Tell me your secrets
And ask me your questions
Oh, let’s go back to the start
Running in circles, coming up tails
Heads on a science apart
Nobody said it was easy
It’s such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh, take me back to the start
– The Scientist, Coldplay

---

June 2017

General Hospital: Andre’s Office

“Do you have a minute?”

Andre’s head snapped up the sound of Elizabeth’s voice. The nurse was standing in the doorway, exhausted. “Elizabeth—I heard—” He crossed the room to take her hand. “I’m so sorry about your grandmother.”

“Thank you.” Elizabeth’s lips stretched into a hesitant smile. “She lived a long, amazing life, and went peacefully in her sleep. It’s all we could hope for. Um—I needed—” She took a deep breath. “After what happened at the Nurse’s Ball, and now losing Gram—”

“What can I do for you?” Andre asked, guiding her to the chair, ignoring the pain in his chest as he thought about how close Jake had come to disaster. He’d known his fail safe would hold—but damn Valentin for wanting glory and using the boy to do it.

“Jake. He’s struggling. All my boys are—Gram was our rock, you know? But Jake—after the Nurse’s Ball—it’s too much. I’m worried that Helena did more to him. And I’m worried he’s not doing that well.” Elizabeth laced her fingers together, twisting them. “He’s okay when he’s with the boys. Cam is amazing with him, and most of the time, I think he’s adjusting. There’s been so much change lately.”

“Tell me about it,” Andre suggested, leaning against the desk.

“Well, everything that happened last year with the lying he did trying to bring his father back home—” Elizabeth’s face flushed. “Then we lost the house. And Paul pushed me down the stairs—I almost died. That was hard on all of them. And learning Hayden was my sister—Tom Baker—” She looked away. “Franco moved in a few weeks ago, and that’s…been a weird adjustment.”

“Franco,” Andre repeated, thinking of his own patient. Of what he knew about Franco’s past.

The secrets he held about Patient Four.

“Was that a good idea?”

“I thought it was. Franco was kind to Jake. They’ve always connected, but it’s been different. I didn’t even have a chance to settle in before the Nurse’s Ball, and now my Gram—” She closed her eyes. “It’ll be fine. It’ll smooth out.” With a deep breath, she opened her eyes and focused on Andre. “But that’s not why I’m here. I came to ask you if you’ll talk to Jake. Maybe see him a few times. Just to get a sense of what I can’t. What I’m not trained to.”

“Of course,” Andre promised. He squeezed her hand. “Anything you need.”

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Kelly’s: Dining Room

“Well, I’m glad that you’re happy with the new arrangements,” Scott said as he took the newly executed version of Elizabeth’s will and tucked it into his briefcase. “I, uh, also talked to my son. I hope you’ve noticed he’s…not lurking the way he was before.”

“If he has been,” Elizabeth said, sipping her hot chocolate, “he’s not making himself known to me or to Felix, who always seemed to catch him before.” She made a face. “Look, Scott, about all of that—”

“We go through phases,” Scott said. “When we think that someone is the right person for us. Sometimes they are, you know, for a minute. To get us through something bad. Or tell us something about ourselves.” He picked up his coffee. “I had quite a few disastrous relationships myself. And only maybe two or three that really mattered.”

“Maybe. The more time passes,” Elizabeth admitted, “the less I really understand how I managed to spend an entire year thinking dating your son was a good idea. But you’re right. Franco and I connected when I didn’t feel like there was anyone else who understood me.” She pressed her lips together. “Speaking of disastrous relationships—”

“I wondered,” Scott said, his eyes sparkling with a bit of mischief, “if you were gonna be doing a little investigative work for the brothers Morgan. Or the brothers Quartermaine.”

“Well, obviously, you know Drew and Curtis Ashford have been trying to get a meeting with you about Susan Moore.” Elizabeth lifted her brows. “Why are you ducking them?”

“Because I’m not especially proud of that time of my life,” Scott admitted. “And to look at Drew—or Jason—and talk about being married to Susan, being maybe the reason that she ended up dead—”

“Scott—”

He stared down into his coffee, then wrinkled his nose. “I stole money from the trust fund, Elizabeth. I married her for it, I stole it, and then she tried to recoup her losses by blackmailing the Quartermaines again. She got murdered for it. What good does it do to bring this up now?”

