June 1, 2006

ICU: Waiting Room 1

“Okay, it took four planes and one minor assault charge but I am finally here.”

Brenda Barrett swept into the waiting room, lacking the energy and vibrancy that was so characteristic of the diminutive brunette. The sparkle in her eyes and the smile on her lips were also gone and her movements weren’t smooth but frantic.

“Jax didn’t pick me up at the airport, something about a shot Carly but I found a cab.” Her eyes searched out Mac and she zoomed in on him. “Where is she? Surgery? Recovery? Has her condition changed?”

There were some things in life that would never change and the dull ringing Mac got in his ears after Brenda began speaking seemed to be one of them.

“She’s in surgery, Brenda,” Felicia said, rescuing her ex-husband. “Monica just came in to let us know everything was progressing as expected.”

“Progressing as expected,” Brenda repeated. “What does that mean?”

“It means that the surgery is going fine but Robin’s still probably going to die,” Maxie said harshly. She stood and stormed out of the room. Georgie sighed and followed her sister.

“Oh, Robin can’t–” Brenda blinked and looked back at Mac. “But she can’t…she can’t die. That’s my thing. I’m the one who goes away. Not Robin. She’s supposed to stay and…she’s supposed to be okay.”

“From your mouth to God’s ears,” Anna murmured. “It’s good that you’re here, Brenda. Robin would appreciate it.”

“Okay. Well.” Brenda planted her hands on her hips. “She’s just not going to…” she waved her hands. “I’m not letting it happen.”

“And when did you get your medical degree?” Robert demanded, rising to his feet.

“About the same time you graduated from Deadbeat Dad University,” Brenda shot back. “I’ve seen Robin survive a lot of crap in her life–from thinking her parents were dead, to Stone, to that idiot Jason and his bed partner Carly. I believe in Robin and she has a lot to live for.” She sniffed. “Besides, she hasn’t given me the 411 on Doctor Hottie over there so she’s not going anywhere yet.”

With Brenda’s attention on Patrick now, she crossed the room and stood in front of him. “I’m Robin’s best friend and your potential worst nightmare if you ever hurt her.”

Patrick just looked at her, at a loss for words. How was his sane and steady Robin friends with this lunatic?

General Hospital: ER

Kelly Lee had been many uncomfortable positions in her life. Some for fun and some…not so fun. Despite her patient’s relative good prognosis, she still didn’t want to go into that waiting area and confront the three men waiting for news on Carly Corinthos. Jasper Jacks and Sonny Corinthos were either trading barbs or dirty looks and Jason Morgan…

He was probably one of Kelly’s least favorite people after the debacle with Samantha McCall.

But she was a doctor, and more importantly, she was a professional so it would just be better to get it over with. She straightened her shoulders and started towards them.

Jax and Sonny were too busy trying to one up each other but Jason saw her coming and got to his feet. “Ah…Mr. Jacks?” Kelly said, “I’m only authorized to give news on Carly’s condition to you.”

That got Jax’s attention and the Australian stood. “I thought I was just waiting to go and see her.”

“Well, the surgery took a longer than we thought and it turns out that the bullet did nick Carly’s liver so we had to repair that,” Kelly continued. “However, my original prognosis remains the same, she’ll just have to stay in the hospital for a week or two.”

“Can I see her?” Sonny asked.

“Ah…well, right now she’s in recovery but when’s she moved to her room…” Kelly hesitated and wondered how to tell the town’s foremost mobsters that Carly didn’t ask for them. “Carly’s only asking for Mr. Jacks.”

Jax smiled smugly. “I thought so. When will I be able to see her?”

“In about an hour,” Kelly answered. “One of the nurses will be able to direct you to her room. I have another patient to see.”

She made her escape after that.

“I should go check in on Robin while I’m waiting–” Jax broke off and closed his eyes. “Oh, hell.”

“What?” Sonny asked almost reluctantly.

Because the wrath Jax would receive when he met up with Brenda would be understood by these men more than any other, he told them. “I forgot to pick Brenda up at the airport.”

“Brenda?” Jason repeated. He closed his eyes and grimaced. “And I didn’t think this could get much worse.”

General Hospital: Records Room

“Well, I guess there’s no way to know from these records,” Lulu remarked. She pressed a few more keys. “Here’s something intriguing. Robin accessed the test that lists Nikolas as the father last week but then she accessed the test that says neither of them are the father at five p.m.yesterday.”

