Cause if one day you wake up and find that you’re missing me
And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I could be
Thinkin’ maybe you’ll come back here to the place that we’d meet
And you’ll see me waiting for you on our corner of the street
So I’m not moving, I’m not moving
– The Man Who Can’t Be Moved, The Script

---

November 2015

Cassadine Estate: Helena’s Bedroom

It was over. After living with the specter, the phantom of his grandmother for his entire life, Nikolas had finally done what was necessary. What was right — he’d ended the nightmare for them all.

She wouldn’t be able to come back this time.

“I couldn’t do it,” he confessed softly. “I couldn’t be the man you wanted me to be. I tried. I tried to find that darkness, that evil—but it isn’t me. And now it’s over.” He removed the pillow from her face and set it on the side of the bed.

He left the room, left Helena’s body to cool, ready to get on with his life.

When the door had closed with a quiet snick, Helena’s eyes opened.  Her eyes narrowed, her mouth pinched. “You have betrayed me for the last time—”

“Now where have I heard that before?”

She shifted, turned her head slightly to find Valentin melting out of the shadows. Her heartbeat began to pick up. She hadn’t seen Valentin in several months. Since she’d learned that her body—cursed frail human body—was failing her.

“Valentin, I am so pleased you’re here. You were right, of course,” she said briskly, determined to turn this situation to her benefit. “Now, help me out of this bed—” Her hand, shaking with the effort, reached out to him. “There’s much to be done before this body fails. I must be sure—”

“Oh, Mother, I’m so sorry.” Valentin removed a syringe from his pocket and Helena focused on it like a laser.  “You see, I’m finished with your plans, with your promises.” He pressed down on her shoulder and Helena was pushed back to the bed.

“Valentin, please—”

“Whatever you wanted to happen with Jason Morgan, with the son, the Spencers, the Webber girl—it’s over. And my revenge,” Valentine said with a smile, “my justice will come from denying you yours.”

“Valentin—”

“And when you are dead—for real this time,” he added as Helena struggled, tried to force herself out of the bed, but she simply couldn’t. She didn’t have the strength. “You will die knowing that your precious Nikolas will soon follow, and I will have everything I deserve. And he will have nothing.”

Valentine uncapped the syringe, tested it. “Any final words, Mother Dear?”

“Just this. My death will begin the next stage,” she threatened. “I have already begun the rest of it. The Chimera, the revenge, my return—you can’t stop it—”

“Maybe,” Valentin considered as he picked up the line for her IV and casually inserted the needle, pressing his thumb against the plunger. “But I’ve found your trigger, Mother. Cassandra? I’ve dealt with her.”

Helena laughed then, even as she felt her heart begin to slow, her lungs begin to seize. “You—you—think she was—you think there’s just the one…foolish boy…”

Her eyes closed, and Helena Cassadine died as she’d lived, with secrets and lies on her lips. Valentin stared at her corpse for a long time before putting the syringe back in his pocket and leaving the room.

Whatever Helena had planned, he would take care of it. He would find all her secrets, dispose of the troublesome Nikolas, and finally take his rightful position — as the true Cassadine heir.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Devane Manor: Living Room

“The new position doesn’t start until February,” Robin said as her father sat down next to her on the sofa, “but that’s good because we need time to put the house on the market and turn in our notice.”

“I want you back in town,” Anna told her daughter, wincing as her bruised ribs protested. “But I also want you to be safe—”

“If you’re dealing with Cassadines, it doesn’t matter where I am,” Robin told her mother. “I’ll be safer here, where I know what’s going.”

“Well, it’s great that Patrick will have a job,” Robert said dryly, “but what will you do? You went out there for research—”

“Oh, well, that I took care of that at the Christmas Eve party you tried to keep me from going to,” Robin teased. She sipped her coffee. “I pulled in a favor from Sonny and asked him to fund my research. I’m setting up a teleconference with Laura and the board next week to finalize it.”

“About time Corinthos came in handy for something,” Robert muttered. He put his hands on his knees and looked across the coffee table at Anna. “So any word from Spinelli about those documents? We’re blind until we know what was in those files—”

“He was able to save almost everything,” Anna said, “but there’s a encryption key.” She scowled. “And Andre isn’t in the mood to do me any favors at the moment. Spinelli’s trying to sort out the files individually—”

“What are we hoping to find?” Robin asked. “I mean, we know who did this, don’t we? Valentin knew about the clinic. He sent Ava there. He did this—why can’t Frisco just—” She made a face. “I don’t know, arrest him?”

“Frisco has what he wants,” Anna told her. “Andre back in the fold. This memory experiment is on us to figure out. I’m not sure I’m interested in confronting Valentin until I know what he’s looking for. If it’s anything as lethal as the Chimera toxin last year, we don’t want him finding it first. And there’s still the matter of wondering what else Helena Cassadine has out there. There’s no telling what we’ll unleash if we act without all the information.”

Robin sighed. “It just feels like we’re going into circles, and the only lead we have is in pieces. Also—your car—”

“Don’t remind me,” Anna muttered. “I wish we knew what Helena had done with her files. I can’t believe she would have gone to her death without doing something with them—she always had back up plans—”

“Well, who would Helena have trusted?” Robin wanted to know. “Victor was dead. Nikolas is—” She paused. “He’s gone now.”

Robert furrowed his brow. “You know,” he said slowly, “we’re not thinking like Helena, we’re thinking like one of us. A good guy. We turn to allies. But if Helena wanted to protect herself from Valentin—”

“She might have turned to his enemy,” Anna said, straightening, then wincing again. “I’m getting too bloody old for this.”

“Valentin hates you, Mom—”

“But I’m not someone Helena would be interested in. And neither would your father. Helena asked Luke to help her with protection from Valentin, oh, nearly, a decade ago now.”

“I know Spencer is getting rusty in his old age,” Robert said, “but I don’t think he would have missed a message from Helena.”

“Unless he’s not telling you. Luke always did keep his own secrets,” Robin reminded him. “It’s one of the reasons you stopped working with him. He always put himself first. And if Helena wasn’t just protecting herself, but maybe Nikolas—”

“Laura.” Anna hissed as she pushed herself to her foot. “Bloody hell. It’s been sitting in front of us for ages. Where is my phone?”

“Mom—what are you talking about?”

“Helena’s will!”

General Hospital: Cafeteria

Patrick sighed as he looked around the old stomping grounds before looking across the table at his best friend, gingerly stirring her coffee. “Is the coffee is bad as it used to be?”

“You’ve only been gone for two years. You think we performed miracles?” Elizabeth asked. She smirked, then sipped the disgusting liquid. “It’s sweet that you can still have optimism.”

“Ha.” Patrick hesitated. “We haven’t really had a chance to catch up since I came back, and we’re flying back tonight—”

“I know,” Elizabeth said, with a wistful smile, “but you’ll be back in a few weeks, right? I’m so happy you’re coming home.”

“Me, too. California was good. We needed a break. Needed to get our heads on straight,” Patrick said. “You know, just me, Robin, the kids. And Noah—he’s amazing. I can’t wait for you to get to know him like you know Emma.”

“I’m going to spoil him rotten, just you wait.” Elizabeth paused. “But I know what you mean. Those last few months before you left—things were so crazy. There were so many times I just wanted to tell you what was going on—” She pressed her lips together. “But I knew you’d make me tell the truth.”

“I don’t know about that,” Patrick admitted. “I would have had the same fears about Sam. You know, exactly what ended up happening,” he reminded her. “Sam found out Jason was alive and went straight to him. I’m—” He frowned. “I’m surprised it’s not happening now.”

“I’m sure it will eventually,” Elizabeth admitted. She pushed her salad around on her plate with a fork. “I think she’s backing down on the divorce. On Christmas, Drew introduced Jason and Danny, and Sam didn’t burn down the the world, so—” She hesitated, then looked up to meet his concerned gaze. “Am I the dumbest woman alive for getting involved with Jason again?”

“Is that actually happening?” Patrick asked. “I thought you looked like you were a thing at the party, but I didn’t want to ask.”

“I mean, we haven’t—” Elizabeth stopped, trying to put together the right words. “We haven’t said anything. Or done anything. But I also know Jason. And I know me. We’ve been here before. We’re spending a lot of time together. Talking. All the things we always do right before—” She paused. “Exactly the way we were right before he decided to go back to Sam before he got shot on the pier.”

“Ah. And now Sam might be defrosting on the divorce thing—which is what she did the last time you and Jason were in this position which led you to do something very stupid,” he reminded her, and Elizabeth flushed. “Hey, no judgment here. I’m the King of Stupid. You can be the queen,” he added.

“I don’t know. Part of me thinks it’s like that,” Elizabeth admitted. “If Sam had been—I don’t know—more open to him when he came home a few months ago—if Carly hadn’t gone kind of crazy with the AJ stuff being brought up—Jason wouldn’t really have needed me—” She hesitated. “Or am I talking myself in circles again?”

“No one does it like you, Webber.” Patrick raised his water bottle to her and she clinked it with her coffee cup in a mock toast. “Look, here’s the thing — I think you will always deserve better than Jason Morgan. But I also thought that about Lucky Spencer. And Ewen. And Ric—”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Don’t start—”

“And Nikolas. And we don’t even need to talk about Franco, do we? Because that shit would not have happened if I had been here.” Patrick stabbed a finger at her. “And you didn’t tell me about it for months because you knew I would have hopped on plane, came here, and fixed it. Or dragged you to California kicking and screaming until you got your head on straight.”

“I wish you had, but Patrick—”

“Practically the only person on this planet that is good enough for you is, well, me—” He flashed her his famous dimples. “And you had your chance, baby.”

“Yeah, I was married the last time you hit on me,” Elizabeth reminded him with another roll of her eyes. “And you had the bruise from the clipboard for two days to make sure you remembered.”

“That aside, all I want is for you to be happy, Webber. That’s it. Full stop. And if this time, Jason is gonna put on his big boy pants and not run from someone who challenges him to be a better person, then maybe you need to give him a chance. I mean, he’s been through some pretty bad shit these last few years. I guess he’s earned a Mulligan on what happened five years ago. He should have picked you. Every time.”

“But he didn’t,” Elizabeth said softly. “He always went back to her. And I always went back to Lucky—”

“And did you go back to Lucky because you were desperately in love with him?” Patrick asked, raising his brows. “Or because you were lonely, he was there, and it was comfortable?” When she just looked down at her coffee, he nodded. “Sometimes it’s about love, and sometimes it’s just about not being brave enough to change. Whatever it is, if he hurts you again, I’m gonna put him back in that coma.”

“Patrick—”

“You think I’m not serious? I’m a surgeon—I can just—” Patrick made a twist with his hands. “He won’t even know it.”

“Stop.” Elizabeth smiled, then raised her coffee to her lips. “I really love you. You know that, right?”

“Right back at ya, babe. You and me, we’re gonna run this place in a few more years. The Dream Team is going to be back together.”

Kelly’s: Diner

Robin beamed at she wound her way through the busy tables to find Jason at the back waiting for her. She hugged him tightly when he stood up to greet her. “I’m so glad you could make time for me today!”

“I don’t have a lot going on right now,” Jason said easily as they took their seats. “You said you had something you wanted to tell me.”

“Well, I want to get caught up,” Robin said, “but I need to start with what my mother is working on. She’s meeting with Laura Spencer—” She checked her watch. “In about an hour.”

“Why?” Jason demanded.

“Nothing concrete yet. After Helena died, she left this key to Laura,” Robin told him. “It happened after Patrick and I moved, but Mom said it was super weird and cryptic. It was supposed to be a key to something she’d loved and lost. It ended up opening this box in the attic that was one of Scott’s law books. She worked with Kevin to try and figure it out, but then Nikolas died, and Kevin was shot—and I don’t know what happened after that. Neither did Mom.”

“But how could that—” Jason frowned. “Why would that have anything to do with this?”

“I don’t know. But Helena had to do something with her files,”  Robin said. “And the only person I think she ever loved was Stavros. And Nikolas, some of the time. Who else would protect Nikolas like Laura? If Andre hid a thumb drive full of files, why wouldn’t Helena? Mom said she or Laura would call you if they came up with something.”

Jason made a face as he picked up his coffee. He hated waiting for something to happen. “Is that it?”

“No, that’s just the new stuff. I actually wanted to follow up with something my mom said about Britt Westbourne.”

“Faison’s daughter?”

“And a general pain in the ass, yeah. Mom said she used my protocol to wake you up a few months ago, but she didn’t say why.”

“That’s what Luke and Lucky told us,” Jason said with a nod.

“The timing of this is freaking me out, and you know how I feel about timelines and things making sense. I need this to make sense,” Robin told him. “I developed that protocol in 2014. Victor wouldn’t let me near you—who I thought was you—” she added, “until I’d woken up Stavros and Helena. And I woke up Drew that June or July. The days kind of got mixed up a little, so I don’t know for sure. Victor died later that fall, but Helena had that protocol for years.”

Jason tipped his head. “So why didn’t she use it on me? Why did they leave me in the coma?”

“Do we know that they actually did?” Robin wanted to know. “I mean, Britt’s not exactly trustworthy. I believe that she woke you last year, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t awake before then. How would we know? That’s a question for another time,” she said when Jason opened his mouth. “It’s not the most important question to ask right now.”

“What is?”

“Let’s say that you were actually in that coma until last winter,” she said. “I worked with that protocol. I know how that coma worked. You wouldn’t have woken up on your own, so I believe Britt did it. But why? Was Faison actually involved, and if he was, why did he want you awake now? After all these years? Why did Klein want you awake now? Why did Valentin send Ava to the clinic? And did Klein keep it from Valentin all these months?”

“I—” Jason furrowed his brow. “Why would he do that?”

“He wouldn’t. Unless he was working for someone else which might be the person Valentin is looking for,” Robin said. “It might explain why Valentin just let everything drop after you were revealed but went after my mother when he found out we might have information from Andre Maddox.”

Jason sat back, thought it through. “We’ve wondered why Valentin would send Ava to the clinic if he knew I was up and around. I thought maybe I’d woken up on my own. But you’re right — if Britt Westbourne was using that protocol to wake me up, Valentin would have known.”

“If Valentin was the only guy in this. We can’t forget that Britt is also Faison’s daughter, and he’s the one that arranged for your kidnapping in the first place,” she reminded him. “We’ve assumed that was on Helena or Victor’s orders, but maybe Faison was working on something.” She paused. “I know this probably isn’t great news. We really don’t want to think about another big bad out there, but if we’re waiting to act on Valentin because we don’t have all the pieces—”

“We can’t complain when the pieces lead us other places. Yeah, I know. I hate the Cassadines,” he muttered. “If this were anyone else—”

“It would already be over. I know, I’m familiar with your success rate,” Robin said dryly. “But this is the Cassadines. You and I have dabbled in this, but I think we’re right to listen to people who’ve been in this longer. Laura and my dad — they’ve been doing this for decades. Elizabeth has been literally on Helena’s shit list since she was a kid. I just want to help this stop. For all our sakes.”

Davis House: Dining Room

“Well, I’m glad you came to your sense and finally told Danny the truth,” Alexis said. “It was hell on Christmas trying to pretend.”  She reached into her file folder. “You want to revise the divorce papers?”

“No.”

Alexis stopped, then stared at Sam as she sat calmly across the table, then shook her head. “I don’t understand. You don’t need the custody agreement, Sam. Danny knows Jason is his father—”

“It doesn’t matter. He told Jason and Drew he wanted to keep Drew, so that’s what we’re doing. Nothing is changing, Mom.” Sam paused. “I thought I forgave Jason for what happened when I was pregnant. I thought I’d made peace. Not just for that, but for the way we broke up the first time—and the way I always felt like I was second choice.” She bit her lip. “I always knew that me not being able to have kids was part of the reason Jason came back to me. I just don’t think I really admitted what it meant.”

“Sam—”

“I don’t think Jason ever knew why he’d done it either until I told him about the surgery, and I could see it wasn’t—” Sam sighed. “I knew he wasn’t into the idea, but I thought I could convince him, and then Jake’s accident made things insane, and well—it all went off the rails. He wasn’t interested in having kids with me, Mom. Even before he was faced with raising Franco’s son.”

“Sam, I really don’t—”

“He’d made a choice not to be a father after Jake was gone,” Sam said, “and I didn’t get it then. He didn’t think he deserved to be one, and maybe he was right. I don’t know. I didn’t listen to him, Mom. I pushed him into that surgery. We wouldn’t have made it. I know that now.” She tipped her head. “He didn’t want kids with me, Mom. He didn’t want Danny—”

“He didn’t plan Jake with Elizabeth either, Sam—”

“But he asked her to marry him when he found out she was pregnant,” Sam said softly. “And he asked her again after he found out Jake was his. He always wanted Jake. He didn’t want my child. And Danny doesn’t deserve that—”

“What happened before Danny was born is a tragedy, Sam. It really is. But it was a bad year,” Alexis reminded her. “Jason had lost Jake, and then Franco happened. He also got sick—no one was handling anything right. You and Jason weren’t just fighting about Franco or the baby. There was also Robin and John McBain—”

“And there was always Elizabeth. He almost got back together with her, Mom,” Sam said softly. “But she still had her boys, so he didn’t.”

“But he brought Danny back to you—”

“You know, we never really made any plans,” Sam remembered. “I was in the penthouse, but I hadn’t brought my things here. We were supposed to talk about it, and then he never came home. That’s my last memory of Jason, Mom. We were supposed to plan the rest of our lives, and he left because of work. I let the grief swallow me, and I forgot all the reasons we needed a new plan.”

“Then why is this happening now?” Alexis wanted to know. “You thought Jason came home two years ago—you went after Jake Doe, Sam. Not the other way around. You walked out on a life with Patrick and went right back to who you thought was Jason—”

“But he wasn’t Jason, was he?” Sam said. “He didn’t have Jason’s face. His voice. He had the memories, but it wasn’t the same. It didn’t hit me, Mom, until Drew looked at me and asked if I’d ever believed it. And I think there was a part of me that didn’t. Because when Jason came back and he looked at me, and he had that voice—and I realized I had to make a choice, I ran from him. Because I knew it was him. Of course I did.”

“Sam—”

“And I know that sounds insane. I know that doesn’t sound fair. But everything came back to me the minute you started to talk about Danny, and I realized that it meant the man I thought had left Elizabeth and Jake and agreed to have another baby with me wasn’t Jason after all—Drew wanted Scout, Mom. He wanted her. He loves her, and he loves Danny. He loves my kids. He wanted this family. Why would I ever want a man who didn’t want me when I could have something better?”

Alexis sighed. “And you realized that if the man who had wanted those kids with you wasn’t Jason—”

“I thought Scout was his way of making up for everything that happened with Danny,” Sam admitted painfully. “But if it wasn’t Jason, then it can’t be.”

“Well,” Alexis said. “I have to admit, I’m surprised to hear something that actually makes sense. And—” She paused. “It’s something I could argue in court, Sam. So why don’t we amend the papers? Jason doesn’t need to terminate his rights, but we can argue for full custody. And you know Jason would agree to it.”

“He probably would,” Sam admitted. “And I should. Because Drew—he made it clear—he doesn’t want to stay Danny’s father if this how it happens, but you know—” Her eyes burned. “I thought it was going to be different. I thought Drew had picked me and our family over Sonny and Carly and the job—and he did. But he didn’t pick me when it mattered most. I needed him to stand by me on this, and he wouldn’t. He wanted a relationship with his brother more than he wanted the life we planned together.”

Sam took a deep breath. “Danny is my son. He’s always been my son. Drew’s right. We can’t move forward. Not together. We’ll figure out something with Danny, because he comes first. But I’m never going to be a runner up. Not ever again.”

Her mother raised a brow. “And Jason?”

“The divorce goes forward. Exactly the way I filed it. If you don’t want to handle it, I’ll find someone who does.”

Webber House: Driveway

“You know,” Emma said, sliding her hands into the pockets of her fluffy pink parka. “I thought it would be cooler than this.”

Cameron scowled at his oldest friend. “We could always go over and insult your car—oh wait, no one bought you one.”

“Well, it is it kind of a junker,” Spencer told Cameron as he slid a hand over one of the dents. “Jason’s got some serious money—he got you a twelve-year-old car. This baby is almost as old as you are—”

“I’m gonna hold out for a Maserati,” Joss declared. “I can play my parents like a violin.”

“It’s a first car,” Cameron said. “And he’s not—” He hunched his shoulders. “He’s not my dad,” he muttered.

“And your mom never would have let him get anything nicer,” Oscar said loyally. Cameron perked up. “You know how she is. No way you’re getting a brand new car for your permit.”

“Yeah,” Cameron said, brightening. “See?” He jerked a thumb in Oscar’s direction. “He gets it. I’m gonna ding this up figuring out how to park, and even my mom still smacks the corners when she makes a tight turn. Webbers are terrible drivers.”

Trina put her arm through his. “It was pretty cool of Jason to do this. And hey, Oscar, does that mean your dad is gonna get you one for your birthday? You got behind the wheel in April—”

“I don’t know if we’re at cars yet,” Oscar said. “We did the movie thing, and it was fun, but, uh—” He rubbed the side of his cheek. “We’ll see how things are in April.”

“You okay?” Joss rubbed his shoulder. “You look tired.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just gotta a headache. I think the movie was too loud or something.” Oscar shifted his feet, his boots crunching in the snow. “I thought Emma said something about her iPad—”

“Oh—that’s right!” Emma slapped her gloves together, her eyes sparkling. “So, listen, I caught this recording of my grandparents and Mom talking about Helena today, and you’ll never believe what they think is going on.”

Wharf Street: Garage

By the time Michael arrived at the garage that evening, he found Elizabeth standing by herself in the large room where the garage doors had been pulled up. “Hey—where’s Jason?”

“Oh, he’s in the office over there—” Elizabeth nodded towards the corner of the building, and Michael could see his uncle and someone else at a desk. “He’s looking over the lease.”

“Sorry, I’m late. I had a late meeting.” Michael looked up at the ceiling. “This is the place we looked at a few weeks ago, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Jason just wanted to look at it again before he signed.” Elizabeth’s smile was hesitant. “The boys are really excited because of Cameron’s car. They want to come here after school when I have work.”

“They’ll love that,” Michael said. “And I like Jason getting to hang out more with them. Especially with Jake.”

“Me, too. He deserves it.”

“Especially if Sam is gonna keep pushing this crap with Danny,” Michael muttered. “I don’t get her. Jason came home. Why isn’t she happy—” He winced, looking at her. “Sorry. I know if she were happier about it—”

“I probably wouldn’t be standing here right now,” Elizabeth said with a nod. “Yeah, well, that’s not how this cookie crumbled. Jason’s not really talking about it,” she admitted. “He never really had a chance to make up for what happened before Danny was born. Then he came home to find out Danny was his son—and there’s Drew. It’s a lot.”

“Yeah, but Danny’s his son,” Michael insisted.

“Blood doesn’t make a family,” Elizabeth told him softly. “You know that better than anyone. Jason can love Danny because he’s his son, but that doesn’t mean he’s earned a right to be his father full-time. Not with Drew right there, doing all the work.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this from you—I thought you had my uncle’s back—”

“I do. Because he matters to me,” Elizabeth told Michael. “You know that. But I’ve know him longer than you have. I watched him lose you. All the times he lost you. He fought for visitation rights after AJ found out the truth, did you know that?”

Michael frowned. “What—no—”

“Because he loved you, and you loved him. But he realized it would just make him unhappy. He wouldn’t really get to be your father anymore,” Elizabeth said. “And it would just confuse you, so he let you go to be someone else’s son. Then you were shot, Michael.”

Michael pressed his lips together, looked back over at the office where he watched Jason with the realtor, signing paperwork. “I know that was hard—”

“He never, ever got over that. He’ll tell himself, and you and me, and the world that he gave up Jake because of the Russians, but I knew months before that he’d never really give us a chance. He didn’t want Jake anywhere near a life that had put a bullet in the head of a little boy he loved like his own.”

