God rest my soul, I miss who I used to be
The tomb won’t close, stained glass windows in my mind
I regret you all the time
I can’t let this go, I fight with you in my sleep
The wound won’t close, I keep on waiting for a sign
I regret you all the time
– Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve, Taylor Swift

---

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

General Hospital: Elevator

The shrill alarm of the emergency alarm echoed in Elizabeth’s ears, but she made no move to step forward, to try to shove him away and press the button to begin the elevator’s descent.

“Talk?” Elizabeth repeated. “We have nothing to talk about—”

“You sure about that?” Franco leaned against the doors, his hands in his pockets, casually posing as if they were having a normal conversation and she wasn’t being held hostage. “I hear you and Jason are back together. I guess I was right back in the police station. A brother for each of you.” He tipped his head. “Then again, I heard the fake Jason already left Sam, so maybe your time is already running out and Jason will scamper back to her shortly.”

Elizabeth tensed, but kept her mouth closed.

“Fine.” He shrugged. “Then I’ll do the talking. Do you and lover boy ever talk about me?”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together. Said nothing.

“Thought not.” Franco sighed. “You know, it’s probably for the best if you pretend it never happened. You don’t want him thinking too hard about it. Has he been in your bed yet? You know—” He leaned forward, and Elizabeth’s throat tightened. “The one we shared? You wonder if he thinks about it? About us?”

She wasn’t going to respond to him. Wasn’t going to think about it.

“You know, he and I — we’re not brothers, but we are cousins. You sure do like to keep it in the family, don’t you? Lucky and Nikolas were brothers. Jason and Drew, brothers. Wasn’t there something with AJ? I’m their cousin. And Zander? Well, he was your best friend’s husband—”

“Just shut up—”

“Ah, I see I’ve hit a nerve. You know, I wonder if Jason thinks about my hands on you.” Franco leaned in, dropping his voice to a whisper, his eyes locked on Elizabeth’s. “Following in my footsteps, if you will. Maybe he doesn’t think about it now, but he will. I can make sure—”

“Shut up,” Elizabeth repeated. “You don’t know anything—”

“And when it sinks in, when he really understands that you didn’t just date me, you were in love with me—we were planning a future together—” Franco tilted his head. “Do you think that he’ll stick around? Maybe he’ll head over to commiserate with Sam since she’s single now. How long do you think he’ll stay this time?”

His words crawled over her like spiders, her stomach lurched, and bile scorched her throat. “I think you had better hope Jason forgets you existed,” Elizabeth said softly. “Just like I did.”

He gritted his teeth. “Don’t you—”

“I haven’t thought about you in weeks,” Elizabeth said. “And that’s why you’re in my face. I woke up and I realized you were nothing more than the punishment I thought I deserved. I haven’t thought about you,” she repeated. “Not even to hate you.”

“You said you loved me—”

“And I was wrong. You can’t love someone who doesn’t exist. You’re nothing to me.” Elizabeth reached around him, and pressed the emergency button with trembling fingers, desperate for this to be done. “Just a bad memory.”

Franco’s eyes flashed, and just when she thought he’d unleash his temper, his expression cleared, and he stepped back. “Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep at night. You never answered my question—has Jason slept in the bed you and I shared?”

The doors slid open, and Laura was there with a maintenance worker. Her eyes widened when she saw Franco standing just behind Elizabeth. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” Elizabeth stepped out of the car. “Don’t worry. It’s fine.”

Kelly’s: Dining Room

Maxie dug through her purse, searching for her wallet, keeping one eye on her daughter sitting across the table in a booster seat so that she could reach the table. Georgie scribbled across a playmat, the corner of her tongue sticking out as she concentrated on staying in the lines.

“I know I tossed it in here—how do I get so much—” She finally found it underneath the pair of emergency clothes she kept for Georgie. “Finally—”

“Maxie. Hey.” Nina dropped into the chair. “I’m so glad you’re here. I need someone to rant to.”

Maxie lifted her brows. On Sunday, Nina had stormed off in a huff, but today, Maxie was her best friend? Maybe her screws were loose again. Then again, if Nina wanted to pretend they were besties today, maybe there was something to be gained.

