The Battle Of Who Could Care Less – 50

Ned Ashton leapt into motion the moment he saw Patrick Drake step out of a patient's room and chased the young doctor down through the hallways of General Hospital. "Doctor Drake!"

He turned around abruptly, mildly surprised to see the Quartermaine chasing him down. "Ned, right? What do you need?"

"I was-I was wondering how Brenda's doing," the older man replied, clearing his throat. "Brenda Barrett."

"Ah," Patrick nodded to himself. "Alcazar's girlfriend."

Ned bristled slightly at that. "She's not just Alcazar's girlfriend, you know."

The doctor nodded quickly, his voice instantly apologetic as he motioned for Ned to walk with him. "Of course not, I'm sorry. Can I ask you something, Ned? Who's Brenda, really, and how does she connect with all of this?"

"Brenda's an old family friend of the Quartermaines," he explained briefly. "She went to school with Robin Scorpio – Agent Scorpio's daughter – and Jason Morgan years ago. She was engaged to be married to Sonny Corinthos."

"Hm," Patrick muttered. "How'd that work out for her?"

"Not too well," Ned admitted as they turned into the next hallway. "She was married to Jasper Jacks – you probably don't know him – and we thought she died in a car crash years ago."

The doctor nodded, coming to a stop outside the room Brenda shared with another one of his patients. "Okay, so she's one of the town's golden girls, right?"

"I guess you could say that," Ned allowed. "So – how is she?"

"She's responding very well to the antidote." Patrick wrapped his hand around the doorknob but didn't turn it. "I have every reason to believe that she'll make a full recovery."

Ned searched the younger man's troubled brown eyes. "…But?"

"But…I ran some tests on the medications that she'd been taking before being brought in," he admitted. "She didn't need any of them – in fact, they were hell on her system."

Ned's dark brows furrowed. "But…Alcazar said she had a mental disorder – the same one as her mother. Weren't the pills to keep her stable?"

Patrick shook his head. "The pills were effectively sedatives and hallucinogenic agents – nothing else. I think, personally, that he used them to keep her docile and permissive and above all else, with him. She had no other use for them."

The older man covered his mouth with his hand, scarcely daring to breathe. "Doctor Drake, what are you saying?"

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with your friend," he replied simply, meeting Ned's gaze without flinching. "She'll experience withdrawals from the pills over the next few weeks, but there is absolutely nothing else wrong with her."

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He waited until Bobbie Spencer had passed by before coming out from behind the potted plant. Peering around the corner to make sure she wasn't coming back, the agent moved into full view and walked briskly down the corridor, making sure to keep the bill of his black hat pulled low over his eyes. Other agents moved past him, nodding as they recognized their own, but he kept moving swiftly.

After a few necessary detours to dodge any watchful eyes, he finally saw his destination. Room 317 was barely cracked open, and his piercing blue eyes darted around quickly to make sure the area was secure before he ventured any closer.

Maxie was sitting on the side of her sister's bed as he approached and pushed the door open just enough to see inside. Her long blonde hair had been pulled back into a French braid by her mother's clever fingers, and the girl was looking well.

Georgie on the other hand, was still unconscious but had been removed from the respirator when it became clear that her strength was slowly returning to her. He watched as Maxie crossed her legs and brushed her little sister's hair out of her face, her long fingers lingering there as if she couldn't pull her hand away.

"Hey, Mini," she sighed softly, using the nickname her younger sister had hated since they were little. "Can you hear me? No, probably not. But I'm here anyway, and I'm not leaving."

She swallowed past the lump in her throat and gently took her sister's hand, holding it up and playing with her painted fingers. "You'll never believe what's been going on since they got the antidote in. Mom and Mac are going crazy…because it turns out that our Uncle Robert is alive. Do you remember him? I don't. But he's probably pretty cool because he's the one that beat Helena Cassidine and stole the antidote from Wyndemere."

The girl chuckled to herself, settling down more comfortably on Georgie's bed. "Well, I guess that's not the whole story. He was working with – get this – Luke Spencer, Lucky, Elizabeth, and even Sonny and Jason. Can you believe that? Mom said that under normal circumstances, Uncle Robert would be trying to put those two behind bars. But they all worked together to save us."

"You have to wake up soon, okay, Mini?" Maxie's somber blue eyes lingered on her sister's pale face. "It's…it's amazing right now. The whole town is coming together, and everyone's getting better. And you have to wake up so that we can meet Uncle Robert together. Mac's really pissed at him, though, which makes sense because he was supposed to be dead. But I don't think it'll last too long – I mean, there are so many people I know who are dead, and I'd be really happy if I found out that they were alive again, you know?"

