Hanging on another day
Just to see what you will throw my way
And I’m hanging on to the words you say
You said that I will, will be okay
Broken light on the freeway
Left me here alone
I may have lost my way now
Haven’t forgotten my way home
– Broken, Lifehouse

---

July 2016

Geneva, Switzerland

It had been all over the news for days, and still Britta Westbourne couldn’t stop seeking out stories. She kept hoping for a miracle, hoping there was a mistake —

But as the days passed, the news started to dry up until one day — it wasn’t in the Port Charles newspapers or anywhere else.

Nikolas Cassadine was dead. Killed by Valentin Cassadine, apparently in self-defense.

Britt snorted at that. Cassadines didn’t kill in self-defense. They were always on the offense.

She rubbed a hand over her heart as she stared out the window of her flat, took in the majestic peaks of the mountains. She’d fled Port Charles two years ago when she’d destroyed the last vestiges of Nikolas’s love for her, and she hadn’t looked back.

Until now. Until she’d realized there would never be another chance.

With a shaky sigh, she closed her eyes. Would he still be alive if she’d lied to him less? She turned back to the three day old Port Charles Sun with Nikolas’s face emblazoned on the front. “I hope you didn’t suffer,” she said softly, tracing her fingers over his features. “I hope Spencer has all the family and love he needs—”

“I’m pleased to know you still care.”

Her fingers froze and her breath seized in her chest as Britt raised her head to find a man walking out of the shadows — from her bedroom.

“How did—” She curled her hand into a fist. Stupid question to ask a Cassadine how they got into the room.

How wasn’t important. It wasn’t the question she needed to ask.

“Why are you here?” Britt demanded. Of all the places, of all the people—why here and why her?

Nikolas strode towards her, his face grim, his eyes intent. “Because I need someone else who’s off the grid. Someone who doesn’t have a great moral compass and doesn’t mind lying.”

Acid burned in her throat. Well, she’d asked. “So you came to me?”

“I came to you,” Nikolas said. “Because not only do you have the qualities I need, but you have something else that’s important.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t say anything stupid like ‘your heart’ because lines don’t work on me—”

“You loved my son,” Nikolas said, and Britt closed her mouth. “I know you loved Spencer. The Cassadines are up to something evil, Britt. We’re all in danger. I need you to help me stop Valentin from getting away with this. I need to make this a safer world for my son.”

Spencer. He knew how to hit where it hurt. Britt nodded. “Okay. I do that and you’ll drop the charges against me? I won’t have to keep running?”

“If I can go home, Britt, I’ll make sure you can come with me.” Nikolas arched a brow. “Can I count on you?”

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Davis House: Living Room

Alexis merely frowned at Laura as she closed the door behind her, considering her question. “Why do you want to know the last time I looked at the dagger Helena left me?”

“Because I don’t think she would have sent just sent files to me,” Laura told her. “She wanted to protect Nikolas, but she never thought very much of my intelligence. She sent me on a wild good chase that took months. She wanted me to work for it, but that would have put Nikolas at risk. I thought maybe—you got a very specific reminder of who Helena was.”

Alexis folded her arms, then wandered towards the fireplace. “You said over the phone that Nikolas was involved with Helena during her last year. More than we already knew?”

“Nikolas always told us that Helena had told him about Jake Doe being Jason Morgan because he found out something or tripped her up,” Laura said. “Or I think he caught her meeting with Drew when she had him under the influence of that chip. At least that was his story.”

“And we don’t believe him? Laura, he’s not here to defend himself—”

“I know that,” Laura snapped. “And I still intend to make Valentin pay for killing my son. But Nikolas was not innocent. He sent Lucky to Greece, Alexis. He must have suspected something. I don’t want to believe it, but it just creates more questions than we have answers.”

Alexis stared at her, then exhaled slowly, her face crumpling. She turned back to the fireplace. “I wondered,” she murmured. “He spent so much time in Greece those last few years. He’d hidden the truth about Stavros’s resurrection, didn’t he? And when Jake came back and he’d been in Greece all that time, it was there in the back of my head—”

“Helena left me a video on the drive,” Laura said. “She suggested Nikolas knew about Jake. Part of me rejects that because I loved him. But I also have to wonder what he knew and when because Helena had the run of Spoon Island. She kept Jake, Jason, Drew, and God knows who else there. How did she manage all of that under Nikolas’s nose?”

“He had left by then—”

“And he wasn’t watching Helena anymore?” Laura challenged. “She was right there on Spoon Island, planning her revenge against me—and against Elizabeth. She played with Luke and Lucky, but you know how she loathed a woman who got the best of her.”

“She never did forgive Elizabeth for breaking the brainwashing,” Alexis murmured. She rubbed her hand against her cheek, taking a deep breath. “Was Nikolas part of what happened last spring? With Chimera?”

“Helena hinted that there was something that was being planned. But she filmed it before she died. Before Nikolas died. So, no, I won’t believe it. Not until I have to.” Laura raised her brows. “But that’s why I need you. If she sent files to you, Alexis, they might be a newer version. Or an older version. I don’t know. But we need to know what else she might have planned—”

“Laura—”

“You know better than anyone that Cassadines are more dangerous when you think they’re beaten.”

Alexis nodded, then went over to the painting that rested on the wall next to the fireplace. She swung it out to reveal a wall safe. A few twists and buttons later, the door had opened and Alexis retrieved a wooden box.

“Since Jason came back and we found out about the memory experiments,” Alexis said slowly as she extended the box to Laura, “I had a strange thought.” When Laura nodded, Alexis continued, “Cassadines have been obsessed with all kinds of control for decades—but Helena was especially interested in memory manipulation and control. Transferring someone’s memories into another body—”

“I had the same thought when Helena promised we’d meet again,” Laura said as a chill slid down her spine. “Valentin is searching for something. That’s what Andre Maddox said. Where better to find whatever it is than in Helena’s files or memories? That’s why I need to be sure there’s nothing hidden in this dagger.”

She set the box on the top, then lifted it open to reveal the shiny dagger with the thick, bejeweled hilt. Alexis stared at it—all these decades later, and she could still see the blood spurting from her mother’s throat—

Laura slid her fingers down the blade, twisted the hilt every which way, then ran the electronic wand that Spinelli had loaned her over the dagger and the box.

Nothing.

Alexis released a breath. “Well, I don’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved that all Helena wanted was torment me.”

Laura replaced the dagger, then handed the box back to Alexis who quickly locked it back into the safe. “I have to stop Valentin, Alexis. He’s taken too much from my family. And if part of his plan is resurrecting Helena’s memories in someone else’s body—”

“Well, considering my family once tried to freeze the world, I’d say there’s an excellent chance out there that Helena already had someone in mind for those memories.” Alexis paused. “Or who Valentin would turn to for this.”

Penthouse: Living Room

Sam walked down the stairs, then stared at the suitcase at the bottom, her hand slipping from the railing as she looked at her husband standing by the fireplace, looking at a photograph of them on their wedding day a year and a half earlier.

“You’re leaving,” she stated. She’d been expecting it, but now she saw that she’d also never believed it would happen.

Drew turned to her, a heavy sigh sliding out of his throat. “I stayed for the holidays,” he said slowly, “and because at first, we didn’t know what we were going to do about Danny.”

Sam narrowed her eyes, then folded her arms. “And now we do?” she bit out sarcastically.

“We have a better idea anyway,” Drew stated. “I—” He paused. “I wanted to apologize. It’s hard to divorce myself from the memories in my head, Sam. And in my head, I know how much I—” He paused. “How much Jason hurt you when you were pregnant. It’s always made me angry because I couldn’t explain it to myself. I didn’t—I didn’t understand what happened. Or why.” He shook his head. “I think we can probably conclude that Maddox’s experiment failed. Memories don’t make the man. Not all the way.”

“I’m not sure even Jason really knows what he was thinking back then which is the nicest thing I can say about the whole thing.” Sam made a face. “So if you get what I’m trying to do, then why—”

“Because this still doesn’t change that things aren’t right with us,” Drew told her. “I still love you. I do. And knowing what I do know—what I understand about the memories — I remembered being Jason and being your husband, but I never had the love that went with it. And I know that now because I fell in love with you for the first time two years ago.”

Her eyes stung— “But you’re still leaving—”

“Because we both need the time,” Drew told her gently. He went over to the bottom of the stairs, took her hands in hers. “You didn’t love me when you found out the truth. You told yourself you did because I was supposed to be Jason—”

“No—”

“Sam, we hated each other,” Drew reminded her. “In fact, you tried to have me arrested—”

“You—” Sam scowled. “You held me hostage at the police station—I mean, you didn’t mean to, but I didn’t know that. Drew—I love you.”

“I believe you. But I think both of us will always wonder about how this started. If it was for the right reasons. I couldn’t be Jake Doe anymore, so I tried being Jason Morgan, and we both know it never truly fit. You, Danny, Scout—and Jake—that fit for me, but nothing else. I’m still figuring out who I am now. Who I want to be.”

“And who you want to be doesn’t want me—”

“Not like this,” Drew said softly. “Not when we’re both angry at each other about Jason, about Danny, and trying too hard to hold on. We can’t go back, Sam.”

Sam closed her eyes. “And you’re right. We can’t go forward. Not like this.” She swiped at a tear that slid down her cheek. “I told my mother this a few days ago, but it still hurts. I was happy, Drew. Before Jason came home. I just wanted that back.”

“I did, too,” Drew admitted. “And I clung to that as long as I could. But we were living a lie, Sam. And part of me still is struggling with that. It’s not fair to you if I’m not in this all the way, and I’m not ready for that.”

“But Danny—”

“Danny has made a choice for now,” Drew told her. “And Jason is—at least right now—honoring that. We haven’t talked about it beyond that, because honestly it’s something you and he need to talk about, and I don’t know if either of you are ready for that. But right now — I am still Danny’s father.”

Sam pulled her hands away from him. “Part of me wants to tell you to go to hell,” she told him. “In fact, there’s a large part of me that I’d be better off without either of you in my life, and just raising my kids on my own—”

“Sam—”

“That part of me is screaming so loudly right now just to kick you out and take you for everything you have—” Sam squeezed her eyes shut. “That’s the voice that made me freeze when Maureen Harper took Jake out of that stroller. To just think about me. What I want. What I need.”

“Are you going to listen to that voice?” Drew said tightly. “Because Scout is my—”

“I was never going to tell anyone where he was,” Sam said, and the relief of stating it out loud, making it a fact and not a maybe—the relief was dizzying. “I have nightmares about it sometimes.”

He exhaled slowly. “Sam—”

“I always knew as long as Jake existed, Jason was going to leave me for Elizabeth one day,” Sam continued as if he wasn’t there. “I let that fester inside of me until it drove me insane . Maybe that’s why I couldn’t stand to stay out of it with Jake two years ago. Why I kept pushing him, why I scared him so badly he ran out of the house—because he was in the way of what I wanted. What I thought belonged to me. Maybe I wanted him to be gone.”

“Maybe?” he asked, more gently than she deserved.

She shook her head. There was no point in worrying about saving face or hiding. It was out. Everyone finally knew who she was. “I wanted him gone,” she said. “As long as I wanted Jason, Jake was in the way.”

Drew waited, but Sam said nothing else. He walked across the room, and lifted his suitcase. “I’ll have someone get in touch with you about Scout and Danny,” he said. He opened the door, then looked around once more at the home he’d thought he’d found and would stay forever—the stolen memories of all the years that he’d never spent here. “Good bye,” he told her.

Then he left.

Webber House: Living Room

Elizabeth stared at the sofa in her living room, then screwed up her face in an expression that did not give Cameron much hope that she would be willing to let Trina and Joss crash at their place that night.

“You want me to let you and your cousin have your girlfriends sleep over,” his mother stated dubiously. A statement, not a question.

“I hear you, Mom, I do, but I want to you look in the kitchen—” Cameron turned, gesturing at the two boys who were sitting at the table, giggling maniacally at the phone in Aiden’s hand as they watched a video. “I have to also keep them alive. Plus, Spencer will be here and it’s New Year’s, so no one is going to bed early.”

“They’ll sleep eventually,” Elizabeth said, narrowing her eyes.

“Hey, you ran away and slept under the docks with your boyfriend when you were my age,” Cameron reminded her, and Elizabeth made a face. “Yeah, you should have kept that one to yourself when you were trying to bond with me, huh?”

“You know, I’d say it’s a pain in the ass that you remember everything I’ve ever said to you,” Elizabeth muttered, “but I think you inherited it from me. I always kept a file of leverage in my head to get away with things.”

Cameron grinned broadly because he knew his mother was fair, and she absolutely trusted him. “And listen, you are not the only suspicious parent we’ve got to worry about. Trina has to call her mom every hour—and I think Dr. Rob might actually call Trina every 30 minutes—and Joss’s mom—well—” Cameron hesitated. “I think she just said that Joss understands safe sex.”

“And did Oscar ask Drew or Kim about it?” Elizabeth asked. “And don’t forget that I will call them both—”

“He asked his step mom because he lives with her, and Dr. Nero was mostly like you—until she found out Jake and Aiden would be here. And she’s up close and personal with Dr. Rob, so as the doc goes—so goes the nation.”

“Yeah, Trina’s mom is pretty protective,” Elizabeth admitted. “It probably comes from all those years being married to a DEA agent.” She wrinkled her nose. “Fine. Fine. But I’m trusting you.”

“Hey, would I let you down?” Cameron asked, grinning at her, but his mother’s face took on a serious cast that told him that she’d taken the question to heart.

“Never,” Elizabeth said with a shake of her head. “Not once since the day you were born, Cameron. It’s usually the other way around.”

“Mom—” Cameron ducked his head, looked at the ground. “Look, I told you. I’m fine. All that crap at Christmas—I’m gonna leave it there. We agreed. I used to have a dad, now I don’t. And it’s his loss, not mine, right?”

“Right, but knowing that, baby, here—” She touched her temple, “doesn’t always convince us here—” Elizabeth pressed a fist against her heart, and he sighed. “He will regret all the things he threw away, Cam, but it’ll be too late. I’m just sorry you had to get hurt.”

“Yeah, well, once Joss and the others started talking about getting him deported from Ireland, and leaving him to roast in the Sahara, I figured I could concentrate on the idiot that doesn’t want me or the friends who do.”

“Good.” Elizabeth frowned. “Wait, what did Joss want to do?”

Cameron grinned, then wandered over to look at the car in his driveway. “So, Jason signed that lease? When do I get to start working on my car?”

“A few more weeks, I think,” Elizabeth said, following him. “I was worried about the gift,” she admitted. “After what happened on Christmas. He wasn’t trying to bribe you or anything—”

“Yeah, no one tries to bribe anyone with a 2004 Chevy,” Cameron said with a wince. “But I get it. It’s a good gift. Joss said Jason was always good at that.”

“Yeah, it’s one of his good qualities,” Elizabeth replied. She smiled wistfully, looking at the car.

“What did he get you this year? You never said.”

Elizabeth frowned, then looked at Cameron. “What?”

“Jason. I mean, he didn’t forget your Christmas gift. He’s not that dumb,” Cameron continued. “So what did he give you?”

Elizabeth tipped her head. “You wouldn’t understand,” she said, even as she smiled.

“Try me. I mean, I got a car. You better have gotten jewelry.”

Elizabeth just shook her head, then looked back out the window. “He let me drive.”

Cameron waited for the rest of it — drive a Porsche, maybe a plane, or something impressive. But his mother didn’t say anything else, just stood there with a smile on her face. Women. He’d never understand them.

“Right. So that’s—normal and everything. Uh, listen, Mom. Whatever you’re doing with Jason—”

“Cameron—”

“And I do not want to know,” Cameron said flatly, stabbing a finger at her. “No. But if you were maybe not doing anything because of me or what happened at Christmas or whatever, don’t be stupid.”

His mother narrowed her eyes. “Cameron Hardy—”

“I mean, don’t think just because you made a dumb ass mistake with Franco—and it turned out so bad—that you should just, like, give up. You’re the best mom,” Cameron told her. “But I’m not going to be here forever. And neither are Jake and Aiden. So it’s okay to make sure you’ve got some happy, too. Just, uh, no more serial killers if that’s cool with you.”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes and started for the kitchen. “No more serial killers.”

General Hospital: Chief of Staff’s Office

Monica smiled easily as her secretary let Robert into her office. She rose to her feet. “Well, I can’t imagine what brings a WSB agent to my door,” she said, offering a hand, “but it’s always good to see you.”

“You, too,” Robert said as he settled himself in the chair in front of the desk. “I actually came on some old business. Ancient, really.” He waited as Monica took her seat again. “This whole Drew thing—the fact that there were twins—” He studied Monica’s face. “You know I’ve been helping the boys look into it since Victor and Maddox was were part of the WSB when it all went down.”

“They both mentioned it. Any luck?” Monica asked.

“All of it, and none of it,” Robert said. “We have a lot of evidence, but it’s taking time to put it together in a picture that makes sense. More questions than answers. Drew thought it was worth starting at the beginning of this whole thing. With the fact that Victor knew something no one else did.”

“Oh?” Monica lifted her brows.

“That Jason Morgan had a twin brother,” Robert said softly. “Because until then, Monica, I’d say no one knew that, am I right?”

“Well, of course you are,” Monica said with a huff. “If we’d known, don’t you think Alan would have gone to get him?”

“Of course. Of course. Well, Drew put Curtis Ashford on the trail, and he dug up some really interesting documents.” Robert took out the folder he’d brought and slid it over to Monica. “There’s some copies for you. They’re making us look back at what happened when Jason and Drew would have been no more than infants.”

“What—” Monica stared at the birth certificates. The pair of them. “Jason’s original—” She stopped. “Is this how Victor knew?”

“You can see there it clearly marks him as a twin birth,” Robert nodded. “And below that — Andrew Moore. That’s Andrew and Jason Moore, born September 1974. Three years later, Jason Moore is refiled as Jason Morgan Quartermaine. The Moore name is dropped, but, uh, little Andrew disappears entirely, and the second birth certificate for Jason lists him as single birth.”

“Well, that’s what we knew to be the truth—” Monica stopped as she came to the third document. “What is this?”

“This—” Robert leaned forward, tapped the document. “This is a document that surrenders custody of Andrew to the state of New York. Putting the boy into the foster system. He ended up in a group home until he turned eighteen. He joined the military, became a decorated officer, and went to college. Got married, had himself a son. Then got kidnapped at the age of thirty seven in 2012, just before his birthday.”

Monica’s lips thinned. “What does this have to do with me or Alan? This paperwork says it was Susan—”

“Look at the date,” Robert said and she dropped her eyes. “March 25. Do you remember when Susan Moore was murdered?”

“February 11.” Monica’s face was ashen as she raised her eyes. “Robert—”

“We’ve been wracking our brains,” Robert said, easily, “trying to understand how Victor knew about these boys when no one else in the entire world did. If he’d started at the beginning, he would have found little Andrew Moore, born on the same day to the same parents as Jason.” He paused, lifted his brows. “Anyone who was looking for him would have found it.”

“If you knew what to look for, I suppose,” Monica said. “But we never looked. Alan didn’t. You said he was surrendered to the state. They should have been able to find Alan from that birth record eventually—”

“Ah, but that brings us to the last piece of the puzzle.” Robert laid one more piece of paper down. “Someone, when they dumped eighteen-month-old Andrew Cain at a fire station in Poughkeepsie, left a forged birth certificate, burying his original surname and listing his father as unknown. But they left him with a mother named Susan. They tried very hard to find this mother, but she never existed.”

Monica looked down at the paperwork, but said nothing.

“Little Andrew Moore came Andrew Cain. Separated from his family, from his brother for more than forty years.” When Monica looked at him, Robert continued, “And it makes me wonder if I might have been missing Tolliver’s accomplice all these years. Because he certainly pulled the trigger, but I’ve always had my questions as to why.”

Monica carefully closed the folder, trapping the paperwork inside, then slid it across the desk. “I think,” she said slowly, “that nearly all the suspects are long gone, Robert. Edward, Lila, Alan—Heather’s in a loony bin. It’s just me and Scott left. Do you think either of us would have thrown a child into the system like this?”

“Do I think that the woman sitting in front of me would do that to an innocent child who hadn’t done anything to deserve it?” Robert’s smile was thin. “No. But that’s not the woman I interviewed four decades ago either, is it?”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing that you do know who pulled that trigger and killed Susan Moore,” Monica said, rising to her feet. “Tolliver Crane. Just as we’ve known for all this time. And that’s the only answer that matters in the end. You can show yourself out.”

Metro Court Hotel: Spinelli’s Suite

Spinelli scowled at the growing list of emails that were shoved into the medical folder — whatever Helena and her minions had been handling, it had been shady as hell. He’d never understand half of the lab reports and scans he’d perused.

Then his phone lit up with a FaceTime request from his second favorite doctor in the world right now—Spinelli grinned, scooping it up. “Please tell me you have something good.”

“Happy New Year to you, too,” Patrick grumbled but dragged a hand through his hair. “You said there more brain scans than what you’ve sent?”

“Yes, thousands. These are just the ones I’ve decrypted so far. You said you wanted what we had—”

“We’re going to print them out, blow them up like real scans and try to match them that way, but it’s not going to be today, Spinelli.”

“Damn it. Can you give us anything? You know the brothers Stone Cold are frustrated. We have Andre and Helena’s files but we still have nothing,” Spinelli said. “I haven’t been able to do anything I wanted to do—I haven’t helped at all—”

“Hey. You’re doing your best,” Patrick reminded him. “We all are. These are the Cassadines. Look, what I can say is I think we’re dealing with anywhere from three to six different patients so far. You said Jason, Jake, and Drew were numbered?”

“Patients Three, Five, and Six.”

“Well, then we definitely have records from a child—and I think I see one that reminds me of Jason’s brain from the last time I operated on it,” Patrick said, squinting at something. “I did that surgery in 2005 when I moved to Port Charles, and you can still see the scars. Which gives us something to work with.”

“Okay. Okay. So they were running an actual experiment with medical research.”

“Maybe monthly scans to see how whatever they were doing was affecting the brain,” Patrick suggested. “The rest of the scans—none of them leaps out. I think I might have seen Drew’s—from when we removed the chip, but I’m not sure until I can look at it more closely. There’s one patient we’ve been grouping together.  The scans look familiar, like maybe he was one of my patients once.”

Spinelli furrowed his brow. “You’ve had many patients.”

“I have, so that’s not much to go on. We need the reports that would match them. That’s all I have so far, Spinelli, and probably the best we can do until I get back to Port Charles with my files to make comparisons. Unless you want to give them over to another neurosurgeon—”

“Stone Cold and the others don’t want anyone else involved. We can wait.” He sighed. “Okay. Okay. Thank you. You gave me something to work with,” Spinelli promised. “If you’re right, then these files are legit. These are Helena’s, so maybe Andre will have matching ones once I break the encryption.”

“Keep me in the loop. Happy New Year’s, Spinelli. Go celebrate with your daughter. I’m taking the night off. We all should.”

Webber House: Living Room

Elizabeth smiled with a roll of her eyes as Trina and Joss gushed over her dress and demanded that she turn around to show it off.

“That is gorgeous,” Joss declared. “And I could never do the mermaid skirt thing,” she told Trina. “My legs are too stubby. You’d look good in gold.”

“I look good in everything,” Trina declared, but she grinned. “Thanks for letting us crash tonight, Miss Webber. Mom is gonna call, like every minute, so if you want reports, she said she’d text you.”

“I talked to her,” Elizabeth said dryly as she walked over to join Jason by the sofa where he was  attempting to teach Aiden how to play war with a deck of playing cards. “I can’t remember the last time I saw you in a suit,” she told him.

Jason winced, tugging at the collar of his white shirt, though he’d left off the tie. “Carly left it at the house for me. I hate these things,” he muttered.

“Me, too,” Jake said. “But Mom likes ’em, so what’re you gonna do? Ha! WAR!” he said with a maniacal grin, flipping his card to show that he’d won this round. Aiden scowled.

“You’re cheating.”

“Uh uh—”

“Hey, I ordered the pizza,” Cameron said as he, Spencer, and Oscar came in from the kitchen. “So—” He raised his brows at his mother and Jason. “You can go now.”

“I think he’s eager to have the house to himself,” Elizabeth told Jason as he stood from the sofa. She straightened the lapels on his jacket, smiling at him briefly before looking over at the kids. “Don’t forget to set the security system. I don’t know when I’ll be home, but you’re only opening the door to the pizza guy or someone you know.”

“Uh, I know a lot of criminals,” Cameron said. “So, like, I need more direction than that—”

“Don’t play your mom,” Trina hissed, slapping his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep them alive if he’s too stupid.”

“WAR!” Aiden roared, but then Jake flipped his card—and still had the higher card. “THAT IS NOT FAIR MAKE HIM STOP WINNING—”

“Go to the party,” Joss said, shoving at Jason’s elbow. “I got this. Hey, Aiden, let’s go see what trouble we can get into in the kitchen—”

Aiden slunk away, following Joss, tossing another murderous glare at his brother who just cackled.

Jason slid Elizabeth’s long black coat over her shoulders as she looked wistfully at the group gathered in her living room, as Cameron, Spencer and Oscar started to boot up a game system, and Trina challenged Jake to a new card game.

“We could stay,” he offered. “It would probably be more fun.”

“No, it’s just—” She sighed. “They’re growing up so fast,” she murmured. “I keep thinking I’ll blink and they’ll be in college.”

“And then they’ll come home,” Jason told her. He pulled open the door, and she went out onto the front step, into the bitter December night. Jason closed out the sounds of laughter from inside. “They don’t go to Carly’s. They don’t to Oscar’s or Trina’s. They come to your house, Elizabeth. Because your boys will always come back, and that’s because of you.”

Elizabeth smiled, leaned forward to drop her forehead against his chest lightly. He kissed the top of her head. “That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” She looked up, their eyes held in the dim shadows, then she smiled. “You ready to go to a swanky Port Charles party where Carly will probably try to force you into having fun?”

Jason smiled weakly. “Only if you’re there to scare her away.”

“Ha, ha, funny—” Elizabeth’s heels clicked as they walked down the driveway towards his SUV. Jason opened the door for her, helping her up into the seat so she didn’t slip, then closed the door, going around to the other side of the car.

He backed out of the driveway, neither of them noticing the man who lurked in the shadows, stopped to look into the windows of the house full of teenagers and children, then slid into a car of his own to follow them across town.

I won’t give up so don’t give in
You’ve fallen down but you will rise again
I won’t give up
When the demon that’s inside you is ready to begin
And it feels like it’s a battle that you will never win
When you’re aching for the fire and begging for your sin
When there’s nothing left inside, there’s still a reason to fight
– A Reason to Fight, Disturbed

---

April 2017 in St. Petersburg, Russia

Cathedral of St. Andrew the First-Called

Britt’s hands were shaking as she sat down, her breath short and choppy. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry—”

“Britt—” Nikolas reached out for her but she just clenched her fingers into fists, the nails digging into her palm.

“I did everything right. I thought I did everything right. But he didn’t—he wouldn’t open his eyes—”

Nikolas’s breath escaped in a rush. “He didn’t—”

“He should have,” Britt insisted. “His heart beat changed. He should have been awake. But he didn’t—” She raised her tear-stained eyes to his. “I let you down. You asked me for one thing—and now—”

“And now we need a back up plan.” Nikolas scrubbed his hands over his face. “Christ. Okay. Okay. Damn it.”

“I’m sorry—”

“You did everything you could. I just—I have to depend on Maddox. He told me he put a fail safe in Jake’s brain. He can be stopped.” Nikolas dipped his head. “I need to be in Port Charles. I need to be there in case things go wrong.”

“But you didn’t want Valentin to know you were back—”

“I’ll call Lucky. He’s been working another angle for a few years. He can get me in and out without noticing. Britt—” Nikolas looked at her. “You did what I asked. It’s not your fault.”

“But—”

“If I need you again, I’ll call. Thank you.” He squeezed her hand. “Thank you for trying.” He left the church without another word, disappearing into the dark St. Petersburg night.

Britt remained where she was seated, her hands still shaking as someone else took his place.

“Is it done?”

“Yes.” Britt gritted her teeth. “Yes. Are you happy now? Is that what you needed?”

“Liebchen, ” Liesl Obrecht murmured, “if you are disappointed, then you ought not to have used your father’s name to gain admittance to the clinic. The punishment could have been worse.”

“But—”

“The boy will be fine,” Liesl said, dismissing Britt’s concerns. “Valentin does not intend to harm him—you heard the prince. There’s a fail safe—”

“If it doesn’t work—”

“It will be no business of ours. Now, we will return—”

“Why are you doing this? Don’t I deserve to know that much? Why do you care if Nikolas takes down Valentin Cassadine? Why are you trying to stop him?” Britt demanded. “He has nothing to do with us—”

Liesl made a face. “I wish that were so, Liebchen, but unfortunately your father continues to disappoint me.”

“What—” Britt blinked. “What does he—”

“Valentin Cassadine is not the Cassadine heir,” Liesl admitted with a careless shrug. “He’s one of your father’s many bastards.”

Britt’s eyes bulged out of her head. “Wait—what?”

“Yes, yes, he’s the mongrel offspring of Faison and Helena. As such, he’s dedicated to gaining the Cassadine resources for himself. That only works if Valentin stays in control.” Liesl touched Britt’s nose with her fingertip, very nearly a gesture of affection. “You did that very nicely by screwing up the protocol.”

Britt watched as her mother sauntered out of the church. Then she smiled. Oh — she’d screwed up the protocol all right, but not as she’d been directed. She’d merely made a few tweaks. Jason would be waking up on his own any day now. He might not be in time for the Nurse’s Ball—

But he’d be going home all the same.

She hadn’t been able to give Nikolas what he wanted, but she hoped—she very desperately hoped—she’d been able to give him what he needed.

Monday, January 1, 2018

Webber House: Living Room

Cameron stifled a yawn as he blearily came down the steps, then blinked at the air mattress on the floor in front of the sofa where Trina and Joss were sprawled out. Somewhere in his sleep-starved brain, he knew he’d have to hold this over them one day. Maybe he should take a picture as proof—

He made a face at the clock — barely five am — but he knew he’d heard a car in the driveway, and he wasn’t sure what time his mother had come in. He didn’t want any idiots waking her or his brothers up.

Cameron glanced out the front window, then stopped as his brain tried to compute what he was seeing.

Jason’s SUV sat in the driveway, behind his mother’s car with Cameron’s still parked at the curb. And there was Jason, helping his mother step down from the SUV, her hair down around her shoulders. She smiled up at him, said something—and then—

Cameron took a step back, and then hurried across the living room as fast as his legs could carry him. He did not want to see his mother when she came in the door because then they’d both know where she’d been the night before, and Cameron just wasn’t in the mood.

Oscar rolled over with a yawn as Cameron came into the room. “Whatzit?” he slurred, scrubbing a hand over his face as he sat up in his sleeping bag. Next to him, Spencer kept snoring. He focused on Cameron. “What’s wrong?”

“Uh. Nothing. I think—” Cameron sat on the edge of his bed, shoving Aiden’s foot out of the way. His brothers were supposed to have spent the night in Jake’s room the night before—but somehow, they’d stolen his bed and he’d had to drag out Jake’s Captain American sleeping bag since Oscar had borrowed Cameron’s. He looked at Oscar. “My mom just got home.”

“Oh. I guess they party hard in Port Charles.” Oscar said.

“Not my mom. I think—” He stopped. “I think she and Jason are, like, I don’t know, together.”

“Weren’t they already?” Oscar wanted to know. He stopped. “Does it, like, bother you? I thought you and Jason were good.”

“We are. We are,” Cameron repeated. And while he didn’t want to think too much about the whole thing, he did know his mother had been better lately, and looked pretty happy the night before when she’d left. Hadn’t he told her not to hold back on his account? “I don’t know,” he said finally. “Let’s go back to sleep.”

“Okay.” Oscar laid back down, wincing. “Oh, man, do you have any Tylenol or something? My head is killing me, and all we did was eat too much candy and pizza. I thought my stomach would feel like crap today.”

“In the cabinet in the bathroom,” Cameron murmured, sliding back into his sleeping bag, and rolling over onto his side, hoping to get a few more hours of sleep.

Wyndemere: Living Room

Nina stared at the text message on her phone, then raised her eyes to her stepdaughter who was waiting at the breakfast table, peering around the corner for her father to come down the stairs.

Because that was supposed to happen today. They’d gone to a beautiful restaurant the night before, then returned to the island last night for their anniversary. And Valentin had been everything he hadn’t these last few months—attentive, sweet, and completely focused on her—

Then she’d woken up to an empty bed, Valentin’s luggage absent from the closet, and now this—this text message.

Something came up. Out of town for a few days. I love you.

“Nina?” Charlotte asked, furrowing her brows. “Is Papa sick? He’s never late for breakfast.”

“If he’s not,” Nina said, her jaw clenched, “he’s going to wish he was when I get my hands on him.”

Nelle’s Condo: Bedroom

Michael pulled his dress pants on, then turned to find Nelle had propped herself up on her elbows and was peering at him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Well—” Nelle shifted on her side, the sheet sliding further down her creamy shoulder so that she could peer on her phone charging on the nightstand. “It’s barely eight on New Year’s Day, and we only went to bed a few hours ago, so—”

“I have a few things I need to do today,” Michael said, apologetically. “I’m sorry—there are some meetings—” He sat on the edge of the bed. “And I wanted to stop by my mother’s.”

“What’s the point?” Nelle asked. She shoved the sheet aside and rose from the bed, reaching for a silk robe on the door of her closet. She tied a knot to secure it, then looked at him. “Your mother is never going to accept me. It doesn’t matter what you try. It’s only making it worse, Michael.”

“I know, but I think if I just find a way—”

“It just feels like everything is against us.” Nelle sat on the edge of the bed, her back to him. “No one supports us. Not really. Your mother would rather see me flying off a cliff than ever accept me, and just because Sonny isn’t fighting it—you know your grandmother doesn’t like me. And your uncle Jason doesn’t even know me, but he’ll listen to whatever Elizabeth says.”

Michael winced, looking away, remembering the disappointment he’d seen in Elizabeth’s eyes the night before. He didn’t even know how much he’d enjoyed having her respect until he’d lost it. She’d always been someone who was just around in his life—but the way she’d spoken to him—the things she’d said—

The boy who fought so hard for AJ, who was desperate to get him back on track, and accepted him for all his faults — I never expected that boy to grow up into a cold, hard man who thinks Nelle Benson is worth what you’re doing to your mother. But maybe you are Sonny’s son after all.

“Michael?”

He turned back to Nelle, shaking Elizabeth’s face and words out of his mind. “Maybe my parents are a lost cause,” he said, “but I know I can make Jason and Elizabeth understand. I will,” he promised her.

“Michael—”

“They just don’t know you the way I do,” he insisted. “And Jason’s put up with my mother all these years. He has to understand it. He will. And Elizabeth will do whatever he needs her to do. Don’t worry about any of them.”

“They’re your family, Michael. I can’t be responsible for you losing them—” Nelle rose to her feet. “Maybe we should just—we should just let it go. We tried, but there’s too much against us—”

“I don’t believe that,” Michael declared. He took hold of her hands, squeezed them hard. “Mom misses Morgan, and we all do. But she’ll get over it. She won’t think about you the same way. We just have to keep you away from her a while. Last night was a mistake. But we’re not a mistake, Nelle. You and me.”

“All right,” Nelle said with a heavy sigh. “If you’re sure you’re still willing to sign up for any of this.”

“I am.” Michael drew her into his arms, kissed the side of her head. She burrowed her head in his neck. “We’re in this together. And if it means that I don’t see my mom for a while, well, then that’s what I have to do.”

Nelle raised her head to make eye contact with herself over his shoulder in the mirror across the room.

Then she smiled.

Some things were just too easy.

Metro Court Hotel: Restaurant

Spinelli hurried off the elevator and across the room to where Jason and Drew were seated, waiting for him.

“Morning, morning. Sorry to call you both on a holiday,” Spinelli said as he sat down, grinning at the orange soda that was waiting for him. “But it was important—”

“It’s fine. It’s not like I had to do more than use an elevator to get here,” Drew said. He glanced at Jason. “Jason just got here. Where did you go last night anyway? I didn’t see you at the party after a while.”

Jason simply looked at his brother, then focused on Spinelli, neatly evading the question. Drew hid a slight grin as he sipped his coffee. “What’s up, Spinelli?”

“Valentin Cassadine boarded a plane about—” Spinelli checked the text on his phone. “Ninety minutes ago. It didn’t pop up because it wasn’t a planned flight,” he added as the brothers straightened, the amusement sliding from Drew’s face. “No flight plan, no tickets. He chartered a plane at one in the morning, and took off at seven. And judging from the phone calls he’s ignoring from Nina—”

“Wait, you’re monitoring his phone calls?” Drew demanded. “When did this start—”

“Not his, just hers,” Spinelli clarified. “I haven’t been able to crack his phone yet, but Nina isn’t, uh, that bright,” he admitted. “I sent her a virus on her phone — as soon as she clicked the link, I got everything. So I’ve been tracking Valentin through her. She’s been calling him and texting every five minutes since six-thirty this morning. He isn’t answering.”

“That—” Drew lifted his brows. “That’s interesting. Where is he heading? Russia? Greece?”

“Turkey,” Spinelli said. “Which isn’t on my radar at all. I called Robert and Anna, and they’re looking into it, but uh, there’s really only two options.”

“Either he’s running,” Jason said.

“Or he’s up to something.” Drew’s lips thinned as he pressed them together. “Both of those suck. Do we go to Turkey after him?”

Spinelli waited for Jason to immediately jump on that suggestion — the Stone Cold of yesteryear would already be on the road to the airport.

“Where would we go?” Jason asked. “Do we even have a way of tracking him once he’s on the ground? And I don’t—I don’t know Turkish. I can’t get around there as well. If he’d gone somewhere else—”

“I can manage some Turkish,” Drew admitted. “I also have a bit of Arabic, but yeah, I guess you’ve got a point. If we go after him now—we don’t know what we’re walking into.” He rubbed the side of his face. “Do you think he found what he was looking for?”

