Written in 58 minutes.

Monday, September 30, 2024

Bobbie’s Diner: Courtyard

Molly’s hand froze, hovering over the handle of the diner’s front door. Behind the panes of glass she could see the dark hair of her older sister swinging over her shoulder as Kristina picked up an order and turned back towards the door.

A run in with Kristina was the last thing Molly needed. She could pick up something closer to the court house.

She was halfway across the courtyard before Kristina’s irritated voice stopped her. “You can’t even say hello to me?”

Molly closed her eyes, counted to five, then turned to face her sister. “I find when I say hello to someone, they think it opens a conversation. I try to avoid that with people I don’t want to talk to.”

Kristina scowled. “You don’t want to face me because you know I’ll call you out on your bullshit—”

“My—” Molly couldn’t even complete her thought, she was so genuinely baffled. “My bullshit? Have you lost what little sense you had left?”

“Do you know what Sam’s been going through since you started your little war?” Kristina demanded. “Thanks to you, Sam’s life is destroyed—”

“Thanks—” Molly held up a hand. “I can’t—I’m sorry. How exactly is Sam’s situation my fault? I just saw her—”

“If you’d just kept your nose out of all of this, Dante wouldn’t have been assigned to the case,” Kristina retorted. “He was so busy focusing on that instead of his own kid. Rocco dragged Danny into trouble, and now Sam’s lost custody of both her children. Why couldn’t you just let the real lawyers handle it, huh? Why do you always have to go after glory?”

“That is a wild chain of events you’ve linked to me. Dante was barely involved in the case before he had to recuse himself, and Rocco and Danny were drinking for months, long before—why am I even justifying myself to you?” Molly shook her head, and turned, heading for the parking lot, then turned back. “You know what, Kristina? The reason I’ve been avoiding Sam is because you’re always there. The last thing Sam needs is someone who blames everyone else for her problems.”

“I’m helping her,” Kristina shot back.

“Yeah, the way you helped me and TJ? You want to try to help yourself to one of Sam’s kids?  Your kind of help, Kristina, is poison. I just wish I’d seen it sooner. Stay away from me.”

Webber House: Living Room

Elizabeth exhaled slowly, then turned to face Cameron. Her baby. The first child she’d brought into this world. The little boy with messy curls and a sweet smile who had made her a mother and day after day, had given her the strength to keep going when the world had seemed against her.

How did he get so tall? When had he turned into a person with his own thoughts and feeling and dreams? With his own moral compass and direction?

“I’m not going to apologize for trying to protect you and your brothers from all of this. For not wanting any of this to touch you. This is my problem, and I’m going to fix it. I won’t make my problems yours. I’ve done that enough, Cameron. You already delayed Stanford for a whole year—”

“Willingly,” Cameron said. “I have zero regrets about waiting to go, or coming home. Mom.” He stepped towards her. “I know you have guilt about how much time I spent with Jake and Aiden. How much babysitting I did, especially for Aiden. You think you took pieces of my childhood because it was just us, and it’s not true, okay? It’s not.”

“Cam—”

“Aiden doesn’t remember the way things were without Jake. Those years when we thought he was gone.” Cameron gestured to her, then to himself. “But we do, right? We know. And I can’t forget it. You’re not the only one who blames themselves for Jake running out the door that day.”

“You were just a little boy, Cameron,” Elizabeth managed. “It was my job to keep you safe—”

“Being there for my brothers, being part of raising them, making them into they are? That was a privilege, Mom. I don’t regret a single moment I spent with either of them. And I don’t regret standing here with you instead of being in some lecture in California. I’m not a kid anymore.”

“No, you’re not.” She sighed, then nodded. “All right. You’re not the only one, Cam, who thought two weeks ago that things would be different today. That somehow, the real killer would have been found. Or that the Feds would realize it’s not me. And it’s not Jason. The motion to dismiss tomorrow— it was always a long shot that this nightmare would be over.”

“So it’s just the fact there’s been no movement on the actual case?” Cameron furrowed his brow. “Joss said that the FBI did another search—”

“They did. And we got the preliminary results.” Elizabeth hesitated, weighing her words carefully. “Whoever put that gun in my car — we always knew it was almost certainly the real murder weapon. Otherwise, why go to the trouble? But they couldn’t match it definitely to the scene. That gave Diane the wiggle room she needed to make an argument for bail. I’m not a risk for flight without a match to the murder weapon.”

Cameron stared at her for a long moment. “But they found something that matches it. Another bullet?”

“One that’s not too damaged. The report isn’t back yet, but yes. I expect it to be a match. Which means evidence that links me to the murder weapon.” Elizabeth leaned back against the sofa. “What I’m accused of — with my links to people who know how to disappear — I never should have made bail. But the Feds didn’t fight bail that hard. They wanted me out.”

“They wanted to watch you and Jason. Because they think he’s involved.” Cameron made a face. “I figured—”

“He’s not involved. Not even a little. We’re completely innocent. Believe me, if Jason had any evidence, he’d have turned it over. He wouldn’t have let me spend a single night in jail if he knew something. We have nothing to offer the FBI about this case.” Elizabeth looked out the window, towards the road where her car had once sat. One that was now somewhere in federal custody. “For two weeks, they’ve got nothing out of us. So the reason they let me go isn’t working. And now—this new evidence increases my flight risk—”

“They might try to revoke your bail.”

“That’s a real fear.” Elizabeth rubbed her mouth. “And maybe they think I’m better leverage behind bars. Maybe I’ll turn on Jason, maybe he’ll confess to protect me. Either way, tomorrow — we find out what the Feds are thinking. And I don’t know what happens next. I don’t know if the judge would revoke it immediately. I don’t—” Her lips trembled. “I don’t know if I’m coming home from the court house tomorrow.”

The words lingered between them, and Cameron just watched her for a long moment, then took a deep breath. “Okay.  You need to tell Jake and Aiden. And Danny.”

“Cameron—”

“Mom. This isn’t about protecting them. They need to know that there’s a real chance they might not be able to see you after tomorrow. If you let them leave for school tomorrow and then you’re just not here — ” Cameron shook his head. “No. I’m telling you right now they’re old enough to handle this information, but they’re still young enough that it’ll hurt like hell. And they’ll be angry at themselves for going to school when they should be with you in court tomorrow.”

“I don’t want—”

“Jake’s been through worse in his life, so he can handle it. And we can help Aiden deal. Danny’s part of the family now.  If they were, like, eight, Mom, maybe I can see hiding this. But they’re not. We’re going with you. If they try to take your bail, I think the judge should see who they’re hurting.”

“I never wanted any of this to touch you, to come near you. Promise me you’re going back to school after tomorrow—”

Cameron shook his head. “I’m not promising anything. Not anymore. We take it day by day, Mom, okay? Right now, I’m good through this week. We’ll see what happens.”

Elizabeth lifted her eyes to the ceiling, tried to find the words, the patience, something she could use to put things back the way they’d been only weeks ago. “I can’t stand this. I can’t—”

Cameron came to her, and pulled her into a tight hug. Oh, and how his hugs had changed — from the little arms that could barely wrap around both her legs—she pressed her forehead to his shoulder. “When did you grow up? And who let that happen?”

“I’m going to be here for you and my brothers, Mom. And I won’t regret a single thing I have to give up. Because I know what you gave up for us—”

“I didn’t—”

“You think I don’t know why you became a nurse?” Cameron asked, pulling back so he could look at her. “You wanted a steady paycheck, health insurance, a life for me. But it wasn’t your dream. You made it your dream, and it’s worked out. But you did that for me—”

“I don’t regret it, Cam. Not a single second—” Horrified, Elizabeth shook her head. “You were always worth it, and I don’t even miss the life I thought I’d have—I don’t even think about that anymore—” It wasn’t like her mother and the fellowship she’d given up for Elizabeth’s birth, it wasn’t.

“I know. So trust me when I say the same thing. I’m not giving up anything I’m going to miss. Not when it means I’m right here with my family.”

FBI Temporary Offices: Conference Room

Caldwell squinted, and straightened when he saw Gia striding through the door of the conference room. “Did you drive all the way up here to get a paper copy of the report or something? Because I could have brought it tomorrow—”

“I wanted to see it in person. Today.” Gia reached out a hand, and he set a folder in it, still bewildered. She flipped through it, skimming. “Walk me through how you got this information.”

“An anonymous tip told us to look at the PCPD logs for September 14.” Caldwell picked up his notepad, flipped through the pages. “We found that two officers had been dispatched to the 400 block of Elm Street for a drunk and disorderly. That came from the report — there was no address. Just a block. The report was sparse. Two juveniles—Rocco Falconieri and Daniel Morgan—were brought in, found to be under the influence, and released to their parents, Samantha McCall and Dante Falconieri. Seemed to pretty cut and dry, except the tip told us it involved Webber.”

“Did it?”

“We pulled 911 calls from the time of the report,” Caldwell continued. “Two came in, within about ten minutes of each other. The first was to report the two teenagers walking around Elm Street — she’d nearly hit them with her car. And the second was from 46 Elm Street. Three teenagers arguing on the sidewalk, making a lot of noise and one of them was on the ground like they’d passed out. Neighbor overheard them arguing about vape pen and being high.”

“Three teenagers.” Gia exhaled slowly. “That’s Elizabeth Webber’s neighbor. 46? She lives at 44 doesn’t she?”

“She does. Which explains why those kids were picked up on the 400 block, doesn’t it? They’re in her neighborhood—”

“Two drunk teenagers heading to her house.” Gia closed the folder. “If the third teen had been under the influence, they’d have brought him in.”

“According to our tip, they did. Only Dante Falconieri wanted the drugs to be hushed up and to make the third teen disappear from the files. The second 911 call isn’t in the report. And since the kids were released—”

“No further paper trail.” Gia pressed her lips together. “It’s not much,” she said finally. “No evidence that any drug use happened in the house or under Elizabeth’s influence or with her knowledge. If anything, this Dante has something to answer for.” She looked at him. “But Reynolds is going to use it anyway to revoke her bail.”

“He’s going for revocation?” Caldwell pursed his lips. “I guess that makes sense. Webber’s kept herself clean other than some custody dispute with Morgan’s ex, but she comes out smelling like a rose in that case. I guess the match makes the flight risk question come up again, and this report—”

“Would suggest she can’t stay out of trouble.” Gia closed the folder, then pulled out a chair and sat down, considering her thoughts, and pulling together how she wanted to approach this. “I can’t stop him from going into court tomorrow and telling the judge Elizabeth Webber is a flight risk and that there’s a strong enough case to justify the charges. Because that—well, that part is true.”

“I sense a ‘but’ coming,” Caldwell said, pulling out his own chair to take a seat. “What are you thinking?”

“Reynolds can’t see it because Pikeman was his, and he’s still pissed at Morgan for how it went down. And I always understood how your investigation focused on him with the evidence we had at the beginning,” Gia said. “Maybe we can argue about how hard you went at his kids—”

“Had no choice—”

“But you didn’t break them.”

“No. And I really thought we would. Considering he’s been walking in and out of their lives. Plus, the youngest has a chip on his shoulder about his mom. Thought we’d piss him off enough he’d let the truth spill.” Caldwell grimaced. “Teenagers don’t hold up under that kind of pressure.”

“Not unless they’re telling the truth.” Gia leaned back in her chair. “I came onto this case thinking the same as Reynolds, you know. I had real doubts Elizabeth Webber was the shooter, but there’s enough in her case file to suggest she’d cover for Jason Morgan.  But I kept an open mind, and I’ve talked to the locals. They’ve put together some really compelling evidence that really makes it clear neither of them are the shooter. Which leaves us with two options. Either they’re innocent — or Jason Morgan set up a hit on an FBI agent with his teenager children, nephew, girlfriend, and a dozen other young witnesses in earshot who easily could have ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy it.”

“I…thought at the beginning one or both of them had to be involved. Especially after we found the gun. But the time frame for this shooting — it’s such a small window — ” Caldwell stroked his chin. “I can’t believe he doesn’t know anything. But did he set it up? I don’t know anymore.”

“Neither do I. Because here’s my real question — ” Gia leaned forward. “Every piece of evidence we have that paints Elizabeth in a bad light? It’s coming from an anonymous tip. We’d never go near her trunk without that call. And now we have a police report falling into our lap right before the hearing? Someone else is directing this investigation, and I think if we find that person, we find our killer.”

+32

Was hoping to get one more scene in, but couldn’t manage it. I gotta tell you, I almost want to try to get back to updating more because I feel like I’m finally back into the story groove. I need to find time in the schedule. Or we need to add more hours in the day. SOMETHING.

Monday, September 30, 2024

Hanley Federal Building: U.S Attorney’s Offices

“I think it’s a mistake,” Gia said, with a quick shake of her head. “I don’t think she’s a flight risk, and you’ll just piss everyone off asking for a bail revocation we can’t win.”

“First, she only got bail because I didn’t argue that hard.” Reynolds leaned forward, tapped his pen on the folder in front of him. “And having her out for the last few weeks hasn’t helped us one goddamn—and don’t start with me about her not being guilty. We’ve been over this—”

“And we’re going to keep going over this.” Gia lifted her chin. “Look, you and I work well together because we both push each other to face reality. To talk about the hard facts. And the fact is that Elizabeth Webber has a rock solid alibi with evidence that corroborates her statements. She ran towards the gunshots. She absolutely broke her shoe doing that —” She flipped through her folder and slapped down the still frames. “Caldwell’s interrogation of Jake Webber. Elizabeth comes in, and she’s wearing sneakers—”

“Maybe she has bad fashion sense—”

Gia slapped down another printout. “Brook Lyn Quartermaine posted a family shot from the barbecue. Elizabeth, wearing the sandals an hour before the shooting. You think Diane Miller isn’t reading the report and pulling the same information?”

Reynolds exhaled slowly. “Gia—”

“I know. I know. You don’t think she’s the shooter, you think Morgan did this. You think he set himself up with an alibi from his mother or the kids, and arranged for someone else to take out Cates. But you’re walking into court with a theory of the crime that you know didn’t happen—”

“Elizabeth has a short window to make the shot,” Reynolds interrupted coldly. “She knows it. She loses track of time with the kids, and has to run down to the boat house. Breaks her shoe. There you go. Done.”

“And the kids who saw her going off with Michael before the shooting? Not enough time for her to walk to the garden, then run to the boathouse and shoot John Cates.” Gia scowled. “Look, I’m not saying Jason Morgan isn’t guilty. I’m just—I’m not comfortable going into court tomorrow to argue before a federal judge a theory of the crime that I don’t think happened. I don’t think she’s involved, Noah. I think Morgan or someone else planted the gun or left it in her trunk afterward.”

“Then she should tell us what she knows—”

“You’re not listening—” She huffed when the phone rang and Reynolds held up a finger to cut her off while he lifted the receiver to his ear.

