Her eyes were closed. Her breathing was shallow, almost nonexistent. Her pulse was steady. Her face was frozen in fear. Ric stroked her face, trying to rouse her, not ignorant to the rib poking out of her side or her bloody arm from where the glass had attacked her in her haste to get out the window. He hadn't understood what was going on, had assumed Maxie's little sister was just having a nightmare—that is, until he heard Maxie scream. He hadn't acted as fast as he would have liked and that had cost them precious seconds, seconds in which they could have gotten her back. Staring down at Maxie's face, he noticed that both of her eyes were sporting shiners and her nose was bleeding. He had called the paramedics but, despite his training and years of medical experience, it all seemed to leave him as he took in her battered, still form.

After dialing the paramedics, his next call had been to the police, and yet neither had arrived. He had called—quick glance to his watch—ten minutes ago! How did the Commissioner's daughter being kidnapped not rank top priority in this god damn town? He had been trying, in vain, to wake Maxie, but she was barely a step above being knocked out cold. When he had seen her fly off the roof, he had told himself that her sister was in worse shape and he had to get her first, but now he was starting to wonder if it would have made a difference. "Come on Blondie." He demanded, lightly shaking her shoulders. He didn't even want to think about the kind of pain she must be in, but her injuries flew in front of his eyes and he was already assessing the damage in his mind.

The scream of sirens caught his ears and his head lifted slowly, his hands still on her shoulders. Pulling his button-down shirt off, he bunched it up and used it to elevate her head. The scratches on her arms and face would heal with time, but the protruding, possibly broken, rib worried him greatly. As the worst-case scenarios ran through his head, the paramedics lined up on either side of him and bent down to collect Maxie. "What's her name?" One of them, a skinny Latino man wearing a New York Knicks hat, asked.

"Maxie Jones. She's the Commissioner's daughter." Ric informed them.

"How long has she been out?" The second man, a taller, bulkier Caucasian with thinning nutmeg-brown hair, inquired.

"Fifteen minutes." Ric answered, almost on autopilot.

They lifted her onto the stretcher and rolled her toward the ambulance, each of them taking hold of the back doors and thrusting them open. "I want to ride to the hospital with her." Ric yelled suddenly and without thinking.

The Latino paramedic must have recognized him because he responded, "Doctor, you know as well as we do that there isn't enough room. You can follow us in your car."

The Caucasian paramedic regarded Ric with a pair of eagle eyes. "Say, are you alright?"

"Do I look alright?" Ric challenged angrily. "Let me go with her."

The two co-workers shared a look and then shrugged. "Don't get in the way." They said in unison.

"Can I tell you something slightly disturbing?" Elizabeth curled her feet up under her as best she could as she cradled the phone on her shoulder.

Robin held her breath. The last time Elizabeth had told her "something disturbing" it had had to do with her favorite soap couple's scenes getting cut in favor of glorified violence. "Okay." She answered hesitantly.

"I'm a total pervert for watching The Mighty Ducks and thinking how hot Joshua Jackson became a few years down the road, aren't I?"

"No. He did. Have you seen his goatee?" Robin asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes. I'm debating on trying to get Lucky to grow one."

"I think he'd be mighty fine with a beard myself." Robin mused.

Elizabeth closed her eyes and savored the mental image Robin's words conjured up for her. A solid kick in her stomach reminded why such thoughts only lead to bad things, just as her mother had warned her years ago. "Oh. You may be on to something there."

"Um, Liz, don't you remember what got you in this situation to begin with?" Robin teased, flipping the television off of the hour of dribble the local station was currently airing.

Elizabeth flicked the remote and furrowed her eyes in confusion. "When the hell did SoapNet stop showing soaps?"

"Since they started airing in France?" Robin offered.

"Oh that explains everything." Elizabeth rolled her eyes even though her friend couldn't see her. "So has Patrick stopped looking for ruffles and lace everywhere yet?"

"No. And I finally figured out what to do with the spare room." Robin answered.

"Now this sounds promising."

"A craft room." Robin clarified. "I always loved restoring dollhouses as a little girl and I'd love to teach Morgan to paint, er find him someone who can paint."

"That sounds perfect! And I totally have leftover stuff from my classroom you can use if you want it."

"That would be wonderful!" Robin exclaimed. "Oh, hell, why am I sucked into this soap when I have more than enough drama to last me?"