“Maybe,” Spinelli admitted. “I just wish we knew what that was. I was able to decrypt a few more of Andre’s files,” he told them. “They’re medical like Helena’s. Some of them might match, but it’s not going to happen over night.”

“No, that’d be too easy,” Drew said dryly. He focused on Jason. “We could go,” he told him. “Maybe we’d find out something, but I’m not sure it’s worth the risk. We have the files and investigation here. Spinelli—Robert and Anna said they’re on it?”

“They’re getting the WSB in the area to check in for what what’s worth,” Spinelli said. Drew made a face. “Yeah, that’s what I said. I wish we had someone on the inside,” he admitted. “Not just Robert or Anna—”

“But an active field agent who Valentin wouldn’t know about,” Jason said. “Yeah. Well, we don’t have that. Spinelli—keep on the wife. He might end up contacting her or his daughter. If we get a location—” He looked at Drew. “If we know where in Turkey he is, then one of should go. I don’t trust the Spencers, and Spinelli’s right. The WSB isn’t on our side either.”

“All right. Then we wait for a location, but, uh, we should both go, because if anything happens to you, I’m not explaining it to Elizabeth,” Drew said, “and you do not want to have that conversation with Curtis.”

“Fair enough,” Jason said. “Then let’s wait for more information.” He finished his coffee. “I have somewhere I need to be.”

“Same,” Drew said. “Spinelli, thanks for the leg work on this. We’d be lost without you.”

“Just doing my part to save the brothers Stone Cold.” Spinelli grabbed the can of orange soda, offered them a jaunty salute, and sauntered off.

Drew made a face, then looked at Jason. “Yeah, I don’t like that nickname. He needs to come up with a new one.”

“You know better than that,” Jason said, with a shake of his head. “He’ll just come up with one you hate more.”

Kelly’s: Dining Room

“Fancy running into you here.”

Elizabeth turned away from the counter as Sonny slid onto the stool next to her. “Hey,” she said, with a warm smile. “I’m just grabbing lunch for the boys. Thanks again for letting Joss sleep over last night.”

“Carly seemed to think Aiden and Jake would keep them all on their best behavior. Me, I’m more interested in keeping boys away from Joss,” Sonny admitted. He ordered a cup of coffee, flipping the cup over so the waitress could fill it. “But I’m glad the kids have each other. All of them,” he added. “Sometimes I think if I’d had more friends like them when I was their age—”

“You might not be Sonny Corinthos?” Elizabeth suggested.

“I might be a better person,” Sonny said with a nod. “Thank you, by the way. For trying to mediate with Michael and Carly. I’m not sure what made you think you could fix the situation, but, uh, Carly seemed to be handling it better last night after the party.” He tipped his head. “What did make you go out on a limb for Carly? She’d never do it for you.”

“Michael keeps asking me that, too.” Elizabeth frowned slightly. “Why do you think that matters?”

Sonny hesitated, then didn’t say anything. He picked up his coffee and took a long sip.

“Do you think there has to be something in it for me, Sonny? That I’m trying to win some credit with Carly so she’ll back off?” she pushed.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wonder if maybe you were just trying to, you know, make the road a little easier for you. I wouldn’t blame you,” Sonny added. “It’s not my business—it never was. But you and Jason weren’t around at midnight, and Carly being less…” He paused. “Carly,” he finally decided, “would give you less of a headache.”

“Being less Carly,” Elizabeth repeated. She looked away as the waitress came out and put her bagged order in front of her, then turned back to Sonny. “You know, I wasn’t with Jason when we lost Jake. We couldn’t grieve together. Lucky wasn’t much help either. I mostly drowned on my own.”

“Elizabeth—”

“I always wondered if it would have been better if I’d had someone who loved me—really loved me—who loved Jake and understood how my entire world had just—” Elizabeth paused. “It broke apart. It shattered. It’s better now, but it will never be the way it was before. I used to think that if I wasn’t alone, maybe it wouldn’t have hurt so much.”

Sonny frowned. “I don’t really know what you’re getting at—”

“Carly isn’t just being Carly, Sonny. But thank you for making me see how much worse it is to be with someone who says they love you—and they still let you drown. And what’s more, they shove your head down while you struggle to breathe.”

She made it all the way to her car before Sonny caught up with her, his eyes dark and intense, his hand grabbing her elbow to stop her from opening the door. “What does that mean?” he demanded, sharply. “I’m not—”

“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said immediately. “Because it’s not fair of me to think that you’re not drowning on your own, but I just—I don’t know. Maybe the reason Carly and I don’t get along is we see each other too clearly. Carly isn’t okay, Sonny. Tell me you know that.”

Sonny exhaled slowly. “She’s getting better.” He paused. “But you’re right. Maybe I’m just—I’m trying to pretend things are normal. If we act like it’s okay, we’ll just—” He stopped, took a deep breath. “One day, we’ll wake up and it will be.”

“And maybe that’s working for you, Sonny. I hope so. I really want that for both of you. But I don’t think it’s working for Carly.” Elizabeth paused. “Carly and I might never be friends, but you and I were once. We’ve known each other too long, Sonny, to pretend with each other, you know? I tried to help Carly because I couldn’t stand seeing someone in the same pain I was and being left alone to deal with it.”

“And that’s the difference between you and I,” he admitted on a sad sigh. “I used to be that way, but I lost it somewhere.” He looked out over the parking lot, his eyes a bit distant. “A long time ago.”

“I know. It’s a shame. It was one of the reasons I wanted you as a friend.”

Sonny’s eyes swung back to her with a lift of his brows. “Well, if you’re planning to hang around this time, some of that empathy will rub off on me and Carly. We could use it.” He paused. “You are sticking this time?”

“I never wanted to let go in the first place.”

Quartermaine Mansion: Family Room

Drew hesitated in the doorway of the room, looking over the woman sitting at the desk, quietly writing, lost in her own thoughts.

He had such a jumble of memories about Monica—the ones that didn’t belong to him—the angry ones, the warm ones—the memories after he’d woke up as Jake Doe and started to put his life back together—and the sorrow when she hadn’t reached out after that night at the Metro Court.

Had she been drowning in her own guilt? Was that why she’d disappeared from his life?

He knew Curtis had a point. Whatever had happened when he was a child — it was over. He had enough to worry about. What was Valentin up to? And what was going to happen to Sam? Would he be able to make Aurora work? Would he be able to be good father to Danny and Scout even if he wasn’t around all the time? And what was his relationship with Oscar going to look like?

He had so many questions—some of which he might never get answer to. Did it really matter what had happened between a bunch of people he’d never know?

Monica looked up, surprised to find him there. Her eyes wrinkled with confusion, even apprehension as she got to her feet. “Drew? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Sorry. Alice told me to come on back. I hope that’s okay.”

“You’re always welcome here. I’m sorry I haven’t—I know I haven’t made that clear, but I will now.” Monica approached him. “Is something on your mind?”

“Yeah.” Drew paused. “I wanted to know how Victor Cassadine knew Jason and I were twins, so I looked into my birth records. Now that I had a place to start, they were easier to find.”

“You—” Monica stopped. “Robert came to see me about this, Drew, and I just—” She shook her head. “It was so long ago—”

“I know. I know, Monica,” he repeated. “And I just—” He met her eyes. “I want you to know that if you’d known about me then, I understand why you might not have been happy about it. Maybe that’s why Susan didn’t tell anyone. In her own way, she was trying not to make it worse for you.”

“Drew—”

“I just—” Drew paused, forced himself to ask the question. “I just need to know if you ever regretted it. Signing the papers.”

Monica stared at him, but said nothing.

“Maybe later, when Jason was older and you loved him, too. If you thought about me. Did you ever look for me?”

They stood in silence for a long moment as his question hung between them, the air heavy with tension.

“I told you,” Monica said slowly, “If Alan had known—if we could have brought you home, Drew, we would have. I need—” Her voice trembled. “I need you to believe that.”

And he did believe that. He absolutely believed there might have come a day at some point when Monica had felt overwhelmed by the guilt, but maybe it had been too late. Maybe he’d been buried in the system too deep—

“All right,” Drew said finally. “We can—we can let it go at that. I love you,” he told her. “No matter what. You’ve been my mother for the last two years. I don’t want to lose that.”

“I don’t either.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.” He kissed her cheek, and then left. Monica watched him go, closed her eyes, and then went over to the desk where she’d left her cell phone.

She picked it up, dialed a familiar number, and waited for the line to connect. “We have a problem,” Monica said without preamble.

“You always have a problem,” the woman on the other line drawled. “Why should I care?”

“Because Robert Scorpio is looking into Susan Moore’s murder and they found the papers. They know.”

There was a long pause, and then —

“I’ll be on the next flight, Monica. Don’t do anything stupid. That’s what got us into this damn mess in the first place.”

With that, Tracy Quartermaine ended the call, and Monica sat down at her desk to stare out the window and remember.

Webber House: Kitchen

“We don’t have to say anything,” Jason told Elizabeth as she loaded up the dishwasher full from the party the night before. She arched a brow at him, and he winced. “Not that we’re keeping it a secret,” he muttered.

“No, we’ve already tried that,” Elizabeth said. “I’m not nervous—” She folded her arms. “I don’t know. Things are really good. With the boys. And you. You’re here all the time anyway, and it’s not like you’re moving in—”

Jason pulled her arms away from her waist, laced both their hands together between them. “Hey. I know. We don’t always do so well when we try to change things—”

“It’s usually the time it all falls apart.” She closed her eyes. “I’m being insane. You’re used to this by now.”

“I am.”

She scowled, then slapped his chest lightly. “You’re supposed to tell me I’m not insane—”

“Hey, we wanna start the movie.”

They turned to find Cameron standing in the archway, hesitating. “So, uh, whatever you’re talking about in here that you think we don’t know about, can we just get on with it? Because if Aiden doesn’t get to find out what happened to Baby Groot, I’m not gonna be responsible for what happens next.”

Elizabeth made a face as Jason looked at Cameron. “We’ll be there in a minute. We’re waiting on the popcorn.”

“Yeah, the microwave is done—” Cameron stopped, then came into the kitchen. “Listen, you’re gonna tell us you guys are dating for real now and we know.”

“You—” Elizabeth stared at him. “You know,” she repeated.

“Yeah, Mom, you’re not exactly the world’s best actress. I mean, maybe with other people,” Cameron continued as Elizabeth glared at him. “But you don’t get much past me. And also, uh, Jake and Aiden thought you guys were dating like a month ago, so this isn’t news to them.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth looked at Jason who looked as surprised as she felt. “Uh, well, all right then. Um, you’re okay with this?”

“With you and Jason dating?” Cameron flicked his eyes to Jason. “You’re still staying at your place?”

“Yes,” Jason said. “Nothing is going to change, Cameron. Not yet,” he added.

“Good. Mom goes too fast sometimes,” Cameron said. “That’s okay. It’s a Webber thing. We think the whole thing is gonna fall apart anyway, so we try to get it all done at once.” He flashed her a grin. “Probably a good sign if you’re not moving him in yet. Bring the popcorn, Mom. Or Jake and Aiden will overdose on soda before they can suck it up with carbs.”

He sauntered back into the living room as Elizabeth scowled after him. “I do not go too fast,” she muttered. She folded her arms, then looked at Jason. “Do you believe that?”

“It sounds like—” Jason leaned forward, kissed her forehead gently. “You were worried for nothing. I told you. We’re going to be okay.”

She closed her eyes, letting herself soak up the feeling of being in his arms again. “I always believe it when you say it.”

“Good.” Jason leaned down and kissed her lightly. “Get the popcorn,” he murmured against her mouth. “I’ll go hold them back from drinking their weight in soda.”

“Good plan.”

Jason left Elizabeth reaching for a bowl from the cabinet, then stopped in the archway to look at the boys as they had arranged themselves around the room—Jake and Aiden on the floor, each of them with a can of soda on the coffee table, Cameron in the armchair, his feet slung over the arm of it.

“You ready?” Elizabeth asked, appearing at his side, the popcorn ready.

He looked down at her, at her face, at her smile, at everything that made Elizabeth who she was and perfect for who Jason wanted to be for the rest of his life — and nodded. “Yeah, I’m ready. I want to know what a Baby Groot is.”

And refused to let himself think about what the hell Valentin Cassadine was doing in Turkey.

Istanbul, Turkey

Clinic: Office

Valentin stalked into the office, the door banging off the wall and slapping back as Klein shoved himself up in surprise. “Is it ready yet?” he demanded. “Is he awake?”

“Uh, not yet,” Klein said, a bit apprehensively.

“You said it would be forty-eight hours—”

“The protocol isn’t—we—” He paused. “Without Robin Scorpio administering it, it takes longer. She developed it, but didn’t exactly leave us instructions. And we don’t have the staff here—”

“Here is the only place where no one knows to look for me,” Valentin snapped. He turned to leave—and then something snapped into place in his head. He turned back to Klein. “How do you know it’s the protocol?”

“What?” Klein frowned. Valentin stepped forward, and the doctor hastily stepped back. “I told you. He’s not awake yet so that must be why—”

“But you were ready with that explanation,” Valentin said. He narrowed his eyes. “Did Jason Morgan have some help in waking up last spring?”

“What?” Klein stammered, his face flush, sweat breaking out on his forehead. “No. Of course not. We told you—we didn’t even know he was awake—”

“And yet he was awake enough for you to put him in a wheelchair,” Valentin murmured. “To let him loose in the clinic. Something you never told me or otherwise I might never have thought it was safe to send an associate there for a few weeks.”

“I—” Klein swallowed hard. “Mr. Cassadine—”

“You’re not the only doctor in the world, Klein. I can snap my fingers and get another one—I can kidnap someone who has vested interest in waking this patient so you tell me what the hell—”

“Faison,” Klein choked out. “Faison sent his daughter to work the protocol. He wanted Jason Morgan awake. He had plans for him, but Morgan escaped first—”

Valentin narrowed his eyes as he took in that information, then turned around, grabbed the bag he’d dropped when he’d entered, and stalked out. He charged down the hallway towards the patient room where he knew one of the obstacles to his victory lay.

The man in the bed didn’t look like much—of course he wouldn’t after all the time he’d spent asleep, but Valentin knew the truth. He knew how dangerous this man could be if he was awoken without care. Without control.

He turned to the bag and went over to remove a box. Valentin slipped it open, and drew out a dagger. He smiled faintly at the jeweled hilt, flicking his nail over the seam until it slid away — and revealed the thumb drive that held the answers Valentin had searched for all these years.

Valentin had done Alexis a favor after all — Helena hadn’t sent the true dagger that had murdered Alexis’s mother. No, that had been the present Valentin had left her when he’d had a man make the switch.

Valentin turned back to the man lying in the bed. Soon — he’d have his mother’s files and the answer to all the questions. He’d be able to stop anyone from taking what belonged to him.

As long his new patient didn’t ruin everything by waking up and escaping like Jason Morgan nearly had. Valentin approached the bed, staring own into the slack expression of Stefan Cassadine and smiled faintly. He was so close to everything he deserved.

As soon as he found out where his mother had stashed the true Cassadine heir, Valentin would find him and eliminate him. But first — he’d need someone to take on Helena’s memories.

Wasn’t it fortunate that he knew exactly who to ask?

THE END

A string that pulled me
Out of all the wrong arms right into that dive bar
Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire
Chains around my demons, wool to brave the seasons
One single thread of gold tied me to you
– invisible string, Taylor Swift

---

February 2017

Munich, Germany

Britt closed the door, then leaned her head against it with a soft exhale. “I’m getting really tired of this.”

“I’m sorry.”

She scowled at Nikolas as he stepped out of the bedroom of the hotel suite he’d arranged and folded her arms. “You keep saying that. It’s been months, Nikolas—”

“And it’ll be a little longer.” He crossed to her, rubbing his hands from her shoulders to her elbows, then back again. “What did Faison say?”

“It’s what he didn’t say. There’s nothing I can do to get him to open up about the Cassadines. He refuses to tell me anything.” She sighed. “I’m sorry. I’ve been a disappointment as a partner.”

“I’m able to keep Faison in my sights thanks to you,” Nikolas said with a shake of his head. “That’s not nothing, Britt. Besides the reason I asked you to meet me here—the box is missing.”

“What?” Britt blinked, stepped back. “Wait. You said she was dead—”

“She is. Andre assured me that the box I had was the only one in existence, but when I went back to Greece to check in—” Nikolas’s face was grim. “It was gone.”

“Oh, God—” She pressed a fist to her mouth. “There’s only one place it could be. Can you find a way to stop it? To stop Chimera?”

“I can try, but not without giving up my cover and I’m not ready for that.” Nikolas prowled the living room. “We need more. Even if I could get to Elizabeth in time—I still have to take down Valentin.”

“Then I’ll go. I’ll—I’ll go to Patrick. He won’t believe me, but I can—”

“No, I’ve thought this through. I think our best chance—the best one we have—Elizabeth needs someone on her side whose only loyalty to is to her and the boys. Patrick has the heart, but he doesn’t have the muscle or resources. I know exactly who that is and so do you.”

Britt tipped her head. “He’s still in that coma—”

“And that’s where you come in.” Nikolas crossed to a table and picked up a folder. “This is Robin’s protocol. I managed to get a copy from the labs. This is how she woke up Helena, Stavros, and Drew Cain.”

“Well, Robin would—” She pressed her lips together and sighed. “That’s really why you came to me, isn’t it? Because I’m a doctor. Nikolas, that’s not the kind of medicine I practice—”

“Helena planned Chimera for the Nurse’s Ball. That’s not until May. We have time, Britt. You just need to study this—”

“And how do we get Jason out of that clinic to do this?”

“We don’t.”

“But—”

“You’re not just a doctor, Britt. You’re Faison’s daughter. Everyone knows you’re on the run with him. You go to the clinic and tell them you’re there on his behalf. I know how well you can lie,” he reminded her and she grimaced.

“It was different before,” Britt said. She sank onto the sofa. “I lied to Patrick and to you because I wanted to get something. I was playing with feelings. Pretending my supervillain father sent me to wake up someone the Cassadines have kept hostage—”

“I’m working on that. I’ll get you the leverage you need, Britt—” Nikolas perched on the table in front of her. “This is our chance. I know who’s behind this. It’s Valentin. I don’t know what he wants Chimera for — it can’t be Helena’s revenge.  I can’t be worrying about Elizabeth and the boys. About my family at home. I need someone there to help. We wake up Jason, we tell him the situation, and we send him back.”

“You’re sure he’ll come through?”

“When we tell him Jake is alive but Helena is trying to kill him again from beyond the grave? Yeah. He’ll come through. Are you in, Britt?”

“A lot of this rides on me figuring out this protocol and waking Jason up in time for the Nurse’s Ball,” Britt murmured. She took the folder from Nikolas. “I don’t know if I can do this,” she admitted.

“Britt—”

“I don’t know if I can pull it off,” she clarified. “But I’m willing to try. Hell, it’s worth a shot.”

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Metro Court Hotel: Ballroom Entrance

Anna smiled down at the picture text message from Emma holding her baby brother, then looked up to find Robert striding off the elevators towards her, looking as rakish ever in his tuxedo. “Hello, gorgeous.” She greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. “You’re late.”

“I had an unexpected appointment at the hospital and then I wanted go over some old files,” he said, lowering his voice slightly as he slid his arm around her waist, steering her into the room where the party had gathered. He grabbed two champagne glasses from a passing server, handed one to her, then sipped his own.

“Is everything all right?” Anna asked, furrowing her brow. “You’re not ill, are you—”

“No, no—” He paused, scanning the room, his eyes falling on the table where Monica was sitting with Michael and Nelle. Jason and Elizabeth were standing next to her, and Monica’s eyes passed over Robert lightly, then turned back to her son.

“I thought we were going to wait—” Anna pressed her lips together. “Robert, you can’t really think that Monica Quartermaine put an innocent toddler into the system to get rid of him. She raised Jason—”

“As you said, my dear, this was before your time.” Robert exhaled slowly. “I wanted it to be Tolliver working alone,” he said finally. “He was bothering Lila, and I liked the old gal. When we caught him going after Heather—it seemed to fit. I looked over those reports—I can see my own doubt. His motive never made all the pieces fit comfortably. If I had kept pushing—”

“Tolliver was dead, and he’d confessed. It still might be just him on his own. You did the best you could—no one knew about twins,” Anna said. “And don’t tell me it was there if you looked—Curtis Ashford knew he was looking for twins. He had every reason to start at the beginning.  Based on what you knew about Susan Moore, who would ever think she’d leave another million dollars on the table?”

“It’s a hell of thing, Anna—” Robert finished his champagne. ‘”I let the boy down. Both of them,” he added. “What would their lives had been like if they’d known each other?” He gestured with his empty glass where Jason had gone over to talk to Jordan, Curtis, and Drew near the terrace.

“And what if I hadn’t hidden Robin from you for five years?” Anna asked. “If I hadn’t pretended not to be her mother? It’s a tragedy they were separated, Robert, but you can’t take that weight on.”

“I let them both down when they were boys and then the agency I dedicated my life to—that I sacrificed raising my daughter to protect—” Robert’s mouth twisted. “It let them down all over again. More than that. It took apart their lives. It nearly destroyed them.”

“We’ll get to the bottom of this,” Anna promised him. “And we will make it right. I promise you that.”

“We can’t ever make it right, Anna. What did Drew say? We could just make it over.” His sigh was heavy. “So let’s make sure we don’t take this bloody case into another year. 2018 is the year we end the Cassadines for good.”

She raised her own champagne glass. “I’ll drink to that.”

Metro Court Hotel: Ballroom

Across the room, Jason had updated Drew and Curtis on Spinelli’s conversation with Patrick Drake, and then gone across the room to make sure that Carly knew Michael had brought Nelle.

“Not being in the middle of that drama might be the best thing about you not being Jason Morgan,” Curtis said, as they watched Drew’s brother catch the blonde at the entrance to the ballroom. Carly’s eyes darted over the crowd, her lips thinning, and the irritation was evident even from their vantage point. Then she turned and left the room. Jason grimaced and followed. He returned a few minutes later, shaking his head.

“It’s strange,” Drew said slowly. “I had the memories of constantly cleaning up after Sonny and Carly, so I kept doing it, but I never wanted to. It’s why I cut ties.”

He looked around the ballroom, at the glitter and glitz of the celebration. “And here I am, back in the room where it all went crazy two months ago.” He shook his head, looked down at his wine. “Was it only two months ago?”

“A little more than that, but yeah. It’s Port Charles,” Curtis offered. “You either got buckle up or get run over.” He located Jordan in the crowd, finding her with Portia Robinson and a few other doctors from the hospital. He slid his hand into the pocket of his tuxedo and drew out a velvet box, flipping it open to reveal a diamond ring. “What do you think?”

“I think my divorce isn’t final yet,” Drew quipped, “but I appreciate the offer—” He snickered as Curtis rolled his eyes. “No, it’s great. I didn’t think you guys were there yet—”

“I am. She’s not. Still not a fan of Aunt Stella,” Curtis admitted, “but, uh, you know, she’s an acquired taste.” He slid the box back into his pocket. He paused. “You sure you made the right choice moving out?”

“For right now,” Drew said. He looked around the room, but he wasn’t surprised that Sam wasn’t there. She’d isolated herself since everything had happened—had barely left the penthouse. Sam wasn’t ready to face the world the way it was now, and Drew didn’t think anything would change unless he made it happen.

“We need to figure out who we are with all of this,” Drew added. He looked at Curtis. “Thanks. For all the extra legwork and time you’ve put into this. I know you juggled your actual work to do this for me—”

“Hey, man—”

“No, let me—” Drew hesitated. “Almost everyone in my life—they knew me before. It’s hard to know what’s real friendship and what’s not. Some of it—it’ll be okay. Eventually. But you—you never knew the other guy. I don’t know if I would have pushed looking into my mother’s death if you hadn’t done the work.”

“Whatever you find out there, Drew, it’s gonna suck. But I’ll be here with you when you get those answers.” They both looked at the Quartermaine table, then Curtis frowned, noticing that Elizabeth and Michael had left the table and gone a bit away—Elizabeth’s face was flushed as she said something, and Michael scowled at her, storming back to his table.

Drew’s eyes passed over Monica. Their eyes met for a moment, then Monica’s eyes dropped to the table. She looked at Nelle and offered a nervous smile. Drew’s stomach rolled. He didn’t know what that meant, but it didn’t feel good.

“What’re you gonna do if it was her, man?” Curtis asked.

“I wish I knew,” Drew murmured. “If she’s the reason I disappeared into the system, that should matter, shouldn’t it? But it was—it was forty years ago, Curtis, and she’s been my mother for two years. She’s my kids’ grandmother.” He hesitated. “She’s buried three children. A husband.”

“You think maybe the universe has been punishing her all along?” Curtis asked quietly. “You can just let it go?”

“I don’t know.” Drew raised his champagne. “Maybe. But maybe if my mother had lived, she was coming to get me.” He met Curtis’s understanding expression. “I don’t remember growing up in the group home, but I do remember waking up without a family. Without memories. Without an identity. How much harder would that have been as a kid?”

“Then I guess we’ll find out what we need to find out, and let karma take care of the rest of it.”

Metro Court Hotel: Carly’s Office

When the knock on her office door came, Carly turned away from the window, expecting to find Jason there. He’d followed her out of the ballroom, but she’d told him she wanted to be alone and he’d left.

It wasn’t Jason or her husband, but Elizabeth.

“Hey, I hope I’m not interrupting,” Elizabeth said, hesitantly. “I just—Jason came back in, and he seemed upset, and you seem upset, too. And I just—” She made a face. “I don’t know. I tried to talk to Michael—”

“There’s no talking to him,” Carly said. She sighed. “Thank you. Michael did say that you’d tried a few days ago—and it almost got to through to him, but—” She paused. “I don’t know what happened. He went from promising that he wouldn’t try to make me accept Nelle to just—the same argument over and over again.”

She folded her arms, and turned back to look out the window. “I deserve this,” Carly said. “For what I did to my mother and Tony, don’t you think?”

“Deserve what, exactly?” Elizabeth asked. Carly heard the other woman’s heels click across the hardwood floor as she drew closer to the desk. “What do you deserve for having an affair a thousand years ago, Carly?”

“I didn’t just have an affair,” Carly said, with a level of scorn she rarely turned on herself. “I came to town and exploited the problems that already existed in their marriage, set my sights on seducing my stepfather, and then making sure that my mother’s life crumbled around her. I humiliated her. Over and over again.” She exhaled on a puff of air. “And I want to pretend that I have some sort of moral high ground over Nelle? Because Nelle did what she did after I lost Morgan?”

“Carly—”

“BJ had already been gone for two years by the time I showed up,” Carly said, “and I know Bobbie and Tony had their issues even before that. But Tony was ripe for what I wanted because he’d been broken by losing his kid.” She turned back to Elizabeth, her eyes hot with tears. “How am I any better than Nelle?”

“Maybe you’re not,” Elizabeth offered, and Carly scoffed. “But I don’t see what that has to do with any of this, Carly. We don’t work like machines. We don’t have calculators that add up the crimes and then spit out emotions to match. What happened with Tony was more than twenty years ago. Morgan was a minute ago.”

Carly closed her eyes. “It feels like that, you know? I feel like I saw him yesterday, and then in the next minute, I struggle to remember the last time I saw him. It comes back,” she added. “Eventually. But there’s always the minute when I couldn’t remember.” She exhaled. “Michael doesn’t think that I get it, you know? That he sees something in Nelle worth saving. He thinks I’m ignoring it for spite.”

“I think it probably makes it worse that you do get it,” Elizabeth said. “And you can’t make it change anything about how you feel. Carly—”

“I don’t know why you’re being so nice to me,” Carly muttered, swiping at her eyes. “Michael said you were looking out for me, and we both know I don’t deserve it.”

“Carly, seven years ago, I had an affair with my brother-in-law,” Elizabeth said dryly. “I could have stopped myself. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to get married to Lucky again, but I didn’t really know what else I was supposed to do. And Nikolas was—” She stared off into space. “He was there. And then it just—it kept going wrong. And I kept hurting people. Lucky and Nikolas could barely be in the same room for years. You don’t have the market cornered on destruction, Carly.”

“No, I guess we all have our crimes.” Carly pressed her lips together. “I’m sorry. For what I said at your house a few weeks ago. For a while, I was mostly sorry that anyone heard me. But I wasn’t sorry about what I said.”

“I didn’t think you were.”

Carly’s smile was faint to match Elizabeth’s. “But I am now. I just wanted Jason to let me help him. He never asked me for help, not when it matters. It’s because I’ll mess it up. I’ll do what I think is right, not what he wants me to do, so he just leaves me out of it. He was never going to ask me with any of this. He didn’t have to. He had you.”

“Carly—”

“And I hate that it gets to me,” Carly continued. “That I obsess over making sure that I’m the one that helps Jason. Or that I’m the one that Michael listens to, or that Joss confides in. I have to be the center of it. The center of everything. And I know that drives everyone insane.”

“So why do it?” Elizabeth asked.

Carly paused, then exhaled, her breath shaky. “I know who I am, Elizabeth. I’m not someone with a lot of friends, and the people who are in my life—it’s mostly a hostage situation, I think. I make sure they need me. Because I know if it was just about wanting me around—” A tear slid down her cheek. “I don’t think I’d win that fight.”

“I think you’d surprise yourself, Carly,” Elizabeth asked. “You’re not the only one with issues. I’m always drawn to broken and damaged people and then I spend way too much energy trying to them better. Because if I can fix them, then maybe—” She paused. “Maybe they’ll stay.”

Carly stared at the other woman for a long moment, then nodded. “Well, I guess we’re all insane in our own way. It’s kind of comforting—”

“Hey.” Jason stopped in the doorway, looking at Elizabeth curiously before looking at Carly. “Michael said you yelled at him and left the party, so I figured I’d find you here.”

“Your nephew is an entitled brat sometimes,” Elizabeth muttered, folding her arms. “Sorry. I’m going back to the party,” she told Jason. “Why don’t you and Carly talk?”

“Uh—” Carly held out a hand. “No, you should stay—”

“Nope.” Elizabeth slid past Jason, smiled brightly at them both, then disappeared down the hallway. Jason stared after her, then looked at Carly.

“You okay?”

“You really don’t have to ask me that.” Carly held her arms around herself, bracing herself with a smile. “It’s fine. Elizabeth and I were being nice, I promise. I was behaving—”

“Carly—” Jason came into the room. “That’s not what I asked. I’ve talked to Elizabeth—and to Sonny. I know what’s going on with Nelle now.” He paused. “You didn’t tell me about last year. About her part. I just thought she was Michael’s girlfriend.”

“I was supposed to dump all my problems on you the minute you came home?” Carly scoffed, then stared at the ground. “You had enough to deal with.”

“Carly—”

“Jason, you know, it’s exactly what Monica said two months ago,” Carly continued. “I never stop to think about how she felt with AJ. I watched my son get destroyed by someone he trusted. Morgan absolutely believed in Ava—and she screwed up his pills. And now—” She closed her eyes. “Now I get to watch it happen all over again, and it’s worse. I didn’t even know what Ava was doing, you know? I only found out six months ago. With Michael and Nelle—I can see the train coming off the tracks, and I can’t stop it, Jason. I can’t stop him from getting hurt.”

She paused. “I deserve this because everything I’ve ever done. I had this coming. And I doubt Monica’s the only person out there laughing about it.”

“Whatever happens with Michael, we’ll keep our eye on him,” Jason promised. “And we’ll stop it before it gets too bad. I’ll find a way, Carly.”

“You know—” Carly paused. “Michael said that Nelle and I were the same. That the only thing that made us different was that I had you.”

“Carly—”

“He’s right, of course,” Carly said with a scowl. “You never, ever let me fall. Even when you should have. Even when it should have been easy to cut me out. You let me ruin your life, judge your choices, and generally just be a giant pain in your ass. But you also saved me, Jason. The only reason I am who I am today is because of you.” Her voice faltered. “And I hate that you can’t say the same about me.”

“There are times,” Jason said, slowly, “that my life would have been simpler without you. And I almost did cut you out, Carly.”

“I know.”

“But you never thought of me as damaged.” When Carly frowned, Jason continued, “Before you came along—before Sonny—everyone else—they thought I was less. Even Robin and Sonny still looked at me as someone to teach. Someone to help. Everyone wanted to fix me. Not you. You thought I could save the world, Carly, and you asked me to repeatedly.”

Carly’s lips curved into a small smile. “So my neediness and selfishness was a good thing?”

“Not always,” Jason said, with a shake of his head. “But I didn’t know how much I needed to know that I was—not just normal—but capable. I could do jobs for Sonny—but those were easy. You made me live in the world and be messy. Make mistakes.”

“This sounds wonderful,” Carly muttered.

“I am who I am today because you pushed me,” Jason told her. “Not always in good ways. And not always in the ways I wanted to go. But I never stayed still. You are my best friend. And, at this point, there is nothing you can do to change that.”

“Well.” Carly took a deep breath. “Since we’re being nice to each other, I think—” She paused. “I’m glad that whatever I brought to your life—that you’ve found some benefit in it. But we both know there were a lot of times I could have chosen to be a better friend, and I usually chose the low road.”

Jason tilted his head to the side, nodding in quiet acceptance.

“In the last two months, I’ve been so proud of you,” Carly said. “I was scared for you, worried about you, angry for you—but watching you get your life back on your own terms, fall in love with your son—become part of the world again—” She paused. “We both know that it wasn’t anything Sonny or I really did. And I think that we’ve both learned that life is too short not to hold on to the people who make it worth living. So if there’s something you’ve been waiting to say to someone—” Carly waited for their eyes to meet. “Don’t. You know better than anyone that there’s never as much time as you think.”

Metro Court: Ballroom

Kristina laughed and wiggled her fingers at the pretty blonde on the dance floor before returning to the table she was sharing with Molly and TJ as well as a few others from the hospital. “I think I might let her persuade me to go home with her,” she declared, reaching for the champagne.

Molly wrinkled her nose. “You just met her.”

“That’s the fun part.” Kristina frowned. “Put your phone away—”

“I’m just—I’m texting Sam. Mom has the kids because Sam was supposed to come tonight—” Molly looked up and peered around the room. “She’s still not here.”

“Stop—” Kristina put a hand over the screen. “She made her choices—”

“Krissy, it’s not that simple—”

“It is for me. She wants to sit at home, boohooing because Drew isn’t going to let her hurt his family, well, at least someone is standing up to her. Sam gets away with murder because we let it happen.”

“She’s our sister—”

“And I love her. But loving her does not mean she gets a blank check.” She sipped her drink. “What she actually needs is someone to slap the silly shit out of her, but Mom told me I’m not allowed so I’ll settle for ignoring her when she’s being a bitch.”

Molly sighed but then set the phone down. “Maybe you’re right,” she said begrudgingly. “I feel like if I go over there now, I’ll end up patting her head and telling her she’s right, and I don’t think she is. I just—I feel sorry for her.”

“I do, too. But it won’t help. We need to be strong.” Kristina tossed back the last of her champagne. “I’m going back out there. Come with me.”

“Fine. But don’t make me dance.”

______

Jason scanned the room — looking past Michael sitting sullenly at his table — past Drew dancing with Jordan and Sonny who had pulled Diane out onto the dance floor—

He found Elizabeth finally, trying valiantly not to get her toes stepped on as Spinelli twirled her around, her gold dress flashing under lights, her face creased in laughter as the tech swung her back into his arms with a grin of his own.

“Stone Cold!” Spinelli said cheerfully as the pair left the dance floor. “I love you!”

“How much has he had to drink?” Jason asked Elizabeth who laughed again.

“Just a few, just a few—” Spinelli’s face was permanently etched with a silly smile that only grew when he spied someone across the room. “Ah, I see my Maximista and the Blonde One across the room. I leave the Fair Elizabeth in your capable hands.”

Jason watched him go, a reluctant smile on his face as the younger man reunited with his other friends. Maxie started to tell him a story, her hands flashing as she gestured wildly.

“Sometimes I think he’s one of the best things that ever happened to you,” Elizabeth said, drawing his attention back to her. She was smiling up at him, looking much happier than she had when she’d left Carly’s office.

“Yeah? Why?”

“You can’t be too serious around Spinelli.” Elizabeth leaned up and brushed her fingertips against the side of his mouth. “I used to be able to tease you like he does, but he definitely knows how to make things lighter. You needed that, Jason. And I’m so glad he came home.”

“Me, too.” Jason slid his hand through hers, lacing their fingers together. “About being the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said. Carly was right. Life was too short to leave things unsaid.  “We should talk about that.”

Elizabeth drew her brows together, her expression lightly quizzical. “What?”

“I want—I need to talk to you. Can we—can we go to my place? I mean, I know there’s the party, but—”

“No, it’s—” she smiled at him. “This was fun, but we’ve been here a few hours. All I need at midnight is you.”

Penthouse: Living Room

Sam curled up in a ball, clutching a pillow against herself as she stared at the television screen. She was barely watching the celebration in Times Square, but the flickering sounds and images filled the emptiness, the screaming silence—

She’d started to dress for the party but then remembered how many people there hated her. She didn’t have a friend in the world. That was a good thing, wasn’t it? It was better to be alone. If you didn’t count on anyone, they couldn’t let you down.

“I don’t need anyone anyway,” she muttered. She leaned over to nab the bottle of whiskey on the table and twisted off the top.

Still, she looked at her phone, waiting for it to light up with a message from Molly. Or maybe Drew. He knew she was supposed to be there.

But the phone remained silent and dark. No one called. No one cared that she wasn’t there.

Fine. Good. It was good to know where she stood. Who she could count on. Not her mother or her sisters. Not Drew or Jason. Not Sonny.

It would make it that much easier when she burnt it all to the ground and took what was hers.

Safe House: Street

Across the street from the house where Jason had been staying since he’d returned to Port Charles, a car slowly parked and shut off it lights just before a dark SUV turned down the street.

He’d known where they were going as soon as he’d spied them leaving the hotel. It wasn’t yet midnight, so they were coming to the house where Morgan kept the bike. He’d watched them for weeks—watched as Morgan stepped into the place that should be his. He’d waited for his chance to take back what belonged to him.

