Carly was two seconds away from assaulting an officer. Not exactly a smart move, but sometimes she couldn't help it. "Are you SERIOUS? Let us in NOW. How's that for 'authorization'?"

"Carly." Jason's voice was oddly calm, his hand on her arm stilling her.

"Jason, people are dying in there and this… idiot!" Carly balled her fists and screamed raggedly. "Don't you know what's going on? Don't you have any idea… We have the chimp, you overpaid rent-a-cop!"

This whole thing had been much more fun and exciting before getting back to the hospital. The pained look on Jason's face every time she told someone they were chasing the chimp made Carly laugh every time. She couldn't help it that what they were actually doing had a sexual ring to it when it was said out loud. But now that she knew, she thought she might call it that all the time. Chasing the chimp. It had a nice ring to it.

But now that they were back… the fun was gone and she was just aggravated. Yeah, yeah, these guys were just doing their job but they took taking orders a bit too far. Would these idiots actually let people die because they had orders? Jason was holding the cure by the hand, and they wouldn't let them in the hospital.

"Let them through." Carly blinked and looked up. "Robert Scorpio," he said to the police. "These people have the chimp we've been looking for, so let them in."

"About time." Carly thrust past the SWAT team. "What took you so long, huh? Didn't I call ahead? Weren't you supposed to be waiting? And… Where the hell is Patrick!"

"Carly, would you calm down." Jason groaned and handed the chimp over to Robert. "Here, take him. I need to get to Sam and Danny." He started to walk past, then stopped and turned. "And after everything that I did to get this damn thing, Sam and Danny had better be on the top of the list to get the serum."

"McCall…" Robert thought for a second, then said, "The brother has already gotten it. He almost died and we couldn't wait any longer. The rest is up to Dr. Drake."

Jason didn't hear the rest of it. He didn't hear anything past Danny almost dying. He was off at a dead run into the hospital. Which left Carly walking quickly with Robert. She didn't have much to say to him. She could have asked if anyone she knew had died, but he wouldn't know how to tell her. He'd just spit it out, the way he'd done with Jason about Danny, and that definitely wasn't the way to tell her. There was only one person who knew how to tell her anything.

Carly took a turn down a hallway, then ran for the elevator. People rushed her. How did all these people know that she'd been on a mission? Everyone wanted to know what had happened, if she got the chimp, and she didn't have time to talk to them. When Emily ran up to her, she would have brushed her off, too, except…

"What do you mean Michael was here?" She shook her head. "Is he sick? Where is he?"

"He's um, he's with AJ."

"He's…" She shook her head. "Ya know, I let a lot go because Jason loves you, but this—I don't want my boy around AJ!"

"He's his father, Carly! He has a right to know him, and if it weren't for Michael, AJ probably would have died!" Emily took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I don't like you, Carly. You used Jason, then you stomped all over his heart for Sonny, but Jason cares about you. For whatever reason, AJ cared about you at one time. But right now… All I'm saying is that Michael is going to need AJ, and since he's obviously not going to leave and stay gone, there's nothing else any of us can do."

So cryptic. "What are you trying to tell me, Emily?" But the girl was mum. She clamped her lips and shook her head. "Fine. Lorenzo will tell me."

And she was off again. The elevators were taking forever, so she went for the stairs. Her feet ached from the previous running, and now her heels were even worse. But, she pushed on, speeding up the stairs. She burst through the door and stood in the hallway, trying to gather her surroundings. "Right?" She turned her head, then groaned. "No, left."

Carly took off again, pushing through doctors and patients. There seemed to be less people in the halls. Had enough died to move them out and these other people in? She shook her head. This wasn't the time to start caring about other people. She ran off down the hallway and skidded to a halt in the doorway to Diego and Luis's room.

Lorenzo looked up from his chair beside Diego's bed. The second he saw her, he came quickly. He didn't run, but his stride was quick and clipped. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes before pulling her close and squeezing her. There was such desperation in his grasp, in his labored breathing.

"What—" Reluctantly, Carly pulled back from him. She would have liked nothing more than to stay in his arms, but there were things that she needed to know. "Luis and Diego are still here. They're not dead."

"No. Luis was given the serum from Spencer because of his pain, but Diego…" He turned towards his son. "He's not been conscious in hours. He comes close, but he never… It's a wonder he hasn't slipped into a coma. I've heard that others have done that."

"Lorenzo…" Carly took him by the face and turned him to look at her. "Lorenzo, look at me. Diego will be fine. He'll pull through this, and he'll be so grateful that you were by his side that any problems you two had before will be gone. You have no idea the effect that chaos can have on a relationship."

"The only affect I've seen is damaging." He touched her face lightly, fingertips barely brushing her cheeks. "I've always had the damaging affect on you with my chaos."

Carly opened her mouth to counter him, to soothe his hurt feelings, but she wasn't that selfless. She came into this room with a purpose, a selfish one, and she had to get that over with first. "Lorenzo, I need you to tell me the truth. I don't want you to be cryptic, because I ran into Emily in the hallway and I have enough of that. I know that Michael is in this hospital somewhere."

