Written in 54 minutes. Checked for spelling errors, but not reread for typos.

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There was nothing else that Jason could do.

He’d carried her to the edge of the shore, onto the bed, into the van, and then laid her down in the back room of the plane where a pale Patrick and Robin were hurriedly arranging the emergency supplies to stop the bleeding —

He’d wanted to stay in the room, to hold Elizabeth’s hand, to do something—but Robin had gently put a hand on his chest and pushed back until Jason was on the other side of the door.

“Right now,” Robin told him, her brown eyes somber, “Elizabeth would want you to be with the scared little boy who just got pulled off that island.”

Jason exhaled sharply, then nodded. “Okay. But if you need anything—“

“I know where to find you. Jason, she’s ours, too. And Patrick isn’t giving up.”

With that, she turned and closed the door.

Jason returned to the main part of the plane where Sonny was sitting on the sofa next to Jake.

Jake.

His son was sitting on the sofa next to Jason’s oldest friend, his cheeks stained with tears, his blonde hair ruffled and his face stained with dirt and soot—a scratch on his cheek probably from a passing branch as Sonny had carried him through the woods to safety.

“How is she?” Laura asked, leaving Spinelli, Robert, and Anna at a table, looking over satellite images.

“I—“ Jason shook his head. “They won’t tell me anything. Do you—“ Nikolas had tried to buy them time and if Stavros had shown up—if the island had blown up—

Laura had come here to save her children, too. He couldn’t forget that.

“We don’t know anything. And Robin is a little busy,” Laura murmured. She turned to look at the sofa, putting a hand on Jason’s arm. “When I saw Lucky for the first time,” she said, “I was so afraid to talk to him. To touch him. I was afraid that he would disappear. That I was imagining him.”

“He knew us,” Jason managed. “Nikolas told him about us. About me. He called me—he knew me.” He met Laura’s eyes. “I hope he got out.”

“Me, too.”

With that, Laura returned to the computers and Jason finally managed to go over to the sofa, kneeling down in front of Jake. “Hey.”

“Hi.” Jake studied him carefully. “Mommy’s hurt, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, she is, but Robin and Patrick are doing everything they can. She missed you so much, Jake.” Jason reached out to touch Jake’s cheek, but his hand faltered halfway, falling back to his side.

He didn’t dream, but he still couldn’t quite bring himself to believe this was their son sitting in front of him like the last two terrible years hadn’t happened.

“Are you okay?” Jason asked instead. “You got cut—“

“Sorry,” Sonny said, with a wince. “I didn’t—we were going to the boat—“ He pushed himself to his feet. “I’ll get something—“

Jason also stood. “Sonny—“ He cleared his throat. “Thank you. For getting him to the boat.”

“I didn’t want to go without you, but—“ Sonny shook his head. “Elizabeth made Laura promise she’d go as soon as Jake was safe, and I guess Laura—“

“It was the right choice,” Jason said. “Elizabeth knew the risks. We both did.”

Sonny went to find a first aid kit, and Jason gingerly perched on the edge of the sofa next to his son—his son—searching for the words.

He’d never been Jake’s father. Not when it had mattered. Not when Jake could have remembered. Elizabeth had brought this miracle into the world and had done every ounce of the work since that moment.

He’d never brought anything to Jake’s life, and now Jason didn’t even know where to start.

“Is Uncle Nikolas okay?” Jake asked. He rubbed a hand under his nose. “He said I was gonna go home before I was six, but then he left, and I don’t know where he is.”

“We’re looking for him,” Jason promised. “He was very brave today. He knew it was your best chance to go home. That it was Robin’s best chance to get back to her family.”

“But I wanted Mommy,” Jake admitted in a small voice. “Uncle Nik showed me pictures of you, and I know you’re my daddy, and you seem nice. You made sure Mommy got on the plane. Uncle Nik said when I came home, we’d be a family. But—“ Tears spilled over his lashes, sliding down his cheeks as his chest hitched and his voice broke. “I want Mommy.”

“I want her, too,” Jason admitted. He reached for his son and Jake launched himself into Jason’s arms, clinging tightly, his arms around Jason’s neck, the tears soaking into the shoulder of his shirt. Jason folded Jake into his arms, rocking him slowly as his son sobbed.

Sonny stopped just a few feet away, the kit in his hands as he took in the sight of Jason finally holding the son he’d believed to be lost for so long. He glanced over to find Laura watching them, tears glinting on her cheeks.

“I left her on that island,” Laura said softly so that no one but Sonny could hear her, “and I know it was the right choice. But I asked her to help us one more time with Lucky. Just once more.”

