"Does Stone cold remember the Illusive Mr. Moreau?" Spinelli asked.
He was filling Jason in on his progress in catching Stan's killer.
"He was the guy who had Lulu kidnapped to get Johnny to get that shipment to him."
Spinelli nodded.
"In Stanford's possessions we found a book, HG Wells's classic, The Island of Dr. Moreau."
"Who's we?" Jason asked, scrutinizing Spinelli closely from his hospital bed.
"the Orderly One, The Wounded Blonde One and Jackal PI."
"Orderly One?"
"Cassius Kibideux."
Jason looked about to scold him for involving others, so Spinelli went on quickly.
"You were in surgery and you need to concentrate on your recovery; Cassius wants to help and Maxie, I think she needed to concentrate on something other than Wise Georgie's birthday."
Jason couldn't argue with that. Also, he knew Spinelli was affected by Georgie's birthday, too, and would have wanted some company. Jason just wasn't sure Maxie was the right company. She and Spinelli had their love of Georgie in common, but Spinelli had a tendency to become too attached to people, especially blondes who could easily use his strong feelings to get him to do whatever they wanted. Jason knew Maxie's reputation. He didn't want her getting Spinelli into trouble by pulling him into some sort of scheme that could hurt him or someone else.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing with Maxie? I mean, catching Georgie's killer was one thing, but you need to be careful."
"I have no romantic feelings for Maxie."
That wasn't entirely true, but Spinelli knew he needed to make it exactly true because he wasn't about to let Maxie hurt him the way she'd hurt Lulu's brother.
"Even if I did, she wouldn't be with me if I were the last living creature in the universe." He laughed nervously. "Don't worry; nothing is gonna happen between us; we're just two people who loved Georgie. That's all. Maybe we'll be friends for Georgie's sake, but I'm not even sure of that yet. I'll just have to see how things go."
"Just be careful."
Nadine walked in, looking upset.
"Spinelli, I need to tell you something," she said.
Her tone made both men look at her; something was obviously wrong.
"Is it your sister?" Spinelli asked.
"No, it's Lulu. She was brought in just now; she was in a car accident and has a head injury. She's unconscious."
Spinelli and Jason looked at each other and Jason started to get out of bed.
"No, Jason," Nadine said firmly. "I forbid you to get out of this bed."
"Go," Jason said to Spinelli. "We'll talk later. Let me know what happens; let me know how she is."
"OK," Spinelli said.
He walked out of Jason's hospital room and followed Nadine to the ER, feeling dazed. Lulu had been angry with him and he had honestly not been happy with her treatment of him lately, but she was still his friend. He still loved her. He didn't want to lose her, too. He couldn't handle losing her, especially not today, on Georgie's birthday, and so soon after losing Georgie herself.
Lucky looked over at him suspiciously, obviously annoyed, but didn't object to him being there. He knew Spinelli and lulu were friends and had to put up with the kid for now, even if Spinelli did work for Jason, the guy Lucky hated most in Port Charles. He couldn't pick Lulu's friends for her. If he could have, he would have kept her away from every guy she'd ever dated, starting with Dillon.
"What happened?" Spinelli asked Lucky.
"Collision; she and the other driver just couldn't avoid each other in time."
"Well, didn't the other driver see her?"
"She didn't see him; he tried to stop. We looked at the skid marks; she was at fault. The other driver was cut and bruised, nothing serious. Lulu's car was totaled, but his SUV barely has a scratch. She's been unconscious since the other driver checked on her."
Spinelli went closer, dreading what he would see, but relieved that it wasn't nearly as bad as he thought it would be. They were stitching her head and Patrick had ordered several tests. She wasn't moving, but he could see her chest rising and falling steadily.
"Hey, Blonde One," he said softly, so only she could hear.
He didn't want to hear Lucky commenting on his habit of referring to people by nicknames or yelling at him for being different now; he wasn't in the mood. He was being himself with Lulu, as always, and he was hoping if she knew her best friend was with her she'd wake up, even if only to castigate him again for telling her what they had on Logan and causing her to go over to his apartment to prove him wrong only to have it backfire on her. She blamed him for her decision to go through Logan's apartment.
"Can you hear me? Wake up, Lulu, please?"
As he pleaded with her, he had to force away the image of Georgie lying dead in the snow. He had begged her to breathe and attempted CPR, but he'd been too late to save her. He sent a silent, desperate prayer for Georgie to bring Lulu back to him.
She didn't wake up in the ER, so they brought her to a room while they waited for her to regain consciousness, and for the test results to come back. Lucky reluctantly left Spinelli alone with her while he went to go call the rest of the family and tell them what had happened.
