Here’s another pity there’s another chance
Try to learn a lesson but you can’t
If we can burn a city in futures and in past
Without a change our lives will never last
Cause we’re going fast
– Mona Lisa (When the World Comes Down), All-American Rejects

---

Thursday, November 6, 2003

General Hospital: Carly’s Room

Jason knocked lightly on Carly’s hospital room door the next morning, and she smiled at him, cradling her newborn son in her arms on the sofa. “Hey.”

“Hey. Am I interrupting anything?” he asked, wondering if she’d been about to feed him.

Carly shook her head. “No. I was just trying to move around a little bit, and laying in that bed gets old fast.” She gestured with her head for him to sit by her. “You haven’t been able to see Morgan much yet.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Jason said with a wince as he sat down and allowed Carly to set the baby in his arms. “It’s been—”

“Crazy,” Carly finished with a knowing nod. “Story of our lives, but it’s okay. Morgan knows his uncle Jason loves him. Or he will when I’m done brainwashing him.”

Jason smiled, and she was glad to see it even for a moment because his expression quickly returned to sober. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly. “With Ric jumping bail?”

“I’m trying to be,” she admitted. She rearranged her robe, pulling the ends around her more tightly. “It’s…it’s a lot to take in. I knew he was free, but with the ankle monitor, I could still feel like I was safe.”

She hesitated, then said, “Did Sonny tell you he wants me to move back in until Ric is found?”

“He did,” Jason said evenly. He met her eyes. “You know the security is good. We’ve upgraded it since…” His mouth tightened, and he looked down at the newborn in his arms. Morgan waved his fist, yawned, fluttered his eyelids, then settled back down into a doze.

“Since,” Carly finished. “I know. What kind of changes are you making for Elizabeth?” she asked. “I mean, I know you’re not taking chances with her since she’s pregnant.”

Jason didn’t answer her right away, then almost reluctantly, he said, “Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Carly repeated. She sat back a little, her eyes wide. “Nothing at all?”

“I don’t know that there’s anything I can do short of locking her in the penthouse that would make her safer,” Jason said carefully. “We talked about it, and she’s really—she’s doing a lot right now. She’s leading her group meetings, and she’s still doing therapy. She’s…” He cleared his throat. “She has a guard with her at all times, and I know her schedule. She calls me if it’s going to change. That’s enough for me.”

“It wouldn’t be enough for Sonny,” Carly muttered. “Or I don’t know. Maybe it would have once. You know, a year ago, with all that Alcazar stuff—and Brenda,” she muttered as an afterthought. “With all of that—he never tried to change how I was living my life.”

“That was before the panic room,” Jason told her. “Before he—”

“Before he hallucinated Lily, the last pregnant woman he couldn’t protect,” Carly said with a sigh. “Yeah, I know. Maybe Mama was right. He should have gotten help. I don’t know, Jase. Sonny and I took this weird turn, or we messed something up. We can’t seem to get on the same page anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“He was so angry that I wanted Ric to go to trial, to rot in prison. And he gave me this whole speech about I couldn’t get my way anymore. My way,” she repeated, almost derisively. “Like I wanted a vacation in Tahiti and not Barbados. Is that how it went when you and Elizabeth talked about it—”

“You can’t—it’s not the same—”

“Why not? I was locked in a panic room for a week in the dark, threatened with death every single day. Elizabeth was drugged and attacked—nearly died. We were both traumatized,” Carly pressed. “Why is it so hard to believe we both want the same thing? That testifying might help us get past it.”

“It’s not,” Jason admitted, then winced, realizing he’d ceded the point.

“What is different is how you and Sonny decided to react to it,” Carly insisted. “Did you argue with Elizabeth?”

“Carly—”

“Did you try to make her feel bad for wanting the trial? Did you berate her or tell her it made you weak to let Ric live?”

Jason stared at Morgan again, not wanting to look at Carly, into those hurt and confused eyes. “No,” he said finally. “I said okay.”

“You said okay,” Carly repeated softly. “How fast?”

“What do you mean?” he asked warily.

“Did you talk about it for a while, or did she say—this is what I need, and you said fine. Like it was a five-second decision for you, right?”

“Yes,” Jason admitted.

“Because what Elizabeth needs is important to you. It matters to you that she’s okay, that she can get past all of this—that’s the priority for you, isn’t it?”

