I don’t like your kingdom keys
They once belonged to me
You ask me for a place to sleep
Locked me out and threw a feast
The world moves on, another day, another drama, drama
But not for me, not for me, all I think about is karma
And then the world moves on, but one thing’s for sure
Maybe I got mine, but you’ll all get yours
– Look What You Made Me Do, Taylor Swift

---

October 2011

Spoon Island: Cassadine Lab

Dr. Ewen Keenan shoved open the door with his shoulder and struggled with the body in his arms. Elizabeth Webber might not weigh very much, but she was an water-soaked, unconscious dead weight, and he’d used nearly all his reserves to reach the lab from the shore—

He laid the brunette out on the table in the lab, picked up a pale hand, and pressed two fingers to her wrist. Relief crashed through him as he felt the faint pulse. Elizabeth’s head lolled to the side, her eyes opening slightly. They were glazed, rimmed with red. “What’s…”  Her eyes closed again.

Ewen pressed his hand to her head, grimacing at the heat he felt there. She must have been ill before she’d gone into the water. Why had he been sent—

“Oh, good, you’ve arrived.” Helena smiled, sauntering into the lab. “It took far longer than I thought it would to fetch her.”

“She needs to be in a hospital,” Ewen snapped as he stalked around the table to find a thermometer. “I’m not equipped—”

“Then you’ll stabilize her, and she’ll be found on Spoon Island by someone else looking for her. She has a fever?”

“Yes—” He hissed at the level. “Nearly a hundred and four—” He frowned. “How did you know—”

“Why do you she think she went into the water?” Helena asked coolly. “Dr. Niles was happy to do me a favor. Now—” She nodded. “Is she awake?”

“I’m not sure—” Ewen glanced down at the brunette, tapped her cheek lightly. Nothing. “Why drag her here—”

“Dr. Obrecht?” Helena turned, and Liesl Obrecht, the other doctor in the lab, came in, clutching the hand of a small boy with a shock of bright blonde hair and blue eyes. Those eyes widened as he took in the woman laying on Ewen’s examining table.

“Mommy!”

Elizabeth’s eyes twitched, and her face jerked. She forced her eyes open. “J-Jake—”

“Mommy—” Jake let go of Liesl’s hand and surged forward. “Mommy, can I go home? Please let me go home—”

“Jake—” Elizabeth lifted her head, her voice slurring as she turned on her side. “Jake?”

“Mommy—”

Her eyes were wide though cloudy from the fever, but still, Elizabeth swung her legs over the table, trying to get to her son. She stumbled and fell to the floor. “Jake, my baby—you’re—”

“Mommy, I wanna go home—”

“Mrs. Cassadine?” Liesl asked hesitantly as the little boy threw himself into her arms. Elizabeth started to sob, clinging to him.

“Jake, my baby, baby—” Elizabeth rocked back and forth, one hand clutching the back of her son’s head. She kissed his cheek. “I love you, I missed you—”

“Now,” Helena murmured, lifting her chin as Liesl and another man came forward. The man grabbed Elizabeth’s arms as Liesl lifted Jake.

“Jake!” Elizabeth cried, struggling against the new man’s hold. Ewen stared in shock and horror as Liesl hurried out of the room with Jake screaming and crying for his mother. Elizabeth turned around and, curling her hand into a fist, rammed it into the eye socket of the man holding her. She then brought her knee high into his groin—he released her with a groan—and Elizabeth started forward, stumbling again as the adrenaline fought with her fever and exhaustion from nearly drowning—

“Jake!” she screamed, but as she tried to pass Helena, the woman reached out with lightning speed and plunged a syringe into Elizabeth’s arm. Elizabeth turned, staring at the older woman with wide, shocked eyes.

“What—why—”

Then she dropped like a stone, her head hitting the ground with a sickening smack!

“Make sure she’s stable,” Helena said as Ewen kneeled down next to her. “Then leave her on the shore.”

