Oh days go by I’m hypnotized
I’m walking on a wire
I close my eyes and fly out of my mind
Into the fire
Oh light the sky and hold on tight
The world is burning down
She’s out there on her own and she’s alright
Sunny came home
– Sunny Came Home, Shawn Colvin

---

Saturday, June 28, 2003

Lansing Home: Living Room

Cody and Cruz stepped inside the house, both looking at each other hesitantly. The cop and the mob bodyguard. If Elizabeth had the energy, she might feel sorry for the rookie. It had been a hell of a first week for him. Cody eyed the younger man with an air of suspicion.  “Ah, Jason said you wanted us both?” he asked, with his brows raised.

“Yes.” Elizabeth looked at the officer. “Right now, you know I’m not the biggest fan of your department.”

Cruz looked away, unable to meet her eyes, his cheeks flushing slightly. “Miss Webber, to be brutally honest, what happened makes me physically ill. I’m sorry—”

“But I know you didn’t do it. So that’s why I’m asking for your help.” She pressed her hand to her chest, irritated at the ache and exhaustion creeping into her bones. She just had to hang in there a little longer. “Nikolas and Bobbie talked to the real estate who sold Ric the house. There’s a panic room.”

Cruz blinked, then straightened his shoulders. “A panic room?” he repeated. His eyes lifted to the ceiling, started to glance around the room. “They’re hidden within the structure, right? You can’t see them from the outside?”

“Exactly. The agent wouldn’t tell Nikolas where it was, so Jason went to…” Elizabeth bit her lip. “Convince him. We’ve had the house under surveillance for a week hoping Ric would give something away, but yesterday we put in cameras here in the living room. Sonny and some of his men are watching footage right now. Any minute, one of them are going to call and tell us where the panic room and how to get into it.”

Cody exhaled slowly. “Holy hell, you did it.”

Cruz squinted. “So…if you don’t trust the department—”

“You can call anyone you want after we find Carly,” Elizabeth told him. “But if we tell Taggert now, I don’t know what they’ll do with the information. I’m not convinced they don’t want Sonny and Jason more than they want to find Ric. It’s important to me that we find Carly first. Taggert might go after the agent who might clam up—”

“Telling the PCPD might cause more problems than it solves.” Cruz nodded. “Yeah, I get it.” With a weariness that no cop should feel after seven days on the job, he took a deep breath. “What can we do until they call?”

“Jason and I were looking for a switch or something that might tell us…” She gestured to the wall near the door. “We’ve searched that—” She stopped, her lungs seizing up as she struggled for breath. Oh, God. What was wrong? She gripped the back of the sofa and tried to take smaller breaths but struggled to force air down her throat.

“Miss Webber?” Cruz said stepping forward, Cody on his heels. “You don’t look so good—”

“It’s…It’s the withdrawal,” Elizabeth managed as the sensation passed. She could breathe now—at least get air into her lungs. “Um, from the benzos—Monica said it was going to be bad for the first two weeks.”

Cody hesitated. “You’re sure—”

“Yes,” Elizabeth said, her teeth clenched. “I just have to get through it. It’s almost over. We’re—we’re going to find Carly—so—” Her cell phone rang—the little burner cell that sat on the coffee table. She stared at it wondering if she could make there in time before the ringing stopped.

Cody fetched it for her and handed it over.

“Hello?” Elizabeth said as the pounding in her chest began to echo in her ears. “Jason?”

“Sonny just called,” Jason said, his tone clipped. Short. Breathless. “They—they got it. Ric came into the living room at—the table against the wall, Elizabeth. The one near the stairs.”

Elizabeth turned. “The one with the cabinets underneath—”

“In the middle cabinet. Ric opened it, did something, and then—he disappears. I can’t tell but I think the panic room is across from the door—”

She stared at the wall, at the smooth expanse. “Right there. The whole time—” She stumbled towards the cabinet, but her legs gave out, and she fell against it. She tried to take a deep breath but couldn’t force the breath into her lungs. Oh, God. Not now. “Where are you?”

“Turning around, coming back—we’re all on our way—”

“I found a button—” Right there. Tucked in the corner by the door. She pressed it. Something whirled and groaned behind her, but it all felt so far away.

“Holy shit,” Cody murmured as Elizabeth turned her head—but they could already hear the screaming.

Carly’s voice, hoarse, raw came pouring out. “Press it, press it! Please—Thank God, thank God, you found me—”

But already Carly’s voice was receding. Her vision was dimming, fading at the edges. “J-Jason.”

“Elizabeth—I can hear her—” the relief was so evident in his voice, it was almost as if he was right in front of her. “I can—we did it—”

“You—I can’t b-breathe…” Elizabeth kept her eyes locked on Carly. Dimly, she could hear Cruz calling in for backup and an ambulance—he’d gone inside the room—but Cody was in front of her. Oh…he looked so concerned.

“Elizabeth?” Jason demanded. “Hey. Hey, are you there—”

“She’s okay,” Elizabeth murmured, but her words were slurring. “We did it.”

“Elizabeth, stay with me. Keep talking to me—”

“Can’t.” She closed her eyes, her wrist trembling with the effort to keep the phone at her ear. Cody was still talking but she couldn’t hear anything. “Always…liked your voice…”

Even as he called her name, the phone slid from her hand and the grays and blacks filled her vision until she couldn’t see anything.

Lansing Home: Street

Jason didn’t even know if he’d pulled the car into park or turned it off because he was shoving the door open and sprinting up the lawn. Near him, he was aware of other cars pulling up—of the sirens of an ambulance somewhere in the distance—

He registered Sonny’s voice, Bobbie’s cries—but he couldn’t stop, couldn’t take any of that in. He shoved through the door, all but taking it off the hinges.

A large gaping hole had opened directly in front of him, and oh, God—Carly—she was there, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She was sobbing, pointing down—the cop was next to her, holding her leg—

And Cody was behind the sofa, leaning over Elizabeth, who lay sprawled out over the hardwood floor, the phone still flipped open. Her eyes were closed, her skin almost gray.

Jason rushed forward, sliding to his knees at her side. Sonny and Bobbie rushed in, crying, screaming Carly’s name.

All of that disappeared as Jason cradled Elizabeth’s limp head in his hands. Her breathing was faint, and—he took her wrist—her pulse was barely there. “What happened?” he demanded. “What happened?”

“I—” Cody shook his head. “One second, she was explaining what we were going to be looking for—and then she couldn’t catch her breath. She managed to get the door open, but then she—She just passed out.”

Leaving Carly to her husband and mother, Cruz joined them, his eyes wild. “What’s going on? There’s an ambulance—” he started to say, but his voice had raised in pitch. The rookie was clearly out of his depth.

Elizabeth’s eyes fluttered and then she smiled, seeing Jason at her side. “You…you’re here…” but her words were still slurring, sliding into one another.

“Right here. I’m not going to leave again,” he told her, gripping her hand in his. “Stay with me, Elizabeth. Don’t close your eyes.”

“Can’t…” Her eyes fluttered. “Can’t stay.”

“Don’t you dare—”

“I found her. It’s okay.” She tried to squeeze his hand, but her grip was as weak as Michael’s had been when he’d been a newborn. Weaker, Jason realized, his heart pounding in his ears.

“You did it—”

Bobbie knelt, and Cody slid down out of her way. She took Elizabeth’s pulse, felt for her heartbeat and swore. “Her heart is racing—”

“How is that possible? Her pulse is barely—” Jason swallowed in fear. “What the hell did—”

“He drugged her…” Carly rasped as she limped towards them, Sonny holding her upright. “Drugs—”

“We know, with Valium, but—” Bobbie shook her head. “Elizabeth, hey, look at me, sweetheart.” Behind them, Nikolas hovered, worry in his dark eyes, and they could hear the ambulance coming closer.

“Elizabeth,” Bobbie said again. “Look at me—”

“Just want to go,” she murmured. Her eyes were unfocused and then…her eyes closed. “Want to go. Hurts.”

“Elizabeth—”

“Birth control,” Carly managed to get out as the ambulance screeched to a stop on a squeal of brakes. Cruz went outside to let them in. “He gave her birth control pills. Lots of it. He put it in the ice cubes. Every night. Every time she took a drink—”

Bobbie’s eyes bulged as she met Jason’s. “Birth control,” she breathed. “Jesus Christ. Rodriguez!” she cried. “Tell them to bring a defibrillator!”

“What?” Jason demanded. He tore his eyes away from Bobbie, then back to Elizabeth whose breathing had grown even more faint. “Elizabeth, hey, hey, please open your eyes. Let me see your eyes.” His voice broke. “They’re so beautiful. Let me see your eyes.”

She fought to open them. Her free hand came up and brushed his cheek. “Yours…like yours…. more…. sorry. Messed…it up.”

“Elizabeth—”

“Love…” And then her head slid to the other side, her hand dropped back to her side. Her chest stopped rising.

“Bobbie!” Nikolas shouted from the doorway, but then the paramedics were there. They came rushing in with a boxy object. Jason didn’t want to go, didn’t want to drop her hand—but he didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t help her now.

He watched in horror as the paramedics looked at one another for a split second before exploding into action. One tore Elizabeth’s tank top, and the other slapped electrodes on her pale skin. Her tiny body jerked as they shocked her.

“Still in V-fib. Charge it again—”

“Clear—”

“Oh, God,” Carly choked as Bobbie leaned over Jason’s hunched form by Elizabeth. “Oh, God. He killed her.”

Another ambulance came to a stop outside, and more paramedics came in—each wheeling in a stretcher. One rolled towards Carly, and the other—

“Clear—”

And then they got her back—he knew it because the box wasn’t screaming anymore. Everything happened in a blur after that—Elizabeth was placed on the other stretcher and rolled towards the door. Jason followed without even thinking, without even looking at Carly.

Nikolas was clutching at his hair, both of his hands digging into the dark strands. “Jesus Christ. What was that? They—they got her back?”

The second set of paramedics were settling Carly onto the other stretcher, and the blonde was sobbing. “She was trying to save me, wasn’t she? She stayed, and he poisoned her every day because of me—”

“Carly—” Sonny’s soft words were lost as the stretcher wheeled towards the door, with him next to it.

“Pulmonary embolism,” Bobbie murmured as the room cleared. She looked at the trio left behind—at Cruz, Cody, and Nikolas, all of them shell-shocked. “Blood clot in the lungs. It’s a common…side effect of estrogen imbalance or overdose.”

“But you know what it is—” Nikolas took her arm. “They know—”

“Patients who have gone into cardiac arrest have a high mortality rate.” Bobbie pressed her hands to her face, trying to process. Trying to understand. “We thought it was just—I never dreamed—Oh, God, he’s killed her—”

“Stop it!” Nikolas shook her a little more roughly than he meant, as if trying to shake sense into them both. “They got her back. You know what it is. We have to go to the hospital. We have to tell Monica and make sure that Ric can’t make any decisions.”

“What?” Bobbie blinked at him. “What?”

“He is her husband,” Nikolas said. “And she’s his best chance to get out of this. If Elizabeth dies, all of this—this might go with her.”

“No.” Bobbie shook her head, even as everything inside her screamed of course he was right. Reasonable doubt was all Ric needed. He could blame everything on Elizabeth. “We—we have to go. We have to go.”

“I’ll stay,” Cody said to Cruz as the two of them rushed out. “You—you need someone to give a statement.” He touched the rookie’s shoulder. “You okay?”

“No.” Cruz shook his head slowly. “No, I’m not. Everything she went through today—she did it with that happening inside her—and now she might die.” He exhaled slowly. “I’m supposed to protect people.”

“Welcome to Port Charles,” Cody said with a smirk as the cavalry arrived with Taggert and Mac rushing up to the lawn, followed by several other uniforms.

General Hospital: Emergency Room

Monica was already waiting when the doors swung open. They’d lost Elizabeth again in the ambulance, and Jason could see from the paramedics that they didn’t expect her to make it.

That cardiac arrest with a pulmonary embolism was a lethal combination—that once the blood clot had gone to her heart, that survival was almost impossible.

Somewhere in Jason’s head, that made sense, but he couldn’t let himself even think it.

Elizabeth had, until her final moments of consciousness, been trying to find and free Carly because Carly was his best friend. Because she was a kind and giving person. And even though Jason damn well knew differently, the world wasn’t supposed to give up on people like her.

