Written in 70 minutes. Epilogue took a few minutes to get right.

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PCPD: Interrogation Room

Mac pulled out the chair, took a seat, then looked at the woman sitting across from him. Brenda, her eyes rimmed with red and tears staining her cheeks, lifted her chin. “I suppose you have some questions.”

Mac tipped his head, leaned back. “There’s no way you and Morgan came up with this plan. He might be a lot of things, but he’s not sending a woman to do his job.”

“That’s awfully sexist of you.” The corner of her mouth tipped up. “You haven’t read me my rights.”

“You’re not under arrest. Yet.”

She exhaled slowly, cast her eyes towards the ceiling for a long moment, then met Mac’s gaze. “If you’re asking me whether or not Jason knew what I was planning, the answer is no. He intended to play this straight. Whatever you think about him, whatever you suspect he’s done, the man’s not an idiot. With you and Scott looking over his shoulder, he was never going to take chances. He didn’t know I had the gun, and he didn’t know what I was planning.”

“So you planned it.”

“Do you mean did I ask Jason to agree to a plan that would send his pregnant girlfriend out into the night alone with nothing more than my charm to protect us? You’re damn right I planned it. Whether or not he was Luis or Lorenzo Alcazar didn’t matter to me. He was never going to stop, Mac. Revenge, obsession. Pick your motivation.”

She folded her arms on the table, leaned towards him. “This started because of me, and I ran last year. I let Sonny and Jason and Jax fight my battles. I kept running, Mac. Wasting my life, my time, my dreams. This started because of me,” Brenda repeated. “So I made sure I finished it. Whoever he was, whatever he wanted, he’s dead. They both are. You can sort out who’s who yourself. Arrest me, charge me, do whatever you want. I’ll sleep like a baby tonight either way.”

Mac studied her for a moment, then nodded. “At this time, the PCPD doesn’t intend to press any charges. And as far as I’m concerned, we don’t have your statement on record. If and when you’re charged, this conversation never happened.” He pushed his chair out, stood. “You’re free to go.”

General Hospital: Emergency Room

Elizabeth laid back on the hospital bed, trying to block out the bustling sounds of the hospital around them—the voices, the beeps, alarms. “I’m fine. Didn’t Dr. Meadows tell you I was fine? No one even touched me.”

“All of the same,” Emily said, hopping in before Jason could open his mouth. “Nothing wrong with getting your vitals checked and making sure my nibling is in good health. You’re doing this for me, not Jason. Be mad at me.”

“I’m not mad at anyone.” Elizabeth pressed the heel of her palm against her eyes. “But the lights are irritating me—”

“I didn’t know she was going to kiss me,” Jason said, and both she and Emily looked at him, confused. “But I had to—”

“Kiss her back, I know.” Elizabeth made a face, looked at her friend. “Can you go find me some water or something? We’re going to be stuck here all night.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t be stupid, big brother,” Emily told Jason, then left the curtained area.

“I didn’t—”

“Jason.” Elizabeth looked at him, a bit exasperated. “Look, was it a little more aggravating than I thought it would be? Sure. And maybe I laid it on thicker than I had to, but considering what I knew about your history with Robin, and well, what happened with us, it was just the first thing that popped in my head.”

“Because you think it’s true, and it’s not—”

She reached out for his hand, then settled for a piece of his sleeve when he just stood there. “I don’t think it’s true. We’ve talked about this, haven’t we? Even when you went chose Courtney, I knew you weren’t choosing her instead of me. You were choosing the life you had with her. The safety of that. The familiarity of something that sort of worked.”

Jason sighed, and some of the anxiety eased from his expression. He sat on the edge of the bed. “I didn’t know it was Brenda’s plan. Any of it. I didn’t know she was going to—”

“She knew it had to look good. She knew we’d have one chance to force Alcazar into making a move. If it was Luis Alcazar out there tonight, who would know better than Brenda how to manipulate him into showing his hand? As for how it ended—” Elizabeth chewed on her bottom lip. “Well, I’m not mad. It’s over. Really over. No court. No trials. Nothing. Just a body in the morgue. I just hope she finds some peace.”

“I should have done a better job last year or this summer. I thought it was enough to help Brenda hide from him, but it wasn’t—”

“You thought he was Lorenzo Alcazar, looking for revenge,” Elizabeth said. “And it’s not your job to fix things for everyone. For Sonny and Carly, for me, for Brenda, for anyone but yourself.”

“I know. I know,” Jason repeated when she just lifted his brows, but then he sighed again, dragged a hand down his face. “But I still expect it, so maybe it’s a lesson I’ll have to keep learning for a while.” He focused on her. “You’re sure you’re not really mad about Robin or—”

“No. You’re not mad at me because I slapped you, right? Because I had to make it look good. And I’m sorry about the Courtney thing—” She wrinkled her nose. “It’d be stupid if we were mad at each other because we executed the plan perfectly, right? I mean, it worked and I barely got a scratch on me.”