“Why did—” Ewen looked up at the woman to whom he’d already sold his soul. “Why would you do that? Why would you drag her all the way here to let her see her son? She’ll tell someone—”

“She might. But she’s delirious with fever and mentally unstable. Everyone knows that.” Helena’s lips curved into a smile. “It’s an acceptable risk, my dear Dr. Keenan, and sometimes, I just want to have a little fun.”

Her eyes, cold as ice, locked on his. “Now, do I need to repeat my instructions?”

Saturday, November 4, 2017

Aurora Media: Office

“Mila, you should—” Drew stopped at the doorway of his office at the sight of his second surprise visitor of the day. His secretary pushed away from her desk.

“I was just going to let you know—” she began.

The teenaged boy in the reception area got to his feet, nervously shuffled his weight from one foot to the other, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket.

Drew had seen him once before. The dark-haired boy had come to Greystone over the summer, and they’d been introduced. But that boy had been a stranger to him—another kid running in the pack with Joss and Cameron. He hadn’t meant anything to him then.

But he’d thought he was Jason Morgan the last time he’d seen Oscar.

Today, looking at Oscar Nero, Drew knew that he was this boy’s father. That he’d been married to his mother, then to his stepmother. He’d raised him and left one day, never to return.

It was insane, but when Drew had learned about his identity—about the connection to Oscar—part of him thought the next time saw Drew saw him, it would trigger something. That some part of his brain would recognize the truth.

When there was nothing—no spark of memory—no connection felt—Drew felt a crushing disappointment that he wasn’t sure he knew how to handle.

“Oscar,” Drew said carefully. “Come in—”

Oscar didn’t move, his dark eyes staring at him. Then he swallowed. “You don’t know me.”

“I—” Drew looked at his secretary, and without a word, she got up and left the room. “I do know you—”

“No, you know Oscar Nero,” the boy said, his voice cracking. “But you don’t—” He broke the eye contact. Looked at the carpet. “You don’t know me.”

“No,” Drew managed, his throat tight. God, he wished it was any other answer. “No, I don’t. But—”

“No, that’s—” Oscar took a deep breath. “This was stupid. I knew you didn’t remember, but I thought—” He turned abruptly and shoved his way out of the office suite. Drew blinked, then hurried after him.

But he’d already missed the elevator as it closed on his son’s devastated expression. “Oscar—!”

Oscar leaned back against the elevator, squeezing his eyes shut, forcing himself to take deep breaths, but his lungs were heaving, and his breathing was starting to come out in shorter gasps.

Oh, God, his father hadn’t known him—his father hadn’t known—

Oscar rushed out of the building, hoping he could make it to the bus station without completely losing it.

Kelly’s: Courtyard

With a bit of trepidation, Jason sat across from Michael and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I should have called you back yesterday—”

“I’m sorry,” Michael said with a shake of his head. “You’ve done so much for me. You sacrificed your own freedom to protect me in prison—” He leaned forward. “I am so sorry. I never once wanted you to be dead—I was never glad—”

“Michael.” Jason put up a hand, and his nephew’s ramblings stopped as the younger man hung his head. “Can you look at me?”

After a long moment, Michael raised his eyes to him. “Jason—”

“I always knew I’d have to explain myself to you one day,” Jason said, cutting off what would be another unnecessary apology. “I made a lot of choices when you were a baby that I would never make today. I can look back now and see how some of the things I did—the way I helped Carly keep custody of you—how it made AJ’s problems worse. I won’t blame myself entirely for how he ended up, but I know—I know I didn’t help.” He hesitated. “Elizabeth told me that you got close to him. That he was good to you.”

“He was,” Michael said, closing his eyes. “He really was, and I wanted you there. I wanted you to be alive, so you could see him. He was doing really good for a long time, Jason. It’s just—I don’t know. He never figured out how to fail without destroying himself in the process, I guess.”  He cleared his throat. “I think part of me always knew Sonny had something to do with what happened to him, but I couldn’t let myself accept it. Not until I didn’t have a choice.”

