Chapter #17 – Priorities, Regrettable Past's and Check-ups'.

Chapter Rating- PG/PG-13

Jasmine had been awake for about 20 minutes, just content in the silence of her bedroom. With her back against Nikolas's strong chest, and his arm wrapped protectively around her, there was nowhere else she wanted to be right now.

Entangled in love she knew she'd never get tried of showing him how much she loved him. Jasmine knew Nikolas' sole purpose for marriage was not for sex. He loved her with every fiber in him, and loved her with his whole heart. She knew that and always would. Jasmine felt the exact same way.

She remembered her wedding day. Quiet and simple it was. Their sons looking so handsome in their little tuxes, meanwhile she tried to ignore the dark cloud that loomed overhead in Stavros watching her every move like a hawk.

She remembered finding that passageway – their possible escape. Nikolas and she would get deeper and deeper into it, but always having to trek back so not to draw attention. For some reason she felt like she was going in circles each time she went in there.

Who knew just getting on a plane and leaving Greece would be so easy?

However, she knew there's more to come. That phone call was only the start of things.

Jasmine smiles at the memory of how Nikolas had surprised her on their wedding night by spreading rose petals and candles all across the room, and soon remembering how they first made love together. She thought last night was similar, (minus the flowers) by noting the candles around room, lying warm body to warm body and now snuggling closer to her husband who instinctively (though still asleep) tightened his soft hold.

Soon hungry, Jasmine was starting to get up to go see what was in the kitchen when Nikolas spoke.

"Where are you going?" Nikolas asked as his leg draped over hers and held her in place.

"Going to get something to eat? I'm eating for 3 now remember?" Jas replied.

"Nice try. But you're on bed rest, and therefore must stay here." Nikolas said, kissing the back of her neck and making her spine tingle with familiarity.

"Nikolas please don't confine me here…I'll be bored out of my mind!" Jasmine pleaded like a little girl.

"Sweetheart, you heard Elizabeth. You're way too stressed out—"

"Yes, but that was hours ago…" Jasmine, who now faced him, interrupted him with a very long lasting kiss while her arms slithered around his neck.

"Can I just get up for 5 minutes? We don't want my legs to cramp up do we?" Jas asked kissing her husband once again.

"Cute. But my answer is still no. You need to stay here just as Elizabeth has told you to. I promise I will help you out. You know that. I'm sorry but I'm not going to change my mind. Had Elizabeth not told you to stay in bed, I would have." Nikolas who had broke the kiss, firmly stated.

"I bet I can get you to change your mind…" Jasmine replied seductively as she kissed him even more deeply than before. Her soft hands started to roam up and down his chest, and she started to move on top of him when Nikolas' strong hands kept her in place on the bed, while breaking the kiss.

"Jasmine,stop it. You didn't look too good yesterday and I was very concerned. I know my mother got to you yesterday. I saw it in your eyes. You may have defended yourself, but I saw the self-blame that you've probably been telling yourself this entire time. I hate to see you get yourself so stressed out, and then do nothing about it! It's not healthy for you or our daughters!" Nikolas sternly, almost bordering on anger that his wife didn't seem as concerned.

Jasmine was slightly taken aback by her husband's abrasiveness. Nikolas hardly ever got angry at her, so she knew this was serious.

He knew in his heart however that she was just as worried as he was – if not more.

A few minutes of tension went by between the pair, when Jasmine spoke.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I'm putting my own wants and "needs" in front of what's more important – our daughters' needs. I'm being blinded and selfish at the fact that I'm going to be stuck in bed, yet it's to keep our daughters safe. I'm sorry that I put our daughters second. They should be first when concerning my health and if that's what you and Elizabeth (and I) want than who am I to argue?" Jasmine realized as a few unnoticed tears slipped from her eyes and onto Nikolas' chest.

"Hey…hey Baby. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry." Nikolas said softly, holding his wife closer, kissing her tears away.

"No, you didn't. But I thank you because you just made me realize in what is hopefully my only moment of pure selfishness, that I was putting priority on what was affecting me in the present rather than what could be affecting our daughters now and in the future of this pregnancy." Jasmine said

"Thank you Nikolas. I love you." She added kissing his softly.

"You're welcome. Anytime, and I love you too." Nikolas said, returning her kiss.

A Few Hours Later-

Elizabeth let Jasmine walk around for about 10-20 minutes every other hour just to keep her blood flowing.

Nikolas had insisted on not letting Jasmine hear any more of the plan (plan as they go) that he, Luke, Lucky, and Liz had. Elizabeth and he had determined that since Jasmine was already on bed rest, any more info to her about the "plan" was going to cause her more stress.

