Written in 56 minutes.

---

Forest Hill House: Porch

Leticia Juarez’s gaze was still slightly unfocused, pulled from sleep by the knock at the front door. She remained in the doorway, not giving any indication that she intended to let either Mac or Capelli inside.

“Ms. Juarez,” Mac began, “we just want to confirm what time Carly left here. That’s all. I don’t need to come inside—”

“Why are you here?”

The voice came not from the bewildered nanny but behind them, from the front walk. Mac turned, and Capelli took a few steps towards the edge of the porch. Courtney stood there, at the base of stairs.

“Where’s Carly?” she asked. “Why are you here? Leticia—”

“They say Mrs. Corinthos has been shot,” Leticia said when Courtney joined her at the doorway.

“We were going to look for you next, to ask you some questions—”

“Carly’s been shot?” Courtney pressed a hand to her mouth. “By who? When? Where? Is she at the hospital—why didn’t anyone call me?”

“We’ve been trying to track down Sonny all night. Maybe you can get us in—” Capelli began but Courtney cut him off with a slice of her hand across her chest.

“No, you answer my questions first, damn it! Where’s my sister-in-law?”

“In surgery. It happened at Kelly’s,” Mac said, hesitated. He didn’t believe Courtney was involved, other than needing to be crossed off the list. “Carly was shot, and so were Ric Lansing and Elizabeth Webber.”

The blonde’s eyes bulged at that and she looked away for a minute, took a deep breath before returning her gaze to Mac. “Are they alive?”

“Last I heard, yeah. But we have just as many questions as you do.”

“Well, I don’t have any answers for you. So why don’t you go ask someone who can tell you something?” Courtney turned to the nanny. “Stay with Michael. I’m going to find out what’s going on.”

General Hospital: Hospital Room

The night continued to crawl by in excruciating seconds, minutes, and hours. Carly remained in surgery and would for several more hours. It was delicate work repairing the damage done by the bullet to her head, and they wouldn’t know anything until closer to dawn. Elizabeth had fallen asleep after their brief conversation, a more natural rest.

Jason only left her side briefly to allow Audrey some time, and to check on Bobbie. To talk to Leticia, assured that Michael was safe. He spoke briefly to Max — Sonny was at the Towers. He’d just showed up. No one knew if he’d left the building or when he’d returned. But he was locked up tight, and no one would leave the door again.

He couldn’t find the room to think about what happened next, if he should tel the police about Sonny or find another way out. It went against everything he believed in to turn Sonny over to the police, particularly when he knew the cops wouldn’t care about a mental health crisis.

Though right now, watching Elizabeth sleep, knowing he’d have to tell her there’d be possible nerve damage and that their baby, this precious gift that they’d barely begun to appreciate, might not survive—Jason was finding it hard to care about the mental health of the man who’d put her in this bed. Or was responsible for the bullet in Carly’s head that might take her life, and leave her children without a mother.

It was too awful, too painful to think about, so he didn’t. He shut it down and put it away, and sat next to Elizabeth, making a promise that he’d never leave her again.

General Hospital: Surgical Waiting Room

Bobbie accepted the coffee that Felicia handed her, wrapping her hands around the plastic thermos that her friend had brought from home. She’d brought a second one for Audrey, though it remained untouched on the table next to her.

“This is so awful,” Felicia said, sitting in the chair across from Bobbie. She readjusted the hair clip in her messy blonde hair, then smoothed a hand down her neck. “How are you both holding up?”

“No news is good news,” Bobbie said. She sipped the coffee, letting it soothe her throat, sore and tired from crying. “As long as she’s in surgery, there’s hope.”

“I’ve failed so terribly,” Audrey murmured. Both women looked at her. “I let her drift away from me. Just as I let my Tommy drift. What kind of mother am I? What kind of grandmother?”

“Tommy drifted all on his own, Audrey. The phone works both ways,” Felicia reminded her. “That one isn’t your fault.”

“But Elizabeth is,” Bobbie said flatly. Then she closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. This isn’t your fault, Audrey—”

“To walk in here tonight, to learn that my granddaughter had been married to a monster I encouraged her to be with—that she’s pregnant and wouldn’t tell me—”

Felicia’s brows shot up, and Bobbie winced. “Audrey, they—well, maybe it’s useless now. But they were going to keep that quiet. Jason only told me because—well, I suppose he wanted to tell someone.”

“Jason and—” Felicia pursed her lips, absorbed that. “What’s this about Ric?”

Briefly, Bobbie filled her friend in on the basic details, watching her blue eyes widen until it was nearly comically, and Audrey’s face lost what little color had returned.

“I don’t understand, he works for the DA’s office now,” Felicia said slowly. “How could they—how could Scotty do this?”

“He thought it was his ticket to finally gaining power over Sonny,” Bobbie said bitterly. “What did my daughter matter? What did Elizabeth matter? Not when they could finally throw Sonny or Jason in jail.” Her eyes filled again and she put her head in her hands. “I was so scared for so long, and I thought I had her back, but instead, she might be lost forever.”

Audrey put an arm around Bobbie’s shoulder, tucked her in. “Carly’s strong, Bobbie. You know this. As you said, no news is good news. Your daughter will recover, your grandson will be born, and you will have them both to spoil. And I—” She took a deep breath. “I will have a great-grandchild to love. It will be so lovely to share that with Lila. She’s so fond of Jason. What’s done is done. We must look forward. I’ve made my mistakes. My judgments. It ends tonight.” She looked at the clock, noting it was just after four. “It ends this morning,” she corrected.

