You spend your days alone
Still hoping for the truth, oh
But all you hear are lies
But no one else is going
To tell you what to do now
No one else is going
To help you hold the line
– Something to Believe in, Parachute

Monday, December 18, 2006

Port Charles Municipal Building: Scott Baldwin’s Office

When his secretary showed Diane Miller in first thing that morning, Scott knew he’d won.

Oh, she wouldn’t admit it. She would still put up a fight. There would be skirmishes. She might try to force this as far as a preliminary hearing, try to call his bluff.

But she’d taken a week to review the evidence, and then asked for a meeting without her clients.

He’d won, and they both knew it. He had Elizabeth Morgan dead to rights, which meant he had Jason Morgan right where he wanted him.

Scott Baldwin loved his job.

“Scott.” Diane took a seat at the conference table. “I hope you’re doing well. Christmas is coming fast.”

“It is,” he nodded. “My daughter came home from college.” He sighed at the thought of the beautiful girl he had left at home. His beautiful Serena. “I’m not sure how she got to be old enough to be in college, but time sure does fly.”

“Hmmm…” Diane pursed her lips. “I reviewed your case files. You were…quite thorough. I don’t believe I’ve seen a special prosecutor be quite so thorough before.”

“Well, Diane—may I call you Diane?” Scott asked. When she just glared at him, he continued. “I want you to be prepared. To have your resources in order, so to speak.”

“You didn’t mention some of the more…prominent pieces of evidence during our meeting last week.” She rested her hands on the tale, laying them flat. “The, ah, security footage…I feel as though that should have come up.”

“Would you believe General Hospital keeps security footage for six months?” Scott told her, with his eyes wide. “When I saw Alexis’s notes that she had informally asked Elizabeth about the file by the nurse’s station, I knew exactly what to look for and where.” He leaned back in his chair. “Have you mentioned the footage to your clients?”

“Not…” She hesitated. “Not yet, actually. I, ah—”

“It’ll be convincing in a courtroom,” Scott said. “And the camera is at a great angle, don’t you think? You can see Elizabeth from the back as Alexis steps up. They speak briefly. And then Alexis walks away. Then Elizabeth takes out a file and starts feeding it into a shredder. You can’t quite see what’s being shredded, but it’s a thick manila file. Quite similar to the PCPD files.”

“Scott…” Diane leaned forward. “I’d like to discuss a plea agreement. I’m sure we can come to some sort of arrangement—”

“No.” Scott was careful to keep his tone pleasant. “There’s no point, Diane.  I only plea down when I’m not convinced of a conviction. I put that video along with the other evidence—after I prove Elizabeth Morgan will do anything to protect her husband—I put all of that in front of a jury, and they’ll convict her in a heartbeat.”

“Be that as it may,” Diane murmured, “she’s a young mother. Expecting another child. I should think probation—”

“She’ll do hard time. I intend to ask for the maximum.” When the redhead merely scowled, Scott shrugged. “And I’ll get it. That judge is going to take one look at Elizabeth Morgan and he’ll see through her town sweetheart persona to who she really is. She broke the law, Diane. She did it, and you and I both know she’d do it again. Look at the things she’s already done to protect Jason Morgan. Do you think she blinked at this? Do you think she wouldn’t do more in the future? That judge is going to give her ten years. She’s going to lose her freedom.”

“How can you be so cold?” Diane demanded. “She’s pregnant—”

“I’m not doing anything to her.” Scott arched a brow. “She committed a crime, Diane. You and I both know she’s guilty. I’m giving her a chance to avoid jail, because I don’t think she’s a hardened criminal. I think she’s a woman who fell in love with a man who treats her relatively well, and after her last two husbands, I don’t blame her. That doesn’t mean she gets a free pass. She’s guilty,” he repeated, “but you’re all acting like I’m the bad guy because she’s a nice girl.”

“Baldwin—”

“I’m not the bad guy,” he repeated. “She broke the law. I’m trying to give her a break. You need to make the facts of life clear to your clients, Diane. Because unless Jason Morgan figures out a third option, I’m putting someone he cares about in jail. I’m just leaving the choice to him. That’s downright generous.”

Diane rose to her feet. “You’re a regular saint,” she drawled, but her voice had lost some of its anger. She left the office without another word or backward glance.

It would be easier for her to be self-righteous if not for the security footage that proved the case. Scott could arrest Elizabeth today and have her convicted by spring.

But he wasn’t the villain here. He wasn’t the man who had married the woman and brought her into the line of the fire. He wasn’t the schmuck who thought he was a character in a Godfather movie.

He was an officer of the court trying to bring criminals to justice. He just believed Sonny Corinthos was the more dangerous criminal.  He didn’t want Elizabeth Morgan in jail, but he’d settle for her if it that’s what it took for Jason Morgan to see the truth. Sonny Corinthos didn’t give a damn about anyone but himself.

And it would be Scott’s pleasure to prove it to the world.

Kelly’s: Courtyard

 Elizabeth waved goodbye to Robin and Patrick as she exited the restaurant, Cody on her heels. They turned out of the archway and walked toward the parking lot.

Having lunch with two of her favorite people in the world had bolstered her spirits. Robin and Patrick seemed convinced Diane would find a loophole. “She’s amazing,” Robin had said. “Didn’t she wipe the floor with Ric?”

And they’d talked about the baby and names, though Patrick had been more uncomfortable by that part of the conversation, darting looks at Robin that looked downright terrified. He’d joked about wanting the baby named for him, but Elizabeth knew he’d seen the baby fever in Robin’s eyes. Poor bastard.

But now that she was away from her friends and their bright spirits, she felt the doldrums beginning to settle around her again. If Diane could have found that magical legal strategy, surely she would have found it already, wouldn’t she?

Cody stopped in front of their SUV, and pulled open the door. Just as Elizabeth set her purse on the seat, she saw Emily’s car pull up. She paused for a moment, hoping the brunette would engage her in civil conversation again. She had mostly given up on regaining their close friendship, but this was Jason’s sister, and that meant something to her.

“Hey.” Emily closed the door. “I—I was hoping I’d see you around.” She flicked her eyes at Cody, but when it was clear he wouldn’t leave the two of them alone, Emily approached. “I don’t know if you’d heard, but Lucky decided to drop the custody suit.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth blinked. “No, ah, I guess Diane hasn’t heard yet.” She gripped the car door. “Not that I’m not relieved, but why?”

Emily hesitated. “He went for custody of Cameron because he was angry with you,” she admitted. “And because he thought he owed it to Cameron to stick around, to make it up to him. But once the paternity results for the baby came back…” She lifted a shoulder. “The chances were slim to none to begin with, and I told Lucky that Jason would take care of Cameron.”

“Oh. Good.” Elizabeth shifted. “I never—I never meant to hurt Lucky. Or for any of this to happen, Emily. It just—everything got away from me a bit. I’m not sorry it’s turned out this way,” she added quickly. “It’s just…I wouldn’t have picked the way it happened.”

“I get it. I’ve done my share of hurting people when I should have been able to let go. Everything that happened with Zander was a huge mess, and maybe it soured things for me with Nikolas.” Emily looked away. “Hard to know for sure.”

“Well.”

“I just wanted to support Lucky the way he did when I had a drug problem in high school,” Emily added. “Maybe I didn’t do it right, and I know I pushed you aside. I’m sorry about that, Liz. But you know, he never blinked. He never pretended he didn’t know me. He stood by me. I thought…I thought I owed him.” Her cheeks flushed. “I’m sorry.”

And the apology meant a lot to her, even if it meant things would never be the same. She even understood Emily’s point of view. What had she sacrificed because she’d felt as though she owed Lucky for his support back then? How many relationships had she wrecked in pursuit of that support?

“I’m sorry I wasn’t more honest with you,” Elizabeth said. “You shouldn’t have found out about Jason and me through newspapers and gossip. I just—I hope you’ll be involved with Cameron and the baby.”

“I’m sure I will.” Emily took a step backwards. “I should go. I’m meeting my mother for lunch. I’ll see you around.”

When Emily had disappeared into the courtyard, Elizabeth finally climbed in the car, relieved that Jason would be able to end his cold war with his sister. If the worst happened, if she ended up in jail, she wanted to know Jason could count on Emily.

She had to start preparing for the worst, even as she tried to hope for the best.

Diane’s Office

Jason scrawled his name across the bottom of the page. “And the guardianship agreement should go into effect by the end of the month?” he asked, sliding the paperwork back across her desk.

His lawyer nodded, taking it from him. “You’ll be his legal guardian by January, and if all goes well, his legal father by June.” Diane slid it inside a folder and set it aside on the desk. “Jason, you know…the week Scott Baldwin gave you—that’s up tomorrow.”

“I know.” Jason exhaled slowly. “Did you go through the files? Is there something—” He stopped speaking when Diane gently shook her head. “You’re not finished?”

“Jason…” Diane pursed her lips, a pen in her hands. “There were a few things Scott didn’t tell us last week, things that change the complexion of this case.”

He shook his head. “Diane, I don’t care about any of that. I want this to go away—”

“Jason,” Diane said his name again, her tone more gently. “Scott has her destroying the file on hospital security footage.”

He sat back, his shoulders slumping. “That’s not possible—”

“You can’t see the file very clearly, but she talks to Alexis, then shreds a brown folder that looks like a PCPD file. And it is after the file disappears, on a day when she is signed in at the time the file goes missing. Jason, I am an excellent attorney, but I am not a miracle worker.”

He shoved away from the table, his chair flying back. “There’s a technicality then. Some dirt on Baldwin—”

“If I take this to trial,” Diane cut in as if he hadn’t spoken, “I will lose. A jury is going to listen to Baldwin prove all the ways Elizabeth has been connected to you over the years, and then use your marriage, the existence of your child, the fact you saved Elizabeth’s life—he’ll tell them all of that and then he’ll show them that footage. And that’s the end of it. I cannot make this evidence go away.”

He shook his head. “Diane—”

“And Scott Baldwin intends to ask for the maximum. She’ll serve eight to ten years, and I can tell you the parole board isn’t going look kindly on a woman who helped an alleged mobster get away with crimes. She’ll serve every minute of those eight years. By the time she comes home, her sons will be half-grown.”

His chest was tight, and Jason shook his head again. “No, that’s not going to happen.”

“It will if you don’t take the deal Baldwin put on the table,” Diane said softly. “Jason, I’m sorry, but the only way to keep her out of jail now is…you’re going to have to testify against Sonny.”

In the back of his head, he’d known she would come to that conclusion. And yet, somehow, he’d ignored that possibility. He’d never been in true jeopardy before, beyond the murder charges after Luis Alcazar had gone off the balcony at the Port Charles Hotel.

His lawyers had always kept him out of jail, had always swooped in on some technicality.

But the one time Jason depended on a lawyer, the one time he needed the system to work for him and not against him—he’d lost.

“Testifying against Sonny isn’t an option,” Jason said roughly. “Not just…not just because of who Sonny is, and my friendship with him. If I testify against him, if I turn against him, my life isn’t worth anything. I’ll be a traitor. People will come after me. They might come after my family.”

“There’s always witness protection,” Diane reminded him. “Jason—”

“And take Elizabeth and Cameron away from everyone they know, from their lives. Do you want to tell Carly and her kids they can’t be in my life anymore?”  He couldn’t imagine life without his best friend.  “Diane, I can’t do it.”

Diane looked away. Her normally bright, crackling, laughing eyes were somber. “I truly am sorry, Jason, but Baldwin hasn’t left us with many options.” She sighed. “Maybe I’m too pessimistic about a trial. I suppose I can try to spin it. Come up with an alternate theory as to why Elizabeth is shredding files that look so similar.” She met his eyes. “But I’d be lying to you if I felt confident. I am your lawyer, Jason. I am Elizabeth’s lawyer, and I’m supposed to give you the best advice I can.”

“And that’s to turn in Sonny?” Jason demanded.

Troubled, Diane waited a moment. “I hadn’t thought of the implications of you turning on Sonny,” she admitted. “Perhaps, Jason, we might consider asking Elizabeth to plead guilty and let the sentence be up to the judge. He may only give her five years if she cooperates—”

“She doesn’t spend a day in jail,” he cut in roughly. “Not a single moment. She belongs with the boys. She did this to protect me—”

“And she got caught.” Diane rose to her feet. “I am sympathetic, Jason, but throwing ourselves on the mercy of the court may be the safest bet. Or you can roll the dice with turning Sonny in and hoping that the people around you know the choices you were faced with. Both options are difficult. So pick your poison.”

He scrubbed his hands over his face and exhaled slowly. “I’ll turn myself in, then.”

Diane straightened. “Jason—”

“He wants a high profile criminal, doesn’t he?” Jason asked. “I’ll confess to whatever he wants from me. Racketeering. Manny Ruiz, Moreno, Roscoe. I don’t care. Tell him he’s got a deal if he wants me.”

“Jason—” Diane put her hands up. “That’s insanity—”

“I’m not letting Elizabeth go to jail and I can’t risk my family’s safety by testifying against Sonny.” Jason nodded toward the landline on her desk. “Set up a meeting—”

“Jason, he doesn’t want you—” Diane bit off her words. “It won’t work. If that were an option, don’t you think Scott would have suggested it?  Jason, whatever he charges you with—it would put you in jail for decades! If you won’t testify against Sonny, then Elizabeth serving five years is your best bet.”

“No—”

“Stop being so goddamn stubborn, Jason Morgan!” She fisted her hands at her side. “You think Elizabeth would let you go to jail for twenty-five years? Think of what you’d be walking away from—not just her, not just Cameron. But this baby would never even know you.” Diane stepped around her desk. “Jason, I cannot, in good conscience, be part of any deal that puts one client away for decades when the other could serve a handful of years.”

“Diane—”

“Your gallantry is very sweet,” Diane continued, “but you can’t give up your life to save hers. If Elizabeth didn’t want you to testify against Sonny, then why the hell would she want you to go to jail?”

He looked away. Elizabeth would be upset if he sacrificed himself rather than allow her to go to jail. But she’d be safe. She and the boys would never want for anything, and he knew he could count on Sonny and Carly to take care of her, look out for the boys.

“Elizabeth isn’t going to jail,” Jason told her. “Tell Scott I want to meet with him.”

“I’m not going to do that.” Diane lifted her chin. “You can fire me, but I’m not going to let you commit suicide. Jason, there’s no guarantee you would even survive a prison sentence. If something happened to you in there, what do you think that would do to Elizabeth?”

When he could think of nothing to rebut that point, Diane sighed. “Let me take another look at the files. I may come up with a trial strategy I feel better about. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. I have the rest of today and tomorrow. And maybe if we call Scott’s bluff, and force him to put her on trial, he’ll blink. I don’t like any of our options.”

Jason nodded, but he’d already made up his mind. It was going to have to be him.

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

 It was Jason’s turn to pick Morgan and Cameron up from preschool—and host his nephew overnight with Cameron at the penthouse. He’d wanted to turn Carly down when she had suggested it because he thought he and Elizabeth needed a break, but Cameron had been so excited, and it was probably best they keep the next few weeks as routine as possible.

So he drove home in his SUV with two rambunctious boys strapped into booster seats in the backseat, both tossing questions at him, laughing at each other—

If his meeting with Scott the next day went as he expected, he wouldn’t be able to keep his promise to Cameron. He wouldn’t see the bright-eyed little boy with the messy curls grow up. He might see Cameron and the baby once a month if Elizabeth brought them to visit, but he didn’t want that. He didn’t want Elizabeth and the boys to wait for him.

Diane was right—if Scott took his deal, he wouldn’t be satisfied with a five or ten year sentence. Jason would go to prison for the rest of his life, and he would have to forfeit a future with Elizabeth that might have included another child, the little sister Cameron was chattering about to Morgan. Maybe she would marry again and have that little girl with someone else.

