A/N: Wow! Talk about the muse just up and fleeing! She ran and hid…no amount of chocolate would coax a word out of her…I even tried beatings…nothing worked! Of course, the 50-60 hour work weeks did nothing to help the situation, either…and the fact that Steve isn't even on GH anymore….all very depressing…. Anyway, I started re-reading the story from the beginning, then I just started typing and this is what came out….so I hope you all like it!

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Looking down at the beautiful woman, asleep in his arms, he couldn't help but thank God for the second chance he's been given to make things right with her, with their family. He can now recall, with perfect clarity, how Elizabeth tried, without words, to tell him what was in her heart. He remembers the questions she asked, and the disappointment in her eyes when he told her that it was for the best that Lucky was the baby's father. He could see her struggling with the weight of the lie she let everyone believe, trying to make everyone happy. Well, no more, he wasn't going to let what happened in the other timeline happen this time. This time he was going to claim what was theirs.

But try as he might, he can't get the thoughts of betrayal out of his head. How could someone do that to him? Always known for his ability to compartmentalize thoughts and feelings, he began to breakdown his relationships with those closest to him. He wanted to analyze their actions and behaviors over the last few years, see if there was a pattern to their movements, words and actions that he could pick up on. The good thing about his brain, if you can call brain damage a good thing, is that it gave him an almost eidetic memory. Considering that he's only been back in 2006 for a month, his memory recall is going to really help out. However, he is going to need some help for things that he wouldn't have any knowledge of. He's got to find a way to investigate his friends without using organization resources. He's going to need someone that can hack into the organization records without being caught by Stan. Remembering how good Spinelli is with computers, he's going to have to go out to the safe house that they were keeping him in, see if he can enlist the boy's help. Once he can figure out the who, they can tell him the why, but for now, the why doesn't matter. He's going to have to rely on himself for now, because even Elizabeth has only been around for the last year or so, so she's not going to remember what Carly and Sonny have been doing since 2002.

While being able to think without the anger did help, when he tried to focus on remembering and seeing patterns, well that did make his headache worse. He realized that he could think in terms of planning, just not remembering right now. Deciding to table his thoughts until he could really think about things, he shifted slightly in the bed.

For now, he wanted to focus on the changes that had happened since waking up back in 2006. It was strange to feel five years older, and in some ways five years more withdrawn from his own life. Since mid-December 2008, his life had truly gone to hell. Considering he could pinpoint the moment, to the day, to the second even, when his life had turned in the direction, he tried to use the distance of time to think about what the last couple of years of the other timeline had been like. Thinking on all that had happened since Jake was conceived, he realized that since walking away from his heart at the courthouse, he hadn't really been living, just existing. He never wanted that existence. He has always tried to keep the people he loves safe, such an improbability since no one can be safe every hour of every day. But, he knows the added dangers that his life involves. It is impossible to live without the dangers, and without the dangers you only exist. It's strange how it took something so completely tragic to make him realize how wrong he had been back then. So many things had gone wrong last time, he planned to do everything in his power to make sure that it didn't happen this time. However, he does realize that he might not be able to prevent certain events from happening, he might be able to minimize the effect to those he was most concerned about. Trying to remind himself that he's not Superman, he will do all he can to ensure that those he loves will come out of those events better than they did the first time they occurred.

"You're staring," the soft voice startled him out of his thoughts.

Focusing his eyes on the mother of his child, "I was actually just thinking. I guess I needed a beautiful backdrop considering what I was thinking about."

Blushing and ducking her head back under his chin, "So, what were you thinking about?"

"Aside from how beautiful you are?" he asked, teasing her. "Unfortunately, the past."

"That must be why you looked like you were concentrating so hard."

"Yeah. I'm also trying to plan how to figure out who's been drugging me."

Looking back up at him, she knows that it would be pointless to tell him not to do it, "Come up with anything?"

"A few ideas that are, unfortunately, all going to have to wait until I can get out of here."

"Did you want to share with the class?"

Getting the gist of her question, if not the full meaning, "I need to talk to that Spinelli kid, see if he will help me do some research on Sonny and Carly, Courtney and Sam. I want to see if I can find some sort of pattern of habit or purchases that coincides with when I bought the vitamins or aspirin. For that, I need to see bank records, credit card statements, trips, something that stands out on paper, but wouldn't stand out in memories. Does that make sense?"

"You mean like, if there was a certain time of month, or how often they did the same thing without it being strange for them to do?"

"Something like that. Take Carly, for example, I know that she likes to go shopping in New York. But, I can't tell you how often she goes, if it's once a month, or three times a year. Is it always on the same day?"

"Oh, I get it. If it's always on the same day, is it because that's the only day she has free that month, or is it more sinister?"

"Sinister?" he chuckles.

"Yes, sinister, what else would you call meeting someone to buy mind control drugs?"

"Stupid."

"You said it, not me."

"Well, if that's what she's doing, yes, I do call it stupid."

"She hasn't gotten caught, so far, how stupid can she be?"

"Touché."

"Seriously though, do you really think Carly would go so far as to drug you? I would be more inclined to think Sonny."

"Why would you say that?"

"Well, you already jump when Carly calls. She bellows, and you run to see what she needs. You may not like whatever it is she called you for, but you always go."

"Carly's done some stupid things and made everything worse when I haven't," he started. "But, I see what you mean. I do have a tendency to try to stop her before she goes off on her own, with some harebrained scheme."

"Whereas, with Sonny, you do sometimes have a backbone. You will do things your way, if it benefits, or you think he's being too unreasonable. I would think that gives him more motive for wanting you to being a 'Yes' man."

"A 'yes' man?"

"Yes Sonny, I will do your bidding without a thought of my own. Yes Sonny, I will handle that for you because you demanded it. Yes Sonny…."

"Okay, okay, I get it. A 'Yes' man. No that's a valid point. He does have the tendency to believe that I would betray him if I don't jump without asking permission first."

"That leaves Courtney and Sam. They would have had to work together, don't you think?"

"Not necessarily. If it was something that Courtney started, then say Sam caught her, or somehow found out about it. Maybe she just picked up where Courtney left off. That one is going to be a little harder to piece together."

"I wouldn't rule them out, though, Jason. Don't forget, Courtney was, at one point, addicted to drugs. A drug addict can convince themselves that what they are doing is completely okay. Then, you turn that into a woman fighting for her man and she can convince herself that anything is fair game."

Cocking his eyebrow at her, "Really?"

"Not me, you dork," she laughs at him, lightly slapping his arm. "I'm talking about sick women. Haven't you ever watched those shows on that Crime TV channel? Some women will do anything for their man, including kill."

"No, I really don't watch much TV. And, no, I would never want to inspire that kind of obsession. Thanks, but no thanks."

"It's not actually the man that inspires the obsession, it's the woman, because it's always what's in her head."

"Even still," he shudders at the thought.