A/N – Thanks for the comments! Glad you happy about Cam and Jason! Guest – Re: Shakespeare rofl too funny. Actually, wasn't trying to make you feel sorry. You know how Liz's past is always thrown in her face? I've been doing that Sam. Why should Liz be the only one?

Chapter 68 – Wide Awake

Carly finished washing the breakfast dishes. Michael wasn't really hungry so he had just picked over it. She had found him staring at a bottle of vodka when she walked in and she just held him as he cried. When he fell asleep, she had dumped the bottle down the sink and threw it out.

There was a knock on the door and Carly got it. "AJ."

He walked inside. He had been updated by Monica on everything that had gone down. Liz had texted him where Michael was as well.

"Carly."

Michael looked up. "Hey dad."

They hugged and AJ sat down next to him on the couch.

"Can I get you some coffee AJ?"

AJ was surprised that Carly was being so nice. "Sure. Thank you."

She poured him a cup and then sat down across from them.

Michael looked from one to the other. "This is bizarre."

Carly grinned. "Get used to it. I told you that I want to be a better mom. AJ is a part of your life so we'll just have to put aside our mutual hatred and be good parents."

Michael looked shocked and Carly laughed.

"I can do it if you can," AJ said.

"I'm not promising to be perfect. We both are smartasses and can't resist a good punch line now and then, but I will do my best to hold my tongue."

AJ smirked. "Deal." When Carly was being nice she was okay. It was just the other 99.9% of the time that he wanted to duct tape her mouth.

Michael slightly smiled. "I think hell just froze over."

AJ chuckled. He was just glad that Carly had finally decided to grow up.

Carly felt her phone vibrate and looked at it. It was a message from Cody. Jason was awake.

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Elizabeth watched as they took the vent out. They only let her stay because she was a nurse. Cam had gone into the hallway to sit with Cody. He had been so happy when Jason opened his eyes.

Jason's eyes were glued to Liz's. The vent tube was making it hard for him to breathe and he was so happy when they finally removed it. They left the feeding tube in.

"You're doing great Jason," the nurse said, monitoring his levels.

Liz slightly smiled at him.

Patrick waved her closer and she held his hand again.

The sight of his beautiful blue eyes was making her smile again. "Are you okay?"

He tried to speak but it came out like a croak.

"Your throat will be sore because of the vent. Are you thirsty?"

He slowly nodded.

They let him sip a little bit of water.

"I got the bullet out and removed a small portion of your spleen. It will take a while for your muscles to heal and you're not going to be able to do any physical activities for the next couple of weeks, but you're alive and stable," Patrick said.

Jason closed his eyes for a second and then looked at Elizabeth. "Love you."

"I love you so much. I'm so glad you're back."

"Boys."

"Jake is fine. He's playing with Danny at Julian's. That's a long story and I'll let you get yourself together a little before I tell you. Cam is shaky but I made him talk with Kevin. He's right outside. Do you want to see him?"

Jason nodded. He was so glad to see her. He had really thought that he would die in front of Cam and the thought made him feel very emotional.

Cam walked into the room and he smiled as he got closer to Jason.

Jason slightly smiled. "You okay?"

Cam shrugged. "I feel better now that you're awake." He took Jason's hand.

"You know you're not to blame right?"

Tears welled up in his eyes. "Yes."

"Good. I love you."

"I love you too." Cam wanted to talk to Jason more about what happened but decided it could wait until he was doing a little better.

Patrick walked into the room. "You ready Cam?"

He nodded and squeezed Jason's hand one more time. "Be good."

Jason smiled. "But I was planning on giving Epiphany a hard time."

Cam chuckled. "Okay, you don't have to be that good."

Jason watched him leave and was shocked to see Nikki walk into the room. Her eyes filled with tears but she had a smile on her face seeing him awake. "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't stay home when all hell was breaking loose so Victor, Paul, and I came to make sure you were okay."

Jason squeezed her hand back. "Thank you."

Liz pushed a chair closer and Nikki sat down.

"They are going to leave later but I'm going to stay and help Liz with boys."

Liz smiled. "Are you sure?"

"It's not like I'm really busy at home."

