Do not own General Hospital or any of the characters.

The Flame of Franco

So Hopeless…

"I want to go home," sighed Sam as she lifted her head off of Jason shoulder and wrapped the blanket firmer around herself.

The fever she had been experiencing earlier had gone away. However she was still feeling a chill.

"You will, soon," commented Jason, reaching out and brushing the hair away from her face. He knew how she was feeling. Like himself he didn't like hospitals. They were like a prison.

Sam just looked at him. Soon wasn't good enough. She wanted to go home now. She missed the penthouse. It had been so long since she had been there. After everything that had happened to her, she could not image herself going back to her own apartment. But the penthouse she always considered to be her real home in Port Charles. There was nothing more she wanted then to crawl into the Jason's bed and sleep. There she would not be disturbed every hour by doctors and nurses coming to check up on her.

Just then the room door opened and Monica appeared in the room. "Hello Sam, Jason," spoke the doctor kindly.

"Hi," whispered back Sam before quickly exchanging looks with Jason. Who seemed to be as surprised to as her to see Monica there. Jason and Monica rarely talked to one another, let alone visited. They were not close at all but closer then they had been in years.

"I heard what happened to you and I wanted to pay you a visit," spoke the doctor kindly as she slowly approached the end of the bed.

Sam studied Monica's face for a second, trying to figure out if she knew about the rape. She knew that there was a good change that she did know about it. She was a doctor and had access to her chart that had it clearly written.

"I know you have been through a lot. And I won't be staying long. I just wanted to pay my respects and see how you were doing?" continued on Monica.

"Thank you," whispered Sam. She was touched that the older woman had thought of her. She had always liked and respected Monica. The woman had always been kind to her, even when others hadn't.

"I have been better," admitted Sam with a slightly shrug of her shoulders. She didn't really want to get into how she was feeling. Everyone kept on asking but how could she answer it properly when she didn't even know herself really.

There was a brief silence between the two women. Sam just wanted Monica to go away. She didn't want to be rude or anything but she was exhausted at it was and just wanted to sleep. And not have to keep on pretending that everything was alright, when it wasn't.

Monica smiled kindly at the Sam, "Well I have a patient to see. So I will be leaving now but I just wanted to let you know that you are in my prayers and if you need anything, please call me."

Sam nodded her head at this," Thank you." She was touched by the woman's kindness.

"You are welcome," replied Monica before waving goodbye to both of them and leaving the room.

"Did you tell her I was here?" asked Sam as soon as the door shut towards Jason.

"Well she saw me last night when you were rushed here; she kinda knew that you had been kidnapped by Franco. I didn't tell her that you were..." his voice trailed off. He couldn't speak those words out loud, especially in front of Sam.

"Well that was nice of her to stop by," replied Sam as she looked down on the IV sticking out of her hand.

She then shivered again.

Standing up at this, Jason wrapped Sam up in another blanket that was folded at the edge of the bed. Sam was already wearing her robe and another blanket. But her hyperthermia was still an issue. Her body was ache and still in a pain. It seemed she could barely move without a wave of pain shooting through her. All she wanted to do was go home and have a bath.

"Why don't you go to sleep for a bit," suggested Jason to her. She looked exhausted to him. He knew that she had already had such a busy day with everyone visiting her and it was only mid afternoon.

Sam did not reply to this. It was true that she was exhausted and just wanted to go to sleep. But she knew what awaited for her if she did. Franco would be there. He was there forever in the back of her mind. He was in the darkness of her eyes. The moment she closed them, she would hear his laughter in her ear. See his face before her. Her dreams were forever filled with him. Sleep was no longer a safe haven for her. No matter how tired her body felt, she would fight off the exhaustion she was feeling for as long as she could.

She avoid Jason's eye at this. She looked on to the edge of the bed. She could feel his eyes piercing into her with worry but she forced herself to look elsewhere. She didn't like Jason seeing her like this. So hopeless.

"Sam," whispered Jason, there was raw emotion in his tone. He just wanted her to look at him.

"Is he dead?"

"What?"

"Is he dead?" repeated Sam, still avoiding Jason's face. If she knew that he was dead then a part of her could be a peace. She would have the knowledge that she would never have to worry about looking into those eyes again. And somehow convince herself that the man in her dreams was just a fragment of her imagination and was not real. But if he wasn't dead, then she would still be haunted with not only his face in her mind but the fear that she would once again encounter him.

Jason cleared his throat at this. He knew that this would be coming; that she would want to know what had happened to the sicko who had done this to her. He didn't try to lie to her. He knew that there was no point in doing so. "No, he is not," replied Jason bitterly. He was still upset with himself that he had not finished off the artist when he had the change.

"But you said that his studio caught on fire when he was in it?" asked Sam, slowly looking over at Jason with confusion.

"Yeah it did. But Franco got away," replied Jason, sadly. He knew this was not the news that Sam was looking for.

She looked away quickly at this. This news was not surprising really to her. But it did disappoint her greatly. A great deal of herself had been hoping that just this once she would get the easy way out. That some would go right in her life. However, that turned out not to be the case. Tears immediately filled her eyes. She bit down on her lower lip, trying to mute the sob that was caught in her throat. She was tired of crying. She then suddenly felt Jason's arms around her. He kissed her softly on the cheek.

Suddenly something inside of Sam broke at this. "NO!" she screamed out loud as she elbowed Jason slightly in the chest and move away from his embrace.

A flash of hurt appeared across his face before being replaced with concern. He had never seen Sam act like this before towards him.

His movement and touch had reminded her too much of Franco. She knew that it had been Jason but for a second she had freaked out and thought that it was him…again. "I'm sorry," she sobbed as she looked sideways at Jason. Her shoulders and chest shook as sobs rocked through her body.

Without thinking twice about it, Jason pulled Sam once again into his arms. He did not whisper sweet things into her ear because he knew that there was nothing that he could say that would change anything. He just had to be there for her and hope that that was enough.

"Lucky, hi it's Mac!"

"Mac, hi,"replied Lucky into his phone as he sat up in his bed. He had been asleep for about five hours or so now and was awoken by the ringing of his cell phone.

"I know you are exhausted and are off for the night. But I am short an officer tonight and need someone to go and take Sam McCall's statement," explained the Police Commissioner into the phone. He knew that he had promised the detective the night off but Lucky was his best man.

"You want me to go and take Sam's statement?" asked Lucky as he rubbed the sleep away from his eyes, making sure that he heard his boss right.

"Yeah. I am also sending over someone from forensics along with you to take photos of her injuries and to do a sexual assault kit," explained Mac.

"But we already did one I thought. I told Robin about the rape so that one could be performed," replied Lucky in confusion.

"It turns out that the CSI that was suppose to go, never got there. So one was never really done."

Lucky was silent at this. He knew what this meant. That not only would he have to make his dear friend relive the most painful and traumatizing experience in her life but that she would have to be documented like something in a lab and not a human. He shook his head in protest, even no that no one would see him. "Do we have to do this now?"

"I know it's going to be hard but the sooner the better. There is evidence on Sam that needs to be process in the lab before its becomes too late and we already have Morgan's statement and a few others. The one that is the most important is Sam's. I know you are friends. And I would normally ask you to do this but I have no one else, Lucky," explained the commissioner sadly. He didn't want to do this but he had no other choice.

"Fine," sighed Lucky into the phone. "I am leaving now."

"Thank you Lucky. The CSI will meet you at General Hospital," finished off Mac before hanging up.

Lucky sat there for the longest time on the edge of his bed, staring at his phone before rising to his feet. He was dreading what he had to do.

Okay, so more to come soon! Thanks for reading and please review!

Julie