“Because if you do feel guilty about it,” Elizabeth said, gently, “then maybe you owe it to them to do whatever you can to help. You might not know anything, but you were married to their mother. You knew Jason as a baby—”

“Yeah, ain’t that a wild thing?” Scott murmured. “He was a cute kid, and Susan—look, she might not have been the best person, but she was a damn good mother. And if she’d known there was a second kid—she’d have gone to hell and back for Drew.” He hesitated. “Especially if it meant going back to the Quartermaines for a legitimate money demand.”

“The thing is that Drew and Curtis think there’s some evidence that Susan was aware there were twins. Curtis found the original birth certificate that Susan signed — she named Jason and Drew. Then Drew is gone by the time Susan brought Jason back to Port Charles.”

“She never—” Scott frowned. “She named them?” He stroked his chin. “She never talked much about those few weeks, just that the labor was hard, and Heather hadn’t been much help. Which makes sense, I guess, since she was arranging to dump our kid on some crazy nurse—”

“And that’s another part of the story that doesn’t line up. Supposedly, Betsy was the nurse at the birth, and Heather gave Drew to her—but they didn’t know each other. Why would Heather give her own child to a woman she’d never met before? She gave up Steven, and I think it was one of the reasons she went off the rails. She’s been obsessive about him—and Franco—ever since.

“Yeah, you’re not kidding. Susan always said she might want more kids one day but she wasn’t sure she was up to it, you know. And after she threw me out—” Scott clenched his jaw. “She talked about getting the money back. That’s how Tolliver got involved. They were going to blackmail the Quartermaines about Lila’s first marriage. Tolliver claimed she backed out at the last minute.”

“And that was enough to kill her?” Elizabeth shook her head. “That doesn’t really make sense to me.”

“I guess—well, it was a lot back then. Robert was looking daggers at all of us—Alan, Edward, Monica, Christ, not even Lila was safe, and it went without question Heather and I were the primary suspects. Heather never forgave Susan for marrying me. We were all relieved to have it done, and Tolliver died after confessing but before Robert could really dig into his story—” Scott shook his head. “How can any of this help now, Elizabeth?”

“Because it seems like there were only three people in the entire world who knew Susan had twin boys. Heather, Betsy—and Victor Cassadine.”

“And Victor not only knew there were twins, he knew where to find the other kid.” Scott nodded. “Okay, I get it—”

“And Drew was dumped at the group home a month after Susan died. Susan left her estate to her descendants. Plural, Scott. And she updated that will just before she died.”

“You think that maybe Susan was killed to keep Drew from showing up in Port Charles?” Scott shook his head. “No way. The only people who didn’t want another bastard Quartermaine was—well, it was just Monica. And I can’t—”

“Scott?” she asked when he didn’t continue. “What is it?”

“Monica was cold to Jason at first,” Scott said slowly. “Ice cold. Alan nearly lost Jason to the state after Susan died because Monica wouldn’t let Jason come live up the house.  He was at the gatehouse with a nanny. Alan tried to force the matter, and Monica left him. She didn’t want Jason anywhere near her own son.”

“She’s mentioned that, but I didn’t realize it was that bad—”

“And she also came back because Alan promised her there’d be no more children. He didn’t stop having affairs, but to the best of my knowledge, he never had any other children. I don’t see Alan dumping his own kid in a group home—”

“No, Monica wouldn’t do it either,” Elizabeth insisted. “Look, this is stupid—”

“Really?” Scott lifted his brows. “You don’t think it’s possible that Susan went to Monica with the news about Drew and demanded a hefty payday, maybe even promised to leave town for good with Jason?”

“Monica would have paid it—”

“You didn’t know Monica and Alan back then,” Scott told her. “We were all pretty bad, but the two of them were toxic. I’ll never understand how they managed to last or didn’t kill each other. Monica today? No. She’d have accepted Drew into the family. But Monica back then didn’t give a damn if Jason went to a group home. Why would she care if Drew did?”

Penthouse: Living Room

Sam didn’t know exactly who she was expecting to see when she opened the door late that morning, but her back-from-the-dead husband was probably the last person on the list.

Sam blinked at him, taking in the the first full vision of Jason she’d had since that terrible night at the PCPD more than six weeks earlier.  He looked older, she realized with a start. There was more gray at his temple than she’d remembered—more lines around his eyes—but he was Jason. The face she’d thought gone forever.

