Written in 58 minutes.

Monday, September 16, 2024

Miller & Davis: Spinelli’s Office

Diane rapped on the door frame to Spinelli’s office, then lifted her brows as she took in the bulletin boards on three of the room’s four walls, all cluttered with photographs, index cards, and reports. “This is surprisingly low tech for you, isn’t it?”

Spinelli clicked a few keys, then got to his feet. “I wanted to have all the information laid out. I used to think digital was all I’d need, but—” he went over to the wall next to Diane. “But sometimes you don’t see a connection until you see it physically.”

“And do we have any connections?” she wanted to know.

Spinelli made a face. “Not yet, but we should see progress this week. I’m interviewing Jake and Aiden later — I had to schedule around Chase and Dante. They’re doing the same thing. Georgie has to be interviewed again.” His face was grim. “I hate that she’s even a little bit wrapped up in this. But she’s a witness to Michael and Elizabeth leaving the terrace together shortly before the shooting.”

“And her testimony, along with all the children, is key. Because either Michael is an accomplice or Elizabeth is innocent. There’s no getting around those facts.” Diane skimmed the walls, tapping the index card about the tip to the FBI. “I’m headed to the PCPD on this call later today. The audio reports are back, and I’ll be able to get copies for ourselves.”

“It’s going to be AI—”

“Knowing it and being to prove it are different, but if we can prove it — it’s compelling proof Elizabeth was framed.”

“Will that help in the motion to dismiss?”

She paused, considered the question. “If we had a different prosecutor, maybe. But they moved on that tip very quickly — it was received only a few hours prior to the search. That suggests they did nothing to vet the information, and they really ought to have. The transcript suggests she’s an ear witness to our client admitting her knowledge  — they should have used it and the gun to arrest Jason, with Elizabeth as an accomplice. They chose not to. And I find that very interesting. But Reynolds will just argue that someone didn’t want their voice recognized. A jury will be more interested, I think.”

“You think we’ll get that far?” Spinelli asked, surprised.

“I think that I’m going to prepare for all possibilities. I’ll call if the reports come back anything interesting.”

PCPD: Conference Room

“No reports yet,” Dante said without looking up from his paperwork, then heard his cousin sigh. He looked at her. “I told you, I’d call when they got here.”

Molly came forward, dropped into a seat across from him,  her lips curved into a pout. “I was hoping we’d know something. There are so many pieces of this puzzle, and they’re all with the lab—”

“We’ve made progress, Mols.” Dante sat up. “We’ve created a timeline based on witness statements, and scheduled another round to reverify the statements. We played the tape for Amy Driscoll who acknowledges that it was her voice, but not her call, so we know it was faked.” He ticked the items off on his fingers as he continued. “Portia has given us Elizabeth and Amy’s schedules for that day — they didn’t work the same floors, with different break times and lunch times. So no evidence that Amy was anywhere near her. We’ve got witnesses that put Morgan at the warehouse for the bulk of the day — the only free time he has is in the evening — when Elizabeth was in surgery. That conversation could have only happened on Wednesday, and there’s no evidence that supports it.”

“But the car—”

“Ballistics is a wash right now. Slugs are too damaged on their own, but we might want to see about getting another search. Problem is—”

“If the Quartermaines let us on the property, whatever we find could be used by the FBI. And I think we both know that no one goes to this trouble to plan a gun that wasn’t used in the crime.” Molly paused. “We should still do search, shouldn’t we?”

“Yeah,” Dante admitted. “If we’re being above aboard, yeah, it’s my first call. But that missing casing won’t tell us anything we don’t already know. That’s the gun that killed John Cates. I don’t feel great about handing the FBI more ammunition to use against Liz when everything in my gut says she’s innocent.”

“Let the Qs play out their injunction in court,” Molly said after a beat. “I’ve got cover on that, and I’m sure the Q lawyers will advice Michael and his family not to let any agency on the property. Any idea what this mystery audio is?”

“Nothing. The FBI isn’t returning our calls and we only  have access to the evidence we collected. We didn’t process Cates’ room at the Metro Court or his car. But if there was anything against Elizabeth, it would have been used in their probable cause motion, right?”

“I’ll make sure to mention it to Diane. I’m sure she’ll pick up the hint that she should specifically request it in her discovery motion.” Molly made a notation in her files. “Where’s Chase today?”

“At the high school. He’s taking most of the kids’ interviews, other than Jake. I’m handling that one. And I’ve got Dex taking Danny’s. It’s not ideal,” Dante admitted. “We probably weren’t the best choices for this assignment—”

“Well, you were drafted by Chase, and honestly, I don’t know many other detectives that would have gone up against Anna that way,” Molly said. “I did look into other options.”

Dante nodded. “Yeah, I guess. And this has been hell on Danny and his brother. I like that I’ll be part of making it stop.” He paused. “I should probably mention something that happened this weekend. Just to cover all the bases.”

General Hospital: Hallway

Portia walked Elizabeth from her office suite into the hallway, a reassuring hand rubbing Elizabeth’s shoulder. “You don’t have to worry about anything, Liz. The hospital is behind you.”

“I appreciate that.” Elizabeth turned to face her. “It feels good to be back in scrubs, back on the floor. Diane said the hospital’s attorney had been really helpful — I know some things have to go through subpoena—”

“The board isn’t interested in putting up any more roadblocks than we need to. Some of the hesitant members got a very clear phone call from Tracy who made it clear she was speaking on behalf of the entire family,” Portia said dryly. “You just let us know whatever you need, and we’ll get it done.”

“Thank you—” Elizabeth paused when she saw Amy down the hall stop at the sight of her, widen her eyes, and dart towards another door. “What’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t—Oh!” Portia snapped her fingers. “Chase and Dante. They were trying to chase her down last week to talk to her. They said she was related to the case in some way—”

“Oh really?” Elizabeth pressed her lips together, nodded. “Excuse me, won’t you?” She left Portia and followed Amy through the door she’d used, and found the nurse in the breakroom, pretending to study  the vending machines. “Amy.”

“Oh. Hey. Hello. Hi.” Amy’s cheeks were bright red. “How are you? It’s good to have you back where you belong. I just know this is all gonna get fixed because no one thinks you would do anything this horrible. I just—”

Elizabeth held up a hand. “Chase and Dante came to talk to you. They  think you left the tip that led to the search on my car, don’t they?”

“No. I mean, they did, but they don’t now. Because it wasn’t me. I told them I never saw you that day.” Amy clasped her hands in front of her. “And I would never snitch on you without warning you or asking you because the call they played for me is insane! Who would ever think you and Jason would talk about a murder where anyone could hear?”

“Especially a former gossip columnist,” Elizabeth added. Her lips twitched. “Don’t worry, Amy. I can’t speak for Chase or Dante, but my lawyer has thought from the beginning it was a fake call. I’m just sorry they used your voice.”

“Why would they do that? Didn’t they know it would be investigated? I mean, how could they have—” Amy closed her mouth. “Oh. They did it because it was me.” She swallowed hard. “Because I lied for months and months about the column.”

“I don’t know, but yeah, I guess maybe they figured no one would believe you. I’m sorry,” Elizabeth repeated, gently.

“Me, too. I hope you find out who did this to you. Because they’re just evil.”

PCPD: Conference Room

Molly sat back, rubbed her forehead. “That is—this is not what I thought you were going to—” She exhaled slowly. “Have you talked to Danny?”

“Not since the station. I’m hoping to touch base with Liz on that. I know that complicates things — me and her communicating about Danny, but it’s the only option, Mols. Jason and Sam can’t talk without arguing, and I gotta put Danny first. So if you need to take me off the case—”

“No, no, that would—that would create more questions, and we’re already ethically shaky. I don’t want it to be seen as us doing a favor for a key eyewitness—Oh, this is such a mess. You were barely involved before. Danny is little more than an alibi for someone who isn’t even charged, but now you’re telling me he’s staying with Jason and Elizabeth, you’re talking to the FBI’s primary suspect—” Molly took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. All that matters is Danny. And I—I need to find a way check on him.”

“I’m sorry. I honestly wasn’t thinking about anything other than making this go away. I figured if the FBI found out they got arrested on Liz’s property—”

“They wouldn’t care about context. They’d pick her up for violating her bail, and toss her back in lockup pending a hearing. And who knows if the judge will be as kind this time—” She paused. “You’re sure Dex and his partner are going to keep this quiet?”

“As sure as I can be. Right now, anyone who asks — they think the kids were picked up for a curfew. No one knows anything else.”

“Let’s keep it that way—” Molly stopped when she saw Chase at the door, a folder in his hands. She got to her feet. “Tell me that’s our audio reports.”

“Yes.” Chase held it up. “Good news or bad news first?”

“Oh, hell.” Molly held a hand to her forehead. “Good, I guess.”

“They’re both AI. No doubt about it. All the hall marks — crappy meta data, unnatural pitches, and a whole bunch of other things I don’t understand.”

“If that’s the good news, then—” Dante frowned. “What’s the bad?”

“The mystery file is a voice mail from John Cates file. Someone pretending to be Jason Morgan setting up the meet at the boathouse about the deal.” Chase paused. “And that’s not the worst part.”

“Not the—what?”

“We got another report—a digital analysis of John Cates’ computer — including evidence that he’s the one that created the voicemail luring himself to his own murder.”

Warehouse: Cargo Docks

Jason recognized the commissioner stalking towards him out of the corner of his eye, and sighed. He handed the clip board to the shift manager. “I’m about to be busy and annoyed for a little while. Finish handling this and fax the invoices to customs.”

He turned just Anna reached the cargo door. “Do I need a lawyer?”

“No, but we need to talk. Alone,” Anna added, then turned and headed for his office. He considered ignoring because he didn’t take orders from anyone anymore, and definitely not from the police commissioner.

But he was mildly curious about her visit, so he followed her and closed the door to his office behind them. “What’s going on?”

“Who did you tell about Valentin?” she demanded, her tone more clipped than usual.

Jason squinted. “What?”

“Who did you tell about Valentin?” she repeated.

“I heard your question,” he said flatly. “It didn’t make any sense the second time you said it.”

“Don’t play games—”

“I don’t know what you want, Anna. I don’t talk about Valentin.”

“Not even to Elizabeth?” she demanded. “You didn’t tell her how the Pikeman investigation ended?”

“Anna, she didn’t even know I was involved in that until two weeks ago—” He shook his head. “I’m not doing this. Tell me what you want to know, and I’ll decide if I want to answer you.”

“Robert and Molly forced me into supporting their suicide mission,” Anna retorted. “They’ve cut off cooperation for the Cates murder and they don’t seen to give a damn that the FBI has retaliated and derailed several investigations we were working together on—”

“And you think I’m going to give a damn about that?” Jason asked, skeptically. “Molly believes Elizabeth was framed. The FBI doesn’t care who killed Cates, and she knows finding that out will exonerate Elizabeth. I don’t give a damn about anything else—”

“Not even your own freedom?”

Jason went still. “What are you talking about?”

“Robert, Molly, and Chase dropped some very obvious hints that my failure to go along with their plan would result in an investigation into how Valentin eluded capture. What did you tell Elizabeth? What have you told Diane?”

“Nothing. It’s not relevant,” Jason added, and Anna scowled.

“Oh, so if you deemed that information to be relevant, you’d turn it over?”

“If I thought the FBI would drop the charges against Elizabeth in exchange for me telling them that you told Valentin to run, I’d already have done it.”

Anna went white, fell back a step. “What?”

“Are you asking me if I’d protect you over Elizabeth? I wouldn’t even think about it. I don’t know what makes you think any differently.”

“That—we worked together—” Anna’s voice was a bit weak, as she fumbled to collect herself.

“And you begged me to let Valentin have a chance to run. I never promised anything else, Anna. You made the choice to do it.”

“I—” She brought two fingers to her lips. “You’d turn me in? Even if it meant you’d go to jail, too?”

“Yes.” Jason squinted, tilted his head slightly. “Why would that be a surprise? I barely know you. I don’t owe you any loyalty. You pushed yourself into my investigation, I didn’t ask for your help. Elizabeth is—there’s just not a debate, Anna. If it’s  down to you, me, or her, I’m always going to pick her.”

+32

Written in 60 minutes.

Sunday, September 14, 2024

Penthouse: Living Room

Sam rose to her feet when the door opened and Rocco came in first, with his father’s hand firmly on his shoulder — not precisely shoving him, but also not giving the teenager much choice in his direction.

Rocco’s shirt was grimy, stained with soil and grass, and there was a new rip in his jeans. His curly hair disheveled, falling over his eyes. “Can I get a shower? Or is sleeping in filth part of the punishment?”

Dante closed the door, flipped the lock. “No point in punishing all of us with that smell. Upstairs. And stay there.”

“No worries. I’m gonna sleep until I’m dead,” Rocco muttered, trudging up the steps.

“Scout’s all good with her dad, no idea any thing happened,” Dante told Sam, tossing his eyes on the desk. He folded his arms. “I, uh, got a text from Elizabeth. She wants to pick up some of Danny’s clothes after she drops Cameron off at the airport.” He lifted his brows. “I’m guessing it didn’t go well with Jason.”

Sam pressed her lips together in a thin, unhappy line. “It started okay, I guess. But we just…we can’t seem to talk to each other anymore.” She rubbed her shoulder. “I just get so frustrated with him pretending this isn’t at least partly his fault because he wasn’t here. How do we know Jason being gone isn’t what screwed Danny up in the first place?”

Dante didn’t answer her right away, and Sam fidgeted. “What, you think this is my fault?” she demanded. “You know how hard we’ve been trying to reach Danny this last year, and we had no idea they were up to this—”

“I know that. I just don’t know if laying blame at anyone’s feet is going to help things.” Dante kicked off his sneakers. “It is what it is. We just gotta fix it. I don’t know if keeping Rocco too tired to drink or lie to me is the answer, but it’s what I got right now. And maybe—” He walked past her towards the sofa. “Maybe Danny staying with his dad for a little while is his answer.”

“So it is my fault.”

“Sam.” Dante turned back to face her. “I get it. I do. I wanna know what I did wrong with Rocco, too. We trusted them too much, I guess. We should have checked with Liz the nights they said they were with Aiden. She should have checked with us. But Rocco had never pulled anything like this, and Danny might have been giving us attitude with terrible grades, but that’s anything like this.”

“But if I’m not the problem—”

“Maybe you are. Maybe Danny is. Maybe Jason is—” Dante threw up his hands. “Maybe Danny builds up his dad in his head to be this perfect guy, and he measures you against that, and now he’ll realize Jason’s not the guy in his head. I don’t know, Sam. None of us do. I don’t even think Danny knows. But if you’re looking for someone to reassure you that you’re not a terrible mom, okay, fine. You’re not a terrible mom.”

Her eyes glimmered and she looked away, biting her lip. “Jason said that. He said that he wasn’t going to hold my  hand and reassure me. He wanted to fix the problem. And you’re doing the same thing. Neither of you understand, okay—”

“Sam—”

“Because you’re both judging me because I walked out last night. Aren’t you?” Sam challenged when Dante just shook his head. “You think I’m a terrible mother for leaving him—”

“It’s not like you left him without anyone. His dad was there, and I just told you I think it’ll be good for Danny to spend time there. Look — Sam — I’m not the guy who’s gonna hold that against you. I left my family, didn’t I? I walked away from Lulu and Rocco because I wanted to protect them, because I thought it was the right thing to do. And I came home as a broken mess that could barely keep my head up. Maybe Rocco’s reacting to that. A delayed reaction, you know. I was gone, then Lulu was gone, and then we moved in here, and he’s a teen—” Dante paused. “I left my family, too, Sam, so if you’re looking for me to tell you what’s wrong with Danny is all on Jason, I’m not gonna do that. I’m not gonna tell you Jason was wrong for what he did. Because I did the same thing.”

“You’re not answering the question,” Sam bit out. “Which means you think I’m the problem, and that I’m ruining Danny’s life—”

“Not what I said—” But Sam had already snatched up the keys, flipped back the lock, and stormed out.

Dante sighed, then went to pack a bag for Danny.

