Written in 65 minutes.

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Morgan Penthouse: Master Bedroom

Jason kissed Elizabeth’s forehead, holding on one more moment. “We should—we should go downstairs. Spinelli is on his way home. I don’t know if we—” He didn’t even know why he’d called him back to the penthouse. It was nearly eleven. What did Jason think he or Elizabeth could do at this time of night?

But maybe he just wanted Spinelli where he could see him, and now he wished he’d sent a guard to collect the hacker, even though there didn’t seem to be any threat to young college-age boys.

Elizabeth nodded, keeping her eyes closed. “Yeah. I—I’m sure someone is telling M-Monica a-and I don’t know. Maybe you want to just—” Her hand fisted in Jason’s shirt. “Maybe just sitting together will help. I don’t know,” she repeated.

Jason thought about the Quartermaines, the family he had pushed and shoved away for a decade now. There weren’t nearly as many anymore, he thought. Justus had died the year before. Alan. Lila. And now—

All that remained were Monica, Edward, and Ned. And he knew every single one of them had adored Emily. They all had. She and Lila had been the glue for the family, and now—

“Yeah, maybe. I don’t know. We’ll see.” He rubbed her shoulders. “If they call, we’ll go.” He released her, then went to scoop up his phone from the night stand. “Let’s go wait for Spinelli.”

“Jason—” Elizabeth looked at him, and his breath caught because her gaze was so shattered, he wondered if it mirrored his own. He certainly felt that way. His thoughts kept scattering and he didn’t know why. He was usually focus — able to push things aside. Compartmentalize—but right now— “I don’t—” She swallowed hard, closed her eyes again, took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. I’m okay.”

She wasn’t, but he knew what she meant. “We’ll check on the boys one more time,” he promised her. “It’s—it’ll be okay.”

Her lower lip trembled, and she took another breath, but it was shaky. “Yeah. Okay.” But her feet remained planted in the carpet. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I just — if we go out there—” Her eyes focused on the door. “If we go out there and Spinelli comes home, we have to tell him, and it’s real. And neither of us—we haven’t said it. I haven’t—we haven’t said it. And we have to, I think, or it won’t be real, but I don’t want it to be real, and I’m—” She released his hand, raked her hands through her hair. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m trying not to do this.”

“Not to do what?” he asked, softly.

“I just want to stand here, and I want to scream, and I want to cry, and I want to hit something, and to—to—destroy something. I want to hurt someone, something—I don’t know, but I can’t do any of that because, well, I can’t, and I don’t know how to breathe. I should know how. I’ve done this before. I’ve lost people before, I know it gets—the day comes when you don’t choke on the grief anymore, but it’s different. It’s Emily, and it’s all the thousand things we don’t ever get to do. She never gets to be a doctor. Never gets to get married again and to laugh and drink hot chocolate with me or—” Elizabeth sucked in a shuddering breath. “And it’s all the ways she’s supposed to be here and just won’t. And it’s so selfish to think about any of it, and I keep putting it away, but it keeps spilling out, and I don’t want to be someone you worry about, and I know that’s how you process when things hurt too much. You lock it all up and focus on someone else and I just—”

She sat on the edge of the bed, dragged in a bracing breath. “Okay. Okay. I can do this. I’m sorry.”

He knelt in front of her, his hands on her knees. She lifted her tear-stained face to look at him. “We’re going downstairs,” he told her gently. “And we’re going to tell Spinelli. And then we’ll go out on the bike if no one else calls. We’ll both feel better.”

“Better.” She sighed. “Yeah, okay. Let’s try that.”

Quartermaine Estate: Foyer

Dillon swallowed hard when a pair of headlights turned into the drive just as Spinelli’s car had disappeared. He waited for the car to reach the house and park.

He knew, of course. He had watched enough television and film to know how this night would end. He’d lost someone essential to his existence, and the world had kept spinning somehow.

And now, Mac was stepping out of the car. The commissioner coming personally. Dillon swallowed hard.

“What are you doing out here this time of night?” Mac asked.

“Lulu, Spinelli, and I were down at the pool house, but Lucky called Lulu and Jason called Spinelli.” Dillon’s eyes burned into Georgie’s stepfather’s. “It’s bad, isn’t it? It happened again.”

“Yeah.” Mac exhaled. “Jason called? The rumors are starting to fly,” he murmured. “Let’s go inside.”

Dillon shoved the front door to the mansion open. At eleven, he knew that there wouldn’t be many people up — was this the kind of thing you woke people up for? “Wait here,” he mumbled at Mac. “I’ll go find someone.”

He found his brother in the family room, pouring over ELQ reports. Ned glanced up briefly at his entrance, then down again—but Dillon’s expression must have registered. He got to his feet. “Dillon. What’s wrong?”

“Um. Monica. We need to—We need her.” Dillon’s fingers felt too big. His head was throbbing. It had happened again. Whoever stole Georgie had taken someone else, and it hurt more now for some reason, because he was already living with the pain, and now—

Ned narrowed his eyes, then strode towards the foyer, Dillon following. He stopped when he saw Mac. Swallowed. “Christ. Mac. You’re here—” He looked back at his brother, then at Dillon. “Say it. Just say it quickly.”

Mac hesitated. “About an hour ago, Emily was found in the parking garage. She’d been—she’s gone, Ned.”

Ned flinched, then looked down, trying to gather his thoughts. Dillon knew his brother took his role as the family gatekeeper seriously. He would absorb the pain, put it away, then be the strong one for Monica and their grandfather. “Okay.”

“We need—I mean, we know who it is,” Mac said, almost awkwardly. “But we need—”

“An official identification,” Ned finished. “Right.” He took a breath. “Let me tell the family—”

“Jason knows,” Dillon said almost immediately, and Ned stopped. “I mean, I think he knows. Lucky called Lu to come down to the pier, I guess to go to tell Nikolas. And Spinelli talked to Jason. Jason wanted him home. I guess maybe someone else called him. Maybe—I mean, maybe he can do it. So that you can stay here. With Monica and Grandfather.”

“Yeah.” Ned rubbed his chin, looked at Mac. “I’ll have someone down there, but if Jason already knows — okay. Um, where?”

“The hospital. I’ll let the front desk know someone will be there. Ned—”

“Just—I’ll handle it from here.” Ned paused. “Mac, was it—was it like—”

“Yes. We suspect it’s the same.”

The same as Georgie. They couldn’t speak her name, but Dillon knew. Mac left, and Ned stared up at the darkened second floor, and Dillon didn’t envy his brother.

“Losing Alan nearly broke Grandfather,” Ned murmured. “But this? Emily? I don’t know how he’ll survive it. And Monica, Christ. How do you do this? How do you destroy someone’s world?”

“By remembering you’re not the one who did it,” Dillon said roughly, and Ned met his brother’s gaze. “You’re just telling someone what happened. But you didn’t do it. The sick son of a bitch who murdered Georgie and Emily and Chelsea—he’s the one that destroyed it.”

“It’s not going to feel that way in a few minutes. I’ll be—” Ned just shook his head and went upstairs.

Dillon waited in the foyer, and what felt like an eternity later, he heard a scream followed by sobs. He sat on the bottom step and put his head in his hands.

Spoon Island: Pier

There was an advantage of having a quick and clever little sister, even though it occasionally gave Lucky a headache. He’d met Lulu at the pier, relieved when Spinelli had been with her, not wanting her to be alone.

