After finishing his coffee he left the constraints of the hospital and savored in the fresh air. The temperature was frigid, but the sun was out and there had yet to be any snow flurries this season. He found his truck in the garage, as Johnny promised, and decided to stop by the penthouse to clean up and change.
He vaguely noticed Spinelli and Maxie on the couch as he darted up the stairs. Spinelli had his fair Maximista in his warm embrace. He was happy to have the much needed time off for the holidays, and ecstatic that she had the time off with the crazy hours she was pulling at the magazine.
"Should we go check on him?" Maxie asked, noticing an even colder side of the generally 'Stone Cold.'
"No." Spinelli cautioned.
"Okay." She said and put her head back on his chest. She was excited about bringing Spinelli to the Scorpio family Thanksgiving the following day, even if Mac was not.
Jason stood under the running water frozen in thought. He stared out and saw Carly in front of him wearing nothing but a grin from ear to ear. He felt his heart melting as he encouraged her to come closer. She took a lathered lufa and pressed it against his back as Jason kissed her. One arm wrapped around her waist and the other hand cradling the nape of her neck, he massaged his tongue against hers. He didn't want to let go. He knew it wasn't real, but he could feel her skin against his, and he welcomed it. He watched as she washed him down, his eyes locked with hers as she caressed his thigh. She put his shampoo into her palm and ran her fingers into his hair. She stood with her arms around his neck and his around her waist, and he ceased the moment to kiss her again. After he rinsed off she stepped out of the shower. He took a moment to turn off the running water, as he opened the shower curtain he knew he was opening it to an empty bathroom.
He took one of the hanging towels, patted himself dry, wrapped it around him, and went down the hall to his bedroom. He slipped on a pair of jeans and classic black t-shirt and collapsed back in his bed. He looked up at the ceiling wondering what was going on. Where was this coming from? It hadn't been since the original Port Charles hotel fire that he kissed Carly like that. He decided he was going to take a ride and let his mind clear before returning to the hospital. He grabbed his leather jacket and headed down the stairs.
"Stone Cold." Spinelli stopped him as he was heading out.
"Yes." He turned around.
"The Valkyrie's maternal unit called."
"What did Bobbie want?" Jason was getting decent at breaking Spinelli speak.
"She said that the tests results should be back in a half an hour." He relayed the message as directly as possible.
"Anything else?" Jason asked.
"Not with this particular cellular conversation, but Maximista and the Jackal were worried of Stone Cold's current psychological state."
Jason shook his head and walked out the door. The November air left him with a welcomed numbness as he rode through the countryside. He was able to pay attention to the road and nothing else. As he started feeling lost in the vibration he realized it was time to start heading back.
***********
Bobbie found Alexis and Jax at the tail end of their conversation to tell them that the tests results would be soon. This gave Alexis the opportunity to sneak out of the hospital for a moment to make a phone call.
"What did you need?" Sam asked her mother.
She gave her eldest a hug and encouraged her to take a seat next to her. "How are you doing? I heard that you and Spinelli are staying busy." Alexis was truly proud that her daughter found something that she was good at and kept her happy. The private investigation agency provided her just that.
"Yeah, we just finished a big case, and not a moment too soon. I was afraid that we may be working straight through the holiday."
"I'm glad, you are coming over tomorrow afternoon?" Sam wasn't sure if that was a question or a statement.
"Yes, but I don't think that's why you asked me to come down."
"You're right. I want you to work on a case for me." Her mother told her. "Normally I would go to the PCPD but that would require probable cause and a full scale investigation which really could only be done if the family presented the charges."
"Mom, you're rambling. What's the case?"
"I want you to prove that Claudia Zacchara hired the hit on Sonny, that she's responsible for Michael getting shot."
"Oh, wow, I know Jason has suspected it, but he's been digging for awhile and hasn't found anything concrete."
Alexis explained everything that Jax told her about Jerry's confession and went into detail about what she knew had transpired that night. Alexis wanted Claudia behind bars. She knew if Sonny or Jason found out first that more blood would shed. It was time that the criminals in Port Charles actually had to serve time for the heinous acts they committed.
"Okay, sure yeah. I'll get right on that." Sam was apprehensive about getting into a case involving Jerry Jax. There was no love loss there. The last time she tried investigating him she ended up being strapped to a boat ready to explode.
"I'm not asking you to start this minute, actually, I was hoping that you could bring Molly home and spend the afternoon with her." Alexis did not feel comfortable having Molly spend the entire day in the hospital waiting room.
"Anything else?" Sam asked.
"There is one more thing." Alexis added.
'Of course,' Sam though.
"Stay safe." Alexis pleaded. "I know that Jerry is a psychopath, and there's no telling what he may do if he feels threatened. If it becomes too much, please, tell me."
"I will." Sam promised. "Now let's go upstairs and get Molly."
Molly, Morgan, and Kristina all watched as Michael fed Britni her bottle. He remembered when Morgan was a baby and he would sit next to his mom holding his brother while she held the bottle up for him. The instincts of an infant were amazing, after months of receiving nutrition from a tube they inherently knew what to do to stay nourished. She looked so peaceful; her eyes were shut as she sucked from the bottle. Michael could not believe how well behaved she was, especially after being away from her mother for so long. The kids gazed on as she finished her last drop.
"Here, Michael. Let me take her." Lulu offered. "She should get back to the nursery before Patrick gets back with the results."
Lulu carried the baby out of the room. Lucas went with her. After Lulu brought her into the ladies room to change her diaper Lucas asked to hold her. Michael and Morgan had pretty much monopolized Britni most of the morning. "She looks like a Spencer." He remarked.
