Set in current GH. No major changes to canvas.

Written in 60 minutes.

This will be the “Dear Reader” entry for my Taylor Swift collection. One of my favorite songs from Midnights.

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Dear reader
If it feels like a trap, you’re already in one

November 2024

It was an unseasonably warm day in upstate New York with temperatures nearing the upper fifties, and most of the crowd milling around the Quartermaine family estate had spilled outside the great house onto the back patio and could be found winding in and around the sprawl of gardens that lined the back of the estate.

Lila Quartermaine had been famous for her rose gardens, and her daughter Tracy had terrorized more than one gardener for not perfectly maintaining the prize-winning flowers. Wandering the gardens had always brought Elizabeth Webber a great deal of comfort, even now, twenty years after the matriarch had passed away.

She’d been coming to the Quartermaine estate since she’d moved here as a teenager. First as Emily’s best friend, and then as the mother of a Quartermaine grandchild. Today, however, she’d returned not as friend or family, but —

Well, she wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing here.

Once, she would have danced with joy over the grave of Sam McCall, the architect of so many of Elizabeth’s misery as a younger woman. Elizabeth hadn’t started the war between them but it had certainly continued too long. Sam wasn’t quite the woman she’d been then — but neither was Elizabeth. They were reluctant co-parents, raising a pair of boys who adored each other.  And while Elizabeth and Sam had never quite managed to become friends, they were mothers first.

She emerged from the gardens, wondering if she’d stayed long enough, and if it was time to grab Aiden and go home. She searched the crowd for her youngest son, her eyes stopping when she saw Drew turn away from whomever he’d been speaking with, the fading afternoon light catching the edge of the cut beneath his eye, highlighting the bruise on his cheek.

She made a face, wondering who Drew had made angry enough to punch, but then caught sight of another familiar face glaring malevolently in Drew’s direction — Jason. He was standing by the back door, a bottle of beer in his hand, Carly by his side, and glaring at his brother with a look she’d only seen reflected back at men he truly loathed.

Elizabeth chewed on her bottom lip, her curiosity warring with better sense. It was none of her business, she reminded herself. Drew was a ghost in the past, one who hardly seemed like the man she’d known once, and Jason was a friend who had his own life and didn’t need one more person charging in and demanding answers. He already had Carly filling that role.

Just as she’d convinced herself to mind her own business, Michael passed her, trudging towards the front of the house. “Hey. Hey.” He drew up, frowning slightly. “I didn’t know you came back to the house. I’m sorry. I usually—” He pulled a hand through his blonde hair. “How are you? How’s Jake? I haven’t…I’m sorry, I haven’t caught up with anyone in a while.”

“You have two kids and a full-time job,” Elizabeth reminded him. “Jake’s good. He was hoping to get back here for this—” She winced. “That sounds strange. Not that he wanted to be here, but he—for Danny and for Scout.”

“Yeah, sure. I get you. Couldn’t he get a flight? You should have said something.” He fell into step with her and they started to walk up towards the house. “You know I could have made arrangements.”

“No, it’s —”

“I mean that. No point in having power and money if you can’t use it. I can make a call, have a jet there tonight—” Michael reached inside his pocket. “Let me set it up—”

Elizabeth stopped him. “No, it’s—I appreciate that. He had a project he needed to be on campus. He caught a flight this morning. He won’t be here long, but he couldn’t stand being away. But I appreciate that.” She squeezed his hand. “How are you? I know you and Sam were close.”

“Not as close as we used to be.” Something flitted across his expression, a twist of bitterness. “It feels like I’ve lost touch with so many people. You, Jake, Sam, Danny, even my own sister.”

“Two young children, a wife who was ill, a demanding job—” She squeezed his shoulder. “Give yourself a break, okay? I remember when Cam and Jake were young, and I wasn’t sure what my own name was half the time. How are the kids?”

