Take my photo off the wall
If it just won’t sing for you
‘Cause all that’s left has gone away
And there’s nothing there for you to prove
Oh, look what you’ve done
You’ve made a fool of everyone
Oh, well, it seems like such fun
Until you lose what you had won
– Look What You’ve Done, Jet

---

Saturday, September 27, 2008

PCPD: Lock-Up

Jason stared at the cell phone even after Elizabeth’s end of the call had disconnected. There was something in the tone of her voice, something that wasn’t quite right. She hadn’t been angry — she’d understood. And yet—

“Elizabeth? That’s who you needed to call? Well, I could have done that,” Diane said, with a roll of her eyes.  Jason returned the phone and kept his mouth shut. He needed to focus, clear things that absolutely had to be done so that he could check in with Elizabeth and make sure everything was okay.

“Where’s Sonny?”

“Well, that was the other reason I was coming to get you personally.” Diane made a face. “He, uh, was already released, and has left the building, furious. I—” She hissed as Jason took off, sprinting out of the lock-up area and towards the front desk.

He needed his wallet, his keys, his phone — and damn it, were they going to return his gun tonight or would he need to turn Diane loose? Who the hell had infiltrated the church—

And who would Sonny blame? Would he assume it was the Russians? Jason hadn’t told him that Andrei Karpov had seemingly moved on to connections in Rochester. He’d been a thorn in their side for a few months, and had targeted Spinelli but what was the connection to Kate? He’d wanted Sonny to turn on Jason, but shooting his fiancée was a hell of a way to force Sonny’s hand when it looked like Karpov was getting what he wanted somewhere else. Why would Karpov go to the trouble?

But if it wasn’t the Russians, that left the Zaccharas—Jason scowled. Anthony was still in a wheelchair, but Johnny had been the center of all Sonny’s paranoia six months earlier. Sonny had extended an invitation to Johnny as Lulu’s guest to show that all was well between them now, but all Sonny would remember was the access the mafia heir had had to the church.

Damn it, if Sonny went after Johnny Zacchara before Jason could stop him — Anthony Zacchara or his psychotic daughter wouldn’t care who they hurt in retribution.

Jason glared at the uniform behind the desk. “I need my personal effects. Now.”

Downtown Port Charles

The traffic light at the next intersection flipped from yellow to red, and the three cars in front of Elizabeth’s Honda Civic slowed to a stop. She made a face, then picked up the phone she had tossed on the passenger side. She had a missed call from Patrick and another from Lucky. But Jason hadn’t called back. Not that she expected him to. She could only imagine what he was dealing with right now. A shooting at the wedding would have fulfilled his worst fears.

Elizabeth leaned back in her seat with one hand on the wheel, staring at the traffic light, waiting for it to turn green.

She’d meant what she said to Carly that morning. Jason seemed to be the only one under the impression that their relationship was a secret — plenty of people hadn’t believed Elizabeth’s trial testimony. She’d felt like Jason had been slowly coming back around to where they’d been in April.

But Kate’s shooting would probably quash any hope of returning to where they’d been in April. At least not before she or Jason qualified for a nursing home.

And how terrible was Elizabeth that her first thought was how all of this would affect her? Kate was fighting for her life, Sonny and those who loved her would be devastated, Jason was probably stressed, and all Elizabeth could think about was her romantic life?

She suddenly understood how Carly’s mind worked, and the comparison didn’t make her feel particularly good about herself. She took a deep breath. She’d head to the hospital where they were always short-handed, and she’d be able to do good there. Jason would need her there, and it would be simple to get herself assigned to Kate’s case.

The light turned green, and Elizabeth eased her foot off the brake as the cars in front of her moved.

The phone rang just as she entered the intersection, and she reached out with one hand, blindly trying to find it, not taking her eyes off the road.

She heard the blaring of a horn just a second before a horrifying slam and screech—her car spun, turning it back into oncoming traffic—Elizabeth saw a car heading straight for her—

She screamed and then her car was flying through the air, flipping twice in front of horrified onlookers, and everything went black.

General Hospital: Emergency Room

The ER was a chaotic mess with doctors and nurses and all kinds of people dressed in scrubs and lab coats rushing back and forth, and no one—no one—would stop and tell Maxie what the hell was going on.

