How did we get here?
When I used to know you so well?
Yeah, how did we get here?
Well, I think I know
Do you see what we’ve done?
We’re gonna make such fools of ourselves
Do you see what we’ve done?
We’re gonna make such fools of ourselves
– Decode, Paramore

---

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

General Hospital: ICU

“You know, there’s no law that says someone has to be here every single minute,” Elizabeth said, watching curiously as Jason came in, followed by her grandmother. “And there’s no reason both of you—”

“Hush, sweetheart, and don’t argue about being the center of attention,” Audrey said. She leaned over and kissed her granddaughter’s forehead before settling into one of the chairs by the bed. Jason went towards the window to make sure the shades were drawn, and no extra light was leaking into the room. “There was a time when you would have relished all this extra attention.”

“Yeah, when I was fifteen—” Elizabeth sighed, leaning back against the pillows. “But the boys—”

“Cameron is in school, and Bobbie’s looking after Jake for a few hours. I’m going to the house to collect a few more things they’ll need or want. To pack some clothes for you.”

“Mmm, did anyone check on the luggage from the plane?” Elizabeth rubbed her temple. “They said it might be up to ten days—”

“I’ll call the airline later,” Jason promised. “We’ll—I promise, we’ll reschedule the trip.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” She closed her eyes. “You both look so serious, so I’m guessing there’s a reason you’re both here at the same time. And I’m sure it’s not to discuss packing.”

“Well, no. I spoke with Jason yesterday, and we both agreed that—” Audrey paused, and Elizabeth opened her eyes, focused on her grandmother. “We agreed that I ought to tell you a bit more about what happened when Lucky left on Sunday.”

“There’s something worse than just leaving without saying telling me?” Elizabeth asked. She fumbled for the bed controls, raised herself slightly, wincing at the pressure on her sutures. “Did he say something to the boys?”

“No. No. He never saw them. He came over a bit early, before they’d come down. He’d brought the bags you’d packed the day before—I don’t think he’d even opened them,” Audrey said, and the bitterness in her tone and the pinched expression on her face startled Elizabeth. “He simply dropped the bags on the floor and said he was leaving.”

She closed her eyes. “He told me about the whole thing the same way. Like it was already done, and there was nothing I could say. I would have warned you, Gram, but it wasn’t—it wasn’t supposed to happen. Lucky was always supposed to go weeks from now, to follow with Laura.” She rubbed her temple again.

“Are you in pain? Should I go get a doctor?”

“My head,” Elizabeth murmured. She closed her eyes, continued to talk. “Gram, I’m sorry—”

“Darling, Cameron was on the stairs when we argued. He heard some of it, and he saw Lucky leave.”

Her eyes flew open, and Elizabeth jerked up, gasping. Jason reached for the call button, and Audrey took the bed controls, lowered her back down. “What do you mean he saw Lucky?”

“He asked if his Daddy was going away,” Audrey said. “Don’t upset yourself. Oh, I shouldn’t have said anything—”

“No, no, it’s—” Elizabeth swallowed hard, took another deep breath. “It’s my fault. I didn’t mean to react that way. I just—Cameron saw him? What did Lucky say? What did he hear?”

“I don’t know how long he stood there. He can move so quietly when he wants to—but if he was there for any length of time, I’m sure he heard the yelling. I don’t know what he’d understand, but he knew enough that Lucky was leaving. That he was going away. Oh, I’m sorry—”

Patrick appeared in the doorway, breathing hard. “They paged me. What’s wrong? Did her sutures open up?”

“I don’t—I moved too fast—” Elizabeth closed her eyes. “And my head is killing me. Don’t blame them,” she added quickly when Patrick opened his mouth. “I had to—there was something I needed to know about Cameron.”

“Is he okay—” Patrick rolled up the hospital gown to take a closer look at the sutures, grimacing. “Okay, you tore some open—”

“Oh—” Audrey clasped her hands together. “I’m so sorry—”

“I’m the one who told you to tell her. We should have waited,” Jason said, “but I just—”

“No, he’s my son. I have to know—” Elizabeth looked at Patrick, scribbling at her chart. “He saw Lucky at my grandmother’s. He saw him leaving. And Gram says he overheard the argument.”