She’d known — he could tell in her eyes, because Jason had called Spinelli, and who else did Jason and Lucky have in common? Why would they need to meet at the pier?

He didn’t have to say it, which helped, but the trip over to the island was a quiet one. The launch pilot had been irritated at being dragged out of bed, but he’d taken one look at Lucky’s face and fallen silent. When they arrived at the pier, the pilot tied up the boat and headed over to the gatehouse where he lived, and Lucky and Lulu made the trek up to the main house.

Nikolas kept late hours, and was sipping a whiskey in the study when they arrived at the house. He frowned when the butler announced them both. “What’s wrong? Did something happen to Mother? Or Luke—”

Lucky took a deep breath, squeezed Lulu’s hand. “Nikolas. Tonight, in the parking garage at General Hospital, two bodies were found.”

Nikolas’s eyes darkened, and he shook his head. “Don’t say it. Don’t.”

“Emily was one of them.”

“Don’t—” Nikolas’s voice broke. “Don’t say it. It’s not—it’s not. I won’t let it—No!” He gripped the glass in his hand, then threw it at the wall where it shattered. “Don’t say it.” His voice broke. “Please don’t say it. It’s not—”

Lulu went to her brother, embraced him as Nikolas slowly slid to the floor, tears streaming down his cheeks. Lucky stood there, in the entrance. Frozen. He’d said it. It was different now than it had been in the garage. That had been his job. He was on duty. He had an obligation to be cold, to be functional.

But standing here in a room, in a house where Emily had once lived — he could see her now, sitting on the sofa or leaning against Nikolas’s desk, smiling back at them, with that wicked smirk and glint in her eye.

The disappointment that had dulled her gaze when he’d seen her last. He’d never reached out after the custody trial, still ashamed at how far it had gone—

And now there would never be another chance.

Patrick’s Condo: Living Room

Patrick silently slid home the bolt in the door as Robin drew off her coat. He’d wanted her here where he could look at her and keep reassuring himself that she was alive, that she wasn’t lying in a morgue, not like—

His mind skittered away from that—from thinking about who was actually gone and who’d they lost because how did you wrap your mind around something that couldn’t be true? He’d just seen Leyla—she’d been one of the nurses on his patient’s case, and they’d exchanged greetings. And Emily—

How were they gone? How could it be possible—

Robin sat on the sofa, her eyes staring ahead, still somehow unseeing. The silence in the room felt like it would choke them.

“She was the sweetest kid,” Robin murmured. “I forget sometimes that we’re close in age because I feel like I watched her grow up.” She looked at him. “She moved in with the Quartermaines just before Jason’s accident, around the time Stone’s health started failing, so I don’t think I really got to know her before that. Jason tried like hell to distance himself from anyone with the name Quartermaine, but not Lila, and not Emily. You couldn’t stop yourself from loving Emily.” Her voice trembled. “Lila was grace personified, you know. Elegant and lovely, and warm. That was good for Jason, but Emily — Emily was light and air and sweet. She was silly and—” Robin squeezed her eyes closed. “She made Jason laugh which was so hard back then, and it’s how I met her.”

Patrick sat next to her. “Hard to think about him smiling or laughing.”

“He doesn’t show that side to many people. He learned how to guard himself after the accident. But Emily — he could never hold himself back from her. She struggled so hard. She  had a pill addiction, did you know that?”

“No.” Patrick frowned. “No. When?”

“Just a teenager. She started using drugs, God, when she was just fifteen. She tried to fly off the Quartermaine roof, but Jason and Ned stopped her—we were all so scared. But she got help, and she got clean, and then—” Robin’s breath was shaky. “I keep thinking if I had gone, maybe we would have been late. Maybe Emily could have waited for me to run my tests, and we wouldn’t have been there. And Leyla could have gone on with her night. But I—”

“You know better.”

“I do. I do. But I just—I also think maybe I would have been in that parking garage at the wrong moment, and it would be me there.” Robin met his eyes. “But I stayed behind. I didn’t feel up to a girl’s night. Not after I realized—” She swallowed hard. “I stayed behind, Patrick. To run a test.”

He frowned. “You said that before. What test?”

“You’re the reason I wasn’t in that parking garage,” she murmured. “A choice I made to make the world stop. And it’s why my world keeps going. It’s so odd.”

His heart began to pound. “Robin.”

“I’m pregnant.” The words escaped her lips in a rush that he almost couldn’t hear, but he did. “That night. You, um, you need to get a blood test. We should be fine because my viral load is—but I’m pregnant.”

“Pregnant.” The blood pounded in his ears, and he stared at her. “As in—”

“Sometime in June, I think, we’ll—well I’ll have a baby. You—I don’t know what you want. But—” She met his eyes. “I’m pregnant, Patrick. I was running those tests in the lab when Emily and Leyla died. It was supposed to be me, but it wasn’t. And now I get to keep breathing, and they don’t, and I feel so guilty, but I don’t know how to stop being happy and sick all at the same time—” She closed her eyes. “Can you say something that’s not repeating the word pregnant or my name?”

He so badly wanted to say something profound or useful or happy or just something, but the words—he’d forgotten every word in the English language that wasn’t Robin or pregnant. He licked his lips. “I—you’re pregnant.” When she just shook her head, Patrick tried again. “No, okay, let me—okay. This is okay. It’s okay.”

“It’s okay,” Robin repeated. “Are you—”

“Yes.” Patrick took a deep breath. He didn’t know if he’d be any good at this, hadn’t been entirely sure he wanted it, but somehow it was here. And if Robin hadn’t been running tests, she’d have been lost to him forever, so — “Yeah, this is okay. I’m okay. And you’re okay. And we’re going to be okay together. That’s what I got right now.”

“Okay,” she repeated. “Well, that’s something.” She leaned against him and he stroked her hair. “I’m going to miss her.”

“Me, too.”

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

Spinelli unlocked the front door, and went inside, finding Jason and Elizabeth sitting on the sofa, both fully dressed. Elizabeth’s eyes were rimmed with red, swollen, and Jason—

Oh, it was something interesting to see Jason’s eyes nearly as red as Elizabeth. “The Jackal apologizes for his delay. Fair Lulu needed to meet her brother and he did not want to leave her alone. Not when he suspected—” He swallowed hard. “He suspects bad news. Noble Emily?”

Elizabeth’s lips parted, and she closed her eyes. Jason nodded swiftly. “Yes. It’s—yes.”

“Okay.” Spinelli swallowed hard. He quite liked Jason’s sister, and she’d been so kind to him. “Okay. How can the Jackal be of service?”

“We need you to stay with the boys,” Jason said roughly. “Ned called. He needs—” He faltered, and Elizabeth touched his arm.

“Ned asked Jason to identify her,” Elizabeth said. “So we need to go to the hospital. You’ll look after them? They should sleep until the morning. I don’t know how long we’ll be.”

“The Jackal will see it done. Whatever you need. He is—” Spinelli fisted his hand. “Is it—it’s the same? It has happened again.”

“Yes,” Jason managed. “They think it’s the same. We need to—we need to go.”

“Of course. Take your time, Stone Cold. The Jackal will defend the castle.”

“Thank you,” Elizabeth said, squeezing his arm as they passed. “We couldn’t do this without you.”

