Faison was in his chambers when his cell phone rang. He answered it very calmly. “Yes... Really,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Are you sure?...Excellent. They’re both alive.” Faison hit the ‘END’ button. Puffing his cigar, he said to the empty room, "This just keeps getting better and better." Suddenly, he began laughing in an evil way.

***

"Yes, we are," Alexis said, answering Chloe’s question.

"I'll make sure Jax and I are there," Chloe said to Alexis. "Be strong, the both of you." She hangs up the phone.

She knew she had to call Jax, and get them both there as fast as possible. She dialed his cell phone. "Jax?" she says as he answers.

Jax pulled his cellphone out of the inner pocket of his coat. "Hello? Chloe, is that you?"

*** After Robert and Robin had gone, Mac decided to call home and see how things were going there. He waited for someone to answer.

“Hello? Mac! Hi honey, what’s new? How are you? Where are you?"

"In my new room. They decided to give me one with a view. I just needed to hear your voice. Is everything okay at home? How are the girls?" Mac asked.

“Oh, that’s great! I’m glad they moved you!...Ah, Mac...there’s been one problem here. Not big, but I need your advice. Frisco called and the girls are so upset. They think he has no right to talk to them. I don’t blame them, really. Well...anyway, the stress lately has been high and I think I handled it wrong. I told them he was their father and he will never change. I said they need to accept it. Mac, what do you think?”

Mac was so angry at Frisco. 'How could that rat have ever been so careless? Does he even realize how wonderful those two little girls are?' He sighed heavily and told Felicia, "I think Frisco should think more about the girls' feelings than his own ego. I know I can't replace Frisco, but I want to be here for you and the girls no matter what. You just said it yourself...Frisco isn't going to change. He's always going to be the same. They do need to accept that. My guess is that Georgie's more upset than Maxie, right?"

***

Juan relaxed on his plane ride over to Port Charles. He held the gift his father just bought him and played with it as he remembered all the good times with his father. He said somewhat to himself, "Pop, I'm going to miss you." Then, he thought of Emily and smiled. "She's going to be so happy when she sees me standing there. I should call Nick when I get off the plane. He said he might be able to pick me up. I hope so," he said to himself. "D**n I should have had him fly me over. It would have saved time. Yet, I didn't want to bother him. Besides, I'll be there in an hour anyway."

Just then, the pilot spoke over the loud speaker and told the passengers that if they looked outside their window they would be able to see New York, and if they looked real closely they might see the Statue of Liberty.

An hour passed and Juan stepped off his plane. He went straight to the phone booth to call Nick.

"Hello!"

"Nick, it's me, Juan. I'm in Port Charles."

"Okay, I'll come pick you up. Do you want me to bring Emily with me?"

"No, but can you find out where she will be in the next hour?"

"Sure...I'll give Liz a call and tell her to keep Emily with her till then."

"Okay, thanks. One more thing can you pick up a dozen roses?"

"Sure."

"Thanks for doing all this for me. I owe you big time," Juan said.

"I'll keep you to that. I'm joking. Liz got me to start doing that. Just forget it. Anyway, I'll see you in a half hour."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye," Nikolas said, hanging up. Nikolas immediately called Liz on her cell phone.

***

Helena took out her cell phone. ‘He isn't there,’ she thought, as she decided to left a message. "Faison, is the plan ready? Do you know what you have to do?" An evil smile spread across her face. ‘They will never know what hit them.’ She laughed a laugh that could froze the hearts of all who heard it.

***

Jane looked over at her brother. "Well.. she is certainly a busy young woman don't you think?" She saw that he looked a little distracted. "Robert aren't you going to say something to Robin?"

Robert seemed to come out of his daze. "I'm sorry, Jane. I guess I was somewhere else. Yes...I'm going in to find Robin. She said she was going to see Ana."

Robert found out from a nurse that Ana had been moved to a private room. Then, as he got onto the elevator to go up to the room, he saw Robin talking to a young couple. He stepped off the elevator and waited for Robin to finish her conversation with the couple.

