As Zander and Emily shared a night of passion, Elizabeth sat by her husband's bedside holding his hand and hoping that he'd be stronger in the morning so the doctors can go in and get the bullet that was lodged close to his spine. She had been sitting with him night after night for the past 3 weeks, hoping that the next day would be the day for the doctors to make him well again. Sonny and Carly both had visited on numerous occasions, both together and separately. Both concerned for her and Jason.
It was now close to 2am and he had been down for a very long sleep, Monica had given him something for the pain he was feeling and it knocked him out. He had been heavily medicated since had been brought in that fateful night that turned their lives upside down. She held much anger about what had happened and blamed only one person for it, and that was Zander.
Jason began to wake up from his long sleep, and he woke her up by caressing the back of her head as it laid on the edge of the bed. She looked up at him and he cracked a smile, even that took some strength for him to do. She quickly went out to the ICU nurse's desk to let them know he was awake. He reached for her as she walked back in the door, followed closely behind by the night duty nurse, Judy. She checked his vitals and wrote down the numbers that she saw on the machines.
"He's stronger, right .. he's getting better." Elizabeth was hopeful that tonight was the night that Jason would be strong enough to sustain the surgery needed to remove the bullet that came from Zander's gun.
"I don't know yet, let me check with the doctor on call." Judy replied as she headed for the door.
"No, I want Drs. Quartermaine to look at him, no on call doctor." Elizabeth wanted only the best for her husband, and Monica and Alan were the best GH had on staff.
"Okay, Mrs. Morgan, I'll give them a call." Judy replied before she left the room and went back to her desk.
Jason squeezed her hand and she turned and looked down at him. His eyes filled with worry and fear about his condition and what was going on around him.
"What's .. going on?" he asked as she sat back down on the swivel chair next to his bed. "The duty nurse is calling your parents to see if they can come in and check to see if you're strong enough to do the surgery you need." Elizabeth explained as she noticed his lips were dry and he had become very pale.
She reached behind her and took the styrofoam cup filled with ice chips. She took one from the cup and rubbed it across his lips to moisten them. He opened his mouth and the melting chip fell into the opening.
"You weren't suppose to take it." she giggled and he cracked a smile. "Sorry, I'm thirsty." he managed to say as she reached in the cup for another ice chip. "These are all Monica gave me to give to you, sorry." she apologized to him because she couldn't give him water in a cup to drink. As she rubbed the second ice chip on his lips, he once again opened his mouth and it fell in against his tongue. As the chip melted he swallowed what little water there was left after most of it seeped into his dry mouth.
She didn't know how much time had passed and she was still waiting for Jason's parents to arrive. She began to pace the room back and forth as Jason watched her from his lying down position. He had been in a hospital bed for the last 3 weeks, and he too was getting stir crazy in the enclosed room, machines hooked to him, medication every 2 hours or so, all he wanted to do was to hold his wife in his arms.
Elizabeth heard familiar voices out in the hallway and went to see if Monica and Alan had shown up. As she left the room, she saw Drs. Quartermaine talking with the night duty nurse about Jason's vitals. Elizabeth approached them hoping that Jason could finally have the surgery they had been waiting to do.
"So .. is he strong enough to do the surgery?" Elizabeth asked
"Yeah his vitals look good. We're calling in the surgeon to remove the bullet and we'll prep Jason for surgery." Monica said in a soothing voice, trying to keep Elizabeth from worrying.
As Elizabeth stood outside the room peering through the large plexiglass window, she watched as the duty nurses prep'd her husband for surgery. She folded her hands and said a little prayer as they brought Jason out of his room on the gurney. She stopped them as they rolled him passed her.
"I'll be right here waiting for you, when you come back." she said as she took his hand in hers and held it tight. He cracked a smile and she kissed him gently. "I love you ...." were her last words to him as the orderlies rolled him down the hall towards the surgical wing.
"He's going to be fine, Elizabeth. Dr. Thomas is the best we have on staff here at the hospital. And I'll be scrubbing as well, so I'll be with him every step of the way." Elizabeth softly smiled and felt somewhat better knowing that Monica would be with Jason during his surgery. "We'll keep you updated as much as we can." Monica added before she walked down the same hallway and through the same double doors towards the surgical wing.
Alan took Elizabeth to the waiting area outside the ICU and sat with her, duration of Jason's surgery.
While Zander and Emily were safely away at the mountain cabin, Ric was on the case of Detective Steele. He too was curious as to why Steele was focusing the investigation on his brother. He had made a few phone calls to contacts he had in Florida to get more information about the murder case Steele was digging into.
"Look, I know you don't have much information about this case, but I need to find out more information then what I do have." Ric ordered as he spoke with someone in the DA's office in Miami on the phone. "Yes I know this is a 15 year old case, but ..." he just seemed to be getting doors slammed in his face at every corner. No one was talking or they didn't have the information he needed. This case was closed up tighter then a drum, which made him wonder why, what was so top secret about this 15 year old murder case. It just didn't make any sense to him.
As he sat frustrated in his office, there was a knock on his office door. "Come in!" he barked from behind his desk. Detective Steele peered in as he opened the door to Ric's office. "Bad night counselor?" Steele said as he pushed the door open and saw Ric sitting behind his desk. "Yes it has been and I should be home, but I'm not, I'm here working on a case at 2am in the morning. What can I do for you Detective Steele?" Ric was not at all happy with Steele and this was just the wrong night for him to come calling and fishing for information.
"I have it on good authority that your brother and his wife skipped town, is this true?" Steele asked as he stepped towards Ric's desk. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Steele." Ric replied as he closed the folder he was reading closed, weary of Steele. "It seems kind of funny that this investigation finally can bring your brother some closure on his father's death and he's conveniently out of town with his wife, don'tch ya think?" Steele replied as Ric got up from behind and his desk and walked towards him. Ric pushed Steele down in the leather chair behind him and said ...."Well since you are just source of information, why don't you sit down and tell me all you know."