Do not own General Hospital or any of the characters.

Borrowed some dialogue from original scene. Hope you don't mind!

The Flame of Franco

Babysitting…

"Where are you going?" asked Sam as she came down the stairs to find, Jason putting on his coat. He turned to look at her.

"I'm going over to Sonny's," he replied, "He just got released on bail." His blue eyes looked up at her as he reached over for his keys which were lying on the desk. It was just passed 8:30 at night.

"Did he call you?" she asked softly, coming down the rest of the stairs, stopping at the bottom of them. She had awoken from her slumber. She had been at the hospital all day getting a physical. They had wanted to check up on her injuries. She was to be going into surgery over the next week to get skin grafts put on her 3rd degree burns.

"No, but Diane did," He replied, looking at her curiously. "What's wrong Sam?" He could tell that something was up. She never questioned him so much about going over to Sonny's or about the business. His heart went out to her as he took in the sight of her, standing at the bottom of the stairs like a small child. She was dressed in his sweats, which drowned her petit figure.

She looked away at him at this before looking back with tears in her eyes. She didn't like to be left alone at night. She knew that there were guards down in the lobby that Jason had planted there. But she was still afraid. Spinelli wasn't home. She didn't want Jason to leave.

"Sam, what's wrong?" he asked, taking a step towards her. He was concerned. He hadn't expected to be going over to Sonny's that night. But he still wanted to try to get him to leave the country. He had hoped to be home before Sam had awoken. His blue eyes searched her face.

"I don't want you to leave," she whispered, her cheeks flushing with pinkness. She felt like a little child who didn't want to be left with a babysitter. She just was afraid to be alone. For what she might do to herself, if left long enough. After telling her mother what had happened, she felt like some weight had been lifted off her shoulders. But there was still that thought of death lingering at the back of her mind.

Reaching out, he pulled her to him. He kissed her lightly on the forehead as cradled her in his arms. "Then I won't go," he whispered in reply. He didn't have to go to Sonny's. He wasn't even sure if he was even there. He was probably at General, checking up on Dante.

Sam looked up at Jason, surprised at his sudden plans to stay. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yes," he whispered back, kissing her again this time on the lips, "I won't leave you, if that what you want." His blue eyes poured into hers. He loved her. Sonny could wait. There was still time tomorrow to convince him to leave.

"Thank you," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest.

She didn't have to thank him. He would rather stay here, holding her then confront Sonny, which he knew would not get him anywhere. Sonny was set in his ways. He didn't listen to Carly; he wasn't going to listen to him. He wanted to be there for Dante, his son.

"Are you hungry?" he asked looking down at her. He was suddenly starving. The last time he remembered eating was when he had awoken and had a bowl of cereal with his coffee.

"A little," answered Sam. She hadn't eaten for most of the day either since she had been at her appointment for most of it.

Leaning down to kiss her lightly on the forehead, he then pulled away from her before pulling out his phone. A puzzled expression came across Sam's face at this. He flashed her reassuring smile, before hitting number 7 on his speed dial. He was ordering Chinese. "The usual please," he spoke into the phone as the familiar voice answered.

A smile came across her tired looking face at this. She loved a man who knew how to order in.

Jason was awoken suddenly by a loud knock on the front door. His blue eyes looked around the room, taking in the familiar surrendering of his penthouse. He didn't remember falling asleep but he figured he must have been out of it for some time. The last thing he remembered was cleaning up the empty food containers from dinner and smuggling up on the couch to watch a movie with Sam. His eyes then shifted down to the warm weight pressed against his chest. She was out cold, he thought to himself as he gently moved her so she was lying down on the couch, being careful not to wake her as he got up.

There was then another loud knock at the door. Jason swore under his breath, wondering who it possibly could be. It was now around 10:30 at night. Rubbing the sleep away from his eyes, he slowly walked towards the door.

"Carly," spoke Jason as he looked onto the face of his friend.

