Discomfort, endlessly has pulled itself upon me
Distracting, reacting
Against my will I stand beside my own reflection
It’s haunting
How I can’t seem
To find myself again
My walls are closing in
Without a sense of confidence, I’m convinced
That there’s just too much pressure to take
I’ve felt this way before
So insecure
Crawling, Linkin Park

---

Monday, May 5, 2004

Lexington House: Living Room

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion, as if Carly were moving in a dream—

Elizabeth had attacked Ric and wrestled the gun from him, pulled the trigger three times, and Ric had fallen. Together, Carly and Elizabeth had gone towards him, Carly slightly behind her. She looked down at the carpet and saw the gun.

The gun he’d used to threaten her mother. To take Bobbie away from her, using Carly’s terror of him, of losing someone else—he’d used it to control her.

And now it was just laying on the ground.

Carly was staring at it as she listened to Ric gasping for breath—heard Elizabeth murmur something— look away. Ric’s eyes closed. His chest stopped rising.

He was dead.

She leaned down to pick up the gun, to move it—and then she saw it—

Ric’s eyes opened, his lips curled into a snarl, and his body started to shift, to launch itself off the carpet—toward Elizabeth who had turned away to look at Bobbie—

“Elizabeth—” Carly forced the words out. “Look out!”

But it was too late—Ric was off the ground, Elizabeth couldn’t turn fast enough—

So Carly raised the gun and pulled the trigger, screaming as she kept shooting, kept going until the barrel clicked into emptiness—

Ric was shoved back by the first bullet, slammed into the wall. The first one caught him in the chest, then the second—it hit his throat—

Then his face exploded.

PCPD: Squad Room

Kelsey did not run. She made a conscious effort not to rush down the hallway and burst through the doors. She’d wanted to—the moment Taggert had called her, told her he’d made an arrest—Kelsey had wanted to run.

In the squad room, she found Lucky, Anna, and Taggert clustered around Taggert’s desk, the three of them sharing similar expressions of shock, concern, and relief—

“What is it?” Kelsey demanded. “Who—How?”

Lucky left his bosses and came to her. He took her face in his, rested his forehead against hers for a long moment. “Sonny. He confessed.”

“Confessed—”

Behind him, Scott came in. “What’s wrong? You told my secretary—” He looked at Kelsey who had started to cry. “What’s going?”

“We made an arrest, Scott,” Taggert told him. He cleared his throat. “Sonny just confessed to Oliver Joyce’s murder.”

“Confessed—” Scott blinked, shook his head. Looked over to the interrogation room. “What?”

“He confessed?” Kelsey repeated. “How—how did his lawyer let that happen?”

“He refused a lawyer,” Anna said. When Scott just stared at her, she nodded. “I can’t explain it. He signed a Miranda waiver, and Taggert even asked him again during the interview.”

“I don’t understand—how—why—” Kelsey took Scott’s hand in hers. He squeezed it. “Why did he kill my dad?”

“Your dad was the business manager at a strip club Sonny ran—and apparently, wasn’t happy about the treatment of the women who worked there. But he swallowed it for a long time,” Taggert said. “Until 1994. When he learned that one of the women who Sonny had fed drugs to, slept with—he found out—”

“He found out Karen was my daughter,” Scott said roughly. “Christ. We were right. It was about Karen. He admitted it?”

“He must have threatened Sonny or said something—that made Sonny worry. And since Sonny was on the verge of going after Frank Smith, getting all that power—” Taggert exhaled slowly. “Oliver Joyce was a threat.”

“My dad—my dad died because—” Kelsey hands were trembling. She looked at Lucky as tears continued to stream down her cheeks.

“Because he wanted to help my daughter.” Scott clenched his hands into fists, forced himself to take a breath. “He confessed. I don’t—how?”

“I’m not sure,” Taggert admitted. “I don’t—I’m not—” He winced looked at Anna. “It’s possible it might not stand up in court—”

“What?” Scott demanded. “Why?”

“Recent mental illness diagnosis,” Anna admitted. “I think we’re on even ground, but Taggert’s right. Any lawyer worth their salt would try to get it thrown out. But you stopped the interrogation, you asked him again—you gave him a break. And he still confessed.”

“I still don’t know why, but I guess it doesn’t matter.” He scratched his temple. “He’s being booked now on charges of second degree murder.”

“Sonny Corinthos is being booked for confessing to murder,” Scott said slowly. “I can’t—” He put an arm around Kelsey’s shoulder. “I can’t wrap my mind around it—”

“I’m going to call Dante,” Anna murmured to Taggert. “He should have a heads up.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Taggert said. He looked back at Kelsey and Lucky, then shook his head. This was not how he’d expected the day to go.

Lexington House: Living Room

Someone was screaming—someone was crying—Her mother shot from behind the chair, wrapped Carly in her arms—and it was then that Carly realized it was her—

She was screaming and crying.

