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.”

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.”

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.”

Tell me your secrets
And ask me your questions
Oh, let’s go back to the start
Running in circles, coming up tails
Heads on a science apart
Nobody said it was easy
It’s such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh, take me back to the start
– The Scientist, Coldplay

---

June 2017

General Hospital: Andre’s Office

“Do you have a minute?”

Andre’s head snapped up the sound of Elizabeth’s voice. The nurse was standing in the doorway, exhausted. “Elizabeth—I heard—” He crossed the room to take her hand. “I’m so sorry about your grandmother.”

“Thank you.” Elizabeth’s lips stretched into a hesitant smile. “She lived a long, amazing life, and went peacefully in her sleep. It’s all we could hope for. Um—I needed—” She took a deep breath. “After what happened at the Nurse’s Ball, and now losing Gram—”

“What can I do for you?” Andre asked, guiding her to the chair, ignoring the pain in his chest as he thought about how close Jake had come to disaster. He’d known his fail safe would hold—but damn Valentin for wanting glory and using the boy to do it.

“Jake. He’s struggling. All my boys are—Gram was our rock, you know? But Jake—after the Nurse’s Ball—it’s too much. I’m worried that Helena did more to him. And I’m worried he’s not doing that well.” Elizabeth laced her fingers together, twisting them. “He’s okay when he’s with the boys. Cam is amazing with him, and most of the time, I think he’s adjusting. There’s been so much change lately.”

“Tell me about it,” Andre suggested, leaning against the desk.

“Well, everything that happened last year with the lying he did trying to bring his father back home—” Elizabeth’s face flushed. “Then we lost the house. And Paul pushed me down the stairs—I almost died. That was hard on all of them. And learning Hayden was my sister—Tom Baker—” She looked away. “Franco moved in a few weeks ago, and that’s…been a weird adjustment.”

“Franco,” Andre repeated, thinking of his own patient. Of what he knew about Franco’s past.

The secrets he held about Patient Four.

“Was that a good idea?”

“I thought it was. Franco was kind to Jake. They’ve always connected, but it’s been different. I didn’t even have a chance to settle in before the Nurse’s Ball, and now my Gram—” She closed her eyes. “It’ll be fine. It’ll smooth out.” With a deep breath, she opened her eyes and focused on Andre. “But that’s not why I’m here. I came to ask you if you’ll talk to Jake. Maybe see him a few times. Just to get a sense of what I can’t. What I’m not trained to.”

“Of course,” Andre promised. He squeezed her hand. “Anything you need.”

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Kelly’s: Dining Room

“Well, I’m glad that you’re happy with the new arrangements,” Scott said as he took the newly executed version of Elizabeth’s will and tucked it into his briefcase. “I, uh, also talked to my son. I hope you’ve noticed he’s…not lurking the way he was before.”

“If he has been,” Elizabeth said, sipping her hot chocolate, “he’s not making himself known to me or to Felix, who always seemed to catch him before.” She made a face. “Look, Scott, about all of that—”

“We go through phases,” Scott said. “When we think that someone is the right person for us. Sometimes they are, you know, for a minute. To get us through something bad. Or tell us something about ourselves.” He picked up his coffee. “I had quite a few disastrous relationships myself. And only maybe two or three that really mattered.”

“Maybe. The more time passes,” Elizabeth admitted, “the less I really understand how I managed to spend an entire year thinking dating your son was a good idea. But you’re right. Franco and I connected when I didn’t feel like there was anyone else who understood me.” She pressed her lips together. “Speaking of disastrous relationships—”

“I wondered,” Scott said, his eyes sparkling with a bit of mischief, “if you were gonna be doing a little investigative work for the brothers Morgan. Or the brothers Quartermaine.”

“Well, obviously, you know Drew and Curtis Ashford have been trying to get a meeting with you about Susan Moore.” Elizabeth lifted her brows. “Why are you ducking them?”

“Because I’m not especially proud of that time of my life,” Scott admitted. “And to look at Drew—or Jason—and talk about being married to Susan, being maybe the reason that she ended up dead—”

“Scott—”

He stared down into his coffee, then wrinkled his nose. “I stole money from the trust fund, Elizabeth. I married her for it, I stole it, and then she tried to recoup her losses by blackmailing the Quartermaines again. She got murdered for it. What good does it do to bring this up now?”

“Because if you do feel guilty about it,” Elizabeth said, gently, “then maybe you owe it to them to do whatever you can to help. You might not know anything, but you were married to their mother. You knew Jason as a baby—”

“Yeah, ain’t that a wild thing?” Scott murmured. “He was a cute kid, and Susan—look, she might not have been the best person, but she was a damn good mother. And if she’d known there was a second kid—she’d have gone to hell and back for Drew.” He hesitated. “Especially if it meant going back to the Quartermaines for a legitimate money demand.”

“The thing is that Drew and Curtis think there’s some evidence that Susan was aware there were twins. Curtis found the original birth certificate that Susan signed — she named Jason and Drew. Then Drew is gone by the time Susan brought Jason back to Port Charles.”

“She never—” Scott frowned. “She named them?” He stroked his chin. “She never talked much about those few weeks, just that the labor was hard, and Heather hadn’t been much help. Which makes sense, I guess, since she was arranging to dump our kid on some crazy nurse—”

“And that’s another part of the story that doesn’t line up. Supposedly, Betsy was the nurse at the birth, and Heather gave Drew to her—but they didn’t know each other. Why would Heather give her own child to a woman she’d never met before? She gave up Steven, and I think it was one of the reasons she went off the rails. She’s been obsessive about him—and Franco—ever since.

“Yeah, you’re not kidding. Susan always said she might want more kids one day but she wasn’t sure she was up to it, you know. And after she threw me out—” Scott clenched his jaw. “She talked about getting the money back. That’s how Tolliver got involved. They were going to blackmail the Quartermaines about Lila’s first marriage. Tolliver claimed she backed out at the last minute.”

“And that was enough to kill her?” Elizabeth shook her head. “That doesn’t really make sense to me.”

“I guess—well, it was a lot back then. Robert was looking daggers at all of us—Alan, Edward, Monica, Christ, not even Lila was safe, and it went without question Heather and I were the primary suspects. Heather never forgave Susan for marrying me. We were all relieved to have it done, and Tolliver died after confessing but before Robert could really dig into his story—” Scott shook his head. “How can any of this help now, Elizabeth?”

“Because it seems like there were only three people in the entire world who knew Susan had twin boys. Heather, Betsy—and Victor Cassadine.”

“And Victor not only knew there were twins, he knew where to find the other kid.” Scott nodded. “Okay, I get it—”

“And Drew was dumped at the group home a month after Susan died. Susan left her estate to her descendants. Plural, Scott. And she updated that will just before she died.”

“You think that maybe Susan was killed to keep Drew from showing up in Port Charles?” Scott shook his head. “No way. The only people who didn’t want another bastard Quartermaine was—well, it was just Monica. And I can’t—”

“Scott?” she asked when he didn’t continue. “What is it?”

“Monica was cold to Jason at first,” Scott said slowly. “Ice cold. Alan nearly lost Jason to the state after Susan died because Monica wouldn’t let Jason come live up the house.  He was at the gatehouse with a nanny. Alan tried to force the matter, and Monica left him. She didn’t want Jason anywhere near her own son.”

“She’s mentioned that, but I didn’t realize it was that bad—”

“And she also came back because Alan promised her there’d be no more children. He didn’t stop having affairs, but to the best of my knowledge, he never had any other children. I don’t see Alan dumping his own kid in a group home—”

“No, Monica wouldn’t do it either,” Elizabeth insisted. “Look, this is stupid—”

“Really?” Scott lifted his brows. “You don’t think it’s possible that Susan went to Monica with the news about Drew and demanded a hefty payday, maybe even promised to leave town for good with Jason?”

“Monica would have paid it—”

“You didn’t know Monica and Alan back then,” Scott told her. “We were all pretty bad, but the two of them were toxic. I’ll never understand how they managed to last or didn’t kill each other. Monica today? No. She’d have accepted Drew into the family. But Monica back then didn’t give a damn if Jason went to a group home. Why would she care if Drew did?”

Penthouse: Living Room

Sam didn’t know exactly who she was expecting to see when she opened the door late that morning, but her back-from-the-dead husband was probably the last person on the list.

Sam blinked at him, taking in the the first full vision of Jason she’d had since that terrible night at the PCPD more than six weeks earlier.  He looked older, she realized with a start. There was more gray at his temple than she’d remembered—more lines around his eyes—but he was Jason. The face she’d thought gone forever.

“Jason.” She stepped back, gestured for him to come in. “I, uh, I wasn’t expecting you. I—I know you’re sort of working with Drew on everything, but he’s at Aurora—”

“Yeah, I know that,” Jason said, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he looked around the penthouse, furrowing his brow at the dining table where his pool table had once sat.

“It was in storage,” Sam said, and he looked at her. “All of your, um, stuff. I mean, the furniture that was here then. The bike, too,” she added. “Drew—well, when we thought he was you—he wanted a new start. I’d—I’d give it to you, but there was a pipe burst and we ended up having to clear it all out.”

Jason took a deep breath. “Oh. Thank you. For letting me know. That’s not why I came, but—it’s good to know.”

“Why did you come then?”

“That first night, you made it clear that you were going to stay with Drew.”

“Oh.” Sam exhaled slowly. Was he here to change her mind? Maybe all that time spent with Elizabeth had reminded Jason that he’d once picked Sam instead of the other woman. What would she say to him? How would she turn him down?  “Well, it was—it was a lot, Jason. You know—and I couldn’t just—everyone was abandoning Drew. I had to—”

“I get it. You did what was right for you,” Jason said. He met her eyes. “But we’ve been avoiding the question for almost two months. Drew asked me if you’d talked to me about a divorce.”

Sam’s nostrils flared. “He did what? Why? When?”

“It doesn’t matter. I was waiting for you because I thought, well you’re the one who has to change her life. Your name. And decide what to do here—” He glanced around the penthouse. “I didn’t think it was fair to ask you to do that until you were ready.”

“Oh.” Brightening, Sam nodded. “I appreciate that. It has been a lot. With Danny—”

“But I can’t wait anymore.”

Jason spoke as if Sam hadn’t been in the middle of a sentence, and she frowned at him. “I’m sorry—”

“I’m not just trying to find out what happened to me,” Jason told her. “Or to Drew. I’m rebuilding my life. And that means I have to make choices. We might have stayed together five years ago, Sam, but we wouldn’t have lasted.”

Sam stared at him. “But you—you asked me to come back—”

“I brought Danny to you because I wanted you to be okay, and I knew that it was partly my fault Heather were able to kidnap him,” Jason continued. “But that was five years ago, Sam. You’ve moved on. With Danny and Scout, and Drew. I don’t want to get in the way of that—”

“It sounds like you didn’t even want me back then much less now,” Sam said, crossing her arms.  The absolute nerve—what the hell was wrong with him?

“I think the time when we were good for each other is over,” Jason told her, gently. “And it’s been over for a lot longer than either of us want to admit. So I think we need to get your mother and Diane in a room together to get this done.”

“You’re asking me for a divorce?” Sam demanded, stunned. “How—how can you do this—”

“Because it’s time,” Jason said. “Let Diane know what you’re thinking about Danny, the penthouse, the accounts, and we’ll get it done—”

“Danny doesn’t know you,” Sam said flatly. “You have no right to ask for anything—”

Jason stared at her for a long moment, and her cheeks flushed. “I’m just saying—”

“I don’t know what you want me to do, Sam. I didn’t know he was mine when I went off the pier. When I came home. I don’t know him now. I’d like to know him—”

“It shouldn’t have mattered if he had your blood or not!” Sam shot back. “You should have loved him because he was mine! You think I don’t know how you are with Elizabeth’s boys? With Carly’s kids? You don’t treat Cam or Aiden any differently than Jake. Why couldn’t you love Danny?”

“I didn’t handle any of that right or well,” Jason replied, his tone subdued. “And I made everything harder for you by not being supportive. I can’t change that now.”

“Don’t you dare stand here now and act like you’re sorry—”

“You don’t have to accept the apology, Sam. All I can do is offer it. And we still have a problem. Danny knows he’s Jason Morgan’s son. That Jake is his brother. Right now, he thinks Drew is his father—”

“Drew is his father—in every way that matters—” Sam turned around and yanked the door open. “You don’t get to walk in here five years after all of this happened, and get to play Daddy. I’m not Elizabeth. You don’t get to walk in and out of my son’s life on a whim—”

“Sam—”

“I’ll have my mother get in touch with the divorce papers I already drew up. I was ready a month ago,” Sam snapped. “I was giving you time, but I guess we’re done with that now.”

Aurora Media: Drew’s Office

“I’m sorry to bother you,” Elizabeth began, but Drew was already up and out of his seat, crossing the room to usher into his office and closing the door behind her.

“You’re definitely not bothering me. You said on the phone that you’d talked to Scott this morning.” He walked over to the sofa, gesturing for her to sit. “You want coffee or something?”

“No. I just—I want to tell you what he told me but I’m not—” Elizabeth paused. “Drew, sit—”

Worried about the tone in her voice, Drew obeyed. “What’s wrong?”

“Scott agrees with Curtis—and you. There’s no way Susan would have known about you and not tried to use it. He just—he added some information about what was going on back then that I’m not sure if you or Jason ever knew it.” She bit her lip. “After Susan was murdered, Alan took custody of Jason. He put him in the gatehouse with a nanny because Monica refused to have him at the house.”

“I did know—I knew that. I think. Monica talked about it after the accident. When she was trying to explain to me—to Jason,” Drew corrected with a wince, “that blood didn’t make a family.”

“At some point, the state got involved because Jason was basically without a parent or guardian most of the time,” Elizabeth continued. “They threatened to take him away. To put him in a home.”

Drew frowned. “Is that when Monica decided to adopt—”

“No. Alan brought him to the house, and Monica left him. She took AJ and left. It was that bad with them. I don’t know what changed her mind, what brought her around because by the time I knew her, you’d never guess Jason wasn’t hers.”

“Right. Right.” Then it sunk in what Elizabeth was suggesting. “Wait.”

“Scott seems to think—though he was reluctant to say so—that if you think you were dumped by someone related to your mother’s murder, it was either Heather or someone who didn’t want you to be found. It could still be Heather,” Elizabeth reminded him. “But if Susan did know about you—which her will suggests—she might not have gone to Alan.”

“She might have gone to Monica and made her demands. Give me money and we’ll all go away. One kid from the affair is one thing, but twins—” Drew swallowed. “Scott thinks Susan tried to use me as leverage, and Monica killed her. Then arranged for me to dumped in the home so that no one would ever find me.”

“I—” Elizabeth sighed. “I know how it sounds and I don’t believe it, except—”

“Except if she was willing to let Jason get taken the state, knowing that Alan loved him—why would she care what happened to a kid Alan didn’t know about?” Drew cleared his throat. “What do you think?”

“I think,” Elizabeth said slowly, “that you’re traveling down a road that you might not want want to be on. We wanted to find out how Victor knew about you. I don’t think Susan’s murder is going to answer that question.”

“You think Monica did this. That she abandoned me.” Drew pushed himself up and walked away, towards the office. “Could she be capable of this?”

“Not the woman we know. But Scott has a point. Monica was a different person back then. Drew—”

“You’re right. If I go down this road—” Drew turned to face her. “I need to be sure I want the answers. I—” He took a deep breath. “I need to think. Can we—can we keep this between us for right now?”

“Of course.” Elizabeth paused. “What about Jason?”

“I—I know you don’t want to lie to him. Or keep things from him. I just—” Drew paused. “Can you tell him that Scott had a few theories, and that I wanted to think about what I want to do about it? If he wants more, then that’s fine. But it’s bad enough I have this in my head, I don’t think Jason needs it, too.”

“Thank you. I won’t volunteer it, but if he asks, I’ll tell him. I’m glad you’re both doing better with this.”

“Well, you don’t always have to like your family, but knowing what you’ve gone through with yours—” Their eyes met. “It’d be stupid to turn them away when they’re trying.”

She got to her feet. “I’ll see you at the meeting then—” When Drew looked at her blankly, she continued. “The one with Lucky and Luke?”

“Oh. Right. I think I need to sit with this for a while. You and Jason—you guys are on this. And I know you’ve got my back. Can you handle it? I just—”

“Of course. Let me know if I can do anything.” Elizabeth hugged him briefly. “I’ll see you later.”

“See you later.”

Metro Court: Lobby

Carly stepped out of the back offices and saw her least favorite person on the planet standing by the bank of elevators. Well, her least favorite person in the state of New York. Robin was still living in California, thank God.

Deciding it was a good a time as any to try out the kinder, gently Carly, she walked over and plastered a fake smile on her face. “Nelle.”

Nelle turned to look at her, furrowing her brow slightly. She looked around her. “Uh, Carly. What can I do for you?”

“Well.” Carly took a deep breath. “I was thinking maybe we should try to get along—and I know at this point, it’s me. And I’m right, you know. That doesn’t matter, but it’s important that we both know I’m right to hate the sight of you.”

“You have your reasons which I accept,” Nelle said. “But—”

“But Michael is my son, and things with him are hard enough without picking fights that—well, fights that I’m not going to win. Because I think you are a mistake. Everything about you is a mistake,” Carly said flatly. “And one day he will regret knowing you—”

Nelle rolled her eyes. “God, Carly, if this is your idea of playing nice—”

“I intend to play nice,” Carly assured her. “But I just don’t want you to think I’ve changed my mind about you. I just don’t plan to make it Michael’s problem anymore. He’ll see you for who you are before you know it, and be rid of you. There’s no point in ruining my relationship with him—”

“Oh, well, then you are going to be really disappointed,” Nelle said, coolly. “Because he just asked me to move in with him.”

Carly stared at her nemesis, then shook her head. “No. No, he didn’t. Don’t—”

“You know my building is going condo, and he offered to help me with the down payment, but I told him no. I couldn’t dream of taking a loan from him. To mix money like that—” Nelle smiled sweetly. “But then he decided that we should live together. He’s going to leave the mansion and we’re going to buy my condo together. A mortgage. Together.” Nelle clasped her hands together, her eyes lit with happiness. “It’s like all my dreams are coming true—”

Carly hissed. “The hell they are! You are not going to sign a single piece of paper with my son! Why are you doing this? You’re going to ruin his life—”

“Now, Carly—”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this to me. To him! You don’t love him. You just want to use him.” Carly stepped towards him, stabbing a finger in Nelle’s face. “I swear to God, if you hurt my son—”

“Mom!”

Carly closed her eyes, turned to find Michael behind her, then looked back at Nelle whose facial expression had changed from glee to teary-eyed.

Oh, this bitch—

“What the hell are you doing?” Michael demanded, striding to Nelle’s side and sliding an arm around her waist. “Are you okay?” he asked her.

“I was just trying to tell your mother we should try to do better for you,” Nelle said, her voice trembling. “That I didn’t want to fight anymore even though I know I deserve all her hatred—”

“Not all of it. Mom—” Michael looked at Carly who was seething.

“That is a complete lie!” she declared. “I came over to her wanting to get along better for your sake!”

“Oh, is that what I just overheard?” Michael demanded. “Is this anything like the crap you pulled on Elizabeth?”

“No, it’s not anything—” Carly almost stomped her foot. “Damn it, Michael, listen to me! She was telling me you’re moving into her condo, and I just—”

“I’m not moving in with her—” Michael looked at Nelle with a frown as the redhead’s face turned bewildered.

“I don’t know what she’s talking about,” Nelle said. “She brought up the condo from the last time she—the last time we talked,” she said, and Carly narrowed her eyes. The bitch had corrected herself to be more polite, but had pretended to slip and remind Michael of the last public argument.

Oh, damn it to hell—

“Michael, I swear to you—” Carly said, her eyes wide.

“Don’t bother,” Michael snapped. “You always promise to do better, Mom, but you never do. You never know when to quit. I get that you don’t like Nelle. I never asked you to. You don’t need to create scenes and lie about her—”

“Michael—”

“Let’s go,” he told her. “We’ll go to Kelly’s for lunch.”

“Michael, wait—”

But her son was gone, the little she-bitch right with her. Carly stared after them in horror. She’d told the absolute truth and Michael hadn’t believed her.

Webber House: Front Porch

Sonny frowned as Jason took out a key and slid into the lock. “You have a key?” he asked as Jason pushed the door open.

“Yeah, I pick up Jake from school, I told you that.” Behind them, a car pulled into the driveway, and Elizabeth got out of the driver’s side, Laura the passenger side. At the curb, a second car drove up. Jason clenched his jaw as Luke and Lucky Spencer got out.

“Well, the gang’s all here,” Sonny murmured.

“Hey,” Jason said as Elizabeth and Laura approached, ignoring Sonny. He frowned when Elizabeth avoided his eyes. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Elizabeth glanced at Luke and Lucky who were drawing closer, then shook her head. “We’ll talk later,” she promised.

“Jason,” Luke said, with some reluctance. Jason leveled a malevolent glare at the older man. Luke might have given him his first job after the accident, but he’d also been driving the car that had hit Jake.

Jake being alive now would never make that night go away.

“Hey, Jason,” Lucky said, his own expression worn and exhausted. “Uh, good to see you, I guess.” He leaned over to kiss his mother’s cheek, then Elizabeth’s. “Where’s Aiden?”

“Cameron took them to the rummage sale,” Elizabeth said, going into the house with the rest of the group following her. “I thought it would be best if they weren’t around for all of this. You can catch up with them later.”

Not missing the fact that Lucky had only asked about Aiden, while Elizabeth had stressed the plurality, Jason found himself disliking Lucky Spencer even more than he had this morning—which he hadn’t thought possible.

“You said you had some news on Faison?” Laura asked briskly as she went into Elizabeth’s kitchen and started a pot of coffee. “That’s why you came all this way, isn’t it? It certainly wasn’t to see your daughter or grandchildren at Christmas.”

“Angel—” Luke said, putting up his hands. “Don’t start—”

“We never managed to catch up with Faison in person,” Lucky said. He sat at the table in Elizabeth’s kitchen. “But we found his daughter.”

“The Britch?” Elizabeth asked, with a sour expression.

Luke smirked. “Yeah, she sends her regards.”

“The Britch?” Jason echoed.

“Britta Westbourne,” Elizabeth said with a sour expression. “She started working at GH a few weeks before your…before,” she settled on, “but I didn’t really get to know her until she was dating Patrick. She, uh, stole Lulu’s embryo, pretended it was Patrick’s kid, then said it was someone else’s until it turned out it was Dante and Lulu’s. She almost married Nikolas, and I think—” She frowned. “She’s on the run for helping Spencer fake his disappearance, isn’t she?”

“I think that’s it,” Laura said. “So what did Britt have to say?”

“Not much at first,” Lucky said. “But we managed to convince her that the WSB could hide her more effectively than Faison who abandoned her about six weeks ago. Around the time—” Lucky nodded at Jason. “Around the time you popped up here in Port Charles, Faison apparently got very antsy and split.”

