Written in 62 minutes. We’re back baby 😛

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Lewis Hall: Georgie & Chelsea’s Room

“If Bryce isn’t there, I’ll just die.” Chelsea flopped onto the bed with a dramatic sigh. “I don’t know how many more signals I can send—”

“You could try just asking him out.” Georgie leaned towards the mirror to check her mascara. “I know it’s a wild concept—”

“Please. You would never.” Chelsea folded her legs. “Did you tell your stepdad about the calls and the roses?”

“I—” Georgie glanced down at the phone — she’d had three more hangups since lunch. “No. I started to, but Mac and Maxie were arguing about school again. I need to get him on his own. Tomorrow.” She turned to her roommate. “I promise.

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

Cameron was still sniffling when they got back to the penthouse, his wild sobs subsiding somewhere between the park and the Towers. Jason didn’t know what to do, how to fix this — the only solution he could envision would be getting back into the SUV, hunting Lucky Spencer down and breaking him into pieces so tiny even the vultures couldn’t pick at them —

Elizabeth went into the penthouse ahead of Jason who had Jake still tucked into the stroller. Cameron was tucked against her chest, his face burrowed in her neck, little hiccups escaping his small mouth. Elizabeth just continued to walk with him, rubbing his back, making circles around the room.

Jason decided to concentrate on Jake because it was all there was to do. He unhooked him from the stroller and went upstairs to change him and put him down for a nap, hoping the day would come when he could slug Lucky Spencer. Just once.

Downstairs, Elizabeth continued to rock her son, trying to make sense of what had happened, of Lucky not only walking away from their son, but dumping him in Elizabeth’s arms like he was a sack of potatoes—

Like he wasn’t a person, a little boy who had loved Lucky for all the days Cameron could remember.

“I w-want D-daddy,” Cameron said, his words punctuated by heaving sobs. “W-Where’s D-Daddy?”

“I’m so sorry, baby.” She pressed her lips to his forehead. “Daddy isn’t here.”

“Was I b-bad? Mommy—”

“No. No. You are perfect.” She tightened her arms around him, but everything inside of her was on fire. Cameron, at the age of three, was asking all the questions Elizabeth had since she’d been dumped on her neighbor’s steps. How could she have made so many wrong turns? How could she have done this to her little boy? She’d wanted Cameron and Jake to grow up safe and secure, with two parents who loved them.

And now Cameron was doubting his own worth. His ability to be loved.

“T-Then why—”

“I don’t know, Cam. I just—I don’t know.”

She continued to pace the living room until her arms felt like spaghetti, but she couldn’t put him down. Couldn’t let him out of her sight.

His sniffles faded and then his breathing changed — the way he slumped against her, Elizabeth knew he’d finally fallen asleep.

She turned towards the sofa and found at the bottom of the stairs. “He finally passed out,” she said to him softly as Jason came to her. He gently lifted Cameron out of her arms and laid him out on the sofa. He reached into his own pocket and took out a little metal motorcycle from upstairs and wrapped Cameron’s hand around it.

Elizabeth exhaled slowly, watching the toddler like a hawk but Cameron continued to sleep. “Okay. Okay.” She went over to the desk where she’d tossed her purse and snatched it up on her way to the kitchen.

She fished inside for her phone and pressed a speed dial. “Diane? Hey. I’m sorry to call you so late—” She dragged a hand through her hair. “Um, you didn’t file that petition yet, right? Good. Good. I need to make a change. No custody. Lucky’s out. I don’t want him near either of the boys. Lack of support, interest, no visitation, whatever you have to do. I’ll—okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

When she hung up, she pressed the phone against her lips, staring hard at the stainless steel fridge, knowing that Jason had followed her. “I can take whatever he throws at me,” she said finally. “I deserve it. I lied to him. And God knows, I wasn’t fair to anyone this year—”

“Elizabeth—”

“I can take it,” she repeated. She looked at Jason now. “You know why he did it, don’t you? Why he refused to give Cameron an ounce of affection—” Her voice faltered but she took a deep breath. “To hurt me. To force me. He thinks I’ll give up — that I’ll do anything for Cameron to keep his father—but—”

She tightened her hand around the phone, squeezing until she thought she might snap it in half. “He thinks I’m weak. Because I did it before. I hurt you and lied about Jake and he thinks I’ll do it again.” She met Jason’s eyes. “A father doesn’t do what he did today. He just…walked away. Like Cam didn’t matter. My parents did that to me.”

