His background as a lifeguard took over as Jax kicked off his shoes and dove into the water. He vaguely noticed the cold temperature of the water, but when he got to the place where he last saw Carly’s car, Jax took a deep breath and plunged beneath the surface. Kicking madly, he propelled himself downward, opening his eyes to look for signs of her car.

He didn’t have to look far. He had only gone down about 25 feet when he saw it resting on a sandy bank. Jax swam around to the driver’s side, and when he looked inside, he could see Carly. There was a nasty gash on her forehead, but she was awake, alert, crying -- and frightened beyond words. Carly couldn’t believe her eyes when she looked out the car window and saw Jax. {What the heck is the guy from the cemetery doing here? Did he follow me?} She had vaguely heard something that sounded like his voice as the car sank deeper into the river, but she thought she had to have been hallucinating. {Just get the seat belt off, Carly. Get out of the car before it fills with water and sinks too deep. You’re not a strong swimmer, but if you can get out you can probably make it to the surface.}

Carly managed to work the seat belt free with trembling fingers as the dirty water rose up around her lap. But when she tried to open the car door, she wasn’t strong enough to fight against the pressure the water was exerting from the outside. Tears of frustration began to roll down her face. "D*mn it, open up!!" She rattled the car door, shaking it with all her might, but it still wouldn’t budge. She lay her head down on the steering wheel for a minute, but then shot back up. The combined effect of the cut on her forehead hitting the steering wheel and the river water lapping at her chin caused the tears to flow faster.

Jax saw her tears as Carly tried in vain to get the car door open. He also saw that he didn’t have much time as the water was rising above her shoulders. Jax reached down to yank on the handle of the car, but he couldn’t pull it open either. The car started to shift and slide down the bank, and he realized that the water level inside would soon choke off Carly’s air supply. Jax saw the terror in her eyes, but then an idea occurred to him. He knocked on the window of her door, and then pointed towards the other side of the car. She gave him a puzzled look, but then he covered his head with his hands and pointed to the other side of the car again.

{What is he doing? He wants me to cover my head? So I won’t see the water rising?} Carly was too upset to understand Jax, but then when she saw him grip the luggage carrier on the roof of her car and bring his feet towards the window, she realized he was going to try to kick out the glass. She quickly moved towards the center of the front seat and shielded her face from any flying glass.

Jax could have shouted for joy when he saw Carly move towards the middle of the seat, but his lungs were already close to bursting. Grabbing the luggage rack, Jax pulled back and kicked with all his might at the driver window. No luck. With nearly his last ounce of strength, Jax pulled back and kicked again. This time, between the force of his kicks and the water pressure, the glass gave way. Jax’s feet floated into the car, but so did the water of the Port Charles River, totally obliterating Carly’s air bubble.

Jax frantically pulled his feet out of the car and re-positioned himself so that he could reach inside the car. It didn’t take him long to find Carly -- she was reaching for him and he grabbed her hand, squeezing it to try to reassure her. Jax pulled her towards him with all of his might, finally pulling her out through the driver window as the last pieces of glass splintered away and the opening enlarged.

He felt Carly’s arms flailing wildly in the water, but somehow Jax managed to pull her to him, wrapping one of his arms around her back and holding her tightly to his chest. Jax’s lungs were burning, but when he felt Carly’s body go limp in his arms, he knew he had to get her to the surface -- fast.

Jax’s lifeguard training kicked in again as he propelled them to the surface with strong kicks. Luckily, Carly’s body floated along with him and after what seemed like ages, Jax’s head broke the surface of the river. He gasped for air, but then quickly pushed the hair from Carly’s face to see if she was breathing, too. It took about three seconds before the awful realization hit Jax. She wasn’t.

Luckily they weren’t far from shore. Jax pulled her with him, shouting her name as well as he could when his lungs were still half-full of river water. When Jax could feel the embankment beneath his feet again, he stood, scooping Carly into his arms like a baby and carrying her to the shore. He sank to his knees and lay her on the grassy marsh, half crying himself.