This wasn’t helping Sonny’s case, but Jason wasn’t going to lie to his friend. Not about this. “Yes. It’s the only thing that mattered to me, but Carly, what Sonny went through—it was different—”

“Yeah, he had a breakdown. And I’m not blind to that. I get that he felt weaker because you and Elizabeth did most of the work, and Nikolas swooped in at the last minute with the panic room idea. Sonny fell apart, and I’m sorry for it, Jase, I am. And maybe I should…” She sighed, looked away. “Maybe I should just let it be that easy. I’m expecting him to put me first. Why shouldn’t he expect the same?”

“Carly, what works for me and Elizabeth—it’s not going to work for everyone. We’re different people,” Jason insisted. “It’s not that I love her more, or that Sonny loves you less. We just need different things. It’s up to you to decide if you can live with what Sonny needs.”

“I thought I knew,” she murmured. “I thought I was doing the right thing, but maybe it’s not any better than Courtney calling the PCPD instead of waiting for you and Sonny to figure things out, you know? If what I need makes Sonny weaker in the eyes of the people he needs to respect him—I don’t know, maybe there’s another way around it.” She looked at him. “I mean, it’s different now, isn’t it? Ric isn’t coming back from this alive.”

Jason hesitated. “I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it. I guess—” He shifted, uncomfortable. “I guess not. I mean, we could—we could try—” He pressed his lips together. “Elizabeth and I haven’t talked about it lately. Do you—” He looked at Carly. “Is that something you still want?”

“A trial?” Carly asked, surprised by the question. “Do I still want to testify and for him to die in a cell, rotting away until no one even remembers him? Yeah. That’s something I still want. I just—I’m not sure if it’s something I need anymore. Maybe Elizabeth feels the same. You know, we felt one way about it months ago. But she’s—she just dealt with her rapist. And she’s pregnant. Maybe she wants to put it behind her.”

“Maybe. I’ll talk to her. But Carly, if you—if you decide this is something you need—” He gently handed Morgan back to her. “Then I’ll try to make it happen. It’s important to me that you’re okay.”

“Okay is a strong word,” Carly said with a sigh. “But it’s a goal. Hey, Jase—before you go, can you be honest with me about something?”

“Always,” he said, rising to his feet.

“Will it be easier for you if I come back to the penthouse until Ric is found?” Carly asked, searching his eyes. “I mean, Sonny will be more focused and less agitated if I’m where he wants me. And—and that would make things better for you.”

“Yes,” Jason said after a long moment. “But that’s not what’s important to me. I care about you—and the boys. Do what’s better for you. I can take care of myself.”

“I know. I just—I’m thinking about all of us. It’s something I’m trying out,” Carly said with a hesitant smile. “I’m not good at it, so be patient.”

He laughed and kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you later.”

General Hospital: Meeting Room

“Thank you,” Elizabeth said, looking at the four women in the room with her. “For doing this today. I know—I know it was hard.”

“Not as hard as I thought it’d be,” Dana Watson murmured. She toyed with the ends of her short, red hair—cut and dyed in the months since she’d been raped and beaten in the Port Charles Park. She wasn’t the only woman in the room who’d shed the long brunette hair that had served as a trigger for Vinnie Esposito to target them—to follow them.

Veronica Logan’s hair was also short and dyed black. Next to her, Wendy Morris’s hair was a white-blonde, worn in a pixie style. Other than Elizabeth, only Renee Norton had kept her hair color.

“It’s stupid,” Wendy muttered, folding her cardigan sweater around herself. “Ever since the papers published the kind of girls he was looking for, I stopped going to the movies.” She glanced at Elizabeth, then down at her nails, bitten down to the quick. “I’ve never gone back to the park. Not in all these months. I couldn’t go on the Fourth of July.”

“It took me almost a year,” Veronica said softly. She looked at Elizabeth. They were the bookends of the original attacks — Elizabeth had been attacked Valentine’s Day 1998, and Veronica had been Vinnie’s final victim in the first round, attacked in January 2000 because Vinnie had been one of the responding officers to the bomb in Elizabeth’s studio that New Year’s.

“It’s not your fault,” Veronica continued. “I—I read what the papers said. About him trying to replicate the first attack. That—that we were hurt worse because we weren’t you.”

Elizabeth’s stomach swirled as she took a deep breath. “Yeah, well, it was hard at first not to blame myself.”

