Show: General Hospital

Title: Las Vidas de los Corinthos' II: Chapter 30

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

A/N: I've been really busy since school started then the weather, my computer and my muse joined forces in order to thwart me and prevent me from getting this out sooner. I'm sorry and hope you accept this chapter as a token of apology. Read and review, folks!

Jason blinked rapidly, sure that he was hallucinating. "Toreno?" he said, his voice laced with astonishment.

Delano tossed his head back and laughed, it was strangely maniacal but entirely fitting for the situation. "Bet you weren't expecting to see me!"

It was the understatement of the year.

Jason shook his head in disbelief as his mind tried to process what he now knew. Toreno was obviously connected to the calamity that had befallen them in recent weeks, but as to his motive, Jason hadn't a clue. "Why?" he asked, his glacier-blue eyes pinned on Delano, who was still chuckling.

At the other man's question, all signs of laughter disappeared from Delano's face. "'Why?' the man asks," he said to the dark of their surroundings. He snared at Jason. "I'll tell you why!" He reached into his pocket and held up a photo. "This! This is why!"

Jason eyes fell on a photograph of Joseph Taggliatti. Delano's cold black eyes narrowed in fury at the complete indifference in his enemy's gaze.

Alexis watched the warm fingers of dawn slip over Port Charles from the balcony of PH4. Behind her, on the living-room couch, Kristina and Zico slept side by side. Elizabeth sat at the end of the couch, wrapped tightly in an afghan. She had not said a word since the police had left and Jason had not returned to Harborview or at least called and had only slumped off about ten minutes ago. As the first birds flew across the horizon to verbally herald the new day, Alexis stole a glance at her watch – five-thirty a.m. Johnny had been out on the prowl all night. He'd returned half an hour ago, with no news of Jason.

Alexis was worried.

Sonny was too. It was written in his eyes although he said nothing. After Johnny had left the apartment to wait outside, he'd stolen a look at his elder daughter. Elizabeth had been staring off into space, looking so fragile that a feather could knock her over.

Alexis turned her head when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs and stepped back into the apartment, sliding the glass door shut behind her. Sonny was dressed in his customary suit – dark pants and jacket, black shirt, no tie – his battle gear, his ebony hair slicked back from his face.

"I'm gonna head down to the station now," he said softly.

"Okay," Alexis nodded, her eyes misting with tears as she noted the anguish in her fiancé's face. "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

"No," he shook his head. He looked over to the couch where their children lay sleeping. "You should be here when the kids wake up... and to look out for Elizabeth."

Alexis swallowed a lump in her throat but nodded. She paused and looked away, debating whether to ask the question that was gnawing at her insides.

"What?" asked Sonny, reaching out to gently slip a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Do you... do you think something happened to Jason?"

Sonny's dark eyes met Alexis's lighter brown orbs. "I don't even want to think about that," he replied honestly, his voice cracking at the last.

Alexis's face crumpled and Sonny pulled her into his arms. "We'll find him," he said, his voice filled with a reassurance he did not feel in the slightest.

Jason's eyes met Delano's in the dark. His head felt as though it would split with the pain that was pounding behind his eyes, but his curiosity and his need to know why Toreno felt he'd been wronged was more dominant. "Who are you?"

Delano's eyes narrowed. "My name is Delano Taggliatti and you," he spat into Jason's face, "you killed my brother!"

Jason didn't flinch as Delano's spittle landed on his cheek. Although his outward appearance didn't change, he was in shock upon learning that new piece of information. "Joseph Taggliatti signed his death warrant the minute he kidnapped Sonny Corinthos' daughter," he replied more strongly than he felt physically at that moment.

"And you signed yours the minute you put that bullet in his head," Delano hissed.

Jason's head was swimming but he tried diligently not to let his enemy see his weakness. "Your brother was a monster."

"And you're not? Oh, I forgot," Delano paused sarcastically, "you're Jason Morgan. You're a robot; you're incapable of feelings."

Jason didn't even blink in acknowledgement, which only served to further infuriate Delano. "Sonny's going to find out who you are eventually. You're an amateur Taggliatti," Jason goaded, without even raising his voice. "You're sloppy and you make careless mistakes. When he finds you, you'll wish you'd let sleeping dogs lie."

Delano smiled sinisterly. "No, no, no, Morgan, that's where you're wrong. By the time they find you, and they will... eventually, it'll be too late to change anything. You, my friend, are the way to Sonny Corinthos' downfall."

