Amy Vining followed behind Bobbie as she recited the latest gossip. Bobbie
only listened with half an ear as they made their way out of the emergency
room. She wasn't interested in hearing which doctor was having an affair
with which nurse. Unfortunately for her the hospital was unbelievably quiet

so there was nothing needing her immediate attention or Amy's. The only
emergency they had all night was when a toddler came in with a marble stuck

up his nose. The lack of activity was giving Bobbie an eerie feeling, which

she tried to shake off.

Bobbie finally thought up an excuse to get out of Amy's clutches. "Amy, I
really should call Carly and see how today went."

Amy continued to yammer on without noticing that Bobbie had spoken. "So
Doctor Smith came out of the supply closet two minutes after Nurse James
and they seriously thought no one would put two and two together but I
di—what did you just say? Carly's back in town? Wow! How long has she been
here? What happened today? Are the Quartermaines going to have her
arrested? Have you seen A.J. lately?"

Bobbie was just about to put a stop to Amy's questions when the doors were
suddenly kicked open. Sonny strode in carrying a limp Carly. Johnny
followed behind him, pausing once to thrust a handful of bills to a small
man who cowered behind them. The man grabbed the money and ran.

"Oh my God!" Bobbie covered her mouth with her hands. Her heart stopped as
she remembered the night Michael was born. Jason brought Carly in this same

way. Not again, Bobbie thought, not again. She pulled herself together.
They saved Michael that night; they were going to save this baby too.

"Whoa." Amy whispered. She too was taken aback by the sight. She recovered
from her shock and got a team together to help.

Sonny spotted Bobbie. His eyes were wild with fear as he spoke. "Bobbie!
You have to help her. She passed out on the way here and she won't stop
bleeding. She won't stop!"

"Calm down, Sonny," Bobbie began soothingly. "Put her on the stretcher and
tell me exactly what happened."

"You have to stop the bleeding and save our baby, save *Carly*." Sonny
pleaded, still clutching Carly close to him.

Bobbie forced herself to view Carly as just a patient and not as her
daughter slowly bleeding to death. She placed her hands on Sonny's and
stared into his eyes. Her fear was reflected in his eyes. "Put her down."

Sonny nodded as if he finally realized that Bobbie was speaking to him. He
was slowly coming out of his daze. He placed Carly on the stretcher and
watched helplessly as she was quickly wheeled away from him. Bobbie turned
his attention back to her. "Tell me exactly what happened."

"A.J." Sonny spat out. "You might want to send an ambulance out to 3rd and
Main. That's where we left him."

"Oh God, what did he do?"

"He ran into us twice, purposely." The emotion is his eyes went from fear
to hatred. The look sent a shiver down her spine. "The bastard almost
killed her and himself. He's passed out in his car."

Bobbie relayed the information to a wide-eyed Amy who was already to
listening in. Amy nodded and went to get ambulance for A.J.

Sonny ran his hands through his hair. "There's was so much blood, Bobbie,
oh God. You should have seen the blood and the look on her face."

Bobbie glanced down and gasped. "Sonny, your shirt…"

He looked down also. His shirt was soaked through with Carly's blood. He
said grimly. "The bleeding wouldn't stop. Bobbie, is she going to be okay?"

"I…I don't know." Bobbie answered truthfully.

Sonny clenched his jaw and stared down the hallway that Carly disappeared
down. Thoughts of lost and revenge "She's has to be."

Bobbie sighed. "Let's move out of the way and sit down. We probably won't
know anything for awhile."

~*~
Sonny was sitting next to Johnny with his head in his hands. Both men
looked dead tired. Sonny had undone his shirt and let it hang loose
revealing the white tank he wore underneath. His hair stuck up in odd
angles from his running hands through. Johnny had discarded his tie and
jacket and sat with his hands folded watching as nurses and doctors went
by. He had left briefly to send someone out to pick up the limousine.
Neither man said a word to the other. Suddenly the doors flew open and A.J.

was wheeled in. They both watched with narrowed eyes as he went by.

"I was hoping they wouldn't find him." Sonny muttered.

"Me too." Johnny said, finally speaking for the first time since they
entered the hospital. Sonny hadn't noticed; he was too busy thinking about
Carly. "He doesn't deserve to live."