She spied a familiar head of dark hair and breathed a short sigh of relief, dashing over, nearly stumbling in her stilettos and falling into Johnny who was glaring at the back of a lab coat striding away. “Johnny! You have to tell me what’s going on! Where’s Lulu?”

“They won’t tell me! I’m the one that brought her in, but—” He dragged his hands through his hair, blew out a short breath. “Damn it. Damn it. What the hell happened? Where’s Spinelli?”

“They took him to the station. I don’t know why! He won’t know anything, he never does, that’s not what he does—” Her voice was rising, pitched almost to hysterical peak. “And Olivia won’t tell me anything about Kate—I don’t know even know if she’s alive—” She curled her fingers in the lapels of Johnny’s tux. “And Lulu, oh my God, she looked so empty—” Hot tears spilled down her cheeks. “What if Kate dies and Lu never comes back? What are we going to do? I don’t know what to do!” The final word came out on a wail, and Johnny swore, put an arm around Maxie’s shoulders, and led her towards a bench by the wall.

“Who do we know that can tell us something?” Johnny said. “What about Matt? That guy who’s got a room with your stepdad?”

Maxie sucked in a shuddering breath, then her blue eyes sharpened. Focused. “Right. Right. A-nd Nadine. They work here! You go find her, and I’ll find Matt, okay? And you find out something, you tell me. I have to know.”

“Same to you.”

They split up, both reassured with a task to achieve. Locate a friendly face at the hospital and gather all available information. Maxie could always focus when she had something to do.

And if Lulu thought she was going to disappear inside of herself, well, she had another damn thing coming. Maxie would just reach inside somehow and make her come back to them.

General Hospital: Emergency Room

Nadine shoved a strand of hair behind her ear, then reached for the phone. “Paging Dr. Patrick Drake. Dr. Patrick Drake. To the ER.”

“What’s coming in?” Epiphany wanted to know, bustling in behind her. “We’re limited on surgical teams—”

“Yeah, I know. They said they’ll have Kate out of the trauma room in ten minutes, heading up to the operating suites. Reynolds is going to take that case, so I paged Patrick to take the incoming car accident—they’re worried about head injuries and that’s his specialty.”

“Good, good.” Epiphany headed out, and Nadine picked up her pen to note down the changes.

“Thank God. You’re here. You said you’d be on duty, and you’re here.”

She jerked her head up, frowning when Johnny dashed up. “Johnny, what’s going on? I thought Kate was the only injury—”

Johnny swallowed hard, gripped the edge of the counter. “Lulu. I brought her in, and they took her back, but I don’t know anything, and those doctors won’t tell me anything, okay, and they need to, so tell me if she’s been admitted—”

“What happened?” Nadine’s fingers were already flying over the keyboard. Her stomach pitched when the information came back. “Lulu has been admitted, but that’s all I can tell you. They contacted Nikolas as her next of kin—”

“He’ll never tell me anything. Damn it. Damn it.”

“What happened?” she repeated. “I know Kate was shot, but what happened to Lulu?”

“Chaos. Disaster. Everything Nikolas and Lucky were worried about.” He dragged a hand down his face. “She was with me and then she wasn’t. She just curled up and a light went out. I couldn’t get her to come back. Not this time.” His eyes were dark, desperate. “I know you said things got left with Nikolas on a bad note, but I need to know what’s going on. I just need to know.”

“I can go follow up on the case, but don’t expect any miracles. I’m sorry, Johnny. This is the last thing any of us wanted.” She made a note of Lulu’s location, then stepped down from the nurse’s station. “Wait over there, okay? I’ll be back when I can tell you something.”

St. Timothy’s Church: Parking Lot

The church was still a crime scene, so Jason was able to catch up with his former business partner behind the blockade of flashing lights and patrol cars.

Sonny stood in his blood-stained tuxedo, his fingers gripping the hard edge of a blockade as he turned to Jason. “You told me it was secure,” he bit out as Jason stepped up to him. “In a hurry to get out of town and you missed something!”

Jason shot Cody a dark look, and the other man closed his mouth. Cody hadn’t worked for the organization long enough to know that the absolute last thing anyone needed to do was remind Sonny that he’d been the one to refuse a last minute sweep. Maybe Jason could have fought harder, but damn it, was Sonny ever going to take responsibility for anything?

