Cruz stared at the folder and then at the clock. For the last hour his attention had shifted from one object to the next as he tried to figure out what his next step should be. He had in a call to Kate, the first time in days that he had been able to contact her at all. The situation with Lance was steady, but that didn't mean he was alright, only that he hadn't gotten worse. Everyone in the family had been tested and the results were still coming in. So far, nothing.

This was the first morning he had felt comfortable enough to leave Bobbie with her family. She was the one who suggested he get back to work. Obviously he wasn't useful in a crisis. It made sense to him. Dillon was usually the comedic relief, but that role had been passed down to Lucky. Laura distracted Elizabeth and Robin with talk of the upcoming wedding. Luke kept them in coffee. Patrick and Ned took turns playing with the kids. The unexpected presence of Tracy Quartermaine had initially spooked Robin, but once she promised that her reason for being there had to do with her grandson and her grandson only, the two women were content to say absolutely nothing to one another. It seemed the only ones Tracy felt comfortable talking to were her son, Lucas, and Bobbie.

"You've reached Kate Howard. If you'll leave a message, I will get back to you as soon as I can." He groaned and slammed the phone down a little harder than necessary. How could she not be answering when they were on the brink of the biggest corporate cover-up in the history of the world? At first, he had thought Brenda perhaps felt sorry for him and that's why she brought him something to put him back in the black. It wasn't until he discovered what the plain brown folder held that he realized her decision had more to do with his chosen profession. With this, he could do what he had wanted to do: destroy Jasper Jacks.

The problem with savvy businessmen was that very few were as smart as they appeared to be. Minor details always added up. Something that started as a one-time thing never stayed that way. Cruz wondered how Jax's investors would feel if they realized that he had stolen their money and "invested" it into his own pocket. He bet they might be a tad upset. Conning people was easy, but Jax's first mistake had been that he dealt too close to home. When things turned sour—Cruz would make sure they did—Jasper Jacks was going to have one hell of a fight on his hands. If they didn't kill him, there was very little chance that he would survive prison.

After their meeting, it was clear that Brenda wouldn't be staying with her husband and would raise their child alone. Cruz couldn't even blame her after the way he had treated her during the short duration of their marriage. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had seen her smile, a real smile. Their friendship had been brief, but he should have stepped in long before now. Maybe he could have prevented this. Maybe after this was all said and done, she would find the life she should have had. If he accomplished nothing else, he would make sure he had some part in getting her the life she should have had, a safe, happy life for her and her baby, a life that would never again include Jasper Jacks.

*****

Glancing around the corner of the doorway, Sage blinked her eyes several times to try to calm her nerves. Lance had been in the hospital for days now and to look at him, you would have sworn he was just visiting. He sat calmly next to Dillon, listening attentively Seeing her son for the first time since she had given birth was a mixture of emotions, none of which she expected. When she told Lucas and Dillon she was fine with no contact with Lance, she had meant it. It was their dream to have a child, not hers. She had never seen herself with children. It wasn't a part of her world and she was determined her world wouldn't infect anymore innocent people. Even though she still stood by her reasons, still believed she made the correct choice, the only choice, the sight of Lance caused her heart to leap a little as Dillon read him a story.

She scanned his small body, searching for recognition. Was that her smile? Her father's eyes? Did he laugh like her mother or his father? Did he have Dillon's obsession with movies? Lucas's attention to detail? Was he happy? Did he wonder who she was? Did he know anything about her?

A nurse walked by, smiled, and whispered a hello to her. Before Sage could turn her head to nod in recognition, Lance looked up, his attention caught by the slight noise. "Hi!" He said puzzled, looking straight at her.

"H...hi!" Sage stuttered slightly, not missing the look of shock that crossed Dillon's face.

"What are you doing here?" It was all Dillon could do to keep his voice steady.

"I was just walking by. I didn't mean to intrude."

"Well you did." Dillon told her.

"I was just leaving." Sage assured him. "I won't bother you."

"You obviously wanted something." Dillon argued. "Well?"

"Who are you? Daddy do you know her?" Lance asked his head between the two of them.

"Nobody. I'm nobody." Sage said quickly. "And I don't want anything. I just came to see if I could help."

"Help with what?" Lance asked.