“Jason.” She stepped back, gestured for him to come in. “I, uh, I wasn’t expecting you. I—I know you’re sort of working with Drew on everything, but he’s at Aurora—”

“Yeah, I know that,” Jason said, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he looked around the penthouse, furrowing his brow at the dining table where his pool table had once sat.

“It was in storage,” Sam said, and he looked at her. “All of your, um, stuff. I mean, the furniture that was here then. The bike, too,” she added. “Drew—well, when we thought he was you—he wanted a new start. I’d—I’d give it to you, but there was a pipe burst and we ended up having to clear it all out.”

Jason took a deep breath. “Oh. Thank you. For letting me know. That’s not why I came, but—it’s good to know.”

“Why did you come then?”

“That first night, you made it clear that you were going to stay with Drew.”

“Oh.” Sam exhaled slowly. Was he here to change her mind? Maybe all that time spent with Elizabeth had reminded Jason that he’d once picked Sam instead of the other woman. What would she say to him? How would she turn him down?  “Well, it was—it was a lot, Jason. You know—and I couldn’t just—everyone was abandoning Drew. I had to—”

“I get it. You did what was right for you,” Jason said. He met her eyes. “But we’ve been avoiding the question for almost two months. Drew asked me if you’d talked to me about a divorce.”

Sam’s nostrils flared. “He did what? Why? When?”

“It doesn’t matter. I was waiting for you because I thought, well you’re the one who has to change her life. Your name. And decide what to do here—” He glanced around the penthouse. “I didn’t think it was fair to ask you to do that until you were ready.”

“Oh.” Brightening, Sam nodded. “I appreciate that. It has been a lot. With Danny—”

“But I can’t wait anymore.”

Jason spoke as if Sam hadn’t been in the middle of a sentence, and she frowned at him. “I’m sorry—”

“I’m not just trying to find out what happened to me,” Jason told her. “Or to Drew. I’m rebuilding my life. And that means I have to make choices. We might have stayed together five years ago, Sam, but we wouldn’t have lasted.”

Sam stared at him. “But you—you asked me to come back—”

“I brought Danny to you because I wanted you to be okay, and I knew that it was partly my fault Heather were able to kidnap him,” Jason continued. “But that was five years ago, Sam. You’ve moved on. With Danny and Scout, and Drew. I don’t want to get in the way of that—”

“It sounds like you didn’t even want me back then much less now,” Sam said, crossing her arms.  The absolute nerve—what the hell was wrong with him?

“I think the time when we were good for each other is over,” Jason told her, gently. “And it’s been over for a lot longer than either of us want to admit. So I think we need to get your mother and Diane in a room together to get this done.”

“You’re asking me for a divorce?” Sam demanded, stunned. “How—how can you do this—”

“Because it’s time,” Jason said. “Let Diane know what you’re thinking about Danny, the penthouse, the accounts, and we’ll get it done—”

“Danny doesn’t know you,” Sam said flatly. “You have no right to ask for anything—”

Jason stared at her for a long moment, and her cheeks flushed. “I’m just saying—”

“I don’t know what you want me to do, Sam. I didn’t know he was mine when I went off the pier. When I came home. I don’t know him now. I’d like to know him—”

“It shouldn’t have mattered if he had your blood or not!” Sam shot back. “You should have loved him because he was mine! You think I don’t know how you are with Elizabeth’s boys? With Carly’s kids? You don’t treat Cam or Aiden any differently than Jake. Why couldn’t you love Danny?”

“I didn’t handle any of that right or well,” Jason replied, his tone subdued. “And I made everything harder for you by not being supportive. I can’t change that now.”

“Don’t you dare stand here now and act like you’re sorry—”

“You don’t have to accept the apology, Sam. All I can do is offer it. And we still have a problem. Danny knows he’s Jason Morgan’s son. That Jake is his brother. Right now, he thinks Drew is his father—”

“Drew is his father—in every way that matters—” Sam turned around and yanked the door open. “You don’t get to walk in here five years after all of this happened, and get to play Daddy. I’m not Elizabeth. You don’t get to walk in and out of my son’s life on a whim—”

“Sam—”

“I’ll have my mother get in touch with the divorce papers I already drew up. I was ready a month ago,” Sam snapped. “I was giving you time, but I guess we’re done with that now.”

Aurora Media: Drew’s Office

“I’m sorry to bother you,” Elizabeth began, but Drew was already up and out of his seat, crossing the room to usher into his office and closing the door behind her.