"Jase," replied Carly, an apologetic look appearing on her face as she looked into her best friend's eyes. She knew it was late. She knew he was probably mad at her for showing up out of the blue like this but she had nowhere else to go.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking from his friends face to Morgan who stood just behind his mother. The young boy looked back at his God father. There was then a sudden cry from the stroller that was parked beside Carly. Everyone turned to look at the stroller, before Jason motioned for them to come in. He didn't know what was going on but he knew it wasn't good. As he held open the door, he couldn't help but look towards Sam, who was still surprisingly asleep, despite the wailing baby.

Walking into the apartment, Carly eyes drifted to where her friend was looking at. Guilt wrenched through her as she looked on at Sam and then back at Jason. "I'm so sorry, Jason," she whispered as she lifted her daughter into her arms and tried to get her back to sleep.

"It's okay," whispered Jason as he shut the door behind him and looked from Sam to Carly and then finally falling onto his now sleeping God daughter.

"I left a message on Michael's phone to meet us here," she explained as she put Josslyne back down in to her stroller. Straightening her back, she removed her long blonde hair from off of her face and looked over at Jason sadly.

"Why don't we go into the kitchen and talk about it," suggested Jason towards her and Morgan to follow him into the kitchen. He didn't want to awake Sam. Nodding her head in reply, she reached out and placed an arm around her son's shoulder before moving into the kitchen.

All three of them took a seat at the small round breakfast table that occupied a portion of the room. Jason didn't know what was going on but he knew whatever it was, it wasn't good; especially if Carly had felt the need to uproot all her children to his house in the middle of the night. He feared it had to do something with Franco.

"So, what's going on?" he asked his blue eyes looking over at his friend, studying her face which had a mixture of guilt and fear written on it. "Did Franco send another message?"

"No, it's nothing like that," answered the blonde, shaking her head from side to side.

"Are you in trouble then?" he asked, slowly. If it wasn't about Franco then what was so important that she didn't have time to call him first, to warn him she was coming over.

"You could say that," she replied, meeting his eye before looking sadly down at the surface of the table. She didn't have any one else to turn to now but him. Jason's brows fussed together in puzzlement at this.

"Mom really needs your help Uncle Jason," stated Morgan towards his god father, a serious look on his face. His eyes looked into the young boy's . They were the same shade of brown as Sonny's. He looked much older in that moment then Jason had ever seen before. It was a brief reflection on the man that he would become.

"Hey," whispered Carly softly to her son, reaching out and taking his hand in hers. The two then shared a brief look.

"Carly, what happened?" asked Jason again, towards her. He didn't want to push her, he just wanted answers so then he could begin to help her. Letting go of Morgan's hand, she once again turned her attention to him. The same look of guilt and sadness reflective in her eyes.

"It was Jax," her voice suddenly filled with hatred as her eyes turned dark with rage towards her husband, "He destroyed everything…Ugh I always do this to you," she added as the guilt returned into her eyes, softening her features. She hadn't meant to upload all her problems on Jason like this, especially when he had his own problems to deal with at the moment.

Jason didn't know what Jax had done and didn't push Carly to telling him everything right away. He knew that she would on her own time. He did however want to get one thing straight with her, "You know this isn't the safest place for you and your kids to be…" he began to speak but was quickly interrupted by Carly, who held up at hand at him.

"You are here and I need to be here," she stated, her blue eyes locking with him. She didn't need his warnings about how his life was dangerous and he was a walking target for trouble. She knew all this. But for her, he was still the safest place for her to go. She trusted him with not only her life but her families as well.

Jason nodded his head at this. He knew better then to argue with her. "And I want to help you in any way that I can but you have to tell me what happened," he answered.

She sighed slightly, her eyes looking down at the surface of the table before shifting back onto his face, "Jax knew that Dante was a cop," she began to explain to him. She didn't worry about Morgan overhearing all this; he had been there when Carly had found out. It wasn't news to him. "He knew that Sonny was his father. He's known for months. He's lied to me and to everyone for months. And worse of all he hates Sonny so much, he's willing to risk Michael." There was hatred in her eyes as she spoke of the betrayal that Jax had done. She had never felt so betrayed in her life then at that moment.

Before she could go on with the story, there was a loud wail from the other room. It was Josslyne again. Both Carly and Jason were on their feet at once at this. Both were determined to return to the living room where they had left both Josslyne and Sam sleeping.

