PART 17

- Port Charles Police Department -

Mac called Cruz and Lucky into his office and barely waited for the door to close before he started in on Lucky. "I want to know if I have to create a taskforce to get your head out of your ass, Lucky!"

The younger Spencer found a little bit of outrage through the cloud of his anger. "What have I done?"

Stalking around his desk, Mac pushed a finger into Lucky's chest. "It's what you haven't done... come on, Lucky... look at Cruz," he turned to the other man in the room, "he's barely gone off the clock since this whole thing began. He's been here manning the phones or out in the field looking for this madman!"

"I've had family business, Mac... you know about my dad and Liz-"

"That's right, the woman who you married but slept with Maxie while you were... yes... I can see how you're so worked up about it... but here I am... working because I want to catch the man responsible for their deaths!"

Lucky didn't like being on the receiving end of Mac's anger and looked for another target. "What about Ric Lansing?" Lucky pushed on when he saw the reaction from Mac. "He was in charge of all the negotiations... what does he have to say about all of this?"

"That," interjected the Mayor as he pushed Mac's door open, "is what I'd like to know!"

-Hartford Critical Care and Clinic - Newport, RI-

Ric closed his phone and looked around to make sure he was alone. He had hoped that the man who'd taken the bullet at the back door of the Metro Court had been the man in charge. He'd hoped it was over... and now he knew he was in trouble. He'd prepared his letter of resignation for the Mayor and had sent it off in the mail... a forwarding service that would bounce around from office to office and finally make it seem as though his letter originated in Los Angeles.

He'd planned to get Ewen to fix Elizabeth and then get her moved to another hospital where he had a few other people under his control. He started to head for Elizabeth's room but instead he opened his phone again. When the line picked up he barely heard the person on the other end of the line begin a greeting before he butted in. "I need some men... a few reliable... never mind... I want men who'll do anything for money... small brains, big muscles... yes... that's the kind. I'll give you the address..."

-Corinthos Coffee Warehouse -

"Mr. Corinthos?"

Sonny barely looked up at the man in the doorway. "What is it, Carl?"

"Someone here to see you-"

"I'm busy, Carl... tell them to make an appointment and-"

"You tell 'Mr. Corinthos' that he's going to see me now!"

Sonny recognized the booming bellow of Maximus Giambetti. Standing up from behind his desk, Sonny buttoned his coat and nodded. "Send him in."

- Queen of Angels Cemetery -

The shadows of twilight were beginning to fall like cobwebs over the figures still remaining in the garden. Nikolas had taken Emily home nearly an hour before and now... the only ones left in the private sanctuary were Audry, Cam and Jason.

If there was something odd about the way the man sat nearly statue-like himself as Cameron made himself at home, Audry said nothing. She watched Jason as he quietly tried to explain to Cameron that his mother had indeed gone on to become an angel.

She'd lost count of the number of time she had herself tried to explain it to the young boy, but somewhere in the back of her mind she knew what a gift it was that Cameron had not yet felt the weight of his loss.

When she looked up from her wristwatch she noticed that Jason had already put on Cameron's coat as he struggled to get the young boy to understand. "Your mom is an angel now, Cameron... you know that, right?"

"Sure," Cameron gave the angel's hair a soft pat, "she's always been real nice... she's always been an angel."

Jason's eyes met Audry's and he tried again. "She's up in heaven now... she's there with your baby brother or sister and someday we'll see her again."

"Some day soon." Cameron touched the angel's ear. "She don't have those shiny rings in her ears that mommy liked."

"I'm sure you mother would like you live a long time before you get to heaven, Cam. I know that your Great Grandma Audry and I-"

"Jason," Cam's voice was tinged with irritation, "you're not lissenin' to me!" His little shoulders rose and fell with a huff of breath. "She's not up in heaven, Jason." He looked at both of them in turn. "She's here with us... but not..."

"Cameron," Jason could tell by the sound of Audry's voice that she was fighting tears, "we ought to get home so you can sleep." She moved closer and took Cameron's hand, but he snaked it out of her grasp and scooted closer to Jason.

"You feel it... don't you?" Cameron touched his hand to Jason's chest, near to his thundering heart. "You can feel her if you try."

Jason tried to show some hope in his eyes, but he felt nothing beyond the grief. "Cam, I-"

"No, listen!" Cam pressed harder, his little fingers pushed hard against the muscle. "When I say my prayers at night," Cam insisted, "when I'm real quiet and thinking hard about her... I can feel her... right here."

Cam walked over to Audry and they started toward the garden's entrance. When they were about to disappear into the hedges, Cam turned around and smiled at Jason. "She'll really like seeing this when she comes home."

- Port Charles Police Department -

The Mayor made himself at home in the office, sitting on the edge of Mac's desk. "I haven't seen him since he walked off that night."

Cruz, owing it later to his lack of sleep and one too many cups of coffee, spoke up. "You did order him to leave."

