Mattie and Morgan walked into the ballroom to see that no one was dancing. The entire crowd of people was seated and Lucky Spencer was standing in the middle of the floor, giving orders.

"I just received word that Ric Lansing is at the hospital in critical condition. It appears that he was poisoned. The lab is testing the poison now. In the mean time, no one will be leaving his room. It would appear that because Ric was in relatively good health when he walked in here, he was poisoned sometime after that. And if that is the case, someone in this room did it to him. If you will please remain calm, the police will talk with you individually."

Mattie looked at Morgan, who nodded. She smiled. "Go, I'll be fine. Do your job. The sooner we can get this over with the better." Morgan kissed her before heading off to join Lucky and Cameron. Mattie walked over to where Molly and Miranda were seated.

"Why the hell did you try to save him?" Molly grumbled as Mattie sat in an adjacent chair.

"I'm a doctor. Saving people is what I do."

"But Ric Lansing? Why waste your time?" Molly questioned future as Miranda put her hand over Molly's.

"I may be a little out of the loop, but why are you so negative? I mean, he is your father," She asked Molly, who turned and glared at her.

"Ric Lansing was never any father of mine. He's worthless. He spent too much wanting to prove himself to Trevor and Anthony and not nearly enough time being a father," Molly scoffed. "And he was even worse when Sarah came along."

Mattie looked up as two detectives walked into the ballroom. They walked over to Lucky and after a few moments, fanned out to begin the interviewing. One of them, a woman, walked up to the table that Mattie, Molly and Miranda inhabited.

"I'd like to ask you some questions regarding the crime that was committed here tonight. I'll start with you, Ms…" she looked at Molly, who pursued her lips.

"I'm Molly Lansing."

To her credit, the detective didn't flinch. "Are you related to—"

"I'm his daughter."

"Okay, so where were you when he collapsed?"

"I was dancing with my date, Matthew Buchanan. He can vouch for me. And other than him being a horrible father and an even worse man, I wouldn't poison him. It'd be too easy. I'd rather see him suffer first," Molly finished. She waited until the detective finished taking down her notes. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to use the restroom." She slipped passed the detective without waiting for answer.

The detective turned to Mattie next. "And you are…"

"I'm Dr. Mattie Drake. I'm the doctor who tried to save Ric Lansing's life," Mattie replied shortly. She wasn't in the mood for interrogation.

"Were you here in the room when he collapsed?"

Mattie shook her head. "No, I was with my boyfriend, Morgan Corinthos-Jax. We were outside. As we were coming back inside, we heard screams and I saw Ric lying on the floor with no one to help him."

"Okay, so why were you the first person to react?"

"Because everyone else couldn't care less about what happens to him. I'm sorry to say, but there are at least a dozen people in this room tonight that would rather have let him die," Mattie replied.

The detective frowned and looked up from her note pad. "But you aren't one of them." It wasn't really a question, but a statement.

"Ah, you're learning. No. Ric Lansing has never done anything to me that would constitute murder. I only helped him because I'm a doctor and I took a moral oath to do no harm. I simply couldn't stand there and watch him struggle to breath."

"But there are other doctors here tonight?"

Mattie sighed. "Yes, there are. But I think that everyone else was in shock."

The detective closed her notebook. "Thank you ladies. I will let you know if I need any more information. As far as I'm concerned, you are free to go." The detective walked away to interview another guest.

Miranda turned to Mattie. "I'm surprised that she didn't ask me any questions."

Mattie shrugged. "I'm not. If she knows anything, she'll go straight to the source—the mob. If you notice, Jason Morgan was absent tonight. And I heard from Molly that her step-father, Jerry Jax, was also absent. That puts up the red flag in my book."

Miranda nodded. "Well, maybe it's obvious that I wouldn't know Ric Lansing from Adam. I mean, I am from out of town." She shrugged, but brightened. "Now do you care to explain that gorgeous stone on your left hand?" She grabbed Mattie's hand and held it closer to get a good look. "Wow!"

Mattie sighed. In all the excitement, she'd forgotten about the ring and the proposal. "It is what it looks like."

Miranda let out a small scream. "Oh that's so wonderful! How romantic Morgan is, that he'd ask you at this castle on this night."

Mattie smiled. "Yeah, it was pretty great. We'd hoped that we could announce it to everyone, but then Ric collapsed and everything changed."

"Well, you can do it tomorrow. If you leave now, you might avoid the masses in order to get back to the mainland." Miranda reached over and hugged Mattie as they both stood up. "Congratulations."

Mattie waved and went to find Morgan. He was standing in the hallway holding their coats. "Hi."

She smiled. "Hi yourself."

"Ready to go home?"

Mattie frowned. "You don't have to stay here and help?" she accepted her coat and slipped it on.

