Part III

Two Weeks Later

Jason moved behind Carly, resting his hands on her shoulders. "He's doing better," Jason said. It had been touch and go for the past week, but Michael turned a corner last week and was expected to make a full recovery.

Carly smiled, "The doctors said he can go home in a few weeks," Carly said.

"Mom?" Michael groggily asked.

"I'm right here baby," Carly said, reaching out to touch Michael's face. "You're supposed to be resting."

"I'm fine," Michael said. "You should go home - Jason's here. Mom, I'm fine."

"Carly, he's right. Go home and get some rest. Spend some time with Morgan." Jason said. True to her word, Carly hadn't left the hospital until Michael woke up. That was a little over a week ago. "I can stay here."

Michael's eyes closed and he drifted back to sleep.

Carly sighed and rested her hand on Michael's. "Maybe you can read to him," Carly said. "I know he's asleep, but he still likes it when you read to him. Even if he won't admit it."

"He still calls me at night," Jason said. It didn't happen as often as it used to, but Michael still called him at night to talk to him if he had trouble falling asleep.

"I know," Carly said. "Your voice comforts him, it always has."

"I'll read to him," Jason said. Michael insisted he was too old to be read to. He was at an age where he'd rather read to Carly or Morgan, but right now that wasn't an option. Michael was growing up so fast and pretty soon reading to him won't even be an option. Morgan just started reading, he wondered if Amber was reading yet. He didn't even know what kind of books his daughter liked. He didn't know if Brenda read her fairy tales or books about animals.

"Have you decided what you're going to do about Brenda?" Carly asked.

"They shouldn't be here," Jason said. Brenda moved to get out of the line of fire, to keep their daughter safe. If that's what she wanted, she shouldn't be here.

"You gave her up," Carly said. "I know - I know you don't talk about it, but I know how much you love your daughter."

"I do," Jason said. He loved Amber, he thought of her every day especially when he saw Morgan. They were only a few months apart and he was sure they would've been best friends. But maybe not, he didn't know a single thing about his daughter. He wasn't sure if Amber took after him or Brenda, if she had brown eyes or blue. He'd never held his little girl, but he'd do whatever it took to make sure she stayed safe even if that meant he never got to hold her or read her a bedtime story.

"Have you seen her?" Carly asked.

"No," Jason said.

"You should," Carly said.

"Carly - "

"Jase, come on. She's your daughter. Don't you want to see her?" Carly asked.

"Of course I do. But if me knowing her - if it causes something like this to happen - " Jason shook his head. "I can't do this again. Hell, I can't do this now. But doing it again, it will kill me."

"You've already missed five years. There are no guarantees in life," Carly said. "Yeah, something like this could happen again and that scares me. But you didn't put Michael in this bed. Sonny did by taking off his guards. You wouldn't let something like that happen."

"It's Brenda's decision," Jason said. "She wants - "

"Amber's your daughter as much as she is Brenda's. I'm sick of hearing about what Brenda wants and what Brenda decided," Carly said.

"Where's Brenda?" Carly asked.

"She left," Jason said.

"Okay, when is she going to be back?" Carly asked.

"Brenda's not coming back," Jason said. "She left - she left me, she left Port Charles."

"I told that viper if she broke your heart, I would kill her," Carly said. "What the hell happened in the past forty-eight hours that made her leave you?"

"She's pregnant and she doesn't want our baby used against me. She - "

"She took your baby?" Carly asked. "Where is she? Who does she think she is, taking your baby from you - "

"Carly, don't," Jason said. "It's Brenda's decision. I wouldn't object to raising our baby, but she's right. You just came back. You were kidnapped twice - "

"Lorenzo saved me from Sonny's brother," Carly said.

"You were still kidnapped because of the business," Jason said. "Brenda's not like you. She doesn't embrace this life. She's afraid of it, and I don't blame her. She made her decision and I respect it. Just - just let this go. For me - let it go."

"It's my decision too," Jason said.

"Then do something about it," Carly said. "You're missing out on your daughter's life. Anything could happen - and how would you feel if you never got a chance to know her?"

Jason took a deep breath and knocked on Brenda's door. "Can I come in?" Jason asked when Brenda opened the door.

"Of course," Brenda said. "I put Amber to bed a little while ago."

"Yeah, I figured she'd be asleep," Jason said. "I was with Michael earlier and she went home to be with Morgan. We traded off after dinner. Morgan went to bed about an hour ago, so I figured Amber would be asleep."

"She is," Brenda said. "Make yourself comfortable. Do you want anything? I can order something if you haven't eaten."

"I'm fine," Jason said. He sat down on the sofa and reached behind him when he sat on something hard. He looked at the book and then at Brenda, "Greek Mythology?"

Brenda laughed softly, "Consider it a compromise. It's kind of a fairy tale. Maybe it's not happily ever after, but it's still magical. It's somewhere real and Amber can go visit these places one day."

"Aw You read to him? You read him nursery rhymes and fairy tales and all that? Brenda asked.

"No, no," Jason said. "Actually, I got this really great book about France."

"Are you kidding?" Brenda asked.

"No, I'm not. Pete had this one about - Pete - about the Bahamas. And there was one about Alaska, and I'm just reading this one now," Jason said.

"Wait, are you talking about travel books?" Brenda asked.

"Why not? When he grows up, if he wants to see them, he can. He can't do that with made-up stories," Jason said.

"You read him travel books, huh?" Brenda asked.

"Yeah," Jason said.

"No, I think it's cool. I do. I just think that, you know, every kid should know at least one fairy tale," Brenda said.

"Yeah, well, stories that didn't happen make my head hurt," Jason said.

"That's because you've never heard a really good fairy tale, so you don't know how awesome they are," Brenda said.

"Does she like them?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, she does," Brenda said. "You'll be happy to know she likes them better than fairy tales. She likes those too, but she could spend hours looking at the pictures in that book. I think she likes the pictures better than the stories."

"Morgan does too," Jason said.

"They're practically the same age," Brenda said. "Does - " Brenda paused. "Does that make you miss her more?"

"I can't miss her more," Jason said. Up until five minutes ago, he didn't know one thing about Amber and right now all he knew was that she liked mythology and pictures. He didn't know if she liked to draw. "I love Amber - she's my daughter. Morgan - he's like a son to me, but he's not mine."

"You must hate me," Brenda said. "I wasn't supposed to come back, that was part of our agreement. I was supposed to stay gone. But I couldn't. Jason, when I heard what happened to Michael, I had to come back and make sure you were okay. That was selfish of me, and I'm sorry if me coming home caused you any more pain. That's the last thing I wanted to do - "

"Yeah it hurts to see you. But I don't hate you," Jason said. He could never hate Brenda. Even though she took their daughter, he could never hate her. "You helped me. You helped me realize that Michael's accident wasn't my fault. I'm responsible for it, but it's not my fault. I know how much it cost you to come home and you didn't have to - "

"Yes - yes I did," Brenda said. "I knew how devastated you'd be and that you'd blame yourself. I couldn't - " Brenda sat down next to Jason and reached for his hand. "I couldn't let you blame yourself not - " Brenda's voice trailed off and she pulled back from Jason. "I couldn't let you blame yourself for something that wasn't your fault."

"Maybe it's not my fault directly, but I put Michael in that bed," Jason said. "You knew something like this was going to happen. That's why you left when you were pregnant."

"I didn't know something like this would happen, but I was afraid that it would," Brenda said. "Jason, why - why didn't you fight me on it?"

--

A/N: The travel book flashback happened while Jason and Brenda were stranded and waiting to be rescued after the plane crash.