Part IV

Jax did not think that Courtney would be at the loft, but he thought he would try there first. The place was a ghost of what it used to be. Even though Courtney had moved in with Jax, Courtney had not sold the place. She told him that she wanted to be able to show their child the place where they had fallen in love some day. However, most of her things were gone. All the shelves and drawers were empty. The bed was naked, absent of sheets and pillows. The soft pinging of the rain on the window was the only sound breaking the eerie silence and added to the ghostly feel of the apartment. In the darkness the place looked strangely alien. He could tell that it had been many weeks since its rooms had held occupancy.

He was about to leave when his cell phone began to ring.

"Jasper Jacks."

"Jax, this is Steven Webber. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but your fiancée Courtney has been in a car accident…"

Jax felt his heart fall to his stomach. The fear that clenched him made it hard for him to breath. His body was physically preparing his heart and mind for the worse, but still he did not want to ask. All these emotions went through him in the second it took for Steven to continue.

"…She was just brought in a moment ago."

"Is she all right?" he choked out.

"She was unconscious, but her injuries on the surface seem minimal. We're doing more tests now to make sure that there are no internal injuries. But I'm optimistic her diagnosis will be good."

"Thank you! I'm on my way!" Jax said quickly hanging up the phone.


As Courtney regained consciousness, the first thing she noticed was the dull throbbing in her head. She blinked her eyes open slowly as she recalled her car's tumble into a ditch. Then she reoriented herself, realizing that she was in a bland, sterile hospital room for what felt like the millionth time. She hated hospitals. And she wanted Jax to come rescue her. She wanted to feel him wrap his arms around her and hold her close as he whispered how much he loved her…then she remembered that they had broken up. Or rather, that she had selfishly broken up with him. She began to cry from a mixture of physical pain, emotional heartache, and general depression.

Then the unmistakable voice of the man she loved sounded from behind the door, followed by a hand pulling it open, and then his worried smile appeared like a ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds.

"Courtney! Thank god you're all right!" he exclaimed leaning down to kiss her. Then he sat down gingerly next to her on the bed and cupped her face. He noticed a bruise on the side of her face and a bandaged cut. "Are you in a lot of pain?" he asked as he wiped away her tears with his thumb.

Courtney nodded, and then winced with the pain her motion brought.

"Lie still," Jax crooned. "I'll see if I can get a nurse to get you something," he said getting up and going outside. He returned with a nurse that gave her an analgesic intravenously.

Then he sat down next to her, and began to play with her hair and caress her arm—anything to stay in constant contact with her, in order to assure himself that she was alive. "You know, they found you near West Haven. Your car was overturned. What were you doing way out there?"

"I didn't have anywhere else to go," she let out weakly.

Jax nodded understandingly. "I went to the loft. I didn't think you would be there…" He paused, remembering the last time they made love at the loft. "We had a lot of good times there didn't we?" He smiled a little lasciviously. Courtney could not help but grin through her pain when he smiled at her like that.

She began to blink slowly, and he knew that she was growing sleepy. It must have been her pain medication kicking in. "Go to sleep, Courtney. You're understandably tired…I'll be right here, waiting for you to wake up. I'm not going anywhere."

He watched her sleeping peacefully for a few moments, taking simple delight in just watching her chest rise and fallen evenly with her breaths. He felt a little light-headed with relief. Courtney was all right.


The next time Courtney woke up, it was to the sound of her mother demanding to know where she was.

"I am her mother, and I have the right to see for myself that she is all right!" Courtney heard her yell from outside her door.

"Shh! Janine." Jax tried to quiet her. "She's inside sleeping."

"I know that!" she said in a lower tone. "It's just that when I got your call, I'd never been so scared in my life, and I just want to see her. Even if she's sleeping."

"Of course," Jax said opening the door. He immediately noticed that she was awake and smiled at her. "Hey there, sleepyhead."

"Courtney!" Janine exclaimed rushing to her and kissing her face. "I was so worried about you. What were you thinking driving in the rain like that?"

"Mom? Could you not talk so loud? My head hurts."

"Oh! I'm sorry!" she replied in a loud whisper. Courtney grimaced.

"Could you get me some water? I'm thirsty."

"I got it," Jax said, leaving the mother and daughter to talk.

Courtney tried to sit up, and Janine reached out to help her. When they got her comfortably settled, Courtney asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Can't a mother be worried about her daughter?"

"I don't mean at the hospital. I mean here in Port Charles. You know I've been hurt before…much worse even…and you never bothered to show."

"I know, baby, and I'm sorry. But I'm here now."

"What did you read in a newspaper that I was marrying a billionaire and come here to try to scam me for some money?"

"I had no idea that you were getting married until Jax came to Atlantic City and told me."

"Jax told you?" Courtney felt a mix of surprise and sadness at that. On the one hand she was glad that Jax had gone to her mother, much like she had gone to his, but that had turned out badly, and she was not sure that this would turn out any better. And she was sad because it was apparent that her mother had not kept track of her. But Courtney herself had been no better.

