Written in 59 minutes.

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Morgan Penthouse: Kitchen

Elizabeth pulled out the tray of chicken nuggets vaguely shaped like dinosaurs. “A few more minutes, Cam,” she told her son who bounced in the booster seat that made him tall enough to sit at the kitchen table.

“Then I eat roshus dinos.” Cameron played with the bright green plastic utensils, banging them against his plate like drums. “Yummy nuggets.”

“Yeah, really haute cuisine.” Elizabeth reached for her vibrating phone in her back pocket, and made a face when she saw Jason’s note that he’d be late. He’d spent the day with the boys while she worked, and then they’d traded — he’d headed into the warehouse, and she’d taken over for dinner.

“Mommy mad?”

“Mommy tired,” Elizabeth said, then slid the phone back in her pocket. “Daddy’s going to home late, so he’ll miss bedtime, okay?”

“Okay.” Cameron wrapped both hands around his sippy cup, then tipped it back. Elizabeth filled his plate with dino nuggets, then tucked the extras away in the oven to keep warm. She set the child lock on the oven door.

“I’m going to go get your brother up from his nap so he can eat dinner. You okay to eat by yourself for a few minutes?” she asked, turning on the monitor they kept in the kitchen.

Cameron bit into one of the nuggets, ripping off the head of the dino, then growled. “Grrr!”

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Elizabeth jogged up the stairs, then paused when she realized Spinelli’s bedroom door was ajar. She thought he was out with Dillon and Lulu—but then realized his lamp was on, and there was a lump on the bed. “Spinelli?” she tapped the door. “Did you want something for dinner?”

“The Jackal ate,” he said glumly.

She hesitated, then pushed the door open a bit more. “Are you all right? It’s not like you to go to bed early.”

Spinelli sat up, his hair mussed from spending most of the day beneath a beanie cap. He looked a bit pale and clammy. Worried, she perched on the edge of the bed, pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. “Are you sick?”

“No. No. The Jackal had an unpleasant experience,” he muttered. “Confrontations make him sick.”

“Confrontation…” Elizabeth tipped her head. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Spinelli glanced away, traced a seam in the comforter with his fingers. “At Kelly’s. There was—” He paused. “Sam.”

The one word name without any type of nickname didn’t make Elizabeth feel any better either. “I’m sorry. I know you were close with her. You can still be friends with her if you want—”

“No, no!” Spinelli’s eyes widened. “The Jackal couldn’t. Fair Elizabeth does not understand. He—” He closed his eyes. “Adult,” he muttered. “I am an adult.”

“Spinelli?”

“I…knew,” Spinelli managed, his face twisted. “About Maureen Harper. And Sam.”

“Ah.” Elizabeth nodded. “Jason told you?”

“N-no. Well, y-yes. But I investigated for Stone Cold. He suspected something,” Spinelli admitted. “And then she tried to hurt him at the trial, and then she wanted you to lose the custody. But she was there today. And wanted to be friends. The Jackal had to tell her no.” He drew his knees against his chest. “Don’t like bad conversations.”

“I’m sorry, Spinelli.” Elizabeth touched his shoulder. “It’s hard when you think you’re friends with someone and they do something to hurt you. And it can be really hard to tell them. I don’t like to do it either. I mean, that’s how this all got started, you know? Lying about Jake. I was afraid to tell anyone, and I didn’t until I was forced. It’s brave to do it willingly. Without a perjury charge hanging over you.”

Spinelli’s smile was faint. “But Stone Cold is very happy you did. And so is the Jackal. This is the nicest place he’s ever lived.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

He nodded.

“Why do you refer to yourself in the third person? You almost never say I or me. You don’t have to answer it, but I was just curious.”

He considered the question for a long quiet moment. “When I was a kid,” he said softly. “My parents were gone. My mother died when I was a baby, and my dad was never in the picture. Granny raised me, but I liked computers and science and cartoons and silly things. The kids teased me a lot in school, and it was hard to—I never had any friends.” He paused. “Going to school was the worst but I had to go every day because Granny didn’t believe in quitting.” He bit his lip. “At night, I used to lay in my bed and tell myself stories where I was the hero, but it wasn’t me. Couldn’t be me. And the Jackal was brave. He was funny and handsome and had many friends. Family. Good things never happened to Damien, but they could happen to the Jackal. But maybe Damien could just go away and bad things wouldn’t happen anymore.” He shrugged. “It’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid, Spinelli.” She squeezed his knee. “I hope you know that we love you here. Not just me and the boys. Jason does, too.”

“He puts up with me.”

“If that was true, he wouldn’t still let you live here,” Elizabeth said. “He never let Carly live here, did he? And he definitely just puts up with her.”

His smile was faint. “The Valkyrie is an acquired taste, he tells me.”

“Well, Dillon and Lulu like you. Georgie liked you,” Elizabeth said softly, and he nodded. “You have friends now. If you want to still be the Jackal, that’s okay. We’ll always love him. But Damien is part our family, too. And I hope you feel safe enough to let him out more.”

General Hospital: Lobby

Robin tugged her tote bag over her shoulder, tired down to her bone marrow. She stepped out of the elevator, waiting for Kelly and Lainey to follow. “I’m going to sleep for a week when I get home,” she told them.

“We’ll drink your share of the wine, don’t worry,” Kelly promised, putting an arm around Robin’s shoulders.

“You should always call Patrick. I bet he’d give you a foot massage,” Lainey teased. “But then he’d just ask you to move in again, so maybe going home is the best idea.”

“Yeah, talk about running hot and cold,” Kelly said. “Do you know how many messages he’s left me about the next appointment? I told him to write the questions down, but—”

They turned a corner, heading for the lobby and the exit. Robin’s steps slowed when she saw a familiar dark head on a bench, bowed over a book.

Patrick. Reading another book with a pregnant woman on the cover. He didn’t know what time she was leaving today — couldn’t have known she’d see him. So he really was reading this books — and leaving Kelly’s messages.

“I’ll talk to you guys later,” she said to her roommates.

“Uh huh, sure.” Kelly took Lainey’s arms in hers. “Come on. Let’s go get a security guard to walk us to our cars.”

Robin sat next to Patrick and he jerked his head up, snapping the book shut. “Hey. What are you doing here?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing. I thought you worked this morning.”

“I did. I had a surgery that ran late, and I’m waiting to hear from the ICU in an—” He checked his watch. “Five minutes. If the vitals are good, I can head home.” He furrowed his brow. “Why are you alone? You weren’t going to the parking garage were you?”

Instead of answering, Robin reached for the book he’d been reading and flipped through it. Pages were highlighted — and there were post-its, tabs—notes in the margins. She opened to eight weeks. “A raspberry seed,” she said. “That’s how big the baby is right now.”

“You know, you go to medical school,” Patrick said, “and you learn this stuff, but it’s different when you’re actually talking about a real baby. Raspberry seeds are barely visible. But organs are developing—the baby has eyes—”

“Retinas,” Robin corrected. “And then tail is nearly gone, so there’s that.”

“Good thing. Would make diapers hard. I’ve seen them — not really a good place to put the tail.” But he smiled, took the book back. “You’re eating enough fruit? That’s what the book says about this week.”

“Plenty.” Robin tipped his head. “You’re…really into this, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I am.” Patrick took a deep breath. “But I talked to Elizabeth and I get it. You need to be sure, so I’m not pushing you. I just—I want to be what you need. So if what you need is me to back off—”

“What I need…” Robin tipped her head back, considered the question. This baby had been conceived on a night she’d been at her lowest, desperate to stop thinking and feeling. Her sweet little cousin was gone forever. And now so was Emily—

Life was short. How many times did Robin need to learn that?

“What I need right now is a bubble bath and a nap.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “I’m tired all the time. And it’s hard in the morning. Do you really want to be there for morning sickness?”

He slid his arm around her shoulders, tucking her more firmly in his embrace. “I want to be there for everything, Robin. Whatever you’re ready for.”

“You might regret that tomorrow when I’m hanging over the toilet.”

His arm tensed. “Robin?”

“You’re getting shades for the windows. I can’t be woken up like that every morning. It’s not negotiable.” She lifted her head. “I love you. And you love me. And I think we both already love this baby. That’s enough for me. Let’s go home.”

Spencer House: Living Room

“I’m just worried about him,” Lulu said, pacing in front of the fireplace. “He won’t return my calls, he banned me from the island, and you’re probably right there, too. And if that’s not enough, Spinelli’s acting weird, and Dillon’s pretending everything is normal, and I’m—” She frowned, looking at her brother sitting at the table by the chairs. “Are you listening to me?”

“Sure.” Lucky crossed off another name from the campus access list. “Every other word. Sometimes I get two in a row.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You told me earlier that you were going to help—”

“And I tried.” Lucky leaned back, stretching his arms over his head. “I went to the island, and it didn’t work. So we’re just going to have to let this play out—”

“You went over? What happened? Did it look like he’s sleeping or eating?”

“He’s definitely drinking.”

“Lucky.”

He sighed, set down his pencil, and looked at her. “Listen. I don’t want to get into it with you. You love him, and you’re concerned. I’m not doing anything to get in the middle of that.”

“But—” Lulu bit her lip. “Is he still blaming you?”

“He—” He grimaced. “He threw a bottle of pills at me and told me that was all I was good for.” And it had taken everything in him to set those pills aside. To push away the chance for it all to go away. To lose himself in nothing.

If he went under again, he’d never drag himself back out. Couldn’t give in.

Lulu’s hands fell to her side. “He—he threw pills at you.”

“I didn’t take them. You can call him. I left them on his desk—”

“Lucky. Don’t act like this isn’t important—”

“It’s—” Lucky rose. “Lu. This is who Nikolas is. Who he’s always been. When he gets angry, he lashes out. He always apologizes later. He’ll let you back in soon, okay?”

“That’s not what I meant.” Lulu’s eyes were dark with concern. “That was a cruel thing he did to you, and I’m sorry. You lost Emily, too. He’s not even thinking about that.”

“No, he’s not. Because Emily was his one true love.” Lucky’s smile was wry. “Just like Elizabeth was mine. We sure have a hell of a way of treating the women we profess to love, huh? We both cheated on them.”

Lulu folded her arms. “Are you, um, are you okay?”

“Yeah. I went to a meeting. I’ll probably go to another tomorrow. It’s fine, Lu. I’m not going to crack. Not this time.” Lucky flexed his fingers. “I don’t have much else to lose, you know? I lost my wife. My kids. My best friend. My brother. If I can lose all of that, and still stay clean, that’s a good thing.”

“It’s a very good thing. And I’m proud of you—no, don’t do that. Don’t like it doesn’t matter. Like what you did wasn’t hard,” Lulu said. He met her eyes. “Every day you stay clean is important. It matters. You had pills in your hand, Lucky, and you put them down. You walked away. A year ago, you wouldn’t have done that.”

“A year ago—” Lucky sighed. “Yeah, okay. I guess I would have.”

“I love you. Can I—can I go to a meeting with you, or something? Is that allowed?”

“Yeah.” He went to her, drew her in for a hug. “Yeah, that’s allowed.” He kissed the top of her head. “I love you, too.”

Greystone: Living Room

“Hey, sorry for the late night—” Sonny said, tossing a folder on the desk. “A few more things, and you can head out—”

“It’s fine.” Jason checked his phone, but there wasn’t anything new. “Shipment was all set, and we’re good for tomorrow, too.”

“Yeah, this one just needed your hand on it. Zacchara was getting bitchy about letting my underlings handle it.” Sonny rolled his eyes. “I hope he has another stroke,” he muttered. “Anyway—uh, I wanted to let you know that I checked with our guy at the PCPD. About the case.”

Jason grimaced. “And?”

“Nothing. They’re working some leads, but they don’t have much more than they did before. The guy’s DNA isn’t in the system, and there haven’t been any good sightings of him.” Sonny shook his head. “I was hoping we could get something we’d be able to work with. A way to help track something down, but—” He looked at Jason. “I’m sorry. There’s a chance they don’t catch this guy before he gets someone else.”

Jason exhaled slowly. “What about motive? I mean, they don’t have any idea why he’s doing this?”

“No, and the profile of the victims is too broad for them to do anything else,” Sonny said. “Otherwise, they’re telling every women between the ages of 19 and 40 not to travel alone or even in pairs. How do you do that without scaring the shit out of everyone, you know?”

“Yeah.” Jason scrubbed a hand over his face. “Elizabeth has a guard when she goes out with the boys, but she really don’t go anywhere else. Ford won’t let her have a guard in the hospital, so Cody meets her in the parking garage by the elevators. I don’t love it, but the alternative is having her driven to work and dropped off and picked up—”

“Which still gives someone an opening if they want it. No chance we can get her to quit her job? Tell her to go back to her art or something.”

“She likes nursing,” Jason said. “And I’d rather save that kind of question for when we need it. Like if Anthony Zacchara goes crazy again, like the time he killed his own wife.” He shook his head. “Plus, why would this guy hit the parking garage again? He didn’t go to the college again.”

“Yeah, there’s that.” Sonny nodded. “Okay. Well, it was worth a shot.”

“Yeah, thanks for checking on the case.” Jason paused. “I asked her that night, you know. To marry me.”

“I wasn’t—” Sonny paused. “I knew you were planning it, but I wasn’t sure. And I didn’t want to ask. I figure the answer was positive?”

“Yeah. Um, I’m brining it up because we’re going to—December 21 is the date. You know usually you’d be my best man, but—” Jason’s chest was tight. “Elizabeth doesn’t want a maid of honor. Because…”

“It was supposed to be Emily.”

“Yeah. So if she’s not going to have anyone—”

“That makes sense. I’m sorry. You’re sure you don’t want to wait until you’re feeling a bit more…” Sonny squinted. “I guess happier isn’t the right word…”

“The divorce is finalized at the end of this month, and Elizabeth and I just want to move on. I don’t need anything but her at the wedding. She might—” Jason sighed. “She might regret it later, but maybe she won’t.”

“Then you renew your vows or something. Throw a party.” Sonny went to the door, opened it. “But right now, maybe she’s right. Maybe it’s enough to just have each other. You’ve definitely earned it.”

Written in 59 minutes.

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General Hospital: Locker Room

“Okay, you need to explain women to me, because I’ve clearly lost my touch.”

Elizabeth didn’t even look up from tying her shoe. “Women or pregnant women?”

Patrick dropped onto the bench beside her. “Both. Robin and I love each other. We knew that before we broke up. We said it. So it was accepted and understood. But then she decided she wanted kids basically now, and I wasn’t there, so we broke up.”

“Yeah, and?” Elizabeth straightened.

“Well, now we’re having kids and we still love each other, so—” He made a gesture with her hands. “Why does it feel like we’re still broken up? Shouldn’t it be null and void?”

“Ah. I’m starting to follow.” She rose, closed her locker, and pinned on her staff badge. “Did you propose or something?”

“No. I thought that would be too fast. I asked her to move in with me. Because you know, I need to be there. Every day. And she’s going to need me—”

“And she said no.”

“Yes.” Patrick raked a hand through his dark hair, disheveling it. “Can you tell me what I did wrong?”

“You know, Jason proposed to me when I got pregnant last year.” Elizabeth frowned. “He asked me to marry him three times, actually. And I said no every time. Even though all the things you just said were true. I was pregnant. It definitely would have been nice to have someone with me because I mostly did that single. But I still said no. Even though I loved him.”

“Women.” Patrick muttered. “You’re different—you were married to someone else—”

“I wanted to say yes,” Elizabeth said wistfully. “But I knew he wasn’t asking for the same reason I would have said yes. You’re asking Robin to move with you because she’s pregnant. She wants to be asked because you’re in love.”

“And both can’t be true at the same time?” Patrick said skeptically. “Yeah, women are the worst.”

“Patrick.”

He exhaled slowly. “I don’t mean that. I just—I messed everything up so much. I should have just said yes when she wanted kids, and then we’d be in a different space. But I messed up. I never get it right the first time with Robin, and I guess she’s out of patience now.”

Elizabeth sat down again, next to him. “Did you know you wanted kids when she brought it up?”

“No—”

“Then you did the right thing. I did the right thing last year. And now—” She held out her hand. “Now I have everything I ever wanted, and I know Jason loves me the way I wanted to be loved. You want everything right now. And Robin isn’t there. She doesn’t want to live with you because she’s pregnant. Because she’s going to get cramps and cravings and have trouble sleeping. If that’s the only reason you want to live with her, that’s not enough.”

“It’s—” Patrick furrowed his brow. “But I want to take care of her because I love her. Why can’t that count?”

“It can and it does, I’m sure. You might just need some patience.” Elizabeth stood again. “How are, um, feeling about the kid thing? Now that it’s had time to settle.”

“I don’t know.” He leaned against the locker. “I’m mostly focusing on the pregnant part of it. What comes after — that feels almost too big to think about. Thinking about having a whole person to take care of. But sometimes I think about it. You know, what will the kid look like? Will it be a boy or girl? Do I care which? And personality. Will they be like me or Robin, or a mix? Or maybe completely different—” He broke off, laughing a bit nervously. “Sorry. I didn’t meant to ramble.”

“I think maybe you’re a little excited about this,” she said, tipping her head.

“Maybe,” he admitted. “Terrified. But yeah, thinking about the baby is kind of cool. This whole person that didn’t exist before, but they do now, and you got to be part of it. Like—” Patrick held out his hands. “This human wasn’t here before, but now they are, and they’re a piece of you, and a piece of Robin, and it’s like, almost proof. That you can bring something good into the world that isn’t about being a doctor. I want—I don’t know if I’ll be a good father, but I want to be. That counts.”

