Courtroom

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Robyn grumbled under her breath as Scott petitioned for a continuance.

“On what grounds?” Judge Stevenson asked.

“One of my witnesses was flying out of LAX and his plane was grounded,” Scott replied. “He won’t be in until tomorrow and I can’t finish my case without him.”

“Which witness is this?” Robyn asked. “I don’t see him on the list.”

“He’s an expert witness,” Scott smirked. “Maybe if your secretary was old enough to vote, she might have given you the packet I sent over.”

Robyn frowned and twisted in her seat to search out Georgie. The young girl was scowling at the district attorney in confusion.

“I don’t remember any thing about an expert witness,” Dillon whispered under his breath. “And I must have copied every single piece of paper in existence.”

“He didn’t send anything,” Georgie hissed back. She bit her lip. “What if she fires me?”

“She’s not gonna fire you.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Robyn said, turning back to face the judge. “I have obviously not received any notice of this witness. I don’t know his qualifications, I don’t know what exactly he’s supposed to be an expert on–”

“Yes, Ms. Nichols, you’re quite right. However, I am going to grant Mr. Baldwin a two day continuance so that his witness may arrive and that you may get up to speed.” The judge rapped his gavel. “Court is in recess until Wednesday at 9 a.m.”

People started to get up and move and Robyn was muttering under her breath as she started to shove files and note pads into her briefcase.

“Ms. Nichols, I swear to God I never saw anything about any witness,” Georgie said in a rush as she practically flew up the aisle to her employer.

“Georgie–”

“I’ve filed everything and I’m really organized, there’s no way it got lost,” Georgie continued, her eyes filling with tears. “I’m so sorry–”

“Georgie–” Robyn tried again.

“That’s what you get, Robbie,” Scott cut in smoothly. He patted Georgie on the head like she was a five-year-old. “When you hire children, you get that kind of level of work in return.”

Dillon swatted Scott’s hand away from Georgie. “Don’t touch her,” he snapped.

“Dillon, shut up,” Georgie hissed.

“No, Dillon’s quite right,” Robyn corrected. “Scott, touch my assistant again and you’ll be on the floor, is that clear?”

“That’s no way to treat the district attorney,” Scott said, smirking.

“And furthermore, the next time you forget to notify me about a witness and you try to blame it on my more than capable staff, I will report you to the Ethics Committee, got that?”

“Whatever,” Scott replied. He glared at the Corinthos-Morgan group who were talking quietly behind them before heading to the back of the courtroom to talk to the media.

“I’m so sorry, Ms. Nichols,” Georgie started to apologize again.

“Georgie, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Robyn assured her. “Scott’s an idiot and trying to blame this on you. Now, do the two of you need a ride back to the office?”

“I do, Dillon’s going home,” Georgie said firmly.

“Your car’s the red Miata right?” Dillon asked, grinning. “Can you put the top down?”

“You’re going home,” Georgie said to him again.

“No, it will mess up my hair,” Robyn said smoothly. “I’ll meet you two at the car.”

Dillon and Georgie argued all the way out the door while Robyn turned back to Sonny and his family. “I can’t imagine what Baldwin’s got planned now, but I assure you that it’s going our way.”

“It certainly seems that way,” Carly said, feeling a bit better than she had in days. “With Elizabeth’s testimony, we should be okay, right?”

“Unless she does a 180 and decides Sonny pushed her, we’ll be fine,” Robyn assured her. “Listen, though, I don’t know that we can chance putting the guard on the stand.”

“Why not?” Jason asked. “Max’s an honest guy.”

“It’s not what I’m worried about,” Robyn replied. “I don’t want Scott cross-examining him. He can be ruthless and it might do us more harm than good.”

“We’ll do whatever you think is best,” Sonny said quietly. “Come on, Carly, let’s get back to the penthouse. We can spend the afternoon with Michael.”

Carly nodded and kissed Jason on the cheek. “We’ll see you for dinner, okay?”

“Okay.”

Robyn sighed. “Well at least I can stop by my nephew’s birthday party tonight,” she muttered to herself. As she passed Courtney, the blonde put an arm out to stop her. “Oh, what now?” she snapped.

“Can we talk?” Courtney asked. “I need to say something to you.”

“Fine, go ahead,” Robyn said, facing her.

“No…” she looked up at her fiancée. “I’ll meet you at the limo, okay?”

“Okay,” Jason remarked. “I’ll see you later,” he said to Robyn and exited the courtroom.

“Come on, walk me to my car,” Robyn sighed.

A Building Across the Street

“You see where those two teens are,” Faith gestured. She glanced at the dark-haired man kneeling in the window, a sniper’s rifle in his hands. “Another woman will come to the car. I want her shot.”

“Shot and killed? Or just shot?” the man asked after a moment.

“Just shot,” Faith murmured. “I want a message sent to Sonny.” She smirked. “But fire a few times. You know…for effect.”

Elizabeth’s Car

“So, tonight at seven?” Jessica said, leaning against the used Toyota Elizabeth had salvaged from a dealer. “Kelly’s?”

“Actually, why don’t we head over there now?” Elizabeth asked. “We can get some drinks and get this out of the way.”

“That sounds good,” Jessica remarked. “Let me go to my car and I’ll meet you there.”

Near the Courthouse Steps

“Hey, Johnny,” Jason greeted. “Aren’t you still on Elizabeth?”

