PART 15

- General Hospital ER -

They brought Jason in under his own power. He walked into the Emergency Room, but his feet barely lifted above the ground as he moved into the center of the room accompanied by Spinelli. "Excuse me, Excuse me, can someone help us, please?"

Emily lifted her head at the urgent push in Spinelli's voice. "Jason?" Rushing free of Nikolas' arms she made her way to Jason's side. "Oh my... what happened to you?" She lowered her voice and leaned closer. "Did someone figure out you were disguised as one of the men?"

He didn't answer her. Didn't lift his head. Didn't really move.

"Jason?" She looked at Spinelli and the hacker could only mouth one word in reply.

'Elizabeth.'

Emily wrapped her arms around Jason as her own tears began to flow again. "Oh, Jason.. I can't believe we lost her."

- Hartford Critical Care and Clinic - Newport, RI -

Ric watched from the window as a taxi pulled up. A tall man unfolded from the back seat and paid the driver before pulling up his collar to keep some of the rain from his face. When he came in through the double doors, Ric stepped up to him and showed him down a long corridor. "Took you long enough."

"You said to take a cab. It was tough finding one at this hour."

Shaking his head in frustration, Ric continued on. "Did you read the file."

A moment of silence turned Ric's head.

"I read your file, Mr. Lansing, but I don't see what-"

"Like I'd write everything in an electronic communication..." He pushed open a door to a restricted area. If Ewen Keenan thought anything was strange about that, he didn't say. "I expected you to read between the lines."

They came to a stop at a crossroads of sorts in the hallway. Ric looked at Ewen expectantly.

The doctor ventured a guess. "You want me to change something in her memories." He waited for a moment, looking for some sign that he was right. "After all, you did let me 'go' before I was prosecuted for something similar... that's why I 'owe' you... as you put it."

"You're right about that," Ric began, "YOU OWE ME... and you'll do what I want or somehow my little file on Dr. Ewen Keenan will fall into the 'right' hands this time." Indicating a room nearby, the two walked over and Ric opened the door.

Ewen preceded him inside and he had to blink his eyes to adjust to the low lighting. The blankets and rails on the bed did little to disguise the fact that the woman in the bed was pregnant. "Is she..." he looked at Ric, "is she pregnant with your child?"

A slow, deliberate smile crawled across Ric's lips. "No, but it's your job to make her think she is."

- General Hospital ER -

"Excuse me, Mr. Morgan, sir."

Emily was the only one of them that acknowledged the nurse. "I'm sorry, he's just lost someone and-"

"I'm sorry, I really am." She swallowed hard. "I know... ah, knew Elizabeth, but this is about Dr. Alan-"

Jason turned and looked at her. "Is he-"

"Alive," she rushed on with a slight smile, "he wanted me to call you and have you come the hospital. I tried calling but I-"

Looking at his sister she provided the right answer to the question he couldn't quite voice.

"He's in ICU, Jason. They're watching him after the surgery."

A moment later he was gone.

- Hartford Critical Care and Clinic - Newport, RI - Private Room -

"Elizabeth?" Ewen's voice was soft... coaxing. "Elizabeth?" He set the syringe down on the tray beside his chair.

She looked so very small in the bed, even with her swelling belly, her eyes so wary and full of fear. "Yes?"

"Who is the father of your child?"

Again, fear... distrust. "Why do you want to know?"

He shifted in the chair beside her bed, leaning forward on his arms as he looked at her. "It's very important... for you... and for me... if you start answering the question with 'Ric Lansing.'"

"Ric?" Elizabeth struggled to sit up, but Ewen held up his hands to ease her worry. "Why would I say that Ric is the father?"

Ewen smiled at her... a weak tepid expression. "Because that's the way he wants it and he's going to do everything to convince you that'll it'll be easier to give him what he wants."

"No... no, please," Elizabeth motioned him closer, "I need you to get word to my-"

The door opened and revealed a smiling Ric. "How is everything going?"

"You!" Elizabeth stared at Ric, finally putting it all together. Without the wracking pain of her early contractions she was able to string her thoughts together. "You brought me here..."

"I brought you here to save your life, Elizabeth." He moved closer. "To save your baby's life."

"You kidnapped us? How could you-"

"I made a deal with the gunman to save your life." He held out his hands in surrender as he moved closer. "And I did... given that I got you out before the Metro Court collapsed."

"It... collapsed!" Elizabeth startled and tears gathered on her lashes. "You're lying... you're lying! Tell me you're lying!" She looked at Ewen but his eyes held no answers. "Please," she grabbed her belly, "please tell me you're ly-ah..."

