- Elizabeth's Room -
Elizabeth flinched visibly when the door opened and Kevin made a note of it as he rounded the door, smiling. "Good morning, Elizabeth." He closed the door behind him. "Did Dr. Lee let you know that I was coming to see-"
"I want to see my baby."
Kevin's smile was meant to set her at ease, she tucked her legs tighter against her body and felt the pain in her middle. Strangely, it was the only comfort she had. The only proof that this was real. A real nightmare.
"That's why I'm here, Elizabeth. I'm here about your baby."
Fear, sharper and near debilitating, stabbed at her heart. "Is there something wrong?"
"Your baby is perfectly healthy. You've seen him for yourself."
"No!" Elizabeth shook her head and tears welled up in her eyes. "That's not my baby." She shook from head to toe. "He's not the baby I see in my head."
Kevin tried to hide his surprise, hiding his raised eyebrows with a nod.
"I just don't know what's going on," she murmured, "everyone looks so different."
"Different... how?" Kevin's tone was warm, inviting.
"They look different... older somehow..." she sighed, her throat tight with worry. "I don't know how it happened." Her fear shook her whole body. "Have you seen Ric? I haven't seen him since Dr. Keenan took me out of the clinic during the emergency. Have you seen him?"
"No, I haven't." The truth was easiest as long as it didn't threaten her psyche. "Have you been worried about him?"
The question sparked an immediate thought and Elizabeth opened her mouth to answer and then closed it again as an odd look pinched her forehead. "Not really... I feel like I'm supposed to be... but..." she went silent again. "Only when I think about the baby... the baby I see in my head. I don't know what's wrong with me!"
- General Hospital NICU -
Dr. Lee opened the door and wasn't all that surprised to see Jason Morgan standing outside in the hallway. "How are you doing?"
Jason didn't answer with his voice, he looked up at her and she fought the urge to offer the man a hug. He was devastated. "How is the baby doing?"
She smiled at him. "The baby's fine... he's not gaining weight as quickly as we hoped, but that nothing dangerous."
She could see Jason's anxiety in his eyes. "What can I do?"
Kelly opened the door a little wider. "Come and hold him." The conflict in his expression was stark and she tried to find words for him. "I know you said you were going to wait for Elizabeth... but we don't know when she'll be... ready to see him again. Do you want him to wait for both of you?"
She saw him waver, but she wouldn't let him be until she'd had her say. "Jason, I've been more than Elizabeth's doctor... I've also been her friend." She urged him forward and closed the door to NICU behind him so that they were almost alone. Baby Morgan was the only one in NICU at the time and Kelly nodded to one of the nurses, asking them for some privacy.
When the nurse left, Kelly met Jason's eyes with her own. "When she spoke about the baby wondering which of you two were the father, she would brace herself when she spoke about Lucky."
He nodded. "It was the drugs," Jason replied. "She never knew what he was going to do from one day to the next."
Kelly tilted her head to the side and watched him carefully. "That's not what I saw."
- Elizabeth's Room -
"If there's one thing I can assure you of," Kevin began, "is that 'you,' Elizabeth, have people who love you. They want the best for you."
Elizabeth seemed to shift right before his eyes. "Ric wants the best for me. He's... he's..." she wavered as though losing her balance, "he's not the man he should be in my head. I'm married to him... but there's nothing inside when I say his name." She pressed her hands to her heart and let out a few breathy gasps. "I don't feel anything... and he's the father of my baby." Elizabeth tugged at the arm of her hospital gown and wiped her eyes on it. "Everything is so 'off.'"
Kevin moved his chair a little closer."You need to listen to that, Elizabeth." He gave her an encouraging smile. "Your gut reaction is very important."
"I'm so used to trusting the people around me," she shook from her head to her toe, "but they don't seem like they're... themselves..." she gasped in a breath, "and I'm beginning to wonder... if I'm... me."
