Title: When the Sky Cries

Author: rhonda

Feedback:rule2much4u@yahoo.com

Rating: pg 

Category: short

Type: angst/mob

Summary: When the unthinkable happens the universe

feels your agony, and the sky cries.  summary sucks,

but give it a chance.

        A/N:  I wanted to write a short story/ songfic sort

of thing but i didn't know what kind of story or what

song.  But when i heard the song i used for this the

whole story basically wrote itself in my head.  In

this story Journey is together but not married or

engaged, but after everybody knows that they're in

love. it's a one-shot. a long one shot.  please let me

know what you think.

WHEN THE SKY CRIES

She was in darkness.  It was all over; surrounding

her.  Shadows darker then she could remember seeing

before.  Panic and fear as she'd never known began to

rise within her.  What was happening?  How had she

gotten there? How was she supposed to get out?  Just

as she thought it, she heard it.  A voice.  His voice.

"Courtney," it sounded muffled at first, like she was

hearing it from underwater.  It became clearer the

more he said.  "Courtney, open your eyes. Please."

Slowly, her senses began to return to her body.  He

was holding her, the warmth that generated from his

touch told her so.  But they weren't laying together. 

She felt the awkward position and the contrast between

her upper body in his warm arms and her lower half on

the stiff, cement path.

"Courtney."

What was that in his voice? Panic?  That could not be

right.  The man she knew never panicked.  The Jason

Morgan she loved was determined to be the rock for

everyone to hold on to.  Her eyelids parted and she

found herself looking into his oceanic eyes.  The

worry painted over every inch of his beautiful face.

"J-Jason? What happened?"  she felt herself struggling

to get the words out, and it seemed like her head

would fall back were it not supported by his strong

arm.

"Don't worry, sweetie.  Help is on the way."  the

voice of her erratic sister-in-law wafted to her ears.

It was then that she first saw her brother and his

wife over Jason's broad shoulder.    It only added to

the thousand of questions she already had.

"Help?"  her eyes scanned the man holding her,

searching for answers. Her gaze froze on a location on

his powerful chest stained a sickening red.  "You're

bleeding."

His sharp eyes looked down at his shirt before

returning to her.

"Shh. It'll be ok."  he reassured.

"No, are you hurt?"

"Courtney-I..." his gaze flickered away towards

something for the slightest second. Barely a moment,

but long enough to let her know there was something he

didn't want to draw her attention to.  But it was what

would answer her questions.

Following the path his sight took, Courtney stared

down to see the sight he did not want her to.  His

hand lay, applying pressure to a spot on her lower

chest.  The fabric surrounding his palm was no longer

the baby blue of the blouse she'd picked out that

morning.  

"Oh." it came out like a whimper.

She looked at the people before her in full

realization.  There was blood on his shirt.  Her

blood. 

"Jason."  she said, her lip quivering as she tried to

hold back tears.  He understood what she was saying. 

It was a single word full of emotion.  Begging him to

stay with her; to take care of her

.

"It's ok. It's ok. I'm right here."

A few tears fell from her eyes, while looking into

his.  Before her mind could register any pain,

Courtney felt her body begin to numb. A bitter sweet

event.  There was no doubt if she felt it, it would be

the most pain she'd ever experienced.  But she was

afraid.  Because her body was shutting down; giving

up.  She knew what was happening.  

Mustering up all her strength she slid her hand to the

wounded area, and layed her hand on top of his

entwining their fingers.

"It doesn't hurt." she said trying to comfort the

worry she saw in his face.

Her body was getting heavier, it was frustrating her. 

So much she wanted to say. To all of them, and she did

not have time.

"You'll be ok. I promise." her brother said, him and

his wife now were sitting on their knees like Jason. 

He must have been desperate making a promise he knew

he couldn't keep.

She didn't want to tell them how scared she was.  That

she was terrified beyond belief of what was going to

happen.  They would carry it with them.  The image of

her bleeding to death in front of them.  So the least

she could do was hang on as long as possible, and stay

strong; face it. They could remember her the way she

was earlier that day and everyday.  Happy.  Healthy.

He was talking again, but she couldn't make out the

words.  Her eyelids drooped, threatening to close. 

She fought to stay awake.  Just to stay.  Her own

voice sounded distorted when she spoke.

"I l-love you.  All of you," then she spoke only to

her soulmate. "Especially, you."

A soft roll of thunder came from above.  As if the

universe could feel their pain, the rain began to

fall.  After feeling a few drops on her face, she

surprised Jason by letting out a small chuckle.  

"Remember the first time we were in the rain

together?"

He nodded and she thought she even saw the corner of

his mouth twitch upward the tiniest bit.  Even at such

a terrible moment the memory of their first kiss could

bring a smile to both their faces.

"I don't want to go." she confessed to him, unable to

keep up her charade of fearlessness in front of him. 

