Chapter Seven: Close Calls

"What the hell happened here?" Ric asked himself at Lorenzo's door. "Whoa, looks like a crime scene" He said, seeing the place totally destroyed.

"Boss, did you do this?"

"What are you doing here, you're not supposed to be here, especially not now. I didn't do a damn thing. I was about to ask you if you did this?"

"Hell no, I'm just as surprised as you"

"Well, get the hell out of here before someone sees me with you, you can't be here when I call my officers in. Go!" Ric ordered.

If anyone found out he hired a hit-man on the side, he would be over as D.A. and a lawyer. But at least this way, he could call his officers in, and blame this whole chaos on Lorenzo.

"Spencer, I need you and a couple guys down at Lorenzo Alcazar's penthouse. You know where it's at. I think we might have something here" He hung up and went back into the penthouse.

"Who is that?" Ric asked himself seeing a body-form behind a broken coffee table. Ric was shocked out of his mind at who he finally realized it was. It was Courtney.

"Courtney?" Ric moved the table out of the way to check her pulse. "Damn, I don't think Alcazar did this. This could be something else" Ric said a loud. "Damnit"

"I need a Port Charles ambulance here now, and hurry" Ric hung up his phone, looking at Courtney. "Someone beat you up pretty bad."

"Courtney!" Lorenzo rushed in.

"There you are, what's going on here, Lorenzo? Trashed your place and a few others?" Ric stood up. Knowing he couldn't have done this, his chances of locking him up were slim-to-none.

"Move out of my way, Lansing" He pushed him aside and saw Courtney. "Courtney, can you hear me? Courtney!" Lorenzo tried waking her up. "Did you call a damn ambulance, Ric?"

"Yes, I did. You think I would just leave her like that. I'm not that cold- hearted."

"Don't play innocent, damnit. I know you had someone stalk me and Courtney. You are going down for this, Lansing" Lorenzo warned.

"I have no idea what your talking about. If you think by making these ridiculous accusations, you'll get out of this mess, you're sadly mistaken. One of your "Business Associates" had to do this. We're going to get to the bottom of this once and for all" Ric stated knowingly.

Lorenzo barely paid any attention to him, he was way to busy trying to retrieve Courtney. "Courtney, please wake up. Come on, you have to wake up" Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. Where was Sage?

"Sage"

"Who? Someone else was here?" Ric asked.

"Yes, my niece. Courtney, where is Sage? Courtney, sweetheart, please wake up" Lorenzo asked gently raising her head up.

Ric hurried to the back room and came out quickly. "No sign of your niece, are you sure she was here?"

"Yes, she was here with Courtney when I left to find your hitman!" Lorenzo spat back.

Ric turned his head quickly and got on his phone, ignoring his accusation.

"We're here, what's going on?" Lucky asked, seeing Courtney in Lorenzo's arms. "Is she dead?"

"No, she's alive, she has a bloody cut on her face, but I don't understand why she hasn't regained consciousness.

"The ambulance is on it's way, we need to know who did this" Lucky told Lorenzo than looked at the other cop.

"A witness said they saw an armed guy leave out of here with a young girl not to long ago" Ric said hanging up.

Lorenzo glared at him. He was stuck between believing whether or not, Ric's hired hit-man did this, or one of his old-business associates. And at the same time he feared for his niece and Courtney.

"Sonny, have you heard from your sister lately?" Carly asked.

"No, She's nothing to me anymore." Sonny coldly answered.

"Sonny, you don't mean that. How many times have you said that, and then talked to her?" Carly reminded him.

"I'm serious this time Carly. I'm breaking all ties with her. If she was really my sister she would have left that bastard alone. But what is she doing again? She's involved with him again. I can't take that, Carly!" Sonny pointed.

"Sonny, you're just mad, and you need some time to calm down" Carly told him.

"I am calm, damnit. She's a traitor, just like I said before. As far as I'm concerned, she's not my sister anymore, so leave me alone, Carly" his voice grew cold with anger.

Carly frowned and backed off. "Jason will change his mind one of these days. I know Sonny, he can't stay mad at Courtney forever"

"We've located the suspect and Sage, not to far from here. We have back up teams already standing by and waiting for their orders" Lucky told Ric.

"Okay, you go and as soon as you get there, call me and i'll give the order, I have to stay here" Ric told Lucky, while writing some things down.

Lucky agreed and left with the other cops.

"You better not get my niece killed, Lansing, so help you God" Lorenzo warned.