Sonny nodded in agreement. He looked around for Bobbie. She had been
sitting with them until a few minutes ago when she decided to go see if she

could find any information about Carly. "Where the hell is Bobbie?"

He grabbed the arm of a passing nurse. "I need to know what's going on with

Carly…" He wasn't sure what name she was admitted under. "Carly
Quartermaine?"

The nurse shook her head. "I'm sorry sir but I can't give out that kind of
information. Family members only. "

"But I'm—" *Only the father of her child*, Sonny thought bitterly. He
shoved his hand through his hair in agitation. "Look, I brought her in."

"I still can't release the information." The nurse smiled apologetically
and hurried away.

Johnny sighed and got up. "Where are you going?" Sonny demanded.

"The hospital chapel. Sitting here isn't doing anything. Want to come?"
Johnny offered.

Sonny took one last look down the hallway. Johnny was right. Sitting there
wasn't helping his nerves. He got up and followed the bodyguard. Once there

he wasn't sure what to do. Johnny crossed himself, kneeled down and began
to pray. Sonny watched him for a few minutes before sitting in the pew
behind him.

He rested his arms against his legs and stared ahead. How did this happen?
She'd been happy today after the signing. Look at what happened to what she

claimed to be the best day of her life. An attack from Monica Quartermaine
and now she was in an emergency room fighting for her life and the life of
their baby. He groaned and buried his face in his hands.

He was supposed to protect her and the baby from A.J. That was all she
wanted from him and he couldn't even do that right. He thought back to all
the times he boasted that A.J. was no longer a threat. He should have
known. He should have known that A.J. would be stupid enough, desperate
enough to try anything. He should have known! He banged his hand down on
the pew jolting Johnny from his prayers. He should have been able to
protect them better.

He promised her over and over again that he would take care of their baby.
Their last words to each other had been just that.

As he sped away Carly whispered to Sonny. "Nothing's going to happen to the

baby, right?"

"No, I won't let it." He said automatically. "I promise."

"Good." She murmured as she slowly closed her eyes.

And now it turned out that what he said was a lie. He reached down and
touched his shirt where the blood had dried. He fingered the stiff material

and shook his head. He couldn't stop the blood. He couldn't help them.

He couldn't lose them again. He couldn't take another one of his children
dying because he underestimated the danger they were in. Something that he
was supposed to take care of. It was all his fault.

"Take care of them for me. Please." He whispered aloud.

The sound of footsteps broke the answering silence. He wiped his eyes and
turned to see Bobbie rushing toward him. He rose slowly, taking in her red
eyes. She stopped short and he noticed red eyes and the regretful
expression on her face.

"Sonny…"

He rubbed his chest to try and soothe the sudden pain that shot through
him. He already knew what she was going to say but he still had to hear it.

His voice was raspy as he said. "Is Carly…the baby?"

Bobbie shook her head. "I'm so sorry, Sonny. The baby…the baby didn't make
it."

Though he knew it was coming he was still shocked by the words. He dropped
back down into the pew. Johnny placed a supporting hand on his shoulder.
Sonny closed his eyes and said. "Carly's okay though?"

"She'll be fine."

"Does she know?"

"Yes."

"What was it?" He asked desperately. "Did they know what it was?"

"Sonny, don't do this to yourself." Bobbie said sadly.

"What was it?" He demanded.

"It was a girl." She said softly.

A girl, up until then he hadn't realized that he was hoping for a girl. He
rubbed his chest again as another sharp went through him.

"What do I do now?" He asked no one in particular but Bobbie answered him.

"Go to her. You two should be together right now." Bobbie urged him. "Don't

go through this alone."

~*~*~
Sonny stopped just inside the door. Carly was laid out in the middle of the

bed sleeping. The once noticeable bulge of her stomach was gone. He had to
brace himself against the doorframe. Gone, just like that.

He slowly made his way to the bed and sat down into the chair next to it.
He sighed heavily and stared at her for a few minutes. He started to reach
out to touch her but caught himself. She would probably wake up if he did
and he was having a tough enough time dealing with it as it was. If he saw
the blame in her eyes that he knew was there he wouldn't be able to do
this. He folded his hands together as if he was going to pray.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart." He mumbled. He forced himself to blink back the

tears he felt coming. "I didn't do as I promised. This wasn't supposed to
happen."