In turn, everyone went into Lucky and Liz's suite which was on the same floor but in another hallway.

Luke had asked Laura to leave the room so she wouldn't have to get anymore involved in this than she wanted to be.

Unfortunately that left Laura to either walk around the town with her son's wife's ex somewhere or to dare see if she could get along with a young woman who was (to Laura anyway) still acting like a child.

Jasmine, for now was out of bed and sitting on the couch watching the latest news on the happenings of P.C.

Laura knocked, and Jas had let her in.

"Jasmine." Laura said as politely as she could.

"Hello Laura." Jasmine said kindly, not being able to gage how Laura would respond.

"How are you feeling?" Laura asked politely though a hint of anger in her voice.

"Not too bad…I know you don't think much of me anymore. I'm sorry you feel that way. Just know that I would never purposely put your sons or your family in danger and that I love Nikolas with everything I have."

"You say that. You say that, yet I'm sorry that I can't believe you. You've caused too much commotion, too much drama, too much danger. You're putting those I love in jeopardy." Laura said trying to control her temper, which was quickly rising.

"Laura, what's happened? What's happened to us? To the relationship we had? I remember we considered each other family. You considered me a daughter. I considered you another mother that I was so blessed to have in my life. Why has that changed? Just because I married your son or because he was loving enough to take my children in as his own?" Jasmine asked, desperate for answers, and doing a good job of controlling her stress level as well as the volume of her voice – trying to keep it even and not raise it.

"There you go again!! It's always about YOU isn't it?! Poor, poor girl – losing her mother at 11–"

"HEY! DON'T!! Don't you EVER throw my past back at me! I never in my wildest dreams, ever imagined you throwing anyone's past back in their face, knowing yours isn't the happiest or that spectacular either Laura! I would never do that to you or anyone I love!! Come on! You know I'm not like that! You KNOW that!" Jasmine cried out, an emotional double edged dagger now shredding through and twisting in her heart at Laura's hurtful words and her own painful memories.

"You don't deserve you're little boys or the little girls you're carrying. They should go solely to Nikolas!"

"I…I can't believe you would say such a thing to me…" Jasmine said, still crying and in shock.

"Well you don't. How can you raise 4 children? What kind of examples are you going to set? What are they going to learn from a recovering heroine & drug addict?" Laura spat sadistically,

"Don't you think I know that? Don't you think that there are times where I don't think I am being a good parent, despite the love I hold for all 4 of my children? How scared I am? Laura, I was only 17 when my sons were born, and living away from family and friends, while not being able to have a clue of what would happen next scared me so. I wanted my parents, I wanted my friends. I couldn't have them! I was alone!

I was 14 years old when I was on drugs ok? I was still missing my mother. I thought you had died and Lucky wasn't letting me help him! In NO WAY whatsoever am I blaming you, Lucky, or Luke for that ok? I got in with the wrong crowd!! I'll never do that again, I KNOW it!!" Jasmine said, pacing back and forth, determined to make Laura see she was wrong.

"Didn't you always used to say 'once in recovery, always in recovery, or was that AJ?" Laura said, a sadistic smile on her face, knowing she caught the younger woman by using the phrase that she (Jasmine) always told herself.

"Laura please!! I'm not 14 anymore! I love—"

"I don't care if you love my son. He deserves better! Much better! I don't want you near my family. It's over. Emily Quartermaine is dead to me as she should be to you, and should be to Nikolas. There's no trace of the girl I once knew. You could never be her again, no matter how hard you want to be, no matter how had you try." Laura spat.

"Laura, please!! Don't—"

"Mama!!" Said 2 small voices.

Slightly gasping, Jasmine's head whipped to two pairs of large brown eyes (identical to her own) of two little boys who were ready to cry.

"Boys! I didn't realize you were still here…" Jas said shocked at the fact that her sons were in the immediate vicinity, somehow thinking they went with their father, uncle or aunt.

"Neglecting them again aren't we?" Laura said crudely.

"You said you didn't mean to yell." Anthony said.

"And if you didn't mean it, why are you yelling again?" Darien questioned

"Lying to them again too? Oh really great role modeling– just great parenting." Laura said viciously.

"Laura, please leave." Jas said, voice wavering.

"Obviously these boys need some positive feminine influence. How about they–"

"Don't even think about it Laura. Please leave. Now." Jasmine quietly demanded of the older woman who stormed out and took a walk to cool off.

"Boys, look Mommy's sorry. I'm just upset okay. I didn't mean to scare you and I'm sorry that I keep scaring you. I'm so sorry. I love you so much. I promise, I'll try and be better okay? Mommy loves you." Jasmine said to her sons, trying desperately not to cry anymore in front of them.