Patrick’s expression eased. “Is he okay? Cameron?”

“Yeah—”

“Fine. I’ll grant that it couldn’t have waited. But from now on, no more news until the sutures heal. I’ll go get the supplies, restitch, and do a round of pain meds to take the edge off.”

“Patrick, any intern can do this—”

“You think I’m trusting my best nurse to those hacks?” Patrick snorted, scribbling something in the chart. “I’ll take care of it. You rest. I mean it this time.” He looked at Jason and Audrey. “And you should clear out. She’ll feel obligated to be awake, to talk if she has visitors.”

Jason clenched his jaw, but Elizabeth reached out for his hand, squeezed. “Go. You probably have a thousand things that are piling up. And spend time with Jake,” she suggested. “That would make me really happy.”

“All right,” he said, though grudgingly. He leaned down, brushed his lips against her forehead. “Rest. I’ll come by with some dinner.”

“Sounds great.”

When they’d both left, Patrick went to get suture supplies. When he returned, he administered the first dose of pain medication. While she waited for it to kick in, Elizabeth opened her eyes to watch him work. “Don’t be mad at them.”

“I’m not,” Patrick muttered, squinting down at the suture site. “I’m mad at Lucky Spencer, the aggravating jackass who started all of this by abandoning his kids. And it doesn’t matter if they’re not biologically his. Especially not with Cameron.”

“All I can hope is that Cam won’t remember this,” Elizabeth murmured. “Do you remember anything from the year you were four?”

“I—” Patrick paused, considering the question. “A day at the beach. Maybe only because I have pictures of it, you know? I don’t know if I remember it or if my mother told me the story enough that I created a memory. Either way, it’s in there.”

“Is it a good one?”

“Yeah. Yeah. It’s—she’s smiling. And so is my dad. And I’m laughing.” Patrick looked at her. “But that’s it, that’s all I’ve got from year four. Cameron might have flashes, maybe he’ll remember Lucky, maybe he won’t. But you’ll spend the rest of his year four surrounding him with love, and you keep doing that, and one day isn’t going to matter in the long run.”

“You’re going to make such a great dad, you know that?” She closed her eyes, already beginning to float away. “Your baby is lucky to have you.”

“Yeah, we’ll see. Now be quiet and let me work.”

Coffee House: Office

After leaving the hospital, Jason had wanted to go directly to Carly’s where Bobbie was babysitting Jake, but he also knew he did have a few things to deal with, and wouldn’t it be better if he cleared all of that out of the way so nothing intruded on his time with Jake?

Though now that he was sitting in the office, grimacing at contracts Diane had left for him, it now seemed like a terrible idea.

“You got a minute?” Francis knocked on the open door. “Cody said you were here, and I figure I’d catch you while I could.”

Jason set the paperwork aside, gestured for him to come in. Francis closed the door behind him. “Cody said things were good—”

“Yeah, yeah, and I’m not judging you. You’ve been at the hospital, which is exactly where you should be. Can I just say on behalf of everyone else who already knew the truth, I am very grateful we’re done pretending Jake Webber isn’t your kid.”

Jason frowned, got to his feet, and approached the other man. “What does that mean? When did you—”

“I started working for Sonny before you did, Jason.” Francis shoved his hands in his pockets. “Did he ever tell you I was Elizabeth’s first guard? Back when you left. Sorel went after her at Kelly’s, so—”

“No. He never said—”

“Because you almost never called in those first few months. Sonny handled it, and she was fine. I was around for a few weeks until Sorel realized you really weren’t coming back, and Elizabeth fell off the radar. For a little while. Jason, you had guards on those kids for the last six months. You’re going to tell me you never thought anyone was going to have questions? Especially after the trial.”

“I—” Jason sighed. He leaned back against the desk. “Maybe I wanted to believe I could still protect them from all of this. But you’re right. There were enough breadcrumbs that anyone could have found out. Is that what you wanted to say?”