He watched them go, thought of the terrible task they’d been asked to do, and hoped that somewhere, the villain who had stolen those sweet lights from the world was counting his days.

There wouldn’t be many of them left.

Written in 64 minutes.

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Morgan Penthouse: Master Bedroom

He’d been irritated when he’d heard Sonny’s voice on the other end of the line. His partner knew Jason was spending the day with his family — had known he was hoping to find the right moment to ask Elizabeth to marry him — so when he’d heard Sonny’s voice, he’d immediately thought that he’d have to leave for some part of his job that was too dangerous or risky to ask anyone else.

He’d been wrong.

“There’s no official identification yet,” Sonny said, still talking even though Jason’s ears were ringing and he couldn’t really process anything beyond those first few words. “But Spencer’s on the scene.”

Emily. His little sister. Emily.

“Jase?”

“Yeah.” Jason cleared his throat. “I’m here.”

“I wanted you to know before it hit the news. I don’t know how long they’ll keep it back. I don’t know what’s going on yet. I’ll get more, okay?”

“Yeah.”

Sonny was quiet. “I’ll let you go. You call me if you need anything. To look after the boys, to sit with — hell, if you need to take a swing—just—”

“Yeah.”  He couldn’t produce another answer. Couldn’t do anything but form the same words over and over again. Emily. His little sister.

There was a muffled sound of a door closing down the hall and Jason took a deep breath. “I have to go.”

“Okay.” The line went dead, and Jason lowered the phone from his ear, but then he just stared at it. How long had the call been? Two minutes? Three?

How much time did you need to destroy a world?

The door slid open, and Elizabeth stepped in—freezing when she saw him. “Jason?”

He looked at her, and in even in the shadows of the room, saw her swallow hard before she said his name again.

“Emily,” he said. “It’s Emily.” He flipped the phone closed and set it gently on the nightstand. How did he do this? How did he destroy Elizabeth’s world when his own was already in tatters and he couldn’t even think about the word or what had to be done or said—

“Was she—” Elizabeth’s voice wavered. “An accident? We’ll go to the hospital. We can—” She started for the closet, dragging the door open. “We’ll get dressed. I’ll call my grandmother.” Her movements were jerky, frantic as she ripped out a sweater. “She can sit with the boys—”

“Elizabeth.” His voice sounded rusty to his ears. He rose to his feet. “Elizabeth.”

“You have her number, don’t you? Can you—I have to—” Elizabeth turned, clothes clutches in her hands. Her eyes were wide, her face pale. Some piece of her already knew. He could see it in her eyes. Somewhere deep inside, she knew. But if she kept moving and speaking, she’d never have to say it.

He walked across the room, towards her, but Elizabeth backed away from him, shaking her head. “No, no, you have to get dressed, too. I’ll call her. I can do that. You get dressed and I’ll call her—” Her back hit the wall, and her eyes closed. Her fingers were wrapped tightly around her clothes, holding them against her chest like a shield. “We have to go to the hospital, don’t we?”

“Elizabeth.” Jason gently placed his hands over hers, and her fingers went limp, the jeans and sweater falling to her feet. Her beautiful eyes shimmered with tears, and he knew the burning in his own would only be relieved when he let his own tears fall. “She’s—”

He couldn’t say it. Couldn’t form the words. How many times had he said them before? Why couldn’t he do it? He couldn’t. Because even though Elizabeth knew, even though he knew —

If it wasn’t said out loud, it wasn’t real.

Her lips trembled, and she closed her eyes. “Oh, God.” The words were ripped from her soul, a prayer to a deity who wasn’t listening. But then she dragged in a deep breath, and she opened her eyes. “Jason.” She hurled herself into his arms, and he dragged her against him, because it was true, wasn’t it? It was happening, and he hadn’t had to say the words, but they both knew.

He felt her tears as they hit his bare shoulder, and then the same sensation against his own cheeks. He lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the bed, sitting down on the edge. She drew back slightly, resting her forehead against his. “What happened?” she asked on a shaky breath. “Was it an accident?”

The words came now, though they weren’t easy. “No. They found her in the parking garage. Sonny said it was like…it was like…”

“Georgie.”

“Yeah.”

Elizabeth nodded, took another breath. She brushed her thumbs beneath his cheeks, gently brushing away his tears. But she didn’t say anything else. They just held each other.

General Hospital: Lab

“Supposed to be you?” Patrick echoed. Robin pulled out of his his arms, dragging her hands through her dark hair. “Robin—”

“Robin,” Mac said at the same time, and Patrick immediately fell silent. “Baby, can you tell me what you mean?”

She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. How could this be happening? It was too much. Too much all at once. The horror, the fear, the swirl of worry and anxiety, and the guilt—oh, god the guilt. “Kelly and Lainey.” Robin cleared her throat. “They asked me earlier. To go to Jake’s when we were done. Emily was going, too. It was—Em and I were going to meet them there.” Robin looked at her uncle, barely visible through the blur of tears. “Emily and I were going together. She was going to drive me.”

“Christ,” Mac managed. “But you didn’t go.”

“No.” And remembering why had Robin looking at Patrick with another dose of fear. If she was pregnant, oh, God, Patrick. He had to get tested — he had to be sure— She swallowed that for now. “Um. I didn’t go. I had some tests to run, and I just—I wasn’t up for it. So I told—I told Leyla. Leyla Mir. She’s a nurse here. They left together. Or they were supposed to. Leyla went because I didn’t.”

“Okay. Okay.” Mac absorbed that. “Okay. So Leyla Mir. I’ll—I’ll get someone who can identify—okay. Robin—” He looked at Patrick. “You’ll take care of her?”

“I don’t—”

“Yes,” Patrick cut in, his dark eyes eyes sweeping over hers. “Yes. I’m not letting her out of my sight.”

“Okay. I have to go—” Mac strode over and took Robin into a fierce, brief hug. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

He left, and Robin lowered herself onto the stool at her workstation. “I have to call Kelly and Lainey. And Jason. Oh, Elizabeth and Jason—” She bowed her head. “Patrick. Please tell me this isn’t real. Tell me it’s not.”

He came up behind her, pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I wish like hell I could. Call Kelly and Lainey. Jason—he’s family. Someone will talk to him. And then—can you—I know you said—but I need to know you’re all right. Will you come home with me?”

She should say no. She should be with Kelly and Lainey, who would be upset and grieving, too. She should be there for them.

But Patrick was the reason Robin’s body wasn’t lying in the parking garage. Patrick who had done nothing since their break up but stand by and do exactly what she’d asked of him, even when it had hurt him.

He was asking her for something, and for once, Robin was going to do what she wanted. “All right.” She looked at him, tears burning as they fell unchecked. “Yes. I don’t want to be anywhere else right now.”

General Hospital: Parking Garage

Lucky swallowed the bile that erupted in his throat as the medical examiner and his team lifted Emily onto the stretcher, and her limbs dangled lifelessly — her arms hanging over the side until they were tucked away inside the black body bag—

He couldn’t— he turned away, forcing himself to breathe. Breathe in. Breathe out. He owed Emily his best. He’d already failed her by not finding the son of bitch in time to stop what was happening — he couldn’t save Emily — but this son of a bitch was still out there, and with two more bodies, it was clear he wasn’t done.

There couldn’t be another one. Lucky wouldn’t let it happen.