The image of that was almost too painful to bear and he’d had to dip his head and take a deep breath when it had occurred to him in the elevator.

Turning himself in to Baldwin was the right thing to do, even it would be the most difficult thing he’d ever done his life.

Elizabeth had plastered a smile on her face when the boys came in from school, though he could see it wasn’t completely genuine. The boys both ran to her—Morgan was excited to see his Aunt Liz, and the boys were both over the moon that Aunt Liz said they could have Christmas on the island together after all.

Would he be able to do that? Would Scott have him arrested then? Would he give Jason a few days to wrap up things? He couldn’t tell Diane—she would refuse to represent him until it was a fait accompli, he knew that. And Elizabeth would probably have Sonny lock Jason up somewhere if she knew what he was planning.

Elizabeth tilted her head at him as she sent the boys into the kitchen where their snack waited. “Hey. Did you sign the guardianship papers?”

“Oh. Yeah, she said it’ll go through by the end of the month.” He continued to stare at her—would he even be able to see his child? Would she agree to bring the baby to the jail after he was born?

Did Jason want either of his children to make the journey to whatever facility Scott sent him?

“Jason?” Elizabeth asked. She stepped forward, pressing her hands to his chest. “Are you okay? You seem distracted.”

He gave himself a mental shake. If this was his last night at home with his wife, with his son, then he wasn’t going to waste it thinking of all the ways it would change tomorrow.  “I’m fine, just some hiccups at work.” He kissed her, cupping her jaw in his hand. There was so much he’d never said to her, so much he’d felt but never admitted.

And now, Jason didn’t see the point. If he was going to spend the rest of his life in prison, he didn’t want Elizabeth to feel obligated to stay with him because he loved her, because of the kids. If she never knew, she would feel better when she inevitably left him and moved on. She wouldn’t feel as guilty.

“Did Diane have any ideas about…you know?” Elizabeth asked when he drew away, furrowing her brows. “We have to give Scott an answer on Wednesday.”

And for the first time since the day he met her, Jason looked into Elizabeth’s eyes and lied to her. “She has some ideas she think might work. She wanted to review it, but she looked optimistic.”

Elizabeth smiled then, the first signs of happiness in days filling her expression. “Oh. Oh, that’s great. I’m so relieved.” She kissed him. “Maybe this will be over for real this time. I just want to get on with our lives.”

“Mom!” Cameron called from the kitchen. “You gotta pour the juice—”

“So do I,” he murmured as she headed for the kitchen. Jason took a deep breath and followed. He didn’t want to miss a minute.

+8

Help me out here
All my words are falling short
And there’s so much I want to say
Want to tell you just how good it feels
When you look at me that way
When you look at me that way
– Please Forgive Me, David Gray

Friday, December 15, 2006

Greystone Manor: Living Room

 When Max showed Diane in that morning, Sonny had a feeling he knew what the conversation would entail.  Diane had made a mint representing both Jason and Sonny because their interests had always been intertwined.

Until now.

“Sonny.” Diane hesitated, setting her briefcase on the desk. “I suppose Jason has been by, has mentioned our meeting with Scott Baldwin a few days ago.”

“It came up.” Sonny poured himself a glass of water, but he really wanted bourbon. Just when the situation had begun to feel resolved, damn lawyers had to come around. “You look a bit more nervous now. The charges are as bullshit now as they were before—”

“Not…” Diane exhaled slowly. “Not quite. I don’t want to admit it to Jason and Elizabeth but…” She lifted her hands. “I’m not a miracle worker, Sonny. Scott previewed his opening argument. Give him another few weeks, even months—and it will be rock solid. I can poke some holes in it, but Elizabeth is no longer the sympathetic nurse beaten down by the system. She’s the woman who left her cop husband for a mobster—”

“Damn it, Diane—”

“And Scott has prepared a theory of the case that allows him to introduce every alleged criminal activity Elizabeth has ever been involved with as long as he can show Jason’s involvement. The bomb in her studio, the fire at the warehouse, her kidnapping, the explosion at the warehouse, both times Manny Ruiz went after her—” Diane pressed a hand to her forehead. “And those are just the major points—Scott can call in character witnesses to show her connection to Jason—and there’s a plethora of cops who’d be happy to do it—”

“How is any of that relevant to the drug charges?” Sonny demanded. “Can you get it—whatever, suppressed?”

“It’s relevant because Elizabeth will now be charged with obstruction of justice—” Diane huffed. “Didn’t Jason tell you? Scott added a charge—for stealing and destroying police files relating to Jason—Scott can tie her to that in a much more solid manner. The drug charges are now just window dressing. He’s going to claim she’ll do anything to protect Jason, and he’ll use their history to prove it.”

Sonny blinked, then looked away. Because of course, it was true. And he wouldn’t ask if Elizabeth had committed this new crime—

He already knew she had.

“You don’t want to go to trial,” Sonny said finally. He looked at her. “You’re going to tell Jason to sandbag me. And you’re here to dump me as a client.”

Diane hesitated. “To be quite honest, Sonny, Jason retained me this summer after Justus Ward…” She pursed her lips. “Jason retained me while he was in charge. I don’t…exactly…officially represent you.”

“Ah.” Sonny nodded. “Fair enough. You’re just here to make sure I have my own counsel so I’m covered—”

“Jason hasn’t made—” Diane closed her mouth. “Sonny, you must appreciate the difficulty Jason is facing—”

“I do.” Sonny turned. “I get it. I know exactly what Elizabeth means to him. I set up their damn wedding didn’t I? I was the best man. They have a family. Of course he’s going to pick her. I want him to do that.” He turned away. “It’s the right thing to do. I don’t have to be happy about it though, do I?”

Diane waited a moment. “Sonny, I can give you the names of some very good attorneys—”

“Thanks, Diane.” Sonny looked at her. “But you don’t have to worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

She waited another moment before leaving.

He’d told her the truth. He fully expected Jason to testify against him in the end. He knew his friend would agonize over it, that Elizabeth would try to find another way, but it wouldn’t matter. Jason would choose, as he should, the woman who had always stood by him.

And Sonny would have to live with it.

General Hospital: Examining Room

 “A boy?” Elizabeth repeated, squeezing Jason’s hand as an ultrasound technician explained the image on the monitor to them. “Really?”

“Did you want a girl?” Kelly asked over the tech’s shoulder. She flashed a wicked smile. “You can always try again.”

Elizabeth flushed, but shook her head. “No, no, I guess…” She looked at Jason, who was squinting at the screen. “I didn’t know what to hope for beyond a healthy baby.”

“Cam asked for a brother,” Jason said idly. “To boss around. Then he wants a sister so she’ll have two older brothers.” He blinked at that, as if realizing what he’d insinuated. “So, ah,” he coughed. “He’ll be excited.”

“As for healthy…” The tech looked at them. “He looks good. The right length, heart beat is strong.” She looked at Kelly. “What do you think, Kel?”

“Everything looks fantastic.” Kelly nodded. “Your blood tests are great, your blood pressure is so much better—right in the levels we want to see at this point. Everything is on track for a safe and happy delivery around May 6.” Her grin flashed again. “Now that we have more accurate information, we’ve moved your due date up a bit.”

“I’m so glad.” Elizabeth winced as the tech cleaned the gel from her abdomen and then sat up, using Jason’s hands to climb down from the examining table. “I was so tired for most of November, but my energy is back.” Her pregnancy had been the only aspect of her life to run smoothly.

“We’ll see you again next month.” Kelly tapped the tech. “Haddie, make sure they’ve got prints and a video so they can share with friends, okay?”

“Will do.”

After the tech had printed the picture from the ultrasound and Elizabeth had tucked the video in her large tote, they left the maternity wing and headed for the elevators. As they approached the nurse’s station, Elizabeth’s steps slowed.

Her grandmother stood by the counter, speaking with Bobbie Spencer and another nurse. Audrey looked at her for a long moment, then her eyes moved to Jason. Her expression somber, she murmured something to Bobbie, then turned her back and walked away, disappearing around the corner.

Elizabeth drew in a shaky breath. Nearly two months after that difficult day in her living room, it was clear her grandmother hadn’t changed her mind. She felt Jason’s hand at her back.

“Elizabeth—”

“You should—” She swallowed hard. “You should call Carly. Tell her we’ll go to the island for Christmas.”

Might as well have one more vacation, one more holiday before it all blew up in their faces.

“Okay,” Jason said slowly. They moved in front of the elevators, and he pressed the button. “Did you want to grab something to eat? We don’t have to pick Cam up for a few more hours—”

“Maybe something from Kelly’s—” But Elizabeth stopped as someone came around the corner. Emily looked at both of them, pursed her lips, but said nothing. “Emily,” Elizabeth said softly. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Emily shifted. She looked down at the photo in Elizabeth’s hands. “I—I guess you had an appointment.”

“Yeah.” She held out the print, but Emily didn’t take it. “We’re—we’re having a boy.”

“Oh.” Emily looked at Jason, then back at Elizabeth. “And I guess every thing’s going okay?”

“They’re fine.” Elizabeth drew her hand back.

“Well.” Emily rocked back on her heels. “I guess I’ll see you around.” She tucked her chart back under her arm and then continued down the hall.

The elevator door finally slid open, and Jason gently propelled Elizabeth forward. “You okay?” he asked, as the doors closed.

“Um. Yeah.” She took a deep breath. “Just…a weird…couple of moments.” She looked at him. “Let’s get some lunch at Kelly’s.”

Metro Court: Restaurant

 Carly ended the phone call from Jason and lounged against the bar and looked over the lunch crowd. Elizabeth had finally given in to their experimental family Christmas celebration on the island, which she knew would send Morgan into fits of happiness. Carly wasn’t entirely sold on Elizabeth sticking around forever, but Cam—he could stay.

She saw Alexis and Sam sitting at a table and smirked. She might not be completely wild about Elizabeth, but she couldn’t deny she was happy to see the backside of Sam McCall for once and for all.

Alexis stood and walked away, probably towards the bathroom. Carly perked up. She hadn’t had fun in ages.  Not since the duct tape.

“Well, well….” Carly sauntered up to Sam’s table and took one of the empty seats. “I hope you’re enjoying your meal.”

Sam narrowed her eyes. “What do you want? Come to bar me from the restaurant?”

“Oh, no, no…whatever momentary enjoyment it might give me to kick you out…” Carly leaned forward. “I prefer to keep my friends close, and my enemies even closer.”

“We weren’t enemies last year,” Sam snarled. “You’re such a hypocritical bitch, you know that? A year ago, you and I were fighting to save Jason’s life, and now, you’re cozying up to Elizabeth Webber. You hate her.”

Carly rolled her eyes. “I don’t give a damn about either of you, to tell the truth. I’m not loyal to anyone. Except Jason. And where Jason goes, I go. He wanted you, I put up with it. Now he wants her. I’m putting up with it.”

“I can’t stand you,” Sam hissed. “You’re supposed to be his friend, but you don’t even care. She trapped him. He won’t leave her now. She’s pregnant with his kid, and he feels sorry for her.”

“Oh.” Carly pursed her lips. “I get it. You think she took advantage of him. I bet she wrestled him to the ground and practically violated him in order to conceive that baby.” Sam’s scowl deepened. “Oh, maybe she cried woes me, woes me, I need someone strong to help me with my baby.” Carly fluttered her eyelashes. “Someone strong and wealthy,” she continued in a breathy voice.

“You’re such a bitch—”

“The problem, Sam, is that you’re pissed that Elizabeth plays the game better than you. Because you conned Jason into sticking around for your kid and hooked into his money, you think she must have as well.”

“Jason loved me,” Sam shot back.

“He probably did,” Carly responded. “And maybe you eventually stopped seeing him as a bank account. You’re the only one who can know that for sure, Sam. The thing is, people think that just because you love one another, that means something. Like every time you love someone, it’s forever.”

She tilted her head. “It’s not. You were a moment. A phase he went through. He thought he wanted someone strong, who could go toe to toe in his business. He doesn’t. There’s a reason you were engaged all those months and never got married.”

“Shut up, Carly. You’re not any better than I am,” Sam snarled.

“I don’t know about that,” Carly responded. “But I know you. I do,” she insisted when Sam just rolled her eyes. “I was you. You know your little summer indiscretion?”

Sam’s cheeks flushed as she cast her eyes to the empty hallway leading the bathrooms. “Shut up, Carly.”

“I slept with my stepfather once, too.” Carly leaned back in her chair, but pitched her voice a bit lower. “And I did it for the same reasons you did. I did it to destroy my mother because I blamed her for everything that was wrong in my life.”

“That’s not how it happened—”

“And maybe I could even understand that,” Carly continued, ignoring Sam’s protestations. “Alexis did her part to convince Jason to walk away from you. But you didn’t stop at trying to destroy her. You decided to punish Jason for leaving you.”

“I did not—”

“Yeah, you did. I told you, Sam, I know you. We’re alike. We do whatever we can to survive, and we don’t particularly care about collateral damage. Alexis took something from you, so you decided to take something from her. But that wasn’t enough. You went to Jason and you told him what happened, didn’t you? If it was a mistake, then why not just sweep it under the rug?”

“I wanted to be honest with him.” But Sam’s voice had lost some of the righteousness.

“And I’m sure he thinks you hated it, that you did it to punish yourself.” Carly smirked. “But revenge doesn’t work if no one knows, Sam. If Alexis wasn’t sick, how did you plan on letting her find out? Maybe you were going to let Ric seduce you again, and maybe the next time, you were going to let Alexis catch you in the act.” She smirked. “Until Jason told you about Elizabeth and you realized you had just given him the excuse he’d always wanted to be with her.”

“We’re not talking about this anymore.”

“Doesn’t really matter to me.” Carly rose. “But here’s a little something I’ll do for you. For old time’s sake.” She leaned down. “Jason told you he saw you, didn’t he? That he looked in those windows and walked away?”

“Shut up—”

“Sonny told me the part Jason left out.” She lowered her mouth until her lips all but brushed Sam’s ear as they both watched Alexis emerge from the bathroom. “Alexis saw, too. She’s known all along.”

Sam looked up sharply, her face drained of color as Alexis joined them at the table. “Carly,” Alexis said with a warning in her voice. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, just torturing Sam with tales of the happy newlyweds,” Carly said flashing a bright smile at Sam’s pale face. “How’s Ric taking that setback at work? Must suck to know your husband has pretty much lost your job at the DA’s office and that Scotty Baldwin is ready to swoop in.”

“Carly—”

“Lunch is on me, ladies. We need to stick together, you know.” Carly was practically giddy. “As the women Sonny’s knocked up, I mean. See you around!”

She offered a little wave and headed for the elevators.

She had the best life.

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

 Lunch had been relatively quiet, and Jason knew it had been ridiculous to think they could avoid talking about the elephant in the room, even for a day. They were both tense, waiting for Diane to call.

Elizabeth entered the penthouse in front of him, and set her bag down on the desk as she drew out the ultrasound photo of their son. Their son. The baby had been real to him, so much more than abstract, and yet—looking at him on the screen—knowing they were having a boy—it made it worse.

How could he let her go to trial? The drug charges were nonsense and they both knew it. And it was his fault she’d tried to protect him by destroying that police file. If not for him, Elizabeth wouldn’t be in danger. Ric Lansing wouldn’t be looking at him, Scott Baldwin wouldn’t know she existed.

Jason knew Diane was a good lawyer, but she’d looked worried when they’d discussed a trial. And if Elizabeth were convicted, it would be too late to make any deal.

But how did he turn Sonny in? How did he let go of the loyalty that had been drummed in him for the better of the decade? He’d been accused of being more loyal to Sonny than himself, and part of Jason had always believed it to be true.

Maybe it was, but it didn’t mean he could let Elizabeth pay the price for his choices in life.