"Yes. Jax told me that despite everything that had happened between us, you still wanted to see me. That you still loved me, even. Is that true?"

Courtney stared hard at her mother. She had changed. She looked older, the lines that had only just begun to show through the pounds and pounds of make up that she used to try to cover her age had gotten deeper. Courtney could also see in her eyes love and concern. She also seemed sincerely apologetic. And seeing those things reminded her of how much she had missed her mother and how she had wished she had not let them come to such and impasse. Because deep down in her heart she loved her mother and needed her so much.

With tears in her eyes, she nodded. "Yes, mom. It's all true. I missed you so much." She reached out to her mother and was enfolded in a tight hug, both happy and relieved that the breach between them was on its way to being mended.


Jax was on his way to return to Courtney's room with a pitcher of water for her and a cup when he saw Steven Webber.

"Doctor, have you gotten Courtney's test results back yet?"

"Yes, I have. I was just on my way to see her now. Is she still asleep?"

"No, but she's in there talking with her mother. I wanted to give them some privacy…they've been rather estranged as of late."

"Ah, well, there's nothing dire, I'll just tell you, and you can tell her later."

"Then she's fine? Her tests results came back OK?"

"She's perfect. She and the baby are both very healthy…apart from the headache."

"That's great to hear…" Jax replied immediately relieved that the doctor had given her a clean bill of health. "Wait a second, did you just say 'and the baby'?"

"You didn't know? Courtney's pregnant."

"But…I thought…we thought…she wouldn't be able to get pregnant without surgery," Jax replied in shock. He let his hands fall and consequently spilled the pitcher of water.

"It appears you two have beaten the odds." Dr. Webber grabbed the water and cup from him and set them on the nurse's station. "Congratulations!" He grinned.

"Thank you. Thank you! This is fabulous news! Courtney will be so surprised, and excited! I'm pretty sure she had no idea, or she would have told me." He grabbed Dr. Webber by the shoulders and squeezed. "I'm going to go tell her now!" He exclaimed, running down the hallway.

"Don't forget…the water…" Dr. Webber called out after his retreating form. Looking down at the mess he had made, he shook his head, but could not help but smile.

Janine was gone when he got there.

"Where's my water?" Courtney asked.

"Shit!" Jax exclaimed.

"All that time and you still forgot?" Courtney smiled wryly. "Or did you do it on purpose, so that you could give me and my mother some time alone to talk?"

"Well, I did leave for that reason. But—"

"It worked, Jax. I don't even know how I can thank you for what you did, getting her to come like you did. I didn't even know myself how much I missed her until I saw her again…but you did. You always know me better than I know myself."

"I'm glad it worked."

"I only wish that my visit to your mother had turned out as well."

"Just give her time."

"I don't think it will be that easy."

"Just trust me."

Courtney felt regret at those words. How many times had he asked her to trust him, and how many times had she shown that she was incapable or unwilling to do it. "I should have trusted you SO many times. I should have trusted you with the truth when I lied for Jason, and I should have trusted that you would not have asked me to marry you if you still had lingering feelings for Brenda. Which was exactly what I was afraid of, and you called me on it immediately. I don't know why I let Lady Jane get to me. I've just been so emotional lately."

"I have something important to tell you that may explain why you've been feeling the way you have."

"What is it?"

"I can't believe it never occurred to us before…the strange cravings you've been having…how you've been getting sick in the mornings…and sometimes the afternoon…and your emotional volatility…all the signs were there, but we just never realized it…"

"Realized what?" Courtney asked becoming alarmed.

Jax reached out and pressed his hand against her stomach. "That you're going to have a baby. Courtney, you're pregnant!"

"Oh, my God! Jax!" she exclaimed throwing herself into his arms. He squeezed her tight and then pulled away enough to kiss her. She could not believe the news. She looked down at her still flat stomach and then back up at Jax who was beaming with happiness. "I only dreamed it would be possible," she told him with tears in his eyes. "I didn't want to hope too much for fear of disappointment…but now…" She could not stop the tears from falling out of her eyes, but they were tears of happiness and Jax wiped them away tenderly with his thumb. "I don't know how to thank you, Jax."

"Thank me for what?"

"For being my prince charming and making all of my dreams come true. I love you so much, Jax."

"I love you, too. And as for thanking me, can you just make me a promise?"

"Anything."

"Don't run away from me. Things may seem bad, but if you just give us a chance to work things out, I think we can, if we talk about it. Just like now, and especially since we've got this baby to think about."

"I promise."

Jax sighed with relief and kissed her again. "Now that's all straightened out, we should think about our wedding. We can't let anything else delay it more than it has been or you'll be too fat to fit in your wedding dress!"

Courtney laughed and smacked him on the shoulder. "You continue to say things like that and I'll take Etienne up on his offer of marriage…he'd never call me fat."

"He doesn't even speak English!"

"I know." Courtney grinned devilishly, but Jax transformed her grin into an expression of passion when he kissed her enthusiastically, showing her how happy and pleased he was that the crisis of their break up was over and they were joyfully expecting.