Morgan shook his head. "No. because I wasn't even in the room when he was poisoned, anything I say doesn't really matter. Lucky said to go home."

Mattie brightened. "Great. Your place or mine?"

"How about yours? Or with Sarah there, it is more awkward?" Morgan asked, reaching for her hand and leading her down the steps toward the launch. She lifted the hem of her dress to keep it from dragging as she descended the stone steps.

Mattie laughed for the first time in more than an hour. "Like she'd care. She's been our number one fan from day one. I'm sure that she will jump for joy when she hears our news."

"I bet you can't wait for it."

"No. I can wait. What I can't wait for is you with me in my bed," she said, lifting her eyebrows suggestively. She accepted his hand in help for stepping into the boat and situated her dress around her legs while the launch took off toward Port Charles.

"Well, you will just have to wait. Just for a little while. And then I promise it will be better than you ever imagined." She only smiled and sat back to enjoy the ride.

XXXXXX

"Ms. Jones?"

Maxie jumped at the voice. She sat up suddenly and blinked in the sunlight that blinded her. Squinting, she could make out the slight form of a nurse.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry to wake you so suddenly, but we need to take your sister for some tests. We just wanted to let you know so you weren't worried when you woke," the blond nurse said quietly. Maxie shook herself awake and looked over to see and orderly moving the bed.

Georgie smiled. "Hi," she whispered, giving a wave as she was wheeled away. Maxie lifted a hand in acknowledgement. The nurse patted her shoulder and followed Georgie's entourage.

"Maximista?" Spinelli appeared in the doorway.

"Spinelli!" Maxie breathed a sigh of relief and practically attacked him. She hugged him tightly for just a moment then pulled back. "Are the girls okay?"

"They're fine. I dropped them off at Patrick's. Mackenzie said that she'd keep them today."

"Oh you're an angel, Damien Spinelli." She kissed him soundly. She led him over to the chairs that sat next to Georgie's bed. Spinelli sat and handed her the coffee he'd brought with him.

"We missed the action last night," he said, taking a sip of his own coffee. Though he'd once sworn by orange soda, Maxie convinced him that it wasn't healthy to drink it all the time. The ironic thing about it, though, was that orange soda was the favorite drink of his youngest daughter Fiona.

Maxie frowned. "What do you mean?" she broke off a corner of the blueberry muffin and handed the remainder to him.

"Ric Lansing was supposedly poisoned last night. I heard that everyone was dancing and minding their own businesses and then he just collapsed. No one knew what to do—or they'd rather let him die, but our Mattie came to his rescue and did a field surgery right in the middle of the dance floor. He's here, at GH, right now. I heard that he was in critical condition," Spinelli replied, looking at his wife. "How you sleep?"

"I-I…amazingly well. But I could use a shower," Maxie said, running a hand through her blond hair. She could only imagine what it looked like.

"Why don't you go home? I'll stay here. Take a shower, eat a real breakfast, call the girls. I'll be here until you get back. And you need to seriously think about telling Mac. He deserves to know that Georgie's alive," Spinelli said, kissing her on the lips.

She nodded and stood up. "Okay, I'll be back as soon as I can. I love you Spinelli."

"I love you too, Maxie. Now go," he said, pushing her toward the door. She waved and hurried toward the exit. She planned to be back as soon as she was done. She had so much to tell Georgie and she didn't want to waste a moment.

XXXXXX

Seeing the hot redhead curled next to him in his bed was definitely not something that Cameron expected when he awoke that morning. He stretched carefully, so as not to wake Lila. Easing out of the bed, he pulled his pants on and walked out of the room toward the kitchen.

Cameron hummed to himself as he measured out the coffee and filled the machine with water. Punching the button to begin brewing, he opened the refrigerator and perused the contents. Not much by way of breakfast.

He couldn't believe what happened last night. After they'd been thoroughly questioned, of which he hadn't been able to participate in because he was considered a witness, they'd left with the throngs of people. By the time they'd rode the launch to Port Charles, it had been almost two in the morning.

Lila hadn't objected when he'd taken her to his house instead of her apartment. Nor had she said anything to him drawing her into his bedroom and slipping her gown off her body. And she hadn't protested when he'd taken her. In fact, she'd kept up with his rhythm.

Which was something that left his twisted inside.

Lila Alcazar was not the kind of woman to toy with. She was the woman who inspired commitment, though she'd never utter those words herself. Cameron shook his head. Lila was a mysterious woman and he wasn't sure if he was up to the job of figuring her out.

"Hey good-looking."

Cameron whirled around—and stubbed his toe on the table leg—to see Lila standing in the doorway. She wore his shirt and a smirk. Seeing her, his body reacted in a way that didn't seem appropriate to the situation.