“I want to call Diane.” Elizabeth turned to face him. “I want to talk to her. Today.”

“She said—” Jason hesitated. “She said she would call us when she was ready.” When she’d found a miracle.

“Not about—” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Not about that. I want to make sure you have guardianship of Cameron.”

Jason frowned, sliding his hands in his pockets. “We started the adoption papers, Elizabeth. It’ll take a few months, maybe even six. But—”

“I want to make sure the boys can’t be separated.” Her fingers tightened around the photo, crinkling the edges slightly. “If I’m convicted—”

“You’re not going to be—”

“I don’t want my grandmother or Lucky coming after Cameron because the adoption isn’t final,” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “I need to be sure Cameron will be okay.”

“Elizabeth…” He took the photo from her before she twisted it beyond recognition. “I told you. You’re not going to jail. I won’t let you.”

“Jason, just—please. Let’s draw up the guardianship papers, okay?” He was a little taken back to see the tears swimming in her eyes. “Cameron loves you so much, and if I can’t be here, you need to be—”

He wanted to shake her, to make her stop talking about something that just wasn’t going to happen. She wasn’t going to spend a day in jail, not a minute. It was never going to get that far.

The PCPD had never been able to pin a damn thing on either him or Sonny. They were not going to start with his wife.

He exhaled slowly. “Elizabeth—”

“We can’t pretend this isn’t happening,” she cut in. “They’re not trying to dump some imaginary drug charges on me, Jason. They’re going after me for something we both know I did.” Her mouth was pressed into thin lines. “And I’d do it again. You did it for me.”

“What?” He shook his head. “Elizabeth—”

“You lied to the police about Zander. You put yourself at risk to protect me.” She lifted her chin. “And I destroyed that file to protect you. I’m not sorry I did it, I’m just sorry I got caught.”

Hell. He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Elizabeth,” he said for the third time.

“I have to do what’s right for my children.” She set her hand over the swell of her belly. “Our children. They should be with you.”

“They’re going to be with both of us—”

“Jason—”

“But I’ll call Diane.” Jason reached for the phone, because he wanted to make some of the tension disappear. If she knew Cameron was safe, then maybe she could trust him to make this go away.

“Thank you.” Her shoulders slumped. “I’m just—I’m scared, Jason. If Diane had a way to get out of this, don’t you think she would have called us already?”

Yes, but there was no way in hell Jason was going to answer that question.

“You’re not going to jail,” Jason said. He could promise her that, because it wasn’t a possibility. Their sons were going to grow up with their mother.

No matter what he had to sacrifice to make that happen.

+9

You’re always on display
For everyone to watch and learn from
Don’t you know by now
You can’t turn back
Because this road is all you’ll ever have
– Fences, Paramore

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Port Charles Municipal Building: Scott Baldwin’s Office

 Scott was standing by a conference table stacked with paperwork and files as his secretary opened his office door and presented an unhappy trio of guests. Diane Miller strode in first with an annoyed expression drawn on her impatient features.

Jason and Elizabeth Morgan were expressionless, stoic, and even blank as they filed in behind her and took the seats Scott offered them.  He was surprised at the poker face Morgan’s wife managed, but all those years of exposure to criminal elements had clearly rubbed off.

He had practiced for this moment, rehearsed this presentation—he was as ready as a man could be for the biggest moment in his career. This meeting would kick off his attack.

He was going to nail Sonny Corinthos to the wall, and the couple in front of him was the key.

“Would you like anything to drink?” Scott asked once the trio was seated, Diane adjacent at the head of the table while the Morgans sat next to one another directly across from him. “Mrs. Morgan?”

“No, thank you.” Diane sniffed. “My clients are here to get to the bottom of your scurrilous and potentially inflammatory threats. They do not intend to make any statements at this time.”

“No problem.” Scott sat and reached for his legal pad. “I’m prepared to do all the talking.” He picked up his pen with one hand and reached for the stack of paperwork with the other.

“While I was unable to confer with DA Lansing regarding current cases pending against Sonny Corinthos or Jason Morgan, I did have access to his court docket. When I saw that he had specifically been barred from dealing with Elizabeth Morgan, I asked the PCPD to provide me with any piece of paper in their archives featuring Elizabeth Webber Lansing Spencer Morgan’s name.” Scott shot Morgan’s wife a smile. “A lot of names for such a young woman.”

He cheered when he saw a muscle twitch in Morgan’s face. Ha! It wasn’t much but it was something.

“I was surprised to see so much.” Scott patted the pile. “But some of it we can discard.” He reached for the first one and set it down. “Your name as a witness involving a drive by shooting at Luke’s in which Nikolas Cassadine was injured, another as a witness to a fire in a garage owned by Morgan…obviously, these aren’t pertinent.”

“Mr. Baldwin,” Diane began.

“But here’s where your history starts to get interesting, Mrs. Morgan.” Scott reached for another report. “A bomb was found in your studio building. Morgan knew about it and saved your life.” He tilted his head. “You were dating back then according to the rumor mill.” He tapped a line. “The officer on the scene refers to you as Morgan’s girlfriend.”

“My clients are not commenting—”

“No need.” Scott reached for another report. “Both questioned when Emily Quartermaine was kidnapped by Zander Smith. Mrs. Morgan is again a witness to another fire involving Morgan—the warehouse fire in 2001.” Scott placed each report down as he enumerated them. “A report to Lieutenant Taggart stating Elizabeth Webber was kidnapped. You and Taggart worked closely to get her back according to the reports. She was rescued, though a bit ill from exposure to gas.”

And then Morgan’s wife glanced at her husband, surprise in her eyes.  Should he be enjoying this so much?

“The warehouse explodes again. You’re both on scene, just a month later, when Zander Smith accidentally shoots Mrs. Morgan.” Scott arched a brow. “Not the last time your name appears with him, is it, Morgan?”

“Baldwin,” Diane cut in, her tone much less impatient. “We don’t have all the time in the world.”

“I’m previewing my opening statement, Counselor,” Scott said, not taking his eyes from Jason Morgan. “Mrs. Morgan gives a statement about her ex-husband taking Carly Corinthos hostage, though we’re unfortunately unable to corroborate it. And then…” Scott slid another paper on top of the growing stack.

“Morgan gives a statement that disgraced former officer Andrew Capelli admits to hitting Zander Smith in the head after the Port Charles Hotel burns to the ground. Zander Smith’s murder case is closed—though your statement appears to superfluous since he escaped and was killed in a hail of gunfire.”

“What does that have to do with my clients?” Diane admitted.

“I’m just getting started, Ms. Miller. This will go faster if you don’t interrupt.” Scott held up another report. “The two of you are questioned in relation to the murder of Mary Bishop, but then you both seem to disappear from the files for a bit. Until this year.” He held up a photograph of Jason and Carly standing with a police officer. “Recognize this, Morgan?”

He tossed it across the table. “From this last February.”

Morgan barely glanced at it before glancing at Diane. “No,” he said shortly.

“I have it on video as well. You and Carly are demanding access to the building because you have the antidote to that terrible virus.” Scott leaned forward. “You’re not asking to speak to Patrick Drake, who was nominally in charge. Or Robert Scorpio, head of the medical team and quarantine. Do you know who you ask for? Nurse Elizabeth Webber.” He smirked. “Couldn’t quite remember her married name, could you?”

“Baldwin—”

“The two of you really seem to be back in each other’s lives after that point,” Scott continued, ignoring Diane’s annoyed interjection. “You saved her life when she was kidnapped by Manny Ruiz. She came to visit you while you were in lockup. Then you were both arrested for an illegal surgery.”

The stack of papers in front of him was nearly an inch and a half thick by the time Scott placed this last report on top. “Do you know why I took you down this walk on memory lane?”

“My clients are not making a statement—”

“Because it’s part of my larger narrative. When I tell a jury the charges against sweet and compassionate Elizabeth Morgan, I don’t want them seeing the town sweetheart they all know,” Scott continued. “Granddaughter of Steve and Audrey Hardy, hard-working nurse. I want them to see the woman who has been steeped in the criminal element of this town since she was old enough to drive.”

Again Morgan’s muscle twitched, but the two of them remained poker face, even if Elizabeth’s face drained of color.

“Lansing had the wrong theory of the crime,” Scott continued. “You didn’t steal those drugs to help your husband. You stole them to drug your husband so he wouldn’t discover your affair.”

At that, Morgan stood up. “We’re leaving,” he told Diane.

“If you walk out now,” Scott told Elizabeth Morgan, “I’ll have Detective Rodriguez slap handcuffs on you now. I’ve already drawn up the arrest warrant. I just have to execute it.”

“Jason.” Diane nodded, but Morgan didn’t resume his seat. He shoved the chair away from the table and moved to stand behind his wife. “Baldwin, you spoke of a plea agreement but I still don’t see a shred of proof—”

“Because I haven’t finished,” Scott said, offering her a pleasant smile. He took the stack of paperwork and put it to one side. Then he slid a paper across the table to Elizabeth. “Do you know what that is?”

“I—” Elizabeth swallowed and handed it to her lawyer. “A sign in sheet of some kind.”

“It’s for the PCPD.” Diane narrowed her eyes. “What game are you playing?”

“Do you know what happened on this date?” Scott asked. “Alexis Davis had served a subpoena on Jason Morgan’s financial records, but a crucial part of the file disappeared from the squad room.” He tapped the sheet. “Right during the window Elizabeth Spencer signed in to speak with her husband—who was not on the scene.” He set down a few still photographs. “I have you standing near Alexis and Sam, where you could likely overhear them discussing the case. You stole that file and you destroyed it.”

Elizabeth’s eyes widened and she looked again to her lawyer. “Diane—”

“Baldwin,” Diane began but some of her bluster had dissipated. “What—”

“Look at this stack of reports.” Scott patted it. “Morgan rescued you over and over again. You’re telling me you didn’t take this opportunity to do the same for him?”

“I—” Elizabeth closed her mouth when Jason’s hand dropped down on her shoulder.

“This interview is over—” Diane began, but then stopped when Scott held up the arrest warrant. “Put your goddamn cards on the table, Baldwin,” she snapped.

“I’m about to, but I want Mrs. Morgan to understand the stakes.” He looked back at the pale woman in front of him, her blue eyes filled with fear, with shock, with worry.  “Lucky Spencer asked Cruz Rodriguez, a fellow officer, to follow you. He knew you were having an affair with someone. Rodriguez saw you going into a hotel with Patrick Drake, and reported that to Lucky.”

“I wasn’t—” Elizabeth’s voice was faint. “I was working.”

“I know,” Scott told her, ignoring the faint curl of shame in his chest. He knew he was going after a woman who’d led a difficult life, but he told himself that if this worked she’d be free of all of this.

He was helping her, even if she didn’t see it.

“And Rodriguez knew that, too,” he said, a bit more kindly. “He bribed staff to tell him. He knew when he told Lucky about the hotel that it wasn’t true. But he’d seen you going into Morgan’s penthouse by then. And he’s worked in Port Charles long enough to know a bit of the history. He has signed an affidavit claiming to have followed you on several more occasions when you met up with Jason Morgan, going to his penthouse and staying for several hours at a time.”

“Even if it were true, it’s hardly a crime,” Diane said, leaning forward. “I’ll object to any mention of such things—”

“It’s part of my narrative,” Scott repeated. “Elizabeth knew her husband was having her followed—Lucky Spencer confronted her about the hotel. I’m confident he’ll give us a statement to that effect—she was aware Lucky suspected her of having an affair, but knew he had the wrong man.”

When Diane said nothing this time, Scott knew he had won. The lawyer had connected the dots. “And she drugged him to keep him none the wiser.”

“No—” Elizabeth started to protest, but when Diane cut her a scathing glance, she closed her mouth.

“You weren’t ready to leave your husband—maybe Morgan hadn’t given you the go ahead. Why leave a sure thing for something that might not pan out?” Scott shrugged. “You played it smart, Mrs. Morgan. You waited until you knew Lucky could be painted as the bad guy, but you still didn’t leave him. Not until you discovered you were pregnant. Jason Morgan had to pay attention then.”

There was murder in Morgan’s eyes as he listened to Scott paint the picture of Elizabeth as a grasping, greedy woman who had set out to trap him. “Diane—”

“You, again, cannot prove any of this—” Diane said.

“Can’t I?” Scott raised his brows. “Elizabeth is pregnant with his child. I’m sure her medical records will reflect she knew about the pregnancy before Lucky Spencer went to rehab, before the marriage to Morgan. I can tie her to the drugs found in her apartment, I can tie her to the theft of the files last summer. I have means, I have opportunity, and I’ve told you the motive.” He looked to Diane. “Do you really think I can’t convince a jury?”

Diane exhaled slowly and looked at her clients for a long moment before she focused on him. “You mentioned a plea agreement. Let’s just…” She spread her hands out. “Let’s just entertain it for a moment.”

“I don’t want Elizabeth Morgan in jail,” Scott said. “Justice isn’t served that way. And I can’t have her testify against her husband or even his business partner.” At that, Diane’s eyes narrowed. “I thought about trying to leverage her against Sonny, but you could always waive that pesky privilege in my face. Anything she might know might be due to it. Fair enough. But that doesn’t stop me from leveraging her against Jason in another way.”

“I don’t—” Elizabeth licked her lips, flicking her eyes to Diane, then to Morgan who had resumed his seat at those words. “I don’t understand.”

“Do I have to explain marital privilege to you?” Diane demanded.

“I want Jason Morgan to testify against Sonny Corinthos,” Scott told them. “If he cooperates, we can talk about making the rest of this go away.”

“How many ethical violations are you trying to break?” Diane demanded. “You can’t involve a third party—”

“Prosecutorial discretion.” Scott blinked. “Maybe I don’t think these crimes are so important after all. I mean, I don’t have to prosecute her.  I could be busy with other cases. More important ones.” He flashed a smile. “It might be on the edge, Ms. Miller, but you and I both know I’m not outright violating anything.”

Diane scowled as she leaned forward. “Are you telling me that unless Jason Morgan testifies against his business partner, you’ll prosecute his wife? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“I’m saying,” Scott said slowly, locking eyes with Jason Morgan, “I have both cases in front of me. It’s up to Mr. Morgan which one I look at first.”

Game. Set. Match.

Kelly’s: Diner

 Emily knew when to throw in the towel, and that moment had arrived. Lucky was seething over the response his lawyer had given him, with the copy of the paternity test and Jason’s petition to adopt Cameron.

She had been on Lucky’s side from the start because she knew what it was like to blow up your life with drugs. She knew the importance of family standing behind you when you emerged from rehab, knew that support was essential.

In all these years, she had never relapsed, and she was determined Lucky wouldn’t either.

He had stood by her, how could she do any less?

But she knew Nikolas was judging her. Knew she had lost her brother in this mess.

Had lost Elizabeth.

“Lucky,” she said, softly. “You said you were concerned about Cameron. That he wouldn’t feel loved if you didn’t try. And I understood that. But now we know he’ll be okay. You know my brother will be an amazing father—”

“But—” Lucky looked at her. “If I don’t have Cameron, if I don’t have the baby, what do I have?” He set the letter down. “I loved them. I love them,” he corrected.

“I know.” Emily hesitated. “I don’t like the way Elizabeth lied to you and deceived you into the divorce, but maybe it was for the best.” She reached for his hand. “You still have me and Nikolas. Lulu. Your grandmother. You’re not alone.”

“I wanted Cameron to know I loved him,” Lucky said. “I don’t want him to think I threw him away…” He looked away. “But Elizabeth thinks that.”

