Title: Identity

Author: Girlfearless AKA Christy

Don't own it, never will, don't even really wish I did right now.

By the time they were wheeling Alyssa's gurney in General Hospital both Jason and Claudia were on separate sides of Alyssa, staring holes into each other. Claudia had refused medical treatment and told the paramedics on the way over that if they didn't have the paperwork ready when they got to the hospital so that she could go with her cousin right away then she would make all of their lives a living hell, they had no trouble believing the woman who, even with a torn dress and abrasions all over her, still looked dangerous.

"Why are you still here anyway?" Claudia glared at Jason who stood across from her, next to the gurney.

"People here will recognize her."

"Good, great, you stand guard at the door like a good little dog and protect everyone and I'll stay with my cousin."

Jason ignored her as they walked into an examining room and Patrick Drake walked in behind them, "What do we…Is that Emily?"

"No," Jason looked over at him. "She's her twin."

"I didn't know…"

"Excuse me, yeah. Hi. I'm Claudia Zacharra and this is my cousin you two are talking over while she slowly slips into a coma. So could we maybe, I don't know, focus on the patient here?"

"Of course," Patrick stepped over the bed that Alyssa had been transferred into and quickly checked her vitals while asking Claudia and Jason questions. "What happened?"

"Car bomb," Jason answered bluntly as he stared at Alyssa on the bed.

"Has she woken up at all since the accident?"

"No."

"Does she have any allergies to any medications that you know of?"

"Uh, I don't think so," Claudia answered as she stared down at her cousins scratched and bruised face.

"Pain medications used to give Emily nightmares, I don't know…" Jason trailed off as Claudia snapped her head up to look at him.

"It might be the same for…" Patrick trailed off and looked to Jason for a name.

"Alyssa," Claudia provided.

"Alyssa," Patrick nodded. "We'll see, but that's not gonna be our main concern right now."

"What is," Jason asked.

"The fact that she isn't awake. She's got some bruising and a few scrapes, but I can't see any trauma that should really be keeping her under. We're going to need to run a few tests and see what we're dealing with. It could be there is internal damage that I can't appreciate right now or it could just be that her brain is telling her body it needs to rest and this bombing just gave it the perfect opportunity to do so."

"So what you're saying is that either something is wrong or it isn't…" Claudia trailed off as she looked out the door and noticed a small crowd starting to gather.

"What I'm saying is we don't know for sure right now," Patrick looked towards the door and turned back to Jason and Claudia and said, "I'm gonna put in the order for some of these test, call the lab and let them know we'll need a MRI, and while I'm at it I'll take care of the crowd that's congregating. Jason you may want to call a few people before they hear about this from someone else. I'll tell Robin."

Jason nodded as Patrick walked out the door and turned his head to Claudia as she flipped open the cell phone she'd been gripping for dear life, "Who are you calling?"

"A doctor I know in New York, I want to see if I can get my cousin transferred out…"

"She wanted to stay in town," Jason interrupted unsure of why he was fighting for this women, who he knew was going to bring trouble into his life, to stay in town.

"Yeah, well that was before my car was blown up with her in it and half the doctors in the hospital she's at were old friends of her dead sister. I'm not trusting her health to a bunch of people who look at her and see someone else."

"Leave her here," Jason reached out and lightly touched Alyssa's hand before Claudia yanked his arm back. "Patrick Drake is the best and you'll want that for her. The doctors here are professional, they'll be shocked at first, but they'll come around. You don't even know if you should be moving her."

"Why are you so dead set on her staying here?"

"I don't know," Jason answered honestly as he looked out the small window in the door and saw Liz staring in her eyes shining with unshed tears and a look of shock on her face. "I'll be back."

He carefully stepped out the door and lightly touched her elbow to move her away from the emergency room door and into the hallway, "Are you okay?"

"Is that...Is Emily alive?"

"No."

"I don't…Who is that?"

"I think," he scrubbed his hands down his face and looked back down the hallway, worry etched on his face. "Her twin sister."

"Emily doesn't have twin Jason, if she did we'd know. She would have told us something like that."

"She didn't know. I haven't…I need Spinelli to check some of this out."

