Written in 52 minutes.

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General Hospital: Elizabeth’s Room

“What just happened? What just—” Elizabeth fumbled with her one good hand for the control for the bed, wincing as she raised herself to a slightly sitting position. “Gram—”

“Darling, let’s just—” Audrey took the seat Jason had vacated, her hands trembling. “Let’s just take a minute—”

Mike reappeared in the doorway, Bobbie on his heels, both of them grim-faced. “They’re gone.  What the hell can Scott and Mac be thinking?” he demanded. “Jason wouldn’t have done this—”

“He’s gone too far. Too far—” Bobbie fisted her hands at her side. “He’s probably trying to get Jason to flip on Sonny, because God forbid we do any investigation—”

“I don’t understand. Gram—why did they arrest him? Why—”

“He said there were witnesses,” Bobbie bit out. “When he got to the waiting room. Well, those witnesses are full of shit. I’ve a witness, damn it. I was with Jason for over an hour before we got to Kelly’s—I was with him when we heard the damn gunshots—” She pressed her hands to her mouth, closed her eyes. “Oh, God. Oh, God. What’s happening? Why is this happening?”

Mike went to her side, and Audrey just gripped Elizabeth’s hand more tightly. “We’ll get to the bottom of this darling,” she promised. “Whatever evidence Scotty thinks he has, it surely won’t take them long to learn it’s faulty. Jason would never put you or your child in danger.”

Elizabeth winced, closed her eyes. “Oh, God. Everyone knows?” Her head started to ache. “I don’t even understand what’s going on.”

“Don’t you worry about a thing,” Mike told her, patting the top of the covers. “You either, Audrey. We’ll get Jason’s lawyer and he’ll be out in no time.”

For just a few minutes in the alley that day, her world had seemed perfect. She was pregnant and the man she loved was excited to become a father.

It seemed so far away now.

PCPD: Squad Room

The entire room was quiet as Capelli directed Jason through the double doors of the entryway towards the interrogation room. Jason’s expression was as stone-faced as ever, though there were some evidence of his sleepless night in the disheveled nature of his hair and the weariness in his eyes.

But most of the cops weren’t interested in looking that deep. All they ever saw when they looked at Jason was a killer who’d gotten away with his crimes for far too long.

Capelli settled Jason at the table, locking the handcuffs to the table. “Someone will be right with you.”

“I’m not talking to anyone without a lawyer,” Jason said flatly, his eyes trained on the table below. “So there’s no point.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that one before.” Capelli closed the door to the interrogation room, then joined Mac and Scott across the room. “What do you want to do now?”

“Let him stew for a little bit,” Scott said. “Make him wonder why we think we have enough for an arrest.”

“If this comes out wrong—” Mac slapped the file against Scott’s chest. “You’re the one going down for this, you know that, don’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

General Hospital: Hallway

Courtney edged around the corner, made a face when she realized there was an officer on Ric’s door. Why couldn’t anything ever go her way?

She’d spent half the night at the PCPD, telling her story with the least amount of details, not even sure that Mac or Capelli were believing a word she’d said. But then she’d seen Jason being marched through the lobby of the hospital in handcuffs, so they must have believed it enough to act.

Now she just had to make sure that she tracked down anything that could go wrong, and unfortunately, the list was long. It wasn’t easy to frame someone after the fact, Courtney thought, with some irritation.

How did she get the cop to leave the room long enough for her to get in and make sure he was gone long enough for to also make her escape?

She went back to the nurse’s station and stood at the counter for a long moment. She couldn’t get the cop to leave by crying for help herself — everyone knew who she was. If only she could find away for an unrelated person in the area to need a cop—

She watched the people in the waiting area for a while, pondering her options, and finally, after nearly twenty minutes, she saw her chance. An older lady rose and headed down the hallway — leaving her handbag behind.

Courtney waited an extra beat before hurrying over to the area, snatching the purse, then shoving it under the sofa. Then, she followed the lady, caught up to her relatively quickly. “Ma’am, ma’am?”

“Oh, yes?” The woman turned, smiled faintly. “Can I help you?”

“I was going to tell you—you left your purse back in that waiting area, but before I could grab it and bring it to you, someone else ran off with it.” Courtney widened her eyes. “I think he headed for service stairs!”

The woman gasped, felt her arm where the strap should be. “Oh, oh, I need security! Oh!”

“I thought I saw a cop around the corner! Why don’t you go check and I’ll go to the desk to get security?” Courtney suggested. She waited for the woman to rush off, then headed into the hallway that fed into another hallway where she could approach Ric’s room from the other side.

She grinned when she saw the cop leave his post. Finally. Time for Step 2.

General Hospital: Hallway

“No, no, you’re doing everything you can, Leticia.” Bobbie sighed, turning away just as the cop a few doors down left the room he’d been guarding. By the time Courtney had snuck around the corner, Bobbie was staring in the opposite direction, listening to her grandson’s nanny on the other end of the line and never saw her go inside the room where Ric was recovering from his own surgery.

“No, I don’t think we’ll be able to rely on Mr. Corinthos right now. And well, I understand Jason’s the emergency contact, but—” Bobbie nodded. “Okay. I’ll stop by later. And keep you in the loop.”

She clapped her phone closed, and looked at Mike stepping outside of the room. “Was Audrey able to get Elizabeth settled?”

“Yeah, she’s going to get something to sleep. I don’t like this, Bobbie, I don’t like this at all.” Mike shook his head. “How could anyone think Jason would do this?”

“Scotty only saw a link to Sonny and that’s all he cares out,” Bobbie said bitterly. “My mistake was not raising holy hell when he hired Ric Lansing.” She looked at Mike. “I don’t know how much you know about what’s been happening since this summer, but—”

“I know you and Jason were together talking about doctors for my son,” Mike said, pitching his voice lower. “And I know that when I went to the Towers last night, that guard told me Sonny had been sedated but that things had been difficult earlier.” He paused. “That Sonny had gone missing, but that he’d turned up.”

