I'm not going to give excuses, I'm just going to say it has been a rough couple weeks. I'm sorry I haven't gotten time to write and I'm going to try to make it up to you all. You all have A LOT of questions, they will be answered, or at least start to be answered, in coming chapters.
Thank you all for being patient with me, especially Deb!

Chapter 5

Claudia sat behind Sonny's desk with her perfectly manicured feet propped over the edge of the cherry wood top. Her black peep toe stilettos bobbed up and down as she pondered the move she should make. Sonny was due to return to town within mere hours so she needed to make a decision and stick by it. Being a female in the business was difficult most of the time. None of the men took her serious and the ones that did take her serious were only acting that way to get her into bed, Sonny was not an exception.

She needed to make a statement, to show that she was strong and should be feared as much as the men that she is surrounded by. Sam had already called twice since she left the hospital and she worried that Sam couldn't be trusted… not to mention she was erratic. The woman was not good at discretion which was hard to believe since she used to be a con artist.

"Maaaxx!" Claudia called as she lowered her feet to the floor and stood from the desk.

Within a few seconds Max entered the room. "What is it Mrs. C."

Claudia hated being called Mrs. C., probably because that was the same name he used for Carly and she personally felt that she was hundreds of steps better then Carly. "Max, I want you to call the guys. Tell them that the nurse needs to be found and handled."

"Handled?" Max asked hesitantly.

Claudia nodded, "Do you need me to spell it out for you?" she sarcastically asked.

"Are you sure this is the right way to handle this. Miss Webber is a highly regarded nur-"

She cut him off, "I don't care what she is. She shot one of our own men. She shot him and she ran. Running is the number one sign of guilt and intent. What would it say about our organization if we let her just walk away?"

"What if it was an accident and Liz ran because she was scared?" Max reasoned.

"First, you are not here to question my orders. Second, accident or not she had a gun. I don't know about you but I don't carry a gun unless I'm willing to use it." Claudia ticked off on her fingers. "There is no negotiation. Find her and take care of her."

Max nodded reluctantly, "Ok, I'll get the word out."


Neil sipped the extra large coffee his driver had waiting for him when his plane landed. On the plane Neil had called his parents and explained the situation. They were all worried for Elizabeth but it was Ella that expressed her worry for Jason. This was a lot and she hoped he had the strength to make things right both with Elizabeth and the danger she was now in. Neil, on the other hand, had his doubts about Jason. He knew Jason both as a Quartermaine and a Morgan and as the years went on he seemed to have a problem with his priorities. As most men grow older family becomes the main priority but with Jason that was not the case. He could use the danger as an excuse all he wanted but it was clear where his loyalty was… with his job.

Neil had no problem voicing his feelings to Jason about his lack of loyalty to his family. They got along great except where Liz and the boys were concerned.

Neil exited the sedan and nodded to the driver. He climbed into the waiting Mercedes and didn't make it out of the parking lot before his cell phone rang.

"Yea?"

"Neil?"

"Hey mom." He mumbled as he pulled onto the highway.

"I take it you have landed… no put that under the plane, I'll just carry on this bag." She said, interrupting herself to offer directions to someone else.

"Mom, are you at the airport?" he quickly shot.

"Yes." She only said.

"All of you are coming?" Neil hesitantly asked, already knowing the answer by the tone of her voice.

"Yes." Was all she said again.

"You told him?"

Ella sighed, "He overheard our call this morning. There was nothing we could do. You know how stubborn he is, he would have come by himself somehow."

Neil sucked in a deep breath, "Ok. I'm on my way to get Elizabeth but I'm going to stop by the hospital on the way. Hopefully Jason is awake."

"Give him our well wishes." Ella graciously said.

"Well mom, it looks like you'll be able to do that yourself soon enough. Call me when you land."

"Very well. I'll see you tonight."


Jason blinked hoping his eyes would adjust to the bright lights in the room and soothe the pounding in his head.