He watched as the SUV turned into the driveway and the lights went dark. He saw a car door open, and then Morgan came out, went around the other side. He disappeared from sight.

Franco waited and waited for the garage door to open, for the motorcycle to roar down the driveway as it had so many nights before—

But nothing. They’d gone inside and weren’t coming back out.

Franco curled his fingers around the steering wheel, his knuckles white with rage. If she thought she could toss him out like garbage and move on—

It was time to teach Elizabeth a lesson.

Safe House: Living Room

Jason took Elizabeth’s coat and hung it up, wondering if he’d gone insane. Had he really taken her from the party and brought her across town to the house where—

“You know, when Sonny told me you were meeting at the safe house—” Jason turned to find Elizabeth leaning against the back of the sofa, a brow arched. “I didn’t realize you’d kept this place. I would have thought—”

“I almost sold it after—” Jason put his hands in his pockets. “But I told myself that you still lived nearby. The boys—I still wanted a place if you needed to get out.” He paused. Here was something he could tell her. “That’s what I told myself.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean—” He stepped towards her. “I kept it because it was ours. A place no one else knew about. I used to come here sometimes right after—” After he’d walked away.

“Jason?” she asked when he didn’t say anything else.

Jason honestly didn’t know how he would even go about asking for what he wasn’t entirely sure he deserved. Another chance. Or maybe the first chance. Had they ever really had one?

He approached her, reached for her hands and looked down at them.

“Jason?” she asked again, nerves lacing through her voice.

He raised his eyes to meet hers. “I’m sorry. I want this to be right. I want to say the right things. The words you deserve. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to give you what you deserve.”

Her expression softened. “That’s usually because you keep worrying about what you think that is. Jason, just tell me what you’re thinking. Like you used to.”

“When I met you, when I really met you that night in Jake’s,” Jason added, “I didn’t know how much you’d change my life. How important you’d become. That you wouldn’t just save my life, Elizabeth, but that being around you would remind me of everything I still wanted to do. To see. To be a part of.”

“You did the same for me, Jason. You know that. We saved each other.”

“And we’ve been doing it ever since,” Jason continued. “Because—” And he waited until their eyes held. “Because when my life falls part, I look for you.”

A tear slid down her cheek at the echo of the words she’d spoken to him the night they’d created Jake. “Jason—”

“I look for you because I know I’ll be able to breathe. That you’ll be right there when I figure out how to take the next step. How to keep going. You did that almost twenty years ago and you’ve done it every day since I came home. I’m sorry I didn’t stay before. That I didn’t hold on tighter. I thought I knew better, that I could protect you better if I wasn’t there.”

“I am always better when you’re with me,” Elizabeth told him, her voice low but fervent. “I hurt without you.”

“I know. I do, too.” And with that, his breath left his body in a rush. “I need you to trust me again. To give me just one more chance to stay. I promise I won’t let go again. Not even if you want me to.”

Her lips trembled slightly as they fell open. “Jason, what are you—”

“I love you,” he told her. “I will always love you.”

On a sob, she threw herself into his arms, burying her face in his neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing her against him, feeling the way they fit together. The way they’d always fit.

“I won’t let go either—” Elizabeth drew back slightly, framing his face with her hands, their eyes searching each other’s. “I love you, too.” She slid her fingers into his hair and kissed him. He’d forgotten how she tasted, how her scent and flavor seeped into him until they felt like they were part of his own body—

When Jason felt a familiar need rising inside—one that he’d been fighting for weeks—he stepped back, his breath shaky. He set Elizabeth back down on her feet, sliding his thumbs down her cheeks, across his soft skin. He wanted to tell her they’d take this slow—that they’d maybe go back to the party—

But he couldn’t stop himself from dipping down to kiss her again, their mouths brushing against each other, almost clumsily as she laughed, her pulse racing so fast he could feel it when his fingers lightly encircled her neck, angling her head to the side so Jason could deepen the kiss—

Her hands crept under his suit jacket, pushing it off his shoulders, and then her hands were undoing the buttons of his shirt — and intentions to do anything but carry her upstairs and show her exactly how much he loved her vanished entirely.

Should I give up
Or should I just keep chasing pavements?
Even if it leads nowhere
Or would it be a waste?
Even If I knew my place should I leave it there?
Should I give up
Or should I just keep chasing pavements?
Even if it leads nowhere
– Chasing Pavements, Adele

---

December 2015

Kelly’s: Courtyard

Nikolas stepped out of the shadows of the alley when he saw the doctor exit the diner, calling out a goodbye to some inside. “Dr. Maddox.”

Andre Maddox stopped and slowly turned to face him, the corners of his mouth tightening, his jaw clenching. “I’m sorry, do I know you?” he asked. Nikolas nearly smiled — from the expression on the bastard’s face, Andre knew precisely who he was.

“We’ve never been introduced but I know you.” Nikolas stepped closer to him. “You worked for my grandmother.”

Andre swallowed and shook his head. “You have me confused with someone else—” He started for the parking lot.

“If you think you’re free because she’s dead, you’re mistaken.” The other man stopped, but didn’t turn around. “That’s not how Cassadines operate. You should know that.”

“Is she really dead?” Andre asked in a low, tight voice. He faced Nikolas again. “Or is it like the last time?”

“I killed her myself,” Nikolas said flatly. “And then I watched as they fed her body to the flames. Would you like to see the ashes?”

Andre cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should deal with this somewhere else—”

“Here is fine. It’s freezing and nearly closing time.” Nikolas stepped closer. “Whatever my grandmother had planned for Jake, it’s done now. Whatever you were supposed to do—”

“Not me,” Andre managed. “I—I want this to be over. It’s—” He grimaced. “Valentin. Valentin Cassadine.”

Ah. He’d wondered if his bastard uncle had been part of any of this. “What is he planning?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything since I left for Port Charles. I just want to be out of this—”

“You put something in my nephew’s head,” Nikolas bit out. “You don’t get to make that choice anymore. You might not know exactly what my grandmother or Valentin was planning, but you sure as hell know what you did for them. Tell me.”

“I—you know it—”

“You were part of kidnapping Jason Morgan, weren’t you? The memories and amnesia—that was you. Don’t lie to me again,” Nikolas warned when the doctor opened his mouth.

“Okay. Okay. I don’t know the final plan, I just know some of the pieces.” Andre scrubbed a hand over the top of his head. “I don’t know what Valentin is planning for Jason Morgan. The last I heard, he’s somewhere in Russia in a coma—”

“Wait—” Nikolas held up a hand, blinking at the doctor. “Valentin is in a coma?”

“No—” Andre furrowed his brow. “Jason Morgan.” When Nikolas just stared at him, Andre grimaced. “You didn’t know that, did you?”

Nikolas swore and muttered something under his breath. “Okay. Okay. Let’s take this conversation to Spoon Island and you can tell me everything. From the beginning. You want to be out of this, Maddox? Then let’s end this for good.”

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Spencer House: Living Room

Laura set the old law book on the table and sighed. “Well, here it is,” she told Jason, Elizabeth, and Spinelli. “For whatever it’s worth. I’ve looked over that book a thousand times—”

“That’s why I’m here,” Spinelli said cheerfully. He reached for the book and took out something silver, long and flat from his bag.

“What’s that?” Elizabeth wanted to know, leaning over to check it.

“Electronic signal detector,” the tech replied. He shrugged. “If she hid anything in this book, I’ll find it. Laura, if I have to take it apart—”

“I only saved it in case it became relevant,” Laura said. “I don’t need it.”

“I appreciate you doing this,” Jason told her. “But I’m still not sure why Anna thought it might be important. Robin tried to explain it—”

“I’m not sure either,” Laura admitted. “I checked with Scott. This book was used when he was in law school, but this isn’t his personal copy or anything. Helena left me a key to a box in the Wyndemere attic, and it was supposed to lead me to something I loved and lost.”

“And it led you to a book that your ex-husband used forty years ago?” Elizabeth asked dubiously. “I mean, I know you ended up at the Campus Disco, but even for Helena, it doesn’t feel right.”

“Kevin and I always meant to get back to it,” Laura said, watching as Spinelli took out a thin knife and sliced the binding open. “But then, Nikolas died. We had Spencer and Valentin to deal with, Lulu and Charlotte—something always got in the way, and I decided that Helena had taken enough of my time.”

“But why would Helena have sent you anything that might help?” Jason pressed.

“You’d have to know Helena to understand,” Laura said. “If she did hide something in that book,” she continued, nodding at Spinelli, “it still won’t give us the answers. Not all of them, but I can see her hedging her bets. Valentin isn’t someone you screw with,” she said to Jason. “You don’t know him that well yet. Helena had no allies by the time she died. To protect Nikolas or maybe give herself some leverage in the event Valentin killed her—she would have done something.”

Spinelli flicked open a compartment in the spine of the book and slid out a slim metal object. “And indeed, the Evil Queen did send you a message.”

He booted up his computer and injected the drive, waiting for the laptop to read it and open the folder.

Jason got up to stand behind him, restlessness seeping into his bones. He’d been home for two months and he still didn’t know anything really about who had taken him. All he had were more and more questions—he just wanted one answer. Just one.

There were thousands of files—documents, pictures, all kinds of file formats that Jason didn’t recognize. Spinelli muttered under his breath, then just opened a random one. He scowled when the file demanded a password.

“Of course.” Elizabeth folded her arms. “They’re encrypted. Just like Andre’s—”

“Yes, but Andre put a deep encryption on his. He didn’t want anyone to see them—” Spinelli furrowed his brow. “Helena sent this to you,” he said to Laura. “Because this would lead you to something you’d loved and lost. She’d want you to open it, so the password shouldn’t be impossible to guess. What did she say the key would lead you to? Something you loved and lost?”

“The only thing I’ve truly loved and lost in the last few years was Nikolas,” Laura said. “And she wouldn’t know about that—”

“Death isn’t the only way to lose someone,” Elizabeth said softly, meeting Laura’s eyes. “All those secrets he was keeping? He sent Lucky to Greece—it was Nikolas who gave Lucky the tip that sent him to find Jake. Nikolas had to have known he was alive.”

“No—” Laura shook her head as Jason’s jaw clenched. “No, he wouldn’t have done that to you, Elizabeth. Of course not—”

“Try Nikolas,” Elizabeth suggested to Spinelli, ignoring Laura. “Because if Nikolas was part of it—even if Helena just thought he was—”

Spinelli typed in the name—all lower case.

And then the file opened.

Laura got to her feet. “That doesn’t prove anything—”

“What’s the file?” Jason demanded.

“It’s—” Spinelli leaned forward, squinting. “It’s some sort of report. From—” He scowled. “It’s medical—Stone Cold, sometimes you can do this. Or Fair Elizabeth?”

“It’s a brain scan report,” Elizabeth said, tilting the screen back. “I did a lot of these when I was working on Patrick’s OR team. It’s dated April 2012. Subject has a tumor of the frontal lobe—there are the measurements—”

“Why would Helena have this? It doesn’t have anything to do with Drew or me—or Jake—”

“Well, these are her files for everything,” Elizabeth reminded him. “We’ll have to go through them one by one.”

“What’s the last file she created?” Jason demanded. “That has to be important—”

Spinelli obediently sorted by last created, then clicked on the file — a video format. Laura instinctively recoiled as Helena’s face filled the screen, gaunt and wan, but her eyes filled with all the evil and malice that Jason had remembered even in his brief run ins with her. Elizabeth put a hand on Laura’s shoulder.

“Ah, my dear Laura. I see you’ve found my little secret. I do wonder how long it will take your simple faculties to locate it, but you were always smarter than your husband. Women generally are, darling.” Helena tipped her head. “And if you’re watching this, then you know that you have loved and lost Nikolas. Is he with you? Wouldn’t that be delicious?”

“Hateful, evil—” Laura muttered.

“If he is, you should take great pleasure in knowing that I never forgave him for betraying me. He thinks I don’t know.” Helena’s smile was gleeful. “He thinks that I don’t know he’s plotting against me. He thinks he is going to outsmart me and win. But I am always one step ahead. Even in death.”

Her lips curved into an even deeper smile. “Ask him about dear little Jake and how helpful he was in in my plans for him. I do hope you enjoy the boy for as long as possible. Perhaps Elizabeth will think again before she takes on the Cassadines. ”

Jason’s fists clenched at his side and he looked at Elizabeth, her face still and pale as death itself, Laura’s expression quietly shattered. Helena’s implication was clear — Nikolas had known their son was alive and had said nothing. Was Helena lying? And if it was true, had Nikolas known about the time bomb ticking in Jake’s head? For both their sakes, Jason hoped Helena was lying and trying to twist the knife.

“My grandson is a disappointment to the bloodline.” She paused. “But I suppose even a disappointment would be better than the animal I unleashed on the world. I am sending you these files, Laura, in hopes that you will ensure Nikolas keeps his inheritance. That whatever Valentin has done can be undone. Without me here to stop him, I fear the worst. I am not a woman of many regrets,  but in my desire for revenge, in my desire to bring pain, I turned to the wrong ally.”

For a moment, the malicious smirk disappeared and she was simply an old, fearful woman. Then it was gone, and the cruel smile was firmly fixed in its place.

“You and I, Laura Spencer—we’re not quite finished with one another, and I have many enemies that cannot be left unpunished. Until we meet again.”

The video stopped, frozen on Helena’s face as Elizabeth exhaled slowly and looked at Jason. “Other than her claims about Nikolas, I’m not sure if this gives us anything—”

“I’m not so sure about that.” She and Jason turned to Spinelli who was frowning at the screen. “She taunted you, Laura, at the beginning and the end, but she wanted to warn us about Valentin.”

“And tell us about Nikolas’s part in whatever they planned for Jake.” Laura paused. “But she threatened Elizabeth.”

“What do you mean?” Elizabeth asked. “She—”

“‘Perhaps Elizabeth will think again before she takes on the Cassadines’,” Spinelli quoted. He twisted in his seat. “We’ve been wracking our brains to find out why the Cassadines went after the brothers Stone Cold, but—”

“We forgot what links me to the Cassadines,” Jason said as Elizabeth’s eyes widened. He met her eyes. “You.”

“But—why—” She looked at Laura who nodded. “No, that doesn’t make sense.”

“She blamed you for Endgame,” Laura reminded her. “If Nikolas had killed you when she ordered—if he’d poisoned you — it would have been proof that Nikolas was a Cassadine. But you helped us come up with that plan. You faked your death, and you broke the brainwashing that kept Lucky tethered to her.”

“And your relationship with Nikolas ended badly,” Jason said, with a bit of regret as Elizabeth looked down. “If she’s spent all this time trying to turn Nikolas dark—well, without you, without Emily and Lucky—that would do it.”

“So she saw her chance when Jake got hurt—” Laura paused. “She faked his death, then made sure to torment you with it. Elizabeth, according to Andre, she made sure you were delirious with fever and brought you to the lab—she knew no one would believe you. She didn’t go after Lucky or Luke with that. Or even me. We’re the Spencers. She brought you there.”

“And then she kidnapped Stone Cold,” Spinelli said. “She sent home a false one to torment you and a Trojan Horse in Jake—”

“But I don’t matter—” Elizabeth shook her head. “No—this can’t be because of me. She didn’t do all of this because of me—” Her voice turned desperate. “This isn’t my fault—”

“Hey—” Jason took her by the shoulders, waiting for her to meet his eyes. “No one is saying this is your fault. Of course it’s not. Helena was insane. You know that.”

“But—” Elizabeth closed her eyes, dipped her head down so her chin touched her chest. “We’ve been looking for the motivation. The reason. We still don’t know anything about Valentin, but oh, God, I think you’re right. I think we know why Helena turned Victor your way. She wanted his resources for her experiments and she must have given him the patients he needed. Jake. You, Drew. Who else? Who else did she hurt?”

“We won’t know everything until we go through these files,” Spinelli said, grimly turning his eyes back to his computer screen. “There are more files than I can count. We need to do them one by one.”

“One step forward, five thousand back,” Laura said softly. “Until we meet again,” she continued. “Does anyone else wonder if perhaps Helena’s plan for her death included her own set of memories in a new body?”

“Oh, God,” Elizabeth said, pressing a hand to mouth as the horror of that set in.

“Maybe that’s what Valentin is searching for — whoever Helena picked out to take over her life,” Spinelli suggested.

Greystone Manor: Living Room

Carly stopped just as she removed an ornament from the tree, spying Michael in the doorway, his hands in the pockets of his dress pants. “Michael.”

“Hey, Mom.” He ambled across the room, but his shoulders were hunched. “You taking down the tree already?”

“Oh. No. I just—” She held it out to him. “It’s Morgan’s Christmas ball. Courtney bought it for him for his first Christmas.” Carly looked down at it, with the year inscribed. “I couldn’t really be with him that first year. I was barely out of the hospital. Do you—” She paused. “Do you remember that?”

“A little. It was right before you and Dad divorced for the second time, I think. Or started to divorce,” Michael answered. “When I, uh, told the judge I wanted to live with Aunt Courtney and Uncle Jason.”

“Yeah. And they were getting a divorce, too, so, man, that told me what a bad job I was doing.” Carly put the ornament back on the tree, watching as it bounced softly on the branch. “About Christmas Eve—”

“Mom—”

They both spoke at the same time, but then Michael gestured for her to wait, to let him finish. “I got reminded yesterday that losing Morgan—it was harder than it needed to be. It was bad enough,” he added, “but Nelle made it worse.”

Carly’s mouth tightened, but she said nothing. Just stared at the ornament, so Michael continued. “I’ve been thinking that she made a mistake, that she came to town like you did once. Wanting revenge for something that wasn’t really a crime, trying to hurt people to make a point. And you refusing to forgive her—it’s like—” He paused. “It’s like you refusing to forgive AJ for the things he did. For not giving him another chance.”

“I did give AJ another chance,” Carly said softly. “You know I did. Before Connie, before he lost ELQ—I was there. I know how much you loved him.” Her chest was heavy. “But then Connie happened. I knew he could be capable of darkness. I didn’t know he was innocent, Michael. I just knew what he’d done to Alan all those years ago—and he helped Faith kidnap you, your brother, Kristina—he pretended you were dead—”

“He wasn’t always a good man, Mom. But he was the man you made him.”

Accepting that, Carly sighed. “I’ll take credit for my part. But Monica and Alan, Edward and Lila—they get to take their share, Michael. AJ had little self-esteem or resilience long before I showed up. But yes, I took a damaged, weak man, and I helped shove him over the edge. He didn’t fight too hard, but there wasn’t much fight left in him. And then Sonny ended any chance AJ ever had of truly turning it around.”

“The thing is, Mom, I didn’t even know how angry I still was about AJ until you dug a line in the sand about Nelle,” Michael told her. Carly drew her brows together, confused. “I thought it was proof you hadn’t learned anything. That you hadn’t changed. But I didn’t—I really didn’t see it.”

“See what?”

“Every time you look at Nelle, every time you think about the reasons you don’t like her—” Michael paused. “It brings back Morgan. Because Nelle didn’t try to hurt you by trying to take away Dad. She used Morgan.”

Tears stung her eyes as Carly stared blindly into the tree. “I can’t ever really seem to get away from it,” she murmured. “I’ll go an entire day, and I’ll be able to breathe, but then it’s like a sinking weight I can’t drag myself out from under.”

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

A tear slid down her cheek as Carly looked at her son. “You said someone reminded you. I didn’t think Sonny or Jason—” When Michael hesitated, she stopped. “Don’t tell me it was Nelle.”

“No, it was Elizabeth. I’ve never seen her be that angry at me,” he admitted as Carly just stared at him. “She said something about when I got shot all those years ago — that it kind of broke everyone. That no one really got past it. I know how it messed me up to wake up a year later. But I never really thought about how you lost me for a year, then lost Morgan for good. Because of Dad and Jason. Because of this life.”

“She said all that, huh?” Carly murmured, a bit uncomfortable. “Well, I guess that’s true. But it wasn’t just Sonny and Jason’s life, Michael. It was mine. I chose it. Elizabeth—I don’t know if Jason ever really gave her chance to choose. Maybe after what happened to you—” She stopped. “No, I know it. After you, he was never going to put her in that position to watch her cry over those boys.” She closed her eyes. “Their boys,” she murmured.

“And then she did it anyway,” Michael told her. “Mom—”

“But I chose this life. And I chose to stay last year when Morgan died even though the car bomb was part of Sonny’s world. Because to leave after all these years would be to pretend that I didn’t know what I was doing. I did. And sometimes I think I’m being punished for coming back.”

Carly perched on the edge of the arm chair. “The thing is,” she said slowly, “that part of you is right about Nelle. I did come to Port Charles to make my mother pay for putting me up for adoption, even though Bobbie could never have known what would happen to me. And the sentence? Destroying her marriage, stealing her husband—well, it didn’t really fit the crime.”

Carly stared at her hands. “Nelle used the circumstances of Morgan’s death to make it harder. Because she knew she could. So, no, Michael, I don’t see us ever having much to do with each other. I’m sorry. I wish I could promise you more. But Elizabeth is right. When I look at Nelle, I will always see the little boy I lost. I’m not interested in being the better person and putting it behind me.”

“I wasn’t going to ask you to,” Michael said. “But I want you to understand that’s not how I see Nelle. I know she’s not perfect. I know she lies and attacks and manipulates. I even know when she’s doing it to me.”

Carly pressed her lips together. “And you don’t care.”

“No, I do. But I also think maybe you might understand if you think about Jason.”

“Jason?”

“You had Jason holding you up, pushing you to be better,” Michael told her. “It didn’t always work—and, yeah, I think sometimes he should have let you fall. But he didn’t. Nelle never had a Jason, Mom. She never had anyone give a damn about her. She does deserve a second chance. From me. I just don’t expect it from you.”

“You want to be Nelle’s Jason,” Carly said slowly. “Well, that’s—” She got to her feet. “That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Not the same way, Mom. I love Nelle. I see something in her—I see the person she’s trying to protect. I’m not ready to give up on that. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Fine,” Carly said. She looked at Michael. “As long as you’re dating Nelle, don’t bring her to the restaurant. Don’t bring her to the house. She’s not invited. She’s not part of this family, Michael. She isn’t worth it. But you’re not ready to see that.”

“What if someone had said that about you?” Michael pushed. “That you weren’t worth it?”

“I guess we’re done pretending that you’re not asking me to give her a second chance,” Carly said, her temper rising. “Nelle manipulates you with lies, and she uses your family to do it—she used me, she used Sonny—”

“I don’t plan to bring her around, Mom. I’m just not letting her go.”

“Then make your mistakes,” Carly snapped. “All the things you hate about me, Michael? All the things you want me to change and do better? They’re the exact same things you’re using as an excuse to stay with Nelle. Congratulations. You’re dating a woman exactly like me. I hope you live to regret it.”

Devane Manor: Living Room

“How many files?” Anna demanded. “Does it ever end?” she demanded of Robert who just sighed.

“Spinelli is going to finish decrypting all the files on Helena’s drive and we’ll go through them,” Drew told her. “And then he’ll get back to work on Andre’s encryption.” He paused. “But for now, we’re still spinning our wheels on that part.”

“Ridiculous,” Robert muttered. “To have spent two months with so little to show for it.” He looked at them. “You said you wanted our help. If not with the files—”

“We’re not going after Valentin right now because we don’t know what we don’t know,” Drew said. “Seeing what happened to Jake—knowing more about what the Cassadines are capable of now—it make sense to know what we’re dealing with before we take action. Part of understanding what happened meant starting at the beginning. When Jason and I were separated. Curtis has been over the files for my mother’s murder.”

“Your mother—” Robert paused. “Susan,” he said. “Of course. But why—I would have told you—”

“It was a long time ago,” Curtis reminded him. “I wanted to just see the reports. Get a fresh why. Drew and me, we’ve been stuck on how this happened. Motivation matters. So we know that Helena pointed Victor at Jason, Drew, and Jake because of Elizabeth and the Spencers. What we don’t know is how Victor knew that Jason had a twin brother to kidnap in the first place.”

“We think at some point, Susan knew I existed and kept it to herself,” Drew continued. “But I was dumped a month after she was murdered, and based on your own investigation, Robert, you had problems with Crane Tolliver’s motive.”

“Yes. We never found any evidence that Susan planned to back down on her demands, but we had the murderer, so—” Robert narrowed his eyes. “You think Drew is related to this somehow? No one knew he existed.”

“Someone had to, otherwise why pull me out of Betsy Frank’s custody?” Drew paused. “Elizabeth talked to Scott Baldwin about this since he was married to Susan at the time and a suspect.”

“He was a serious enough one that we arrested him, but we never had anything on him except motive,” Robert told him. “What does that have to do with Scott and why you think Susan knew about you?”

“Her will talks about descendants in the plural,” Curtis said, “and it’s too much of a coincidence that Drew was abandoned at a fire house a month later with a false birth certificate and a form surrendering him to the state.”

Anna furrowed her brow. “This was before my time, Robert. I don’t know the details or the players.”

“I think Susan found out I was still alive—maybe Heather was holding me for her own payday, or Betsy wouldn’t give her back,” Drew said. “I don’t know. And I doubt Heather or Betsy will ever tell us. But if Susan was looking for another trust fund, if she produced another Quartermaine son—”

“Maybe she was going to cut Tolliver out of the whole thing, but why wouldn’t he tell anyone that? Seems like he would have brought it up in his confession.”

“There’s that. But Tolliver isn’t where the story ends. Because someone knew about me and dumped me in Poughkeepsie, New York. When Elizabeth talked to Scott,” Drew said with a grimace, “he mentioned something between Alan and Monica. That Alan nearly lost custody of Jason to the state because of Monica.”

Anna stared at him, then looked at Robert. “Wait—”

“Uh, that is—well, that’s true,” Robert said slowly. “Word got around about the custody thing. It was pretty well known at the time that Alan and Monica were hanging on by a thread.  If another child had turned up, Monica would have taken Alan for everything he had. But that doesn’t—” He stopped. “Drew.”

“The woman I know now is a good one,” Drew said. “A good doctor. A good mother and an excellent grandmother. But I also know that it was a long time ago, and that maybe there’s a reason Monica felt so guilty all of Jason’s life and tried so hard after the accident.”

“Someone deliberately tried to make Drew disappear.” Curtis took out a folder, retrieved a certificate. “We got a court order to get the investigation records. I wanted a copy of the surrender order that was with Drew when he was found. The State of New York turned this over yesterday.”

Anna reached for it. “It’s a surrender order,” she murmured. “Signed by Susan Cain on March 25, surrendering custody of Andrew Cain to the state of New York. He wasn’t just left at the home—” She focused on Drew. “You were legally surrendered.”

“March 25,” Robert repeated, staring at the date over Anna’s shoulder. “Susan was dead by then for nearly six weeks.”

“Someone knew who I was and deliberately put me into the system. They changed my name from Moore to Cain to bury my connection to Susan and to Port Charles.”

“This kind of paper trail—” Anna reached for the other papers. “Victor was always a detail man. If Helena wanted him to target Jason—he would have been meticulous. He would have looked into his past, looking for anything he could use no matter how small. It was how we were trained at DVX. You never knew what might be leverage.”

“He would have found Susan’s murder file—is it possible he might have been able to find this?” Robert asked. “Isn’t this a bit of a leap?”

“No, not if Victor found the original birth certificate,” Anna said. She pointed. “Look — it states that Jason was a twin. It matches Drew’s certificate.”

“It was refiled here in Port Charles,” Drew said. “When Jason was renamed as Jason Quartermaine and Monica legally adopted him. I doubt Alan ever pulled the original.”

“If he had — it was there for anyone to see,” Anna said. “But no one ever looked at the original record. They always looked at Jason Quartermaine’s records. Victor would have known there was an original certificate. If he pulled the first one, he would have looked for the brother—”

“And if you find Andrew Moore — you might keep looking until you find Andrew Cain. A boy with the same first name and mother’s name born the same year. And it’s not like Victor cared about the law or confidentiality. He would have ignored the red tape and taken the information.”

Uncomfortable, Robert looked at Drew. “If this is how Victor found out about you, then there’s no long-standing grand conspiracy. He located this information and then found you. We can—we can leave it here, Drew. With the past in the past.”

Drew stared down at the paperwork, then exhaled slowly. Did he want to know who buried him in the system, keeping him away from his family his whole life? Did he want to know that person had also been involved in the murder of his biological mother?

Did he want to know if it had been Monica, the mother he’d grown to love over the last two years? Or if it was Alan or Edward, the men he’d never known? Or even someone else? What was he looking for?

“Drew?” Curtis asked.

“I think I have to know,” Drew said finally. “Even if I don’t like the answers. Someone threw me away. I deserve to know where I came from.”

Webber House: Living Room

The house was quiet when Jason and Elizabeth returned later that day, and she couldn’t decide if she was relieved or irritated that there weren’t any distractions.

“I’m sorry,” Jason said as he took Elizabeth’s coat and hung it up. “I shouldn’t have said it—about my link to the Cassadines being you—”

“Don’t—I’m fine now. It was just—I think I’m just—letting it settle in. We’ve been asking ourselves for weeks why Helena went after you. Spinelli’s right. It had to be be me.”

Jason sat next to her, their knees brushing slightly.

“It was easier when I thought Jake was part of the feud. It made me angry,” Elizabeth admitted, “but I could live with it. This—knowing that Jake went through all of that—that you and Drew were targeted, God, even Robin’s part in this—” She paused. “It’s not my fault,” she repeated, “but I’m not sure how I feel about Helena using the people I love to hurt me.” She met his eyes. “Is this how you felt every time I was in danger because of your job? If I had never let Helena know how much you meant to me, she wouldn’t have gone after you.”

“Yeah.” Jason exhaled slowly. “Yeah. That’s exactly how it was. But you didn’t know she was out there, planning any of this, Elizabeth. You never knew I was in danger—that Jake would be part of it that way—”

“What if you’d known?” Elizabeth asked. She looked away. “What if you knew that being in a relationship with me made you a target? That Helena would try to kill you, that she would play with your brain, lock you in your own body, hurt your son—”

“You mean would I have chosen you anyway?” Jason asked. “The way you wanted to choose me?”

“Never mind—”

“Hey—” Jason stopped her as she started to move away. “No, it’s a valid question. I made the choice for you, and I never listened to the way you felt. Especially after Michael got shot. I thought maybe, a few months later—but the Russians—it just felt like everyone kept coming, and then Jake almost died. I decided it was better to be alone than to watch you or the boys get hurt. Because I knew the next time we might not be so lucky.”

“But you didn’t decide to be alone for long,” Elizabeth said, and he shook his head. “I mean, I didn’t either. But I never promised I would, Jason. You told me that you wanted a life with us. With me, Jake, and Cam. And then you gave that life to Sam—”

“I don’t think I did,” Jason said. “Elizabeth—”

She rolled her eyes and shoved herself to her feet, pacing over by tree. “Never mind. It’s not worth it now. It was almost ten years ago—”

“But we never talked about it, and I’m not sure I ever understood until I came home and found out Danny was my son.”

Elizabeth frowned at him. “What do you mean? What does Danny have to do with it?”

“The reason Sam is asking me to walk away from Danny is because of what happened when she was pregnant. You know that. I didn’t know if I could be a part of a child’s life. Any child,” he added. “Sam chose to think it was about Franco, and I think maybe I thought it was, too. But now I realize—I didn’t deserve to be anyone’s father. Not after I hadn’t been there for Jake.”

Elizabeth exhaled slowly, then nodded. “I wondered,” she murmured. “But I was afraid if I asked you—if I made it sound like that, it would be like I blamed you—”

“Don’t you? Didn’t you?” Jason pushed. “If I had stayed, would Jake have had the accident? Everything you went through with Lucky and Nikolas—”

“I made that mess on my own,” Elizabeth said. “And I was the one who wasn’t watching Jake, not you—”

“But I should have been there. And I wasn’t. And if I couldn’t have Jake, Elizabeth, I didn’t want any kids. I know I told Sam to get the surgery, but I never—” His mouth tightened. “I didn’t think it would work.”

“Oh.”

“And I know how it makes me sound,” Jason went on, “but I told you this was how I felt before I got shot. When we almost—”

“You said we’d made sacrifices for Jake,” Elizabeth remembered. “And that you didn’t think it was fair to him—” Her eyes burned. “Jason—”

“When you told me Sam’s son was alive, I knew he wasn’t mine. I knew that,” Jason continued, “but I thought—I couldn’t ever bring Jake back to you—but I could try to bring Danny home for Sam. I could do one thing right. And then maybe, I’d be okay with—I don’t know. Maybe I would finally feel forgiven.”

Tears slid down her cheeks. “Forgiven by who?” she asked softly. “Me? The world? God? Yourself? Jason—that’s not how any of this works.”

“I thought it was,” he said roughly. “But then I got shot before I figured out what I was going to do with the rest of my life—if Sam could ever forgive me, if I could even forgive myself—or if you could. Because I know you blamed me. You had to.”

“Maybe sometimes. But not nearly as much as I blamed myself.”

“I came home and Joss just said it in the middle of the conversation—oh, hey, Danny’s yours. The blood tests were wrong.” Jason looked at her, his eyes rimmed with red, his voice tinged with self-disgust. “When the test said that Danny was Franco’s son, it felt like I was still being punished for Jake. For not protecting Sam. But it’s not. It never was. It was just—I don’t know how it happened.”

“No one’s sure,” Elizabeth said faintly.  “Jason—”

“The tests were wrong, Joss told me. Danny’s your son. And it should have meant something to me. It did,” Jason said, quickly. “But I don’t know what it means. I remember holding him, bringing him back to Sam. I saw him on Halloween. And he’s—I don’t know what I’m supposed to think. How I’m supposed to feel. Because I told myself I didn’t deserve him. Sam thought it meant I didn’t want him—but that’s not true—”

He turned away, and Elizabeth went after him, putting a hand on his shoulder, drawing him back to face her. “When we lost Jake,” Elizabeth said, softly, “we both went a little crazy, I think, and getting him back didn’t fix it. It didn’t erase the guilt, the shame, fear—the complete belief that something we did took our little boy away from us. You know what I did. I went completely insane. Even without the trip Helena took me on—and you did what you always do. You took the weight of the world and you made it your own. Of course you deserved to be a father after losing Jake, Jason.”

“Did I?”

“When I found out I was pregnant with Aiden, and I thought he was Nikolas’s son,” Elizabeth said, “I nearly jumped off the roof of General Hospital because I knew that Lucky would never forgive me.”

Jason stared at her, stunned. “What—”

“I nearly killed myself and took my sweet baby with me. My Aiden, the boy who insists I have a home-baked cake every year for my birthday. I nearly gave him up. I nearly left Cameron and Jake completely alone. Because of my own misery.” Elizabeth reached up, wiped a stray tear from his cheek. “Did I deserve to keep being a mother?”

“Of course—” Jason closed his eyes. “Of course you did. You’re the best mother I know.”

“And maybe you haven’t been able to show Jake or Danny how much you love them,” Elizabeth said. “But that doesn’t mean you won’t ever. I know you better than that, Jason. Look at what you’ve done these last few weeks with Jake. You’ll get that chance with Danny. And maybe it won’t look the way it might have five years ago, but you are a good father.”

She framed his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. “We lost our son. The boy who came home isn’t the boy he would have been if he hadn’t been stolen from us. He’s not the boy he would have been if we’d been stronger and stayed together. But Jake is a miracle. He’s our miracle. I didn’t jump off that building, and I got a second chance to be a better mother. You didn’t die that night on the pier. Take this chance, Jason, and forgive yourself. You’re only human, and no one needs to remember that more than you do.”

Wyndemere: Study

Nina scowled as Valentin paced his study. “You’re not even listening to me,” she complained as her husband turned and stalked towards the window that overlooked the gardens. “I want to do something for our anniversary—”

Valentin forced himself to turn around with a smile pasted on his face. “Of course, darling. Plan whatever you want. Sky’s the limit.”

“I’ve had just about enough of you skulking around and ignoring me.” Nina folded her arms. “You’ve barely listened to me—is this about what I told you last month? To go find out what Helena did? You don’t talk to me anymore!” she complained.

“Nina—” Valentin hissed as his phone rang. “We’ll talk later—give me a second—” He looked at the identification. “You’d better have some damn news for me.”

“I do, Mr. Cassadine,” Joseph Klein said confidently. “I told you that we had put a trace into one of the last files we gave Mrs. Cassadine. As soon as it was opened—we’d be able to tell you where it was found.”

“Don’t congratulate yourself—just tell me—”

“It was opened this afternoon,” Klein continued, “on Royal Street where Laura Spencer lives. The men you have watching her reported that she went to her bank this morning and opened her safety deposit box. She took out a book.”

Valentin’s lips curved into a thin, humorless smile. “So she has the files.” He had a suspicion he knew exactly which book Laura had taken from the bank.

“Valentin,” Nina hissed. “What files?” He waved her off.

“She does, sir, but that’s not all. There’s still another trigger on the file that hasn’t gone off. That means the file was duplicated. Helena Cassadine sent a second copy of those files somewhere else.”

“Somewhere else—” Valentin narrowed his eyes, trying to focus. If Helena had sent one set of files to Laura Spencer through a bequest in the will— “I know where I need to look. It’s here in Port Charles. I’ll take care of it.”

“I’ve saved the best news for last, sir. We’ve found your mother’s lab — and one of the Cassadines you were looking for. We expect to wake him within the week.”

I wanna go home for Christmas
Let me go home this year
I don’t know what my future holds
Or who I’ll choose to love me
But I can tell you where I’m from
And who loved me to life
– Home for Christmas, Maria Mena

---

June 2015

Dublin, Ireland: The Brazen Head

It had taken Nikolas longer than he wanted to track down his wanderer of a brother. Nikolas had chased him through Cork, Belfast, and the West Counties before learning that Lucky had drifted back to Dublin and the Temple Bar district he called home these days.

He walked into the oldest pub in Ireland and wound his way through the cramped, dark hallways until he finally found the idiot in one of the back bars, grinning at the bartender as the man built him a Guinness.

“You could check your messages once in a while,” Nikolas said dryly as he sat on the stool next to his brother.

Lucky turned to him and clapped him on the shoulder as if it was no surprise at all to find Nikolas there. “Rory! Here’s the man I was just telling you about. Will you have a Guinness?”