“No.” Emily shook her head. “No, she doesn’t—”

“I had him and it wasn’t enough to stay away from the drugs.” Lucky stared at his hands. “I saw you go through it, Em. How could I do it to my own family? I can’t stop thinking about how I wrecked it. I know Elizabeth was already—I know now I lost her once your brother was back in the picture, but I didn’t know that then. Maybe I could have saved my marriage. But I destroyed it, and I destroyed my family for what?” His mouth twisted as he crumpled the letter in his fist. “I don’t even know anymore.”

“Lucky—”

“I told my lawyer to drop the custody suit,” he said after a long moment. “He told me with these developments I wouldn’t win and I’d just waste my time and my money. He said I should focus on my recovery.” He exhaled slowly. “I went to a meeting after. And I’m going to another one tonight.”

“Good.” Emily nodded. “That’s for the best—”

“And I guess I’ll just go to a meeting every time I wish I were floating away from it all.” Lucky took his lawyer’s letter and tossed it in the busboy’s bin at the next table. “I hope your brother takes care of them. They deserved better than me.”

Greystone Manor: Living Room

 “How is Elizabeth taking it?” Sonny asked quietly after Jason had discussed the meeting with him.

“She went to Robin and Patrick’s. She’s—she’s devastated.” Jason sat on the sofa, his head in his hands. “I never—I never thought about the file she destroyed. I—I thought if they had any evidence against her, they would have come for her already.”

“What does Diane say about the chances?” Sonny asked. “She didn’t think the charges would be an issue—”

“When it was just Elizabeth risking her career because Lucky wanted her to steal the pills, no, Diane wasn’t worried. She said no jury in her right mind would believe it.” Jason clasped his hands between his knees and looked at Sonny. “But Scott’s not going with that narrative.”

“What’s the other narrative?” Sonny frowned.

“He’d gone through Elizabeth’s records from the station. Every time her name appeared in report—every time it was even remotely related to me or you.” His mouth twisted as he remembered. “He’s using our history to suggest we were having an affair, that she drugged Lucky to keep him from learning about it until she could leave him. That she stole those files to protect me the way I’ve always protected her.”

He waited a moment. “And I could see it in my head—the way he’d pictured it. A jury isn’t going to understand how it happened. They’re not—” Jason rose, restless. “An officer was tailing her last summer—trying to prove an affair to Lucky. She used to come to the penthouse, stressed about Lucky. Worried he was getting addicted. Wanting my advice. A jury won’t believe that’s all we were doing.”

“Not with you getting married only months later.” Sonny shook his head. “Did Scott say what he wanted you to flip on me for? Any specific case?”

“I get the feeling he’d like anything I can prove,” Jason muttered. “We have time to think about it. Diane is—she’s going to look at the case files. He gave her copies of the reports, of the evidence. He wants her to know how strong the case is.”

“I thought Diane said it would be career suicide to go after you like this?” Sonny demanded. “Can’t we file a grievance?”

“Diane was hoping he’d tip his hand, show his vendetta against you.” Jason paced to the window, looked out over the grounds. “But he was smart. He phrased it as a matter of priority. If he were busy prosecuting you, he wouldn’t have time for petty offenses.” Jason looked at him. “Diane is going to put together a trial strategy.”

“If—” Sonny hesitated. “If she went to trial—”

“If she were convicted,” Jason said, “she’s looking at ten years. And no judge is going to be lenient on my wife.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “We just—we have to get the charges dismissed. That’s all. Diane will get us out of it—”

But Sonny doubted it. Jason had panic etched into his normally stoic features. And if it came down to letting Elizabeth go to trial and possibly to jail or testifying against him…

Sonny had a good idea what his chances were.

“Jason, if we need to talk about you testifying—”

“It’s not going to come to that. Elizabeth told me not to even think about it. She said we’d find another way.”

But Jason didn’t meet his eyes.

Patrick’s Apartment: Living Room

 “I don’t understand.” Patrick scowled. “Jason has a get out of jail free card for you, and for some reason, Sonny Corinthos isn’t cooling his heels in jail already?”

“It’s not that simple,” Robin told him, with a shove to the shoulder.  But she looked skeptical as she turned back to Elizabeth. “What does Diane think?”

Elizabeth rubbed her arms, feeling chilled through her thin sweater. “She came back to the penthouse to talk strategy with us.” She looked at Patrick and Robin as they loomed over her, their faces wearing identical expressions of confusion and concern. “Scott gave us a week. She wants to go over his reports to determine how a trial might go.”

“Trial?” Patrick demanded. “This is insanity. Sonny Corinthos is an actual criminal. You are his actual pregnant wife. Why isn’t this simple?”

“I told Jason it wasn’t even on the table.” Elizabeth rose to her feet. “Maybe if it were just the drug charges—I mean, those are insane. I never would have stolen from the hospital—” She dipped her head. “But the file—”

Robin held up her hand. “Stop there. If you say what I think you’re going to, Patrick and I will have to perjure ourselves in court. I mean, I’ll do it,” she added quickly when Patrick just scrubbed his hands over his face with a groan. “But I’d prefer not to.”

“I’m sorry.” Elizabeth closed her eyes. “I just—Diane can make this go away. She’s an amazing attorney. She’ll make this go away, and Jason won’t have to make this decision. I don’t want him to make it. I couldn’t live with myself, and I told him that.”

“So what?” Patrick countered. “He should do it anyway—”

“We’re waiting to see what Diane says.” Elizabeth licked her lips. “I just—I left. I told him I needed some space, and I knew he had to talk to Sonny.”

“Robin, maybe it’s because I’m new, but I don’t get it,” Patrick said to his girlfriend. “She can walk away clean. The drug charges are bullshit and the others—” He looked to Elizabeth. “It was a moment of insanity, whatever it was. They can’t seriously mean to put you in jail.”

“Scott Baldwin has wanted Sonny Corinthos for ages,” Robin murmured. “Looks like he might get the chance.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “Not because of me. I won’t be the reason—” She took a deep breath. “Diane will make this go away. I have faith in her.”

The alternative was too terrifying to consider.

+7

The human heart is a scary part in fact
‘Cause I could break you and you could break me back
Though my head says just forget it
You’ll get hurt and you’ll regret it
Ask me now and I won’t hesitate
– Hesitate, Steve Moakler

Wednesday, December 6, 2006

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

 Against Elizabeth’s better judgment, she allowed the front desk to send Nikolas upstairs when they called. Lucky wasn’t allowed past the front doors, but Nikolas had treated her fairly so far.

And maybe she could convince Nikolas to get Lucky to drop his pursuit of Cameron and avoid the court hearing where she would have to admit to that night with Jason. She did not want to be cross-examined about her relationship with him. Not at the moment.

And honestly, not ever.

She and Jason had gingerly discussed Diane’s visit, but had reached no specific conclusion, only that any decision would be life-changing and required some more thought.

Cody opened the door, his expression skeptical. “Nikolas Cassadine. If you’re sure.”

Behind Cody, Nikolas merely rolled his eyes. Elizabeth gestured him forward. “We’ll be fine, Cody. Thanks.”

When the door was closed, Nikolas lifted his brow. “Some security there.”

“He doesn’t like people coming to my home in order to harass me.” Elizabeth sat on the sofa and gestured for Nikolas to take a seat as well. “I’m sorry, I know we haven’t spoken since that day at the rehab. I thought you might be angry with me.”

“Not angry,” Nikolas said after a moment as he considered his words. “Sad.”

She frowned, tilting her head. “Because of my choices?”

“Because you didn’t feel you could confide in me.” He leaned forward. “I know your issues with Emily at the moment, that you feel as though she’s taking Lucky’s side, and maybe she is to a certain extent.  I also know that you need to do right by you, and by your children. The divorce was a good idea.” His gaze flickered around the room. “I just—I don’t know about any of this.”

Some of the tension eased from her chest as she realized Nikolas had an open mind. “There were a lot of reasons why I did this,” Elizabeth said.

“I’m assuming Ric was one of them.” Nikolas rose and crossed to a shelf where a framed photo of her wedding sat. Jason and Elizabeth stood next to each other, each with smiles. Robin and Sonny on either side. It sat next to another photo from the ceremony itself—from their kiss at the end.

Sonny had given her the wedding photos at Thanksgiving, suggesting with a sly smile that putting some on display would be good in case the PCPD ever came knocking.

They both knew it was just an excuse. Her wedding had been beautiful, and she wanted to remember those moments with her friends, with the man she loved.

“I won’t say it wasn’t a factor,” Elizabeth murmured. She pressed her hand against the slight swell of her abdomen. Four months along, and only just beginning to show. “But you know it wasn’t all.”

“I read the papers,” Nikolas said. “And I’m not stupid.” He looked back at her. “You always turned to Jason in moments of crisis, in grief. In sorrow. It was this summer, when you found out about Maxie.”

“I didn’t mean for it to happen,” Elizabeth admitted, “but I’m not sorry.”

“I told Lucky that filing for custody was a bad idea.” Nikolas faced her, setting the photo down. “That the papers were probably right. And that it would be better for everyone if you and Jason raised Cameron with the new baby. Lucky should have a fresh start, and I worry that some of this might be triggers.” He hesitated. “I’m not blaming you, just—”

“You’re just stating the facts.” Elizabeth nodded. “I get it, Nikolas. I really do. I can see how this might be a setback, and I hope it isn’t. I don’t love him anymore, but I don’t wish Lucky ill. I just don’t want him near my children.”

“But Lucky worried that Cameron would remember him, and wonder why Lucky didn’t want him. He didn’t want him to have the same doubts Lulu has.” Nikolas paused. “Lulu loves Luke, but there’s no doubt that he hasn’t known what to do about her. She was our mother’s pride and joy. And she fears he didn’t want her so much as he wanted whatever our mother wanted.”

“I suppose.” Elizabeth shifted. “But it’s not enough of a reason to allow Lucky to be in Cam’s life. Not after what he put us through.”

“I suggested as much to Lucky, but you know how he can be.” Nikolas sighed. “So I’m hoping you and Jason can figure out how to stop a court hearing.” He sat in the arm chair. “Insisting on one is Lucky’s petty idea of revenge. He wants to put you on the stand and make you admit you wanted Jason, that it was always him. That there was some sort of affair.”

“He wants to humiliate me,” she murmured. “Jason and I surmised as much. I’m not much interested in it either, but I don’t know if we can make it stop. A paternity test for the baby seems straightforward, but Lucky would have to let go of visitation for Cameron on his own.”

“Jason should adopt Cameron,” Nikolas said bluntly. “The only reason a judge would even entertain giving Lucky any custodial rights is that Cameron doesn’t have a second parent with legal standing. It’s patriarchal nonsense, but I’m afraid with your history of divorce, a judge might think keeping at least one stable father in Cam’s life by force is the best bet. I don’t agree, but—”

“Jason and I are considering it,” Elizabeth interjected, bristling at the accusation but understanding Nikolas’s motives. “It’s not something you can just decide over lunch. You know how serious Jason takes these kinds of things. He’d be making a lifetime commitment to Cam. I mean, I’m not saying we plan to divorce—” She stopped. “I don’t know how that would stop a hearing.”

“If you and Jason filed the paperwork before the hearing is set,” Nikolas told her, “I’d have a better shot convincing Lucky to drop the suit. He has a slim chance now. It disappears entirely if Cam has a legal father who lives in the home full-time.”

He stood. “I know we may not be close going forward,” he told her. “But you know that I love you, and if you never need anything, all you have to do is ask.”

Her eyes burned with tears as she stood and accepted his hug. “Thank you, Nikolas. You have no idea how much it means to me to hear that from you.”

Greystone Manor: Living Room

Diane scowled at Sonny and Jason. “I cannot believe the two of you asked to meet with me when you damn well know I cannot discuss Elizabeth’s custody arrangements with either of you.” She huffed. “Does attorney client privilege not mean anything to anyone anymore?”

Sonny frowned. “I just wanted to make sure Elizabeth has everything she needs and you know she won’t tell me—”

“And I want Lucky to go away,” Jason said bluntly. He crossed his arms. “They’re not just Elizabeth’s arrangements. Cameron—” He hesitated. “Diane. I’m serious.”

“Then ask your wife,” Diane retorted. “You live in the same home, I presume. She knows the status.” But she paused, remembering who she was talking to.

Men. Insufferable jackasses.

“I responded to Spencer’s attorney this morning,” Diane said. “I sent a copy of the paternity, offering to have another test performed after the birth of the child if his client was so inclined. There isn’t much I can do regarding Cameron Webber. Legally, it’s a gray area. Stepparents rarely have legal standing, but courts look kindly on petitions by former stepparents because they want to preserve the stability of the child.”

“Stability.” Sonny snorted and moved away, to pour himself a tumbler of water. Too early for bourbon, Diane thought sourly.

“I laughed at the notion in the response,” Diane told them. “Cameron has the stability of two parents at the moment.” She studied Jason. “Though I’ve told you already how to improve the situation.”

“I wanted to talk to Cameron about it,” Jason admitted. “He considers Lucky his father. I’m his mother’s husband. I’m his friend. But I don’t know how he’d feel if those roles changed.”

And responses like that were the reason Diane couldn’t stay mad at him. Adorable bastard. “Well, then you need to have that conversation with him. The sooner you file paperwork, the sooner I can scare the crap out of Spencer. If Elizabeth walks into that court and presents a normal nuclear family with Mom, Dad, child, and baby, the judge is going to laugh Lucky out of court. You might be an alleged criminal, but he’s an actual drug addict.”

She looked at them. “Now, if we can put away the reality show nonsense, I’ve been digging into Scott Baldwin. My sources in the DA’s office tell me he’s working on something, but he’s keeping it close to the vest.”

“Against us or Elizabeth?” Jason asked.

“Hard to say. He’s not working with the PCPD so much as he and Mac have their heads together. The problem with Scott Baldwin is he’s a good lawyer. A damn good lawyer,” Diane said. When Sonny rolled his eyes, she scowled. “Don’t underestimate him. He made some mistakes and that deal with Ric Lansing was beyond the pale, but it doesn’t change anything.  If Scott puts his head down, and doesn’t rush into anything, he’s a formidable foe.”

She turned her attention to Jason. “If he comes after Elizabeth on these drug charges, it’ll be because he knows he can break privilege. Because he knows a judge won’t toss him out. He doesn’t have Ric’s notes, but he has a brain. He knows they were trying to flip her. Which means she probably knows something.”

Sonny’s expression had shifted into trepidation. “Do you think they’re working out a way to flip her on me?”

“It’s possible,” Diane allowed. “I don’t see how they could do it at the moment. Elizabeth’s involvement comes through Jason, and they’re protected by privilege. They can’t break that. They can’t challenge it.” She looked at Jason. “You two have done a good job of being married, by the way. And the fact she’s knocked up by you makes it almost impossible for a court to say you’re faking.”

Jason scowled. “Don’t talk about her that way—”

“Exactly my point.” Diane jabbed a finger at him. “This is not a case of you and Brenda Barrett managing not to murder one another long enough to avoid jail.  There’s history with you and Elizabeth. So I’m not overtly worried about Scott breaking marital privilege.”

“But?” Sonny prompted.

“I don’t know,” Diane admitted. “There’s something about this that doesn’t feel good to me.” She paused. “What if…” And hell. “What if Scott uses these drug charges to flip Jason?”

Sonny frowned in confusion, but Jason’s eyes narrowed. He understand Diane’s point exactly. “Can he do that?” Jason demanded.

“Do what?” Sonny demanded. “How could he flip Jason? Jason’s not involved in this—”

“No,” Diane allowed. “But he might be invested in not letting the mother of his children go to jail.” She pursed her lips. “Technically, it borders on illegal. It’s one thing to flip one defendant against another, but a third party not facing charges? It would violate the Ethics Code.”

“But you think he could do it.”

“I think Scott wants Sonny’s head on a platter,” Diane said. “We tied his hands when it came to using Elizabeth against Jason. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Scott was trying anyway.”

