Written in 63 minutes.

Sunday, September 14, 2025

Penthouse: Living Room

Kristina dropped into the chair next to Sam at the dining table by the terrace. “Please tell me there’s more coffee,” she said, stifling a yawn.

“I’ll get you a cup,” Dante volunteered. “I need a refill anyway. You good?”

“I drink any more coffee, I’m going to be up for another twenty four hours.” Sam looked at her sister. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Mostly. I woke up though when I thought I heard some doors slamming. I looked in the hallway, but maybe I dreamed it.” Kristina plucked a muffin from the plate in the middle of the table. “You look like hell. Dante keep you all night?” she teased.

“I wish.” Sam rubbed her face, sitting back in the chair, drawing one leg up. “God, Krissy. I don’t know how Mom did this. How she raised teenagers and didn’t murder them.”

Kristina furrowed her brow. “What happened? Weren’t Rocco and Danny at Elizabeth’s or something? I thought that’s what Dante said when he picked me up yesterday. He’d just dropped them off. Oh, did they get into a fight? Molly did that once, made Mom come get her—” She stopped when she saw her sister’s face. “No. No, something worse happened. But they’re okay or you wouldn’t be sitting here.”

“Yeah, they’re alive. For now.” Sam smiled wanly when Dante returned, setting down a coffee for Kristina and taking his seat. “I was just telling Krissy about our horrible night.”

“Oh. Well, don’t spread it around,” Dante warned. “I mean, you’ll probably tell your mom,” he said to Sam, who acknowledged that with a nod. “And I gotta talk to mine. I don’t know—”

“Okay, now you’re freaking me out. What happened?” Kristina demanded. “Did they murder someone or—”

“Got picked up for being drunk and high,” Sam bit out. “When you told me about the weed in the vape pen, I just about—I’m so upset.”

“Drunk—” Kristina’s eyes were wide. “Oh my God. Picked up? The cops are involved?”

“They would be if Dante didn’t work some magic. Should I call Jason?” Sam asked. “Or wait for him to call me? I should call him,” she said, answering her own question before Dante had a chance to.

“Danny might not be awake yet. Rocco was still dead to the world when I checked on him, and the only reason I’m not dragging him out of bed is because I don’t know what to say to him yet.”

“Wait—is Danny not here?” Kristina said. “Did they keep him overnight?”

“I left him at the station.” Sam bit her lip, looked down. “I’m not really proud of that. I just—I didn’t know what to say to him. And Jason was there—he was so angry,” she told Kristina. “At all three of them, but especially at Aiden. Are you sure this isn’t going to mess with Elizabeth’s bail? If Danny’s the reason she ends up back in jail, it’s going to be one more thing Jason blames me for—”

“Whoa, whoa—” Kristina held up her hands. “How would this affect Elizabeth? Don’t tell me Aiden was out with them. Did Liz think he was here, or something?”

“I think they usually run that trick, but Aiden was home last night. But our idiots showed up at his place, looking for a place to crash.” Dante grimaced. “I think we’re probably in the clear. I don’t even know how much this would mess with her. Aiden wasn’t drunk or high. But I don’t trust the feds not to screw her on this. I’ll run it by—” He closed his mouth, cleared his throat. “I’ll talk to the DA’s office and loop Chase in, see what they think.”

Kristina decided to ignore the implication that DA’s office meant Molly, and looked back to Sam. “This is just—it’s wild. I can’t believe—I know you said Danny’s been getting in trouble but this on another level.” Kristina leaned forward. “So I guess he’s with Jason?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I got a text from him last night. They went to Elizabeth’s. I guess that makes sense. He’s been staying there since she got arrested, and it’s not like there’s space in his room at the diner. I just—I don’t know what to do. More grounding? More rules? More control? Nothing works.” She looked at Dante. “What about Rocco? They’re getting in trouble together.”

“And I used to think Rocco and Aiden wouldn’t have much in common.” Dante sighed. “If Jason doesn’t call you by noon, get in touch. Maybe Danny staying with his dad wouldn’t be the worst idea right now. Not because I don’t think you can handle this,” he added when Sam looked at her hands. “But something’s gotta change, right? We can’t keep going the way we have.” He reached out for her hand. “We’ll get through this, Sam.”

Kristina reached for her sister’s other hand. “Whatever you need, you know Mom and me, we’re here for you. Danny’s gonna get it together, and one day, we’ll look back at this and laugh.”

“I hope so. Maybe you’re right. Maybe some time with his dad is exactly what he needs.”

Webber House: Living Room

“Transformers? Really?” Aiden made a face. “Are you sure this isn’t a punishment?”

Elizabeth tapped a few keys on the laptop Spinelli had loaned her. Her cell phone was a temporary burner that almost no features — including her bank app to transfer cash. “What was my password?” she muttered.

“See, this is why I tell you not to let the phone save everything,” Cameron said. “I just hope when our robot overlords take over, they remember I was kind—”

“No, I know my username but I had to change the password after someone left my debit card at the store—” she looked at Jake who looked up at the ceiling. “And I don’t remember it now. I wrote it down somewhere—”

“Here—” Jason came out of the kitchen, his wallet in hand. He passed Cameron some bills, then looked at a scowling Elizabeth. “Add the bank password to the list. Right under the security video.”

“Mom, you forgot your Ring password?” Cameron demanded.

“You know what—” Elizabeth planted a hand on her hip. “I have to remember the schedules of more than fifty nurses under my supervision. I run an entire hospital and we’re considered one of the best in the state. I remember everything I have to remember. When you get back from the movie, you can help me get the rest of my passwords back. Because I don’t think I’m getting my phone back from the FBI any time soon.”  She pulled the door open. “Go. Enjoy the movies.”

“It’s Transformers,” Aiden muttered. “No one enjoys those—”

“Oh, you’re too good for trucks that turn into aliens?” Cameron was saying as he pulled the doors closed after himself.

Elizabeth sighed, dragged her hands through her hair. “I didn’t even think about my bank information on that phone. There’s so many things—I hate this.”

“I know.” Jason kissed her forehead, and she sighed. “You had everything completely under control before all this happened. We’ll get everything back.”

“There’s just always one more thing—” Elizabeth saw Danny out of the corner of her eye, stepping hesitantly around the corner of the steps, onto the landing. “Hey.” She stepped away from Jason. “How’d you sleep?”

“Um, okay, I guess.” His hair was wild, though it looked like he’d made some attempts to tame it. He wore a pair of Aiden’s sweat pants, and the t-shirt he’d arrived in. His eyes were still a little red, and there deep shadows under his eyes. “Um—” He cleared his throat. “I don’t—I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”

“That makes two of us,” Jason admitted. He went into the kitchen, retrieved a bottle of water, then held it out to his son. “That will help. You got a headache?”

“Yeah.” Danny twisted the cap off, took a long gulp, then swiped at his mouth. “Um, thanks, I guess. For not leaving me at the PCPD last night.” He looked at Elizabeth, then dropped his eyes. “I guess you really couldn’t. It’d mess things up more than they already were. I’m—I’m sorry.”

Jason looked at the miserable teenager in front of him, then sighed, rubbed his face. He couldn’t really find the same anger he’d felt only hours before. Not when Danny had shifted from a belligerent jackass to…whatever he was right now. He wasn’t entirely sure that Danny was actually sorry or just embarrassed. “How much do you remember about last night?”

“I don’t know. Stuff. Um, coming here. That…that was stupid. And then Dex. And mom leaving—” His voice shook slightly on that one, and he had to take a moment before he continued. “Then I know I said some stuff here. I think—” He looked up, his cheeks flushing red when he looked at Elizabeth. “I think I said something really awful to Jake about Charlotte.”

“You did.”

“And—” Danny swallowed hard. “You guys know about the…vaping.”

“And the weed,” Jason added. “You also were rude to Elizabeth who let you stay here last night even after you showed up and got her son arrested—”

“Aiden got himself arrested,” Elizabeth cut in gently. “With an assist from his cousin and Danny.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t—” Danny dropped down, sitting on the landing. “I don’t know what else you want me to say. I screwed up. Everyone knows it. Mom walked out, right? She doesn’t want me. You’re stuck with me.”

Jason exhaled on a slow breath, looked at Elizabeth. “I think maybe we should do what we talked about.” When she nodded, he returned his gaze to Danny. “I’m going to talk to your mother about what happens next.”

“And while he’s gone, why don’t you take a shower? I’ll get you something from Aiden to wear. You guys seem to be mostly the same size. I’ll get you something to eat, and you’ll feel better when your dad  gets back.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Jason squeezed Elizabeth’s hand, kissed her temple, then headed for the door, hoping that she was right — that Danny might open up to her the way Aiden had talked to him. Or that this conversation with Sam wouldn’t go as badly as all the rest of them.

They needed a miracle.

“I was going to call you,” Sam said, when she pulled open the door, saw him standing on the other side. “Come in.”

Jason came into the room, hesitantly, sweeping his eyes around the interior of the place that had been his home longer than anywhere else in the world. Sam had done so much redecorating since he’d moved out all those years ago — not that he’d lived here much after he’d come home from Russia.

“How’s Rocco?” Jason asked.

“Oh, nursing one hell of a headache. Dante got him up, took him and Scout to the Quartermaines. He figured his mother would know what to do.” Sam’s smile was thin. “I get it. I wanted to  call my mother, too. I still might.”

“Yeah, I—” Jason folded his arms. “I found myself thinking about Alan and Monica. And how they handled AJ’s drinking. I don’t remember before the accident — but after —” He looked away. “Danny was just waking up when I left. He was sorry, he said, but I’m not really sure  he gets it. I think he’s embarrassed, I think he’s sorry he got caught.”

“But not sorry he got drunk and high and got arrested.” Sam shook her head. “Why am I not surprised? He never seems to get it. Always blaming someone else for his problems—” She pursed her lips. “We don’t have to wonder where he got that from.”

“I talked to Aiden this morning. It’s…they started this before last Thanksgiving. They’ve been going back and forth between using the boathouse and other parties,” Jason added.

“Yeah, Rocco said something about a year. I don’t know whether to be relieved or angry that we can’t point to one of them as the cause, you know? I mean, thank God our kid didn’t  drag Aiden and Rocco down a path by giving them their first beer, but now I don’t know who to blame.”

“Why do we have to blame anyone?” Jason wanted to know, and Sam made a face. “Look, I haven’t been here. That’s—that’s obvious. And I can’t change that. I don’t know what it’s been like with him every day. But I’m here now. And I don’t really care why they started or who started it. I care about why our son is getting drunk and high almost every weekend, and the way Aiden described it, maybe during the week, too.”

“Oh—” Sam pressed a fist against her mouth, her eyes glimmering with tears. “Right? Because it’s me. He hates me. He’s made that very clear. Everything I’ve tried to tell him, he just ignores me—”

Jason shook his head. “I don’t—” He pressed his lips together. “I need you to stop that. I need you to stop looking for someone to blame. Rocco, Aiden, Danny, me, yourself — just stop. Because I’m not going to hold your hand and reassure you that you’re a good mother. I don’t know what kind of mother you are.”

Sam’s mouth dropped, and he winced. “That—that didn’t come out the way I wanted it to—”

“And you’re some legendary father, right?” she snapped. “Because your other son isn’t a drunken mess? Well, you didn’t raise that one either! So don’t go taking credit for the success if you don’t want to take accountability for the failure!”

“This was a mistake.” Jason shook his head, started past her. “You’re still looking to win some kind of war I didn’t sign up for. I never said I was a good father—”

“Because that would be a lie. You did a great job raising Carly’s kids,” Sam spat. “But you couldn’t be bothered with your own. Not when Carly needed to be protected—”

Jason pulled the door open, looked back at her. “I’m sorry I thought we could find a way to work this out. Danny’s staying with me. You have a problem with that, call Diane, and we’ll have a conversation in court.”

“Staying with you or staying with Elizabeth? You don’t even have a room for him,” Sam retorted.

“I’ll get an apartment for us, but yeah, we’re staying with Elizabeth until I get that arranged. And don’t—” Jason held up a hand when she opened her mouth. “Don’t make this into another competition with her.”

“Why bother? I’ll lose. I always do. Go. You think it’s so easy to fix Danny? Have at it. Don’t call me when you fail at this, too.”

He just shook his head and walked out, not even flinching when he heard the door slam behind him.

+34

This scene took a turn, lol, and it wasn’t the plan. But I like it. I just thought I’d be able to write 4 more scenes. Written in 62 minutes.

Sunday, September 14, 2024

Webber House: Kitchen

When Jason heard the footstep on the stairs, he thought it was probably Cameron or Jake. H He switched on the coffee pot, then turned to find Aiden in the threshold. Elizabeth’s youngest son stood hesitantly at the threshold, his hair still tangled, dressed in the same white t-shirt, gray basketball pants, and white socks he’d gone to bed with.

Jason looked at the clock over the oven — just after seven in the morning — then looked at Aiden again. “Didn’t expect you up for a few more hours.”

“I, uh, set my alarm. I wanted to—” Aiden swallowed hard, and came forward a step or two. “I figured you might be awake before Mom. You…you were always the first person down here last week. Can, um, can we talk?”

“Maybe we should wait until your mom gets up,” Jason said. No matter what Elizabeth had said the night before, he knew he’d overstepped. Aiden wasn’t his son to discipline, and considering the state of Danny, Jason didn’t have much success in that area anyway.

“I’m gonna talk to her because I have to, but I—I really wanted—” Aiden pressed his lips together. “But it’s okay if you don’t want to talk to me. I messed up—”

“That’s not—” Jason came around the island, held out a hand as the teen started to turn away. “That’s not why. Come on. Take a seat, and we’ll—you can say what you wanted to say.”

“Oh. Okay.” Aiden slid onto a stool, then stared at his hands for a long moment. “It wasn’t supposed to be like that. They dropped their phones here, and that was gonna be the end of it.” He forced himself to lift his eyes, to meet Jason’s. “They’ve done it before. A few times. And sometimes I’d leave mine at the penthouse. It’s never…that’s never happened before.”

Jason leaned against the fridge, folding his arms. “But they came to the house last night.”

“I still don’t even know why. I was trying to get them to leave,” Aiden explained. “But they—” He exhaled in a huff. “I know it doesn’t change anything. I still messed up. They were going to be drinking and getting high, and me being involved at all comes back on Mom. I didn’t think about it like that. Will—” He swallowed hard. “Is she going back to jail?”

“No.” Jason shook his head. “Dante made sure the whole incident was off the books. And most of the heat would come down on me — Danny’s my kid. I’m the one who’s supposed to know what he’s up to. I don’t know what the FBI would do with what happened last night. Or what we’ll say to them if they look at the GPS records.” He tipped his head. “You said you’d done this before. How many times?”

Aiden jerked one shoulder, looking at his hands again. “I don’t know. I didn’t really count.”

“So more than a few.” Jason saw Elizabeth out of the corner of his eye, and opened his mouth, but she pressed one finger to her lips, shook her head. She leaned against the door frame, not making her presence known. “You said something about last Thanksgiving. What happened? How did it start?”

“I—” Aiden stopped, then looked up, looked at him. “I don’t know. I mean, I guess I do. Like the facts. We went to party. Me, Dante, Rocco, my—my friend Tobias. And, um, Georgie, too, but she doesn’t do any of this,” he added hastily. “Someone gave Rocco a beer, and we split it. I figured — it was just what you did, right? A-and—” He swallowed hard. “I didn’t really want anyone to say something if I didn’t.”

The coffee machine beeped, and Jason went to the cabinet, took down two cups. He filled only his, and leaned against the counter. “What do you think they’d say?” Jason asked.

“I dunno. Like, maybe something about me…and Tobias.” Aiden looked at him. “You, um, know, right? About me.”

“That Tobias is your boyfriend, yeah.” Jason sipped his coffee. “Is that why you drank that beer? And kept doing it?”

“Sort of. I think. I don’t know. I—I’ve been lucky I guess. Mom pretty much always knew, and I never really worried about telling her. Not with her bringing Felix around all the time when I was younger, and sometimes Uncle Lucas. They’re both—I mean, not together—anyway—” Aiden made a face. “It’s mostly okay at school, but sometimes you get—I mean, there’s always a couple of jerks who think it’s funny to call someone a fag.” His voice wobbled just a little on the final word, and he dropped his eyes to the counter again.

Jason tensed, met Elizabeth’s eyes over Aiden’s bowed head. She’d tensed, her hand fisted against the wall. “So you drank the beer so no one would call you names.”

“Yeah. I guess. It sounds stupid when you say it like that. Me and Rocco — we weren’t really that close, you know? Not until we got to middle school. Then we were in the same math class, and when his dad got together with Sam, we started hanging with Danny more. No one calls me anything when I’m with them. Danny’s got a temper, and one time, someone said something and he shoved them into a locker.” Aiden shifted on the stool. “Anyway. We drank at that party. We finished the beer, someone gave us another. And then we got our own. And we got—well, we thought we got drunk. We didn’t really know what that meant.”

“But you do now,” Jason said.

“Yeah. Um, Thanksgiving last year. We went to the Quartermaines, I think, the day after? Or sometime during the break. And Danny stole a bottle of whiskey from the mini bar. We went to the boathouse, and we drank the whole thing. I don’t think I like it much,” he muttered.

“Danny and Rocco were  high last night, and there was weed in the vape pens. When did that start?”