“No,” Nikolas said flatly, but not wanting to draw attention to himself, he looked at the bartender. “Just a cider.”

“Aye, you be the prince, then?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Nikolas muttered. “Lucky, we need to talk—”

Lucky frowned and straightened, some of the mirth fading from his face. “Rory, we’ll grab a table.”

When they were tucked away in the corner, Nikolas rubbed his face. “We’ve got a problem. Maybe.”

“Is Mom okay? Elizabeth and the boys—they didn’t call—”

“How would you know?” Nikolas snapped, then bit it back. Took a deep breath. “You don’t check your messages, Lucky. How would Elizabeth even tell you if the boys were okay?”

“I just talked to them last week. Did something happen I don’t know about?”

“The boys are fine,” Nikolas muttered. It wasn’t Lucky’s fault that he was here. Lucky didn’t know the Faustian bargain Helena had forced him to accept.

He had too many balls in the air, and he wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to keep juggling them all.

A few more months. A few more weeks. He could do this. The most important part of all of this — Jake — it was finally going to happen. Helena was finally going to send the boy home.

Nikolas could handle anything else as long Elizabeth had her son back.

“I think it’s Helena.”

Lucky closed his eyes and sat back in the chair, his shoulders slumped. “Oh, man. I thought she was finally—we haven’t had any trouble in years.”

Idiot. A quiet Helena still breathed. She’d only been mustering her forces, gathering her army. “You know better.”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Lucky glanced up, grinned weakly at Rory as the man set their drinks on the table. When he’d left them, Lucky sighed. “What’s the problem?”

“I’d keep you out of it if I could,” Nikolas lied, “but I can’t get on the island without her knowing. It’s not in my skill set. You and Luke? You know that place backwards and forwards.”

“Nikolas, just tell me what the problem is,” Lucky said. “You’re dancing around it—”

Because as much as he wanted Jake at home with his mother, Nikolas knew returning him was just the next stage. He didn’t yet know what Helena was planning and he was terrified he wouldn’t find out until it was too late.

But he’d gone along with all of this to get Jake home. He’d sacrificed a piece of his soul—if not the entire thing—for this moment.  “I don’t know what’s going on, but the last time I was there, she was being secretive. She didn’t want me there, and I found out a few days ago she’d reopened the west wing.”

“The west wing,” Lucky repeated.

“We haven’t opened that part of the house since Uncle and I stopped living there full time,” Nikolas told him. “Since we moved to the States.” His mouth was dry as he finished it. “It’s where my father kept our mother.”

Lucky’s mouth was grim and he nodded. “Okay. Okay. So whatever she’s up to, I’ll find out. I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks.” Nikolas smiled weakly. He’d done it. He’d given Lucky the road map to finding Jake, just as Helena had wanted.

He only hoped he hadn’t made everything else worse.

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Greystone: Living Room

Drew turned away from Patrick and Robin to find himself face to face with Oscar, Jake, and Aiden — he frowned when he saw Jake’s worried face, and Oscar’s brows drawn together with concern. “Hey,” he said, nodding at them, putting a hand on Aiden’s shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“Uh—” Oscar stared at Drew blankly as if he hadn’t realized that he was so close to them. “Nothing. I mean—” He looked at Jake and Aiden. “Nothing, right?”

“We’re looking for my mom,” Jake said, tentatively. “Oscar said Cam is mad about something, and Jason went to talk to him, and Michael was supposed to get Mom, but he didn’t—”

Drew pressed his lips together. “I thought I saw her in the foyer earlier—” He craned his neck to see into the foyer, and caught sight of Michael’s blonde hair rising above the people around him—including Carly, Elizabeth, Spinelli—and Nelle. He winced. “I think she’s in the middle of something. How bad is it?”

“Uh, I don’t know really,” Oscar admitted. “Emma knows, but won’t tell anyone and I don’t really know why but I also don’t know her—”

“And Cam yelled at Trina.” Aiden’s eyes were wide. “He never yells at Trina.”

“He yelled at Joss, too,” Jake volunteered. “And Joss started yelling at Emma which only made Trina more mad, so Oscar said we should go somewhere—”

“Great,” Drew muttered. He’d been around the group of teens long enough to know that on a good day, Joss and Trina usually managed a level of civility because of Cameron. If it wasn’t Carly making a scene somewhere, he wasn’t surprised that her daughter was picking up the slack.

He searched the room for the trio of girls, but then exhaled in relief. He didn’t see Joss, but Trina and Emma looked upset.

“Oscar—” Drew looked at his son, feeling his frustration. Oscar was the new member of the group—he didn’t know the dynamics or personalities that made it function. “Does Jason have it handled or should I go get Elizabeth?”

“I think maybe—” Oscar paused. “I think it’s about that guy Lucky,” he said slowly. “Cam’s…um…” He squinted. “Whatever he is.”

“Daddy said something that made Cameron feel sad,” Aiden said glumly, and Jake put an arm around his younger brother. “Emma heard it, too, but no one will tell us what it was.” He rubbed a hand under his nose and sniffled. “Cam doesn’t call him Dad anymore. Maybe Daddy was sad about that,” he said to Jake. “And Cam felt bad.”

“Maybe,” Jake said dubiously. “But Cam stopped calling him that like two years ago and he didn’t seem to care.” He shrugged, then looked at Drew. “I don’t know, Uncle Drew. Cam’s weird sometimes. Maybe Mom can do something.”

“All right, I’ll get her.” Drew turned to Oscar, put a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for getting your cousins away from whatever was going on. You know sometimes Trina and Joss go overboard, and they don’t need to hear everything.”

“Yeah, I do,” Jake muttered. “How else do I get to know the good stuff?”

“No problem.” Oscar’s face brightened when Drew had called the younger boys his cousins. “We were thinking about raiding the desserts in the kitchen.”

“That’s a great idea,” Drew told him. “I’ll get Elizabeth, and we’ll get it take care of.” He started towards the foyer, then turned back to Oscar. “Hey, make sure you stick around. I’ll drive you home. I have something for you for Christmas.”

Oscar nodded. “Yeah, okay. That—would be great.” He paused. “Dad,” he said, testing out the word. “Maybe we could do something over the break. Like, a movie or something.”

“That sounds like a great idea. We’ll talk about on the way home,” Drew promised, and then went to extract Elizabeth from whatever drama Carly was creating.

Greystone: Foyer

Carly could hardly believe that Elizabeth Webber of all people was coming to her defense, and man did it piss her off that there was a slight chance Michael would believe the goody two shoes but she’d deal with that later.

“Nelle,” Michael said, slowly, “I know you and my mom don’t get along. I know she starts fights—”

“Oh, come on!” Carly said, throwing up her hands. “You just heard Elizabeth tell you that Nelle is lying—”

“No, I heard Elizabeth say Nelle came up to you. Which she admitted,” Michael told his mother. He looked at Elizabeth. “Did you hear the whole conversation?”

“Most of it,” Elizabeth said. “Nelle said something about attacking Carly because you love her. And Carly wanted her to admit that Nelle was lying about whatever happened before.”

“See!” Carly jabbed a finger at Nelle. “I told you! Nelle started it last time, and then lied about what happened. She told me you were moving in together—”

“I did not!” Nelle retorted. “And I get you’re trying to help,” she told Elizabeth with a roll of her eyes, “but you weren’t at the hotel. And you know how Carly can get! And how she tries to make herself look like the victim! Michael told me that she just did the same to you—”

Elizabeth hesitated, then looked at Carly who closed her eyes. Damn it. “That’s true,” the brunette said slowly. “But I don’t think that’s the case here. What’s between Carly and me—that’s between us. You were baiting her, Nelle. You admitted to exploiting her problems with Michael—and clearly, you know that Carly can be pushed into a confrontation. You just admitted it. So why did you come over to talk to her when she was avoiding you?”

Carly pursed her lips. That didn’t sound like a full-throated defense, but maybe it was best Elizabeth could muster given the circumstances. “Michael, I really was going out of my way tonight to be nice,” she said, shifting her tone but then scowling as she heard a whine in her voice. Damn it. “I promised you—”

“Yeah, well—” Michael exhaled slowly, then looked at his girlfriend. “Maybe you should just stop trying to make things better,” he told Nelle, and Carly wanted to murder her. Just grab the candelabra that was on the table by the stairs and bash the little bitch’s head in—

“Not worth it,” Elizabeth muttered, and Carly squinted at her. How did she know—

“Fine. Obviously, your mother only believes in second chances when it comes to her,” Nelle said darkly, folding her arms. “No one else ever gets to make a mistake or hurt anyone without having to pay for it forever—”

“You didn’t just make a mistake—” Carly stopped because it wasn’t going to change anything. Michael knew everything Nelle had done—how much worse she’d made that terrible time after they’d lost Morgan, and if he didn’t care—if that didn’t matter to him—

She couldn’t force him to see what Nelle was trying to do to them. He’d have to learn this lesson on his own.

“Let’s go,” Michael said to Nelle. “This was a bad idea.”

“I’m sorry,” Nelle said as he led her away. “I just wanted to help…”

Carly glared after them, watching as Michael and Nelle put on their coats and scarves and left.

“I don’t know her, but I also don’t think I like her,” Spinelli said finally as Elizabeth sighed and looked at Carly.

“I’m sorry. I really thought Michael would listen to me. I know Nelle was baiting you, Carly—”

“I knew she was, too,” Carly said, rubbing her temple. “But I let her do it anyway. And Michael—well, if he’s not going to take it from you, there’s no way he’ll ever believe me.” She didn’t understand it—she knew that she’d never been the best person, and the lie about AJ had been a terrible one—but did she really deserve to be treated like this? To have the woman who had caused her so much misery and grief shoved in her face?

“Thank you,” Carly told Elizabeth. “For trying. I—you didn’t have to do that. I’m surprised you’re not on Nelle’s side.”

“You and I have our history, Carly,” Elizabeth told her. “And it’s always going to make it hard for us to be around each other. We know too much,” she said with a rueful smile. “But I also know what it is to grieve a child, and what Nelle did to you was unforgivable. I’ve lost a lot of respect for Michael.” She winced. “Not that I have a lot of room to talk with my history—”

“What history?” Drew asked as he joined them. He frowned “What happened to Michael and Nelle?”

“Oh, big bad Carly chased them away,” Carly said with a huff. “You know how I am.”

“Yeah, but—” Drew frowned at her, then looked at Elizabeth. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but Cameron’s upset about something. He yelled at Trina and Joss, then went onto the terrace—Michael was supposed to get you—”

“What happened?” Elizabeth asked. “Is he still out there?”

“Yeah, Jason went after him, but he wanted you brought in. Elizabeth—” Drew stopped her as she started across the room. “It’s about Lucky. He overheard something, but I don’t know what. Apparently, he and Emma both aren’t talking—” As Elizabeth’s face paled, his eyes narrowed. “You know what it is.”

“Lucky and I had a fight the day Emma came over to visit. I thought she and Cam were upstairs playing video games with the boys, but—” Elizabeth closed her eyes, pressed her hands to her face. “Oh, God. Oh, please tell me he didn’t hear it. Please.”

“I hate to tell you, but based on how he’s reacting—he overheard something pretty damn terrible.”

Greystone Manor: Terrace

Cameron couldn’t believe he’d said any of that crap to Jason of all people and as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to call them back—he wanted to crawl inside of himself and shrivel up. To die of mortification and embarrassment.

“I’m fine,” Cameron said tightly as Jason just looked at him. “You don’t need to talk to my mom about this. I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine,” Jason said slowly. “But it’s not my place to tell your mom about anything you just said. But she needs to know, Cam. And you need to talk to her.”

“She’ll just feel bad,” Cameron muttered. He stared out over the city, wishing he was anywhere else. “She’ll feel bad for wanting to be happy, and she already feels bad enough about what happened with Franco. And with Drew a few years ago. Mom’s been messed up since Jake’s accident. I’m not sure she’s even okay now.” He grimaced, feeling the sting of shame. “That’s not fair. She’s fine. She’s great—”

“Jake came home, but that doesn’t take away the years we lost,” Jason told Cameron. “And how it changed all of us. I know your mom struggled, and I wasn’t there for her. You’re right. I walked away from Jake. From you and your mom. And I—I wasn’t much better when I knew Sam was pregnant with Danny. None of what you said was wrong, Cam—”

“It’s not my business—”

“It is when it affected you,” Jason told him, and Cameron was stunned into silence. “My choices made your mom unhappy. I know that. I thought they were the right ones, but by the time I realized they weren’t—it was too late. And then Jake had his accident, and I just felt like I’d done enough damage. But not all fathers leave.”

“I know that,” Cameron said. He rubbed the side of his face. “That was stupid to say. I don’t even think that. It’s just—” He shook his head. “I should be relieved. Lucky stopped giving a damn about me because he’s a shitty person, not because I wasn’t a good son. But—” He paused. “But I can’t seem to really let it go.”

“Because you still wonder why he couldn’t look past the biology and love you anyway,” Jason said in a rough voice, and Cameron looked at him. “I’m sorry, Cam. That he couldn’t.”

“Yeah, well, I feel stupid now,” Cameron confessed. “I should have just told Trina and Joss all of this. Instead, I made a scene, and I just—” He looked at Jason. “Look, you’re right. I’ll talk to my mom. But Christmas—it’s her thing, you know? She loves this time of year. And Aiden still believes.” He paused. “Can you just—can you leave it at that?”

“Yeah,” Jason said with a slow nod. “Yeah, I can leave it at that. Come on, let’s go back into the party—”

“I—” Cameron put up a hand. “I just want to go in alone. I gotta find Trina and talk to her. And I just—no offense, but you’re not my dad. You never pretended before. Don’t start now. I’m glad you’re home, and that you’re here for Jake. And I’m happy to hang out with you because Jake likes it. But I’m not your son.”

“All right.” Jason nodded. “I’ll wait out here for a while.”

Cameron went inside, closing the terrace door behind him, not even noticing the shadow in the corner that moved.

“Joss,” Jason said with a sigh as Carly’s daughter stalked towards him. “Did you follow me out here?”

“Uh, yeah, because Cameron wouldn’t tell me what was going on, and now I am pissed,” Joss said through clenched teeth. “That no good, lying rotten, piece of crap—” She yanked out her phone and pulled a group text.

“Joss, Cam wants to handle this on his own—”

“Yeah, well, he’ll have to suck it up.”

To Trina, Emma, and Oscar, she texted, i got the story don’t tell cam bc we need to talk after xmas we got a little bitch to destroy

Trina replied, emma told me truce back on we gotta fuck this boy up

Jason sighed as her fingers flashed across her phone, typing furiously. “Just don’t do anything you need to be bailed out for. It’s Christmas.”

“Don’t worry, I never get caught,” Joss said confidently as she sauntered back into the party.

Greystone Manor: Living Room

Elizabeth wound her away through the crowded living room, making her way towards the terrace—but halfway across the room, she saw the door open and Cameron came in. She stopped, trying to take in his mood—

He went over to talk to Trina and Emma, and said something to Trina. Trina rolled her eyes, then hugged him. Cameron smiled and—Elizabeth couldn’t tell from where she was — but maybe this wasn’t the time or place for this conversation.

“You okay?” Sonny asked, coming up to her with a glass of wine in his hand. He held it out. “You look worried.”

“I’m—” Elizabeth sighed, took the wine. “I’m fine. I think Cameron and I need to talk about something, but it’ll keep for tonight.” She looked back at him, squinting slightly. “You need to keep an eye on Nelle.”

Sonny tilted his head, quizzical. “What?”

“I have my issues with Carly, you know that. But Nelle—” Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “She’s manipulating Michael and Carly. I just watched Nelle corner Carly, attack and push her into a fight, and then by the time Michael got there, she found a way to make herself the victim, and she didn’t even have to lie to do it.”

Sonny sighed, then sipped his bourbon. “It’s been hard for Carly to see Michael with Nelle. You know she’s not always the most—” He hesitated. “Well, stable isn’t the right word, but—”

“I know. And I told Carly that our problems are what they are, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t see what Nelle just did. You need to keep an eye on it,” she repeated. “Because Nelle’s working very hard to put a wedge between Carly and Michael. And—well, I know you and Michael are mostly okay now—”

“But she won’t have to work very hard to separate Michael from either of us,” Sonny said with a slow nod. “Yeah, you’re not wrong there.” He frowned. “You think she’s planning something?”

“I just—I don’t know. It kind of—oh, man this is going to sound terrible—” Elizabeth sighed. “But it kind of reminds me when Sam—when she and Lucky had the affair the summer Jake was kidnapped? Not that I was innocent in any of that,” she added hastily, “since my marriage was pretty much over anyway.” She huffed. “That’s not what I’m talking about. It was just the way Sam always manage to twist everything I said or did to make me look like the bad guy. Maxie used to do it, too.”

“Uh, yeah, well, Sam was a damn good con artist, and I think the steal a married man thing was her bread and butter,” Sonny reminded her.  “Speaking of Sam, you need to make sure he doesn’t let Sam get away with this crap.”

Mystified, Elizabeth frowned at him. “What? I know she filed for divorce before he could, but—”

“Jason didn’t tell you?” Sonny asked. When she shook her head, he muttered something under his breath. “One of these days,” he said, his voice normal again, “I’m really gonna smack him. Look, he might not bring it up, but you need to know that Sam’s using Jake in all of this.”

Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed, and her fingers tightened dangerously around the stem of her wine glass. “I think you’d better tell me what the hell is going on.”

Davis House: Living Room

Sam forced a smile on her face as Danny glumly unwrapped the new video game that Molly and TJ had given him. “That’s pretty cool, right?”

“Yeah.” Danny sighed, then smiled at his aunt. “It’s cool. I played it at Jake’s the last time I was at his house.” He looked at his mother. “Maybe Jake could come over and play it with me now.”

Alexis raised her brows as Sam sighed. “Yeah, maybe. I’ll call Elizabeth,” she said finally. “We’ll see what we can do.”

Danny brightened. “Great! But Daddy should do it. He probably misses Jake a lot, too.” Danny looked at Molly and TJ. “TJ, do you gotta big brother?”

“No, I’m an only child,” TJ said, “but you’re lucky. You get to be a little brother and a big brother, right?”

“Right,” Danny nodded as he reached for another gift. “Jake told me that the most important job for a big brother is make sure no one ever hurts Scout. Only I get to mess with her. Cam told him that. Cam taught Jake everything about being a big brother.”

“Right,” Sam said faintly. She pulled out her phone and pulled up Drew’s name in her text messages. With a sigh, she started to type.

Miss u. Come to my mom’s, please?

Almost two minutes later, the delivered message beneath the text changed to Read at 8:08 PM. Then nothing.

Drew didn’t respond, and Sam’s heart felt heavy. She’d tried so hard to protect herself, to protect the life she’d built—

But her mother was right. The only thing Sam had ended up doing was taking a flamethrower to everyone else. Danny was miserable without his brother, Drew was sleeping in the guest room, and Jason—

Jason had been probably been devastated by the papers she’d sent him. Even if Sam still thought he deserved them—maybe she could admit to herself that the Jason of five years ago had deserved them. The Jason that had abandoned her and hurt so badly after she’d been raped by Franco and thought Danny was his son—

The Jason that had been kidnapped and trapped inside his own body and mind — well, maybe he’d deserved a little bit better from her.

“I’m heading over to Dad’s now,” Kristina told her softly. Sam looked up at her. “You want me to say anything to him?”

“Just—” Sam sighed, looked over at Danny helping Scout unwrap her gifts with a gleeful smile. “Just that the kids miss him. And that we need to get Danny and Jake together.”

“Got it.”

“Thanks, Krissy,” Sam said as Kristina got to her feet.

“It’s Christmas,” Kristina said with a shrug. “Even I can’t be a bitch twenty-four seven. I’ll text with you any news.”

Greystone Manor: Master Bedroom

It was nearly midnight before the party had broken up, and Sonny found himself in his bedroom, watching as Carly sat at her vanity table, carefully removing her jewelry and makeup.

“Elizabeth said something happened with Nelle tonight,” Sonny said, sitting on the edge of the bed, meeting his wife’s eyes in the mirror. “She said I need to keep my eye on things because Nelle reminds her of Sam going after Lucky, the way she’d twist things in her favor.”

“I think…” Carly said after a minute, “I almost understand why Jason keeps her around.” With a slight smile that didn’t reach her eyes, she continued, “She doesn’t like me. I’ve never given her much of a reason to, and after what happened at her house, I wouldn’t expect her to help me across the street. But she came over to and tried to tell Michael Nelle was lying.”

Carly twisted on the bench, her dark eyes somber. “But if Michael doesn’t even believe Elizabeth—someone I know he does trust—what use is there in me even trying to get through to him? Nelle will just keep making me look like the bad guy.”

“Michael has to make his own mistakes,” Sonny told her. “I’m not wild that Nelle is the mistake he’s choosing to make, but all we can do is watch out for him and be there when it’s over, you know?”

“I know. I think—” Carly sighed. “He doesn’t believe me, Sonny. Even when I’m telling the truth.” Her eyes were damp as they met his again. “And I don’t have anyone to blame but myself, do I?”

“No,” Sonny admitted roughly. “But he doesn’t trust me either, Carly, and that’s on me. We really messed up three years ago. I just hope like hell it’s not Michael who ends up paying for it.”

Penthouse: Danny’s Bedroom

“Good night,” Drew said as he tucked the covers under Danny’s arms and knelt down next to him.

“We put out the cookies, right?” Danny asked, his voice slurred as he shifted, already sliding into slumber. “And the milk?”

“We did, but I’ll check again,” Drew told him, sliding his hair off his forehead. He looked across the bed at Sam who tucked in another corner of Danny’s comforter. “We’ll see you in the morning, buddy. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry…” But Danny was already asleep, and the final word was lost to dreams. Sam switched on his night light, then the two of them went into the hallway and carefully closed the door.

Drew followed her down stairs. “I put the presents in the closet under the stairs,” he told her. “Yesterday, when you were at the park with Danny—”

“Oh, good.” Sam folded her arms, then bit the corner of her thumb. “We should wait a few hours to put them out,” she told him. “You know, in case he wakes up.”

“Yeah.”

They stood there in awkward silence, and Drew finally broke it. “Krissy told me you want to get Jake and Danny together. Does that mean you’re ready to talk—”

“I don’t know what I’m ready for,” Sam said. “But Danny loves Jake. And I know—” She sighed. “I know if you ask Jake not to talk to Danny much about what’s going on, he’ll do it for you.”

“Sam—”

“I don’t want to fight, I really don’t. Not tonight.” She closed her eyes. “But I just—I don’t know how to tell Danny that you’re not his father. I don’t want him to lose you, Drew. I don’t think blood makes a father—”

“No, but—”

“And we can argue all you want after this is over,” Sam told him, opening her eyes again, meeting his gaze. “But not tonight. I just want to pretend that everything is okay?”

“Sam—”

“I know what you’re going to say,” Sam said. “It’s not okay, and we can’t keep pretending. And I get that. But if this—” Her eyes were damp. “But if this is it, Drew, if we can’t make this work, then can we just give Danny the next few days?”

“Yeah,” Drew said finally, with a slow nod. “Yeah. I’m not saying we can’t make it work, Sam—”

“No, but I think I might be saying it,” she murmured. “You’re right. We can’t go back, but I’m not sure I want to go forward either.”

Webber House: Living Room

Elizabeth decided not to talk to Cameron or Jason that night about what had happened at the party. Cameron had looked tired, and Jason hadn’t looked like he was in the mood to talk about the custody arrangements with Danny—

So instead, she put it aside. Cameron and the boys went upstairs, and Elizabeth waited until she knew Cameron had done a good job of distracting them so she could drag the gifts out of the crawl space to arrange around the tree.

Jason had volunteered to put together new bikes she’d bought for Jake and Aiden—they’d both outgrown their old ones, and she didn’t want Aiden to feel like he was always getting hand me downs the way Elizabeth had growing up.

“There’s a baking set,” she told Jason as he rolled Jake’s bike in front of the tree. “In the crawl space. I can’t lift it—”

“I got it.”  A minute later, Jason set the large box near the bike, then looked at the tree for a long moment as Elizabeth finished arranging the gifts under the tree, making sure the gifts were arranged haphazardly to slow the boys down as they raced through them.

“Jake and Aiden always crash with Cameron on Christmas Eve,” Elizabeth told Jason. “I mean, they always did when they were little, but Cameron made it a thing when Jake came home to help him that first year. So their rooms are free. If you wanted to be here when Jake wakes up—”

“I’d like that,” Jason said as he sat on the edge of the arm chair. “Thanks.” He paused. “Thanks for coming tonight. Sonny said you and Carly were okay?”

“We managed. We’ll never be close—not really—but we love our kids, and we both—” Elizabeth looked at him. “You matter to both of us,” she finally said. “So we’ll figure it out.” She hesitated. “I know something happened with Cameron tonight, but I decided not to ask him. Should I?”

“Make some time for him in the next few days,” Jason told her. “He doesn’t know how much he’s gonna need it, but he needs to get it out with you. I kept trying to get you, but he wasn’t ready tonight.”

Kneeling at the base of the tree, Elizabeth looked up at the twinkling lights, at the paper chains she’d made with her boys, at the angel on top, looking over things. “He heard Lucky, didn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

Her throat felt impossibly tight as she squeezed her eyes closed. “Oh, God.” She pressed her hands to her face. “Oh, God—”

“Hey—” Jason slid off the arm chair and joined her on the floor. “Hey, don’t—”

“I never ever wanted any of my kids to feel the way I did—” The sobs bubbled up, but she tried to force them down. “To feel like they weren’t loved, that there was something wrong with them, some reason they couldn’t measure up—but I did it—I did it to them—”

“You didn’t do anything—”

“I brought Lucky into Cameron’s life, didn’t I? Into Jake’s? I promised you he’d be a good father, and he was—he was for a long time—” Elizabeth pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. “But I don’t know what I did wrong—he loved Cameron, he did. And I know he loved Jake. I don’t believe he just saw Zander one day and stopped. I can’t believe it—”

“I don’t know what what the hell was going through Lucky Spencer’s brain, I never did understand him,” Jason muttered. “But I know he loved them. I saw him with the boys, Elizabeth. I never would have agreed to let things stay the way the way they were if I didn’t think Jake had two parents who loved him.”

“Yeah, well, I keep making those mistakes, don’t I? Lucky, Drew—God, Franco—what an idiot—” She closed her eyes. “And I tell myself that I’ll do better next time, but Drew—lying about Jake Doe was such a selfish choice. Such a terrible, destructive thing to do, and I told myself every day that it had to stop, but he was here, and I thought—he was supposed to be you, and it was supposed to finally be my chance, and when Jake came home, I thought it was  a sign—” Her shoulders started to shake, and Jason drew her close, putting an arm around her shoulder.

“Hey—”

“And it’s insane because he was never you, and I never really felt like he was—but he loved the boys—”

“Elizabeth—”

“But everything blew up, and it kept spiraling out of control—Jake was in another car accident, he almost died again—and then the house blew up, and Tom Baker, oh, God, he came back—” Elizabeth closed her eyes, forced herself to stop. “I’m sorry. This—this isn’t about me. This is about Cameron. And making it about me is how I got him into this mess—”

“Cameron knows how much you love him, Elizabeth. The last thing he’d ever want to do is hurt you—”

“He’s just a baby, Jason. He shouldn’t be worried about protecting me! It’s not his job to make sure I’m all right! That’s my job! I’m supposed to protect him!”

“And you do. Every day, Elizabeth.” Jason took her by the shoulders, forced her to look at him. “I remember how scared you were when you left Ric, and you were having Cameron. You came back from California, and you were determined that you’d give him the best life. And you did that. You became a nurse, and I know you and Lucky were happy before the drugs.”

“We were—he was a good father.” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “He was. He loved Cameron. I might have ruined everything with Lucky by trying to put our family back together, and with Nikolas—but Lucky was the one that let it sour things for him with Cameron and Jake. He’s the one that left town. Not me.” She exhaled slowly. “I can take on the guilt for what happened to my relationship with Lucky in the end, but he’s the one that started it all. With Maxie, the drugs, with Sam—”

Jason winced, as he sat back. “Yeah, well—I never liked him.”

Elizabeth laughed, though it sounded more like a hysterical sob. “No, I know that.” She sighed, wiped her cheeks. “Well, I’m glad I had to chance get my hysterics out before Cameron talks to me. He doesn’t need my crazy.”

“You would have dealt with with it, Elizabeth,” Jason told her as he got to his feet, then pulled her up. “You always do. You’ve made mistakes, but no one can say you’re not a great mother. The reason Cameron wants to protect you is that you taught him that’s what family does. You’re nothing like your parents. Not one of your boys has ever doubted for a minute that you love them.”

Cause if one day you wake up and find that you’re missing me
And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I could be
Thinkin’ maybe you’ll come back here to the place that we’d meet
And you’ll see me waiting for you on our corner of the street
So I’m not moving, I’m not moving
– The Man Who Can’t Be Moved, The Script

---

November 2015

Cassadine Estate: Helena’s Bedroom

It was over. After living with the specter, the phantom of his grandmother for his entire life, Nikolas had finally done what was necessary. What was right — he’d ended the nightmare for them all.

She wouldn’t be able to come back this time.

“I couldn’t do it,” he confessed softly. “I couldn’t be the man you wanted me to be. I tried. I tried to find that darkness, that evil—but it isn’t me. And now it’s over.” He removed the pillow from her face and set it on the side of the bed.

He left the room, left Helena’s body to cool, ready to get on with his life.

When the door had closed with a quiet snick, Helena’s eyes opened.  Her eyes narrowed, her mouth pinched. “You have betrayed me for the last time—”

“Now where have I heard that before?”

She shifted, turned her head slightly to find Valentin melting out of the shadows. Her heartbeat began to pick up. She hadn’t seen Valentin in several months. Since she’d learned that her body—cursed frail human body—was failing her.

“Valentin, I am so pleased you’re here. You were right, of course,” she said briskly, determined to turn this situation to her benefit. “Now, help me out of this bed—” Her hand, shaking with the effort, reached out to him. “There’s much to be done before this body fails. I must be sure—”

“Oh, Mother, I’m so sorry.” Valentin removed a syringe from his pocket and Helena focused on it like a laser.  “You see, I’m finished with your plans, with your promises.” He pressed down on her shoulder and Helena was pushed back to the bed.

“Valentin, please—”

“Whatever you wanted to happen with Jason Morgan, with the son, the Spencers, the Webber girl—it’s over. And my revenge,” Valentine said with a smile, “my justice will come from denying you yours.”

“Valentin—”

“And when you are dead—for real this time,” he added as Helena struggled, tried to force herself out of the bed, but she simply couldn’t. She didn’t have the strength. “You will die knowing that your precious Nikolas will soon follow, and I will have everything I deserve. And he will have nothing.”

Valentine uncapped the syringe, tested it. “Any final words, Mother Dear?”

“Just this. My death will begin the next stage,” she threatened. “I have already begun the rest of it. The Chimera, the revenge, my return—you can’t stop it—”

“Maybe,” Valentin considered as he picked up the line for her IV and casually inserted the needle, pressing his thumb against the plunger. “But I’ve found your trigger, Mother. Cassandra? I’ve dealt with her.”

Helena laughed then, even as she felt her heart begin to slow, her lungs begin to seize. “You—you—think she was—you think there’s just the one…foolish boy…”

Her eyes closed, and Helena Cassadine died as she’d lived, with secrets and lies on her lips. Valentin stared at her corpse for a long time before putting the syringe back in his pocket and leaving the room.

Whatever Helena had planned, he would take care of it. He would find all her secrets, dispose of the troublesome Nikolas, and finally take his rightful position — as the true Cassadine heir.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Devane Manor: Living Room

“The new position doesn’t start until February,” Robin said as her father sat down next to her on the sofa, “but that’s good because we need time to put the house on the market and turn in our notice.”

“I want you back in town,” Anna told her daughter, wincing as her bruised ribs protested. “But I also want you to be safe—”

“If you’re dealing with Cassadines, it doesn’t matter where I am,” Robin told her mother. “I’ll be safer here, where I know what’s going.”

“Well, it’s great that Patrick will have a job,” Robert said dryly, “but what will you do? You went out there for research—”

“Oh, well, that I took care of that at the Christmas Eve party you tried to keep me from going to,” Robin teased. She sipped her coffee. “I pulled in a favor from Sonny and asked him to fund my research. I’m setting up a teleconference with Laura and the board next week to finalize it.”

“About time Corinthos came in handy for something,” Robert muttered. He put his hands on his knees and looked across the coffee table at Anna. “So any word from Spinelli about those documents? We’re blind until we know what was in those files—”

“He was able to save almost everything,” Anna said, “but there’s a encryption key.” She scowled. “And Andre isn’t in the mood to do me any favors at the moment. Spinelli’s trying to sort out the files individually—”

“What are we hoping to find?” Robin asked. “I mean, we know who did this, don’t we? Valentin knew about the clinic. He sent Ava there. He did this—why can’t Frisco just—” She made a face. “I don’t know, arrest him?”

“Frisco has what he wants,” Anna told her. “Andre back in the fold. This memory experiment is on us to figure out. I’m not sure I’m interested in confronting Valentin until I know what he’s looking for. If it’s anything as lethal as the Chimera toxin last year, we don’t want him finding it first. And there’s still the matter of wondering what else Helena Cassadine has out there. There’s no telling what we’ll unleash if we act without all the information.”

Robin sighed. “It just feels like we’re going into circles, and the only lead we have is in pieces. Also—your car—”

“Don’t remind me,” Anna muttered. “I wish we knew what Helena had done with her files. I can’t believe she would have gone to her death without doing something with them—she always had back up plans—”

“Well, who would Helena have trusted?” Robin wanted to know. “Victor was dead. Nikolas is—” She paused. “He’s gone now.”

Robert furrowed his brow. “You know,” he said slowly, “we’re not thinking like Helena, we’re thinking like one of us. A good guy. We turn to allies. But if Helena wanted to protect herself from Valentin—”

“She might have turned to his enemy,” Anna said, straightening, then wincing again. “I’m getting too bloody old for this.”

“Valentin hates you, Mom—”

“But I’m not someone Helena would be interested in. And neither would your father. Helena asked Luke to help her with protection from Valentin, oh, nearly, a decade ago now.”

“I know Spencer is getting rusty in his old age,” Robert said, “but I don’t think he would have missed a message from Helena.”

“Unless he’s not telling you. Luke always did keep his own secrets,” Robin reminded him. “It’s one of the reasons you stopped working with him. He always put himself first. And if Helena wasn’t just protecting herself, but maybe Nikolas—”

“Laura.” Anna hissed as she pushed herself to her foot. “Bloody hell. It’s been sitting in front of us for ages. Where is my phone?”

“Mom—what are you talking about?”

“Helena’s will!”

General Hospital: Cafeteria

Patrick sighed as he looked around the old stomping grounds before looking across the table at his best friend, gingerly stirring her coffee. “Is the coffee is bad as it used to be?”

“You’ve only been gone for two years. You think we performed miracles?” Elizabeth asked. She smirked, then sipped the disgusting liquid. “It’s sweet that you can still have optimism.”

“Ha.” Patrick hesitated. “We haven’t really had a chance to catch up since I came back, and we’re flying back tonight—”

“I know,” Elizabeth said, with a wistful smile, “but you’ll be back in a few weeks, right? I’m so happy you’re coming home.”

“Me, too. California was good. We needed a break. Needed to get our heads on straight,” Patrick said. “You know, just me, Robin, the kids. And Noah—he’s amazing. I can’t wait for you to get to know him like you know Emma.”

“I’m going to spoil him rotten, just you wait.” Elizabeth paused. “But I know what you mean. Those last few months before you left—things were so crazy. There were so many times I just wanted to tell you what was going on—” She pressed her lips together. “But I knew you’d make me tell the truth.”

“I don’t know about that,” Patrick admitted. “I would have had the same fears about Sam. You know, exactly what ended up happening,” he reminded her. “Sam found out Jason was alive and went straight to him. I’m—” He frowned. “I’m surprised it’s not happening now.”

“I’m sure it will eventually,” Elizabeth admitted. She pushed her salad around on her plate with a fork. “I think she’s backing down on the divorce. On Christmas, Drew introduced Jason and Danny, and Sam didn’t burn down the the world, so—” She hesitated, then looked up to meet his concerned gaze. “Am I the dumbest woman alive for getting involved with Jason again?”

“Is that actually happening?” Patrick asked. “I thought you looked like you were a thing at the party, but I didn’t want to ask.”

“I mean, we haven’t—” Elizabeth stopped, trying to put together the right words. “We haven’t said anything. Or done anything. But I also know Jason. And I know me. We’ve been here before. We’re spending a lot of time together. Talking. All the things we always do right before—” She paused. “Exactly the way we were right before he decided to go back to Sam before he got shot on the pier.”

“Ah. And now Sam might be defrosting on the divorce thing—which is what she did the last time you and Jason were in this position which led you to do something very stupid,” he reminded her, and Elizabeth flushed. “Hey, no judgment here. I’m the King of Stupid. You can be the queen,” he added.

“I don’t know. Part of me thinks it’s like that,” Elizabeth admitted. “If Sam had been—I don’t know—more open to him when he came home a few months ago—if Carly hadn’t gone kind of crazy with the AJ stuff being brought up—Jason wouldn’t really have needed me—” She hesitated. “Or am I talking myself in circles again?”

“No one does it like you, Webber.” Patrick raised his water bottle to her and she clinked it with her coffee cup in a mock toast. “Look, here’s the thing — I think you will always deserve better than Jason Morgan. But I also thought that about Lucky Spencer. And Ewen. And Ric—”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Don’t start—”

“And Nikolas. And we don’t even need to talk about Franco, do we? Because that shit would not have happened if I had been here.” Patrick stabbed a finger at her. “And you didn’t tell me about it for months because you knew I would have hopped on plane, came here, and fixed it. Or dragged you to California kicking and screaming until you got your head on straight.”

“I wish you had, but Patrick—”

“Practically the only person on this planet that is good enough for you is, well, me—” He flashed her his famous dimples. “And you had your chance, baby.”