Once Emily was moved, the examiner was able to get the second victim on the stretcher. When they lifted her, the hair was finally brushed away from her face. Lucky recognized her now. He’d seen her at a hospital function. “That’s a nurse,” he said. “It’s—”

“Robin said it’s probably Leyla Mir.”

Lucky turned to find the commissioner striding up. Mac put a hand on Lucky’s shoulder. “Robin was supposed to go with Emily to Jake’s tonight. She changed her mind, and asked Leyla to go at the last minute.”

“Oh, man.” Lucky absorbed the significance in that. “Mac—”

“Which means that should be Robin. We have to consider that, Spencer. The first victims were my stepdaughter and her roommate. The next would have been my niece and her friend. So far—” Mac’s face was gray as he forced out the next words. “So far the only thing the victims have in common is their connection to me.”

“Not the only.” Lucky’s mind could function now. Emily wasn’t laying there anymore. She was tucked away and gone. “They’re all dark haired — Georgie’s hair was dark blonde. Young. Emily, I think, was the oldest, and she’s only twenty-six. The youngest was nineteen.”

“Okay.” Mac’s face eased. “But Robin—”

“She’s not much older, right? Twenty-nine?”

“Yes. Thirty this year.”

“There you go.” Lucky shoved his hands in his pockets, watching as the crime scene unit continued to work. “And location. Parking garage. It’s riskier than the campus. There are more cameras. They’re already pulling them,” he added when Mac opened his mouth. “It’s a public location. He kills in pairs, Mac. That’s gotta mean something. If this guy wanted to hurt you specifically, there are easier ways.”

“That’s true.”

“Georgie probably took breaks in Kelly’s alone. Robin drives to work alone. But this guy didn’t grab them when they were alone.” Lucky’s mind was flying now with the list of things that had to be done. “We need to get cell phone records. Talk to friends and family. Robin would have said something if she was getting the phone calls and flowers like Georgie, but maybe Leyla was. We didn’t release that information to anyone else.”

“Spencer.” Mac nodded. “Yeah, we’ll do all of that. But you need to do something else first.”

Lucky exhaled slowly. “Yeah. I need to talk to my brother.” He thought of Elizabeth. This would destroy her — and against his will, he thought of Jason. For all they’d hated one another, they’d always loved Emily. “The Quartermaines?”

“I’m on my way to handle that. When you finish that notification, Lucky, you should stay—”

“I need to get started.” Lucky watched as the medical examiner’s team wheeled the bodies towards the elevators. “I can’t let this happen again.”

Quartermaine Estate: Pool House

Nothing cheered Lulu up more than deliberately choosing one of Dillon’s favorite movies to watch, and then needling him the whole time and getting film facts wrong.

“I think the resolution to who Rosebud is was the dumbest thing in this movie,” Lulu declared as the credits for Citizen Kane rolled. Dillon’s fingers tightened around the remote and he sent her a glare. “You know you agree.”

“I think I regret the day I met you,” he muttered. “Philistine. Imagine criticizing what every critic says is the best movie ever made—”

“Pfft…” Lulu grabbed a handful of popcorn. “Old white men. Everyone knows the best movie is Steel Magnolias.” Her eyes lit up. “Oh, no, wait. I think Naked Gun is the best—”

“It’s the best movie with a murderer in a starring role,” Dillon scowled. “You know, the fact that I ever thought I was interested in you boggles the mind—”

Spinelli watched them bicker back and forth, and found himself relaxing, even enjoying it. Lulu knew exactly how to push Dillon over the edge, and it truly was an amusing sight to see the Conflicted Film Major get all flustered and frustrated.

“Spinelli, tell Dillon I’m right.”

“Spinelli, tell Lulu that she’s going to burn in hell for—”

“Au contraire. Neither of you are, in fact, correct.” Spinelli grinned. “The best movie ever made is Hackers.”

Lulu gasped in mock horror and threw popcorn at him. “You need to take that back—”

“You would think that,” Dillon muttered.

Spinelli snickered, and leaned to the side to fish out the cell phone vibrating in his pocket. He frowned when he saw Stone Cold’s number. “That’s weird—”

Lulu opened her mouth, but then her phone started to ring. She flipped it open as Spinelli answered his phone.

“Stone Cold?”

“Spinelli. Can you—” Jason’s voice took a moment to steady itself, and a chill slithered down Jason’s spine. “Can you come home?”

“Of course. Is everything okay? Little Dude and Stone Cold the Sequel? Fair Elizabeth?”

“They’re—they’re okay. I just—if you could.”

“Of course.” Spinelli closed his phone, something swirling in his stomach. “Blonde One?”

“That was my brother.” Lulu’s blue eyes met his. “Lucky wants me to meet him at the boat launch. He said we need to go talk to Nikolas.”

Dillon frowned. “That’s weird. All at the same time? What could—” He stopped. “Wait.”

“Stone Cold said the family was good,” Spinelli said slowly. “But—”

“Jason and Nikolas only have one person in common,” Lulu said grimly. “Spinelli, we have to go. And Dillon—”

“Yeah, I think I need to head up to the main house.” Dillon dragged a hand through his wild blond hair. “Please tell me this isn’t happening again.”

Spinelli very much feared that Dillon’s hope would an empty one. “I’ll drop you at the pier,” he told Lulu. “Let’s go.”

Morgan Penthouse: Master Bedroom

Elizabeth’s fingers were shaking as she buttoned her jeans. “Do you think they’ve told Monica yet?” she asked dully. She glanced over at Jason who was pulling on a t-shirt.

“By now.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t know if we should—should we go over there or wait for them to call us—”

“Maybe Sonny knows. He said he’d keep you in the loop.” One foot in front of the other make. Make a list of what to do. There were steps that needed to be taken. Get dressed. Make sure someone was sitting with the boys. Then—

Elizabeth couldn’t fall apart again. Not yet. She didn’t want Jason to have to take care of her. She’d done that earlier. When he’d still be grappling with the horror, she’d broken, and he’d had to worry. She couldn’t do that to him. Emily was—

No, no. Don’t think about it. One foot in front of the other. Deep breath. One foot in the front of the other—

“Do you want to call your grandmother?”

“Spinelli should be fine. Gram—” Elizabeth rubbed her throat. Every word felt like it had to be dragged from deep within. “Gram is asleep. And I’m afraid of waking her with news like this. The boys—” Oh, God. Her babies. Cameron loved his aunt, and now Jake would never—

She bit down hard on her lip. Don’t fall apart. Don’t do it. One foot in front of the other. “They’ll sleep through the night.”

They stared at each other from opposite sides of the room. They’d both put on clothes. Jason had made his call.

And now—

“Um, I should call—” There had to be someone, didn’t there? Someone that needed to be told, something that she could do to fill the gap in the moment, because if she stopped—

One foot in front of the other. Keep moving. Don’t stop. Don’t think. Don’t look at Jason too hard because you’ll see it in his eyes and then you’ll fall apart and you need to be strong because he’s always the strong one and he doesn’t—

“Patrick. Or—” Her fingers fluttered and she found herself twisting the ring on her finger. The ring— She stared down at it. The ring he’d put on her finger a few hours ago.

Had that been tonight?

“Elizabeth.”

“We should go downstairs and wait for Spinelli,” Elizabeth said, but he snagged her elbow as she passed him, and she finally looked at him. “We have to—there are things to do, aren’t there?”

