Jason rubbed his sweaty palms across his jeans and stared hard at the pay phone. He was stymied what to even say to his mother. For the last several years Jake had been their go between and the idea of having to talk to her now – especially given the circumstances threw him. He fished in his back pocket pulling out his wallet searching its contents for the phone number of his grandparents' house. After Erik's death Alison Morgan returned home to Texas and the safety and shelter of her parents to grieve the loss of her husband. She'd been there ever since. That thought only served to fuel the animosity Jason felt towards his mother. Every time he let himself think about how she turned him out without – what he believed wasn't – even a thought and ran to the loving arms of her family Jason felt his blood boil. He needed that too. He needed the loving arms of his own mother for comfort during a time when everything in his world had been turned upside down. Yet she wasn't there. It had been Jake who had helped him work his way through his sorrow. Jason let out an anguished sigh as he scanned his surroundings and thought about why he was standing there in a place he now associated with death. Jake Russell – the rock at the center of Jason's life – was showing signs of crumbling. Jason wasn't prepared to think about what the possibility of losing Jake would mean to him. Losing Erik had been tough but somehow the idea of Jake being gone from his life was unfathomable to him.

Jason shook off those morbid thoughts and lifted the black receiver and for a moment listened to the high pitch of the dial tone resonating in his ear. What was he supposed to say to a woman he barely knew anymore? For him the minute he expressed his desire to be a driver the woman who had been everything to him growing up became a virtual stranger. Jason rubbed his hand across his face doing his best to focus his thoughts. No matter how he felt about his mother, no matter how difficult it would be for him to find the words he had to tell her what had had happened to Jake. He rested the phone on his shoulder and centered his gazed the on the number on the scrap of paper in his hand. With unsteady fingers Jason pressed the series of numbers that would soon connect him to his mother. He licked his lips as the connection began to ring through.

"Hello." Jason listened to the voice of Alison Morgan – his mother bouncing off his eardrum. "Hello?" she said again when he made no attempt to speak.

Jason was thrown back in time at the sound of her sweet voice. Again he was a little six year old boy with a scraped knee listening to her make everything better the way only a mother could. Suddenly he longed for the days when it all had been that simple – when his father was still alive and his mother doted on her only son. Jason squared his shoulders knowing that was no use looking back when there wasn't a damn thing he could do to change what was. "Mom," he finally said.

"Jason?"

The surprise in her tone was noticeable and the hairs on the back of his neck bristled as he tried not to retort with some smart comment. Now wasn't the time or the place for an argument. "Yeah, mom it's me."

Alison Morgan dropped her body into the Chippendale chair that sat along the side table and waited for what her son had to say, however she was met with silence. In that silence her mind ran through a myriad of possible scenarios for his call. It was always the same when Jake would call her. Alison was always filled with opposing emotions. She would steel herself for the horrible news of an injury or worse yet the death of her son but then when Jake would tell her how well Jason was doing or what a man he was becoming she ached for the child she left behind. For years now she had been walking this tightrope. One where she thought she was doing what she had to do to protect herself from what she saw as the inevitable but missed Jason more than she ever imagined possible. Now hearing his voice on the other end of the phone only intensified that longing. "This is unexpected," she remarked finally when Jason remained silent.

"Yeah, I know." He was still fumbling with how to break the news of Jake's condition. He didn't have much faith in her. She had cut and run on him and in the back on his mind Jason honestly felt that she would do the same now except this time she wouldn't have to run only stay away. "There's something I have to tell you."

"What?"

"Jake's in the hospital... ..."

That was all Jason was able to stay before Alison cut him off. "Hospital? What happened? Don't tell me he ended up pinned under that damn race car of yours while he was trying to make it handle better or go faster. I swear when will either of you learn how dangerous the life you lead is? Wasn't what happened to your father enough to show the both of you that there's no future in racing only a one way ticket to an early grave?" Alison's rapid succession of thoughts fell from her lips and bombarded Jason.

