Written in 20 minutes. No time for edits.

Elizabeth watched the news wash over Sam’s the face — the shock—the flash of denial—the desperate hope—

What she wouldn’t give for just the briefest glimpse of that same hope her little boy would come home—

Sam took the results from Elizabeth’s hands, ripped open the results—her hand was shaking so bad that she couldn’t get the paper out of the envelope. At her side, an ashen John McBain helped her—

“How could this have happened?” Sam demanded as she looked over the results. SHe shook her head. “What—these are just—initials—”

“Tracy had Brad run two DNA tests,” Jason told her. “The baby with your DNA, Franco’s, and mine—”

Sam’s eyes flew to meet Jason as she flinched. “Why? We—we already knew—”

“I guess Tracy wanted independent confirmation,” Elizabeth said softly.

“And Franco—” Sam closed her eyes. “It’s okay. It’s okay,” she said softly. “I knew it. I can—I can live with it. John—”

John took the results from her, scanned them for himself. “And the second test?” he asked. “Is—”

“There’s no blood relationship between Franco and me,” Jason reported. “I guess—Tracy figured while she was at it—”

“I will kill her for doing this to me—” Sam pressed her hands to her face. “Okay, okay, what do I do? What do I do? Tea—” She looked at John. “She wouldn’t—this isn’t something—”

“Tea wouldn’t do this,” John said slowly. “Not willingly or knowingly.” His face screwed up in distaste. “Todd,” he muttered. “He delivered Victor—and this isn’t even the first time he would have done this—I told you what he did to Blair and Jack—”

“How—” Sam took a deep breath. “How do I tell her it’s—her baby is gone—how do I tell her that—” She hesitated. “What do I do?” she repeated to John, and Elizabeth was surprised — Sam hadn’t even spared much more than a glance for Jason.

“Well, first things first, I need talk to Tea,” John said. He folded the results, tucked them into his coat pocket. “I think—I think I can talk her into getting Victor tested. If that doesn’t work, we can try a court—” He looked at Jason and Elizabeth. “Was this test—was it done—”

“It was all above board. Jason gave me the samples, and Patrick wrote the test order for me. We put it through the lab,” Elizabeth explained. She folded her arms. “Brad gave me a false set of paper results, but the original test is in the General Hospital computers, and Spinelli told me he and his girlfriend have already put a lock on the file to keep it from getting corrupted.”

“Thank you.” Sam looked at Jason, finally, meeting his eyes briefly before looking at Elizabeth. “Thank for doing this. For—for thinking it was a possibility, and then not giving up. I just—I think—I think John and I can handle it. I mean, he knows Tea, so—” She paused. “What do we do about Tracy?”

“Leave Tracy to me,” Jason said. “I’ll take care of that. Good luck, Sam.”

“Thank you. Oh, God, my son—” Sam’s eyes were shining with tears and joy as she turned to John. “Danny—”

“Let’s go, talk to your mother,” John told her. He put an arm around her shoulders and they left.

Elizabeth hadn’t known what to expect, but to see Sam walk away—to not even ask Jason for help getting Danny back—

“So what are you going to do to Tracy?” Elizabeth said, finally. Jason tugged lightly on her elbow as they walked in the opposite direction, walking back towards the parking lot.

“I don’t know,” Jason admitted. “I doubt she’ll be sorry. She never liked Sam, and she knew that if—” He winced. “If Sam and I had been together—not divorced—Danny legally would have been mine and then—”

“Entitled to ELQ shares when Edward passes away.” Elizabeth put her hand on the car door, then looked up at him. “She did this because Danny might have inherited stock? She lied about this baby just to—”

“There’s not a lot Tracy wouldn’t do to protect ELQ from anyone she thinks might hurt it.”

Inside the car, he rubbed his face. “This is why I left the Quartermaines,” he muttered. “Because this is what they do. This is what they always do—”

“Not Quartermaines. Tracy. And maybe—” Elizabeth leaned back against the seat with a smirk. “Maybe we should give her a taste of her own medicine.

Jason eyed her out of the corner of his eye. “What are you thinking?” he asked, a mixture of nerves and curiosity in his eyes.

“When Emily turned eighteen,” Elizabeth said, looking at him, “she inherited stock. Like you and AJ did. And when she passed away—she left it to Cameron and Jake.”

“She—” Jason stared straight ahead. “I didn’t know that.”

“No, and Tracy was very annoyed by that,” she told him. “She wanted to buy it back from me, but it’s all my boys would ever have from Emily, so I told her that I would agree to let her vote their proxy. Because I knew she’d protect ELQ, and that was fine. But I think maybe it’s time I tell her I want to sell to someone else.”

Jason frowned. “Who? She’d never believe you’d sell it to Sam—”

“No, but she’d believe me if I said I wanted to give it to Nikolas. You know, since he and Emily were engaged at the time, and he might have inherited it otherwise through their kids.”

“Letting Tracy think Cassadine Industries might get a foothold in ELQ—” Jason squinted. “Let me make a few calls. I think we can get a few other people on board.”

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