WRitten in — well, honestly written in 26 minutes because until 2:34 my brain refused to work so this isn’t exactly what I wanted, but close enough. Its done.

Jason paused on the landing of the stairs, and as he’d done often in the last week, stood back and observed.

Scout sat on the sofa between Cameron and Danny, her hands clutched around a gray controller, her small brow furrowed. “And if I press this button and this one at the same time—”

“Yeah, that combination will activate the punch—” Cameron winced. “Okay, but without the  X, it’s just a punch to the air, so—”

Elizabeth emerged from the kitchen, a plate of cookies in her hands. “Okay, Aiden said these were better—”

“Since the last ones were black on the bottom—” Jake, sitting on the armchair sideways, his legs slung over the side and a sketch pad in his lap, leaned over to snag a cookie as his mother set them on the table. “We told you not to help, Mom.”

“That was not my fault,” Elizabeth huffed, then flicked Jake on the shoulder as she turned around, and spotted Jason. Instead of calling attention to him, she just smiled and came over to him. “Hey. Enjoying the quiet before we go to the Quartermaines tomorrow?”

Nothing about the house was quiet — Cameron hadn’t finished moving into the house around the corner yet so he and Jake were still sharing, and Danny hadn’t wanted Scout to be alone at the mansion anymore, so he’d dumped his things with Aiden. And then Elizabeth had insisted on a whirlwind twenty-four hours to redecorate Cameron’s bedroom to something more suited to a seven-year-old—

With four boys and one girl sharing the limited space, quiet wasn’t something Jason often found these days —

Or something he looked for.

He reached for Elizabeth’s hand and she came up the two steps to stand next to him. “No, just wondering how much longer they’ll all get along.”

“Don’t ask questions, just enjoy it for as long as we have it.” She leaned into his side. “Molly called while you were upstairs. The guardianship was approved by the court, and Drew cleaned out his office at Aurora.”

It had been little more than a formality, but with the holiday slow down, it had taken longer than expected to have the courts sign off on everything — it’d been the last loose end in the whole nightmare. It was over.

And yet—

“It feels strange,” Jason said, and she frowned at him. “Not that—it happened. This—it’s what I want. Being with you, having them together—all of this—” He paused, trying to find the right words. “I just—I don’t know. I didn’t expect it to come together so fast. I thought we’d be fighting Alexis for months. Or that Turner would force Danny to go to trial—but it’s over. And I didn’t—” He met her curious gaze. “I didn’t have to do much to make it happen.”

She smiled, then laced their fingers together again. “It must feel strange not to have to do the rescuing for a change.”

Jason made a face. “I don’t need to rescue people—”

“I know. But you’ve done it for so long, it’s hard to know how to react when you’re on the other hand.” She leaned up to kiss him briefly. “It must be hard to let everyone else save the day. It was our turn.”

“I guess. Or maybe I’m just surprised Carly didn’t make everything worse,” Jason admitted, and she laughed.

“No, not that hallway—” Danny tried to wrestle the controller from his sister. “You suck at this, and you’re gonna ruin the whole campaign—”

“You told me to hit that button—” Scout grunted, and tugged so hard that when Danny let go, it went flying and knocked Jake’s water glass over—sending the liquid casading onto Jake and his sketchpad.

He yelped, got to his feet. “Hey, watch it!”

Cameron dropped his controller, bored already with the game, and headed for the kitchen — where a few seconds later, Aiden yelped, “Don’t lick that! I’m not done with at spoon—”

“I guess the answer to your question was two minutes,” Elizabeth said, with a heavy sigh. “I’ll take the kitchen—”

“I’ve got this—” Jason gestured towards the trio, where cookies were now flying through the air.

“It was nice while it lasted,” Elizabeth said, backing into the kitchen with a grin. “But probably a good idea we didn’t have a dozen kids, right?” She turned back to the boys in the kitchen, where Cameron and Aiden were furiously fencing with a soup ladle and a chocolate-covered spoon.

Never a dull moment, Jason thought, snagging Danny’s hand before another water glass could go flying, and grabbing the tray of cookies with the other. A far cry from a year ago, when he’d been sitting in some dive bar in Malaysia, plotting another job to get him closer to Pikeman, to his freedom —

But there was nowhere else he’d rather be.

THE END

+42

Written in 60 minutes.

TJ leaned against the doorway to the kitchen, tilted his head. “I guess we get our dining table back.”

Molly paused, a legal pad in her hand, with nearly every page scrawled on, littered with notes on all the depositions that never happened. “Yeah, I’m putting all of this in storage. My short foray into family law is over.” She stowed the legal pad in the box, on top of some of the legal papers she’d printed out and other law books. “Robert said I can start back as soon as I want, but, I—” She took a breath, looked at him. “I asked him to take some more time. The holidays, and maybe—maybe after Ava’s trial.”

He crossed to her, tugged her back against him with one arm around her shoulders, then kissed the side of her head. “I know what happened to Danny and Scout was awful, but this is the best possible ending, Mols. You and your mom aren’t going after each other, the kids are together in the home they both wanted to be in — you did what you set out to do.”

“I know.” Molly pressed her lips together. “I offered to fight for Jason on the principle, you know. Because I was so mad at my mother, at Kristina, at the world, for what we’d gone through—for what they wanted to put us through if we hadn’t lost Irene—” She turned in his arms. “But I believe now, in a way I didn’t before, that Danny and Scout are exactly where they should be. You’re right. This is the best ending.” She rubbed his arms, then stepped out of his embrace, and lifting the box.

“Then why do you look so sad?” he murmured.

Molly opened the door to the apartment, intending to head to the storage room in the basement, looked back at him. “Because my sister is still gone. I think—I think as long as I had something or someone to fight—I could hold on to her. But she’s gone. She’s buried, and it’s just—she’s gone. Just like Irene. And there’s nothing that changes that.”

—

Elizabeth slowed to a stop behind Jason’s SUV in the Quartermaine driveway, put the car in park, then hurried up to the front entrance where Jason was waiting for her. “Sorry, it was impossible to get out of the hospital on time, and then traffic—”

He reached for her hand to pull her in for a long, lingering kiss, cutting off her apology. “I just got here,” Jason said, drawing back slightly. “I thought about picking up Danny first to tell them together, but…” He stopped. “There’s a few things I thought you and I should talk to her about one-on-one, and I don’t want her to feel like she has to do what her brother wants.”

“Is this about the visitation Alexis wrote into the petition?” Elizabeth asked, following him inside where the foyer was, surprisingly deserted. “You think she might want Drew to come see her?”

“Maybe. I don’t like it, but I also—” Jason considered his words. “If Drew abides by the agreement, Scout’s ours. Not just Danny’s sisters. But ours. I thought maybe if we always talked to her with Danny or the other boys—”

“She’d always feel like we did this to make Danny happy. Like she doesn’t really belong.” Elizabeth leaned up to kiss him again, laying her hands at his collar. “You’re right. If we’re doing this, she deserves to feel like we’re listening to her, and what she wants is important.”

“I thought I heard voices—” They both turned, hearing both the voice and the whirring of a wheelchair. Monica came from the back hallway, trailed by Brook Lynn. “I’m hoping that seeing the two of you means this is over?” she asked hopefully.

“Yeah, tell me that Drew’s been tossed out on his ass,” Brook Lynn added. “I just know he’s slimy enough to pick his career over that little girl.”

“He agreed,” Jason told them, and Monica smiled. “He’s leaving for DC as soon as it can be arranged, and he’s signed over guardianship of Scout. I don’t know if he’ll stay gone, but for now—it’s over.”