“Yeah, I was married the last time you hit on me,” Elizabeth reminded him with another roll of her eyes. “And you had the bruise from the clipboard for two days to make sure you remembered.”

“That aside, all I want is for you to be happy, Webber. That’s it. Full stop. And if this time, Jason is gonna put on his big boy pants and not run from someone who challenges him to be a better person, then maybe you need to give him a chance. I mean, he’s been through some pretty bad shit these last few years. I guess he’s earned a Mulligan on what happened five years ago. He should have picked you. Every time.”

“But he didn’t,” Elizabeth said softly. “He always went back to her. And I always went back to Lucky—”

“And did you go back to Lucky because you were desperately in love with him?” Patrick asked, raising his brows. “Or because you were lonely, he was there, and it was comfortable?” When she just looked down at her coffee, he nodded. “Sometimes it’s about love, and sometimes it’s just about not being brave enough to change. Whatever it is, if he hurts you again, I’m gonna put him back in that coma.”

“Patrick—”

“You think I’m not serious? I’m a surgeon—I can just—” Patrick made a twist with his hands. “He won’t even know it.”

“Stop.” Elizabeth smiled, then raised her coffee to her lips. “I really love you. You know that, right?”

“Right back at ya, babe. You and me, we’re gonna run this place in a few more years. The Dream Team is going to be back together.”

Kelly’s: Diner

Robin beamed at she wound her way through the busy tables to find Jason at the back waiting for her. She hugged him tightly when he stood up to greet her. “I’m so glad you could make time for me today!”

“I don’t have a lot going on right now,” Jason said easily as they took their seats. “You said you had something you wanted to tell me.”

“Well, I want to get caught up,” Robin said, “but I need to start with what my mother is working on. She’s meeting with Laura Spencer—” She checked her watch. “In about an hour.”

“Why?” Jason demanded.

“Nothing concrete yet. After Helena died, she left this key to Laura,” Robin told him. “It happened after Patrick and I moved, but Mom said it was super weird and cryptic. It was supposed to be a key to something she’d loved and lost. It ended up opening this box in the attic that was one of Scott’s law books. She worked with Kevin to try and figure it out, but then Nikolas died, and Kevin was shot—and I don’t know what happened after that. Neither did Mom.”

“But how could that—” Jason frowned. “Why would that have anything to do with this?”

“I don’t know. But Helena had to do something with her files,”  Robin said. “And the only person I think she ever loved was Stavros. And Nikolas, some of the time. Who else would protect Nikolas like Laura? If Andre hid a thumb drive full of files, why wouldn’t Helena? Mom said she or Laura would call you if they came up with something.”

Jason made a face as he picked up his coffee. He hated waiting for something to happen. “Is that it?”

“No, that’s just the new stuff. I actually wanted to follow up with something my mom said about Britt Westbourne.”

“Faison’s daughter?”

“And a general pain in the ass, yeah. Mom said she used my protocol to wake you up a few months ago, but she didn’t say why.”

“That’s what Luke and Lucky told us,” Jason said with a nod.

“The timing of this is freaking me out, and you know how I feel about timelines and things making sense. I need this to make sense,” Robin told him. “I developed that protocol in 2014. Victor wouldn’t let me near you—who I thought was you—” she added, “until I’d woken up Stavros and Helena. And I woke up Drew that June or July. The days kind of got mixed up a little, so I don’t know for sure. Victor died later that fall, but Helena had that protocol for years.”

Jason tipped his head. “So why didn’t she use it on me? Why did they leave me in the coma?”

“Do we know that they actually did?” Robin wanted to know. “I mean, Britt’s not exactly trustworthy. I believe that she woke you last year, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t awake before then. How would we know? That’s a question for another time,” she said when Jason opened his mouth. “It’s not the most important question to ask right now.”

“What is?”

“Let’s say that you were actually in that coma until last winter,” she said. “I worked with that protocol. I know how that coma worked. You wouldn’t have woken up on your own, so I believe Britt did it. But why? Was Faison actually involved, and if he was, why did he want you awake now? After all these years? Why did Klein want you awake now? Why did Valentin send Ava to the clinic? And did Klein keep it from Valentin all these months?”

“I—” Jason furrowed his brow. “Why would he do that?”

“He wouldn’t. Unless he was working for someone else which might be the person Valentin is looking for,” Robin said. “It might explain why Valentin just let everything drop after you were revealed but went after my mother when he found out we might have information from Andre Maddox.”

Jason sat back, thought it through. “We’ve wondered why Valentin would send Ava to the clinic if he knew I was up and around. I thought maybe I’d woken up on my own. But you’re right — if Britt Westbourne was using that protocol to wake me up, Valentin would have known.”

“If Valentin was the only guy in this. We can’t forget that Britt is also Faison’s daughter, and he’s the one that arranged for your kidnapping in the first place,” she reminded him. “We’ve assumed that was on Helena or Victor’s orders, but maybe Faison was working on something.” She paused. “I know this probably isn’t great news. We really don’t want to think about another big bad out there, but if we’re waiting to act on Valentin because we don’t have all the pieces—”

“We can’t complain when the pieces lead us other places. Yeah, I know. I hate the Cassadines,” he muttered. “If this were anyone else—”

“It would already be over. I know, I’m familiar with your success rate,” Robin said dryly. “But this is the Cassadines. You and I have dabbled in this, but I think we’re right to listen to people who’ve been in this longer. Laura and my dad — they’ve been doing this for decades. Elizabeth has been literally on Helena’s shit list since she was a kid. I just want to help this stop. For all our sakes.”

Davis House: Dining Room

“Well, I’m glad you came to your sense and finally told Danny the truth,” Alexis said. “It was hell on Christmas trying to pretend.”  She reached into her file folder. “You want to revise the divorce papers?”

“No.”

Alexis stopped, then stared at Sam as she sat calmly across the table, then shook her head. “I don’t understand. You don’t need the custody agreement, Sam. Danny knows Jason is his father—”

“It doesn’t matter. He told Jason and Drew he wanted to keep Drew, so that’s what we’re doing. Nothing is changing, Mom.” Sam paused. “I thought I forgave Jason for what happened when I was pregnant. I thought I’d made peace. Not just for that, but for the way we broke up the first time—and the way I always felt like I was second choice.” She bit her lip. “I always knew that me not being able to have kids was part of the reason Jason came back to me. I just don’t think I really admitted what it meant.”

“Sam—”

“I don’t think Jason ever knew why he’d done it either until I told him about the surgery, and I could see it wasn’t—” Sam sighed. “I knew he wasn’t into the idea, but I thought I could convince him, and then Jake’s accident made things insane, and well—it all went off the rails. He wasn’t interested in having kids with me, Mom. Even before he was faced with raising Franco’s son.”

“Sam, I really don’t—”

“He’d made a choice not to be a father after Jake was gone,” Sam said, “and I didn’t get it then. He didn’t think he deserved to be one, and maybe he was right. I don’t know. I didn’t listen to him, Mom. I pushed him into that surgery. We wouldn’t have made it. I know that now.” She tipped her head. “He didn’t want kids with me, Mom. He didn’t want Danny—”

“He didn’t plan Jake with Elizabeth either, Sam—”

“But he asked her to marry him when he found out she was pregnant,” Sam said softly. “And he asked her again after he found out Jake was his. He always wanted Jake. He didn’t want my child. And Danny doesn’t deserve that—”

“What happened before Danny was born is a tragedy, Sam. It really is. But it was a bad year,” Alexis reminded her. “Jason had lost Jake, and then Franco happened. He also got sick—no one was handling anything right. You and Jason weren’t just fighting about Franco or the baby. There was also Robin and John McBain—”

“And there was always Elizabeth. He almost got back together with her, Mom,” Sam said softly. “But she still had her boys, so he didn’t.”

“But he brought Danny back to you—”

“You know, we never really made any plans,” Sam remembered. “I was in the penthouse, but I hadn’t brought my things here. We were supposed to talk about it, and then he never came home. That’s my last memory of Jason, Mom. We were supposed to plan the rest of our lives, and he left because of work. I let the grief swallow me, and I forgot all the reasons we needed a new plan.”

“Then why is this happening now?” Alexis wanted to know. “You thought Jason came home two years ago—you went after Jake Doe, Sam. Not the other way around. You walked out on a life with Patrick and went right back to who you thought was Jason—”

“But he wasn’t Jason, was he?” Sam said. “He didn’t have Jason’s face. His voice. He had the memories, but it wasn’t the same. It didn’t hit me, Mom, until Drew looked at me and asked if I’d ever believed it. And I think there was a part of me that didn’t. Because when Jason came back and he looked at me, and he had that voice—and I realized I had to make a choice, I ran from him. Because I knew it was him. Of course I did.”

“Sam—”

“And I know that sounds insane. I know that doesn’t sound fair. But everything came back to me the minute you started to talk about Danny, and I realized that it meant the man I thought had left Elizabeth and Jake and agreed to have another baby with me wasn’t Jason after all—Drew wanted Scout, Mom. He wanted her. He loves her, and he loves Danny. He loves my kids. He wanted this family. Why would I ever want a man who didn’t want me when I could have something better?”

Alexis sighed. “And you realized that if the man who had wanted those kids with you wasn’t Jason—”

“I thought Scout was his way of making up for everything that happened with Danny,” Sam admitted painfully. “But if it wasn’t Jason, then it can’t be.”

“Well,” Alexis said. “I have to admit, I’m surprised to hear something that actually makes sense. And—” She paused. “It’s something I could argue in court, Sam. So why don’t we amend the papers? Jason doesn’t need to terminate his rights, but we can argue for full custody. And you know Jason would agree to it.”

“He probably would,” Sam admitted. “And I should. Because Drew—he made it clear—he doesn’t want to stay Danny’s father if this how it happens, but you know—” Her eyes burned. “I thought it was going to be different. I thought Drew had picked me and our family over Sonny and Carly and the job—and he did. But he didn’t pick me when it mattered most. I needed him to stand by me on this, and he wouldn’t. He wanted a relationship with his brother more than he wanted the life we planned together.”

Sam took a deep breath. “Danny is my son. He’s always been my son. Drew’s right. We can’t move forward. Not together. We’ll figure out something with Danny, because he comes first. But I’m never going to be a runner up. Not ever again.”

Her mother raised a brow. “And Jason?”

“The divorce goes forward. Exactly the way I filed it. If you don’t want to handle it, I’ll find someone who does.”

Webber House: Driveway

“You know,” Emma said, sliding her hands into the pockets of her fluffy pink parka. “I thought it would be cooler than this.”

Cameron scowled at his oldest friend. “We could always go over and insult your car—oh wait, no one bought you one.”

“Well, it is it kind of a junker,” Spencer told Cameron as he slid a hand over one of the dents. “Jason’s got some serious money—he got you a twelve-year-old car. This baby is almost as old as you are—”

“I’m gonna hold out for a Maserati,” Joss declared. “I can play my parents like a violin.”

“It’s a first car,” Cameron said. “And he’s not—” He hunched his shoulders. “He’s not my dad,” he muttered.

“And your mom never would have let him get anything nicer,” Oscar said loyally. Cameron perked up. “You know how she is. No way you’re getting a brand new car for your permit.”

“Yeah,” Cameron said, brightening. “See?” He jerked a thumb in Oscar’s direction. “He gets it. I’m gonna ding this up figuring out how to park, and even my mom still smacks the corners when she makes a tight turn. Webbers are terrible drivers.”

Trina put her arm through his. “It was pretty cool of Jason to do this. And hey, Oscar, does that mean your dad is gonna get you one for your birthday? You got behind the wheel in April—”

“I don’t know if we’re at cars yet,” Oscar said. “We did the movie thing, and it was fun, but, uh—” He rubbed the side of his cheek. “We’ll see how things are in April.”

“You okay?” Joss rubbed his shoulder. “You look tired.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just gotta a headache. I think the movie was too loud or something.” Oscar shifted his feet, his boots crunching in the snow. “I thought Emma said something about her iPad—”

“Oh—that’s right!” Emma slapped her gloves together, her eyes sparkling. “So, listen, I caught this recording of my grandparents and Mom talking about Helena today, and you’ll never believe what they think is going on.”

Wharf Street: Garage

By the time Michael arrived at the garage that evening, he found Elizabeth standing by herself in the large room where the garage doors had been pulled up. “Hey—where’s Jason?”

“Oh, he’s in the office over there—” Elizabeth nodded towards the corner of the building, and Michael could see his uncle and someone else at a desk. “He’s looking over the lease.”

“Sorry, I’m late. I had a late meeting.” Michael looked up at the ceiling. “This is the place we looked at a few weeks ago, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Jason just wanted to look at it again before he signed.” Elizabeth’s smile was hesitant. “The boys are really excited because of Cameron’s car. They want to come here after school when I have work.”

“They’ll love that,” Michael said. “And I like Jason getting to hang out more with them. Especially with Jake.”

“Me, too. He deserves it.”

“Especially if Sam is gonna keep pushing this crap with Danny,” Michael muttered. “I don’t get her. Jason came home. Why isn’t she happy—” He winced, looking at her. “Sorry. I know if she were happier about it—”

“I probably wouldn’t be standing here right now,” Elizabeth said with a nod. “Yeah, well, that’s not how this cookie crumbled. Jason’s not really talking about it,” she admitted. “He never really had a chance to make up for what happened before Danny was born. Then he came home to find out Danny was his son—and there’s Drew. It’s a lot.”

“Yeah, but Danny’s his son,” Michael insisted.

“Blood doesn’t make a family,” Elizabeth told him softly. “You know that better than anyone. Jason can love Danny because he’s his son, but that doesn’t mean he’s earned a right to be his father full-time. Not with Drew right there, doing all the work.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this from you—I thought you had my uncle’s back—”

“I do. Because he matters to me,” Elizabeth told Michael. “You know that. But I’ve know him longer than you have. I watched him lose you. All the times he lost you. He fought for visitation rights after AJ found out the truth, did you know that?”

Michael frowned. “What—no—”

“Because he loved you, and you loved him. But he realized it would just make him unhappy. He wouldn’t really get to be your father anymore,” Elizabeth said. “And it would just confuse you, so he let you go to be someone else’s son. Then you were shot, Michael.”

Michael pressed his lips together, looked back over at the office where he watched Jason with the realtor, signing paperwork. “I know that was hard—”

“He never, ever got over that. He’ll tell himself, and you and me, and the world that he gave up Jake because of the Russians, but I knew months before that he’d never really give us a chance. He didn’t want Jake anywhere near a life that had put a bullet in the head of a little boy he loved like his own.”

“Elizabeth—”

“So when I stand here telling you that your uncle is not a selfish man, that’s what I mean. Yes, he shares blood with Danny. And yes, he—and I—hope that one day things will be different. Right now—he doesn’t matter. Danny does. So as long as Danny knows Jason is here for him, that he didn’t abandon him—Jason will let Sam and Drew set the tone. Because Danny is what matters.” She paused. “Jason isn’t the only one who never got over that bullet to your brain, Michael.”

Michael exhaled slowly, fisting his hands in the pockets of his long dark, winter coat. “You’re not really going to defend my mother—”

“As long as I’ve known you—and Jason—I’ve known Carly—”

“Oh, man, Elizabeth—”

“Carly and I will never be friends,” Elizabeth continued. “But she and I have been in and out of each other’s lives too long not to look out for one another—”

“And is that what she was doing at your house a few weeks ago?” Michael demanded. “Is what what she was doing when AJ got killed—”

“She looked out for me when I got involved with Franco, I just wasn’t ready to listen.” Elizabeth met his eyes. “Morgan died last year, Michael. He was sick and hurting, and he stole a car, and he was blown up. Your mother didn’t even get to have an open casket.”

Michael closed his eyes, pain flashing across his face. “I know that—”

“I know. And because I have two little boys who buried their brother once, I know that your pain is just as important. This life—the life Sonny and Jason chose—it nearly stole you from Carly, and it did take Morgan. While she was grieving, Nelle Benson pushed your father into a break down and pretended to sleep with him so she could cause your already devastated mother more pain.”

Michael opened his eyes. “Elizabeth—”

“And that is the woman you have pushed into your mother’s face, demanding that Carly be civil because three years ago, she covered up AJ’s death to protect Sonny.”

“How can you be on her side?” Michael demanded. “After everything—”

“Because I’m a mother, too, Michael. I’m a mother who lost everything because you were shot in the head nine years ago. My boys lost the best chance they ever had a father who would stay. I lost the love of my life, and your mother lost the peace and security of thinking she could really protect her kids from her own choices. So yeah, she covered up AJ’s death. She did it to protect Sonny and because she didn’t like AJ. But you know she did it for you, too. She’s not a perfect person, Michael. Not by a mile. But what the hell did she ever do to deserve you shoving Nelle Benson in her face and then walking out of the same house where she hurt your family, calling your mother a liar?”

Michael opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. Then they both looked over to find Jason coming out of the office, his phone in his hand, his expression heightened.

“What is it? Is the paperwork okay?”

“Yeah, yeah—” Jason stared down at his phone. “Laura wants us to meet her at the bank tomorrow. To go through her safe deposit box.”

“Her safe deposit box?” Elizabeth repeated. “Why?”

“What’s going on?”

“Her inheritance from Helena,” Jason said.

“The stupid law book that didn’t mean anything? It just led Laura to the Campus Disco—” Elizabeth frowned. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Because Anna thinks maybe Helena sent the files to Laura to protect Nikolas,” Jason told her. “And she might have hidden them in the book.”

Ever worry that it might be ruined
And does it make you wanna cry
When you’re out there doing what you’re doing
Are you just getting by
Tell me are you just getting by, by, by
Where there is desire, there is gonna be a flame
Where there is a flame, someone’s bound to get burned
But just because it burns, doesn’t mean you’re gonna die
You gotta get up and try, and try, and try
– Try, P!nk

---

May 2015

Wyndemere: Study

Elizabeth hadn’t hesitated. The moment she’d learned that Hayden Barnes had been gunned down in Julian Jerome’s garage with Sam and Jake, she went straight to the pier and called for the launch.

She nearly expected Nikolas to ignore the call, to refuse to let her onto the island. Instead, within a half hour, she was entering through the double doors of the Gothic mansion and heading for his study.

This had gone too far. She’d tried to steal her happy ending and now was being punished.

She found Nikolas standing by the fireplace, a glass of something dark in his hands — likely the brandy he’d always favored. The hearth itself was unlit, dark and cold.

Just like this entire island.

“What did you do?”

He didn’t answer for a long, tense moment, his back to her, the muscles in his shoulders tight. She’d known him most of her life—had let him touch her—

And until today, she had never worried for her own safety in his presence..

“Nikolas.”

He turned slightly, offering his profile only—his jaw clenched. “I did what had to be done.” And now he faced her. “Or did you want everyone to know the truth?”

She swallowed hard. “This is a mistake. I should have told everyone the other night. I never should have—”

Never should have thought it was finally her chance to be happy. If Jake learned he was actually Jason Morgan—he’d do what Jason always did.

She fought back the hysteria, the misery that rose in her throat, and swallowed a sob. “He deserves to know who he is. This—it isn’t worth any of this—”

“He’ll go back to Sam.”

The flat pronouncement sliced through her, and Elizabeth closed her eyes. “You—you don’t know that. He doesn’t—he doesn’t have to know I knew. He might—”

He might stay.

“He always goes back,” Nikolas continued in that terrible, empty voice. He didn’t sound like himself anymore. The boy she’d known, the man she’d once loved—

She couldn’t find him now.

“If he remembers who he is,” he continued as she fought to find the words, to reach the center of him that was warm and real, “you’ll lose him.”

“I don’t have him,” she confessed on a shaky breath. “It’s a lie. I tried to steal my happiness, but I can’t—I can’t do it. Not this way.”

“Elizabeth—”

“It’s not about losing him to Sam. I—” She pressed a fist against her stomach. “Jake Doe. I wanted him. I deserved him.”

“He’s not Jake Doe—”

“But he’s not Jason, either. He’s never been Jason to me. I used the lie to keep Jake. Don’t—” She cleared her throat. “Jason doesn’t want me. I know that. He made that clear before he was shot. This isn’t about losing him to Sam. I can’t say I love Jake and keep this from him.”

Nikolas carefully set the glass on the mantel and walked towards her. She forced herself to stay right where she was—not to take a step back. “You can’t tell him. Not now. He’ll want to know how you found out.”

“Then we’ll tell him.” This was the right decision. “We’ll tell him Helena told you and—”

“He’ll tell Sam you knew,” Nikolas cut in, and she stumbled to a stop. “Do you want that?”

“I don’t—what do you mean? Why—”

“And she’ll tell everyone,” he continued ruthlessly. “Everyone will know you lied.”

Oh, God. They would. If Sam found out—if Sonny or Carly—She squeezed her eyes shut. It would be like the affair. She had made a terrible mistake all those years ago, and it had taken her so long to drag herself out of it—

No. No. No.

“I’ll—” She forced her voice to steady. “I’ll risk it.”

He must have seen the conviction in her face, in her expression because his eyes began to burn with desperate anger. “You can’t tell him! If they find out what I did to Hayden, they’ll take me away from my son! Is that what you want?”

“I—I’m not the one who had a woman shot! My God, Nikolas!”

“I did it for you!”

“No. No!” She stabbed a finger at him. “Don’t you dare put that on me! Don’t you dare—I never asked you to keep this secret! I never asked you to—” The enormity of what Nikolas had done began to sink in—to really sink in. If he was arrested—could they take Elizabeth in, too? What if—

“I just—” Nikolas grabbed her elbow, digging his fingers in painfully. “I need Jason to stay out of the picture a little longer, okay? Just a few more months.”

She narrowed her eyes. “No—”

“He might never get his memory back!” He seized her other arm and shook her hard, her teeth rattling. “You tell him he’s Jason, and Sam and Carly and Sonny will rip him away from you! From the boys! He won’t remember them, but you know it won’t matter! He’s been here almost a year, Elizabeth! He’s never had so much as a flashback!”

Doubt began to swirl in. Nikolas was right. If Sonny and Carly—if Sam—learned the truth, they’d swarm in and try to make Jake remember. Carly and Sam would never accept his loss of memory—

“But—”

“He’s happy with you just the way things are,” Nikolas continued. “Aren’t you happy?”

“How can I be happy?” she demanded in a harsh whisper, the words dragged from her soul. “He’s not choosing me, Nikolas! He wouldn’t if he knew—I can’t have what I want. Not like this—”

“This might be the only way.” His fingers were clutching her elbows so tightly, her arms began to throb. “Haven’t you been through enough? Damn it, Elizabeth! Don’t you deserve this?”

She squeezed her eyes shut. The temptation to just say yes, to say of course, she deserved to be happy. She’d lost everything, hadn’t she? She’d been humiliated more than once, she’d been cheated on repeatedly, she’d been screamed at—

And her little boy. The world had stolen him away, and her baby was lying, cold and dead in the ground. Damn it—when was it going to be her turn? Why did everyone else get to have what they wanted—

Just as she nearly agreed, something tickled at the back of her brain. She opened her eyes and met his. He was too desperate, too upset. “Why do you need Jason out of the way?” Elizabeth demanded, her voice stronger now. “Why was it so important you had Hayden shot? She might die, Nikolas!”

“I can’t tell you.” He released her arm and shoved her back a step, whirling to stalk towards the fireplace. “I’m asking you to trust me.”

Absently, she rubbed her sore arms, chilled to the bone. “Nikolas—”

“We can’t go back now,” he continued. “I panicked about Hayden. I should have found another way to handle things.” He faced her again, and she almost wept from relief. There was her Nikolas again. Her friend, her family. “Everything falls apart if we tell the truth now.”

“If Hayden wakes up,” she said slowly, “if Jake remembers on his own—”

“If those things happen,” Nikolas cut in, “we’ll handle it. If you tell him now—”

With Hayden’s shooting so fresh, with the newness of their relationship—Jake might not understand. He might not forgive. She could live with that—but he wasn’t Jason. He didn’t have Jason’s memories.

Jason would never tell Sam. Jake might.

“Okay,” she found herself saying even as everything inside of her screamed that this was wrong. That she was only making it worse, that it would never be okay—

“I will find a way out of this,” he promised. “For all of us. I will make sure this doesn’t hurt you.”

“It’s too late for that,” Elizabeth murmured. “This is the path we’ve chosen. I guess we’ll just have to see where it leads.”

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Greystone Manor: Foyer

Despite all of Joss’s best efforts, she wasn’t able to figure out exactly what Lucky Spencer had done this time to make Cameron miserable. He’d ignored every single attempt to pry it out of him, but she was not someone who gave up easily.

She was Carly’s daughter, and she always had a backup plan.

So Joss was in the foyer, ignoring the entire Christmas party happening around her, waiting for Cameron to arrive with his family so she could lull him into a sense of safety with gossip about Jason’s divorce. Then she would drag the damn truth out of him so she could fix it.

That’s what best friends were for.

“Finally,” Joss muttered when the door pushed open, and Jason and Elizabeth came in with the boys, blowing in a blustery whirl of snow flurries. “Hey!” she said brightly. “Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas,” Aiden said, beaming. He held up a plate with foil over it. “I made cookies!”

“Oh, awesome! Uncle Sonny was just saying he wanted to try something you baked,” Joss said. She ruffled his hair. “Why don’t I take them to the kitchen with the other desserts? Cam? Wanna help?” She lifted her brows at him.

“Uh, you know where the kitchen is,” Cameron said as he took his brother’s coat from Jake and handed it to Max. “You don’t need me—”

Joss narrowed her eyes, took the plate, grabbed Cameron’s arm and pulled. With a sigh, he followed her.

In the kitchen, she set Aiden’s cookies down and turned to Cameron. “Listen, I have got some serious tea—”

Cameron looked at her skeptically, leaning against the counter. “That’s why you dragged me in here?”

“Yes!” She rolled her eyes. “Did you know that Sam finally served Jason with divorce papers?”

Cameron straightened as his eyes narrowed. “No. No, I didn’t. I thought they’d done that weeks ago. Oscar said that his stepmom got papers before Thanksgiving—”

“Yeah, yeah, I overheard Mom and Uncle Sonny talking about it. He is livid,” Joss told Cam. “Like, hit the roof pissed off, time to sleep with the fishes angry.  Jason thought it was coming, but, then it didn’t. So Jason went to Sam and told her—hey, we need to do this. Which I think he did because he’s totally figured out your mom is the best thing in the world—”

“I thought you said Sam served him—”

“I did—but Jason, like, warned her he was gonna start the process,” Joss said. “At least that’s what Uncle Sonny said. Get this—Sam is asking for half of everything. Like — half.”

“Oh, man, he didn’t have a prenup?” Cam snorted. “What a dumbass. Even I know Sam is a gold digger.”

“Right?” Joss whacked him in the arm. “But, like, that’s not the worst part. She’s asking for Jason to terminate his rights to Danny, because, and get this, he neglected and abandoned Jake so he’s an unfit father—”

Cameron exhaled slowly. “That’s…that’s pretty cold.”

“I know.” Joss shrugged. “But Uncle Sonny told Jason not to give Sam a damn thing and to fight her but, it’s so weird and terrible. Jason was, like, going through hell, and he wanted to come home to his life. And this is what she does? Like, what is her damage, right?”

“I don’t know. I mean, look, I get why Jason thought it was better that Jake was with my—” He stopped. “That Lucky was raising him. But that doesn’t really change the fact that Jason did sort of abandon Jake. I mean, I don’t remember seeing him around that entire last year once he got back together with Sam.”

“Yeah, but—” Joss furrowed her brow. “You don’t agree with Sam, do you? I mean, Jason’s with you guys all the time. He’s awesome. You said things have been great lately—”

“Yeah, well, that’s how it goes with Mom and her projects,” Cam said with a light shrug that raised the hairs on the back of Joss’s neck. “Jake Doe came to live with us, and he was great. Lucky was great. Ewen was nice. So was AJ. And Ric for the five minutes he was around. I mean, Franco was a dud, but Jake really liked him. But it doesn’t last, Joss. No one stays.”

“Yeah, but—” Joss hesitated. “Those are—that’s all different, Cam. Things are different now. Sam and Jason—they’re done. There’s no way he’s going back to her this time. I think he’s finally seeing what trash she is. And Drew’s at the party without her. Like—maybe your mom and Jason will be together this time—”

“Sure.” Cameron offered her a tight smile. “Until they’re not.”

“Cam—”

“Let’s go find the others,” Cameron said. “Emma’s going back to Berkeley in a few days, and we should get caught up. I want her to meet Oscar.”

“Hey, watch it—” Joss teased, though she was still troubled his attitude about Jason and his mother. “Emma stole the last guy I liked, too—”

Cameron rolled his eyes, but his smile was more genuine this time. “We were in fifth grade, Joss—”

“Yeah, but you know who my mother is. I hold grudges.”

Greystone Manor: Living Room

Carly took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and headed across the room where Drew was talking to Spinelli and Patrick. She pasted a smile on her face and kissed Patrick’s cheek. “It’s good to see your handsome face back in these parts,” she said. “But I guess you dragged the wife with you.”

“I did,” Patrick said dryly, but returning her smile. “She’s over there with Jason and Elizabeth—” He looked over by the tree where the trio stood, Robin beaming as Jason said something to her. “It’s wild. Robert and Anna told us what was going on—but—” He looked at Drew, then back at Jason. “Wild,” he repeated.

“Yeah, and, uh—” Carly wrinkled her nose, meeting Drew’s curious eyes. “Some of us handled it better than others. And by us, I’m not including me. I’m sorry—”

Drew held up a hand to cut off her apology. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told Sonny. The two of you did what you thought was best. You knew Jason better than almost anyone. I was angry as hell for a while,” he admitted, “but after these last few months—” He shook his head. “I’m more comfortable with the truth. I’m not Jason Morgan, and knowing that…it gives me peace. You weren’t wrong about the choices I was making, Carly. They weren’t Jason’s choices.”

“Still, I didn’t want any of us to go through this — to not know for so long that Jason was trapped—” Carly closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “I just—we were friends before you were Jason Morgan. In fact, we were better friends when you were Jake Doe.”

“Yeah, we were.” Drew narrowed his eyes slightly. “You know, I always thought it was weird even though I didn’t have memories, I did have—I felt connections to some people. You, Michael, Elizabeth, Robin—you all felt familiar to me. But other people—” His mouth twisted slightly. “Sam. Sonny. I didn’t feel anything.”

“Yeah, you and Sam hated each other at first,” Patrick remembered with none of the bitterness one might expect from the man that had ended his engagement to Sam. But maybe Patrick thought it had all worked out for the best, Carly thought. He’d reunited with Robin, and had a new son to show for it.

“You think that’s tied to the experiments?” Carly wondered.

“Maybe. I mean, they screwed with Jake’s head, they shoved someone else’s memories into my head—how do we know that I even got the right memories?” Drew asked. “Maybe Maddox played with them—”

“Well, he’s not going to be talking to anyone,” Spinelli said with a mutter as he sipped his orange soda. “Robert said he was so pissed about the trick Anna pulled that he’s refusing to cooperate even though the files are damaged.” He sighed. “I think I can recover a lot of them, but even the ones I can see are encrypted.”

“I just want this to be over,” Carly muttered. “I want everyone to be safe. But mostly I want to find out who the hell did this to you and Jason—and Jake—and make them pay.”

Drew’s smile was thin. “You’ll have to get in line.”

______________

Across the room, Michael wandered away from Nelle and met Jason at the bar with empty glasses. “Hey,” he said, greeting his uncle with a half hug. “I didn’t want to interrupt you with Robin—”

“Oh.” Jason looked back over towards the tree where he’d left Robin and Elizabeth. “Yeah, it’s great to see her. Especially since—” He shook his head. “She was supposed to be dead.”

“A lot of that going around,” Michael said. He poured himself another glass of wine, then sipped it. “Listen, you probably don’t want to talk about it, but I know about the divorce papers.”

Jason’s mouth tightened. “Sonny should mind his own business—”

“I came in when he was trying to convince Mom not to go over beat the life out of Sam,” Michael told him. “Not her worst idea this year,” he added, “because this is a pretty crappy thing to do to you. Not the money, because who the hell cares about that. But Danny.”

Jason stared down into his beer, then shook his head. “She has a right to make choices for her child,” he said tightly.

“This isn’t twenty years ago, Jason. This isn’t you and my mom making these decisions anymore,” Michael continued. “I know what you did with Jake because you felt like you had to stand by that principle, but you know—you can also just admit that it’s wrong.”

“Michael—”

“Also—” Michael paused. “Danny knows he’s Jason Morgan’s son. One day, he’s gonna look up, he’s gonna understand the truth, and he’s gonna wonder why you didn’t want him.”

Jason stared at him, then looked away. He said nothing.

“And you’re not going to be able to get away with the same story Jake’s swallowed,” Michael pushed. “Because you’re with Jake now. Danny’s going to know you were with his brother and not him.  And he’s going to wonder what he did wrong.”

“It’s not that simple—”

“It really is,” Michael said. “My entire childhood—until AJ faked his death—I knew that Mom, Sonny, and AJ were fighting over me, dragging me back and forth, but I never doubted any of them loved me. Even when they were driving me crazy. Lying to me.” He paused. “I always knew my biological father loved me. AJ never had any other kids. He wanted them, but he always felt like he didn’t deserve them. Because he couldn’t hold on to me. He didn’t want me to ever see him with other kids and think I didn’t matter enough to fight for.”

“So I drag Sam and Danny into court,” Jason said, in a low voice, “and do what Sonny and Carly did to you? Make him choose where to live? Which parent he wants? Make him talk to judges? You want that for him? Because I don’t.”

“No.” Michael winced. “No. Christ, sometimes I forget—and man, did I piss Mom and Sonny off when I said I wanted to live with you and Aunt Courtney. What did I know, right?” He sighed. “It’s just—you told me you had regrets about everything that happened back then, right? So, like, I’m just saying—don’t do anything that you need to apologize for in ten years. Danny is your son. And I don’t care what the hell Sam says. You were—are a damn good father. I always knew you’d kick my ass if I needed it. You were a better father to me than anyone else in my life,” Michael said. “I know how much you love Jake. How much time you spent with Jake and Cam, and how you took care of Morgan and Joss.”

“Thank you for saying that,” Jason said slowly, “but that doesn’t change the fact that there’s no easy way to do this. Danny doesn’t know me—”

“Neither did Jake, and look at you now. Yeah, it helped that Elizabeth helped push it, but you and Jake did the work, and now you have him in your life. Jake loves all his brothers, Jason, and he knows Danny is his brother. I don’t know what the answer is, I really don’t. I just don’t think letting Sam get away with this because you don’t want to hurt Danny—I don’t think that’s good enough.”

Jason opened his mouth, but then he frowned, and turned towards the terrace doors where the teens were gathered, as voices began to raise slightly.

“I told you I didn’t want to talk about it!” Cameron said, yanking his arm away from Trina. “Why can’t you just let it go?”

“Because—”

“Damn it—” Cameron yanked open the door and stormed out, slamming it behind him. Trina looked upset, and Emma put an arm around her shoulder.

“Should we go after him?” Oscar asked, but Joss shook her head.

“Not when he’s like this—he’ll just get madder.”

Jason exhaled, then looked over to find Elizabeth, but she’d walked away and he’d lost sight of her. Robin had joined Patrick, Drew, and Spinelli, but Elizabet was nowhere in sight.

“Can you do me a favor and find Elizabeth?” he asked Michael, setting his beer on the table. “Cameron needs her.”

Davis House: Living Room

Kristina sipped her eggnog, raising her eyebrows as her sister came through the door, Scout in one arm, and Danny’s hand tucked in another. “Oh, look,” she said to Molly. “Our sister is here without her husband.”

“You promised you weren’t going to fight with her. I don’t know why it’s such a big deal for you. He wasn’t your dad—”

“No, but it was my family,” Kristina muttered. “You not having a grudge isn’t normal, Molly. You need to be more bitchy.”

“Why?” her sister asked sweetly. “You’re bitchy enough for the both of us—”

“Both of you stop it,” Alexis hissed behind them as she left them, and walked over to greet Sam and her grandchildren. “Here’s my handsome prince.” She leaned down to kiss Danny’s cheek. “Are you excited for Santa?”

“Yeah,” Danny said. He sighed. “But Daddy had to go to another party.” He frowned at his mother. “Why couldn’t I go with him? Jake’s there and I haven’t seen him forever!”

Alexis lifted her brows at that, then looked at Sam whose cheeks flushed. “Drew went to Sonny’s?”

“Yes,” Sam said shortly.

“Well, I’m sure he wanted to see Patrick and Robin,” Molly said as she took Scout and bounced the giggling baby in her arms. “TJ said they were at the hospital to visit Anna, and I think they’re leaving a few days after Christmas.”

“I think Oscar is invited, too,” Kristina said. “Hey, Little Man,” she said, offering Danny a high five. “You want me to drive you over? I’m going to my Dad’s in a little while. I figure I’d hang out here for appetizers,” she said to her mother, “and then check out the party. You and Aunt Diane always stay up too late when she comes over.”

“Mom—” Danny began, but Sam shook her head.

“No, it’s Christmas Eve, and I want you here with me. You’ll see Daddy at home,” Sam said.

“What about Jake?” Kristina asked. Sam glared at her, but Kristina just smirked.

“Yeah, Mom, I wanna see Jake. And Cam. And Aiden!” Danny pouted. “How come I can’t go with Daddy?”

“You’re here to see Grandma,” Sam said through clenched teeth. “We always do Christmas Eve here—I’m not the one who changed the plans—”

“Sam, can I see you in the kitchen for a moment?” Alexis interrupted. Sam scowled, but followed her mother through the door.

“So, I’m guessing Drew and you are having some problems,” her mother said, folding her arms.

Sam looked away. “He saw the divorce papers, and he was…not happy with the argument I made for custody.” She met Alexis’s eyes. “I don’t have to explain that to you, I guess. You hated that part, too.”

“I hated it because it went against every instinct I have to make a legal argument that won’t stand up in court,” Alexis replied. “Diane still has a wealth of opposition research on you—which you know since you got all twisted up about that testimony in the first place—”

“Mom—”

“And we both knew that if Jason chose to dig out more secrets,” Alexis said, “he could. Do you think Amelia Joffee is the only person from your past who could do you damage? Don’t think it’s not possible. He let Diane do attack you in a murder trial. You think he won’t let her do it for this? If he decides to fight this in court—which he damn well should because otherwise it goes down as a legal fact that he’s admitting to being an unfit parent. It becomes part of the permanent record, Sam, that he neglected and abandoned Jake.”