“Elizabeth—” Jason came forward, a hand outstretched but she stepped away, put up her own hands to keep him back. “I’m sorry.”

“No. No. Don’t you apologize.” She angrily swiped at her eyes. “I won’t let Cameron grow up this way. Because if Lucky uses him as a weapon now, he’ll do it again. And Cam doesn’t—better not to have any father at all,” she muttered. “My whole life, I wondered what I did wrong, why I wasn’t good enough to be loved, and it wasn’t until they put him in my hands—” She held her arms as if she were cradling a newborn. “The nurse gave him to me, and he looked at me, and oh—” Elizabeth looked at him, tears spilling down her cheek. “I’ve never felt like love like that in my whole life. It just filled every piece of me, all the spaces I didn’t even know were empty—I looked at him, and he was the answer to everything I’d ever wondered — it wasn’t me. It was never my fault. Because I love that little boy with every breath in my body, and I would fight for him. I’d kill for him. And I am never going to let him think for one minute he has to do anything to earn my love. My parents didn’t love me. Lucky doesn’t love him.”

She set her phone down, then dragged the heels of her hands under her eyes. “Thank you. For not killing him on the spot. I know you wanted to.”

“Still do,” Jason muttered, and Elizabeth laughed at that—then started to cry. This time, when Jason reached for her, she let him hold her. “You’ll get him through this. He knows how much you love him, and he’s going to remember who held him while he cried, dried his tears, patched up his cuts—he won’t be missing anything. You’ll love him enough for ten parents.” He was quiet for a moment. “And if you’ll let me, I’ll be there, too.”

“What?” Elizabeth drew back, furrowing her brows. “What do you mean?”

“We don’t have to do this now,” Jason told her. “But I don’t want Cameron to think he matters less to me. I won’t treat him differently than Jake. And I hope one day you’ll share him with me.”

“Oh.” Her eyes were wide as she absorbed that. “I didn’t—I—”

“We don’t have to do this now,” Jason repeated. “I just wanted you to know that losing Lucky—it’s not a great loss. It doesn’t have to be.”

“Okay. Um. Okay. I—” She really hadn’t expected him to say that, but now that he had—she found that she wasn’t surprised. “Thank you. I—I actually—” She took a deep breath. “I need a favor. I don’t want to take him home like this. Gram will want to know what’s going on, and I’m just—I don’t know if I could do this with her right now. Can—can we stay? The night, I mean.”

“You never have to ask,” Jason told her. “Yeah, you can stay.”

Wyndemere: Study

“You’re going to have to explain yourself at some point,” Lulu said flatly, following Lucky into the room. “You’ve refused to say a word since we left the park—”

“Just shut up—”

“What’s going on?” Nikolas wanted to know, rising from his desk. “Lu—”

“I don’t want to do this right now—”

“That’s too bad, because I’m not going home until you explain what the hell just happened,” Lulu snapped. She looked at their brother. “We ran into Elizabeth the park with the boys—”

“And Jason,” Lucky muttered. “Lu, you don’t understand—”

“What’s to understand? Cameron tried to run to his father and you shoved him away from you! You dumped him on Elizabeth like garbage and ran while he was crying for you—” Lulu’s voice was thick as she forced the words out. “What the hell—”

“You did what?” Nikolas demanded. “Damn it, Lucky—”

“Everyone shut the hell up!” Lucky exploded, putting his hands on his head. “You don’t understand. Elizabeth has to see what she’s doing to Cameron—”

“What she’s doing?” Lulu threw up her hands. “Are you insane? Are you actually have a psychotic break? You ran from your own kid—”

“He’s not—” Lucky stopped and Lulu just stared at him. “Look, Elizabeth has to decide who she wants. Me or Jason. She’s not going to drag us both into this. If she wants to give him Jake, then—”

“He’s not your kid,” Lulu said, quietly finishing the statement, and Lucky’s cheeks flushed. “You like him and everything, but you haven’t been thinking about him these last few weeks. You listened to him cry and scream for his daddy — and it wasn’t Jason he wanted, Lucky.”

