As Azora, Carly, Brenda, Lucas,Lucky, Luke Jax and Alcazar made it to the Nurses Station they all stopped. The scene that came upon could only be described with one word : pandemonium.

Taggart was handcuffing Sonny.

Cappelli was handcuffing Jason.

One of Azora�s men was physically restraining Skye to keep her from pouncing on them and the other men were stand vigilant, and very intimidating around the door to Mikee�s room.

Carly didn�t know what to do. Ask questions or go straight to Michael. Brenda saw the look of intense confusion in her eyes and put her fingers into her mouth and whistled as loud as she could.

The commotion stopped and all turned their attention to the newcomers. �Answers. NOW!� She demanded, twining her fingers with Carly�s. Carly mouthed �thank you� to which Brenda shrugged.

Chris Ramsey stepped out of Michael�s room and smiled. �Nothing like a little drama to make the days go by a lil faster,� he thought with a sad shake of his head.

�Ms��

�Spencer, her name is Spencer.� Luke cut him off. The less he heard that �C� word the happier a man he would be.

Carly looked at him sharply, this was happening a little to quickly for her liking, but she didn�t care, as long as her son was okay.

�Ms. Spencer, your son wants you.� She went to pass him but he stepped in front of her. �I know that you�ve already been informed of your sons condition, but we just want to make sure that you realize that he doesn�t look like he did the last time you saw him. Just keep that in mind.�

Carly nodded warily, she had this pit in her stomach that only worsened as the seconds ticked by.

Her son.

Her baby. In pain, and there was not a damned thing she could do to change it. Brenda squeezed her hand. �Can I go in with you?� She paused. �I mean, I�m going to have a baby soon and I�ve never really been around kids, and I thought maybe, I could, ya know, watch��

Carly nodded. �Sure, just ignore the blubbering momma.� They both giggled tearfully and then headed for the door.

Taggart watched them as he finally slapped the cuffs on Sonny�s wrists he hissed. �So, big bad meanie, what the HELL you got to say now!�

�These charges are flimsy. Alexis��

�Not in this lifetime.� Alexis said cutting him off, their eyes met and hers were just as cold and cruel as his. Her hand drifted absently toward her stomach as she turned to Taggart. �What happened?�

Taggart sighed. �Well it looks like Azora got me just in the knick of time. �Cause by the time I got up here Sonny was in the midst of man-handling Skye and ended up flinging her against the wall.� Jax looked up his eyes turned a murderous shade of red as he quickly went to Skye and pulled her into his arms.

�She slapped me!� Sonny spat. Taggart looked around. There had to be at least one witness in the sea of people.

�Hey!� He hollered. �Did anyone see Skye Chandler-Quartermaine slap Sonny Corinthos before OR after he flung her against the wall?!� Everyone turned looking at each other. The room fell silent save for a few of Azora�s men who were rocking back and forth on their feet whistling innocently. She stifled a chuckle, so it was true, but no one was going to admit it.

Taggart glared at Sonny. �I�ll take that as a resounding NO!� He looked around for anyone to disagree. �And did anyone see Sonny maliciously fling Skye Chandler-Quartermaine against the wall because she was keeping Sonny and Anger-boy over here from seeing Michael?�

There was a slight pause when Ian Thornheart walked out and looked around and rolled his eyes. Chris leaned against the doorframe and they looked at each other and then with the excitement of small children that knew the answer to a question they raised their hands with a chorus of:

�Ooh ooh ooh. Me! ME! ME!�

�I did! I DID!!�

Taggart shook his head ruefully as the others in the room raised their hands in a similar fashion.

�And I�m taking THAT as a definitive yes!�

Jason remained silent as they began to lead them away. But Taggart stopped for a second. �Hey Luke!�

Luke who had been getting the low down from one of the guards turned around warily. �Yeah Q-ball?�

�Keep an eye out on Carly for me would ya?� He asked hesitantly. He had grown fond of her in the last few months, seeing the real Carly, and not the Carly that everyone else thought they knew did that too people. Luke nodded and turned back to the guards as Jason and Sonny were led away.