“Is everything okay? Valentin still not returning calls?” Maxie asked, congratulating herself on helping. She’d get some intel, slip it off to Spinelli, and come out the hero.

“No, he came home,” Nina said, her jaw clenched. Maxie went still, but her sister-in-law continued. “And he acted as though nothing was wrong. Can you even imagine?” She tossed her red hair over her shoulder, smiled at Georgie. “Hey, baby, what are you drawing?”

“Dog. Mommy said not enough room because Daddy’s on the sofa, but I want one. So I draw one every day, so she knows—”

“Yeah, yeah, Georgie. I get it. Evil Wicked Witch of the West.” Maxie licked her lips. “Uh, so he came home? I mean, without warning you? When? And that’s totally rude. He didn’t even bring a gift? Nothing sparkly?”

“Nothing but a smile,” Nina muttered. “Just waltzed in this morning like he’d been gone an hour instead of more than a week.”

“This needs an emergency milkshake. No, no, don’t even mention the calories. My treat. Let me go up to the counter,” Maxie said. “Keep Georgie busy.”

“All right. Thank you.” Nina squeezed Maxie’s hand. “I can always count on you.”

Maxie darted over to the counter to order the milkshake—then, keeping her back to the table, she quickly shot a text off to Spinelli.

Alert, alert! 911! Valentin is back! He came home this morning!

Morgan’s Auto: Lobby

Elizabeth held open the door for the parade of children she’d managed to acquire. “Hey, Spinelli,” she called to the tech behind the counter. “Jason said you’d know what to do with these guys?” she gestured at the group, which included her three boys, Spencer, and Trina who was tagging along until her shift started at Kelly’s.

“Yes, of course,” Spinelli said. “Uh, Cameron, Jason said you were good to go on the car. He said he left something for you.”

Cameron rubbed his hands together. “I get to check the lines for leaks,” he told his mother. “And inventory sorting for Jake and Aiden?”

“Yeah, you know where everything is.” Spinelli watched as Elizabeth’s boys disappeared.

“I’m reading files,” Spencer said. “Are they still in the office?”

“Uh—” Spinelli looked at Elizabeth.

“I double checked. Laura is okay with it. Trina, why don’t you go help Spencer? That way you can stay clean for your shift,” Elizabeth suggested. “I’ll go get you guys set up in the office.”

After digging out a stack that seemed innocuous and boring, she left Spencer and Trina at the table in the staff room and came back out to join Spinelli at the counter. She took one of the extra seats. “So, I had a question for you. About file names.”

“I’m all ears.” Spinelli twisted on his chair so that they were facing each other, only the tops of their heads visible behind the high counter that faced the front door. “What’s up?”

“Can you—” Elizabeth took out the folders from the bag she’d dragged from work. “File 03050407. Is this all there is, or—”

“All that’s in print—” Spinelli stopped, then closed his eyes. “I didn’t think when I printed and sorted. That’s Stone Cold the Sequel’s birthday. Patient 3. May 4, 2007.”

“Yeah. Yeah, um, these are his files. At least from Helena’s side of it. And she seemed to be relatively current. Andre’s notes were in this batch.” She glanced at his ever present laptop, set up next to the desktop Spinelli was using for the garage. “Were there videos for this file prefix?”

“Let me check.” Spinelli rolled the chair over a few inches, then tapped a few keys. “Uh. Yes. There are…ten.”

“Ten.” Elizabeth sighed. “Are there any from the fall of 2011?” she asked quietly.

Spinelli didn’t respond. He brought over the laptop and set it down so that it rested between them. He had a file ready to go. “There’s one. Do you want to…”

“Yes. I want to watch it.” He clicked play. The video was in black and white, but relatively clear. After all, it wasn’t even that old. Barely seven years.

Elizabeth watched with dry eyes as Ewen Keenan carried her limp body into the lab, laid her out. She watched herself wake up, and then Helena came into the room. Ewen and Helena exchanged some remarks—

It took far longer than I thought it would to fetch her.

Then Helena turned away, gestured for something.