Lucas noticed the pain Lulu was trying desperately to hide. "How are you doing?" He asked.
'Okay.' Lulu tried to say, but then let her guard down for a second. "I'm so scared; Carly is one the only people that I can talk to about anything. I don't know what I am going to do if we lose her. She doesn't judge me, I know it's probably because she's done worse, but after my mom got sick she's been that maternal role for me."
Lucas had spent part of the morning talking to Lucky about how Laura's recovery was going in France. "I know. My mom struggled with accepting me when I first came out. Soon after that my dad died. I always knew that I could go to Carly with anything. I think she liked it," he giggled, "people going to her. It gave her something else to focus on and keep her out of trouble."
Lulu hung her head down; she used that moment to talk herself out of the pity-party she could feel herself slipping in to. "We don't know anything until we get the results. Lets bring this little one back to the nursery so we can be there when they come in."
Sam and Alexis double tried to double team Molly into going home. Morgan was teaching her how to play Kingdom Hearts on his Nintendo DS.
"This is so cool," she said. "There's Mickey and Aladdin, and Morgan says you can meet Winnie the Poo."
"That's wonderful, honey, but I'm sure that Morgan can come over sometime soon and you two can play." She encouraged Sonny's support.
"I don't see a problem with that. Besides Morgan and his grandpa were just about to take off themselves." Sonny explained.
"How about the four of us go over to Kelly's to get some lunch?" Mike suggested to Sam.
"That sounds like a great idea." Sam replied. Morgan and Molly seemed happy with the idea.
"Here." Morgan handed over the video game. "You can play it on the ride to Kelly's."
Jax smiled at his step-son's generosity. He sat in the back of the room making idle conversation with Luke and Lucky. After Sam and Molly left, Alexis joined them. Kristina sat with her dad and brother on the couch, and watched as they took turns glancing at the clock. Michael jumped with anticipation when the door started to open, it was Bobbie, and soon after Lulu and Lucas came back from the nursery.
"I think this waiting is going to kill me." Michael confessed. Kristina held her hand out for Michael to grab on to.
At a quarter to noon Dr. Drake finally stepped in. "It looks like we have a full house. I can tell you're anxious, so let's get on with it."
"Wait!" They heard from outside the door. Jason stepped in. "I'm sorry, I'm late." He said and sat down on the closest chair he could find.
"Are we ready now?" Dr Drake asked.
"Please." Jax encouraged.
Sonny noticed the look on the doctor's face and whispered to Michael. "Are you sure you want to be here for this?" Michael nodded, yes.
"As I had explained to Jason yesterday, the blood clot was located in a vein that connected the limbic system to the central nervous system through the hippocampus. What I have been concerned about is the possible lack of blood flow and oxygen to the brain stem and the possible damage that could have transpired in the central nervous system. The brain stem is located on the base of the brain, and is part of what is generally called the reptilian brain. It controls basic functions such as heart beat and respiration, while the central nervous system is vital for maintaining consciousness and sleep rhythms. What I wanted to do was get an image displaying the hemoglobin levels to get an idea of neural activity."
Michael looked over at his grandma to get an idea of whether what was said was good or bad. What he understood from that was that if there was damage to the central nervous system then his mom was not going to wake up.
"But she's breathing, and heart's beating, so that means that the brain stem wasn't completely damaged?" Jax gathered.
"That is true, and it is a positive sign, but we did find that the hemoglobin areas are much lower in that area than we would like. It very well could have a negative effect on the functioning of the central nervous system." Patrick explained.
Sonny was getting sick of the run-around. "What does that mean for her?"
"It means that if she doesn't wake up soon, I don't believe she will."
"Is there anything we can do?" Lucas asked. "There are procedures to wake up certain areas of the brain. Michael is living proof of that."
"Michaels' damage was to the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex. There are billions of neurons located there that can establish new connections. In Carly's case we are talking about the loss of oxygen to the basic structures responsible for giving us life. I am sorry if I sound pessimistic, I wish I had better news for you."
As Patrick left, the room was silent. Nobody was truly prepared for the diagnosis. Luke got up a walked over to his sister to offer his condolences.
"No. Dr. Drake said 'if', if she doesn't wake up soon, which means it's still up to her." She said and walked out.
***********
Patrick stopped over by the nurse's station to grab another chart.
"How did it go?" Monica asked.
"I felt like I was standing in the middle of a room full of people wanting to flog me." Patrick confessed. Robin came up from behind and gave him a sympathetic hug.
"It never gets any easier, does it?"
"No, especially not in this case." There were too many people he knew and cared for. At the top of that list was his friend and co-worker, Bobbie Spencer. The newborn left without her mother was an added bonus.
"Is there anything you may have missed?" Monica asked. She had complete confidence in Patrick's judgment, but if he was right that left two members of her family completely devastated.
"You can look." He said, handing the chief of staff the file. She flipped through the charts looking at any changes in her vitals. Nothing had changed drastically since she got out of surgery. She looked at the images of the MRI and PET scans along with the findings of the DOI.
"That's interesting." Monica commented.
"What's interesting?" Jason asked. He had hoped to be able to talk to Monica privately about a couple of things.
"Not much. It's just I wouldn't expect the limbic system to be this active."
"I noticed that. I didn't think it was a variable in the diagnosis." Patrick explained.
"It's not. It's just unusual."
"Why?" Jason asked. "What exactly is its function?"
"It is the area of the brain that controls a person's memory, emotion, and arousal."
'Oh' Jason thought. "Can we talk?"