The fetal heart monitor sounded a warning and the room was suddenly invaded by several nurses and Doctor Scoville. "You'll both have to leave..."

Ric narrowed his eyes at the doctor who nodded in return.

"I know what to do." He covered Elizabeth's mouth with an oxygen mask and ordered a sedative.

Ric pulled Ewen out into the hallway. "You better be quick about this, Ewen. We don't have much time."

- General Hospital ICU -

Jason paused in the doorway, watching Monica check on Alan's vitals. When she turned and saw him there she stopped short. She didn't make a comment about the fresh bruises and marks on his face. She didn't scold or rush at him to see if she could help.

What she did hit home far more than anything else she could have done. "I'm sorry," she began, "Elizabeth... Elizabeth was special to all of us, but I know you had a... connection to her, and I'm sorry."

Jason nodded as he sucked in a ragged breath.

Alan stirred in the bed and opened his eyes. "Jason. Thank God you're in one piece."

Monica, touched Alan on the arm. "I'll leave you two alone for a bit... don't overdo."

Smiling at her, Alan nodded. "Yes, Doctor."

As she walked past Jason she stopped for a moment, looking him straight in the eye. "Thank you for helping Alan get out of that lobby... I know you were there to help... thank you." Then she was gone.

Jason approached the bed slowly and sat down on a nearby stool. "I'm glad you're going to be alright."

Alan smiled. "Thanks to you... Thanks to Emily..." he watched Jason's face, "and to Elizabeth."

That got Jason's attention.

"She took care of me early on... when I'd been separated from the group. She was not only a good nurse tonight, son, she was the same wonderful person she's always been."

"She had a lot of practice with me."

If Alan was surprised by the words, he didn't say so. Instead, he let Jason talk.

"After we all thought Lucky had been killed in the fire, she found me one day... in the snow... shot." Jason's eyes squeezed shut as though he were trying to remember something. "She half dragged, half carried me to her studio after I was patched up and she kept me there... kept me safe... while she nursed me back to health."

When Jason looked up, Alan was smiling at him. "She was quite a woman... even back then," a soft laugh punctuated the thought. "But given that she's a combination of the Hardy and Webber families.. that's no shock."

Jason nodded.

"She also... had a special message for me... when we were huddled together in the lobby. She wanted me to know something... to keep my strength... my hope, up." He watched Jason closely again... looking for answers to questions he couldn't even formulate. "She told me that the baby she was carrying... was yours."

Jason clutched at his chest, his fingers digging deep into the dark fabric as his eyes burned bright blue fire. "My baby?"

Alan nodded. "She told me that she was going to tell you the next time she saw you."

Unbidden, the image of her last text to him came back into his mind.

From Elizabeth

We need to talk about something.
Heading to Metro Court for GH function.
Please call me tomorrow so we can meet.
This is very important.

"But she had the test... and she said," his mind argued with him... Carly had said it was Lucky's... Sonny too.. and he'd just assumed... he'd just believed them, "then I told her... it was better that I wasn't... I told her it was better," he looked up at Alan, "that it wasn't my baby. I never asked her... I just assumed."

Alan reached out a hand, but Jason didn't take it. Alan understood. The weight on Jason's shoulders... on his very soul, was crushing him... holding him in place.

"She was going to tell me... but then-" images of the Metro Court... the seemingly endless blooms of fire as the bombs went off... the shudder of the ground beneath his feet... the horrible realization that the building had fallen flat onto its foundations... taking Elizabeth's life and their child's with it.

Jason hunched over, his chin falling to his chest as his heart squeezed tight inside him. He opened his mouth to breathe... to say something... but there was nothing there. A moment later, a deep hole opened up inside of his soul and he began to cry.

Alan watched grief overwhelm his son and he knew that there was still a soul in his body to save. There was still something of Jason Quartermain inside of Jason Morgan.

- Hartford Critical Care and Clinic - Newport, RI -

Ewen Keenan watched over Elizabeth as the sun began to rise over the town of Newport. His own internal clock was shot to hell over all the travelling he was used to doing for his work and so he had some time to truly observe the young woman whose mind he had been ordered to alter.

He took out his tablet computer and turned it on, logging into the hospital's wifi service.

Elizabeth Webber

The search turned up quite a few things that Ric Lansing hadn't included in his file. He found pictures of her as a nurse at General Hospital. Pictures of her with her son Cameron at a play festival in the park. He found an article about her rape when she was teenager. And he found a picture of Elizabeth pictured with several men at official functions around town. None of them, he realized, were named Jason. He looked over at her again and remembered her mumbled words as she'd gone under from the sedatives. It had sounded like the name 'Jason,' but maybe he hadn't quite heard her correctly.

Maybe he had to do a little more digging.