Chapter 5

The General Hospital of Port Charles is extremely well known to all citizens of 
the city. The ER is always busy, OR available, 2nd floor educational, and 3rd 
floor friendly and familiar. It feels like home to the entire community, 
especially Jake Marshak, Chief Of Staff, who is asleep on the cot in his small 
office. 

It's morning when a middle aged woman, blonde with light gray streaks, green 
eyes, a snub nose and a shy smile, wearing a lab coat, sneaked into his office, 
and upon finding him asleep, lay down on the cot, cuddling up next to him. 
Slowly, Jake stirred. 

“Gina?” he mumbled, questioningly. 

“Good morning, Sweetheart. Came to see how you were doing.” 

“I'll be OK. Better, now that I've seen you.” 

“Oh, that's so nice! But how's Emily doing?” 

“Truly? I don't know. I wish I did, but I don't. The only thing anyone can do is 
to wait.” 

Gina sat up, frustrated. “I don't want to have to wait. Jake, we're supposed to 
be doctors. There has to be something we can do.” 

He also sat up, putting a tired arm around his beloved wife. “I know. I feel the 
same way. We all do.” 

Just then, over the intercom, came the metallic voice calling “Dr Gina Marshak, 
to Pediatrics, Dr Gina Marshak, Pediatrics”. 

She sighed. “I better go. I'll see you home for dinner?” 

“About 8, I've got quite a bit of work to do.” 

She gives him a quick kiss, and exits with a smile. Jake lies back down on the 
bed, yawns, rolls over and tries to catch up on some much-needed sleep. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the breakfast table, Maxie and Georgie are already downstairs, sitting at the 
table, while Felicia is cooking in the adjoining kitchen. Soft rumbles of 
conversation meet Mac when he comes downstairs. 

He yawns, stretches and rubs at his eyes. “My, my, my. Such a vision to wake to 
in the morning - three beautiful blondes,” he teases. 

“Only just,” Felicia bites back, before smiling and giving her husband a kiss. 

“Hey MacDaddy! Right on time - Mom's at the kitchen again.” 

He groans. “Doesn't that woman ever learn?!” He walks over to Felicia and puts 
his arms around her. She bats him away playfully, so he sits down at the table. 

Footsteps can be heard from upstairs as Jared bounds down, dressed to go out, 
hair slicked back and a bag on his back. 

“Stop right there, buckaroo. Where you running to?” 

Jared pauses long enough to give his mother a quick peck on the cheek, and calls 
out “Meeting people!” 

Still half asleep, Mac shouts out “Bye” and rests his aching head on the table. 

Maxie clears her throat. “Uh, guys, do you know the latest on Emily?” 

Georgie pipes up. “Didn't you guys try to find her before?” 

Mac and Felicia exchange a look as they try to decide who should answer THIS 
question. Felicia takes charge. “Well, sweetie, we did. Originally, when Emily 
disappeared, we went to investigate. We… we saw her die. I guess we only thought 
we saw her die. You see, her car… crashed… burnt… there was screaming.” She 
pauses, unable to go on. Mac rushes over, comforting her, and takes over the 
story. 

“We came home. There was nothing else we could have done. No one could have 
survived that blast, or so we thought.” 

Silence hangs in the air. The tension is so thick, you could almost reach out 
and grab hold of it. 

Georgie, ever the one with timing, pushes out her chair and announces “I'm going 
to the Outback.” 

“I think I'll go off to work now, too.” 

“OK, bye girls,” Mac replies, absently, his attention firmly focused on his 
distraught wife. 

“Oh Mac,” she cries to her husband, “What if there was something we could have 
done?” 

“There wasn't. Don't worry about it, I'm positive no one blames us for her 
absence. It'll be OK.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She sighed. “I did know her, but we weren't close. More, we just knew of each 
other. I used to date her brother, a long time ago. She was friends with Lucy, 
my mother. Her father sponsored my medical education and she was just around 
town.” 

“But Mum, what…” 

“No one knows, son,” Joe Scanlon interrupts his son's inquisition of his wife. 
“Cole, give your mother a rest. She's tired enough as it is. She's being working 
the last 24 hours straight.” He turns to Karen and asks “Would you like a 
coffee?” 

“Oh, yes please. That'd be wonderful!” 

James comes down. “Mom, are we going to the lab today?” 

“Oh, Jamie, I'd love to, but all I am physically capable of is going up to bed 
and sleeping…” 

“That's OK. But could I go by myself then?” 

“I don't know…” 

“Mom! I'm 17! I'm old enough!!!” 

“I guess so. Just be careful of the experiment set up. Otherwise, lock up when 
you leave.” 

Jamie ran round the table to give him mother a kiss on the cheek. 

“You're the best mother ever! Bye.” 

“Well, what can I say?!?” 

“Uhh, I'm off before this gets too intimate. Too much information already as far 
as I'm concerned!” 

“Bye Cole. Have fun,” Joe calls out as his other son leaves, “I know we will!” 
And with that, he picked up his wife from the chair she was sitting on and 
carried her upstairs out of sight.