“Yeah? What do you have? Really? Wait—” Reynolds swiveled to his desktop monitor. “Yes, I see the email. All right. I’ll check it out and get back to you.” He hung up, then scanned the email, clicking an attachment.

“What is it?” Gia asked.

He grinned, then turned to look at her. “A police report connecting Webber and her kids to drug use in the home.”

She went still.  “What?”

Webber House: Kitchen

Cameron found his mother loading the dishwasher and remained at the threshold between the kitchen and living room. “Uh, everyone gone?”

Elizabeth flicked him a glance, then returned to rinsing out a coffee cup and setting it in the top rack. “Yes. Your brothers are at school, and Jason and Danny had an appointment at the hospital.”

“Oh.” Cameron came into the room, slid onto one of the stools. “I thought he was going back to school this morning.”

“He’s going tomorrow. Jason wanted him to see the doctor first.”

“Oh,” he said again, then folded his hands on the counter, staring at them. “I know you’re mad at me.”

“Mad? I’m not mad.”

Now he lifted his eyes to find his mother staring back at him coolly. “Mom. Can we talk about this?”

“I wasn’t aware there was anything to talk about.” She folded her arms. “You sounded like you had it all figured out yesterday. What do you need me to say?”

Cameron opened his mouth, then closed it. He hated when his mother did this — when she was all frosty and sarcastic. It was like building a brick wall of ice — chipping away would just give you frostbite. “I should have talked to you, okay? Before just…deciding.”

“I’m sorry, I thought we did the last time you came home. Made a decision to handle this. Was I confused, Cameron?” Elizabeth asked. “Did I imagine you making a deal with Jason that he’d take care of airfare for you to come home every other week?”

“No—”

“And the return ticket you had yesterday—wasted money. I raised you better than that.”

“You raised me to take care of my brothers,” Cameron argued. “I’m doing that. Circumstances changed—” When his mother just shook his head, he scowled. “No, don’t do that. Mom. Come on. Stop acting like this is something stupid I did, okay? I made arrangements to skip a few in person lectures. I’ll get the notes, and I’m going to miss one lab. That’s it. I can handle the rest of it. I didn’t do this lightly—”

“You did this without speaking to me—”

“You’re my mother, and I love you, but I’m not a kid anymore. I don’t actually have to get your permission.” He got to his feet. “And you’re going to stop treating me like I’m twelve.”

“You deliberately waited until the last minute to tell me you weren’t going — so that I wouldn’t have time to change your mind — if you want to be treated like an adult, then act like one.”

“You mean like you do?” Cameron demanded. “How about nearly getting thrown in jail for kidnapping, Mom? How about helping Uncle Nikolas keep a pregnant woman hostage? Is that an adult thing or—”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together, took a deep breath. “I made a mistake—”

“That’s not a mistake, Mom. You made a decision, and then you threw Uncle Nikolas under the bus to get out of it. I’m not saying I wanted you to go jail, and you know I don’t give a damn about Esme Prince. Not after what she did to Spencer. But she should have been in jail all those months. She never would have able to get amnesia and wiggle out of trouble—” He took a deep breath. “I don’t want to fight with you. I should have talked to you before  yesterday and I’m sorry. But I knew you’d do this. I knew you’d be angry about it, and you wouldn’t agree, and we’d go round after round like this. Because I fight like you do. We both go for the jugular because it’s quicker.”

She closed her eyes, then combed her hands through her hair. “Cameron.”

“Because  yeah, we had an agreement. Two weeks ago. When I thought this whole thing was stupid. I thought the next time I came home, they’d have, you know, found the real killer.” Cameron laid his hands on the counter. “But it’s worse now. Right? I’m not imagining that.”

“I don’t want what’s happening here to stop you or Jake—”

“I agreed to go back to California because I didn’t want you to cry. Not again. I was on the phone, Mom. When you got home after making bail.”

Elizabeth looked at him, her eyes shimmering. “I’m fine now—”

“You’re doing what you’ve done my whole life. You put on the mask, and you pretend for us. When Lucky walked out, when we lost Jake, when the truth about Jake Doe blew up — when Franco pulled his stunts and then when he died—” Cameron shook his head. “You put on the mask, you pretend to smile and hold it together, and for my entire life, I believed it was the real you. I just thought that my mother was like concrete. That nothing could break you.” His voice changed, thickened. “And then I was in California, on a stupid phone, watching you break down. Listening to you cry. And that was after five days in jail.”

She started to speak, then shook her head, folding her arms around her torso.

“I would have promised anything if I thought it would keep you together. Because that scared the shit out of me, Mom. I came home, I tried to keep everything light. I tried to focus on the good. But I’m not going to forget that night. Or the way you and Jason sounded when you didn’t know I was listening. What’s happening that made you scared again?”

She shook her head again and walked past him, heading for the living room and he followed. “Talk to me, Mom. I can handle it.”

“It’s not—” Elizabeth turned, lifting her hands. “It’s not about you. Okay? It’s me. I’m not putting any of this on you. I’m your mother. It is my job to protect you. You are going back to Stanford, you’re going to graduate, and go to medical school and have everything you ever dreamed about—”

“Mom—”

“So if you need me to sign some paper that says you can be Aiden’s guardian if something happens to Jason, okay, fine. I’ll sign it. But you are going back to school—”

“You can’t make me go anywhere,” Cameron said gently. “Not anymore. I’m not a kid. You raised me to stand up for what’s important. And I’m doing that. I’m not going to be three thousand miles away when my family needs me.”

The tears spilled down now and she turned away, holding her fingers against her mouth.

“Answer my question, Mom. What’s happening? What’s changed?”

General Hospital: Fletcher’s Office

Danny picked at a piece of his sweater. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

Dr. Fletcher, sitting across from him with that stupid same patient expression on his face, balanced the notebook on his knee. “I don’t want you to do anything, Danny. I ask the questions. You answer them however you want. Or not.”

“You’ll just think I’m avoiding the whole thing.” Danny made a face. “I don’t know is an answer, okay.”

“We don’t have to talk about the hearing anymore—”

“We can’t talk about something I didn’t go to,” Danny retorted. “I told you. They wouldn’t let me. I know Dad said I wouldn’t want to go, and that it wasn’t even up to him, which, okay, fine. But I’m not a stupid kid, right? I should get a say in what happens to me. And not through some lawyer. She got to go and speak for me, but I should have been there.”

“What do you think would have been different?”

Danny frowned, looked at him. “What?”

“If you’d gone,” Fletcher clarified. “What would you have said? How would you like the outcome to have been different?”

“I—” Danny stopped. “I don’t know,” he answered, but the question was an interesting one. “I wanted to see my mother. And I got to see her the next day, but it just ended up in a fight like it always does. She has an idea in her head of how things are and she doesn’t listen when I talk. Maybe in a court, when she has to be quiet, it’d be different, you know?”

“We can do that, you know,” Fletcher said, and Danny furrowed his brow. “We can do a session with your mother where she has to listen to you. I can’t punish her with a fine if she doesn’t follow the rules,” he added, “so it won’t be the same.”

“The last time I asked her to come see you, she acted like it was a great idea until she remembered Elizabeth found you, and then she started that whole fight, and it ruined everything.” Danny shook his head. “It wouldn’t make anything better. No matter what I do, Mom feels attacked. And everything gets worse. Dad tried, you know. He didn’t want her to feel like a bad mother, so he didn’t choose the real supervised visits like Drew did with Scout. He said I could see her however much I want with my grandma or aunts around. He thought that would be better or maybe he didn’t want me to blame him.”

“And you think that was a mistake?”

“I don’t know. It’s not his fault, I guess,” Danny said begrudgingly. “But he’s always doing that, I guess. Trying to be fair to everyone, but you can’t do that, right? Sometimes people are just wrong. Like Mom was wrong to keep me from seeing Dad, and he just wanted to avoid the court thing so much he let her get away with it. But we ended up here anyway, and made it would have been better if we’d done it months ago.”

“Let’s talk about the visit with your mother.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. Mom was acting weird and being too nice—and then Grandma told I’d come back from seeing you, and she asked me questions but I didn’t really want to talk to her about it.”

“Why?”

“That’s a stupid question,” Danny retorted. “Mom didn’t want me to come here in the first place. She’ll tell you it’s because it was Elizabeth’s idea, and okay, sure, but it’s because she thinks you’re going to tell me she’s a terrible mother, and that’s, like, her worst fear. So she doesn’t actually want to talk about it. She doesn’t care what I say here as long as it’s not blaming her. She started to apologize about the fight with Elizabeth again, but it was like she was blaming me so I knew I could piss her off and make her say what she really feels.” He looked away, stared hard at the bookcase against the wall. “So I brought up Elizabeth—” His throat tightened. “I brought her up first,” he said, swinging his gaze back to the doctors. “I brought up the fight, not my mother. Because the only time my mother’s ever honest and tells me what she really thinks is when I piss her off, and it’s a shortcut when I talk about Elizabeth. So I did it. And it worked. My mom doesn’t care about anyone but herself. And that includes me.”

+35

Written in 64 minutes.

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Webber House: Street

Unless you don’t trust me to stay either.

Elizabeth turned her head to look at him, found his eyes on hers. “You know it isn’t that simple.”

“I think maybe it is,” Jason replied.  “Otherwise, why not give Cameron the paperwork he wants, and send him back to school? Yeah, he’ll miss a few classes staying through to Tuesday, but he’s not threatening to drop out.”

“Not yet.” Elizabeth scrubbed her hands down her face, then exhaled. “Cameron…has had to pick up the slack for my poor choices his entire life,” she said slowly. “You and I both know that I haven’t had the best judgment in men,” she added, and didn’t look at him for his reaction. He probably wouldn’t say it out loud, but he’d be thinking it. “For years, Lucky raised him like his own son, and then one day —” She flicked her wrist. “He went to Ireland, and the only son he showed even a little interest in was Aiden. And that’s suggesting Lucky has any real interest in Aiden at all. Cameron was old enough to remember that. He’s old enough to remember the way people talked about my affair with Nikolas. When you were coming around that last summer…”

Elizabeth looked at him. “And Drew — when he was Jake Doe, before he had any memories of his own, he was planning to adopt Cameron and Jake. But he found out I’d lied, and he only cared about Jake after that. I’ve had men in and out of his life promising they’d stay, and they never do. Not a parade, it’s not like I brought home every man I dated, but it was enough to teach my little boy that he couldn’t rely on the choices I made to look after his brothers. This isn’t about you, Jason. Not entirely. It’s about me and my mistakes.”

“Then let me call Diane, and have her write  up something to add Cameron to Aiden’s guardianship paperwork. We’re not going to need it,” Jason added. “You’re not going to jail—”

“You don’t know that—”

“I do know that,” he corrected, and she grimaced, looked out the window again. “You’re not going to jail,” he said again, “and I’m not going anywhere. Right now, Cameron doesn’t trust either of those statements. Let’s give him peace of mind, Elizabeth. So he can go back to the life you want him to live.”

Webber House: Kitchen

Jake watched his brother dump out the now soggy ruined cereal. “Are you trying to make things worse for Mom? Dad’s not going to walk out on Aiden if he’s promising to stay—”

“That’s not what you were saying when I was here in August.” Cameron turned, lifted his brows at his brother. “Back then, it was all, ‘Why spend time with him, he’ll just leave again.’ What happened to that?”

“What happened to being okay with my dad being around?” Jake retorted. “You’re the one that told me and Aiden they were back together. You liked the idea—”

“Sure. I like the idea. But that was two weeks ago when these charges seemed like something stupid  that would go away. It’s all so stupid I was sure that everyone would figure it out, and this would be over. That Mom would be here if and when Jason took off again to save some other idiot who gets himself in trouble. But you didn’t hear the way they were talking yesterday. They’re worried, Jake. Mom’s in real danger—”

“Then we deal with that,” Jake interrupted. “You’re not the only adult in the room, Cam, not anymore. I’m eighteen in May. Mom’s trial is months away—”

“You’re going to Spain. Mom’s right. You’re applying for this program, and you’re going. You’re not going to get stuck here—”

“Why, so you can be the damn martyr? Maybe I’ll take Aiden with me, okay? We’ll both go to Spain.”

Cameron’s smile was faint. “No, because I’ll be home in June, Jake. I got into the medical school here  at PCU. Early decision. It was a lock anyway with the Hardy/Webber connection, but I’ll be here to take care of things. It’s your turn to go out in the world, Jake.”

Jake huffed. “Well, congratulations, asshole. But that doesn’t fix this problem—”

“We don’t have a problem. Mom has my terms. I’ll go back after the hearing if they make me Aiden’s guardian.” Cameron folded his arms. “And now Jason knows exactly how I feel. Mission accomplished.”

Webber House: Aiden’s Bedroom

Danny scowled, lifted his ear away from the vent. “I can’t hear shit—”

“No, mostly because Mom and Jason left,” Aiden said. “I told you, Jake and Cam know better than to argue in the kitchen. Who do you think showed me that you can hear the living room this way?”

Danny sat at the desk chair. “Why do you think Cameron isn’t going back?”

“I don’t know.” Aiden slid back on his bed, folded his legs, and picked at a loose thread in the comforter. “It’s probably hard to be that far away with things happening here. I wanted to go to Mom’s hearing on Tuesday, and she’s like, no, I have to go to school, like I’ll be able to concentrate anyway.”

“She wants everything to be normal, I think. That’s not a bad thing.”

Aiden scoffed. “None of this is normal, Danny. My mom’s charged with murdering a guy she didn’t even really know. She wears an ankle bracelet and can’t even leave the city. Your dad’s been appointed to be, like, her baby sitter. They put her in jail, Danny. Okay?”

“At least you got to stay in your house,” Danny retorted. “My mom went to jail, and Dad dumped me and Scout with Grandma Monica. But everyone’s arguing about how to make sure you get to keep your life exactly the same.”

Aiden opened his mouth to snap back, then closed it. Because Danny had a point. “Okay. Yeah. But you were, like ten, when that happened. I don’t know why your dad did what he did—”

“He was still working for Sonny,” Danny interjected. “He doesn’t now. But it still sucked. It’s like, he couldn’t figure out which part of his life was important. It should have been me. And then, he, like died a year later, except he was never dead. What’s going on with your mom is awful and I hate it, but it could be worse, you know. And my dad’s not going to let her go to jail. He wouldn’t let Carly go either, remember? That’s how this whole dumb thing started. That’s what my mom said. He faked his death to keep Carly out of jail.”

Aiden furrowed his brow. “So…what, your dad’s gonna do something to keep my mom home? Like what? He can’t fake his death again.”

“No, but everyone’s like — they want your mom to flip on my dad, right? The Feds don’t know our parents are, like, innocent or whatever. There’s nothing to know. They just want my dad. So maybe my dad is gonna…” Danny made a hand gesture. “Take your mom out of it.”

