Written in 60 minutes. See you tomorrow. *cackles*

Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “Is there a reason to be worried?” he asked, closing the office door and reaching for the blinds on the window that looked out onto the warehouse floor.

“Worried?” Molly echoed. “I don’t know. Let me review the deposition before I tell you we have a problem. I’d rather think about the positives. I wondered why Mom wanted to start with Elizabeth, and now we know. I’m sure there’s a way to organize our case to turn the tables back in our favor. I’m going to go through the tape, review the answers and the questions, then I think you and I should sit down and talk—and I’m gonna need to talk to Elizabeth, too.”

There was a knock on the office door, and Jason opened it to find Elizabeth on the other side. “She’s here now.” He backed up, allowing Elizabeth room to answer. “I’m talking to Molly now.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth took a deep breath, closed the door behind her. “Good. That’s good. Right?”

“We’ll find out.” He returned his attention to the call. “Let me know when you want to set up that meeting, okay? I’ll tell Elizabeth to call you.”

“Okay. Jason, it’s my job to worry, not yours. The one thing I would do, though—I’d get Danny from my mother’s house as soon as possible. If you’re planning to live with him full-time, start now. I know why you wanted to keep him with the Qs and why you let him stay at my mom’s, but that’s one thing we can do right now.”

“I’ll talk to Danny and see what he wants to do. I don’t care what happens to my case. If he wants to stay with his sister, that’s what he’ll do.”

Jason ended the call, tossed the phone on the desk, and looked at Elizabeth. She stood near the warehouse window, staring at the dingy blinds, one arm slung across the middle, the other hand at her lips, biting her nails. “Hey.”

She let her arm drop to the other, so that she was nearly hugging herself as she turned to face him. “Molly told you. The deposition — it was bad.”

“She didn’t use those words, and I’m sure it wasn’t—” Jason came to her, nearly reached up to rub her shoulders, but at the last moment, let his hands drop back to his sides. “She didn’t sound worried—”

“Well, then she’s covering it up. Or maybe she doesn’t know enough to be worried.” Elizabeth sighed. She raised both hands to her hair, combed through roughly, then cupped her cheeks. “What did Molly tell you?”

Jason did touch her now, attempting to guide her to a car, but she shook her head. “I can’t. I can’t sit still. Just tell me. What does Molly think happened?”

He furrowed his brow. “She thinks Alexis plans to emphasize how much you’ve done for Jake, to make it seem as if you did it alone without my input, and maybe even argue my lack of interest. Is—did she misunderstand?”

“No. But I think Molly suffers from not knowing—” Elizabeth looked at him finally, her gaze meeting his. “Jason. I didn’t lie today, I didn’t. But I came pretty close. And the only reason I could do it is because Alexis doesn’t know enough to press in certain areas. But there are other people who do.”

He tilted his head, squinting. “I don’t understand—”

Now Elizabeth did move, cross the short length of the office, then pacing back towards him. “What happened before Jake, I can mostly take the blame. Because it’s true. I lied to you, there was miscommunication, and we were just trying so hard not to hurt each other, we didn’t really talk—I think we get away with that, right?”

“Probably. You were married, I was engaged—but—”

She sank down onto the rickety wooden chair in front of his desk, sitting sideways, one hand braced along the back. “Alexis doesn’t know we were together for the better part of a year. That we were engaged for—well, I guess it was for a few days, but we both know it was maybe minutes because the second you got that call about Michael—” She looked away. “She doesn’t know that we nearly changed our minds. But other people do. Other people on that list.”

Jason closed his eyes. “Carly knows. And now so does Jake.”

“Lucky knows. I don’t know if Alexis would depose him, and God help me, I’m almost grateful because apparently he’s ready to take off any day now, so maybe we get away with that. And Carly, God, she might tell Alexis thinking it’ll help your case—but—” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “Jason, what does it look like in family court if we tell that judge the reason you stepped aside, the reason you weren’t in Jake’s life until after he was kidnapped—how do we tell him we did it because of your job?”

Seeing the trap now, Jason grimaced, looked away. “Alexis has to know it was a factor.”