“I didn’t really understand what I was doing until Jake.” Michael frowned at him, and Jason sighed. “Before Elizabeth could tell me that the paternity tests had come back, your mother came to tell me that she knew the results and that Lucky was Jake’s father.”

Michael tipped his head to the sky. “How did I know Mom was in the middle of this?”

“She made a mistake,” Jason said, “and Elizabeth didn’t correct her. She wanted to tell me, but when she came to do that—I—I wanted her to be okay. I didn’t want her to think she’d let me down, so I told her it was okay that Lucky was Jake’s father. That it was better that way.”

Michael tipped his head. “So she didn’t tell you the truth.”

“She was going through a lot, and she knew Sam and I were getting back together. With Lucky’s recovery on the line—she just thought everyone was better off. And I hadn’t done a lot to reassure her that I wanted Jake to be mine.” But, oh, man, he’d wanted it more than anything, and it had sliced at him when she’d looked at him that day. If he’d just kept his mouth shut, let her talk—

“When did you know?”

“A few months later after the hostage crisis, but looking back, I can see that she started to tell me a thousand times.” Jason paused. “After she did tell me, she asked me to let Lucky raise Jake.”

“I—how could she—” Michael stared at him. “How could she do that—”

“When she asked me, I knew I had a choice. I wanted to tell her no. I wanted my son. I’ve always wanted Jake.” Jason looked down at the table, remembering that moment, that gut-wrenching devastation that she was asking this of him—and the anger he’d felt towards her for even considering it— “And I agreed. Because I had spent years telling AJ that Carly had a right to decide what she wanted for you. That her wishes meant more than what AJ wanted or deserved.”

“You gave up Jake because of that?”

“Because I believed it.” Jason paused. “Part of me still does. With the way I live my life—Elizabeth had a right to decide if she wanted that for her child. And I thought that AJ’s alcoholism—the people he’d hurt—it meant Carly had a right to decide for you.”

“Do you still that?” Michael asked.

“I don’t know,” Jason admitted. “But I’ve lived long enough now to realize that Carly’s choices about you had nothing to do with AJ’s alcoholism. And my decision to help her had everything to do with the anger I had towards him for my accident. And then later, it was selfish. I wanted you. I’d raised you as my son that first year, and I wanted to keep you.”  He exhaled slowly. “And for that, I am sorry.”

“I got a second chance with my father,” Michael said. “And you’ve got yours with Jake, so I’m glad.” He hesitated. “Would you have helped Sonny get away with what happened? Cover up AJ’s murder?”

“I’d like to tell you no, I wouldn’t. If I’d been here, seen you and Monica go through this—if I’d known Sonny and Carly were lying to you, holding back the truth, I want to tell you that I wouldn’t let it happen. I just—I can’t know that. I’ve spent a long time protecting them, Michael.”

Michael nodded. “I appreciate the honesty—I—” He made a face as he saw something behind Jason’s shoulder. “Oh, man, I’m really not in the mood—”

“Jason, Michael—” Carly stepped up to the both of them, her eyes wide with desperation. “I’m so glad to find you two together. Please—”

“I need to go,” her son said hastily, getting to his feet. Jason also stood, not sure if he was in the mood to see Carly right now.

“Oh, no—please—” Carly held up a hand to ward off Michael’s departure. “Please—just wait—”

“I need to meet Nelle,” Michael said to his mother, and Carly’s nostrils flared.

“Are you telling me that woman is more important than me?” she demanded. “I am your mother—”

“I’m not doing this, Mom,” Michael said wearily. He put his gloves back on. “Just stop—”

“I have every right to be concerned after what that tramp put me through—” Carly scowled as Michael shook his head and walked away. “Michael!”

When it was clear that Michael wasn’t going to return, Carly focused her attention on Jason. “Are you going to storm off, too?” she demanded, “or are you going to let me explain?”

“Explain what?” Jason said. “Your issue with Michael’s girlfriend is between the two of you. I have places to be—”

“Oh, that is absolutely not true!” Carly retorted, grabbing his arm as Jason started to walk past her. “You’ve done nothing but avoid me since you got back! I just want to be here for you, Jason, but you refuse to let me help!”