“Well, that doesn’t give us anything,” Sonny complained. “Faison knew we’d be coming for him. He’s the one that shot Jason in the first place—”

“Britt told she spent a few months,” Luke said, “working at a clinic in St. Petersburg.” He looked at Jason. “Laura said you were awake for about six months before you escaped. Is that right?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Jason. “I can’t be sure. I tried to mark the days the best I could—the first few weeks, they didn’t know I was awake yet, but I think it was around June when they put me in the wheelchair.” He didn’t like thinking about those dark weeks, when he could see, when he could think and feel, but he couldn’t move. Couldn’t leave.

The only way to mark the days changing had been waiting for dim lights out the window of his room.

“I thought Robert and Anna were gonna come,” Luke said. “We need to start putting all of this together, and figuring out what was Faison, what was Cassadine, what was WSB—there are too many strands, and too many people going off in different directions—”

“You are not in charge,” Sonny began hotly but Jason put up his hand, nodded.

“You’re right,” he told Luke. “And it started that way because Drew and I couldn’t be in the same room together. That’s not true anymore. But the problem is that there are too many loose threads. Too many things that could give us pieces of the story. So you might not like that it’s all over the place, but it’s staying that way.”

“Anna is working on another angle,” Laura said, “and Robert is moving Maddox to his new lab. She said that when she had what she needed, she’d be in touch. And I think Spinelli is—” She frowned.

“At the rummage sale with Georgie and Maxie,” Jason said. “It’s the holidays and he’s uprooted his whole life to do this. We don’t need everyone in the same room, Luke, at the same time.”

“Let’s start at the beginning of what we know,” Elizabeth suggested, hoping to get the conversation back on track. “We’ve found out that Susan Moore probably knew she’d given birth to twins, but at some point she either thought Drew was dead or lost track of where he was. And it matters—” she said, anticipating Luke’s objection, “because we need to figure out at what point Victor found out Drew existed, so we started at the beginning. Drew was living with Betsy Frank, but he was dumped at a group home in Rochester a month after Susan’s death.”

“Drew and Curtis,” Elizabeth said, “are working on that.” She looked to Jason and Sonny. “You said Spinelli had started to fill in some information about the clinic and Andre.”

“Yeah, the clinic is an old KGB front for experiments,” Sonny said. “It switched over to the DVX—Anna confirmed that for us. She remembers it from a few missions,” he added. “This ties Valentin to the clinic—”

“And Faison and Obrecht,” Luke told him. “They were both DVX with Victor back in the day. After Victor got out of jail, he joined up. DVX went underground after the fall of the Soviets, but it’s likely that Helena took some of them under her wing—like Faison and Obrecht, while Victor and a lot of the researchers went to the WSB.”

“I can’t believe they were working with the DVX,” Laura muttered. “After all the damned trouble we went to bring them down—”

“It’s no different than German scientists working the atom bomb, Darlin’. Some scientists don’t care much about the guy in charge, only that someone is writing the checks. If you’re looking for another doctor, Obrecht is a good bet—”

“It’s a shame she’s currently MIA,” Sonny muttered. “She split town over the summer. So put her on the list of people we need to find.” He rubbed his cheek. “Does it ever feel like the to do list gets longer?”

“The clinic is currently under the directorship of Joseph Klein,” Jason said. “He’s the doctor I knew. I never saw anyone but him and some of the orderlys. And Ava Jerome, who says she was sent there by Valentin Cassadine to fix her face in exchange for dropping her testimony in the civil case.”

“Britt said she’d worked at the clinic last winter on Faison’s orders— which matches the time that you woke up and the doctors became aware of it,” Lucky pointed out. “She said she’d worked on your case, and followed Robin’s protocol to bring you out the cryofreeze. So Robin brought back Drew, Helena, and Stavros—while Britt took care of you.”

“Faison? Why would he want to wake me up?” Jason wanted to know. “Why would he be involved once Helena was gone?”

“Britt claimed she didn’t know,” Lucky said. “I don’t know if we believe her, but without finding Faison, there’s no way to know.”

“We’re still trying to find the old bastard himself, but he’s wily and has gone under deep,” Luke said. “We’ll keep you posted.”

“What did Anna say when she called last night?” Elizabeth said to Jason. “She said that Valentin was searching for something.”

“Or maybe someone?” Laura suggested. “What else did Andre have to say?”

“That Andre hid his files—along with some of Helena’s—and Anna is on their trail now. If she can find those—” Jason said, “we might finally find out what the hell Valentin Cassadine wants and why Drew and I were part of it.”

St. Timothy’s Church: Front Yard

Anna strode directly towards the table behind which Lulu Falconieri and Maxie Jones-West were standing. The two blonds snapped to attention as soon as they realized Anna was in the vicinity.

“Anna! I thought you be here earlier—”

“And I told you that I would buy all the bloody ornaments—” Anna glared at the other tables where she could find several boxes on display.

“Oh, well, you made it sound so important,” Lulu said, a thread of nerves lacing through her tone, “that Maxie dug out the receipt we gave your housekeeper, you know, for your taxes, and it had some descriptions—”

“And I realized that we hadn’t quite put your ornaments into all the other boxes yet. It was one of like three boxes we hadn’t sorted yet. Isn’t that lucky?” Maxie said, brightly.

“Fantastic.” Anna held out her hand. “Give them to me—”

“Oh, but you donated them,” Maxie said. Lulu stared at her in amazement. “So you need to buy them—”

“Mariah Maximilliana Jones West,” Anna began hotly, then narrowed her eyes. “Never mind.” She pulled out her wallet and removed a hundred dollar bill. “Give me my sodding ornaments.”

Fifteen minutes later, she had the ornaments on the passenger’s seat, and was driving towards Elizabeth’s house, hoping that the group was still gathered for their meeting so they could go through the box since Anna barely remembered what the stupid ornament had looked like to begin with.

“Siri,” she told her phone, “call Robert.”

“Calling…Robert…”

“Hello, Anna! Calling for a check in with the good doctor?” Robert said brightly. “He’s very angry at you for the trick that you played—”

“Shut up. I have the box of ornaments. What did it look like? The one he gave me?” Anna demanded. “I need this jackass to stop wasting my time—”

“Ah, you’re on speaker phone, my love—”

“For the love of—” Anna’s attention was distraction from her infuriating ex-husband at the sight of another car on the road.

In the same lane as her—driving straight at her.

“Oh, hell—” She yelped, jerking the steering wheel to the side, but it was too late. The other car clipped her front end, and Anna’s speeding BMW went flying off the road, flipping upside down and landing in the snow-covered ditch by the side.

While the SUV that had hit her kept on driving, its front end smashed in.

“Anna? Anna?”

Anna opened her eyes, blearily, staring at the dash as Robert’s voice crackled. “Robert…” she slurred, “call in the cavalry….” Then the world tilted, went gray, and she passed out.

“Anna!”

So when will this end
It goes on and on
Over and over and over again
Keep spinning around i know that it won’t stop
Till I step down from this for good
I never thought I’d end up here
I never thought Id be standing where I am
I guess a kind of thought it would be easier than this I guess
I was wrong now one more time
– Sick Cycle Carousel, Lifehouse

---

December 2015

General Hospital: Nurse’s Hub

Andre waited until the elevators had closed behind Anna Devane before walking to his office. He stopped still as he approached the hub, seeing several teenagers and kids in the waiting area.

He’d been in Port Charles just over a month and had settled in rather nicely. It was comforting to be back in the normal world, working as a psychiatrist again. Helena was dead, and Valentin had told him that he’d taken care of the replacement. There would be no Chimera. No biotoxin. That was over.

Valentin had also wanted to delay the the second transfer of memories in Drew Cain’s brain. The man knew he was supposed to be Jason Morgan, and Valentin didn’t see the point in shaking things up. Not just yet. Andre could live with that.

He could almost pretend that none of it had even happened—even meeting Elizabeth Webber hadn’t shaken him. She’d never been more than a name on a page, so he could just enjoy working alongside a competent and excellent colleague.

But this was the first time he’d seen Jake since that day in the lab when Andre had removed his memories—when he’d put the trigger for Chimera in the boy’s brain.

“Dr. Maddox,” Elizabeth said with a warm smile. “I see you’ve met my kids—”

“Oh, I didn’t—” Andre took a deep breath. “I just saw them here and stopped to wonder who they were. Are they all yours?”

“Oh, no.” Elizabeth laughed, even if it was a bit sad. He knew she was struggling since the truth about Jake Doe had come out and it had been revealed she’d known for moths. He felt sorry for her—the target of Helena’s rage. She’d never done anything to deserve all that the crazy bitch had done to her.

“Mom!” The smallest of the boys ran towards Elizabeth and she swept him up, surprisingly strong. “Hi, Mom! We’re here!”

“I see that, baby. Aiden, this is a new doctor at GH. Andre, this is my youngest—Aiden.” She nodded to the taller blond boy. “That’s Cameron, my oldest. Thirteen—” She shook her head. “I can’t believe it.”

“Soon I’ll able to drive,” Cameron said with a grin.

“Ha. Not that soon. And this is my middle baby, Jake.” Elizabeth pointed at the last blond boy—the one Andre would have known anywhere. “He’s eight.”

“And the rest of them are friends. Joss Jacks and Emma Drake—” She sighed. “Oh, Emma—you’re here to say goodbye, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” The brunette sniffled. “It’s Dad’s last day, and, like, I grew up here. They came with us.” She looked at Cameron with misery. “I don’t wanna leave.”

“It’s okay,” Cameron promised her. “You’ll come back for college.”

Elizabeth set Aiden down on his feet and he went over to hug Emma’s legs. “Cameron and Emma are dating,” she confided in Andre. “And she’s moving across country.”

“That’s a shame.” Andre shifted. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all—”

“Oh, we’re here all the time,” Cameron said confidently. “Mom works so much, it’s the only way we get to see her.”

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “Funny guy.” She left Andre and went over to pull Emma aside. Andre watched the group for another minute, watching as Elizabeth hugged the other girl, then put an arm around the girl she’d introduced as Joss.

What about this woman had pushed Helena to the brink? It was interesting to see Elizabeth around her children—to see how Jake was already sort of at home, even if he felt a bit apart from them all.

Andre hadn’t been the one to take Jake away, and he’d played a small role in bringing him back. He wondered if Jake would ever get to know his real father—if Jason Morgan was even still alive in Russia.

But Andre couldn’t let all of that weigh on him. He’d done the job and he was free.

At least until Valentin Cassadine decided differently.

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

PCPD: Squad Room

Anna waited until the last possible minute of the day before heading downtown to the police station to see how Andre was bucking up under the pressure. Frisco had agreed not to get any charges filed dismissed until Andre was officially being moved, and Jordan had convinced Margaux Dawson, the district attorney, to file charges that she knew would never go court.

“She’s not happy about the waste of time and resources,” Jordan told Anna as she walked the WSB agent over to Dante Falconieri’s desk. “And if you get nothing today, she’s dropping the charges. It’s already been a week—”

“I know,” Anna said as Dante stood up to greet her. “But I had to let him stew a bit. It was going to take time for him to believe that the WSB was actually abandoning him.” Her smile was a bit dark, troubled. “He knows if he goes to gen pop in a state prison, he won’t make it long. Not with the people he screwed with.”

“I’ll be happier when he’s out of our station,” Dante said. Jordan left them as the detective led Anna to the lock-up in the back of the department. “We still don’t know who he’s working for, and I got flashbacks to what happened a couple of years ago with Faison.”

“I know,” Anna murmured. Dante unlocked the entrance to the row of cells. “Thank you,” she told him.  She left Sonny’s son waiting and walked down the row until she came to Andre.

The formerly urbane and sophisticated doctor had unraveled over the last few weeks in jail. His orange jumpsuit, the ragged edges on his typically manicured nails, the desperate light in his eyes.

“Anna.” Andre got to his feet, his expression sour. “What do you want?”

“I think you have the idea now, Andre, that I have a lot of weight with Frisco,” Anna said briskly. “You’re not as valuable to the WSB as you think you are, and there was no way I was going to let you leave this town without paying for the damage you’ve done.”

Andre hissed under his breath, looked away. He gripped the bars of the jail, his fingers wrapping tightly around the metal. “You know what would happen to me in a New York prison—”

“Either Valentin Cassadine or Sonny Corinthos would eventually come to find you, and I know Sonny has a lot of friends in several federal prisons if you’re thinking of going to the Feds. Andre, with one call, I can have you moved tonight.” Anna lifted her brow. “Make it worth my while.”

Andre shoved away from the bars, started to stalk the small space. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he growled.

“No, I know you wanted to bring back your wife. Or to stop such tragedy from happening to others. I always understood your reasons, Andre. But I abhor your methods. And with the time you’ve had to consider matters—” She tipped her head. “Do you have any regret for what you’ve done to Jason Morgan and Drew Cain? The damage you’ve done to Jake Webber?”

“I—” Andre exhaled slowly.  “I made sure I didn’t know anything personal about them. Five and Six and a basic medical history.”

“Were you at the lab on Spoon Island when Helena brought Jake Webber there? When she faked his death?” Anna pushed.

Andre paused, dropped his gaze to the floor. “No. I didn’t start on the project until almost a year later. He wasn’t my case then. I didn’t know about that until I went to Greece and reviewed his files.”

“He was a child—she was a grieving mother. What was the point?” Anna demanded. “Why take the risk?”

“I don’t know—” Andre exhaled slowly. “Ewen Keenan brought Elizabeth to the lab. Helena had hired Lisa Niles to shove Elizabeth overboard and to inject her with something to cause a high fever.”

Anna stared at him. “Helena engineered it—”

“It didn’t have to be the boat that night, but that Lisa should take the next opportunity to deliver Elizabeth to her anyway she saw fit. So Lisa did the job, called Helena, and Keenan went to get her. I was working with him—” He stopped. “Not on Robin. Never with Robin.”

“It hardly matters—”

“It does matter to me. Robin wasn’t my case. She didn’t need medical help and she wasn’t part of any of this. But Helena wanted another smart doctor, and Faison had his own reasons for taking her.” Andre rubbed his jaw. “I have so many regrets—”

“Regrets? Where they when you planted a trigger in that little boy’s brain so that he could kill himself, his mother, and everyone else at the Nurse’s Ball?” Anna scoffed. “Spare me.”

“By that point, I was in too deep. I’d gone too far, and I knew too much. But I put the failsafe in—I made it possible for Jake to be stopped—”

“You think you deserve credit for that? You could have told Elizabeth at any time what she might face—you knew all along that Chimera was in his head—”

“I had no choice! If I was going to stay alive—so yes, I sacrificed Jake to keep my hand in the research. Do you think I’m proud of that, Anna? You know me!”

“I thought I did,” Anna said, staring at him with with derision, even as a wave of disappointment slid through her. “I thought you were a good man. But you lost sight of what you were supposed to be doing. You weren’t helping your patients anymore, Andre. You were only helping yourself.”

He swallowed hard and nodded. “Is that enough ?” he asked dully. “Do I get out of here now?”

“No,” Anna said. “You’ve only elaborated on what we already knew. I’m sure Elizabeth will be thrilled to learn that what happened to her was even more diabolical. I’m not just here about the past, Andre. I need to know what’s out there today. Someone was keeping Jason Morgan on ice for the last five years. Helena and Victor Cassadine might have started this, but they’ve been dead a long time. Who was pushing this forward? Who were you were working for?”

“I’m not saying the name,” Andre said slowly. “Because you already know. You’ve always known. What you want to know is if this is over, and the answer is no. He’s searching for something. I’m not sure what.”

Anna narrowed her eyes. “I don’t believe you—”

“You don’t need to. You just need to find my files. And Helena’s. Helena had smuggled out her own sets of files. I don’t know how,” Andre admitted. “But she told me before I left for Port Charles, before she died, they were safe—” He stopped. “He hasn’t found them yet, but he’s looking for them. He was still looking when Morgan hit town.”

“And where are your files? Your computers here were wiped clean—”

“Did you open your Christmas present?” Andre asked, his eyes locked on hers. “Because I gave you everything weeks ago. I knew this day would come, Anna. My files have the records of everything I did at the WSB under Victor’s control. Everything I did for the memory experimentation. And also some files that I stole from Helena for leverage. It’s not her complete files—but it should be enough to give you some leads.”

Anna exhaled slowly. “My present?” She paused. “The snowglobe?”

“There’s a thumb drive in it. It has everything you need. Is that enough?” Andre demanded. “Is that enough to save my life?”

“Drew Cain’s memories. Are they also on that thumb drive?” Anna demanded.

“Yes. If you find it, if I can get to a lab—I can put them back in his head. All you have to do is get the ornament, Anna, and get me out of here.”

Penthouse: Living Room

Curtis frowned over the newspaper clippings, sifting through them as Drew poured over the investigation records for Susan Moore’s murder.

“You know, I know Robert was a hell of a commissioner,” Curtis said slowly, “but based on this and the other statements I read in the file—” He tapped a pencil against his legal pad. “I’m having the same trouble with the motive. He confessed, yeah. But why? How did he know Susan changed her mind? Did she tell him?”

“Why, if Susan wanted more money out of the Qs, would she have kept me hidden?” Drew asked. “We know I ended up with Betsy Frank at some point, but we only have Betsy and Heather’s word for how it happened.”

“Yeah, Betsy was supposed to be the nurse on duty that Heather gave you to, but that doesn’t jive with Susan knowing about you long enough to give you a name—”

“Or with Heather leaving her own son with Betsy after all of that,” Drew reminded him. He dragged a hand through his hair. “What do we think? That Betsy found out Susan was coming for me? Or that she was going to take both me and Franco?”

“I mean, it makes sense. If Susan found out she had a legit way to drain the Qs of some cash—” Curtis pulled open another folder. “I got the copy of her estate that was filed with probate. I thought it might be worth looking at the way she talked about custody of children since she updated it just before she died to cut Scott out.”

“Yeah, she was really pissed at him,” Drew said. “Any luck getting him to talk yet?”

“He’s been stonewalling me since that first time,” Curtis admitted. “It was a long time ago and he’s probably not really proud of what he did back then—but I’m still trying.”  He shoved the will over to Drew. “You’re faster with this lawyer crap.”

“Dated February 8, just a few days before she was murdered,” Drew said, jotting down the date. “It’s pretty clear cut. She didn’t have much of an estate separate from Jason—” And if he was surprised that it was getting easier to think of Jason as a separate person with a history that wasn’t his, Drew didn’t dwell on it. “She left everything to her—” He paused. “To her living descendants,” he said slowly.

Curtis raised his brow. “It doesn’t name Jason specifically?”

“No. But it doesn’t name me either, which makes sense since no one came to find me. But Jason got everything, and custody of dependents was to go to the biological father, Alan Quartermaine.”

“Dependents is plural?”

“Looks like.”

“Well.” Curtis set down his pencil and met Drew’s eyes. “That is very interesting. She knows there’s another baby out there, but doesn’t name him. Why? Is she scared? And she doesn’t leave any way for Alan to find this kid?”

“No way that we know of,” Drew murmured. “But there’s still Heather to think about. She was accused of Susan’s murder because of the stuff with Scott. But you have to wonder if maybe Susan confronted her over stealing me and Heather killed her. Or if Tolliver was the guy — maybe Susan gave Heather the information to give to Alan, and Heather, because she’s crazy, didn’t do it. Held on to it instead for a rainy day.”

“How did Victor Cassadine know about twins anyway?” Curtis demanded. “No one other than Susan and Heather knew there were two babies. How the hell does Victor Cassadine figure this out decades later? Did he get it from Heather? That’s the link we want. If we can answer that, we might be able to unravel why Victor chose the two of you in the first place.”

Drew sat back. “We need to get Scott and Robert to talk to us about my mother’s case. And I wish like hell Alan—” He paused. “I wish my father was still alive,” he said, because while the complicated feelings Jason had had for Alan Quartermaine and their rocky relationship—Drew was still grateful for those memories. It would be the only way he’d ever know Alan.  “But Monica was around back then.”

“And, hell, we could always see if Heather is lucid enough to give us something we can work with.”

As Curtis was packing up his papers, the door opened and Sam walked in with Danny following.

“Hi, Dad!” Danny said cheerfully. He tossed his book bag on the sofa. “I gotta get upstairs because there’s a new Ryan video—” And without another word or more of a greeting, the five-year-old raced up the stairs where his tablet was charging.

“Nice to see you, too!” Drew called after him with a shake of his head and a grin.

“Hey, Curtis,” Sam said, dropping her keys on the desk. She frowned at the folders he was shoving into his messenger bag, then looping over his shoulder. “What’s that? What are you working on?”

“Just making a list of more questions about Susan Moore,” Curtis said before Drew could stop him. When Sam just frowned at him, Curtis looked at Drew who winced before focusing on Sam again. “Did you, uh, not know we were looking into her murder?”

“No, no, I didn’t. But, you know, Christmas is coming. We’ve all been busy.” Sam folded her arms.

“Right,” Curtis drawled. “Well, I’ll get out of here. I’ll call Robert and Scott, and see we can follow up on any of that other stuff.”

“I’ll handle Monica,” Drew told him, walking him to the door. When his friend had left, he turned to find Sam staring at him. “What?”

“You never said anything about looking into your mother’s murder.”

“You didn’t want to know about what I was doing with Jason,” Drew said. He walked past her, towards the fireplace to push at the logs and stoke the fire.  “Susan is part of it.”

“How—”

“Curtis found my birth certificate,” Drew said. “And there’s some evidence Susan knew I existed which isn’t the story Heather told. Since she fought for a million dollar trust fund for Jason, there’s no way she gave me away and didn’t go back for more.” He lifted a brow. “I mean, you played these games. You know she wouldn’t have left that money on the table.”

Sam flinched, then lifted her chin. “No, I guess not. Not with a double payday on the line. But I thought they got the guy—”

“Case is flimsy—the suspect died before they could nail it down,” Drew said. “We’re gonna check with Robert, but it also looks like maybe Susan found out I was still alive just before she died.” He shrugged. “It might be nothing, but if we can find out who knew there were twins back then—we might be able to figure out how Victor knew about us.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Sam said slowly. “It’s weird. I don’t think about Monica not being your mother. Jason was—he’s closer to her than he was to Alan.”

“I know, I used to be him, remember?”

“Drew—” Sam closed her eyes. “I’m trying here. No, I’m not entirely on board with you looking into what happened because I just don’t see the point in worrying about it. It’s over. You’re moving forward, and it’s not like you can just get your memories back—”

“Anna is working on that,” Drew told her. “And Andre told us himself—he came back here and transferred the memories a second time, but he was able to retain my Jake Doe life. Which means he might be able to take Jason out of my head, but keep the last three years. It’s worth exploring, Sam—”

“You want to remember being in love with another woman?” Sam demanded.

“No, I want to remember my son. My first wife. My life, Sam. I was thirty-eight when all of this happened. I want those years back.” He scowled at her. “And I’m not the one married to someone else. That’s you—”

“I’m working on it,” Sam said, her teeth clenched. “God, you just never let it go—”

“The fact that you haven’t filed for divorce yet?” Drew demanded. “No, funny how that’s staying with me.”

“I’m going out,” Sam retorted. She grabbed her keys and went to the door. “I don’t know why you can’t let this go. Why you can’t just look forward—”

“How can I look forward when you’re still married to Jason?”

Sam pressed her lips together, then stalked out, slamming the door behind her.

