Written in 58 minutes.

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Harborview Towers: Hallway

Jason approached Sonny’s door with an air of caution. “Hey. Is he up?” he asked Max.

“I…” The guard cleared his throat. “I’m not sure to be honest. I haven’t heard anything, and usually it’s…Mrs. C who lets me know. I didn’t know if I should go in or—” Max paused. “Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine.” Jason twisted the knob, then pushed the door open. The living room didn’t look that much different than when he’d last left it — except Sonny was sitting on the sofa, his head in his hands, each fist clutching pieces of his disheveled dark curls. Jason exhaled slowly, then closed the door behind him.

“Sonny?”

His friend looked over at him, a bit blindly, then slowly got to his feet. “Carly. She’s…she’s not here.”

“No, she’s not.” Jason came around the sofa. “Let’s sit down. We’ll talk about where she is.”

“Is she—I don’t—” Sonny’s eyes were bloodshot, his mouth pinched. But he sat down, stared down at his hands. They were trembling. “Is she okay?”

“She’s all right. She went to stay at one of our safe houses. You don’t remember yesterday?” Jason carefully lowered himself to the coffee table.

“I—” He squinted, looked at Jason. “No. No. I came home. We had a meeting, didn’t we? At the warehouse?”

“Yeah. You came here, and I went to Kelly’s. What happened then?”

“I—” Sonny licked his lips. “I—I don’t know. Why is she at a safehouse? What happened? Did someone hurt her? Did someone get in—”

“You thought you saw Lily on the terrace.”

Sonny’s head whipped around, stared at the terrace. “No. No. Lily’s dead. I know she’s dead. She’s been gone a long time. I know that.” He focused on Jason again. “Don’t I?”

“Yes. You do. But sometimes you forget. Yesterday was one of those days. And you didn’t recognize Carly.” Jason paused. “You tried to find out what she’d done to Lily.”

Sonny pressed the heels of both palms against his eyes. “I hurt her.”

“You shook her. Had her by the wrists. She was upset. Scared. Sonny. Michael was here. With her. He saw it.”

“M-Michael—” Sonny swallowed hard, leaned back against the sofa, rubbing his forehead. “I put my hands on Carly. Michael it. I’m seeing Lily. How is—I don’t understand. Carly’s home. Carly’s home. She’s safe. Why can’t I make that enough?”

Because Ric Lansing had given Sonny one more horror story of a pregnant woman Sonny had failed to keep safe, Jason thought with some bitterness. If not for Ric, none of this would be happening. Sonny wouldn’t be losing touch with reality, Carly wouldn’t have been terrified enough to leave him, Michael wouldn’t spend so much time crying — and Jason could have a life without worrying about the next phone call.

But that wasn’t something Jason could say. Not right now. Ric wasn’t a problem they’d be able to solve overnight, but one way or another, Jason was going to end the psycho’s reign of terror.

“I don’t know,” Jason said finally. “But it has to change. We can’t keep going like this, can we?”

“No. No, we can’t. Tell me what to do.” Sonny sat up, looked at him. “Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

General Hospital: Hospital Room

Emily was sitting in a chair by the window when Elizabeth peeked around the door. “Hey. The nurse at the desk said you’d been cleared for visitors.”

Emily beamed. “I’m being discharged tomorrow. Can you believe it?”

“No, I really can’t.” Elizabeth crossed the room, hugged her lightly, then sat on the edge of the love seat beneath the windows. “You’re in remission. Why can’t you go home today?”

“Oh. Something about my immune system. I can live with another day, especially since I didn’t expect to have any, much less five more weeks. I can finally get on with my life, you know? This has taken over everything, swallowed me whole.” She crossed her hands in her lap, then tipped her head. “You look good. Better than the last time I saw you.”

“Oh, well, the power of makeup, I guess. And a shower. I slept horrible, and I looked it this morning.” Elizabeth twisted her fingers in her lap. “But enough about me—”

“We’ve been talking about me for weeks, babe. It’s your turn. Come on. Are things okay? The divorce? Is there finally movement and that’s why you’re so happy?”

“Oh. I—no.” Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “No. Ric is fighting it. I filed, um, almost three months ago, but he’s just…using all the tricks. Alexis says it’ll be another three months unless he gives up.” She twisted the silver ring around her finger. “You think I look happy?”

“Well, happy might be pushing it. But there’s something, right? Tell me. Please. All I’ve talked about for weeks and months is doom and gloom cancer, you know. Let me have some good news if there’s any to be had.”

Elizabeth hesitated. “Well, I don’t know if it’s good news. Especially with the way the story starts. The night…the night we almost lost you, Jason and I ran into each other in the chapel.”

“I knew it! I knew something was up between you! Jason was all squirrelly and refused to talk about you, and you were all weird—” Emily coughed. “Please continue.”