The look he got from the Mayor was direct and it wasn't happy. "I'll let you know when your opinion is needed."

Mac had no time for posturing. "Finding your DA is your problem. I have to find the man responsible for all of this."

"This," the Mayor leaned in toward Mac, but his tone was loud enough for all of them to hear, "is a mess neither one of us can escape from, Scorpio. The media is eating this up. With the mob connections... the near death of a well respected doctor and the death of that poor girl who was pregnant... we can either come out of this looking like we belong in office or we can look like FEMA in New Orleans with our trousers down around our ankles."

"My niece," Mac added, "died in the Metro Court."

The fact barely registered. "Yes, yes... she's the one who gave drugs to one of your police- oh, there you are Spencer." The Mayor smiled, a rueful little grin that sent Cruz's nerves into spasms. "Weren't you married to the Webber girl? Shame how you ruined it... she was a pretty little thing."

Cruz had little warning beyond the scream that preceded Lucky's arm winding up for a punch. He managed to grab Lucky's arm in time to stop him from knocking the Mayor to the ground. He whispered into Lucky's ear as he tried to restrain him. "It won't do you any good, Lucky... it won't do you any good."

Lucky wrenched himself free of his friend's hold as he growled back. "But it'll be fun." A moment later he had knocked the Mayor down to the ground.

- Corinthos Coffee Warehouse -

Maximus all but filled up the available space in the office. It wasn't his broad shoulders or commanding presence, no, it was the seething anger in his eyes. "I let my boys work for your business, Corinthos."

"Yes, you did, and I wanted to say-"

"You get to talk when I say you do!"

Sonny's man, Carl, was visibly spooked. He had none of the cool menace that Jason would have had in a similar situation.

"Why was it that I had to hear from the butcher in my town that my son was dead!" Maximus slapped the newspaper down on Sonny's desk. The Italian newspaper had a picture and article about the Metro Court and included a picture of Max he was a young man set beside a photo of a body covered in a sheet. "Why was I not told immediately?"

Sonny nodded. "I wanted to talk to you personally, Maximus. We were all in that Metro Court when it happened and since then-"

"You've been busy?" Maximus' voice thundered in the room. "I should be burying my son and you're busy!" He looked about the room. "Where's Morgan? Jason Morgan!"

"He's been... he should have been the one handling the business, but since the disaster, we haven't seen him and-"

Maximus' big belly laugh startled Sonny into silence. "You can't even find your right-hand man?" He could find no one else in the room that would look him in the eye. "Your house, Corinthos, is in no kind of order right now." He glared at the shorter man. "Don't be surprised when someone else takes hold of what you can't handle."

Sonny's voice whispered into the near silent room. "Are you threatening me?"

"I'm giving you a warning, Corinthos," Maximum spat, "it was more than my boy had... when you left him behind." It was the surprise and flicker of guilt in Sonny's expression that told Maximus that he had guessed right. "Max always had a soft spot for that woman... Carly. It got him killed... be careful that the same thing doesn't happen to you."

-Hartford Critical Care and Clinic - Newport, RI-

Ewen opened the door to Elizabeth's room and stopped short. Two men who looked more at home being patients of a hospital than staff in one, stood beside the door. "Excuse me," he began, "who are you?"

The taller one answered him back. "The boss hired us to watch over his wife."

"The... the boss?"

"They mean me." Ric walked up to the door and moved past Ewen to look at Elizabeth. "Why is she sleeping again?"

Ewen's answer came out of habit. Self-preservation was a needful thing. "Between the scare at the Metro Court and the early labor pains, she's worn out. The mind, as well, it takes a lot of energy from the body. And all the work that I've been doing with her-"

"Yes," Ric looked at him again, "how is your work coming along, Dr. Keenan?"

"It's better... she's not fighting," he refused to add 'not much' to his statement, Ric didn't react well to hurdles, "she's close to a breakthrough."

"She'd better be better than 'close,'" Ric interjected, "I need to move her by the end of the week and she'll have to be compliant." He leaned in closer until Ewen could smell the coffee on Ric's breath. "Am I clear?"

"Crystal."

- Jason Morgan's Penthouse -

Jason opened the door and threw down the keys as the door swung shut behind him. He barely managed to make it to the couch before his legs all but gave out beneath him. He hadn't even bothered with the lights so when he laid down on the couch he just closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep.

Long moments passed and the only sound he heard was his breathing in the room, a deep low ragged sound.

Breathing.

Oxygen.

A soft beep.

And another and another.

A shift of sound. Cotton against cotton, not the leather couch beneath him.

"You feel it... don't you?" Cameron's voice whispered into his head and Jason placed his hand over his heart like Cameron had done a few hours earlier. "You can feel her if you try."

Jason squeezed his eyes shut against the pain that opened a hole deep in his middle. He pressed his hand harder against his heart and hissed out a breath.

There.

A flutter of a touch on his hand. A warmth in his heart. A whisper of sound like a prayer from deep within his heart. "Elizabeth."