“You’re definitely not bothering me. You said on the phone that you’d talked to Scott this morning.” He walked over to the sofa, gesturing for her to sit. “You want coffee or something?”

“No. I just—I want to tell you what he told me but I’m not—” Elizabeth paused. “Drew, sit—”

Worried about the tone in her voice, Drew obeyed. “What’s wrong?”

“Scott agrees with Curtis—and you. There’s no way Susan would have known about you and not tried to use it. He just—he added some information about what was going on back then that I’m not sure if you or Jason ever knew it.” She bit her lip. “After Susan was murdered, Alan took custody of Jason. He put him in the gatehouse with a nanny because Monica refused to have him at the house.”

“I did know—I knew that. I think. Monica talked about it after the accident. When she was trying to explain to me—to Jason,” Drew corrected with a wince, “that blood didn’t make a family.”

“At some point, the state got involved because Jason was basically without a parent or guardian most of the time,” Elizabeth continued. “They threatened to take him away. To put him in a home.”

Drew frowned. “Is that when Monica decided to adopt—”

“No. Alan brought him to the house, and Monica left him. She took AJ and left. It was that bad with them. I don’t know what changed her mind, what brought her around because by the time I knew her, you’d never guess Jason wasn’t hers.”

“Right. Right.” Then it sunk in what Elizabeth was suggesting. “Wait.”

“Scott seems to think—though he was reluctant to say so—that if you think you were dumped by someone related to your mother’s murder, it was either Heather or someone who didn’t want you to be found. It could still be Heather,” Elizabeth reminded him. “But if Susan did know about you—which her will suggests—she might not have gone to Alan.”

“She might have gone to Monica and made her demands. Give me money and we’ll all go away. One kid from the affair is one thing, but twins—” Drew swallowed. “Scott thinks Susan tried to use me as leverage, and Monica killed her. Then arranged for me to dumped in the home so that no one would ever find me.”

“I—” Elizabeth sighed. “I know how it sounds and I don’t believe it, except—”

“Except if she was willing to let Jason get taken the state, knowing that Alan loved him—why would she care what happened to a kid Alan didn’t know about?” Drew cleared his throat. “What do you think?”

“I think,” Elizabeth said slowly, “that you’re traveling down a road that you might not want want to be on. We wanted to find out how Victor knew about you. I don’t think Susan’s murder is going to answer that question.”

“You think Monica did this. That she abandoned me.” Drew pushed himself up and walked away, towards the office. “Could she be capable of this?”

“Not the woman we know. But Scott has a point. Monica was a different person back then. Drew—”

“You’re right. If I go down this road—” Drew turned to face her. “I need to be sure I want the answers. I—” He took a deep breath. “I need to think. Can we—can we keep this between us for right now?”

“Of course.” Elizabeth paused. “What about Jason?”

“I—I know you don’t want to lie to him. Or keep things from him. I just—” Drew paused. “Can you tell him that Scott had a few theories, and that I wanted to think about what I want to do about it? If he wants more, then that’s fine. But it’s bad enough I have this in my head, I don’t think Jason needs it, too.”

“Thank you. I won’t volunteer it, but if he asks, I’ll tell him. I’m glad you’re both doing better with this.”

“Well, you don’t always have to like your family, but knowing what you’ve gone through with yours—” Their eyes met. “It’d be stupid to turn them away when they’re trying.”

She got to her feet. “I’ll see you at the meeting then—” When Drew looked at her blankly, she continued. “The one with Lucky and Luke?”

“Oh. Right. I think I need to sit with this for a while. You and Jason—you guys are on this. And I know you’ve got my back. Can you handle it? I just—”

“Of course. Let me know if I can do anything.” Elizabeth hugged him briefly. “I’ll see you later.”

“See you later.”

Metro Court: Lobby

Carly stepped out of the back offices and saw her least favorite person on the planet standing by the bank of elevators. Well, her least favorite person in the state of New York. Robin was still living in California, thank God.

Deciding it was a good a time as any to try out the kinder, gently Carly, she walked over and plastered a fake smile on her face. “Nelle.”

Nelle turned to look at her, furrowing her brow slightly. She looked around her. “Uh, Carly. What can I do for you?”

“Well.” Carly took a deep breath. “I was thinking maybe we should try to get along—and I know at this point, it’s me. And I’m right, you know. That doesn’t matter, but it’s important that we both know I’m right to hate the sight of you.”

