Through no light the darkness seems to be
So very strong
How does one alone against the world
Find the strength to carry on?
What happened to the way we used to love
It seemed as though life had just begun
But now that love has come and gone to fade away
Like the setting sun
‘Cause you won’t let me in
– Let Me In, Save Ferris

---

July 2012

Camp Leatherneck, Helmand Province, Afghanistan

He was practically bathing in his own sweat, and there was no escape from the searing heat most of the time. This time of the year, the temperatures soared above a hundred degrees during the day, and rarely dipped below eighty even at night, and the air was so dry that he almost choked on his own spit several times a day.

He hated this fucking tour, and when he went home in December, he was determined to pull rank. This was his last sojourn to the fucking desert.

Drew Cain wiped his forehead as he stepped outside of his quarters into the slightly cooler air of the desert night—by maybe five degrees but there were some nights when he needed that.

He believed in his job most of the time—believed in his country, but ten years of fighting the fight here in Afghanistan—he was starting to wonder just who the good guys were. They should have been done with the day his team finished the job on Bin Laden. That had been a hell of an operation, and Drew was proud he’d been part of the team that had taken down the mastermind behind 9/11.

Cara had given birth to Oscar a month after the Towers fell and the plane had crashed into the Pentagon, and they’d both wanted to make a better world for their son. He’d be ten in October. Another birthday Drew would miss stuck in this godforsaken hellhole.

Cara had been gone for years, but he had Kim now. He wanted more kids. He was still young enough. He was going to retire, go home, finish raising Oscar—

After this tour, things were gonna—

There was click or a snick—just a sound that didn’t sound right. Drew scowled and turned towards the sound, squinting—the lights of his quarters didn’t reach that far. “Who the hell is there—” he began. Another sound—this from the other side—

He spun around, and then something exploded behind him—the lights flashed in front of his eyes—

And then he didn’t know anything at all.

Saturday, October 27, 2018

Webber Home: Living Room

“I think you’re just a sore loser.”

Cameron scowled into the mic on his headset. “Don’t start with me, asshole. You’re just mad because you can’t buy yourself any talent.”

“Oh, hey, that’s harsh,” Oscar pointed out as the third person on their team just sputtered in outrage. “Didn’t that evil guy steal his money?”

“He merely appropriated it for a moment,” Spencer Cassadine sniffed—Cameron could just imagine the little prince in his London boarding school, acting all high and mighty. Whatever. Cameron could kick anyone’s ass in Call of Duty.

“You’ll get it back,” Emma said, always nice to the underdog, and Spencer certainly was that. Valentin had gotten away with not only murdering Spencer’s father but stealing his inheritance. Since then, Emma had stopped treating him like the annoying pissant that he so clearly was and started being nice to him.

She’d always been a pushover.

“Look, just watch me dance in glory as I finish kicking your ass—”

“CAMERON!”

Cam blinked at his brother’s voice, then turned to look at the door where he saw that Jake was standing with it open, Michael at his doorstep. “Oh. Hey. I didn’t—wait—” He turned back to the headset. “Hey, Oscar, finish kicking Em and Spencer’s ass for me. I gotta go.”

“No problem.”

Cam signed off, exited the game, and took off his headset. “Sorry, sometimes when Spencer and I get going—”

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Michael stepped inside, and closed the door. “Your mom already head over to the house?”

“Yeah. She went early to talk to Jason about—” He paused. “To talk about last night.” He looked at his brothers. “Uh, did you need her or—”

“No, I wanted to check on you. All of you. You know, since we belong to the very exclusive club of Sons of Moms who Dated Franco,” Michael said, wryly. He took off his jacket and sat down in the armchair.

Uncomfortable, Cam went over to sit on the sofa, and Aiden climbed up next to him. Jake sat on the arm of the sofa. “We’re fine.”

“You know, it was hard for me when my mom brought Franco home. Harder maybe because it was five seconds after he’d had the tumor taken out. We had zero evidence for his change in personality, and she was ready to give him the benefit of the doubt,” Michael continued. He paused. “Plus, I guess it was hard for me because of my history with Franco.”