“I blamed you,” Wendy said bluntly. “But—” she swallowed hard. “But I don’t now.” She bit down hard on her lip. “Mostly. I know it’s stupid—”

“It’s not,” Dana said with a shake of her head. “I—I read that it’s normal, you know, for you to blame things like that. I—I was really pissed at my best friend because she flaked on the movies at the last minute, so I was alone. I couldn’t talk to her for weeks. I kept thinking—if she’d just come with me, I might have had a ride home.”

“I blamed myself for lying,” Elizabeth said. “If I hadn’t lied about having a date, I wouldn’t have been in the park. I—I hated myself a long time for that. Sometimes I still do. It’s okay if you blame me. I keep thinking—” She took a deep breath. “I served him coffee after that. All the time. He—he was one of my regulars. He was a good tipper—” Her voice broke. “But I forgot that. You know—I didn’t remember that he’d taken my statement at a shooting, or that I’d seen him a thousand times in town. He just—”

“He blended,” Wendy said. “I mean, he interviewed us after—how fucking disgusting is that?”

“That might be the worst part,” Veronica admitted. “He investigated the cases this time. How—how do I trust the police again?”

“I can’t,” Renee murmured. The youngest of them, barely seventeen, no older than Elizabeth had been the night her world had been shattered. “I won’t ever trust them again.”

“Maybe not,” Elizabeth said. “I trusted a few of the cops so much that I assumed that one of them had sent Vinnie to question me that day. I live in a secure building, and I let him in. After all of that.”

“I’m sleeping better,” Renee volunteered with a half-smile. “Since—since he was arrested, and they told me you bashed in his head with a bat.”

“I didn’t—” Elizabeth managed a smile of her own. “I actually hit him in the knees. My boyfriend—he gave me the bat to protect myself last year. He told me that I’m not tall enough to take someone down by swinging at their head. I might just make them angry. So I should go for the knees and run. He hit the edge of my bed on the way down.”

“I like that better,” Wendy said, swiping at her eyes. “I like that he suffered even more.”

“Me, too,” Veronica admitted. She looked at Wendy and Renee. “What happened to you—it’s fresher for you. And you,” she added to Elizabeth, who shook her head. “I don’t know if it will help you to imagine that it will get better.”

“When the last girl—when Brooke Lynn Ashton died, my mom got scared I might try it, too,” Renee told them. “She slept on my floor for two weeks. It helped.”

“I thought about it, too,” Dana said. “I just—I didn’t.”

“I’m so glad that you didn’t,” Elizabeth told her. “Thank you. Even if you don’t come back, thank you for coming today. For sharing your stories.” When the session had opened, each of them had recounted their experience—and it had helped to hear all the ways it had been the same.

“Thank you for organizing it,” Veronica told her. “It—it really helped. I mean, I used to come to survivor meetings, and it helped to know I wasn’t alone. But when I found out—” She sighed.

“I used to feel that way, too,” Elizabeth admitted as she got to her feet. “But then I found out I was the first of…” So many. Seven women Port Charles, and three more in Buffalo that were still being investigated. How many more had never reported? “It made me sick to know I wasn’t alone anymore.”

“I’ll see you next week,” Renee told her shyly as the last of the women to leave the room. “You—you were really my age when it happened?”

“Yeah. I’d just turned sixteen a few months earlier,” Elizabeth said.

“And now you’re okay.” Renee took a deep breath. “You—you’re happy, right? I mean, you have a boyfriend. And I-I read somewhere that you’re having a baby.”

“Yes.” Elizabeth smiled, touching her belly. “Fifteen weeks, so I’m not showing just yet.”

“So you could—you like…” Renee’s cheeks were beet red as she struggled to get out of the words. “You…could, like, do it. I mean—have—”

“It took a while,” Elizabeth told her gently. “But I was able to fall in love and trust someone with not only my heart but my body. I used to be so scared that I could never let someone touch me. But time and patience, and the love of my first boyfriend—I got through it.” She squeezed Renee’s hand. “I hope it will be the same for you.”

She walked out of the room with Renee and smiled when she saw Gail Baldwin, her therapist, and the reason she was leading these meetings, waiting for her. “I’ll see you next week, Renee.”

“Bye.”

“How did it go?” Gail asked as she and Elizabeth walked towards her office. “I know you were nervous.”

“Good,” Elizabeth answered. “Better than I expected. Um, I don’t know if they’ll all come back, but I’m glad they came once. Thanks for helping me set it up. I wasn’t sure if—” She shrugged as they paused at the doorway to Gail’s office. “I wasn’t sure if it would work, but it did.”

