A/N – Thanks for the comments! Glad you liked the action. It's a little hard on our couple right now, but I think you'll like the way it plays out.

I'm fast forwarding after this and winding it down.

Chapter 15 - Together

Patrick walked towards them. He had never seen anything like the mess that is Jason's body. Sure, car accidents could be brutal, but his injuries were inflicted by another person purposefully. Monica could tell it isn't good.

"How is he?" Alan asked.

"For now, he's stable but in critical condition. I've never treated that many knife wounds before. Honestly, I don't know how he even survived it or handled the pain. Most of them weren't deep, which is probably the only thing that saved him. I think they also poured alcohol into them which helped keep them clean. We closed them all and hopefully we'll avoid complications due to infection. He has two broken ribs, one of which penetrated the spleen. Luckily, it didn't hit an artery so he didn't need surgery and we'll monitor him to see if it will heal on its own. The transfusion will actually promote rapid healing. His kidneys are bruised, but functional. We'll have to monitor his fluid levels for several days to make sure the spleen is healing. I put him in an induced coma for at least the next three days or so. He has been given drugs so that he won't dream or hear you talk to him. It is necessary for his body to begin to heal and frankly, the pain level would have been extreme. There were no head injuries except for a cut on his forehead which will heal and there should be no scarring. There's a burn on his side and it's bandaged. Do you have any questions?"

He is met with silence because they are too shocked to say anything. "I know his injuries are highly unusual, but Jason is young and he's a fighter. Once he wakes up, we'll begin pain management and he'll have to stay here for at least a week while we monitor his fluid levels and make sure everything is healing properly. He's going to need help. It will be a while until he can do normal things like bend over. No visitors tonight, but you can visit two at a time tomorrow. If his condition doesn't worsen overnight, I'll consider downgrading his status from critical to serious."

Monica moved forward. "Thank you, Patrick."

Sonny turned towards Nora and Evangeline. "I'll take you back to the penthouse."

Eva is devastated that she can't see Jason and she solemnly walked alongside Sonny on auto-pilot. She knows that he is speaking to her, but she just can't focus on his voice. If Jason doesn't make it through the night, she doesn't know what she is going to do.

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The next morning, Evangeline woke up and stretched. She had hugged Jason's pillow the entire night and barely got any sleep. Getting up, she used the bathroom and turned on the shower. She needs to be strong because Jason is going to need a lot of support.

Once she finished getting dressed, she went downstairs and followed the smell of coffee to the kitchen where Nora and Francis sat.

"Hey kiddo," Nora said.

Francis got up and poured her some coffee.

"Hey."

He placed it in front of her and Evangeline wrapped her hands around the hot mug.

"Do you know if Natalie is still in the hospital?"

Francis nodded. "Yes. I think she'll be released by the afternoon."

"I want to see her."

"I'll get her room number." He left the room to make a call.

"I'm worried about you."

"I'll be fine. I'm just worried about him."

Francis moved towards them. "I'll take you whenever you're ready."

She stood and put her coffee into a container and they left.

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Natalie tracks Evangeline as she walks into the room.

"Hey."

Natalie swallowed hard. "Hi. How's Jason? No one will tell me anything."

"It's pretty serious. He's in an induced coma."

"I'm sorry. I knew it was going to be bad, but I was hoping I was wrong."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Natalie sighed. "I was put in the room with him. There was blood all over the floor and initially I thought maybe it was a family member. When I saw his eyes, I was stunned. It was bad. They had put little cuts all over his torso." She stopped and took a deep breath. "I had hidden a steak knife on me and used that to cut through the ropes around his hands. We really didn't have a lot of time to talk. I was later injected with a sedative and that is why he was forced to carry me."

"I hate that he suffered so much."

"I don't know how he withstood the pain. I was surprised that he rescued me."

"You helped him and Jason is a fair man."

Natalie averted her gaze. "Look, I know that you have good reason to hate me, but I'd like to move on. I'm sorry. I've done some pretty fucked up things and you didn't deserve them. I was jealous and bitter and wanted something I couldn't have."

Eva let out a deep breath. "I don't have the energy to fight with you anymore either. We may never be friends, but I'd prefer to at least have one less enemy."