“Elizabeth—”

“So when I stand here telling you that your uncle is not a selfish man, that’s what I mean. Yes, he shares blood with Danny. And yes, he—and I—hope that one day things will be different. Right now—he doesn’t matter. Danny does. So as long as Danny knows Jason is here for him, that he didn’t abandon him—Jason will let Sam and Drew set the tone. Because Danny is what matters.” She paused. “Jason isn’t the only one who never got over that bullet to your brain, Michael.”

Michael exhaled slowly, fisting his hands in the pockets of his long dark, winter coat. “You’re not really going to defend my mother—”

“As long as I’ve known you—and Jason—I’ve known Carly—”

“Oh, man, Elizabeth—”

“Carly and I will never be friends,” Elizabeth continued. “But she and I have been in and out of each other’s lives too long not to look out for one another—”

“And is that what she was doing at your house a few weeks ago?” Michael demanded. “Is what what she was doing when AJ got killed—”

“She looked out for me when I got involved with Franco, I just wasn’t ready to listen.” Elizabeth met his eyes. “Morgan died last year, Michael. He was sick and hurting, and he stole a car, and he was blown up. Your mother didn’t even get to have an open casket.”

Michael closed his eyes, pain flashing across his face. “I know that—”

“I know. And because I have two little boys who buried their brother once, I know that your pain is just as important. This life—the life Sonny and Jason chose—it nearly stole you from Carly, and it did take Morgan. While she was grieving, Nelle Benson pushed your father into a break down and pretended to sleep with him so she could cause your already devastated mother more pain.”

Michael opened his eyes. “Elizabeth—”

“And that is the woman you have pushed into your mother’s face, demanding that Carly be civil because three years ago, she covered up AJ’s death to protect Sonny.”

“How can you be on her side?” Michael demanded. “After everything—”

“Because I’m a mother, too, Michael. I’m a mother who lost everything because you were shot in the head nine years ago. My boys lost the best chance they ever had a father who would stay. I lost the love of my life, and your mother lost the peace and security of thinking she could really protect her kids from her own choices. So yeah, she covered up AJ’s death. She did it to protect Sonny and because she didn’t like AJ. But you know she did it for you, too. She’s not a perfect person, Michael. Not by a mile. But what the hell did she ever do to deserve you shoving Nelle Benson in her face and then walking out of the same house where she hurt your family, calling your mother a liar?”

Michael opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. Then they both looked over to find Jason coming out of the office, his phone in his hand, his expression heightened.

“What is it? Is the paperwork okay?”

“Yeah, yeah—” Jason stared down at his phone. “Laura wants us to meet her at the bank tomorrow. To go through her safe deposit box.”

“Her safe deposit box?” Elizabeth repeated. “Why?”

“What’s going on?”

“Her inheritance from Helena,” Jason said.

“The stupid law book that didn’t mean anything? It just led Laura to the Campus Disco—” Elizabeth frowned. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Because Anna thinks maybe Helena sent the files to Laura to protect Nikolas,” Jason told her. “And she might have hidden them in the book.”

Everybody’s talking in words
I don’t understand
You got to be the only one
Who knows just who I am
And you shine in the distance
I hope I can make it through
‘Cause the only place
That I want to be
Is right back home with you
– You Make It Real, James Morrison

---

October 2015

Cassadine Estate: Hallway

Nikolas scrubbed his weary hands over his face, exhausted to the bone. Nearly a year of doing his grandmother’s bidding and he still had so little to show for it.

Jake had been returned home, but he hadn’t found a way to reveal Jason Morgan’s identity that wouldn’t be traced back to Nikolas. If the world discovered he knew—

No one would ever believe he’d kept it from Elizabeth, and her world would crumble around her. She’d done exactly as he’d told her — move on with her life as if the secret didn’t exist but he knew it was tearing her apart inside to allow Jake Doe to marry her and raise little Jake, never knowing the truth.

Nikolas wondered how Elizabeth slept at night, but then of course — he managed to find an escape when his eyes closed and his crimes were legion. He could have stopped her long before that night at the Nurse’s Ball, long before she’d been humiliated by Ric Lansing.

If Nikolas couldn’t find a way out of this before the wedding in a few weeks, it would be so much worse.

The truth always came out in Port Charles.

He approached his grandmother’s study, then paused as he heard the murmur of voices. He knew Helena’s voice, but the other—

“How soon do you want the memories transferred?” a man asked.

Nikolas leaned against the wall next the door, frowning. Memory transfer? What—

“I want you to get settled first. Mr. Morgan might be difficult to take into custody — and I want to be sure this ceremony goes through.”

“I’m not sure why it matters—”

“This isn’t the way I planned it,” Helena admitted, “but I’d be a fool not to take advantage of that weak moron. She knows the truth and is still trying to create a future? No. I want her at her happiest before I break her for good.”

His lungs constricted as Nikolas took that in. Helena wasn’t talking about his mother or another Spencer —

She was talking about Elizabeth.

Suddenly, pieces of this made sense. Taking Jason Morgan in the first place — kidnapping Jake only to return him once Elizabeth had lied about Jake Doe—she’d done it to twist the knife—

“You’re sure that the trigger is set?” Helena continued. “When I send the gift, the boy will get the message?”

Wearily, the man murmured in agreement. “Yes. It’ll be a slow build up, but the voices will escalate. He’ll perform the final trick and trigger the Chimera at the Nurse’s Ball just as you wanted.” There was a pause. “Mrs. Cassadine, there has to be another way to get your revenge—”

“My justice,” Helena snarled as Nikolas absorbed what he’d heard. “You knew what you were getting into, Dr. Maddox—”

Maddox—who—

“I’ve done as you’ve asked every step of the way, but please don’t pretend I knew everything. I took a research position. I never agreed to work on children or to plan their death—”

Nikolas’s hands fists at his side. Had this man planned the accident that had stolen Jake away from his family? He’d destroy him—

“You knew you were brushing aside ethics when you took my brother-in-law’s offer,” Helena retorted. “What’s the difference between destroying the life of an adult and a child? Their height?”

“Jason Morgan and his brother are still breathing. I never planned their deaths. You’re using to use an innocent child to kill a room full of people—”

“My, my, Dr. Maddox—” Helena’s voice was amused. “Where was all this righteous fury six months ago when you completed the work on young Mr. Webber?”

The man was silent.

“That’s what I thought. Now, we have much to do before the Nurse’s Ball. Let’s look at our timeline.”

Nikolas listened as Helena laid it out, including the trigger that lived in Jake’s head. He listened as he realized his grandmother had lied to him from the beginning. She’d never intended Elizabeth to get her son back. Not for good. Not for real.

It was time to stop Helena. He’d let her run the show long enough.

Monday, December 25, 2017

Webber House: Living Room

From the moment Aiden and Jake came down the stairs around six the next morning, they couldn’t drag themselves away from looking at their brand-new bikes, even though Jake looked pretty excited to see that Jason had stayed the night. He was sitting next to Elizabeth on the sofa with his own cup of coffee, watching them take turns opening the gifts.

The only gift that rivaled his bike was the baking set that Aiden simply stared at after he’d torn the paper from it. His eyes were shining as he looked at his mother. “For me?”

“My birthday cake turned out so good this year,” Elizabeth said, “I wanted to see what you could do for your brothers in May.”

“Wow—” Aiden ran his fingers over the picture on the box, with the decorating tools. “I don’t even know how to use all this stuff.”

“YouTube, man,” Cameron advised him as he reached for a box. He wrinkled his nose and tossed it at Jake. “That one’s yours—”

“Oh, yeah—here’s one for you—” The boys switched their gifts—then opened up boxes of clothes.

“Uh, it’s nice,” Cameron said, laying the blue sweatshirt back in the box. “Any more video games?”

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. “You know, you’ll thank me when you’re not freezing your butt off in February.”

“I said it was nice,” Cameron said, rolling his eyes. He hesitated as he saw a small pile underneath coffee table. “Hey, how come those are over there?”

“Those are from me,” Jason said. He set the coffee aside, intending to get up—but Jake had realized the shapes couldn’t possibly be more clothes and scrambled over to drag out the pile. “Here’s yours, Aiden. And Cam—”

Cameron took the box from Jake, then looked at Jason, then back at the box. Finally, he opened it, and then frowned as he took out a smaller box with a key in it. “What…what is this?”

“Your mom said you’re getting your permit this year,” Jason said, “because you’ll be sixteen—”

Elizabeth made a face. “And I made the mistake of telling him you get have a driving class starting at school starting in March, so you’ll get your permit early.”

“It’s not much,” Jason said, as he got to his feet and, stunned, Cameron followed him to the front door. Outside, parked at the curb, was a small two-door Chevrolet Cavalier. “It’s not a new car,” he continued. “I think they said it was a 2004—”

“You bought me a car,” Cameron said. He turned to his mom. “You said it was okay?”

“Yeah. Well, it’s from me, too, but it was Jason’s idea,” Elizabeth said, standing up. “I’m really not ready for you to get behind the wheel of a car, but your first car should be a terrible clunker. Jason found one to fix up.” She bit her lip. “Is it okay?”

“Okay?” Cameron repeated. “You bought me a car.”

“Whoa, that is wicked cool!” Aiden said, bouncing up and down. “Can we go driving now?”

“Not until March,” Cameron said, still a bit stunned. “Is it going to sit there?”

“I still need to do some work on the engine,” Jason told him, “so it’ll be at the garage when I finally sign the lease. But your mom said with your permit, you can drive with other adults. So—”

Elizabeth handed Cameron an envelope. “That is an agreement from several adults with licenses to take you. Michael volunteered, and so did Drew. Jason and I are both here if you want it. Felix and Griffin both offered, too, but I’ve seen Felix drive, so—oh, and your grandmother. Both of them.”

Cameron stared at the list of people who’d agreed to give him driving lessons. “This is—” He looked at his mother. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

“Well, a car seemed like a really big gift for a birthday,” Elizabeth said, “and this way you’ll have it when you start the class. You have to learn how to take care of it yourself—and pay for your own gas—”

“Yeah, whatever you need. I’ll drive the kids everywhere—” Cameron threw his arms around his mother, and hugged her tightly. “Thank you.”

She closed her eyes, sighing at the way her little boy towered over her now. “Hey, all I did was say yes, pay for the insurance, and get the driving lessons—”

“Oh, yeah, yeah—” Cameron looked at Jason. “Uh, thanks. I mean, really. I mean it, thanks.”

“No problem.”

“This is gonna be the best summer,” Jake said. “No more Michael driving us everywhere—”

“Uh, he can’t drive you two anywhere by himself until he’s eighteen and that is still two years away,” Elizabeth said as Aiden and Jake returned to their gifts. Jake was very excited by the new drawing set and watercolors, and Aiden was beaming again at the offer of baking and cooking lessons from Sonny.

Later, when Elizabeth was in the kitchen with Jake and Aiden, watching carefully as the two of them cooked breakfast, Cameron helped Jason clean up the living room.

“You knew you were getting me the car last night when I said all that stuff?” Cameron asked, his cheeks a bit flushed with embarrassment. “I’m sorry—”

“Cameron—” Jason waited for the teen to meet his eyes. “You have every right to your feelings, and nothing you said last night was out of line. In fact—” He paused. “There were some things I needed to hear. And if you needed to say them, I’m glad I could be there. I asked your mom what you’d want most for Christmas, and we worked together on this. I’m glad you like it.”

“Like it? Dude, it’s a car.” Cameron shook his head. “It’s the best. I want to know how to take care of it, so, maybe when you do that engine work, I could help—”

“Yeah, sure.” Jason arranged some of the gifts Aiden had left strewn across the room more neatly under the tree. “I have a few more places to see this week, but I should have something early in January. We’ll have the car ready.”

“Awesome. Really. And it’s kind of cool you and Mom did it together. Um—” Cameron paused. “The things I said last night? I still meant them. Even if I feel bad about it.”

“I know—”

“I also think I was just a kid,” Cameron continued, “and I know maybe I don’t know everything that went down. It’s just—” He looked towards the kitchen, where Jake was grinning at Elizabeth who had managed to get waffle batter on her cheek. “I know you’re feeling messed up about this divorce thing, and like, I just—I really don’t want my mom to get hurt again.”

Jason nodded slowly. “Yeah, I know. I don’t want that either.”

“Did you—did you tell her what I said?”

“No,” Jason said, “but she knows you heard Lucky.” Cameron winced. “I didn’t tell her, but your fight with Trina wasn’t all that quiet, so it got back to your mom it was about something you heard from Lucky.”

“Yeah, and Mom’s pretty smart, so it didn’t take long.” Cameron stared down at the trash bag full of wrapping paper. “Is she okay?”

“She’s worried about you, and I told her you’d come to her when you were ready. I didn’t tell her anything you said, I just confirmed what she already knew, Cameron.”

“Thanks.” Cameron shrugged. “I should probably do that today, I guess. We do lunch at Kelly’s on Christmas, so maybe you could take Jake and Aiden, and I’ll talk to her then.”

“If you’re ready.”

Cameron made a face. “Well, that’ll be never, but I should suck it up. I don’t want her to worry about me.”

Greystone Manor: Kitchen

Joss practically bounced into the kitchen, beaming. “You are never going to guess what Cam got for Christmas!” she told her mother as she sat down at the table, then reached for the plate of pancakes.

“No, what—Avery—” Carly narrowed her eyes as her stepdaughter dipped a spoon into the strawberry jam and ate it. “That’s a topping for the pancakes, baby—”

“But it’s fruit,” Avery said, “and it’s sweet. Daddy said fruit is good for you.”

“Don’t even try it,” Sonny advised as he set the sausages down. “I know she’s only five, but she’s been talking circles around me with food.”

“Really? She’ll have to give me tips.” Carly picked up her coffee, and studiously avoided the two empty chairs where her boys had once sat. Her first Christmas without Morgan had been a blur, but this second one—oh, man, it cut sharper than she thought it would.  “What did Cam get?”

“A freaking car!” Joss slid a chocolate-chip pancake onto her plate. “Jason got him a really old used car they’re gonna fix up because Cam gets his permit in March. I can’t believe his mom said it was okay—”

“Oh, I knew about that,” Sonny said. “Jason told me about it, and I think Michael offered to toss in some driving time. So he liked it?”

“Liked it? He actually called to tell me, not text me,” Joss said. “Like, that says everything.”

“Clearly.” Carly hesitated. “It was from Jason?” Sonny sent her a look, and Carly glared at him.

“Yeah, I guess that make sense. Cam said his mom is paying for insurance, which I don’t know anything about, and he has to pay for his own gas, but Jason’s the one into cars, isn’t he? And it’s so cool Cam didn’t have to wait until his birthday—Plus, he’s been in a rotten mood the last few days because people are the frickin worst, but between the cars and my plans, 2018 is gonna kick ass—”

“Uh, your plans?” Sonny winced. “Joss, you think maybe you want to preview those plans—”

“Michael.” Carly stared at her eldest son as he came through the kitchen door, leaning over to kiss Joss on the cheek, then Avery. “I didn’t think you were coming this morning.”

“Grandma went over to Elizabeth’s to see the boys,” Michael said, “and I didn’t want to sit alone at the mansion.” He poured himself an orange juice. “I hear Cam likes the car.”

“Freaking awesome, right? Hey, am I going to get a car for my birthday?” Joss asked.

“I’m going to slap the crap out of Jason and Elizabeth for putting that idea in her head,” Carly muttered. Michael’s mouth tightened at her words, and she glared at him. “I’m not serious, Michael—”

“I don’t want to fight—”

“Well, I don’t want you to make faces at me either,” Carly snapped. “I’m entitled not to be excited about my daughter driving. I didn’t like it when you or Morgan—” She closed her eyes, waited as the sharp pain passed. “You’ll understand one day,” she attempted again, opening her eyes. “Putting your baby behind the wheel of a car that can hurt them—”

“A car took Morgan to Heaven,” Avery proclaimed with a sad sigh. “I miss him.”

“I didn’t mean anything by the look, Mom. I just—” Michael shrugged as he cut up his pancakes. “You know how you get—”

“Michael,” Joss cut in, “maybe just, like, you know, stop. Right? It’s Christmas, and Mom didn’t even say anything.”

“Not yet—”

“Michael,” Sonny said sharply as Carly’s throat tightened.

“It’s fine.” Carly took a deep breath. “It’s fine,” she repeated. “I’ve been know to overreact where Elizabeth is concerned, and Michael likes her. I was joking, Michael. That’s all. I’m glad Cam likes the car,” she told Joss. “And I know Jason will make sure it’s safe for him. Plus, since he has a car, you don’t need one now.”

“Oh my God—” Joss huffed. “That’s not even funny.”

“Sounded great to me.” Carly checked the time on her phone. “Did you talk to your dad yet?”

“No, but it’s like practically tomorrow there. I’ll call him later. Hey, Avery, you gonna have any pancakes with that strawberry jam?”

Michael stayed only for breakfast, then left. Carly wandered back into the living room to look out over the snow falling on the terrace. She’d never lived in this house with the boys as children, so there were no memories of Christmases with Michael and Morgan underfoot, not like there were with Joss and Avery.

“You okay?”

Carly turned to look at Sonny, then sighed as she focused on the snow again. “He’s nicer to you than he is to me, and you actually killed AJ,” she muttered. “I just covered it up.” She winced when Sonny lifted his brows. “I’m sorry.”

“Carly—”

“And it wasn’t like this a few months ago. It just wasn’t. We were fine. I was dealing with Nelle. Then Jason came home, and the AJ stuff came back, and it’s like Michael decided he shouldn’t have forgiven us. And I don’t understand why—” Carly pressed a fist to her chest. “I know I’m not a good person, Sonny, but I don’t think I’m a terrible one. Not all the time. I was protecting you, yeah, but I was protecting Michael.” Her voice faltered. “I didn’t want him to lose you both. Should I have told the truth?”

“We can’t think about what we could have done differently,” Sonny told her. “We just gotta keep putting one foot in front of the other. And it’s this Nelle stuff. Just stay away from her—”

“I keep trying, but she’s just—she’s just always there. She knows exactly what she’s doing.” Carly shook her head. “I know we said we need to let him make his own mistakes, but I can’t—I let Morgan go, Sonny. I let him make mistakes and he was sick. And I almost lost Michael so many times—I can’t do it again. I won’t survive losing another child—” Her voice broke. “I almost buried him once, and she’s stealing him from me, and he doesn’t even see it—”

“We’ll get through it, Carly—”

“Will we?”

Penthouse: Living Room

Sam’s mouth was tight as she watched Drew put Danny’s coat on. “We could just go to my mom’s—”

“We always to go Kelly’s for lunch on Christmas,” Drew said. “Sam—”

“You said I could see Jake,” Danny told his mother, narrowing his eyes. “I saw Grammy last night. I wanna see my brother today.”

“But—” Sam paused. “Oscar will be there,” she told Drew. “We haven’t—”

“Oscar?” Danny looked back and forth between them. “That’s Joss’s friend. How come—”

“Danny—” Drew hesitated. “Look, there’s things going on right now that you don’t know about,” he began.

“Drew, don’t—” Sam slammed her mouth shut when Danny looked at her in confusion. She’d never called Drew by any name around Danny since it had happened.

“I don’t—” Danny’s little brows were crinkled together. “Why did you call Daddy Drew?”

“Because—” Drew said, heavily, kneeling in front of him. “We found out something really hard to understand a few weeks ago, buddy. You remember I didn’t know who I was when I came to Port Charles?”

“Don’t—” Sam started, but Danny and Drew ignored her.

“Yeah, but then you did—”

“Someone played a trick on me,” Drew told him, his voice tight. “And gave me memories that belonged to someone else. To Jason Morgan. Your father. I’m his brother.”

“Someone gave you his memories and made you think you were him? That’s mean—” Danny stopped. “But then how can you be my dad?”

“I—” Drew took a deep bracing breath. “I want to be. But I’m not your father by blood. Or Jake’s.”

“But—” Danny shook his head, trying to piece it together. He looked at his mother. “Mommy?”

“I told you I didn’t want to do this at all, and you’re doing it on Christmas?” Sam snapped.

“Well, you decided to start a fight about lunch and called me Drew,” he retorted.

“Don’t fight—” Danny’s lip trembled. “Don’t go away.”

“I’m not—” Drew took Danny by the shoulders. “I love you. I will always love you and Jake. I’ve talked to my brother. To the real Jason Morgan, and he knows how much I love you both, and he wants me to keep loving you both.”

“Oh. Then he doesn’t want me—”

“He wants you to be happy,” Sam cut in sharply. “And you’re happy with Drew as your daddy—”

“Yeah, but—” Danny tried to put his words together. “But Daddy said someone played a trick on him. So he’s someone else.”

“I’m Andrew Cain,” Drew told him. “Everyone calls me Drew. Before someone played a trick on me, I was a Navy SEAL. I have a son, and you have a cousin. His name is Oscar.”

“Oscar?” Danny repeated. “He’s your real son?”

“By blood, yeah, but I want him to be part of your family, too, Danny. Just like Jake and Aiden and Cameron and Scout. He didn’t know he had any family, Danny. Just like me when I woke up from my accident. But now he has lots of cousins.”

“But I get to keep you?” Danny said, pensively. “My other daddy is okay if I keep you?”

“He wants what’s best for you,” Sam said before Drew could come up with a way to respond to that.

“He loves you,” Drew told Danny as Sam scowled behind him. “We’ll make it work. No one has to lose anyone. We’ll keep each other. Okay?”

“Okay,” Danny said, a bit dubious because even at six years old, he could sense the tension in the room. “Can we go to Kelly’s? I wanna meet Oscar and see Jake.”

“Yeah.” Drew got to his feet. “Do me a favor? Go check on your sister upstairs? Make sure she’s napping.”

“Okay.”

When Danny was upstairs, he turned to Sam, who was glaring at him. “It had to be done. I didn’t want it to be today, but you’re right. Oscar will be there, and I don’t know—Jason might show up with Jake and his brothers. We can’t put our head in the sand. Whatever happens with custody of Danny, we weren’t going to be able to keep the truth forever—”

“You don’t get to tell me in one breath that you don’t want to be his father and then promise he gets to keep you,” Sam interrupted. “Because the only way he keeps you is if Jason signs those papers—”

“It’s not the only way. Why can’t you trust that Jason and I—and you—can make this work?” Drew asked. “At the party last night, I was with Jake and Oscar, and it was strange, but it’s starting to work. I’m looking at Oscar, and I’m feeling that connection. He’s my son, Sam. And Danny’s my nephew. I love him. I don’t want to lose him, but I’m not going to pretend that Jason isn’t trying hard to reconnect with Jake—and Jake’s happy. Why wouldn’t I want more love for Danny?”

“Because I am not Elizabeth,” Sam said. “She might be fine with Jason waltzing back into Jake’s life, but fine. He wanted Jake. He never wanted my son—”

“That’s not true—”

“You might have his memories,” Sam said, “but that doesn’t mean you have all the information. You don’t get to tell me how I feel—”

“Did you ever believe I was Jason?” Drew demanded. “Because you don’t get to hold this crap against Jason when you didn’t against me—so what is it, Sam? Why are you so angry at him and not at me?”

“I—” Sam closed her mouth, her eyes wide at the question. “I don’t—” She swallowed hard. “I thought I put it all away,” she confessed. “I thought I’d forgiven him. But I didn’t. And maybe I didn’t know it until I saw his face and heard his voice. Because I could hear all the things he’d said to me. The way he made me feel dirty because of what happened to me—”

“Sam—” Drew cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—”

“You know what he said to me. He didn’t know if he could love Danny. And I’m supposed to magically forgive that now because we know he’s Danny’s biological father?”

“You were going to get back together before he got shot—”

“Maybe. But maybe I also would have wondered every day if he really loved my son. I don’t want that. You don’t have to like my reasons, Drew, and maybe you can’t live with them. But that’s not your decision to make. It’s mine. Danny is my son. He has been only mine since the day I found out I was pregnant. I fought for him, I grieved for him, I got him through cancer—no one else!” Sam’s hand fisted at her side. “No one is going to tell me how to raise him.”

Drew started to say something, then turned as Danny appeared at the top of the stairs. “Hey, is your sister asleep?” When Danny nodded, Drew continued, “Then we should get going.”