Jason looked at Robin, and hesitated before answering her. "Michael is sick," he said coldly. Jason wrapped his arm around Carly's shoulders, and kissed the side of her head. He looked back at Robin. "He's really sick," Jason said, his voice breaking up.

Robin, who was still upset about her mom and Mac, returned his icy tone. “Oh...I’m sorry. Well, I hope he gets better. I have to go find my Mom’s room."

"Robin, how long have you been here? Did you see them bring in Michael? My god, Jason, what are we going to do?!?!" Carly asked, as she started sobbing uncontrollably.

Robin felt sorry for Carly and Jason. "Umm, I’ve been here only for a couple of hours. If you want, I can find a doctor who can go see what’s going on with Michael for you," she offered.

Jason grabs onto Carly and holds her protectively, and then looks back at Robin. "No....no it's all right. Bobbie said she's coming down in a little while to let us know how Michael is." Jason said weakly. He lifts Carly's face into his hands, "Carly...Carly...look at me. I promise you that everything is going to be fine. Michael is going to be ok. We're in this together. Remember that," Jason said, and held her again. "Do you want to go sit down?" he asked.

" NO! NO!! no Jason it's not going to be alright! Its never going to be alright! I need to talk to you alone. Robin, do you mind?" Carly took Jason by the hand and led him over to the waiting area. She was dazed and trembling. "Jason, as soon as Michael is better--I know he will be--we need to get out of this town. I have to get away from here. Forget AJ. I have to get out NOW! AJ told me the other day that I can not take my son out of the house. I can’t take him anywhere! Jason, I can’t take it, I'm a prisoner in that house. So, I want you to get the tickets and arrange things as soon as we know Michael is ok."

Jason held Carly's hands and waited a moment before speaking. "You're not going to be a prisoner...not anymore, Carly. I promise you that," he said quietly. "As soon as Michael's fever goes down, and he's alright, we're going to run. We're going to get on a plane, Carly, and go far away. I am willing to do whatever you want...you know that...but I need to know something. Can you pick up, walk away and not look back?" Jason asked.

***

Suddenly, a distant but clear ringing could be heard from within the house. Liz looked behind her and realized that it was coming from her purse. "Hold that thought, Luke. It’s my cell." she pulls out her cell phone and presses the send button. "Hello?"

"Hey Liz! It's me, Nick. I need you to go to Emily and stay with her for the next hour. You can't tell her anything, but there's a surprise I'm going to pick up for her. Just stick to her like.... what's that saying you told me to use? Oh yeah, glue. Stick to her like glue."

"Actually Nik. I'm sort of talking with Luke. Um. Maybe I could call Emily and have her come here, instead of me going there. I'm trying to convince Luke here that Lucky is alive." she laughed.

"Okay sure. Wait, Luke didn't know?! I always thought he knew about everything. I guess that was the old Luke, huh? I would say I would tell him, but Luke and I don't really get along. He blames me for telling Lucky the truth about Laura's rape, and he hates me because I'm a Cassadine."

Nikolas looked down at his watch and realized he had better get going. Since he was on his cellphone, he kept talking to Liz as he went to shop for the things Juan had asked him to pick him up.

Liz laughed. "Don't worry, Nik. Luke thinks I'm insane right about now. I don't know how to prove to him that Lucky is alive! If you see him, send him over to my house. It'll shock the heck out of Luke, but its better than keeping him in the dark about it."

As Luke was waiting for Liz to finish her conversation with Nikolas, his own cellular phone rang. He answered "Hello?” and listened as a man began speaking.

"Mr. Spencer, I am calling to inform you that Mrs. Cassadine and Mr. Faison have made an alliance. Their plan is about to come to fruition." The caller paused not knowing if he should continue. This was a dangerous game that he was about to start playing. "They are almost ready to start. I will give you more information as it becomes available. Please do not try to contact me. I will be in touch as soon as I know more."

“Yes, I understand. Thank you." Luke said and hung up.