"So she could be Emily?"

Jason shook his head, "No."

"How do you know, they could have…"

"It's not her. They aren't identical and…it's just not her."

"Okay," Liz nodded, still unsure, and reached out to touch his arm. "How do we know that the Zacharra's aren't trying to distract you?"

"We…I don't. I just don't think they are. She seemed…I don't think she's lying."

"Maybe…maybe you…never mind."

"What?" He asked, more than willing to have her tell him that he was losing his mind.

"Maybe you don't want to think she's lying," she broached the subject carefully as she reached out and took his hands in hers. "Maybe you need to believe that a part of Emily is still here with us. I understand, believe me I understand, but if this girl isn't Emily's sister then allowing her to act like she is, is just as bad as Nikolas not getting help for his tumor because he thinks he sees her."

Jason shook his head and stared down at their joined hands, "I'm not Nikolas. I'm not pretending this girl is some perfect version of Emily sent here just for me to obsess over. I know she's not Emily, she's nothing like her. If they were trying to mess with me then she would be more like Emily was…she's not."

"Okay, but if she isn't Emily and the Zacharra's aren't trying to cause trouble…what is she doing here?"

"Claudia brought her here so that we would let her brother go," Jason answered abruptly. He hadn't planned on telling her about Johnny Zacharra, but he knew there was no way she would understand if he didn't tell her the whole truth.

"You…"

"Let me go! Let me go! I have to see her! You have to let me see her!"

Liz and Jason both started walking back towards Alyssa's room as they realized who the yelling voice belonged to, they got to the door of the room just in time to see Claudia walk out of it and over to Nikolas and Nadine, who was trying to pull him back.

"Get the hell away from my cousin's room you psycho."

"He doesn't realize what he's doing," Nadine said as she tried to hold Nikolas behind her.

"I don't care if he's having visions of fucking sugarplums dancing in his head, you need to keep him the hell away from my cousin or else I'm gonna do it for you!"

"I have to see her…"

"Nikolas," Liz walked over to her friend and lightly touched his shoulder. "You need to calm down. That woman isn't Emily."

"How they hell did he find out she was here anyway," Claudia asked looking over the faces of Jason, Liz, Nadine, and Nikolas.

"It's my fault," Nadine looked down at the ground in front of her. "I told him. I thought…I'm sorry."

"You should be you little idiot…"

"Hey," Liz interrupted and stepped in front of Nadine. "If you are going to talk to our employees like that then you can leave."

"Maybe this hospital's employees need to learn not to give out patient information."

"She was trying to help him."

"Oh well, that's great. As long as your little friend gets help, who cares that he's screaming outside of my cousin's room?" Claudia shook her head and pointed between Liz and Nadine. "Did you two dinks drink the same idiot juice this morning?"

"Hey," Patrick walked up behind Liz, Nadine, and Nikolas and then walked around to stand next to Claudia. "What's going on here?"

"Dumb and dumber here thought it would be a good idea to let Emily Quartermaines' ex-whatever stand outside my cousin's room screaming about how he needs to see her. I disagreed."

"Okay," Patrick shook his head. "You three need to leave this area right now. Liz you are supposed to be up on four, Nadine take Nikolas back to his room, and tell Epiphany that I need her to put a nurse on this room, one that did not have personal relationship with Emily Quartermaine."

Nadine dragged Nikolas away and he finally stopped struggling against her as they stepped into the elevator, Patrick figured she had somehow convinced him that he could see Alyssa Zacharra later and he knew he would have to figure out a way to either stop that from happening or at the very least stop it from being the problem it had become this time.

Liz walked over to Jason and started to take his arm to draw him away, but Claudia smirked at her and said, "The doctor didn't say he had to leave and if he wants to stay I'm sure my cousin wouldn't have a problem with it." She gave Jason a winning smile and walked back into Alyssa's hospital room.

"Actually," Patrick looked over at Jason, "it might be a good idea if you stick around. I don't know how long it will take for Monica Quartermaine to find out this girl looks like Emily and for that matter I don't know who else will show up. We may need you."

