Written in 59 minutes.

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Corinthos & Morgan Warehouse: Office

“Hey. Thanks for squeezing me in.” Justus closed the door behind him, and set his briefcase on the ground. “How’s it going here? Any luck finding the gun?”

“No. Nothing at all.” Jason rose to his feet, relieved to be shoving away the paperwork that had piled up over the week. “Our guys have been over every alley between Kelly’s and the Towers, and I know the PCPD has looked, too, just to cover themselves. Nothing.”

Justus grimaced, folded his arms. “Do we think Sonny’s remembering something that didn’t happen? That maybe he was there and thinks he did it?”

Jason leaned against the edge of the desk. He’d thought of nothing else since the night they’d signed Sonny into Rose Lawn. Three long days of hoping the gun would show up, but— “There were days between the shooting and when we started looking. Rain could have washed it into the sewers. Someone could have picked it up. Not finding it doesn’t tell us anything.”

His cousin tipped his head. “You’re leaning towards believing Sonny, then. What about Alcazar?”

“Alcazar doing that shooting the way he did, it doesn’t add up for me. I don’t see a reason for him to do that. I could see him trying to use it,” Jason said. “Me or Sonny goes down for it, either way, it’s in chaos. And he couldn’t have known—” He looked down at the planks of the office floor.

“Unless he was working with Lansing, he couldn’t have known Ric would name you as the shooter or that Courtney would back it up,” Justus finished grimly. “But once you were arrested, you think Alcazar wanted to make sure you’d stay locked up, so—”

“So he arranged for the witnesses to disappear. Ric could be dead already for all we know, and Alcazar’s just waiting for a way to pin that on me. It’s convoluted, and I don’t like any of this. I don’t know what he’s doing, I haven’t understood since he showed up here,” Jason muttered. “He kidnapped Carly from the panic room, took her to Venezuela, then just let her go? He knew she was in there all along. He could have stolen her away at any point, and he didn’t. He waited until we were coming to rescue her.”

Justus squinted. “And then just…let her go.”

“Claimed he cared about her. Treated her well—like he knew it would drive Sonny crazy.” Jason’s mouth was set in grim lines. “And it did. Sonny was paranoid with jealousy. Most of the time, he could get it under control, but they fought nearly every night after we brought her home. For weeks. It just got worse and worse, until—”

“Until he was hallucinating Lily and losing complete grasp on time and reality. How the hell did Lorenzo Alcazar know how to play Sonny so well?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t know if I care at this point. I’m going out to Rose Lawn in the morning to convince Sonny to stay there longer. We’re on day three,” he reminded Justus. “But he’s out of the way there, and under security. I don’t have to worry about him. I can focus on what’s going on here.”

“Well, until Alcazar or whoever is behind this makes another move, we’re stalled. Baldwin dropped your charges, so you don’t have that hanging over your head. I’m working up a full background check on the Alcazar brothers. I know your priority has to be Elizabeth, Carly, and the kids, and that’s where it should stay,” Justus told Jason. “I came here to help, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

There was a light knock at the door, and then Max edged around the corner. “Uh, Mike’s out here. Hoped you’d have a minute.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Let him in.”

A moment later, Sonny and Courtney’s father entered, his expression worn, fatigue lining his mouth and the set of his eyes. “Jason, Justus—” He nodded at the lawyer, then tugged on his ear. “I was, uh, hoping there was an update on Michael.”

“Nothing yet. I’m going out to see him tomorrow. You could come,” Jason offered, and Mike nodded, almost faintly.

“Yeah. Yeah, I want—I want that. Uh—” He rubbed his chest. “I—I thought—I thought maybe I could clear whatever Courtney left at the penthouse if that’s okay. I’m sure—I’m sure you don’t want any of that—”

“Mike—” Jason made eye contact with Justus, and his cousin nodded, then slipped out of the room. “There’s no hurry on any of that. With Sonny and the kids not at the Towers, I’m not there either. You just—none of that has to be done now. Do you—do you want to sit for a minute?”  He didn’t know what to say to this man, this man who had always meant so much to him — whose daughter he’d hurt so terribly.

