Disclaimer: I don't own anything…

Last Train Home Ch. 13:

His ex wife's hysterical scream coupled with the blistering sound of a gunshot through the still night air spun Jason around on his heel. He was just in time to see Courtney lunging at him with the full force of her body taking him down to ground. He sat still for a moment taking in the full shock of the events that just occurred, his first thought was of the light brunette that was still laying on top of him.

"Courtney, you alright babe?" He felt his pulse begin to race when she didn't respond. Careful not to move her too much, he slid out from under and immediately noticed the blood that stained the breast of his white shirt. It only took him a moment to realize that he had not been hit and fear began to build up in his bones as he carefully kneeled down next to his ex wife.

"What the hell happened?" Sonny and Carly rushed outside with most of the party on their heels.

"Oh my God!" Carly screeched when she took in the fallen state of her best friend. "Someone call an ambulance!"

"Courtney," Jason whispered softly and watched as the woman stirred slightly. "I need you to stay awake…"

"I can't," she mumbled as her eyes drooped close again.

"Yes you can. Come on…" He rubbed the soft skin of her hand in an effort to keep her focused.

"It hurts," she managed to get out between ragged breaths. Jason nodded trying desperately to remain calm, but the color was slowly draining from his face as well as her own.

"Did you see who did this?" Sonny asked his right hand man, but was met with a shake of the head.

"It came from the bushes," he pointed at the wall of hedges to his immediate right. He watched as his boss immediately pointed guards in that direction, but the shooter was long gone. He tried to focus all his energy on Courtney, who was fading fast. He watched her struggle to keep her teary eyes open. Her hand was beginning to shake in Jason grasp as he did everything he could to soothe her pain.

"The ambulance is pulling up right now." Lucky announced as he made a path through the sea of curious onlookers.

"Will you stay with me?" Courtney rasped out and was met with a nod from her ex husband. Once the paramedics arrived it didn't take long to load Courtney on to the waiting ambulance, all the while Jason stayed close by.

"We'll meet you at the hospital," Sonny called to his best friend as the hard metal doors closed.


Jason paced the entire length of the General Hospital waiting room. Courtney had lost consciousness on her way to the hospital and was immediately rushed to surgery. Sonny and Carly had yet to arrive, so he was stuck exploring all the worst case scenarios his mind could come up with. He was usually good in dealing with crisis's, normally he would block out the pain and focus directly on what he could do to help. But that was not the case this time, the pain was sharper than anything he had ever endured. Every ounce of his being wished it was him laid out on the operating bed rather than her.

A small commotion caught his attention as Sonny and Carly came busting through the doors. The couple looked like they just walked off the top a wedding cake with the tux and dress. Jason would have spared himself a laugh if they situation wasn't so serious.

"What's going on? Where is she?" Carly's mind was moving at record speed as she thrashed the skirt of her dress out of the way.

"She's in the OR right now. Monica's with her." He responded and was met with a nod.

"Ok, well I have Johnny coming up with a dossier on anyone who might want to hurt her." Sonny informed him. "I mean, I know that Faith and Sam are the logical suspects, but there might be someone from Boston…" Jason shook his emphatically and his best friend looked on in confusion.

"Courtney wasn't the target. I was." The light haired man's voice was unsteady. "She sort of threw herself in the line of fire."

"She took a bullet for you?" Sonny growled.

"Yeah." Jason confirmed settling down into one of the stiff hospital chairs. He couldn't stand to do this right now. Sonny and Carly must have known it because they too sat down in silence. His mind ached with thoughts of his ex wife lying on the cool metal slab with doctors poking at her like she's just another patient. But she was not just another patient, not to him and the couple who sat wearily by his side. No, she was a sister, a best friend, and most importantly, a true love.

A Few Hours Later…

Sonny glanced at the clock once more. It had barely moved from the last time his whiskey colored eyes settled on it. Courtney had been in surgery for a long time now and all of his optimism was slowly being thrown out the window with each passing moment. He noticed his new wife dosing off and thought about having Max take her home, but knew Carly wouldn't leave until she had some sort of confirmation on the health of her best friend. The rustling of her dress against the plastic of her chair was the only noise between the trio.

"Jason…" Monica's voice was calm as she shook her son out of his trance.

"Is she ok?" Carly immediately stood up rushing over to where Jason and Monica were a few paces away. She noticed as the older doctor let out a sigh.

"The bullet lodged itself in Courtney right lung," Monica began and took in the look of worry that settled in the three people before her. "We were able to remove it, but it had already caused the lung to collapse."

"What's that mean?" Sonny asked in agitation.

"It means that your sister is in serious danger."

"How much danger?"

"We won't know until she regains consciousness."

"And when is that going to happen?"

"We don't know."

"Do you know anything?" Carly's voice was shrill with desperation. Monica rubbed her temples before turning to Jason who had yet to say anything.

