PCPD

Scott Baldwin scowled. “Why wasn’t I informed that there was a case pending against Sonny Corinthos?” he demanded.

Mac barely glanced up from his computer as he typed Elizabeth’s statement up. “Because Sonny is not a suspect.”

“The hell he isn’t!” Scott declared. “He was the only person there, Elizabeth Lansing can’t remember if he walked away first, he’s got a known grudge against her husband–”

“Since when does Corinthos push defenseless women down the stairs?” Mac snapped. He pushed away from his desk and stood. “I know he’s the prime suspect! But I don’t think he did it!”

“Who the cares what you think? The evidence shows different!” Scott yelled.

“There is no evidence! Circumstantial evidence, maybe–”

“You either do the right thing or I’ll take this case from you,” Scott threatened. “And I can do it, you know that.”

“Don’t you presume to lecture me on what’s right!” Mac retorted. “I’m not the one that bungled Alcazar’s murder trial!”

“We finally have the chance to put Sonny Corinthos away and you don’t seem to give a damn!”

Mac sighed and looked down, bracing his hands on the desk. “I understand that you’re angry about what happened to Karen. I’m angry that Maxie got a hold of drugs too. But it’s been a decade, Scott. Sonny doesn’t run drugs, he doesn’t do prostitution.”

“And that makes him okay?” Scott demanded. “And that just negates what he did to my daughter?”

“No, of course not, but you can’t go around as DA with a vendetta against Sonny because of that! You’ll be reported to the Ethics Committee! You could lose your license. Damn it, you’re a good lawyer when you don’t let yourself get carried away.”

Scott sighed and drug his hand through his hair. “Look, I’m just saying that we need to save face. The papers have gotten a hold of this now and they’re demanding his arrest. All we gotta do is arrest him. Elizabeth Lansing testifies at the indictment hearing, tells them she doesn’t think he did it and he goes away. We look good because, hey, we tried.”

Mac studied him and looked away after a moment. Scott had a point. The mayor was threatening his job again if things didn’t start looking up. To save face, arresting Sonny would be the best idea. At least when he wasn’t indicted, the egg wouldn’t be on their face.

“Let me do some more work,” Mac said finally. “I’m sure there are other people with a grudge against Ric.”

“Fine,” Scott told him. “One week.”

General Hospital

Elizabeth laid her head against the pillows and closed her eyes. Four days in this hospital and she was about to go insane.

The door creaked open and Lucky stepped in. “Hey,” he greeted, revealing a bouquet of white roses. She smirked.

“Still can’t find another color?” she asked pointedly.

Lucky shrugged and came forward to hand them to her. “Hey, white roses–they’re our thing. I figure enough time has passed that you don’t hate the sight of them any more.”

She managed a weak laugh. “Thanks.”

“How you feeling?” he asked softly.

“Empty,” Elizabeth replied. Her hand trailed to her abdomen. “I was so happy, Lucky. I was married, I was looking forward to a family and now…”

“Well…you still have Ric,” Lucky reminded her.

“Yeah…” she said faintly. She turned her head to the side. “He hasn’t been to see me in two days. Not since I asked him why he pretended to have sex with Carly.”

Lucky frowned. “What?” he demanded.

“I didn’t tell you?” Elizabeth asked wryly. “Yeah. Back in February. She was drugged, passed out. He undressed her and got into bed with her. She thought they slept together.”

He stared at her. “Knowing this, you married him anyway.”

“I was pregnant,” Elizabeth offered lamely. “And…I know you don’t understand, but I love him.”

“You’re right, I don’t understand,” Lucky replied. “But you were also in love with Jason, so–”

“Lucky, do me a favor?” Elizabeth asked softly. “Don’t talk about Jason. Because he’s the reason I married Ric.”

“What?” Lucky sputtered. “What the hell?”

“I walked away from Jason,” Elizabeth explained. “And I gave up. Despite how I felt. I didn’t want to do the same thing with Ric.”

“So you decided to go back to him, regardless of what happened with Carly?”

She nodded. “I thought…I thought having our own family would be enough. And it would have been. Oh, Lucky, he bought me a teddy bear the morning after the wedding and he bought wedding rings…you don’t know what it felt like to finally come first.”

