Your faith like the pain
Draws me in again
She washes all my wounds for me
The darkness in my veins
I never could explain
And I wonder if you ever see
Will you still believe?
– Falls On Me, Fuel

---

Sunday, November 16, 2008

No Name Restaurant: Dining Room

“If you can excuse me for a minute,” Nadine said, scooting her chair back. “I’m going to use the restroom.” She disappeared into the back hallway where Elizabeth had gone a few minutes earlier.

“You know what?” Claudia said, rising. “I have a need to use the facilities, too.”

“Claudia,” Johnny warned as his sister went around the table.

“Chill, John. The nurse will return in one piece. Both of them,” she added when he just narrowed his eyes. Claudia sauntered in the same direction as Nadine and Elizabeth.

“Well, Dad, did you get what you wanted?” Johnny wanted to know. He tossed his crumbled napkin on the table. “Have I crawled enough?”

“Showing up late is crawling now?” Anthony asked with a smirk. “Yeah, you got me what I needed, son. I very much enjoyed Elizabeth Webber having to come and pay homage to me—”

“To my wife,” Johnny said, and his father fell silent. “If Nadine weren’t involved, she wouldn’t have come within ten feet of this table, and you know it.”

“But she is involved, John,” Ric said coolly, and Johnny looked at his lawyer. “And you made it that way. You asked your father for help, and you’re going to criticize how he gets it done?”

“I don’t need a new bootlicker,” Anthony muttered. He lifted a shoulder carelessly. “But whatever, John. If you don’t want my approval, I don’t have to give it—”

“I never—” Johnny closed his mouth, thought better of what he’d been about to say. There was no point in picking fights on that score. “What was Elizabeth talking about? What speech about love did you give her and Jason last year?”

“Oh, it was nothing. I’m just touched really that she remembers it so fondly.” But Anthony’s smile suggested he was irritated Elizabeth had poked at him, offering him an insult wrapped as a compliment. Not that anyone who had overheard her would find fault with a single word she’d said, so if he did anything about it, it’d be ruining all the work he’d just done.

“Yeah, I’m sure she recalls you with warmth,” Johnny muttered, then settled in to watch for his wife’s return.

No Name Restaurant: Ladies Room

Nadine joined Elizabeth at the mirror as the other woman reapplied her lipstick. “Thank you. For what you said at the table.”

“Any time,” Elizabeth said, twisting the cap back onto the lipstick and dropping it into her purse. “I meant what I said, Nadine. I really am sorry about your sister.”

Nadine nodded. “I know. Um, can I ask something? And you can say no, okay, or you can tell me you won’t answer. But—when you came over—that wasn’t…it wasn’t, like, spontaneous, was it? They knew you were going to do that.”

Elizabeth opened her mouth, hesitated, then grimaced when another woman came around the wall separating the room from the door.

“No, go ahead,” Claudia said, sauntering forward, setting the black clutch on the sink. “Answer my brand-new sister-in-law’s question.”

Elizabeth and the other woman shared a long look that Nadine didn’t quite understand before Elizabeth refocused on Nadine. “Yes. To show that there’s no bad blood between our families, I came over to offer my well wishes.”

“And that’s why you came to the apartment the other day,” Nadine said, switching her attention to Claudia. “To set this up.”

“Sure. That’s why. It’s a tricky business, little sister. Not a lot of room for women to play a role. Usually we have to seize our opportunities. But then again, if you’re happy to play Suzy Homemaker,” Claudia said, arching a brow, “and negotiate peace treaties, there’s always space for that.”

Elizabeth picked up her clutch. “It was nice to see you, Nadine. I’ll talk to you at work.”

Claudia’s eyes followed the other woman to the door, then she looked back at Nadine. “God, I can’t stand her. How can you? That holier-than-thou attitude—and the way she smirks—it makes you want to punch her.” She yanked open her purse, snatched her lipstick out. “But you probably like her.”

“I don’t have a reason not to. Elizabeth was one of the few people who didn’t see my sister when she looked at me.” Nadine looked at her reflection in the mirror. “Don’t you get tired of people making up their minds about you before they even know you?”

“Why? What people see is what they get. That one doesn’t like me because I tried to come on to her boyfriend and there were some rumors about us for a while.” Claudia made a face. “But Jason Morgan wasn’t interested. God, I hate when the sexy ones are prudes. Imagine wasting that ass on such a bony little bitch?”

She fluffed out her hair. “Anyway, the reason I came back here—other than to needle that little goody two shoes—is to talk to you about John.”

Nadine bit her lip. “What about him?”

Claudia rested one hand on the counter and leaned in so that their faces were inches apart. “I want you to remember that everything my brother has done since he pulled that trigger on the docks that day is to protect you. My father could have had him out of the country in a second. You would have disappeared into the abyss just like any other witness. But John is desperate to make sure no one can touch you. Why do you think we’re here playing happy little family? Why do you think the bitch and her boyfriend are playing ball? Because of you.”

Nadine’s mouth was dry. “What’s going on? Why are you telling me this?”

“Because the day is going to come when you need to remember what John’s done for you. For some reason, you matter to him. He didn’t come to Daddy for help with the crazy one. Just for you. You make sure you honor that, Nadine. Or I’ll make you sorry you were ever born.”

Claudia snatched up her purse and stalked out, leaving Nadine bewildered.

No Name Restaurant: Dining Room

“Sorry that took so long,” Elizabeth said, sliding back into her chair, setting her clutch down on the table. She reached for her wine. “Claudia Zacchara—”

“I saw her go back there. I’m sorry—”

“It’s fine. Nadine realized it was a setup and asked. I just confirmed that it was a way to show there’s no bad blood between our families. And there’s not,” Elizabeth said, darkly. “Johnny and Nadine are fine. The rest of that family can burn in hell.”

Jason hesitated, then rubbed the edge of his brow with a thumb. “What did Claudia say?”

“Some veiled insults.” Elizabeth tipped her head, considered him. “Did she ever come on to you? I mean, like make a serious pass?”

Jason picked up his beer. “We talked about this.”

“We did. And you told me there was no one else.” She raised her brows. “She did, didn’t she?”

“Why does it matter? I didn’t—”

“No, but—” Elizabeth sighed, shook her head. “No. It doesn’t matter. It’s just—the way she looks at me. It feels like arguing with Carly sometimes. Back when she was still obsessed with you and had to go around smacking any woman who looked at you twice. Well, Carly didn’t scare me, and neither does Claudia Zacchara.” She picked up her fork, sliced into the cheesecake that had been served in her absence.

“Claudia probably should scare you. A little,” Jason added, when she just shot him a look. “She reminds me of Carly, too. A more homicidal version. You don’t need to deal with her again. She lives two hours away, and outside of the last year, we’ve never needed to deal with the Zaccharas. The only reason they’re even here is because of Johnny meeting Lulu.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t like the way she looks at me like she’s got a secret. So if she kissed you or something—”

“There’s nothing to tell,” Jason promised. Elizabeth searched his eyes. “I have no reason to lie to you. I haven’t touched another woman in more than a year—”

“I didn’t mean it like that, I’m sorry. I guess I’m just—” she exhaled slowly. “A little adrenaline from the whole thing. And I don’t think you touched her. But she seems like the kind of woman who wouldn’t wait for an invitation and get a kick out of telling me in front of people like a humiliation thing. So I just wanted to be ready. But if you tell me there’s nothing to know, then I believe you. I just really don’t like her.”

“Me either.” He squeezed her hand. “We did what we came to do, so let’s go home. I don’t want to be around these people longer than I have to be.”

Nadine’s Apartment: Living Room

Johnny hung his keys on the hook by the door, then seemed to stare at a spot on the opposite wall. “I’m sorry about tonight.”

Nadine closed the door, then remained there, leaning her head against it. “Your sister’s intense.”

His head snapped up and he looked at her. “Why? What did she say to you? In the bathroom? What did she do?”

Nadine straightened, startled by his reaction. “Nothing—I mean, nothing that you should be worried about. I’m used to Claudia, or at least I thought I was. It’s been a while since I’ve seen her.” She rubbed her shoulder, then wandered towards the kitchen. She took a bottle of wine from the fridge, then looked at him. “Sorry. I don’t have any of the kind we had at the restaurant. It’s a screw top.”

“I don’t care about that.” Johnny came forward, took the bottle from her. “Did my sister say something that upset you? She knows better. I told her—”

“She loves you,” Nadine said, and he closed his mouth. He looked down at the bottle. “I don’t know. Maybe she was worried because I asked Elizabeth if tonight was planned. If your dad knew she was coming over to talk to us.”

“Nadine—”

“She wanted to make sure I didn’t get upset about it. That I didn’t blame you, I guess. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you—”

“I don’t want an apology. Christ, that’s the last thing I need,” Johnny muttered, shoving the wine back at her and stalking away.

Had she said something wrong? Nadine cradled the wine bottle against her middle, watching as he paced the small length of the living room, then reached the opposite wall and looked at her again. “We talked once about our sisters. Which one of us had it worse. Do you remember?”

His mouth twitched. “Yeah. I do. You decided you’d rather have yours.”

“I won’t pretend I know what it’s like to grow up in a family like yours, with what your father’s done. With a sister who loves you the way Claudia does. The tight rope you have to walk. I know you don’t want me to apologize, and I won’t. It’s not my fault that situation exists. But I am sorry that I agreed to go tonight when you didn’t want to go.”

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” he repeated. Johnny came towards her, took the wine from her again, then set it on the counter. He took her hands in his. “It’s okay,” he said again. “My family are what they are, and no matter what I’ve tried, I can’t escape them. But they’re going back home in a few days, and I don’t have to go with them.”

There was something in his eyes, something she couldn’t quite name, but she couldn’t look away. Couldn’t look away from him.

“I don’t have to go with them,” Johnny repeated. He slid his fingers through her hair, trailing them down her collarbone.

“No, you don’t. You can stay here with me.” She laid a hand on his chest. “As long as it’s where you want to be.”

The corner of his mouth tugged up, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “You’ll regret that. All women who marry into the Zaccharas regret it.”

“Well, men who marry into the Crowells don’t tend to stick around, so…” Nadine licked her lips. “I guess maybe we’re both cursed. You think it’ll cancel out or double up?”

“I don’t know.” He leaned his forehead against hers, slid his hands down her arms from her shoulders to her elbows. “I wish I were the man you deserved.”

“I’ll be the judge of that, thanks.” She tipped her head up and kissed him.

Drake Condo: Nursery

Patrick lingered in the doorway, a hand resting against the frame. “Alexis just called.”

Robin looked up from Emma, readjusting the bottle so that the newborn didn’t gulp in too much air. “Yeah?”

“We’re all set for tomorrow morning. We’ll turn over everything we have, including the database Spinelli has built, and make final statements to your mother and Mac.” He tipped his head. “Alexis suggested that we not be there to make it easier. She has our written statement, and if there are questions, she’ll bring them to us.”

Robin bit her lip, looked back to Emma. “You don’t think that would be cowardly? To avoid seeing her? To not be in the room when we tell her what we know?”

“She came to town under false pretenses and hurt you. I don’t much care if it is cowardly.” Patrick folded his arms. “We agreed — we’re turning this over and making it the WSB’s problem. We did everything we could to protect the hospital. ”

“Yeah, I guess.” Robin sighed, set the bottle aside and shifted Emma so that she could pat her back, waiting for her to burp. “I’m inviting Matt for Thanksgiving by the way.”

“He’ll say no,” Patrick muttered.

Robin smiled, got to her feet, and started to walk in a circle, continuing to gently pat Emma’s back. “Maybe. And we’ll invite him again at Christmas. I can be very annoying when I want something.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Patrick said, and grinned. He dropped a kiss on Robin’s head, then on Emma’s. “I’m living proof that a little nagging can be good for the soul.”

“Ha, very funny.”

Morgan Penthouse: Bedroom

Jason lifted Cameron’s leg back into his bed, and pulled the comforter up to his waist, before making sure Jake was tucked in. Both boys, along with their great-grandmother, had already gone to bed before Jason and Elizabeth had returned from the restaurant.

The boys usually played until they dropped into sleep. There’d been many nights when Jason had carried Cameron to bed, Elizabeth right behind him with the much lighter Jake. Jason would have rather have been at home with them than sitting in a stuffy restaurant glaring at a man who’d tried to kill them.

He closed the door, then headed for their bedroom, stripping off his jacket as he crossed the threshold. Elizabeth had exchanged her dress for a black silk robe that hit her at mid-thigh. She hung the dress back in the closet, then glanced over her shoulder at him. “Hmm, I had plans to take that off myself,” she said, watching as he began to unfasten the buttons on his shirt.

“Well, I had plans for that dress, so I guess we’re both disappointed.” But he didn’t reach for another button, only pulled the ends out of his pants. “Boys are sleeping. Spinelli’s not home yet.”

“Probably with Maxie. I feel bad he’s not here as much because I kicked her out, but then I remember it’s Maxie and that feeling goes away.” Elizabeth crossed to him, then reached for the buttons on his shirt. Instead of undoing them, she leaned up on the tips of her toes to brush her mouth against his. “Sorry for getting jealous at the restaurant. I guess maybe I still have a little unresolved frustration that anyone thought…” She wrinkled her nose. “I mean, I guess you were technically single when those rumors about Claudia started to swirl, but—”

“I haven’t been single, technically or otherwise since I told you I loved you,” he murmured, tipping her chin up so their eyes could meet. “But I know a little something about being jealous.”

“I have no room to talk with what I’ve put you through, I know. I just….” Elizabeth slid her hands over his chest. “We missed so many chances and wasted so much time we can’t get back. I have so many regrets.”

“So do I.” He kissed her, his hands at her waist to hold her close. “But we don’t have to have them anymore. I’ve been…” Jason stroked her hair back from her face. “There’s something I’ve wanted to do for weeks. Months. Maybe even years.”

“Well, if we’re talking about lists kept for years, I have a long one myself,” Elizabeth said, but she stopped when Jason pulled away from her and went to his dresser. “Wait, is it an actual list—” The words died on her lips when he pulled a velvet ring box from the top drawer. “What is that?”

Jason stepped back towards her, keeping his eyes locked on hers. “I bought it after your birthday, but I wasn’t sure—I didn’t know if I had to right to—I’ve—” He stopped shook his head. “I didn’t know if I had the right to ask you first. When I promised you I wouldn’t take—”

She pressed two fingers over his lips. “Don’t apologize. Don’t. We were both so scared and you were so hurt, Jason. So destroyed. All I wanted was for you to be okay. Yes, there were times when I was upset, and even resented you for it. But I always understood. I love you. My boys—our boys—are happier with you than they’ve ever been. This life we already have together—it’s everything I ever wanted, and I don’t need a ring or anything else to prove you love me.”

“So you don’t want it?” he asked, and she bit her lip but couldn’t stop herself from smiling, looking down at the box. “I can return it to the store—”

Elizabeth snatched it out of his hand before he stepped back, even as a joke. “Don’t you dare. I want to see—” She flipped the top up and simply stared at the ring for a long moment, before looking up again, her eyes shimmering with tears. “It’s emerald. For Jake?”

“For Jake and Cameron,” he told her, and a sound escaped her lips that was almost a laugh mixed with a sob. “That’s—” He lifted the ring with emeralds set on either side of a diamond. “That’s why there’s two of them.”

“It’s for Cameron,” she whispered, throwing her arms around him. Jason wrapped his arms around her waist, buried his face in her hair. “You didn’t—but you didn’t ask me yet.”

“I’ve asked you three times,” he said, almost teasing, and pulling back. “I know you didn’t think I meant it the first two—”

“Ask me again,” Elizabeth said, her smile wistful. “Just one more time, okay?”

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes.” She held out her hand. “Yes, I’ll marry you. And if you take it back this time, they’ll never find your body.”

Jason laughed as he slid the ring on her finger, then stumbled when she launched herself at him again, kissing his cheeks, his chin, his forehead before finally finding his mouth, her nimble fingers making quick work of the buttons on his shirt.

He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed, and this time — the door stayed closed.

And the phone stayed silent.

Warehouse: Cargo Bay

“Patience you say,” Karpov muttered. He stalked to the edge of the pier, then whirled around to stab a finger at Jerry. “I have patience for months and nothing happens—”

“You didn’t request my assistance until after Sonny Corinthos was a vegetable,” Jerry said calmly. He adjusted the fit of his leather gloves. “Had you come to me earlier, we might have had success more quickly. Or I would have told you to seek more amenable shipping partners. Perhaps in Rochester—”

“No one says no to Karpov.” The Russian’s face was florid with fury, and Jerry sighed. He didn’t mind working with clients from the Baltic states — they tended to be cold-blooded and amenable to playing the long game. But when they lost their tempers—well it was almost impossible to get them back.

“As I told you in my last message, Johnny Zacchara is making the very inroads we’ve asked of him. He arranged for a truce between his father and Jason Morgan. A truce that does far more for the Zaccharas than the Morgans, I might add. At this point, that family has taken down three members of Jason’s personal inner circle from the child to the bride and groom. The syndicate was waiting for open bloodshed after that incident on the pier. But instead—”

“Instead he stops all shipments,” Karpov muttered. “Who does he think he is? What right does he have to tell me I cannot use those waters?”

An idiot trying to get out of the mob, but Jerry decided that wouldn’t do any good to offer. “My point is that Jason Morgan did not have to make that deal. He did it for his family. He feels protective of the nurse. Johnny’s wife. It won’t take more than a few more nudges for Johnny to give us everything we need — ”

“I can get what I need other ways,” Karpov muttered. “I snatch one of those kids, and he’ll give me those routes—”

“And you’d lack his South American and Caribbean connections to make them work, and all you’d have done is pissed him off. So if we could stop talking about blowing people up and killing children, perhaps you’ll allow me some more time?” Jerry asked.

“I am done waiting, Mr. Jacks. I must have results. You took the nurse’s sister to push Zacchara into cooperating. Why cannot I take something from Morgan?”

Jerry mentally counted to ten. “There’s not much left to take from Morgan that would work as a message. If you want a body, I can look at his inner circle. I am not recommending you go for someone in the immediate family. Dead children bring too much heat. Maybe you take the woman,” he said almost reluctantly. “But I remind you what happened the last time you tried to eliminate her.”

“Morgan cut all shipments,” Karpov growled. “And lost not an inch of power. How can he cut all those clients and lose nothing—”

“He spent the summer making contacts in other ports. Rerouted them. Almost admirable,” Jerry said, “if you wanted to cut your profits in half. He eliminated the most dangerous part of his business in a couple of months without making a single enemy. He has allies, Andrei. He’s spent his entire career being the smart one in this organization. Did you expect him to crumble at the first sign of stress?”

“If I kill this woman this time,” Karpov said, “I make him crumble, yes?”

“I think you’d be better going for the tech,” Jerry said. “Damien Spinelli is not only an emotional connection, but a resourceful one. He lives with Morgan and the family. And he single-handedly shut down your operation at the hospital. Why don’t you give me a day or two to look into eliminating him?”

“This Spinelli would be a message, then. We take this body, and Morgan does business with us?”

Not a chance in hell, but Jerry wasn’t going to tell him that. Killing a useless comatose woman was one thing — another death would only increase the pressure from the authorities—

Jerry had been contracted to find a way to force Jason Morgan to reopen the Port Charles shipping routes. After six weeks, he had concluded that was not going to happen. Now, all that he could do was bow out gracefully without having a bloodthirsty Russian hunting him down.

“Yes,” Jerry said finally. “Johnny Zacchara decided to do his part when I made it clear I could have taken the wife instead of the sister. If I can grab Spinelli at a time when I could have taken someone closer like the nurse or the boys, it will make it all very clear. Give me a day or two to set it up.”

“Fine. But this is your last chance.” Karpov stalked away.

“Raging lunatic,” Jerry muttered. It was time to think of an exit strategy.

THE END
for now

---

My deepest apologies for leaving you there, lol. It was necessary to break this project into a trilogy just so that you weren’t waiting YEARS to read it, and Book 2 took a lot longer than I’d hoped (two extra months!) But this seemed like a good place to leave our characters. Jason and Elizabeth are stronger than ever and engaged, Robin and Patrick are building their family, and well — everyone else is a mess.

I’m not going to give you a date as to when Book 3 will be out. I do have a lot of the big stuff already written from before the project was broken into pieces, but I’ve been working on this project since November 2023 and I’m taking a break to work on my Tortured Poets collection for Crimson Swift. I will promise, however, that you’ll get Book 3 this year — hopefully in the summer.  I appreciate your patience while I take my time to craft quality stories that feel worth the wait. Until then, check out the Flash Fiction and backlist of more than 20 other novels.

