Leap of Faith

Kate was still talking excitedly, even after John had stopped the car. "So tell me again why you're going to this place with Bo and Hope. Tell me why you think Marlena and the others are still alive."

John shook his head and laughed, "Kate, you gotta take a breath here and calm down."

Kate looked at him, a serious expression on her face, "Hey, I'm perfectly calm for someone who just found out that the love of her life, the man she saw brutally murdered, might be alive." She looked down at her hands crossed nervously in her lap, "I really should be having a strong drink right now though. I'm shaking like a leaf."

John reached over and put his hand over hers, "Hey, listen. I know this is a shock it was to me too. But between all of us, we'll find out if it's true or not."

She turned to face her friend, tears falling freely down her cheeks, "That's just it. What if it's not true? What if this is all a plan by Stefano and this "lead" you are following is a well-planned trap, just a part of some huge plan? I mean, I want more than anything else to have it be true, to have Roman alive and here with me, but I'm terrified of even thinking that. If it isn't true and it was all a setup, it will be like losing him all over again, you know?"

John nodded, wiping a tear from his eyes, "I hear ya, Kate. I've thought the same things, but I can't rest until I know for sure." Kate nodded, "So I'm gonna take that leap of faith and see where I land."

Kate sniffed and wiped her eyes, "Ok. Um, look, let me just run in to the office to see if my cell is here. I wanted to check on some things for the Jergensen deal." She looked at her watch, "Things should be hopping in that part of the world by now, and I don't want to miss any messages."

John shook his head; "I thought I told you to take it easy with the workload, Kate."

She waved him off, "I know, I know, don't get all upset with me, I'm just checking the messages, and then going to bed." She held up her hand in Boy Scout fashion, "I promise."

"Ok then, I'll hang here."

"Be back in a few." She opened the car door and walked into the building that housed Basic Black.

As she rode the elevator, she let her mind drift towards the possibility that John, Hope and Bo would be right, and what it would be like, that first moment she saw him, in the flesh, not as a ghostly apparition. She imagined rushing into his arms and kissing him so hard her lips would ache. "If this is all true," she said aloud to herself, "I'm never going to let him go...ever." The chime of the elevator brought her back to the present, and Kate stepped out, turning on a small lamp by the reception area. She walked towards her office and was surprised to find the door open. "That's strange, it's not the day the cleaning crew usually comes. Hello? Is anyone there?" She waited but got no answer and she called out again. Still nothing. "Oh well," she said to herself, "maybe I just left the door open and didn't notice it." She walked into her office and turned on the light. "Oh my God!" she gasped. The office was trashed, there were papers everywhere, the furniture was turned over, and her desk was cleared off. As she moved in further, she felt a hand clamp down over her mouth, and a hard, cool object jab at her neck. She froze.

"Listen, lady, you do as I say, and you won't get hurt, but if you don't, well, let's say it won't be pretty." She nodded and he removed his hand from her mouth. "Good girl. Now take a step forward and keep your back to me."

As Kate took a step, she tripped over the leg of the couch, and spun around, now facing her intruder. In one step, he swung at her with the butt of his weapon, and pushed her to the floor. He raised his gun and aimed it at her, as she tried to crawl away from him. Suddenly he felt a hard object pointed at his back. "If you want to live to see tomorrow, you'll drop that gun." The man didn't move. "I said drop the gun now or I'll just have to shoot you. See it doesn't matter to me, after all, you broke into my office and assaulted my employee so I'm totally justified here." John waited for his reply. The man put down the gun, but spun around and tried to knock John out of the way. John, however, was faster, and landed a solid jab to the man's midsection, and then one to his jaw. The second punch left him reeling and he stumbled backward and fell to the floor unconscious.

John removed the man's weapon and searched him for others, and then tied him up. Once he was no longer a threat, he turned his attention to his friend.

"Kate? Kate can you hear me? It's ok now, it's over." John walked around the overturned couch to find her unconscious, with an angry wound on her forehead. "Oh my god, Kate! Wake up! Kate?" He pulled out his cell phone, "This is John Black, I need uniforms and an ambulance to Basic Black asap." He turned to place a handkerchief over Kate's wound, "Hang on Kate, hang on."

Chapter 2

Lester Keys was tired, and annoyed. All he had to do was get a paper with this Kate Brady's signature on it, so she said. 'All I need is something I can scan, so I can use it for other documents. I'll get you in there, no problem, but you have to make it look like a robbery. Make it look, you know, like someone broke in here to rob the place. I'll pay you well, in return for your silence that is. If you get caught, I'll deny everything, and my uncle is the police commissioner, so he'll take my word over yours. So, do we have a deal?' And Lester had said yes. And now here he was trashing this office of a woman he didn't even know, all for a damned piece of paper. It wasn't that big of a deal to get the paper, but the office was huge, and the furniture heavy. He wasn't in the greatest shape, so lifting the stuff over was tiring. Just as he was about to leave, the elevator chime rang. "Who the hell is that?" he whispered, "she said no one would be here. Damn. Now what?" This little job had just gotten a whole lot bigger, and if he got out of this, it would be a whole lot costlier to little miss blondie. Lester waited behind the door, and removed his gun from the pocket. He was just as surprised as she was when she strode in the office and turned on the light. Lester had no choice but to get out of there without the woman seeing him, but that had backfired, and he'd been forced to take extreme measures. What Lester didn't count on was the other guy, and as he took the two punches and fell to the floor, he thought, 'Well, Blondie, you are gonna pay for this one."