“Around Christmas, I guess. I don’t remember where Rocco got the first one, but it’s the same guy, I think, that we get the beer from. We started going every weekend to the boathouse. Sometimes we said we were at my house, and then sometimes at Rocco’s, and then sometimes at the Quartermaines because Rocco and Danny’s grandmoms live there, I mean, you know that.” Aiden made a face. “And sometimes there were parties.”

“Every weekend,” Jason repeated, with a sinking feeling. “That’s…a lot.”

“I guess. I didn’t always go. Sometimes I really was at someone else’s house. I didn’t like getting high like—” Aiden flushed, stopped.

“Like Rocco and Danny.”

“Yeah—they—they started doing it in the middle of the week. Danny thought he was screwed when Jake saw him, but he promised Jake it was the first time, I guess, and he was a little more careful. We didn’t go to the boathouse as much. I didn’t want to do it all the time. It was like..it was all they wanted to do. But I didn’t want them to get mad or stop being my friends. So I started covering for them when I didn’t wanna go.”

“Which brings us to last night. You didn’t want to go,” Jason said.

“Right. I don’t really know why.  I mean, the last two weeks, yeah, because of Mom. But I don’t—I think the last time I went was in July or something.” Aiden paused. “Can you…I mean, can you be here when I talk to my mom? I wanna apologize to her—I mean, I wanted to apologize to you, because you were really clear about staying out of trouble, and Jake and Cam are going to kill me—”

“I’ll be here,” Jason said, but he nodded to Elizabeth who had crept slowly into the kitchen. “But your mom already knows you’re sorry.”

“She does—” Aiden looked up, caught Jason looking past him, then turned on the stool. “M-Mom—”

“Hey.” Elizabeth gently combed through Aiden’s disheveled locks. “You’re still in trouble, kiddo. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I guess. I’m really sorry.”

“I know you are.” Elizabeth kissed the top of his head. “I’m sorry, honey, that things were hard at school. I wish you’d told me.”

“It’s mostly fine. It’s only sometimes.”

“Sometimes is still too much. And we’ll talk more about what exactly your punishment looks like once we talk to Danny. I appreciate that you were honest with Jason,” Elizabeth said. “But you’ve been lying to me for almost a year. I can’t let that go.”

“I know.”

“Why don’t you go back upstairs? Get some more sleep.” She rubbed her shoulder. “Cam and Jake are going to wake you up a little later, and you’re going to the movies today.”

“I am?” Aiden frowned. “Are you picking the movie? Is that the punishment?”

“Ha. No. You guys need some time together on your own before Cam leaves tonight. Your punishment starts tomorrow.”

“Fair enough.” Aiden slid off the stool, then hugged his mother. “I’m sorry, Mom.”

“I know.” She rubbed his back, and watched him leave the kitchen. When his footsteps thudded up the stairs, she turned to Jason, then swept her hands through her hair. “He was drinking so he wouldn’t get called filthy names.” She squeezed her eyes closed.

Jason came to her, and she went into his arms, needing just a minute to gather herself. “I’m sorry. I know that was hard to hear.”

“And he was loyal to Rocco and Danny because they stuck up for him? Protected him? How do I get angry with him? And how do I stay angry at them when Danny’s apparently shoving bullies into the locker?”  She pulled away from him, went to make herself a cup of coffee. “Everything about this situation feels unreal.”

“I’d like think last night scared Danny and Rocco straight, but—” Jason shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess we won’t know until Danny gets up and he’s sober. I’m sorry. For how he spoke to you last night. I should have done something—said something. I just—” He leaned against the fridge again. “I didn’t know how to handle any of it. The closest I ever came to any of this was Michael, after the coma. And he wasn’t my son.”

“You and Danny are welcome to stay here as long as you need to.” She tipped her head. “Any idea on how long that might be?”

Jason shook his head, reached around her for his coffee. “No. I’ll go talk to Sam. I don’t know—” He hesitated. “You were able to talk to him last night. Get him to listen when I couldn’t. He’s angry with his mother, angry with me. I don’t know whether we should bulldoze through that and just ignore how resistant he was, or—”

“Why don’t you go talk to Sam?” Elizabeth suggested. “Part of the reason I’m sending the boys to the movies was to give you and Danny some space. But you can go talk to Sam at that point, and I’ll see where I can get with Danny. I mean, maybe it’ll help that I’m not one of his parents. Look at how much Aiden told you. I’m not sure he was ever going to tell me there were issues at school.”

“Your boys—” Jason paused. “They’re very protective of you. I don’t think Aiden wanted you to worry about him.”

“It’s my job to worry—” Elizabeth grimaced. “What is it with men and treating me like I’m going to break at any minute? Jake, at least, I could say, it’s genetic, because you’ve done that since the day we met—”

“That’s not—”

“But Cam and Aiden have no excuse. They know what I can handle. Why does everyone seem to think I’m weak?” she demanded.

“I don’t think that—” When she just snorted, Jason shook his head. “You know, you never did try to see it from my side of things—”

“Excuse me?” Elizabeth scowled, folded her arms. “What does that mean?”

“I just—” Jason took a moment, considered his words carefully. “Wanting to protect you isn’t about you being weak or not being able to handle things. I know what you can handle. I’ve been watching you do it for more than twenty years. Aiden didn’t tell you about what happened to him at school because you can’t stop it. You can’t fix it. And it would just hurt you to know it’s happening. He doesn’t want to see you hurt when he can do something to stop it.”

“He’s my son. It’s my job to hurt for him—no, not a job—it’s literally—” Elizabeth shook her head. “I’m here to share the hurt. To take some of it off his shoulders—”

“He’s reached an age where you can’t do that,” Jason said gently, and she pressed her lips together in mutinous line. “You can hug him, you can feel sorry for him, you can even go to the school, and make a scene. You could take him out of the school so he doesn’t see these kids again. But he’s always going to be part of a world that treats who he loves as something that’s wrong. You and I can’t fix that. Even if I want to do what Danny did and punch someone.”

Her eyes watered. “I know that. And I hate that. I hate that I can’t control the world, that I can’t stop it from hurting him. I don’t understand why anyone would give a damn who he loves, and I thought we’d come so much further than this. I thought—I thought when he and Tobias were out and open at school, that it meant he was safe there—but he’s not.” She swiped at her eyes. “I know you’re right. I know that he’s not telling me so I don’t have to have this reaction.”

“He can’t control his world, only how he reacts to it. And he’s trying to do it in a way that protects the people he loves most,” Jason told her. With the pad of his thumb, he brushed away another tear. “I understand what he’s trying to do.”

“Oh, right. Because this is the same thing as a bomb in my studio,” she muttered.

“You think Aiden wanting to protect you is about you not being able to handle things. You think me walking away that day, and all the other days, was you not being able to handle my life.” He tipped her chin up. “I knew you could handle it. I was the problem. I couldn’t handle the possibility of you being hurt. Aiden—and Jake and Cam—you’re the center of their world. And they’re going to do whatever they have to do to protect you.”

+40

Written in 61 minutes.

Sunday, September 14, 2024

Webber House: Living Room

Danny was on his feet, his face flushed, his fists clenched at his side. “You promised!”

“That’s before I found out you were dragging Aiden down with you!” Jake shot back, and Danny started to make a move around the sofa towards his brother.

Jason stepped in quickly, snagging Danny by the shoulder as Cameron held Jake back by his arm. “Knock it off,” he ordered his son, “and sit down—”

“What are you going to do about it, huh?” Danny demanded, shaking off his father. “Nothing! You never do anything!”

“What are you trying to do, dare Dad into slugging you? Because I’ll do it for free—” Jake tried to break free from Cameron’s grip but his brother wasn’t budging.

“Everyone, calm down—” Elizabeth stepped in between her sons and Jason and Danny. Aiden had also stood, but remained frozen by the sofa, his eyes wide. “It’s late, and I think we’re all—” She looked at Jake, then at Danny. “I think we’re all tired, upset, and, Danny, you’re still drunk—”

“And high,” Jake muttered. “You promised me you weren’t going to do this shit anymore! Or I wouldn’t have kept my mouth shut!”

“Yeah, well, it’s not my fault you’re a gullible moron. I mean, you’re still waiting for Charlotte to text you back, right?”

Jake made another move for his brother, momentarily breaking loose of Cameron and getting past Elizabeth, but Aiden dragged Danny back as Jason stopped his oldest son, wrapping one arm around his front and pulling him back, even as Jake struggled against his hold.

“No, just let me get one shot! One! He needs to get his ass kicked—”

“And when you lay him out flat because he’s drunk and high, you gonna feel better about that?” Jason demanded, and Jake pressed his lips together. “Let me and your mother handle this, okay?” He looked over at Cameron. “Both of you. Go back up to bed.”

“Please,” Elizabeth added when Cameron looked like he wanted to argue. “We’re not going to let this ruin your visit, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.” Cameron looked at Jake. “Come on. Jason’s right. It’d just be a cheap shot to kick his ass tonight. You’re better than that.”

“Charlotte didn’t think so—”

“Dude—” Aiden slapped Danny in the back of the head. “Are you trying to speed run death tonight? Shut the hell up!”

“I’m going upstairs,” Jake bit out. “You can let me go, but if you don’t get him together, I’m gonna kill him.”

“Understood.”

When both had disappeared upstairs, Elizabeth exhaled slowly, turned back to the idiots by the sofa. “You’ll be sharing Aiden’s room,” she said, folding her arms. “Go upstairs, go to bed. We’ll talk in the morning—”

“You’re not my mother. You can’t tell me what to do—”

“You don’t have any choices here, Danny.” Jason crossed a few steps to stand next to Elizabeth by the base of the stairs. “Go upstairs or you can go find someone else who wants to put up with you tonight. Your mother’s not an option. And I’m willing to bet you don’t want to tell either grandmother why you need a place to sleep.”

Danny’s eyes glittered with furious tears. “So I’m stuck with you, that’s what you’re saying?”

“Danny, nothing is going to get resolved by continuing this right now,” Elizabeth said softly, and he looked at her. “You’re upset, you’re angry, and we’re just going to keep going in circles. And I’m willing to admit that I’m furious right now with both of you, so furious that I’ll probably say some things I regret. You lose nothing by just going upstairs, taking a deep breath, and trying to get some sleep.”

Jason exhaled slowly, watching Danny weigh Elizabeth’s words, his eyes squinting as he considered whether to reject her suggestion with more anger or if he’d go along with it. When his shoulders slumped, and he looked away, Jason knew his son had given in.

“All right. Fine. I’m not going to feel different tomorrow. Everyone sucks, and I’m done pretending they don’t.”

“Then at least, you’ll be able to say that without looking like you’re going to vomit on your shoes. Go—” Elizabeth stepped aside, and Danny slunk past her, his feet heavy as he passed her.

“Mom, I’m so sorry—” Aiden stopped in front of her, his eyes damp. “You gotta believe me—”

“Tomorrow, Aiden. When I’ve had time to calm down. Because right now, I am so disappointed in you I can barely breathe. Go to bed.”

Penthouse: Living Room

Dante lightly shoved Rocco to the sofa where the teen bounced, and groaned, clutching his middle. “Keep your voice down,” he told his son. “Your sister and your aunt are asleep.”

“Not a problem,” Rocco grunted. “I’m never drinking again.”

“You’re damn right you’re not. You’re not seeing the light of day again—”

“Who started it?” Sam asked, flipping the lock and approaching the sofa. “You? Danny? I know it wasn’t Aiden—”

“Because he’s gay, he can’t drink? Where’s that rule?” Rocco sat up, grimacing. “Everyone thinks he’s perfect—”

“Hey, moron—” Dante leaned over, bracing his hands on his thighs. “Shut up and answer the questions. You don’t get commentary. Which one of you idiots started this shit?”

“I dunno. I don’t,” Rocco repeated when Dante just rolled his eyes. “We went to a party last year. Someone gave us beer. We all got trashed. It was fun. So we kept going it.”

“God, that’s just stupid enough to be true.” Dante shook his head. “Well, I hope you enjoyed the outside world. You and Danny are gonna be lucky if we don’t homeschool you.”

“Uh, is Danny gonna come home, or—” Rocco looked over at Sam. “I mean, I know he’s said some rotten shit, Sam—”

“Watch your mouth,” Dante snapped, and Rocco made a face.

“Danny wants to think life with his dad is so much better,” Sam said, folding her arms. “Well, he’s gonna learn, isn’t he?”

“Bold strategy, Cotton.” Rocco laid back, closed his eyes. “Can I go to bed? Like maybe we yell at me tomorrow when the world stops spinning?”

“If you wake up Kristina or Scout, I’m going to kick your ass—”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rocco lumbered to his feet, and slowly made his way towards the stairs. He stopped at the landing, touched the wall. “Hold on, I think—yep—” He covered his mouth, and Dante lunged forward, tugging Rocco from the carpeted steps just in time so that the vomit hit the hardwood instead.

“Fantastic,” Sam muttered, heading for the kitchen and the mop.

Webber House: Living Room

When both boys had gone upstairs, when they’d heard a door slam, Elizabeth closed her eyes, scrubbed her hands down her face, then looked at Jason. “A year. They’ve been drinking and smoking weed for a year.”

Jason pulled her into his arms, needing the comfort as much she did. “I didn’t know what to do with him,” he admitted. “I never saw this coming.”

“You and me both. Aiden—my sweet baby—” Her voice wobbled slightly, and he stroked her back. “I’m just hoping we’ll get some sleep and it’ll make sense in the morning.” She stepped back, sliding her hands down his chest, tipping her head up. “I’m sorry if I overstepped with Danny—”

“You didn’t. And I don’t know if I should have said what I did to Aiden back at the station, or here about Luke—”

Elizabeth smiled sadly. “He needed to hear it. They both did. Addiction—God, it’s destroyed so many of the people around us. I hadn’t—I hadn’t thought about Emily being so young. She  had just come from rehab when I moved here.”

“Alan was addicted to pills, too,” Jason said. “I don’t usually put a lot into genetics, but—”

“Hard not to. And the years we lost with Jake because of Luke. If that accident hadn’t happened—” Elizabeth sighed. “Anyway. You didn’t overstep. Not when you’ve been the one with Aiden while I was in jail. We both tried to tell him how important it was that I didn’t get in trouble right now, and—I know he’s young, and he’s impulsive. He doesn’t always think — but they both need to see consequences from tonight. And—” She paused. “Aiden and Danny are in this together — I don’t see how we’re going to be able separate this. You, me, Sam — and Dante with Rocco. We’re going to have to handle this together.”

“Thank you. For letting Danny come here tonight.” Jason exhaled, stroking her upper arm, then taking her hand to draw her over to the sofa where they sat down. “I can’t believe Sam left like that—”

“We’re not the ones dealing with Danny day in and day out,” Elizabeth reminded him. “Maybe you or I couldn’t see doing it, but I gotta tell you, if my kid talked to me the way Danny did tonight every day for months, I’m not sure I wouldn’t leave him in jail overnight either.” She smiled thinly. “Not that I want to defend Sam or anything. I don’t. But none of this was easy tonight. We all lost our temper. With each other, with the boys—”

“You didn’t,” Jason said, and Elizabeth sighed, leaned her head against his shoulder.

“I almost did. I’m trying to remember that they don’t think before they act, but this is—this is so beyond what I ever expected to be dealing with. Cameron was caught stealing once, and even that didn’t scare me—Danny and Rocco were wandering the streets drunk, Jason! They could have been hurt! How many times did I believe Aiden about being with Dante, and that could have been him! It probably has been him, and we just don’t know—” She pressed two fingers to her lips. “I’ve never felt more like a failure as a mother than I did standing in that police station tonight.”

“We should take your advice,” Jason said, and she looked at him. “Sleep. Maybe we’ll have a better handle on it tomorrow.”

“I know. I know.” She got to her feet, then held out her hand. “Come on.”

He lifted his brows. “What?”

“You’re not staying on the sofa. If Aiden’s old enough to drink and get high, he’s old enough for you to come upstairs. Not that anything—” she flushed, and he smiled, getting to his feet. “You know. Just to sleep—”

He covered her mouth with a brief kiss, and she sighed against his lips, relaxing into his arms. “I know, Thursday,” he murmured, stroking both her arms. “Come on. Let’s get some sleep.”

Webber House: Cameron’s Bedroom

Cameron and Jake shared the third floor of the brownstone, and they’d retreated to Cameron’s room facing the back yard.

Jake was pacing from the window to the door, and back again. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to break him into little pieces—”

“Uh huh.” Cameron sat cross-legged on the bed, scrolling through his phone. “Let me know when you’re done.”

“We just told him—we literally had this conversation today—and when Mom came home—” Jake turned, stabbed a finger at Cameron. “We told him — perfect son. I figured you’d be the unpredictable one—”

“Hey, I bought my weed for medicinal purposes,” Cameron reminded him. “You’re the one that let Danny get away with having a vape. You gotta snitch in times like this—’

“Oh, shut up. You act like you have any experience in this. You’re the only one in this family that’s been in trouble for drugs.” Jake dropped into Cameron’s desk chair.

“First—how dare you. Second, uh, I think I’ve got a decent amount of experience in keeping morons out of trouble. First, you’ve met Joss. You think it was easy to get her through high school?”

“Couldn’t get her out of college—ow—” Jake rubbed his arm when Cameron slugged him.

“I’m not the one that ended up getting my girlfriend shot, so maybe—”

“Okay. We’re getting off track—” Jake held up his hands, and Cameron smirked. “The point is our little brother is gonna get Mom tossed back in jail—”

“Brothers,” Cameron clarified. “Danny’s just as much my problem now as he is yours. He’s staying here right, obviously. I gotta wonder what’s going on with that,” he added when Jake frowned. “Sam let that happen? After all the crap she pulled the last few weeks? I have questions.”