“We came to tell her,” Elizabeth said, shedding her coat and purse. “Is she upstairs in the nursery?”

“She is. Oh, I’m so grateful that this has worked out this way,” Monica said. She reached for Elizabeth’s hand. “So grateful that you’ll be part of this family. Officially. It’s taken long enough.”

“Long enough that Jason didn’t even make a face when you said that, Aunt Monica,” Brook Lynn teased, and now Jason wrinkle his nose, realizing the younger woman was right.

“Well, you’re not wrong. It’s taken long enough.” Jason reached for Elizabeth’s hand. “You ready?”

“Always.”

—

Willow extracted Amelia from her winter coat, smiling as the toddler skipped over to the play area next to the Christmas tree — still undecorated. They’d brought it days ago, intending to spend the weekend decking it out.

“Today went a little…crazier than we planned,” Michael said, closing the door behind her. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Willow forced a smile, folding her arms. “We got what we wanted. Drew’s gone, I don’t have to go public with what happened, which makes this easier for you and kids. I mean, for me, too, but—” She lifted her chin. “And more importantly, Danny and Scout are safe.”

Michael flexed his hand, still a little sore from slugging Drew. “Yeah, but I didn’t really expect him to throw you under the bus that way. It must have been hard to hear—”

“It was good to hear it. To know what he thought of me. I have a way of repressing the awful things people do and say.” She smiled wryly, looked over at Amelia. “Only way to survive living with Harmony and the Dawn of Day.” She returned her gaze to Michael. “I think we should separate. I mean, if you want to…file for divorce, I’d understand. But I was hoping we could just…take some time. To just take time.”

“I’m not in any hurry, Willow, to end our marriage. Maybe I should be, but—” He hesitated. “There’s a lot of good here. We both…we both slept with other people—”

“What I did was so much worse, Michael. Don’t—” Willow bit her lip, looked at her hands. “I think I should talk to someone. I mean we could try counseling, but I think I should — myself — talk to someone. Maybe Drew’s not wrong. Maybe there’s more screwed up in my head than I thought.”

“He was just trying to save himself—”

“I loved our life, Michael. Our family, our little world down here, the future we were building—” Her voice thickened. “And I threw it away. I can’t undo that. And I need to understand why I did that to myself. To us.”

“All right.” Michael stroked her arms, and her chest eased. He was always so kind — too kind. “You’re right. Separation — it’s the right way. But I don’t—I want to make this as easy as we can for the kids. So…I don’t want them to have to go back and forth.”

“No, me either.” Willow brushed the tears away. “I think I should stay with my mother and maybe we could take turns. You know, we’re the ones that switch and the kids stay here.”

“We can try that.”

“Good. Good. I, um, I’ll pack a few things—” He caught her arm when she started for the stairs. “Michael—”

“It can wait until after the holidays.  If we can’t—if we can’t fix this — then I want them to have one more holiday with the both of us. Can we do that?” Michael asked.

“It’s more than I deserve. Thank you.” She squeezed his hand. “Why don’t you go pick up Wiley at the main house? I’ll make dinner.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

—

Jason knocked lightly at Scout’s bedroom door, already slightly open. “Scout?”

“Uncle Jason?” Scout climbed to her feet from where she was playing with her doll house. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Can we come in?” Jason asked, stepping aside to reveal Elizabeth with him.

“Okay.” Scout worried her bottom lip, her dark eyes wide. “You’re here to tell me I have stay. That I can’t come with you, aren’t you?”

“We’re here to tell you that we talked to your dad, and he agreed that you should stay with us and Danny while he’s in DC,” Jason said carefully. He waited for Elizabeth to sit down in one of the armchairs before sitting on the window seat. “So you can come live with us.”

“Oh.” Scout was quiet for a moment, absorbing that. “He didn’t want me?”

“He did,” Elizabeth said. “But we all agreed that it was better for you to stay here with your school and your friends and your brother. We thought that was what you wanted.” She looked at Jason, and he could tell she was worried.

Scout sat down, kneeling on the carpet, and picking up one of her dolls. “I guess. You went away,” she said to Jason. “For a long time, and Danny was really sad. Did you miss Danny? And Jake?”

“More than anything. I thought about them every day I was gone, and they were the first people I wanted to see when it was possible.” And safe, Jason finished silently.

“I don’t think my daddy misses me when I’m not there,” Scout said. “Before Grandma made him leave, we lived here for days and days and days, and he only saw me sometimes. He said he was really busy. Do all daddies go away? And mommies? Did you ever go away?” she asked Elizabeth. “For years and months and days?”

“I went to stay at a hospital for a few weeks,” Elizabeth told her. “And Rocco’s grandmother took care of my boys and kept them safe until I could come home.”

Scout considered that. “But my mommy can’t come home. She went to heaven. Do you think she thinks about me?”

“I’m sure she does. She loved you a whole lot,” Jason told her. “Scout, if you want us to make sure you can still see your dad, we can do that. We can take you to DC or —” He hesitated, then forced the words out. “We can do something here. This is up to you. Whatever you want.”

Scout turned the doll over her in her hands and was quiet so long Jason worried they’d made a mistake. Maybe she’d felt like she’d had to agree with what her brother wanted.  Finally, she looked up at him. “We’ll all live together in ‘Lizabeth’s house?”

“That’s the plan. You’ll have your own room there,” Elizabeth said.

“And we’ll see each other every day? Do I have to stay in my room all day?” Scout wanted to know. “Will the boys be mean to me? Sometimes Danny was mean to me. Not since….not since. But maybe he’ll forget and be mean again.”

“Well, if Danny’s mean to you again, you come and tell me, and I’ll handle it, but you already know Jake and Elizabeth’s other two boys are really great kids. Cameron lives in California most of the time, but he’s always been a pretty good older brother. And Aiden likes to bake.”

Scout brightened. “Bake? Like cookies?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Elizabeth said.  “And you know, he always needs an assistant in the kitchen. Jake and Cam were away at school, and I just know he’d love having someone to test all his cookies and everything else he makes.”

“That might be fun. Is he making Christmas cookies? I could help.”

“I’m sure he is. So you still want to come with us?” Elizabeth asked.

Scout took a deep breath. “Daddy was really mad at me. Maybe when he stops being so mad, he might love me again, and I can stay with him. But it was scary when he was mad. Is it okay if I stay with you until he stops being mad at me?”

Not really sure how he’d be able keep that particularly promise, Jason looked at Elizabeth, a bit helpless.

She slid off the chair and knelt next to Scout, stroking back her hair. “I think that we should check in with your Daddy once in a while, and see how you feel. And when you’re ready, we can make changes. But until then, I would love if you lived with us.”

Scout looked at her. “Okay. When can I have cookies?”

+47

Written in 61 minutes. Ending is a little awkward, but I was out of time 😛

Drew snorted, tossed the newspaper on the desk. “You’re really desperate if you think you something like that is going to tank my career or if you think I’d give up my daughter for that.” He folded his arms. “You can’t just publish something like without proof, and we both know Willow would never have anything to do with this. Unlike the rest of this family, she still believes in the truth.”

“Gee, Curtis, he seems very confident.” Michael leaned back against the desk, with a smirk of his own.

“Worst kind of politician,” Curtis replied. “He actually believes his own bullshit.”

“Do it, Curtis, and I’ll have my lawyers sue this paper for defamation and fire you so fast—”

“Oh—well, that’ll be a little difficult considering—” Michael lifted his brows. “You no longer own the majority share. Curtis?”