" I don't want to leave you."

"Then don't. Fight.  I know you can, you're the

strongest person I know. You can get past this."

The numbness in her body was almost all over by now. 

She no longer felt his hand in hers.  Her eyes began

to cloud over and his face was blurring from her

sight. It felt like someone was pulling the breath

from her body.  

"Don't let me go." she pleaded to him, feeling as

though it was impossible to keep her eyes open any

longer. " Keep me here, Jason. I lo-love...."  her

sentence halted, unfinished as her head fell limply

back.

"Don't Come on, wake up. For me; for us." he whispered

in her ear.

Her eyes shot open and she winced at the brightest

light she'd ever seen.  Suddenly Courtney was standing

to the side, watching her family. Panicked, huddled

around the body she no longer occupied.  She saw all

of them, saw the agony. It was because of her.  They

were hurting now because she was not strong enough to

hold on.

I open my eyes

I try to see but I’m blinded by the white light

I can’t remember how

I can’t remember why

I’m lying here tonight

"Where's that damn ambulance?" she saw her brother

scream at no one imparticular.  "They said a few

minutes, why aren't they here yet?"

He climbed to his feet, beginning to pace and ran a

hand through his wet curls.  Stopping his frantic

steps only to pull his wife into his embrace.  Carly

was inconsolable, crying freely into her husbands

chest.  Then there was Jason.

And I can’t stand the pain

And I can’t make it go away

No I can’t stand the pain

This shouldn't be happening.  None of it shoud be

happening.  She wasn't supposed to be standing aside

as some sort of spectator watching her brother and

best friend break down.  Or watching the love of her

life stare like a zombie at her hollow body.

How could this happen to me

I made my mistakes

I’ve got no where to run

The night goes on

As I’m fading away

I’m sick of this life

I just wanna scream

How could this happen to me

She moved towards him, she didn't exactly walk.  In

fact Courtney didn't even pay attention to how she'd

gotten over to Jason, but the how didn't matter.  She

knelt beside him and reached out to touch his warm

cheek.  But instead of the warm skin she expected, she

felt her hand unable to get through what seemed like

an invisible barrier around him.

Somewhere close by, sirens filled the air.  A flurry

of footsteps spun her around.  Courtney saw the

paramedics rush over to Jason's location.

"What took so long?" Sonny asked furiously. "Hurry up

and do something!"

Jason moved out of the way as one of them took her

pulse and gave orders to the other.  Immediately the

taller of the two ran off to the ambulance and quickly

returned with some sort of portable defibrilator. 

Powering it up, then young blonde zapped the body

once.  She watched it jerk as the electricity flowed

through every inch of the body. Her body.

More important than that, Courtney felt herself

momentarily experiencing a powerful pull, as her soul

desperately yearned to return.But she didn't. She was

still there, watching.  In her mind she ordered them

to try again. To save her.  As she wanted, he repeated

the same action again.  Then again.  Over and over,

and each time the unseen force that tugged at her

became less and less.  Until they tried one more time

and there was nothing at all..

She watched in horror as he hung his head, then took a

glance at his watch.

"4:32 PM"

"Oh my God." Carly said between sobs.

"No.No.NO!" Sonny brought himself face to face with

the EMT poking a threatening finger into his chest for

emphasis. "You're not giving up, you bastard. Not now,

not ever. Keep trying.  Get her to a hospital, they

have better equiptment there."

"I'm sorry, sir."  

When the words past his lips, Sonny angrily wrapped

his hands around his throat and chaos erupted. Both

Carly and the mans' partner tried to talk him down and

pull him off.  Their yells echoed the space around

her.  Jason just stood frozen, looking down at her

shell.  Anger filled her and she started screaming to

ears that would never hear.

Everybody’s screaming

I try to make a sound

But no one hears me

"No, I'm here! I'm not gone, I'm not leaving."  then

she turned her attention upwards and shouted at any

sort of powers that be in charge of this mess.  "Why

are you doing this? What did I do? What did they do? 

We were just walking through the park! It was just a

walk in the damn park!"

I’m slipping off the edge

I’m hanging by a thread

I wanna start this over again

It was just a walk through the park.  A simple event,

carried out peacefully by millions of people residing

on the planet.  A rare moment in their lives where the

family was happy and together with time to spare. 

They were laughing.  Then the shots came from the

bushes.  The men quickly dove taking her and Carly

down  to the ground with them as a fury of bullets

tore through the air.  Not fast enough.

So I try to hold onto a time when nothing mattered

And I can’t explain what happened

And I can’t erase the things that I’ve done

No I can’t

So now she stood, invisible to her damaged family. 

Watching Jason ignore the commotion to the side of

him.  To anyone who didn't know him, it would appear

like his usual stoic face.  But not to her, she could

read his eyes.  Why couldn't she just talk to him. Let

him know she was there and loved him.

