(Author's Notes- Thanks for the reviews everyone! My next update will be in 2 weeks because I am going on vacation. Please Read and Review! Thanks!)

Chapter #25 – Gaining and Losing

General Hospital –

It was about noontime when Jasmine became conscious again. Every part of her body was sore. She was groggy, exhausted, and just wanted to go back to sleep.

Then reality struck.

She promised herself she wouldn't cry at remembering the cries of her sons being taken away by Laura Spencer to then go into the awaiting arms of Helena Cassadine.

Jasmine's face crumpled. She wanted her sons.

The next question came into her head, but was answered just as quickly as it arrived. Where was her husband? He wasn't here. He was in Greece saving Alexis. She would never blame him for saving someone he loves. Never. It wasn't his fault that he wasn't here. It was her fault that she couldn't hold on long enough until he came home to be by her side, as he so desperately wanted to be. (So she thought it was her fault.)

And now the current question at hand. How were her daughters?

Her two daughters born on November 15, 2006 at 3:46 and 3:48pm. Baby girl one weighed 4lbs, 5oz at 17" long and baby girl two weighed 4lbs, 3oz at 15" long.

The last thing she remembered about that day was Elizabeth saying her daughters weren't breathing. That, and what felt like exhaustion and blood loss pushed her over into darkness because she'd been unable to handle anymore.

Jasmine curled on her side, not ready to face the outside world of her mind. However, she knew she'd drive herself crazy by letting her brain go on overload. She noticed the call button. Jasmine had to know how her daughters were doing. She'd make herself sick with worry otherwise. Resolved Jasmine took the plunge.

Soon Bobbie Spencer came in to see an alert Jasmine looking at her with questioning eyes.

"Let me get Dr. Webber for you." Bobbie said kindly as she paged Elizabeth.

"Jasmine. I'm glad you're awake." Elizabeth said with a smile as she and Dr. Meadows walked into the room moments later. "How are you feeling?"

"Exhausted." Jasmine said tiredly.

"That's absolutely normal considering you just gave birth." Elizabeth said.

"Let's just run a few tests to see how you're doing." Dr. Meadows suggested.

The doctor's tone left little room for disagreement. "Okay." Jasmine replied.

After a few minutes of various testing, Dr. Meadows was pleased with what she saw. "Everything looks good Jasmine. Don't stay on your feet for too long. If you have any further questions, you can always ask myself or Elizabeth. Oh, excuse me, I'm sorry. I have to take this page." She said as her pager beeped with an emergency concerning another patient and left.

"How are they Elizabeth? Are, are they okay?" Jasmine asked referring to her daughters.

"Yes. They're fine now. They're in an incubator right now, but should be out soon. They're very special and very lucky. We got them breathing shortly afterward." Elizabeth said this with a big smile.

'Man! Are they ever special.' Elizabeth thought.

Elizabeth remembered…

Flashback –

'Come on girls, come on…" Elizabeth tried to encourage as she worked on her nieces and goddaughters.

Dr. Meadows and she continued to work on the girls. It seemed like hours, when it was only a few precious seconds.

As they continued to try and get Jasmine and Nikolas' daughters to breathe, Elizabeth couldn't let 'what ifs' get in the way. If she did that, she'd give up. Elizabeth promised herself she wouldn't give up. She would never forgive herself otherwise.

But for an experienced doctor like Dr. Meadows, the chances of these beautiful baby girls surviving grew slimmer and slimmer by the second. She was close to telling Elizabeth there was nothing they could do anymore. Close, but not there yet.

Bobbie had to make her rounds, as the medical student looked on. He already feared the worst.

"I think…I think it's over." The med student said quietly.

"NO! It's not over! I am not giving up on my godchildren. I would never forgive myself, nor should the parents of these girls forgive me if I gave up now or at all. They will breathe. For now, I just have to breathe for them."

Continuously working, Elizabeth's heart beat feverishly in her chest. All she could hear as she worked on her nieces was her heartbeat.

Thump-Thump, Thump-Thump, Thump-Thump.

Both doctors and the medical student soon heard two strong, wailing cries from the girls. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, especially Elizabeth. She never thought she would be happy to hear two ear piercing screeches coming from any baby.

As Dr. Meadows rolled the incubators over, Elizabeth leaned down toward her nieces.

