A/N: Happy Fourth of July everyone!

It looks like I have maybe five or six regular reviewers on this story - thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts on each chapter - I appreciate you so much! The story gets hundreds of hits, so I know others are reading as well, so thank you also for taking the time to read and to follow, even if you don't share. I appreciate every single read.

Just a note on Robin...I don't exactly hate the character (Scrubs was one of my favorites to watch), but I've had a distinct distaste for her since she hugged despo Liz after that tired wench confessed she'd lie all over again, instead of scolding her, like Robin would have. The writers sullied a nice character for me and I just don't see her quite the same anymore. I loved watching her and Carly at odds and her calling Carly out on shit all the time - that was always entertaining, but now I take her a little grudgingly. In this story, that grudge has been moving me to make her evil...can't wait to see what my muse has in store for her next.

When I started this story, I decided I wasn't going to kill mangy Lizzie the way I like to kill her in most of my other ones, and I've been trying really hard (maaaan, it's been HARD)...but now that the story is winding down, I think I might be losing that battle. Mmmmmmm. LOL - whether she lives or dies, I hope you read on and continue to enjoy! Thanks again for your company on this ride...now let's set off some fireworks - Jason style!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Jason braced antsy hands to the windowsill, needing desperately to do something with the angry energy, something that would stop him tearing this town apart to find the party really responsible for the love of his life fighting to survive. He surveyed the parking lot below, his mind firing through scenarios, painting visions of torture, each one more gruesome than the last, about to befall everyone involved in hurting her.

But underneath the anger he was so damn scared…her skin had been clammy and so very pale, and tried as he did he hadn't been able to wake her up. Why did this keep happening to her? Sam had spent more than her share of an entire lifetime inside hospitals…it was high-time life gave her a damn break, but no…here she was again, once more paying dues at somebody else's whim. When he got his hands on whoever it was who brought her here once again…

Carly was at her friend's side, seated against the sill with her arm trying to soothe his shoulder, lost in her own thoughts on the day. This was not the outcome she'd planned at all!

"Sam is going to come out of that surgery brand new, Jason. We got her here in time."

Although she believed the words herself, she knew there was still a chance it was a lie, but she'd do anything to assure her best friend and stay thinking positive, knowing she'd give anything to make her words true. When this day started, she'd had an innocent idea to make it the day she'd prove she'd been right, and free Sonny from his misguided obligation to hire a guy he shouldn't trust…it couldn't possibly end as the day Sam died? Fate would not play so cruel a joke on them?

Jason turned his head to look at her worried face. "What the hell were you two doing, Carly?"

She knew it was coming - she was about to get scolded for taking action. "Don't Jason. I wasn't wrong - I knew he was dirty but nobody else would listen to me. Sam listened."

"Listened to what? If you had something that needed looking into, why wouldn't you or Sam tell me about it? Instead, you follow these guys miles from home to confront them - by yourselves?" He was trying to not let the anger boil over to her but she was forever too impulsive for her own good, and oftentimes others around her.

"Sam tried to call you but there was no signal, and we didn't plan to confront anybody - we were going to let you know where to find the truck - that's all…" her voice grew puny when the explanation got to what led to their current circumstance, "…but they knew we were there. They found us out before we could call you."

"That's what happens when you don't have a plan! You and Sam could've both been killed tonight, and we'd have no idea where you were!" The reality of the words chasmed a gasp in the middle of his annoyance, at the fleeting thought of Sam still in the woods.

"Sam can take care of herself, Jason - so can I! We had it under control…" His angry brows went up and she sagged reluctantly, "…at first." Shrugging her shoulders, she flipped both palms open, "They were just thieves - how were we to know they'd try to kill us over a few stolen crates?"

"They're criminals, Carly! You don't know what they're likely to do when they're cornered!" Spinning from her, he ran a staggering hand over a short crop, then turned back to face her, a little bit calmer at seeing the rattled state she was in.