Jason shook his head and pulled Liz around the corner as Patrick walked into Alyssa's room, "I think he's right about Monica, or anyone else, showing up."

Liz nodded her head and looked around before asking, "Should I call someone or something?"

"No. I called Spinelli and left him a message and if I have to I'll stop by the Quartermaine's tonight."

She bit her lip and looked up at him, "What about Lucky? He might hear something about this at work."

Jason scrubbed his hand down his face and nodded his head, "Yeah, yeah, maybe you should call him."

"I just think…"

"I know, you're right. Just…just be careful," he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead and then lightly kissed her on the lips.

"You too," Liz smiled and held on to his hand as long as she could before walking away.

"Are all of you sister's friends annoying and dumb," Claudia asked as Jason came back into the room. Patrick and Jason both shot each other half annoyed, half amused looks as Claudia continued to rant. "I mean really, how dumb do you have to be to bring a psycho ex to the room of a woman who looks just like his dead fiancé, and what the hell was with him yelling about her being alive? Is he losing it? How long has she been dead…"

"Don't," Jason interrupted her tirade and her head shot up as she stared at him. "Don't talk about my sister. Just. Don't."

Claudia put both of her palms up and shook her hands; her voice was filled with sarcasm as she said, "Fine. Whatever," but Patrick could tell from the look on her face that Jason's comment had hit home and she would not be talking about Emily's death again.

"We're going to need to move her upstairs," Patrick said as the new nurse walked into the room. "I want her prepped for an MRI and my order to keep as many doctors and nurses that were friends of Emily Quartermaine as possible away from her is a standing one."

"Can I go up with her," Claudia asked as they started to prepare Alyssa for the move.

"Not quite yet," Patrick unhooked a machine and wrote down a few notes that Claudia didn't understand. "Right now she's going straight for the MRI, I'll come back in a few minutes—or I'll send someone back—to take you to her room. Okay?"

Claudia nodded and reached out to take her cousins hand in her own once more before she left. She kissed each of her knuckles and then stepped back as they wheeled the gurney out of the room.

"How long is this supposed to take," Claudia paced in front of the waiting chairs on the fifth floor of General Hospital. She'd asked to be allowed to stand outside of the room while the performed the MRI on her cousin, but Patrick Drake, who she was beginning to mildly trust with Alyssa's life, had told her to just wait in the chairs.

"A while."

"How long is a while," she asked, turning around to face Jason who sat quietly in the largest chair that was cattycorner from the couch she had vacated three or four times since the nurse had left them on that floor.

"More than ten minutes."

"It's been longer than…" Claudia trailed off as she looked down at her watch. She was wrong. It had actually only been about seven minutes since they'd been seated and told to wait for Alyssa's room number. "Fine. Where the hell is my brother? He should have called by now."

Jason looked up at her and shook his head, the only person he'd met that was less patient was Carly and at least he was generally able to calm her down. Claudia Zacharra didn't look like she'd been calm for about ten years. "I don't know."

"That's all you have to say? You don't know?"

"Yes."

"Anyone ever tell you that you're a really talkative guy."

Jason just shot her a look and leaned back in the chair covering his forehead with his arms and closing his eyes.

"Right," Claudia rolled her eyes and once again took a seat on the couch. She pulled the frayed hem of her dress and regretted, until she noticed one of the nurses in ugly peach scrubs, turning down the offer of clean clothes she'd gotten. Sighing with relief she leaned back into the couch and crossed her left leg over her right one, maybe she was sitting around a hospital in a torn up dress and leather coat with ridiculously painful heels, but it was better than wearing some dead person clothes or scrubs that didn't look good on anyone.

Jason ignored what he assumed was a groan from the woman next to him and tried to concentrate on something he had a little control over. For days he'd unsure about the Zacharra's role in Michael's disappearance and now that he finally had Sonny on his side and what he believed was the proof he needed that they hadn't had a role in either the kidnapping or Kate Howard's shooting a nauseating thought had planted itself in his head. He hadn't believed for one second that the two weren't connected, but he was willing to step outside the box and examine the fact that if it wasn't mob related then it was possible that the culprit was closer than any of them wanted to admit. The one thought that kept echoing in his head was: Why did he do it?