“Is he dead? Is he dead? Don’t let him up—” She looked at Elizabeth, at her mother.

“He’s dead,” Bobbie said.

Carly sank to her knees, sobbing. “No, he always comes back. Always—”

“Not this time,” Elizabeth managed, her voice quivering. “He’s—his face is gone.”

Bobbie rocked Carly back and forth. “Baby, it’s okay. He’s dead, I promise you. You did it.” Bobbie turned to Elizabeth, her face white with shock. “Can you—where’s your phone?”

Elizabeth looked at her, blinked. “Claudia took them,” she said faintly. “She—she made us—”

“Right,” Bobbie muttered. “Right. I can’t—” She took a deep breath. Smoothed Carly’s hair out of her eyes. “We need to call Jason. We need to find a phone—” She got to her feet, started searching for a land line.

She found a phone tucked behind the sofa, her fingers shaking as she tried to dial.

“Let me,” Elizabeth said. “Go sit with Carly.” She turned away from Ric’s body and took the phone from Bobbie. She punched in Jason’s cell number as Bobbie returned to Carly, taking the gun from her.

“Hello?” Jason bit out, irritated, out of patience.

“Jason?”

“Elizabeth? Where are you? Are you okay?”

“Y-yes. We’re, um—” Her voice broke. “I don’t know where we are. We drove for a while—we’re okay. I think. For now. I have—I shot him, but Carly—she killed him. Ric—he was—” She swallowed hard. “He was alive. He’s not now.”

“Are you sure?” Jason demanded. “Is he dead?”

“Y-yeah. I thought he was before, but then he wasn’t—Carly—he doesn’t have a face.” Her voice broke.

“We’re pulling up to a safe house that Claudia owns in Port Charles. Can you see us out the window? Is it the same house?”

Elizabeth went over to a window that looked out over the front of the house and nearly sank to her knees. “I see you—you’re here!”

She dropped the phone, ran to the doorway, threw open the door, and met Jason half up the steps of the porch, throwing herself into his arms.

She was safe. They were safe. It was over.

Port Charles Municipal Building: Mayor’s Office

Ned set the phone back on the hook and looked blindly at his desk for a long moment, trying to organize the news he’d been given.

“Ned?” Lois waved a hand in front of his face. “What’s going on?”

“What’s happened?” Alexis demanded.

Ned cleared his throat, then looked at Alexis. “Sonny’s been arrested.”

“Again?”

“What for?” Lois wanted to know. “What in the hell—”

“And Ric Lansing was alive. He’s dead now. But he was alive, and he kidnapped Carly, Elizabeth, and Bobbie. They’re okay.”

“What?”

“Is that why Sonny got arrested?” Alexis spoke at the same time as Lois. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”

“No, he confessed to a murder that happened ten years ago. Different case.”

“That’s a lot of information to get in sixty seconds,” Lois said, her eyes wide. “And we’re gonna need a hell of a press statement. Christ, Sonny’s confessed to it? Who was the victim?”

“And what do you mean Ric was alive?”

“I’m going across the street to find out.” Ned reached for his coat. “Anyone want to come with me?”

Lexington House: Front Porch

When Taggert, Lucky and Cruz arrived at the address given to them by dispatch, they found a cluster of people waiting for him. Jason with his arms around Elizabeth by the front door, Carly and Bobbie were sitting on the top step with Lucas standing over them. Lucky made a beeline for his aunt.

“Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?” Taggert frowned, found a dark-haired young man he’d never seen before. “Who the hell are you?”

“Johnny Zacchara. Just along for the ride.” The kid’s face looked slightly green. “Ah, I think I just saw my first brain matter.”

“Told you to wait outside,” Lucas muttered.

Taggert climbed the stairs to Jason and Elizabeth. “Dispatch said you were kidnapped? How the hell did you let that happen?” he snapped at Jason.

Jason glared at him, and Taggert felt oddly better—the equilibrium had been restored. Still pale, Elizabeth smacked him in the chest. “Stop glaring at him,” she muttered. To Taggert, she said, “Our drivers were waiting in the parking garage. Claudia Zacchara must have followed us—she put a gun to Bobbie’s head, so we didn’t exactly think it was a good idea to stall until the guards could reach us.”

“They brought you here?”

“Yeah—and Ric was here. I’m not—I’m not entirely sure what the plan was, but I think he was going to kill us. Um—he had the gun to Bobbie’s head the whole time, and I didn’t know if he’d move it—”

She looked at Bobbie. “But in the car, I managed to tell Bobbie that if I got the chance—I’d give her a signal—”

“You took longer than I thought,” Bobbie said with a weak smile to show she was only kidding. “But she distracted him—made him angry—”

“I was always good at that,” Elizabeth said. She closed her eyes. “Bobbie got herself away, then I got the gun. I shot him. I-I thought he was dead—but he was just pretending.”