"I'm so sorry, Jason!" Distraught, she looped her fingers to push blonde lochs back on her head. "She has to come through this. Oh, my God…Sam!"

Reaching a hand out to take hers, Jason took a deep breath. "It's not your fault…the person who ordered that dead son-of-a-bitch to pull the trigger, is to blame for putting her in that OR, and I'm gonna rip his heart through his nostrils when I find him!"

Sonny was pacing closeby, while Linden, who'd been in the corridor on the phone with Spinelli, entered the room and stopped next to Jason, who turned at his approach.

"What did you find out?"

"We know who hired them."

The sound of the double doors sliding open caused Jason to quickly sidestep Linden to get to the woman who'd literally had Sam's life in her hands for four hours.

"Dr. Krall - how is my wife?"

The surgeon removed her cap and gestured towards the chairs, but nodded when Jason shook his head no. "We managed to remove the bullet that went through her back and lodged in Mrs. Morgan's chest. We were able to repair the damage but she's lost a lot of blood and her vitals are very weak. She's responding so far to transfusions, which is a good sign…but I won't know anymore until she's awake."

Though better than he'd feared, she wasn't saying the words he desperately longed to hear. "How long until she wakes up?"

"Usually, the anesthesia would wear off soon, but I'm very concerned about a bump on her head she likely sustained from the fall when she was shot. It's caused some minor swelling in her brain that we will need to monitor very closely. For that reason, I'm going to keep her in an induced coma for now."

"What? Coma?"

"Just as a precaution, Mr. Morgan. We need to give Mrs. Morgan's body as much opportunity to heal itself as possible. This is the best course for her right now."

The silent panic was surging against the building rage, and nothing he was hearing was helping either one. She had to be okay…she just had to be! "But she's going to be okay, right?"

"We're monitoring her very closely and doing everything we can."

The doctor's beeper sounded and she left them after nodding to Jason's request to see Sam. Leaving the others in the waiting room, he made his way to the ICU, where the first sight of her laying there, strapped to beeping machines monitoring her every breath, struck him like an anvil in the chest. Just this morning he'd left her asleep in their huge bed, tousled and tired from their lovemaking, safe and secure in their home and their love, while he experienced a bonding first with their son…now here she was hours later, fighting once again, victim of another tyrant's bullying attempt at her life. Easing himself into the chair at the side of the bed, Jason leant forward till he was just an inch from her beautiful face, bringing her tiny hand to his chin.

"I'm here, baby…I'm right here." Leaning forward all the way, he softly pecked the side of her lips, then closed his eyes to the single tear that escaped to run his cheek, before opening them to study her once again. He couldn't have gotten to her one damn minute sooner? "The doctor tells me you came through like my champ." He paused, his eyes roving her face lovingly, falling to the swollen red marks on one cheek…fingerprints…someone had slapped her! Hard!

Boiling blood coursed his veins and a second tear spilled from brimmed eyes, as a redhot fury threatened to consume him. They kidnapped her, hit her, then they shot her. The three he left already dead on the scene was just the beginning. Whoever had wanted his full attention - just got it!

"I want you to rest, okay? Danny's fine - Michael took him home and they're going to have dinner at Grandma Monica's. Carly and Sonny are here, so you won't be alone when you wake up, so just sleep okay?" He kissed her lips again and touched his forehead gingerly to her cheek. "I have to run out for awhile but I'll be back soon." His eyes roved her face again, his heart wishing he could breathe for her, take all the pain from her and make it his own. People have been known not to wake from comas.

Stopping the dire thought in its tracks, Jason reminded himself - she was not people! His Phoenix had risen from the ashes of life more times than many counted on…she'd rise from this too. More than anyone else, he knew better than to count Sam Morgan out when the chips were down. But he couldn't stop the fear. "I love you, Sam…you can't leave me, okay?" The choke in his voice echoed the resurgent pain. "Please don't leave me."