Before he really had a chance to examine what may or may not have been Michael's motives for shooting Kate he heard his name, or what he'd come to think of as a name, called from the direction of the elevators.

"Stone Cold," Damian Spinelli came around the corner, laptop in his arms and Maxie Jones walking quickly behind him.

"What is she doing here," both men asked the question simultaneously while Maxie and Claudia just sized each other up in about the same way prized boxers sized up their competition.

Jason looked at Claudia and then back at Spinelli before scrubbing his hands down his face. "She's…her cousin was hurt. C'mere," he pulled Spinelli away from both women and into the hallway across from the nurse's station.

"You're being kind to the most evil seductress?"

"No. Her cousin's name is Alyssa Mitchell-Zacharra and I need you to find any information you can on her."

"Oh. I see you're looking for information to use against her in our time of need."

"No, I'm not. I need you to find out about Alyssa's parents and her family. I need you to tell me if she has—had a twin sister."

"Uh," Spinelli rubbed his fingers over his temple and nodded, "Okay, but I fail to see how this information could be helpful in the search of young Michael."

"It isn't," Jason answered and shoved down the pang of guilt the rose up in his chest. "It's about Emily."

"Em…oh," Spinelli immediately sobered. "Is there something else about Diego and…"

"Alyssa Zacharra is Emily's twin sister." Jason noticed the bit of pain wash over Spinelli's face and cursed himself. He knew that the younger man automatically related Emily's death with the death of Georgie Jones, he should have been clearer.

"Oh, I understand…" Spinelli started to walk away and then turned back to Jason and said, "No, I don't."

"I'll explain later, I just need you to find me everything you can."

"And the search for Michael?"

"That…that comes first, just do what you can."

Spinelli nodded, again started to walk away and again turned around. "Are you okay?"

"Spinelli…"

"I have…I've used my somewhat flawed deductive reasoning and have come to the conclusion that this woman, Alyssa Zacharra, was somehow hurt tonight and if anyone knows the pain that…well, the pain you have suffered since that fateful night of the ball, it's me. I just…I've seen you looking at her picture sometimes."

"Yeah."

"I just wanted to let you know that if you ever want to talk I am here. Losing noble Emily was very hard on you, still is, and I think…I hope…that she would want someone to tell you that you aren't alone. I mean if…if you want…"

"I know Spinelli."

"Good," Spinelli shook his shoulders and started to walk towards Jason arms open, but half way there noticed the look of discomfort on the other man's face and opted instead to stick out his right hand to be shaken.

Jason reached out, gripped Spinelli's hand, gave it a light tug and then walked past him and back towards the lounge seats.

Spinelli followed behind, a smile quirked on his young face, and motioned for Maxie to come with him as he walked past the lounge area and toward the elevators.

"Well, bye," Maxie smiled as she turned and left, running to catch up with Spinelli, "So what was that all…"

Claudia and Jason heard the young woman's voice trail off as elevator doors closed.

"Gonna have your errand boy check out my cousin?"

"Did you expect me not to?"

"Nope," Claudia grinned, picked at her fingernails and said, under her breath, "Guess now you won't be the only one checking her out."

"What?"

Her response was interrupted by Patrick walking over, "You can go back and see your cousin now. She still isn't awake, but her vitals are stable and as soon as I have the results of her tests back I'll talk to you about them. She's in five-eighteen and Stacey will take you there," he said and motioned to the nurse behind him.

They walked to the hospital room in silence and just before they reached to door, Jason reached out, took Claudia's hand and asked, "What did you mean back there?"

"Back where," she asked and yanked her arm away.

"When you said Spinelli won't be the only one checking her out…What did you mean?"

She shook her head and smiled, "Nothing."

"Claudia…"

Both of them heard the voice from down the hall and they turned at the same time, nearly ramming into each, in the direction it was coming from. Johnny Zacharra half walked, half ran down the hallway to catch up with his sister while Patrick Drake, who had told him where she was, turned and walked away from the group. If there was going to be violence then he and his precious hands were not getting in the middle of it.

