"Carly, you have to listen to me." Jason said stroking her hair as she rested on his lap unconscious. "Whatever he's told you; you can't believe it. You have to hold on; you have to fight. I need you; your children need you."
"Sir." A woman knelt down beside him. "A rescue helicopter is on its way. There's a hospital on Tasmania that they are going to take her to."
Jason looked up and nodded; turning his attention away from her briefly he looked out at the crowd forming. "Where's Jerry?" He asked ominously.
Dr. Walker looked behind him searching to see where Jerry may have run off to. "Mr. Morgan, can I just check her pulse?"
He shook his head no. The slight rise and fall of her chest was enough to know she was holding on.
"I'm just…" Seth went to kneel down; Jason pulled his gun out at the gesture causing the doctor to jump back.
"What have you done to her?" Jason demanded as the crowd started to panic.
"I haven't done anything. Mr. Jacks called for my assistance after she was knocked unconscious by the wreck. We brought her back her and I was able to stitch up the wound. I knew the clotting factor was an issue so I kept her on the same medication she was on following treatment.
"When she finally gained consciousness her memory was gone. Jerry convinced her that she was the alias that he had been using. Her name was Cora Phoenix, the wife of Victor Phoenix. They lived in New York, but when diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor she asked to move out here away from her family as to protect them from seeing her, watching her pass."
"What about her family?" Jason questioned. "What did he tell her about her mom and her children?"
"He told her that she never had any children. He made up a photo album of fake people that he showed her; he told her they were her family." Seth confessed.
Jason's arm slowly dropped as he heard the story. He continued combing his open hand threw her hair. "What's wrong with her… why?"
"I don't know." Seth confessed. "I told him that there could be complications; that I needed a CT scan to find out exactly; he was afraid of getting caught. She has been experiencing migraines since she woke up, and over the last couple of days it's gotten worse; dizziness, double vision, a petit mal seizure."
"And you did nothing?" Jason cried. "He told her she was dying, and took away every reason she had to fight and you, a brilliant brain surgeon, just stood back and watched!?"
The chopper landed and a path was cleared for emergency personnel to get to Carly. The EMTs were the first on the scene with a stretcher to load her onto.
"If everybody will just stand back and stay put. I'm going to need to take your statements." An officer called out. "Mr. Morgan?"
"Officer Harris." Jason recognized him from the Federal Police Headquarters.
"You didn't leave me a way to contact you. We pulled in a crew of shark poachers the other day. They asked for leniency if they provided information on the rescue of the survivors of the ship wreck." He explained.
Jason watched as Carly was loaded onto the aircraft and started to follow.
"I'm sorry sir, only family members allowed." The crewman ordered.
"He's good." The officer vouched for him.
"Okay." The crewman gave him a hand up.
"Thank you." Jason expressed before the propellers started.
XXXXXX
"Is it set?" General Galen Katsaros asked Nikolas once he returned from the castle.
"It's set. She didn't fight me on the location which suggests to me that she has something up her sleeve." Nikolas replied.
"I can't go back." Mischa shook her head. "You have to promise me that you're not going to trade…"
"We wouldn't do that." Ethan replied. "We wouldn't do that? Right?"
"No; the plan is to get Sam out of harms way before Galen's men reveal their cover." Nikolas explained. "From there, we all, take the next flight to Athens where my jet will be fueled and ready to go."
"What about Helena?" Mischa questioned.
"If she cooperates we take her to headquarters where she will be prosecuted like the terrorist she is and if she doesn't she wont make it out of the parking lot." Galen explained.
"Make sure the rounds are made of silver." Ethan suggested to which Galen made a questioning expression.
"Don't mind him." Nikolas instructed the General.
"I have five of my best guys on this assignment. We won't let you down."
"Just remember first and foremost is Sam's safety." Nikolas replied.
"I understand that; after this is over I hope we can find the opportunity to connect. It would be a privilege to meet the daughter of my favorite cousin." Galen admitted.
"I'm sure she would like that." Nikolas expressed. "It's a shame that she never got that chance to know her father."
"He was the risk taker in the family." Galen reminisced.
"That's where she gets it." Ethan smirked.
"We knew it wasn't from Alexis." Nikolas added.
"Laertes was only a couple years older, and he was always trying to get me to do stupid things. I thought he was crazy, but he would climb anything, and jump off of heights you couldn't imagine. I swore he was made of rubber. Aunt Adonia was great to him, but he was always looking in to finding out what happened to his birth mother. It was always implied that the Cassadine's had something to do with, and when they found her body… Laertes wanted Helena to hurt; he wanted her to lose someone she loved."
"That's when he went after Stavros." Ethan recalled the story.
"After piercing the Cassadine's flesh he jumped what had to have been thirteen stories into the ravine without so much as a scrape, but Adonia got scared and she sent her family out of the country. He didn't want to go but Calista pleaded with him. She was his sister it didn't matter if the parents were different. Before he left Laertes brought me out to Dikian cave where we spent hours talking about mythology, and history and… that was the last time I saw him."
XXXXXX
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sonny questioned as they stood outside the door.