“No.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “No. Not right now. You can stop moving. There’s nothing to do.”

The tears spilled past her lashes and she shook her head. “No, no. There is. I just have to think of it—” She bit her lip again, and tasted blood. “Because if I stop, and I look at you too long, it comes back and I think about Emily and how she’ll never know that we’re getting married and what a stupid, selfish to think about—but now Cameron won’t know her and Jake will never know her and why is that what’s going through my head and no!” She stopped him as he came towards her. “No. Don’t. I’m fine. I’m fine. You don’t have to take care of me. I’m supposed to—”

One foot in front of the other.

“I’m supposed to—” Her voice broke. “I can’t be selfish. I don’t want to be selfish and make you worry about me. I want to worry about you, but I don’t know how because there’s no room for any of it, because none of this is real, and this—” Her voice faltered and there was nothing left.

“Okay. Okay. I won’t worry about you.” Jason took a breath. “Then let me hold you because I need to. That’s what I need. I need—”

She didn’t let him finish, she went into his arms, wrapping hers around him tightly, his face buried in her hair as his shoulders shook. Okay. They’d find a way to take care of each other. Somehow.

Written in 55 minutes.

---

General Hospital: Lab

This couldn’t be happening. In fact, Robin decided that it wasn’t happening. The first time she ran the test, she was sure it was false. She’d made a mistake. She’d used the wrong calculations — she’d fed the information into the system incorrectly — she hadn’t drawn enough blood. Whatever it was, it had been wrong.

So she drew another vial of her blood and ran the test again. When it was still positive, Robin  went up to the locker room, snuck into Kelly’s locker and stole one of the emergency tests that her roommate kept, arguing to herself that Kelly would both understand and support this crime.

She returned to the lab, went into the bathroom, then waited five minutes for the results.

And despite the fact she’d run more scientific test twice first, it was the test Kelly had bought over the counter in a convenience store that convinced Robin.

She sat hard on her stool, the little white slab of plastic in her hands with a plus sign. There could be no mistake. Her hormone levels had been elevated in her blood, and then she’d peed on a stick.

She was pregnant. With Patrick’s baby.

Oh, God.

General Hospital: Parking Garage

“An orderly found the body,” Cruz told Lucky as they jogged down the aisle towards the site. “He didn’t do anything but see the legs sticking out from the car. Called it in right away.”

“He didn’t look?” Lucky demanded, his heart pounding as they rounded the last corner. “He didn’t try to identify it?”

“No—got spooked—”

Lucky stopped when he saw the cluster of uniforms standing at the end of a row. They were crowded around a red sedan.

A red sedan Lucky recognized. A terrible, hollow feeling swirled in the pit of his stomach and raced through his lungs, into his throat, and he just stood there, frozen. He couldn’t move a single step closer.

There was a set of legs just barely visible by the wheel. The toes were painted a cotton-candy pink, laced into a pair of strappy sandals.

“Spencer?”

The car had frozen him to the spot, but recognizing the shoes — oddly, they broke the paralysis and Lucky was able to move. He closed the distance and the uniforms stepped back, revealing the full scene.

Two bodies, tossed between the cars like broken dolls. Toward the back, by the wall, a woman lay on her side, her dark, almost black hair hanging over her face. A hand was extended, disappearing under the car. She wore a green tank top and a pair of black pants — the legs were obscured by the second body.

She lay on her back, her light brown hair tangled beneath her. Her eyes were closed, her mouth slack. Her arms were limply hanging by her body, likely where they had landed when she’d been thrown away like garbage. When her killer had completed the job —

Around her neck was a thin cord that Lucky recognized as the same that had been looped around Chelsea Rae’s. And he knew, even though he couldn’t see the neck of the first woman, he knew she would have the same dark, strangulation marks as Georgie Jones.

The same killer. The same victim profile. The same murder weapon.

“Spencer?” Cruz said again, but his voice was subdued. They all knew the identity of the second woman, but no one wanted to say it out loud.

But Lucky had a job to do. And she deserved the best he had to give.

“We’ll need family members to make the official identification, but someone needs—” He took another deep breath, and knelt down to look more closely at the bodies. “Victim number one is a young woman, likely in her early to mid twenties. Victim number one is in her late twenties and is tentatively identified as Emily Quartermaine.”

General Hospital: Operating Suite

Patrick tossed the remains of his mask into the garbage along with the protective yellow gauze gown he’d worn. He washed his hands, then removed the surgical cap with racing cars from his head. “I’ll be up to check his post-op in the morning,” he told Epiphany as they emerged from the operating room into the hallway. “You know the drill.”

“That I do—” Epiphany squinted. “What’s going on down there?” She gestured at the check-in desk where a cluster of doctors and nurses were talking.

“Don’t know.” Patrick made his way to the group. “What’s going on?”

Regina Johnson, one of the surgical student nurses, turned to him, her eyes wide. “Dr. Drake. Oh my god. They found a body in the parking garage—”

“Two!” Another nurse corrected. “They said it was two women—”

Two women. Christ. Patrick’s heart leapt into his throat. Robin was working tonight. What was her schedule? When was she done? “Do they know who?”

“Not yet. PCPD just sealed off the garage,” Andy Archer, an anesthesiologist said with a shudder. “Damn. I hope they didn’t work here—”

Patrick went for the elevators, jabbing the buttons rapidly. Damn it, damn it. He needed to get to the lab. He needed to know. When the elevator didn’t open fast enough, he raced for the stairs.

Morgan Penthouse: Master Bedroom

Elizabeth snuggled into Jason’s embrace, her left hand laying across his chest. She wiggled it so that the diamond glinted in the moon light slithering through one of the windows. “It still doesn’t seem real,” she murmured.

He stroked her hair lazily, sifting through the chestnut strands as they cascaded over her bare back, shoulder, and onto his own skin. “I wasn’t sure if it was too soon—”

“I don’t care.” She tilted her head up. “You and I both know it wasn’t. We’ve been dancing around each other for so many years. I wish I’d said yes last year.”

“Which time?”

She grinned. “Any of them. All of them.” Then her smile faded slightly, though her eyes stayed bright. “You asked before you even took the paternity test. I always wondered if you meant it.”

“I did. And I was disappointed when you said no. Both times,” he admitted. “I should have probably thought about that more than I did.”

“I wanted to say yes. I just—” She sighed, closed her eyes and laid her head back down. “But I’m also glad it was this way. Just us. No guilt. No lies. We had such a great time with the boys, and then you asked me when we weren’t trapped in an elevator. It was so normal.”

“Normal,” Jason repeated. “That’s a good thing?”

“It’s a great thing. So much of our lives can’t be normal, and I accept that. You’ll start working more, and I know what comes with it. But I like this this little piece of it—you, me, the boys—”

“—Spinelli—”

“We’re just a normal little family. Mom, Dad, two kids, and Spinelli.”

“I like it, too. Even Spinelli,” he admitted, and she laughed. “When do you want to start decorating a room for him?”

“We’ll have to make sure it’s just right so he doesn’t find out too soon—” Elizabeth paused when a phone rang in the distance. She sat up. “That’s the land line. Who would be calling it this late?”

“If it’s the front desk,” Jason said, also sitting, looking at the night table for his phone. “Wally will call my cell—”

The line downstairs rang twice more before falling a silent. A moment later, Jason’s phone lit up. He frowned. “It’s Sonny—”

“Guess it’s time for that normal to end,” Elizabeth said with a knowing smile. “I’ll go check on the boys.”