“You thought we could find out information,” Sonny began, but Laura shook her head.

“She came here to get her son, and my son might have killed her.” Laura looked at him. “Did she even get to see him? To look at him? Touch him, hold him?”

Sonny pressed his lips together, and Laura closed her eyes. “No,” he admitted. “She was bleeding before we got to the house, and we didn’t know this—but Jake recognized Jason. Elizabeth didn’t even have to be there. Jason gave me Jake, and took her.”

“If one single Cassadine made it off that estate,” Laura said, tightly, “I will spend the rest of my life hunting them down and eliminating them.”

“You and I agree on that,” Sonny promised. He turned at the sound of his voice, softly spoken from the back room. He hurried back, terrified that maybe Robin was telling him that Elizabeth hadn’t survived and he needed to help prepare Jason—

Oh, God, how was he—

But Robin didn’t give him that news. She pulled him into the room, and pushed him into a chair. “You and Elizabeth. You have the same blood type, right?” she asked. “I remember this. She donated to you once, didn’t she? You said—“

“Yeah. Yeah.” Sonny cleared his throat. “A lifetime ago.” He looked at Elizabeth, on the bed, a sheet covering her chest, her abdomen still bloody, and the wound that hadn’t looked so bad before they’d left on the boats—

He swallowed hard and focused on Robin. “What do you need?”

“A blood transfusion. She’s not going to make it, Sonny, otherwise. We can stitch her up again, but she’s so weak from the blood loss, she’ll go into shock—“

“Stop—“ Sonny rolled up his sleeve. “Take whatever you need. Take it all. She goes home with Jake or Jason. Alive. They get to be a family.”

—

It was some time before Jason realized that Sonny hadn’t returned. Jake had continue to cry for several more minutes, but they’d slowed into hiccups after a while, and then Jake had pulled back.

“Uncle Nik said my brothers missed me.”

“A lot,” Jason told him. “You know your cousin Spencer? He and Cameron and some of their friends tried to steal a plane because we wouldn’t let them help. And then they tied up Aunt Lulu and her friend to head to the airport. That’s how much Cam wants you to come home.”

“But Mommy—“ Jake looked towards the door where he knew his mother was. “She was hurt. Really hurt. Why didn’t that lady wait for you?”

“Because your mother wanted you safe,” Jason told him roughly. “We came here to bring you home. She got hurt before we got to you. All that matters is getting you home.” He paused, looked at Laura who had clearly overheard Jake’s question and was pale, her eyes haunted. “And that lady is your grandmother. She promised your mother.”

“That’s Mommy’s mom?” Jake asked, furrowing his brow. “I don’t—I thought that was Uncle Nik’s mom.”

“I am,” Laura told Jake, sitting on his other side. “But the universe brought your mother into my life, and she’s mine, too. The daughter of my heart. So yes, I am your grandmother. I wanted to wait for your mother. But I know what she wanted. We keep promises in this family.”

“Promises are important,” Jake said with a nod. He made a face as his stomach rumbled. “I didn’t eat lunch,” he admitted.

“Why don’t I take you over to the galley?” Laura offered, holding out a hand to him. “Jason, you can check in with Spinelli or Robin if she’ll let you.”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Jason scrubbed his hands over his face, then pushed himself to his feet. He could focus on Jake and shove Elizabeth out of his head when his son was there, but now his mind was racing as he joined Spinelli and the pair of WSB agents at the computers. “Where are the other Spencers?”

“In another room,” Robert said flatly. “The kid is still knocked out, but Spencer didn’t trust it.” He looked at Jason. “He’s sick over this, Morgan—“

“He can stay sick. What do we know?” Jason demanded. “Who was on the island?”

“Not much yet,” Spinelli admitted. “News media says the main estate is still engulfed in flames, and being on an island, hard to get much emergency help out there. No survivors have been reported yet, but seeing as how most of the people on that island are legally dead—“

“Robin said,” Anna said tightly, “on the way to get Elizabeth, that the plan was to blow up the island once Nikolas had gotten Jake and Robin to safety. They hadn’t been trying to reach Patrick very long. Nikolas was supposed to get Jake and Robin out, and Stefan was supposed to set the bombs.”

“Stefan,” Robert muttered. “I forgot about him.”

“He brought Robin her meals, and passed messages. To the extent he was an ally—“ Anna sighed, rubbed her eyes. “And there’s Valentin. Robin doesn’t think he was on the island yet. So he’s still out there—“

“If Stefan was supposed to trigger the bomb—“ Jason closed his eyes. “By the time we got to the cottage, Nikolas was already rushing to us. Stavros followed us. That’s why Nikolas wasn’t with us. He gave us Jake, and then went to stop him.”