�Are you sure you�re okay?�

�Yes Jax, for the millionth time, one of Azora�s men, Eduardo, I think his name was, kept me from hitting my head or falling and then restrained me from mauling him.� She sighed heavily, but she wouldn�t give up the place in her husbands� arms for a million dollars. It was his protectiveness that sometime got tiresome, though she understood why, with Brenda back his emotions were raw, but she�d take him anyway he�d let her have him.

�Yall alright over h�re?� Azora drawled as she sidled up beside them.

�Yes, I�m fine now at least.� She said squeezing Jax.

�Good t�hear. I�m gonna give yens some privacy whilst I make some arrangements fer later.� Alcazar over heard and walked up.

�If you don�t mind, I would like to help with that.�

Azora smiled. �T�sall good.�

He nodded. �Will you tell Bren that I�ll be right back?� He asked Jax hesitantly. There were things that had happened that they had glossed over, things that if he had anything to do with would NEVER see the light of day.

When Jax didn�t reply immediately Skye gave him a squeeze and he looked down into her fiery eyes and nodded. �Yes, I�ll tell her.�

As Alcazar and Azora walked down the hall towards the garden a figure, cloaked in darkness, his face and body hidden from view slipped down an adjoining hall. Alcazar didn�t see him, but Azora, who was as usual in a state of constant awareness saw him out of the corner of her eye. She stopped mid-stride and tried to see who he was, but could only catch a glimpse of his profile. Her temples throbbed suddenly, out of nowhere. She stopped, closed her eyes and groaned, her hand rubbing her brow.

�Something wrong?�

She paused before answering. She didn�t really know the answer. It was weird, because even though she only saw a profile of the man she could have sworn that something about him was familiar. But she shrugged it off. It had nothing to do with Michael, only her weird and sordid past. �Naw, just some dude, t�sall.�

�If you say so.�

�Yeah, how�s bouts we go to the garden and think of a way to keep that boy safe while he recovers.� She suggested.

�Yes, that�s a good idea. And while we�re at it we�re going to find out why Michael was so afraid of Corinthos and Morgan.� She nodded. It worried her that he reacted so� violently to their appearance.

They silently walk out into the garden but Azora stops and rests because suddenly as the migraine its hit full nausea inducing magnitude. She doubles over and nearly falling but Alcazar caught her and assisted her over a to bench.

�What�s wrong? Are you okay?� He asked, noting the pale pallor of her skin and the sweat beads on her forehead. �What happened? You were fine two minutes ago!�

She moaned, leaning her head against his shoulder. �My head� my head�.�

�We need to get you to a doctor.� He said in a whisper, realizing that his voice was only compounding the problem.

�No! NO! No doctors� No doctors� just� Just. Let me sit here fer a spell. I�ll be right as rain in a second�� She whispered beseechingly.

After a few seconds she sighed and pulled away, one hand still firmly holding onto the throbbing side of her head. �Sorry �bout dat.� She apologized shyly, embarrassed that a perfect stranger had to see her in such disarray.

He looked deep into her mismatched eyes, the left the softest palest green he had ever seen and the other coldest hardest blue that he knew God had ever created. Each eye held it�s own personality. One cold and cruel, the other lost, confused, betrayed, bewildered and vulnerable. Eyes so like his daughters, yet so different all in one. �Tell me what brought that on, or I go back in there and get a doctor.�

She sighed heavily. �Great, a do-gooder, just what I fricken needed. �Fine, but I�m warnin� yall. Y�axed fer this, not the other way around.�

�See, I don�t got no memories from before what I think might be my thirteenth birthday.�

�How is that?�

�I don�t know! Honestly, I don�t know! All I know is that one-day I was wondering around in a place I didn�t know. Didn�t know who I was, where I was, nothing. I was totally lost. An dese people took me in and treated me like kin, ya know, like I was their own family or somethin. But I didn� know who I was, so they named me, and they gave a life an' history an' a future, with no strings attached��

�But��

She smiled, he must have seen that a mile away. �But, every once in a while I�d get a migraine, like I was trying to remember something��

�And that man in the hall��

�No, it had nothing to do with this.� She refused to believe it did. �I haven�t had one in years, I�m sure it just it saying �Hey, remember me.�.�

Alcazar sighed, �But you�re okay now.�

She chuckled, �As okay as an amnesiac can be. So can we kindly start making arrangements and stop talking �bout my-lil-oh-self?�

Reluctantly he complied. But something just seemed off.

