Written in 56 minutes.

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PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

Taggert stared at the photos, took a deep breath, then raised his burning gaze to Jordan. “This is my daughter.”

“Marcus—”

“You had surveillance on this guy, didn’t you?” He slapped the evidence photos back on her desk, and she flinched at the slap they made against the wood. “You told me you were watching Baker—”

“I was—”

“Then how did you miss him stalking my daughter? Damn it, Jordan—”

“I—”

“He was doing time for blackmailing a teenage girl over photographs he took of her! And your guys let him around more teens with a camera?” Taggert stabbed a finger at her. “And they did nothing—”

“They—” Jordan sank into her seat, stared blindly at the surveillance report, then raised her eyes to Taggert. “No one was ever in danger. No one, okay? I made sure of that—”

He stared at her, and the horror crept into his eyes. “You didn’t miss it. You saw it. They saw him taking pictures of those girls.”

Jordan swallowed hard, nodded. “I knew why he was doing it. He was following girls who were connected to Elizabeth Morgan. I thought he was focusing on Emma because she looks like Elizabeth did back then—” Taggert turned away from, and Jordan got back to her feet. “But nothing happened, okay? I just—he was careless about it. I knew they’d tell an adult. I knew it’d get back to Morgan—” She put her hands flat on the desk, leaned forward. “Listen to me, Marcus. I was right! Elizabeth saw Baker in the park a few weeks ago. And now he’s dead. She ran right to her husband—”

Taggert turned back to Jordan. “What? What do you mean?”

“Before we pulled the surveillance on Baker—my officer saw Baker in the park taking photos of the girls. And saw Elizabeth Morgan hurry into the clearing, and get the girls out. She looked worried. We waited to see what would happen—” She gritted her teeth. “I was wrong. I thought Morgan would do the job himself because it was personal—”

“You had a cop in the bushes watching Tom Baker take photos of my daughter—he could have gone after Trina because of me, Jordan—” Taggert clenched his hands into a fist.  “You put those girls at risk—”

“They were never—” Jordan took a deep breath. “They were never at risk, Marcus. You have to believe me. If Baker had made a move, they had orders to stop it. But there’s no crime against being in public and taking photos. I just—”

“You decided it was worth the risk to get Morgan, and with him, goes Corinthos. You know, I wasn’t always proud of myself when I worked here—I was narrow minded and I lost objectivity.” His eyes burned into hers. “But I never put an innocent kid at risk to get someone. And what did it get you, Jordan? Baker’s dead and there’s no leads. You can’t even prove murder.” His mouth stretched into a grim smile. “And Jason Morgan is alibi’d by three former police commissioners. The fucking irony—”

Jordan hissed. “I know he did it—his wife is pregnant. There’s no way he was going to keep Baker living once she found out about the photos. About the stalking.”

“You gambled and you lost, and for this—” Taggert stabbed a finger into a photograph of Emma and Trina in the park. “You deserve it. And when the press finds out about this—and they will—you already told me Elizabeth knows Baker was stalking the girls. You think she won’t go to the press if you keep going after her husband?”

“Tom Baker did his time,” Jordan said coldly. “You either believe in the system or you don’t. You don’t get to pick and choose—”

“Why not? You did. You decided the risk was worth it. You chose to let Tom Baker stalk teenagers so you could get this department’s holy grail. And that’s why you lost. That’s why I lost. Why Mac and everyone else who ever went after Morgan and Corinthos. You made it personal. You deserve whatever comes next.”

Kelly’s: Diner

Trina dropped her books down with a thud next to Joss and flopped into a chair. “I am going to fail algebra,” she said with a huff. “There’s not a prayer in the world—”

“You are not.” Emma rolled her eyes and reached for the green folder in Trina’s stack to retrieve the quiz. “You have to stop rushing.”

“Why does there have to be letters?” Trina demanded of Joss. “Weren’t numbers good enough?”

“Apparently not,” Joss began, but then stopped when she saw Emma’s face pale as she scrolled through her phone. “Emma?”

“I was—I was gonna look up this math app, but—I got this notification from the news—” Emma raised her eyes, looked at Trina. “A few weeks ago, last month, I think. There was that weird guy in the court yard.”