He sighed. “Okay. So, now that…now that there’s no family on the horizon?”

“I just need…I need to understand how he could do that to Carly and think it was okay,” Elizabeth told him. “I need to understand that.”

“What did he say when you asked?”

“Nothing,” Elizabeth replied. “He shrugged it off and left to check on a job he applied for. He’s called but he hasn’t come back.”

“I’m sorry, Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth sighed. “Me, too.”

Lansing Apartment

Faith Roscoe was waiting for Ric when he entered the apartment. He stopped just inside the door and glared at her.

“What do you want?” he demanded.

She shook her head. “Poor little Lizzie. Her darling husband hasn’t been to see her in two days. After the big bad Sonny Corinthos pushed her down the stairs because she pleaded for your life, and in the process lost your baby…you can’t even see her?”

“Get out,” Ric snarled. He stepped aside and motioned to the door. “If you come back again, I’ll call the police.”

“You’re so law-abiding,” she purred. She stood and crossed the room. “It’s sexy.”

He grabbed her hand as it started to trail down his chest. “I’m not kidding, Faith.”

“Neither am I.” Her blue eyes turned cold while the warm smile stayed in its place. “If I were you, I’d use this opportunity to get rid of Sonny while you can. He goes to jail for assault, you’re in the perfect position to take over his territory. We can run it together.”

Ric shook his head. “I don’t want his territory and I’m not sending him to jail if he didn’t do it.”

Faith laughed. “Oh my God, you’re serious. What has this little twit done to you?”

“Get out,” Ric said. He shoved her through the door. “Don’t come back.”

She was still laughing when he slammed the door shut.

Sonny’s Penthouse

“This is ridiculous,” Courtney snarled, throwing down a copy of that morning’s Port Charles Herald. “Yet another letter to the editor asking why Sonny wasn’t arrested for pushing Elizabeth.”

Carly shook her head. “I don’t know. We haven’t heard anything from Mac since he was here that day. Mac doesn’t think he did it…but Sonny’s…he’s the only suspect.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Courtney replied. “He didn’t do it.”

“Since when does that matter to the PCPD?” Carly demanded. “Our best hope is that if he is arrested, that Elizabeth testifies and tells the grand jury she doesn’t think he did it. I mean if the victim doesn’t think so, that’s got to count.”

“She’ll probably end up accusing him,” Courtney muttered. “Just let Ric get five minutes with her.”

“No, she seemed pretty adamant about it when I saw her,” Carly replied. “She’s got bad taste in men and makes mistakes, but she’s not stupid. She knows Sonny would never hurt her, no matter how angry he got.”

“But Scott would never give her an opening to tell the jury she doesn’t think he did it,” Courtney pointed out. ‘”He wants Sonny and he’ll do anything to get it.”

Carly sighed. “There might not be an arrest. It’s been a week since Elizabeth fell. She’s home now. They’ve had all week to arrest Sonny and they’ve done nothing.” She shook her head. “Let’s talk about something else.” Her face brightened. “Let’s talk about the wedding.”

Courtney wrinkled her nose. “Let’s not.”

“Why not?” Carly asked, laughing.

“Because you’re going to want to help plan it and Jason and I will end up with a wedding that neither of us want. We want a traditional wedding but we don’t want to go overboard,” Courtney explained.

“I would never go overboard!” Carly denied, but she was still laughing. “Seriously, though…”

Lansing Apartment

Elizabeth gingerly stepped into the living room. She ached everywhere, but refused to stay in bed any longer. She needed to get herself moving again, her blood going.

She needed to talk to Ric.

He’d brought her home from the hospital, set her up in their bedroom and then he’d set up camp in the living room. He’d been attentive for the first two days she’d been home, but for the last three days, he’d been up and gone before she’d woken up. He was looking for space to open a law practice, he’d told her.

But she knew the truth–he was avoiding her because he knew she’d bring up Carly again and he obviously did not wish to rehash that particular subject. The trouble was that Elizabeth had never been properly satisfied with his explanation and was determined to work it out with him.

She pulled her sweatshirt down over her knees and curled up on the couch, wrapping her arms around her knees.

She’d gotten herself into a marriage she probably shouldn’t have rushed and now she was worried her husband wanted out.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Elizabeth sighed and pushed herself to stand.

