"Are you done threatening me, yet?" Jason stared at Lorenzo with cold blue eyes. "Because if you are, you can start telling me the truth about what's going on. I never thought you'd leave me out in the cold, Lorenzo."
Lorenzo sighed and leaned back in the chair he had pulled up beside Jason's bed. He didn't like leaving Jason out of anything, but he knew that if he'd told him everything right away, he would have gotten out of the bed and probably aggravated his injuries. He would have proclaimed himself the Alcazar family protector and done whatever he deemed necessary to keep them safe, even if that meant getting himself killed.
Next to Luis, Lorenzo considered Jason to be his best friend. If it weren't for Jason, he wouldn't have met Carly and he wouldn't have two beautiful daughters. He owed his life to Jason in every sense of the world and he trusted him as much as a man in his position could trust anyone.
When Luis left town, Jason became his right hand in Port Charles. During Luis's time in South America, Jason had become Lorenzo's brother. His twin's return wouldn't change that. He would always have a kindred with Jason Morgan, no matter who came to town or what was going on. It was that kinship that forced Lorenzo to keep Jason in the hospital, to make sure that he was healed before he took up his gun in defense of him again. It was the least he could do for the multitude of bullets that Jason had taken for him in the past few years.
"I'm not leaving you out, Jason," Lorenzo said with a sigh. "I'm trying to stop you from doing anymore damage to yourself."
"Anymore damage…" Jason scoffed. "You think threats of restraints are going to stop me from doing more damage. I'm fine, Lorenzo." He sat up further in the bed. His movements were slow and his hand hovered just over his stomach. He held back a groan, then let his body settle into the bed. "See? Fine."
"Bend forward and touch your toes."
Jason's eyes went wide, then fell back into slits. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "That's not fair, Lorenzo." Jason groaned and closed his eyes. He took in another deep breath and tried to force his body to relax with his exhale. He slowly opened his eyes and let his head roll to the side. "My job is to make sure everybody is safe, and I can't do that from this hospital bed."
"Jason, you're not just…" He paused and shook his head. In the privacy of his home, he might have said something specific, but the hospital was too out in the open. "You're a lot more valuable than to just take care of things like that."
"I'm not valuable for anything laying in the hospital. Especially when you're hiding things from me. Don't you think I deserve to know what's going on?"
"Jason…" Lorenzo sighed. "I came here to tell you what's going on, but you know I can't say everything until we're some place safe. But right now, I can say this." He sighed again. "Luis is on his way back to town."
Again, Jason was left to stare at his business parter and friend in surprise. The last he'd heard, Luis had made no plans to return to Port Charles, a decision that Jason would have thought had something to do with Brenda Barrett. Besides that, though, there was the fact that the police were watching every Alcazar movement. Yes, Jason had destroyed all evidence against Luis when he fled town, but there was still the possibility that they would try to bring him in for evading arrest the first time around.
"Does Alexis know?" Jason turned to the side and groaned. "She's got to be ready if they try to pick him up when he gets here."
"She's already taken care of that, and from what I hear, she had a hell of a time unravelling the noose Lansing thought he'd have around my brother's neck." Lorenzo smirked and snorted a short laugh. "If things keep going with her and Lansing, he may just have to recuse himself from every case that has anything to do with us."
Jason attempted a shrug, but his body was too stiff to complete the motion without pain. At the moment, he could care less about Alexis's involvement with the District Attorney. "How did Ric know about this before I did?"
"Everything is not a conspiracy to keep you out of the loop, Jason," Lorenzo said with a sigh. "The fact that she went to have the arrest warrant invalidated was enough for Lansing to realize that Luis was on his way back into town."
Jason was quiet for a few minutes. There were things that needed to be done. If Luis were returning to Port Charles, that meant that this whole thing was much more complicated than a random botched hit. More was going on that he had yet to be told, and in the interim of knowledge, he was already thinking about what needed to be done. Extra guards needed to be put on Carly and the kids. Sam was going to have to adjust her come and go life to know the fear. Someone from their camp was going to have to actually talk to Brenda about what was going on because, with Luis back in town, she would certainly become a probable target. There was no way that Luis would come back and not see her.
"There's more, Lorenzo, I know it." Jason looked at him and sighed. He knew that people thought of him as a robot, void of emotion, but Lorenzo knew better. Jason let the lines of his face curve and form until every emotion of worry, love and desperation detailed his visage. "Luis wouldn't be coming back if there weren't more to it than just the shooting."
"Other things have happened, Jason. Things that I can't talk about here. Things that we can only talk about when we're in a secure place."
"You've gotta get me outta here, Lorenzo. I can't… I can't let Sam go back to the penthouse alone, even with all of you across the hall. She doesn't really trust anybody but me to keep her safe. She doesn't think any of you care enough, that she…" As Jason became more excited, he tried to move and was stopped when pain crawled across his stomach. He let himself flop back on the bed. "…she's not important enough to the rest of you. I have to be there."
"I'm watching her, Jason, you know that." Lorenzo sighed and stood from the chair. "I've got guards on her and I've explained to her that she needs to keep a low profile right now. She goes from the penthouse to Luke's, and you know she's safe there. And Lucky checks in on her."
"Guards and Lucky aren't me!" Jason's eyes closed as his head rose and fell back hard onto the pillow. His breathing was soft and measured. He let his eyes reopen and looked up at Lorenzo. "Just tell me this, and be honest with me."
"I'm always honest with you. I just don't always tell you right away."
"Well, tell me now. Is there a war coming to Port Charles, Lorenzo?"
He was quiet and for a moment, it seemed that he wouldn't answer. He turned away from the bed and took a few steps towards the door. Lorenzo stopped at the foot of the bed, then turned back to Jason. "Yeah, Jas, I think there is."
"Then, please, Lorenzo. For Sam's sake. For Carly's and the girls and Michael's… For your sake and Luis's. Get me out of here, Lorenzo, and get me out of here soon."
