For the Love of Jason

Part 10

"Carly, I need a favor," said Abbie from the hospital bed. "But you have to promise not to tell anybody about it."
"That depends on what it is," said Carly.
"It's nothing bad, really. Can you take the money I have hidden in the closet in my room and buy a money order and send it to the address that is with the money? Now the important thing is that the money order can't come from anywhere in Port Charles, and the postmark can't read Port Charles either."
"Are you in some kind of trouble? If you are, you should tell Sonny or Jason. Don't try to handle it yourself. That always turns into a big mess. Trust me, I know."
"No, I'm not in any trouble at all. I, um, I borrowed some money from someone once, and I'm still trying to pay them back, and I don't want them to know where I am. That's all it is really," she said when she saw the skeptical look on Carly's face.
"Ok," said the other woman. "But I swear, if this gets me in any trouble, you're going to end up back in this hospital."
"Thanks Carly. The money is in a red shoebox on the shelf in my closet. It's on the left side. Just grab the money, and the envelope that is in there. The envelope should already have the address on it, but if it doesn't, it's taped to the lid of the shoebox. Please can you do it today?"
"Yeah, sure, don't worry. I'll take care of it," she said as Amy Vining walked into the room.

"Gee, I'm sorry Carly," Amy said in a voice that said she was anything but. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave, it's time for Ms. Morgan's doctor to do his rounds."
"Oh shut up Amy," snarled Carly. "I'm leaving already. Abbie, take it easy, and I'll go take care of that stuff right now."
"Thanks Carly," said Abbie as she lay back on the pillow. Amy reached over and lifted her arm and took her blood pressure and pulse. When she was done, she smiled at Abbie and said "Dr. Wexler will be in soon." She smiled and left the room. Abbie closed her eyes and dozed off, only to be awaken a short time later by a soft knocking on the door."

"Hi Abbie, I'm Dr. Wexler. We met last night. How are you feeling today?"
"Well, apart from a splitting headache and a throbbing in my knee, I'm feeling fine. When can I go home?" Karen Wexler laughed and flipped through the chart.
"Well, I think we'll be able to release you this afternoon. You are not showing any signs of head trauma, other than the headache. But, you are going to need to keep off of that leg. You hurt your knee badly, and we want to give it a chance to heal. It's either that, or surgery."
"Well, I certainly don't want surgery, if I can possibly avoid it, but I do have a problem. I just stated a new job, and I don't want to take too much time off. When can I go back to work?"
"It depends, is it a desk job, or are you on your feet?"
"Desk job, definitely a desk job."
"Well, I think you could go back at the end of the week, provided you keep your leg elevated at all times and use crutches when you do need to get around. Is there somebody who can come to take you home after lunch today?"
"Well, I just figured I'd call a cab to take me home. Will that be ok?" asked Abbie.
"I'd prefer that there be somebody home with you today. If there isn't, I'm going to have to insist that you stay one more night."

"I'll be taking her home," said Jason from the door. "What were you thinking? Calling a cab. I'll make sure that you get home. I've got a car downstairs."
"Thanks Jason," said Abbie. "I hate to be a bother though."
"It's no bother. Don't worry," he said turning towards Karen. "I'll see that she gets home ok."
"Great," said Karen. "She's also going to need crutches, but you can pick those up at the hospital pharmacy downstairs. Abbie, it was very nice meeting you, and I hope I don't see you again under the same circumstances," said Karen as she walked towards the door.

Jason pulled a chair up to the side of the bed and sat down. "What were you thinking, calling a cab. I'm going to take you home. Sonny had me bring the limo, so you'll have plenty of room to stretch out."
"Thanks Jason, really. I'm not used to having people around to help me. I've been on my own for a long time now."
"Well, you're not now, and don't forget it," he laughed. "Listen, do you feel up to telling me what happened yesterday? And thank you for what you told Taggart yesterday. You handled him really well."
"He's kind of a jerk, isn't he?" asked Abbie. "I've seen that type of cop before. He's an I'm right your wrong no matter what the story is type, isn't he?"
"Yeah, especially if you are associated with Sonny," answered Jason. "Now about yesterday," he prompted.

"Well, there really isn't much to tell. I bought the balloons, and I was passing them out to all the kids. It was so much fun, but I took a wrong path, and ended up in a deserted area of the park. I turned around to go back, when these two guys stepped out of the woods and came at me. I tried to get away, I really did, but they were just too strong. One of them grabbed me from behind, and the other one did the talking. He told me that I was going to give you a message. I told him to go to hell. That was when he got angry. I leaned back into the one who was holding me, pushed off and kicked him in the stomach with both feet. That was a big mistake because he told me to tell you to what that Burns guy said, then he punched me in the jaw. That's the last thing I remember."

"Have you ever seen either of these guys before?" Jason asked.
"Jason, come on. I've been in town a couple of weeks. The only place I've been is L&B, and the grocery store. Those aren't the kind of places people like them frequent."
"I suppose you're right," said Jason. "Is there anything you can tell me about these guys, what they looked like, what they were wearing, anything at all?"
"Well the guy who had me from behind, I didn't get a good look at, but I can tell you he was bald, and really muscular, and both he and the other guy had a tattoo on their left forearms. It was of a scorpion. Its tail was curled up, like it was stinging something, and there was blood dripping from the stinger and it pooled around the bottom of the scorpion. The other guy was well dressed in a gray Armani suit. He was about 6 foot 2, and around 200 pounds, and he wore a pinkie ring on his right hand with a diamond," Abbie rattled off the descriptions without skipping a beat."

"How did you do that?" asked Jason.
"Do what?" she asked confused.
"Take in all those details in such a tense time. That was incredible."
"Oh, well, it was something I had to do, growing up. I always needed to be aware of my surroundings, that's all. Jason, look. I'm kind of tired. Can we finish this up later?"
"Yeah, sure," said Jason. "I'll be back after lunch. I'm going to go run this by Sonny and see if it means anything to him. Remember, no calling cabs. I'll be back around 2:00 to pick you up."
"Great, thanks Jason," she said, turning her head away from him and closing her eyes.

Abbie quickly dozed off and began to dream. "I thought I told you to always put this picture back exactly where you found it when you cleaned," yelled her stepfather. "Look at this place, it's a mess. Can't you do anything right?" Abbie ducked, trying to avoid the hand that came crashing down towards her. "Get that sorry ass of yours upstairs. I'll be up to take care of you later. Where the hell is your sister?"
"S-she's not here," Abbie stammered. "She's staying over a friend's house."
"If you can't do the job of a woman around here, maybe I'd better see if she can!" he shouted.
"N-no Pete, no. I can do it. I can take care of the house just like Mama did."
Pete took a long pull off the scotch bottle he held in his hand. "There's lots of things your mother did that you can't even begin to do," he said leering at her. "But maybe it's time you did."
"Oh Pete, no, please no, not that, please," she heard herself moan as his hand reached out to grab her.

"No," Abbie yelled, sitting up in the bed, her heart pounding. Looking around, she realized she was still in General Hospital and Pete was long gone. "It was just a dream," she whispered. "That's all, a dream. Pete's gone. He can't hurt me anymore. Nobody can hurt me any more."