Love you lots <3
Lissie

What are the things that I want to say
Just aren’t coming out right?
I’m tripping on words
You got my head spinning
I don’t know where to go from here
– You and Me, Lifehouse

---

Sunday, November 16, 2008

No Name Restaurant: Lobby

The restaurant was decorated with dark wood paneling and muted earth tones, just as it had been a decade earlier when Elizabeth had last visited. A man waited just inside, divesting Jason and Elizabeth of their coats. At the archway leading into the dining room proper, a woman with stones glinting at her ears and around her neck waited.

“Mr. Morgan, your table is waiting just as you requested.” She gestured for them to follow her, and Elizabeth slid her arm through Jason’s.

“No waiting in line or checking for a reservation,” she murmured as they weaved through a medium-sized dining room with tables covered by thick, white tablecloths, lit by candles, and tableware that looked like it might have paid the rent on Elizabeth’s studio.

“It’s one of the very few perks,” Jason said, and she smiled.

The hostess led them to the opposite side of the room where there were semi-private tables, each sectioned off with its own paneling on each side, leaving only the front open to the dining table. Of course — Jason wouldn’t want his back to anyone in the restaurant, Elizabeth thought as he pulled out a chair for her. She sat down, and he took the other seat, pulling it closer to hers so that they were close together, both their backs mostly facing the wall.

“Shall I bring your usual?” the hostess asked, “or would you like to see the menu and wait for Ricardo?”

“Ricardo is fine,” Jason said, accepting the single sheet of heavy, embossed paper the woman handed him.  He ordered a beer and Elizabeth asked for a wine after scanning the list at the bottom.

“You know, I came here once when I was sixteen,” Elizabeth told him. “You arranged for Lucky to bring me for dinner.”

“I remember that.” Jason stretched an arm across the back of her seat. “He wanted to take you somewhere nice.”

“Sorry, I probably shouldn’t bring him up—” She adjusted the napkin on the table, then the gold charger beneath the white plate.

“It doesn’t bother me when you talk about him. Especially before the fire. It was different,” he told her. “He was different.”

“He was,” Elizabeth said with a wistful sigh, then she smiled at him. “I only brought it up because it was the first time I’d dressed up since…well, since that night. It was a really good memory, and I think it’s just interesting like so many of the good things in my life, you played a part.”

Jason shifted slightly. “I made a call,” he muttered, and she smiled again.

“All right, fine I won’t embarrass you. Talk to me about what to do once the Zaccharas get here. Is there a certain time I should go over—towards the beginning, middle, end—” She broke off when a tuxedo-clad waiter came to take their orders and set down their drinks.

“Dessert,” Jason said when they were alone again. “Going over any earlier suggests nerves. We’re going to sit here, pretend to have a good time—”

“Pretend?” She lifted her brows.

“You know what I mean.” She just smiled, and Jason continued. “And then you’ll get up and go to the ladies room. You’ll pretend to just notice them.”

“Ah, because it shows that you’re not worried about them. Not thinking about anyone being here you have to watch for.” She picked up her wine glass. “You absolutely hate every second of this.”

“Yeah, I do. It’s all…surface. Pretense.” His fingers were tight around the green glass bottle of Rolling Rock. “Like the men in here aren’t violent—”

“Don’t forget the women,” Elizabeth said. “Claudia Zacchara will be here, won’t she?” When he just sighed again, she slid her hand under the table, touched his leg. “It’s one night, Jason. We can do this. It’s just a date. You and me, right? The boys are at home. No spaghetti sauce to clean out of hair or clothes. Or noodles in strange places—”

“I like all of that,” he interrupted.

“I know that, and so do I. But we didn’t…we didn’t get to do any of this,” she said. He frowned, met her eyes. “You know, most of what we have, it’s been in hotel rooms and studios and places people can’t see. I don’t know, I kind of like that I can sit here with you and people can look at us, and I don’t have to worry anymore. We get to eat food neither of us had to cook or pick up — I get to see you in a suit. You hate it, I know. But—” She stroked one of the lapels of the black jacket. “I don’t mind it once in a while.”

“You like this stuff?” He asked, nodding at the candles on the table, the fancy tables. The glass of wine. “I can do more of this—”

“Special occasions once in a while, sure. I want to make sure we always remember that the life we have, it starts with us. I don’t just want to be a parent. I want to be Elizabeth. Not just Mom.” She smiled again. “And next time, it can be a private dining room where you don’t have to talk to or see a single person. So until I have to get up and put on a show, why don’t we try to have a good time?”

No Name Restaurant: Parking Lot

Johnny switched off the ignition, but didn’t reach for the handle of the door. In front of them, the restaurant loomed large. It had few windows (avoiding those pesky drive by shootings) and no exterior sign to advertise itself to anyone who didn’t have a membership.

“You really don’t want to do this, do you?” Nadine asked from the passenger seat. He glanced at her, then away.

He never should have touched her.

He’d been able to avoid it since her sister’s death, telling himself that he could give her comfort because she deserved that, but he had no right to anything else. He was lying to her, keeping secrets, and making a mockery of every reason she’d married him in the first place.

But Johnny realized he’d only been fooling himself. Instead of congratulating himself on finally learning self-control, he’d realized Nadine had really been the one holding back. It was she who hadn’t reached for him, and the second she’d initiated anything—hell, all she’d done was look at him, he’d jumped her with the impulse control of a high school boy fumbling with his first girlfriend.

“No, I really don’t,” Johnny said, finally. “But we don’t have a choice.”

“I’m sorry that it’s like this with your family. Dreading being around them, I mean.”

Johnny looked at her and her eyes were on him. Even in the dim light from the lights in the parking lot, her blue eyes glinted with empathy and warmth. Sorrow. For him. His throat was tight, and he tore his eyes away again, staring hard at the window shield.

“There are worse problems to have,” he muttered.

“There are,” Nadine confirmed. “But that doesn’t make them any less yours. Or awful.” She touched his face, her fingers soft and cool against his skin. He closed his eyes, let himself enjoy the sensation for just a moment before reaching up to pull her hand away, pressing the inside of her palm to his lips.

Sometimes he almost hated her for being a good person. For having an open heart and the impulsive need to share it, to leave it undefended and unguarded so that worthless men like him could come along and drain every ounce of warmth and love she offered, leaving nothing but a shell behind.

Because that’s all that would be left when this marriage was done, Johnny thought. He’d kill everything that made Nadine who she was, and he didn’t want that. He wanted to protect her from the world, from his family, from himself—

But before he could keep her heart safe, he had to protect her life and make her untouchable. “I don’t want to do this, but they’re already here. They came all this way, and you’re right. Pissing them off is the last thing I need.”

“Then we’ll go inside, get it over, and go home.” She smiled hesitantly. “It’s just dinner, right? No big deal.”

“No big deal,” he echoed. He kissed the palm of the hand he still held, then released it. “We’d better go in.”

No Name Restaurant: Dining Room

Johnny and Nadine arrived late, nearly halfway through the main course. Jason had watched the Zacchara table out of the corner of his eye, noting Anthony’s impatience climbing as the chairs at the table in the center of the room remained empty. Anthony and Claudia had been joined by Trevor and Ric, a fact that hadn’t been communicated to Jason in either conversation about the damn evening.

As soon as Ric had walked into the room, Jason had tensed, and he’d felt Elizabeth’s hand on his thigh again, reminding him that the point of this damn farce was to act like he didn’t notice the Zaccharas at all.

It was nothing more than a sick joke, this whole night. But it was necessary, Jason thought. He knew that. But to be in the same room with a man who had nearly killed Elizabeth the year before, and another man who had locked Carly in a panic room and hurt Elizabeth over and over again—

There had to be a way to exterminate both men from the planet, but until then Jason forced himself to do as Elizabeth had suggested. Focus on her. On just being with her. She liked being out in the open with him, though he’d never understand why.

“You look like you want to murder someone,” Elizabeth said. She slid her chair a bit closer so that they were nearly pressed together.

“I do,” he muttered. He stretched his arm across the back of her chair again. “Not you.”

“I figured. Everyone else?”

“Pretty much.” With his other hand, he scratched his eyebrow. “I’m sorry. You wanted me to think about you.”

“No, I wanted you to focus on me because if you’re looking at me, you’re not thinking of all the ways you could dislocate Ric’s thumb without breaking a sweat,” she said dryly, and now he did look at her with a half smile. “I know the difference between general discomfort and plotting Ric’s demise. I’ve been looking at that face for a few years now.”

“I should have tossed him in the harbor the first time I saw him near you,” he muttered. ” I saw you on the docks, smiling at him, and there was no reason to distrust him then. Except he was near you.”

“Well, then maybe you understand why I tried to slap Courtney so hard her teeth would fall out,” Elizabeth retorted. “I should have yanked her by that straw she called hair.” She wrinkled her nose. “Sorry.”

“We made a couple of mistakes,” he said. She lifted her brows. “More than a few,” he admitted. “But we’re back here, aren’t we?”

“We are.” Elizabeth smiled, her eyes glinting in the candlelight. “And we’re stronger for it. Because I know exactly what I have with you, and I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect it.” She sat back as their main courses plates were cleared away. “Including going over there and standing in front of the man who kidnapped me from a room where I was standing over my dead best friend’s body and then threatened to push me over the edge of a parapet.”

“Elizabeth—”

“Dessert’s being served,” she said, setting her napkin on the table. She leaned over to kiss him lightly. “That’s my cue.”

Jones Apartment: Living Room

Maxie had planned to spend the night forgetting the wrecking ball she’d taken her to life that week — Spinelli had called a few times, but she’d refused the calls, and she’d called out sick from work on Friday, not wanting to look Kate in the face. Not wanting to look anyone in the face after that humiliating breakdown she’d had in the elevator.

To think Maxie had lost her mind with Elizabeth Webber of all people — how absolutely mortifying. Maxie would never be able to show her face again around the hospital or around that woman who would absolutely never let Maxie live it down.

Instead, Maxie had decided to wallow for just a few more days, spending the weekend watching television, snacking on terrible food, and thinking about nothing more than the godawful interior designs on the home makeover shows. She tossed more kernels of popcorn in her mouth, mentally reworking every room.

And then the show changed to a drama, one Maxie never remembered to keep up on, but enjoyed when she could. She liked watching other people screw up their lives. It was much more fun to live in someone else’s misery. She almost forgot her terrible week and the meltdown—

Until a fire broke out on the show, and people were screaming, trying to get out—

Maxie stared down at the popcorn in her hand, her stomach suddenly roiling. It wasn’t the same. Wasn’t the same at all. It hadn’t been a fire that took Georgie. But they’d been trapped on Spoon Island all night, trapped in Wyndemere with a crazy Anthony Zacchara—

And a killer. Diego Alcazar had been there that night. Had he always planned to hurt Georgie? Had he looked at them that night and chosen Emily instead?

It should have been me.

The wrong sister died.

Maxie curled her hand in a tight fist, feeling the greasy popcorn against her skin, the sharp edge of the kernel digging in.

You’re afraid the universe will take him next. You’re picking a battle you know he can’t fight.

…until you forgive yourself for living.

You keep pushing him away, he’ll stay gone.

Maxie looked at the phone, sitting silently on the charger next to her. She could call Spinelli. He’d probably forgive her. He probably already had. He was sweet that way. He knew that she didn’t mean what she’d said, that she wasn’t even angry at him. Not really.

She should call him.

But instead, she left the popcorn bowl on the coffee table, turned off the television, and went to bed.

No Name Restaurant: Dining Room

The entire evening had been miserable, from the irritation in his father’s eyes when he and Nadine had been nearly a half hour late, to the tension radiating from his sister’s uncharacteristically quiet frame. Claudia must have drank at least a bottle of wine on her own. Ric kept pretending he wasn’t looking at the table across the room where Jason was sitting with Elizabeth, his fingers tightening every time Jason leaned closer to Ric’s ex-wife.

Trevor filled the silence with obnoxious stories and terrible, offensive jokes, while Nadine picked at her meal.

Mercifully, Elizabeth finally rose from the table and made her way towards them. Anthony’s bad mood fell away, and he was grinning like a Cheshire cat. Nadine’s eyes were wide when the other woman finally reached them.

“It’s so nice to see a few familiar faces,” Elizabeth said, resting one hand on Johnny’s chair and leaning in to kiss Nadine’s cheek. “Mr. Zacchara, we don’t see you often in Port Charles. Must be a special occasion.”

“It is indeed, Miss Webber,” Anthony said, wiggling his bushy eyebrows. “It’s not easy to travel with this contraption, you know, so I wouldn’t do it for just anyone.”

“Of course, you manage so well, one might completely forget the plunge you took from the parapet at Wyndemere,” Elizabeth said, and her smile had changed slightly, the look in her eye slightly more fierce. “But you’ve risen above the tragedy of the circumstances. It’s a testament to your…willpower, I’m sure.”

“Naturally. I thank you for your kind words, Miss Webber.” Anthony’s smile had also shifted, but it was almost admiring. Johnny knew something had happened with Jason, Elizabeth, and Anthony the night of the ball, and he knew his father was surprised Elizabeth would refer to it. And a little impressed.

“And Nadine, it’s so good to see you. It’s nice to be out of our scrubs, isn’t it?” Elizabeth asked, squeezing Nadine’s hand. “Jason and I wanted to offer our condolences for the loss of your sister. I know you and Jolene weren’t close, but it’s always hard to lose family.”

“Thank you.” Nadine smiled gratefully, a sheen in her eyes. “Thank you.”

“Jason and I are coming to the services on Tuesday. You’re not alone,” Elizabeth told her. She looked at Johnny now. “Nadine’s one of my favorite people, Johnny. You couldn’t have chosen better. I hope you know that.”

And now he read the warning in Elizabeth’s eyes. He’d only met the nurse a handful of times, but he remembered her fierceness that night in the stables. “I do.”

“We’ll have to do something soon. Just the four of us. Jason and I don’t know many couples our age.” Elizabeth looked at the rest of the table, as if thinking of greeting the other three members of their party. Ric straightened, began to smile, but then Elizabeth looked at him, then directly at Anthony. Ric’s smile fell.

“Mr. Zacchara, I hope you’ll let Jason and I pick up the bill for dinner tonight as a belated wedding gift to your son. It would be our pleasure to pay for your family to celebrate Johnny and Nadine. Family is so important. It should be treasured.”

Anthony lifted just one brow. “Of course. I look forward to returning the favor one day, Miss Webber. Perhaps when you and Mr. Morgan decide to make it legal?”

“Oh, don’t worry. Jason and I have wanted to return the favor you did us last year when you gave us that speech about love at Wyndemere. It was…” Elizabeth paused. “Unforgettable. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

No one will ever see this side reflected
And if there’s something wrong, who would have guessed it?
And I have left alone everything that I own
To make you feel like it’s not too late, it’s never too late
– Never Too Late, Three Days Grace

---

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Morgan Penthouse: Kitchen

“How come Stone Cold never cooked such delicious flaps of jack before the Little Dude and the Sequel came to live with us?” Spinelli demanded, bringing his syrup-stained plate to Jason at the dishwasher.

“Because you’re an adult who can cook for himself, and Jake and Cameron are my sons who can’t use a stove,” Jason said, almost absently. He rinsed the plate and stowed it with the others. “Just be grateful I made extra for you.”

“The Jackal never complains, he only inquires why Stone Cold hid the domestic side of his nature. But perhaps he needed just the right influence to draw it out of him,” Spinelli said, beaming as Elizabeth joined them in the kitchen. “Has the Fair Elizabeth cleansed and renewed to her satisfaction?”

“No trace of syrup anywhere. The boys are in the living room arguing about which cartoon to watch,” Elizabeth told Spinelli.

“Then the Jackal must offer his sage advice. They have the worst taste.”

Jason just rolled his eyes after the tech disappeared. “I think sugar makes him worse,” he said. He frowned. “How is Jake arguing with Cam about what to watch?”

Elizabeth grinned, slid her arms around his waist. “He slams the remote out of Cam’s hand every time Cam stops on a channel he doesn’t want. He’s like his father. Actions, not words.”

“Is that right?” Jason kissed her, careful to keep his sticky hands away from her face or hair. “Don’t you think that’s going to start a fist fight?”

“Sure. That’s why I sent Spinelli in. They always do what he wants. He’s their favorite older brother.”

“Oh, don’t—” Jason winced, then rinsed his hands and switched on the dishwasher. “Don’t call him that.”

“Okay, fine. Favorite uncle.” Elizabeth set the tea kettle on the stove to boil and went searching for her favorite tea in the cabinet. “He’s part of your family, Jason. Whether you like it or not. And you have to admit, he’s amazing with the kids.”

“That’s because they have the same level of maturity—” Jason exhaled slowly. “You’re right. And he’s worked hard for me. I just—” He leaned against the counter. “He’s like a fungus. He annoys you and keeps growing until you look around and can’t imagine him not being there.”

“Accurate.” She set her tea to steep and went to the table to wait. “Plus, he’ll keep the boys occupied long enough for us to talk about the call I just got from Patrick. He and Robin are having Alexis meet with Anna tomorrow. She’s still not ready to completely talk to her mother, but we’re turning everything over.”

“Why are we waiting until Monday?” Jason wanted to know. He poured another cup of coffee. “Why not today?”

“I asked that, and Patrick says the official line is that Robin thought we should wait until we go to dinner tonight in case something happens with the Zaccharas.”

“And unofficially?”

“Robin just wants to let her mother stew a little longer. There’s no hurry, unless you think there should be.”

“No. I mean, whoever did this to Jolene is probably getting impatient, but I still don’t know who it could be. I know Anna is interested in Karpov, but I don’t see how this could be him. Whoever is doing this is going after Johnny, probably to get to his father. But I don’t know why.”

“Well, wouldn’t it be the same reason he wanted to go after you?” Elizabeth asked. She bit her lip. “Unless you don’t want to get into it—”

“No, it’s—” Jason set his coffee aside, debating just how much to tell her. “We have international routes between South America and Canada. He came to me first, and I said no. For a lot of reasons, but mostly because I didn’t want to deal with the Russians. Anthony doesn’t have those routes, so I don’t understand why Karpov would be interested in Johnny.”

“Well, let’s say Anna’s right to suspect Karpov. She’s got connections we don’t. You said Karpov brought that guy to Sonny’s the night before the shooting.” Elizabeth sipped her tea. “He thought you’d be too distracted by me, and Sonny could take back the business and he’d agree to the deal.”

“If you’d…” Jason was quiet for a long moment, listening to the sounds of cartoons from the living room, the maniacal high-pitched giggling of Cameron and Jake mixed with Spinelli’s slightly deeper tones. “If Patrick had been even a little bit later getting you into surgery, you’d be dead. And I’d be no good to anyone. So it could have worked.”

She reached over, covered his hand, using her thumb to stroke over his skin. He was comforted by this reminder that while tragedy had struck that day, it hadn’t been the nightmare Karpov might have envisioned.

“He also didn’t know Sonny would go after Johnny like that in broad daylight,” Elizabeth said softly. “So he’s ruthless but he doesn’t know the players as well. He’d have been better off bringing that shooter to you. Didn’t you say he had the guy tell you it was Johnny?”

“That’s what Sonny told me that morning. Karpov brought the guy to him, the guy delivered the story, and Karpov executed him on the spot. No way to double check, to know the identity, nothing. Sonny was too angry to consider that at the time, but it seemed too convenient that Karpov would be able to produce the shooter, and he’d give up Johnny.”

“He could find the shooter if he hired him in the first place,” Elizabeth said.

“Yeah, maybe. But—” Jason hesitated. “I keep coming back to why Karpov would have Kate shot. He had a clean shot at Sonny, at me, but he went after Kate. If he’d taken me out, Sonny would be back in the business. He’d have no choice. And Sonny would have made the deal.”

“Okay, well, I hate this conversation,” Elizabeth muttered, rubbing her cheek. “Okay, so it sounds like you don’t think Karpov went after Kate.”

“I don’t know for sure, but the more time passes, the more I don’t think so. I don’t know if Karpov heard everything we knew and figured Sonny would come after him, so he was trying to get in front of it. Maybe he was framing Johnny.”

“Everything you knew?”

“Russian shooter. Russian gun and ammunition. But maybe—” He frowned. “It’s hard to know because I wasn’t there, but maybe it was the shooter. And Karpov got to him first, twisted him to use him against Sonny.”

“But if Karpov didn’t go after Kate, Jason, that doesn’t leave anyone except the Zaccharas.”