“You mean I’m not doing things the way you want me to,” Jason replied. Carly narrowed her eyes. “You’re angry that I didn’t ask you to come to the PCPD with me the other night, and you were upset that I didn’t immediately cut Ava Jerome out of my life.”

“After what she did to Morgan—and I had every right to be at the PCPD!” Carly snapped. “I’m your best friend—”

“And Elizabeth is Jake’s mother,” Jason said, patiently. “She needed to be there more than you did, and I knew you’d make a scene. So I left you out of it. And, fine, you were right about Ava. But that doesn’t change the fact that you want to control the way I’m handling what happened—”

“This is coming from Elizabeth, isn’t it?” Carly said. “She’s the one who told you not to call me on Wednesday, isn’t she? I knew it! She’s always been jealous of my place in your life—”

“Elizabeth wasn’t part of the decision at all,” Jason said, trying to reach for the patience he’d once had when dealing with Carly and her antics. He knew she was struggling, had heard Michael’s words of caution about her difficult year. Carly grieved like a wild woman, he’d always known that.

He was just tired of being the target of all her attention. “I’m doing the best I can with all of this,” Jason continued as Carly’s eyes glinted with tears. “I have to do what works for me—”

“And Elizabeth works for you, does she? I don’t? I’m your best friend!”

“Then act like it,” Jason snapped. “I need to go.”

“Where—damn it, Jason—”

But he was done listening to her and walked out of the courtyard, hoping like hell she wouldn’t follow.

Kelly’s: Diner

“You know, you were crap at algebra last year,” Trina complained as she watched Cameron fly through his geometry homework. “And you’re always terrible at math. How come you can do it now?”

“Uh—” Cam made a face. “I don’t know. I guess it’s because there’s lot of words. It’s mostly definitions. I like reading. I’m not going to question it, I’m just going to enjoy it while it lasts—”

“You’re a freak—” Trina broke off as the bell over the door jangled. “Hey, Oscar—whoa—”

Cam twisted on the stool to find his friend and quasi-cousin walking towards them, his face pale, his eyes wide and his fingers wrapped around the strap of the book bag slung over his shoulder so tightly that his knuckles were white. “What happened?”

“I—” Oscar stopped in front of them, glanced around at the sparse early evening crowd. “I went to see my dad.”

“Oh, hell—” Cameron slid off the stool. “Can we use the kitchen?”

“I’m fine,” Oscar said, but neither Cameron nor Trina listened to him. Cam’s girlfriend nodded and he took Oscar by the elbow and gently led him out of the dining room and into the kitchen—but Cameron kept going straight through to empty and quiet alley.

“What happened?” Cameron asked as the metal door clanged shut and Oscar leaned against it, letting the bag drop to the ground.

Oscar closed his eyes. “He doesn’t have my dad’s face. And he doesn’t have the memories. He doesn’t know me.”

“Okay,” Cameron said slowly. “But what happened—”

“Nothing. I looked at him, he looked at me, and I left. It was stupid to think it would work—that magically he’d get his memories back this time when the only other time we saw each other, we felt nothing. It’s like—” His chest heaved and Oscar slid to the ground. “It’s like he’s really dead. He’s in front of me, the DNA test said so but there’s no point in—he’s not there. My dad is really gone.”

He looked up at Cameron, tears streaking down his cheeks. “I wish he’d stayed gone. Stayed dead. This is worse. It’s worse. I don’t know why—”

Cameron gingerly sat next to him, wincing as the cold concrete bit through the seat of his jeans. “Because you wanted it to be different,” he said. “You have the memory of a dad who loves you, and you want that back. I get it, man, I do.” He thought about the memories of Lucky Spencer, of the way the man had laughed and called Cameron his son, and Cameron had called him Dad—

And how Cam waited when Lucky called these days to talk to Aiden, always wondering if this time he’d ask about Cam—but he never, ever did. Sometimes he’d mention Jake, or his mother would talk about all three of them —

But Lucky never asked about Cameron, never wanted to talk to him. “You had a dad once,” Cameron continued, “and now you don’t. He’s walking around in the same body, but he might as well be dead. Him being alive was supposed to be like getting something good, but it’s not. Because now you don’t even have the hope it’s gonna be different. It sucks to know for sure.”