“There’s a new majority stakeholder in Aurora Media,” Curtis reported. “You know, the shares you put on the market to finance your run for office?”

“That wouldn’t be enough to tip the balance—”

“They would be if the shareholder in question already owned a substantial portion.”

Drew’s smug expression faded just a little at Michael’s interruption. “What?”

“I bought them,” Michael said. “As an independent shareholder. Because you were family, and you’d helped save Willow’s life. I wanted to support you. Over the last few days, I’ve made calls to a number of shareholders of Aurora Media, who were all happy to sell me their shares for market price. But the final piece I needed? That was easy. All I had to do was talk to the trustee of your daughter’s inheritance from her mother.”

Drew exhaled a slow breath. “Sam had stock—”

“Stock you gifted her when you purchased the company. Stock she gave to her children in her will. Stock controlled by the trustee of their trust fund.” Michael held out the contract. “After you brutalized her grandchildren, Alexis was only to happy to help fund your downfall.” He straightened. “So. You’re out, Drew. Of Aurora, of this family, and time.”

“This—this can’t—” Drew ignored the contract in Michael’s hands, whipped out his cell phone, and began furiously swiping to get to the stock app. “You can’t do this—”

“I can, and I have. Oh, and Aunt Tracy filed an injunction against your name change. It wasn’t permanent yet,” Michael added when Drew whipped his head up. “Did you think you could bulldoze your way through my family and walk away with everything you wanted?” he asked coolly.

“I know you’re angry about what happened with Willow, Michael. But I promise you—it just happened. It was one of those things—you understand. You’ve been in my place before,” Drew said, stepping towards Michael. “You had an affair with Willow, too. Monogamy—after what she went through in that cult—it’s just not the same to her—she has the morals of an alley cat—”

Drew’s words were cut off abruptly when Michael backhanded him, sending him flying, hitting a chair on the way down. “You dumb son of a bitch—” Drew hurtled to his feet, and his first clipped Michael in the jaw, but Michael had moved just at the right minute, so most of the force was wasted, and Drew went back to the ground.

Willow rushed in, drawing up short when she saw Drew on the floor, Michael standing over him, chest heaving. “I’m sorry, I know I’m supposed to wait, but—” Her voice was shaky. “I thought he was killing you—”

“Stay down,” Curtis advised, planting a foot on Drew’s chest.

Michael looked at Willow. “You don’t have to do this anymore—he doesn’t deserve the break we’re giving him—”

“Stealing my company and destroying my life is a break—” Drew grunted, shoving Curtis in the leg. He rolled to his hands and knees. “Willow, you know it wasn’t like that between us—”

“I don’t know why you’re appealing to me with my lack of morality,” Willow bit out, and Drew winced. “Is that the story you’re going with? Really? I seduced you? You son of a bitch. You gave me a job, booked trip after trip where we were alone! You kissed me! And when I told you to leave me alone, you kept showing  up everywhere I went. When I was out with Michael, at work—”

Drew climbed to his feet. “Oh, and you’re blameless—”

“No, I’m not—” Tears glimmered in Willow’s eyes now. “I thought I saw something in you, something that mattered enough to blow up my entire world, but you’re nothing but a selfish, greedy, evil bastard. What you did to your daughter, to Danny, to Michael—you’re right,” she said to Michael. “He doesn’t deserve this break, but Danny and Scout do. And this makes it over faster.”

Michael made a face, looked at his uncle. “Sign guardianship over to Jason. Keep Scout and Danny together. You can tell whatever political story you want. You can keep the goddamn name. But you go to DC, and after you’re done there, you take some lobbyist job that keeps you far away from this family.”

“You think I’m giving up Aurora and my daughter so your wife can save face?” Drew demanded. “Go to hell—”

“You’re going to lose your daughter anyway. Witness after witness will talk about how little you’ve given a damn about her since you came back from prison. Trying to send her to a boarding school against her wishes? Leaving bruises? Barely talking to her day after day?” Michael shook his head. “Once family services gets involved Drew, there’s no turning back. Sign that, and an investigation ends—”

“It’s in the papers—” Drew growled. “It’s already out there—”

“It’s the Port Charles Sun. You’re not even a Congressman yet,” Curtis said coolly. “Maybe it’s a scandal for a few days, but then something in DC will happen and it’ll go away. Or I can keep printing stories. Willow can give her side. Maybe a bigger media market picks it up—”

Drew scrubbed his hands over his face. “This is some bullshit,”  he bit out. “I didn’t do anything wrong—”

“Sign this, and the shares I bought in Aurora — they get turned over to Scout when she’s of age. That’s the deal, Drew. And it’s good for five more minutes.” Michael held out the agreement. “Take it or leave it.”

—

Sonny stirred some sugar into his coffee, glancing up only briefly when Jason appeared in the doorway of the restaurant. “Wondered if you’d come by today.” He held up the Sun. “Hell of a story, isn’t it? Drew’s going down in flames.”

Jason hadn’t seen a print copy of the paper yet, and pulled it from Sonny’s grasp. Scout’s face had been blurred, but Danny’s face, the bruises from the first night, stared back at him. “We just heard from Molly. The charges got dropped.”

“Is that so?” Sonny shrugged, went over to a booth, sat down with his coffee. “Not surprised. It was a bad case.”

“Yeah. We knew it would happen. Just—” Jason tipped his head. “We figured after the story hit the papers this morning. But Turner dropped the charges first.” He pressed his lips together. “Did you do something?”

Sonny hesitated, then looked at his old friend. “I made it worth Turner’s while to make the charges go away. And don’t worry, I got Spinelli to cook it up so that it’s above board. None of her financial obligations are gone. She just won’t be the one paying them. And the only deal is for Danny. She still gets to go after me — or you, though, uh, I’m guessing you’re pretty much done with that part of your life.”

“As done as I get to be with what it’s in my past.” Jason laid the paper table. “We were handling it—”

“And it would have worked out. Turner’s heart wasn’t in it — she barely even threatened to call the PCPD. But—” Sonny took a moment. “I didn’t like it. When you came down on me for the way I’ve handled my kids. I took it personally because if you think you shouldn’t be a father because your life, well, what does that say about me?” When Jason just looked away, Sonny nodded. “Yeah, well. I’ve got my regrets, like anyone else. And I don’t like to apologize. I double down. Which is what I did in court last week. I’m—” He made a face. “I’m sorry.”

“Do you really think that fixes everything?” Jason wanted to know.

“No.” Sonny sipped his coffee. “Because I did what I did. You were right, you know. About me not seeing your boys as part of my circle. As being on the same level as maybe Dante or Kristina or Michael. They didn’t matter to me the way they should have. I could blame you for making them part of your life—but that’s still not an excuse. Jake and Danny are your sons. And I should have been better.”

He stared down at the white tablecloth. “Danny’s about the age I was when I got rung up on my first charges. I was scared as hell, thought it was all over. I watched Michael go through that, Kristina nearly got pulled into it. And Christ, Morgan—my blood gave him nothing but darkness—” Sonny rubbed the side of his face. “I don’t want your boys to have the life I’ve had. The one you’ve had. We came out okay on the other side, I guess. But that doesn’t mean I don’t get wanting more. Wanting better.”

Jason shoved his hands in his pockets. “I wish I could tell you that we’re good now, but—”

“But I said what I said, and I did what I did. And I can’t imagine I’m Elizabeth’s favorite person right now. I, uh, heard about the engagement. Carly said it came up in court.”

