Written in 27 minutes. No editing.  Quick note on the set up, though it’s probably relatively clear from the part that follows:

It picks up General Hospital canon in December 1997 with a few important changes:
– Jason’s history is as it was on the show. He had his accident in early 1996, went to work for Sonny, dated Robin, slept with Carly. He broke up with Robin, helped Sonny stand Brenda up at the altar, and then promised Carly he would help her with Michael.
– Elizabeth is slightly different. I’ve aged the group of teens. Nikolas and Sarah are both twenty-two, Lucky and Elizabeth are twenty, and Emily is nineteen. She and Sarah came to town to help with Audrey’s injury earlier in the summer. Sarah is in medical school, Elizabeth has enrolled in the nursing program.

And yes…I did look up the actual date of the shootout of Luke’s club — it was the Friday cliff hanger. I miss those days so much.

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Friday, December 5, 1997

Luke’s Club

It was supposed to be a night of celebration, and to Elizabeth’s Webber’s way of thinking, a night of toleration.

How else would Emily Bowen-Quartermaine, the closest thing she had to a best friend in this town, have talked her into spending the evening at a private party with three of Elizabeth’s least favorite people.

“You just have to get to know them better,” Emily had told her earlier that day with big brown eyes wide with hope. “Please.”

“I know my sister as well as I’m ever going to know her, and Nikolas and Lucky both think she’s amazing, so that’s all I need to know about them.” Elizabeth had rolled her eyes, and Emily had pleaded, and she’d finally given in.

After all, she did want to celebrate finishing up her first official semester in General Hospital’s nursing program. Finishing. Surviving. The words meant the same thing. She still wasn’t sold on this career, but her internship at the hospital paid her bills and gave her time for her art.

That’s all she really wanted.

So here she was, trying to make small talk with Lucky Spencer, Emily’s other best friend, as they awaited Sarah’s arrival. Elizabeth had been highly suspicious when Emily had chirped about Nikolas attending considering that Nikolas was Nikolas Cassadine, and therefore, the equivalent to Lex Luthor.

The only Cassadine Elizabeth figured was allowed in Luke’s Club was the really hideous painting of evil matriarch Helena that hung near the bar. It gave her shivers to even think about it.

Emily was beaming, looking very happy, Elizabeth didn’t really think about shooting Lucky all that much, even though he kept checking his watch for Sarah—because Lucky didn’t even know Nikolas was supposed to be there. She wasn’t sure how Emily intended to get away with this, but that was going to be her problem.

The music was loud, and everyone was laughing and dancing. Luke stopped the music long enough to proclaim his sister-in-law Amy Vining the winner of something. More laughter.

And then—

POP! POP! POP!

Somewhere glass shattered. Someone screamed. Emily’s face was pale as Lucky put his hand on her shoulder and motioned for Elizabeth to get down as well.

POP! POP! POP!

Tires squealed—

The screams continued—from inside the club. Outside—

Elizabeth stumbled to her feet and towards the front door. She—she was supposed to be a nurse right? That was the plan, wasn’t it?

“Elizabeth!” Emily cried, her fingers missing the hem of Elizabeth’s dress as Elizabeth darted around the warm bodies moving away from the doors.

The shots had stopped—who ever was shooting was gone now—and maybe someone was hurt—

The bitter winter wind swirled around her bare shoulders as she shoved the door open, Luke Spencer on her heels. “Lizzie, my dear,” Lucky’s father began—but he stopped—

Because they both saw the prone body laying near their feet. Elizabeth leaned down, pressed two fingers to his neck and took in the gunshot to his head. No pulse. Not that she’d expected it—

“Oh, God, don’t—” Luke murmured, staring hard across the parking lot.

Elizabeth got back to her feet and saw another body laying in the lot—but his legs were jerking, his hands clutching his throat, blood spurting—

Nikolas.