“Okay.” Jason watched her slid into a satin robe, then leave the room before flipping his phone open. “Sonny? What’s up?”

There was a heavy sigh on the other end that made Jason’s hair stand on end. “Jase. Listen. We just had a call from our guy at the PCPD.”

General Hospital: Lab

Patrick didn’t realize how convinced he was that Robin was one of the bodies in the parking lot until he shoved open the door to the lab and saw her at her workstation. The relief that flooded him was almost dizzying and he had to brace himself on the wall to keep his balance.

“Patrick?” Robin slid off the stool, her dark eyes creased with anxiety. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“They found—” Patrick took a deep breath, dragged both his hands through his dark hair, leaving it disheveled. “They found—in the parking garage. They found two bodies. Two women.”

“Two—” She took a step towards him, and he lost it. He had to touch her, had to know she was real — Patrick yanked her into his arms, burying his face in her neck.

“It’s not you. I thought it would be you. Oh, God, I thought it was you.”

Robin patted his back a bit awkwardly. “You—okay, that’s too tight, Patrick.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry—” He stepped back, but didn’t release her—he couldn’t. What if  this was a dream? A hallucination? What if he let her go and she faded away, and she was really—

“I’m okay,” she told him, her dark eyes searching his. “I’m okay. I’m right here. They—they don’t know who it is? Were they visitors or—how could it happen in the parking garage?”

“They didn’t say anything else.” Patrick forced himself to take a deep breath. She was here. She was making conversation. This was real. “I don’t think they know who it is yet. I just—I knew you were working, and you were done about now—”

“Oh, God—” Robin covered her mouth, the sharp cry echoing in the empty room. “Oh, God!”

“Robin?”

“It’s—” She looked around frantically, her eyes fastening on the clock on the wall. “It’s—it’s ten. When—when did they find them—”

“Robin—”

“Emily. Emily.” She lurched away from Patrick, back towards her workstation and scooped up her phone, her fingers trembling. “She’s not picking up her phone. She’s not—”

Realization dawned and Patrick swallowed hard. “Emily was working tonight?”

“We were supposed to go to the bar. Girl’s Night. She was meeting—She’s not answering because she’s driving. Or she’s dancing with someone.” Robin’s hand jerked as she dialed another number. “Kelly? Kelly! Did Emily get there yet?”

Patrick watched Robin’s expression, and he knew the minute it sunk in. Her eyes widened, found his, and then horror crept in. “She never showed up,” Robin said. The phone clattered to the ground. “Oh, God. Is it Emily? Oh, God.”

He strode forward and jerked her back into her his arms. “We’ll find out, okay? We’ll go—”

The lab door opened again, and Patrick turned to find Mac there. His face was grave. “I came to tell you—but I guess the rumors are already flying.”

“Mac?” Patrick asked, roughly. “What—who?”

Mac’s hands weren’t quite steady as he stepped inside and closed the door to the lab. “Emily was found in the parking garage,” he said quietly. “We’re still doing the notifications, but we can’t identify the other woman. Her hair is covering her face and the CSU—”

“Leyla Mir.” Robin’s cheeks were tear-stained, her voice trembled. “They were going to Jake’s together. I asked Leyla to go. Instead of me. Oh, God, it was supposed to be me.”

Morgan Penthouse: Bedroom

Elizabeth tucked Cameron in a little more tightly, brushing his curls back. Then she went over to Jake in the crib. He lay on his back, his arms stretched out his sides, his little hands curled in fists. She spent an extra minute staring at him, then stroked the silky blonde hair that was coming in more thickly. It was white-blond now, but she thought it would darken as he grew older. Would it be Sarah’s shade or Jason’s?

It almost seemed like a dream, she thought. A few months ago, they’d had their own rooms in a house that had never felt like their own. Now, they shared a room but she liked that. She wanted them to grow up and be close, to love one another the way she, Sarah, and Steven never had.

She touched the night light as she passed it, wondering again where Spinelli had found the motorcycle whose headlight emitted the soft light that kept the monsters away. He really was the sweetest kid.

She closed the door, then went down the hall, hoping it had been enough time for Jason to complete his business with Sonny. Oh, she hoped he didn’t have to leave. She had told him she could accept the less than normal nature of his job, and she really meant that, but tonight — when he’d just asked her to marry him — when it was nearly her birthday — oh she hoped he could stay. Just to stay in their bubble a few hours more.

Elizabeth had closed the door when she’d left, wanting to give Jason full privacy. She knocked lightly, but heard nothing in response. Worried, she pushed it open. He’d turned on the lamp at the side of the bed, and she could see Jason on the edge of the bed, the phone still flipped open in his hand but he was staring at it.

“Jason?” She tipped her head. “Is everything okay? Do you need to go?”

His shoulders tensed, and he took a deep breath before looking at her. His eyes were still shadowed, and she couldn’t see them clearly.

But she knew him. She knew every line of his body, his face— “Jason?” she asked again, but her voice was quiet.

Whatever he said next, she knew, oh, she knew it was going to be devastating.

And even though she had braced herself for the worst, oh God, nothing could have prepared her for it.

“Emily,” Jason managed. “It’s Emily.”

Took 68 minutes. Started ten minutes late because my mom called and then I took an extra eight minutes to finish it well. See you Monday. *evil cackle*

---

Street

“You know, I could get behind the idea of a leash,” Elizabeth called as Jason lengthened his stride to catch up with Cameron as he zoomed down Maple Avenue as fast as his little legs could carry him. Elizabeth followed behind more sedately with the double stroller, Jake dozing inside.

She had to laugh as Jason caught up with the miniature Spiderman just as he reached the edge of another residence. He scooped up Cameron, who just giggled. It wasn’t the first time he’d made Jason chase him tonight, but it might be the last. Her grandmother’s house was only a few away.

How did Cameron still have energy after going door to door at the Towers, stopping in at Kelly’s, and then hitting her grandmother’s neighborhood? It was truly mystifying, and she was a bit envious—and worried. Next year, they’d have two of them.

She waited patiently on the sidewalk as Jason helped Cameron climb the stairs to the next house, hold out his bucket and his brother’s. She couldn’t quite let herself believe that a year from today, she would still be living this dream — this fantasy life where she had a healthy relationship with a man she’d loved for most of her adult life, raising two healthy, perfect little boys.

“Mommy, Mommy, Mommy—” Cameron panted as he dashed back down the front walk. “I gots a huge Hershey bar—look! No fun size!” He yanked out the full-size bar. “Best house.”

Elizabeth looked at Jason. “How about I chase him for the rest of the walk, and you can take the stroller?”

“You mean, after I did it for three blocks, you want the last three houses?” Jason grinned, kissed her lightly. “I can finish it. He’ll fall asleep five seconds after we get to Audrey’s.”

“Let’s hope so, otherwise he’ll want to eat more candy and then he’ll never go to bed.”

PCPD: Squad Room

Lucky was not in the mood for whatever scheme Sam had cooked up, but he saw the eyes of the uniforms behind him. “Okay,” he said, reluctantly. “Let’s go talk. You can tell me what happened—”

“I just told you—” Sam wrenched out of his grasp when he touched her shoulder, intending to direct her towards his desk. “I told you what happened. Go do something about it!”