- General Hospital NICU -
Kelly watched him carefully as he peered into the isolette at the baby. "She worried for Lucky, sure, but that wasn't the only thing. When she told me that you were the other possibility, I have to admit I was shocked. Elizabeth has known you just about as long as she's known Lucky, but there had always been something about the two of you that I wondered about. And when she said your name... when she thought about you... there was a softness to her voice... a wonder... like hope. I know what I heard, Jason... I know what I saw... and Elizabeth, she wanted this baby to be yours."
"So did I." Jason looked away, as if the admission shocked himself as well. "When Lucky nearly shot her on the pier, when she told us both that she was pregnant, I wanted the baby... I wanted her." He moved closer to the isolette, placing his large hand on the plastic wall and turning his head to stare at the baby within. "I remember feeling Cameron move inside of her, the joy on her face... how beautiful she was. I remembered that and I wanted to experience all again... with her... with our own child." He looked up at Kelly. "Then Carly told me the baby was Lucky's... and it really didn't seem to matter to me... I still wanted to be there... to be in their lives."
"And now," Kelly nodded, "you have that chance... with your son." Picking up a gown from the top of the pile she handed it to him. "Put this on and spend some time with your son."
- Elizabeth's Room -
Kevin rolled his chair closer, the mirror in his hand facing the floor. "It's your choice, Elizabeth. If you want to see for yourself, you have that power."
She didn't reach out at all. She looked at the mirror as if it was a snake that would bite her. She kept her distance. The idea seemed to really upset her. "I don't understand what you want me to do."
"I want you to look at the mirror... to see yourself as you are."
"This is a trick, isn't it?" He saw the worry and distrust in her eyes. "What did you do to the mirror?"
Kevin realized he was dangerously close to a break. He wasn't quite sure if it was a breakthrough or a breakdown. Still, this seemed to be the only way to get her to see that time had really left her behind. He turned the mirror right-side up and held it to his cheek. From the side of his eye he could see his own reflect in the surface. "See? It's me. There's nothing odd about the mirror, Elizabeth. It reflects the reality around it."
"Reality? Are you trying to tell me that I'm crazy?"
Her challenge startled him. The jump she'd made in her reasoning... or rather lack there-of didn't bode well for the session.
"That's not what I think at all, Elizabeth," Kevin paused to give her a chance to calm down, "I'm here to help you see things from another perspective... make things clearer in your head so they match that gut feeling of yours." He held out the mirror and she took it in her hands, settling it in her lap face-down.
"I'm... I'm not sure if I want to see things differently." Still, she began to lift the mirror up toward her face.
-General Hospital NICU-
If Jason had any worries about his bad-guy bad-boy image when he took of his leather jacket and slipped on the oddly-pink hospital gown he didn't show it. He was barely aware of Kelly's hands tying the strings behind his neck, the soft scrape of the chair that he pulled along with him to the side of the isolette, and the flare of the warming lights sparking spots of darkness in his eyes. Jason had no other thoughts than a mental checklist of how to hold the baby, how to support his neck, make him feel secure, and show him that he was loved.
Kelly lifted the cover of the isolette and reached in. "Hey there, little guy." She cooed at the baby when he fussed. "Oh, I know... you didn't want to be picked up right now... but you've got a special visitor today, sweetheart." She lifted the baby against her chest and adjusted the blanket around his body before leaning down.
Jason reached up for the baby and tried to ignore the way his hands shook. Try to ignore the empty feeling in his heart that was also full at the same time. Touching the baby, watching his little hands fist in the air in protest at losing the warmth of yet another person, only to be tucked tightly against Jason's chest.
The whine, turned to a hiccup, and then to a mew. By the time Jason adjusted his hold to secure the child in his embrace he'd fallen head over heels for the baby... when the baby's lips pressed together in protest over the sudden change he looked so much like his mother that Jason's chest tightened. "I'm your father." He sucked in a breath. "I'm going to take care of you forever." Little eyes fluttered open and he saw the shocking truth of blue staring back at him. "I wish your mother was here to see you."
"She will be, Jason. Soon."
Jason turned slightly in the chair and stared at the woman in the doorway.