Elizabeth pursed her lips. “All right. Well, we, um, we spent the night together. And yes, I mean it the way you think.”

Emily’s eyes widened. “Oh. Oh. But—but Jason’s still with Courtney. I don’t—what happened?”

“It’s a long story, and most of it is sad and ridiculous. Jason thought—well, he’d proposed. That was supposed to mean something. So he decided to stay and try with Courtney.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “And I told him it was okay, and wished him happiness.”

“And he was being all weird about the wedding. I guess this is why he was pissed when she was telling me wedding plans about this month, huh?”

“Yeah, I think—and this is speculation—maybe she thought if she went ahead with planning it, she could just…sort of guilt him into it. You know? Maybe I don’t know. Either way, that was a month ago. Jason and I avoided each other. Until yesterday. When Courtney set me up to see them having lunch. He was really unhappy she did that. And then you called, and they argued, and I don’t know — there’s so much that happened.” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Jason came back to Kelly’s last nigh, and we talked. He told me he’s  breaking up with Courtney. That he means it this time.”

“And you said awesome, I love you, let’s be happy?” Emily said hopefully. “Because any other ending is stupid.”

“I said he’s been doing with a lot, and that I believe he means it this time, but maybe he needs some time on his own to really think about what he wants. Away from Courtney. And me.”

Emily slumped again in her chair. “You’re no fun at all.”

“I told him I loved him,” Elizabeth added. “If that helps.”

“A little.” Emily squinted. “So you’re just happy because you think Jason’s going to be single? No. There’s more. There has to be. I refuse to believe this is the ending.”

“Well—there was one more thing. I realized this morning that I was…late.” Elizabeth met Emily’s eyes. “So I went to a drug store and bought a test.” Her best friend’s eyes widened like saucers.

“Shut up. Shut up right now. Except tell me everything. Right now.”

Kelly’s: Dining Room

Across town, Courtney was twirling a spoon in her coffee, half-listening to Bobbie Spencer wheedle and whine to Carly, wanting Carly to leave the safe house and move into the Brownstone.

After leaving Jason the night before, Courtney had intended to pour her heart out to Carly, making sure the other woman knew exactly how Elizabeth Webber had manipulated Jason into leaving her, but then Carly had looked so tired when Courtney arrived that she stopped —

Jason’s words had cut deep, and Courtney was a little ashamed that she had thought first about how miserable Carly was going to make Jason if he broke up with Courtney instead of thinking of how much Carly probably needed Jason right now. She hadn’t used Sonny or Carly to get to Jason, and she was going to prove it by keeping her mouth shut.

“I just think that you’d be so much more comfortable me to look after you. I could take care of Michael.” Bobbie reached for Carly’s hand, squeezed it. “Come home with me, honey. Courtney can…she can stay a few nights,” the redhead said, sending Courtney a hesitant look. “I just—”

“It would be like admitting surrender, Mama. Like really leaving Sonny instead of just taking a break which is all I’m doing right now. He’s sick, you know? He doesn’t mean any of this. He really doesn’t. I love him, and we were so happy last spring. Those last few weeks before—” Carly looked at Courtney. “Remember how happy we were planning the wedding?”

I’m leaving you because I don’t love you, and I’m not sure I ever did.

“Yeah.” Courtney cleared her throat. “Yeah, we were happy.” They had been, and if Jason could just stop thinking about Elizabeth Webber, they could be again. She paused. “I’m sure Jason already has a plan for all of this.” If he’d even bothered to think about Sonny last night, she thought bitterly.

“I’m sure he does,” Bobbie said. “But—” She pressed her fist to her mouth. “Oh, I’m just so angry at Scott. For not immediately arresting Ric Lansing. For hiring him! They had everything they needed — your testimony, Michael and Elizabeth as witnesses—” She let her fist fall to the table with a thud that rattled the silverware and utensils. “Damn it. How could he work with that psycho? Who would ever work with him?”

“Maybe Scott had a good reason,” Courtney said, and Carly looked at her sharply. “Well, you know, maybe there’s something Ric can get him—”

“Sonny,” Carly said. “That’s what Scotty wants. He wants Sonny’s head on a stick, he always has. He thinks Ric is the key. But putting him in power—letting him out in the world—how could anyone think he can be trusted? Much less working in the system? It’s not like it’s his word against mine. It’s his own wife’s—”

Elizabeth again. She was everywhere damn it. Courtney tensed. “Well, maybe that’s the problem. You weren’t there to interview. Michael’s just a traumatized child. And Elizabeth, well, you know, it’s not she’s the most reliable witness.”