“No, it doesn’t.” And he’d already made the deal for peace. He grimaced. “It was Anthony. Had to be.”

“But Johnny was there—he had to know Sonny would blame his kid—” Elizabeth closed her mouth. “Did Anthony know you’d been holding Sonny back all year?”

“Ric and Trevor knew, so yeah. And Claudia damn well did.” His fingers curled into a fist. “He had to know I wouldn’t blame Johnny. Not with Lulu there. What did he think would happen—”

“Exactly what did,” Elizabeth said, her eyes somber. “You and Sonny at odds. Not trusting or talking to each other. Karpov here to keep making problems for you.” Her breath was a little shaky. “He wanted to cause chaos. Like he did last year. And he didn’t care what happened to his son.”

“He thought I’d protect Johnny.” Jason’s smile was grim. “And he was right. I left Sonny in lock up, and the only reason I wasn’t there that day was because you were in emergency surgery, and I didn’t give a damn what happened to any of them. That’s not Anthony. That’s Karpov. I had them both coming at me from opposite directions at the same time, not even working together.”

He dragged a hand down his face. “And now I’m taking you to a dinner where you have to walk over to their damn table, smile at them—”

Elizabeth pulled his hand away, waited for him to meet her gaze. “We already knew that something was happening on their side. And you can’t tell me you ever really crossed Anthony off the list.”

“No—”

“You told me that this dinner was about making sure that everyone knows you don’t blame Johnny for what happened to Sonny. And you don’t. It’s not about Anthony.”

“No. No, it’s not.” He sighed. “No, and he has few allies in all of this.” Jason gripped her hand more tightly. “You were right, you know. About letting you in. I don’t like it, I never will. But…”

“You don’t have a lot of people you trust anymore. Who know you and Sonny,” Elizabeth said. She smiled, tipping her head. “I’m not looking to be your consigliere or whatever that Tom guy was in The Godfather, but I’m the one person in the world whose loyalty and trust you will never, ever have to question.”

He tugged on her hand, pulled her into his lap to kiss her lightly. “The Godfather?”

“It’s the one movie I know you’ve seen,” she teased, nipping at his lips. “You’re safe with me,” she murmured, some of the humor fading from her expression. “Always.”

“I know.” He stroked her cheek. “I’m just sorry I fought it for so long. I’m better with you.”

Nadine’s Apartment: Bedroom

Nadine sifted through her closet, looking at her meager collection of semi-formal outfits. There was a dress she’d worn on her one real date with Nikolas, so obviously — no on that. The white dress she’d worn at the Black and White Ball the year before — and one that Anthony Zacchara had tried to murder her in, so that was out—and it was too formal, she thought. Basically a wedding dress.

She shoved the garment bag aside, making a note to donate it. The dry cleaner had restored it to wearable, and some other woman could have better luck in it.

Johnny strode in, the ends of a tie loose around his neck. “We can back out,” he told her, and she looked at him. “If you’re not up to going.”

“They’re driving all the way up here,” Nadine said. She pulled out a green dress — the top layer was a filmy, floating material that gave it an extra sense of formality. She held it against her, checked herself in the mirror over her dresser. “What about this one?”

“You look great in everything,” Johnny said, his mouth pinched. “And if anyone says anything—”

“Johnny.” She sighed and sat on the bed. “Look, we’re in this for at least…another six months. Maybe a year, right? How long before you think the PCPD can’t bring a case against you?”

“At least that long,” he muttered. He whipped the tie from around his neck.

“I don’t want to create problems with your father. You already have enough baggage with him,” Nadine added when Johnny just looked at her. “I don’t want to add to it by refusing to have dinner with him. And don’t act like backing out now would be easy. I didn’t realize you didn’t want to go when your sister brought it up. I’m sorry I agreed.”

“It’s not—” Johnny just shook his head. “Never mind. Never mind. I just—” He rubbed his mouth. “I hate that you’re worrying about what to wear to impress my father like it matters, that’s all. You’ve…you’re going through so much, and I don’t want to make it worse—”

“It’s a relief,” Nadine admitted. She removed the dress from the hanger, laid it out on the bed, then shed the robe she’d put on after her shower, leaving her clad in a plain white bra and panty set. After weeks of sharing such a small space and bed with Johnny, her self-consciousness had faded entirely. She went to her small jewelry box, looking for some gold pieces. “Something else to think about other than the memorial that no one is going to come to.”

“People are going to come—”

“You. Your family. Epiphany. Elizabeth. Probably Jason because he’ll go anywhere Elizabeth asks him to.” Nadine sighed. “I don’t want to keep wallowing in this. Jolene killed people. I married Lulu’s boyfriend a week after she had a breakdown—”

Johnny came behind her, pulled her against him, encircling her shoulders with his arms. She leaned against him, letting the heat from his body slide through her, surprised when there was tingling low in her belly. She bit her lip, then slowly turned in his arms, his hands sliding down her skin to rest at her hips. She rested hers on his chest, looking up at him. “This is going to sound insane.”

His breathing had quickened, and his eyes were darker, the tips of his fingers sliding over the top of her panties. “We’re supposed to leave in twenty minutes.”

“I know.” She smiled ruefully. “Maybe when we get back—” She stepped back to get dressed, but Johnny yanked her back and kissed her hard, fast, and intense, fisting his hand in her hair. Nadine shoved his suit jacket off his shoulders, his free hand twisting the strap of her bra until he could palm her breast in his hand.

“We can be late,” Johnny decided, tossing her on the bed. “They’ll deal with it.”

For the time in a week, Nadine grinned, dragged him down so she could feel the weight of him against her. “We’re supposed to be newlyweds, we have a built-in-excuse.”

Cosmopolitan Hotel: Suite

The hotel wasn’t nearly as luxurious as anything she’d find in Manhattan, Claudia thought, pausing in the foyer area of the suite to check her makeup in the gilded wall mirror, but she’d stayed in worse.

“We’re really going to go to this viewing on Tuesday?” Ric said, sidling up to her side, straightening his tie. “Your father thinks that’s a good idea?”

“Daddy is eager to keep Johnny happy,” Claudia said. She reapplied her lipstick, then tossed it in her clutch. “Plus, he figures Jason Morgan will be there, so why not?”

“Your father thrives on chaos. It doesn’t make you nervous he engineered this whole evening when he tried to kill Jason and Elizabeth last year? Or is likely behind Kate’s shooting?”

Claudia paused, met the lawyer’s eyes in the mirror. “You must be very sure of yourself, Ricky, to be making those kinds of statements out in the open.”

“Your father and Trevor already went down to the lobby which you know. And since you set up the hit that landed Michael Corinthos in a coma, I’m not worried about you.”

A chill slithered down her spine, but she kept her expression in its characteristic smirk. “Like I said, very sure of yourself.” She raised an eyebrow. “If you think I’m the reason your nephew is a vegetable, then why not tell Jason? Oh, right. Because he hates the sight of you. Didn’t you do something terrible to Carly once upon a time?”

“You’d think it was about Carly, wouldn’t you? But I’ve always known Jason’s hatred is rooted in something much more…personal. Visceral. I managed to get Elizabeth to the altar before he did.”

“But couldn’t keep her, could you, Ricky?” She turned and patted his cheek. “She’s not a fond, loving ex-wife, is she? Neither of them is. Daddy must have loved sending you to Port Charles as the messenger. Jason couldn’t lay a hand on you—”

“I have no doubt that in the event I’m murdered, the last face I’ll ever see is his,” Ric said dryly. “But enough of my checkered past, Claudia. My crimes are well known. Yours? Not so much.”

Claudia lifted her brows. “All I hear are words. Not a single ounce of proof.”

Ric laughed, long and rich, making her clench her jaw. “Oh, and Anthony Zacchara is going to require evidence? You think Jason will? No, it would just be confirmation of what they both probably suspect, and you know that. You live because Jason, while capable of violence, likely thinks there’s been enough blood shed in this war between your families. But he could always change his mind.”

“Is there a point to this little tête-à-tête?” Claudia asked, tightly. “Or are you just having fun?”

“I’m enjoying myself, to be sure, but I thought you might want to know that your deep, dark secret — the one you’re protecting so hard? Everyone already knows. And one day, it’s going to be worthwhile to use it. If I were you, I’d make sure I’m the one pulling the strings, not waiting for the ceiling to crash down. Since you’re the reason Johnny’s looking for protection in the first place.”

Her smile faded entirely. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I love my brother—”

“Sure. So did I.” Ric strode to the door, opened it. “Shall we meet the others, or do you want to keep having this conversation?”

“I love my brother,” Claudia repeated through clenched teeth. “And I will do anything to protect him—”

“Sure,” Ric repeated with that infuriating smile. “And I’m sure Johnny appreciates your efforts.”

She hissed, then stalked past him. Little bastard didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

Audrey beamed when Elizabeth and Jason came down the stairs. “Oh, don’t the two of you look so nice!” She lifted Jake in her arms. “Jake, doesn’t Mommy look pretty?”

“Pretty Mommy,” Jake echoed with his slow, sweet smile so like his father’s. Elizabeth laughed, then took her son from her grandmother, cuddling him.

“Thanks for coming tonight,” Jason said to Audrey. “We really appreciate it—”

“As soon as Elizabeth told me you were taking her out to dinner, I couldn’t say no. She doesn’t get to put on a pretty dress enough,” Audrey said. She went over to the shelf where Elizabeth kept a digital camera to take photos of the boys. “I think we need one to add to the album—”

“Gram—” Elizabeth’s cheeks heated, and she looked at Jason with a little mortification. “It’s just dinner—” She set Jake on his feet, and the toddler made a beeline towards his older brother, playing with his Legos.

“I know, but it’s my job to embarrass you,” Audrey said, lifting her chin. “Now—in front of the fireplace, I should think—”

“I am so sorry about this,” Elizabeth told Jason when he just laughed and pulled her across the room to stand in front of the unlit fireplace. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her.”

“But you look beautiful,” Jason told her, pitching his voice low so that only she could hear him. He adjusted the thick strap of the lavender floral print dress she’d chosen for that night, with its sweetheart neckline, and full skirt that ended just above her knees. “This reminds me of the dress you were wearing at Vista Point.”

“You—” Her eyes widened. “You remember what I was wearing?” The night he’d kissed her so senseless she’d had to sit down and try to remember her own name. She brushed his suit jacket, the flush in her cheeks deepening.

“The straps were thinner, but yeah, I remember. It was the last time—” Some of his good mood faded. It was the last time he’d kissed her until that night in his penthouse. Almost exactly four years later.

“No regrets,” she murmured, resting a hand on the crisp black shirt beneath his suit jacket. Their eyes met, held. He’d left off the tie at her request. In fact, she’d chosen the suit he’d been wearing the night he’d carried her up to his room and they’d been interrupted by Carly. She knew he’d be distracted and tense after the meeting, and she had a plan to take his mind off things.

But she’d never dreamed he’d bring up that night at Vista Point.

The flash of the camera startled them both, and they looked at Audrey who’d taken a photo without their knowledge. “Gram!”

“Now this time, let’s try looking at me, and smiling.”

Jacks House: Kitchen

“Oh, good, pizza.” Carly kissed her mother on the cheek, then went to take plates down from the cabinet. “I should really hire a chef or something. This kitchen is too nice to only be used for the microwave and toaster oven.”

Bobbie smiled, rubbed Carly’s back as she passed her on the way to the fridge. “Where’s Morgan?”

“Watching some new Disney movie. His current favorite one, so we’re good for maybe thirty minutes before I should check on him. He never takes his eyes off it.” Carly sat at the island. “Mama, do you think I’m a good person?”

Bobbie set the bottle of iced tea on the counter. “That depends on your definition.”

“I bet you wouldn’t ask for a definition if Elizabeth or Robin asked you.”  Her mother sighed, and Carly made a face. “I’m right, aren’t I? You’d say yes without thinking if it were them.”

“I would. But they’d never ask me, and I think if you have to ask, well, maybe you already suspect the answer.” Bobbie poured two glasses of tea, set one in front of her daughter, and sat on the other side of the island. “What are we really talking about?”

Carly sighed, rotated the glass halfway to the left, then to the right. “The day we transferred Sonny to Silver Water, Robin showed up to say goodbye. And I…was annoyed. Because she hasn’t been around in years, but she wants to come in like the perfect angel in the end—”

“She and Sonny were close for a long time, Carly. It doesn’t take anything from you to let that be true.” Bobbie tipped her head. “But you also mentioned Elizabeth, so this is about Jason.”

“Jason hated Robin after what happened. He was so angry, and I felt so vindicated that he’d finally seen what I always had — but he was nice to her. And mad at me when I said something bitchy like she didn’t matter. We had a fight because there’s no way I will ever forgive that bitch for what she did.”

Carly looked away from her mother’s gaze, seeing the same exasperation she’d seen in Jason’s. “Robin came out from talking to Sonny, and she and Jason were just so—God, so nice to each other. And he was smiling at her, like she hadn’t come through our lives like a wrecking ball—and Elizabeth, she pisses me off because she knew why I was really mad — because all of this — me and Sonny and Michael — it can be traced back to Robin blowing things up with Michael and ruining any chance Jason and I ever had—”

“Is that really bothering you right now? Not being with Jason?” Bobbie wanted to know. “I thought you’d put that away—”

“I did, too. And I have. Mostly. But Elizabeth came over yesterday, and I was just angry with her all over again because she and Jason—Jason talks to her. He never talks to me. I never know what’s going on unless Jason has no choice. But she gets to be in the inner circle. And I’m watching them — and Jason—he’s so happy, Mama. Even with all the sadness around him — he makes time for those boys, and he’s making time for Elizabeth and I’m jealous—”

She took a long, slow breath. “I’m so jealous I can’t see straight. Because all I ever do is sabotage my life. I slept with Sonny and destroyed Jax’s trust in me. And when he tried to reach out to patch things up, I slapped his hand away. I love him. Why did I do that? Why do I care that Elizabeth is the one that makes Jason happy? Or that she’s given him a son? He deserves that, doesn’t he? If I’m really his friend, then wouldn’t that be all that matters?”

She picked at one of her nails, left jagged from nervous biting. “But I’m not his friend. Not really. He can’t rely on me. Can’t trust me or count on me. The one thing he’s ever let me do is watch the kids because, well, sure I can screw that up, but I have a nanny, so it probably won’t be that bad, right? Do you know how much it hurts to know he doesn’t trust me? That I’m not as important to him as he is to me?”

“Do you want to be with Jason?” Bobbie asked gently. Carly looked at her mother. “Is that what this is all about? Watching Jason settle down with someone he’s loved for a long time. With children of his own. A family that doesn’t have you at the center the way Sonny’s did. That must be hard if somehow, deep down, you always thought he’d come back to you.”

“I don’t—” Carly exhaled slowly. “Maybe I did. Did I ever tell you how the lie about Jake got started?” She smiled faintly at her mother. “Me. I hovered around Elizabeth, waiting for those results. She got them, read them, and kept doing her job. And I assumed if she wasn’t rushing to tell Jason, that it must be Lucky’s. And she wouldn’t tell me—and I figured, oh, of course she’d tell me. She’d have lorded it over me that she was giving Jason a child—”

“Oh, Carly—” Bobbie closed her eyes.

“That’s right. I rushed over to Jason because I wanted to give him the good news, and, God, he looked devastated. He’d wanted it so much and I took it away from him. I don’t know what he said to Elizabeth when she got there, but he told me he said something stupid and made Elizabeth think he didn’t want the baby, so she didn’t correct him. Do you know why I leapt to that conclusion?”

“Because it’s everything you would have done if you’d been pregnant with Jason’s child,” Bobbie said.

“That’s right. I would have shouted it from the mountaintops.” Carly smiled thinly. “And Elizabeth didn’t play the part I wrote for her, so I got that ball rolling. I know they picked it up and ran with it, but I started it. Because I couldn’t stand that Elizabeth of all people might get what I wanted. Because you’re right, Mama. There’s a piece of me that’s always expected Jason, and I to circle back around to each other. Because I thought we loved each other so much that he’d have to admit he still did. But he doesn’t love me, does he?”

“No. And he didn’t back then, Carly. You know that, don’t you? It was about Michael for him. He cared about you, but it was always about that little boy. I doubt he knew that, but I could see it. Because I knew he was falling in love with Elizabeth that winter. Which is why you can’t stand her. Jason chose Robin instead of you, and then he fell in love with Elizabeth when it was supposed to be you. And you’ve never let either one of them forget it.”

And suddenly, I’ve become a part of your past
I’m becoming the part that don’t last
I’m losing you and it’s effortless
Without a sound, we lose sight of the ground
In the throw around
Never thought that you wanted to bring it down
I won’t let it go down ’til we torch it ourselves
– Over My Head (Cable Car), The Fray

---

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Nadine’s Apartment: Living Room

Johnny shoved his feet into his sneakers, dragged a sweatshirt over his head and practically ripped his keys off the hook by the door. He’d slept like the dead for the first time since that terrible day, and when he’d opened his eyes, Nadine was gone.

She’d gone out for her morning run without him, was out in the world where anyone could put their hands on her, grab her, hurt her—

A knock sounded just as he reached the door. He yanked it open, saw his sister on the other side, and then immediately tried to close it—but she slithered in before he could get it all the way shut. “Get out. I don’t have time for this. You’re not welcome here. Not now. Not ever again—”

“John, just let me—” Claudia held up her hands. “Let me just try to fix this, all right?”

“You think you can fix this?” Johnny closed the door. “Tell me how you are going to bring Nadine’s sister back?”

“Okay, so fix is a tall order, but you went to Daddy to ask for his help, okay? So I’m here because he has an idea that he thinks can make things better—”

“Oh, and did you tell Daddy why I need protection for Nadine?” Johnny demanded. Claudia sighed, looked away. “No, you didn’t.”

“I hate that this is driving a wedge between us. You know how much I love you. Do you think I wanted this? That I wanted to involve you? That I wanted her to get hurt? I mean, I don’t really care about her, but you do, and I want you to be happy.” Claudia stepped towards him, her dark eyes pleading. “Let me try to do something here—”

“There’s nothing—” Johnny stopped when he heard the door knob twisting, and Nadine stepped inside, her eyes shadowed and tired. “You’re back.” Relief flooded his body so swiftly he nearly felt dizzy.

“Yeah, I wasn’t up to the full run.” Nadine blinked when she saw Claudia in their living room. “Oh, um. Hi. I didn’t—” She pulled the ends of her jacket around her more tightly. “Did I know you were coming up today? I’ve been kind of scattered—”

“No, no, I just popped up on a whim. Sometimes the phone isn’t good enough, you know.” Claudia cleared her throat. “You know, I was sorry to hear about your sister. I don’t know what I’d do without John. I’d probably go crazy.”

“Thank you.” Nadine’s smile was faint. She set her phone, keys, and wallet in the dish by the door, headed for the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. “Um, I don’t know if Johnny called your family or not. The service is Tuesday. You can—I don’t know why you would, but you can come.”

“Of course. Of course. We’re coming up for that, and while we’re here, Daddy was hoping you and John would join us for dinner tomorrow night. He’s always liked the No Name, so he can get a table there if that works.”

“No Name.” Nadine’s brow furrowed and she looked at Johnny. “I’ve never heard of it—”

“Private dinner club,” Johnny said tightly, loathing his sister for taking advantage of this moment, for forcing herself into his life after she’d taken a torch to it in the first place. “It’s up here in Port Charles. Lots of, uh, business associates use it.”

“Oh. Yeah, I mean, whatever Johnny wants to do. Patrick said I can’t come back until after the services.” She fiddled with the cap on her water bottle. “Probably for the best. I’m so distracted, and I’m not sleeping—” Nadine broke off, flushed. “You don’t care about any of that. I’m sorry. I tend to just keep talking. Silence makes me nervous—”

“You’re fine,” Johnny cut in, almost too sharply, and she looked at him, her blue eyes wide. “It’s fine,” he said again, gentling his tone. She smiled but it was hesitant, and didn’t really reach her eyes.

“I’m going to take a shower. It was nice to see you,” she told Claudia.

Johnny waited for the shower to switch on before he looked at his sister. “Are you happy now? Manipulating a woman whose sister you killed—”

“Don’t put that on me, John. I warned you—”

“I never asked you to do a damn thing on my behalf,” Johnny said, stepping closer,  pitching his voice scarcely above a whisper. “You keep trying to protecting me, and look what’s happened. You didn’t hire the woman who killed Jolene, but her blood is on your hands—”

“And yours, John. I didn’t want us to be here, but we are all the same,” Claudia retorted. “What are you going to do? Tell Nadine what happened to her sister? Go right ahead. She’ll head straight for the PCPD and divorce court right after that. Is that what you want? So come to dinner, let Dad protect your damn wife, and we’ll all move on.”

