Author's Notes: So I decided to continue…yay! I would have had this out sooner, but I've been so busy with school that I haven't really had time to breath. I would like to especially thank everyone who reviewed. Your responses didn't just say "update soon." You actually told me what you liked or didn't like about it and were very insightful. Again, thank you for that. A thousand pardons for any mistakes. It was written a bit hastily. Anyways…enough of my babbling. On with the story. As always, please read, review, and most importantly….Enjoy!


Chapter Two

The last thing Courtney wanted was for the man to feel desperate. Desperate people often did stupid things. So taking a deep breath and muttering a quick prayer, she got to her feet.

"What are you doing," he yelled. Immediately she felt the level of anxiety around her raise several notches. "Sit down before I shoot you." Summoning courage she never knew she had, Courtney remained standing.

"Fine," she forced nonchalance into her voice. "But then you'd be stopping the only person who could have gotten you out of here alive."

That caused everyone in the bank to look at her. Most probably figured that she was insane, others wondering if perhaps she was more than what her long dark brown coat and matching boots reflected. The robber gave her a considering look, as if he wanted to believe what she told him, but then shook his head.

"Sit down or I'll shoot you."

Courtney heard the man beside her whisper something that sounded vaguely like stop. But she couldn't. She didn't have a hero complex, but she knew that she could save someone's life.

"Sir," she slowly raised her hands in a half placating, half calming gesture. "You don't have to do this."

Much to her relief, the man actually lowered his gun an inch.

"Oh, like a pretty little thing like you would know anything about having to get her hands dirty."

Maybe she had imagined it, but some of the wildness had left his eyes.

She opened her mouth, overly careful of what she said next. "My dad left me and my mom when I was four." Courtney took a slow step forward, hands still raised. "She worked and I stayed at home by myself. I cooked and cleaned and did everything that she couldn't." Courtney took another hesitant step closer. "And look at me now."

He stared at her. Cold grey eyes gazing into what she hoped were warm blue ones. The silence stretched on for innumerable seconds. Courtney's body began to shake. More so than it had been before.

"You still haven't said how you can get me outta here."

Relief poured over her in cool unrelenting waves. Somehow…impossibly, she had made a connection with this man.

"I have money."

The robber's eyes darkened. He let out a quick disbelieving grunt and began to raise his gun.

No, she thought.

"I have a lot of money," she clarified. "Ask anyone here." This she said with her toes crossed, praying that at least some of these people recognized her face from the news.

The sirens, media, and spectators were still outside. He had figured out a while ago that he was safe as long as he stayed inside the building. Perhaps that reasoning alone propelled the man to indulge her.

"You." The man turned his head to a woman lying on the ground. He kept his gun cocked at Courtney's chest. "Tell me who she is."

The woman was terrified. That much Courtney could see from where she stood. Said woman probably hated her now for making the gun wielding robber notice her in the first place.

Slowly the woman sat up. She looked Courtney over repeatedly, probably trying to place her face with any stored memories of mentioned wealth.

"I…I don't…" she began uncertainly. "I don't know who she is."

There were no warnings. There was no way she, or any of the other hostages could prepare themselves. There was only a shot.

And like that, the woman was down. Courtney didn't scream like some others had, she only looked at the gun toting man in front of her head on.

"Now you ask." He said.

Courtney didn't want to risk any one else's safety by following his directive, so instead, she said what came logically to her.

"Why don't you ask me." She tried to keep her voice neutral…keep it from trembling.

The man studied her intently before giving a quick smile. He pushed the man he had been holding at point blank range to the side, and stepped closer to her. Another shadow of a smile crossed his face, and Courtney saw for the first time since this whole debacle had begun, that the man was not only young but handsome as well.

"Fine." He said, taking a quick glance behind him. The sirens were still glaring in the background, but now there was a little less activity.

"Who are you?"

Courtney took a deep breath, knowing that she had to do some quick talking to prevent herself from being the bargaining chip for which the robber used.

"My name is Courtney Matthews and I…I recently fell into some money." She didn't know how to explain the whole weird ordeal so she blurted out quick facts. "About ten millions worth."

Surreptitiously glancing about her, she could see recognition dawn in one or two set's of eyes.

But the robber wasn't from around here. He was still unmoved.

"I never heard-a-no Courtney Matthews."

Sweat trickled down her back. The gun was all that she saw as she thought of how to undo what had already been set into motion.

"Maybe…" she paused. "Maybe you know me by my other name…" Here goes nothing. "Courtney Morgan…" As soon as she the words came out her mouth she regretted it. Why hadn't she said Quartermaine? Admittedly, none of these people would ever know that she was briefly a Quartermaine, much less look at her and recognize her as one, but at least it was a name that wasn't associated with organized crime.

The man's face slowly changed. He gave her a measuring look.

"You're Jason Morgan's wife."

Slowly she nodded.

"Sonny Corinthos' sister."

Again she nodded.

"Well I'll be damn," his tone was incredulous. "See, where I'm from, we were calling it the most strategic move in the underworld since the Genovese married the Bonano's."

The wild look was back in his eyes.

Disturbed that he knew so much about the situation, Courtney tried to focus his attention elsewhere.

"Forget the money here." He glanced at her again, as if seeing her for the first time since she announced her seedy familial ties. "I'll give you twice what you have now," she paused just long enough to let her words sink in. "If you let everyone go."

There was an odd triumphant glint that reflected in his eyes. He dug his hand in his back pocket and retrieved a cell phone.