“I’m sure she does. She raised Sonny’s daughter, she made similar choices. She has to know. It’s why she started asking me why I lied. The thing is—your job was never the reason this started. It wasn’t. I’ve always known who you are. I’ve accepted. And if things had gone differently when the tests came back, I was ready to tell you. It’s just…” Tears shimmered in her eyes and she had to look away. “What happened to Michael, God, it was so awful, and I know how scared we both were. I thought we were scared before, but the terror of thinking Jake might end up like that just for standing next to you…” Her breath hitched. “I didn’t fight you on leaving me. Not right away. I wanted to because I loved you so much—”

“Hey…” Jason crouched down, took her hand in his, and with his other hand, he cupped her cheek so that she’d look at him. “You never, ever have to defend that choice to me. We both made those choices. We both chose to put Jake first. He was always more important than how we felt about each other.”

She nodded, even as the tears slid down slowly. She drew in a deep breath. “She didn’t know how to ask it today, but I just—she could start asking questions. And if you tell the judge you were afraid Jake would end up hurt, it gives him a reason not to give you Danny now. The warehouse shooting last summer would probably come up, and those two years you were gone—he could really push on that, couldn’t he?”

“I guess.”

“It opens all these doors—and I didn’t think about it. I didn’t think Alexis would ever—” Elizabeth closed her eyes, took another deep breath. “I want to say it would be so unfair for her to use that against you when she knew how you felt, when she felt the same way.” She pulled her hand out of his grasp, started to swipe at her face. “I don’t know how we stop that from happening. Because if we don’t come clean about the why, Alexis gets to argue that it’s because you didn’t want to be his father.”

Jason grimaced, then rose to his feet. “And she gets to add it to all the other reasons she thinks that’s true. When Sam was…when she went to prison for what happened to Shiloh, she gave custody of Scout to Monica, and I decided to let Danny stay at the mansion because I knew she wanted them together. Just…”

“Just like now.” Elizabeth also stood. “And I know…” She rubbed her shoulder, uncomfortably. “The explosion at the Floating Rib. The one that hurt Lulu, and—”

“Killed a few other people, including Dev.” The nail in the coffin to any future with Sam. “Yeah. Danny lived with Sam after that, but we’d been there. He could have ended up hurt, or—Alexis knows about that.”

“I just…” Elizabeth took a deep breath, folded her arms tightly. “That’s probably the worst part of today — realizing how Alexis could rewrite the narrative of what we went through back then, to fit it with everything that happened later. And I don’t really know how we fix that. The part about your job. If this goes to court, if Alexis puts people on the stand, if she gets me up there, and I have to start talking about any of this—” She looked away. “I got in my car after the deposition, and I just started to drive. I drove in circles, just going over and over everything in my head, trying to find a way out of this—”

“Hey, this isn’t your fight—” Jason took her by the shoulders, his thumbs stroking in small circles. “Molly and I—”

“She wants to use me to hurt you, Jason. She wants to use this horrible thing we went through—She wants to use our son to say something about who you are—” Elizabeth pressed her lips together, creating a thin white line, as she tried to regain control of her rising voice. “Don’t tell me this isn’t my fight. She’s making it about me, and I’m not going to let her do that.”

“We don’t know if she’s going to talk about any of that,” Jason reminded her. “You’re right. It’s something we need to think about, and probably something we should talk about when we meet with Molly, but—”

“It’s just where she could start. But there’s all these other things she has proof of. Things I couldn’t skirt around. She asked about child support. Like regular payments—” Elizabeth shook her head. “I tried to tell her it was never necessary. You put together Jake’s trust fund when he was kid, and you even gave one to Cameron, even though that was never your responsibility, but I—I let Steven invest them in the stock market and he lost everything—”

“You didn’t tell me that,” Jason interrupted, furrowing his brow. “Why didn’t you—I would have—”

“Because it was my fault—” Elizabeth pressed a hand against her chest. “I let my brother talk me into trying to create something for Aiden, and I was so wrong. But even if that hadn’t happened, I always knew if Jake needed anything, I could go to you. I tried to tell her that, and I told her about Spain, how you were doing so much for Jake, and didn’t even blink an eye when Jake basically threw away entire semester of tuition and probably whatever rent you paid for his flat, and she started asking questions like doesn’t it bother you Jason didn’t seem to care? Like you just throw money at Jake’s problems, and I got tongue-tied because I thought these were all good things—”

“Take a breath. Hey—” Jason cut in, reaching for her hands as she gestured wildly. He squeezed them. “It’s okay—”

“It’s not. She’s going to try and paint me like I’m this amazing, perfect mother because all three of my boys are these incredible successes, and okay, sure, some of that of is me—don’t make that face at me, okay? Don’t.” Elizabeth stabbed a finger at him. “Whatever mistakes we made, whatever our regrets, we did one thing right. Okay? Everything we did, everything you did, Jake is because of that. We have this wonderful, brilliant, perfect son who is all of these things because of our choices, good and bad, and Alexis Davis doesn’t get to walk in like a Monday morning quarterback saying we were wrong. We are his parents. Not her.”