He took a deep steadying breath. "A.J. was supposed to be neutralized and
he wasn't. I failed you and our baby. I couldn't take care of one lousy
drunk. Because of that *I* killed our child."

He stared down at the floor and swallowed hard. "You were right about
everything. I should have come up with another way. A way so that you
wouldn't have had to come back for the divorce. If I had only thought
things through you could still be walking on the beach, carrying our baby."

The overwhelming emotion took over and he hunched over in his seat,
covering his eyes with his hands. Carly let out a soft moan and changed
sleeping positions. He quickly looked up. "Carly?"

She opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. It took her a few minutes

to remember what had happened and where she was. The baby! She frowned and
glanced at Sonny. "What are you doing here?"

Sonny sat back at the coldness in her tone. "I came to see you—"

"Why? Your obligation to me is over." Carly looked away from him. "If
you're here to start in on the blame game can it wait until tomorrow? I
can't…I can't do this tonight."

Sonny was confused. "What are you talking about? I'm not here to blame you
for anything."

"Right." She yawned loudly. "Since you're not here to blame me, could you
go?"

"Carly." He reached out to touch her hand but she flinched. He nodded.
"Alright…if you want me to go, I'll go."

She turned on her side and stared at the wall. "I'm tired."

Sonny slowly walked over to the door. He paused at the door and turned to
look back at her. She had curled up and was pointedly ignoring him. He
tried to say the words 'I'm sorry' out loud but found he couldn't do it.

Carly waited until he had closed the door behind him before letting the
tears fall slip out. "Oh God…"

~*~
Sonny walked aimlessly down the hall. He didn't understand why Carly
rejected him so coldly. Just then a tearful Monica emerged from a room a
few feet from him. She didn't notice him as she rushed out. He narrowed his

eyes. That had to be A.J.'s room.

His stride was purposeful as he made his way over to the room. He walked in

and found A.J. sitting up in bed wearing a neck brace and a cast on one
hand. His eyes widened in fear when he saw Sonny. He stammered out.
"S-Sonny!"

"I see you're still breathing." Sonny said calmly and walked closer to the
bed.

A.J. glanced at the call button and wondered if he could reach it in time.
"Uh…I want to apologize…"

"Apologize?" Sonny lifted his eyebrow. "You want to *apologize* for killing

my daughter and almost killing Carly?"

"Uh, yeah." A.J. said nervously.

"You bastard." Sonny spit out. "I could kill you right now and no one would

care. A life for a life, you know."

A.J.'s eyes darted around the room. He started to reach for the button with

his good hand but Sonny was quicker. He grabbed A.J.'s wrist and shook his
head. "Uh-uh."

Casually and without warning he bent A.J.'s arm back, breaking it. A.J.'s
howls of pain were muffled when Sonny pulled the pillow out from under him
and began to smother him with it.

"What are you doing!" The shocked voice of the nurse echoed through the
room.

"Settling the score." Sonny said as he continued to hold down the pillow
over A.J.'s mouth. A.J. thrashed wildly beneath him.

"Get off of him!" The nurse shouted. She stuck her head out the door and
said. "I need security in here. Now!"

Then she ran over and tried to pull Sonny away. "Let him go."

Sonny reluctantly lifted the pillow up. This wasn't right, he thought to
himself. It was too sloppy. A.J. collapsed on the bed and gulped for air.
"I'm going to have you arrested." He managed to get out between breaths.

Sonny backed up unsteadily. He dropped the pillow on the floor. "Try it.
I'll make sure we'll share a cell."

A.J. looked at the nurse. "Get my parents in here and make sure that that
man doesn't leave this hospital. You're going to jail!"

Sonny laughed without humor. "Next time, there won't be any witnesses." He
glanced at the nurse and pulled out his wallet. He counted out a few
hundred-dollar bills and offered them to her. "You didn't see anything
right?"