"Carly! Don’t you die on me, d*mnit! You can’t die on me!!" Jax was gasping for air but he managed to roll Carly to her back. CPR instincts took over as he cleared her mouth of river sludge and then reached under her, forcing her back to arch. He pinched her nose and covered her mouth with his, breathing air into her water-filled lungs. After giving her several breaths, he turned her to the side, hoping that she would choke up some water and start breathing. But she didn’t.

He rolled her to her back again, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes and arching her back again. "Come on, Carly!" he muttered, pinching her nose between his fingers again. "You’re not gonna die on me! No beautiful woman dies on Jasper Jacks before he’s had a chance to kiss her!" He breathed into her mouth again and almost cried for joy when he heard a cough rumble from deep in her chest. Her upper body jerked with the effort to push the water out of her lungs, and as he turned her to the side again, it came forth with a loud gasp.

Jax held her as she continued to choke for air and then turned her back to him, pushing her hair, which had escaped her braid, out of her face again. "That’s it, love. Come back to me." He never thought he would see anything as beautiful as her eyes when they opened to stare into his. He couldn’t tell at first if they filled with tears or remnants of river water, but he didn’t really care. Her hands fluttered a little but when she tried to raise one, Jax grasped it. He felt her squeeze his hand, and it really didn’t matter if it was in gratitude or leftover fear. "I’m here, Caroline. You’re safe."

Jax cradled her in his arms as she started to shiver violently. He could hear the sirens now, and when he looked off into the distance, he could see the flashing lights of the 911 Emergency vehicles. "Help’s almost here. Just hang in there a few minutes longer and you’ll be fine." He continued to rock her in his arms, trying to absorb some of her trembling, when the fact was he was just as wet and cold as she was. He was debating whether or not he should go back to the Explorer and get his jacket when the ambulance roared to a stop on the river bank 15 feet from where they were.

Two paramedics came rushing over with a gurney and emergency equipment. "What’s goin’ on?"

Jax coughed as he took a deep breath. "This lady’s car went into the river." He released Carly to their care, but kept a proprietary hold of her hand. Carly was still coughing and gasping for breaths but then one paramedic placed an oxygen mask over her face and she immediately started to breathe easier. "I was driving past when I saw it go in, so I pulled over and called 911. I figured if I waited for you to get here, she would drown so I went in myself and brought her out."

One of the paramedics looked up as he took Carly’s blood pressure. "She’s lucky that you just happened to be driving by, mister. A guardian angel who even knows CPR."

Jax shrugged as a police car pulled up, its lights flashing. He shivered once, his cold, wet clothes finally making him aware of the setting sun and dropping temperatures. The other paramedic finally looked up at him, rose to his feet, and put a hand to Jax’s forehead. "You look like you could use some oxygen yourself, buddy."

Jax coughed again and the paramedic grabbed a blanket from the gurney. He threw it around Jax’s shoulders and Jax nodded his thanks, clutching it together in the front. A large man in a topcoat and suit walked up to the scene. "What’ve you got, guys?" When he glanced down at Carly and saw her face, he swore under his breath. "Mrs. Corinthos?" He looked at the two paramedics. "Caroline Corinthos was the woman trapped in the car in the river?"

The paramedics nodded to each other and lifted the gurney so that they could roll it to the ambulance. "We didn’t get all the particulars, Taggert," one replied, waving his partner on with the gurney. Jax reluctantly let go of Carly’s hand as they wheeled her towards the unit. "Something happened and her car went in the river. This guy saw it all, called 911, and then jumped in himself to bring her out." The paramedic picked up his bag of medical equipment. "She’s d*mn lucky he knew CPR, or we’d be callin’ the morgue." Then the paramedic turned back to Jax. "You want to ride with the lady to General Hospital and let the docs there check you out, mister?"

Taggert spoke before Jax could answer. "I’m afraid I’ve got some questions for him before he does that, Frank. Would it be OK if he answered them first and then followed me to GH?"

The paramedic shrugged, looking first at Jax and then at Taggert. "Fine with me, detective." He pointed at Jax as he ran towards the ambulance. "Keep the blanket for now – just turn it in when you get to the hospital."