***

Dr. Noah Drake had been officially off-duty since before meeting the woman he now knew was Ana Scorpio in the elevator. After leaving the ER, he went to his locker in the doctor's lounge. While he changed out of his scrubs, he decided to check in on a patient he had treated in the ER the previous night. 'Buzz around the ER is that he's made a miraculous recovery. This is something I have to see for myself,' he thought, as he took put on his jeans and a somewhat faded Idle Rich concert T-shirt.

When Noah knocked on the open door to room 519, he saw the man who had been inches away from death the night before in the ER sitting up in bed reading a magazine. Noah took the chart out of its' holder outside the door.

"Come in," Mac said. "Can I help you?"

"Just came in to see a medical miracle," Noah quipped. "I'm Dr. Noah Drake. I treated you in the ER when you came in last night."

"Good to meet you, Dr. Drake. Medical miracle, huh?" Mac asked, kind of surprised. He hadn't known how close to death he really had been. He knew that he had been shot, but the reality hadn't hit him until now. "Was I really that close to dying?"

Noah nodded slowly. "When you came in, I wasn't sure twenty years of experience was going to be enough to save you. You had lost a lot of blood and the bullet was in a very precarious position. If your head had moved the least bit, there wouldn't have been anything I could have done to save you." He looked at Mac's chart and said, "You'd never know it from the latest set of vital signs. You must be a fast healer."

"Wow..." Mac said softly. "You know...I've been shot before...but I don't think I was ever so close to dying. Kind of makes you think about the chances of getting that lucky again."

"I can imagine. In your line of work, the chances probably drop significantly."

"Yeah, they do. I love what I do...but maybe it's time for me to step aside and let someone else do the job...someone without a wife and two daughters."

Noah smiled. "I envy you...having a family that is. When I was younger, I didn't want to settle down, but now that my schedule is somewhat more predictable, I think it might not be such a bad thing."

"I was a confirmed bachelor for a long time myself. Almost made it to the alter a few times, but each time something stopped me and told me it wasn't right yet. My wife and I were ready to get married once before when fate stepped in the way."

"Someone got cold feet?"

"No...a psycho showed up at the church with a bomb."

Noah winced. "Yeah...I'd call that fate intervening."

Mac smiled as he thought about it. "Definitely. Fate works in weird ways, Doc. Right now, I just want to go home and see my wife and girls."

"Well...from the looks of you, you're nearly ready. Any headaches or trouble with your vision?" Noah asked.

"Not since this morning," Mac said casually. "Doc, can you put in a good word for me with Dr. Donham. He seems to think I need to stay in here a few days for observation."

Noah shook his head. "I'm going to have to agree with Lew on this one. Due to the nature of the injury, I think keeping you here until we are certain would be the best thing."

Mac nodded slowly. "Al'right...if you say so. But will I be home in time for Christmas to be with my girls?"

"I think that can be arranged," Noah said with a smile. "Three more days in here should be plenty if you keep on improving at this rate."

***

Nadia wasn't sure whether or not she could trust Lucas since she had known him less than a week but she had to know what was going on with her father. She had wished he was dead before but she didn't think she meant it and she definitely didn't actually want or expect him to die. "Why would you ask if I knew him is something wrong with him? Lucas you have to tell me everything you know," Nadia pleaded looking desperately and helplessly into his eyes.

"Nadia, the doctors didn't seem to confident about him living when he first arrived. How do you know him, Nadia? I think its time you told me the total truth."

Nadia felt like she could trust Lucas and she hoped her instincts were right because she needed him to tell her about her father. "Lucas, if I tell you this you can't tell anybody," Nadia said. "If the truth got out about me right now, it would endanger my life further with the people following me and it would make the Drew incident much worse for Maxie and myself."

***

Brenda and Sonny reached a small cabin, about ten minutes outside of Port Charles. Sonny picked Brenda up and carried her out of the limo and into the cabin. They were greeted by a doctor, and Sonny brought Brenda upstairs, and laid her down on the bed in the master bedroom.