His lips trembled against her skin, then with a last kiss and his emotions pulled in check, he released her silken hand and left her haltingly, pausing for Linden to look up from where he stood outside the door of the waiting room down the hall. The police had arrived…he'd expected them to show up as the hospital was required to report all gunshot wounds. With a nudge of his head to indicate he wanted to be followed out, Jason walked through the door and stopped to wait for the PI, who looked furtively back to where Sonny and Carly talked inside with officers, before following his boss' lead.

"What did you find out earlier?"

"Sam had her suspicions - so much so she was monitoring emails, and I don't know how much she told you about her investigation, but she'd managed to clone the cellphone chip to give her access to text messages and calls. There was a flurry of activity yesterday and last night, but it was all unread - guess Sam hadn't gotten around to reviewing any of it yet."

He'd had no idea. He knew Sam was still very angry at Robin and Elizabeth and didn't trust either of them in the least, but he wasn't aware she'd been actively conducting an investigation…though he should have…if she was still feeling uneasy about them, no way she'd have dropped it before she found out more. Danny's birthday and their evening spent lost in each other were the reasons she hadn't caught up before she went in on Carly's caper.

"Go on."

Nodding, Linden told him everything he'd just learned from Spinelli. "Apparently, the suspect got Brent to hire some guys in the warehouse Mr. Corinthos wasn't aware of - they're the ones who hijacked the load tonight. They've been texting with their whereabouts, and when they alerted to Mrs. Morgan being in the truck, they were given instructions."

"What kind of instructions?"

Hesitating, Linden tried to think of a way to relay the information without setting off world war three…but he'd want heads too if someone hurt the woman he loved.

"The kind that put Sam in a coma."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A giant kick sent the door crashing back on its hinges and Jason burst in blasting, instinct drawn instantly to movement at his left when the startled man dove for the gun on the table, but proved too late to beat the bullet from Jason's that tore through his chestplate. His accomplice shot to his feet in horror, lightning quick with his piece firing off in Jason's direction, only to miss its aim in his haste to connect, not being nearly as lucky when the next bullet from Jason's gun made home in his skull, sending his body blasting back to the wall behind him.

Another bullet zinged by his head, bringing Jason's attention to the doorway the new shooter emerged from, where several sounds competed to be the loudest, a split second before he sent him to join his friends in purgatory. Raising his left hand with the second glock, he took aim, alternating arms that kicked one bullet and then a next, each finding its target as friends of the fallen villains followed through the far door, only to meet steely heat that greeted heart or head.

Boom after boom sounded on retort, finding Jason in slow advance amid the onslaught of gunfire and anxious, running feet. There could have been a hundred of them, he didn't care - motherfuckers touched her! They hurt her! They almost took her from his world…and he would not stop until every last one of them was wiped clean from hers!

Inclining his head from the last aimed his direction, he squeezed both guns at the same time, making connection until each clip echoed empty, hazing his vision with smoky entrails of a room that had exploded in a fierce firefight.

When there was no one left to shoot, no one left standing that his anger could eradicate, he clicked to send each empty clip falling, slowly looking around as he reached inside his jeans pockets then refilled each one, cocking again as he stepped over dead roadkill to complete a sweep of the entire warehouse. If a cockroach was hiding he'd find it this night…none would live to tell they'd had the audacity to ever touch her.

In less than a minute he'd cleared the building of them all and sent them to the bowels of hell, where they belonged…but he was far from satisfied. The reason they'd targeted her in the first place…the reason they'd entered his world and focused on his love, still breathed…and when he stepped over the last one to get to the back room with the door that led to the alley, he wasn't exactly surprised that she hadn't run.