“Can’t sit. Can’t stop moving,” Mike admitted. He rubbed his eyes. “I just—I figured you’d want Liz up behind all that bullet proof glass. Safe. That’s gotta come before—before my—before the way I feel about how that went down. I can be angry later, you know? Resentful or whatever.” He swallowed hard, and finally looked at Jason. “I just don’t want anyone else to get hurt. I know Liz. I know what she’s been through. So if you need her to be there—it’s—it’s okay.”

“I—Thank you. But Audrey’s been great, and she’s agreed to let us make security upgrades at her place,” Jason told Mike, and there was some relief in the older man’s eyes now. “Elizabeth is comfortable there, with her family, and that’s what matters to me. The penthouse — it’s just a place to me. Courtney made it her home, and almost—” He looked down again, remembering how excited she’d been to redecorate it. “Almost all of it is hers, Mike. It’d be easier for me to take what’s mine than the other way around.”

“Oh. Yeah. I guess—we can table that for now. I just—thank you. Call me about tomorrow—”

When Mike reached the door, Jason called his name, and Mike looked back.

“I just—I’m sorry. For all of it. I don’t know the right thing to do. To say.”

“That’s because there’s no such thing.” Mike’s smile was sad. “I love you like you’re one of my own, Jason, and we’re all doing the best we can. But I also hate you right now, and that’s not easy for me, either. None of this is your fault, except the parts that are. And, well, there’s just not space for us to feel any of that, is there? You find the son of bitch who stole my little girl, and we’ll see where we are at the end of it.”

Forest Hill House: Porch

Bobbie paced the length of the porch, watching for the dark sedan that would deliver Michael safely from school. He’d returned the day before, and she worried that there would be gossip—that someone would talk about his mother who’d been shot in the head, or his father who had gone crazy. Everyone knew by now that Sonny had gone to Rose Lawn. And when the PCPD had dropped Jason’s charges, there’d been open speculation in the papers that maybe the real culprit was closer to home.

Behind her, in one of the chairs set under the windows, Felicia tucked both ends of her cardigan around herself. “I wish I could feel like things were slowing down. No violence for a few days, no terrible arrests. Carly’s awake, you said Liz’s health reports are coming back good, but—”

“But,” Bobbie said with a nod. She sat in the other chair, but perched on the edge of the chair. “I haven’t told Carly yet about Courtney. I don’t know how to do that. How to explain any of it. I can’t wrap my head around any of it. That was her best friend, but—”

“But she knew Courtney was working with Ric,” Felicia said. “And if you tell her a little bit, maybe she finds out Courtney was trying to frame Jason. It’s hard to mourn someone who got herself killed, Bobbie. Don’t make that face at me—the only people who aren’t thinking that are the people who gave a damn about her, and I’m not one of them.”

“I—I hate that you’re right. I hate that Courtney signed her own death warrant because that doesn’t mean she deserved it—”

“She got involved with Jason Morgan, and tried to frame him for murder,” Felicia said flatly. “I got involved with Roy last year and my girls were kidnapped by Luis Alcazar. Instead of getting in deeper, I cut my losses, and now I’m not looking over my shoulder anymore. Courtney was working with the man that kidnapped your daughter, Bobbie. Made it easier for Ric to stalk Elizabeth at work, and frame Jason for attempted murder. I like Mike, and I’m sorry for his loss. But anyone who thinks that Jason having an affair means that ditz’s blood is on his hands is just wrong. When Carly’s strong enough, you’ll tell her what happened. She already knows Courtney wasn’t her friend. All you’re going to do is make it easier for Carly to turn the page. She’s got enough to handle.”

“I suppose you’re right. In a really blunt way. Jason—and Elizabeth are taking on the guilt of what happened to Courtney, and I’m just worried for them both. For Carly. How much more can be laid on their shoulders before they break?”

“Let Jason and Elizabeth look out for themselves. You’ve got Michael to look after, and just think how much better Carly’s going to feel when she spends a little time with her boy.” Felicia nodded at sedan turning into the driveway. “And there he comes now. Let’s put on some happier faces and tell Michael he’s finally going to see his mother.”

