June 1, 2006

General Hospital: ICU Waiting Room

Dawn broke out over Port Charles and Jasper Jacks couldn’t help but compare this morning to the one that had come before it.

Yesterday morning, he had argued with Robin about telling Nikolas Cassadine the truth about John’s paternity. She had come into possession of a paternity test somehow and was trying to persuade him that keeping the truth helped no one and that he should come clean. They had argued bitterly at his penthouse apartment and she’d left in a huff. He’d been disappointed by the entire encounter and had resolved to solve the problem once and for all.

This morning, he sat in a waiting room, surrounded by those nearest and dearest to Robin Scorpio. Her surrogate mother, Felicia curled up on a sofa with her eldest daughter Maxie’s head resting in her lap and her youngest daughter Georgie’s head on her shoulder–all three had dozed off shortly before the sun had peaked over the horizon. No amount of coffee could keep them going any longer.

Mac had been pacing the room since the group had moved up here at two o’clock that morning. Robin had finally been allowed visitors but only one at a time for ten minutes. They’d been trading off but only family had been allowed. Robert was sitting with his daughter now but in a few moments, Jax was sure Mac would be trying to peek in.

Elizabeth had done all she could to bend the rules so that Felicia and the girls could take turns sitting with Robin even though they weren’t technically related anymore but no amount of twisting arms had allowed anyone else through–including an irritated Patrick who had sat in the corner and brooded over that fact before leaving for his rounds at six.

Mac had whispered with police officers who had come in and out all night but if there were any developments, he’d told no one. Apparently, there was still no sign of Lucky Spencer or Cameron Webber, a fact which Jax felt awful for. After all Elizabeth had been through with two miscarriages, for her now to have lost her only living child, he could scarcely imagine that torment.

When Elizabeth entered the room again, Jax had stood and crossed to her. “Elizabeth, I want you to know that if there’s anything I can do–”

“Actually…” the nurse sighed and pushed her hair out of her face. “My grandmother is down at the police station for questioning. They’ve had her there all night, grilling her about Lucky’s condition when he showed up at the house and I would really appreciate it if you could pick her up. If that’s not a problem.”

“No, no. I’ll be glad to be doing something.” Jax sighed. “Brenda won’t be here until tonight and I’ve already been elected to pick up Robin’s mother in a few hours at the airport but I can’t…I can’t sit around here anymore and wait for news. They won’t let me see her–”

“She’d be glad to know you were here. That everyone was here–” Elizabeth sighed. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get you guys in, I don’t know what I’m going to do about Brenda–she’s never going to take no for an answer–”

“Have you slept yet?” Jax interrupted softly. “I don’t think I’ve even seen you sit down since Robin was moved to ICU.”

“If I stop for a second, I will think about my son. I will think about all that has happened in the last twelve hours and how it could have been avoided if I had just told Lucky I was studying–”

“And I think about what would have happened if I hadn’t given you a ride home that night,” Jax cut in. “If we had taken that road, if I hadn’t looked at you for a second. We could spend our whole lives second guessing our choices, but when it comes down to it, we cannot control the actions of others and we are not responsible for them.”

“I understand the theory,” Elizabeth said. “It’s the execution I’m having trouble with.” Her beeper vibrated and she pulled it out of her pocket. “It’s Jason…”

“Jason?” Jax repeated. “Why is he calling you?”

“I called him to tell him about Cam but his phone was off…I have to go call him back, okay?”

“All right,” Jax agreed and watched her leave the room, never understanding what the women in Port Charles saw in Jason Morgan.

General Hospital: ICU Nurse’s Station

Elizabeth reached for the phone and dialed Jason’s cell number. He picked up on the first ring. “Jason, hey–I’m sorry I had my phone off–”

“It’s fine,” Jason said. “I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you before but I was getting the search going. Is there news?”

Elizabeth hesitated. “Well, Robin’s in the ICU, hoping that she’ll get stronger so they can take her back into surgery. No one here has any leads on Lucky even now that…” she bit her lip. “Jason, Lucky picked Cameron up from my grandmother’s last night and no one’s seen either of them since.”

“I’ll be right there, Elizabeth.”

He hung up without waiting for Elizabeth to say anything else. She sighed and placed the receiver back on the hook and was just going to check on Robin when her eyes caught something in the second waiting room at the opposite end of the hall from the one where Robin’s family was waiting.

She stepped into the room and immediately sighed at the sight of her sister-in-law Lulu curled up on a couch and Dillon Quartermaine sleeping upright in a chair, snoring. The two had been banned from the other room when Lulu and Georgie had gotten into a second fight and Mac couldn’t very well send Georgie or Maxie home so he’d just sent these two out.

“Lu…” Elizabeth knelt beside the blonde. “What are you still doing here, honey?”

“Liz?” Lulu started to sit up and yawned. “How’s Robin?”