Devane Manor: Living Room

Anna grimaced as she sorted through the box of decorations left half-filled next to her Christmas tree. She’d put the ornament Andre had given with her all the other gifted ornaments she couldn’t find the space for, and now it wasn’t there—

“Cryptic, rat-arsed lunatic,” she hissed as she got on her hands and knees to peer beneath a table, hoping she’d spy it there. “Any normal villain would just monologue and spill all their plans, but he has to hide his evil deeds in a bloody thumb drive—“

“Miss Devane?”

Anna sat back on her heels, frowning as her housekeeper and part-time cook entered the room, looking bewildered. “Oh, thank God, Patience.” She got to her feet. “I had an extra box of decorations here a few days ago—filled with ornaments mostly—“

“Oh, I took care of those,” Patience said, with a relieved smile. “Just like you asked. I dropped them off on my way home from work yesterday.”

“Dropped them—“ Anna made a face. “Oh, hell. The rummage sale?”

“Yes. I’m sorry. Did I misunderstand—“

“No—“ Anna planted her hands on her hips, and scowled at the space where the box had been. “No, I wanted to get rid of them. I just left something in the box that turned out to be more important than I realized. That gormless little weasel!”

“All right,” Patience said slowly. “Well, I’m going home now—“

“Yes, yes.” Anna sighed. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t mind me.”

“I never do, Miss Devane. Good night!” With a wave, Patience went to the foyer, and Anna went for her phone.

“Maxie, thank Christ I caught you! That rummage sale—“ She closed her eyes as her honorary niece began to babble about something Anna didn’t care about in the slightest. “The rummage sale, Maxie. Has it begun yet?”

“Oh, no—why? Did you want to donate something else? We’re starting around noon tomorrow—“

“All right, I’ll be there as soon as I can tomorrow, but I need you to find the box of ornaments my housekeeper brought by and set it aside—“ When Maxie said nothing, Anna closed her eyes. “Maxie?”

“Well, we mixed the box with the other ornaments. Anna—“

“Then set all the blasted ornaments aside and I’ll buy the whole damn lot!” Anna snapped and hung up the phone. “Thumb drives,” she muttered. “I hate technology.”

Kelly’s: Dining Room

Drew slid the last contract over—the one that Jason had wanted to sign the least, but that Drew had insisted was necessary. While Drew was now a half owner of the company, legally, Jason still had to agree to appoint him as the acting partner and CEO. Jason didn’t give a crap about any of this—he was hoping Drew would make the company such a success that he could get out of this faster.

Jason did not want to be in the corporate world, and barely wanted anything to do with ELQ or the shares he’d apparently inherited while he’d been gone—though he’d been grateful to learn that Michael had immediately granted Jake his own shares when he’d come home. He liked the idea of Jake being solid and secure—of having options when he got older. A future that would be wide open to him.

A future that Jason had sold a long time ago without really knowing the price he’d pay.

“Thanks for making this easy,” Drew said finally as he put the paperwork away.

“Thanks for making sure I don’t have to do anything about the company. And I don’t want any profit,” Jason told him bluntly. “I didn’t really buy it. It’s not my thing. So whatever dividends are owed to me, put them back into the company or split them between the kids.”

Drew frowned at him. “Which ones? Jake and Danny?”

Jason started say yes, but then thought about that future he wanted for Jake, about the conversation he and Elizabeth had had if something happened to her—what would happen to her boys.  “All of them,” he said finally. “Jake, Cameron, and Aiden. And Danny,” he added. “If you want Scout to have a part, that’s fine. And Oscar.” As he said it out loud, he nodded. “Yeah, that works for me.”

“Me, too,” Drew admitted. “I like the idea of all the kids having at least a college fund. I, uh, I don’t remember,” he admitted, “but I’m guessing that’s maybe why I went into the military at eighteen. Kim might know,” he continued. “I haven’t asked.” He hesitated. “This…being in a room with you—looking at you—it’s getting easier.”

Jason considered that and nodded in return. “Yeah, I thought being around you would be the hardest part,” he said. “At first, when I found out about you, I thought you had to be part of this, but you’re not, and we both got screwed. But—” He tipped his head. “If I really couldn’t come back until now—if it really wasn’t possible—I’m glad you were here for Jake. Elizabeth said it was hard when he came home.”

“And last year, yeah.” Drew rubbed the side of his face. “Some scary minutes while he just looked at us, terrified. Not wanting to open the box, not wanting to kill everyone, and that goddamn bitch in his head somehow giving him the orders beyond the grave—” He pressed his lips together. “We just barely got out of it, and then we turned him over to fucking Maddox who’d put the trigger in his head in the first place.”

He paused. “I thought I’d feel more resentment towards you, too,” Drew told him. “Because I thought you’d come back and you’d take everything. How could I fight it? It all belonged to you. The penthouse, the money, Danny and Jake—” He stared down at the contract. “Sam.”

Jason didn’t say anything in return, so Drew sighed. “But you didn’t—you didn’t take any of it back. Not even Jake. I know Elizabeth went to you. I know you made Jake feel comfortable with keeping both of us in his life. I love that kid. It’s hard not to—” His voice tightened. “It’s hard to put aside thinking he’s mine. I don’t know if I’ll ever do it.”

“Then don’t,” Jason told him quietly. “You have my memories, Drew. I don’t know if that comes with the emotions, but I never put it aside for Michael. Most of the time, I know he’s not mine, but I don’t always feel it.”

“The emotions,” Drew said slowly. “That’s the part—I think that’s the part that I really don’t think ever worked for me. Maddox didn’t think that through.” He paused. “But then sometimes—sometimes, there’d be memories that would be so strong that I could just—” He shook his head. “I could feel them. A lot of memories with Jake. Being born, being scared he wouldn’t make it. The kidnappings—both of them. Losing him.”  Drew met Jason’s eyes. “Having those memories, but knowing I didn’t live through it—that you did—I’m glad you get to have him back.”

“It’s amazing, but it’s more important that Elizabeth has him,” Jason said, his tone still quiet. “I was never there enough. Losing him hurt like hell, it almost broke me—and I didn’t even get to be his parent. The only thing I ever did was bring him home to her and pay for the grave marker.” Jason cleared his throat. “You said you had something you wanted to know about Susan Moore.”

“Yeah.” Drew scratched his temple. “I don’t know a lot about her—even with your memories—but Curtis and I have been looking into what happened to her, trying to understand at what point you and I were separated—did Susan ever know—because we need to find out how Victor knew we existed.”

Jason frowned. “Yeah, that bothers me. Heather told us years ago that Franco was supposed to be my twin brother. I still thought that was true until I came back. I’m obviously glad it’s you and not him,” he added, “but why bother to lie in the first place?”

“Yeah, Heather’s stories don’t really add up,” Drew admitted. “But you know that she never made much sense. It turns out I got dumped at a fire station just after Susan was murdered which made us wonder if there was something connecting it.”

“You know as much as I ever did about Susan Moore. I mean, I think I was really young when she died,” Jason said, frowning. “I only know she existed because Monica told me after the accident. I don’t think I would have had memories of her, and Alan told me once that he rarely ever talked about Susan with me once Monica decided to adopt me. It was a bad reminder. But if you think there’s a connection—”

“Elizabeth was pretty close to Scott because of—” Drew wiggled his fingers, and Jason nodded. “He’s still her lawyer, but ironically, he was also our stepfather. He drained half of the trust fund Susan won for you, and he was a suspect in her murder.”

“Scott—” Jason exhaled slowly. “He was married to Susan? I think I knew this. I did know about the trust fund. I think I used it to pay for college and medical school—” he squinted. “And then I found out about it after accident, and Sonny helped me get access to the rest of it. Scott’s not the best guy, but I don’t think he’d do anything—”

“No, but he might have some insight. He’s ducking me and Curtis,” Drew said, “and you being Jason Morgan probably means he won’t talk to you, but you know Elizabeth has a way of convincing people to talk. You think she might be interested in helping out?”

“I can ask,” Jason suggested. He glanced at his phone. “I’m supposed to meet her in a little while for a ride.”

Drew furrowed his brow. “You’re—you’re seeing a lot of her, I guess. With Jake.”

“Why?”

“Nothing, I guess I—” he hesitated. “You never came back to see Sam. It’s been—it’s been almost two months. You know that I’m divorcing Kim. That Sam and I are divorcing so we can clear the legal stuff. We did this deal for Aurora—” Drew gestured at the contract. “But, uh, have you heard anything from Sam about a divorce?”

“No,” Jason said finally. “I thought—” He looked away. “I was expecting it. But it hasn’t happened, and I stopped thinking about it, I guess. Distracted with other things.” He looked back at Drew. “Why?”

“Because this is something that bothered me when I thought I was you,” Drew told him. “You’re reactive. And it drove me crazy thinking about to all the things I’d let happen—what I  thought I’d let happen.”

“I—” Jason paused. “Why does it matter—”

“Because I’m frustrated that Sam decided to stay with me, but won’t do anything to make it permanent,” Drew admitted, frustrated. He dragged his hand through his hair. “And I guess—knowing what I know about your past with Sam and Elizabeth—” He kept going even as Jason’s mouth tightened, “I was thinking maybe it wasn’t a good idea for you to keep being married to Sam and spending time with Elizabeth.”

“What do you want me to do?” Jason asked with a frown. “Ask Sam for a divorce?”

“I don’t know, it’d be nice if you did something—” Drew hissed. “Never mind—”

“Look—” Jason began but then his phone lit up with a phone call. He frowned at it, then held a hand out as Drew got to his feet. “Wait—it’s Luke Spencer.” Drew sat back down as Jason answered the phone. “Luke?”

“What did he say?” Drew demanded as soon as Jason ended the connection. “He didn’t talk long—”

“Luke and Lucky are coming into town tomorow,” Jason said slowly, and the two men shared a knowing look—thanks to Jason’s memories, there were few people the two of them hated more. Except maybe Franco. “They’ve got some information on Faison.”

“Well,” Drew said. “Maybe something is finally going to shake loose.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Jason said. “And you’re right. Maybe it’s time we make it happen.”

Greystone Manor: Master Bedroom

Carly stepped out of her dressing room, her dark eyes lit with fury. “Any other instructions you want to give me, master?” she asked Sonny scornfully.

Sonny sighed and sat at the end of the bed, removing his shoes, then pulling off his trouser socks with his toes. “Carly, don’t act like I’m coming at you with this out of nowhere. We’re having a Christmas Eve party, and you have several people in your life right now that are irritated with you.”

“You think I don’t know? Jason’s not returning my calls, and Michael isn’t stopping by my office nearly as much—“ Carly folded her arms and stared at the fireplace in their room. “You know, it’s not like I meant to have a fight with her,” she muttered.

Sonny lifted his brows, twisted to look at her—but Carly’s back remained to him. It was the first time she’d seemed willing to talk about that terrible afternoon at Elizabeth’s. “Then what happened?”

“I went over there,” Carly said slowly, her shoulders tense, “to ask if maybe she could—I don’t know—suggest to Jason that I could come with them to look for a garage. Or maybe help me talk to him about decorating the house. I don’t know, just—just to see if maybe I could be involved.” She turned to him, her eyes watering. “Do you know how humiliating it was? To think that the only way my best friend would let me help him with this would be if Elizabeth made it seem like her idea?”

“I actually do get how that must have felt,” Sonny admitted, getting to his feet.  “What went wrong?”

“It was—it was okay at first. We were talking about Christmas, and the boys. We could always talk about the kids—“ Carly swiped a thumb under her eye. “And about believing in Santa—but then Jason texted her. And she told me all about it—how Jason always picks up Jake and now he was thinking about picking up Aiden—and I was just—“ Carly fisted her hands at her side. “She was rubbing it in my face, Sonny—“

“Rubbing what—“

“That Jason is part of her life, her routine. Not mine. He’s not ours anymore—“

“He was never ours,” Sonny said slowly, “but there were definitely times when we did not respect that fact. Carly—“

“And it just—it got worse from there, because she started to remind me that she’s not the reason Jason doesn’t want me—and I don’t care about any of that, Sonny. I don’t know why she keeps bringing it up—“

Sonny sighed. “Carly—“

“I just wanted her to stop talking, to stop saying these things—“ Things Carly probably knew was true, Sonny admitted to himself. “So I—I made her shut up. And Joss—“ Carly squeezed her eyes shut. “Joss saw me. Her boys saw me. And Jason—God, Jason heard me, and he was so angry because I’d hurt the boys, Elizabeth—and him. I know that now, because I think he heard me talk about his leaving Jake—I never meant that—“

“No, but when you’re angry and hurt, Carly, you get vicious.” Sonny stared at her. “And sometimes you don’t care who’s in the path of your rage. I know that about you, because I’m the same.”

“Yeah, well, Jason’s never going to forgive me for letting Jake overhear that—“

“Jake is young and resilient. He knows Jason loves him. And Jason will largely forgive you if you do what I’m suggesting.”

Carly wrinkled her nose. “She won’t come. Neither of them will—“

“Nelle will come for Michael,” Sonny said, “and it’s time for both us to let go of what happened last year. We both know that angry young women sometimes lash out in vicious ways, and that doesn’t have to make them bad forever—“

“But—“

“And Elizabeth will come for Jason. Because whether you like it or not, she loves him. And she values the friendship her boys have with Joss and Michael. They’re our family, Carly. Even if Jason didn’t pick them—they would still be ours because of Joss and Michael. We’ve buried too many to turn away the ones that matter.”

Carly exhaled slowly. “I can probably get away with never making nice with Nelle as long I as I try not to attack her in public, but I think that twenty years of trying really hard to shove Elizabeth out of Jason’s life with no luck probably means I should find a way to be okay with her.”

“That wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.” Sonny embraced his wife, hoping that she meant it this time. But that was always the trouble with Carly—she’d swear to turn over a new leaf, and sometimes she’d manage it.

But there was always another disaster around the corner.

Elm Street Pier

“Hey.” Elizabeth smiled brightly as she jogged down the steps to meet Jason at the usual bench. “I’m sorry I’m late, I got held up at the hospital, and then Cameron called with an emergency—not an actual emergency—” she added when Jason frowned, “—but a dating one. Emma’s coming in for Christmas. He thinks she’s okay with him and Trina, but now he’s getting second thoughts. Emma and Trina were best friends in middle school.”

Jason squinted at her. “And that’s an emergency?”

“He and Emma started dating in the fifth grade,” Elizabeth reminded him. “They only broke up because she moved, and Trina was Emma’s best friend. Listen, you don’t remember being a teenager, so lucky you, but this could go very badly.” She made a face. “But it’s over now, so you said you wanted to ask me something before we took a ride?”

“Yeah—” Jason told her about his mother’s murder, the connection Drew was hoping to make, and Scott’s involvement. “Scott won’t talk to Drew and Curtis,” he said.

“And he really won’t talk to you,” Elizabeth said. “He might—” She nodded. “He’ll probably talk to me. I have to sign that new will anyway, so I’ve got a reason. Wow,” she said, as they walked to the other end of the pier that bordered the parking lot where he’d left the bike. “It would be wild if your mother’s murder was connected to all of us. Do you think she found out Drew was alive?”

“Maybe,” Jason admitted. He sat on the bike for a long moment. “I was wondering what it would have been like for us to grow up together,” he said. “I don’t remember before the accident—”

“But how would Drew have changed life after it?” Elizabeth prompted, and he nodded. “You never used to think about what ifs.”

“You mean when I only had three years of living memory?” Jason said blandly. “I realized the more I could remember, the more regrets I had. Even if the decisions I made—if I thought they were right when I made them—it doesn’t mean I don’t think about it later and wish I’d done something differently.”

“Well, speaking as someone who makes a lot of mistakes,” Elizabeth said, taking the helmet he handed her, “regrets aren’t so bad. It’s letting them stop you from moving forward that’s the problem. I couldn’t let go of a lot things for a long time. I’m trying to get better.”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about making a few changes. Drew reminded me today,” Jason said, “that I didn’t used to sit back and wait for things to happen.” He climbed onto the bike, and started the engine. Elizabeth slid on the back, wrapped her arms around his waist. “By the way, Luke and Lucky are flying in tomorrow.”

“Oh, great,” Elizabeth muttered. “I like Port Charles better without them.”

“Me, too.” Then Jason kicked up the stand, and the bike peeled out of the parking lot, Elizabeth’s squeals echoing in the air behind them.

Wyndemere: Study

Valentin curled his hand around the edge of his desk with a growl, then surged to his feet. “What do you mean he was moved tonight?”

“Just what I said,” his contact said smoothly. “The transfer was held up for a few weeks, but the WSB took custody of Maddox.”

Valentin turned away from the desk to glare out the window, over the gardens on the back of Spoon Island. “Why? Why now?”

“Well, it might have something to do with Anna Devane visiting him in jail. I think the good doctor finally gave up something. I have to go—they’re watching everyone.”

Valentin hissed, pressing his cell phone to his lips as he contemplated this turn of events. Andre knew too much, and Valentin should have disposed of him long ago. But he had been convinced the doctor knew where Helena’s files were hidden—the last obstacle to Valentin’s unquestioned power—

Had he told Anna what Valentin was looking for?

He looked down at his phone, and pulled up his contacts. It was time to make sure he kept a closer eye on Anna Devane.

I guess it’s gonna break me down
Like fallin’ when I’m try to fly
It’s sad but sometimes
Moving on with the rest of your life
Starts with goodbye
I guess I’m gonna have to cry
And let go of some things I’ve loved
To get to the other side
– Starts with Goodbye, Carrie Underwood

---

October 2015

Cassadine Estate: Labs

Andre scrubbed his hands over his face, trying to focus on the research, on the work in front of him, but he simply couldn’t. He had been supposed to leave for Port Charles a few weeks earlier, but Helena had fallen ill and Nikolas had put a hold on everything.

Andre suspected that if Helena actually died this time, that Nikolas might cancel everything and send Andre on his way without bothering with Jason Morgan’s memories. Nikolas liked things the way the were. Not that it would change anything for Andre. Helena had plans for her death, and there was always Valentin Cassadine lurking in the background.

The Cassadine had left the island after his argument with Helena and no one had mentioned him again—but he and Andre knew the truth.

They knew that Jake Doe was really Drew Cain, and that Jason Morgan was still in a coma wherever Valentin had stashed him.

“My nephew really must work on security.”

Andre closed his eyes as he heard Valentin. He turned to find the man in question in the doorway of the room. “I was wondering when I’d hear from you.”

“Since my mother’s demise is imminent—or so she’d have us believe—I think it’s time we discuss how we’re going to bring this to a close.” Valentin leaned against the edge of the lab table. “What did my mother want you to do in Port Charles?”

“She’s arranged a staff position at General Hospital,” Andre said slowly. “She’s going to have the lab on Spoon Island ready. We’ll take custody of Jake Doe and implant Morgan’s memories. Helena assumes that will cure the amnesia.”

“Will it?” Valentin asked curiously.

“I won’t know until I’ve mapped the brain. It’s possible there just needs to be some tweaks. According to Helena, Jake Doe has grown close to Elizabeth Webber and her sons. That makes sense since the memories I put into Drew Cain were stronger for them. It’s what Victor and Helena wanted.” Andre grimaced. “I imagine she wanted to make sure Jason Morgan had reunited with Elizabeth so that she could destroy her at the peak of her happiness.”

“There’s a beauty to it,” Valentin admitted. “But I have no grudge towards this Elizabeth woman. In fact, I find myself oddly grateful to her since she’s tormented my mother for so long. What about Chimera?”

Andre sighed. “Helena is going to fake her death soon,” he told Valentin. “She knows that you’re on the war path and Nikolas is starting to disappoint her—”

“I warned her,” Valentin muttered, “but she refuses to believe he has a conscience. He’ll only go so far before he starts to pull back. I thought she was actually ill—”

“She is.” Andre shifted. “But she’s…prepared for the end.”

Valentin narrowed his eyes. “Prepared because she has you. You’ve mapped her memories?”

“Yes. She has someone selected to take on her memories. I’m to remove the woman’s original memories and replace them so that there’s no overlap.” Andre shifted. “She’ll go sleep as one woman and wake up as another. And no, I don’t know who. She’s keeping that close.”

“I’ll look into that.” Valentin furrowed his brow. “And this new Helena—she’ll trigger Chimera?”

“The Nurse’s Ball next spring,” Andre said. “Helena has set up something that will trigger Jake Webber to release the biotoxin. I imagine she has a plan to make sure the targets are together.”

“This all hinges on you following Mother’s plan to transfer her memories into this new woman—”

“She’s not entirely convinced of me,” Andre admitted. “Not that I’ve done anything to be disloyal—”

“But she’s sensed you have same fatal flaw as her dear grandson. You have a conscience and it’s starting to weigh on you. Tell me, when you planted the suggestion into Jake’s memories—when you wiped these last years clean—” Valentin tipped his head. “Will it work as Mother wanted?”

“Yes. But—”

“But what?”

“But there’s a failsafe built in. Jake talked about his mother so much. He didn’t have a clear memory of her—but he knew she loved him.  So I—I put the suggestion in there. Elizabeth—she can stop it. He’ll want to please her. He’ll want to make her happy.”

“You gave Elizabeth Webber the power to stop my mother’s final revenge against her and the Spencers?” Valentin ginned, his eyes sparkling. “That is absolutely incredible.”

Andre looked away, towards the paperwork on his desk. “He’s a sweet kid who didn’t deserve any of this. You have a daughter Helena is using against you.” Valentin’s lips thinned.  “Would you want Charlotte in the position Jake Webber is in?”

“No.”

“You know your mother’s plans. Do you plan to change them?”

“You mean, do I intend to stop her from replicating herself?” Valentin sneered. “Of course. You said she’s not sure of you?”

“She apparently has a backup plan if I fail to complete the procedure by a certain time. I don’t know more than that.”

“Of course not. I’ll take care of it. Once she’s gone, I’ll keep her from coming back, so Chimera won’t be triggered. Then I can finally get what I want—”

“Valentin—” Andre called as the man started for the door. “Helena has more than one back up plan. If she dies before we can find them all—this will never be over.”

Monday, December 11, 2017

Penthouse: Living Room

Drew stared at his cell phone, at the email he’d just opened, and took a deep breath. He looked up at Sam as she finished a cup of coffee and closed the door behind their nanny, who was taking Danny to school. “It’s, uh, a notification from the court.”

Sam frowned, looked at him with a furrowed brow. “From the court?”

“Kim signed divorce papers. We’re, uh, on the docket to finalize it after the holidays,” Drew said. “And there’s a second one—our divorce is going to be heard same day.”

“The judge is going to be a bit confused,” Sam said, with lifted brows. “Are you worried you’ll be arrested for bigamy?” She set the coffee mug on the coffee table and curled up on the sofa. “Because Mom is probably ready for it—”

“It’s just strange to see the names in print,” Drew admitted. He slid his phone into his pocket. “Uh, when do you think your divorce will be heard?”

“Um…” Sam pursed her lips, picked at the seam of the sofa. “Probably not for a little bit longer. I didn’t…I haven’t sent Jason the papers yet.”

“You didn’t—” Drew absorbed that news, refusing to let all the possibilities swirl around his head. She had to have a good reason. “Why not?”

“Well, Mom and I were arguing about some of the things I wanted, and then you went and signed another contract with Jason, so she has to redo the financial stuff.” Sam shrugged. “I didn’t know there was a hurry—”

“You wanted me to divorce Kim ASAP,” Drew argued. “You brought your mother over to draw up the papers—”

“That’s different—”

“How?”