All activity ceased when the doors to police headquarters opened and the Corinthos brothers and their bodyguards stepped inside. For once, there was very little hostility from the police officers; it was replaced with a sense of sympathy for the brothers who had lost a sister. Ric led the way and Sonny followed, his head held high and his eyes fierce although on the inside, he was quivering with grief.

"Mr. Corinthos."

Sonny looked up to see Mac Scorpio flanked by Detectives Taggert and Garcia. "Mac," he acknowledged the other two officers with a nod.

"I'll have Detectives Taggert and Garcia escort you below to the morgue."

"Thank you," Ric replied, when it seemed Sonny couldn't even nod.

The two men turned away when Mac stopped them again. "I'm sorry for your loss, Mr. Corinthos," he said, his voice laced with sympathy.

Sonny nodded and followed Garcia and Taggert down the hall to the elevators.

The ride down to the basement floor of Police Headquarters seemed to be like a descent into the pits of hell. As the doors opened, the four men stepped into a stark sterile hallway, lit with harsh fluorescent lights. Classical music reached their ears as they proceeded down a short hallway and through two swinging doors. The large room behind the doors was surgical blue and five metal tray tables were arranged. Sterile medical equipment was positioned about the room and on the far end was a wall of metal drawers, used for storing the many bodies that had a habit of popping up in Port Charles. On one of the other walls were two cluttered desks. One was empty but at the other, a woman in a white lab coat and surgical scrubs sat typing rapidly at a computer.

On hearing footsteps approaching she stopped typing and turned towards them. On recognizing the men, she stood up and took off her glasses, which hung around her neck by a colourful string, and moved to greet them.

Taggert made the introductions. "Dr. Louisa Hart, meet Sonny Corinthos and his brother Ric Lansing."

She nodded politely and extended a hand, which both men shook. "Mr. Corinthos, Mr. Lansing." Port Charles's new Chief Medical Examiner certainly was not what Sonny or his brother had expected. Dr. Hart was petite and as fine-boned as a bird. She had fiery red hair, which reminded Sonny of Bobby Spencer's, pale luminescent skin without any freckles, and fathomless green eyes the colour of emeralds. She appeared to be about in her twenties, but she had to be thirty at least.

"Dr. Hart," Ric replied, hoping he did not look or sound as fascinated as he felt inside.

Louisa was busy forming her own opinion about the two brothers. Both were dark haired and olive-skinned, with dark brown almost black eyes framed with dense long sooty eyelashes that seemed wasted on a man. Ric was taller, but Sonny had an air of absolute authority that suited his reputation as the most powerful mobster on the Eastern Seaboard. Both however, had an air of despair that shadowed their beautiful eyes, Sonny especially. Still, she was inexplicably drawn toward the younger of the two, a highly inappropriate feeling considering the circumstances.

"This way, please," she instructed, abruptly turning her back and heading through another swinging door. They entered a stark white room, in the center of which was a table covered with a sheet. The contour of a body was visible beneath it. "The body was brought in early this morning. I've done an external examination, however I'll perform a full autopsy after you've verified if this is indeed your sister." She paused directly at the body, donned a pair of gloves and went to pull back the sheet. Seeing the disintegrating look of grief on the brothers' faces, she asked softly, "Would you two like some time alone?"

Ric looked relieved at her intuition, knowing that upon seeing Courtney, Sonny would most likely fall apart and not wanting the officers to see it he nodded. "Thank you, doctor."

She nodded and handed him a package that held gloves. "Put these on," she directed. "Pull the sheet back to her shoulders, no further and try not to touch anything. Take as much time as you need," she added, stripping off her gloves and tossing them into a hands-free garbage bin. The look she leveled the two cops bade they follow her without a word and the three stepped through the doors leaving the two brothers alone.

Sonny mechanically pulled on his gloves and, before Ric could step forward to do it for him, pulled the sheet back to reveal the person's features. A sob ripped from his throat as he recognized his sister and Ric closed his eyes as tears threatened to spill. Some part of him had been hoping it was not Courtney, but it was.

"Jesus," Sonny whispered, looking away.

She looked so peaceful, Ric thought tearfully. Courtney looked as though she was sleeping, her thick blonde eyelashes lying at the tops of her high cheekbones. Her platinum blonde tresses were fanned on the slab. The only indication of her plight was the horrendous bruise along her throat and the faint blue tinge of her lips.