"He's been taken home three times already."

"And he'll keep coming back until he knows that everyone is fine. I need to show him that I'm here, and then he'll go. But, before that can happen, I need to know who's dead. I need to know… I need to know if I have to explain anything to my boys."

"Carly, I think you already know the answer to that question." Lorenzo took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "And I'm afraid that if you make me say it out loud, you'll use it against me. You'll kill the messenger."

Carly stumbled back from him, her head shaking. Had she known? Probably, ever since seeing Emily. Carly knew that AJ and Sonny were stuck in the same room, and she would have said something if he were still alive. She would have thrown it in her face that Michael was with AJ and not Sonny. Or she would have said that he was in the room with both of them. But she said that Michael was in AJ's room. That meant that it wasn't Sonny's room, anymore.

"No…" Carly's jaw trembled. Her eyes stung with the tears that were starting to flow. Lorenzo stepped towards her, and she put her hands up. "No. You're lying, Lorenzo. He's not…" She shook her head. "You're lying!"

"For your sake, Carly, I wish I were."

"No… No, see, you're wrong. You know how I know you're wrong? Because Sonny never dies. Sonny… No, see, everybody around Sonny dies. Everyone around Sonny gets destroyed, but he comes out on top." She barked a harsh laugh. "When Alexis said that as her sister's funeral, I thought she was just crazy, but she was right. Sonny—He always wins. Sonny always survives. So, Sonny's not dead. You have to be wrong."

"Carly, he's not the only one."

"I don't care about the rest!" She stumbled backwards more, moving until she bumped into the foot of Luis's bed. She fell to the floor and pulled her knees up. "He's not dead, Lorenzo. Why would you tell me he was dead if he isn't dead? I… Jason…" She blinked up at Lorenzo. "How do I tell my boys that he's gone? How do I tell Jason? What are they going to do without him?"

Carly looked around the room with wide eyes. Her legs fell slowly to the floor, and she hugged herself. Her body ached, and it had nothing to do with the running she'd been doing and everything to do with Sonny. He didn't die. That was just… It was a fact of life. He got shot, stabbed, whatever, but he didn't die. The people around him died, yeah, but he didn't. Sonny was invincible. Sonny was above mortality. Sonny didn't die.

She had imagined her life divorced from Sonny, living without him, but she never imagined life without his existence. Sonny was her crutch, different than the way she fell back on Jason. With Jason, she had his friendship. She had his trust and his loyalty. Sonny had never been loyal to her. Sonny wasn't even her friend. But when she was getting too close to being happy, too close to having a good life, Carly fell back on her crutch. She went to Sonny because she knew that she wouldn't truly be happy with him. That, unlike others, he wouldn't love her as much as she deserved. He would only love her as much as he could.

But now… There was nothing to fall back on. He was just… gone, and this would affect people she loved. How did she tell the boys that their father was gone? She knew how Michael thought. Michael would think that she let him die, that Carly hadn't worked fast enough. Would he be right? She and Jason had done all they could. They'd been up and down every street in town, over every pier, and had crossed state lines to get this thing back. She'd worked her ass off to get that chimp back to the hospital, but had she really been doing it for Sonny? No, she'd done it for Diego. And Jason had done it for Sam.

And what about Jason? How was he going to take it? He and Sonny had issues like anyone else, but Jason still loved him like a brother. He loved Sonny more than he loved his own flesh and blood brother. Jason had come back in time with a cure for Sam, but not soon enough to save Sonny. He hadn't even seen Sonny since he'd been in the hospital. Jason hadn't seen anyone in the hospital other than Sam and Danny. How much would his heart break to know that he didn't even get the chance to say goodbye?

"Carly?" She looked up, and Bobbie was standing over her. She was out of breath. "God, Carly, are you okay?" She looked tired and haggard, like she hadn't gotten any rest at all. "Robert brought in the chimp, and I knew you were back. Carly?"

"He's really dead, Momma." Carly swallowed hard. "He's dead, and I don't know how to tell Jason or the boys. But… Michael already knows, right? He's in there with AJ and he's probably being told all kind of horrible things. I didn't save him for them, Momma. I didn't save Sonny for them."

"What about yourself, Carly?" Bobbie looked carefully into her eyes and Carly knew that she was doing it medically. "Carly, I think you should get off the floor and maybe find a bed. You have to be exhausted, and I think you're going into shock."

"I'm not…" Carly shook her head. "I didn't save him for them, Momma," she said again. "I was supposed to save him for them, because they need him."

"Carly…"

"No about me, alright? No! I don't… I don't need him. I have Lorenzo, I don't need him! But, Jason and the boys… they need him. How do I tell them? How do I tell them that they lost him when I didn't? They'll blame me. They'll say I didn't love him enough and they'll be right! I don't love him and…" Carly screamed, then threw herself forward, crying bitter tears. "How do I tell them!"