Port Charles Airport: Departures

Cameron looped the strap of his backpack over his shoulder and turned back to face his mother. “I’ll be back in two weeks. We’re not arguing about that, are we?”

“No.” Elizabeth reached up to hug him, sighing when he had to bend down slightly to return the embrace. When did her baby get so tall? “No arguing from me at all. I hate why you came home, but I’m always happy to see you.” He drew back, and she brushed his hair out of his eyes. “You should get a trim.”

“Nah, the girls dig it.” He tipped his head to the side. “Listen, I want to tell you that if you’re trying to hide that you and Jason are dating, you’re not doing a good job. Well, with me. Aiden and Jake were clueless.”

“What?” Elizabeth blinked, then laughed a bit nervously, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “Oh. Well, that’s—I mean, I guess that’s true. But it’s new. I mean—” She blew out a huff. “But yes. We are.”

“See? I always know. I want you to know I’m good with it. Really. I never thought Finn was good enough for you, and I’m not sure Jason is either, but he’s always treated you well. That’s all I want for you, Mom. You deserve the best. And make sure Danny knows I’m cool with him crashing in my room when I’m not here. I don’t know what he’s dealing with,” Cameron continued, “but I figure it’s a lot, and he might need some space of his own. He’s in good hands now.”

“I hope so. And I appreciate that.” Elizabeth touched his face, just  briefly. “Sometimes I think about how much I miss my little demon with the grimy hands and messy curls—” Cameron grinned, “— but then I’m reminded of what an amazing man you’ve grown into, and I couldn’t be more proud of you. I don’t want you to worry about me, or your brothers. I trust Diane and Spinelli to handle this.”

“So do I. But I’m still coming back to make sure.” He kissed her cheek. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you, too.”

Webber Home: Jake’s Room

Jake flicked the shavings from his colored pencil, and barely glanced up at Danny standing hesitantly just outside his room. “You gonna stare at me all night, or…?”

“I don’t wanna bug you if you’re, like, in the zone.”

“You won’t. I’m just layering and shading.”

Danny came more into the room, trying to peer at the sketch bad across Jake’s desk. “What is it? Or, like, is that rude?”

“Only if you’re gonna be an asshole and be like, why don’t you make things I can understand?” Jake lifted the sketchpad, aimed it towards his brother. “It’s my mom. Coming home.”

“Oh.” Danny furrowed his brow. “I don’t get it. It looks like blobs. Sorry.”

“No, it’s like—” Jake paused. “It’s the way I saw it, it you know, because I’m—I’m standing there, and I gave her the phone—” He gestured. “This is the door. It’s still open. I don’t know if it was, but it is when I remember it. It makes me feel like it happened all that fast. ”

“Oh. The room’s tilted.” Danny craned his head. “Okay, yeah, I sort of see it now. And the people are like—in motion.”

“Yeah.” Jake stared at the sketch. “Mom got home, and we were so happy to see her, we didn’t even—I don’t even know if me and Aiden even saw her, you know? We just hugged her, and then I went to call Cam, and then I gave her the phone, and she just—she just saw my brother and she started to fall, to cry, and I took the phone before it fell—Dad caught her.”

Danny sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m really sorry if I messed up her bail. I promise I didn’t want to do that.”

Jake set the sketch aside, twisted on his stool to look at his brother. “I get that. You’re an asshole, but you’re not a dick, you know? You just don’t think.”

“Not until it’s too late,” Danny muttered. He stared down at his hands. “My mom walked out. She just…I said something awful to her, I don’t even remember what, and she left. I guess I deserved that.”

Jake slid his colored pencils back into their case, said nothing. Danny’s smile was grim. “You never did like my mom much, so I guess you don’t agree.”

“I don’t know. I mean, you’ve said some pretty awful things to her when I’ve been there, and I know she was pretty much at the end of the rope. I guess—” Jake squinted. “I don’t know. I guess I can’t think of much me or my brothers could do that would make my mom leave us in a police station to fend for ourselves. Even if my dad were there,” he added. “I mean, Cam got arrested a few times. Shoplifting, the weed thing, just being an idiot. Mom was ticked, but she handled it.”

“She doesn’t want me back. Dad went to talk to her, and he was just like — you’re staying here. He won’t tell me what happened, but—”

“He’s never gonna tell you anything that might make you think bad about your mom,” Jake cut in. “But maybe your mom thinks it’s a good idea for you to hang out with Dad for a few days.”

“I guess. Are…are you okay with it? I mean, until Dad gets a place with a bedroom or something—”

“I—” Jake leaned back in his chair. “What if he didn’t?”

Danny furrowed his brow. “What?”

“What if he didn’t? What if he…and you just…stayed here.” Jake paused. “Cam thinks Dad and my mom are back together. He’s already here all the time because of her case. Maybe you guys could just stay here.”

“Oh.” Danny let that sink in, considered the new information. “I like your mom. Even when I was an ass to her, she was really nice to me. And, like, I could talk to Dad because she was  there. I—I’d be okay staying here.” He paused. “Are you okay with it? You and Dad were fighting so much.”

“It’s…better now,” Jake admitted. “I don’t know if I think it’s fixed, but when Mom—when this all went down, Dad stepped up. He didn’t have to. I mean, yeah, I’d go with him, but Grandma Laura could have taken Aiden. But Dad knew Mom wanted us to stay together. So he moved in. It’s—I don’t know if I’m ever gonna forget about those two years, but…I don’t know. It’s stupid to let that ruin the rest of our lives, right?”

“Yeah, probably. I’m not gonna do anything that screws Dad up with your mom either. I promise. I’m gonna be on my best behavior.”

“Should be interesting since you’ve never tried that before,” Jake said with a grin. “First time for everything.”

Webber House: Master Bedroom

 Elizabeth rubbed lotion into her hands, watching in her vanity mirror as Jason pulled back a comforter, and smiled. “By the way, not that we were keeping anything a secret, but Cameron figured out we were back together, and told his brothers, and I’m sure Danny knows by now.”

“Yeah?” Jason tipped his head. “What did he say?”

“That he was okay with it. He’s always liked you.” Elizabeth slid into her side of the bed, sat crossed legged. “And only some of that reason is how many times you got him out of trouble.”

Jason slid in next to her, his legs stretched out. “He’s an amazing kid. He always was, but you have every reason to be proud of them. All of them. It took a lot of guts for Aiden to open up like this morning. Even when he knew he’d messed up.”

“Well, I’m not sure how it happened, but I do feel kind of smug at how great they are.” Elizabeth’s smile dimmed slightly, and she looked at the comforter, picking at a loose thread. “I picked up Danny’s bag from Dante, and he thinks maybe communication should go between us. Me and him,” she clarified. “I told him I’d talk to you, but that I sort of agreed. I know you didn’t want to get into it with the boys around, but…I guess it didn’t go well?”

“I thought we started out okay, but—” Jason sighed. “I guess it was my fault. She’s blaming herself, and I just—I got impatient with her. I don’t care who’s fault it is. I mean, okay, we need to talk about how it got to this point because that’s how we help Danny. But am I supposed to say, no, Sam, you’re amazing, this is one hundred percent on me? Are we supposed to negotiate blame? She gets twenty, and I get eighty—what does that matter? But she needed me to reassure her and take the blame, and I don’t want to do that. I don’t know why I should have to.”

He looked at Elizabeth. “And look, it’s not her fault. Not one hundred percent. Because Danny’s not the only kid who ended up in trouble last night. Aiden’s been part of this, does it make it your fault? Rocco was there, too. All three of them were lying, drinking, and smoking, probably egging each other on because I know grown men who act that way.”

“I think that’s probably a big piece of it. Because, sure, mistakes were made. I definitely had blinders on — Aiden’s never been one to lie to me, so I don’t question him. I’m sure Dante and Sam felt that way, too. Aiden’s my sweet baby — who grew up into a teenager when I wasn’t looking. I absolutely think they thought — we’re getting away with this, what else can we do, and just kept pushing the line.” She sighed. “So you and Sam just couldn’t get any further than that?”

“No, not really. Because I said that, and she threw the last two years in my face, which, okay, she gets to do. But it doesn’t solve anything for us to take shots at each other. I got frustrated, told her I was keeping Danny, and left. And I guess she’s not arguing with me.”

“No, Dante said he thinks Danny and Rocco were feeding into each other a little, and right now, his only idea is to keep Rocco too tired with chores,” Elizabeth said. “But I mentioned counseling to him — but I made sure to tell him it’s happening. Maybe that’s—maybe that’s me overstepping. But I just—Danny absolutely seemed so into the idea, I didn’t want Sam to shoot it down. Maybe that was wrong—”

“It’s not. I—” Jason paused. “When he asked me, I had a moment where I thought — I can’t say yes. I need to talk to Sam. I thought I’d be overstepping to make a choice for my own son.” He exhaled slowly. “That’s the habit I need to break. Just because you and Sam have been handling the decisions for so long, that doesn’t mean you should have to do it forever. It never should have been entirely on your shoulders.”

Elizabeth smiled, her eyes a bit sad. “I’m glad you’re recognizing that — I appreciate the confidence you have in my abilities, but you’re a great father, Jason. I just don’t think you trust yourself to be one.”

“Maybe not. But that’s going to change.” He reached for her hand, traced a line in her palm. “I’m sorry your weekend with Cam got ruined like this—”

“Don’t be. I mean that,” she added when he sighed. “Those days I was gone — I was miserable. And when I got home, I couldn’t—it was so hard to get back to myself. But then Cam came home, and I got my boys in one room — but it was still about my case. But last night and today? I got to be a mom again. The boys got to be kids again. Idiots, in Danny and Aiden’s case,” she added and he smiled briefly. “And I got to be me. Not someone being framed for murder. But me. It reminds me of everything I have to fight for. Because no one is taking my family away from me again.”

+42

Written in 58 minutes. Some more scenes that took forever to write – and then Lizzie came over to lay on the keyboard, so it’s not as long as I wanted it to be.

Sunday, September 14, 2024

Quartermaine Estate: Terrace

Olivia pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head, then squinted into the distance where her grandson was sweating profusely, pushing a wheelbarrow filled with soil from one path to another.

“So what’s the plan? We work him until he’s too tired to drink?” she asked. “Because I like it.”

“I’m going to fill every single minute of his day, and I don’t care if he hates me.” Dante folded his arms. “He’s gonna remember this the next time he lies to me.”

Olivia slid him a look out of the corner of her eye. “What are we more mad about here? The lying, the drinking, or the smoking?”

“It changes every few minutes. Honestly, Ma, I don’t know what to do with him. I never—” He shook his head. “I never saw this coming.”

“He’s not a bad kid—”

“Don’t.” Dante held up a hand, and Olivia closed her mouth. “I get it. Kids push boundaries, and that’s part of growing up. And I’m not trying to pretend I didn’t get into my fair share of trouble, but I like to think I didn’t go out of my way to disrespect other people. I didn’t do it to prove I could,” he added. “Rocco — trying to talk to him — it was like he was proud of himself for getting away with it for this long. I think he’s more pissed he got caught than anything else.”

“Well, yeah, but even the best teenagers are little sociopaths. They don’t care about other people until we force them to—”

“Well, I’m gonna force him,” Dante interrupted.

“Fair enough.” Olivia waited a beat. “And is the reason Danny’s not out here doing the same because Sam doesn’t agree with you?”

Dante looked back at the gardens, watched Rocco for a long moment. “I don’t know. Danny went home with Jason last night. Sam — she’s still…” He stopped. “She’s upset, she’s blaming herself—at least when she’s not blaming Jason— and I don’t think she’s really moved onto the next step step yet.” When his mother said nothing, he narrowed his eyes. “No opinion on that?”

“Well, you do have a type,” Olivia said dryly.

“Ma.”

“You know, that’s not right. It’s not fair. Lulu only liked to point the finger at other people. Sam always struck me as a victim.”

Startled, Dante turned to face his mother fully. “What?”

“You know, woes me, oh no, I messed up again, please come and save me—” Olivia wrinkled her nose. “She’s better with you, I think, but you know, old habits die hard. Hey, I didn’t hear anyone say you were done!” she called, raising her voice when Rocco laid back on the lawn, his legs and arms sprawled up. “Back to work!” She looked at Dante who was still staring at her. “What? You asked.”

“Never mind,” Dante muttered, then strode towards his son who hadn’t moved despite his grandmother’s command.

“Dying,” Rocco managed when Dante reached him. “Water.”

Dante nudged his son with his shoulder. “I don’t know. You got energy to talk, you can still lie. Maybe we need to pull some more weeds.”

Rocco grunted and rolled to his side. “I hope Danny’s scrubbing toilets somewhere,” he muttered.

Webber House: Living Room

Danny turned the page in the photo album, his fingers sliding across the smiling face of his aunt on her wedding day, twenty years earlier, posed with his father in the Quartermaine foyer. “I don’t think I’ve seen pictures of Dad this young before. Mom…she doesn’t really have any out at the penthouse.”

“Well, your dad didn’t take a lot of photos,” Elizabeth said. They sat next to each other, one of her large scrapbooks opened on her lap. “We usually had to corner him at a special occasion. I think there’s some of your mom in here—”

“That’s you and Dad—” Danny said, stopping her from turning the page. “This was before Jake was born right?”

“Mmm—” Elizabeth smiled, looking down at the photograph of her in the deep red dress she’d worn to Emily’s Christmas themed wedding,  clutching the bridal bouquet in her hands, Jason standing next to her, with a slightly bemused smile, his sister’s garter just visible in his fist. “Cameron would have been about six months old here, so about two and half years before Jake was born.”

The twist of the door knob drew both their attentions, and Jason came in a moment later. Elizabeth closed the scrapbook, setting it on the table. Danny rose to his feet, fisting his hands, then flexing them before closing them into a fist again.

“Hey. Um, Elizabeth was showing me pictures from Aunt Emily’s wedding. I—I never saw them before.”

Jason closed the door, came in further. “I haven’t seen them in a long time,” he said. “But it….it was a good night. How’d that come up?” he wondered, looking to Elizabeth.

“Just one of those things.” Elizabeth came around the sofa, and opened the cabinet to set the album back on the shelf. She bit her lip. “You weren’t gone as long as you thought you would be.”

“What did Mom say?” Danny asked. “Do I have…I mean, I have to go home, right?”

Jason hesitated, looked at Elizabeth for a moment, then back at Danny. “We’re going to stay here a few more days. Until I can get something permanent for us,” he added. “If that’s okay?”

“Of course. Why don’t I let you guys have some time?” Elizabeth suggested, taking a step backwards, but Danny shook his head.

“No. I—I, um, can you stay? I—I don’t wanna mess up what we talked about, and you—you can stop me if I do.”

“You’re not going to mess anything up, Danny.” Elizabeth rubbed his shoulder. “And I told you, your dad’s really great at listening. Just be honest with him, okay?”

“But—” Danny looked at his father. “You’re really angry with me.”

“I was angry last night,” Jason admitted. He tucked his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Mostly because I didn’t know you were that unhappy. I was angry with you, yes. And myself, for not being there for you. I can’t undo the last two years, Danny. I would if I could. But I’m going to be here from now on.”

“I—I know. I mean, you said. But…” Danny waited for a minute, as if searching for the right words. “But you said that before. When you came home from Russia. And when Mom went to jail. And before the Floating Rib. But then you went away. And I didn’t see you much.”

“I—” Jason nodded. “You’re right. I’ve never been here as much as I should have been. I’m sorry for that, Danny, and I’ll take responsibility for my actions. But you have to own yours. Because no matter how angry you are with me or your mother, it doesn’t excuse what you’ve done.”

Danny dropped his gaze. “I know.”

“I’m disappointed that you were lying to your mother and Dante, and I don’t like the way you’ve been speaking to her. I know—” He held up a hand when Danny jerked his head up, his eyes suddenly hot with indignation. “I’m not saying your mother handled all of this well. I’m not even saying you didn’t have a right to be upset with her. But there’s always going to be someone who pisses you off. Your mother, me, Jake, someone at school—” Jason paused, lifted his brow. “Are you going to attack all of them?”