“Oh.” Aiden weighed that realization. “Oh, well, that’s dumb if they’re both innocent.”

“Adults are stupid, what else is new.”

Kristina’s Apartment: Living Room

At the knock on her door, Kristina slapped the top of her laptop closed, and jolted to her feet, her heart pounding. She wasn’t expecting anyone—

“Mom.” She pressed a hand to her heart, stepped back to let her mother through the door. “You scared me.”

Alexis frowned as she passed her, set her case down on the chair. “I knocked.”

“Yeah, but—never mind.” There was really no way to explain the edge Kristina was living on. She knew that security footage was being subpoenaed from her apartment building that would make her alibi non-existent, that they were expecting more footage and data from Elizabeth’s neighborhood — she was almost sure she wasn’t on any of the cameras, but almost wasn’t absolutely.

At least it was Spinelli and Diane looking into the footage. They’d most likely discard her as a suspect, but that didn’t mean Kristina wasn’t trying to do research on her own. Could they find out when a trunk was opened on a car? Damn it, she should have used the key, and not the remote.  And she should have found another way of planting the gun on Elizabeth, it was just — when she’d seen the keys that morning, it had felt like an opportunity falling from the sky.

But now Kristina realized it had been an impulsive move, and she didn’t know to clear the path that might lead right to her door.

“What brings you by?” she asked, pasting a cheerful smile on her face, and looking at her mother. “I  thought you’d had enough of me after all the time we used to prep my case.”

“Well, I was on my way home from Sam’s and thought I’d pop in.” Alexis tipped her head. “You said you were looking for ways to keep yourself busy, and your sister could really use you this week. She has a parent session with Danny’s doctor.”

“Oh?” Kristina  folded her arms. “What does that mean?”

“Well, it should mean that Jason and Sam attend a session with the doctor to talk about the progress and any concerns the doctor has — without revealing specifics. But—” Alexis pressed her lips together. “It has to be separate sessions since Sam isn’t supposed to be anywhere near Elizabeth right now.”

“What does Elizabeth have to do with any of this?” Kristina demanded. “She’s not Danny’s family—”

“She’s Jason’s partner,” Alexis corrected. “Danny is living in her home. She’s his stepmother in all but name. I think Dante’s planning to go with Sam.”

“Oh.” Kristina pursed her lips. “I guess that makes sense. But I really think Jason should be leaving Elizabeth out of this. He knows how Sam feels about her. Isn’t involving her just going to aggravate Sam more?”

“It probably will, but your sister is going to have to learn how to share. Take it from me —” Alexis lifted a brow. “I worked very hard to keep Sonny out of your life, and he worked just as hard to stay in it. Who won that argument?”

“Mom—”

“I had my reasons, and I still believe in them. Mostly,” Alexis added. “But I never worried about the women Sonny brought home. You never saw Carly or Connie or Nina as mother figures, did you?”

“No,” Kristina said. “But that’s different. They knew they weren’t my mothers. Elizabeth is taking advantage of the situation.”

“Even if that were true, Sam is playing right in her hand by making the situation more difficult. Kristina—” Alexis put up a hand. “I’m not here to debate who gets to be involved in Danny’s therapy.  I just thought you might want to check in on Sam a little more this week. I have no idea what the doctor is going to say, but your sister is very sensitive right now. She needs someone more sympathetic to lean on. And that’s not me right now.”

“It’s so insane that we’re even considering Elizabeth as a maternal figure in Danny’s life. She’s been accused of murder!”

“Falsely,” Alexis said. “Even so, it doesn’t concern the court. Her charges aren’t about endangering children—”

“The kids were like a hundred feet away!” Kristina retorted. “You could hear them!” When her mother frowned, she added, “I’ve been to the boat house, Mom. I know how close it is to the house.”

“Either way, it does not matter. She’s innocent,” Alexis added. “I made it clear to Sam I was never going to use that as a reason to keep Elizabeth out of Danny’s life.” She picked up her bag. “Just check in on your sister, please? I need to go. I’m meeting Diane for an early dinner.”

Kristina followed her to the door. “How can you talk to Diane after she took Danny away from Sam?”

“Because Diane is my friend,” Alexis said, almost impatiently. “We’re in the same practice, and we both have Danny’s best interests at heart. She’s got her hands full with this ridiculous murder case, and I’m going to spending as much time as I can helping her prepare for this motion to dismiss on Tuesday.”

Kristina opened the door. “Why? Is she worried she won’t win? I thought everyone said the case was flimsy.”

“Flimsy doesn’t mean what it should. And there’s always the chance the feds will try to revoke bail. They threatened you a few times, remember? So Diane wants an extra eye on the briefs. Kristina—” Alexis looked at her daughter. “I want you to be there for your sister, but don’t play into her worries about Elizabeth—even if you personally believe them,” she added when Kristina opened her mouth. “Because those worries aren’t admissible in a court of law. The judge didn’t care about them last week, and that’s not going to change. It does no good to dwell on them. Elizabeth is in Danny’s life, and we’re all going to have to accept it.”

Kristina spent a long moment staring at the closed door after her mother’s left, considering Alexis’s final words. Elizabeth is in Danny’s life, and we’re all going to have to accept it.

She sat down at her sofa, and flipped her laptop open. “Not if I have anything to say about it,” she muttered.

Webber House: Kitchen

Elizabeth walked into the house, straight past the kitchen, and went up the stairs. When they  heard a door slam above them, Cameron winced slightly, then looked at Jason who came into the kitchen. “If you’re looking for an apology—”

“For what?” Jason wanted to know. “Are you sorry for anything you said? Do you take any of it back—”

“No, and I wasn’t going to apologize anyway—”

“I didn’t ask for one. And neither will your mother.” Jason waited a moment. “I’m not going to pretend that I understand or know everything about you and your brothers after being around for a few months. I made bad choices, and I made them over and over again for years. I knew they were the wrong choices, and I still made them. I didn’t know or see that I had other options.”

“And you do now, and now  you and Mom will live happily ever after,” Cameron retorted. “Right?”

“Cam—” Jake said with a roll of his eyes, but his father held up his hand.

“I want that to be true, but you don’t have to believe me. I don’t expect it. Either of you,” he added, looking at his son. “It wasn’t that long ago that you were angry at me for what I did. And I know there’s still a part of you that still is.”

Jake said nothing, dropped his eyes. Jason looked back to Cameron.

“I can’t make anyone believe me when I tell you I’m not going anywhere. I’ve earned your lack of trust. The only way to undo that is just to keep my promise and accept you might not ever stop waiting for me to leave.”

Cameron swallowed hard, and now he had to look away for a moment. “It’s not that I want you to go,” he muttered.

“I know. But you don’t trust me, and your mother has asked me to look after your brother. A man you don’t trust. So I’m going to call Diane, and we’re going to put your name on the guardianship contract.”

“You—” Cameron’s eyes widened slightly. “You’re really going to do that? I mean, I figured Mom would never—”

“She wants you back at Stanford, finishing your degree. She told you both weeks ago that this—this isn’t going to stop either of you from being the people you’re supposed to be. Because that would mean who ever is doing this to your mother wins. And none of us want that.” Jason folded his arms. “If you’d come home and you’d had this conversation with her — if you’d told us you overheard us talking about the hearing, we would have talked to you. She might have even accepted you staying for the hearing. But you didn’t want to do it that way. You wanted to force her hand. To take away her choice. And for that, you do owe your mother an apology. She raised you better than that.”

+48

Written in 67 minutes.

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Quartermaine Estate: Gate House

Willow hesitantly knocked on the open door of the small office Michael kept on the first floor. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

“No. No.” Michael closed the top on his laptop. “I’m sorry. I lost track of time. We were supposed to go to the main house for lunch or something, weren’t we?”

“That’s why I came to get you. The kids are ready—” Willow paused. “You should tell Jason that Danny needs to be more careful if he’s going to sneak onto the estate to see Scout.”

Michael stopped, frozen still, half bent over his desk. He straightened, met her eyes. “What?”

“Yesterday. Drew wanted me to pick Scout up from Trina — and Danny was there. I’m not going to  say anything,” Willow added, folding her arms when Michael winced. “I’m not going to apologize for telling Drew about Rocco and Danny doing drugs and drinking with Scout in the next room, but I also don’t think keeping Scout from her brother is the right decision either. I’d tell Drew that if I thought he’d listen.”

Michael let out a careful, measured breath. “I keep hoping Drew will go back to normal after the election, but he’s obsessed with optics right now. I didn’t know Danny was here yesterday.”

“I got the feeling that Cameron organized it.” Willow smiled faintly. “That doesn’t surprise me, actually. The year I had Aiden in my class, he constantly talked about his big brother.”

“He’s always been a good kid.” Michael tipped his head to the side. “You’re not telling Drew Danny was sneaking around?”

“No. No one is getting hurt. I’m sorry if you’re still angry with me about that—” Willow paused as Michael came towards her, then walked past her to leave the room. “Michael—”

“I don’t know what you want from me,” her husband said, turning back to face her. “I trusted you, and it was a mistake. If you think I knew Danny was here and wasn’t telling you, well, I didn’t. But I wouldn’t have told you.”

“Michael—”

“Jason raised me every much as my mother or Sonny,” Michael added. “Maybe more. His kids are my family. I haven’t always been able to be there for them or Jason, but he came to me for help, and I couldn’t do it. Look what happened, Willow. Scout was ripped from her home, Dante and Rocco moved out, and Sam lost both her kids—”

“I think assaulting Elizabeth probably had something to do with it—”

“Because Scout and Danny were already gone. Danny — that’s different. But Scout?” Michael shook his head. “That’s on you. Because we both knew what Drew was going to do. So, thanks for not snitching on Danny yesterday. It was literally the least you could do. What more do you want from me?”

Webber House: Living Room

Elizabeth picked up a pillow from the ground, and frowned when she saw Cameron exiting the kitchen with a bowl of cereal in his hand. “Are you sure you want to eat before we leave for the airport?”

Cameron hesitated,  stopping just before he reached the stairs, and behind him, Jake nearly crashed into his back. “Hey, what the—”

“About the airport.”

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, dropped the pillow to the sofa. “What about the airport?” she said in a tone that could have frozen a tropical rain forest.

“I’m not going.”

Jake slowly stepped back, deciding the best place for him was out of his mother’s sight. He knew that look. He knew that the sound in her voice.

“Yes, you are.” Elizabeth lifted her chin. “Go upstairs and get your things.”

“I’m not going,” Cameron repeated. He set the cereal bowl on the shelf by the stairs. “I’m not twelve, Mom. You can’t make me.”

“Cameron Steven Webber.”

“Elizabeth Imogene Webber.”

Before Jake could appropriately process that his brother had just used his mother’s full name in response to his full name, the door behind them opened, and Jason came in, followed by Danny and Aiden.

“Hey, sorry, we’re late,” Jason began, then stopped when he sensed the tension in the room and stand off between Cameron and Elizabeth. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. We’re leaving for the airport in fifteen minutes, Cameron.”

“It’ll be a wasted trip,” Cameron replied pleasantly. “I cancelled my return ticket.”

“Oh, damn,” Aiden breathed, his eyes wide.

“Go upstairs,” Jason told the younger boys who’d come in with grocery bags. “Just leave them there—”

“But—” Danny began, but Aiden just shook his head. He set his two bags on the ground, and, with his head bowed, hurried across the room. Danny reluctantly followed suit, and their footsteps thudded up to the second floor.

“I already emailed my professors,” Cameron continued, “and they know I’m missing classes. It’s fine. I’m only missing one lab and my grade can handle that—”

“We’ll get another ticket at the counter.”

“Mom, it’s not happening. I’m staying—”

“Cameron, we had an agreement,” Jason said, his tone quiet but firm. “Every other weekend—”

“That was before I found out about Tuesday.” Cameron folded his arms, watched Jason’s expression tense, and his mother’s mouth twitched but she didn’t look away.

“What’s Tuesday?” Jake asked, brow furrowed.  “Your hearing, right? The motion to dismiss. The one Diane said—” He went still. “The one Diane said weeks ago she’d be able to win. Is—is that not happening—”

“It doesn’t matter,” Elizabet interrupted. “I asked you for one thing, Cameron. To stay at school and finish out the year—”

“Yeah, and I was willing to do that when I thought we were all being honest with each other. We’re not.” Cameron looked at Jake. “I was at the Quartermaines yesterday. Joss said the FBI was at the crime scene again. And Mom and Jason were talking about Tuesday like it was the end of the goddamn world yesterday morning. The FBI found something, didn’t they?”

Elizabeth closed her eyes, pressed both hands to her face. “Cameron.”

“That’s a yes. You don’t have to tell me what. I don’t actually care. It’s bullshit since you’re not guilty. But the feds don’t give a shit about that. Are they going after your bail?”

“What? They can’t do that,” Jake said before Jason or Elizabeth could. “She’s doing everything they asked—”

“If they think she’s going to run—they can petition to revoke. Which means Mom goes back to jail for months. Until the trial.”

“Cameron—” Elizabeth pressed her lips together. “I don’t think that’s going to happen, but I’ve been making plans in case this goes badly, I promise. I told you—you and Jake — your futures stay on track. Stanford graduation in May, Spain—” she looked at Jake. “None of that goes away.”

“Except you’re in jail and I’m three thousand miles away from my brother. And don’t tell me Jason’s here to take care of things,” Cameron added before Elizabeth could say anything. “I like you, and I’m glad you’re here now, but you’ve been here before,” he told Jason. “Jake and Danny didn’t stop you from faking your death and splitting for two years. I’m not trusting you with my brothers’ futures.”

“Cameron,” Elizabeth said sharply, and he looked back at her, his eyes sober and serious.

“I love you, Mom. You know that. But I’m not a kid anymore. You want to give Jason guardianship of Aiden, that’s fine. But you’re putting me as the back up.”

“No, I’m not—”

“You are. Because if Jason doesn’t stick around, Aiden ends up with Grandma Laura who thought trying to free the sick psycho who tried to kill Trina was a great idea. Or with his worthless father. That’s not happening. You want me to go back to Stanford? Fine. Put me as Aiden’s second choice for guardian and I’ll go back after your hearing on Tuesday.”

Penthouse: Living Room

Sam paced the length of the penthouse, rubbing her arms. “I don’t know what to do, Mom. Dante said Rocco wants to move back in—” She looked back at her mother, sitting at the dining table with Sam’s custody paperwork sprawled across the surface. “And I want him back home. But I don’t know if that’s the right choice with Rocco’s history.”

“Or the fact that Rocco expressed a distinct and intense dislike for you.”

“Don’t remind me.” Sam stopped at the doors to the balcony, watching the rain fall outside. “Dante thinks it’s guilt about Lulu. And how I handled Jason’s return.” She made a face. “You probably agree with Rocco about the way I treated Danny.”

