Jason is on a mission to locate Elizabeth before his time runs out. Everyone bands together to help, and he is in for a big surprise when they finally meet face to face under dire circumstances.
A/N – Alright. Here is the preview. This "ficlet" is 6 chapters. I did change some things around, like Liz already has her nursing license Courtney time.
Hope you like it. Let me know what you think.
Chapter 1
Jason sucked in his breath as he tried to focus in on anything. He could tell there were people all around him, shouting as they jostled his body. Something was terribly wrong. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was being in the diner—Kelly's. A place he once loved, but with Elizabeth gone, it represented pain. Courtney had called him and said someone was in the alley behind the diner and they tried to grab her. He had hoped she wasn't lying because she was another person he wished that he never had to see again. It was because of her grabbing him and kissing him several months before, something Elizabeth unfortunately saw, that caused a whole chain of events that resulted in Liz's disappearance. For the last six months, he had looked for her everywhere, driving his body to the extreme. On Sonny's command, Johnny was glued to his side, making sure that he ate and drank, but Jason didn't care. His body didn't matter to him. He needed to find Elizabeth and make things right. His mind was jolted back to the present. The alley… What happened?
Leo and Leyla worked feverishly on him, but he wasn't responding. His blood pressure was sky high, and he had two seizures since he got there. Courtney had called 911 when she heard some commotion and by the time they got there, Jason was gone. He had been missing for seventy-two hours and then his body was unceremoniously dumped on the sidewalk outside General Hospital. Monica had found him and they couldn't figure out what the hell was going on with his body. From what they could gather, his neural synapses were firing, at least that is what Leo suspected. They called in Noah Drake and were doing a scan when another seizure hit.
"He's trying to wake up," Monica said.
"Maybe he'll know what the hell happened to him," Leo muttered. Jason was a hot mess. Until they knew what they were dealing with, their hands were tied. They had run every test imaginable and Noah was currently going over his CT scan.
"Jason. Can you hear me?"
His eyes snapped open and he desperately tried to make out who was talking to him.
Monica laid a hand on his shoulder. "Jason, it's Monica. Take a deep breath. You're in the hospital."
Slowly her face came into focus. "What's wrong with me?"
"We don't know and were hoping you do."
"I was at Kelly's in the alley. That's the last thing that I remember."
"You were there to help Courtney, but someone must have ambushed you."
He tried to remember more, but his head was aching. "Headache."
"You have had several seizures. Your blood pressure is through the roof."
Alan moved towards them. "Noah is on his way." Jason's eyes were locked on him. "I'll leave if you want."
"It's okay," Jason said. He didn't know why it was okay, but it just seemed right that they were there. If something were to go terribly wrong, he didn't want to be alone. Things had been tense between them since the accident and they rarely spoke, maybe it was time to let the bitterness go.
Noah walked in. Fear. Jason could smell it on him. He was screwed, that much was evident. "Jason, it appears that someone implanted you with a device. It's what has caused you to have the seizures. While I was reviewing them with a colleague, a letter was delivered."
Jason eyes drifted to the piece of paper in his hands which was slightly shaking.
"I'm afraid that a Dr. Devlin has implanted you with a device that will be triggered in forty-eight hours. At that time, it will attack your neurological system and you will die."
Monica gasped as tears flooded her eyes. "Can't you do something?"
"Due to the location, even if we got it out, he would probably be a vegetable."
Jason swallowed languidly. After all the confrontations and gun fights he had been in, conflicts he somehow barely survived, now he was going to be taken out in such a cowardly way that he didn't even know how to process it. The room was uncomfortably quiet. He licked his lips. "Can I go?"
Everyone's eyes shot to him.
"What?" Monica said.
"Can—I—go?"
"Jason, that wouldn't be recommended. You're having seizures and your body is a mess right now. We have no idea what other problems could arise," Noah said.
"Can you give me something for the seizures?"
"Yes, but—"
"I'm leaving. I have to do something. It's important."
Monica was at a loss for words.