She hauled her skirt up to in her hands and started to run towards him, her heels kicking up gravel. “Hey, hey—” She slid to her knees, wincing as the small rocks bit into her stocking knees. She pressed her hand to his wound, her fingers drenched in blood almost immediately. “Jesus—” She looked up, whipperd her head around for Luke. “I need—”

“What do you need, darling—”

“He can’t breathe—” Another voice chimed in as Jason Morgan, Emily’s older brother and the town’s resident mafia boss, fell to his knees and moved Elizabeth’s fingers until she was pressed more firmly down on the spot. “The blood is pooling—I need—” He looked up, his wide blue eyes meeting hers across Nikolas’s jerking body. “I need a pen.”

“A pen?” Luke repeated.

People started to crowd around them. There were more screams—Elizabeth recognized them now—her sister was crying shrilly.

“Get her away from him! She’s going to kill him—”

“We need a pen—if you can hollow it out like a tube,” Elizabeth told Luke. “And—something to cut his throat—”

“I’ve got that,” Jason murmured, as he slid his hand into his back pocket, drawing out a switch blade. He met her eyes again. “You never saw this.”

“Right. Luke?” Elizabeth looked up again to find a pen in her face. She quickly unscrewed it, slid out the ink until it was a tube. “I need more towels!”

She felt fingers clawing her her shoulders dragging her back—she lost her grip on the wound and blood spurted—Nikolas jerked, gasping—

“Get off of me—” Elizabeth batted at the hands, struggled forward.

“Emily!” Jason barked, his voice clipped, and rough.

Sarah was gone then, and Elizabeth didn’t look to see where she went. She had observed a tracheotomy only twice and now she was going to assist—and how the hell did Jason Morgan know how to perform one?

“Ready?” Jason asked her. “I’m going to make the cut—”

“I’m ready,” Elizabeth said as she moved her fingers slightly to allow Jason to press the tip of his knife into the right spot. He made the cut, she adjust the pen, and then—

Then Nikolas drew in a ragged breath, his dark eyes finding hers—wild with fear. Elizabeth took her hand in his, squeezing it hard.

The paramedics arrived then, a roar of sirens that rolled into the parking lot, followed by a couple of patrol cars and then an unmarked mud brown sedan.

The paramedics came over, and after another moment or two as they stabilized the rudimentary airway they’d created, Jason and Elizabeth were gently pushed aside.

Nikolas was loaded into an ambulance, and Luke climbed in after him. The doors closed—

And he was gone. No more then seven minutes after it all begun—

It was over.

Elizabeth’s breath started to come more rapidly then as the cold bit into her bare arms. She stared down at her hands, stained with blood that looked bright red even in the dim lights the parking lot.

“What did you do?” Sarah Webber’s shrill scream broke into her trance, and Elizabeth turned to face her sister, blinking. Almost immediately, her head snapped to the side as Sarah’s hand connected with her.

“Whoa!” Lucky shouted, shockd, as he put an arm around Sarah, dragging her away. “What the hell is your problem?”

“She probably killed him!” Sarah screamed.

Elizabeth stared at her, trans fixed until something heavy dropped onto her shoulders and she felt a presence at her side. She blinked and turned to Emily’s brother, who had been wearing a suit before—and now his jacket was around her.

“Are you okay?” Jason asked, his voice low.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” came the drawl of one of the detectives who had climbed out of the sedan. He broke away from a uniform who had been giving him a report. “You juggling yet another woman, Anger Boy?”

Jason’s concern slipped from his features almost as if it hadn’t been there—his chiseled features appearing now as if etched from stone. He said nothing.

“She tried to kill Nikolas!” Sarah’s hysterical cry came from behind them.

“Jesus Christ,” Emily said with a roll of her eyes. Her voice was shaky as she continued. “Jason and Elizabeth saved his life, Taggert—”

“Nothing to say there, Anger Boy?” the bald-headed cop demanded, stepping right up to Jason, tilting his chin slightly so their eyes met. “She’s covered in blood, so I guess she belongs to you.”