“It absolutely counts.” She squeezed his hand. “I’m happy for you, Patrick. And for Robin. You’re both going to be amazing parents.”

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

“DNA should be back early next week,” Robert said, knocking on Mac’s slightly ajar door. “We’re lucky. Getting it in before the lab shuts down on Wednesday for Thanksgiving.”

“Thanksgiving.” Mac blinked. “I forgot about that. It’s next week.”

“Yeah.” Robert came into the office. “I talked to Robin last night. About the baby. What are you thinking about this?”

“Cautiously optimistic,” his brother said. “You?”

“Not entirely sure how my little girl got old enough to drive much less bring life into the world, but—” Robert sat down. “It’s a bright spot. Something good to focus on. And you and I will make pretty good grandfathers.”

“I would never—” Mac shook his head. “I’m her uncle, Robert. I would never—”

“You’ve raised my daughter. Finished off the job I didn’t get a lot of time to do,” he admitted. “And helped her navigate through some of the toughest pieces. Anna and I are in debt to you for the rest of our lives.” Robert sighed. “I had my reasons for not coming home, I promise you that. And I still mostly think they were good ones, but it cost me time with Robin I can’t ever have back. I thank God you were here.”

“Taking care of her—of Felicia’s girls—it was a privilege. An honor. Patrick—” Mac paused. “He’s a good guy. I didn’t always think so, but he’ll look after her. And he’ll be a good father.” He looked at the photo on his desk of his three girls. “You’re sticking around though, aren’t you? Not going back to the WSB or—”

“No. I don’t want any more regrets. I want to watch my daughter continue to move forward in her life and be part of it.” Robert got to his feet. “I was, however, thinking of reaching out to some old friends at Quantico. In the Behavioral Sciences Unit. We might want to get a profile to help us sift through what we have.”

“Anything to get this done,” Mac said. “I don’t want to bury another woman.”

Quartermaine Estate: Family Room

“Gammy—” Cameron raced past Jason’s legs and straight at Monica who swept him up in her arms, kissing his face as he giggled. Jason remained at the doorway, smiling faintly. Cameron’s shyness a few weeks ago had disappeared, and now Monica was one of his favorite people to visit.

“This is a wonderful surprise.” Monica tucked Cameron on her hip, then beamed as Jason held Jake out so she could kiss his cheek. “All three of my favorite people!”

“Then I guess I don’t have to apologize for just dropping by—”

“Never.” Monica squeezed Cameron again, then set him on his feet. She hugged Jason briefly. “How are you? Elizabeth?”

“Okay. The boys keep us distracted. Elizabeth wanted me to thank you again for watching them the other day when we finished Spinelli’s room.”

“Oh, more than happy to do that. Did he like it?”

“He seemed to.”

“I thought I heard voices—” Edward came into the room behind them, rubbing his hands together. “Is that my great-grandson I see there?” He reached into his suit pocket, and had a piece of candy ready as Cameron raced over to him.

“Hi, Grampy.” Cameron unwrapped the piece of chocolate and shoved it in his mouth in one quick gulp. Jason just shook his head. His grandfather was definitely conditioning Cameron to associate Edward and chocolate with each other, making Cameron thrilled to see him. Smart old bastard.

“Well, you’re welcome whenever you want to come over, but I’m sure that packing up two kids isn’t really a social call.” Monica sat down, and Jason put Jake in her lap. “You know I’d come to you—”

“I know. But elizabeth’s at work, and I don’t like to keep them in the penthouse all day every day. Cameron—” Jason looked over to find the toddler reaching for a knick knack on the shelf by the desk. “What are the rules?”

“Look, no touch,” Cameron grumbled. He came around the sofa and started to go through the bag Jason had brought with Jake’s diapers and found a set of cars. “I play right here. You see me.”

“Thank you.”

Cameron heaved a sad sigh at Edward who sat on the sofa next to Monica. “Daddy and rules. Too many.”

“Ironic to watch you enforcing rules in the same room where you rode your motorcycle,” Edward told Jason. “God certainly has a sense of humor.”

Jason made a face, but Edward had a point. “Don’t tell him that story until he’s at least thirty.” He sat in the chair by the sofa. “Uh, we came over because—” He paused. “Elizabeth and I set a date. For the wedding. We want it to be small. Quiet. She’s not—neither of us really want anything big. And she doesn’t want a party or anything. Just the ceremony, and maybe dinner or something.”

“I understand. Is it soon?”

“December 21, a few days before Christmas. You’re both invited,” Jason added. “Uh, Ned and Dillon, too, if they want to come.”

“Thank you, I appreciate that.” Monica squeezed his hand. “I’m very happy for you both. And grateful that you’ve—” She pressed her cheek to the top of Jake’s head. “This has helped so much. They’re a godsend. And having you. It doesn’t—it doesn’t replace what we’ve lost, but—”

“But it helps to have some light and joy,” Edward finished, a bit gruffly. “I’m sure they’ve been a comfort to you and to Elizabeth during these last few weeks.”

“It’s easier than it would have been.”

“I need to—” Edward rose. “I’ll return in a moment.” He left, and Jason talked to Monica about Jake, and how he was starting to move around. Once he told her that, Monica insisted on moving the coffee table to see it for herself.

Edward returned a few moments later, and they all enjoyed watching Jake wiggle his little boy and Cameron tried to demonstrate walking again, as if that would help.

Then it was time to leave, to be home for Elizabeth’s return from work. Edward followed them into the foyer.

“I wanted to—you obviously don’t have to—” He reached into his suit jacket, drew out a velvet ring box. “This was your grandmother’s.”

Jason shifted Jake to one side, and took the box, flipping it open with just one hand. Inside was the slim gold band that he’d seen on his grandmother’s hand once. She’d stopped wearing it a few years before she’d died, her hands a bit too swollen to fit it anymore. “Her wedding ring.”

“She always liked Elizabeth, and you were—well, she’d never have admitted, but you were her favorite. Before and after. You don’t have to use it,” he repeated.

“No. I mean, of course.” Jason exhaled slowly, his throat tight at the memory of beloved grandmother. One more person he’d lost. “I’d be—thank you.” He met Edward’s gaze. “It will mean a lot to us both to have it.”

“And—” Edward looked at his hand, then slowly slid off his own wedding ring. He stared it for a long moment. “I wasn’t always the best husband. But our marriage endured many difficult days and tough times. The day Lila put this on my finger was the best day of my life.  She bought it herself.”

Jason slid his grandmother’s ring box into his pocket then reached for the one his grandfather held. “I’ll ask Elizabeth. I don’t know if she has something from her grandfather, or—but thank you.”

“All right, we cleaned off all the chocolate,” Monica said, emerging from the bathroom off the foyer, Cameron’s hand in hers. “He’s ready to go.”

“One more?” he asked Edward.

“Uh, I think that’s enough candy for the day.” Edward ruffled Cameron’s curls. “Next time.”

“Never enough candy,” Cameron grumbled. “More rules.”

Kelly’s: Dining Room

Spinelli spooned up the last bite of his chili. “The Jackal protests the choice of any class where he must read another book. The Blonde One must take that into account.”

Lulu glanced up from the brochure with PCU’s spring semester schedule, then looked at Dillon. “What about you? Thinking about re-enrolling? You can help me outvote Spinelli, and we can take German Lit. It’s supposed to have the weirdest readings.”

“If it’s anything like German cinema,” Dillon said dryly. He folded his arms on the table. “But no. I’m still heading out after the holidays.”

“Spoilsport.” Lulu fluttered her eyelashes. “Please—”

Spinelli scowled. “The Blonde One must not use that look. The Jackal—” He stopped when the bell over Kelly’s door jingled, and Sam came in. She spotted the trio, and smiled brightly.

“Spinelli! It’s been a long time. How are you?” Sam came over to the table. “Lulu, hey. Dillon, right?”

“Right,” Dillon said, then pulled out his phone, pretending to very interested in it. Sam frowned, then looked at Spinelli.

“How are you? How’s school?”

“It is fine.” Spinelli shoved the uneaten spoonful of chili.

“What classes are you taking? Are you still—”

“The Jackal regrets that he must leave,” Spinelli said abruptly. He snagged his bag from the side of the table. “Much homework to do.” He started for the door.

“Spinelli,” Lulu called after him, frowning, but he’d call her later. He’d explain then.

But he wanted to go. He had to go—

Sam followed him into the courtyard, snagging his arm as he reached the parking lot. “Hey. What’s the problem? We used to be friends—”

He turned to face her, swallowing hard. He did not enjoy confrontations. “The Jackal—” No. No. He didn’t have to do this. “I know what you did, and I don’t want to talk to you.”

Sam stepped back, her mouth falling open slightly. “Spinelli—”

“I know what you did with Maureen Harper. And I know you tried to hurt Stone Cold by working with Detective Dingus—” No. No, he could handle this like an adult. She had to take him seriously. “You tried to make Lucky hurt Stone Cold and his family. We are not friends.”

“Spinelli—”

“Goodbye.” He nodded, then hurried out of the parking lot, leaving her speechless in his wake.

Written in 67 minutes. I went over because I ended up writing a Jake thing later that I refused to take out, lol.

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PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

“It’s not getting any easier,” Robert told Lucky as they left Mac’s office and walked down the hallway towards the squad room. “I don’t know if the daily meetings are helping or hurting.”

“Neither,” Lucky muttered. There hadn’t been anything new in days — waiting on DNA reports to come back, outside vendors were being bitchy about turning over employee lists—

He tossed his case file on his desk. “All we have is a general build. And it’s average. He could be anyone.” He looked at Robert. “How can four people be dead, and we have nothing?”

“It’s what makes this job difficult, Spencer.” Robert leaned against the desk. “You have crimes committed in public. Well-liked victims who had large family networks ready to step up and help if only they knew anything. We have DNA. We know how the crimes were committed, down to the minute on this last one. And yet—”

“Nothing.”

“There’s a case out in California,” Robert continued. “It came through the FBI office when I was doing some WSB work out there. Guy raping and killing his way through different areas. Still unsolved, mind you. He’s left witnesses. Nearly got caught a few times. And people are terrified in their homes.” He shook his head. “They have his DNA, too, Spencer. Sometimes you can have all the pieces except the most important.”

Lucky put his head in his hands. “I just—I keep looking at all these names, and these lists, and I’m writing up damn warrants because the security company from the college doesn’t want to turn over their employee list or who they contract to. How do I get them to cooperate?”

“You let the court do its work. Or—” Robert considered the question, then leaned to the side to dig his phone out of his pocket. “You leave an anonymous tip with the Herald’s crime beat reporter about the lack of support.”

Lucky sat back. “We’re not supposed to leak anything—”

“No, we’re not.” Robert shrugged, then straightened. “Ah, well. If Mac asks, you’ll be able to say you didn’t know anything.” He picked up Lucky’s case folder, flipped through it. “This the warrant for the security company?”

“Yes—”

“I’ll just make a copy.” He lifted his brows. “For my own records.”

Lucky watched Robert leave the room, then shook his head. Robert Scorpio, the legend, could get away with bending the rules. And maybe it would shift something loose. He pulled out his own cell phone and found a few voicemails, including from Lulu.

He listened to it, then sighed. Time to put away the cop, and pull out the brother. He’d put this off too long.

Scorpio House: Living Room

“Uncle Mac.” Robin got to her feet as the man in question came through the door. “Good. You’re, uh, here.”

“Is there anything new?” Maxie asked, lunging to her feet, her eyes wide, desperate. “Did you find something?”

“No. We’re working some leads, but nothing yet.” He hung up his jacket, then came over to the sofas, kissing Maxie on her forehead, then hugging Robin. “Sorry I’m later than I wanted to be, but—”

“No, I appreciate—I appreciate you making time. I have something I wanted to tell both of you. So, uh—” Robin gestured. “Just, um, sit down, I guess.”

Mac pulled Maxie down next to him. “Are you all right? Is—”

“I’m fine. I’m just—” She laughed a bit nervously, then bit her lip. “I have something to tell you,” she repeated. “And it’s good news. I’m—I’m pregnant. I’m going to have a baby.”

Mac stared at her for another long moment as Maxie’s eyes widened. “Pregnant,” he repeated.

“Is that—I mean, you’re happy, so obviously it’s safe, but um—” Maxie jumped up to embrace her. “Congratulations. Right? You said it was good.”

“It is good.” Robin hugged her back, relieved to see her cousin smiling. “And it’s relatively safe. Kelly’s keeping a close watch. There’s some medications I have to take, some extra testing. But my viral load is basically invisible. Rate of transmission is almost nothing. I mean, there’s always a risk, but—”

“Pregnancy takes two,” Mac said, slowly rising to his feet. His brow furrowed. “Patrick?”

“Y-yes. And before you say anything—Patrick is completely on board. He’s…he took it  better than I did,” Robin admitted. She smiled. “He’s already bought out the local supply of pregnancy books. He keeps one on his locker for quick reference, Uncle Mac. He’s not running from this.”

“Uh huh. I thought you’d broken up because he didn’t want kids.”

“We did. It wasn’t planned.” Robin crossed her arms. “After Georgie, I just—I needed someone,” she said softly. “And he was there.”

“But if he didn’t want kids,” Maxie said, “how do you know he’ll stick? I mean, my dad wanted them and you don’t see him here,” she said darkly.”

“I don’t know,” Robin admitted, and Mac’s expression darkened. “He’s said he will. And I believe that he believes it. It’s just…we’re feeling our way through this. Patrick is not the bad guy, Uncle Mac. Promise me you won’t harass him. This isn’t the 1950s. I make really good money, I could do this on my own—”

“You aren’t on your own.” Maxie lifted her chin. “I’m here. Your baby will be the best-dressed kid in the state. And Uncle Mac will be the best grandpop. He’ll probably give the kid a police escort, and—” Her voice faltered. “Georgie would have babysit every day if you’d asked, but she can’t do that so I will. I’ll be the best aunt ever.”

“I know you will, sweetie.” Robin rubbed Maxie’s back, her own throat a bit tight at the thought of Georgie who absolutely would have been supportive and present. “This is good, Uncle Mac,” she repeated to her uncle. “I wanted to be a mother, and I never thought I could be.”

“It wasn’t planned,” Mac said. “Is Patrick…?”

“He’s been tested. All systems are good. He’ll have to be tested a few more times, um, you know how that works.” And they were both aware that Robin hadn’t tested positive during her first test. That had come later, just before Stone’s death. “It’s different now. Stone had AIDs, Uncle Mac. The odds of me testing positive were so high—Patrick isn’t any more likely to test positive than the baby.”

“Okay. Okay. I wasn’t—” Mac took Robin by the shoulders. “I wasn’t expecting this. But you look happy. And Patrick’s…I might want to kill him,” he admitted, “but I’m glad he’s taking it well. I reserve the right to hurt him later.”

“You won’t need to. I’m happy. I am.”

Mac folded her into his arms, and Robin clung to him tightly. “I’m so glad I get to share this with you. You’ve always been there for me, and I couldn’t imagine you not being there for my child.”

“I will always be there for you.” He kissed the side of her head, then reached out pull Maxie into the hug. “For my girls. The best I can.”

It was a sweet moment, Robin thought later, but they were all aware that someone was missing, and it was a piece of their hearts that would never be filled.

But life would go on. There wasn’t much choice in that.

PCPD: Squad Room

Sam stepped up to the desk. “Hey. It’s Detective Rodriguez, right? Do you remember me?”

The cop smirked. “Yeah, I remember you. Did you need something?”

Sam wanted to smack him for the way he was looking at her — probably remembering her humiliating trips to the PCPD to visit Jason while he’d been held for Alcazar’s murder — or even worse, that terrible day she’d had to give testimony and it had been broadcast on local television—

She lifted her chin. “I wanted to check the status on a report I made a few weeks ago. On Halloween.”

Rodriguez lifted a brow, then went over to the computer at the desk, tapped a few keys. “I don’t see any report with your name on it from that date. What was the charges?”

“Well, I don’t know the legal term. But Jason Morgan assaulted me and threatened my life. I came in that night. I made the report to Lucky Spencer.” She sighed. “I suppose he was distracted with everything that happened after that, you know? He was going to pull tapes from Kelly’s. It happened in the courtyard.”

Rodriguez looked back at her. “Spencer took the report?”

“Yes. I gave him a statement and everything. Do you think it fell through the cracks? I’d understand, of course.”

“Well, if he took the statement, he might not have gotten around to putting it in the computer. Why don’t you come with me, and we’ll get that done now?”

“That’s great. I appreciate this. Thank you so much.”

Sam followed the detective into the interrogation room, careful to keep her expression somber even though she was beaming on the inside.

Sometimes it was almost too easy to cause a little chaos.

Wyndemere: Foyer

Nikolas dragged the heavy front door open, then scowled when he saw his brother on the other side. “Remind me to tell the launch pilot you’re banned from the island,” he muttered. He started to close the door, but Lucky slapped it open.

“What, like you’ve banned Lulu? Nikolas—”

Nikolas just rolled his eyes, stalked back towards the study where he poured himself another drink. “You find out who murdered Emily? Because that’s the only way you’re getting back—”

“You blame me because Emily wasn’t speaking to you at the end. That’s fine. I blame me for it, too. I didn’t reach out, and I made mistake after mistake,” Lucky bit out. “She was my oldest friend, and she could barely look me in the eye the last time I saw her. Do you think that’s easy for me, Nikolas? Do you think that I don’t hate myself for letting it get there?”