Carly stepped into the room and stopped dead in her tracks. Her heart lurched in agony over the site before her. Her baby, her precious little baby boy hooked up to more machinery than a factory and with more casts than a mummy.

Michael looked up and saw his mommy, tears instantly filled his eyes as he reached out for her. �Mooooommy!!!� He whispered clenching and unclenching his fists for her. �I missed you!!!� He whispered as she rushed to him and gently held him in her arms. �I miss-ed you sooo much, Mommy.�

�I missed you too Mr. Man.� She sobbed, unable to hold them back any longer. �I missed you more than you can ever imagine.�

He held onto her as tightly as he could, even though weak he still mustered all the strength he needed to wrap his arms around her and squeeze her as tight as he could. To him it felt like a bear hug, but to her if felt as though her was barely hanging on.

�I�m so sorry momma, I swear, I�ll be good for the rest of my life.� He whispered as tears cascaded down his face.

�Oh, baby. Shhhh, shhh, this isn�t your fault.�

But he couldn�t hear her words, he only continued to apologize. �I�m so sorry, I�m sorry, so sorry, I swear, I�ll be good.�

Carly began to rock him, trying to sooth his fears. She looked over his shoulder toward AJ who sat looking just as hurt and pained as she did upon hearing his words. They were both to shocked to say a word as he whispered. �Just don�t make me go back. I swear, I�ll be a good boy, just don�t let them hurts me no more. I swear, I�ll be a good boy.�

�Oh honey, I swear, no ones ever going to hurt you. I swear, we�re never going to let those men near you ever again.�
He pulled away and looked into her eyes, his pleading for her love and acceptance. �Pwomise me you�ll never leave me. Pwomise?�

�I promise, I�ll never let you go. I�ll never leave you, ever.�

Her passionate words were all he needed as his sleep deprived body let go of consciousness and allowed him to sleep. His heavy eyes closed and his body relaxed and he fell asleep against her, his head over her heart, his arms around her, even his cast wrapped around her back.

She felt his breathes even out and maneuvered so that she could lie down next to AJ on the gurney.

She looked at him and saw that he too was crying and whispered. �We�ll never let him go.�

He felt his heart swell at her words and he reached down and caressed their sons hair whispering: �We�ll never let you go, Michael, you hear that. We�re never going to let anyone hurt you ever again.� He whispered to the slumbering boy.

Ian quietly entered the room and smiled at the picturesque site before him. �Hello.�

They looked up. Carly glanced down at Michael and couldn�t help but ask. �Dr. Thornheart.�

�Yes?�

�His hair, it�s so, so dirty��

He sighed. �Yes, Dr. Ramsey and I considered bathing him but then we remembered his reaction to us whenever we were stitching him up and reconsidered. We thought it better to wait for the both of you to be here and perhaps you could do it. He�s the most comfortable with you anyway.�

They nodded their appreciation. AJ saw Brenda and smiled. �Are you okay with this?� He asked out of concern as she looked pale and teary.

�Yeah, it�s just the hormones.� She said sniffling. She turned to Ian. �He looks so thin.�

�Aye, he�s lost a considerable amount of weight that is why he�s on the I.V. and glucose drips.� He turned to the parents. �Given the right amount of time, the right environment and as little stress as humanly possible and as well as some good old fashioned TLC Michael ought to be fine a matter a months. But I recommend that he talk to Kevin Collins or Gail Baldwin. Because, let�s face it, he�s in a very tenuous place right now."