“We’ll be there. But you stay out of my life from now on, Claudia. We’re finished.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Drake Condo: Living Room

Robin hit delete on the answering machine, erasing another call from her uncle. She’d already cleared her voicemail. If Anna and Mac wanted answers, they were going to have to get it from someone else.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk to them?”

She looked up, found Patrick in the kitchen, cradling Emma in his arms, the bottle tipped up high so the baby wouldn’t suck in air and end up with gas. “No. What would that change?”

“I don’t know. I just—” He shook his head, looked down at Emma. “Never mind. They’re your family, and I don’t want you to feel pressured. You let me handle my dad the way I wanted to. I support whatever you choose.”

Robin folded her arms, looked at the floor. “But you have an opinion.”

“I hate that you’re hurt. I’m angry that your mother came here under false pretenses. That your uncle must have known and said nothing. Especially with what you went through with your dad a few years ago. I’m pissed at him for not being here, either,” he muttered, and she looked up, flashed a smile. “I want whatever stops you from feeling this way. You just had a baby. We have this beautiful little girl, and I hate that what they’ve done takes away from that.”

“It doesn’t.” Robin went to him, stroked her fingertip across Emma’s fuzzy hair. “It doesn’t. She’s here, and she’s healthy, and I had a relatively easy delivery. You’re such a good father. There are so many people who love her already. I just—” She stopped, trying to articulate what was swirling in her head.  “When I was younger, when I lost my parents, I had pieces of family around me. I had my uncle. Felicia and her girls. Katherine Bell. Then Stone and Sonny. Brenda, Lois, Jason. Alan and Ned. I had a whole village of people who made sure I never felt alone. But despite that, I never stopped wanting my parents to come home. I wanted the life we had back. They’d married not long before the explosion. We were living together, a real family for the first time. I didn’t have it for long.”

“I’m sorry.”

“We never lived together again. Even when Mom came home. I’d already grown up, and I had my own life. She’d come to see me in Paris sometimes, or I’d go to her. But it was never the same. And Dad — it’s like he never really came home at all.” She bit her lip. “But then Mom said she was coming here, and she was here all the time. She helped me set up the nursery, and she was there during labor, and after—” Her throat tightened. “It was like having my mom again, and now I find out I was just a job. That she came here to question you, and I was just a way to get to you.”

“I don’t know if it was all an act,” Patrick said. “I think she took advantage of her assignment to spend time with you—”

“Patrick—” Robin turned away from him.

“Both things can be true,” he argued. “She screwed up not telling you, and I don’t like the idea that she was probing for information. It makes me go over and over all our conversations, wondering if I let anything slip. And I’m sure that’s driving you crazy, too. But she was also here for you. Setting up after the baby shower, with you in the hospital. You don’t have to lose the good memories because she had another reason to make them.” He looked as if he wanted to say more but turned his attention back to Emma who had finished her bottle.

“What? Finish what you wanted to say.” Robin folded her arms. “You think I’m overreacting.”

“No,” Patrick said forcefully. “No. I think you have every right to be angry, and I’ll support you. But you are angry, and maybe it’s affecting how we’re handling things with Anna and your uncle. We talked about legal liability — that so far, we hadn’t broken any laws. We still haven’t. We’re not obligated to report a murder. At best, we’re skirting ethics violations by not telling Nadine. But if we’d told Anna everything, we would be okay.”

“I don’t want to give her a reason to make things difficult for you. Or for Jason—”

“Jason’s in the clear. Jolene’s not connected to him. And I stand by everything I’ve done.”

Robin made a face, but she couldn’t argue with Patrick. She hadn’t wanted to give her mother anything at all, but she didn’t just owe it to Patrick to turn this situation over to the authorities. She owed it to Jason and Elizabeth. To Nadine, who’d lost her sister and had a right to an investigation. “You right. Do you want me to call them? To tell them what else we know?”

“Let me handle it. We’ll give Alexis another statement and turn over the footage we have of the nurse. And the toxicology reports. We’ll tell them everything goes through Alexis.  But this stops being our problem. We have a life of our own, and I want to concentrate on that.”

Jacks House: Foyer

Carly took a step back when she opened the door, found Elizabeth on the other side. “I—I didn’t expect you to be the one to pick Morgan up.” She stepped aside to let Elizabeth in. “I thought Jason or Mama—”

“I had the time, and my grandmother’s back at the penthouse with Jake and Cam.” Elizabeth followed Carly into the living room. “Something came up and Jason had to go to the coffee house.”

“We could have rescheduled—um, excuse the mess.” Carly slid the magazines on the coffee table into a pile, and moved around to pick up some throw pillows and blankets. “Morgan and I had a movie night last night, and I—”

“We can reschedule if you want—”

“No, no, it’s—” Carly took a deep breath. “It’s fine. Morgan’s looking forward to spending time with Cam and his uncle. He hasn’t spent a lot of time with Jason since…” She rubbed her chest. “Anyway.” She blew out an irritated breath. “I should probably apologize to you for the hospital.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “You don’t owe me an apology, not if you already talked to Jason. I gave as good as I got—”

“Yeah, I know. And I’m not going to promise to start liking you, because it’s not possible. But I—” Carly looked away, folded her arms, looking somewhat uncomfortable. Embarrassed even. “I made a scene with Robin, and it was all more annoying than it had to be, and I know Jason was ticked off. He’s not now, so I guess that’s because of you.”

“We didn’t talk about it.” When Carly snorted and rolled her eyes, Elizabeth insisted, “We really didn’t. Jason’s friendship with you is what it is. I’m not looking to get in the middle of it. And we both usually do better. It was a rough day.”

Carly made a face at her, and Elizabeth wondered if she was supposed to be more irritated, to give Carly someone to argue with. “Yeah, okay,” the blonde said finally. “I guess that’s fair.” She picked at the seam that ran along the top of the sofa.  “I just hate that I did that to Jason. Especially over Robin. We’re never going to agree, me and him, not about her.”

“It was a rough day,” Elizabeth repeated. “Really, Carly—”

“I talk to Michael, you know. When I go to see him. I sit with him for hours, and I tell him what’s going on. I don’t leave you out of it, or anything. I tell him about his uncle, and how much he’d love his cousins—” Carly looked away, exhaled on a low breath. “I hate you for bringing Cameron into Morgan’s life, for making him so happy that he doesn’t ask about his brother anymore. And that’s such a stupid thing to hate you for.” Carly looked at her. ‘”Go ahead and add it to the list of things that make me a bad person. It just gets longer and longer, right?”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together, considered her next words carefully. “It’s been hard knowing how much to talk about Michael with the boys. Around Jason. And maybe around you and Morgan. It’s such a painful, awful reality that you live with every day, and for a while, I couldn’t even get Jason to talk about it at all. I didn’t know if I should push. I just — I don’t want to do anything to make it worse.” She paused, but Carly said nothing, just kept picking at the sofa seam. “We don’t have to pretend to be best friends, Carly, just because our sons adore each other. Because you and Jason are friends, and that’s not going to change—”

“Friends—” Carly closed her eyes. “Sure. That’s what Jason and I are.” She brushed at a tear that had slid down her cheek.  “Do you think I don’t know that Jason and I are friends mostly because he can’t get rid of me? God, don’t pretend you don’t know that’s why I hate you.”

Elizabeth bit her lip, stared at her hands. “I don’t know what you want me to say—”

“The two of you are friends in a way Jason and I never could be. I was always the one talking to him, and he’d listen, and I thought that made us friends. But he was never vulnerable to me. But you said it—you said you were there for him after Michael. And I did that to him. I hurt him so many ways that he never trusted me again, and I’ve hated Robin for starting it, and I’ve hated you for being there. Because when given a choice, Jason doesn’t pick me. Even as a friend.” Carly rose to her feet. “It’s a terrible thing to know about yourself that the person you count on the most can’t or won’t count on you.”

Elizabeth didn’t really know what to say to any of that. Because Carly wasn’t wrong. Jason didn’t rely on Carly or really trust her to do much, and he wasn’t wrong to feel that way. Every time Carly got involved in his life, she screwed something up — like Jake’s paternity. How different would things have been if Elizabeth had been the first to get to him—

“Thank you for not denying it,” Carly said. She smiled faintly. “We’re going to be civil because I love Jason, and he deserves to be happy. And I like your kids. But I’m never going to like you. I’m sorry. That’s just how it’s going to be. I’ll go get Morgan.”

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

Anna leaned back in her chair, then looked across the desk to Mac. “Well, I can’t prove it, but what happened to Elizabeth Webber in September fits Andrei Karpov to the letter.”

“Patrick managed to cover the hospital pretty well. The DA says there’s nothing that we can use to force a subpoena. Not without calling in favors or tipping our hand to Nadine.”

“We may want to consider that, but let’s put it on the back burner for the moment. I told you that Karpov has been working for years to break into the South American market to funnel arms and weapons into Russia.”

“Yeah, something about the KGB and Putin, you said.” Mac scratched his temple. “I’m not one for geopolitics, Anna. Is that important?”

“Of course it is. It’s why I’m here, the WSB cares. We’ve been trying to get inside the organization for ages. The KGB dissolved after the Soviet Union collapsed, and Karpov turned to smuggling. Legally, his business is pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. He’s been growing his clientèle stateside.”

“Let me guess. He’s been focusing on clients in cities with ports,” Mac said, leaning forward.

“Precisely. This dispensary business? It screams Karpov. And if he was trying to get at Jason, well, he could take advantage of a glitch he created.” Anna pursed her lips. “The only problem is—”

“We can’t find out anything about the hospital’s suppliers without Patrick to smooth the way. Judging from that meeting yesterday, he’s not eager to help either of us—” Mac sighed. “I wish you’d have come clean about all of this when you came to town.”

Anna looked down at her hands, twisted the silver ring on her finger. “The mother in me wishes I had as well. But if I had, they might have closed ranks. I’d have never learned all the mystery swirling around this Johnny Zacchara. Robin might not have spoken so openly about the problems facing the hospital, the trouble with the nursing program. I wouldn’t have seen Patrick’s anxiety when she delivered — this was how it had to be. It kills me that I hurt my daughter, but I had to think of the greater good. She’ll understand. She’ll come around.”

“Well for your sake—” Mac began then closed his mouth when he heard footsteps in the hall. A moment later, Scott appeared, leaning against the door frame. Mac grimaced, got to his feet. “What are you doing here? I thought you had a case in Albany—”

“I do. We’re closed down for a few days. Judge has a conference.” Scott lifted his brows. “Anna. It’s good to see you.”

“Scotty. It’s been a long time.” Anna rose, went to hug him, and offered a kiss to the cheek. “Mac tells me you’ve been a special prosecutor with the DA’s office this year. Are you still doing that? Or in private practice again?”

“Little of both, and it looks like Mac’s been taking advantage of me being out of town to sneak some cases past me. Why didn’t you tell me Jolene Crowell is dead?”

“Because you were prosecuting Johnny Zacchara. Johnny’s not involved—Jolene’s a sister-in-law he never met. I didn’t know you were interested in coma patients.”

“Don’t be obtuse. When it comes to the Zaccharas, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” Scott folded his arms. “You’ll keep me in the loop?”

“Won’t have a choice. You’ll call Floyd if I don’t.”

“And don’t forget it. Anna, good to see you.”

Mac sat back down, rubbed his temples. “The last thing this situation needed was Scott Baldwin. God help us all.”

Morgan Penthouse: Master Bedroom

Elizabeth laid back on the bed, closed her eyes. “I can see why parents leash their kids now.”

Jason grinned, sat on the edge of the bed next to her, kicked off his shoes. “It was your idea to have Morgan sleep over and you told your grandmother to go home.”

“I don’t know why I thought Spinelli would be any help. He just egged them on.” Elizabeth sat up, encircled Jason’s shoulders from behind. “But it was nice, wasn’t it?”

“To see Morgan running around and laughing? Yeah. He hasn’t done enough of it.” Jason turned his head slightly so that their mouths were only centimeters apart. “I like coming home to you. To all of this. Even when it’s chaos.”

“I like it, too.” Elizabeth combed her fingers through his hair, her smile broadening when he shifted, gently pushing to lay back on the bed. He rested beside her, leaning up on one elbow. She stroked his chest. “Did you get things set up for dinner?”

He sighed. “Yeah. Sunday. Can your grandmother baby sit, or do you want me to call Carly?”

“I’m sure Gram will do it, but I’ll double check.” She hesitated. “You should check in with Carly anyway, though. She…she seemed a little strange when I picked up Morgan.”

Jason frowned, tipped his head. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. She talked about visiting with Michael, and well, I don’t want to get into what we talked about. She just seems…off. Maybe it’s all starting to hit. She and Jax separated right before Sonny was shot. Then moving Sonny down the hall…” Elizabeth reached up, stroked his cheek. “It just made me feel sad.”

“I’ll check in,” he said. He kissed her lightly and laid down next to her. She snuggled next to him, draping one leg over his leg, both of them still fully dressed. But he didn’t care. These moments at the end of the day, when it was just the two of them—

He loved being with the boys, loved every minute of being a father—but there was something about just the two of them alone, together, when he held Elizabeth in his arms — everything felt just right. And safe.

He would do whatever he had to do to keep it that way.

Looking so innocent
I might believe you if I didn’t know
Could’ve loved you all my life
If you hadn’t left me waiting in the cold
And you got your share of secrets
And I’m tired of being last to know
And now you’re asking me to listen
Cause it’s worked each time before
– You’re Not Sorry (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift

---

Friday, November 14, 2008

General Hospital: Conference Room

Anna paused at the threshold of the room, then pursed her lips when she took in Robin and Patrick sitting on one of the side of the table, Alexis at the head. “Oh, you can’t really think you need a lawyer present. Robin—”

Alexis lifted a hand. “I’d rather if you addressed me and not my clients directly.”

“Robin,” Mac said, coming in behind his former-sister-in-law. “I know you’re upset, but there are some questions that need to be answered. I got a call from the Port Charles Herald. They’re running a story in the morning that the Angel Without Mercy died a few days ago.” He tipped his head. “That would be Jolene Crowell. Sister to Nadine. Former nurse.”

“The hospital doesn’t comment on patient records,” Alexis said coolly. “My clients did not agree to have a conversation with anyone other than a representative from the WSB. If that’s changed, we’ll have to reschedule this meeting after I’ve had time to confer with them on local concerns.”

“Robin, no one’s looking to get you in any trouble,” Mac said, exasperated. “We know that this is about the Zaccharas and Jason Morgan. Something happened to Elizabeth all those weeks ago, didn’t it? That’s why Jason was so distracted the morning of Sonny’s shooting. Now something’s happened to Jolene, too. Is Anthony Zacchara coming after Jason? Was he behind Elizabeth’s accident or her complications?”

“You’re no better than Scott,” Robin said with some disgust. “Either of you. All you ever see is the mob. Alexis—”

“We’re done here—” The lawyer began.

“I’ll leave,” Mac interrupted. He jabbed a finger at his niece. “But I’m going to be investigating Jolene. Unless you give me a damn good reason, my first stop is going to be Nadine—”

“So you’re going to question a woman who’s just lost her sister with nothing but your best guess. This is ridiculous.” Robin took a deep breath, scrubbed her hands down her face. “I am so angry at you,” she said finally. Though she didn’t look up and kept her eyes trained on the table, everyone knew who she was talking to. “So unbelievably furious.”

Anna leaned forward. “Robin, you have to understand. I never meant to hurt you. I had no idea you were involved—”

“And you still don’t.” Robin lifted her eyes, shimmering with tears. “You have nothing but your best guess about any of this. But that doesn’t matter to you. Patrick, Elizabeth, Jason, our families, GH, none of that matters. You were going to haul my fiancé into the interrogation room and toss Jason right after him, and why? Why? Because you have suspicions? Why did you have to do it this way? Why couldn’t you just tell me the truth?”

“I wish I had, but—”

“But your cases are secret.” She scrubbed her cheeks. “And you, Uncle Mac. You knew why she was here, didn’t you?”

Mac hesitated, traded a glance with his niece, then nodded. “I did. I’m sorry—”

“Whatever. Whatever. I don’t want this. I don’t want this,” she told Patrick. “We’ve done nothing wrong.”

“No, we haven’t.” Patrick took her hand in his, held it tight, then looked at Alexis. “Go ahead. Give them the statement we prepared. But we’re not answering any other questions. You want something from us or the hospital, you’ll go through the legal channels.”

“This isn’t how I wanted it,” Anna said, but she sat down. “I hope you’ll see that in time.”

“If you wanted something different, then you should have told the truth. But that’s done now.”

Alexis slid her on her reading glasses. “All right. I’m going to read a prepared statement, and remind you both that any further questions should be submitted to me in writing and I will confer with my clients. On Wednesday, October 1, Elizabeth Webber’s vitals crashed. She went into cardiac arrest and was rushed into emergency surgery. She was suffering from internal bleeding caused by the car accident she’d suffered a few days earlier. At the time of her original surgery, the medical report diagnosed her with a bruised kidney that would heal on its own. However, it began to bleed with no warning or immediate cause. The original surgeon, Leo Ramsey, and the chief of staff, Patrick Drake, ordered a toxicology report and learned that rather than being given three doses of fentanyl over a period of twelve hours, Elizabeth was given warfarin, a blood thinner that induced bleeding.”

Anna pursed her lips. “Medical sabotage,” she said to Mac. “It’s what we suspected.”

“To distract Jason,” Mac said with a nod. He looked at Patrick. “Why wasn’t this reported to the authorities?”

Alexis answered instead, looking back at the statement. “It was reported to the hospital board of directors and investigated internally to ascertain whether it was a mistake or deliberate. It appears that a known glitch in the dispensary coding was to blame. This glitch had been dutifully noted and reported repeatedly between July and September of this year. The nurses would put in their codes for a specific medication, and the machine would dispense the wrong meds. Systems were put in place to prevent any medications being administered to the patients by mistake, but this particular floor hadn’t experienced a glitch prior to this. As Elizabeth was the first known patient to have a complication, with some worry that her family would sue the hospital, the investigation continued. The dispensary machines were investigated thoroughly. The glitch was fixed, and new machines have been installed. A cyber security expert has secured the entire mainframe.”

Anna narrowed her eyes, then looked across the table at Patrick and Robin. “And you still didn’t report it to Mac? Someone tried to kill Elizabeth—”

“My client reported it to the board of directors, and it was handled internally to the satisfaction of everyone, including Elizabeth and her family. No further incidents have occurred, and a database is being built to investigate all prior glitches to ensure there were no patients affected that have slipped through the cracks.”

Robin watched her mother consider that answer, and knew they’d covered their bases thoroughly when Anna just made a face. “What about Jolene Crowell?” her mother asked.

“Jolene Crowell died this last Tuesday from a cardiac arrest. She was a long-term coma patient with a slim chance of revival. An autopsy was ordered, as the hospital worried about their liability with regards to pending litigation from last year’s events. The preliminary report suggests there was a digoxin toxicity that led to a seizure and cardiac arrest.”

“Digoxin—” Anna straightened. “Now how—”

“This can occur from any number of things, including some long-term therapies. With a comatose patient who is not able to report some of the symptoms, more investigation is needed. A more extensive toxicology report has been ordered. This has been authorized by the patient’s family. If this report suggests that there was any malfeasance, it will be reported to the proper authorities.” Alexis set her statement down, removed her glasses. “That concludes our statement.”

Anna tapped her fingers impatiently. “You must have investigated more than just that—”

“That concludes our statement,” Alexis repeated, and Anna closed her mouth. “Any further questions should be directed in writing.”

“Keeping me in the dark about what’s happening—” Anna leaned forward. “Robin, you must see that if you don’t tell me the truth, you’re only prolonging this. Someone could get hurt—”

“The only person to blame in this room is you.” Robin slid her chair back, wincing slightly as she climbed to her feet, Patrick holding her steady. “You told us Karpov was in pharmaceuticals. You knew that when you came here. You could have come to us. Asked us for information. But you wanted to play spy. You wanted to be undercover, to ask Patrick questions when he was too tired to think. To wait until I was out of the room—” Her voice faltered. “To ask me questions about my friends, my family, the people who loved me when you couldn’t or wouldn’t — you made me think you cared about me. But you were investigating us all along, Mom. Someone did get hurt, but don’t worry. I know exactly where I rank for you. And for my father. You notice that he’s not here either, don’t you?” She looked Patrick. “I want to go.”

