Written in 58 minutes.

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

General Hospital: Waiting Room

There were too many choices.

Jake stared blankly at the line of vending machines, flicking back and forth from sandwiches, coffee, junk food, soda, then back again. Why was he even bothering to bring anything? No one would eat. No one would drink.

They were waiting for information. From the crash site where they were still looking for Danny’s mother, from the hospital team working on Kristina who had been taken up to surgery almost an hour ago, and they knew nothing more than “everything is going fine” or “it’s going as expected.” Why did they even bother updating the family when there was nothing to learn?

“You’ve been here a while.”

Jake heard his mother, turned to look at her. She’d tied back her damp hair into a tail that had started to dry, curling up into half waves. Her eyes looked puffy, tired, with purple shadows blooming beneath them. He turned his attention back to the lined row of vending machines. “Did Dad call yet?”

“No, not yet. The rain stopped, so maybe soon.” She came up beside him, rubbed his back. “Why don’t you come back and sit down?”

“Can’t.” Jake shook his head swiftly. “I’ll go crazy if there’s nothing. Or Danny will and I don’t know if I can stop him. And I should be able to stop him because his grandmother shouldn’t have to worry. Neither should his aunt.”

“Jake—”

“I can’t stop him,” Jake repeated, looking at her again. “Because I keep thinking maybe his mom is dead and that’s the worst thing that could happen. I know she was a terrible person, I know she hated me and I mostly hated her, but that’s his mom—” His voice cracked and he shook his head, stared at the vending machine again. “That’s his mom. How do you come back from that? How do you breathe? I thought I knew—I mean, we lost Dad didn’t we? We both did. But I got up and I got over it.”

“Did you?” Elizabeth asked softly. She stroked his back lightly. “Because I noticed you spent more time with Danny after. You’d always been close, but you really started to see yourself as his older brother. Responsible for him.”

“I had to. His mom was building the new life, moving in with Dante and Rocco, and Drew was back with Scout — no one was looking out for him.” Jake curled his hand in a first, rested it against the machine. “I know Dad and I are — I know it was weird and bad, but it’s better now. We’re better now, and maybe Danny’s mom was going to be better. She didn’t send that email, right? So maybe it’s supposed to be better now.”

“Jake.”

“But it’s not because no one’s saying it, but she’s missing, and she sounded scared, so maybe the water got to her, and she couldn’t get out. She couldn’t—” Jake pressed his lips together. “I listened to her on that call. I heard her, Mom. I don’t think she’s coming back. I always thought—I always thought if she were gone, things would be better—I didn’t want—”

“Of course not. Hey, of course not—look at me baby—” Elizabeth touched his cheek, turning his face gently until he was looking at her again. “You think I didn’t have my moments with her, too? How much easier my life would be if she were gone? You’re human, honey. And she was a difficult person to know. Wanting her to be out of your life? That does not mean you wanted your brother’s mother to die. For him to lose her this way. Or any other.”

“I just—I don’t know what to do. How to help him. How do I help him?” Jake wanted to know. “What are we going to do?”

“We’re going to take it one step at a time,” Elizabeth said. She rubbed his arm. “We’ll sit with him until we know something. And then when we do—we’ll handle it. Okay? There’s no manual, no instructions. Just one step at a time.”

Belle Forest Drive

The rain had stopped. For the first time in a days, the sky was quiet. The normally quiet, two lane road that connected the Belle Forest development to the rest of Port Charles was awashed in emergency lights, flashes of red and blue from fire engines, from police cars.

Jason stood by the SUV, watching Dante with some of the other first responders, grimacing when Anna moved away from him, from whatever tense conversation they were having, then approached Jason.

“I would have thought you’d be on your way by now,” Anna said, folding her arms as she came to a stop. “Don’t you think you’d do more good at the hospital with your son?”

“My son would want to know what we’re doing to find his mother,” Jason bit out. “That’s why you and Dante are arguing, isn’t it? You’re calling off the search.”

“Until daylight, yes—it’s dark and the terrain isn’t stable,” Anna replied. “It’s also not my call, Jason. That’s on search and rescue, and they’re not putting their men in danger to find someone who is likely already dead.” She paused. “You understand that, don’t you? If she was trapped in the car, she likely drowned before the creek swept the vehicle—”

Jason shook his head, left her in midsentence, then went to find Dante who’d gone over to the side of the road. Spinelli stood a few feet away, both of them staring down the hillside where the creek could be heard, but barely seen.

“I should have been faster,” Spinelli said, and Jason shook his head. “If I had been faster, we might have had the trace on that email sooner, and—” His voice shook just a little. “We believed it was her. I know we had reasons, but to know, in the final moments, that I failed her so utterly—”

“Spinelli.” Dante’s voice broke into the younger man’s ruminations. “You weren’t the only one. We all thought—we all thought it.” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “I knew weeks ago Kristina was a suspect. I should have known it was her. She’d framed Elizabeth once—”

“You knew she was a suspect?” Jason said. “Did everyone know except Elizabeth and me?”

Dante exhaled on a low breath. “I didn’t really believe it. We couldn’t eliminate her from the list. Her or Alexis. That didn’t mean we thought—I still couldn’t—” He looked at Jason. “Molly and I recused ourselves. We let the investigation play out. That’s what you’re supposed to do. That’s the rule.”