“Oh, Danny probably ran his mouth again. You heard the way he talked to Mom. He’s been  talking to Sam like that for a while.” Jake paused. “Probably should have said something, but you know—”

“You agree with him,” Cameron finished, and Jake shrugged. “Yeah, fair. Look. We’re not allowed to kill either of them, and you know Mom’s disappointed face is gonna have Aiden begging for mercy in five minutes. The question is — will her magical powers extend to Danny?”

“He might be immune,” Jake said. “We might need a backup plan. Can I put him in your suitcase and you deal with him in California?”

“Let’s leave kidnapping as a last resort. Though—” Cameron raised his brow. “Has he been kidnapped before? That would make him a real member of the family. Might be a good way to haze him.”

“Oh, no, you’re the only one that had to wait until they could remember being kidnapped for his first one.” Jake flopped on the bed next to Cameron. “Danny’s got us all beat. Kidnapped at birth. Aiden at least made a day or two, I think.”

“See? Never had a chance.”

Penthouse: Dante & Sam’s Bedroom

Sam gripped the curtain tightly, staring moodily out over the blinking lights of the harbor. “You think I was wrong to leave Danny there.”

Behind her, Dante threw back the comforter, slipped into bed. “I wasn’t there, Sam. I don’t know what Danny said—”

“Nothing more than he usually does. Didn’t even call me a bitch—” Sam turned, folded her arms. “I just—I don’t know. We walk in there, and you go to pull strings—thank you by the way. Neither of them deserve it, but I’m glad it’s not going to mess things up for Elizabeth. I don’t need that on my conscience.”

“What happened after I left you?” Dante asked.

“Called me a raging lunatic,” Sam muttered. She pressed her toe into the carpet. “Aiden’s falling over himself to apologize, and I guess it’s because he wasn’t drinking, and Rocco didn’t even give you attitude. My kid? He’s still taking shots. It’s just—I know I’m not perfect, and I know I didn’t handle any of this right. Not since he first started getting in trouble, or when Jason came home—” She tiled her face up, trying to blink back tears. “But you know, you can only hear your kid talk to you that way so many times, right? I’ve got pretty thick skin—”

Dante got out of bed, crossed to her. “Hey.” His voice was soft and when she met his gaze, she couldn’t hold back the tears. “I’m sorry. We should have done something sooner. I was hoping we could ride through it. Get him to the other side, but it turns out there are deeper problems. With both of them.” He rubbed her shoulders. “But we’re in this together. You, me—and if you’re up to it, I think we’d benefit from letting Jason and Elizabeth in on this. Team work. Our trio are idiots are who on the verge of making some really awful mistakes, Sam. We gotta find a way to work together. No matter what’s happened before now. Our kids deserve the best version of us.”

“You’re right. You usually are.” She leaned her forehead against his. “What would I do without you?”

“Good thing you don’t have to find out. Come on, let’s get some sleep so we can plot how to make their lives miserable tomorrow.”

+39

Written in 69 minutes. Sorry, I ended up combining two parts, and then needed to find a way to end the scene.

Sunday, September 14, 2024

PCPD: Squad Room

Dante strode just ahead of them into the squad room, shoving the double doors open so forcefully they slapped against the walls and nearly came back on them.

The targets of his ire were seated in a trio of chairs lined up next to a pair of desks, facing out towards the rest of the room. Aiden was at the far left, slouched down, his head propped up on his elbow. When the adults arrived, he snapped up straight, his eyes wide, his cheeks flushed. The only one of the three of them that seemed to have any sense—

Danny was sitting in the middle of of the trio, grinning and cracking jokes with Rocco who looked a little queasy, but had no problem snickering. Both boys had flushed cheeks, too, but Dante knew it came from whatever they’d put in their systems — their eyes were glassy, and they were still clearly riding something other than just alcohol.

And neither of them seemed all that concerned when their parents had arrived.

Dante scrubbed his hands down his face. “If I talk to him right now, I’m going to lose it,” he told Sam. “Let me grab Dex and the other arresting officer and see what I can handle. Sam, I’m tagging you in. Kill him for me.” He made eye contact with Dex, then nodded towards the interrogation room.

Sam folded her arms, took a deep breath, then shook her head. “I can’t—I can’t look at them—” She turned away, looked at Jason and Elizabeth. “They don’t even care—they’ve got to be high or something.”

Jason saw Danny point in Sam’s direction, then say something to Rocco and snort with laughter. He scowled, pushed his way to the front. “What do you have to laugh about right now?” he demanded, and Danny’s eyes went a little wide at the tone in his father’s voice. Some of the flush dissipated and he fidgeted.

“Mom, none of this is my fault—” Aiden snapped to his feet. “You gotta believe me—”

“Oh, you mean like every time I believed you were spending the night with your cousin?” Elizabeth wanted to know, lifting her brows. “I’m supposed to believe that Danny and Rocco’s phone just happened to show up at your house? What, did they chuck them into the bushes without you knowing?”

Aiden swallowed hard. “Okay, so some of this is my fault, but no one told these morons to come over. They were supposed to be somewhere else—”

“Aiden, sit down,” Jason cut in, his tone only slightly less harsh than it had been with his own son. Aiden obeyed, swallowing hard, and dropping his head slightly. “When I told you how important it was that every single person in that house had to be very careful, that the feds would use whatever excuse they could to put your mother back in jail, did you think that didn’t mean you?”

Aiden opened his mouth, looked at his mother. “Mom—”

“Don’t look at me. I want to hear your answer,” Elizabeth retorted, and his cheeks paled. He  clearly hadn’t counted on her backing Jason’s anger. “Because you have been lying to me for almost a year. Even if I wasn’t wearing this—” She jerked up her jean leg to reveal the ankle monitor. “I would still be angry. How am I going to explain an early morning trip to the PCPD, Aiden? How do I explain two drunk teenagers on my lawn at one in the morning?”

Aiden folded his arms, and seemed to fold in on himself. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“Don’t smile,” Sam snapped at Danny, whose slight smirk faded. “You wipe that goddamn smirk from your face right now, or—”

“Or what? You’ll take my phone from me again—” Danny began.

“Shut up,” Jason said, and Danny looked at him, swallowed again. “I don’t care what’s going on between you and your mother. You’re not going to talk to her that way. You think it’s funny that the three of you might have put Elizabeth’s freedom in jeopardy? That she might go back to jail? You think Jake would be happy if you got his mother locked up again?” he demanded of Danny.

“Right, because it’s all about Jake, right.” Danny scowled, got to his feet. “All summer, you’ve been obsessed with him because he was pissed at you, and it was like you didn’t even care about me—you didn’t even fight Mom when she said I couldn’t see you—”

“Oh, then what was stopping you this week?” Sam cut in. “Because I lifted all of those restrictions last Monday, didn’t I? You’re done playing me, Danny. You fought me all summer because you thought your dad would let you run wild, but the second you got the chance to see him, you didn’t even bother to call him. Why is that?”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Oh, my God, I told you! The FBI was on my ass — they literally stopped me in the park. I didn’t want to deal with it! Okay? Dad made sure to protect Jake from being harassed, but I guess he couldn’t be bothered to make sure I didn’t have to either—”

“I—” Jason looked at Sam, sharply who flushed.

“Danny—”

“You both actually suck, so how about that?” Danny retorted. “Mom let the FBI talk to me even though I didn’t want to, and Dad didn’t stop her. Didn’t fight her. You never do. It’s always whatever she wants, and you don’t give a damn about me! You never did! Don’t lie! I know Jake’s the one you care about, the only kid you actually wanted—and you left me with this lunatic who tries to control everything I do! Nothing is ever good enough for you!” he shot at his mom, who pressed her lips together, her eyes glimmering with furious tears.

“Don’t bother—” Sam said when Jason started to speak. “He’s made himself the victim. First, your dad was fighting to see you more and was going to get lawyers involved. Why do you think I dropped the restrictions?”

Danny looked at his father, then back to Sam. “That’s not true—”

“Whatever. I’m—I’m just done. I’m done. You want to destroy your life? You want to follow in my footsteps, in your dad’s? You want a felony record that will make your life harder? You want to get drunk and high? Go ahead. I’m done.” She looked at Jason. “He’s your problem. Good luck.”

And then she just walked out.

PCPD: Interrogation Room

Dante smelled the vape pen Dex had given him, and his stomach lurched. “Both of them?”

“Yeah.” Dex shifted, his thumbs tucked into his belt, clearly uncomfortable with the entire situation. “I guess we can’t say for sure, but it’s definitely weed.”

“High and drunk.” Dante dragged out the metal chair, and sat down, put his head in his hands. “And it’s not the first time. Clearly.”

“I don’t think so. But we have no record of it here. I ran their names.” Dex looked at his partner, then back at Dante. “Listen, I want to help. It’s just—if was just alcohol, you know we could just release them. With a warning. But the weed—”

“We got called out on a 911,” his partner said. “Reported two kids walking along Elm Street, laughing, giggling. Nearly got hit by a car. The driver called it in.”

“Oh, man. I had—” Dante nodded. “Okay. Okay. I get it. And I promise you, a month ago, these idiots pull this, I’m ready to scare them straight with whatever we throw at them. But my idiots—they showed up at Elizabeth’s house. And her son didn’t do anything illegal. He was trying to get them to leave.”

“I know she’s out on bail. Joss said it’s pretty strict. They’d run her for this? Even though her kid didn’t do anything—”

“They’ve got her on murder charges, Dex. Charges that Chase and I debunked within an hour. They’re gunning for her. Or for Jason. Either way—this—this isn’t right. Aiden’s not just her son. He’s my nephew—he’s Lulu—” Dante looked away, thinking of his comatose ex-wife who was sleeping away their child’s life. “He’s Lulu nephew. And he doesn’t deserve to bear the guilt for something happening to his mom because he was a moron.”

Dex rubbed his mouth. “We didn’t do any paperwork,” he said slowly. “And I’m the only one who smelled—I didn’t right that down. I know—” he looked at his partner. “I know it’s asking a lot—”

“I’m not asking as a cop,” Dante said. “And I swear, Rocco and Danny — this isn’t going to happen again. I got a wake up call, and I’m not about to let him mess up his life. Please.”

“I guess we can just note that we found the teens on Elm Street, called parents and released them with a warning. We don’t have to mention the weed,” Dex’s partner said reluctantly. “It would just be me and Dex who know.”

“Thank you. Thank you. This is—okay. Thank you—” Dante gestured at the vape pens on the table between them. “Do you want me to get rid of these—”

“Yeah, let me get you an evidence bag.”

After Dex had sent Dante back to the squad room, his partner just looked at him. “If this blows back on us, I’m gonna blame you,” she said.

“It won’t. Dante’s good people. I just hope he can get those kids under control.”

PCPD: Squad Room

Dante emerged from the squad room, the plastic evidence bag in hand, then stopped short when he saw Jason and Elizabeth in the squad room, all three boys still sitting down. “Uh, did Sam need a break, or—”

“I think she’s waiting in the car.” Elizabeth paused. “Danny’s going home with us,” she added. “Sam needs a break from him, and honestly—” she blew out a breath. “Hard to blame her.”

“Uh—” Dante nodded. “Okay.” He looked at Rocco who was holding his middle. “Stand up. We’re going home, and I don’t want to hear a single word from you. Got it?”

Rocco got up, swayed slightly. “Yeah. Sorry that was a word. Does that—” He closed his mouth when his father lifted his chin.

Then Dante looked at Danny, staring hard at the linoleum floor. “You and your mother have been going round and round for weeks, and she’s taken a lot of crap from you. I sat back, I let her handle it, but I should have slapped you upside the head the second you started with the insults. I don’t even have to know what you said to know it was out of line, and remember this, Danny. You’re the one that started this. You became someone we couldn’t trust, and your mother’s been reacting to you. So maybe it’s a good idea for you to take a  break from each other.”  He looked at Jason and Elizabeth. “I got it handled. This goes away. Not because they deserve it, but I’m not letting you or Aiden take the fall for any of this.”

“Thank you. I’ll still need to explain the PCPD trip,” Elizabeth said, “but my address won’t be on a police record?”

“No. And Aiden’s a minor who didn’t do anything wrong. At worst, he’s a witness.” Dante wrapped a hand around Rocco’s upper arm. “Let’s go. And if you vomit in my car, I’m going to make you clean it up.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Jason said to Elizabeth. “Before anyone else sees us.” He looked at Aiden and Danny. “Get up.”

Aiden nearly leapt to his feet. “Mom, I am so sorry—”

“You haven’t even begun to be sorry,” Elizabeth said, taking his arm and steering him towards the doors.

Danny lifted his chin at his father. “You can’t make me go with you—”

“You want to stay here? Face charges for whatever was in that bag Dante was carrying?” Jason bit out. “Go for it—”

“You’re just mad because Elizabeth might get in trouble—”

“I’m mad because my son is drinking and doing drugs,” Jason said. “I’m angry because you’re a selfish, self-centered idiot who can’t think of anyone but himself. Because, yeah, this disaster put her in jeopardy. And it’s made trouble for Dante where he works. Your actions? They affect the people around you. What you did tonight, the position you put Aiden in—”

“Please, don’t let him fool you—” Danny began but Jason silenced him with one look.

“I’ll have a conversation with Aiden. His mother will have a conversation with Aiden. Let’s go. Now. Or stay here, and I’ll tell Dex you want to be booked. Your decision.”

Webber House: Living Room

Cameron and Jake were sitting on the landing when Jason and Elizabeth arrived home. Elizabeth came in first — holding the door for the teenagers who trudged in with Jason following.

“Sofa,” Jason said. “Both of you.”

“I’m tired, I just—” Danny saw the look in his father’s eyes and scowled. “Fine. Whatever.”

“What did you do?” Cameron wanted to know, getting to his feet. “Where were you guys? I woke up—”

“I don’t even know where to start.” Elizabeth wrapped one arm around her middle, rubbed her temple with the other. “How long?”

Aiden blinked up at her. “How long?” he echoed.

“How long have you been drinking?”

“What?” Jake exploded, lunging to his feet. “What do you mean drinking—”

“Jake, don’t start,” Elizabeth cut in sharply. “Or we’ll have another conversation about the Brown Dog and what you were doing there.”

Cameron frowned, looked at him. “What?”

“Later,” Jake muttered, dropping back to the landing, Cameron slowly sitting next to him.

“How long?” Elizabeth repeated, and Aiden made a face, obviously hoping his mother had been distracted from remembering the question.

“I dunno.” He picked at his sleep shorts. “Like since last Thanksgiving.”

“Last—” Elizabeth nodded. “Great. That’s—that’s great—”

“Maybe you were too busy kidnapping people to notice,” Danny said.

Jason stepped forward, and Jake both stood up at the insult, but Elizabeth held up her hand and met Danny’s gaze head on.

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” she said, and he scowled at her. “When you lash out, slap someone. When you call your mother a lunatic, or a bitch, or any of the other lovely things I’ve heard you say to or about her. Did you feel good when you did that?”

“What does it matter?”

“You think that because I’ve been in trouble with the law, because your mom and your dad have records, that somehow you’re better. That you get to use it like a weapon to bludgeon your way out of trouble, but that’s not how it works in this family. And don’t—” She held up a finger when Danny opened his mouth. “Don’t you dare say you’re not in my family. Jake is your brother. Whether you like it or not, that means I give a damn about what happens to you.”

Danny swallowed hard, looked away. “Whatever.”

“The drinking, the drugs, it stops now. For both of you,” Jason said, flatly. “My sister nearly died from a drug overdose when she was your age. I was almost killed in a drunk driving accident caused by my own brother.” He looked at Aiden. “Your grandfather drove drunk and nearly killed your brother.”

“And your father is a recovering pill addict,” Elizabeth offered. “Addiction runs in the Spencer bloodlines. And the Quartermaines.”

“It was just a couple of beers,” Danny complained. “You’re acting like I go to school drunk or whatever—”

“You vape during the day. I’ve seen it,” Jake said, and Danny shot to his feet, betrayed. His brother got to his feet. “I’m done covering for you.”

+44

Written in 60 minutes.

Saturday, September 13, 2024

Webber House: Kitchen

Aiden tore open the bag of popcorn, and upended it into the large glass bowl. His phone vibrated next to him with a notification from Snapchat.

He scowled, picked it — another stupid picture from Danny and Rocco who were holding up their bottles of beer and a caption wish u were here well drink 4 u

“Morons,” he muttered. Even he knew you didn’t take incriminating pictures of yourself with your phone. It would serve them right if he saved it for later blackmail—

In fact— Aiden tapped a quick screenshot, saved it to his camera roll.

“Dude, it’s not gourmet cake.” Cameron stopped in the doorway. “It’s popcorn. We’re waiting on you to start the movie.”

“I’m just adding butter the way Mom likes.” Aiden dumped the melted better he’d already prepared into the bowl. “Let’s go.”

Penthouse: Living Room

Kristina plucked a piece of pepperoni from her pizza, popped it in her mouth. “I think Michael’s overreacting. You need to talk to him—”

Dante sat down on the sofa, a bottle of beer in his hand, and sighed. “I’m not getting in the middle—”

“Everyone says that, and then they take Molly’s side. Michael said that, too—” Kristina folded her arms. “I just don’t understand why no one gets that Molly is making a huge mistake—”

“What I don’t get—” Sam leaned over to snag a napkin for her cheese fries. “Why do you care? Molly’s not hurting you. She’s doing a job. Let her deal with everything that’s happened in her own way. You guys will stay in your separate corners for a few weeks, your charges will get dismissed, and you’ll be able to focus on the real villain. Ava.”