“Then why—”

“Because I didn’t know it was the last time I’d see her!” Lucky exploded. “I didn’t know that the last words we’d ever exchange would be angry. It kills me! To know that I was still so damned selfish, such a damned coward, that I couldn’t take a step back and see what I was doing to the people around me—Lulu was so upset by what I’d done she testified against me, and Elizabeth—” His voice broke. “You heard her on the stand, Nikolas. I saw for the first time what I’d done to her, how all of this came back to the things I’d done—”

“So you agree. This is your fault—”

“My actions are my fault. I didn’t call Emily after the custody hearing. I buried myself in work because I thought if I found Georgie’s killer, I’d feel better. I’d feel like a person again, not some damned drug addict who destroyed his family at every turn—” Lucky’s hand fisted as he raised it. “But you don’t get to stand there and act like you’re the only one who lost Emily. We all did—”

“I don’t give a shit about your guilt. I hope you drown in it. Better yet—” Nikolas rummaged around in his desk. “Here. Here—” He threw a bottle at his brother, and it hit the ground, rolled across the floor.

Lucky stared down at the orange bottle, then raised his eyes back to his brother. “What is that?”

“Pain meds I never took after the hostage crisis. Go ahead. Take some pills, Lucky. That’s all you’re good for—”

Lucky crouched down, picked up the bottle. The pills — no more than ten of them — rattled inside. He stared at them. Oxycotin. His drug of choice. They’d made everything go away once. He could float on that sweet wave of nothing. There’d no pain. No guilt. No hurt. No sickness in his stomach. He wouldn’t even remember how hard it had been to go to the penthouse. To see evidence of his sons living there. To remember how the diamond on Elizabeth’s finger had glinted in the light.

He wouldn’t have to remember losing Emily.

“It took a long time for us to become brothers,” Lucky said quietly. He raised his eyes to Nikolas who had gone to the fireplace, was staring into the flames. “Mostly because of me. Because I refused to see past your last name. To look past everything I knew about your family. But Emily made me see you differently. And Elizabeth. They cared about you, so I could see something worth knowing.”

He walked across the room, set the bottle on the desk. Unopened. “They made us brothers, you know. But now they’re gone. Elizabeth can’t stand to look at me, and Emily’s dead. And you and me—we’re done now.”

“Lucky—”

“We’re done.”

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

Elizabeth pushed open the door, and immediately laughed. “What are you doing?”

Jason, seated on the floor, his back against the arm of the sofa, looked up with a half-pained, half-amused expression. He held Jake around the middle, letting the infant’s legs dangle to the ground. And Cameron was marching up and down in one spot. “Cameron is trying to teach Jake to walk.”

“Walk? He’s still figuring out how to crawl.”

“Mommmy.” Cameron looked at her with an almost pitying expression. “He needs to know how legs work.”

“Uh huh.” Elizabeth tossed her purse and the mail she’d grabbed from the security downstairs on the desk, then dropped down to her knees. “Do you know how you learned?”

“I got up and walked. I very smart, Mommy.”

“You are.” She reached for Jake and Jason released him. “But babies have to figure out all their body parts. So first—” She laid Jake on his tummy, and immediately he squawked. “He’ll learn how to pull himself around and develop his muscles.”

“That takes too long.” Cameron scowled. “Tell him to learn faster.”

“Oh, okay, we’ll try that.”

Jake, still unhappy about being dumped on the floor, raised himself on his tiny fists, then seemed to pause as his little palms flattened against the floor.

“Hey, Jake.” His head twisted to look at her. Elizabeth gestured with her hands, beckoning towards her. “Can you come here? Come here.”

Jake furrowed his brow, looking so much like his father, then he wiggled his body, and then—he moved. He rocked and wiggled, dragging himself towards his mother. Elizabeth clapped. “That’s it!”

“He’s like a worm,” Cameron said, a bit mystified. He wiggled his own body. “See? Just like that—”

But it worked, and Jake reached Elizabeth. She scooped him up in her arms, hugging and kissing his face. “That’s my baby. Now—” She set him back on his tummy, and he grunted, unhappy. “Go to Daddy.”

Jason grinned. “Jake?”

At the sound of the familiar, deeper voice, Jake twisted his head. Then his face broke out in a grin that seemed to match his father. Jason held out his hands. “Jake.”

He wiggled his little body until he reached Jason who did the same as Elizabeth, scooping him up. Elizabeth beamed. “He’s scooting!”

Cameron shook his head, as if sad for them. He wasn’t impressed by his little brother. “I go play. This not fun.” He rolled his eyes and headed for his toy bin. Jason got to his feet, setting Jake at his side so he could haul Elizabeth up.

“He’s not impressed, but I am—” Elizabeth kissed Jake’s face again, then leaned up to kiss Jason. “Hey.”

“Hey. I tried to get Cameron interested in that earlier, but maybe we needed two adults.” Jason stroked Jake’s back. “I remember the first time Michael moved on his own. I wasn’t even sure how it happened, but—”  He looked down at his son and Jake touched his face. “Do you think he’ll skip walking and go straight to running like Cam?”

“God help us.” Elizabeth laughed, then started to sort through her mail. Her smile faded as she took in a manila envelope with the court house as a return address.

“What is it?” Jason asked, watching her open the envelope.

“Official divorce papers,” Elizabeth said. “It’ll be final on November 28.” She sighed. “All of that seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?” But it had only been three weeks since the custody hearing. Two weeks since they’d lost Emily. She exhaled slowly. “Diane left me a message, too, while I was at work. Adoption paperwork was accepted. They’re going to be in touch to schedule a homestudy.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” She flashed him a smile, then touched Jake’s shoulder. “It’s just…Robin and I were talking the day of the funeral, and it’s…it sneaks up on you. Life keeps moving forward, and you feel guilty. Because I have this gorgeous baby who is doing something new every day, and I have you, and you’re perfect. And Cam. And I just—I want Emily to be here, too. And she won’t be.” She swiped at her face, turned away, so that Jake didn’t see her.

Jason wrapped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her back against his chest. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “I want her here, too.”

“I want a small wedding,” she murmured. “Just you and me and our families. I don’t need a party. Or a celebration. Or even a dress. And no maid of honor.” She turned to look at him. “Because that’s supposed to be Emily. Is that—is that okay?”

“That’s fine. I just want to be married to you. But Emily wouldn’t want you to give up anything you wanted—”

“I’m not. I just want you and the boys and the people who love us. That’s all I need.” She slid her arm around his waist, tucked herself into his side. “Before Christmas. Okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Written in 61 minutes.

---

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

“We’re still waiting on full toxicology reports,” Robert began, handing a copy to Mac, then to Lucky, “but we have the full autopsy now for both.” He sat across from his brother, slid on his reading glasses. “I wanted to talk about the ways in which the crimes were similar and how they were different to see if we can add anything to the profile we’re developing.”

Lucky skimmed the report. “I’m not seeing anything new. Is there something I’m missing?”

“Only if you compare it to our first case.” Robert cleared his throat. “We have Georgie and Chelsea walking on the path. The cord is found around Chelsea’s neck, which indicated she was the second victim. Her alcohol levels were much higher than Georgie. Our killer attacked Georgie first — the more alert of the two. Chelsea likely wouldn’t have known anything was wrong until she was grabbed as well.” Robert flipped through the photographs in his folder. “Compare these defensive wounds.”

Mac braced himself, took a deep breath. “Okay. Chelsea didn’t fight as hard.”

“I’m sorry, Mac—”

“No. No, I can do this.” He scraped his hand down the side of his face. “That makes sense. The only way to attack a pair of women on your own is to incapacitate one of them.”

“He would have had to follow them,” Lucky said, and they both looked at him. “How else would he have known which girl to grab first? He wasn’t laying in wait for them at that location. He followed them there, and attacked as soon as he was outside of the camera angle. Which means he knows the cameras on campus.”

“Now, we come to the parking garage. He also knows those camera angles,” Robert continues. “Because his face is never seen. I don’t believe in blind luck twice over. He knew the shift changes. Our guy has access to both locations. Again, we knew this. But it’s the way he had access. Not just anyone is going to know about the security in each location.”

“That’s true,” Mac said. “What about the new case? We know he knocked both women out—”

“But not unconscious. That’s what we’ve learned from the full autopsy. Leyla Mir was knocked fully unconscious. The wound to Emily would have only dazed her, but it was enough to get her off her feet.” Robert set out the photographs of the hands. “Leyla has no defensive wounds. Emily’s are more consistent with Chelsea. There were skin cells, but not in the amount we found on our first two girls.”

“Why kill in pairs?” Mac murmured. “What’s the significance of that? And what’s their connection? Physically, yes, they’re all under the age of 30 with dark hair, but that doesn’t feel like enough.”

“I’d say it was the location,” Robert said, “but it wouldn’t explain why it’s two. It would be far simpler to go after just one. In order to get pairs, he has to either target specific women or lay in wait for the right women. And we know he stalked Georgie and Chelsea leading up to the murder.”

“The campus is big,” Lucky said, and they looked at him again. “Spread out. Georgie and Chelsea had classes in different buildings. The only time he’d be able to find them together at night would be going into the dorm or coming from a party. He sent flowers to the dorm room to test security. He probably thought it would be funny to send fresh, then dead ones. But I think it was the deliveries themselves that were important. Security’s not great, but it’s a well-lit entrance at night. He couldn’t have done anything to them there.”

Lucky paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. “The cell phone calls. We thought maybe it was to lure Georgie from the party — but maybe it’s simpler than that.” He looked at Robert. “Couldn’t he have been tracking them? We have both their phones in evidence. Did we look for viruses or anything else?”

“I can make a call and get a more detailed report.” Mac snatched up the phone. “That last call from the party. If he was tracking them—”

“He’d know where they were to follow them. And Georgie and Chelsea always went to parties together. Anyone following them would know that.”

“He doesn’t need to use the same methods at the hospital,” Robert realized. “It’s one building. And keeping track of staff is easier. You can just ask at the lobby where a doctor works. And most of the time, they work in the same place. All you’d need is their schedule. If you already have access to the hospital security, getting that isn’t hard. Then it’s just a matter of picking your moment. So we’re not looking for stalker who escalates to murder.”

“It’s more random. He’s picking his victims,” Mac said, “because they fit something for him. But it’s not—it’s not about me. Robin and Georgie being related to me — it’s just incidental.”

“We’ll focus on the hospital and finding anyone who might have had access to the campus. It’ll be faster.” Robert got to his feet. “And I think maybe we need to talk about women not traveling alone or in pairs—”

“The mayor will never go for that,” Mac said with a quick shake of his head. “We need to narrow his profile — let’s start looking at our victims and seeing what links them.”

Quartermaine Estate: Pool House

Dillon sorted through the clothes in his suitcase, looking for a clean shirt. He considered actually unpacking since he’d decided to stay home through Christmas, but —

He turned at the knock at the door, and headed down the hallway to let in Lulu and Spinelli. “Hey. What are you guys doing here?”

“Bored.” Lulu flopped on his sofa. “Thought you’d entertain me.”

“The Jackal would like to inquire about Conflicted Film Major’s film collection.” Spinelli dug into his satchel, took out a thick book. “Specifically adaptations of this.”

“Moby Dick—” Dillon frowned. “I don’t know if I have anything—” He went over to the DVD cabinet, started to flick through it. “There’s the 1956 version. It’s not  that faithful, but you’re welcome to try it—”

“Why do you have that? Do you really have all the movies?” Lulu went to the cabinet. “What’s the most obscure movie you own?”

Dillon shrugged, handed the DVD to Spinelli. “I hope it helps.”

“Anything’s better than the book,” he muttered. “But Stone Cold insists that the Jackal obtain his degree, and not even the Fair Elizabeth will take up my case.”

“It’s kind of cute really,” Lulu said as she thumbed through the variety of DVDs and VHS tapes. “He’s like your dad. Like if Jason and Elizabeth had you as a teenagers or something. Or maybe it’s more like brothers. Yeah, like Jason’s your older brother who got stuck with raising you when your parents died—”

“When you’re done writing Spinelli’s life story, we can pick something to watch it.” Dillon offered. He looked at Spinelli. “It’s cool, though, that they care. Better than having no one at all.”

“This is true,” Spinelli acknowledged, even though he looked a bit wistful. Maybe he wished he really was Jason’s kid brother or something. “Thank you for the loan. The Jackal will take excellent care and return it in impeccable condition.”

Morgan Penthouse: Guest Room

Elizabeth made a face, then shook her head. “No, I think the glare of the computer screen will be too much if we put the desk there—”

Jason sighed, then let the corner of the desk drop to the carpeted floor. “Okay. So where do you want it?”

“Over by this wall—”

Right where she’d wanted it ten minutes ago, but Jason said nothing as he lifted it again. She pushed from her side, and they finally had the last piece of furniture set up. Elizabeth scrutinized the room, then went to straight out of the duvet cover on the new double bed. “You said your tech guy would be over to set up the workstation?”

“Yeah. He said it was top of the line—” Jason folded his arms. “Was there anything else you wanted to do?”

“No. I already put his clothes in the dresser and the closet. He can add on if he wants, but I think this is better.” Elizabeth scanned the room, then went to fuss with the gray curtains. “Do you think he’ll like it?”

“I think he’ll miss complaining about the pink room.”

She smiled, then looked at him over her shoulder. “Why’d you put him in that room anyway?”

“Because it’s where I put people who annoy me,” Jason muttered, then winced. “Not you.”

“I should hope not.” Elizabeth fussed with the curtains again. “It was the only other bed in the penthouse then, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah.” He came up behind her, drew her back against him, sliding his arms around her waist. “And it was closer than my bedroom that night, so—” He kissed her neck and she shivered.

“Don’t start that,” Elizabeth said, sliding away from him. “You have that guy coming over for the computer, and then we have to pick up the boys from Monica before Spinelli gets home.”

Jason made a face, but followed her out of the room, closing the door firmly in case Spinelli came home early. It had been Elizabeth’s idea to redesign the last guest room for the kid, but he was oddly looking forward to the reveal. Spinelli had been an annoying thorn in his side since the beginning, but at some point, he’d started to enjoy the hacker’s presence. And it went without saying that he’d been invaluable over the last two weeks, spending extra time with the boys.

No, a room that was just Spinelli’s was the least he deserved.

General Hospital: Staff Room

“What do you mean, no?”

Robin made a face, and closed her locker to reveal Patrick’s bewildered face. “You know that word. You’ve heard it before—”

“Don’t get smart with me,” he muttered. “Why won’t you move in? Did I do something wrong? I said something wrong.” Patrick went to his locker, pulled out a book with a pregnant woman on the cover. “The book said that I had to be careful—”

She scowled. “How many of those do you have?” She snatched it away from him.

“As many as I could find in the bookstore,” Patrick said, tugging it back. “And it says that mood swings and irritability are common. Plus, you’re more sensitive, so I have to be careful what I say—which I think I’m going to mess up—” He skimmed the page again, looking so frazzled that some of her frustration eased.

Some, not all.

“Patrick, we weren’t living together before I got pregnant. Why do you think we’d start now?”

“Because—” He frowned, looked back up. “Because. You’re going to need me. There’s cravings in the middle of the night. And cramps. And you’ll want a back massage—”

“Okay. I’m two months pregnant, not eight.” She took the book again, closed it, set it on the bench behind her. “I appreciate that you’re going all in. I really do. But Patrick—” She paused. “That doesn’t mean we’re…back together.”

“It—” He closed his mouth. “But we broke up because you wanted to have kids. Now we’re having a kid. Why—”

“We broke up because we wanted a different future. Yes, now I’m pregnant. Yes, now we’re having a child. But you didn’t ask for this—”

“But—”

“And you’re trying really hard and I appreciate that. But that doesn’t mean I’m ready to—” Robin bit her lip. “You might not want to be a full-time father, you know? You said you didn’t want kids, and right now, you’re trying. But if you change your mind, where does that leave me, you know?”

Patrick swallowed hard. “But—”

“I’m not doing this to hurt you,” Robin said gently. “I’m not. It’s just—it’s been a lot these last few months. We broke up, and then Georgie and Emily and Leyla, and now this—when and if I move in Patrick, it’s not because I’m pregnant. Okay? It’ll will us planning a future together.”

“But I want that now—”

“And I’m not sure I trust it.” She folded her arms, looked away. “You said it before, but it turned out our ideas of futures were different. What if I want more kids? You didn’t even want one—”

“But it’s different now—”

“Because it’s new. Because of that night, and that I could have been with Emily—” She shook her head. “I just—I don’t see the harm in letting things settle, okay? And you don’t have to worry. I live with an OB. Kelly will take care of anything I need.” She checked her watch. “I have rounds. I’ll come up later. We have that meeting with David Hawthorne later to talk about his treatment.”

“Yeah, okay.” He exhaled slowly. “Okay. I’ll talk to you later.” He put the book back in his locker, closed it, and left.

Robin bit her lip, unsure if she’d handled that well, but then followed him. Nothing she could do about it now.

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

Spinelli was reading the back of the DVD when he came home that night — and didn’t realize that the living room was full until he heard Cameron squeal his name. His head popped up and he blinked at seeing Jason and Elizabeth and both of the boys by the sofa, like they’d been—

Well, like they’d been waiting for him.

“Uh, hello. The Jackal is happy to see all the Stone Colds in one spot.” He put the DVD in his bag. “Did I miss a party or something?”

“We gots to show you something, Snelli. Mommy said I could.” Cameron bounced up and down. “Can we show you?”

“Show—” Spinelli furrowed his brow. “Okay, Little Dude.” He held out his hand, expecting to be dragged over to the toy bin, but instead Cameron raced towards the steps and Spinelli had to jog to keep up.

They head to the second floor, Spinelli aware of Jason and Elizabeth following behind. Instead of stopping at the first bedroom — Spinelli’s room — Cameron kept going until they reached the last empty room in the penthouse.