“Partly. Max has been keeping us in the loop as to Sonny’s whereabouts. He mostly bounces between Greystone and the hospital. The cousin still isn’t letting him in the room, but Spinelli’s been keeping tabs on the case through Maxie. He said Sonny tried to get some info through Maxie directly, but Jax cut it off.  Spinelli knows to let us know if Kate’s condition changed for the worse, so we’d be able to do damage control before Sonny got wind of it.”

Jason had barely thought about Kate the last few days and winced at that. “She’s still unconscious?”

“Been in and out, but nothing long-term, Spinelli says. She had to go in for more surgery, but they’re thinking sometime today or tomorrow. All signs still look good. Sonny’s been better since we got Spinelli all set up as the intermediary.”

“Good. Good. What about the shooting?”

Francis shook his head. “Nothing’s moved on our end or through the PCPD, as far as we can tell. Russian gun, Russian ammunition, but Karpov is still working with Rochester. I put some feelers out to his lawyer, maybe suggesting that we could do something behind your back, but she wasn’t interested. We had our chance, she said, and Karpov has found a more willing partner.”

“I don’t like the way that sounds,” Jason muttered.

“Neither did Cody or me, but other than the shooting? We’ve got nothing to work with. The only possibility is Anthony Zacchara hiring someone, but if he did that, there’s no hint of that anywhere.”

“And I’m not accusing that lunatic without some proof. He might be in a wheelchair, but that doesn’t mean he can’t get things done if he wanted to.” Jason nodded, folded his arms. “But other than that, everything is quiet?”

“Business as usual. Bound to be quieter with half our clients going elsewhere for their needs.” Francis paused. “You’re serious about shutting this down?”

“I can’t ever get out. Not all the way. There are pockets of the business I can’t reroute,” Jason admitted. “And I figure it’s better me than someone else. But yeah, the shipping routes that everyone has been trying to get for ten years? I’m not going to miss those. In another month or two, they’ll be permanently gone, and someone in Rochester can put a target on their back. But it’s not going to be me.”

“And you’re not worried that Sonny might find out and think it’s up to him to change it? Wouldn’t be the first time you tried to get out and he pulled you back in—”

“Sonny can do whatever he wants. But by the time he figures it out, it’ll be too late to get it back without using force.” Jason went back around the desk. “I’m not who I was a decade ago. I guess we’ll find out what kind of man Sonny wants to be. He said he wanted out. All I did was make sure it was permanent.”

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

“We’re on day four of this investigation and Scott Baldwin is still on this college trip in California?” Harper shook his head and took a seat in front of Mac’s desk. He flipped through his notebook. “What did you have to sacrifice to the gods for that?”

“I have no reason to call him,” Mac said. Harper lifted his brows. “He’s a special prosecutor, and we don’t have a reason to be in contact with the district attorney’s office yet. After the way Baldwin butchered the Hayes case, they’re not letting him near this case.”

“He’ll just make a call to Floyd, and we’ll be stuck with him,” Harper muttered. “You know they’re not going to let the DA’s office have another crack at any case dealing with Corinthos and Morgan. Not after Jason Morgan walked on two murder cases in four years, and Corinthos somehow never ends up committing a crime in just the right way for charges. I mean, he shot his wife in the head for Christ’s sake.”

“Yeah, I fully expect the DA to hand it over to Baldwin, but unless you’ve worked some magic of your own—” Mac gestured at Harper’s notebook. “I don’t think we’ve got a reason to worry.”

“No, you’re not wrong there.” Harper sighed, glanced down. “No witnesses remember anyone up in the vestibule, which makes sense. Shooter probably blended in with the wedding guests fleeing for their damn lives—” He made a face. “We don’t have any open cases that match the gun we found which is good and bad news.”

“What about Sonny? What’s he been up to?”

“After that first night when he went after Johnny Zacchara, not much. Our guys have him going down to Crimson Pointe a few days ago, but nothing reported from that. He went in, came back out. He’s gone out to Carly Jacks, probably to see the kid he’s got left, and he’s been to the hospital. And home,” Harper added. He flipped the notebook closed. “As for Johnny Zacchara, he was in Port Charles that first day, went home, and he came yesterday, I figure because Lulu Spencer was transferred.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I know about that.” He rubbed his forehead. “What about Jason? I know he was at the hospital, but—”

“That’s pretty much it. Hospital to the Towers, and back again. I don’t have today’s report yet, so we’ll see how that goes, but he’s been sticking close to Elizabeth. That’s a hell of a thing, isn’t it?”