“Jason,” Monica started as Elizabeth was wheeled into a trauma room. “The paramedics on the scene suspect a pulmonary embolism.” She touched his arm. “We’re going to confirm with an echocardiogram—”

“Just do whatever—” His voice failed him, and he had to close his eyes. “Just do whatever you have to do,” he managed.

“They’re stabilizing her for the test now, but I need you to know that if it’s true, then—”

“Then her chances aren’t good—”

“They’re almost non-existent,” Monica told him, and he snapped to attention at that, because that was different. This was Monica, and she loved him. She wouldn’t say that without a reason. “Mortality rate is ninety-five percent, Jason. By the time the clot reaches the heart—”

Jason shook his head. “No. No—” His throat seized, and he just kept shaking his head. “No. She’s stronger than that—”

“Okay, okay.” She took his face in her hands and he met her eyes. “I’m going to do my very best,” she murmured. “I promise you.” She kissed his forehead, and then she disappeared behind the curtain.

Another stretcher came through the doors—Carly, followed by Bobbie and Sonny. Jason turned, looked at her, dragging his hands through his hair. He wanted to follow them, wanted to see Carly, to check on her, but his feet felt glued to the floor.

Sonny murmured something to Carly and Bobbie before they were whisked away behind another curtain. “Jase? What’s going—”

“Monica thinks it’s too late.” Jason swallowed. “The blood clot reached her heart, and she went into cardiac arrest twice—they’re, uh, confirming the diagnosis, but—” The room started to spin, and Jason sagged.

Sonny half dragged him to one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs and then knelt in front him. “Hey. No one fights like Elizabeth Webber. Jason—”

“I knew something was wrong. I kept asking her to go see Monica, to take care of herself, but she refused. We were so close, and I let her—I let put her life at risk, so I could find my friend—”

“And I can never ever repay Elizabeth for that.” Sonny shook his head. “They’re looking Carly over, but she’s in remarkably good health, they said. She’s okay. My child is okay. And I can’t imagine the universe would give her back to me and take Elizabeth.”

“You know it doesn’t work like that, Sonny—”

They both lunged to their feet as Elizabeth was rolled past them on a gurney, her eyes closed, her head lolling to one side. Jason started to follow, but Monica stopped him, nodding to another doctor, a younger man, tall with a shock of dark hair.

He sighed and stepped away from the team as Elizabeth disappeared around a corner.

“Where are you taking her?” Jason demanded.

“You’re the next of kin?” The doctor said with an arched brow. “They’re taking her to get an echocardiogram. It wasn’t the right set up in there, and then from there, they’ll probably take her straight to the cath lab to start thrombolysis.” He hesitated. “They got her stabilized, man. Her chances went up to about fifteen.”

“Fifteen?” Sonny demanded. “That’s supposed to make us feel better?”

“It was at five percent,” the doctor pointed out. “So…that’s not nothing. It might take a few hours. We’ll know more then.” He shrugged and disappeared down the same hallway as Elizabeth, jogging to keep up.

“That’s good.” Sonny patted Jason’s shoulder. “They’re giving her better odds.”

“Yeah, only an eighty-five percent chance she’ll die. Great.” Jason scrubbed his hands over his face. “Okay, okay, I need to see Carly. I’m sorry, I didn’t even—”

“She gets it.” Sonny managed a half smile. “More than you might think. C’mon.”

Jason followed him to Carly’s examining area where the blonde was laying back against the pillows, her eyes closed. There she was. After a week of desperation, fear—his best friend had emerged mostly unscathed.

“Carly,” he managed, taking her hand in his. “Hey. Hey. I’m sorry it took so long—”

“I saw you,” she said, without opening her eyes. “Every day. I saw you looking for me. I saw you today, searching the walls. I knew you were getting closer.” Her dark eyes found his. “I knew you never stopped. I knew you and Elizabeth wouldn’t stop until you found me.”

“We didn’t.” Jason’s throat tightened. “Thank you. We—we were able to help her faster because of you.”

“I wanted to stop your wedding,” Carly said with a faint smile. “That’s what I was thinking before Ric grabbed me. I knew you were miserable. That you didn’t love her. I was thinking about how angry you’d be, but I was gonna do it anyway.”

Bobbie laughed with some surprise while Sonny looked pleased as if this was a sign his wife had come through this traumatic experience without any scars.

Jason sighed, but he didn’t look upset “Carly—”

“I didn’t mean I wanted to get kidnapped,” she said dryly. “But, hey, I stopped it. And you—” Her eyes filled. “I couldn’t help her. I couldn’t make him stop trying to hurt with the pills…I tried to stop him from taking—they’re in the panic room. In a lock box. He’d get them every day, make new ice cube trays. In the middle of the night. I saw the Valium, too. He didn’t use that again. Not after last week. But he used something else, something to make her tired and sleep. And the birth control.”

Jason exhaled slowly. “You did help her. You told us—”

“He was hurting her today. I saw it. I was screaming, but I couldn’t make it stop. And then they arrested him, and I was so scared it would never be over—” She squeezed her eyes shut as Sonny came to her other side. “I was scared I would die in those walls.”

“I was going to start ripping holes in the drywall,” Bobbie promised. “I was never going to let that happen.”

“I know, Mama. But you came back today, Jason, and I saw you searching again, but this time—you were searching the walls. I knew it would be today. I knew you would find me.” She closed her eyes. “She can’t die. It’s not fair.”

“They took her for an echocardiogram,” Jason told Bobbie as silent tears slid down Carly’s face. “And then thrombolytic treatment. I don’t—I don’t know what that is.”

Bobbie took a deep breath and explained. “They’re going to inject thrombolytic drugs into the site of the blockage to thin her blood and break up the clots. Either through an IV or a catheter. Um, knowing Monica, and the seriousness of the condition, they’ll probably go with the catheter, so they can try to also physically break it up.”

“How—is it dangerous?” Sonny asked.

“Not normally, but Elizabeth has some risk factors. She was already in poor health after her miscarriage and overdose, and then two rounds of cardiac arrest. They’re going to be worried about internal bleeding, and there’s always a small chance the clot could go somewhere else.”

“Somewhere else?” Jason repeated. “Like where?”

“It could develop into an aneurysm,” Bobbie admitted. She rubbed the side of her face. “But those are minimal risks.” She hesitated. “Elizabeth might also be at risk for organ damage.”

“Jesus Christ.” Sonny hissed something else under his breath. “Well, you make it clear to this hospital that money is no object. She saved my family—she gets whatever she needs. The bills go to me. My psychotic brother—Did they charge him with this yet?”

“I—” Jason blinked when he saw Nikolas over Bobbie shoulder, gesturing towards him. “I’ll be right back.”

He joined Nikolas back in the emergency room. “Hey. She’s—”

“I pulled her file. One of the small perks of my family basically owning this place. I was worried about Ric being her next of kin, legally speaking, and I wanted to contact Alexis if the hospital needed to file an injunction—”

“I hadn’t even—” Jason closed his eyes. He couldn’t seem to think straight. That was what he did every day in his job, but he couldn’t keep a thought in his head right now. “I hadn’t thought about that—”

“We’ve got a small problem. Spouses are legally the default next of kin, but Justus filed a restraining order and notice of separation. Elizabeth apparently started paperwork last summer to establish a power of attorney with control over her medical decisions, but she never completed the paperwork.” Nikolas hesitated. “She named you with her grandmother as a backup. But she was supposed to get you to sign it.”

“Last summer?” Jason frowned, shook his head. “She never asked—” Except there’d been that day she had told him she needed to talk to him. After she’d come home from the hospital and the gas explosion, he’d come over to see her because she’d asked him.

She’d been terrified, holding a knife when he arrived, and they’d been distracted by buying the baseball bat for better protection. Then he’d left when Carly called.

“So, what happens? Does Ric get control?” Jason demanded. “What can I do? How do I stop it—”

“I’ve called Alexis and asked for her opinion,” Nikolas said. “She said for the moment, Ric isn’t available to make any decisions, so they’ll perform whatever the doctor on call says is medically necessary. She said it’s a stop gap measure. We can use her paperwork from last year—all that’s left is your signature. Ric can always challenge it because the marriage happened in the interim—”

“Give me the paperwork,” Jason said immediately. “I’ll call Justus and ask him to prepare for that.” He closed his eyes, trying to think. He didn’t know the next step. Didn’t know where to go next. “We should find out what’s going on with Ric—”

“I gave your guard my number and asked him to give me the updates on the scene. I figured you were—” Nikolas swallowed hard. “Distracted here.

“Did they charge Ric with this? Are they—”

“Scott was already writing the indictment for the assault, Taggert said.  They’re adding kidnapping and attempted murder charges—and anything else related.” Nikolas shook his head. “I knew she didn’t look well—we should have—I don’t know what we could have done. Elizabeth never did listen to anyone when she was sure she knew better.”

“Monica said her odds are at fifteen percent,” Jason managed. “It’s better than when she came in—”

“Monica’s the best in the state, if not the entire region,” Nikolas said after a long moment. “She knows what she’s doing. I’d trust her with my life.”

Jason looked down the hallway where Elizabeth had disappeared. “All we could think about was finding Carly. I knew she wasn’t okay, and I left her there—”

“With a body guard and a member of the PCPD.” Nikolas put a hand on Jason’s shoulder. “Short of throwing her on the plane to Emily or to me in London, what else were you supposed to do?”

It was over an hour before Monica came back through the doors, her eyes were exhausted but not devastated. Jason and Nikolas had been joined by Bobbie as Sonny and Carly had been taken upstairs to a private room where she’d be kept a day or two for observation.

Taggert had arrived, followed by Scott, who Bobbie had grudgingly allowed to sit next to her. “Elizabeth suffered a blood clot in her lungs as well as in her heart—”

Bobbie muffled a gasp at this second part of the news as Monica continued. “We were able to break up the major clots and stabilize her for now.” She hesitated. “I am upgrading her condition from critical to serious. She’s not out of the woods, but her response to the treatment so far has increased her odds to around thirty percent.”

Jason felt some of the pressure in his chest finally release as Scott hugged Bobbie, and Taggert’s shoulders slumped. “Is she awake?” Jason asked.

At this, Monica hesitated. “Elizabeth suffered a great deal of trauma today,” she said after a long moment. “And the blood clot caused a lack of oxygen—”

“Monica—”

“She’s fallen into a coma,” Monica admitted. “This is not uncommon, and it’s not necessarily—” She saw the looks on their faces. “I don’t know when she’ll wake up. With the cardiac arrest—it could be hours, days—”

“Or never,” Jason said roughly. “She could survive the embolism, and still—” He closed his eyes. “She might never come back from this.”

“I don’t expect that, Jason. I really don’t. This is very common after what similar patients suffer. The body protects itself and I think that’s what is happening. We’ll move her to the ICU.” Monica touched his arm. “She made it this far, Jason. Give her some credit.”

“She’s tougher than she looks,” Jason said after a moment. He looked at his mother. “ICU usually restricts visitors to family, but—”

“Between Nikolas, myself, and your father,” Monica said with a brow, “I really doubt that’s going to be an issue. You’re now her power of attorney, Bobbie is the closest thing she has to a mother, and Nikolas was nearly her brother-in-law. That’s good enough for me. We’ll get her settled upstairs and you can see her then.”

We grew up way too fast
And now there’s nothing to believe
And reruns all become our history
A tired song keeps playing on a tired radio
And I won’t tell no one your name
And I won’t tell ’em your name
– Name, Goo Goo Dolls

---

Saturday, June 28, 2003

PCPD: Squad Room

When Elizabeth walked through the double doors of the squad room, Scott was leaning over Taggert’s desk, making notes on a police report. He straightened, cleared his throat, and smoothed his hand down his tie. “Elizabeth—Ah, Mrs. Lansing—”

She stopped, Bobbie and Jason just behind her. Her eyes were red and puffy, and some eyeliner was smudged under her eyes. He could see scratches and dark marks on her arms left bare by the red tank top she wore. “I never changed my name,” Elizabeth said without any emotion.

“Ah—”

“Scott,” Bobbie interrupted him as she stepped in front of Elizabeth and jabbed her ex-lover in the chest with her index finger. “I don’t even know where to start with the level of incompetence and outright negligence that I have witnessed—my daughter is missing, and your officers have spent the last week chasing ghosts and gossip—”

“Bobbie—” Scott put his hands on her shoulders. “I’ve already taken the steps to reprimand the officer who leaked the details of this investigation. Mac has put him on suspension—”

“You think that’s enough?” Bobbie demanded, shaking his hands off.