“Here.” Cameron released his hand, grinned broadly. “I showed you.”

“Little Dude has shown me a most bodacious door,” Spinelli said, frowning. He looked at Jason. “Stone Cold?”

“You might want to open it.” Jason adjusted Jake in his arms, shifting him to the other side.

“All right—” Spinelli pushed it open, then just stared. The room had a thick cream-colored carpet, that wasn’t new. But the double bed with red and gray blankets and pillows, the dresser—and a huge L-shaped desk with—

Spinelli walked towards the computer, his eyes wide. Then he looked around again, taking in the smaller details. There was a cluster of photographs he’d had hidden in a shoebox in his room. He and his grandmother. A trio shot of him, Chelsea, and Georgie, and an empty frame— He frowned, went to pick it up.

“We were hoping you might want to put this one in there—” He turned, and Elizabeth held out a photo.

It had been taken on Halloween, the last photo of the night. Spinelli on the sofa with the boys, holding Jake in his lap. Jason sitting on his other side, an arm slung casually over the back of the sofa. Spinelli’s eyes burned, and he looked at Jason. “You made me a room.”

“Well, you’ve been here almost a year,” Jason said, a bit uncomfortably. “Elizabeth thought—and so did I—that you should have a room that’s yours.”

“You made such a great room for the boys.” Elizabeth took his arm, kissed his cheek. “And you’ve made them feel at home. Me, too. You can change anything you want. I wasn’t sure of your favorite colors, but Lu thought maybe this would be okay.”

“The Blonde One?” Spinelli frowned. “Is that why she invited the Jackal to leave today?”

“She was a big help. Do you like it?”

“Yes.” Spinelli took a deep breath and put the new photo in the final empty frame, setting it by the others. “The Jackal is overwhelmed.” It was like having a real home again. And maybe really was home now. He looked at Jason. “The generosity of the Stone Colds has rendered the Jackal speechless.”

“Wasn’t sure that possible,” Jason said, but his eyes were smiling. Spinelli knew how to look for that. “We’ll leave you to look around. Pizza’s coming.”

“And orange soda,” Cameron said, tugging Spinelli’s arm. “And we gots the corn chips you like.”

“Thank you.” Spinelli ruffled Cameron’s curls and was rewarded with a beaming smile. “The Jackal is very grateful.”

They cleared the room and Spinelli just looked around, ran his hands over the high-end computer work station — oh the magic, he’d be able to do. Then looked at the photos again, at Georgie and Chelsea. He picked up the frame, smiling sadly, but then looked at the new photo. At his family.

Written in 65 minutes.

---

General Hospital: Hallway

“Hey, I didn’t know you were coming back today.”

Elizabeth finished the notation on the patient’s chart, then slid it into the slot on the door before answering Patrick. “Dr. Ford didn’t really leave me much choice.”

She headed back to the nurse’s station and Patrick fell into step beside her. “He didn’t consider Emily to be a member of my immediate family.”

“He’s an ass,” Patrick muttered, leaning against the counter.

“Yeah, well—” Elizabeth sighed, reached for a new chart. “I couldn’t go through the parking garage. One of Jason’s guards had to drop me off like a kid at school.” She exhaled slowly. “I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to come back today. To work—” She shook her head. “After we came to identify—anyway. It’s probably a good thing,” she admitted, flicking the end of her pen to fix the ink supply. “Jason and I were just walking around looking like ghosts. We both needed a distraction.”

“How’s Cam taking it?”

Elizabeth bit her lip, stared hard at the insurance form. “We told him the day of the services, and he cried. But then he asked her the next day. And again yesterday — and this morning—it’s like he knows there’s something important about her but he can’t wrap his head around the answer.” She paused. “I can’t blame him. I’m an adult, and I can’t handle it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s hard to explain it over and over to him, and know it won’t be the last time. But there’s also the other side — he’s asking because he loves and misses her. He remembers her right now. There’s going to be day when she’s nothing more than a face in the photographs. And Jake won’t know her at all.” She closed her eyes. “It kills me. She loved them so much — she was Cam’s aunt before Jason and I were even talking again, and now she never gets—”

She sighed. “But that’s enough about me. I’m glad I ran into you. Did Robin tell you we talked at the church?”

“Ah, yeah.” Patrick rubbed the back of his neck. “So you, uh, know.”

“I do.” She folded her arms leaned over the counter towards him. “And how are we feeling? And remember — judgment-free zone.”

He gestured over to the waiting area. “Can we—” She followed him over and sat next to him on the sofa. “Truthfully, I don’t know how anyone lets a pregnant woman out of their sight. You think I could get my office moved downstairs in the cubicle next to her?”

“Patrick.”

“You think I’m kidding,” he muttered. “Okay, so I think it wouldn’t surprise you to know that I was already…” He frowned. “Revising my stance on the idea of having kids. Or at least open to it.”

“No, this does not surprise me.  You were collecting information.”

He eyed her, as if waiting for the joke, but when she said nothing further, he nodded. “Yes. And Robin told me that the only reason she didn’t go out with Emily that night is because she stayed back to run the test.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “It’s a hell of a thing. She’s only alive because she’s pregnant. Which doesn’t help the nightmares because now I’m thinking what if she’d gone anyway, and then that’s how I find out? That’s how I find out I could have been a father, but now I can’t because I—”

“Hey.” Elizabeth put a hand on his forearm. “But that’s not how you found out. Robin stayed behind. She’s here.”

“I don’t know if that messed with how I would have handled the news,” Patrick continued. “Maybe I would have been upset or mad or disappointed, I don’t know. But instead I just—I was so damned grateful that I forgot to be scared for a minute. But then it kicked in, and now I’m just—what if I’m bad at it?”

“Are you really worried you’ll be a bad father?” Elizabeth asked gently. “Robin told me you already had a plan to practice—”

“Yeah, but—” Patrick took a deep breath. “What if I don’t love them the way I’m supposed to? What if the baby starts to kick, and I don’t feel the connection? Or I hold the baby for the first time, and I don’t feel anything?”

“What if the sky turns orange? Patrick. All you can do is your best. That’s it. You love Robin, and she loves you. You start there, and you see where it takes you.” Elizabeth tipped her head. “Are you really worried you won’t love your child?”

“I—I don’t know. I just—people talk about it. And they talk about how much they love their kid — and I don’t know. I’ve never felt love at first sight. I don’t even believe in it—”

“I don’t know. I never—I mean, I carried my boys. It’s hard to say. I—you could talk to Mac about this. Or Jason—”

“I couldn’t. I don’t want Robin to worry.” Patrick looked at Elizabeth. “She wants this so much, and I love her, and she’s still breathing, so I’m going to do everything the way I’m supposed to, and I’ll just—I guess, I’ll have to trust it’ll work out.”

“I believe in you, but you can always come to me with your doubts.” She kissed his cheek. “Now I better get back to work.”

Spencer House: Porch

Lucky was already grimacing as he swung the door open. “What do you want?” he demanded.  He put up a hand. “And don’t even bother. You’re not coming in.”

Sam scowled and folded her arms. “I just wanted to offer my condolences. I know how close you and Emily were—”

“Uh huh. Try another one,” Lucky offered. He leaned against the door jamb. “It’s been six days since she died. You took your time.”

“Well, I didn’t really know how to say anything. You were mad at me the last time we talked—”

“The last time we talked you called me a son of a bitch and trashed my desk. So let’s try this again. Why are you here?”

Sam pressed her lips together, then nodded. “All right, I was coming to ask if you pulled those tapes?” At his mystified look, she continued, “From Kelly’s. On Halloween—”

“You mean, the bullshit report you tried to make so I’d arrest Jason in front of the kids. No, I didn’t. You didn’t make a statement. You’re really here to ask me about your case?” Lucky snorted. “You’re a goddamn lunatic, do you know that? Get a life and stay away from me.” He slammed the door in her face.

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

“Hey, man.” Sonny hugged Jason lightly then stepped back. “How are you holding up?”

“Uh, okay, I guess.” Jason leaned down to grab the remote that had somehow ended up in Jake’s hand as he giggled, his bouncy seat squeaking as the six-month-old moved up and down. “The kids are distracting.”

“Yeah, I can see that—” Sonny grinned as Jason abandoned Jake and grabbed Cameron just as he was about to catapault off the bottom step.

“What did we talk about?” he asked Cam. The toddler blinked at him with some surprise.

“No jump from high places. Mommy says I human boy,” Cameron told Sonny. “Not Spiderman. So not high.” He gestured to the bottom step. “See? I bigger.”

“Kid should be a lawyer,” Sonny said. “Loopholes.”

“Last thing I need is to teach him to argue better,” Jason said. “He’s too good at it already.” He looked Cameron again who just grinned. “Okay, so you’re right. How about no jumping from the stairs at all?”

Cameron sighed. “Never ever?”

“No.”

“But what if it’s fun?”

“No.”

Cameron looked at Sonny again, almost beleaguered. “Daddy follows rules. Very annoying.” Turning his attention back to Jason, he nodded. “Okay. No steps.”

“Okay.” Jason set him back on his feet, and Cameron headed over to bedevil his brother in the bouncy seat.

“Daddy?” Sonny said. “That’s new.”

“Yeah, he’s getting—” Jason couldn’t stop looking at the boys, fighting the urge to smile as Cameron dangled a stuffed animal just close enough for Jake to touch only to drag it away at the last minute. “He’s getting more comfortable with it.”

“That’s good.”

“Uh, Elizabeth and I were talking.” Jason leaned against the desk. “About getting back into a normal routine. I’m ready to come back to the warehouse and, you know, uh, work.”

Sonny nodded. “Okay. Well, you know, a lot of the warehouse stuff — that can be done from home if you want to keep doing that. Bernie can get you all set up.” He folded his arms. “And I’ll get you back on the shipments. But it’s still pretty quiet. Let’s enjoy it while we can.”

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

“All right, so I’ve completed interviews with Leyla Mir’s family—” Robert sat across from his brother’s desk. “And I’ve looked over her phone records. At this point, I don’t see any evidence that she was getting any kind of attention like Georgie was. No hangups, no flowers. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“You think Spencer was right? That it was collecting information?”

“Maybe. Could be the guy was experimenting with his first…” Robert winced. “Well, it could be that he was refining his, uh, methods. We won’t know for sure unless there’s another victim.”

“I—”

“Not hoping for it, just stating a fact. Spencer said he’d follow up with Elizabeth about Emily. Did he do that yet?”

“No, he said he was going to try do it today. Robin said she didn’t get anything like that, so if she was a target — it’s not the same way.” Mac sighed. “So we have nothing except the possibility that he had access to the campus and the hospital.”

“Still waiting on that DNA match to come back. I’m sorry, Mac—”

“You can’t make evidence appear where it doesn’t already exist.” Mac dragged his hands down his face. “Praying for a miracle. Just where we were a week ago. Two more victims, and nothing to show for it. How the hell can this happen, Robert?”

“I wish I knew. We won’t give up, Mac. You have my word on that.”

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

“Fair Elizabeth,” Spinelli said. “The Jackal beseeches you to intervene with Stone Cold.” He  folded his legs on the chair, reached for his orange soda from the coffee table. “The Jackal does not need an extended educational experience—”

Elizabeth smiled, then gently bounced Jake in her lap. “Jason wants you to have options, Spinelli. And college is good for you. I wish I had stuck with it. I ended up in the nursing program at GH, so I never finished.” She sighed. “Not that I could have done anything with an art degree, but it would have been nice.”

“But—”

“You’re halfway through after this year, Spinelli. Why not just finish so you don’t have regrets later? Is this English that bad?”

“No, but Moby Dick is,” Spinelli muttered. “The Jackal does not enjoy reading.” He held up the giant book. “Have you?”

“I think it was assigned when I was—” She stopped. “I think it was assigned in my high school English class. Junior year. Mr. Murty. I don’t think I actually read it, but there were some Spark Notes online—” The phone on the desk rang, and she went over to answer it, propping Jake on her  hip.

“Hello?”

“It’s Wally on the front desk, Miss Webber. Uh, Detective Spencer says he has some questions about, um, Miss Quartermaine. For you and Jason.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “Okay, um, send him up.” She hung up the phone, looked at Spinelli. “Can you take Jake and go upstairs to tell Jason that Lucky is on his way up with questions about Emily’s case? And, um, maybe you could keep Cam upstairs until he’s gone?”

“The Jackal is happy to be of assistance in keeping Little Dude safe and secure. Come forth, Stone Cold the Sequel—” Spinelli retrieved Jake and they headed upstairs.

A few moments later, there was a knock at the door. Elizabeth glanced upstairs, then went to open it. “Lucky.”

He remained outside. “Hey. Um, I know—I know I can’t come in because—I mean we don’t—”

“It’s fine. The boys are upstairs. Spinelli just went to get Jason.” Elizabeth stepped aside to let Lucky in. “They’ll just stay upstairs. You wouldn’t have come over if it wasn’t important. Did—did you find him?”

“I wish,” Lucky murmured. He glanced around the penthouse, taking in the evidence of the boys. The playpen, the bouncy seat, a scattering of toys—he faced Elizabeth. “No. I just had a few questions about what was going on with Emily. Trying—” he stopped as Jason jogged down the stairs.

“Lucky said he had a few questions,” Elizabeth told him, and she bit her lip. “I mean, we could call Diane if you want to—”

“Do you think we need to?” Jason asked Lucky.

“No. No. I don’t know. I mean, you can—but it’s just background.” Lucky cleared his throat. “Um, I didn’t get to—I didn’t get to tell you how sorry I am,” he said to Jason. “About—Emily. I know how close—” He shook his head. “This sucks so much,” he muttered. He dragged a hand down his cheek. “Okay. We’re following a theory that one or both of the victims in each attack was being targeted. You know about what happened with Georgie. The flowers, the calls.”

“Yeah,” Jason said with a short nod.

“Did Emily have any complaints along those lines? Strange phone calls, being followed?” Lucky wanted to know. “Any chance that she was experiencing something similar?”

“No. No. And she would have said something. I told her about Spinelli, about going to the police. She came over that day while you and Spinelli were downtown,” she reminded Jason. To Lucky, she continued, “She knew that it was part of Georgie’s case. She never said anything to me.”

“Or me, but she wouldn’t have,” Jason admitted. “She usually waited until the last minute to bring me in on those kinds of things.”

Because Lucky remembered all too well the times Emily had kept Jason in the dark, he nodded. “I figured, but it had to be asked.”

“I don’t know what’s worse. Thinking that they were targeted or that it was random.” Elizabeth rubbed her shoulder absently, and her ring must have caught the light because she saw Lucky’s eyes drop to it, then he looked away. “I’m sorry. I wish we knew more—”

“No, it’s okay. Uh, it was a long shot. And we needed to rule it out. I can do that now. Emily would have said something to one of us, I think. Or Nikolas. And she didn’t.” He cleared his throat. “So, uh, thanks. If you think of anything—”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Elizabeth opened the door, and he left. She looked at Jason. “Well, that was awkward.” She twisted her ring. “But I’m glad, I guess. That we could—I don’t know. That we could help. Even a little.”

“Yeah.” Jason drew her into his arms, and she held on tight. “How was work?” he asked her.

“Hard. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel good about using the parking garage again. And it was strange being on shift when she wasn’t.” Elizabeth sighed, then stepped away. “But I ran into Patrick, and we had a really good talk. I didn’t—did Robin get a chance to talk to you at the church?”

“No, is she okay?” Jason took Elizabeth’s hand, led her over to the sofa. “I knew they broke up—”

“I guess not all the way. She’s pregnant. She found out that night,” she added when Jason’s eyes opened wider. “That’s why she was still at the hospital. She was supposed to be with Emily. In that parking garage. But she thought she was pregnant, so she stayed back to run the test.”

“Oh, man.” Jason raked a hand through his hair. “But pregnant — that’s good, right?”

“For her, yes. Patrick is nervous. He wasn’t sure about having kids. He’s scared he won’t love them the way he’s supposed to. I think being scared is probably a good sign that he already does, but he’s not ready to listen to that yet.” She tipped her head. “Maybe you could talk to him. I mean, you fell in love with Michael when he wasn’t even yours. And you know, you held Jake when he was born.”

“You want me to talk to Patrick?” Jason asked skeptically.

“I can see that’s not happening.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “I just—I don’t know. I carried Jake, so I don’t know if it’s different for mothers. What was it like to hold him?”

Jason considered the question, and she worried it wasn’t a fair one. After all, he’d held him that day thinking he’d never claim him. “Strange,” Jason said finally and she frowned. “Not bad. Just—you know, I’d watched him grow — I remember when you weren’t showing, and I saw you all the time, and I felt him kick—” He stared at his hands. “But then he was there. And I was holding him. He was part of me. And you. We made him together. And I don’t know if that’s why I loved him so much. I wanted him from the beginning. Even when he was just an idea. But to feel the weight of him—” Jason exhaled slowly. “It’s not something I can put into words. One minute, he was still with you, and then he was in my arms. He was real. And I knew I’d never love anything or anyone the same way again.”

“I’m glad you got to have that moment.” She reached forward, her thumb brushing a tear that had slid down his cheek. “For all the time you lost, you got that moment. I won’t apologize, I know it irritates you. But I’m glad we got to have a few minutes in the hospital. Just the three of us.”

“Me, too.” He kissed her lightly. “If you want me to try to talk to Patrick, I will,” he said, though it was pained.

“It’s fine. We’ll let it go for now. I’m happy for her. For him, too. He’s got so much love inside of him, I think it scares him. It’s going to be really fun to watch him learn how to be a dad.” She squeezed his arm. “Now, we should probably go get the boys before Cameron convinces Spinelli to help him climb something.”

