Written in 59 minutes.

Molly peered through the peephole, then rested her forehead against the door, wishing she were anywhere else today. Or that TJ wasn’t working so that she’d have someone else in the room for this conversation.

“I can see the shadow on the ground, Molly. I know you’re in there,” came her father’s muffled voice.

She made a face, then reluctantly slid back the bolt and flicked off the chain before twisting the knob. She pulled the door open just a little, and lifted her brows. “This is as far as you get, Dad.”

Ric sighed, then nodded. “That’s fair. I just—I needed you to know that I’ve resigned from Drew’s case. Officially. You’ll be getting the notice tomorrow.”

“You took the case—”

“And you took Jason’s. Because we both thought your mother was out of line filing in the first place,” Ric interrupted, and she looked away. “My only mistake was trying to make a deal with Alexis to make Drew’s case go away—”

“You were with him in the station yesterday, Dad. You left with him—Even after you saw what he did to Danny—”

“I tried to get him to back down—sweetheart, please, can we just—” He gestured to the door, but Molly didn’t budge. “I wanted to make this go away—”

“You didn’t care about Danny or Scout or Drew, Dad. Don’t pretend that this wasn’t personal. Especially when you saw Elizabeth on Jason’s side. You’ve always hated him, and resented her for not marrying you again. Even though you were lying. Again.” Molly’s eyes burned. “You always do this. You make me think you’re here for me, but you never are. You take Ava’s case because it’s a poke at Sonny, and you take Drew’s case to stick it to Jason, but it’s never about me.”

“Molly—”

“I’m done. I’m just—I am so done.” And then she closed the door.

—

“Um—” Willow folded her arms nervously as Michael locked the front door to the gatehouse. “Thank you. For inviting me to dinner. It—it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. With…everything knowing. And for…not letting the kids know things are weird right now. It was good to be with them for bedtime.”

“Remind me to tell you some stories about my grandparents sometime, and you’ll understand,” Michael said dryly. He leaned against the door. “And I asked you to come home not because this is okay. Or that we’re okay. I don’t even know if I want it to be okay.”

“I get that. And…well, after what you said this morning, I don’t know if I want that either.” She exhaled, looked away. “Which sounds insane, I guess. To be angry that you cheated, too.   But I am.”

“I know.” Michael waited, but she didn’t say anything else, just looked awkwardly at the floor. “I’ll sleep in the guest room tonight, and we’ll figure out something. But first — ”

“First we deal with Drew.” Willow nodded. “Let’s go over the plan again.”

—

Cam wrinkled his nose at the double bed in Jake’s room. “You know, I’m the guest. I should get the bed, you should get the floor.”

“It’s share or the floor.” Jake sat on the bed cross-legged. “If you play your cards right, maybe we can get my dad’s credit card and not Mom’s, and we can actually do something with that place he bought that isn’t card tables and folding chairs.”

“Yeah, what’s all that about?” Cameron grunted, kicking off his sneakers. “How come Jason bought a house in the first place?”

“Before they decided to get married, me, Dad, and Danny were gonna live there.” Jake made a face. “Feels like forever ago we decided that, but it was really just, like a month. Back when Sonny dumped all that on me and Aiden, and Dad went nuclear on him.”

“Sorry I couldn’t tell you guys more.” Cameron twisted slightly to look at him. “Mom was really good about keeping most of that from me. And I was always at Gram’s back in the day anyway. When she had overnights, and Lucky, I guess, didn’t want to deal with me. So I couldn’t tell you when we moved out or back in. And I sort of remember living altogether at the big house, but that was like…five seconds. And I think I only remember from pictures. Mostly, I just remember the old house and Gram’s. Lucky wasn’t around much anyway. I don’t even remember calling him Dad.”

“Me either.” Jake waited as Cameron disappeared behind the closet door, then came back with his jeans and sweatshirt balled up, wearing basketball shorts and a t-shirt. “You didn’t say much about Mom getting married. I figured you’d have questions.”

“Not really. I mean, I guess the one thing I do remember from that time was Jason. He came around a lot. Or Mom ran into him a lot, too. More after you came along. And when you were…gone,” Cameron added, “before he got snatched, too, he was around. And you know whenever one of us had a problem, Mom was calling Jason.”

“Yeah, like when Cyrus kidnapped you that time, I don’t even think she called the police.”

“Nope.” Cameron crawled into the bed. “I guess maybe I’m surprised because Mom seemed pretty done with all of that after Franco died. Finn was obviously not the guy.” He wrinkled his nose. “I never liked him.”

“I tolerated him, but man, if Mom had wanted to marry him—” Jake wiggled his shoulders. “No, thanks. Especially since he turned out to be a drunk. Mom was right to drop kick him. And—Dad gave her backup for that.”

“See? Feels like it was kind of inevitable.” Cam shoved a pillow against the headboard, then sat back. “The real question is, how do we feel about our merry band of three becoming a quintet. Danny and Scout coming to live here full time?”

“It’s what needs to happen,” Jake said firmly. “Danny needs to be with Dad, and Scout deserves better than her asshole dad.”

“Crazy how all that’s played out,” Cameron mused. “There was a time Drew was solid, you know? When he was Jake Doe, when he was supposed to be Jason, and then even when he found out he was Drew — he was always there. But the way you’ve been telling it—”

“He said it was prison. That he took the heat for Joss’s mom, and figured out no one was ever gonna put him first. Maybe that’s true, but I also think he got his brains scrambled a few times too many and lost his damn mind. He almost went after Mom, Cam. I thought Dad was gonna put him through the wall. Or the harbor.”

