Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews you guys! Glad you're still hanging in there with me. I hope you enjoy this next update!

Oh and remember Lauren Amaral? Antonio's late fiancé? We're going to figure her out in this chapter! Remember that Antonio is an Alcazar, but Lorenzo doesn't know it. :-)

Reviews aren't vital, but I love reading them!

Lorenzo Alcazar walked into Juan Sandoval's room at 11:36 AM.

"Mr. Sandoval."

"Mr. Alcazar, what can I do for you?"

Lorenzo looked outside the door to make sure that there were no nurses coming. He couldn't believe how stupid the man was, not to ask for police protection. Lorenzo shut the door quietly, and turned back to face the man.

"Need I remind you of what happened to a certain woman five years ago?" Lorenzo asked softly, walking purposefully toward Sandoval's bedside.

"Ah. Lauren Amaral. Why do you bring her up?" Sandoval asked, feeling the sweat begin to bead on his upper lip.

"Don't think I don't know about that whole incident. My family and I got blamed for her death, but I know that you killed her. You were the reason for her death."

"Why would I kill my own niece?" Sandoval questioned and he began avoiding making eye contact.

"She was getting in your way."

"What do you mean? 'Getting in my way?" Sandoval glanced around for something, anything that would get Alcazar out of his room.

Lorenzo spotted this, and picked up the call button dangling off Juan's bedside.

"You won't be wanting to press this."

"What do you want from me, Alcazar?"

"I want you to know that if you proceed with the charges against Courtney Morgan, I'll take you down. I'll make sure the truth about Lauren's death comes out. I'll make sure Courtney's new brother, Antonio, finds out who really killed the woman he loved." Alcazar twirled the call button between his fingers, and smiled at the man.

Juan Sandoval was stuck. If he didn't drop the charges, Antonio would come to see him. Antonio would find out that he really did kill Lauren. Then he'd tell Alcazar that he was his nephew. And then, the Alcazar family would make sure he was taken care of. Truthfully, he wasn't ready to die quite yet.

"Why are you so hell bent on protecting your enemy's wife?" If he was going to do this, he wanted to know some things.

"Because I owe her. I believe that we're though here. You know what to do. And you know what will happen if you don't. Drop the charges, Mr. Sandoval."

Alcazar flung the button at him, spun on his heel, and left the room, heading for Courtney's.

At PH4, Sonny and Jason were awaiting the arrival of Ric. He was fifteen minutes late.

"I should be at the hospital right now, Sonny." Jason stated as he got up and began to pace, again.

"Carly's with her. She's fine. I'm sure she's being… entertained." Sonny grinned. Courtney and Carly never failed to make him laugh when they were together.

"Yeah," Jason said solemnly, and he continued to pace.

After twenty more minutes that seemed like weeks to Jason, Ric walked through the door, gasping like he'd just run up thirty flights of stairs.

"You're not going to believe this!" he yelled excitedly.

"What?" Jason asked, pausing in mid-pace and turning to look at Ric. "Did Sandoval die? Did someone kill him?"

"No. Better than that, trust me."

"You know what Ric? Jason and I aren't in the mood for guessing games. What happened?" Sonny said as he took a sip of his scotch.

"Sandoval dropped the charges." Ric broke out in a genuine grin.

"Wh-what? Why?" Jason stammered, and found that he needed to sit down.

"He just said that he didn't want to press charges. He didn't find it necessary, he was okay. Said it was some sort of accident… he released himself from the hospital."

"So Courtney can come home?" Sonny asked as he watched Jason place his head in his hands.

"She can come home. I haven't been to the hospital to tell her, I thought that you might want to be the one to do that." Ric said as he nodded to the two men. "I'll see myself out."

Before he could completely shut the door, Sonny spoke.

"Ric?"

"Yeah Sonny?"

"Thank you."

"Courtney's a good person. I wanted to help."

"Well, thank you just the same."

"Anytime big brother." And he shut the door.

"So, you up for a trip to the hospital?" Jason asked Sonny as he broke out into a grin.

"Yeah, definitely."

Meanwhile, in Courtney's room, her other brother had come to check on her.

"Guess we can cancel that lunch huh?" Antonio said jokingly as he seated himself on the edge of his sister's bed.

"Ah, well. Jason and Sonny have pretty good lawyers. We can have that lunch in twenty years." Courtney had realized that the situation wasn't just going to go away, so she might as well laugh while she still could.

"So seriously, how are you?"