"Oh, you want to help now?" Dillon feigned surprise. "Now why would you want to be involved in something so messy? Did you think if you came to see my son you would feel some connection to him? Some obligation to save him?"

"No. I just came because Lucas called me. That's all. Someone told me it was the right thing to do. Obviously, they were wrong." Sage took a further step back into the hallway.

"Lucas called you?"

"Yes. When Lance was admitted."

"Can I talk to you outside please?" Dillon asked, not sure he would able to keep from spooking his son any further.

"Sure." Sage nodded, trying to keep her eyes away from Lance's curiosity filled ones.

"I'm going to go out into the hall for a second. You'll be able to see me the whole time." Dillon promised and leaned over to kiss his forehead.

"Ok Daddy." Lance nodded.

Dillon waited until they cleared the room before he allowed the conversation to progress. "What gives you the right to come in here and confuse him when we came to you before any of this had progressed?"

"I don't want a relationship with him. That's not why I'm here. I didn't mean for him to see me. The last thing I want is to confuse him. He's your son Dillon. Not mine. That's still stands."

"That's good because we gave you the opportunity to be a part of his life for seven years and you couldn't care less. Thank you for not becoming a hypocrite."

"I'm only here to see if I'm a match to help him. If I am, I'll donate and I'll leave. If I'm not, then I'll do what I can to help from a distance."

"You didn't cause this. It could have just as well been me." Sage reached out to touch Dillon's arm.

"Nevertheless, I'm not a match. Let's pray to God that you are." Dillon stepped just beyond her reach and smiled for his son's benefit. No reason to scare him. No reason to make the situation worse. As mad as he was at Lucas for pulling this and not telling him, what else could he have done? They were running out of ideas and hope.

"I know you don't always understand this Dillon but I do want the best for him. And that's you and Lucas. I hope I'm a match."

"Excuse me?" Dr. Walker stepped in-between them, Lance's chart in her hand.

"What's going on?" Dillon wondered. This was the first time he had seen his son's doctor outside of her lab since his son was brought in.

"You know I should go." Sage offered.

"Nobody is going anywhere until I get an explanation." Dillon argued vehemently.

"Maybe we should find your husband." Dr. Wexler suggested.

"What happened?" Dillon demanded.

"We're moving into End-Stage, Mr. Jones. I'm afraid the only hope for your son now is a transplant."

*****

She hadn't been up here in almost ten years, around the time she had discovered it no longer bothered Lucky and Patrick that she wanted to be up in their tree house with them. They had discovered girls and no longer had time to worry about how to keep a determined younger sister out from their club. Tracing her fingers over the rough wood that had been "borrowed" from the discard piles of local construction sites, Lulu marveled at how little had changed since she had last climbed the rope ladder.

The posters of the boy bands she had put up purely to annoy her brother still clung to the walls, albeit a little worse for the wear given Port Charles' weather. The hole in one corner her father had always promised to help close up but never had still teased her from across the floor. It was familiar and comfortable. It was exactly what she needed.

The hospital walls had started to close in on her. The concerned but well-meaning looks family hadn't been lost on her. She hadn't realized how long it had been since she had seen them last. Cameron and Morgan looked at least a foot taller. The last time she had seen the twins, she could only tell them apart because of their clothes. It was only a matter of time before some member of her family got bored with the usual distraction techniques and started asking her where she had been hiding all this time.

What was she supposed to say? Oh nowhere, just withdrawing from drugs, living with the cop that I slept with in a drugged-out stupor. Nothing big. Yeah that would go over real well. Her father, brother, and Patrick would be thrilled to hear about that.

She had had to get out of there. It was too much. They had been there too many times before. Robin's accident. Cameron's accident. After she and the kids returned from the kidnappings. There was too many memories, and very few of them good. Around every corner there was a ghost waiting to ambush her.

The only thing she was doing there was waiting to break down. And that was the last thing anyone needed right now. She had put up with the teasing assertion that she was the family drama queen, unfailingly able to make any situation about her. Not this time. She was not going have everyone focus on her freaking out about overhearing a brief conversation between Robin and Tracy.