“Be right there!” she called as she slowly moved across the apartment to the front door. She unlocked the bolts and slid the chain lock open. Ric had had them installed before she’d gotten home and Elizabeth suspected it was to keep Faith Roscoe out.

“Commissioner…” Elizabeth stepped back to let Mac in. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

“I called Ric last night and told him that I needed to see you both,” Mac said. His eyes searched the room. “Is he here?”

“No,” Elizabeth said softly. “He had to…he had an appointment with a realtor for some office space. I guess he couldn’t reschedule.”

“That’s okay,” Mac told her. “This won’t take long.” He hesitated. “The judge signed an arrest warrant this morning.”

“You’re arresting Sonny aren’t you?” she asked.

“We…look, Elizabeth, I know you don’t think he did it and to be honest, we don’t either. But the mayor is calling for the arrest. It’s my job and I need to keep it,” Mac explained.

“I understand that,” Elizabeth replied, “but what about Sonny? He’s innocent.”

“And you’ll testify that you don’t think he did it at the grand jury hearing,” Mac assured her. “He won’t be indicted.”

She hesitated. “I just…I don’t feel right about arresting an innocent person.”

“I understand, but it has to be done.” Mac paused. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Do you…do you need me for anything?” Elizabeth asked. “Another statement?”

“No,” Mac told her. “Well, I’m going go serve the warrant. I just wanted to warn you.”

“Thanks,” Elizabeth replied. “I appreciate everything you’ve done.”

“We’ll get the person who did it,” Mac promised. “But right now, I need to buy more time.”

Warehouse

“If it all goes well,” Jason said, setting the folder on Sonny’s desk and putting his hands on his hips, “we can open in July.”

“Sounds good,” Sonny replied.

The door to the office opened and Johnny stepped in. “Just got the word. Judge Carter signed an arrest warrant this morning.”

“They’re arresting him?” Jason asked incredulously. “That’s ridiculous.”

Johnny shrugged. “Yeah, well, the papers have been demanding his arrest for two weeks. I bet the mayor has been pressuring Scorpio to make an arrest.”

“I thought I put you on Elizabeth,” Sonny said pointedly.

“You did,” Johnny replied. “But she hasn’t left her apartment since Lansing brought her home from the hospital. Paul’s on him and Ric’s barely been home the last few days.” Johnny shook his head. “His wife has had major surgery and suffered a serious trauma and he’s out looking for office space.”

“He leaves her alone?” Jason asked, skeptically. “By herself all day?”

“Well, yeah,” Johnny replied. “Don’t be so surprised, Jason. You used to do it too.”

Jason glared at him. “That was a different situation–she was in a protected penthouse with guards.”

“Yeah, while you were in a dinky apartment with your present fiancée,” Johnny reminded him.

Jason clenched his fists. “You got something to say O’Brien?” he demanded. “Because you’ve been dancing around it for the last two weeks.”

“Hey, you two, knock it off,” Sonny interrupted. “Johnny, quit being a jackass–”

“Just as soon as Jason does,” Johnny quipped.

Jason took a step towards the guard but Sonny quickly stepped in middle. “Knock it off,” he warned. “Both of you. Johnny, just keep an eye on Elizabeth. I have a feeling Faith Roscoe had something to do with Elizabeth’s fall.”

“I’ll head back over now,” Johnny said. Before he could step towards the door, it opened again and Mac Scorpio entered with a uniformed officer in tow.

Mac took a deep breath. “Sonny Corinthos, you’re under arrest for the assault of Elizabeth Lansing.” He nodded to the office behind him to step forward and cuff Sonny.

Jason and Johnny stepped aside while Sonny let the officer lock the handcuffs on him.

“You have the right to remain silent,” Mac started to recite as Sonny was led from the office.

“Someone needs to call a lawyer,” Johnny said. He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Because honestly, the evidence is pretty tight. And all Baldwin has to do is phrase his questions to Elizabeth in a way that she doesn’t get to say anything helpful.”

“If she really doesn’t believe Sonny did it, she’ll work that in,” Jason said quietly. He looked at Johnny. “You should get back over to her apartment.”

Johnny managed one last parting shot as he stepped out of the office. “Isn’t it a little late to pretend that you give a damn?”

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