�He�s only a child and he�s at the all important stage of life where he learns right from wrong by means of positive and negative enforcement and it�s pretty evident by the way he has reacted thus far that no matter how hard he tried to please whoever had him, it was never good enough.�

�He�s going to want your acceptance so I sincerely doubt that he�ll want to open up to you about his experiences especially if he thinks that what he says will make you pity him or think less of him. I�m no head shrinker but I can tell you from what I�ve learned in other abuse cases that he�s going to need a confidant to talk too. A person that will be able to get him to talk without him realizing that he�s talking about what happened. The more at ease he is the more he�ll talk and the quicker he�ll be able to move on.�

�But I should say one thing. This, by no means, is going to be a short recovery. So I can only hope that you�re in this for the long haul because that�s what this is going to be, a very long haul.�

AJ, Carly and Brenda looked at each other and gulped and nodded. They were in it for the long haul.

Taggart watched as Sonny and Jason were processed, but turned his attention to their affects. Two cell phones, three pagers?, he found that curious, two sets of men�s wedding bands? Hold up, he thought. Morgan�s not married. or is he�

He plucked up the sleeker of the two phones, figuring it to be Morgan�s, nothing fancy, nothing showy, no extra gizmos or gadgets, just a basic phone. Like Jason, simple, and right to the point.

To commit a small crime or not to commit a small crime is the question. He wondered a bit before looking around, making sure there were no witnesses, before turning the phone on the phone and checking the voice mail.

You have 10 messages the robotic voice informed him.

Hrmmm he thought as he pressed the play button.

His face paled as he listened to the messages.

�I�ll be a son a �� He muttered to himself. But he couldn�t act on the phone messages alone. He was going to need someone to look into this.

He put down Jason�s phone and picked out his own dialing the number that Luis slipped him at GH. �Hello, Luis Alcazar? This is Marcus Taggart�yes� We talked at the hospital� yes that was me� Listen, I need a favor� And Brenda might be the only one that can get through to him�� He explained as he left the precinct.

Michael�s good eye fluttered open to see AJ�s brown eyes looking into his matching brown eye. He snuggled against his mother�s chest, inhaling her lilac scent that was both heady and comforting.

�Hey lil guy,� AJ whispered as he reached out to caress his cheek. Michael leaned into, savoring the contact, the warmth, and the kindness behind the action. �Have a bad dream?�

Michael closed his eyes and shook his head no. �No more bad dream. Only good stuff.� He whispered.

Carly and AJ shared a smile, but they both noticed that he was whispering as though he was afraid of speaking out of turn.

�Good.� Carly cooed as she caressed his hair. It may have been greasy but she didn�t care. She had her son in her arms, which was something she couldn�t have said earlier that day.

Michael looked at AJ as though he was forgetting something. He closed his eyes and thought real hard.

Kristina chuckled. �Why sure. He�ll have brown eyes but they�ll be so shallow that you can see his soul��

��so shallow that you can see his soul��

The words repeated like the slow methodic beat of a drum in his head and he slowly, cautiously opened his eyes and peered into the eyes that studied him so readily. His eyes were brown but so expressive, and there was this light in his eyes that let you see what he was feeling, and thinking. Michael gasped a little. Which made his expressive eye show his worry.

�Are.. Are you okay?�

He nodded. �What happened?�

�You�re him.� He whispered.

�He�s who honey?� Carly asked a little nervous, she and AJ shared a perplexed and anxious look over his head.

�You� you da one dat Angel Lady tolt me about.� He whispered excitedly, his one open eye sparkling with a newfound hope that he hadn�t felt in months that had dragged like years.

�Angel Lady?� They asked.

�She kept me safe, gave me pretty happy dreams, she� she was my Angel.� He explained with a wistful tone.

Intrigued AJ wanted to know what she looked like. �Can you tell us what she looked like Michael?� He asked hoping not to be pressing.

He nodded excitedly, his voice gaining a bit of volume. �She had the prettiest red hair, like mine, and brown eyes, like mine, and she had such a pretty singingk voice. She was kinda small but gave me da bestest hugs and kisses.� His eye grew dark and his voice dropped. �Whenever they yelled at me for long long times she always make my ear unhurt.�

Now they were confused. �Did you see her a lot?� Carly asked, wondering if �Angel Lady� was a figment of her imagination or real.