“You have an instinct for this,” Gail told her. “That’s one of the reasons I stopped by. I wanted to talk to you about the possibility of you doing this more formally.”

“Formally?” Elizabeth raised her brows. “Like a job? Gail, I’m not qualified—”

“Not at the moment. But you could be. You have your BA, don’t you?”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “For all the good it does me. Art History isn’t much of a field—”

“You just need a BA to qualify for graduate school. I have some friends at PCU. With a master’s degree in counseling, you could do more of this.”

Elizabeth hesitated, then tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “You think?” she asked, almost skeptically.

“Yes. I do. But it has to be something you want.”

“I—” Elizabeth thought about it for a long moment. “Would I have to specialize in rape counseling? I mean—I can do that. I think it would be okay—”

“You don’t have to. There’s domestic violence, unfortunately. Marriage counseling, addictions—” Gail lifted a shoulder. “There’s a large field to choose from, and you’d make that choice later. I’ve just—I’ve been so proud of you these last few months. Rising up from what you’ve been through, reaching out to help others—you have a gift for this, Elizabeth.”

“I’d have to think about it a little more,” Elizabeth said. “I—I—with the baby and everything—”

“Of course.” Gail smiled at her. “Just let me know. I could make some calls and have you admitted for the fall at PCU. But you and the baby come first. Let me know if you need anything.” Gail paused. “How are you doing…otherwise? Scott told me about Ric Lansing. And, of course, I saw the news.”

“I’m okay. I mean…” Elizabeth paused. “I’m okay,” she repeated. “I’m trying not to think about it if I don’t have to. Jason and I talked about it last night, and I think I’ll be fine. But thanks for checking.”

“You call me any time,” Gail told her. She kissed Elizabeth’s cheek. “Just because we’ve finished formal therapy, it doesn’t mean I don’t still worry.”

Elizabeth squeezed her hand. “Thanks, Gail. I appreciate everything.”

Kelly’s: Diner

Kelsey Joyce shifted nervously as she pushed her lunch around her plate. “We should wait a few more days,” she told Lucky Spencer. “I mean, until your mother has settled in.”

Lucky’s best friends, and fellow rookies at the Port Charles Police Department, Cruz Rodriguez and Dante Falconieri, snickered. Lucky sighed and slid over a five to each of them. Kelsey narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“I just lost a bet,” Lucky admitted. “These idiots—” he jerked a thumb at the others. “Said you would try to get out of meeting my parents, and I figured you were braver than that.” He shrugged.

Kelsey narrowed her eyes, first at her boyfriend of four months before turning her glare on his friends—“Oh, I see how it is.”

“Face it, Kelse,” Cruz said with a shrug. He took a bite out of his burger. “We know you. You’re a wuss.”

“A wuss?” She flicked him hard in the shoulder. “Take it back.”

“Not that kind of wuss,” Dante clarified. “I mean, I’d go through a door with you if I needed to—better you than Beaudry.” Sergeant Ryan Beaudry was the training officer who was supposed to be shepherding the trio through their first year on the force and in Major Crimes, but Beaudry liked to spend most of his shift in his car.

“Just that you like to avoid uncomfortable conversations,” Cruz finished. “And meeting the parents—uncomfortable.”

Kelsey scowled, then sat back, and looked at Lucky. “And you actually bet them?”

“In my defense,” Lucky said, “I bet on you, so I’m the one that got screwed here.” He flashed her a grin, and she wrinkled her nose.

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” she muttered. “Fine. Okay. Yes. I am nervous about meeting Luke and Laura Spencer. Do you know who your parents are?”

“Uh…” He pretended to think it over, and she whacked him in the arm.

“I mean, your parents literally saved the world. And—” Kelsey shifted, uncomfortable. “They…really liked Elizabeth.”

“Oh.” Cruz blinked at Lucky. “Yeah? They were into your last girlfriend?”

Lucky hesitated. “Yes. And—well, they still think of her as part of the family,” he admitted. “Mom wanted to invite her to dinner that night, too—”

“See? They’re not going to like me—”

“Hey—” Lucky reached across the table and took her hand in his. “There were times my parents liked Elizabeth more than me—”

“Ugh—” Kelsey groaned. She shoved her salad away and put her head on the table.

“You are terrible at this,” Dante told Lucky.

