Written in 19 minutes. No time for edits or typos.

Before Jason could even think about answering Cameron’s question, Diane strode back into the room, her cell phone still in her hands.

“Okay, I’ve got my assistant writing up an emergency motion that Judge Worth will sign at—” Diane checked the time on her phone. “Two. The arrest warrant will be squashed then.” She lifted her brow, looking around at the room. “Where did Elizabeth go?”

“She needed a minute.” Cameron turned away from Jason, folded his arms. “Why doesn’t my mom trust you?” he asked, directing the uncomfortable question to Diane who pursed her lips. “I don’t understand what’s going on—”

“Well,” Diane drawled, looking at Jason with a bit of regret. “After the truth about Jake Doe came out—the truth as we knew it back then—you remember that a lot of people weren’t happy with your mother.”

“Yeah,” Cameron said, darkly. “It rings a bell.” Jason frowned at him, wondering how bad it had been. “But what did you have to do with it? You were always my mother’s lawyer before then.”

“Because Jason asked me to take her on as a client,” Diane clarified. “I felt—I suppose—that my loyalty was to him. And as I thought she’d lied to him—” She cleared her throat delicately. “I may not have been kind or understanding.”

Cameron scowled. “Because no one in this town ever lies, right? God forbid my mother just acts like everyone else for five minutes.” He took his his wallet from his jeans and removed a crumbled five dollar bill. He set it on the counter in the kitchen. “I agree with my mother. I’d feel better if I were paying for my own lawyer. Does this work?”

Diane stared at the five dollars, which Jason knew would barely pay for her fancy coffee, then reached for it. She stared at the wrinkled bill, then raised her eyes to Cameron. “I regret the way I acted, and I owe her an apology. This works.”

She looked at Jason. “If you don’t mind, I think my new client and I need to have a frank conversation about what happens if the PCPD still manages to get him in the seat for questioning. I can keep him from getting arrested, but it might be harder to argue against a material witness order.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Jason said. “I have to go—” He left them talking and went down the hall. He gently knocked on Jake’s door.

“Come in,” Elizabeth called, her voice muffled.

He found her standing by the window, looking out over the view of the waterfront. From his apartment he could see the warehouse, the pier, Kelly’s—and even the corner of her old studio building.

“Should I apologize?” Elizabeth asked without turning around.

Jason exhaled slowly, then closed the door behind him. “Do you feel like you said anything that was wrong?” he asked.

“No.”

“Then, no.” Jason folded his arms, remaining by the door. “Cameron just hired Diane, by the way. For five dollars. She’s on his retainer now.”

Elizabeth smiled faintly, then looked at him. He was struck by the sadness in her eyes, the tenseness in her shoulders—all of the anger, the fire, and determination she’d exhibited in the living room with Diane, Chase, and Jason—it had dissipated, almost like it had never existed.

“I should probably apologize to Diane,” she admitted. “She wasn’t all that nice after everyone found out the truth, but no one was. And I know she takes her job seriously. I just—” Elizabeth said nothing for a moment, as if gathering her thoughts. “I don’t know. I guess I can’t see anything clearly when Sam’s involved.”

“I get it. She’s—she’s done a lot of damage over the years,” Jason told her. “And I know you don’t trust me—”

“It’s not that I don’t—” Elizabeth turned around to fully face him. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Jason. It’s that I don’t—” She bit her lip. “I hate her.”

“I know—”

“No, you don’t—” Elizabeth shook her head. “You don’t know. I mean, I hate her. For what she did to me with Jake—all those weeks of terror—of not knowing where my baby was—then those men with the guns in the park—I just—I don’t think I could ever forgive her for it.” Her eyes burned into his. “And I don’t know why you did. So, yeah, when it comes to Sam, Jason, I don’t entirely think you’d put me first. You never have before.”

She looked away again when he said nothing—he had no defense to any of that. Sam had commited those crimes against Elizabeth, and it wasn’t his job to talk her out of the anger or attempt to explain how he could—only two years later, allow Sam back into his life.

“Then again, I married Ric after what he did to Carly, right? And I took Lucky back after all the damage—you know, I nearly married Ric again a few years ago? And I lied about Danny. I kept another son from you. First Jake, then Danny—”

“Elizabeth—”

“I thought—I thought at first I would just to do to her what she did to me,” Elizabeth admitted. “I’d lost Jake. I’d lost him, and Sam had stolen time from me. I’d never get those weeks back. It seemed—God, it seemed so fair that I’d do the same for her. And I’d get to finally win.” A tear slid down her cheek. “I was going to wait the exact same amount of time Jake was kidnapped.”

“You barely managed a week,” he murmured. “And I never blamed you. I never told Sam.”

She looked at him with a small smile. “I know. I’d like to think you wouldn’t have told her, but you were shot and kidnapped soon after. So, we’ll never know for sure, right?”

“I never blamed you for lying about the test,” Jason repeated. “And I believe you about Sam. I think—I know she’s capable of this. I know her history. What she did as a con artist before she came to Port Charles.”

“Well, I guess that’s something,” Elizabeth murmured. She cleared her throat. “Should we tell the police or—”

They looked towards the door as they heard a door open in the front of the apartment. “Mom?” Cameron called. “Drew’s here! He needs to talk to you about Sam!”

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