Guns lowered to his side, Jason entered the room in a slow stroll, eyes locked in a returned cold hatred directed his way from her seated perch at the small table in the center. Seeing her, so obviously and uncharacteristically unfazed by the barrage of gunshots ringing all around, he was reminded how changed she was from the woman he'd known and even once loved. Gone was the warm, caring creature, who fought all for truth and fair practice - inhabited now by icy, spiteful hate directed at those he'd kill for. His eyes fell to the fingers of one hand, where they drummed the hard surface of the table, then drifted to the back door where the other one, cowering at the shoulders, clawed anxiously at the door to get it opened but couldn't, in her nervous haste. She turned to meet his eyes, her widening, panicked orbs pleading with him for mercy she didn't deserve.

"This is what you wanted?" The coldness in his veins dripped from his voice, and he trembled with the force it was taking not to create a third eye in each of their skulls.

"Not even close…but I'll take what I can get!" Her own coldness iced the room from where she sat, a sign of all friendliness between them now completely and forever dead.

"From where I stand that's a bullet in the heart. I'll hate it…but I'd kill you a thousand times before I let you hurt Sam and Danny again!"

A stubborn chin raised in defiance, hate dripping from her pores when she stood to face him now at a standstill before her, as the other one let go of the doorknob and perked with strengthening anger.

"Sam - Danny - Sam, Sam - Danny, Danny, Danny!" She spun in anger, wheeling full circle to fire an angry glare his way. "Don't you ever play anything else? They're not all you used to care about!" She jabbed a finger at her own chest and leant towards him angrily, "I used to be your family too, remember that? You asked me to marry you, Jason!"

"How could I forget? It's the sick reason you've honed in on my wife and son and won't get your bared teeth out of their flesh." He took an angry step that stopped him short on instinct alone. "I'm done asking and I'm done with inaction!"

His meaning not lost on her, she straightened shoulders that suddenly felt heavy with the weight of the massive task she'd chosen to side with. "Meaning what? You're ready to shoot me?" When his only answer was the cold silence she'd gotten to know, she sagged in disbelief. "You would, wouldn't you? You could actually look me in the eye and pull that trigger. I saved your life, Jason…we were as close as two people could get!"

Tired of the same ragged argument, he didn't even bother to point the obvious out to her yet again - a dire repeat of the weak excuses she used time after time giving him a headache. "You have one choice, and just as long a minute to make it." When her eyebrows raised in curiosity, he allowed the cold set of his jaw and ice-slicing blue in his eyes to pronounce his full intent. "Go back to your life and live it like I don't exist…or leave what's left of it on this floor, next to the rest of the trash."

Loud cocking sounds around them burst from new armed arrivals, as did the new triumph that gleaned the doctor's eyes atop the curving lips that lacked any warmth in the slow forming smile. But it was too much for the nurse, as she used the newly charged moment to turn on panicked feet that propelled her through the open door.

"Let her go! She has no stomach for the hard stuff…I was getting really sick of her wining to call everything off anyway - the wuss!" The brazen doctor watched him slowly scour the new entrants - four reserves who'd entered from the alley and were taking up positions on the outside of their little tete-a-tete, guns drawn and aimed at his head. "You think I didn't prepare properly for you tonight?" Watching as his eyes found her once more, she knew she'd never get the satisfaction of seeing fear in them…not for himself…but she also knew how to put it there. She knew who to target to get him to feel what she'd felt for oh, so long.

Holding a hand out in the direction of a new arriving cohort, who filled it with a tablet that she brought round for Jason to see, she flipped it on with a swipe to find her target.

"Bitch didn't die tonight, but pay very close attention, Jason…I'm about to tell you what will happen next."

But he'd stopped listening - had she not heard him before - he wasn't playing this game with her anymore…so while she'd been busy talking, he'd been pinning exactly where each minion stood, a lightning lift of both hands firing in the next split second to down the two in front of him, simultaneously sending his body to the floor with a flying leap and roll towards the stacked crates in one corner, wincing when he felt a tearing heat that sliced through his left arm, as he scrambled to duck behind the barrier. He'd figured they'd hesitate to shoot at first with her standing so close, but knew as soon as he hit the ground, to expect the barrage of bullets that showered his way, echoing against the concrete and crates long after he'd taken cover behind them. Two down…two and a bitch to go.

