Do not own General Hospital or any of the characters.

The Flame of Franco

The Hearing...

It was the end of the month, and Jason's word had once again taken a turn for the worst. Sonny hadn't listened to what he had told him about Dante going after them and how he had to be stopped. The mob boss did not see the concern with his new son. He still believed they had a shot at a relationship together and had not fled Port Charles. Today was his hearing.

And to make matters worse, Sonny had decided that he was going to plead to justifiable homicide, saying that he had been the one to kill Claudia in self defense. This had caused both Sam and Carly to change their testimonies of that night. Saying that they had lied before about what had happened. No one seemed to be happy about this. Jason was furious with his friend. Sam didn't need the added pressure of having to lie again about that night to a judge. She already was dealing with her own problems. Neither Diane nor he had been able to change Sonny's mind on the matter. He was determined to prove that Claudia had been going after him and he had killed her in self defense.

Jason was pacing back and forth in the penthouse. Diane had told him to stay away from the court house that morning. She wanted him as far away from the hearing as possible. She was trying to keep him off of the witness list. He had agreed with her. But he was hating waiting, hearing on news of Sonny. He wasn't alone however. Michael was also here with him.

He had promised Sonny that he would also keep Michael away from the court room. They didn't need him confessing to the murder, making all their hard work trying to keep the truth under wraps go to waste. Nobody wanted to see the young man go to jail.

"What do you think going on in the court room now?" asked Michael towards his Uncle, who was seated on the couch. He had been playing Spinelli's video games but had stopped. He was going out of his mind. He hated how his Dad was taking the blame for what he had done.

"A lot of shuffling of papers and a lot of stalling," answered Jason, letting out a sigh and looking over at his nephew. "How do you even beat that game?" he asked pointing towards the paused game on the TV screen. "I have been stuck on level 20 for months now."

Michael just looked at Jason, "I don't know, ask Spinelli to help you!" he answered. He had never once been asked that before by his uncle and plus he had other things on his mind at the moment. He then suddenly stood up and walked away to the desk. He had now began to pace around the room.

"Spinelli doesn't have the patience to teach me," added Jason, he was hoping to get distract his nephew by asking him about the game. Plus it was true, he didn't know how to advance further in it.

"I'M NOT AKID ANYMORE!" he yelled out in frustration.

Getting where Michael was coming from, Jason took a step towards him, "I know you want to be treated as an adult, I get that. But you have to understand that adults have to expect compromise. "

"But you never compromise," stated Michael, challenging his uncle.

"I compromise when I need too. Whether your dad needs me to do something or one of you guys need me. It's not always fair or convent to me, but I do it. It is necessary to compromise," he answered. He was thinking of Sam and how he over the years had put in her second to everyone else. And he was trying not to do that now, especially with everything she was going through. But he was hoping to get a message across to the young man that he might not like what his father was doing but it was for the best.

"I just want to take responsibility for what I did!" he explained to Jason. He was tired of everyone covering for him. "It's frustrating THAT DAD DOESN'T LET ME!" he hadn't meant to yell as he turned away from Jason, he was just fed up. "IT FEELS WRONG!"

"Yes, but too Sonny it's not. He feels he needs to take responsibility for what Claudia did to you and he wants to own this!" replied Jason, watching him. He didn't understand why he was fighting this so much.

Just then Sam came down the stairs, she had just woken up. It had been another rough night for her. She gave Jason's a sad smile as he reached out towards her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Hi Michael," she whispered softly as she noticed the young man.

"Hi Sam," he greeted back to her softly. He had forgotten she was upstairs. He had hoped he didn't awake her with is yelling. He then watched as Jason led Sam to the kitchen, clearly they wanted privacy. He couldn't help but notice how Sam had changed ever since she had been kidnapped. He didn't know what had happened to her but he presumed that Franco had messed her up.

"How did you sleep?" asked Jason towards Sam as he handed her a coffee. His blue eyes looked into hers with concern. She had again woken up in the middle of the night due to a nightmare.

Taking the mug, she simply shrugged her shoulders in reply. She didn't want to have to rely on sleeping pills any more to sleep but it was becoming more and more of a challenge she was finding. Every night it was the same thing. Franco always returned.

"I'm worried about you," he whispered as he pulled up a chair beside her. She didn't talk about it, any of it with him. He understood at the beginning. But now he wanted her to open up to him. He wanted to help her.