Jason winced. “I didn’t think about her finding out that way. She hasn’t said anything—”

“We both got a wake-up call, Jase. Whether you care that we learned our lesson or not, we did. I can’t promise she won’t say something eventually, but —” Sonny got to his feet. “It’s a good thing you didn’t listen to me. Because you obviously know what you want and need better than I do. And from now on, I’m gonna respect that. You tell Elizabeth that if and when she’s ready for an apology, I’ll offer it, but until then, I’ll take my cue from you.”

“Thank you.” Jason paused. “For making sure Danny doesn’t have to have that hanging over his head. We were handling it, but it’s…it’s a relief knowing he doesn’t have to think about it again.” He started for the door, but he looked back when Sonny called his name. “Yeah?”

“You’re good now, right? Happy, I mean? With Elizabeth and the boys? This is what you want?”

“It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

—

Elizabeth flicked through a few screens on the computer screen, wincing at the schedule, wondering how to stretch the nursing schedule even further — then heard a familar voice clear their throat. She didn’t take her eyes off the screen. “Can I help you, Carly?”

“I went by the house, but the kids said you were at work. You…you must be happy Cam’s home.”

Now Elizabeth looked at her, saw that Carly’s expression was almost friendly. Suspicious, but almost intrigued, she turned to fully face her. “I am. I don’t get to have all three of them together much these days, so it’s always nice.”

“And Danny—he seemed to be—he seems to be okay. With…being there.” Carly made a face, and the first twitch of her lips that suggested she was trying very hard to be civil. “I’m…glad you were there. At court. To give the judge a place for Danny to go. I mean, I would have been happy to stand up—”

“But we wanted Danny to be with his brother and father,” Elizabeth finished, and Carly’s lips twitched again.

“Right. There’s that. Michael said you and Jason are….still getting married. Even with Alexis settling the custody case.” She pursed her lips. “And you’re after custody of Scout now, too.”

“Michael’s accurate.” Elizabeth picked up some charts. “Is there anything else—”

“All I ever wanted was for Jason to have his boys. He has them now,” Carly said. “And it has to be you, I guess I can live with that.”

“Gee, thanks, Carly—”  When Carly snagged her arm as Elizabeth tried to pass, she sighed, looked back at the blonde. “Carly—”

“We’re never going to be friends. Which is fine by me. But your kids are pretty great. Which means you can’t be that bad. I’m glad Danny has you. And I hope Scout gets to have you and Jason, too.”

Elizabeth tipped her head to the side. “Thank you. That means a lot, coming from you.”

Carly squinted, trying to find the insult, then her expression eased when she didn’t detect one. “Okay. So—how are we getting rid of Drew and is there anything I can do to help?”

—

Jason stepped inside Alexis’s living room, relieved when only Michael and Molly were in the room. He didn’t feel like going another round with Kristina. “Hey. How did it go this morning?”

“Well, Michael almost got arrested for assault,” Molly said, throwing her cousin a dirty look.

Michael shrugged. “Worth it.”

“But otherwise—” Molly extended a sheaf of legal papers. “He signed it. Guardianship of Emily Scout Cain, awarded to you and to Elizabeth. The papers say he’s supposed to have one visit a month, but unofficially—”

“He’s agreed that no visitation starts until Scout gives the okay.” Michael put a hand at his waist, his suit jacket falling back. “In return, a majority stake in Aurora Media  gets put in her name, all proceeds to go to a trust fund controlled by Alexis.  And no investigation with family services.”

“Which I hate,” Alexis muttered, folding her arms. “He should be raked across the coals and run from town by pitchfork for what he did to those kids—”

“I agree,” Jason said, and she smiled faintly. “But we all agreed that we needed to make this painless for Danny and Scout. They’ve dealt with enough since Sam died. At least now, we can finally get some normalcy for them. Thank you. Both. For everything you’ve done,” he said to Molly and Michael. He looked at Alexis. “I’m going to depend on you, Molly—and Kristina—to be a huge part of their lives. To keep Sam alive for them. I know you’d do it without asking, but I want you know that I understand how important it is for them to have their mother’s family part of their lives.”

“Considering the hell I’ve put you through—” Alexis’s voice broke for a moment, and she looked away. “Thank you. For keeping them together. It’s all I wanted.” Molly reached out, squeezed her mother’s hand.

“Do you want to come with me?” Jason asked. “To tell them it’s over and Scout’s coming with us?”

“No. No.” Alexis took a deep breath. “You and Elizabeth should do that together. They’re going to be so happy.”

There are only two updates left, and then Dear Reader moves into the editing phase. But since it’s part of the Taylor Swift Midnights collection, I’ll be editing it this fall, so please let me know anything you’d like to see flesh out, maybe scenes or characters you wanted more from, etc.

The next few flash fiction series will be from the Midnights collection because, A, I need to actually get some work done on the Swift project, and B, the theme of that album is Taylor writing about what she’s thought during sleepless nights, and ha, I tend to mostly only think about Flash these days 😛

See you in the next update!

+34

Written in 68 minutes. Sorry, went over because the cat was being a pain and the first scene took a bit of extra time but I figure you won’t argue.

Jason opened his eyes, instantly awake. In the shadows of the room, lit by nothing more than the streetlights outside, he saw the white ceiling above him, not the popcorn ceiling of his room at the diner, and took a moment to orient himself.

He turned his head to the side, and saw Elizabeth curled on her side, both hands clasped and tucked under her chin, strands of her dark hair laying across her cheek, her eyes moving just slightly beneath her lids, indicating she was still in deep sleep. In the short stretches of time they’d had together, he’d only woken beside her a handful of times — and only once after spending an entire night together.

And yet, laying here, watching her sleep, her chest rising slightly, it seemed as natural as taking his own breath. It had been that way for them in the beginning, the night they’d met at the bar, and he wondered what it meant that after all they’d been through, after all the stops and starts, tears and angry words, the months of not seeing each other at all — that they could slip back into each other’s lives like no time had passed at all.

Now, he laid in her bed, with their sons asleep in various rooms along the hallway. Hers, his, and theirs. It was the first time Jason had slept under the same roof as Jake and Danny in years, and it was better than the handful of nights when he’d had them before. Better because this wouldn’t be a a visit — this would be forever. Even if they moved houses or Jake went back to Spain or Danny went away to college —

He looked back at Elizabeth, at the ring glinting in the shadows. It hadn’t even been two full days since that day at the other house, when he’d stood in an empty kitchen and asked her for just one more chance to show that he wanted to be with her, to renew those promises they’d made a life time ago — even laying here with her, it didn’t seem real. Too good to be true.

“I can feel you staring at me,” came her soft murmur, her eyes still closed. “You should sleep more. It’s early.”

“You haven’t even looked at a clock,” he teased, though she was right — it wasn’t even five.

“Mom superpower.” Her lashes fluttered, and her lips curved when she looked at him. “Can’t sleep?”

“I never need a lot of sleep. Not like you,” he teased, and her smile deepened.

She opened her eyes more fully, and lifted a hand to stroke his cheek. “But you didn’t sleep almost at all the other night.”

“I’m okay. But you should get a few more hours—” he started, but she was already sitting up, bracing her upper body on her elbow. “I didn’t meant to wake you up.”

“Well, you did, but you can make it up to me.” Elizabeth leaned down, brushed her lips gently against his. He cradled her jaw, then stroked the sides of her torso before sliding his fingers beneath the soft, stretchy fabric of her tank to the heated skin beneath.