“None of this makes sense,” Jason said finally. “An attack on you, an attack this high profile — it’s suicide. And why, if they had the shot, did they go after Kate? Why not you? Or me.” He swallowed hard. “We need to take a deep breath, Sonny, and think about this—”

“You think all you want,” Sonny retorted, whipping his head back. “Maybe if it were Elizabeth in a blood-soaked wedding gown fighting for her life, maybe you’d understand how I feel—”

“You think I don’t—” Jason fisted his hands at his side, wondering how he and Sonny had drifted so far apart. Once Sonny would have looked at him for reassurance, for guidance. For support. And now— “We need to be sure who did this—”

“I am sure. You swept the damn church, didn’t you? So who could get in and do this? Who had access?”

Jason saw the realization spread across Sonny’s face, and he grimaced. “Sonny—”

“Fucking Johnny Zacchara—” The older man charged towards the parking lot, and Jason tried to grab at him, missing. He started after him.

“The kid has never been in the damn business! How many times have you gone after him only to find out you were wrong—”

“He must have helped one of his father’s men,” Sonny muttered. He whirled away from the blockade, stalking back towards the dark SUV, Max almost sprinting to keep up with him. “Where is he? I’ll choke the truth out of him—”

“Boss, maybe we should go back to the house,” Max suggested with a wince. “Take a shower. Get some coffee, check in at the hospital—”

“Lulu.” Sonny snapped his fingers. “He was with her. Someone at the station said she’d gone to the hospital. Let’s go.” He yanked open the passenger door to the SUV, held it for a moment. “You either get in,” he barked at Max, “or I drive myself.”

Either way he was going, so no one blamed Max when he scrambled into the SUV.  At least with Max, there was a sense they’d be able to keep tabs on the Sonny.

“Let’s go,” Jason said to Cody. “I need to get to the hospital.”

General Hospital: Emergency Room

She looked just like their mother. Of Laura’s three children, her daughter had always been the mirror image of her mother. The shape of their face, the same blonde hair, the same smile—and until Laura’s illness, the same sparkle in their eyes.

But now, Nikolas thought, the resemblance had returned. The look in their eyes was identical, down to the unfocused glaze of a mind that was somewhere far away from this room. Laura had slipped away in General Hospital five years earlier, and now Lulu had followed.

His little sister lay in the bed, her head resting against the pillows, still dressed in the frothy deep pink dress she’d plucked from the trio Maxie had chosen for her. Her hair had fallen down around her face, and lines of mascara, smudged eyeliner encircling her empty hazel eyes.

A hand dropped on Nikolas’s shoulder, jolting him. He turned and saw his aunt standing there. He breathed a sigh of relief, embraced her. “Hey. Kristina?”

“She’s all right,” Alexis murmured. She rubbed his back. “I took her home, settled her with the nanny. I thought you might need me. Have you called Lucky?”

“Not yet, no. He’s got the boys this week.” Nikolas rubbed his cheek. “I wanted to wait. I wanted to wait until she’d come out of it. But—”

“She’s not?”

“No—”

The curtain of Lulu’s cubicle rustled, and Nikolas looked over to see Nadine stepping inside. “Is there news from the doctor?” he wanted to know, coming towards her.

“No—” Nadine looked at Lulu for a long moment, and when she focused on Nikolas, there were tears in the corners of her eyes. “No. I’m not on her case. I’m so sorry, Nikolas.”

“Yeah, well—” Nikolas fisted his hand at his side. “Aunt Alexis, I need you to get on the phone with the DA’s office.”

“I think we’ll see some movement finally,” Alexis assured him. “With Scott out of town, he can’t use his weight as special prosecutor to stall. I’ll call you.”

“Thank you.” When Alexis had left the cubicle, Nikolas looked at Nadine. “You see why it has to be this way. I can’t—” He focused on his sister, on his beautiful, little sister. “I didn’t want her to go to the wedding. But I couldn’t tell her no.”

“She’s tough, Nikolas. So tough. She’ll fight back, and—”

“I keep telling myself that, you know. But my mother was strong. You wouldn’t believe what my mother went through. Then one day—” He closed his eyes. “It was too much. There’s always a breaking point, and Lulu reached hers. I have to do whatever I can to bring her back. I can’t let her waste away like my mother. I can’t do it, Nadine. Nothing else can matter.”