“My opinion on that isn’t relevant,” Alexis said. “But I think any change in your living status has to be weighed appropriately. The judge was concerned about the tension between Danny and Rocco. Has that changed since then?”

“I don’t know. Neither of them have been in school, remember? Danny’s supposed to go back tomorrow.” Sam picked at the cuticle of her thumbnail. “And Rocco’s suspended another week. I don’t think they’ve even spoken to each other.”

“And Scout’s removal was predicated upon Rocco and Danny’s substance abuse. Danny’s taking steps to mediate that with counseling. What about Rocco?”

Sam made a face. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”

“You—” Alexis stopped, then slid her reading glasses back on, turning her attention back to the paperwork. “I don’t know what advice to give—”

“Say what you were going to say.”

“What?”

“Don’t play stupid with me, Mom. What were you going to say about Rocco?”

Alexis sighed, looked at her daughter with weary eyes. “I wasn’t. I was going to say it about you. This is a child who has lived in your home for nearly two years. You were in a stepmother role to him. He’s suffered a similar to loss of a parent that your son did. And you know that he’s been acting out, lashing out just like Danny. And your only concern for Rocco is how it affects you.”

Sam huffed. “Oh, okay. So it’s another round about what a selfish bitch I am. That’s great.”

Alexis removed her reading glasses and slid them back in her case, then began to gather her paperwork. “Well, if the shoe fits, you ought to get used to it. Because it’s the truth.”

“Excuse me?”

Her mother got to her feet. “You’re being a selfish bitch,” Alexis said. “Stop it. Or you’re going to end up staying the way you are now. Alone and miserable.”

Webber House: Living Room

With Cameron’s ultimatum still lingering in his ears, Jason stepped forward, a hand held up as if it would stop mother and son from continuing to rip into each other. “I don’t think this is solving anything—”

“There’s nothing to solve. Cameron’s going back to California tonight. If he wants to have a conversation about his brother’s future, he can do that. Next weekend,” Elizabeth added when Cameron scowled. “Because you might want to think you’re grown, having this conversation with me right now but waiting until the last minute because you’re going to force it to be your way isn’t exactly convincing me you’d be the right person to look after your brother. If it became necessary, which it won’t. Go upstairs and get your things. Now.”

“I’m not going, Mom. There’s no conversation that’s going to change my mind.”

Elizabeth opened her mouth to retort, and Jason put a hand on her forearm. “Let’s just take a few minutes to talk, okay?” he asked. He looked at Cameron and Jake. “Put away the groceries. We’ll back.”

He pulled open the front door, and Elizabeth stalked past him, going down to the curb and yanking open the SUV door. Jason hesitantly followed, climbing into the driver’s side.

“I’m not having this argument in public. You have no right to get in between me and Cameron—”

“Normally, no, and you know I wouldn’t,” Jason interrupted her. “But his problem is with me, and you can’t ignore that.”

“Oh, so I’m a bad mother, now?”

“No one’s —” Jason flexed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Don’t do that. Don’t jump six feet ahead to something no one said.  Nothing Cameron said was wrong, and you know it. There’s a very real chance they’re going to try to put you back in jail after the hearing.”

Elizabeth looked away, but he could see her lip trembling in the reflection of the window. “He’s going to screw up his whole future—”

“He won’t. He’s worried that he can’t count on me to take care of Aiden. And he’s right to worry.”

“What?” Elizabeth’s head whipped back. “How can you say that—”

“Because for his entire life, Cameron’s been listening and watching me make promises to him and to you that I haven’t kept,” Jason said quietly.

Elizabeth pressed her lips together, then stared straight ahead, out the windshield. But she remained silent.

“And he’s right. I threw away years with Jake. Not just the last two. But all the ones I lost believing he was better, safer away from me,” Jason continued. “Cameron doesn’t have a problem with me, but he doesn’t trust me. I don’t get to run from the mistakes I made. I have to deal with them. You’ve forgiven me, but we both know you shouldn’t have.”

Elizabeth shook her head, flicked at an errant tear. “You don’t get to tell me what I should do. You know better.” She leaned her head back against the seat rest. “I can’t let him give up his future to take care of his brothers. It’s not his job. Or his responsibility.”

“He won’t have to. You heard him. He’ll stay for your hearing on Tuesday, and you’ll make him a backup guardian for Aiden. He’ll go back if you do that, Elizabeth. It’s up to me to make sure he doesn’t need to worry about it. Unless you don’t trust me to stay either.”

+40

Written in 60 minutes.

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Corinthos Penthouse: Living Room

Sonny scratched the edge of his brow, wincing as the guard closed the door leaving him alone with his surprise guest. “Uh, I thought we were avoiding each other until this was all over.”

“We are.” Jason’s eyes swept over the familiar space, though it looked very different than the last time he’d been inside the penthouse. “I told Wally at the front desk that I was here to see Sam.”

“Oh. Right.” Sonny frowned towards the door. “I never see her. Or the kids. Not that there are any over there anymore, so I guess I mostly forget she’s even there.” He focused on Jason. “What happened? Has to be something big if you’re taking the chance of coming to me directly. And might explain Carly’s visit earlier.”

“Carly?” Jason echoed. “What did she want?”

“Oh, she’s worried you’re going to do something stupid like confess to get Elizabeth out of these charges.” Sonny had already crossed to the mini bar and missed the wince that crossed Jason’s expression. “I’m not saying you wouldn’t do that, but we’re not even at the trial yet.” He turned, lifted a brow. “So what’s happening?”

“The FBI searched the boat house again. And the woods around it.” Jason walked towards the windows that overlooked downtown. “They found the fourth bullet.”

Sonny grimaced, poured himself a bourbon. “The one that will match the gun from the trunk definitively, I’m guessing.”

“Probably.”

“That’s…not great, but you had to know that was a possibility.” Sonny joined him at the window. “You’re still months away from trial. Anything could happen between now and then—”

“Elizabeth was let out on bail after being charged with the murder of a federal agent.”

“And with you as the custodian so they could keep you under tight surveillance.” Sonny sipped his drink. “I may not be talking to you, but I’m keeping my hand in to know what’s going on. It was a gamble for Diane to name you, but she knew the Feds would never be able to resist the chance to catch you or Elizabeth red-handed. What’s changed?”

“There’s nothing to catch us in. We’re innocent. I don’t know what the hell happened to John Cates,” Jason bit out. “Other than he was trying to set me up for something. The Feds aren’t getting what they want from her out on bail. The bullet changes her flight risk. The gun goes from consistent to —”

“An almost certain match.” Sonny’s mouth tightened. “You think they’ll file to revoke the bail and put her back in jail.”

“I think it’s a possibility. So does she. They moved her into federal custody, Sonny, when they could have left her in Port Charles for the bail hearing. They did it to isolate her from me, from the boys. From everyone. They wanted to scare her into flipping on me. And they went after Jake and Danny. Questioning neighbors, the school — Sam let them question Danny.”

“Probably felt like she had no choice with Dante involved.” Sonny set the tumbler back on the mini bar. “You think they’re back to their first plan. Isolating and scaring the crap out of her until she tells whatever she knows.”

“Yeah. The FBI wants blood for what happened to the Pikeman investigation, and I don’t think care much if it’s mine or Valentin’s anymore.” Jason waited a beat. “You said you’re keeping your hand in. Do you know anything that Diane or Spinelli wouldn’t? Something I can work with—”

“There’s nothing to know. There’s not,” Sonny insisted when Jason scowled. “I had Brick pull Cates’ files — you know, the ones the FBI refuses to turn over to Diane. I thought we’d find something in there I could, you know—” He wiggled his hand. “Slip to her in some sort of safe way. But Cates had a pretty normal caseload. We couldn’t find anything that would explain the way Elizabeth’s been set up.”

Jason’s brows drew together. “What? What does that mean?”

“It’s not just that someone shot the bastard, Jase. Someone shot him, then dumped the gun in Elizabeth’s trunk. And they did it within days of the murder. This isn’t someone who came to town and then watched everyone for a while to get the rhythm of things. Elizabeth isn’t an obvious target for a frame job. On paper, she’s mostly clean. That business with Esme Prince a few years ago — no one really knows all the details outside the inner circle. Most people think Cassadine threatened her into cooperating and that’s why she turned on him. Might be why the Feds think she’d turn on you. She had a long history with him, too.”

“Maybe, but—”

“You’re talking about someone who knows Elizabeth can be used against you. Now that? Sort of common knowledge. If you’re in our world. But who would know you and her are around each other enough that it makes sense you’d put the gun in her car? You only started seeing Jake and Danny regularly these last few weeks.”

“I—” Jason blinked. “I didn’t think about it that way.”

“I’ve been thinking about it since Carly showed up here earlier. Talking about how you’d confess to protect Elizabeth, and we both know that’s a choice you’re rolling around in your head. Because Carly and me watched you do it for Michael. And what you did to protect Carly.” Sonny picked up his drink again. “People who know you, Jason, they know you’ll put yourself on the line for the people who matter. But most of the world thinks you’re Jason Morgan, violent thug. Who thinks that putting a gun in Elizabeth’s trunk is going to get you to confess? Because that’s what they want. You to confess and close this case so people stop looking.”

Jason exhaled slowly, then sank onto the sofa. Put his head in his hands. “I knew before I came back if I got the chance, I wanted to be done with all of this. I wanted to be out. I threw away years with my boys because of this life. Because of the danger and violence. I threw away a life with Elizabeth for it.” He lifted his head, looked at Sonny. “I thought I was done. That I was out. But it’s just another kind of danger, isn’t it? Because the Feds are never going to leave me alone. We get Elizabeth out from under this, Pikeman’s still going to be out there. There’s always going to be someone who wants to use her, use my kids—” He grimaced looked away.

“Don’t do that. Don’t talk yourself into confessing to something you didn’t do because the Feds are corrupt bitches,” Sonny said flatly. “You’ll just piss me off. Elizabeth will never forgive you. You’re lucky she’s even given you a chance after all this time. And Jake and Danny? They’re not going to understand.”

“Jake needs his mother with him. And Danny—” Jason hesitated, then took a deep breath. “Sam will calm down. She’ll figure things out if I’m not around. She’s a better mother when I’m not—”

“Bullshit.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Jason shot back to his feet. “The choices I’ve made — they’re always going to follow me—”

“So fucking what?” Sonny demanded. “I’ll tell you what I should have told you twenty years ago if I’d had the chance. Those choices follow you — and the people around you, they get to decide if they want to sign up for that. You think Elizabeth doesn’t know exactly what she’s in for when she hooks up with you for the fifteenth time? The same woman who took on the whole world to save your worthless life when she was eighteen years old?”

“We have children—”

“Yeah. You do. Two great boys who love you, despite how hard you’ve tried to throw that away. And they get to decide if not having you around is what they want. You’re gonna stand there and tell me you think Danny is better off without you?” Sonny demanded.

“I don’t—no. But—”

“Elizabeth has had a thousand chances to walk away from you. She took some of them, sure. And sometimes it was about the danger around you. If she wanted out of this, she’d be out. If she wanted her freedom more than you, she knows plenty about you that the Feds would love to know. Don’t be an idiot, Jason.  Neither of us deserve any of the women in our lives. What does that have to do with anything?”

Quartermaine Estate: Garage Apartment

Trina checked her watch, then went over to look at the driveway leading up to the garage apartment. Cameron had told he was just going to look at the boat house, but he was taking his sweet time, and they were coming up on the time she was supposed to return Scout to the house.

She jolted when there was a knock at the door, and spun around, confused. No one had approached their building from the main house, so—

“Hey—” Willow’s head appeared around the door. “Sorry, it was open, and Drew told me you’d volunteered to look after Scout this morning. He just called because he has to cancel the afternoon meetings, and wanted me to grab her.”

Willow. Coming from the gatehouse behind the garage. Crap. Trina’s heart pounded as she forced herself to smile. “Oh, yeah, she’s um—”

“I don’t want to go back there!” Scout cried, leaping up from behind the sofa where she and Danny had dropped down at the knock on the door. “You can’t make me!”

“Why are you—” Willow frowned, then took a few steps forward and grimaced. She closed the door. “Danny. I can see the top of your head.”

Danny slowly rose to his feet, gripping the back of the sofa. “You can’t tell Drew I was here.”

“I—”

“You can’t make me go with you. Especially if you’re going to tell on me,” Scout cut in before Willow could say anything. “I won’t go.”

Sensing disaster was imminent, Trina stepped between Willow and the younger children. “Hey. Can we talk in the hallway for a minute—”

“I—”

“Great.” Trina took Willow’s arm and because the older woman was taken by surprise, Trina was able to steer her backwards, yanking the door open.

“Trina, what are you doing with Danny here?” Willow hissed when Trina had closed the door. “Drew was very clear that he didn’t want Scout to be around—”

“Her brother? Her stepbrother? Come on, Willow. You and I both know he’s just trying to save face. He doesn’t want anyone to connect him to bad things, which is wild since I remember the time he was cosplaying a mob enforcer.” Trina folded her arms. “You can’t tell him.”

“He deserves to know what’s going on with his daughter—”

“Danny used to be his kid, too. Did you know that? No, because you weren’t really around back then. I was,” Trina added. “When Drew was acting like a real person. Even after he found out about the memory switching, and Jason was back, Drew loved Danny and Jake like they were his own kids. And then his plane went down, and he came back like a zombie. Okay? Danny’s not just some stranger off the street. Drew raised him. For years.”

Willow swallowed hard. “I — I hadn’t thought about that. It seems like a lifetime ago—”

“Because you were an adult when it happened. Danny was three when Drew found out he was supposed to be Jason. And then seven when Drew disappeared in that plane crash. Scout’s age. Can you imagine how Danny feels with the way Drew walks around talking about him? Like he’s some kind of dangerous animal who’s gonna hurt his sister. Danny’s made mistakes, Willow. Does that mean he doesn’t get to have his sister in his life?”

Willow nodded slowly. “Okay. Okay. All right. I won’t say anything. But Scout has to come with me or Drew will have questions, okay? We can’t have him wondering why when he knows how much Scout usually enjoys hanging out with her cousins.”

“All right, fine. Thank you. This sucks for everyone. All I’m trying to do is make it a little better.”

Bobbie’s Diner: Dining Room

Jake snagged the brown bag with his order from the counter and turned, only to wish he’d gone anywhere else for lunch. “Oh. It’s you.”

“Jake.” Sam stepped up to the counter, nodded at the waitress who went in the back to pick up her order. “I—I’m glad we ran into each other.”