“Yeah, Jason doesn’t fuck around when it comes to Mom.” Cameron looked at him. “You know, Jason and Drew are twins. And they were identical twins before Drew’s face got screwed up. So even though you and Scout are, like, cousins, you’re biologically siblings.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So you know how Mom tells us that half doesn’t mean anything, and the only time she ever got really mad at me as when I said something about Aiden only being half my brother, so I didn’t have to play with him — ” Cameron shook his head. “Feared for my life that day. You were still dead,” he added. “Anyway,” he continued when Jake rolled his eyes. “I just mean that Scout’s basically your sister anyway. And any sibling of yours — they’re mine, too. And Aiden’s. Plus, this whole thing gets me a house of my own—”

“Which we’re supposed to share after I go back to school and come home on break,” Jake reminded him, whacking him with a pillow. “It’ll be cool for Mom, you know, to have a girl around. She’s always been so outnumbered, and the only girly thing any of us have ever liked was baking—ow—” He winced when Cameron whipped the pillow at him. “Hey!”

“Baking’s not girly, and you don’t say that shit where Aiden can hear you,” Cameron threatened. “And you like watercolors, so who’s the girl now asshole?” He ducked the first return throw from Jake, but couldn’t escape the second. And then it was war.

—

Elizabeth stood in the doorway of her room for another minute, listening to thuds and whacks coming from down the hall, and closed her eyes, savoring it.

“You’re not worried they’re going to kill each other?”

She turned to find Jason sitting on the bed — perched on the edge, as if ready to take flight, and her smile deepened. She closed the door, leaned against it. “Do you know how many times I’ve dreamed about this moment?”

“Listening to your kids attempt murder?” he asked, but there was a line of amusement threading through the words.

“Well, yeah, a little bit of that, but—” she opened her eyes, tipped her head. “Having all my boys under one roof — and you in the same house. Danny’s a new addition to the dream, but I’m already adjusting to it.”

“You’re sure it’s a good idea for me to be in here tonight?” he rose to his feet and crossed to her. “I could have done the sofa again—”

She laid her hands on his shoulders, across the thin fabric of the t-shirt he’d changed into. “I think it’s important that we begin on the right note. This is Danny’s first night here, and I want him to feel at home. He was so uncomfortable taking Cam’s room with Cam here — I don’t him to feel like his dad is a guest here, too.”

“You’re right, and I want to be here—” He touched her chin, stroking the soft skin with his thumb. “I just—this is all happening so fast—”

“Well, this being the first night we’ve ever spent under the same roof together with our seventeen-year-old son, some might suggest it’s not  fast enough,” she teased, and she was rewarded with his smile. “And hey, we shared our first apartment four months after we met—”

“Is that how we’re describing recovering from a gunshot in your studio with no heat in December?” he asked dryly.

“It was cozy, and you loved it. Until Bobbie guilted you into leaving.” She leaned up to press her lips briefly to his, but he slid his hands up to cup her jaw and held her against him longer, deepening the embrace until her senses spun, and she gripped his shoulders to stay up right.

“One of my favorite places to be was that firetrap,” he murmured against her mouth, and she laughed, and he kissed her forehead when she started to pull back. “I just don’t want the boys to be uncomfortable with it.”

“And if they were younger, maybe we’d have a different conversation. But they’ll get used to it. Don’t worry,” she said, kissing his chin, “all I have in mind tonight is sleep. I’m not planning to seduce you.”

“You wouldn’t have try very hard.” He kissed the inside of her palm, then held her hand a little longer. “But—”

“But the timing isn’t right,” she said and he nodded. “We do suck at that most of the time. But I think our luck is beginning to change.”

“I hope so. We’ve…made a lot of promises to the boys. To Scout.” Some of the amusement faded. “I know we told them it might not work, but I don’t think they’re prepared for any outcome where we lose.”

“We’re going to do everything we can, and if Michael’s plan works—by Christmas, this will all be over.”

—

It had a been a long, excruciating, and irritating day — that had begun with just a little bit of promise but had ended with a tense meeting with her boss.

Robert Scorpio had not been happy with her trip to family court this morning.

Still smarting from his rebuke—and from the judge’s attitude, Justine Turner closed the door to her condo, kicked off her heels, and mentally began to pour herself a drink.

And then the light switched on. She hissed, whirled around and stopped in her tracks.

Sitting on her sofa sat Sonny Corinthos, his hand still on the lamp he’d turned on.

“ADA Turner. I was wondering when you’d get home. You work very late,” he said with a lift of his brows. “It’s hard work building a prosecution against a teenager, I suppose.”

Justine fished in her purse. “You are insane — out of your mind — you and your partner. I’ll have you arrested—”

“Oh. I wouldn’t do that. Not if you want Mommy Dearest to remain in that five star nursing home you’ve mortgaged your condo to pay for. And how are those student loans doing, Justine? Struggling to make ends meet?”

Her fingers stilled on the phone, and then she lifted her eyes to the mobster. “What?”

“You and I should do each other a favor. I’ll make your life easier, and in exchange, you drop the charges against Danny Morgan.” Sonny’s lips curved into a smile, the dimples winking. “And then we pretend this never happened.”

Her hand tightened around the phone, and for a long beat, they just considered each other. Then she sighed, the sound escaping with an exasperated huff. She tossed the phone on the sofa. “I don’t like family court anyway. Pour me a drink, and let’s make a deal.”

+39

Written in 63 minutes. Sorry, I just went a little overboard writing the teens. You know I love to write teen dialogue.