"If your head is hurting we can give you something for the pain. The bullet may have just grazed your head but it still caused a pretty good concussion." Dr. Drake said.

The pain in his head was compounded when he tried to remember what happened. He pressed his palms against his forehead.

As if he sensed Jason's confusion, Patrick coldly explained, "You were shot in the alley behind Alexandros."

"Sam?" Jason asked.

"Sam is fine, she called 911. She just left to get a little rest but said that if you woke up to let you know she will be back in a couple hours."

Jason was relieved, even though they were not in a serious relationship, he didn't want anyone to get injured because of their association with him.

Patrick continued, "And as long as all of the tests come back ok then you'll be released later today or tomorrow morning. I'd tell you that you will need to take it easy but I guess that would be pointless."

Jason glared at Patrick and his smugness through the pain but Patrick ignored him. "I'll stop back in later today to go over the results."

Jason nodded and closed his eyes again, hoping he would remember why he was in the alley. He remembered walking down the street with Sam… oh, there was a woman screaming. Squeezing his eyes tighter, he rubbed his hand down his face and struggled to remember. Was someone being robbed? No. The image of Elizabeth popped into his head at that moment. The voice of the screams, it was her voice. Her eyes were closed and it was obvious she was scared. She hadn't meant to shoot him, there was something else going on, someone else was in that alley with them.

"Jason?"

The voice was not Patrick's and it was a familiar voice. Jason's eyes opened and he saw Patrick was not standing by his bed, he had left the room and now another man was standing there, a man he did not expect. "Neil."

Neil walked into the room and closed the door behind him. "We have a problem."

"What are you doing here?"

Neil crossed his arms over his chest, "Why do you think? I just landed and I'm on my way to pick up Elizabeth, Cam and Jake to get them to a safe place."

"Safe place?" Jason asked, still confused.

Neil shook his head, "Danger, danger." He mocked. "You are constantly lecturing her about the danger but you can't keep it from her all the time. I don't know all the details but basically your associates are going to look for payback for shooting you so she needs to be protected. I just spoke to Joey, he is on his way."

"Do you think that's necessary? I can handle this without Joey. I can make sure they don't retaliate, it was clearly an accident."

Neil nodded, "Joey actually called me to inform me that a hit was ordered on Liz."

"What!" Jason barked causing his head to throb again.

"Claudia doesn't give a damn who it was, she wants to make a statement, Jason. Elizabeth needs protection and you obviously cannot do that."

"I'll get her to cancel the order." Jason reasoned, overwhelmed with the situation.

"Yea, you do that." Neil sarcastically said. "Although I'm sure you'll screw it up, you always screw things up when it comes to Liz."

"I didn't ask for this to happen, I don't want any of this happening to her." Jason paused for a second. "Why did she have a gun? Where did she get it from?"

"You never gave her a gun?" Neil quickly asked.

"No."

Neil sighed, "I don't know." There was a long silence as both of the men were obviously trying to figure out why she would be carrying a gun. "Well I have to get over there to get her. Call me when you get out of here and let me know the situation."

"Where are you taking them?" Jason asked.

"Don't worry about it. Somewhere they will be safe." Neil turned to leave but stopped at the door and turned back. "You may want to be prepared, Harry and Ella are coming in tonight."

"Your parents? What about…"

"Yep, everyone is coming with them." Neil left it at that and walked out, bumping into Carly on the way out. "Excuse me."

Carly's eyes narrowed and she pushed passed Neil into Jason's room. "Oh my god Jason, are you OK?" she screeched as she ran to his bedside and hugged him then examined the bandage on his head. "Who was that, he looked familiar."

Jason brushed her off by shaking his head.

Annoyed that he avoided the question, she moved on to another, "How the hell did this happen? Who did this?" she asked with he hands on her hips.

Jason's head pushed back into the pillow. This was not what he needed to deal with right now.


Edited 1 time by RTNAdmin1 05/23/10 12:33 PM.