“Yeah.” Oscar looked at him, his eyes wet. “Yeah, it really sucks.”

Davis House: Living Room

Alexis peered over the tips of her glasses, setting down the pencil she’d been using to make notes. “I’m sorry. What are you asking for?”

Sam made a face. Why did everyone make her repeat herself all the time? Did they think she didn’t hear herself? That she would change her mind if she listened to the words again?

“New York is a community property state,” she said patiently. “Jason and I never signed a prenup, which means I’m entitled to half of everything.”

“Uh—” Alexis removed her glasses, rubbed her eyes. “You know, this isn’t your first divorce from Jason. The last time you didn’t ask for anything—”

“The last time I didn’t have two children and a media company. And this is different—” Sam pursed her lips. “And I’m not asking for half of everything. I want enough money to cover the purchase price of Aurora, plus the first year’s operating costs, title to the penthouse, and—” She paused. “Termination of parental rights.”

“Termination of parental rights,” Alexis repeated. “I—” She paused. “You want to cut him off from Danny.”

“Yes. Drew will adopt Danny legally. We’ll change Scout and Danny’s birth certificates, and that will be the end of it.” Sam lifted a brow. “Don’t you think I’m entitled to raise my children however I see fit?”

“I—” Alexis blinked. “I think that Jason has been back seven days, and it’s only been four since you had confirmation which twin was which. I don’t think Jason is going to storm into Aurora and take it from you—maybe you could work something out—”

“Mom, you wanted me to deal with reality,” Sam said. “This is me doing that. I’m not doing anyone any favors if I wait. I was happy with the way things were before. I want to go back to that—”

“But there’s no going back—” Alexis began, but the front door opened and Kristina and Molly came in, laughing and talking about something.

“Oh, hey, Sam,” Molly said as she took off her coat. “Guess what, Mom? TJ got accepted into the medical student program at GH. He’ll be doing his third year program there starting in January.”

“Yeah, Kiki got accepted, too,” Kristina volunteered. She handed her scarf to Molly. “That’s kind of cool that they’re working together. Oh, and Mrs. Spencer cornered me at lunch. She wants me to think about doing an internship at GH.”

“An internship?” Alexis frowned. “What kind of—you’re not in medical school—”

“No, but there’s a position open in the administration office, and I need an internship for next semester.” Kristina shrugged. “You want me to figure out my life, so here I am figuring out my life. Maybe I’ll like working for the hospital.”

“Maybe.” Molly slung an arm around her sister’s shoulder. “But maybe you’ll end up in a cult. Both things are equally possible.” Kristina rolled her eyes, and Molly laughed. She looked at Sam. “Hey, Sam, did you bring the kids?”

“No, they’re with the nanny,” Sam said stiffly. “Mom, I’ll come back another day—”

“Still mad at me?” Kristina asked as she sat at the table across from Sam. She looked at Molly. “I just told her that she was being a big bitch to Jason, trying to take Danny from him five minutes after the guy got out of a coma.”

Molly’s eyes widened. “You’re doing what?” she asked Sam.

“I’m going,” Sam repeated, getting to her feet. “And you didn’t call me a bitch,” she said to Kristina with a gritting of her teeth.

“No, I guess I didn’t.” Kristina shrugged. “I thought it. Is that why you’re here to talk to Mom?” She tried to peek at the note pad under Alexis’s hand.

“Jason just got home,” Molly said, shoving herself to her feet. “He hasn’t even met Danny yet, has he?”

