Written in 53 minutes. Honestly, I wrote myself to that last line and was too proud of myself to think of continuing and knew I’d never finish another scene.

---

Dear reader
Burn all the files, desert all your past lives

There were no time machines, no magic buttons to press, to switches to turn, nothing that could be done to turn the clocks back to the person he’d been once — to the fresh-faced young woman he’d driven home from a bar once upon a lifetime ago —

But for just a few minutes, for just a few precious moments, with the wind roaring in his ears, the flashes of road coming closer on every turn when he went just a little too fast, Elizabeth’s arms wrapped around his torso, her squeals of delight when they hit the outskirts of town and he could really pick up speed —

For just a little while, time did stand still and he was that man again. He’d seen her fighting with a stranger at Jake’s, and he’d stepped in—

And nothing had ever been the same.

He didn’t think very much about where to take her — there were the obvious choices — to the summit of the cliff roads at Vista Point where they’d shared a kiss and too many unfinished conversations — to the bridge where he’d taught her to box or where they’d stood in quiet contemplation of the son they’d thought lost to them —

But if she wanted to turn back time, if she really wanted to go back to a different moment —

Jason eased off the speed, exhaling a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. He’d wondered if this land had ever been sold — if even this had changed in the time he’d been gone. But the driveway to the old estate was still there, and the statues still at guard, though time had worn away more of the stone. There was just enough moonlight to look around.

Elizabeth slid off the bike when it was safe to do so, tugging the helmet from her hair, and her hair falling to her shoulders. She set the helmet on the back of the bike, combed her fingers through hair. “I completely forgot about this place,” she murmured, heading for the statues that had once graced elaborate gardens, long fallen into ruin. “We came here once.”

“I remember.” He switched off the bike. “You never came back?”

“No.” Elizabeth stopped by the statue of the girl, studied her for a long moment, then looked at him. “Jake’s home. I should have said something back at the house, but I was just—” She rubbed her chest with a fist. “Everything started to go wrong, and I couldn’t think anymore.”

“He said he would try to get a flight before the service.” Jason approached her, sliding his hands in his pockets. “He’s at the house?”

She nodded, folded her arms. “Yeah. He said he and Aiden would spend the night. Monica, she, ah, gave them a standing invitation. She’s been kind, you know. Like Laura, not treating any of the boys differently.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “He said he’s putting school on hold.”

“What?” Jason straightened. “Why? What happened?”

“He’s worried about Danny.” There was a bench, and she sat, perching at the edge, her knees angled towards the center. She stared down at her hands. “The kids—they were all upset. Rocco heard his dad saying Alexis wants custody.”

Jason flinched, then dragged his hands down his face. “They shouldn’t know that yet. They shouldn’t be a part of it yet.”

“So it’s true?” She looked at him, and he averted his eyes, unable to hold her gaze. “Alexis wants custody?”

“She told Drew and me tonight.” He kicked at a larger piece of rock that had become dislodged from the base of the statue. “It would keep the kids together.”

She said nothing, and when the silence became uncomfortable, he lifted his head to find her watching him. “That’s what Danny wants. He told me he wants to stay with Rocco and Scout. I—I can’t do anything about Scout, but—”

“What? You’ll let Dante have custody and you’ll visit so Danny can stay with Rocco?” Elizabeth asked, and he grimaced, looked away. When he and Dante had broached the uncomfortable topic, the suggestion had lurked in his mind, but had been unsaid. Hearing it from her lips —

It sounded wrong.

“I wish I could blame myself,” Elizabeth said, and he frowned, opened his mouth, then shook his head, bewildered. “I know I pushed you out of Jake’s life, and that I must have made you question whether you’d be a good father—”

“No—”

“Don’t do that thing where you absolve me of all wrongdoing,” Elizabeth interrupted gently, and he sighed. She rose to her feet. “You didn’t used to do that, you know? When I was wrong, you always told me. About Lucky—God, the arguments we had about Ric and Zander—but that stopped after Jake.” She tipped her head to the side. “We can save that for another argument. But I know this isn’t about that. You came home seven years ago and found out Danny was your son and Jake was alive. You went from no children to two sons just like that—” She snapped her fingers. “You were patient with Jake, you built a relationship with him. You had visitation with him. I know things were a little more complicated with Danny, but you were their father, Jason. And when we lost you three years ago, it devastated them.”