Jax waved at the paramedic as he jumped in the ambulance and it sped away, sirens wailing. He turned back to Taggert, who had pulled out his badge and flashed it in Jax’s face. "So…." He squinted at the badge. "…..Detective Taggert, there’s not a whole lot I can tell you."

Taggert pulled a small spiral notebook from his pocket. "How about your name, for starters? Got any identification?"

Jax reached for his back pocket but then sighed. "D*mn, I forgot I left it in the car when I jumped in the river." He pointed to the Explorer and when Taggert nodded, they both walked to it. Jax opened the door and grabbed his wallet from the front seat, flipping it open to his license and registration. "My name is Jasper Jacks. I live in New York City."

Taggert nodded slowly, copying information from Jax’s ID into his notebook. "And exactly why are you in Port Charles, Mr. Jacks?"

"I’m on vacation, detective. You know, get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city." Jax re-adjusted the blanket around his shoulders and pushed the wet hair out of his eyes.

Taggert looked at him suspiciously. "Uh-huh….leave the hustle and bustle of the big city…..and land yourself right in the middle of a near drowning." He handed the ID back to Jax. "How long have you known Mrs. Corinthos? Are you two…….old friends?"

{If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.} "I really knew Sonny better than I knew his wife," Jax replied, adjusting the truth to his purposes. "I just met Mrs. Corinthos earlier this afternoon at the cemetery while she was visiting her husband’s grave." He shrugged his shoulders. "On the way back into town, I happened to be driving near the bridge and recognized her car. Then when I saw it go in the river, I knew I had to do something."

Taggert nodded. "Yeah – that’s kinda odd, isn’t it? I mean, what would make a perfectly good car suddenly go off the road and into a river? Did another car force her off the road?"

"There was a delivery van that was coming the other way when Mrs. Corinthos was approaching the bridge." Jax took the blanket and rubbed at his hair, trying to remove some of the excess moisture. "It looked like she swerved to avoid hitting the van -- maybe she lost control of the car then. But she was going pretty fast, even before the van came along. It’s possible something mechanical went wrong and that caused the car to accelerate."

Taggert nodded again. "I’ll have the car towed from the river and get it checked out." He closed his notebook. "So – you say you’re in Port Charles on vacation? Staying with friends, maybe?"

Jax gathered the rest of his things from the front seat of the Explorer and shoved them into his pockets. "Nope. Don’t know a soul here. I’ll be staying at the Baldwin Bed and Breakfast, though, if you need to talk to me again."

Taggert pulled his coat closer around him. "Thanks. I just might want to do that." He pointed towards his car as he began walking away from Jax. "You can just follow me and I’ll lead you to GH so the doctors can make sure you didn’t hurt yourself saving Mrs. Corinthos’s life."

Jax waved at him and got into his Explorer, starting it quickly and turning the heat on full blast. "Yeah – and I just might want to talk to you, too, Detective," Jax muttered. "To find out just why you’re so bloody sure that Carly Corinthos killed her husband."

*~*~*~*

Carly fought her way through the white haze towards consciousness. Images of her car going off the road into the water spun before her eyes. The car was sinking -- she could feel the cold water rising around her legs -- then even higher, choking off all the air. She started coughing and clutching at her throat, but suddenly she felt strong hands pushing hers down to rest on either side of her head.

"Carly! Wake up! It’s OK -- you’re safe!"

Carly whimpered and shook her head from side to side. But when she opened her eyes, she was staring into the most beautiful, mesmerizing pair of blue/green eyes she had ever seen. As she looked around her, Carly could see that she was in a white room, in a white bed. Her terror must have been reflected in her eyes since the stranger slightly loosened his grip on her wrists. "Hey, there -- it’s me, Jax! Don’t you remember me?"