“I know that—”

“And how do I defend you if it goes to court?”

“It won’t. Jason would never do that to me over a kid. He never did it to Elizabeth,” Sam spat, “and he wanted her kid—”

“And maybe he’s learned from that experience,” Alexis said softly, and Sam blinked at her. “Because he has Jake in his life now. And you heard Danny out there. He misses his brother. You’re not just hurting Jason.  You’re hurting Drew because you’re asking him to hurt the brother he just found. And you’re hurting your son.”

“Mom—”

“I told you that I didn’t want to file those papers,” Alexis said. “I told you it was going to make everything worse. No one said you had to give Jason full custody. Or even visitation rights. At least not yet. You wanted to stay with Drew—that’s fine. I supported you. I like Drew. But you decided that to keep him and this life you wanted so damn much, you needed to scorch the earth behind you. But the only thing that’s getting burned is you.”

Greystone Manor: Foyer

Carly emerged from the kitchen, then scowled as Nelle stepped right in front of her. “Oh, no—” Carly stabbed a finger at her. “Absolutely not.” She stalked past her, heading towards the double doors of the living room.

“Carly, I just wanted to say I was sorry—”

Carly whirled around to glare at her son’s conniving girlfriend. “No, you’re not dragging me into another conversation where you set me up to look like a liar—”

“That’s—” Nelle’s lips thinned as she pressed them together. “Okay, that’s what I did. I’m sorry. I just—I know that if we can’t get along, Michael won’t stay with me, but I also think if I just keep him on my side—”

“I’m not listening to this—”

“Please. Carly. Just hear me out.”

Carly closed her eyes, muttered something under her breath, then turned back around to lift a brow. “You have exactly one minute, and I’m not going to say a single word that you can use against me.”

“I know you don’t like me, and that’s not going to change. Fine. But I love Michael—” Nelle paused when Carly just shook her head. “And he loves you. So sometimes I feel like I have to attack that. You know what I mean, Carly. We’re the same—”

“We are nothing alike—” Carly hissed, then clenched her hand into a fist, forcing herself to take a deep breath. “Fine. Yes. There are certain things we have in common, but you know that I didn’t attack you the last time—and you made me into a liar—”

“It’s hardly my fault Michael doesn’t trust you—”

“No, that’s on me. But you exploited it.”

“Well, I’d say that’s in the Benson blood but we both know you don’t have any, so maybe it’s just being raised by Frank,” Nelle said coolly. “Something about him rips the conscience out of you, don’t you think?” She tipped her head.

Carly stared at her for a long moment as something tickled at the back of her head. “Nelle—”

“Never mind.” Nelle tossed her hair over her shoulder. “You’re never going to give me a chance, are you?”

“Can you blame me? You used my grief about my son, Sonny’s grief—and you tried to destroy my life. My marriage. Why the hell would I want you anywhere near my son—”

“Mom—”

Carly scowled, and whirled around with a hiss. “Damn it! I’m going to put a bell on you,” she told Michael with a furious scowl. “This isn’t what it looks like—”

“Really? Because this looks like you cornering Nelle and attacking her. Again,” Michael said flatly, as he crossed over to Nelle. “You promised me—”

“It’s not. Tell him, Nelle,” Carly said. “Tell him—you stopped me—”

“I did,” Nelle told Michael, her eyes wide. “I just wanted to apologize, but she just got so angry again. I’m sorry. I should have left her alone. You told me not to—”

“Oh, to hell with this—” Carly snarled, charging forward but they were both surprised when Elizabeth stepped between them, Spinelli behind her, looking perplexed.

“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said. “I don’t want to interrupt, but Michael—” Elizabeth looked at Nelle coolly. “Nelle is full of shit.  She followed Carly to the kitchen, then back out here. And she admitted that whatever happened with Carly the last time—she started it.”

“What—” Nelle sputtered, looking at Michael who was frowning at her now. “No. That’s not true. You misunderstood—”

“Really? You told Carly that you attacked her on purpose to make Michael think she was lying.” Elizabeth folded her eyes. “Spinelli?”

“That’s what I heard, Fair Elizabeth.”

“That’s—” Nelle’s mouth tightened. “You misunderstood—”

“Then explain it to us.” Elizabeth stepped towards her. “If you can.”

Greystone Manor: Terrace

Cameron glanced over his shoulder at the sound of the door opening, then closing as Jason stepped out. He made a face, then looked back out over the inky night, his breath white puffs in the air as he slowly exhaled. “I’m fine.”

“Okay.”

“So if Trina or Joss made you come out here—”

“They didn’t.” Jason joined him at the stone railing and they looked out over Port Charles together. “I sent Michael to find your mother. Do you want to talk to her?”

“No. No,” Cameron repeated, with a shake of his head. “I just—I want it all to go away.” He folded his arms, then glanced at Jason. “Mom doesn’t get it. She’ll feel guilty, and I don’t want that.”

“Okay.”

Cameron was quiet for a moment, then before he knew what he was going to say, he just blurted out the only thing on his mind. “Are you going to give up Danny?”

Jason drew his brows together, shook his head slightly. “Joss eavesdrops too much.”

“Never mind. It’s none of my business—”

“No?” Jason asked. “If Joss knows about that, she also knows what Sam said about Jake, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Cameron said after a moment. “That you abandoned Jake.” He turned to face Jason. “You did, you know. You had your reasons, but you abandoned my brother. You know you did.”

Jason nodded slowly. “Yeah, I know that. I told myself that wanting him to be safe was enough of a reason to stay away. After what happened in that building—when I almost watched him die—I didn’t think being in his life meant more than making sure he was alive. But you’re right. I abandoned Jake.”

“At least you admit it,” Cameron muttered. He looked back out over the night. “Are you gonna give up Danny, too?”

“I don’t want to,” Jason admitted. “I don’t want to make the same mistakes.” He paused. “Cameron, you don’t have to tell me what’s going on, but you know your mother loves you. She’d do anything for you—”

“Yeah, including dragging home every half decent guy she could find to give me a father,” Cameron muttered. “She was really scraping the bottom of the barrel with Franco, huh? At least he never pretended to give a damn.” He hunched his shoulders.

“Cameron—”

“Just go back inside. I’m fine. I need air, and I’ll go inside, and it will be fine.” Cameron whirled on him again, the rage bubbling his throat. “I’m always fine, okay? I have to be. So I just need a minute and it’ll go away. It always does—”

“What will go away?” Jason asked quietly.

Cameron shook his head. “No. I’m not doing this with you. You don’t deserve it—”

“Then I’ll get your mother. But you need to—”

“Don’t tell me what I need!” Cameron exploded. “You’re not my father, remember? No one is! No one ever wanted me enough to stay! Not Zander who got himself shot instead of getting shit together when he knew Mom was pregnant, right? I mean, why the hell would he give a damn? He didn’t even know me! And Lucky—” he scoffed, his voice faltering as he forced himself to swallow. “He was my dad, you know. My whole life.”

“I know that.”

“He left town, but he called and he wrote, and sometimes me and Aiden went to visit—but it was different—and I didn’t know why—” His breath was shaky. “I didn’t even know he didn’t love me anymore until he told Drew he could adopt me. Like it was nothing. I didn’t matter anymore. He told Drew he could have me and Jake.”

“Cameron—”

“And I never knew why he stopped loving me. I thought it was something I did. I thought if I were a better son—so I wrote him more. And I tried so hard in school, and I tried to be the best brother to Aiden and Jake so he’d remember that I was a good son—” Cameron closed his eyes. “But I couldn’t change enough.”

“You don’t have to change at all—” Jason touched his shoulder, but Cameron shrugged it off.

“No? You know why Lucky stopped loving me? Because one day, he saw Zander in my face and he couldn’t pretend anymore,” Cameron spat. “And he saw you in Jake, and he just—he decided he was done. We weren’t really his sons. And fine—you know, that’s fine. I don’t need him. I never needed him. I didn’t need anyone that Mom brought home. I didn’t need Lucky or Ewen or AJ or Ric or Franco or Jake Doe—or you! You didn’t just abandon Jake. You walked out on me and my mom, too—” Cameron’s chest was heaving. “So why not walk on your other kid? It’s what fathers do, isn’t it? They leave.”

Everybody’s talking in words
I don’t understand
You got to be the only one
Who knows just who I am
And you shine in the distance
I hope I can make it through
‘Cause the only place
That I want to be
Is right back home with you
– You Make It Real, James Morrison

---

October 2015

Cassadine Estate: Hallway

Nikolas scrubbed his weary hands over his face, exhausted to the bone. Nearly a year of doing his grandmother’s bidding and he still had so little to show for it.

Jake had been returned home, but he hadn’t found a way to reveal Jason Morgan’s identity that wouldn’t be traced back to Nikolas. If the world discovered he knew—

No one would ever believe he’d kept it from Elizabeth, and her world would crumble around her. She’d done exactly as he’d told her — move on with her life as if the secret didn’t exist but he knew it was tearing her apart inside to allow Jake Doe to marry her and raise little Jake, never knowing the truth.

Nikolas wondered how Elizabeth slept at night, but then of course — he managed to find an escape when his eyes closed and his crimes were legion. He could have stopped her long before that night at the Nurse’s Ball, long before she’d been humiliated by Ric Lansing.

If Nikolas couldn’t find a way out of this before the wedding in a few weeks, it would be so much worse.

The truth always came out in Port Charles.

He approached his grandmother’s study, then paused as he heard the murmur of voices. He knew Helena’s voice, but the other—

“How soon do you want the memories transferred?” a man asked.

Nikolas leaned against the wall next the door, frowning. Memory transfer? What—

“I want you to get settled first. Mr. Morgan might be difficult to take into custody — and I want to be sure this ceremony goes through.”

“I’m not sure why it matters—”

“This isn’t the way I planned it,” Helena admitted, “but I’d be a fool not to take advantage of that weak moron. She knows the truth and is still trying to create a future? No. I want her at her happiest before I break her for good.”

His lungs constricted as Nikolas took that in. Helena wasn’t talking about his mother or another Spencer —

She was talking about Elizabeth.

Suddenly, pieces of this made sense. Taking Jason Morgan in the first place — kidnapping Jake only to return him once Elizabeth had lied about Jake Doe—she’d done it to twist the knife—

“You’re sure that the trigger is set?” Helena continued. “When I send the gift, the boy will get the message?”

Wearily, the man murmured in agreement. “Yes. It’ll be a slow build up, but the voices will escalate. He’ll perform the final trick and trigger the Chimera at the Nurse’s Ball just as you wanted.” There was a pause. “Mrs. Cassadine, there has to be another way to get your revenge—”

“My justice,” Helena snarled as Nikolas absorbed what he’d heard. “You knew what you were getting into, Dr. Maddox—”

Maddox—who—

“I’ve done as you’ve asked every step of the way, but please don’t pretend I knew everything. I took a research position. I never agreed to work on children or to plan their death—”

Nikolas’s hands fists at his side. Had this man planned the accident that had stolen Jake away from his family? He’d destroy him—

“You knew you were brushing aside ethics when you took my brother-in-law’s offer,” Helena retorted. “What’s the difference between destroying the life of an adult and a child? Their height?”

“Jason Morgan and his brother are still breathing. I never planned their deaths. You’re using to use an innocent child to kill a room full of people—”

“My, my, Dr. Maddox—” Helena’s voice was amused. “Where was all this righteous fury six months ago when you completed the work on young Mr. Webber?”

The man was silent.

“That’s what I thought. Now, we have much to do before the Nurse’s Ball. Let’s look at our timeline.”

Nikolas listened as Helena laid it out, including the trigger that lived in Jake’s head. He listened as he realized his grandmother had lied to him from the beginning. She’d never intended Elizabeth to get her son back. Not for good. Not for real.

It was time to stop Helena. He’d let her run the show long enough.

Monday, December 25, 2017

Webber House: Living Room

From the moment Aiden and Jake came down the stairs around six the next morning, they couldn’t drag themselves away from looking at their brand-new bikes, even though Jake looked pretty excited to see that Jason had stayed the night. He was sitting next to Elizabeth on the sofa with his own cup of coffee, watching them take turns opening the gifts.

The only gift that rivaled his bike was the baking set that Aiden simply stared at after he’d torn the paper from it. His eyes were shining as he looked at his mother. “For me?”

“My birthday cake turned out so good this year,” Elizabeth said, “I wanted to see what you could do for your brothers in May.”

“Wow—” Aiden ran his fingers over the picture on the box, with the decorating tools. “I don’t even know how to use all this stuff.”

“YouTube, man,” Cameron advised him as he reached for a box. He wrinkled his nose and tossed it at Jake. “That one’s yours—”

“Oh, yeah—here’s one for you—” The boys switched their gifts—then opened up boxes of clothes.

“Uh, it’s nice,” Cameron said, laying the blue sweatshirt back in the box. “Any more video games?”

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. “You know, you’ll thank me when you’re not freezing your butt off in February.”

“I said it was nice,” Cameron said, rolling his eyes. He hesitated as he saw a small pile underneath coffee table. “Hey, how come those are over there?”

“Those are from me,” Jason said. He set the coffee aside, intending to get up—but Jake had realized the shapes couldn’t possibly be more clothes and scrambled over to drag out the pile. “Here’s yours, Aiden. And Cam—”

Cameron took the box from Jake, then looked at Jason, then back at the box. Finally, he opened it, and then frowned as he took out a smaller box with a key in it. “What…what is this?”

“Your mom said you’re getting your permit this year,” Jason said, “because you’ll be sixteen—”

Elizabeth made a face. “And I made the mistake of telling him you get have a driving class starting at school starting in March, so you’ll get your permit early.”

“It’s not much,” Jason said, as he got to his feet and, stunned, Cameron followed him to the front door. Outside, parked at the curb, was a small two-door Chevrolet Cavalier. “It’s not a new car,” he continued. “I think they said it was a 2004—”

“You bought me a car,” Cameron said. He turned to his mom. “You said it was okay?”

“Yeah. Well, it’s from me, too, but it was Jason’s idea,” Elizabeth said, standing up. “I’m really not ready for you to get behind the wheel of a car, but your first car should be a terrible clunker. Jason found one to fix up.” She bit her lip. “Is it okay?”

“Okay?” Cameron repeated. “You bought me a car.”

“Whoa, that is wicked cool!” Aiden said, bouncing up and down. “Can we go driving now?”

“Not until March,” Cameron said, still a bit stunned. “Is it going to sit there?”

“I still need to do some work on the engine,” Jason told him, “so it’ll be at the garage when I finally sign the lease. But your mom said with your permit, you can drive with other adults. So—”

Elizabeth handed Cameron an envelope. “That is an agreement from several adults with licenses to take you. Michael volunteered, and so did Drew. Jason and I are both here if you want it. Felix and Griffin both offered, too, but I’ve seen Felix drive, so—oh, and your grandmother. Both of them.”

Cameron stared at the list of people who’d agreed to give him driving lessons. “This is—” He looked at his mother. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

“Well, a car seemed like a really big gift for a birthday,” Elizabeth said, “and this way you’ll have it when you start the class. You have to learn how to take care of it yourself—and pay for your own gas—”

“Yeah, whatever you need. I’ll drive the kids everywhere—” Cameron threw his arms around his mother, and hugged her tightly. “Thank you.”

She closed her eyes, sighing at the way her little boy towered over her now. “Hey, all I did was say yes, pay for the insurance, and get the driving lessons—”

“Oh, yeah, yeah—” Cameron looked at Jason. “Uh, thanks. I mean, really. I mean it, thanks.”

“No problem.”

“This is gonna be the best summer,” Jake said. “No more Michael driving us everywhere—”

“Uh, he can’t drive you two anywhere by himself until he’s eighteen and that is still two years away,” Elizabeth said as Aiden and Jake returned to their gifts. Jake was very excited by the new drawing set and watercolors, and Aiden was beaming again at the offer of baking and cooking lessons from Sonny.

Later, when Elizabeth was in the kitchen with Jake and Aiden, watching carefully as the two of them cooked breakfast, Cameron helped Jason clean up the living room.

“You knew you were getting me the car last night when I said all that stuff?” Cameron asked, his cheeks a bit flushed with embarrassment. “I’m sorry—”

“Cameron—” Jason waited for the teen to meet his eyes. “You have every right to your feelings, and nothing you said last night was out of line. In fact—” He paused. “There were some things I needed to hear. And if you needed to say them, I’m glad I could be there. I asked your mom what you’d want most for Christmas, and we worked together on this. I’m glad you like it.”

“Like it? Dude, it’s a car.” Cameron shook his head. “It’s the best. I want to know how to take care of it, so, maybe when you do that engine work, I could help—”

“Yeah, sure.” Jason arranged some of the gifts Aiden had left strewn across the room more neatly under the tree. “I have a few more places to see this week, but I should have something early in January. We’ll have the car ready.”

“Awesome. Really. And it’s kind of cool you and Mom did it together. Um—” Cameron paused. “The things I said last night? I still meant them. Even if I feel bad about it.”

“I know—”

“I also think I was just a kid,” Cameron continued, “and I know maybe I don’t know everything that went down. It’s just—” He looked towards the kitchen, where Jake was grinning at Elizabeth who had managed to get waffle batter on her cheek. “I know you’re feeling messed up about this divorce thing, and like, I just—I really don’t want my mom to get hurt again.”

Jason nodded slowly. “Yeah, I know. I don’t want that either.”

“Did you—did you tell her what I said?”

“No,” Jason said, “but she knows you heard Lucky.” Cameron winced. “I didn’t tell her, but your fight with Trina wasn’t all that quiet, so it got back to your mom it was about something you heard from Lucky.”

“Yeah, and Mom’s pretty smart, so it didn’t take long.” Cameron stared down at the trash bag full of wrapping paper. “Is she okay?”

“She’s worried about you, and I told her you’d come to her when you were ready. I didn’t tell her anything you said, I just confirmed what she already knew, Cameron.”

“Thanks.” Cameron shrugged. “I should probably do that today, I guess. We do lunch at Kelly’s on Christmas, so maybe you could take Jake and Aiden, and I’ll talk to her then.”

“If you’re ready.”

Cameron made a face. “Well, that’ll be never, but I should suck it up. I don’t want her to worry about me.”

Greystone Manor: Kitchen

Joss practically bounced into the kitchen, beaming. “You are never going to guess what Cam got for Christmas!” she told her mother as she sat down at the table, then reached for the plate of pancakes.

“No, what—Avery—” Carly narrowed her eyes as her stepdaughter dipped a spoon into the strawberry jam and ate it. “That’s a topping for the pancakes, baby—”

“But it’s fruit,” Avery said, “and it’s sweet. Daddy said fruit is good for you.”

“Don’t even try it,” Sonny advised as he set the sausages down. “I know she’s only five, but she’s been talking circles around me with food.”

“Really? She’ll have to give me tips.” Carly picked up her coffee, and studiously avoided the two empty chairs where her boys had once sat. Her first Christmas without Morgan had been a blur, but this second one—oh, man, it cut sharper than she thought it would.  “What did Cam get?”

“A freaking car!” Joss slid a chocolate-chip pancake onto her plate. “Jason got him a really old used car they’re gonna fix up because Cam gets his permit in March. I can’t believe his mom said it was okay—”

“Oh, I knew about that,” Sonny said. “Jason told me about it, and I think Michael offered to toss in some driving time. So he liked it?”

“Liked it? He actually called to tell me, not text me,” Joss said. “Like, that says everything.”

“Clearly.” Carly hesitated. “It was from Jason?” Sonny sent her a look, and Carly glared at him.

“Yeah, I guess that make sense. Cam said his mom is paying for insurance, which I don’t know anything about, and he has to pay for his own gas, but Jason’s the one into cars, isn’t he? And it’s so cool Cam didn’t have to wait until his birthday—Plus, he’s been in a rotten mood the last few days because people are the frickin worst, but between the cars and my plans, 2018 is gonna kick ass—”

“Uh, your plans?” Sonny winced. “Joss, you think maybe you want to preview those plans—”

“Michael.” Carly stared at her eldest son as he came through the kitchen door, leaning over to kiss Joss on the cheek, then Avery. “I didn’t think you were coming this morning.”

“Grandma went over to Elizabeth’s to see the boys,” Michael said, “and I didn’t want to sit alone at the mansion.” He poured himself an orange juice. “I hear Cam likes the car.”

“Freaking awesome, right? Hey, am I going to get a car for my birthday?” Joss asked.

“I’m going to slap the crap out of Jason and Elizabeth for putting that idea in her head,” Carly muttered. Michael’s mouth tightened at her words, and she glared at him. “I’m not serious, Michael—”

“I don’t want to fight—”

“Well, I don’t want you to make faces at me either,” Carly snapped. “I’m entitled not to be excited about my daughter driving. I didn’t like it when you or Morgan—” She closed her eyes, waited as the sharp pain passed. “You’ll understand one day,” she attempted again, opening her eyes. “Putting your baby behind the wheel of a car that can hurt them—”

“A car took Morgan to Heaven,” Avery proclaimed with a sad sigh. “I miss him.”

“I didn’t mean anything by the look, Mom. I just—” Michael shrugged as he cut up his pancakes. “You know how you get—”

“Michael,” Joss cut in, “maybe just, like, you know, stop. Right? It’s Christmas, and Mom didn’t even say anything.”

“Not yet—”

“Michael,” Sonny said sharply as Carly’s throat tightened.

“It’s fine.” Carly took a deep breath. “It’s fine,” she repeated. “I’ve been know to overreact where Elizabeth is concerned, and Michael likes her. I was joking, Michael. That’s all. I’m glad Cam likes the car,” she told Joss. “And I know Jason will make sure it’s safe for him. Plus, since he has a car, you don’t need one now.”

“Oh my God—” Joss huffed. “That’s not even funny.”

“Sounded great to me.” Carly checked the time on her phone. “Did you talk to your dad yet?”

“No, but it’s like practically tomorrow there. I’ll call him later. Hey, Avery, you gonna have any pancakes with that strawberry jam?”

Michael stayed only for breakfast, then left. Carly wandered back into the living room to look out over the snow falling on the terrace. She’d never lived in this house with the boys as children, so there were no memories of Christmases with Michael and Morgan underfoot, not like there were with Joss and Avery.

“You okay?”

Carly turned to look at Sonny, then sighed as she focused on the snow again. “He’s nicer to you than he is to me, and you actually killed AJ,” she muttered. “I just covered it up.” She winced when Sonny lifted his brows. “I’m sorry.”

“Carly—”

“And it wasn’t like this a few months ago. It just wasn’t. We were fine. I was dealing with Nelle. Then Jason came home, and the AJ stuff came back, and it’s like Michael decided he shouldn’t have forgiven us. And I don’t understand why—” Carly pressed a fist to her chest. “I know I’m not a good person, Sonny, but I don’t think I’m a terrible one. Not all the time. I was protecting you, yeah, but I was protecting Michael.” Her voice faltered. “I didn’t want him to lose you both. Should I have told the truth?”

“We can’t think about what we could have done differently,” Sonny told her. “We just gotta keep putting one foot in front of the other. And it’s this Nelle stuff. Just stay away from her—”

“I keep trying, but she’s just—she’s just always there. She knows exactly what she’s doing.” Carly shook her head. “I know we said we need to let him make his own mistakes, but I can’t—I let Morgan go, Sonny. I let him make mistakes and he was sick. And I almost lost Michael so many times—I can’t do it again. I won’t survive losing another child—” Her voice broke. “I almost buried him once, and she’s stealing him from me, and he doesn’t even see it—”

“We’ll get through it, Carly—”

“Will we?”

Penthouse: Living Room

Sam’s mouth was tight as she watched Drew put Danny’s coat on. “We could just go to my mom’s—”

“We always to go Kelly’s for lunch on Christmas,” Drew said. “Sam—”

“You said I could see Jake,” Danny told his mother, narrowing his eyes. “I saw Grammy last night. I wanna see my brother today.”

“But—” Sam paused. “Oscar will be there,” she told Drew. “We haven’t—”

“Oscar?” Danny looked back and forth between them. “That’s Joss’s friend. How come—”

“Danny—” Drew hesitated. “Look, there’s things going on right now that you don’t know about,” he began.

“Drew, don’t—” Sam slammed her mouth shut when Danny looked at her in confusion. She’d never called Drew by any name around Danny since it had happened.

“I don’t—” Danny’s little brows were crinkled together. “Why did you call Daddy Drew?”

“Because—” Drew said, heavily, kneeling in front of him. “We found out something really hard to understand a few weeks ago, buddy. You remember I didn’t know who I was when I came to Port Charles?”

“Don’t—” Sam started, but Danny and Drew ignored her.

“Yeah, but then you did—”

“Someone played a trick on me,” Drew told him, his voice tight. “And gave me memories that belonged to someone else. To Jason Morgan. Your father. I’m his brother.”

“Someone gave you his memories and made you think you were him? That’s mean—” Danny stopped. “But then how can you be my dad?”

“I—” Drew took a deep bracing breath. “I want to be. But I’m not your father by blood. Or Jake’s.”

“But—” Danny shook his head, trying to piece it together. He looked at his mother. “Mommy?”

“I told you I didn’t want to do this at all, and you’re doing it on Christmas?” Sam snapped.

“Well, you decided to start a fight about lunch and called me Drew,” he retorted.

“Don’t fight—” Danny’s lip trembled. “Don’t go away.”

“I’m not—” Drew took Danny by the shoulders. “I love you. I will always love you and Jake. I’ve talked to my brother. To the real Jason Morgan, and he knows how much I love you both, and he wants me to keep loving you both.”

“Oh. Then he doesn’t want me—”

“He wants you to be happy,” Sam cut in sharply. “And you’re happy with Drew as your daddy—”

“Yeah, but—” Danny tried to put his words together. “But Daddy said someone played a trick on him. So he’s someone else.”

“I’m Andrew Cain,” Drew told him. “Everyone calls me Drew. Before someone played a trick on me, I was a Navy SEAL. I have a son, and you have a cousin. His name is Oscar.”

“Oscar?” Danny repeated. “He’s your real son?”

“By blood, yeah, but I want him to be part of your family, too, Danny. Just like Jake and Aiden and Cameron and Scout. He didn’t know he had any family, Danny. Just like me when I woke up from my accident. But now he has lots of cousins.”

“But I get to keep you?” Danny said, pensively. “My other daddy is okay if I keep you?”

“He wants what’s best for you,” Sam said before Drew could come up with a way to respond to that.

“He loves you,” Drew told Danny as Sam scowled behind him. “We’ll make it work. No one has to lose anyone. We’ll keep each other. Okay?”

“Okay,” Danny said, a bit dubious because even at six years old, he could sense the tension in the room. “Can we go to Kelly’s? I wanna meet Oscar and see Jake.”

“Yeah.” Drew got to his feet. “Do me a favor? Go check on your sister upstairs? Make sure she’s napping.”

“Okay.”

When Danny was upstairs, he turned to Sam, who was glaring at him. “It had to be done. I didn’t want it to be today, but you’re right. Oscar will be there, and I don’t know—Jason might show up with Jake and his brothers. We can’t put our head in the sand. Whatever happens with custody of Danny, we weren’t going to be able to keep the truth forever—”

“You don’t get to tell me in one breath that you don’t want to be his father and then promise he gets to keep you,” Sam interrupted. “Because the only way he keeps you is if Jason signs those papers—”

“It’s not the only way. Why can’t you trust that Jason and I—and you—can make this work?” Drew asked. “At the party last night, I was with Jake and Oscar, and it was strange, but it’s starting to work. I’m looking at Oscar, and I’m feeling that connection. He’s my son, Sam. And Danny’s my nephew. I love him. I don’t want to lose him, but I’m not going to pretend that Jason isn’t trying hard to reconnect with Jake—and Jake’s happy. Why wouldn’t I want more love for Danny?”

“Because I am not Elizabeth,” Sam said. “She might be fine with Jason waltzing back into Jake’s life, but fine. He wanted Jake. He never wanted my son—”

“That’s not true—”

“You might have his memories,” Sam said, “but that doesn’t mean you have all the information. You don’t get to tell me how I feel—”

“Did you ever believe I was Jason?” Drew demanded. “Because you don’t get to hold this crap against Jason when you didn’t against me—so what is it, Sam? Why are you so angry at him and not at me?”

“I—” Sam closed her mouth, her eyes wide at the question. “I don’t—” She swallowed hard. “I thought I put it all away,” she confessed. “I thought I’d forgiven him. But I didn’t. And maybe I didn’t know it until I saw his face and heard his voice. Because I could hear all the things he’d said to me. The way he made me feel dirty because of what happened to me—”

“Sam—” Drew cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—”

“You know what he said to me. He didn’t know if he could love Danny. And I’m supposed to magically forgive that now because we know he’s Danny’s biological father?”

“You were going to get back together before he got shot—”

“Maybe. But maybe I also would have wondered every day if he really loved my son. I don’t want that. You don’t have to like my reasons, Drew, and maybe you can’t live with them. But that’s not your decision to make. It’s mine. Danny is my son. He has been only mine since the day I found out I was pregnant. I fought for him, I grieved for him, I got him through cancer—no one else!” Sam’s hand fisted at her side. “No one is going to tell me how to raise him.”

Drew started to say something, then turned as Danny appeared at the top of the stairs. “Hey, is your sister asleep?” When Danny nodded, Drew continued, “Then we should get going.”

Kelly’s: Dining Room

Joss sat down at the table where Trina, Oscar, and Emma were waiting. “You were able to get out on Christmas?” she said to Emma with a furrowed brow. “Your parents never let you before—”

“Oh, Mom and Dad are doing a big powwow with Grandma and Grandpa,” Emma said, picking up her water. “Grandma’s still pissed about her car, and Mom wanted me out of the way so they could talk.”

“But you left the iPad recording, right?” Joss asked, and Emma nodded. “Good. Because I’ve been thinking that we’re getting left out of all this crap, and we shouldn’t be. Your grandma got hurt, and Oscar’s going through all of this, and it’s messing with Cam and his brothers. So we need more information.”

“This is a whole new side to you,” Oscar said, frowning at her. “You okay?”

“No. And we need to figure out what we’re gonna do—” Joss winced as she saw a familiar set of shoulders. “Crap. That’s Jason—Cam must already be here—”

“Hey!” Aiden rushed across the restaurant to hug Trina and Emma. “I didn’t know you were gonna be here!”

“Hey, kid. How’s Christmas? Santa been good to you?” Trina asked.

“He was awesome.” Aiden pointed at the table where Jake and Jason had taken a seat. “But Mom and Cam are back at the house, so I gotta go make sure we order for them.”

“Oh, okay, well, we’re over here if you need us.” Joss waited until Aiden had gone back to the table, where Jason met her eyes, raised his brows, and Joss hunched her shoulders. “Okay, so our time is limited, and Jason knows I know, so we gotta stay out of jail.”

“Wait, was jail on the table?” Oscar said.

“I’m not ruling anything out,” Emma declared.

“I am,” Trina said. “I can’t get caught or I’ll catch fire.” She nodded to Joss. “So tell me the plan, and I’ll make it better.”

Joss narrowed her eyes, but decided not to break the truce. “Okay, well the objective is to destroy Lucky Spencer so hard that he stays the hell away from Port Charles forever and regrets the day he ever decided to be a giant asshole and make Cameron feel like crap. I think we can get him deported to somewhere in Asia. Spinelli knows a guy.”

Emma nodded. “Yes. I like it. Let’s think big.”

“Wait—” Oscar protested.

“How about Russia?” Trina wanted to know. “Do they still got gulags?”

Webber House: Kitchen

Elizabeth switched on the dishwater and looked across the counter at her eldest son, perched on the stool. “So.”

“So.” Cameron stared at his hands, flattened against the counter. “Uh, Jason said you know what I heard.”

“He told me, but he didn’t say anything about what happened last night.” Elizabeth leaned against the counter. “First, I want to say that I never should have had that conversation with you in the house. I obviously didn’t know he would say that, but if I wanted to tell Lucky Spencer he was a shitty father, I should have waited until none of you could hear it.”

“Yeah, well, in your defense, most guys would lie about whether or not they love the kid who used to call him Dad.” Cameron hesitated. “I don’t know what to say, Mom. It sucks, but I guess it’s better to know. I don’t have to wonder anymore. He doesn’t think of me as his kid. I’d say it wasn’t a big loss, but—” He hesitated. “Part of me really just doesn’t get it. He used to take me and Jake all the time when you guys got divorced. We played games and baseball, and he took me places. He told everyone I was his son.”

“I know.”

“And, like, I don’t know—I don’t think it changed a lot after Jake’s accident. But maybe I didn’t see it.” Cameron scratched something on the counter. “It’s not like I thought of all the guys you’ve dated as, like, father figures or anything. Mostly they were nice to me, and I liked you being happy. Most of them didn’t bother me.”

“Cameron—there were times I was very selfish,” Elizabeth said, “incredibly, stupidly selfish. Never more than when I lied to Jake Doe about who he was. It doesn’t matter that he wasn’t Jason, or that he never really felt like Jason. I thought he was supposed to be him. And I took the chance that it would work out for us because we were happy. I wanted it so much for for all of us—but mostly for me.”

She waited for him to meet her eyes. “And that lie dragged me down, and made feel so bad about myself that I thought Franco was a good idea. The fact that I brought him into this house, let him live here, knowing what he’d done in his past, let him around you three—he put his hands on you—”

“Just a push, Mom. It’s fine—”

“It’s not fine. And I would have shot him if your brothers hadn’t been there,” Elizabeth admitted. “I shouldn’t tell you that, but well, you need to know that I am deeply ashamed of what he did and that I let myself feel so worthless that I thought Franco was good enough for us.”

“Mom.” Cameron pressed his lips together. “I know it was like losing Jake was this…crazy thing that just ruined everything for years. I missed him so much, and you were always so sad. Even when you weren’t. I thought getting him back would fix everything, but it made it so much harder. And I feel like shit for saying that. Sorry,” he said as an afterthought.

“No, it’s okay. Yeah, Jake coming home meant putting all my energy and time into him. Especially after his second accident, losing the house, and his issues these last two years. And I’ve been so proud of you—and Aiden—for stepping up and making him feel okay. You shouldn’t have had to do it, but you did.”

“It makes me so mad that someone stole him and screwed with his mind, and they did it to Jason and Drew, and all these people they hurt,” Cameron muttered. “They didn’t care what it did to us. Helena never cared about me or Aiden. She just wanted to hurt you. And Jake. And Lucky’s family.” He paused. “But things are better lately. Or they were.”

“I thought so,” Elizabeth said. “I’m so sorry, baby, that Lucky can’t bring himself to love you the way you deserve. I never wanted that for you. I wanted you to have a family where you felt safe. Every day, I wanted you to wake up and know you were loved just for being you. I didn’t have that, not even with Gram,” she admitted. “Not until I got older and I met Emily and Patrick. They never, ever judged me. Not even when they should have.  Sometimes, the people who are supposed to love you let you down the most. I’m so sorry that you had to find that out like this.”

“I sort of blasted Jason last night,” Cameron said. “Joss told me about the divorce, and I was like—well maybe Sam was right. Because Jason left Jake, but he left you and me, too. I’m not stupid, Mom. He was around a lot, you were really happy. You almost went on a trip together, and then he was gone.”

“We were engaged for a half a second,” Elizabeth admitted. “But…Michael got shot, and Jake got kidnapped—and we just didn’t hold on enough. We got scared, Cam. Jason didn’t want to leave us, but we both—we both thought it was a good idea. I didn’t—” She hesitated. “And I think by the time we both realized we should have done things differently, we’d missed our chance. But Jason never abandoned Jake. Not the way Sam is saying in those papers.”

“Yeah, I know that now. I was just—I was thinking about myself, and Lucky—and Jake and Danny. He still gave me the car today, so I guess I didn’t piss him off too much,” Cameron said.

“It’s impossible to make him mad enough to cut you out of his life,” Elizabeth told him. “Believe me, I’ve done my own level of damage to Jason over the years, and you’ve met Carly.”

“Yeah.” Cameron snorted. “Yeah, I guess he does have a high tolerance for crap.” He paused. “Maybe things are better because he’s around again, and that’s why you’re happy again. But it never stays that way. How can you keep doing this, Mom? I mean, like, how do you keep—” He shrugged. “How do you keep letting people close enough to hurt you? I didn’t want to talk to anyone. Even Emma, and she heard it. I yelled at Trina, and I know I hurt Joss’s feelings. I hurt a lot of people—”

“That’s the best thing about finding a real family,” Elizabeth told him. “You find your people who love you no matter what, who get that sometimes you’re in a bad mood, and you do dumb things. It’s about trust, Cameron. You have to trust that Joss, Trina, and Emma have known you all your life, and will forgive you because they know what happened.  Jason, no matter what you said to him last night, didn’t even consider holding a grudge because he just wants you to be okay.” She paused. “And that’s why I can trust him, Cam. Whatever is going on. Because at the end of the day, when you find the people who know who you are, deep down, all your ugly places, and love you anyway— that’s your family.”

“Thanks.” Cameron slid off the stool. “I’m okay,” he told her. “I guess I just should suck it up and go to Kelly’s to apologize, huh?”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth paused. “Are you okay?”

“About Lucky? No,” Cameron admitted. “But you know, it’s his loss. He could have had all of us, but he just wants Aiden, and Aiden’s gonna see it one day, and then Lucky won’t have anyone. So—you know, that’ll be his problem. Not mine. But I was never mad at you.”

“Well, maybe you should have been,” she said. “Blast me next time, Cam. I can take it.”

Kelly’s: Dining Room

Trina shook her head. “No, I really think we’re not being creative enough. We should talk to Spencer. I bet he has some ideas.” She scowled at the scribbled notes on the napkin. “And maybe we could figure out a way to yeet Charlotte into the sun while we’re taking out Spencers that are pissing us off—”

“Look, you shot down my last six ideas just because I don’t think a Russian gulag is practical,” Joss said, rolling her eyes. “I don’t even know if they have them anymore.”