“But you said—“ Spinelli twisted in his seat.

“Elizabeth couldn’t keep going. I had to rewrap her wound,” Jason continued. “I sent Sonny ahead, and Stavros caught up to us. Faster than I expected. Elizabeth shot him. And it was a head shot with brain matter. He’s not coming back this time,” he added to Robert and Anna. “He thought she wasn’t a threat, and she took the gun from my holster when he wasn’t looking.”

“Men underestimating us is always their downfall,” Anna murmured. “But he’d caught up to you. Which means Nikolas either went straight to the house—“

“Or Stavros stopped him.” Jason grimaced, looking towards the galley where he could just Laura handing Jake a sandwich. “We need to find out for sure. His son deserves to know what happened.”

“Jason?”

Jason turned to find Robin behind him, wiping her hands on a towel. “Robin, is she—“

“Come into the back.”

Patrick was just pulling a sheet over Elizabeth’s chest, tucking it under her shoulders as Robin led him in. Next to bed, Sonny was slowly rolling down his sleeve, his face pale.

“What—“

“Patrick,” Robin told her husband, “can you help Sonny to the kitchen? He needs to eat. And to rest.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Patrick dragged a hand through his hair, and Jason remembered that Elizabeth’s best friend hadn’t slept in days—just like the rest of them. There hadn’t been a quiet moment since Laura had arrived at the Webber House.

Had it just been a few days ago when he’d gone to the hockey game, and watched Patrick and Elizabeth scream at referees?

“What’s wrong with Sonny—“ Jason started to ask as Patrick walked behind Sonny, making sure the other man made it down the hall.

“Patrick and I have done what we can right now,” Robin told him. “But by the time she got to the plane, Jason, she’d lost so much blood—“

“Robin—“ Jason stared at her, his breath hitching. “No—“

“She was going into shock,” Robin continued, “and once that happens, the organs start to shut down, you know that—“

“But I can—“ He looked at Elizabeth, at her pale skin, her still figure—but her chest—it was rising. Falling.

Rising. Falling.

“She’s alive,” he said in a rush.

“She is,” Robin said. “But I don’t know if she’ll stay that way. She needed a transfusion, and Sonny’s a match. He donated all he could safely. And he wanted us to keep going. But we couldn’t.”

Jason pressed his lips together. “She hasn’t even seen him.”

“I know.”

“You need—what can I do?”

“Sit with her. Keep her company. She might wake up,” Robin told him. “It’s just—we don’t know,” she admitted. “We don’t have monitors. We don’t have the testing. We could barely take in her pulse and heart rate. We don’t know,” she repeated. “How bad it was. She could be hanging on by a thread. She could be recovering.” She swallowed hard. “I’d never forgive myself if I told you she was okay, and then she never went home.”

Jason cleared his throat, then sat down on the edge of the bed, took Elizabeth’s slim hand in his. “She killed Stavros, you know.”

“Mom said.”

“She knew she’d sent Jake away, maybe never to see him again, and she was probably in so much pain she couldn’t breath.” Jason pushed Elizabeth’s hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear, letting his fingers drift down her cheek. “And she still got my gun, and saved my life.”

“She knew one of you had to get back to Jake.”

“It should be her,” Jason said tightly. “She nearly died to give him life. You remember?”

“I do—“

“She went into a fire for him.”

“I remember.”

“And losing him—“ Jason closed his eyes. “This isn’t how it ends. Not for her.”

“I don’t want it—“

“No.” Jason looked at Robin. “This isn’t how it ends,” he repeated. “Elizabeth doesn’t die from a stab wound meant for me because of the Cassadines. She doesn’t die before getting to be with Jake. She goes home to her boys. That’s how this ends.”

“I hope it will—“

Jason shook his head, returned his gaze to Elizabeth. “No.”

“Jason, you know better than that. You know sometimes we don’t get a miracle—“

“It’s not about a miracle,” he said roughly. “It’s about Elizabeth. And how strong she is. She made it to the beach. On to the boat. She’s still breathing now.” He nodded. “You got her the blood she needed. And when she wakes up, I’ll bring Jake to her one more time. That’s what I do. It’s all I’ve ever done. Jake gets kidnapped, and I bring him back to her.”

“Okay.” Robin nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Okay. You’re right. Elizabeth is too stubborn. She’ll fight. And we’ll fight with her.”

“Right.” Jason got to his feet. “But first, it’s time to deal with the man who put her here.”

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