Hardy House: Living Room

It still felt a little strange to be letting himself into Audrey Hardy’s house, Jason thought, but it would be even stranger if he were staying there. He’d grabbed a room at Jake’s, though he hadn’t slept much since—well, it was hard to remember the last easy night of sleep. Audrey, as he told Mike, was being incredibly supportive and accommodating, but Jason wasn’t going to test her by spending the night in her granddaughter’s room.

Elizabeth was standing by the window, turning to smile at him. The rubber exercise ball she’d picked up after her doctor’s appointment was in her palm and she was squeezing it. “Hey. I didn’t think you’d be back so early.”

He kissed her forehead, lingering for an extra moment, one arm curled around her shoulders. “Nothing but paperwork,” he told her. He stroked her uninjured arm, then cupped his hand beneath hers holding the ball. “How are the exercises?”

“No better than yesterday,” Elizabeth admitted with a sigh. “Tony said not to push it. To rest, to ice, to take the meds. But I guess I keep hoping I’ll just…magically be able to make a fist.”

Jason stroked her knuckles, wishing he could give her even a little of his strength, but it was one more thing he couldn’t fix. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m okay. I am,” she insisted, tilting her head back so their eyes met. “Tony reminded me it hasn’t been that long since I was hurt, and you know, I just think about listening to the baby’s heartbeat, seeing him—or her—on screen, and I can breathe, you know? There’s so much else awful going on. Are—you’re going to see Sonny tomorrow, aren’t you?”

He led her over to the sofa, helped her balance as she sat down, then joined her. “Yeah. Mike’s going with me.”

“Oh. Good. Good. That’s—” Elizabeth bit her lip. She took the ball with her uninjured and and gingerly set it on the coffee table. “It’s stupid to ask how he’s doing.”

“He’s…doing as good as anyone could expect,” Jason said after a long moment, and she looked at him again, long and quiet, her eyes always seeing more than he wanted. “He’s angry with me. He doesn’t want to be. But he is.”

“He’s a good man, you know. He was so kind to me in the hospital after you were arrested, even when he must have known that we’d—I mean, everyone knew about the baby. And now—” Elizabeth exhaled slowly, her breath shaky. “I want you to know that you—you can grieve her. You don’t have to hide it from me. You cared about her. You loved her—”

“I’m not hiding it,” Jason assured. He picked up her bad hand, gently stroking her fingers, his throat tight at the difference he felt—the weakness in the muscles. “I just don’t know what to do with any of it. I was so angry with her at the end. I don’t know what I would have said if we’d ever had another chance. The last words we ever said to each other were angry. I told her I never wanted to see her face again, and she hoped I’d die miserable.” He looked away, troubled.

She touched his jaw with her better hand to pull his eyes back to hers. “I’m sorry.”

“You’d think the way it happened, the reason she was killed was because of me—you’d think maybe I’d have regrets about it. But I don’t. I feel like a fraud when I talk to Mike,” Jason muttered.

“Why?”

“Because she’s dead, and I still wouldn’t take those words back. Especially now. She knew what Ric was, Elizabeth. And she didn’t just hand him your schedule. She kept working with him. Talking to him about you. What if he’d gone after you? And she was trying to get me sent to jail for hurting you, and Carly—she didn’t care what Sonny was going through—she didn’t care about anyone but herself.”

Jason released her hand, not wanting to be touching her as the anger coursed through his veins. He didn’t like this side of him, didn’t like that he could still feel this visceral hatred for someone who he’d thought he knew well enough to marry.

He’d walked away from Elizabeth, hurt her terribly, and chosen Courtney, a woman who had cared so little for him that she’d tried to send him to jail.

“I’m sorry she died that way, I am. And I get how the choices I made, that we made that night at Jake’s, I see how it started all of this. But I didn’t put her in that room, on the other side of a bullet.”

“No. You didn’t. We didn’t,” Elizabeth said softly, and he looked at her. “I walked away, and I would have let you go. I did let you go. She kept me in it. She didn’t have to give Ric my schedule, but she did. And she didn’t have to keep meeting with him. She made the choice to work with an evil, terrible man, and it put her in that room. What we did that night—it was the right thing for us. And Courtney did what was right for her, and now she’s dead. She’ll never have a chance to regret it. That’s more than enough punishment, I think.”

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