Cameron slid a look over at his brothers. “Guys, can you head upstairs for a while? I’ll fill you in later.”

“You’re fifteen,” Jake said, narrowing his eyes. “You don’t get to cut me out of adult stuff. I’m ten. I’ll be eleven, and that’s basically a grown up.”

“Not even close. You’re not even allowed to have a YouTube account until you’re thirteen. Upstairs, okay?”

“Fine,” Jake muttered. “But I’m taking the Switch, and Aiden and I are gonna play Zelda, so suck it.”

“Yeah, yeah, just start a new save game.” Cameron waited for them to go upstairs—listened for the door to close, before looking at Michael. “I’m sorry. I just—I’m not sure Aiden even knows Franco kidnapped him.”

“No, I should have thought about that. I’m sorry. I just—I wanted to help.”

“No, I’m fine.” Cameron paused. “I didn’t—I didn’t know you had a history with Franco. I mean, other than that—do you mean the wedding? When—”

“When he played that video revealing what Sonny had done to my dad? No, that’s—” Michael scratched his cheek. “You know I was in prison a while ago. You were young—like nine or ten so maybe—”

“Jason went to protect you,” Cameron said. “I remember because Mom was really worried about it.”

“Yeah, well he didn’t get there fast enough.” Michael waited a minute, gathered himself. “Before he got there, another inmate—he, ah, well—” He closed his eyes. “You think this is supposed to get easier—”

“Michael, I appreciate—”

“No, I can—it’s hard to say it out loud, but it’s important that I do. Another inmate raped me,” Michael said finally. “And he did it on Franco’s orders.”

Cameron stared at the older man for a long time, then swallowed hard. “He…on Franco—”

“Later, when Franco came to town with those DVDs, he made it seem like he’d asked this guy to look out for me but that it hadn’t gone the way he wanted. I don’t know. I never bought it.”

“But—your mom—she almost married him. I thought—I thought my mom, after Aiden, but—”

“I know. I try to see it from her point of view and everything because Mom always does insane things. You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff she’s pulled. But this one—it hurt,” he admitted. “And it was hard for me to see past it. Sometimes I don’t know if I have. I also know a little bit about being the oldest kid.” He met Cameron’s eyes. “Feeling like there’s no room for you to have your own problems because someone else needs you.”

His throat tight, Cameron looked down at his hands. “I’m okay,” he repeated. “Mom took care of it.”

“I know. Because as much as our mothers annoy the crap out of each other, they’ll fight to death for their kids. That matters. Some kids aren’t that lucky. I know my mother loves me, and I know how much Elizabeth loves you guys. But at the same time, Cameron—”

Cameron looked up when Michael didn’t continue. “What?”

“It’s okay to be angry with her.”

“I’m not—”

“You don’t even have to tell her,” Michael said. “Maybe it’s better if you don’t. I don’t know. But if you ever want to say it out loud to someone who won’t say anything, I’m here.”

“Did you tell Joss about last night?”

“Do you see her on the front porch or clinging to my back bumper?” Michael said dryly. “No. I assume that if you want Joss to know, you’ll tell her. Now, it might get back to her, but it might not. I know Sonny wanted your mom to tell Jason, but it goes without saying he’s not telling anyone.”

“I don’t—I don’t think I want Joss to know. At least not yet,” Cameron admitted. “Because maybe I am angry,” he said quietly. “Just a little.”

Michael was quiet as Cameron sorted through his thoughts and how something unclenched in his stomach to say it out loud. “Does my mom know what happened to you?”

“Yeah. I know Jason told her. And so did my mom.”

“And what happened to Lulu and Maxie and Sam and Aiden—” Cameron took a deep breath. “And to your mom—to everyone he ever hurt. She brought him home to my brothers. I can take care of myself, but Jake and Aiden—”

“You matter, too, Cam. Elizabeth brought him home to you the same way Mom brought him home to us.”

“I guess. I know Mom was going through a lot. I know she wanted to be happy. He was nice to her at first,” Cameron said. “And I didn’t mind him at first. I didn’t know.”