Jake squinted, considered all the responses that sprang to his lips and decided this wasn’t really the best time for any of them. “That makes one of us. Excuse me—”

“Wait—” Sam snagged his arm, and Jake twisted out of her grasp. “Please. I just—I wanted to check on Danny—”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have been such a bitch when you had your visitation,” Jake said, turning to face her. “Actions have consequences, you know. That’s my mother always says. You know my mother, right? You tried to have her arrested last week?” he continued, enjoying the way Sam closed her eyes, wincing. “Yeah, karma’s a bitch, I know. Can I go now—”

“I’m sorry. I am. I wasn’t thinking when any of that happened, okay? I didn’t think about your mother’s case—”

“Why do you think I care what you have to say?” Jake demanded. He stepped closer to her. “You don’t like me. I always knew that, by the way. You hated me. Now we don’t have to pretend anymore.”

“I never hated you,” Sam insisted. “Please. Not you. You’re a good kid. You are. And you’ve been a good brother to Danny. You know that I believe that or I would have done more to keep you apart. It’s just—”

“My existence,” Jake finished, and Sam winced again. “You hate the fact that I exist. Which is an insane thing to say to me after seventeen years. You think that matters. That you  hate the idea of me, and not the person. Maybe it helps you sleep at night, I don’t know. But you’re the one that has to live with that, not me. I’m just sorry for Danny.”

“I love him—”

“You love the idea of him,” Jake corrected, almost sarcastically. “The miracle baby you always called him, right? The one you weren’t supposed to have, your chance to be a mother. Because that’s all that matters to you. Being a mother. Not Danny. But don’t worry about him, Sam. Because I’m going to be here for him. Me, my brothers, and when we figure out how to make it happen, we’ll be there for Scout, too. Because Danny knows who you are now.” He smirked. “Good luck with that.”

Webber House: Living Room

The house was empty when Cameron and Danny returned early that afternoon. “I don’t know where your dad is,” Cam said, dropping his keys on the table. “But Jake’s out getting lunch, so you think you can stay out of trouble for a little while? I’ve got some work to do upstairs.”

“Yeah, I’ve got to get homework done before I go back on Monday,” Danny said, following Cameron towards the stairs. “You sure you don’t want your room—”

“Nah, man, I told you.” They reached the landing on the third floor. “I don’t mind sharing with Jake right now. You need your space. Get your work done. I’ll talk to you later.”

When Danny had disappeared into Cameron’s room, Cameron snagged his laptop from the charger and sat on Jake’s bed.

He flexed his fingers and then pulled up his email account.

Dear Dr. Bernstein,

I am writing to let you know I will be missing class on Tuesday and Thursday this week. Some family business came up while I was home, and I need to stay longer. Can you tell me who I should contact in the event that I need to take a longer absence from classes?

+39

Written in 71 minutes.

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Webber House: Stairwell

are we all set

On the third floor, Cameron sat on the top step, and sent the text, hoping that it wasn’t too early. Then again, this was Trina who was usually up by dawn—

operation reunification is officially on but you gotta be here before 10 drew’s supposed to have new nanny interviews at 1 and i promised to have scout back up at the house do not get me evicted.

please everyone in that house hates that man they’ll probably throw you a parade.

Trina didn’t reply with words, but sent him an emoji that had him grinning. At least there were some people in Port Charles he could still count on. She’d worked her magic to steal Scout away from the main house for a few hours — and Cameron had his excuse to head over to the Quartermaines.

He had his own reasons for wanting to help Danny, though he mostly did want to see the kid reunite with his sister. He knew what it was like to be apart from his brother, and those years without Jake couldn’t be easily fixed.

He responded to Trina’s emoji, then started to stand — but then heard a door on the floor below him open and close — and voices that weren’t Aiden’s heading towards the stairs.

“I don’t know what else we can do,” his mother was saying, and Cameron had to edge closer to the railing to hear the rumble of Jason’s voice responding — he didn’t have years of eavesdropping to rely on where Jason was concerned.

“I’m going to….Spinelli.”

“I thought you called him last night.”

Cameron crept down one step, careful to keep close to the wall so that he’d remain out of view of his mother and Jason, but might be able to hear them better.

“I did,” Jason replied. “And he didn’t really have anything. But maybe—”

“I know you’ve been trying to keep your distance, but maybe—there’s nothing Sonny knows?”

There was some silence, and Cameron crept down another step. What was the deal with Sonny, he wondered, and had Jason really stopped working for the guy? It seemed almost impossible.

“I haven’t talked to him since this started. He didn’t know anything then—but maybe—”

“I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do—”

“No, no. You’re right. Spinelli needs to stay clean. I can’t just sit around and wait for Tuesday.”

The voices moved and Cameron realized they were going downstairs. He nearly followed them, but he felt glued to the step, the wood seeping through the sweatpants he’d worn to sleep.

Tuesday was his mother’s next court date. The motion to dismiss that didn’t seem like it was going to dismiss anything. And his mother’s tone had seemed a bit more…anxious than the last time she’d spoken about any of this.

But maybe his mother had been doing what she’d always done best. Put on a brave  front to pretend everything was just fine.

What were they so worried about on Tuesday?

Penthouse: Living Room

“You’re the last person I expected today,” Sam said, stepping back to let Dante into the living room. “I thought…unless—” she closed the door, then turned to face him with dread. “Are you here to pick up more of your things?”

“No. I mean, not unless—” Dante folded his arms, then sat on the arm of the sofa. “I thought we should talk after taking a few days to….sort things out.”

Sam tipped her head, squinted her eyes. “Sort things out? Is that what we were doing?”

“I don’t know. I’m not really sure how to describe anything that’s happened in the last few weeks. The last few months.” Dante scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I know what happened between Rocco and Danny screwed things up for you in court—”

“I’d done myself no favors going into those hearings, and you know that. I…” Sam pressed her lips together. “I knew I was falling into those old, awful habits — into that mindset where I had to compete with Elizabeth to be the best—” She blew out a frustrated breath. “It was like watching a horror movie, and starring in it all at the same time. I could see myself going over the edge, and losing it, and not being able to stop it. Even now, knowing that’s what I was doing —” She made a face. “As long as Danny’s in her house, I’m not even sure I’ll be able to stop myself now.”

“I understand that—”

Sam just shook her head. “You say that, but we both know you don’t. I don’t even understand it. I don’t need to compete with her. She doesn’t have anything I want.  I need you to believe me when I say that — I don’t want to be with Jason. I don’t love him anymore, and I don’t miss the person I was with him. The live we had together. I don’t, Dante.”

“I do believe you—”

“And I don’t—” She pressed her lips together. “I don’t know. Maybe she’s a better mother than me—”

“She’s been a mother longer than you, Sam. Cameron is almost ten years older than Danny. She’s had three teenagers. You’ve just had Danny. I’ve only had Rocco,” Dante reminded her, and Sam smiled faintly. “It’s experience. She’s got it, and we don’t.”

“That—” Sam brushed her fingertips against her mouth. “I hadn’t really thought about it that way. It doesn’t feel like I’ve done everything right with Danny. Every word, every choice, every idea we tried, it felt like the wrong one. And with Rocco—”

“We were in trouble before we even knew it. But that’s why I’m here. Rocco’s—he wants to come back.”

“Here?” Sam asked, her brows lifting. “You’re joking. He ran away from here—”

“It wasn’t about you. Not really. I mean, a little bit. But it was mostly me. I—I should have done more to help him get through what’s happened with Lulu. He’s messed up about that. And he resented you for keeping Danny from his dad when he sees Jason coming back as the miracle he doesn’t get to have with his mother. It just—it got out of control.” Dante got to his feet and came a few feet towards her. “But I think if we work together, we can get this back on track.”

“I just…” Sam bit her lip, shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “I don’t know. I don’t trust any choice I make right now. And the last thing I want to do is upset Rocco more.” Her eyes filled. “But I miss you. I miss all of you, and the life we thought we had. I don’t know if we can get it back, but God, I want to try. Can we please—can we please try?”

Dante’s thumb brushed her jaw as he cradled her face. “We’re going to have something better. I promise. I’m not letting go of you or the family I know we can have.”

Quartermaine Estate: Garage Apartment

Trina pulled the door open even as Danny raised his hand to knock, and then a small body barreled past her.

“Danny!” Scout clung to her brother, and Danny dropped to his knees to hug her more tightly.

“Okay, maybe we get through the doorway so we can keep this quiet,” Cameron said, edging around the pair. He flashed a grin at Trina. “Still the best friend a guy could ask for.”

“You know me,” she said, hugging him. “I’d do anything for you. Even if it’s slightly illegal.”

“Thank you,” Danny said, standing up, and holding his sister’s hand, gripping it tightly. “This is really—” He dropped his eyes, but his voice sounded a little thick. “This is seriously the best. I needed—” He stopped, shook his head.

Scout leaned against her brother. “I missed you,” she told him. “I want to go home. Can we go home now?”

“Not yet,” Danny said. He led her over to the sofa, helped her to sit down. “I got into some trouble, and it got a little crazy. So we can’t go home yet. But I promise you. We’ll figure out how to see each other more.”

Still by the door, Trina looked at Cameron with slightly worried eyes. “I’m not sure I can make this happen a lot. If Drew caught me—”

“He can’t do anything to you—”

“You think that, but he’s running for political office. And he’s, like, winning in the polls for some reason,” she added. “You might not think that carries weight, but it might. We might need to think of other ways. Or maybe a lawyer. Can’t there be some kind of demand for visitation? It seems so crazy they can just separate siblings like this.”

“I thought about talking to Drew,” Cameron admitted, “but Jake told me he’s like a different man. Not the guy we knew when we were younger.”

“He’s cold. And harsh. Unforgiving. Which is why I wanted to help you get Danny and Scout in the same room.” Trina looked back at the pair. “I don’t have siblings, but I’d like to think if someone was trying to keep me apart from them, I’d do whatever I could to stop it.” She returned her gaze to Cameron. “You’d never let Drew stop you from seeing your brothers.”

“No, I wouldn’t. We’ll think of something, Treen.” He hesitated. “I’ll be back in a little bit. There’s something I wanted to take care of while I was here. You’re okay with them?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll text you if we need to do a quick get away.”

Harborview Towers: Corinthos Penthouse

Carly made a face as she breezed through the front door. “Have I ever told you I hate what you’ve done with this place?”

“Repeatedly.” Sonny turned away from the windows and sighed. “You know, I have guards for a reason—”

“Please.” Carly tossed her bag on the sofa, and folded her arms. “I want to know what you’re doing to get this stupid case dismissed.”

“Case?” Sonny tilted his head. “What case?”

“No, don’t do that—” Carly pointed a finger at him. “Don’t pretend that I’m stupid. I’m doing everything I can to help Jason, but he’s not asking me for very much, so I need you to give me something to do or at least tell me you’ve got something that will help—”

“Uh, I hate to disappoint you—well, that’s not true,” Sonny corrected. “It’s my favorite hobby—”

“Sonny.”

“I’m not doing anything.” Sonny sat on the sofa. “Jason made it very clear that he needs any evidence to be completely clean and above board. I can’t get involved—”

“Oh, bullshit. Since when have you taken orders from Jason?” Carly erupted.

“About the same time you started listening when he tells you to stay out of his business. Looks like we’re both trying out some new ideas.”

She pressed her lips together, counted to ten, then planted her hands on her hips. “Do you understand that the FBI doesn’t want Elizabeth, they want Jason? Please tell me you know that.”

“I do. And they have no evidence against him—”

“No, they just have Elizabeth’s freedom dangling over him like a goddamn carrot. Just like they did with me. What dumb thing did Jason do to get me out of trouble even when I didn’t know or want him to?” Carly demanded. “The Feds want him to confess to get her out of this. They want Jason’s head on a pike. Just like whoever put that damn gun in her car.”

Sonny went still. “What?”

“Please,” Carly snorted. “No one wanted to frame Elizabeth Webber for murder. But Jason’s got a playbook with this sort of thing, you know? Michael went to jail, Jason confessed to protect him. I got himself into trouble, Jason played dead to work for the Feds. Everyone knows Jason sacrifices himself for the people around him. The Feds know it because they’ve already done it. So whoever did this to Elizabeth is after Jason. And we need to stop him before he does something stupid like confess to a crime he didn’t commit.”

Sonny exhaled slowly, then rose to his feet, looking a bit shaken. “You’re right. Who—whoever did this had to know Jason would sacrifice his own freedom to keep Elizabeth out of jail.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “But that doesn’t change what you and I need to do.”

“What?” Carly’s hands fell to her sides. “Sonny—”

“Jason asked us to stay out of it. He’s trusting Diane, and we’ve never had a reason not to trust her either, have we?” he asked, pointedly. Carly grimaced, then shook her head. “So we stay out of it.”

“Oh, okay, easy for you to say. You didn’t even miss Jason when he was gone. You don’t even miss him now. But I did and I’m not going to sit around while someone is trying to destroy his life. Shame on you, Sonny, for not having Jason’s back when he needs you the most.”

She yanked up her bag, then stalked towards the door. When it slammed, Sonny released a shaky breath and shook his head.

Of course. Whoever had done this wanted it to go away quietly. And what was more quiet than a confession and a closed case?

But it couldn’t be — it couldn’t have happened the way he’d feared. It wasn’t possible.

It couldn’t be.

Quartermaine Estate: Boat House

How many times had he come to the lake, Cameron wondered, standing just beyond the door, staring at wood, still stained dark with the blood of the man his mother was accused of murdering.

They hadn’t done anything to remove the staining, and after nearly a month, it would be impossible. Maybe the Quartermaines would rip the deck out when this was all over—

“They released the crime scene this week.”

Cameron turned and saw Joss coming out of the woods, down the pathway from the garage house. He said nothing as she approached, climbed up the steps.

“They had tape here until the FBI came and searched again. I guess—” Joss folded her arms. “I guess they didn’t have a reason to hold on to it anymore.”

Cameron just shook his head and started to walk past her, but she caught his arm.

“Is it always going to be like this, Cam?”

He turned, looked at her, searching her eyes for any hint of the girl he’d grown up with, fallen in love with, the one who had broken him into bits and crushed them into the ground.

And found no evidence she’d ever existed. “What did you expect, Joss?”

She pressed her lips together. “I don’t know — but it’s been almost two years —”

“Yeah, it has.” He gently lifted her hand from his arm, then dropped it. “Which means I don’t think about you anymore. You should understand that better than anyone.”

She huffed. “What does that mean?”

“You stopped thinking about me a long time ago, Joss. At least I can say I waited until we broke up to get into bed with someone else.” He lifted his brows. “I don’t even think you bothered to shower between us.”

His head snapped hard to the side, his cheek stinging from where her hand had struck it.  He touched the skin, then looked at her, smiled faintly. “Nothing ever changes for you, does it, Josslyn? I come here to see the place that’s destroying my mother’s life and you’re looking for, what? Closure? Redemption?” He smirked. “You’re still the star of the show. But I’m done buying tickets.”