Harborview Towers: Lobby

Mike slapped his hand against the front desk. “What do you mean you won’t wake him up! Didn’t you hear what I said?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Corbin.” The man swallowed hard. “But I have strict instructions—”

“I’m going upstairs, and if you want to stop me—” Mike started towards the bank of elevators, but they opened before they reached them. Max jogged out, his eyes rimmed red with exhaustion.

“Mr. Corbin. Hey. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I had to get someone to cover the door. Let’s talk.” Max gestured towards a grouping of sofas and furniture. “Jason told me to talk to you, so I’m talking.”

“I don’t want—” Mike broke off. “You’ve spoken to Jason.”

“That was part of the wait. I had to call him. See what he wanted me to do. You’re Mr. C’s dad, you know? I didn’t want to just let you sit here or send you away. It’s not cool.” Max hesitated. “Jason said you know that Mr. C’s not well.”

Mike closed his mouth, exhaled slowly. “Did he have problems tonight?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Bad ones. I had to sedate him. That’s why you can’t come up. There’s no reason. He’s not gonna wake up until morning, you know?” Max rubbed his chest. “And no one’s saying it, but we lost Sonny for a little while earlier. We found him, but we just—we don’t know.”

“Christ. You’re saying it might have been—” Mike turned away for a minute, absorbed that. “Okay. Okay. Yeah. That’s fine. I’ll talk to Jason in the morning.”

General Hospital: Hospital Room

Jason didn’t know when he’d closed his eyes, didn’t remember falling asleep, but when he heard his name being spoken, he jerked awake and sat straight up.

Elizabeth’s head was turned toward him, her eyes open. “I didn’t…mean to wake you. I just…” Her lashes fluttered. “I woke up. I saw you—”

“It’s okay. It’s okay.” He came forward on the chair, sitting on the edge, raising her injured hand to his lips, kissing the inside of her palm. “I’ll get a doctor. Are you in pain?”

“No…” Her voice was soft, almost floating. “No. Numb. What…happened?”

“What do you remember?” he asked carefully.

“Kelly’s.” Another flutter of her lashes, then her eyes focused on his, some of the glaze fading. “Carly. We talked. Then…Ric came. Did he—” Her voice broke. “I can’t move my arm. What did he do? I don’t—I don’t remember anything. The baby—”

“Is fine,” Jason finished. “Can you hear that sound over there—”

She closed her eyes. “The beeping. Yes.”

“That’s your heart. The faster one is the baby. Okay?”

“Okay.” Elizabeth swallowed hard. “What did Ric do? Where’s Carly?” Her voice was stronger now.

“Carly’s in surgery. I don’t know what happened. You’d—you’d all been shot by the time we got there. You were shot in the shoulder. But you’re going to be okay.”

“All of us—” She pinched her brows together. “What? Who—”

“The police don’t know yet,” Jason said, which was the truth. He didn’t want to burden her yet with information he hadn’t confirmed. “It’s okay. Let me go get a doctor. All right? Just rest.” He kissed her hand again. “I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

General Hospital: Hallway

“Scott. Hey.” Mac got up from the bench as the district attorney approached them. “Did you hear back from the state yet about a special prosecutor?”

“No. No. But it’s only six in the morning, so—” Scott dragged a hand down his face. “We get the report in from the crime scene guys?”

“Nothing definitive, but none of our theories are ruled out, so there’s that.” Mac sighed. “We couldn’t get in to see Sonny, though I’m not surprised by that. Courtney said she didn’t know anything. She show up here?”

“Not yet. I’ve been keeping a list of who goes up to surgery—” Scott glanced down at his notepad. “So far it’s just Morgan, Bobbie, Audrey, and you know Felicia joined them about two hours ago.”

“No Courtney or Sonny. Weird,” Capelli said. “Did you get confirmation from Morgan about the baby?”

“More or less, yeah. Audrey Hardy didn’t know anything, and Bobbie let it slip, so I think it was something they were keeping quiet. Which, yeah, that tracks if Morgan’s father.”

“Bet the fiancee doesn’t know,” Mac said. “She didn’t seem to have a reaction when we talked to her at Carly’s. So we don’t know anything new?”

Scott hesitated. “I wouldn’t say that—uh, Ric woke up for a little while. He…told me it was Morgan. Tried to kill Ric, and the women were accidents.”

“Ric—” Mac closed his mouth, just stared for a minute. “Are you serious?”

“It fits the theory of Ric being the target,” Capelli pointed out, but Mac just shot him a dirty look. “Well, it does.”

“Yeah, but—” Scott began, but he was cut off when he heard someone calling out Mac’s name behind them. Courtney was there, likely having just turned the corner.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t—” she inhaled sharply, tears glimmering in her blue eyes. “I didn’t know what to do. I can’t live with this anymore.”

“Can’t live with—” Scott stopped, looked at her hands. At the towel-wrapped item she held. “What is that?”

“I was there. Tonight. At Kelly’s.” Courtney sucked in a sob. “He told me to leave. He gave me this and told me to hide it, so no one would know. I didn’t know Carly was hurt. I thought she fell. I didn’t know. So I went to get it, and I knew I had to give it to you, but you have to believe me, it was an accident, okay?”

“What was an accident?” Mac prompted.

“He just hates him so much! He’d never hurt Carly or Elizabeth, but—” Courtney’s lips trembled. “Jason just hates Ric more anything.”

← Flash Fiction: Chain Reaction – Part 23 | Flash Fiction: Chain Reaction – Part 25 →