“If they deserve it,” Danny muttered.

“I get that. Being angry, wanting to lash out when someone’s hurting you. Making your anger everyone else’s problem.” Jason took a step towards him. “I dealt with that after my accident. When I didn’t know anyone, and I couldn’t be the person they wanted me to be. I spent a good year of my life, doing whatever I wanted, and not giving damn who I hurt. I hurt people who didn’t deserve it, but you know who I hurt more than anyone?” he asked. When Danny shook his head, Jason continued, “Myself. Because I was so determined to run as far as I could from the Quartermaines, I made choices I couldn’t take back. I don’t regret the choices,” Jason added, “because without them, you and your brother wouldn’t be here. But that doesn’t mean I wish I could have done things differently.”

Danny folded his arms. “But you do wish you hadn’t married my mother, right? Because she said that about you, and I heard you say that once.”

Jason hesitated, then nodded slowly. “Marrying your mother was a mistake. But you weren’t,” he added.

Danny didn’t look particularly convinced, and just shrugged. “Yeah, okay. I guess divorced people always have to say that.”

“We can talk about that all you want, Danny, but we’re not finished talking about last night. About the last year. I get that you’re unhappy and angry, but that’s no reason to ruin the rest of your life. You could have been picked up by officers who didn’t know Dante, and you might still be in juvenile detention right now. You and Rocco could have been seriously hurt—hit by a car. You could be at the hospital. Or the morgue.”

“I—I know. Um, Elizabeth told me about Jake. I didn’t…I didn’t really know about all of that. I mean, I knew he’d been kidnapped, and gone for a long time, but I didn’t know it was a drunk driving accident. And I guess what happened with your brother—” Danny’s voice faltered. He looked at Elizabeth. “Can you tell him what we decided, I mean, what you said I could do?”

“I—” Elizabeth bit her lip, then met Jason’s gaze. “I thought maybe Danny might want to talk to someone. There are therapists that specialize in teens with a substance abuse problem. I can ask at the hospital. If that’s okay with you and Sam—”

Jason came forward a few steps. “Is that what you want to do?” he asked Danny.

“Yeah, I think so. I mean, at least, maybe try it,” Danny said. He let his hands drop to his side, then folded them again, shifting his weight from one foot to another. “B-Because I…really like the way it feels when I’m…you know. And it makes everything go away. And I probably…shouldn’t be thinking about doing it again, but I am. Even after everything.”

Elizabeth’s throat felt tight as she watched Jason absorb Danny’s startling admission — something she’d suspected, but that he hadn’t even said to her. Jason’s eyes seemed slightly damp as he looked over at her. “I’ll get the name tomorrow,” she said. “And I’ll call in any favors I can. I know—I know a lot of people.”

“Thank—thank you.” Jason took a deep breath, then stepped towards his son. “Thank you for telling me that. For trusting me. We’re going to make this okay, Danny. Whatever we have to do. Whatever you need me to do. I’m not going anywhere.”

“You’re really okay with me staying here?” Danny asked, looking at Elizabeth. “You—you don’t think I’m gonna screw up Aiden more?”

“You didn’t screw up Aiden even a little bit,” Elizabeth assured him. “But the two of you are going to have to follow some rules.”

“Okay. What do you need me to do?” Danny asked his father. “I want to fix this. So just tell me the rules, and I promise. I’m not gonna screw up again.”

They heard voices outside the door, and Elizabeth went to go check, confirming her sons had pulled up out front. “Jason and I will talk it over tonight, and let you guys know tomorrow.” She looked at Jason. “Um, maybe I’ll text Dante to put together a bag for Danny and I’ll pick up after I drop Cam at the airport?”

“Yeah. That’s—” Jason’s expression was a little grim, and she wondered just how badly the conversation with Sam had gone. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”

+34

Written in 60 minutes. I feel like I’m writing slowly for some reason, lol. Or the scenes are longer than they were meant to be in my outline. Anyway.

Sunday, September 14, 2024

Webber House: Kitchen

 “Feeling a little better?” Elizabeth asked, taking the empty cereal bowl from Danny and rinsing it in the sink.

“Yeah, I guess.” Danny, seated on the stool on the other side of the counter, fidgeted. “When is my dad getting back?”

“Soon, I would think.” Elizabeth put the bowl and spoon in the dishwasher, then reached for a dish towel, leaning against the sink. She tipped her head. “Any plans for what you want to say to him when he does?”

“I dunno.” Danny jerked one shoulder. “I already tried I’m sorry. Didn’t seem to make a difference.” He lifted his sullen gaze to hers. “Any suggestions?”

“I don’t know. I’m still trying to think of what to say to Aiden. Usually when I don’t know what to do, I think about my parents.” She tossed the towel on the counter. “And then do the opposite.”

Danny frowned, sitting up slightly. “Your parents? Aiden’s never mentioned them.”

“Because they’ve never met.” Elizabeth came around the counter, and headed into the living room, making a show of folding blankets, tidying up some books and magazines, counting on Danny to follow her.

“Never?” Danny came to the threshold of the kitchen, his brow still furrowed. “Are they, like, dead?”

“Might as well be.” Elizabeth shook her head slightly. “That’s—that’s an awful thing to say, but you know, you can’t help how you feel. My parents haven’t really played a role in my life since I was about your age. I came to Port Charles to live with my grandmother, and well—” She sat in the arm chair, one leg folded beneath her. “That was pretty much it.”

Danny sat on the sofa. “So you don’t like them.”

“Can you say that you don’t like someone you don’t really know?” Elizabeth wondered. “I never got the chance to see them as anyone other than my parents. Jeff and Carolyn Webber? Never met them. Mom and Dad, the parents who never understood me or bothered to try? No, I didn’t like them very much. And I don’t know if they liked me. I used to be angry about that,” she added. “But then I had kids of my own, and I just…I felt sorry for them.”

“Why? If they don’t like you, that makes them assholes. You’re supposed to like your kids.”

“You’re supposed to love your children,” Elizabeth corrected. “Like? That’s different. I loved my grandmother, and I know she loved me. But she absolutely had phases of not really liking me very much. Usually when I was hanging around your dad.”

“Dad has that effect, I guess.” Danny pressed his lips together. “So maybe my parents don’t like me very much right now.”

“Maybe not. But they love you. Very much.” When he just scoffed, she smiled faintly. “You don’t think they do?”

“I don’t know. They hate each other. I know my mom—” Danny paused, then looked at her. “I don’t know if I should talk about my mom with you. She doesn’t like you very much. And I guess you don’t like her either.”

“That’s true. Sam and I have disliked each other for a very long time. And you don’t have to talk to me, Danny.” She propped her elbow on the arm chair, then rested her forehead against her fist. “I think it’s hard to be a child of divorced parents. I was around Michael and Morgan when Sonny and Carly were going in their circles — Morgan was too young, I think, to remember, but I know it was hard on Michael. They argued over everything, including custody of him.”

“You and my dad are pretty good,” Danny muttered. “Maybe it’s because Jake’s so much easier. He doesn’t cause any trouble.”

“That’s not why,” Elizabeth said. “Jason and I were friends long before we had a child together. We were friends first, and I think that helps, you know? We respected each other before, during, and after our relationship. And our son always came first for us.” She paused. “That’s not to say you don’t come first for your parents—”

“Yeah, Jake comes first for Dad, you don’t have to tell me that—” Danny started to rise, and Elizabeth got up with him, holding out a hand.

“I have three boys, Danny. And I can put each of them first. Even when they’re arguing. Your dad isn’t playing favorites. He knows he’s made mistakes. Especially the two years he was gone. I won’t defend him on that. But he’s trying to make up for that now.”

Danny’s lip trembled, and he looked away. “I guess. But he didn’t really fight Mom when she was keeping us apart. He didn’t care—”

“He cared. He just also respected your mom’s boundaries. She was worried that your father’s choices would come back to haunt you. I don’t have to agree with her to understand. Please remember, Danny, what your mother and I have seen being in Jason’s life. Michael was shot in the head. Jake was kidnapped. Morgan died in an explosion. None of these were your dad’s fault, and Morgan was a terrible tragedy — but we’ve seen a lot of violence. Your mother and I? Kidnapped. Both of us,” she added when Danny stared at her, eyes wide. “I’ve got a scar—” She drew up her sleeve on her right shoulder. “It’s faint now—but I was grazed by a bullet. Your mother was actually shot and nearly died.”

“I—” Danny swallowed hard. “I didn’t know all of that.”

“I’m not telling you that to scare you or upset you. I always knew who your father was, and so did Sam. We made our choices, and we’ve lived with the consequences. We just…we took different lessons from it, that’s all. I believe him when he says he’s left that life behind. I don’t think your mother does. And that made her scared for you. Jason has always respected that. When it was me—” Elizabeth paused. “When Jake was younger, I wasn’t sure I wanted everyone to know he was Jason’s son. Not because he isn’t an amazing father who loved our child. But because there were people who would take advantage of that. Jason respected my choice then, and he was respecting your mother’s now.”

Danny sank back onto the sofa, cleared his throat. “Does—does Jake know? I mean, what you just told me?”

Elizabeth took her seat again, leaning forward, her forearms resting on her thighs. “No. It’s a conversation we’ll probably have to have at some point, I’m sure. But there are people who will tell you that Jason doesn’t love his sons. That he loves Carly’s kids more. I’ve heard it for years,” Elizabeth said, and Danny nodded. “You, too?”

“Mom. She’s…” He made a face. “It’s been mentioned. I guess I didn’t ever see that—”

“Sonny made different choices.” Elizabeth hesitated. “He thought he could protect his children better by being in their lives, providing security. And most of the time, he was right. But Michael and Morgan, and to a lesser extent, Kristina and Joss, they grew up with armed  guards, bulletproof cars, private schools, and the constant fear that this would be the day things changed. Jason was involved in their lives because of Sonny’s choice. Not his own. The choice he made for his kids was different. And while it frustrated me sometimes, too, and I didn’t always like or accept it, I understood it.”

She scooted to the edge of the chair, waiting for Danny to look at her. When he did, she continued, “I’ve known your dad for almost my whole life, and almost from the beginning, if your dad thought I was safer without him, he chose that option. Waiting, hoping that Sam would see things were different, your dad waited. He played by her rules. You don’t have to like or agree with his choice, that’s okay. I usually disagreed with him, too. But I used to make the mistake of thinking that his ability to walk away from me, from Jake, meant he loved us less.” She reached out, touched Danny’s forearm. “I hope you don’t make that same mistake.”

Danny drew in a shaky breath, then swiped at his eyes. “Why are you being n-nice to me?” he asked.

Elizabeth sat back. “Because I like you, Danny. Not just because you’re Jason’s son or Jake’s brother. But you remind me of who I was when I came to Port Charles.”

“I do?” Danny frowned. “How?”

“I was angry all the time. At the world, at my family, strangers on the street — I was miserable. I felt like I was a square peg being jammed into a round hole, you know? And I just wanted to do some damage. Maybe I wanted to make my parents stop trying to fix me. Or see me. I smoked. Cigarettes,” she added when he stared at her. “I drank a little. Not a lot. It wasn’t easy to get alcohol. Or weed. But I’d have done pretty much anything. Maybe I wanted a reaction from my family. Trying to get their love hadn’t worked—”

She leaned back. “I look back now, and I don’t know what I was so angry about. Or why I was so willing to trash my own life to feel better. I don’t know where I would have ended up if I hadn’t come here. If I hadn’t met people who seemed to like me just the way I was. My grandmother — some of the time. Your aunt Emily. Your dad. Aiden’s dad, sometimes,” she added. “I don’t know what’s making you so angry,” she continued. “I can make some guesses, but only you can really answer that. I just hope when your dad gets back, the two of you can really talk. He’s a great listener, Danny. I promise you that. Whenever my life seemed like it was falling apart, I went to him, and he always made me feel better.”

Danny hesitated. “But I got Aiden in trouble—”

“Aiden got himself in trouble. He could have, and should have said no. But he felt loyal to you, to his cousin. He told me—well, he told your dad—that there’s been trouble at school.” When Danny looked away, Elizabeth sighed. “And you won’t tell me either, that’s fine. But he said you stood up for him. Shoved a kid into a locker?”

“Deserved it,” Danny muttered.

“Yeah, he probably did. But I’ll tell you something — my best friend? Emily? I would have—and did—commit a few crimes for her. And she did the same for me. We got into trouble together and we were there to get each other out. Though sometimes, we needed an assist from your dad. You’re going to make mistakes, Danny. This? This was a big one. You’re the only one who can decide what happens next.”

Bobbie’s: Courtyard

“You’re so lucky Mom wanted to talk to Danny one-on-one,” Cameron said, dropping into a chair, and reaching for the menu tucked between the napkin canisters. “Because if it were up to me, you’d still be jail.”

“Ha,” Aiden muttered, snagging a menu of his own though it hadn’t changed much in his entire life. “I didn’t actually get arrested.”

“Perfect sons. What part of that didn’t you get?” Jake wanted to know. He leaned across the table. “Believe me, I’ll be kicking Danny’s ass the second Mom and Dad turn their backs, and then you’re next—”

“Hey. I said I was sorry, okay? I was stupid. I messed up—neither of you were perfect,” Aiden retorted.

“Neither of us were trying to be.”

Cameron grimaced. “Look, I have to go back tonight because I promised Mom, and unlike other people at this table, I keep my promises. But I swear to God, if either of you dicks fuck Mom’s bail up while I’m gone, I’ll make you both sorry you were ever born.” He jabbed a finger at Jake. “And you, give Danny a break.”

“What? Are you freaking kidding? He’s the problem—”

“I’m sorry, what part of Sam’s his mother is hard for you to understand?” Cameron wanted to know. “Aiden’s not old enough to remember, but you and me? We damn sure are. Danny’s lucky he’s made it this far with half a personality. If you ask me, his mom dumping him in a police station because it got too hard, best thing that could have happened to him.”

Aiden scowled. “How is getting abandoned by your parent a good thing? I have to look at a picture of my dad to remember what he looks like—”

“Well, now that Jason and Mom are back together, she can fix whatever damage Sam did to him, and we’ll get a new little brother to torture.” Cameron lifted his eyes to see his brothers staring at him. “What?”

“What do you mean, Mom and Jason are together?” Aiden asked.

“Dad’s just helping out because of the jail thing,” Jake said.

Cameron looked at the sky. “What did I ever do to you?” He rolled his eyes. “How can you dorks live in town with them and not see it? Please. Don’t vote. You scare the hell out of me.”

Jake flicked a straw wrapper at him. “What proof do you have they’re together?”

“Fine. Doubt me. And why are you fighting me so hard? Don’t you want them back together?

Jake closed his mouth. “I—I never thought about it. I guess—I mean, I guess it would be good. Aiden?”

“Jason made Mom less mad at me this morning. I am on board for that.”

“Glad we could straighten that out. Back to the rules—” Cameron jabbed a finger at both of them. “Either of you screw up, I’m catching the red eye back to kill you. No more crimes. One Webber out on bail is more than enough.”

+40

Written in 63 minutes.

Sunday, September 14, 2025

Penthouse: Living Room

Kristina dropped into the chair next to Sam at the dining table by the terrace. “Please tell me there’s more coffee,” she said, stifling a yawn.

“I’ll get you a cup,” Dante volunteered. “I need a refill anyway. You good?”

“I drink any more coffee, I’m going to be up for another twenty four hours.” Sam looked at her sister. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Mostly. I woke up though when I thought I heard some doors slamming. I looked in the hallway, but maybe I dreamed it.” Kristina plucked a muffin from the plate in the middle of the table. “You look like hell. Dante keep you all night?” she teased.

“I wish.” Sam rubbed her face, sitting back in the chair, drawing one leg up. “God, Krissy. I don’t know how Mom did this. How she raised teenagers and didn’t murder them.”

Kristina furrowed her brow. “What happened? Weren’t Rocco and Danny at Elizabeth’s or something? I thought that’s what Dante said when he picked me up yesterday. He’d just dropped them off. Oh, did they get into a fight? Molly did that once, made Mom come get her—” She stopped when she saw her sister’s face. “No. No, something worse happened. But they’re okay or you wouldn’t be sitting here.”