+40

Written in 60 minutes.

Friday, September 27, 2024

Bobbie’s Diner: Kitchen

Danny set the plastic tub of dishes on the counter with a grunt, and made a face at Carly standing by the walk-in freezer, making notes on a clipboard. “Are you sure there’s nothing else I can do? This is disgusting.”

“Everyone starts as a bus boy,” Carly said not even lifting her eyes. “Even Joss.”

“Ugh.” Danny unloaded the dishes into the dishwasher, then rinsed the rub. “Don’t you, like, own a huge hotel? You don’t have to baby sit me here.”

“I had to run inventory anyway, and, from what I’ve heard—” Carly finally looked at him, smirked. “You could use some supervision. I told your dad I’d keep you out of trouble and I owe him more than I ever repay, so—”

“He was gone two years because of you,” Danny interrupted flatly, and Carly closed her mouth. “You’re the reason the FBI forced him into that deal. My mom told me.”

Carly didn’t respond right away, and Danny shifted his weight slightly. He hadn’t meant to say anything — hadn’t really known he was going to bring it up at all. But it was out of his mouth now, and in the world, so there really wasn’t anything he could do about it.

She laid the clipboard down on the shelf, carefully capping the pen she’d used, then looked at him, her eyes calm and steady. “There’s truth in that statement. I made a mistake, and the FBI used that as leverage against your father. I didn’t ask him to. I didn’t know he had done it. Like you, Danny, I thought Jason was dead, too. And when I found out what he’d done, I was furious. He had no right to do that to all of us. Did your mother tell you that part? That she was the one to tell me?”

Danny pressed his lips together, dropped his eyes. “No,” he muttered.

“No, because that doesn’t serve her narrative. You should know that by now. Sam never tells the full story. Not when it does serve the one she made up in her head.” Carly tipped her head. “Your father and I have known each other for a long time, and he’s always been someone I can to turn to. Someone I can depend on, almost without question. Even when I’ve done something that might be unforgivable, Jason never turned his back on me. It’s a gift to have someone like that in your life. But it’s also a responsibility to have someone who loves you like that. I didn’t respect it. And I abused it. And somewhere along the line, Jason decided it was his job—his responsibility to save me. To save my kids. He shouldn’t have taken the deal, Danny. He knows that.”

She waited, and when Danny said nothing, she continued. “But he would have done it for anyone he loved it. He put himself on the line over and over again for the people around him. For me, for Sonny, our children. For your mother. For Elizabeth. And all of us abused that relationship at some point.” Carly sighed. “I can’t go back and be a better friend to your dad, Danny. I wish I could. But all I can do is be one today. He asked me to keep an eye on you, and that’s what I’m going to do. Table 3 needs to be cleared.”

Highway 481

There was nothing but road stretched ahead of them, trees bordering the two lane highway, with a patch of grass separating the north and south routes. It was now the third time Elizabeth had taken this drive towards Syracuse — and one she would need to repeat every Friday until this nightmare was over.

“I’m trying not to think about what they find at the Quartermaines,” Elizabeth said, breaking the silence she and Jason had fallen into when they’d left the city limits of Port Charles. “Diane doesn’t think we have to worry about Tuesday, but—” She sighed, looked back out the window. “It’s hard not to.”

“If Diane thought there was a real risk they’d move to vacate your bail—” Jason’s fingers tightened reflexively on the wheel. “She’d tell us.”

“Would she? She’s spent all this time telling us both not to think about this. To let her and Spinelli work, and I’m trying. I am. But—”

“You’re not a flight risk. The same reasons they gave you bail still stand. And Diane said — they wanted you out here so they could get at me—”

“But they’re not getting anything from you,” Elizabeth interrupted, and he sighed. “That only works if there’s something to know. We know nothing. I don’t even know where Spinelli is getting his information.  Or if he knows everything. What if they found something else-”

“What else can they find? You didn’t do it.”

“That doesn’t seem to make a difference so far. All the evidence points right at me,” Elizabeth retorted. “I’m even the height of the shooter—”

“You have an alibi.”

Elizabeth let her head fall back against the seat, and closed her eyes. “People with alibis get convicted all the time. I just…I’m sorry. Ever since we talked to Spinelli, I feel like this—” Her throat felt tight, and she had to force the words. “I feel like there’s this weight on me, like I’m choking, and if I have to back to that jail—I can’t decide if the isolation is better or worse than being with everyone else.”

Jason didn’t respond, but she felt the SUV pick up speed, and she looked over, saw the tension in his expression. “I’m sorry. This is the worst time to have this conversation. I shouldn’t have said anything—”

“No, it’s—” Jason glanced at her quickly before focusing back on the road. “You get to feel however you feel. I’m not telling you how to feel. I just—you’re right. Reynolds put you into federal custody to put pressure on me and the boys, thinking that would make you flip. And they’re not getting what they want having me under surveillance. I’m not working for Sonny, so I can’t offer them anything.”

“They might think it’s worth going back to their first plan. Making me so miserable that I’ll turn state’s witness.” Elizabeth dragged a hand through her hair. “I know trusting Diane is the right thing to do. But I hate not being able to do anything to get myself out of this. And I know this is probably driving you insane, too.” A smile flitted on her face as she studied his profile. “You’re probably itching for someone to punch.”

But Jason didn’t seem to be in the mood to be teased. “I’m going to find a way to make all of this go away, I promise.”

She didn’t have the heart to remind him that it wasn’t something he could control. So she settled for reaching over, laying a hand over one of his on the steering wheel. He released the wheel, brought her hand to his mouth, and kissed the inside of her palm.

“In a few hours, we’ll be done in Syracuse and picking Cam up at the airport,” he reminded her. “And we can go back to ignoring all of this.”

“Sounds like a great plan.”

Penthouse: Living Room

“Hey, stranger,” Molly greeted, breezing past her sister to drop a brown paper bag on the coffee table. “I brought some lunch.”

Sam closed the door and tried to smile. “Found some time in your busy schedule? Aren’t you supposed to be fighting the U.S. government?”

Molly looked down, then sighed. “Well, not anymore. I…recused myself from the case.”

Sam frowned, tilted her head. “What? Why?” Then she grimaced. “Because of me, right? What happened last week? The same reason Dante pulled out.”

“Partly,” Molly said. She folded her arms. “Honestly, none of us were really the best choices to take on this case. We’re all related to the witnesses in the case, and no matter how hard we tried to keep it clean, it was always an issue. But no one was willing to fight—now Robert’s ready to step up, and Chase has the most distance.”

“I guess. It’s not like you to walk away from a fight,” Sam said, sitting on the sofa and reaching for the bag.

“It’s more important that justice gets done than for me to be the one to do it. I trust Robert.” Molly sat next to her sister. “And I feel awful that I haven’t been here for you.”

“Not much you could have done,” Sam said, peeling off the lid from her salad. “Wouldn’t have changed anything.”

“Maybe. But I just—I’ve been avoiding being anywhere Kristina is, and she’s been..glued to your side for the last week.” Molly avoided Sam’s gaze, busied herself with ripping a corner from the packet of salad dressing and drizzling it over her own salad. “Mom promised to keep Kristina occupied today.”

“Mol, you know…you know I’m not taking sides by spending time with Kristina,” Sam told her sister. “It’s not like that—”

“I know. And I really don’t want to talk about any of that—”

“We won’t. I just—” Sam sighed. “I’ve been really selfish. More than I normally am,” she added and Molly smiled faintly. “I know you feel like Mom and I have been more on Kristina’s side with all of us, and I can’t speak for Mom, but I promise you I’m not. I don’t like how she’s handled any of this. But she was…scaring me for a while,” Sam admitted. “And I guess I was worried she’d fall back into some old habits. You know?”

“Trusting the wrong people, getting herself into trouble, I know. The last time she was like this, she hooked up with a cult leader,” Molly replied. “And none of us really pushed to stop that until it was too late. I get it, you and Mom are trying to keep her from going off the rails again. I understand, Sam—”

“That doesn’t make any of this fair to you. At all. I shouldn’t expect you to sit around and be rational because Kristina can’t be.” Sam laid a hand on her sister’s forearm. “I’ve been where you both are. Losing a child you desperately wanted just before they come into the world. Never getting to hold them, to feel the heartbeat—” She stopped, and now Molly reached for her sister’s hand, squeezed it. “Wondering what could have been, wishing it could be different, trying to find someone to blame, it can drive you insane, Mols. And it never goes away. Never. You cling too hard to the people around you, desperate to keep them loving you, destroying yourself, hurting people.”

Molly looked down, but not before Sam caught the sheen of tears in her sister’s eyes. “And you never get over it, not really. You put it in a box, and you try not to think about it. But it comes back. I got to be a mother, you know. I got my miracle babies, and I clung too hard.  I was so desperate to keep Danny and Scout with me that I—” She swallowed hard. “That I went a little crazy. And every time someone or something threatens to take them away, I lose it.”

“Mom’s going to get them back, Sam. You and Mom are going to do what the court told you, and it’s going to be okay—”

“Custody, sure. I’ll get it back. But I can’t fix what I’ve already done. How I’ve already hurt my son.” Sam swiped at her cheek. “But I’m watching you and Kristina deal with the same horror I went through all those years ago, and I hate that I can’t fix it. I can’t make Kristina look past her own pain, or find a way to make you feel safe enough to trust me with yours. Because you won’t. I know it.”

“Sam—”

“And you’re not even wrong to feel that way. Because over and over again, Mom and I put Kristina first. Or Mom’s put me first. So you taught yourself not to need any of us. I’m sorry, Mols. I  can’t—” Sam’s smile was wobbly. “I can’t fix that. I can’t really do anything to help anyone.”

“There’s nothing that can fix this, Sam. I’m sorry. I don’t want to talk about Kristina anymore, please. Can we just—can we eat lunch and just not talk about any of it?”

Bobbie’s Diner: Dining Room

By the afternoon, Danny was miserable. His arms were aching, his feet were burning, and he’d loaded and unloaded the dishwasher so many times he wanted to rip out the cords.

So when Joss and Trina came in after their classes, with laughter and happiness, Danny wanted to throw plates at them.

“Ah, the rite of passage here at Bobbie’s,” Joss said with a bright smile, coming around the counter to pour herself and Trina glasses of soda. “I don’t miss that at all—”

“I hate you,” Danny muttered, picking up another empty tub and heading towards the tables to clear the last of the after school rush.

Trina twisted on the stool as he came around the counter. “Hey, did you talk to Cam about tomorrow yet?”

Danny frowned, one hand lifting a plate in the air. “What?”

“Cam. He’s coming home this weekend,” Trina reminded him. “And he called me.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief. “It just so happens I snagged myself a babysitting gig tomorrow, so maybe I’ll see you around the estate.”

Port Charles Airport: Entrance Hall

Elizabeth held Cameron in a tight hug a moment longer than normal, letting herself remember when he’d been small enough to lift in her arms and cuddle against her. When had he grown so tall and strong? When had her little boy with the messy curls and sticky fingers become a man?

Cameron kissed the side of her head as she finally released him, then extended a hand to Jason to shake. “My brothers get into any more trouble this week?” he asked Mom. “Other than Jake and Danny getting themselves kicked out of school. Do I have to smack them around?”

“No, none that I know about anyway.” Elizabeth wound her arms through his. “But you know your brothers. There’s still time.”

+39

Written in 33 minutes.

Friday, September 27, 2024

Chase’s Apartment: Living Room

“I bring little in the way of news, good or bad,” Spinelli said, pulling the strap of his messenger back over his shoulder and setting it on the coffee table. “Some small pieces of movement. Diane finally won her motion to get the car data released to us at the same time the Feds get it, and I’m finally going to get neighbor security footage.”

“That’s good — I’ll check with Robert to make sure we’re copied on all of that.” Chase scribbled a note on a white board. “Getting that car data report to see when that trunk was open will be important.”

“For trial purposes, I need to do analysis to link the GPS records to the trunk records to prove the car was in front of Elizabeth’s house when the trunk was opened — and link with security footage of Kristina at the door.” Spinelli hesitated. “If that’s what happened. I still want to be wrong but it’s the only theory that makes sense.”

“And she’s the same height as Elizabeth, so the bullet trajectory would fit.” Chase turned to Spinelli. “I have an update of my own, but it’s one I need to ask you not to share with anyone, including Diane.”

Spinelli bristled. “What? Why?”

“It’s not illegal,” Chase added quickly, “but brushing on the side of ethics. Diane’s an officer of the court — she’d be bound by the bar to report what I’m about to tell you.”

“Okay,” Spinelli drew out slowly. “You’re the cop, so I’m going to hold you to that. What’s happened?”

“A source in the U.S. Attorney’s Office—” Chase handed Spinelli a folder. “Diane should get a copy of this report sometime next week, but I have the preliminary results of the FBI search today.”

“You have—” Spinelli jerked the folder open, scanned, then exhaled on a slow breath. “The fourth bullet. We half-expected it to be found—but what’s this? A broken heel?”

“The day of the shooting, when Elizabeth and the others came up from the crime scene,” Chase said, “Brook told me later that Elizabeth had broken a shoe running down to the boat house. She remembers it clearly, so she’ll be a good witness.”

“They found a heel between the gardens and the boat house—” Spinelli nodded. “So it supports Elizabeth’s story.”

“The government could still twist it, but when you factor in all the witness statements and Elizabeth’s alibi, it just makes it less likely a jury is going to throw out all the reasons Elizabeth couldn’t have done this.”

“Good for us, but—” Spinelli grimaced. “This says the bullet found is in good shape and should a candidate for testing.”

“I thought you expected that to match?”

“We did—and do. But Diane was able to argue bail because they didn’t have a match. It’s a weak case, so—”

Chase nodded, the realization dawning. “Low flight risk. You make the match to the gun, all of a sudden—”

“Elizabeth has a stronger case to run. Which means they can revisit bail. New evidence, new conditions—” Spinelli slid the folder into his bag. “Diane will have some time to prep, but this just makes it less likely we’ll win the motion to dismiss, and this nightmare is going to keep going. I’ll tell Diane it’s a confidential source for now. She won’t ask any thing else.” He paused. “Your source…you trust them?”

“For now.” Chase paused. “Spinelli, you might lose the motion to dismiss, but we are making progress. We’ve eliminated all the other suspected, we’ve made it but impossible for Elizabeth to have done this—all that’s left is proving who did it, and we’re finally getting those pieces next week. We’re going to fix this. I know it.”

Quartermaine Estate: Family Room

Olivia closed the double doors partially, leaving only a small opening where they could hear the sounds of a video game and voices from Rocco and Scout. She turned to Dante, her arms folded. “I’m not sure there are any right or wrong choices here, Dante. Every option hurts someone.”

“I know. I know.” He paced to the front door, then turned back. “I can’t go back in time and not leave, you know?”

