Author's Note: Since I did away with AJ having anything to do with the kidnapping and the horrible death he was given, some of Jason's history has changed. As you'll see in the chapter, Jason's recent near-death experiment was because of a head injury, not that experimental drug. Anything else you need to know is laid out in the chapter.

"I found her like this," he was saying. "Burning up, but she was shivering. Her skin is hot to the touch, but all she's said is how cold she is."

Jason Morgan was less equipped for this kind of thing than Jason Quartermaine would have been. Ten years since the accident that left him brain damaged and he could still remember what his former self had learned as a medical student. He knew the information needed and could rattle it off easily. After that, though, he was at a loss.

He'd been speaking non-stop the last few minutes, repeating himself over and over. The emergency room was loud and boisterous. Something might have gotten lost in the noise, some piece of information that could mean the difference between life and death.

"Jason, you've said that ten times already. Calm down. Take a breath."

That was easy for her to say. Robin Scorpio knew exactly what she was doing. That's why Jason had run into the hospital screaming her name. She would know what the problem was and how to fix it. Where Jason Quartermaine's knowledge left off, Robin's picked up and ran with it.

Besides, she was used to sitting back and waiting. Jason wasn't a waiter. He did things. He moved. He was action personified. What good did sitting around and waiting do? For Robin, the end results were the tests that had been run. Answers to the questions. For Jason? Was there even an end to the waiting? He just sat there, doing nothing, being useless. Jason didn't know how to be useless.

Jason took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "When she's not saying she's cold, she's muttering things that—" He shook his head. His eyes closed for a second and he shook his head again. "She started mumbling, and all I heard was liar and Lila. If she's unconscious, then she's dreaming about our—her baby. The fever never settled. It only grew the entire ride here."

"Jason, please." Robin shook her head and let her body sag. "I understand what's going on here. You two have just been through something horrible. Faith Roscoe kidnapping the kids. Re-injury to your head, the treatment to get your memories back-- It's a lot to deal with. You're under a lot of pressure, and this isn't something that you know how to handle."

"I- I'm not used to being out of control. I handle things."

"I know. You always have." Robin's eyes went distant for a moment, and Jason sighed. It was amazing that, with their history, they could get along at all. Jason wondered if she were the first person she'd ever forgiven, and the last thing he would ever forget. Despite anything else, though, he was the person he trusted to keep Sam alive. The ways in which they knew each other would have to wait for another day.

Robin shook her head and sighed. "Why don't you handle Danny?" She put a hand to his arm and jerked her head to the side. "I don't think he's handling this too well. Let me worry about Sam, and I'll tell you as soon as we know anything."

Jason turned towards Danny and blinked. Admittedly, he'd forgotten that he was there. Sam would hate for Danny to be afraid. She knew that Jason wasn't very good at comforting, that it was hard for him to find the words. She had faith in him, though. She always told him that he could find a way to do anything when it was necessary. From Danny's agitation, Jason thought that it was necessary.

"Danny…"

He couldn't get more than his name out before the young man started babbling. "There are so many sick, Jason, and they all look like Sam. I hear them. The doctors. They don't know what's going on. There are children sick. There are old people and young people and people like you and me and Sam. What's going on, Jason? What's wrong with them? Will this be wrong with you, too? Sam can't die. You can't die."

"Danny." Jason let out a heavy sigh. "No one's going to die, Danny, especially not Sam. I won't let that happen."

"You can't stop it. Sam says you fix everything, but you can't fix this just like doctors can't fix me."

"You don't need to be fixed, Danny."

"Yes, I do. I—" He made a fist and pounded it three times into the side of his head. "I'm wrong right here. That's why Sam sent me away. I'm wrong here, but Sam still loves me."

"That's right. She loves you, and she would never leave you."

"She loves you, too. And you love her. You love Sam, right? You're going to get married, and you'll have a baby, and I'll be an uncle." For a moment, his face lit up with a smile, but as another sick person was rushed past him and he was pushed to the side, his smile dropped. "Sam has to be a mom, Jason."

"Danny—"

"She has to be everything that Mom always said she could never be. She was ashamed of us, but Sam was never ashamed of me. So, I can't lose her, because then there won't be anybody to not be ashamed of me. Sam can't die, Jason."

"She won't die." Jason's movements were jerking and tentative. He first put his left hand on Danny's shoulder. He pulled him slowly closer until Danny's head instinctively fell on his shoulder. He only had a moment's pause before his right hand came up and lightly cupped the back of Danny's head. Jason didn't really know what he was doing, how to hold him with comfort, so he just gave him the hug that he usually gave to Michael. He rolled his lips and held back his own frightened tears.

"She won't die," he said again, and his voice didn't hold conviction as much as hope.