“See—” Dante tipped his beer at Sam. “That’s what I’m talking about. That’s what we need to focus on. Ava.”

Kristina made a face. “Where’s Scout? I thought we were going to watch a movie.” She looked to the stairs. “I didn’t chase her away with my bad mood, did I?”

Dante opened his mouth, looked at Sam who grimaced. “No. She just wanted to watch something on Netflix, and it’s some ridiculous teen show that I have zero interest in. I can make her come down—”

“You might as well tie a pork chop around my neck and force people to play with me.” Kristina folded her arms. “Everyone’s running away from me.”

“We’re not, Krissy. We invited you over, didn’t we?” Sam reminded her, and Kristina sighed. “Let’s put on a stupid movie, and we’ll get some more drinks, right? You can sleep in Danny or Rocco’s room. We need to have one night where we don’t think about anything awful.”

“So, I guess dinosaur movies where lots of humans die is out of question, huh?”

“A comedy then. Something from when we were younger.” Sam picked up the remote, navigated to one of the streaming apps. “What’s that one movie you used to watch all the time? Around the time Danny was born?”

“Moneyball,” Dante said, and Sam whacked him. “Hey! Don’t knock it until you try it!”

“It’s all about math, no thanks.” Kristina burrowed into the chair. “I’m just in a rotten mood. This was a bad idea.”

“No, we just—we have to find the right thing to distract you. Adam Sandler.” Sam clicked the title. “Just please, Krissy, give it a chance, okay? For me?”

Kristina sighed. “All right. For you. And the movie you were thinking about was Pitch Perfect.”

“Oh, that’s right. You thought you could sing acapella for like three weeks.” Sam paused. “It was not pleasant.” She was rewarded when her sister smiled. “And, hey that’s a trilogy, isn’t it? Dante, go get those beers—”

“And a gun so I can kill myself,” Dante said, pretending to be injured when Sam slugged him in the shoulder. “Beers coming right up.”

Webber House: Aiden’s Bedroom

Aiden didn’t hear his phone the first time it rang — well, buzzed — his ringer was off. Or the second time. But the third time, the vibration of the phone had moved it towards the edge of the nightstand and Aiden definitely heard when it clattered to the floor.

“Oh, crap—” If he busted another screen his mother was going murder him—he rolled towards the edge of the bed, snagged it off the floor — and saw the missed calls from Rocco.

And since it was a little past one in the morning, and Rocco had called three times in rapid succession—

Make that four.

Not a good sign.

“This better be good,” Aiden muttered.

“Yo, we’re outside. Come let us in.” The words were a little slurred, but it was definitely his cousin, and he could hear Danny in the background.

“You’re cracked if you think you’re coming in this house. Mom would murder me, call Sam and Dante, and then you’ll be dead. We’ll have a group funeral—”

“No, no, listen—listen—” Rocco giggled. “Listen, we got a plan—”

“I’ve heard that before. Go away,” Aiden hissed, then hung up the phone. Then grimaced. Oh, shit. If they were out side and making noise — Jake and his mom’s room were right over the front of the house—

Shit, shit, shit—

He needed to get them away from the house.

Webber House: Elm Street

“Look, I gots ten fingers—” Rocco splayed out his hand, waved at Danny. “Where’d they come from?”

“Your butt,” Danny said, then exploded into his own giggles, stumbling and sliding to the ground by the front wall of the Webber house. “Your butt,” he repeated again.

The door opened behind them, and Aiden stepped outside, in a t-shirt, shorts, and bare feet. “Shut up you assholes, my mom is right there—” he hissed, stabbing a finger at a window above them.

“Yeah?” Rocco lifted his head up. “Hey, can she tell me what jail was like? She was with chicks, though, so maybe it’s not the same—”

Aiden scowled, grabbed Rocco’s arm and dragged him towards the street. “What the hell happened to the plan? You were supposed to crash with Frankie—”

“F-funny thing—” Rocco wavered slightly, then stared at his hand. “Ow—what’d you hit me for?” he demanded of Aiden.

“We need to get you both out of here before Mom wakes up. She’ll snitch on you—” Aiden looked at Danny, then leaped forward, snagging the vape pen from Danny’s hand. “What are you, stupid? You’re outside—”

“It’s cool, no one’s here—” Rocco tugged out his own, took a puff, then blew the smoke in Aiden face. “And stop acting like such a wuss. You like this stuff—” He offered the pen to Aiden who slapped it out of his hands.

“I like it at the boathouse when people aren’t around,” he snarled, his voice still hushed. “Not when my mother is twenty feet above me, and can smell it, you fuckers. Get out of here!”

“Listen, listen, listen—” Danny rolled over on all fours, then shook his head. “Whoa, that—that was not a good idea.” Then he lumbered to his feet, and slung an arm around Aiden’s shoulders. “My guy here—” He took Aiden by the jaw, shook it lightly. “He’s a little uptight. We just gotta get him laid. Tobias isn’t doing it right—”

“Hey, twat waffle, you’re not getting shit either. Georgie doesn’t even know you’re alive,” Aiden growled, shoving at Danny who went into Rocco, and then they both went down to the ground. “Go away—”

“What’s going on here?”  They heard the voice a moment before the beam of flash light blinded him.

Aiden brought his hands up to protect his vision — then realized Dex Heller was striding towards them with another uniform by his side.

Cops.

Of course.

“Oh, I am so dead—” he moaned, then looked down at the vape pen he’d snatched from Danny. He released it with a horrified squeak, sending it flying —

Where it landed at Dex’s feet. He looked up at Aiden, then sighed. “You’re kidding me, right? Morons.” He paused. “I can go knock on the door and wake up your mother now, or she can get a call from the PCPD. Your choice.”

Aiden opened his mouth, then looked over to see Rocco vomiting on the cop’s shoes. “You know what, call from the PCPD. That way I get to live a little longer.” And Mom probably wouldn’t wake up Jake or Cam —

Who were actually going to kill him.

Webber House: Elizabeth’s Bedroom

Elizabeth was only half awake when she reached for the ringing phone. “Hello?” she slurred, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “What is it?”

“Ms. Webber? This is Dex Heller.”

“Dex—” Elizabeth jolted. “Dex. Officer Heller.” She shoved herself out of bed, started looking around her room. “What is it?” Oh, God, had Jason been in an accident? Was it Laura, or Kevin—

“I’m sorry to wake you, ma’am, but we’ve got your son Aiden down here. You’ll need to come down.”

“You’ve—” Elizabeth shook her head, jerked her door open and headed down the short hallway. “No, you don’t. He’s right here—” She opened his door — and saw the blanket hastily shoved back. “He was just right here.”

“I know. We picked him up out front of your house with his cousin, Rocco Faloncieri and his stepbrother, Danny Morgan. Public intoxication, possession of tobacco, disorderly conduct—”

“Wait, wait, wait—” Elizabeth pressed a hand to her forehead. “You—you picked him up out front of the house. W hy didn’t—” She went back down the hallway into her room, trying to locate the jeans she’d discarded earlier. “Why didn’t you just knock on my door?”

“Your son asked to be taken in.”

“He asked—you know what, I’ll deal with this when I get down there. Have Danny and Rococo’s been called?”

“Yes, ma’am, I contacted Sam and Dante just a little while ago. I’m sorry about this.”

Elizabeth disconnected the call, took a deep breath, counted to ten, then called Jason, who despite the hour, didn’t sound as if he’d been asleep at all. “Elizabeth? What’s wrong—”

“Everyone’s alive,” she said shortly. “For now. I don’t understand what the hell happened, but somehow my son, yours, and Rocco all got arrested for drinking and smoking outside my house.”

“Outside—” Jason stopped. “Danny?”

“Yes.” She blew out a short breath. “Do I need to call Diane? Is this going to mess up my bail? Jason—”

“Let’s just—I’ll call Diane, just to put her on alert. Come by the diner, pick me up. We’ll go down to the PCPD together. One step at a time.”

“I’ll be there in five minutes. Maybe less. No, I have to go the speed limit—damn it—” She ran into the side of her dresser, stubbing her toe.

“Elizabeth?”

“I’m fine. I just—” She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “I’ll be right there. Call Diane. And then we’ll go kill our kids.”

PCPD: Squad Room

Aiden leaned forward. “Listen, listen, those morons—” He swept his hands over towards Rocco and Danny, seated across the room with other officers. Rocco looked a little green, and was clutching his stomach. Danny hadn’t sicked up any of his alcohol and was still riding high from the hit he’d take from his vape pen.

Oh, God, please don’t test the vape pen, please don’t let them find out it’s weed, Aiden prayed.

“I was sleeping, okay? Look, look—” Aiden shoved his phone at Dex. “Look! That’s me, at my house, and them calling me! Because I was inside, asleep. My mom will tell you I was home with her all night—these idiots, they showed up, and they wanted to come inside, and I told them, no, I was trying to make them go away—”

“Calm down.” Dex took the phone, which Aiden had unlocked, scrolled through the notifications, then looked at him. “You got a Snapchat notification from Rocco a few hours ago. You still got this picture?”

Aiden pressed his lips together. He’d already snitched. Might as well finish the job. “Yeah. Yeah. It even says I’m not with them—it’s like the last photo on my camera roll—you can’t mess my mom up on this, she didn’t know anything, and I didn’t do anything—”

“Right. Your mom’s on bail.” Dex hesitated. “You don’t smell like alcohol, and your eyes aren’t glassy. I’m not seeing any signs you did anything. Tonight,” he added. “The vape pen I found you with?”

“I took it from Danny. You gotta believe me, and you gotta—put them in jail, okay? They’re idiots. Me, I’m the boring one. I stayed home!”

“Give me a few minutes.” Dex got to his feet, and Aiden started praying to every deity he could remember in case one of them was in the mood to take pity on a kid.

PCPD: Parking Lot

Elizabeth jerked the car to a stop, just barely making it inside of the lines, and they were both almost out of the car before she could put it in park. They saw an SUV pull into another spot, no better than she had, and Sam was flying out of the car.

She saw them, hissed. “What the hell happened?” she demanded. “What the hell are you thinking letting kids have alcohol? Aren’t you in enough trouble—”

“What the hell—” Elizabeth threw up her hands keep Sam back.

“Sam—” Dante came up to her, pulled her back even as Jason stepped in front of her. “Stop. None of us would give them alcohol. Just—cool it—” He looked at Elizabeth. “I’m sorry. We were asleep—and I just don’t understand. Did  they sneak out?”

“I—how would I know? Aiden was home with me all night! I don’t even know how they got to my house! Or when!”

Sam scowled, pulled out her phone. “That’s impossible. Their phones were at your house all night, look—” She held out the device — and Elizabeth reached for it, squinting to confirm that the devices labeled Rocco and Danny were, indeed, on Elm Street.

“They never came to your house tonight, did they?” Dante asked. He looked to the sky, muttered something.

“Did they say they were coming to Elizabeth’s?” Jason wanted to know.

“They said—God, I’m such an idiot.” Sam scrubbed her hands down her face, moaning slightly. “Oh, God. They played me.”

“They played us both.” Dante looked at Elizabeth and Jason. “Rocco said Aiden was gonna let you and Cam have some time since he was leaving tomorrow. So they were coming over to play games. It’s not—I mean, they’ve come over plenty to do that.”

“They—” Elizabeth furrowed her brow. “No, they go to your place to do that.” She pressed her lips together as the realization dawned. “Oh, so this is something they do all the time.”

“Great. Great. This is fantastic.” Dante took a deep breath. He rubbed his mouth, looked at Sam. “It’s always Rocco asking.”

“Because I double check everything Danny does. Unless he’s doing it with Rocco—I need to sit down.” Sam moved away, leaned a hand against the SUV they’d parked. “Okay. Okay. We’ll compare notes later, right? We’ll figure out how much they’ve been lying and to who. Right now, we have to get them out of the PCPD.”

“Before this ends up on FBI’s radar,” Jason said grimly.

“I swear to God, if this stunt ends up screwing your bail—” Sam looked at Elizabeth. “I’m so sorry. I never—I should have realized you wouldn’t want our idiots over with you tonight. Not with Cameron. I just—Danny got under my skin, and he did it on purpose—” Her voice wobbled, and she turned away.

Dante rubbed her back, and looked at Elizabeth. “He made a crack about she wasn’t gonna let him go because you’re a criminal now, too,” he said, and Elizabeth sighed, rubbed her forehead.

“So you didn’t argue because you wanted to prove to Danny that you weren’t going to do that anymore,” Jason finished.

“This is all my fault—” Sam shook her head. “Oh, God. I can’t even—” She pressed a hand to her mouth.

“We’ll figure out the details later,” Dante told her, rubbing her shoulders. “Come on, we’re a united front right now. All four of us. They’re the idiots, we’re the parents. Let me make calls. I’ll make sure this goes away,” he told Elizabeth. “I wouldn’t pull strings for Rocco otherwise, but this needs to stay off their records. The arrest has to disappear. Your address can’t be put into the system. I’m not gonna let my kid screw you up. I promise.”

+42

Written in 66 minutes.

Saturday, September 13, 2024

Penthouse: Living Room

“She’s going to say no,” Sam muttered, dropping on the sofa next to Dante, trying very hard not to peek over his shoulder at the file he was reading.

“You can live with that,” Dante responded, almost absently. He made a notation. “You gave it your best shot. If Danny wants to know, you can say you tried.”

“And then tell him that his father doesn’t trust me enough to help? That Jake’s mom hates me? I’d rather eat glass.” She folded her legs, reached for her phone. Maybe scrolling her social media feet would get her mind off all of this — but it was just filled with news about the case — including coverage of the DA’s decision to open their own investigation.

“I know Molly believes in what she’s doing, and I know you’re on board, too. I’m glad, by the way, that you and Chase got assigned,” Sam added, and Dante sighed, put the file aside to look at her.

“But?”

“But I’m worried about her. Burying herself in something to forget about everything else that’s going on. So she doesn’t have to think about the baby, about how bad things are with Kristina, or the charges against Ava moving forward—” Sam paused. “She’s going to get to the end of all of this, look around, and it’s not going to have changed anything. It’s—it’s still going to be there.”

“I get that, and I’m worried about both of them. Kristina feels so closed off right now—and I realized something just now, listening to you—” Dante waited for Sam to meet his gaze. “Neither one of us call the baby by her name. We’re both defaulting to generic terms. Daughter, baby, loss—”

Sam pressed her lips together. “I’m afraid to use Irene around Kristina. It makes her so angry, and I don’t want to start another fight. But I don’t want to call her Adela because it’s not her name. And I don’t want to make a mistake with Molly, who doesn’t deserve any of this.” She flicked some screens. “Maybe I should try to talk to Krissy again. We should invite her over tonight. Dinner and movies with the kids—Scout can cheer up anyone.”

“That sounds like a good idea—” Dante stopped when they heard thudding footsteps above them, and then thundering down the steps. “Here comes trouble,” he quipped when Danny and Rocco came into view. “What do you think about movie night and inviting Aunt Kristina?”

“Uh—we were actually gonna ask for another kind of family night.” Rocco held up his phone. “Aiden asked us to hang out tonight. He wants to give his mom time with Cam, so he figured maybe a gaming marathon or something.”

“Unless you don’t want me over Aiden’s house because his mom’s a criminal,” Danny said before either Sam or Dante could respond.

Sam pressed her lips together. “She’s not a criminal, and that—fine. Fine. It’s fine with me. Dante?”

“Yeah, you guys would just depress your aunt anyway. You want me to drop you guys off, or—”

“Yeah, sure. Around six?” Rocco asked.

“Sounds good.” Dante looked at Sam. “After I drop them off, I’ll swing by Kristina’s place, pick her up.”

“If she even agrees to come,” Sam muttered, but selected Kristina’s number and lifted the phone to her ear.

Upstairs, Danny and Rocco reached the first room in the hallway—Rocco’s and slapped each other’s hands.

“What’d I say?” Danny said with a broad grin. “Do I know how to push Mom’s buttons or what?”

“I bow before the master. Text Aiden. Tell him the game’s on.”

“What do we do if Dante tries to come in?” Danny asked, his fingers flying over the screen.

“You heard him. He’s gonna pick up my aunt. It’s a tuck and roll situation, and plus, he’s not gonna wanna talk to Aunt Liz since he’s investigating her case, and it’s like, she’s got a lawyer.” Rocco nodded. “Yeah, that’s what we’ll go with if he tries to come in. We saw it on TikTok or something. Dad’s a stickler, he’ll eat it right up.”

“Man, they make it too easy,” Danny said, snickering. He sent the text. “And we are ready.”

Bobbie’s: Dining Room

“Well, there you are, stranger!”

Jason winced as he turned around to see Carly striding out of the kitchen with a clipboard in her hand. “Hey. I haven’t seen you around here in a while.” Had orchestrated the purchase of an entire hotel to divert her attention. Should have known it wouldn’t last.

“Just some inventory management. If you’re not on your way somewhere, maybe we could grab a table, catch up?”

“Uh, yeah, okay.” Jason followed her to an empty one near the back. “Sorry, I know you called a few times since the hearing—”

“You’ve had a ton on your plate this last week,” Carly said. She smiled at a waitress who approached them. When they’d both placed orders for coffee, she turned back to Jason. “And I know that doesn’t go away because Elizabeth is out on bail. This third party custodian thing, that seems like a lot.”

