Two calls come in at once, reaching both ends of Port Charles and sending two men into a tailspin. While a sleek black limousine speeds toward General Hospital near the harbor, a vintage motorcycle hurls down back alleys in the vain hope to make it to the hospital before it's too late. There are other various relatives pacing around in the waiting room when they burst through the doors, their breaths short and their hearts pounding. Rushing past all the concerned parties in search of the doctor in charge, they reach Patrick Drake at the same time with only one question left to ask: "Is she okay?"

Nikolas Cassadine looked over at Ethan Lovett and shook his head. The two of them found themselves under the most unlikeliest of circumstances. There was no real reason for them to have anything in common outside their mutual family, but the two girls they happened to have fallen in love with were together when the skies opened up and poured out a terrible thunderstorm in the middle of an unsuspecting afternoon. Brook Lynn had gone to Greystone to visit Sonny, and Kristina just happened to be there for lunch. When she needed to get home to study for a test, Brook had volunteered to drop her off.

Patrick looked up from the stack of x-rays and charts with the sorriest look in his eyes imaginable. Tracey Quartermaine could be heard in the distance, loudly demanding that her granddaughter get the best care imaginable because of her prominent place on the GH Board. Alexis was sobbing softly in the corner, Jax's arms wrapped around her as he tried unsuccessfully to comfort his best friend. Nikolas looked briefly over at his aunt before looking at the doctor. It was all so surreal.

"Where is she?" was the only question that passed his lips as he looked up at Robin and Patrick. Robin's eyes were wet with tears. Whatever had happened was clearly bad, tragic enough that she couldn't find the words to tell him where she was. "Dammit, Robin, where is Brook?"

"Come on, Nikolas, I will take you back to her," Patrick said finally, reaching out to touch the man's forearm comfortingly. Nikolas wanted to recoil at his touch but could only focus on the heavy metal doors leading to the intensive care unit. He had spent far too many nights behind those doors holding vigil over the people that he loved. Brook Lynn would not be another person that he lost – not when he was just figuring out what she meant to him."

Ethan watched helplessly as Nikolas disappeared into the ICU in search of Brook before returning his gaze to Robin. "And Kristina?" he asked, his voice a harsh whisper. He tried to ignore the curious stares of Alexis, his siblings and even his own wife. He only knew that Kristina had been in a terrible accident, and the one word that she managed to say before slipping into a coma was his name. "Robin, please, you have to take me to her."

He could see Maya standing at the nurses' station in his peripheral vision but didn't as much as glance her way before following Robin along the same path Nikolas and Patrick had taken only a few moments before. "I'm going to warn you now, Ethan, it's pretty bad," Robin explained softly. "Sonny is in with her now. We're only allowing one visitor at a time, and you'll have to put on a face mask. The risk of infection is very high right now. It's supposed to be only family, but under the circumstances, Dr. Webber is going to allow it."

Ethan thanked her as he put on the sterile face mask and scrubs over his clothes. He could see Sonny hunched over next to Kristina's bedside, a helpless father clutching his only daughter's hand. He felt almost guilty for interrupting the private moment but knew that Kristina would want him there. Since hearing Alexis' tearful plea for him to come to the hospital, he had felt a distinct need to be near her. So much had happened over the past few months, with the bus crash and then the explosion at the wedding. Ethan had been her one constant throughout all of that, and he knew that she would need him to get through this again. He didn't want to really think about what all that meant right now. He just wanted to be with her.

"Excuse me, Sonny, do you mind if I sit with her for awhile?"

Sonny looked up from Kristina's lifeless form with tears shining in his dark eyes. He looked so vulnerable then, far from the intimidating mobster most of the world knew him to be. He was just a father waiting for his baby girl to wake up. Ethan couldn't relate to it in a paternal sense, but he knew that other than Alexis, there was no one who wanted to her to wake up as much right then and say something so completely innocent that he couldn't help but fall in love a little more. Kristina seemed to have that effect on people, or at least she had it on him.

Murmuring something to his daughter, Sonny stood up and brushed a kiss across her forehead before joining Ethan in the hallway. The two men stood side by side just watching her for a moment. "Do you know my daughter insists that she is in love with you?" Sonny asked, a small but fond smile on his face. "I mean, the thought of her loving anyone is a scary thought for a father, but Kristina is as fiercely independent and determined as her mother. She is so sure that you are her fate. There was a time when I could only focus on how old you were. I never really saw the way she looked at you, how genuine those feelings are."

"Your daughter is an amazing young woman," Ethan told Sonny honestly. "My life is pretty much a mess right now. I have a wife that I don't really love because we both wanted our share of a million dollars. I told myself, had completely convinced my stupid heart, that Kristina was too young for me. She is, I know. But the way she looks at me makes me believe that I can be the man she sees. I don't know what is going to happen. I just know that your daughter means the world to me. My life is better for having her in it. She's not alone in her feelings. I just don't really know what it all means."