“I got to the gun,” Carly said. She got to her feet, swaying slightly. Lucas put a hand on the small of her back to steady her. “And I shot him. And I kept shooting until he didn’t have a face anymore.”

Taggert winced. “Oh—well—yeah, that seems like a good plan. All right. All right. I need you to go to the station,” he told them.

“Do they have to?” Lucas asked. “They just—”

“I want to get it over with,” Elizabeth said wearily. “Can—you said Lulu was with Cameron? I just want to call her to check on him—but I don’t want to wait. Let’s get the statements done.”

“Agreed,” Carly said. “After tonight, I don’t ever want to think about Ric Lansing again.”

PCPD: Squad Room

Kelsey smiled wanly at Dante as he set a cup of water down in front of her. “I didn’t know you were working today.”

“I wasn’t,” Dante said, sitting down at his desk. “I’m not technically supposed to be back for a few more days, but Anna wanted me to have a heads up—and well, they’re busy today.”

He stared at the desk blotter for a minute. “I don’t know what to say to you,” he admitted. “How to process any of this.”

“Because your father killed mine?” Kelsey asked softly. “I’m not thinking about that, Dante.”

“Why not?” Dante looked at her, then grimaced. “Killer on one side, rapist on the other—” He sighed. “It’s not about me—”

“No, but I get it.” She swiped a tear from her eyes. “Ever since I found out my dad died in a mob hit—since I found out he’d spent most of his career working for a mobster—even on the legal side of things—it made me doubt him. And doubting him—I doubted myself. You know?” She sighed. “But today, I found out that maybe he wasn’t always a great man, at the end of the day, he was just trying to do right.”

She leaned forward. “My dad died because he wanted to make sure Sonny couldn’t hurt any other women like Karen Wexler. And I can let that be enough for me. Dante, he didn’t raise you. But even if he’d taught you to ride a bike and given you the sex talk—I still wouldn’t blame you. We are not our parents. We share DNA, but we are who we want to be.”

Kelsey smiled, a bit brighter now. “Thank you. By the way. For staying last year. I know how much you guys wanted to quit. But we stuck it out. And look what happened. The PCPD just solved a cold case they’d covered up. A cold case that I found, that Lucky convinced me to talk about—that Anna put her resources into, and your lieutenant got a confession. Look at what we’ve helped do in less than a year.”

“And now Ric Lansing is finally dead. My cousin is rotting in a prison.” Dante nodded. “Yeah, things are looking up.”

“Exactly. I’m going to call my mother to tell her—and then we are going to stop worrying about the past so much.” Kelsey picked up the phone, pressed a speed dial.

“Mom? Hey. So today, the PCPD arrested the man who killed Daddy.” Tears spilled down her cheeks again. “I know, Mom. They did it. They got Daddy justice. You’re safe. You don’t have to be scared anymore.”

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

“I thought we were allowed to leave after we gave our statement,” Carly said as Anna opened her door to usher her inside, followed by Jason and Elizabeth. “I just wanna go home. Why did my mother get to go—”

“Something else that happened today,” Taggert said, closing the door as he entered the room last. “Sonny came in for questioning on an unrelated case.”

Jason frowned, turning to look at him. “What?”

“Is he still here?” Carly asked. “I can’t—”

“He came without a lawyer,” Anna continued. “And refused to call one despite being offered the possibility twice.”

Jason exhaled slowly, then closed his eyes. “What was the case?” he asked, a bit pained. At his side, Elizabeth tensed. Was Jason about to be arrested? Oh, God, had Sonny turned on him—

“In 1994, a man was shot dead in his car,” Anna said. “His name was Oliver Joyce, and up until that night, he had been the business manager of the Paradise Lounge and a few other clubs.”

“Joyce—”

Jason’s eyes flew open as Elizabeth repeated the last name. “1994?”  he asked.

“Yeah, before you came along,” Taggert told him. “When I said it was unrelated—” He tipped his head, understanding exactly what Jason had thought. “I meant it. I’m telling you the outcome of my questioning because you’ll hear it on the news, and after the day Carly and Elizabeth just had—I figured a heads up was warranted.”

“Was he arrested?” Carly asked, faintly. “I don’t—I don’t understand—Joyce—isn’t that—”

“The ADA’s name?” Elizabeth finished.

“Kelsey’s father, yes,” Anna confirmed. She leaned against the desk. “During questioning, Sonny confessed to murdering Oliver Joyce because he’d threatened to turn him in for things that had happened at the Paradise.”

“He confessed—” Carly pressed a fist to her mouth. “Are you—What?” She looked at Jason whose distressed mirrored her own. “How—what—”

Elizabeth touched his arm and he looked down at her. “Call Justus,” she said softly. “Justus will make sure it’s okay.”