The first genuine smile spread across Michael’s face. “Amazing. Amelia’s getting so big, and Wiley—he’s just incredible. He’s so smart and he’s doing great at school. You should come to dinner. You and Aiden. We should have you over.”

“Sure. Maybe while Jake’s in town.” Elizabeth caught sight of Jason out of the corner of her eye again — and she wasn’t imagining it. He and Carly passed Drew and the men exchanged glances of loathing. At Drew’s side, Nina sent Jason her own fulminating stare, then made a show of pulling Drew away to face her. “Okay, I can’t stop myself. What’s going on with Jason and Drew? Is it something I can help with or—”

“It’s nothing—well, it’s not nothing. I don’t want to lie to you, so don’t ask me,” Michael told her, and she sighed. “They got into a fight. Jason probably shouldn’t have done it, but Drew deserved it. I wish it had been me—” he stopped. “Never mind. Listen, call me when Jake gets into town. We should do something. I mean that. All of us. Family’s important, and I need to remember who’s always been there for me.” He squeezed her hand, then disappeared into the crowd.

Elizabeth watched him troubled, then looked back at the brothers. “None of your business,” she muttered. “None of your business. Just stay out of it.”

—

Jason hated people. Individually, collectively, and whole-heartedly. The only time he ever wanted to be surrounded by people was in a bar and when he was looking for a fight.

But he’d already started one fight on the Quartermaine estate this month, and he wasn’t about to make another scene even when Nina Reeves was sending him dirty looks as if Jason had decked her and not the giant asshole next to her—

“If you keep glaring at him that way,” Carly hissed from his side, “it’s going to be impossible to have any plausible deniability. Everyone is going to know you put those bruises on his face—”

“Let them.” Jason brought the bottle of beer to his lips, took a long pull. “He deserved every mark.” More.

Carly narrowed her eyes. “You really think he won’t press charges—”

“I know he won’t.” He took a deep breath. “Carly—”

“No, don’t keep telling me to stay out of it. I’m right in the middle, okay? Because Drew is my ex whatever and you’re my best friend, and—”

“Carly—” Jason set the bottle of beer down, and took her by the shoulder. “The last time you tried to get in the middle of things, what happened?”

She glowered. “Are you going to throw that in my face for the rest of my life? Because it’s not fair. I didn’t ask you to cover for me, and I got myself out of that without your help—”

“You got out of that because Jack Brennan decided he wanted leverage over you. He made that recording disappear, it could come back. So you stay out of trouble and stay out of this with Drew—”

“I just want to know what he did that made you pound him into the ground at the Quartermaines of all places! With the kids just upstairs—”

Jason winced, then rubbed his forehead. “Carly.” The last thing he wanted to think about was Danny and Scout being upstairs while he’d beat the living shit out of Drew. Because then he’d think about where Danny and Scout had been the night Drew had slept with Michael’s wife, and he’d get furious all over again.  At Drew for being such a scumbag, at Willow for doing it, at Michael for involving him —

And at himself for not following his number one rule — the one rule he’d tried to implement since returning to Port Charles six months earlier.

To mind his business and stay out of everyone else’s.

“I’m done having this conversation, Carly,” Jason told Carly, interrupting whatever she’d been saying that he hadn’t been listening to in the first place. He picked up his beer, and walked away, leaving her in mid-rant.

—

Danny Morgan didn’t much care for people either, especially ones that he didn’t know coming up to him and telling him how sorry they were for him.

What a tragedy.

How lucky your little sister is to have her big brother to take care of her.

At least your mother died doing something heroic.

You should be so proud of her.

If one more person told him to be grateful for his mother’s last act of sacrifice, Danny was going to lose his freaking mind.

And because he figured if he started punching people, he might not stop, he left the house and went down to the boat house where it would be quiet.

He hopped onto the mossy stone ledge overlooking the pier and dangled his legs over the side,  digging his hands into the rock beneath his palms. Things would be better if his mom had been a raging bitch who’d refuse to help anyone, because then she’d be alive.

