Jason left the surly oncologist behind in his office after having been tested for a bone marrow match and went to find Elizabeth or his sister.

He found the latter in the nurse’s hub, clicking furiously at a computer station. When he cleared his throat, she jerked her head up and Jason frowned at her reddened eyes and tear stained cheeks.

“Em—”

“Elizabeth told me—” Emily threw her arms around his neck and held him tight. “I can’t believe this! I wasted hours convincing Lucky to come in, trying to get Laura to fly in from Paris—”

“I know.” Jason drew back. “I just got tested—”

“I wish I weren’t adopted,” Emily muttered. “But I called Dad, and he’s getting the grapevine going. Grandfather is excited for another—don’t give me that look, Jase—under normal circumstances, we could have held off telling anyone but—”

“I know, I know. I guess…” Jason shook his head. “I haven’t really taken it in. Where did—”

“She’s meeting with Alexis. Apparently, the hospital is trying to head off a law suit.” Emily bit her lip. “But Jason…I don’t think it was just a mistake.”

Jason tipped his head. “What do you mean? Did that lab tech—”

“No, listen…” Emily bit her lip. “When this all happened, you know Elizabeth told me. I think I was the only other person who knew, right? So when the results came back, I was so disappointed, I sent the results to the lab again—”

Jason frowned. “Then maybe this time it’s a mistake—”

“No, Brad ran it three times—Liz told me—and he’s good at his job. The paternity tests are always run twice as a matter of a policy. So if Brad ran it three times, he actually ran it six times.”

“So if you sent the test back again—” Jason exhaled slowly. “Someone in the lab had to have changed it manually. I don’t understand why anyone would do that—” Something clicked in his head, but he couldn’t quite make it work. Couldn’t figure out why he thought he knew what had happened. It was if he couldn’t quite remember something.

“The only people who knew Elizabeth was pregnant were you and me—we were the only one who knew about the test—” Jason stopped. “Are the lab samples tagged with names?”

“No, but it’s not hard to find out—” Emily twisted a screen to show something to him. “I still have access to the lab mainframe because I did a course there during my intern year. I didn’t have access then or I would have—” She grimaced. “Look—”

Jason shook his head. “What am I—it just looks like a test—”

“You can see where lab results were modified after being created. See this date here? This employee code and initials?” Emily tapped the screen. “Before Brad took over and increased security, a lot of the lab techs used to look up the files of any test marked urgent or given priority.” She sighed. “And your test was given priority because—”

“Because Elizabeth asked her doctor to get the test back as soon as possible because of the divorce, and Kelly is her friend.” Jason exhaled slowly. “So anyone who looked up the names involved—but—” He closed his eyes. “Courtney.”

“Her best friend was Michelle Glenn. She quit like three months later, remember? She and Courtney both moved to Buffalo after you guys broke up. Probably because she knew if this ever came to light, she’d be fired. All she had to do was see your name—”

“And she told Courtney.” Jason scowled. “And that’s why she called me after we got the tests back. We were arguing because she didn’t want kids, and I did. She—” He hesitated. “Anyway, she said she’d changed her mind.”

“But you turned her down, thank God.” Emily sighed. “You know that Dad is going to file charges.”

“Charges?” Jason shook his head. “Look, if it wasn’t a hospital screw up, then I don’t think—”

“Jase, this woman cost you three years with you Jake—and the hospital is going to go after her anyway. They have to, to make an example of her.” Emily blanked out the screen. “Jason—”

“I didn’t lose—” Jason waited a moment, tried to collect himself. “I’ve been there for Jake. For both of them—”

“You know it’s not the same. You’ve been amazing for them, but I’ve watched you get agitated when Elizabeth dated anyone longer than five minutes. If she married again—”

“I get it, Em. But that’s over now.” He shook his head. “And we’ve got bigger problems. Jake is sick. That comes first. If Dad wants to go after Michelle for any of this, then I guess that’d be his right. She was his employee. But I have to worry about Jake right now.”

“I know, Jase. And you know if you need anything from any of us—the Quartermaines are insane, but we stick together. Dad said that he’d collect all the blood relatives in the city limits within twenty-four hours, and you know how he gets.”

“Yeah.” Jason saw Elizabeth stepping off the elevator, followed by the hospital’s lawyer, Alexis Davis. “Hey—”

“Hey.” Elizabeth sighed, shoving her hair out of her face. Wordlessly, Emily handed her a hair tie from her pocket, and the brunette shoved her hair into a messy ponytail piled on top of her head. “Alexis talked to the lab, and—”

“My ex-girlfriend had a friend working in the lab,” Jason said with some bitterness.

“She broke protocol,” Alexis murmured. “Lab technicians shouldn’t be able to access any private information about the samples, but—”

“Well, she did,” Elizabeth said flatly. “They’re going to press charges, and I told them it was fine with me,” She lifted her chin. “And I bet when Lucky finds out that he was on the hook for child support he didn’t have to pay, he’ll probably go after her for theft.”

Emily snorted. “He’d have to pay the child support for it to be theft,” she muttered.

“So what’s next?” Jason asked, but before any of them could answer the question, the elevator doors slid open again and Silas Clay stepped out, paperwork in his hands.

Elizabeth took Jason’s arm, the color leeching from her face. “He must have Jake’s test results. It’s too soon to know if you’re a match.”

Jason put an arm around her shoulder and they waited for the doctor to join them.

+3