She shook her head, tucking a wisp of golden hair behind her ear. "Anyway, it's amazing. I can't wait to find Elizabeth and Lucky – they have to tell us what happened and how they did it. Think about it, Mini – they're only a couple years older than us, and they're running around the world, taking on Helena and everything! And hey, we're the ones with the blood of a super-spy in our veins, am I right?"

Maxie laughed to herself, still holding her sister's hand in her own. "You know, I think Mom's thinking that…that because Uncle Robert's back in Port Charles, that…that Dad might be, too. I think that's what she ran out to see."

The girl heaved a heavy sigh, blinking up at the tube light as she forced back unexpected tears. "I…Sometimes, I don't get it. Why does she hold out hope, you know? You need to wake up so that you can spout on about fairy tale love and I can call you naïve, okay? Until then…you're naïve, Mini. There – you hear that? Naïve."

She laughed to herself, shaking her head. "It's okay – I'm just teasing. I don't know if he's here or not, and you know what? I think it's better that way. I think we're better off not knowing if he's in…in…Mozambique or in the next room, you know? That way, we're not disappointed. And we can always have hope, you know? We can always pretend he's watching over us, like a guardian angel only not an angel because he's not dead. I mean, I don't think he's dead. Anyway, that's nice – to know that someone's watching over you."

Maxie was silent for a long moment, but then impulsively bent down and pressed a kiss to her sister's cheek. "And that's what I'm going to do for you from now on, Mini. I'm going to watch out for you. I know I haven't been the best sister for the last couple years, but I'm going to change that. I'm always going to be here for you if you need me, no matter if Mom or Dad are or not. You can always count on me, Georgie. I'll never leave you, just like I know you'll never leave me."

She tilted her head to the side, linking her fingers with Georgie's. "You know, sometimes I think that…that it's like we're all the other has, you know? I mean, Mom's great and Mac's as awesome as they get, but…but it's not a bad thought. It's just us two sometimes, Mini, and that's not a bad way to go."

Maxie nodded to herself, her chin tucked into her chest. "Now wake up so that I can be nice to you, you loser."

The agent chuckled silently at that and stepped away from the door, letting it gently fall back into place. With a heavy sigh, he straightened the bill of his cap and turned on his heel to depart. And that was when he saw her.

She stood on the other end of the hall, her shoulder resting against the storage closet. She was just as he remembered her, too – tall, fit, and breathtakingly beautiful. Those cornflower blue eyes he loved so dearly twinkled as her thin lips curled into a wistful and bittersweet but accepting smile.

Frisco sucked in a deep breath, his hands still on his cap. Slowly, hesitantly, he grasped the bill again and pulled it off, letting his dusty blonde hair fall into his eyes as he lowered the cap to his chest.

Tears pricked Felicia's eyes, but her smile only grew. She pressed her lips together, blinking rapidly as he straightened his shoulders and met her gaze directly. He was just as she would always remember him – tall, broad-shouldered, looking every bit the daring renegade in his black cargo pants and sweater.

Frisco nodded once, his bright eyes taking her in one last time before he grasped his hat firmly and tugged it back on. She pushed away from the heavy metal door with her shoulder, standing tall and firm with a small smile on her lips as he turned on his heel and disappeared down the hallway amidst the other nameless, faceless agents, forever her hero.

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Michael and Carly's beds had been pushed together by the time Elizabeth returned to their rooms. This time, Jason was sitting on the edge of the bed with the little boy in between him and his old friend, and Michael's eyes were finally open.

He was still weak but the reports were promising and the little boy would make a full recovery. His bright blue eyes darted happily between his mother and his beloved uncle as Carly smoothed her fingers through his hair and called him 'Little Man' over and over again in conversation.

"Mom says that Mr. Robert did the same thing Daddy did," he spoke up in a soft voice as Elizabeth continued to peer in through a crack in the door, not wanting to impose but at the same time wanting to see with her own eyes that the child was going to be fine. "She says he pretended to be dead, too, like Daddy pretended to be when he wanted to keep us safe. Who was Mr. Robert trying to keep safe?"

Jason tugged at his ear, exchanging glances with Carly. "You know, Buddy, I'm not really sure. He was trying to keep his daughter safe, maybe." It was a stretch and he wasn't comfortable expanding on that. "And, hey, you know what? For the past few weeks, he's been trying to keep Elizabeth safe."

Michael's eyes lit up at the mention of the waitress that always gave him an extra brownie. "Yeah, I know. They went all over the world!"

"Not all over the world," Carly corrected, playing with the ends of his hair. "Just Europe. Let's see, they went to England and…Paris…and…"

"Germany," Jason picked up. "They went to a tiny place on the map called Luxembourg, and then they went to Spain and then they came back."

"They must be tired," the little boy mused.

