Written in 63 minutes. Had to double check some earlier Mike scenes and it took some time.

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Lake Onatario: The Deck of La Revanche

The city skyline was a pinprick in the horizon, suggesting they were closer to Canada than New York. Ric stood at the railing, watching the sun hover the cursed city, pondering the mess he’d made this last year.

Kidnapping Carly had probably been the the turning point, he thought grimly. He’d managed to get Sonny to swallow the story about their supposed paternity and bought himself some breathing room. Then Elizabeth had told him about the baby and had, for some godforsaken reason, decided to give him a second chance.

Maybe they weren’t related, Ric mused, but he and Sonny certainly shared the same tendency to let women destroy their common senses.

“Considering a swim?”

Luis appeared at his side, but Ric said nothing, hoping the other man would take the opportunity to fill the silence. What did he want with Ric? What the hell was his plan and why had he let them all, including Ric, think he was Lorenzo all this time?

“I’m trying to stay alive,” Ric said when Luis only remained silent. “What are you going to do with me? I’m just a witness—”

“That was before Courtney’s body was discovered too soon,” Luis muttered, his hands gripping the railing. “Morgan had a solid alibi. Now, you’re not much more than a loose end.”

“Who knows a great deal about the men you’re trying to destroy,” Ric reminded him. “You hired me to destroy Sonny, remember? I’m closer than you were ever able to be—”

“Oh, I don’t doubt you have some value. It’s why you still breathe.” Luis turned to him, keeping one hand on the railing. “Sonny’s locked up in a private mental hospital, but Morgan’s still out there, the dragon at the gate as always.”

“And he hates me,” Ric said, helpfully. “I can get under his skin—”

“Hate might be too weak a word to describe the loathing.” Luis scrutinized Ric, his eyes squinting. “What might he trade for a chance to end your life personally?”

Ric pressed his lips together, looked back out over the water. Nearly anything, he thought, but said nothing. “Jason’s not one for revenge. Not when he got what he wanted. My wife. The child she promised me.”

“Ah, yes, the lovely Elizabeth Webber, our Helen of Troy. I’ve been thinking of the question I posed to you a few nights ago. How to tell Sonny what he nearly did to his own sister. I must confess, since then, I thought of little else. It’s the missing piece to my own plan. The final twist of the knife to break Sonny so badly he’ll be begging me to kill him.” Luis sighed. “But I worry she’s too well guarded to get to, and well, where’s the fun of telling Sonny if I can’t see the horror on both their faces?”

Ric arched a brow, sensing his opening. “After everything else you’ve done, are you saying you’re not up to the challenge?”

Luis just arched that brow again, then left him standing at the railing pondering just how Ric could use Luis’s obsession into gaining his own freedom. If Luis believed the lies Ric had hoped to use against Sonny without bothering to verify any of it for himself, well, then he might be desperate enough to do anything.

Which was exactly the way Ric liked it.

Kelly’s: Courtyard

Elizabeth stared at Mike for a long moment, her free hand fluttering up to her chest. “You—you startled me.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” Mike gestured to the diner. “Did you want to come in? I don’t—I don’t know who’s on shift. Penny’s handling that.” He moved past her, looked inside the diner, took a deep breath, then looked back at her. “I haven’t been back here since that night.”

“Neither have I.” She cleared her throat, but there were no words that followed. She didn’t know what to say to him. At the hospital, after Jason’s arrest, and in the few days that had followed, there’d been a strain, a horrible awkwardness in every interaction. They’d never spoken of her pregnancy or what it meant for Courtney.

But then Courtney had died, and Elizabeth had grappled with the terrible guilt of not really feeling guilty at all. She was sorry Courtney was dead, mostly because Mike cared about her, and he was a good man. Sorry for Michael who loved his aunt, and for Carly because that would only complicate her recovery. Sorry for Jason who had loved her once.

But there was no guilt, no sense that Elizabeth had anything to do with how Courtney’s life had ended. She’d played a role in the end of Courtney’s relationship with Jason, but those weren’t related, and not feeling guilty had only made her feel worse about all of it.

Was Mike angry at her? Was he holding back his anger with Jason because of Sonny? Would he do the same with her because of her injuries, because of the baby?

“I just wanted to stand here,” Elizabeth said finally, and their eyes met. “I hoped if I could just do that I could remember better what happened that night.”

“I, uh, thought Jason said Michael confessed.” Mike folded his arms. “Unless he’s changed his mind and thinks Lorenzo did it after all.”

“No, he, um, he  hasn’t said differently for me. Sonny remembered being here. And well, it makes the most sense, I guess. But I just—” Elizabeth turned slightly, facing the courtyard the way she had that night. “I thought if I just stood where I did that night, if maybe it might jar something.”

“Well, talk me through it. How did it happen?”

Elizabeth flicked her eyes to Mike, but his expression didn’t change, didn’t seem unfriendly. She nodded, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “Um, well, I was closing that night. I told DJ to go home. I thought Carly’s guards were out here. And—”

“And Jason was on his way,” Mike said. The words were offered without emotion, but his posture changed slightly, just a slight tensing of his muscles. “He was worried about you after the night before. Wasn’t he?”