“Okay, first—” Jason leaned against the desk, fighting the urge to smile because she wouldn’t understand where the amusement came from, not in the middle of a conversation like this. But he hated when she was down on herself, when she cried, he couldn’t stand it. But now she was glaring at him, her eyes sparkling with a mixture of anger and defiance—

“First. I appreciate that you want to give me credit for anything about the way Jake turned out. And if you honestly think any of that is because of me, then I won’t argue with you.”

“Good. You won’t win.”

He reached for her hand against, holding it between both of his. “Second, you’re right. You and I made our choices. We made our mistakes. And I know we’ve been talking about them a lot with Jake lately. But it’s not fair for someone else to come in and judge us. To judge you for anything you did. But she’s not wrong if her plan is to talk about what an amazing mother you are. Cameron and Aiden are great kids. Look at where Cameron is—on a scholarship to an Ivy League school. You did that, Elizabeth, and you did that without anyone. Look at the career you built for yourself, the dreams you gave up so you could put the boys first. Don’t tell me it wasn’t a little bittersweet knowing Jake is going to live the life you wanted for yourself. So if you want me to disagree with Alexis about what kind of mother you are, you’re in for a fight.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “I didn’t give up anything that mattered. What? To be a starving artist in New York City? I had a chance to do that, and I threw it away. Long before Cameron came along. And it was a privilege to go into nursing, and I love it. I’m so proud of Jake. So proud that you and I could make that happen for him, because just getting into the school isn’t enough. Alexis wants to try and use any of this against you, she’ll have to go through me.” She took a deep breath. “And that’s why I came here. Because I have a plan for some of it.”

Jason straightened, keeping Elizabeth’s hand still in his grasp. “A plan?”

“Yes. I don’t know if Alexis is going to find out about…about what happened after Jake was born, but I think we need to do whatever we can to make her back down, to make her understand that no judge is ever going to say you can’t raise Danny, that you’re an unfit father. Because her entire argument is that you haven’t been a hands-on full-time father, so Danny will suffer being in your custody. That you can’t handle it.”

“You think you have a way to make Alexis back down?” Jason asked, lifting his brows. “It’s hard to believe that, but I’m listening.”

She licked her lips, then bit down, remaining quiet just long enough for his pulse to pick up. “Elizabeth—”

“She thinks she can use me against you, but what if we—what if I take her entire argument about me and shove it down her throat? If I’m such an amazing mother, that if I can do all that of that as a single mother one basically one income, well—” She took a deep breath. “Then, okay. Let’s make me part of the deal.”

Jason opened his mouth, then closed it, furrowing his brow. “I don’t—I don’t understand.”

“Jake and Danny are both going to talk about how much they love you and Danny will say he wants to be with you, so the most important thing we have to do is make sure the judge feels comfortable with Danny in your custody. And Alexis thinks I’m amazing? I want her to eat those words. So make me part of the deal. Part of the package.”

Her meaning started to sink in, and his heart started to beat just a little faster. “Part of the deal,” he repeated. “You mean Danny in our joint custody, is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes.” She lifted her chin. “We can’t lose.”

Wanting to be absolutely sure she meant what he thought she meant, he pressed. “And in order for there to be a joint custody, that means we’d have to…” He trailed off, wanting her to finish, not even able to put it into words himself. It seemed too fantastical, too impossible to think she might be suggesting what he was thinking.”

“We’d have to get married. Yeah. That’s the plan.” She licked her lips again. “So, what do you think? Will you marry me?”

+43

Took about 60 minutes but my computer keyboard died in the middle, and I had to switch computers — it’s a whole thing. ANYWAY.

Elizabeth fought the urge to pace the small lobby of Davis & Miller, forcing herself instead to remain standing in one place, pretending the print on the wall was the most fascinating piece of art she’d ever seen.