“No,” Scott said honestly. “In fact, Mac and I were just preparing a report to charge the officer with insubordination. He violated direct orders when he leaked that information.”

“Bobbie, Elizabeth—” Mac rose from the desk. “I can’t begin to express our apologies—”

“No, you can’t,” Elizabeth said dully. “So, can I make my statement and sign it? I have to file for an order of protection before Ric makes bail—”

“Oh, he’s not making bail anytime soon,” Scott said darkly. “He can’t be arraigned for another six or seven hours, and I’m asking for a full cash bail.”

“He’ll have trouble getting out if no one brings any cash,” Mac added. “At least until Monday when the bail bonds offices open.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes. “Okay. Let’s just get this over with.”

She followed Taggert into the interrogation room while Bobbie and Jason went to the waiting area. Scott turned his attention to the officer who had joined. “Officer Rodriguez, you were first on scene.”

The rookie blinked at him, then cleared his throat. “Yeah. I—” He ran his hand back and forth through his short dark hair. “Um. I got a call over dispatch that Detective Taggert was on his way to pick Ric up for questioning but that he wanted me to do a welfare check. I was walking towards the house when—I guess it’s a bodyguard, I don’t know—he got out of his car. He was on the phone—I thought I heard something break inside. The next thing I know, the guard was running towards me—I was already at the door, pounding on it—we broke through when we heard screaming—”

He closed his eyes, swallowed. “Um, Miss Webber was—she was near the door, Mr. Lansing behind the sofa—she had a baseball bat and a phone in her hand.”

“She had a bat? Did it look she’d used it?”

“No—she—he was on the other side of the room—I think she’d just gotten to it. I don’t know. He doesn’t have any marks like that. Not like—”

“And she didn’t give a statement at the scene?”

“Not about what happened. Only that he got angry and put his hands on her when he saw the paper. She, ah, accused him of drugging her for months. Apparently, there are medical records that confirm an overdose last week—”

“Jesus Christ.” Scott sank into Taggert’s empty desk chair. “Months,” he repeated. “There are—she can prove it?”

“I guess.” Cruz looked at Mac. “Did we really—I mean—the PCPD—we told the tabloids she was having an affair?”

“It was—it was a mistake,” Mac said faintly. “And not done in the way I instructed it—”

“I don’t—” Cruz shook his head. “Um. I need to—” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “I’m due for a lunch break.”

“Yeah.” Mac waved him away and the rookie quickly disappeared. “He’s been drugging her for months,” he told Scott. “And we not only didn’t arrest him when we suspected him of doing it last week—but put her in danger by leaking a probably false rumor to the papers.”

“What’s this we shit?” Scott muttered, but he bowed his head anyway.

PCPD: Interrogation Room

“Are you going to ask me about an affair?” Elizabeth asked with a sigh once she and Taggert were seated.

“What?” Taggert shook his head. “No. I don’t give a shit about that, Elizabeth—pardon my French. I—” He swallowed. Tapped his pencil against his notepad. “I know what you’ve been doing this week. I know you and Morgan have been searching for Carly as hard as I have been. I had no idea that Cap—that anyone in this office thought differently. As soon I as saw that paper—I came to check on you—”

Elizabeth looked down at her arms, at the burgeoning bruise. “If I press—I mean, if this went to court—someone else would ask, wouldn’t they?”

“Probably,” Taggert said after a moment. “But—”

“We’re not—I mean, we’re not having an affair. Not the way the papers say. Jason was engaged until—until I guess yesterday,” she murmured. “But you know we have a history.”

“I do—”

“I just—I wanted to make it clear. Jason was just—he was searching the house. And we’ve been—it’s been a stressful week. And I guess—I don’t—people respond to stress in—” She slid her fingertips lightly over the scratches on her arms left by the scrape of Ric’s nails as he’d grabbed for her. “Emotions ran high. But we never slept together.”

“Okay.” Taggert dipped his head trying to catch her eye. “Even if you were doing what the paper said, he had no right to touch you. To do anything you—can you tell me about the drugs? Can you tell me what’s happened?”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth met his eyes and started her statement.

PCPD: Locker Room

Dante and Lucky were changing for their shift when Cruz came through the doors. He sat down in front of his locker and just stared at it.

The two rookies exchanged looks, got up, and sat on either side of their friend. “I thought you were on guard duty today,” Dante said, touching Cruz’s shoulder.

“I was. Until the paper came out and Ric Lansing went after his wife.” Cruz swallowed hard. “Capelli told the Sun Jason Morgan has been in the house every day for hours, and they printed accusations of an affair—”

“Went after?” Lucky repeated, lunging to his feet. “What the hell are you—is she okay?”

“She—he left some bruises—she got away, got her hands on a bat. I was right there, and I guess she was able to call the guy Morgan has watching her—but—” Cruz looked straight ahead. “Capelli put her in danger. This department did that. We’ve all read the same reports—we knew what was going on. What Lansing was suspected of doing and—Capelli didn’t care. He did it anyway.”

Dante sighed, returned to his locker, and drew out his uniform shirt. “I’ve been on the job for a week, and it makes me sick to go to work. The only time I feel like I’m doing any good are the shifts I watch the Lansing house. Because I know I’m there to look out for the wife and to help find a missing woman.”

“I—” Lucky leaned against the bank of lockers. “I know. When I’m not pulling those shifts—I’m watching your cousin be completely lazy and—worse, he’s an asshole. We caught a sexual assault case earlier this week, and he—” He swallowed hard. “He treated the victim like trash. I thought about going to Mac, but he’s my superior officer and I’ve been on the job for a week.”

“This just isn’t what I thought I was going to do here,” Cruz said after a moment. “Capelli wanted Morgan to go after Lansing. I knew that. I knew he was hoping to scoop them all up. Taggert’s doing what he can, but he’s blinded by them, too. And Carly’s still missing. They have no idea where she is.”

He drew in a deep breath. “I think maybe I should start looking for another station—another city. Maybe Buffalo—or shit, anywhere but here. I feel like every day I’m here, I’m becoming someone else.”

“Yeah, I don’t know if I’m going to last the year,” Dante admitted. “This city—this department—it’s the reason people hate cops.”

PCPD: Waiting Area

Bobbie frowned down at her watch. “Nikolas’s plane is landing soon—” She sighed, rubbed her eyes. “What are we going to do next, Jason?”

“You’re going to pick him up,” Jason said. “I’ll take Elizabeth back to the Towers, and we’ll figure out the next step—” He hesitated. “I want to check on Sonny, Justus is going to meet us there, and I don’t want her to be alone. Not now. I know Baldwin says they’re going to keep Ric until tomorrow, but—”

“I can’t believe any of this.” Bobbie closed her eyes. “I can’t believe we still don’t have any idea what Ric has done with Carly, and I’m having trouble believing that we’re going to find her alive—”

“Hey.” Jason put an arm around her shoulders. “I—I know it’s hard, but I can’t let myself picture anything else.” He swallowed hard. “We’ll…cross that bridge if we have to, but—”

The back door to in the interrogation room opened and Taggert stepped out in front of Elizabeth. “I’ll let you know when we have an arraignment hearing,” he told her. “If he makes bail, I’ll warn you.” He looked at Jason and Bobbie. “I know you’re pissed at the department right now—”

“That is an understatement,” Bobbie retorted.

“And I know I shouldn’t admit liability, but what happened was a goddamn—” Taggert stopped. Shook his head. “We’re still looking for Carly, Bobbie. I’d like to search the house again, Elizabeth. I know we’ve been through it, I know you and Morgan have been through it, but—”

“Go ahead,” Elizabeth said, folding her arms across her chest. “I think Jason is taking me to a lawyer to start the TRO, right?”

“Yeah. Justus is going to meet us, and Bobbie is picking Nikolas up at the airport.”

“Even though Ric is out of the house, I’ll still keep an officer out front.” Taggert hesitated. “If that’s okay.”

“That’s fine.” Elizabeth sighed. “I just want to get out of here.” She crossed to Bobbie and Jason and they started for the doors.

“Morgan, you get any leads on Carly, you let me know,” Taggert told him. “I—I need to try to make this right.”

“You can’t,” Jason said flatly and left.

Harborview Towers: Hallway

 Elizabeth and Jason stepped off the elevator, and he touched her elbow. “Justus is waiting at my place,” he told her. “With everything you need. I need to check on Sonny.”

“Right.” Elizabeth rubbed the back of her neck. “Okay. And then…we’re going to meet with Nikolas and figure out something.” Her mouth lifted in a half smile. “Maybe Taggert’s search will find something we missed. Fresh eyes, right? That’s what we’re hoping for.”

“I don’t care who finds Carly, as long as someone does.” Jason’s fingers tightened slightly at her elbow. “I wish you’d…reconsider going to the hospital. Can I call Monica? Ask her to come—”

“I told you,” Elizabeth said, but her tone was gentle. She pressed her hand against his chest, her eyes on his. “Monica gave me a rundown of what I’d be going through for a while. I’ve been irritable, tired, dizzy, nauseous—but I’m halfway through. I can’t think of any way he could have drugged me at all since Saturday. I haven’t eaten or drank anything at the house except water from the tap.”

“I know, but…” Jason shook his head. He covered her hand with his. “I’m just worried.”

“Tell you what—if after we talk to Nikolas, we don’t have anything new to look at—we’ll call Monica. I’ll let her do whatever she wants.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “I don’t want to be someone you worry about.” She broke eye contact. “I mean—I don’t want you to think of someone else you have to take care of—”

“I don’t want you hurt. And I’m sorry,” Jason’s voice lowered a bit as he tipped her chin up so their eyes met again. “But I care about you. And I’m not going to pretend that I don’t. Not anymore.”

“We’ll call Monica if we don’t figure out the next step,” Elizabeth said after a moment as warmth spread through her. “But right now, you need to check on Sonny, and I need to get Ric out of my life.”

Corinthos Penthouse: Guest Bedroom

Sonny was propped up in his bed, clad in a pair of black silk pajamas, his eyes clearer than they had been the day before.

At his side, Max was cleaning up a lunch tray and quietly nodded to Jason as they passed one another.

“You drugged me,” Sonny said simply as Jason stood in front of him. “I woke up about an hour ago with no idea what’s—” He hesitated. “The last thing I remember is yelling at my sister. Max said it’s Saturday…I lost…I lost almost six days.”

“Yeah.” Jason sat on the edge of the bed. “You were talking to Lily.”

Sonny closed his eyes. “I’m useless, aren’t I? I had one job. Keep the police out of our hair so you could find Carly, and you’ve had to deal with everything—”

“You got the ball rolling—Justus pushed off the warrants—there’s a hearing next week, but we’re going to be fine.” Jason scrubbed his hands over his face. “But I think Baldwin is going to cancel the hearing anyway. He’s…the PCPD is going to be lucky to survive this investigation without Mac or Scott losing their jobs.”

Sonny frowned. Sat up more firmly. “What’s going on? What happened?”

“It’s not about Carly. We don’t have—we don’t know where the hell she is, where Ric has her. But the—someone in the PCPD told the tabloids that I’ve been at the house every day and they did this cover story about Elizabeth and me—” Jason grimaced again. “Accusing us—Ric went after her.”

“Is—” Sonny shoved the blankets aside and hauled himself out of bed. “She’s okay, or you wouldn’t be here—did you—”

“Taggert wasn’t part of it. He saw the story and was already on his way to the house. She got herself away from him—got to the phone, called Cody—we all kind of got there at once. Ric’s been arrested—Elizabeth isn’t going to have to lie to him anymore—”

“Well, I guess that’s something,” Sonny murmured. He rubbed his chest. “Where is she? Is she okay—did he hurt her? I mean—”

“She’s—managing. She’s at my place meeting with Justus.” Jason hesitated. “Bobbie called in Nikolas Cassadine. He was the only person she could think of that might…be able to…I don’t know…we just needed someone else. Someone who hasn’t been living with this for a week. I, ah, sent Michael to the island with Courtney yesterday.”

Sonny eyed him for a long moment, then nodded. “Let me get dressed. I’ll be over, and we’ll see if we can’t do something. I need…I need to do something. I need to help, Jason. I think leaving the search to you is what drove me the over edge. I have to feel like I’m doing something to protect Carly.”

Jason nodded. “I’ll see you over there.”

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

Justus was sliding a folder into his briefcase and closing it when Jason opened the door. Elizabeth looked worn out—as if she’d been up for days. Jason wasn’t satisfied with waiting to call Monica—he had to convince her to talk to someone first.