Carly stared at Courtney as if she’d grown as second head. “What are you talking about? She’s his wife. She found me. She knew exactly how to get into the panic room. No, Scott had everything he needed, but getting revenge was more important. It makes me sick, Mama,” she said to her mother, her voice thick now. “To think him out in the world, just walking around like he isn’t evil. Everything he put me through, what he’s done to Sonny—”

“Scott’s done a lot of underhanded things in his life, but I made it clear to him that anyone who works with Ric Lansing, anyone who treats him like a human being and not a vile monster — they’re dead to me.” Bobbie touched Carly’s shoulder. “Honey—”

“You know—” Courtney started, then narrowed her eyes when Elizabeth emerged from the back of the kitchen, tying an apron around her waist. Their eyes met, and Elizabeth arched one brow before heading over to the register.

Carly followed Courtney’s hot eyes, then turned back to her. “Did you and Elizabeth have a fight or something?”

“I’ve lost my appetite,” Courtney muttered, tossing the napkin on the table. She shoved the chair back, and headed for the door.

Kelly’s: Parking Lot

No sooner had Courtney’s car turned the corner from Elm Street to Central Avenue than a motorcycle came around the other corner and pulled in the lot. Jason switched off the engine, headed for the courtyard, eager to find Elizabeth—

But he hesitated when he saw Carly and Bobbie at the table inside. He nearly stepped back, thinking he’d come return later, but then Carly caught his eye, smiled. He tugged on the handle.

“Hey.” Jason noted the third table setting. “Is—Is Courtney here?”

“Oh, you just missed her. She left maybe a minute or two ago. You probably passed her on the road.” Carly missed Jason’s relieved look when she looked back at her plate, but Bobbie didn’t. He sat in the seat Courtney had vacated.

“How are you doing?” Jason wanted to know.

“I’m okay. I’ve got my mother.” Carly squeezed Bobbie’s hand, exchanging a smile with her, before she refocused on Jason. “Have you seen Sonny?”

“I talked to him before I came here. He doesn’t remember anything, but I told him what happened. He’s…upset. Sorry for what he did. And he agreed with me that we can’t keep going on like this. Michael can’t keep doing it, and you—” He nodded at her rounded belly. “Neither you or the baby can either.”

“And you can’t either. I know Sonny and I have been a lot to deal with lately. You and Courtney seem so unhappy, and I hate that I’ve done this to you.” Carly’s eyes watered, and Jason realized Courtney hadn’t carried out her threat. Small favors. “I’m sorry. We were just talking about Ric working at the DA’s office, and how awful it is.”

“I’ll campaign for anyone who runs again Scott in the next election,” Bobbie said caustically. “I’m so furious.”

“But Ric’s not the problem right now. Sonny wants to get help?” Carly asked. “I’m so glad. I’m relieved.”

“It was a rock bottom moment for him. But maybe if I’d pushed earlier—” Jason shook his head. No point in wondering that. “I’m looking into a few options, but for right now, Sonny and I both agreed—and I hope you do, too,  that you should stay away.”

“With me,” Bobbie argued. “She should be with me.”

“No, the house is fine. It’s temporary.” Carly nodded. “It’s temporary. I’m going home to Sonny, and everything will be just like it was before. We’ll all be happy again.”

“Let’s just get through the first part,” Jason told her. He saw Elizabeth behind the counter, caught her eye. “I’m going to get some coffee and head back to the warehouse, okay?”

“Okay. I love you, Jason. I know I’m a giant pain in the ass, but I couldn’t live without you, you know that, don’t you?”

“Yeah. I know.” He touched Bobbie’s shoulder, then went to the counter. He lowered his voice. “Hey.”

Elizabeth smiled, a bit cautiously. “Hey.”

“I need a coffee to go, and to know when your break is. If we could talk.” Jason paused. “Because I ended it. Like I said I would.”

Her lips parted. “Oh. You—you. My break is right now. Penny will cover for me. She owes me. I’ll get the coffee and meet you in the alley.”

Kelly’s: Alley

A few minutes later, Elizabeth pushed the metal door open and stepped out into the alley just as Jason came around the corner. They stared at each other for a long moment, before she stepped forward. “A little different than the last time we stood out here, I guess, huh?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” He reached for her hand, his thumb stroking along her knuckles. “I wanted to come back after closing. Tonight. To talk. To just…see you. I know you said we needed time, and I get it, but—”

“No, after closing is good.” Elizabeth looked up, met his eyes with a little trepidation, then smiled. “We should talk. We have to.”

Jason tipped his eyed, squinting slightly. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Nothing,” she repeated when he tugged her forward another inch. “I promise. We can talk about it later. I shouldn’t have said anything, except we—”  She broke off when he brushed the back of his hand against her cheek. “Oh, I can’t think when you do that.”

“Tell me what’s going on. Why do we have to talk? Did something happen?”

She shouldn’t do this now. Not like this, not here. Not on a ten minutes break. But he was looking at her with those eyes, his voice low and soft, and he’d broken up with Courtney — she couldn’t stop herself.

“I’m pregnant.”

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