“I’ve seen better in a doctor’s office.”

She jolted at the words, then turned pressing a hand against her chest in relief. “Martin. I’m glad you’re here.”

“I’m not late, am I?” Martin Gray asked, checking his phone.

“No, no.” She shook her head. “No,” she said again. “I’m just nervous. I know I have nothing to worry about it, but it’s just—” She looked past him towards the conference room’s double doors. “It’s so important that I don’t do anything to hurt Jason’s case. Not that there’s—” She made a face. “That came out wrong—”

“It is extremely easy for a skilled attorney to twist even an innocuous statement into an admission of wrongdoing,” Martin told her. “You could try to tell a charming story about Jason and Alexis will pick at a thread that serves her narrative. There are three rules to a deposition. One, tell the truth,” he began, using his fingers to count. “Two, if possible, limit all answers to yes or no. And three, if you must provide detail, offer nothing more than you’re asked. It’s better to be asked a follow-up question looking for specifics than giving too much.”

“I know—”

“And I’ll be right there next to you. I can object to questions which can help strike answers later when a judge rules on it. Elizabeth—” Martin waited for her to look at him. “You’ll do fine. You’re an excellent mother, and Alexis has a long uphill battle if she wants to take custody away from the child’s biological father. This will all be over before you know it.”

—

Laura reached the guest room, stopping at the threshold, inhaling sharply at the sight of her son shoving things into a duffel bag. “So Kevin wasn’t wrong. You are packing.”

Lucky paused for a moment, long enough to look at his mother, before returning to the dresser. “We talked about this, Mom—”

“And we’re going to talk again. How can you possibly think this is the best time for you to leave again?” she demanded. “Aiden has barely gotten used to being home—”

“Then this won’t be a difficult adjustment. He won’t even notice I’m gone—”

“What a perfectly horrible thing to say about your own son. Of course he’ll notice.” Laura gritted her teeth. “Is this because of what happened at Elizabeth’s? What Jake told Aiden—”

“You know, Mom—” Lucky stopped with a beleaguered sigh. “I would think you of all people would understand. I made some mistakes and now my kid is using it as a reason not to be around me.”

Laura lifted her brows. “You’re not actually comparing this fiasco to what you put me through, are you? Your son found out you were a drug addict, Lucky, and that you had an affair that led to the end of your marriage. He came to you, looking for answers. He isn’t avoiding you, Lucky. He was just here at the holidays. You wouldn’t even be in the same room with me—” Her voice faltered, and she turned away, surprised by the shudder that rippled through her.

“Mom—”

“No. No—” Laura shook her head, turned back to face him. “You refused to listen to me, to live with me, to be in my life in any way for almost a year. You forgave your father faster than you forgave me, and I never held that against you. I tried to understand how you could treat me that way when I watched how careful and kind you were to Elizabeth, but it baffles me, Lucky. Then and now.”

Lucky dipped his head low, stared at the carpet. Finally, he lifted his gaze back to his mother’s. “Elizabeth never married her rapist and had a family with him. It’s not difficult, Mom. I watched Elizabeth with her nightmares and anxiety, painstakingly learning how to trust being around strangers again, and I looked at you, knowing you’d married the man who did it to you. Knowing I came from him, and it made me sick. You want to have this conversation right now, Mom? We can keep going.”

Laura’s stomach rolled, and she forced down the bile that rose. “It’s so easy for you to step in my head, to assume that it was that simple for me. So black and white. That’s always been your problem, Lucky. You can’t see all the reasons, all the trauma in my choices. You never could. You never see the shades of gray.”

“If it helps you sleep at night, Mom.” Lucky jerked the zipper on the bag. “There’s nothing for me here. Aiden’s better off without me. Everyone is better off with me—”

“I didn’t raise you to run from your problems like this, to treat family this way—” Laura said, stepping out of the way as Lucky came towards the door, the bag strap over his shoulder. “Lucky—”

“You didn’t raise me at all, Mom,” Lucky snapped, whirling back to face her. “I’m my father’s son, everyone always said. Well, I’m doing what he did. Getting away from Port Charles and all of you.”

“If you walk out that door, if you walk out on this chance with your son to know you—” Laura lifted her chin. “Then you aren’t welcome to return. This is the last time, Lucky. I won’t chase you down again.”

