Written in 55 minutes.

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Friday, October 27, 2000

The Regional Medical Center at Memphis: Lobby

When Emily had decided that they’d track Steven down at the one place where he was almost guaranteed to be, Elizabeth hadn’t disagreed. After all, she didn’t seem to have any alternate options available to her. He wasn’t returning her phone calls, and apparently, he’d moved from the one address she had to work with.

The drive between Steven’s former apartment on Stonewall Street to the hospital complex on Jefferson Avenue was less than ten minutes — they’d only hit one traffic light. It really hadn’t been enough time to think about anything—

Not with Emily peering at street signs, and talking about how ridiculous it was to be a city in the twenty-first century with names dating back to the Confederacy. Elizabeth knew Emily meant well — and was trying to distract her.

But now, standing at the desk, realizing that Elizabeth would have to tell some busy security guard that she needed to have her brother paged because she didn’t know where he lived — and if maybe he’d even changed his phone number.

It was mortifying to have that thought inside her head, much less having to say it out loud. Where people could hear it.

“Liz—”

“Give me a second. Just—” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “I need a minute.”

“But—”

“Listen, I get that you snap your fingers and your entire family comes running so fast they trample each other to help you, but it’s not like that for me,” Elizabeth snapped. Emily closed her mouth, and heat crawled up Elizabeth’s neck, into her face. “I’m sorry, I just—”

“No. No. You’re right. I’m pushing you, and it’s not fair. I just hate all of this, I do. It’s the simplest thing in the world that you need, and you can’t get it because the people who are supposed to give a damn can’t see past their own lives.” Emily shook her head. “But you’re right. You just found out your brother apparently moved and never said anything to you. Never sent you a new address—”

“It’s just…different in my family,” Elizabeth told her. “The Quartermaines aren’t perfect. I know they’re overbearing, and I’ve heard the horror stories.  You think you want to be alone and to be rid of them, but then where does that leave you? Standing in a strange city, in the middle of a hospital lobby, hoping that if you page your brother, he won’t just refuse to see you.” Her throat tightened, and she looked away. “And you know, there’s no deep reason for it. No childhood trauma. No secrets. We’re just…not that interested in each other. We never have been.”

“We?” Emily echoed softly. “You’re telling me you wouldn’t want a closer relationship if he was open to it?”

“I—” It was difficult to force the words out. “I don’t know. I just—I see how it could be. You and Jason, and as much as Lucky struggled with his parents, I don’t think he ever doubted that they loved him. Even if I wanted something, it’s stupid to hope for it.”

“We’ll come back tomorrow,” Emily told her. “We can get some sleep—”

“No. No. Tomorrow is for you and me, right? To have fun and enjoy ourselves.” Elizabeth took a deep breath, then strode towards the front desk.

Kelly’s: Dining Room

It was the first time Jason had returned to Kelly’s in more than a week, and it was difficult to avoid looking towards the steps, where it had happened.

But he was distracted from thinking about it too long when he realized Carly was in the dining room, seated at a table with her mother — and Michael.

Carly  got to her feet, waved, and Jason realized he’d have no choice but to go talk to her. He’d wanted to grab dinner and go, but—

“Hey, stranger. I feel like it’s been days since I saw you,” she said, gesturing at him to take the empty seat. Jason swept his eyes over the table, at Bobbie’s friendly smile, and Michael—

“I’ve…been busy. I just—I actually have to go,” he said, taking a step back wards. Carly’s smile fell, but he turned before she could say anything else and headed out, back towards the parking lot and safety.

But he should have known better, should have realized that Carly would sense something was wrong, like a bloodhound that could never leave anything alone. He’d just managed to reach his bike, parked in the lot when she caught up to him.

“What the hell is going on?” she demanded, though he had to be somewhat grateful that she’d pitched the demand in a low, irritated tone and not at a high-pitched shriek. “I thought we’d fixed all that, and we were okay—”

“It’s fine—”

“Don’t. Don’t—” Carly stabbed a finger at him, her eyes flashing. “Don’t do that. Don’t lie to me. Things are not fine.  Were you lying last month? At the wedding? When you told me you were okay with all this, and that we could be friends?” Tears glittered in her eyes. “Did you lie to me so that I’d go through with the wedding and keep Sonny out of jail? Is that what it is?”

Jason grimaced, dropped his gaze, then shook his head. “No. That’s not—it’s not what I was trying to say. Or do. I wasn’t lying,” he clarified, and she snorted. “It’s not about you—”

“I’m the one you’re avoiding—”

“Sonny doesn’t trust me,” Jason interrupted, and she stopped, looked at him, bewildered. “It’s not complicated, Carly. He doesn’t trust me. He doesn’t believe that I’m not angry about…about last year.”

“But it’s—you’re not. You—you’re okay with Sonny and me, you said so—”

“I—” She deserved some measure of the truth, just as Sonny had deserved to know where Jason stood. But that didn’t make it comfortable to say. “I’m not angry anymore,” he said after a long moment of silence. “But that doesn’t mean I forgive you. Either of you.”

“You—” Carly exhaled on a low hiss, then pressed her lips together. “You don’t forgive me.”