“Always figured it was coming sooner or later. So no signs of retaliation? Maybe we’re going about this wrong. Maybe it’s not connected to the groom, but to the bride. What’s Kate’s background?”

“I’ll start digging into that, but I gotta say I don’t think Kate Howard’s going to have the kind of enemies that shoot you in the back. Stab, maybe. Metaphorically speaking,” Harper added. He got to his feet. “I don’t know what to tell you, Mac. This case felt cold almost from the beginning. If we’re lucky, it’s isolated.”

“That’d be a first,” Mac muttered.

Jacks House: Driveway

Carly pulled her car to a stop by the garage, then smiled in the rearview mirror when she recognized the car behind her. “Hey, guess what? Jason’s here!” she said, twisting in her seat to look at the two boys belted into booster seats.

Morgan grinned and Cameron pumped his little fist in the air. “Uncle Jason is the bestest,” Morgan told Cam. He looked at his mother. “Mom, if Cam is my cousin, is Uncle Jason his uncle, too?”

Cameron shook his head. “Mommy said Jason’s my friend. I got an Uncle Nikolas. And Aunt Lu.” His mouth drooped. “But no daddy. He left.”

Carly busied herself unbuckling her belt and reaching for the door handle. She tucked away Cameron’s comments to pass on to Jason. It felt like the sort of thing his mother should know, but Carly wasn’t going to mess up again talking to Elizabeth. Not until she was out of the hospital, at least.

“Hey, it’s good to see you.” Carly hugged Jason when he reached the car. He waved through the windows at both boys who waved back. “Are you here to get them?”

“Yeah, I’m going to bring them to the hospital when I pick up dinner.”

“Oh, that’s good. But I thought kids couldn’t come to the ICU.”

“She was supposed to get moved to the general ward at some point today.”

“By the way, uh, Cam made a comment to Morgan just now—he doesn’t have a daddy because his left. Is that—” When Jason winced, then clenched his jaw. “That doesn’t seem like news to you.”

“Audrey said Cam overheard some of the argument the day Lucky dropped off their things. She wasn’t sure what he understood, but he knew Lucky was going away.” He braced his hand on the window, then looked at Carly. “What exactly did he say?”

Carly related the brief exchange, and Jason just shook his head. “I’m sorry,” she said. “He’s such a great kid. I don’t know how that happened since his mother’s a twit, but miracles happen—”

“Carly—”

“I promised to mind my tongue around the boys and Elizabeth. While she’s in the hospital. I never promised to lie.”

“Really? This is the time for this?” Jason demanded, and she made another face. “Look, let me call the hospital, find out if Elizabeth can have visitors, and then I’ll take the boys with me. Bobbie has Jake inside, right?”

“Yeah, but, oh, don’t be mad, Jason. I’m trying to make this up to you, but you can’t go and be mad about this, too. You know I don’t like her. I’m sorry she’s hurt, and I’m sorry her ex sucks. But she picked him and thought he was a better choice than you—”

“Okay, I’m opening the car door because it’s the only way you’ll shut up,” Jason said, tugging on the door. The irritation vanished entirely when he saw Cameron. “Hey! How was school?”

Carly watched him for another minute, unfastening Cameron’s seatbelt, then lifting the four-year-old out of the car and setting him on the ground. Cameron slipped his hand in Jason’s, chattering away about preschool and his teacher and the gold star that Mommy would love—

And Jason walked him towards the house, listening intently to every word. Carly sighed, then went to fetch her own son. Okay, so maybe she needed to be a little more careful about what she said.

Because Cameron and Jake were a package deal, and somehow, Carly was going to have to figure out how to deal with their mother even if it killed her.

Which it very much might.

Greystone: Living Room

It had been days since his aborted wedding. Days since his bride had been shot in the back and had nearly died, blood soaking her wedding gown, her beautiful eyes shimmering with tears, in pain—

Days without answers.