“Yeah.” Jason shook his head slightly. “Yeah, okay. Can I—can we call a lawyer for him now?”

“I would appreciate it,” Anna admitted. “While I’m confident that Taggert handled the interrogation fairly—it’s been recorded—I am aware of Sonny’s recent bipolar disorder diagnosis. I think it’s best if we make sure everyone is protected.”

“Okay. I’ll—I’ll get someone down here. But right now—” Jason took Elizabeth’s hand. “I want to take Elizabeth and Carly home.”

“We’ll be in touch,” Taggert said as they passed by him.

“Thank you for letting us know,” Elizabeth told him, flashing him one last tired smile as the trio left the office.

“Well,” Anna said to Taggert with a hesitant smile. “That’s a hell of a day—closed a cold murder and wrapped up the Lansing case. Good work today.”

“I thought I’d feel something more,” Taggert admitted. “When I finally took Sonny down—but you know—I mostly just feel sad. He looked tired, broken.”

“He’s human, after all.” Anna straightened and went behind the desk. “Just like the rest of us. The fact that you don’t feel like you won anything today, Marcus, it tells me you’re doing something right here. Sonny might be a murderer, a criminal, but he’s also a father, a husband, and a friend. Ric Lansing might be dead—” She nodded at the door. “Their statements are signed—but it doesn’t change anything. No one won anything today. They just finished it.”

She picked up her reading glasses, slipped them on. “Time to move on.”

Brownstone: Living Room

Carly was still somewhat numb when she arrived home at dusk. Her mother was waiting for her, sitting on the sofa, tapping her foot restlessly.

When Carly came in, Bobbie shot up. “Why did they keep you?” At her side, Lucas also stood. A year ago, she knew that her mother was on her side, but she hadn’t really realized how lucky she’d been that this woman had forgiven her.

Not only had Bobbie forgiven her—but she’d let Carly into her family, and somewhere along the way—Lucas had become her brother.

“Sonny was arrested,” Carly said after a long moment of silence. “He confessed to murdering a man ten years ago.”

“Oh my God—”

“I don’t know all of the details—I think—I think Jason is going to get them, but—” Carly took a breath. “I don’t want to talk about any of that right now. The boys—”

“With Felix at our place,” Lucas told her. “He said he’d keep Michael busy with video games when he got home from school. Carly—”

“I thought I’d feel like it was over,” she interrupted. “I killed him. I made it over. That was me—and I got to save Elizabeth for a change—but I just—there’s no magic fix, is there?” She looked at Bobbie. “It’s not over because he’s dead. I’m still here.”

“You’re still here,” Bobbie repeated. “And that’s all you need to remember. No matter what happens—you got through it.”

“I did.” Carly reached for Bobbie’s hand. “Because of you. And Jason and Elizabeth, of course. But you made me safe, Mama. Last year, I knew you’d never stop looking. That you wouldn’t stop until I was free.”

“I didn’t—”

“I’m not free yet.” Carly managed a smile. “But I’m going to be. And some day, it will be over.” She looked at Lucas. “But for now, I know I’m safe. I have my boys. And my family. That’s all I need tonight.”

Morgan Penthouse: Master Bedroom

“Did you thank Lulu for me again?” Elizabeth asked as Jason entered the room. She looked down at Cameron, lightly dozing in her arms as she gently rocked back and forth. “He looks perfect. Like nothing happened—”

“I did. She’s on her way to check on Dante. Because of Sonny,” he added when Elizabeth frowned at him.

“Are you okay with it?” she asked. “A lot—a lot happened today. You know? Not just Ric—but Sonny—do you think he really confessed?”

“He must have. I don’t understand, but I guess—” Jason shook his head. “I never even knew—I never asked anything about before I knew him. Not really.”

Elizabeth got to her feet, a bit unsteady. She set Cameron down in the bassinet and flashed Jason a smile. “You didn’t even check my pulse.”

He frowned at her, then with a start, realized she was right. “I didn’t—I didn’t think about it. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Kelly did say that a lot of the problems I was having was because I was pregnant—that I would feel a lot better when it was just me and the meds.” She wrapped her arm around his waist, leaned into his embrace as he put an arm around her shoulders. “I forgot, too,” Elizabeth admitted. “Strange. It took over so much of our life for so long, and I didn’t even remember.”

He dropped a kiss on the top of her forehead. “You were always stronger than you gave yourself credit for.”

“I know. I didn’t always,” she said, tipping her face up to his. He kissed her gently, lingering. “But I know it now. I’m sorry about, Sonny, Jason.”

“Me, too. Justus will take care of it,” Jason said. “And we’ll get through it.”

“Just like we always do. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

They stood there, together, watching their son breathe.

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