“You have your reasons which I accept,” Nelle said. “But—”

“But Michael is my son, and things with him are hard enough without picking fights that—well, fights that I’m not going to win. Because I think you are a mistake. Everything about you is a mistake,” Carly said flatly. “And one day he will regret knowing you—”

Nelle rolled her eyes. “God, Carly, if this is your idea of playing nice—”

“I intend to play nice,” Carly assured her. “But I just don’t want you to think I’ve changed my mind about you. I just don’t plan to make it Michael’s problem anymore. He’ll see you for who you are before you know it, and be rid of you. There’s no point in ruining my relationship with him—”

“Oh, well, then you are going to be really disappointed,” Nelle said, coolly. “Because he just asked me to move in with him.”

Carly stared at her nemesis, then shook her head. “No. No, he didn’t. Don’t—”

“You know my building is going condo, and he offered to help me with the down payment, but I told him no. I couldn’t dream of taking a loan from him. To mix money like that—” Nelle smiled sweetly. “But then he decided that we should live together. He’s going to leave the mansion and we’re going to buy my condo together. A mortgage. Together.” Nelle clasped her hands together, her eyes lit with happiness. “It’s like all my dreams are coming true—”

Carly hissed. “The hell they are! You are not going to sign a single piece of paper with my son! Why are you doing this? You’re going to ruin his life—”

“Now, Carly—”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this to me. To him! You don’t love him. You just want to use him.” Carly stepped towards him, stabbing a finger in Nelle’s face. “I swear to God, if you hurt my son—”

“Mom!”

Carly closed her eyes, turned to find Michael behind her, then looked back at Nelle whose facial expression had changed from glee to teary-eyed.

Oh, this bitch—

“What the hell are you doing?” Michael demanded, striding to Nelle’s side and sliding an arm around her waist. “Are you okay?” he asked her.

“I was just trying to tell your mother we should try to do better for you,” Nelle said, her voice trembling. “That I didn’t want to fight anymore even though I know I deserve all her hatred—”

“Not all of it. Mom—” Michael looked at Carly who was seething.

“That is a complete lie!” she declared. “I came over to her wanting to get along better for your sake!”

“Oh, is that what I just overheard?” Michael demanded. “Is this anything like the crap you pulled on Elizabeth?”

“No, it’s not anything—” Carly almost stomped her foot. “Damn it, Michael, listen to me! She was telling me you’re moving into her condo, and I just—”

“I’m not moving in with her—” Michael looked at Nelle with a frown as the redhead’s face turned bewildered.

“I don’t know what she’s talking about,” Nelle said. “She brought up the condo from the last time she—the last time we talked,” she said, and Carly narrowed her eyes. The bitch had corrected herself to be more polite, but had pretended to slip and remind Michael of the last public argument.

Oh, damn it to hell—

“Michael, I swear to you—” Carly said, her eyes wide.

“Don’t bother,” Michael snapped. “You always promise to do better, Mom, but you never do. You never know when to quit. I get that you don’t like Nelle. I never asked you to. You don’t need to create scenes and lie about her—”

“Michael—”

“Let’s go,” he told her. “We’ll go to Kelly’s for lunch.”

“Michael, wait—”

But her son was gone, the little she-bitch right with her. Carly stared after them in horror. She’d told the absolute truth and Michael hadn’t believed her.

Webber House: Front Porch

Sonny frowned as Jason took out a key and slid into the lock. “You have a key?” he asked as Jason pushed the door open.

“Yeah, I pick up Jake from school, I told you that.” Behind them, a car pulled into the driveway, and Elizabeth got out of the driver’s side, Laura the passenger side. At the curb, a second car drove up. Jason clenched his jaw as Luke and Lucky Spencer got out.

“Well, the gang’s all here,” Sonny murmured.

“Hey,” Jason said as Elizabeth and Laura approached, ignoring Sonny. He frowned when Elizabeth avoided his eyes. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Elizabeth glanced at Luke and Lucky who were drawing closer, then shook her head. “We’ll talk later,” she promised.

“Jason,” Luke said, with some reluctance. Jason leveled a malevolent glare at the older man. Luke might have given him his first job after the accident, but he’d also been driving the car that had hit Jake.

Jake being alive now would never make that night go away.

“Hey, Jason,” Lucky said, his own expression worn and exhausted. “Uh, good to see you, I guess.” He leaned over to kiss his mother’s cheek, then Elizabeth’s. “Where’s Aiden?”

