PART 19

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

The dark interior of this hospital room was vaguely disconcerting. As Elizabeth opened her eyes she was very conscious of the quiet in the room and the soft beeping coming from the machines beside the bed. Her mind was full of fragments... pictures, sounds, a kaleidoscope of things that felt familiar but there were faces... and voices she couldn't place.

The door opened up and a nurse walked in, the glint of light from the stethoscope was easy to distinguish as was the rather large man standing at attention outside the door.

"Hey, you're awake." The nurse's smile was sweet and genuine.

Elizabeth felt her body relax a little bit. Her hand lifted to drift over her stomach. "Have I been here long?"

The nurse looked a little confused. "Well, about a week..." she picked up the chart and looked at it, "yep... and I've been assigned to you for the last few days."

Looking at the doorway, Elizabeth leaned toward the nurse, lowering her voice. "Who is that outside?"

Looking over her own shoulder the nurse turned back with a toothy grin. "Dumb or Dumber?" She saw that Elizabeth didn't share her little joke. "They've been on your door for pretty much the week as well... we were all wondering what kind of celebrity you were... having armed guards-"

"Armed guards?" Elizabeth tried to sit up a little, but the nurse put gentle pressure on her shoulder to settle her back down. "Why do I have armed guards?" The slight pressure she was experiencing in her temples grew. Elizabeth pressed one hand to the side of her head. "Why? Who?" She turned her face away from the light coming in the door. "Please... I need some rest."

The nurse, concerned for her patient made a note in the chart and also made a note in her mind to talk to Dr. Scoville. "I'll be nearby if you need me. Just use the call button." She covered Elizabeth's hand with her own. "Don't worry... your husband will be here soon."

Elizabeth's eyes squeezed shut, the pain in her head nearly blinding her. "My... my husband?" She shook her head and pressed the heel of her hand tightly against her forehead. The door closed quietly and the sudden dark relieved some of the pressure, so did the name that fell leaden from her lips. "Ric."

- Hartford Critical Care and Clinic - Newport, RI - Dr. Scoville's Office -

Ewen sat in a chair against the wall, his face in his hands. Dr. Scoville hovered nearby as Ric listened to the audio monitor that was connected to Elizabeth's room and tried not to cringe visibly as Ric laughed.

"I have to hand it to you, Ewen..." Ric stood up from the Doctor's chair and sat down on the edge of the desk so he could look down on the Aussie. "You've done it." Sighing, he crossed his arms over his chest. "I guess you're free to go back to Aus-"

"It's working," Ewen interjected, "but it's not set... not yet."

Ric's eyes narrowed. "What are you telling me?"

Pushing himself out of his chair, he loomed over the DA. "I'm telling you the truth. Sure, she's begun to accept the suggestions I've planted, but right now... anything could change. She could see something... hear something... and it might come right back."

Ric stood up, his chin lifting a little so he could look into Ewen's eyes. "Are you telling me you can't do this? If that's the case I'll just get someone else to-"

"Don't," Ewen bit back, "go there. I can do it, but this kind of thing takes time if you want it to last." He looked at Scoville over Ric's head. "The brain is constantly creating new neuro-passages and if we-"

"Fine... fine..." Ric waved him off. "I don't need the whole medical mumbo-jumbo. Just tell me when you're done." Ric moved toward the door and stopped just short of it. "I'm moving her in two days. You either get her ready to leave with me... or you're coming too." He narrowed his gaze at the taller man. "And I'm not a big fan of the third wheel, Ewen... you never know when I might decide to leave it at the side of the road."

- Tribeca, New York -

Opening up the prepaid phone, Craig dialed one of the many less-than-scrupulous cohorts he'd had from time to time. It never paid to work too closely with men who worked in the same vocation as he did, but it did pay to keep tabs with them.

"Atlantic Cable, Dorn speaking."

"Atlantic Cable," Craig scoffed, "that's some cover you have, Dorn."

He could almost hear the curious look on the other end of the phone. "What are you calling for?"

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Where are your customer service skills," Craig chided, "I may have to ask for your supervisor-"

"What do you want?"

Craig's smile dimmed a little and he made up his mind to pay Dorn a little visit... after he dealt with Ric Lansing. "I need you to track a cell phone for me."

There was a bit of silence. "Not for free."

A muscle ticked in Craig's jaw. "You'll be paid for this, Dorn." Craig's finger caressed the trigger of his .357. "Here's the number..."

The ubiquitous mumbled sounds of 'uh huh' and 'mm hm' punctuated the phone number. And then, "Okay... got it. I'll get that information for you... then I'll call with the drop off information."