“The rules—” Jason bit out. The rules that had kept him on the sideline for weeks, the rules that had let Kristina walk free, committing more harm. “You should have told me. What did you think I was going to do? Let her go?”

“Did I think you might protect Sonny or one of his children instead of taking care of your own responsibilities?” Dante demanded. “Yeah. I did. You had Jake, didn’t you? You still confessed and went to jail for Michael. You had Jake and Danny, and you still sacrificed your life for Carly’s freedom. Don’t pretend we didn’t have a damn good reason to keep this to ourselves.”

He wanted to argue. He wanted to deny the truth. But he’d left his sons to take of Sonny and Carly and their children. He’d sacrificed over and over for them —

“Once she put that gun in Elizabeth’s trunk,” Jason said roughly, “she stopped being someone I was interested in protecting. Elizabeth spent a week in jail, away from her kids because of Kristina. If she’d framed me, put the gun in my room — it’d be different. I don’t know.” He stopped, looked at Dante. “Sam knew. Somehow she knew. Because the last question she ever asked her sister was if she put the gun in her trunk. Kristina found out Sam had the phone, that she’d called someone — and she tried to grab the phone. She caused the accident, Dante.”

“Jesus Christ.” Dante paced a few steps away, then came back. “You’re telling me that Kristina—that Kristina did this? That she put her sister in that creek? That—I can’t believe it. I don’t—she loves Sam—”

“She loves herself more. We raised her to believe someone would always protect her. Clean up after her. It stops. It stops now.”

General Hospital: Waiting Room

When the phone call ended, Chase slowly slipped the phone into his pocket, then looked at Michael and Brooke who had come to the hospital to wait with him. His wife saw his expression first, touched her cousins’s arm.

“What is it?” Michael asked. “Did they—did they find her?”

“They’re calling off the search. It’s too dark, too dangerous. The creek — it’s not expected to subside for several more hours.” Chase grimaced, looked over at the family clustered by the sofas and chairs. “Anna said the search and rescue — that they didn’t expect to find her alive at this point.”

“Oh, man.” Michael made a face. “I should have said something to my uncle. Dante wanted me to wait, to give him time, before I told him Kristina knew about the whole Aiden and Elizabeth connection.”

“We thought we could – we wanted to force her to make another mistake,” Chase said. The medication Willow had given him when he’d gone to get stitches were beginning to wear off, and his head felt like it was on fire. “Dante wanted to push to talk to Sonny, but she went to her mother instead. And now we might never be able to prove Elizabeth’s innocence—”

“No one thought there’d be this kind of accident, come on,” Brooke said. She wound an arm through Chase. “Do you really think anyone’s going to blame you for this? It sounds like Sam knew her sister was the bad guy, too, and what did she do? Confronted her. She didn’t have to do that — I’m not blaming her,” she added when Michael grimaced. “I’m just — it sounds like a lot of people thought Kristina knew something or was part of it. And you all did exactly what she expected. You played hands off and talked around it, hoping for a smoking gun that was never gonna come. Because her kind? They never admit to anything. Not if there’s someone else they can point a finger at.”

Across the room, a doctor in scrubs had emerged from the double doors leading back to the surgical rooms. Alexis was on her feet immediately, Molly following a bit less eagerly.

“Is she okay? Will she be okay?”

“We were able to stop the bleed in her brain,” the doctor told Alexis. “But we won’t know what we’re dealing with until she wakes up. There could be some memory loss—”

“Of course. She’ll pretend she doesn’t remember anything, and you’ll both believe her,” Molly said, almost disgustedly. She stalked away a few paces, staring blankly at the wall.

“Molly—” Alexis started, but Sonny touched her arm, shook his head lightly, before looking back at the doctor.

“When can we see her?” Sonny wanted to know. “When do you expect her to wake up?”

“Sometime tomorrow morning, maybe six to twelve hours for now. Best case scenario,” the doctor added. “This is good news—”

“Speak for yourself,” Molly retorted. “The wrong sister made it out—the wrong—” She pressed her hands to her mouth as Alexis went white. “The wrong sister. If Sam were alive, they’d have found her by now—”

“That’s not true—” Alexis began.

“Molly, we can’t talk like this,” Sonny said at the same time with meaningful looks towards Danny who was on his feet, his cheeks tear-stained. “We have to believe Sam found a way—”

“I’ll talk anyway I want, damn it—no!” Molly shook off TJ’s arm. “No! The only reason I want Kristina to survive is to find out what the hell did she to Sam. After that, she can rot in hell for all I care.”

“Mols,” TJ said, reaching for her, but she’d already stalked off, storming out of the waiting room, the door swinging closed behind her.

+36

Written in 66 minutes.

Wednesday, October 1, 2024

General Hospital: Emergency Room Waiting Area

There were twenty-seven rows of linoleum tiles  between the elevator and the nurse’s station. Molly had paced the length so often in the last few months that she’d had more than one opportunity to check her work.

In April, waiting with Sam for news about Dante.

In August, waiting for news about Kristina and the baby. She’d been with her mother that night, with Sam, and with TJ. Surrounded by people who loved and cared about her.

Tonight, on a rainy night in October, Molly stood alone in the emergency room, waiting once again for news about a loved one — waiting to learn if the accident victim being flown to the hospital was her sister.

Twenty-seven rows of linoleum. The seventeenth one had a large crack in it, and Molly had nearly miscounted it every time but there were only twenty-seven.