“You don’t remember Kim. It’s not a big deal to divorce her,” Sam reminded him. “It’s not like it bothers you. And she’s not Oscar’s mother, so you don’t even have to really deal with custody or finances. It’s more complicated with me.”

“Not if you just do the same thing I did which was to make custody to be dealt with later,” Drew retorted. “Did Alexis finish the changes? It’s been almost two weeks since I filed the contract. In fact, I bought the shares last week. Aurora is officially mine—”

“Half yours.”

“I thought we agreed not to argue about this anymore,” Drew muttered as he went over to the dining table to start gathering his papers. “You’re never going to understand what it means to me to do this on my own—”

“And what does that mean?”

“It means—” Drew shoved the papers into his briefcase. “It means nothing.”

“No—say it.” Sam stepped in front of him, stopping him as he went towards the closet.  “We both know what you’re thinking. I don’t know what it means because the only reason I have anything is because of Jason.”

“I didn’t—”

“The money I lived on for five years, this penthouse—it’s all Jason’s, right? And before then, the only money I ever had was what I conned out of people.” Sam folded her arms, glared at him. “I’m nothing but a gold-digging tramp, right?”

“I didn’t say that, Sam.”

“You’re not saying anything else—”

“You were the one that wanted to clear the legal decks,” Drew cut in, yanking his coat out of the closet. “You wanted the divorce. I want to see your divorce papers, Sam—”

“What—I told you, it’s none of your business—”

“It is my business. Because right now, you’re married to another man, and you’re swearing you’re going to file for divorce. I bet you know exactly how stupid I would be to swallow that line again.”

Tears stung her eyes, and he could see that his jab  had landed exactly as he’d wanted it to. “Because I lured married men away from their wives. Is that it? You don’t trust me not to get a divorce?”

“It’s been six weeks since Jason came back,” Drew said quietly. “You decided that first night that you believed me, even if we both know you didn’t. You decided to stay with me. To fight for our family and the life we’d planned together. I bought into it, Sam. I listened. I asked Kim for a divorce five minutes after she found out I was alive so we could be together, free and clear.” He lifted his brows. “What have you been doing?”

Sam exhaled slowly. “I’ll call my mother. I’ll get it done.”

“I want to see what you file,” Drew said to her. “I don’t want you asking for anything related to Aurora.”

“You really don’t trust me, do you?”

Just a few months ago, he might have said he trusted Sam more than anyone else in his life—but as he looked at the woman standing across from him, her expression a mixture of resentment and bitterness. He might not be Jason Morgan, but he still had those memories—

And he knew exactly what Sam was capable of when she was angry—when she felt righteous and justified.

“I want to see the papers, Sam,” he repeated. “I have to go to work.”

Webber House: Living Room

Elizabeth had the day off from work so that she could wrap all the gifts she’d been stashing at Laura’s for the last two months. At least one of her sons would be coming home in about twenty minutes, and Elizabeth thought it might be the one who still believed in Santa—

So it was really important he didn’t see any of his presents tagged from the man himself which was why Elizabeth was not in the best mood when she yanked open her front door at just before four that afternoon. “What?” She paused, seeing Carly on her doorstep. “Oh. Uh, hey.”

“Nice greeting,” Carly said caustically as she followed Elizabeth inside, then took in the wrapping paper and boxes. Elizabeth started cleaning up and went to the closet with a crawlspace that had a lock. “I guess this is a bad time.”

“I just need to hide these before Aiden comes home. Cam usually walks him from the bus stop.” Elizabeth wrinkled her nose as Carly handed her a pile. “Thanks. He’s the only one who believes, and I think this is probably the last year.”

“It’s amazing you got him to eight,” Carly admitted. “I think Michael was six—and he accidentally told Joss when she was five.” She looked away, down at the box with the reindeer wrapping paper. “Morgan was seven.”

“I know. Cam was also five—he and Joss were in on that one together,” Elizabeth reminded her as she stashed the last of the presents. “Jake—” She hesitated. “He was four. Helena told him that first year she kidnapped him.”

“Oh. Well, that’s—” Carly pressed her lips together. “It’s good that you’re trying to hold on to it for Aiden. They grow up too fast.”

“That’s for sure. Was there—” Elizabeth scratched her temple. “Was there something you needed? Is everything okay with Joss?”

“Oh, yeah. Great. I mean, she and Cam haven’t been arrested for anything, so I guess things are good.” Carly crossed her arms. “Jason told us last night that he went looking for garages over the weekend. With you.”

“Yeah, we didn’t find anything that was right—but we’re going to keep looking,” Elizabeth added, distracted by her phone lighting up with a text from Jason. “He couldn’t have told me this ten minutes ago?” she muttered to herself. “Jason,” she said to Carly, absently. “He picks Jake up from the middle school because the buses are always late. He knows I was wrapping today and offered to get Aiden so I’d have more time.”

“Jason…” Carly stared at her. “He picks up Jake every day?”

“Uh, mostly. He started doing it after Thanksgiving,” Elizabeth said, focusing on Carly, remember who she was talking to so casually. “I thought it was a good way for him and Jake to get more one-on-one time together.”

“I thought—I mean he’s always over here. Doesn’t he spend a lot of time with him already?”

Elizabeth forced her expression to remain neutral. “Yes,” she said slowly. “But it’s always with Cam and Aiden. That’s great because they’re important to Jake, but Jason’s missed so much time. Even before the accident. It’s a good thing, Carly, isn’t it? For Jason to be so involved with his son?”

“It is,” Carly said. “Which is why he needs to finish a room at the house for Jake so he can stop always coming here,” she added. “Maybe you can let Jake live him. To make up for all that lost time—”

“I—” Elizabeth shook her head slightly. “I don’t know. I mean, Jason and I haven’t talked about that yet—”

“No, of course not. Because this suits you just fine,” Carly drawled. “Forcing Jason to come to you. You shoved Franco out the door and now you’ve got another man just waiting to take up the slack—”

“Okay, so it’s time for you to leave—” Elizabeth started past Carly, but the blonde’s hand snaked out to grab her arm, whirling her back. “Carly—”

“You think I’m stupid? You think I don’t see exactly what you’re doing? What you’ve always done?” Carly demanded. “You’re using your kids to get to Jason. You know exactly how to play him, don’t you? Isn’t that how this all started? You knew he missed Michael. You used that—”

“And why did he miss Michael?” Elizabeth shot back. “Why did I find him bleeding and dying in the snow? You’re still fighting the same battles we did back then.” She stepped towards Carly. “You can’t stand that you can’t get rid of me. You’ve been trying for decades, Carly—”

“You’re the pathetic one,” Carly retorted. “Using Jason’s love for children, his weakness for damsels in distress—”

“Oh my God—I cannot believe I am standing here, almost twenty years later, and you are still screaming the same things!” Elizabeth threw up her hands. “Carly, you lost. You lost a long time ago, and I didn’t have a damn thing to do with it. Jason hasn’t wanted you since the second you crawled into Sonny’s bed—”

“I don’t want Jason—”

“No? You’re doing a strange impression then of someone who still carries a grudge. You couldn’t stand that Jason was letting me help him. Isn’t that why you’re here? You’re pissed because Jason is letting me help him, and not you?”

Carly seethed. “I just wanted to warn you that I’m not going to let you hurt him again—”

“Who is trying to hurt him?” Elizabeth demanded. “What is your damage, Carly? I mean, seriously—”

“Stop it with the sweet, innocent angel act,” Carly spat. “No one buys it—”

“I told you a long time ago — I am nobody’s angel. And you are not going to get rid of me.”

“I won’t have to,” Carly growled. “Because sooner or later, Jason will walk away from you. He always does, Elizabeth. You don’t make him happy. You never could. He walked away from you. From your kids, and even his own son! No one stays, Elizabeth! Why do you think you’re alone? You always end up alone!”

Elizabeth’s eyes burned as Carly’s venom washed over her. She wanted to open her mouth, to respond, but she couldn’t.  A tear slid down her cheek, and Carly’s eyes grew positively wild with glee.

“You’re not worthy of Jason. You never were. No one will ever love you—”

“Mother!”

“Carly!”

The horrified, strangled cry came from the doorway. Both women spun around to find the door had opened at some point, with Cameron and Joss standing there. Joss’s cheeks were flushed with humiliation, her eyes damp, while Cameron’s were bright with fury—

But not nearly as furious as the man standing behind them, Jake and Aiden at his side. It was Jason’s angry voice that had called Carly’s name.

Carly stared at the group, at her daughter, then at her best friend, swallowing hard. “Jason—”

“Outside,” Jason said flatly. “Now.”

Carly opened her mouth, but then closed it, hurrying past the children. Jason gestured for Jake and Aiden to go inside, then closed the door behind him.

Webber House: Street

Jason had never been so furious in his entire life—not even after the accident when he had lived, breathed, and slept angry. Nothing could match the rage boiling in his veins, the heat rising in his limbs, into chest, choking him—

He’d walked up to that house, into the door, surrounded by Elizabeth’s boys—standing with his son only to hear his self-proclaimed best friend proclaim that Jason walked away from Jake because Elizabeth had made him unhappy—

He stalked down the sidewalk until they were nearly at the street, trying to find the words to make her understand this could never, ever happen again. He heard Carly hurrying behind him, her heels clicking against the cement.

“I know I messed up, I just need you to listen—”

“Shut up,” Jason ground up, whirling around so suddenly, Carly stumbled to a stop. She blinked at him, tears streaming down her face. “I’m not listening to another word from your goddamn mouth.”

That mouth fell open as her eyes bulged. “Jason—”

“I asked Elizabeth to marry me the day Michael was shot in the head,” he bit out. “I was going to be with her. With my son. With Cameron. I told you years ago that was all I wanted. But after what happened to Michael—I never wanted to watch her cry over our boys—for her to break the way you did.”

Carly swallowed hard. “I—”

“I walked away from them so that they would be safe, Carly. Because I loved them too much!”

“Please, just let me—”

“There is nothing Elizabeth could ever do that would make me walk away from her or my son.”

“I know that—I didn’t even mean it—”

“You think that makes this better?” Jason retorted. “I know you didn’t mean it. You just wanted to hurt her. You wanted to hurt her bad enough so that she pushes me away. Because you can’t stand that I don’t need you.”

“Jason—”

“I don’t need you,” he repeated flatly. “I never needed you. You have done nothing but make my life harder.”

“That is—” Carly took a deep, ragged breath. “Okay. Okay. I know that’s true. But I just—”

“Get in your car, go back to the hotel, and don’t ever come near Elizabeth or her kids again. If you do, we are done.”

Carly stared at him for a beat, then closed her eyes. “I never meant to hurt Jake. Or the boys. I love them. You know—”

“You have to stop this, Carly. You have to stop. Michael is already close to cutting you off. Morgan is gone. And your daughter just watched you tear into Cameron’s mother. Is this what you want? Do you want to push us all out?”

“No!”

“Then why can’t you stop?”

“I don’t know!” she exploded. “I don’t know why I can’t just accept that Elizabeth is making you happy! Why I have to push and push and push until you shove me out the window—I don’t know! I can’t stop! Don’t you think I would if I could—”

“You need to figure it out, Carly. Because I can’t do this anymore. I can’t fix my life and keep fixing yours. I’m tired. Jake comes first. And because he does, so do his brothers. And their mother. They’re my family just as much as you and Sonny are. Why does that threaten you?”

“I don’t know,” Carly repeated, closing her eyes. She dug the heel of her hands into her eyes. “I don’t know.”

“Get in the car, Carly. And go back to the hotel.”

“Okay. I’ll—I’ll do that.” Carly started towards the street where her car was parked, then noticed Jason was heading for his car. “Are you—you’re leaving?”

“I’m going to follow you,” he retorted. “Because I don’t trust you.” He didn’t care that her lip trembled, that her eyes were puffy and red.

All he could see was Elizabeth’s face when he walked in, the pain in her eyes as Carly said all the words that he knew Elizabeth believed about herself.

Webber House: Living Room

“Mom—”

“Cameron, it’s fine,” Elizabeth said, taking a deep breath. “It’s Carly. I’m sorry, Joss,” she added as the blonde’s lips trembled. “Get your coats off. I think there’s snacks in the kitchen. Please—” she said softly to Cameron as he came towards her. “I just need a minute, okay, baby?”

“All right,” Cameron said, nodding slowly. He put a hand on his youngest brother’s shoulder. “Aiden, we got any cookies left? You were baking all weekend.”

“Sure.”

“Miss Webber,” Joss said, swiping her hand under nose. “I’m so sorry—”

“Don’t you dare apologize to me,” Elizabeth told Carly’s daughter. She glanced out the window to find Carly and Jason arguing. She got into her car, and then Jason got into his SUV. She exhaled slowly. “This has nothing to do with you. It never has. You’re Cam’s best friend. You’re always welcome here.”

“That doesn’t make it easier,” Joss muttered, but went into the kitchen as Elizabeth’s phone flashed on the table.

Grateful for the distraction, Elizabeth went over to the table to pick it up, sighing when she saw Jason’s text.

Following her back to the hotel to make sure she goes. Back later.

Then a second later,

I’m sorry.

“Story of my life,” Elizabeth said with a sigh, slipping the phone into her back pocket and going to join the kids in the kitchen.

Aurora Media: Drew’s Office

“Hey, man.” Curtis greeted Drew with a slap of the hand before dumping a folder out on the conference table. “How’s it going?”

“It’s going,” Drew said blandly as they sat down. “How’s Jordan?”

“Trying to decide if she wants to keep putting up with Aunt Stella,” Curtis said with a wince. “She, uh, made a scene at Thanksgiving, and she got into another fight with Jordan. I tried to talk to my aunt—” He shrugged. “What’re you gonna do?  But the good news is I finally the Moore murder book out of the PCPD archives.”

Drew’s interest engaged at the mention of his biological mother’s death. “Yeah? Anything interesting?”

“Well, a lot of suspects, for one. Robert—he was the commissioner at that point—had his hands full.” Curtis opened his notebook. “Alan, Monica, Edward, and Lila were all suspects—”

“Lila,” Drew repeated. “Really?”

“Hey, you don’t stay married to Edward Quartermaine for that long without getting a bit ruthless. Uh, it also looks like Heather and Scott were suspects, too. It ended up being Crane Tolliver—Lila’s first husband.”

“Heather was a suspect?” Drew asked. “Why?”

“Yeah, Heather was mostly suspected because of her relationship to Scott—and she was seen near the house,” Curtis added. He squinted at his handwriting. “It looks like Susan wanted to blackmail the Qs over Lila and Crane’s divorce papers—and Crane shot her.”

“To stop her from blackmailing the Quartermaines because Lila’s divorce wasn’t signed,” Drew said. He frowned. “How’d they get him?”

“Robert caught him trying to kill Heather, and apparently confessed in the hearing of other officers.” Curtis pulled out some more paperwork. “Seems pretty cut and dry, but Robert still had questions. Tolliver claimed Susan was going to renege on blackmailing the Qs, but Susan had invited them and a reporter over that night. What was his evidence for her pulling out of the plan? And giving what we know now, it seems strange that Susan was gearing up to blackmail the Quartermaines over the bigamy. Why would she do that if she knew about you? You would get her another million dollar trust fund without lifting a finger.”

“She clearly knew about me long enough to name me. And—” Drew paused. “When did she die?” He frowned at the date, then took a deep breath. “Wait—”

“Yeah. I saw that, too.” Curtis pushed some other paperwork through. “Up until then, you’d been with Betsy Frank and no one knew anything about you. But a month later, you’re found in Poughkeepsie with a surrender form and a false birth certificate. Makes me wonder if someone other than Susan knew you existed and wanted to make sure no one else could find you.”

Greystone Manor: Kitchen

Sonny set a plate of food down in front of his daughter who looked down the collection of green vegetables, brown potatoes, and roasted chicken. She delicately pushed it away and flashed him a dimpled smile. “No thank you.”

“Avery—”

“That is green.” Avery narrowed her eyes. “I don’t eat green food.”

“Green food is good for you.”

“And that—that is brown. I don’t eat brown food—”

“Ha!” Sure that this time, he’d won a round with the kid, Sonny grinned. “You eat chocolate. That’s brown—”

Avery’s brows drew together as she contemplated this twist of fate, then brightened. “Chocolate isn’t food.”

“It’s not?”

“No. It’s candy. You always tell Mama Carly that.”

Sonny opened his mouth, then closed it. He had absolutely no defense for that. “Fair point.” He took out his wallet and was setting down a five dollar bill when Michael strolled into the kitchen.

“Already bribing her?” Michael said. “She’s four.”

“Yeah, well, I’m trying to get her to five with her teeth intact,” Sonny muttered and got to his feet as Avery dug happily into her dinner. “What brings you by?”

“Uh—” Michael craned his head and Sonny followed him over to the counter, slightly out of earshot of Avery. “I got a text from Joss. She went over to Cam’s after school, and apparently walked in on Mom screaming at Elizabeth.”

Sonny closed his eyes, leaned back against the kitchen island, gripping it with his hands. “Oh, man, what about?”

“Well, Mom and Elizabeth were so distracted by the screaming they didn’t know how long Cam and Joss were standing there, so Joss says it was something about Jason always leaving Elizabeth, abandoning his son because he can’t stand her, and Jason walked in with the other boys just as Mom told Elizabeth no one would ever love her and that she never deserved Jason.”

“Oh, good, so the greatest hits.” Sonny grimaced and turned around, frowning as Avery beamed at him but somehow, half the brussel sprouts were gone. “Did she move?”

“No.”

“We don’t have a dog.” Perturbed, Sonny turned back to Michael. “Well, Carly’s not here. She told me she was working late—”

“Because Jason ordered her outside, yelled at her some more, and they both left. Joss doesn’t know anything else, but I’m guess Mom went back to the hotel to lick her wounds.” Michael paused. “I came over because we need to do something. Mom is out of control.”

“I don’t know about that—”

“She went after Nelle in the Metro Court a few weeks ago—which, fine, happens all the time. But not normally in front of other customers,” Michael added. “She did it during the lunch rush. Not to mention the scene with Jason, Ava, and Monica last month. Then this crap with Elizabeth.”

“When you put it like that—” Sonny tipped his head. “Yeah, I guess she’s been worse than usual. But, you know, it’s been a tough couple of weeks. We hit the one year anniversary in October, and with all this Jason and Drew stuff, your mom isn’t bouncing back—”

“Exactly,” Michael said. “Look, I’ve been giving Mom space since everything that happened. But this isn’t okay.” He paused, searching for the right words. “She used to be able to hold it together better than this. This reminds me of when I was a kid. I mean, she’s always hated Elizabeth, but Joss was really upset—”

“I’m sorry Joss had to see it.”  Sonny rubbed his chin. “Look, your mom is just…she’s hurt. It’s already been a rough year, and it’s not helping that Jason isn’t really leaning on her much. He’s really been talking to Elizabeth more than either one of us.”

“Why does it matter?” Michael asked. “As long as he’s talking to someone—”

“It matters,” Sonny said with a bit of bite to his tone, “because that’s pretty much why Carly hates Elizabeth. Look, it’s complicated and it goes back a long time—”

“My entire life, Mom has hated Elizabeth. Except for the few years when we thought Jake’s kidney had saved Joss’s life. I really thought—I thought she’d gotten over it. But this is messing with Joss. And it’s screwing up things for Jason—”

“I’ll talk to Joss—”

“I can take care of her, but it has to stop. Cameron is her best friend, and Elizabeth is Jake’s mother. They’re part of my family, too.  Mom can’t be doing this anymore. Whatever she has against Elizabeth, she just has to get over it. Because I can swallow the crap she throws at Nelle—it’s mostly deserved—but Jason and Elizabeth—the boys—it’s not okay.”

“What do you want me to do, Michael? If I could get your mother to behave herself—”

“I don’t—it’s not about behaving herself. It’s about finding out what’s wrong with her and fixing it. Plenty of people have grudges and resentments. They don’t all scream it out like maniacs in public.” Michael sighed. “I just thought I’d clue you in because I don’t know if Mom or Jason would tell you, and someone has to get her to listen to common sense.”

Devane Manor: Living Room

“This is unacceptable,” Anna snapped.

Robert shrugged as he sauntered towards her mini bar and poured himself a shot of whiskey. “Well, darling, you had to know it was a long shot, and that Andre might call our bluff.”

She whirled around, her eyes flashing. “Is this a joke to you?”

“No.” Robert’s eyes lost some of the humor as he set the shot glass down. “No. It’s bloody serious, Anna. Not only has all of this seriously damaged the reputation of the WSB and the morale of agents like you and me, but it’s looking increasingly like our own damned agency was involved in what to our daughter.”

Anna sighed, pressing her lips together. “Well, at the very least, behind the funding of it.” She folded her arms and walked over to the large picture window that looked over her front yard. “Andre doesn’t believe Frisco’s changed his mind about moving him to the lab.”

“Which, fair point, Frisco hasn’t. He wants Andre back under our control. He only agreed to lend him out to the PCPD—”

“Jordan suggested getting the DA to file charges against Andre here, but Frisco would just make some calls. They’d be dropped before Andre could even be arraigned.” She exhaled slowly. “I can’t stand the thought he might to get away with this, Robert. Once he’s in that bloody lab, he won’t have any reason to worry about any of this, and you know Frisco is more concerned with the internal problems Andre could help him with.”

“We’ll have to go this alone.”

“I promised Drew and Jason that we’d help them get to the bottom of this. I know you don’t care for Jason Morgan—”

“Not liking the man’s employment history is far cry from wanting his life to be stolen from him,” Robert cut in. “But Anna, there’s nothing we can do about this. Frisco has made it clear. We have until December 20 to make Andre talk to us. After that, he’s disappearing into the bowels of the WSB and we’ll never get access again.”

“The nerve—after everything we did for Frisco,” Anna muttered. “We brought him into the bloody agency. We wrote him recommendations!” She pursed her lips. “December 20. All right. If Frisco is giving us that long, then we can still find a way to convince Andre we’re serious about pulling his deal.”

“Oh?” Robert lifted one brow. “What do you have in mind, my dear?”

“I know Frisco could make any changes the DA files disappear,” Anna said slowly, “but perhaps we can ask him to hold off on that as well. If he can just give us time—if Andre believes he may go to jail here, in the States, then he might get nervous enough to prove his worth.”

“Well, you know me, I’ll try anything once.”

Webber House: Living Room

Jason purposely waited to come back to Elizabeth’s house after he knew the boys would be upstairs for the night. He really didn’t want to have this conversation with them listening in—it was bad enough they’d had to see the end of that terrible scene with Carly.

“Hey.” Elizabeth closed the door behind him. “You missed Jake—”

“I know. I meant to.” He waited until she turned to face him. “I’m sorry—”

“You don’t have to apologize for Carly—”

“I do,” Jason said with a nod. “Because I know she’s been doing this for a long time—” Elizabeth looked away. “And it’s my fault it’s happening now.”

“I can handle Carly,” Elizabeth assured him, but she didn’t look at him as she walked past him, over towards the sofa to move some magazines around.

“I know you can. But that doesn’t mean I like it or that you should have to,” he told her. He set his jacket over the railing by the door and sat next to her on the sofa. “She’s just—she’s angry. I’m trying to make something of my life now. Something that works for me and for Jake.” He paused, wanting to say more but unsure how. “And Carly wants me to do it her way.”