The sight before them surprised them both as they arrived back in the living room to see a now awake Sam holding Josslyne in her arms. Sam looked from the little girl to the two of them, "I heard her crying," she explained softly as she looked back at the now wide awake baby, who was staring up at her with bright blue eyes. Sam couldn't help but smile back at her as she bounced the baby up and down in her arms.

"Your good with her," commented Carly, a smile playing on her face as she came closer to where Sam stood.

"She makes it easy," replied Sam, not taking her eyes off the baby's face, who was still staring intensely back at her.

Jason's heat skipped a beat as he took in the sight of Sam holding the baby. It was a sight that he had never gotten to seen before. A sight he wished he could make true. He always knew that she would be a good mother, she had a natural talent when it came to kids it seemed. He had seen it before with her and Morgan and Michael when they had been little and again with her own sisters. It pained him to think she would never get to experience it with her own kids.

Once the kids were settle up in the spare bedroom, Carly continued her conversation with Jason about Jax and how he was responsible for putting Sonny in jail. That he pulled strings so that Dante could continue to invest Claudia's murder, even know he knew that Michael had been the one to kill her. She explained how Jax wanted to frame Sonny for it, betting that Dante and the rest of the cops wouldn't figure out that Michael was the real killer. Neither of them could believe this. They had both thought that Jax cared about him and saw him as the victim in all this. But of course they were thinking too highly of him. That Jax was so wrapped up in his own hatred for the mobster that all he could see was this as his way of finally putting Sonny behind bars. Jax believed that everyone was better off and safer without Sonny in their lives.

"I can't believe this," responded Jason as he looked on at his friend, running a hand through his hair. He had thought Jax was better than this. But he had been wrong, clearly. "I can't believe that Dominic…Dante, didn't even figure it out."

The two friends continued to discuss this before being interrupted by Sam, coming out of the kitchen with a glass of milk in her hands. She gave them a sad smile before telling them she was going to bed. Carly then watched as her best friend stood up and pulled Sam towards him, giving her a hug. He whispered something in her ear before kissing her lightly on the lips. He stood there watching her go up the stairs before turning back to her.

"Jason, I'm so sorry for putting all this on you," she apologized to him as she studied his tired looking face. This was the last thing she had wanted, uploading all her problems on him like she had. She just didn't have any one else to turn too.

"It's okay," he whispered. He would have been more upset if she didn't tell all that she had. It had helped explain a lot.

"You should get some sleep, you look like shit," commented Carly as Jason let out a loud yawn.

"I will in a bit, I need to head over to the hospital first," he spoke, suddenly standing up.

"Why?" she asked, confused at his sudden need to go over to GH.

"There's a loose end I need to tie up," he answered, avoiding her eyes as he began to put on his jacket.

"What do you mean loose end?" she asked, rising from her position on the couch. After a moment, it then hit her on what he was talking about. "You're going to go see Dante, aren't you? He's the loose end."

Jason just shook his head at this, avoiding the question.

"Whatever you're going to do, don't do it," she continued on as she took a step towards where he stood. The blonde grabbed him forcefully by the arm, causing him to turn around and finally look at her. "Don't do it!" she snapped at him, her blue eyes looking deep into his. "It will devastate Morgan. It will hurt Sonny, he would never forgive you, and he would turn on you, Jase and not to mention, Sam. "

"I know what I have to do Carly," he stated, his blue eyes looking coldly back at her. He couldn't risk having Dante live and give away the secrets of the business. He was a cop that knew too much which was a dangerous combination.

"Jason, if you get caught, they will immediately point the finger at you. You going to jail won't help Sam one bit. It will make it worse," she explained, "Do you really want to take that risk?" she knew with the mention of Sam, she had hit a nerve. She could see it as the coldness went away from his eyes, replaced with devastation. Even he knew it was too risky of a move.

Letting out a deep breath, he dropped his keys once again onto the desk and removed his coat for the second time that night. He knew that he couldn't afford going to prison and leaving Sam behind. He loved her too much for that. He had already hurt her enough.

Carly couldn't help but smile at her win.

Thanks for reading, please review!

Julie