Written in 58 minutes.

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Morgan Penthouse: Master Bedroom

Jason set down the duffel bag by the closet, then crossed to the window overlooking the harbor where Elizabeth stood, massaging her injured hand, as if willing the feeling and full control to return.

“My grandmother didn’t argue when you picked up my things, did she?” Elizabeth asked. “She promised she understood when I called why I wasn’t there. I just wish she’d have let you move her to a safehouse.”

Jason dropped his hands on her shoulders, his chest easing when she leaned back against him. “The guards are staying at your grandmother’s even if you aren’t,” he told her. “You were there long enough, and well—”

“If Ric is with Alcazar—whichever brother he is—he’ll know about my grandmother.” Elizabeth sighed, her body shuddering slightly. “How sure is Scott that the Alcazar brothers are involved with Ric? Or were?”

“Involved enough that Luis threw him in jail for stealing.” Jason hesitated. “The guards are staying, and if you want, we can talk to her again tomorrow about a safe house. Or the island. Leticia’s taking Michael tomorrow—”

“That poor little boy,” she murmured. She pulled out of his arms, wandered over to the dresser, the top left completely bare. “I’ll talk to Gram, but she won’t go. The security system is enough. I never should have gone to stay with her—”

“We didn’t know,” Jason said, but the tightness was back in his chest. It all came back to his life, and the danger it held. Michael had been through so much in the few months. Moving back and forth to the island as the danger rose and fell, terrified at losing his mother, listening to his parents arguing—

And Elizabeth’s grandmother who had put aside so much of her distrust and worry to be support Elizabeth through all of this being confronted with the realities of Elizabeth’s choice to stay with him. He swallowed hard, slid his hands in his pockets.

She turned to look at him, a ghost of a smile flitting across her face. “That’s not me rethinking any of this. Just regret. I wish we’d known sooner that there was something bigger going on, but there really wasn’t a way to know. Not until…”

Until Courtney’s murder. Jason dragged a hand down his face, feeling the growth of stubble beneath his fingers. “The guys will stay there. The security is good. The system is top of the line.”

“That was Gramps. He always told Gram to spare no expense. Money was no object when it came to protecting the most precious person in his life.” She trailed her fingers over the dresser. Then looked back at him. “Tomorrow, if there’s time, you should tell Mike what’s going on.”

Jason nodded, then folded his arms. “I’ll have Mac or Scott—”

“If you think that’s best. But I don’t want you to be angry with him because of what happened today. I mean, I’m not telling you how to feel — it’s just—I’m not angry with him. How can I be? So much of what he said was true—”

“It wasn’t—”

“It was,” she insisted. She came over to him, once again cradling her injured arm against her chest. “You warned me over and over again about Ric. Courtney warned me. Sonny. Even Carly. All of you. And I chose to ignore you. Deliberately chose to ignore everything you told me. I was so hurt and so angry about what had happened between us that I told myself it was lies. Mike knows all of that, why wouldn’t he doubt me now? He lost his daughter, Jason, and he’s trying to make sense of this awful thing she did before she died. Please. You don’t have to forgive him, but tell him what’s going on. Give him a chance to fix this. If he doesn’t want it, then okay. But I know his friendship was important to you. Don’t let it go over this.”

Jason exhaled slowly, then rubbed his temple. “I know everything you’re saying is true,” he said finally. “And Mike was taking everything that happened…he was taking it better than I had a right to expect. He knew about the baby, knew what that meant, and he still stood by me. I just—” He paused. “I can’t stand looking at him, knowing that while he was at the courthouse supporting me, his daughter was being murdered. If he’d been angry with me like any other father would have been, maybe he’d have been with Courtney. How do we get past that?”

“If he’d been with Courtney that day, he’d be dead, too,” Elizabeth told him, and Jason nodded, accepting that truth. “I just know that Mike never had a harsh word for me, not until today, and I just can’t find it in my heart to be angry. Maybe with a little space, he’ll want to turn the page. But even if he doesn’t, Courtney was his daughter. And Sonny’s still his son. Alcazar — whichever one he is — is the reason for all this pain. Mike should get to know what’s happening.”

General Hospital: Carly’s Room

Carly licked her cracked lips, then took a deep breath. “I’m going—you need to tell me again. What?”

Her mother sighed, folded her hands in her lap. “I know it’s a lot to take in, and maybe I shouldn’t be telling you anything with your recovery still so fragile—”

“Mama.”

Bobbie made a face, then nodded. “Scott turned up some things in Ric’s background check that suggests he knew Luis Alcazar before everything went down last fall. And that there’s some question that Luis and Lorenzo are—well, that the man you knew as Lorenzo Alcazar  is actually Luis. It seems Lorenzo, the real one, went off the radar last year prior to his brother’s fall. And didn’t pop up again until a few months ago.”