"When Courtney's lung collapsed it cut the flow of oxygen to her brain in half, which is causing her brain to shut itself down. While, we were able to patch up her lung whether or not she has any lasting effects from the injury cannot be determined until she wakes up." Monica tried to explain in terms that they would understand.

"But she is going to wake up." Jason was practically pleading.

"I believe she will. It's just a matter of time."

"Can we see her?" Carly broke in again.

"One at a time," Monica replied before walking away from the obviously troubled trio. Carly looked at both men who motioned for her to go first. Just as Carly exited the waiting room, Ric and Lucky entered.

"I'm sorry, Jase. I tried to keep him away," Lucky greeted gesturing to the over confident DA at his side.

"There's nothing to apologize for, Spencer. I'm just here to investigate the shooting. I'm sure Sonny and Jason would like to see Courtney's shooter brought to justice." Ric began with a grin. "Oh, who am I kidding? I'm just here to make sure that you two don't take matters into your own hands." Both Jason and Sonny looked at each other in obvious annoyance.

"Why do you even care, Ric?" Sonny asked with malice. "Oh yeah, that's right…it's reelection year."

"That it is and I can't just let the good citizens of Port Charles live when there is a threat in their community." Ric replied. "Plus, Courtney was an innocent woman. Her only crime was being related to you and loving Morgan. That doesn't make her a criminal, it just makes her unlucky and stupid."

"You wanna know who did this, Ric?" Jason's tone was dangerously low as he looked at the dark hair man in contempt. "Why don't you talk to your girlfriend?"

"You really need to let this vendetta with Sam McCall go, Morgan. She's moved on and so shouldn't you."

"She threatened Courtney last night," Jason shot back.

"Oh I'm sure she did. You wouldn't happen to have any witnesses to this so called "threat" would you?" Ric look amused. Sonny was about to speak when his younger brother cut him off. "You don't count. Your obsession with Sam is almost as bad as your lackey's."

"I heard it," Lucky confirmed. "It was at the Cellar. Sam said that she wasn't "done" with Courtney, yet."

"You've been hanging around these thugs too long, Spencer. Is getting in good with you future brother-in-law really worth losing your badge over?"

"Don't ever question my ethics, Ric." Lucky's growled. "You can ask anyone who was at the rehearsal dinner last night."

"And let's just say I believe you. Why would Sam go after your ex wife?"

"Because the bullet was meant for me," Jason replied and watched as the DA's facial features lit up.

"How many enemies do you and Sonny have?" Ric asked with a raised eyebrow. "Let's be serious here, it could have been numerous people."

"You know what Ric?" Sonny challenged. "We tried to cooperate with the authorities and look what happened. You have no intention of helping us, so you can leave right now." Ric was about the argue, but Lucky grabbed him by the arm.

"Come on, Lansing." He gruffly pulled the dark haired man to the elevator all the while Jason stood back and fumed.


All the machines hooked up to the young woman created a resounding buzz through the otherwise quiet room. Carly looked at her best friend with tears in her eyes. It was hard to believe that just a few hours ago they were together bright and happy taking pictures outside of the church. And now, her matron of honor was in a hospital fighting for her life. She carefully brushed past a piece of light brown hand out of Courtney's face. In her mind, she willed for best friend to wake up, but the woman didn't stir.

"You really know how to ruin a good day, you know that?" She giggled slightly through her tears. "I know that you can hear me and I'm telling you right now to wake up. I mean you already promised to watch the boys when we go on our honeymoon. Do you have any idea how hard it is to rebook a flight to Greece." She watched just a moment longer before beginning again. "I'm sorry, you know. For everything that I've ever done to push you and Jason back together or just being pushy in general. I promise if you wake up, I won't interject myself into your life, anymore. Or at least I'll try not to."

Carly gave her friend one last look to her best friend before walking out of the room with tears flowing down her flushed cheeks. She looked at Sonny and Jason who nearly jumped out of their skin when they saw her. Her husband immediately took her in his arms as she broke down in hysterics. Jason watched the interaction in silent mourning before the soft buzzing of his phone interrupted him. He considered ignoring it, but took it out of his pocket all the same. He noticed Emily's cell phone number and flipped it open.

"Jason," Emily sounded rushed. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I think that there is something you should know."

"What?"

"I was up in Kelly's --you know-- after clearing everyone out of the Cellar. I was going to get some coffee to bring to the hospital because I know how much the cafeteria coffee sucks…" His younger sister began to ramble on and Jason let out an exasperated sigh. "Sorry. Umm…anyways. Penny said that when she walking into work she noticed a petite brunette running from the Cellar. She didn't get a good look at her, but from a distance it looked like…" Emily's voice hitched.

"Looked like who?" Jason prodded.

"Liz..." Emily whispered.


A/N: Hmm...What did you think? I'm not very good with medical things, so I hope that it didn't sound too contrived. I was orginally going to end this series after this chapter, but I kind of got an idea that I'm going to run with. I hope to have this whole things finished within the next four chapters, but at the same time I don't want it to seem rushed. Ok, well thanks for reading