Her Past Recreated

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

"Hello Carly, how are you feeling today?" Patrick asked his patient as he stepped into her room.

"My head hurts a little and everything's a little jumbled up," Carly replied. "But why are you being so formal, Pat?"

Patrick blinked, remembering that Carly had said that he was her best friend. It was strange to have this beautiful woman call him "Pat", a nickname that he never let anybody use. Not since his college days, anyway…

"I'm your doctor," he answered her simply. Patrick did not want to bias any of her answers to his next questions, so he thought it best if he told her as little as possible.

"Oh, I get it," Carly said. "You want to play doctor and patient again? You're so kinky – Jason's probably right out in the hall."

Patrick gulped at the heat in her eye and the honey in her voice. Surely she was teasing? If she was with Jason, Patrick would have bet money that she would never even look at another man again…

"Please focus, Carly," Patrick told her. "I have a couple questions that I would like you to answer."

"Okay, Pat. Sorry," Carly apologized, immediately losing her air of seduction. "You know I was only teasing."

Patrick nodded, relieved.

"What's your full name?" he questioned.

"Caroline Leigh Morgan," she responded.

"What year is it?" Patrick continued.

"2008," Carly responded promptly.

Patrick sighed a breath of relief. At least she was in the right year – that should make things easier.

"Who are your parents?" Patrick asked.

Carly looked at him strangely when he asked that question, but she responded anyway.

"Stefan and Barbara Jean Cassadine," she told him. "Where is this going?"

"You hit your head. I just want to make sure that everything is alright," Patrick explained.

Carly looked at him suspiciously for a second, but acquiesced. Patrick was almost startled at how easily she gave in, but then he remembered – she thought he was her best friend. She trusted him.

Did Carly's trust in Patrick in her imaginary world measure up to her trust in Jason in the real world? Patrick could only imagine having a friend so devoted…

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Patrick asked her. He wanted to know more about her comment about Lulu before.

"Three sisters, one brother," Carly responded. "Charlotte, Lesley Lu, BJ, and Lucas. Except Charlotte is mine biologically."

Carly smiled at that last part, as if it was an inside joke between them.

Patrick smiled back. He could get used to this side of Carly…

"Children?" he continued questioning her.

"Michael and Matthew Morgan are my boys. Madeline is Jase's girl," Carly joked.

"What do you do for a living?" Patrick questioned.

"Okay, obviously nothing's wrong with my memory, Pat," Carly told him, exasperated by now. "What's really going on here?"

"Please just answer the question, Carly," Patrick almost pleaded.

"I'm a doctor," Carly replied, rolling her eyes. "I didn't want to help run the family business; I left that up to Cousin Nikkie. But I didn't want to be a nurse like my mother – I wanted more. But you know all of this, remember? I told you when we first met. Are you sure that you aren't the one with the memory problems?"

"Pretty sure," Patrick replied with a smile.

He was glad that Carly thought she was a doctor – it would be an easy way to prove to her that her memories were false. Carly did not have the medical background or knowledge to be a capable doctor – once Patrick exposed that, perhaps he could find more holes in her fantasy world.

"We done, Pat?" Carly questioned with a sullen look across her pretty features.

"Yeah, we're done," he agreed, sitting in the plastic chair next to her bed. "I just need to run a CAT-scan and MRI later to see what's going on up there."

Patrick tapped against his own temple with those last words. Carly scowled at him playfully.

"If you say nothing, Pat…" she trailed off mock-threateningly.

Patrick just looked at her with a "who, me?" expression. It was surprising how easily they fell into banter and camaraderie.

"So, how's Jase?" Carly questioned. "Ric really did a number on him. I know that he blames Jason for Sonny's death, but that was almost ten years ago. It wasn't Jason's fault that Sonny walked right into Moreno's ambush. He couldn't have known…"

Patrick blinked at that. He wondered if Carly's memories were based on actual events that took place. It was possible that she just changed things that really happened to more suit her own situation.

He would have to ask Jason if anything similar to some of Carly's memories occurred… Patrick was still pretty new on the scene, and he didn't know everybody's history.

"Jason's fine," Patrick answered her. "He's worried about you. You hit your head pretty hard…"

"I'll be okay," Carly reassured him. "You know me; I don't stay down for long. And I absolutely hate being the patient and not the doctor – I'm going to go stir crazy before long."

"As opposed to actual crazy?" Patrick teased. He was almost shocked at how easy it was to talk to her, to tease her. He almost wished that they really were best friends…

"The craziness gene skipped a generation in my family," Carly told him.

"Obviously…Michael and Morgan are perfectly sane," Patrick quipped.

Then he froze…Carly wouldn't let that slide…

"Why do you always call Matthew by our last name?" Carly just laughed. "We're all Morgans. I mean, I know that you opposed us naming him Matthew, but I didn't think that you'd call my poor son by his last name for the rest of his life. Most kids don't have to deal with that until high school…"

"Well…" Patrick began uneasily, but Carly cut him off.

"And Madeline is perfectly sane too!" she told him. "You always forget about her."

And then Carly pouted at him. Patrick thought those lips should be registered as lethal weapons. And those big, beautiful blue eyes…

"You almost done?" Jason asked, tired of Carly and Patrick's chatter.

He had listened in as Patrick asked Carly questions, and he was annoyed at their friendly banter. Jason didn't like any male that was too comfortable in Carly's presence.

Before Carly or Patrick could respond, the doors burst open again.

"Mom!" Michael and Morgan shouted together, Bobbie trailing behind them. Lulu and Spinelli remained in the doorway.

"Michael! Matthew! How are my boys?" Carly responded to her sons enthusiastically. "And where is my girl?"

And with that, all hell broke loose…