“Hey, is Sonny okay?” Elizabeth got to her feet. She closed her eyes, swayed just a little, and put her hand on the arm of the sofa to steady herself.

“He’s on his way over. He’s a lot better.” Jason looked at Justus. “Do you think they’ll give her the TRO?”

“I’m on my way to file it,” Justus said. He glanced at Elizabeth who sighed.

“And he’s filing a notice of legal separation. I wanted him to start divorce proceedings,” Elizabeth said. “But Justus thinks I should find someone who specializes in family law.” She folded arms. “I really just want it over with.”

“I think you’ve got a good case for an annulment,” Justus told her. “And since you don’t want anything—you might be happier in the long run without a divorce on your record.”

“Yeah, I guess I’ll talk over my options after we find Carly.”

“I’d better go file these so that the order can go into effect before Ric gets released. Call me if you need anything, Jase.” Justus touched his shoulder as he passed him, then left.

“You okay?”

“Aren’t you tired of asking me that yet?” Elizabeth asked dully. She sat back down, put a hand to her head. “Um…could I have some water? I haven’t—” She swallowed hard. “I didn’t really get a chance to eat anything this morning, and I need some aspirin.”

“You should eat something,” Jason said. “Let me—”

“We can grab something on the way to the house—”

“Stop being so damn stubborn,” he cut in, throwing his hands in the air. “You look like you’re about to pass out, Elizabeth—”

“Have you eaten today?” she demanded. Her face flushed, she got to her feet—too quickly—because she stumbled and nearly pitched forward over the coffee table. Jason caught her, wrapping his arms around her waist and putting her back on her feet.

He didn’t release her right away, and she let her head fall back against his chest, slumping slightly. “You’re not taking care of yourself either,” she murmured. “We’re both pushing too hard.” His hands were splayed against her abdomen, and she covered them with her own. “You, me—Sonny, Bobbie.” She turned, sliding her hands up his chest. “Did you eat today? Yesterday?”

“I—” Jason hesitated. Shook his head. “I can’t really remember.”

“Okay.” She nodded and then pulled away from him. She walked across to the penthouse door, opened it. At Jason’s door, Cody was there along with Milo. “Hey. I haven’t eaten—and I know Bobbie hasn’t. I’m afraid it might take too long for delivery, but—”

“I’ll go get some things from Kelly’s,” Cody said, as if eager to for way to help. “Some sandwiches. I’ll go right now.” He hesitated. “Don’t go back to the house without me.”

“Thanks, Cody.” She started to close the door but then Sonny rounded the corner from his penthouse. “Hey.” She stepped forward, embraced him. “How are you doing?”

“Surviving,” Sonny said. He hugged her back, and they both went into the penthouse, closing the door behind him.  “How about you?”

“I think surviving is a strong word,” Elizabeth sighed. She sat back on the sofa and took the water Jason had gotten for her while she was at the door. He also handed her a bottle of Tylenol. “Thanks.”

“We’re waiting on Nikolas and Bobbie?” Sonny said. “We really don’t—” He grimaced. “No leads?”

“Just the house,” Elizabeth started to say, but Milo knocked on the door, then opened it. Bobbie stepped through, followed by Nikolas Cassadine.

Nikolas looked a bit hesitant, no doubt because she and Nikolas hadn’t really been close for a long time—and of course, Nikolas had never been a big fan of Sonny and Jason.

“Nikolas. Hey.” Elizabeth started to get up again, but he waved at her to remain seated.

“Bobbie said you’ve been ill, so don’t get up for me—” He flicked his eyes to Sonny, then Jason, before looking back to Elizabeth. “Apparently, you need some insight into crazy lunatics, and God knows, my family has them in spades.”

“I was just about to tell Sonny what we’ve been doing,” Jason said. He sat on the sofa, next to Elizabeth, which made Nikolas tilt his head slightly, but he said nothing.

Sonny dragged out the desk chair, Bobbie sat in the arm chair, and Nikolas remained standing. Quickly, Jason told him what had gone on during the last week.

“So, you’re convinced the house has to have some sort of role to play,” Nikolas said. “Because Faith Roscoe said Ric was obsessed with the right kind of house?”

“The timeline, too,” Elizabeth said. She turned, tucking a leg underneath her body. “I came home last Friday around six, and I think—” She bit her lip. “No, I know—Ric had poured me a glass of champagne. I drank it, and I don’t really remember anything after that until I woke up. It was just…just seven. I remember looking at a clock upstairs.”

“Carly went missing about fifteen minutes before seven,” Jason said. “He wouldn’t have had time to take her anywhere else.”

“I called around then,” Nikolas said, squinting his eyes. “I had spoken to Bobbie earlier—just before five, I think. You hadn’t left for the church yet,” he told Bobbie. “And you gave me the number. No one answered.”

“I think that’s because I was passed out and Ric was gone.” She looked at Jason. “You were going to check the time of that call—”

“Six fifty,” Jason said. “Ric wasn’t there.”

“The timing seems too tight,” Nikolas agreed. “I agree with you on that. As someone who has…” He coughed. “A bit of experience with moving people around who are not…”

“He means when I faked my death and he had to move my body so that Sonny could arrange to pick me up and get me to safety,” Elizabeth said dryly. “It’s time consuming.”

“It took forever,” Nikolas agreed. “And you weren’t six months pregnant.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “But the PCPD searched that night.”

“And Jason and I searched that house a thousand times. We’ve put cameras in Ric’s bedroom, in his study—on the stairs—” Elizabeth shook his head. “A GPS on his car—Jason’s had people following him, I’m sure the cops have. The PCPD has been outside the house since that night. There’s no way Ric brought her to the house and then moved her.”

“So, she’s either in the house or she was never there.” Nikolas pursed his lips. “Have you spoken to the real estate agent who sold the house?”

Jason blinked, and Elizabeth stared at Nikolas for a long time. How…Jason closed his eyes. “The real estate agent would know what Ric was looking for,” he muttered, irritated with himself

“Seems to me there’s a hidden room in the house,” Nikolas continued. “One of those…” He gestured with his hand. “Panic rooms. We have three of them at Wyndemere. Uncle put them in after the first time Grandmother…descended upon us. One in each wing. They’re hidden with the structure of the house—tucked in some dead space or something. Usually a remote to open them or a button somewhere. They’re supposed to be for safety—a phone line, supplies. Sometimes there are cameras.”

Jason pressed his lips together and scowled. Of course.

“Why didn’t we think of that?” Elizabeth demanded of him. “Of course—”

“Neither of you have slept or eaten the way you should have,” Bobbie muttered. “And I guess—of course—”

“Fresh eyes,” Nikolas said easily. “And my family is certifiably insane. It’s easier for me to find the crazy.” He nodded. “So, what do we do—”

“Wait, wouldn’t you have seen a hidden room on the security footage?” Sonny demanded. “You’ve had cameras in place since Sunday—”

“Not in the living room.” Jason said. “We just put those in yesterday, and Stan and Spinelli have hours of footage to go through. They’re also doing other tech stuff—background on Ric, financial records, trying to stay ahead of the cops—” He shook his head. “And the living room makes sense—”

“Because that first night, Ric sent me upstairs. He wanted me to take a shower. He was irritated—he said I was done faster than he thought—” Elizabeth rubbed her mouth. “He came upstairs just after I—you said there are cameras?”

“So, he could monitor where you were,” Nikolas said. “Probably a camera out front.”

Bobbie got to her feet. “Well, we’ll just tear the damn house apart,” she said, starting for the door. Sonny reached out, stopped her. “What?”

“Let’s approach this carefully, Bobbie—”

“Carefully? Carly’s been in a goddamn panic room for over a week, and Ric hasn’t been in there today to bring her food—”

“Jason and I have searched every inch of that house, Bobbie. I never saw anything that looked like it might be a button.” Elizabeth got to her feet, and Jason followed suit, bracing a hand at the small of her back when she swayed slightly.

“I think that Bobbie and I should meet with the real estate agent,” Nikolas suggested. “We can hopefully confirm the existence of the room and even get its location.” He nodded at Sonny. “I think you may want to go where this security footage is.”

Sonny narrowed his eyes almost as if he wanted to question how the hell Nikolas had ended up in charge—but honestly—no one in the room could argue. Within ten minutes of his arrival, Nikolas had given all of them a sense of hope. He was the only one who could claim to be well-rested and clear-headed.

He hadn’t been living in hell for the last eight days.

“We can go back to the house,” Elizabeth told Jason. “We can start looking for any empty space and someone should be there if anyone gets a location. The sooner the better.”

“We’re going to eat first,” Jason said firmly. He looked at Bobbie who opened her mouth to argue. “Bobbie, you were here this morning—we’ve been at the station all day—and Elizabeth is going to fall over. The only way she’ll eat is if we eat, too.”

Bobbie sighed, but Cody opened the door then. He handed them the takeout bags, and Bobbie quickly distributed the food. “You can stay here,” she said, a container in her hands. “But I’ll eat on the go.”

“We can eat at the house,” Elizabeth said, and this time, Jason didn’t argue. They all felt so close to finding Carly—a sense of optimism that they hadn’t felt since the day she’d gone missing.

Today was the day.

Lansing Home: Living Room

Elizabeth had managed to eat a few bites of the burger Cody had brought, and Jason had to settle for that—she’d also watched him like a hawk to make sure he ate as well.

Finally, he agreed to start searching.

“I was hoping Nikolas would have called already,” Elizabeth murmured as they started with the wall against the door. Jason was looking under the desk and umbrella stand while Elizabeth ran her fingers over the door frame. “He can be charming when he wants to be.”

“I don’t know why I didn’t think of the real estate agent,” Jason muttered. “We’ve been saying all along the house was the key—”

“Because we thought Ric had some sort of paperwork or clue here,” Elizabeth argued. She scowled as she moved onto the bookcase. “Not that the house itself was important. You said Faith Roscoe told you that yesterday.”

“Last night really,” Jason admitted. He hesitated. “She was working with Ned and Ric.”

“The whole time?” Elizabeth stopped, looked at him. “Since—since November?” She sighed, looked back at the bookcase, sliding her fingers behind it. She knelt and felt along the baseboards. “They were sleeping together, weren’t they?”

“Yes. At some point. I don’t know when or if it stopped.”

He watched her carefully. “You don’t seem surprised.”

“I guess not. She…always gave me the creeps. She was always around, you know? And…she came by the hospital after I fell.” Elizabeth looked up. Met his eyes. “She pushed me, didn’t she? Because I was pregnant, and Ric had married me.”

“Elizabeth—”

“Yeah, I kind of figured.” Elizabeth stood and moved to the other side of the bookcase, momentarily slipping out of view. “Well, she can have him.”

“You don’t have to worry about her anymore,” Jason said before he could think it through. Elizabeth stepped back and looked him, tilting her head. “Ever.”

She bit her lip. “Did—Did she help Ric with Carly?”

“No. Carly wasn’t part of the plan. Ned told me Ric stopped returning phone calls around the time everything happened at Martha’s Vineyard. He didn’t know Ric was Sonny’s…” Jason shook his head. “She wouldn’t have helped him.”

“No, I guess not.” Elizabeth licked her lips and squinted a bit, almost as if she wanted to ask but didn’t. “Okay. I don’t have to worry about her. One less thing.”

She returned her attention to the wall that ran towards the stairwell, sighing. “I know there has to be something here.” When she knelt again to feel along the baseboards on that side, she slipped and fell against the wall. “Damn it. I can’t keep my head—” She pressed her hand to her head. “Is the air conditioner on? Did we turn it off?”

Jason strode over to her and helped her to her feet. He guided her over to the sofa. “You feel warm,” he murmured, pressing the back of his hand to her cheeks. “Is that one of the side effects Monica mentioned?”

“I don’t really remember,” she admitted. “There was a huge list, and I—she wanted to give me pamphlets, but I didn’t—”

“Want Ric to see them,” Jason muttered. He pulled out his phone. “I’m calling Monica.”

“Jason—” Elizabeth put a hand over his to stop him from dialing. “She said all they could do is give me more pills to deal with those symptoms, and I don’t want them. I don’t want any pills—” She bit off her irritation. “I get that you’re worried, but this is my life, and I don’t need you to take care of me.”

“Someone has to—”

“Oh, and that’s you?” Elizabeth jerked to her feet and slapped his hands away when he tried to steady her. “It’s been more than six months, Jason, since you gave a damn. I know you feel guilty Ric went after me because of you, but I can take care of myself. I’m doing fine—”

“I never stopped—” Jason stood, irritated. “You’re the one who left me.”

