Written in 54 minutes.

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Elizabeth switched off the kitchen faucet, dried her hands, and reached for her phone, scrolling through the notification that had caught her attention. She grimaced at Lucky’s tersely worded call me we have a problem and debated ignoring him entirely.

While still making that decision, she heard the thud of footsteps on the carpeted steps, and looked towards the threshold of the kitchen, realizing it was more than one set. She’d tried very hard not to think about the conversation happening upstairs, knowing this needed to be Jason’s conversation to control, but it hadn’t been easy.

Elizabeth tossed her phone aside when Jake and Jason stepped into view, Jason hanging back behind their son a step or two, though she wondered if he realized how they’d mirrored their stances. The resemblance between them had only grown as Jake had matured, his features chiseling, the angles on his face sharpening until. They were both dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, Jason’s shoved above his elbows. Both had their hands tucked into the pockets, legs set apart.

Jake took a deep breath and slowly raised his gaze until it met his mother’s. “Uh, I guess you know why Dad came over.”

She stepped from behind the island, folded her arms because she didn’t know what else to do with them. “I do.”

Jake opened his mouth, closed it, made a face, then tried again. “Did…did you call him because of what I said?”

Elizabeth furrowed her brows, tilted her head. “What?”

“About…about not wanting to be here. Do…” He let out a rush of breath. “Do you want me to live with Dad because I called you a liar? A-and that I didn’t want to be anywhere near you?”

Behind him, Jason scowled but remained silent, and Elizabeth sighed, rubbed her temple. “I called him because I knew he wanted to talk to you about living with him, and with Danny, and well, you don’t seem very happy here right now. But if you’re asking me if I don’t want you here — if I called him to get rid of you, the answer is no.”

“Oh.” Jake pressed his lips together. “I know I should say I’m sorry. And I guess I am. But it’s…I don’t know how to make it not true.” His eyes glittered with resentment. “You are a liar.”

“Jake—” Jason stepped forward, but Elizabeth held up a hand to stop him.

“That situation exists with or without the question your father asked you. You need space and having me around right now isn’t making it easier, so that’s a bonus. But that’s not why your father asked you or why I agreed.”

“Don’t tell me you care about Danny,” Jake said with a roll of his eyes. “You wanted me to abandon him and go back to Spain, okay—”

“That’s not—” Elizabeth stopped, shook her head. “There’s no point in having this conversation with you. Everything I say just makes it all worse, so do whatever you want.” She turned away, scooped up her phone, and replied to Lucky’s message. We have nothing to talk about.

—

When her father had suggested Kristina take over Charlie’s pub, and return to running the bar, she’d agreed without hesitation. Something else to think about. To fill her hours, her head, and maybe eventually, her body would forget what it felt like to be pregnant, to carry a life, to—

Her sister dropped a phone on the bar and slid onto the stool, but nothing about the look in her dark eyes suggested Molly was in a good mood. “You left a message for me to come by. You said we needed to talk.”

Kristina nodded, reaching for a wine glass and setting it in front of Molly. “Yes. Yes. I know—I know we’re not—we’re not handling anything of right. You and me. Since I woke up in the hospital—”

“Since before that. Since I found those papers,” Molly said flatly. “When it was clear you were making plans to cut me and TJ out of Irene’s life.

Irene. What a horrid name for a little girl. Just more proof that Molly wouldn’t have been the mother her precious angel needed, but Kristina swallowed that. She was the big sister now, the oldest who had to take charge. Sam was gone, and there was no one else to stop Molly from screwing up her life.

“We’re not going to agree on what I wanted. You have your perspective, and it’s not changing,” she said carefully. “I want you to think about what you’re doing to Mom—” She poured her sister’s favorite white wine into the glass. “It’s been awful for her, what happened to me and—and the baby. And then those charges, and the—”

“Charges she wouldn’t have to deal with if you hadn’t stolen your father’s gun,” Molly interrupted, and Kristina nearly snarled in response, but swallowed it.

Big sister. Have to make her see reason.

“Losing Sam dropped the bottom out of her world—”

“And she’s the only one?” Molly asked, ignoring the glass Kristina slid towards her. “No one else is living with the Sam-shaped hole in our lives? Me? Danny? Scout?”

“She’s doing her best—what’s best for Danny and Scout. Can you see Drew and Jason actually being fathers?” Kristina snorted, turning away and not seeing the fury flash across Molly’s face. By the time she turned back, Molly had organized her features back into neutrality.

“Yes. I can. Drew was amazing before the Cassadines kidnapped him. And he’s done his best since he came home from prison. And Jason rebuilt a relationship with Danny. I know he’s working on it with Jake. He’s done that before — after the Cassadines kidnapped him, too. Both of them have had years stolen from them, Kristina. By Mom’s family. By our blood. And you want me to step back and forget everything Jason and Drew have done for us?”

“You’ve always had a hero worship,” Kristina said scornfully. “You think you’ve come so far from the silly girl who wrote romance novels—”

“I think that Jason and Sam nearly died to save you from the mess you got yourself into with Shiloh. Sam sacrificed her freedom for you.” Molly slid off the stool, her lips pressed together. “They lost time with their kids because of you. For you. Sam’s dead. She wanted her kids with their fathers. What right do you or Mom have to break her wishes? To say she was wrong? To steal more time from Jason or Drew? Haven’t you stolen enough from all of us?”

Kristina gripped the wine bottle more tightly. “There’s no talking sense into you. You’re going to break Mom’s heart and you’ll lose any way. Mom knows what she’s doing.”