“Not really.”

Carly waited, but when it was clear he didn’t intend to follow that statement up with any details, she made a face. “Jason, I’d like us to be friends.”

He furrowed his brow. “We are.”

“Yeah, but it’s like a hostage situation, and I’m tired of negotiating. Especially since I’m the hostage taker.” She leaned forward. “You know, Michael’s all grown up now. You don’t have to keep me around to stay close to him.”

Jason sighed, rubbed his face. “Carly, what do you want?”

“I want to know what’s going on. How I can help — with your approval — how you’re doing — what kind of stress you’re under — because we both know you’re not going to tell anyone else. Jason—” She lowered her voice. “Please tell me you know that the FBI doesn’t actually think Elizabeth is the bad guy. They’re after you!”

“Yeah, Carly, that had occurred to me. But I’m innocent, so I don’t really have to worry—”

“Elizabeth’s innocent, too, and she’s wearing an ankle monitor, so bite me.” Carly leaned back while the waitress poured their coffees. When they were alone again, she continued, “Jason, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I don’t have any issues with Elizabeth anymore.”

“I’ve heard that before.”

“It’s true this time. It is,” Carly insisted. “Our kids dated for over a year, and Joss — she really did a number on Cam when they broke up. Joss and her guy now—well, they didn’t exactly wait.” Her lips thinned, and she spooned sugar into her cup. “Like mother, like daughter.”

“Carly.”

“Elizabeth has never said one unkind word about Joss. Or to her. We both know I wouldn’t have been as gracious. I don’t know, maybe she’s grateful we’re not going to be related, but—” Carly looked around the diner, and her voice thickened just a bit. “She loved my mother, you know? I forgot how close they were. How much my mom loved her, too. She’d be horrified at what Elizabeth is dealing with, and she’d be leading the charge to fight. I want to—I want to do good in this world, the way my mother did. I want to help.”

Jason sipped his coffee, took a deep breath. “I hear you, Carly. And I believe you. Having you at the hearing — Joss and Michael, too. That meant a lot. To have people on her side. I’m sure it didn’t go unnoticed by the judge.”

“Michael gets to do battle with the courts over access to the property, and Molly and Dante get to fight the FBI and find the real killer—let me help. Even if it’s just to listen. I can do that, I promise.” Carly drew a line across her chest, then another in the opposite direction. “Cross my heart.”

“Right now,” Jason said, considering his words, “things seem under control. They didn’t earlier this week. When the FBI at Jake’s school. He thought I knew something.” He looked away, took a deep breath. “He confronted me, and I had to tell him I didn’t know anything that would bring his mother home. He…” Jason looked down in his cup. “He cried.”

“That poor baby. Everything he’s been through in his life, you know? And the hits just keep coming. I’m sorry he didn’t trust you, Jason. That must have been painful.”

“I’m not surprised—”

“Neither am I,” Carly cut in. She reached across the table, covered his hand. “But that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. You made choices, Jason. Ones you know I hate. Ones that took you away from your boys, and you don’t get to wave that away. This isn’t like the last time when someone took you. You chose to stay away.”

“I told you why—”

“And if you’d asked me or Sonny or your sons what they’d prefer, it would have been to have you at home, even if I ended up in jail and we all ended up broke and on the streets. We’re smart, resourceful, and we’d have figured it out. I would have rather lost everything, including my own freedom instead of having another funeral for you.”

Jason dropped his gaze. “You know, I told Elizabeth and she was the only one who wasn’t angry at me.”

“Oh, well—of course—” Carly snorted, swiping at her eyes. “When we talk about martyrs, you know no one does it better than she does. You both love to make a sacrifice and pat yourself on the back when nobody asked for it in the first place.”

Jason lifted his coffee cup, squinted. “You know what? Just for that — Elizabeth and I are seeing other again.”

“You think that’s going to ruin my day? Please. Tell me something I didn’t already know.” Carly balled up a napkin and threw it at him. “Just don’t play musical chairs with her and Sam again. I’m too old for that crap.”

Webber House: Kitchen

“You know, you can let me do one thing,” Elizabeth said when Jake took her by the shoulders and gently steered her back to the entrance of the kitchen. “Aiden made breakfast—”

“Jake is clearing down, and I’m doing the dishes. You’re doing nothing.” Cameron nodded at Aiden. “Make her a hot chocolate or something. With sprinkles and whipped cream.”

“On it—”

“Cam—” Elizabeth leaned against the door frame, just watching her boys make themselves busy in the kitchen. She hadn’t stopped smiling since they’d come home the night before — having all three of her kids under one roof for the first time in a month was almost worth the horrible situation she was facing. “When you’re done in here—thank you, baby—” she took the mug from Aiden, “come in the living room. I want to talk about the next few weeks.”

When they’d gathered on the sofa, Liz in the middle of the sofa, Cameron in the arm, Jake to her left, and Aiden on the right, she took a minute to just enjoy the picture — because it wouldn’t be long before Cameron moved out of the house officially or Jake was off to college—she’d had them to herself all their lives, and now she was being forced to share them with the world. The best and worst part of motherhood, she thought.

“All right.” Elizabeth set her mug down. “Let’s talk about about what happens for a few weeks. Spinelli is investigating the case — and he’s focusing on exonerating me. I trust him with my life, and he’ll want to talk to both of you,” she said, directing that to Jake and Aiden. “Molly opened up the case with the DA’s office, and I imagine Chase and Dante will also want to talk to you.”

“Do we talk to them without Diane?” Jake asked. “I mean, I guess they’re the good guys, but—”

“I want you to do whatever you’re comfortable with. I trust them, but it’s not a bad idea to have her present just to be safe, and to be consistent. I’m going back to work on Monday, and other than that — everything is going to be normal.”

“Normal? Mom, you’re charged with a murder you didn’t commit—” Aiden protested. “How can we be normal?”

“The same way you went to school four out of five days this week. I’m innocent, Aiden, and I love my job, and I want you to live your lives. Someone wants to hurt me, and I won’t let them do it.”

Jake nodded. “Okay, so we’re normal and all, but what happens if Dante and Spinelli and everyone can’t fix it. What if—” He looked down at his hands. “What if you go to jail again? And this time, you can’t come home?”

“If I’m—if it goes to trial and I’m convicted, I’ve already talked to your dad. He knows the plan, and we’re signing paperwork this week. He’ll have guardianship of you,” she said to Aiden, touching his shoulder. “Because I want you and Jake to be together. I want you to stay in this house where you’ve grown up.  Cam—” she looked at her eldest, who had remained silent. “You’re finishing Stanford. Period.”

“And I’m coming home to attend to medical school. I already applied, and I’m a Hardy-Webber with Quartermaine adjacent connections. We already know I’m in.” Cameron looked at her. “I’m finishing Stanford and coming home. Period.”

Elizabeth furrowed her brow, then sighed. “That’s a fight for another day, but all right.” She looked at Jake. “You’re going to apply to Spain, and when you get in, you’re going—”

“Mom—”

“You’re going,” Elizabeth repeated. “Jason will come live here with Aiden, all three of you will have your home just as it’s always been. Someone’s trying to hurt me, and they might—they might get away with it for a little while. But they’re not going to derail the dreams I have for you, the ones you have for yourself. Aiden—” She looked at him. “If you’d rather live with your grandmother or—your dad—”

“Do you think he’d be able to recognize me?” Aiden said. He shook his head. “No, I want to be here with Jake, and Jason’s cool. But none of this matters, Mom, because you’re not going to jail. They’re gonna figure this out.”

“Right. We’re talking about something that is probably not an issue.” Elizabeth squeezed Jake’s knee. “Right, honey?”

“But if you do, we keep fighting, right? We appeal and we’ll do whatever we have to,” Jake said. “Because if you end up convicted for this bullshit, I think I speak for all of us — and Dad. We’ll have a new dream, and it’ll be getting you the hell out of there and back where you belong with us.”

Her eyes watered and she took a deep breath. “We’ll argue about that later if we have to. I love you. All of you.” She turned to Aiden, touched his shoulder, then reached for Cameron’s hand. “My entire world. Three of you.”

“I’m on board with all your plans, and here’s one I’m adding. Every other Friday, I come home,” he said. When Elizabeth opened her mouth to protest, he shook his head. “Don’t argue with me, Mom. I already talked it over with Jason. He’s gonna front me the money for the tickets, and I’ll pay him back after I’m done paying for medical school. It’ll be like forty years, but we’ve got a plan.”

Elizabeth hesitated, then gathered herself. “I won’t argue with something that’s obviously out of my hands, and seeing more of you is always good. We’re going to get this, guys. This isn’t our first crisis—”

“Won’t be the last,” Cameron added. “But we’re here, Mom. Until the wheels fall off.”

TJ & Molly’s Apartment: Living Room

TJ gingerly pushed the stack of files to the side and set down the bowls of soup before taking a seat across from Molly — who didn’t look up from her work. “Mols, before it gets cold?”

“I’m not hungry—”

“Molly.”

She recognized the tone, set down her pencil and looked up, apologetic. “I’m sorry, it’s your first night off in days, and I’m buried in work, and you hate when I bring it home—”

“I know this isn’t different. And hey, we want Liz back at the hospital, pronto. Place isn’t the same without her. But you gotta take time for yourself. For us,” he added, and she nodded.

She reached for the bowl, picked up the spoon. “I know I haven’t exactly been great with all of this.”

“What’s all of this?” TJ asked. “What exactly are you apologizing for?”

She bit her lip. “I don’t know. Since we lost Irene. Since the funeral, since—” Molly toyed with the corner of the paper. “I know I’m working more than usual, and you are, too. I know we’re both pretending everything is…that we’re fine. I just—I don’t know what else to do. I can’t sit with myself. Or my thoughts for very long. I need—I just need to think about anything else. I’m sorry.”

“I get it. I do. Like you said, I’m doing the same thing, Mol. We’re both hoping that we’ll stop, look up, and it’s all better, right?” TJ tipped his head. “And what you’re doing, it’s brave and it’s amazing, and I’m so proud of you. Don’t think I’m not. But none of this goes away, and when we clock out of work — it’s all still there. That —” He looked towards the hallway, leading to the bedroom — and the nursery. “That room is still empty. And your sister is still…”

“Still Kristina. And she’ll never change. So I’ll have to.” Molly spooned more of the soup. “I don’t know how to fix any of that, TJ.”

“Me either, so tonight — we’ll have our soup, you can finish your report, I’ll catch up on my medical journal, and then we’ll do a movie. We’ll be okay, Mols. We always make it through.”

Elm Street: Sidewalk

Dante leaned across the passenger side, his hand on the open window. “Don’t give Liz any trouble, you hear me?”

“Dad—” Rocco turned back to flash him another grin. “Don’t worry. Aunt Liz won’t even know we’re here.  Tell Aunt Krissy I love her.”

“I will.”

Dante’s headlights disappeared as he turned the corner, and Aiden jogged up to them. “You guys gotta hurry before either of my brothers see you,” he said. He held out his hands. “Gimme your phones.”

Danny slapped his phone down, and Rocco handed his over. “You’re the best,” he told Aiden. “And in a few weeks, when you’re mom’s cleared, we’ll owe you big time.”

“Yeah, yeah, just get out of here.”

Danny saluted him, and then he and Rocco sprinted across the street, disappearing up the block.

Aiden shoved both phones in his pocket, then headed back inside for movie night with his mother.

+35

Written in 65 minutes.

Friday, September 12, 2024

General Hospital: Nurse’s Station

Amy Driscoll had dodged and evaded every attempt Dante and Chase had made to talk to her for nearly twenty-four hours, not returning voicemails, always just being called away to a patient when they’d come to the hospital the day before —

“Starting to think maybe she did leave the tip,” Chase said with a wrinkle of his nose as he and Dante exited the elevator. “Why would she avoid us otherwise?”

“I’d agree with you, except I survived the Man Landers debacle, and I’m telling you — Amy isn’t involved. She probably thinks we’re calling about a parking ticket.”

“Man Landers?” Chase asked, furrowing his brow. “Do I want to know?”

“No,” Dante said shortly, then sighed when Amy, standing behind the computer terminal, met his gaze, actually did a double take and started to hurry in the opposite direction. “That’s it, I’m tackling her.” He sprinted after her, then skidded to a stop in front of a patient’s room. “No. Today, we’re talking—”

“Oh, but I just have to—”

“No.” Dante spied Felix DuBois passing and snagged his arm. “Felix, finish whatever Amy’s supposed to do. She needs to have a conversation with us.”

“Oh, absolutely.” Interest gleamed in Felix’s brown eyes, always looking for some gossip. “Is she under arrest?”

A sound emitted from Amy that sounded suspiciously like a squeak, but Dante scowled. “No, but if she keeps finding reasons not to talk to us, I might change my mind. Amy—let’s go.”

“Oh, but—”  she sighed, then followed him around the corner to a conference room. “I should have known you’d hunt me down like a dog. Oh, God, that’s a horrible joke. I’m so sorry. I am. I called the number on the tag, I took the dog to the vet, they said he’d be okay—”

“Amy, for the love of God—” Dante held up a hand. “What are you talking about?”

Amy’s blue eyes rounded with surprise. “The dog I hit last week on Elm Street. It was an accident! I paid for it and everything! Please don’t arrest me.”

“The fact that you passed organic chemistry and still zero common—” Dante stopped, took a deep breath. “I don’t know anything about a damn dog. I’m calling you about this.” He nodded to Chase who held out his phone, and the recording played.

“Hello. I have a tip about the murder of that FBI guy. The one on Labor Day. I’m a nurse at GH, and I overheard my supervisor, Elizabeth Webber, talking with that mob guy she’s always with. Jason Morgan. She said that he didn’t need to worry. No one was ever gonna look in her trunk, and when the smoke died down, he could get rid of the gun.”

Amy frowned. “That’s my voice.”

“I know,” said Dante. “Now explain what the hell this message is.”

“That’s my voice,” Amy repeated, “but I never—I never said any of that, and that did not happen, and I’m not just saying that because Morgan could break me in half with, like, a flick of his wrist. I would never snitch on Elizabeth, she’s way too nice to me—I mean, I probably would if I overheard her talking about a murder weapon—”

“Amy—” Dante held up a hand, and she stopped. “You’re telling me you didn’t make this call.”

“No.”

“And the contents of this message — you never heard Elizabeth and Jason having this conversation?”

“No.” Amy shook her head. “Liz and I don’t even work the same shifts — and I haven’t seen her in ages. Well, I guess that’s because she was in jail, which is insane. Can you imagine believing she shot a man in cold blood? I mean, not that she’s not capable of murder. I bet if you threatened one of her boys, she’d be able to do it, but—right, I’ll shut up,” she said before Dante could get the words out.

“Last question. Did you work last Wednesday at all?”

“No. I went to the movies with my brother Yuri. Am I under suspicion or something?”

“Not anymore. You can go, and uh, nice job paying for that dog,” Dante said as she scooted to the door. “I’m glad it’ll be okay.”

“Me, too.”

When she left, Dante looked at Chase with lifted brows. “Well?”

Chase sat on the edge of the conference table, folded his arms. “We have two audio files in this case. Both of which are very incriminating. So incriminating, I can hardly believe that someone with Jason Morgan’s criminal history would ever make these kinds of mistakes. Especially when he’s on scene when the murder is reported. But I’m supposed to believe he left a voicemail telling Cates the time and location of the meeting, and dropped information about a deal that no one else has heard about. Then he set up an alibi, using his teenaged sons so that his nephew and ex-girlfriend could carry out the murder of an FBI agent. And then he’s stupid enough to talk about the murder, the location of the murder weapon with the ex the next day at her very public work place.”

“Do we think that’s the FBI’s theory?” Dante asked.

“I don’t know. That’s the case they’re giving the court, especially now that the first voicemail has been turned over to us and to Diane Miller. Otherwise, you can’t tie Elizabeth to the murder other than an accessory after the fact.” Chase exhaled slowly. “But let’s forget about the FBI. Their case is awful, and Diane is going to murder them. What we have is someone making sure the FBI or the investigation focuses on Jason. First by making it clear Jason lured Cates to the crime scene, and then tying him to the murder weapon through Elizabeth’s car. Someone is setting Jason up for the murder. They either didn’t figure Elizabeth would get the murder charge, or they did — and they’re expecting Jason to do something about it.”

“Now that’s interesting—” Dante lifted his brows. “Because Jason has plead guilty to a crime before — when Michael did a short stint in prison back in 2010. And then playing FBI informant for two years to protect Carly from RICO charges.”

“So whoever is setting Jason up expects him to eventually fall on the sword for Elizabeth.” Chase got to his feet. “So we need to focus on someone who hated John Cates enough to kill him, and who hated Jason enough not to care who else got hurt.”

ELQ: Michael’s Office

“Knock, knock—” Kristina rapped on Michael’s ajar door, smiling when her brother got up from his desk, and came around to hug her. “Hey. I came to see if you wanted to do something this weekend. I feel like we haven’t hung out one on one in forever.”

Michael squeezed her hard, then stepped back. “I’ll check with Willow. Her work schedule has been a little rough this week — she’s picking up a few shifts from Elizabeth.”

“Oh. I didn’t—” Kristina hesitated. “I guess I didn’t think about how that would work. I mean, she’s out on bail, right? Is she on house arrest, or—”

“City limits, so she can go back to work. But I think they wanted to give her a few days. I didn’t get to see her,” Michael said, heading to mini fridge. “You want a water, or something?”