It should have felt awkward, and strange after all these years of not touching her, but he’d know her anywhere, her voice, her scent, the way she felt, he’d be able to find her in a dark room, the way her breathing hitched when he cupped her breasts, stripping the tank over her head.

He rolled them so that she was on her back, and her hands were stroking his chest, across the scars she recognized, and the ones that she didn’t—her fingertips dancing across the tattoos he’d acquired in his travels—and then dipping below the waist of his sweatpants, using her legs to tug the material down his legs until they joined her shirt on the floor, then her shorts—

They were quiet, just soft whispers, words that barely made any sense or were even audible—he knew just where to touch, to stroke, to use his mouth to make her eyes roll back and her back arch from the bed, but so did she, and showed him with that wicked smile that he only saw in these moments, when there was nothing between them but skin, no tomorrow, no today, no yesterdays, just this moment and how much he needed her. Did she know? Could she know?

She curled up on his damp chest after, their bodies cooling in the chilled room, her nails lightly stroking at his collarbone. “Wasn’t how I planned to seduce you,” she murmured. “But it’ll do.”

He laughed, his arm curled around her waist, his heart thudding. “Yeah, not bad.”

“Now go back to sleep or I’ll do it again,” Elizabeth said, closing her eyes. He nearly laughed again, but didn’t want to disturb her. He tugged the sheet up from the bottom of the bed with his leg until he could reach it, then pulled it over them — more for her than him, closed his eyes, and slid back into a light doze.

—

Several hours later, across town, Kristina paced from the fireplace to the landing by the front door, then back again, trying very hard not to peer over her mother’s shoulder. “We should take a few days, Mom. To really think about this. Let’s let Danny’s charges get dismissed—”

“Kristina—” Alexis looked at her, then sighed. She turned back to the petition she was drafting — the petition to withdraw her custody suits against Jason and Drew. “All I wanted was to do right by Danny and Scout. I was wrong about what that was, but I’m making the right choice now—”

“But Jason—”

“Jason wouldn’t have been my choice, but he was your sister’s. And he’s Danny’s.” Alexis tapped the print command, then got to her feet. “I’m doing what’s right. If you can’t—or won’t—support it, then you don’t have to go with me to court. But this is happening.”

—

“I have to go to school?” Aiden dropped his spoon back in the cereal bowl. “Mom. Come on—why am I the only one—”

“You have to go to school because it’s the law,” Elizabeth said, setting down a glass of orange juice.

“And don’t smirk, Danny. I made an appointment with your guidance counselor tomorrow to find out about getting you caught up,” Jason said, and the smirk in question faded.

“Oh, come on, Dad. Don’t you think I’ve been through enough?” Danny grumbled, but picked up spoon. “I don’t want to go back there with this bruise—”

“We’re going to see about getting homeschooling approved until this is all figured out,” Jason said, “but, yeah, you’re going back.” His phone rang, and he tugged it out of his pocket. “I have to take this,” he said, looking at Elizabeth. He slid off the stool at the counter, and headed to the kichen.

“And hey, remember, we’re supposed to be pretending to be perfect kids,” Cameron reminded Danny. “You want Jason and my mom to get custody of your little sister, right? So  you gotta play the Webber way and make the honor roll. Mom goes easier on you when you bring home that little gold card.”

“I never made you get on the honor roll, Cameron,” Elizabeth protested. “I wouldn’t—you don’t need to do that,” she said to Danny hastily. “You’re going to make him think I’m strict—”

“But Cam’s right. If I get good grades and stay out of trouble, it looks better for you and Dad in court, and I want Scout to live here.”

“I’m always right,” Cameron said. “We’ll get along better when you figure that out.”

“If by always you mean never,” Jake retorted.

“Don’t start—” Elizabeth said, but stopped when Jason returned. “What’s up?”

“That was Molly. Uh—” Jason cleared his throat. “The DA’s office just dropped the charges against Danny.”

“Whoa—what?” Danny straightened, his eyes wide. “I don’t have to go back to jail?”

“That was fast—” Elizabeth said. “It’s not even eight — did she drop them last night, or — ”

“She got the call from Turner — apparently she did it first thing when she got in this morning. It still needs to go through the court process, but—” Jason released his first easy breath, looked at Danny. “It’s over.”

“That’s awesome, but I—I thought you said it might be a few days—” Danny said. He furrowed his brow. “How come they dropped them now and not today?”

“Maybe this is why.” Aiden slid his phone across the counter to his mother who snatched it up when she saw the headline on the social media post.

“Elizabeth?” Jason asked. “What is it?” He came around the counter, hoping to look over her shoulder.

“It’s the Sun. Front-page news — Congressman-elect accused of child abuse—” Elizabeth looked at Jason with wide eyes. “There’s pictures of Danny and Scout. With the bruises.”

—

The headlines had made their way around town, and by nine am, Curtis Ashford was in his office at Aurora, fielding calls from the media, national and local. “I hope you’re sure about this,” he said to Michael who was across the room, staring out the window at the street below. “Are you really prepared for this level of scrutiny?”

“Nothing you printed this morning was a lie,” Michael said.

Curtis opened his mouth to respond, but the office door crashed open, and Drew stalked in, a copy of the newspaper crumpled in his hand. He didn’t notice Michael right away, who took advantage of that to send a handful of texts.

“What the hell is the point of this? What were you thinking?” Drew demanded. “You’ve destroyed my career!”

“Not yet, he hasn’t,” Michael said, pressing send on the last text. Drew whirled around to face his nephew. “But if you don’t sign this—” He tossed a sheaf of legal papers towards Drew who caught them with one hand, and tossed the newspaper aside. “Then we’ll finish what we started.”

“You got a lot of nerve—” Drew looked down at it, snorted. “You’re insane if you think I’m signing over guardianship and custody of my daughter to Jason. There’s nothing you could do to me that would ever make me —”

“Sorry to hear that.” Michael looked at Curtis. “What do you think, digital today and print tomorrow?”

“Oh, yeah. We give it to the gossip sites first. TMZ is old reliable—” Curtis picked up his phone.

“What the hell are you talking about? What’s worse than this?” Drew shook the paper at them.

“Worse than abusing two minor children in your family?” Michael lifted his brows. “Not much. But I guarantee if there’s anyone left who wants to take your call, after Willow publishes her story, they won’t even remember your name.”

“Willow—” Drew went still. “What are you talking about?”

“You know, my wife whom you lured away from her job at the hospital, manipulated her into working for you—” Michael paused. “Then stalked and harassed her until she slept with you. You’re in the wrong party, Uncle Drew, if you want to get away with that kind of thing. But hey maybe the other guys will want to take your call.”

+43

Written in 59 minutes.

Molly peered through the peephole, then rested her forehead against the door, wishing she were anywhere else today. Or that TJ wasn’t working so that she’d have someone else in the room for this conversation.

“I can see the shadow on the ground, Molly. I know you’re in there,” came her father’s muffled voice.

She made a face, then reluctantly slid back the bolt and flicked off the chain before twisting the knob. She pulled the door open just a little, and lifted her brows. “This is as far as you get, Dad.”

Ric sighed, then nodded. “That’s fair. I just—I needed you to know that I’ve resigned from Drew’s case. Officially. You’ll be getting the notice tomorrow.”