"You did it girls, you did it. You scared us all, but you did it. You came back for your Mommy, your Daddy, and your two big brothers. I know your Mommy can't wait to see you. I'm so proud of you. I love you." Elizabeth whispered.

"Elizabeth? Elizabeth. Hey!" Another voice intruded that wasn't Dr. Meadows, the medical student or Bobbie Spencer.

"Huh?" Elizabeth asked, dazed as she blinked her eyes a few times and shook her head.

"Where'd ya go?" Jasmine asked a bit concerned.

"Sorry, don't worry." Elizabeth apologized.

"It's okay. Um…can I see my daughters?"

"Sure, we'll have to bring you to them at the nursery."

As she was wheeled up to the nursery Jasmine allowed her mind to slip to more frivolous things like the improvements in the patient's wardrobe. No longer were the patients in uncomfortable gowns that closed up in the back, but sweatpants were now a norm. That she was sure made everyone happy.

As she was pushed into the nursery Jasmine was awed at all the newborns. Still she was immediately able to spot her newborns in the corner. Still regretting that she couldn't hold on long enough for Nikolas to be there, she had to push that thought aside in order to concentrate on her little girls.

Jasmine would concentrate on Nikolas, and how she'd tell him what had happened when he'd only been gone for three days at another time.

"They're so tiny. Man, it has been along time because I can't remember the boys being…being this small…" Jasmine said as she tried to hold back a sob.

Hating to see her best friend cry, Elizabeth leaned down and wrapped her arms around Jasmine's shoulders as she leaned her head against her friend's.

"It's gonna be okay. We're going to get the boys back, Nikolas, Lucky, and Luke will come home very soon with Alexis. She'll get us all out of this huge mess, and our family will be together again." Elizabeth said quietly.

"Thanks." Jasmine said with a small smile, still admiring her baby girls.

As the friends just watched the girls in a serene and calming moment, Jasmine was able to put her hands in either incubator and each girl grasped tightly onto her index fingers.

In the midst of the inspiring and emotional scene before them, Jasmine saw someone in the reflection of the incubator's glass. She turned her head away from Elizabeth ever so slightly so she wouldn't see her tears.

Jasmine swallowed another sob, and wiped her tears away with her sleeve. She took a deep breath, and took her hands out of their incubators as not to startle her now sleeping daughters. Jasmine quickly made eye contact with Elizabeth without speaking. Jasmine then turned herself around as to speak to the person who made the reflection in the glass.

"Can I help you?" Jasmine asked, her voice wavering.

Elizabeth whipped her head around, as her eyes narrowed into angry, cold blue slits.

"Get out Laura, you shouldn't even be allowed near here." Elizabeth spat quietly.

"I just wanted to see how the inmate was doing." Laura said.

It took everything Elizabeth had not to walk over to Laura and strangle her…well that and her best friend's hand on her arm in an attempt to restrain her.

"Elizabeth, no. Don't. She's not worth fighting right now and I don't feel like fighting in any way." Turning back to her daughters she continued. "This is too special right now…"

"Laura, get out now and I won't call security on you."

"Would you let me explain why—"

"Explain?" Jasmine said cutting her off. "I think you did enough 'explaining' in court yesterday."

"That's not what–"

"I don't care what you meant, or what you're here for. I want you out of here." Elizabeth said.

"Well, well, well…what do we have here?" Scott Baldwin asked as he strolled in.

"Hi Scott, I'm glad you're here. Maybe you can get Jasmine and Elizabeth to listen to me. I was going to say, before I was interrupted that Dr. Quartermaine asked me to deliver Jasmine's release papers to her."

"Release papers? Give me those, let me see." Elizabeth said as she snatched the documents from Laura's hands.

"She was barley brought in yesterday! How…? And you say you got these from Dr. Quartermaine? She wasn't even involved in this." Elizabeth asked puzzled.

"Dr. Quartermaine told me that she just got a page to perform emergency surgery so she asked me to give them to Jasmine."

"Hang on here; I have to see if this is correct…" Elizabeth said as she paged Dr. Meadows, who came in shortly after her page.

"Yes, Elizabeth?"

"Are these release papers for Jasmine? She was just brought in yesterday."

