Chapter 1: The Aftermath

"Claudia! Claudia, can you hear me? Where are you?"

Johnny wandered around the rubble looking for his sister. On minute, they were standing in a circle waiting for Carlo to answer his phone so they could make a deal, and the next, their world collapsed around them.

For a minute, Johnny had no idea what happened. All he knew was there was a huge explosion and his head hurt. It took him about 10 minutes to clear his way out of the rubble and to realize nothing was broken or severely damaged. He felt a gash on his head, and it pounded like mad, but otherwise he was okay.

Then he remembered Claudia.

They had just been starting to reconnect a bit when he was snatched by Corinthos. She was even willing to trade shipping lanes that were vastly important to the organization to get him back. He wanted to help her through whatever was messing up her head. Johnny couldn't afford to lose her. Again.

"Claudia!" He stumbled around, looking for any sign of movement, listening for any noises that might lead him to his sister. Suddenly, a wave of dizziness washed over him and he slipped to his knees. Everything got blurry. He closed his eyes and waited for it to pass, breathing deeply to calm himself. It was then he heard the moan.

Johnny got up and bolted to the area he heard the noise come from. "Come on, Claudia, be okay." He threw off wooden planks and metal pieces like a man on fire. Removing one final piece of wood, he was able to see who was underneath the rubble: Michael.

He swiftly pulled the rest of the debris off Michael, checking him for injury as he did. He was unconscious, but didn't seem to be badly hurt. Johnny shook him a little to try and wake him up. "Hey, hey, kiddo, wake up." He tapped his face lightly as Michael started to come around. "Hey, welcome back."

Michael blinked a few times to clear his head. "Who are you?"

"I'm Johnny, a friend of your mom's." So it was a little lie – he just wanted to make the kid comfortable.

"I remember. You came to the house once." He sat up. "Where's my mom?'

Shit, Carly is here, too? "We'll find her little man. Just let me make sure you're okay. Can you stand up?"

Michael tired to stand, but cried out in pain once he did. "I think I hurt my ankle."

Johnny had to come up with an idea fast. He couldn't leave the kid here alone while he looked for whoever else was buried under the rubble. First, he had to make sure Michael's ankle was stabilized before he moved him anymore. Johnny looked for a small enough piece of wood and then took off his belt when he found one. "You wearing a belt, buddy?"

"Yeah, why?"

"We're just gonna take care of your ankle right now. It's going to hurt, but you're brave right?"

"Y-y-yeah," he stuttered, frightened out of his mind.

Johnny laid the small board against Michael's ankle, doing his best not to cause the kid any more pain than he was already in. Then he fastened it to his leg with the two belts – a makeshift splint. Michael kept his eyes squeezed tight throughout the entire thing. When Johnny was done, he peeked open one eye. "That wasn't too bad."

"Well, that's cause you're a brave little man," he replied with a grin. "Now here's what we're gonna do next. I'm gonna crouch down, and you're going to wrap your arms around my neck."

"Like a piggyback ride?" Michael was too scared and hurt to remember to tell him he wasn't a kid anymore.

"Exactly. You ready?"

He nodded jerkily, and wrapped his arms around Johnny's neck as instructed. Johnny grabbed his legs in his arms, being careful as to not jerk around his ankle. "Okay, let's go find your mom."

They wandered around a few moments, calling out for both Carly and Claudia. The area was a disaster. It was hard to see any movement or hear any sounds coming from the wreckage. Finally, they heard someone calling out.

"John! Johnny!"

He turned around to see Claudia stumbling towards him. "Claudia, thank god," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Are you okay?"

"Been better," she replied with a wry grin. She too, had made a makeshift sling with her belt and a piece of wood. "I think I have a broken arm and a few broken ribs, but otherwise I'm okay. You?"

"I think I might have a concussion, but otherwise, I'm alright."

"Who's the kid," Claudia asked, nodding in Michael's direction.

"This is Michael."