Dr. Obrecht?

Elizabeth pressed two fingers to her lips. Of course. Liesl. She’d worked Lucky’s case, and for Robin. But here she was. On Spoon Island, walking through a doorway with—

“That’s Jake,” Spinelli murmured, his eyes wide. “Looking just like—”

“A little taller, but he looks like the day of the accident.” Elizabeth took a deep breath. She watched Jake call for her—and the video Elizabeth rushing at him, holding him.

Just the way she’d always known. Jake begging to go home.

And then—they took him from her. A man took Jake, and Elizabeth tried to go after him—

She closed the laptop, looked away. “Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um, we’ll—I’m going to go through this with Jason. Jake’s files, I mean. I think having both our—” She stumbled to her feet. “I need some air.”

She rushed outside, grateful when the bitter January wind slapped at her face. Oh, God. It had been real. She’d held her baby. She’d known it for weeks — Andre had told her —

But to see it — to see her son screaming for her— to watch Helena smile in amusement as Elizabeth fought to get him back—

“He’s always been a little bit of miracle.”

She looked up, saw Spinelli had followed her outside. “Jake, I mean. Everything he’s been through. Before he was born, at the hotel. Then being kidnapped. Twice. Then taken away for years. You’d never know it.”

“No.” She folded her arms around herself. “No, you wouldn’t,” she murmured. “But I know it.  I will never not know. Those years when I couldn’t touch him. Couldn’t see him. When I thought he was in the ground—” She closed her eyes. “It still comes back. Even now. He’s only been home for two years.” She took a deep breath. “I’m okay. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“You can’t stop me,” Spinelli said. “Do you want to go over the files?”

“No. No.” She scrubbed her cheeks. “No. I’ll wait for Jason. We should do this together. Thanks. We should get back inside.”

Spinelli held the door open for her. “Anytime.”

She smiled faintly, followed him back to the desk. “How’s Maddox’s decryption going?”

“No progress. Maximista offered to try with her father,” Spinelli reported, booting his laptop up, and getting rid of the offending video. “Perhaps a daughter’s guilt will sway him into letting us talk to the Dastardly Doctor.”

“That’s nice of her. Maybe—”

“Speaking of which—” Spinelli picked up his vibrating phone. “She’s texting me—oh, you’ve got to be kidding.” He tossed the phone side, then went to the laptop, his fingers flying over the keys.

“Spinelli?”

“Valentin is back. He came home this morning. Not a single sign of that—” Spinelli scowled, searching the lists of flights. “He didn’t bother to hide the first flight. But this one—there’s nothing arriving from Turkey. Nothing on the record.”

“We need to tell Jason.”

Greystone: Kitchen

“Hey,” Carly said, flipping through another set of tile samples. Joss grunted at her as she went to the fridge to pull out a soda. “How was school?”

“Fine.” Joss sat across from her. “What’s that?” She leaned over.

“Options for the floor at Jason’s garage. In the lobby.” Carly turned it around. “I’m looking for muted color schemes. Something he’ll be comfortable with, you know? Like earth tones. But not too muted. He needs color in his life.”

“That’s for sure. All he ever wears is black, brown and gray. Very boring. We should get him some blues. And maroons.” Joss propped her head against her fist. “Mom, do you think there’s something wrong with me?”

Carly knitted her brow together. “I need more information.”

“Like, maybe there’s something broken in my head. I was, like, super excited for Emma to move home because she’d get to see me, and Trina are friends now. And she always said no one would like me because I’m a spoiled brat.” Joss sipped her soda. “I thought well now Emma’s gonna find out how much it sucks to be on the outside because Cam is with Trina now, and he’s not gonna be interested in her.”

“That doesn’t make you a bad person—”

“I’m getting to that. Today. They were talking at lunch, and there was this whole drama about Spencer helping with those stupid files. He and Cam, like, butted heads, and were dumb boys about it. And then it spilled over into Aunt Laura being mad, and then Uncle Jason got mad, and Cam’s mom got involved. Whole huge drama, you know? But now it’s fixed. Because Cam talked to Emma and got advice on how to talk to his mom who talked Aunt Laura, and Trina looked a little annoyed by it, and I teased them because it’s funny—”

“Wait. You lost me.” Carly held up her hands. “Cameron and Spencer were having a fight, but now they’re not because Cameron and Emma talked about it. And you think you’re a bad person because…Trina was annoyed by it.”

