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Chapter 5: Smoke

"And I thought my migraines were bad." Brenda squeezed her eyes; her brain felt like someone had squeezed it and smashed it a million times. She recognized the familiar cool scent of his aftershave and could sense his strong body nearly touching hers. She opened her eyes to see Jason still covering her. "Get off of me," she said as she pushed him away. He obliged and watched her wobble as she tried to stand up.

"Easy," he said and let her lean on him for support. "You hit your head pretty hard," he explained. Apparently, both had temporarily forgotten about their argument because both were now focused on the explosion that had just occurred.

"What happened?" she asked. She examined the room; the penthouse was still intact, except for a chipped wall and broken vases.

"I think it was a bomb, not a big one though" Jason started.

"I think that's obvious." Brenda noticed that Jason's eyes grew fearful all of sudden. "Sonny," she said. The two rushed out of Jason's home to Sonny's across the hall. "Sonny!" Brenda yelled. The door was stuck or locked. Either way, the two could not get into the penthouse.

"Carly! Michael!" Jason screamed.

"Jason, wait!" Brenda tugged on Jason's arm, preventing him from trying to pound down the door.

Jason looked questionably at Brenda, "What?"

"Where's Marco?"

"Right here." Jason and Brenda turned around and saw a bruised Francis dragging out an unconscious Marco from the little nook in the hallway by Jason's door. Brenda gasped and Jason, like instinct, stepped in front of Brenda to shield her. Francis held up a gun towards both of them, his finger on the trigger.

"What are you doing Francis?" Jason asked in his business like voice.

"I think you know what I'm doing," he replied as he walked closer to them, "Give me your gun. Give me your gun!"

"Ok, ok, calm down. I'm not armed, see?" Jason allowed Francis to quickly frisk him for any weapons. Jason slowly maneuvered around so that he and Brenda were now near his door and Francis was in front of Sonny's. Poor Marco lay still on the floor behind Jason and Brenda. A fire had broken out in Sonny's apartment; smoke began moving slowly into the hallway. Sirens could be faintly heard, approaching the apartment complex.

"I don't think you want to do this," Jason said.

"I'd listen to him if I were you," commented Brenda as she peeked out to the side away from Jason's block. Jason whispered to Brenda to shut up and Brenda shot back a look at him. Francis just laughed.

"You guys should have remained married, because you certainly do act like it," Smoke continued to fill the air. Brenda began to get dizzy and grabbed onto Jason's arm for support. The three were falling weaker by the minute, smoke filling their lungs. Jason squeezed Brenda's hand in reassurance and whispered for her to check that Marco was still alive and breathing.

"What do you want Francis?" Jason asked coldly, trying to cover Brenda in the process.

"It's not what I want. My boss wants you dead. I'm just following orders, like you do Mr. Morgan," Francis released the safety lock and aimed straight for Jason's skull, but slowly moved the gun towards a trembling Brenda. Brenda's eyes began to blur and water from all the smoke, was Marco pointing at her? The next thing Brenda knew, Jason had shoved her out of Francis' view and lunged for the traitor. Brenda crouched down and closed her eyes; she began coughing, forcing herself to stop so she could pay attention to what was happening. She heard struggling and punches and then a piercing gunshot.

* * * * *

"Can we go to Kelly's when Dad gets back?" Michael asked earnestly, "I don't think Adelle tried the chili yet."

Carly giggled, but stopped when she noticed Michael was serious. "Well, it's a little early for her to try some of the chili, but we can still go and ask your daddy as soon as he gets home."

Carly Corinthos was walking back to her home with her son Michael and baby daughter Adelle from a lovely day at the park. Michael was finishing his ice cream cone he had gotten from the ice cream truck and little Adele sat in her stroller, fascinated with all the people she noticed walking by. Carly's husband had left earlier to accompany his sister on the flight to her rehabilitation center. Carly and Sonny both agreed it was better for the children not to accompany them because of Courtney's estranged state. She wondered why Jason had not gone instead.

As they neared the apartments she was shocked to see smoke coming out of a window from the penthouse. She quickly dialed 911. "Michael, no. Come back." She yelled as she grabbed Michael before he entered the building.

Carly remained standing outside with her two children. Michael had noticed what was happening and was asking many questions. Carly was attempting to console him and wondering at the same time where the damn firemen and police were. As soon as she heard the sirens she ushered Leticia and her children to the Brownstone. She ran up to the police and began interrogating them in old Carly fashion before they could interrogate her. Then her mouth and heart stopped when she heard it, two gunshots, followed by a faint high pitched scream.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this up – Memorial Day weekend was very busy-fun-but busy.

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