"Physically, the baby and I are doing okay. Dr. Meadows says that I have to avoid stress and all that. But, you know, I just want a healthy baby boy." Courtney promised herself that she wouldn't cry anymore about what was done. They'd go to trial, she'd have the baby, she'd go to jail… it's not like she was orphaning the baby, Jason would be a great father. He already was.

"And mentally?" Antonio asked, pushing Courtney's hair behind her ear, hoping that she would welcome it as a brotherly gesture.

"Mentally, I'm a wreck. I shot someone. Did you know that I've done that before? Shot someone, I mean?"

"No, I had no idea."

"It was January…"

Flashback

"Just listen to me, ok? Faith ambushed one of our shipments, then the cops showed up." Jason told Carly as he ushered a shaking Courtney into the house.

"Everybody started shooting." Courtney said, trembling.

"Ok, and Courtney was here in this apartment all night. You understand that? You guys spent the whole evening together, ok?" Jason rubbed his hand up and down Courtney's arm, trying to offer some comfort, but he was anxious to leave and get rid of the gun quickly.

"Ok." Carly understood and put her arms around Courtney.

"All right." She reluctantly agreed to lie about her whereabouts.

"Ok, I'll be back as soon as I can." Jason looked back at his wife, to make sure she was okay before he left.

"Ok. How did you end up in the middle of a shootout?" Carly asked, watching tears reform in Courtney's eyes.

"I -- I followed Brian, and then I shot him." Courtney began to shake all over again and she let the tears roll down her cheeks.

"Ok, here. Tell me what happened." Carly, the ever comforting friend, urged Courtney to talk about it.

"I -- um -- I heard Brian talking on the phone at Kelly's, and he said that he was going to intercept some shipment and bust Jason. I had to do something to stop it."

"Yeah, I understand that." After all, she had taken a baseball bat to a five families meeting…

"I followed Brian and stayed out of sight, and then -- God, everything just happened so fast. I saw Jason unloading a shipment with some guys, and then just somebody started shooting. Men were everywhere, Carly. I mean, they were yelling and shooting, and I just froze. Some cop got shot beside me and for some reason I grabbed his gun. I didn't know what to do, you know? I mean -- I mean, I -- God. I saw Jason, and Brian had his gun pointed right at his back. Jason turned around, and I shot Brian. I didn't think; I didn't hesitate. I mean, it didn't even take more than three seconds!" Courtney broke down.

"Ok, sweetie, you had no choice."

End Flashback

"Everyone told me that I had no choice. That Brian would have killed Jason, that I did the right thing. But we'll never know, and I shot someone that night. I've had to live with that. And now I'll live with this too." Courtney wiped away a fat tear that had somehow made its way down her cheek. And she'd promised herself she wouldn't cry…

"Courtney, everything's going to be okay." Antonio placed his arm around his sister as the door opened.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," Lorenzo Alcazar said as he made his way in anyways.

"Well you are so…"

Courtney cut Antonio off. "It's fine, you can come in."

Lorenzo nodded his thanks and shut the door behind him.

"Did Ric ask you to give a statement yet?" Courtney asked as Lorenzo approached the foot of her bed.

"No, he hasn't."

"Well, you should be expecting one soon. He was already in my room this morning."

"I just wanted to stop by to see how you were." Lorenzo said as he looked at Courtney carefully.

"I'm okay. Actually, I'm glad you're here. I wanted to thank you. I don't know what I would have done if you didn't show up when you did."

"You don't have to thank me. I owed you big time for everything I did to hurt you and your family."

"Well, thanks all the same." Courtney actually smiled at the man who held her captive.

Before Lorenzo could respond, the door opened yet again, revealing Sonny, Carly, and Jason.

"What the hell are you doing here, Alcazar?" Sonny and Jason said simultaneously.

"Please, don't. Lorenzo was just stopping by to see how I was." Courtney said as she began to sit up. Jason took the spot that Antonio had just vacated. "And Antonio too."

Jason nodded to Antonio before he bent down to kiss his wife. "I've got great news for you," he whispered next to her ear.

"The only great news that you could give me is that you're taking me home. And since I know that's not it…"

"Actually, that is it." Jason smiled and kissed Courtney again.

"What?" Courtney said, believing that she was only hearing what she wanted to hear.

"Sandoval dropped the charges. I'm taking you home." Jason smoothed her blonde tresses out of her face and looked into her eyes. "I'm taking you home."

Lorenzo smiled softly before slipping, unnoticed, out of the room.

Author's Note II- I ended with Lorenzo on purpose. :-)

Transcripts courtesy of Journey Online. Except, of course, for the commentary after the quotes. That was me ladies and gents. :-)