“Yeah, they’re alive. For now.” Sam smiled wanly when Dante returned, setting down a coffee for Kristina and taking his seat. “I was just telling Krissy about our horrible night.”

“Oh. Well, don’t spread it around,” Dante warned. “I mean, you’ll probably tell your mom,” he said to Sam, who acknowledged that with a nod. “And I gotta talk to mine. I don’t know—”

“Okay, now you’re freaking me out. What happened?” Kristina demanded. “Did they murder someone or—”

“Got picked up for being drunk and high,” Sam bit out. “When you told me about the weed in the vape pen, I just about—I’m so upset.”

“Drunk—” Kristina’s eyes were wide. “Oh my God. Picked up? The cops are involved?”

“They would be if Dante didn’t work some magic. Should I call Jason?” Sam asked. “Or wait for him to call me? I should call him,” she said, answering her own question before Dante had a chance to.

“Danny might not be awake yet. Rocco was still dead to the world when I checked on him, and the only reason I’m not dragging him out of bed is because I don’t know what to say to him yet.”

“Wait—is Danny not here?” Kristina said. “Did they keep him overnight?”

“I left him at the station.” Sam bit her lip, looked down. “I’m not really proud of that. I just—I didn’t know what to say to him. And Jason was there—he was so angry,” she told Kristina. “At all three of them, but especially at Aiden. Are you sure this isn’t going to mess with Elizabeth’s bail? If Danny’s the reason she ends up back in jail, it’s going to be one more thing Jason blames me for—”

“Whoa, whoa—” Kristina held up her hands. “How would this affect Elizabeth? Don’t tell me Aiden was out with them. Did Liz think he was here, or something?”

“I think they usually run that trick, but Aiden was home last night. But our idiots showed up at his place, looking for a place to crash.” Dante grimaced. “I think we’re probably in the clear. I don’t even know how much this would mess with her. Aiden wasn’t drunk or high. But I don’t trust the feds not to screw her on this. I’ll run it by—” He closed his mouth, cleared his throat. “I’ll talk to the DA’s office and loop Chase in, see what they think.”

Kristina decided to ignore the implication that DA’s office meant Molly, and looked back to Sam. “This is just—it’s wild. I can’t believe—I know you said Danny’s been getting in trouble but this on another level.” Kristina leaned forward. “So I guess he’s with Jason?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I got a text from him last night. They went to Elizabeth’s. I guess that makes sense. He’s been staying there since she got arrested, and it’s not like there’s space in his room at the diner. I just—I don’t know what to do. More grounding? More rules? More control? Nothing works.” She looked at Dante. “What about Rocco? They’re getting in trouble together.”

“And I used to think Rocco and Aiden wouldn’t have much in common.” Dante sighed. “If Jason doesn’t call you by noon, get in touch. Maybe Danny staying with his dad wouldn’t be the worst idea right now. Not because I don’t think you can handle this,” he added when Sam looked at her hands. “But something’s gotta change, right? We can’t keep going the way we have.” He reached out for her hand. “We’ll get through this, Sam.”

Kristina reached for her sister’s other hand. “Whatever you need, you know Mom and me, we’re here for you. Danny’s gonna get it together, and one day, we’ll look back at this and laugh.”

“I hope so. Maybe you’re right. Maybe some time with his dad is exactly what he needs.”

Webber House: Living Room

“Transformers? Really?” Aiden made a face. “Are you sure this isn’t a punishment?”

Elizabeth tapped a few keys on the laptop Spinelli had loaned her. Her cell phone was a temporary burner that almost no features — including her bank app to transfer cash. “What was my password?” she muttered.

“See, this is why I tell you not to let the phone save everything,” Cameron said. “I just hope when our robot overlords take over, they remember I was kind—”

“No, I know my username but I had to change the password after someone left my debit card at the store—” she looked at Jake who looked up at the ceiling. “And I don’t remember it now. I wrote it down somewhere—”

“Here—” Jason came out of the kitchen, his wallet in hand. He passed Cameron some bills, then looked at a scowling Elizabeth. “Add the bank password to the list. Right under the security video.”

“Mom, you forgot your Ring password?” Cameron demanded.

“You know what—” Elizabeth planted a hand on her hip. “I have to remember the schedules of more than fifty nurses under my supervision. I run an entire hospital and we’re considered one of the best in the state. I remember everything I have to remember. When you get back from the movie, you can help me get the rest of my passwords back. Because I don’t think I’m getting my phone back from the FBI any time soon.”  She pulled the door open. “Go. Enjoy the movies.”

“It’s Transformers,” Aiden muttered. “No one enjoys those—”

“Oh, you’re too good for trucks that turn into aliens?” Cameron was saying as he pulled the doors closed after himself.

Elizabeth sighed, dragged her hands through her hair. “I didn’t even think about my bank information on that phone. There’s so many things—I hate this.”

“I know.” Jason kissed her forehead, and she sighed. “You had everything completely under control before all this happened. We’ll get everything back.”

“There’s just always one more thing—” Elizabeth saw Danny out of the corner of her eye, stepping hesitantly around the corner of the steps, onto the landing. “Hey.” She stepped away from Jason. “How’d you sleep?”

“Um, okay, I guess.” His hair was wild, though it looked like he’d made some attempts to tame it. He wore a pair of Aiden’s sweat pants, and the t-shirt he’d arrived in. His eyes were still a little red, and there deep shadows under his eyes. “Um—” He cleared his throat. “I don’t—I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”

“That makes two of us,” Jason admitted. He went into the kitchen, retrieved a bottle of water, then held it out to his son. “That will help. You got a headache?”

“Yeah.” Danny twisted the cap off, took a long gulp, then swiped at his mouth. “Um, thanks, I guess. For not leaving me at the PCPD last night.” He looked at Elizabeth, then dropped his eyes. “I guess you really couldn’t. It’d mess things up more than they already were. I’m—I’m sorry.”

Jason looked at the miserable teenager in front of him, then sighed, rubbed his face. He couldn’t really find the same anger he’d felt only hours before. Not when Danny had shifted from a belligerent jackass to…whatever he was right now. He wasn’t entirely sure that Danny was actually sorry or just embarrassed. “How much do you remember about last night?”

“I don’t know. Stuff. Um, coming here. That…that was stupid. And then Dex. And mom leaving—” His voice shook slightly on that one, and he had to take a moment before he continued. “Then I know I said some stuff here. I think—” He looked up, his cheeks flushing red when he looked at Elizabeth. “I think I said something really awful to Jake about Charlotte.”

“You did.”

“And—” Danny swallowed hard. “You guys know about the…vaping.”

“And the weed,” Jason added. “You also were rude to Elizabeth who let you stay here last night even after you showed up and got her son arrested—”

“Aiden got himself arrested,” Elizabeth cut in gently. “With an assist from his cousin and Danny.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t—” Danny dropped down, sitting on the landing. “I don’t know what else you want me to say. I screwed up. Everyone knows it. Mom walked out, right? She doesn’t want me. You’re stuck with me.”

Jason exhaled on a slow breath, looked at Elizabeth. “I think maybe we should do what we talked about.” When she nodded, he returned his gaze to Danny. “I’m going to talk to your mother about what happens next.”

“And while he’s gone, why don’t you take a shower? I’ll get you something from Aiden to wear. You guys seem to be mostly the same size. I’ll get you something to eat, and you’ll feel better when your dad  gets back.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Jason squeezed Elizabeth’s hand, kissed her temple, then headed for the door, hoping that she was right — that Danny might open up to her the way Aiden had talked to him. Or that this conversation with Sam wouldn’t go as badly as all the rest of them.

They needed a miracle.

“I was going to call you,” Sam said, when she pulled open the door, saw him standing on the other side. “Come in.”

Jason came into the room, hesitantly, sweeping his eyes around the interior of the place that had been his home longer than anywhere else in the world. Sam had done so much redecorating since he’d moved out all those years ago — not that he’d lived here much after he’d come home from Russia.

“How’s Rocco?” Jason asked.

“Oh, nursing one hell of a headache. Dante got him up, took him and Scout to the Quartermaines. He figured his mother would know what to do.” Sam’s smile was thin. “I get it. I wanted to  call my mother, too. I still might.”

“Yeah, I—” Jason folded his arms. “I found myself thinking about Alan and Monica. And how they handled AJ’s drinking. I don’t remember before the accident — but after —” He looked away. “Danny was just waking up when I left. He was sorry, he said, but I’m not really sure  he gets it. I think he’s embarrassed, I think he’s sorry he got caught.”

“But not sorry he got drunk and high and got arrested.” Sam shook her head. “Why am I not surprised? He never seems to get it. Always blaming someone else for his problems—” She pursed her lips. “We don’t have to wonder where he got that from.”

“I talked to Aiden this morning. It’s…they started this before last Thanksgiving. They’ve been going back and forth between using the boathouse and other parties,” Jason added.

“Yeah, Rocco said something about a year. I don’t know whether to be relieved or angry that we can’t point to one of them as the cause, you know? I mean, thank God our kid didn’t  drag Aiden and Rocco down a path by giving them their first beer, but now I don’t know who to blame.”

“Why do we have to blame anyone?” Jason wanted to know, and Sam made a face. “Look, I haven’t been here. That’s—that’s obvious. And I can’t change that. I don’t know what it’s been like with him every day. But I’m here now. And I don’t really care why they started or who started it. I care about why our son is getting drunk and high almost every weekend, and the way Aiden described it, maybe during the week, too.”

“Oh—” Sam pressed a fist against her mouth, her eyes glimmering with tears. “Right? Because it’s me. He hates me. He’s made that very clear. Everything I’ve tried to tell him, he just ignores me—”

Jason shook his head. “I don’t—” He pressed his lips together. “I need you to stop that. I need you to stop looking for someone to blame. Rocco, Aiden, Danny, me, yourself — just stop. Because I’m not going to hold your hand and reassure you that you’re a good mother. I don’t know what kind of mother you are.”

Sam’s mouth dropped, and he winced. “That—that didn’t come out the way I wanted it to—”

“And you’re some legendary father, right?” she snapped. “Because your other son isn’t a drunken mess? Well, you didn’t raise that one either! So don’t go taking credit for the success if you don’t want to take accountability for the failure!”

“This was a mistake.” Jason shook his head, started past her. “You’re still looking to win some kind of war I didn’t sign up for. I never said I was a good father—”

“Because that would be a lie. You did a great job raising Carly’s kids,” Sam spat. “But you couldn’t be bothered with your own. Not when Carly needed to be protected—”

Jason pulled the door open, looked back at her. “I’m sorry I thought we could find a way to work this out. Danny’s staying with me. You have a problem with that, call Diane, and we’ll have a conversation in court.”

“Staying with you or staying with Elizabeth? You don’t even have a room for him,” Sam retorted.

“I’ll get an apartment for us, but yeah, we’re staying with Elizabeth until I get that arranged. And don’t—” Jason held up a hand when she opened her mouth. “Don’t make this into another competition with her.”

“Why bother? I’ll lose. I always do. Go. You think it’s so easy to fix Danny? Have at it. Don’t call me when you fail at this, too.”

He just shook his head and walked out, not even flinching when he heard the door slam behind him.

+33

This scene took a turn, lol, and it wasn’t the plan. But I like it. I just thought I’d be able to write 4 more scenes. Written in 62 minutes.

Sunday, September 14, 2024

Webber House: Kitchen

When Jason heard the footstep on the stairs, he thought it was probably Cameron or Jake. H He switched on the coffee pot, then turned to find Aiden in the threshold. Elizabeth’s youngest son stood hesitantly at the threshold, his hair still tangled, dressed in the same white t-shirt, gray basketball pants, and white socks he’d gone to bed with.

Jason looked at the clock over the oven — just after seven in the morning — then looked at Aiden again. “Didn’t expect you up for a few more hours.”

“I, uh, set my alarm. I wanted to—” Aiden swallowed hard, and came forward a step or two. “I figured you might be awake before Mom. You…you were always the first person down here last week. Can, um, can we talk?”

“Maybe we should wait until your mom gets up,” Jason said. No matter what Elizabeth had said the night before, he knew he’d overstepped. Aiden wasn’t his son to discipline, and considering the state of Danny, Jason didn’t have much success in that area anyway.

“I’m gonna talk to her because I have to, but I—I really wanted—” Aiden pressed his lips together. “But it’s okay if you don’t want to talk to me. I messed up—”

“That’s not—” Jason came around the island, held out a hand as the teen started to turn away. “That’s not why. Come on. Take a seat, and we’ll—you can say what you wanted to say.”

“Oh. Okay.” Aiden slid onto a stool, then stared at his hands for a long moment. “It wasn’t supposed to be like that. They dropped their phones here, and that was gonna be the end of it.” He forced himself to lift his eyes, to meet Jason’s. “They’ve done it before. A few times. And sometimes I’d leave mine at the penthouse. It’s never…that’s never happened before.”

Jason leaned against the fridge, folding his arms. “But they came to the house last night.”

“I still don’t even know why. I was trying to get them to leave,” Aiden explained. “But they—” He exhaled in a huff. “I know it doesn’t change anything. I still messed up. They were going to be drinking and getting high, and me being involved at all comes back on Mom. I didn’t think about it like that. Will—” He swallowed hard. “Is she going back to jail?”

“No.” Jason shook his head. “Dante made sure the whole incident was off the books. And most of the heat would come down on me — Danny’s my kid. I’m the one who’s supposed to know what he’s up to. I don’t know what the FBI would do with what happened last night. Or what we’ll say to them if they look at the GPS records.” He tipped his head. “You said you’d done this before. How many times?”

Aiden jerked one shoulder, looking at his hands again. “I don’t know. I didn’t really count.”

“So more than a few.” Jason saw Elizabeth out of the corner of his eye, and opened his mouth, but she pressed one finger to her lips, shook her head. She leaned against the door frame, not making her presence known. “You said something about last Thanksgiving. What happened? How did it start?”

“I—” Aiden stopped, then looked up, looked at him. “I don’t know. I mean, I guess I do. Like the facts. We went to party. Me, Dante, Rocco, my—my friend Tobias. And, um, Georgie, too, but she doesn’t do any of this,” he added hastily. “Someone gave Rocco a beer, and we split it. I figured — it was just what you did, right? A-and—” He swallowed hard. “I didn’t really want anyone to say something if I didn’t.”

The coffee machine beeped, and Jason went to the cabinet, took down two cups. He filled only his, and leaned against the counter. “What do you think they’d say?” Jason asked.

“I dunno. Like, maybe something about me…and Tobias.” Aiden looked at him. “You, um, know, right? About me.”

“That Tobias is your boyfriend, yeah.” Jason sipped his coffee. “Is that why you drank that beer? And kept doing it?”

“Sort of. I think. I don’t know. I—I’ve been lucky I guess. Mom pretty much always knew, and I never really worried about telling her. Not with her bringing Felix around all the time when I was younger, and sometimes Uncle Lucas. They’re both—I mean, not together—anyway—” Aiden made a face. “It’s mostly okay at school, but sometimes you get—I mean, there’s always a couple of jerks who think it’s funny to call someone a fag.” His voice wobbled just a little on the final word, and he dropped his eyes to the counter again.

Jason tensed, met Elizabeth’s eyes over Aiden’s bowed head. She’d tensed, her hand fisted against the wall. “So you drank the beer so no one would call you names.”

“Yeah. I guess. It sounds stupid when you say it like that. Me and Rocco — we weren’t really that close, you know? Not until we got to middle school. Then we were in the same math class, and when his dad got together with Sam, we started hanging with Danny more. No one calls me anything when I’m with them. Danny’s got a temper, and one time, someone said something and he shoved them into a locker.” Aiden shifted on the stool. “Anyway. We drank at that party. We finished the beer, someone gave us another. And then we got our own. And we got—well, we thought we got drunk. We didn’t really know what that meant.”

“But you do now,” Jason said.