“She’s still holding on. I thought Dillon was supposed to take you home.” Elizabeth sat next to Lulu.

“Well, Dillon didn’t want to leave in case Georgie needed him and I didn’t want to go home and face Dad.” Lulu bit her lip. “Do you really think Lucky shot Robin?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Elizabeth said slowly. “I know that he picked Cameron last night and never brought him home. No one has seen them and even Nikolas was searching for him.”

“At best, he’s guilty of kidnapping then,” Lulu picked at her nail polish. “And at worst, he tried to kill you and succeeded in nearly killing Robin.” She met Elizabeth’s eyes. “My dad loves Lucky. He has always loved him best and I don’t know how to tell him that any of this is possible.”

“Sweetheart…” Elizabeth smoothed Lulu’s hair off her forehead. “No one knows about Lucky save those we’ve told personally. If you don’t want to tell Luke until we know more…”

Dillon kicked in his sleep. “Spiders!” he yelped.

Elizabeth and Lulu both looked at him and Elizabeth cracked her first smile in hours. “Lu, you and Dillon should both go home and get some sleep. And as for telling Luke, I don’t know how he’d take it but knowing him, I think he’d rather be told now rather than later.”

“Yeah…” Lulu sighed. “I guess I’ll do that. Besides, if I stay here, I’m just going to tell Georgie Jones exactly what I think of her and that won’t be good for any of us.”

“I never touched her!” Dillon mumbled again. “I don’t even like gumdrops!”

“What in the world…” Elizabeth peered at the Quartermaine teen oddly. “What’s that about?”

“Oh, something that happened in the Maarkams,” Lulu said with a wry smile. “You should get back to work and I’ll wake Spielberg up to drive me home. Thanks, Liz.”

General Hospital: Locker Room

Emily Quartermaine collapsed on a bench and leaned her head against her locker. “I’m thinking about changing my career to something a lot less painful.”

Kelly Lee looked over from where she was changing for her shift and laughed. “Oh, really, like what?”

“Bartender,” Emily said seriously. “I think I’d be a lot happier listening to people’s problems than trying to fix their bodies. I just had the most horrendous night–I had to observe an operation for one of my oldest friends and then I had to watch her vitals for the rest of the night.” She glanced at Kelly. “You heard about Robin right?”

“Yeah.” Kelly sobered and sat next to the intern. “It’s just awful and to think, she’d finally managed to tame Doctor Hottie. He looks like someone smacked him over the head with a two by four–I can’t believe he’s doing his rounds today.”

“For the same reason that Liz is still on shift and why I was here all night.” Emily opened her locker and took her jeans out to change. “Because when you stop, you start to think about the possibilities. My mother told me there’s a seventy five percent chance Robin will die before even going into a second surgery. She didn’t tell the family that though.”

“Why not?” Kelly asked. “I would think she wouldn’t want to give them false hope.”

“She’s not. She told them that Robin’s not out of the woods, that there is a chance but…my mother’s known Robin for most of Robin’s life. She’s known the family and I don’t think she could stomach telling Mac Scorpio that despite everything he’s done to protect her, it’s very likely that Robin will never open her eyes again.” Tears pricked the corners of Emily’s eyes and her throat felt tight. “I keep remembering her the night we went out to Jake’s and she was smiling and she was laughing and I can’t believe it’s barely a month later and she might be dying. It’s…it doesn’t seem fair.”

General Hospital: Fourth Floor Nurse’s Station

“What are you doing here?” Noah demanded of Patrick as he saw his son giving instructions to Epiphany Johnson.

“My job,” Patrick said roughly. “I have to take care of my patients, Dad, so spare me the lecture–”

“After what you went through last night, I can’t believe you’re still on your feet,” Noah began but Patrick sent him a seething glare.

“What do you expect me to do?” Patrick countered. “Go find the nearest bar and drown myself in vodka? Take a page from my dear old father’s book? I’m sorry to disappoint you.” He finished his notes and all but shoved the chart at Epiphany who just glared at him and walked away. “Sitting in the ICU room isn’t going to make a damn bit of difference. I can’t change anything, I can’t even see her. So why stay up there and think about all the things I can’t do when I can do something worthwhile down here?”

“I’m not talking about sitting in the ICU,” Noah returned angrily. “I’m talking about getting some sleep, maybe eating something. When was the last time you did either?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Patrick said shortly. “If I were hungry, I’d eat and if I were tired–well–” he broke off. “I wouldn’t be able to sleep. Nowhere to go remember? Some psycho shot up my hotel room.”