That conversation was what made up her mind. She barely overheard all of it. Just a few brief words and something about AJ and she could feel her stomach begin to clench. If only barely hearing the name of someone she had barely interacted with in her entire life could set her so on edge, then there was something seriously wrong with her.

"There you are." Evan's voice came to her before she saw his face. He grabbed the rope ladder that she had accidentally pulled up and threw it back into place. At least he had found her. That made climbing the stupid tree worth it.

"Evan? What...how...how'd you find me?"

"You mumbled something about this place when you first came to stay with me. I figured there was a sound possibility that you would show up here."

"I did?" Lulu rubbed the palm of her hand across her knees. It was entirely possible she did say something. She didn't exactly remember the first few days at Evan's apartment.

"You said it was a great hiding place because neither Lucky nor Patrick was very good at finding you."

"They aren't." Lulu smiled. "They've always sucked at it. Which I guess is good for you."

"They just didn't know where to look. I am the detective in the bunch, remember?" Laura had tried her best to get him alone the moment they walked up, but he managed to find a way out of it every time. Lulu was already suspicious. Her mother hurrying over to offer advice on a subject she shouldn't have known anything about would only create another problem.

"So you say." Lulu smiled softly. "But they'd still kick your ass."

"Would they?" Their timing had been rather perfect. Her brother and cousin had gone in search of food for the group right before he showed up with Lulu in tow. If only a single member of her family hadn't been so forward, hadn't pestered her with questions. If only they hadn't stared at her as if she had grown an extra head; maybe then she would have felt more comfortable.

"I live with you and they've only met you once. You haven't passed inspection yet."

"Sounds perfectly logical to me." Why couldn't Luke have cracked a joke or something? That's all it would have taken to break the ice. Still, Evan had a feeling that the main reason Laura hadn't gotten to him had to do with her husband's distraction techniques more than anything else.

"Why are you here?"

"I turned around and you were gone. Didn't sit well with me." No one knew where she went or how long ago. Just another example of how easily she could get lost in the crowd when it came to her family.

"I had to leave. Too many ghosts."

"I shouldn't have taken you there." It seemed to him that the list of wrongs on his part just kept getting longer and longer. He shouldn't have approached Lulu that first night and, even if he had, he should have taken her home and then ratted her out to the commissioner. Nothing should have happened beyond that. To make matters worse, now he had brought her mother into the whole thing and, even though his intentions had started out good, he wondered if Lulu would stop to consider that once she found out.

"No I had to go there. If we skipped it, it would have just brought up more questions and sent people out looking for me."

"So disappearing from the hospital was a way to avoid more questions?"

"I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd seen them. You don't know my family. Eventually they would start asking questions of me. Where I've been. What I've been doing. Who you are. I can't answer those."

"You still should have gotten my attention. How am I supposed to keep you safe if you continue to run from me?" Evan challenged wearily. So far, nothing had happened. Vermin was sticking to his side of the bargain. Evan wished he could take that as a certainty that it would stay that way, but he supposed he was far too fatalistic to believe it.

"You were on the phone. The station called remember?"

"So tap me on the shoulder." Lulu probably could have punched him in the shoulder and he still might not have noticed her. An abandoned car matching the description of Haley Marano's red Oldsmobile, dents included, was found on the edge of Port Charles. The only reason it hadn't been stolen were the dried bloodstains on the rearview mirror.

"Everything just came too fast. I needed to get out of there." Lulu shook her head. It hadn't crossed her mind to tell him anything. It had been so long since she had someone concerned about her comings and goings that it would take some getting used to that Evan was.

"Are you okay now?"

"I'm doing a little better." Lulu smiled. "Thanks for coming."

"It's a little cold. You really want to spend the night in a windowless tree house?" Evan couldn't help but tease her.

"It's nice here. Just a little longer please?"

He tossed her his black jacket. "Put it on and we'll stay as long as you want."

Pulling the material over her shoulders, she snuggled her body into its softness, inhaling his scent that still lingered there. "Happy?"

"Getting there. They found the car tonight. So that's something."

"The car? Where did they find it?"

"Edge of town. It was parked on a condemned, dead-end road otherwise it would have been easier to spot."

"But it's been months since the accident. Can you really find anything now?"