“Because you lied!” She threw her hands up in the air, clenched her jaw. “And don’t act like you spent a lot of time missing me. You were screwing Courtney by Christmas—” She stopped, closed her eyes, and put her hands up. “I am not doing this. I am not someone you need to save, Jason. I got myself into this mess, I’m going to get myself out of it—”

Jason swallowed. “I can explain about Courtney,” he said, even though he didn’t know what he’d even say. “It wasn’t—it wasn’t what you think—”

“You mean you didn’t fall in love with her when you were with her all the time?” Elizabeth arched her brows with a smirk. “Because you know, Jason, I don’t know what I’m supposed to think. You were either guarding Brenda—who you married—or Courtney—who you almost married. But me—I’m the one who got kidnapped and shot at—you ignored me for weeks and let me think your best friend was dead. So please—tell me what you think I think happened.”

He hesitated. “When you say it like that, it sounds bad,” he admitted. It sounded…terrible. Calculating. “And maybe I can’t explain it.”

“It doesn’t matter. Not right now.” She pressed her hands to her eyes. “We’re not going to re-litigate this. We already agreed we hurt each other a lot last summer. Between Zander and Courtney, I don’t think either one of us has any room to talk. It’s—it’s over. It happened. I know you care about me. I care about you. Let’s just—we’ll find Carly and—” She sighed and looked at him. “I can’t think about what happens after that, Jason. I really can’t.”

“Elizabeth—” His phone rang, and he yanked it out. “Yeah?”

“Jason, we’ve found the real estate agent,” Bobbie sighed. “He confirmed that Ric wanted a house with a panic room, but he refuses to tell us where. Nikolas thought you might…come and …”

“Threaten him?” Jason supplied.

“Yeah.”

“Give me the address, we’ll be right there.” When she did so, he slid the phone back in his pocket. “Nikolas needs me to threaten the real estate agent. There’s a panic room—but he won’t tell us.”

“Then you have to go. I’ll stay here,” Elizabeth said. When Jason opened his mouth, she lifted her chin in that stubborn expression he hated. “We agreed. Someone had to be here if we got the location. Sonny could call, too. The faster we find Carly, the sooner this is over.”

“I—” Jason shook his head. “I don’t want you alone—” He grimaced. “It’s not that I—”

“I don’t want to be alone either,” Elizabeth said. “So, you can tell Cody to come in and keep me company, and hell, let the cop in. I saw him at the curb when we got here. They can help me keep looking.” When he still didn’t look convinced, she sighed and cross the room to him. She put her hands on either side of his face. “Carly comes first. We both agreed. And…now we know. There’s a panic room in this house. I am not going to let her be alone. If there are cameras, then she has watched us search for her for days. I’m not leaving her.”

“I—” Jason wrapped his hands around hers and brought her fingertips to his mouth, kissing them gently. “Okay. I know you’re right. I just—the last time I let you out of my sight—”

“I get it.” She stood on the tips of her toes and brushed her lips against his. “Go find out where this panic room so we can bring Carly home.”

He sighed and kissed her again. “I don’t care what happened last year,” he told her. “I care about now.”

“We’ll figure it out,” she promised. He finally released her hands and started for the door. “You scare the crap out of that guy and call me. I want to be able to give you the phone and let you talk to Carly. Got it? And send in my…” She wiggled her hand. “My entourage, I guess. Might as well put them to work.”

He opened the door. “We’re going to find her today,” he told her. “This is the first time I’ve actually felt like that was true.”

Being me can only mean
Feeling scared to breathe
If you leave me then I’ll be afraid of everything
That makes me anxious, gives me patience, calms me down
Lets me face this, let me sleep, and when I wake up
Let me breathe
– Afraid, The Neighborhood

---

Saturday, June 28, 2003

PCPD: Squad Room

“I am going to have someone fired today!”

Scott Baldwin’s voice boomed through the room even before he crashed through the double doors, waving a copy of the Port Charles Sun in his hand. “Which one of you fucking assholes did this?”

He threw the paper in the direction of the Organized Crime Unit—the set of desks where Capelli and Taggert sat. Taggert scowled as he caught it—the headline screaming FEMME FATALE over a trio of single photos—Elizabeth with Ric and Jason on either side…and in much smaller print on the lower third of the cover it proclaimed LANSING SUSPECT IN MOB KIDNAPPING.

He closed his eyes, crumbling it slightly. It was worse than he’d thought it might be—

“I tried to get the story killed yesterday—I’ve been on the phone with every reporter I know—” Taggert threw a scathing glance at his partner. “How much did you leak?”

“What makes you think I did this?” Capelli asked, even as he smirked. He took the paper from Taggert and opened to the article. “Hmm…they were definitely resourceful…” He held the center spread out. “How do you think they got this picture?”

Taggert glared at a photograph from the warehouse fire in 2001—someone must have snapped it just as Morgan and Corinthos had escaped—and later realized  Elizabeth was in the frame, a bouquet of white roses at her feet. There was another photo of Elizabeth at her grandmother’s funeral with Ric at her side.

“You are—” Scott jabbed a finger at him. “Do you have any idea what kind of lawsuit you just opened us up to? You just—” He shook his head, so angry he couldn’t speak. “Mac? Where the hell are you?”

“What are you so pissed about?” Capelli said with a shrug. “We needed to shake something loose on this case. If Lansing kidnapped Carly for her kid, he’s going to make a mistake now—”

“A mistake that might end up—” Scott almost reached for his neck but drew his hands back at the last minute. “I can’t with you right now.  I want—”

“Scott,” Mac said, uneasily, carrying his open copy of the Sun, as he emerged from his office. “I know you’re not happy about this—”

“I want them off the case,” Scott cut in. “Give it to Major Crimes—”

“Major Crimes is two detectives that already have their plates full.” Mac looked at Taggert. “Who’s on the Lansing house today?”

“Rodriguez—” Taggert got to his feet. “This is bullshit, I told you she’s not involved—”

Capelli dismissed his concerns but Mac shook his head. “This was supposed to be a line item in the gossip section,” he told Capelli, irritated. “I told you. It was supposed to read like a rumor—you gave them everything we had—Michael’s statement, the fact that Jason Morgan has been inside the house—”

“A gossip item wasn’t going to get Lansing’s attention. Stop worrying,” Capelli said. “We got a car at the house, and didn’t one of the rookies say the wife has one of Morgan’s men following her—”

“They’re not inside the house,” Mac said with clenched teeth. “If Lansing goes after her, we might be too late—”

“Pull him in for questioning now,” Scott barked. “Pick him up, get him out of the house.”

“We’re all acting like she’s an abused wife—”

“You’re off the case, Capelli,” Mac snapped. “And you’re suspended—”

“You’re going to hear from my union rep,” Capelli snarled. But he grabbed his keys and stalked out of the room. “This is bullshit—”

“I told you I didn’t want this leaked to the press,” Scott told Mac. “If anything happens to her because of this, her family is going to own you and this building—”

“She doesn’t have any family,” Taggert murmured. He set the paper down. “I’m going to call Rodriguez and tell him to do a welfare check.”  He picked up his keys and drew his badge and gun from the drawer where he kept them.

“There’s a reason we don’t keep rookies, why qualified senior officers don’t stay,” he continued. He met Scott’s eyes, then looked at Mac. “Capelli doesn’t give a shit about Elizabeth Webber because she’s mixed up with Corinthos and Morgan. He figures if something happens to her, then it means Morgan will have a motive to go after Lansing. It’s all about them. Fuck anyone else.”

“And I haven’t been much better. We screwed up this case from the beginning because we all saw it as a back door to maybe getting them.” He started for the door, but turned back just before he left. “If anything happens to her because of this, you’ll have my badge. I’m done with this shit.”

“Scott,” Mac began once Taggert had left but Scott just shook his head.

“He’s right. We figured Elizabeth was making her own choices. We should have hauled him in for assault last week. There was enough probable cause.” Scott exhaled slowly, looked down at the paper. “We forgot what we’re supposed to be doing here. She’s not a pawn, not someone we can use to get to someone else.” He glared at the commissioner. “And you can tell the mayor I don’t give a shit if it’s an election year for him. I’m tired of ignoring what I know what is right.”

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

Jason had fallen sleep on his sofa in the early hours of the morning after overseeing the cleanup and dump of Faith Roscoe’s body. She was one more threat they should have neutralized months ago, and it felt almost like a relief to do something proactive.

And knowing she would never be in the position to hurt Elizabeth again was just a bonus.

He was jarred out sleep by a pounding on his door—it was too early for the guard to be on Sonny’s door and run interference—so by the time he got the door unlocked, his cell phone had started to ring.

“Oh, God, I thought you weren’t here,” Bobbie said, tears in her eyes, her chest heaving. She pushed a paper at him. “This was dumped on my doorstep about twenty minutes ago.”

Jason shook his head, trying to clear the fog of sleep—he was usually a pretty light sleeper and alert once he woke, but he’d been running on fumes for days—last night had been the most sleep he’d managed at once since Carly had gone missing.

He stared down at the paper, horrified to find his face next to Elizabeth’s—with a headline accusing them of an affair. He ripped the paper open and started to skim the article. “What the hell is this? How did—”

Sonny had threatened all the papers if they ran anything about Ric, but maybe the Sun—

“The article cites sources in the PCPD,” Bobbie snarled as Jason struggled to understand what was happening. “It says you’ve been in her house for hours—and they’ve got you visiting her at the studio—”

“It also says one of my guys is on the door at the studio—to keep people out—” Jason squeezed his eyes. “If Ric sees this, he’s either going to believe it’s an affair or he’s going to know she’s been helping us—either way—”

He let the paper fall to his feet and scooped his phone from the charger on the desk. He pressed Elizabeth’s speed dial—but it went straight to the automated voicemail. “Damn it. Is it too early?” It was just after eight AM and he saw now that she’d sent a text at six to let him know she was awake, and he had missed a call at seven so he had two additional texts from her, both simply stating that she was okay.

The last text at eight had asked him if he was okay. He sent her another text asking her to call him, but he couldn’t wait for her to check in—

“Call Cody—” Bobbie suggested as Jason told her about the texts. “He’ll know if Ric brought in the paper.”

Cody picked up on the first ring. “He hasn’t left yet,” he said, the usual greeting.

“Did he bring in the newspaper yet?” Jason demanded. “Could you see which ones?”

“I didn’t—I didn’t really pay any attention—from the shapes, it looked the Herald and the Sun—why?”

“Okay. Okay. I need you to—” Do what? Call the police? Storm the house? What if Ric didn’t notice right away—what if Elizabeth was able to hide the paper—

“Jason—” Bobbie said. “I can go over. I can check on her. I should have gone straight there, I just—”

“Wait—” Cody said, drawing Jason’s attention. “There’s something happening in the police car—”

“What—”

“Rodriguez is getting out and going up the walk to the door. Should I find out?”

“I—I don’t know.”

“I’ll go.” Bobbie darted out the door, leaving Jason standing there, cell phone in one hand—the paper sprawled open at his feet, Elizabeth’s face staring up at him.

Fuck it. “I’m coming over,” he told Cody. He snagged his boots from the sofa and managed to catch Bobbie before she got on the elevator.

Lansing Home: Panic Room

Carly barely recognized that it was morning—only the sunshine pouring in when Ric opened the door to get the paper told her it was a new day—and the sunshine was a dim white on a small black and white screen in her prison.

Almost as an afterthought, she watched him scan the headlines on the top paper—the Herald from the way it was folded—before setting it aside for the Sun. She missed reading the tabloids—it was always filled with someone else’s misery and someone’s scandal—those were the days.

When she saw Ric’s expression change, Carly sat up straight. What was in the paper that would make him so angry—He hurriedly opened the paper—continued to read, then to started to shout—no mistaking the anger in his features, even on her tiny screen.

“What’s going on?” she murmured, leaning in.

Lansing Home: Living Room

“What the hell is this?” Ric snarled. Elizabeth rose from the sofa, confused until she saw a glimpse of her own face on the cover of the Port Charles Sun. “Are you fucking him?” His face seemed somehow twisted, flushed red, the cords in his neck bulging. His teeth were bared as he spit out the words.

“What?” Elizabeth blinked. She took an involuntary step back at the light in his eyes, the set of his mouth. But she was having a particularly rough morning and her reflexes were not nearly as fast as they needed to be—before she could even register that he was moving—he had grabbed her arm and was shoving the paper into her face.

