Disclaimer: The characters of GH as well as General Hospital itself don't belong to me.


"Hey Riley, wait up!" Jack called across the front lawn of PC High. His sister barely slowed down her pace but he caught up with her anyways. "How'd you do on that Calc test?"

"I got a B," Riley said. "You?"

"C plus."

"Ouch." Riley smiled sympathetically at her twin. "I'll help you study for the next one."

"Thanks. Hey, Mom says we can go visit Michael today, do you want to go with me right now?"

"I would but I can't," Riley said. "I promised Mom that I'd go right home and stay with Lila so Kristina could have the afternoon off."

"Kristina isn't with Lila today," Jack said. "She spent the day with Aunt Emily."

"Oh."

Jack stopped her. "Rye, what's wrong?" he asked. They sat down on a park bench.

"Nothing," she insisted. "I just have a lot of homework to do today."

"It's Friday," he reminded her gently. "Don't you want to come see Michael?"

"Yes, but—"

"But what?"

Riley sighed. "I want to see Michael, but I don't want to go to the hospital," she admitted, looking down at the ground.

"Why don't you want to go to the hospital?" Jack asked. "You work there, remember?"

"I quit," she said quietly, not meeting her brother's gaze.

"You quit? Riley, does mom know?"

"She does work there, I'm sure she does."

"Rye, you love that job," Jack said. "Why did you quit? What's going on?"

She sighed. "That night," she whispered. "I was at the hospital that night." She looked up at Jack and knowing that he was going to force the whole story out of her, she continued on. "I saw Jacob."

"I didn't know that. Rye, you didn't tell me."

She lifted her shoulders in a slight shrug. "When?" she asked. "When was I going to tell you? After you and mom came to the hospital to tell me daddy was dead? On the days when mom wouldn't even get out of bed? The funeral?" She shook her head. "There was never going to be a good time and now it's just easier not to talk about it."

"Yeah, but Riley, you saw Jacob. Was he awake, did he say anything?"

"He couldn't say anything, there was already a tube down his throat and—"her voice cracked slightly. "He looked so scared," she admitted. "His eyes were open and he was alert and he was looking at me and I tried to tell him everything was going to be okay but everything was happening so fast and I didn't know what to do." She looked at Jacob helplessly. "I didn't know what to do."

Jack put an arm around her shoulder and let her cry while he tried to think of something to say. "I think you being there was all Jacob needed," he said finally. "You were there to hold his hand so he wasn't alone."

"I guess." Riley took a deep breath and dried her eyes. "But I'm still not ready to go back to the hospital yet, okay?"

"Okay," Jack relented. "But Riley, you should talk to mom about this. She wouldn't like it that you kept this from her."

"I know. I'll talk to her when I'm ready." She recoiled at the look on Jack's face. "Okay, okay, I'll talk to her tonight!"

"Good." Jack looked at his watch. "Alright, I'm going to go see Michael. Can I tell him you said hi?"

"Absolutely." Riley smiled. "I'll see you at home." They took off in separate directions, Jack towards GH and Riley towards anywhere that wasn't home.

There was no way she was talking to her mom tonight.


Michael was flipping through a magazine his mom had left him when he had forced her to go into work for a few hours. He had claimed to be tired and didn't want her to sit there and watch him sleep, but really, he just hadn't wanted to deal with her questioning him just yet.

"Hey man."

He looked up to see Jack in the doorway and he grinned, tossing the magazine aside. "Jack, hey!" he said. "I've been waiting for you to show up."

Jack grinned back and sat down next to him. "I came as soon as I could," he explained. Mom and Aunt Carly didn't want you to have too many visitors too soon."

Michael nodded. "This is crazy Jack," he said. "I still can't believe they blew the warehouse up."

"I know. We have to figure out what that was about but first, how are you doing? I know everything that's happened had to be hard to wake up to."

Michael shook his head. "I can't believe they're all gone," he admitted. "This wasn't supposed to happen. Dad and Jason wouldn't have been anywhere near that warehouse if they had suspected anything could go wrong."

"I agree. And, if they had known anything, wouldn't they have prepared us for that possibility?"

Michael nodded. "Unless it was a secondary threat?"

"I don't know. We have other things to worry about right now."