"We can try. The description of the car matches our suspect's and the driver obviously hit something if the dents on the passenger side are anything to go by." He didn't see any reason to go into details. For one thing, she was a civilian and he broke the rules every time he told her anything about the case. For another, why add to her already violent nightmares?

"So this could be over? You might actually solve the case?" Lulu slid over to him. "You get to be the big, bad detective busting the bad guys, bringing justice and all that?"

"Not if everyone else in the department keeps making these discoveries without me." He chuckled.

"Well I'll give you full credit. Does that count for anything?"

"It counts for a lot." Her hushed tone clued him in that her ever diminishing attention span had reached its limit.

"I'll tell you what." Lulu crawled closer to whisper in his ear. "You close this case, and I'll plan a celebration for you. Just you."

Evan turned his face slightly to the left so that their lips were almost touching. "You won't hear any complaints from me."

"Good." She closed the gap between them and lightly pressed her lips against his. "Thank you for looking for me."

"Habit."

"Forgive me for leaving without telling you?"

Evan shook his head, tangling his fingers in her hair. "No. You can't do that again."

She ran her hands up his arms, smiling at him. "I might need a lot of practice. You should probably stick close to me for awhile." Evan scoffed. Like he had any say in the matter, he thought hazily as he pushed the collar of his jacket away from her skin and covered the back of her neck with his palm.

"Do I need to show how sorry I am?" Lulu teased.

"You just need not to go anywhere." Evan told her, leaning up to kiss her smiling lips.

"I might need some convincing."

Following the sharp incline of her neck, he trailed kisses all along the perfect skin. She braced her hands on his shoulders as he sat up and readjusted her legs on either side of him. He had barely touched her and already his kisses were becoming more and more frenzied. Unconsciously, he bit into the sensitive skin at the top of her shoulder to relieve some of the tension coursing through his entire body.

"Evan." She panted as she closed her eyes and kept a firm grip on his shoulders. "Evan."

He looked up, his vision foggy as he tried to focus on her face. "Did I hurt you honey?"

"No." She shook her head. "No. Don't stop. Please." The feeling of his lips on her skin was the only sensation she could equate with feeling safe. Feeling alive. She didn't want to lose that feeling.

He kept one hand on the collar of the jacket and used his free hand to pop open the two metal buttons at the neckline of her sleeveless, charcoal-black vest. He shoved his jacket off her shoulders on his path to expose as much of her skin as he could and rubbed his hands up and down her arms to keep her from getting even the slightest chill.

Lulu moved her hands down his chest, burying her fingers under the thin wool of his sweater. She wanted to feel more of him. She bit his ear lightly, smiling when he jumped slightly.

Evan leaned into her mouth, barely able to hold his head up. Until now, he had kept some distance between them, but he couldn't stand it anymore. His hand slid under her and he lifted her higher so that she was flush up against him. Gnashing his teeth together as their bodies made that first slow, delicious contact he pinched his fingers around the zipper of her vest, willing himself to hold it in place.

She could feel his hesitation and smiled at the fact he was still trying to hold himself back. Clearly she was going to have to take control of the situation. She started to lean forward, pushing him onto his back.

He swept his hands up to her face and pulled her down for a kiss that was neither chaste nor patient. Satisfied that her mouth was being put to good use, he shifted his legs between hers so that his knees kept her thighs parted and ground his finger between them, teasing her through the thick fabric of her jeans.

He stroked the inside of her thigh, up and down, drawing out her pleasure, cupping her bent knee and then pressing himself against her while they each fought to catch their breaths without breaking the kiss. "No." The single word was choked out when he realized what had startled him.

"Ignore it. Just ignore it." Lulu begged.

"Okay." Evan gave in, kissing her swollen mouth and tracing the button at the front of her jeans. "Fuck." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the tiny black beeper. "It's work."

"They'll call back." Lulu promised reaching up to pull him back down to her. "I promise they'll call back."

He couldn't look at her. Hesitantly, he glanced down at the beeper that continued to beep. "Come on. I'll take you back to the apartment."

"Answer the page." Lulu sighed as she started to sit up. "If we leave now and parents are home, you'll face an interrogation sooner than you think."

Evan dialed the number and identified himself. "You're sure?" His eyes shot to Lulu. "Alright. I'll be right there."