Although they'd rarely seen eye-to-eye, linked only by Sonny, he knew how important she was to their family and she certainly hadn't deserved to die the way she had. Ric turned to his brother to see his shoulders shaking as he cried silently. He belatedly realized that tears were running down his face as well. The two men fell into each other's arms, holding each other as they sobbed their loss.

It wasn't long before they pulled away and tried to regain their composure. Ric scrubbed at the evidence of his tears with the back of his jacket sleeve. Sonny did the same. "You ready?" Ric asked his brother after swallowing a lump the size of a goose egg that had lodged in his throat.

Yes, Sonny nodded, straightening his clothing as well as his features.

Ric opened the door and looked out to see that Taggert and Garcia were gone and Dr. Hart lounged patiently against the wall. "It was her," was all he said, amazed at the calm in his voice.

"Ok," Louisa replied. She set her square wire-frames back on her nose and followed them into the room. She donned her gloves and picking up a clipboard and pen from the holder mounted on the wall, handed it to Sonny. "You need to sign that the body has been verified as Courtney Matthews as well as to give me permission to conduct an internal autopsy."

Sonny did as she asked, quickly signing his signature at the appropriate points. "When will her body be released to us?" he asked.

"I'll have completed my examination before the end of the day. I'll rush the tox-screens for you, Mr. Corinthos, and be able to legally release her body to your care in two days."

"Thank you, doctor," he replied and walked away without another word.

"I apologise for him, but..." Ric trailed off with a heavy sigh and wiped the fatigue from his eyes.

"No," Louisa shook her head and held up a hand. "It's completely understandable."

Ric nodded in acknowledgement and made to follow Sonny out.

"Mr. Lansing?"

"Yes, Dr. Hart?"

"About Rhys Samuels, you had asked for his body to released as soon as possible?"

Ric closed his eyes. In his grief for Courtney, he'd all but forgotten about the other man who'd died, a man who had no one to care for him. "Oh, yes...."

Louisa's green eyes were sympathetic. "I can have my assistant arrange something for you."

"Thank you; it's greatly appreciated," he reached into his briefcase and handed him a card with his contact number.

"No problem," Louisa replied, accepting the card. Ric moved to turn away but, for some reason, Louisa didn't want to stop talking, even under the circumstances. "I truly am sorry for your loss."

Ric nodded, looking at her intently, wishing he'd met her under much better circumstances. Imprinting her image into his head one last time, he turned away and walked out.

Down in the bullpen, Garcia watched with a thoughtful frown as Sonny, with Johnny in tow, quickly left the headquarters. Ric followed not long afterwards, his eyes downcast as Max walked ahead of him. As the doors closed behind him, he swiveled in his chair back to his partner, who was sipping a cup of coffee as he perused the morning newspaper.

"Any word on Morgan?" he asked.

Taggert looked up and shook his head. "Nope... word is that the Corinthos' are looking for him, too."

"Think he did it?"

"Morgan's a robot. He wouldn't do something unless Sonny ordered him to. You saw Corinthos' reaction – do you honestly think he would put a hit out on his own sister?"

"Just bouncin' theories around," Garcia defended himself.

Taggert grimaced, setting his cup of sludge down. "All we've got is theories," he said, his frustration evident, "and as far those go, we've got jack-shit. Some part of me was convinced that Corinthos had a hand in it, but now... it's obvious he's not."

"So, basically we're back to square one."

"Not really."

Garcia and Taggert looked up to see Lucky hovering over their desks.

"We got a hit on the man the kid described," he explained, holding the picture aloft. "Anonymous call came through when you two were in the basement – identified the man as one Edward Yates. Pulled his records of the 'net and guess what? He's a former Special Forces 'Nam vet."

Taggert grinned. "Best news I've had all morning. Good job, kid."

Both brothers were staring off into the distance when Sonny's cellphone rang. Checking the caller-ID, he recognized Benny's number and he answered quickly. "What d'you got?"

"The picture's been ID-ed."

"And?" Sonny prompted, rapidly losing his patience.

"His name's Edward Yates, ex-Special forces."

"Who does he work for?"

"You're not gonna believe this, but he used to do jobs for Rocco Taggliatti."

"Joe Taggliatti's father?" Sonny asked incredulously.

"The one and only."

"Who does he work for now?"

"No one. They fished him out of the river just now."

TBC...

A/N: I hope you enjoyed. I've introduced a new character in this chapter. It was purely unintentional, but I can see her character being woven into more situations and I think it's time to give my Ric Lansing (who I adore in my story, but loathe on the show) a love-interest. I crave feedback, so please let me know what you thought.