"Okay…Mommy we love you too!" The boys said, carefully hugging their mother.

"Can we watch some TV please?" The boys asked.

"Yes you can. Why don't you watch some TV in my room with me? Keep me company." Jas suggested, mindful of what's on television these days.

"Okay!"
"Okay then, go meet me in there. I'll be there in a few moments." Jasmine replied, hoping to hide the change in her voice. She watched the boys scamper off and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ah…" Jasmine winced, sucking her breath while suddenly grabbing the back of the couch in which she now stood behind. Squeezing her eyes shut in physical pain, knuckles turning white at the intensity of her grip, Jasmine knew she had to take deep breaths and try and control her stress level and emotions for her baby daughters.

Breathing deeply she slowly made her way back to her bedroom (knowing her time limit was exceeded for being out of bed) and carefully got back into bed where she watched a half hour of television with her sons.

After they got bored and went back into their own room, with the emotional pain continuing to violently claw and rip at her heart, Jasmine cried herself to sleep.

An Hour Later-

Nikolas had invited everyone back for dinner. He assumed that his wife and sons would be a little hungry, and hoped they'd be happy to finally catch up on the past 6 years in Port Charles.

Elizabeth said that she would check on Jasmine for Nikolas while he and Lucky made dinner – except Luke who couldn't cook.

As Liz made her way to Nik & Jas's bedroom door, the twins had planted themselves outside as if they were guarding their mother.

Elizabeth thought it was cute, so to humor them she decided to play along.

"Permission to enter?" A smiling Liz asked of going into Jasmine's room.

"Permission granted Aunt Liz." The boys said.

As she went in the twins followed, her closing the door.

"Aunt Liz, we don't want to tell Papa this because we want to make sure Mama's ok. Mama was hurting before, but whatever was hurting her went away." Anthony said.

"Yeah, we don't want Papa to worry unless he really has to." Darien added.

Elizabeth ear's immediately shot up at the news of Jasmine in pain.

"Boys, do you know where your Mommy was hurting?" Liz asked, concern in her voice.

"Her tummy." Both boys said.

"We hope she gets better." Darien said.

"Yeah, we'll be outside the door if you need us. Come on Darien." Anthony said as both boys walked out and Liz immediately went to a sleeping Jasmine's side.

"Jas? Jasmine wake up." Liz said calmly.

"Mmm…no. Don't want to. Don't want to wake up and go through another hellish nightmare…" Jas replied.

"Jas, please. I have to check if you're ok." Liz insisted as Jasmine groggily but carefully sat up with Liz's help. "The boys told me you had pain in your stomach. I need to know exactly where that pain was." Liz stated.

Jasmine was too tired to say a whole lot so she pointed and rubbed the upper region of her stomach – where the girls were.

"It really hurt for all of a minute maybe, but then I took a few deep breaths and it went away. I knew I had exceeded my time limit and I had to get back into bed." Jasmine explained.

"Let's see then…" Liz said as she lightly put some pressure (from her hands) onto Jasmine's stomach and abdomen.

"Ah…" Jas said again, sucking her breath in as the pain struck – a different place from where Liz's hands were and trying not to cry.

"I know what this is…it'll be okay. Just continue to take deep breaths. That pain that you feel right now is 2 pairs of little feet kicking you." Liz said.

"So why does it not feel like that and why does it hurt so much?…Granted I don't remember my boys kicking me too much and that scared me so bad when I was 16…" Jas asked.

"Part of it is they want to get out, and another part of it is that they know you're under stress. Stress agitates them as well as you. So you really have to do as best you can to minimize that stress." Liz replied kindly.

"Okay, I feel better knowing it's just my two daughters kicking…Girls please stop kicking Mommy so hard – it really hurts…ow…" Jasmine winced as she felt another tiny foot come in contact with her abdomen wall.

"I'm sure you'll get used to it. It's a good sign that they're kicking, - it means their strong."

"I'll say…geez they must have inherited their physical strength from Nikolas…ow…" Jas said, wincing once more.

"Also you need to know that sometimes they may not kick – so just call me in here and I'll let you know what's going on." Liz said smiling as Jas listened to her words intently, nodding her head.

"Come on, the guys, minus Luke are cooking. Let's go eat."

"I'm not very hungry…" Jas said wanting to go back to sleep, not wanting to face the outside world.

"Jas, come on…you have to eat and you know it." Liz encouraged.

"Okay, okay. You win. Come on, help me up." Emily replied, also not wanting to argue.

(A/N- Please R&R, thanks! -E.B.F.R)