“Music to my ears,” he sneered, then headed down the hallway. She heard the thud of his footsteps on the stairs, then the slam of the door.

She pressed her hands to her face, and wept bitterly.

—

Jake hesitantly crossed into Michael’s office, waiting as his cousin closed the door behind him. “I hope it’s okay I just dropped by like this.”

“You can show up any time you want, Jake.” Michael gestured toward the beverage bar across the room. “You want anything? Coffee?”

“Nah.” Jake fisted his hands in the pockets of his jacket. “I, uh, ran into Drew the other day. After the hearing. He actually followed me.”

Michael made a face, then leaned against the desk, folding his arms. “I’m sure that was a pleasant experience.”

“Opposite actually.” Jake dragged a hand through his hair. “He’s gonna help Alexis Davis with her case against Dad. Testifying that Danny should be with his grandmother.”

Michael stared at him for a long moment, then tilted his face towards the ceiling. “Let me guess. If you keep your mouth shut about what you know, he’ll back off.”

“Yeah. I told him I’d think about it, figuring I’d tell my dad and make it his problem, but—” Jake hesitated. “I think if my dad found out Drew was cornering me in dark garages, that we’d have bigger problems on our hands.”

“That’s putting it mildly.” Michael looked away, remaining silent for a long moment. “The simplest thing to do is to call his bluff. Tell Willow what I know. What I already knew before  you even spoke to Scout.”

“I don’t really get why you’re staying quiet about it, but like, it’s your business, so I’m not judging,” Jake replied. “It’s just…it’s bigger than that now. Drew’s taking it out on my dad, and he’s putting Danny and Scout in the middle. I get it, you’ve got your kids in there with them. I just…it doesn’t feel right that he gets what he wants if I agree.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Michael tilted his head. “You ever testify in court before? Ever have to sit with a judge and tell him who you want to live with?”

“No.” Jake shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Lots of my friends did. Some of them liked it that way, you know. Two parents, two houses. They’d play them against each other to get stuff. But I never had to do that. I know I’m lucky.”

“Lost count how many times my mother moved out, or my dad kicked her out.” Michael’s eyes were  troubled. “Sometimes he let her take Morgan and me with her, sometimes no. Cutting off visitation, telling us how bad the other was—it was exhausting, and it only stopped after my coma, and I was old enough to make it stop.” He rubbed his face. “Probably crazy, but that coma was the most peace I ever got.”

“You don’t want your kids to go through it.” Jake nodded. “I get that. But, like, you’re the one who gets decide how that goes down. It’s choice, right? To use your kids like weapons. Dad, for all his faults, never did that. Not to my mom or to Danny’s. He could have. Danny’s mom didn’t want him around when he first got home. And Dad could have gone to court. Could have forced me into visiting him or getting Danny visitation.”

“He could have. Does it bother you he didn’t?”

Jake considered the question, weighed his answer. “Drew took some shots at him, about my dad leaving me, not being around a lot, or giving me his name, but you know—” He looked at Michael. “Maybe if he’d gone nuclear in trying to see us, it’d be like proof to someone who doesn’t matter that he cares. But it would have upset everyone. Mom was already kind of sad I didn’t wanna see him, and Danny would have hated disappointing his mom or having to talk about any of it in court.” Jake shook his head. “No, it doesn’t bother me. We can fight about him being gone for so long being a shitty thing, but he never said it wasn’t. But he came home and it was like — he cared about what was right for me. For Danny. That’s got to matter.” He furrowed his brow. “I can’t tell you what to, Michael. I just can’t really be okay with Drew getting away with what he did to Scout. What he wants to do to Danny—“

“You’re right. This—“ Michael straightened. “This is the last straw. We need to end this.”

—

Jason heard Carly’s loud, bombastic voice, and winced as he stood before a pallet of coffee beans. “What is it?” he asked, turning to face her.

She stopped short, scowled. “Why do you always have that look on your face when I come to see you? What kind of friend are you?”

“Is that why you came to see me?” he asked. He turned, headed for his office, and she hurried to follow.

“Well, you just ran out of the courthouse after not even letting Sonny finish—“

“If you’re here to talk about Sonny—“ Jason held the door to his office open, stopping her from crossing the threshold. “You can go. I’ve made it clear where I stand.”