A moment and then Craig answered. "I need that information now, Dorn." He could hear the creaking squeak of a rusted armchair on the other end of the line.

"Like I said..." Dorn sighed heavy into the phone, "Not for free. You bring five thousand dollars to the drop off point and I'll give you the information."

His lips pressed together Craig nodded at his reflection in the mottled mirror on the wall of his hotel room. "You'll get your money. Call me when you have the information." He shut the phone and stared at his image. "You'll get your money, Dorn... but I'll take it back from your cold... dead... hands." Craig wasn't quite sure who smiled first.

= General Hospital - The Hallway outside Alan Quartermain's office -

Jason left Spinelli mumbling to himself with a bag of cheese puffs at one hand and a 2-liter bottle of orange soda at the other and stepped out into the hall to get some coffee. The computer hacker had been hard at work for the last few hours as he'd accessed the security database of the Metro Court. Jax had been more than happy to give Spinelli an access code. He'd said it was so much easier to give it to the boy instead of having him hack into the system and cause other problems. While Jason had waited on the phone for Jax to find the information on the ipad, Jax had added, "once you said it was for Elizabeth... I thought you were crazy, but if there's any hope... ANY HOPE that she could be alive... we have to find out. She's special to me, Jason."

Jason had agreed with Jax, but he could only muster up a, "yes, she is," before his own throat had close up. Once Spinelli had the access code, the boy went to work piecing together security footage from the Metro Court. It was no small feat as the Metro Court had no shortage of surveillance cameras. They had built it to be a state of the art hotel.

As he waited at the vending machine he heard the sudden intake of breath and turned to see Dr. Kelly Lee standing in the middle of the hall staring at him. "Jason, I'm... I'm so sorry."

He left the coffee in the machine and approached the doctor.

"I was trying to get a hold of you..."

Jason nodded. "If it's about Sam, we're not-"

"No!" Kelly sighed, her eyes squeezed shut. "But I guess it doesn't matter."

Narrowing his eyes at the doctor, he asked the next obvious question. "Was it about Elizabeth?"

The doctor nibbled on her lip. "It was a moment of weakness. She said she was going to tell you..." she swiped at tears in her eyes, "I was trying to get a hold of her about her tests but she wasn't answering... and when I heard about the hostages... I knew... I just knew she couldn't." Kelly looked him straight in the eye. "I knew if anyone could get to her... it would be you."

Something dark settled in the pit of his stomach as he read the changes of emotion in the woman's face. He may not be able to see much in art, but he could read strain in an expression. He could read anxiety. And as his worry built, he knew he could see real unadulterated worry. "What about her tests? I know she was carrying my baby."

Kelly's relief was immediate and it changed to sympathy in a heartbeat. "I'm so sorry for your loss, Jason," she sighed as she set a hand on his arm, "but either way Elizabeth and the baby may not have survived much longer anyway."

Jason was familiar with the cold hand of fear around his heart. Elizabeth in danger always provoked that response from him. "Why?"

Kelly lowered her voice as she stepped closer. She was about to disclose privileged information, but since Elizabeth was gone and Jason was the father... she excused the breach in her own attempt to share her burden with someone else. "She'd come in earlier that day, dizzy, suffering from excess swelling and other symptoms. I put a rush on the tests... there was just something about the way she looked. I had to know." She fought back more tears as she looked up into his eyes. "She was suffering from preeclampsia. I was calling to get her to come back to the hospital and put her on bed rest and medication. Jason," she drew in a breath that sounded like a sob, "without care, Elizabeth would probably have lost the baby and... we might have lost her too-"

Jason was gone before she finished her sentence and she was left staring at the empty stretch of hallway.

- General Hospital - Alan Quartermain's Office -

Jason flung the door open and slammed his hand down on the desk, startling Spinelli so much that a half-eaten cheese puff fell from the boy's lips onto his keyboard. "Goodness, Stonecold, you scared m-"

"I need you to hurry this up, Spinelli."

The boy gestured to the screen and his work. "I'm going as fast as the antiquated hospital wi-fi system can-"

"Spinelli!" He took a breath, trying to keep his hands from the boy's throat. "I need you to hurry up... Elizabeth... the baby... they need help from a doctor."

Spinelli's gaze turned back to his laptop and his fingers began to fly over the keys.

Leaning back against the wall he took out his phone and dialed Sonny's office.

The phone picked up in one ring. "Corinthos Coffee."

"Where's Sonny, it's Jason."

"Jason, I-"

"Hello, Mr. Morgan."

It took Jason a moment to remember the voice. "Maximus."

A deep chuckle answered him. "That's right, Jason... we should talk."