“Whoa…” Dillon leaned over Lulu’s shoulder more closely. “That is definitely an interesting twist.”

“If Robin knew that neither Nikolas nor Jax was John’s father…well…I think that’s a secret that is definitely worth shooting for,” Lulu said with a smirk. “So our list of suspects is…”

“Jax, the baby’s biological father and Lucky.” Dillon shrugged. “My money’s on the biological father but how are we supposed to figure out who that is?” He sat in a chair next to Lulu. “Courtney was married to AJ, Jason and Jax and engaged to Nikolas before she died. Was she ever linked to anyone else?”

“Well, I never heard anything on the grapevine but there has to be someone else. AJ was dead and Jason was with that Sam chick all last year.” Lulu pursed her lips.

“Yeah, but vows of fidelity mean nothing in this town,” Dillon reminded her.

“That’s true…” Lulu turned back to the computer. “The hospital keeps all DNA on file so we could just a run a search of any DNA that matches John’s.”

“How do you know that?” Dillon asked as he watched Lulu set up the search.

“I hack into the hospital files all the time,” Lulu said as if it was something anyone did on an ordinary day. “I can hack into the school’s too. I’m still working on cracking the PCPD mainframe.”

“Oh.” he stared at her for a moment. “Well, those are handy skills to have.”

“We might get chased out of here before the search finishes but I’ll set the results so that they get sent to my untraceable email address,” she said.

“You have an untraceable email address,” Dillon stated.

“Sure, doesn’t everyone?” Lulu pressed another button. “We’ll have to get you one too if we’re going to keep doing this stuff.”

“Uh uh, I promised Georgie this was my last caper,” Dillon said stubbornly.

“Right. How many times have you promised her that?” she asked, glancing at him with a wry smile.

“Six times,” Dillon admitted. “But I mean it this time,” he added.

“Okay…the search is running.” Lulu sat back and studied her hands. “So…I’m sorry if I’m causing problems for you and Georgie.”

He dismissed that. “Georgie’ll get over it. There’s no reason for her to worry anyway. I mean, there’s nothing going on and she’s just being paranoid. I gave her reason to worry with Sage, I guess.”

“Well…” Lulu frowned and looked at him. “She’s not paranoid, not really Dillon.”

“What?” he said. “There’s nothing going on between us. I mean, the islands–that was something else. That was a plan, a ruse, a cover. There was nothing and I never–it was nothing,” he said quickly. “I never even–it was nothing.”

She sighed. “Dillon, you’re so obtuse. Even for a guy. Why do you think that every time we need a cover, that my first suggestion is to make out?” she asked him.

“Because I’m a guy and you’re a girl and it always works?” Dillon said desperately. He really didn’t want to have this conversation. He would rather discuss his mother’s sex life than have this conversation. Well…maybe that was too drastic.

“Well, yeah, but…” Lulu smirked. “Come on, Dillon. I like you.”

He blinked. “I like you too.”

Men. “No…Dillon, I like you–don’t make me spell this out because you know where I’m going with this, okay?” she huffed.

“I guess I do, but…Lu–”

“I know you’re married, Dillon and you were with Georgie before I even really knew you so I know that it can’t go nowhere,” she rolled her eyes. “But Georgie’s not stupid, okay? She knows.”

Dillon coughed. “Yes, but…Lulu, you’re–” he gestured. “You’re completely–” He shook his head. “I don’t even know where to go with that. I can’t imagine why you like–”

“You’re cute, you’re funny and you’re sweet. Plus, you pay attention to me.” Lulu shrugged, looking slightly uncomfortable. “And even though you think this whole thing is stupid, you’re still helping me. Look, Dillon, I didn’t tell you to change anything and I don’t want it to change anything.”

Little late for that now! “Then why tell me at all?”

“So you understand that it’s not about Georgie not trusting you,” Lulu said. “She doesn’t trust me. But it’s okay; I’m not going to play the vixen and try to break you guys up. I figure…she keeps dating Diego–”

“She is not dating Diego–”

“–and you two will take care of it for yourselves.”