Written in 56 minutes.

---

Quartermaine Estate: Family Room

After getting the call that the house was mostly clear of mourners, Jason and Elizabeth headed over to the mansion with both boys. Jason left Elizabeth to remove Cameron’s coat in the foyer and went in first, with Jake in his arms.

Monica, seated on the sofa, jumped to her feet, her eyes almost desperate though she smiled. “You’re here. I wasn’t sure—I almost thought—” She glanced around him. “Where’s—”

“Elizabeth is behind me. We, uh, told Cameron,” Jason said. “I don’t know how much he understands. He might ask for her—”

“Oh. Oh.” Monica clasped her hands, looked at Edward who had also risen to his feet. “All right. We’ll handle that—is this—” She pressed a hand to her mouth. “Oh, Jason. He looks just like you.”

“That’s what Elizabeth says.” Jason rubbed Jake’s back. “Jake, this is…” He glanced at Monica. “Do you want to be Grandma or—”

“Anything is fine. I’ll—” Monica nodded. “Anything.”

“Okay, this is Grandma Monica,” Jason said. He set Jake in his mother’s arms. The infant fussed for a moment until he realized his father wasn’t going anywhere, then he turned and focused his blue eyes on the woman holding him.

“Oh, Edward, do you see?” Monica beamed, looked at her father-in-law. “Just like Jason. And those are—”

“Lila’s eyes.” Edward nodded. “He’s beautiful,” he told Jason.

“I know—” Jason thought Jake actually looked more like Elizabeth, but he might be biased. He turned when he heard footsteps. Elizabeth appeared, holding Cameron by the hand. He’d cried for a while when they’d been at home, but then he’d seemed to bounce back.

“Hey, buddy.” Jason lifted Cameron in his arms, and Cam immediately ducked his head down, pressing against Jason’s chest, a little more shy than he usually was around strangers. Elizabeth came to his side, stroked her son’s back.

“Hey, Cam. We wanted you to meet people who are very important to me and Jason,” Elizabeth said.

“Important?” Cameron repeated. He peeked out to Edward. “Why?”

“This is my mother—” Jason pointed at Monica. “And that’s my grandfather.”

“Grandfather,” Cameron repeated. “Like grandma Audrey?”

“Yeah. Like Grandma Audrey. That’s your mother’s grandmother.” Jason hesitated. “This is Aunt Emily’s mom and grandfather, too.”

“Aunt Em.” Cameron rubbed his eyes, looked at Edward. “You know Aunt Em?”

“I do—I did,” Edward said, correcting himself. “She talked about you a lot. It’s nice to finally meet you, Cameron.”

“I Cameron Hardy Webber. Mommy says I named for my grandfathers,” Cameron reported.

“That’s a fine name. A good strong one. Your mother chose your name well.”

“Mommy very smart. Aunt Em is the wind now. Mommy said. And Jase says we can’t see her anymore.” Cameron paused. “I don’t like that.”

“Me either.”

“That’s my brother.” Cameron pointed at Jake. “Jase’s his daddy. Not mine, though.” He furrowed his brow, looked at Jason. “Where did my daddy go?”

“He had to work,” Jason said, a bit roughly.

“Oh. Yeah. My daddy had to go to work forever. Did Aunt Em have to go to work? Is that why she’s the wind now?”

Jason inhaled sharply, traded troubled glances with Elizabeth, hating that Cameron was pushing Lucky and Emily together in his head.

“Sometimes people have to leave us,” Edward said. “And we don’t always know why. It’s not fair, is it?”

“No. I don’t like it.”

“Neither do I.”

Cameron sighed and laid his head back against Jason’s chest. “I okay. Jase said I got him. And I got Mommy and Jake. And Aunt Em is the wind, and it’s always windy, so she always there. Right, Mommy?”

“That’s right.” Elizabeth gently took Cameron into her arms. “And I have a really good idea, Cam. A way for you—for all us to keep feeling like Aunt Em is with us. She was Jason’s little sister. Just like Jake is your brother. You know that?”

“Yeah.”

“And Jason’s family is Jake’s family,” Elizabeth continued. “I think, if we ask really nice, you and I could be part of that family, too.”

Cameron frowned at her. “Yeah?” He looked at Edward, then at Monica, still holding Jake, then finally at Jason. “You want me and Mommy?”

“More than anything,” Jason said. “You already are my family. I want to share mine with you both.”

“Oh.” Cameron considered this. “Yes. Okay. What do I do?”

“Nothing. You just have to be you, and let us love you.” Jason said. He took Cam back from Elizabeth. “This is my grandfather, so he can be yours, too. And my mother can be your grandmother.” His throat tightened. “And maybe, if you want, I could be your dad.”

Cameron furrowed his little brow. “But daddys go away, don’t they? Do you have a daddy?”

“I did.” Jason took Cameron over to the mantel where there were several photos, including one of Alan. “That’s my dad. He died a few months ago. He’s with Aunt Emily now.”

Cameron studied the photo. “He went away. Just like my daddy.”

“Sometimes you can have two. Monica—” Jason turned, so Cameron could see her. “She was my second mom. I don’t remember my first one. She had to go away. Sometimes people do. And then if we’re lucky, someone can come and help love you.”

“I got a good mommy. Don’t need a second one.”

“No, of course not.” Jason winced. This hadn’t been the right time for this conversation. “And we don’t have to—”

“But I don’t got a daddy now,” Cameron continued, and Jason closed his mouth. “You Jake’s daddy, right?”

“Yes.”

“And he’s my brother.”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Cameron leaned back against Jason’s chest. “I say yes. Mommy and I pick you.” Jason tightened his arms around him. “Can we pick Snelli, too?”

“Already did,” Elizabeth promised. She kissed the back of Cameron’s head, and smiled at Jason with  tears in her eyes.

Cameron nodded. “Good. Snelli is very good,” he told Edward. “Plays good games and drinks orange soda. Shares his pepperoni.”

“Sounds like some fine traits.” Edward cleared his throat. “Why don’t you come over and we’ll get to know each other? After all, Christmas is coming. You must have some idea what Santa should bring you and your brother.”

Jason nearly snorted as he set Cameron the sofa and he clambered over to sit next to his new grandfather. Trust Edward to cut right to the chase.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know if I should have—” he said to Elizabeth, but she shook her head, touched his shoulder.

“No. No, it was perfect. Emily was already his family. And I know it’ll make it easier for you,” Elizabeth said. She leaned her head against his shoulder, watching Cameron explain all about Spiderman to Edward, and Monica sitting in the armchair, counting Jake’s toes. “This was the right idea. I know it was awkward at first. But it’ll get easier.”

“Yeah. Though we’re going to have to keep an eye on Edward. He’ll have Cam in Harvard before dinner.” And on the fast-track to ELQ by sunset, Jason thought, but the idea just amused him. A few years ago, it would have made him furious. But he knew better now. He’d spent a decade running from his family — so fast and so far that he’d lost the chance to fix it. There would never be more time with Lila or Alan, but at least Emily knew how much he’d loved her.

He didn’t want those regrets with Monica, and he’d learn how to love Edward again. To hold on to Emily, he’d try almost anything.

“I’m going to tell them,” Jason said, suddenly. He reached for Elizabeth’s hand, brushing his fingertip over her ring. “It’ll make her happy. Is that okay?”

“I think that’s a great idea.”

Jason cleared his throat, and both Monica and Edward looked up. “Uh, I wanted to—I mean, Elizabeth and I—I told you I was adopting Cameron, but we also—before—on Halloween,” he added awkwardly.

Deciding to give Jason a break, Elizabeth lifted her left hand and wiggled her fingers so that the ring caught the light. “Jason asked me to marry him,” she said. “And I said yes.”

Monica smiled, her entire face radiating with happiness as she looked at Jason. “Really? Oh, that’s wonderful.” She rose to her feet, carrying Jake over to them so that she could hug Jason. “What lovely news.”

“Congratulations. Steve would be so excited.” Edward kissed Elizabeth’s cheek. “Audrey must be over the moon.”

“More than I thought she would be,” Elizabeth admitted. Cameron clapped his hands, grinning — he probably didn’t really understand but he always responded to the energy in the room.

Monica handed Jake to Edward so she could hug Jason more tightly. “Thank you. Thank you for this.”

“I wasn’t sure if this was the right—”

“No. No—” Monica’s eyes were damp with tears. “No. Emily loved you. She loved you both. And she loved those boys. And this is a good thing. A reminder that life will continue. I needed this. I needed to remember that there’s a future. It’s not right that she won’t be part of it, but you—sharing yours with me—” She hugged him again, and he felt his mother tremble in his arms. “It gives me hope.”

“I love you,” he murmured, and she pulled back, framing his face in her hands. “I know I don’t say it—”

“You don’t have to. You’re a parent, so you know. You love your children, and you send them off into the world.” Monica closed her eyes. “They’ll disappoint you. Make you furious. Worry you. Devastate you. But you always, always love you. Alan never stopped loving you, Jason. I hope you know that.”

“I wish—”

“He’s with us, you know. Always. Just like Emily. And Lila. We’ve just received a brutal mind that life isn’t just short — it’s also not guaranteed. We’ll make the best of what we’re given. No regrets,” she declared. She stepped back, squeezing his hands. Then looked at Elizabeth. “Thank you for sharing your beautiful children with me. For loving my son. For being the best friend my daughter could have asked for.”

“Thank you bringing her to Port Charles.” Elizabeth hugged Monica. “For giving her a second mother to love as much as she’d loved her first. She loved you so much.”

“You’ve chosen a good woman,” Edward told Jason as he came to stand next to Jason. He watched Monica examine Elizabeth’s ring. “I don’t have to tell you that, of course, but it can’t be left unsaid. She was Steve’s favorite.”

Jason frowned, looked at him. “Her grandfather?”

“Yes. He probably never told her that,” Edward admitted. “Steve always played fair, and you don’t mean to have favorite grandchildren. You can love them equally, but—well, there’s something about a granddaughter. Whenever Steve talked about Jeff’s kids, he just brightened when he talked about his little Lizzie. His dreamer who was going to paint the world and bring joy.”

Jason wondered if Elizabeth knew that — her family was such a sore point with her — especially her parents and her siblings. “Emily always defended you,” he found himself saying. “Even when you made her mad, she always told me you meant well. She spent years trying to explain you.”

“I wasn’t sure about Monica and Alan adopting her, bringing her into the family. Giving the Quartermaine name without any blood?” Edward made a face. “Wasn’t to be done. But then she was here, and you learn — well, it’s not about what’s in the blood, is it? She and Lila didn’t share a bit of DNA, but weren’t they the same? The joy, the love, the spirit — she was ours.”

“She was,” Jason murmured. And now she was gone. “That’s what I want for Cameron. The way we loved Emily. How Monica treated me—”

“That’s what we’ll have. Congratulations.” Edward extended his hand, and Jason shook it. “You’ve built a beautiful family. I hope there will be years of happiness ahead of you.”

 

---

This was a bit shorter than the other parts, but some of the conversations took a bit longer to write, so I decided not to rush anything. This was also a scene I wasn’t planning to write, but I thought we needed a bit of a break from all the sadness. See you Monday!

Written in 70 minutes. Final scene took a bit of extra time because I wanted to do it right.

---

Queen of Angels: Chapel

Elizabeth’s hands were trembling as she stepped up to the podium at the front of the chapel. She raised her eyes to look at the gathering, at the pews filled with family, friends, and anyone whose lives Emily had touched.

There were doctors and nurses, old friends from college, from high school —

Her hands trembled slightly, the paper she held rustling. She opened her mouth, then closed as it as the first breath held a hint of a sob, and she wanted so badly to do this well. To do right by Emily.

Monica sat in the front pew, Jason next to her, holding his mother’s arm. There was a space where Elizabeth had once sat, and then the rest of the Quartermaines on the side. Ned, Edward, Tracy, Dillon —

She found Jason’s eyes, then just behind him, Lucky’s. And something passed between them, some hint of the sweetness that had been there once. They’d been falling in love at the same time she and Emily were becoming friends. Emily would always tie them together — and now she was gone. Just like he’d been once.

“I’m not really sure how to do this,” Elizabeth confessed. She dipped her eyes down to the paper, to the words she’d struggled to produce. “It’s—it’s not the first time I’ve spoken about Emily and what she means to me. A few years ago, I gave a toast at her wedding—” She found Nikolas’s angry, devastated gaze—far away from his family. “I wished her happiness on that day. I wished her joy.”

Elizabeth hesitated, swallowed as her voice threatened to break. She cleared her throat. “It’s easier to speak of joy, of happiness when the promise of tomorrow seems so fresh and sweet. When the future is in front of you, and you think the best is yet to come. Over the last few days, it’s been a struggle not to dwell on the fact that I’m standing up here at all — that I have to speak about Emily in the past. There’s almost a comfort in the anger, in the rage that statement brings me. In the regrets of the days where we didn’t speak or fights that we had. There should have been more time—”

The paper crinkled as she tightened her hands. As she thought of minutes, hours, and days lost while Emily was in California—

“I can’t stay angry forever. I can’t think about the way Emily left us. And none of us should. I know the people gathered here today feel the way I do. Emily walked into all of our lives without warning, changed it forever, and now—and now she’s gone. Without warning. And we’re left to look for understanding where there can be no comprehension.”

She released the paper to swipe at a tear that escaped. She set the paper down and looked up. “Emily brought something to us all. She was my best friend. She was more of a sister to me than my own. She taught me how to dance, the best way to drink hot chocolate—I tried to teach her to draw—it didn’t really go that well—” She laughed at the memory. “I know she tried to teach Nikolas to dance, too. I think she was more successful —” She found Nikolas again and this time he was smiling. “She loved fiercely and fully and sometimes recklessly. When she tried to run away to Puerto Rico to find Juan, Jason, you didn’t even yell at her. Or tell her parents—I’m sure they’d have been horrified. She knew she could count on you to always stand by her.”

Elizabeth exhaled slowly. “When Emily left for California for rehab after her accident, and then stayed for college, it was so hard. I didn’t know how be without her everyday. I knew, even if she came home, it wouldn’t be the same. And it wasn’t. But it was better somehow. She was there when I brought my son home, and she loved my boys as if they were her own. When I think of everything she’s going to miss — everything she never gets to do — the thought paralyzes me. The grief returns and it threatens to swallow me hole. I want nothing more than to go back in time, to go back to those silly little girls in Kelly’s, laughing and drinking hot chocolate. Three packets, split two ways. With sprinkles. I want to go to work and see her, I want her to be there—” Elizabeth bowed her head, took another moment. “I want  the possibility of more time because we deserved it. Emily deserved it, and I shouldn’t be standing here.”

She dragged her hands over her cheeks, took one last deep breath. “When that happens, when I feel that relentless wave crashing over me again, I stop. I reach for a memory. I reach for the joy.” Elizabeth smiled. “I find it, you know. Because it’s never far away. I find the joy, I find the love. And I can breathe again.”

She met Monica’s eyes. “When this loss overwhelms you, when it hits you as it will in the days, weeks, months, and years to come, I hope you will remember to stop. To think of the best moment. The funniest. The sweetest. And that it will bring you the love and joy Emily brought to us. And holding on to that, and not the tragedy that brings us here, will help you remember how to breathe again.”

Queen of Angels: Churchyard

“Do you mind?”

Elizabeth glanced up, found Robin standing by the stone bench where she sat. She scooted down. “No, of course not.”

Robin sat, and looked across the church yard where Monica stood with Jason and Nikolas. “You were right, you know. We shouldn’t be here. None of us should.” She clasped her hands tightly in her lap. She pressed her lips together. “When I came by the penthouse the other day, I, um, saw that you were wearing a ring. I just didn’t know—I didn’t know if I should ask—”

Elizabeth held out her hand, the diamond winking at her. “He asked me that night. Maybe two hours before we got the call.” She shook her head. “I never got to tell her, you know. Which is such a selfish way to think about it.”

“That’s what grief really is,” Robin murmured. “It’s the pain of knowing you move forward and they don’t. How do you forgive yourself for breathing? For living when they can’t? What makes you so much better that—” She sucked in a breath. “When Stone died, I wanted to die with him. I thought I would. That the HIV would become AIDS, and I’d be with him. That I was never going to be a doctor. That no one would ever love me again.”

Elizabeth reached for her hand, squeezed it. Robin exhaled. “And then I started the protocol and I’ve been basically healthy ever since. And I was so angry — why couldn’t Stone have had this? What made me more deserving of living when he’d had to die? Why did I get to have a future at all? Forgiving yourself for just…it’s so hard. Because you have to accept there’s nothing to forgive. Nothing you can do. Life is supposed to keep moving. And you can’t stay locked in the moment you lost someone.”

“You’d think you’d hold on to that,” Elizabeth murmured. “When I lost Lucky, this was what it felt like. The pain of just breathing, of waking up and remembering that she’s not here — I’ve done this before. I know it gets better. But now I have to do it again, and it’s just—it’s not right. It’s not fair.”

“Emily never gets to find out you’re marrying Jason. She never gets to be part of it,” Robin murmured. “And Georgie—she never gets to be—” She looked at Elizabeth. “I was supposed to go that night. Not Leyla. It was supposed to be me with Emily. But it wasn’t. It was Leyla. I stayed back to take a test. I’m pregnant.”