“You took the case—”

“And you took Jason’s. Because we both thought your mother was out of line filing in the first place,” Ric interrupted, and she looked away. “My only mistake was trying to make a deal with Alexis to make Drew’s case go away—”

“You were with him in the station yesterday, Dad. You left with him—Even after you saw what he did to Danny—”

“I tried to get him to back down—sweetheart, please, can we just—” He gestured to the door, but Molly didn’t budge. “I wanted to make this go away—”

“You didn’t care about Danny or Scout or Drew, Dad. Don’t pretend that this wasn’t personal. Especially when you saw Elizabeth on Jason’s side. You’ve always hated him, and resented her for not marrying you again. Even though you were lying. Again.” Molly’s eyes burned. “You always do this. You make me think you’re here for me, but you never are. You take Ava’s case because it’s a poke at Sonny, and you take Drew’s case to stick it to Jason, but it’s never about me.”

“Molly—”

“I’m done. I’m just—I am so done.” And then she closed the door.

—

“Um—” Willow folded her arms nervously as Michael locked the front door to the gatehouse. “Thank you. For inviting me to dinner. It—it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. With…everything knowing. And for…not letting the kids know things are weird right now. It was good to be with them for bedtime.”

“Remind me to tell you some stories about my grandparents sometime, and you’ll understand,” Michael said dryly. He leaned against the door. “And I asked you to come home not because this is okay. Or that we’re okay. I don’t even know if I want it to be okay.”

“I get that. And…well, after what you said this morning, I don’t know if I want that either.” She exhaled, looked away. “Which sounds insane, I guess. To be angry that you cheated, too.   But I am.”

“I know.” Michael waited, but she didn’t say anything else, just looked awkwardly at the floor. “I’ll sleep in the guest room tonight, and we’ll figure out something. But first — ”

“First we deal with Drew.” Willow nodded. “Let’s go over the plan again.”

—

Cam wrinkled his nose at the double bed in Jake’s room. “You know, I’m the guest. I should get the bed, you should get the floor.”

“It’s share or the floor.” Jake sat on the bed cross-legged. “If you play your cards right, maybe we can get my dad’s credit card and not Mom’s, and we can actually do something with that place he bought that isn’t card tables and folding chairs.”

“Yeah, what’s all that about?” Cameron grunted, kicking off his sneakers. “How come Jason bought a house in the first place?”

“Before they decided to get married, me, Dad, and Danny were gonna live there.” Jake made a face. “Feels like forever ago we decided that, but it was really just, like a month. Back when Sonny dumped all that on me and Aiden, and Dad went nuclear on him.”

“Sorry I couldn’t tell you guys more.” Cameron twisted slightly to look at him. “Mom was really good about keeping most of that from me. And I was always at Gram’s back in the day anyway. When she had overnights, and Lucky, I guess, didn’t want to deal with me. So I couldn’t tell you when we moved out or back in. And I sort of remember living altogether at the big house, but that was like…five seconds. And I think I only remember from pictures. Mostly, I just remember the old house and Gram’s. Lucky wasn’t around much anyway. I don’t even remember calling him Dad.”

“Me either.” Jake waited as Cameron disappeared behind the closet door, then came back with his jeans and sweatshirt balled up, wearing basketball shorts and a t-shirt. “You didn’t say much about Mom getting married. I figured you’d have questions.”

“Not really. I mean, I guess the one thing I do remember from that time was Jason. He came around a lot. Or Mom ran into him a lot, too. More after you came along. And when you were…gone,” Cameron added, “before he got snatched, too, he was around. And you know whenever one of us had a problem, Mom was calling Jason.”

“Yeah, like when Cyrus kidnapped you that time, I don’t even think she called the police.”

“Nope.” Cameron crawled into the bed. “I guess maybe I’m surprised because Mom seemed pretty done with all of that after Franco died. Finn was obviously not the guy.” He wrinkled his nose. “I never liked him.”

“I tolerated him, but man, if Mom had wanted to marry him—” Jake wiggled his shoulders. “No, thanks. Especially since he turned out to be a drunk. Mom was right to drop kick him. And—Dad gave her backup for that.”

“See? Feels like it was kind of inevitable.” Cam shoved a pillow against the headboard, then sat back. “The real question is, how do we feel about our merry band of three becoming a quintet. Danny and Scout coming to live here full time?”

“It’s what needs to happen,” Jake said firmly. “Danny needs to be with Dad, and Scout deserves better than her asshole dad.”

“Crazy how all that’s played out,” Cameron mused. “There was a time Drew was solid, you know? When he was Jake Doe, when he was supposed to be Jason, and then even when he found out he was Drew — he was always there. But the way you’ve been telling it—”

“He said it was prison. That he took the heat for Joss’s mom, and figured out no one was ever gonna put him first. Maybe that’s true, but I also think he got his brains scrambled a few times too many and lost his damn mind. He almost went after Mom, Cam. I thought Dad was gonna put him through the wall. Or the harbor.”

“Yeah, Jason doesn’t fuck around when it comes to Mom.” Cameron looked at him. “You know, Jason and Drew are twins. And they were identical twins before Drew’s face got screwed up. So even though you and Scout are, like, cousins, you’re biologically siblings.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So you know how Mom tells us that half doesn’t mean anything, and the only time she ever got really mad at me as when I said something about Aiden only being half my brother, so I didn’t have to play with him — ” Cameron shook his head. “Feared for my life that day. You were still dead,” he added. “Anyway,” he continued when Jake rolled his eyes. “I just mean that Scout’s basically your sister anyway. And any sibling of yours — they’re mine, too. And Aiden’s. Plus, this whole thing gets me a house of my own—”

“Which we’re supposed to share after I go back to school and come home on break,” Jake reminded him, whacking him with a pillow. “It’ll be cool for Mom, you know, to have a girl around. She’s always been so outnumbered, and the only girly thing any of us have ever liked was baking—ow—” He winced when Cameron whipped the pillow at him. “Hey!”

“Baking’s not girly, and you don’t say that shit where Aiden can hear you,” Cameron threatened. “And you like watercolors, so who’s the girl now asshole?” He ducked the first return throw from Jake, but couldn’t escape the second. And then it was war.

—

Elizabeth stood in the doorway of her room for another minute, listening to thuds and whacks coming from down the hall, and closed her eyes, savoring it.

“You’re not worried they’re going to kill each other?”

She turned to find Jason sitting on the bed — perched on the edge, as if ready to take flight, and her smile deepened. She closed the door, leaned against it. “Do you know how many times I’ve dreamed about this moment?”

“Listening to your kids attempt murder?” he asked, but there was a line of amusement threading through the words.

“Well, yeah, a little bit of that, but—” she opened her eyes, tipped her head. “Having all my boys under one roof — and you in the same house. Danny’s a new addition to the dream, but I’m already adjusting to it.”

“You’re sure it’s a good idea for me to be in here tonight?” he rose to his feet and crossed to her. “I could have done the sofa again—”

She laid her hands on his shoulders, across the thin fabric of the t-shirt he’d changed into. “I think it’s important that we begin on the right note. This is Danny’s first night here, and I want him to feel at home. He was so uncomfortable taking Cam’s room with Cam here — I don’t him to feel like his dad is a guest here, too.”

“You’re right, and I want to be here—” He touched her chin, stroking the soft skin with his thumb. “I just—this is all happening so fast—”

“Well, this being the first night we’ve ever spent under the same roof together with our seventeen-year-old son, some might suggest it’s not  fast enough,” she teased, and she was rewarded with his smile. “And hey, we shared our first apartment four months after we met—”

“Is that how we’re describing recovering from a gunshot in your studio with no heat in December?” he asked dryly.