“I wish you’d stop saying she’s dating Diego,” Dillon muttered. He trained his eyes on the computer screen, wishing like hell a match would come up and this conversation would be over. He didn’t want to think about this. He didn’t want to think about how much easier it would all be if Georgie understood his need for adventures like Lulu did. He coughed. “She’s not–”

“As a girl who has a crush on a guy she shouldn’t…” Lulu smirked at him. “I know the signs–” she broke off abruptly. “Was that footsteps?”

“The window!” Dillon went towards it.

“You idiot, we’re on the third floor,” Lulu hissed. She minimized the search to hide it from then next person who used the computer.

“There’s a fire escape,” Dillon growled at her, grabbing her arm and shoving her out the window just before someone tried to open the door.

ICU: Waiting Room 1

The only sound in the room was the tapping of Brenda’s heel against the wooden leg of her chair.

Tap, tap, tap.

Robert glared at the ex-model. “Will you stop that?”

“Sorry…I tend to fidget when I’m nervous,” Brenda sighed. She glanced over at a sullen Maxie and Georgie who was trying to comfort her.

Robert looked like he might argue the point just to be contrary and for God’s sake…to have something to do but Monica stepped into the room before he could decide.

“Robin’s in recovery,” Monica said, wiping her forehead. “She stayed stable throughout the last half of the procedure and after repairing the artery and stopping the internal bleeding…we’re going to upgrade her condition.”

“What does that mean exactly?” Anna asked.

But Patrick understood. He got to his feet. “She’s going to make it.”

“I didn’t say that,” Monica said, but she was smiling a little. “I’m saying that Robin made a turn around in the last hour that we didn’t predict. Her blood pressure is stable, her pulse and her heartbeat are strong and the damage was repaired. The next twenty-four hours remain critical, she could still develop an infection but I’m cautiously optimistic enough to upgrade her to stable condition.”

“Stable condition,” Mac repeated like it was a mantra sent straight from heaven. “Stable means she’ll be okay.”

“Barring any natural disasters or infections,” Monica reminded them. “But with a little luck, yes. We’ll be moving her back into her room in the ICU in about a half hour.”

“When will she wake up?” Brenda asked.

“That all depends on Robin. With her condition and the HIV, her healing process is going to be more difficult, her T-cell did drop significantly and I’m bringing in some specialists to work on raising that but with all her body’s been through, she may not be conscious for another few hours or even until tomorrow morning.” She took her pager off her waist. “I have to go take this–”

“Monica,” Anna stepped forward and clasped the woman’s hands in hers. “Thank you. For saving her.”

“Robin did the hard part.” Monica patted Anna’s shoulder. “I’ll be back later to check on her.”

Budget Motel: Room 12

Rodriguez stepped up to the room number Jason Morgan had given Mac and knocked. There was no immediate answer. He knocked again.

He reached to the small of his back to remove his gun but before he could actually grasp it, the door swung open and he was confronted with Lucky Spencer.

He wasn’t sure what he suspected when he finally came face to face with his old colleague. With the rumors and the suspicion, he expected Lucky to have the red eyes and dazed expression of a drug addict.

But Lucky Spencer looked mostly alert and more importantly, he looked worried. “How did you find me?” he hissed. “Never mind.” He yanked the detective inside. “Did anyone see you?”

“Spencer…” Rodriguez scanned the room and was relieved to find Cameron Webber sitting on the bed, chewing the ear of a stuffed rabbit. “What the hell are you doing up here?”

“What does it look like?” Lucky snapped. He peeked out the curtains. “How did you find me?” he asked again.

“Jason Morgan found you–” Rodriguez shook his head. Spencer was a suspect, not a friend. “Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, Jr. I have a warrant for your arrest in the kidnapping of Cameron Hardy Webber–”

Lucky stopped and whirled around. “Kidnapping? He’s my son–I had to protect him–”

“From what?” Rodriguez dropped the cop mask and reverted back to former colleague. “Spencer, they think you shot Robin Scorpio.”

“Robin?” Lucky repeated. “Robin was shot, too?”

“Too?” Rodgriguez repeated. His head was spinning and none of this was making sense. “Robin was shot at the Metro Court last night–”

“How is that possible?” Lucky demanded. “Why would she be at the Metro Court–” he stopped. “So she knows, too.”

“You’re going in circles, Spencer. Robin was with Patrick Drake in his room before Drake was called back to the hospital–”

“No, no, that was Elizabeth,” Lucky shook his head. He pointed at Rodriguez. “Elizabeth was in his bed, I saw her.”