"John," Claudia laughed and threw her arms around her brother's neck. She squeezed him and buried her face in his hair as he toyed with the ends of hers behind her back. They hung on for dear life, ignoring Jason's presences until Johnny stepped back and said, "What is he doing here?"

"He's the one who let you go and…"

"And probably the one who put the bomb in your car," Johnny finished and noticed the shocked look on her face. "It was on the news. I came straight here as soon as I heard it. Who was unidentified woman in the car with you?"

Claudia shot Jason a look and then took Johnny's arm and pulled him around the corner with her. While she wasn't exactly eager to leave Jason alone with her cousin, she also didn't want him to hear what she had to say to her little brother.

"It was Alyssa."

"Alyssa?" Johnny started to walk back towards the hospital room, but Claudia pulled him back again, "What is she doing here?"

"Better question," Claudia stared into his eyes, searching for any sign of a betrayal that she knew she wouldn't be able to stand. "Why didn't you tell me about her?"

"About her," Johnny shook his head. "I didn't know she was in town."

"No. Why didn't you tell me about her and Emily Quartermaine?"

"What about them?"

"They're twins Johnny! They freaking look exactly alike! I know you saw her the night she was killed, Dad was going crazy in her finance's house, so why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't know."

"Johnny," she gave him an incredulous look. "Twins."

"Claudia," he scrubbed his hands down his face and then shook his head. "The last time I saw Alyssa in person I was twelve-years-old. After that it was just letters and phone calls and emails; you sent me a few pictures of the two of you, but dad always eventually found them and tore them up. You know he was more upset with her, and the idea of her, than he was with you. Hell, aunt Gabriella was the reason he stopped trusting women in the first place."

"I didn't…I guess I never thought about it or realized it. I just…I'm sorry." Once again she pulled him close and held him tightly in her arms.

Johnny let her hold him for a second before, once again, pulling away and saying, "Wait. Is she okay? How badly was she hurt in the bombing?"

"We aren't sure. The doctor said that he couldn't see any reason she wasn't awake yet so he ran some test, but it might just be that her body or her mind or whatever needs the rest."

"Corinthos is going to pay for this."

"I don't think it was him…"

"Why not?"

"They didn't really have time, first, and second, I don't think that Morgan would have risked Alyssa's life."

Johnny raised his eyebrows at his sister, "You don't think he would have risked Alyssa's life?"

"No. Remember, she looks exactly like his dead sister. And even if Alyssa didn't look like the girl, she's related to her. Morgan may be all about the bottom line, and he may be better at keeping his emotions in check than Corinthos is, but no way would he taint 'little sisters' memory by killing someone who is related to her."

"So who would?"

"My money is on Trevor and I'm also betting that he knew exactly who was in the driver's seat when he gave the order. Think about it: whoever did this would have had to have placed the bomb before we showed up at Corinthos'. There just wasn't time to do it while we were there. So Trevor plants a 'just in case' bomb, finds out Alyssa and I are talking to Morgan and Corinthos and decides to phone the order for our deaths in when we come back out."

"Alright," Johnny nodded. "Why?"

"That's what I want to know and while we're at it, we're having the cars checked from now on. Something like this is not happening again."

Jason stood in the doorway of Alyssa Zacharra's room and stared at the woman lying in the bed. Before he could stop it, the memory rushed into his head and he was staring at his little sister, pale and scared lying on a hospital bed looking up at him with questions shinning in her eyes…

"Just tell me what you need," he said as he stared into Emily's eyes.

"I need to figure out...how to die. That's what's happening even though no one will come out and say it and I don't know…I don't know how to make it okay for them. They're all so terrified and I have no idea how to help them."

He took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice from breaking, "Do you, do you really think this is it?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Then the time that you have left is a gift."

She stared up at him, pain shining in her eyes as she took a deep breath, "A gift."

He nodded, still trying to keep the lump in his throat from making itself known. If she was strong enough to ask the question, then he had to be strong enough to answer it for her, "Yeah you just, you just have to use that time to say whatever you need to give the people you love a part of yourself to keep with them."

"A part of myself?"

He lightly brushed her forehead, "Yeah, just a part of yourself."