“He met him,” Sam said, tensely. “But Danny doesn’t know him—”

“Neither did Jake,” Alexis pointed out. “And neither did Drew at one point. I think you’re being hasty, Sam—”

“And I think you all need to butt the hell out of my life! It’s not like Jason gives a damn about me or Danny! He hasn’t come by to see me or even asked about Danny—” Sam pressed her mouth together as something bubbled up her throat. “He’s seen Jake a thousand times in the last seven days, and he’s always with Elizabeth, but he hasn’t come to see me once!”

“Maybe,” Alexis said, gently, “because you went home that night with Drew and didn’t identify Jason that night. And that night at the PCPD, did you say anything to him?”

“No! It’s not my job to reach out to him!” Sam retorted. “I’m the one whose life has to change! He should be asking me about Danny! He should be trying to get me back!”

“Oh, I get it now,” Kristina said. “You’re pissed because he’s not chasing you.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, that is dumb as hell. He was in a coma five minutes ago, did you miss that part?”

“That’s not—”

“I think Jason had to spend four days proving who the hell he was, found out another man has been living his life—raising his family—and that he went from having no kids to two of them—in fact, one of those sons had been dead and buried. I mean, Christ, Sam, did you even tell him you were glad he wasn’t dead?”

Sam stare at her sister, mutely. Then stalked over to grab her coat off the hook. “You don’t get it,” she said, hotly. “And I’m not going to explain it to you.”

Then she slammed the door behind her so hard that a picture frame on a shelf next to it fell to the ground.

“So,” Molly said after a long moment, turning to her sister and mother, “here’s what I think is going on. Sam is super jealous of Jake and Elizabeth, and wants Jason to chase after her. And since he hasn’t done that yet—she’s gonna make his life completely miserable as punishment.”

“Well, duh,” Kristina said. “I just said that.”

“Yeah, I know, but I added the punishment part. That’s what makes me more right than you.”

“It doesn’t matter who’s right,” Alexis said as her two youngest daughters began to bicker. “Only how much damage Sam is going to do before she figures out this is the wrong thing to do.”

Kelly’s: Diner

Drew frowned when he came into the diner, approaching the counter where Trina and Joss were sitting. Once, he might have teased them about sitting near each other because he had the memories—and the experience of knowing they weren’t really friends—but he saw the hostility in Joss’s eyes, the worry in Trina’s.

“Uh, someone left me a text message that Oscar was here. I don’t know who,” Drew said hesitantly. “Where—”

“I’m right here,” Oscar said dully as he came out of the kitchen, a towel slung over his shoulder. Behind him, Cameron carried a green tub and set it on the counter. “Who texted you?” He asked.

“I did,” Cameron said, looking at Drew. “I guess you don’t have my number in your phone anymore.”

Drew felt the heat in his cheeks as he realized that was true— “I got a new phone. I guess all the contacts didn’t—”

“It’s fine,” Cameron said, looking away, but Drew had seen the flash of hurt in Cameron’s dark blue eyes—his mother’s eyes. This boy he’d wanted to adopt—had loved as his own for almost a year—

“Why’d you do that?” Oscar asked his friend, narrowing his eyes. “I thought—”

“Because maybe you don’t get to have all the time back from before,” Cameron said. “I mean, Jake was gone for years, but he might as well have been gone his whole life because he didn’t know me or Aiden when he came home. He didn’t even really know Mom. Didn’t really recognize us as his. But he does now. And it sucks we lost that time, I can’t get it back. But I still have my brother.”

“Can we talk?” Drew said to Oscar, who still looked a bit irritated at his friend. “Just for a minute. Joss can come if you’re not sure—”

“It’s fine. We should at least…” Oscar jerked a shoulder, nodding towards the courtyard. “I need to go pack up the tables for winter. I told Trina I would do it for her—”

“I’ll help,” Drew offered. As Oscar walked past him, he looked back at Cameron. “Thank you.”

“I didn’t do it for you,” Cameron muttered and disappeared back into the kitchen. Drew sighed, then followed Oscar into the courtyard.

“I don’t remember being Andrew Cain,” Drew told him as Oscar silently began to stack the chairs. “But I got a background check on him—on me,” he corrected. “And I know—I’ve talked to Kim. She told me we were close.”

