Written in 58 minutes.

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Never take advice from someone who’s falling apart
(You should find another)

When he’d come to their house last April, and Jake had walked down the steps, it had stunned Jason to have such a visual representation of the time he’d lost. When last he’d seen Jake, he’d been shorter than Elizabeth, his hair worn longer, his face still carrying some residual features of youth. But Jake had grown more than a foot, and his hair had been cut short, his face leaner, more angular—more adult.

Seeing him again, months after he and Elizabeth had taken him to the airport and sent him to Spain, Jason thought again of how much of Jake’s life he’d missed. Some of that had been outside his control — the long, terrible year and a half Jason had believed Jake to be dead, and then five years in the coma, locked in a lab in Russia—

Jake’s fingers tightened reflexively around the phone he held in his hand. “If you’re here to see Danny, he’s in the back.” The words were clipped, said without emotion.

“I—” Had come to talk to Dante, hoping to talk about Alexis’s intentions, looking for any way out of this terrible situation. “I was hoping to see you later today, actually. Your mother told me about school—”

“She gets to be disappointed,” Jake cut in, “but you don’t. You paid for school, and thanks, but that doesn’t entitle you to an opinion on me or what I do with my life.”

Jason absorbed the hit, dropped his eyes to the floor of the foyer, then took a deep breath. Facing mercenaries had been easier than facing the righteous anger of the son he’d left. “I know you’re angry at me. And I’m not asking you to do forget what I did. Or forgive me. I told you that last summer. I thought we’d agreed that you wouldn’t let my failings limit your future—”

“And I’m not. I’m sure Mom put you up to this. But she can’t change my mind either. Barcelona is there when I’m ready to go back next fall. By then, I’m sure wherever Danny ends up, he’ll be settled. But I’m not going anywhere.” Jake shoved the phone into his back pocket. “You were never there for me, not in any way that mattered. You showed up on holidays and birthdays, fine. But you weren’t there when I needed you, and I don’t want you here now. Thanks for paying for school,” he repeated, “because the last thing Mom deserves after taking care of all of us is putting herself in debt for me. I took the money for her. Not for you.”

Jason wanted to argue, wanted to defend himself, but there was nothing there. Nothing he could offer. No rebuttal that would make erase Jake’s anger. “Okay,” he said finally. “But your mother—”

“Don’t talk to me about my mother. You don’t get to do that. I came home for my brother. Do you know when they told us you were dead, he cried himself to sleep?” Jake demanded. “Do you know how stupid I feel for telling him that you’d died trying to help people? No. When Danny figures out that you’re not here for him, he’ll need me. And the one thing I learned from you is that when you love someone, you show up.”

“Jake—”

Jake removed his phone, did something with the screen, then turned his back on Jason. “Yo! Aiden! Let’s go! The rideshare is here!”

Jason closed his mouth when Aiden appeared a few seconds later, followed by Danny who grinned when he saw Jason in the foyer.

“Dad, hey. Jake, why didn’t you tell me Dad was here?” Danny said, then looked at his brother’s irritated expression. “Oh, you guys didn’t get into a fight, did you?”

“Everything is fine,” Jason told Danny. He kept his hands in the pocket of his jacket, balled into fists. “We’re good.”

Jake walked past him without a word, yanked open the door. “Let’s go, Aiden. I already texted Mom.”

Aiden looked back and forth between his brother and Jason, then shrugged. “All right. See ya, Danny.”

“See ya—” Danny flinched when Jake slammed the door. “You’re not good, are you? Man, I told Jake not to do this with you—”

“Jake gets to feel how he wants to feel,” Jason said, holding up a hand. “He’s right to be angry, Danny. I was gone for two years. I can’t change the choices I made.”

“Yeah, but you were helping people, weren’t you?” Danny said. “That’s why you were in Greece in the first place. You helped save Uncle Drew. Jake said he’s coming home for the spring. I tried to argue with him, but he never listens. Anyway, maybe it’s good. He’ll be around, and you’ll get to change his mind.”

“I hope I can,” Jason said. “But—”

“He’s just worried about me. And Scout, too. He takes being a brother serious.” Danny shrugged. “He gets that from Cam. Something about Jake having a really tough time when he was a kid, and Cam was made it easier. So he thinks that’s what he has to do for me. He still thinks I’m a stupid little kid. He says I shouldn’t get my hopes up that you’ll be able to find a way to keep me and Scout together. That’s why he’s so mad.”

Jason winced, then rubbed his brow with his thumb. “Listen. About that. I—I know you heard your grandmother is asking for custody of you and your sister. That’s why I came over—I wanted to talk to Dante.”

“They went to Turning Wood to see his mother. Don’t worry, Dad. I know you’re going to do whatever you can so me and Scout can stay together. I’m her big brother, so I gotta look out for her. It’s going to be okay.”

He was saying all the right things, but Jason had a feeling Danny was expecting some kind of miracle, and he just didn’t think that was possible. “I—I’m going to try very hard to make sure whatever happens, you’re okay.” His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he slid it out to find a text notification from Elizabeth on the lock screen.

Jake’s on his way home. Are you still up to talk to him? I really want to do this together.

He grimaced, considered calling her and telling her that would be a terrible idea, but maybe it would be easier with Elizabeth in the room. She always knew what to say to Jake, how to build the bridge.

He looked back up at Danny. “I have to go, but we’ll talk more. And I’ll call Dante. We’ll figure this out.”

“I know you will.”

—

Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief when Jason’s short text reached her, indicating he was on his way over. With any luck, they’d figure out how to talk to Jake into going back to Barcelona, and maybe she’d find a way to apologize for last night. She’d had no right to make Jason feel worse about himself on a day when he’d buried his ex-wife, and the guilt would linger until she’d made amends.