Coffee House: Office

“You asked for more time?” Cody frowned, folded his arms. “What’s there to wait about? You say yes.”

Jason shook his head, closed the office door, then went over to the desk, leaned against it. “I need to talk to Elizabeth. I’m not going to agree to something on her behalf without talking to her about it. But even then, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Because it involves her or because Ric Lansing is the one who asked? Don’t scowl at me,” Cody said. “It’s my job to push you when you’re being an idiot, remember? You told me that if I disagreed with you, I needed to say something. Well, I’m saying something. We thought something was up with Johnny Zacchara after the sister died. You know someone killed Jolene to get to Johnny. Now Johnny’s trying to make peace with his father, and Anthony is coming to us to add on to that. So either Anthony’s worried, too, or maybe he also wants to be sure the kid is safe up here. How is this anything but a good idea?”

Jason grimaced, then rubbed the back of his neck. “When you lay it out like that, okay, there’s sense there. If we were dealing with a normal person. But Anthony Zacchara is a psychotic animal who only keeps his power through fear. His promise isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Did I tell you what he did to Elizabeth during the ball last year?” he demanded.

“Not in detail, no, but—”

“He kidnapped her from the ballroom where my sister was laying dead,” Jason said flatly. “Dragged her up to the parapet and put her on the ledge. When I got there—” He looked away. “He told me if I didn’t get up there, too, he’d push her. And he didn’t know Elizabeth, who she was, that she was connected to me—”

“That part—” Cody said, jabbing a finger at him. “That’s the part you need to let go. You gotta stop thinking there’s a man alive who works on the East Coast who does not know who Elizabeth Webber is. I’ve been around a year, Jason. I came on after the trial, and I thought maybe we’d be asked to guard her. And we were — but we weren’t supposed to let her know. Not to be seen. I asked Francis why.”

“This isn’t relevant—”

“I asked Francis why,” Cody said again, speaking over Jason who just glared at him. “And he told me it’s because you’re an idiot who’s been pretending for eight years that our side of the world doesn’t know about her. They know you threatened to take Joseph Sorel apart just for looking at her. They know Sonny put guards on her when Sorel got too close. They know Roscoe’s men kidnapped her, that Luis Alcazar shot at her, that Ric Lansing targeted her because of your relationship, that you rescued her from Manny Ruiz—”

Jason exhaled slowly. “Look—”

“You need to stop pretending you can keep her out of this world,” Cody said bluntly. “She’s not running away. You are. If you go home and you tell her you have a way to keep the peace, to keep her children safe, and to bind Anthony Zacchara in the eyes of the rest of the syndicate to that peace — and you’re not taking it because it means she has to walk across a goddamn room and talk to a woman she already knows and works with—she’s going to think you’re an idiot. My job is to keep you safe. Which means keeping your family safe. You have to let me do that job, Jason, or there’s no point to any of this.”

Jason straightened, went around to the other side of the desk, sat down, and took a long deep breath. “Are you done?”

“No, have you told her you’re trying to get out?”

Jason hesitated. “No. Not yet.”

“Why?” Cody demanded. “It’s been six months since we started to shut down the routes. You haven’t pushed through a single shipment since the shooting. You’re out—”

“I’ll never be out. Not all the way, and you know that.” Jason shook his head. “And there’s no way to know for sure if it’ll hold. I don’t want her to get her hopes up until I know—”

“Why? Because if you fail, she’ll leave? This just goes back to the same place. You think you can keep her separate, and you can’t. You still expect her to walk away, and it’s just bullshit.” He stopped. “Now I’m done.”

Jason dipped his head considered all that Cody had said, wanting to reject it—and not finding a single false statement. “It’s not comforting to know,” he finally said, “that choices I made years ago kept Elizabeth tied to me. To think that it’s been out of my control all this time.”

“Well, if you want comfort, you’re in the wrong business. And it’s not one single choice you made years ago. It’s all the choices you made. And that’s before we even talk about the trial and what everyone and their mothers have known since Lansing asked that question. Everyone knew she lied. You just have to look at your kid and know the truth. So go home, and ask Elizabeth to do this. Tell her what’s going on. All of it. Then let me talk to Lansing. I’ll arrange the details so you don’t have to deal with him again.”

“Yeah. Yeah, okay.” Jason scrubbed his hands over his face. “Thank you, I guess. For calling me an idiot.”

“Don’t make me do it again.”

General Hospital: Chief of Staff’s Office

Elizabeth leaned against the open door frame and folded her arms. “You’re doing paperwork, so am I allowed to hope that the meeting went well?”

Patrick scribbled his name at the bottom of a contract, then glanced up at her before turning his attention to the paperwork. “Just trying to clear the back log before I get hauled off to jail.”

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose, came forward, and closed the door. “Should Jason and I be worried?”

“No. Not yet.” Patrick leaned back, tossing the pen on the desk blotter. “But Anna brought Mac, and he’s probably already putting together an investigation on Jolene. Going to Scott for a subpoena—” He shook his head. “Maybe we shouldn’t have given them anything. Maybe I should have called Mac months ago.”

Elizabeth perched on the edge of the chair. “We wanted to protect the hospital, and you covered yourself by making sure my grandmother and Jason knew what happened to me. They supported the choice to keep this internal. Patrick—”

“Jolene was murdered in this hospital, and whoever killed her is in the wind. We don’t know who, we barely know how, and I still haven’t told Nadine.” He looked at her. “And I don’t know if I’m allowed to ask this, but is Jason doing anything on his end to deal with Johnny? Is he looking into what the hell Johnny’s got himself into? Matt confirmed what we thought — no one called him. How did he know to be at the hospital?”

“I don’t know much about Johnny,” Elizabeth said after some hesitation. “Jason knows him better. He’s made choices this last year to protect Johnny, usually from Sonny. We haven’t really talked about it much because like Jason said, this isn’t about him.”

“You don’t think that’s strange? Jolene Crowell gets murdered down the hall from where Sonny is a patient? In the same hospital where you come to work every day? Jason’s not the least bit curious about how that happened? This is the same man who traveled halfway around the world to find the vaccine during the encephalitis outbreak. That wasn’t really about his business either. The Metro Court? He didn’t sit back and let that happen either.”

“People that mattered to Jason were involved. Sam’s brother was sick, Sonny was sick. I asked him to find Lucky. And the Metro Court? Come on, Patrick. I was inside. So was Sam. His father, his mother, his best friend. Of course Jason was going to get involved there. Do I think it’s strange Jason isn’t jumping at the bit to stop this? To hunt Johnny down for answers? I don’t know. Maybe.”

“I think he knows something—”

“Whoever did this to Jolene wanted to send a message to Johnny. And we can guess that Johnny got the message. How do we know that someone isn’t watching? Waiting for Jason to get involved? What if that triggers something? I don’t know, Patrick. Maybe Jason isn’t in a hurry to bring down chaos and violence again. It’s been quiet since Sonny’s shooting.” Elizabeth hesitated. “Do you want me to talk to Jason? I can do that, Patrick. If that makes this easier for you, I will.”

Patrick picked up the pen again, tapped it against the blotter. “I don’t know. I just want this over with. What am I supposed to say to Robin? To fix this for her?”

“I wish I knew. I’m so sorry that her suspicions were right, that her mother came here to investigate. All you can do is be there for her. She’s dealing with a lot — and I know my emotions were a complete mess after I gave birth. Right now, you’re probably doing everything you can. She wanted to take the legal route and call in a lawyer, and you’re doing that.”

Elizabeth got to her feet. “I’ll talk to Jason tonight, all right? You’re not wrong. If Johnny’s into something, if he’s in trouble, it’ll find its way to our door. It always does.”

Metro Court Hotel: Carly’s Office

 “With the prenuptial agreement signed prior to the marriage, it’s really just a matter of drawing up some paperwork. And deciding whether you want to keep the house or sell—” Diane continued to speak, but Carly had stopped listening. She stood at the window in her office, watching the grounds crew working in the gardens.

“Carly?”

“Whatever you think is fine,” Carly said, absently. When Diane said nothing else, she turned,  furrowed her brow at the lawyer. “What?”

Diane capped her pen and laid it down on the paperwork she’d set on the desk. “There’s no hurry to deal with this paperwork. If you’re not ready—”

“It’s not even my first divorce,” Carly said. She turned, went to the desk, and picked up the petition. “I should be able to do this in my sleep by now.” She looked at her lawyer. “Have you ever been married?”

“Oh, absolutely not. I can’t imagine sharing my living space with a man.” Diane shuddered. “He might want me to clean out my closet, and well, I won’t part with my shoes for just anyone.” Her lips twitched. “But I’ve been tempted a time or two.”

“I don’t know why anyone gets married. Why I even bothered.” She flicked through the pages of the prenuptial agreement. She’d barely read it before signing, so sure that this time it would be different. Jax knew her, inside and out, and he loved her anyway.

It was the anyway that was sticking these days — Jax knew who Carly was and was willing to put up with her flaws. Sonny had been the same. Lorenzo and AJ had been means to an end —

Jason had loved her, but he hadn’t wanted to and he’d never been happy about it. And it was never the way Carly wanted.

“Carly, we really don’t have to do this today,” Diane said again. “I haven’t heard a peep from Jax’s attorney—are you sure there isn’t a chance that you might be able to work things out?”

“I thought so. I thought maybe he’d forgive me, that he’d understand that I’d done something terrible, that I knew it, and that I wanted very badly to undo it. I thought if I just waited, he might come around.” Carly lifted her eyes from the paperwork to Diane. “Did you know he and Olivia kept Sonny from seeing Kate?”

Diane pressed her lips together, then nodded. “Yes. Sonny called me a few times that week. He wanted me to fight it. I put together something for the board, but it didn’t get very far. Carly—”

“The day he was shot, before he went to the pier, he was at GH. Trying to see Kate. And Jax still refused.” Carly rubbed her temple. “He did it because he’d been angry at Sonny for years, because of what I did, and he did it because he could. And now Morgan’s lost his father. I know it’s not fair to hold that against him. I know he never meant it to happen this way. I know all of that, but I can’t stop being angry.”

“It’s been a very difficult year.” Diane reached across the desk for the divorce paperwork, and Carly released it. “Let me reach out to Alexis. Let her know we’re talking about this. Maybe we can set up some sort of mediation. I’d be very sorry, Carly, if you and Jax lost each other after everything else.”

“I thought time would fix things, that letting everything settle would give me some peace. Some time to think and calm.” Carly sat down, reached for some other work on her desk, something to keep her busy. Distracted. “But maybe that was a mistake. I feel like I’m still frozen, like there’s a part of me, still standing in a hospital hallway, listening to doctors tell me my son will never wake up.”

“Carly—”

“I need to update my will,” Carly interrupted, and Diane pressed her lips together. “Morgan. I want Morgan to go with Jason. Can you do that?”

“Of course. I’ll call you when the paperwork is ready to sign.”

Drake Condo: Living Room

Matt crossed the threshold hesitantly, his hands in the pockets of his trousers, his dark eyes scanning the room.

“He’s not here,” Robin told him, closing the door. He turned to face her, and she smiled faintly. “I thought that would be easier for you.”

“Oh. Uh, I thought maybe he had more questions about my conversation with Nadine.” Matt rocked back on his heels, cleared his throat. “Or Jolene’s case. Is everything okay? Did you touch base with your mom?”

Robin exhaled carefully. “You could say that.” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, then crossed the room where Emma lay in the bassinet. She lifted the baby and turned back to Matt. “I’ll update you on how that went, but I invited you over to meet your niece. Officially.”

Matt’s hands remained in his pockets, and some of the color drained from his face. “What?”

“I know you and Patrick are still uneasy around each other, and I don’t imagine that will go away overnight.” Robin stopped a few feet from him. “But you really stepped up, Matt, and came through for him in a big way. For both of us. You don’t know either of us well, and you’re new to GH. I want you to know that I appreciate what you did.”

“I’m just doing what’s right. You don’t have to—oh, okay—” Matt winced as Robin laid the newborn in his arms. “You always forget how little they are, don’t you?” he wondered. “I have textbooks from med school that are heavier.”

“Seems impossible, I know.” Robin stroked her daughter’s cheek with the back of her knuckle. “Something so small and perfect was created from nothing, and she’ll grow up to be a person with thoughts and actions and mistakes.” She lifted her gaze to his. “What Noah did to you is awful. And you never, ever have to be okay with him. I promise that no one in this family will ever encourage you to think of him as anything other than a terrible person.”

“I don’t want to think about it anymore,” Matt said, with a quick shake of his head. “Since I came to Port Charles, since I realized what hospital this is, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. I appreciate what you’re doing here, but—”

“My mother did something awful, too. Not as bad, I guess, but it sure feels like she broke something,” Robin said. Matt closed his mouth. “She came to Port Charles because she suspected Andrei Karpov was up to something. She thought he was messing around in the clinic where you and Nadine were working. She lied to me, Matt. And used my connection, my friendship with Jason to pump me for information. And when she suspected something was wrong at GH, she didn’t say anything. Didn’t offer to help. She kept lying, kept using me to question Patrick. I thought she was here to be my mother, to be Emma’s grandmother. Maybe part of her was—” Robin looked away, rubbed a fist against her chest. “But it doesn’t change what she did. How much it hurts. That’s the update. I went to tell my mother what we knew, and well, she was already planning to drag Patrick and Jason in for questioning.”

Matt frowned. “That’s—I’m so sorry. That sucks. It more than sucks, but I just can’t think of a word awful enough—”

“Parents disappoint us. I guess we have no choice but to let them be human. Terrible, flawed humans who make mistakes. They make choices that hurt us. I don’t know if I can forgive her. If we’ll ever get back what I thought we had.” Robin touched Emma’s fuzzy hair, then smiled at Matt. “We don’t have to keep the family we were born with. Sometimes we’re better off making our own. Noah’s mistakes made you and Patrick related. That doesn’t have to make you family. But if you want it, if you want to be part of it, we’re here.”

Morgan Penthouse: Master Bedroom

Elizabeth emerged from the bathroom, towel drying her hair and wrinkling her nose. “It’s going to be impossible to get the spaghetti sauce out of their clothes.” She watched Jason strip off his shirt. “And ours.”

“I should have cut up the meatballs,” he told her. “I didn’t expect them to start throwing them at each other.”

Elizabeth laughed, then sat on the edge of the bed. “No, they definitely do a great job pretending to be angelic, perfect boys, don’t they? You never expect chaos.”

Jason set his shirt next to hers. “I’ll soak them before we do the laundry this weekend.” He tossed his jeans into the hamper — they’d escaped the mayhem and went to the dresser for a pair of sweatpants.

“We haven’t really had a chance to talk about what happened when Patrick and Robin met with Anna.”

Jason tugged the sweats over his hips, furrowed his brow. “No, we haven’t. I can understand why they’re reluctant to turn over everything we know about Jolene’s death. The way Robin said it, she overheard her mother threatening to pull me and Patrick in for questioning. Doesn’t seem like Anna is as friendly as we hoped.”

“I talked to Patrick afterwards, and he’s supporting however Robin wants to handle this right now, but he’s frustrated. He wanted to hand this off and be done with it. I know we wanted the same thing. Instead, it just keeps going.”

He sat next to her. “Yeah, and since we’re on that subject, I heard from Anthony Zacchara today.” He paused. “He sent Ric to talk to me.”

“I’m sure you loved that,” Elizabeth said, and Jason made a face. “What did Ric have to say?”

Jason reached for her hand, pulled it into his lap, lacing their fingers together. “Johnny’s looking for some extra reassurance of Nadine’s safety. I think we can say for sure now that we were right. That Jolene was a message. I don’t know what he told his father, but coming so close to what happened—”

“Sounds like he understood the message they were trying to send.”

“Yeah. Looks like Johnny is hoping he can make Nadine untouchable. No one would go after a Zacchara kid—”

Except Sonny, he thought, but he left that unspoken, and mercifully, so did she. “What does he need from you?”

“It’s…an old tradition,” Jason said after a long moment. “But with all the bad blood between the Zaccharas and us this last year — we can show a united front to people who matter. Anthony’s going to have dinner with Johnny and Nadine at the No Name. He wants us to go. Not to eat with them. But to be in the same room.”

“Well, that sounds easy enough. What’s the catch?”

Now came the tricky part. He wasn’t ready to talk to her about his future plans. No matter what Cody said, Jason knew he wasn’t ready to put the idea in Elizabeth’s head, to make her think there was a chance that their life could be safe. Not until he was sure. But he’d have to tell her that he’d delayed giving Ric an answer—and she’d want to know why.

“The catch is that you have to go to the table alone and talk to Johnny and Nadine. Wish them well on their marriage. Tell Nadine you’re sorry about her sister, probably. And loudly enough so the next table can hear it.” Jason grimaced. “I hate it—”

“But you told them yes, didn’t you?” Elizabeth said. “Jason, you agreed, didn’t you?” When he remained quiet, she sighed, stroked his cheek with the tips of her fingers. “No, of course you didn’t. Let me guess. They requested it. You said no the minute you heard my name, and for some reason, now you’re having second thoughts.”

“I said no but then I told them I’d think about it.” He grimaced. “You’re mad.”

“No. Not mad. Not surprised either. Just frustrated.” She pushed lightly on his chest until he slid back, and she climbed onto the bed, planting a knee on either of his body, resting her bottom on his thighs. “Are we in this together or aren’t we?”

“We are.”

“This seems like such a small easy thing I can do. I’m going to guess that it might not be a tradition anymore because Sonny used to be in charge, and he’d never agree to something like this.”

“No. He wanted Carly out of this. Thought she was loose cannon. But it used to be—” Jason paused. “Common, I guess, for some socialization. At least among some of the organizations. I hate this—”

“I know you do. And it’s not like I want to do it. But maybe it gives you a chance to talk to Johnny. You’ll have leverage against him. Because sure, this kind of thing puts Nadine under Anthony’s protection, but doesn’t it also mean you can’t touch them either? Since everyone sort of knows what happened to Sonny, even if they can’t prove it.”

“Yeah. It’s a mutual thing.”

“So you can use this to get answers from Johnny, maybe. Or at least let him know you’re on to him. And it’s a way that I can help. An acceptable way. All I have to do is get dressed up, have dinner with the man I love, and talk to someone I already like?” Elizabeth shrugged. “Easy yes for me. You have to be open to letting me do these small things, Jason.”

“I know. Cody yelled at me earlier. Apparently—” He felt the flush of embarrassment rising in his cheeks. “Apparently, no one believed you at the trial last year. And they thought I was an idiot for trying to pretend all this last year that you weren’t…that Jake wasn’t…”

“I figured when no one was really surprised by Jake’s paternity. Even Lucky, who maybe wanted to believe it.” Elizabeth combed her fingers through his hair, sliding her fingers down his cheek. “Cody’s not wrong. You always thought it would be enough to walk away from me, and it never was. We always circled back to this. We were kind of inevitable,” she teased, and he smiled at her. “Call Cody or whoever else you need to talk to. Tell him to say yes and get it over with sooner rather than later. Johnny’s in trouble, and I don’t want anyone else to get caught up in what’s going to happen.”

Would you catch me if I fall out of what I fell in
Don’t be surprised if I collapse down at your feet again
I don’t want to run away from this
I know that I just don’t need this
‘Cause I cannot stand still
I can’t be this unsturdy
This cannot be happening
– Somewhere in Between, Lifehouse

---

Friday, November 14, 2008

 General Hospital: Chief of Staff’s Office

“Is it wrong to be relieved that this killer nurse doesn’t work here?” Leo asked, flipping through Jolene’s preliminary autopsy report. “What do we think caused the digoxin toxicity? The mysterious IV fluids?”

“Yeah.” Patrick rubbed his forehead. “I’m on my way to meet with my lawyer. Just to make sure I’m covered before we make any official reports.”

Epiphany pressed her lips together. “I don’t know if I’m on board with going to the WSB. I understand that we’re trying to protect the hospital, but Jolene Crowell didn’t exactly have family who is going to raise a stink. Nadine works here.”

“Yeah, that’s a good point.” Leo set the report aside. “We’re still within a reasonable amount of time to make an official report. We call the PCPD, make a report, and turn this over to them. We can point to an issue with security — that’s not a medical situation. You’re not liable. Nadine won’t sue. With any luck, it doesn’t escalate further.”

“And Anna might suggest that we make an official report. But that could still lead back to the problems in September.” Patrick leaned back against the desk. “I asked Spinelli to start databasing all the code misfires he could find in the system so we can match to patients. I want to be assured that we caught the majority of those issues before they were passed on to the patients. I’m just looking to limit our liability.”