"Then it's a deal. I'm going to go back to Llanview. I thought it was whacky, but Port Charles is off the chain."

Eva smirked. "You do have a point. Take care of yourself Natalie and thank you for helping to save Jason."

Eva left, feeling that the talk had gone better than she had thought it would. At least they are moving forward. She walked to the ICU and pressed a button and a nurse answered. A few seconds later, the doors opened and she strode inside. She fears what she will see, but she sucked down her trepidation and followed the nurse to Jason's room. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and then went inside.

Jason is hooked up to several machines. Most of his body is covered, but she can still see some bruising on his arms and face. His jawline is purple and there is a bandage on his head. Tentatively, she touched his hand and held it as she sat.

"I know you can't hear me, but I need you to fight Jason. I love you and I need you back. Everyone is so worried. When I saw you coming out of that building, I didn't understand how you were even standing up. You always amaze me. I'm so sorry you had to suffer like you did. As soon as you are well enough, we're getting married. And Sonny doesn't know it, but you're taking a leave of absence until you're well again."

Sonny is standing in the doorway. "Is that right?"

Eva twisted her body to see him. "Yes. Don't make me take you to court."

"I'm sure it can be arranged. He deserves it." He sat next to her. "How are you holding up?"

"I'll be fine when he's awake. Right now, it's just really hard."

One of the machines started going off and Eva jumped to her feet. A nurse ran into the room and immediately adjusted his oxygen.

Sonny grabbed Evangeline's hand. "You're shaking."

"I'm just a little jumpy that's all." She sat down thanking God that is wasn't more serious.

He took her hand and squeezed and they silently watched over him.

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Time went by slowly. They are three days into Jason's induced coma before Patrick starts bringing him out of it. It is a slow process and everyone's nerves are fried.

Eva started to nod off and then she felt Jason's hand twitch and she squeezed it.

Epiphany smiled. "You're going to notice his body moving more. It will take quite a while before you see his eyes open though."

"I'm just happy for anything at this point. How is his pain level going to be?"

"He'll be medicated for a while. Don't worry, we won't let him hurt too badly. He still has a lot of healing to do."

A couple of hours later, Monica joined her. "How's he doing?"

"He moved his foot and his arms."

"Good. He's coming back to us."

Eva smiled.

Suddenly, Jason's head began to move.

Monica rose to her feet. "Jason, I need you to be more still okay. You're in the hospital. You are on a vent."

He is a little agitated.

Eva got up and walked to the other side and grabbed his hand. "Jason, it's Evangeline. I need you to calm down. I know you're uncomfortable, but I don't want you to hurt yourself."

He squeezed her hand.

"That's it, Jason. The drugs are wearing off and you're going to feel weird, but try to stay still," Monica said.

Another doctor ran into the room and Eva stepped back. Jason's eyes snapped open and Monica smiled.

"It's okay."

He looked a bit panicked.

"The vent is helping you. If you calm down, we'll check your oxygen saturation levels so we can see if we can take it out."

Jason seemed to understand. After about a half hour, they asked Eva to leave the room and they took his vent out.

Patrick looked him over. "Jason, we had to put you in a coma so your body could heal. You're going to be on medication for a while to monitor the pain. You lost a lot of blood and we had to give you a transfusion."

Epiphany helped him sip a little bit of water.

"How bad?"

"You've got a lot of cuts on your torso. You're deeply bruised and have two broken ribs, one of which injured your spleen. That appears to be healing on its own."

"Mess."

Patrick nodded. "Yeah you are but hopefully, you're on the mend."

"Eva."

"She's outside. She has barely left your side."

He felt all wrong like he is having an out of body experience. His body just doesn't feel right nor does his reaction time.

"We just need you to try to keep as still as possible. You'll have to stay in the ICU for a couple of days."

Eva appeared in the doorway and Patrick waved her in. "Hey."

He notes that she has been crying. "Love you."

She forced a smile. "I love you too. Welcome back."

"Feel funny."

"You will for a while. Even after three days, your body will not function the way you're used to. It will be hard to walk and everything will feel strange. You have to give it time. If it weren't for your other injuries, we'd get you up right away, but for now we can't," Monica said.