“Nothing new there. She’s never liked it when I’m the one helping you.” Elizabeth bit her lip and finally met his eyes. “Look, it’s not like I believe her or anything. I don’t even know how long you were standing there—”

“Long enough to hear her accuse me of walking out on Jake because I didn’t want to be with you,” Jason said tightly and Elizabeth closed her eyes. “That’s not what happened—”

“I—I know that.” But her voice only sounded partially convinced, and that worried him.

“Elizabeth—”

“Look. That was a long time ago. A lifetime ago. Okay? We—we made choices based on the situation that existed at the time. The Russians—” Elizabeth blew out an exasperated breath. “It was a scary time. The coffee house blowing up, Jake getting kidnapped again—we were both scared, and instead of leaning on each other, you decided it was too much and I didn’t want to keep fighting the same battle.” She lifted a shoulder. “It is what it is.”

“I—”

“I could have pushed,” Elizabeth told him, flicking her eyes up to meet his. “I don’t blame you for letting go. I could have held on. You know, I used to replay that moment a thousand times, and sometimes I found different words—new ones that convinced you to stay—but it doesn’t matter.”

“It does—”

“It really doesn’t. I didn’t find the words, and you left. And yeah, you left Jake. But I know you love him. I might have doubted it sometimes,” she admitted, and his stomach twisted, “but it was mostly my own guilt. I started the lie, and you let it keep going. Maybe we were both too scared. That was then. This is now. I know you love Jake, Jason, and he’s really starting to love you. I always knew he would.”

Accepting her change of conversation, and the fact that she really didn’t want to rehash what had happened nine years ago, Jason nodded. “About Carly—”

“What else is there to say about Carly—” Elizabeth pushed herself to her feet.

“She’s never forgiven you for what happened when I got shot that December,” Jason told her, also standing. “And I know that sounds insane because you didn’t do anything to her. But Carly doesn’t blame herself. She always finds someone else to make the bad guy.”

“Well, this I know—”

“It wasn’t even really about you. It still isn’t. It’s about me. I didn’t let her help me. I stayed with you at the studio.” Jason told her. He hesitated. “You gave me a reason to keep living that night. And the days that came after.”

Elizabeth frowned at him, shook her head. “What—”

“I went to the boxcar with a gunshot wound I was bleeding out from,” Jason told her. “I knew what I was doing.”

“You were delirious with fever—”

“I’d found my best friend in bed with the woman I thought I was in love with. And I didn’t think there was really any point to getting help. I had nothing.” When she just stared at him, her eyes wide. “And then you showed up, you forced me to get up and save my own life. Carly will never understand what you did for me then. What you’ve always done for me.” He paused. “And that’s why she’s acting this way now. I told her what I should have told you.”

“What?” Elizabeth asked, nearly breathing the question rather than speaking it.

“The first time I knew I was home—that I was me again and that I could handle all of this—was the day I bought the new bike. And riding the cliff roads, fast, the wind in my face, and you screaming in my ear—I knew I was home, Elizabeth.”

You called me strong, you called me weak
But still your secrets I will keep
You took for granted all the times I never let you down
You stumbled in and bumped your head
If not for me then you’d be dead
I picked you up and put you back on solid ground
– Kryptonite, 3 Doors Down

---

August 2015

Cassadine Estate: Study

Valentin examined his perfectly polished and manicured nails as he listened to his mother gloating to Andre Maddox about how well her plan was proceeding. It was quite amusing to listen to her waxing poetic about a plan that had already failed.

“In a few months,” Helena told Maddox, “I’ll need you to go to Port Charles.” At that, the doctor straightened his shoulders.

“What? Why?”

“Chimera, my dear, only fulfills its objectives if Jason Morgan knows who he is,” Helena purred. She sank into the chair behind the desk. “It’s been amusing to watch him wander around Port Charles, discarding people like Sonny Corinthos and Samantha McCall while building new relationships with others.”

“Others,” Valentin said. He lifted a brow. “Like Elizabeth Webber?”

“That has been particularly amusing. And I didn’t even arrange for Ric Lansing to throw Hayden Barnes into the mix. That was an added bonus.” Helena’s eyes were sparkling with mischief and malice. “I thought Nikolas had sunk us when he told her the truth, but she kept it to herself! And she continues to lie even though little Jake has returned. Truly, I could not have predicted how well this has gone.”

Valentin eyed the good doctor who looked slightly sick to his stomach. Poor bastard had gotten in this to do valuable medical research and he’d been shoved into the middle of Cassadine machinations instead. Well, when you discarded your medical ethics, you got what you deserved.

“It’s lovely to see you so happy, Mother,” Valentin said, and something in his arch tone had Helena narrowing her eyes. “Have you decided how to implement Chimera to ensure Nikolas is in the room?”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Helena said slowly, and Valentin straightened, some of his own good humor fading. “He’s kept the secret to himself, even after the return of little Jake There may be hope for his Cassadine blood yet.”

Valentin scowled. “You promised me—”

“I see no point in eliminating Cassadine blood when it might still run true.” Helena lifted her brows. “I told you that you would get what you deserve, my dear Valentin.”

Valentin rose to his feet and carefully buttoned his suit jacket, gathering his thoughts and his emotions. It wouldn’t do to lose control, to lash out. No — it was time to plan his revenge. “And have you changed your mind about what I deserve?” he asked coolly.

“Nikolas may still prove disloyal. I just no longer think he should be swept up in Chimera. Be patient—”

“I have been patient for my entire life,” Valentin cut in. “I think, Mother, you are taking me for granted. You’ve forgotten who I am. What I’m capable of.”

Helena also stood, her shoulders drawn back and her chin lifted. “And from whom did you inherit that cruelty? You might have honed it to a sharp edge, but I gave you life. Cross me at your peril, Valentin.”

“I begin to think, Mother, that you’ve become unhinged in this foolish desire to have your revenge on a silly little girl who saved her boyfriend’s life. You’ve spent five years planning and plotting the end of Elizabeth Webber and her family—and why? Because of Endgame? Because she took your precious Lucky Spencer from you?”

“That girl thought she could defeat me. That she could take from me and walk away without damage.” Helena’s hand curled into a fist. “She may not be Laura’s daughter, but she’s no different. Simpering little twits who—”

“Who have bested you time and time again,” Valentin taunted. “Five years and the best you could manage was taking away the love of her life and child? So what? You’ve returned them—”

“I gave them back to her so that she could feel the pain of losing them—I wanted her to break—I wanted her to burn—” Helena seethed. “Just as Laura did—”

“And Laura got her son back,” Valentin drawled. “Yeah, you’re big and bad, Mother. You’re so scary.”

“How dare you—”

He nearly told her then—nearly tipped his hand to tell her that the plan had already failed. That Jason Morgan was currently on ice in St. Petersburg, far away from Port Charles. But he held it back.

“I told you when all of this started—when you promised me everything if I helped you,” Valentin said, “that it was your last chance. I will not be your back up plan, Mother. I will have what I deserve—”

“You deserve nothing,” Helena spat. “Only what I give you.” Her lips curled. “If you think to betray me now, you should remember that I know what you hold dearest in the world.”

A chill slithered down Valentin’s back. “What—”

“How is my dear granddaughter? My darling Charlotte?”

His blood ran cold. “Who? What are you talking about?”

“My granddaughter whom I’ve never met.” Helena arched a brow. “I know where she is, Valentin. You’ve been hiding her from me.”

“If you go near her—”

Helena walked out from behind the desk. “You’re capable of more love than I ever would have imagined. You’ve walked away from her to keep her safe from me.”

Valentin nearly trembled from rage and fear, swallowing it hard. “You’re wrong. I don’t know where Charlotte is. Where Claudette took her. I’ve been looking for her as long as you have—”

“I know you’ve allowed dear Claudette to think she’s getting away with keeping her from you, but we both know the truth.” Helena smiled. “Now what were were discussing? Oh, yes, I believe you were threatening me.”

Valentin curled his hands into fists, then stalked out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

Helena looked at Andre Maddox who had remained silent throughout the confrontation, looking as though he wished he could disappear into the chair. “Now, my dear Dr. Maddox, let us discuss your imminent departure for Port Charles.”

Monday, November 27, 2017

Pozzulo’s Restaurant: Office

Sonny leaned back in his chair. “A garage, huh?”

“I can’t sit around forever doing nothing,” Jason told Sonny. “And…” he paused. “I’ve been paying attention the last few weeks. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of room for me in the business. Not like there used to be.”

Sonny winced, then nodded. “Yeah, mostly things come up and get bad for a few weeks but, to be honest, Jase, I’ve been doing without you for five years. Even with, uh, Drew here, it wasn’t really the same. I mean, you can come back to the warehouse, run the business side of it—”

“I like working on cars and bikes,” Jason said. “And the warehouse doesn’t really take a lot of time. I can do both.” He waited. “It’s not that I want out, but I also—I think this is the best chance I’ll ever have to do that.”

“No, I agree. And you need to take every chance you can with Jake. You know, before you know it, he’ll be off to college—” Sonny squinted. “Uh, Elizabeth doesn’t have any problems with a garage? Seeing as how you went out of business the last time you had one?”

“I talked to her at Thanksgiving,” Jason said. “She reminded me that the Cassadines burned down that garage.”

“Yeah, they’ve been screwing with all of us too long,” Sonny said. He glanced up at the sharp knock at the door. “Come in.”

“Good morning, Stone Cold, Mr. Sir,” Spinelli said cheerfully as he closed the door behind him and sat down in the other chair across from Sonny’s desk. He set his messenger bag with his laptop on the ground. “Sorry I’m late, I needed to drop Georgie off with Maximista.”

“You said you had an update about the clinic?” Jason asked.

“Nothing super exciting,” Spinelli said, as he booted his computer, resting it on the edge of Sonny’s desk. “But I finally broke through some of the walls and got financial disclosures. I also got Robert Scorpio to make some calls for me to a contact in Moscow—”

“You…called Robert Scorpio?” Sonny asked, frowning. “I didn’t realize—”

“I do some freelance work for him when he’s on WSB missions,” Spinelli said absently. “I don’t really trust the WSB, but Robert’s good. Anyway, I wanted to get some intel on the clinic — how long has it been in operation, has it changed hands—it’s hard to get any information out of Russia—that didn’t change when the wall fell.”

“You were barely alive when the wall fell,” Sonny muttered.

“I watch the news,” the younger man said defensively. He looked at Jason. “This clinic has been around since the Soviet Days, back when St. Petersburg was still Leningrad. It opened in the late sixties as a front for the KGB operations until the 80s when another organization took it over.”

Jason furrowed his brow. “Was it DVX? Robin used to talk about them—her mother was a double agent.”

“DVX?” Sonny asked.  “What was that?”

“Eastern Soviet spy agency—the international arm. The KGB was mostly within the borders of Russia. DVX operated in Europe and for a time, here in Port Charles,” Spinelli explained. “Anna was a double agent for the WSB and DVX but another WSB agent went rogue and started working for the DVX—Valentin Cassadine. At the time, he was still known as Ivan Theodore.”

“That can’t be a coincidence,” Jason said. “He told Ava that it was the clinic that treated him for scoliosis — that would been around this time.”

“The clinic hasn’t done any legitimate medical work in decades, if it ever did,” Spinelli continued. “I can’t see where the funding comes from now, but Robert’s contact seemed to think that government has mostly forgotten it. The head doctor is Joseph Klein—” He stopped, tapped some keys. “Does he look familiar?”

Jason studied the photo, then nodded. “Yeah. That’s the doctor I met and treated Ava. But Klein? That doesn’t sound Russian—”

“His mother was Russian, and Dr. Klein appears to be a legitimate doctor. He was one of the spies that got scooped up back in 2010,” Spinelli said. “Do you remember that? They found a bunch of sleeper agents, mostly in the Northeast. Klein was one of them. He went back to St. Petersburg and took over the clinic a year later.”

“So we maybe have a connection to Valentin? We know it’s him. What are we looking for here?” Sonny complained. “Let’s just go confront him—”

Jason shook his head. “I thought about that,” he admitted. “But the Cassadines—death doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t end it. Because they usually have something in the works. A backup plan. Helena died in 2015, and she was still able to manipulate Jake last year. If we just get rid of Valentin now without knowing everything, there’s no telling what we could trigger.”

Sonny scowled, leaned back. “I hate this. I really do.”

“I told you it wasn’t that exciting,” Spinelli said apologetically. “But you wanted all info on the clinic. It’s good to know that it’s not usually a functioning clinic because that gives us something to think about. Leads to follow. People work there. Work gets done there. But it’s not legitimate.”

“Valentin sent Ava there,” Jason said slowly. “She was supposed to testify in the wrongful death civil suit, Michael said. But she backed out.”

“If this Klein guy was the only one who could treat her,” Sonny continued, “then why not send her to another clinic and have him meet her there? He ran the risk of putting her in the same place with you. Why would Valentin do that if he’s the bad guy behind all of this?”

General Hospital: Nurse’s Hub

“I don’t know why I bother going home,” Felix muttered as he slapped the chart down. “Every year, they find a way to make me regret it.”

Elizabeth shot him a glance. “What happened this year?”

“Oh, Taylor came home from Charlotte and brought the new baby. He’s cute,” Felix admitted, grudgingly, “but the dink she married is running around on her again, and she’s talking about coming home. Then Mama starts telling me we could use a strong hand around, and Taylor’s son needs a strong male role model, so I should think about getting married and coming home.”

Elizabeth let that hang between them. “When she says married—”

“Oh, it’s time to let go of this phase I’m in, and find a good Christian girl to settle down with.” He sighed. “They’re not as bad as some parents, but that doesn’t mean they get it.”

“I’m sorry, Felix. Nothing makes you crazier than family.” She grimaced when she saw Laura and Monica approaching the hub. “For example, guess what happened at our Thanksgiving?”

“Oh, no,” Laura sighed. “I still feel like the world’s worst grandmother. I can’t control her. I really can’t.” She looked at Monica. “I really am sorry—”

“We’re Quartermaines,” Monica said, dismissing it. “We never eat turkey.”

“How did it get ruined this year?” Felix wanted to know. “Was there a food fight?”

“I wish. At least that would mean the food got out of the kitchen.” Laura looked at Elizabeth. “How’s Aiden?”

“He’s dealing. Laura’s family got shut out of their London flight,” Elizabeth explained to Felix. “So I asked Monica to invite them to dinner with us.”

“Lulu.” Felix winced. “Oh, man. That means—”

“Her Royal Highness, Queen Charlotte,” Laura muttered. She pressed a hand to her head. “Oh, no. Now I’m doing it.”

“She made fun of Jake for watching the parade, told Cameron that he smelled like horses, and repeatedly reminded Aiden that only girls and gay boys baked.”

Felix’s eyebrows shot up. “Uh, what?”

“Except she did not,” Laura said heavily, “say the word gay. She said something else that was…very offensive. And Aiden was very angry that she was ruining his holiday with his grandmothers and decided that Charlotte needed to go home. So…”

“So he snuck into the kitchen, turned up the oven on the turkey so it would burn. No dinner, no Charlotte.”

Felix pursed his lips. “That’s, uh, one way to handle it.”

“The fire alarms went off, and in our house, that triggers the sprinkler system so all the side dishes were ruined as well. I think Cook is going to quit,” Monica said.

“I really am so sorry that Lulu isn’t doing more,” Laura told her. “She’s been irritated with me since I…well, I pulled a gun on Valentin and kind of ended any leverage Lulu had in the custody battle.”

“You pulled—” Felix did a double take at the hospital administrator. “I’m sorry. What?”

“When did this happen?” Elizabeth demanded.

“You know, I pulled a gun on Sonny once,” Monica reminisced. “I often regret not pulling the trigger. How close did you come?” she wanted to know.

“Not close enough,” Laura muttered. “But I have too many grandchildren who need me out of jail, and I was just trying to scare him.” She sighed. “I just—it hurts so much to watch Valentin walking around, ruining Charlotte with his superior attitude and that trashy wife—Rocco’s not like this. Lulu isn’t the world’s worst mother.”

“No, Charlotte always reminds me that she’d rather be with Nina and Papa,” Elizabeth said dryly. “And Lulu can’t do much, but it’d be nice if she’d do something.”

“Well, I told Lulu I’m not going anywhere with Charlotte anymore. I love my granddaughter, but not at the expense of my grandsons,” Laura said. “And I don’t know why she’s picking on your children, Elizabeth—”

“It is strange,” Monica said. “I saw her at the birthday party in July, and she didn’t say much to Spencer.”

“And she doesn’t give Joss or Trina the same attitude she gives Cam,” Elizabeth said “But that might be because she knows Joss and Trina will eat her alive.”

“I wonder,” Laura murmured, frowning at Elizabeth. “She doesn’t even attack Jake and Cam the way she goes after Aiden. She’s vicious with him. What did their teacher say at the conferences?”

“Oh, Miss Tate said she’s tried to mediate, tried to get parents involved, but it’s not working.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “I love the school—I do. Jake and Cam both did great there, but I’m thinking of taking Aiden out and putting him into the private school. I suggested it to Aiden, but he was really upset. He said he loves his teacher.” She looked at Monica. “He really is sorry about dinner. He wants to apologize—”

“I understand desperation. You tell him it’s not a problem, but maybe next year, we’ll try somewhere other than the Quartermaine mansion. It’s definitely cursed.”

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

Sam tossed her keys on the coffee table and frowned at Drew. “I thought you would have gone to Aurora by the time I got back from dropping off Danny.”

“I was waiting on some paperwork to get delivered.” Drew, at the dining room table, looked back at the contract in front of him. “I wanted to get it signed and filed as soon as possible.”

“What contract? Did you find a new CFO? I know you were interviewing.” Sam went into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with a cup of coffee. “Drew?” she prompted, when he didn’t answer. She sat at the table, curling her leg underneath her. “The contract?”

“Oh.” Drew sighed, set the the paper down. “It’s a contract with Jason,” he said finally. “I told you I was looking for ways to get Aurora back into my possession legally. On Thanksgiving, Michael signed over some ELQ dividends—an advance,” he admitted, “but that’s okay. I’m buying into Aurora. I can’t afford to buy Jason out—”

“Why would you—” Sam blinked. “I told you, I’m getting it in the divorce—”

“But then Aurora is yours. Not mine.”

Sam stared at him, setting the coffee on the table. When she spoke again, her voice was quiet. Even. “It was supposed to be ours. It was our dream. A fresh start. You don’t want that anymore?”

“You haven’t been to the office since all this happened,” Drew said. “I’ve been taking it on. And I figured—” He lifted a shoulder. “I thought maybe it was something you were agreeing to do about because you wanted me out of the business. Well, I’m not Jason. That’s not a problem, anymore. You don’t want to run the company, Sam.”

“You didn’t—You don’t know that.” Stung, she stared down into the dark liquid. “I can do it—”

“You can go back to being a private investigator. Jason and I talked about it last week—”

Her head snapped back up. “Since when do you talk to Jason?” This was not good. This was the opposite of good. If Jason and Drew actually started talking, then Jason would never be out of her life.

“We don’t, not much,” Drew said slowly. “But after he came to me about Jake, I thought he might be open to talking about Aurora. It was bought in his name with his money. That was always going need to resolving. Jason offered to sign it over—”

“Good—that’s the fair thing to do—”

“But I want to earn it. I’m using the dividends to buy a fifty percent share, and the plan is to buy Jason out in a year—maybe two—and then pay back the dividend. Maybe put it into a trust—” he added.

“This is ridiculous,” Sam said flatly. “It will take forever before we get Jason out of our lives—”

“Jason doesn’t need to be out of our lives, Sam—” Drew got to his feet, gathered the contract. “You just need to divorce him. That doesn’t change the fact that I’m still related to him—”

“So?”

“I spent over a year wanting to find my family. Wanting to find my identity. I let it go,” Drew said, slowly, “because I thought I had made a new life. I was okay with being Jake Doe, but now I have the answers I wanted back then. I know who I was. Where I came from. And I could sit here and be pissed about all the ways I’ve been hurt. All the things that won’t be the same—the crap with my memories, the loss of a career I obviously loved, a family with Kim and Oscar—”

“Drew—”

“But where does that get me?” Drew demanded. “How does that make my life any easier to keep thinking about the things I can’t change? No. It’s time to face facts. I’m not Jason Morgan, but I get to keep his family. I get to have Monica and Michael. Jake and Danny—I might not be their father, but I get to watch them grow up—”

“You are Danny’s father—”

“And I have Oscar, a great kid who’s been waiting five years for his dad to come back home. And I have you, don’t I? So why hell do I want to make things harder for Jason? He’s my brother, Sam. And he hasn’t done a damn thing to me—”

“He came back!” she shot back. Her chest heaving, tears sliding down her cheeks, Sam glared at Drew. “How can you say he hasn’t done anything to you? He came back! He ruined everything!”

“It’s only ruined if you let it be,” Drew said after a long moment, his voice subdued. “He ruined things for you. Not for me.”

“How can you—”

“Why did you stay?” Drew demanded. “After the truth came out, when you couldn’t deny it—why did you stay? I’m not Jason Morgan. So far that’s the only thing that’s changed for us. You didn’t like Jake anyway, Sam, and you keep telling me that Danny is staying mine. So what exactly has Jason ruined?”

“I—” She pressed her lips together. “I can’t explain it. He just has. Everything is different now, and you’re too blind to see that.”

“Or maybe I’m seeing clearly for the first time. You found out I was supposed to be Jason Morgan two years ago, and you came to me. Wanting our life back. And I didn’t agree. Not right away.” His eyes burned into hers. “Is that what you’re doing now? Trying to pretend that you don’t want to do the same exact thing right now?”

“No! Of course not! If I wanted Jason, I could have him! I could call him right now and—” Her words tumbled to a stop as she put her head in her hands. “Why are you doing this—”

“Doing what? I’m acting like an adult, Sam. I just kept moving forward. You’re the one that wants to stay stuck in the past. You keep trying to drag us back to this moment in time where everything was perfect—that never existed, Sam.”

“It did! It was perfect before she came along,” Sam retorted. “She’s always trying to steal you from me—and she’s doing it again—” Abruptly, she stopped talking and they stared at each other.

Drew walked over to the closet to remove his winter jacket. He slid it over his shoulders, then buttoned it, and put the contract into his briefcase. “She,” he repeated. “You mean Elizabeth.”

“She’s the one that lied about who you were—”

“Who she thought I was. I wasn’t Jason Morgan—”

“She didn’t know that! She doesn’t get to be let off the hook because she was wrong!”

“Fine. How exactly is she stealing me from you now?” Drew said, his tone deceptively light, a note of curiosity that that was more scorn than genuine interest. “Or is it Jason she’s stealing?”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Sam said. “Don’t put words in my mouth—”

“I didn’t. You said what you said, Sam. Maybe you should think about that.”

Metro Court Hotel: Carly’s Office

Carly paced her office, with her cell phone practically glued to her ear. “Jenny, you need to find a new wholesaler—I am not having my New Year’s Eve party—” She turned in the middle of her rant to find Jason standing in her doorway, his hand poised to knock. “Jenny, I’ll call you back.”

“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Jason began but Carly hurried forward, waving away his concerns.