“No, time travel isn’t one of the options.” Olivia tipped her head. “I’m sorry, honey. I feel like I’m not a lot of help. Other than somewhere to rest your head.”

“Just another place I’ve dragged Rocco to. You know, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Maxie needed the space, and we didn’t. I didn’t—I mean, I obviously knew it would be difficult for Rocco—”

“Don’t let the last few weeks overshadow everything that came before,” Olivia told him. “Rocco was happy. He was doing just fine with Sam, and he loved Danny and Scout. This—this all seemed to start last year.”

“When Danny’s grades started to go down.” Dante paused. “Sam was hard on him — she just wanted better for him, you know, but maybe—” He sat on the bottom step. “Maybe it was too much pressure, right? She wanted him to have more choices, more opportunities, not to throw away so many years like she did or Jason did, and Danny just couldn’t live up to it.”

“Rocco feels solidarity with Danny—they start drinking, smoking—” Olivia perched on the step next to him, crossing her arms on her lap. “And maybe it’s working to relieve some of that pressure, you know. Then Danny gets a miracle Rocco could only dream of.”

“He gets his dad back, and Sam won’t let Danny anywhere near him.” Dante looked at his mother. “Yeah, I guess that tracks. He talked about it a little bit. But knowing how we got here — it doesn’t really help to fix it, does it?”

“No—”

“What’s the hell is going on in here?”

The angry adult voice had both rising to their feet just a moment before Drew shoved the door open. “I thought I was very clear that I didn’t want my daughter anywhere near these delinquents,” he bit out.

Rocco came up behind him, his face flushed, eyes glittering. “Hey, don’t you have a felony on your record, asshole?”

Olivia arched a  brow. “Yeah, you said it, Drew. But you weren’t home, and left Scout in the care of whoever lives here. That’s me. And I said she could see him.” She lifted her chin. “Maybe we could take our case to Monica. I wonder how’d she’d feel.”

Drew grimaced, then looked at Rocco. “Stay away from Scout. Come on,” he told his daughter, taking her by the shoulder and lightly pushing her forward. Rocco started to step forward, but Dante was already crossing the foyer to stop his son from following.

“Not a battle we can fight or win today, kid. But he’ll get his. People like him always do.”

+38

Written in 72 minutes. The middle two scenes took longer than I wanted and then I had trouble ending the last scene. Anyway. Enjoy and see you tomorrow!

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Jake’s Car

Jake waited until they’d pulled out of the driveway for the Davis house before he spoke. “So, how’d it go?”

“Don’t be an asshole.”

“It’s just a question.”

“Whatever.” Danny stared out the window and was quiet until Jake had left the Forest Hills neighborhood, and waited for the light to change so he could make the turn down town. “You didn’t take long to pick me up.”

“Yeah, well—I knew your visit was today, so when I decided to get a coffee after school, I went to the place in your grandmother’s neighborhood. I had a feeling.”

“Oh, so you’re a psychic now?”

“No. I just know you. And I know how we’re alike.” Jake made a turn into a parking lot, then switched off the ignition. “Part of you really wanted to go today. You haven’t seen your mom more than once in almost two weeks and that’s weird for you. You thought you’d go in, and somehow your mom would be all fixed, and it would make sense.”

Danny said nothing, kept his face turned towards the window.

“But you’re also still really pissed your mom put you in this situation. Because if she keeps her hands off my mother, she doesn’t lose the hearing, and maybe you’re back home living there. I went to get a coffee and figured worst case scenario, I’d waste twenty minutes of my life.”

“I picked a fight.” Danny looked at Jake. “It was weird, and it was awkward. Then she started talking about what other people were telling me, and I—I didn’t want to hear it. She thinks Dad and Elizabeth and you just sit around all the time trying to tell me how much my mother sucks and what an evil woman she is—and it’s just not like that. It never was.” He shook his head. “No, once I figured out how much she really hates you and your mom, it all got really clear, you know? She thinks your mom is manipulating me, using me to look good with Dad or something. She can’t even pretend there’s a chance Elizabeth just gives a damn.”

Jake exhaled slowly, stared out the windshield for a beat. “Because she wouldn’t cross the street to help me, even if I were dying.”

“Yeah. I told Grandma that, you know, and I could see her realizing it, too. Maybe she thinks it just about Mom hating Elizabeth because whatever dumbass thing happened back before we were born which I don’t care about. I just don’t. I care about what kind of person my mother is, and it turns out it’s a really shitty one.”

Jake sighed. “Danny, she’s not the worst—”

“She’s not in the top ten maybe, but she’s on the list. Whatever. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Can we just go? I just want to go home.”

Port Charles Municipal Building: Mayor’s Office

“Well, it doesn’t really matter what I think does it?” Laura asked, rounding her desk and reaching for her reading glasses. She peered up at Dante. “You didn’t want to move out in the first place, and Rocco’s giving you the heads up to do that.”

Dante gripped the back of the chair he stood behind. “That’s not fair.”

“Don’t talk to me about fair, Dante. My grandson is tearing apart with guilt because he wants something to change with his mother. For her to wake up or die — this living between—” She gripped the glasses more tightly. “My family went through it for years, but they had no choice but to go on. To keep living. I woke up to my daughter all but grown up, my husband had married someone else, and my sons were nearly unrecognizable to me. Rocco is destroyed, and the only spark he’s had since coming to stay with me is doing something for Scout, and it’s barely a blip. He’s crying out for help, and you’re looking at me for permission to move back in with your girlfriend.”

“Laura—”

“What? Does the truth hurt? Here’s some more.” Laura pushed back, got to her feet. “That girlfriend? Nearly got herself arrested for assaulting my daughter-in-law in front of a child. Her own child! And you think I want to put Rocco anywhere near that?”

Danny exhaled slowly. “I know. I know. Sam went too far—”

“Too far was the day you walked out on my daughter and Rocco to chase ghosts for the WSB. When instead of fighting to stay by her side and be healthy, you chose to leave again. I don’t know why I’m surprised. They say daughters marry their fathers, and you’re proving to be same feckless, useless man Luke was by the time I saw him last.”

Dante dropped his gaze from Laura’s burning blue eyes, the shame and guilt crawling through him. There were no lies in her statement. He’d left Lulu and Rocco, turned his back on their family, and by the time he’d been ready to come home — Lulu had been moving on. And then she was gone.

“You’re right,” Dante said roughly. “You’re right. But no one’s perfect, are they?” He looked at his mother-in-law again. “Didn’t you spend a year trying to fix your grandson’s abuser? If you’d held the ground a little bit, do you think Spencer would still be alive?”

Laura inhaled sharply. “How dare—”

“I mean, if we’re going to blame each other for horrible things that happened to the people we love outside our control—let’s do it. What else can you make my fault? The explosion at the Floating Rib? Sure. The PTSD? Of course, I brought that on myself, didn’t I? You made Spencer live in the same home as the woman who slept with his father and conceived a child just so he could be with his brother. You had influence, Laura. You could have made sure Esme ended up in jail and lost custody of that boy. And didn’t you start the process that got Heather Webber, a killer out of jail?” Dante demanded. “Heather, who tried to kill your grandson’s girlfriend. Who did kill several other people—do we really want to keep listing the terrible things we’ve done, or can we get back to the point?”

Laura’s mouth was tight, her body tense. “Which is?”

“Rocco is in trouble, and I’m not equipped to solve it. Not on my own. Maybe it is a mistake to move back in with Sam, but this is the first sign he’s even thinking of someone else. I can’t just ignore what he’s asking me to do.”

“If your mind was already made up before you walked in here, why did you bother?” Laura demanded.

“I don’t know. To get your blessing. But I didn’t realize how much you disliked me, so—” he shrugged. “I guess I don’t actually care about it.  Thanks for letting my son stay with you. But I’ll be picking him up and taking him to my mother’s. At least he can see Scout there, and we’ll see if he still wants to go back to the penthouse. Have a nice day, Laura.”

Davis Home: Living Room

“Where’s Danny?” Kristina demanded, dropping the brown bag with their dinner on the table by the door, and hanging up her purse.

“Don’t ask,” Sam muttered, slumping down in the sofa. “You’ll just get Mom started again.”

At her desk, Alexis looked up and twisted to face her daughter. “Your tone suggests the first round wasn’t successful, so maybe we need to do this again.”

Kristina came down the steps from the landing, her brow furrowed. “What’s going on?”

“It was a disaster, of course,” Sam said. She got to her feet. “And I don’t want to hear it, Mom. If you’re just going to yell at me, I can go home—”

“And sit alone? Go right ahead.” Alexis arched a brow. “Danny is a teenager with a rotten attitude who hates the world and nearly everyone in it—”

“Not everyone, Mom—” Sam closed her eyes. “Just me.”

“Then maybe stop giving him reasons to be angry—”

“Mom!” Kristina said, her eyes widening. She stared as Alexis rose and came up the steps to pick up the dinner bag. “You can’t really blame Sam for all this—”

“I can. Because she’s the one who decided to walk out on Danny at the police station—”

“Here we go again—” Sam rolled her eyes and looked to the ceiling. “A list of my greatest sins—”

“Then you denied medical treatment when I told you that it was going to end badly—”

“I thought—”

“And if all of that wasn’t enough—” Alexis dropped the bag on the dining table with a crinkle of paper. “When Danny comes to see you, to try to mend the bridges — which means Jason was on the brink of dropping the custody suit—you assault Elizabeth and threaten to have her arrested for kidnapping!”

“I wasn’t—” Sam exhaled, looked away. “I wasn’t serious—”

“In front of Danny.”

“God, can we not do this—”

“All of that already happened,” Kristina interrupted her sister. “Why isn’t Danny here today? You were supposed to visit. He was here—”

“Danny baited her. Because of course he did. He’s angry at you, Sam. Did you think it was going away because it’s been a few days?” Alexis wanted to hear.

“You know, this wasn’t fun the first time—”

“And we’re doing it again because you aren’t listening. Danny has learned how much you hate his brother. You don’t get to unring that bell—”

“What does Jake have to do with this?” Kristina asked. “I don’t understand anything that’s going on. Can someone just start from the top—”

“It’s been bothering me, you know. Why this sudden turn on Elizabeth after years of civil, even bordering on friendly at times,” Alexis said, ignoring Kristina. Sam sighed, rubbed her temple. “Why you would be so sure that Elizabeth is manipulating Danny, trying to alienate him, and use him against you? I couldn’t understand it. But as soon as Danny pointed it out—”

“Mom, he’s fourteen—”

“You were never given an opportunity to be around Jake,” Alexis interrupted. “During the brief period you and Jason were together or when Drew was still living as Jason, Jake rarely had overnight visits. Jason must have always suspected how you felt, and kept him away.”

Sam’s eyes burned. “Mom.”

“Because you do hate him. Because he was conceived the night that you destroyed any chance you ever had of really being with Jason again—”

“Mom. Don’t—”

“What am I missing?” Kristina asked, looking back and forth between the women.

“He may have forgiven you for it, as I did. But only one of us truly let it go. He was never, in a million years, going to trust you again. Not after that. But you couldn’t blame yourself. You blamed an innocent child. You’ve never forgiven that child for being born or for not dying in that car accident.”

“That is a horrible thing to say!” Sam cried.

“I think we all need to take a big step back—”

But neither Sam nor Alexis were paying Kristina any mind. Alexis continued, her eyes on her eldest daughter. “You can’t imagine Elizabeth actually gives a damn about Danny. Not the child born to Jason after she thought Jake was gone forever. Not the child Jason had with you. How could Elizabeth not hate Danny? She can’t be trying to help him out of genuine kindness and compassion for her son’s brother. Because you never would. You haven’t come nearly as far as you think you have from that destructive, narcissistic woman who did the things you did that year. And I think you know very well what I’m referring to.”

Sam opened her mouth, then closed it, taking a shaky breath as she finally spoke. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I could ignore the way I felt about Jake. Jason forgave me many things, but he never forgot any of them. And he never let me near enough to Jake for it to matter.”

“And then Jason came back, when you were already having so much trouble with Danny. You thought you could keep them apart by sheer will, but Danny kept trying. You wanted to stop being the bad guy, so you tried to make Jake the villain. Go ahead, Danny. You can see your dad, but only with Jake.”

“Jake was supposed to refuse—”

“But he loves his brother. He loves him. And he dealt with it. He spent time with his father, and so did Danny. Another reason to hate that child. And his mother for forcing it. Because she must have, of course, you thought. You told me how many times.”

Sam closed her eyes, folded her arms around her torso, tears staining her cheek. “I just wanted to keep Danny safe. That’s all I wanted, and every time I turned around they were making it impossible. And now, I know you don’t believe it, but Elizabeth finally has a chance to get her revenge—”

“Because you took your chance to get revenge, you think she’s doing that, too. Again, Sam. You keep making the mistake that Elizabeth makes the same cruel decisions that you do.” Alexis pointed at Sam with both index fingers. “You walked out on your son, you refused to listen to him, and then you put him in danger and terrified him when you attacked his brother’s mother, and for all intents and purposes, his step mother. You did this, Sam. And it’s had a terrible domino effect that’s left you without both your children. Until you face that, until you can really take accountability for what you’ve done — you’ll keep making these choices. But I won’t stand by and watch.”

She turned and walked into the kitchen, the door swinging shut behind her.

Shaken, Kristina looked at her sister. “What the hell is going on?” she demanded.

“I can’t—I just—” Sam shook her head, covered her face. “I’m going home. I have to get out of here.”

“Okay, but—” Kristina snatched up her purse. “Let me—let me drive you, okay? We’ll fix this, I promise.”

Webber House: Master Bedroom

Elizabeth cross-legged on the bed, flipping through her reminders on her phone’s notepad app. “I miss my old phone,” she muttered. “It had my schedule, and the boys, and it was so organized and all my passwords—”

Jason looked over, frowned. “I thought Cam was able to get the backup last week for you. We can call Spinelli—”

“I know. But this is a different phone, and that backup was old—never mind. Are you sure you don’t want to leave Danny here tomorrow while we drive into Syracuse?” she asked him. “He’s been here alone while we’ve gone to work—”

Jason closed the book he’d been reading and set it on the night stand. “I don’t know what happened today with Sam. He won’t talk about it.”

“Except that he doesn’t want another visit,” Elizabeth said.

“Which I don’t entirely trust Alexis or Sam not to push. Or Kristina,” Jason admitted. “I thought giving them the right to supervise would make things easier. I didn’t want to keep Danny from Sam more than I had to—”

“You don’t think one of them would show up here, do you?” The thought hadn’t occurred to her, and she tensed. “Alexis knows I have to go to probation on Fridays. I told her when I was at Diane’s office the other day. It came up,” she added when he frowned. “She’d know you have to go with me—”

“Which means Danny would be on his own,” Jason finished. “It’s not a perfect option,” he admitted. “But—”

Elizabeth slid under the bedspread and slid in closer to Jason, curling into his side. “But he’ll be miserable coming with us. I know because I’m going to be miserable until it’s over and I can pick up Cameron. There’s got to be a better option.”