“My grandma could find out,” Emma chirped. “I could call her—”

“Yeah, but then we’d have to tell her why,” Oscar said. “I still think we could think a bit smaller, a bit more legal—” When Joss scowled. “I mean, look, we could work our way up to gulags—”

“Well, I still like him being deported and dumped in the middle of the Sahara desert,” Joss decided. “Like right in the middle. See if he can be a little bitch when he’s roasting his nuts off—”

“Uh, who are you dumping in the Sahara?”

The four of them twisted to find Cameron standing behind them, his brow arched. “Because I think that it’s pretty good revenge idea. We should put it on the list in case we need it for later.”

“We’re going to destroy Lucky,” Emma told Cameron. “We’ve been planning it for the last forty-five minutes. Joss and Trina called a truce and everything.”

“Yeah, if a truce means them arguing about gulags for a solid twenty,” Oscar told Cameron as he pulled up a chair.

Cameron took a deep breath. “Call off the destruction,” he told them. “I appreciate it, but he’s still Aiden’s dad, and Aiden loves him.”

“Aiden doesn’t know any better,” Trina muttered.

“No, but he’s seven. And I already got one little brother who didn’t get to be a kid for long, so I’m okay with Aiden thinking his dad is a good guy for a few more years.” Cameron hesitated. “I’m sorry I flipped out. I yelled at most of you, but I’m okay.”

“You sure—”

“I’ll be okay,” he corrected, interrupting Trina’s question. “Eventually.”

“Not that this isn’t touching,” Joss said, “and I accept your apology because you know, I’m on board with keeping the little man happy, but—” She gestured towards the doorway. “What do we know about the Danny situation?”

Cameron twisted in his chair, then winced as he saw Drew coming into the diner with Danny at his side. “Let me go do the recon.”

Drew walked Danny over to the table where Elizabeth had joined Jason and her boys. “Uh, hey,” he said to them, as Danny squinted his eyes at Jason.

“I know you. I saw you on Halloween,” Danny said. He looked at Drew. “Is he my other daddy?”

Jason’s eyes widened at that, and his mouth tightened at the corners,  but that was the only part of his expression that changed. Jake got off his chair and went around the table to Danny’s side.

“Hey, Danny,” Jake said. “I missed you. Merry Christmas.” He hugged his younger brother. “Did you get good gifts?”

“Yeah, but—” Danny studied Jason. “You look like photos I saw once of Daddy before the accident, so you are my other daddy, aren’t you?”

Jason glanced at Drew who sat at one of the empty chairs. “Yeah, this is Jason Morgan. Your dad by blood,” he continued. “Remember I said that he’s my brother? Like you and Jake. We’re twins.”

“Oh. But you had the accident so now you don’t look alike no more.” Danny nodded, taking it in. He looked at Jason again. “Daddy said you said it would be okay if I kept him. Because he’s a really good daddy. But do I get to keep Jake?”

“Of course,” Jason said, his voice a bit rough. “Jake’s—he’s missed you these last few weeks. And I—I want you to be happy, Danny. I’m glad you have a good dad.”

“But you’re not Jake’s daddy anymore?” Danny said, looking at Drew again. “How can we be brothers, then?”

“Because brothers can mean a lot of things,” Cameron spoke up, and Danny tilted his head up. “You and me, we don’t have any of the same parents, do we?” he asked as he knelt down in front of the younger boy.

“Nope.”

“But didn’t Jake say we were brothers?”

“Yeah.” Danny smiled shyly. “You have good video games.”

“So you and Jake can stay brothers no matter who raises you.” Cameron paused. “And you know, Drew’s awesome. I’m glad you to have him. I’m glad Jake gets to have him and Jason. You’re really lucky, Danny, to have so many people who love you.”

“Do I get more presents?” Danny wanted to know. “Because I think if I get two dads, I should get more presents.”

“You can have all the presents you want,” Drew told him. He met Jason’s eyes. “We’re still figuring everything out, but there’s no reason we can’t all get to know each other  and do it together.” He gestured to the table of teenagers. “Oscar, come over and meet Danny.”

“You okay?” Elizabeth asked Jason softly.

“Yeah, I just—” Jason met her eyes. “I wasn’t expecting this today.”

“I know we haven’t talked about the custody thing,” she said softly, “but you and I both know how much you loved Jake. Don’t sign anything that says differently. Even if you think it’s best for Danny.”

Too many times
I’ve cared too much
I stood on the edge
And I saw that you held my hand
And knowing too well
I couldn’t hide from those eyes
Please don’t let me fall
Please don’t let me fall in love with you again
– Don’t, Jewel

---

January 2015

Wyndemere: Study

Nikolas dragged his hands over his face as he studied his grandmother. “How? Why?”

Helena sighed as she draped herself over the settee sofa. “Must we have this conversation over and over again?”

“Grandmother, I’m just not sure I understand how Jake Doe fits in—”

There were too many questions and too few answers, and he’d had enough. “Haven’t I already proved my loyalty?” he demanded, rising to his feet. “I haven’t told Elizabeth or my brother their son is alive.”

Helena’s lips curved into a smile. “But he isn’t your brother’s son, is he?”

He hissed. “Don’t start with me—”

She blinked, pretending innocence. “I’m sorry. I thought you wanted to know how Jake Doe fit into our plans—”

“Your plans,” he snapped. “I just wanted to keep my son safe. To keep Elizabeth and her boys safe.  You left me no choice.”

“Part of you enjoys this,” she purred. “Don’t deny it—”

“You’re crazy—”

“It’s in your blood, Nikolas. We are no ordinary peasants meant to deal with mundanity of life—”

“Or be burdened with a conscience,” he muttered.

“Nikolas—”

“No!” He whirled to face his grandmother, cutting off her wheedling, her ingratiating tone. “You said if I kept this secret and I helped you, you would let Jake come home. You refuse to tell me anything about your plans, and now I catch you meeting with Jake Doe, this mystery man Elizabeth is tangled up with. Tell me what he has to do with this. Now.”

She sniffed. “You act as though I’ve not given you any task to perform—”

“You asked me to wrest control of ELQ from the Quartermaines,” he snapped. “But you also refused to explain that demand—”

She lifted a shoulder. “What better way to test your loyaty? ELQ belonged to that insufferable woman—”

“Don’t talk about Emily that way—”

“It’s simple,” Helena said. “If you’re willing to dismantle her family’s business, then I can begin to trust you—”

He stared at her with a mixture of irritation, frustration, fury—and anxiety. “Are you saying you won’t tell me what’s going on until I have the majority of the shares?” He was still six months, maybe more, away from taking over ELQ. How much longer was he going to keep the secret about Jake from Elizabeth?

If she found out before he could tell her the truth—she’d never forgive him.

His grandmother tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Tempting.”

“I just want to know if Elizabeth should worry about Jake Doe.” He hated that his tone almost sounded like a whine. Like he was a small child, begging for a cookie. He wanted to be done with his grandmother and this entire generation of malevolent Cassadines. “I’ll get ELQ for you,” he continued. “Just tell me about Jake Doe.”

Helena studied him for a long moment, then finally nodded. “All right. I suppose your weeks of silence have earned you a minuscule reward. Jake’s Doe identity is quite essential to my plan.”

This startled him. “You know who he is?”

“And so do you.” Helena tipped her head. “He’s from Port Charles, and he’s quite important to little Jake.” She laughed as dread began to crawl up Nikolas’s spine. “It’s quite humorous, isn’t it? Of all the names for him to adopt, this man chose the name of Elizabeth’s dead son.”

No. It couldn’t be. He swallowed hard. “Grandmother—”

“Death really is temporary, darling,” she crooned. “Especially in Port Charles.”

“Are you telling me—” He closed his eyes. Of all the possibilities, this was one he hadn’t seen coming. “You’re telling me that Jake Doe is actually Jason Morgan.”

He opened his eyes to see his grandmother’s gleeful smile. “Delicious, isn’t it? He escaped my clutches but ended up with amnesia. It’s been quite entertaining to watch him connect to his former life—”

“My God.”

Helena reached for the purse and coat she’d tossed over the sofa. “Now, are you satisfied?” she demanded. “You have a measure of my trust, Nikolas.” She met his eyes. “I hope you will remember what I will do to your family if you cross me.” She paused. “As easily as I saved little Jake’s life, I can take it back. Maybe I’ll even let Elizabeth watch this time—”

And she would. She absolutely would murder a small child and make Elizabeth watch the horror of it.

“I won’t—” He took a deep breath. “I won’t say anything, Grandmother. I’ll get ELQ for you. I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t hurt Jake. Or any of the boys.”

“I’m glad we understand each other, darling.”

Thursday, December 20, 2017

Webber House: Living Room

There were few people on the planet that Elizabeth trusted as much as Patrick Drake. She adored Robin, but Patrick?

Patrick was family.

“I miss you so much,” she murmured, hugging him tightly, reluctant to release him.

“Same goes.” He pulled back slightly, frowning slightly as he took in the slight sheen of tears in her eyes. “You and me need to find some time before we head back to Berkeley to catch up. Just us.”

“Yeah, we do.” She squeezed his hands, then released him to hug Robin. “It’s so good to have you home, at least for a few days.”

“We love Berkeley,” Robin said, “but we’ve been talking for a while about how much we miss Port Charles.” She nodded over to the sofa where Emma had assumed her normal position on the sofa between Cam and Aiden, a controller in her hand. “I want Noah to have that.”

“And I need to get my hands on that baby,” Elizabeth said. Robin unhooked the straps on the car seat and placed the infant in her arms. “Oh, I miss them when they’re this small,” she murmured, rocking the baby gently, absorbing that sweet baby scent.

“Yeah, it’s been great to get a second chance at this part,” Robin murmured, stroking the back of her knuckle down Noah’s soft cheek. She and Elizabeth exchanged a glance as they both remembered Robin’s difficult battle with postpartum depression.

“Sometimes I feel like Cameron was the only baby I really got to enjoy,” Elizabeth admitted, careful to keep her voice hushed. She and Robin went into the kitchen as Patrick challenged Cameron to some sort of race car game. “You know, with Jake, he was kidnapped and then my marriage collapsed—” She sighed. “Aiden was kidnapped, and Jake’s accident— with Cameron, I got two solid years just to absorb all the moments before things went crazy.”

“Well, you’re younger than me,” Robin reminded her. “It’s not like you can’t do this again—”

“Oh—no—three boys is my limit.” Elizabeth laughed.

They both turned at the sound of the door opening and Robin’s face paled as Jason came in. She inhaled sharply, pressing her fist against her gut. “Jason.”

Jason heard her voice and he stilled. Elizabeth remembered now that the last time Jason had seen Robin had been before the lab explosion that had taken her away from them.

“Robin.” Jason came into the kitchen. “They told me you were alive—”

“They told me you were back,” Robin said, her voice thick, “but I don’t know what I was really expecting. But it’s you, isn’t it? It’s really you.”

“Yeah.” He stared at for another moment, almost in disbelief. “You were really kidnapped as part of this?” he asked. “Helena had you?”

“Eventually. It’s a long story, and it was…” Robin shook her head. “It was a lot. We’ll talk about it all, but right now—I just want to hug you.” She embraced him tightly and Jason hugged her back. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

____

It wasn’t until Robin had tucked Noah away for a nap and they were crowded around the table that Elizabeth realized something was a bit off. Jason was subdued—more than he normally was and there was something in his eyes that worried her.

Even more concerning was the forced laughter coming from the end of the table with Cameron. He was smiling, laughing, trading jokes — but all it felt wrong somehow, like he was trying too hard.

“Elizabeth?”

She looked away from her sons and blinked at Patrick. “I’m sorry, did you ask me something?”

“Yeah. We were just wondering how the Cassadine part of this is going,” Robin asked. “Mom said you’d sort of gone your separate ways. Mom and Dad were doing the WSB stuff with Drew, and you and Jason were taking point on the Cassadines.”

“Oh. Well, not much. We’re hoping Spinelli can save that thumb drive,” Elizabeth said. “There was also that cryptic clue Andre gave us.”

“The one about making sure you know where all the Cassadines are?” Patrick asked. “I mean, there’s not many left.”

“Not in the direct line. Just Spencer, Charlotte, and Valentin. There’s a few cousins out there, too, but they’re disconnected.” Elizabeth looked at Jason. “He hasn’t found anything else, has he?”

“No.” Jason cleared his throat and set his fork down. “No, he just confirmed the stuff Lucky put together.”

“Oh, right, Lucky was supposed to be here. And Luke. Are they still in town?” Robin asked.

“My dad had to go,” Aiden piped up from his seat next to Robin. “He said he had something really important to do.” He wrinkled his nose. “I wanted him to stay for Christmas, but he said he had to help Jason and Mom.”

Elizabeth’s mouth tightened at Lucky using her as an excuse to break a promise to his son. Nothing new there. She caught Cameron’s eye as he scowled.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Robin said, as Jason frowned at the exchange. “My parents were away a lot when I was a kid.”

“Yeah, Dad’s always doing something,” Aiden continued, “but not Mom. She’s here. That’s good. I think you need an adult or Santa won’t come in the house.”

“Yeah, we can count on Mom,” Cameron added, then stabbed his fork into his plate of pasta. “At least that’s something.”

They fell into an awkward silence, the only sounds the clinking and scraping of utensils against plates. Patrick wiped his mouth and turned a grin towards the end of the table. “How about a rematch?”

“Awesome, but don’t forget dessert, Mom!” Aiden called over his shoulder as he made a beeline to the living room to get the controller before either of his brothers.

“Cam, is everything okay?” Elizabeth asked as she rose to gather the plates from his end of the table.

“Yeah. Just crazy this time of year.” He flashed her another smile that she knew wasn’t genuine. “Gotta go save Aiden from embarrassing himself.”

Elizabeth sighed, then went to put the dishes in the sink so she could finish updating Robin on anything Anna and Robert hadn’t already told her.

Friday, December 21, 2017

Metro Court Hotel: Carly’s Office

Carly hadn’t seen Jason in person since that horrible day outside of Elizabeth’s house when he had told her what a terrible friend she was. He hadn’t returned her phone calls and, while Sonny had assured her he’d listened to her voice mails, Jason hadn’t sought her out.

Until her assistant had told her that Jason wanted to see her, Carly had really thought that she’d finally driven away the only person who had never let her down. Even if Jason came to the Christmas party in a few days — it wouldn’t matter. He’d never forgive her.

But he was here. That had to mean something, didn’t it? He’d come to see her on his own. She hadn’t even cornered him at the house or—

Carly took a deep breath. “It’s okay, Jenny. You can send him back.”

“Okay, but you have that meeting—”

“Hold it and my calls. This is important.” Should she stand? Should she stay seated? Should she look busy—

Before Carly could decide how to set the scene, Jason knocked on her open office door. She sprang out of her chair and nervously smoothed down her skirt. “Jason. Hey. Hi. Come in. I mean, if you have a minute—”

“Your assistant said you had a lot of meetings—” Jason stepped over the threshold. “I don’t want to interrupt.”

“You’re not.” Carly came around the desk but stopped herself from going to him. “It’s the holidays, you know? There’s events and before we know it, New Year’s—um—” She cleared her throat. “Just a lot of details, but mostly it runs itself. I—I wasn’t—I mean, I didn’t expect to see you today.” Or any day.

“Yeah, well. We’ve both had some time to…” Jason shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and studied her. “We’ve had some time,” he repeated.

“I’d apologize again, but I know it won’t do any good. I always say I’m sorry,” she added. “But being sorry after doesn’t change anything. I know. I know that. I have to stop doing things I need to apologize for.”

“I know you’ve had a bad year, Carly,” he said. “Sonny doesn’t like to talk about it, but I’ve been there. I mean—”

“You lost Jake. I know. A-and Michael—” It swept over her again, the shuddering wave that always seemed to be hovering just out of sight. The heaviness behind her eyes that threatened spill over into tears. “Um, thank you. For seeing that. It—it doesn’t give me an excuse, but I just—” She rubbed her arm restlessly. “I don’t know. It feels wrong to blame things on losing Morgan. Like it makes it his fault and it’s not, but—”

“Carly,” Jason said quietly, and the words stopped tumbling past her lips. She pressed her lips together. “I know what it’s like to lose someone and not be able to really live with it. To make choices and say things that feel wrong even as you’re doing it and not being able to stop it—”

“Don’t—” Her voice broke. “Don’t make this okay for me. Okay? You do that. You’ve always done that. I’m wrong inside, you know? Where it matters. And you keep making it okay for me to be this way. You’re right. It has to stop.”

“Carly—” Jason hesitated. “I came because I’m still coming over on Christmas Eve. Like we talked about. But I won’t be there on Christmas Day.”

“Because you’ll be with Jake. You should be with him. You’re such a good father—Michael is who he is because of you—”

“Because I’ll be with Elizabeth and the boys,” Jason corrected gently, and she flinched. “Not just Jake.”

“Right. Right. They’re a package—”

“No. Even if Elizabeth offered to let me have Jake on my own that day, I would still want to be with all of them. Do you understand what I’m telling you, Carly?”

“I do.” She took another deep breath and this time, it felt easier. “She’s your family. Even without Jake. I do understand that. And I have listened to you, you know. I know Elizabeth’s support and just—whatever she’s doing, it’s part of the reason you’re going to be okay. I’m sorry that I can’t—I can’t seem to make myself be okay with that.”

He exhaled slowly. “They’re coming to the party—”

“I just wanted to help you,” Carly interrupted. “Like you always do for me. You always make everything okay. You made sure I got to keep Michael, and you were there when he was shot—when I thought I’d lost him. You gave me Jake’s kidney. It doesn’t matter if it didn’t happen—you didn’t know that. You’ve been my best friend. I just wanted to be that for you. I wanted to make it okay for you.”

“And sometimes I made things worse,” he reminded her. “When I claimed Sam’s baby was mine, I just put off the inevitable. I made that worse, Carly. And when I took over the business, I chose your family over mine. I can’t make things okay for you anymore. And I don’t need to you make things okay for me. I just need you to accept my choices.”

“I can do that.” Carly nodded. “If that’s what you need, I can do that. I promised Joss I’d do better. It kills me, Jase, that the boys heard me. That Joss heard me. I mean, I’m sorry I said those things to Elizabeth, but it’s mostly the boys. I love them. All of them—”

“I know you do—”

“I’m just—whatever you need me to do. I can do it.”

“We’re coming to the party,” Jason repeated. “And we’ll see how it goes. I should let you get back to work.”

“Thank you. For giving me another chance. I don’t deserve it,” she told him as she followed him to the door. “But you’re giving it to me anyway.”

“You still need to apologize to Elizabeth,” Jason told her. “You did what you did because of me, but you did it to her. And her kids.”

“Right. I—I can do that. Thank you,” she repeated. “I’ll make sure you don’t regret it. I promise.”

Jason looked at her for another long moment, then shook his head and left. Carly winced, closing the door behind him. She didn’t blame him for being unsure of her. She’d broken this promise too many times to count.

But she knew, for certain now, that if she messed up again, Jason would be done with her. She had to find a way to be a better person. She just had to. Jason deserved nothing less.

General Hospital: Nurse’s Hub

“I’m just overreacting,” Elizabeth said with a shake of her head, handing a chart to Felix. “People get to be quiet.”

“Yeah, but you’re his mother. You know when something is bothering him.”

“Not always,” Elizabeth muttered. She rubbed the side of her cheek. “I didn’t realize he and Franco weren’t getting along—”

“Elizabeth—”

“It’s just—it was both of them,” Elizabeth said. “You know? They were both being quiet.”

“How can you tell when Jason is being quiet?” Felix wanted to know. “Isn’t that like his default setting?”

“What if they had a fight or something over what happened with Carly? What if Jason hanging around all the time is bothering Cam—”

“Elizabeth—” Felix put up his hands, gesturing for her to take a breath. “What if they both just had bad days? Cam’s a teenager. Were you always in an awesome mood at his age?”

“Never.” Elizabeth leaned against the counter. “Especially at fifteen. Maybe he’s still worried about Emma and Trina. Things seemed fine, but—”

“See? And you know Jason’s been through it lately—”

“He seemed to be doing better, even after that fight with Carly. But you’re right. I’m not just overreacting, I’m assuming it’s about me.” She made a face. “How narcissistic is that?”

“I don’t know if we can call it narcissism since you just basically thought you were the reason they were unhappy. That actually sounds like paranoia.” Felix folded his arms. “Have you and Jason talked about how much time you’re spending together?”

“Oh, don’t say it like that. We’re not dating—”

“You’re not sleeping together,” Felix corrected. “You’re telling me it’s the same thing as when you and Patrick used to do things with the kids?”

Elizabeth hesitated. “No, but—” She shrugged a shoulder. “Sometimes Jason and I just do this. We always have. When we’re both alone. I mean, we drift towards each other. But it never goes anywhere—”

“Except that one time, because, you know, there’s Jake.”

“Even then.” Elizabeth stared down at the insurance forms. “Maybe that’s why Jason’s being like this. He’s realized he’s spending too much time with me, and he wants to stop—”

“For crying out—” Felix muttered. “Girl, you’re gonna give me a headache. The man was quiet at one dinner. Why do you always assume the worst?”

“I—” Elizabeth paused. “I don’t know. Maybe to prepare myself because the worst is usually what I get.”

“Ugh. You drive me insane—”

“Hey, I hope I’m not interrupting.”

They looked up to find Kim at the counter. “Oh, no, I’m just annoying Felix. What’s up?”

“Oscar said he’d been invited to Joss’s house for Christmas Eve.” Kim paused. “We both were,” she added.

“Yeah. Sonny and Carly always invite Joss’s friends,” Elizabeth explained. “Not last year because of Morgan, but I know Sonny said something about inviting Drew, too. Trying to mend fences.”

“I don’t know Sonny or his wife that well,” Kim said slowly, “but if Drew is going, I want Oscar to be there. Do you think Sonny would be okay if I refused his invitation?”

“He’d be fine, but you don’t have to do that. I’ll be at the party,” Elizabeth assured her. “And so will some other GH staff. Bobbie, Felix—”

“Oh, it’s—” Kim paused. “I just want Oscar and Drew to build a relationship, you know? They’ve been hesitant about spending time together. I don’t want Drew to feel like he has to be around me. He’s…” She forced a smile. “He’s made it clear that I’m not part of his future.”

“I’m sorry, Kim—”

“I just want to make it easier for them, but I wasn’t really sure how one goes about refusing an invitation from…”

“Someone like Sonny,” Elizabeth finished. “I get it, Kim, but if you change your mind—”

“Thanks. I appreciate the input.”

As abruptly as she’d approached them, Kim left and Elizabeth stared after her blinking in confusion.

“That felt weird,” Felix announced. Elizabeth turned to look at him. “Right? It was weird.”

“It was something.”

Greystone: Living Room

“I always miss all the good stuff,” Spencer Cassadine declared with disgust as he fiddled with the video game controller. “Why didn’t anyone tell me Valentin was up to no good again?”

“Because you’re unhinged when it comes to him,” Joss reminded him. She handed Cameron the open bag of potato chips. “You just got home last night, Spence. We’re not going to war in the first twenty-four hours.”

“I am not unhinged,” Spencer muttered. “He murdered my father. I am properly hinged.”

Cam snorted and Joss whacked him in the arm. “He’s got a point, Joss. Remember when Sonny had your dad deported? We had to talk you off the ledge, and at least Jax is still breathing.”

“Yeah, but my dad isn’t a creepy Cassadine supervillain,” Joss shot back. “No offense,” she said to Spencer.

“None taken. Supervillainy runs in the family. Damn it—” He hissed and tossed down the controller. “Why do you always win?” he demanded of Cam who just crunched on a chip. “Anyway, how come Valentin is still breathing? Isn’t your uncle supposed to be a hit man?”

Cameron winced. “Oh, man, you’re in for it now—”

“Oh my God, if one more person says to me!” Joss threw up her hands. “Haven’t you bitches ever watched the Godfather?”

“Why am I in trouble?” Cameron wanted to know.

“Hit men are hired by people to kill people. They take money and do jobs for strangers,” Joss told Spencer. “They, like, do it all cold and evil like. My uncle is not a hit man.”

“Uh, okay?”

“He is an enforcer. He takes care of things for Uncle Sonny and only for Uncle Sonny. It’s completely different, and I am so tired of this slander—”

“She’s very attached to a man who’s been home for eight minutes,” Spencer told Cameron, ignoring Joss entirely which would definitely piss her off more.

“He’s been my uncle for my entire life, thank you very much,” Joss said through clenched teeth. “And Drew was him before that, and Drew was an enforcer, too. I hate when people throw around words like they don’t have meaning—”

“She had this fight with Trina last week,” Cameron told Spencer. “And we’ve overheard her mom having this fight like eight times.”

“I hate the both of you,” Joss muttered. She flopped back against the sofa and folded her arms.

“Okay, so whatever Jason is,” Spencer said, “how come Valentin isn’t sleeping with the sharks?”

“He’s doing this on purpose, isn’t he?” Joss asked Cameron. To Spencer, she said, “It’s fishes and you know it.”

“You’re a Cassadine,” Cameron said to his cousin. “You know better. You don’t off a Cassadine until you know all the plans. I mean, your great-grandmother is still orchestrating things and the witch has been dead for two years.”

“Fair point.” Spencer nodded. “Okay, but as long as they off the bastard at some point. Grandmother says I’m not allowed to kill him, and there’s not that much I can from London anyway.”

“We should get to know what’s going on,” Joss said. “I keep trying to eavesdrop, but Mom keeps catching me. She always knows what I’m up to, and it’s annoying—”

“Only because I’ve done it all first,” Carly said dryly and the trio turned at her entrance. “Sorry to interrupt, but I overheard Joss’s enforcer rant.”

“I told you,” Joss muttered to them. To her mother, she said, “Spencer was just being ignorant. I set him straight.”

“Uh huh,” her mother said. She focused on Spencer. “Good to see you. You just get in from London?”

“Hey, Aunt Carly. Yeah, last night.”

“How long are you staying?” Carly asked, taking a seat in one of the armchairs. Cameron shifted uncomfortably, hoping she didn’t stay long. He liked Joss’s mom most of the time, but he couldn’t shake the way his mom had looked that day when Carly had accused Jason of not loving his mother enough to stay—

“Until New Year’s. Grandmother and I were talking about me maybe coming back to Port Charles for my spring semester. She doesn’t like me being so far away right now with things going on,” Spencer said.

“It’d be nice to have you around, even if you were some of the creative inspiration behind some of the stunts these two have pulled—”

“One time,” Joss muttered. “One time we got arrested—”

Carly ignored her daughter and turned to Cameron. “I’m glad you’re here, Cam. I wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh? Uh, why?” Man, he should have gone home after school—

“About that fight with your mother.” Carly paused. “It wasn’t really a fight,” she said softly. “Your mother was just defending herself, and I started it.”

“Mom—” Joss began.

“Just let me say this, and I won’t bring it up again.” She took a deep breath, keeping her eyes on Cameron. “You’ve been a good friend to my daughter, and Michael considers you part of our family. I always have, too, Cameron. I was angry about things that weren’t Elizabeth’s fault, and I took it out on her. I’m sorry. I’m even more sorry you and your brothers saw it.”

Cameron hesitated. “It’s—well, it’s not okay,” he admitted. “It’s my mom who decides if it’s okay. But you don’t have to worry about Jake and Aiden, I mean. I told Jake that sometimes people say things they don’t mean when they’re upset. Jake gets it. He knows his dad loves him, and Aiden—well, he doesn’t like when people argue. But I fixed it with them.”

“You’re a good brother,” Carly told him. “And just generally a good kid. I’m sorry. Everyone deserves better from me.” She got to her feet. “I’ll leave you guys alone—”

“Mrs. C,” Cam said as she went towards the stairs. Carly turned to look at him. “I get it. About being mad and saying stuff. Um, what you said to Aiden at Thanksgiving, about the baking? That was nice. It made him feel better. You can be nice when you want to be.”

“I appreciate that, Cam.” Carly smiled and he felt better because he didn’t like how unhappy everyone seemed to be lately. He could be okay if everyone else was okay. “Let me know if you guys need dinner or something later.”

“Thanks, Cam,” Joss said when Carly was gone. “You really didn’t have to let my mom off the hook.”

“It’s not my hook,” he said. “Jake is good, and if Jason says it’s okay—”

“He shouldn’t, though, unless your mom makes it okay. She was so upset that day, Cam. Did she say anything later?” Joss asked.

“I don’t really wanna talk about it.”

“Ugh, what’s your problem lately?” Joss demanded. “You’ve been so weird and not saying stuff. Emma said something went down when Lucky was here. Why won’t you tell me—”

“Nothing is wrong,” Cameron said, flatly. “So drop it or I’m going home.”

“Uh, why don’t we have a rematch,” Spencer suggested, picking up the controller. “I’m gonna kick your ass.”

“Not in this lifetime.” Cameron grabbed his own controller and ignored Joss’s look. He wasn’t going to talk about it. It wouldn’t change anything. Lucky didn’t love him. End of story.  “Prepare to be crushed.”

Joe’s: Bar

Something was definitely not right. Elizabeth didn’t care what Felix said. It was not paranoia to assume the worst when the worst was almost always true. She’d learned a long time ago not to depend on the happy ending.

She could rarely even count on the mediocre ones.

She’d gone to the dive bar to find Jason, determined to find out what was going on. Cameron refused to talk to her, and he’d happily escaped her clutches—first to Joss’s, then to Laura’s. She’d invited Elizabeth’s boys over to hang out with Spencer on his first full night back in Port Charles.

If she couldn’t push her son to open up, well at at least she could figure out where she stood with Jason.

He was sitting at the same table where Elizabeth had found him that first time, just a little over a month ago but she was relieved when she only saw one bottle of Rolling Rock in front of him. That was always a good sign.

“Hey,” she said, a bit hesitantly as she stopped in front of Jason’s table. “I hope it’s okay—”

“I was gonna—” He started at the same time, sitting up slightly. He stopped. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

“I hope it’s okay that I came here,” she finished. “This is usually where you are when you’re not with me or Sonny.” And she bit her lip because there was something insanely possessive about that statement. “I mean, if you want to be alone—”

Jason shook his head and used a foot to kick out the chair next to him. “No. I was going to call you. Sonny said something about Laura having the boys, so I thought you might want to take a ride or something.”

She sat down, frowning. “But you didn’t call.”

“No.” Jason hesitated. “No. I thought you might need…I don’t know…” He gestured with the bottle. “A break.”

“A break.” Elizabeth frowned. “From…what?”

“We’re…together a lot,” he said. “I know you said I could come see Jake whenever I wanted, but it’s—” He met her eyes. “I’ve been at your place almost every night for a month.”

“Yeah. I know. Jake loves it. I thought—” She paused. “Last night, at dinner, I thought maybe that was the problem.”

Jason tipped his head, furrowing his brow. “What do you mean?”

“You were really quiet,” she said. “I know Robin being there was a lot, but it just felt like something was off. Am I wrong?”

He stared down at the beer in his hand. “I told Sam I wanted to file for divorce.”

Her heart twisted as Elizabeth absorbed that. He’d asked Sam to end their marriage and now he was sitting here, dejected and having second thoughts about the amount of time they were spending together.

So it was exactly what she’d been afraid of.

“Oh. Well—”

“I was waiting for her to do it,” Jason cut in, “because I wanted to be fair to her, I guess. Or I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking about it. It’s not like we were really married when I got shot.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “She filed first. I got the papers yesterday. That’s why I was quiet at dinner.”

It’s your own fault, Elizabeth reminded herself. She could have stayed home, but no, she had to come here and now she was talking to Jason about his marriage to Sam. You did this to yourself, you moron. Next time, just shut up and stay out of it.

“I’m sorry. I know that must be hard—”

“It’s—” Jason blinked then focused on her. “No, I didn’t mean—I wanted to file for divorce. I still do,” he added. “I’m not mad or hurt she filed first. I told her because I thought I’d waited long enough. And I just—it wasn’t fair to still be legally tied to her when I don’t want to be. ”

“Oh.” Well, now she really didn’t know what to think. “Is it still bothering you? I mean, is that why you didn’t call me tonight?”

“It’s part of it, but it’s also…I talked to Carly earlier today,” Jason said. “And I told her we were still going to Greystone on Christmas Eve. I wanted to warn her that she can’t pull that crap again—”

Carly and Sam. The banes of her existence. “I’m sure she won’t—”

“She might. She’ll try for a while, but she’ll screw up. But it just—we were talking about this last year for her. With Morgan. Not that it’s an excuse—”

“It’s part of the reason I’m probably going to let it go, too, Jason,” Elizabeth said softly. “You don’t have to apologize for that. I’ve been where Carly is, at least in some ways.”

“It made me think about when we lost Jake,” Jason told her. “And how badly I handled it. How much I wasn’t there for you.”

“You don’t have to—I don’t know if it would have been better if you had been there more. I don’t think anything would have made things better. Losing him destroyed me. I was so far from okay for a long time. I’m not even sure I am now.” She picked at a chip in her nail polish.

“That entire next year—until the pier—it was…I did and said a lot of things I don’t understand when I look back.” Jason hesitated. “I don’t want to keep making the same mistakes. I don’t want to hurt you again.”

She nearly told him he wouldn’t, that he couldn’t because she wanted to reassure him, wanted to take that terrible look out of his eyes. But he probably was going to hurt her. When he left again. Because he always left.  “I’ve hurt you, too,” she offered softly. “Didn’t I start it all? With Lucky? With Ric? With Zander? Is that why you’re sitting here? Why you didn’t call me?”

“I don’t want you to feel obligated,” he said after a long minute. “Like you did with Lucky.”

“Which time?” Elizabeth asked with a rueful smile and was rewarded with his own hesitant smile in return. “I don’t feel obligated to be here, Jason. I really don’t,” she stressed when he looked skeptical. “Back then, with Lucky, I thought if I didn’t take care of him, if I didn’t stay, then no one would. I thought he’d fall apart without me. The brainwashing, the drugs, it was always something that made me think that I was essential. It wasn’t even obligation. It was guilt, Jason.”

“Guilt?” he frowned. “What—”

“He never flinched when I was raped. He never took a step back when it was too hard or when I felt too damaged. I will always be grateful to that boy. I wanted so much to be strong for him, too. But I didn’t love him anymore. I felt guilty about that for a very long time. Even now, I wonder if I had had the courage to walk away and stay away, if I could have saved us both a lot of pain.”

Jason’s frown deepened as he tried to process that. “I don’t—”

“Lucky came home and it was like everyone wanted me to be the girl who’d lost him. I was never going to be her again, and he didn’t want who I’d grown up to be. I felt guilty for growing up without him. While he was being held captive and brainwashed, I moved on with my life. I fell in love again,” she added, knowing it was safe to tell him that, to remind him of what she’d confessed the night they’d created Jake. “I never forgave myself for that. The way you can’t forgive yourself for not standing by Jake. Or Sam,” she added because she knew that was part of it. “We did the best we could. But it was a long time ago. I am not sitting in this bar because I feel obligated to the man I met when I was eighteen or the man I asked to give up his son.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Because it’s where I want to be. Do you know when you and I usually go wrong?” Elizabeth asked. “Where it goes off the rails and we get lost?”

Jason paused, his fingers tightening around the bottle. “When?”

“When you decide what I’m thinking or what’s best for me. I get to make that choice, Jason. You didn’t let me make it eight years ago. I’m asking you to let me make it now.”

“I think about it sometimes,” he said after a long moment of silence. “If I had stayed. If I hadn’t let you go.”

“We can’t go back, Jason. All we can do is move forward.” She got to her feet. “Come on. You said something about taking a ride. I think we both need it.”

Penthouse: Living Room

Sam nearly slammed the door as soon as she’d opened it to reveal Sonny’s face on the other side. “What do you want?” she sneered.

“To see you tossed in the dumpster where you belong,” he retorted and she blinked at the fury lacing his tone. She stepped back. “What did you think people were going to say when those papers got filed? When they found out what you’ve done?”

The divorce papers. Sam exhaled slowly. “Jason talked to you?”

“No, he opened them when I was standing there, and I didn’t leave him a choice.” His dark eyes burned into hers. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me?” Some of the shame that had been licking at her throat disappeared. “Me? You have the nerve to ask me that? You can go to hell—”

“You demanded half of everything,” Sonny retorted. “You want to take his home, his son, his money—after what you did to him—”

“What I did to him? How dare you! What about what he did to me? No one ever seems to remember—”

“He wasn’t very supportive when you were pregnant,” Sonny said with derision dripping from his words. “Cry me a fucking river, Sam—”

“I was raped! I thought I was having my rapist’s child and he couldn’t handle it—”

“So you’re going to punish him for being weak? For not being perfect? You have no right to stand there and judge Jason for how he acted—”

“I am the only one—”

“Really? What if Jason had your scorched earth policy? What if he decided you were unfit to keep Danny? All he has to do is make a call to Amelia Joffe. Remember her? She saw you watching his son being kidnapped. If not for Amelia, you never would have told the truth.”

She’d said the same to her mother only weeks ago but to hear Sonny state it so baldly made Sam bristle. “I would have—”

“When? Three months? Six months? When Jake was old enough to drive? You were never going to tell the truth. Admit it, Sam. You’ve hated that kid since the day he was born.” Sonny slapped the hand against the door when she tried to slam it shut. “Don’t bother to deny it. You had that surgery barely weeks after that accident. You must have been fucking thrilled to see him in the ground—”

Tears burned in her throat. “That’s a horrible thing to say—”

“Nearly as horrible as telling a court that Jason can’t have Danny because he abandoned Jake. Saying he’s an unfit father—”

“He didn’t want Danny—He barely counts—”

“Really? Really?” Sonny repeated. “Because that didn’t stop you from grabbing anything Danny inherited because of Jason. This penthouse? The money? You only got that because I let you have it—”

“You’re wrong—”

“Diane made him change the will when those divorce papers were filed,” Sonny said flatly. Sam closed her mouth as she glared at him. “Yeah, you like to forget that part, don’t you? You and Danny weren’t entitled to jack shit. Even if the divorce wasn’t finalized, you were weeks away from being shut out of everything.  It was going to me and to—” He closed his mouth.