Lucas and Phillip paced around the ER, waiting for them to bring Kate in. Belle and Sami had just come back with some coffee when the ER doors opened and the paramedics brought Kate in on a stretcher, with John talking to her the whole time, trying to get her to wake up. Lexie came out and pulled John aside, as Lucas, Phillip and Belle approached them. "How is she?" asked Lucas.

"Look, I'm going to see how she's doing, and I'll be out as soon as I know anything, ok?"

The two men nodded, and Lucas turned to John, "What happened tonight?"

John took a deep breath and relayed the story from his point of view. "I don't know what he hit her with, or if he hit her or she was pushed and hit her head. Either way, I didn't see her conscious at all after that." John shook his head, "I don't understand why though. There's nothing to steal there. And when I checked this guy, all he had was a receipt with Kate's signature on it. I don't know. I knocked him out pretty good, so when he comes to, he's got a lot of explaining to do."

Phillip put a hand on John's shoulder, "Thanks for saving my mom's life tonight."

Lucas nodded, "Yeah, but how did you know she was in trouble?"

"I tried to call her while she was in there, since she promised she'd only be a minute, and I was afraid that she started to check on something and found a reason to stay and work. She lives there lately. And when I called, they said the line had been disconnected, so I got concerned." John rubbed his forehead, "I'm glad I tried to call. I tell you I just lost my wife, I'm not prepared to lose my friend." Belle went to her father and encircled him in a hug.

"She's going to be alright, dad you'll see."

Lexie came out of the trauma room, and Lucas and Phillip quickly approached her, "How is she? Did she wake up?"

Lexie looked concerned, "Ok, here's the deal for now. Kate suffered a massive head injury, and right now, she's stable, but there's no telling for how long."

"What do you mean?" asked John.

"You said she didn't regain consciousness on the way here?"

"Yeah, and I kept talking to her but nothing."

"I won't lie to you, that's not a good sign. Her brain has been severely traumatized, and right now, it's swelled quite a lot. Now, that doesn't mean the swelling won't go down in a few days, but you should know there's a chance the swelling may not go down for a few weeks, maybe longer. It's too early to tell. The brain is very fragile, and reacts pretty harshly to injury. So, you shouldn't be alarmed at all if Kate has some complications while her brain is healing."

Lucas asked, "What kind of complications?"

"Once the swelling goes down, and I really believe that it will, in time, but she may experience some memory loss, or some mobility issues. With the part of the brain that is injured, who knows? It depends on what the brain shuts down to help repair the injury. We just have to wait and see. But it's extremely important that you talk to her, a lot. She'll be able to hear you, and the more you talk, the more she's going to want to get better. Look, I'd better get back in there, I'll let you know when we've moved her to a room." Lexie patted Lucas on the shoulder and returned to the trauma room, leaving all those in the room speechless. Especially Sami.

While the others were listening intently to Kate's prognosis, Sami was recalling a part of John's conversation, 'And when I checked this guy, all he had was a receipt with Kate's signature on it. I don't know. I knocked him out pretty good, so when he comes to, he's got a lot of explaining to do'. Oh god, he was supposed to steal a piece of paper, not hurt anyone. The color drained from Sami's face as she thought to herself, 'what the hell was she doing there anyway? Dammit, and they're going to find out it was me, especially with that paper on Lester. Oh God, what have I done? If Lucas finds out, I'll never have a future with him. And Kate, as much as I hate her, I never wanted to hurt her. Oh Sami, you've gotten yourself into a huge mess this time."

"Hey, Sami, you ok?" asked Lucas.

"Oh, um, yeah, I was just listening about Kate."

"You really care about her prognosis?" Lucas asked, surprised.

"Ok, so I hate her, I would never want to see her hurt though, god I'm not that bad."

Lucas just looked at her. "Look why don't you go home Will's going to need an explanation tomorrow, and I need you to be there for him. No matter what you think of my mom, Will loves her dearly, and he's already lost too many people he loves. He needs to know that my mom is gonna be okay, even if we don't know yet."

Sami put her hand on his arm, "Are you sure? When are you going home?"

"I need to see her first, let her know I'm there, then Phillip and I can figure out how to work shifts out so someone is always there with her. I don't know, don't expect me anytime soon, ok?"

"Well, ok, call me if you need anything." She said, turning to leave.

"Thanks, for offering." Lucas smiled at her and turned to join the rest of the group.