She narrowed her eyes. "The kid that caused this whole ordeal. What's he doing here?"

Hearing the malice in her voice, Michael buried his head in Johnny neck, crying out, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean for anything bad to happen!"

"Hey, kiddo, it's okay," he soothed, patting his leg. Johnny shot Claudia a glare. Later, he mouthed to her. To Michael, he said, "Everything's all right." He paused for a minute as the blurriness and double vision came again.

"John, you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," he replied taking a deep breath. "Just a little blurred vision. Probably from the whack on the head I took. I'll be fine. We have to keep looking for people – Sonny and his mom was here, too."

The three of them took up the search again. Just as Johnny heard sirens in the distance, Claudia called out to him. "John! I see a hand over here!"

He rushed over to where she was. Gently putting Michael down, he started digging up the rubble, Claudia helping with her good arm. Finally, the cleared off enough to get the person out.

"Oh my god," Claudia said. "That's the woman who owns the hotel I stayed at when I first got here."

"That's Michael's mom and Sonny's ex-wife," Johnny explained.

"Is that my mom," Michael asked, voice trembling.

"Yeah, but don't worry," he said, trying to calm him down. "Help will be here soon; you can hear the sirens."

He leaned over to get a better look at Carly. She was unconscious, but breathing. "Carly, can you hear me?"

"Mmm… my baby," she said, weakly, coming around.

Johnny breathed a sigh of relief. "Michael's here and he's just fine."

"No… my baby," she said, hands covering my stomach. "Help my baby."

"What's going on," came a voice from behind them. They turned around to see Sonny coming towards them, looking just as beat up as they were.

Johnny looked at Claudia with panic written all over his face. Thank god the paramedics chose that moment to pull up, because Johnny felt like he was going to pass the fuck out.

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Lulu was leaving Logan's room when she heard the commotion. She rushed out to the nurse's station to see what all the fuss was about. Carly was the first one wheeled in, with Michael right behind her. She felt like she was punched in the stomach. She grabbed the first paramedic she saw. "What happened?"

"There was an explosion down on the waterfront," he replied, rushing past her.

"Wait," she cried, rushing after him. "Is she going to be all right?"

"If you don't let me do my job, she won't," he snapped, trying to get her to a room.

"It's okay, Lulu," Dr. Lee said, hurrying after Carly's gurney. "I'll take care of her."

Next person that was wheeled in was Claudia Zacchara, followed by Johnny and Sonny. Sonny made a beeline for where Michael and Carly were, and Lulu grabbed Johnny.

"Johnny. Oh my god, I was so worried about you! What's going on? Are you okay? You're bleeding!"

"Slow down, Lulu," Johnny replied, putting his hands up in the universal 'slow down' sign. "One question at a time."

"What happened?"

"From what I gathered, Michael ran away. Sonny thought we took him and kidnapped me in retaliation. Claudia was trying to make a deal to get me released. We met on the waterfront and then the building blew up around us. No idea why. That's the situation in a nutshell." Johnny took a deep breath as the double vision came again. With it came a wave of dizziness.

"Are you okay," she asked, putting her hand on his arm.

"I was hit in the head. I think I need to sit down for a minute."

Lulu took his arm and started to lead him towards a chair. "If you hit your head, a doctor should see you."

"I'll be fine. Everyone needs help more than I do."

"You need to get looked at. You have a deep cut and might – Johnny!" Before they got to the chairs, Johnny passed out on the floor.

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Johnny awoke what felt like hours later. He felt a hand grasping his. "What happened?"

"You passed out," Lulu said, thumb caressing his hand.

"And this young lady would not let me see you unless she was here," Dr. Drake supplied. "Now, Johnny, open your eyes for me."

Johnny tried, but all he could see was darkness. He started to panic. "I can't, doc. I can't open my eyes!"

Lulu caught Dr. Drake's eyes over Johnny's body, dread pooling in the pit of her stomach.

"Johnny," Dr. Drake said, "your eyes are open."