“Yeah, sure.” She caught the bottle he tossed at her. “I thought you went to court.”

“Yeah, but she was on a screen. It wasn’t really the same, and I wanted to give her and Jason some time with the boys. They’ve been through hell this week, with the FBI coming down hard on Jake and Danny.” Michael twisted off the cap, took a drink. “I think she’s going back on Monday.”

“Good. Good. Normalcy, that will help. And of course, Diane and Spinelli will work their magic.” Kristina sat down on the sofa in seating area. “I wanted to talk to you about Molly.”

Michael grimaced. “I don’t want to get in the middle of that—” He sat next to her.

“And I wouldn’t ask you to. I wouldn’t. You—you’ve got so much on your plate.” She reached out, squeezed his hand. “Molly and I will—we’ll figure out a way to get around this—”

“Krissy—” Michael paused, then shook his head. “Never mind.”

“No, say it. What did you want to say?” She tensed.

“You and Molly aren’t going to get around this. Not until you find a way to make peace with the fact that Irene wasn’t your daughter.”

Kristina bit back the correction, took a deep breath. “She was. She was created from me, Michael. My egg, my body—”

“And you promised to donate both the egg and your body to Molly and TJ. I’m not saying your grief isn’t complicated, or that you don’t have a right to feel like you’ve lost a child. I would never take that away from you. But you don’t seem to want to make room for Molly’s grief—”

“Molly’s not grieving at all, though, is she?” Kristina snapped. She got to her feet. “She’s taking over FBI cases and living like nothing happened at all—”

“Normalcy,” Michael echoed, slowly rising. “Isn’t that what you said would help? Going about her daily life. Doing her job. Molly’s always championed what’s right. The principles of it. And since she’s trying to find Cates’ real killer, I’m glad she’s doing it. You’re back to work at Charlie’s, aren’t you? Alexis is back to work, trying to get you out of these ridiculous charges.”

“That’s different—”

“No. It’s not. You can be mad at me all you want, Krissy, I can take it. But Molly doesn’t have to perform her grief to your satisfaction. You don’t have the right to demand that. TJ and Molly lost their daughter that day. You lost a niece that you were generously bringing into the world to build their family. No one expects you not to grieve.”

“No, you just expect me to act like Adela wasn’t my daughter, and she was. She was.” Kristina looked at him. “I was going to keep her.”

Michael exhaled, looked away and scrubbed his hand down his face. “Christ. You were going to drag Molly and TJ into a custody battle? That would have destroyed your entire family. You can’t be serious.”

“We would have worked out something—”

“Well, then I guess you should have stayed out of Dad’s custody battle,” Michael said flatly. “But that’s you, Krissy. You never know when to quit—” His head whipped to the side as she slapped him. “Right. You can go.”

“With pleasure,” she spat.

Port Charles Airport: Parking Lot

Jason navigated the SUV down the lines of cars, searching for an empty spot and coming up empty on their third pass. “Maybe I should drop you at the entrance hall and come back and pick you guys up.”

“We still have time,” Elizabeth said, scanning her side. “Cameron’s plan just landed. They’re probably not even in the terminal yet.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “So there’s something I should have told you when you picked me up five hours ago.”

The SUV braked, waiting for a car with its rear headlights on, signaling that maybe they were going to back up and leave. “Should I be scared?” Jason asked dryly. He clicked on the blinker.

“I just too nervous for the meeting on the way down and didn’t want to open that can of worms, and then when we were done, I didn’t want to talk about anything depressing, but now I realize we’re picking up Cameron, and I won’t want to talk about it this weekend at all—”

“Elizabeth.”

“Sam came to see me this morning,” she said in a rush of words.

He said nothing at first, easing the vehicle into the parking space, and putting it in park. He left the ignition on so that the air conditioner would keep running, then looked at her. “I wondered  how long she’d wait.”

“Why didn’t you tell me she was coming?” Elizabeth wanted to know. She folded her arms. “I felt a little blindsided.”

“Sorry. I didn’t—” Jason paused. “I didn’t want to talk about her either,” he said, and she made a face. “Sam’s not a fun topic. But I’m sorry. I should have. What did she say?”

“I don’t know if what she said matters as much as why she said it. You know what Sam does when she wants something. She figures out how to get it. I believe her when she says helping on my case is supposed to impress Danny.”

“I don’t know if she’s right about that, and I also don’t know if I care. That’s why I told her no at first — and that you’d need to sign off on it if the answer was going to change.” He looked at her. “Your case is too important for it to be something Sam tries to use for her own motives.”

Elizabeth considered that, then nodded. “That’s mostly where I am on it. And I think some of what she said could be true — Danny was getting into a lot of trouble last year. Jake found a vape pen on him. Bad grades, trouble at school, I knew all of that. So I know she was already having problems with him. What I didn’t know is that you asked Danny to keep your presence at the boat house a secret when the PCPD, FBI and every other government agency was looking for you.”

Jason sighed, leaned back against the driver’s seat, staring out the windshield. “Not my finest moment, but yeah. I did that. I—” He paused. “I can tell you I didn’t realize how badly my cover was blown and that I thought if people knew I was alive, Cates would call off the deal. Carly gets arrested, and then the last two years — it’s for nothing. I already—” He fisted his hand against the wheel. “I already hated every minute I was gone. I already regretted doing it, but damn it, I didn’t want to lose everything I’d tried to do and make it all for nothing. That time away from Danny, from Jake, from Monica—from everyone who mattered—I had tunnel vision, and I wasn’t—” His voice shifted slightly, thickened. “I didn’t see him as Danny, my son in that moment, and I’ll never forgive myself for it.”

“Jason—” Elizabeth reached out, touched his arm, and he finally looked at her, thought it was difficult to get a good read on him in the dim shadows. “I’m not blaming you. You came forward, you got to keep your deal, and we got to have you back. You made a mistake as a father. Every parent does—”

“Mine implicated Danny in a federal crime,” Jason bit out.

“Okay, and I helped Nikolas hold his pregnant mistress hostage in Wyndemere because we thought she was a serial killer,” Elizabeth said, “at a time when I thought you were dead, and I was the only parent in my sons’ lives.”

“You—” Jason looked at her, furrowed his brow. “The immunity charge?”

“Yeah. Not my finest moment as a mother. I could have gone to jail for the rest of my life. Instead, I threw Nikolas under the bus, and now he’s in jail instead.” She bit her lip. “In my defense, he kidnapped her first, and I just helped with prenatal care. Anyway. I didn’t bring that up to judge you. But that I do understand how Sam might have seen that act, combined it with Danny getting into trouble, and thinking — he might be happy to follow in your footsteps. Like Morgan, who got himself involved in Sonny’s business for a little while. The first time you were dead,” she added when he just looked at her. “I’m not saying Sam handled it well. Or that I believe she’s sorry.  But I believe her when she says she resents me and Jake. And she very deliberately shoved the boys in the middle of this feud that I never asked to be a part of in the first place. She’s always treated me like I fired the first shot, when all I did was go to you the night she slept with her stepfather.”

Jason sighed, then nodded. “Yeah. That’s—I could pretend for long periods of time she didn’t resent Jake, or outright hate him. But sometimes…she’d get a look—I never should have forgiven her. I love Danny, and I’ll never regret that he’s here, but all the same—”

“I get it, Jason. I married Franco, didn’t I?”

He made a face, and she smiled. “See, I told. Neither of us are stellar in the choice-making department. Relationships, crimes, we’re more alike than you give us credit for.”

Jason reached for her hand, squeezed it. “So what do you want to do about Sam?”

“I’m going to let it sit for a while. I want to say no, but I want her to feel like I thought about it first.” Her phone lit up with a text message, and she reached for it with her free hand. “Cameron just got off the plane.”

“We’d better get going.”

He met her at the back of the car, and took her hand again, lacing their fingers together, and she leaned against his shoulder as they crossed the parking lot towards the domestic arrivals terminal.

“My next day off is Thursday,” Elizabeth said just before they went inside. He turned to look at her, lifting his brows in question. “I work Monday to Wednesday. But Thursday, you know. I’m not planning to get arrested, and the boys will be gone all day. If you don’t have plans.”

“I will definitely not have plans.” He leaned down to brush his lips against hers, intending it to be a brief kiss, but she twisted her fingers in his shirt to hold him close for another minute before separating and heading inside.

The wait was brief, and thanks to Jason’s height, he was able to see Cameron striding out of baggage claim before Elizabeth could. He waved his hand to capture her son’s attention and Cameron waved back, grinning.

Cameron jogged the last few steps, dropping his duffel bag and backpack just before he reached them, then sweeping his mother off her feet, and swinging her in a circle. “It is so good to see you,” he managed, his voice a little wobbly.

He set her on her feet, and she framed his face with her hands. “My baby,” she murmured with shining eyes. “I missed you so much. I’m so glad you’re home.”

+39

Hi. Just a quick note here. Please remember that I know what I’m doing, and I do things for a reason. Thanks.

Written in 57 minutes.

Friday, September 12, 2024

Webber House: Living Room

She nearly didn’t open the door.

Just the sight of Sam through the little window blocks next to her door made Elizabeth wish she could turn off the lights and hide.

But she was an adult, it was nine in the morning so turning off the lights wouldn’t help, and unfortunately, Sam wasn’t going anywhere so she reluctantly pulled open the door. “Sam.”

“I…suppose I deserve how long it took you to answer the door,” Sam said, folding her arms, rocking back slightly. “You don’t have to talk to me.”

“And send you away without finding out why you came all the way here?” Elizabeth stepped back, irritated by her own curiosity. “But if it goes anything like our last conversation at the police station, you’re going back out that door, and you won’t be welcome back.”

“I deserve that, too,” Sam said, following Elizabeth into the kitchen where she was loading the dishes from that morning. “I should probably start with an apology for that—”

“I don’t need or want it. But Jason, Danny and Jake deserve it.” Elizabeth flicked on the dishwasher, turned to face Sam, keeping the island between them. “But you came over here after school started, so you must want something from me.”

“I do. And maybe you don’t want the apology, but I’m going to give it anyway. You and I—we’ve worked hard to put the bad blood between us in the past. To focus on Jake and Danny, because I know we both agree that they’re what matters.”

“I thought so. But the woman I saw last week? Started to remind me of who you used to be. And that version of you is a danger to my kids.” Elizabeth folded her arms. “I don’t know what’s changed between us—”

“It’s—it’s not about you. Or it wasn’t. Let me just—I had a whole—” Sam gestured in the air. “I had a whole thing planned, so let me get through it.” When Elizabeth didn’t protest, Sam nodded. “Okay. Okay. You know that things with Danny took a nose dive last year. His grades went off the rails, he started getting in trouble at school, and he got suspended last spring. The cops brought him home after he broke curfew. All of that — it was happening before Jason ever got back, so I know that’s not on him. I know that.”

She picked up the salt shaker, twisted it in her hands. “And it’s hard to feel like a failure. I—I wasn’t always the best mother, I know that. I can be selfish and self-destructive, and I ended up being away from my kids for months because I took reckless chances with Shiloh. It wasn’t enough for me to get Kristina away from him. I had to take him down. Me. Not anyone else. And I’ve paid for that choice. I thought Danny had forgiven me, but I guess—” Sam paused. “I don’t know. I just—I started to see Danny going down those same roads, and not knowing how to stop it. Nothing helped. Not time, patience, grounding, taking away electronics—everything was a disaster. And then Jason comes home, and I find out—from him—that Danny found him in the boathouse while he was supposed to be a fugitive.”

Elizabeth’s lips parted and she leaned forward slightly. “I didn’t—I didn’t know that.”

“He didn’t tell me. Jason told him not to. Jason made him an accessory, and God, I just—I saw red when he told me. I get maybe he was still—” Sam pressed her lips together. “I almost understand it. He was undercover, and you know, it’s not that different from pulling a con, and you have to be that person, but all I could see was Danny on the wrong road already — and Jason coming back to drag him all the way to the end of it. I didn’t handle it well. At all. I tried to get Jason out of the deal with the FBI, thinking that would get him out of danger, but that was stupid and reckless—” Sam set the salt shaker down. “I tried to explain this to him, but he seems to think it’s enough that he’s out of Sonny’s business, and things have been quiet since the Pikeman investigation ended. That wasn’t that long ago, okay? He was being shot at in the warehouse at the end of June.”

Elizabeth waited a long moment before responding, gathering her thoughts. “I will say that I hadn’t really thought about it from that perspective — that Danny was already making reckless choices. And that Danny’s easy forgiveness of Jason might have been another sign he was happy to follow some of Jason’s lesser choices. Jake…he just wasn’t interested in any of that. And Jake—they’ve done visits and overnights, but he’s never lived with Jason day in and day out. He wasn’t old enough to remember what happened with the Russians. He doesn’t even remember the Cassadines that well now, which—thank God, I guess.”

“And maybe that’s part of it for me,” Sam admitted. “Danny seemed so eager to be with Jason — and I worried it was the danger that did it. That he liked sneaking around and hiding the truth from me. I know Jason’s never wanted Jake or Danny involved in the business. He hated when Michael skirted near those lines. I don’t think he’d ever really encourage them. But Jake’s never showed the slightest interest. Because he’s your son. Mine? Can’t get enough of the risk. And—” Sam’s voice thickened. “It’s difficult when you realize that it’s because of you that he’s like that. Jason’s world gives him opportunities but I’m the one with the addiction to danger. It…it was easier just to blame him, you know? To tell myself I can still fix this, I can save Danny from all this pain and terrible choices if I just keep him from danger—”

Elizabeth came around the island, sat on the stool next to her. “Sam—”

“I can’t admit when I’m wrong — you know that. I’ve never been able to take accountability for anything until I’m forced to. And even then, I try to wiggle out of it. Spinelli got hired for your case, and Jason told him that I can’t help.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth tilted her head. “I didn’t know that.”

“I tried to get Spinelli to let me in anyway, but he refused, and so I tried to explain things to Jason, but he’s still just—” Sam paused. “He’s angry at me not just because of Danny. I think he could forgive me for the way I’ve tried to cut him off from Danny. I wouldn’t deserve it, but he always blames himself for all the danger anyway. But I…I said some things in front of Danny, and I didn’t realize how upset he was. He went to school, he told Jake, and Jake brought it home to Jason.”

“Some things?” Elizabeth echoed.

Sam dropped her eyes, looked to the side. “Something about you accepting Jason’s crumbs and accepting the same low standards for Jake.”

Elizabeth stared at her for a long moment, then pursed her lips. “You don’t like Jake, do you? Or me? Despite everything we’ve been through, we’re always going to be the obstacle that got in the way of your happy ending, aren’t we?”

“I think that Jake is a great kid, and I couldn’t ask for a better brother for Danny. I think you’re a good mother, and a good person.” Sam met her gaze. “But no, I’ve always resented both of you. Because as soon as Jake existed, I was never going to have Jason all to myself again. He was always going to be settling for me because he didn’t think he deserved you. And I know Danny was my consolation prize — the baby he’s accepted, that he loves, but that he didn’t want. Because if he couldn’t be Jake’s father, he shouldn’t be one at all.”

Elizabeth nodded, slid off her stool, and headed for the door. “Thank you. For admitting that.” She opened the door. “We’ve cleared the air, so you should probably go.”

Sam stopped on the threshold, stopping her from closing the door. “I know that the resentments I have now are wrong, and belong to a more bitter, angry version of me. And most of the time, I don’t feel that way. I love Dante.” Her eyes warmed. “I love him in ways that I’ve never loved anyone else, and he loves me. He’s the one I’ve been waiting for. It’s why you and I could get along. Why I could encourage Jake and Danny’s relationship. But then Jason came home, and I fell into all my bad habits. I’m sorry. I’m working on myself, and I don’t expect you to forgive me. I don’t expect Jake or Jason to either. But Danny—he’s my miracle. And I need to find a way to make it better with him.”

“And you think helping Spinelli with my case will do that?” Elizabeth asked. “Why?”

“Because it’s helping you. And Jake. Two people Danny thinks I hate. Because it’s the right thing to do. You’re innocent and I know that. Jason said that it would be up to you.”

“Did he?” Coward, she thought. She’d have to have a conversation with him about that. “I’m going to have a conversation with him. We may need to do more work before we’re at that part, Sam. Jake and Danny shouldn’t have been part of this war between us, and you’re the one that put them there, not me. That doesn’t get fixed overnight.”

“That is—frustrating but fair,” Sam admitted on a mutter. “Thank you for listening.”

“Thank you for being honest.” And then Elizabeth closed the door.

District Attorney’s Office: Robert’s Office

“Come in, Mr. Reynolds.” Robert gestured at the circular table by the windows overlooking downtown. “I’m so glad you decided to ask for this appointment.”

“You are?” Reynolds stood by the table, but didn’t take a seat. He furrowed his brow. “Why?”

“Because I’ve thrown a grenade in the middle of your case, and I knew you’d be interested in finding out why.” Robert sat down, smiled again. “Please. Sit. We’re colleagues of a sort, and this isn’t personal—”

“You’re interfering in the murder of a federal agent—” But Reynolds reluctantly took a seat. “I don’t see how that’s not personal.”

Robert leaned forward, still smiling, though there was a glint in his eye that suggested it wasn’t entirely friendly. “You have evidence that proves John Cates was on official business that night? After all, he was once a resident of Port Charles with several friends and associates still around. The Quartermaine party was well-attended.”