"I'm so scared, I'm so scared Jason."

"I know. I know you are," he reached out and rubbed her forehead and never told her that he was scared too. Scared that without her he really would be the soulless monster some thought he was. Scared that without her there would be no one to worry if he was spending too much time in his penthouse or with Carly and Sonny. Scared that if she died a part of him would be forever gone.

Instead of taking a step back from the door of Alyssa's hospital room to escape the memory of his sister asking him how to die, Jason took a step forward, and then another and another. The closer he got to her bedside, the more he realized that the woman he was looking at was not his sister. She was a mirage; a trick of the mind, this woman belonged not to him, but rather to Claudia and Johnny Zacharra. She would never smile at him the way his sister had or beg him to make an appearance at some social event he wanted badly to avoid, she would never come over and cook him dinner when he was down to his last microwave pizza. No, that woman was gone.

But there was something. Something in the way her eyes shown out at him at the coffee house when she was explaining to him that she couldn't leave. There was love there and loyalty and guts, three things that his sister and this mirage had in common. Three of the qualities he loved most about the girl he knew. Maybe that was why he hadn't been able to get the vision of her laying on the ground, bleeding out of his head. She shared not only a face with his Emily, but also the qualities that made his little sister continue to love him even after every one of her instincts should have told her to walk away.

He reached out to touch her hand just as Patrick walked through the door, "Where is the family?"

"I don't know," Jason pulled his hand back and rested it on the edge of the bed.

"We're here," Claudia walked into the room, her hand wrapped around her brother's shoulder. "What can you tell us?"

"There's no internal damage, I didn't see any bruising on her brain or swelling, nothing that would be causing her unconsciousness."

"Okay," she drew out the word. "What does that mean?"

"It means that she won't need any surgery or anything else invasive so that's good. There's no reason she shouldn't wake up on her own after a few hours, a day tops."

"So she'll be fine?"

"She should be…"

"What aren't you telling us?" Johnny asked as he pulled away from his sister.

"Nothing," Patrick answered. "Since we don't know what's causing this I can't say for sure how long it will last, but from her blood tests and everything else it looks like she'll be fine. I just can't make any promises."

"You…"

"John," Claudia pulled her brother back against her. "Don't. He can't tell us she'll be fine and then have some freak accident happen. Okay. You stay here with her; I want to talk to Morgan and Dr. Drake outside. Okay?"

Johnny nodded his head and walked, warily, past Jason and to his cousin's bed. Claudia was right, she did look like Emily Quartermaine and now that he was standing next to her, both of their faces meshed in his mind, he couldn't figure out why he hadn't realized it before. Sure it had been years since he'd seen a picture of his cousin, but still, there had been years before, while his father pretended not to know who she was, when she and Claudia had been his best friends. He'd follow the two of them anywhere and everywhere during the summers he was allowed to spend with them and now it was like all those years, all that time, had been lost. But it hadn't, he reminded himself as he reached out and took her hand in his, there was still time.

"Is there a problem?"

"No," Claudia looked back at Patrick as she turned around after walked out of the hospital room. "No problem. You can go."

Patrick raised his eyebrows and turned to Jason, when the other man nodded he shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

"What do you want?"

"A truce," Claudia responded. "We both have our issues to deal with now so how about we just promise right here and right now not to try and kill each other, at least until we don't have people we love to worry about."

"I'll talk to Sonny."

"Good. Great." She started to walk away and then turned back and said, "Listen, uh, believe it or not I love my cousin and because I love my cousin I am protective of her so I just wanted to let you know that anyone who hurts her because she's Emily Quartermaine's twin is going to have to deal with me. You just might want to warn everyone about that little fact."

"You can't expect them just to accept it."

"I can. I do."

"Listen…"

"Claude," Johnny rushed out of the hospital room and grabbed his sisters arm. "She's up. She's awake."

Claudia took one step forward before she doubled over and held her stomach, groaning.

"Oh God," Johnny ran forward and touched his hand to his sisters stomach; he pulled back and noticed that there was blood on his fingers. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"I thought it was just a bruise," Claudia mumbled before falling to the ground, arms wrapped around her stomach.