Written in 72 minutes. I didn’t really love how this part came out, and had to rework some of it, so it’s both shorter and late, lol. But it’s done, and it was necessary to move the story forward.

---

Thursday, September 19, 2024

Quartermaine House: Living Room

Willow folded her arms, hugging her upper torso and biting her lip. “I don’t really know how I feel about any of this,” she admitted, watching Michael skim through a video on his phone. “You’re spying on him—”

“I’m watching security footage,” Michael interrupted. He slid the phone in his pocket. “We don’t have a choice—”

“Yes, we do. We tell Dante what we know—”

“And how do I explain how we know?” Michael wanted to know. “Danny trusted Jason—”

“Jason’s an adult, Danny’s a child. A child who’s acting out and using emotional manipulation to get his way.”

Michael pressed his lips together. “I’d think you understand how important trust is. We’re  going to catch Rocco in the act so he can’t pretend Danny’s lying.”

“And what if we don’t catch him right away?” Willow wanted to know, following her husband into the foyer. “What if he gets into real trouble this way?”

“He’s not popping pills or snorting cocaine. He’s getting high or drunk. If he does it on the property—”

“Who’s getting high and drunk?” Drew demanded, striding into the foyer from a back hallway. Michael grimaced, and made a face at Willow.

But she either didn’t see it or didn’t care. “Rocco. Danny says he still has some stash on the property. Michael’s watching security footage to catch him in the act—”

“So he can end up in the papers? Oh, that’ll be great. Just the kind of headline or viral story I need,” Drew muttered, shoving his fingers through his hair. “We can’t have this.”

Michael clenched his jaw. “Who’s we? This has nothing to do with you. I’m handling it, and we’ll keep it in the family—”

“It’s bad enough Jake and Danny are being dragged through this, thanks to Elizabeth’s blind loyalty to my useless brother. If she’d just tell the truth—”

“She is telling the truth,” Michael retorted. “She was with me the day of the shooting, and Jason was with Grandmother.”

“Yeah, because no one in this family has ever lied before,” Drew said, with a roll of his eyes. “This is a disaster waiting to happen, and Dante needs to handle his son somewhere else. We’re not a refuge for hoodlums.” He whipped out his cell phone and headed into the foyer.

“Thanks. That was just great, Willow.” He scowled at his wife. “I told you what was going on in confidence—”

“He lives here, too, Michael. And he’s not wrong! If a teenager is doing drugs on the property, it’ll look really bad for him—”

“Then he can move out and be someone else’s problem. I’m sick of everything in his life being about optics—”

“Michael, be reasonable. Rocco’s a teenager who’s getting himself into more trouble if we don’t make sure we get him some help.” Willow approached him, tried to rub his shoulder but Michael shook her off.

“I told you something in confidence because you used to work with kids and because you’re my wife. Because I don’t want any secrets between us. But the first chance you had, you dump the truth on the worst possible person in this house—other than maybe Olivia.”

Willow’s eyes shimmered with tears. “I was just trying to do the right thing. Drew’s right. Rocco needs more help—”

“Don’t. Don’t pretend Drew gives a damn about Rocco. Just—I have to find a way to fix this. But the next time you complain that I’m not telling you everything, I want you to remember this moment.”

General Hospital: Fletcher’s Office

Who is Elizabeth to you and to Danny?

Jason cleared his throat, and shifted slightly. Not the easiest question to answer — or one that could be summed up in a few words. “You mean, factually?”

“We can start there.” Fletcher’s smile looked a bit more genuine now. “I’m not trying to pry for gossip, Mr. Morgan. I want to understand the adults in Danny’s life. How they affect him. If Elizabeth is in his life daily, it stands that she plays some sort of role.”

“Oh. Well—” Jason let out a breath. “She made the appointment, you know that. And I think it was her idea. She—she has a way of talking to him, you know? Sometimes I get tangled up or he gets too defensive, and we just yell. But Elizabeth’s an amazing mother, and she just…always has the right words.” And it sometimes felt like he couldn’t string together two coherent statements when he was with his sons.

“So she’s someone Danny can talk to.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that’s definitely been true the last few days.”

Fletcher made a note. “Danny’s been staying with you and Elizabeth. And there are other children in the home?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Full-time, there’s Aiden and Jake. Jake’s—he’s my son. And Elizabeth’s. He’s seventeenth. And at his mom’s, there was Rocco, Dante’s son, and Scout, Sam’s daughter with…” Jason paused. “My brother.”

There was just a slightly lift of the brows at that, but Fletcher didn’t say anything, just made a few more notes.

“I already know that Danny was brought into the police station with Aiden and Rocco. How’s his relationship with Jake and his sister?”

“He’s protective of Scout, I think. I haven’t seen them together much, but I know they’re close. With Jake—” Jason paused. “They’re close. They argue a lot, and I know it’s hard on them that Danny’s mother…doesn’t like Elizabeth. There’s been tension there.”

“That brings me to my next question.” Fletcher looked at him. “Do you and his mother make decisions about Danny together? Or separately? Through a mediator?”

“Threats mostly. Legally speaking,” Jason added. He pushed himself to his feet, unable to remain seated anymore, and went towards the window overlooking the parking lot. “Sam’s had to carry a lot of the weight raising Danny on her own, and she’s a good mother. I’ve defaulted to her decisions most of the time. Until the last few weeks.”