“But at some point, he stopped being nice, but she didn’t notice it,” Michael said. “And he started being mean and controlling, but he made it sound like he was doing her a favor by even sticking around. Yeah, I know. I watched it happen to my mother. And I couldn’t fix it. I couldn’t protect her.”

“My mom made him go. She didn’t even blink.” Cameron’s stomach relaxed even more. “She grabbed that baseball bat, and she would have bashed his head in. She would have killed him last night. She took my side. The first time I needed her to.”

“I’m glad.” Michael got to his feet. “I need to head over to the meeting, but I mean it, Cam. You’re my cousin, too—”

“No—”

“Don’t pull the same bullshit you try with Laura or Grandma Monica,” Michael said. “They might let you get away with it, but I won’t. I’m not talking about you being Jake and Aiden’s brother. I’m talking about you being Elizabeth’s son, and Emily loving you like a nephew. She was my aunt, too, Cam. I remember that, even if you don’t.”

“I do—” Cameron paused. “I remember her.”

“She would have wanted you to have someone looking out for you. And like I said, no one understands taking care of insane relatives like I do. Just be glad you don’t have a Carly,” he pointed out as he put his coat on.

“No, but we both have a Joss,” Cameron said with a half a grin as he followed Michael to the door. “Hey, Michael—”

“Yeah?”

“Are you—I mean, are you still angry with your mom?” Cameron. “That—it goes away, right?”

Michael pressed his lips together as he considered the question. “I’ll let you know.”

Baldwin House: Living Room

Scott Baldwin stood at the foot of the sofa and scowled at his eldest child, the bane of his existence ninety percent of the time, as the idiot—stretched out on the sofa—was watching something stupid on the television.

“You gonna tell me what dumbass thing you said to Elizabeth to get her to kick you out? I mean, she’s got all this crap going on, and you probably picked a stupid fight—”

Franco turned his head slightly to glower at him. “It wasn’t dumb, and if she’d stopped to listen to me for a second, she’d understand how it happened. But she’s probably making sure the new Jason knows she’s single.”

Scott furrowed his brow. “Don’t talk about her that way. She’s stood by you through worse, you moron, and she deserves respect. There aren’t a lot of women who’d let you move in with her kids—”

“You’d be surprised.” Franco sat up. “Carly did. And Nina wanted to actually have a kid with me—”

“Yeah, and how did that work out for you?” Scott demanded. “You’re laying on my damn couch feeling sorry for yourself.” He picked up Franco’s feet and dropped them on the floor. “So what is this crap about Jason Morgan having a twin?”

“Why does everyone want to talk about Jason Morgan?” Franco muttered. He shoved himself to his feet and stalked over to the window. “There are two of them. Probably twins. Heather’s story wasn’t a lie, she was just playing around about who the twin was.”

Scott squinted. “You know, I never understood that whole twin thing. There’s no way Susan wouldn’t have used that. She got a trust fund for Jason, and would have jumped at the chance to get double the money.” And he’d have drained them both, he thought with a wisp of shame. Well, that was water under the bridge.

“Hmm, I always forget you were Jason’s stepfather for a hot minute.” Franco folded his arms. “What was that like?”

“Fine. He was a quiet kid.” Scott scratched the back of his neck. “Thank God Alan wanted him, I didn’t know what the hell would have happened if I’d been stuck with him. I barely understood how to raise Serena, and that took another decade.”

“Touching.” Franco paused. “You didn’t know there was another kid?”

“No. And Susan sure as hell didn’t. Heather must have gotten something in her head, maybe trying to make her own play for it. Not that she’d tell us. Even if she could remember, crazy bitch,” Scott muttered. He cleared his throat. “Look, about Elizabeth, just apologize, make it clear you were wrong—”

“I wasn’t wrong,” Franco retorted. “Thanks for taking my side, Pops!”

“Well, why don’t you tell me what the hell happened? Because it’s usually your fault. Plus, we’re men. When the women we love are mad, we just apologize and move on. It’s easier.”

“Uh huh.” Franco nodded. “How many times have you been married?”