“It’s too risky.” Sonny dismissed it with a wave of his hand. “The drug charges are weak—you said so yourself. All of this happened to keep Elizabeth out of the grand jury. None of us were seriously worried about the charges.”

“No,” Diane allowed. “And I’m still not.” She was quiet for a moment, her mind racing. She couldn’t stand not knowing what Scott Baldwin was planning. It would be too risky for Scott’s career to go after Elizabeth in order to scare the shit out of Jason, but just maybe… “Thanks to Ric,” she said slowly, “Scott Baldwin can surmise that Elizabeth knows something about Jason’s criminal activities. Would it be so much of a stretch to think she knows something about yours?”

“But she doesn’t—” Sonny began, but then he faltered. “Does she?”

“I don’t know,” Jason said. “I’ve never—I’ve never considered it. She’s…seen a lot,” he admitted. “But most of it is related to me.”

“But maybe not,” Sonny said with a sigh. “She and I were in contact while you were out of town. I put a guard on her. I can’t guess what she might have seen and not spoken about.” He smiled, almost sadly. “Her loyalty has never been in question, though I didn’t always remember that.”

“So which is it?” Jason demanded. “Is he going to try to flip me or Elizabeth?”

“I don’t know,” Diane said. “But he’s up to something, and you’ll have to be ready.” She reached for her briefcase. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”

As she left the estate, she wondered which tactic Scott would take and how her clients would respond. Would Elizabeth go to trial on her own charges to refuse to testify against Sonny?

Would Jason flip on Sonny to protect Elizabeth?

No matter how it shook out, Diane was going to have to drop one of her clients. Their interests were about to conflict, and she could hardly to tell one to sell the other down the road.

It would be interesting to see how it would turn out.

Morgan Penthouse: Cameron’s Room

Jason finished the last words in the chapter they were reading and set the closed book on the night stand. “Can we talk for second before we go on to the next chapter?”

Cameron, still sitting cross-legged in his race car pajamas on his new race car bed, nodded. “Uh huh. What about?”

“Um.” Jason hesitated. He hadn’t cleared this conversation with Elizabeth first, and now he thought maybe he should.  He wanted to protect Cameron from Lucky Spencer to be sure, but mostly, he just wanted Cameron to be his.

“You know your mother and I are married,” he began, shifting on the bed. “And you’re going to have a brother or sister soon.”

“Yup.” Cameron nodded. “I’m gonna be awesome at it.”

“I know you are, buddy.” Jason ruffled his dark hair with a smile. “And you know—the baby is—I’m going to be the baby’s daddy.”

Cameron frowned a bit, but nodded. “Okay. Right. Because you’re married and married people have babies.”

Because that explanation was simpler than the truth, Jason nodded. “Your mom and I—we were thinking about you. And we—I—wondered if you…” How did a man ask a four-year-old if he wanted a new father?

“Does that make you my new daddy?” Cameron asked, with a skeptical eye. “I have a daddy, right? I think. I don’t see him much.” He looked down, “Mommy said he was real sick and wouldn’t come around no more.”

“That’s—that’s true,” Jason allowed. “Would—would you mind if we signed some papers that said I was your dad? You—” His throat was tight. “You wouldn’t have to call me Dad. I mean, you could if you wanted to—” He was close to babbling. Damn it, he should have had Elizabeth here for this.

“Do you want to be my dad?” Cameron asked. “Do people change daddies a lot?” He frowned. “Am I going to have another one someday?”

“No,” Jason said firmly. “If we sign these papers, if we make this decision, Cam, I promise you, we won’t ever change again.”

Cameron wrinkled his nose, his expression almost identical to Elizabeth’s in that moment. “And you wouldn’t stop being around? I like playing cars and reading books.” He shrugged. “My first daddy didn’t. Mommy said he was always working.”

“I would always be around,” Jason told him. And he was going to keep that promise. His responsibilities with Sonny had shifted once the paternity test results came back. He would be a father. And nothing was more important to him. “Just like Mommy is.”

“Could I call you Daddy?” Cameron asked. “I mean,” he said, with wide eyes, “the new baby might not know what to call you if I didn’t—”

“Nothing would make me happier,” Jason told him. “What do you think?”

Cameron climbed into his lap and wrapped his arms around Jason’s neck, hugging him. “Okay. I’ll sign papers, too.” He leaned back, and smiled broadly. “Daddy.”

Jason’s chest tightened as he gripped Cameron’s head and pressed a kiss to the top. “I love you, Cameron.”

“I love you, too.” Cameron’s grin slid into a smirk. “Can I have a real race car like Morgan?”

Jason laughed. “We’ll see what happens at Christmas.”

Morgan Penthouse: Master Bedroom

 Elizabeth twisted at her vanity table, the brush in her hand falling to the ground. “You asked Cameron?”

Jason drew on a pair of sweat pants, balling up his jeans and shirt to toss in the hamper. “Yeah. I mean, I guess we should have talked about it together with him or talked about what we were going to say to him, I’m sorry—”

“I’m not…” Elizabeth rose, his old blue t-shirt falling halfway down her thighs. “I just—I wasn’t thinking about asking him.” Tears glittered in her eyes. “I should have. It should be his decision. You always seem to know exactly how to handle him.”

Jason shrugged. “It just—it seemed right. He had a father. If he didn’t want me, then we’d figure out another way to deal with things. But—” He looked at her. “Why did you think we hadn’t made a decision?”

“I—” Elizabeth hesitated. “I suppose I thought you were thinking it over. It’s not an easy decision to take on another man’s son—”

“I’ve never considered Cameron in that light,” Jason cut in. “He’s your son. Not Lucky’s. Not Zander’s. You’ve raised him. I love him, you know that. And it was easy for me.” He paused. “I just didn’t—I didn’t know if you’d want it.”

“To give my son an amazing father?” Elizabeth blinked. “Jason, I told you—from the moment I found out I was pregnant, all I could pray for was you to be the father. I saw you with Michael. I see you now with Cameron.” She stepped towards him. “I wanted to give you a child. Why would I hesitate to give you Cameron?”

“I—” Jason faltered. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I mean…” he exhaled slowly. “It’s one thing for us to be having this baby together…” He gestured towards her in the space that remained between them. “That’s a situation that existed before everything else, and exists regardless of it. But—” He paused and swallowed. “But to be married, to adopt your other child—it’s—it’s saying something.” He looked at her, his eyes soft. Open. Even vulnerable. “About where we’re going. And what we want our future to be like.”

Elizabeth closed the distance between them, sliding her arms around his waist. “I want my future to be with you,” she told him. “And I want my children to be yours.”

When he kissed her, closing his mouth over hers, almost devouring her, his hands in her hair—she knew that while neither of them had said the actual words, they’d made promises here every bit as important as the ones they had made the day they married.

A week later, Scott Baldwin called Diane to discuss a plea agreement in advance of filing charges against Elizabeth for theft of narcotics, drug possession, and obstruction of justice.

+9

Please don’t shout
Oh no
I stopped listening
I’m not listening
No, I’m not listening
Can’t you hear me?
I’m not listening
– Please Don’t Shout, Billie Myers

Monday, December 4, 2006

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

 Elizabeth pursed her lips and studied her husband before looking back down at the child-sized motor bike he had had delivered that morning. “Jason. Where are we going to hide this until Christmas?”

Jason opened his mouth, then frowned. “I—I didn’t think that part through, I guess. I just…I saw Cam’s eyes when he saw the stupid convertible Morgan has and I thought he’d want one—”

A smile tugged at Elizabeth’s lips as she knelt and picked up another box, this one much lighter. “And this one?”

“A helmet. He might—” Jason scowled at her, but his eyes were amused. “You’re laughing at me.”

“No, no. I wouldn’t dream of it.” The generosity of his gestures—the way he had fallen in love with her son and his penchant for anything fast or on wheels—if Elizabeth wasn’t already head over heels, this would have done it. “Do you think one of the guys would take it to Sonny’s? I’m sure he’d hide it for us.”

“Yeah, I’ll call Nico.” Jason passed her as he headed for the desk. “Have you thought about what we talked about on Thanksgiving?”

“The island?” Elizabeth asked. She bit her lip. “I like the idea, don’t get me wrong, and Cam would love to have Christmas on the island with Carly, Jax, and the boys. I’d also pay good money to see Sonny and Jax celebrating together.”

“But?” Jason prompted, picking up the receiver.

“But,” Elizabeth continued, “Cam has his Christmas traditions, too, and he’s been asking about Gram. He hasn’t seen her since we got married, and I know—that’s her fault, not ours. But we go to the hospital party, and Gram comes over during the day. We drink egg nog, and he falls asleep in her lap.” Elizabeth set the box down, twisting her fingers together. “I guess if I say let’s change it, let’s go away for the holidays—it’s admitting that Cam doesn’t have that anymore.”

“I guess.” Jason left a message for the guard to make the pickup and turned to her. “Did you want to call Audrey? Ask her?”

“I was thinking about it,” Elizabeth admitted. “I don’t know. I mean, we should go. Cam loves the beach. It’s warm. It makes sense to go.” She leaned against the arm of the sofa. “Robin, Lainey, Kelly, and I are having lunch before the holidays because Lainey’s going home to Buffalo, and Kelly’s flying to Key West for a few days.”

“Then I should call Carly?” Jason asked, frowning in confusion.

“Can we just…hold off a few days in making a decision?” she asked. “We’ll probably go. I just want to be sure—”

“Of course.” He took her hand, drew her closer to brush his mouth against hers. She fisted her other hand in his shirt, and he contemplated taking another hour this morning to go upstairs.

Then Cody knocked.

Jason pulled away and turned to the door. “Yeah, Cody? You can open it.”

“Ms. Miller’s here.”

Cody pushed the door all the way open to admit the redhead who breezed past the guard with an apprehensive smile. “Jason, Elizabeth. Sonny said you were home this morning.” With a cheerful tone that sounded flat, even false, Diane continued, “Marriage must be agreeing with you. You always seem to be here when I call.”

“Diane.” Jason moved away from Elizabeth, reaching for his coffee on the desk. “What brings you by?”

“Ah, well, my visit is twofold really.” Diane set her bag on the desk and drew out some paperwork. “Elizabeth, your ex has hired a lawyer—or his brother has. He wants to settle custody.”

“Custody?” Elizabeth blinked. “I thought—” She flushed. “When the Herald printed that article a few weeks ago—”

“Ah, the one that gleefully announced your pregnancy and speculated as to paternity?” Diane pursed her lips. “Yes, I rather thought he’d get the message myself. Your divorce papers stated custody would be determined later, so…Lucky’s attempting to determine it.”

“He can’t have Cameron,” Jason said. “He never adopted him. There’s no standing.”

Elizabeth blinked at Jason’s abrupt dismissal, but directed her attention back to Diane. “What should we do?”

“Well, a copy of the paternity test will do for this unborn child, but Cameron may be a bit trickier.” Diane slid on her reading glasses. “The lawyer acknowledges that while Lucky did not formally adopt Cameron, he has acted as his father since the child was roughly ten months old. Cameron considers him a father?”

“I suppose, but—” Elizabeth cleared her throat. “Diane—”

“And as there is no biological father or anyone else with a legal claim, there’s a case here. Lucky has shared in the raising, he’d like to continue.” Diane handed Elizabeth a copy.  “I’m not saying he’ll win. I’m just saying he’s not without precedent.”

Elizabeth scowled. “He’s just doing this because he’s angry with me. The police found drugs in the apartment. He has an addiction—when did he get out of rehab?”

“Last week, apparently. He’s staying with his brother and he’s been encouraged to keep his distance from you.”

“What’s our next move?” Jason took the paperwork from Elizabeth to look it over. “The paternity test, but what about Cameron?”

“Oh, well, we’re going to have a court date set by the court. Probably after Christmas.” Diane drew off her glasses. “You did hear that part about anyone else with a legal claim, yes? I’d look into finding someone with a legal claim.”

Elizabeth frowned at her, but the redhead steamed ahead. “Now, as to the other purpose for this visit—the mayor has appointed a special prosecutor vis á vis you and Sonny,” she told Jason. “He’s tapped Scott Baldwin.”

“Baldwin? He was run out of town in disgrace.” Jason’s scowl only deepened. “What the hell?”

“Well, none of the DAs since Ric—Durant and Alexis to be exact—filed charges. Scott’s record is clean, and he’s the only one who’s a glutton for punishment, I suppose.” Diane pursed her lips. “Elizabeth, this is a good thing for you. Ric despised Jason. Scott’s target is Sonny. You’re probably not a blip on his radar at the moment.”

“Somehow, that doesn’t feel all that comforting,” Elizabeth replied, “but if you feel good about it, that’s fine.”

“Well, that might be too strong,” Diane admitted. “I can’t promise he won’t turn his eyes on you, but as he lacks the personal connection, he might see what the rest of us do—these charges are insane. I’ll have more of a feel for him once he’s been on the job a bit longer.”

She made her goodbyes and exited, leaving her clients somewhat speechless.

“I can’t believe that bastard is coming after Cameron,” Jason muttered, looking over the paperwork again. “What did Diane mean about legal claim?”

Elizabeth sighed and pulled the paperwork from his hands. “She means you. You’re his stepfather at the moment.” She hesitated. “And I think she’s hinting we should talk about a more permanent legal claim regarding Cameron.”

“Adoption?” Jason asked, surprised. He blinked. “Are—are you sure that’s what she meant?”

“I guess it’s something we’ll have to talk about.” Elizabeth glanced at her watch. “I’m meeting Robin for lunch, so I’ll pick up Cam. Will you be home for dinner?”

“Ah.” Jason blinked again. “I don’t know. Maybe not dinner. But I’ll be home to put Cameron to bed.” He offered her a smile. “We’re on the last chapter in the first Harry Potter, and Cam wants to catch up to Jax and Morgan.”

“Okay.” Eager to be away from this moment and Jason’s stunned reaction to the idea of adopting Cameron, she kissed him on the cheek and darted out the door.

Metro Court: Restaurant

 “I think you’re reading too much into this.” Robin set her menu aside and reached for her tea. “You know Jason loves Cameron. You know Cameron loves Jason. I’m sure he’ll agree—”

“I’m not sure how I feel about it,” Elizabeth interrupted. They paused to give the waiter their lunch order before continuing. “I mean, they are good together. And Cam has all these new ideas about how a dad should act because he’s with Jax and Morgan, and you know how amazing Jax is with Carly’s boys.”

“Jax has been eager to be a father for a long time.” Robin pursed her lips. “And Carly is much less annoying now.”

“But Jax reads to Morgan, so Cam wants Jason to read to him. Cam wants to play soccer with Jason in the spring, because Jax is signing Morgan up and is thinking of being a coach.”

“I would love to see Jason as a peewee coach,” Robin said, grinning. “That is a fantastic visual. Elizabeth—”

“And Jason never protests. He brings home toys for Cam all the time. All Cam has to do is mention something he likes, and it gets delivered within a day or two.” Elizabeth chewed on her lip. “Robin, my family life is perfect. My husband is amazing, he’s incredible with my son. We’re excited about having a new child—do you understand how terrifying this is?”

“Oh, yeah.” Robin nodded. “When things are perfect, that’s when they fall apart.” She leaned forward. “Can you picture Jason looking at you and saying, no, no, I don’t want Cameron, I don’t want to adopt him?”

“No.” Elizabeth sighed. “No. But—”

“But nothing. You’re actually jealous, that’s what it is.” When Elizabeth just blinked at her, Robin shrugged. “You have two children, who are about to be tied forever to Jason, without any equivocations. You know that Jason isn’t going to walk away from Cam or the baby. And you want that kind of reassurance.” She reached for a bread stick. “You and Jason got married for a specific reason. But neither of you have ever treated the marriage like that. You had a beautiful ceremony with a romantic honeymoon, then you came home and started a life together.”

