have you dance with them."

"You're on."

The music of Britney Spears' "I'm a Slave 4 U" filled the room and the girls began the dance. After the first verse they got the guys into it, the girls showed off how well they could belly dance. The song ended with the girls wrapped up in the guy's arms. The room immediately filled with thunderous applause. After it died down the performers left the stage and Lucy came back on.

"What a way to kick off the evening!" said Lucy. More applause followed. "I have to say that the dance we just saw was wonderfully choreographed. The credit for that goes to none other than the prima ballerina herself, Catalina Jacks. All of the performers did a wonderful job and I must say that I never knew that they could dance like that."

Cat entered just then, her breathing just returning to normal. She walked up to Lucy and smiled.

"Yes Cat?"

"I have come to give you some good news."

"Go on."

"On behalf of my parents and I, I am here to give you a check for the amount of $1million dollars to the AIDS wing on General Hospital."

"Why thank you Catalina as well as Mr. And Mrs. Jacks. This is certainly a great start. But before you leave the stage, I hear that you got some good news of your own. Do you want to tell everyone what that is?"

"I have been selected to be one of two dancers representing the US in a year-long dance program in Paris."

"How many dancers did you beat out for this program?"

"In total about 500,000 in the United States."

"How about that Ladies and Gentlemen?"

More Applause.

"But I have something else for you."

"More?"

"Yep, a few weeks ago I was telling my friends about the Ball and one of my friends told her father about it. My friend's dad is the director of the American Ballet Company.  He looked into the AIDS research program here at General Hospital and decided to make a donation. So on behalf of the American Ballet Company, staff, crew and performers, I would like to present you with another check for 1million dollars for the AIDS wing."

"Why thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, let's have another round of applause for Catalina Jacks and her performers!"

Cat left the stage then and headed out of the ballroom towards to elevators so she could change. Meanwhile onstage Lucy continued.

"She's too cute isn't she? Well Ms. Jacks has gotten us off to a great start, Let's try to keep that going…"

20 minutes later Cat returned to the Versailles room dressed in a red dress with spaghetti straps. She quietly walked down the side of the room and slipped into a seat next to her mom. Catalina immediately noticed the tension between her parents; they usually held hands, even when they were out.  From the way her father looked, she knew he had done something that her mom didn't like. She didn't know what it was, but she decided to hang out with Nathalie, Samantha, and Christina during the intermission so that her parents could talk.

  About an hour or so later the lights came up for intermission and everyone started to move around. Cat rose from her chair and started walking toward the lobby, but Skye's voice stopped her.

"Catalina, where are you going?" Skye asked facing her daughter's back.

"Oh, I was just going to go find Christina, Sam, and Nat," Cat replied turning around.

"Go ahead Cat," said Jax. "We'll see you back here after intermission."

"Ok daddy."

As soon as Cat was out of earshot, Skye sat back down in her chair.

"You were quick to let her go."

"She wanted to leave Skye, I watched her throughout the whole performance. She knows something is wrong."

"I'm sorry about this afternoon Jax, there's just a lot going on."

"I know. Are you planning to tell Cat soon?"

"I want to wait a bit longer, she has a lot going on too. I don't want her worrying over me."

"She'll be angry if you don't."

"I'd rather risk that than getting her hopes up."

"True, but that's not the only reason you don't want to tell her. You want to wait until we get to Paris."

"Yes Jax, I do. I don't see any problem in that."

"You want to wait because if Cat found out now, she wouldn't want to go to Paris."

"You got me, that's the reason why!" said Skye turning away. "Is that so wrong?" Skye asked softly. "Is it so wrong for me to want our daughter to follow her dreams? I won't let her not go Jax. This is a chance in a lifetime and she has the talent and the determination to succeed."

"I know, but what you think you're doing to help her might damage her relationship with us. I don't want to risk that either."

"The doctor said that I have every chance for a normal pregnancy. I just have to keep my stress level down. She may be angry with us for a while and I'd rather live with that than have her live with this regret for the rest of her life. Promise me that you won't tell her, not yet."

"I promise Skye, whatever you want."

