Do not own General Hospital or any of the characters.

The Flame of Franco

Visitors...

"How's she doing?" asked Lucky towards Robin as she came out of Sam's room. The detective had finally gotten off the case he had been called into earlier that morning. He was exhausted and hadn't slept in the past two days. He just wanted to go home and sleep but he first had to pay a visit to his friend.

Robin's brown eyes looked up from Sam's chart, she was scribbling on and met Lucky's blood shot ones.

"She is...surviving," replied the doctor with a sad shake of her head before closing the binder and hugging it to her chest. Over the night, Sam had begun to develop headaches which were due to being in enclosed space when the bomb went off. Sam was going to make a recovering but it would be a long one. "She still has a fever. Her breathing has improved a little but we are still closely monitoring her," Robin didn't know what else to say. It was a sad situation. Reaching out, she gently touched Lucky's forearm before leaving the detective standing outside of Sam's room alone.

Rubbing his forehead, Lucky let out a deep breath before reaching out and opening the hospital room door.

Sam was lying in the bed, her head prompted up against the pillows. There was a haunted look on her face as her eyes stared blankly over at the corner of the room.

She looked like a broken doll someone had left out in the rain, thought Lucky to himself as he took a deep breath and stepped slowly into the room. There were blankets on top of her keeping her warm.

Sam barely knowledge his presence as he stood, looking into the room. His hands were shoved into the deepest of the front pockets of his jeans. He was nervously biting down on his lower lip. He hadn't expected for Sam not to look good but he had never really imaged anything like she was now. He didn't expect to see the blankness in her eyes. She was alive but the spark had left her brown eyes.

Looking away slightly from her, he eyes lingered on the bouquets of flowers scattered throughout the room. He wondered where they had come from. Sam hadn't been in the hospital it seemed long enough yet it seemed to receive flowers and she didn't even like them when they were in the house, especially in a hospital room. She had told him this little fact one time when they were dating. He had brought her flowers and instead of placing them in a vase, she had let them wilt away on her coffee table. She had explained that she didn't like flowers in the house, that they reminded her of funerals. That flowers in a vase just died. And instead of it being a beautiful thing, it turned into a sad thing.

There were tubes coming out of her nose and her hand, were it was hooked up to an IV bag. She looked sickly. Clearing his throat, he turned his attention back onto Sam, who was now looking at him. She had removed her oxygen mask away from her face and smiled at him, one that didn't quite reach her haunted eyes.

He returned the smile.

"How are you feeling?" he asked in a concern whisper as he slowly stepped towards the edge of her bed and studied her face.

Sam closed her eyes at this, pondering what she had just been asked before replying. How was she feeling? She didn't even know for sure herself what she was feeling. After a long moment had passed she opened her eyes and looked up at Lucky.

"I'm fine," stated into the stillness of the room. She was trying to convince herself more then she was Lucky. If she said these three words, it would make it true. That soon, she would be fine. Her voice was small and childlike. The words came out in a dry whisper. Her throat was still recovering.

Lucky just stared at his ex-girlfriend at this. How could she be fine with everything? He thought to himself but he knew that it was Sam he was thinking about. Sam always said she was fine, even if she really wasn't. She didn't like to be seen as weak. He couldn't help but smile a little at this. It showed that Sam was still herself in away. Which was nice. He was afraid that after what Franco had done to her that she wouldn't be the Sam he cared for as a friend.

Sam's brown eyes pierced into Lucky's blue ones, "You know, don't you?" she whispered, not looking away.

Lucky looked away at this and back onto the flowers. When he looked back, there were tears in his eyes. He didn't have to say anything. Sam already knew the answer. A tear rolled down her cheek at this realization. She had thought that she could hide her rape from everyone. But she knew that that wouldn't be true. Jason knew and Lucky knew. She knew that there was a videotape. Jason had told her that. But he hadn't said who had seen it. But now she knew of at least two people who had.

The two last people she would want to see what had happened to her.

She had to look away from Lucky, as she began to cry softly to herself. She wanted it all to go away. Seeing Lucky look at her the way he was, she wanted him to go away. She didn't want anyone pity.

"Hey," whispered the officer as he came around the side of the bed and reached out for her.

"No," she snapped, "No don't." She shook her head sadly from side to side. She didn't want any ones comfort. She already got enough of the concern, sad looks from the doctors and nurses. She didn't need it from her friends. She just wanted things to go back to the way they were before everything.

Lucky's hand hung in midair before he lowered it to his side. His blue eyes continued to stare down at Sam with concern as she cried. Her eyes were closed but she knew that he was still standing there.

"I'm sorry," she said through a dry whisper.

Lucky looked down at Sam and gently reached out for her hand, "It's okay," he whispered back to her. "You don't need to apologize Sam."

"Now girls, I want you to be respectful of your sister. She is not in the best of shape at the moment," spoke Alexis to her two younger daughters as they stood just outside of Sam's room. Both girls looked back at their mother and nodded their heads in union.

"Mom, we know, we heard Robin last night!" cried back Kristina at her mom. "Me and Molly aren't going to go in there and like attack Sam. We are going to be gently and such," she added. She couldn't believe her mom would think that they would not be respectful of Sam. They need she was going through shit at the moment. It wasn't like they were six anymore. She rolled her brown eyes slightly at her mother.