"Your niece will return safely, my men are trained professionals. Whoever did this, must have been a professional as well. Obviously, this break-in was a warning for you, and the kidnapping of your niece was a dire warning. You better watch your back Alcazar, not many people like you" Ric said looking around at the mess.

Lorenzo ignored him. He started to think maybe one of his old Business Associates had done this, but he wasn't going to ignore the fact that Lansing was having someone stalk them. Whoever he did hire, didn't do this. That was too risky for even Ric to pull.

"Courtney?" He immediately looked down at her as she began to stir. "It's okay, you're going to be alright. Can you open your eyes for me?"

Courtney's eyes slowly opened and looked up.

"Sage"

"I know, we are looking for her now. She's going to be okay" Lorenzo hoped. "Can you sit up?"

"I don't know, it feels like a house fell on my head" Courtney tried to make it out of a joke.

"I know, you have a cut on your face, is that what you feel?"

Courtney felt her face and shook her head. "No, that doesn't hurt as bad. What's he doing here?" She asked looking at Ric.

"I'm here to get to the bottom of this. Can you give me a description of the guy you saw?" Ric asked kneeling on one knee.

"Not now, Ric, she can barely talk." Lorenzo told him.

"Can you help me up?" Courtney asked.

Lorenzo nodded and scooped her up gently in his arms. He brought her over to the couch and laid her down.

"I could have walked" Courtney smiled.

"I know, but I didn't want you to do that so soon. The doctors are going to check you out, they should be here soon" Lorenzo told her holding her hand.

Courtney nodded and squeezed his hand back. She was glad he was there and not hurt. She hoped Sage was okay also.

"Oh my God, Courtney, are you okay?" Bobbie asked rushing in with the EMS.

"Yes, I think so" Courtney placed her hand on her forehead.

"Looks, like you got a nasty cut, and concussion"

"Concussion?"

"Yeah, you have a big bloody cut on the back of your head, must have been from that nasty glass over there. That explains your pupils and headache" Bobbie told her checking her pulse.

"Is she going to be okay?" Lorenzo asked worried.

"She should be fine. You don't need to be doing anything right now, young lady" Bobbie told her putting her stuff back in her bag. "Let me get your some bandages and we'll clean that right up"

"Great, just what I need. A concussion" Courtney laid back.

"I'm just glad it wasn't worst, Courtney. I was worried" Lorenzo told her kneeling down.

"You dont have to worry about me, I'll be fine. Thank you for helping me wake up" Courtney smiled.

"We'll talk more about what happened later, right now you need to rest like Bobbie said" Lorenzo advised.

Courtney nodded and waited for Bobbie to finish up with her bandages.

"Does Carly know what happened here?" Bobbie asked.

"No, no, I don't want her to know right now. She will just come over here and freak out on me and everyone" Courtney laughed. "I'm fine, if I were any worst I would have called, but I'm fine really. Thank you, Bobbie"

"Your welcome, sweetie. I'm giving you some meds for that headache, and you get lots of rest. You call me if you need to. I hope they catch whoever did this. It's just awful" Bobbie shook her head, finishing up with her bandages.

"Yeah, I know" Courtney said suddenly feeling tired.

"Is it safe back at her place?" Bobbie asked Lorenzo.

"Well, the reason why I brought her here was to be safer, but it looks like I was wrong. She's safe right now though, don't worry" Lorenzo told her.

"No, you don't worry. I heard about your niece, she will be back safely, and catch that bad guy" Bobbie reassured him.

"Thank you, Dr. Spencer" Lorenzo shook her hand.

He wanted so bad to go out and get Sage himself, but he had to stay out of it or he would put his niece in even more danger. If this guy turns out to be someone he knows, it would be his fault, Courtney and Sage got hurt. And if it was Ric's fault, then he better say his prayers tonight.

He returned by Courtney's side, who was already asleep. He smiled at her, but frowned a few times when she cringed from the pain in her head. He hated to see her like this, the last time he saw her in pain this bad was a year ago when he had found her by her wrecked car out in the rain, looking for Carly. He could have kicked himself for not caring enough about her in the past, maybe losing her baby could have been prevented also. He couldn't do that though, and dwelling on it wasn't going to make him feel any better, not that he was feeling better. He was dying inside knowing his niece was kidnapped by some freak. Now he knew how it felt to have someone he loved kidnapped.

"Looks like she's going to live" Ric said, breaking Lorenzo's thoughts.

"Yes, she's going to be fine. Now, are you done here?" Lorenzo stood up.

"We got a few more pictures to take, and we need some statements, then we're going to head down where this maniac has your niece. Oh, one second" Ric got out his cell phone. "Hello? Okay, I'll be right there. We got the guy, it was a close call though, gave the order just in time, their taking him into custody now. "Ric said getting his things.