“No, no. Of course not. I’m just—” She beamed at him. He’d come to her. And she hadn’t done or said anything terrible lately that he needed to yell at her about which meant that Jason wanted to see her. “Come in, come in. What brings you by?”

“Well, I wanted to thank you for sending the dessert to Aiden on Thanksgiving,” Jason told her as she pulled him over the sofa in her office. “I know Michael and Sonny sent food, too, but Elizabeth was really touched by what you said about Sonny and baking. It meant a lot to her.”

“Oh.” Carly pursed her lips. She didn’t really know what to do with this gratitude from Jason—and Elizabeth. This was uncharted territory, but it was nice. She could do this. She could be a good friend. “Well, I figured Elizabeth was probably just trying set a good example, but I’m glad she changed her mind. Charlotte’s been terrible to Aiden. Even I know that, and I never notice anything.” Her heart was racing, and Carly wondered if she’d talked too fast. She should slow down. Think about what she was saying.

Don’t insult Elizabeth. Don’t push. If she could just stop from doing that—

“I also wanted to let you know that I’m going to be going to see some garages next week,” he told Carly. “Or the week after. I asked Diane to get me a real estate agent. I’m not—I’m not really going to back to Sonny and the warehouse. I mean, if he needs me, I’m there. But I just want to take it slowly. And try not to do anything stupid that will take me away from Jake again.”

Carly’s smile stayed fixed on her face even as everything inside flashed with fury. Nothing was changing. Jason was still leaving her. Different face, different man, same— “I—I guess it was a lot to hope that some things might go back to the way they were—”

“Hey—” Jason waited for her meet his eyes. “Sonny said you weren’t happy that Drew—when he was still me—was buying into a media company. This isn’t the same. I’m not leaving the warehouse. There’s just not enough to keep me occupied. I need to do something with my time. I like working on bikes and cars. But if I can avoid being shot for a while, that wouldn’t be the worst thing.”

“No, of course not.” She exhaled slowly. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You’re right. And I want you to be safe. Of course I do. I just—and this is so damned selfish—I always knew Sonny was coming home to me when you had his back. But that’s not your job. Or it doesn’t have to be.”

“I will always have Sonny’s back, Carly. And yours. But I should have done more ten years ago to make sure Jake knew he came first. That’s all this is. I want a place where he can watch me work and be proud of it. The house is a good place to start over. I’m glad I kept it. It’s somewhere to live where maybe he can spend the night.”

“Oh, that would be so great for you to have time like that with Jake.” Carly’s lips trembled. “I want that for you. You know that. A-And I think I can even admit Elizabeth would let that happen. I mean, you know how I feel about her, but it does seem like she’s serious about you being in Jake’s life. That’s great. I want that for you. A-and for her. I guess.”

“That looked like it hurt.” Jason tipped his head. “You okay?”

“Yes. Yes. You came to see me, to tell me what was going on. And maybe sort of ask my opinion—or at least you knew I’d offer it, and you didn’t even flinch when I gave it.” She paused. “I know I’ve been the worst. I don’t want to be that way. I don’t want to be someone my children avoid—but I can do better. I am better. And you’re going to let me show you. I’ll help you find the best garage this city has ever seen, and I’ll help you redecorate the house for Jake—and we’ll make sure it’s the—” She stopped talking as Jason dipped his eyes. “Oh. Oh. You’re not asking me for my help.”

“Not to find a place—”  Jason shifted. “I asked Elizabeth. Because of—”

“Don’t.” She shook her head even pain sliced through her. “Don’t say that. You asked Elizabeth because you wanted to. You’ve never lied to me, Jason. Don’t spare my feelings. I’m capable of finding a place for you.” She forced herself to speak past the lump in her throat. “When you decided to find somewhere to work and to really make a new home for yourself, you didn’t think of me. You thought of Elizabeth.”

Jason nodded. “Yes.”

Carly closed her eyes, absorbed that. “Can I ask—” She stopped, her voice wobbling slightly. “Can I ask why?”

“I don’t—”

“Jason.” Jason sighed as he met her eyes. “I just want to know why you didn’t think of me, your best friend. You thought of Elizabeth, Jake’s mother.”

“She’s more than that, and you know it. She’s always been my friend, Carly, you just never wanted to admit that. You haven’t liked the idea of Elizabeth in my life for nearly twenty years.” He got to his feet. “Aren’t you tired of having the same conversation—”

“You don’t even know what conversation—” Carly scowled. “I just want to know what she can give you that I can’t—I mean, I know Sam is being stubborn, and maybe you’re better off. I never liked her anyway—”

With an uncharacteristic roll of his eyes, Jason turned away and started for the door. “I’ll see you later—”

“Jason—”

“What, Carly? What do you want me to say? You’re my friend. You’ve always been my friend. I just don’t need you to run my life or try to make me do things your way. Sam made her choice—that’s fine. I’m making mine—”

“And that choice is Elizabeth—”

“Why can’t I have another woman in my life that isn’t you?”

“You can. Just not her—”

“Every time. Every time I think you’ve changed. That you’ve stopped this—” His jaw clenched. “Elizabeth matters to me. She always has. She’s Jake’s mother, yeah. But you’re right. I didn’t ask her because of Jake. I asked her because—”

“Because why?” Carly pushed when Jason stopped.

“The first time I felt like myself again,” Jason said quietly. He raised his eyes from the floor. “The first time I was comfortable in my own skin again was with her. She’s not worried about making sure she comes first, Carly, or that I do things her way.”

“Not like me. What a terrible friend I am—”

“Sometimes,” Jason said, with a bit of regret in his eyes and his voice, “yeah. I wish what I wanted mattered to you as much as what you want for me.”

“Jason—”

He pulled open her office door and walked out, leaving Carly standing alone in the middle of her office, tears staining her cheeks.

Webber House: Living Room

“In about eight seconds,” Elizabeth told Jake as she passed by him to answer the knock at the door, “you’re turning off that game and starting your homework.”

“Oh, come on, Mom—”

“I don’t want to hear any arguments—” She pulled open the door, then blinked. “D-Drew. I wasn’t—”

“I, uh—” Drew looked past her at Jake on the sofa. Jake paused his game and slowly got to his feet, his eyes wide. “I needed to drop something off for Jason, and he said he was on his way here.”

“Uh, yeah. Um—” Elizabeth stepped back, letting Drew in. “Yeah. He comes over on Mondays for dinner. Or at least that’s a thing we’re trying. I’m off, so I try to cook.”

“What box is tonight’s meal from?” Drew asked as he removed his coat. Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him, and he grinned.

“It’s spaghetti,” she said, lifting her chin. “So it’s mostly a jar.”

“Fair enough.” He turned to Jake who was still standing  by the sofa, staring at him. “Hey. I haven’t seen you in a few weeks.”

“No, I guess not. I—” Jake paused. “I was gonna call you, but I didn’t know—” He looked at his mother. “I didn’t know if you’d wanna hear from me.”

“I always want to hear from you,” Drew told him. He approached Jake as Elizabeth drifted into the kitchen to work on dinner. “How are you doing with all of this?”

“Um, okay, I guess.” Jake sat on the sofa and Drew sat next to him. “I mean, it’s pretty crappy that Dr. Maddox turned out to be a bad guy, but maybe he felt sorry about what he did to me. He helped me a lot last summer. Or at least it felt like help.” He hesitated. “Are you okay?”

“I’m getting there,” Drew told him. “You know—I might not be your biological father,” he said slowly. “But that doesn’t change how much I love you.”

“My, um, other dad,” Jake said, sneaking a look at Drew to make sure he was okay with that, “said that he was okay if you, um, were still around. Since you’re his brother, and that makes you my uncle. I dunno if I can call you Uncle Drew yet. That feels weird.”

“It does,” Drew admitted. “But I think it would have been worse to find out we didn’t belong to each other at all.”

“Yeah, that’s true, and I told my dad that you were a really good guy.  That you’d make a good brother.” Jake nodded sagely. “I know what makes good brothers. I also know what makes crappy brothers. Cam and Aiden are good brothers.”

“They’re the best brothers.”

“Yeah, so I think you and, um, Dad should be okay with being brothers. The best part about me coming home, even though I didn’t know anyone anymore,” Jake told Drew solemnly, “was getting Aiden and Cam. I mean, Aiden was still little, so maybe not him. But Cam is the best. And he made everything better. So maybe…”

“Go ahead,” Drew nodded, and Jake shyly smiled.

“Maybe you and my dad can make things better for each other. And we get to keep Oscar. He’s really fun. I’m glad to have a cousin that isn’t, um, you know, the worst.”

“I heard about Thanksgiving.” Drew looked around. “Where is the prisoner? Still grounded?”

“No, I didn’t have the heart to ground him. He knew what he did wrong,” Elizabeth confessed as she emerged from the kitchen. “And let him eat all the food Sonny, Carly, and Michael sent home. He had a piano lesson after school, so Cam is walking him home.” She paused. “Oscar’s coming for dinner.”

“Oh, yeah?” Drew got to his feet. “I guess I should be surprised, but I know how the Webber boys like to take in people.” He looked at Elizabeth, the last of his bitterness fading away, remembering the deep fondness he’d had for her once. “They get it from their mother.”

Elizabeth smiled, then looked at the door as it opened. Cam and Oscar came in, followed by Aiden and Jason. “Hey. There’s my guys. I just put the garlic bread in.”

“Don’t let Aiden near the oven,” Oscar said with a grin, hanging up his scarf. “He’s declared war on—” He stopped, his eyes wide as he took in Drew. “Oh. Hi.”

“Hey, Oscar. I came by to drop off that contract,” Drew said to Jason. “And Jake and I were just talking about brothers.”

“Yeah. I told, um, Uncle Drew,” Jake said slowly, testing the foreign words out, “that my brothers aren’t terrible. Even if Cam cheats at Call of Duty.”

“Don’t be jealous of my skills,” Cam said easily as he hung up his own coat and helped Aiden off with his. “Hey, Drew. You should stay for dinner.”

“I—” Drew glanced at Jason, then at Oscar. “Yeah. Let me make a call.”

“Oh, shoot—” Elizabeth turned around as a strange smell wafted in from the kitchen. “I think I left the bread on too high—” She darted into the kitchen.

“Never fails,” Cameron sighed. He pulled out the plastic bag Drew hadn’t noticed before and tossed it at Jason. “I stopped on the way home.”

I don’t even care
So there’s nothing to defend
It’s so long-winded
Like a story without an end
This elaborate yarn
You left behind, like a breadcrumb trail
It’s too hard to find the way out
Of your fairytale
– Lie to Me, The Pretenders

---

March 2017

San Diego, California: Cain Home

“Hey, you got a minute?”

Oscar, in the middle of setting up a three-point shot in the driveway, paused and lowered the basketball. “What’s up?”

His stepmother stepped onto the cement, tapping her fingers against the cell phone in her hand. “I didn’t want to say anything until I knew it was a done deal, but ever since we won the lawsuit against the Navy—” She pressed her lips together and looked back at the house. “It’s been hard,” she said finally.

Oscar’s fingers dug into the rubber of the ball. “I thought he’d come back,” he said dully. “But then he didn’t. Dad wouldn’t leave me. Or you,” he added as an afterthought and Kim flashed a hesitant smile. “Thanks. For making sure they did right by him.”

“Your dad loved the Navy. And he was dedicated to his team. He never would have walked away. I wasn’t going to let the Navy get away with slapping AWOL charges on him.” Kim shook his head. “I just wish we knew—” She stopped. “Anyway. I thought we might need a fresh start. Somewhere new, but maybe somewhere that’s still connected to your dad. And your mom.”

Oscar frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Your parents grew up in a group home in Rochester,” Kim explained. “Neither of them ever knew much about their family. I think Drew said he had some suspicions about where he came from, but he never got into it. Maybe…maybe there’s more family out there.”

Pressure began to build in Oscar’s chest as he stared at the only person left in the world that cared about him. “Are you looking for someone to dump me on?”

Kim’s eyes widened. “No! God, no, Oscar. You’ve been mine for half your life. I love you. You’re mine,” she repeated. “I just—I don’t want you to just have me. I thought — if we moved closer to where your parents were from, maybe we could find some cousins. Or something. I wasn’t able to get a position in Rochester, but it’s nearby.”

“Oh.” Oscar set up the shot and took it, watching as the basketball bounced off the rim. “I guess it might be interesting to see if Mom and Dad had any other family. Or find out how they ended up in the group home. And yeah, it’s weird being here knowing he’s never coming home. Even though the Navy just updated him to missing in action — ” he hesitated. “Dad’s not coming back.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know.” The ball rolled back towards him and he picked it up. “Where are we going?”

“Port Charles,” Kim said, putting an arm around him as they walked back towards the house. “I’m going to work at General Hospital. It’s going to be a good thing. For both of us.”

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Kelly’s: Diner

“On a scale of one to ten, how worried are you about dinner?” Trina asked as she counted tips from the breakfast rush that morning. “Like — this is not good, right?”

“I tried to tell my mom,” Cameron said, shrugging. “As soon as Laura found out her trip was canceled, we should have noped out of the whole thing. Aiden and Charlotte in the same house, even a mansion, is a recipe for disaster.”

“Why did they even get invited? I didn’t know Monica and Laura were all that close.” Trina frowned. “Someone definitely didn’t tip me this morning. I had twelve tables, I should have like a hundred bucks—”

“It was Michael’s idea which just proves he’s as crazy as his mother. Mom wouldn’t even think about canceling,” he told her as the bell over the door jingled behind him.

“Oh, hey, Sam,” Trina said brightly, as the brunette stepped up. “I’ve got your pies in the back.”

“Thanks.” As Trina disappeared into the kitchen, Sam flicked a glance at Cam. “Cameron. Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Uh, Happy Thanksgiving.” Cameron shifted, reached for his milkshake. “Uh, how are things? Um, Danny excited for Christmas?”

“He is,” Sam said. “He’s more excited for Scout since it’s her first,” she continued. “But he’s been really making sure she’s involved in the traditions. Going to see Santa—helping her make a list.”

“That’s cool. I remember doing the same for Jake—well—just once,” Cameron said. He hated when he ran into her. It was always awkward and weird because he knew too damn much about her. But his mom had raised him to be better than being a rude jerk.

Or at least she’d raised him to be more subtle about being a brat.  “He, um, wasn’t around for a lot of the Christmases, and by the time he came back, he didn’t believe in Santa anymore.”

Sam frowned. “I didn’t realize—”

“No, it was kind of a bummer,” Cam admitted. “He said that Helena told him the first Christmas he was there.”

“He was barely four years old—” Sam glanced over at Trina as the waitress returned with the boxes of pies. “I didn’t—I didn’t know that.”

“Well, no, why would you?” Cameron challenged. He eyed her. “It’s not like you were ever really part of Jake’s life, Sam. Even when Drew was supposed to be his actual dad.”

Sam pressed her lips together. “Cameron—”

“It’s fine. We all got what we wanted, right? You got Jake Doe and you don’t have to worry about my brother bringing his parents back together since Jake Doe isn’t Jason Morgan after all.” He finished his milkshake, then reached for his own order of pies. “Thanks, Trina. I’ll call you later when the shit hits the fan.”

He left the diner as Sam stared after him, then pulled her wallet out of her purse, turned her attention back to Trina. “He never did like me much, did he?” she found herself asking the teenager.

“No,” Trina said bluntly. “But then again, none of us do. Not after what happened to Jake and Cam’s house because of you.” She held out her hand. “That’ll be sixty-five dollars and twenty-six cents.”

Quartermaine Mansion: Study

Drew signed his name at the bottom of the paperwork, then set down the pen to stare at the signature. Andrew Cain.

For more than three weeks, this had been his legal name. The answer to the question he’d searched for as Jake Doe all those years ago. He was hoping if he just lived life as Drew, if he woke up every morning and reminded himself that this was who he was now, it would one day feel like his identity.

But he also woke up every morning with someone else’s memories. He woke up in the penthouse, remembering all the years he’d lived there. He walked into the Quartermaine mansion, remembering the grueling and difficult days after the accident—the grudging respect and affection he’d developed over the years—

None of those things had happened to Andrew Cain, but Drew didn’t know how to separate any of that. How to divorce himself from the man he’d grown into or the one he’d remembered.

“Thank you,” he told Michael, shaking his head and sliding it back to him. “I’m not wild about needing the ELQ shares or the dividend right now—”

“But it’s better than what you have right now,” Michael finished. “Yeah, I know. I felt the same way after I, uh, cut ties with Sonny and my mom. I had my salary from ELQ, but I knew I hadn’t really earned it.” He grimaced, looked around the office. “A lot of the times, I know the only reason I’m CEO today is because of who my father was—and my grandfather. But ELQ also gave me something to rebuild with when I knew I couldn’t be a Corinthos anymore.”

He put Drew’s contract back into a folder. “Have you thought about how you’re going to handle Aurora?” Michael asked. “I was talking to Ned about it, and I know that legally—”

“Legally, it belongs to Jason Morgan. I didn’t even put it into Sam’s name,” Drew said with a wince. “So he owns it. I was thinking—” He exhaled slowly. “I was hoping Jason would let me buy into the company. That’s what the dividend is for,” he explained. “Then I could stay on and buy him out.”

“Sam could also get Jason to sign it over in the divorce—”

“Then it won’t be mine. It wasn’t really her plan,” Drew said. He got to her feet. “She was going to do it with me because she wanted me out of the business. She’s barely been there since any of this started. Aurora—it’s my fresh start. Like ELQ was for you.”

“Fair enough,” Michael said with a nod. “For the record, Jason would have given it to you, but I think he’ll understand that you want to do it yourself. Um, I’m sure things are awkward—have you really talked to him?”

“Just once. Since it all came out.” Drew couldn’t really explain the complicated feelings he had for the man who wore his old face, who had the name Drew had believed to be his own. “I don’t want to resent him. None of this was his fault. Three years ago, I wanted to know who I was. Where I came from. And I shouldn’t regret that this happened because I have my daughter, and there’s Sam—but all of this would have been easier if that facial reconstruction had been done a year earlier and I could have just gone home to Kim and Oscar.”

“But you didn’t.” Michael looked at him. “You were still in the hospital when I found out about Sonny and AJ. What my parents had done to him. And you sat and you listened to me, even though you didn’t know me. I know there were some residual memories from the experiment even then, but that didn’t change the fact that I felt comfortable with you right away. You’re not Jason, Drew. And I didn’t think you were then. You were a good guy that deserved a break. That hasn’t changed.”

Drew said nothing, and Michael continued, “You’re not Jason, but you are his brother. You’re still my uncle. You’re still part of my family. Aurora doesn’t have to be the only new start. This—Grandma and Ned and all the rest—we can be part of it.”

“Thank you,” Drew said finally. “That means a lot to me. I should, ah, get out of here before your dinner guests arrive.” Before his brother arrived with Elizabeth and her boys—another family that had almost been his.

Davis House: Kitchen

Sam stopped in the doorway when she saw Kristina leaning over one of the pots. Her sister turned at the sound of her entry and frowned. “You’re here early.”

“I’m only dropping off the pies,” Sam muttered. She set the bag from Kelly’s on the table and started to pull the boxes out. “Molly isn’t as angry as you are.”

“No, she said that I should let it go.” Kristina sniffed and jerked a shoulder. “I’m sorry about the other day,” she added. “That stuff with the Metro Court. That—that wasn’t fair.”

“Maybe not, but you weren’t lying.” Sam folded her arms. “Look, you can be angry at me. That’s fine. But I don’t want anyone else in this. Don’t pull that crap with Molly again. And tonight? Don’t do this in front of my kids.”

“I wouldn’t put Danny or Scout in the middle—”

“But you’d put Drew there,” Sam cut in. “Because you made sure Mom and Molly were. You can be angry at me,” she repeated, “but at the end of the day, Mom forgave me. You don’t have understand or like it, but that’s it. For ten years, Krissy, I’ve had your back. I might not always be a great person, but I have always been a good sister.”

Kristina sat the table and made a face. “I know. I know all of that. But I guess I just—” She bit her lip. “I was upset. And angry. And really hurt. I wanted to hurt you the way I was hurting.”

“Making sure that my baby sister knows exactly what I did to her family—bullseye.” Sam sighed and sat across from Kristina. “I get it. Hurting people to make myself feel better? It’s—” Her chest felt tight as she forced the words out. “It’s how I survived. Always on the offensive. Always ready to cut someone’s feet out from under them. They didn’t even have to do anything to me—if I just felt threatened, you know, I just made sure they couldn’t strike first.”  She paused. “I’m not a good person, Kristina,” she repeated. “I want better for you. I want better for my kids.”

“Then why are you doing this to Jason?” Kristina asked. “You and Mom have been arguing about the divorce—I know what you’re doing with Danny. Why aren’t you even giving him a chance? You gave Drew a chance when you thought he was Jason—”

“I wish I could—” Sam paused. “I can’t explain it. I just—this is how it has to be. My son needs to come first. He loves Drew, and he doesn’t know Jason.”

“Are you still punishing him for what he did when you were pregnant?” Kristina asked. “Because he acted like he didn’t want Danny—”

“He didn’t want Danny,” Sam said flatly. “He can pretend he did, he can say he meant something else. But he didn’t want Danny. And he hasn’t asked about him either. I spent my whole life knowing I didn’t really matter to my parents. I’m going to make sure my kids know they matter.” She scowled. “Why do you look like that? I’m not lying.”

“I didn’t say you were, Sam. I guess I’m just wondering if you’re thinking Jason will make Danny feel like he loves Jake more. Maybe you’re trying to hurt Jason because you think he’ll hurt Danny.”

“I—”

“I know Jason was terrible back then. I know that, Sam. I just don’t understand because you forgave him. You forgave him when you thought Drew was Jason—”

“I forgave Drew because he did the work. Jason hasn’t.” Sam pushed away from the table. “I’m sorry that Drew was living Jason’s life, but for two years, he was Jason to all of us. And Jason doesn’t get to show up here and think none of that matters.”

“I don’t think he’s doing that—”

“The rest of you are. You all think I should just hand Danny over to him like Drew didn’t do the work of being his father. Danny doesn’t know Jason. He knows Drew. And that’s the end of it.”

Berkeley, California

Drake House: Living Room

Robert leaned over to grab an appetizer from the tray, but Robin smacked his hand. “Not yet,” she told her father, then looked at her mother. “I don’t understand how this all fits together. How could Ewen Keenan have been involved with the poisoned water and also what happened to me and Jason?”

“I fear we have more questions than answers at this point,” Anna said with a sigh. She held out her wine glass and her son-in-law, Patrick Drake, refilled it. “It’s hard to see where all of this started. I would have imagined with Jason and Drew’s abductions, but this information about Jake—”

“I remember thinking now,” Patrick said as he sat at the table next to his wife, sipping a tumbler of bourbon, “that it made no sense for Helena to just…give Jake back. And I never got a solid answer for what happened to his kidney or the transfer team.”

“That’s right,” Robin remembered. “How would Jax have known another kidney would be needed? And—” She took a deep breath. “We were there. We signed the paperwork.”

“It seems to me that Jake’s accident is where this begins,” Robert said. “You signed it, but neither of you were on the transplant teams.”

Patrick and Robin traded a glance before Patrick shook his head. “I wasn’t needed,” he said finally. “And I didn’t—I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t even bring myself to tell Elizabeth.”