Walking back and forth, her eyes trained to the floor, counting in her head though she knew the answer by heart, her arms wrapped tightly around her upper torso. Eleven, twelve—

She was careful not to step on the cracks — she wasn’t superstitious by nature, not anymore, but there enough of that romantic streak she’d had as a teenager writing stories about love in her room, to hold a little room in her mind for the strange patterns of the universe. Could stepping on a crack really break your mother’s back? Was it really bad luck?

Maybe she’d stepped on that crack in August and not known. Maybe it was somehow her fault that night had ended in tragedy, a horror that had rippled out until her life was scarcely recognizable — it was a silly thought, but Molly wasn’t just a closet superstitious romantic — she was also a control freak, and it brought a strange sense of calm to think she had any power to change what had happened miles away, far outside her view.

It was on the thirteenth trip that Molly’s attention was dragged from counting tiles and trips and avoiding cracks — she saw a familiar figure weaving in and out of a crowd of people by the emergency room doors — shaggy brown hair, lanky figure and panic etched into his young features.

She had told him to stay at home, to wait for her call.

“Is my mom here?” Danny demanded of the woman behind the counter. “Sam McCall. That’s my mom. Is she here—”

“I told you to hold on—” Jake said, finding Danny at the counter just as Molly reached him. Beside Danny’s older brother, Aiden, soaked and out of breath, leaned over, resting his hands on his thighs, trying to catch their breath.

“Danny—” Molly locked eyes with the nurse, shook her head slightly. She took her nephew’s shoulder, the t-shirt soaked to the skin. “Danny, I told you to wait for me—”

“I couldn’t. Aunt Molly—” Danny shook his head. “I couldn’t. Where is she? Where’s Mom?”

“I don’t kn0w,” Molly told him. “All I know is there was an accident near Grandmom’s house, and that they were bringing someone in. Danny, it might not even be her—”

The elevator behind her dinged, and she cut off abruptly, twisting to see a doctor and an orderly coming out — both pulling a gurney with a dark haired woman stretched out. Then TJ was there, his hands flying, talking animatedly with Elizabeth, also soaked to the bone, responding his questions. Bringing up the end of the group was Chase, holding a gauze pad, already bloodied, to his forehead.

“Elizabeth!” Danny rushed forward.

“Mom!” Jake called at the same time.

Elizabeth turned away from TJ, her eyes wide with panic, the ends of her hair whipping around her face, the tips still so soaked that drops of water were flung in every direction — one hitting Molly in the face at the same time she realized the woman on the gurney was not Sam.

But a different sister.

Kristina.

Molly swallowed the bubble of panic that rose in her throat, looking up to TJ who were still moving with the gurney, not looking back at her. Because he was so focused on his patient? Or because he couldn’t look at her? Because he knew something Molly didn’t?

Where was Sam?

“What are you doing here?” Elizabeth demanded. “What happened? Are you hurt?” She took Jake by the arm, started to scan him for injuries. “You were supposed to be at home—”

“Where’s my mother?” Danny demanded. “What happened to Aunt Kristina?”

“We’re fine, Mom, stop—” Jake shook off Elizabeth’s grasp. “Mom. Danny got a call from his mother—”

“What? You did?” Now Elizabeth’s attention was on Danny. “When? What did she say?”

“S-She—” Danny’s voice faltered. He was young, but not stupid. “She was scared. She said she couldn’t get. But she got out, didn’t she? You got her out, or Dad—where’s Dad? Where’s my dad?”

“Your dad is fine,” Elizabeth said, taking Danny by the shoulders. “He’s—he’ll be here when he can. We don’t—” She looked at Molly briefly, and the sorrow in them made Molly break the contact first. She wrapped her arms around her torso again, tightly, as if she could create a barrier around her to block out what was happening.

What reality was beginning to form.

“We don’t know where your mother is,” Elizabeth said finally, but Danny was already shaking his head.

“No, no, no, you have to know! Make someone find her phone! She called me! She said she couldn’t get out, so you have to go find  her! Call Dad and tell him to find her!”

“He and Dante are doing everything they can,” Elizabeth promised. She reached for Jake’s hand, squeezed it. “I need you to stay with your brother, okay? I need you all to stay right here. Chase is hurt, and I have to get him help—”

“I’m fine—”

“You need stitches,” Elizabeth started to say, but Willow came up behind them, some towels in her arms.

“Hey,” she said, a little breathless. “I can take Chase to get stitches. Why don’t you take the boys to the locker room, get dry?”

“I don’t—” Elizabeth started.

“I’m right here,” Molly said finally, taking a deep breath. “I’ll stay right here and wait for an update. You should—” Her voice broke, but she pushed through. “You shouldn’t sit around in those clothes. I’ll stay—I’ll stay right here.”

And keep counting tiles while her life fell apart around her.

Again.

Quartermaine Estate: Foyer

 “I should be there,” Drew said following Michael to the coat closet where the younger man rummaged for an umbrella. “I should be—”

“There’s nothing to do there,” Michael told his uncle, turning back to face him, a little impatient now. “I told you. We don’t know anything more than my father told us. We don’t—” He stopped. “They didn’t even confirm who was taken to the hospital. All we know is there was an accident, that Sam and Kristina were involved. You should stay here with Scout.”

