Her Present

Disclaimer: I do not own General Hospital. Carly and Jason are the property of ABC and Disney.

Jax saw that his wife was about to tell him where she had been, so he started to prepare himself for an argument. He knew that he hadn't handled her return home well; instead of immediately interrogating her, Jax should have been welcoming and understanding.

Maybe then she wouldn't have felt the need to keep Jason close for reinforcement.

Jax was just glad when her supposed "best friend" left with the boys. It would give him and Carly the necessary time to discuss everything and hopefully make up.

Carly crumbled to the floor and started twitching. Jax tried to catch her before she could hit, but he was too late.

The dull thud of her head slamming against the floor and the blood that began pooling under her blonde hair was a testament to that.

"Carly! Carly!" he shouted frantically.

Jax knew something was seriously wrong when her seizure got worse and she started throwing up. He had no idea what to do, and he was afraid that moving her would make it worse.

Jax ran to the phone and dialed 9-1-1. The operator picked up.

"My wife just collapsed in our living room!" Jax told her quickly. "She's bleeding from her head, throwing up, and twitching."

"Sir, please stay calm," the operator replied. "We're sending an ambulance now. Don't move her; we don't want you to do accidentally do more damage while she is having her seizure."

Jax tried to listen to the operator and calm himself down. He counted to ten; it was something that Carly always did to try to calm herself, and it made him feel closer to him wife.

Jax proceeded to tell the operator the house address. She told him not to hang up, and continued to talk him down from his frenzy.

Meanwhile, Jax crouched down on the floor next to Carly. Her twitching had slowed, but she was still dry heaving. Jax could hear sirens approaching, and he thanked god that help was on the way.

The emergency medical squad knocked on the front door, and Jax let them in. They immediately went to the still-shaking Carly, who was beginning to gain consciousness. The team loaded her onto a stretcher to take her to General Hospital.

Jax climbed into the back of the ambulance with his wife. Carly locked eyes with him from beneath her oxygen mask, and then her eyes rolled up in the back of her head. Machines started beeping, and Jax thought his own heart was going to stop when he saw that she was flat lining.

They removed her shirt and used the paddles to shock her heart back into rhythm.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Jax was losing hope, and he could tell that the medical personnel were beginning to get discouraged. He could lose his wife; Carly could die, and the last conversation they ever had would consist of him yelling at her and her hiding behind Jason.

Suddenly, Carly's heart started beating again. Everyone in the ambulance gave a quick sigh of relief. Then, Jax started fielding questions.

"Does your wife have a history of epilepsy?"

No.

"Is she an alcoholic? Is she currently intoxicated?'

No. No.

"Is she currently on drugs?"

No, of course not.

The rest of the ride to General Hospital went by in a blur for Jax. Nobody would tell him what was wrong with his wife. When they finally arrived in the emergency room, she was whisked away to be immediately seen by a doctor. Her heart monitor had flat lined two additional times on the ride there.

Jax was terrified.

He was left alone in the waiting room, unsure what was wrong with his wife and whether she would ever recover. But Jax had to trust in Carly's strength, in her determination to never give up on life.

She had too much to live for: Michael and Morgan, her mother, Lulu.

Jason.

And they had promised to grow old together. Said their vows in front of all their loved ones and a priest. Started a family together: Carly, Jax, Michael, Morgan, and hopefully another child some day. Ran the business together as equal partners.

Jax couldn't wrap his idea around the fact that all that could be gone in the blink of an eye.

Carly, the woman he loves, could be gone in the blink of an eye.

Jax knew that he should page Bobbie, tell her to come down to the waiting room. But if he told her what happened, it would make it real.

His wife would really be in some room in the hospital fighting for her life right now.

And Jax wanted to live in denial just a little bit longer.

Lulu, Spinelli, Michael, and Morgan were having a good time. They had ordered pizza and rented a movie, and there was plentiful microwavable popcorn and soda. The sleepover was lots of fun so far.

For them, anyway.

Jason had gotten a bad feeling a couple minutes into the ride back to the penthouse. He didn't say anything because he didn't want to worry the boys, but he felt like Carly was in trouble.

Jason figured he was just being paranoid; Carly was safe at home with her husband. Even if she and Jax argued, Jason trusted that Jax would never intentionally hurt her.

Not if he wanted to see the next morning, anyway.

Jason put the feelings off as just being uneasy about finally knowing the full ugliness of Carly's past. Her confessions had shocked him, and his best friend's pain cut through his heart more surely than any bullet or knife ever had or ever could.

So Jason ignored his instincts and tried to enjoy the night with his nephews, charge, and the young woman that he thought of as his niece. Lulu had grown close to Carly, and Jason knew that his best friend thought of her cousin as more of a little sister, or even a daughter.

Lulu's closeness to Carly, her importance to his best friend, guaranteed that Jason would accept the young "Blonde One" into his life. The fact that she was best friends with Spinelli and kept Jason's secret even from her brother cemented Lulu's position in Jason's life. He cared for the young woman and included her amongst his family.