Jason raised his hand hesitantly to knock at the front door, then reminded himself he didn’t have to do that anymore. He lowered his hand, twisted the door knob, and came in to find all three boys in the living room having a heated argument over a controller and something on the television screen.

“I called it, I get to go first!” Aiden grimaced, jerking the controller from Jake only to lose when Jake tried to put it behind his back and Danny snagged it.

“Hey!”

“I might go to jail forever, I should get to play first—”

“He doesn’t get to use that! That’s not fair!”

Jason considered intervening, but noticed that Elizabeth was in the kitchen, ignoring the entire scene and decided that she likely knew better than he did what was serious and what was…ridiculous.

He met her in the kitchen, then jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Should we be worried?”

“No.” A smile twitched on her lips as she listened to the boys bicker. “Path to Exile 2 came out today, and it just finished downloading onto the console. I’ve missed listening to the boys argue about games since Jake went to Spain.”

None of those words made any sense to Jason, but he let it go. “Fair enough.”

“How did it go with Alexis?” Elizabeth asked. She turned back to the cabinet and leaned up to reach for a stack of paper plates. “Is she going to be a problem?”

“No.” Jason brushed her aside to retrieve the plates more easily, then handed them to her. “Alexis is on board. She wants the kids to stay together, and doesn’t want to fight anymore.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth furrowed her brow, bit her lip. “I wasn’t expecting that honestly. She fought so hard and seemed so sure — you said you went to see her the other day and it was like talking to a brick wall.”

“Having Danny hauled out of her house in cuffs and watching Drew put his hands on Scout—” Jason grimaced, set the plates on the counter. “She’s withdrawing her case and will cooperate with us.”

“Well, that’s good.” Elizabeth smiled when a new sound came from the living room, a swell of music. “They must have decided or one of them knocked the third one out. There’s only two controllers,” she added when Jason looked mystified. She went to the doorway to check. “Danny and Aiden. Jake is sulking in the corner of the sofa.” She turned back to the counter to find Jason watching her. “What?”

“Nothing. I just—” He tipped his head. “You make all this look easy. You always did, you know. When they were younger. Now. I get why Alexis thought you’d be the linchpin for her case.” He looked back to the living room. “I don’t know what to say to Danny half the time, and it’s a miracle Jake is even talking to me—”

“You got a little out of practice.” Elizabeth slid onto one of the stools. “But you were always so good with Michael. And look how you handled Jake after Sonny dropped that horrible bomb on him. This stuff—” She shrugged. “You’ll get used to it.”

“That’s the plan.” He reached for her hand, rubbed his thumb across the stone. “I’m sorry. So much of these last few weeks—this last week—you’ve had to put your whole life on hold to deal with this. Everything with Lucky and Sonny—that started because of me—”

“—because of Sonny—” she interrupted, but he continued as if she hadn’t cut in.

“—the deposition, court—”

“Just like I told Danny earlier today — I would still be worried about those kids even if you hadn’t come home. They’re Jake’s family. They’re your family. It’s just fortunate that you did come home, and I get to help.”

He started to respond but the door opened again behind them, and before he could turn around fully to see who had come through, Elizabeth was off the stool like she’d been shot from the cannon.

“Cameron! What are you doing here?” she demanded with a laughing grin, hugging her oldest son tightly, even before he’d fully come through the door.

Cameron hugged her back, then looked around the room. “Well, Jake called me yesterday and I got the idea that I might be needed at home.” He looked at his mother, lifting his brows the same way she always did to ask a question. “Am I too late?”

—

“There’s got to be someone who wants to make some damn money,” Drew muttered, tossing his phone aside after yet another attorney declined to take his case. He scrubbed his hands down his face. “What the hell.”

There was a light knock at his door, and he looked up—then jerked to his feet. “Come crawling back?” Drew asked with some derision.

“No. Just dropping off a copy of the official withdrawal from the case.” Ric set it on his desk. “And as my last act — a copy of something that was filed in your case. For your next lawyer—”

Drew snatched the papers from him, read through the first paragraph, hissed. “The Qs think they can steal my daughter? What the hell—”

“They know the right people, Drew, and you don’t. You might think about finding a way out of this. Before it hits the papers full force.”

“And why should I listen to you?” Drew demanded. “You don’t give a damn about me. Or my daughter. Or anyone but yourself.”

“You don’t want to take my advice? Suit yourself. But don’t blame me when you don’t even have your political career to fall back on.”

—

Cameron shed his jacket, handing it to his mother. “Jake said something about needing your favorite and best son at home—”

“You wish,” his brother sneered, but looked at his mother. “I thought he could get here in time, but I didn’t say anything when he couldn’t find a flight.  You know, a pre-med Stanford soccer star to show off your mom skills. We might still need you, so are you okay to stay a few days?”

“I thought we needed to get Danny out of the clink.” Cameron nodded at the boy in question. “Hey, Danny. Heard you decked a Congressman.” He winced. “But it looks like you took a pretty bad hit. How come he’s the one who got charged?” he asked his mother.

“World is stupid,” Jake offered. “We need to keep Danny out of jail, but the plan’s changed—”

“Whoa, wait. Let’s just—” Elizabeth hissed when there was another knock at the door. “Grand Central Station tonight,” she muttered, turning to look out the window. “Oh, that’s dinner—”

“I’ll get it,” Jason told  her, stepping behind her and opening the door.

“What did Jake tell you? Other than Danny?” Elizabeth wanted to know.

“Did he tell you about Lucky?”

“Lucky?” Cameron turned his younger brother. “No. Why?”

“That’s for later,” Jake interrupted before Aiden could speak again.