“Plus, the board could want your head as a scapegoat. This happened after you took over,” Epiphany said. “It won’t matter that you inherited a faulty network of machines.” She looked at Leo. “I’m comfortable with waiting to see if maybe the WSB is willing to look into this quietly. But Nadine, she needs to know what happened to her sister.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Let us know how things go with Anna,” Leo said, handing the report back to him. “But believe it or not, this is good news.”

As he and Epiphany left, they passed Matt on his way in. “Sorry I’m late,” he said, closing the door behind them. He turned back to Patrick. “Car accident in the ER.”

“You didn’t miss much.” Patrick handed him the autopsy report. “Something caused a digoxin toxicity which induced cardiac arrest. It’ll be a couple of weeks before we know specifically which medication did it, but we have what we need. And, uh, I’m meeting with Anna later to go over what we know so far. Did Nadine add anything?”

“Not that would help you, I don’t think. But she thinks I called Johnny Zacchara to come to the hospital. She thanked me for it,” Matt muttered.

Patrick sighed, dragged a hand down his face. “Yeah, we need to bring her into the loop, but I was hoping we could do that after we talk to the authorities. I want her to have answers. And I don’t like that there’s a possibility her own husband is involved. Because unless someone else called him — and I doubt that —  he showed up on his own. He knows something.”

“Do we think Nadine’s in danger?” Matt asked, flipping through the report, lingering on the toxicology report.

“No. If I thought that, if any of us thought that, we’d do something now. But there’s too many unknowns involved.” Patrick folded his arms. “Thank you. For keeping this quiet. I know I’m asking a lot.”

Matt handed the file back to him. “If you wanted to keep it quiet and make it go away, I wouldn’t be on board. But we’re trying to get answers and protect other patients. That’s something even we can agree on.”

Coffee House: Jason’s Office

Cody knocked on the open door. “Uh, Jase, Anna Devane is out front — asking if you have a few minutes.”

Jason shifted, moving Jake to the side and closing the book they’d been reading. “Yeah. Tell her she can come back.”

His second hesitated. “Do you want me to call Diane or something? You know she’s from the WSB—” When Jason just stared at him, Cody nodded. “Right, of course, you knew that. Uh, okay then.”

“Hey, Jake, I have to talk to someone for a few minutes, and then we’ll go back to reading, okay? Do you want to color while you wait?”

“I make pic for Mommy.” Jake happily settled at Jason’s desk, standing in the chair so he could reach the surface.

Anna appeared in the doorway, pausing when she saw the toddler behind Jason. “Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you’d have your son with you. I can come back— ”

Jason folded his arms, leaned against the desk. “You have five minutes right now or nothing at all. Your choice.”

Anna pressed her lips together, then stepped over the threshold. “You really want to discuss this where your son could hear? I thought you were a different kind of man.”

“Robin told me stories about you,” Jason said, “so I guess we’re both disappointed now that we’ve met.”

She flinched, looked away briefly, then returned her attention to him. “I understand that you and Robin have remained close. I was hoping that you might want to make all of this go away. For the sake of your family as well.”

Jason’s expression didn’t change. “Don’t pretend to be concerned for my family. We both know you don’t care. I have nothing to say to you without my attorney. Cody will give you her contact information.”

Anna bristled. “I simply want the best outcome for everyone, including my daughter. I know that Elizabeth Webber nearly died in the hospital six weeks ago. Was that hospital negligence or Andrei Karpov? You can answer that question now or in an interrogation room.”

“Now that Robin knows you were just using her, I guess the gloves are off.” He straightened. “Cody?” he called, raising his voice. The other man appeared in the door way almost immediately, clearly waiting. “Agent Devane is leaving now. And she’s not coming back. Make sure she has Diane’s information.”

“Got it.” Cody turned to Robin’s mother. “After you, Agent Devane.”

“This isn’t over, Mr. Morgan. When I find out what you and my daughter are hiding, you’ll wish that you’d cooperated,” Anna warned. She stalked off, followed by Cody.

Jason just shook his head, then looked at his son. “You ready to get back to our book?”

Crimson Pointe: Study

Anthony steered the chair towards his desk, smoothly rolling behind and locking the brakes. He considered the men standing in front of him — each of them worthless in their own ways, he thought, but today, well, today, one of them should prove to be quite useful.

“I’ve arranged for flowers to be delivered to the funeral home,” Trevor said, taking a seat in front of the desk. “Have you decided if you want to make the trip?”

“Oh, I think we have to,” Anthony said, with a smirk. “Because Morgan and his little nurse will be attending, won’t they? We can’t let them outshine us.” He steepled his fingers in front of him. “In fact, I think we should make a little trip of this excursion. Arrange for a suite of rooms at a hotel not owned by that blonde harpy,” he told Trevor.

To Ric, he said, “And you—make contact with Morgan’s lieutenant. I have a proposition for them that you’ll deliver.”

Ric hesitated. “You want me to make the contact? I’m not sure that’s—”

“You wanted more responsibility,” Anthony said, irritation lacing his words. “You telling me you can’t negotiate with Morgan’s people? Then you’re basically worthless—”

“I’ll do it,” Ric interrupted. “What’s the proposition?”

“Well, my boy says there’s some unrest in Port Charles unrelated to Jason Morgan. Someone’s making threats against his wife. He’d like me to cloak the little missus with my protection.” Anthony tipped his head. “Interesting this request comes only days after his sister-in-law dies under somewhat murky circumstances.”

Trevor pursed his lips. “You think he’s lying about Morgan?”

“No,” Ric said before Anthony could, then winced. The older man just lifted his bushy brows at the lawyer. “I’m sorry. But this isn’t Jason’s style. Killing an innocent bystander, even a comatose one, to send a message? He wouldn’t threaten Nadine, either. He’d just eliminate Johnny and move on.”

“You have a high opinion of the man—”

“I don’t. I just know him better than either of you. Jason’s no altar boy,” Ric continued, “but he operates under a code which is what makes him a reliable, trustworthy partner. It’s why the rest of the syndicate have left him alone. No major threats since the Ruizes, and even that was mostly Manny on a personal rampage. He doesn’t attack families, and he doesn’t create unwanted attention.”

“He doesn’t enjoy chaos. It makes him boring but dependable,” Anthony agreed, with a disappointed sigh. “I’m going to miss Corinthos. We had a better shot of him screwing up and making mistakes, but I suppose that kind of reckless living was always going to end up with him in a body bag or out of power.” He nodded. “Okay, so it’s not Morgan behind these threats.”

“There are still some small time gangs in the city, mostly on the waterfront.  The drugs, the small guns sales — that’s all from groups like the Hernandezes and—” Ric furrowed his brow. “Courtland Street used to be the Escobars but I don’t know who’s taken that over since Jason eliminated them.”

“John’s in trouble. Why doesn’t he just come home?” Trevor demanded. “Tell him that’s how you make his nurse safe. Put her in this house until that murder case goes cold, and then pay her off in a divorce—”

“He said that was a possibility, but he couldn’t commit to it just yet. The nurse needs time to grieve, to bury her sister back on whatever farm they came from.”

“Then no deal until he’s back—”

“I think that’s short sighted,” Ric interrupted his father, and Trevor sent him a scathing glare. “It just is. Johnny hasn’t given any indication that there’s a time limit on this marriage, and Nadine Crowell hasn’t given you any reason for concern. In fact, I think it’s a good sign that Johnny’s coming to you for help. He easily could have asked Jason. Jason’s there, he knows the players. He’s protected Johnny before. But Johnny’s asking you. When’s the last time he did that?”

“Never,” Anthony admitted. He leaned back, stroked his chin. “I was already inclined to grant his request, but I think we should go a step further. Ric, when you meet with the lieutenant, tell Morgan I want to put an offer on the table.”

“And it’s one he shouldn’t refuse?” Ric said dryly, rising to his feet, fastening his suit jacket. When Anthony just smirked, Ric sighed. “Yeah, all right. I’ll take care of it.”

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

“She’ll call,” Mac reassured Anna, rounding his desk and taking a seat. “She said she and Patrick would talk to a lawyer, then call you—”

“She doesn’t need a lawyer to speak with me. I’m her mother.” Disgusted, Anna folded her arms. “I don’t understand why she can’t simply understand that I was multi-tasking. I took advantage of this assignment to spend time with her—”

“And investigate her fiancé behind their backs,” Mac said dryly.

“Well, I didn’t know that at the time. I thought Karpov was involved with the clinic. I didn’t even suspect anything was happening at GH until you told me that Elizabeth Webber had been discharged shortly after surgery.” Anna stood, began to pace the length of the office. “He’s an international crime lord, Mac. I had no choice but to use what I knew.”

“Sure.”

She scowled. “Don’t say it that way.”

“What do you want me to do, Anna? Do I look happy that Robin and Patrick might have gotten themselves mixed up with Jason Morgan? They just had a baby. I don’t want to arrest either of them—”

“You won’t be arresting anyone—”

“You don’t get to decide that. You’re here unofficially. The WSB can’t just walk in and take over my cases. You have to go through the channels. Anna—” Mac leaned forward. “It’s only been a few years since she learned Robert was still alive and that he chose to stay away. She had the two of you together, as a family, for only seven years. She’s just had her first child, she thinks her mother is here to spend time with her, and instead she overhears you threatening to haul her fiancé in for questioning.”

Anna pursed her lips. “I suppose when you consider it from that perspective, there’s an argument to be made that I could have handled this better.”

“You think?” When Anna just glared at him, Mac smirked and reached for the ringing phone. “Commissioner Scorpio.” He listened to the voice on the other line, then took a deep breath. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m definitely interested in that. I’ll call back with a statement.” He set the phone down, looked at Anna. “A reporter got wind from their obituary department. Seems like a funeral home is holding services for Jolene Crowell next Tuesday.”

“Jolene Crowell? That’s Nadine Crowell’s sister.” Anna tensed. “The Angel Without Mercy. When did she die?”

“Tuesday, middle of the day. Good news, Anna. I finally have a reason to talk to Patrick.”

Coffee House: Office

Cody knocked on the ajar door, then pushed it all the way open. “This isn’t going to make your day any better,” he told Jason, “but Ric Lansing is out front. He says Anthony sent him.”

Jason set aside the invoices, then made a face. Anthony Zacchara knew Jason hated Ric almost more than any other man alive, so of course he’d sent him as a messenger.

Should have killed the asshole years ago.

“Yeah, fine. Can you call Bobbie and tell her I won’t be picking up Jake when I thought I would?” He made a face. “And—”

“And I’ll ask her to grab Cameron. You might want to rethink the nanny thing,” Cody pointed out before disappearing down the hallway to give Ric the message.

A few moments later, the bane of Jason’s existence strolled through the doorway. He set a briefcase down, then removed his coat.

Jason leaned back in the chair. “Don’t get too comfortable,” he said flatly. “You’re not staying long.”

“Always a joy to see you,” Ric said coolly. “Anthony has a request, and I think you’d be wise to say yes.”

The impulse to say no just because it was Ric asking wasn’t a mature one, so Jason forced it down. But the day would come when Ric would go too far and without Sonny around—Jason would finally be able to make this animal pay for what he’d done to Carly and Elizabeth.

“You’ve got five minutes.”

“All right. Johnny is eager to secure his father’s public approval for his marriage to Nadine Crowell,” Ric said. “With the recent events — what happened to Kate Howard and—” Here, he paused, took a deep breath. “To Sonny, even Michael—”

“This isn’t making it quick,” Jason cut in. “Get to the point.”

“Anthony intends to have dinner at the No Name Restaurant with his son and his daughter-in-law. Likely Claudia will be in attendance as well, though I’m not sure. Anthony thinks this is a good opportunity for the world to see that the bad blood between your family and his has been resolved.”

Jason exhaled slowly, looked away. “What does he want from me?”

“He’d like you and…” Ric grimaced. “You and Elizabeth would be having dinner that night as well. She’ll come over to the table, greet the newlyweds. Extend your well-wishes, and then she’ll go on her way. It’s a bit of an old tradition,” he admitted, “but you know Anthony’s an old-school guy.”

The no was fully formed on the tip of his lips and Jason had to physically swallow to prevent it from being spoken. The thought of Elizabeth being in the same room as Anthony Zacchara after what he’d done to her last year—he fisted his hands in his lap, out of sight from Ric.

“I’ll let you know the answer by the end of the day,” Jason said. “Anything else?”

“You don’t have to like me—”

“Good, because I don’t.” Jason got to his feet, and Ric took a step back. “But it’s not about you. If you demand an answer right now, it will be no, and somehow I don’t think you want to go back to Anthony with that. So, Ric, I’ll let you know by the end of the day.”

“This is an olive branch,” Ric said, picking up his briefcase, tossing his coat over one arm. “Like it or not, you chose to make Elizabeth part of your world. If she’s seen congratulating Anthony’s son, the protection goes both ways and you know it. Anthony can’t touch her either. Or those boys. You’d think you’d jump at that chance.”

“Anthony Zacchara is a ticking-time bomb whose promises mean nothing to me,” Jason said. “He needs me more than I need him and he knows it. So either leave and wait for my answer, or take the no now.  Your choice, Ric.”

Spin around and fall down
Do it again
You stumble and you fall
Yeah why won’t you ever learn
Spin around and fall down
Do it again
You stumble and you fall
I wonder if you will ever learn
– Everything to Everyone, Everclear

---

Thursday, November 13, 2008

 Drake Condo: Hallway

Patrick eased the door to Emma’s nursery closed, then headed into the living room for the stack of paperwork he’d picked up on his way out of the hospital. With any luck, Robin would have tracked down her mother by now and they could toss this entire mess into someone else’s lap. And if Matt had anything useful to add after talking to Nadine, then that would just be a bonus.

He wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about including Matt in all of this, but just like so much of this situation, it was out of his hands. But he had to admit, even if it was just to himself, it was a relief to leave the animosity behind.

Patrick reached the living room just as the door blew open and Robin came in, her face red, tears staining her cheeks. “Whoa—”

Robin turned to slam the door, but her mother was right there, holding it open. “I told you, I don’t want to hear it! There’s nothing you can say!”

“What’s going on?” Patrick wanted to know.

Anna slid through the open door, causing Robin to lose her balance and grip on the door. She fell forward and the door slammed. Patrick winced, glanced back towards the nursery, but nothing happened —

“Robin, you must let me explain. You’ve taken everything out of context, and you don’t understand—”

“Are you kidding me? I should have known. What made me stupid enough to believe that you’d come here for me?” Robin demanded, her voice hitching. She whirled on Patrick. “She’s here because of Karpov. And we’re not telling her a damn thing because she wants to arrest you!”

“What?” Stunned, Patrick focused on Anna. “What?”

“That’s not entirely accurate—”

“Really? You didn’t tell Uncle Mac that you wanted to drag Patrick in for questioning? That you didn’t care that Jason has a family now—all you care about is the job! You don’t care about me! About Emma! About my life!”

“Oh, that’s just not true. Please. Please—” Anna came forward, her hands up. “Darling, you know that isn’t true. I love you, and I adore Emma. I came here—”

“No, no. Don’t say another word.” Robin turned her tearful eyes on Patrick. “Call Alexis. Call Diane. Call a lawyer. We’re not talking to her without one. No one is. She can’t be trusted—”

“Robin!”

“All right, let’s just—” Patrick stepped between them. “Let’s all take a deep breath. First, just answer yes or no,” he told Anna. “Did Robin hear you right? Do you want me to come to the PCPD for questioning?”

Anna pressed her lips together mutinously, then nodded. “Yes. I did say that to Mac, but—”

“Okay. Then that’s all I need to hear. I can’t use Diane,” he told Robin. “She’s going to conflict out.”

“Then call Alexis.” Robin crossed her arms, glaring at her mother.

“Oh, I’m not threatening to arrest anyone! Or press charges! Will you both calm down and let me explain—”

“We’re going to let you explain,” Patrick said, holding a hand out when Robin opened her mouth to protest. “But it’s a one-way street. You do the talking, and after that, I’ll call Alexis and run it past her.”

“And I suppose you’ll trot right over to call Jason Morgan,” Anna said sourly.

“You’re damn right I am,” Robin seethed. “How dare you come here and use my child, use my life and my friends—all those questions, every conversation—all of it was just to get information—” Her face crumpled again, and she faltered, pressing her hands to her face.

“Robin, hey—” Patrick went to her, took her in his arms, and she sobbed into his shoulder. “It’s okay. We’re okay.” He kissed the top of her head and looked at Anna. “You’ve got five minutes to explain yourself, and then you can get out.”

Anna exhaled carefully. “Then I’ll cut to the chase. No, I was not planning to make Port Charles my base before the WSB asked me to use my connections here to investigate Andrei Karpov. When the DEA raided his freighter, we were brought in to discern what he’d been doing here in Port Charles, if it was similar to what he’s done in other places, and what, if any, danger was still on the ground. But once I received the assignment, I decided it would be a good opportunity for us to spend more time together—”

“I don’t believe you.” Robin pulled out of Patrick’s arms. “I just don’t. Because you’re targeting Patrick and the hospital. You came here to use me. Admit it.”

Anna hesitated, then rubbed her temple. “Yes, that was part of it, but your connections and my own — it’s why the WSB gave me the case. Can’t you understand—”

“No, I can’t. Stop making excuses. Finish explaining or go now. Why do you care about GH?”

“All right. All right. He’s an arms dealer,” she said, “a former KGB agent turned into a backer of Putin. They quite desperately need connections in South America and shipping routes to trade weapons on the black market. We’ve been trying to get inside his organization for some time. But his legal business? He’s in pharmaceuticals in Russia. And he has a few clients stateside.”

“Pharmaceuticals?” Patrick echoed.

“Yes. It’s a front for drug laundering as well. Once we learned Karpov was here, it was only natural to focus on General Hospital. It’s the largest in the region, and the most prestigious. And Port Charles was, until the last few months, a very lucrative smuggling hub for shipments going into Canada. You’ve hinted that there are issues at GH,” Anna said. “I was hoping to learn more about them, to connect something to Karpov. I would imagine Jason was an obvious explanation. Robin, you must believe that I really do want to spend more time with you, with my granddaughter—”

“Your five minutes are done. If and when Patrick and I want to talk to you again, you’ll hear from our attorney.” Robin stalked to the door, yanked it open. “Now get out.”

Crimson Pointe: Living Room

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the prodigal son.” Anthony steered the wheelchair to a rolling stop a few feet from Johnny at the arched doorway. “What brings you all the way down here?”

“Can’t a son come to see his father?” Johnny wanted to know. He headed for the mini bar but only poured himself a glass of water. After the confrontation outside with his sister, he needed a minute to calm down. To find his cool. He’d meant what he said — at the moment, he had no interest in throwing Claudia under the bus to get his father to agree to help, but he wasn’t going to let Nadine get hurt again for what his sister had done. What Johnny had kept quiet.

“He can. He hasn’t.” Anthony clasped his hands in his lap. “But my reports tell me you seem…” He pursed his lips. “Dare I say….happy with your new wife?”

“Your reports.” Johnny looked back at the old man. “You could have called.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Anthony wanted to know. “Not that there’s been much fun to be had. You’re not very interesting, John. She goes to work, you stay inside. And you mostly only leave together. A little homemaker, are you? Keeping the place spic and span for the missus?”

“Looking for something to do with my time. You were right, Dad. A graduate degree in art and literature isn’t really useful.”

Anthony narrowed his eyes. “You must want something. You haven’t told me I was right about anything since you were a kid.”

“You haven’t been right since I was a kid.”

“Where’s the wife? Trouble in paradise?”

“She’s in Port Charles planning her sister’s memorial,” Johnny said, almost tonelessly. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know Jolene Crowell died two days ago.”

Anthony was quiet for a long moment. “Your wife’s sister has died, but you’re here and not with her. So I’ll say it again. You want something.”

“There’s been some…” Johnny grimaced, looked down at his water glass. “Just some unrest. Not from Jason’s side. He doesn’t give a damn what I do as long as I stay out of his hair. But he’s not the only guy up there.”

“He ought to just exterminate all the little roaches, but I figure with what happened to his partner, he’s not looking for more pressure from the PCPD. Smart. Boring,” Anthony said with a sigh, “but smart. Some of these guys making pests of themselves?”

“Just some rumblings. I’m an easy target, being your kid. That’s always been true,” he said, and Anthony tipped his head. “But no one goes after me.”

“Ah. Some rumblings about the bride. So now we come to our purpose. What are you looking for?”

“No one goes after me because of you,” Johnny told Anthony. “So just do whatever you need to do to make sure that extends to Nadine.”