“I just—” Drew stopped, collected himself. “Sam has to get out of this. She has to—I know you disagree with how I handled the custody situation—”

“Do I think snatching Scout out of her home just to look good in the press was a good idea?” Michael interrupted. “No. She wasn’t in any danger. Not from Sam. As soon as you found out Rocco and Dante moved out—as soon as they came to stay here, you should have dropped it. But it was more important to have the voters see you as someone who matters. And now you’re having regrets because if Sam doesn’t live, you’re the reason she didn’t get to see her daughter.”

General Hospital: Locker Room

As soon as his mother stepped out of the shower area, changed into a clean, dry pair of scrubs from her locker, Jake took her elbow and pulled her over towards the door, away from where Danny and Aiden were changing into their own borrowed scrubs.

“Mom, tell me straight. Did his mom get out?”

Elizabeth exhaled slowly, weighing the choice to keep Jake in the dark a little longer. “What did Sam tell Danny? Do you know?”

“He put her on speaker phone so he could hear her better. She sounded scared, Mom. I’ve never heard her like that. She said she couldn’t get out. She needed to tell Danny she loved him.”  Jake paused. “She was saying goodbye, wasn’t she?”

“I—I don’t know exactly. Maybe. The car went over the embankment—” Elizabeth stopped when Danny approached.

“Tell me,” the younger boy demanded. “Tell me what happened to my mom. Please.”

“We don’t know,” Elizabeth repeated. She reached for Danny’s hand. “I can tell you what I do know. Your mother and Kristina were in Sam’s car, Chase was behind them—”

“Why? Was he following them?” Jake wanted to know.

“That’s not—I’m not sure why,” Elizabeth said, then looked back to Danny. “There was an accident. The car went over the side, and the part of the road drops down towards the creek. We don’t know where it landed for sure, only that Chase could see headlights. But the hillside was muddy, and it was dark, and he couldn’t get down there right away. The creek was rising.”

“She said she couldn’t get out,” Danny said, his voice sounding small. Impossibly young. “But Aunt Kristina did.”

“I don’t know. She was unconscious when they found her.  Your dad and Dante went down when we got there. I don’t know much more than that. I’m sorry, Danny. I wish I had something more to tell you, something more definite.” She stroked his shoulder lightly. “But we’ll go back to wait with Molly. And your grandmother and Sonny are on their way. I know they could use your support.”

“And I’ll be right here,” Jake told his brother, who looked at him, his dark brown eyes swimming with tears. “I’m not going anywhere. We’ll deal with this together.”

General Hospital: ER Waiting Room

Alexis practically flew through the double doors and was halfway to the nurse’s station before she spied Molly by the elevators. “Molly? How did you get here so fast?” she demanded.

“I was already—” Molly furrowed her brow, looked at Sonny and Diane who had come in after her mother. “I was already here with TJ. We got a call from Danny—how did you know to be here? You didn’t answer any of my calls?”

“I—” Mystified, Alexis looked at Diane. “I don’t know where my phone is. I don’t—” She stopped. “What do you mean, you got a call from Danny?”

“Did the helicopter get here?” Sonny wanted to know. “The last we heard they were on their way to the hospital.”

“I—” Molly started to answer, then saw TJ exiting the trauma room, subdued. Her lip started to tremble. “TJ? What’s going on?”

“Hey. You—” TJ saw Alexis and Sonny, angled himself so that he was facing all of them. “Kristina is still unconscious. She has some superficial scratches and bumps, and we’re sending her up for a CT scan  and X-rays— we don’t think there’s any internal bleeding right now, but we don’t know anything for sure. They said that she hasn’t been conscious since they found her, so that’s our first priority.”

“She’s not awake—what did Elizabeth say when they got here? What did Chase say? Where’s Sam?” Molly demanded.

“They didn’t get Sam out?” Alexis broke in, her voice climbing an extra pitch. “What does that mean? Where is my daughter?”

“All I know is that by the time Chase reached the area where he’d seen headlights, the creek waters had risen too high to go further, and he found Kristina on the ground. He never—he never saw Sam.”

“Oh, God—” Alexis closed her eyes, brought her hands to her mouth. “Oh, God.”

“Danny talked to Sam,” Molly said faintly, and her mother looked at her, desperate hope reflecting back. “She was scared. She couldn’t get out.

“Oh, God,” Alexis repeated, the final words coming out as a low moan. She reached for Sonny’s hand, and he took it, his other arm around her shoulder, holding her up.

“I don’t understand. I don’t understand,” Molly said. “Why were all of you—” She looked at her mother, at Chase who was returning with a freshly stitched forehead, at Elizabeth and her boys. “Why were you all out there tonight? Why was Chase following my sisters at all?”

“This isn’t really the time,” Chase said, a bit pained. “We should wait—”

“No. No, there’s no point in waiting. Kristina’s unconscious, she can’t tell us what happened. And Sam—” Molly stopped, took a deep breath. “The only person who talked to Sam said she couldn’t get out. She’s probably dead. They both might be dead. So damn it, tell me why they were out there!” Her voice rose as she spoke, panic lacing the words until they climbed to almost a shrill cry, breaking on the final word, and she turned away, looked away, pressing her fist to her mouth.

“Mom said she was going to prove she didn’t tell everyone about me.”

Molly turned back at Danny’s words, confused at first. “What?”

“Mom. We saw her today—” Danny had to stop, his voice cracking.