“Don’t start—”

“No, no, I love taking advice from someone who’s been married nearly as many times as Elizabeth Taylor.”

“Ah, forget it,” Scott muttered. “Elizabeth Webber is the best thing that’s ever happened to you, and if you’re gonna let something stupid get between you, maybe you deserve what you get.”

“Don’t worry, Pop.” Franco put his hands in his pockets, then rocked back on his heels. “I know Elizabeth. This Jason thing—it’s a cycle. She chases him, he lets her catch him, then he dumps her, and this time, I’ll be there.”

Scott made a face. “Uh, so you’re not going to apologize?”

“She needs a few days to cool down,” Franco said. “I’ll apologize, then I’ll let her go do this crap with Morgan one more time.  No one knows Elizabeth like I do. I’ll be there when it falls apart.”

There was something about the way Franco said those words that made Scott very uncomfortable, but he wasn’t willing to think about that too much. So he put it away and went back to the kitchen.

Safe House: Living Room

Jason frowned when Sonny came through the door, followed by Michael a few minutes later. He looked past them, to the street, then turned back to them. “Where’s Carly? I didn’t—”

“You did tell her to come, didn’t you?” Michael asked his dad as he took off his coat and hung up by the door.

“I did, but, uh,” Sonny scratched the side of his nose. “It was this morning after we had that thing in the kitchen,” he told Jason. “You were irritated with her, and she was already irritated by Elizabeth—” gesturing at the woman sitting at the table by the windows, a stack of albums at her side. Elizabeth frowned.

“What did I do?”

“Knowing Mom, you breathed,” Michael muttered.

“And I might have mentioned about not wanting her here. I thought if I told her you wanted her here,” Sonny told Elizabeth, “she’d be nicer to you—”

“Oh, well, that was stupid.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “How many years have you known Carly and you still don’t know how to deal with her?”

“It’s fine. I’ll figure it out later. She’s just mad because of the Ava thing,” Sonny said to Jason. “And I know you don’t want to hear about it—”

“What Ava thing?” Michael asked with a scowl. “How did she get her nose into this?”

Jason looked from Sonny to Michael, then back to Sonny. “What’s the problem with Ava?”

“How much time do you have?” Michael demanded. “She can’t be trusted. Don’t give her an inch, Jase. I mean it.”

Elizabeth frowned. “Why are we talking about Ava at all? You never knew her, Jason. She moved to town the year after you disappeared.”

“In Russia,” Jason said, taking a seat back the table. He waited until Michael and Sonny joined him. “When I woke up in the clinic, it was a few months before I was strong enough to move. And even when I could, I didn’t want the doctors to know it. I wanted them to think I was still not all the way there. They kept a mask on me so I couldn’t talk to anyone, and they’d—” He paused, looking down his wrists, expecting to see the ties there. “They tied me down to the bed, or later, to the wheelchair.”

“The clinic,” Elizabeth said. “Griffin said that Ava had gone to Russia—” Her eyes widened. “Oh, my God, you’re the man he helped. He said he gave a man money in a church—”

“You know him?” Jason asked. “I want to thank him. He—and the priest—stuck their neck out for me back there. So did Ava. She distracted Klein and the other doctors so that I could escape.”

“Griffin said there was something hinky about the clinic,” Elizabeth said. She looked at Sonny.  “Ava can’t be trusted, Griffin can. He had to break Ava out of there. They were going to keep her locked up. She was terrified, Griffin said, but neither of them knew anything about the guy she’d helped get out. Only that he had some sort of connection to Port Charles. And to Sonny. Because you gave her a number to call,” she told Jason, “and she recognized it as Sonny’s.”

“So she didn’t know who you were,” Sonny said, “but she knew you were connected to me. I told you.”

“She still risked her life,” Michael said. “She didn’t have to do that. She could have called you, Dad. I’m not saying we give Ava any credit, but we should also just acknowledge it.” He looked at Jason. “You said between the time you went off the pier and the time you woke up in the clinic, you don’t remember anything.”

“Nothing,” Jason said with a shake of his head. “The only reason I think it was April is the calendar in my room. They changed it when it got to May.”