She frowned when she heard a knock on the door a few minutes later. Had Jason been close to the house already?

But it wasn’t Jason on her doorstep — it was Sonny. “Oh. Um, hello.” She stepped back letting the other man in. “I didn’t—I wasn’t expecting you.”

“No, we really haven’t had a chance to catch up, have we?” Sonny walked in, then turned to face her. “I had a chat with Jason this morning, and I thought we should discuss it.”

Elizabeth closed the door, then folded her arms. “I don’t understand—”

“Alexis is asking for custody of the kids. You hear about that?”

She pursed her lips, then nodded. “Yes. I talked to Jason about it last night—”

“Yeah, I saw your fingerprints all over this. That explains the way he was talking to me this morning.”

She stiffened, narrowed her eyes. “What does that mean?”

“Jason’s not going to fight for his kid, you know that, don’t you? He’s gonna let Alexis run all over him, talking about how he’s not a good father, how he’s never been there, that his life isn’t good for Danny—” Sonny’s brows lifted. “Any of that sound familiar?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I don’t feel right discussing any of this without Jason in the room.” Elizabeth walked past him, heading for the other side of the room where she’d left her phone. She’d call Jason right now and tell him to get over here faster. She wasn’t in the mood for whatever Sonny was blaming her for.

“He didn’t think like this before you,” Sonny accused, and she whirled back to face him with wide eyes. “He wanted kids. You know that. You know what kind of father he was with Michael, don’t you?”

“I—”

“Hell, the whole reason he hooked up with Sam in the first place was to be a father again. But you took that away from him and you filled his head with all this crap about his life not being safe enough for kids—”

Elizabeth held up her hands. “First of all, that is not how that happened. And let’s not forget you and Carly practically teaming up to tell me what a terrible idea it would be for me to be having Jason’s child, okay?”

“Sure, blame me and Carly for your lies. But the way Jason was talking this morning about not being a good man, about how amazing Jake was because Jason hadn’t been in his life—that’s all you, Elizabeth, and you know it—”

“It is not! How dare you! I was with him last night, asking the same questions! I want him to fight for Danny, too! How could you ever think I didn’t?”

“I don’t know, Elizabeth, why do Jake and Jason have such a difficult relationship, huh?” Sonny challenged. “Maybe it’s because of you. Because you ripped out foundation by shoving Jason out Jake’s life and lying to him about who Jake’s father was. You know Jason would have stepped up and been a good father, but it wasn’t enough for you, wasn’t it? You couldn’t stand that Jason didn’t love you, and that he’d raise Jake with another woman! So you lied to him, and you lied to Lucky, and you lied to the world! And now Jason thinks he has no right to be a father because of what you started!”

She wanted to defend herself, to speak up, to change the angry words being thrown at her, but all of them were true in their own ways, and hadn’t she taken some of the blame last night? She opened her mouth, then shook her head. “It wasn’t like that. That’s not what I wanted to happen—”

“But it happened, didn’t it?” Sonny took a step towards her, jabbing a finger. “You lied to Jason, to Lucky, to the world, and you lied to Jake and the only reason the Cassadines took him was because you lied! Hell, maybe you’re the reason they went after Jason—”

“Oh, that’s not fair! I didn’t—”

“What, you didn’t know Lucky had dangerous connections? You didn’t know about Helena?” Sonny sneered. “Don’t try to sell me on that, Elizabeth. You forget I’ve been around and I’ve seen it all. How many times have you lied to those kids? You’re going to fix this, damn it. You’re going to find a way to make sure Jason knows that he’s a good father, that he deserves to be a father. You owe him that much for all the years you stole from him and from Jake. You started this, Elizabeth, and by God, you’re going to end it. I refuse to let you steal another son from Jason—”

The door opened on Sonny’s last statement, and he whirled around to find Jake and Aiden at the threshold. Elizabeth swiped at her cheeks, turning away so that the boys couldn’t see her tears.

“What’s going on here?” Jake asked, coming inside. Behind him Aiden hovered behind him. “What are you talking about? Mom? What’s he talking about? How did she steal a son from my dad?”

Sonny lifted his brows, looked at Elizabeth who couldn’t speak, her throat was too  tight. “Oh, you don’t know? When she got pregnant with you, she was married to Lucky. And told the whole world, including Jason, that Lucky was your father.”

Jake squinted, then looked at his mother. “Did you do that?”

“Y-Yes,” she finally managed to say. “But it’s not that simple—”

“And even after she told your father the truth, she asked him to let Lucky raise you. She made Jason feel like trash, like a terrible father who had no right to be in your life—”

“Stop, that’s not—”  Elizabeth grabbed Sonny’s arm. “Stop! You have no right, no place to tell him—”

“No, I’m of sick you walking around like a saint, like the world’s best mother because you raised your boys alone. Well, who’s fault is that?” Sonny threw out. “Jason proposed to you, didn’t he? He asked you to marry him when he found out about Jake.”

“He did, but—”

“And you turned him down—”

“Until I didn’t!” Elizabeth cried. “Until I said yes, and then Michael got shot in the head—don’t you dare pretend as if I had no reason to be concerned about your life, Sonny Corinthos! Your son was in a coma for a year! That terrified Jason! It terrified us both! How dare you come in here, how dare you—”

“How dare you use my son to make yourself feel better about the lies you told—”

“Oh, shit—” Aiden snagged a stunned Jake’s sleeve. “Shit, shit—” Jake turned and saw Jason looming in the doorway.

“What,” Jason began, his voice tightly controlled, his fists balled at his side, “in the hell are you doing here, Sonny?”

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