"You can stay at the house. Georgie will get a room ready for you," Liz said.

Nikki smiled. "Thank you."

"I think they should be back at the house soon."

"It's all ready for them." She noticed that Jason looked sad. "What's wrong?"

"The house—I'm worried the boys won't feel safe there."

Liz stepped closer to the bed and ran her fingers through his hair. "It's not ruined. I won't let them do that to us. We already have so many good memories in that house. One night is not going to cancel that out. I will not let them win."

He looked into her eyes admiring her strength. "Okay."

She slightly smiled. "That's better. I'll blame your momentary lapse on the medication."

Jason smiled and Nikki chuckled.

Epiphany walked in. "Everyone out. It's time for a sponge bath."

Liz turned and looked at her like she was crazy and Nikki covered her mouth as she grinned.

"What? I'm a professional."

Liz put her hands on her hips. "Look faux girlfriend, I have my limits. You are not seeing Jason's goodies."

Epiphany was trying not to laugh. "How do you know I haven't already?"

Liz's mouth dropped open and they were interrupted when Obrecht walked in. "Is there a problem?"

You could cut the instant tension with a knife.

"I go away for a few days and it seems like all hell broke loose. The guards need to go. This is a hospital and I will not have the other patients and families compromised because of your family drama."

Nikki stood up and walked towards her. "I don't know who the hell you are, but I'm telling you right now, I will not stand for your attitude especially in front of a patient. Clearly your hatred for Elizabeth and Jason comes before your professionalism."

Obrecht practically growled. "Lady, I don't know who you are, but this is my hospital and I will have you kicked out."

"I am Nikki Newman and my husband has more money than God. You better get out of this room and stay away from it for the duration of Jason's stay, or I will not stop until I run your ass out of here."

The nurse's standing in the hallway wanted to cheer. They hated Dr. Obrecht.

She pursed her lips and then glared at Elizabeth. "This isn't over."

Nikki turned around and they were all smiling and she grinned. "That felt really good."

"It sounded great," Epiphany said.

Liz chuckled. "Don't worry. The next few days aren't going to be too happy for her. Her world is about to blow apart."

Jason closed his eyes. As much as he had liked the show, he was exhausted. He had a bad feeling he was going to be in a world of pain once the meds started to wear off.

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Cam walked into his house and looked around tentatively. Jake on the other hand didn't seem to care. He raced upstairs to get something from his room.

Patrick and Nikki went into the kitchen and Cam and Emma sat on the couch in the living room.

Emma grabbed his hand. "I'm glad your dad is okay." Patrick had given her a little bit of detail but not too much on the way over.

"Me too. I was so scared Emma." Tears started to cloud his vision and he felt Emma pull her hand back and hug him.

She was scared for her friend.

"He made me hold a gun and then he pressed against my finger and pulled the trigger. Jason fell. It was so horrible. I thought I killed him."

She didn't know what to say. It was hard to even imagine that someone would make a kid do that. "I'm so sorry."

"Every time I close my eyes I see it."

Patrick walked in and sat down next to Cam and rubbed his back. "I'm sorry that Lucky did that to you." He couldn't imagine how Cam was holding it together. It was a testament to how strong he was.

Cam pulled back from Emma and looked up at Patrick. "How could he be so mean?"

"Helena put a microchip into his head. While I think some of that was all on Lucky, the chip made his hatred far worse. It's not an excuse. I just want you to have all of the facts."

Cam wiped his face and Nikki handed him a tissue.

Johnny handed Cam some water. He sipped it and then put it down on the table.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Johnny nodded. "Yes."

"When you shoot someone, do you feel bad?" He knew that the guards had guns.

"Well, usually when I've had to defend myself, it's because it's a bad person. I did what I had to do to provide protection, but I would think about it every once in a while. It's not something that is easy or that I took lightly."

Cam nodded. "When Lucky pulled my mom away and I grabbed the gun, I was going to shoot him but I was scared I'd miss, so I gave it to my mom. I wanted to hurt him. Does that make me bad?"

"No Cam. It just means you wanted to protect your parents. He forced the situation. Don't second guess yourself. You did the right thing."

"But, my mom killed Lucky. I'm scared she is going to feel bad."