“You saw her?” Elizabeth said, stepping towards him. She looked at Jake. “What happened?”

“She was in the parking lot after school,” Jake said, subdued. “Pretty upset. Desperate. Wanted Danny to know she’d never hurt him like this. And she said—she said she’d find out who did this if it was—” He closed his mouth, his own eyes watering slightly. “If it was the last thing she ever did.”

Molly raised her fingers to her lips, looked at her mother. “Kristina. Kristina did this. She told Reynolds about Danny, didn’t she?”

“I—” Alexis just shook her head. “I don’t—Maybe. I don’t know. We don’t know for sure—we don’t—”

“Aunt Kristina did it?” Danny asked, his voice thin, tears thick in his throat. “Why? Why would she do that to me? To Elizabeth?”

“Is that why you were you out there?” Molly demanded of Chase. “Why you and Dante and Jason and the entire damn world was following my sister around? Because you thought she did this?”

“Mols,” TJ said, taking her by the shoulder.

“No! No! I can’t do this again! I can’t sit in a room waiting to find out someone else I love is dead because of Kristina! She killed my daughter, and now she’s killed—” Molly stopped, she couldn’t articulate the words, couldn’t put the words out there. She’s killed my sister.

“We don’t know anything yet,” Elizabeth said carefully. She stepped up to Molly, took her hand, waited for the younger woman to look at her. “We just don’t. And I think maybe we’ve speculated enough for right now.”

Molly wanted to argue, but she saw Elizabeth look at Danny, and swallowed her argument. Elizabeth was right. Whatever Kristina’s crimes, whatever Molly wanted to say about it all — Danny didn’t need this, and if Sam was—if the worst had happened — then he’d need someone to look after him. To look for justice.

And to make sure that this time Kristina didn’t get away with destroying more lives.

+37

Written in 53 minutes. Not super happy with this being this short, the logistics of it all were more difficult than I thought, lol. See you tomorrow 🙂

Wednesday, October 1, 2024

Belle Forest Drive

Elizabeth paced back and forth along the small stretch of road, stopping every few seconds to peer down the embankment. She could only see a few feet in front of her face, and the crushed shrubbery where the car had broken through before the trees and bushes made it impossible. She could hear the water of the creek, angrier and more rapid than where they’d crossed the road a few miles away.

She turned back to Spinelli who’d remained at Chase’s car, his hand clutching the police radio like a lifeline. She couldn’t make out the static from here —

Elizabeth turned back to the view down the embankment. “Come on, come on,” she muttered. How long had they been there? Was the creek still rising? Did they need more help? With two people to pull from the car, maybe three wasn’t enough—

The cord tied to the car tightened — as if someone was pulling on it, and Elizabeth turned to call to Spinelli. “They’re coming up! How much longer until help gets here?”

“Chopper has an ETA of maybe five minutes—” Spinelli’s voice lifted to be heard over the rain. “Vehicles another twenty — they had to come from another town—can you see them? Is anyone hurt?”

“I don’t—” Elizabeth stepped off the road, onto the grass, but it was difficult to keep her balance with the broken and crushed bushes, and she nearly went down — but then she was able to see some movement—

Chase came first, stumbling, barely able to keep his grip, blood on his face — when he’d reached Elizabeth, she took his arm and pulled him onto solid ground, handing him over to Spinelli who had rushed over.

Jason and Dante were a few feet behind him, both of them coming up backwards, taking turns dragging someone—Kristina, Elizabeth realized, who was on the ground, being tugged up.

When they’d reached the same solid ground, Jason lifted Kristina into his arms to carry her a few more feet, then laid her out on the road — letting her arms fall limply to her side not so gently.

Elizabeth looked back, expecting to see Sam coming up behind them — but there was no one else, and now the cord had gone slack, laying against the ground.

“Where’s—” she started to say, but caught Jason’s expression, and swallowed the rest of her question. She looked back to the crash path, then went back at Kristina, laying pale and seemingly lifeless in the street.

What is that? Is that your phone?

Damn it—let go—

Elizabeth swallowed hard, then let her training kick in. It didn’t matter what Kristina had done — she was a nurse, and her job was to heal.

And if Kristina died here, the truth might die with her.

Webber House: Living Room

For what felt like the thousandth time, Jake dragged Danny away from the door. “You heard your aunt. Stay here—”

“She said there was an accident!” Danny shrugged Jake off. “If you won’t drive me, I’ll walk!”

“In the rain? With the whole city flooding? Sure. And then my parents will kill me for letting you drown,” Jake shot back. “We’re staying right here until we hear something—”

“We should go.”

Jake stopped, turned to Aiden with confusion. “What?”

“To the hospital.” Aiden seemed a bit surprised at first that he’d spoken, but kept going. “You’d have to tie us down if it was our mom, Jake. You know it. We can at least try.”

Danny seemed surprised by Aiden’s support, then turned back to Jake. “You know he’s right. You’d never stay here if this was you.”

Jake grimaced, scrubbed his hands down his face. “Damn it. Damn it.” Because of course he’d have already been halfway to the hospital. And even Cameron wouldn’t have argued that.

But he’d heard Sam’s side of the conversation, he’d heard the terror in her voice, the shaking —

Maybe he just wanted to stay here a little longer, to stay inside the bubble where his brother’s mother wasn’t in mortal, maybe fatal danger. To keep hope alive. Wasn’t that his job? To protect his little brother from anything that could hurt him?