As he backed away from her a little, it all came back to Carly -- the cemetery, the visitor, the gun, her failed brakes, the car crashing into the river. Jax sat down gently on the side of Carly’s bed as he let loose of her hands. His tousled blonde hair fell down across his forehead and when he pushed it back, annoyed, Carly finally made the connection. {He’s the one who talked to me in the cemetery, but he’s the one who saved my life, too. Jacks. Something Jacks.}

Carly tried to speak, but her throat was raw from coughing up river water and screaming. Jax shook his head and reached to the table for a glass of ice water. "Don’t try to talk. You’ve been through a lot today, but the doctors say you’ll be fine tomorrow." He held the glass for her as she sipped the cooling liquid through a straw. "You’ve got a minor concussion and some water in your lungs, but no permanent damage, thank God."

Carly swallowed hard and tried again to speak. "Thanks to you….too.....Mr....."

Jax lay a finger across her lips, silencing her. "I told you .....you’re supposed to rest. That includes no talking." He gave her a lop-sided smile that made her feel like butterflies had taken up residence in her lungs instead of river muck. "And I make it a rule that if I save a beautiful woman’s life, she has to call me by my nickname." He extended a hand to her for the second time that day. "It’s Jax, with an "x."" He shrugged and shook his head with a smile. "Never could understand what my mum saw in the name Jasper."

She stared at his face for a few seconds, then smiled weakly. "Me, too ……Caroline," she whispered, shortening the explanation of her nickname. Suddenly a frown wrinkled her forehead. "How…… know……Carly?"

{Oops.} Jax held straw and glass of water to her lips again. "I heard the nurses talking when they brought you up here from the ER. One of them mentioned that your nickname was Carly," he lied smoothly. After so many years in the WSB, he considered it more of a "constructing-a-plausible-cover" fib than an outright falsehood.

Carly took another sip of water through the straw as she studied Jax. {He’s charming. And handsome. And he saved my life.} Jax looked around at the door of her room as a chime sounded. "That’s the end of visiting hours." He rose from the bed, grabbing his jacket from a chair. "I’d better be going." He went to the door to her room, stopping as he opened it to give her one last smile. "I’ll check on you again tomorrow, Carly. Try to get some rest now."

Carly returned his smile and watched as the door closed slowly behind him. She lay back heavily against the pillow and closed her eyes. {Tall, blonde, handsome, brave -- and a friend of Sonny’s. Which means that he’s probably just as much of a lying snake as Sonny was. Momma was probably right. Men are all pond scum.}

*~*~*~*

Carly spent a restful night and was awakened the following morning by a knock at the door of her hospital room. A tall brunette poked her head in. "Are you up to having some visitors?"

"Alexis!" Carly pushed herself up to a sitting position in the bed, wincing as a shooting pain went through her ribs. "Come on in!" She waved at her friend, who entered the room carrying a large bouquet of flowers.

"Oh, Carly, I was *so* worried when I heard you were in the hospital!" Alexis cried, sitting on a chair next to the bed after getting a gentle hug from Carly. "I couldn’t imagine what had happened, and of course they didn’t say too much on the news except that you were in an accident."

Carly nodded. "I was, but I’m fine now." She looked around, her face suddenly pale. "Where’s Bree?"

"She’s with Christina." Alexis pouted. "Somehow I’ll never understand how hospitals can be so dead set against babies visiting people, yet the OB floor is just *full* of babies!!"

"Ohhh, Alexis," Carly wailed. "I’m so sorry. I know how you hate asking Christina to watch her." Alexis Davis lived across the street from Carly and was her best friend in Port Charles. Carly liked to think she filled the same role for the harried single mother. She had stood firmly by Alexis during her pregnancy and even been her coach in the labor room, crying when Sabrina Clarissa was delivered some 8 months ago. Carly often babysat for Bree when an atypical job at the temp agency where Alexis worked took her away at odd hours of the day. Since Carly loved children so much, she looked forward to her time spent with the affectionate, good-natured infant.

Alexis sighed. "Yes, well when I told Christina why I needed her to watch Bree, the first thing she thought about was the appointment she had with you for this afternoon to take Madeline’s portrait." She folded her hands in her lap with a pout. "You’d think she’s the only person in the entire city of Port Charles that has a daughter worthy of photographing."

Carly smiled and patted Alexis’s hand. "Now, Alexis, you know how mothers are about their babies. You can’t blame her for wanting to think that Madeline is the next Cindy Crawford."