“Yeah?”

Emma handed her phone to Trina and her eyes widened. “But look at the story, Treen—”

“What’s going on?” Joss asked, and Trina showed her the phone. “Tom Baker, former photographer to the stars, found dead,” she read. “Tom Baker—” She pursed her lips. “Wait, why is that name familiar?”

“It’s the guy who hurt Aunt Liz,” Emma said. “Dad said it was the guy who blackmailed Cam’s aunt, Emily. The one who died. So I looked it up. Tom Baker. But he’s the guy who I saw outside. And I saw him at the hospital.”

Joss took the phone to look more closely at the picture. “I saw him a few times at the hospital. And in the park,” she realized. “Weird.”

“I didn’t even know he was out of prison,” Trina said. “But he’s dead now.”

“Good,” Emma said. “I know it’s bad to want people dead, but people like him don’t get to live.”

“No.” Joss stared at the face of the man who had hurt Cam’s mom, the same woman who had waited all night for her after the dance. And found her on the street. “People who rape women deserve to die.

General Hospital: Ultrasound Room

Elizabeth laid back and forced a smile at Jason, who returned it. But it was lined with the same heavy tension that had been there for the last week. Since Tom Baker’s body had been discovered.

She was going to tell him. She’d always planned to do it eventually, but now that it was over, she found herself struggling with how to start the conversation. She and Jason didn’t talk about these kinds of things. He never talked to her about what he did as Sonny’s enforcer, and she didn’t ask. She knew he’d taken lives, and had mad her peace with it.

But what she’d done — it was different. It had been murder. Cold-blooded, premeditated murder. It was one thing for him to get his own hands dirty, and maybe he hadn’t minded when she’d killed Stavros — but it had been the heat of the moment.

Now that it was safer to tell Jason, she was starting to have doubts that he’d see it the way she had. That he’d understand she’d only lied to protect him. To protect the boys. And he’d be furious, she admitted, that she’d put herself—and their unborn child at risk.

“Hey,” Jason murmured as the ultrasound technician came in. “You all right?”

“Good. Just nervous. I don’t know why,” she admitted. “I’ve been through this a few times—” But never quite like this. She and Jason had never done this together. And she regretted that it was tainted by the tension. By the secret. God, why had she lied on Thanksgiving? Why had it been so important for her to keep the secret until the discovery of the body?

“Are we ready?” the technician asked with a bright smile. “Dr. Westbourne will be here in a minute to read the image, but we’re going to get to started.”

“Ready.” Elizabeth tugged up her sweater, and flinched as the cool gel was spread across the curve of her belly. Then the ultrasound wand started to move gently across. Elizabeth watched the screen, smiling as the sounds of the baby’s heartbeat came across. Then frowned—because it sounded different than any of her other children. She looked at Jason who was tilting his head, a bit confused as well.

Britt Westbourne came in, a wide smile across her face. “Good morning. Sorry, I’m just a bit late—let’s take a look—” She tilted the screen, then raised her eyebrows. “Well—”

“There’s something wrong, isn’t there?” Elizabeth said, her voice tight. “I can hear—”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Britt reassured them both. “It’s just—” She gestured at the screen. “You’re hearing double. There are two heartbeats.”

Elizabeth stared at the doctor for a long moment, the words not processing. “What—”

“Two heartbeats,” Britt repeated gently. “Twins.” She pointed again. “One heart, and there’s the other.”

“Twins,” Jason echoed, and even he seemed a bit flustered. “That’s…there are two of them. They’re—” He stopped, took a deep breath. “There are two of them?”

“Looks like it. I’d wondered after your last appointment,” Britt told Elizabeth. “You were measuring a bit bigger than I’d thought, and I’d heard an echo. But I wanted to be sure. Congratulations!”

Even after they’d left the office, Elizabeth couldn’t quite find the words. They stood by the elevators, and she stared at the sonogram. “Twins.”

“Two,” Jason echoed. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, we, uh, wanted to do it all over again.”