"Because the guys they don't showcase are really cute?"

Robin sighed. "That must be it. Oh, Liz, just a second. Call waiting."

"I'll be here. That hot cop is on."

"Hello?" Robin said into the phone once she had successfully clicked over.

"Is this Robin Scorpio?" The metallic voice wanted to know.

"Yes it is." Robin stated. "May I ask who is calling?"

"This is Nurse Epiphany Johnson from General Hospital. Your cousin, Maxie Jones, was just brought in. I'm calling you because you were on her In Case of Emergency card." The nurse explained.

"Maxie? Is she alright?" Robin insisted.

"She was in some sort of scuffle and fell off the roof. That's all I know. Dr. Lansing was with her when she was brought in." Epiphany clarified.

"Dr. Lansing? Are you sure he came in with her?" Robin challenged, confused.

"I know what I saw with my own two eyes. He was talking to her and holding her hand." Epiphany indulged easily.

"Is she alright though? Is she awake?"

"No. She's not awake. I'm not on the staff treating her." Epiphany ground through her teeth, obviously impatient to get off of the phone.

"I'll be right there. Thank you." Robin said, retrieving Elizabeth's call. "Elizabeth, something terrible has happened. Can you meet me at General Hospital?"

"Of course. It's not Morgan or Patrick is it?"

"No." Robin shook her head, forgetting that Elizabeth couldn't see her. "It's Maxie."

"I really don't think she should be disturbed, Alexis." Dr. Monica Quartermaine advised, biting on the end of her thin-rimmed glasses in speculation. She had been following Maxie's case since the Jones-Scorpio family had moved to Port Charles so it was impossible to not feel hesitant to let her young patient have visitors after such a violent fall.

Alexis met Monica's eyes, glimpsing into her soul where she was not a doctor, just a mother. It had been hours since Maxie had been brought in and hours since her surgery had been completed. This was the time to see her. She may not be conscious yet, but Alexis wanted to make sure she was in the room when she was. Kristina was missing—correction, someone had broken into her bedroom window and snatched her. There was precious little evidence: Mac's detectives and the CSU had already swept their home, coming up with nothing but Maxie's fingerprints on the glass of the window. "Monica, I have to talk to her. She was there when my daughter was kidnapped. If she can remember anything, it would help bring Kristina home faster. You and I both know how many children fall victim to abduction as well as the number that aren't ever returned." Alexis pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Alexis. It simply isn't policy. She isn't strong enough to even lift her head. The medicine is keeping her in a semi-conscious state where she can hear you but she can't respond intelligibly. Any information you collected from her tonight could be useless to you." Monica reasoned.

"Then I'll sort it out later. Monica, I have to talk to her. If I have to go over your head to do it I will, but that will cost me precious time; it'll give the kidnapper a better chance to get away with my baby." Alexis countered, tears glistening in her eyes. "Please."

"Ten minutes. That's all I can do. If you haven't gotten what you want by that time, you'll have to wait until morning." Monica offered. She took a step to the left to let Alexis enter Maxie's room. Reaching for Alexis' arm lightly she murmured, "If I come back and you have in any way upset her, this will be the last time I'll allow you to talk to her until she is released. Are we understood?" Monica was not going to compromise her patient. Yes, she was a mother too, but she had to be objective. Maxie wasn't as strong as she would like everyone to think. She was living on borrowed time with a heart that wasn't hers.

Alexis nodded solemnly and closed the door behind her. It made an impossibly loud bang when it closed even though she hadn't slammed it. She glanced back to see if Monica was watching her, but found that she was alone with her future stepdaughter. Mac was tied up with the investigation so this gave her the one and only chance she would get to talk to Maxie alone without the buffer of her family. There was so much she wanted to say, so much that was bottled up inside of her, but these words were from a mother and, if she was going to get through this, she was going to have to think like a district attorney. Cold, clean facts. It was the difference between a conviction and a slap on the wrist. Still, anger burned inside of her like a sleeping volcano.

"Maxie. Can you hear me?" Alexis called to her as she drew nearer to the bed. "If you can hear me, I need you to open your eyes." The damage on the young girl's body was not minimal by any means. She had twisted her ankle on her way down from the roof and landed on her arms and in a position where one of her ribs had pinched through her skin and had to be surgically repositioned. The glass had been removed from her face, but minute-sized scars remained in their place. Her bottom lip was split and the skin from her knees had been peeled away almost as if she had been attacked by a cheese grater. She had pulled her left arm out of socket and the other had taken most of the impact from the fall so it was black and blue as were her closed eyes.