“So maybe this is the part where we tell you what happened after you disappeared,” Sonny said. “At least the highlights. We’ll fill in the details as needed.” He scrubbed his hand over his face. “So first, Bernie’s body was found on the docks. They found blood smears on the docks, so we knew you’d gone in the water.”

He could remember that sinking feeling as the water had surrounded him, the water dragging him down—

“Spinelli searched for days,” Elizabeth murmured. “Long after PCPD and the Coast Guard gave up. He couldn’t stand the thought of you—” She took a deep breath. “But I think it was in December when the PCPD closed the case officially. We knew by then that the man who was posing as Duke Lavery was actually Cesar Faison.”

“Why the hell—” Jason frowned. “Duke coming after the territory made some sense,” he admitted. “He was connected to the Jeromes, and in the mob. We knew that. But if it was Faison—”

“I don’t know. We never did figure that part out,” Sonny admitted. “Faison disappeared, and we just—I think we just let it go.”

“A year later—” Michael paused. “We found out that Robin was alive. Dad told you about that?”

“He said it was connected, but—”

“I’m not sure how,” Sonny said. He looked to Elizabeth. “Maybe you know more?”

“Faison faked her death to get to Anna—that’s why he posed as Duke,” she explained. “Robin said he quizzed her about Duke’s life, but she fed him some false info to trip him up. She was held somewhere in Europe.” She met Jason’s eyes. “Ewen helped arrange that. He was working with Jerry Jacks and, later, it turned out Faison and Obrecht. She’s a crazy doctor who was obsessed with Faison,” she added.

“Ewen was involved in Robin’s kidnapping?” Jason grimaced. “I should have shot him more.”

“Agreed. Faison was caught at that point, and we thought he was in a WSB prison, and Robin was home. It seemed like that was over.” Elizabeth paused. “Then Victor Cassadine showed up. According to Anna and Robert, he’d been the director of research at the WSB for a while and he got promoted to run the agency.”

“I don’t remember a Victor Cassadine—”

“There were three Cassadines brothers,” Elizabeth told Jason. “Mikkos, Anthony, and Victor. Anthony—or I think Luke said he was mostly Tony—he was kind of a playboy. You know, the kind that travels on yachts and uses his money to enjoy life. He was a jewel thief, and arranged to steal the Ice Princess for Mikkos. He was engaged to Alexandra Quartermaine right around the time you were born, I think.” She bit her lip. “It’s been a while since I—Luke and Laura gave me the crash course back during Endgame.”

“Endgame—” Jason frowned. “What—” He saw Michael looking equally mystified.

“That’s right. Helena had a cute name for that whole trying to kill everyone and raise the dead thing,” Sonny said. “I hate the Cassadines.”

“Same,” Elizabeth agreed with a sigh. “Anyway. Tony and Alexandra ended up being frozen to death in the same machine that killed Mikkos. I think Nikolas said Victor went to prison for a while, but the WSB got him out. He might have been DVX for a while, but a lot of those agents—they ended up with WSB because of their skill set.”

Michael shook his head. “What—” He put up his hands. “DVX?”

“Port Charles was crazy in the eighties,” Elizabeth said with half a smile. “I remember visiting during the summers when I was a kid and listening to everyone talking about it. Later when I was dating Lucky, it was kind of fascinating, so I was always asking Luke questions. He never thought I was too young.”

“Victor Cassadine was in charge of WSB. What does he have to do with Robin?”

“He wanted her to bring Stavros and Helena back from the dead,” Elizabeth told Jason, getting the conversation back on track. “Robin was about tell him to fuck all the way off, except—well, he had a card to play. He said he had you. Robin could bring you home but she had to help him.”

Jason sat back. “When was this?”

“February 2014. Robin left, but we didn’t know why. We thought she’d left and gone to Africa. It was awful for a while, and she and Patrick got divorced. Victor got her to the lab and refused to let her leave. Then it was Helena was holding her hostage. The man she woke up—they escaped from the lab later that year. August, I think. Or September. Robin said it was you. Your face, your voice. Your memories,” Elizabeth told him. “Robin was convinced. They separated when they got to Port Charles, but Helena grabbed her before she could get to her mother.”