Kelly’s: Dining Room

Joss sat down at the table where Trina, Oscar, and Emma were waiting. “You were able to get out on Christmas?” she said to Emma with a furrowed brow. “Your parents never let you before—”

“Oh, Mom and Dad are doing a big powwow with Grandma and Grandpa,” Emma said, picking up her water. “Grandma’s still pissed about her car, and Mom wanted me out of the way so they could talk.”

“But you left the iPad recording, right?” Joss asked, and Emma nodded. “Good. Because I’ve been thinking that we’re getting left out of all this crap, and we shouldn’t be. Your grandma got hurt, and Oscar’s going through all of this, and it’s messing with Cam and his brothers. So we need more information.”

“This is a whole new side to you,” Oscar said, frowning at her. “You okay?”

“No. And we need to figure out what we’re gonna do—” Joss winced as she saw a familiar set of shoulders. “Crap. That’s Jason—Cam must already be here—”

“Hey!” Aiden rushed across the restaurant to hug Trina and Emma. “I didn’t know you were gonna be here!”

“Hey, kid. How’s Christmas? Santa been good to you?” Trina asked.

“He was awesome.” Aiden pointed at the table where Jake and Jason had taken a seat. “But Mom and Cam are back at the house, so I gotta go make sure we order for them.”

“Oh, okay, well, we’re over here if you need us.” Joss waited until Aiden had gone back to the table, where Jason met her eyes, raised his brows, and Joss hunched her shoulders. “Okay, so our time is limited, and Jason knows I know, so we gotta stay out of jail.”

“Wait, was jail on the table?” Oscar said.

“I’m not ruling anything out,” Emma declared.

“I am,” Trina said. “I can’t get caught or I’ll catch fire.” She nodded to Joss. “So tell me the plan, and I’ll make it better.”

Joss narrowed her eyes, but decided not to break the truce. “Okay, well the objective is to destroy Lucky Spencer so hard that he stays the hell away from Port Charles forever and regrets the day he ever decided to be a giant asshole and make Cameron feel like crap. I think we can get him deported to somewhere in Asia. Spinelli knows a guy.”

Emma nodded. “Yes. I like it. Let’s think big.”

“Wait—” Oscar protested.

“How about Russia?” Trina wanted to know. “Do they still got gulags?”

Webber House: Kitchen

Elizabeth switched on the dishwater and looked across the counter at her eldest son, perched on the stool. “So.”

“So.” Cameron stared at his hands, flattened against the counter. “Uh, Jason said you know what I heard.”

“He told me, but he didn’t say anything about what happened last night.” Elizabeth leaned against the counter. “First, I want to say that I never should have had that conversation with you in the house. I obviously didn’t know he would say that, but if I wanted to tell Lucky Spencer he was a shitty father, I should have waited until none of you could hear it.”

“Yeah, well, in your defense, most guys would lie about whether or not they love the kid who used to call him Dad.” Cameron hesitated. “I don’t know what to say, Mom. It sucks, but I guess it’s better to know. I don’t have to wonder anymore. He doesn’t think of me as his kid. I’d say it wasn’t a big loss, but—” He hesitated. “Part of me really just doesn’t get it. He used to take me and Jake all the time when you guys got divorced. We played games and baseball, and he took me places. He told everyone I was his son.”

“I know.”

“And, like, I don’t know—I don’t think it changed a lot after Jake’s accident. But maybe I didn’t see it.” Cameron scratched something on the counter. “It’s not like I thought of all the guys you’ve dated as, like, father figures or anything. Mostly they were nice to me, and I liked you being happy. Most of them didn’t bother me.”

“Cameron—there were times I was very selfish,” Elizabeth said, “incredibly, stupidly selfish. Never more than when I lied to Jake Doe about who he was. It doesn’t matter that he wasn’t Jason, or that he never really felt like Jason. I thought he was supposed to be him. And I took the chance that it would work out for us because we were happy. I wanted it so much for for all of us—but mostly for me.”

She waited for him to meet her eyes. “And that lie dragged me down, and made feel so bad about myself that I thought Franco was a good idea. The fact that I brought him into this house, let him live here, knowing what he’d done in his past, let him around you three—he put his hands on you—”

“Just a push, Mom. It’s fine—”

“It’s not fine. And I would have shot him if your brothers hadn’t been there,” Elizabeth admitted. “I shouldn’t tell you that, but well, you need to know that I am deeply ashamed of what he did and that I let myself feel so worthless that I thought Franco was good enough for us.”

“Mom.” Cameron pressed his lips together. “I know it was like losing Jake was this…crazy thing that just ruined everything for years. I missed him so much, and you were always so sad. Even when you weren’t. I thought getting him back would fix everything, but it made it so much harder. And I feel like shit for saying that. Sorry,” he said as an afterthought.

“No, it’s okay. Yeah, Jake coming home meant putting all my energy and time into him. Especially after his second accident, losing the house, and his issues these last two years. And I’ve been so proud of you—and Aiden—for stepping up and making him feel okay. You shouldn’t have had to do it, but you did.”

“It makes me so mad that someone stole him and screwed with his mind, and they did it to Jason and Drew, and all these people they hurt,” Cameron muttered. “They didn’t care what it did to us. Helena never cared about me or Aiden. She just wanted to hurt you. And Jake. And Lucky’s family.” He paused. “But things are better lately. Or they were.”

“I thought so,” Elizabeth said. “I’m so sorry, baby, that Lucky can’t bring himself to love you the way you deserve. I never wanted that for you. I wanted you to have a family where you felt safe. Every day, I wanted you to wake up and know you were loved just for being you. I didn’t have that, not even with Gram,” she admitted. “Not until I got older and I met Emily and Patrick. They never, ever judged me. Not even when they should have.  Sometimes, the people who are supposed to love you let you down the most. I’m so sorry that you had to find that out like this.”

“I sort of blasted Jason last night,” Cameron said. “Joss told me about the divorce, and I was like—well maybe Sam was right. Because Jason left Jake, but he left you and me, too. I’m not stupid, Mom. He was around a lot, you were really happy. You almost went on a trip together, and then he was gone.”

“We were engaged for a half a second,” Elizabeth admitted. “But…Michael got shot, and Jake got kidnapped—and we just didn’t hold on enough. We got scared, Cam. Jason didn’t want to leave us, but we both—we both thought it was a good idea. I didn’t—” She hesitated. “And I think by the time we both realized we should have done things differently, we’d missed our chance. But Jason never abandoned Jake. Not the way Sam is saying in those papers.”

“Yeah, I know that now. I was just—I was thinking about myself, and Lucky—and Jake and Danny. He still gave me the car today, so I guess I didn’t piss him off too much,” Cameron said.

“It’s impossible to make him mad enough to cut you out of his life,” Elizabeth told him. “Believe me, I’ve done my own level of damage to Jason over the years, and you’ve met Carly.”

“Yeah.” Cameron snorted. “Yeah, I guess he does have a high tolerance for crap.” He paused. “Maybe things are better because he’s around again, and that’s why you’re happy again. But it never stays that way. How can you keep doing this, Mom? I mean, like, how do you keep—” He shrugged. “How do you keep letting people close enough to hurt you? I didn’t want to talk to anyone. Even Emma, and she heard it. I yelled at Trina, and I know I hurt Joss’s feelings. I hurt a lot of people—”

“That’s the best thing about finding a real family,” Elizabeth told him. “You find your people who love you no matter what, who get that sometimes you’re in a bad mood, and you do dumb things. It’s about trust, Cameron. You have to trust that Joss, Trina, and Emma have known you all your life, and will forgive you because they know what happened.  Jason, no matter what you said to him last night, didn’t even consider holding a grudge because he just wants you to be okay.” She paused. “And that’s why I can trust him, Cam. Whatever is going on. Because at the end of the day, when you find the people who know who you are, deep down, all your ugly places, and love you anyway— that’s your family.”

“Thanks.” Cameron slid off the stool. “I’m okay,” he told her. “I guess I just should suck it up and go to Kelly’s to apologize, huh?”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth paused. “Are you okay?”

“About Lucky? No,” Cameron admitted. “But you know, it’s his loss. He could have had all of us, but he just wants Aiden, and Aiden’s gonna see it one day, and then Lucky won’t have anyone. So—you know, that’ll be his problem. Not mine. But I was never mad at you.”

“Well, maybe you should have been,” she said. “Blast me next time, Cam. I can take it.”

Kelly’s: Dining Room

Trina shook her head. “No, I really think we’re not being creative enough. We should talk to Spencer. I bet he has some ideas.” She scowled at the scribbled notes on the napkin. “And maybe we could figure out a way to yeet Charlotte into the sun while we’re taking out Spencers that are pissing us off—”

“Look, you shot down my last six ideas just because I don’t think a Russian gulag is practical,” Joss said, rolling her eyes. “I don’t even know if they have them anymore.”

“My grandma could find out,” Emma chirped. “I could call her—”

“Yeah, but then we’d have to tell her why,” Oscar said. “I still think we could think a bit smaller, a bit more legal—” When Joss scowled. “I mean, look, we could work our way up to gulags—”

“Well, I still like him being deported and dumped in the middle of the Sahara desert,” Joss decided. “Like right in the middle. See if he can be a little bitch when he’s roasting his nuts off—”

“Uh, who are you dumping in the Sahara?”

The four of them twisted to find Cameron standing behind them, his brow arched. “Because I think that it’s pretty good revenge idea. We should put it on the list in case we need it for later.”

“We’re going to destroy Lucky,” Emma told Cameron. “We’ve been planning it for the last forty-five minutes. Joss and Trina called a truce and everything.”

“Yeah, if a truce means them arguing about gulags for a solid twenty,” Oscar told Cameron as he pulled up a chair.

Cameron took a deep breath. “Call off the destruction,” he told them. “I appreciate it, but he’s still Aiden’s dad, and Aiden loves him.”

“Aiden doesn’t know any better,” Trina muttered.

“No, but he’s seven. And I already got one little brother who didn’t get to be a kid for long, so I’m okay with Aiden thinking his dad is a good guy for a few more years.” Cameron hesitated. “I’m sorry I flipped out. I yelled at most of you, but I’m okay.”

“You sure—”

“I’ll be okay,” he corrected, interrupting Trina’s question. “Eventually.”

“Not that this isn’t touching,” Joss said, “and I accept your apology because you know, I’m on board with keeping the little man happy, but—” She gestured towards the doorway. “What do we know about the Danny situation?”

Cameron twisted in his chair, then winced as he saw Drew coming into the diner with Danny at his side. “Let me go do the recon.”

Drew walked Danny over to the table where Elizabeth had joined Jason and her boys. “Uh, hey,” he said to them, as Danny squinted his eyes at Jason.

“I know you. I saw you on Halloween,” Danny said. He looked at Drew. “Is he my other daddy?”

Jason’s eyes widened at that, and his mouth tightened at the corners,  but that was the only part of his expression that changed. Jake got off his chair and went around the table to Danny’s side.

“Hey, Danny,” Jake said. “I missed you. Merry Christmas.” He hugged his younger brother. “Did you get good gifts?”

“Yeah, but—” Danny studied Jason. “You look like photos I saw once of Daddy before the accident, so you are my other daddy, aren’t you?”

Jason glanced at Drew who sat at one of the empty chairs. “Yeah, this is Jason Morgan. Your dad by blood,” he continued. “Remember I said that he’s my brother? Like you and Jake. We’re twins.”

“Oh. But you had the accident so now you don’t look alike no more.” Danny nodded, taking it in. He looked at Jason again. “Daddy said you said it would be okay if I kept him. Because he’s a really good daddy. But do I get to keep Jake?”

“Of course,” Jason said, his voice a bit rough. “Jake’s—he’s missed you these last few weeks. And I—I want you to be happy, Danny. I’m glad you have a good dad.”

“But you’re not Jake’s daddy anymore?” Danny said, looking at Drew again. “How can we be brothers, then?”

“Because brothers can mean a lot of things,” Cameron spoke up, and Danny tilted his head up. “You and me, we don’t have any of the same parents, do we?” he asked as he knelt down in front of the younger boy.

“Nope.”

“But didn’t Jake say we were brothers?”

“Yeah.” Danny smiled shyly. “You have good video games.”

“So you and Jake can stay brothers no matter who raises you.” Cameron paused. “And you know, Drew’s awesome. I’m glad you to have him. I’m glad Jake gets to have him and Jason. You’re really lucky, Danny, to have so many people who love you.”

“Do I get more presents?” Danny wanted to know. “Because I think if I get two dads, I should get more presents.”

“You can have all the presents you want,” Drew told him. He met Jason’s eyes. “We’re still figuring everything out, but there’s no reason we can’t all get to know each other  and do it together.” He gestured to the table of teenagers. “Oscar, come over and meet Danny.”

“You okay?” Elizabeth asked Jason softly.

“Yeah, I just—” Jason met her eyes. “I wasn’t expecting this today.”

“I know we haven’t talked about the custody thing,” she said softly, “but you and I both know how much you loved Jake. Don’t sign anything that says differently. Even if you think it’s best for Danny.”

I wanna go home for Christmas
Let me go home this year
I don’t know what my future holds
Or who I’ll choose to love me
But I can tell you where I’m from
And who loved me to life
– Home for Christmas, Maria Mena

---

June 2015

Dublin, Ireland: The Brazen Head

It had taken Nikolas longer than he wanted to track down his wanderer of a brother. Nikolas had chased him through Cork, Belfast, and the West Counties before learning that Lucky had drifted back to Dublin and the Temple Bar district he called home these days.

He walked into the oldest pub in Ireland and wound his way through the cramped, dark hallways until he finally found the idiot in one of the back bars, grinning at the bartender as the man built him a Guinness.

“You could check your messages once in a while,” Nikolas said dryly as he sat on the stool next to his brother.

Lucky turned to him and clapped him on the shoulder as if it was no surprise at all to find Nikolas there. “Rory! Here’s the man I was just telling you about. Will you have a Guinness?”

“No,” Nikolas said flatly, but not wanting to draw attention to himself, he looked at the bartender. “Just a cider.”

“Aye, you be the prince, then?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Nikolas muttered. “Lucky, we need to talk—”

Lucky frowned and straightened, some of the mirth fading from his face. “Rory, we’ll grab a table.”

When they were tucked away in the corner, Nikolas rubbed his face. “We’ve got a problem. Maybe.”

“Is Mom okay? Elizabeth and the boys—they didn’t call—”

“How would you know?” Nikolas snapped, then bit it back. Took a deep breath. “You don’t check your messages, Lucky. How would Elizabeth even tell you if the boys were okay?”

“I just talked to them last week. Did something happen I don’t know about?”

“The boys are fine,” Nikolas muttered. It wasn’t Lucky’s fault that he was here. Lucky didn’t know the Faustian bargain Helena had forced him to accept.

He had too many balls in the air, and he wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to keep juggling them all.

A few more months. A few more weeks. He could do this. The most important part of all of this — Jake — it was finally going to happen. Helena was finally going to send the boy home.

Nikolas could handle anything else as long Elizabeth had her son back.

“I think it’s Helena.”

Lucky closed his eyes and sat back in the chair, his shoulders slumped. “Oh, man. I thought she was finally—we haven’t had any trouble in years.”

Idiot. A quiet Helena still breathed. She’d only been mustering her forces, gathering her army. “You know better.”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Lucky glanced up, grinned weakly at Rory as the man set their drinks on the table. When he’d left them, Lucky sighed. “What’s the problem?”

“I’d keep you out of it if I could,” Nikolas lied, “but I can’t get on the island without her knowing. It’s not in my skill set. You and Luke? You know that place backwards and forwards.”

“Nikolas, just tell me what the problem is,” Lucky said. “You’re dancing around it—”

Because as much as he wanted Jake at home with his mother, Nikolas knew returning him was just the next stage. He didn’t yet know what Helena was planning and he was terrified he wouldn’t find out until it was too late.

But he’d gone along with all of this to get Jake home. He’d sacrificed a piece of his soul—if not the entire thing—for this moment.  “I don’t know what’s going on, but the last time I was there, she was being secretive. She didn’t want me there, and I found out a few days ago she’d reopened the west wing.”

“The west wing,” Lucky repeated.

“We haven’t opened that part of the house since Uncle and I stopped living there full time,” Nikolas told him. “Since we moved to the States.” His mouth was dry as he finished it. “It’s where my father kept our mother.”

Lucky’s mouth was grim and he nodded. “Okay. Okay. So whatever she’s up to, I’ll find out. I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks.” Nikolas smiled weakly. He’d done it. He’d given Lucky the road map to finding Jake, just as Helena had wanted.

He only hoped he hadn’t made everything else worse.

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Greystone: Living Room

Drew turned away from Patrick and Robin to find himself face to face with Oscar, Jake, and Aiden — he frowned when he saw Jake’s worried face, and Oscar’s brows drawn together with concern. “Hey,” he said, nodding at them, putting a hand on Aiden’s shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“Uh—” Oscar stared at Drew blankly as if he hadn’t realized that he was so close to them. “Nothing. I mean—” He looked at Jake and Aiden. “Nothing, right?”

“We’re looking for my mom,” Jake said, tentatively. “Oscar said Cam is mad about something, and Jason went to talk to him, and Michael was supposed to get Mom, but he didn’t—”

Drew pressed his lips together. “I thought I saw her in the foyer earlier—” He craned his neck to see into the foyer, and caught sight of Michael’s blonde hair rising above the people around him—including Carly, Elizabeth, Spinelli—and Nelle. He winced. “I think she’s in the middle of something. How bad is it?”

“Uh, I don’t know really,” Oscar admitted. “Emma knows, but won’t tell anyone and I don’t really know why but I also don’t know her—”

“And Cam yelled at Trina.” Aiden’s eyes were wide. “He never yells at Trina.”

“He yelled at Joss, too,” Jake volunteered. “And Joss started yelling at Emma which only made Trina more mad, so Oscar said we should go somewhere—”

“Great,” Drew muttered. He’d been around the group of teens long enough to know that on a good day, Joss and Trina usually managed a level of civility because of Cameron. If it wasn’t Carly making a scene somewhere, he wasn’t surprised that her daughter was picking up the slack.

He searched the room for the trio of girls, but then exhaled in relief. He didn’t see Joss, but Trina and Emma looked upset.

“Oscar—” Drew looked at his son, feeling his frustration. Oscar was the new member of the group—he didn’t know the dynamics or personalities that made it function. “Does Jason have it handled or should I go get Elizabeth?”

“I think maybe—” Oscar paused. “I think it’s about that guy Lucky,” he said slowly. “Cam’s…um…” He squinted. “Whatever he is.”

“Daddy said something that made Cameron feel sad,” Aiden said glumly, and Jake put an arm around his younger brother. “Emma heard it, too, but no one will tell us what it was.” He rubbed a hand under his nose and sniffled. “Cam doesn’t call him Dad anymore. Maybe Daddy was sad about that,” he said to Jake. “And Cam felt bad.”

“Maybe,” Jake said dubiously. “But Cam stopped calling him that like two years ago and he didn’t seem to care.” He shrugged, then looked at Drew. “I don’t know, Uncle Drew. Cam’s weird sometimes. Maybe Mom can do something.”

“All right, I’ll get her.” Drew turned to Oscar, put a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for getting your cousins away from whatever was going on. You know sometimes Trina and Joss go overboard, and they don’t need to hear everything.”

“Yeah, I do,” Jake muttered. “How else do I get to know the good stuff?”

“No problem.” Oscar’s face brightened when Drew had called the younger boys his cousins. “We were thinking about raiding the desserts in the kitchen.”

“That’s a great idea,” Drew told him. “I’ll get Elizabeth, and we’ll get it take care of.” He started towards the foyer, then turned back to Oscar. “Hey, make sure you stick around. I’ll drive you home. I have something for you for Christmas.”

Oscar nodded. “Yeah, okay. That—would be great.” He paused. “Dad,” he said, testing out the word. “Maybe we could do something over the break. Like, a movie or something.”

“That sounds like a great idea. We’ll talk about on the way home,” Drew promised, and then went to extract Elizabeth from whatever drama Carly was creating.

Greystone: Foyer

Carly could hardly believe that Elizabeth Webber of all people was coming to her defense, and man did it piss her off that there was a slight chance Michael would believe the goody two shoes but she’d deal with that later.

“Nelle,” Michael said, slowly, “I know you and my mom don’t get along. I know she starts fights—”

“Oh, come on!” Carly said, throwing up her hands. “You just heard Elizabeth tell you that Nelle is lying—”

“No, I heard Elizabeth say Nelle came up to you. Which she admitted,” Michael told his mother. He looked at Elizabeth. “Did you hear the whole conversation?”

“Most of it,” Elizabeth said. “Nelle said something about attacking Carly because you love her. And Carly wanted her to admit that Nelle was lying about whatever happened before.”

“See!” Carly jabbed a finger at Nelle. “I told you! Nelle started it last time, and then lied about what happened. She told me you were moving in together—”

“I did not!” Nelle retorted. “And I get you’re trying to help,” she told Elizabeth with a roll of her eyes, “but you weren’t at the hotel. And you know how Carly can get! And how she tries to make herself look like the victim! Michael told me that she just did the same to you—”

Elizabeth hesitated, then looked at Carly who closed her eyes. Damn it. “That’s true,” the brunette said slowly. “But I don’t think that’s the case here. What’s between Carly and me—that’s between us. You were baiting her, Nelle. You admitted to exploiting her problems with Michael—and clearly, you know that Carly can be pushed into a confrontation. You just admitted it. So why did you come over to talk to her when she was avoiding you?”

Carly pursed her lips. That didn’t sound like a full-throated defense, but maybe it was best Elizabeth could muster given the circumstances. “Michael, I really was going out of my way tonight to be nice,” she said, shifting her tone but then scowling as she heard a whine in her voice. Damn it. “I promised you—”

“Yeah, well—” Michael exhaled slowly, then looked at his girlfriend. “Maybe you should just stop trying to make things better,” he told Nelle, and Carly wanted to murder her. Just grab the candelabra that was on the table by the stairs and bash the little bitch’s head in—

“Not worth it,” Elizabeth muttered, and Carly squinted at her. How did she know—

“Fine. Obviously, your mother only believes in second chances when it comes to her,” Nelle said darkly, folding her arms. “No one else ever gets to make a mistake or hurt anyone without having to pay for it forever—”

“You didn’t just make a mistake—” Carly stopped because it wasn’t going to change anything. Michael knew everything Nelle had done—how much worse she’d made that terrible time after they’d lost Morgan, and if he didn’t care—if that didn’t matter to him—

She couldn’t force him to see what Nelle was trying to do to them. He’d have to learn this lesson on his own.

“Let’s go,” Michael said to Nelle. “This was a bad idea.”

“I’m sorry,” Nelle said as he led her away. “I just wanted to help…”

Carly glared after them, watching as Michael and Nelle put on their coats and scarves and left.

“I don’t know her, but I also don’t think I like her,” Spinelli said finally as Elizabeth sighed and looked at Carly.

“I’m sorry. I really thought Michael would listen to me. I know Nelle was baiting you, Carly—”

“I knew she was, too,” Carly said, rubbing her temple. “But I let her do it anyway. And Michael—well, if he’s not going to take it from you, there’s no way he’ll ever believe me.” She didn’t understand it—she knew that she’d never been the best person, and the lie about AJ had been a terrible one—but did she really deserve to be treated like this? To have the woman who had caused her so much misery and grief shoved in her face?

“Thank you,” Carly told Elizabeth. “For trying. I—you didn’t have to do that. I’m surprised you’re not on Nelle’s side.”

“You and I have our history, Carly,” Elizabeth told her. “And it’s always going to make it hard for us to be around each other. We know too much,” she said with a rueful smile. “But I also know what it is to grieve a child, and what Nelle did to you was unforgivable. I’ve lost a lot of respect for Michael.” She winced. “Not that I have a lot of room to talk with my history—”

“What history?” Drew asked as he joined them. He frowned “What happened to Michael and Nelle?”

“Oh, big bad Carly chased them away,” Carly said with a huff. “You know how I am.”