“I want him to love me,” Elizabeth murmured. “I want him to love me as much as I love him. But that seems like a lot to ask at this point. He’s been so good to me—”

“Maybe,” Robin said, “he’s having the same thoughts.  Jason just doesn’t reach out for what he wants anymore.”

“I know what you’re going to suggest.” Elizabeth thanked the server as they set her salad in front of her. When Robin had her food as well, she continued, “You’re going to suggest I talk to him.”

Robin waited a moment. “No. I don’t think either of you are ready for a conversation like that.  Neither of you is going anywhere. Maybe…maybe you just let this happen.”

“That sounds like something I can do,” Elizabeth replied with a wry smile.

“Though it sounds like you’re on board with Jason adopting Cameron.” Robin arched a brow. “No hesitation there?”

“None. If it’s something that keeps Lucky out of Cam’s life, then great. But more importantly, it would be great for Cam. Jason’s so good to him. He’s already been so much more there than Lucky ever was.” Elizabeth paused. “I want Cam to have what this baby is going to have. He deserves it.”

“He really does.” Robin sighed, a bit wistfully. “How fast do you think Patrick would run if I told him I wanted a baby?”

“Ah.” Elizabeth blinked. “Do—are you guys going in that direction?”

“Not really.” Robin lifted a shoulder. “But I’ve seen him with Cameron. And I want that with him. Am I insane?”

“No, he’s amazing. You know I love him.” Elizabeth hesitated. “But if you brought up babies right now? He’d feel sorry about it later, but he’d run so fast, he’d vaporize. A few more months, you might be able to say something without completely spooking him.”

“Well, I guess that’s the price you pay for falling for a playboy.” Robin wrinkled her nose. “You have to wait for the boy to grow up a bit.”

Greystone Manor: Living Room

 Sonny sighed and sank onto the sofa. “It really never ends, does it?”

Jason leaned against Sonny’s desk and nodded. “Diane’s not wrong in thinking the risk to Elizabeth is minimal at this point, but still—”

“Trying to flip her against you was the last tactic by these bastards, so I’m not convinced they’re not going to have Scott pick it back up.” Sonny stood, pacing to the window. He turned around. “The cops traced the stash of pills from their apartment to Elizabeth’s floor to GH. That’s not easy. Ric spearheaded it, but the cops have it in their teeth now. You can’t tell me someone who works down there isn’t pissed about Elizabeth shacking up with you.”

“I don’t know how Scott can go forward with that. It’s the only evidence against her, and with Elizabeth having divorced and remarried, there’s no reason for her to risk her career for him.”

“Don’t underestimate the boys in blue. They hate me. They hate you. And they’re not entirely fond of Elizabeth.” Sonny rubbed his chin. “But odds are Scott will come after me first. And I don’t think anyone is going to make that jump. No one is going to try to flip Elizabeth on me.”

“I told Bernie and Stan to make sure our accounts are squeaky clean,” Jason told Sonny, “and I put the word out to the Families that the authorities are looking into us a bit more closely for the time being, so we’re changing some things around. Zacchara bitched, but that’s not news.”

“Yeah, make sure there’s nothing to see if they do look.” Sonny waited a moment. “You said Diane had news about Lucky?”

“Nothing much to worry about.” But Jason slid his hands in his pockets and looked at the floor. “It’s not related to this.”

Just Lucky forcing Elizabeth to say out loud what most of the goddamn world had already figured out last month. He was making her admit the baby’s paternity in open court to embarrass her. Humiliate her. Jackass.

“If it’s about Elizabeth and the kids, I’m concerned.” Sonny stepped forward. “You need to be home more? The new system is working—”

“No, it’s…” Jason hesitated. “You know Elizabeth couldn’t put anything in the divorce papers about custody—not if we wanted it to be uncontested. So Diane just put a clause in there that any custody issues would be settled at a later date. It’s a boilerplate clause, but Lucky’s forcing the issue.”

“He doesn’t read the papers?” Sonny poured himself a glass of water, offered the pitcher to Jason who shook his head. “I’m thinking of buying the Herald and firing everyone. Maybe leaving a monkey in charge. Can’t do much worse.”

“Elizabeth asked me not to read the articles about it.” Jason looked away, still remembering the day he’d come home from a meeting to find her crying on the sofa. She’d begged him not to read it, and he’d promised her. If it had been worse than the articles regarding their marriage, then it was for the best he be in the dark.

Though Sonny’s idea was starting to sound good.

“He’s forcing a hearing,” Jason said. “Diane seems to think it’ll be enough to send over the results of the test, but I know better. He wants to drag her through the mud. He’ll want another test, put her on the stand and cross-examine her.” He paused. “And that’s just the baby. Diane says he’s going for custody of Cameron.”

“I guess there’s a point there. He’s raised Cameron since he was a baby.” Sonny sipped his water. “Cam talk about him much?”

“Not really. He asked me once or twice where he was. Elizabeth and I decided we would tell him Lucky was going away for a while because he wasn’t feeling well.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “We were hoping, with Cam being four and Lucky not usually being around, it would just…stop being an issue.”

“What does Diane think about Elizabeth’s chances? Did Lucky adopt Cam?”

“No.” Jason shifted. “But since Cam doesn’t have anyone else, the court might give him visitation.” He waited a moment. “Diane hinted I might—that maybe I should do something about it. Or at least, that’s what Elizabeth says.”

“Adoption?” Sonny asked. He paused. “Why not?  Keeps it simple. Does Elizabeth have any objections?”

“I don’t know.” Jason recalled her quick exit a few hours ago. “She was meeting Robin for lunch so we didn’t really talk about it.”

“Listen. I don’t know much about what’s—” Sonny hesitated. “I know the reasons this started, but I doubt you guys have some sort of calendar with a divorce date circled. It’s not like you and Brenda.”

“No, but—” Jason shifted again, uncomfortable. How could he explain the way things had changed since that night at Vista Point when they’d first broached the topic?

They had a life together, a routine. They had divided caring for Cameron—he’d gone to his first doctor’s appointment the month before, and they were finding out the gender later this month. She’d picked out a room for a nursery and was going to have it cleaned out in a few months. They shared a room—shared a bed.

They were married. She was his wife. And Jason didn’t see that changing at any point in the future. Or wanting it to.

“And I’m not asking for details,” Sonny continued. “I do think that it might be a good idea to consider something more permanent for Cameron. If it weren’t for the baby, you could ease away one day, play the role of close friend, honorary uncle. But Cameron is going to have a front row seat for you and Elizabeth playing Mommy and Daddy.”

“No, I—” Jason paused. “I get the reasons why—”

“But you have to want it,” Sonny continued. “It can’t be so Lucky stays away, or because it just makes sense, or even because it looks good on paper for Elizabeth’s charges.” He paused. “At some point, Jason, you’re going to have to think about why you and Elizabeth are married, because I’m telling you—she already is.”

And then, mercifully, Sonny dropped the subject entirely and they moved on to other concerns—shipments, accounts, and events on the island.

Jason wasn’t ready to examine his relationship with Elizabeth too closely yet. If he did, he might have to admit to himself that he wanted to be married to Elizabeth, to be Cameron’s father.

He wasn’t ready for that. Not quite yet.

Port Charles Municipal Building: Scott Baldwin’s Office

Scott Baldwin took in the austere interior of the office he had been assigned upon his return to the district attorney’s office. While the mayor had acquiesced to Alexis’s request that Ric take over her duties as district attorney, Ric Lansing was on thin ice and everyone knew it. Having his office disqualified from pursuing charges against Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan had been devastating.

Scott had made mistakes during his first tenure, but he wouldn’t make them again. There would be no rush to judgment, no quick charges. He would do this right.

And he already had the inklings of a brilliant idea.

Mac pursed his lips as he set files on an empty table to the left of Scott’s desk. “You don’t have access to any of Lansing’s files do you?”

“Nope.” Scott picked one the files up at leisure. “I just know his court docket. He was working on paperwork for a grand jury intending to investigate Jason Morgan on RICO charges.  Then he was disqualified from any case regarding Corinthos and Morgan—” Scott glanced up with a gleam in his eye. “As well as Jason Morgan’s brand-new wife, Elizabeth. I don’t have to have Ric’s notes to realize he was trying to flip the wife. She tried to avoid it with a hasty divorce and remarriage.”

“She had her reasons for divorcing Lucky,” Mac admitted. “I’m sure you’re familiar with some of them.”

“I am.” And Scott’s tone evened out. “As well as the rumors that Lucky was having an affair with your daughter. I’m sorry, Mac.”

Mac’s lips thinned as he pressed them together. “He took advantage of her after Jesse was killed—”

“I’m sure that’s true.” And Scott knew the pain of a father whose daughter had fallen victim to an older man who damn well should have known better. Sonny hadn’t given a damn about Karen.

“Are you going to attack spousal privilege?” Mac asked.

“Nah. No point. I don’t have Ric’s knowledge of Morgan and his wife, and I’m not allowed to have them. I don’t need them.” Scott glanced at a file from the summer. “But I like the idea of using the wife.”

Mac hesitated. “I may not agree with Elizabeth’s decisions or her choices, but—”

“She made her choice, Mac.” Scott lifted a shoulder. “She’s in this up to her eyebrows.” He lifted a report. “For example, I took a glance at a few things before I came in today. A file containing bank records and other things pertaining to Alexis’s investigation went missing last summer.”

“Sam McCall was blamed and fired,” Mac said. “You don’t think it was her?”

“Not likely, no.” Scott took out a single sheet of paper. “The sign in list for that day has Elizabeth Spencer, there to check up on her husband. Did anyone ever question her?”

Mac narrowed his eyes and reached for the sign in sheet. “Alexis did, informally, but—” He muttered under his breath. “She stole the file?”

“I can’t prove it.” Scott leaned forward. “Not yet. But if I could, I could take these drug charges and spin them into a larger narrative. She didn’t steal those drugs to make Lucky happy, but to keep him drugged. So he wouldn’t discover her actual affair. And I have proof of that affair—she’s carrying Morgan’s kid.”

Mac reached for his phone. “Should we bring her in?”

“No, that’s what we would have done in the old days.” Scott took a seat behind his desk. “When I meet with Elizabeth Morgan and her husband, I’m going to make them an offer they can’t refuse—not unless they want Baby Morgan born behind bars.”

“How are you getting around spousal privilege?” Mac asked. “I—”

“You leave that to me, Mac. This is a new era in Port Charles.” Scott leaned back, a broad smile on his face. “And I’m going to be in charge.”

+7

But there’s a side to you
That I never knew, never knew
All the things you’d say
They were never true, never true
And the games you play
You would always win, always win
– Set Fire to the Rain, Adele

Thursday, November 2, 2006

Morgan Penthouse: Master Bedroom

Elizabeth stood in front of the dresser as she fastened a gold chain around her neck.  This was the day. If all went well, she could put Ric and his threats behind her. Diane was sure that no other lawyer would go to the trouble of subpoenaing her.

If Ric was disqualified, she could just go back to her life. To her job. To enjoying this dream of having Jason as her husband. They would have to be married for more than a year to ensure the court took their marriage seriously, but maybe, just maybe, she and Jason could just…be married. Could raise Cameron and the new baby together.

Why not? Why couldn’t she have this life where she felt cherished? With a man she knew respected her, valued her, loved her son as much as he would love their new child.

“Because he doesn’t love you,” she murmured.

“Carly picked up Cam.”

Elizabeth twisted to find Jason standing in the doorway. “What?” She blinked. She hoped he hadn’t heard her self-recriminations. She was just in a mood today.

“Carly picked up Cam,” he repeated, stepping over the threshold. “He was pretty excited to go to school with his best friend and his new aunt.”

“Oh. Right. I appreciate Carly stepping in.” Elizabeth closed the top of her small jewelry box. “I’m nearly ready to go—”

“Were you saying something as I came in?” he asked, his eyes concerned. “Is everything okay?”

“They’re fine.” Elizabeth smoothed her hands down her Kelly green skirt. “Just—just nervous. I know we should be fine, but—” She shrugged. “Doesn’t change my anxiety level.”

“Okay.” She could see he didn’t believe her, but he said nothing to challenge it. Thank God. The last thing she needed today was a state of their marriage discussion.

It was perfect as far as she was concerned. Love would only be icing on the cake.

“We should get going.” She moved past him, but he caught her hand, drawing her back to him. “Jason—”

“Elizabeth,” he began, but he hesitated. “Once this part of it is over—” He stopped. “I don’t know. I just—it’ll be better once this is behind us. We can do anything you want. You can go back to work if you want, we can take Cameron somewhere for Thanksgiving—it’ll be better once these charges go away.”

And she believed that—believed that he would dedicate himself to her, to this family. And maybe it would be better, and maybe she would be happy.

But how long could it last? She loved him, she could admit that to herself, had loved him for so long, she could scarcely remember a time she didn’t. But he had moved on so long ago—to other women. He still loved Sam.

Would he hate her one day for trapping him?

“It can’t get worse,” she responded finally with a hesitant smile. “I’m not—it’s fine, Jason. I told you, I’m just nervous. It’ll be okay. We should get going.”

But he looked unconvinced as she pushed past him and left the room.

Promises Rehab: Lucky’s Room

Nikolas stepped over the threshold into his brother’s room, not at all looking forward to the discussion he was sure was going to go badly.

Lucky knew about Elizabeth’s hasty divorce and remarriage—Emily had told him several days earlier. Nikolas had hoped learning the news in rehab would enable him to deal with it in therapy, but he knew his brother.

And how stubborn Spencers could be.

Lucky was sitting in a chair by the window, staring over the grounds with a sullen look on his face. His scowl only deepened when he saw his brother. “If it isn’t Judas.”

Nikolas sighed and closed the door behind him, leaning against it briefly. “I wasn’t aware she was planning to fly to the Dominican Republic and then remarry within twenty-four hours. She wanted to me to witness your signatures. I did that.”

“You convinced me it was the right thing.” Lucky launched out of his chair. “My family is gone now—she took them to Jason. Do you think I’ll get within five feet of my kids now?”

Nikolas did not roll his eyes, though he was tempted. “Your family was gone before that. You got high, you had an affair with your boss’s daughter—and do you remember the last time you saw Elizabeth before you came here?”

Shame filled Lucky’s eyes as he turned away. “That’s right,” Nikolas continued. “It was the night she found the pills and you threw her to the ground. She’s pregnant, Lucky. If you were capable of that merely a few months into this drug habit you’ve developed, what kind of violence might you have unleashed later? She had a right to protect herself and her kids. Even if you recover, you’ll always be in recovery. And she has a right not to deal with that.”

“Fine. So what. That doesn’t mean she should go and marry before our divorce is a day old!” Lucky retorted. “How do I ever go back to my job? My wife married a gangster—”

“Ric’s coming after her,” Nikolas interrupted. “So maybe she went to him for protection.” Though after a week to consider it, Nikolas thought the marriage had been designed for Jason’s protection. Ric wanted Jason and Sonny, not his ex-wife.

And if that were the truth, Nikolas would do whatever was required to keep Elizabeth safe from his aunt’s husband.

“These charges would have gone away. She didn’t do it—”

“These charges would destroy her career, cause her undue stress during her pregnancy, cripple her financially—” Nikolas bowed his head. “You used to think about Elizabeth before you thought about yourself. You and Elizabeth—I could see what love was, what it could be. What I wanted it for myself—”

“That was then,” Lucky said dully. “I died. I never came back enough for her. She’s never loved me again the way she did.” He met his brother’s eyes. “She settled for me. You think I don’t know that now? Jason’s been single since May. How long has she been back in his life? That stupid damn surgery. I can still see her refusing to come home after he got her arrested for the operation. She almost sacrificed her career for him—I thought it was for Patrick, but I was too blind to see it.”