Sonny prowled the length of the room, stopping every once in a while to glare at the desk where his cell phone lay next to the land line, both suspicious and furiously silent. Jason had spared him, what, two conversations since that night? His family was safe, Sonny thought bitterly. His son was healthy. Breathing. His loved one might have been injured, but no one was keeping Jason from being at Elizabeth’s side—

And he was tired of being told who it couldn’t be. It couldn’t be Anthony, the fucker didn’t walk. It couldn’t be Claudia, there was no evidence she possessed the skills. It couldn’t be Johnny, why would he expose Lulu to the violence? It couldn’t be Trevor, he was still too fond of Kate. It couldn’t be Karpov, it wouldn’t serve any purpose—

He didn’t give a shit who it wasn’t — why wasn’t anyone telling him who it was —

Sonny stalked over to the mini bar, jerked the glass stopper from the decanter of bourbon. All he had were suspects but —

“Hey, Boss—” Max knocked on the open door, his face grave. “Andrei Karpov is outside. He says he has something for you on the shooter.”

Sonny scowled, poured a tumbler of his favorite dark liquid. Jason would tell him not to take the meeting. Not to meddle. Sonny had wanted out, hadn’t he? He needed to stay that way.

Well, if Jason wanted to have some damn input on what Sonny did, he might have to return a fucking phone call.

He lifted the bourbon to his lips. “Sure, show him in.”

Max hesitated but shrugged and disappeared for a moment. Then, another man strode in. He was nondescript in all the ways—from his height to his build to his facial features. You would walk past this man without looking at him twice.

Unless of course you saw his eyes — the gunmetal gray that reminded one of a shark ready to sink his teeth in.

No, you’d cross the street if you came across Andrei Karpov.

“Zdravstvuyte,” Karpov said, speaking one of the few words in Russian Sonny understood.

“Don’t waste my time with greetings,” Sonny bit out. “What do you want?”

“I would like to renew my offer to, ah, how do you say?” Karpov touched his chin. “Join forces, yes?”

“The answer hasn’t changed,” Sonny grunted, taking another swig of bourbon. “So if that’s all—”

“Ah, but what if I could give you your heart’s desire? Viktor.” Karpov turned towards the foyer. “Viktor, idite syuda. Come here. Bring our friend.”

Another man, shorter but bulky came in, shoving someone else whose hands were tied in front of him with duct tape.

Sonny lifted his eyes. “And what’s this?”

“I ask around for you. I find a surprise.” Karpov clapped the hostage on the shoulder. “My friend, you tell this man what you tell me.”

“I do the shoot.” The words were barely comprehensible through the thick Russian accent, but he was clear when he raised his hand, extending his finger and holding up his thumb, mimicking a gunshot. “Me. I do the shoot.”

Sonny’s hands gripped the glass more tightly, his eyes burning into the man standing in front of him. “What?”

“Shoot. I do the shoot. Pretty girl. I shoot the girl in the dress.” He cleared his throat, looked at Karpov, said something in Russian Sonny couldn’t understand.

“No, no, you must tell him everything, my friend. Do not worry. Have I not promised to look after you?” Karpov said with a wide smile. The shooter looked skeptical then looked at Sonny again.

“Man hire me. Need Russian gun. Russian man. He say it how it has to be. So I do the shoot. I try to get away. To leave country.” The man wrinkled his nose. “But I cannot go, you see? Need permission to go. I am found. He tell me you not kill me if I tell you who give me order.”

Sonny’s face was white. “Who hired you?”

“His name is…” He furrowed his brow. “Zacchara,” he said, sounding out the syllables as the word did not come easily to the Russian tongue.

“Old or young?” Sonny asked softly.

“Young. Dark hair. Say no one suspect. Russian shoot. He say he have perfect…how you say…blanket? No. No. Cover. Yes. This is word. He have perfect cover.” The shooter looked at Karpov. “I tell him all. You let me go?”

“Ah, my friend. I promised to look after you, yes? And so I shall. Viktor—”  Karpov gestured to the hulking brute behind them who stepped forward.

And then so quickly Sonny could scarcely take it in, Viktor whipped a plastic bag over the man’s head, pulled it tight, then pressed the barrel of his gun against the man’s head—

And pulled the trigger.

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