Alexis suddenly shook her head briskly. "Oh, Carly, you must think I’m a horrible person! Here I am, obsessing about how some other woman thinks her child is more beautiful than mine, when you almost just drowned! Whatever happened?"

Carly put her hand to her forehead, gently pushing the hair back out of her eyes. "I’m not really sure, Alexis. I had gone to the cemetery to visit Sonny’s grave, and the next thing I knew, I was heading down the road to the Port Charles River and my brakes wouldn’t work." She carefully left out any reference to the gun, hoping that the current in the river had carried it out to the Atlantic Ocean by now.

Alexis frowned. "That’s kind of odd, isn’t it? Didn’t Sonny used to keep that car in mint condition?"

"I know – he just had routine maintenance done on it about ….." Carly’s eyes began to well with tears again as Alexis reached out to take her hand. "…..about three weeks before he ddd…..died."

The door to Carly’s hospital room opened slowly. "Excuse me, ladies." Marcus Taggert poked his head inside. "I can come back later if you like, Mrs. Corinthos."

Carly waved her hand at the door. "No, come in Detective. Alexis is a good friend. I don’t mind if she stays – if you don’t."

Taggert nodded curtly to Alexis, who just gave him a polite smile. "You had a pretty close call yesterday, Mrs. Corinthos. If Jasper Jacks hadn’t been there to pull you out of the river, we’d be visiting you at the funeral home instead."

"You have such a diplomatic way of putting things, Detective," Alexis said sarcastically. Then she looked at Carly. "Who’s Jasper Jacks?"

"A man I met at the cemetery yesterday. Apparently he knew Sonny but couldn’t make it to the funeral." She sighed and folded her shaky hands in her lap. "He paid his respects and then I guess he just happened to be taking the same route I was because he saw my car go off the road. He called 911 and then managed to pull me out of the car."

"According to the paramedics, he also gave you CPR, Mrs. Corinthos," Taggert continued. "When he pulled you out of the river, you weren’t breathing." His infamous spiral notebook appeared in his hand. "But neither one of us could figure out why your car would have gone into the water in the first place. Care to enlighten me?"

Carly hesitated. If she told him about the brakes on the car, would he start snooping around and find out about the gun, too? Whoever planted that gun in her front seat may have tampered with the brakes. But before she could answer his question, Alexis jumped into the conversation. "Carly told me that after she left the cemetery, her brakes weren’t working, Detective." She turned back to Carly with a helpful smile. "Right?"

Carly sighed. "Those five minutes are still such a blur, Detective." She placed her hand to her forehead again. "The details are still kind of fuzzy, but it seemed as though I was pumping the brake pedal and yet the car wouldn’t stop."

Taggert made some notes in his book and then flipped it shut, nodding his head. "I’m having the car towed out of the river this morning. I’ll make sure they check it out." He raised almost-sympathetic eyes to Carly. "How are you feeling?"

"My throat’s a little raw, but the doctor came in this morning to see me. He says that I might be going home this afternoon."

Alexis’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. "That’s wonderful!! I’ll drive you home since you don’t have a car, and then I’ll stick around to make sure you just rest and take it easy."

Carly grasped Alexis’s hands as they flailed with enthusiasm. "Alexis…..I appreciate the offer of the ride, but I don’t just want to lie around in bed for the rest of the week." She nodded emphatically. "In fact, I’m going to call Christina and see if I can re-schedule that portrait sitting for Madeline for later this afternoon."

Taggert had already begun walking back to Carly’s door. "I’ll let you know as soon as the garage has any information on your car, Mrs. Corinthos. And I’m really glad that you’re OK." As he left the room, Carly couldn’t help the chill that ran down her spine.

Alexis felt her friend shiver. "Oh, Carly…..I am, too." She smiled and gave Carly a naughty wink. "So, tell me about this white knight of yours – Jasper Jacks?"

Carly nodded, but then raised sad eyes to Alexis. "He’s not my white knight, Alexis." She turned her head to face the window. "There’s no such thing as a white knight." {He’s just a man – a liar. Like Sonny.}

*~*~*~*

"Bloody h*ll, Sean, what temporary service did you use for this secretary? Blondes ‘R Us?"