“And the other guy was coming to me,” Sonny continued. “Only he got hit by Jordan Ashford, and got his face smashed in.”

“He was brought to the ER the night I was on duty, and it was—” Elizabeth pressed her lips together. “It was the strangest thing. It was like he knew me. Like I knew him. When he woke up from facial construction, he didn’t remember anything, but he picked the name Jake.”

“He…Jake.”

“It was strange,” Michael remembered. “Because Jake Doe connected with some of us right away. I talked to him in the hospital when—” He looked at Sonny, then swallowed. “We were going through things. And he was kind to me. And, Elizabeth, it was like you’d known each other for years.”

“I know. He even got along with Carly,” Elizabeth continued. “But other people—it was like oil and water. He and Sam were always at each other’s throats, and you two—” She met Sonny’s eyes. “You just hated each other.”

“I think it’s interesting to think back to that, knowing what we know now,” Sonny said, “and maybe it’ll be something we need to think about. But let’s talk about how we found out who he was.”

“The other reason I’m here,” Elizabeth said with a sigh. Michael reached over to squeeze her hand. “Thanks. Uh, well, Faison was caught that fall, but someone broke him out of the PCPD. This guy broke into the department, held Sam hostage, shot a cop, and then got away without even blinking.”

“And it was this Jake Doe?” Jason asked.

“Yeah. Sam eventually remembered it, and I thought she was insane. You know, it’s not like I listen to Sam anyway,” Elizabeth admitted, “but this just—there was no way. Until we caught Jake setting a bomb at the Haunted Star where he was working as a bartender.”

“I don’t understand—”

“Helena put a chip in his head,” Sonny said flatly. “To put him under control. Elizabeth figured it out and got him free of those charges.”

“Yeah, well, that was the easy part. Around this time, Helena told Nikolas that Jake Doe was you. Nikolas kept it to himself for months.” Elizabeth pressed her hand to her chest. “Of course, now knowing what we know now—did he really know what was going on or did she lie to him?”

“Did Nikolas tell everyone—”

“No.” Elizabeth sighed. “He told me a few months later. The night of Nurse’s Ball.” She looked down at the table for a moment, then raised her eyes to meet Jason’s. “Jake and I were—well, it’s complicated. But Nikolas told me so that I didn’t get in any deeper. And I didn’t tell anyone.”

Sonny scrubbed his hand over his mouth as the room fell into silence. Jason frowned for a long moment, then squinted. “You didn’t tell anyone.”

“No. I was happy. Jake was good to me, and he wasn’t really like you. I know everyone thinks I did it because I thought he was you, and maybe it was part of it, but you know Jake Doe was not Jason,” Elizabeth said to Sonny.

“I do, Elizabeth. It was a long time ago—”

“So I lied. And then in July, Lucky brought Jake home. My Jake. Our son. He was alive. And Helena had had him all that time. And I still lied. Carly figured it out. She ran a reconstruction on Jake’s face, it came up as you, and she ran to stop our wedding. Eventually the truth came out, and Jake got his memories back. Or he got your memories. Or something. Whatever it is—he’s not part of it. He has to be a victim, too,” Elizabeth insisted.

“I will say it does feel like something changed after he said he got his memories back,” Sonny told Jason. “And something about the way Jake came home has always bothered me.”

“How did it happen?” Jason asked.

“Lucky got some sort of hint that Helena was up to something. He started to follow it up, and when he stopped calling Aiden, I contacted Luke. Luke went after him, found Helena in Greece with Jake. And Helena just gave him Jake.”

“Gave him—” Jason shook his head. Of all the things he’d heard so far—this made the least amount of sense. “Why—if she faked his death, kept him all this time—”

“And that’s what makes me wonder about Jason being able to wake up from that coma around the same time that crap was happening with Jake,” Sonny told Elizabeth. “It can’t be a coincidence that Jason is waking up in Russia at the same time Jake nearly killed us all with one of Helena’s plans.”