Elizabeth knew she should say something—that she should correct him—but her words wouldn’t come. She’d rushed out into a potentially dangerous situation, seen a dead man with a gunshot to the eye, helped Nikolas breathe while covered in his blood—

She couldn’t seem to find the words.

And that was probably how she found herself in the back of a patrol car, handcuffed next to Jason Morgan, on her way to the Port Charles Police Department.

Written in 29 minutes.

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Friday, December 5, 1997

Port Charles Police Department: Squad Room

As Jason Morgan stood in the middle of the squad room, his hands handcuffed behind his back, the dress shirt that once been snowy white now covered in splotches of blood, he remembered now why he usually tried to stay in at night.

When Jason went out to public events, something bad always happened, and he supposed he really couldn’t blame Anthony Moreno for thinking this might be a good time to take a shot at Jason. He was only in the first few months of his tenure as the head of the organization (and truth be told, Jason would happily just shove it all right back at Sonny Corinthos if he returned), and probably the weakest.

Jason stayed in to avoid making himself—or others—a target for anyone trying to prove himself.

But Luke Spencer was one of Sonny’s closest friends, and the Christmas Party at the club had been one of Sonny’s few favorite events, so when the invitation had come, Jason had felt obligated to the man who had given him his first job parking cars.

Now Luke’s stepson, Nikolas Cassadine, was fighting for his life while Jason was stuck in the police station with—he glanced to his side at the shell shocked brunette at his side—he thought it was one of Emily’s friends, but he didn’t really know her that well.

She wore a pale blue dress with silver swirls—it was now covered in blood which also stained her hands. He knew that because she kept staring down at them. She was wearing his suit jacket because she’d managed to keep her head about her during their…surgery, but once it was over—her pale bare shoulders had started to shake.

And then the crazy blonde woman had slapped her, and Taggert had dragged her into the department just to annoy Jason.

This was why he stayed in at night.

“Don’t say anything,” Jason murmured under his breath. “I’ll call my lawyer and we’ll be out of here in no time.”

She glanced up at him, her dark blue eyes still a bit wide with shock, tendrils of brown hair falling down around her face. Her skin was pale, save for the angry red mark on the side of her cheek. “I—I didn’t do anything,” she said faintly. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “But if he can help me go home sooner—I won’t say a word.”

“Good.” He grimaced as she rolled her shoulders and winced, remembering too late that she was handcuffed as well. Damn Taggert and his vendetta.

“Well, Anger Boy,” the man in question said, as he sauntered towards them. “You ready to make a statement?”

Jason stared at him. Said nothing. A muscle near Taggert’s mouth jumped and his jaw clenched. “Fine,” the detective snapped. He turned his attention to the brunette. “Miss…”

She licked her lips. “Um. Elizabeth Webber.”

“Webber?” Taggert raised his brows. “Aren’t you hospital royalty or something? Didn’t your grandparents basically found medicine in Port Charles?” He smirked. “And you’re hanging with scum like Anger Boy here. They must be real proud.”

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. Pressed her lips together, then stared straight ahead, though Jason could see it was costing her to remain silent.

“Yeah, you’re definitely with him. Both of you think the silent treatment will get you somewhere,” Taggert snarled.

Justus Ward, Jason’s cousin and lawyer, swept through the doors, dressed in a tuxedo which told Jason that he must have been at Luke’s and had followed them down there. He hadn’t even been able to call him yet.

“I know you don’t have my client in handcuffs,” Justus said with a good-natured smirk. He eyed Elizabeth Webber for a long a moment. “Your lawyer coming, darling?”

Elizabeth pursed her lips, slid a glance at him, and Jason realized she was really going to follow his advice to say nothing.

“You’re representing her,” Jason said, shortly.

“Oh, that’s bullshit,” Taggert declared with a stab of his finger at Elizabeth. “Conflict of interest. What if I want to her to testify again—”

“That’s a problem for the DA’s office to deal with,” Justus said, flashing him another smile. “Why don’t we use the interrogation room? I’ll take a moment with both my clients.” Justus glanced down at the metal bracelets circling Elizabeth’s wrists. “Take them off. Now.”