Jason propped his foot against the wall and leaned back and listened while his mother continued on with her well rehearsed mantra about the dangers of his chosen career path. Finally just when he thought he would explode he stopped her diatribe cold with one sentence. "Jake had a heart attack."

For a moment she was stunned silent as the word heart attack settled in her brain. "What?"

"Jake had a heart attack. He's in surgery now. It's bypass surgery I think." Jason honestly couldn't recall all that the doctor had told him. The only thing that stood out was the severity of it all.

"How bad is it?" Alison asked her head still spinning.

"Pretty bad," Jason's voice hitched in his throat as he struggled to control another wave of sobs that threatened to overtake him.

Alison struggled to hold the phone in her grasp. The uncertainty her son's voice held spoke volumes about Jake's condition. "How did it happen?" she asked going through the motions of the proper questions as though that might change the events.

"Honestly I don't know. One minute he was under the car welding a shim and the next thing Tom and I saw him laying on the floor holding his chest." For Jason just repeating the event gave him the shakes all over again. It was a picture he wasn't sure he would ever be able to erase. Somewhere in the back of his mind Jason knew that it would sit along side the vivid memory of his father's crash and would haunt him now and again.

"So it was related to racing!" Alison announced.

Jason shook his head and clenched his teeth at the accusatory way his mother spoke as if every evil thing that happened in the world was in one way or another tied to NASCAR. "Mom, I don't have time to debate this with you. I just thought you might want to know about what was going on with Jake," his voice sounded strained.

"Of course I want to know."

"Fine then. You know. I have to go." He hung up the phone before giving her a chance to say anything more.

Suddenly Alison's ear was filled with the sound of a dial tone. Her son had hung up on her. Immediately she was angry at how he had dismissed her without so much as a good bye but then a wave of guilt consumed her. Hadn't she done the very same thing years before when she left him in Jake's care? Slowly she placed the phone back in its cradle and hugged her arms close to her chest trying to stave off the tears that clouded her vision. She wanted to convince herself that they were tears for Jake but somewhere in the back of her mind she was certain they were more for the child she had left behind.

Jason pressed his hands over his face and let out a frustrated sigh. If nothing else his mother was at least consistent. She never wavered from her opinion on racing. That belief of hers was a hard one for Jason to swallow especially since he had seen her in the early days of his father's career. She was the doting racer's wife willing to do whatever it took to help her husband with his chosen path. She was there in the winner circle when Erik accepted the trophy and check for his first NASCAR win. And she was there for each of his defeats. Jason couldn't understand how she could just turn it all off.

Jake had tried on numerous occasions to make him understand. To get him to see how much the death of Erik Morgan had devastated his wife. As much as everything logical and rational in Jason did understand the child in him would never comprehend a mother leaving her son over what he considered a differing opinion.

"Hey Mel," Elizabeth said as she approached the emergency room admitting desk. "You have that file for me?"

"Here you go. Thanks so much for coming back in."

"That's my job right?" Elizabeth smiled. She was glad to have the distraction. The longer she let herself wallow in thoughts of Billy Weston and what happened the between them the worse she felt about herself. Having something constructive to focus on would do her a lot of good. "Do you know if Mr. Russell is out of surgery yet?" she asked scanning the brief write up his ER chart.

"I don't think so. I sent the family up to the surgical waiting area. I am sure they are still there."

"Okay. I'll let you know how it goes."

"Thanks," Melanie said as she went back to the stack of papers sitting on the desk in front of her.

Elizabeth rode the elevator first to fifth floor operating suite. She was hoping to gather a little bit of information on how Jake Russell's surgery was progressing. She always liked to have something to tell the family about that when she first went to speak with them. All she was able to find out was that he was still in surgery and it looked like it might take several more hours to complete. When the doctors opened Jake's chest they discovered another artery that was fifty percent blocked and decided that it was worth bypassing as well. From the sounds of it if the patient did make it through his surgery he would have a long road of rehab before him so Elizabeth headed to her office to collect some information on the facilities best suited for his recovery.