“Pregnant—” Elizabeth’s lips parted. “With—”

“Patrick took it pretty well, all things considered. He already started mapping out plans. Diets. Routines.” She smiled faintly. “He’s going to borrow your kids so we can simulate taking care of a newborn. It’s so strange, you know? To think we broke up because he didn’t want them. And now he’s—studying like his life depends on it.” Robin closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“No, it’s—life. Life keeps moving.” Elizabeth nodded. “I’m happy for you. For Patrick. I think he’s going to surprise himself, to be honest. He was so afraid of screwing up — he’s going to drive you insane for the next…well, forever, really.”

“I’m happy for you, too,” Robin said. “For Jason. He was such a good father, and I’m glad he gets to have that again. That you both get to have that.” She wound her arm through Elizabeth’s. “But it sucks that Emily isn’t here.”

“It sucks that Georgie isn’t,” Elizabeth told her. “She’d be such a good aunt. And she’d probably help keep Patrick from going insane. She handled Spinelli beautifully.”

“I know you’re right — that we should focus on the love we felt for Emily. And not how we lost her — how we lost Georgie. And Leyla and Chelsea. But it’s hard when I think of the days ahead. Of all the moments that were stolen. It’s hard not to be angry.”

“Yeah, it was more of an…aspirational way of living. The anger isn’t going anywhere soon. I hope they find him before another family has to grieve.”

——

It had been such a stroke of luck that the funeral had been open to the public. He wandered around the courtyard, nodding and murmuring condolences, sharing his shock with others he worked with at the hospital. Such a tragedy. A terrible loss.

What a mistake.

He stopped, pausing as a pair of women came into view across the church yard. He perked up  when he realized that pretty Robin Scorpio was sitting with another dark-haired women. A nurse. He knew her. He’d seen her at the hospital. Elizabeth Webber.

A doctor and a nurse. And they were friendly, so finding them together —

Yes, a mistake had been made. But he could still fix it. He could still make it right. Two doctors, two nurses.  Yes, it would all make sense then. Pairs. Matching sets. Yes, it would be okay. He’d be able to breathe again.

He’d be able to fix everything.

—

Jason put a hand on Monica’s arm, having caught Tracy’s eye and the tap on her wrist. It was time to start moving back to the house, to the reception that he and Elizabeth were already planning to skip, but he wanted to make sure Monica got back in the car.

But Monica wasn’t so easy to move. She hadn’t wanted to leave the chapel where the coffin had been laid out — and now to leave the church yard — to leave Emily behind —

“Mom,” he said, the unfamiliar word still awkward on his lips, but not painful. He’d promised himself that he wasn’t going to waste any more time and if he didn’t call Monica Mom — there was no one else left who would. And making that right was more important than his comfort. “We should head over to the car.”

“Oh. Oh—” Monica nodded. “Yes. Yes. Where’s Elizabeth? Have you—” She started to search the church yard.

“She’s right there, with Robin,” Jason said. He was also breathing a bit more easily as Elizabeth and Robin started to walk towards them. Patrick fell in with the duo, and he felt even better.

“All right—” Monica stopped, then her hand reached out, practically latching onto the arm of someone who passed by them. “Mac. Mac, wait—”

The commissioner winced, turned. “Monica—”

“You—you haven’t returned any of my calls.” Her fingers curled into his coat. “Tell me you have a lead. That you have something you can say—that you know who did this to my daughter—”

Mac covered Monica’s hand. “There’s nothing I can tell you yet—”

“No! No!” Monica shook her head. “No! That’s not right. It’s been days. It’s been weeks—” Her voice started to climb, draw attention from those around them. Tracy, who had just loaded Edward into a car with Dillon, started over, flanked by Ned.

“Monica, these things take time—”

“How many more have to die?” Monica demanded. “How many more girls? Women? How can you not know anything?”

“I’m sorry—” Mac tried to remove Monica’s hand, but her fingers had become almost claw-like. Jason grimaced, unsure if he was supposed to drag her away from the commissioner.

“Monica—” Tracy said briskly. “Why don’t we—”

“No! No!” Monica shook off her sister-in-law, but released Mac. “No! You didn’t even like Emily! You considered her an interloper! A thief stealing from your children! You don’t get to tell me anything—” Her voice broke. “I want justice—I want—I want—” She squeezed her eyes tightly, wrapping her arms around herself. “I want my daughter—”

And then her knees gave out and Jason had to grab her, to help her stay standing. Ned was at Monica’s other side. “Come on,” Jason said, taking his mother’s arm, winding it through his own. “Let’s go back to the house. Okay? It’s cold.”

Monica started to walk now, numbly allowing Jason and Ned to lead her away. “I just want my baby. Why can’t I have her? Why?”

“I’ve got it, Jason,” Ned said, after they put her into the car, Tracy sliding in after. “I know you and Elizabeth wanted to get home to the boys.”

“Yeah.” Jason felt Elizabeth step up, slid her arm around his waist. “We’re—we’re going to bring them by.”

“It’ll give them something to focus on.” Ned got into the limo, and then it pulled out of the drive. Jason stared after them.

“We can go to the house now,” Elizabeth said. He looked at her. “You know Carly wouldn’t mind staying longer.”

“I know. I just—I need a minute. Away—” He glanced around the church yard. At the sea of people wearing black and other dark colors. “I need to go home.”

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

Carly sprang up from the sofa when they opened the door. “Hey. Hey. Um—Jake is napping upstairs, and Cameron was, too. I don’t know if he’s awake yet—”

“I’ll go check,” Elizabeth said, brushing her hand across Jason’s chest as she passed him. “Thanks, Carly.”

“Yeah.” Carly waited until Elizabeth had disappeared around the landing. “Hey. It’s stupid to ask how it went or how you are. It’s just—it’s what you say.” She folded her arms.

Jason dropped his keys on the desk. “Thank you. For staying with them.”

“Yeah. Of course. I wanted to go. To be there for you, but I knew—well, you know, I wanted to be useful, and this is how to help you.” Carly’s eyes filled. “I just wanted to be help.”

“You did.” Jason hesitated. “When Courtney—when she died. How did you tell the boys? Did—did they understand?”

Carly smiled wistfully. “Michael did more than Morgan. Which always seemed like a such a tragedy, you know. Courtney took such good care of Morgan when he was born, and he won’t really remember her—” She took a deep breath. “I told them that Aunt Courtney had to go away. That she loved them so much, and that she’d always be watching them. I don’t know if there’s another way to do it. There’s nothing you can say. Someone who loved them unconditionally, without boundaries, is gone. And that’s just…that’s just how it is.”

“Yeah.” Jason nodded, his chest tight. “Yeah. That’s how it is.”

“I’ll leave you guys to handle it. Or to just be alone with them or together—” Carly bit her lip. “It seems silly now, doesn’t it? All the time you waste hating someone when it doesn’t matter.” She hugged him briefly, but fiercely. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Thank you.”

“Anytime.”

Elizabeth returned downstairs a few minutes after Carly had gone, carrying a sleepy Cameron, still rubbing his eyes. “Hey. Look who I found,” she said. “Someone was waking up.”

“Hey.” Jason smiled at she came over and handed Cameron to him. The little boy tucked himself into Jason’s embrace, rubbing his face against Jason’s black sweater. “Did you have fun with Aunt Carly?”

“She play good race car,” Cameron mumbled. “Not as good as Aunt Em. Can she come play?”

Jason’s hand stilled as it stroked Cameron’s curls. He looked at Elizabeth, then sighed. “Let’s go sit down, buddy. We need to talk.”

Elizabeth followed them over to the sofa, and they sat together, Cameron laying against Jason’s chest, Elizabeth curled up against his side, her head on his shoulder.

“Aunt Emily loves you and Jake a lot, you know that, right?”

“To the sky and Jupiter and back,” Cameron said. “She always says.”

“Yeah.”

“Aunt Emily can’t come over and play,” Elizabeth said. Cameron frowned. He sat up so that he was facing them both.

“Why?”

“Because she had to go away,” Jason said. “And she can’t come back anymore. Not where we can see her.”

“But I don’t want her to go away.”

“Me either, baby.” Elizabeth took a moment to gather herself. “But sometimes people have to go when they don’t want to. Even when there’s people who need them. Who love them. But Aunt Emily will always be here—” She touched Cameron’s heart. “Where you can’t see her, but you can feel her.”

Cameron’s lip trembled, and he looked at Jason. “Did she go away like my daddy? Daddy had to work. You said. So he left. And Aunt Em. You go away?”

“No. No, I’m not going anywhere,” Jason said, roughly. “Mommy and I are right here. And we’re not leaving.”

“I want her to stay. Tell her to come back and play.” Tears began to slide down his cheeks and his voice broke up. “Tell her to stay where I can see her.”

“She can’t, baby. It’s not like that.” Elizabeth pulled Cameron into her arms, rocking him as he continued to cry. “She can’t.”

“She’ll always be with you,” Jason said. “Just like your mom said.”

“Always,” Elizabeth promised. “You know how sometimes you can feel the wind on your cheeks when we go out?”

“Yeah.”

“Aunt Emily is right there. She’ll always be there. She’ll never stop loving you, and she’ll never stop taking care of you. She’s like the wind, baby. You can’t see it, but you can feel it. She’ll never go away. She’ll always be there.”

Cameron continued to cry, and Jason wrapped his arms around them both, wishing he could break apart like a small child, because he wanted the same thing. He wanted his sister to come back where he could see her, too.

---

Note: Pieces of Elizabeth’s eulogy were not written today. Like you guys know, my friend passed away suddenly last year after a brief battle with Stage 4 cancer. At her memorial service, I was asked to speak which I thought was going to be really difficult. I thought — how do I ever put what I’m feeling into words? I thought I’d struggle over it for days. And then 6:30 AM four days before the service, I woke up, and I just wrote. I wrote the entire thing in a rush of words in about 30 minutes. And I just — I don’t know a better way to talk about losing someone you love so much, so I’m just going to plagiarize myself. I hope you guys don’t mind. The original is here. 

Written in 58 minutes.

---

PCPD: Squad Room

Lucky grimaced as he flipped through the list of contractors, employees, and security guards who had access to the Port Charles University campus on any given day. It was an insurmountable number — and that was when you excluded the male students. Pages and pages of names—

They’d never get through the whole thing. Not if they had a thousand years to investigate — and Lucky didn’t think they would have even a month or two. Six weeks between the murders. He’d read about this — the cooldown period. Some serial killers stuck to it, some stretched it further, and some escalated—

He wasn’t an expert, but he thought maybe they were looking at an escalation—

“Lucky?”

He jerked his head up, found his sister by his desk. “Lu. What are you—”

“I, um—” She set a white bag on the desk. “I brought you food. From Kelly’s. I didn’t know if you’d eat—” Lulu looked at him. “I left Nikolas alone. I don’t know if that was the right thing, but he was angry, and I was starting to get pissed, and I just—” She looked away. “He’s blaming you and Liz, like it’s crazy. He won’t blame himself. You’d think he’d blame the bastard who killed—” She took a breath. “Anyway. I thought maybe I’d just let him wallow over there without anyone to yell at.”

“He didn’t do much better when he lost Courtney last year,” Lucky reminded her, unpacking the food. “Thanks.”

“Yeah. I don’t know what else I could do. Um, I called Dillon, but it’s just family at the house. And Spinelli—” Lulu cleared her throat. “Well, he’s got his hands full, and I didn’t know if seeing Cameron would confuse him.”

Lucky’s hands stilled. “He’s watching the boys?”

“Yeah. Yeah, um, Jason and Liz went to the Qs.” Lulu bit her lip. “Should I not have said that? Because—”

“No, no, it’s—how things are. I need to hear that. Uh, I don’t know what Liz wants to do about any of that. I doubt she’d tell you that Cameron is off limits to you.” After all, she’d been willing to let Lucky have visitation rights, hadn’t she? Until he’d screwed it up.

“Yeah, but I feel like today isn’t really the time to push it. It’s, um, it’s weird. Emily’s just—she’s always been there. Or at least it feels like it. And now she’ll never be here again. And I was just getting used to that with Georgie—” Lulu closed her eyes. “Anyway. Sorry. Um, I just want to be helpful. Do something.”

“Thanks, Lu. You’re doing enough.”

“I know you can’t really tell me anything, but—this guy—he’s out there. And he didn’t stop after Georgie and Chelsea.” Lulu waited for him to meet her gaze. “Should I be worried? Or scared?”

“Don’t go anywhere after dark,” he said finally. “Even in pairs. I guess that’s all I can say right now.”

“I guess. You’ll tell me if you need anything? I’m here, Lucky. I want to help.”

“You’ll be the first call.”

Quartermaine Estate: Family Room

Tracy’s tone was gentle as she slid a pamphlet across the table towards Monica. “I circled the options that I thought—” She shifted, uncomfortable. “What I thought might work best, that is.”

Monica placed a hand over it. “I can’t—I can’t do this. Get whatever you want.” She rose to her feet. “I need—I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I just need to lay down.” She looked at Elizabeth. “You knew Emily. You can—I just—” She rose, and left the room.

Jason, sitting on the sofa with Ned and Dillon, looked after her. He and Elizabeth locked eyes for a moment, before she looked at Tracy, picked up the pamphlet.

“These are good choices,” Elizabeth said. “Um, clean. Elegant. Emily really—she—her tastes really changed. Since we were teenagers.”

Tracy sighed. “I don’t know how anyone does this. How do you—” She shook her head. “How do you bury a child?”

“I hope I never have to find out,” Elizabeth murmured. She rubbed her her hands over her denim-clad thighs. “It’s good of you to look after the details. Um, for the services. And for—” Her throat tightened. “For the burial, too. Um, I’m sure there’s a lot—”

“There’s a space between Alan and my mother,” Tracy said. “It was meant for Monica—but…” She dipped her head. “Thank God my mother didn’t live to see this year. I never thought I’d be grateful that she went first. She wouldn’t have survived losing Alan and Emily within a year. I don’t know how my father is handling any of it.”

“Like you said, how does anyone?” Elizabeth sighed. “It doesn’t feel real yet. I don’t know how it ever will.” Tears stung her eyes, and she touched her cheeks, took another deep breath. “What’s left? What can I help with?”

Quartermaine Estate: Foyer

Jason didn’t know how they managed to stay as long as they did, or if it had done anyone any good. Monica had pulled herself together for a little while, and he’d been grateful to have done something. But then she’d left the room—

He helped Elizabeth on her coat, almost too eager to leave this place, to go back to the penthouse where Cameron and Jake might distract him. He just wanted to forget about this for a few minutes.

Just as they reached the doors, Jason heard someone call his name. Edward, leaving the front parlor. “Jason, I’m sorry,” he said. “I was hoping to talk to you for a minute. If you have it.”

Elizabeth took the keys he already had in his hand. “I’ll start the car,” she said.

Jason grimaced, wishing he was leaving with her, but then turned to his grandfather. “What did you need?”

“I—” Edward suddenly looked old, tired. Defeated. “Thank you. For coming today. For Monica. She—well. She needed to see you. And for promising to bring the children. She’ll need something to look forward to.”

Jason nodded, still a bit mystified as to why Edward had stopped him for any of this. “Yeah, well…” he trailed off, a bit awkward.

“You’re not supposed to bury your own son, you understand,” the old man said suddenly. “I always told Lila that I had to go first because I didn’t want to do this without her, and now—” He closed his eyes. “There were mistakes made. Things said. When you were younger. I’m not saying I was wrong—”

Jason almost smiled, because that sounded like the man he’d always known. “No, I didn’t think you were.”

“It’s just—you look around, and suddenly, you’re almost alone. And the house—it’s so quiet now. Emily—” Edward looked at him. “She was the light. She and Lila. They brought the joy into this home. And now it’s just a house without them. You’re not supposed to bury a son, and you’re sure as hell not supposed to bury a granddaughter eight months later.”

“No. No, you’re not.” What would that be like? How would you get out of bed? “I can’t replace Emily,” he said. “I can’t—I can’t make up for her not being here—” He paused. “But I know Emily loved you all. There’s probably a reason for that. So when I bring the boys over—you can be there. If you want.”

“Thank you. That would—that would be wonderful.” Edward cleared his throat. “Well, you ought not to leave the wonderful woman waiting too long.”

Jason left then, went to the SUV parked in the driveway, and climbed in. He flexed his hands on the steering wheel, then looked at Elizabeth, sitting in the passenger’s seat, her eyes closed, leaning against the headrest.

“I think I could actually sleep now,” she murmured. She opened one eye, looked at him. “Doesn’t that sound insane? But if I sleep, I’ll wake up. And I’ll forget. And then I’ll remember.”

And in the remembering, it would hit all over again. Jason exhaled slowly. “Yeah. I know.”

“I don’t know how Monica is standing. How any of them are. How you are,” she added, looking at him again, her eyes fully open now. He met her gaze. “You lost Alan, too. And now Emily. It’s…God, it’s obscene. That’s what it is. It’s enough to make you lose faith in any kind of higher being.”

“I never let him be my father,” Jason murmured. “I never gave him a chance. Even after there was Michael, I almost understood. What if he stopped knowing me? And he did, you know. I mean, he knows me,” he clarified. “But he doesn’t think of me as his father anymore. How would it be if after twenty-two years, Cameron came home and didn’t know us?”

“You did the best you could after your accident—”

“No. No, I didn’t. Because there were times when I almost—I almost felt something,” Jason admitted. “When I was still living there, Alan came and he talked to me. And he told me about how proud he was that I was going to be a doctor, that I wanted to be like him. And I could see how much he missed that son.” He exhaled slowly. “But he always pushed too hard. And he hated that I worked for Sonny.”

“And he tried to take Michael away from you,” Elizabeth reminded him. “Emily told me about that. You went to her birthday party, and they wouldn’t give Michael back. Alan made mistakes, Jason. It’s not all on you.”