“Y-yes.” She licked her lips. “Carly didn’t want to wait for him. She knew he’d be angry—so she came out into the courtyard, and I followed. I wanted her to wait. To come back inside, so we could lock the door. But she just wanted to go home. She was upset—”

“Why?”

“W-what?” Elizabeth blinked at him, confused. “Why what?”

“Why was she upset? What so important that she came to see you that night? Waited for you to close and be alone?”

“Mike—” Elizabeth hesitated. “I don’t—that’s not important—”

“Maybe it is. Maybe you shouldn’t decide what’s important without considering everything,” he interrupted. “Courtney said Carly was here to confront you. She was upset about you and Jason, wasn’t she?”

“I—” Her throat was tight. “No—”

“No? Courtney was her best friend—”

“That’s why she was upset,” Elizabeth said softly. “Mike. You know what happened. Why—”

“I know what Jason’s told me. But I think maybe you need to say it. To my face.” Mike lifted his chin. “Tell me that my daughter was conspiring with the psycho who went after Carly.”

“You—you don’t believe—”

“Courtney knew from the first day what Ric did. She knew what he was before you did. She tried to tell you, remember?” Mike said, and Elizabeth’s eyes burned. She looked away, her vision blurred as the hot spiral of shame swirled up into her throat. “She didn’t have to sit by and be poisoned by him, to live in the same house while Carly was trapped in the walls. You’re telling me with everything she knew about Ric and what he did to Carly, she went to him because of what you did to her. I’m supposed to believe that she was that spiteful and vindictive.” He shook his head. “No. I don’t believe it. You need her to be the villain. You need it to be that way so Jason isn’t sorry she’s dead. But there’s no proof—”

“Mike.”

They both turned back towards the back entrance, and Jason was there, coming forward and standing between them.

“This has nothing to do with you,” Mike told Jason. “This is between me and Elizabeth and the lies she wants to tell about my little girl to make herself feel better—”

“The truth that she said to my face,” Jason retorted. “Go ahead. Call me a liar, too.”

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

“No. No. Because this is all twisted and convoluted enough without adding another damned layer.” Scott jerked out of his side, dragged his hand through his hair leaving it standing wildly on end. He turned back to Mac. “What the hell are you trying to tell me?”

“I don’t know anything for sure,” Mac said, holding up his hands. “I just think  there’s a pretty good possibility that maybe Luis Alcazar is still alive—”

“No. I rebuke this. This was supposed to be a simple case of Sonny Corinthos going loco and shooting up a courtyard, okay?” Scott slapped his hand against his open palm. “I force Morgan to give up the ghost, and then we get our guy. And if we’re lucky, I get to make things right and take down Lansing so maybe Bobbie won’t plot my demise. That was the plan, Mac! Not whatever cockamamie twisted story you got cooking in your head—”

“That plan went out the window the second Courtney turned up with a bullet in her head and Lansing went AWOL. We still don’t know if he disappeared himself or is floating somewhere.  But Lorenzo Alcazar? Carly remembers hearing his voice that night. And he’s the only one who’d want to frame Morgan for all this.”

“But it didn’t work, okay? How do you figure that—see—see—this all falls apart—maybe Lorenzo Alcazar is being framed by all of them—”

“Scott.”

Scott collapsed into the chair, his head in his hands, letting out a low moan. “I just want one normal case, Mac. Just the one. Is that too much to ask?”

“I know you think this makes it more convoluted,” Mac told him, “but it actually streamlines it.”

“Uh, how do you figure?”

“Alcazar’s got too much heat on him. He had to know his days were numbered. He calls his brother — tosses him over the balcony—”

“That was Alexis Davis—”

“Okay, so maybe Luis just set Lorenzo up to be killed, and went underground to regroup. He comes back out, and decides to pick up where he left off. Remember? He started by wanting to get rid of Sonny. But now, he’s angrier. More obsessive. He’s lost Brenda. Sonny—and now Jason—are the ones protecting her. Keeping her away. Ric’s in town, going after Sonny, so now Luis — as Lorenzo — can come in, get under Sonny’s skin. He rescues Carly, treats her well in captivity knowing it’ll send Sonny through the roof—”

“But it doesn’t just make Sonny reckless and angry—” Scott straightened, his eyes sharpening. “It makes him go actually crazy. Alcazar’s got eyes on Sonny and Carly. He’s gotta know something isn’t right. Either he’s following Carly or Sonny that night, it doesn’t matter. He sees Sonny shoot up the courtyard, and figures this is his time—”

“Except Courtney and Ric get in the way trying to frame Jason. Alcazar tries to make that work for him, but it goes south again because Sonny gets himself committed. He’s under lock and key. And Jason’s not taking the hit for Courtney because we’re his alibi.”

“Okay. Okay.” Scott got to his feet, started pacing, then he whirled around, looked at Mac. “You know what we gotta do? We gotta throw him off course. We gotta mess with him. We got leverage. He doesn’t know what we know.”

“I know exactly how to do that. What does Luis Alcazar want more than anything in the world?” Mac leaned against his desk, smirked. “I think it’s time Brenda Barrett comes home for a visit.”

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