Tom looked at the clock on the wall and continued to pace the floor. He had taken Jason's place in that position when he had gone to make the call to his mother. Tom was never one for hospitals and if it had been anyone other than Jake he would have been long gone by now. As he made another pass toward the door he nearly collided with a petite brunette entering the room. "Excuse me," he said as he bent down to help her pick up the papers that were now sprawled on the floor.

"No, I'm sorry I wasn't looking where I was going. I have a bad habit of doing that." She smiled. That smile held Tom captive for a moment. He was fixed on her beautiful face, soft chestnut hair and slender frame. If Tom hadn't known better he would have thought his heart skipped a beat. She was exquisite. "Hi," she extended her hand. "I'm a patient advocate here at the hospital. I was told that you might need some assistance with the paper work, insurance forms that sort of thing for Mr. Russell."

Tom took her hand in his. Her skin was soft against his weathered hand. He wished that he was able to find his voice yet the part of his brain he used to form words seemed to have short circuited the minute their hands touched.

Just then the sound of Jason's boots against the tiled floor brought Tom back to reality. Jason paid little if any attention to the new person in the room. He was still caught up in his own fears about what would happen to Jake and now the anger he felt for his mother joined the mix to the point that he felt like we was drowning.

"So," Elizabeth began. "I think the insurance forms would be the best place to start."

Tom looked across the room at Jason. "You need to talk to him."

Elizabeth turned her head and glanced to where the young man before her was pointing. She centered her stare on the tall blonde staring intently out the window. His posture was taut and had his arms crossed over his chest. His build was lean and muscular yet not is a bulky kind of way. His jeans hugged his body close, as did his thin black tee shirt. The worry that was etched on his features was something that Elizabeth was very familiar with. Every family that she had ever been in contact with had the very same look – like they wanted to jump out of their skin.

"Jas," Tom began. "This lady... ..." He stumbled unsure of her name.

"Elizabeth," she said.

"Is here to help you with some paperwork for Jake."

Elizabeth crossed the room and stood beside him. Jason turned his head and looked down at her yet she was almost positive he hadn't really seen her at all. His ice blue eyes were glassy from all the unshed tears. "Would you like to sit down?" she asked. Jason only shook his head. "I wanted to let you know that I checked with the operating room before I came down here and well there's been a complication with Mr. Russell's surgery."

Jason's expression went from dazed to alarmed as he flashed a hard stare in her direction yet never said a word. Tom now joined the pair. "Complication?" he asked. "What kind of complication?"

"Apparently once inside his heart the doctors found another artery that was compromised and decided that it would be necessary to bypass it as well. That's why the surgery is taking longer than originally expected."

"He's going to be okay?" Jason finally spoke.

"Honestly, I can't say. I know that what they are doing is a delicate procedure but our coronary unit is one of the best in the state. Mr. Russell is in good hands here." Elizabeth grazed her fingers against Jason's arm. "I will tell you this he's in for a difficult rehab though. I have some information on several excellent facilities if you would like to look at them."

Elizabeth offered the papers to Jason. He took them from her yet never even glanced at them. He stuffed them in his back pocket and continued to toggle his stare from out the window and the large clock hanging on the wall. Again none of this behavior was out of the ordinary. Elizabeth was accustomed to families' apprehensions running the gambit of emotions from crying hysterically to being stoically calm. The man before her was stoic yet behind his eyes she could see the panic that he wasn't allowing release. In her mind Elizabeth knew that trying to talk to him now wasn't doing either of them any good. She decided to leave the information and wait to see what the outcome of Jake Russell's surgery was before she approached him again.

"Here's my card." Elizabeth handed him business card, which he promptly deposited in his pocket as he had done with the other things she had given him. "If you need to talk to me about anything regarding Mr. Russell don't hesitate to contact me." Elizabeth offered Tom a faint smile as she exited the room. Yet when she reached the doorway she stopped short and turned back to stare at the young man so desperately trying to hold it together. It wasn't as if this was something new for her. She saw it daily yet for some reason this time it tugged at her heart strings and she had the overwhelming urge to want to make everything better for him – and that scared her.