“Yeah. I know. But he stopped pushing, and he disappeared from my life. And now I never get to—I never get to apologize.”

She reached out, brushed her fingertips through his hair, which he’d let grow long. “And neither does he. But he loved you, Jason. Just like you’ll always love Michael. And the way you love Jake and Cameron. You know that he loved you.”

“Yeah. Well—I don’t want those regrets when Edward—or my mother—I don’t want it,” Jason said.

“We won’t. The boys will know them both. And they’ll get stories of Emily and Lila and Alan through the family that’s left.”

He took her hand, kissed the inside of her palm. “Let’s go home.”

Robin’s Condo: Living Room

“Oh, Robin—” Lainey jumped up, ran straight to her as Robin stepped inside the condo they shared. “I’m so glad you’re here. That you came home—”

“It’s terrible—” Kelly sniffled, yanking another Kleenex from the box. “I keep thinking what if we’d made her clock out early or—”

Robin stroked Lainey’s hair, went to hug Kelly. “I know. I still keep thinking it’s a terrible dream.”

“The worst one. This guy is out there—do you think he was in the parking garage when we left?” Lainey said. She shivered.

Robin hung up her coat, draped her purse over the same hook. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything about the investigation.”

“Oh. I thought you were your uncle last night. I figured after Georgie—” Kelly frowned. “Did you stay at the hospital, or—”

“I went to Patrick’s.” Robin took a deep breath when Kelly and Lainey exchanged a look. “I know what you’re going to say—”

“I just—I worry that you’re going to hurt again. Like, I get leaning on him. He’s got a certain something,” Lainey said. “But—”

“Look, there’s going to be—” Robin grimaced. “There’s going to be some changes. And I should—I didn’t tell you this a few weeks ago because we’d just have this conversation, but I went to Patrick’s after Georgie’s service, too.” She bit her lip. “We spent the night together and now I’m pregnant.”

Kelly’s eyes widened. “Oh, man.”

“That’s—that’s a pretty change. Is—did Patrick take it okay?”

“Better than I did, honestly,” Robin admitted. She went over to their kitchen, poured a glass of water. “I don’t know if we’re back together, but he’s important to me. And he’s handling this better than I have a right to expect. Um, Kelly, he needs a blood test, though. I know it’s not your area—”

“I’ll set it  up. Yeah, whatever you need, babes. And we’ll get you in an appointment, too. I’ll make some calls, get the  guidelines for an HIV pregnancy.” Kelly folded her arms. “But—he was happy?”

“Terrified,” Robin said, with a smile. “But while I was sleeping, he started researching online, went out to an all night store to get me caffeine-free tea, and had a plan when I woke. He’s going to study for it like it’s his boards exam, and he’s lining us an internship so we can practice.”

Lainey’s eyes lit with amusement. “An internship for parents? I’m almost scared to ask.”

“He’s going to borrow Elizabeth’s kids for a weekend. Whether or not she agrees us using he boys as guinea pigs—” She shook her head. “I know you were both angry with him—”

“We were talking about that,” Kelly interrupted. “Um, we feel stupid. And petty. And catty. And all the adjectives. To think that we froze Emily out for a few weeks—” Her voice cracked. “We were just—we were so stupid, and we can’t fix it now, you know? It’s over. We can’t. So we’re going to figure it out. Lainey’s going to grovel with Liz—”

Lainey made a face. “Yeah, I’ll make it right between us. Or make it so it’s not awkward anymore. Whatever I have to do, Robin. We love you, and you’re about to do something really scary and wonderful, and we’re going to take care of you.” She put an arm around Robin’s shoulders. “We promise.”

“Thanks.” Robin leaned her head against Lainey’s shoulder for a moment. “I need you guys. I don’t want us to fight anymore.”

“We won’t.” Kelly wrapped her arms around both of them.

“Oh, God, I feel just awful for Elizabeth—” Lainey said, pulling back, swiping tears from her eyes. “And poor Jason. His sister.”

“I have to call them. I want to check in. See what I can do.” Robin sighed. “But first I want a shower and a nap.”

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

The penthouse was eerily quiet when they entered. Jason dropped his keys on the desk, picked up a white sheet of paper. “Didn’t want to bother you while you were with the Quartermaines, but I wanted to give you some peace and quiet when you came home. You both need to sleep. Spinelli and I are taking the boys to the park, and then all three of them are going to spend the night with me. Rest. I love you.” He looked at Elizabeth. “Your grandmother.”

“I can’t decide if I’m grateful or annoyed. I was kind of counting on Cameron to get my mind off everything,” Elizabeth admitted. “But she’s right. We didn’t sleep last night, and there’s—there’s a lot to do in the next few days.” She dragged a hand through her hair. “Do we tell Cameron?”

Jason hesitated, looked at her. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I mean, we haven’t spent a lot of time with them since we found out, so he probably doesn’t know anything is wrong.”

“But he will. He’s sensitive to that. When you’re sad, when you’re happy—Cameron always seems to notice.” She sighed, went over to the sofa. “How do we tell a three-year-old his aunt won’t ever come back?” Tears spilled over her lashes, and she pressed a hand to her mouth, stifling her sobs.

Jason sat next to her, pulled her into his arms. “We’ll tell him that his aunt Emily loved him so much, and that she’ll watch over him, and look after him. It’s all we can do.” He stroked her back, kissed her forehead. “Come on. Let’s go see if we can get some rest. We’ll take a nap, and then we’ll go out on the bike.” He wanted the rush of the wind again. Maybe with it not being so fresh, this time it would help. “Come on,” he repeated, tugging her to her feet and towards the stairs.

Written in 65 minutes.

---

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

“All right, here’s where we stand at—” Robert checked his watch. “Eight in the morning. Both victims were officially identified as Emily Quartermaine and Leyla Mir. Preliminary autopsy results suggest that both victims received blows to the head before being strangled by a thin wire, a wire that was found around Emily’s neck.”

He glanced over at Lucky standing by the window. “Spencer, are you sure you want to be here for this?”

“If you’re not kicking me off the case, then yeah.” Lucky exhaled. “Yeah. Keep going.”

“All right. We’ve received the cameras from the hospital parking garage. The ladies exit the elevator at 9:23 PM and walk towards their car. Three minutes later, a dark figure appears in the frame. He’s crouched behind a car.” Robert laid down a still. “He creeps up behind Leyla and hits her on the head. The medical examiner suggests that she was unconscious from this blow. He tosses Leyla aside as Emily turns, startled by the noise. She is also knocked unconscious.”

Mac grimaced. “That’s how he gets two at a time. Chelsea Rae was intoxicated, easily knocked out. He—he killed her second though. The wire—”

“Yes. Both women were dragged off camera and manually strangled. Our guy comes back into frame at 9:35 and walks away. His back remains to the camera, and he never shows his face. All we have is a body type and possible height. He’s dressed in black, wearing a ski cap over his face.”

“It happened around 9:30,” Lucky murmured. “Shift change. Even if the assault was noted on the camera, there’d be no one to see it.” He looked at Mac. “He knows the hospital.”

“He knew the campus too. The location of the first—” Mac tightened his mouth. “It was in a camera’s blind spot. I don’t believe he gets lucky twice. The cord, Robert, is it the same?”

“Yes. We have skin cells that we’re going to test, but I suspect we’ll find that it’s from both ladies. He wore gloves.”

“What about defensive wounds? Emily was still conscious—”

“Just like Georgie, we have some material under the nails. They’ve already been shipped out. That will tell us for sure if we have the same guy.” Robert took a seat. “Hospital canvas is out. Most people are accounted for — not a lot of the staff works alone. We had Patrick Drake and his staff on the operating floor, the nursing staff making their rounds. It’s a quiet time of the night, except in the emergency room. Still have to nail down a few construction workers. They were working on the ICU.”

“How many people left the hospital last night?” Mac wanted to know. “Were Emily and Leyla random? Would he have chosen anyone who walked past at shift change?”

“That’s possible. Uh, I need to follow up with Robin sometime today. How many people knew their plans, etc. I know your worries about Georgie and Robin, Mac, and we’re looking into it. Maxie has extra security?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Uh, Coop is with her now, but we have uniforms on the house.” Mac shook his head. “We don’t have anything. We have him on camera, but we don’t have anything at all—”

“It takes time to go through everything. The wire? We’re going to trace it. He’s used the same type twice. And Spencer, you were working on something?”

“Checking anyone who had access to the campus. Longshot, but I figured the blind spot meant that someone knew the security.” Lucky rubbed the side of his face, his eyes red, his movements sluggish. He hadn’t yet slept. “Uh, I had a thought about the flowers and phone calls, actually. I don’t think Emily was getting anything. She would have said something to Elizabeth, and Elizabeth knew about those because of Spinelli. I’ll follow up later—”

“You can handle that?” Mac asked. “You just had that custody—”

“Elizabeth and I are—” Lucky paused, looked up. “It doesn’t matter. Emily matters. Yeah, I can handle it. She and Jason will cooperate. For Emily. But only Georgie was getting strange calls. Chelsea wasn’t. The flowers weren’t addressed to either of them. I wondered if maybe whoever did this was just trying to learn about them. They were obviously targeted and planned, Mac. The flowers? Can he get inside the dorm rooms? The phone calls? Would Georgie answer them? The last hang up, Mac, it’s just before they left the party.”

Mac frowned. “You didn’t tell me that?”

“It was a different burner phone. I just finished logging every phone number yesterday. I wonder if it was meant to worry Georgie. To encourage her to leave. We’ll never know for sure, Mac. But I don’t think it was personal stalking.”

“You think he was gathering information.”

“They were his first kills. Emily and Leyla?” Lucky closed his eyes, tried to order his thoughts. It had seemed so clear the night before. “It’s more public. The garage. It’s not the middle of the night. It’s not a deserted, blind spot on campus. It’s not a pair of slightly tipsy college kids.”

“Escalation of the risk.” Robert nodded. “I follow that. He gained his experience, wanted to challenge himself. Maybe he had a different way of getting his information. Continue looking into who had access with the campus. Find an overlap with the hospital.” He looked at Mac. “We might not have much yet, Mac, but we have leads to follow. We’re going to find him.”

“I’m sure that will comfort the Quartermaines.”

Wyndemere: Study

Lulu set down a tray with coffee mugs on the desk, looked at her brother still brooding at the fire. She had dozed a bit before dawn, but hadn’t been able to find any peace. After Nikolas had lashed out at Lucky, their brother had headed back to the mainland to rejoin the investigation.

Lulu didn’t really know what to do. How to handle any of this. She wished her mother were still here. Or maybe Aunt Bobbie. She could always comfort someone, but just her? She was a screw-up just figuring things out. Definitely not up to the task of talking to someone who’d lost the love of their life.

“I have coffee, Nikolas. And Mrs. Lansbury is putting together some breakfast. You should eat. Spencer will be up later, and—”

“I don’t want anything.”

Lulu licked her lips. “I know, but you still need to eat. And stay healthy. For Spencer. And-and you know, Emily wouldn’t want—”

“Don’t talk to me about what Emily would want. You don’t know anything about it.” Nikolas flicked his eyes to her. “You testified against Lucky. You know this is his fault.”

“I testified for Cameron,” Lulu said carefully. “Emily isn’t dead because she chose Elizabeth’s side during the divorce. She didn’t even testify. Lucky didn’t even go that hard. Not at the custody hearing. I mean, he backed down. Emily was happy about that.”

“She was angry at me because I chose Lucky—” Nikolas rose to his feet, went to the mantel.

“You didn’t just choose Lucky,” Lulu said, unthinkingly, and Nikolas whirled around, glaring. She swallowed but forged on. “You paid for his lawyer. And-and you fought with Elizabeth. Emily was mad at you for those reasons—”

“Shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about—”

“Maybe not, but Lucky didn’t kill Emily, so it’s not her fault. And you know what else?” Lulu planted her hands at her hips. “Emily isn’t the one who had an affair which led to the divorce—”

“You can get out, too.”

“Fine,” Lulu snapped. “You sit here and wallow in your misery, pushing away people who care about you. That’s a great idea. The only person you have to blame for any of this is yourself. Look in the mirror sometime.”

Morgan Penthouse: Kitchen

Elizabeth sighed and swirled the spoon in the air again, hoping this time Jake would take it. “Come on, baby. Mommy hasn’t slept.” Might never sleep again, she thought. They’d left the hospital last night, gone out on the bike for a ride to see if the roar of the wind would help—

Nothing did.

They’d returned home to find Audrey sleeping in the last guest bedroom and Spinelli standing guard over the baby monitor. Jason had packed him off to bed, and they’d laid awake in their bedroom. Closing their eyes meant going to sleep—and Elizabeth wasn’t ready to dream.

Jake’s lips remained firmly pressed shut, his face set in a determined expression. “Come on, it’s peaches,” Elizabeth said.

“He looks quite like his mother,” Audrey said. Elizabeth turned. “Good morning, darling.” She kissed the top of Elizabeth’s head. “You still make that face, you know.”

“He needs to eat.”

Audrey tickled the soft skin beneath Jake’s chin, and the baby laughed, his mouth parting. Elizabeth swooped in, and the peaches disappeared. Jake furrowed his brows, looked at her, then opened his mouth again. She exhaled in a rush. “Thanks, Gram. I forgot that trick.”

“That’s what I’m here for. Did you make any coffee?”

“No. Not yet.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Audrey went to the cabinets. “Did you or Jason get any sleep last night?”

“No. We tried, but—” Elizabeth bit her lip. “I don’t know how to do any of this, Gram. I don’t know to help myself. And Jason—you know, he doesn’t show it, but he feels so deeply—”

With the coffee starting to percolate, Audrey sat next to Elizabeth at the small table. “It’s so hard to lose anyone, but when the person you rely on to hold you up can scarcely take care of themselves, it’s even more difficult. But it’s important that you both let yourselves feel this. Take turns leaning on each other.” She squeezed Elizabeth’s hand, then stopped, turning it slightly. “Well, this is new.”

Elizabeth stared down at her finger, at the diamond. “It was a lifetime ago,” she murmured. “He asked me last night.”

“Congratulations.”

Elizabeth sighed, finished off the jar of peaches. “Thank you. For staying last night. Spinelli’s great, but I felt better knowing you were down the hall.” She lifted Jake from his high chair, pressing her cheek to his soft, downy hair.

“Of course. I’ll stay a few days if you don’t mind. Not just for you, darling.” Audrey rose, pulled Elizabeth into her arms. “But for myself. I need to know my family is safe. That you’re all right. And if you and Jason have somewhere to go, or if you need some air to breathe, you know you won’t have to worry about the boys.” She kissed Elizabeth’s cheek. “Now let me go pour you a cup of coffee—and one for Jason?”

Elizabeth adjusted Jake to sit on her hip. “Yeah, he’s upstairs, giving Cameron a bath.”

“Have you thought of what you’ll say to him yet?”

“No. God, no. I don’t even want to think about it yet—”

Jason stepped in the doorway, and Elizabeth turned. “Oh, you’re done already?”

“Yeah. Ned just called,” he said, and Elizabeth sighed. “He wants to know if we’ll come over later.”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course. Gram?”

“I’ll look after the boys.” Audrey went to Jason, touched his arm. “I hope it goes without saying how sorry I am, my dear. Emily was a lovely young woman, and it was a privilege to watch her grow up. I know how much you loved her.”

Jason swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Thank you. It means a lot coming from you, Mrs. Hardy. I appreciate you coming over last night. Spinelli—we felt bad leaving him, but—”

“He understood, but I’m glad I could be here for you. What a terrible tragedy.” She closed her eyes, shook her head. “I made coffee. It looks like both of you need it.”

Patrick’s Condo: Bedroom

Robin pursed her lips when Patrick brought her a cup of herbal tea. “Where did this come from?”

“All night convenience store.” Patrick kicked off his shoes, climbed into bed to stretch out next to her. “I was reading last night. Caffeine isn’t good for you, so coffee was out—”

“Reading?” Bewildered, Robin looked at him. “You were reading about pregnancy?”

“Couldn’t sleep, and the internet is always there.” Patrick frowned at her. “Why? Was I wrong?”

“No. No, I mean some caffeine is all right. But you read and then you went shopping.”

“I told you. I’m in this. I don’t know how to stop being scared of being a father,” Patrick admitted, “but I used to be afraid of being a doctor. I went to school and got hands on experience, and now I’m the best neurosurgeon in the country. So you study. And you intern.”

Robin sipped the tea, intrigued. “So you’re going to approach parenting like medical school.”

“Yes. I’ll get all the books, you can quiz me. And then we’ll borrow Elizabeth’s kids. We can’t really replicate a newborn situation, but I figure multi-tasking a toddler and an infant might give us a sense of the chaos—” Patrick stopped, looked at her. “You’re laughing at me.”

“I am…” Robin considered her next words. “Fascinated by this side of you.”

“Do you have a better way of preparing to be a parent? Because I’d like to hear it.”

She set the tea cup on the night stand, then lifted his arm to wrap around her shoulders. “Thank you. For making sure my first thought this morning wasn’t Emily and Leyla.”

Patrick sighed, looked at the ceiling. “I don’t know to make that okay. You can’t, probably. It’s impossible. But after losing my mom, then with Georgie, now Emily—life is short. Unbearably, unfairly short. You can’t do anything but hold on to the good. You’re what’s good.”

She closed her eyes, tucked her head beneath her chin, just where she belonged. “And the baby?”

“The baby is part of you, so we already know they’ll be smart and compassionate. Which is good because I’m only one of those things. And it’s part of me, so devastating charm and good looks.” He kissed the top of her head, lingering for a moment. “I’m still terrified I’ll screw it up, but I think I want it more than I ever thought I would. We’re going to be okay.”