Spinelli sat on the edge of her bed, still talking to her, still begging her to wake up and still fighting off the memory of finding Georgie's body in the park.
After Lucky had been gone for a minute or two, Lulu finally opened her eyes. Spinelli pulled her into his arms, giving her a tight hug, thanking the Gods and Goddesses.
"Hi," he said, fighting back tears of relief. "How do you feel?"
"My head hurts," she said in a small, scared voice. "What happened?" she looked around the room. "Where am I?"
She tried to sit up.
"No," he said gently, putting his hand on her shoulder to keep her from trying to get up, "just relax; you're in the hospital. You were in a car accident, but you're gonna be OK."
She looked at him strangely. He was suddenly sure she was going to remember that she was furious with him and start yelling at him. If that was the case, he would gladly take it. He was too relieved that she was still alive to yell at him to try to argue or make her see that he had wanted her to be careful and she'd done the exact opposite, as usual.
"Who are you?"
"What?" he asked, confused. "It is I, The Jackal."
She looked as confused as he felt.
"Jackal? Who am I?"
He stared at her. She was beginning to look terrified.
"Who am I? Why can't I remember anything? What's going on?"
"Relax,' he said, fighting hard not to show his own panic. "I don't know exactly what's going on, but I'll get a doctor."
"No," she cried, grabbing his hand, "Please, don't leave me!"
"What's going on?" Lucky asked, having come into the room just as Spinelli had tried to leave to get a doctor.
"She can't remember anything," Spinelli said without turning away from her. "She doesn't know me, or even her own name."
"I'll get Dr. Drake," Lucky said, running out of the room again.
"Please, tell me what's going on!" Lulu begged. "Tell me something, anything! Who was that guy?"
"OK, first, your name is Leslie Lu Spencer, but everyone calls you Lulu. I'm your best friend, Damien Spinelli. I'm also The Jackal, the Ace of Cyberspace, the Assassin of the Internet. Everyone just calls me Spinelli. That guy who just ran to get Dr. Drake was your brother, Lucky."
She began to relax.
"You said I was in a car accident?"
He nodded.
"You hit your head; you needed stitches and you were unconscious until just a few minutes ago."
Patrick walked in with Nadine and Epiphany.
"I need you to back away so I can examine her," Patrick told Spinelli.
"No," Lulu said, panicking again, holding Spinelli's hand tighter.
"I won't leave your view, but Dr. Drake needs to examine you and he can't do it with me in his way," Spinelli told her in a soothing voice.
"OK," she said reluctantly.
She didn't remember this guy, but she liked his kind eyes and gentle manner.
Patrick asked her very specific questions as he examined her. She didn't know the date, her age or her parents' names. She told him Spinelli had told her about himself, her name and Lucky. At Lucky's disapproving look, Spinelli explained that she'd been scared and had asked him to tell her anything.
"It's OK, Lucky," Patrick said firmly. "Spinelli needed to make her relax and he did."
"Why can't I remember anything?" Lulu demanded, frustrated.
"This type of head trauma can often result in memory loss," Patrick said calmly. "Don't force anything to come; it'll come back naturally."
"But it will come back?"
"Possibly, or it may never come back. It may come back tomorrow; we just don't know at this point."
Lulu gave Spinelli another panicked look. She knew intellectually that Lucky was her brother, but something about Spinelli made her trust him instinctively and he was the one she wanted to reassure her.
"Can you stay?" she asked Spinelli when Patrick was through with his examination.
He nodded, moving back over to her as Luke and Leslie rushed into the room. Patrick and Lucky took them outside to explain the situation.
They talked until the pain medication Patrick had given her kicked in. Spinelli filled her in on her family as Lucky and Patrick were explaining Lulu's condition to Luke and Leslie. Lulu listened with fascination, as if he were telling her a story about another person. Spinelli supposed that was how she seemed now, a stranger in her own body. He wondered how he would react if he'd lost his memory. The only family he had was his Granny in Oakfield, Tennessee. Everyone in Port Charles would be strangers to him, probably even Stone Cold, who was the closest thing Spinelli would ever have to a brother.
After Lulu fell asleep, Spinelli went to give Jason an update. He was sympathetic, having lost the first twenty years of his life the same way. He had never regained his memories of those first twenty years.
Visiting hours ended as they finished their conversation and Spinelli left, feeling worried and exhausted. Having no appetite, he decided not to stop at Kelly's for dinner as he'd originally planned. He went directly to Casa De Stone Cold and began to research memory loss, hoping there was something in Cyberspace that could help him help Lulu.