Meanwhile in another part of the Versailles Room, a tall man in a pristine tux scanned the room. He had his orders from his boss and was determined to carry them out. His job was to find someone and take them to the boss. The man was provided with a picture and looked down at it occasionally. The person in the picture was none other than Catalina positioned on point, dressed in her costume from Swan Lake. He spotted her a few moments later with three other young girls her age and that was when he left the room.

After saying goodbye to her friends, Cat headed back to her table. Things were a little more relaxed between her parents and they were now holding hands. Cat smiled at that as she took her seat beside them.

"Hey sweetie," said Skye. "We've been getting a lot of comments about how good you were."

"Really?"

"Yes and we're very proud of you Cat," said Jax.

"Thank you."

"You're very welcome," said Jax placing a kiss on his daughter's forehead.

"So what do you have in mind for your next piece?"

"That's a surprise, you'll like it, trust me."

"Is that so," said Skye as the lights dimmed and Catalina's Aunt Emily came on stage to kick off the second act.

Jax glanced over at his wife and daughter from time to time. Skye's free hand was entwined in Cat's tightly. He could tell that she was still spooked from the recent news. But Jax knew that she had every reason to be.

Flashback

Fetal Monitoring Center

GH

July 21, 2003

Skye was a high- risk patient and she began to see Dr. Meadows every week. This particular day, Jax went with Skye to her non-stress test appointment. Skye was hooked up to a machine that monitored the baby's heartbeat and she was also given a button to press that indicated every time the baby moved. The test was for about an hour to two hours. Skye was checked on by the doctor every ten minutes or so. 30 minutes into the test, Dr. Meadows noticed significant decelerations or lowering of the fetal heartbeat. After observing for a few minutes, Dr. Meadows examined Skye.

"What's wrong?" Skye asked as she got up on to the examination table.

"We're about to find out," said Dr. Meadows.

A few minutes later she found the answer.

"Before I tell you of my findings, I need you to remain calm," Jax and Skye stood silent. "Skye you have what is called a prolapse of the umbilical cord. This means that the umbilical cord is in the birth canal."

"Is that bad?" asked Jax.

"The reason why the baby has prolonged low heartbeats is because of the condition. Left untreated, the blood and oxygen supply to the baby will be cut off."

"So what can be done?"

"The best way to treat this is to get this baby delivered as soon as possible."

"But I'm only 32 weeks!"

"Babies at that age tend to do very well. But I suggest we get you admitted immediately."

Skye and Jax both agreed and one hour later at 1:24PM Catalina Lila Jacks was born by emergency caesarean section weighing 3 pounds 5 ounces. Later as Skye slept, Jax went to the NICU to see his daughter. The child laid in her isolette hooked up to a myriad of machines, tubes running to and from her body. Jax stood there for a long time just watching her breath, he was afraid to touch her, like she was a delicate piece of glass.

"It's ok to touch her," said a voice from behind him.

Jax turned to see a nurse standing behind him.

"I don't want to hurt her," he said.

The nurse smiled and said "Don't worry, she won't break. In fact babies like yours thrive on human touch.

"They do?"

"Yes," she said opening a window on the side of the isolette and taking his hand and placing it on his daughter's.

Jax smiled as he felt her tiny hand grip his finger, she didn't break after all.

End Flashback

"Dad?" Catalina whispered. "Dad?"

"Yes darling?" He whispered back.

"I need to get changed."

"Ok go ahead peanut."

"Bye."

"Good Luck."

Jax watched as she snuck out quietly through the back of the room. Skye looked over at him and smiled. The house in Paris was starting to sound better and better.

20 minutes later….

Catalina's Dressing Room

Catalina had exactly fifteen minutes before her last piece. She was almost finished warming up when she started to get worried. Her partner, James was supposed to have been here by now; the dance wouldn't work without him! Just then there was a knock at the door. She opened it and there stood James.

"Thank God! Where were you?" said Catalina throwing her arms around him.

"Traffic from the city was awful," said James returning her hug.

"Really? Are you warmed up?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Good, get changed."