"YOU BAFFOONS! WHICH ONE OF YOU SHOT ME?"

Her high-pitched screech filled the room and a quick look showed her gripping the right hand, blood seeping through her fingers as she glared and screamed at the two remaining hired guns, baffling between apologizing to her and watching for him behind the crates.

"Sorry, Mz. Scorpio…he was getting away…"

"SO YOU SHOT ME?"

"No ma'am!" The chagrined man used his unarmed hand to point to a fallen comrade, "Snakes did…he was the closest to you."

But she knew neither of those idiots had gotten a single shot off before they took one to the head. Deciding to deal with the idiocy later, she remembered how deadly a subject had her heart with a bullet etched in her name. Grimacing through the smarting pain, she turned in the direction where he'd scampered, her eyes landing on the red smears of glistening liquid at its edge.

"I see I'm not the only one nipped, huh Jason? Why don't you come let me take a look at that for you…like old times!"

Her two remaining guns spread out on the far sides of the crates, guns aimed at the ready as they closed in with intent, while the doctor prattled on to distract their prey.

"Ah-c'mon, don't be shy - we're friends here, remember? What's another gunshot wound between us?" She was winding the scarf around her injured arm, then used her teeth to pull at one end to tighten. "What's one dead con-woman, for that matter? Come out here - let's talk about it!"

Two lightning shots rang out, then everything went deadly still, including her tracks that halted at the sight before her. Without warning, Jason had reared from behind the crates that braced his back, both arms stretched to the side with a gun in each hand, firing off a single bullet from each that met the intended targets and dropped them instantly to the floor. Like them, she'd thought him reloading or out of ammo, but he'd obviously just been waiting for them to drop directly into his sights.

Anger at its tilt, Jason emerged with injured arm lowered, blood atrickle in a line to his fingers to meet the floor, the other pointing the gun at her head. He wanted her dead! She masterminded Sam in that bed, fighting to live! She meant to try again - he needed to end it with a bullet in her twisted brain.

But she was Robin. She was the first friend he'd made coming out of the coma, when he couldn't get far enough away from the stifling Quartermaines. She hadn't make him feel stupid and inadequate and slow. She'd been gentle and kind. Patient. She was unarmed.

Using the gun he held to point to one laying near the body closest to her feet, he grit his teeth in angry frustration. "Pick it up!"

She knew better than that. She'd purposely not armed herself for that very reason…even in enforcer mode, Jason Morgan would not shoot someone unarmed. Shoulders lifting with the heightening of her head, she eyed him with renewed insight and a dry, mocking smirk.

"No. You'll have to shoot me just like this…injured and defenseless before you." The obvious grinding of his teeth behind the steeliness of the icy blue glare, made her smile wider. She knew he wouldn't be able to do it. Sucker was a gentleman, on top of being a besotted fool. "Go ahead if you can…shoot me!"

With a snort, Jason felt his arm twitch in jarring anger, but as much as he wanted to kill her for hurting Sam, he couldn't shoot an unarmed woman. She was Emma's mother.

Arm lowering, he kicked himself in silent frustration, but he couldn't let her make him into an animal. Sam wouldn't approve. She'd beat the living daylight out of the woman and he'd let her this time, but she wouldn't execute her in cold blood either.

"You and I now have a deadly problem, Robin. You may not carry a gun, but you're still a threat to my family…I will not ignore that again. I'm not about to walk away, filled with blind hope that you've come to your senses…not this time. You ordered the death of my wife…you will pay for that!"

She moved to the chair and sat with her back to him. Confident in his misplaced chivalry, she bent her head to inspect her arm, her voice sounding in a conceited drawl, as she listened to his footsteps draw near the door. "Not tonight I won't."

A/N: Bitch lives another day...but wait - stories not over yet! LOLOLOLOL! See you soon...