She pressed lips together in mutinous line. “No, I came to ask about this—“ She waved the paper in her hand. “Alexis wants to depose me. Diane says I can’t get out of it, and also she can’t help me, so what am I supposed to do?”

“Go. Tell the truth. Get a lawyer and listen to him.”

Carly pursed her lips. “I bet when Elizabeth got this notice, you didn’t talk to her like that. You’re probably talking to her all the time—“

Jason looked to the ceiling, prayed for patience, then looked at Carly again. “I’m not interested in debating the presence of Elizabeth in my life. She’s the mother of my son. And even if that weren’t true, she’s my friend. I’m done arguing with you about this.”

“I’m not trying to argue. But—“ Carly took a deep breath, gathered herself. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just—it’s all gone so terrible since Sam died. Okay? Drew and you had a fight, you still won’t tell me why. And you’re dealing with all of this stuff from Alexis, you’re mad at Sonny, and I just want to help. Please let me help.”

“You can help by doing what I said. Find a lawyer who can go with you to the deposition. Listen to him. Tell the truth. Other than that, Carly, there’s not much else.”

“Fine. Whatever. You’ve made it very clear you don’t need me.” Carly stepped back. “But don’t be surprised if you keep pushing me and Sonny away, we won’t be there when you need us—“

Jason closed the door in her face.

—

Elizabeth stepped outside of the building where Alexis’s law practice was located, blinking at the bright sun. She turned on the sidewalk to face Martin. “That went as badly as I think it did, didn’t it?”

Martin hesitated. “I suppose it depends on your definition of badly. You followed all of my advice, so you’re not in any trouble.”

“Martin. Please tell me I was imagining things. That the questions Alexis asked, that—“ Elizabeth pressed two fingers to her lips. “She’s trying to turn me into her witness, isn’t she?”

“There, ah, does seem to be an element of that, yes.” Martin tipped his head. “Elizabeth, there’s nothing you can do to but tell the truth. Trust Jason’s lawyer to handle his case—“

“But—but Alexis can’t do that, can she? She can’t use me to hurt Jason’s chances at custody can she?”

“Elizabeth.”

“Martin. Just tell it to me straight.” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “Is there a chance, if Alexis asks me questions like that on the stand, if she—if she argues what I think she’s arguing, can that hurt Jason?”

“Yes,” Martin admitted. “I think there’s more than a better chance that you might just be Alexis’s star witness, and there’s not much you can do to stop her.”

+35

Went a little over because my keyboard is still having issues, and the final scene needed to end just right 😛

Written in 67 minutes.

At the sound of the elevator bell, Elizabeth glanced up and immediately dropped her pen, smiling. “Hey! You got my message!” She stepped out of the nurse’s station just as Aiden reached her side. He kissed her cheek. “I hope you didn’t have anything else planned—”

“Nothing that couldn’t be moved.” Aiden reshifted the strap of his bookbag so it rested more comfortably on his back. “You said it was important.”

“Mostly because I knew I’d late tonight, and I definitely wanted to touch base with you today.” She led him towards the conference room, closing the door once they were both inside. “Um, we haven’t really talked a lot about…your dad. I mean, you haven’t brought him up, and I guess—” She winced. “Selfishly, I was avoiding the conversation.”

“I don’t know what there is to say.” Aiden dropped his bag on the floor. “I tried to talk to him, he avoided my phone calls, but couldn’t wait to track down Jake to give his side.” He paused, somewhat uncertainly. “I felt like maybe he was trying to say I didn’t really matter, but Tobias said something that sounded better. Dad wanted to tell Jake his side, but mostly he was just trash talking Jake’s dad, and he was starting to go after you.”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together. “Yeah, I definitely got the feeling he feels like this entire situation has been a little lop-sided—or that he was getting hit by bullets not meant for him. He’s not wrong, I guess. Sonny never said anything about him, and I think if Jason and I had had a moment to really sit and talk about this, maybe we could have found a way out of this—”

“Mom.” Aiden looked at her with such patience that her throat felt tight. “Jason didn’t say anything about Dad that wasn’t true, right? He had an affair and was addicted to drugs. These were facts. He just doesn’t like that I know them. Or that maybe I know who he had the affair with. I don’t care about that part. Well not anymore,” he added when she lifted her brows. “I did. But I got over it, I guess. Tobias said it happened to you. Before I was born. Jake’s dad is right. None of this has anything to do with me or Jake.”