15 minutes later

"It is now my pleasure to introduce our second to last act. We saw this young lady at the beginning of this event and she got us off to a great start. Here are Catalina Jacks and guest performer James Casiraghi with "A New Day Has Come," said Lucy before floating off stage.

A new day has come

Catalina began to walk slowly from up center down stage, her black cloak trailing behind her.

A new day has come

Once she reaches center, Catalina releases the clock, letting it pool in a pile on the floor. Catalina continued to walk down stage, now in a lightweight white dress with pristine white toe shoes.

I was waiting for so long
For a miracle to come
Everyone told me to be strong
Hold on and don't shed a tear.

She rose up on point, and performed 3 foites before James entered. There he stood stage left as she looked over at him and slowly advanced towards him. She gracefully extended her hand to him and he took it. She rose on point and he gracefully walked her back to stage right.

So through darkness and good times
I knew I'd make it through
And the world thought I had it all
But I was waiting for you
Hush now
I see a light in the sky
Oh it's almost blinding me

James picked up the cloak and wrapped it around Catalina before she shrugged it off.  He twirled her around to face him; she lifted a finger to her lips. A light shone down on them, James and Catalina both brought their hands to their eyes before bringing them down again.

I can't believe I've been touched by an angel
With love
Let the rain come down
And wash away my tears
Let it fill my soul
And drown my fears

Catalina tenderly touched his face and he reciprocated. She turned from him and leaped once across the stage. He danced after her, grabbing her arm lightly and twirling her into him. He lifted her gently up, her toes softly pointed as he spun her around once before she was put back on to the ground.

Meanwhile in Cat's Dressing Room

The man opened the door to Catalina's dressing room and stepped inside. After shutting the door, he looked around the room. Next to the door stood a desk with a telephone, he immediately rendered it useless by pulling out the cord from the wall. Scattered about the room were various bouquets of flowers. He went over to the first bouquet, a dozen roses that had a card that read: To Catalina, our shining star. We love you and are so proud of you. Love Mom and Daddy. The next bouquet, 2 dozen orchids and lilies had a card that read, "Cat, Good Luck and Congratulations on your studies in Paris. We love you and we hope that you succeed in Paris. We also expect lots of phone calls and e-mails too. Love, Ned, Alexis, A.J., Courtney, Sam, and Aidan." There were many other bouquets like these, but he couldn't waste time he had to get to work.

Back on stage

As the last lines of the song were sung, James got down on one knee and pulled Catalina to him. She sat on his knee lightly and rested her head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her, and they froze. The song ended and the stage went black, a split second later the lights came up and the room erupted in loud applause. Catalina rose from his pose and grabbed James' hand. Together they walked down center, they took a bow together and then she gestured to him and he took his bow. The clapping got even louder when James gestured to Catalina, who smiled and took a deep bow. She then took his hand and they walked off stage together.

After congratulating each other, Cat went up to her dressing room to change. When she entered the room, she swiftly grabbed the tank top and pajama pants and went into the bathroom to change. After she came out she put her toe shoes into her bag and hung up her dress. That's when he grabbed her; he hooked his arms under her ribs as she struggled against him. He had underestimated this tiny girl as he picked her up, trying to get control of her. Catalina started kicking wildly, her feet hitting one of the vases on the nightstand, which shattered against the wall and shattered cutting her foot. The man was finally able to pull the hankerchief out of his pocket while Catalina's blood dripped onto the rug next to the shattered vase and scattered flowers.  He clamped the material over her mouth and she fell limply against him. He swept her into his arms, not noticing the blood as it trailed across the white carpet. He opened the door and slipped out the door and down the service elevator, to a waiting limousine that sped off into the night.

Skye didn't notice the small spots of blood going down the other hallway as she and Jax made their way to Catalina's dressing room. She used the extra card to get into Catalina's room. Once it was inserted into the slot, the door clicked and she opened it. They both stepped inside and Jax called Catalina's name. It was then that Skye noticed the trail of blood and the shattered vase. On the nightstand was a sign that read, "Do you know where your daughter is?"

"No," she said her voice barely a whisper. "Not my daughter," her voice rising. "NO!!!!!!"