“Yeah, but—” Drew frowned at her, then looked at Elizabeth. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but Cameron’s upset about something. He yelled at Trina and Joss, then went onto the terrace—Michael was supposed to get you—”

“What happened?” Elizabeth asked. “Is he still out there?”

“Yeah, Jason went after him, but he wanted you brought in. Elizabeth—” Drew stopped her as she started across the room. “It’s about Lucky. He overheard something, but I don’t know what. Apparently, he and Emma both aren’t talking—” As Elizabeth’s face paled, his eyes narrowed. “You know what it is.”

“Lucky and I had a fight the day Emma came over to visit. I thought she and Cam were upstairs playing video games with the boys, but—” Elizabeth closed her eyes, pressed her hands to her face. “Oh, God. Oh, please tell me he didn’t hear it. Please.”

“I hate to tell you, but based on how he’s reacting—he overheard something pretty damn terrible.”

Greystone Manor: Terrace

Cameron couldn’t believe he’d said any of that crap to Jason of all people and as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to call them back—he wanted to crawl inside of himself and shrivel up. To die of mortification and embarrassment.

“I’m fine,” Cameron said tightly as Jason just looked at him. “You don’t need to talk to my mom about this. I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine,” Jason said slowly. “But it’s not my place to tell your mom about anything you just said. But she needs to know, Cam. And you need to talk to her.”

“She’ll just feel bad,” Cameron muttered. He stared out over the city, wishing he was anywhere else. “She’ll feel bad for wanting to be happy, and she already feels bad enough about what happened with Franco. And with Drew a few years ago. Mom’s been messed up since Jake’s accident. I’m not sure she’s even okay now.” He grimaced, feeling the sting of shame. “That’s not fair. She’s fine. She’s great—”

“Jake came home, but that doesn’t take away the years we lost,” Jason told Cameron. “And how it changed all of us. I know your mom struggled, and I wasn’t there for her. You’re right. I walked away from Jake. From you and your mom. And I—I wasn’t much better when I knew Sam was pregnant with Danny. None of what you said was wrong, Cam—”

“It’s not my business—”

“It is when it affected you,” Jason told him, and Cameron was stunned into silence. “My choices made your mom unhappy. I know that. I thought they were the right ones, but by the time I realized they weren’t—it was too late. And then Jake had his accident, and I just felt like I’d done enough damage. But not all fathers leave.”

“I know that,” Cameron said. He rubbed the side of his face. “That was stupid to say. I don’t even think that. It’s just—” He shook his head. “I should be relieved. Lucky stopped giving a damn about me because he’s a shitty person, not because I wasn’t a good son. But—” He paused. “But I can’t seem to really let it go.”

“Because you still wonder why he couldn’t look past the biology and love you anyway,” Jason said in a rough voice, and Cameron looked at him. “I’m sorry, Cam. That he couldn’t.”

“Yeah, well, I feel stupid now,” Cameron confessed. “I should have just told Trina and Joss all of this. Instead, I made a scene, and I just—” He looked at Jason. “Look, you’re right. I’ll talk to my mom. But Christmas—it’s her thing, you know? She loves this time of year. And Aiden still believes.” He paused. “Can you just—can you leave it at that?”

“Yeah,” Jason said with a slow nod. “Yeah, I can leave it at that. Come on, let’s go back into the party—”

“I—” Cameron put up a hand. “I just want to go in alone. I gotta find Trina and talk to her. And I just—no offense, but you’re not my dad. You never pretended before. Don’t start now. I’m glad you’re home, and that you’re here for Jake. And I’m happy to hang out with you because Jake likes it. But I’m not your son.”

“All right.” Jason nodded. “I’ll wait out here for a while.”

Cameron went inside, closing the terrace door behind him, not even noticing the shadow in the corner that moved.

“Joss,” Jason said with a sigh as Carly’s daughter stalked towards him. “Did you follow me out here?”

“Uh, yeah, because Cameron wouldn’t tell me what was going on, and now I am pissed,” Joss said through clenched teeth. “That no good, lying rotten, piece of crap—” She yanked out her phone and pulled a group text.

“Joss, Cam wants to handle this on his own—”

“Yeah, well, he’ll have to suck it up.”

To Trina, Emma, and Oscar, she texted, i got the story don’t tell cam bc we need to talk after xmas we got a little bitch to destroy

Trina replied, emma told me truce back on we gotta fuck this boy up

Jason sighed as her fingers flashed across her phone, typing furiously. “Just don’t do anything you need to be bailed out for. It’s Christmas.”

“Don’t worry, I never get caught,” Joss said confidently as she sauntered back into the party.

Greystone Manor: Living Room

Elizabeth wound her away through the crowded living room, making her way towards the terrace—but halfway across the room, she saw the door open and Cameron came in. She stopped, trying to take in his mood—

He went over to talk to Trina and Emma, and said something to Trina. Trina rolled her eyes, then hugged him. Cameron smiled and—Elizabeth couldn’t tell from where she was — but maybe this wasn’t the time or place for this conversation.

“You okay?” Sonny asked, coming up to her with a glass of wine in his hand. He held it out. “You look worried.”

“I’m—” Elizabeth sighed, took the wine. “I’m fine. I think Cameron and I need to talk about something, but it’ll keep for tonight.” She looked back at him, squinting slightly. “You need to keep an eye on Nelle.”

Sonny tilted his head, quizzical. “What?”

“I have my issues with Carly, you know that. But Nelle—” Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “She’s manipulating Michael and Carly. I just watched Nelle corner Carly, attack and push her into a fight, and then by the time Michael got there, she found a way to make herself the victim, and she didn’t even have to lie to do it.”

Sonny sighed, then sipped his bourbon. “It’s been hard for Carly to see Michael with Nelle. You know she’s not always the most—” He hesitated. “Well, stable isn’t the right word, but—”

“I know. And I told Carly that our problems are what they are, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t see what Nelle just did. You need to keep an eye on it,” she repeated. “Because Nelle’s working very hard to put a wedge between Carly and Michael. And—well, I know you and Michael are mostly okay now—”

“But she won’t have to work very hard to separate Michael from either of us,” Sonny said with a slow nod. “Yeah, you’re not wrong there.” He frowned. “You think she’s planning something?”

“I just—I don’t know. It kind of—oh, man this is going to sound terrible—” Elizabeth sighed. “But it kind of reminds me when Sam—when she and Lucky had the affair the summer Jake was kidnapped? Not that I was innocent in any of that,” she added hastily, “since my marriage was pretty much over anyway.” She huffed. “That’s not what I’m talking about. It was just the way Sam always manage to twist everything I said or did to make me look like the bad guy. Maxie used to do it, too.”

“Uh, yeah, well, Sam was a damn good con artist, and I think the steal a married man thing was her bread and butter,” Sonny reminded her.  “Speaking of Sam, you need to make sure he doesn’t let Sam get away with this crap.”

Mystified, Elizabeth frowned at him. “What? I know she filed for divorce before he could, but—”

“Jason didn’t tell you?” Sonny asked. When she shook her head, he muttered something under his breath. “One of these days,” he said, his voice normal again, “I’m really gonna smack him. Look, he might not bring it up, but you need to know that Sam’s using Jake in all of this.”

Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed, and her fingers tightened dangerously around the stem of her wine glass. “I think you’d better tell me what the hell is going on.”

Davis House: Living Room

Sam forced a smile on her face as Danny glumly unwrapped the new video game that Molly and TJ had given him. “That’s pretty cool, right?”

“Yeah.” Danny sighed, then smiled at his aunt. “It’s cool. I played it at Jake’s the last time I was at his house.” He looked at his mother. “Maybe Jake could come over and play it with me now.”

Alexis raised her brows as Sam sighed. “Yeah, maybe. I’ll call Elizabeth,” she said finally. “We’ll see what we can do.”

Danny brightened. “Great! But Daddy should do it. He probably misses Jake a lot, too.” Danny looked at Molly and TJ. “TJ, do you gotta big brother?”

“No, I’m an only child,” TJ said, “but you’re lucky. You get to be a little brother and a big brother, right?”

“Right,” Danny nodded as he reached for another gift. “Jake told me that the most important job for a big brother is make sure no one ever hurts Scout. Only I get to mess with her. Cam told him that. Cam taught Jake everything about being a big brother.”

“Right,” Sam said faintly. She pulled out her phone and pulled up Drew’s name in her text messages. With a sigh, she started to type.

Miss u. Come to my mom’s, please?

Almost two minutes later, the delivered message beneath the text changed to Read at 8:08 PM. Then nothing.

Drew didn’t respond, and Sam’s heart felt heavy. She’d tried so hard to protect herself, to protect the life she’d built—

But her mother was right. The only thing Sam had ended up doing was taking a flamethrower to everyone else. Danny was miserable without his brother, Drew was sleeping in the guest room, and Jason—

Jason had been probably been devastated by the papers she’d sent him. Even if Sam still thought he deserved them—maybe she could admit to herself that the Jason of five years ago had deserved them. The Jason that had abandoned her and hurt so badly after she’d been raped by Franco and thought Danny was his son—

The Jason that had been kidnapped and trapped inside his own body and mind — well, maybe he’d deserved a little bit better from her.

“I’m heading over to Dad’s now,” Kristina told her softly. Sam looked up at her. “You want me to say anything to him?”

“Just—” Sam sighed, looked over at Danny helping Scout unwrap her gifts with a gleeful smile. “Just that the kids miss him. And that we need to get Danny and Jake together.”

“Got it.”

“Thanks, Krissy,” Sam said as Kristina got to her feet.

“It’s Christmas,” Kristina said with a shrug. “Even I can’t be a bitch twenty-four seven. I’ll text with you any news.”

Greystone Manor: Master Bedroom

It was nearly midnight before the party had broken up, and Sonny found himself in his bedroom, watching as Carly sat at her vanity table, carefully removing her jewelry and makeup.

“Elizabeth said something happened with Nelle tonight,” Sonny said, sitting on the edge of the bed, meeting his wife’s eyes in the mirror. “She said I need to keep my eye on things because Nelle reminds her of Sam going after Lucky, the way she’d twist things in her favor.”

“I think…” Carly said after a minute, “I almost understand why Jason keeps her around.” With a slight smile that didn’t reach her eyes, she continued, “She doesn’t like me. I’ve never given her much of a reason to, and after what happened at her house, I wouldn’t expect her to help me across the street. But she came over to and tried to tell Michael Nelle was lying.”

Carly twisted on the bench, her dark eyes somber. “But if Michael doesn’t even believe Elizabeth—someone I know he does trust—what use is there in me even trying to get through to him? Nelle will just keep making me look like the bad guy.”

“Michael has to make his own mistakes,” Sonny told her. “I’m not wild that Nelle is the mistake he’s choosing to make, but all we can do is watch out for him and be there when it’s over, you know?”

“I know. I think—” Carly sighed. “He doesn’t believe me, Sonny. Even when I’m telling the truth.” Her eyes were damp as they met his again. “And I don’t have anyone to blame but myself, do I?”

“No,” Sonny admitted roughly. “But he doesn’t trust me either, Carly, and that’s on me. We really messed up three years ago. I just hope like hell it’s not Michael who ends up paying for it.”

Penthouse: Danny’s Bedroom

“Good night,” Drew said as he tucked the covers under Danny’s arms and knelt down next to him.

“We put out the cookies, right?” Danny asked, his voice slurred as he shifted, already sliding into slumber. “And the milk?”

“We did, but I’ll check again,” Drew told him, sliding his hair off his forehead. He looked across the bed at Sam who tucked in another corner of Danny’s comforter. “We’ll see you in the morning, buddy. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry…” But Danny was already asleep, and the final word was lost to dreams. Sam switched on his night light, then the two of them went into the hallway and carefully closed the door.

Drew followed her down stairs. “I put the presents in the closet under the stairs,” he told her. “Yesterday, when you were at the park with Danny—”

“Oh, good.” Sam folded her arms, then bit the corner of her thumb. “We should wait a few hours to put them out,” she told him. “You know, in case he wakes up.”

“Yeah.”

They stood there in awkward silence, and Drew finally broke it. “Krissy told me you want to get Jake and Danny together. Does that mean you’re ready to talk—”

“I don’t know what I’m ready for,” Sam said. “But Danny loves Jake. And I know—” She sighed. “I know if you ask Jake not to talk to Danny much about what’s going on, he’ll do it for you.”

“Sam—”

“I don’t want to fight, I really don’t. Not tonight.” She closed her eyes. “But I just—I don’t know how to tell Danny that you’re not his father. I don’t want him to lose you, Drew. I don’t think blood makes a father—”

“No, but—”

“And we can argue all you want after this is over,” Sam told him, opening her eyes again, meeting his gaze. “But not tonight. I just want to pretend that everything is okay?”

“Sam—”

“I know what you’re going to say,” Sam said. “It’s not okay, and we can’t keep pretending. And I get that. But if this—” Her eyes were damp. “But if this is it, Drew, if we can’t make this work, then can we just give Danny the next few days?”

“Yeah,” Drew said finally, with a slow nod. “Yeah. I’m not saying we can’t make it work, Sam—”

“No, but I think I might be saying it,” she murmured. “You’re right. We can’t go back, but I’m not sure I want to go forward either.”

Webber House: Living Room

Elizabeth decided not to talk to Cameron or Jason that night about what had happened at the party. Cameron had looked tired, and Jason hadn’t looked like he was in the mood to talk about the custody arrangements with Danny—

So instead, she put it aside. Cameron and the boys went upstairs, and Elizabeth waited until she knew Cameron had done a good job of distracting them so she could drag the gifts out of the crawl space to arrange around the tree.

Jason had volunteered to put together new bikes she’d bought for Jake and Aiden—they’d both outgrown their old ones, and she didn’t want Aiden to feel like he was always getting hand me downs the way Elizabeth had growing up.

“There’s a baking set,” she told Jason as he rolled Jake’s bike in front of the tree. “In the crawl space. I can’t lift it—”

“I got it.”  A minute later, Jason set the large box near the bike, then looked at the tree for a long moment as Elizabeth finished arranging the gifts under the tree, making sure the gifts were arranged haphazardly to slow the boys down as they raced through them.

“Jake and Aiden always crash with Cameron on Christmas Eve,” Elizabeth told Jason. “I mean, they always did when they were little, but Cameron made it a thing when Jake came home to help him that first year. So their rooms are free. If you wanted to be here when Jake wakes up—”

“I’d like that,” Jason said as he sat on the edge of the arm chair. “Thanks.” He paused. “Thanks for coming tonight. Sonny said you and Carly were okay?”

“We managed. We’ll never be close—not really—but we love our kids, and we both—” Elizabeth looked at him. “You matter to both of us,” she finally said. “So we’ll figure it out.” She hesitated. “I know something happened with Cameron tonight, but I decided not to ask him. Should I?”

“Make some time for him in the next few days,” Jason told her. “He doesn’t know how much he’s gonna need it, but he needs to get it out with you. I kept trying to get you, but he wasn’t ready tonight.”

Kneeling at the base of the tree, Elizabeth looked up at the twinkling lights, at the paper chains she’d made with her boys, at the angel on top, looking over things. “He heard Lucky, didn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

Her throat felt impossibly tight as she squeezed her eyes closed. “Oh, God.” She pressed her hands to her face. “Oh, God—”

“Hey—” Jason slid off the arm chair and joined her on the floor. “Hey, don’t—”

“I never ever wanted any of my kids to feel the way I did—” The sobs bubbled up, but she tried to force them down. “To feel like they weren’t loved, that there was something wrong with them, some reason they couldn’t measure up—but I did it—I did it to them—”

“You didn’t do anything—”

“I brought Lucky into Cameron’s life, didn’t I? Into Jake’s? I promised you he’d be a good father, and he was—he was for a long time—” Elizabeth pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. “But I don’t know what I did wrong—he loved Cameron, he did. And I know he loved Jake. I don’t believe he just saw Zander one day and stopped. I can’t believe it—”

“I don’t know what what the hell was going through Lucky Spencer’s brain, I never did understand him,” Jason muttered. “But I know he loved them. I saw him with the boys, Elizabeth. I never would have agreed to let things stay the way the way they were if I didn’t think Jake had two parents who loved him.”

“Yeah, well, I keep making those mistakes, don’t I? Lucky, Drew—God, Franco—what an idiot—” She closed her eyes. “And I tell myself that I’ll do better next time, but Drew—lying about Jake Doe was such a selfish choice. Such a terrible, destructive thing to do, and I told myself every day that it had to stop, but he was here, and I thought—he was supposed to be you, and it was supposed to finally be my chance, and when Jake came home, I thought it was  a sign—” Her shoulders started to shake, and Jason drew her close, putting an arm around her shoulder.

“Hey—”

“And it’s insane because he was never you, and I never really felt like he was—but he loved the boys—”

“Elizabeth—”

“But everything blew up, and it kept spiraling out of control—Jake was in another car accident, he almost died again—and then the house blew up, and Tom Baker, oh, God, he came back—” Elizabeth closed her eyes, forced herself to stop. “I’m sorry. This—this isn’t about me. This is about Cameron. And making it about me is how I got him into this mess—”

“Cameron knows how much you love him, Elizabeth. The last thing he’d ever want to do is hurt you—”

“He’s just a baby, Jason. He shouldn’t be worried about protecting me! It’s not his job to make sure I’m all right! That’s my job! I’m supposed to protect him!”

“And you do. Every day, Elizabeth.” Jason took her by the shoulders, forced her to look at him. “I remember how scared you were when you left Ric, and you were having Cameron. You came back from California, and you were determined that you’d give him the best life. And you did that. You became a nurse, and I know you and Lucky were happy before the drugs.”

“We were—he was a good father.” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “He was. He loved Cameron. I might have ruined everything with Lucky by trying to put our family back together, and with Nikolas—but Lucky was the one that let it sour things for him with Cameron and Jake. He’s the one that left town. Not me.” She exhaled slowly. “I can take on the guilt for what happened to my relationship with Lucky in the end, but he’s the one that started it all. With Maxie, the drugs, with Sam—”

Jason winced, as he sat back. “Yeah, well—I never liked him.”

Elizabeth laughed, though it sounded more like a hysterical sob. “No, I know that.” She sighed, wiped her cheeks. “Well, I’m glad I had to chance get my hysterics out before Cameron talks to me. He doesn’t need my crazy.”

“You would have dealt with with it, Elizabeth,” Jason told her as he got to his feet, then pulled her up. “You always do. You’ve made mistakes, but no one can say you’re not a great mother. The reason Cameron wants to protect you is that you taught him that’s what family does. You’re nothing like your parents. Not one of your boys has ever doubted for a minute that you love them.”

Ever worry that it might be ruined
And does it make you wanna cry
When you’re out there doing what you’re doing
Are you just getting by
Tell me are you just getting by, by, by
Where there is desire, there is gonna be a flame
Where there is a flame, someone’s bound to get burned
But just because it burns, doesn’t mean you’re gonna die
You gotta get up and try, and try, and try
– Try, P!nk

---

May 2015

Wyndemere: Study

Elizabeth hadn’t hesitated. The moment she’d learned that Hayden Barnes had been gunned down in Julian Jerome’s garage with Sam and Jake, she went straight to the pier and called for the launch.

She nearly expected Nikolas to ignore the call, to refuse to let her onto the island. Instead, within a half hour, she was entering through the double doors of the Gothic mansion and heading for his study.

This had gone too far. She’d tried to steal her happy ending and now was being punished.

She found Nikolas standing by the fireplace, a glass of something dark in his hands — likely the brandy he’d always favored. The hearth itself was unlit, dark and cold.

Just like this entire island.

“What did you do?”

He didn’t answer for a long, tense moment, his back to her, the muscles in his shoulders tight. She’d known him most of her life—had let him touch her—

And until today, she had never worried for her own safety in his presence..

“Nikolas.”

He turned slightly, offering his profile only—his jaw clenched. “I did what had to be done.” And now he faced her. “Or did you want everyone to know the truth?”

She swallowed hard. “This is a mistake. I should have told everyone the other night. I never should have—”

Never should have thought it was finally her chance to be happy. If Jake learned he was actually Jason Morgan—he’d do what Jason always did.

She fought back the hysteria, the misery that rose in her throat, and swallowed a sob. “He deserves to know who he is. This—it isn’t worth any of this—”

“He’ll go back to Sam.”

The flat pronouncement sliced through her, and Elizabeth closed her eyes. “You—you don’t know that. He doesn’t—he doesn’t have to know I knew. He might—”

He might stay.

“He always goes back,” Nikolas continued in that terrible, empty voice. He didn’t sound like himself anymore. The boy she’d known, the man she’d once loved—

She couldn’t find him now.

“If he remembers who he is,” he continued as she fought to find the words, to reach the center of him that was warm and real, “you’ll lose him.”

“I don’t have him,” she confessed on a shaky breath. “It’s a lie. I tried to steal my happiness, but I can’t—I can’t do it. Not this way.”

“Elizabeth—”

“It’s not about losing him to Sam. I—” She pressed a fist against her stomach. “Jake Doe. I wanted him. I deserved him.”

“He’s not Jake Doe—”

“But he’s not Jason, either. He’s never been Jason to me. I used the lie to keep Jake. Don’t—” She cleared her throat. “Jason doesn’t want me. I know that. He made that clear before he was shot. This isn’t about losing him to Sam. I can’t say I love Jake and keep this from him.”

Nikolas carefully set the glass on the mantel and walked towards her. She forced herself to stay right where she was—not to take a step back. “You can’t tell him. Not now. He’ll want to know how you found out.”

“Then we’ll tell him.” This was the right decision. “We’ll tell him Helena told you and—”

“He’ll tell Sam you knew,” Nikolas cut in, and she stumbled to a stop. “Do you want that?”

“I don’t—what do you mean? Why—”

“And she’ll tell everyone,” he continued ruthlessly. “Everyone will know you lied.”

Oh, God. They would. If Sam found out—if Sonny or Carly—She squeezed her eyes shut. It would be like the affair. She had made a terrible mistake all those years ago, and it had taken her so long to drag herself out of it—

No. No. No.

“I’ll—” She forced her voice to steady. “I’ll risk it.”

He must have seen the conviction in her face, in her expression because his eyes began to burn with desperate anger. “You can’t tell him! If they find out what I did to Hayden, they’ll take me away from my son! Is that what you want?”

“I—I’m not the one who had a woman shot! My God, Nikolas!”

“I did it for you!”

“No. No!” She stabbed a finger at him. “Don’t you dare put that on me! Don’t you dare—I never asked you to keep this secret! I never asked you to—” The enormity of what Nikolas had done began to sink in—to really sink in. If he was arrested—could they take Elizabeth in, too? What if—

“I just—” Nikolas grabbed her elbow, digging his fingers in painfully. “I need Jason to stay out of the picture a little longer, okay? Just a few more months.”

She narrowed her eyes. “No—”

“He might never get his memory back!” He seized her other arm and shook her hard, her teeth rattling. “You tell him he’s Jason, and Sam and Carly and Sonny will rip him away from you! From the boys! He won’t remember them, but you know it won’t matter! He’s been here almost a year, Elizabeth! He’s never had so much as a flashback!”

Doubt began to swirl in. Nikolas was right. If Sonny and Carly—if Sam—learned the truth, they’d swarm in and try to make Jake remember. Carly and Sam would never accept his loss of memory—

“But—”

“He’s happy with you just the way things are,” Nikolas continued. “Aren’t you happy?”

“How can I be happy?” she demanded in a harsh whisper, the words dragged from her soul. “He’s not choosing me, Nikolas! He wouldn’t if he knew—I can’t have what I want. Not like this—”

“This might be the only way.” His fingers were clutching her elbows so tightly, her arms began to throb. “Haven’t you been through enough? Damn it, Elizabeth! Don’t you deserve this?”

She squeezed her eyes shut. The temptation to just say yes, to say of course, she deserved to be happy. She’d lost everything, hadn’t she? She’d been humiliated more than once, she’d been cheated on repeatedly, she’d been screamed at—

And her little boy. The world had stolen him away, and her baby was lying, cold and dead in the ground. Damn it—when was it going to be her turn? Why did everyone else get to have what they wanted—

Just as she nearly agreed, something tickled at the back of her brain. She opened her eyes and met his. He was too desperate, too upset. “Why do you need Jason out of the way?” Elizabeth demanded, her voice stronger now. “Why was it so important you had Hayden shot? She might die, Nikolas!”