“I guess. We were alone for a while after Mom died,” Oscar said. He started to lift a table, and Drew took the other side. They carried it over, then stacked it on another table. “I know what happened to you sucked. Cameron and Joss told me about when you were in the accident. And—I mean, you got someone else’s memories. That’s really awful, I guess.”

“It’s hard,” Drew admitted as he stacked another set of chairs. “Take Cameron and Joss for an example. I’ve known them for three years. I know that’s true. And I’m sure you know by now that I lived with Cam’s mom for a while.”

“You almost married her and adopted him, yeah.”

“But I also have all these other memories of them,” Drew said. “Of watching Joss sick in the hospital, and Cameron growing up with his brother—meeting him here in Kelly’s when he was a baby—” He stared at the diner. “But they’re like movies that play in my head. I don’t have a connection to them. I can remember that I loved them both, but I can’t really separate the way I feel about them now from how they are in the memories.”

Oscar furrowed his brow. “That’s weird.”

“It is,” Drew said. “And I’m trying to find a way to be okay with having these memories. I don’t know if I can ever get rid of them. Or if I can get the old ones back. I don’t know.” He paused. “What do I know is that I’m not Jason Morgan. And these aren’t my memories. I can’t pretend to be someone I’m not, especially when that man is walking around trying to put his life back together. I’m Andrew Cain. And you’re my son.”

Oscar’s chin trembled, but he swallowed. “But you don’t feel like that’s true—”

“No, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try to build something new. When you met Kim, she wasn’t your mother either. But she’s your family now. And you have a little sister, Scout. I want her to know you. I want to know you,” Drew said. He tipped his head towards the diner. “Cameron and his brothers. Scout and Michael. They’re part of my family. Which makes them yours.”

“I don’t know,” Oscar said after a long moment. “It hurts that you don’t know me. Or that you don’t look like my dad.” He looked at him. “I mean, sometimes, there’s something around your eyes. And you sound like him a little. But I just—” He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Think about it,” Drew said. He touched Oscar’s shoulder. “And we’ll see how you feel in a few days.”

Webber House: Living Room

“Hey, I got your message—” Jason frowned as Elizabeth quietly took his jacket and hung it up. “What’s wrong? What happened at the PCPD? Did Andre have anything useful?”

“He’s hoping for a better deal from the WSB,” she said dully. She pressed a hand to her head. “He’s not willing to say much until he’s in one of their facilities, I guess.”

Jason frowned. “Then—”

“And what he would tell me—” Elizabeth sighed, wandered over towards the fireplace. “He said to make sure we knew where every Cassadine was. Because then we could sleep at night.”

Jason scowled. “That’s all?”

“All he would say about if there was still any danger.” Her voice faltered at the end, and Jason walked towards her.

“Elizabeth—”

“That night when I nearly drowned in the harbor,” she said in a low voice. “When I was sick—and I told you I’d seen Jake—” Her eyes found his, tears clinging to her lashes. “When I said I’d held him—that I’d touched him—I heard his voice—”

Dread crept up his spine. “You weren’t hallucinating,” Jason said.

“No,” she managed. “No. Helena had my little boy. Ewen didn’t just save me from drowning. He took me to the lab on the estate. Jake was there. On that island for at least that long. And she let me see him. Let me hold him.”

Her shoulders started to shake, and she wrapped her arms around herself as he just stared at her in horror as the truth sank in. “He knew Jake was alive and that he was on Spoon Island.”

“And I knew he was alive. I knew it!” she said, opening her eyes, a fierce light in them. “And I let everyone convince me I was crazy! And I let it go. I believed all of you! But I was right! Jake was alive, and Helena had all that time to hurt him, to poison his mind!”

“Elizabeth—”

She pressed her hands to her face. “I knew I’d held him. I knew I’d felt his little arms around my neck, that I’d heard his voice—I knew it, and I let it go—I let him go—” Sobs began to wrack her body. “I let him die all over again.”

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