“Lucky—”

“I see it now. She did it for him. She always did what he needed. Did what was good for him. I was a consolation prize. She doesn’t need me now.”

Nikolas remained quiet. There was nothing he could say to that. Hadn’t he known that for years? He could still remember the sting of realizing Elizabeth preferred Jason to him, that she had moved on from Lucky to someone like him. The anger in her eyes when he challenged her on it then—

Some people were inside of you, and no matter how you tried to move on, you simply couldn’t. How could he argue with that?

“You still have a few weeks before you’re scheduled to be released,” Nikolas said finally. “I hope you use that time to work through this in therapy. You’re welcome to come to Wyndemere.”

“I’m going after my kids. Maybe I won’t get visitation with Cameron, but I want my child. She can’t keep the baby from me.”

“Get better first,” Nikolas suggested as he opened the door.

He had his suspicions about the baby, too.

Port Charles Courthouse: Courtroom B

If Jason so much as glanced to his left at Ric’s smug, smarmy face, his legendary control would splinter. He’d known Ric was an animal, a monster who preyed on the weak, on the vulnerable. He’d suckered Elizabeth and Carly, Sonny and Alexis. Had somehow maneuvered himself into a position of authority.

“Ms. Miller.” The judge leaned back in his chair. “You’ve filed a motion to disqualify the district attorney’s office from prosecuting any cases in which Elizabeth Morgan or her husband are involved. I’m curious—which charges are we speaking of? Hypothetical or—”

“Your Honor.” Diane rose, a pen in her hand. “My client, Elizabeth Morgan, worked as a surgical nurse at General Hospital until this last month. Ric Lansing’s office in conjunction with the police department reported to the hospital board that she was under investigation for theft of narcotics from the hospital with an intent to distribute.” She reached for a piece of paper. “I have an affidavit from Head Nurse Epiphany Johnson stating that Mrs. Morgan was informed charges would be filed shortly.”

“I cannot be disqualified from a case that hasn’t been filed yet,” Ric said smoothly. “This motion, Your Honor, is premature, but moreover, baseless as my brief indicates.”

Diane arched a brow. “Mrs. Morgan was suspended from her job without pay.  In her own affidavit, she states that she was informed that charges were imminent. How long should we allow a conflict of interest to continue? Your Honor, DA Lansing chose to be involved personally with this case. If this were to go to court, we would probably discover he pushed the department to investigate—”

“Hardly unusual, Your Honor,” Ric cut in. “The police department was avoiding looking into drug addiction in their own squad. The district attorney is concerned that if we did not discover the source of Lucas Spencer’s drug addiction—his dealer, so to speak—then, it might compromise further cases.”

“But the district attorney chose to focus on his ex-wife.” Diane shot Ric a scathing glance. “I do not have to prove an actual conflict of interest. The appearance is enough to challenge on appeal, if it were to get that far.”

“Mr. Lansing.” The judge leaned forward. “I’ve considered your brief. You don’t consider your previous marriage to be a factor due to its nature. You married due to a pregnancy that did not come to term, and separated due to the miscarriage.”

“That’s right, Your Honor,” Ric said smoothly. “My ex-wife, understandably, had a difficult time with the loss of our child. While we were separated, she became pregnant again by someone else. We made another attempt to salvage the marriage, but there didn’t seem to be a reason to. It was nearly three years ago. Mrs. Morgan,” he said, stressing the name, “has been married twice since, pregnant three times as well. I, myself, have remarried. We have an amicable relationship.”

“Hmm…” The judge looked to Diane. “Ms. Miller, the brief you filed is four times as long as the district attorney’s. You make…quite a few accusations.”

“And I can back them up.” Diane stood, a sheaf of papers in her hand. “Contrary to the rosy picture the DA is painting, their divorce was anything but amicable. I have a copy of a deposition Mrs. Morgan gave at the time to her lawyer, Alexis Davis, whom the DA later married. In it, Mrs. Morgan states the same reasons she states today, so this is not something that she has conjured up to preclude any case against her.”

“Yes, I’ve considered the deposition. Mrs. Morgan accused her husband of giving her birth control pills surreptitiously in her food and beverages, causing a life-threatening illness. Carly Corinthos has also filed an affidavit stating she was being held against her will and saw the DA committing the crime. That’s, again, quite the accusation—”

“And slanderous, I might add,” Ric cut in. “There’s no evidence—”

“The charges were dropped because the complaining witness was unavailable,” Diane said. “Mrs. Morgan’s police statement is on the record. But don’t take Carly Corinthos’ word for it.” Diane reached into her bag and pulled out more paper.

“Dr. Monica Quartermaine operated on Mrs. Morgan. She states it was a pulmonary embolism requiring emergency surgery. Dr. Robin Scorpio, head of pathology at General Hospital, will testify that the results indicate that Mrs. Morgan’s embolism was caused by an overdose of estrogen. Dr. Kelly Lee is Mrs. Morgan’s obstetrician and will state Mrs. Morgan was not prescribed birth control pills at that point due to her recent pregnancy and miscarriage. In fact, I have Mrs. Morgan’s entire gynecological history. She took birth controls pills between July and November of 2002, then again from February to April 2003.”

Diane held up another affidavit. “I have statements from several well-respected pulmonologists stating that the type of embolism Mrs. Morgan experienced was due to high levels of estrogen, not from long-term use or a hormonal imbalance—”

The judge held up his hand. “I get the point, Ms. Miller. Is there a reason your client did not press charges?”

“She wanted her divorce. She leveraged that very fact to force the divorce through.” Diane held up yet another sheaf of papers. “The divorce decree states that Ric Lansing will drop his opposition to the divorce if Mrs. Morgan agrees not to seek criminal charges.”

“Your Honor, she was upset at the time. Again, the loss of our child—” Ric began.

“This divorce decree, these depositions….” The judge leaned back. “The argument you’ve made to the court, Mr. Lansing, is that you and your ex-wife are almost friendly, that you attended her wedding last year—”

“And became drunk and disorderly, announcing to the world you had had an affair with your brother’s lover,” Diane supplied with a sweet smile. “DA Lansing is married to our beloved former DA Alexis Davis, who is aunt to one of Mrs. Morgan’s oldest and closest friends. The invitation was for her and a guest. He was not personally invited.”

“At the very least, Mr. Lansing,” the judge said when Ric tried to speak again, “your relationship with Mrs. Morgan is anything but amicable. I’ve seen the so-called evidence that you propose to utilize against Mrs. Morgan. It would not pass a preliminary hearing, but your office was intending to go forward with it. Therefore, I not only disqualify you, but your entire office from pursuing any charges against Mrs. Morgan or anyone in her immediate family.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes, felt Jason squeeze her hand. They had won. This was going to be over—

“Your Honor, you cannot tie my hands when it comes to pursuit of justice. Elizabeth Morgan is married to Jason Morgan. This office has the right to pursue charges against him—”

The judge held up his hand again. “A special prosecutor, independent of the office, must be appointed on any cases concerning Elizabeth and Jason Morgan or Sonny Corinthos, seeing as how he is your brother after all.”

“That is—”

“You’re free to appeal, Mr. Lansing, but you’ll lose.” The judge rapped his gavel, closing the session.

Ric waited until the judge had left the bench before storming to Diane’s table as she calmly gathered her notes. “You think you’ve won?”

“Walk away, Ric.” Jason leaned over the table. “You’ve lost. You over played your hand. Walk away.”

“I warned you, Elizabeth.” Ric stabbed his index finger at her. “I warned you. I tried to save you from throwing yourself on a sinking ship. You should have taken the chance—”

“Why, DA Lansing, is that a threat?” Diane drawled. “Just try me. I’ll have your office hauled up on charges of harassment so fast, your head will spin before the mayor cuts it off—”

“It’s not a threat,” Ric snarled. “It’s a promise. You made your choice, Elizabeth. You’ll go down with him.” He glared at Sonny who had remained quiet.

“Diane, about that special prosecutor—” he said finally after his half-brother had stormed out of the court room.

“I can’t promise they won’t appoint someone who will go after the two of you,” Diane said to Jason and Sonny. “But no special prosecutor is going to try to tangle with marital privilege. Not if they want to keep the job. So Elizabeth is off the table. And if she can’t be used as leverage, there’s really very little point to going after her for these scurrilous drug charges.”

“Thank you, Diane.” Elizabeth hesitated. “I didn’t think of all the medical evidence—and you did so much with only a few days warning.” She flashed a hesitant smile. “I wish you could have been here to help me then. Alexis told me I couldn’t file charges on hearsay—”

“Well, my dear, I am the better lawyer.” Diane gathered her bag, patting Elizabeth on the arm. “I would have raked him over the coals, and if a criminal case hadn’t gone forward, we would have shredded him in civil court.”

She turned back to her primary clients. “I’ll be in touch if I hear any gossip about a special prosecutor, but for now, I think we can relax. This particular storm has been averted.”

Sonny followed Diane out of the room, but Elizabeth lingered for a moment, staring at the judge’s bench. Jason leaned against the table where they had sat during the hearing. “He can’t hurt you now, Elizabeth.”

“Not legally,” she murmured. “But I would never count Ric out. The judge—you think he believed me?”

Jason was quiet for a moment. “I think the fact that you’re telling the same story today that you told three years ago helps. That Ric agreed to a quick divorce to forestall any further damage to his reputation…it weighs heavily on your credibility.” He paused. “Did—did you want to file something now?”

“No.” She sighed. “No. I don’t want to put Carly through it. I’m past it. If Ric stays out of my way, I’ll stay out of his. But maybe it’s enough that he knows I could if I wanted to.”  She looked at him. “Do you think it’s really over?”

“This part of it,” Jason replied. “But Diane will keep her ear out.” He held out his hand, waited for her to take it. “Let’s go home.”

+9

I shot for the sky
I’m stuck on the ground
So why do I try, I know I’m gonna fall down
I thought I could fly, so why did I drown?
Never know why it’s coming down, down, down
– Down, Jason Walker

Friday, October 27, 2006

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

Jason had just set his cell phone on the coffee table when Elizabeth descended the stairs later that night. He glanced up at the sound of her soft footsteps. “Hey. Cam asleep?”

“Finally.” She offered a tired smile as she joined him on the sofa, curling up against him. They had had what amounted to an almost perfect family afternoon—after picking Cameron up at school, they had taken him to Wyndhams where Jason bought him the promised race track set (and one or two extra things Cam just couldn’t live without). After dinner, the three of them had set the new toys up in Cam’s room where he played until Elizabeth put him to bed.

“Three stories before he finally fell asleep, but he was still looking at those cars.” She closed her eyes, exhausted by the day. From the newspaper article to the confrontations with Emily, Carly, and Sam—

To learning she and Jason were having a child together.

“Sonny called,” Jason said after a long moment. “His source in the DA’s office got in touch.”

Elizabeth lifted her head from his shoulder and frowned. “What? Why? I thought—”

“Ric’s going ahead with the paperwork to convene the grand jury,” Jason told her. “But it’s possibly just because he doesn’t expect to lose on Thursday at the hearing.” He took her hand in his. “But just in case…”

She straightened, twisting to look at him more directly. “But—”

“Just in case,” Jason repeated, “Sonny and Diane want to meet on Monday. Diane wants to talk to you more about your relationship with Ric. She’s worried that he might harp on the short time you two were together—it was a more than a year between meeting him and the final divorce.”

Elizabeth sighed and tilted her head back. “So I’m going to have to tell some judge all the nasty reasons I divorced Ric the first time, make some cogent argument for why I ever went back, and then explain why I left him again.”

“Yeah.” Jason hesitated. “And Diane wants to talk about some…things Ric might ask about if he gets you in the grand jury.”  She snapped her head back to look at him, but his eyes were trained on their joined hands. “If the hearing doesn’t work, Elizabeth, I can’t—you’ll have to testify. I can’t send you out of the jurisdiction. Not now.”

“Because you’ll be seen as an accomplice.” She pressed her lips together. “Yeah. I figured. We’ll—” She took a deep breath. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, okay? Let’s just…work with the idea that Ric was an awful husband who can’t be trusted to prosecute his ex-wife.”

“Okay.” After a long moment, Jason spoke again. “Emily’s called me all day, but I didn’t—I haven’t taken her calls. Do—do I want to?”

Elizabeth frowned. “Why didn’t you talk to her?” she asked curiously. “She’s your sister—”

“I listened to one or two of her voicemails,” Jason said. “Which led me to believe that she’s pretty angry at you. What’s going on?”

“Oh…” Elizabeth leaned back against the sofa. “She kept telling me to stick with Lucky, to give the rehab a chance. Apparently, me divorcing him and marrying you is going to be really hard on Lucky.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Ah. She thinks we were having an affair this summer.”

“I had a feeling.” Jason shifted again. “She asked me a few weeks ago if—if I gave you money for Cam to go to school.”

“What?” Elizabeth demanded. “How—” She huffed. “Honestly. She could have just asked me. Cameron Lewis—Zander’s father—he knew I was having his grandson. I didn’t—I was scared of having Zander in my life, in Cam’s life, because he was just—he was spiraling out of control…” She sighed. “But Cameron was a good man, and I knew he’d be kind to his grandson. He’d lost his wife and was alone in the world. So he left money to Cam in a trust to be used for his education.”

“Emily didn’t know about the trust?”

“I guess not.” Elizabeth shrugged. “I found out after I had him and by then, Emily was dealing with Nikolas and Mary Bishop. I guess it never came up.” She shook her head again. “But of course she’d think I’d go to you to put my son in a private pre-school. Why not? That’s the kind of person she thinks I am.”

“I’m sorry,” Jason began.

“I’m not,” Elizabeth interrupted. “Because now I know who my friends were. Lainey and Kelly called and left messages. They congratulated me for trading up. Robin stood by me every inch of the way. Patrick loaned his prize possession to my son—”

“Why are race cars—”

“Sonny arranged for my divorce and planned the most beautiful wedding,” Elizabeth continued. “And Carly duct taped your ex-girlfriend’s mouth shut. I know who I can count on, Jason. And it’s not going to be Emily. I’m just glad I know it for sure now.” She hesitated. “I’m sorry if it creates difficulties for you, I know how close you guys—well I mean, I know you guys have been working on things,” she murmured, remembering the distance over the last few months after Emily’s relationship with Sonny came out.  “But I can’t pretend anymore her priority isn’t Lucky.”

“Okay,” Jason said simply. “I’ll give her some more time to cool down. She’s the least of our problems.”

Which now included baring her soul for Diane Miller to use in court. Fantastic.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Miller & Associates: Diane’s Office

Elizabeth settled in a seat at a conference table, Jason at her side, Sonny across from them and Diane at the head of the table.

She knew that the next few hours were likely to be difficult. She would have to talk about her marriage to Ric in excruciating detail. It was true that Jason and Sonny knew the big moments, but there was so much they didn’t know.

So much she had hoped to take to her grave. But her desire for privacy was outweighed by the need to keep Ric away from her, from her family.

“So, Elizabeth, I wanted to say ahead of time that I’m aware this is going to be a bit rough,” Diane said. She drew out a tape recorder and set it in front of her. “I don’t want to miss any details, and I want to be free to pay attention to you, so I intend to tape this session. Do you have any objections?”

“Do you promise to destroy it after the hearing?” Elizabeth asked softly. “And is it possible to have the records sealed? I can…I can live with the three of you knowing what happened, but I don’t want any spoken record to ever leak out—”

“I’ll file a motion.” Diane gestured towards Sonny. “Sonny is present due to the possibility of a grand jury testimony—”

“But I can step out for this first part.” Sonny leaned forward. “I want you to be comfortable—”

“I trust you, Sonny.” Elizabeth looked to him, then to Jason. “I trust you both, I’m just—you’re not going to like a lot of what I’m going to say. I’m not proud of some of my choices, but I’ve learned to live with them.”