Bewildered, Cameron shrugged. He edged out of the way as Jason came back in the door with several plastic bags and headed for the kitchen. “Okay, we’ll follow up on that later, I guess. All Jake told me was that Danny decked Drew and got arrested, Jason and you are getting married, Danny’s coming to live here, and we need to make Drew disappear.” Cameron frowned. “I’m mostly confused on the Drew part. Didn’t we like him?”

“That was before he gave Danny a black eye,” Aiden supplied.

“And slept with Michael’s wife,” Jake said.

“And hurt my sister,” Danny finished.

Cameron looked at them, then back at his mother. “Okay, so we should probably start at the beginning. Oh, is that Mama Mangione’s? Hell, yeah.” He kissed his mother’s cheek. “Yo, Jason, let me get some of that garlic bread.”

—

Brook Lynn was waiting when Michael returned from Nina’s and handed him a tumbler of bourbon as soon as he came in the room. “Figured you might want that no matter how the situation went.”

“You’re not wrong,” Michael muttered, taking a sip. “Where’s the rest of the family?”

“Told them to give you some space. It’s been nothing but chaos here for days, and you’ve been at the center of it. I’m sorry,” Brook Lynn added when he just sighed. “This really sucks.”

“Yeah.” Michael made a face. “I told Willow about Scout. About the conversation Jake had with her on Thanksgiving about what she saw in the nursery. And how Drew handled it.”

“Gaslighting piece of garbage,” Brook Lynn muttered. “Telling his own kid she didn’t see what she saw and playin’ her like a violin. Nasty—”

“Willow confirmed it happened. She never saw Scout. Drew came to her that day at the hospital — Elizabeth saw them. He tried to get her to leave me. She refused, and he tried again later.” He stared into the dark liquor. “Claimed Scout was at school. Didn’t know or care that she wasn’t. Willow was mortified.”

“She should be. Sleeping with her uncle. I’m sorry, Michael, I support whatever you end up doing about her, but I gotta tell you, even for the Qs, this is pretty twisted. At least my dad didn’t know who Aunt Monica was before they slept together.”

Michael pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead. “Brook—”

“Sorry. Sorry. I just get so heated thinking about poor Scout. She’s got bruises on her arm, and she thinks her daddy hates her, but, like it’s just worse because maybe he doesn’t even give a damn about her. You know, Sam told me last year Drew was up in arms about sending her off to boarding school and only backed down when Sam was like, fuck that—” Brook Lynn took a deep breath. “It’s just awful who Drew turned out to be. If you got a kid, you gotta do whatever you can to keep them safe. To give them their best life. Even if it hurts you or might want something else. That kid has got to come first—” She paused when the door started to open. “Oh, hey, Gio.”

“Sorry, sorry, just forgot my case in here earlier—” Gio scooped up the case in question. “Oh, and hey, good luck doing whatever you’re doing with Drew. I hope you win.”

“So do we,” Brook said with a smile. When he was gone, she looked back at Michael. “Okay, so back to what we were talking about before I started ranting. What did Willow say? I mean, is she in?”

“Yeah. She’s in.”

—

Cameron scooped another forkful of spaghetti on to his garlic bread. “Okay, so really all I have to do is show up in court, look awesome, and make you look good,” he said to his mother. “I can handle that.”

“I know you can,” Elizabeth said, passing behind him. Jason couldn’t help but notice she seemed to have a new bounce in her step — and realized it was the first time she’d had all her boys at home in more than a year.

“I,  um, I put my stuff in your room,” Danny said a bit nervously, and Cam looked at him. “I didn’t know you were coming back today. I can do the sofa—”

“See, this is why I told you we had to figure out the rooms,” Aiden said, looking a little smug. Then he winced. “Ow!” He leaned over, rubbed his shin. “That hurt!”

“Bring up rooms again, see what happens,” Jake threatened.

“I’m cool on the sofa, Danny,” Cameron said with a shrug. “Or I can call some friends and bunk with them—”

“Oh, no, we can can figure something out—” Elizabeth said. “What about—”

“I think Aiden’s right,” Jason said, and Aiden stuck his tongue out at Jake. “We should probably have a conversation. Especially with what we’ve talked about earlier. I was going to talk to you tonight—” he told Elizabeth. “Run it past you first—”

“We’ve always decided things together,” Elizabeth said, taking her seat again. “And I don’t mind saying no in front of them.”

“She’s ruthless,” Cameron said, with a shake of his head. “Cuts a dream to shreds.”

“Your dream was to get a tattoo, dude. Of Joss’s name. Mom called that one,” Jake reminded him and Cameron scowled. “Hey, I’m not the one with bad ideas.”

Cameron opened his mouth to likely list at least a dozen examples, but a glare from his mother had him hunching his shoulders.

“What was your idea?” Elizabeth asked, ignoring her sons.

“The house. It’s still—I mean, it’s two blocks over. Pretty close. There’s nothing in it now,” Jason continued. “But I thought maybe Cam might want to use it. He’s been on his own for a while now. He’d still be close,” he hurried when Elizabeth hesitated, but Cameron’s eyes had already lit up — which is why he’d planned to bring it up later.

“See—this is why you’re my favorite.” Cameron stabbed a fork at Jason. “Best ideas.”

“Didn’t you try to shoot him once?” Aiden asked.

“You tried to shoot my dad?” Danny furrowed her brow. “Wait—”

Cameron scowled, dropped his fork to the table. “Hey, if we start talking about all the dumb things people at this table have done, I’ll start with—”

“And to think I wanted them to come home,” Elizabeth said, with a groan as the boys started to argue. She put her fingers to her temples.