But no matter how much he cared for the four young people with him in his penthouse that night, Jason's mind was on a certain blonde "Valkyrie" that owned his heart.

Jason just never let her hold it. He was always too afraid of what it would mean to lose himself wholly in Carly's love, trust, and devotion. Jason feared that he would fail her; even more, he was scared that his own love wouldn't be enough.

It hadn't been all those years ago when she turned to Sonny.

So Jason was a million miles away in his own little world. Lulu and Michael noticed but didn't comment, and Spinelli told himself that he would ask "Stone Cold" what was wrong later.

Jason was too busy thinking about the past and analyzing his choices to even realize how obvious he was being in his preoccupation. He just couldn't shake his bad feeling, and he greatly worried about his best friend.

Jason had no way of knowing just how badly he would regret leaving Carly alone with Jax that night.

And even worse, not going back to her when his instincts told him something was wrong.

A few hours later, Jax was sitting still and quietly in a hard, cold hospital chair in the waiting room. Bobbie passed by when she was making her rounds, and noticed her daughter's husband sitting alone, disconsolate and listless. Incredibly worried, with a sinking feeling in her gut, she rushed to him.

"Jax, what's wrong?" Bobbie asked him. "Where's Carly? Is something wrong with her? Is she being treated right now?"

Bobbie knew that it couldn't have been either of her grandsons because Carly would have contacted her immediately. Her daughter would want Bobbie to be with Michael or Morgan if they were seriously hurt, and Carly would be kicking up a fuss and causing a disturbance if it was just something minor.

So Bobbie had a bad feeling that her daughter was lying in a hospital bed somewhere. She wondered how news hadn't traveled to her through the nurses' grapevine.

All the useless gossip was passed through, but something important (like if Carly was sick or injured) didn't reach her.

"Jax?" Bobbie questioned the Aussie again.

He snapped out of his daze at his mother-in-law's prompting. As Jax raised his bloodshot blue eyes to Bobbie's brown, he wanted to cry at the worry he saw there.

The reason he was sitting in the hard plastic chair crashed down on him again, and he started to cry. Two silent tears wound their way down his face before he wiped them away.

"We were talking in the living room when she collapsed," Jax finally told Bobbie when she asked him again if something was wrong with Carly.

"Is she alright?" Bobbie asked her son-in-law, fearing the answer.

"She hit her head, went into a seizure. She started throwing up, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Carly…she flat lined three times on the way to the hospital…" Jax couldn't go on.

Perhaps he had been too blunt, because Bobbie looked as though she might collapse from worry. When he told her that the doctors hadn't said anything yet, however, she quickly composed herself and left to find out what was taking so long.

Jason felt a sharp pain in his heart, and he was halfway to the door before he realized what he was doing.

"What's wrong?" Lulu finally asked.

"Nothing," Jason assured her.

He went out into the hallway and opened his phone.

"C'mon, Carly," he said to the ring as he waited for her to pick up her cell phone.

When she didn't answer, his worry increased even more. Carly always had her cell phone with her, and it was always on. And she always answered when he called.

Always.

Jason tried not to panic, so he called the house phone next.

No answer.

Jax's cell.

No answer.

Getting desperate, he quickly went back into the penthouse to ask Lulu and Spinelli to take care of the boys for the night.

"Stone Cold?" Spinelli inquired quietly. He sensed that something was wrong with his mentor and protector.

"Please watch Michael and Morgan for me tonight," Jason more ordered than asked.

"Is everything alright?" Lulu questioned again.

"It will be," Jason assured. "I just have to go out for a bit. I don't know when I'll be back."

He quickly said goodbye to the boys and left the penthouse.

"Milo, drive me to Carly's house," Jason ordered the young guard.

"Sure thing, boss," Milo replied.

When they arrived at the house, the door was slightly ajar. Jason rushed into his best friend's house, Milo hot on his heels.

They were both afraid that it was mob-related, and Milo knew that his boss would need back-up.

So when Jason walked in to find the living room light on and a pool of blood on the floor, he suspected the worst. No valuables appeared to be missing, and everything looked to be exactly how it was when he left those few short hours ago.

There were no signs of a struggle.

Except Jason realized that there was also vomit on the floor; it was hard to see because most was on the rug. (The awful smell gave it away.)

Had Carly gotten sick and fell? Jason knew that he wouldn't have felt this badly if something was wrong with Jax.

"We're going to General Hospital," Jason ordered Milo. He turned the living room light off on the way out and locked the front door.

Carly, whatever's wrong, I'm on my way. Jason silently promised his best friend and the woman that could have been the love of his life.

Patrick Drake and Robin Scorpio walked quietly into the waiting room, Bobbie Spencer a step behind. They went immediately to Jasper Jacks, sitting forlorn and obviously agonized in the dark corner.

"We're sorry," Patrick began, "there's nothing more that we can do for her…"

And Jax saw their future shatter before his very eyes.