“You want me to cast the loving, protective arms of my reputation over your wife, a woman you barely knew before giving her your name without the benefit of a prenuptial agreement to protect yourself.” Anthony lifted his bushy brows. “What makes you think I’d do that? She keeps you up there. Maybe if you’d think about relocating — coming back home where you belong.”

“That might be possible now,” Johnny said slowly, though the lie felt like sawdust coating his throat. “Nadine’s lost her sister. And she’s not…marrying me isn’t making her popular. Maybe not right now, Dad. You gotta give her time. We’re having services for her sister, and in a few weeks, we’re going to fly out to Ohio, bury her with Nadine’s aunt.”

Anthony sighed, looked away, and was uncharacteristically quiet for a long time. “This was the sister who killed people, huh? The one in the coma.”

“Yes.”

“And your girl, she came to New York because of it? She moved here after, didn’t she?”

“Yes. She wanted to put some good into a place where her sister did so much evil.” A corner of his mouth tugged in a reluctant smile. “You probably think that’s stupid.”

“I do. But your mother wouldn’t.” Anthony studied him for a long moment. “If I told you moving home was a condition of my protection, what then?”

“I can’t do it right now.”

“Because she’s not ready to move.”

“Nadine’s still going through it. But, yeah, making sure that no one hurts her is important to me.” Johnny’s mouth was dry, but he forced himself to continue. “You always told me what happened to my mother was the worst thing you ever did. That losing control and hurting her would haunt you forever. Nadine’s never done anything bad in her whole life. All she’s ever done is stand by me even when I don’t deserve it. You liked her when I was on trial. She told the truth, even when it got her in trouble. She doesn’t deserve to be hurt because she’s married to me.”

“I suppose there are things I could do,” Anthony said reluctantly. He looked at Johnny. “This one is different from the crazy one. From LooLoo.”

“Dad—”

“You never asked me for my help with that one. You thought you knew better. You thought I was the enemy—”

“You had a psychotic break and tried to kill Lulu last year, Dad. And you tried to kill Nadine. You shot that other nurse—” Johnny pressed his lips together. “You were the enemy. But you went to Ferncliffe. They said you were better. I’m asking you as my father to help me. Please.”

Nadine’s Apartment: Living Room

Nadine frowned but stepped back to allow Matt to enter the apartment.  “Uh, hey—”

“Hey.” Matt entered, then turned in a slow circle until they were facing each other. “I, um, wanted to check in. See how you were.” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his long black jacket. “Your, um, husband around?”

“Oh. No.” Nadine closed the door, scratching her temple. “He went to see his father. I appreciate it, but I really—I’m fine.”

“Sure. Sure. I just…um—” He rubbed the back of his neck, looking distinctly uncomfortable. “I just feel bad. I would have waited with you until your husband got there yesterday, but I had patients.”

“No, I wouldn’t—” Nadine folded her arms across her middle. “Listen, I know we got off to a rough start.”

Now Matt smiled, some of his discomfort fading. “Rough start? That’s one way to put it. You broke into my room and got caught searching it. Did you really think I was stealing drugs from the clinic?”

She wrinkled her nose, some of the embarrassment washing over her again. “Oh, man. No, I mean, in hindsight, that was such a crazy thing to do. Reckless. And I appreciate you for not making things difficult. It’s nice that you came by and thank you—I don’t know what made you call Johnny, but I’m glad you did.”

“What?”

“On Tuesday.” She walked past him towards the kitchen, missing the surprise in Matt’s eyes. When she looked back, it had cleared. “I told you I didn’t want you to call anyone, but when he got there, I really—I needed to see him. Thank you,” she repeated.

“Oh, sure. Sure. Like I said, I didn’t feel right about letting you be alone with all that. I’m glad it worked out. I hope it’s okay, but we ordered an—we ordered an autopsy.”

“An autopsy?” Nadine tipped her head. “Why? I mean, I’m not asking questions. I’m a nurse. I know long-term coma patients can have all kinds of complications.”

“Yeah, sure. But, well, she wasn’t just a patient.” Matt made another face. “Patrick said something about some lawsuits and pending litigation.”

“Oh.” That stumped her for a minute, but realization dawned. “Oh, of course. Because she’s a patient at the hospital, and a liability. No, of course, the hospital has to cover itself. And I obviously don’t want any more harm to come from my sister. She did enough when she was alive,” she muttered. “Run any test you want, and Patrick can see whatever he needs. Anyone can. Please.”

“I’m sorry to bring it up like this—” He looked away. “It’s probably the last thing you want to think about right now—”

“I wish I could forget it.” She folded her arms again, leaned against the counter. “Jolene and I weren’t close. We haven’t been since high school. And now—” she looked at him. “All I have left is the damage she caused. What a terrible legacy.”

General Hospital: Conference Room

More than twenty-four hours, six bottles of orange soda and hours of footage later, Spinelli didn’t have much more to offer in the way of information. He’d been able to track the mysterious nurse from the moment she entered the hospital until she’d left, but she’d come in posing as a visitor, then changed once she was inside.

And despite all the traffic cams he searched, he couldn’t find any trace of her once she’d disappeared into the parking lot.

He knew Stone Cold was right — that finding the assassin wouldn’t give them much to work with. That’s how such people worked, but it did not leave Spinelli with any sense of accomplishment to offer nothing but confirmation of what they’d already suspected.

He hadn’t been able to find out who’d tried to kill the Fair Elizabeth, and now he couldn’t help them find the villain who’d taken Nadine’s sister, too. What good was a hacker if he couldn’t provide answers?

The conference door banged open, and Maxie stalked in, planting one hand at her hip. “All right, Dingus, you’ve ignored five calls and six texts. You either better be dying or in the middle of a psychotic break—” She broke off, looked at the stacks of files surrounding the laptop, and the discarded bottles of orange soda. She narrowed her eyes, returned to her focus to Spinelli.

“You’ve got one minute to tell me what’s going—”

Spinelli made a face and got to his feet. “The Jackal apologizes for his lack of communication, but he knows—”

“You only slip into that third-person speak when you’re nervous,” Maxie accused. She stabbed a finger in his direction. “What’s going on?”

Spinelli opened his mouth, then closed it. “How did you know where to find me?”

“Oh, that is the wrong answer—” She fisted her hands at her side. “Why are you lying to me? Why are you avoiding me?” Tears glimmered in her eyes. “Is it because of what I said about Elizabeth?”

“Uh, no, but—” He winced. That would have been a perfect excuse. He really was a dingus. “No,” he said again. “But you ask a lot of questions,” he said, opting for a version of the truth. “And I don’t like to tell you I can’t answer. So I…” He made another face. “Avoid the conversation.”

“It’s something for Jason?” She looked around, at the files, then back at him. “Something for Jason and the hospital?”

“I just said I can’t answer—”

“No, you wouldn’t be here if it weren’t about the hospital, and you only don’t answer questions if it’s about Jason. So what do they have in common? Elizabeth.” Maxie scowled. “What did she do now?”

Spinelli went to the door, opened it, and gestured. “As the Jackal has already established, he cannot answer questions. Next time—”

“Oh, you think there’s going to be a next time, you jerk? Fat chance.” She stalked out. Spinelli dragged his hands down his face and hoped the day wouldn’t get any worse.

Harborview Towers: Hallway

Having been told that Robin had been crying when she’d checked in at the front desk, Jason was waiting for her in the hallway, the baby monitor in his hand. The elevator door slid open, and she simply stood in the car, staring at him for a long moment, her mouth trembling.

His heart sank. “What happened? What—” He slapped a hand against the side of the elevator to hold it open. “Robin—”

She swiped at her tear-stained cheeks, stepped into the hallway, and Jason let his hand fall back to his side. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry—it’s—you’re fine. I mean, it’s fine. It’s not—” She sucked in a deep breath. “No one’s in trouble. I should have called, but I didn’t want to take any chances—”

“Let’s go inside. Talk—”

“Mom doesn’t know anything, but you need to call Diane. We’re calling Alexis—”

None of that sounded good, but Jason kept his thoughts to himself until they were in the penthouse, and he’d closed the door. He set the monitor back on the desk, then focused on Robin again. “What happened?” he asked again.

“I—I had this feeling, you know—thanks—” She took a tissue from the box he held out. “I had a feeling my mom was up to something, and I talked it over with Liz earlier today, but I had it confirmed. I caught her at the PCPD with my uncle, talking about taking you or Patrick in for questioning—she’s here to investigate Andrei Karpov.”

Jason exhaled slowly, set the tissues on the desk, then dragged a hand down his face. “I don’t know what that means.”

“She said she came here after the DEA seized his freighter. The WSB chose her because of me. Because—” Robin cleared her throat. “Anyway. She doesn’t know anything. She was arguing with my uncle because she has all these suspicions but nothing she can prove, and nothing he can work with. She doesn’t know about Elizabeth’s complications or what happened with Jolene.”

“Oh.” Then it dawned on him. “Oh. She came here to investigate Karpov. And me.”

“Not to be with me,” Robin said. She squeezed her eyes shut, clenched her fist, then took another deep breath. “I told Liz that I was going over my conversations with her, and I realize now she was pumping me for information. Asking about you and about Elizabeth, and just later about the hospital. I never gave anything she could use, and neither did Patrick. But—”

“But she was using you,” Jason finished, and Robin nodded. “That’s why you’re upset.”

“Yeah, I should have waited until I’d calmed down more, but I knew I’d have to tell you, and I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry that my mother tried to use me, and she tried to use Liz. I can see that now. I’m sorry—”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. Don’t worry about any of that. I’m just—I’m sorry,” Jason said, a bit uselessly. “I don’t know what to say.”‘

“There’s n-nothing. Not really. It’s just—” Robin looked away, pressed her lips together, then looked at the tissue in her hand. “We’re talking to Alexis to make sure we’re covered. You should loop in Diane.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that. Whatever you need, Robin.”

“I think you’re still in the clear. I mean, she came here to investigate Karpov, but if they’d had anything, they’d have used it already. You’re good. Patrick and I think we’ve handled most of the ethical concerns.” Robin forced herself to smile. “It’s going to be okay. It’s not the first time I’ve been part of my mother’s job. Not even the first time she’s lied to me about it. I’ll get over it.”

General Hospital: Nurse’s Station

Elizabeth checked her phone again, but there was still nothing. No call from Robin updating her on the conversation with her uncle. Nothing from Patrick or Jason. Maybe no news was good news, she thought.

She flicked through another stack of insurance forms, searching for any last-minute mistakes. The last thing any of them needed was issues with their insurance partners.

“Oh, of course. Why wouldn’t this day get worse?”

Elizabeth glanced up at the words spoken in such disgust and rolled her eyes. “Oh, look at that, it’s the first thing you and I can agree on. Go away, Maxie. The adults are working.”

“Listen, you insufferable know-it-all,” Maxie hissed, charging forward. She jabbed a finger at her. “You think because you got Spinelli and Jason thinking you’re freaking Snow White that I still don’t remember what an absolute bitch you really are—”

“Looking in the mirror again?” Elizabeth asked, and the blonde nearly growled. “Go away, Maxie. I’m working.”

“No! No! I demand to know what you’ve got Spinelli doing in here that he can’t even tell me! Why is he here holed up like some sort of shut-in—”

Elizabeth dropped the insurance and charged around the counter of the nurse’s station so quickly that Maxie closed her mouth abruptly and actually backed up a few steps, her eyes widening. “Whoa—ow!” she yelped when Elizabeth grabbed her arms and pulled her towards the elevator.

Elizabeth pressed the button, tightening her grip on Maxie’s elbow. “Sometimes you really don’t know when to shut up.”

“Let go of me you lunatic—” Maxie struggled, but she was no match for two years of pent-up resentment and fury.

The elevator doors slid open and Elizabeth all but threw her inside, then followed. Maxie hit the back wall, and could only watch in stunned disbelief as Elizabeth hit the doors close button, and as soon as they did, slapped the emergency stop button.  “What—”

“Shut up! I am done with you and your snide remarks! I felt sorry for you,” she snapped. “Losing Jesse that horrible way and then lashing out at the world. I’d been through it, and I was trying to have a little grace, a little compassion. You thought Lucky could fix what was broken, and you did what you thought you had to do to keep him.”

Maxie’s throat tightened. “You don’t know what you’re talking about—”

“We’re not that different, you and me. I thought Lucky was worth saving, too. I destroyed my life to keep him, and I thought I’d learned my lesson. But I hurt the people around me, lied, and walked out of it feeling like a horrible person. I could have told everyone where Lucky got those drugs.”

Maxie pressed her lips together, tears welling in her eyes. “Oh, you think you did me a favor—”

“I didn’t have the time or energy to be angry with you, Maxie, and then I didn’t have the heart after Georgie.”

Maxie closed her eyes, looked away, the tears burning. But she refused to give Elizabeth the satisfaction. “Don’t talk about her.”

“I lost my sister, too. I still don’t know how to live without her. Emily was my touchstone, my anchor. So I swallowed that hurt and anger at you, Maxie. I thought we’d both been punished enough for the horrible things we’d done. For living even though maybe I didn’t deserve to. Because Emily was a doctor who could save people, when it seemed like all I could ever do was hurt them. It’s hell, Maxie, feeling like the wrong girl died.” Her voice shifted. “The wrong sister.”

Maxie stifled a sob, pressed her fist to her mouth, started to shake her head. “She was so good, she was so pure and special, and she loved me and, oh God—” Her knees buckled, and she slid to the floor. “Oh, God. Why? Why did he take her? Why wasn’t it me? Why Jesse? Why Georgie? Why isn’t it me?”

Elizabeth exhaled slowly, then crouched down. “Because as unfair as it sounds, that’s not how it works. Emily would be so angry at me for feeling that way. Do you think Georgie would want it for you?”

“Don’t, don’t—”

“She was a good person, and the world is worse for her loss. For Emily and for Jesse, and for everyone else we’ve lost.”

“You d-don’t understand—” Maxie looked at her, tears staining her cheeks, her voice shaking. “You don’t understand. It’s always me, and it shouldn’t be.”

“Maxie—”

“I w-was in that park, but J-Jesse’s the one who’s gone. And I was—” She heaved a sob. “I was sick, and BJ died, and then she saved me. And Georgie. Georgie, God, I’m Mac’s family, too, but Diego went after her because of him. Lulu—” Her shoulders shook. “Lulu was trying to help me, and now she’s locked in her head, and I can’t fix her, and I can’t bring them back, and I can’t do anything, and I’m so mad and angry and I want to hurt someone—”

Elizabeth drew Maxie against her, curling an arm around her shoulder. “I know.”

“But it doesn’t help! N-Nothing h-helps—” Maxie clung to her, and Elizabeth rocked slightly, as the sobs continued to wrack her small frame. When they finally slowed, the younger woman slid away, started to wiping at her face, averting her eyes.

“It won’t until you forgive yourself for living.”

“How did you do it?” Maxie asked glumly.

“Remembering that Emily loved me. That I loved her. But it’s not easy, and some days I get angry all over again. Spinelli loves you,” Elizabeth said softly, and now Maxie looked at her. “And you’re afraid the universe will take him next. You’re picking a battle you know he can’t fight. He can’t tell you the things Jason asks him to do. You know that. You knew that before you ever started to care about him. So why are you angry about it now?”

When Maxie just stared at her, Elizabeth sighed. “Spinelli is Jason’s family, and he’s lost enough of them over the last few years. He deserves your respect and your trust. You keep pushing him away, he’ll stay gone. And I think that would be sad for you both.” She hit the emergency button again, and the doors opened. There was a small crowd around the elevator, and Maxie immediately hurried out of the car, and away down a hall.

Elizabeth stepped out, and the doors slid closed behind her.

“You finally pop her in the mouth?” Epiphany wanted to know, stepping up beside her.

“No. I don’t like her,” Elizabeth added, folding her arms and sighing. “But there’s no point in hating someone who hates herself more than I could.”

And everything I can’t remember
As fucked up as it all may seem
The consequences that I’ve rendered
I’ve gone and fucked things up again, again
Why must I feel this way?
Just make this go away
Just one more peaceful day
– Been Awhile, Staind

---

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Drake Condo: Living Room

Robin pulled the door open just a little and offered a tight smile. “Hey, so slight adjustment to our plans. Patrick’s brother is here.”

“Oh, damn it, I forgot,” Elizabeth said at Jason’s side. He looked at her, frowned. “I sort of pushed Matt into being mad at Patrick, so they’d argue and, you know, make some progress. I wasn’t thinking that we’d have to talk to them tonight—”

“It’s fine, though. Matt’s going to help us.” Robin opened the door all the way, revealing the other doctor standing by his brother. Jason tensed, never a big fan of new people. Or just people in general.

“He was Jolene’s doctor,” Patrick said, grimly. “I was hoping to keep him out of it, but—”

“—but she’s my patient, and I want to know what’s going on,” Matt said. “Why do you all look so worried, and—” He hesitated. “Do I get to ask why Jason Morgan is involved with all of this?”

“No,” Patrick said shortly. “You want to help, okay, but you’re on a need-to-know basis. For your protection,” he added, and Matt made a face. “Get used to it.”

“Anyway,” Robin said, ignoring the scowl on Matt’s face. She stepped between the brothers and Jason. “You said you had something from Spinelli.”

“Yeah. He found footage of a nurse going into Jolene’s hospital room, about eight minutes after Nadine.” Jason turned to Elizabeth who was already scooping the folder out of her tote bag. He handed it to Robin, and she extracted the black and white photos. “The time stamps have her in there for a few minutes. She goes in with a full bag of IV fluids, and leaves with an empty one.”

“She wasn’t scheduled to have her fluids changed at that time,” Matt interrupted, then colored when everyone looked at him. “I—I know her routine. It gets changed every seventy-two hours.”

“And we do every long-term patient at once,” Elizabeth added. “To preserve the routine. It’s one of the safety checks we implemented when we started floating nurses everywhere. I was on that rotation right before my accident. We change them in the morning. First thing when the shift starts.”

“Whoever did this wouldn’t know that,” Patrick said. He gripped the back of a chair. “There’s always a hundred little routines that are unique to every hospital staff. So she’s not one of us.”

“Spinelli kept tracking her,” Elizabeth said, and Robin continued to flip through the photos. “She went to the elevator, grabbed her purse from a plant by the waiting area, and she changed on the elevator. Then walked out of the hospital.”

“So, the security,” Matt said. “Do they, uh, do anything? Or can anyone just—” He gestured. “Walk in and out?”

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose with some distaste. “I really thought we’d picked up the security since the time Helena Cassadine built an entire medical lab in the sublevel basements under everyone’s noses. That was when she brought Stavros back from the dead,” she added to Robin, who just nodded as if that was a perfectly normal thing to say.

Jason opened his mouth, but Elizabeth continued. “That was before you came back for good,” she clarified. “Listen—”

“Kind of a miracle GH has stayed open this long,” Patrick muttered. “Medical labs built by villainous psychos — that’s great.” He rubbed his forehead. “Okay. So security. That’s something new and terrifying to worry about. Did Spinelli see anything else?” he asked.

“He’s still looking through traffic cameras,” Jason said, “but there’s no point. It’s a professional hit.”

“I was gonna say that,” Robin said. She looked at Matt. “My parents are with the WSB, so I grew up with all of this.” She took a deep breath. “Okay, so we know that a nurse came in and did something. We won’t know exactly what until we get the autopsy back, but I guess now we know for sure something happened to Jolene, Epiphany’s suspicion about Johnny is back on the table.” She looked at Matt. “You talked to Nadine after her sister. You’re sure she didn’t call him?”

“No. I asked a few times,” the younger man said. “I didn’t want to leave her alone, but I had other patients. She told me she was fine. But then I saw them, so I figured she changed her mind.” He frowned. “We still don’t know that she didn’t.”

“No, I guess we don’t. And that’s something to think about, I guess. What I’m more concerned about is the timing.” Robin closed the folder of photos, set it on the coffee table. “This nurse could have picked any time. But she chose to go in while Nadine was visiting.”

Jason nodded. “Yeah, I was thinking about, too.”

“What?” Patrick asked. “Why does that matter?”

“Why leave a witness?” Elizabeth asked. “That’s a message, right?”

“Look how close I can get,” Matt said, and they looked at him. His cheeks reddened. “Sorry, it just—”

“It’s textbook. Whoever did this wanted to make sure Johnny wouldn’t miss it,” Robin said.