“Sorry,” Jason said. “I should have waited to suggest this to you later—”

“No, your idea is perfect. Cameron absolutely should have some independence. And space. And I can see Jake wanting some, too, later. After he goes back to school next fall.” Elizabeth squeezed his hand. “It’s a great idea. And he’ll be really close.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. Yes,” she repeated when he still looked a little hesitant. “Let me get them back under control before you think I raised a bunch of heathens.” She turned back to the table, and raising her voice, said, “Okay, before Jason and Danny run from this house to escape you lunatics—Jake, Aiden, stop messing with your brother. Cam, stop giving them reasons.”

She took a deep breath. “It’s a great idea, Cam. And for tonight, you and Jake can share. Danny’s just getting settled—”

“But then Danny and I will share,” Jake said. “Because Scout’s a girl and she’ll need her own room.” He looked at his parents. “Right? Isn’t that what you and Danny’s grandma talked about? We’re gonna get, Scout, aren’t?”

“Yeah.” Jason took Elizabeth’s hand again, looked at her, then looked at the boys. “Yeah, we are.”

+39

Written in 61 minutes. See you tomorrow!

Elizabeth knocked lightly on Cameron’s open bedroom door where Danny was dumping out his duffel bag. She leaned against the door frame, folding her arms. “Anything you want for dinner? We usually order from Mama Mangione.”

“I’m not hungry,” Danny muttered, dropping onto the bed and staring down at the carpet, his shoulders hunched. “I won’t mess anything up in Cam’s room. So don’t worry—”

“I’m not.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “Your dad left for your grandmother’s, so it’s just us for a while. I can bring up a menu—”

“I’m not hungry,” Danny repeated, finally looking at her, his mouth pinched in a familiar expression — his mother’s, Elizabeth thought. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Danny, I know we talked a little at the Quartermaine’s, but maybe you and I should have a conversation, just you and me. Can I come in?”

“It’s your house.” Danny jerked a shoulder, dropped his gaze to the carpet again.

Deciding that would have to be enough, Elizabeth turned Cameron’s desk chair around, perched on the edge. “I know the last few months have been unfair, and you’ve been asked to deal with more than any kid your age should be—”

“I’m not a kid,” Danny muttered.

“You are,” Elizabeth said gently. “And I’m sorry that the adults in your life — that we haven’t done a better job of protecting you so that you get to stay that way a little while longer. I know you think I’m just here because of your dad—”

“Aren’t you? Didn’t you do all of this so he could win in court?” Danny asked, lifting his gaze to hers. “Mom used to say all you wanted was to marry my dad.”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together, counted to ten in her head. “I would worry about you regardless of your father. Because you’re Jake’s brother, and he loves you. It’s okay if you don’t believe me. It’s okay if you don’t like me—”

“I didn’t—” Danny took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I—you’ve always been nice to me. And I shouldn’t have said that about my mom. She stopped saying things like that a long time ago, I guess—” He made a face. “And I’m making you ask to get custody of my sister, so it’s not fair to be a dick—”

“You’re not making me do anything. Jason and I were already discussing with the rest of the family how to handle your sister’s situation. None of us want her with Drew. We just hadn’t considered that the right choice might be with us — mostly because we’ve only been an us for about—” She leaned over to get a glimpse of Cameron’s clock on the nightstand. “About twenty hours now.”

“Oh.” Danny paused, considered that information. “I’m just…it’s stupid to be mad because you didn’t do anything wrong. You’re not the reason my mother isn’t here. But if you and Dad get married, and we get Scout, you get to…you get to be the one who’s here. And I don’t remember a lot from before I was seven. Maybe Scout won’t remember my mom.”

“We’ll do everything we can to make sure Scout remembers her. There’s pictures, and you and your dad will tell her stories. Your grandmother, your aunts —” Elizabeth rose and went to Cameron’s dresser where a jumble of framed photos were scattered. He’d taken a few with him to California, but —

She sat next to him, held out the framed photo Danny. “Do you know who this is?”

Danny took the cheap plastic frame, studied it. “That’s my Aunt Emily. I never met her, but Mom and Uncle Drew named Scout for her.”

“She was my best friend in the whole world,” Elizabeth said. “And she loved my boys. She spoiled Cameron rotten, and that’s a photo of them at his last birthday party. She gave him a firetruck that lights up and makes the most annoying sounds. We passed it on to Jake —” Before the accident. “And then to Aiden. Jake doesn’t remember her. She died when he was a baby. And Cameron—oh, he doesn’t really remember her either now. She’s just—a warm feeling. When he thinks about her, he remembers the love, but not her face.”

“I don’t want it to be like that for Scout. For me. What if I start to forget her?” Danny asked. He gave her back the photo. “What if I like it here? You’re a good mom. Scout already likes you. She might call you Mom one day. Because she doesn’t remember ours.”

“Well, I hope you like it here. And I hope your sister gets to come with us, too. But Danny — you are never going to forget your mother. She loved you so much, you know. She didn’t know she’d be able to have kids for a long time. That was really tough on her, thinking that dream was over. But then you came along, and then your sister. I don’t want to replace her. I couldn’t.”

“I’m sorry for being an ass,” Danny said, though he dropped his eyes to the carpet. “I keep telling myself not to do it—”

“And the words leave your mouth anyway, and all you want to do is drag them back in?” Elizabeth finished. He offered her a weak smile. “I’ve raised three teenage boys, Danny. Don’t worry about me. And give yourself a break.” She got to her feet, set the photo back in its place, then looked back at Danny. “You know, your father once said something to me, a long time ago. You’ve been through so much these last few weeks, Danny, and everything is happening so fast, you can barely keep up. Things happen fast, and you have to live through them slow.”