The doctor went over to Brenda and started to treat her wound immediately.

As he did this, Brenda stared at Sonny, who sat near her bed. She reached out for his hand and he held it gently. Silently Brenda mouthed the words 'I love you'.

"Mr. Corinthos...can you please wait outside?" the doctor asked.

Sonny hesitated, but Brenda nodded her head slowly.

The doctor had told Sonny he couldn't stay inside with Brenda. Instead, he paced the halls until he saw the doctor finally come out about thirty minutes later.

"How is she doctor? Is she going to be all right? Please she's the only thing I have please give me all the truth. Please." Sonny says controlling the tears he feels like shedding. There had to be something wrong, the doctor looked to uncertain for things to have gone perfect.

"I got the bullet out, and she's asleep right now," he said to Sonny, with a look of uncertainty on his face.

The doctor looked at Sonny and could see how much he loved Brenda and how upset he was. "Mr. Corinthos...I don't want you to become upset with what I have to say..." he said.

Sonny stared blankly at the doctor.

The doctor shifted on his feet. "Brenda lost a lot of blood...that affects the brain..." he said slowly. "She's asleep right now...but I don't know how she will be when she wakes up. Brenda can suffer from a number of things, especially memory loss...it can be short-term... or it can be permanent... It's too soon to tell., but she will live. That's some goods news I can tell you." Then, very quietly, he added, "I am very sorry....you can see her if you like."

"Thank you, doctor." Sonny says sadly.

Sonny walks out of the secret hospital. He knows he should go see Brenda, but he couldn't. He had to be strong for her and he needed sometime to himself. He went back into the limo and broke down crying. He hardly ever cried, but this was one of those rare times. Brenda, his beautiful, loving, sweet Brenda with memory loss. Her memory loss could last forever or for a short time. Not, only that but there could be more effects of her being shot, worse effects. Sonny knew he was lucky to have her alive, but at what cost? What was going to happen to Brenda? Yet, he really was ecstatic that she was alive.

***

Jane watched Robert as he went to find Robin. "Well, I need to go see Mac." She went up to his room and knocked on the door.

"Come in..." Mac called out. When he saw his sister there, he smiled brightly. "Lady Jane!" he said happily. "If you're here on a social call, does this mean that we're moving forward?"

Jane walked into Mac's room, "Hello, Mac. I saw Robert and being together after all this time has made me realize that family is very important and that we need to be together. So, how are you doing?"

"Ready to get out of here," Mac said. "I'm just waiting on the doctors to decide that I'm okay. I'm getting cabin fever." He looked over at Dr. Drake and asked, "Have you met my sister?"

Noah smiled, "Yes...I met her down in the emergency room. I treated your sister-in-law."

"How is Ana?" Mac asked concerned.

"She'll be fine. It was a hypo-glycemic episode. Probably brought on by stress and not eating properly," Noah told him.

"That would be my fault..." Mac said, feeling guilty. "Is that why Robert came up here for Robin a while ago?" he asked Jane.

"Yes, Robert came up to get her so they could go and check on Ana, and now I think Robert went to find Robin to talk to her or something like that." She smiled at Mac, “So how's life been treating you other than the obvious?"

Mac smiled. "I have a beautiful wife, two wonderful girls and now my brother and sister are back in my life. What more can a man ask for!"

Noah smiled. "I envy you, Mac. You seem very happy."

"I am most of the time. My job doesn't leave me as much time for my family as I would like...but I think maybe my line of work has gotten just a little too consuming. Maybe it's time to go back to doing what I really love..."

"What's that?" Noah asked.

"Tending bar at my restaurant. I've been so busy lately, I only get in there about once a month if I am lucky. Maybe it's time to let someone else play police commissioner for a while," Mac said. "There's something simple and satisfying about serving drinks to your friends over a bar and listening to talented singers and musicians play on your stage."

"You book live bands at your restaurant?" Noah asked.