But he couldn’t stop this, could he? Couldn’t go back in time and stop any of it.

“All right. All right.” Jake scooped up the key. “But if Dad or my mom asks, make it clear that I tried to stop you.”

Belle Forest Drive

Jason crouched next to Elizabeth as she knelt by Kristina, carefully assessing the younger woman’s injuries — checking her arms and legs for broken bones.

“I’m not seeing anything obvious,” Elizabeth told him, “but the head injury looks serious, and she’s been unconscious for at least ten minutes.”

“Chopper’s incoming!” Spinelli called from the car, but by the time he’d completed the statement, they could hear the blades rotating as it started a descent twenty feet from them. Chase and Dante barely acknowledged, still arguing at the foot of the car.

“I’m going with her to the hospital,” Elizabeth told Jason. She reached for his hand, and he brought it to his mouth. “The only thing keeping Dante from going back down there is Chase right now, and he needs to go with me.  He needs stitches on that cut. You have to stop him. Because if there was a chance — you’d have already taken it.”

“I know. I wanted to stay, to look—but the car—” Jason stopped, collected himself. “I’m telling myself that the car is in the creek, and she’s…she’s with it somehow. Maybe on the roof. Maybe Kristina was ejected as they rolled down the hill—”

They both knew that wasn’t likely. That Kristina’s injuries would be more visible if she’d been forced out of the car. But the alternative? The prospect of telling Danny what might have happened to his mother?

Better to cling to any hope, no matter how small.

“Get him in the car, get to the hospital when you can,” Elizabeth said, as he pulled her to the feet. She squeezed his hand one more time, then went to talk to the paramedic that had come with the chopper.

Several miles away, down the road and across the creek, Sonny, Alexis, and Diane were in Sonny’s car, desperate for any kind of update.  The radio in Sonny’s hand crackled, and Alexis leaned forward, nearly snatching it out his hand.

“I’m here. Did you find them? Did you find the girls?” Sonny demanded.

Spinelli’s voice was broken up but most of the words were still audible. “Came up — chopper here—going to GH—”

“Hospital. They’ve got them,” Diane told Alexis. “See? I told you. We’ll meet them there. Tell him we’ll meet them at the hospital,” she told Sonny.

“Both of them?” Alexis demanded. “Tell me they have both—” she reached for the radio as Sonny put the car in reverse and began to turn the car around. “Spinelli! Do you have both of them?”

“….chopper only took three…we’re on our way back…”

Alexis relaxed slightly, leaned back against the passenger seat, holding the radio against her chest. “They’ve got them. Okay. Okay. Thank God.”

General Hospital: Emergency Room

Molly paced the waiting area, bitting at her nail as she waited for TJ to come back with news — any kind of news. How badly hurt was Sam? Had Danny been overreacting? Maybe it wasn’t that serious—

A door opened, and TJ appeared. She rushed over to him. “Well? Was it them—”

“All I know is that a chopper is bringing in three people from Belle Forest Drive,” TJ told her. He touched her arm. “They radioed in that two are injured, one seriously. Elizabeth is with them.”

“Elizabeth?” Molly frowned, shook her head. “No, that doesn’t—Elizabeth wouldn’t be with Sam. But—” Who was the other injury? “When we will know?”

“I’m going up to the roof now,” TJ said. “They should be here in ten minutes. We’ll know by then.”

+32

Written in 58 minutes.

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Belle Forest Drive

Alexis clutched Sonny’s coat jacket, her heart in her throat as the SUV moved across the partially submerged bridge.

“Come on, come on, come on,” Sonny muttered under his breath. “Make it, make it—”

If the SUV lost traction, if it was swept away by the creek which now looked more like a raging river spilling past its banks, all but erasing any evidence of the roadway that had comfortable sat above it. How many times had she taken this drive and not even considered the water that ran beneath it, rolling past her housing development and emptying into the lake—

The initial propulsion had the SUV halfway across the bridge and it continued to move, much more slowly through the flood waters. All around them, the rain continued to pound down, feeding the flood—

And across the road, somewhere out of her sight, her babies, her precious girls were trapped somewhere and Alexis couldn’t get to them, couldn’t fight for them, couldn’t do anything—

The SUV stalled for a beat — likely no more than a handful of seconds, but, oh, they felt like a lifetime as Alexis watched the back tires start to slide across the roadway. Sonny released her, took a step forward—because, of course, his son and the man he’d loved as a brother were in that vehicle risking everything to get to her girls.

But at the last minute, the SUV cleared the bridge, picked up speed, and the headlights disappeared where the road curved into the trees.

“He made it, the crazy of a bitch—” Sonny let out a bark of bewildered, terrified laughter, his gray streaked hair stuck to his temples.

“Emergency services are on their way,” Diane said, panting slightly as she joined them underneath the umbrella. “And they’re going to get a chopper on the other side of the creek.”

Alexis couldn’t stop shaking. She just wanted her girls, she wanted them safe in her arms — where she could yell at them. What were they thinking being out on a night like this?

“Let’s get in the car,” Diane said, touching her shoulder. “No need for us to stand out here where we can’t do anything but wait.”

Webber House: Living Room

“Mom? Mom!”

Jake tried to tune out the pitch of Danny’s panicked voice, climbing with every attempt he made to reconnected with his mother. The call had dropped, and Danny couldn’t get her back on the phone.