"Yes they are. The results of the tests I did today indicated that she was healthy enough to go home, provided of course you don't walk around too much. I was going to mention the release papers, but I had that emergency to attend to."

"Oh…okay. Thank you for everything." Jasmine said.

"You're welcome." Dr. Meadows said as she left.

"Well in that case, now that you're released you can go into lock up. Come on." Scott said grabbing hold of her wrists, putting it behind her back to handcuff her.

"Scott what are you doing!" Elizabeth cried.

"I'm going to put her behind bars. What does it look like?" Scott sneered.

"Scott you can't, she just barley got released!" Elizabeth said as Scott began to escort Jasmine outside the nursery.

"And she's going straight to jail to start the ten year sentence she deserves!"

"Wait, wait no! I have to name my daughters! You can't take me away now!"

"Well you should have thought of that instead of running your mouth then." Scott hissed.

"Please DA Baldwin! Please don't take me away yet! No!" Jasmine cried out.

"Tough! Come on!"

"NO! Please!" Jasmine cried as she tried to struggle.

Scott then pulled out a little bottle of mace and put it right up to her face. "I suggest if you don't want this in your eyes and mouth, then you stop struggling."

"Jasmine! Scott no!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Okay…okay. I'll go, I'll go." Jasmine said, no longer struggling. "But please DA Baldwin, just let me name my daughters." she pleaded.

The DA seemed to ponder it a bit before he was interrupted.

"Scott. Don't. She deserves to be in jail, look what she was charged with. My granddaughters need to either be with their father, and if he can't move on, then the girls will have to be adopted. I would get Luke to do it, but it's hard with Lulu. The girls deserve a loving home."

"Look, if my girls can't go to my husband first thenI want them to go to Elizabeth. She's their aunt and godmother. Please. After Nikolas, they legally go to her and Lucky. After Nikolas they're their next of kin."

"Is it on paper?" Laura said, getting annoyed.

"Not yet..." Jasmine said in a whisper.

"Then it doesn't count." Scott replied.

"Please! Scott, just let me name my daughters." Jasmine continued to pleaded, still crying.

"I said no! Now come on. Don't bother saying goodbye. You'll be lucky if you see those girls in ten years and even luckier if you still recognize them." Scott snickered this as he dragged her away into an awaiting police car.

As the car drove off with Jasmine in the backseat, Elizabeth looked on, helpless. Jasmine looked back, but soon turned back around and faced the front, too ashamed to face the outside world. She withdrew into herself and awaited her fate.

Elizabeth slowly turned around, and walked back into the nursery of the hospital with all the newborns and sat by her nieces. There she cried, and felt a strong pair of hands rub her shoulders. She looked up, and hugged him.

It was her brother, Steven Webber. He held his little sister in his arms as she cried her heart out. As she did he wondered what had been happening since he'd been gone.

Port Charles Prison –

Jasmine was given a uniform and ordered to change. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she zipped up the orange prison suit, as flashes of her husband, her friends, and her children appeared in her eyes.

Eyes cast downward, Jasmine tried not to cry. She hated showing Scott any weakness so she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Cassadine! Get out here now!" DA Baldwin yelled.

She slowly emerged as both her hands and ankles were cuffed for the walk down the long hallway leading to her cell.

Having the cuffs removed, she was shoved inside of her cell, and the slamming of the cell doors echoed in her mind. And they would resonate there for the next twelve hours.

As she heard the footsteps grow farther and farther away, Jasmine slowly looked up, her eyes scanning those who stood before her.

Jasmine gasped quietly and backed up against the cell door at how physically strong the other women in the cell with her looked and probably were.

"Look what we have here ladies…Fresh Meat." said the leader of the group of three threateningly.

"I think she should be taught a lesson. Maybe a dose of her own medicine?" Said the second of the three.

Jasmine shook her head, knowing what they were referring to.

"Yeah, we know what you did to your kids. No one should ever hurt children. Especially their parents." the leader stated.

Jasmine sighed, closing her eyes and agreeing with them that children should never be harmed.

"Get her girls…"

Jasmine's eyes immediately flew open. She was unprepared for the oncoming onslaught.

(Author's Notes- Please Review! Thanks! My next update will be in 2 weeks because I am going on vacation. I'll update again soon!)