His mother laughed, her hazel eyes twinkling as she looked at her best friend. "I hate to tell you this, Mr. Man, but everyone in town's pretty tired."

"Like Gramma," Michael announced, shifting as he lay flat on his back. "She's really tired, and so is Dr. Noah and Dr. Patrick. I don't think I like Dr. Patrick – he gave me three shots, but he didn't give me one lollipop."

"I don't think I like Dr. Patrick, either," Jason muttered, smirking when Carly swatted his arm.

"Well, Dr. Patrick's a hero," she informed her son and her best friend. "Just like Dr. Noah and the Quartermaines and your Gramma. They keep working to help people no matter how sick or tired they are, and that makes them our heroes."

"And Daddy and Uncle Luke and Lucky, too," Michael added, counting off on his fingers and not noticing the liquid emotion that welled up in his mother's eyes. "So's Lizabeth. And Uncle Jason, you're a hero, too!" He laughed weakly as the enforcer affectionately tousled his hair. "I knew you'd save us. I knew you'd find a way."

"I'd never let you down, Buddy," Jason replied softly, gathering the little boy up in his arms. "You don't have to worry about that, okay? I'll always be there for the people I love, and guess what?"

"What?"

"You're one of them."

The boy giggled to himself, casting a sly look in his uncle's direction. "Is Lizabeth one of them, too?"

Jason smirked at Carly when she squawked, gently elbowing her son. "Yeah, she is."

"I already knew that," the boy replied proudly, laughing when his mother began to tickle him. "I saw you two making out in the hall. It was so gross! Do you actually like that? Are you gonna do it all the time?"

"No, he's not," Carly interjected, glaring at her best friend as he tried not to laugh at her. "We'll put a muzzle on him if we have to, okay, Mr. Man?"

Outside the room, the brunette in question laughed quietly to herself and gently shut the door. Her shoulders were still shaking as she turned, preparing to head off down the hallway, and she had to quickly step back to avoid colliding with a smirking mobster standing not a foot away from her.

Sonny's dark eyes were twinkling with amusement as he held out a Styrofoam cup filled with thick brown liquid. "Here, have some. It's not as good as Kelly's, but it'll get the job done."

"Thanks," she accepted, taking the cup from him and placing one hand on the door handle. "You know, I think I'll take this in to Jason. He probably needs-"

"Jason won't touch it," Sonny replied with a smirk. "He'll call it disgusting swill and pour it down the drain without taking a sip. Besides…I dumped in five packets of sugar, so you're the only one with the tolerance to drink it."

Elizabeth laughed out loud at that, surprised that the mobster remembered the obscene amounts of sugar she poured into her morning jolt. "You make a good point – this stuff isn't safe with anyone else."

"Well, if you had refused, I would have had to call the toxic waste management team," Sonny grinned, playing along. "They're still trying to prepare themselves for your birthday next month."

The brunette stopped at that, her mouth falling open as his words registered. "Wow, you're right – it's my birthday in two weeks."

Sonny's dark eyes studied her carefully as he sipped his own coffee, wincing at the horrible taste. "You forgot about it?"

"To be honest…yeah," she admitted, tapping her fingers on the cup as she stepped around him. "It's…it's kinda funny, but I don't remember thinking about anything these past few weeks except…"

"Except whatever was on fire in front of you," Sonny finished with a knowing smile. "Good thing me and Carly's wedding anniversary isn't in October, or I'd've never heard the end of it."

She smiled, watching as he sipped his coffee again, having temporarily blocked the ungodly taste from his memory and at once surprised at the recollection. "Hey…"

His dark eyes darted to hers and Sonny quirked a brow in question as she trailed off. "Yeah?"

"I was just thinking," Elizabeth smiled to herself, peeking up at him from under a curtain of dark bangs, "you're gonna have a great story to tell your new son or daughter one day."

The mob lord grinned at that, treating her to a glimpse of his infamous dimples that had earned him more than one bed-warmer on a cold, lonely night. "Yeah…the story of a tiny little woman who took me through one of the most horrifying moments in my life and helped us all come out alive at the end."

She blushed immediately, not feeling at all worthy of his praise. "It wasn't me, Sonny, and you know that. It was just as much you and Jason, and Lucky and Luke, as it was me and Robbie. No one could have done it without the others."

"I know that," he replied quietly, swallowing to rid his mouth of the acrid taste. "But it all started when you went off to Mexico and I found out just how badly I had hurt your feelings."

Elizabeth blushed again, attempting to dismiss his remark with a wave of her hand. "You know, it's really not that important anymore. I-"

"I hurt your feelings," he repeated seriously, his dark eyes boring into hers. "And that matters to me. And I hurt your feelings again by following you down to Mexico like you were a child and ordering you back home. And for that, I'm sorry. You're definitely not a child. I know first-hand that you're a smart young woman who's capable of making her own informed decisions – I've seen you do it over and over again."

