Chapter Thirty-two
A few minutes latter
Outside Jason’s apartment

Everyone except Stefan had headed back to the apartment.  He had said that he was going to take care of the clean-up job.  No one had disagreed.

Jason opened the door to his apartment and they all filed in.  Lucky was the last to enter.  He closed the door and no sooner had he did so then Liz ran up and hugged him tightly.  He heard her whisper a prayr of thanks.

“I hate to be rude but where is Erin and Robin?”  Sonny asked when the two had parted.

“Luke took Erin to the hospital, Bobbie and Robin when with him.”  Liz said gently.  She wasn’t sure how he was going to react.

“The Hospital?  Why did they go there?”  Nik asked shocked.

“I don’t know, I think you should let Erin tell you that.”  Liz said quietly.

At the hospital

They arrived there just in time to see Bobbie come out of a room.  Nik ran up to her.  “Bobbie, where is Erin?”

“She’s in there.  She just fell asleep,” She grabbed Nik’s arm to stop him from going in.  “I have to worn you, she’s pretty banged up.  She’s not looking her best.”

Nik didn’t care.  He pulled his arm out of her grasp and went into the room.  Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.  Erin was hooked up to a bunch of machines.  The only sounds in the room were the steady beeping of her heart monitor, the hum of the equipment, and her soft breathing.

He walked soundlessly to her side and sat down.  Nik took her hand and kissed it.  He sat there just watching her sleep.

Jason, Sonny, and Lucky (with Liz attached to his side) walked up to Bobbie.  “What happened?”  Sonny asked barley able to find his voice.

“From what she told me, one of Helena’s men beat her up.  She’s in satisfactory condition.  She doesn’t have any broken bones, only some nice cuts and bruises.  We just need to keep her over night for observation.  She’s asleep right now and Nikolas is in with her.  You can go in if you want, but I want her to get some rest so don’t wake her up, okay?”  Bobbie said sternly.

“We’ll weight for Nik to come out.”  Lucky said, speaking for everyone else.  He and Liz went and sat down in the weighting room.  Sonny and Jason proceeded to pace the floor.

Lucky could tell, by how Liz was acting, that something was wrong.  “Liz, baby, what’s wrong?”  Lucky asked worried.

“Not here.”  She told him hoarsely.

Lucky led Liz up to the roof of the building.  He had learned that not many people knew how peaceful it was up there, so no one was usually there.  “Okay, now tell me what’s wrong.”  Lucky said taking her hands in his.

“Oh, nothing’s wrong,” Liz said sarcastically. “Unless, you call being scared out of my mind for hours, not knowing if you are alive or anything.”  Liz threw her hands up in frustration.

“Baby-”

“Don’t.  Let me finish.  Luck I love you so much, and not knowing if you were going to come back was hell.  All I can say is that the last time I was that scared was the night of the rape.  I need you to promise me that you will never do that to me again.”  Liz looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

“Oh, baby,” Lucky held her close to him.  He was surprised to find that he was crying too. “I am so sorry that I scared you,” He wiped the tears from her face.  “I can’t promise that I will never be in danger again, but I want you to know that I will always come back to you.”

“But what if you don’t?”

“Liz, you are what keep me alive.  Nothing will make me fight with everything I have, then to come home to you, and to be able to hold you in my arms.  Like I did last night,” Lucky whispered into her ear.  “I love you.”  Lucky brushed his lips against Liz’s.

“I love you too.”  Liz threw her arms around Lucky’s neck.

Luck just held Liz close to him and let his tears flow.  Th thought of never seeing Liz again was the worst thing he could ever think of.

Erin’s hospital room

“Hey beautiful,” Nik brushed some stray hair out of Erin’s face.  “How ya feeling?  Oh G-d that’s a dumb question.  You should be happy to know that Helena won’t be bothering you ever again.  She’s out of commission…permanently.”  Nik kissed her forehead softly.  Nik left the room quietly with tears streaming down his face.  Sonny and Jason looked up from the weighting room couch.

Sonny was the next to go in.  He too wasn’t prepared for what he saw.  “Hey little one.  I don’t want to sound rude but you look like hell,” He looked down at her sadly.  “I have some good news for you.  I’ve decided to stay.  I’ve made all the arraignments and I’m going to talk to Jason.  I know a lot of people aren’t going to like it but I know you will, and that’s all that matters.  You’ve been like a daughter to me.  You stood by me when I lost Lilly and I left everything behind when I left.  And I’m going to stay by you for the rest of my life, I promise.”  Sonny just sat there looking at her and watching her sleep, just like he used to do when she was younger.  She looked so small and fragile in the hospital bed, nothing like her usual self.  Before when he looked at her he saw a strong girl that wasn’t afraid of anything.