Jason seemed to be reacting slowly to everything. His movements are over-exaggerated and Eva isn't sure what to do because he doesn't seem like himself. She sat and Patrick and Monica left them alone.

He squeezed her hand. "Need you."

"I'm not going anywhere. I'll take care of you."

He closed his eyes. "Don't feel like myself."

"It's going to take time. We'll deal with it."

"Had to get to you."

She lifted his hand and kissed it and tears fell down her face. "I was safe. You on the other hand…"

His eyes slowly opened. "Was bad."

"I don't know how you survived it, but I'm just so thankful that you did."

"Me too."

"Rest baby. I'll be right here. Sonny is outside. Can I go get him?"

"Okay."

Evangeline got up and grabbed Sonny and brought him into the room.

"Hey man. I'm glad you're back."

Jason stared. "Frank?"

"You don't have to worry about him or Carlos anymore. It's done."

"Good." That is at least making him breathe easier.

"Natalie?" He had a brief memory of her being with him.

"I just saw her. She's going to be fine. They'll be releasing her soon," Eva said.

Sonny lightly touched his arm. "Rest, Jason. You'll be in here for a while and then no work for the foreseeable future. You need the down time."

"Okay." He isn't even going to argue because he doesn't have the strength.

Sonny left and Eva watched him sleep. It is going to be long healing process and Jason is not the most patient person.

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A week later, Jason is finally allowed to stand. It was hard on him; his body didn't want to work and it took several days of therapy to get him to the point where he could finally walk on his own. His body ached and he wasn't used to having so little energy. Basically, he is going crazy. Eva is right by his side, making sure that his needs are met. He doesn't know what he would have done without her.

Patrick joined them. "Alright, tomorrow you get your walking papers."

Jason is visibly shocked. "Really?"

"You're moving on your own and you can use the bathroom by yourself. Of course, there will be restrictions. While I do need you to get up and walk around occasionally, you still need to get a lot of rest. Your spleen is healing nicely and your cuts as well, but your body went through significant trauma. The bruises probably won't go away for a while.

"Okay."

Patrick left and Evangeline watched Jason grab his cup and take a sip of water. His eyes widen as he sipped. He still doesn't seem quite like himself. His body is learning to function again, so every action seemed more deliberate and exaggerated. She wonders how long it will take for his personality to come back. It is freaking her out.

Jason could sense that she is tense. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

"Don't lie to me. Tell me what's going on."

"You're just really different."

His gaze dropped. "I know." He is devoid of emotions one minute and then overcome the next.

Eva knows if it's stressing her out, then it must be taking a toll on him.

"Suppose it doesn't get any better? Could you handle that?"

"I'm committed to being with you and I'm not going anywhere. Is it off putting? Yes. But, I won't leave you over it."

His eyes fill with tears and Eva stands in front of him. His arms encircle her and let go of his emotions. There were times where he just got emotional and she just held him through it. His body had been stressed almost beyond what it was capable of and Jason didn't have a lot of control right now. Something came over her and she started to sing. Feeling Jason's body relax against her, she continued and when she finished he pulled back.

"That was beautiful. I missed your voice." He had been a little embarrassed that he had cried, but he could read no judgement at all on her face.

"I don't know how, but it's going to be okay because you are the man that I want to marry and grow old with. We just both have to be patient. I'm here for you and you can tell me anything. It's my turn to take care of you."

"Okay." Without a shadow of a doubt, she is it for him and no matter what, he won't let her go. He will fight to get himself together and it helps having her love him through it.

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John laid back on the bed as exhaustion set in. Sometimes, they let him sleep and sometimes, they'd have bright lights on him and played some annoying song over and over. He is trying to hold it together, but the wait to be confronted is taking a toll on him mentally. They seemed to know when he'd break and they'd leave him alone for a while to wonder how Jason will finish him off. He figures that if he could just talk to Eva, that she will save him because he knows that she still has love for him. It is the only reason that made sense as to why they hadn't killed him yet. Her beautiful light is the only thing making him hold on because he had done everything he did to protect her and bring her back to him. She is his strength.