“Yeah. Um, Thanksgiving last year. We went to the Quartermaines, I think, the day after? Or sometime during the break. And Danny stole a bottle of whiskey from the mini bar. We went to the boathouse, and we drank the whole thing. I don’t think I like it much,” he muttered.

“Danny and Rocco were  high last night, and there was weed in the vape pens. When did that start?”

“Around Christmas, I guess. I don’t remember where Rocco got the first one, but it’s the same guy, I think, that we get the beer from. We started going every weekend to the boathouse. Sometimes we said we were at my house, and then sometimes at Rocco’s, and then sometimes at the Quartermaines because Rocco and Danny’s grandmoms live there, I mean, you know that.” Aiden made a face. “And sometimes there were parties.”

“Every weekend,” Jason repeated, with a sinking feeling. “That’s…a lot.”

“I guess. I didn’t always go. Sometimes I really was at someone else’s house. I didn’t like getting high like—” Aiden flushed, stopped.

“Like Rocco and Danny.”

“Yeah—they—they started doing it in the middle of the week. Danny thought he was screwed when Jake saw him, but he promised Jake it was the first time, I guess, and he was a little more careful. We didn’t go to the boathouse as much. I didn’t want to do it all the time. It was like..it was all they wanted to do. But I didn’t want them to get mad or stop being my friends. So I started covering for them when I didn’t wanna go.”

“Which brings us to last night. You didn’t want to go,” Jason said.

“Right. I don’t really know why.  I mean, the last two weeks, yeah, because of Mom. But I don’t—I think the last time I went was in July or something.” Aiden paused. “Can you…I mean, can you be here when I talk to my mom? I wanna apologize to her—I mean, I wanted to apologize to you, because you were really clear about staying out of trouble, and Jake and Cam are going to kill me—”

“I’ll be here,” Jason said, but he nodded to Elizabeth who had crept slowly into the kitchen. “But your mom already knows you’re sorry.”

“She does—” Aiden looked up, caught Jason looking past him, then turned on the stool. “M-Mom—”

“Hey.” Elizabeth gently combed through Aiden’s disheveled locks. “You’re still in trouble, kiddo. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I guess. I’m really sorry.”

“I know you are.” Elizabeth kissed the top of his head. “I’m sorry, honey, that things were hard at school. I wish you’d told me.”

“It’s mostly fine. It’s only sometimes.”

“Sometimes is still too much. And we’ll talk more about what exactly your punishment looks like once we talk to Danny. I appreciate that you were honest with Jason,” Elizabeth said. “But you’ve been lying to me for almost a year. I can’t let that go.”

“I know.”

“Why don’t you go back upstairs? Get some more sleep.” She rubbed her shoulder. “Cam and Jake are going to wake you up a little later, and you’re going to the movies today.”

“I am?” Aiden frowned. “Are you picking the movie? Is that the punishment?”

“Ha. No. You guys need some time together on your own before Cam leaves tonight. Your punishment starts tomorrow.”

“Fair enough.” Aiden slid off the stool, then hugged his mother. “I’m sorry, Mom.”

“I know.” She rubbed his back, and watched him leave the kitchen. When his footsteps thudded up the stairs, she turned to Jason, then swept her hands through her hair. “He was drinking so he wouldn’t get called filthy names.” She squeezed her eyes closed.

Jason came to her, and she went into his arms, needing just a minute to gather herself. “I’m sorry. I know that was hard to hear.”

“And he was loyal to Rocco and Danny because they stuck up for him? Protected him? How do I get angry with him? And how do I stay angry at them when Danny’s apparently shoving bullies into the locker?”  She pulled away from him, went to make herself a cup of coffee. “Everything about this situation feels unreal.”

“I’d like think last night scared Danny and Rocco straight, but—” Jason shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess we won’t know until Danny gets up and he’s sober. I’m sorry. For how he spoke to you last night. I should have done something—said something. I just—” He leaned against the fridge again. “I didn’t know how to handle any of it. The closest I ever came to any of this was Michael, after the coma. And he wasn’t my son.”

“You and Danny are welcome to stay here as long as you need to.” She tipped her head. “Any idea on how long that might be?”

Jason shook his head, reached around her for his coffee. “No. I’ll go talk to Sam. I don’t know—” He hesitated. “You were able to talk to him last night. Get him to listen when I couldn’t. He’s angry with his mother, angry with me. I don’t know whether we should bulldoze through that and just ignore how resistant he was, or—”

“Why don’t you go talk to Sam?” Elizabeth suggested. “Part of the reason I’m sending the boys to the movies was to give you and Danny some space. But you can go talk to Sam at that point, and I’ll see where I can get with Danny. I mean, maybe it’ll help that I’m not one of his parents. Look at how much Aiden told you. I’m not sure he was ever going to tell me there were issues at school.”

“Your boys—” Jason paused. “They’re very protective of you. I don’t think Aiden wanted you to worry about him.”

“It’s my job to worry—” Elizabeth grimaced. “What is it with men and treating me like I’m going to break at any minute? Jake, at least, I could say, it’s genetic, because you’ve done that since the day we met—”

“That’s not—”

“But Cam and Aiden have no excuse. They know what I can handle. Why does everyone seem to think I’m weak?” she demanded.

“I don’t think that—” When she just snorted, Jason shook his head. “You know, you never did try to see it from my side of things—”

“Excuse me?” Elizabeth scowled, folded her arms. “What does that mean?”

“I just—” Jason took a moment, considered his words carefully. “Wanting to protect you isn’t about you being weak or not being able to handle things. I know what you can handle. I’ve been watching you do it for more than twenty years. Aiden didn’t tell you about what happened to him at school because you can’t stop it. You can’t fix it. And it would just hurt you to know it’s happening. He doesn’t want to see you hurt when he can do something to stop it.”

“He’s my son. It’s my job to hurt for him—no, not a job—it’s literally—” Elizabeth shook her head. “I’m here to share the hurt. To take some of it off his shoulders—”

“He’s reached an age where you can’t do that,” Jason said gently, and she pressed her lips together in mutinous line. “You can hug him, you can feel sorry for him, you can even go to the school, and make a scene. You could take him out of the school so he doesn’t see these kids again. But he’s always going to be part of a world that treats who he loves as something that’s wrong. You and I can’t fix that. Even if I want to do what Danny did and punch someone.”

Her eyes watered. “I know that. And I hate that. I hate that I can’t control the world, that I can’t stop it from hurting him. I don’t understand why anyone would give a damn who he loves, and I thought we’d come so much further than this. I thought—I thought when he and Tobias were out and open at school, that it meant he was safe there—but he’s not.” She swiped at her eyes. “I know you’re right. I know that he’s not telling me so I don’t have to have this reaction.”

“He can’t control his world, only how he reacts to it. And he’s trying to do it in a way that protects the people he loves most,” Jason told her. With the pad of his thumb, he brushed away another tear. “I understand what he’s trying to do.”

“Oh, right. Because this is the same thing as a bomb in my studio,” she muttered.

“You think Aiden wanting to protect you is about you not being able to handle things. You think me walking away that day, and all the other days, was you not being able to handle my life.” He tipped her chin up. “I knew you could handle it. I was the problem. I couldn’t handle the possibility of you being hurt. Aiden—and Jake and Cam—you’re the center of their world. And they’re going to do whatever they have to do to protect you.”

+40

Written in 61 minutes.

Sunday, September 14, 2024

Webber House: Living Room

Danny was on his feet, his face flushed, his fists clenched at his side. “You promised!”

“That’s before I found out you were dragging Aiden down with you!” Jake shot back, and Danny started to make a move around the sofa towards his brother.

Jason stepped in quickly, snagging Danny by the shoulder as Cameron held Jake back by his arm. “Knock it off,” he ordered his son, “and sit down—”

“What are you going to do about it, huh?” Danny demanded, shaking off his father. “Nothing! You never do anything!”

“What are you trying to do, dare Dad into slugging you? Because I’ll do it for free—” Jake tried to break free from Cameron’s grip but his brother wasn’t budging.

“Everyone, calm down—” Elizabeth stepped in between her sons and Jason and Danny. Aiden had also stood, but remained frozen by the sofa, his eyes wide. “It’s late, and I think we’re all—” She looked at Jake, then at Danny. “I think we’re all tired, upset, and, Danny, you’re still drunk—”

“And high,” Jake muttered. “You promised me you weren’t going to do this shit anymore! Or I wouldn’t have kept my mouth shut!”

“Yeah, well, it’s not my fault you’re a gullible moron. I mean, you’re still waiting for Charlotte to text you back, right?”

Jake made another move for his brother, momentarily breaking loose of Cameron and getting past Elizabeth, but Aiden dragged Danny back as Jason stopped his oldest son, wrapping one arm around his front and pulling him back, even as Jake struggled against his hold.

“No, just let me get one shot! One! He needs to get his ass kicked—”

“And when you lay him out flat because he’s drunk and high, you gonna feel better about that?” Jason demanded, and Jake pressed his lips together. “Let me and your mother handle this, okay?” He looked over at Cameron. “Both of you. Go back up to bed.”

“Please,” Elizabeth added when Cameron looked like he wanted to argue. “We’re not going to let this ruin your visit, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.” Cameron looked at Jake. “Come on. Jason’s right. It’d just be a cheap shot to kick his ass tonight. You’re better than that.”

“Charlotte didn’t think so—”

“Dude—” Aiden slapped Danny in the back of the head. “Are you trying to speed run death tonight? Shut the hell up!”

“I’m going upstairs,” Jake bit out. “You can let me go, but if you don’t get him together, I’m gonna kill him.”

“Understood.”

When both had disappeared upstairs, Elizabeth exhaled slowly, turned back to the idiots by the sofa. “You’ll be sharing Aiden’s room,” she said, folding her arms. “Go upstairs, go to bed. We’ll talk in the morning—”

“You’re not my mother. You can’t tell me what to do—”

“You don’t have any choices here, Danny.” Jason crossed a few steps to stand next to Elizabeth by the base of the stairs. “Go upstairs or you can go find someone else who wants to put up with you tonight. Your mother’s not an option. And I’m willing to bet you don’t want to tell either grandmother why you need a place to sleep.”

Danny’s eyes glittered with furious tears. “So I’m stuck with you, that’s what you’re saying?”

“Danny, nothing is going to get resolved by continuing this right now,” Elizabeth said softly, and he looked at her. “You’re upset, you’re angry, and we’re just going to keep going in circles. And I’m willing to admit that I’m furious right now with both of you, so furious that I’ll probably say some things I regret. You lose nothing by just going upstairs, taking a deep breath, and trying to get some sleep.”

Jason exhaled slowly, watching Danny weigh Elizabeth’s words, his eyes squinting as he considered whether to reject her suggestion with more anger or if he’d go along with it. When his shoulders slumped, and he looked away, Jason knew his son had given in.

“All right. Fine. I’m not going to feel different tomorrow. Everyone sucks, and I’m done pretending they don’t.”

“Then at least, you’ll be able to say that without looking like you’re going to vomit on your shoes. Go—” Elizabeth stepped aside, and Danny slunk past her, his feet heavy as he passed her.

“Mom, I’m so sorry—” Aiden stopped in front of her, his eyes damp. “You gotta believe me—”

“Tomorrow, Aiden. When I’ve had time to calm down. Because right now, I am so disappointed in you I can barely breathe. Go to bed.”

Penthouse: Living Room

Dante lightly shoved Rocco to the sofa where the teen bounced, and groaned, clutching his middle. “Keep your voice down,” he told his son. “Your sister and your aunt are asleep.”

“Not a problem,” Rocco grunted. “I’m never drinking again.”

“You’re damn right you’re not. You’re not seeing the light of day again—”

“Who started it?” Sam asked, flipping the lock and approaching the sofa. “You? Danny? I know it wasn’t Aiden—”

“Because he’s gay, he can’t drink? Where’s that rule?” Rocco sat up, grimacing. “Everyone thinks he’s perfect—”

“Hey, moron—” Dante leaned over, bracing his hands on his thighs. “Shut up and answer the questions. You don’t get commentary. Which one of you idiots started this shit?”

“I dunno. I don’t,” Rocco repeated when Dante just rolled his eyes. “We went to a party last year. Someone gave us beer. We all got trashed. It was fun. So we kept going it.”

“God, that’s just stupid enough to be true.” Dante shook his head. “Well, I hope you enjoyed the outside world. You and Danny are gonna be lucky if we don’t homeschool you.”

“Uh, is Danny gonna come home, or—” Rocco looked over at Sam. “I mean, I know he’s said some rotten shit, Sam—”

“Watch your mouth,” Dante snapped, and Rocco made a face.

“Danny wants to think life with his dad is so much better,” Sam said, folding her arms. “Well, he’s gonna learn, isn’t he?”

“Bold strategy, Cotton.” Rocco laid back, closed his eyes. “Can I go to bed? Like maybe we yell at me tomorrow when the world stops spinning?”

“If you wake up Kristina or Scout, I’m going to kick your ass—”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rocco lumbered to his feet, and slowly made his way towards the stairs. He stopped at the landing, touched the wall. “Hold on, I think—yep—” He covered his mouth, and Dante lunged forward, tugging Rocco from the carpeted steps just in time so that the vomit hit the hardwood instead.

“Fantastic,” Sam muttered, heading for the kitchen and the mop.

Webber House: Living Room

When both boys had gone upstairs, when they’d heard a door slam, Elizabeth closed her eyes, scrubbed her hands down her face, then looked at Jason. “A year. They’ve been drinking and smoking weed for a year.”

Jason pulled her into his arms, needing the comfort as much she did. “I didn’t know what to do with him,” he admitted. “I never saw this coming.”

“You and me both. Aiden—my sweet baby—” Her voice wobbled slightly, and he stroked her back. “I’m just hoping we’ll get some sleep and it’ll make sense in the morning.” She stepped back, sliding her hands down his chest, tipping her head up. “I’m sorry if I overstepped with Danny—”

“You didn’t. And I don’t know if I should have said what I did to Aiden back at the station, or here about Luke—”

Elizabeth smiled sadly. “He needed to hear it. They both did. Addiction—God, it’s destroyed so many of the people around us. I hadn’t—I hadn’t thought about Emily being so young. She  had just come from rehab when I moved here.”

“Alan was addicted to pills, too,” Jason said. “I don’t usually put a lot into genetics, but—”

“Hard not to. And the years we lost with Jake because of Luke. If that accident hadn’t happened—” Elizabeth sighed. “Anyway. You didn’t overstep. Not when you’ve been the one with Aiden while I was in jail. We both tried to tell him how important it was that I didn’t get in trouble right now, and—I know he’s young, and he’s impulsive. He doesn’t always think — but they both need to see consequences from tonight. And—” She paused. “Aiden and Danny are in this together — I don’t see how we’re going to be able separate this. You, me, Sam — and Dante with Rocco. We’re going to have to handle this together.”

“Thank you. For letting Danny come here tonight.” Jason exhaled, stroking her upper arm, then taking her hand to draw her over to the sofa where they sat down. “I can’t believe Sam left like that—”

“We’re not the ones dealing with Danny day in and day out,” Elizabeth reminded him. “Maybe you or I couldn’t see doing it, but I gotta tell you, if my kid talked to me the way Danny did tonight every day for months, I’m not sure I wouldn’t leave him in jail overnight either.” She smiled thinly. “Not that I want to defend Sam or anything. I don’t. But none of this was easy tonight. We all lost our temper. With each other, with the boys—”

“You didn’t,” Jason said, and Elizabeth sighed, leaned her head against his shoulder.

“I almost did. I’m trying to remember that they don’t think before they act, but this is—this is so beyond what I ever expected to be dealing with. Cameron was caught stealing once, and even that didn’t scare me—Danny and Rocco were wandering the streets drunk, Jason! They could have been hurt! How many times did I believe Aiden about being with Dante, and that could have been him! It probably has been him, and we just don’t know—” She pressed two fingers to her lips. “I’ve never felt more like a failure as a mother than I did standing in that police station tonight.”

“We should take your advice,” Jason said, and she looked at him. “Sleep. Maybe we’ll have a better handle on it tomorrow.”

“I know. I know.” She got to her feet, then held out her hand. “Come on.”