"What about Sage?" Lorenzo followed him.

"Their bringing her back here, she appears to not have been hurt."

"Thank God. I'll be waiting for her"

Ric nodded and left out.

"Courtney did you hear that? Sage, is fine" Lorenzo beamed with joy. "Courtney?"

'She's asleep' he said to himself stroking her hair.

"Uncle Lorenzo!" Sage screamed and ran to him.

"Sage! Oh my God, are you okay?" Lorenzo cupped her face.

"I am now, it was horrible! I'm just glad you're okay, and they caught that jerk!" Sage hugged him again.

"I'm glad you're okay, Sage. I was so worried, I thought I would lose you" Lorenzo whispered. You could see his eyes welling up with tears. Something you don't see Lorenzo do very often.

"I know, but I'm okay, he didn't hurt me" Sage continued hugging him than looked over at Courtney. "Oh my god, I forgot about Courtney, will she be okay?"

"She'll be fine. She just had a minor cut and concussion from the fall" Lorenzo told her.

"Oh, thank God. I tried to get her up as the jerk held me at gunpoint, but she didn't move. That explains it" Sage looked up at him.

"I wanted to go after you, but I didn't want to put you in more danger. I think the guy was after me. I'm going to find out who the bastard was and make sure he never hurts anyone again, okay?" Lorenzo promised.

Sage nodded and hugged him one last time. "What a mess, what are you going to do?"

"I dont know, right now all that matters is that your safe. We can either stay here or go somewhere else, whatever you want" Lorenzo smiled.

"It doesn't matter. The guy won't be back here again" Sage said. "What about, Courtney?"

"She can stay here for now, until we make sure her home is safe enough to go back to, don't want to rush anything"

"Right, well I hope she stays. I like her, do you like her?"

"Yes, of course, I like her" Lorenzo smiled.

"Good, then she's staying!" Sage grinned. "I'll be right back, I have to call Dillon."

"Are you sure you'll be okay by yourself?"

"Yes, Uncle Lorenzo, I'm not mental" Sage jokrf and waved goodbye to the cop outside the penthouse.

Lorenzo laughed at her remark and signaled at the cop that it was okay to leave.

"What's so funny?" Courtney asked looking up at him.

"Sage, she's back and safe. She's handled this whole ordeal well. I'm proud of her" Lorenzo smiled.

Courtney sighed in relief. "I am glad she is okay, that is a scary thing to be kidnapped at gunpoint. I hope the guy pays for what he's done"

"He will, I'll make sure of it. You really need to sleep though, Courtney. Sage and I want you to stay here for now, if it's okay, but I insist"

"Okay, I will. Thank you" Courtney held her hand out.

"What are you doing?"

"Shaking your hand"

"Courtney, this isn't a business meeting" Lorenzo smiled.

"Oh, I forgot" Courtney joked.

"I see your sense of humor stays with you through thick and thin" Lorenzo laughed and took her hand anyway.

"I'm sorry for what happened here, it never should have. I should have stayed here, this would have been prevented" Lorenzo apologized.

"Don't do that, you didn't know. Besides, I think Ric is to blame for this. After all he probably is. I'm glad we'll find out who the guy that did this is soon" Courtney said looking around at the room.

"Your right, Courtney. It probably is his fault. No one will hurt you or Sage ever again. I'll make sure of it" Lorenzo promised.

Courtney could tell he was dead-serious. He was really torn apart by this. He could understand his worry and concern for Sage. But to place her on the same scale as Sage? Maybe he felt guilty about the past and what happened between to the two of them, or maybe something more.

"You get some rest, okay? I'm going to get this place cleaned up and see what else I can do" Lorenzo said taking his jacket off and covering her with it.

Courtney nodded and shut her eyes to rest. As soon as she was well-rested she would go back to her crazy life. Oh, how in the world would she explain this to Carly. How would she ever tell Jason or Sonny? They would only blame Lorenzo and probably try and kill him again. Maybe this whole thing was better kept quiet. Maybe it was for the best.

Courtney drifted off into dream land, hopefully tomorrow, the sun would shine. For everyone. Well, not everyone.

The famous chapter seven everyone has been waiting for has finally arrived! I hope you guys enjoyed it! Sorry it took so long, I wanted to make sure it was perfect, and I didnt make any mistakes with the storyline. Gotta be careful of that! ;) Thanks for the reviews!!!:) Chapter 8 will be up SOON! Stay tuned!! haha.