The agitation, the strange manic look in his eyes and Rodriguez could finally believe the rumors. “No, Spencer, your wife was at the hospital last night. Robin was in his bed. She was sleeping and you shot her.”

“No!” Lucky’s eyes widened. “He said you’d say that but I didn’t! I didn’t shoot my wife, I wouldn’t!”

“Lucky, just come back to Port Charles with me,” Rodriguez said quietly. “We’ll get this all straightened out there.”

“No, I can’t–I can’t go back. He’ll find me and he’ll kill my son.” Lucky shook his head. “That’s what he said.”

“Who said?” Rodriguez demanded. “Who said that, Lucky?”

“He killed her.” Lucky dropped onto the bed and put his hands on his head. “I just wanted to talk to her–I just wanted to ask her why and she was in the bed, and there was blood and she was dead. And he was there and he said if I told anyone–anyone at all, he’d find me and he’d kill me and he’d kill Cameron.”

“We’ll protect you, Lucky,” Rodriguez promised. “We’ll protect you and we’ll protect Cameron.”

“I don’t care about me, I care about Cameron.” Lucky rocked back and forth. “He killed her and if he kills me, Cam won’t have anyone. I have to protect Cameron–”

“We’ll protect Cameron, Lucky. Just come back and straighten this out. We know you didn’t kill your wife. We want your help to find out who did.” Rodriguez knelt in front of him. It was important to make him feel safe, to make Lucky feel like he was believed and in safe hands. “Come home and we’ll fix this.”

“You’ll protect Cameron?” Lucky demanded. “You’ll keep him safe no matter what happens to me?”

“I’ll protect him with my life,” Rodriguez swore. He stood and held out a hand. “Let’s go back to Port Charles.”

General Hospital: Emergency Room

Elizabeth found Jason sitting alone in the Emergency Room. “Hey…Monica said you’d be down here–Carly was shot?”

Jason stood and rubbed his eyes. “Yeah–she’ll be okay though. They said you were in surgery with Robin–how’s she doing?”

Elizabeth smiled briefly and felt lighter than she had in days. “She’s stable now. Unless she develops an infection, she should be okay. And I also stopped in to check with Mac. The detective found Lucky. And Cameron was with him. Detective Rodriguez is bringing him home.”

“That’s great news, Elizabeth.” Jason stepped towards her. “Maybe we’ll get to this bottom of this now.”

“I’m just so relieved Cameron is safe,” Elizabeth said quietly. “I feel like I’ve aged a thousand years in just a few hours, you know?” Her lips twisted into a half smile. “I guess after what you went through with Michael last year, this must look easy in comparison.”

“That was rough,” Jason agreed, “but nothing about this has been easy, Elizabeth. Not knowing where your child is, if you’re ever going to see him again, whether that lasts a few hours, a few weeks or even a few months, it’s the worst thing I could think of for any parent.”

“Cameron’s safe, Robin’s going to live and they’re bringing Lucky home.” Elizabeth closed her eyes. “And I’ll find out for sure if he wanted me dead.”

Her voice broke on the last word and all of the desperation, the fear, the panic, the devastation–it broke at that moment and she started to cry. Her tears turned to sobs and Jason hugged her tightly, wishing he could take her pain away as easily as he’d found Lucky Spencer.

PCPD: Electronics and Surveillance Division

“And here is the security tape for the garden right outside the office.” Cathy shoved the tape in and pressed play. “I hope this has the shooter on it.”

“Please,” her fellow technician Melanie snorted. “I read the tabloids you know. Carly Corinthos has a list of enemies as long as well…have you seen the Nile River?” she remarked as she centered the frame on the window area. “How far away did forensics say the shooter was?”

“No more than few feet from the window, so he should be in the frame.” Cathy reached for her box of Tim Tams and frowned when she found them empty again. “You’ve been eating these again.”

“Have not,” Melanie said innocently. “It was probably the night staff.”

“You always eat them–” Cathy began heatedly.

“Hold on a minute–” Melanie straightened and pressed the zoom button. “Holy shit. Is that who I think it is?”

“What?” the other woman leaned in and gasped. “Oh my God. Oh my God. There’s no way.”

“I better call the Commissioner right away.” Melanie reached for the phone. “Though I bet he’s not going to take this well. Damn it, don’t people ever stay dead in this town?”

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