“Just took a few years of my life when I heard the gunshots,” Jason told her, then leaned forward to kiss her forehead, his lips lingering for a moment against her skin, then she lifted her face to kiss him. “We’re going to be all right,” he murmured.

“We’re going to be great,” she corrected with a half smile. “All three of us.”

St. Timothy’s Churchyard

Courtney was laid to rest a few days later, on a gray November afternoon. The crowd at the graveside was sparse. Sonny had been given a day pass from Rose Lawn, and it had been a bittersweet reunion as he saw Carly and Elizabeth for the first time since that night in the courtyard.

He looked more like his old self — clean-shaven, hair neatly slicked back, lucid and clear-headed, but his eyes carried a terrible somberness. Carly attended in a wheelchair, still not strong enough to stand on her own feet for long periods. Sonny stayed on one side of the grave, with his father, and Carly had remained on the other, closer to the road and her mother. A gulf that only time and patience would heal, if it could be done.

Elizabeth wasn’t sure if she should go, even with the thaw between Mike and Jason, but Jason had assured her, and she’d wanted to show her support. For all of Courtney’s faults, she’d been almost a friend once and she hadn’t deserved the ending. She met Sonny at the cemetery, and they’d hugged. She assured him she understood what had happened, and that she was only glad he was getting help. It was easier to hold grace for him knowing she’d fully recover and that her child was safe.

Neither she nor Jason had told Sonny about the strange story Ric had told her that night on the phone — of Luis Alcazar’s convoluted belief that she was Sonny’s sister, and that she’d been a planned part of Sonny’s destruction.

Ric had repeated the story when Mac and  officers from the PCPD had raised Alcazar’s yacht, but the only  truth that had emerged was that Richard Lansing was nothing more than a con artist who had snowed every one in his path, from Luis to Sonny to Elizabeth. When his fingerprints had been run through a database, there were more than a dozen law enforcement agencies, international and national who were interested in him. Whoever he turned out to be, he wasn’t Sonny’s brother, and that was all that mattered in the end. He would be someone else’s problem to solve.

Courtney’s coffin was lowered into the ground, and even the few mourners had faded away, leaving Mike standing alone over the open space, looking at the wooden box holding his daughter.

“Mike?”

He jolted at the voice, looked up to find Brenda there. “Hey.”

“Hey.” She came up next to him, looking down into the grave. “I’m sorry I didn’t kill him sooner,” she murmured. She wound her arm through Mike’s. “I’m sorry you lost your daughter.”

“I appreciate that.” He patted her hand. “How are you? No one’s threatening charges, are they?”

Brenda’s smile was faint. “I think maybe Scotty’s mad he was deprived of his publicity, but Mac hasn’t said a word, and I’ve already booked our tickets back to Paris. Port Charles—” She looked around, saw the limo in the distance where Sonny was standing. “Too many memories to stay right now. I brought so much horror onto people I care about. What Luis did to Sonny, to Courtney—even what happened to Carly and Elizabeth—” Her eyes glittered with tears when she looked back to Mike. “I’m so sorry I brought him to all of you.”

“How are you going to apologize for the evil acts of an obsessed man? None of this is your fault, sweetheart.” He clasped both of her hands in his. “Just like what happened to Sonny isn’t your fault. Or Jason’s. Or mine. What happened to Courtney? Not on any of us. It’s easier to take the blame. To assume the guilt. Because then there’d be some control. No one wants to be powerless. But you and I and all of us had no power to stop a man who was determined to destroy anyone who stood in his way. You’re not to blame, Brenda.”

“It’s hard to believe that. All the way inside.” But she smiled at him. “But thank you for that. Take care of yourself and everyone else here. Even Carly.”

Mike smiled faintly. “That must have hurt to say.”

“You have no idea. Tell no one.”

Epilogue

Seven months later

General Hospital: Maternity Floor

“I’ve counted his toes and fingers twice,” Emily said, cuddling her nephew against her chest. She beamed up at her brother. “They’re so little and cute, and he’s so perfect.”

Jason put an arm around his sister, pulled her into a half hug, kissed her forehead then leaned down to brush his lips against the top of his newborn son’s. “I’m glad you were here.”

Laying back in the hospital bed, her face pale, but her eyes shining, Elizabeth grinned. “But Gram is never going to forgive herself for being in Memphis with Steven. I guess Cam didn’t want to wait another week.”

“Well, Cam just wanted his aunt in the room when he came into the world.” Emily smiled smugly, then gently handed the newborn back to his mother. “I plan to lord that over Carly for the rest of our lives.”

“Emily—” Jason looked at his sister. “Really?”

“Well, I can either brag about that or about the time I almost died, and now you two are married and have a kid.” Emily lifted her brows. “Either way, Carly loses, and I win, so really, no bad choices here.”

“She’s never going to let us forget about that,” Jason told Elizabeth, but he was grinning when he said it.

“No, she really isn’t. I guess we’ll have to let her have this one. I’m not complaining at the outcome.”

“Me either.” He kissed her forehead, and they both looked down at their son, ignoring Emily dancing out to the hallway and Carly’s wail of protest when she realized was too late.

THE END

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