“Mr. Scorpio—”

“Mr. Reynolds.” Robert leaned back, crossed his legs. “Commissioner Devane was also unhappy with me. She suggested that you had proof John Cates was lured there by a party who is not the woman you have charged with his murder. Imagine my surprise when I looked through our evidence collection and didn’t see such a voicemail – though my people are the ones that collected the cell phone from the body. And I’m willing to bet you haven’t turned over that exculpatory evidence to Diane Miller.” Robert’s smile deepened. “That’s a Brady violation, my friend.”

Reynolds opened his mouth, then closed it, considering his next words very carefully. “The Commissioner told you that?”

“Yes. And since it’s not in any of the files, I’m willing to bet it was something you or the FBI shared with her. Now why would you do that, Mr. Reynolds? Did you think Anna would trot over to your real primary suspect and warn him?”

“It’s not as if it’s out of the realm of possibilty,” Reynolds said coolly. “She’s been known to be friendly with Morgan. And there’s the matter of Valentin Cassadine getting away after spending several nights with Anna in his bed.”

“I don’t believe I mentioned Mr. Morgan being the party on the voicemail. So thank you for confirming that it exists. I’ll expect a copy of it to be delivered to my detectives, and to Ms. Miller by the end of the day.” Robert got to his feet, straightened his jacket. “Mr. Reynolds, we both know that you’ve rushed to charge on flimsy evidence at best. If you came here to intimidate me into relinquishing jurisdiction, I’m afraid you’ll be leaving empty-handed. My team will be conducting a parallel investigation, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us.”

Lake House: Living Room

“It’s a mistake,” Sam told Molly with a shake of her head. “Not because I think Elizabeth is guilty — she’s not, obviously — but your career—”

“Since when do you care about careers?” Molly unwrapped her sandwich from Kelly’s, reached for napkins Alexis had put in the middle of the table. “You haven’t had a real one since you got fired from the DA’s office twenty years ago.”

“Eighteen okay? Don’t make me older than I am,” Sam grumbled. She looked at their mother. “Mom—”

“Molly knows the risks. And if it tanks her career at the DA’s office, well—” Alexis looked at her youngest daughter with pride. “You wouldn’t be the first Davis to flame out there.”

“Nope, just the third.”

Sam stuck her tonuge at Molly, and Alexis smiled watching them. It was so good to see Molly a  bit lighter, with some purpose in her step. Maybe it was a reckless choice, but Molly was standing on principles and it was hard to be disappointed in that.

She looked at the empty chair next to Sam, and wondered how long Kristina would be sitting there again — and how to mend the break between her and Molly.

That was a problem for another day. Today, she was going to focus only on Molly, and hope Kristina wasn’t getting into any trouble Alexis would have to fix later.

Hanley Federal Building: Pretrial Services Division

“I can’t believe I have to come here every week,” Elizabeth muttered as Jason opened the glass door leading to the suite of offices. “Three hours in the car just to be interrogated—”

“I’d say we could do the bike next week,” Jason said, and she looked at him with some interested, “but I don’t know if you’d want to do these meetings with helmet hair.”

“Oh—” Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “Probably not. You know, I remember a time when you wouldn’t even think about something like that. Or me. I don’t like being an adult.” She went up to the counter to check in.

“But hey, today we get to go straight to the airport and pick up Cameron,” Jason reminded her, and she grinned.

“That is one upside to this whole nightmare. Getting to see Cam and not have it mess up his classes. I know you’ll just brush it off, but it really does mean the world to me that you’re covering the flights. I won’t even bother to say I’ll pay you back—”

“It’s not just for you,” Jason told her. “Jake—” He hesitated. “This has been hard on him, and Aiden, too. But I think he’s struggled to be the oldest brother, to take care of everyone and not make any mistakes. He needs a break from that.”

“He needs his big brother.” She softened. “And it’s just like you to notice that. Thank you.” Someone called her name, and she made a face. “This is going to be awful, I can just feel it.”

And it was. They sat in the cubicle, in chairs shoved as close together as possible, with a woman who checked all their identification, looked at the logs of Elizabeth’s GPS monitor—

“You’re clear on where you’re allowed to go?” the agent asked. “City limits and here to the Federal building. Any other travel, your custodian has to get it approved by someone here first.” She looked at Jason. “You’re prepared for that, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“All right. You’ll be taking a weekly drug test.” She leaned over, pulled out a plastic cup. “Are you ready?”

Elizabeth sighed. A drug test when she didn’t even have time to do anything more crazy than a glass of wine. “Yeah, sure. Let’s get it over with.”

+39

Written in 69 minutes. You definitely did not want me to skip the last scene, so I had to go over 😛

Thursday, September 11, 2024

Webber Home: Kitchen

Jason followed Elizabeth into the kitchen as she carried the glasses Diane and Spinelli had used to the sink. And realized he didn’t actually have a reason to be at the house anymore.

Elizabeth was home to look after her boys, she’d met with Diane and Spinelli, they had a game plan — nothing was stopping him from returning to his room at Bobbie’s.

Except that he didn’t want to.

“It feels like they have so much to work with,” Elizabeth said, drawing his attention. “I really didn’t expect for Spinelli to have such a head start. Or so little for me to do.” She perched on one of the stools. “And I’m sure you wish they’d given you something to do.”

Jason opened his mouth to deny it, but then sighed. “Yeah, I’d feel better if I had someone to punch,” he admitted, relieved when she smiled. “But maybe I’ll get that chance eventually.”

Then her smile faded. “It’s scary,” Elizabeth admitted, “to think someone had access to my car — when did they put that gun in there? How long was I driving around with the murder weapon?” She shivered, folding her arms. “I don’t even think about what’s in my trunk. I throw things in, take them out—” She looked at him. “And don’t think I didn’t notice — they have a lot of leads — but no one mentioned a suspect list.”

Jason grimaced, slid onto the stool next to her. “If you’d asked me for a list of who hated John Cates enough to kill him, it wouldn’t be short. But how many people on that list who would frame you? I don’t know.”

“Diane seems pretty sure that the FBI is looking at both of us, which makes me think whoever put that gun in my car is trying to get you, not me.” Elizabeth paused. “I don’t understand — did they think the FBI would arrest you? For the gun in my car? Or that we’d both get arrested?”

“I don’t know what they thought,” Jason said, deciding not to air his actual suspicions — that whoever had done this had a pretty good idea how he’d react if Elizabeth were on her way to prison.

The same way he had when Carly had been in danger. Or Michael. How many times had he risked his life or freedom for someone else? Whoever had done this knew what Jason might sacrifice for someone he cared about.

“She said they’re not trying to discredit Michael’s testimony, but that they’ve been trying to chip at Jake and Danny. I—I thought we were pretty clear last week. They haven’t been able to question them, have they?” Elizabeth asked, and Jason tried not to make a face. “Jason—”

“Not Jake. They knew where we both stood on it. But the agent — Caldwell — he showed up at the penthouse last week when Dante was there, and Sam felt like she had to let Danny be questioned. I haven’t been able—” Jason sighed, rubbed the back of his neck. “I haven’t been able to follow up on that—Sam still isn’t letting Danny talk to me.”

“Oh. That’s awful. Does Jake know anything?”

“I don’t—I know how much Jake and Danny are talking right now either. The FBI—they came around the neighborhood. Interviewed everyone. Went to the high school, talked to teachers, other students-” Jason put out a hand to stop Elizabeth from getting to her feet. “Jake and I talked that first day, and I called the school to make it clear that no one questions Jake without a parent or a lawyer. I said the same for Danny, but I don’t know how much that will hold.”

“I hate this. I hate it—” Elizabeth fisted her hands in her lap, then blew out a breath. “But you handled it. Of course you did. That was the only thing that got me through this last week was knowing they were with you.” She reached for his hand, wrapped it in both of hers. “Thank you—”

“Don’t thank me. Jake’s my son. Aiden’s his brother—”

“And do you see Aiden’s father in this time zone? In the country? No.” Elizabeth pressed her lips together, released his hand, sat back. “That brings me to something we need to talk about.”

Jason frowned. “What?”

“What happens if this—if this goes wrong, and I end up back in jail—”

“That’s not going to happen,” Jason cut in, more sharply than he’d intended and she flashed him a mutinous look. “It’s not.”

“You don’t control the world—”

“But this—”

“Jason. Please. I need—I n-need to have this conversation. I need to talk about what happens if this ends badly. Please.”

PCPD: Conference Room

Dante rolled out the clean whiteboard to the side of the conference table. “Okay, let’s start charting this sucker out. You got the magnets—”

“Yeah, and here—” Chase handed him the shot of Cates from his badge. Dante slapped it on the board, popped the top off the dry erase marker. “Starting fresh. What do we know?”

“911 call comes in at 6:41 PM, September 2,” Dante grunted, scribbling info down. “Identifies as Michael Corinthos. Names the location and the victim.” Chase hung up Michael’s photo under witnesses, wrote his name. “We get to the scene, what, fifteen minutes later?”

“Log has it as 6:57pM. Not bad response time honestly, considering.” Chase hung up two more photos under witnesses. “We find out Jake Webber and Danny Morgan heard the gunshots. Send them off to uniforms to be held separately for later questioning.”

Dante continued to write as Chase kept talking. “Uniform statements now or later?”

“Now’s good.”

“Both boys give similar statements. They hear gunshots — Danny doesn’t remember how many, Jake thinks it was maybe four, but definitely more than two. Shortly after — less than a minute, Jake thinks, Danny thinks maybe a little more, but both are adamant it’s not more than five minutes — their father, Jason Morgan, rushes out the terrace door.” Chase hung up Jason’s photo, and Dante continued to write. “Both boys say the same thing — they report the location of the gunfire and worry because Michael and Jake’s mother, Elizabeth Webber, went in that direction earlier. Neither of them remember how long ago it was, but they think it might have been around ten minutes. Probably not more than that.”

“Okay.” Dante furrowed his brow, looked at the initial reports. “I’ll be up front with you that Danny’s not always honest. He’ll curve the truth if he thinks it’ll help him. But he’s not an idiot. So the fact that he and Jake are telling the same story suggest to me —”

“That it’s accurate.”

“Which keeps Jason under witnesses for the moment. So let’s talk about what their statement means. Shooting happens somewhere between 6:30 and 6:40. Michael didn’t remember where they were in the gardens, but think they ran maybe two-three minutes down to the boathouse. I’d have to trace that walk to get a better idea—” Dante paused.

“But that means the window for the shooting is around 6:30-6:35. Because we need time for Michael and Elizabeth to get on the scene, and he has to call 911. He thinks he did it right away, but admits it might have been anywhere from ten seconds to a full minute. And the boys hear the shots fired ten minutes or so after Michael and Elizabeth go in that direction.”

“It’s a tight window. And we don’t have to take the boys word for it — uniforms from other members of the family.” Dante held up a sheaf of papers. “Rocco, Aiden were both there when Michael and Elizabeth left the terrace. So was Georgie Spinelli. They went inside after that.”

“And Monica Quartermaine says Jason sent her up in the elevator about 6:30.”

Dante stared at their board, then nodded. “I’m pretty comfortable leaving all our witnesses in that category for now. I just don’t buy that many people lying. We’ll reinterview the kids — you take Rocco and Aiden, Danny, too. I’ll snag Georgie and Jake. Just to be sure. But it just makes the window way too tight.”

“So if we’ve eliminated Elizabeth for the moment — and I agree with you — then we should talk about the gun in her car. Because if we think that’s the murder weapon, that means it’s someone with access to the car. That can’t be a long list.”

“No, it didn’t look like it. Let’s look at the tip—” Dante waited while Chase searched through the box, retrieving the transcript, and then keyed a few strokes on the laptop.

“Okay, we got the transcript — and let’s hit play—”

“Hello. I have a tip about the murder of that FBI guy. The one on Labor Day. I’m a nurse at GH, and I overheard my supervisor, Elizabeth Webber, talking with that mob guy she’s always with. Jason Morgan. She said that he didn’t need to worry. No one was ever gonna look in her trunk, and when the smoke died down, he could get rid of the gun.”

“That voice—” Dante furrowed his brow. “I know that voice.”

“Same.”

“It’ll come to me—first, let’s talk about how stupid this tip is,” Dante said, and Chase grinned. “If you believe Jason Morgan is talking openly about murder weapons he’s stashed in someone’s car, then you’re an idiot.”

“I’ve always thought that about the FBI.”

“And if you think Jason Morgan is going to involve Elizabeth, then you’re a moron, too. This is inside baseball here — but Sam told me ages ago one of the big dealbreakers with the two of them back in the day was Jason’s worry over Elizabeth being swept up in the business. Can’t see him doing that now. But—” Dante sighed. “None of that is evidence I can write in a report. So let’s talk about the tip as if we’re taking it seriously. How do we identify the person who made it—”

“Go to the hospital and line up all the female workers until we get a match?” Chase suggested. “What, you’re the only one who can tell jokes?” he added when Dante rolled his eyes. “Okay, let’s try to corroborate this tip. We’ll get Elizabeth’s work schedule for Tuesday – Thursday last week, and get Jason’s movements.”

“Let’s start at GH because I don’t know if Diane’s going to cooperate — even if we’re on the same side.”

“We can do that but—” Chase paused. “The FBI sent this tip to the audio lab for testing—along with a second file. But I don’t have the second file in our files which means we didn’t collect it and turn it over to the FBI. So it’s not something we found that first day.”

“And it’s not something the feds used in their court hearing, I don’t remember anything about an audio file. It’s at the state lab?” Dante wanted to know.

“Yeah. So we’ll get the results, and the feds won’t, which is good, but it makes me wonder — why are they  testing these files? To see if they’re real—”

“Because Diane would insist on it, so they’re either getting ahead of it — or they’re not sure themselves. Let’s leave a message with the lab to rush and head to the hospital—Amy!” Dante snapped his fingers. “That’s who this nurse is. Amy Driscoll. That’s her voice.”

“Well, then let’s see if Amy’s up to old gossiping habits.”

Webber Home: Kitchen

Jason shifted on his stool, but he finally nodded, and Elizabeth exhaled in relief. “Okay. Okay.  First, Cameron finishes Stanford. I don’t care if you have to get him on the no fly list to keep him in California—”

“It’s not going to come to that—”

“He finishes Stanford,” Elizabeth said flatly, and Jason fell silent. “He worked so hard to get in there, and he delayed attending because things were hard at home. I leaned on him too much with his brothers, and he felt like he couldn’t leave me when Franco got sick, and then when he—promise me, Jason. Cameron finishes Stanford.”

“He’ll finish,” Jason said with a nod. “I promise.”

“Okay.” Elizabeth rubbed her hands on her thighs, nervous now. “Jake—he applies to that school in Spain. And if he gets in, he goes. If you have to kidnap him and put him on the plane, he goes.”

“All right.”

“And—this last part—this is where I’m going to ask you for something I don’t have the right to ask you, and I don’t care what Laura or Lucky say. Jake and Aiden stay together until Jake goes to school. And Aiden gets to stay here. In his house, with the oven that he helped me pick out when we remodeled, and everything that he loves in a neighborhood—he doesn’t remember living in the other house—” Elizabeth dragged in a deep breath. “Aiden stays here. Laura won’t have the time for him, and Lucky might try to drag him to Africa, and I don’t want that—”

“Okay, okay—” Jason got to his feet, drew her up, and closed his arms around her. “Aiden stays here.”

“You’ll make sure of it?” her voice wobbly.

“Yeah.” Jason kissed her temple. “Cameron finishes Stanford, Jake goes to Spain, and Aiden gets to finish high school living in this house. I promise.”

District Attorney’s Office

Robert heard his ex-wife voice in the outer suite and didn’t even bother to look up when she crashed through his door a moment later. “Don’t worry about it,” he told his harried assistant. “I’ve been expecting the Commissioner.” He leaned back, grinned when he saw Anna’s furious expression. “Hey, kid. How’s tricks?”

“Don’t you smile at me, Robert Scorpio! How dare you send that child to my office to give me orders—” Anna flung the memo at him, but the single sheet of paper never made it to his desk. “You’re mad if you think this is going to work—”

“Seems pretty clear to me that Elizabeth Webber is innocent—”

“The FBI have jurisdiction, Robert. Why are you fighting them on this? Don’t you have any worry for the other cases—”

Robert slowly rose to his feet. “They have to prove he was murdered in the line of duty. And if our people find the murderer first, I don’t much care who gets the credit. I want that innocent woman off the hook for this.”

“This is a mistake—do you know who Molly took as detectives? Chase and Dante. They’re hopelessly compromised—”

“I’m not sure you want to have a conversation about being compromised, Anna.”

She closed her mouth, her nostrils flaring. “Everyone seems to be wanting to tip toe around something. Why don’t you go ahead and accuse me if you’re going to use it against me—”

“Because if I say it out loud, I’ll have to do something about it, and you don’t want that.” Robert leaned forward, flattening both his hands on his desk. “Do you want to tell me why you’re so sure that it’s a mistake? Do you have reason to believe Elizabeth Webber murdered John Cates?”

“I—” Anna paused. “I have reason to believe Jason Morgan lured John to that boathouse, setting him up for a meeting with someone else. The FBI have a voicemail, Robert. They can put Jason at the scene—”

“Then why isn’t he under arrest, Anna? That seems like a conspiracy charged locked up tight, don’t you think? Murder weapon in the girlfriend’s car, boyfriend on the phone luring the victim. Both with motive and opportunity? You arrest them both, and watch them fight to turn on each other. But that’s not what the government did. So I’d ask yourself what game are they playing—and what role are they expecting you to play.”