He lifted his brows. “What?”

“You’re not staying on the sofa. If Aiden’s old enough to drink and get high, he’s old enough for you to come upstairs. Not that anything—” she flushed, and he smiled, getting to his feet. “You know. Just to sleep—”

He covered her mouth with a brief kiss, and she sighed against his lips, relaxing into his arms. “I know, Thursday,” he murmured, stroking both her arms. “Come on. Let’s get some sleep.”

Webber House: Cameron’s Bedroom

Cameron and Jake shared the third floor of the brownstone, and they’d retreated to Cameron’s room facing the back yard.

Jake was pacing from the window to the door, and back again. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to break him into little pieces—”

“Uh huh.” Cameron sat cross-legged on the bed, scrolling through his phone. “Let me know when you’re done.”

“We just told him—we literally had this conversation today—and when Mom came home—” Jake turned, stabbed a finger at Cameron. “We told him — perfect son. I figured you’d be the unpredictable one—”

“Hey, I bought my weed for medicinal purposes,” Cameron reminded him. “You’re the one that let Danny get away with having a vape. You gotta snitch in times like this—’

“Oh, shut up. You act like you have any experience in this. You’re the only one in this family that’s been in trouble for drugs.” Jake dropped into Cameron’s desk chair.

“First—how dare you. Second, uh, I think I’ve got a decent amount of experience in keeping morons out of trouble. First, you’ve met Joss. You think it was easy to get her through high school?”

“Couldn’t get her out of college—ow—” Jake rubbed his arm when Cameron slugged him.

“I’m not the one that ended up getting my girlfriend shot, so maybe—”

“Okay. We’re getting off track—” Jake held up his hands, and Cameron smirked. “The point is our little brother is gonna get Mom tossed back in jail—”

“Brothers,” Cameron clarified. “Danny’s just as much my problem now as he is yours. He’s staying here right, obviously. I gotta wonder what’s going on with that,” he added when Jake frowned. “Sam let that happen? After all the crap she pulled the last few weeks? I have questions.”

“Oh, Danny probably ran his mouth again. You heard the way he talked to Mom. He’s been  talking to Sam like that for a while.” Jake paused. “Probably should have said something, but you know—”

“You agree with him,” Cameron finished, and Jake shrugged. “Yeah, fair. Look. We’re not allowed to kill either of them, and you know Mom’s disappointed face is gonna have Aiden begging for mercy in five minutes. The question is — will her magical powers extend to Danny?”

“He might be immune,” Jake said. “We might need a backup plan. Can I put him in your suitcase and you deal with him in California?”

“Let’s leave kidnapping as a last resort. Though—” Cameron raised his brow. “Has he been kidnapped before? That would make him a real member of the family. Might be a good way to haze him.”

“Oh, no, you’re the only one that had to wait until they could remember being kidnapped for his first one.” Jake flopped on the bed next to Cameron. “Danny’s got us all beat. Kidnapped at birth. Aiden at least made a day or two, I think.”

“See? Never had a chance.”

Penthouse: Dante & Sam’s Bedroom

Sam gripped the curtain tightly, staring moodily out over the blinking lights of the harbor. “You think I was wrong to leave Danny there.”

Behind her, Dante threw back the comforter, slipped into bed. “I wasn’t there, Sam. I don’t know what Danny said—”

“Nothing more than he usually does. Didn’t even call me a bitch—” Sam turned, folded her arms. “I just—I don’t know. We walk in there, and you go to pull strings—thank you by the way. Neither of them deserve it, but I’m glad it’s not going to mess things up for Elizabeth. I don’t need that on my conscience.”

“What happened after I left you?” Dante asked.

“Called me a raging lunatic,” Sam muttered. She pressed her toe into the carpet. “Aiden’s falling over himself to apologize, and I guess it’s because he wasn’t drinking, and Rocco didn’t even give you attitude. My kid? He’s still taking shots. It’s just—I know I’m not perfect, and I know I didn’t handle any of this right. Not since he first started getting in trouble, or when Jason came home—” She tiled her face up, trying to blink back tears. “But you know, you can only hear your kid talk to you that way so many times, right? I’ve got pretty thick skin—”

Dante got out of bed, crossed to her. “Hey.” His voice was soft and when she met his gaze, she couldn’t hold back the tears. “I’m sorry. We should have done something sooner. I was hoping we could ride through it. Get him to the other side, but it turns out there are deeper problems. With both of them.” He rubbed her shoulders. “But we’re in this together. You, me—and if you’re up to it, I think we’d benefit from letting Jason and Elizabeth in on this. Team work. Our trio are idiots are who on the verge of making some really awful mistakes, Sam. We gotta find a way to work together. No matter what’s happened before now. Our kids deserve the best version of us.”

“You’re right. You usually are.” She leaned her forehead against his. “What would I do without you?”

“Good thing you don’t have to find out. Come on, let’s get some sleep so we can plot how to make their lives miserable tomorrow.”

+39

Written in 69 minutes. Sorry, I ended up combining two parts, and then needed to find a way to end the scene.

Sunday, September 14, 2024

PCPD: Squad Room

Dante strode just ahead of them into the squad room, shoving the double doors open so forcefully they slapped against the walls and nearly came back on them.

The targets of his ire were seated in a trio of chairs lined up next to a pair of desks, facing out towards the rest of the room. Aiden was at the far left, slouched down, his head propped up on his elbow. When the adults arrived, he snapped up straight, his eyes wide, his cheeks flushed. The only one of the three of them that seemed to have any sense—

Danny was sitting in the middle of of the trio, grinning and cracking jokes with Rocco who looked a little queasy, but had no problem snickering. Both boys had flushed cheeks, too, but Dante knew it came from whatever they’d put in their systems — their eyes were glassy, and they were still clearly riding something other than just alcohol.

And neither of them seemed all that concerned when their parents had arrived.

Dante scrubbed his hands down his face. “If I talk to him right now, I’m going to lose it,” he told Sam. “Let me grab Dex and the other arresting officer and see what I can handle. Sam, I’m tagging you in. Kill him for me.” He made eye contact with Dex, then nodded towards the interrogation room.

Sam folded her arms, took a deep breath, then shook her head. “I can’t—I can’t look at them—” She turned away, looked at Jason and Elizabeth. “They don’t even care—they’ve got to be high or something.”

Jason saw Danny point in Sam’s direction, then say something to Rocco and snort with laughter. He scowled, pushed his way to the front. “What do you have to laugh about right now?” he demanded, and Danny’s eyes went a little wide at the tone in his father’s voice. Some of the flush dissipated and he fidgeted.

“Mom, none of this is my fault—” Aiden snapped to his feet. “You gotta believe me—”

“Oh, you mean like every time I believed you were spending the night with your cousin?” Elizabeth wanted to know, lifting her brows. “I’m supposed to believe that Danny and Rocco’s phone just happened to show up at your house? What, did they chuck them into the bushes without you knowing?”

Aiden swallowed hard. “Okay, so some of this is my fault, but no one told these morons to come over. They were supposed to be somewhere else—”

“Aiden, sit down,” Jason cut in, his tone only slightly less harsh than it had been with his own son. Aiden obeyed, swallowing hard, and dropping his head slightly. “When I told you how important it was that every single person in that house had to be very careful, that the feds would use whatever excuse they could to put your mother back in jail, did you think that didn’t mean you?”

Aiden opened his mouth, looked at his mother. “Mom—”

“Don’t look at me. I want to hear your answer,” Elizabeth retorted, and his cheeks paled. He  clearly hadn’t counted on her backing Jason’s anger. “Because you have been lying to me for almost a year. Even if I wasn’t wearing this—” She jerked up her jean leg to reveal the ankle monitor. “I would still be angry. How am I going to explain an early morning trip to the PCPD, Aiden? How do I explain two drunk teenagers on my lawn at one in the morning?”

Aiden folded his arms, and seemed to fold in on himself. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“Don’t smile,” Sam snapped at Danny, whose slight smirk faded. “You wipe that goddamn smirk from your face right now, or—”

“Or what? You’ll take my phone from me again—” Danny began.

“Shut up,” Jason said, and Danny looked at him, swallowed again. “I don’t care what’s going on between you and your mother. You’re not going to talk to her that way. You think it’s funny that the three of you might have put Elizabeth’s freedom in jeopardy? That she might go back to jail? You think Jake would be happy if you got his mother locked up again?” he demanded of Danny.

“Right, because it’s all about Jake, right.” Danny scowled, got to his feet. “All summer, you’ve been obsessed with him because he was pissed at you, and it was like you didn’t even care about me—you didn’t even fight Mom when she said I couldn’t see you—”

“Oh, then what was stopping you this week?” Sam cut in. “Because I lifted all of those restrictions last Monday, didn’t I? You’re done playing me, Danny. You fought me all summer because you thought your dad would let you run wild, but the second you got the chance to see him, you didn’t even bother to call him. Why is that?”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Oh, my God, I told you! The FBI was on my ass — they literally stopped me in the park. I didn’t want to deal with it! Okay? Dad made sure to protect Jake from being harassed, but I guess he couldn’t be bothered to make sure I didn’t have to either—”

“I—” Jason looked at Sam, sharply who flushed.

“Danny—”

“You both actually suck, so how about that?” Danny retorted. “Mom let the FBI talk to me even though I didn’t want to, and Dad didn’t stop her. Didn’t fight her. You never do. It’s always whatever she wants, and you don’t give a damn about me! You never did! Don’t lie! I know Jake’s the one you care about, the only kid you actually wanted—and you left me with this lunatic who tries to control everything I do! Nothing is ever good enough for you!” he shot at his mom, who pressed her lips together, her eyes glimmering with furious tears.

“Don’t bother—” Sam said when Jason started to speak. “He’s made himself the victim. First, your dad was fighting to see you more and was going to get lawyers involved. Why do you think I dropped the restrictions?”

Danny looked at his father, then back to Sam. “That’s not true—”

“Whatever. I’m—I’m just done. I’m done. You want to destroy your life? You want to follow in my footsteps, in your dad’s? You want a felony record that will make your life harder? You want to get drunk and high? Go ahead. I’m done.” She looked at Jason. “He’s your problem. Good luck.”

And then she just walked out.

PCPD: Interrogation Room

Dante smelled the vape pen Dex had given him, and his stomach lurched. “Both of them?”

“Yeah.” Dex shifted, his thumbs tucked into his belt, clearly uncomfortable with the entire situation. “I guess we can’t say for sure, but it’s definitely weed.”

“High and drunk.” Dante dragged out the metal chair, and sat down, put his head in his hands. “And it’s not the first time. Clearly.”

“I don’t think so. But we have no record of it here. I ran their names.” Dex looked at his partner, then back at Dante. “Listen, I want to help. It’s just—if was just alcohol, you know we could just release them. With a warning. But the weed—”

“We got called out on a 911,” his partner said. “Reported two kids walking along Elm Street, laughing, giggling. Nearly got hit by a car. The driver called it in.”

“Oh, man. I had—” Dante nodded. “Okay. Okay. I get it. And I promise you, a month ago, these idiots pull this, I’m ready to scare them straight with whatever we throw at them. But my idiots—they showed up at Elizabeth’s house. And her son didn’t do anything illegal. He was trying to get them to leave.”

“I know she’s out on bail. Joss said it’s pretty strict. They’d run her for this? Even though her kid didn’t do anything—”

“They’ve got her on murder charges, Dex. Charges that Chase and I debunked within an hour. They’re gunning for her. Or for Jason. Either way—this—this isn’t right. Aiden’s not just her son. He’s my nephew—he’s Lulu—” Dante looked away, thinking of his comatose ex-wife who was sleeping away their child’s life. “He’s Lulu nephew. And he doesn’t deserve to bear the guilt for something happening to his mom because he was a moron.”

Dex rubbed his mouth. “We didn’t do any paperwork,” he said slowly. “And I’m the only one who smelled—I didn’t right that down. I know—” he looked at his partner. “I know it’s asking a lot—”

“I’m not asking as a cop,” Dante said. “And I swear, Rocco and Danny — this isn’t going to happen again. I got a wake up call, and I’m not about to let him mess up his life. Please.”

“I guess we can just note that we found the teens on Elm Street, called parents and released them with a warning. We don’t have to mention the weed,” Dex’s partner said reluctantly. “It would just be me and Dex who know.”

“Thank you. Thank you. This is—okay. Thank you—” Dante gestured at the vape pens on the table between them. “Do you want me to get rid of these—”

“Yeah, let me get you an evidence bag.”

After Dex had sent Dante back to the squad room, his partner just looked at him. “If this blows back on us, I’m gonna blame you,” she said.

“It won’t. Dante’s good people. I just hope he can get those kids under control.”

PCPD: Squad Room

Dante emerged from the squad room, the plastic evidence bag in hand, then stopped short when he saw Jason and Elizabeth in the squad room, all three boys still sitting down. “Uh, did Sam need a break, or—”

“I think she’s waiting in the car.” Elizabeth paused. “Danny’s going home with us,” she added. “Sam needs a break from him, and honestly—” she blew out a breath. “Hard to blame her.”

“Uh—” Dante nodded. “Okay.” He looked at Rocco who was holding his middle. “Stand up. We’re going home, and I don’t want to hear a single word from you. Got it?”

Rocco got up, swayed slightly. “Yeah. Sorry that was a word. Does that—” He closed his mouth when his father lifted his chin.

Then Dante looked at Danny, staring hard at the linoleum floor. “You and your mother have been going round and round for weeks, and she’s taken a lot of crap from you. I sat back, I let her handle it, but I should have slapped you upside the head the second you started with the insults. I don’t even have to know what you said to know it was out of line, and remember this, Danny. You’re the one that started this. You became someone we couldn’t trust, and your mother’s been reacting to you. So maybe it’s a good idea for you to take a  break from each other.”  He looked at Jason and Elizabeth. “I got it handled. This goes away. Not because they deserve it, but I’m not letting you or Aiden take the fall for any of this.”

“Thank you. I’ll still need to explain the PCPD trip,” Elizabeth said, “but my address won’t be on a police record?”

“No. And Aiden’s a minor who didn’t do anything wrong. At worst, he’s a witness.” Dante wrapped a hand around Rocco’s upper arm. “Let’s go. And if you vomit in my car, I’m going to make you clean it up.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Jason said to Elizabeth. “Before anyone else sees us.” He looked at Aiden and Danny. “Get up.”

Aiden nearly leapt to his feet. “Mom, I am so sorry—”

“You haven’t even begun to be sorry,” Elizabeth said, taking his arm and steering him towards the doors.

Danny lifted his chin at his father. “You can’t make me go with you—”

“You want to stay here? Face charges for whatever was in that bag Dante was carrying?” Jason bit out. “Go for it—”

“You’re just mad because Elizabeth might get in trouble—”

“I’m mad because my son is drinking and doing drugs,” Jason said. “I’m angry because you’re a selfish, self-centered idiot who can’t think of anyone but himself. Because, yeah, this disaster put her in jeopardy. And it’s made trouble for Dante where he works. Your actions? They affect the people around you. What you did tonight, the position you put Aiden in—”

“Please, don’t let him fool you—” Danny began but Jason silenced him with one look.

“I’ll have a conversation with Aiden. His mother will have a conversation with Aiden. Let’s go. Now. Or stay here, and I’ll tell Dex you want to be booked. Your decision.”

Webber House: Living Room

Cameron and Jake were sitting on the landing when Jason and Elizabeth arrived home. Elizabeth came in first — holding the door for the teenagers who trudged in with Jason following.

“Sofa,” Jason said. “Both of you.”

“I’m tired, I just—” Danny saw the look in his father’s eyes and scowled. “Fine. Whatever.”

“What did you do?” Cameron wanted to know, getting to his feet. “Where were you guys? I woke up—”

“I don’t even know where to start.” Elizabeth wrapped one arm around her middle, rubbed her temple with the other. “How long?”

Aiden blinked up at her. “How long?” he echoed.

“How long have you been drinking?”

“What?” Jake exploded, lunging to his feet. “What do you mean drinking—”

“Jake, don’t start,” Elizabeth cut in sharply. “Or we’ll have another conversation about the Brown Dog and what you were doing there.”