“Yes. Like, I find happiness in chaos, and that’s probably not a good thing, right? Cam’s my best friend. I should want him to be happy, and I think he’s happy with Trina, but it’s also funny that Trina had a date with him this weekend, and they probably talked about it, but Cam doesn’t credit her with coming up with the way to fix it. He thanked Emma. Oh, oh, and it gets better because Trina actually talked to Spencer about the whole thing, and apparently her advice worked on him. So now instead of a triangle, I think it’s a quadrangle. And that shouldn’t entertain me, should it? This is what they mean by me being a brat, isn’t it?”

Carly rubbed her temple. “My head hurts. What does Oscar think about all of this?”

“Oh, he’s staying out of it. He doesn’t want to take sides, which is smart. That’s why he’s good for me, you know. He like—flicks me or pinches me when I’m starting to get on a roll. Like at lunch, I was gonna keep teasing Cam about the Emma thing, and he kicked me under the table, so I knew to stop.” Joss straightened. “I wish I could help him, too. But he never wants to talk about anything that’s going on. You know, like, with his dad. And his stepmom.”

Carly closed her tile samples. “I thought they were spending time together. Weren’t they at the party at Christmas?”

“Yeah, it all looked good. Like systems go, all steam ahead, but then Oscar canceled dinner with him last week, and he wouldn’t tell me why. I was thinking about setting them up, but maybe that would make things worse. Maybe you could get Drew over here, and then I’d get Oscar—”

“Honey, do you know when I used to get into the most trouble?” Carly asked. “When I tried to help someone who didn’t ask for it. Give Oscar some space. He’ll come to you when he’s ready.”

“But what if he doesn’t?”

“Then you can ask him about it. But take it from me, Joss, trying to fix problems when you haven’t been asked to? Never leads anywhere good.”

Morgan’s Auto: Lobby

“Yeah. Yeah, Spinelli still can’t find the flight—” Elizabeth paused to glance over at Spinelli. “He’s still trying to find out, but if Maxie’s right, and he got home this morning, it sounds like he left last night.”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Jason muttered, his voice thin and a bit hard to hear due to the connection. “Lucky said they found Valentin in the lab. How the hell did they not know he was gone?”

“Maybe Luke didn’t tell Lucky. I mean, the way you talked about it earlier — Lucky’s lying to Luke. Why not the reverse?”

“Yeah. Yeah, okay. Damn it,” Jason muttered. “I don’t like him being there while I’m here. And all of you—”

“I’d like it even less if I’d gone with you to Turkey. Don’t worry about us. Spinelli said the security system at the house is solid, and there’s no reason to think Valentin is going to do anything. We don’t even know if he knew you guys were there.”

“Yeah. I just—Drew’s on his way back from taking a walk. Let me update him. I’ll call you in the morning,” he said. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Elizabeth smiled faintly as she set her phone down, looked at Spinelli. “This just keeps getting stranger—”

“And it’s probably not going to get any better,” Spinelli said, gesturing towards the parking lot where she could see a car pull in. Max got out of the driver’s side and went to open the back door for Sonny.

She looked back at Spinelli. “It’s just Sonny. He said he might stop by to help make it look like Jason was here.”

“Yeah. Uh, I’m going to go check on the inventory sorting.” Spinelli had just slid through the door to the bay when Sonny came in.

“Hey.” Sonny glanced around, nodding. “It’s better in here.”

“Yeah, especially since they figured out what was dead in the corner over there.” Elizabeth said. “Good timing, actually. We just found out Valentin is back in Port Charles. He got in this morning.”

Sonny scowled. “How did that get past us?”

“Same way you probably hid Jason and Drew’s flight to Turkey.” Elizabeth got to her feet, started to organize the papers together. “Lucky for us, Nina wanted to complain to Maxie who passed it on to Spinelli.”