“Sounds like something he’d say,” Danny said, flopping back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. “All mysterious and riddles.”

She smiled. “It just means, Danny, that all we can ever do is control our reaction to what happens to us. We take life one step at a time. I can’t slow down the world, but I can look after my corner of it which includes you, your dad, and your sister. So, I’m bringing you the menu, because if there’s something else I know about teenage boys, it’s how much you eat.”

—

Nina opened the door, smiling grimly at Michael and stepping aside so that he could come in. “You came fast,” she said. She looked over at Willow. “I’m going to head into the office, call me—call me if you need anything.”

“Thanks.” Willow rose to her feet, lacing her fingers together nervously. “You, um, didn’t argue when I asked you to come over.”

Michael combed his hand through his hair, shifting uncomfortably. “Well, I was gonna call you. Not about—not about you and me. Just—about something else. But—” He paused. “I’m sorry,” he said. “About how things happened at the PCPD. I should have told you a long time ago what I knew.”

“I wish you had,” Willow said. “Not because it would have changed anything, I guess. But I just—less time to think of how humiliated I feel would have been nice, though not your problem to solve. And we—we have to figure all of that out. We will.” She waited a beat. “But that’s not why I asked you to come over. Drew…he can’t get away with what he wants to do. The judge sounded like he didn’t like the charges against Danny, and I know Jason and your family are going to fight hard for him. I want to help — but I also — there’s Scout. If he could hurt Danny—”

“He left bruises on her the day he took her from Alexis’s,” Michael finished, and Willow closed her eyes. “You don’t have to worry about her. My family has emergency custody of her, and—well, Brooke and Chase were going to petition for guardianship, but then Jason and Elizabeth decided they wanted to.”

“Oh. Oh that makes such sense,” Willow said, sighing in relief. “They would get to stay together, and Elizabeth would be so good for them. But—Drew—he’ll fight.”

“Yeah, that’s why I thought—why I wanted to know if you’d be willing to help.” He met her gaze. “Because I have a plan to force him to walk away from Scout. It just—I need you to pull it off.”

“My answer is yes, but maybe you should start from the beginning and tell me exactly what you want me to do.”

—

“How’s Danny?” Molly asked, pulling the door open wider so Jason could come in. “Is he all right?”

“Handling it,” Jason said, then looked across the room to find Alexis waiting by the fireplace. Kristina sat on the sofa, her arms tightly folded, her eyes trained on the ground. “He’s with Elizabeth and the boys, so this is going to have to be quick.” He stepped down into the living room proper. “Before you start — ” he held up a hand when Alexis opened her mouth. “I want to make a few things clear. Elizabeth and I are getting married, and Danny will live with us. Molly, I want you to get started on a petition to award us guardianship of Scout. Monica has emergency custody, but it probably won’t hold us with her as the guardian.”

“No, not with her health. Um—” Molly bit her lip, looked at her mother, then back at Jason. “This—you guys decided this after court?”

“We had other plans, but Danny and Scout asked for this. Scout doesn’t want to be with her father—” He retrieved his phone from his pocket, scrolled to the right photo and handed it Molly who inhaled sharply. “I don’t know if this will give us enough to keep her, but it’s a start.” He looked back to Alexis who had remained silent. “So if you have anything to say that isn’t an offer to cooperate so that the kids stay with me, I don’t want to hear it.”

“Who do you think you are?” Kristina demanded, jumping to her feet. Molly threw her a dirty look. “No, he has no right to talk to us like that—”

“He does,” Alexis said finally, and Kristina looked at her mother, startled. “I—” She closed her eyes, pressed her hands to her face. “You came to me. You wanted to find a resolution. And you warned me Drew would come here. I just—I never—”

“Mom, you have nothing to apologize for,” Kristina said, stepping up to her mother. “We just wanted what was best for the kids—”

“Stop it. Just—” Alexis curled her hand into a fist. “What you showed Molly—it’s Scout. Drew hurt her. And the cops just let him. He dragged her out of here yesterday—” She turned away, her voice faltering. “I should have stopped him. I tried to, but he’d already hit Danny, and I was so worried Danny would get up and go after him again, especially when his sister started to cry—I thought I was doing the right thing, I thought—” She looked at Jason. “All I did was make everything worse.”

Jason exhaled slowly. Though he’d come here prepared for whatever Alexis might try, he hadn’t expected this. “Neither of us thought it would escalate this way. Even after the penthouse. I never thought he’d hurt the kids. I don’t blame you for yesterday. I blame Drew. And I blame the system who let this happen to Danny.  I don’t want to fight, Alexis. Not with you. The kids need you. They need all of you,” he said, looking at Kristina who pursed her lips, but dropped her gaze. “They need us to be a team, Alexis. With one goal. Keeping them safe and happy. I think that Elizabeth and I can make a good home for them, and you agree — or you wouldn’t have tried to turn Elizabeth into your witness.”

Alexis laughed, the sound little more than a broken sob mixed with a bite of sour humor. “Oh, yeah. She saw right through me, didn’t she?”

“Alexis—”

“Whatever you need me to do. Whatever you need the girls to do. All that matters is Danny and Scout. And stopping Drew.”

—

The door to Sonny’s office opened so fast, the door bounced off the wall and came flying back. Carly slapped her hand to keep it from hitting her, scowling at Sonny who’d barely blinked at her dramatic entrance. “I’m done sitting back and letting you destroy my friendship with Jason—”

“Oh, is that what I’m doing?” Sonny said with a smirk, leaning back. “I haven’t even spoken to him—”

“The hearing didn’t go well,” Carly said, and Sonny frowned at her. “Sure, Danny was released, but maybe you didn’t hear which illustrious member of the district attorney’s office picked up the case.”