“I can’t tell you.” He released her arm and shoved her back a step, whirling to stalk towards the fireplace. “I’m asking you to trust me.”

Absently, she rubbed her sore arms, chilled to the bone. “Nikolas—”

“We can’t go back now,” he continued. “I panicked about Hayden. I should have found another way to handle things.” He faced her again, and she almost wept from relief. There was her Nikolas again. Her friend, her family. “Everything falls apart if we tell the truth now.”

“If Hayden wakes up,” she said slowly, “if Jake remembers on his own—”

“If those things happen,” Nikolas cut in, “we’ll handle it. If you tell him now—”

With Hayden’s shooting so fresh, with the newness of their relationship—Jake might not understand. He might not forgive. She could live with that—but he wasn’t Jason. He didn’t have Jason’s memories.

Jason would never tell Sam. Jake might.

“Okay,” she found herself saying even as everything inside of her screamed that this was wrong. That she was only making it worse, that it would never be okay—

“I will find a way out of this,” he promised. “For all of us. I will make sure this doesn’t hurt you.”

“It’s too late for that,” Elizabeth murmured. “This is the path we’ve chosen. I guess we’ll just have to see where it leads.”

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Greystone Manor: Foyer

Despite all of Joss’s best efforts, she wasn’t able to figure out exactly what Lucky Spencer had done this time to make Cameron miserable. He’d ignored every single attempt to pry it out of him, but she was not someone who gave up easily.

She was Carly’s daughter, and she always had a backup plan.

So Joss was in the foyer, ignoring the entire Christmas party happening around her, waiting for Cameron to arrive with his family so she could lull him into a sense of safety with gossip about Jason’s divorce. Then she would drag the damn truth out of him so she could fix it.

That’s what best friends were for.

“Finally,” Joss muttered when the door pushed open, and Jason and Elizabeth came in with the boys, blowing in a blustery whirl of snow flurries. “Hey!” she said brightly. “Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas,” Aiden said, beaming. He held up a plate with foil over it. “I made cookies!”

“Oh, awesome! Uncle Sonny was just saying he wanted to try something you baked,” Joss said. She ruffled his hair. “Why don’t I take them to the kitchen with the other desserts? Cam? Wanna help?” She lifted her brows at him.

“Uh, you know where the kitchen is,” Cameron said as he took his brother’s coat from Jake and handed it to Max. “You don’t need me—”

Joss narrowed her eyes, took the plate, grabbed Cameron’s arm and pulled. With a sigh, he followed her.

In the kitchen, she set Aiden’s cookies down and turned to Cameron. “Listen, I have got some serious tea—”

Cameron looked at her skeptically, leaning against the counter. “That’s why you dragged me in here?”

“Yes!” She rolled her eyes. “Did you know that Sam finally served Jason with divorce papers?”

Cameron straightened as his eyes narrowed. “No. No, I didn’t. I thought they’d done that weeks ago. Oscar said that his stepmom got papers before Thanksgiving—”

“Yeah, yeah, I overheard Mom and Uncle Sonny talking about it. He is livid,” Joss told Cam. “Like, hit the roof pissed off, time to sleep with the fishes angry.  Jason thought it was coming, but, then it didn’t. So Jason went to Sam and told her—hey, we need to do this. Which I think he did because he’s totally figured out your mom is the best thing in the world—”

“I thought you said Sam served him—”

“I did—but Jason, like, warned her he was gonna start the process,” Joss said. “At least that’s what Uncle Sonny said. Get this—Sam is asking for half of everything. Like — half.”

“Oh, man, he didn’t have a prenup?” Cam snorted. “What a dumbass. Even I know Sam is a gold digger.”

“Right?” Joss whacked him in the arm. “But, like, that’s not the worst part. She’s asking for Jason to terminate his rights to Danny, because, and get this, he neglected and abandoned Jake so he’s an unfit father—”

Cameron exhaled slowly. “That’s…that’s pretty cold.”

“I know.” Joss shrugged. “But Uncle Sonny told Jason not to give Sam a damn thing and to fight her but, it’s so weird and terrible. Jason was, like, going through hell, and he wanted to come home to his life. And this is what she does? Like, what is her damage, right?”

“I don’t know. I mean, look, I get why Jason thought it was better that Jake was with my—” He stopped. “That Lucky was raising him. But that doesn’t really change the fact that Jason did sort of abandon Jake. I mean, I don’t remember seeing him around that entire last year once he got back together with Sam.”

“Yeah, but—” Joss furrowed her brow. “You don’t agree with Sam, do you? I mean, Jason’s with you guys all the time. He’s awesome. You said things have been great lately—”

“Yeah, well, that’s how it goes with Mom and her projects,” Cam said with a light shrug that raised the hairs on the back of Joss’s neck. “Jake Doe came to live with us, and he was great. Lucky was great. Ewen was nice. So was AJ. And Ric for the five minutes he was around. I mean, Franco was a dud, but Jake really liked him. But it doesn’t last, Joss. No one stays.”

“Yeah, but—” Joss hesitated. “Those are—that’s all different, Cam. Things are different now. Sam and Jason—they’re done. There’s no way he’s going back to her this time. I think he’s finally seeing what trash she is. And Drew’s at the party without her. Like—maybe your mom and Jason will be together this time—”

“Sure.” Cameron offered her a tight smile. “Until they’re not.”

“Cam—”

“Let’s go find the others,” Cameron said. “Emma’s going back to Berkeley in a few days, and we should get caught up. I want her to meet Oscar.”

“Hey, watch it—” Joss teased, though she was still troubled his attitude about Jason and his mother. “Emma stole the last guy I liked, too—”

Cameron rolled his eyes, but his smile was more genuine this time. “We were in fifth grade, Joss—”

“Yeah, but you know who my mother is. I hold grudges.”

Greystone Manor: Living Room

Carly took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and headed across the room where Drew was talking to Spinelli and Patrick. She pasted a smile on her face and kissed Patrick’s cheek. “It’s good to see your handsome face back in these parts,” she said. “But I guess you dragged the wife with you.”

“I did,” Patrick said dryly, but returning her smile. “She’s over there with Jason and Elizabeth—” He looked over by the tree where the trio stood, Robin beaming as Jason said something to her. “It’s wild. Robert and Anna told us what was going on—but—” He looked at Drew, then back at Jason. “Wild,” he repeated.

“Yeah, and, uh—” Carly wrinkled her nose, meeting Drew’s curious eyes. “Some of us handled it better than others. And by us, I’m not including me. I’m sorry—”

Drew held up a hand to cut off her apology. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told Sonny. The two of you did what you thought was best. You knew Jason better than almost anyone. I was angry as hell for a while,” he admitted, “but after these last few months—” He shook his head. “I’m more comfortable with the truth. I’m not Jason Morgan, and knowing that…it gives me peace. You weren’t wrong about the choices I was making, Carly. They weren’t Jason’s choices.”

“Still, I didn’t want any of us to go through this — to not know for so long that Jason was trapped—” Carly closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “I just—we were friends before you were Jason Morgan. In fact, we were better friends when you were Jake Doe.”

“Yeah, we were.” Drew narrowed his eyes slightly. “You know, I always thought it was weird even though I didn’t have memories, I did have—I felt connections to some people. You, Michael, Elizabeth, Robin—you all felt familiar to me. But other people—” His mouth twisted slightly. “Sam. Sonny. I didn’t feel anything.”

“Yeah, you and Sam hated each other at first,” Patrick remembered with none of the bitterness one might expect from the man that had ended his engagement to Sam. But maybe Patrick thought it had all worked out for the best, Carly thought. He’d reunited with Robin, and had a new son to show for it.

“You think that’s tied to the experiments?” Carly wondered.

“Maybe. I mean, they screwed with Jake’s head, they shoved someone else’s memories into my head—how do we know that I even got the right memories?” Drew asked. “Maybe Maddox played with them—”

“Well, he’s not going to be talking to anyone,” Spinelli said with a mutter as he sipped his orange soda. “Robert said he was so pissed about the trick Anna pulled that he’s refusing to cooperate even though the files are damaged.” He sighed. “I think I can recover a lot of them, but even the ones I can see are encrypted.”

“I just want this to be over,” Carly muttered. “I want everyone to be safe. But mostly I want to find out who the hell did this to you and Jason—and Jake—and make them pay.”

Drew’s smile was thin. “You’ll have to get in line.”

______________

Across the room, Michael wandered away from Nelle and met Jason at the bar with empty glasses. “Hey,” he said, greeting his uncle with a half hug. “I didn’t want to interrupt you with Robin—”

“Oh.” Jason looked back over towards the tree where he’d left Robin and Elizabeth. “Yeah, it’s great to see her. Especially since—” He shook his head. “She was supposed to be dead.”

“A lot of that going around,” Michael said. He poured himself another glass of wine, then sipped it. “Listen, you probably don’t want to talk about it, but I know about the divorce papers.”

Jason’s mouth tightened. “Sonny should mind his own business—”

“I came in when he was trying to convince Mom not to go over beat the life out of Sam,” Michael told him. “Not her worst idea this year,” he added, “because this is a pretty crappy thing to do to you. Not the money, because who the hell cares about that. But Danny.”

Jason stared down into his beer, then shook his head. “She has a right to make choices for her child,” he said tightly.

“This isn’t twenty years ago, Jason. This isn’t you and my mom making these decisions anymore,” Michael continued. “I know what you did with Jake because you felt like you had to stand by that principle, but you know—you can also just admit that it’s wrong.”

“Michael—”

“Also—” Michael paused. “Danny knows he’s Jason Morgan’s son. One day, he’s gonna look up, he’s gonna understand the truth, and he’s gonna wonder why you didn’t want him.”

Jason stared at him, then looked away. He said nothing.

“And you’re not going to be able to get away with the same story Jake’s swallowed,” Michael pushed. “Because you’re with Jake now. Danny’s going to know you were with his brother and not him.  And he’s going to wonder what he did wrong.”

“It’s not that simple—”

“It really is,” Michael said. “My entire childhood—until AJ faked his death—I knew that Mom, Sonny, and AJ were fighting over me, dragging me back and forth, but I never doubted any of them loved me. Even when they were driving me crazy. Lying to me.” He paused. “I always knew my biological father loved me. AJ never had any other kids. He wanted them, but he always felt like he didn’t deserve them. Because he couldn’t hold on to me. He didn’t want me to ever see him with other kids and think I didn’t matter enough to fight for.”

“So I drag Sam and Danny into court,” Jason said, in a low voice, “and do what Sonny and Carly did to you? Make him choose where to live? Which parent he wants? Make him talk to judges? You want that for him? Because I don’t.”

“No.” Michael winced. “No. Christ, sometimes I forget—and man, did I piss Mom and Sonny off when I said I wanted to live with you and Aunt Courtney. What did I know, right?” He sighed. “It’s just—you told me you had regrets about everything that happened back then, right? So, like, I’m just saying—don’t do anything that you need to apologize for in ten years. Danny is your son. And I don’t care what the hell Sam says. You were—are a damn good father. I always knew you’d kick my ass if I needed it. You were a better father to me than anyone else in my life,” Michael said. “I know how much you love Jake. How much time you spent with Jake and Cam, and how you took care of Morgan and Joss.”

“Thank you for saying that,” Jason said slowly, “but that doesn’t change the fact that there’s no easy way to do this. Danny doesn’t know me—”

“Neither did Jake, and look at you now. Yeah, it helped that Elizabeth helped push it, but you and Jake did the work, and now you have him in your life. Jake loves all his brothers, Jason, and he knows Danny is his brother. I don’t know what the answer is, I really don’t. I just don’t think letting Sam get away with this because you don’t want to hurt Danny—I don’t think that’s good enough.”

Jason opened his mouth, but then he frowned, and turned towards the terrace doors where the teens were gathered, as voices began to raise slightly.

“I told you I didn’t want to talk about it!” Cameron said, yanking his arm away from Trina. “Why can’t you just let it go?”

“Because—”

“Damn it—” Cameron yanked open the door and stormed out, slamming it behind him. Trina looked upset, and Emma put an arm around her shoulder.

“Should we go after him?” Oscar asked, but Joss shook her head.

“Not when he’s like this—he’ll just get madder.”

Jason exhaled, then looked over to find Elizabeth, but she’d walked away and he’d lost sight of her. Robin had joined Patrick, Drew, and Spinelli, but Elizabet was nowhere in sight.

“Can you do me a favor and find Elizabeth?” he asked Michael, setting his beer on the table. “Cameron needs her.”

Davis House: Living Room

Kristina sipped her eggnog, raising her eyebrows as her sister came through the door, Scout in one arm, and Danny’s hand tucked in another. “Oh, look,” she said to Molly. “Our sister is here without her husband.”

“You promised you weren’t going to fight with her. I don’t know why it’s such a big deal for you. He wasn’t your dad—”

“No, but it was my family,” Kristina muttered. “You not having a grudge isn’t normal, Molly. You need to be more bitchy.”

“Why?” her sister asked sweetly. “You’re bitchy enough for the both of us—”

“Both of you stop it,” Alexis hissed behind them as she left them, and walked over to greet Sam and her grandchildren. “Here’s my handsome prince.” She leaned down to kiss Danny’s cheek. “Are you excited for Santa?”

“Yeah,” Danny said. He sighed. “But Daddy had to go to another party.” He frowned at his mother. “Why couldn’t I go with him? Jake’s there and I haven’t seen him forever!”

Alexis lifted her brows at that, then looked at Sam whose cheeks flushed. “Drew went to Sonny’s?”

“Yes,” Sam said shortly.

“Well, I’m sure he wanted to see Patrick and Robin,” Molly said as she took Scout and bounced the giggling baby in her arms. “TJ said they were at the hospital to visit Anna, and I think they’re leaving a few days after Christmas.”

“I think Oscar is invited, too,” Kristina said. “Hey, Little Man,” she said, offering Danny a high five. “You want me to drive you over? I’m going to my Dad’s in a little while. I figure I’d hang out here for appetizers,” she said to her mother, “and then check out the party. You and Aunt Diane always stay up too late when she comes over.”

“Mom—” Danny began, but Sam shook her head.

“No, it’s Christmas Eve, and I want you here with me. You’ll see Daddy at home,” Sam said.

“What about Jake?” Kristina asked. Sam glared at her, but Kristina just smirked.

“Yeah, Mom, I wanna see Jake. And Cam. And Aiden!” Danny pouted. “How come I can’t go with Daddy?”

“You’re here to see Grandma,” Sam said through clenched teeth. “We always do Christmas Eve here—I’m not the one who changed the plans—”

“Sam, can I see you in the kitchen for a moment?” Alexis interrupted. Sam scowled, but followed her mother through the door.

“So, I’m guessing Drew and you are having some problems,” her mother said, folding her arms.

Sam looked away. “He saw the divorce papers, and he was…not happy with the argument I made for custody.” She met Alexis’s eyes. “I don’t have to explain that to you, I guess. You hated that part, too.”

“I hated it because it went against every instinct I have to make a legal argument that won’t stand up in court,” Alexis replied. “Diane still has a wealth of opposition research on you—which you know since you got all twisted up about that testimony in the first place—”

“Mom—”

“And we both knew that if Jason chose to dig out more secrets,” Alexis said, “he could. Do you think Amelia Joffee is the only person from your past who could do you damage? Don’t think it’s not possible. He let Diane do attack you in a murder trial. You think he won’t let her do it for this? If he decides to fight this in court—which he damn well should because otherwise it goes down as a legal fact that he’s admitting to being an unfit parent. It becomes part of the permanent record, Sam, that he neglected and abandoned Jake.”

“I know that—”

“And how do I defend you if it goes to court?”

“It won’t. Jason would never do that to me over a kid. He never did it to Elizabeth,” Sam spat, “and he wanted her kid—”

“And maybe he’s learned from that experience,” Alexis said softly, and Sam blinked at her. “Because he has Jake in his life now. And you heard Danny out there. He misses his brother. You’re not just hurting Jason.  You’re hurting Drew because you’re asking him to hurt the brother he just found. And you’re hurting your son.”

“Mom—”

“I told you that I didn’t want to file those papers,” Alexis said. “I told you it was going to make everything worse. No one said you had to give Jason full custody. Or even visitation rights. At least not yet. You wanted to stay with Drew—that’s fine. I supported you. I like Drew. But you decided that to keep him and this life you wanted so damn much, you needed to scorch the earth behind you. But the only thing that’s getting burned is you.”

Greystone Manor: Foyer

Carly emerged from the kitchen, then scowled as Nelle stepped right in front of her. “Oh, no—” Carly stabbed a finger at her. “Absolutely not.” She stalked past her, heading towards the double doors of the living room.

“Carly, I just wanted to say I was sorry—”

Carly whirled around to glare at her son’s conniving girlfriend. “No, you’re not dragging me into another conversation where you set me up to look like a liar—”

“That’s—” Nelle’s lips thinned as she pressed them together. “Okay, that’s what I did. I’m sorry. I just—I know that if we can’t get along, Michael won’t stay with me, but I also think if I just keep him on my side—”

“I’m not listening to this—”

“Please. Carly. Just hear me out.”

Carly closed her eyes, muttered something under her breath, then turned back around to lift a brow. “You have exactly one minute, and I’m not going to say a single word that you can use against me.”

“I know you don’t like me, and that’s not going to change. Fine. But I love Michael—” Nelle paused when Carly just shook her head. “And he loves you. So sometimes I feel like I have to attack that. You know what I mean, Carly. We’re the same—”

“We are nothing alike—” Carly hissed, then clenched her hand into a fist, forcing herself to take a deep breath. “Fine. Yes. There are certain things we have in common, but you know that I didn’t attack you the last time—and you made me into a liar—”

“It’s hardly my fault Michael doesn’t trust you—”

“No, that’s on me. But you exploited it.”

“Well, I’d say that’s in the Benson blood but we both know you don’t have any, so maybe it’s just being raised by Frank,” Nelle said coolly. “Something about him rips the conscience out of you, don’t you think?” She tipped her head.

Carly stared at her for a long moment as something tickled at the back of her head. “Nelle—”

“Never mind.” Nelle tossed her hair over her shoulder. “You’re never going to give me a chance, are you?”

“Can you blame me? You used my grief about my son, Sonny’s grief—and you tried to destroy my life. My marriage. Why the hell would I want you anywhere near my son—”

“Mom—”

Carly scowled, and whirled around with a hiss. “Damn it! I’m going to put a bell on you,” she told Michael with a furious scowl. “This isn’t what it looks like—”

“Really? Because this looks like you cornering Nelle and attacking her. Again,” Michael said flatly, as he crossed over to Nelle. “You promised me—”

“It’s not. Tell him, Nelle,” Carly said. “Tell him—you stopped me—”

“I did,” Nelle told Michael, her eyes wide. “I just wanted to apologize, but she just got so angry again. I’m sorry. I should have left her alone. You told me not to—”

“Oh, to hell with this—” Carly snarled, charging forward but they were both surprised when Elizabeth stepped between them, Spinelli behind her, looking perplexed.

“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said. “I don’t want to interrupt, but Michael—” Elizabeth looked at Nelle coolly. “Nelle is full of shit.  She followed Carly to the kitchen, then back out here. And she admitted that whatever happened with Carly the last time—she started it.”

“What—” Nelle sputtered, looking at Michael who was frowning at her now. “No. That’s not true. You misunderstood—”

“Really? You told Carly that you attacked her on purpose to make Michael think she was lying.” Elizabeth folded her eyes. “Spinelli?”

“That’s what I heard, Fair Elizabeth.”

“That’s—” Nelle’s mouth tightened. “You misunderstood—”

“Then explain it to us.” Elizabeth stepped towards her. “If you can.”

Greystone Manor: Terrace

Cameron glanced over his shoulder at the sound of the door opening, then closing as Jason stepped out. He made a face, then looked back out over the inky night, his breath white puffs in the air as he slowly exhaled. “I’m fine.”

“Okay.”

“So if Trina or Joss made you come out here—”

“They didn’t.” Jason joined him at the stone railing and they looked out over Port Charles together. “I sent Michael to find your mother. Do you want to talk to her?”

“No. No,” Cameron repeated, with a shake of his head. “I just—I want it all to go away.” He folded his arms, then glanced at Jason. “Mom doesn’t get it. She’ll feel guilty, and I don’t want that.”

“Okay.”

Cameron was quiet for a moment, then before he knew what he was going to say, he just blurted out the only thing on his mind. “Are you going to give up Danny?”

Jason drew his brows together, shook his head slightly. “Joss eavesdrops too much.”

“Never mind. It’s none of my business—”

“No?” Jason asked. “If Joss knows about that, she also knows what Sam said about Jake, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Cameron said after a moment. “That you abandoned Jake.” He turned to face Jason. “You did, you know. You had your reasons, but you abandoned my brother. You know you did.”

Jason nodded slowly. “Yeah, I know that. I told myself that wanting him to be safe was enough of a reason to stay away. After what happened in that building—when I almost watched him die—I didn’t think being in his life meant more than making sure he was alive. But you’re right. I abandoned Jake.”

“At least you admit it,” Cameron muttered. He looked back out over the night. “Are you gonna give up Danny, too?”

“I don’t want to,” Jason admitted. “I don’t want to make the same mistakes.” He paused. “Cameron, you don’t have to tell me what’s going on, but you know your mother loves you. She’d do anything for you—”

“Yeah, including dragging home every half decent guy she could find to give me a father,” Cameron muttered. “She was really scraping the bottom of the barrel with Franco, huh? At least he never pretended to give a damn.” He hunched his shoulders.

“Cameron—”

“Just go back inside. I’m fine. I need air, and I’ll go inside, and it will be fine.” Cameron whirled on him again, the rage bubbling his throat. “I’m always fine, okay? I have to be. So I just need a minute and it’ll go away. It always does—”

“What will go away?” Jason asked quietly.

Cameron shook his head. “No. I’m not doing this with you. You don’t deserve it—”

“Then I’ll get your mother. But you need to—”

“Don’t tell me what I need!” Cameron exploded. “You’re not my father, remember? No one is! No one ever wanted me enough to stay! Not Zander who got himself shot instead of getting shit together when he knew Mom was pregnant, right? I mean, why the hell would he give a damn? He didn’t even know me! And Lucky—” he scoffed, his voice faltering as he forced himself to swallow. “He was my dad, you know. My whole life.”

“I know that.”

“He left town, but he called and he wrote, and sometimes me and Aiden went to visit—but it was different—and I didn’t know why—” His breath was shaky. “I didn’t even know he didn’t love me anymore until he told Drew he could adopt me. Like it was nothing. I didn’t matter anymore. He told Drew he could have me and Jake.”

“Cameron—”

“And I never knew why he stopped loving me. I thought it was something I did. I thought if I were a better son—so I wrote him more. And I tried so hard in school, and I tried to be the best brother to Aiden and Jake so he’d remember that I was a good son—” Cameron closed his eyes. “But I couldn’t change enough.”

“You don’t have to change at all—” Jason touched his shoulder, but Cameron shrugged it off.

“No? You know why Lucky stopped loving me? Because one day, he saw Zander in my face and he couldn’t pretend anymore,” Cameron spat. “And he saw you in Jake, and he just—he decided he was done. We weren’t really his sons. And fine—you know, that’s fine. I don’t need him. I never needed him. I didn’t need anyone that Mom brought home. I didn’t need Lucky or Ewen or AJ or Ric or Franco or Jake Doe—or you! You didn’t just abandon Jake. You walked out on me and my mom, too—” Cameron’s chest was heaving. “So why not walk on your other kid? It’s what fathers do, isn’t it? They leave.”

Too many times
I’ve cared too much
I stood on the edge
And I saw that you held my hand
And knowing too well
I couldn’t hide from those eyes
Please don’t let me fall
Please don’t let me fall in love with you again
– Don’t, Jewel

---

January 2015

Wyndemere: Study

Nikolas dragged his hands over his face as he studied his grandmother. “How? Why?”