"Our moms?" Jack nodded.

"They're getting involved Mike. They know we know more than we're supposed to, and I think they know something we don't."

"Yeah I got that feeling from my mom too." He sighed. "I can't believe your mom went to a meeting," he said. "She's always hated anything having to do with it."

"I can't believe either of them went. I didn't even know one was called, or else I'd have found a way to go."

"Mom told me part of what she's been planning," Michael confided. "I don't like it Jack. I don't like them trying to find out who set off the explosives."

"I know, I tried to tell mom that but she just shut down."

"We both know my mom won't listen to me," Michael said, rolling his eyes. He sighed. "We gotta beat them to it Jack. We have to figure out who did this first."

"Got any ideas?" Jack asked, and Michael nodded. They both spoke at the same time.

"Giancamo."


Riley wished she had planned her evening a little better. She wished she had brought an umbrella with her at the very least. She ducked into the first building she saw and slammed the door behind her.

Perfect, she thought, looking around. While she had never actually been in this particular establishment, it was almost legendary from the stories her parents and aunt and uncle had told.

"Welcome to Jakes." A bartender leaned against the counter and smiled easily at her. "Want something to take the chill off?"

"Not just yet, thanks," she said, perching herself on a barstool and surveying the place. The bartender went back to stacking glasses and left her alone.

"Haven't seen you here before." The voice startled her out of her thoughts and she nodded at the guy standing to her left.

"Haven't been here before," she replied, smiling slightly.

"You play?" he asked, nodding towards the pool table.

"A little," she said, deciding not to mention just how well she played. "Haven't in awhile." She couldn't stop staring into his dark green eyes.

"Well then I think you're about due for a game. I promise I'll go easy on you." He grinned at her again. "What do you say?"

"Sure," she said with a shrug. She took the stick from his hands and leaned against the nearest table. "You can set them up," she offered, pointing to the balls.

"I think I'm being hustled," the green-eyed stranger said after watching her clear half of the table.

"Never underestimate a girl just because she looks innocent," Riley said, picking up his beer off of the table and taking a sip. She tried not to grimace as the liquid burned her throat. She had been sneaking alcohol from her parents' cabinet for the last week or so, but beer was still something she wasn't sure she would ever get used to.

"So you're saying you're not innocent?" he asked, taking his bottle back from her. She stiffened as she felt his arm snake around her so that his hand rested on the small of her back. She ignored the chill going down her spine and the butterflies in her stomach as she pulled away and answered him.

"I didn't say that either." She winked at him and took another shot at the pool table.

"Cute."

"I think so," she said as she sank the last ball. She spun around and smiled satisfactorily. "Thanks for going easy on me," she said, patting him on the shoulder. She was surprised when he stepped close enough to her so that she could feel his breath on her cheek.

Instead of feeling threatened or scared, as her brain was telling her she should feel, Riley only felt those stupid butterflies in her stomach again.

Feeling brave, she licked her lips and stared defiantly into those amazing green eyes and waited. She knew Jimmy, her bodyguard, well enough to know that the second she kissed this guy he'd come barging into the bar and drag her home.

Sure enough, the second their lips touched she heard the door open and out of the corner of her eye she saw Jimmy staring her down. Sighing, she pulled away and nodded at Jimmy.

"What's your name?" she asked, knowing she only had a few seconds before Jimmy butted in.

He looked her up and down and took a drink from his beer bottle. He grinned and finally answered her.

"Ryan Alcazar."


Author's Note: Hmm, I bet that last scene seemed a little out of place with the rest of the story, didn't it? Actually, it's very well placed. I know I haven't really mentioned the kids yet and how they're dealing with everything, but the little streak of rebellion Riley's on is definitely going to play a much bigger part in this story, as is the idea of Michael and Jack against Carly and Courtney in finding out who set the explosion. Complicated? A little, but hey, that's the world of soaps! Oh, and as of right now, Ryan Alcazar is going to be the son of Lorenzo and Lois... you try and come up with someone to pair the girl with that she wouldn't be somewhat related to! LOL. As always, reviews are welcome!!!

Oh, and also, I've started a C2 community, Love Is A Battlefield, which is dedicated to Carson/Journey/mob-centric fanfiction. If you have a story you'd like archived there, let me know!!!