Instead, Sam had donated a piece of her liver, and was now lying in a box six feet beneath the ground, and the woman who she’d saved was still unconscious in a coma. What was the point of any of it?

He heard shoes squeaking, then thudding on the wooden planks behind him. If it was Rocco or Aiden trying to cheer him up, he might actually throw himself into the water, Danny thought, then looked back.

When he realized who was approaching, Danny scrambled to get back over the ledge. “What are you doing here?” he demanded, the tone almost harsh, the edges ragged.

His brother hesitated a few feet away. “I’m sorry,” Jake said. “I caught the first flight I could, but it’s okay if you’re pissed I didn’t get here earlier.”

“Not pissed—” Danny swallowed hard. “Not pissed. Just, um—” Had given up hoping. “I know you’re doing something important and you can’t just hop on a plane. But you’re here.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry, man. I should have been here sooner. I’m sorry,” Jake said again, and came forward. He put a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “But I caught an earlier flight. My mom doesn’t even know I’m here yet.”

“How’d you find me down here?”

“It’s where we always go when we don’t want to be around people. It’s either that or punch them.”

Danny grinned for the first time since Halloween, then the corners of his smile trembled slightly. “I don’t know how to do this. It’s…it’s not like Dad. Not just because he’s back, but—”

“It’s your mom,” Jake said. “You don’t have to explain, Danny. You don’t have to be anything. ” He drew his brother into a half-hearted hug. “Come on. Let’s go up to the house, and get something to eat. I’m starving. You can catch me up on what I’ve missed. Why does Uncle Drew have those bruises?”

—

Jason saw Elizabeth by the gardens, and started towards her, wondering if she had a few minutes. He wanted to talk to her about Danny, about what he wanted, and maybe she’d have a better suggestion to keep the kids together other than moving into the Quartermaines because that had to be the last resort, right?

Jason wouldn’t live here when his sister and grandmother was alive, now he was supposed to do it when the house was filled with Tracy and Drew?

No, there had to be a better way.

Before he could reach Elizabeth, Molly stepped into his view, and he paused. Sam’s youngest sister pale, her eyes rimmed with red, but her expression steady. “Hey. How are you?”

Her lips trembled, and she bit down, took a deep breath. “Thank you. For, um, asking. I’m okay—I—my mother was hoping to talk to you. If you didn’t mind.”

“Sure. Sure.” Jason wasn’t about to do anything that made this day harder for Alexis or Sam’s sisters. They’d been through enough, he thought, remembering that Molly and Kristina had buried a child only a few months earlier. Maybe Alexis had some ideas about how to handle things with Danny. Jason just really wanted to do what was best for his son —

He just didn’t know what that was — or trust that he could deliver it. What did he know about being a father?

Molly led him towards the house and the kitchen entrance. Jason grimaced when he realized that Alexis didn’t just want to speak to him—

Drew was already in the kitchen, his bruises even harsher under the bright kitchen light. “What are you doing here?” he wanted to know with a sour expression.

“I asked you both here,” Alexis said, and Jason ignored Drew, focused on his former mother-in-law. “I’m sorry to do this here, today. But we have to be practical. Some things can’t wait.”

“If this is about Sam’s will—”

“It is. Diane will be contacting you to do an official reading, but I’m the executor and I know the contacts.” Alexis folded her arms, lifted her chin. “Sam left custody of the children to you. Both of you,” she added. “Separately and jointly. If you hadn’t come home,” she told Jason, “Drew would get custody of both.”

Drew nodded. “I assumed it would be like that. I’ll do what I can to make this transition easy for everyone. Scout can wait to start school in DC until next year—”

“I’m hoping we can settle this out of court,” Alexis interrupted. “I think we should keep the arrangement the way it is now. Neither of you have primary custody, and Danny and Scout should stay together. So I’ll take them with me. Nothing will change for either of you, you’ll just visit them at a different house.”