“He’s been in my damn house, Elizabeth—” Ric was so close—his nostrils flaring, his teeth bared. “Every day—”

“It’s—” Elizabeth struggled to make sense of what was happening. Her heart was racing, and she couldn’t find the words at first. Make it stop, make it stop. How did she make it stop? “What are you talking about?”

He shoved her away—and she hit the floor, her elbow hitting the table as she fell. Pain exploded in her arm, in her side as she crashed into the hardwood floor. She sucked in a deep breath. Phone. Get to the phone. Elizabeth started to crawl towards her purse—why didn’t she keep the damn phone with her? Why had she tried to get cute and hide it?

Get to the phone. Call Cody. Call Jason. Get help—

She tried to scream as Ric grabbed her again, wrapping his fingers around her upper arm, digging into the skin, and almost lifting her to her feet in one fell swoop. He shoved the paper at her again—she tried to claw away from him—pushing him—scratching him—

“Let me go!” she cried. Her elbow hit something hard—and something crashed and shattered. The vase on the table next to the sofa.

“Everything I’ve done for you!” Ric was screaming at her. “And you’ve been betraying me!”

Her heart was pounding so hard she could hear it in her ears—her chest aching—she finally managed to break away from him and throw herself at her purse. It fell from the small book case against the back wall, and she scrambled for it. She could almost hear him now coming after her and she flipped on her back, kicking out with her feet.

She managed to land one right in between his legs and Ric fell to the ground, giving her a small break—a chance. Elizabeth lunged to her feet, her purse in her hands, trying to fish the phone out.

“Fucking whore. Bitch—” Ric managed. On all fours, trying to grasp his breath, he stared her, his jaw clenched, a vein throbbing in his neck. “I gave up everything for you!”

One hand on her phone, she pressed speed dial, bringing it to her ears. With the other—she fished something from behind the umbrella stand—a baseball bat. She shifted her grip so she could swing it more easily. “Stay away from me—” she choked out. “Cody? Cody! I need you! Please! Call 911—”

But the words were no sooner out of her mouth then there was a furious pounding on the door—and then it burst open. Cruz Rodriguez rushed in, followed closely by Cody—and then bringing up the rear—Taggert who swept his eyes over the room, took in Elizabeth’s tears stained face—the scratches on her arm—the dark red marks from where Ric had grabbed her.

“You son of a bitch,” he breathed. He almost went for Ric with his fists—but drew himself back. He pulled out a set of handcuffs out. “You’re under arrest—”

“Me?” Ric got to his feet, his eyes bulging. “What for—” He gestured at her. “She’s the whore—she’s been screwing Jason Morgan—”

Elizabeth closed the phone and shifted the bat until she gripped it with both hands. “Even if I were, you have no right to put your hands on me. To drug me!”

Ric scowled. “I knew you believed him—I knew you took his side—”

“I didn’t need to take his side!” She screamed and then sucked in a breath as her head started to spin. “I nearly died last week—I overdosed, and Jason found me. He took me to the hospital—you can talk to Monica. She ran the tests—” This she let tumble out to Taggert, whose face darkened into a furious scowl.

She actually saw Ric rein himself in now. His expression softened. His voice changed. “You’ve been taking Valium since the miscarriage—I’m—I’m so sorry, Elizabeth. I overreacted, the paper—”

And how quickly he shifted personalities—from the angry, violent, cuckolded husband to the worried husband. God, how many faces did he have? “I’ve tried to talk to you—” he continued, talking to her as if she were stupid. As if she had imagined it all.

“Don’t you even dare try it—Monica can prove you started drugging me in January!” She pointed the bat at him. “Did you drug me because you knew I’d never sleep with you otherwise?”

“What?” Taggert demanded, his eyes burning as he stepped between them. “You son of a bitch—” He strode over to Ric who didn’t fight too hard as he was roughly handcuffed. “You’re under arrest for assault—”

“It’s her word against mine,” Ric grunted. All traces of the worried husband had vanished now.

“Yeah, I’m not worried about that—” Taggert glanced over as they heard another car screeching to a halt in the street.

Cody leaned out the open doorway and winced. “It’s Bobbie-” He glanced at Elizabeth with almost a bit of regret. “And Jason.”

“Of course,” Ric snarled. “Her lover’s coming to check on her—”

“Shut up, asshole,” Taggert hissed. He looked to Elizabeth. “I’m taking him down to the station. I’ll need you to come down to the station to press charges—” He hesitated. “Please, for the love of God—”

“Just tell me where to sign,” Elizabeth almost growled as Jason and Bobbie joined the crowd at the door. She watched as they took in the scene, as Jason’s eyes raked over her disheveled and bruised appearance. Bobbie put a hand on his shoulder as if to hold him back.  “Where is she, Ric? It’s over. You know that, don’t you? Where’s Carly?”

Ric smirked as Taggert almost dragged him towards the door. Bobbie had to literally pull Jason out of the way as they came within a hairbreadth of one another. “I have no idea. I hope she’s still alive.”

And then he was gone, down the steps to the sidewalk. Cruz cleared his throat awkwardly after a moment or two had passed. “Um…do you want me to drive you there? To the PCPD, I mean,” he said hesitantly.

Elizabeth took a deep breath and loosened her grip until the tip of the bat hit the ground. “I can’t—” She pressed a fist against her chest. “I can’t seem to—”

Bobbie and Jason both moved at the same time, but Jason reached her first. He put an arm around her shoulders and almost carried her to the sofa, so she could sit down. She closed her eyes. Tried to catch her breath. Why couldn’t she stop breathing so fast—

Dimly she was aware of Bobbie perching on the coffee table in front of her, taking her wrist. “Your pulse is racing, Elizabeth. Let me call Monica—have her meet us—”

“No…” Elizabeth opened her eyes. “No, I’m—I’m okay. It’s just—” Her lips were dry. “It’s—I’m halfway through the two weeks she said it would take to withdraw from the—” She blinked as Jason took the bat and set it aside. “I need that,” she murmured. “Don’t take it —”

“It’s right here.” Jason glanced around the room—took in the shattered vase, the newspaper in tatters, the furniture moved out of the way—her purse’s contents strewn across the floor. “Elizabeth—”

“I’m sorry, I ruined everything,” she said sucking in a deep breath. “Ric knows. He knows. And it’s my fault. I didn’t know how to—I couldn’t think—he was so angry, and I couldn’t calm him down—I couldn’t get him to stop screaming long enough to make up—”

“You don’t need to apologize for anything,” Bobbie hissed. She got to her feet and glared at Cruz. “Sources at the PCPD,” she said, scathingly. “No wonder you and Taggert were practically on her doorstep when the story broke. Guilty conscience?”

“What?” Elizabeth shook her head. “I didn’t even see the paper—I just—he was so angry, he knew you’d been here—”

“You were already coming up to the house when Miss Webber called,” Cody said to the officer flatly. “You knew there’d be trouble.”

“I don’t—” Cruz shook his hand, clearly shaken. “I got word from Taggert he was on his way, but he wanted me to do a welfare check. I didn’t know until I heard something break and then you were screaming so—” He swallowed hard. “I didn’t know.”

“He’s a rookie, Bobbie,” Elizabeth murmured. She pressed her hand to her head. Everything hurt so much. “Last week was his first day. You told me he started with Lucky, remember?”

Bobbie exhaled slowly. “I know. I know. He’s just—” She gestured uselessly. “He’s here. Who am I supposed—” She narrowed her eyes. “Scott. That’s who I’m going to kill next. Then maybe Mac. Depends who I see first. They’re both too fucking concerned with Sonny and Jason and my daughter is gone—” Bobbie’s voice broke.

“He’ll never tell us now,” Elizabeth said. She squeezed her eyes. “Maybe if I don’t press charges—”

“He’ll never tell us,” Jason repeated. “Because it puts him on the hook for kidnapping, and if something happens to Carly because of it—” He couldn’t finish his sentence. “We can’t think about that right now. We need to make sure he stays behind bars at least for right now. Until we can figure out what to do next. So, we’ll go sign a statement, and then you’ll come back here, get your stuff—”

“I can’t go,” Elizabeth said, and she scowled when almost everyone in the room groaned. “No, no, you don’t get to act like I’m being stupid about this. There’s something in this house—” She shoved Jason’s hands away from her arms and rose to her feet, grimacing when a wave of a dizziness swept over her. “You know I’m not stupid. If I stop living here, I can’t come back—”

Jason hesitated, and Bobbie glared at him. “Stop letting her guilt you into this! Elizabeth, it’s done. There’s nothing here. She’s not here—”

Jason held up a hand to cut Bobbie off, and then eyed the cop for a long moment. “You can go to the station,” he told him blandly. “We’re going to let Elizabeth clean up, calm down, and then we’ll be down.”

Because Cruz badly wanted to go and get his head on straight, he nodded, and then left. Cody closed the door behind him and leaned against it, remaining silent.

“I talked to Faith Roscoe last night and she told me that Ric was looking for a particular house. That something about this place was important.”  He rubbed his eyes. “I just—you’re right, Elizabeth. I know you’re right. But if you stay here, it’s like we’re saying Carly is more important than you—”

“No, you’re not.” Elizabeth shook her head. “No. That’s not what I think is happening here. Hey, look at me, Jason. Every second of the last week, you’ve been trying to drag me out of this house because you were worried what would happen with Ric. Not for one minute have I thought you put Carly’s safety in front of mine. And I—” Her voice trembled. “And what happened was—I was scared. But I got myself out of it. And Ric’s gone. He’s not in the equation. You—You can get me a lawyer who can get me a restraining order. I’m in less danger now—”

She looked at Bobbie. “It’s even worse now. Wherever Carly is, she’s alone. And I know she’s scared. Ric’s gone. If he was taking her food or supplies—I don’t know how—but if he was—then that’s done now. We have to find her now. Today. I don’t have to worry about Ric finding out what I’m doing anymore. He knows. So I need a ride to press charges, I need to get a restraining order, so we can come back here and gut this place if we have. Rip out the walls. I don’t care.”

She pressed a hand to her head. “But I need a ride because I don’t think I can drive. I don’t feel that great.”

“We’ll go to the hospital after—”

“After we find her,” Elizabeth said, interrupting Bobbie. She gingerly moved towards her purse and knelt on the ground, trying to reach for the contents that had spilled in her desperation—for her wallet, her keys— “I know what’s wrong with me, and there’s nothing Monica can do for me except give me more drugs, and I’m not interested in that.”

Bobbie helped her gather the rest of her things, and then helped her to stand. “Okay, let’s go press charges.”

“Elizabeth…” Jason hesitated. Holding her arm back. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly. Bobbie tipped her head at Cody, and the two of them went outside.

“No,” she admitted. “I’m not. I am—I’m so far from okay, right now.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I don’t even know what happened. What he accused me of—why—”

Jason picked up the torn Port Charles Sun and held it out. She looked at him, then took it. “’Femme Fatale’,” she murmured. “Nice that I get top billing.” She found the main article and sighed at the photos the paper had dug up of her with Jason and Ric. “Lucky for them that they took this photo at just the right minute, huh?” She said, holding it up. “Five seconds later and I wouldn’t have been in the frame.”

“Elizabeth—”

“’Sources in the PCPD’,” she murmured, “’suggest that the affair is recent after a long period of estrangement. Jason Morgan reportedly spends hours in the newlywed’s home after Richard Lansing leaves…’” Her eyes burned. “I thought everyone was trying to keep Ric’s name out of the papers—why would the PCPD leak his name and let them think—” She swallowed hard. “I guess…I mean.” She set the paper down. “It’s only partially a lie.” She licked her lips. “I mean—I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.”

“Elizabeth…”

She moved past him and picked up the baseball bat. “I brought this home from the studio a few days ago and hid it in the umbrella stand.’

He took it from her, turned it over in his hands. “It’s the one I got you last year.”

“Yeah. I didn’t get to use it.” When he handed it back, she tucked it back in the stand. “But I remember what you told me. Go for the knees.” She rubbed her chest again. “Let’s get this over with. Nikolas’s plane is supposed to be coming in soon, and I want to be able to focus on what we’re going to do next.”

“Okay,” Jason agreed. He opened the door for her, locked it, and then followed her down the walk.

Behind the walls of the living room, Carly sat on her cot, her arms wrapped around herself, rocking back and forth. Oh, God, what was she going to do? Ric would never tell them where she was—she’d screamed herself raw while Ric was attacking Elizabeth—when the cops were there—

But he’d been right. The room was sound proof. And they were never ever going to find her. She was going to die in these walls.