“No, no, I mean—they like her for reasons that have nothing to do with the fact I almost married her. It’s—they got really close because of her—” Lucky winced. “Because of the…Dad was here that night when I brought her back. And she and my mom were, like, working through it together because of what happened to my mom. I mean, they like Elizabeth on her own.”

“Plus, there was that whole year you were dead,” Cruz reminded him.

“Exactly. Elizabeth—she’s just special to them. But that’s because my parents know how to make room for people,” Lucky said. He hesitated. “Well, my mom does. Dad takes some time, but only if you’re a Cassadine, and you’re not a Cassadine—”

“She is basically a Baldwin, though,” Dante said.

“The two of you are a giant pain in my ass,” Lucky snarled at the both of them. “Could you try not to enjoy this so much?”

“Then stop making it so entertaining,” Cruz tossed back.

Lucky glared at them, then turned back to his girlfriend. “Kelsey.”

“What?” she said, her voice muffled since she didn’t raise her head.

“My mother would like anyone I dated. I promise you on that. But she’s going to love you.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know my mother. Plus, Mom probably knew your dad. You said Scott and your dad went to law school together, right?”

“Right?” Kelsey raised her head, then sighed. “Right. That’s when she was married to Scott. So—”

“So, I don’t think my mother has ever disliked anyone. Except Helena Cassadine. You’re in the clear. And my father likes almost anyone my mother tells him to. Except Nikolas. But that’s a whole other problem.”

“I’m being stupid. I know I’m being stupid,” Kelsey told him, “so don’t agree with me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Fine. I’ll have dinner with your parents the night your mom comes back.” She looked at Dante and Cruz. “He gets his money back.”

General Hospital: Carly’s Room

Carly still wasn’t sure that she was making the best choice, but when both Sonny and Bobbie came to the hospital at her discharge time, she knew it was the right choice at the moment.

“Only until Ric is found,” she cautioned Sonny as she handed Morgan to him to strap the baby into a carrier. She looked over at Bobbie, who had said nothing since Carly’s announcement. “After that, I have to think about it.”

“Right.” Sonny nodded. “Thank you for this,” he told her. He finished fastening the carrier and turned to Carly, took her hands in his. “I mean it. I—I heard what you said yesterday. What you said a few months ago. I’m trying.”

“I know. And I listened to you. We’ll—we’ll figure this out.” She smiled faintly at him. “Can you do me a favor? Go find Dr. Meadows and make sure everything is signed so we can go.”

“Sure, sure. And I’ll call Leticia to let her know to pack up.”

When Sonny had left the room, Carly turned to her mother. “I know what you’re thinking.”

“I’m not thinking anything,” Bobbie said. She sniffed and started to make the bed. “You’re an adult. You can make your own choices.”

“Jason came by earlier—”

“Oh, don’t tell me he talked you into this? I expected better from him—”

“No, no—” Carly held up her hands. “No,” she repeated. “But I also—one of the things that’s helped me get through all of this is to remember I’m not alone. That Elizabeth went through some of this, too. And—I know she and Jason aren’t talking about it, but the physical problems still aren’t over for her.”

Bobbie hesitated, then nodded. “They’re not. She’s doing well right now. But it’s early in the pregnancy, and that could change. She could deliver normally or have any number of complications because of her medical history.”

“Exactly. I can’t do anything about that. I couldn’t stop him from drugging her. And she worked so hard to find me, to make sure Jason could find me. If she’d left him that first night—Ric might have killed me.”

Carly took a deep breath as her mother’s face paled. “I’m not stupid, Mama. Ric was obsessed with Elizabeth and hated Sonny. He wanted to give my baby to her. If Elizabeth had left him, I wouldn’t have had any value for him. I’m alive today, in part, because of that choice. And she almost died because she stayed. I owe her something for that.”

“She would be the first to tell you that you don’t—”

“But it helps me to see it that way,” Carly insisted. “I’m—I’m selfish. You know that. I am terrible at thinking about other people, and when I try to put them first, I just do what I think they should want. It’s always about me. All the time.”

“Carly…” Bobbie sighed, tilted her head. “You’re not…entirely wrong. But Sonny isn’t much different. You’re giving him what he wants—”

“But I’m not going back for him. Not entirely. That’s only part of it. I’m doing it for Jason and Elizabeth. I watched them every day, Mama, on those little monitors. I watched them search. I saw them put in cameras. They tried so hard to find me.”