“Yep,” the guard replied. He gestured to where the brunette was talking with a reporter. “She’s talking to Jessica Mitchell from the Port Charles Herald .”

“You know who she is?” Jason asked skeptically. He frowned at the guard.

“Yeah. I read,” Johnny replied defensively. “Her picture’s next to every editorial she writes.”

“Yeah, okay.” Jason shook his head and headed towards the two women.

“So, what exactly are you going to be asking?” Elizabeth said as he approached.

“Well, I’ll want a biographical approach at first,” Jessica answered. “Background of you, of your marriage and your relationship to Sonny and Jason–”

“Why?” Jason interrupted, stepping up behind her.

Jessica whirled around and momentarily lost her train of thought. “Uh…”

“Jason, it’s fine,” Elizabeth said, impatiently. “She’s on our side.”

“Yep. Completely,” Jessica confirmed. “I think Sonny is innocent and I hope to sway public opinion.” She hesitated, turned back to Elizabeth. “I’ll meet you at Kelly’s.” She hurried towards her own car, leaving them alone.

“So, what do you want?” Elizabeth asked after a moment of silence.

“I wanted to thank you for what you said to Sonny,” Jason told her. “He…was…he was worried that he might have done it.”

“I’m glad he believed me,” Elizabeth replied. “Because I hate that this is happening. I want this over as much as any of you.”

“I wish I could tell I was sorry to hear about your divorce,” Jason told her. “But I’m not. You’re better off.”

She smirked. “Well, I should belt you for being so arrogant, but you’re right. I am.” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “You’ve got a great lawyer. Everything’s going to be fine.”

“Yeah. Yeah, we’re pretty confident,” Jason replied.

Before she could say anything else, she heard several gunshots in quick succession. She attempted to turn and look in the right direction but Jason pushed her to the ground. “Stay here,” he directed roughly.

Robyn’s Car

“I apologize for the way I’ve been acting lately,” Courtney said as they approached the car. “I’ve just been so worried about Sonny and everything. I know you’re doing the best you can.”

Robyn frowned and looked away. “Yeah. Okay. It’s fine.”

Courtney smiled. “Great. I’m glad we got this all worked out.”

Robyn nodded and turned to Georgie. “Georgie–”

Whatever she was going to say was lost in the sound of gun shots. There were six in quick succession. Georgie screamed as Dillon pushed her to the ground and before they could even begin to recover from the shock, Jason was there, bending over the fallen figures of Robyn and Courtney.

“Courtney!”

General Hospital

Elizabeth shifted uncomfortably as she sat next to Georgie and Dillon, waiting for news on Robyn and Courtney’s condition. It was impossible to tell who the target had been since according to the teens, they’d been standing side by side. Robyn had taken two shots, one to the arm and one to the leg. Courtney had taken just one, to the chest. It was serious, and she could see from Sonny and Carly’s expressions from across the lobby that it didn’t look good.

“She’s going to be okay, right?” Georgie asked. “I mean, people recover from this stuff all the time.”

“Right,” Dillon agreed.

The elevator doors slid open and another teen their age flew out of it and headed for the nurse’s station. “Robyn Nichols,” Kyle Radcliffe told them, slightly out of breath.

Georgie frowned and stood. “How do you know Robyn?”

At the familiar voice, Kyle turned and looked at her oddly. “She’s my aunt. How do you two know her?”

“I work for her,” Georgie answered.

” We work for her,” Dillon corrected, standing behind her. “She’s still in surgery.”

“What happened?” Kyle demanded. “All I got was the message on my machine to come down here. The rest of my family’s out of town–they won’t get back until tomorrow.”

“We were at the courthouse waiting to go back to the office when we heard these gun shots,” Georgie explained. “Robyn was shot in the arm and the leg and Courtney Matthews was shot in the chest.”

“My mom tried to tell her taking Sonny Corinthos as a client was a bad idea,” Kyle muttered. “How long has she been in surgery?”

“About an hour or so,” Dillon replied.

Elizabeth stood suddenly. “Oh no,” she murmured. Her eyes were trained on the sobbing Carly instead of the two statuesque men next to her.

Kyle frowned. “Who’s that?”

“Elizabeth Lansing, one of Robyn’s clients. She was there, too.” Georgie approached her. “Are you okay, Mrs. Lansing?”

“I think they just got news about Courtney,” Elizabeth said quietly. She pulled her cell phone out. “I’d better call Emily–Jason’s going to need her.” She started for the lounge where cells were allowed.

But Emily, Nikolas and Lucky piled out of the elevator next, having heard the news on the radio. Emily hugged Elizabeth before making a beeline for her brother.

“You okay?” Nikolas asked. “You weren’t hurt?”

Elizabeth shook her head. “No. A few scrapes when Jason pushed me to the ground, but I’m fine.”

“So, it was your lawyer and Courtney who were shot?” Lucky asked. “Is there any news?”

Elizabeth shook her head. “Robyn’s not out of surgery yet, but I think they got news about Courtney.”

Across The Room

Emily guided her brother into a chair. He hadn’t moved or even blinked since the doctor gave them the news. Too much bleeding, too much internal damage. The bullet had ruptured an artery and she hadn’t gotten to the hospital in time.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. She kneeled in front of him. “Is there anything you need?”

He didn’t speak and he wouldn’t speak for another two weeks.

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