I don’t know what’s worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don’t know why I instigate
And say what I don’t mean
I don’t know how I got this way
I’ll never be alright
So I’m breaking the habit
I’m breaking the habit tonight
– Breaking the Habit, Linkin Park

---

Friday, June 27, 2003

 Brownstone: Living Room

 Bobbie tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the long-distance call to connect with Nikolas. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lucas and Lulu bickering about what to pack, what not to take, and Lulu trying to get out of the trip altogether.

“Bobbie?” Nikolas’s voice seemed a bit faint. “Hey—”

“Hey. I don’t know how much you know about what’s going on here this last week,” she said as she cut off his greeting. “Has Lucky called you?”

“Ah…no.” Nikolas’s voice got a bit stronger. “But Emily did—Carly’s missing, and Elizabeth’s husband is the primary suspect? She called me a few days ago, but she said I shouldn’t come to Port Charles—”

“That was then. This is now.” Bobbie pressed her free hand to her temple. “We’re out of ideas. The PCPD can’t find Carly, Jason is frantic, and Sonny’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown—though I think maybe that’s actually more like he’s now recovering from some kind of breakdown. I don’t know. You’re the only person left in Liz’s life who gives a damn. And you—well the Cassadines are psychos, so—”

“Maybe I have some insight into other psychos?” Nikolas said dryly. “I can be there tomorrow, Bobbie. You can explain everything to me then and I’ll see what I can do.”

Bobbie closed her eyes. She hadn’t imagined he’d come right home. “You can leave Laura? It’s not going to mess her up? Elizabeth would never forgive me if I—”

“Mom is responding well,” Nikolas said. “And Lesley and Luke can handle things for a few weeks. And she’d never forgive me if I let something happen to Elizabeth.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” She and Nikolas said their goodbyes, and Bobbie hung up. She turned her attention to the bickering idiots in her living room. “Look, I get that neither of you want to go to the island with Courtney and Michael.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to go,” Lucas said. “I don’t know why she’s coming.”

“Hey, I can stay home—”

“Michael likes you, Lu,” Bobbie said, almost exasperated. “And I thought you’d have some sympathy for him. You know what it’s like to be missing your mother, to be worried about her.”

Lulu closed her mouth and frowned. “I do, Aunt Bobbie. I just…” She lifted her hands. “You sure you won’t need me here? Who’s going to take care of you?”

“Nikolas is coming back tomorrow,” Bobbie said, instead of arguing that she’d taken care of herself for her entire life and certainly didn’t need a teenager to look out for her. “Thank you.”

“Mom….” Lucas embraced her, and Bobbie hugged him back tightly. “Hey. I know you’re scared. If this is what is going to help you deal with this, then that’s what I’m going to do. I just….” He drew back, shaking his head slightly. “I hope everything turns out well.”

“Me, too.” Bobbie then hugged Lulu. “Jason said the plane should be ready in a few hours, so you guys better get going to the airport and meet Courtney there with Michael.”

Elizabeth’s Studio

Elizabeth stared at the sketch pad in her hand, the pencil lines little more than scribbles. She’d come to the studio today because she needed a break from the house—because she needed to pretend for just one minute that her life was okay.

But it was hard to hold up that pretense with the patrol car that had followed her car from the house to the studio—right behind the dark car which Cody drove. She had her own personal escort to keep her safe, but what did Carly have?

And where was Carly? Was she in the house? Elizabeth couldn’t imagine how she was, but maybe she wasn’t crazy. She felt like she wasn’t alone when she should be.

If Carly was in the house—was she alive? She had to be alive—why else would Ric kidnap her?

Elizabeth rubbed her head. She was tired of the headaches, the exhaustion she carried with her, the nausea—all of the things Monica had warned her she’d deal with for the next few weeks as she came down from the Valium Ric had been giving her for months.

Drugging her for months. Elizabeth still couldn’t wrap her mind around that kind of betrayal—couldn’t understand it—Monica had said the dosages had been low, infrequent, and hadn’t picked up until after the miscarriage. But knowing that there had been the possibility that her child had already been…. compromised…she almost couldn’t process that.

Had…had he drugged her when he wanted to sleep with her? Was that why she’d turned to him after her grandmother’s funeral? They’d slept together then for the first time…and then infrequently after that. She’d never really been able to find the comfort she sought—

Had Ric drugged her to sleep with her? God. Didn’t that mean she’d—

She cut herself off from that train of thought immediately because she really couldn’t process the logical next step.

Cody knocked on her door, then opened it slightly. “Jason’s here.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth frowned, let her feet fall to the ground from the sofa as she set the sketch pad aside. “Was—was I expecting you?”

“No,” Jason admitted, dragging his hand through his hair, leaving it to rest at the nape of his neck. He waited for Cody to close the door. “I—I was on my way to meet with Ned, but I wanted—” He hesitated. “Bobbie came by earlier, and—”

Elizabeth furrowed her brow. “You’re upset,” she realized. “What happened?”

Jason sat on the edge of the sofa—at the other end. He clasped his hands between his spread-out knees and stared down at them. “You know Sonny has been struggling…”

“I mentioned it to Bobbie—I hope that was okay—”

“Yeah. No, it was fine. She was there when—” He paused. “Sonny has dark moods. I don’t really understand them, but sometimes he…breaks down. And today…he was talking to Lily.”

“Lily…the wife that…” Elizabeth restlessly rubbed her hand against her jean-clad thigh. “Oh, God. Poor Sonny. This must bring that all back. He’s always blamed himself for that, right? And now…another pregnant wife he couldn’t protect.”

Jason nodded wordlessly. “I gave him a sedative, but—yeah. I don’t know. I knew he wasn’t doing well, but Courtney was supposed to be taking care of him.” He glanced at her quickly then looked away. “She’s taking Michael to the island tonight.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth chewed on her bottom lip. “It’ll be good for Michael to get away. I’m sure he’s been so upset by all of this.”

“I just—” He shook his head. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. I’ve—I’ve been able to see you every day, and I didn’t—we didn’t search the house today.”

“No, I guess we’ve gotten what we can from the house.” She sighed. “I still…I feel like we’ve missed something, you know? I don’t know how because we’ve torn the place apart, but there has to be something there.”

“I know. I can’t think of what could be there, but—it’s the only place where he spends any time, so…” Jason trailed off. Shook his head. “I meant to tell you that Bobbie called Nikolas to ask him to come home.”

“Nikolas?” Elizabeth repeated, leaning back a little. “She’s not trying to get him to talk to me about—”

“No,” Jason said. “We’ve both given up on that. But we’ve…we’ve gone in circles with what we know. Maybe someone who hasn’t been here—”

“And someone who has crazy in his DNA?” Elizabeth suggested with a half a smile. “Yeah, maybe that makes sense. It can’t hurt, and it’ll be nice to see him. He left a message last week on the machine while I was—” She blinked. “He left a message for me,” she repeated. “I must have been asleep when he called. And Ric would have picked up if he’d been home—”

“It could narrow down the time frame. Prove Ric didn’t have the time to take her somewhere else.” Jason got to his feet. “I’ll call Stan and Spinelli and get them on the phone records.” His eyes caught the clock on her wall next to the door. “I should—I’m supposed to meet Ned about his business dealings with Ric and Faith, so I should go.”

Elizabeth stood as well and followed him to the door. “I should be getting home,” she admitted. “The last thing I need is for Ric to show up here and—” She gestured at the door. “Find Cody.”

He turned to face her. “Elizabeth—I know I said I’d given up, but—” He swallowed hard, his eyes searching hers. “I hate you going back there.” He hesitated. “Back to him.”

“I know,” Elizabeth murmured. Without meaning to, her eyes filled, and her throat felt tight. “I don’t want to,” she admitted. “Everything in the last six months—it’s been a lie—and I keep thinking about why he started to give me Valium—every time I look at him, I know what he did to the baby—”

“I didn’t even—” Jason touched her shoulder, his face stricken. “Is that what caused the—”

“No, but Monica said it might have been a blessing,” Elizabeth’s voice trembled. “Because…it…there might have been defects and—” A sob slipped out and she turned away. “I can’t stand it. What kind of person am I to be glad I lost my baby? I wanted that baby. I know all the reasons it was wrong—that I’m better—”

“Hey—” Jason turned her back to face him, lifting her chin so their eyes met. “You would have been an amazing mother, but it’s okay to feel however you want to feel about it. I’m so sorry, Elizabeth. I wish I could have done something to stop it.”

“You tried.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “You warned me, but I didn’t listen. I was so angry with you, so hurt—I couldn’t breathe. And he kept saying all the right things—I don’t know why I couldn’t just let myself trust you.”

He gently kissed her forehead. “We hurt each other,” Jason murmured. She opened her eyes to look at him and saw the regret in his eyes. “But we’re going to find Carly and we’re going to make Ric pay for everything he’s done to you both.”

Elizabeth took a deep breath, nodded. “I know. I can believe it when you say it.” His thumbs gently wiped away her tears. “It’s stupid to wish I could turn back time, but I wish I could go back to that night I left you,” she said softly. “And just…not do it.”

“If I could go back,” Jason said hesitantly, “then I would have stopped you from leaving.” His eyes still on hers, he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. Her knees nearly buckled at the softness of the kiss—even as he was already stepping back, letting his hands fall to his side.

Elizabeth cleared her throat. “You should meet—you should go talk to Ned.” Her hands fluttered in front of her, unsure what to do with them. “I mean…he might have something to tell us about what Ric’s been up to.”

“Yeah, I know, I’m already late—” Jason waited another a moment. “I—I know this isn’t the time, but I wanted you to know that before Courtney left, we—I told her it was over.”

“Oh.” Her eyes widened. “Oh—I didn’t—”

“We can—we can talk about it later. After we find Carly.” After another long, lingering look, Jason left, and Elizabeth stood there, her hands fisted at her heart.

“He always does this,” she muttered. “Kisses me senseless and leaves. Every time.”

Kelly’s: Courtyard

 Ned checked his watch for the fifth time and scowled. He’d agreed to meet with Jason against his own better judgment—the last thing he needed was for his erstwhile cousin to think that he was in any way involved with Carly’s kidnapping.

And now Jason was almost twenty minutes late. Had he changed his mind?

Ned was getting to his feet when Jason ducked under the archway of the courtyard and approached him. “I’m sorry,” the younger man said, looking nearly exhausted as Ned remembered him looking before he’d taken his MCATs, back in the day when he’d been Jason Quartermaine.

“You know, you asked to meet me,” Ned said mildly as he took his seat again and gestured for Jason to join him. “If you were running late—”

“I didn’t—” Jason shook his head as if to clear it. “I had to see someone.” He shifted uncomfortably in the seat, then leaned forward, his hands clasped together, his elbows on the table. “You’ve worked with Ric Lansing.”

“I asked him for some legal advice,” Ned said mildly. He pushed his glass of water restlessly from one hand to another. “Nothing all that interesting—”

“You met with him here and there was paperwork. Look…I know how angry you were after Kristina—” Jason swallowed. “That was a bad time. I know you were angry. I don’t care about any of that, Ned. If anything happened to—” He grimaced. “I get it.  I just—I need to know about Ric.”

Ned tilted his head. “Before Emily left for California, she asked me to keep an eye on Elizabeth with Ric being the prime suspect in Carly’s kidnapping. You dated her, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Jason said flatly. “And she’s—she’s in danger. You know that. You know Ric is crazy. He’s already—I need to find Carly and get Elizabeth out of this. So stop—” He sat back, shook his head. “You can be pissed at me and Sonny all you want. Come at us, I don’t care. That’s the business. But Carly and Elizabeth don’t deserve this—”

“I was approached last fall,” Ned said when Jason stopped abruptly. “Just after Luis Alcazar tumbled off that balcony. Faith Roscoe wanted to know if I hated Sonny enough to get revenge. I did. It was never about you. It was always him.” He sighed. “I can see how terrified you are for Carly and Elizabeth, so I think you can understand why I agreed.”

“What did Faith want to do?”

“Ric was a connection of hers,” Ned continued. “I don’t—I don’t know how they met or how long they knew each other. But he was set up in Kelly’s pretty quickly, sometime in November. He was supposed to get inside Sonny’s circle and find me something we could—I don’t know. I don’t know if I had an endgame.”

“Ric and Faith were working together?”