“Not because I’m…” No, there really was no way to do this. No way but to say the truth bluntly and to let it happen. “Not because I’m in love with you. I told Sonny that. But you slept with him to hurt me, and he slept with you to force me to see who you really are. That’s not something I have to forgive, Carly. Or forget.”

“What happened?” Carly demanded. “We were fine and now you’re bringing all this up again—what did Sonny do, or say? Damn it, Jason —”

“I’m done talking about this, Carly. If you don’t like how it is, that’s not my fault.”

The Regional Medical Center at Memphis: Lobby

The security guard placed the phone back on the hook. “I paged Dr. Webber,” he said. “You can wait over there—” he nodded towards the cluster of seats and tables tucked against the far wall. “I can’t send you up to his department without his okay.”

“Did he say how long—”

“I just paged him, ma’am,” he replied. “He’ll get a message on his beeper to call this number, and I’ll tell him then.”

“Well, at least he won’t ignore that,” Emily said to Elizabeth, then winced when she realized the guard had overheard that. “Brothers are a pain,” she told him. She took Elizabeth by the elbow, guided her a few paces away. “He won’t ignore you, Liz.”

“You don’t know that—”

“The security guard knows you’re his sister. If Steven ignores you, it’ll be gossip. You know how fast gossip travels in a hospital — my mom said she heard about my dad’s affairs faster than anything when it was another nurse or something.” Emily made a face. “Which is a weird thing to know about your parents, but you get me.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Steven wouldn’t want people speculating about me if he doesn’t come to see me.” Which would probably put him in a worst mood. “Okay. I guess—”

“Ma’am?” the security guard said, and Elizabeth turned. “Dr. Webber says he’s in the middle of something, and you’ll have to wait down here. He’ll be here as soon as he can.”

“See?” Emily said. “All we have to do is wait.”

PCPD: Squad Room

“You said you had an update?” Dara set her briefcase on Taggert’s desk, then settled into the chair next to it. “What can you tell me about my mystery witness?”

Taggert tossed aside the remains of the burger he’d been finishing, and picked through papers on his desk. “Talked to a few of the witnesses we got from the rave scene and called my sister down in New York. Joe Stevens is a rave rat. Regular,” he clarified when Dara lifted her brows. “No serious red flags came up other than people knew him by name and by face. We did a search of his financials — waiting on the final report, but right now? He looks legit.”

“Maybe. I just can’t let go of how it’s come together,” Dara said. She leaned back, folded her arms. “I tell Emily Q we’ve got an issue with the murder case, and now I have a witness that ties it together? But I’m also having trouble thinking Jason Morgan would pay a witness to lie. He’s a criminal, but he’s never been stupid. And this would be stupid.”

“People do stupid things for the people they love,” Taggert told her. “And don’t forget, where Emily Q goes, she has an entourage — that includes Elizabeth Webber. She and Morgan got tight last year, I told you that. Rumors they were seeing each other.”

“She’s a kid,” Dara said, a bit surprised. “I know she’s in college, but—”

“I’m just telling you what I know, and what I suspect,” Taggert told Dara. “They were friendly enough that he was shacked up in her studio for a few weeks. Now I got my suspicions on what was going on there, especially since Moreno went missing around the same time. That’s not really relevant, other than to say—”

“If any piece of Zander Smith’s story is true, Emily is in the middle something a lot of bigger,” Dara finished. “And that might explain why Morgan would get involved if he’s got more than just a sister on the line. But if Emily — and possibly Elizabeth — were in trouble with a dead cop, why not go to Morgan to help from the start? Or to Corinthos? Elizabeth would be able to pull on that Spencer connection to get to Sonny wouldn’t she?”

“You’d think. All I know is we have a lot of questions, Dara, and not so many answers. I’m with you — this mystery witness stinks.”

“Let’s keep watching everyone,” Dara told him. “I have time before the preliminary hearing. I’m turning Stevens over to the defense because as far as I know, he’s legit. Let them dig out the truth. He knows that world better than we do.”

The Regional Medical Center at Memphis: Lobby

Emily checked her watch. “A half hour,” she muttered. What an absolute tool of a brother. “Is he, like, in a surgery?”

“They’d have said that, right?” Elizabeth wanted to know. She folded her arms, then crossed her ankles to keep them from tapping. “He’s in surgery, will be for ten hours, come back tomorrow. He said he’d come downstairs—”

“I watch all those hospital shows,” Emily said. “If they want to take a break, they figure it out.” She furrowed her brow. “And he could have, like, gotten us passes.” Her opinion of Steven Webber was already pretty low, but they were gonna need to find out was under rock bottom of this kept up.

“Emily—”

“Right, right. I’ll just shut up.” No point in making the observations out loud anyway, Emily thought. Elizabeth already knew her brother didn’t really give a damn. Why keep finding reasons to support it?

It felt like hours, but was probably another ten minutes before one of the elevators on the far wall opened up and a man strode out, his light brown hair disheveled, wearing light blue scrubs. He searched the crowd, but Elizabeth was already standing up, her eyes wwide.

“Okay, Lizzie.” Steven put his hands at his hips, his features etched into a scowl. “What the hell are you doing here? How much trouble are you in and how much money do you need?”