Helena sighed as she draped herself over the settee sofa. “Must we have this conversation over and over again?”

“Grandmother, I’m just not sure I understand how Jake Doe fits in—”

There were too many questions and too few answers, and he’d had enough. “Haven’t I already proved my loyalty?” he demanded, rising to his feet. “I haven’t told Elizabeth or my brother their son is alive.”

Helena’s lips curved into a smile. “But he isn’t your brother’s son, is he?”

He hissed. “Don’t start with me—”

She blinked, pretending innocence. “I’m sorry. I thought you wanted to know how Jake Doe fit into our plans—”

“Your plans,” he snapped. “I just wanted to keep my son safe. To keep Elizabeth and her boys safe.  You left me no choice.”

“Part of you enjoys this,” she purred. “Don’t deny it—”

“You’re crazy—”

“It’s in your blood, Nikolas. We are no ordinary peasants meant to deal with mundanity of life—”

“Or be burdened with a conscience,” he muttered.

“Nikolas—”

“No!” He whirled to face his grandmother, cutting off her wheedling, her ingratiating tone. “You said if I kept this secret and I helped you, you would let Jake come home. You refuse to tell me anything about your plans, and now I catch you meeting with Jake Doe, this mystery man Elizabeth is tangled up with. Tell me what he has to do with this. Now.”

She sniffed. “You act as though I’ve not given you any task to perform—”

“You asked me to wrest control of ELQ from the Quartermaines,” he snapped. “But you also refused to explain that demand—”

She lifted a shoulder. “What better way to test your loyaty? ELQ belonged to that insufferable woman—”

“Don’t talk about Emily that way—”

“It’s simple,” Helena said. “If you’re willing to dismantle her family’s business, then I can begin to trust you—”

He stared at her with a mixture of irritation, frustration, fury—and anxiety. “Are you saying you won’t tell me what’s going on until I have the majority of the shares?” He was still six months, maybe more, away from taking over ELQ. How much longer was he going to keep the secret about Jake from Elizabeth?

If she found out before he could tell her the truth—she’d never forgive him.

His grandmother tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Tempting.”

“I just want to know if Elizabeth should worry about Jake Doe.” He hated that his tone almost sounded like a whine. Like he was a small child, begging for a cookie. He wanted to be done with his grandmother and this entire generation of malevolent Cassadines. “I’ll get ELQ for you,” he continued. “Just tell me about Jake Doe.”

Helena studied him for a long moment, then finally nodded. “All right. I suppose your weeks of silence have earned you a minuscule reward. Jake’s Doe identity is quite essential to my plan.”

This startled him. “You know who he is?”

“And so do you.” Helena tipped her head. “He’s from Port Charles, and he’s quite important to little Jake.” She laughed as dread began to crawl up Nikolas’s spine. “It’s quite humorous, isn’t it? Of all the names for him to adopt, this man chose the name of Elizabeth’s dead son.”

No. It couldn’t be. He swallowed hard. “Grandmother—”

“Death really is temporary, darling,” she crooned. “Especially in Port Charles.”

“Are you telling me—” He closed his eyes. Of all the possibilities, this was one he hadn’t seen coming. “You’re telling me that Jake Doe is actually Jason Morgan.”

He opened his eyes to see his grandmother’s gleeful smile. “Delicious, isn’t it? He escaped my clutches but ended up with amnesia. It’s been quite entertaining to watch him connect to his former life—”

“My God.”

Helena reached for the purse and coat she’d tossed over the sofa. “Now, are you satisfied?” she demanded. “You have a measure of my trust, Nikolas.” She met his eyes. “I hope you will remember what I will do to your family if you cross me.” She paused. “As easily as I saved little Jake’s life, I can take it back. Maybe I’ll even let Elizabeth watch this time—”

And she would. She absolutely would murder a small child and make Elizabeth watch the horror of it.

“I won’t—” He took a deep breath. “I won’t say anything, Grandmother. I’ll get ELQ for you. I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t hurt Jake. Or any of the boys.”

“I’m glad we understand each other, darling.”

Thursday, December 20, 2017

Webber House: Living Room

There were few people on the planet that Elizabeth trusted as much as Patrick Drake. She adored Robin, but Patrick?

Patrick was family.

“I miss you so much,” she murmured, hugging him tightly, reluctant to release him.

“Same goes.” He pulled back slightly, frowning slightly as he took in the slight sheen of tears in her eyes. “You and me need to find some time before we head back to Berkeley to catch up. Just us.”

“Yeah, we do.” She squeezed his hands, then released him to hug Robin. “It’s so good to have you home, at least for a few days.”

“We love Berkeley,” Robin said, “but we’ve been talking for a while about how much we miss Port Charles.” She nodded over to the sofa where Emma had assumed her normal position on the sofa between Cam and Aiden, a controller in her hand. “I want Noah to have that.”

“And I need to get my hands on that baby,” Elizabeth said. Robin unhooked the straps on the car seat and placed the infant in her arms. “Oh, I miss them when they’re this small,” she murmured, rocking the baby gently, absorbing that sweet baby scent.

“Yeah, it’s been great to get a second chance at this part,” Robin murmured, stroking the back of her knuckle down Noah’s soft cheek. She and Elizabeth exchanged a glance as they both remembered Robin’s difficult battle with postpartum depression.

“Sometimes I feel like Cameron was the only baby I really got to enjoy,” Elizabeth admitted, careful to keep her voice hushed. She and Robin went into the kitchen as Patrick challenged Cameron to some sort of race car game. “You know, with Jake, he was kidnapped and then my marriage collapsed—” She sighed. “Aiden was kidnapped, and Jake’s accident— with Cameron, I got two solid years just to absorb all the moments before things went crazy.”

“Well, you’re younger than me,” Robin reminded her. “It’s not like you can’t do this again—”

“Oh—no—three boys is my limit.” Elizabeth laughed.

They both turned at the sound of the door opening and Robin’s face paled as Jason came in. She inhaled sharply, pressing her fist against her gut. “Jason.”

Jason heard her voice and he stilled. Elizabeth remembered now that the last time Jason had seen Robin had been before the lab explosion that had taken her away from them.

“Robin.” Jason came into the kitchen. “They told me you were alive—”

“They told me you were back,” Robin said, her voice thick, “but I don’t know what I was really expecting. But it’s you, isn’t it? It’s really you.”

“Yeah.” He stared at for another moment, almost in disbelief. “You were really kidnapped as part of this?” he asked. “Helena had you?”

“Eventually. It’s a long story, and it was…” Robin shook her head. “It was a lot. We’ll talk about it all, but right now—I just want to hug you.” She embraced him tightly and Jason hugged her back. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

____

It wasn’t until Robin had tucked Noah away for a nap and they were crowded around the table that Elizabeth realized something was a bit off. Jason was subdued—more than he normally was and there was something in his eyes that worried her.

Even more concerning was the forced laughter coming from the end of the table with Cameron. He was smiling, laughing, trading jokes — but all it felt wrong somehow, like he was trying too hard.

“Elizabeth?”

She looked away from her sons and blinked at Patrick. “I’m sorry, did you ask me something?”

“Yeah. We were just wondering how the Cassadine part of this is going,” Robin asked. “Mom said you’d sort of gone your separate ways. Mom and Dad were doing the WSB stuff with Drew, and you and Jason were taking point on the Cassadines.”

“Oh. Well, not much. We’re hoping Spinelli can save that thumb drive,” Elizabeth said. “There was also that cryptic clue Andre gave us.”

“The one about making sure you know where all the Cassadines are?” Patrick asked. “I mean, there’s not many left.”

“Not in the direct line. Just Spencer, Charlotte, and Valentin. There’s a few cousins out there, too, but they’re disconnected.” Elizabeth looked at Jason. “He hasn’t found anything else, has he?”

“No.” Jason cleared his throat and set his fork down. “No, he just confirmed the stuff Lucky put together.”

“Oh, right, Lucky was supposed to be here. And Luke. Are they still in town?” Robin asked.

“My dad had to go,” Aiden piped up from his seat next to Robin. “He said he had something really important to do.” He wrinkled his nose. “I wanted him to stay for Christmas, but he said he had to help Jason and Mom.”

Elizabeth’s mouth tightened at Lucky using her as an excuse to break a promise to his son. Nothing new there. She caught Cameron’s eye as he scowled.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Robin said, as Jason frowned at the exchange. “My parents were away a lot when I was a kid.”

“Yeah, Dad’s always doing something,” Aiden continued, “but not Mom. She’s here. That’s good. I think you need an adult or Santa won’t come in the house.”

“Yeah, we can count on Mom,” Cameron added, then stabbed his fork into his plate of pasta. “At least that’s something.”

They fell into an awkward silence, the only sounds the clinking and scraping of utensils against plates. Patrick wiped his mouth and turned a grin towards the end of the table. “How about a rematch?”

“Awesome, but don’t forget dessert, Mom!” Aiden called over his shoulder as he made a beeline to the living room to get the controller before either of his brothers.

“Cam, is everything okay?” Elizabeth asked as she rose to gather the plates from his end of the table.

“Yeah. Just crazy this time of year.” He flashed her another smile that she knew wasn’t genuine. “Gotta go save Aiden from embarrassing himself.”

Elizabeth sighed, then went to put the dishes in the sink so she could finish updating Robin on anything Anna and Robert hadn’t already told her.

Friday, December 21, 2017

Metro Court Hotel: Carly’s Office

Carly hadn’t seen Jason in person since that horrible day outside of Elizabeth’s house when he had told her what a terrible friend she was. He hadn’t returned her phone calls and, while Sonny had assured her he’d listened to her voice mails, Jason hadn’t sought her out.

Until her assistant had told her that Jason wanted to see her, Carly had really thought that she’d finally driven away the only person who had never let her down. Even if Jason came to the Christmas party in a few days — it wouldn’t matter. He’d never forgive her.

But he was here. That had to mean something, didn’t it? He’d come to see her on his own. She hadn’t even cornered him at the house or—

Carly took a deep breath. “It’s okay, Jenny. You can send him back.”

“Okay, but you have that meeting—”

“Hold it and my calls. This is important.” Should she stand? Should she stay seated? Should she look busy—

Before Carly could decide how to set the scene, Jason knocked on her open office door. She sprang out of her chair and nervously smoothed down her skirt. “Jason. Hey. Hi. Come in. I mean, if you have a minute—”

“Your assistant said you had a lot of meetings—” Jason stepped over the threshold. “I don’t want to interrupt.”

“You’re not.” Carly came around the desk but stopped herself from going to him. “It’s the holidays, you know? There’s events and before we know it, New Year’s—um—” She cleared her throat. “Just a lot of details, but mostly it runs itself. I—I wasn’t—I mean, I didn’t expect to see you today.” Or any day.

“Yeah, well. We’ve both had some time to…” Jason shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and studied her. “We’ve had some time,” he repeated.

“I’d apologize again, but I know it won’t do any good. I always say I’m sorry,” she added. “But being sorry after doesn’t change anything. I know. I know that. I have to stop doing things I need to apologize for.”

“I know you’ve had a bad year, Carly,” he said. “Sonny doesn’t like to talk about it, but I’ve been there. I mean—”

“You lost Jake. I know. A-and Michael—” It swept over her again, the shuddering wave that always seemed to be hovering just out of sight. The heaviness behind her eyes that threatened spill over into tears. “Um, thank you. For seeing that. It—it doesn’t give me an excuse, but I just—” She rubbed her arm restlessly. “I don’t know. It feels wrong to blame things on losing Morgan. Like it makes it his fault and it’s not, but—”

“Carly,” Jason said quietly, and the words stopped tumbling past her lips. She pressed her lips together. “I know what it’s like to lose someone and not be able to really live with it. To make choices and say things that feel wrong even as you’re doing it and not being able to stop it—”

“Don’t—” Her voice broke. “Don’t make this okay for me. Okay? You do that. You’ve always done that. I’m wrong inside, you know? Where it matters. And you keep making it okay for me to be this way. You’re right. It has to stop.”

“Carly—” Jason hesitated. “I came because I’m still coming over on Christmas Eve. Like we talked about. But I won’t be there on Christmas Day.”

“Because you’ll be with Jake. You should be with him. You’re such a good father—Michael is who he is because of you—”

“Because I’ll be with Elizabeth and the boys,” Jason corrected gently, and she flinched. “Not just Jake.”

“Right. Right. They’re a package—”

“No. Even if Elizabeth offered to let me have Jake on my own that day, I would still want to be with all of them. Do you understand what I’m telling you, Carly?”

“I do.” She took another deep breath and this time, it felt easier. “She’s your family. Even without Jake. I do understand that. And I have listened to you, you know. I know Elizabeth’s support and just—whatever she’s doing, it’s part of the reason you’re going to be okay. I’m sorry that I can’t—I can’t seem to make myself be okay with that.”

He exhaled slowly. “They’re coming to the party—”

“I just wanted to help you,” Carly interrupted. “Like you always do for me. You always make everything okay. You made sure I got to keep Michael, and you were there when he was shot—when I thought I’d lost him. You gave me Jake’s kidney. It doesn’t matter if it didn’t happen—you didn’t know that. You’ve been my best friend. I just wanted to be that for you. I wanted to make it okay for you.”

“And sometimes I made things worse,” he reminded her. “When I claimed Sam’s baby was mine, I just put off the inevitable. I made that worse, Carly. And when I took over the business, I chose your family over mine. I can’t make things okay for you anymore. And I don’t need to you make things okay for me. I just need you to accept my choices.”

“I can do that.” Carly nodded. “If that’s what you need, I can do that. I promised Joss I’d do better. It kills me, Jase, that the boys heard me. That Joss heard me. I mean, I’m sorry I said those things to Elizabeth, but it’s mostly the boys. I love them. All of them—”

“I know you do—”

“I’m just—whatever you need me to do. I can do it.”

“We’re coming to the party,” Jason repeated. “And we’ll see how it goes. I should let you get back to work.”

“Thank you. For giving me another chance. I don’t deserve it,” she told him as she followed him to the door. “But you’re giving it to me anyway.”

“You still need to apologize to Elizabeth,” Jason told her. “You did what you did because of me, but you did it to her. And her kids.”

“Right. I—I can do that. Thank you,” she repeated. “I’ll make sure you don’t regret it. I promise.”

Jason looked at her for another long moment, then shook his head and left. Carly winced, closing the door behind him. She didn’t blame him for being unsure of her. She’d broken this promise too many times to count.

But she knew, for certain now, that if she messed up again, Jason would be done with her. She had to find a way to be a better person. She just had to. Jason deserved nothing less.

General Hospital: Nurse’s Hub

“I’m just overreacting,” Elizabeth said with a shake of her head, handing a chart to Felix. “People get to be quiet.”

“Yeah, but you’re his mother. You know when something is bothering him.”

“Not always,” Elizabeth muttered. She rubbed the side of her cheek. “I didn’t realize he and Franco weren’t getting along—”

“Elizabeth—”

“It’s just—it was both of them,” Elizabeth said. “You know? They were both being quiet.”

“How can you tell when Jason is being quiet?” Felix wanted to know. “Isn’t that like his default setting?”

“What if they had a fight or something over what happened with Carly? What if Jason hanging around all the time is bothering Cam—”

“Elizabeth—” Felix put up his hands, gesturing for her to take a breath. “What if they both just had bad days? Cam’s a teenager. Were you always in an awesome mood at his age?”

“Never.” Elizabeth leaned against the counter. “Especially at fifteen. Maybe he’s still worried about Emma and Trina. Things seemed fine, but—”

“See? And you know Jason’s been through it lately—”

“He seemed to be doing better, even after that fight with Carly. But you’re right. I’m not just overreacting, I’m assuming it’s about me.” She made a face. “How narcissistic is that?”

“I don’t know if we can call it narcissism since you just basically thought you were the reason they were unhappy. That actually sounds like paranoia.” Felix folded his arms. “Have you and Jason talked about how much time you’re spending together?”

“Oh, don’t say it like that. We’re not dating—”

“You’re not sleeping together,” Felix corrected. “You’re telling me it’s the same thing as when you and Patrick used to do things with the kids?”

Elizabeth hesitated. “No, but—” She shrugged a shoulder. “Sometimes Jason and I just do this. We always have. When we’re both alone. I mean, we drift towards each other. But it never goes anywhere—”

“Except that one time, because, you know, there’s Jake.”

“Even then.” Elizabeth stared down at the insurance forms. “Maybe that’s why Jason’s being like this. He’s realized he’s spending too much time with me, and he wants to stop—”

“For crying out—” Felix muttered. “Girl, you’re gonna give me a headache. The man was quiet at one dinner. Why do you always assume the worst?”

“I—” Elizabeth paused. “I don’t know. Maybe to prepare myself because the worst is usually what I get.”

“Ugh. You drive me insane—”

“Hey, I hope I’m not interrupting.”

They looked up to find Kim at the counter. “Oh, no, I’m just annoying Felix. What’s up?”

“Oscar said he’d been invited to Joss’s house for Christmas Eve.” Kim paused. “We both were,” she added.

“Yeah. Sonny and Carly always invite Joss’s friends,” Elizabeth explained. “Not last year because of Morgan, but I know Sonny said something about inviting Drew, too. Trying to mend fences.”

“I don’t know Sonny or his wife that well,” Kim said slowly, “but if Drew is going, I want Oscar to be there. Do you think Sonny would be okay if I refused his invitation?”

“He’d be fine, but you don’t have to do that. I’ll be at the party,” Elizabeth assured her. “And so will some other GH staff. Bobbie, Felix—”

“Oh, it’s—” Kim paused. “I just want Oscar and Drew to build a relationship, you know? They’ve been hesitant about spending time together. I don’t want Drew to feel like he has to be around me. He’s…” She forced a smile. “He’s made it clear that I’m not part of his future.”

“I’m sorry, Kim—”

“I just want to make it easier for them, but I wasn’t really sure how one goes about refusing an invitation from…”

“Someone like Sonny,” Elizabeth finished. “I get it, Kim, but if you change your mind—”

“Thanks. I appreciate the input.”

As abruptly as she’d approached them, Kim left and Elizabeth stared after her blinking in confusion.

“That felt weird,” Felix announced. Elizabeth turned to look at him. “Right? It was weird.”

“It was something.”

Greystone: Living Room

“I always miss all the good stuff,” Spencer Cassadine declared with disgust as he fiddled with the video game controller. “Why didn’t anyone tell me Valentin was up to no good again?”

“Because you’re unhinged when it comes to him,” Joss reminded him. She handed Cameron the open bag of potato chips. “You just got home last night, Spence. We’re not going to war in the first twenty-four hours.”

“I am not unhinged,” Spencer muttered. “He murdered my father. I am properly hinged.”

Cam snorted and Joss whacked him in the arm. “He’s got a point, Joss. Remember when Sonny had your dad deported? We had to talk you off the ledge, and at least Jax is still breathing.”

“Yeah, but my dad isn’t a creepy Cassadine supervillain,” Joss shot back. “No offense,” she said to Spencer.

“None taken. Supervillainy runs in the family. Damn it—” He hissed and tossed down the controller. “Why do you always win?” he demanded of Cam who just crunched on a chip. “Anyway, how come Valentin is still breathing? Isn’t your uncle supposed to be a hit man?”

Cameron winced. “Oh, man, you’re in for it now—”

“Oh my God, if one more person says to me!” Joss threw up her hands. “Haven’t you bitches ever watched the Godfather?”

“Why am I in trouble?” Cameron wanted to know.

“Hit men are hired by people to kill people. They take money and do jobs for strangers,” Joss told Spencer. “They, like, do it all cold and evil like. My uncle is not a hit man.”

“Uh, okay?”

“He is an enforcer. He takes care of things for Uncle Sonny and only for Uncle Sonny. It’s completely different, and I am so tired of this slander—”

“She’s very attached to a man who’s been home for eight minutes,” Spencer told Cameron, ignoring Joss entirely which would definitely piss her off more.

“He’s been my uncle for my entire life, thank you very much,” Joss said through clenched teeth. “And Drew was him before that, and Drew was an enforcer, too. I hate when people throw around words like they don’t have meaning—”

“She had this fight with Trina last week,” Cameron told Spencer. “And we’ve overheard her mom having this fight like eight times.”

“I hate the both of you,” Joss muttered. She flopped back against the sofa and folded her arms.

“Okay, so whatever Jason is,” Spencer said, “how come Valentin isn’t sleeping with the sharks?”

“He’s doing this on purpose, isn’t he?” Joss asked Cameron. To Spencer, she said, “It’s fishes and you know it.”

“You’re a Cassadine,” Cameron said to his cousin. “You know better. You don’t off a Cassadine until you know all the plans. I mean, your great-grandmother is still orchestrating things and the witch has been dead for two years.”

“Fair point.” Spencer nodded. “Okay, but as long as they off the bastard at some point. Grandmother says I’m not allowed to kill him, and there’s not that much I can from London anyway.”

“We should get to know what’s going on,” Joss said. “I keep trying to eavesdrop, but Mom keeps catching me. She always knows what I’m up to, and it’s annoying—”

“Only because I’ve done it all first,” Carly said dryly and the trio turned at her entrance. “Sorry to interrupt, but I overheard Joss’s enforcer rant.”

“I told you,” Joss muttered to them. To her mother, she said, “Spencer was just being ignorant. I set him straight.”

“Uh huh,” her mother said. She focused on Spencer. “Good to see you. You just get in from London?”

“Hey, Aunt Carly. Yeah, last night.”

“How long are you staying?” Carly asked, taking a seat in one of the armchairs. Cameron shifted uncomfortably, hoping she didn’t stay long. He liked Joss’s mom most of the time, but he couldn’t shake the way his mom had looked that day when Carly had accused Jason of not loving his mother enough to stay—

“Until New Year’s. Grandmother and I were talking about me maybe coming back to Port Charles for my spring semester. She doesn’t like me being so far away right now with things going on,” Spencer said.

“It’d be nice to have you around, even if you were some of the creative inspiration behind some of the stunts these two have pulled—”

“One time,” Joss muttered. “One time we got arrested—”

Carly ignored her daughter and turned to Cameron. “I’m glad you’re here, Cam. I wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh? Uh, why?” Man, he should have gone home after school—

“About that fight with your mother.” Carly paused. “It wasn’t really a fight,” she said softly. “Your mother was just defending herself, and I started it.”

“Mom—” Joss began.

“Just let me say this, and I won’t bring it up again.” She took a deep breath, keeping her eyes on Cameron. “You’ve been a good friend to my daughter, and Michael considers you part of our family. I always have, too, Cameron. I was angry about things that weren’t Elizabeth’s fault, and I took it out on her. I’m sorry. I’m even more sorry you and your brothers saw it.”

Cameron hesitated. “It’s—well, it’s not okay,” he admitted. “It’s my mom who decides if it’s okay. But you don’t have to worry about Jake and Aiden, I mean. I told Jake that sometimes people say things they don’t mean when they’re upset. Jake gets it. He knows his dad loves him, and Aiden—well, he doesn’t like when people argue. But I fixed it with them.”

“You’re a good brother,” Carly told him. “And just generally a good kid. I’m sorry. Everyone deserves better from me.” She got to her feet. “I’ll leave you guys alone—”

“Mrs. C,” Cam said as she went towards the stairs. Carly turned to look at him. “I get it. About being mad and saying stuff. Um, what you said to Aiden at Thanksgiving, about the baking? That was nice. It made him feel better. You can be nice when you want to be.”

“I appreciate that, Cam.” Carly smiled and he felt better because he didn’t like how unhappy everyone seemed to be lately. He could be okay if everyone else was okay. “Let me know if you guys need dinner or something later.”

“Thanks, Cam,” Joss said when Carly was gone. “You really didn’t have to let my mom off the hook.”

“It’s not my hook,” he said. “Jake is good, and if Jason says it’s okay—”

“He shouldn’t, though, unless your mom makes it okay. She was so upset that day, Cam. Did she say anything later?” Joss asked.

“I don’t really wanna talk about it.”