“What?” Jason demanded. “What happened?”

“Jake got a box of magic tricks last year,” Elizabeth said softly. “He put together an act for the Nurse’s Ball, but something was going on his head. He was scared to tell me, but he was hearing Helena’s voice. She was telling him to kill us all. The night of the ball, he was supposed to perform a trick that would have unleashed a chemical weapon that would have killed everyone in the room.”

Jason exhaled slowly, taking that information in, filing it with everything else he knew. “How did it—what happened?”

“Jason—Jake—Drew—I don’t know what to call him,” Elizabeth said with a shake of her head. “But we talked to him, and we were able to stop it. Some men broke into the ballroom, stole it, but Valentin supposedly stopped him and the weapon is with the WSB.”

“Yeah, but didn’t Valentin have some sort of connection to that?” Michael asked.

“He’s the one that stole it from the WSB in the first place. It was nicknamed for the Chimera for the hallucinations you’re supposed to see when you’re dying. He sold it to Helena.”

“And I think,” Sonny said, looking at Jason, “that mostly fills in the blanks between your dive off the pier and coming home.”

“Mostly,” Jason said slowly. “That is…a lot, but you’re right. If this was happening to Jake at the same time—maybe I didn’t wake up from that coma on my own. Maybe someone woke me up.”

“Maybe. The question is what do we do now?” Elizabeth asked.

Sonny cleared his throat. “Well, you know, I appreciate everything, Elizabeth, but—”

“She stays,” Jason said flatly, surprising all three of them as they focused on him. “If she wants.”

“Jason—”

“I want,” Elizabeth said quickly. She flashed him a grateful smile before looking at Sonny. “Look, I know a lot more than what I’ve told you about the Cassadines, and I’m the only one of us who’s gone against Helena and won. I know she’s dead, but with her—death does not matter. You know that. And if there’s a chance that bitch is still coming for my son from beyond the grave, I’m not sitting this out. Let me help, Sonny. You can trust me.”

“It’s not—I just—” Sonny shook his head. “Never mind. Jason says you stay. You stay.” He took a deep breath. “Any suggestions for what we do next?”

“Information,” Elizabeth suggested. “I’m sure you’ve got Spinelli working on the clinic and that doctor, right?”

“Yeah, we called him this morning.”

“Then we need to call Luke and Lucky.”

Jason scowled. “I know you said that yesterday,” he said to Sonny, “but I don’t really want to deal with them—”

“I’m not that interested in seeing Luke either,” Elizabeth said. “But at the end of the day, they’re Spencers. Cassadine hunting is in their blood.”

“What about Valentin? He’s in this up to his damn eyeballs,” Michael muttered. “He’s gotta be the one who was holding Jason—”

“Valentin sent Ava to the clinic,” Elizabeth reminded them. “I mean, I agree he’s in this, but I don’t know if it that’s simple.”

“No, but I always thought it was weird when those guys stole the Chimera. Valentin got the chance to act like the big hero, didn’t he?” Sonny said. “He’s just not working alone.”

“Then we need to know who he’s working with,” Jason said. “And I want to know everything about him.”

“That would be you again,” Michael told Elizabeth who made a face. “Did you ever think you’d be the Cassadine Expert?”

“It wasn’t the plan for my life,” she said dryly. “And I don’t know who he’d be working with. Valentin doesn’t trust anyone. I don’t even think he likes his wife ninety percent of the time. It’s hard to see him giving control to someone else, even for a minute.”

General Hospital: Andre’s Office

Andre stared at the text message as it scrolled across his phone.

Stay calm. Stay quiet. I’ll be in touch when I have this under control.

He shoved the phone aside as Valentin’s message faded. Did he have a goddamn choice? If he disappeared now—everyone would suspect he was part of it, and he knew—he knew they’d come after him. Someone would. Sonny or Jason. Drew or Curtis. Jordan. Anna and Robert. Valentin.

There was no running from this. At least not yet. Not when no one knew what he’d done.

If he could just keep them from finding out, maybe he’d be able to save himself.

← Chapter Seven | Chapter Nine →