Jason stood and looked in the small window into Erin’s room.  He hated the sight of her lying in that bed.  She had been through so much sense she had arrived two weeks ago.  Jason sighed in frustration.  If he couldn’t keep a 16-year-old girl safe then how was he going to keep Robin safe?  And what if they had children?  This wasn’t the life for children.

“A penny for you’re thoughts?”  Robin asked leaning into his chest.

“What?”

“Sorry, it’s an expression.  What are you thinking?”  Robin explained.

“It’s just so unfair that she has to go through this.  She’s lost all of her family and she nearly lost her life.  All because her made an enemy out of Helena, because of his line of work.  Charlie trusted me with protecting her and I couldn’t do that.  She’s old enough to know what risks she can take and what she can’t.  All I had to do was keep an eye on her, something as simple as that and I couldn’t do that.  If I can’t keep and eye on a 16-year-old, what am I going to do if we have children?”

“Jason, you’ll be a great father.  That is the least of your worries.”  Robin said leading him away from the window.

“I’m not worried about that.  Look what the organization has done to Erin.  I could live with myself is something like that were to happen to you or our children.”  Jason said sadly.  Normally thinking about the future gave him a headache but this was clear.  The organization was no place for children.

“Jason if you don’t remember, I grew up with my family in the WSB.  It’s not the organization but it is almost as dangerous if not more, and I turned out fine.  You’ll do your best.” Robin told him reassuringly.

“But what if my best isn’t good enough?”  Jason asked.  He was not going to let this just go.

“Jason, anything you put your heart to you can’t fail.  Now come on, you have nothing to worry about.  We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”  Robin and Jason sat down in the weighting room.

Sonny came out of the room a few minutes latter and Jason and Robin went in.  IT was like the changing of the guards, they were determined not to leave her alone, and that someone would be there when she woke up.  Jason and Robin sat in silence.  After a few minutes Robin could see that the sight of Erin all beat up was unnerving to Jason, so she led him out and told Nik to go back in with her.

“I should give Brenda a call and tell her what happened.  Her and Erin have grown pretty close.”  Robin got up and went to the pay phones.

“If you want you can go back to the penthouse and I’ll call you if there is any change.”  Jason told Sonny.

“Why would I want to do that?”

“Are you sure that you want Brenda to see you back in town?”

“She’s going to have to get used to it,” Sonny smiled at Jason.  “Erin talked me into staying, I’m her legal guardian now and she belongs where her home is.  And her home is here, with all of you.”  A brad smile spread it’s self over Jason’s face.

“That’s great.”  Jason and Sonny hug.  Jason knew that Sonny wasn’t going to like what he was going to suggest so he decided to weight till later to tell him.

Brenda arrived a few minutes later, she wasn’t happy to see Sonny, so ignored him the whole time.  Lucky and Liz returned from the roof and went in to see Erin.  For only being in town for two weeks Erin had touched the hearts of many people. 

V came over to Jason and Sonny, followed by Garcia and Taggert.  “We heard about the kidnapping.  How is Mr. Brown doing?”  V asked genially concerned.

“She’s asleep now, but she was beat up pretty bad.  But they said that she is going to be okay.”  Jason told her.  V was one of the only cops that he liked.  She didn’t hassle him, she played by the rules and she had a sense of humor that kept things light.  She also did her best to keep Taggert from getting in his face.

“That’s good to hear.  How are her eyes doing?”  Taggert opened his mouth to say something but V stepped on his foot to keep him quiet.

“Her eyesight is back, thank you for asking.”

“I just need to get a statement from all of you about what happened,” V said getting down to business.  V send Taggert to go talk to Robin, she knew that he wouldn’t say try anything dumb with her, her being the commissioner’s niece and all.  After about an hour of questions and Taggert’s lame excuse for trying to get under Jason’s collar V thanked him for his time and said that they would be going.  V pulled Jason aside.  “I didn’t want to say this in front of Taggert, but thank you.”

“For what?”

“For taking care of Helena.  I know you won’t admit it but I know you had something to do with it either you or Mr. Corinthos.  If it were up to the justice department she would have gotten off scott free, so thank you.”  V ran to catch up with Taggert.

Jason smiled to himself.  So she wasn’t the strait arrow that she wanted everyone to believe she was.