“Ugh, what’s your problem lately?” Joss demanded. “You’ve been so weird and not saying stuff. Emma said something went down when Lucky was here. Why won’t you tell me—”

“Nothing is wrong,” Cameron said, flatly. “So drop it or I’m going home.”

“Uh, why don’t we have a rematch,” Spencer suggested, picking up the controller. “I’m gonna kick your ass.”

“Not in this lifetime.” Cameron grabbed his own controller and ignored Joss’s look. He wasn’t going to talk about it. It wouldn’t change anything. Lucky didn’t love him. End of story.  “Prepare to be crushed.”

Joe’s: Bar

Something was definitely not right. Elizabeth didn’t care what Felix said. It was not paranoia to assume the worst when the worst was almost always true. She’d learned a long time ago not to depend on the happy ending.

She could rarely even count on the mediocre ones.

She’d gone to the dive bar to find Jason, determined to find out what was going on. Cameron refused to talk to her, and he’d happily escaped her clutches—first to Joss’s, then to Laura’s. She’d invited Elizabeth’s boys over to hang out with Spencer on his first full night back in Port Charles.

If she couldn’t push her son to open up, well at at least she could figure out where she stood with Jason.

He was sitting at the same table where Elizabeth had found him that first time, just a little over a month ago but she was relieved when she only saw one bottle of Rolling Rock in front of him. That was always a good sign.

“Hey,” she said, a bit hesitantly as she stopped in front of Jason’s table. “I hope it’s okay—”

“I was gonna—” He started at the same time, sitting up slightly. He stopped. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

“I hope it’s okay that I came here,” she finished. “This is usually where you are when you’re not with me or Sonny.” And she bit her lip because there was something insanely possessive about that statement. “I mean, if you want to be alone—”

Jason shook his head and used a foot to kick out the chair next to him. “No. I was going to call you. Sonny said something about Laura having the boys, so I thought you might want to take a ride or something.”

She sat down, frowning. “But you didn’t call.”

“No.” Jason hesitated. “No. I thought you might need…I don’t know…” He gestured with the bottle. “A break.”

“A break.” Elizabeth frowned. “From…what?”

“We’re…together a lot,” he said. “I know you said I could come see Jake whenever I wanted, but it’s—” He met her eyes. “I’ve been at your place almost every night for a month.”

“Yeah. I know. Jake loves it. I thought—” She paused. “Last night, at dinner, I thought maybe that was the problem.”

Jason tipped his head, furrowing his brow. “What do you mean?”

“You were really quiet,” she said. “I know Robin being there was a lot, but it just felt like something was off. Am I wrong?”

He stared down at the beer in his hand. “I told Sam I wanted to file for divorce.”

Her heart twisted as Elizabeth absorbed that. He’d asked Sam to end their marriage and now he was sitting here, dejected and having second thoughts about the amount of time they were spending together.

So it was exactly what she’d been afraid of.

“Oh. Well—”

“I was waiting for her to do it,” Jason cut in, “because I wanted to be fair to her, I guess. Or I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking about it. It’s not like we were really married when I got shot.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “She filed first. I got the papers yesterday. That’s why I was quiet at dinner.”

It’s your own fault, Elizabeth reminded herself. She could have stayed home, but no, she had to come here and now she was talking to Jason about his marriage to Sam. You did this to yourself, you moron. Next time, just shut up and stay out of it.

“I’m sorry. I know that must be hard—”

“It’s—” Jason blinked then focused on her. “No, I didn’t mean—I wanted to file for divorce. I still do,” he added. “I’m not mad or hurt she filed first. I told her because I thought I’d waited long enough. And I just—it wasn’t fair to still be legally tied to her when I don’t want to be. ”

“Oh.” Well, now she really didn’t know what to think. “Is it still bothering you? I mean, is that why you didn’t call me tonight?”

“It’s part of it, but it’s also…I talked to Carly earlier today,” Jason said. “And I told her we were still going to Greystone on Christmas Eve. I wanted to warn her that she can’t pull that crap again—”

Carly and Sam. The banes of her existence. “I’m sure she won’t—”

“She might. She’ll try for a while, but she’ll screw up. But it just—we were talking about this last year for her. With Morgan. Not that it’s an excuse—”

“It’s part of the reason I’m probably going to let it go, too, Jason,” Elizabeth said softly. “You don’t have to apologize for that. I’ve been where Carly is, at least in some ways.”

“It made me think about when we lost Jake,” Jason told her. “And how badly I handled it. How much I wasn’t there for you.”

“You don’t have to—I don’t know if it would have been better if you had been there more. I don’t think anything would have made things better. Losing him destroyed me. I was so far from okay for a long time. I’m not even sure I am now.” She picked at a chip in her nail polish.

“That entire next year—until the pier—it was…I did and said a lot of things I don’t understand when I look back.” Jason hesitated. “I don’t want to keep making the same mistakes. I don’t want to hurt you again.”

She nearly told him he wouldn’t, that he couldn’t because she wanted to reassure him, wanted to take that terrible look out of his eyes. But he probably was going to hurt her. When he left again. Because he always left.  “I’ve hurt you, too,” she offered softly. “Didn’t I start it all? With Lucky? With Ric? With Zander? Is that why you’re sitting here? Why you didn’t call me?”

“I don’t want you to feel obligated,” he said after a long minute. “Like you did with Lucky.”

“Which time?” Elizabeth asked with a rueful smile and was rewarded with his own hesitant smile in return. “I don’t feel obligated to be here, Jason. I really don’t,” she stressed when he looked skeptical. “Back then, with Lucky, I thought if I didn’t take care of him, if I didn’t stay, then no one would. I thought he’d fall apart without me. The brainwashing, the drugs, it was always something that made me think that I was essential. It wasn’t even obligation. It was guilt, Jason.”

“Guilt?” he frowned. “What—”

“He never flinched when I was raped. He never took a step back when it was too hard or when I felt too damaged. I will always be grateful to that boy. I wanted so much to be strong for him, too. But I didn’t love him anymore. I felt guilty about that for a very long time. Even now, I wonder if I had had the courage to walk away and stay away, if I could have saved us both a lot of pain.”

Jason’s frown deepened as he tried to process that. “I don’t—”

“Lucky came home and it was like everyone wanted me to be the girl who’d lost him. I was never going to be her again, and he didn’t want who I’d grown up to be. I felt guilty for growing up without him. While he was being held captive and brainwashed, I moved on with my life. I fell in love again,” she added, knowing it was safe to tell him that, to remind him of what she’d confessed the night they’d created Jake. “I never forgave myself for that. The way you can’t forgive yourself for not standing by Jake. Or Sam,” she added because she knew that was part of it. “We did the best we could. But it was a long time ago. I am not sitting in this bar because I feel obligated to the man I met when I was eighteen or the man I asked to give up his son.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Because it’s where I want to be. Do you know when you and I usually go wrong?” Elizabeth asked. “Where it goes off the rails and we get lost?”

Jason paused, his fingers tightening around the bottle. “When?”

“When you decide what I’m thinking or what’s best for me. I get to make that choice, Jason. You didn’t let me make it eight years ago. I’m asking you to let me make it now.”

“I think about it sometimes,” he said after a long moment of silence. “If I had stayed. If I hadn’t let you go.”

“We can’t go back, Jason. All we can do is move forward.” She got to her feet. “Come on. You said something about taking a ride. I think we both need it.”

Penthouse: Living Room

Sam nearly slammed the door as soon as she’d opened it to reveal Sonny’s face on the other side. “What do you want?” she sneered.

“To see you tossed in the dumpster where you belong,” he retorted and she blinked at the fury lacing his tone. She stepped back. “What did you think people were going to say when those papers got filed? When they found out what you’ve done?”

The divorce papers. Sam exhaled slowly. “Jason talked to you?”

“No, he opened them when I was standing there, and I didn’t leave him a choice.” His dark eyes burned into hers. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me?” Some of the shame that had been licking at her throat disappeared. “Me? You have the nerve to ask me that? You can go to hell—”

“You demanded half of everything,” Sonny retorted. “You want to take his home, his son, his money—after what you did to him—”

“What I did to him? How dare you! What about what he did to me? No one ever seems to remember—”

“He wasn’t very supportive when you were pregnant,” Sonny said with derision dripping from his words. “Cry me a fucking river, Sam—”

“I was raped! I thought I was having my rapist’s child and he couldn’t handle it—”

“So you’re going to punish him for being weak? For not being perfect? You have no right to stand there and judge Jason for how he acted—”

“I am the only one—”

“Really? What if Jason had your scorched earth policy? What if he decided you were unfit to keep Danny? All he has to do is make a call to Amelia Joffe. Remember her? She saw you watching his son being kidnapped. If not for Amelia, you never would have told the truth.”

She’d said the same to her mother only weeks ago but to hear Sonny state it so baldly made Sam bristle. “I would have—”

“When? Three months? Six months? When Jake was old enough to drive? You were never going to tell the truth. Admit it, Sam. You’ve hated that kid since the day he was born.” Sonny slapped the hand against the door when she tried to slam it shut. “Don’t bother to deny it. You had that surgery barely weeks after that accident. You must have been fucking thrilled to see him in the ground—”

Tears burned in her throat. “That’s a horrible thing to say—”

“Nearly as horrible as telling a court that Jason can’t have Danny because he abandoned Jake. Saying he’s an unfit father—”

“He didn’t want Danny—He barely counts—”

“Really? Really?” Sonny repeated. “Because that didn’t stop you from grabbing anything Danny inherited because of Jason. This penthouse? The money? You only got that because I let you have it—”

“You’re wrong—”

“Diane made him change the will when those divorce papers were filed,” Sonny said flatly. Sam closed her mouth as she glared at him. “Yeah, you like to forget that part, don’t you? You and Danny weren’t entitled to jack shit. Even if the divorce wasn’t finalized, you were weeks away from being shut out of everything.  It was going to me and to—” He closed his mouth.

“Yeah, I know exactly who was it going to. To Carly and Elizabeth’s kids,” Sam sneered. “You think you did me a favor? I deserved everything I got—”

“Danny deserved it,” Sonny corrected. “You were along for the ride. Enjoy the penthouse, Sam, and the money while it lasts. Because I’m going to dedicate my life to making sure you walk away with nothing this time. I am done letting you push him around.”

“Jason won’t let—”

“Wait until I get through with him. Jason may not have always been kind to you, Sam, but the second he let you live after what you did to his son—”

“The son he always wanted,” Sam said bitterly. “He never wanted Danny.”

“You never forgave Jason for having a son with someone else. You can be as terrible and destructive as you want because you’re upset, but God forbid Jason makes a mistake—” Sonny stepped closer to her. “You’re doing this to hurt him. Because you made the wrong choice when he came home, and now it’s too late to fix it.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about—”

“What was it, Sam? Did you see him with Elizabeth? Did you finally understand that he’s always going to go back to her? That he never stopped loving her—”

She slapped him, his face jerking to the side. Slowly, he turned back to look at her. “He’s finally going to see what I learned a long time ago,” Sonny told her. “You’re nothing but lies and tricks. You twist and turn yourself to match the man because you’re never alone, are you, Sam? There’s always someone waiting in the wings. Always another identity. You’re a con artist. That’s never changed.”

“Get out,” Sam said, her teeth clenched so hard her jaw nearly cracked from the pressure. “And don’t ever come back.”

“I still own the building, sweetheart.” But Sonny sauntered to the door. “So don’t get too comfortable.”

“Go to hell, Sonny—”

“I’ll save you a spot. You’ll be burning right next to me—”

She slammed the door so hard that it shook the door frame. Sonny Corinthos had no idea what she was capable of, and if he was going to come for her and everything she had a right to, well, then—

He was going to have to learn the hard way. Just like anyone else who had tried to cross Sam McCall.

Vista Point

It was probably too cold to be up here this time of year, but it seemed natural to take the cliff roads high up into the hills that surrounded the lake. Jason just wanted to keep driving forever.

He never felt more like himself than when he was taking the turns just a little too fast and could hear Elizabeth screaming in his ear, egging him to go faster. They might not be as young as they’d been the night he’d driven her home the first time—

But some things would never change.

“You can tell me any time,” Elizabeth said with a smug smile that lit up her whole face. She turned back to face him, leaning against the railing on the observation deck. “I was right.”

“Yeah, okay,” Jason said, not even bothering to pretend he didn’t know what she was talking about. “I needed the ride.”

“We both did,” she reminded him. She drew in a deep breath and turned back to Wyndemere, some of the sparkle sliding from her eyes—a heavy reminder that she was far from the girl he’d met once upon a time in a bar. “Sometimes I wish we’d blown that place up when we had the chance—”

“Hey—” Jason took her hand and drew her away from the railing, turning her to face him. “Not tonight. Let’s put that away for a while. We’ve been spending too much time worried about it.”

“I can’t help it. He’s over there now, and he’s part of it all—”

“I know. But he’s not the only one. We don’t know how much was him, how much was Helena, and how much we still don’t know.” He rubbed his hands over her chilled fingers. “You forgot your gloves.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to drag you down. I wanted to cheer you up.”

“You did. You always do.”

“Hmm, not always—” Elizabeth looked up and their eyes met, held. She was too close to him, her lips just inches from his own. He could feel her breath—little puffs of air against his chin.

He could lean down. He could just do it. He wanted to. He’d thought about it for weeks—how many times had they been here before? So close but not quite—

And just like all the times before—he’d hesitated too long and she’d gotten nervous.

Elizabeth laughed slightly and stepped back, reaching into her pockets to warm her hands. “You’re right. It’s almost Christmas and you’re home. Let’s not think about the Cassadines right now. You up for another ride?”

“Yeah.” He held out his hand. “I’ve been thinking about what to get you,” he told her as she took it and he laced their fingers together. “Joss said something that glitters, but that’s because she’s Carly’s daughter.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “She means well,” she said as they approached the bike in the cluster of parking spots that passed for a parking lot. “I don’t need anything—what you have planned for Cam is perfect—”

“We planned it,” he reminded her, “but I realized I know exactly what to give you.” He held up his keys.

Elizabeth frowned at him.  “I don’t understand.”

“You can’t go very fast,” he warned her, “and we’ll have to switch back if you want to take the turns the way you like, but I thought you might want to drive for a while.”

“You—” Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “You’re going to let me drive?”

“Yes.”

“You haven’t let me drive in eighteen years.”

“You closed your eyes!”

“Yeah, but—” She grinned and snatched the keys. “You won’t regret this. I promise. I’ll keep my eyes open the whole time.” She straddled the bike and beamed at him. “I promise,” she repeated when he hesitated. “Don’t back out on me now, I already have the keys!”

“I know. I trust you.” Jason climbed on the bike behind her. “I always have.”

Got me second guessin’ everything you say
Thinkin’ that I know you, but you’re really a stranger
Doin’ what you gotta do to get your way
You’re reckless and selfish and you can’t help it
Say you’re talkin’ to me honestly
But you’re lyin’ to me constantly
All the bullshit, I don’t need it
And honestly, I don’t believe it
– Honestly, Gabbie Hanna

---

Fall 2014

Cassadine Island: Gardens

Nikolas shoved open the terrace door and stormed out into the garden that adjoined his study. He was irritated by his own mood, by the argument that his grandmother had baited him into, and by the sinking feeling that she was right.

He had dumped Spencer in a London boarding school and fled to Greece to lick his wounds, smarting from the humiliating one-two punch of trusting Britt Westbourne with any piece of his trust or heart and pushing Elizabeth away when she’d finally held out a hand to him.

Helena had told him to just go back to Port Charles and get himself together, but Nikolas wasn’t ready to go back to the place that held such terrible memories. Nothing had gone right in his life since he’d moved there as a teenager.

Since the love of his life had been coldly and brutally murdered at the hands of a psycho while Nikolas had been blacking out from the brain tumor that had nearly taken his life less than a year later. If he hadn’t held that ball, if he had listened to Emily about seeing a doctor—

Would she be here now?

He looked out of the vast grounds of his childhood home, the waves of the Aegean Sea crashing against the rocks on the shore. Would he and Emily have made their second marriage work?

Nikolas dragged his hands over his face, forcing himself to throw off the crushing weight when he thought of Emily. All these years later, and it still threatened to cut him at the knees. Would he never truly put her behind him?

Helena, for all her malice and cunning, was right. Nikolas was still running. He’d been running since the day Emily had died, since he’d cradled her limp body and rocked her, feeling her warmth drain away.

He turned and went back into the study, but Helena had left. Nikolas made a face and went into the hall. He snagged the elbow of a passing maidservant. “Excuse me,” he said in Greek. “Have you seen my grandmother?”

“Naí,” the woman said, nodding her head. She hesitated, and Nikolas waited for her to continue.

“Where is she?”

Flustered, the woman shook her head. “I cannot say. Madam—”

“Where did she go?” Nikolas asked again, narrowing his eyes. “My grandmother might live here full-time,” he said sharply, “but this is my house. Where is my grandmother?”

“The west wing,” the maid said, her voice timid. She scurried away when Nikolas released her arm.

The west wing. The part of the house he had closed off years ago when he’d taken control of the estate. His father had kept his mother there once. Why would—

Now Helena’s encouragement to return to Port Charles didn’t seem like the concerned insight of a grandmother but the warning of a villain.

She was hiding something.

Nikolas went up the sweeping staircase to the second floor and made his way through the hallways and adjoining stairs to reach the west wing. The last time he had been here, there had been dust and cobwebs, the furniture in the halls covered with protective covers.

It had been cleaned and scrubbed, the furniture revealed. And down the hallway, close to the master bedroom where Stavros had kept his mother hostage, Nikolas could hear voices.

“But I wanna go now.”

It was the voice of a child younger than his Spencer. A chill slithered down Nikolas’s spine. It sounded familiar.

“Not yet, my darling. I haven’t located your mother. You must promise me, poppet, that you will stay in your rooms while my grandson visits—”

Nikolas hurried down the hallway and thrust open the door to discover his grandmother sitting primly at a child-sized table while a blond-haired boy with familiar blue eyes turned to look at him.

His arms and limbs felt frozen, the chill spreading throughout his body. Nikolas stared at the little boy who had died three years earlier.

“Hi,” Jake Webber said with a sunny smile. “Are you Mrs. Cassadine’s grandson? Do you know me? She’s trying to find my mommy.”

Nikolas cleared his throat, slowly turned his head to look at his grandmother. Helena’s lips curved into a smile, and she lifted her chin.  “Ah, Nikolas. Tell young Jake that, unfortunately, we have not located his family.”

“I—” He couldn’t find the words, couldn’t make his brain cooperate. “What?”

“Oh.” Jake’s face fell, and he put his head in his hands, propping his elbows on the table. “Okay. Soon, though, right? You said I could go home soon.”

“I hope so, my darling.” Helena sighed. Stunning Nikolas, she lightly ruffled the boy’s hair, the affectionate gesture alien to him. “But I will see you later, darling. Do as Tana tells you.”

She swept towards the door, the light in her eyes chilling as she approached. As she passed Nikolas, she paused and lowered her voice to a nearly inaudible whisper. “If you speak of this to anyone, I will murder her in her sleep.”

“And what stops me from doing the same to you right now?” Nikolas said, returning the threat in the same soft tone while Jake went over to play with his fire truck. “What have you done—”

“You think that ending my life would stop anything? Shall we find out?” Helena arched a brow. “Murder me tonight, and his mother and brothers will be dead in twelve hours.” She leaned in, her breath hot on his cheek. “You cannot fathom the destruction that my death will unleash. I will not rest. Not even in death.”

And because he believed her, Nikolas stepped away from Elizabeth’s son and followed his grandmother into the hallway.

“What have you done?” Nikolas demanded as he closed the door. “This has to end now—”

“My darling, we have only just begun.”

Thursday, December 21, 2017

General Hospital: Hospital Room

In the twelve hours since her father’s frantic phone call had reached Robin in Berkeley about Anna’s car accident, she had been a ball of anxiety and stress. She had even snapped at Emma and Patrick when they had taken longer than eight seconds to pack and cancel everything so they could fly to Port Charles a day earlier than planned.

She needed to be in New York. She needed to be with her mother.

Robin should have known that the indomitable Anna Devane wouldn’t be taken down by a silly car accident and that all of that anxiety had been wasted. When she, Patrick, and Emma reached Anna’s hospital room after leaving the baby with Felicia, they found her sitting up, fuming at Mac.

“What do you mean the insurance company won’t cover the cost?” Anna demanded. “I pay those premiums every month—”

“Yes, you do, but you didn’t have collision—Anna—” Mac sighed. “I told you that you need to pay attention to paperwork—” He turned to Robin, relief written across his features. “Robin—”

“Hey, Uncle Mac.” Robin embraced him tightly, then turned to her mother, who was accepting a light hug from Emma. “Mom, leave Uncle Mac alone. You know you hate paperwork—”

“I don’t have time for this sort of thing,” Anna muttered. “Mac—”

“I’ll make a few calls.” Mac shook Patrick’s hand. “Good to have you two back in Port Charles. It’s been too long.”

“Definitely,” Patrick said, glancing over his shoulder towards the hallway. “Uh, did I see Franco lurking around here?”

“He’s an art therapist,” Mac said dryly. “Don’t get me started,” he continued when Patrick opened his mouth. “You left town, and it was like the whole place lost its damn mind. Anna, I’ll talk to the insurance agent.”

“And if they won’t cover it, you tell Frisco he’s on the hook!” Anna called after him. She sighed, then leaned back against the pillows. “I thought you weren’t coming until tomorrow—”

“You were in a car accident,” Robin said, widening her eyes. “By the time we knew you were okay, I’d already booked the tickets.” She reached out to squeeze her mother’s hand. “What happened?”

“Mom,” Emma interrupted, holding up her phone. “I’m talking to Cam, and he said his mom is about to leave for the day. She can drop me at his place—”

“Oh, good, we want to come by later to see Elizabeth and Jason anyway,” Robin told her, looking at Patrick. “She said he’ll be there for dinner.”

“Robert’s right. Everything went insane,” Patrick muttered. Emma just rolled her eyes, then left, passing her grandfather, who was on his way. She offered him a wave.

“Where’s she off to in such a hurry?” Robert asked.

“Cam’s,” Robin said impatiently. “Mom—”

“I was run off the bloody road like a green agent,” Anna retorted. “That’s what happened—I was arguing with your father—”

“That’s not how I remember it,” Robert said, frowning.

“And the next thing I knew, there was an SUV heading right for me—” She looked at Robert. “Well? Did they find it?”

“They did,” Robert admitted. “But it’s damaged.”

“Find what?” Patrick asked.

“Andre Maddox, like any good Bond villain,” Anna said flatly, “put all his files and records onto a thumb drive, which he hid inside a Christmas ornament. He gave it to me on his way out of town but neglected to tell me that he was doing so. It accidentally got donated to the rummage sale, and I was hit on the way home—”

“How did someone know about the ornament? Did you tell someone?” Robin demanded. “Who knew?”

“Just the others,” Robert said. “And I don’t see any of them diming out Anna. The Spencers knew, and so did Corinthos, Elizabeth, and the Wonder Twins.”

“Maybe they just realized you were up to something,” Patrick suggested, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, didn’t you say Robert was off handling Maddox?”

Robert snapped his fingers. “That’s right—if someone tipped off Valentin that Andre was getting moved, he might have been watching you and decided to take you out—”

“Well, he failed, didn’t he? I’m still here. How bad is the damage to the thumb drive?”

“Well, I might have told Frisco it was beyond repair,” Robert said, “seeing as how he now has Maddox, and that was all he wanted. But I don’t know, to be quite frank. I gave it to Spinelli.”

“Oh, well, if it can be salvaged, Spinelli will take care of it.” Robin wrinkled her nose. “I hate being in California away from all of this—” She glared at Patrick. “Why did you make me move three thousand miles away?”

“Uh, it was your idea,” Patrick reminded her.

“Well, it was a dumb one,” Robin muttered.

Aurora Media: Drew’s Office

Drew stared at the remains of the thumb drive on the conference table. He put his head in his hands for a minute before looking at Spinelli. “You’re telling me there’s a chance you can put that back together?”