Lila laughed and walked toward him as he examined his toe. "Oh, are you okay? I didn't mean to startle you." She came over and pulled his face close to hers. She laid her lips on his and deepened the kiss. He forgot his foot and pulled her close.

"Oh, I'm okay now. How about another round?" he whispered in her ear, which caused her to giggle. He led her back toward the bedroom, nipping at her ear. She smiled and kicked the door close with her foot.

Lila was a woman of mystery and if you asked her, she would tell you that it was going to stay that way.

XXXXXX

Mattie awoke suddenly. She sat up, unsure of what had woken her exactly. Blinking, she felt for Morgan, but the spot next to her on the bed was empty. She smiled, remembering how gentle and tender he'd been. It had been their first time together and being officially engaged had made it that much more special.

Mattie shifted, pushing the blankets back and putting her feet on the ground. She slipped her feet into the slippers and pulled on her robe. Tiptoeing out of the room, she listened for movement in the apartment. She wasn't sure of Sarah had ever made it home last night so perhaps Morgan was making coffee or something.

When she saw him standing in the middle of her minute kitchen wearing his tux, she smiled. "Hey," she said quietly, so as not to startle him.

He turned around at the sound of her voice. "Hey yourself. Did you sleep all right?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Sleep? What is that? I don't think either of us got much sleep last night. But I'm not complaining." She walked to him and wrapped her arms around him. He lowered his head and covered her lips with his. Savoring him, she deepened the kiss, just as the door opened behind them.

"Oh! Sorry, sorry!" Sarah exclaimed, hiding her eyes as they broke apart and whipped around. Sarah hurried past them toward her bedroom. "I'm sorry!" she called again, slamming her door shut.

Mattie grinned at Morgan, who nodded. She stepped back and walked over to the cupboard that held glasses and mugs. She reached for a mug and filled it with the dark coffee. Adding cream, as per Sarah's liking, she carried it to the door and knocked. "Sarah? It's me."

She heard a grunt and, taking it as an okay, opened the door. Sarah was sitting on the bed, pulling off her heels. She looked up when Mattie set the cup on the bedside table and sat down on the bed. "Exciting night?"

Sarah shook her head and reached for the cup. She took a sip and shook her raven colored hair out of her eyes. "He waited for me."

Mattie frowned. "Who? Jake? Jake waited for you?"

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I stayed behind to see if the commissioner needed my help. An I didn't expect him to wait, but he did. And something about that just made me—I don't know—want him."

"Want him? Like really want him?"

She grinned credulously. "Yeah. I practically jumped him. But he was so nice about it. He asked if it was really what I wanted and I said yes. He asked if I wanted to go to his place and I said yes. Can you believe that? I slept with Jake Spencer."

Mattie chuckled. "What it spectacular?"

"It was pretty great. We did it three times," Sarah replied, standing up and slipping out of her dress. She hung it up in the closet and pulled out a pair of sweats and a hoodie. She put them on and dug in the dresser for a brush. Pulling the silver clip out of her hair, she tugged the brush through it and tied it back in a low knot.

"Wow. That must have been some sex," Mattie commented and studied her left hand, where Morgan's ring glinted in the sunlight.

Sarah turned around. "What about you? I did walk into something didn't I?"

Mattie shrugged. "We had the most wonderful night. It was spectacular. But it all started with this!" She held up her hand where Sarah could see it.

Sarah's eyes widened. She made a grab for the hand and held it close. "When did this happen?"

Mattie smiled. "Last night. Right before your dad collapsed."

Sarah frowned. "And then Ric had to go and ruin it," she said dryly.

Mattie shrugged. "Well…" she looked up when there was a knock on the door.

"Mattie?"

"Coming!" With a wave, she opened the door and hurried out.

Morgan was completely dressed and standing by the door. She walked up to him and kissed him. "Are you leaving?"

"I need to get to my place and get changed. But how about breakfast at Kelly's? Say in an hour or so?" he pulled her close and whispered in her hear, "Last night was really great."

She pulled back and grinned. "Yeah?" she reached to open the door and stepped out in the hall with him. "An hour will be great. Should I meet you at Kelly's? Or do you want to come here?"

"I'll pick you up. See you then." With a wave, he walked down the hall toward the elevator.

Mattie turned back inside and hurried to her room. She had only an hour to make herself presentable. And being a doctor, she was used to working well under pressure.

XXXXXX

Okay, so I hope that you like the story so far. I never really liked Ric, but I can't decide if I want him to die and if so, who should be the suspect. From where I stand there are a number of potential suspects (Claudia, Alexis, Molly, Sarah, etc). If you have any suggestions, let me know! Please review, it makes my day.