Cameron frowned, looked at him. “What?”

“Later,” Jake muttered, dropping back to the landing, Cameron slowly sitting next to him.

“How long?” Elizabeth repeated, and Aiden made a face, obviously hoping his mother had been distracted from remembering the question.

“I dunno.” He picked at his sleep shorts. “Like since last Thanksgiving.”

“Last—” Elizabeth nodded. “Great. That’s—that’s great—”

“Maybe you were too busy kidnapping people to notice,” Danny said.

Jason stepped forward, and Jake both stood up at the insult, but Elizabeth held up her hand and met Danny’s gaze head on.

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” she said, and he scowled at her. “When you lash out, slap someone. When you call your mother a lunatic, or a bitch, or any of the other lovely things I’ve heard you say to or about her. Did you feel good when you did that?”

“What does it matter?”

“You think that because I’ve been in trouble with the law, because your mom and your dad have records, that somehow you’re better. That you get to use it like a weapon to bludgeon your way out of trouble, but that’s not how it works in this family. And don’t—” She held up a finger when Danny opened his mouth. “Don’t you dare say you’re not in my family. Jake is your brother. Whether you like it or not, that means I give a damn about what happens to you.”

Danny swallowed hard, looked away. “Whatever.”

“The drinking, the drugs, it stops now. For both of you,” Jason said, flatly. “My sister nearly died from a drug overdose when she was your age. I was almost killed in a drunk driving accident caused by my own brother.” He looked at Aiden. “Your grandfather drove drunk and nearly killed your brother.”

“And your father is a recovering pill addict,” Elizabeth offered. “Addiction runs in the Spencer bloodlines. And the Quartermaines.”

“It was just a couple of beers,” Danny complained. “You’re acting like I go to school drunk or whatever—”

“You vape during the day. I’ve seen it,” Jake said, and Danny shot to his feet, betrayed. His brother got to his feet. “I’m done covering for you.”

+43

Written in 60 minutes.

Saturday, September 13, 2024

Webber House: Kitchen

Aiden tore open the bag of popcorn, and upended it into the large glass bowl. His phone vibrated next to him with a notification from Snapchat.

He scowled, picked it — another stupid picture from Danny and Rocco who were holding up their bottles of beer and a caption wish u were here well drink 4 u

“Morons,” he muttered. Even he knew you didn’t take incriminating pictures of yourself with your phone. It would serve them right if he saved it for later blackmail—

In fact— Aiden tapped a quick screenshot, saved it to his camera roll.

“Dude, it’s not gourmet cake.” Cameron stopped in the doorway. “It’s popcorn. We’re waiting on you to start the movie.”

“I’m just adding butter the way Mom likes.” Aiden dumped the melted better he’d already prepared into the bowl. “Let’s go.”

Penthouse: Living Room

Kristina plucked a piece of pepperoni from her pizza, popped it in her mouth. “I think Michael’s overreacting. You need to talk to him—”

Dante sat down on the sofa, a bottle of beer in his hand, and sighed. “I’m not getting in the middle—”

“Everyone says that, and then they take Molly’s side. Michael said that, too—” Kristina folded her arms. “I just don’t understand why no one gets that Molly is making a huge mistake—”

“What I don’t get—” Sam leaned over to snag a napkin for her cheese fries. “Why do you care? Molly’s not hurting you. She’s doing a job. Let her deal with everything that’s happened in her own way. You guys will stay in your separate corners for a few weeks, your charges will get dismissed, and you’ll be able to focus on the real villain. Ava.”

“See—” Dante tipped his beer at Sam. “That’s what I’m talking about. That’s what we need to focus on. Ava.”

Kristina made a face. “Where’s Scout? I thought we were going to watch a movie.” She looked to the stairs. “I didn’t chase her away with my bad mood, did I?”

Dante opened his mouth, looked at Sam who grimaced. “No. She just wanted to watch something on Netflix, and it’s some ridiculous teen show that I have zero interest in. I can make her come down—”

“You might as well tie a pork chop around my neck and force people to play with me.” Kristina folded her arms. “Everyone’s running away from me.”

“We’re not, Krissy. We invited you over, didn’t we?” Sam reminded her, and Kristina sighed. “Let’s put on a stupid movie, and we’ll get some more drinks, right? You can sleep in Danny or Rocco’s room. We need to have one night where we don’t think about anything awful.”

“So, I guess dinosaur movies where lots of humans die is out of question, huh?”

“A comedy then. Something from when we were younger.” Sam picked up the remote, navigated to one of the streaming apps. “What’s that one movie you used to watch all the time? Around the time Danny was born?”

“Moneyball,” Dante said, and Sam whacked him. “Hey! Don’t knock it until you try it!”

“It’s all about math, no thanks.” Kristina burrowed into the chair. “I’m just in a rotten mood. This was a bad idea.”

“No, we just—we have to find the right thing to distract you. Adam Sandler.” Sam clicked the title. “Just please, Krissy, give it a chance, okay? For me?”

Kristina sighed. “All right. For you. And the movie you were thinking about was Pitch Perfect.”

“Oh, that’s right. You thought you could sing acapella for like three weeks.” Sam paused. “It was not pleasant.” She was rewarded when her sister smiled. “And, hey that’s a trilogy, isn’t it? Dante, go get those beers—”

“And a gun so I can kill myself,” Dante said, pretending to be injured when Sam slugged him in the shoulder. “Beers coming right up.”

Webber House: Aiden’s Bedroom

Aiden didn’t hear his phone the first time it rang — well, buzzed — his ringer was off. Or the second time. But the third time, the vibration of the phone had moved it towards the edge of the nightstand and Aiden definitely heard when it clattered to the floor.

“Oh, crap—” If he busted another screen his mother was going murder him—he rolled towards the edge of the bed, snagged it off the floor — and saw the missed calls from Rocco.

And since it was a little past one in the morning, and Rocco had called three times in rapid succession—

Make that four.

Not a good sign.

“This better be good,” Aiden muttered.

“Yo, we’re outside. Come let us in.” The words were a little slurred, but it was definitely his cousin, and he could hear Danny in the background.

“You’re cracked if you think you’re coming in this house. Mom would murder me, call Sam and Dante, and then you’ll be dead. We’ll have a group funeral—”

“No, no, listen—listen—” Rocco giggled. “Listen, we got a plan—”

“I’ve heard that before. Go away,” Aiden hissed, then hung up the phone. Then grimaced. Oh, shit. If they were out side and making noise — Jake and his mom’s room were right over the front of the house—

Shit, shit, shit—

He needed to get them away from the house.

Webber House: Elm Street

“Look, I gots ten fingers—” Rocco splayed out his hand, waved at Danny. “Where’d they come from?”

“Your butt,” Danny said, then exploded into his own giggles, stumbling and sliding to the ground by the front wall of the Webber house. “Your butt,” he repeated again.

The door opened behind them, and Aiden stepped outside, in a t-shirt, shorts, and bare feet. “Shut up you assholes, my mom is right there—” he hissed, stabbing a finger at a window above them.

“Yeah?” Rocco lifted his head up. “Hey, can she tell me what jail was like? She was with chicks, though, so maybe it’s not the same—”

Aiden scowled, grabbed Rocco’s arm and dragged him towards the street. “What the hell happened to the plan? You were supposed to crash with Frankie—”

“F-funny thing—” Rocco wavered slightly, then stared at his hand. “Ow—what’d you hit me for?” he demanded of Aiden.

“We need to get you both out of here before Mom wakes up. She’ll snitch on you—” Aiden looked at Danny, then leaped forward, snagging the vape pen from Danny’s hand. “What are you, stupid? You’re outside—”

“It’s cool, no one’s here—” Rocco tugged out his own, took a puff, then blew the smoke in Aiden face. “And stop acting like such a wuss. You like this stuff—” He offered the pen to Aiden who slapped it out of his hands.

“I like it at the boathouse when people aren’t around,” he snarled, his voice still hushed. “Not when my mother is twenty feet above me, and can smell it, you fuckers. Get out of here!”

“Listen, listen, listen—” Danny rolled over on all fours, then shook his head. “Whoa, that—that was not a good idea.” Then he lumbered to his feet, and slung an arm around Aiden’s shoulders. “My guy here—” He took Aiden by the jaw, shook it lightly. “He’s a little uptight. We just gotta get him laid. Tobias isn’t doing it right—”

“Hey, twat waffle, you’re not getting shit either. Georgie doesn’t even know you’re alive,” Aiden growled, shoving at Danny who went into Rocco, and then they both went down to the ground. “Go away—”

“What’s going on here?”  They heard the voice a moment before the beam of flash light blinded him.

Aiden brought his hands up to protect his vision — then realized Dex Heller was striding towards them with another uniform by his side.

Cops.

Of course.

“Oh, I am so dead—” he moaned, then looked down at the vape pen he’d snatched from Danny. He released it with a horrified squeak, sending it flying —

Where it landed at Dex’s feet. He looked up at Aiden, then sighed. “You’re kidding me, right? Morons.” He paused. “I can go knock on the door and wake up your mother now, or she can get a call from the PCPD. Your choice.”

Aiden opened his mouth, then looked over to see Rocco vomiting on the cop’s shoes. “You know what, call from the PCPD. That way I get to live a little longer.” And Mom probably wouldn’t wake up Jake or Cam —

Who were actually going to kill him.

Webber House: Elizabeth’s Bedroom

Elizabeth was only half awake when she reached for the ringing phone. “Hello?” she slurred, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “What is it?”

“Ms. Webber? This is Dex Heller.”

“Dex—” Elizabeth jolted. “Dex. Officer Heller.” She shoved herself out of bed, started looking around her room. “What is it?” Oh, God, had Jason been in an accident? Was it Laura, or Kevin—

“I’m sorry to wake you, ma’am, but we’ve got your son Aiden down here. You’ll need to come down.”

“You’ve—” Elizabeth shook her head, jerked her door open and headed down the short hallway. “No, you don’t. He’s right here—” She opened his door — and saw the blanket hastily shoved back. “He was just right here.”

“I know. We picked him up out front of your house with his cousin, Rocco Faloncieri and his stepbrother, Danny Morgan. Public intoxication, possession of tobacco, disorderly conduct—”

“Wait, wait, wait—” Elizabeth pressed a hand to her forehead. “You—you picked him up out front of the house. W hy didn’t—” She went back down the hallway into her room, trying to locate the jeans she’d discarded earlier. “Why didn’t you just knock on my door?”

“Your son asked to be taken in.”

“He asked—you know what, I’ll deal with this when I get down there. Have Danny and Rococo’s been called?”

“Yes, ma’am, I contacted Sam and Dante just a little while ago. I’m sorry about this.”

Elizabeth disconnected the call, took a deep breath, counted to ten, then called Jason, who despite the hour, didn’t sound as if he’d been asleep at all. “Elizabeth? What’s wrong—”

“Everyone’s alive,” she said shortly. “For now. I don’t understand what the hell happened, but somehow my son, yours, and Rocco all got arrested for drinking and smoking outside my house.”

“Outside—” Jason stopped. “Danny?”

“Yes.” She blew out a short breath. “Do I need to call Diane? Is this going to mess up my bail? Jason—”

“Let’s just—I’ll call Diane, just to put her on alert. Come by the diner, pick me up. We’ll go down to the PCPD together. One step at a time.”

“I’ll be there in five minutes. Maybe less. No, I have to go the speed limit—damn it—” She ran into the side of her dresser, stubbing her toe.

“Elizabeth?”

“I’m fine. I just—” She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “I’ll be right there. Call Diane. And then we’ll go kill our kids.”

PCPD: Squad Room

Aiden leaned forward. “Listen, listen, those morons—” He swept his hands over towards Rocco and Danny, seated across the room with other officers. Rocco looked a little green, and was clutching his stomach. Danny hadn’t sicked up any of his alcohol and was still riding high from the hit he’d take from his vape pen.

Oh, God, please don’t test the vape pen, please don’t let them find out it’s weed, Aiden prayed.

“I was sleeping, okay? Look, look—” Aiden shoved his phone at Dex. “Look! That’s me, at my house, and them calling me! Because I was inside, asleep. My mom will tell you I was home with her all night—these idiots, they showed up, and they wanted to come inside, and I told them, no, I was trying to make them go away—”

“Calm down.” Dex took the phone, which Aiden had unlocked, scrolled through the notifications, then looked at him. “You got a Snapchat notification from Rocco a few hours ago. You still got this picture?”

Aiden pressed his lips together. He’d already snitched. Might as well finish the job. “Yeah. Yeah. It even says I’m not with them—it’s like the last photo on my camera roll—you can’t mess my mom up on this, she didn’t know anything, and I didn’t do anything—”

“Right. Your mom’s on bail.” Dex hesitated. “You don’t smell like alcohol, and your eyes aren’t glassy. I’m not seeing any signs you did anything. Tonight,” he added. “The vape pen I found you with?”

“I took it from Danny. You gotta believe me, and you gotta—put them in jail, okay? They’re idiots. Me, I’m the boring one. I stayed home!”

“Give me a few minutes.” Dex got to his feet, and Aiden started praying to every deity he could remember in case one of them was in the mood to take pity on a kid.

PCPD: Parking Lot

Elizabeth jerked the car to a stop, just barely making it inside of the lines, and they were both almost out of the car before she could put it in park. They saw an SUV pull into another spot, no better than she had, and Sam was flying out of the car.

She saw them, hissed. “What the hell happened?” she demanded. “What the hell are you thinking letting kids have alcohol? Aren’t you in enough trouble—”

“What the hell—” Elizabeth threw up her hands keep Sam back.

“Sam—” Dante came up to her, pulled her back even as Jason stepped in front of her. “Stop. None of us would give them alcohol. Just—cool it—” He looked at Elizabeth. “I’m sorry. We were asleep—and I just don’t understand. Did  they sneak out?”

“I—how would I know? Aiden was home with me all night! I don’t even know how they got to my house! Or when!”

Sam scowled, pulled out her phone. “That’s impossible. Their phones were at your house all night, look—” She held out the device — and Elizabeth reached for it, squinting to confirm that the devices labeled Rocco and Danny were, indeed, on Elm Street.

“They never came to your house tonight, did they?” Dante asked. He looked to the sky, muttered something.

“Did they say they were coming to Elizabeth’s?” Jason wanted to know.

“They said—God, I’m such an idiot.” Sam scrubbed her hands down her face, moaning slightly. “Oh, God. They played me.”

“They played us both.” Dante looked at Elizabeth and Jason. “Rocco said Aiden was gonna let you and Cam have some time since he was leaving tomorrow. So they were coming over to play games. It’s not—I mean, they’ve come over plenty to do that.”

“They—” Elizabeth furrowed her brow. “No, they go to your place to do that.” She pressed her lips together as the realization dawned. “Oh, so this is something they do all the time.”

“Great. Great. This is fantastic.” Dante took a deep breath. He rubbed his mouth, looked at Sam. “It’s always Rocco asking.”

“Because I double check everything Danny does. Unless he’s doing it with Rocco—I need to sit down.” Sam moved away, leaned a hand against the SUV they’d parked. “Okay. Okay. We’ll compare notes later, right? We’ll figure out how much they’ve been lying and to who. Right now, we have to get them out of the PCPD.”

“Before this ends up on FBI’s radar,” Jason said grimly.

“I swear to God, if this stunt ends up screwing your bail—” Sam looked at Elizabeth. “I’m so sorry. I never—I should have realized you wouldn’t want our idiots over with you tonight. Not with Cameron. I just—Danny got under my skin, and he did it on purpose—” Her voice wobbled, and she turned away.

Dante rubbed her back, and looked at Elizabeth. “He made a crack about she wasn’t gonna let him go because you’re a criminal now, too,” he said, and Elizabeth sighed, rubbed her forehead.

“So you didn’t argue because you wanted to prove to Danny that you weren’t going to do that anymore,” Jason finished.

“This is all my fault—” Sam shook her head. “Oh, God. I can’t even—” She pressed a hand to her mouth.

