General Hospital Rewrite Part One

July 15th 2016 Part 1

4:17 a.m.
"Where are you going?" Julian asks Jo, making his way over to the door. "For a run." she says. "At four in the morning?" he asks. "Sure." She answers. "Sit down." He says motioning to the couch. "I'll be back before you know it." She says. "I don't care. Sit down. We're gonna have a serious long overdue father-daughter conversation." He tells her. "At four in the morning?" she mocks him. "I've seen the scars on your wrists. Just cause they're healed doesn't mean you aren't hurting yourself a different way." He says.
"Stop." She says. "Is that why you keep going into the woods. Is it a way to punish yourself? I know it happened in the woods. I know what you're doing." He says. "Dad stop." She says. "Do you know what I did the day after I got out of the hospital?" he asks. "No." She says. "I went to the pier." He tells her. "The pier I got shot on. I went back. I keep going back, I tell myself I'm just taking a walk by the water, but that's not the truth." He says.
She walks over to the couch and sits like he told her to. He sits next to her. "We aren't that different Jodie. I mean, pretty different, but not too different." He says. "I just need some time to myself." She tells him. "Well you're not doing that at one in the morning. It's dangerous. But maybe that's what you're hoping for." He says.
"It's not like that at all." She tells him. "Than what it is it like?" he asks. "Jensen and I used to hand out in the woods all the time. There was this ledge, it overlooked the town we lived in. We'd climb up with food and a blanket and anything we'd need, and we just stay there and talk. About nothing and everything. He was the only person I felt truly safe and comfortable around. It a place that a lot of couples went to make out or you know, but Jensen and I just sat there and talked. We could see into the town, we could watch life from a distance. It was my favorite thing in the world." She tells him.
"Jensen meant a lot to you, I can tell. You get upset and you hold that neckless. You told me he gave it to you. It reminds you of him, it comforts you." He says. She nods. "Yeah. It helps." She says. "That's the same reason I touch my ring. It helps me hold on to reality. It's my beacon of hope." He says. "I don't just see it as marriage. I see it as family. I married the mother of my oldest daughter. She accepts and loves my sons. She's given two step daughters, and she has taken in my daughter. On top of all of that, she's loved and helped me become a man that I'm proud of." He says.
She sits quietly, looking at her hands. "Did you love him?" he asks. She looks up. "Did you love Jensen?" he follows up. "Yes. But not like you're thinking. He was like a brother to me." She tells him. "It's funny actually, in a kinda sick way. Your story with your brother, and mine with Jensen, they're basically the same." She says. "He was a junkie?" he asks.
"No. I said basically the same, not exactly. Jensen was gay. Just like Stevie. His parents were super strict Christians. He was always so paranoid his parents would find out and disown him. So he never came out. One day the star of the football team, who Jensen had huge thing for, cornered him in the locker room and started saying all this about how he's always wanted him and all these great thing. That's when the rest of the football team came around the corner with their phones. It was all a big joke and they'd recorded the whole thing.
They posted it online and his parents saw. He was outted and no one would do anything to punish the team. Jensen was given a day of suspension for 'unwanted public sexual advances' and when he came back into school, he was a laughing stock. Everyone heard about it and no one stood up for him except me.
He felt so alone, so he went home that night and called me. I could tell he'd been crying and he just kept saying he loved me, I was his best friend, I was his family. I called the cops the second he hung up and I ran to his house. By the time I got there, the cops hadn't even arrived and I ran inside. I only got a glimpse before a cop pulled me away and stopped me from looking. They told me there was nothing anyone could do."
She takes a deep breath and wipes the tears off her cheeks. Julian hugs her. "I know you've heard the story of what happened to my brother so I'm not gonna tell it again. Just know, I've spent thirty years, hating, no, loathing someone I hold responsible. It's exhausting. So tell me who you blame." He says. "Is it his parents?" he asks. "No. His parents didn't react as badly as he thought they would. They didn't hate him, they almost died because of what he did. They're the only people who blame them." She says.
"You blame the people who made and put the video up?" he asks. "No." She answers. "You blame yourself, don't you?" he asks. "I'm the one who told him to go meet the guy in the locker room. He got a text and figured it was a joke, but I thought it wasn't, so I told him to go. It's my fault." She says. "Doesn't sound like it is. Sounds like you were trying to help him and the world told you to go screw yourself." He says.
"I know it's not really my fault, but I feel so guilty." She says. "That's why I go into the woods. To remind myself of Jensen, and of what happened to me." She tells him. "Can I tell you something I've never told anyone?" Julian asks. She nods. "After I thought you died, I wanted to kill myself. The only thing that stopped me was that I could get revenge. So that's what I fixated on for ten years." He tells her. "What's the point of telling me that?" she asks.
"I almost spent time in prison, I didn't meet two of my kids till they were adults, my son's mother faked his death just to keep me from him and the world looks at me like a monster. Now I just punishing yourself now, but before it was Waller, who knows who it could be next time. And who knows who'll be in danger. You go into the woods, you're in danger. You went after Waller, we were in danger. It's my job as a father to make sure you're safe and you don't put others in danger. Jodie, I love, you know that. If anything ever happened to you again, I'm not sure I'd survive, but if you ever went down the same dark path I did, it would be just as bad as loosing you." he says.
"You gotta promise me, not only will you be careful, you'll be good." he says. "You'll always be good." he adds. "I promise Dad. I promise." She says. "I need you a Hell of a lot more than you need me." He tells her. "I love you Dad." She says. "I love you more." He says. "Now please kiddo, go back upstairs." he says. "I need at least three more hours of sleep, but I'm hoping for for or five. I'm exhausted." He says. "Not getting too much sleep?" She asks.
"I get nightmares, plus Alexis keeps waking up. Nerves, this whole thing with Ava, and before that it was Leo and everything else before that. It's been a real rough few months." He says. "Amen to that." She say. "Well, you go and get another five hours of sleep, I'll go watch the X-Files." She says. "Just try to go back to sleep, you promised your sister you'd help with wedding planning." He reminds her.

4:49 a.m.
Julian gets back into bed slowly, as to not wake Alexis. He lays down and puts and arm over her, which she quickly grabs and uses to pull herself against Julian's side. "I don't feel good." She says. "Do you want some water or something?" he asks, but she's already drifted back to sleep. He rests his chin on her head and closes his eyes.