“Mom hasn’t practiced law in years. I have a solid case, and I have right on my side. Legal and moral.” Molly lifted her brows. “Don’t worry, Krissy. Pretty soon you’ll have Mom all to yourself.”

Kristina scowled, watching her go. “Ungrateful brat,” she muttered, moving down the bar to refill another drink, hesitating when she recognized Lucky Spencer. “Oh. I didn’t know you were here. Did you want another one?” She asked, gesturing at the empty bottle.

Lucky shoved his phone down, then looked at her. “Yeah, might as well. Not like I’m going anywhere.” He picked the phone up again, flicked at the screen. “It’s probably not a good idea to tell someone to call you or you’re going to show up on their doorstep anyway, is it?”

“Depends on who it is.” Kristina tipped her head. “Who’s avoiding you?”

Lucky’s lips tightened into a thin line. “Elizabeth. She started a huge mess and now she won’t help me clean it up. Well, she’s gonna regret it when I tell Aiden just what she did—” He exhaled in a low breath. “Except I can’t. Jason will put me six feet under if I even bother.”

Kristina stopped half-listening, and focused. “Wait. What’s that about Jason?”

—

Why couldn’t he ever say what he wanted to say? Why did the wrong words always exit his mouth?  All his mother was trying to do was help and be nice about the asshole things Jake had said, and what had Jake done?

Made it worse.

And he really didn’t want to turn around and see the look on his dad’s face who had made it pretty damn clear if he kept his mouth going around his mom, he was gonna regret it.

“That wasn’t a fair thing to say,” Jake mumbled, and Elizabeth looked up, her brows lifted. “About you…not caring about Danny. I know it’s not right. I know you do. You didn’t like his mom much, but you made it work. You both did so that me and Danny could be together.”

“Sam and I love our boys more than we ever hated each other,” Elizabeth said softly. “I was upset when you came home the way you did. You didn’t talk to us, didn’t run it past us. Especially when your father spent a lot of money on tuition and board—”

“I don’t care about any of that,” Jason started, but Elizabeth gave him that look again, and his father stopped talking. She was good at that, Jake realized, and again, he wondered at their relationship, at the truths his father had shared with him.

“But I will regret for the rest of my life that I was too scared to hold on to you. That we lost all those years.”

Did his dad regret that he hadn’t held on to his mom, too? Was she part of that we?

“I know you don’t, Jason, but money doesn’t grow on trees. And we don’t throw it around like it doesn’t matter. Maybe you can pause your attendance, but that’s a year of tuition wasted, Jake. Without a conversation. Without consideration. I didn’t raise you that way.”

Heat crawled up Jake’s neck. “I didn’t—I didn’t think about it. I just—” He looked at his dad, who had no reaction. Money really didn’t matter to Jason, Jake thought, but maybe because he’d always had it. But he knew his mother hadn’t. That if Cam hadn’t had scholarships to Stanford, things would have been harder. That if his dad hadn’t stepped forward, his mother would have taken out loans that Jake would be paying back for years. And there’d been times when money had been tight, he remembered. Especially when his dad had been gone, and her hours had been cut at the hospital.

“I’m sorry. I should have talked to you guys. I don’t know if any of that can be fixed now. I didn’t think about any of it. I just—” His eyes blurred. “I remembered when you got sick last summer, Mom, and we had to go stay with Grandma Laura. When she didn’t have enough room for us and Ace and Esme. Grandma Monica wanted me to come stay with her, and maybe you wouldn’t get better. Maybe we would have been separated.”

Elizabeth’s lips parted. “I didn’t know about any of that.”

“You were sick?” Jason asked. “What happened?”

“Later,” she said, almost absently. “It’s too much to—it’s too much right now. Jake—”

“Danny’s doing that now, only it’s worse. Me and Aiden, we were—we were old. But Scout’s just a kid. And she was supposed to be my sister. I was supposed to protect her, but I can’t because she’s not. And I know she’s my cousin, but she and Danny are gonna be separated. Not just by a stupid lake or a couple of miles. By states. They’ll never live together again. I didn’t think, Mom. I just came home. I had to.”

“Of course, honey.” Elizabeth came forward, and Jake didn’t even flinch when she wrapped her arms around him, and he felt the familiarity, the warmth of her hug. She stroked his back, then cupped his jaw as she stepped back, her eyes glimmering with tears. “You’re such a good kid, Jake. You always were. You took every hit the world threw at you, and just got right back up. Of course you should be here with Danny. This is going to be so hard for him, and I’m sorry we can’t find a way out for both of them.”

“It’s no one’s fault, I guess. Even if Dad hadn’t kicked Drew in the teeth or whatever, he’d still be moving away.” Jake took a shaky breath. “So I’m gonna live with Dad and Danny because he needs me.”

“I’m glad.” Elizabeth stroked his face one more time, then stepped back. “I really am. This is going to be great for you. All of you. I’ll miss you, but you’ll be in town, and hopefully—” She folded her arms again, forced a smile. “Well, you’ll decide how much you want to see me.”

Jake opened his mouth, then closed it. For a minute, she’d been his mom again, and the rest of it had fallen away. But it had passed, and he couldn’t force the words out.

“I’m asking Diane to find somewhere close,” Jason said, and Jake looked at him. “You’ll want to see Aiden. And Cam will be home for the holidays, maybe.”

“Yeah. Right. Right.” Jake cleared his throat, looked back at his mother. “You’re right. This is what is right for all of us. Thanks. For knowing that. For making Dad come over tonight. And I’m sorry. For what I said.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Elizabeth squeezed his hand, then turned away, not before he saw the tears on her cheeks. “I’m so glad this worked out. That you two are going to be there for Danny. Everything is going to be just fine. I know it.”

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