“I’ll do whatever you need.” Jason drew her hand into his, his thumb smoothing over her wedding rings.

“Ric delivered a brief in response to my motion to disqualify. He states that the marriage between the two of you lasted less than a year and ended amicably.” Diane slid the papers across to Elizabeth. “You were pregnant with another man’s child at the dissolution of the second marriage, and he agreed to generous alimony.”

Her stomach pitched as she skimmed Ric’s brief statement. “He makes this sound like I had an affair, that he tried to forgive—” Elizabeth blinked. “This is…this is such a lie, Diane. Every word of this.”

“He’s banking on you not wanting to say some of the worse details,” Sonny mused. “It’s been three years since you two were married. Not long in the grand scheme of things, but a lifetime considering where the two of you are today.”

“He says I was never the same after we lost—” Her voice broke. “God. He always comes back to that miscarriage. He blames it for every wrong thing he’s ever done, as if we’d still be together if I had had that child—”

Diane gestured for Jason to fill a glass of water. “Elizabeth, now that we know his position, I need yours. Go back to the first ceremony. Your decision to marry him.”

Elizabeth took a sip of water. “We weren’t dating anymore when I found out I was pregnant. He’d lied to me and done some horrible things to people I—” She hesitated. “To people I knew. To people who mattered to me in some ways. I couldn’t—I couldn’t deal with it. So I walked out.” She hesitated. “But when I found out I was pregnant…”

She closed her eyes, pressing her hand to the slight swelling of her child. “I always thought about having children one day, but it was abstract, you know? The way girls dream about getting married without knowing who will be at the end of the aisle. But that baby—” She looked at Sonny. “Carly talked me out of an abortion. Sometimes I wish I had never seen her that day.”

She turned to Diane, whose face remained stoic. “I was pregnant, I was working as a waitress and living in a studio apartment without a bathroom, without reliable air conditioning or heating. My grandmother and I were at odds over—well, a lot of things. We usually were. I was scared. And so I told Ric.  He made it sound like this could be a fresh start. He wanted to move past his hatred for Sonny, and I wanted to believe him because I didn’t have anywhere else to turn—”

Elizabeth stopped and took a deep breath. “So I married him. I knew he had done horrible things, but I—” She looked to Jason, then to Sonny. “I had some experience caring for people who were good men, but did things I didn’t necessarily agree with. That’s how I rationalized it. We all do horrible things, but maybe he could be different.”

“Elizabeth,” Diane murmured, “you don’t have to rationalize the decision to go forward—”

“I do. Because I did that to myself and I can’t always understand why.” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “It might have been okay, we’ll never know. Because I had the miscarriage, and I’m not—I don’t know how Ric dealt with it at first. I was—I was in shock. I was devastated. I’d had this little life inside me for a brief shining moment, and then it was gone—”

Her breath caught. “I’ve had another miscarriage since and it—it just stays with you. I couldn’t get out of bed for a few days. When I could finally face the world, Ric talked about Sonny. How it was your fault—he was convinced you had pushed me that night, but I never could believe that. However we felt about each other that night, Sonny, you were my friend. And I was yours.”

“I always wondered…” Sonny hesitated. “If you were pushed by someone else. You weren’t the type to fall. You were there because you were having a child. Because Carly was having a child. You wanted peace. You wanted safety. I understood that, Elizabeth. So I wondered why you would have rushed down stone steps.”

“We moved about two weeks after,” Elizabeth continued, because she couldn’t dwell on Sonny’s words, couldn’t think about it too closely. “I look back now and I think maybe I was just…tired. Worn out. It had been a long year already—so much had happened, and I just didn’t want to deal with the world. So when Ric told me he’d found a house with a nice yard—when he told me he was going to open a law office and we were going to have a good life, I thought…why not. He said he loved me.”

“You never saw the house before you moved in,” Diane said.

“No. I didn’t know there had been a breakfast nook there once—where Ric had a panic room filled in.” Elizabeth sighed and leaned back in her chair. “We were okay at first, but then Carly went missing. Jason and Sonny were convinced Ric had something to do with it. I couldn’t understand why—he was home so often. When would he have been able—”

She closed her eyes. “The period with the panic room is where most of the damaging information will come in handy, I think. You, ah, might need Carly to verify it. There were…monitors so Ric could make sure the coast was clear before leaving.  She…she told me a lot of it when I was leaving for Napa Valley that last time. I think she had tried to put it behind her, but I don’t know…” She lifted a shoulder. “There’s…you know the basics. He was never prosecuted for kidnapping her, which is just—I can’t believe he’s the DA.” She pressed a hand to her eyes. “I had a pulmonary embolism the day I found her. I passed out before I could tell anyone and Ric and Lorenzo Alcazar moved her.”

Diane frowned. “About the panic room—”

“I’m getting to that.” Elizabeth twisted her hands in her lap. “The embolism—it was odd, according to my doctors. I didn’t have any of the usual risk factors, but my estrogen levels were high. They told me I couldn’t use birth control pills anymore, that it was likely I had messed up my dosage or something. I wasn’t—I wasn’t on them. Not then. I—didn’t even take birth control until….” She took a deep breath, her cheeks flaming.

“Elizabeth, take your time,” Diane said. “I can have Jason or Sonny—”

“No, it’s—it’s fine. They know—” She raised her eyes. “I was raped when I was fifteen and you know, I hadn’t—I was a virgin. So I wasn’t sexually active. Lucky and I—once or twice, shortly before I called off the wedding. He—he took care of the protection. So I didn’t use birth control pills on a regular basis. Not until…I was in the hospital after I was kidnapped last summer.” She glanced at Jason who was looking at her. “And I just—I thought it would be a good time to start. So I had them for a few months, then stopped. Then another few months.”

She cleared her throat and avoided Sonny’s eyes as he stared at the ceiling. “I’m saying that because I read into it after I started nursing school. I didn’t have the right kind of build up for embolism based on long-term usage. I would either have developed it right away if the hormone levels were wrong, or I would have required birth control for more than three years. I want you to know all of that, because Ric is going to claim I’m lying when I tell you what caused my embolism.”

Sonny swore. “That son of a bitch—” He sat up. “I just thought he was slipping the pills—“

“Are you telling me—” Jason straightened, twisted in his chair.

“I can’t prove it with the medical evidence, but Carly told me she saw him slipping me pills.” Her eyes burned, but she struggled to continue. “He used to put them in the hot chocolate I drank in the morning. And sometimes, if I didn’t finish it, he would put them in a glass of water—she saw him slipping me three pills one day because he wasn’t sure I had ingested them.”

She looked at Jason whose face was expressionless while his knuckles were white where his hands were wrapped around the arm rests. “I swear that I didn’t know when I agreed to marry him again. Carly—Carly can tell you that I was upset, that I called her a liar—until she told me that Ric sat by while I was poisoned.”

“Poisoned?” Diane blinked. “How the hell is this man in charge of a patch of grass? He—”

“Faith poisoned a pitcher of lemonade, Carly saw her do it. And she told Ric. She warned him, but he couldn’t stop me. Not unless he wanted me to see him come out of the panic room.” She closed her eyes. “It would have ruined his plan. So he waited until I passed out to take me to the hospital.”

“You did know about the panic room when you married him again in December,” Diane said with a slight hesitation.

“Pregnant again,” Elizabeth sighed. “And I had alienated pretty much everyone I knew by that point. I was still recovering my eyesight after a car accident that fall, and Ric—he’s good at making you believe in him. He said he would get counseling, that he just—he blamed Sonny and Carly and he wanted revenge. He said that losing the baby had broken him, and I believed him, because it broke me. It had to have, because what else could explain what he had done?”

Her cheeks were hot as tears slid down them. Jason pressed a tissue into her hands. “We’re done,” he told Diane. “You have enough—”

“No, no. I have to do this. I have to make sure we’re safe from him.” Elizabeth wiped her eyes. “I married him because I was scared and alone. I was pregnant. And I blamed myself for Carly. He couldn’t have gotten away with it if I hadn’t been so blind. So maybe if we had a child together, if he could open himself up to my child, it could be okay. I still saw the good in him. I thought—he has a good heart and I can fix him. I can, if I just try hard enough—but I couldn’t. I never trusted him again. He framed Nikolas for murder, he manipulated Zander right to his death…but worst of all—” She choked. “He didn’t love the baby. My sweet little Cameron. He didn’t give a damn about him. He was doing it to prove he was better than Sonny.

“So I left him,” she said simply. “It was one thing to torture myself with a bad marriage, but now I knew my child would never be a priority. He would never look at Cameron and see his own. He’d always be my bastard child. So I walked away. And I filed for divorce when Carly told me about the pills, about the lemonade.”

“That’s enough,” Sonny said softly. “There’s no way a judge is going to let Ric prosecute her for anything. Carly will get on the stand and demolish him. She’s an eyewitness. There’s no statute of limitations on kidnapping, on attempted murder.”

“I’m inclined to agree that this should be enough, but I suppose…” Diane tapped her pen against the pad of legal paper where she had scribbled notes. “Just for form, we should discuss any information Ric might have gleaned from you regarding Jason and Sonny.”

“Nothing,” Elizabeth said firmly. “I never knew anything really important, and even if I did, I would never—”

“Let’s just—take it slow. Did Ric ask you questions about Jason and Sonny? Did you discuss them in any fashion?” Diane asked.

“In passing,” Elizabeth admitted. “You know, the way you might talk about friends and people you know. He was trying to work for Sonny, he asked if I knew him. I said yes, everyone did. Sonny and I had been friendly for years at that point, but I don’t know…” She blinked at Sonny. “We hadn’t been particularly close for months at that point.”

“And Jason?” Diane asked. “Did he come up?”

“In passing,” Elizabeth stressed. “As someone I had been involved with briefly.  I don’t recall him asking for more information, I can’t imagine what I might have told him.” She sighed and shifted a bit. “I think maybe he tried more for Jason at the time—it’s probably why he sought me out at all. Hoping for a scorned ex or something. It didn’t work. Whatever I know about Jason and Sonny is separate from the rest of that.”

“Are you sure?” Sonny pressed, leaning forward. “You have to think about this. Ric’s a con man. If he gets past the hearing on Thursday, we need to be ready—”

“I am thinking,” Elizabeth retorted. “I didn’t want to talk about Jason or you then. Remember? I was pretty goddamn pissed off and trying to put it all out of my head.”

“Elizabeth, we’re not trying to accuse you,” Jason broke in quietly. She twisted to stare at him. “It might have been an accident—”

“And you were pissed at us,” Sonny repeated. “We were in your face that summer about Carly. You pulled a gun on Jason—”

“Are you two serious right now?” Elizabeth shoved back from the table and got to her feet. “What would I have told him that was so goddamn crucial? I didn’t know anything, Sonny. That was the whole damn reason we were in that mess at all—”

“Oh, it’s back to me keeping you out of the plan again.” Sonny also stood. “You were demanding I leave Ric alone. You were protecting him while my wife was in a locked room—”

“Sonny—” Jason stood, holding up a hand. “That’s enough.”

“I didn’t know she was there!” Elizabeth snapped. “I turned him in the second I was conscious enough. You want to blame me for being in this mess? How about you? You didn’t take care of this—you let him into your goddamn business. Anything he knows probably came from you—if you had just taken him out when he kidnapped your wife like a normal criminal—”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake—” Diane groaned. “It didn’t hear that.”

“You didn’t give a damn about me then, Sonny,” Elizabeth snarled. “I was a means to an end. You didn’t think about what it would mean that I was married to a man who drugged me, who watched me drink poison—you knew all of this before I married him again. You knew I didn’t know the worst of it and you let me walk into it blind—literally,” she finished, venom dripping from her. “You and Jason covered for Courtney while I was sitting blind in a hospital room. I’m supposed to apologize for doing the best I could?”

Sonny took a deep breath and dropped it into his seat. “You—you’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Elizabeth—” She turned at Jason’s stricken voice.

“I’m not mad about the accident,” Elizabeth told Jason. “You did what you had to do, and Courtney had a problem. I got it. I don’t know, maybe I was able to let it go because I recovered. I can’t answer that. It’s not important.”

“It is,” Jason insisted. “Let me—”

She turned to Diane. “You want to know what I know? I know that Jason was shot for some reason in December 1999, right around the time Anthony Moreno was killed in a shootout. I know that I lied to everyone in my life to keep the police from finding out. I know that I had a bomb in my studio, but the police knew that as well. I didn’t tell them that Sorel planted it or that he admitted it.”

She hesitated. “I know Jason had something to do with that guy Roscoe being killed because I was kidnapped five seconds later. I know Jason is the one who shoved Manny Ruiz off the hospital building, not Lucky. Those are the things I know for sure. And I never repeated them to anyone except for right here in this room.”

Jason just stared at her. “Elizabeth—”

“The only person who knows that we weren’t sleeping together that December is Lucky, and if he tries to make something of it, I’ll tell everyone I lied to him to spare his feelings because I thought he was supposed to be dead,” Elizabeth cut in. “It’s close enough to the truth.”

“What—”

“Ah, well…” Diane capped her pen and switched off the recorder.  “I really don’t think we’re going to get that far. Though, in the future, I’d rather not know if you plan to tell a specific lie under oath.”

“Fair enough.” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “Sonny, it’s all fine. It’s over with. It was a long time ago, and I’ve put it behind me. He’s a lousy human being who’s just trying to terrorize us. “

“I was a selfish bastard then.” Sonny pressed a hand to his chest. “I’m not much better now, but I wish to hell I had told you what I knew then—”

“You were going through a lot with Carly and Alcazar. I made my choices. I have to live with them.” She looked to Diane. “Can we go? Is that enough?”

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

 Jason said nothing as they stepped out of the office and until Sonny’s limo dropped them off at the Harborview parking garage. He was silent as Cody rode the elevator with them before opening the penthouse door.

“Let’s—let’s go upstairs to talk.” Jason cast an eye towards the door, remembering as she had a few days earlier that his home was often Grand Central station and telling Cody to prevent visitors was asking someone to hold back a hurricane often enough.

“Fine.” She looked tired as she trudged up the stairs towards their room.

He closed the door behind them. “I’m sorry that Sonny—”

“Sonny and I never talked about that summer when Carly was missing,” Elizabeth interrupted. She wrapped her arms around her torso and looked to ceiling. “I’m not surprised he had some residual anger left over. He’s not wrong to be annoyed with me for being so blind. But he knows better than anyone how Ric can play a person. He actually let Ric work for him.”

“Yeah…well…” Jason let that go, because explaining that was beyond him. “Elizabeth—”

“And I’m sure he’s held back all these years because he knew what Carly knew.” Elizabeth tilted her head back. “It’s fine—”

“It’s not,” Jason told her. “Because I want to make sure you believe me when I tell you I know you didn’t tell Ric anything. I didn’t think you did, but—”

“You wanted to make sure.” She sat on the edge of the bed. “Jason, we have to get Ric disqualified. Because if he starts fishing with the basics, there’s no telling. He knows about Manny Ruiz. He has to. I saw the autopsy report—Manny had no gunshot wounds. Alexis declined to prosecute. But Ric might try to. He can’t work on cases that involve you or me—”

“I’m not worried about me—”

“I am. I told you—I will not be the reason you go to jail.” She closed her eyes, her face pale, her mouth set in a thin line. “After Thursday, this might be over and I can get Diane on getting my job back. Can we just stop talking about this—”

“Fine.” Jason let the subject drop, but he wouldn’t forget the way she’d looked in Diane’s office, hesitantly describing the nightmarish things Ric had done to her. He had nearly killed her with pills, had allowed her to drink poison—

Someday, somehow, he was going to wipe Ric from this Earth and he didn’t care what Sonny said about it.

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