Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blue prints of your ultimate achievements.

CH 20

Nikolas looked up at the building and felt a feeling of comfort wash over him, a sense of familiarity sunk in. He thought he had been here before. And he saw her here, his Gia. He also remembered meeting an adorable little girl who had captured his heart as well here. His heart began to race with anticipation as he approached the doors to the building. They opened up as he approached. That’s funny; he didn’t remember it doing that the first time. His face contorted with concern as he stepped inside and looked around. This wasn’t it. He wasn’t sure where he was. He apprehensively walked further, all the while looking around to see where he was. It looked like a hospital; he nodded as he realized that it was. A sinking feeling began to invade him as he walked further. There was no one around. He was alone; the building was silent, giving it an eerie feeling. He heard the faint sound of a machine beeping, and instinctively, his body moved in the direction of the noise. He stopped at the door to a room; it was dark inside, only a small amount of light seeped through a window in the corner. He slowly entered the room, his heart was pounding so fast now, and something made him move towards the bed, he couldn’t stop himself. Fear slammed into him as his eyes landed on the occupant of the bed he was nearing. Gia had her eyes closed, her hands were limp and to her sides. That steady rhythm of the machine beeping had suddenly merged to one flat hum. “Gia?” He said quickly. Nothing happened. He shook his head stubbornly. He reached out to touch her face and she was cold, he quickly jerked his hand back. Tears slipped down his face. “No.” he breathed. “Gia? Please Gia open your eyes. No.” He cried. There was nothing.

Gia opened her eyes and looked up, she sighed and set up straighter in the seat of the train. She had fallen asleep again. She had been drifting in and out of sleep every few minutes. Not really getting any decent sleep. She was sure that she had been dreaming, but she never remembered what they were about. Her dreams just didn’t matter any more. The only thing that mattered was that she got to her brother. It would only take her a total of two hours to get there, but she was nervous as hell as she sat in her seat, fighting aching pain in her chest. She had fought her tears when she called Rory and Caleb and told them that she was leaving. Kept her cool when she called in at work, she had Jenny promise to tell Jordyn that she would be back as soon as she could. She was holding it together pretty well, but the more she sat on this train, the more anxious she became. She laid her head back and looked out the window. She prayed that her brother would be alive when she arrived in Port Charles.

Nikolas wiped off his mouth with the back of his hand as he moved his head away from the toilet seat. He had literally made himself sick from crying. He had woken up screaming, and it quickly turned to crying, and then sobbing. After his first dream downstairs, he had moved up to his bed, he had prayed that he would dream about her again so that he could talk to her. But then he did dream, and it was awful. He had crawled in bed and lay in the middle of it, and curled up into a fetal position and let violent sobs consume him, his whole body convulsing until he felt sick. Now, he crawled on his hands and knees from his bathroom floor, over to his bed, and just sat up against it. The dream seemed so real. Why hadn’t she answered him? He had an odd feeling that this was not the same as the other dreams, that it was somehow different. He began to panic again as a thought entered him. What if it wasn’t just a dream? What if Gia was real and it was a premonition? What if she was dead? He covered his mouth at that thought, shaking his head as he tried not to vomit again. He held his head in his hands and continued to cry.

The train eased to a stop and Gia stood up quickly, she quickly grabbed her small bag that was tucked away above her and rushed to get off. A cab was waiting for her, her mother had arranged for one to bring her to the hospital. She got in and sat down, rubbing her suddenly chilly arms as she gazed out the window, the cab quickly urged forward. A short while later she was drawn from her dazed trance as the car stopped. She looked up to see the hospital to her left. “Thank you.” She paid the driver and got out. Gia ran into the building, briskly walking up to the desk. “Hi my name is Gia Campbell, I’m looking for my brother Marcus Taggert. Can you tell me where he is please?” Gia asked. “Gia hi, I’m Bobby Spencer. Your brother is in surgery right now, and your mom is in the waiting room, let me walk you over there so that you can sit with her.” Bobby smiled warmly at her. Gia nodded her head and flashed a weak smile at her. “Thank you.” She whispered.