“I understand that. I’m—I’m sorry I came down on you so hard.” Nadine bit her lip. “I came back because Johnny’s out front. Looking for an update.”

“An update? After he—” Nikolas swallowed the bitter words bubbling up. “Yeah, fine. The doctor is due back in a few minutes. You can pass along whatever they say.”

“All right.” Nadine studied Lulu, then went over to a drawer in the cabinet. She removed a package, ripped off the top. She extracted a damp white cloth, then proceeded to gently wash the makeup from his sister’s face. Lulu gave no sense that she recognized Nadine or even knew that it was happening.

His eyes blurred and Nikolas had to look away.

General Hospital: Hallway

Maxie’s heels clacked as she hurried down another hallway in the emergency room. She was all turned around now in the labyrinth walls where every turn looked the same and all the door numbers kept swirling around—

What if she just stood in one spot and screamed Matt’s name? Would the irritating doctor pop up then? She was frustrated enough to attempt it, but just when she’d planted herself in one spot, she overheard a pair of voices, both familiar.

“I can handle the damn case!”

“I don’t care what you can handle, I’m giving it to Reynolds. He’s got seniority and he’s the only doctor with enough experience—”

Maxie twisted around another corner and found Matt and Patrick nearly nose to nose, their faces flushed. “Matt, Patrick! Thank God! People I know! Tell me where Kate or Lulu is!”

“I’m a little busy, Maxie,” Matt began, but Patrick stepped back, checked the beeper at his waist with a grimace.

“Look, you want to be on Kate’s case so damn bad? Deal with the family. You can scrub in, but you’re not taking the lead. That’s the end of the conversation,” Patrick added when Matt opened his mouth again. “I’ve got a head injury from a car accident coming in and a hospital to run.”

“Egotistical selfish bastard,” Matt muttered under his breath after Patrick had jogged off. “Who the hell does he think he is?”

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Maxie demanded, planting a fist on her hip. “The chief of staff told you to handle Kate’s family. That’s me. So tell me where she is and how she is, or I swear on every single bottle of Chanel that I will scream.”

Matt nearly growled. “You’re not—”

“The only other family she’s got refuses to call her by her actual name and spends all her time complaining, okay? I’m Kate’s family, and I’m the one that gives a damn, and I also signed a stupid form like months ago that says I get to know whatever I want.” Maxie ripped her shoe from her foot and held it up, heel out. “Now tell me where she is or you’re going to have a Jimmy Choo shaped hole in your goddamn head!”

General Hospital: Emergency Room

When Nadine came back, Johnny was sitting in a hard plastic orange chair tucked in the corner. His dark hair disheveled as if he’d run his hands through it a million times, his white tuxedo shirt tugged out of his pants and partially unbuttoned. His jacket had been discarded since she’d seen him last.

He bolted to his feet as she approached, his dark eyes intense. “Is she okay? Tell me please.”

“I’m sorry, Johnny. She’s…she’s still the way you brought her in. Dr. Winters and the attending physician are arranging her transfer back to Shadybrooke because there’s just nothing more we can do for her here.”

“Nikolas is going to take her to California, and she won’t even know. I wanted to wait before I told her. To let her have this day.” Johnny sank back into the chair, staring blankly. “You think they’ll tell me which clinic?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Give Nikolas a day or two to settle. He’s dealing with a lot right now.”

“Never should have taken her to that damn wedding. It was too much. They said it was too much, but she was so happy, and I just wanted her to be okay—” He broke off. “But now they’re going to take her away where I can’t follow.”

“And she’ll get better,” Nadine said gently. She touched his arm. “She’ll get better and come back to you. That’s what matters, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Johnny muttered. He dragged a hand down his face. “Thanks for finding out.”

“Any time,” Nadine said. She squeezed his arm, then stepped back. “I’m sorry. I have to go check on another patient. I’m sorry, Johnny.”

“Yeah, so am I.”

She headed down the hallway, turning the corner just as the street entrance to the Emergency Room burst open and a furious Sonny Corinthos strode in, heading straight for Johnny.

Johnny only had a moment to look up and grimace before he was being hauled to his feet and shoved up against a wall.