“Gossip to the rescue. What did Jason say? Did you call him?”

“Yeah, just got off the phone. He’s going to update Drew. I know they were going to stay another day at the most, so that’s probably still the plan.” Elizabeth sighed. “He’s irritated. Doesn’t really like the idea of us being here with Valentin and him being in Turkey, but I told him we got everything covered.”

“Yeah, and I’ll toss some guys at the house overnight if you want. Just to be on the safe side. Have somebody watching the place.”

“That’d be great.” Elizabeth came around the counter to peer into the bay. She could see Spinelli in the back with Jake and Aiden, and Cameron’s jeans sticking out from underneath his car.

“Jason said they come every day now,” Sonny said, over her shoulder. “That’s good. Keeps Jason busy.”

“And keeps them from fighting over video games,” Elizabeth said, with a smile.

“And it goes without saying that I’m a fan of anything that gets Jason more time with Jake. I really think it’s why he’s handling any of this okay,” Sonny continued. “Just knowing that he’s got his son in his life. Especially with all the crap Sam’s putting him through.”

Elizabeth frowned. “You mean the divorce?”

“Yeah, yeah. Diane wishes Jason would let her off the leash,” he continued, “but you know, Jason. He’ll probably give Sam whatever she wants to keep her happy. I just wish she wasn’t holding back on Danny.”

Elizabeth folded her arms again. “So you’ve talked to Jason about it?”

“Yeah, yeah. You know, doing whatever I can. Jason doesn’t like confrontations. Especially with Sam. He’s barely seen her since he got back. Twice, I think,” Sonny clarified. “Outside of those meetings at the PCPD.” He turned to her. “Hey. I don’t want you to worry about Jason having second thoughts about all of this.”

“I—” Elizabeth stared at him. “I wasn’t.”

“Good, good.” Sonny absently brushed her shoulder, then looked back through the glass window to the bay. He smiled, watching the boys, oblivious to Elizabeth’s growing sense of unease. “It’s normal, you know. When you start the actual divorce process to have those kinds of thoughts. God knows, I did with Carly. And we got back together which was a mistake, but sometimes you gotta make those. But Jason’s not going to do that to you.”

“No. I know that.”

“Not when he’s got so much at stake. You know, you’ve been so important to all of this. I’m sorry about the other day,” Sonny said, turning back to her. “On Sunday. Spinelli got mad at us—I mean, I didn’t say anything, but I’m sure it doesn’t surprise you that I wasn’t in favor of you going to Turkey.”

“No, it doesn’t. It’s fine. Jason and I settled everything, Sonny. We’re fine.”

“I’m glad. That kind of thing, ten years ago, you’d still be walking away, you know? You and Jason always fought over stuff like this.” Sonny shoved his hands in his pockets. “But you’re not this time, and that’s good. I’m glad you’re giving him a break on this round.”

Giving him a break. Elizabeth opened her mouth, a bit mystified by the entire conversation. Then closed it.

“Anyway, you’re good for him. I always thought that. And I’m sure he’ll sort through whatever’s going through his mind with this divorce. Really. I don’t want you to worry.”

“You keep—” Elizabeth took a breath. “You keep saying that, Sonny. I don’t have to worry. Does that mean—I mean—”

“No, no. Of course not. Jason hasn’t said a word about going back to Sam. I mean, he was knocked down by that divorce filing. And you know, he was upset when she went home with Drew. I think maybe he thought she’d come around once the truth was out, but she didn’t. And Sam always knew just how to hurt him. It’s natural, I mean, for some doubts to creep in as you go through it. You know. You got divorced from Lucky.”

“Yeah, I know.” Her stomach swirled. Had Jason talked to Sonny about doubts? She bit her lip. “Um, you know, now that you mention Lucky. I should update you on what Jason found out from Lucky earlier today.” And maybe Sonny would stop talking about Jason’s divorce from Sam, a subject which Sonny had clearly discussed with Jason and that she hadn’t.

How long do you think he’ll stay this time?

She pushed that out of her head and cleared her throat. “You’d better sit down for this.”

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