“Do not give me glib answers, Patrick, I know how you must be feeling–”

“No, no you have no idea how I’m feeling right now!” Patrick exploded. “You went into an operating room and you knew there as a good chance Mom wouldn’t come out alive but you know what? I didn’t know that when I walked out of my room last night it could be the last time I saw Robin! There is a huge difference, so don’t stand there and pretend like you have any idea–”

“I know what it’s like to blame yourself for things you cannot control,” Noah cut in. “And I know you’re blaming yourself for Robin being there alone–”

“You’re damn right I blame myself–” Patrick broke off abruptly when he saw Alan Quartermaine approaching them, looking both annoyed and concerned.

“I know that we are all under a certain amount of stress here,” the Chief of Staff said, “but let’s please try to remember we’re in a hospital.”

“I’m sorry, Dr. Quartermaine,” Patrick mumbled.

“You know, Patrick, if you want to take the day off,” Alan started.

“No,” Patrick shook his head. “I would rather be working and doing something right now. I don’t have any surgeries today, just my rounds and some consults.”

“All right, I can’t say that I don’t understand. Robin would be probably be doing the same thing in your position. But if you need the time, it’s yours. Noah,” Alan nodded. He passed by the two of them and stepped into the elevator.

Patrick closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath, trying to clamp down on the maelstrom of emotions raging though him. It seemed that life had been a lot simpler before he’d come to Port Charles. “I don’t want to argue with you, Dad. I may not be handling this the way you think I should but I’m doing the best I can, okay?”

“Okay,” Noah said after a long moment. “Okay.”

General Hospital: Parking Garage

“You know, I really should write this down.”

Lulu rolled her eyes. “I cannot believe you forgot where you parked your car. Why does this always seem to happen when you’re with me?”

“Probably because I’m too busy trying to talk you out of some lunatic idea,” Dillon muttered, scanning the parked car. “Was it Purple Four or Chartreuse Eight?”

“I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Chartreuse,” Lulu remarked soberly. “I think it was orange.” She rubbed her arms, feeling some what chilled despite the warm weather. “You have to help me figure out how I’m supposed to tell my dad.”

“Well, you could try to soften it or you could tell him bluntly. Maybe it was green.” Dillon pursed his lips and frowned at the color coded sign. “Was it blue?”

“My dad’s gonna freak whether I tell him nicely or bluntly, okay? So what I’m looking for is a way to tell him without him disappearing on me again.” Lulu glanced out the surrounding buildings. “Weren’t we higher up?”

“His middle name is Disappearing Act, Lu, I don’t think we’re going to be able to avoid it. And before you suggest it, I’m not going to help you track him down.” Dillon frowned at the scenery outside the garage. “I thought we had a better view of the harbor from our parking spot.”

“I know, I know, you have to stay and work on your marriage,” Lulu remarked in a tone that was neither annoyed nor sarcastic and he frowned at her anyway. “Georgie is more important than me and that’s totally the way it should be. I just hate how she treats you.”

“Well, my abandoning her for the Maarkams and your father probably didn’t go over well. Was it Red Nine?”

“I don’t think it was abandoning her for the Maarkams and my dad. I think it was your choice of company on the flight there,” Lulu said delicately. “We could see more of the docks from our parking space, I think.”

“Georgie is not jealous of me spending time with you,” Dillon said. He paused. “Well…she shouldn’t be. You’re my stepsister, it’s not like it was with Sage. Though…the similarities are amazing. I get asked to look after a teenaged girl who drives me crazy. I should learn to say no.” Pondering that, Dillon shoved his hands in his pockets and frowned as his hand closed over a scrap of paper. He withdrew it and grinned. “I did write it down. Yellow Twelve is where we parked.”

“Next time, write it down and give it to me,” Lulu instructed. “And we won’t have to spend fifteen minutes standing here staring at color codes.”

General Hospital: ICU Nurse’s Station

The elevator doors slid open and Jason stepped out. “Elizabeth–”

“Hey…” Elizabeth rounded the counter and met him halfway. “Is there any news?”

“No, not yet but I sent some people up to the border in case he tries to pass over into Canada,” Jason remarked. He took her arm and led her to a chair. “You said he picked up Cameron from Audrey’s?”

Elizabeth nodded miserably. “I called Gram to check on Cam last night and she told me that Lucky had picked him up at about eleven and told her that I wouldn’t be able to.” She was too tired to cry, too exhausted to feel anything but numb. “Mac put an APB out on Lucky and Cam last night but there’s been no word so far.”

“I’m sorry, Elizabeth. I wish there were more I could do,” Jason remarked. “But I’ve been where you are in a way. When Michael was kidnapped…” He trailed off, not wanting to go there again.

“It’s all I can do to go from one moment to the next. The only thing that’s keeping me sane is the knowledge that Lucky loves Cameron and I have to believe that no matter what else he’s capable of that he would never harm him, I have to believe that Jason.”

Before he could answer, there was an announcement over the loudspeaker and Elizabeth tensed before springing to her feet.

Code Blue, Room 314. Code Blue, Room 314.

“That’s Robin’s room!” she gasped.

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