Alan looked at the Noah and then the nurse. "Can you give us a moment alone with our son please?"
"Sure," Noah said. "I'll be in the hallway."
Alan waited until they were gone and then turned to Jason. "What is so important that it's worth risking your life for?" His son's eyes filled with tears, making him teeter back on his heels in shock.
"Love."
'Who?" Monica asked, finally finding her voice.
"Elizabeth Webber."
Alan frowned. "Isn't she gone?" Elizabeth had just started working for General Hospital when she disappeared. Everyone had been scared that something had gone horribly wrong and he knew that Jason blamed himself. They weren't terribly close, but he tried to keep an eye on him.
"Yes. I need to find her. I can't die without her knowing how I feel about her. She's everything to me and I screwed up."
"How do you know that she is alive?"
"If she wasn't, I would know. That is just the nature of my business." If someone had killed her, they would have bragged or used it in some way to control him. None of that had occurred. It was as if she had disappeared into a black hole.
Alan and Monica's eyes locked for a moment.
"What can we do to help?"
"Nothing. I need to do this on my own."
"Jason, you can't go by yourself," Monica said.
"I'll take Johnny. He's probably here already. Go into the hallway and say his name."
Alan did so and a man sheepishly appeared from around the corner. "Jason wants to see you."
Johnny nodded and walked past him. "What's going on?" he asked as he perused Jason's body, looking for the cause of his distress.
"I need to go and you're coming with me."
"What's up?" When they had gotten word that Jason was down, they had scoured the city for him with no luck.
"He has a chip in his head that will kill him in forty-eight hours," Alan said.
Johnny stepped backwards, like he was pushed while he tried to process that.
"Jason wants to leave and find Elizabeth Webber. We can't keep him here against his will, but I can at least make sure that someone has his back."
Johnny's eyes locked with Jason's. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"I can't die without talking to her. They can't remove it." He didn't want to focus on his death when there was nothing he could do about it.
"We could get Stan to help us find out who did this and go after them—maybe kill the program that is controlling it."
"He can do that while I'm looking. Johnny, I need your help. I know that Stan had a couple of leads. We need to pick the best one and go with it."
Johnny let out a long breath. Sonny was going to kill him, but he couldn't let Jason do this alone. "Alright, I'm in."
Monica rolled her eyes.
"I'll take care of him the best I can. What do I do?"
Monica went over Jason's care and got some medicine. "He should keep his head still. Any additional brain injury could kill him."
"Okay. What else?" He would call Francis in if he had too. The man had abruptly quit after Liz disappeared because he was so devastated that she went missing on his watch.
"Rest. He's going to be tired. The medicine will minimize the seizures, but they will still take their toll on his body.
"Alright."
Monica started to remove the cords that were monitoring his brain activity. "Do you have any idea where you are headed?"
"No." They didn't need to know the details. Whoever did this to him was probably tracking him too, so he'd need some gun power when he got there and would have to pull some men.
As if he read his mind, Johnny stepped out into the hallway and made some calls. Once Monica was finished, Alan helped Jason sit up.
"I know you're worried. I'm sorry that I've been so distant. I just—it was my way of surviving and taking control of my life. I know you don't agree with the lifestyle I chose, but if this is goodbye, I just want you to know that I'm sorry if I hurt you."
Monica stepped in front of him. "May I?"
Jason slightly nodded and Monica gently embraced him.
"I love you Jason. You are my son and while every instinct is telling me to stop you, I know that would be selfish and controlling. I just don't want you to die."
Jason looked away. "I don't want to die either."
Alan joined them. "We made mistakes. I hope you know how sorry we are too. We love you and only wanted the best for you. I guess we just didn't know how to let go of who you were before. Can you forgive us?"
"Okay." It just seemed wrong, at this point, to continue pushing them away.
Alan hugged his son, savoring how good it felt, and then reluctantly let him go. "Take care of yourself Jason. Somehow, this has to work out. I can't lose you again."
