A nurse tracked down Bobbie and Jax in the hospital library. They both stood anxiously.

          "Is it Jerry?" they asked, almost in unison.

          "No," said the nurse quickly, "I just brought you his personal belongings. You know, the things he had with him at the time of the accident. Mr. Jacks is just fine. He seems to have improved quite a bit in the past twelve hours. Last time I checked, he was resting very peacefully." She consulted her watch. "That was about fifteen minutes ago, I'm going back now. If there's a change, I'll page you."

          They thanked the nurse and then she left. Bobbie slid back into her chair with relief, and pulled the bag towards her. When she opened the seal, Jerry's cologne assaulted her once again. The cologne was mixed with a vile burnt odor and a sickly sweet acrid scent as well. It made for a less-than-appealing chore to sort through his belongings. Her hand slid into the plastic bag and closed around Jerry's wallet. Bobbie drew it from the bag slowly. She had given him this wallet last Christmas. He immediately put pictures into the picture holders, right then and there on Christmas morning. She opened it and the first thing she saw was a picture of Lucas and Candy. Her eyes welled up; he loved those children more than his own life. She tried to turn the flap on the photo holder, but there was something stuck between the photo of the children and the next picture -- their wedding portrait. It was hard and metallic. A key. It was a key she'd never seen before. It wasn't like the key to the Jaguar or the Jeep, nor was it like the small, squat key for the sailboat, or the oblong brownstone key, or even a skeletal safe-deposit key.

          "Jax," Bobbie said, and Jax turned from the window. "Take a look at this. It's obviously a key. But to what?"

          Jax squinted from across the room, but moved towards her to take a closer look. "It's odd alright. Looks like the key we padlock the plane hanger with or the vault in the house in Alaska. But it isn't either of those - I'm sure." Just to be one hundred percent sure, he dug his own keys from the pocket of his jacket and compared Jerry's key to each one on his own chain. "Nope. Nothing matches."

          "Well, maybe you should hang on to it. I have nowhere to keep it at the moment." Jax threaded the odd key onto his sterling silver "globe and plane" key chain from Tiffany's - a recent gift from Chloe. He thought to himself, ironically, how the plane that went with this key tag was no longer flyable.

          "Here, will you look through his clothes?" Bobbie asked as she pushed the bag across the table to Jax, "maybe there is a clue about what he was up to. I'm going to look through everything in his wallet." They worked in silence for a while -- each lost thought. Bobbie came across a receipt dated several days before, for a locket from the most respected jeweler in Port Charles. Her birthday was coming, and Jerry, ever the planner, had thought ahead. The note on the receipt said the engraving would be done a week from Thursday. That was today. In his precise handwriting Jerry had written the sentiment on the blank spot at the bottom of the receipt: B - Love and licorice for your birthday and always - J. There was also a receipt from a photographer dated the same day. Jerry had had portraits made of the children and of himself for the locket. She swept away the tears that had formed and barely had gotten composed when Jax loudly announced, "I found something!"

          Chloe was bound and gagged. She knew many hours had passed, but was unsure of where she was at the moment. She had been roughly tossed onto the seat of a vehicle. The ride had gone on for several hours, she felt sure. She was angry. Jax' precautions had been right after all; even Samir and a palace "halfway 'round the world" didn't protect her. Now all she had were her own wits and cunning. It would never do to be held prisoner in some disgusting, unknown place. Soon the vehicle slowed and made several turns. It stopped and to her right a door was thrown open. She was grabbed roughly and pulled out. She felt the dry desert heat attack her unprotected head and face. Little darts of pain shot through her legs and feet as feeling displaced numbness.

          Suddenly, she was told to walk. She was guided up some stairs and tripped into what smelled like the inside of an old shoe. She heard a loud noise and the whirring sound one hears on a small airplane. Where was she being taken and by whom?

          John allowed Lucas to finish his game and he ate his lunch patiently. When Lucas had gone to play with Candace, he accessed all of the different menus that Lucas had supplied him passwords for. Now we're getting somewhere, Jerry my boy, he thought. The words "love" and "licorice" each led to menus that had a variety of personal information, financial, medical and so on, as well as information about J & J Jacks of Alaska. The word "fire" led to the game Lucas had been playing and several other password-protected files. After the first level of passwords, Jerry had reverted to form. John was able to begin accessing Jerry's files with code words he'd long since put aside. And who was it who said crime doesn't pay? He was mumbling to himself when Jane walked into the room and put her arms around his neck.

          "How's it going?"

          "Better now. I tell you, Lucas saved the day."

          "Oh, yes? And how did he manage that?"

          "He had the passwords."

          Jane smiled maternally at Jerry's infallible incorrigibility. She also rolled her eyes at the ceiling as if to ask God, what could I have done differently with that man? It was an appeal similar to one she made, frequently, when Jerry was a boy. "That's Jerry - trusting a child with his secrets. Reminds me of when he and Jax were boys. He did similar things then. Remember when he and Jax built that kit car and then crashed in the woods? He let a twelve year old drive. He should have known better he was nearly twenty-one!"

          "Yes, Jerry trusts children far more than any adult he's ever met. Well, except for Bobbie."

          Jane had to smile at that too. Although she had tried to foster independence in thought and deed in her sons, for a long time she felt she'd overdone it with Jerry. As she'd remarked in the past, he had obviously mistaken independence for perpetual motion. John was always irritated that he couldn't find him instantly. She knew when she'd met Bobbie that Jerry was smitten, but she didn't realize how serious it was until he called for advice.

          "It was! After she left the table, you continued to talk about Lucas and his baseball games, and about how Bobbie handles her 'brilliant' career, her 'adorable' son, her 'outrageous' daughter and you. Your pride was evident, as was your love. You smiled like a child on Christmas morning when she came back to the table."

          He had been silent for a long moment. Then he whispered, "Thanks, Mum," and hung up. It had been a long time since he'd called her anything but Lady Jane. Since he and John had begun the company and they made their first million. Jerry had decided that she was too fine to simply be called "Mum" anymore, so Lady Jane she'd become. Now suddenly, she was Mum, twice in one phone call! She had known the answer to Jerry's so-called problem had been inside his afraid-to-be-broken heart. Jerry had all the money he'd ever need, what he needed was the thing he most feared: commitment, acceptance, and love. Jane broke away from her thoughts and looked at the screen of Jerry's computer over John's shoulder. What Jerry needed, now that he had that love and acceptance, only time and an army of doctors could give him.