Sonny exhaled slowly. “Who?”

“Justine Turner. And from the way Michael described it—” Carly lifted her brows. “Turner’s ready to throw the book at Danny, probably to twist the knife against Jason. Or get Jason on something to make Danny’s charges go away.”

“That’s bullshit.” Sonny scowled. “We can’t let that happen—”

“No, we can’t.” Carly paused. “Jason’s stood up for us, for our kids at every turn. Every time we needed him, he was there. At the cost of his own life, his own freedom, his time with his kids. I may not like what he did with the FBI and taking the hit for me, but he did it for me and the kids without even blinking. He did that for you, too. I don’t know how, Sonny, but God damn it, it’s our turn to do something for him. So get your ass out of that chair and do something good for once.”

+45

Sorry, went over a bit. The cat kept moving positions on the desk and I had to keep moving the keyboard, lol. I also had a little trouble with the ending, but it’s good enough 😛 See you tomorrow!

“So either we come to live with you together or I don’t wanna come at all.”

Elizabeth looked at Jason with a hint of panic in her expression. Neither of them had had a lot of time to talk about what the next step looked like — Danny’s arrest had consumed every action and thought since the phone had rung — and now Danny was threatening to torpedo even the basic plan they’d scrabbled together.

He dragged a hand down his face, looked at the children gathered around him. Jake, leaning against the banister, his mother’s worry reflected back in his expression. Danny stood on the steps, both hands fisted at his side, one of his eyes nearly swollen shut from the hit he’d taken to the face, and Scout curled up next to Elizabeth a few steps below, cheeks tear stained and eyes red. How was he supposed to fix this? Where did he even begin?

Not in the Quartermaine foyer, that was for sure.

“Let’s talk about this somewhere we won’t be interrupted,” Jason said. He held a hand out to Scout, hoping she’d take it, but she just burrowed into Elizabeth’s side.

“Why, so you can tell us no and we’re just kids so we don’t get a say?” Danny demanded. He folded his arms, dropped to sit down. “No. You can do that here.”

“Danny,” Jake said. “That’s not fair—”

“We’re going to talk about this somewhere we won’t be interrupted,” Jason repeated, feeling a bit firmer in that choice. He looked at Jake. “Can you go get Aiden? Tell him to meet us in the living room.”

“Aiden?” Jake echoed.

“Yeah. Whatever we decide has to include him. I think he’s still in the kitchen with Sasha.”

“All right,” his son agreed, drawing out the word, then taking a few steps backwards before turning and heading down the hallway.

“C’mon, sweetheart,” Elizabeth murmured, rubbing Scout’s back. “Let’s go sit somewhere more comfortable, and we can talk about what’s going to happen.” She stood, pulling Scout up with her, who reluctantly let Elizabeth lead her towards the living room, her head bowed, her steps heavy.

Jason looked at Danny who kept his head bowed. “Danny—”

“It’s not fair,” Danny muttered. “You’re just going to say no and make me go with you and I won’t have any choices, and I never have any choices—”

“We’re going to make some choices now. And I will do my best to give you what you want. But I’m just one person, Danny, and I don’t even get to make all the decisions.”

His son sighed, then reached up for the bannister, pulling himself to his feet. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”  He slunk towards the living room, and Jason waited another beat, hoping that words to make all of this work would find him before he went through the doors.

—

“Did you see his face?” Willow demanded. She paced behind her mother’s sofa, wringing her hands. “He hit him! In the face—” She pressed a fist to her mouth. “How could any of that have happened—”

“Willow, I wish you’d eat something. You haven’t—” Nina’s hands fluttered to the side as Willow passed her again. “Honey.”

Willow halted, closed her eyes, and folded her arms around her middle. “I’m feeling sorry for myself again. Making it about me. I can’t stand this. Can’t stand any of this—” She turned, looked at Nina. “What matters is Danny. Making this go away.”

“Of course, and I know his family are doing everything they can—”

“I’m part of the family—or I was before—” Willow closed her eyes. “I’m part of that family. I have to find a way to help. To fix this. You still have friends at the Sun, don’t you? I know you’re not editing there anymore, but—”

Nina lifted her brows. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that this is what it took for me to see who Drew really is.” Willow lifted her chin. “I think it’s time that everyone else gets to see it, too. He shouldn’t be able to run from this.”

—

By the time Jake had retrieved Aiden and joined them in the living room, Danny was sulking on the sofa, leaning back in the corner; Scout next to him, sitting her hands and staring at the floor while Elizabeth and Jason stood somewhat uncomfortably on the other side of the table.

Jake saw that his father had pulled the double doors closed, and reached back to do the same through the back door he and Aiden had used. And hoped his father had a plan.

“Let’s start with something simple,” Jason said, finally. He sat on the edge of the coffee table. “About something you said, Scout. About Danny getting a new family.”

She lifted her eyes, dark and miserable, tears threatening at any minute. “I’ll be all alone.”

“You won’t because I’m not going anywhere,” Danny muttered. Scout sniffled, swiping at her eyes.

“There’s no new family here,” Jason said. “Nothing is changing except where we live. I know—” He held out a hand when Danny opened his mouth, his eyes flashing. “I know, that’s a big thing, and we’ll get there.” He looked at Scout again. “Yes, when Elizabeth and I get married, she would be his stepmother. But that’s not a replacement. No one could ever replace your mother.”