“Cameron took them to the rummage sale,” Elizabeth said, going into the house with the rest of the group following her. “I thought it would be best if they weren’t around for all of this. You can catch up with them later.”

Not missing the fact that Lucky had only asked about Aiden, while Elizabeth had stressed the plurality, Jason found himself disliking Lucky Spencer even more than he had this morning—which he hadn’t thought possible.

“You said you had some news on Faison?” Laura asked briskly as she went into Elizabeth’s kitchen and started a pot of coffee. “That’s why you came all this way, isn’t it? It certainly wasn’t to see your daughter or grandchildren at Christmas.”

“Angel—” Luke said, putting up his hands. “Don’t start—”

“We never managed to catch up with Faison in person,” Lucky said. He sat at the table in Elizabeth’s kitchen. “But we found his daughter.”

“The Britch?” Elizabeth asked, with a sour expression.

Luke smirked. “Yeah, she sends her regards.”

“The Britch?” Jason echoed.

“Britta Westbourne,” Elizabeth said with a sour expression. “She started working at GH a few weeks before your…before,” she settled on, “but I didn’t really get to know her until she was dating Patrick. She, uh, stole Lulu’s embryo, pretended it was Patrick’s kid, then said it was someone else’s until it turned out it was Dante and Lulu’s. She almost married Nikolas, and I think—” She frowned. “She’s on the run for helping Spencer fake his disappearance, isn’t she?”

“I think that’s it,” Laura said. “So what did Britt have to say?”

“Not much at first,” Lucky said. “But we managed to convince her that the WSB could hide her more effectively than Faison who abandoned her about six weeks ago. Around the time—” Lucky nodded at Jason. “Around the time you popped up here in Port Charles, Faison apparently got very antsy and split.”

“Well, that doesn’t give us anything,” Sonny complained. “Faison knew we’d be coming for him. He’s the one that shot Jason in the first place—”

“Britt told she spent a few months,” Luke said, “working at a clinic in St. Petersburg.” He looked at Jason. “Laura said you were awake for about six months before you escaped. Is that right?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Jason. “I can’t be sure. I tried to mark the days the best I could—the first few weeks, they didn’t know I was awake yet, but I think it was around June when they put me in the wheelchair.” He didn’t like thinking about those dark weeks, when he could see, when he could think and feel, but he couldn’t move. Couldn’t leave.

The only way to mark the days changing had been waiting for dim lights out the window of his room.

“I thought Robert and Anna were gonna come,” Luke said. “We need to start putting all of this together, and figuring out what was Faison, what was Cassadine, what was WSB—there are too many strands, and too many people going off in different directions—”

“You are not in charge,” Sonny began hotly but Jason put up his hand, nodded.

“You’re right,” he told Luke. “And it started that way because Drew and I couldn’t be in the same room together. That’s not true anymore. But the problem is that there are too many loose threads. Too many things that could give us pieces of the story. So you might not like that it’s all over the place, but it’s staying that way.”

“Anna is working on another angle,” Laura said, “and Robert is moving Maddox to his new lab. She said that when she had what she needed, she’d be in touch. And I think Spinelli is—” She frowned.

“At the rummage sale with Georgie and Maxie,” Jason said. “It’s the holidays and he’s uprooted his whole life to do this. We don’t need everyone in the same room, Luke, at the same time.”

“Let’s start at the beginning of what we know,” Elizabeth suggested, hoping to get the conversation back on track. “We’ve found out that Susan Moore probably knew she’d given birth to twins, but at some point she either thought Drew was dead or lost track of where he was. And it matters—” she said, anticipating Luke’s objection, “because we need to figure out at what point Victor found out Drew existed, so we started at the beginning. Drew was living with Betsy Frank, but he was dumped at a group home in Rochester a month after Susan’s death.”

“Drew and Curtis,” Elizabeth said, “are working on that.” She looked to Jason and Sonny. “You said Spinelli had started to fill in some information about the clinic and Andre.”

“Yeah, the clinic is an old KGB front for experiments,” Sonny said. “It switched over to the DVX—Anna confirmed that for us. She remembers it from a few missions,” he added. “This ties Valentin to the clinic—”

“And Faison and Obrecht,” Luke told him. “They were both DVX with Victor back in the day. After Victor got out of jail, he joined up. DVX went underground after the fall of the Soviets, but it’s likely that Helena took some of them under her wing—like Faison and Obrecht, while Victor and a lot of the researchers went to the WSB.”