“Yeah, but twins—they usually run in the family,” Elizabeth said. She peered at him curiously. “I don’t remember any twins on my side—”

“Well, I never knew my biological mother,” Jason pointed out. “Maybe—” He shook his head. “This is—it’s good news,” he decided. “It’s just—”

“Scary,” Elizabeth confirmed, and he smiled in return. “Terrifying. But—kind of amazing. ” She pressed a hand against her belly. “Two babies. At once. We’re going to be so outnumbered.”

“It’ll be okay.” He drew her in for a tight hug, and she clung to him. “Jake and Aiden already  offered to share a room. You raised three great boys—”

“You’ve been here for three years, Jason.” She drew back. “You get some of that credit. We raised them. And now we get to do it again. Not many people get to say they’re almost doubling the number of kids in one shot, but here we go.”

“Yeah.” Jason stared at her for a moment, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “We have some time before we have to be home for the bus. You wanna take a ride?”

“You don’t even have to ask.”

Scorpio-Drake House: Living Room

Robin’s smile was nervous as she came in from the front hall. “Hey. I didn’t realize you’d be home,” she said to her husband. “Didn’t you have a surgery?”

“Got cancelled.” Patrick flipped through the television channels, his feet propped up on the coffee table. “Thought I’d relax a little.”

Robin sat next to him, biting her lip. “Um, we haven’t really—I mean, we’ve been running on crazy schedules this week,” she said finally. “And I didn’t want to say anything around Emma, but—”

Patrick frowned, put the television on mute to focus on her. “What’s up?”

“Tom Baker was found dead,” Robin said, watching his face intently. Nothing changed, but maybe there was something, just a twitch around his eyes. “The PCPD already questioned Jason, but lucky for us, you and Elizabeth suggested we do Thanksgiving here. So he’s got a lot of people who saw him.’

“Yeah, I saw that in the paper. About Baker,” Patrick added. “Did you hear an update or something? Do they know what happened?”

“Uh. No. I think they’re waiting on a tox screen, but the papers said there was a history of heart trouble.” Robin smiled nervously. “Seems kind of..anti-climactic, doesn’t it? He gets out of prison, stirs everything up, and then just…dies in his sleep—”

“More than he deserved,” Patrick bit out, and she stopped, frowning at him. “He deserved worse,” he clarified. “When I think about how Elizabeth handled seeing him again—it’s not right. He should have been eaten alive by lions. Or wolves.”

“Yeah, I guess. But people don’t always get what they deserve,” Robin pointed out. “At least we don’t have to think about him hurting anyone.”

“No. We don’t.” Patrick turned back to the television, flipped through the channels again, and Robin settled back against the sofa cushions, wondering if maybe she was just going to have to ask him straight out if he’d murdered Tom Baker.

There should really be Hallmark cards for these kinds of things.

Vista Point

They’d been together for four years, and married for nearly three—and every single week, Jason had made sure that he’d taken Elizabeth out for a ride on the cliff roads—short, long, fast and reckless, or a bit more restrained—it was something they’d shared since the beginning, and he thought that it might be a way to resolve this terrible tension.

He’d waited for her to come to him, sure as the days passed without further word from he PCPD, that she would confide in him, that she’d want him to check and be sure that the crime had left no trail—

But after today, after looking at the screen—seeing and hearing the heartbeat of the two children they were going to bring into this world—Jason  couldn’t stand the secrets hanging between them anymore.

So he took her on the cliff roads, took the turns faster than maybe he should, considering Elizabeth was nearly four months pregnant—but he wanted her to be relaxed. And he wanted her to remember who they were. Who he was.

Jason parked the bike at Vista Point, the highest point in Port Charles, and she eagerly went to the overlook, leaning over the guardrail to breathe in the clear, fresh air. “This is probably one of my favorite places,” she murmured, tilting her head up to the sky. “I love it here.”

“Me, too.” Jason leaned against the guard rail, his back to the harbor, their shoulders brushing. “I need to ask you something.”

He could feel her tense next to him, her body stilling. “What?”

“Tom Baker.” Jason straightened, then touched her shoulder, turning him towards him so that their eyes met. “You and Patrick. On Thanksgiving. You killed Baker, didn’t you?”

Elizabeth exhaled slowly. “Yes,” she said softly. “I killed him. Not Patrick. He was just there if anything went wrong. I did it. I gave him the injection. And I watched him until he stopped breathing. And I’m not sorry.”

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