Johnny sighed. This was really fucked up and he hated that a good kid like Cam even had to deal with all of this. "Your mom has lots of people who love her that will help her if she does, but she knows she did what she had to in order to protect you and Jason."

Cam drank some more water.

"Do you want to lie down?" Patrick asked. He was worried about Cam. He was too stressed out.

Cam nodded.

"I'll go with you," Emma said.

They walked away and Cam went into this parent's room and climbed onto the bed. He laid on Jason's pillow and could smell his cologne. Emma laid next to him and faced him. "Go to sleep Cam. I won't leave you."

He closed his eyes and prayed he wouldn't have a nightmare as Emma silently cried.

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Lulu stormed into the hospital. She had lost her dad and her brothers and she was wreck. She went into the ICU and caused a scene, demanding that Elizabeth come out and talk to her.

Epiphany walked into the room. "Lulu is here to yell at you."

Liz rolled her eyes. "I'll be right there." She looked Jason over and walked out of the ICU, into a hallway.

Lulu's eyes were red. "I just found out that you killed my brother. How can you do that after everything he put you through?"

"Oh shit," Epiphany muttered. If she could put them on pause and go get some popcorn she would. Lulu was about to get her ass handed to her.

Liz laughed. "After all I put him through? Please. I put up with his shit for years. Tell me Lulu, do you know the whole story or as usual, did you just find out a snippet of information and run with it?"

Lulu's mouth dropped open.

"Just what I thought. Your saint of a brother tried to rape me not knowing Cam was in the room."

Lulu began to sputter an objection.

"Can it. You're going to listen to me. He tried to rape me and then Cam screamed because he hit me and Lucky made him hold a gun with him and pull the trigger. He made Cam pull the trigger and shoot his father."

Lulu was stunned.

"Exactly. You have always prejudged me Lulu. It was always my job to save Lucky or baby him. When he did bad things to me, I didn't hear one peep from your mouth except to tell me to forgive him. He made my precious son shoot his dad and he will never completely get over that."

"But Helena…."

"Don't even go there. I don't care if he had a microchip or not because St. Lucky agreed to everything. We found notes and audio confirmation that confirmed that." Spinelli had emailed her earlier. He didn't want her to feel guilty.

Maxie had heard everything and was shocked. "That can't be true."

Liz threw up her hands. "Another one of Lucky's cheerleaders. He wanted revenge on me because Jason loved Cam enough to adopt him when Lucky didn't. Mr. deadbeat dad was mad that someone else had the audacity to love my son and want to be a father to him."

"He had good reason to hate Jason."

"Good enough to make Cam shoot him? Because I can guarantee that Jason had much better reasons to hate Lucky. I'm not going to sit here and listen to you talk about the man who tried to rape me with my fiancé and son in the room like his shit doesn't stink. And I swear, if either one of you approaches me to berate me in public again, I will wipe the floor with your asses. I don't need this shit right now." Liz was angry. She would have decked both of them, but Obrecht would have had her arrested and Jason needed her. Tears were in her eyes and she just wanted to punch someone.

"I'm sorry," Lulu said.

"You should be." Liz turned on her heel and went back to Jason.

"Bitch," Maxie muttered.

"She's right—about everything. Maybe we need to grow up and stop blaming her for Lucky's problems."

Maxie watched Lulu walk away in shock. She couldn't believe that Lucky did what Liz said he did.

"You know, if you tried to actually get to know Elizabeth, you'd see she's not a bad person. You've both made big mistakes but the difference between you both is that Liz actually regrets hers and she doesn't feel the need to kick people while they are down. You don't even take responsibility for what you did with Lucky. In fact, you wear it like a badge as if you did something noble. You endangered Cam, Liz, and Jake because you fed a man drugs to keep him in your bed. It was sad, pathetic, and the fact that you still blame everything on Liz shows what an immature, self-absorbed twit you are. I feel sorry for Georgie when you start hitting on her boyfriends," Epiphany said.

Maxie's mouth dropped open.

"Oh don't act like that couldn't happen. Grow up Maxie. It's way past time don't you think?" Epiphany said walking away leaving a stunned Maxie in her wake.