"Dial." He said, handing the small device to her. "I want you to tell your husband that I need a helicopter right now, with a double action revolver and a semi-automatic, or else his wife dies.

Courtney looked uncertainly at the phone that was in her hand. If Jason helped this man he would be seen as an accomplice, an accessory to the crime. Granted, he could tell the police that there was no prior affiliation between them, but knowing the PCPD's relationship with her brother and husband, she knew what they were more likely to believe.

Courtney glanced at the man. There was no pretense there. She definitely saw murder in his eyes. Well…Courtney took a deep breath…she started it, and now she would have to finish it.

The phone rang once before he answered.

"Hello." She could tell he was anxious.

"Jason…" her voice was soft, breathless now, inspired by a new wave of fear.

"Courtney, what's going on?"

His voice brought tears to her eyes, but now wasn't the time for tears.

"I'm in the bank," she didn't need to elaborate further. "I need you to get a helicopter here with a loaded revolver and semi-automatic."

There was a pregnant pause. Courtney knew that he was slowly figuring out the situation, trying to understand it for what it was.

She looked at the man in front of her. Staring at the end of the barrel, all she could think was that her last words to her husband had been cruel. All of it true…but cruel nonetheless. And ironically enough here she was. Probably in the most danger that she'd ever been in since coming to Port Charles, and it had nothing to do with Jason's lifestyle.

The man cocked the gun a little higher.

"Jace…"

Jason slowly assembled a few words.

She lowered the phone a bit.

"Where do you want the helicopter to land," she asked the man.

He gave her a disbelieving look.

"On the roof, of course."

Courtney sighed, turning her attention back to her husband.

"On the roof."

Jason paused again.

"How much time."

Courtney glanced at the robber.

"When do you need it."

The man gave a brief glance skyward as he considered.

"Ten minutes, max."

Jason felt anger quickly course through his veins.

"Tell him the closest helicopter around here is twenty minutes away."

Courtney was hesitant in relaying this bit of information. The man standing before her had a tendency to react impulsively.

"He said…" she asked God to give her strength. "He said that he can't get it here in ten."

The man was loosing his patience.

"Well when can he get it here," he said, each word repeated with a staccato beat. He gritted his teeth to prevent himself from squeezing the trigger.

"Twenty minutes," she blurted out, seeing that her would-be robber was at the end of his rope.

"Courtney," Jason had been waiting anxiously at the other end of the receiver.

His voice startled her.

"What's happening," he continued.

She couldn't speak. Instead she gripped the phone tighter, knowing that if ever she got out of this situation alive, she would go back to him no questions asked. Danger, she quickly decided, was relative.

She and Jason could live to be a hundred, with him in the business for the rest of his days. Or she could die here, twenty five years old, simply because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Either way, both of their futures were unknown.

"Courtney." His voice was loud. He was scared. There was no way he could control any bit of what was happening to her from behind this phone. That unnerved him the most.

"I'm here…I'm still here."

Jason felt relief wash over him.

"Jason, get that helicopter on the roof in twenty minutes."

She didn't need to tell him. He had already motioned for Max to make the call.

Courtney closed her eyes and finally, a few tears trickled down her face.

"Jason…I love you and I'm sorry—"

The man snatched the phone away from her. Quickly she swallowed the sob that had threatened to escape her mouth, settling instead for a small whimper.

"If you try anythin' funny, Mr. Morgan, your wife'll be the one to pay for your stupidity."

And just like that, Jason was once again left in the dark.

He had been mentally pacing before he had gotten the call. Courtney was supposed to meet Carly at Kelly's, but she never showed up. The last thing Carly could tell him and Sonny was that she stopped to get money at an ATM machine. The next thing they all knew was that Citibank was being held up. Jason had known from then that Courtney was there, but he kept hoping that something else had delayed her. Now his fears were confirmed.

All he could do now was sit on his couch and stare at the wall for several still seconds.

Silently telling himself to snap out of it, he propelled into action. With a quick curse and a prayer, Jason made his way over to Penthouse number four.

When he found that man, whoever he was, Jason was going to kill him.


Courtney could still remember that day as clear as if it had happened yesterday. She remembered going in the helicopter and thinking that her life was over. She remembered landing in a field somewhere outside of Port Charles. She remembered the surprise on the man's face when he saw Jason and his men waiting for him. She remembered the long gun battle that ensued and ducking beneath the chopper. She remembered Jason's arms coming around her. She remembered the desperate love that they made to each other when they finally made it inside the penthouse. She remembered the first day when she realized that they had been callously reunited and divided at the hands of a gun battle.

Courtney closed her eyes, a few tears escaping her as she did so.

God…

she remembered.


AN 2: A couple of things. I had planned on doing a love scene b/t Jason and Courtney in this chapter, but sometimes these things write themselves. The next chapter will most definitely have one though, so beware…the rating will go up.

Hmm…I love making music videos. There was a video that I made that inspired this fic which I would love for you to check out. Which brings me to my next point.

I have a new community on livejournal. It's called JourneyLove. I would like all of you to at least check it out, and if you're interested, please join. Once you're a part of the community, you can post anything there about Journey. Fanfics, fanart, music vids, avatars, etc… To join you must get a livejournal account. The process is very simple. Just go to livejournal dot com click on create account on the top right corner, and you're good to go.

If you've read all of that and you're still interested in checking out my community where my music vids are, then go to livejournal dot com/journeylove. Sorry for having to spell the links out. doesn't let us post links in our stories.

Comments are appreciated and very much adored and remember…embrace the ship of Jason and Courtney forever.