“But Jason was there. He saw the procedure,” Robin said, “He told Elizabeth when the transplant team had finished harvesting the organs—the kidneys, the liver, and Jake’s lungs were supposed to be donated.”

“I asked him about it, and he said that he didn’t really know what he was looking at,” Anna said. “That he was watching the monitors. It might be worth looking into the transplant team and its records,” she told Robert. “Somewhere along the line, Helena took Jake from the hospital, and someone had to be part of it.”

“We should also pencil in a meeting with Jax,” Robert said, nodding. “But I’m still thinking about what Patrick said. Why would Helena return Jake? I know we’ve thought it was part of the Chimera—”

“But Helena was alive for months after Jake came home. If she’d wanted to trigger it, why not then?” Anna finished. “No, she must have had a different plan.”

“With hindsight,” Patrick said slowly, “and knowing Helena was involved in the memory experiments—it makes me think the two are related. According to Nikolas, Helena told him that Jake Doe was Jason Morgan. She must have known he wasn’t.”

“And Nikolas told Elizabeth the night of the Nurse’s Ball, but she didn’t say anything,” Robin continued. “Helena must have known that, too. And almost everyone knew that Jake was Jason’s son.”

“Spinelli told me something before we flew out,” Robert continued. “Elizabeth learned from Maddox that Helena let her see Jake about six months after she’d kidnapped him. On Spoon Island in the lab. Elizabeth had fevers, so everyone brushed it off as hallucinations—”

“I remember that,” Patrick said with a grimace. “It was bad. She’d already been seeing him off and on—just little tricks of the mind, but it took a lot to calm her down, and even after the fever went away—”

“If Helena ran that risk, she did it to hurt Elizabeth,” Robin said softly. “If she always planned to use Jake to kill the Spencers, is it so hard to believe that Helena wanted to use Jake to hurt Elizabeth again?”

“Elizabeth was keeping the secret about Jake Doe. Helena might have enjoyed toying with her by sending Jason’s son home to her.” Anna nodded. “Especially with the added layer of knowing Jake Doe wasn’t Jason—she would have enjoyed that.”

“But that all seems directed at Elizabeth,” Robert said. “That’s not normal, is it? I mean, Helena hates Spencers, but Elizabeth hasn’t been a Spencer for years—”

“But thinking that this is about Elizabeth in some way,” Patrick cut in, “might explain why Victor’s experiments focused on Jason. Jason’s not connected to the Cassadines either—except through Emily and Elizabeth.” He squinted at Robin. “Didn’t Helena always take digs at Elizabeth?”

“They’ve got a history,” Robin agreed, “but I’m not sure of the details. Elizabeth was part of that Stavros stuff back in 2001, but I wasn’t in town back then.” She sat back. “Either way, this all comes back to Helena. Victor wanted me to revive her first. Stavros was lower on the priority list. Victor insisted Helena had to come first. I wasn’t even able to look at Jason—who I know now was Drew—until Helena was recovering.”

“If Helena started this all, she and Victor are dead,” Anna said. “And I don’t understand how Valentin would fit into it. He was never known to work with Helena or the WSB. Not after he went rogue.” She wrinkled her nose, sipped her nose. “I feel as though we’re constantly talking in circles and nothing is getting done.”

“But Valentin has to be the guy behind the clinic—there’s no way Maddox was bank rolling that. So maybe we need to rethink everything we know about him.”

“And on that note,” Robin said, getting to her feet. “It’s time for me to feed Noah and for you to finish the turkey,” she told Patrick. “We’re not going to solve this today.”

“No, but it reminds me that we do have one untapped resource,” Anna said. “I think perhaps we should talk to Frisco about the terms of Andre’s deal.”

Quartermaine Mansion: Family Room

Elizabeth looked uneasily at the door that led out to the foyer, worried about her boys in the same room as Charlotte Cassadine—even though Lulu was watching over them.

She wasn’t entirely sure Lulu was qualified to look after a piece of spinach, but she wasn’t going to say that in front of Laura. At least Jason and Michael were nearby, though they were reviewing Spinelli’s most recent report in the study and not actually in the media room.

“It’s so wonderful to see Jason with Jake,” Monica said, drawing Elizabeth’s attention. “I’m so glad you brought the boys.”

“It’s good that they’re spending a lot of time together,” Laura added. “The more they’re around one another, the less awkward it’ll be.”

“That’s what I thought. I remember—” Elizabeth paused. “I remember when Nikolas and Lucky got closer. When we were helping Emily with the—” She twisted her fingers. “They put aside how much they hated each other for Emily, and they saw each other as people, I think, for the first time. Outside of everything else.”

“I was so grateful that they were able to have each other,” Laura said. She focused on Monica. “I can’t imagine what you’ve been going through since all this started. Not knowing there were two of them out there—”

“It’s been…” Monica’s smile was tight. “It’s been interesting. I haven’t known how to approach Drew. I wanted to,” she added quickly. “But I’m afraid he’ll feel terribly betrayed that I haven’t talked to him already. And the longer I wait—” She shook her head. “If Alan had known…”

“I know it’s different because, of course, I knew Nikolas was out there,” Laura said, “and I knew that I had the conscious choice to leave him behind when I escaped—” She bit her lip. “But when he came here all those years later—oh, it was so hard to deal with it. The guilt, you know? I was swimming in it.”

Monica opened her mouth, but then they heard a strange beeping.

“What is—”  Elizabeth twisted in the chair again. “What’s that?”

“Just once,” Monica muttered. She got to her feet and crossed to the landline on the desk. “Just once in this family, it’d be nice to have an actual Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Monica?” Laura asked.

“It’s the smoke alarm,” the doctor replied with a wrinkled nose. “Hello? Yes—yes, the usual. Thanks.”  She hung up the phone. “I have Mama Mangia’s on speed dial,” she said dryly. “Let’s go see what happened to the turkey this year.”

Davis House: Kitchen

Sam took the pies in the fridge, then turned to her mother as Alexis frowned at the turkey in the wall oven. “I think maybe we should send the divorce papers.”

Alexis frowned, turned to her. “Wait, what? Why? What’s going on—” She sighed. “This isn’t about what happened last week? Molly told you she’s not mad—”

“It has nothing to do with any of that,” Sam insisted, flinching as her mother referenced the uncomfortable conversation she’d had with Molly about her testimony at the murder trial and the brief affair with Ric.

Molly had looked suitably disgusted, but she’d always been more empathetic and kinder than Kristina, so she’d simply said it was in the past and they would move on.

“Then what—”

“I watched that video Krissy talked about.” Sam sat down at the table, twisting her wedding ring—Lila’s ring—on her finger. “It’s not just—it’s not just what happened with Ric. It’s my entire testimony.”

“Ah,” Alexis said. She leaned back against the counter. “Including the part where Diane made you look like a desperate, scorned gold digger out for revenge?”

Sam’s lips thinned as she looked away. It was a harsh description, but — “She didn’t just make me look that way, Mom. That’s who I was. And I looked at the video, and I remembered who Jason had made me—what I had let him make me. He hated me back then, do you remember? By that point—and I deserved it.”

She’d wanted to destroy Elizabeth. She’d let Maureen Harper kidnap Jake—she’d hired those men in the park to go after Elizabeth and her boys—she’d deliberately seduced Lucky to end his marriage—

“I ran into Cameron at Kelly’s, and he reminded me that that Jason never wanted me have to anything to do with Jake. Even when we thought Drew was Jason—that was true. Jake didn’t really come to our house, and Elizabeth left guardianship to Audrey.” Sam wrinkled her nose. “And I was relieved not to have Jake there.”

“Sam—”

“Because I see Jake and I know why he exists. He exists because of what I did to you and myself that summer. I did that because of Jason. Because of how much I let Jason matter. And I don’t know what that makes me. I think I hate Jake, Mom.”

Alexis sat across from her. “I think that’s a bit harsh—”

“No?” Sam arched a brow. “When Maureen Harper kidnapped him, Amelia came forward to tell the truth and Jason brought him home. Not me. I knew where he was the entire time. And I decided it was better for him to be gone. Sometimes I think—I think maybe I never would have said anything. Maybe I would have just let Maureen have Jake forever.”

Alexis said nothing as the words settled between them, the silence growing more and more uncomfortable. Tenser. Sam cleared her throat. “Say something, Mom.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Sam.” She tipped her head. “I didn’t know you’d witnessed the kidnapping.”

“I did. And I hired men with guns to scare Elizabeth and her boys so she’d stay away from Jason—” Sam’s eyes burned. “Jason was so angry—he threatened to kill me—”

“Sam!”

“And I looked at Cameron today, and I looked at this kid who knows what kind of person I am. He’s old enough to remember that I broke up Lucky’s marriage to his mother, and that before I came around, their life wasn’t perfect but he had two parents. And he sure as hell remembers what happened a few years ago. I hired a man who held a gun on that little boy, Mom. And I did it so I could have Jason to myself.”

“That was…” Alexis took a deep breath. “A long time ago. And even what happened a few years ago—you never meant for Jake to get hurt—”

“No? I’m not so sure sometimes.” Her voice trembled. “I know I’m not a really good person. I can fake it most of the time, but eventually everyone sees me for who I am. Sometimes they can let it go. You did. And Jason did for a while. But he also never, ever tried to be Jake’s father again while I was around. Was he scared of what I’d do? And Kristina—” Sam swiped a hand under her nose. “Kristina hates me because I did the same thing to her as I did to Cameron and Jake. I broke up her happy home—”

“Well, Ric didn’t help,” Alexis muttered.

“Mom, I—” Sam met her mother’s eyes, then swallowed a shaky sob. “I did it. I set out to trap him. Just like Lucky. It wasn’t…it wasn’t just that night. I mean, that was the only night we—but I worked at it for weeks. I knew you were arguing all the time, I could see it, and I—”

“I don’t want to hear this, Sam—”

“I deliberately destroyed your marriage because I blamed you for what happened with Jason. And Krissy sees that now. Molly will, too. She doesn’t understand it yet, but it’ll sink in. I wanted to hurt you, so I did.”

“You—” Alexis closed her eyes. “I always knew that, Sam. I knew who you were. I chose to forgive you. Jason—for whatever reason—he chose to forgive you, too.”

“Did he? Because I didn’t forgive him for Elizabeth. I always knew he loved her more than me. I knew he needed me, that I could make him feel guilty enough to stay with me—and I did that all the time. But he came back to me, Mom, because I couldn’t have kids.”

“That’s not true—”

“It is true. He left Elizabeth because of her kids. And he came back to me because I couldn’t have them—”

“He supported you getting the surgery—”

“Because I told him I was getting it done. And he’d lost Jake. I knew he was vulnerable. But he didn’t want my son, Mom. He didn’t want Danny. And I don’t think it was about Franco. I think it was me. He didn’t want kids with me.”

“You’re getting yourself all worked up for nothing—”

“I can see it now so clearly!” Sam retorted, shoving to her feet. “I watched myself being humiliated on that video—remembering how it felt to sit there while Jason looked at me and didn’t stop it. He knew what Diane would ask—and he let her do it. He never once stood up for me. He didn’t really want me. He just couldn’t have her, and I was second best.”

“And is that why you want to file this kind of divorce?” Alexis asked. “Because you want him to pay for that? It was ten years ago, Sam—”

“No, I just want it to be over. I want to stop feeling like this! I need to protect the family I have now. I need Drew to stay with me, to stay with Danny and Scout. So I need to make sure he knows that I don’t want Jason—”

“I think this is a mistake,” Alexis said, standing. “I really do, Sam. And I’m not filing those papers right now. Not while you’re upset. I think you should think about it more.”

“I’m not going to change my mind—”

“Then God help you, Sam, because no one else will.” With that, her mother left the kitchen, and Sam closed her eyes, took a deep breath.

She was making the right decision. And if her mother didn’t see that, she’d get a lawyer who would.

Greystone Manor: Living Room

Carly had promised herself—and Sonny repeatedly—that she would be on her best behavior if Michael decided to bring the little bitch with him. Jumping down Nelle’s throat every time Carly saw her was only making things worse with Michael.

Carly didn’t want to go back to those terrible months when Michael hadn’t been speaking to either Sonny or Carly. She’d do anything to stop that from happening again.

“And remember,” Sonny said as he hung up with the guardhouse who had reported that Michael and Jason had arrived in the same car. “You’re not going to say anything to Jason about Elizabeth either.”

Carly hissed. “I’m not five,” she muttered. “And I remember.” She went over to stop Avery from dipping into the meringue pie set out on the buffet table. If Jason and Michael were coming for dessert, well it would be the best dessert anyone had ever seen.

“Joss!” Sonny called up the stairs. “Cameron and his brothers are driving up—”

“Oh, Aiden and his mom won’t be here,” Joss said, jogging down the stairs, drawing Carly’s attention just as the front door opened. Michael came in, laughing with Cam with Jason and Jake following behind them.

“Hey.” Carly smiled brightly, kissed Jason on the cheek, then hugged her son. “Cam, Jake! I’m so glad you guys could come. Sonny was baking all day—”

“Oh, awesome! I am starving.” Jake went over to the buffet table with Sonny who started to cut up the pies. Carly raised her brows at her son and Jason.

“Didn’t you eat at the Qs?”

“Well, we tried,” Michael said with a sigh, “but the curse continues.”

“That’s why Aiden isn’t here,” Cam told Carly. “He, uh, got into a fight with his cousin Charlotte, and thought the best way to make her go home was to…” He winced. “Burn the turkey.”

“So he turned the oven up all the way, and it sort of set off the smoke alarm—” Michael continued.

“And the sprinkler system,” Jason finished.

Carly blinked. “Little Aiden nearly burned down the mansion?” She turned wide eyes to her daughter. “He hates Charlotte that much?”

“Oh, it’s earned,” Joss told her mother. “I told you. She’s the worst. And Aiden’s put up with enough.”

“I guess Elizabeth decided to skip dessert?” Carly asked Jason, hoping her question sounded casual.

“She didn’t think Aiden had earned Sonny’s cooking after he destroyed dinner,” Jason said. “So I told her I’d bring Cam and Jake home later.”

“Oh, come on,” Joss complained. “Charlotte is such a pain! Can’t we smuggle him something? Uncle Sonny—”

“I’m not going to interfere,” Sonny said, shaking his head.

“Charlotte was pretty annoying,” Michael said, taking the pie his sister handed him. “I caught her making fun of Aiden for baking. She told him only gay boys and girls baked—”

Carly scowled. “What?”

“I know, and I thought Elizabeth was gonna hit the roof, but Charlotte’s not her kid, and Lulu refuses to do anything about it. She’s afraid Charlotte will hate her more than she already does. Charlotte complained all day about being stuck in town when she could be on the island.”

“She sure is a Cassadine,” Joss muttered. “I don’t think Aiden gets enough credit for not throwing her off the parapet.”

Carly went over to the dessert table, picked up a slice of pie and went into the kitchen, taking a plate of cookies with her. A few minutes later, she came back and went over to Cameron.

“I know what your mom said,” she told him, dropping her voice as the teen widened his eyes at her, “and I’m sure she’s probably right. But I feel bad for him. So there’s a bag with some pie and cookies in the kitchen. Get Joss to smuggle it to you before you leave.”

“Uh—” Cameron blinked at her. “Thanks?”

“Any kid desperate enough to burn down a house to get away from a bully is being punished enough,” Carly told him. “And maybe Aiden should get to see that all boys get to bake. Even men like Sonny.”

Webber Home: Kitchen

Aiden put his elbows on the table and propped his head on his hands. “I’m sorry, Mom.”

“I know you are, baby.” Elizabeth set a glass of water in front of him, then sat across the table. “But you could have hurt someone. Fire isn’t something we play with. You know better.”

“I do. She just—” Aiden dragged a hand under his nose. “She makes me so mad,” he burst out. “How come no one ever yells at her? You know? She never gets in trouble, and it just keeps happening. Every day. We’re not in school. I’m supposed to be free.”

Elizabeth’s heart felt heavy as she sighed. “I’m sorry, Aiden. It was my idea to invite Grandma Laura to the mansion today, but I won’t do it again when I know Charlotte is going to be there. And I’m going to tell Lulu the same.”

“I like Grandma Laura,” Aiden said sullenly. “Can’t we just trade Aunt Lu and her dumb daughter in? Rocco and Uncle Dante are good.”

“Unfortunately, family doesn’t work that way.” Elizabeth paused. “I’ve tried to get you switched into a different class, but I think—” She paused. “I know you love your school. I like it, too, but maybe we should think about changing schools after the holidays. I can swing tuition at St. Andrews if I have to. For part of the year.”

“Charlotte wins again,” Aiden muttered. “It’s not fair, Mom. I like Miss Tait. I don’t wanna leave my school.”

Elizabeth opened her mouth, but then the door opened and Cameron and Jake entered, followed by Jason. “Oh, hey. I thought you’d be later.”

“We would have been, but—” Jason came into the kitchen and set a bag on the table. “Left overs from Sonny’s,” he told Elizabeth. “He wasn’t happy you both had to eat pizza.” He opened the bag and then set a piece of cake down with a half smile. “And he thought maybe you might relent on letting Aiden have some dessert.”

Aiden’s eyes stared at the slice of red velvet cake with the cream cheese frosting, even as Elizabeth’s stomach rumbled.

Jake snickered as he set his own bag on the table. “Michael gave me some cookies and brownies,” he told them. “Because he says Charlotte is the worst.”

Elizabeth pressed two fingers to her lips, trying to stifle a laugh.

Then Cameron came from the living, setting down yet another bag. “And Mrs. C wanted to make sure Aiden got some of Sonny’s baking,” he said to his mother before focusing on his little brother. “She said to make sure you know that real men bake.”

Aiden straightened. “That’s right. Mr. C is a great cook. He made all of this?”

“All of it—with Joss’s help,” Cam added, “so maybe we skip the oatmeal raisin cookies.”

“Mom?” Aiden looked at his mother, his lower lip trembling.

“Well…” Elizabeth stared all the desserts the Corinthos family had smuggled out to her son — who had nearly lit an entire mansion on fire to get away from someone who was making his life miserable. “Aiden, what do you think I should do?”

Aiden sighed.  “Um, I guess I shouldn’t have any dessert because I almost caused a big fire at Grandma Monica’s.” He then looked at the slice of key lime pie from Cameron’s bag and she could practically see the drool at the corner of his mouth.

“I think,” Cameron said, sliding the pie towards his brother, “that being related to Charlotte Cassadine might be punishment enough. What do you think, Mom?”

“I think you are absolutely correct.” She got to her feet to kiss Cameron’s cheek. “Dig in, Aiden. And share with your brothers.”

“Yes!” Aiden pumped two fists in the air. “Best mom ever!”

Elizabeth went over to get some plates from the cabinet, glancing over as Cameron and Jake unpacked all of the bags, her table covered in food.

“You need any help?” Jason asked, joining her.

“No, I’ve got it.” She wrinkled her nose. “This is why you’re friends with Carly, isn’t it?”

Jason squinted. “Why?”

“Cameron told her what Charlotte said, and Carly sent him home with that message. He needed that tonight.” She met Jason’s eyes. “Sometimes, she’s not the worst.”

“No, she’s not.” Jason took the plates from her. “It’d just be nice if she’d let that side of her out more. Let’s go get some food before they eat it all.”

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don’t ask why
It’s not a question, but a lesson learned in time
– Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), Green Day

---

September 2012

San Diego, California: Cain Home

Oscar carefully closed the front door and tip toed towards the stairs. If he was very quiet, maybe Kim wouldn’t notice that he was home, and then—

“You’re not as quiet as you think you are.”

He grimaced, then turned to find his stepmother leaning against the doorway between the foyer and the kitchen — a letter in home. Rats.

“I can explain,” Oscar said brightly. He dropped his backpack on the ground. “See, the thing is that Mrs. Perno is, like, really old, and maybe she thinks she heard me say that word, but, again, really old. She might have been on the Titanic —”

“Oscar Elliott Cain,” Kim began, narrowing her eyes but the universe saved him from what punishment she would have doled out. “Wait right there,” she said, stabbing a long finger his direction. She went over to the door and peered through the window that looked out over the porch.

Her entire body froze and she just stopped. She didn’t open the door, didn’t move. Oscar frowned. “Kim?”

“Oscar, go upstairs,” she said softly.

“What? Why—”

“Go,” Kim ordered, more loudly now. She turned to him, her eyes dark with something Oscar didn’t recognize. Scowling, he stomped up the stairs. He was nine years old! He wasn’t some little baby—

Oscar went around the corner of the hallway, pretended to close his bedroom door, then crawled back to the top step, staying out of sight.

“Can I help you?” he heard Kim say. He peeked out, frowning. Why was there a Marine guy there? His dad was a frickin’ Navy SEAL, not a Jarhead—

“Dr. Kimberly Nero?”

“Yes. What’s going on?”

“Ma’am—” A man in another type of uniform stepped forward. “We regret to inform you that your husband, Chief Andrew Cain, has deserted his base in the Kandahar province—”

“What?” Kim snapped, her voice sharp. “What does that mean? When did this happen?”

“Three days ago, Chief Cain disappeared from his post. Extensive search of the area suggests that he deserted—”

“That is bullshit! Drew would never—someone’s taken him—”

“We investigated that possibility, ma’am, but there’s no evidence. He’s being charged with desertion. Have you heard from him?”

“My dad wouldn’t walk off the job!” Oscar blurted out. Kim turned, her face pale.

“Oscar—”

“He’s a Navy SEAL! He’s a hero! He wouldn’t leave!”

“Ma’am, if you hear from him—”

“You’d better go,” Kim said, snatching the card from the man and shoving the door closed. She charged up the stairs, stopping Oscar as he started down. “Hey. Hey—wait—”

“My dad wouldn’t run away! He’s not a coward!”

“I know—” Kim wrapped her arms around him, rocking him back and forth as Oscar’s voice broke.

“He’s a hero—”

“I know, baby. We’ll find him. He’ll come home, and this will be just a bad dream.”

Friday, November 17, 2017

Safe House: Living Room

Spinelli dragged a hand through his hair and reached for the bottle of orange soda next on the table next to the sofa, frowning when he found it empty. “The problem,” he began, “is that it’s nearly impossible to track money in Russia.”

“I remember,” Jason said. He tossed Spinelli another soda. He’d gotten used to keeping his fridge stocked with orange soda for Spinelli’s visits, and when he’d grabbed a few things at the grocery store a week ago, it had been second nature to grab a six pack of his hacker’s favorite drink.

“And believe it or not, it’s gotten harder,” Spinelli told him. “Since the whole Russia rigged the election thing last year—” When Jason frowned, Spinelli shook his head. “Never mind. I’m gonna work on it, but we might want to consider whether or not the clinic and its records are the best use of my time.”

Jason walked over to the window that overlooked the block, rubbing his fist against his chest. “The clinic didn’t treat many normal patients that I could tell. It couldn’t have been self-sufficient. Whoever is bankrolling it is connected to all of this—”

“For sure. And I’ll keep on it, don’t worry, but—” Spinelli paused. “Are you even sure that anything else is happening? Didn’t Mr. Sir say something about maybe Andre being behind this?”

“If Maddox is behind this all, then fine. But you did the background on him, and you saw the WSB’s file. Where is he getting the funding? It’s about the money, Spinelli.”