All Courtney wanted to do was look in his eyes and

know tht he was looking into hers. Suddenly, a fiery

white like flowed over all she could see.  It was gone

as soon as it came.  But something was different now. 

There was no more noise. Everything, including the

rain falling from the sky, was frozen in place.

Everything. Except for him.

How could this happen to me

I made my mistakes

I’ve got no where to run

The night goes on

As I’m fading away

I’m sick of this life

I just wanna scream

How could this happen to me

He noticed immediately that something was off.  The

world had gone silent and still. Confused he looked up

from his hypnotic stare and took a look on his left. 

Jason saw the strange image oh Sonny in a scuff with

one of the paramedics while Carly and the other man

tried to pry him off.The emotion frozen on their

unmoving faces mirrored everything he felt inside.

Anger. Pain.

Feeling a pair of eyes on him he turned around and his

breath caught in his throat.

Courtney saw him get up and snspect the mannequin-like

status of the others.  He was the only one besides her

still moving.  Maybe it meant this was her chance. 

But she didn't want to get her hopes up. It was when

he turned around that she knew.  When he looked in her

direction and she could see in his face that he was

looking at her.

 How could this happen to me

I made my mistakes

I’ve got no where to run

The night goes on

As I’m fading away

I’m sick of this life

I just wanna scream

How could this happen to me

Slowly he stepped closer to her.

"Cour-Courtney?" he stuttered in disbelief.

"What's...Is this real? Are you really here?"

"I'm not actually sure what 'here' is. But yeah, this

is real."

"I don't understand. What happened?"

"Well. I think I'm d..." she stopped herself.  It

would be so wierd to actually said the word, with it

applying to her, completely literal.

"No, you're not. Because you're here. Talking to me.

This whole world pause thing is explainable. I'm just

dreaming and when i wake up, you'll be lying next me

and everything will be fine."

"Jason. Please." she begged, wishing herself that it

was a cruel dream. "I don't know what's going to

happen.  And i don't know how much time i have. But i

know this : After all our wishing and wanting, we

finally got what we wanted.  The world has stopped

just for us."

"Did it hurt?" he asked regretfully 

" I don't think so. I couldn't feel much." 

"Are you scared?" she let out a long shaky breath

before answering.

"Yes." she said her voice cracking and tears stinging

her eyes. " I'm so scared.  But don't worry about me.

I'll be keeping myself busy.  Someone has to watch out

for you guys."

"I love you. So much." he said in a tone she'd never

heard him use before. 

 If she hadn't known better she'd thought he was on

the edge of tears.  She reached her hand out, afraid

that she would not be able to touch him one more time.

 Tears glistened in her eyes as she smiled feeling his

smooth skin under her fingertips.

" I love you,too. Don't forget. Never forget that."

she implored him.

"Never." he swore in a whisper before their lips met.

Deep in the kiss, the lightning struck and the rain

began to fall.  She knew.  It was time to go. 

Reluctantly pulling away when everything inside of her

wanted to stay, but she knew now that it would all be

alright.  

"First and last kiss in the rain." she smiled. "Last.

For now."

Jason's resolve began to crack and his walls started

to crumble. He couldn't except that this would happen.

To her of all people.  Taken away, because his life

was dangerous.  As soon as the shots came he took her

down.  But he wasn't quick enough, she was already

hit. Sonny had chased after the shooter, and came back

saying it was on e of Alcazar's men, and that he was

taken care of.  But the damage was done.

How could this happen to me

I made my mistakes

I’ve got no where to run

The night goes on

As I’m fading away

I’m sick of this life

I just wanna scream

How could this happen to me

"No, no. Don't. Stay with me. Please."

"Jason-"

"Coutney, no. I can't be strong. Not without you. I

love you. I can't lose you." he surprised her when a

tear fell from each eye.  She put her hands on either

side of his head and kissed his forehead.  They looked

into eachothers eyes longingly as the sky cried for

them.

"You're not losing me. We'll be together again, I

promise.  I was angry at first, so angry, but now I

think I get it. Whether it was a bullet, a bus or some

other accident I was meant to end this part of my

journey today. But Jason, there's a whole other

journey ahead of me. One day, when it's your time,

you'll join me and we'll walk it together. You were my

happy ending, Jason Morgan. I love you."

"Cour-" before he could finish her name, a monstrous

thunderclap roared from above and she was gone.  Jason

was left standing in the rain looking at the empty

space in front of him.  Another pound of thunder and

he was back where he'd been before it happened. All

noises and movements returned as if they'd never

stopped.

He looked down at the blonde form he still held in his

arms. Jason tilted his head towards the sky.  Letting

its tears wipe away his own as gently as his

soulmate's hand could.  It was her gift to him. He

knew.

And he felt her; he knew he would always feel her.

"I'll see you soon." he whispered to the heavens.

Song Credits : "Untitled" Simple Plan