Mike and Carrie Saga - Parts III and IV

It was a wonderful dream. In it she was still in Mike's hospital room. Still in the embrace, foreheads touching. She'd learned so much about her feelings last night. Her feelings for Mike weren't just friendly any more. She had wanted to kiss him. And now she was dreaming that very thing. It was truly a wonderful dream. She felt so good. So relaxed in his arms. She hadn't felt that way in a long time. In the distance Carrie could hear a ringing. She didn't want to let go of the bliss she was feeling and tried to push the noise away, but it slowly got louder and louder. She had to be imagining it because she was asleep. The noise kept nagging at her until she realized it wasn't a dream. It was the phone. Carrie groped in the darkness for the receiver. "Hello?"

"Carrie? Hey, it's Mike."

"Hi, Mike." Carrie leaned over and brought the digital clock closer to her.

"Did I wake you? You sound a little funny."

"No, what would I be doing sleeping at..." Carrie looked at the clock one more time just to be sure she was seeing it right. "5:30 in the morning."

"Is it really 5:30?. I'm sorry. The clock in here is broken. So much for modern convenience. Anyway, I wanted to catch you before you left for work."

"You caught me. What's up?" Carrie, finally a little more awake, managed to sit up and turn on the light. It temporarly blinded her and she threw her hand up to cover her eyes.

"Jen and Jack are going to spend a romantic weekend in Chicago and Mom can't get away from her patients. I need you to do me a huge favor. I need some clothes from my apartment."

"Why? Are they going to let you out already?" Carrie sounded concerned. Mike liked the way he felt knowing she really cared about him.

"Since none of my major organs were damaged, I can heal at home just as well as here. If I get worse, at least I'll be able to tell. I am a doctor after all. It's really just an excuse though. I want to be able to go to John and Marlena's wedding. I'm really happy for them. They've gone through a lot to be together."

"Mike, you're so sweet." It was just like Mike to be more concerned about other people's happiness than his own. She always liked that quality about him. "Ok, anything else you want me to get for you?" Mike could think of a something, but he knew that it probably would never come true since she loved Austin and not him.

"No that's it. Oh, and Carrie? Be careful. Abe said the man who attacked me hasn't been found yet. The only good thing is we got a blood sample from my car keys. When we were struggling I must have wounded him somewhere. He could be hanging around the hospital."

"I'll keep my eye out for anyone suspicious. Don't worry." They said their good-byes and Carrie drug herself into the shower.

Franco thought back to last night. It could have been so easy for Mike to recognize him. Thank God he wore that black mask. He couldn't believe he'd let Kate drag him into this. Coming between Bo and Hope was one thing but splitting up Carrie and Mike was another. She wanted them apart. She wanted Austin to be happy no matter what the cost. The cost was going to be bigger than Kate thought.

Franco hadn't counted on shooting Mike. The gun had misfired and he nearly shot himself in the process. This would surely throw a wrench into Kate's plans. Maybe it wasn't possible for both of her children to be happy. Fate had other ideas for them. He was grateful to Kate for one thing though. Now Hope was free to love him.

When Carrie arrived at Mike's apartment, she looked for the secret spot where he kept the extra key. Five minutes later she was still searching. Carrie couldn't believe they key was so well hidden. It hadn't been that long since she'd been here, had it? She thought back and realized it had been at least few years. What kind of friend was she anyway? Here Mike was visiting her all the time and she hadn't been over to his apartment once in two years. That was going to have to change. Finally the key materialized and she walked in the apartment.

It was just like she remembered. A couple of shirts were inside out on the couch and it looked like he was reading at least five different medical journals. Other than that hardly anything else was out of place. There weren't even dirty dishes in the sink. She walked by Mike's desk and a picture caught her eye. It was the one of the two of them in the park. Carrie wondered where he got a real photo of it. Maybe he knew someone at the paper. She sat the picture back on the desk, gathered some clothes for him and headed to the hospital.

A few minutes later she arrived at the hospital. "Hey, I brought you your clothes." Carrie walked over to the bed and placed the garments on the night stand.

"I really appreciate it." Mike looked a little distracted. He was trying to peek into the bandage on his side. Carrie gave him a strange look. She wondered what he was doing. "It itchs." She couldn't help but laugh. Mike wasn't a good patient as he was a doctor.

"Does it hurt?" Carrie lightly touched his side. Mike put his hand over hers, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again he said, "Now that you've touched it, it feels so much better. You have healing hands."

"You're the doctor, you're the one with the healing hands." Mike reached down and brought her other hand to his side.

"Yes, I'm the doctor and I say these hands healed me."

Caroline Brady walked into Mike's hospital room. She was carrying a container stamped with the logo of the Brady Pub. The words Mike whispered to Carrie were disconserting to her. He was holding Carrie's hands to his side From the look on his face Caroline could tell he was falling in love with her. And he was falling hard. It was still obvious from their previous talks that Carrie loved Austin. Caroline would hate for Mike to have his heart broken again.

"Mike, Carrie. Hi." The two of them suddenly broke apart at the sound of her voice. Carrie stood up and walked over to her.

"What is this? It smells wonderful."

"It's Shawn's famous clam chowder, guaranteed to cure what ails you." Mike and Carrie looked at each other and shared a smile. Caroline sat the container on the night stand. "I couldn't believe it when John told me you'd been shot. How are you feeling?"

"Other than my itching bandage, I'm fine. I'm going home today." Mike reached over and grabbed the clothes Carrie had brought him. "If you'll excuse me, I believe we all have a wedding to go to and I for one don't want to miss it." Mike made his way into the bathroom trying to close the gap in the back of his hospital gown. Carrie laughed at the sight of his antics. He finally got ahold of the fabric and walked backwards into the bathroom with a quirky smile on his face.