“I might not be able to reconstruct all the files,” Spinelli told him, “but I’m not going to give up. This is the first concrete, physical lead we’ve had in weeks.” He looked over at Jason. “You’re sure Anna is okay?”

“Banged up pretty bad, some bruised ribs,” Jason answered. “But Elizabeth said she’d be released tomorrow. I think—” He checked his phone. “Yeah, that’s Elizabeth now. Patrick and Robin are at the hospital now.”

Drew scrubbed a hand across his face. “If we had just left this alone,” he said slowly, “would this have happened?”

Jason frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean—” Drew met his brother’s confused expression. “You were back for weeks. Nothing happened. The men chasing you disappeared. No one made any moves. But now, Anna’s been run off the road. What if they don’t go for the WSB agent next?”

“You think we riled things up by looking into the clinic, sending people after Faison?” Jason asked. “I thought you were on board—”

“I am. Especially knowing what happened to Jake. Christ, knowing that Elizabeth actually saw him? That she wasn’t hallucinating? I don’t care that they weren’t my memories, I can see her in my head, Jason.” Drew pushed himself up from the table. “And I want some damn answers. We’re owed that much. But I also don’t want anyone else getting hurt.”

“And I do?”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Drew said as Jason also got up. “Look—Anna put herself on the line for this, but that’s her job. I’m just—Jake’s been through enough—”

“What if there’s another trigger somewhere?” Spinelli said, drawing both their attention. “Do we even know they’re all done with Little Stone Cold? He was home for almost two years before the Nurse’s Ball.”

“Or what if there’s another trigger in my head?” Drew said with a heavy sigh. “Or yours,” he pointed out to Jason. “Just because Maddox couldn’t do the memory implantation, it doesn’t mean that they didn’t do other shit to us. I just—” He stared at the floor for a long moment. “I want answers. I just don’t want it at the cost of everything else that matters.”

“I don’t know about what’s in my head or anyone else’s,” Jason said after a moment. “And I get worrying about safety. It’s all I’ve done since Jake was born. But if we stop now, we’ll never know for sure it’s over. I need to know that. Don’t you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“Well, now that this crisis of confidence has been averted,” Spinelli said, cheerfully cutting through the tension in the room as he carefully packed up the damaged thumb drive and put it away. “I’m gonna head home to have dinner with my daughter.”

“Jason—” Drew stopped his brother as he was about to follow the younger man out of the office. “You’re supposed to go to Elizabeth’s for dinner with Robin and Patrick, aren’t you?”

“Uh, yeah.” Jason frowned. “What’s up—”

“Lucky’s still in town, isn’t he?”

Jason tilted his head. “Yeah, I think so. Why—”

“Look, we have the same memories, so we both know that Lucky is an asshole,” Drew said dryly. “But I had the unfortunate pleasure of having to deal with him over the last few years, and I think there’s something you should be aware of since you’re spending a lot of time with the boys.”

“I know that Lucky raised Jake for the first few years—I can handle that—”

“That’s what I’m talking about. After you were gone, but before I was—” Drew shrugged a shoulder. “Before I was you, Lucky mostly kept in touch by phone and email with Aiden and Cam. He did an okay job with it, but not great. Then he brought Jake home.”

“So—”

“He stayed a total of two days,” Drew continued, and Jason closed his mouth. “And to the best of my knowledge, Lucky never once called Jake or Cam again. He wrote to Aiden, he called Aiden. But after Jake came home, Lucky stopped even pretending he was their father, too. And from what Jake’s said, even the contact to Aiden has fallen off. He canceled on Aiden last summer and doesn’t call according to any schedule. But when he does get in contact, it’s with Aiden only.”

Jason exhaled slowly. “I didn’t realize it was that bad.”

“He even told Elizabeth that it would be okay if I adopted them. Both of them,” he added when Jason’s frown only deepened.

“Lucky brought Jake home,” he repeated, “then cut all ties with him? That’s—that doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know.” Drew turned back to him. “And that’s something else I was thinking about. We’re handing off a big piece of this to the Spencers, but I don’t trust them. I doubt you do, either. Nikolas told Elizabeth I was supposed to be Jason Morgan, but I’m not convinced he didn’t know the truth. That would suggest he was lying to Elizabeth.”

“And you think there’s a possibility Lucky knows more than he’s saying,” Jason continued. “That might explain why he disappeared on Jake and Cameron.”

“It’s just something to think about. We should watch Luke and Lucky closely. I’ve never met a Spencer I could trust for very long. They always end up watching their own back more.”

Wyndemere: Study

Valentin paced the length of his study, then glared at the flames of the fireplace.

He didn’t know what Maddox had told Anna, and the infuriating woman had survived the car accident. Worse — she’d lived to tell anyone who would listen that she’d been run off the road, which meant any chance Valentin had at keeping himself under wraps was shot to hell.

He knew he’d be the number one suspect for everyone involved—in fact, he was surprised that no one had confronted him yet. Not even Laura Spencer, though the woman had given him several dirty looks the last few times she’d seen him.

So either Jason Morgan, Drew Cain, Robert Scorpio, and Anna Devane were drooling imbeciles without a brain cell to rub together, or they didn’t know enough to come after him. That was hardly comforting — at some point, the status quo would change.

And Valentin couldn’t stand that someone would get to Helena’s files before he did—that someone would discover he wasn’t actually the Cassadine heir or that they might locate the true heir.

No. He had to find the files first. He had to track down every damn Cassadine and make sure they were eliminated so that no one could come between him and what he was owed. What he earned.

He hissed, then stalked back to his desk to grab his cell phone. “Klein? No, I don’t want to hear any damn excuses. You have a new assignment. You’re going to Bosnia to talk to our friend at the WSB. I want to know where the hell Andre Maddox is being held.” He scowled. “Yes, in addition to finding those files and my mother’s lab. Do what you’re told.”

He hung up before the doctor could respond and gripped the phone tightly in his hand. He had to find Andre, get the damn files, and eliminate the doctor for good.

Andre knew too much.

Webber House: Kitchen

“Lucky, you promised Aiden you’d be here until Christmas,” Elizabeth complained as she pulled a meatloaf out of the oven and set it on the cooling rack. “You haven’t seen him in almost six months as it is—”

“I’m sorry,” her ex-husband said, perching on the edge of the stool at the counter. “But this lead came up in Bosnia—Britt said she’d let us know if she hooked up with her father, and there’s action on his accounts there—”

“Britt,” Elizabeth repeated, “can’t be trusted with anything. You know what she did to Lulu and Nikolas—”

“You want me to find Faison, don’t you?” Lucky demanded. “That’s what you want. You want answers for Jason and his brother—”

She took a deep breath. “I’m glad you’re helping, Lucky, but that’s not really an excuse for not keeping your promises to Aiden. You can’t stand the sight of me, that’s fine—”

“That has nothing to do with it,” Lucky told her. “I got over all of that years ago.”

“Then what is it?” she demanded. “You come to town twice a year, spend a day or two with Aiden, and he comes to you for a week in Ireland—but you canceled this last summer, Lucky. Aiden is seven years old, and he barely knows you—”

Lucky stared down at his hands and sighed heavily. “I’m sorry. I never thought I’d be the kind of father that disappears for months a time.”

“Lucky…”

“You know, my dad—he crapped out on fatherhood at a certain point. I think probably when Mom got sick. He showed up sometimes for Lu, but you know…” He met his eyes. “I never thought I’d be a worse father than Luke Spencer.”

Elizabeth bit her lip. Lucky’s smile was sad. “You’re not disagreeing with me.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.” She lifted her hands a bit helplessly. “I mean, I know you and I had a difficult relationship, and I lied to you about Jake, but you told me you wanted to raise Cam and Jake. You wanted to give them your name.”

“I did.”

“But not anymore,” Elizabeth said softly. “When did that change? When did that end for you?  I can’t really understand it—”

“When Cam was a baby, it was easier. But then he turned six.” Lucky paused. “I looked at him, he smiled at me, and I could see Zander.”

Elizabeth furrowed her brow. “What are you telling me, Lucky?”

“I could pretend Jake and Cameron were mine,” Lucky said, “but the older they got, the more they looked like Zander and Jason. And I guess—I couldn’t stop myself from thinking—from remembering that they weren’t mine.”

Elizabeth’s eyes burned as she stared at him. “That is bullshit, it’s bullshit, Lucky! You always knew Cameron wasn’t your biological son. There was never a chance he was—what, are you saying you were lying all those years?”

“No, I do love them. I do,” Lucky stressed, “but I don’t—I don’t feel the way I’m supposed to,” he said after a moment. “I know that makes me a terrible person, Elizabeth. Why the hell do you think I just left town?” He scowled. “And this is partially your fault. You were the one that lied to me about Jake—”

“You knew the truth years ago, Lucky! You promised me it wouldn’t matter!”

“I thought it wouldn’t!” Lucky shoved himself off the stool, throwing his hands up in the air. “I  worked my ass off to bring Jake home—but then I saw him in Greece—”

“And he looked like Jason,” Elizabeth said acidly.

“Don’t say it like that—”

“What am I supposed to say? Two little boys that you knew didn’t share your blood don’t look like you, Lucky. Big freaking deal. You had a choice to make. You chose not to love them. Not to raise them—”

“It’s not like they needed me,” he complained. “Nikolas told me—” He pressed his lips together as Elizabeth narrowed her eyes.

“What did Nikolas tell you?” she demanded. She rounded the island counter to step up to him. “Did he—” Her eyes widened. “He told you that Jake Doe was Jason.”

“Yeah. He told me that—” Lucky looked away. “And he told me you and Jason were gonna raise Jake. Even if Jason didn’t know it. Jason likes Cam. I knew it was okay to go. It’s not my fault you screwed that up—”

“What else did Nikolas tell you?” Her eyes were narrowed into slits. “Did he tell you that Jake was alive? Is that how you found out?”

Lucky hesitated. “No—” He grimaced, looked away.

“You know something,” Elizabeth accused. “What is it?”

“Nikolas,” Lucky said, his expression uneasy as he stepped back. “He told me that he thought Helena was up to something. That he’d appreciate it if I could go to the island in Greece and find out. He—”

“He sent you to Greece where you found out Jake was alive,” Elizabeth finished. She pressed a fist to her mouth. “Because Helena wanted him found. Wanted him brought home because Chimera was supposed to happen.”

“Elizabeth—”

“That’s what Andre meant when he said it wasn’t done right. Jake was supposed to kill us all years ago when he came back, but she died first.”

“Nikolas never would have—”

“Really? Because Nikolas told me the so-called truth about Jake Doe, and then made sure that I never told anyone else after he shot Hayden in the head,” Elizabeth retorted. “So don’t tell me what Nikolas would or wouldn’t do. Because we both know at the end of the day, he was a Cassadine.”

She dragged a hand through her hair. “And none of that matters,” she murmurs. “Because he’s gone.”

Elizabeth looked back at Lucky. “Well, at least now, I don’t have to wonder if it was something I did to make you disappear and disappoint my boys. It wasn’t my affair or my lies, it was just you being a selfish coward. Just like your father. He couldn’t bring himself to love Nikolas either, and look what happened. He lost your mother. Cameron and Jake never did a damn thing to deserve you dropping out on them the way you did. Nothing more than looking like their fathers.”

Lucky swallowed hard. “I’m sorry—”

“Don’t bother. Jake and Cameron will always have me, and I will find a way to make that enough for them. Go to Bosnia, Lucky. Go chase the adventure like your father. You’ll end up miserable and alone. Just like him.”

Lucky gritted his teeth, then slammed his way out of the house. Elizabeth returned to finishing dinner.

And neither of them noticed that Cameron was sitting just out of sight on the stairs, Emma perched next to him as he listened to Lucky admit what Cam had always known deep inside — Lucky didn’t love him anymore and hadn’t for years.

Greystone: Kitchen

Carly walked over to the fridge to pour herself something to drink, then turned, frowning as she saw Joss sitting at the table, staring at her phone with an irritated expression. “What’s up?”

“Oh!” Startled, Joss looked up, her eyes wide. “Mom, I didn’t hear you come in—”

“What’s wrong?” Carly asked. She took a seat across from Joss. “You look upset? Is Oscar okay?”

“Yeah. Well,” Joss rolled her eyes, “as okay as you can get. He’s managing. Drew’s trying really hard, you know. I knew he would. He’s a good guy. I hope Drew comes to the party,” she continued, “but I don’t know if he will.”

“I don’t know either,” Carly admitted. “I invited him, but I’m going to reach out again. I haven’t—” She stared at the glass of water in front of her. “I know I’m not always the easiest person to be around, Joss.”

“Mom—”

“I really am sorry that you and Cameron—and well, the entire world came in when I was arguing with Elizabeth—” Carly pursed her lips. “When I was yelling at Elizabeth,” she corrected herself, and Joss tilted her head. “You know I’m not an angel or the town sweetheart, Joss, but that doesn’t mean I don’t try hard to keep you from seeing that—”

“I just don’t get it, Mom. I really don’t.” Joss shook her head. “Cam’s mom has never been anything but super nice to me. And, yeah, like, Jake didn’t donate the kidney that saved my life, but his mom didn’t know that. And she’s been great to Michael—”

“I think maybe,” Carly said slowly, “that’s why she drives me crazy. She’s a good person, and she’s been good to the people who matter to me. She doesn’t have to try. She usually does the right thing. Or feels guilty when she doesn’t.” Carly looked at Joss. “I have to work harder. I have to think about the right thing. I don’t even always know it when I should. It’s a constant battle for me, Joss, and sometimes, it’s exhausting.”

“I get that,” Joss admitted. “I mean, sort of. Like — when we were kids, you remember that Trina and Emma didn’t really like me? And sometimes I drove Cameron nuts, too. Like all the time. I used to team up with Spencer to get what I wanted, and it always ended in tears. But, like, it just got really annoying to always have to apologize. Trina still doesn’t like me much, but Cam and I are tight, and even Emma doesn’t think I’m the worst anymore.” She stared down at her phone. “But sometimes I have to stop and think, too. Like — right now—” She held up her phone. “Emma texted me that Lucky Spencer is being the worst again, and I’m sitting here, thinking of all the ways I can destroy him—”

“Destroy Lucky?” Carly repeated. She raised her brows. “My cousin Lucky? Your cousin?”

“Uh, well, I guess technically.” Joss wrinkled her nose. “But, like, also Cam’s terrible stepfather. You know how it is when he’s in town. Especially since Jake came home. He spends all this time with Aiden and ignores Jake and Cam. Cam tries to act like it doesn’t bother him, but it does, and it’s so stupid.”

Carly pressed her lips together. “I’m sorry. Cam really is a great kid. I’ve always thought he was a good friend to you.”

“He is. So, like, I just want to make anyone who hurts him pay, you know? And I look at my life. Uncle Sonny doesn’t have to give a crap about me, but he’s pretty solid as stepdads go. And Michael isn’t his bio kid, but you’d never really know that. And Dad always took care of Morgan and Michael. And look at you and Avery! Blood doesn’t make a family. Love does.”

“That’s absolutely right,” Carly said softly. “And sometimes we’re really lucky, and we get to choose our family. Jason’s taken care of me and your father and all of you for most of his life. And he’s only really tied to Michael. But he chose us. I’m sorry Lucky’s decided not to choose Jake and Cam. That’s his loss, baby. And one day, Aiden’s gonna see it, too. That will be the revenge you want, Joss. Because if Lucky doesn’t change, he’s going to get old one day, look around, and realize he threw it all away.”

“Yeah, that sounds great.” Joss pursed her lips. “But also, it takes a long time, and I don’t know if I can wait like thirty years.”

“And that’s usually how I get in trouble,” Carly said with a sigh as she got to her feet. She paused, looked at Joss. “I really am sorry about what happened, Joss.”

“If you want to make it up to me,” Joss said, her eyes somber, “you’ll promise me that you won’t start anything at the Christmas party. Cam worships his mother, and he’s already having a lousy year with his grandmother dying and all that crap with Jake last year—plus Franco. Just—please. Be nice to his mom at the party.”

“Well, I was already planning to try,” Carly told her. “Because I know I have to do better, but yeah, for Cameron, I can do it.”

Pozzulo’s Restaurant: Back Office

Jason walked into the room, staring at the envelope in his hand, then glanced up to find Sonny behind his desk. “Hey. Sorry. I can’t stay long—”

“No, I heard. Dinner with Robin and Patrick at Elizabeth’s. That sounds like a good time,” Sonny said, gesturing for Jason to take a seat. “Let Robin know she’s welcome to the party on Christmas Eve. The more, the merrier—”

“You want to invite Robin to Carly’s house?” Jason asked skeptically. “Aren’t we trying to give Carly less stress and anxiety?”

“That’s true,” Sonny said slowly, “and you don’t really have a way to know this, but Carly usually does okay with Robin—and Elizabeth—around other people. Joss invited Emma and Cameron’s a regular at the house. Carly promised she’s going to try to do better, Jason.”

“She can’t do much worse,” Jason said with a sigh, “but I know Michael said she was upset that the kids overheard it, and she’s left messages apologizing over and over again, so fine.” He looked down at the envelope again.

“What’s that?”

Jason didn’t answer for a moment, then slowly, he slid the envelope open and drew out a sheaf of papers. “Divorce papers,” he said finally. “I was served when I left Aurora earlier. Uh, from Sam. I told her that I was going to call Diane after Christmas, but I guess—”

“You told Sam you were filing?” Sonny lifted his brows.

“It was going to happen eventually,” Jason said. “I didn’t think it was fair to anyone to keep putting it off—” He scanned the first page, then just stared.

“Jase?” When Jason didn’t answer, Sonny leaned forward. “Jason? What is it?”

“Uh—” Jason shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Trying to process it. “It’s—I guess she was pretty angry when I—she’s—” He pressed his lips together. “She’s demanding half of everything since we don’t have a prenuptial agreement.”

“Well, that sounds like Sam,” Sonny muttered. “But that’s just money—”

“She also wants the penthouse, and, uh—” Jason’s chest tightened. “She wants me to terminate my parental rights to Danny.”

“Terminate—” Sonny lunged to his feet. “What the hell?”

“She’s—” Jason could hardly form the words. “Her argument states that I am an unfit parent based on neglect and abandonment.” He closed his eyes. “Because of Jake.”

“She’s…planning to demand full custody of Danny because you walked away from Jake? That is some goddamn bullshit—”

“Yeah, uh—” Jason forced air into his lungs. “I think, maybe, I guess I could see that argument—”

“God damn it, Jason—”

“I didn’t—I wanted Jake. I always wanted him. I just—” He closed his eyes. “I didn’t neglect him. I gave Elizabeth money. And I—”

“Jason, look at me—”

Jason opened his eyes, met the dark, angry eyes of his best friend. “I know she’s doing this because she’s hurt—”

“Stop excusing Sam from the terrible things she does,” Sonny bit out. “You and I both know that this is bullshit and that if anyone wanted to talk about being an unfit parent, Sam would have her own list of fucking crimes. How about that crap she pulled when Jake was a baby? With Maureen Harper? You let her off the hook for that, didn’t you?”

“Sonny—”

“Sam specializes in knowing just how to hit you where it hurts the most. You know that, Jason. You’ve been here before. And what the hell did you do to deserve this?” Sonny demanded. He stalked around the desk to yank the papers from him. “You were in a coma for five years, trapped in your own body. You nearly got yourself killed to come home — and what has Sam done? Nothing. Has she even said she’s glad you’re alive?”

“I don’t—” Jason finally felt some pressure release inside as he admitted what he’d known for weeks. “I don’t think she is. I think things were better for her. Before.”

“Well, that’s her problem. Not yours. You tell Diane that the only divorce settlement you’ll consider is the one that was good enough for her in 2012,” Sonny retorted. “And don’t you dare give an inch on Danny—”

“I just need some—” Jason shook his head. “I need a minute to think about this. I can’t just—”

“Then take a minute, but don’t let her get away with making you feel guilty about coming home. I don’t care that it made problems for her. It’s a goddamn miracle, and if she’s too selfish to see it, then you’re better off without her.”

Penthouse: Living Room

Sam strode out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dishtowel, with a smile on her face. “Hey. Scout down for the night?”

“Yeah,” Drew said. “Danny’s playing a video game—” He paused as he moved some magazines to the side and saw some legal papers underneath them. He pulled them out. “Oh. You finally filed—”

“Give me those—” Sam lunged forward to reach for the papers, but Drew had already seen the initial list of demands. He raised his eyes to look at her, stunned. “Drew—”

“What the hell is this?”

“I told you what I was asking for—” Sam made another reach for it, but Drew stepped back, continuing to scan—then he started to flip through the paperwork, searching for the custody section.

“What the absolute fuck is this?” Drew demanded, shaking the papers at her. “You’re asking him to terminate his rights to Danny because he neglected Jake?”

“Well—” Sam lifted her chin. “That’s not the only reason, but yes. Jason had eight months of being a decent father to Michael, but he’s never been a father since. He could have had Jake. He ran—”

“That is not how it happened, and you know it,” Drew said, his voice low and dangerous. “And worse, I know it. I still have his memories, Sam. I know exactly what happened with Jake—”

“Drew—”

“He did what he thought was best for Jake, and you damn well know he always loved him. It drove you insane, remember?”

Her eyes were damp with tears, but Drew couldn’t find it in himself to give a damn. “You watched as Jake got kidnapped, you sent men with guns after him, you put him in danger with your goddamn Russian investigation and nearly got him blown up—and then two years ago—”

“I didn’t mean for that to happen! I never meant for him to get  hurt!”

“No, but you didn’t care either. When I still thought I was Jason, do you know that I knew I could never have custody of Jake if anything happened to her? Because I had chosen you,” Drew said with a snarl, and she flinched, “and Elizabeth didn’t want Jake anywhere near you. And you’re demanding Jason give up any rights to Danny, now or in the future because he didn’t raise Jake?”

Sam exhaled slowly. “It’s not that I don’t understand how it all happened,” she said. “I just—I don’t think Jason deserves to be in Danny’s life, and the only way I can convince a court is to make this argument—”

“And what do you think is going to happen, Sam? Do you think that I’m just going to raise my brother’s son for the rest of my life and lie to him about who I am?” Drew demanded. “I can be his stepfather, I can be his uncle. But we both know—” He took a deep breath, lowered his voice. “We both know I am not his biological father.”

“Jason hasn’t even asked me about Danny—”

“Really?” Drew said with derision. “How would you expect him to? I’ve done more to reach out to him than you have, and I have more of a reason to resent him than you do!” He tossed the papers on the table. “You wish Jason was still in Russia, locked inside his own mind, trapped in that bed, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course not!” Sam’s tears streamed down her face. “I’m not angry he came back—I just don’t know why everything has to change—”

“Everything has already changed, Sam. I’m not Jason! Someone stole my life, and you’ve done nothing but wish we could go back. And you’re punishing Jason for coming back—demanding half his estate? We don’t need it—”

“You don’t have a say! I told you, this is my divorce—”

“No, I might not have a say in your divorce,” Drew cut in sharply. “But I do have a say in my relationships, don’t I? I’m not going to raise Danny. Not like this. So you can either drop this attack on my brother, or that’s it.”

Sam stared at him. “What? You can’t—”

“I’m not doing this to him. And I’m not doing this to myself or Danny. You might think Jason’s the enemy, but you’re the only one who sees it that way. So what’s it going to be, Sam? Do you want to punish Jason, or do you want a future with me? You can’t have both.”

Sam’s eyes burned into his. “You have no right to tell me how to raise my son—”

“No, but I have every right to decide how to be a part of his life, and I’m not going to lie to him. I love him too much.” Drew nodded. “Fine. You’ve made your choice. I’ll move my things into the guest room.”

“Wait—Drew—” Panicked, Sam grabbed his arm. “Please, please. You don’t understand. Jason can’t love Danny the way you do—he won’t—he won’t love him—I have to protect him—”

“You’re only protecting yourself,” Drew said gently as he removed her fingers from his sleeve. “But you’re so busy taking care of yourself, Sam, that you don’t even see the damage you’re doing to the rest of us.”