His father's eyes filled with tears and Jason sucked in a harsh breath. This was too much. He couldn't focus on his impending death. The only thing he needed to make a priority was finding the woman that he loves and spending whatever time he has left with her.
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Johnny watched Jason's eyes slowly close. This was shit show and he was scared. It wasn't an emotion that he allowed to overtake him very often, but the seriousness of the situation was tearing his stomach up. They pulled up to a building and he parked, waking Jason up. He opened the back door and Jason slid out.
Once inside, four men averted their attention from their phones, closely taking in their friend.
"Thank you for coming," Jason said before sitting.
"We have your back," Milo said.
"Johnny has filled you in on the situation. My health is not important. We need to find Elizabeth before it's too late."
Stan came out of an office and approached them. "I think that she is in Canada. I don't have an address yet, but in the meantime, you can head towards Guelph. Ian Devlin is in Russia. I already have some men on it."
"My dad is handling it," Milo explained.
"Thank you."
"We need to figure out who hired Ian," Johnny said.
"I'm on it. I won't sleep. I'm set up in the office and Cooper is going to keep me company and make sure I have coffee, food, and a stun gun if necessary to wake me up. I won't let you down," Stan said.
Jason was moved by their tenacity.
"You have always been respectful and have done a lot for the organization. This is what you deserve."
Sonny walked towards them, making Jason's eyes grow big. "Did you really think I wouldn't find out what you are doing?"
Jason closed his eyes. "Sonny…."
"While I'm a little affronted, we really don't have time for that. You're taking the plane. Jason, you're like a brother to me and I care what happens to you. I also know that I have to let you find your own way, so I'm not going to fight you. Losing you is not an option. Stan will do everything he can to help you and I won't stand in his way."
Jason stood and went to shake Sonny's hand and his boss pulled him into a half hug. Sonny depended on Jason for a lot and he was trying to emotionally hold it together to be strong, but knowing this might be the last time that he saw him was devastating him.
"Goodbye my friend," Sonny said softly.
"Thank you for everything," Jason replied.
An emotional Sonny walked away and the guys got back to work revising their plan until they were completely satisfied.
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Elizabeth sighed as she rearranged the charts in front of her. She missed Port Charles and wondered what Emily and Nikolas were up too. And then there was Jason, the man who held such a big piece of her heart. She was truly feeling remorseful for up and leaving, but she couldn't watch him with Courtney Matthews. He had moved on so quickly and it had hurt her to the core. Regardless of the fact that she had pushed him away and acted as if he was dead to her, seeing him kiss Courtney had thrown her over the edge.
Her eyes traveled around the room, looking for the man who now made her feel safe and protected. Finally, they locked with Francis's and she slightly smiled. He was wonderful, arranging to get her out of the country and help her start a new life. For now, he was a security guard at the hospital, going by the name of Henry Kint, so he could be near her. It would be what Jason would want if he knew. Part of him felt guilty for what he had done, but he figured at least if something happened, he could get word back to Johnny and Jason could be notified. It was better than having her completely disappear without a trace. When she had come to him, distraught and in the midst of a breakdown, he couldn't say no to her. He helped her pack some things and then he hid her for a few days while he quit. She looked online during that time and found a job opening for a waitress and that is how they ended up in Canada. It had taken several months, but she passed their nursing equivalency exam and was now working in a hospital.
Every day she had a stare down with her phone, dialing Jason's number and then turning it off. He was probably still with Courtney and she just couldn't bear to think about it. The woman had pretended to be her friend and knew how torn up Liz was about what Jason and Sonny had done. Now the lying just didn't seem to matter. Jason had followed Sonny's orders and avoided her so he didn't have to lie to her. At the time, it seemed like such a huge betrayal because of what she had went through with Lucky's supposed death, but now—now she realized that it was par for the course in their line of business. Jason couldn't tell her everything and she had let her hurt and angry fuel her reaction. Now Courtney was with the man she had fallen in love with. Stripper Barbie was now living her dream. She pushed back her emotions and grabbed a chart and walked away from the nurse's station. It was not the time to lose it, she had too much work to do.