Jacks House: Living Room

Carly winced when her bare foot came down hard on a familiar piece of plastic. “Morgan! You were supposed to clean up your Legos!”

Morgan looked over at her with wide eyes, his hand clutched around one of his super hero figures. “I did!”

“Yeah, well—” she leaned down, plucked the yellow piece from the carpet and held it up. “My foot says different.” Limping, she headed over to the sofa, dropping the Lego to the coffee table with plink. She rustled for the remote and flipped on the news, rolling her neck to the side—

Then snapping to attention when WKPC’s breaking news banner scrolled across the bottom of a live action shot of St. Timothy’s Church. A shooting. No word on casualties—

Another shooting. More bullets. More violence. Her stomach lurch, and she clicked off the news before Morgan could hear his father’s name.

With trembling hands, she got to her feet, and headed for the kitchen to tell the nanny she had to leave.

General Hospital: Emergency Room

They didn’t make it to the hospital before Sonny. Of course not. Everything else today had gone wrong, Jason thought bitterly, so why not get stuck at every goddamn red light between the church and the hospital?

By the time Jason arrived, hospital security was trying to drag Sonny away from Johnny Zacchara. He had the younger man against a wall, and his forearm pressed against Johnny’s neck.

“Goddamn it—” Johnny choked. “Why can’t you ever blame anyone else?”

“You know who pulled the trigger, don’t you?” Sonny roared, but before he could do anything else, the security guard finally dragged him back, Sonny kicking and fighting every step of the way.

Jason hung back — Sonny was on his way to being arrested again and dropped into lockup which might be the best place for him at this point, he thought, and the last thing Jason wanted was to find himself in the next cell. He needed to get a status update on Kate, locate Spinelli, find out what the cops already knew—

And if possible, he wanted to see Elizabeth, to go to her and find some quiet. Something that wasn’t any of this — and to look in her eyes to see the truth this time when she told him it was okay. That she understood about Italy.

“You want me to tell Diane to stay downtown and deal with this?” Cody asked, retrieving his cell from the inside of his suit jacket.

Jason winced as security tackled Sonny to the ground, and cuffs were placed on his wrists. “Uh, yeah, might as well. But tell her not to try too hard to get Sonny out of again,” he added. He dragged his hands through his hair, rested them at the base of his neck, still clasped. “God damn it, what else can go wrong tonight?” he growled.

The wail of sirens broke into his irritation, and he could see the ambulance pull up to the bay just beyond the doors. Doctors and nurses were racing towards the door, panicked. Something bad, Jason thought, working his way around the emergency room intent on grabbing Johnny Zacchara before the kid could get away.

Because maybe Johnny hadn’t done anything to Kate, but his family was at the top of the list. No one liked to cause chaos like Anthony. And there was his sister, Claudia, always the wild card

He’d just reached the other man when the doors flew open, and a stretcher was rolled in—

And the world stopped.

It was Elizabeth.

There was a protective brace around her neck, and her face—there was so much blood—he could hardly make out any of her features—

Jason didn’t even realize he’d grabbed Johnny Zacchara by the shirtfront, his hand gripping the material, twisting it.

“Come on, man, I didn’t do anything—” Johnny closed his mouth when he realized the other man wasn’t even looking at him.

“Lost the pulse in the ambulance,” one of the paramedics said, handing over a clipboard to the doctor. “Got it back—” He reeled off a series of numbers, but Jason didn’t hear anything else. Lost the pulse lost the pulse lost the pulse lost pulse—the words repeated in his head like a throbbing drum.

“You know her, don’t you? Lulu’s sister-in-law? Well, not anymore, but—” Johnny swallowed hard when Jason glared at him. “What did I say?”

“Nothing. Nothing.”

What the hell had happened after she’d left the airport? And how was he going to make the hospital tell him anything?

Jason released Johnny, looked to Cody. “Get Diane on the phone. Change of plans. Tell her to get to the hospital. I need a copy of the power of attorney we signed yesterday. Sonny can wait.”

Spencer House: Kitchen

“You know that Elizabeth is trashing me behind my back to them,” Sam complained, bringing the dinner dishes to Lucky at the sink. “There’s no reason for them to both hate me on sight.”