Sean’s chuckle came through the phone line loud and clear. "Now, Jax, don’t you think that’s a little like the pot calling the kettle black, considering that mop of yellow straw you’ve got?"

Jax ran the fingers of his free hand through his hair. "I know, Sean…..but come on!! It took her five minutes just to patch me through to your private line!"

"Well, you must be feeling better if you’re getting impatient with the clerical help. Is all that fresh air and sunshine upstate putting that rosy glow back in your cheeks?"

Jax didn’t tell him that "all that fresh air and sunshine" almost put him in the morgue the previous day. Once he got back to the Baldwin Bed and Breakfast and checked in, even before he took a much-needed hot shower, he called Dr. Cohen. Needless to say, the doctor wasn’t thrilled to hear about Jax’s exposure to multiple varieties of germs in the river water.

"Just make sure you’re still putting in those anti-rejection drops, OK, Jax?" The doctor was firm. "And you should probably see someone there to make sure there was no damage to your eyes."

"I had a complete once-over at General Hospital, Bruce. Once I told them about the transplant, their top eye surgeon took a look at me and gave me the A-OK." Jax sighed. "But are you really sure those are the best kind of anti-rejection drops I could use?"

"Why? Are you having some kind of reaction to them?"

"If you call strange blackouts and dreams a reaction." Jax had rubbed his hands over his eyes gently. "I had another one this afternoon, Bruce. I saw myself getting shot in the chest and falling on a green rug."

"I think it’s just the trauma of the shooting playing out in your subconscious, Jax. Even though these drops are relatively new to the market, there haven’t been any other reports of side effects similar to yours. I’d just chalk it up to stress."

After Jax hung up from speaking with the doctor and took a long, hot shower, he came out to the antique style bed and flopped across it, exhausted from the day’s events. He hadn’t even bothered to turn off the lights in the room before he fell into a troubled sleep. Dreams of Carly kept filtering in and out of his consciousness. But he wasn’t dreaming about rescuing her.

Jax could see her clearly in his dream. She was in a pale peach bedroom, wearing some kind of filmy soft ecru negligee that reminded him of adolescent yearnings. She walked towards him slowly in the dream, reaching out to run her hand across his chest. Jax could *feel* her touching him -- he could hear her sigh as he lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed. As he lay his precious cargo in the middle of the bed, Jax could feel her winding her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her. He slid the spaghetti strap of her gown off her shoulder, exposing the first swell of her breast. As Jax felt her fingers weaving through his hair, pulling him down to pleasure her ---- he woke up, panting, perspiring, and turned-on beyond belief.

"Jax? Are you still there?" Sean’s voice brought Jax back to the present.

"I’m here, Sean." He shifted uncomfortably on the bed. Just thinking about it had had almost as intense of an effect on his body as the original dream. "I need a favor."

"Shoot."

"I need the password so I can hack into the WSB computer from here with my laptop."

There was a long pause. "Jax -- I don’t think accessing top secret information comes under the heading of "rest and relaxation."" Sean’s scolding was met with silence. "Jax -- is this one of your "gut feelings" again?"

Jax’s face was grim, his mouth set in a thin line. "Sonny Corinthos was murdered, Sean. The yokels that they jokingly refer to as cops here think that the widow did it." A vision of Carly’s face flashed before Jax’s eyes again. "I don’t think she did. I just want to check into what kind of business Sonny Corinthos was doing that could have gotten him killed."

There was another long pause. "I really shouldn’t be doing this, Jax."

"You’re not, Sean. We never had this conversation. You were too busy watching old re-runs of Friends."

Sean chuckled. "All right, all right." There was a short pause. "But Jax," Sean added seriously, "watch your back on this one." Jax could well imagine his boss’s serious demeanor. "Maybe there’s really more to it than just a random murder."

Then Jax pictured Carly, coughing up river water and then frantically struggling against him in the hospital bed. "I’ve got another gut feeling, Sean. I think you’re probably right."

To be continued......