“I need a few more details. Sam, you can either file a full report or go home. These are the options,” Lucky said, and his tone must have broken through because she scowled, then marched over to his desk and sat down.

“I want you to arrest him. Tonight. Go find him—”

“First, you tell me what happened.” Lucky sat down, picked up a pencil and reached for his notepad. “Where were you and what was the threat?”

“I was just minding my own business, going to Kelly’s, and he was there with your whore ex and their bastard—”

His fingers clenched around the pencil, though of course it wouldn’t be a surprise that they were out as a family on Halloween. He exhaled slowly. “What did he say to you?”

“He told me no one would even miss me if I disappeared, and that’s not true! But he—” Sam’s voice shook, and he looked up to see fat tears sliding down her cheek. “He told me that I had to go away. To leave Port Charles. He wants me gone, and if I don’t leave on my own, he’ll make me go—”

Lucky frowned. “He told you all of this with Elizabeth and the kids right there?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Are you calling me a liar?”

Lucky had little doubt that there had been some kind of run-in with Jason that night, but the words rang him false. He’d known Jason Morgan for a decade. A few weeks ago, he thought, he might have leapt to accept the story.

But tonight, after reviewing the cold case file of two murdered young women, Lucky was just tired. And in no mood for Sam’s schemes.

“I am asking you if Elizabeth heard him,” he said carefully, “because then she could be a witness—”

“She’d just lie! You know that! That’s all she does is lie—”

“It happened at Kelly’s?” Lucky said. “There’s security cameras there—”

Sam nodded. “Yes. Yes. They’ll show what happened. You’ll see it. I just went into the courtyard and they were there, and he grabbed me and yanked me into the alley. Look—” She dragged up her sleeve — but there wasn’t a single mark. “It’s red—”

“It’s not.” Lucky set down his pencil. “You’re not going to tell me that maybe you said something to start a scene?”

“So what if I did, that makes it okay—”

“It makes it understandable if you started calling Elizabeth names in front of her kids that Jason would want you to get away from her—”

“He doesn’t have the rights to put his hands on me. That’s assault!”

“Uh huh. Well, I’ll go the diner in the morning. Get the tapes.” Lucky shrugged. “We’ll see what it says.”

“No! No!” Sam leapt to her feet. “You have to go after him now! Tonight! I want him arrested!”

“You mean track him down while he’s out with the kids, so Cameron can watch him be arrested,” Lucky said, and the flush in her cheeks only deepened. Bullseye. “Not a chance, Sam. It’s not a high priority, and it’s just your word against his. He’s not a flight risk. I’ll pull the tapes—”

Sam growled and swiped at his desk, shoving files and anything else to the floor. The uniforms at the desk snapped to attention, but Lucky held them off with a hand. “You’re a weak bastard! You won’t even act when I’m giving you everything!”

Lucky hoped, even on his worst day before he’d lost the custody case, he wouldn’t have jumped at the chance to humiliate Jason in front of the kids—in front of Cameron, who had already seen too much. But he knew himself better than that. He’d already done it once — arrested Jason the night the man had brought Jake home. He’d done that in front of Cameron—

“You’re giving me a story that I have to verify,” Lucky said. He rose to his feet. “You can sign the statement, and I’ll pull the tapes. Or you can go home and forget all of this. Those are the options, Sam—”

“Go fuck yourself. I’ll take care of it myself,” she spat and stalked out. He sighed, and started to clean up his desk.

He didn’t want to get involved, but for the sake of the boys, he’d call Emily in the morning and ask her to pass on the message to Jason and Elizabeth — Sam wasn’t going away quietly.

For now, he’d clean up his desk and go back to hoping for a miracle — that a lead would break in Georgie and Chelsea’s case.

General Hospital: Nurse’s Station

Emily checked her watch. “An hour. Sixty minutes until we get out of these scrubs and go have some fun.” She nudged Robin in the shoulder as she stepped into the nurse’s station. “Are you ready?”

Robin bit her lip, looked at the doctor from the corner of her eye. “You’re going to be mad.”

“Oh—you’re not ditching me, are you? Come on. Kelly and Lainey still think I took the wrong side in the divorce—”

“Oh, I wish you wouldn’t say it like that,” Robin grumbled. “Just call it a breakup—”

“I would, but your roommates have decided that it’s more like a divorce, and we’re the kids choosing between Mom and Dad.” Emily rolled her eyes. “I love them, but—”

“But sometimes they support you so much that you want to set them on fire. I get it. They mean well, but I don’t have the energy for their kind of support.” Robin shook her head. “Go out with them tonight. Have a few drinks. Ogle some guys. You’ll be fine.”

“Why are you ditching me?” Emily demanded, planting her hand on her hip. “Give me one good reason.”

“I’m tired. I just want to go home, curl up in bed, and just—” Robin returned to the computer, tapped a few keys. “I want to go to sleep.”

“Did you ever make an appointment with your doctor?”

Robin made a face. “No. It’s just—”

“Robin. You promised me you would do that. Over a week ago. Listen.” Emily stepped closer, lowering her voice. “I know how hard it is to lose someone you love so violently. My dad died of a heart attack, but he might have survived if he hadn’t had to wait for medical attention. And there are days that still make me stop, to force myself to stop looking for him everywhere I go at home.”

“Em—”

“And I’m not saying that six weeks is enough time to get over what happened — a lifetime won’t be—”

Six weeks when it felt like a life time— Robin’s thoughts stuttered to a stop. Six weeks. She swallowed hard. Georgie had been murdered on September 14. Her service had been a few days later. And it was now October 31.

Oh, God.

“Robin?” Emily touched her shoulder. “You just went all pale and weird. What’s up?”

“It’s been six weeks.”

“Yes,” Emily said, a bit hesitantly. “I know. And it’s—”

“No. No. That’s not—” Robin scrubbed her hands down her face. “Never mind. Never mind. Um, look, tell Kelly and Lainey that I dipped because I was tired. I promise we’ll do something next week, okay?”

“Okay,” Emily said, a bit hesitantly. “Maybe I should call them and tell them I won’t come here—”

“No. No. You should, and if you’re nervous about hanging with Kelly and Lainey on your own—” Robin looked around, her attention snagged on the pretty dark-haired nurse at the other station. “Leyla.”

Leyla Mir turned, frowned slightly. “Yes? Did you need something?”

“Do you have plans tonight?” Robin asked. “Emily needs some reinforcements since I’m dropping out of Girl’s Night. Why don’t you go with her?”

Leyla looked at Emily. “When?”

“Oh. In about an hour — well an hour and some change,” Emily corrected. “I have to change. You in?”

“Sure. I’ll be done then, too.” Leyla picked up her chart. “Sounds like fun.”

Hardy House: Living Room

Jason had predicted correctly — the adrenaline rush of the night caught up with Cameron nearly ten minutes after they arrived at Audrey’s.

He’d been on the sofa playing with his action figures while Jason changed Jake’s diaper and Elizabeth and Audrey sorted through the candy. One second, he’d been planning the death of his Deadpool character — and then the next, he was leaning back, his little mouth open and his eyes closed.

“Oh, uh oh. Man down.”

“He had himself quite the adventure,” Audrey said. “You should change him into his pajamas so you can just put him to bed when you get home. Before he’s completely out.”