Florence sat up straighter and looked up at Gia when she came in, there were tears rolling down her cheeks and she quickly stood to greet her daughter. Seeing her mothers tears made Gia’s efforts to not cry dissipate in an instant. She began to sob as she hugged her mother. “Momma.” She whimpered. Florence closed her eyes as she held her, so relieved to have her baby girl with her. Gia stepped back and looked at her mother. “What happened?” She asked. Florence shook her head. “You know when he said that he wanted to be a cop, my fear was that he would get shot by a robber or some drug addict. But this was just a frustrated man who ran a red light and was not happy about getting a ticket.” Florence said. “So he just shot him? Where?” Gia asked. “He pulled the gun on him and there was a fight, Marcus was able to aim the gun away from his face. It hit him in the abdomen instead.” Flo said. Gia shook her head. “Is that a bad place to be shot? I don’t know.” She said, feeling frustrated and ignorant about her brother’s condition. “It’s not the worst, but at this point it’s a case of not losing too much blood when they try to remove the bullet. It could go either way Gia.” Flo said. She turned away from her mother, and crossed her arms tightly over her chest. “He’s strong.” She whispered. This wasn’t like other times that Gia had been to visit people in hospitals. In those times, there was always a place to focus on, a room with a window. But all there was here were a pair of swinging doors. She felt trapped in the so typically decorated waiting room. Gia walked over to one of the many chairs that were in the room and plopped herself down on it. She rested her head in her hands and looked down. Florence came up and sat next to her. “He’s a fighter Gia, you know that.” She said as she wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Gia leaned into her mother’s embrace. “I know. I remember the time that we were riding bikes and he hit a rock, he had to get stitches on his chin and he sprained one arm. I don’t think he cried once.” Gia said, softly smiling at the memory of thinking her brother was a hero. She sighed. “Why didn’t I spend more time with him mom?” Gia asked. “Honey you are focusing on your education.” She said. “Yeah but mom, I haven’t even seen him in two years! How did I let all that time go by?” She said. “You love your job Gia, and your friends and your classes at school. You have a good life, and you’re happy. That’s all your brother has ever wanted for you.” Flo said. Gia smiled as she nodded her head, tears wet her cheeks.

Gia and Florence looked up when the double doors opened and the doctor walked out. “Hello Florence, is this your daughter?” He asked as he approached them. “Yes this is Gia.” Flo answered. “Hi Gia, my name is Dr. Allen Qourtermain, it’s nice to meet you.” Allen said as he extended his hand. Gia shook it and smiled politely at him. “Nice to meet you too Dr. Can you tell us how he is?” She asked. “Absolutely.” Allen said as he pulled up a chair and sat across from them. “Marcus is out of surgery, the extraction of the bullet went very smoothly. There wasn’t a great deal of damage, although he’s lucky, it came very close to a dangerous artery to puncture. Uh, there wasn’t a great deal of blood lost during the surgery, although he did lose quite a bit at the scene. Thankfully he’s a common blood type and we had some donated blood in stock that was his type. I’m confident that he will pull through. We are moving him into a room in the critical care unit of the hospital for observation. I will be able to tell you more after a few hours of close observation.” Allen said. Gia grabbed her mom’s hand. This all sounded scary to her, but she was relieved by the doctor’s optimism. “Thank you.” She said softly. Allen smiled warmly at her. “I can’t say anything for sure, but I have a feeling that he is going to pull through. He’s young and healthy and he seems like a very strong individual.” Allen said. Gia nodded her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. “He is.” She whispered. “The critical care unit is two floors down. The nurses there will tell you where his room is located.” He said. “Thank you Allen, you’ve been wonderful.” Florence said as she touched his hand kindly.

Florence and Gia found their way to a new sitting spot. It wasn’t so much of a waiting room as it was more a few chairs put out for them to sit in. They were waiting for them to bring Marcus to his room. He was finally wheeled into the room and Gia jumped up. Her eyes barely caught a glimpse of him as the nurse pushed him passed her. “Can I go in and see him please?” She quickly got up and asked the nurse at the station close to them. The nurse started to refuse but she saw the look on Gia’s face and sighed. “For a few minutes, that’s all.” She said. Gia looked at her mother for approval. “You go baby, he needs his sister.” She said. Gia nodded her head and apprehensively walked into her brothers, well room would not be the word for it really. It was more a like his own corner of space with curtains around it. “Marcus.” She said softly. She studied his appearance, her eyes scanning his face and body closely, becoming blurry through her teary eyes as she saw tubes stuck in him. He looked older, more mature than the last time she saw him. She looked away awkwardly, not sure of what to do or say. It had been so long. She reached out to touch him but changed her mind, she was barely aloud to see him, and she thought touching him might be out of the question. So instead she stepped up to his bed and began to speak to him. “Marcus its Gia. I know it’s been a while but I want to see my big brother. I’ve missed you. So you have to wake up so that you can talk to me OK? Please Marcus, you have to pull through this. I love you.” Gia said, tears silently running down her cheeks. She turned to leave, and stopped as someone walked up. “Hi I’m Sarah, I need to check his vital signs.” She said. Gia nodded her head softly. She had an odd feeling as she looked at the young blond woman in front of her. Sarah looked at her as well. Gia felt like she knew her. Sarah broke the lock their eyes were in. “It’s important.” She said. Gia nodded her head. “Yes please. I’ll leave.” She said. She walked out but turned and glanced at the girl as she worked on her brother. Where had she seen her before?