Written in  20  minutes. No time for edits.

Cameron stared at Jason’s profile, then swallowed hard. “W-hat? No. That’s not—”

“Damn it,” Jason muttered. He flicked his eyes at the teen, then back at the road. “How—this doesn’t makes sense.”

He thought back to his conversation with Elizabeth, with the wildness in her eyes, the desperation—

Had she stabbed Franco? Then why had she sent the boys away? For their safety? Why hadn’t she just told him she’d done it—

“It doesn’t make sense,” he repeated. “Your mother wanted me get you out of the country. She said it was her fault. She wasn’t lying then. It was just us and Diane.” He shook his head. “She couldn’t have killed him.”

He frowned. “You said Jake and Aiden were tied up. That Aiden had gotten free and called 911. When did Jake call me? The timeline doesn’t make sense—”

“I don’t—” Cameron exhaled slowly. “I didn’t know they were tied up at first. They were already free when we were getting in the car. Jake was trying to call you when Mom was putting us in the car.” He furrowed his brow. “His phone slipped when he was getting in the car. It broke.”

“When did you found out the boys had seen Franco? That he’d tied them up?”

“After you’d called. When we were waiting for you to show up.” Cameron scrubbed his heads over his face. “Jake told me. Aiden learned how to tie knots in Boy Scouts—”

“If Jake called me as you were leaving—the police were already on their way. And Franco wasn’t in the kitchen then. You’re sure he was upstairs in the bedroom?”

“Mom must have—he must have been downstairs when she—” Cameron squeezed his eyes shut. “I wanted her to come with me. I was scared he wasn’t dead, but she told me to go. And I had to protect them.”

“Cameron, I’m not blaming you—but if you didn’t stab him—and I don’t think your mother did—” Jason grimaced. “Who could have done it?”

“It had to be Mom. He probably tried to attack her again. Maybe she just blocked it out. After everything she’s been through. You know, with that guy, Baker?” Cameron cracked his knuckles, then rubbed them, restlessly. “It probably brought it all back. I mean, he stalked her just like, two years ago—”

“What?” Jason snapped. “Tom Baker’s out of prison?” He swore. “Damn it. 2016,” he muttered. “Ten years. She told me it would be another ten years—”

“He’s dead. His brother killed him, but it was rough on Mom for a while. That’s when she told me who he was.” Cameron looked out the passenger window. “Wish you’d been here. Drew was crap. But he was pretty terrible after he found out he was supposed to be you. I liked Jake Doe better.”

“Cameron—”

“It must have been Mom,” Cameron repeated. “She was probably just worried that PCPD would try to go after me, too. For, like, running or something.”

Jason shook his head. “I don’t know. We’ll figure it out when we get back into town.”

“It’s Franco,” Cameron muttered. “Everyone wanted him dead at some point. Wouldn’t it be harder to figure out who didn’t have a motive?”

“Yeah.” Jason flicked the turn signal for the ramp up to the highway. “I’ll take care of it, Cameron.”

“If Mom killed him, he deserved it. And you better get her out of the country if they try to put her in jail,” Cameron said fiercely.

“It won’t come to that—”

“Jason—”

“But yeah, I’m not letting her go to jail for it. Not when I should have done it six years ago,” he muttered.

——

Framing Elizabeth for Franco’s murder hadn’t been the plan, but once in a while, an opportunity dropped into a person’s lap and it would be silly not to take advantage of it.

In a room somewhere in Port Charles, a woman carefully washed the blood from her hands and looked at her face in the mirror, at the tired eyes and scratch on her cheek.

She’d left town to find herself, and decided that she’d spent a lot of time letting people get away with hurting her. She’d forgotten who she used to be—

She’d left town when her supposedly beloved husband had begun to warm up to Franco, when he’d seen some good in him—

Well, fuck that.

She’d spent too many years letting that man breathe the air.

Sam Cain raised her eyes to the mirror again and let her lips curve into a smile. It had been a bonus to finally get her revenge on Elizabeth for stealing Jason away from her all those years ago, for lying about Danny and lying about Jake Doe. Elizabeth deserved whatever happened to her.

And it went without saying it was about time that Franco paid for his sins.

+11