“It was cozy, and you loved it. Until Bobbie guilted you into leaving.” She leaned up to press her lips briefly to his, but he slid his hands up to cup her jaw and held her against him longer, deepening the embrace until her senses spun, and she gripped his shoulders to stay up right.

“One of my favorite places to be was that firetrap,” he murmured against her mouth, and she laughed, and he kissed her forehead when she started to pull back. “I just don’t want the boys to be uncomfortable with it.”

“And if they were younger, maybe we’d have a different conversation. But they’ll get used to it. Don’t worry,” she said, kissing his chin, “all I have in mind tonight is sleep. I’m not planning to seduce you.”

“You wouldn’t have try very hard.” He kissed the inside of her palm, then held her hand a little longer. “But—”

“But the timing isn’t right,” she said and he nodded. “We do suck at that most of the time. But I think our luck is beginning to change.”

“I hope so. We’ve…made a lot of promises to the boys. To Scout.” Some of the amusement faded. “I know we told them it might not work, but I don’t think they’re prepared for any outcome where we lose.”

“We’re going to do everything we can, and if Michael’s plan works—by Christmas, this will all be over.”

—

It had a been a long, excruciating, and irritating day — that had begun with just a little bit of promise but had ended with a tense meeting with her boss.

Robert Scorpio had not been happy with her trip to family court this morning.

Still smarting from his rebuke—and from the judge’s attitude, Justine Turner closed the door to her condo, kicked off her heels, and mentally began to pour herself a drink.

And then the light switched on. She hissed, whirled around and stopped in her tracks.

Sitting on her sofa sat Sonny Corinthos, his hand still on the lamp he’d turned on.

“ADA Turner. I was wondering when you’d get home. You work very late,” he said with a lift of his brows. “It’s hard work building a prosecution against a teenager, I suppose.”

Justine fished in her purse. “You are insane — out of your mind — you and your partner. I’ll have you arrested—”

“Oh. I wouldn’t do that. Not if you want Mommy Dearest to remain in that five star nursing home you’ve mortgaged your condo to pay for. And how are those student loans doing, Justine? Struggling to make ends meet?”

Her fingers stilled on the phone, and then she lifted her eyes to the mobster. “What?”

“You and I should do each other a favor. I’ll make your life easier, and in exchange, you drop the charges against Danny Morgan.” Sonny’s lips curved into a smile, the dimples winking. “And then we pretend this never happened.”

Her hand tightened around the phone, and for a long beat, they just considered each other. Then she sighed, the sound escaping with an exasperated huff. She tossed the phone on the sofa. “I don’t like family court anyway. Pour me a drink, and let’s make a deal.”

+40

Written in 63 minutes. Sorry, I just went a little overboard writing the teens. You know I love to write teen dialogue.

Jason raised his hand hesitantly to knock at the front door, then reminded himself he didn’t have to do that anymore. He lowered his hand, twisted the door knob, and came in to find all three boys in the living room having a heated argument over a controller and something on the television screen.

“I called it, I get to go first!” Aiden grimaced, jerking the controller from Jake only to lose when Jake tried to put it behind his back and Danny snagged it.

“Hey!”

“I might go to jail forever, I should get to play first—”

“He doesn’t get to use that! That’s not fair!”

Jason considered intervening, but noticed that Elizabeth was in the kitchen, ignoring the entire scene and decided that she likely knew better than he did what was serious and what was…ridiculous.

He met her in the kitchen, then jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Should we be worried?”

“No.” A smile twitched on her lips as she listened to the boys bicker. “Path to Exile 2 came out today, and it just finished downloading onto the console. I’ve missed listening to the boys argue about games since Jake went to Spain.”

None of those words made any sense to Jason, but he let it go. “Fair enough.”

“How did it go with Alexis?” Elizabeth asked. She turned back to the cabinet and leaned up to reach for a stack of paper plates. “Is she going to be a problem?”

“No.” Jason brushed her aside to retrieve the plates more easily, then handed them to her. “Alexis is on board. She wants the kids to stay together, and doesn’t want to fight anymore.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth furrowed her brow, bit her lip. “I wasn’t expecting that honestly. She fought so hard and seemed so sure — you said you went to see her the other day and it was like talking to a brick wall.”

“Having Danny hauled out of her house in cuffs and watching Drew put his hands on Scout—” Jason grimaced, set the plates on the counter. “She’s withdrawing her case and will cooperate with us.”

“Well, that’s good.” Elizabeth smiled when a new sound came from the living room, a swell of music. “They must have decided or one of them knocked the third one out. There’s only two controllers,” she added when Jason looked mystified. She went to the doorway to check. “Danny and Aiden. Jake is sulking in the corner of the sofa.” She turned back to the counter to find Jason watching her. “What?”

“Nothing. I just—” He tipped his head. “You make all this look easy. You always did, you know. When they were younger. Now. I get why Alexis thought you’d be the linchpin for her case.” He looked back to the living room. “I don’t know what to say to Danny half the time, and it’s a miracle Jake is even talking to me—”

“You got a little out of practice.” Elizabeth slid onto one of the stools. “But you were always so good with Michael. And look how you handled Jake after Sonny dropped that horrible bomb on him. This stuff—” She shrugged. “You’ll get used to it.”

“That’s the plan.” He reached for her hand, rubbed his thumb across the stone. “I’m sorry. So much of these last few weeks—this last week—you’ve had to put your whole life on hold to deal with this. Everything with Lucky and Sonny—that started because of me—”

“—because of Sonny—” she interrupted, but he continued as if she hadn’t cut in.

“—the deposition, court—”

“Just like I told Danny earlier today — I would still be worried about those kids even if you hadn’t come home. They’re Jake’s family. They’re your family. It’s just fortunate that you did come home, and I get to help.”

He started to respond but the door opened again behind them, and before he could turn around fully to see who had come through, Elizabeth was off the stool like she’d been shot from the cannon.

“Cameron! What are you doing here?” she demanded with a laughing grin, hugging her oldest son tightly, even before he’d fully come through the door.

Cameron hugged her back, then looked around the room. “Well, Jake called me yesterday and I got the idea that I might be needed at home.” He looked at his mother, lifting his brows the same way she always did to ask a question. “Am I too late?”

—

“There’s got to be someone who wants to make some damn money,” Drew muttered, tossing his phone aside after yet another attorney declined to take his case. He scrubbed his hands down his face. “What the hell.”

There was a light knock at his door, and he looked up—then jerked to his feet. “Come crawling back?” Drew asked with some derision.

“No. Just dropping off a copy of the official withdrawal from the case.” Ric set it on his desk. “And as my last act — a copy of something that was filed in your case. For your next lawyer—”

Drew snatched the papers from him, read through the first paragraph, hissed. “The Qs think they can steal my daughter? What the hell—”

“They know the right people, Drew, and you don’t. You might think about finding a way out of this. Before it hits the papers full force.”

“And why should I listen to you?” Drew demanded. “You don’t give a damn about me. Or my daughter. Or anyone but yourself.”

“You don’t want to take my advice? Suit yourself. But don’t blame me when you don’t even have your political career to fall back on.”

—

Cameron shed his jacket, handing it to his mother. “Jake said something about needing your favorite and best son at home—”

“You wish,” his brother sneered, but looked at his mother. “I thought he could get here in time, but I didn’t say anything when he couldn’t find a flight.  You know, a pre-med Stanford soccer star to show off your mom skills. We might still need you, so are you okay to stay a few days?”