“I will not—”

“If they’re not uncuffed in five seconds, I will file a civil rights lawsuit against this department—”

“Fine, fine.” Taggert reached in his pocket for the cuffs.

Beside him, Jason felt the brunette take the first easy breath since they’d locked eyes over Nikolas Cassadine’s bloody body.

With in a few minutes, Justus had both of them released from their handcuffs and in the interrogation room. Elizabeth sat down in one of the chairs and examined her knees—which Jason saw now were bleeding and scraped from the gravel.

“All right. I got the gist from the scene, but no one was exactly sure what they saw, so—” Justus raised his brows. “What happened?”

“I heard the gunshots from inside the club,” Elizabeth said, flatly. She stared down at her hands again, rubbing at her blood-streaked palms, the dried blood stuck under nails. “When it was over, I went outside with Luke—”

“Why didn’t you stay inside?” Jason demanded.

She twisted in her chair to scowl at him, those eyes now crackling with irritation. “I don’t know. I’m a student nurse at General Hospital. And I just finished a rotation in the ER, so I guess I thought—let me run to the people who need help. Why didn’t you stay inside?”

Jason arched a brow at her. “I was already outside. Who do you think they were aiming at?”

“Children, if we could please.” Justus snapped his fingers. “And I didn’t hear that, Jason.”

Jason cleared his throat. “I had just started walking up to the club. I heard the shots and ducked. When it was over—I saw Nikolas in parking lot—you were already there,” he told Elizabeth. Their eyes met and she didn’t look away for a moment.

“He’d been shot in the throat.” Elizabeth turned her attention back to Justus. “It’s not that complicated. He needed an airway. Jason and I made an airway. He cut into Nikolas’s throat, I put the pen in—and then the paramedics—”

“Wait, wait—” Justus held up a hand. “Let me get this straight. The two of you risked your life to save someone else’s life and now you’ve been arrested? Oh, yeah.” Justus turned back to the door. “You’ll be out of here in about five minutes or I’m going to own this place.”

He strode out the door, slamming it behind him. Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “I think he’s enjoying himself.”

“It’s not the first time Taggert has arrested me without cause. It won’t be the last,” Jason said simply. “I’m sorry you got dragged into it.”

“Yeah, well, story of my life.” She reached up to rub her forehead, then stopped, staring at her hands again. “It’s different,” she murmured. “Outside of the hospital. I didn’t even blink. I ran right towards the danger to help.” She rubbed her fingers together, then looked at him again. “How did—how did you know how to do that? The tracheotomy, I mean?”

“I—” Jason hesitated. “You’re friends with my sister, aren’t you? You know about my accident.”

“She’s mentioned it,” Elizabeth said. “Only to explain why people say—anyway. You were in medical school before it happened.”

“I know things. I don’t have any memories—” He shrugged a shoulder. “But I know how to do a few things.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing you did. I knew what had to be done, I’m just not sure I could have—” Elizabeth sighed. “I hope he’ll be okay.”

“I can arrange to have someone take you home,” Jason said after a moment. “Justus will have us both out of here in a minute—”

“Yeah, Emily was my ride, but I’m sure she’s at the hospital, and I—” She looked at her hands and at her dress. “I really need to wash my hands. I’m at Harborview Towers. Do you know—”

“You live in the Towers?” Jason cut in, eyebrows raised. “So do I. Top floor penthouse.”

“Oh, well, lucky you. I’m on the second floor in a studio.” Elizabeth wiggled her shoulders, then examined her wrists which were red and scraped from the cuffs. “Man, Taggert really is a piece of a work.”

“I’m sorry you got dragged into this,” Jason said again. “This is my fault—”

“I don’t know. Maybe it wouldn’t have happened if you’d stayed home—but the part where I got arrested for saving a life?” Elizabeth shrugged and got to her feet. “I doubt that’s on you.”

Before he could answer, Justus opened the door, with a wide smile. Behind him, Taggert’s sullen face could be seen. “Free to go. As usual.”