"I think he was blushing," Caroline said to Carrie. They both turned toward the door when they heard a light knocking. "Jamie? Oh my gosh it is you."

"Hi Caroline, Carrie." Jamie had her curly hair up in a pony tail. It had grown quite long since the last time they'd seen her.

"How have you been? Where have you been?" Carrie gave Jamie a hug. Now that Jamie was back maybe she could see through Sami's faked amnesia. Carrie had to hold on to that thought. Neither Austin nor Marlena seemed to think she was pretending. Was she the only one who could see it? "Have you kept in touch with Sami?" Carrie asked hopefully.

"No, not really." Jamie thought back to the day she saw Lucas and Sami making love at Titan. Sami knew how she felt about Lucas but went ahead and had the affair anyway. That was what ultimately caused her to leave Salem. That and the fact that her mother had cancer and needed to be closer to a special hospital in Chicago. It was her mother's cancer that brought her back to Salem.

"I've been in Chicago. My mom was admitted to a research hospital there. She had cancer." Jamie wiped a tear from her face.

"What do you mean had?" said Caroline. Jamie looked at Caroline and back to Carrie. Without saying a word, both women seemed to know the answer. "Where are you staying?"

"I don't know. Maybe the Salem Inn. I just wanted to be closer to people I loved."

"Nonsense. You'll stay with us." Caroline hugged Jamie. Jamie had always seemed like a daughter to her.

"How did you know Mike was hurt? Well, I'm assuming you heard that he was shot and that's why you're here." For some reason Carrie became protective of Mike. It did seem kind of strange for Jamie to come back after all this time and already know Mike was here at the hospital. At that moment Mike walked out of the bathroom adjusting his shirt over the bandage. He looked up to see that there were now three women in his hospital room.

"Boy, it's Grand Central Station in here today." Jamie ignored Carrie's question and walked over to Mike. "Is that...?" Before he could finish Jamie answered.

"Yeah, it's me Dr. Horton."

"Are you back for good or just visiting?" Mike thought back to the days when Sami and Jamie first starting volunteering at the hospital. All the patients loved Jamie. She knew just how to keep people's spirits up.

"Back for good it seems. I actually came in looking for the head of the physical therapy department, but when one of the nurses told me what had happened to you I decided to stop by." Jamie told them about the classes she'd been taking in Chicago and her budding interest in physical therapy. She now only needed an internship to complete her course work. Then she could start working as a physical therapy assistant.

"Actually, we do have an internship program here. I'll put a good word in for you. The head of that department has an office just the hall from mine. I'll talk to him tomorrow. But now we all have a wedding to go to." Caroline and Jamie left for the pub while Mike gathered all his belongings.

"Do you need to go by your apartment before the wedding?"

"No, I think I brought everything. Can I change at your place?"

"Sure, no problem." Mike and Carrie walked out of the hospital and into the parking lot. The stain on the pavement drew Mike's attention and sent a chill down his spine. He knew sooner or later it would hit him like a ton of bricks. Right now he was too busy to be bothered by it. Carrie needed him to be strong for her.

Austin and Sami were almost ready for the wedding. Sami admired herself in the mirror. She looked pretty good considering how long she'd be unactive in that wheelchair. Even Austin had to admit that Sami was starting to look more like a woman and less like a little girl. Lucas arrived and Sami tried to get rid of him, but Austin invited him in anyway. Sami use to like the fact that Austin and Lucas were getting along. Now with the knowledge of Will's paternity, Sami wasn't so sure it was a good idea for Lucas to be coming around so often. She just wished Kate would hurry up and buy that house in the country for them. That would keep Austin away from Carrie and Lucas away from Will.

"Sami are you alright? You look like something is troubling you." Austin adjusted his tie and picked up Will.

"No, it's nothing. I just hope everything goes well for the wedding." That was a lie. She couldn't believe how easy it was to fool everyone. Fool everyone into thinking she'd lost her memory. She prayed for a natural disaster to stop the wedding. Her dad was the only person who should be married to her mom. He was dead. How could her mom forget him so easily? "Who was that on the phone before?"

"Marlena. She called looking for Carrie." Austin had also tried to call Carrie but she wasn't home. Where could she be? "Sami, I'll be right back I'm going to take the trash out." He had to find Carrie and now that he heard Mike was out of the hospital she would probably be at his apartment.

Mike and Carrie arrived at his apartment an hour before the wedding was to start. Marlena had already called Mike's answering machine looking for Carrie. While Mike was changing into his tux, Carrie called Marlena and assured her they would be right over. Carrie went into the bathroom to change into her maid or honor dress.

Mike came out of the bedroom looking very dapper. You'd never know he'd been shot the night before. "How is everything with Marlena?" Mike asked through the bathroom door.

"Happy, nervous, excited. She kept giggling. I think she's afraid someone will pinch her and she'll awake from a dream." Carrie opened the bathroom door. "Could you zip me up?"

Just then the door bell rang. "Hold that thought," said Mike before he could zip Carrie's dress. She had her back to the door fixing her hair. Mike opened the door. It was Austin.

"Hi, Austin."

"Is Carrie here?" He pushed by Mike and saw Carrie half out of her dress. He looked at Mike and his shirt was half buttoned and jacket off. He was right. Carrie had fallen for Mike.

"Hurry up Mike. It's getting cold in here." Carrie never knew Austin was there because he hurried past Mike making sure to elbow him in the ribs on his way out. Carrie heard Mike gasp. She turned around in time to see him grab his side with one hand and the door with the other.

"Mike what happened. Who did this to you?"

"It's ok, I just need to catch my breath." Austin had come close to reopening the wound but missed it by a few inches. "I'll be fine."

"Who did this to you? I heard you talking to someone. "We're not leaving until you tell me."