And their father wasn’t answering either—Jake dialed his mother’s number next, waiting, and waiting, and waiting—

But nothing.

“What do we do?” Aiden wanted to know. “What do we do?”

“I don’t know!” Jake snapped, and Aiden stepped back a beat, swallowing hard, his eyes too big for his face. Jake took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I just—” Wished Cameron was here. Cameron would know what to do.

What would Cameron would do?

“Okay. Okay. We can track them. We can—” Jake hung up his phone, and with shaky fingers navigated to the app that he’d protested when his mother had put it on the phone. Why did she need to know where he was all the time? Didn’t she trust him?

You? Yes. The world? No. And look, I’ll put myself on here. You can track me, too.

“She’s—she’s out by Sam’s mom’s house,” Jake said, confused as his mother’s little blue dot traveled. “And she’s with Dad.”

“They must be going to see your mother,” Aiden told Danny. “See? Your dad’s already on the way. Call your grandmother—”

“Right, right.” Danny fumbled with his phone, found Alexis’s contact information, and pressed send.

But there was nothing. No answer.

“What about your aunts? Kristina or Molly? They have to know where your mom is, right?” Jake said, coming over to Danny’s phone.

“I don’t know, I don’t know. Mom sounded so scared, and she wouldn’t tell me—why wouldn’t she tell me—” Danny gripped Jake’s shirt, his eyes tear stained. “Why didn’t she tell me?”

“We’ll call Molly, okay? She’s in the DA’s office, right? She’ll know about accidents, okay? We’ll call, and we’ll keep calling—”

“No. No, we have to go out and start looking—” Danny made a break for the door, and Jake dropped the phone, reaching his brother just as Danny started to open it.

“Are you kidding? There’s flooding, and you hear that rain? And even if it wasn’t, we don’t know where to go. Let’s not play Noah’s Ark until we know something.” Because that’s what Cameron would do. Collect the facts. Make informed decisions.

Except that one time he’d nearly shot Jake’s dad who was trying to escape from jail—

Because he didn’t have the facts, Cameron had told Jake later, with some real regret. He’d been stupid. Acting on impulse. All the things he’d yell at Jake about.

“Here—” Aiden held out the phone, Molly’s contact information on the screen. “Let’s start with her, and then we’ll make a list if she doesn’t know anything. We won’t stop until we figure it out, okay, Danny? We’ll find your mom.”

Belle Forest Drive

There’d been one moment — just one — when he could feel the weight of the SUV change slightly, becoming almost weightless as the back of the vehicle had lifted, caught up in the rushing creek waters, and if they’d been even a foot further from the other side—

Elizabeth had never doubted Jason for a moment — or Dante. She knew that neither of them would have let she or Spinelli anywhere near the SUV if they’d been truly worried that they might not make it across—

But there’d been that moment when she’d seen Jason go stark white, and his fingers clench on the wheel, the roar of the engine as he pressed down on the gas pedal —

When they’d felt the water fall away, when the SUV had picked up speed, and they were back on firm, albeit, slick ground, she could breathe again.

But then the reality of what they might be speeding towards sank in — would they make in time? How many minutes had elapsed between Chase’s first frantic radio call to Dante and getting in the car —

How fast were the waters rising?

They came around another bend, where the trees broke open and the first houses could be seen — where the sides of the road sloped down, the incline steep on the left side as it led down to the creek. A car was parked haphazardly across the road, the headlights on, doors open and trunk popped.

Jason brought the SUV to a stop, but Dante was already out of the car the second he started to slow, running towards the abandoned car, slipping as he reached it.

“Where’s Chase?” Elizabeth demanded, all but falling out of the car and sprinting towards Dante. Jason reached him first, Spinelli just behind Elizabeth.

“Which side—” Spinelli went to one side, while Jason went to the other — and found that a bungee cord had been tied to the trunk of the car and was over the side of the embankment — until it disappeared into the inky night.

“The damn fool went down there on his own,” Dante bit out, limping slightly as he squinted down. “I can’t see anything. Or anyone.” No headlights. Had Chase been able to see the car? He couldn’t remember.

“Okay. Okay.” Dante turned to the others, swept his soaked hair from his face. “Spinelli and Elizabeth, you’ll wait up here—I don’t want to hear any arguments,” he said when he saw Elizabeth open her mouth. “Spinelli, there’s a radio in Chase’s car. Get it. You’ll keep it up here. Jason and I’ll follow Chase’s trail, and we’ll radio up if we need medical help. I know the basics, and you can talk us through anything else,” he told her.

Elizabeth grimaced, then nodded reluctantly. Spinelli returned with the radio and with a flashlight.

“Here, take this. We can’t see anything — be careful. The weather service expects the creek to crest at nearly nine feet above its usual levels,” Spinelli told them. “You need to get down there, get them out, and get back.”

“Let’s go.” Jason took just a moment, to squeeze’s Elizabeth’s hand, then gestured for Dante to start down in front of him. He gripped the rope tightly and he and Dante started to make their way down the mud slick embankment.

General Hospital: Nurse’s Station

Molly wound her arm through TJ’s as they strolled towards the station where they would have to part ways as he got back on shift. “We should really do this more often,” she told him, leaning her head against his shoulder. “Why don’t we meet in the on-call room next time?”

