And if my wishes came true
It would’ve been you

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Saturday, August 8, 2020

General Hospital: Nurse’s Hub

Elizabeth frowned when she saw a familiar face walking towards her. “Are you supposed to be out of bed?” she asked Jason as he approached. “Why aren’t you in a wheelchair?”

She stepped out of the hub, rounding the counter and folding her arms to give him a death stare. “You just had exploratory brain surgery—”

“And I’m fine,” Jason told her, wincing slightly as he touched the freshly shaved side of his hair. “They’re releasing me—”

“Are they? Or are you checking yourself out?” When Jason grimaced and looked away, Elizabeth nodded. “Some things never change.”

“I’m fine,” Jason repeated. “I just came to, uh, ask you something.” Then squinted. “And warn you.”

“Warn me?” Elizabeth stepped back into the hub and to her monitor. “About what?” She picked up her charts.

“Well, when Diane came into my room yesterday,” he said slowly, “I told her I didn’t want to sign the revised POA.”

Elizabeth hesitated, staring at the counter for a long moment before looking up at him. “What? Why?”

“I didn’t like the way Carly was acting about it,” Jason said. “And—I also like the idea of annoying her a little longer.” He raised his brows. “I’m assuming that’s why you didn’t sign your revocation, either.”

Elizabeth grinned. “Couldn’t help myself.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’ll have to do it in a few days or so, I guess. I really don’t need that argument right now.” She bit her lip, looked at her watch.

If she rushed—she could still get home and change—she might still make the last launch to Wyndemere.

“Am I keeping you from something?” Jason asked. “I can go—”

“No, no. I just—” She shook her head. “It’s this thing out at Wyndemere I’m supposed to go to. I just—” She met his eyes. “I really don’t want to.”

“Then don’t.”

“Yeah, if only it was that easy,” she muttered. She started filing the charts in the tray. “Hey, I’m sorry about ELQ—about Michael, I mean. I know how much he loves that job.”

“Yeah, I—” Jason exhaled slowly. “Do you know how it happened? How did Valentin get all those shares?”

“I don’t know. Michael couldn’t really talk long. He only told me because he has Jake’s proxy.” She shrugged a shoulder. “I think—I think he said that Skye sold him hers and Lila Rae’s—which is weird because I remember how much Skye loved being part of the family. Oh, and Maya.” She looked at him. “Michael had your proxy, didn’t he?”

“Yeah. I don’t care about ELQ, but he does.” Jason tipped his head to the side. “You didn’t say anything about Sam.”

“Nothing to say.” She bit her lip. “She asked me a few days ago about Jake’s proxy. About what I might trade it for. I told her to talk to Michael or Ned, but I’m guessing…she didn’t.”

“No.” Jason pressed his lips together. “She didn’t.”

“Hey, you know Quartermaines never stay down long. Michael will figure something out to get ELQ back, and I’m sure you’ll help him.” She glanced at her phone, her mouth tightening at the message from Franco asking where she was.

“Is everything okay?”

Elizabeth hesitated. “Ava commissioned Franco to paint a portrait of her,” she murmured. “And—she’s been leaning on using his past to drum up publicity.”

“His past.”

“Yeah. I don’t think—” Her stomach rolled. She hated talking about Franco with Jason—it didn’t matter how supportive he was, she knew how he really felt. “I don’t think he really understands how I feel. I keep telling him that—” Elizabeth shook her head. “I don’t think he should be celebrating what he was. Not if he’s not that man anymore.”

Jason said nothing, just looked at her. She sighed. “And you still think he is.”

“What I think doesn’t matter—”

“Of course it does. I don’t always have to listen to you—”

“Which you rarely do—” he reminded her, and she smirked. “But, no, I think he just hasn’t had a reason to go back to it. You’ve given him a reason not to. But people don’t change that much. Manny Ruiz didn’t.”

“No.” Elizabeth sighed, stared at her computer monitor. “No, he did not.” She tapped a pen against the counter. “If he finds out there’s an old POA for me with your name on it, he’s going to flip out,” she admitted. “I wasn’t thinking about that when I told Diane to leave it alone. I just wanted to irritate Carly.”

“Yeah, Sam was mostly dealing with me asking Carly,” Jason said slowly, “but I kind of think it’d be different if I left it with you.” He shook his head. “We were just talking about it the other day—with what happened to Mike—I can’t believe neither of us remembered.”

“Yeah, it’s weird. It’s like we signed the paperwork, Diane filed it, and that was it.” Elizabeth shrugged. “Do you want me to call Diane? We can get it done together, and Sam, Carly, and Franco never have to know.”

“I’ll call her,” Jason said after a long moment. “And let you know when she has time.” He hesitated another moment before walking away. “About Franco—be careful.”

She wanted to tell him he was wrong—that he just didn’t understand—but Elizabeth just nodded. “Let me know if I can do anything to help with Michael and ELQ. Valentin can’t be allowed to get away with this.”

“He won’t. I’ll call you.”

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