“We’ll figure out the details later,” Dante told her, rubbing her shoulders. “Come on, we’re a united front right now. All four of us. They’re the idiots, we’re the parents. Let me make calls. I’ll make sure this goes away,” he told Elizabeth. “I wouldn’t pull strings for Rocco otherwise, but this needs to stay off their records. The arrest has to disappear. Your address can’t be put into the system. I’m not gonna let my kid screw you up. I promise.”

+41

Written in 66 minutes.

Saturday, September 13, 2024

Penthouse: Living Room

“She’s going to say no,” Sam muttered, dropping on the sofa next to Dante, trying very hard not to peek over his shoulder at the file he was reading.

“You can live with that,” Dante responded, almost absently. He made a notation. “You gave it your best shot. If Danny wants to know, you can say you tried.”

“And then tell him that his father doesn’t trust me enough to help? That Jake’s mom hates me? I’d rather eat glass.” She folded her legs, reached for her phone. Maybe scrolling her social media feet would get her mind off all of this — but it was just filled with news about the case — including coverage of the DA’s decision to open their own investigation.

“I know Molly believes in what she’s doing, and I know you’re on board, too. I’m glad, by the way, that you and Chase got assigned,” Sam added, and Dante sighed, put the file aside to look at her.

“But?”

“But I’m worried about her. Burying herself in something to forget about everything else that’s going on. So she doesn’t have to think about the baby, about how bad things are with Kristina, or the charges against Ava moving forward—” Sam paused. “She’s going to get to the end of all of this, look around, and it’s not going to have changed anything. It’s—it’s still going to be there.”

“I get that, and I’m worried about both of them. Kristina feels so closed off right now—and I realized something just now, listening to you—” Dante waited for Sam to meet his gaze. “Neither one of us call the baby by her name. We’re both defaulting to generic terms. Daughter, baby, loss—”

Sam pressed her lips together. “I’m afraid to use Irene around Kristina. It makes her so angry, and I don’t want to start another fight. But I don’t want to call her Adela because it’s not her name. And I don’t want to make a mistake with Molly, who doesn’t deserve any of this.” She flicked some screens. “Maybe I should try to talk to Krissy again. We should invite her over tonight. Dinner and movies with the kids—Scout can cheer up anyone.”

“That sounds like a good idea—” Dante stopped when they heard thudding footsteps above them, and then thundering down the steps. “Here comes trouble,” he quipped when Danny and Rocco came into view. “What do you think about movie night and inviting Aunt Kristina?”

“Uh—we were actually gonna ask for another kind of family night.” Rocco held up his phone. “Aiden asked us to hang out tonight. He wants to give his mom time with Cam, so he figured maybe a gaming marathon or something.”

“Unless you don’t want me over Aiden’s house because his mom’s a criminal,” Danny said before either Sam or Dante could respond.

Sam pressed her lips together. “She’s not a criminal, and that—fine. Fine. It’s fine with me. Dante?”

“Yeah, you guys would just depress your aunt anyway. You want me to drop you guys off, or—”

“Yeah, sure. Around six?” Rocco asked.

“Sounds good.” Dante looked at Sam. “After I drop them off, I’ll swing by Kristina’s place, pick her up.”

“If she even agrees to come,” Sam muttered, but selected Kristina’s number and lifted the phone to her ear.

Upstairs, Danny and Rocco reached the first room in the hallway—Rocco’s and slapped each other’s hands.

“What’d I say?” Danny said with a broad grin. “Do I know how to push Mom’s buttons or what?”

“I bow before the master. Text Aiden. Tell him the game’s on.”

“What do we do if Dante tries to come in?” Danny asked, his fingers flying over the screen.

“You heard him. He’s gonna pick up my aunt. It’s a tuck and roll situation, and plus, he’s not gonna wanna talk to Aunt Liz since he’s investigating her case, and it’s like, she’s got a lawyer.” Rocco nodded. “Yeah, that’s what we’ll go with if he tries to come in. We saw it on TikTok or something. Dad’s a stickler, he’ll eat it right up.”

“Man, they make it too easy,” Danny said, snickering. He sent the text. “And we are ready.”

Bobbie’s: Dining Room

“Well, there you are, stranger!”

Jason winced as he turned around to see Carly striding out of the kitchen with a clipboard in her hand. “Hey. I haven’t seen you around here in a while.” Had orchestrated the purchase of an entire hotel to divert her attention. Should have known it wouldn’t last.

“Just some inventory management. If you’re not on your way somewhere, maybe we could grab a table, catch up?”

“Uh, yeah, okay.” Jason followed her to an empty one near the back. “Sorry, I know you called a few times since the hearing—”

“You’ve had a ton on your plate this last week,” Carly said. She smiled at a waitress who approached them. When they’d both placed orders for coffee, she turned back to Jason. “And I know that doesn’t go away because Elizabeth is out on bail. This third party custodian thing, that seems like a lot.”

“Not really.”

Carly waited, but when it was clear he didn’t intend to follow that statement up with any details, she made a face. “Jason, I’d like us to be friends.”

He furrowed his brow. “We are.”

“Yeah, but it’s like a hostage situation, and I’m tired of negotiating. Especially since I’m the hostage taker.” She leaned forward. “You know, Michael’s all grown up now. You don’t have to keep me around to stay close to him.”

Jason sighed, rubbed his face. “Carly, what do you want?”

“I want to know what’s going on. How I can help — with your approval — how you’re doing — what kind of stress you’re under — because we both know you’re not going to tell anyone else. Jason—” She lowered her voice. “Please tell me you know that the FBI doesn’t actually think Elizabeth is the bad guy. They’re after you!”

“Yeah, Carly, that had occurred to me. But I’m innocent, so I don’t really have to worry—”

“Elizabeth’s innocent, too, and she’s wearing an ankle monitor, so bite me.” Carly leaned back while the waitress poured their coffees. When they were alone again, she continued, “Jason, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I don’t have any issues with Elizabeth anymore.”

“I’ve heard that before.”

“It’s true this time. It is,” Carly insisted. “Our kids dated for over a year, and Joss — she really did a number on Cam when they broke up. Joss and her guy now—well, they didn’t exactly wait.” Her lips thinned, and she spooned sugar into her cup. “Like mother, like daughter.”

“Carly.”

“Elizabeth has never said one unkind word about Joss. Or to her. We both know I wouldn’t have been as gracious. I don’t know, maybe she’s grateful we’re not going to be related, but—” Carly looked around the diner, and her voice thickened just a bit. “She loved my mother, you know? I forgot how close they were. How much my mom loved her, too. She’d be horrified at what Elizabeth is dealing with, and she’d be leading the charge to fight. I want to—I want to do good in this world, the way my mother did. I want to help.”

Jason sipped his coffee, took a deep breath. “I hear you, Carly. And I believe you. Having you at the hearing — Joss and Michael, too. That meant a lot. To have people on her side. I’m sure it didn’t go unnoticed by the judge.”

“Michael gets to do battle with the courts over access to the property, and Molly and Dante get to fight the FBI and find the real killer—let me help. Even if it’s just to listen. I can do that, I promise.” Carly drew a line across her chest, then another in the opposite direction. “Cross my heart.”

“Right now,” Jason said, considering his words, “things seem under control. They didn’t earlier this week. When the FBI at Jake’s school. He thought I knew something.” He looked away, took a deep breath. “He confronted me, and I had to tell him I didn’t know anything that would bring his mother home. He…” Jason looked down in his cup. “He cried.”

“That poor baby. Everything he’s been through in his life, you know? And the hits just keep coming. I’m sorry he didn’t trust you, Jason. That must have been painful.”

“I’m not surprised—”

“Neither am I,” Carly cut in. She reached across the table, covered his hand. “But that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. You made choices, Jason. Ones you know I hate. Ones that took you away from your boys, and you don’t get to wave that away. This isn’t like the last time when someone took you. You chose to stay away.”

“I told you why—”

“And if you’d asked me or Sonny or your sons what they’d prefer, it would have been to have you at home, even if I ended up in jail and we all ended up broke and on the streets. We’re smart, resourceful, and we’d have figured it out. I would have rather lost everything, including my own freedom instead of having another funeral for you.”

Jason dropped his gaze. “You know, I told Elizabeth and she was the only one who wasn’t angry at me.”

“Oh, well—of course—” Carly snorted, swiping at her eyes. “When we talk about martyrs, you know no one does it better than she does. You both love to make a sacrifice and pat yourself on the back when nobody asked for it in the first place.”

Jason lifted his coffee cup, squinted. “You know what? Just for that — Elizabeth and I are seeing other again.”

“You think that’s going to ruin my day? Please. Tell me something I didn’t already know.” Carly balled up a napkin and threw it at him. “Just don’t play musical chairs with her and Sam again. I’m too old for that crap.”

Webber House: Kitchen

“You know, you can let me do one thing,” Elizabeth said when Jake took her by the shoulders and gently steered her back to the entrance of the kitchen. “Aiden made breakfast—”

“Jake is clearing down, and I’m doing the dishes. You’re doing nothing.” Cameron nodded at Aiden. “Make her a hot chocolate or something. With sprinkles and whipped cream.”

“On it—”

“Cam—” Elizabeth leaned against the door frame, just watching her boys make themselves busy in the kitchen. She hadn’t stopped smiling since they’d come home the night before — having all three of her kids under one roof for the first time in a month was almost worth the horrible situation she was facing. “When you’re done in here—thank you, baby—” she took the mug from Aiden, “come in the living room. I want to talk about the next few weeks.”

When they’d gathered on the sofa, Liz in the middle of the sofa, Cameron in the arm, Jake to her left, and Aiden on the right, she took a minute to just enjoy the picture — because it wouldn’t be long before Cameron moved out of the house officially or Jake was off to college—she’d had them to herself all their lives, and now she was being forced to share them with the world. The best and worst part of motherhood, she thought.

“All right.” Elizabeth set her mug down. “Let’s talk about about what happens for a few weeks. Spinelli is investigating the case — and he’s focusing on exonerating me. I trust him with my life, and he’ll want to talk to both of you,” she said, directing that to Jake and Aiden. “Molly opened up the case with the DA’s office, and I imagine Chase and Dante will also want to talk to you.”

“Do we talk to them without Diane?” Jake asked. “I mean, I guess they’re the good guys, but—”

“I want you to do whatever you’re comfortable with. I trust them, but it’s not a bad idea to have her present just to be safe, and to be consistent. I’m going back to work on Monday, and other than that — everything is going to be normal.”

“Normal? Mom, you’re charged with a murder you didn’t commit—” Aiden protested. “How can we be normal?”

“The same way you went to school four out of five days this week. I’m innocent, Aiden, and I love my job, and I want you to live your lives. Someone wants to hurt me, and I won’t let them do it.”

Jake nodded. “Okay, so we’re normal and all, but what happens if Dante and Spinelli and everyone can’t fix it. What if—” He looked down at his hands. “What if you go to jail again? And this time, you can’t come home?”

“If I’m—if it goes to trial and I’m convicted, I’ve already talked to your dad. He knows the plan, and we’re signing paperwork this week. He’ll have guardianship of you,” she said to Aiden, touching his shoulder. “Because I want you and Jake to be together. I want you to stay in this house where you’ve grown up.  Cam—” she looked at her eldest, who had remained silent. “You’re finishing Stanford. Period.”

“And I’m coming home to attend to medical school. I already applied, and I’m a Hardy-Webber with Quartermaine adjacent connections. We already know I’m in.” Cameron looked at her. “I’m finishing Stanford and coming home. Period.”

Elizabeth furrowed her brow, then sighed. “That’s a fight for another day, but all right.” She looked at Jake. “You’re going to apply to Spain, and when you get in, you’re going—”

“Mom—”

“You’re going,” Elizabeth repeated. “Jason will come live here with Aiden, all three of you will have your home just as it’s always been. Someone’s trying to hurt me, and they might—they might get away with it for a little while. But they’re not going to derail the dreams I have for you, the ones you have for yourself. Aiden—” She looked at him. “If you’d rather live with your grandmother or—your dad—”

“Do you think he’d be able to recognize me?” Aiden said. He shook his head. “No, I want to be here with Jake, and Jason’s cool. But none of this matters, Mom, because you’re not going to jail. They’re gonna figure this out.”

“Right. We’re talking about something that is probably not an issue.” Elizabeth squeezed Jake’s knee. “Right, honey?”

“But if you do, we keep fighting, right? We appeal and we’ll do whatever we have to,” Jake said. “Because if you end up convicted for this bullshit, I think I speak for all of us — and Dad. We’ll have a new dream, and it’ll be getting you the hell out of there and back where you belong with us.”

Her eyes watered and she took a deep breath. “We’ll argue about that later if we have to. I love you. All of you.” She turned to Aiden, touched his shoulder, then reached for Cameron’s hand. “My entire world. Three of you.”

“I’m on board with all your plans, and here’s one I’m adding. Every other Friday, I come home,” he said. When Elizabeth opened her mouth to protest, he shook his head. “Don’t argue with me, Mom. I already talked it over with Jason. He’s gonna front me the money for the tickets, and I’ll pay him back after I’m done paying for medical school. It’ll be like forty years, but we’ve got a plan.”

Elizabeth hesitated, then gathered herself. “I won’t argue with something that’s obviously out of my hands, and seeing more of you is always good. We’re going to get this, guys. This isn’t our first crisis—”

“Won’t be the last,” Cameron added. “But we’re here, Mom. Until the wheels fall off.”

TJ & Molly’s Apartment: Living Room

TJ gingerly pushed the stack of files to the side and set down the bowls of soup before taking a seat across from Molly — who didn’t look up from her work. “Mols, before it gets cold?”

“I’m not hungry—”

“Molly.”

She recognized the tone, set down her pencil and looked up, apologetic. “I’m sorry, it’s your first night off in days, and I’m buried in work, and you hate when I bring it home—”

“I know this isn’t different. And hey, we want Liz back at the hospital, pronto. Place isn’t the same without her. But you gotta take time for yourself. For us,” he added, and she nodded.

She reached for the bowl, picked up the spoon. “I know I haven’t exactly been great with all of this.”

“What’s all of this?” TJ asked. “What exactly are you apologizing for?”

She bit her lip. “I don’t know. Since we lost Irene. Since the funeral, since—” Molly toyed with the corner of the paper. “I know I’m working more than usual, and you are, too. I know we’re both pretending everything is…that we’re fine. I just—I don’t know what else to do. I can’t sit with myself. Or my thoughts for very long. I need—I just need to think about anything else. I’m sorry.”

“I get it. I do. Like you said, I’m doing the same thing, Mol. We’re both hoping that we’ll stop, look up, and it’s all better, right?” TJ tipped his head. “And what you’re doing, it’s brave and it’s amazing, and I’m so proud of you. Don’t think I’m not. But none of this goes away, and when we clock out of work — it’s all still there. That —” He looked towards the hallway, leading to the bedroom — and the nursery. “That room is still empty. And your sister is still…”

“Still Kristina. And she’ll never change. So I’ll have to.” Molly spooned more of the soup. “I don’t know how to fix any of that, TJ.”

“Me either, so tonight — we’ll have our soup, you can finish your report, I’ll catch up on my medical journal, and then we’ll do a movie. We’ll be okay, Mols. We always make it through.”

Elm Street: Sidewalk

Dante leaned across the passenger side, his hand on the open window. “Don’t give Liz any trouble, you hear me?”

“Dad—” Rocco turned back to flash him another grin. “Don’t worry. Aunt Liz won’t even know we’re here.  Tell Aunt Krissy I love her.”

“I will.”

Dante’s headlights disappeared as he turned the corner, and Aiden jogged up to them. “You guys gotta hurry before either of my brothers see you,” he said. He held out his hands. “Gimme your phones.”

Danny slapped his phone down, and Rocco handed his over. “You’re the best,” he told Aiden. “And in a few weeks, when you’re mom’s cleared, we’ll owe you big time.”

“Yeah, yeah, just get out of here.”

Danny saluted him, and then he and Rocco sprinted across the street, disappearing up the block.

Aiden shoved both phones in his pocket, then headed back inside for movie night with his mother.

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