His throat tightened and he looked away. “I never meant for any of that—it wasn’t supposed to be like that.”

“Before we lost you, if this had happened, if there was a question of Jake or Danny needing to live with you, you would have done it.”

“I—”

“Something’s different about you,” Elizabeth continued. He pressed his lips together, kept his eyes on the ground beneath him. “I noticed it the first time we saw each other last April.”

“Two years is a long time,” Jason said after a long beat of silence. “It’s not like last time. I didn’t know five years had passed. I—I felt it. Every day I was gone.” He cleared his throat. “It doesn’t matter. Drew made it clear he doesn’t support Alexis taking Scout, and if he’s taking her to DC, then there’s no point in Alexis taking Danny—”

“All of that might be true, but why aren’t you saying that Danny is your son and you want him with you?”

“It’s—he’s old enough to decide where he wants to live. And he’s—they’re both so—I’ve missed most of their lives,” Jason said. He fisted his hands in the pockets of his jackets. “Danny wants to be with Scout, so I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen—”

“Do you think Carly feels that way about Bobbie? They didn’t meet until Carly was in her twenties. And Dante and Sonny—I know we’re not supposed to talk about it, but I’m pretty sure Sonny didn’t know who Dante was until he shot him. And look at them now. You never used to make excuses.” Elizabeth took another step towards him but he kept his eyes looking just past her. “Why are you making them now?”

“I’m not,” Jason said carefully. “I told you, I’ll do what’s right for Danny—”

“The way you always tried to do what was right for Sonny, and what was right for Carly, for me, for Sam—” Her fingers brushed his jawline forcing their eyes to meet. “What about what’s right for you? When was the last time you did something just because you wanted to?”

“It’s not a good idea for me to think that way.” He reached up, took her hand in his and squeezed it. “I usually get into trouble—” He started to release her hand, but she held on, turning it so that she look at his knuckles. “Elizabeth—”

“I wondered where those bruises came from,” she murmured, her fingers sliding over the bruises and one thin cut. “I saw you and Drew at the house looking like you wanted to murder each other.”

“Like I said, I get into trouble when I do what I want,” Jason said gently tugging his hand from her grasp. “And don’t ask—”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Her lips curved into a smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “You wouldn’t tell me anyway. It’s all right for you to rescue me when I need it, to listen when I’m having a bad day, but when I check in on you, when I try to be your friend, well, you change the topic as quickly as you can. I can take a hint. I hope there’s someone you can talk to. Spinelli. Sonny. Carly.”

Jason opened his mouth, but he didn’t have the words, didn’t have the ability to make her understand everything that was in his head, in his heart, in his gut, he never knew how to do that now. “There’s not,” he said finally. “If there was, it would be you.”

She sighed, then nodded. “All right. We should, ah, find some time to talk to Jake. Try to talk him out of staying home next semester. I think we should do that as united front, make it clear to him that you’ll take care of Danny, and that Jake needs to focus on his future. I’ll call you tomorrow when he gets home, and we’ll set up a time.”

“Yeah. Yeah, okay.”

Elizabeth waited another moment, the silence hanging between them, her eyes searching his, but whatever she was looking for remained unanswered. She started back towards the bike, pausing when he called her name.

“The girl. The statue. With the long dress. I can’t tell if she’s smiling. You asked me that once, and I never—I never came back to find out.”

Elizabeth looked from him to the statue. “I can’t tell,” she said. “I guess I should have come back before now. Even statues crumble when they’re made to wait.”

---

I wish I could to tell you that the last line is my own, but it belongs to my queen, Taylor, and The Prophecy one of the perfect songs from TTPD: Anthology. I honestly couldn’t resist, lol.

← Flash Fiction: Dear Reader – Part 2 |