“B-but—” Scout took a shaky breath. “Danny still gets his daddy all the time and his brother, and he gets a new one—and I don’t get anyone, and I don’t wanna leave, I wanna stay—why can’t Mommy come back like you did?” she said. “Y-you were dead, and you weren’t. Mommy died, so maybe she can come back, too?”

Jason hesitated. “I wish she could. I do. I know how important mothers are, and yours deserved to be here. I’m sorry she can’t be. I’m sorry for all of this, Scout. I’ve tried really hard to keep you and Danny together as long as I could. Didn’t I?” he asked, looking at Danny.

Danny grimaced, then reluctantly nodded. “Dad told me a few weeks ago,” he told Scout. “And he’s had the house for like a week. I could have moved in then, I guess. And Dad’s the one that let Grandma take us to her house last weekend.” He made a face. “It’s my fault that I can’t stay here anymore—”

“You did nothing wrong,” Elizabeth cut in, and Danny looked at her, surprised. “You did exactly what you should have done. You’ve protected your sister, just like your mother would have wanted. None of the blame for any of this is on you, Danny. Not a single ounce.”

“I swung first,” Danny said weakly. “If I hadn’t—”

“An adult hit you,” Jason said, forcing his tone to remain even though just the reminder of how Danny had obtained the black made him want to shove something—or someone—through a window. “No one could — or should have — predicted that.”

“Maybe, but it still doesn’t change anything. I can’t stay here because the judge said I could go home because of Elizabeth.” Danny cleared his throat. “I didn’t mean it. About not going with you. I know I don’t have a choice—”

Elizabeth came up behind Jason, touched his shoulder in solidarity. “For right now, Danny. Just until we get these charges dealt with it. All of this happening so fast, it’s all right to be upset. To be angry. I’m angry, too. None of this is fair. And we’re asking you and your sister to be more mature than some of the adults in this situation have managed.”

“But why can’t you and Dad just, like, ask the court to give you Scout, too?” Jake asked, and Jason looked at him. “I know they might say no, but you could ask.”

“Yeah.” Danny sat up. “You said  Grandma and Aunt Tracy made it so Drew can’t take her with him, but how come that means she has to be here? Why can’t she be with us? We could be together. And you won’t have to do anything. I’ll do laundry or I don’t know how to cook,” he muttered. “But I could learn—”

“I would be really good,” Scout said, sniffling. “I can be really quiet. I can stay in my room all the time—”

“Honey.” Elizabeth sank onto the sofa next to her, stroked her hair. “I appreciate that you and your brother want to do anything you can to stay together. Believe me, that’s something your uncle has been agonizing over for weeks. But it’s not a matter of us wanting you—”

“The court has to agree,” Jason said, and Scout sighed.

“I don’t like them. They took Danny away, too. They’re mean.” She folded her arms.

“But you’ll ask?” Aiden asked, leaning forward. “Mom, you told me if you don’t ask, the answer is always no.”

“Well—” Jason hesitated, then met Elizabeth’s eyes. She lifted her brows, and he nodded. Why not, right? If there was a chance Chase and Brook Lynn could get custody, why not them?

“Well, if Aiden’s suggesting it and not asking about room assignments,” Elizabeth said, smiling when her youngest’s cheeks flushed. “Then I know he’s serious. If that’s something you both want us to do—but Scout, sweetheart. Are you sure about this? It’s a big thing, you know. Your daddy isn’t going to say yes, so we’re going to have depend on the judge to say yes, too. It might be hard for you.”

Scout was quiet for a long moment, then slid her pink sweater up her arm, revealing ugly bruises on her forearm, in a familiar finger-shaped pattern. Jason tensed, then laid a hand on Danny’s knee, recognizing the rage boiling in his son’s expression.

“Daddy doesn’t talk to me. Or know when I’m there. And he’s mad at me all the time. I don’t like when he grabs me and makes me do things.”

“Well—” Elizabeth’s voice was slightly strangled as she continued. “That settles that. Jake, can you get my phone? We should take some pictures of your arm. So we can give it to the judge, okay?” she asked Scout.

Scout nodded. “I can pack, too. I can be faster than Danny. You can take me home today—”

“We can’t, not yet,” Jason interrupted, and she looked at him, her lower lip trembling. “Not because we don’t want to, but we have to follow all the rules so the judge will say yes. And right now, you have to stay here, and Danny has to come with us. Just for a little while. Is that okay?”

Scout bit her lip, made a face. “Okay. I can do that. I can be strong, like Mommy. She would want me to be, right? I don’t want her to ever be mad or sad at me,” Scout told Jason.

“There’s nothing you could ever do that would have made your mother sad,” Jason reassured her. “I know she’s watching over you, and she’s really proud of you.”

Scout furrowed her brow. “Daddy told me Mommy would be sad if I lied. So I promise not to lie—” she looked at Jake with big eyes. “But I lied to him. I told Daddy I wouldn’t tell, and I told you—”

“It’s okay.” Jake leaned over the back of the sofa. “I found out what you told me was true from someone else who already knew. So you saw exactly what you thought. Your dad is the one who lied.”

“Oh.” Scout seemed relieved for a moment, then Jake’s words sank in. “But if I—if I saw Daddy kissing Aunt Willow, then he lied to me. Why did he do that?”

Because her father was a raging asshole who needed to be dropped in the harbor with a block of cement around his feet, Jason thought darkly. “Because he was wrong. But don’t worry about him, Scout. I’ll make sure he knows he was wrong, and if I can stop it, he won’t ever do it again.”

+45