The young nurse looked at the money and bit her lip. If she hadn't gotten
in here this man would have killed him. Taking money from him to cover up
this would be wrong. But on the other hand this was Sonny Corinthos. She'd
heard about him. Not telling anyone what she saw would probably be a good
idea. And she still had all those school loans to pay off…

Sonny added a few more bills to the pile. "Is this enough?"

"You can't bribe her." A.J. cried.

But the nurse grabbed the money. She avoided making eye contact with A.J.
or Sonny as she said. "You should leave with me."

Sonny grinned evilly at A.J. "See you around, Junior."

~*~*~
Two days later Bobbie walked into Carly's hospital room carrying flowers.
"These are from Johnny." She said cheerfully. "Where should we put them?"

"In the garbage. I don't care." Carly muttered.

"Carly." Bobbie placed the flowers on the stand and came to sit next to the

bed. She went to take Carly's hand but she snatched it away. "Honey, I
don't like seeing you like this."

"Well get used to it. You can't just expect me to wake up and be all happy
and cheerful about the fact that I killed my baby!" She suddenly exploded.

"Honey, no one is expecting you to act like that." Bobbie reached out and
pushed the hair back from her forehead. This time Carly let her touch her.
"And you didn't kill your baby. It was an accident."

Carly closed her eyes. "I know the truth. This is God's punishment for me.
Michael almost died but somehow he was saved. This baby wasn't as lucky."

"Don't say that!" Bobbie admonished her. "You are the last person I thought

would blame God for something like this."

"I'm not blaming Him, I'm blaming me. This is my fault. I'm not supposed to

have children." Carly sat up and stared into Bobbie's eyes. "This isn't the

first baby I've killed, Mom."

"Oh, Carly…" Tears came to Bobbie's eyes. "Honey, don't talk like this."

"When I was a teenager, I was a little on the wild side." Carly laughed
softly. "Yeah, I know, shocking. Well I was a little too wild one night and

ended up pregnant. I was a kid, I was afraid, I was stupid, and I let my
boyfriend talk me into getting an abortion. It had to be one of the worst
experiences of my life. I was in this little crappy room, sitting on a
metal cot, my loser boyfriend waited outside smoking and the doctor was
this disgusting old man who spent half the time lecturing me and the other
half leering at me. I was miserable and I made a deal with God, I asked him

to make sure I never got pregnant again. I think God has a pretty good
sense of humor. He lets me get pregnant to remind me of when I was so young

and then he takes them back."

"Honey, you were just a kid." Bobbie gripped her hand tightly in hers. "You

didn't know what you were talking about. God wouldn't do something like
that. And you didn't lose Michael, remember? He's healthy, he's here. He's
waiting for you at the Brownstone and he really misses you. Michael doesn't

fit into your theory, sweetie."

"That was because of Jason. Jason saved Michael and me that night. If he
had been here, he would have saved this child too." Carly started to cry
and Bobbie rose up to hug her.

"Don't do this yourself. It was an accident. That's all it was. It wasn't
God punishing you. It was just an accident."

"No, no." Carly shook her head. "It was my fault. I lost my baby."

Bobbie took a deep breath. "You can't blame yourself for this. You know
what, you and Sonny should talk about this. He's probably having a hard
time with this, just like you. You two should work this out together.
You're getting released today. Go see him."

Carly sniffled. "Why? I already know what to expect when I get there. He's
probably wearing the same clothes he had on days ago, walking around, drink

in hand, blaming the whole thing on himself."

"That's all the more reason you should go. Blaming yourself isn't helping.
You two have to talk. This is something you can't keep inside of you. I
don't want you to keep hurting yourself like this."

"I can't go to him. If he's not blaming himself then he's blaming me and I
can't handle that right now." Carly shot a quick look at Bobbie. "And don't

you go over there to talk to him. He wouldn't want you to see him like
that. It's…not pretty. Don't go."

"I can't just sit back and let this eat the two of you up." Bobbie ignored
her plea. "If you don't do it, I will."

Carly rolled her eyes. "Sometimes, you can be so infuriating."

" I know honey." Bobbie gave her another hug. Before she pulled away she
pressed a kiss to Carly's hair. "I promise that it will be alright. The
pain will go away."

"Say it enough times and I might believe you." Carly smiled weakly.