“We can’t ask Jake to stay home—”

“No, but—” Elizabeth bit her lip. “Maybe Michael? I know he’s at the office. Maybe Danny might want to go there. Or Carly. She’s always asking to help—” She lifted her brows. “You know, Danny’s old enough to get working papers. He can work limited hours. Cam started at Kelly’s—” she stopped, forced herself to correct. “Bobbie’s now. The diner. It might be good for him. It was good for me. It gave me a lot of structure. He might not want the diner. But maybe something else.”

Jason considered, then nodded. “I think he’s got too much time on his hands, which is how he got into so much trouble.” He kissed her forehead, his lips lingering. “It’s hard to remember to call it by the new name. Maybe because it was Kelly’s for so long. Or because I don’t like to think of Bobbie being gone. But I like the idea of Danny picking up some shifts there. Like you. Cameron. Joss worked there.”

“The family business. The legal one anyway,” Elizabeth added. He grinned, then pulled her closer, and they stopped talking at all.

+43

Written in 59 minutes. This scene did not cooperate the way I planned it, lol, but I like it so much better than I had it planned. But it also went 3x as long as it should have. Story of my life 😛

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Davis House: Living Room

Sam nearly leapt off the sofa when her mother stepped through the front door, then to one side revealing Danny coming in behind her.

It had been nearly a week since she’d seen her son — and now she  didn’t quite know what to do now that they were in the same room. She was suddenly very aware that the last time he’d seen her, she’d been screaming at Elizabeth, demanding that someone arrest her for kidnapping.

Her feelings and convictions about Elizabeth aside — Sam swallowed. It had obviously been a terrible idea to confront her in the lobby.

Alexis hung up her purse and keys, then came down the few steps into the living room proper to rub Sam’s shoulder. “I was thinking maybe asking your sister to stop at Bobbie’s to pick up dinner. What do you think, Danny? Your usual?”

“Uh, yeah, thanks.” Danny dropped his back pack on the ground. “I have to do homework before I go ho—back,” he said, fumbling slightly.

Sam forced words past the lump in her throat, knowing it would be better to ignore the fact he’d nearly called Elizabeth’s house home. “Oh? Any  subject I can help with?”

“Not really. I, um, have to do some make up assignments to fix my grades.” Danny remained where he was, only steps from the front door. “Jake’s been helping me, though. And Dad’s pretty good at algebra.”

“He always was good with that kind of thing,” Sam managed. “And we’re really long past the days when you brought home work I understood.” Especially since she’d barely managed to scrape her GED. She looked at her mother, a little bit helpless.

What could she say? How did she even act?

Alexis picked up her phone. “I’m just going to, uh, text Kristina the order. Sam, I picked Danny up from a therapy session.” She lifted her brows. “You might ask how that’s going.”

“Oh. I didn’t know—” Sam bit her lip, looked back at Danny. “I didn’t know if I should—I mean, did you want to talk about it?”

“We can, I guess.” Danny finally moved from his spot, heading for the armchair by the sofa — choosing that so that Sam couldn’t really be next to him, she thought, but shoved it down.

It was only fair that it was awkward and uncomfortable. Sam was trying to be on her best behavior, and even if the supervision was her mom, she knew Danny could tell his attorney if she messed up. For once, she was going to have to think about what she would say.

“Do you…do you like your doctor?” Sam asked, sitting gingerly on the sofa, perching near the edge, her hands clasped together.

“Yeah. Um, more than I thought.” Danny was staring at the floor. “He kind of just…asks questions, you know. And lets me talk. I thought it’d be the opposite.”

“That’s good. Um, I know you’d asked me to go to some sessions. I don’t know if you still want that—”

“I do—” Danny lifted his head. “But…” He tensed, and averted his gaze again. “I guess it has to be when Elizabeth doesn’t go. Since Dad said you can’t go near her. That’s what the court said, right?”

Sam pressed her lips together, swallowed hard. “Yes. It’s…for the best we don’t talk or see each other right now. I’m…I’m very sorry. About what happened, Danny. I know that…I know it was a mistake. I wish I hadn’t gone downstairs.”

“Me, too.”

Sam clenched her jaw. “I don’t know…what else you’ve been told about any of this, but it’s complicated. It’s not just about you—”

“I know that.” Danny met her eyes, and there was a flicker of that old resentment. “It’s about Dad. And Jake. You hate them both. You blame Elizabeth for Jake existing. That’s fine. You don’t have to like any of them. Or Elizabeth. That’s what I talked about at the doctor today. Being okay with how much everyone hates each other. Jake doesn’t like you either.” His mouth curved slightly into a mocking smile. “Neither does Elizabeth. And you’re not on Dad’s good list either.”

Sam furrowed her brow, trying to determine if Danny was trying to bait her. “Divorce is difficult,” she said after a moment. “And there’s often a lot of friction. But your dad and I need to do better—”

“No, Dad doesn’t need to do anything—” Danny shook his head. “You just don’t get it, Mom. You never will.”

“Danny—” Alexis came to sit next to Sam. “Your mother is just trying to make peace—”

“No, she wants to pretend like she’s not the one to blame, and I’m not gonna let her do it. Look, I screwed up. And I’m dealing with how bad it was. I was a jerk to you, I know that, and I guess I’m sorry for it. And Dad leaving the way he did, that was messed up, and he knows that. But you made it harder. Dad didn’t fight you because he didn’t want this. And you figured he never would.”

“That is—” Sam bit back her first reaction when Alexis squeezed her knee. “Okay, that’s true. I knew your dad didn’t want to go to court. But that doesn’t mean what’s happening now is the right choice—”

“Mom. You punched Elizabeth in the face and tried to have her arrested when she drove me over to see you. She wanted to help. And I know, I know, she’s just trying to make herself look good, right? That’s what you’re gonna say. That’s why she let me come stay at her house, and why she found me a doctor — she’s trying to prove she’s better than you. That’s what you’re gonna say right? That’s what you told the court, my attorney said so.”

Sam opened her mouth, then closed it. “There’s just no winning with you, is there, Danny?”

“What do you want me to say, Mom? Hey, thanks for giving Elizabeth a black eye and nearly getting her bail revoked so she’d go back to jail.” Danny got to his feet. “This is stupid. So what if Elizabeth is trying to prove something? It doesn’t change what happened. She still drove me to see you. Because I wanted to see you. I wanted to fix things.”

“Danny—” Sam and Alexis both got to their feet.

“No, I’m sick of this. Because you’ve been doing this for months. You don’t care what I want. You just care about you. I have to have perfect grades because you screwed up your life and I’m supposed to be better than you. I can’t see my dad because he’s made stupid choices, like all yours are so fucking fantastic, and my brother’s mom is a bitch because she’s nice to me and only wants to make you look bad —” His face was flushed and there were tears glimmering at the corner of his eyes. “Dad made sure that Grandma or Aunt Kristina was our supervision, right? And said he didn’t care how often I could see you. But he’s still the asshole, right?”

Sam fisted both hands her hair, squeezed her eyes closed. “Danny. Can you just let me talk—”

“No, how does it feel? Huh? To be told how to feel, and how to act, and how think? How does it feel to have someone else trying to control your life?”

“Danny, let’s just take a step back—” Alexis came around Sam and put a hand up. “Okay, honey. Your mother isn’t blameless and she knows it.” She threw Sam a look, then returned her focus to Danny. “So let’s just take a deep breath.”

“What’s the point?”

“Because I think there’s progress to be made here. You’re upset, and you should be.” Alexis turned slightly, her back now to Sam, her attention fully on her grandson. “I know how awful Saturday was. I’ve seen the video. I can’t imagine how it felt to be there.”

“It was my idea,” Danny said, his voice breaking slightly. “Okay? I wanted to fix things so Scout could come home. We were trying to fix things for Mom. I knew I messed up with the drinking and the weed, and Dad was going to talk to Grandma Monica, and Elizabeth was just going to sit in the lobby. I don’t understand how it’s so bad. She wanted to help, Mom. And you were going to have her arrested. They would have put her in jail and the FBI is awful. They would have put her back in that jail hours away. Jake and Aiden and Cam would all lose their mom. Is that what you wanted? Because I was with Dad, you figured Elizabeth should lose her kids, too?”

“No!” Sam said forcefully. “Is that what she said? That’s such bullshit!”

“No. That’s what I think. What Jake thinks. And probably his brothers. But, hey, you can’t pass up the chance to blame Elizabeth for something else, huh? I told you,” he said, looking at his grandmother. “She can’t stop thinking about anyone but herself. She never will.”

“Danny—”

“Dad said these visits last as long as I want them to. Well, I don’t want any more today.” He jerked out his phone.

“Danny, please, just—” Sam held out both hands. “Please. Okay, you’re right. You’re right! I hate Elizabeth so much that it blots everything else out, and I can’t think straight? Is that what you want to hear?” she demanded.

Danny lowered the phone, looked at his mother. “Only if it’s true.”

“Sam—” Alexis began, but Sam shook off her mother’s hand.

“No, he wants the truth, right? Well, fine. He can have it. I hate Elizabeth Webber, and I have since she decided to have an affair with my fiance,” Sam bit out. “She took advantage of Jason when he was upset, when we were broken up—”

“So not an affair, then.”

“Damn it, Danny—”

“Do you think I don’t know how to do math, Mom? I know from the pictures that you and Dad were together before Jake was born. And after. Dad told me that you guys were broken up for a while and that’s where Jake comes in. But I guess that’s part of you hating Elizabeth so much you can’t see straight, think straight, or even tell the truth.”

Sam exhaled slowly. “You’ll understand when you’re older. They were absolutely having an emotional affair. I absolutely get to hate the woman who destroyed my relationship with your father and ruined any chance we ever had to be a family—”

“Except we were a family, Mom. You threw Dad out after the Floating Rib explosion,” Danny retorted, and Sam scowled. “You started dating Dante before Dad ever went to Greece.”

“Okay, this conversation is going nowhere—” Alexis started.

“No, I think we learned something really important. At least I did.” Danny lifted his chin, glaring at his mother. “You said it yourself. You hate Elizabeth so much that no one else matters. Especially not me.”

“Danny—”

“You told me over and over again that I’m supposed to do better than you, that I need to make better choices than you, that I shouldn’t make your mistakes — that’s all I am to you. Your miracle baby that’s supposed to be some kind of evidence that you’re a better person. You don’t care about me.”

“That is not true—” Sam lunged forward as Danny headed for the door, but Alexis blocked her.

“Give me a second. Let me go talk to him, Sam.”

Alexis followed Danny out the door, found him on the porch, his phone in hand. “Danny—”

“I’m not going back in there—”

“I’m not asking you to.”

Danny grimaced, looked at his grandmother, tears still glinting in his eyes. “Don’t tell me to let this go.”

“I’m not asking that either.” She closed the door so that it was just the two of them. “I’m not really sure what I should say because everything that’s coming to mind will sound like a defense of your mother to you, and I think you’d probably just start running.”

Danny looked away, towards the woods and the road. But he remained in one place, so Alexis continued. “I don’t deny that your mother has put a lot of pressure on you. Grades, behavior, all of that. And I know she’s worried that you’ll make the same choices she did. Or your father.”

“Grandma—”

“And it’s natural for you to rebel. To push back. And to pick fights to avoid uncomfortable conversations,” Alexis continued. “You might not have meant for it to get this bad, but you can’t stand there and tell me you weren’t pushing her buttons.”

Danny grimaced. “So what if I was? I wanted her to admit what she did. She still probably thinks what happened last weekend is Elizabeth’s fault. Elizabeth shouldn’t have hit her back, she told me that. And she thinks she should have left, and let Dad come and handle it.”

Alexis rubbed her temple. “And I suppose Elizabeth took accountability the same day, so listening to your mother make excuses a week later isn’t exactly helping.”

“It’s like Mom can’t believe Elizabeth might give a damn about me. Like I’m not worth caring about—”

“Danny—”

“Because it’s how she feels about my brother. She knows if the situation was reversed, she’d have told Jake to kick rocks,” Danny retorted, and Alexis closed her mouth. “That’s why she can’t believe Elizabeth wants to help me. She knows she’d never be that nice to Jake. So it must be a lie. It must be a trick.”

“There is…” Alexis pursed her lips. “Some truth to that statement, Danny. It’s a long, complicated history — a lot of bad blood between them—”

“And Mom’s the only one who makes it my problem. What am I supposed to do with that?”

“I don’t know.” Alexis folded her arms. “I don’t know. I promise you, I’m going to do whatever I can to help. Your mother loves you, Danny.” Danny scoffed, and she bit her lip. “Is your father coming to get you?”

“No, Jake is. Unless you think Mom’s going to throw rocks at his car and accuse him of kidnapping me,” Danny said.

“No, I think you’re safe.” She paused. “How are you doing? Honestly. And just between us,” she added when he sighed.

“Fine, I guess.  I like living with Dad,” he said, looking at her, a bit of challenge in his eyes, as if daring her to disagree. “And Jake. But not just them. I like living with Elizabeth and Aiden. And Cameron’s coming home this weekend because he’s worried about his mom. I like it. Dad helps me with homework, and I started to understand it when he explained it.”

“That’s good. I mean it. Jason was always a good father, and I’m not surprised that you’re enjoying more time with him. And your brother.” Alexis tipped her head. “The therapy? Is that helping?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. It’s only been two sessions. I told him about Mom and the fight, and—” Danny shook his head. “I don’t like making Mom unhappy, okay? I hate that Scout’s with her dick father, and he’s not letting me see her either. I know Rocco’s being an ass, and I’m not trying to make it worse, I’m not. But I’m just angry all the time, Grandma. I used to hide it by getting high or drunk. I’m not allowed to do that anymore.”

“Come here.” Alexis tugged on his sleeve, and he reluctantly went into her arms, then relaxed against her. This was his grandmother after all, and he’d known her all his life. “I love you so much, sweetheart. All I want is for you to safe, healthy, and happy.” She pulled away, then held his head in her hands. “I’m going to work on your mother, and we’ll figure out a way to do these visits that isn’t going to make you both miserable. But that’s not your problem to fix. It’s mine. You take care of yourself, all right?”

“All right,” Danny said. He heard a car pull into the drive. “Thanks, Grandma. I…I love you, too.” He stepped back, picked up his back pack. “Um, tell Mom I’m sorry I guess. We’ll try again some other day.”

Alexis waved at the car as Danny jogged towards the passenger side, and Jake waved back at her somewhat hesitantly.

As her grandson pulled away with his brother, Alexis turned back to the house, took a deep breath, and went inside.

+42