She tucked her chin into her chest, nodding awkwardly, and Sonny continued. "Even though you were angry with me and Jason – and Johnny and Max, too – that didn't stop you from being kind to us, and that's one of the things I've always liked best about you, Elizabeth. You're a kind, open person and you put up with people even when they don't deserve it."

"You deserve it," the brunette replied quietly, her bright sapphire eyes meeting his solidly without shying away. "You're my friend, and it goes both ways."

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"Well, gang?" Luke Spencer rubbed his hands together, a gleeful grin on his face as his ragtag group of misfits wearily assembled around him by the nurse's station in the hub of the hospital. "How're we holding up?"

"I fell asleep in the Pediatrics wing with my eyes open," Lucky informed him blandly as Elizabeth yawned and leaned against Jason. "Some sticky-fingered kid stuck a crayon up my nose and it's all your fault if I'm still sneezing Robin's Egg Blue tomorrow."

"Duly noted," his father nodded as Robert cracked his knuckles. "The lesson here: never take your sinuses for granted. Elizabeth? You dropping out on us, doll?"

"Yes," she mumbled, pressing her face into Jason's shoulder as he helped keep her steady. After a grueling night's work – work that included scaling Wyndemere, cracking open a safe, escaping Wyndemere, boarding a yacht and then jumping off said yacht before it burst into smithereens – she and the others had spent hours running around the hospital and seeing to their family and friends. The sun was already high up in the sky and now that the commotion had died down, Elizabeth Webber was tired. And grouchy.

"Well, you think you can hold on for two more minutes?"

"No," she replied grumpily, turning her face away from the old man. "I don't like you anymore."

"Come on, doll," Robert chuckled, resting his elbow on the counter of the nurse's station that Johnny and Max were currently slumped against. "You've made it through the whole night – a minute more won't kill you, right?"

"I don't like you anymore either, Robbie."

"Frankly, I've never liked either one of you," Sonny remarked blandly, but his twinkling eyes gave him away the moment he looked at Luke.

"Damn, Corinthos," his former associate and friend sighed, shaking his head. "And here I had a friendship bracelet made for you and everything. I guess I'll give it to Claude as severance pay the next time I fire him."

"Dad, I swear, I'm this close to giving that dumb kid my deluxe set of 128 crayons and turning him loose on your butt-"

"Okay, okay," Luke interjected, setting one hand on his son's shoulder and the other on Elizabeth's. "Obviously, we're all dead to the world right now. The doctors have everything under control here, so this is our cue to leave. Everyone go home, rest up, and then report to my bar in exactly twelve hours."

"Luke's?" Elizabeth frowned at the old man, alert now. "We're going to Luke's? I thought you closed that place up a while ago."

"I did," he replied easily, slipping his hands into his pockets. "But I still own it. And I've been thinking of getting it going for a while now and this seems like a good time. Besides, all the publicity and hype from this hero business will probably translate into customers and that's good for the bottom line."

Elizabeth groaned, slumping against Jason's shoulder again. "It's always about the bottom line, isn't it, Luke?"

Robert laughed and ran his hands through his thinning hair, rubbing away at the knots in his neck. "All right, gang, you heard him. Let's break for twelve and then meet up at the bar. It's tradition, you know," he added when he saw Max and Johnny exchange confused glances. "Back in the good old days-"

Jason groaned and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, prompting a dark scowl from the detective.

"Yes, Morgan," he replied witheringly, "back in the good old days, every time we solved a case at the agency, the whole gang would head to the bar exactly twelve hours later. When I got to know Luke and we worked together against Helena the first time, we did just that. So – tradition mandates that we meet again in twelve hours and get plastered together. Nothing encourages bonding like a death-defying adventure followed by a rousing game of fighting over toilets to vomit over."

Elizabeth nodded wearily as the guards shrugged their acceptance, and Robert turned to his best friend. "Listen, I need a place to stay tonight, at least. Know of any good digs around here?"

"You can stay with us at the bar," Lucky offered, scratching the back of his head. "We've got a couple spare rooms upstairs."

"Yeah, stay with us," his father nodded. "We'll push our cots together and drink scotch and braid each other's hair plugs."

"Fabulous," Robert drawled, surveying his motley crew as they prepared to break for the night. "All right, gang, take care, and we'll be seeing you. This battle's been a bottler. Bring a schooner tonight, and it's London to a brick that we'll rage on 'til morning."

"You really should stop mumbling, Robbie," Elizabeth called out sweetly as Jason pulled her over to the elevator with Johnny and Max in tow. "I can't understand a word you're saying."