"If you can hear me, squeeze my hand." Alexis instructed, taking her right hand gently as she lowered herself into a nearby chair. "Maxie, I really need for you to wake up. Kristina's life is in danger and you're the only one who can tell me what happened." When she received no response, she jerked her hand back and covered her mouth with her hands to fight back a threatening sob. "Maxie, come on. Wake up. Damn it, wake up." She ordered through clenched teeth. "I can't find my daughter if you don't wake up." Alexis shot to her feet and began to pace the room from one wall to the next, covering every square inch.

The fingers from Maxie's left hand moved first. It was just a slight response, but it was something. Gradually, she turned her wrist in a circular motion. The inside of her palm rubbed against the soft white sheets at her fingers. She couldn't lift her arm and became instantly distressed. She followed the same process with her right hand: fingers first, then wrist, then palm, but she still couldn't lift her arm. Tears slid through her closed lashes but her eyes were too swollen for her to blink them away. An inhuman sound tore from her throat startling Alexis and, though it took her several attempts, rolled onto her side and screamed.

Alexis hurried toward the bed. "Maxie, calm down. You're in the hospital. You were in an accident." She explained hoarsely. Maxie licked her cracked lips wanting to talk but unable to. Understanding, Alexis went on, "Don't force it. Take your time. I want to make sure the statement you give me is clear enough for me to be able to make out." At her words, Maxie's entire body flexed and then she was still. For several seconds, Alexis thought maybe she had fallen into a deeper level of consciousness.

Swallowing thickly, Maxie twisted her head toward Alexis' voice and managed a weak, "Kristina?"

Alexis stated unflinchingly, "She's gone, Maxie."

"No." Maxie argued. "No! She's not gone."

"Someone broke into the house," Alexis continued without pausing to take a breath, "and stole her from her bed. They stole her, Maxie."

The moments stretched on. Alexis squeezed her eyes shut trying her hardest to find the district attorney and separate her from the mother, but there was no differentiating. As a district attorney she knew the awful things a person could do to a child, especially a little girl. As a mother, she had seen enough, heard enough, lived around enough to know that Kristina might already be dead. "How could you let this happen?" She accused leaning forward so that her face was mere inches from Maxie's. "How could you let someone come into our home and take Kristina? You were supposed to be watching her! You were supposed to be protecting her!" Alexis shrieked, shaking.

"I tried—" Maxie sobbed.

"You didn't try! You left her upstairs alone!" Alexis charged.

"She was asleep. I went to her as soon as I heard her call for me." Maxie protested.

"But you didn't protect her. She's going to be your little sister. Would you have thought so little if it had been Georgie?" Alexis wanted to know. "Would you?" She repeated when Maxie didn't answer her right away.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Robin demanded from the doorway, the knob colliding with the wall hard enough to make the room shudder. "Forget it. I don't care. Get the fuck out of my cousin's room right now!"

"Robin, she knows about Kristina's disappearance..." Alexis insisted, pointing an accusatory finger at Maxie's quivering form.

Robin advanced on Alexis, walking her away from Maxie's bed and into a corner. "What part of 'recovering from major surgery' did you not comprehend?"

"The first twenty-four hours in a kidnapping are the most crucial." Alexis defended, bristling.

"Who do you think you are to come in here and harass Maxie? You're treating her as though she sat idly by while Kristina was kidnapped—" Robin shot back.

"She might as well have for all the good it did!" Alexis cried.

"You need to get out of here." Robin warned. "And I don't care what kind of connections you have in this town. You are banned from this hospital room. You will conduct your investigation without her."

"She is the only witness to the abduction." Alexis reminded her.

"Well maybe you should have thought about that before you came in here hurling insults." Robin narrowed her eyes.

"This isn't over." Alexis promised them, stomping out of the room.

"Robin, you shouldn't have done that." Maxie scolded her gently.

"We're all worried about Kristina, Maxie. That doesn't mean she gets to treat you that way. For Christ's sake, you can't even open your eyes."

"I wasn't the only witness." Maxie informed her.