"Yes...from time to time. Usually draws a pretty good crowd. We've had the Idle Rich, Chicago, Melissa Etheridge, Kenny G..."

"Cool!" Noah exclaimed excitedly. "I love seeing the Idle Rich perform. I saw them once in Buffalo."

"You just might get your chance in Port Charles. The lead singer owns L&B Records and they're based here."

"That's right...I think I had heard that somewhere," Noah said. "Well...if you two will excuse me, I should go home and get some rest before my next shift."

Mac leaned forward to shake Noah's hand. "Hey, doc, any time you feel like a good meal stop by my place, the Outback. I'll make sure they take good care of you."

As they shook hands, Noah smiled. "I'll do that. It was good meeting you both. I wish your family only the best."

Jane looked at Mac, “So your really thinking of quitting your job at the police station?" She didn't know what to think of that. Her cell phone rang and she said excuse me. She walked out on the terrace of that floor of the hospital. “Hello?"

"Jane, its John. Something has come up and we have to go back to Alaska for a while."

Jane responded, "And how long would this trip be?" He told her and she said, "John, I can't go back for that long." She told him all about how she had reconnected with her brothers and that she wanted to move here.

He told her he could go alone he supposed.

She told him that'd be best for now, "Let me go tell Mac goodbye and then I will be home to help you pack your things."

She walked back in Mac's room, “Mac that was my husband John. He has to go back to Alaska for a while and he needs me to see him off. How long will you have to be in the hospital? I want to come back if you are still gonna be here when I am done."

Mac smiled. "I'm hoping to bust out of here in the next day or so," he quipped. "Go...see your husband. I promise I won't skip town without seeing you," he joked.

***

Nikolas found the stuff Juan had asked him to get and headed to the airport to pick Juan up.

As Juan collected his luggage, he checked his watch. ‘Nik should be there any minute,’ he thought. He headed outside to wait.

Nikolas wrapped up his conversation with Elizabeth, “You’re right, will do." He hung up the phone just as he approached the airport terminal and saw Juan.

"Juan!!" Nikolas yelled out the window, hoping Juan would see him.

Juan turned around and saw Nikolas. "Nick!!!!"

"Put your stuff in the back and jump in. I have the stuff you asked me to pick up beside me."

Juan obediently did as Nikolas suggested.

"How was Puerto Rico?" Nikolas asked casually.

***

As Stefan sat at his desk writing a letter, someone knocked. “Come in,” he responded.

“Mr. Cassadine, I have done as you asked. Helena has chosen not to divulge her plans with me. I will be leaving town, soon. When I have more information, I will call you. Please, do not try to contact me."

***

Robin was walking through the halls of General Hospital when she suddenly felt she needed to get some fresh air. She left and walked down to the docks.

As she stood staring out over the water, Helena Cassadine approached her.

"Hello, Ms. Scorpio. How are you this fine evening?" Helena asked as she walked closer to Robin. "How is your dear family?"

"They’re fine, but like you really care," Robin said coldly.

"Such manners, child. My dear, you are so wrong. I care very much about their health and welfare. You see, I am so glad they are in good health for the moment."

Robin was getting curious. "So you care... For the moment. What’s that suppose to mean? What exactly are you planning"?

***

Emily found her mom and discussed the details for her “modeling” trip. Then, she left GH. As she opened the door from the hospital, a great sense of freedom whips threw her hair.

Snow flakes start to fall and the wind started to pick up.

'I know this is going to be a great trip,’ she thought. ‘I know we can help Liz figure this thing out'.

Once she had gotten home, Emily began packing.

***

Lucky and Lesley head out for Elizabeth's house wanting to surprise her with the fact that Lesley would be going with them to Scotland.

***

"We interrupt your holiday music to bring you this important weather update," the radio announcer said. "There is a major snowstorm headed for the Port Charles region. This system is dropping down from Canada and will be bringing massive amounts of snow and near record low temperatures. Residents are urged to prepare for power outages and business closings. Stay tuned to this station for further updates. We now return you to our holiday music program."

***