“That…” Patrick squinted. “Am I allowed to say that’s a little bit of a relief? Look, I’m not happy that it was Jolene, obviously, but they’re using a professional assassin. They didn’t try to hide it. I don’t have to worry about every single damn patient that goes through my hospital or needs medication. We don’t need Spinelli going through layers of code—”

“No, they’re taking advantage of hospital security which has never been great—”

“And isn’t under my control,” Patrick said, with an exhale of relief. “Not my fault. I mean, still bad. All of it—” He wiggled a hand. “But it’s someone else’s bad. Hell, we don’t even have to worry about Jason. Not that I was,” he added, with a wince.

“Matt’s not going to say anything,” Robin told Jason. “He and Patrick just figured out they’re brothers, and he doesn’t know this yet, but if he messes this up for us, I’m going to kick his ass.” She looked over at her future-brother-in-law. “And I have connections, Matt. Everything in this room—”

“Yeah, yeah, cone of silence.” Matt rolled his eyes. “Look, I’m a new member of this conspiracy, and I’m only here because Patrick can’t cover his own tracks—”

Patrick opened his mouth, but Jason interrupted before the conversation could get anymore derailed. “I’m not worried about anything,” he told the doctor, waiting until their eyes met, waited until the other man swallowed hard. “So now that we’re on the same page, Patrick’s right. This isn’t like what happened to Elizabeth. Someone used the hospital to kill Jolene because she was a patient here. They didn’t use the system in place.”

“Because we dismantled that system,” Robin interjected. “It wasn’t available.”

“Either way, it’s not anything more than a liability suit for the hospital. It doesn’t involve me. So if you want to go to the authorities,” Jason told Patrick, “you should do that.”

“Well, this might shock you, but I wasn’t entirely keeping quiet just because my best friend likes you,” Patrick said dryly. “You might be in the clear, which, sure, yay for you, but my hospital is still in the cross hairs. Maybe I’m not responsible for the security department, but—”

“It still makes GH look awful. We really need to gut the place,” Robin muttered. “How much money does it cost to buy out a hospital board? Because half of this is cost-saving measures to pay off the lawsuits, and the other half is those cheap ass bastards trying to turn a profit—”

“Let’s put a hostile takeover plan on hold,” Patrick told her. He looked at Jason. “I get if you want to be out of it, and I don’t blame you, but—”

“But it’s still the hospital, and my reasons for helping haven’t changed,” Jason said. “I just thought—”

“It’s time for us to make some decisions. We can get away with not telling anyone about Jolene for a little while because we’re conducting an internal review. And with Elizabeth, we covered our bases by telling the family,” Patrick said. He looked to Robin. “What about your mother?”

Robin lifted her brows. “What about her?”

“Well, she’s WSB, isn’t she? They don’t report to the federal government, so we might be able to keep this quiet.”

“You want to turn this over to my mother?” Robin wanted to know. “I don’t know. I just—” She chewed on her bottom lip, looked at Jason. “Is that something you’d be comfortable with?”

“I’m surprised they aren’t already sniffing around Port Charles,” Elizabeth said. “Andrei Karpov is an international Russian crime lord. Isn’t that literally the kind of thing the WSB was built to handle? His freighter getting seized by the DEA made national news.”

“We don’t know if it’s Karpov,” Jason pointed out. “It could be Anthony Zacchara’s enemies. He has his own long list of people who want him dead—”

“But Karpov wanted to make trouble,” Elizabeth interrupted, and he looked at her, not sure what she meant. “He wanted to drive Sonny crazy by framing Johnny for what happened to Kate. Maybe he’s trying to push Johnny into something by going after Nadine.”

“That’s…” A good point, Jason thought, though it wasn’t exactly a cheerful thought. Getting rid of Karpov had been one of the few things he thought he’d managed to handle. “That might be something worth considering.”

“I guess I can talk to my mom. See if the WSB can help,” Robin said. “Maybe it gets us nowhere, but if Karpov is tied to Jolene, then we can turn it over to her, and the WSB will keep it quiet.” She grimaced. “The thing is—”

“Nadine should know what happened to her sister,” Patrick said and Robin nodded. “But if we tell her the truth, she might tip off Johnny.”

“I was thinking maybe, if Matt agrees—” Elizabeth looked at the doctor. “Maybe this woman said something to Nadine. Maybe you could tell her you’re running the full toxicology, maybe hint that there’s some question as to what happened to her. But if you’re not comfortable—”

“No, I—most of this is going over my head,” Matt said. He leaned forward, clasping his hands on the table. “And it’s obvious I’m walking in near the end of the movie, but if someone killed my patient, I want to help make it right. If we can do that in a way that keeps the hospital in the clear, then I support that. The rest of this — that’s all for you guys to handle. Yeah, I’ll talk to Nadine.”

Jason realized that he was really the only one in the room that hadn’t been assigned a task. Matt would question Nadine, Robin would bring her mother up to speed, and Patrick and Elizabeth would likely take on anything related to the hospital investigation.

It was the first time in a long time that the crisis didn’t center on the business or him. Or Sonny. It was concerning that Johnny Zacchara had been targeted by someone, and that Nadine might be in danger. She’d gone out of her way to keep things calm and peaceful, and she didn’t deserve what had happened to her. But if someone was targeting Johnny because of his father — there was only so much Jason could do to deal with that.

He pushed himself to his feet. “I’ll put out some feelers to see if anything is going on with the Zaccharas. If this isn’t Karpov, it’s going to be hard to get Anna involved, and I don’t want to tip whoever is pressuring Johnny off by confronting him. Not yet.”

“No, that’s definitely a good idea. Because once Anthony Zacchara gets involved,” Patrick said with a grimace, “you can’t really unring that bell.”

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Sweeney’s Funeral Home: Office

Nadine dragged a hand through her hair, then flipped to another page in the book. “We really don’t need all of this,” she told the funeral director. “I’m not expecting a lot of people. I don’t want a priest or religious person to speak. I’m not even going to talk—” She tossed the book aside, looked at Johnny. “Can you finish this? I’m tired of repeating myself.”

She stalked out of the office, leaving the director sputtering. Johnny dragged a hand down his face, faced him.

“Her sister is dead,” he said flatly. “You’re giving her exactly what she asks for and one more offer to upgrade for a discount, you’re going to regret it. Any questions?”

“I really don’t see how—”

“Sounds like a you problem.” Johnny got to his feet and went after Nadine.

He found her in the parking lot, leaning against the side of the car, her eyes closed, face tilted up to the ceiling. “It’s handled. And I’ll deal with him going forward.”

“Thank you. I just—I don’t want to do this in the first place, you know? But it feels wrong—” Nadine looked at him. “It feels wrong to just go pick up a box of ashes and that be it. Maybe if I do something that’s…that’s official, I’ll feel…I don’t know. Some sense of closure.” She sighed. “Stupid really. No one’s going to come.”

“I’ll be there,” he said, leaning next to her. She flashed him a half-smile, but it didn’t do much to make him feel better.

He didn’t know what he was supposed to do anymore. How could he go to Jason and ask to work for him, betraying his own father? But if he didn’t, Jerry Jacks had made it clear he didn’t consider Nadine untouchable. And he’d proved that Johnny couldn’t keep her safe on his own. He’d have to find a different way.

“I don’t blame people for not coming,” Nadine said with a sigh. “My sister wasn’t a good person, and any goodwill I’ve managed to create since I got here went out the window when I married you.” She winced. “I’m not blaming you—”

“This was my idea, wasn’t it?” Johnny reminded her, and she wrinkled her nose. “All of it. I came to the hospital that day, dragged you into my problems with Lulu and her brothers, and if I had just left you alone, you’d have gone home to sleep—”

“And maybe you would have been the one being sent to Silver Water. Tell me how that’s better, Johnny. Maybe Sonny catches you alone, and you’re not so quick,” Nadine said. She folded her arms. “I hate that it happened. I hate that we couldn’t just be honest about it. But it was him or us, Johnny. I’m not sorry it was us.”

In another place or time, they could have told the cops their story and gone their separate ways. Instead, six weeks later, he was standing with her in the parking lot of a funeral home after his family’s sins had caused the death of her sister.

And Nadine didn’t have the first clue about the truth about his family, or how he was to blame.  It was time to make some decisions. To grow up and stop running. If he couldn’t tell her the truth, he really only had one choice.

“I’m going to drive down to my father’s today,” he told her. “I want to tell him about Jolene, and, well, I haven’t seen him in a few weeks. He gets antsy. You okay to hang out here or…you could come—”

“No. I don’t think I’m up to dealing with your family right now. No offense,” she added, when he pulled open the passenger door for her. She slid inside.

“None taken,” Johnny replied, relieved. It had been an empty offer — he’d known she wouldn’t come.

He’d go see his father and do whatever Anthony wanted to keep Nadine safe.

General Hospital: Break Room

Elizabeth dumped the remnants of the morning coffee in the sink and switched on the faucet to refill it. “You sure you don’t want a cup?”

Robin made a face. “No. One of the benefits of maternity leave is not having to drink that poor excuse for coffee.”

Elizabeth smirked, finished setting a new pot of coffee to brew, then joined Robin at the table. “Well, if it wasn’t our award-winning beverage bar, what brings you to GH? I thought you were going to talk to your mom today.”

“I am. I’m going to call her.” Robin bit her lip, looked down at her engagement ring, twisting it. “I need a second opinion. From another mother.” She lifted her gaze to Elizabeth again. “You’ll tell me if I’m overreacting or just being hormonal. Because I might be, and if Patrick says so, I’ll deck him.”

Elizabeth tipped her head. “Is it about Emma?”

“No. Sort of. Yes. No.” Robin made another face. “It’s about my mother. And Emma. And me. And maybe I’m seeing things that aren’t there.”

“Or maybe you’re seeing things you don’t want to be there,” Elizabeth said, and Robin nodded. “Well, tell me what’s going on, and we’ll figure it out. It’s about your mother, so are you having second thoughts about the WSB being involved?”

“No. The WSB is perfect for this. They don’t give a damn about local laws, so Mom’s not going to care about Jason’s involvement. But I’m sure you noticed it was Patrick who brought up telling my mom, not me.”

“I didn’t, but since you’re pointing it out, that must be significant. Why didn’t you think you of talking to your mother about this before?”

“My mother…” Robin paused, twisting her ring. “You know our history right? Or maybe you don’t. I didn’t know she was my mother for the first few years of my life.”

Elizabeth blinked, sat up straight. “What? No, I didn’t—”

“I thought she was my aunt, and she didn’t tell my father about me, either. She had her reasons, and it’s not that I blame her or hold a grudge,” Robin added quickly. “She wanted to keep me safe—she was a double agent for DVX. The Lex Luthor to the WSB.”

“Luke told me about them once. I’m sorry — I didn’t know—”

“I found out when I was just a kid, and I was upset. I ran away, got into a lot of trouble, but it turned out okay. I got both my parents, and we were really happy for a while.” Robin bit her lip, picked up an abandoned water bottle and picked at the label. “But then the boat explosion happened, and I thought they were both gone. Mom—she didn’t have a choice to leave me, I know that. Dad—I mean, he had sort of a choice, but I get that he didn’t feel like there was one. They both ended up back in the WSB over the last few years.” Her smile was faint. “Mom tried to do the normal person thing again. Got married and everything. But then she had a little girl who passed away after birth, and well—” Robin took a deep breath. “Anyway. Mostly that’s not relevant other than to say I’ve spent more years apart from my mother than with her.”

She looked up, met Elizabeth’s eyes. “When she came to Port Charles last month, I was really happy. Excited. She said she was coming here to be closer to me. To be part of Emma’s life, and I really wanted it. It’s been great, and I thought, well she’ll get bored eventually maybe, but I’ll have this time. She came here to have this time with me.”

Elizabeth’s throat tightened. “You don’t think that’s true anymore?”

“I think—” Robin tensed. “If I think back, if I really think about it, there have been times when my mother’s seemed a little too interested in a few things. She asked questions about you — and I thought it was just idle curiosity at first. Because you came over, and we talked about your kids. And she asked about Jason, but it was always like connected to something else. Being glad that I was friends with an ex, you know? There always seemed to be a reason.”

She sighed. “I wanted to think I was overreacting or just being really sensitive, but yesterday, when Patrick got home from talking to Epiphany about Jolene, my mother was…asking him questions. And it just seemed…I don’t know. Pointed. And she looked interested. Curious. I thought maybe it was just that boredom. She was looking for something to do.” Robin pressed her lips together. “But then last night, you pointed out that Karpov seems like something the WSB would be into, and that thing about the freighter making national news—I realized that I had it wrong. My mother isn’t bored, looking for something to do. I think she came here because of Karpov.”

Elizabeth stilled. “What does that mean?”

“She showed up a week after Sonny’s shooting. Days after the freighter was in the news. I think the WSB sent her here to investigate Karpov, and that she used me as an excuse. A cover. No, worse, I think she was sent here because of who I am and my history with Jason. I think she’s been using me all along.”

Elizabeth inhaled sharply. “Oh, man. Robin—”

“And I don’t know if I’m just putting it all together under this umbrella and overreacting because I don’t know anything for sure. I don’t know. I’m feeling all this stuff all the time, you know? I cry a lot now. Emma just looks at me —” Robin took the tissue Elizabeth offered her. “And then I see Patrick and Emma together, and I’m just gone. So I know my emotions are really close to the surface, so maybe it’s nothing.”

“Maybe. But being emotional, Robin, doesn’t make things not true. You’re smart, and you know when you’re being played. I watched you duck and weave every trick in Patrick’s book until he was so crazy in love with you, he couldn’t function. If you feel like your mother’s questions pushed too hard, maybe they did.”

Robin closed her eyes. “Thank you. Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel better knowing that you don’t think I’m crazy.”

“I hope you’re wrong, obviously. I hate the idea that your mother came here to investigate Jason. I hate the idea that she used you.”

“It kills me, it really does. I just…I was so happy,” Robin murmured. “To have my mother back, to have my family around me.” She sighed. “But there’s only one way to find out.”

“What are you going to do? Ask her about it?”

“Maybe. Or maybe I’ll tell her about Jolene, and she’ll come clean. Or maybe I’ll find out it’s nothing.” Robin dug through her purse, picked out her phone. “Better to get it over with now.”

“Right.” Elizabeth watched Robin lift the phone to her ear.

“Hey, Mom. No, everything’s great. I was hoping we could get together for a late lunch. Maybe take Emma out for the first time to Kelly’s—oh? Okay. No, that’s fine. I’ll see you then.” Robin closed the phone, tightened her first around it. She looked at Elizabeth. “She said she was a little busy, but she’d be able to meet me later.”

“That’s good, but—” Elizabeth furrowed her brow. “You don’t look like it’s good.”

“I heard my uncle in the background. Why—why wouldn’t she just tell me she was with him?” Robin bit her lip. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Well, Mom thinks we’re meeting at Kelly’s in an hour. So she won’t expect me to show up at my uncle’s office in ten minutes, will she?” Robin slid her phone into her purse. “I’ll call you later.”

“Robin—” Elizabeth stopped her as Robin headed for the door. “I really hope it’s nothing.”

“Me, too.”

Crimson Pointe: Drive

Claudia sauntered out of the front entrance, a glass of wine in her hand as usual. Johnny slammed his car door and stood in the gravel driveway, glowering.

“This is a surprise, little brother,” she said, planting her free hand on her hip. “Where’s the wife—”

“I’m not in the mood for your games, Claudia.” He stalked towards her, his long legs angrily eating the distance between them. “You know damn well where Nadine is. At home, grieving the murder of her sister.”

“Have they determined murder?” she asked, lifting her chin. “I hadn’t heard—”

“Shut up.”

Claudia closed her mouth, taken aback by the fury mixed with disgust in her brother’s eyes. She swallowed hard, fumbled for her characteristic nonchalance. “You seem angry—”

“Jerry called me. Did you know that? He wanted to make sure I knew just how close I was to losing Nadine. She was in the damn hospital room,” he bit out. “Sitting right there when someone posing as a nurse gave Jolene the meds that killed her. He could have killed Nadine right then.”

“That…is unfortunate,” Claudia said delicately. “But I told you they were making threats—”

“Don’t you dare stand there and tell me that if I had just taken the deal from Jerry, Nadine would be safe. The man is a sociopath, Claudia. He’s using what you did to that little boy to control our lives, and I’m not going to let it happen—”

“What are you going to do—” The glass of wine fell to the ground, shattering on the concrete as Johnny charged past her and Claudia rushed after him. “John, John, wait—”

“I’m going to agree to whatever Dad wants so that Nadine is safe—”

“But are you going to tell him why?” Claudia demanded, jerking him back just as he reached for the front door. “John—”

“You mean am I going to tell him that you’re responsible for putting Michael Corinthos in a coma? No. Dad would kill you, and I’m not having any more blood on my hands, damn it.”

“Then—”

“But just remember, I know your secrets. And if it comes down to choosing Nadine’s safety over yours?” Johnny leaned in, his eyes dark and fierce. “You’re not going to be happy with the outcome.”

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

Anna paced the length of the office, then whirled back to face her former brother-in-law. “They’re getting nervous. Something happened yesterday. Patrick went to the hospital, he came back and closeted himself in the nursery with Emma—”

“Anna—”

“And after I left last night, they had visitors—”

Mac blinked. “Wait. How do you know that?” When Anna just lifted her brows, he scowled. “You’re having the building watched?”

“Jason Morgan and Elizabeth Webber came to see them—”

“To see Emma maybe—”

“Matt Hunter came over first. Another doctor from the hospital. He and Patrick are not close, so don’t try that—”

“Anna.” Mac took a deep breath. “We have been over this. Again and again. Just because you think there’s something going on at the hospital that might be connected to your case, that doesn’t give me probable cause to do anything.” He shook his head. “I really think you’re barking up the wrong tree—”

“Am I? How about this? My usual sources can’t get into the hospital records. What kind of encryption level does a hospital need? The best minds at the WSB can’t get in—”

“If you’ve hit roadblocks at the hospital because of the computer security, then that’s Spinelli. Maxie said he was working on something for Patrick—”

“Well, that’s proof right there—”

“That Patrick put his security in the hands of a qualified computer tech? So talented that even the WSB can’t break his firewalls? Yeah, let me haul him right in.” Mac sat back, sighed. “Anna—”

“Robin’s meeting me at Kelly’s in a little bit, but I don’t want to keep pushing her. She’s too smart for her own good,” Anna muttered. She tapped her fingers along the top of the chair. “You’re telling me that you’re not the least bit suspicious about anything I’ve put together in the last month. I find that hard to believe—”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t suspicious. I said that I didn’t know what I could do with what you gave me. Not legally. I could maybe get Jason in here on a pretext. He was taking meetings with Karpov and his lawyers before the DEA raid. But I don’t know what good it would do since he wouldn’t say anything to me, and you told me you didn’t want me to tip Jason off that we were looking into Karpov. Has that changed?”

“No. The WSB’s never been interested in Morgan,” Anna replied, then furrowed her brow. “Though he might be useful in other ways. Perhaps if I offered him some sort of deal — we can make arrangements with the government, layers of protection, if he agrees to cooperate with WSB operations. We don’t have much use for his smuggling routes — though he’d have to start them back up again.”

Mac blinked. “What?”

“You haven’t noticed the lack of international shipments running through the warehouse in the last few months?” Anna asked, her brows lifting. “We keep tabs on it, but it’s never been of much interest since it was mostly South American products. That’s CIA territory. In July, it started to trickle down from a few shipments every week to one or two. Then in September, around Kate Howard’s shooting? Nothing. It looks like those routes have shifted to Buffalo and Rochester.”

“That—would explain the decline of some petty crime down near the waterfront. What are you saying? With Sonny out of the picture, Morgan’s looking to get out?”

“Robin said he did it before. Now, he may continue with the gambling, I wouldn’t have a way to know that. All I can tell you is what our research is showing.” She tipped her head. “You think he’d be interested in a deal?”

“I—” Mac paused. “Maybe. But if he’s closing those things down and getting out, it’s because he’s got a family now. Elizabeth Webber, her boys. It tracks. Are you really going to drag him back into it so you can get to Karpov?”

“I’m not ruling anything out. Andrei Karpov is dangerous,” Anna said, getting to her feet. “If we can’t get to him through Patrick and GH, then I’ll use anything else I’ve got. If Jason has a family, then he has something to lose—”

“I knew it.”

Mac jerked to his feet, and Anna whirled around, her eyes widening when she took in the angry expression on her daughter’s face. Neither of them had heard the door open.

“Robin—”

“I knew it. I knew you were only here because of your job. And now you want to force Jason to put his kids in danger? You wanted to go after Patrick?” Robin’s eyes filled with tears. “How could you?”

“Robin—”

But she was already gone.