“I know they did, and I’m grateful—”

“If I’m at the Brownstone, Sonny might be unfocused. He might be distracted. He’ll be wondering about me, checking on me, and even—maybe—irritating me to the point I want to slap him,” Carly continued. “How much energy do you think he’ll put into the job? Into finding Ric?”

“Very little,” Bobbie admitted.

“The same thing that happened when I was kidnapped. I’m not doing it again. I couldn’t stop it before—I couldn’t help. I can now. And it will be better for Jason if he’s not worrying about me, Sonny, and Elizabeth. He can just worry about his family. The family he’s creating. He deserves to be a father. To have a child no one can take from him.”

“He does.” Bobbie sighed, nodded. “All right. If you think this will help in the long run, I’ll support you. I just—I just want you to be happy.”

“I have my boys, I have my family, my club—” Carly took a deep breath. “And once Ric is out of my life for good, we’ll work on happy.”

Gatehouse: Living Room

Lois Cerullo took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold of the house that sat near the entrance to the Quartermaine estate. She’d lived here with Ned as a new wife, trying hard to make their marriage work—

And she’d stayed here briefly last summer. She hadn’t been back since the day Brooke died. Since her baby had left this world.

“Lois. You—” Ned looked at her, then closed the door. “I told you. We could have met in town. At the hotel—”

“We could have,” Lois said. She turned to him, lifted her chin. “But I needed to remember this is just a place. You—you were able to stay.”

“For now,” Ned admitted. “I thought I might move closer to downtown.” He folded his arms. “At least while I’m in office. Maybe getting a condo or something. I—I didn’t think you were coming up this week.”

“I’m not just here for a visit,” Lois told him. “I—I tried to go back to Bensonhurst after—” She looked away from the mantel, from the collection of photos of Brooke and Kristina. “After we found out.” She hesitated. “It always felt like a safe place before, you know? I went there when we got divorced, and after Brooke—” She closed her eyes. “After.”

“But now?” Ned asked.

“Now, I can’t move an inch without seeing Vinnie. He grew up on those streets, Ned. I knew him, you know? I was—I babysat him. I see him on the corners, on the porches—” She sighed. “And Ma isn’t doing much better with it all. The Falconieries—especially his mom and grandmother—they’re saying he was framed. Tricked into it.”

Ned clenched his jaw. “They’re wrong.”

“I know it. They think he’s being scapegoated, that the DNA results are fake—Frannie wants him to withdraw his guilty plea—” Lois’s voice faltered slightly, but she got past it. “I just—I can’t be there anymore.”

“I’m sorry, Lois.” He took her in his arms, wrapped her in a hug. She let him soothe her—it was easier now to let him comfort her. Now that she knew who had stolen their daughter away from them.

“I thought I’d hate Port Charles forever,” Lois said. She drew back slightly. “But—it’s not the same. It was terrible what happened, but it’s also—it’s where he got caught. It’s where he’ll be sentenced. No one around here thinks it’s a lie.”

“You should stay a while,” Ned told her. He stepped back from her, rubbing his hands down her arms, to her elbows, then up again to her shoulders. “You know Grandfather will let you have the owner’s suite at the hotel, or Grandmother would love to have you in the house.”

“Maybe. But I was thinking bigger than that. I, um, you ran for this job to do better, you know? To get rid of Floyd and help people. Like those other poor girls. I want—I want to be part of it.”

“Yeah?” Ned searched her eyes, then nodded. “Yeah, that’d be good. I think—you know, Alexis is going to be the City Attorney. And Jax is taking a sabbatical to be my Chief of Staff. I need people I can trust around me. People who won’t let me get away with—” He managed a smile. “With being me.”

Lois laughed, then bowed her head slightly. “Yeah, you need people who will speak truth to power. Jax and Alexis are good at that. I could—I was good at it once. For a while.”

“No one better. Be my Media Director,” he offered. “Or Communications. Or something. Be in charge of the message. Keep me honest. I—I started this because I needed to think about someone other than Brooke. I needed to make sure someone paid. That it could never happen again.”

“And I want to help,” Lois told him. “So, wherever I fit, I wanna do it. For Brooke.”

“For Brooke.”

Ward Home: Front Porch

“I can’t wait to meet Justus’s daughter,” Elizabeth told Jason as they stepped up to the front door. He took the bottle of wine from her and smiled. “Every time he comes over, he has a new picture of her. She’s adorable.”

Jason knocked on the door, then waited. “Thanks for coming with me,” he told her. “I don’t always make a good first impression.”