“I—” Carly closed her eyes, leaned her head back against the pillow. “I don’t understand. I don’t—”

“I don’t know what role Ric’s playing in all of this either, honey. If he and Luis planned this all along, though I can’t believe that. It seems to be that if Luis did fake his death, he didn’t clue Ric in until he had to.”

“How did…how did it all happen—how did Sonny’s brother end up—” Carly had opened her eyes just in enough time to see Bobbie wince. “Mama? Do you know something?”

“I—nothing I want to say for sure. Not until some tests come back. Nothing I want to put in front of Jason,” Bobbie added when Carly’s eyes widened. “But Scott found some medical records — and Ric’s blood type, honey, there just doesn’t seem to be a way for him to be related to Sonny. We’re running the marker test to be sure, but I just—”

Carly exhaled in a rush, tears pricking her eyes. “It was a lie. Oh, God, it was all a lie. Sonny thinks he hurt his pregnant mother, and it was a lie. Ric told it on purpose?”

“We don’t know—”

“Why he kept blaming Sonny for Elizabeth’s miscarriage—he knew—oh, God, he knew—and Lorenzo—” Carly’s breathing picked up. “He tried to hurt Sonny on purpose. Why? Why?”

“Honey, honey—” Bobbie rose to her feet, grimacing, and looking to the monitors as the heart rate began to pick up. “I need you to calm down—”

“It’s all a lie—”

“Maybe, yes. We don’t know.” Bobbie took Carly’s hand. “Look at me, baby. Can you look at me?”

Carly forced her eyes open, forced herself to focus on her mother. “Mama.”

“I shouldn’t have said anything, and I’m sorry for that. Jason doesn’t know yet. I knew if he found out, I’d have to tell Elizabeth, and I just—I know how much she’s blaming herself. I shouldn’t have said anything without knowing.”

“He came here to hurt Sonny for fun?” Carly asked, tears sliding down her face. “Or no—he came here for Luis. Luis told him to destroy Sonny. And he did. They did. Look at what Sonny did to me. To Elizabeth. He broke us, Mama. Why did he do that? Why did he want to hurt us?”

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

Mac strode into the office, flipping his cell phone closed. “Just got off the phone with Jason,” he said to Scott, the district attorney seated at the conference table. “Brenda’s coming home.”

“Okay. Okay.” Scott rubbed his chest. “I feel like I got heartburn,” he muttered. “And he’s in on the plan? Now that Brenda’s on board?”

“I got that sense yeah. We just got to find the right place to dangle Brenda like a carrot. I suggested the funeral, but—” Mac shook his head. “Jason vetoed it.”

“Oh, good—”

“What do you mean, good? That was your idea!”

“Right, so you took the hit on looking like a ghoul for suggesting it. Hey,” Scott said when Mac just scowled, “it had to be put out there. I do it, and I’m the bad guy. Morgan still sort of trusts you. For whatever that’s worth.”

“The only reason we’re in hot water with Jason Morgan is you dragging him out of that hospital room in cuffs,” Mac reminded him darkly. “The last time I let you tell me how to execute a search warrant.”

“Yeah, yeah. Funeral’s out. Do we have any other big, splashy events where Brenda can make a splash?”

“Why are you asking me? Do I look like the kind of guy who knows that sort of thing?” Mac demanded.

Scott rolled his eyes, went over to the desk and yanked Mac’s phone from the hook. “I’ll call Lucy. She’ll have something or worse, she’ll offer to throw a party just to be involved.”

Maple Avenue

The cigarette lighter popped out of the dashboard with a clink, and the guard lifted it to the tip of his cigarette. “You know, when I watched the Godfather, I don’t remember the mistress’s grandmother getting a guard—ow!” He scowled, clapping his hand to the back of his head. “What was that for?” He glowered at the man sitting in the driver’s seat.

“You say that about Miss Webber again, you’ll get my foot up your ass. Or if Jason finds out, you won’t have to worry about that new cigarette tax you were bitching about, you’ll be too dead to pay it.”

The guard rolled his eyes, then looked back to the street. “Whatever. Maybe the guy will go for Granny, and I’ll finally get some action. This is the most boring crime I’ve ever committed—” He paused, then squinted. “Hey, you got that list of license plates handy?”

“A new one to add to the list?” The driver handed the notepad over.

“No—no—” The guard grimaced, made a tick next to one of the plate numbers. The third tick. “Worse. This car has circled the block three times in the last hour.”

“Oh.” The driver winced. “That’s not good.”

“No, it’s not. Call the boss.”

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