“Fair point.” Spinelli shrugged. “I’ll keep on the clinic. I might need to visit or see if the WSB can get me some more information.” When Jason frowned at him, Spinelli explained, “I do some work for them every once in a while. Once I, ah, had a child with Maximista, her father thought it might be a good idea to make use of me.”

“Fine. Whatever you have to do. I need to know to make sure that this is over—that my family and I are safe.”

“Um, not that it matters to me because as Stone Cold goes, so goes my nation.” When Jason squinted, Spinelli shrugged. “I’m with you, I mean, but is it possible that all evidence points to this being over and you’re just…looking for, um, something to do?”

“What does that mean?” Jason demanded.

“Uh, nothing, nothing—” Spinelli made a face. “I know you’ve been in a crappy mood this week, and you’re not working for Mr. Sir again.” He got to his feet. “Maybe focusing on this is giving you something to do, but, uh, if there’s nothing to be found—”

“There’s something,” Jason insisted, even as Spinelli’s words stung. “And I’m doing things,” he said, almost defensively. “I—” He paused. He woke up, went to check on Spinelli, called Sonny for an update from the Spencers, and sometimes, if Elizabeth wasn’t working the nights, he went to the house for dinner with Jake. Other times, he went to Sonny and Carly’s. Or he found the dive bar Elizabeth had recommended where he sat in a corner and nursed a beer. Most of the time he did that alone, but it had been better when she’d joined him earlier that week.

“Are you, perchance, hoping that the Fair Samantha might change her mind?” Spinelli asked hesitantly. “That returning to the old domicile is still on the table?”

Jason stared at him, irritated. Why did everyone keep asking him about her? No, he wasn’t waiting around for Sam to change her mind. She’d chosen her side the night he’d returned, and in the two weeks since his identity had been established, she’d never come to talk to him—not even about Danny. And Jason didn’t know if he was supposed to go talk to her. Was he supposed to beg the woman who had been his wife for her attention?

And did he even want to at this point? Sam had refused to see who he was, and she didn’t look like she was going to let Jason anywhere near Danny. Why should he wait for her to change her mind? If she came to him now, it would feel forced. He didn’t want to be her obligation. He’d seen what that had done to Elizabeth all those years ago. He’d never put someone else through what Lucky Spencer had done to her.

“No,” Jason said. “And I’m working on the next step, Spinelli. It’s only been three weeks.”

“All right, all right. I—” Spinelli shrugged. “Want to make sure you’re good. So you…you are good, then?”

“Yes. I’m good,” Jason said to him, even if that didn’t entirely feel like an honest answer. He didn’t know what he was, and he probably wasn’t going to figure it out by waiting around.

It was probably time to make something happen.

General Hospital: Administrator’s Office

“Thanks for taking a minute to see me,” Elizabeth said, sitting down in the chair in front of Laura’s desk. “I wanted to update you on what’s going on with…everything.”

“I know that Lucky and Luke have been pulled into it,” Laura said. “Lucky mentioned it the last time he called me.” She sighed. “I’m not wild about the Spencers being dragged into another Cassadine war—I really wanted that to be over after Helena died, but maybe it will never be over.”

“Well, I wish it was better news,” Elizabeth said, “but Andre didn’t just experiment on Jason and Drew.” She paused. “He put the trigger in Jake’s head that led to the Chimera stuff at the Nurse’s Ball last year.”

“Andre—Andre put—” Laura blinked, shook her head. “I’m sorry—can you—can you say that again?”

“He was pulled into the project about a year before Jason and Drew were kidnapped — late 2011,” Elizabeth explained. “Shortly after I nearly drowned in the harbor.” She pressed her lips together. “I ended up with pneumonia and a high fever. So high that I thought I was having hallucinations.”

“Hallucinations,” Laura repeated. Her face grew still. “What did you think you were seeing?”

“The same thing I’d been seeing for months,” Elizabeth said softly. “Jake. But this time it was worse. I held him, I heard him call my name, someone took him away, and I couldn’t get to him. It was driving me crazy—” She closed her eyes. “I think it literally did drive me crazy.”

“Someone took him away?” her former mother-in-law’s mouth tightened. “Oh, God—”

“I was rescued by Ewen Keenan who ended up as a psychiatrist at Shadybrooke. We became friends and later we dated,” Elizabeth continued. “Then I learned that he was helping Jerry Jacks poison the town. He kidnapped me, and Jason killed him saving my life. Ewen also was helping Jerry keep Robin hostage, but Jerry wasn’t working alone.”

“No, he was working with Faison and Helena which means this Ewen was, too. Oh, Elizabeth—”

“The hallucination was real,” Elizabeth said. “He took me to Spoon Island to the lab where Jason eventually ended up, and I saw Jake. Helena made sure of it. Then he dumped me on the beach where Spinelli found me.” She dragged in a shuddering breath. “When I woke up in the hospital, I could still hear his voice, still feel his arms around my neck, and I tried to convince Monica and the doctors—Jason—anyone around me that Jake was alive and we needed to go get him.”

“Oh, baby—” Laura got out of her chair and walked around the desk to sit in the other chair next to Elizabeth. She reached for Elizabeth’s hands. “And they didn’t believe you.”

“No. And I tried to let it go. I couldn’t. I kept seeing Jake, and I checked myself into Shadybrooke, but I couldn’t ever get rid of this idea that I had let my son down. That I had let him die. And now—to know that I saw him—to know that it was true—” Her shoulders trembled but Elizabeth swallowed another gasping breath. “It’s so stupid to get to upset now. Jake is okay. He’s in school, and he’s alive. He’s perfect—”

“Grief is a funny thing,” Laura murmured. “I once lost a son and I thought I would drown in the pain. I nearly let it consume me. I don’t know how I would have made it longer than a year, Elizabeth, much less four. Getting Lucky back didn’t change things. Getting Jake back will never erase the time you lost or the way that it felt.”

“I know. I just—I told Carly the same thing a few weeks ago. I lived it, and I always carried the guilt of knowing I could have done more to save my baby—but it feels different now,” Elizabeth said, trying to explain. “Sharper. And I also—” She hesitated. “I also find myself doubting things I thought I knew. People.”

“People,” Laura repeated. She sat back, sighed. “You wonder know if Nikolas knew.”

“I always wondered,” Elizabeth admitted. “But I couldn’t bring myself to ask him. Couldn’t admit that I had so little faith in him, but after what happened with Jake Doe—telling me something that he then nearly killed Hayden to keep secret? Did he know Jake Doe was really Drew? And if he kept Stavros from us for so long, could he have kept Jake a secret? How could Helena have had the run of Spoon Island without Nikolas knowing she was doing something?”

“Helena always had her ways, Elizabeth, but why would Nikolas keep the truth from you?” Laura asked. “Why would he lie about Jake Doe?”

“The timing,” Elizabeth said softly. “It never made sense to me why Helena would simply return Jake after all that time. Because she was dying? She wanted to make amends? I don’t believe it. She sent Jake home for a reason. Maybe she wasn’t expecting to die just then or—”

“Maybe the Chimera was her revenge,” Laura said. “Nikolas wouldn’t have been a part of that—he couldn’t. He was already—” She took a deep breath. “He was already gone.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Laura. I shouldn’t—”

“I won’t ignore that Nikolas made mistakes at the end,” Laura cut in. “That he wasn’t always innocent and he could be cruel. I’m not even saying you’re wrong to doubt him. I just don’t see how it all folds together.” She made a face, sitting back, “But maybe that’s been the problem all along. We keep looking for this to make some sort of sense and we’re forgetting the number one rule when you deal with the Cassadines.”

“Anything is possible.”

Metro Court: Restaurant

Michael shifted in his seat and perused the lunch special menu again with a grimace. “Does anything look good?”

“I don’t know,” Nelle said with a shrug, laying her own menu on the table. “It all looks good to me. Maybe I’ll do the shrimp.” She tilted her head. “You seem distracted. We could have canceled lunch—”

“No, I canceled yesterday,” Michael muttered. He tossed the menu on top of Nelle’s and reached for the glass of water. “I’m sorry. I need to tell my parents at some point we’re having dinner with my grandmother next week, and I keep procrastinating.”

“You know Carly is gonna hit the roof no matter when you tell her, so what’s the point of waiting?” Nelle sipped her wine. “What’s her damage anyway? We’re going to dessert anyway, and plenty of people switch back and forth with families. I mean, why is she like this?”

Michael frowned at her. “You know why she’s like this. It’s the same reason she’s always gotten angry when I spend time with the Quartermaines. She’s been like this my whole life. They made threats when I was kid to take me away from her—and don’t start, that doesn’t mean I would have been better off.”

“Uh, I didn’t even say anything,” Nelle said with a roll of her eyes. “You’re over eighteen now. Why the hell is this still a thing?”

“Because it’s always a thing with my mother. She likes everyone where she can see them, and gets very cranky when we do our own thing. Normally, I can just figure a way around her, but lately—” Michael shook his head. “It’s been harder. Since things blew up about my dad last week—I’m trying to give her a break because of Morgan, but—”

“So Carly gets a get out of jail free card forever because of Morgan?” Nelle asked skeptically. “Like, I get why she doesn’t like me. I dug my own grave with your parents. But it feels like she’s been picking a lot of fights lately.”

They paused their conversation while a waiter came to take their orders, then Nelle broke apart a piece of bread. “I’m just trying to understand your mom,” Nelle told him. “So that I can, like, figure out how to make her…well, it’s probably out of the question for her to like me, but it might be nice for you if we could co-exist, you know?”

“Yeah, it wouldn’t suck if that happened,” Michael said dryly.

“So, I guess I’m trying to understand why anyone would put up with someone like your mother as a friend. This Jason guy just came back a hot minute ago, right? And, man, talk about drama! His wife is married to the long-lost brother who assumed his identity and was raising his kids while his other baby mama was shacking up with the serial killer who, like, stalked him.” Nelle’s eyes were wide. “And your mom has issues with him having dinner with his kid and Thanksgiving with his mom?”

Michael sighed. He couldn’t explain his mother. No one could. “Look—”

“I know I don’t have a leg to stand on for the way I acted last year,” Nelle said, “but you know I’m not crazy about this. Your mom is selfish. Like criminally self-absorbed in a way that makes the Kardashians look good.”

Michael stared at his water, wishing it was wine. “That’s not news to me,” he said. “How does that help you get along with my mom?”

“Well, it suggests that maybe I’m insane for thinking I ever could.” She cleared her throat. “But she just stepped off the elevator, so we should stop talking about her because she has ears like a fricking bat.”

“Good point.” He cleared his throat. “So, uh, how’s work? How’s Nina?”

“Annoying. She said Valentin is being a pain these days. Always short with her, never coming home or calling—” Nelle shrugged. “Maybe marriages of convenience really are a bad idea. I asked her for a raise because my building is going co-op, and she looked like at me like I was insane.”

Michael frowned. “Your building is going co-op? You didn’t say anything. When is that happening?”

“January, I think, but I have until February to decide whether I want to buy in or not. My savings aren’t great since I haven’t been at Crimson long.” Nelle shrugged. “I’ll probably start looking somewhere else—”

“What’s this, I hear?” Carly said brightly as she approached their table. “Moving? That’s a shame. How far away?”

Nelle pressed her lips together, looked at Michael, then looked down at her plate. “I’m not moving yet,” she said. “My building is going co-op, and I was telling Michael I need to start looking since I can’t afford a down payment and mortgage right now—”

“Really?” Carly snorted. “More like you were playing the ‘woes me’ card and hoping that Michael would jump in with a loan—” She turned to glare at Michael. “Well? Wasn’t she?”

Michael closed his eyes. “No. She wasn’t. Mom, we’re trying to have lunch here—”

“Well, the only reason she’s not going to do it now,” Carly bit out, “is because I caught her—”

“You know, maybe I’ll just skip lunch and go back to work,” Nelle said, starting to stand up. Michael held out a hand.

“No, don’t. Just wait—'” Michael got to his feet and met his mother’s defiant expression. “You have reasons for the way you feel about Nelle. And we both get it. Nelle doesn’t expect you to like her. Or even respect her.”

“Good, because it will never happen,” Carly retorted.

“But I am a paying customer in this restaurant,” Michael said, patiently, “and I have a right to eat here without being harassed. And that’s what you’re doing, Mom. You came up and started attacking us—”

“I wasn’t attacking you—” Carly narrowed her eyes. “You always take her side—”

“There’s not—” Michael sighed. “There’s no point in pretending there’s ever going to be a good time,” he told Nelle before looking at at his mother. “I’m having Thanksgiving dinner at the Quartermaines this year. Jason and I are both coming to Greystone for dessert. With Nelle, Elizabeth, and her boys.”

Carly hissed. “Over my dead body—”

“I can go home after dinner,” Nelle volunteered. She bit her lip. “I mean, I’ll just skip dessert—”

“Well, Mom?” Michael said, lifting a brow. “How’s that for a compromise?”

“Jason didn’t tell me he was inviting Elizabeth—”

“Because he’s tired of listening to your crap about her. Just like I am. I’m willing to swallow Nelle not being invited,” Michael told his mother, “because she’s earned that, but I am done watching you treat Jason and his family like this—”

Carly’s nostrils flared. “She is not his—”

“We’re leaving,” he said to Nelle, his tone clipped. “Let’s go. We’ll get something at Kelly’s or the taco truck outside. Anywhere but here.”

“Michael, wait—”

But Michael and Nelle were already heading to the elevators, leaving Carly standing by the table.  Alone.

Aurora Media: Drew’s Office

“Hey, man.” Curtis dumped a folder on the table and went to pour himself a cup of coffee. “How’s corporate life?”

“Interesting,” Drew admitted. “More than I thought it would be, but I guess maybe part of me does kind of remember my life before. Or—” He hesitated. “You know it’s easier now that I don’t have to pretend I liked numbers and coffee.”

“I hear that.” Curtis sipped the coffee. “But you doing okay, otherwise? It’s been a few weeks now.”

Drew looked down into his own coffee, thinking over the question. “I’m doing the best I can,” he said finally. “The memories—it’s messing me up,” he admitted. “I wake up, I tell myself I’m Drew Cain, but I don’t always feel that way. I don’t feel like Jason Morgan either.” He leaned against his desk. “Mostly, I’m just putting one foot in front the other.”

“Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Curtis went over to the folder, flipped it open. “Like I said before, you were found at a fire station. It was in Poughkeepsie, three hundred miles from Rochester where the false birth certificate stated you’d been born. The police there did an investigation, trying to figure out how you got there or who left you since the name on the surrender form was false. I’m hoping they were able to see that the birth records were as false as the surrender form. I’m trying to get those records, but the state is being a bitch about it. I got a couple of things working behind the scenes, but I also haven’t had a lot of luck with the people who were around back then.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, I didn’t call Monica because I figure she’s not gonna wanna rehash all of that, and her story is pretty much on the record, right? When this twin stuff came out back when you thought it was Franco, she said they never knew about a twin.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of how it shook out. At least, that’s the memory of it. What about Betsy Frank or Heather?”

“Can’t find Betsy,” Curtis replied. “Franco moved her a couple of weeks ago after his art show. I thought tracking her down might rile him up, and I know some things went down when all this blew up. I don’t know why Elizabeth broke up with him, but I’m guessing it means Franco isn’t gonna tell us anything without a fight.”

“No, probably not.” Drew hesitated. “Leave Betsy out of it for now. She wouldn’t tell us the truth anyway.”

“Neither would Heather Webber—even if I could get in to see her,” Curtis added. “But it’s buttoned up tight. Family only. We could try to get Elizabeth’s brother up here—”

“Oh, man, I’m not asking Steven to deal with this—he doesn’t know even know me. And I know he hates his mother.” Drew winced. “Who’s left?”

“I talked to Scott Baldwin, and he shut me down which tells me there’s something there. But it also might be shame or guilt. Case report says Susan was blackmailing the Quartermaines over Lila’s first marriage, and the first husband killed her to protect Lila. Susan only does that because Scott allegedly embezzled from Jason’s trust fund.”

“What did he say when you told him about the original birth certificate? That Susan must have known about me?”

“Never got that far. But I’m still saying there’s no way Susan has her hand on a second million dollar trust fund and waits to play the card.” Curtis sighed. “I’m sorry, man. But unless one of these people gives a little, I’m not sure we’re gonna know how much Susan knew and when she knew it.”

“Yeah, well, it’s an old case, and most of the people are dead or crazy.” Drew paused. “I just wish I knew how Victor knew there were two of us. He’s the only one who seemed to know, but there’s no way he just stumbled on this information. Why was he looking?”

“I’ll keep digging, but I can’t make any promises.”

Kelly’s: Diner

“Yeah, but are you even going to like hospital admin?” Molly asked Kristina. “Maybe you should have gone to law school or something. This sounds boring.”

“I could use boring.” Kristina shrugged, looked at Sam. “What do you think? You agree that Laura Spencer was insane for offering me this internship in January?”

“I worked in hospital administration for a very long three weeks,” Sam said. “It was literally the most boring job I ever had.” She furrowed her brow. “Almost as boring as the two weeks I spent as a clerk at the PCPD.”

“Oh, I remember that,” Kristina said. “That was right before you went to the Metro Court and started the hostage crisis.”

Sam scowled. “I didn’t—”

“That’s not fair,” Molly said. “How was Sam supposed to know that by pressing the silent alarm a bunch of people would die?” She nodded at Sam, encouragingly. “I got you.”

“That’s not much of a defense,” Sam muttered, wiggling in her chair. “And most people think I helped save everybody,” she told her sister. “Remember? I got that television show—”

“I thought Amelia gave you the show because she wanted revenge on you?” Kristinsa said, fluttering her lashes.

“And I thought we weren’t going to fight today,” Sam retorted. She knew Kristina was just mad because Sam hadn’t found the time to tell Molly yet about the affair—

Well, how exactly did a person start that conversation anyway?

“Uh, how are we fighting? I’m just stating facts.” Kristina reached for her milkshake. “There’s a reason Everyday Heroes didn’t get a second season. And besides, everyone knows if you hadn’t pulled the silent alarm, the robbers would have just left. When I worked at the bank—”

“You didn’t even finish the training,” Molly cut in, but Kristina ignored her.

“They specifically told us not to mess with a robbery. Like — things are not worth your life. So take the crap and go.”

“And why exactly is this coming up right now?” Sam asked. “Have you been holding this whole grudge against me for the hostage crisis the whole time? You were barely old enough to remember it—”

“Uh, not true. It was only ten years ago, and I remember things that happen when I was twelve. Actually, the hotel blew up and Mr. Craig got away, plus like three people died, so like, did anyone really save the day?”

“What exactly crawled up your ass and died today?” Molly asked Kristina. “Because now this does sounds like fighting.”

“I’m just wondering if maybe we let our sister get away with too much crap, and it’s our job to call her out,” Kristina said. “I mean, it’s not like you’ll fix things yourself. You never do. Even when you promise.”

Molly blinked, look back and forth between her sisters. “What is she talking about?” she asked Sam.

“Nothing.” Sam took a deep breath. “Nothing. Krissy—” She shook her head. “Never mind. Can we please change the subject?”

Kristina opened her mouth, but was distracted when the door to Kelly’s opened and Cameron walked past. “Hey, Cam.”

“Hey.” Cam stopped by their table, a bit awkwardly, avoiding Sam’s eyes. “What’s up?”

“Nothing, just having dinner with my sisters.” Kristina paused. “I heard you and your brothers are coming over to my dad’s for dessert next week. I’m doing dinner with my mom, but I’ll be at Dad’s later.”

“Yeah, we’re at the Qs this year,” Cameron said. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “I dunno if we’re all going to Greystone. Jason might just take Jake—”

“No, Sonny’s usually cool about that stuff,” Molly said with a shake of her head. “He invited me and TJ to come with Krissy, but we have to make an appearance at the commissioner’s this year.”

“Yeah, you know you’re always welcome.” Kristina looked at Sam. “Are you and Drew coming to our place or the Qs?”

Sam stared at her sister. “No,” she said, through clenched teeth. “No, we’re going to your house. For dessert, too. You know that.”

“Oh, well—”

“Hey—” Trina came out of the kitchen with a large bag. “I got your order,” she said, handing it to Cameron. “Uh, which other insane person at your house is getting pastrami on rye? Because that is nasty. I saw there are two orders of it—”

“It’s for—” Cameron paused, then without thinking, looked briefly at Sam before focusing on Trina again.  “It’s for Jason,” he said, finally. “He eats it, too. I, uh, gotta go. Mom’s in the car and she’s trying to keep Aiden from murdering Jake—”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Cameron left the diner and Trina went back into the kitchen while Sam stared down at her plate.

“It’s nice,” Kristina said, “that Jason has Elizabeth and her boys to support him, you know? It keeps Franco out of their lives, and I remember Dad saying it was nice how much time Jason was getting to spend with Jake.”

“You,” Molly said, “are as subtle as a trainwreck.” She looked away from Kristina to Sam, rolling her eyes. “Sam, you know it doesn’t mean anything. He’s just having dinner—”

“I am married to Drew,” Sam said, even as her stomach rolled. Why had it stung to learn that Jason would be at the Webber house for dinner or that Jason was bringing Elizabeth and the boys over for dessert — like they were a family?

She had her family. She’d made her choice.

“Yeah, but—”

“I told you,” Kristina said, smugly. “If you pick Drew now, you better be sure. Because, uh, it definitely looks like Jason isn’t waiting around.”

“Krissy—” Molly began.

“And if you were wondering,” Kristina continued as Sam narrowed her eyes, “how long I was going to wait to tell her—”

“Kristina—”

Molly frowned. “Tell me what?”

“Should you tell her or should she find out the way I did? On YouTube?”

“YouTube?” Molly scowled. “What is going on?”

Kristina got to her feet, swung her coat on. “Molly, whatever you do, don’t search Sam’s name and look for her testimony from the Alcazar murder trial.”

Molly squinted as Kristina sauntered out of the diner, then looked at Sam. “Sam?”

Sam closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “I can explain.”

Aurora Media: Reception

Drew stepped out of his office and closed the door, planning to head home finally when he turned to see Spinelli stepping into the empty office. The two of them stared at one another for a long moment before Spinelli spoke.

“Uh, hey. I was hoping you might have a minute, but—”

“No, you’re—” Drew took a second to gather his thoughts. “It’s fine. I…heard you were back in town. I’m not surprised.”

“I would have come to see you sooner,” Spinelli said, wrinkling his nose, “but I didn’t know what to say. I still don’t. Because I like you. And this sucks. But I also—”

“Never really felt the connection we were supposed to have,” Drew finished. “Yeah, I guess now that we all know the truth, we can admit that—”

“Actually, I was gonna say that I feel weird because I did feel connected to you. But maybe it’s because you’re a good guy. Like your brother. Most people don’t get that about Jason, y’know?” He shrugged. “But I always did. So I felt guilty for not seeing it, for being so shocked—then I came back and saw him—” Spinelli hesitated. “You’re a good guy, Drew. I want to help you both make sure that who ever did this to you pays.”

“I know you’re helping Jason with the clinic—”

“But I have connections with the WSB,” Spinelli interrupted. “Anna and Robert are okay, but they don’t run the show. I know enough to say I don’t trust the WSB. And neither should you.”