“She’s not here today.”

“No, she’s not. She doesn’t want Danny to do this. I don’t know if it’s because it was Elizabeth’s idea or because she genuinely doesn’t want Danny in therapy. But Danny wants to do it, and I think he needs more than I can give him.” Jason turned back to face the doctor. “I filed for full custody of him and the right to make medical decisions. His mother backed down, and signed the consent form, but she still didn’t want to come today.”

General Hospital: Nurse’s Station

“This is supposed to be your day off,” Felix complained when Elizabeth approached him at the counter. “Do you not understand how to relax?”

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “Hi, hello, how are you are also options,” she said pointedly.

“Fine, fine. How are you? But I still want to know why you’re here.”

“Did I imagine the voicemail you left me two days ago saying we needed to catch up?” Elizabeth folded her arms, leaned over the counter. “Because I thought you’d want to know that Jason and I are living together, but if you want me to go—” She started to step back but Felix reached out, snagged her arm.

“Who said that? Not me. Spill. When did this happen? How did it happen? And don’t leave out a single detail.”

“Well, the when is technically the day before I was arrested,” Elizabeth said. “And also last Friday. And this morning.”

“This morning?” Felix wiggled his brows. “I stand corrected. So you do know how to relax.” He furrowed his brow. “But wait, you’re living together? Already? I feel like I missed a few chapters. Let me take my break, and we’ll get a coffee. I want to hear everything.”

PCPD: Conference Room

Dante watched in silence as Chase pinned the freeze frame of Ava and Trina at the Jerome Gallery with the timestamp at the bottom of the screen. Unless Ava had super powers, she couldn’t have made it to and from the Quartermaines and still been with Trina at 7:40 PM that night.

“Our suspect list is getting smaller and smaller,” Dante murmured. He folded his arms, then looked at Chase. “Did we hear from Kristina’s apartment manager?”

“Yeah. He doesn’t remember the day, but wouldn’t have seen her anyway.” Chase paused. “He says he hasn’t seen her much, since I guess she’s been staying with her mom.”

“What about security footage?” When Chase looked away, Dante sighed. “She’s not on it.”

“I don’t know if she is. The building’s owned by Sonny, which means—”

“Standing order not to cooperate and require warrants and subpoenas.” Dante rubbed his face. “And the only way we can subpoena that footage is if we tell Molly who will want to know why.”

“We could that, sure. Or we could go to Robert.” Chase hesitated. “Both options suck. But we have to pick one.”

“Yeah. I know.” Dante looked at the whiteboard, at the photo of his sister staring back at him. “You’ll have to take the meeting with him. My hands can’t be on that part of the investigation.”

“Understood. I’ll handle it. It’s going to turn into nothing, Dante. I’m sure of it. We’ll both feel better when we can cross this off.”

“I sure as hell hope so.”

General Hospital: Fletcher’s Office

The doctor opened the door for Jason and they walked into the front of the office suite together. “I can’t promise miracles,” Fletcher told Jason. “And you might get frustrated by not knowing anything, but I can only keep you updated on general progress. Without Danny’s consent or imminent danger of harm, my meetings with your son will be confidential.”

“I can live with that,” Jason told him. “I just want Danny to be okay. If this helps him get there, that’s all that matters.

Fletcher held out his hand. “I’ll see Danny tomorrow then.”

Jason shook his hand. “Thank you.” He glanced around the room and didn’t see Elizabeth. She’d mentioned she might go check in with Felix while he was in the meeting, so she’d probably gotten caught up.

When he emerged from the office suite into the hallway, Elizabeth and Felix were turning the corner, both with coffee in their hand, stamped with the GH logo.

“Oh, hey, that’s good timing.” Elizabeth crossed to join him, reaching out with her free hand. He squeezed it. “Felix and I were just catching up.”

“Let’s not wait three months again,” Felix told Elizabeth, leaning in to kiss her cheek. “Texts are not enough. We work in the same building—”

“I know, I know. I’ve been awful. You’re amazing for putting up with me.”

“I’d better get back to work.” Felix held out his hand to Jason. “Good to see you, Jason.” When Jason took the other man’s hand, he was a bit surprised when the nurse put a little strength behind the grip, tightening it. “You take care of her now.”

“I can take care of myself,” Elizabeth said, wrinkling her nose. “Felix—”

“She has terrible taste in men,” Felix said, ignoring her. “I warned her about the last two, don’t make me regret giving her the green light on this one.”

“Ah, you won’t,” Jason said, a bit mystified but somewhat grateful. “I didn’t like the last two either.”

“See, I told you I liked him.” Felix released Jason’s hand, then kissed Elizabeth’s cheek again. “Don’t be a stranger.”

“Honestly, you’d think we were in high school,” Elizabeth muttered, watching her friend disappear around the corner. “I don’t need him to approve of anything—” She turned back to Jason. “Anyway. How did it go?”

“Okay, I think.” They turned towards the elevators, and he kept his hand in hers. “But I guess we’ll find out when Danny gets to talk to him.” When they stepped onto the elevator and the doors closed, Jason tugged her a little closer to him. “We have a little time before the boys are supposed to get home from school. We could take the bike out — it’s the first time it hasn’t rained in a few days.”

“That sounds like the best idea.”