“Yeah, otherwise, he might get his second wind.” Elizabeth retrieved the PJs she’d brought just for that reason and went to the couch, carefully stripping off the costume. Cameron grumbled but didn’t really fight.

“He seems so happy,” her grandmother murmured, and Elizabeth looked over at her. “He’s adjust well to everything that’s happened.”

“Better than I thought,” Elizabeth admitted. “I worried, I guess. This last year, he’s been through so much.” She stroked Cameron’s curls. “From the apartment to here to living at the house, then here again, and now another new room. But it’s been smoother than I expected. Than I deserved, really.”

“Jason seems to have an excellent relationship with him.”

“He and Cameron connected almost instantly, but it helped that Cam already knew him.” Elizabeth slipped socks onto Cameron’s feet, then came back to tuck away the costume for playtime use.

“Have you talked to Cameron about the adoption?”

“No, no, I think he’s just a little young to really understand it. He doesn’t ask for Lucky anymore. Not since, oh, I think, a week or two after we moved into the penthouse. Jason’s home with them everyday, so I guess he doesn’t even notice Lucky isn’t around. He wasn’t around much this last year anyway.” Elizabeth started to pack the candy back into the buckets, having divided it more evenly between Cameron and Jake’s, so that Spinelli would have some to enjoy, too. “We thought that once we start calling Jason Dad around Jake, Cameron might just…”

“Start doing it, too?”

“Or it’ll help us start the conversation, at least. I don’t know. How did you handle it with Gramps and Uncle Tom?” Elizabeth asked. “He was around the same age, wasn’t he?”

“Oh, well, we didn’t even bother with adjustment. I just started to referring to Steve as Daddy, and Tommy went along with it.” Audrey glanced up as Jason came back from the kitchen, with Jake in his own pajamas and freshly diapered.

“He didn’t make it long,” Jason noticed, handing Jake to Elizabeth. “Do you want to head home? We’ll see you tomorrow, right?” he asked Audrey. “For Elizabeth’s birthday?”

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “Oh, we don’t have to do anything—”

“Hush,” her grandmother said, smacking her hand playfully. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. But you better take my great-grandbabies home and tuck them in safely. Thank you for bringing them by and letting me enjoy them.”

PCU Campus: Kappa Sigma House

“This party is stupid,” Lulu grumbled, folding her arms over her white robes. “And my hair itches. Why can’t you ever let me make changes?”

“Leia is, like, iconic for the buns,” Dillon said, glaring at her. “Why’d you put me in charge of the costumes if you were going to complain all night?”

Spinelli just rolled his eyes and swirled his orange soda in the red plastic cup he carried. Lulu and Dillon had spent too much time bickering with one another, and it mostly felt forced, he thought. As if they wanted to bring back their old dynamic of Dillon taking movies too seriously, and Lulu making fun of him —

But it didn’t work anymore. Georgie wasn’t here to take Dillon’s side, and Spinelli couldn’t pipe up with any of his weird movie facts that would cut all the tension — Maxie had refused to come along, so there was no one to be sarcastic and call them losers —

Everyone had had their own little role to play in the group, and now it was empty.

“I don’t hate the hair,” Lulu said, suddenly. She exhaled slowly, looked at Dillon. “I’m sorry. I’m just—I thought if we came tonight, if we tried—”

“Yeah.” Dillon hesitated. “Let’s do something else. Why don’t we go grab Maxie and Coop and we’ll head over to the pool house on the Q estate?” he suggested. “We’ll just—we’ll do something that’s just us.”

“He means we’ll watch movies and argue about them,” Lulu told Spinelli, “but yeah, that’s better than this. Let’s go.”

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

“Well, they’re both sound asleep,” Elizabeth said, stepping off the last step just as Jason set the phone back on the receiver. “Who was that?”

“Spinelli. He’s going to spend the night with Dillon.” He drew her into his arms, and she went, happily. “So it’s just us.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth raised a brow. “Really? All by ourselves with the whole downstairs to ourselves? We don’t have to worry about Spinelli coming in and surprising us? Whatever will we do?”

“I have a few ideas.” He dipped his head, kissing her, softly, lingering over it. He didn’t mind Spinelli living here — and he knew Elizabeth and the kids loved him. But it was nice, every once in a while, to have Elizabeth and the place to himself.

“Sometimes, I wish we’d had more time by ourselves,” she said wistfully. “You know. Dating before we became parents. Does sound selfish?”

“No.” He slid his hands down, tucking them into the back pockets of her jeans. “Being able to just take off, go for a drive without thinking about who’s going to watch the boys—I get it.”

“But…” Elizabeth slid her hands down his chest, smiling up at him. “But I also love it. Being out there with you tonight, watching you chase after Cameron to keep him safe but also letting him be a wild and crazy kid—I hope it never gets old. That I never stop appreciating how amazing it’s been these last few weeks.”

“You won’t, and neither will I. I love watching him experience life, and to do all these little things. To be with them everyday when I thought I’d never get to be in Jake’s life at all—” Jason shook his head, with a bit of amazement. “I just wish I could promise it’ll always be like this.” When she frowned slightly, he added, “Quiet, I mean. I have to start going back to work a bit more. Sonny was holding things down because of custody—”

“Ah.”

“But it won’t be all the time. I told Sonny that I want time. That I need it for us.” He kissed her again. “It won’t be like the last time you lived here, Elizabeth. I promise.”

“I believe you. And I wasn’t worried about that. We’re different now.”

“Actually—” Jason stepped away from her and went to his desk, opened the drawer. “There was something I wanted to talk to you about. To, uh, bring up when the custody hearing was over, and your divorce was close to being finalized. Diane said it would be another week, maybe two?”

“Something like that, I forget the actual date, but yes. She wanted to give me the name change paperwork so I can go back to Webber, and we’ll need to take care of the boys—”

“I was thinking maybe you could hold off. On taking back your maiden name.” Jason held out a ring box, flipped open to a diamond ring.

Her eyes widened, as she looked at it for a long moment, then at him. “Jason.”

“If it’s too soon, that’s okay. I just wanted you—”

“Yes.”

He stopped, swallowed. “Yes, it’s too soon, or—”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and put her arms around his neck. “Yes, I’ll marry you. Just name the time and place. I should have said yes the first three times you asked—”

“As long as you said it eventually.” He kissed her, then slid the ring on her finger where the stone caught the light. “Happy early birthday,” he told her, then kissed her again, promising himself and her that this was only the beginning.

General Hospital: Parking Garage

“It’s all right if I’m bit a nervous, isn’t it?” Leyla asked. “It’s not as though Kelly and Lainey are my biggest fans — not after last fall—”

“That puts you in good company,” Emily murmured, stopping at the edge of the parking garage, trying to remember where she’d parked that morning. “Oh, okay. I’m down this way. End of the row.” They started towards her car, the only sounds the clicking of their shoes against the concrete.

“Kelly and Lainey don’t love me right now either because of Patrick, so at least I’ll have an ally,” she told Leyla. “They’ll have to get over it sometime, because I’m not in the mood—”

Leyla had fallen a step or two behind Emily because of her shorter legs, so it took Emily a moment to register the strange grunt she heard — and by the time she was spinning around and heard a sharp cry cut off — all she saw was a blurred figure and something in his hand as he raised it up.

Then her head exploded in pain, and Emily fell to the ground, the vision graying until it went black.

And then there was nothing.