“They are were still supposed to be working together up until the last few weeks. And…” Ned frowned. “He and Faith were sleeping together. They might still be, I don’t know. But he started seeing Elizabeth because of you. He thought she’d be angry enough to help.”

“But she didn’t help.”

“No.” Ned rubbed his chest, uncomfortable. “I don’t know how—I don’t know why I didn’t step away when she got involved. I wasn’t thinking clearly—I hadn’t—I didn’t think about the fact that she was Emily’s friend which meant she was still so young.  I just—I saw her as a pawn.” He’d never forgive himself for that. Elizabeth wasn’t that much older than Brooke, and he’d sat by while she got involved with a monster.

Jason nodded, dismissed that. “Could Faith be helping him with Carly?”

“I doubt it. Ric stopped returning phone calls in May—right about the time everyone found out he was actually Sonny’s brother. Faith didn’t know that either—she didn’t realize he had a personal stake. We didn’t know about Anthony Zacchara or Trevor Lansing. He might have come to Port Charles on their orders. He always seemed to be playing his own game.” Ned rubbed his chin. “I think he was obsessed with Elizabeth. And that pissed Faith off. When Ric married her—when Faith found out about the baby—she was livid. She’s still making threats about doing something to her, but I think—”

“You think Faith pushed Elizabeth?”

“I do,” Ned admitted. “She called me last week to complain about Ric not talking to her, to complain about Elizabeth. She made threats again a few days ago— she’s not happy with me either. My daughter moved to Port Charles, and time has…it’s cleared out my head. When Elizabeth had that miscarriage, Monica was upset. And I remembered who Elizabeth was to my family.”

Jason rubbed his hands over his face. “You backed out.”

“With Faith. I haven’t officially pulled the plug on Ric yet. I figure he pulled the plug on me first.” Ned waited a moment. “I don’t think Faith would have helped Ric, but if there’s anyone who knows where Ric might have taken Carly, it’s Faith.”

“Okay.” Jason shoved back his chair. “Thanks.” He hesitated. “You said Faith is still making threats. About Elizabeth?”

“About Elizabeth, mostly. A few for me and Brooke.” Ned rose to his feet. “Jason, Grandmother is, for some reason, very fond of Carly. I hope you find her.” The word alive hung between them, unspoken.

Jason nodded and left the courtyard. Ned watched him go and wondered if he was ever going to be able to forgive himself if something happened to Carly or Elizabeth because Ned had given Ric help once upon a time.

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

Taggert tapped his pen against a folder. “There’s no way around it, Mac. Somewhere, we missed something.” He scowled, dumped the folder on Mac’s desk and pushed himself to his feet so he could pace. “Maybe we concentrated too fast on the Zacchara angle. Maybe we rushed into the situation too fast—if we had waited twenty more minutes before going to the Lansing house—if we’d watched him first—”

“You can second guess yourself until you’re blue in the face,” Mac said mildly from behind his desk. “I’ve been looking through your reports. Capelli might have cut some corners, but you didn’t. You followed the leads you had. Michael Corinthos told you he saw a man who looked Ric Lansing. You went to Lansing’s house and searched it. You looked into Ric’s background. You investigated his connections. You’ve had men watch him for the last week.”

“Maybe it wasn’t Ric,” Taggert muttered, rubbing his hand over his bald head. “I mean, it’s summer, so I guess we can’t say it was too dark Michael to know the difference. But he was a traumatized six-year-old, right? Maybe he just saw a dark-haired man. Luis Alcazar had family. A brother who looks a lot like him.”

“I saw that in your file, too — Lorenzo Alcazar was awarded custody of Luis’s daughter, Sage. They currently live in Caracas, Venezuela. No reports that Lorenzo has left the country.” Mac tipped his head. “Who else?’

“You’d think Corinthos and Morgan have a long list of enemies, but they don’t. Not anyone who would do this. The Families aren’t in for this, you know? Tagliatti and Vega like money too much, and this isn’t Ruiz’s style. Zacchara is a dead end. We got nothing to tie him to this. Maybe it goes back further than that.”

“Moreno? Sorel?”

“Maybe even Frank Smith,” Taggert said restlessly. “Or revenge for the car bomb. What do we know about Hernando Rivera’s people?”

“All of those people are gone now,” Mac reminded him. “We’ve had reason to look into them before. You researched the Rivera connection when Juan was here.”  He shrugged. “I hate this, too. I hate knowing that we’ve done everything we could have and we’re still at a dead end.”

“We could have brought Ric in for questioning.” Taggert resumed his seat. “Elizabeth had clearly been drugged—he was the only one who could have done it. We should have searched for medication. We could have nailed him—”

Mac hesitated. “You…you’re sure she was drugged?”

Taggert frowned at him. “Don’t tell me you’re listening to Capelli. He doesn’t know Elizabeth like I do. This is not a woman who turned to drugs after her miscarriage. That’s not who she is—”

“She’s had a rough year—between her botched wedding to Spencer a year and half ago — being kidnapped last year—being cheated on by Morgan with Sonny’s sister—her grandmother—the miscarriage—you don’t think it’s finally been too much?”

“Maybe I could see her using a prescription—leaning on it a bit too much,” Taggert said. “But I handled her miscarriage case—I have her medical records. She wasn’t prescribed anything then.” He leaned forward.  “I know she’s had a bad year, Mac, but I’m telling you—that’s not what was going on last week.”

Mac exhaled slowly. “Then why is she still with Lansing? Capelli says Morgan has been in that house almost every day this week. He thinks it’s an affair—”

“And that means what exactly?” Taggert said, irritated. “So, the fuck what? Morgan is looking for Carly. The only reason we got into that house to search last week was Elizabeth giving us the go. As long as she’s in that house, we get to search it any damn time we please. You think she hasn’t thought of that with Morgan? Community property. He’s not getting arrested.”

“Damn it.” Mac closed his eyes. “Capelli had me half thinking she might have…helped Ric.”

“She didn’t—” Taggert frowned. “He’s been wanting to leak to the press—shit, Mac.” He shot to his feet. “Tell me you didn’t give him the go head to leak an affair to the tabloids?”

“It’s just the tabloids—”

“What exactly about the affair is he leaking?” Taggert demanded. “Did he tell the bastards Morgan’s been in the house?”

Mac hesitated. “It was supposed to be just a small line item, so no.”

“And you think Capelli is going to listen? You gave him permission to do exactly—” Taggert stared at his commissioner. “Haven’t you screwed with her life enough? Is this because of Floyd, too? I’m so sick of that asshole and his election year pressures.”

“Don’t bring that up—it has nothing to do with this—”

“If Lansing finds out Morgan’s been in the house, what the hell you do think is going to happen to Elizabeth?” he snarled. He sliced his hand through the air. “This has always been the goddamn problem in this department. We got no problem sacrificing innocent people to get ahead. You better hope I can get that story pulled before it hits the stands tomorrow.”

He stormed out of the office.

Lansing Home: Panic Room

The entire time her mother had been in the house, Carly had been glued to the screen. When she was rescued she was going to learn how to read lips. This was so damn frustrating.

She watched as Elizabeth and Bobbie talked. She could tell they were both agitated. Upset. Not with each other—she could see that Bobbie was worried about Elizabeth, that the younger woman shared the same concern in reverse.

Had she really ever known how close Elizabeth was to her mother? Had she cared to learn anything about this woman?

She watched Elizabeth make a phone call—something she did almost constantly, Carly realized. Five or six times a day, Carly had caught her taking phone out of her purse—except when Jason was there. This was the first day since Sunday—how many days had actually passed?—that Jason hadn’t come to the house and searched it from top to bottom.

She was calling Jason.

Why was she calling Jason so much? Carly squinted. She saw her mother leaving—the hug—and then Elizabeth was talking.

No one was home, but the brunette had her eyes lifted to the sky—almost to the camera—did Elizabeth know it was there? No…no that wasn’t possible—

But somehow, Carly thought Elizabeth knew she was in the house. Maybe should sense how closely she was being watched—that was a thing, right? People could tell.

“I’m here, Elizabeth.” Carly pressed her fist to her mouth. “Please. Find me. Tell Jason. Tell Jason I’m here. You know I’m here. You can feel me here.”

She got up, tried to get to the walls—but she couldn’t reach that corner where the door slid open. She wanted to pound on it, scream Elizabeth’s name.

This room was so dark—even when all the lights were lit—it was still so dim. The shadows were inching closer to her, and she was tired of her own company, tired of her own voice.

Why couldn’t they find her? How could they not know about the panic room? This was Elizabeth’s house, wasn’t it?

“Please, find me,” she murmured. “Please don’t let me disappear.”

Faith Roscoe’s Apartment

When Faith Roscoe turned on the light in her living room that night, she was tickled pink at the sight of Jason Morgan casually sitting in her plush white armchair. “Well, well, I have to admit, I’ve always wondered what it would be like between us,” she purred.

Jason’s face didn’t change. “You’ve been working with Ric Lansing and Ned Ashton since last fall.”

Faith wrinkled her nose. “Someone’s been talking out of turn.” She wagged her finger. “Ned is a very naughty man.” She sashayed over to her wine cabinet and selected an excellent white vintage. “I haven’t had time to take care of him, but he’s on my list.”

“Is Elizabeth Webber on that list, too?”

Faith nearly bobbled the cork at the thought of that insipid little mouse. “My, my, does the dear girl have another champion? I must ask her how she does it—”

She never heard him move. One second, she was smirking, pouring her wine—and then the next she was shoved back against the wall, Jason’s hand tight around her throat.

“I never thought you were into games,” Faith said breathlessly, trying to sound amused. She was a woman, so Jason was trying to scare her. Well, mission accomplished. Time to give him what he wanted so he’d go away. “You’re here about Carly. You want to find her.”

“Did you help Ric take her? Are you hiding her?”

“I have no interest in Sonny’s wife,” Faith managed, as Jason’s grip relaxed enough for her to draw in a full breath. “And Ric has been a very disappointing boy. No, I did not help him. And I do not know where she is, buuuut….” She drew out in a sing-song voice, careful to keep her eyes locked on his. “I know he was quite desperate to find a house for his little china doll. Just the right house. The house was all he could talk about.”

Jason narrowed his eyes. “He was looking for that house or a particular kind of house?”

“I don’t know, and I didn’t ask. I’m not interested in helping Ric start the perfect life with that—” Faith broke off whatever insult she was about to launch. Keep the eye on the prize. “There’s something about the house that made his plan complete. They moved in a week before Carly went missing.”

Jason nodded. Released her neck and started across the room. Faith rolled her shoulders, irritated. “If I knew where Carly was, I would have already found a way to make Ric pay for it. He’s become very boring, don’t you know?”

“Mmm…” Jason squinted at her. “You pushed her down the stairs, didn’t you?”

And the way he said it told Faith she’d already been convicted of the crime. Sentenced. Her palms began to sweat. How had she forgotten the reason they’d targeted the tedious little bitch in the first place? She was Jason Morgan’s ex-girlfriend—though maybe the ex was something he’d like to change.

“I did you a favor,” Faith said, spreading her hands at her sides. “Now you don’t have to take on Lansing’s bastard when you toss in him the harbor and take her back—and really—you’d be so much nicer to her, and he’s been just awful—” Her voice stopped abruptly when Jason drew his gun from where it had been tucked behind his back.

Faith swallowed. “I shouldn’t have done it, of course. I was angry, and I wanted to make Ric hurt. I didn’t even think about her. I should have. I should think more about other people. I will. I’ll enter a convent—” Her voice became more rapid as she watched Jason screw a silencer into the barrel. “I can help you,” she said desperately. “I can make Ric tell me—”

“Even if that were true,” Jason said slowly, meeting her eyes again. “It still wouldn’t save you.”

“Hey, you’re supposed to be the good one,” Faith retorted. “I’m a woman—isn’t there a code—”

“You don’t get to play in this world, Faith, and expect special treatment,” Jason said. “And this isn’t business. This isn’t about Sonny. This…this is personal.” He lifted a shoulder and looked at her without any expression in his eyes. “You knew who she was when you went after her. And as long as Ric wants her, she’s not safe from you.”

“Listen, that’s just not true—”

But she was dead before she could finish the sentence, the bullet hitting her just between the eyes. A nice, neat bullet hole between those wide blue eyes, still open—her mouth still forming words.

She hit the floor, her black sun dress pooling around her. Blood starting to soak into the carpet.

Jason stared down at her, then pulled out his cell phone. “Hey, Francis. Yeah, I got a cleanup for you to handle.”