“Lucky, this is—this isn’t a good plan. We need—”

“We don’t need to do anything—” Lucky left the room abruptly, leaving Lulu to look at Nikolas with sorrow.

“He thinks he’s pushing Elizabeth into a choice to save Cameron from another day like today, but he doesn’t even see it, does he?”

“No.” Nikolas took a deep breath. “No. All Elizabeth has to do is tell that story — Jason will corroborate it—and Lucky will be dead in the water. Jake isn’t his biological son. He had no hope of getting visitation. And he just threw away any chance to have Cameron. He might not regret that right now, but he will. One day.”

“That’ll be his problem. I’m calling Elizabeth. If she needs another witness—”

“Lulu—”

“I don’t care if he’s my brother. Elizabeth stood by me last year after the abortion. She’s made some mistakes, but you weren’t there—” Lulu shook her head. “I don’t want Cameron anywhere near my brother right now.”

Morgan Penthouse: Master Bedroom

Cameron woke up and choked down some dinner, though his usually bubbly personality was in retreat for the night, and he wasn’t even excited to learn they were having a sleep over. Spinelli left after dinner for a party, and they watched Cameron’s favorite cartoons on the living room sofa until he fell asleep.

Elizabeth laid Cameron down on the bed, then looked at Jason again. “You really don’t mind if he’s in here?”

“No,” Jason said with a sharp shake of his head. He’d changed into sweatpants and loaned her a shirt to wear.  “He might wake up and look for you—” He started to pull back the comforter, then paused. “I can—” He’d just assumed they’d share the bed, but — “I can go the guest room—”

Elizabeth paused, one knee on the bed to peer at him curiously. “Do you want to go to the guest room?”

“No—”

“It’s a king size bed, Jason,” she said. “And…” Her cheeks flushed. “We’ve talked about what…what we want. I don’t see the point in pretending that things aren’t..I mean, I’m not ready to do—” Elizabeth huffed. “This is insane,” she muttered.  “I love you,” she said, and his brows lifted in surprise. “Do you love me?”

“Yes,” Jason said, a bit warily. He cleared his throat. “Yes,” he repeated. “I just don’t want you to feel like I’m rushing you—”

“The last thing you ever make me feel is rushed.” Elizabeth crawled into the bed and laid down next to her son, gently brushing his hair from his forehead. “I just want to make all the bad things go away for him, to make it so they never happen in the first place. I know it’s not possible.”

Jason switched off the light, plunging the room into shadows. “No, but you can be there at the end of the day so the bad things don’t seem as scary.”

Elizabeth smiled. “You’re right. We’ll get him through this, and I promise I’ll smother him with so much love he won’t even remember Lucky.”

Port Charles University: Campus

“I knew he’d break my heart,” Chelsea muttered as she stumbled down the path. She tripped and Georgie hauled her back to her feet. “He has such pretty eyes,” Chelsea continued. “Why do the pretty ones have to be evil?”

“I don’t know,” Georgie said, wishing she hadn’t said it was okay for Spinelli to go home early — she could have used some help getting Chelsea back to the dorm room. After seeing the object of her affections making out with another girl, Chelsea had dived into the liquor and beer options.

Men. A complete waste of time.

There was a crack — like a breaking of a branch and Georgie stopped, startled by it. She heard some footsteps, and turned, losing her grip on Chelsea who fell to the ground with a grunt. Georgie turned back — but then a hand wrapped around her upper arm and yanked hard —

Before Georgie could get out a scream, something hard thumped against her head, and the world went black.

Chelsea sat on the path, her vision blurred even as she heard some struggle and grunting. “Georgie?” she tried to stand, but fell again. “Georgie—”

“Your turn.” The voice was raspy and broken sounding — Chelsea peered up, blearily trying to focus on the dark figure in front of her.

“What—”

A hand clamped over her mouth, and Chelsea felt herself being dragged back. She started to kick and scream wildly—but a pain exploded in her head and there was nothing left to fight.

They were found the next morning, dumped like broken dolls in the bushes just a dozen yards from the entrance from their dorm room, strangled by the same piece of thin cord still wrapped around Chelsea’s neck.

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