“I thought we needed to get Danny out of the clink.” Cameron nodded at the boy in question. “Hey, Danny. Heard you decked a Congressman.” He winced. “But it looks like you took a pretty bad hit. How come he’s the one who got charged?” he asked his mother.

“World is stupid,” Jake offered. “We need to keep Danny out of jail, but the plan’s changed—”

“Whoa, wait. Let’s just—” Elizabeth hissed when there was another knock at the door. “Grand Central Station tonight,” she muttered, turning to look out the window. “Oh, that’s dinner—”

“I’ll get it,” Jason told  her, stepping behind her and opening the door.

“What did Jake tell you? Other than Danny?” Elizabeth wanted to know.

“Did he tell you about Lucky?”

“Lucky?” Cameron turned his younger brother. “No. Why?”

“That’s for later,” Jake interrupted before Aiden could speak again.

Bewildered, Cameron shrugged. He edged out of the way as Jason came back in the door with several plastic bags and headed for the kitchen. “Okay, we’ll follow up on that later, I guess. All Jake told me was that Danny decked Drew and got arrested, Jason and you are getting married, Danny’s coming to live here, and we need to make Drew disappear.” Cameron frowned. “I’m mostly confused on the Drew part. Didn’t we like him?”

“That was before he gave Danny a black eye,” Aiden supplied.

“And slept with Michael’s wife,” Jake said.

“And hurt my sister,” Danny finished.

Cameron looked at them, then back at his mother. “Okay, so we should probably start at the beginning. Oh, is that Mama Mangione’s? Hell, yeah.” He kissed his mother’s cheek. “Yo, Jason, let me get some of that garlic bread.”

—

Brook Lynn was waiting when Michael returned from Nina’s and handed him a tumbler of bourbon as soon as he came in the room. “Figured you might want that no matter how the situation went.”

“You’re not wrong,” Michael muttered, taking a sip. “Where’s the rest of the family?”

“Told them to give you some space. It’s been nothing but chaos here for days, and you’ve been at the center of it. I’m sorry,” Brook Lynn added when he just sighed. “This really sucks.”

“Yeah.” Michael made a face. “I told Willow about Scout. About the conversation Jake had with her on Thanksgiving about what she saw in the nursery. And how Drew handled it.”

“Gaslighting piece of garbage,” Brook Lynn muttered. “Telling his own kid she didn’t see what she saw and playin’ her like a violin. Nasty—”

“Willow confirmed it happened. She never saw Scout. Drew came to her that day at the hospital — Elizabeth saw them. He tried to get her to leave me. She refused, and he tried again later.” He stared into the dark liquor. “Claimed Scout was at school. Didn’t know or care that she wasn’t. Willow was mortified.”

“She should be. Sleeping with her uncle. I’m sorry, Michael, I support whatever you end up doing about her, but I gotta tell you, even for the Qs, this is pretty twisted. At least my dad didn’t know who Aunt Monica was before they slept together.”

Michael pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead. “Brook—”

“Sorry. Sorry. I just get so heated thinking about poor Scout. She’s got bruises on her arm, and she thinks her daddy hates her, but, like it’s just worse because maybe he doesn’t even give a damn about her. You know, Sam told me last year Drew was up in arms about sending her off to boarding school and only backed down when Sam was like, fuck that—” Brook Lynn took a deep breath. “It’s just awful who Drew turned out to be. If you got a kid, you gotta do whatever you can to keep them safe. To give them their best life. Even if it hurts you or might want something else. That kid has got to come first—” She paused when the door started to open. “Oh, hey, Gio.”

“Sorry, sorry, just forgot my case in here earlier—” Gio scooped up the case in question. “Oh, and hey, good luck doing whatever you’re doing with Drew. I hope you win.”

“So do we,” Brook said with a smile. When he was gone, she looked back at Michael. “Okay, so back to what we were talking about before I started ranting. What did Willow say? I mean, is she in?”

“Yeah. She’s in.”

—

Cameron scooped another forkful of spaghetti on to his garlic bread. “Okay, so really all I have to do is show up in court, look awesome, and make you look good,” he said to his mother. “I can handle that.”

“I know you can,” Elizabeth said, passing behind him. Jason couldn’t help but notice she seemed to have a new bounce in her step — and realized it was the first time she’d had all her boys at home in more than a year.

“I,  um, I put my stuff in your room,” Danny said a bit nervously, and Cam looked at him. “I didn’t know you were coming back today. I can do the sofa—”

“See, this is why I told you we had to figure out the rooms,” Aiden said, looking a little smug. Then he winced. “Ow!” He leaned over, rubbed his shin. “That hurt!”

“Bring up rooms again, see what happens,” Jake threatened.

“I’m cool on the sofa, Danny,” Cameron said with a shrug. “Or I can call some friends and bunk with them—”

“Oh, no, we can can figure something out—” Elizabeth said. “What about—”

“I think Aiden’s right,” Jason said, and Aiden stuck his tongue out at Jake. “We should probably have a conversation. Especially with what we’ve talked about earlier. I was going to talk to you tonight—” he told Elizabeth. “Run it past you first—”

“We’ve always decided things together,” Elizabeth said, taking her seat again. “And I don’t mind saying no in front of them.”

“She’s ruthless,” Cameron said, with a shake of his head. “Cuts a dream to shreds.”

“Your dream was to get a tattoo, dude. Of Joss’s name. Mom called that one,” Jake reminded him and Cameron scowled. “Hey, I’m not the one with bad ideas.”

Cameron opened his mouth to likely list at least a dozen examples, but a glare from his mother had him hunching his shoulders.

“What was your idea?” Elizabeth asked, ignoring her sons.

“The house. It’s still—I mean, it’s two blocks over. Pretty close. There’s nothing in it now,” Jason continued. “But I thought maybe Cam might want to use it. He’s been on his own for a while now. He’d still be close,” he hurried when Elizabeth hesitated, but Cameron’s eyes had already lit up — which is why he’d planned to bring it up later.

“See—this is why you’re my favorite.” Cameron stabbed a fork at Jason. “Best ideas.”

“Didn’t you try to shoot him once?” Aiden asked.

“You tried to shoot my dad?” Danny furrowed her brow. “Wait—”

Cameron scowled, dropped his fork to the table. “Hey, if we start talking about all the dumb things people at this table have done, I’ll start with—”

“And to think I wanted them to come home,” Elizabeth said, with a groan as the boys started to argue. She put her fingers to her temples.

“Sorry,” Jason said. “I should have waited to suggest this to you later—”

“No, your idea is perfect. Cameron absolutely should have some independence. And space. And I can see Jake wanting some, too, later. After he goes back to school next fall.” Elizabeth squeezed his hand. “It’s a great idea. And he’ll be really close.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. Yes,” she repeated when he still looked a little hesitant. “Let me get them back under control before you think I raised a bunch of heathens.” She turned back to the table, and raising her voice, said, “Okay, before Jason and Danny run from this house to escape you lunatics—Jake, Aiden, stop messing with your brother. Cam, stop giving them reasons.”

She took a deep breath. “It’s a great idea, Cam. And for tonight, you and Jake can share. Danny’s just getting settled—”

“But then Danny and I will share,” Jake said. “Because Scout’s a girl and she’ll need her own room.” He looked at his parents. “Right? Isn’t that what you and Danny’s grandma talked about? We’re gonna get, Scout, aren’t?”

“Yeah.” Jason took Elizabeth’s hand again, looked at her, then looked at the boys. “Yeah, we are.”

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