“Oh, God.” Bobbie dragged her hands through her hair, stared blindly down the hall. “He did it. He had to have done it. He was in the middle of one of his episodes, and he thought Ric was a danger.” She looked back to Mike. “Does Jason know?”

“He knows what I know, yeah. At that point, he was willing to let it sit while he waited to find out how Carly was. What Elizabeth would be dealing with.” He paused. “Jason was adamant that he be here when she woke up. He didn’t her to hear from some doctor about the possibility of nerve damage. But I don’t know what, if anything, he planned after that.”

“Probably nothing.” Bobbie stared down at the phone in her hand. “Even if we turned Sonny over now, it wouldn’t be proof. They said there were witnesses. As much as I want to throw Sonny to the wolves—”

“We’d better wait for Jason before we make any moves. And not do something we can’t take back. But we have to get him out of there—”

“What we need is someone who knows the lay of the land and won’t have a problem playing a little dirty politics.” Bobbie looked at Mike. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“I’m thinking how fast is the flight from Philly?”

PCPD: Interrogation Room

Scott stepped inside the room, then closed the door behind him. Then he set the file on the table and took a seat, finally lifting his gaze to Jason’s.

The anger radiated so visibly from Jason’s broad frame that the younger man was practically vibrating—and the hatred and fury banked in his blue eyes made Scott visibly uncomfortable. He cleared his throat, shifted in his seat.

“Let’s get started.” Scott flipped open the file. “Where were you last night around ten-thirty—”

Jason leaned forward and only said one word. “Lawyer.”

General Hospital: Ric’s Room

Courtney leaned against the back of the door, took a deep breath. “Okay, I only have maybe five minutes so let’s make it clear.”

Ric, already sitting up, a plastic cup in his hand, frowned at her. “What are you doing in here? You playing messenger for your damn brother, trying to finish the job?”

“Believe me, Ric, the last thing you want is for me to tell people what I actually know. I backed your story up to the cops.”

“My—” Ric’s eyes went cool. “Are you wearing a wire?”

“I told them that I was there last night. That I saw it. That Jason shot you, accidentally hit Liz and Carly, and gave me the gun to hide.” Her lips twitched. “Isn’t it lucky for you that I ran into the real shooter and got my hands on the incriminating gun?”

“What’s your game here?” Ric demanded.

“Look, we don’t have a lot of time because I also have to avoid Bobbie and Mike because, of course, Elizabeth would be recovering just down the hall. And of course that bitch is still pregnant, because why not? Why wouldn’t she take everything from me?”

Ric opened his mouth, then closed it. “I’m lost.”

“You can either play along and get some real revenge—and help me get the same— or you can tell them the truth, watch Sonny get locked up in the loony bin while Jason and Elizabeth get to walk away like nothing happened.” Courtney raised a brow. “What it’s going to be?”

PCPD: Squad Room

Scott nodded, jabbed a finger at Jason. “Good. Good. You keep being smart, and maybe this will go the way it should. So don’t talk until we get you someone. Is Bobbie already calling or should I get the public defender’s office on the line?”

Jason didn’t even have a lawyer to call, but he was almost sure that Mike and Bobbie would have someone down here, and then this circus would be over. How could anyone think he was responsible for what happened? Did they think he was stupid enough to open fire with so many people around?

Did they think he was too damaged to realize that bullets would ricochet in that tiny enclosed courtyard?

Whatever they thought, Jason didn’t care. A lawyer would show up, slap Bobbie’s witness statement in front of them, and then Jason could focus on what was next. Handling Sonny, making sure Carly had what she needed to wake up, and most importantly, flying in as many nerve specialists as it took to restore Elizabeth’s hand to perfect use.

Anything not on that list didn’t matter to him, so Jason leaned back and prepared to ignore whatever Scott would say next.

And then Scott started talking, and suddenly had Jason’s full attention.

“I’m sorry about this, I am. It had to be this way, though I get that you don’t see that right now. But we know you didn’t do this. We being me, Mac, and Capelli. I believe Bobbie. You were with her the whole night, with her when you heard the shots. I know you didn’t do this, and maybe you do. We can talk about that if you want. But here’s what I do know.”

Scott hesitated. “I made a mistake this summer. I believed the wrong person. I believed Lansing when he said his wife was being vindictive and telling stories. Hell, maybe I just told myself I believed him,” Scott murmured, more to himself. “I thought Lansing could finally get me the Holy Grail, that I’d finally get to see Sonny go down like the rat he is. But I didn’t think about Carly. And I sure as hell didn’t think about Elizabeth.”

Why was Scott saying any of this? Jason squinted, but said nothing.

“I think part of me believed him all the way up until last night. I went to him after his surgery. And when he woke up, he looked at me, and he told me you’d shot him. That it was you.”

Jason pressed his lips together. Ric had identified him. Okay. That made it slightly more sticky. Carly was in a coma and Elizabeth didn’t remember anything. It had been a risk for Ric, but he’d banked on being the only survivor without a head wound. But one witness wasn’t enough. It couldn’t be—

“I didn’t have a reason to doubt him, but it just—” Scott shook his head. “It felt wrong. You know? My gut said it wasn’t right. I was still thinking it through in my head, running it past Mac and Capelli, trying to understand the story even though it didn’t match the evidence—and then Courtney told us the same thing.”

Jason knew he couldn’t hide the reaction to that news. He jerked slightly, sat up, shook his head. Scott nodded grimly. “Yeah. That’s what I figured. So that’s why it had to be this way. I know they’re lying. But I can’t prove it. That’s where you come in.”

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