“You? No,” Elizabeth teased. “I can’t believe it.”

Justus pulled open the front door, grinning at them both. “Hey! Come on in! It’s still chaos here because the movers didn’t…uh…take us seriously when we labeled boxes.” He ushered them into a foyer, closing the door behind them. “Mikki! Jason and Elizabeth are here!”

He shoved a stack aside as they walked through the living room into a dining room where a tall, pretty woman was sorting through a stack of dishes. Her curly black hair was swept into a top loose knot on her head, tendrils falling around her face. “Oh—I am a mess.” She turned to them. “Hey. I’m Tamika. Thanks for coming by.”

Jason handed Justus the bottle of wine. “Thanks for moving up here,” he told her. “Justus is the best lawyer we’ve ever had.”

“We like him, too.” She tapped her cheek, and Justus kissed it. “How about you open that up, let it breathe? We can have a glass and toast our first night in the land of boxes?”

“You want some?” Justus asked them. “Elizabeth, I know you can’t—”

“Oh!” Tamika clapped her hands together. “Oh, I forgot all about it! You’re pregnant. Of course not! Justus, go put the wine away and get some of my mama’s sweet tea for us.” She reached out for Elizabeth’s hands. “How are you feeling? How many weeks?”

“Fifteen,” Elizabeth said with a bright smile. Talking about the baby was her favorite thing in the world. “I’m feeling mostly okay. Tired a lot, but that’s normal.”

“Get your sleep in now because it will be your last chance before—”

“Mama, Mama!” They heard footsteps clattering down the backstairs before a miniature version of Tamika appeared in the doorway, dressed in a pair of denim overalls and a pink shirt. “Mama!”

“Kimi, we have guests.” Tamika raised her brows. “Is that how we act with company?”

The little girl pursed her lips, sighed, then looked at Jason and Elizabeth. “Sorry. Kimi. Nice to see you.” She flicked her eyes to her father. “Daddy, my dollhouse is all in pieces.”

“I told you, baby, that’s how we moved it from Philly.” Justus knelt down to sweep her into his arms. “Kimi, this is Daddy’s cousin, Jason, and his—” He hesitated. “Girlfriend, Elizabeth. This is Kimi.”

“Kimani,” Kimi corrected with a sniff. “I let them call me Kimi.”

“Well, aren’t we lucky?” Tamika drawled.

“Cousin,” Kimi repeated. “Like Jeremiah and Haven? Because cousins mean presents.” She fluttered her lashes. “I like presents.”

“Lord, save me,” Tamika muttered. She plucked Kimi from Justus’s hands. “Elizabeth, you wanna come upstairs with me? We can put Miss Kimani’s dollhouse together while the boys talk shop.” She grinned at her husband. “Look at me. Being all helpful and not even waiting to be kicked out.”

“Uh huh.” Justus kissed her again. “We’ll be quick.”

“I’ll bet.” She looked at Elizabeth. “Come on. I’ll show you around the house.”

While Elizabeth and Tamika went upstairs, Justus motioned for Jason to follow him into a room off the living room—his office, judging by the desk and chair surrounded by boxes. “Sorry about Kimi. She thinks family equals gifts, and with Christmas next month—”

“Michael’s the same way,” Jason said easily. “He’s already working on his list. And you’re right. We’re cousins. I’m—” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m working on being more okay with that than I was before.”

“The Quartermaines take a lot to get used to,” Justus agreed. “We don’t really have much to talk about, though. I made some calls to my contacts in the State Department. The FBI is agreeing to help track Ric, but they don’t have any leads yet.”

“Yeah, I figured. Bernie’s been talking to our guys in South America. But nothing.” Jason exhaled with a frustrated air. “It’s like he vanished into thin air. I don’t like it.”

“Me, either.” Justus folded his arms. “But he’ll turn up sooner or later. No one can hide forever. And if he does mean to be gone forever, well—” He lifted his brows. “Would that be so bad?”

“No, but—” Jason paused. “I made Carly and Elizabeth a promise,” he told Justus. “They wanted Ric to go to trial, so they could testify against him—to his face,” he clarified. “And then they wanted him to rot in prison.”

“Ah.” Justus heard the words Jason hadn’t said. “Well, then, it’s gonna harder to keep that promise if we can’t find him.”

Jason nodded. “I know. But—” He remembered Carly’s face that morning, the way Elizabeth had looked the day he’d promised her. “I need to do whatever I can to try.”

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