“I can’t believe they were working with the DVX,” Laura muttered. “After all the damned trouble we went to bring them down—”

“It’s no different than German scientists working the atom bomb, Darlin’. Some scientists don’t care much about the guy in charge, only that someone is writing the checks. If you’re looking for another doctor, Obrecht is a good bet—”

“It’s a shame she’s currently MIA,” Sonny muttered. “She split town over the summer. So put her on the list of people we need to find.” He rubbed his cheek. “Does it ever feel like the to do list gets longer?”

“The clinic is currently under the directorship of Joseph Klein,” Jason said. “He’s the doctor I knew. I never saw anyone but him and some of the orderlys. And Ava Jerome, who says she was sent there by Valentin Cassadine to fix her face in exchange for dropping her testimony in the civil case.”

“Britt said she’d worked at the clinic last winter on Faison’s orders— which matches the time that you woke up and the doctors became aware of it,” Lucky pointed out. “She said she’d worked on your case, and followed Robin’s protocol to bring you out the cryofreeze. So Robin brought back Drew, Helena, and Stavros—while Britt took care of you.”

“Faison? Why would he want to wake me up?” Jason wanted to know. “Why would he be involved once Helena was gone?”

“Britt claimed she didn’t know,” Lucky said. “I don’t know if we believe her, but without finding Faison, there’s no way to know.”

“We’re still trying to find the old bastard himself, but he’s wily and has gone under deep,” Luke said. “We’ll keep you posted.”

“What did Anna say when she called last night?” Elizabeth said to Jason. “She said that Valentin was searching for something.”

“Or maybe someone?” Laura suggested. “What else did Andre have to say?”

“That Andre hid his files—along with some of Helena’s—and Anna is on their trail now. If she can find those—” Jason said, “we might finally find out what the hell Valentin Cassadine wants and why Drew and I were part of it.”

St. Timothy’s Church: Front Yard

Anna strode directly towards the table behind which Lulu Falconieri and Maxie Jones-West were standing. The two blonds snapped to attention as soon as they realized Anna was in the vicinity.

“Anna! I thought you be here earlier—”

“And I told you that I would buy all the bloody ornaments—” Anna glared at the other tables where she could find several boxes on display.

“Oh, well, you made it sound so important,” Lulu said, a thread of nerves lacing through her tone, “that Maxie dug out the receipt we gave your housekeeper, you know, for your taxes, and it had some descriptions—”

“And I realized that we hadn’t quite put your ornaments into all the other boxes yet. It was one of like three boxes we hadn’t sorted yet. Isn’t that lucky?” Maxie said, brightly.

“Fantastic.” Anna held out her hand. “Give them to me—”

“Oh, but you donated them,” Maxie said. Lulu stared at her in amazement. “So you need to buy them—”

“Mariah Maximilliana Jones West,” Anna began hotly, then narrowed her eyes. “Never mind.” She pulled out her wallet and removed a hundred dollar bill. “Give me my sodding ornaments.”

Fifteen minutes later, she had the ornaments on the passenger’s seat, and was driving towards Elizabeth’s house, hoping that the group was still gathered for their meeting so they could go through the box since Anna barely remembered what the stupid ornament had looked like to begin with.

“Siri,” she told her phone, “call Robert.”

“Calling…Robert…”

“Hello, Anna! Calling for a check in with the good doctor?” Robert said brightly. “He’s very angry at you for the trick that you played—”

“Shut up. I have the box of ornaments. What did it look like? The one he gave me?” Anna demanded. “I need this jackass to stop wasting my time—”

“Ah, you’re on speaker phone, my love—”

“For the love of—” Anna’s attention was distraction from her infuriating ex-husband at the sight of another car on the road.

In the same lane as her—driving straight at her.

“Oh, hell—” She yelped, jerking the steering wheel to the side, but it was too late. The other car clipped her front end, and Anna’s speeding BMW went flying off the road, flipping upside down and landing in the snow-covered ditch by the side.

While the SUV that had hit her kept on driving, its front end smashed in.

“Anna? Anna?”

Anna opened her eyes, blearily, staring at the dash as Robert’s voice crackled. “Robert…” she slurred, “call in the cavalry….” Then the world tilted, went gray, and she passed out.

“Anna!”