“They don’t hate you.” Lucky looked up at the kitchen door, being propped open with a chair from the table so that he could see Cameron and Jake playing by the sofa, watching cartoons. “Go in there. Hang out with them.”

“Cameron slapped my hand,” Sam muttered. She leaned against the counter. “This is why you should take her to court, Lucky. Get the custody order official.”

“I’m going to have to when she finds out you’re here,” Lucky said. She made a face. “I know. I know. I’m going to talk to Alexis next week to find a custody attorney. It’s just—I don’t want to fight with her. I don’t,” he added. “She’s a great mother, and I sprang California without a lot of warning. I’d rather work it out with her. So when she comes home, I’m going to try to have the conversation again.”

“Lucky—”

The phone rang, and Lucky left the sink to pick up the cordless. “I’m not trying to push her so hard that she just shuts down all visitation, which she can do. All she has to do is play the biology card, and I’m out cold.” He pressed the answer button, brought the phone to his ear. “Yeah?” His fingers tightened around the phone, listened to Nikolas. “Okay. I’ll be right there. Yeah, just let me deal with the boys. I’ll drop them with Audrey.”

“Lucky?” Sam said. She straightened. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Lulu.”

General Hospital: Trauma Room

Patrick stripped off his gloves and tossing them in a nearby medical waste bin, watching silently as Elizabeth was rolled out of the trauma room towards the elevator that would take her to X-Ray.

“Dr. Drake?”

He bit back the profanity that leapt to his lips, looking over at Regina Thompson, the nurse who’d spoken. “Yeah.”

“Jason Morgan is out at the desk asking for an update. He says he has the right to know—his lawyer has paperwork and all kinds—”

Jason Morgan. Patrick clenched his jaw. “Yeah, okay. I’ll be right out.” First he needed to get his temper under control or he might murder someone—

He stalked out into the emergency room, towards the waiting area where Jason was pacing in front of the desk, Diane Miller calmly sifting through paperwork at the desk. Jason’s hair was disheveled, his tuxedo jacket long gone, and the tails of his shirt yanked out.

When he saw Patrick striding towards him, the mobster straightened, stopped pacing. “Patrick. You’re on Elizabeth’s case? Good. Is she—”

“Her car was broadsided by some asshole running a red light. Her car got shoved into oncoming traffic. The car flipped a few times.” Patrick took another breath. “Right now, we’re looking at a concussion. There’s some bleeding internally, so we’re sending her to x-ray and prepping for surgery to see what else we’re dealing with.”

“But she’s going to be okay—” Jason took a step forward, his expression desperate, panic in his blue eyes. “She’s—she’s going to recover, isn’t she?”

“Barring infection and complications from surgery, yeah.”

The relief on the other man’s face was so stark, so palpable that it made Patrick angry all over again. “Why wasn’t she on the goddamn plane? She was supposed to be somewhere over Canada by now—”

When Jason didn’t immediately answer, Patrick lost whatever control he had left of his temper. “Are you worried someone might see that you give a damn? Sorry to interrupt whatever was more important. She’s alive. You can go back to ignoring her—”

“What the hell—”

Patrick didn’t even bother waiting for him to finish his statement. He headed for the desk, determined to search out another patient and get his mind off Elizabeth, to put away the worry about the bleeding and what damned surgeon would perform the procedure because it wouldn’t be him—

“I wasn’t ignoring her. I would never—”

“Except that you do and did.” Patrick took a deep breath. “She told me she was going to Italy with you because she wanted someone to know where she was since she couldn’t tell her grandmother, and Lucky is, on his best day, hot garbage. She was excited. She’s talked about going to Italy for as long as I’ve known her—”

“I know that—” Jason started.

“When I heard about the accident on the dispatch, I thought—I thought she was on her way to the airport.” Patrick’s eyes burned into Jason’s. “But then I rechecked the flight info. She was coming home. And she was only on that road at that minute because you didn’t show up.”

“I—” Jason’s mouth tightened, and his eyes dropped to the linoleum. “I know.”

“She’s my best friend. My family,” Patrick said, gritting his teeth. “You and I both know she can do better than you.”

“I do—”

“But she picked you. Either end it for good, Morgan, or man up, and stop wasting time. After what’s happened this last year, you’d think you of all people would remember that life is too damn short.”

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