Sonny could vaguely remembering feeling that confused about Brenda all those years ago, back when he was sure that he was completely wrong for her but somehow knew that their lives were clandestinely intertwined. "Just stay close by, okay? If she wakes up, get a doctor," he told the young Aussie. "Kristina is in a pretty fragile state right now. She wanted you here. Don't let her down."

Ethan tangled his fingers through his hair as he took the seat next to Kristina's bed and reached for her hand. It was warm but still, far from the usual tight-grip approach she took whenever he held her hand. "Oh, Krissy," he mused softly, reaching up with his free hand to push matted hair away from her forehead. She had a gaping wound that had been stitched up just above her left eyebrow and bruises along her right cheek bone that rivaled those left behind in Keifer's wake. It killed him to see her this broken again.

Meanwhile, Patrick had finished explaining the extensive list of internal injuries Brook Lynn had sustained when the car had been broadsided by an out-of-control truck on the country road just a few miles from Sonny's estate. "Things are really hanging in the balance," Patrick admitted. "We've done the best we can with surgery for now. I have no idea how long either of the girls are going to be out. We can only sit back and watch. Time will tell how successful we were."

Nikolas doesn't hear the rest of what the surgeon is telling him as he goes into Brook's room, surgical mask firmly in place. The hum of the monitors and the distinct smell of sanitizers inundates his senses, but the only thing he can focus on is the beautiful woman asleep in the bed. He wishes he really was Prince Charming then so that his kiss could wake her from the cruel spell. There are harsh rows of stitches all over her face from where the glass windshield had exploded onto her skin in a tiny storm of cuts. The most glaring cut is a two-inch gash across her throat, and Nikolas fears that could be a bad sign for her voice. He kissed each of her bruised knuckles and prayed for even the slightest reaction. When the only response is the sound of her breathing machine inhaling and exhaling, Nikolas closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the cool skin of her forearm.

They were supposed to be at dinner now, a rare night away from her recording in the home studio he had set up on the edge of the property, playing with Spencer before his bedtime or sitting on the porch and talking until the grandfather clock chimed at midnight, indicating the beginning of a new day. They had settled into an easy life of domesticity since deciding that their professional relationship had become personal in every sense of the word. Elizabeth had since unveiled the truth about Aiden's true paternity, and Nikolas knew that he wouldn't have made it through that devastating loss had it not been for Brook Lynn. She helped him focus on Spencer when he just wanted to give into his Cassadine tendencies.

Brook Lynn's fingers involuntarily flinched in Nikolas' hand, and he hoped for a moment that she was waking up. However, he knew that it was nothing more than a muscle spasm, and that she wouldn't likely gain consciousness for quite some time. They had given her enough medication to knock her out for awhile prior to the surgery, according to Patrick. The only person who had been allowed to come to see her besides him was Tracey. He wondered briefly if anyone had thought to call Lois and Ned. She might want to see her parents when she woke up. And then the beeping of her heart monitor brought him back to the room and reminded him that his would be the only face she would look for when she finally resurfaced.

"Nikolas, I'm sorry," came Maya Ward's voice from the door way. "I need to check Brook Lynn's vital signs. I am going to have to ask you to wait outside. Elizabeth is in with Kristina, so you can join Ethan in the small waiting room just down the hall."

He nodded and thanked her politely before heading toward the appointed waiting area. He found Ethan sitting in the corner chair, doubled over and clutching a paper cup of cheap hospital coffee. "How is she?" Nikolas asked about his cousin, only just now realizing that Kristina was hurt, too. It wasn't that it mattered less, it just hadn't really sunk in since he had been so focused on Brook.

"In a coma," Ethan said, and he winced because he heard that damn Smiths song flowing through his mind. "Robin says that it's actually a good thing. It gives her body the time it needs to heal." His answer comes without Ethan ever looking up. "How's Brook?"

"About the same," Nikolas answered. "I never thought I would be here again."

"At GH?"

"Waiting to hear news about the woman I love, to find out if she will live or die," Nikolas said. "I had vowed a long time ago never to do this, but here I am. After Emily and then Courtney and even Rebecca, I've been through this too many times. I thought stupidly Brook could be different."

"You love her?" Ethan asked in surprise. He knew that Nikolas had grown fond of Brook Lynn, but he had no idea that had transformed into love. "Does she know that?"

"I hope so," Nikolas replied honestly. "If she doesn't, I'm not leaving her side until she does." He scrubbed his hands over his face tiredly. "What about my cousin? Does she know?"

"Know what?"

"That you love her just as much as she loves you."

Ethan looked up at Nikolas then, offering a weak smile and a wry shrug. "Like you said, I won't leave here until she knows," he answered. "Then again, I just sort of figured it out myself."