“Yeah, I know exactly who was it going to. To Carly and Elizabeth’s kids,” Sam sneered. “You think you did me a favor? I deserved everything I got—”

“Danny deserved it,” Sonny corrected. “You were along for the ride. Enjoy the penthouse, Sam, and the money while it lasts. Because I’m going to dedicate my life to making sure you walk away with nothing this time. I am done letting you push him around.”

“Jason won’t let—”

“Wait until I get through with him. Jason may not have always been kind to you, Sam, but the second he let you live after what you did to his son—”

“The son he always wanted,” Sam said bitterly. “He never wanted Danny.”

“You never forgave Jason for having a son with someone else. You can be as terrible and destructive as you want because you’re upset, but God forbid Jason makes a mistake—” Sonny stepped closer to her. “You’re doing this to hurt him. Because you made the wrong choice when he came home, and now it’s too late to fix it.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about—”

“What was it, Sam? Did you see him with Elizabeth? Did you finally understand that he’s always going to go back to her? That he never stopped loving her—”

She slapped him, his face jerking to the side. Slowly, he turned back to look at her. “He’s finally going to see what I learned a long time ago,” Sonny told her. “You’re nothing but lies and tricks. You twist and turn yourself to match the man because you’re never alone, are you, Sam? There’s always someone waiting in the wings. Always another identity. You’re a con artist. That’s never changed.”

“Get out,” Sam said, her teeth clenched so hard her jaw nearly cracked from the pressure. “And don’t ever come back.”

“I still own the building, sweetheart.” But Sonny sauntered to the door. “So don’t get too comfortable.”

“Go to hell, Sonny—”

“I’ll save you a spot. You’ll be burning right next to me—”

She slammed the door so hard that it shook the door frame. Sonny Corinthos had no idea what she was capable of, and if he was going to come for her and everything she had a right to, well, then—

He was going to have to learn the hard way. Just like anyone else who had tried to cross Sam McCall.

Vista Point

It was probably too cold to be up here this time of year, but it seemed natural to take the cliff roads high up into the hills that surrounded the lake. Jason just wanted to keep driving forever.

He never felt more like himself than when he was taking the turns just a little too fast and could hear Elizabeth screaming in his ear, egging him to go faster. They might not be as young as they’d been the night he’d driven her home the first time—

But some things would never change.

“You can tell me any time,” Elizabeth said with a smug smile that lit up her whole face. She turned back to face him, leaning against the railing on the observation deck. “I was right.”

“Yeah, okay,” Jason said, not even bothering to pretend he didn’t know what she was talking about. “I needed the ride.”

“We both did,” she reminded him. She drew in a deep breath and turned back to Wyndemere, some of the sparkle sliding from her eyes—a heavy reminder that she was far from the girl he’d met once upon a time in a bar. “Sometimes I wish we’d blown that place up when we had the chance—”

“Hey—” Jason took her hand and drew her away from the railing, turning her to face him. “Not tonight. Let’s put that away for a while. We’ve been spending too much time worried about it.”

“I can’t help it. He’s over there now, and he’s part of it all—”

“I know. But he’s not the only one. We don’t know how much was him, how much was Helena, and how much we still don’t know.” He rubbed his hands over her chilled fingers. “You forgot your gloves.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to drag you down. I wanted to cheer you up.”

“You did. You always do.”

“Hmm, not always—” Elizabeth looked up and their eyes met, held. She was too close to him, her lips just inches from his own. He could feel her breath—little puffs of air against his chin.

He could lean down. He could just do it. He wanted to. He’d thought about it for weeks—how many times had they been here before? So close but not quite—

And just like all the times before—he’d hesitated too long and she’d gotten nervous.

Elizabeth laughed slightly and stepped back, reaching into her pockets to warm her hands. “You’re right. It’s almost Christmas and you’re home. Let’s not think about the Cassadines right now. You up for another ride?”

“Yeah.” He held out his hand. “I’ve been thinking about what to get you,” he told her as she took it and he laced their fingers together. “Joss said something that glitters, but that’s because she’s Carly’s daughter.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “She means well,” she said as they approached the bike in the cluster of parking spots that passed for a parking lot. “I don’t need anything—what you have planned for Cam is perfect—”

“We planned it,” he reminded her, “but I realized I know exactly what to give you.” He held up his keys.

Elizabeth frowned at him.  “I don’t understand.”

“You can’t go very fast,” he warned her, “and we’ll have to switch back if you want to take the turns the way you like, but I thought you might want to drive for a while.”

“You—” Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “You’re going to let me drive?”

“Yes.”

“You haven’t let me drive in eighteen years.”

“You closed your eyes!”

“Yeah, but—” She grinned and snatched the keys. “You won’t regret this. I promise. I’ll keep my eyes open the whole time.” She straddled the bike and beamed at him. “I promise,” she repeated when he hesitated. “Don’t back out on me now, I already have the keys!”

“I know. I trust you.” Jason climbed on the bike behind her. “I always have.”

Got me second guessin’ everything you say
Thinkin’ that I know you, but you’re really a stranger
Doin’ what you gotta do to get your way
You’re reckless and selfish and you can’t help it
Say you’re talkin’ to me honestly
But you’re lyin’ to me constantly
All the bullshit, I don’t need it
And honestly, I don’t believe it
– Honestly, Gabbie Hanna

---

Fall 2014

Cassadine Island: Gardens

Nikolas shoved open the terrace door and stormed out into the garden that adjoined his study. He was irritated by his own mood, by the argument that his grandmother had baited him into, and by the sinking feeling that she was right.

He had dumped Spencer in a London boarding school and fled to Greece to lick his wounds, smarting from the humiliating one-two punch of trusting Britt Westbourne with any piece of his trust or heart and pushing Elizabeth away when she’d finally held out a hand to him.

Helena had told him to just go back to Port Charles and get himself together, but Nikolas wasn’t ready to go back to the place that held such terrible memories. Nothing had gone right in his life since he’d moved there as a teenager.

Since the love of his life had been coldly and brutally murdered at the hands of a psycho while Nikolas had been blacking out from the brain tumor that had nearly taken his life less than a year later. If he hadn’t held that ball, if he had listened to Emily about seeing a doctor—

Would she be here now?

He looked out of the vast grounds of his childhood home, the waves of the Aegean Sea crashing against the rocks on the shore. Would he and Emily have made their second marriage work?

Nikolas dragged his hands over his face, forcing himself to throw off the crushing weight when he thought of Emily. All these years later, and it still threatened to cut him at the knees. Would he never truly put her behind him?

Helena, for all her malice and cunning, was right. Nikolas was still running. He’d been running since the day Emily had died, since he’d cradled her limp body and rocked her, feeling her warmth drain away.

He turned and went back into the study, but Helena had left. Nikolas made a face and went into the hall. He snagged the elbow of a passing maidservant. “Excuse me,” he said in Greek. “Have you seen my grandmother?”

“Naí,” the woman said, nodding her head. She hesitated, and Nikolas waited for her to continue.

“Where is she?”

Flustered, the woman shook her head. “I cannot say. Madam—”

“Where did she go?” Nikolas asked again, narrowing his eyes. “My grandmother might live here full-time,” he said sharply, “but this is my house. Where is my grandmother?”

“The west wing,” the maid said, her voice timid. She scurried away when Nikolas released her arm.

The west wing. The part of the house he had closed off years ago when he’d taken control of the estate. His father had kept his mother there once. Why would—

Now Helena’s encouragement to return to Port Charles didn’t seem like the concerned insight of a grandmother but the warning of a villain.

She was hiding something.

Nikolas went up the sweeping staircase to the second floor and made his way through the hallways and adjoining stairs to reach the west wing. The last time he had been here, there had been dust and cobwebs, the furniture in the halls covered with protective covers.

It had been cleaned and scrubbed, the furniture revealed. And down the hallway, close to the master bedroom where Stavros had kept his mother hostage, Nikolas could hear voices.

“But I wanna go now.”

It was the voice of a child younger than his Spencer. A chill slithered down Nikolas’s spine. It sounded familiar.

“Not yet, my darling. I haven’t located your mother. You must promise me, poppet, that you will stay in your rooms while my grandson visits—”

Nikolas hurried down the hallway and thrust open the door to discover his grandmother sitting primly at a child-sized table while a blond-haired boy with familiar blue eyes turned to look at him.

His arms and limbs felt frozen, the chill spreading throughout his body. Nikolas stared at the little boy who had died three years earlier.

“Hi,” Jake Webber said with a sunny smile. “Are you Mrs. Cassadine’s grandson? Do you know me? She’s trying to find my mommy.”

Nikolas cleared his throat, slowly turned his head to look at his grandmother. Helena’s lips curved into a smile, and she lifted her chin.  “Ah, Nikolas. Tell young Jake that, unfortunately, we have not located his family.”

“I—” He couldn’t find the words, couldn’t make his brain cooperate. “What?”

“Oh.” Jake’s face fell, and he put his head in his hands, propping his elbows on the table. “Okay. Soon, though, right? You said I could go home soon.”

“I hope so, my darling.” Helena sighed. Stunning Nikolas, she lightly ruffled the boy’s hair, the affectionate gesture alien to him. “But I will see you later, darling. Do as Tana tells you.”

She swept towards the door, the light in her eyes chilling as she approached. As she passed Nikolas, she paused and lowered her voice to a nearly inaudible whisper. “If you speak of this to anyone, I will murder her in her sleep.”

“And what stops me from doing the same to you right now?” Nikolas said, returning the threat in the same soft tone while Jake went over to play with his fire truck. “What have you done—”

“You think that ending my life would stop anything? Shall we find out?” Helena arched a brow. “Murder me tonight, and his mother and brothers will be dead in twelve hours.” She leaned in, her breath hot on his cheek. “You cannot fathom the destruction that my death will unleash. I will not rest. Not even in death.”

And because he believed her, Nikolas stepped away from Elizabeth’s son and followed his grandmother into the hallway.

“What have you done?” Nikolas demanded as he closed the door. “This has to end now—”

“My darling, we have only just begun.”

Thursday, December 21, 2017

General Hospital: Hospital Room

In the twelve hours since her father’s frantic phone call had reached Robin in Berkeley about Anna’s car accident, she had been a ball of anxiety and stress. She had even snapped at Emma and Patrick when they had taken longer than eight seconds to pack and cancel everything so they could fly to Port Charles a day earlier than planned.

She needed to be in New York. She needed to be with her mother.

Robin should have known that the indomitable Anna Devane wouldn’t be taken down by a silly car accident and that all of that anxiety had been wasted. When she, Patrick, and Emma reached Anna’s hospital room after leaving the baby with Felicia, they found her sitting up, fuming at Mac.

“What do you mean the insurance company won’t cover the cost?” Anna demanded. “I pay those premiums every month—”

“Yes, you do, but you didn’t have collision—Anna—” Mac sighed. “I told you that you need to pay attention to paperwork—” He turned to Robin, relief written across his features. “Robin—”

“Hey, Uncle Mac.” Robin embraced him tightly, then turned to her mother, who was accepting a light hug from Emma. “Mom, leave Uncle Mac alone. You know you hate paperwork—”

“I don’t have time for this sort of thing,” Anna muttered. “Mac—”

“I’ll make a few calls.” Mac shook Patrick’s hand. “Good to have you two back in Port Charles. It’s been too long.”

“Definitely,” Patrick said, glancing over his shoulder towards the hallway. “Uh, did I see Franco lurking around here?”

“He’s an art therapist,” Mac said dryly. “Don’t get me started,” he continued when Patrick opened his mouth. “You left town, and it was like the whole place lost its damn mind. Anna, I’ll talk to the insurance agent.”

“And if they won’t cover it, you tell Frisco he’s on the hook!” Anna called after him. She sighed, then leaned back against the pillows. “I thought you weren’t coming until tomorrow—”

“You were in a car accident,” Robin said, widening her eyes. “By the time we knew you were okay, I’d already booked the tickets.” She reached out to squeeze her mother’s hand. “What happened?”

“Mom,” Emma interrupted, holding up her phone. “I’m talking to Cam, and he said his mom is about to leave for the day. She can drop me at his place—”

“Oh, good, we want to come by later to see Elizabeth and Jason anyway,” Robin told her, looking at Patrick. “She said he’ll be there for dinner.”

“Robert’s right. Everything went insane,” Patrick muttered. Emma just rolled her eyes, then left, passing her grandfather, who was on his way. She offered him a wave.

“Where’s she off to in such a hurry?” Robert asked.

“Cam’s,” Robin said impatiently. “Mom—”

“I was run off the bloody road like a green agent,” Anna retorted. “That’s what happened—I was arguing with your father—”

“That’s not how I remember it,” Robert said, frowning.

“And the next thing I knew, there was an SUV heading right for me—” She looked at Robert. “Well? Did they find it?”

“They did,” Robert admitted. “But it’s damaged.”

“Find what?” Patrick asked.

“Andre Maddox, like any good Bond villain,” Anna said flatly, “put all his files and records onto a thumb drive, which he hid inside a Christmas ornament. He gave it to me on his way out of town but neglected to tell me that he was doing so. It accidentally got donated to the rummage sale, and I was hit on the way home—”

“How did someone know about the ornament? Did you tell someone?” Robin demanded. “Who knew?”

“Just the others,” Robert said. “And I don’t see any of them diming out Anna. The Spencers knew, and so did Corinthos, Elizabeth, and the Wonder Twins.”

“Maybe they just realized you were up to something,” Patrick suggested, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, didn’t you say Robert was off handling Maddox?”

Robert snapped his fingers. “That’s right—if someone tipped off Valentin that Andre was getting moved, he might have been watching you and decided to take you out—”

“Well, he failed, didn’t he? I’m still here. How bad is the damage to the thumb drive?”

“Well, I might have told Frisco it was beyond repair,” Robert said, “seeing as how he now has Maddox, and that was all he wanted. But I don’t know, to be quite frank. I gave it to Spinelli.”

“Oh, well, if it can be salvaged, Spinelli will take care of it.” Robin wrinkled her nose. “I hate being in California away from all of this—” She glared at Patrick. “Why did you make me move three thousand miles away?”

“Uh, it was your idea,” Patrick reminded her.

“Well, it was a dumb one,” Robin muttered.

Aurora Media: Drew’s Office

Drew stared at the remains of the thumb drive on the conference table. He put his head in his hands for a minute before looking at Spinelli. “You’re telling me there’s a chance you can put that back together?”

“I might not be able to reconstruct all the files,” Spinelli told him, “but I’m not going to give up. This is the first concrete, physical lead we’ve had in weeks.” He looked over at Jason. “You’re sure Anna is okay?”

“Banged up pretty bad, some bruised ribs,” Jason answered. “But Elizabeth said she’d be released tomorrow. I think—” He checked his phone. “Yeah, that’s Elizabeth now. Patrick and Robin are at the hospital now.”

Drew scrubbed a hand across his face. “If we had just left this alone,” he said slowly, “would this have happened?”

Jason frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean—” Drew met his brother’s confused expression. “You were back for weeks. Nothing happened. The men chasing you disappeared. No one made any moves. But now, Anna’s been run off the road. What if they don’t go for the WSB agent next?”

“You think we riled things up by looking into the clinic, sending people after Faison?” Jason asked. “I thought you were on board—”

“I am. Especially knowing what happened to Jake. Christ, knowing that Elizabeth actually saw him? That she wasn’t hallucinating? I don’t care that they weren’t my memories, I can see her in my head, Jason.” Drew pushed himself up from the table. “And I want some damn answers. We’re owed that much. But I also don’t want anyone else getting hurt.”

“And I do?”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Drew said as Jason also got up. “Look—Anna put herself on the line for this, but that’s her job. I’m just—Jake’s been through enough—”

“What if there’s another trigger somewhere?” Spinelli said, drawing both their attention. “Do we even know they’re all done with Little Stone Cold? He was home for almost two years before the Nurse’s Ball.”

“Or what if there’s another trigger in my head?” Drew said with a heavy sigh. “Or yours,” he pointed out to Jason. “Just because Maddox couldn’t do the memory implantation, it doesn’t mean that they didn’t do other shit to us. I just—” He stared at the floor for a long moment. “I want answers. I just don’t want it at the cost of everything else that matters.”

“I don’t know about what’s in my head or anyone else’s,” Jason said after a moment. “And I get worrying about safety. It’s all I’ve done since Jake was born. But if we stop now, we’ll never know for sure it’s over. I need to know that. Don’t you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“Well, now that this crisis of confidence has been averted,” Spinelli said, cheerfully cutting through the tension in the room as he carefully packed up the damaged thumb drive and put it away. “I’m gonna head home to have dinner with my daughter.”

“Jason—” Drew stopped his brother as he was about to follow the younger man out of the office. “You’re supposed to go to Elizabeth’s for dinner with Robin and Patrick, aren’t you?”

“Uh, yeah.” Jason frowned. “What’s up—”

“Lucky’s still in town, isn’t he?”

Jason tilted his head. “Yeah, I think so. Why—”

“Look, we have the same memories, so we both know that Lucky is an asshole,” Drew said dryly. “But I had the unfortunate pleasure of having to deal with him over the last few years, and I think there’s something you should be aware of since you’re spending a lot of time with the boys.”

“I know that Lucky raised Jake for the first few years—I can handle that—”

“That’s what I’m talking about. After you were gone, but before I was—” Drew shrugged a shoulder. “Before I was you, Lucky mostly kept in touch by phone and email with Aiden and Cam. He did an okay job with it, but not great. Then he brought Jake home.”

“So—”

“He stayed a total of two days,” Drew continued, and Jason closed his mouth. “And to the best of my knowledge, Lucky never once called Jake or Cam again. He wrote to Aiden, he called Aiden. But after Jake came home, Lucky stopped even pretending he was their father, too. And from what Jake’s said, even the contact to Aiden has fallen off. He canceled on Aiden last summer and doesn’t call according to any schedule. But when he does get in contact, it’s with Aiden only.”

Jason exhaled slowly. “I didn’t realize it was that bad.”

“He even told Elizabeth that it would be okay if I adopted them. Both of them,” he added when Jason’s frown only deepened.

“Lucky brought Jake home,” he repeated, “then cut all ties with him? That’s—that doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know.” Drew turned back to him. “And that’s something else I was thinking about. We’re handing off a big piece of this to the Spencers, but I don’t trust them. I doubt you do, either. Nikolas told Elizabeth I was supposed to be Jason Morgan, but I’m not convinced he didn’t know the truth. That would suggest he was lying to Elizabeth.”

“And you think there’s a possibility Lucky knows more than he’s saying,” Jason continued. “That might explain why he disappeared on Jake and Cameron.”

“It’s just something to think about. We should watch Luke and Lucky closely. I’ve never met a Spencer I could trust for very long. They always end up watching their own back more.”

Wyndemere: Study

Valentin paced the length of his study, then glared at the flames of the fireplace.

He didn’t know what Maddox had told Anna, and the infuriating woman had survived the car accident. Worse — she’d lived to tell anyone who would listen that she’d been run off the road, which meant any chance Valentin had at keeping himself under wraps was shot to hell.

He knew he’d be the number one suspect for everyone involved—in fact, he was surprised that no one had confronted him yet. Not even Laura Spencer, though the woman had given him several dirty looks the last few times she’d seen him.

So either Jason Morgan, Drew Cain, Robert Scorpio, and Anna Devane were drooling imbeciles without a brain cell to rub together, or they didn’t know enough to come after him. That was hardly comforting — at some point, the status quo would change.

And Valentin couldn’t stand that someone would get to Helena’s files before he did—that someone would discover he wasn’t actually the Cassadine heir or that they might locate the true heir.

No. He had to find the files first. He had to track down every damn Cassadine and make sure they were eliminated so that no one could come between him and what he was owed. What he earned.

He hissed, then stalked back to his desk to grab his cell phone. “Klein? No, I don’t want to hear any damn excuses. You have a new assignment. You’re going to Bosnia to talk to our friend at the WSB. I want to know where the hell Andre Maddox is being held.” He scowled. “Yes, in addition to finding those files and my mother’s lab. Do what you’re told.”

He hung up before the doctor could respond and gripped the phone tightly in his hand. He had to find Andre, get the damn files, and eliminate the doctor for good.

Andre knew too much.

Webber House: Kitchen

“Lucky, you promised Aiden you’d be here until Christmas,” Elizabeth complained as she pulled a meatloaf out of the oven and set it on the cooling rack. “You haven’t seen him in almost six months as it is—”

“I’m sorry,” her ex-husband said, perching on the edge of the stool at the counter. “But this lead came up in Bosnia—Britt said she’d let us know if she hooked up with her father, and there’s action on his accounts there—”

“Britt,” Elizabeth repeated, “can’t be trusted with anything. You know what she did to Lulu and Nikolas—”

“You want me to find Faison, don’t you?” Lucky demanded. “That’s what you want. You want answers for Jason and his brother—”

She took a deep breath. “I’m glad you’re helping, Lucky, but that’s not really an excuse for not keeping your promises to Aiden. You can’t stand the sight of me, that’s fine—”

“That has nothing to do with it,” Lucky told her. “I got over all of that years ago.”

“Then what is it?” she demanded. “You come to town twice a year, spend a day or two with Aiden, and he comes to you for a week in Ireland—but you canceled this last summer, Lucky. Aiden is seven years old, and he barely knows you—”

Lucky stared down at his hands and sighed heavily. “I’m sorry. I never thought I’d be the kind of father that disappears for months a time.”

“Lucky…”

“You know, my dad—he crapped out on fatherhood at a certain point. I think probably when Mom got sick. He showed up sometimes for Lu, but you know…” He met his eyes. “I never thought I’d be a worse father than Luke Spencer.”

Elizabeth bit her lip. Lucky’s smile was sad. “You’re not disagreeing with me.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.” She lifted her hands a bit helplessly. “I mean, I know you and I had a difficult relationship, and I lied to you about Jake, but you told me you wanted to raise Cam and Jake. You wanted to give them your name.”

“I did.”

“But not anymore,” Elizabeth said softly. “When did that change? When did that end for you?  I can’t really understand it—”

“When Cam was a baby, it was easier. But then he turned six.” Lucky paused. “I looked at him, he smiled at me, and I could see Zander.”

Elizabeth furrowed her brow. “What are you telling me, Lucky?”

“I could pretend Jake and Cameron were mine,” Lucky said, “but the older they got, the more they looked like Zander and Jason. And I guess—I couldn’t stop myself from thinking—from remembering that they weren’t mine.”

Elizabeth’s eyes burned as she stared at him. “That is bullshit, it’s bullshit, Lucky! You always knew Cameron wasn’t your biological son. There was never a chance he was—what, are you saying you were lying all those years?”

“No, I do love them. I do,” Lucky stressed, “but I don’t—I don’t feel the way I’m supposed to,” he said after a moment. “I know that makes me a terrible person, Elizabeth. Why the hell do you think I just left town?” He scowled. “And this is partially your fault. You were the one that lied to me about Jake—”

“You knew the truth years ago, Lucky! You promised me it wouldn’t matter!”

“I thought it wouldn’t!” Lucky shoved himself off the stool, throwing his hands up in the air. “I  worked my ass off to bring Jake home—but then I saw him in Greece—”

“And he looked like Jason,” Elizabeth said acidly.

“Don’t say it like that—”

“What am I supposed to say? Two little boys that you knew didn’t share your blood don’t look like you, Lucky. Big freaking deal. You had a choice to make. You chose not to love them. Not to raise them—”

“It’s not like they needed me,” he complained. “Nikolas told me—” He pressed his lips together as Elizabeth narrowed her eyes.

“What did Nikolas tell you?” she demanded. She rounded the island counter to step up to him. “Did he—” Her eyes widened. “He told you that Jake Doe was Jason.”

“Yeah. He told me that—” Lucky looked away. “And he told me you and Jason were gonna raise Jake. Even if Jason didn’t know it. Jason likes Cam. I knew it was okay to go. It’s not my fault you screwed that up—”

“What else did Nikolas tell you?” Her eyes were narrowed into slits. “Did he tell you that Jake was alive? Is that how you found out?”

Lucky hesitated. “No—” He grimaced, looked away.

“You know something,” Elizabeth accused. “What is it?”

“Nikolas,” Lucky said, his expression uneasy as he stepped back. “He told me that he thought Helena was up to something. That he’d appreciate it if I could go to the island in Greece and find out. He—”

“He sent you to Greece where you found out Jake was alive,” Elizabeth finished. She pressed a fist to her mouth. “Because Helena wanted him found. Wanted him brought home because Chimera was supposed to happen.”

“Elizabeth—”

“That’s what Andre meant when he said it wasn’t done right. Jake was supposed to kill us all years ago when he came back, but she died first.”

“Nikolas never would have—”

“Really? Because Nikolas told me the so-called truth about Jake Doe, and then made sure that I never told anyone else after he shot Hayden in the head,” Elizabeth retorted. “So don’t tell me what Nikolas would or wouldn’t do. Because we both know at the end of the day, he was a Cassadine.”

She dragged a hand through her hair. “And none of that matters,” she murmurs. “Because he’s gone.”

Elizabeth looked back at Lucky. “Well, at least now, I don’t have to wonder if it was something I did to make you disappear and disappoint my boys. It wasn’t my affair or my lies, it was just you being a selfish coward. Just like your father. He couldn’t bring himself to love Nikolas either, and look what happened. He lost your mother. Cameron and Jake never did a damn thing to deserve you dropping out on them the way you did. Nothing more than looking like their fathers.”

Lucky swallowed hard. “I’m sorry—”

“Don’t bother. Jake and Cameron will always have me, and I will find a way to make that enough for them. Go to Bosnia, Lucky. Go chase the adventure like your father. You’ll end up miserable and alone. Just like him.”

Lucky gritted his teeth, then slammed his way out of the house. Elizabeth returned to finishing dinner.

And neither of them noticed that Cameron was sitting just out of sight on the stairs, Emma perched next to him as he listened to Lucky admit what Cam had always known deep inside — Lucky didn’t love him anymore and hadn’t for years.

Greystone: Kitchen

Carly walked over to the fridge to pour herself something to drink, then turned, frowning as she saw Joss sitting at the table, staring at her phone with an irritated expression. “What’s up?”

“Oh!” Startled, Joss looked up, her eyes wide. “Mom, I didn’t hear you come in—”

“What’s wrong?” Carly asked. She took a seat across from Joss. “You look upset? Is Oscar okay?”

“Yeah. Well,” Joss rolled her eyes, “as okay as you can get. He’s managing. Drew’s trying really hard, you know. I knew he would. He’s a good guy. I hope Drew comes to the party,” she continued, “but I don’t know if he will.”

“I don’t know either,” Carly admitted. “I invited him, but I’m going to reach out again. I haven’t—” She stared at the glass of water in front of her. “I know I’m not always the easiest person to be around, Joss.”

“Mom—”

“I really am sorry that you and Cameron—and well, the entire world came in when I was arguing with Elizabeth—” Carly pursed her lips. “When I was yelling at Elizabeth,” she corrected herself, and Joss tilted her head. “You know I’m not an angel or the town sweetheart, Joss, but that doesn’t mean I don’t try hard to keep you from seeing that—”

“I just don’t get it, Mom. I really don’t.” Joss shook her head. “Cam’s mom has never been anything but super nice to me. And, yeah, like, Jake didn’t donate the kidney that saved my life, but his mom didn’t know that. And she’s been great to Michael—”

“I think maybe,” Carly said slowly, “that’s why she drives me crazy. She’s a good person, and she’s been good to the people who matter to me. She doesn’t have to try. She usually does the right thing. Or feels guilty when she doesn’t.” Carly looked at Joss. “I have to work harder. I have to think about the right thing. I don’t even always know it when I should. It’s a constant battle for me, Joss, and sometimes, it’s exhausting.”

“I get that,” Joss admitted. “I mean, sort of. Like — when we were kids, you remember that Trina and Emma didn’t really like me? And sometimes I drove Cameron nuts, too. Like all the time. I used to team up with Spencer to get what I wanted, and it always ended in tears. But, like, it just got really annoying to always have to apologize. Trina still doesn’t like me much, but Cam and I are tight, and even Emma doesn’t think I’m the worst anymore.” She stared down at her phone. “But sometimes I have to stop and think, too. Like — right now—” She held up her phone. “Emma texted me that Lucky Spencer is being the worst again, and I’m sitting here, thinking of all the ways I can destroy him—”

“Destroy Lucky?” Carly repeated. She raised her brows. “My cousin Lucky? Your cousin?”

“Uh, well, I guess technically.” Joss wrinkled her nose. “But, like, also Cam’s terrible stepfather. You know how it is when he’s in town. Especially since Jake came home. He spends all this time with Aiden and ignores Jake and Cam. Cam tries to act like it doesn’t bother him, but it does, and it’s so stupid.”

Carly pressed her lips together. “I’m sorry. Cam really is a great kid. I’ve always thought he was a good friend to you.”

“He is. So, like, I just want to make anyone who hurts him pay, you know? And I look at my life. Uncle Sonny doesn’t have to give a crap about me, but he’s pretty solid as stepdads go. And Michael isn’t his bio kid, but you’d never really know that. And Dad always took care of Morgan and Michael. And look at you and Avery! Blood doesn’t make a family. Love does.”

“That’s absolutely right,” Carly said softly. “And sometimes we’re really lucky, and we get to choose our family. Jason’s taken care of me and your father and all of you for most of his life. And he’s only really tied to Michael. But he chose us. I’m sorry Lucky’s decided not to choose Jake and Cam. That’s his loss, baby. And one day, Aiden’s gonna see it, too. That will be the revenge you want, Joss. Because if Lucky doesn’t change, he’s going to get old one day, look around, and realize he threw it all away.”

“Yeah, that sounds great.” Joss pursed her lips. “But also, it takes a long time, and I don’t know if I can wait like thirty years.”

“And that’s usually how I get in trouble,” Carly said with a sigh as she got to her feet. She paused, looked at Joss. “I really am sorry about what happened, Joss.”

“If you want to make it up to me,” Joss said, her eyes somber, “you’ll promise me that you won’t start anything at the Christmas party. Cam worships his mother, and he’s already having a lousy year with his grandmother dying and all that crap with Jake last year—plus Franco. Just—please. Be nice to his mom at the party.”

“Well, I was already planning to try,” Carly told her. “Because I know I have to do better, but yeah, for Cameron, I can do it.”

Pozzulo’s Restaurant: Back Office

Jason walked into the room, staring at the envelope in his hand, then glanced up to find Sonny behind his desk. “Hey. Sorry. I can’t stay long—”

“No, I heard. Dinner with Robin and Patrick at Elizabeth’s. That sounds like a good time,” Sonny said, gesturing for Jason to take a seat. “Let Robin know she’s welcome to the party on Christmas Eve. The more, the merrier—”

“You want to invite Robin to Carly’s house?” Jason asked skeptically. “Aren’t we trying to give Carly less stress and anxiety?”

“That’s true,” Sonny said slowly, “and you don’t really have a way to know this, but Carly usually does okay with Robin—and Elizabeth—around other people. Joss invited Emma and Cameron’s a regular at the house. Carly promised she’s going to try to do better, Jason.”

“She can’t do much worse,” Jason said with a sigh, “but I know Michael said she was upset that the kids overheard it, and she’s left messages apologizing over and over again, so fine.” He looked down at the envelope again.

“What’s that?”

Jason didn’t answer for a moment, then slowly, he slid the envelope open and drew out a sheaf of papers. “Divorce papers,” he said finally. “I was served when I left Aurora earlier. Uh, from Sam. I told her that I was going to call Diane after Christmas, but I guess—”

“You told Sam you were filing?” Sonny lifted his brows.

“It was going to happen eventually,” Jason said. “I didn’t think it was fair to anyone to keep putting it off—” He scanned the first page, then just stared.

“Jase?” When Jason didn’t answer, Sonny leaned forward. “Jason? What is it?”

“Uh—” Jason shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Trying to process it. “It’s—I guess she was pretty angry when I—she’s—” He pressed his lips together. “She’s demanding half of everything since we don’t have a prenuptial agreement.”

“Well, that sounds like Sam,” Sonny muttered. “But that’s just money—”

“She also wants the penthouse, and, uh—” Jason’s chest tightened. “She wants me to terminate my parental rights to Danny.”

“Terminate—” Sonny lunged to his feet. “What the hell?”

“She’s—” Jason could hardly form the words. “Her argument states that I am an unfit parent based on neglect and abandonment.” He closed his eyes. “Because of Jake.”

“She’s…planning to demand full custody of Danny because you walked away from Jake? That is some goddamn bullshit—”

“Yeah, uh—” Jason forced air into his lungs. “I think, maybe, I guess I could see that argument—”

“God damn it, Jason—”

“I didn’t—I wanted Jake. I always wanted him. I just—” He closed his eyes. “I didn’t neglect him. I gave Elizabeth money. And I—”

“Jason, look at me—”

Jason opened his eyes, met the dark, angry eyes of his best friend. “I know she’s doing this because she’s hurt—”

“Stop excusing Sam from the terrible things she does,” Sonny bit out. “You and I both know that this is bullshit and that if anyone wanted to talk about being an unfit parent, Sam would have her own list of fucking crimes. How about that crap she pulled when Jake was a baby? With Maureen Harper? You let her off the hook for that, didn’t you?”

“Sonny—”

“Sam specializes in knowing just how to hit you where it hurts the most. You know that, Jason. You’ve been here before. And what the hell did you do to deserve this?” Sonny demanded. He stalked around the desk to yank the papers from him. “You were in a coma for five years, trapped in your own body. You nearly got yourself killed to come home — and what has Sam done? Nothing. Has she even said she’s glad you’re alive?”

“I don’t—” Jason finally felt some pressure release inside as he admitted what he’d known for weeks. “I don’t think she is. I think things were better for her. Before.”

“Well, that’s her problem. Not yours. You tell Diane that the only divorce settlement you’ll consider is the one that was good enough for her in 2012,” Sonny retorted. “And don’t you dare give an inch on Danny—”

“I just need some—” Jason shook his head. “I need a minute to think about this. I can’t just—”

“Then take a minute, but don’t let her get away with making you feel guilty about coming home. I don’t care that it made problems for her. It’s a goddamn miracle, and if she’s too selfish to see it, then you’re better off without her.”

Penthouse: Living Room

Sam strode out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dishtowel, with a smile on her face. “Hey. Scout down for the night?”

“Yeah,” Drew said. “Danny’s playing a video game—” He paused as he moved some magazines to the side and saw some legal papers underneath them. He pulled them out. “Oh. You finally filed—”

“Give me those—” Sam lunged forward to reach for the papers, but Drew had already seen the initial list of demands. He raised his eyes to look at her, stunned. “Drew—”

“What the hell is this?”

“I told you what I was asking for—” Sam made another reach for it, but Drew stepped back, continuing to scan—then he started to flip through the paperwork, searching for the custody section.

“What the absolute fuck is this?” Drew demanded, shaking the papers at her. “You’re asking him to terminate his rights to Danny because he neglected Jake?”

“Well—” Sam lifted her chin. “That’s not the only reason, but yes. Jason had eight months of being a decent father to Michael, but he’s never been a father since. He could have had Jake. He ran—”

“That is not how it happened, and you know it,” Drew said, his voice low and dangerous. “And worse, I know it. I still have his memories, Sam. I know exactly what happened with Jake—”

“Drew—”

“He did what he thought was best for Jake, and you damn well know he always loved him. It drove you insane, remember?”

Her eyes were damp with tears, but Drew couldn’t find it in himself to give a damn. “You watched as Jake got kidnapped, you sent men with guns after him, you put him in danger with your goddamn Russian investigation and nearly got him blown up—and then two years ago—”

“I didn’t mean for that to happen! I never meant for him to get  hurt!”

“No, but you didn’t care either. When I still thought I was Jason, do you know that I knew I could never have custody of Jake if anything happened to her? Because I had chosen you,” Drew said with a snarl, and she flinched, “and Elizabeth didn’t want Jake anywhere near you. And you’re demanding Jason give up any rights to Danny, now or in the future because he didn’t raise Jake?”

Sam exhaled slowly. “It’s not that I don’t understand how it all happened,” she said. “I just—I don’t think Jason deserves to be in Danny’s life, and the only way I can convince a court is to make this argument—”

“And what do you think is going to happen, Sam? Do you think that I’m just going to raise my brother’s son for the rest of my life and lie to him about who I am?” Drew demanded. “I can be his stepfather, I can be his uncle. But we both know—” He took a deep breath, lowered his voice. “We both know I am not his biological father.”

“Jason hasn’t even asked me about Danny—”

“Really?” Drew said with derision. “How would you expect him to? I’ve done more to reach out to him than you have, and I have more of a reason to resent him than you do!” He tossed the papers on the table. “You wish Jason was still in Russia, locked inside his own mind, trapped in that bed, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course not!” Sam’s tears streamed down her face. “I’m not angry he came back—I just don’t know why everything has to change—”

“Everything has already changed, Sam. I’m not Jason! Someone stole my life, and you’ve done nothing but wish we could go back. And you’re punishing Jason for coming back—demanding half his estate? We don’t need it—”

“You don’t have a say! I told you, this is my divorce—”

“No, I might not have a say in your divorce,” Drew cut in sharply. “But I do have a say in my relationships, don’t I? I’m not going to raise Danny. Not like this. So you can either drop this attack on my brother, or that’s it.”

Sam stared at him. “What? You can’t—”

“I’m not doing this to him. And I’m not doing this to myself or Danny. You might think Jason’s the enemy, but you’re the only one who sees it that way. So what’s it going to be, Sam? Do you want to punish Jason, or do you want a future with me? You can’t have both.”

Sam’s eyes burned into his. “You have no right to tell me how to raise my son—”

“No, but I have every right to decide how to be a part of his life, and I’m not going to lie to him. I love him too much.” Drew nodded. “Fine. You’ve made your choice. I’ll move my things into the guest room.”

“Wait—Drew—” Panicked, Sam grabbed his arm. “Please, please. You don’t understand. Jason can’t love Danny the way you do—he won’t—he won’t love him—I have to protect him—”

“You’re only protecting yourself,” Drew said gently as he removed her fingers from his sleeve. “But you’re so busy taking care of yourself, Sam, that you don’t even see the damage you’re doing to the rest of us.”