“Yeah. We’re going to be okay.” Just as long as they held on to each other.

Quartermaine Estate: Foyer

Jason stepped inside, his fingers laced in Elizabeth’s, and swept his eyes around the empty foyer. The memories of this room — of this house — there were so many bitter, terrible ones. But there were good ones.

Emily was everywhere in this house. So was his grandmother.

Elizabeth squeezed his shoulder. “Hey,” she murmured. “I think they’re in the family room by the terrace.”

“Yeah, we—” Jason looked up as Ned stepped out of that hallway. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Ned embraced Elizabeth, kissed her cheek. “Thank you for coming. Uh, I know it’s not your favorite place—” He scratched the corner of his brow with a thumb. “But Monica—she’s not handling it well. Not that anyone should have to—and Grandfather—” He cleared his throat. “I just think they could use a fresh face.”

He led them towards the family room, and Jason stopped just inside the door. Monica, his mother sat by the terrace doors, at the desk tucked into the corner. Her eyes were swollen, rimmed with red, and she barely glanced up at their entrance.

Dillon was on the sofa next to Edward; the old man gripping a cup of coffee so tightly his knuckles were white.  The younger man looked up. “Oh, hey. Grandfather, Jason came ove.r”

“Jason—” Edward turned, set down the coffee. He rose to his feet, a bit of light coming into his old blue eyes. “Jason, and you brought Elizabeth. Hello, my dear.” He came forward, kissed Elizabeth’s cheek.

“Hello.” Elizabeth squeezed his hand as he stepped back.

“Jason. It’s good—” Edward took a deep breath. “It’s good to see you,” he forced out. “How are the boys? They’re not with you?”

“We left them at home this time,” Jason said, looking over at Monica who was still staring unseen at the desktop. “But I thought we could bring them another day.”

“That would be great. Great.” Edward didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands. “Uh, Cook put together some breakfast. And we have coffee—”

“Mr. Quartermaine,” Elizabeth said, leaving Jason’s side, taking Edward’s hand. “Let’s go sit down. I’ll tell you about Jake. He’s six months old now, and everyone says he looks just like Jason at that age.”

“Oh? We have photos.” Edward followed her to the sofa. “We’ll have to get them out.”

Jason went over to his mother, crouched down in front of her. “Hey,” he said softly. She looked at him finally, focusing. “What can I do?”

“There’s nothing—” Monica closed her eyes. “Nothing. Three children. I’ll have buried three children. Dawn. Emily. AJ.”

And though she wouldn’t say it, he knew she was thinking of who he’d been once. Jason Quartermaine. Though there was no tombstone to mark his death, just the family photographs of a life Jason didn’t know.

What would it be like to bury both your biological children, and only have the adopted son who barely acknowledged her left? What it would feel like if he lost Cameron and Jake tomorrow?

“I’m still here,” Jason told her, and she smiled faintly. “It’s not much. But I’m here.” He slid his hand into his back pocket. Found a photograph of the boys from a few weeks ago, at Sonny’s house. “And they—they’re still here. Your grandchildren.”

Monica took the photo, traced Jake’s face. “Children?” she asked faintly.

“Yes. I’m adopting Cameron. Just like you adopted me and Emily,” he told her. “I know it won’t ever be the same. Or enough. But I’m still here.” His chest hurt. “Mom.”

Tears spilled down her cheeks, and Monica touched his cheek. “You’re still here,” she murmured. “Are you?”

“I promise.”

“All right. All right.” She held the photo to her heart. “Can I keep it?”

“Yes. And we’ll bring them both to you as soon as we can.” Jason swallowed hard. “I’m sorry. I can’t go back. I can’t go back and be a better son—”

“You were the best of sons. And Emily—”

“The best of sisters,” Jason said. He rose to his feet, and Monica let him pull her up, too. He hugged her.

Across Town

In a much smaller house, in a rundown neighborhood, a man sat in front of his television screen, sinking into a beatdown recliner, waiting for the news report that would fill his soul with the rush of satisfaction. Would it feel as good as it had the first time? Would it feel better?

“The PCPD is now prepared to officially release the identies of both victims,” the reporter said. “As speculated, Emily Quartermaine, an intern with the hospital, and daughter of former Chief of Staff Alan Quartermaine, was one of the victims. The second was Leyla Mir—”

He sat up, his eyes widening. What? What? That wasn’t right. That wasn’t the name—

“—a nurse with the hospital. Both women were found strangled in the parking garage—”

“A nurse?” He lunged from his chair. “A nurse! No! No! That’s not right!” He shook his television screen. “It’s not right! She was a doctor! It’s a supposed to be—”

He whirled away from the television, blind with fury. It was supposed to be two. Pairs. Double. Two college girls. Two doctors. Not one doctor and one nurse! That wouldn’t be right! That wasn’t how it was supposed to be!

He grabbed an empty beer bottle, threw it against the wall. Then overturned a table filled with newspapers, junk mail, and assorted magazines, his chest heaving. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be!

He had to fix it. He had to bring everything back into order. There was no other choice.

Written in 61 minutes.

---

General Hospital: Lobby

By the time physician appointments ended at seven and visiting hours at eight, the lobby of General Hospital was so quiet that every whisper and even the lightest of footsteps on the linoleum could be heard.

Tonight was no different, though the security guard at the front desk was joined by a handful of uniforms. Elizabeth used her security badge to get them through the front door.

At the desk, one of the cops turned and Jason recognized him—he’d worked with Lucky before. He focused on Elizabeth as they approached.

“Hey, Liz. Mac said you guys were coming by.”

“Cruz.” Elizabeth touched Jason’s shoulder. “Jason, this is Detective Rodriguez. Um, so you know why we’re here.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Uh, let’s head on down.” He signaled towards the elevators, and Jason followed him, his hand in Elizabeth’s. Once in the car, Rodriguez pressed a button for one of the basements, and it began to move.

The doors opened onto a long hallway, with doors every few dozen feet. Rodriguez led them into the first one which had a small room with a large picture window and door to a larger room with a wall of small, rectangular doors arranged in rows and columns.

“You don’t have to go in,” Jason said roughly. “They just need—”

“We’ll do this together,” she told him. Her lips trembled but her eyes were firm. “We’re ready,” she told the cop. He nodded, and knocked on the door to the doctor waiting.

Jason forced himself to keep walking, to keep moving forward. To walk into the room where he would identify his sister’s body.

Wyndemere: Study

Nikolas had stopped crying, but remained on the floor, his knees drawn up to his chest, arms wrapped around them. His eyes were swollen, the light from the fire burning nearby cast shadows onto his face.

Lulu sat next to him, stroking his hair, her head on his shoulder. Lucky still across the room, unsure how to offer his sympathy. How to process his own grief. He’d forced it down at the garage, had kept it at bay until he’d come into this room.

But just the memory, the quick flash of Emily in this room, smiling at him, had stolen his breath, and brought it all back, like a rush of wind passing through a tunnel, and how did you hold it back when it was roaring past you like a freight train.

“How?” Nikolas finally managed, his voice hoarse and raw. “What happened?”

“We don’t—” Lucky took a moment. “We think it was strangulation,” he admitted, and Nikolas flinched. “Like Georgie Jones and her roommate.”

“The same guy,” Lulu murmured. “A serial killer, isn’t he?”

Lucky hesitated. “That’s not for me to say, Lu.” He knelt down. “But yes. It fits the definition. Three or more people over a period of a month.”

“Six weeks apart.” Lulu looked at him. “Do you know anything you can tell us yet?”

“No. I’m sorry. I wish—”

“You know more.” Nikolas looked at him now, his eyes burning. “You knew there was someone out there murdering women. But you didn’t stop him.”

“No. We didn’t stop him.”

“She should have been here,” his brother muttered. He fisted his hands. “She would have been here—”

“She was working, Nikolas,” Lulu reminded him gently. “She wouldn’t—”

“Then I would have been there,” Nikolas said. And now something else crept into his gaze. Loathing. “It’s your fault I wasn’t. You did this. You made her choose sides, and she chose wrong. Now she’s dead.”

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

Spinelli opened the door to Elizabeth’s grandmother, still frowning at her arrival. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Hardy. Stone Cold and Fair Elizabeth did not say when they’d be back.”

“It’s all right, darling.” Audrey came in, touched Spinelli’s hand. “I’ll wait however long it takes. I woke to get a glass of water—” She set her purse on the desk, her hand trembling. “And I’d left the television on — oh, it’s so terrible.”

“Yes.” He closed the door behind her. “A terrible tragedy for all.” Spinelli leaned his head against the door. “Stone Cold said it was the same as Georgie. At least they thought so.”

“Georgie was such a lovely girl,” Audrey murmured. She folded her arms, hugging her torso. “Such a light. And Emily—” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Leyla. She was one of the last students I admitted into the program before I retired. She was so smart, so passionate.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Hardy.” Spinelli looked at her. “The Jackal did not realize you knew the other…the other woman.”

“Not well. But I feel for her family. She’ll be lost in this, you understand. Just as Georgie’s poor roommate. Lord, I’ve already forgotten her name—”

“Chelsea. Chelsea Rae.” Spinelli’s smile was wistful. “She was quiet, but tenacious. Loyal. She and Georgie were very close. She wasn’t from Port Charles. She wasn’t the Commissioner’s daughter.”

“And Leyla isn’t a Quartermaine, so she won’t get the press. But I will certainly remember her. I’m so sorry, Spinelli, for your loss.”

“I’m sorry for yours.” Tears stung his eyes. “It seems very unfair for someone to get away with this. Public paths, public parking garages. What kind of demon inflicts this kind of harm?”

“We can only hope that they find him before he hurts someone else.”

Patrick’s Condo: Living Room

Patrick sat in the dark, the light from his television flickering over his face. Robin laid stretched out on the sofa, her eyes closed, red and swollen from crying. The murders were on the news, and it was—

It was surreal to see WKPC reporting live from the hospital, to be standing in front of the place where Patrick spent the majority of his waking hours, discussing the deaths of two unidentified women, though Emily had been speculated about as being connected to the Quartermaines. Irresponsible, Patrick thought bitterly. What other young woman connected to the family was at the hospital?

He thought about Monica Quartermaine being told that her daughter was dead, in a year when she’d already lost her husband. And Leyla’s family getting the call in London—

Two more families mourning daughters who had done nothing but take a walk after dark. How did you let your kids walk around in the world without you?

He’d be finding that out now. In a year, he’d have a kid. Boy or girl. And they’d need to grow up to go to school and work and breathe and how did you do that? How did you bring a life into the world when you knew it would be hard and terrible? He hadn’t wanted that responsibility. Had been terrified of it.

Now it was here. And there wasn’t a thought of letting Robin walk this path alone. He’d loved her enough to let her go when her dream hadn’t been his, and now he was going to love her enough to be part of that dream. He didn’t know how to be a good dad, but he’d learned how to be a good friend and a good boyfriend, hadn’t he? These weren’t skills he’d been born with.

He looked at Robin, who had shifted in her sleep, curling into a fetal position. He loved her enough to try to be what she needed. And maybe she’d be open to making their child live in a bubble. It was worth a shot.

General Hospital: Morgue

The room was a few degrees colder than the hallway. Kept this cool, Elizabeth thought dully, to preserve the bodies until they were transferred to a funeral home for burial or cremation.

She’d only been here once before when Manny Ruiz had dragged her down here and made her hide in a body bag, to smuggle them both out of the hospital without triggering security.

She walked beside Jason as they followed the forensic pathologist to the wall of doors. The man stopped at one and put his hand on the handle. Oh, God. Oh, God. She was in there. She curled her hands into fists so tightly, her nails dug into her palms.

There was a squeak as the doctor pulled the handle out, and it opened —

There she was. Laid out, her skin already taking on the chalk gray of death, blue tinge around her lips. Emily lay there, naked except for the sheet covering her up to the chest. Her shoulders were bare. Her hair pulled back—

Her neck with a long thin, dark line that told the story of her death.

Jason’s voice was low, nearly inaudible. “That’s…that’s her.” He cleared his throat. “Do I need to say her name—”

“No,” Rodriguez said, quietly. Respectfully. He stepped around them so that he was next to the doctor. “That’s all we needed.”

Elizabeth laid a hand on Emily’s chest, the fingers trembling as she absorbed the lack of the heartbeat. The cold of the freezer. The way her skin had lost its softness. She forced herself to look at Emily’s face. At the eyes that were closed — they’d never sparkle with laughter, ignite with fury—she’d never smile again. Her lips would never pinch with disappointment.

This was Emily’s body. The shell of who’d she been in this world, but all the pieces that had made Emily were gone.

“I love you,” Elizabeth said softly. “I will always love you. I will make sure my boys remember their Aunt Emily.” Tears blurred her vision and she had to step back, to turn away.

Beside her, Jason exhaled on a shaky breath.  He leaned down, kissed his sister’s forehead, the way he’d done so many times in life. Then rested his forehead against hers just once more. His baby sister who had clumsily wormed her way back into his life after the accident, becoming one of the bright spots.

He stepped back, looked at the doctor and cop with eyes that didn’t see them. “That’s it. Right? We’re done.”

“We’re done,” Rodriguez said, nodding to the doctor. The drawer closed, and Emily was gone. Out of sight. “Thank you.”

Jason nodded, then turned and left the morgue without another word. Elizabeth, startled by his abrupt exit, didn’t follow for a few moments, but then hurried to catch up before he got on the elevator.

“It never gets easy,” the doctor murmured. “You know, you see him on the news and you forget—”

“He’s a human like the rest of us.”

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

“I came as soon as I got your message.” Robert embraced his brother. “Talk to me. What do you need?”

“I—” Mac sat at the desk, put his head in his hands. “I don’t know how to do this, Robert. I keep just…looking at the next item on the list, but now there’s nothing left. Not tonight. Notifications are done, uniforms are canvassing, medical examiner is coming in the morning to do the autopsy—” He looked at him. “It could have Robin. It was supposed to be her.”

Robert frowned. “What do you mean?”

“She was supposed to leave with Emily tonight at the garage.” Mac rubbed his chin. “She changed her mind at the last minute. Sent Leyla Mir instead. It was my stepdaughter, then my niece.”

“Mac—”

“I’m not saying I think that’s the connection, just that—” he grimaced. “We can’t ignore it.”

“No.”

“I, uh—” Mac cleared his throat. “I called you because—I talked to Floyd. We both agreed that something—I can’t be in charge of the investigation. And after tonight—I didn’t tell Spencer yet, but he’s too close to Emily Quartermaine. He can still work it, but—”

“You need someone who isn’t as tightly connected,” Robert said. “Are you asking me?”

“Special assignment.” Mac smiled grimly. “Yeah, I’m asking you to take charge. Because there’s a serial killer out there, and I don’t think he’s done yet.”

General Hospital: Roof

Jason didn’t send the elevator up two flights to the lobby — but instead for the top floor. He needed air, and he didn’t want to see one more damn cop tonight—

Elizabeth said nothing as he stalked out onto the top story of General Hospital, making his way towards the roof access. She used her security badge to clear it and they both climbed the short access steps.

Once outside, hundreds of feet above the street, with the wind rushing in from the lake — Jason had nowhere else to go.

Nothing else to do. He’d identified his sister. Her broken, empty body. Nothing else he could do for her.

There was a trash can by the metal steps that led up to the helicopter pad level. Jason gripped it in both hands, threw it against the steps, the metal clanging almost satisfactory to his ears. He wanted to hurt something, to destroy it —

He’d felt this rage before, years ago, after the accident, when he’d destroyed Jason Quartermaine’s room and his mother had cried and yelled at him to stop. But there was no room to destroy here. No one to check his anger.

Only Elizabeth, standing by the door with her sad eyes. He looked at her. “I can’t do this. I can’t—I can’t do this. I don’t—” He stopped, shook his head, swallowing the ripple that rose in his throat. “She was just—” He threw the trash can again, and wished there was someone for him to hit.

Abruptly, he dropped down, to sit on the hard concrete roof. His legs slightly bent, he rested his elbows against his thighs. “I can’t do it.”

There was a small, quiet scuffle as Elizabeth sat cross-legged next to him, but she still said nothing. Because what could you say? What was Jason even refusing to do? To grieve? To accept it? The world didn’t care. It would keep turning. Emily would still be dead.

Dead. He was sitting on top of the building where his sister’s dead body was being kept, in the building where she’d been brutally murdered.

He looked at Elizabeth, said nothing. Tears slid down her cheeks, but she made no sound. Didn’t try to touch him. To soothe him. To offer comfort. He wouldn’t have accepted it. He didn’t deserve it.

“I remember the first time I met Emily,” Elizabeth said, and he frowned at that. “At school,” she continued. “I stuck up for her when some other girls were being rude.” Her smile was wistful. “Emily told me once she always knew I’d done it because I wanted to impress Lucky. But that it had given her the courage to stay that day. To keep going to school. It was after she’d come back from rehab,” she added. She took a deep breath. “I loved her so much. Even when she drove me crazy. Even when I wanted to…” She paused. “I think she knew that, right? Just like she knew you loved her. Even when you argued. Even when she did things you didn’t support or understand, she knew you loved her, Jason. I don’t know if that’s going to be enough to get us through this, but she knew we loved her.” Her voice faltered, but she said it again. “She knew we loved her.”

“Yeah.” He felt the tears start to fall, sliding down his chin, dropping from his jaw. “She knew I loved her. After the accident, it was just her and Lila that I could stand. I loved her so much.” He squeezed his eyes closed. “She knew that. I made sure she did, didn’t I?”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth scooted next to him, rested her head on his shoulder. “She knew.”