Claudia nodded opening the entrance to the nursery. She walked in and everything was how she left it except the addition of the cherub painting that hung at her daughter's memorial service. Sonny attempted to wipe away the tears from Claudia's cheeks, but she pushed his hands away. "I'm okay." She assured him.
"She's looking after us." Sonny wrapped his arms around her.
"I believe that. I know that her purpose was to bring us here; to give this guy the family that he deserves." She rested her hand over his on her belly button. "He's going to know of the angel that brought love back into this home."
"Yes, she is." Sonny smirked. Claudia gave an elbow to his side.
"Mr. C., Mrs. C. Michael is downstairs to see you both." Max announced.
"Tell him we'll be right down." Sonny instructed.
"Wait, Sonny, what do I say?" Claudia asked pulling on his arm as he started to follow.
Sonny shrugged. "'Hello', I'd probably skip the 'how are you?'."
"I mean it." She urged.
"So do I; there's no rule book for this type of thing. Michael asked for both of us which means he knows and if it was too painful I doubt he would come over."
"Okay." Claudia nodded in agreement.
"Dad." Michael greeted Sonny with a hug. "I'm glad you got home safe." He said to Claudia before an awkward hug.
"It's good to see you." Claudia replied back. "Would you like a seat?"
Claudia and Michael sat down while Sonny went over to pour some water.
"Alexis told me you were here. Congratulations… with the baby. I was happy to hear everything was alright."
"He's too little to see the heartbeat at this point, but the doctors are certain everything is okay." Claudia replied.
"It really is nice to celebrate something happy." Michael replied. "You're probably wondering what I am doing here."
"You don't need a reason to visit." Sonny shook his head.
"I know, but I thought you would be interested in knowing my decision."
"What decision?" Sonny inquired.
"Kristina told me a while ago that Ric had found the grounds for the appeal. Apparently the husband to my third and fourth grade teacher was the foreman on the jury which gave a certain prejudice and since this town is small enough that we can't be sure that won't happen again he was able to move…"
"Yeah; we know all that." Sonny interrupted him.
"I'm sure you also know that the prosecution's case has been weakened by certain turn of events."
Claudia nodded.
"Alexis was aware that we had talked about what happened that night at the warehouse. My mom told her last time not to use that information unless I requested to testify. I didn't want to have to chose between my mom and my dad so I didn't."
"Alexis wants to use you for the appeal." Sonny assumed.
"She wanted me to consider it, but in honoring mom's wishes she left it up to me."
"Michael, whatever you decide I understand." Claudia replied. "I took something precious from you; time that you can't get back."
"Time that I could have had with my mom." Michael dictated what they were all thinking. "I can't go back and think of the 'what if's'. If the butterfly wouldn't have flapped its wings, then... I do feel like I have to represent what she would have wanted."
"You don't have to explain." Claudia replied.
"Everyone I've talked to about this has said the same thing. Forget what everybody else would want and expect and just listen to what I think is right. I'm not going to testify. I can't say that the baby doesn't have something to do with that decision, but more so I can't because I can't truthfully go on that stand and tell the jury that you told me."
"But…?" Claudia questioned.
"You didn't, Johnny did, and I won't make him an accessory." Michael replied.
"Michael, I can't begin to say thank you. The adults in your life have made so many mistakes and you keep paying for them, but I will never forget this." Claudia assured him.
"Just can you promise not to try to kill my dad again." Michael joked.
Claudia smiled. "I think I can swear to that."
XXXXXX
"Hello." Jax left the prosecutor's office to answer his phone.
"Brother? I need your help. You need to hide me."
"Jerry?" Jax questioned in shock. "Is that really you?"
"It's really me; I know, nine lives or something, but I'm telling you right now. If you don't help I've exhausted them all."
"Wait a minute, if you're… then Carly?"
"We didn't die in that boat wreck. A ship of poachers came by and helped us to shore. I gave them a large sum to keep quiet and since they had their own illegal business going they were more than happy to collect to stay mum."
"Is Carly with you? Can… can I talk to her?"
"She's not with me. I assume she's been taken to Royal Hobart."
"Hospital? Jerry, why would she be going to the hospital and who is with her."
"Jason Morgan found us, and he's going to kill me if he finds me. You have to help. I'm serious, this is…"
"Why is Carly in the hospital? And how could you possibly think of letting her entire family believe she was dead?" Jax demanded answers.
"I don't know. I just knew Jason didn't deserve her so…"
"You took her from everyone that cared about her?"
"I thought that maybe if I spent some time I could win her over, and then the accident happened. She lost her memory, and I thought it was a chance to start over from scratch, but then the migraines, and… she was on the beach and Jason came up. I was trying to get her to back away, and she collapsed and started shaking."
"She had a seizure? Then what? Is that when you cowered away?"
"Jax, you've always helped me before. I'm asking one more time. I swear, you will never hear from me again."
"What do you need?" Jax asked somberly.
"Money transferred into an account, and a safe house for a couple nights until I can find something remote."
"Okay." Jax replied giving him the information he required.