Alexis looked at her middle daughter before sighing and pulling her into a hug. The hug only lasted for a moment before Alexis broke apart and reached out for the doorknob. Alexis hadn't been able to sleep that night after seeing Sam. The image of her daughter forever haunting her dreams. Through all the times that she had visited her daughter in the hospital, she had to say this was far the worse time. A part of Sam was gone. But she wasn't quite sure what from but she knew something had happened that Sam wouldn't want to talk about.

Pushing it open, Alexis's heart broke a little at the sight of her daughter. Sam was awake but just barely. Her position hadn't really changed all that much since Lucky had been there earlier that morning. Except Sam was now in quite a lot of pain, Robin had just been around to check up on her; poking and prodding her injuries and burns.

She was once again in her own little world and didn't see or hear the Davis Girls enter.

"Sam," whispered Alexis as she moved further into the room, stopping at the edge of Sam's bed.

Sam looked up at this and met her mom's eyes. Her eyes then shifted towards her two younger sisters, who stood just a foot away from where Alexis stood. They looked afraid. Sam's face broke out into a smile at the sight of them. She knew she had to put on a bright face for them. She didn't want to burst their little bubble of brightness they lived in with her messed up life. The less they knew, the better she thought.

"Hey," both of them whispered as they slowly smiled back at their older sisters and moved as one into the room.

"Oh Sam, I am so happy you are alive!" cried Molly as she rushed from where she stood beside to Kristina to Sam's bed side, throwing her arms around Sam's neck. At the moment the eleven year old body came into contact with her, a wave of pain erupted through her. "ARRRGGGHH," cried out Sam suddenly.

Molly pulled away quickly at this and looked at Sam with tear filled eyes, a worried look on her face. "I didn't mean to hurt you Sam..." she whimpered as a wave of emotion shook through her. "I'm sorry!" Molly brought her hands up to her mouth. She hadn't meant to hurt Sam.

"It's okay," whispered Sam, putting on a brave face, masking the pain. Molly had placed her hand into the burn mark on the back of Sam's back. She held open her arm towards her younger sister. "Its okay, Pretty Girl," she whispered as she wrapped her arms gently around her sister's little body.

Molly gently rested her head upon Sam's chest. Tears were brimming the young girl's eyes. She had not meant to hurt her like she had. She had not thought her actions through. She had just been too overcome with emotion at seeing her older sister alive after days of worrying. She had missed her. "Oh, Sam I'm so sorry," cried Molly as she let her tears fall down her cheeks and onto the hospital blanket.

"It's okay," whispered Sam again, comforting her younger sister. Her hands gently running through her long brown hair. Looking over Molly's shoulder, Sam's eyes looked up to Alexis. Who too look like she was going to break down and cry at any second. She gave her mom a brave smile. She didn't like to see her mom worry over her like she was now. Sam then looked over at Kristina, who face was shadowing the same worried expression as their mother.

Holding open am arm out, she motioned for the teenager to come. Kristina took a slow approach to her sister. She did want to hurt her like Molly had down. Once she was close enough, Sam reached out for her hand and pulled her into a hug.

It was at that moment that Kristina burst into tears. A flood of relief had suddenly come over her. Like Molly, she was happy to see her sister alive.

Sam held both her sisters tighter as she dropped her head and let the tears fall, sobbing silently. The pain over what had happened to her, she knew wouldn't go away anytime soon. But having her sisters and mom here like this, made her see the brighter side of things in away. It numbed the pain just a little, having them close to her like this.

It was a little later in the afternoon when Jason arrived back. He had meant to come earlier but he had wanted to see what had happened with Franco first. He had wanted to bring some good news for Sam. That that sicko had died and that she wouldn't have to worry about him ever again. Except that had not been the case. Franco's studio had indeed blown up but no body had been found inside. By some twisted miracle, the artist had managed to escape. This made Jason even furious and more then determined than ever to find Franco and kill him with his bare hands. But he knew his energy and attention had to be focused on Sam now. She needed him more than ever now after what that sicko had done to her.

Tagging close behind Jason as he made his way towards Sam's room was Spinelli. He had wanted to pay his dear friend and business partner a visit. Jason, who wanted this time alone with Sam to himself, had agreed after a little begging from Spinelli. He knew he was being selfish. But it was also to protect Sam. He knew she was more vulnerable than ever now and knew she didn't want ever one she cared about to see her like this, so weak. He also knew though, that a visit from Spinelli might cheer Sam up a bit and make her forget for a short while what Franco had done too her. It seemed like the young computer hacker had a special talent of making people forget their misery for a short while. Also against his protecting, Spinelli had bought a gift for Sam, just a little something, he had insisted to Jason. He knew that Sam wasn't a fan of gifts when in the hospital but he thought that she would make an exception for this one time.

"I will wait out here," spoke Jason as he looked over at Spinelli has they stopped just outside of Sam's room.

"Isn't Stone Cold going to be visiting Fair Samantha as well?" asked Spinelli in confusion as he looked up into the blue eyes of his friend.

"I will but I want to give you some time with Sam," he replied, "She will want to see you."

Spinelli opened his mouth to say something at this but thought against it before nodding his head and entering Sam's room, leaving Jason in the hallway.

I know this is a funny place to leave but more will be coming soon!

Thanks for reading and please review!

Julie