“I told you,” TJ said, offering her a half grin, turning to face her. “It’s not like what you see on television. I don’t have time to be getting lucky between patients.”

“Well, I should hope not since I’m not here,” Molly returned with a grin. She leaned up to his kiss him on more time. “The holidays. This Christmas. Can you take a few days? We’ll go down to New York, see my dad or something. I think we both need a break.”

“Agreed.” He kissed her again. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.” She started towards the elevator, leisurely plucking her phone from her purse when she felt it began to ring. A call from Danny? At this time of night? Curious, Molly accepted the call.

“Hey, kiddo, what’s up—”

“Please tell me you know where my mom is,” Danny cut in, his voice rising until it cracked. “Aunt Molly, please.”

“I—I don’t know.” Molly turned back to find TJ watching her. Something in his expression must have caught his attention because he came towards her. “Danny, what’s wrong?”

“Mom—Mom, she called and she was scared, and she was telling me she loved me and that she couldn’t get out, and Grandmom isn’t answering and neither is my dad or Elizabeth, and I don’t know where she is, Aunt Molly, you gotta find my mother—”

“Okay, okay slow down—” Molly reached out, gripped TJ’s scrub shirt. “Your mother called you and said she couldn’t get out, that she was scared—and no one was answering? Not your dad either?”

“N-N0, he and Liz were s-supposed to be at the lawyer’s, but they’re not. They’re out by Grandmom’s house, but they’re not answering—”

Grandmom’s house. The flash flood advisory. Molly’s heart sank. She couldn’t get out, she said she couldn’t get out, that she couldn’t get out—

She closed her eyes, forced herself to speak evenly. “Danny, I want you to listen to me very carefully. I am at the hospital. TJ is going to find out if there’s been any accidents or anything else in the ER. I am going to start calling people and I will find out what’s going on, okay? I will find out what’s going on.” She gestured for TJ who jogged over to the nurse’s station, started talking to the nurse behind the counter. “Where are you right now?”

“I-I’m home.”

“Are you alone?”

“N-No. Jake and Aiden are here.”

“Good. Can I talk to Jake? Just a minute, honey.”

Molly heard some rustling, and then Jake spoke. “Uh, hello?”

“Jake. Hey. I need you to promise me you’ll keep Danny at home with you until you  hear from me. You know him, you might have to tackle him. But don’t let him leave, okay?”

“I won’t—but, um, do you know anything? What’s going on?”

“I don’t—” Molly’s throat tightened for just a moment, and then she was able to speak again. “I don’t know. But I’m on it, and I’ll get answers. I’m going to call some people, find out if anything has been called in. I know people, Jake. I will find—I will find out what’s going on. You stay with Danny. Don’t move from that house until you hear from me or your parents.”

Belle Forest Drive

The cord was slick and difficult to keep a good grip on, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as trying to stay up right on the mud slick hill, and more than once, Dante or Jason had had to reach out to the other to keep them from falling—

The rain had only gotten worse, the drops more like little pellets that were being shot at him —  and he imagined if he could feel the cold on his skin, he’d be freezing. He could hear the creek waters getting louder as they moved down the hill —

But still no sign of a car or anyone who had been in it.

Though the descent couldn’t have taken more than five minutes, maybe a few more — Jason heard Dante shout — and they could see the end of the cord where it was still fastened around Chase’s middle.

The younger man was on his knees next to a crumbled form, dark hair spilling out onto the mud and leaves. Jason moved closer, and his heart sank when he realized it was Kristina, with a nasty gash on her head.

“Where’s Sam?” Dante demanded. “Where’s the—” He looked over and saw the creek ten feet away — rushing past them, faster than he’d ever seen it. It was usually nothing more than a rolling creek that was usually good for wading or maybe a little bit of fishing in one of the deeper spots —

Now it was a rushing, roaring flow of water that had swallowed half the hillside.

“I couldn’t—” Chase’s voice was hoarse, and he had his own forehead gash that was oozing when he lifted his face to Jason. “I couldn’t get to the car—I tried, I tried ,but the water it just — I couldn’t—

“Where’s the car?” Dante demanded. “Where—” He looked over where Chase had been looking, and Jason followed his gaze.

The car was gone. Maybe it was still somewhere, beneath the waters. Or maybe it had been carried away by the furious waters that had crept towards them even closer than it had been when they’d arrived.

“Sam!” Dante cried. He started towards the water’s edge. “Sam!” He stumbled, and Jason caught his arm as the man looked like he might try to jump into the flood.

“You can’t do that! You’ll be dead before you—” Jason’s words stumbled to a horrified stop as he realized what he was telling Dante. What was he was admitting.

What he would have to tell Danny.

That any attempt to find Sam now would be suicide. There was no way of locating the car, not like this, not with the storm still raging around them, with the waters still rising and expected to come up another two feet—

“You can’t help her now,” Jason said, squeezing Dante’s arm tight. “You can’t help her now. We have to get Kristina, and we have to get out of here before it’s too late for us, too. We can’t—” He took one minute to look back at the creek, his stomach rolling at the thought of Sam somewhere in it. Was she trapped? Was she still alive somehow?

There was no way to answer that question without killing himself, and he wasn’t willing to do that. He’d risked enough to get down here, to try to save her. It would have to be enough. He hoped it would feel like enough when he faced their son.

“We have to get out of here,” he repeated to Dante. “Now.”

+41