"I'm fine," she snapped at him, her brown eyes darkening as she looked up at him before raising her mug to her lips.

A hurt look flashed across his face at this but he quickly brushed it aside. He knew that Sam didn't want him to worry further about her than he already was. Ever since Valentine's Day things between them had been distant. She was still going to therapy but he could feel her shutting down on him. He knew that she didn't want to bring up Franco to him, it just made him angry. But Dr. Winters thought it would be good if they talked about it out loud to one another over what had happened. They were supposed to go in for a session next week together.

"I just want to help you," he whispered, reaching out and taking her free hand, which was resting on the table and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I know you do," she stated, her eyed immediately filling with tears. "I'm sorry."

"Sshhhh," he whispered to her as he pulled her towards him, wrapping her in his arms. He hated to see her like this.

"What's going on?" asked Sam towards Jason, who had just gotten off the phone with Spinelli, demanding that he come home now.

Jason looked towards her, he tried to hide his rage but he knew he was failing. Things had just gotten worse. Soon after Sam had awoken, Jason had been called to the court house by Sonny. It seemed like they had replaced the original prosecutor with a Claire Welsh and according to Diane this wasn't a good thing. This Welsh lady was trying to provoke Sonny's bail. If this was to happen, a plan needed to be in place to get Sonny out of the country by that night.

"They are trying to provoke Sonny's bail. I need Spinelli's help to get Sonny out of the country," he answered. He then let out a sigh. He knew something like this would happen. If only Sonny had listened to him in the first place and left the country sooner."But even If I do get him to the Canadian border and we switch cars and go to the private air strip. Where hopefully he will be able to fly to South America without being caught. We have an alliance that has agreed to set him up there," he explained this to Sam. He had been plotting this escape route with Spinelli over the last couple of days, just in case something like this would happened.

"Then what?" asked Sam.

Jason looked at her, wondering how much he should tell her. He knew that she was vulnerable but wouldn't like being lied to either about the situation. "Then, we forfeit everything we put up for Sonny's bail, this place, the coffee company, Sonny's compound…" his voice trailed off as he looked onto the worried look that was on Sam's face. She was use to the business but it still scared her when things like this happened.

"What happens with you?" she asked after a moment. She didn't want to know what would happen to Jason if something did go wrong. But she needed to hear it at the same time. She needed to prepare herself for the worse. "What happens if you get stuck at the border or get arrested? What's the good in saving Sonny, if you get thrown into jail too?"

Jason blue eyes locked with hers. He knew where she was coming from, "I don't know. I would probably have to vanish for a while. Maybe go with Sonny to South America," as he said these words, he hated to think that they would come true.

Sam was holding back tears as she continued to look at him. She didn't want to lose him. She hated the thought of him leaving her for months on end, just to protect Sonny. "Come on Jason, there's got to be another way!" she cried at him.

He didn't say anything at this. They both knew that there was no other choice, no other way. It had to be done. He reached out towards her, but she stepped away. She was upset and angry at him for once again choosing Sonny over her.

If this had been any other time, he would include her in the plan, making her part of the decoy to get Sonny out. But he knew that she wasn't up for it. She hadn't gone back to work yet. She wasn't strong enough. It hurt him to see her walk away from him like that. But he knew that he deserved it. He was being an ass. He hated being torn like this. But he knew he had to protect Sonny. These were one of the compromises that one had to make as an adult, like he had told Michael. They weren't always fair to you.

"I love you," he whispered towards her, as he stood in the doorway of the bedroom. He was about to leave and didn't want to go on such bad terms with her. He didn't want to leave at all but he had no other choice.

Sam looked up from the book she was reading. She didn't look happy. But she knew that he was just doing his job. "Be safe," she whispered to him, tears immediate filling her eyes. She was sad to see him go and not sure when he would be returning. She needed him.

"I will," he replied taking a step further into the room. He then walked over to where she was in bed. "I will text you when we cross the border," he told her as he leaned down and kissed her on the lips.

She nodded her head at this as she reached out and touched him lightly on his hand. They then kissed for a moment longer, before it was time for him to leave. He was supposed to be meeting Mac and Milo outside the court house.

"I love you," he whispered again, into her ear.

"I love you too," she replied.

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