�No, dey din�t lemme sleep bunches�� his voice trailed off. �If you ever EVER tell anyone what we�ve done to you they�ll HATE you! They�ll think your nothing but a bastard who couldn�t do nothing but CRY! Ya big baby! So keep your yap shut!� the memory so vivid and clear caused him to break out into a sweat.

�Michael, remember, the man that will save you will ALWAYS save you. From now and forever�� her words, so soft and soothing propelled him into AJ�s arms as he cried.

�I�m sorry� I�m so, so sorry� please don�t be mad� I swear I�ll be good.� He begged through his tears his voice muffled by AJ�s shirt.

His heart lurched, they�d come so far and now they�d regressed. �It�s okay Michael�� he cooed rubbing his back gently. �Me and Carly won�t let anyone hurt you ever again.�

�You keeps me safer.� He murmured into his chest.

�We�ll keep you safe.� He reassured him, reaching out for Carly�s hand as she was too over come to speak.

Brenda felt like the third wheel and excused herself to the balcony for some air. Seeing an innocent child like that so torn and so hurt and scared made her wonder what kind of a world was she being her child into.

As she closed her eyes she heard footsteps and whirled around.

�Whoa� hey� it�s only me.� Alcazar said to keep her from assailing him.

�Oh� I�m� I�m sorry. I just�� She shook her head and rushed into his arms. �It�s horrible. Michael, he didn�t deserve this� you should see him� it�s� it�s� unfathomable how someone can be so cruel and calculating to small child.�

He held her for a second before pulling away. �It�s actually a good thing that you came out here cause I need you.�

�What? Has something��

�No doll face, we just needs you to do us a favor s�all.� Azora said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Brenda looked at the girl and noticed how pale and shaky she was and was about to comment on it when Luis saw it in her eyes and answered her question. �I need you to talk to Jason Morgan. On our way there we�re going to drop off Miz�� He turned to her. �What is your last name?�

�Y�think I got one?� She snorted.

He rolled his eyes. �Anyhow, we�re going to drop off Mizz Azora at our yacht.�

�Hey, yo, I got an apartment!� She argued.

�Then one of my men will be close by. Either way I win.� He retorted.

�Wha�e�er.� She said flipping her dreads over her shoulder and sauntering over to the elevator.

�Luis, why am I going to talk to Jason Morgan? We can�t stand each other.�

Luis nodded as they followed Azora. �Yes, but you�ll have to forgive my bluntness here, your pregnant, and � well just believe me, you�ll get through to him. I�ll fill you in once we�ve dropped off she-who-has-no-last-name off at her apartment.�

�Okay, but this had BETTER be GOOD!!�

It was like stalking wounded pray. So easy, yet he had to be calculating about when he sprung his trap.

He they tried to get him before he saw his face he might have a fighting chance. But none of that would matter once the boy set eyes on him. After all these years it would be good to get back what he had once claimed, owned and dominated for so long. He licked his lips in anticipation. He could hardly wait.

Zander stood on the docks, looking at the sky beyond Wyndemere, and sighed. It had been such a long day, but they had found Michael, at least AJ had, so he felt no compulsion to stick around. After all, they weren�t his family, just one less person to worry about.

Footsteps caught his attention. He turned, expecting maybe Lucas or Lucky but instead seeing a face that haunted his worst nightmares. His head began to throb and only got worse as the man walked close and closer.

He tried to back up but two thugs restrained him forcing him to his knees while one pulled his head back by his hair.

The figure walked up to him, caressed his cheek and asked. �Remember me?� He asked taunting Zander as he was in the throws of a massive mind splitting migraine.

�You�re� not� real�� he muttered trying to make his head stop throbbing. But the mans boisterous laugh did nothing to help.

But the man stopped and punched him, knocking him out cold.

�That�s what your sister thinks too.� He said as his men carried him off.

One down.

One to go.

chapter five

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