Webber Home: Living Room

“I should get out of your hair,” Jason said, drawing away from her, shoving his hands into his pockets, taking a step back wards, and to the side, towards the door. “You’ve been surrounded since you got released, and you could probably use a break. You know—nap. Or—whatever.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth chewed on her bottom lip, started to follow him towards the door, then surprised herself when she spoke again. “Wait. There’s something else.”

He turned, his hand on the knob. “What?”

Her throat felt tight, her mouth dry, but she forced herself through. “Maybe it’s not the time to bring it up, but you know, we never get the timing right, and I realized if we keep waiting for the time to come around again, then it’s our own fault, right?”

Jason opened his mouth, then frowned. “What?”

“I’m not making sense, I know. I’m sorry. I’m just—I don’t know how much time any of us get or opportunities, and last week, before this all happened, we were—we were—” She gestured at him, then at herself. “It was like, we were going to take a step forward, and maybe that’s not going to happen now, and I guess I just wanted to know why. Or if you hadn’t thought about it, maybe you think about it.”

Jason released the door, turned to face her fully. “You mean last week, when I was on my way over here.”

“Y-Yes. I’m sure you  haven’t thought about it since Diane called you, and that makes sense. I didn’t really think about it either—” Liar, she told herself. “But—”

“When I came in here after the FBI searched the house, I saw the basket of sheets you’d washed.” Jason stepped towards her. “Maybe it sounds stupid, but it pissed me off all over again. I didn’t know I had room to be more angry, but that did it.”

“Feels like that always happens, huh?” she asked softly, lifting her gaze to his. “We get right up to a point, and then the real world smacks us for even thinking we get to have that dream. That phone call, the day we got engaged—or Sam pulling that awful stunt in the park when you were going to talk to me in the park about—” She bit her lip. “So you’ve thought about it.”

“Yeah. A lot,” he added, and she smiled, biting her lip. “I didn’t—I wasn’t going to bring it up. You’ve got—you’ve got enough to worry about—”

“Is this something I’d need to worry about?” She stepped closer to him. “Because it feels like it might be something…that I’d get to be happy about. I mean we’re dancing around it, which we always do, but I’d like—I’d like to stop doing that. I want to stop wasting—” She squeaked slightly when Jason put a hand at her waist and pulled her in for a kiss, and her words were cut off. She sighed, happily melting into his embrace, sliding her hands up his chest.

“I got tired of waiting you to stop talking,” he murmured against her lips, and she grinned, resting her hands at his collarbone.

“Feel free to shut me up any time.” She kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his neck. “We have time. Before the boys get home—oof—” She was lifted in the air and moving backwards. “Okay, definitely not arguing—”

The landline rang, and she scowled. “I’m not answering that.”

“Me, either—” Jason said, as they reached the stairs. They were half way up when the answering machine clicked on.

“Hello, this is Vivien from Pretrial Services in Syracuse for Elizabeth Webber. This is your daily check-in—”

“Damn it.” Jason set Elizabeth on her feet, and she sprinted down the steps to scoop up the phone. He sighed, moved down a few steps, and sat down.

“Yes,” Elizabeth said with a grimace, turning to look at him as she continued to speak. “I have time now. A half hour? Really? That long—okay.” She rubbed her temple. “Let’s get started.”

Always the damn phone.

+41

Hey just a note — I decided not to use Ric in this story. Not because he couldn’t play a role — he absolutely could. But it was just an extra layer I didn’t want to deal with.  Written in 66 minutes.

Thursday, September 11, 2024

Webber Home: Kitchen

Elizabeth leaned against the doorway to the kitchen, smiling faintly at the scene that would have seemed unbelievable only a few months earlier. Jason Morgan rinsing breakfast dishes and loading the dishwater. The water must have drowned out the sounds of her sock-clad steps down the steps and through the living room.

“You don’t have to do dishes, you know.”

Jason switched off the faucet, and turned to her, drying his hands on one of her dish towels. “Why not? I made some of them.” He leaned down, closed the dishwater, then turned it on. “I was hoping you’d sleep longer.”

“I’m surprised I slept at all.” She slid on to the stool and accepted the cup of coffee he handed her grateful. “I stared at the ceiling for a little while, but I slept better than I thought I would. Especially if I slept through  Jake and Aiden leaving for school.”

“They made some attempts to be quiet. I thought they’d argue about going to school at all,” Jason admitted, “but I guess they thought you might want some more…time.”

Elizabeth sighed, slowly twisting her mug one way, then the opposite. “I’m embarrassed I fell apart like that. I’m sorry you had to deal with that—” She paused when he just lifted his brows. “What?”

“I’m the one who should be apologizing. I knew you’d need time before you saw them, but I didn’t really think—” He hesitated. “I didn’t think about when you saw them. I should have.”

“You’re not psychic, Jason. And it’s not your job to manage my nervous breakdowns—it’s embarrassing that I lost it like that. The boys have must have been upset, and freaked out—”

“You’re allowed to fall apart,” he cut in, his tone gentle, and she shook her head.

“No, I’m supposed—not with them. You wouldn’t—” She paused, looked at him. “You don’t fall apart.”

He stepped closer, away from the back counter, towards her. “I usually punch someone. Or trash a room. Neither of which are good ideas or options while you were gone. The last thing any of us needed was me arrested at the Brown Dog for starting a bar fight.”

The implication that he’d wanted to hung between them for a beat, and then she cleared her throat. “No, probably not. One of us in jail at a time is probably for the best. Though my preference is neither of us. Which brings me to my next question. What’s next? Where do we start with clearing my name?”

“I told Diane I’d give her a call when and if you were ready to talk to day.”

“I am beyond ready to get this over with. I’m not enjoying my new accessory—” She held out her leg where the ankle monitor was strapped. “It’s really not the look for the fall season. Let’s call her and get started.”

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

Anna tossed aside that morning’s edition of The Sun, with its bold headline declaring Elizabeth had been released on bail. She’d already skimmed the editorial from Curtis, attacking the local investigation.

What would they make of the voicemail she’d heard? And why hadn’t Jason told her John Cates was still harassing him? Anna would have made it go away — legally. And if Jason had been the one to lure Cates to the boathouse, who had pulled the trigger?

These questions had been percolating since Caldwell had left her office, and she was no closer to answer them now. Or in a position to even ask for more information.

She turned at the knock on her open door, relieved at the interruption — though it faded when she saw Molly entering, Chase on her heels. “Is there a meeting I forgot about?”

“No. But I wanted to get started as soon as possible this morning.” Molly held out the paper in her hand, and Anna reached for it, sliding her glasses on with the other hand. “AUSA Reynolds and SSA Caldwell have already been briefed on this.”

Anna skimmed it, then ripped her glasses off, got to her feet. “Are you insane? This is career suicide—”

Molly folded her arms. “You’re not my mother or my boss—”

“For me,” Anna bit out. “For me and my cops. We need the FBI and you’re torching the bridge—”

“We need an FBI that follows the evidence,” Molly cut in sharply. “Not the last name of the witnesses. This is the second case in a matter of weeks where the FBI saw the name Morgan or Corinthos and closed their eyes to everything else—”

“Don’t you think you’re a little too close to this—”

“Someone has to stand up for the people of this town. Robert’s already signed off, Anna. I don’t need your blessing or permission. It’s been done. The FBI is cut from all local resources, and we’ve opened our own investigation to run parallel—”

“They have jurisdiction—he was a bloody federal agent!”

“They have to prove it was in the line of duty, Anna. Official duty. And there’s not one piece of evidence in the file that supports that claim. They have witnesses that exonerate their suspect—”

“Damn it, Molly. You haven’t seen all of the evidence—”

“I saw what was in the probable cause statement. I know what they sent to the testing lab. I read Diane Miller’s motion to dismiss. Is there something damning I should know about?” Molly wanted to know. “Tell me, Anna. Is there something that proves Danny, Jake, and Michael are all lying about the timeline? That Monica was mistaken about what time Jason left her at the elevator? Something that explains why Jason or Elizabeth would allow Michael to call in the report when it confirmed time of death almost to the minute with them in the vicinity?”

Anna exhaled slowly. “You cannot simply destroy decades of cooperation between my department the federal government—”

“This is happening, Anna. You can get on board or be left behind.” Molly took a step towards her. “Someone is setting Elizabeth Webber up for a murder they committed. I’m not going to rest until I find out who they are.”

Anna pressed her lips together, looked at Chase who had remained quiet throughout the entire the confrontation. “And Detective Chase, what do you have to say?”

Chase met her gaze head on. “I’m not afraid to ruffle the FBI’s feathers when I know I’m right. The question you really don’t want any of us to ask is why are you?”

Anna inhaled sharply, looked at Molly, then back at Chase. “And what does that mean?”

“You don’t get to ask the questions, Commissioner. You had your chance. You can either agree to honor the memo set out, assign Chase and Dante temporarily to the DA’s office, or my office can open an investigation into the Pikeman case, and how a dangerous murderer was allowed to escape on your watch.”

Anna went cold, then slowly sat down. She picked up her glasses, leaned back in her chair. “All right then. Take Chase and Dante. And don’t complain to me when you find yourself in the same place as the federal government. They’re following the evidence, and you’re going to wish you’d stayed out of it.”

Hanley Federal Building: U.S Attorney’s Offices

Reynolds scribbled his name at the bottom of the clipboard, then handed it back to the clerk and began to skim the motion that had been just served—

The phone rang before he could reach for it himself, and he yanked it off the base. “Reynolds. I have to call you back—”

“My agents and I were just kicked out of the damn PCPD,” came Caldwell’s angry interruption.

“What? Why?” He stopped when the clerk returned to his door, holding up another envelope. “I’m busy—”

“This just came from Port Charles—all right,” the clerk muttered when Reynolds ripped it from his hand.

He jabbed the speaker phone button, then ripped open the envelope, muttering under his breath as he read the memo. “The goddamn DA’s office is contesting jurisdiction—”

“They can’t do that! Cates was an FBI agent—”

“Just shut up for a minute, damn it.” Reynolds grimaced, slammed his door shut, and took a deep breath. “They can contest it. We don’t know what the hell John Cates was doing there. And we can’t prove the damn deal Morgan’s talking about on the phone. All we have is Cates’ word that it even existed, and dead man can’t testify.” He took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. Just let me—this isn’t the end of the world. It doesn’t change the facts.”

“No, and when we get back on the Quartermaine property this weekend—”

“That’s—” Reynolds turned to the motion he’d been reading when Caldwell had called. “There’s been a development. Monica Quartermaine is revoking verbal consent and denying access for further searches. There’s an injunction.”

There was silence for a  beat. “They’ll lose—”

“Of course they will. Just like the DA will lose. But it slows everything down, doesn’t it? And if we don’t get that damn testing back before the motion to dismiss, the charges are thrown out and we lose surveillance. What the hell is going on up there? Why the hell are they taking the side of a piece of mob trash and his bitch girlfriend? An FBI is dead—”

“That mob trash is the son of the homeowner, Reynolds. And the bitch? Former daughter-in-law to the mayor.”

“That doesn’t change the fact—” Reynolds took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. Getting angry won’t change this.” He rubbed his forehead. “Set up shop somewhere. I’ll be up in the morning. I’ll talk to the DA. I’ll give him what we have. Maybe he just needs some political cover. I can do that. Just—just don’t do anything stupid until I have a chance to handle this.”

Webber Home: Living Room

“It is so good to see you, Fair Elizabeth,” Spinelli said, hugging her with the enthusiasm he’d had as a younger man, and it nearly brought tears to her eyes to hear her old nickname.

“You, too.” She hugged him back, squeezed his hand as he came all the way inside the house, Diane on his heels. “I’m so glad you’re agreed to help. There’s no one I trust more than you to get to the bottom of whatever this is.”

“You do me a great honor in bestowing your trust. You and Stone Cold, and the Jackal will endeavor not to let you down,” he said, with another smile. He headed for the sofa and coffee table, pulling off his messenger back.

Jason nearly grimaced at the reversion back to the Spinellisms, but Elizabeth was genuinely smiling and there was a little lightness in her step as she sat down next to him. If that was because of Spinelli, he wasn’t going to mess that up.

Diane squeezed his arm. “How is she?” she asked softly. “The boys?”

“We’re all good. Thank you. For leaving without questions last night,” Jason told her. “I think if she realized you were still here, she’d be more embarrassed.”

“Well, you know nothing makes me run faster than emotion.” Diane flashed him a smirk, then sat down on the arm chair, setting her brief case down. “You look well-rested, Elizabeth. A shower and a decent mattress makes all the difference.”

“I’ll never take either for granted again.” Elizabeth shifted slightly, so that she was facing Spinelli who had set  up his laptop and removed a notebook with pages already filled. Jason remained standing, across the coffee table from Diane, his arms folded. “What do we have so far? What do you need from me?”

“I’ve filed motions to compel discovery to get the ballistics and audio from the tip that led them to the search warrant,” Diane began. “I have the transcript, but Spinelli and I doubt very much that it’s someone who actually works with you. I showed it you on Sunday when we talked.”

“Right. Right. I—Oh—” Elizabeth blinked when Spinelli handed a copy to her. She skimmed it again, then nodding. “I mean, other than the stupidity of anyone believing Jason and I would discuss discarding murder weapons where anyone could hear us—I didn’t even see him on Wednesday, did I?” she looked at him, furrowing her brow. “I was working all day.”

“I brought dinner over for Jake and Aiden because you were working until almost midnight. A double shift to cover for someone who’d called out,” Jason added. He looked to Diane. “I don’t know how to prove that. They already don’t believe Jake. I doubt they’ll believe Aiden.”

“But you brought dinner, you said? Where did you go?” Diane asked.

“The diner. Bobbie’s. Carly would probably pull the security footage. They keep it sixty days, I think.”

Spinelli was already making notes. “What about at the hospital? What did you do that day?”

“Oh. I was in my office working on the schedule for part the morning, and some other paperwork. But I share that with Terry, and she came in and out all morning. And then I did my rounds. I went into a surgery around four because someone called out on the trauma team.” Elizabeth exhaled on a long breath. “And I was there the rest of the night.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to Terry and Portia about getting some corroborating evidence for her movements that day,” Spinelli told Diane, continuing to make notes. “It won’t be the smoking gun, but anything we can do to make the tip a lie before we get the audio testing back is a bonus.”

“What do you think the audio is  going to say?” Elizabeth asked.

“Oh, you would not believe the trouble we’ve been having with all these AI generators around now. You can generate anything,” Diane said, “and make it sound like someone’s voice. Someone who actually exists. We’re expecting it to come back as artificial. Combine that with the fact every word of the tip is a lie — and a jury is going to believe the setup much more easily.”

“A jury.” Elizabeth folded her arms, suddenly cold. “You think this might go to trial?”

“I hope not. But I’m going to look under every rock,” Diane assured her. “Spinelli—”

“I have a list of witnesses I’m going to re-interview. I hope it’s okay if I talk to Jake and Aiden separately and alone,” Spinelli said.

“Of course. I trust you.”

“Here’s a copy of the witness list I have—one for each of you—” Spinelli handed a copy to Elizabeth, then to Jason. “Is there anyone I should add?”

“Kristina?” Jason frowned, looked at Spinelli. “Why is she on this?”

“Well, I probably don’t have to talk to her again, since Diane did, but she was here last Tuesday.”

“Before we went out,” Elizabeth said. “God, that feels like a million years ago. She didn’t see anything?” she asked Diane. “I was hoping—even though it was a longshot.”

“No, she said it was a quick, unpleasant visit—”

“Why?” Jason demanded, and Elizabeth made a face.

“She was hoping to make some peace with Sam and me, and you, I guess. But it just didn’t go well—does Alexis know she’s calling the baby Adela?” Elizabeth asked, turning back to Diane who winced.

“Unfortunately, yes. It’s not great on all accounts.”

“Speaking of Kristina, did you remember your password to the Ring account?” Spinelli asked.

“Oh. Oh, no.” Elizabeth shook her head. “No, I have to look for it, but I know it was saved on my computer—which the FBI have. And on the app—on the phone the FBI has,” she added.

“Okay, I’ll work on getting that information another way.” Spinelli went down his list. “We’re waiting for a lot of information from the seizure of the car, especially from the techstream. That’ll tell us every time the trunk was open—”

“Seriously? My car can tell you that?”

“Big Brother is everywhere—”

Diane drew out her phone, as it vibrated in her pocket. “I’ll be right back, I just need to take this.”

“Sure—” Elizabeth focused on Spinelli .”You have so much to—” She blew out a surprised breath. “I didn’t even imagine there’d be this much to go through. What can I do? How can I help?”

“Be available for questions. That’s really it. Trust the process.” Spinelli squeezed her hand. “The Jackal won’t rest until he frees the Fair Elizabeth from the vultures who have attacked.”

“Speaking of vultures—” Diane returned to the sofa, and they all looked at her. “The most useful of the Davis girls might have just given us a huge boost. She’s opened a state investigation and kicked the FBI to the curb. They can’t use any state testing — and she’ll have first access to all evidence and testing since the feds already submitted it. She said she’ll have an open files policy with us. And—” Diane looked at Jason. “The Quartermaines have denied the FBI further access to the property. When you combine that with the editorial Curtis ran this morning, the press statement Laura put out—”

“Press statement?” Elizabeth echoed.

“This is honestly the best news we’ve had outside of getting you out on the bail.” Diane held her phone against her chest. “Thank God for Molly.”

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