“Well, I don’t know about that—”

Aiden held up his hand. “I’m not talking about what happened after Jake was born. I’m talking about what Mr. Corinthos said. About you lying to Jason. He knew when Jake was born, right? So whatever happens after that, it’s not just you. Mr. C wanted to hurt you, just like Dad wants to hurt you by telling me more crap that isn’t about me.” He jerked a shoulder. “He tried again on Thanksgiving, to talk about when you guys almost got back together before I was born. I told him I’m not interested.”

Elizabeth exhaled on a rush of breath. “You—you know if you have questions—”

“Maybe if you wanna tell me one day. When I’m older. When you want me to know,” he said. “I don’t care about what happened before I was born, and I think Jake is starting to remember what matters. I remember who was there when I had trouble in school, when I got sick. Who eats everything I bake even when it isn’t good. I care about who shows up. That’s you. Jake—it’s more complicated for him. Because his dad made other choices sometimes, but you know what his dad is doing now? Trying. Listening. Not trying to make someone else the bad guy.”

“Aiden, I’m—I’m sorry. It’s—it’s never what I planned. I never wanted you not to have a strong relationship with your father—”

“You can’t miss what you never had, Mom. I came out to him, and he’s met Tobias, so that’s enough for me.” Aiden tipped his head. “We could have talked about this at home, you know. What was the rush?”

“Oh. Well, Lucas told me that Lucky is…he’s waiting on an assignment. He’s going back to Doctors Without Borders,” Elizabeth said, watching carefully to see how her youngest absorbed that information.

A muscle in his cheek twitch, and his shoulders seemed to tense, but otherwise — “Good. He likes his work, and it’s important. He should be where he’s happy, and it doesn’t seem like that’s here. If you’re asking me if I knew, no. But he’s been here for a few weeks, didn’t seem like he was planning to get a place or a job, so I kind of figured.”

“Well, I just—I want you to know that I love you. And I’m so proud of you.” She stepped forward, embraced him tightly, then drew back to cup his face in her hands. “My handsome sweet boy. You deserve the whole world. I’m sorry I can’t give it you.”

“You do okay, Mom. Don’t worry about me.” He kissed her forehead. “If it’s okay, I’m gonna head out. I’ll see you at home.”

“See you at home.”

—

Molly tapped her foot restlessly outside the court room, snapping to attention when Ric finally exited. He said something to Drew, who headed for the elevator, then came over to Molly. “Hello sweetheart—”

“Don’t do this.”

Ric sighed, switched his briefcase to other hand. “Honey, don’t make this personal. This is just business—you know that. You took Jason’s case—”

“I went to him,” Molly snapped, and Ric closed his mouth. “This is personal, Dad, and the fact that you don’t get it is why I don’t want you on this case. I love you, you know I do. But we both know you can be spiteful and vindictive. And petty. You’ve hated Jason my entire life—”

“Longer, but go on.”

At her father’s casual turn, Molly stopped, pressed her lips together mutinously. “This is just a joke to you, isn’t it? Just another way to dig at Mom, to dig at Jason, that’s all you care about—”

“Really? You think I don’t sympathize with Drew? Alexis is planning to drag him through the mud to get custody of his daughter? I know what her game plan is, Molly. I watched her do it to Sonny—hell, I helped her. And then she used the same playbook on me. Do you think I wanted to spend so little time with you?” Ric snapped.

Molly took a shaky breath. “Okay, okay. So you do get it. I’m doing the same for Jason. Because Mom wanted to do that to TJ. I told you that. She was going to file for custody on Kristina’s behalf. She wanted to take my baby—” She pressed two fingers to her lips, turned away, forcing herself to take a deep breath. “I know Drew and Jason hate each other, but we have a common enemy—”

“No, we have a common goal,” Ric interrupted. “Drew wants what’s best for the kids. So don’t think of asking to join the cases or try a joint defense.”

“Are you going to try to force a deal?” Molly asked. “In return for his support, Mom drops the case against Drew?”

“Well, we both knew Jason is the real wild card. The man has barely parented any child that  genetically belongs to him. Too worried about Carly and Sonny’s kids. Where do you think he was for two years while he played dead? While his boys mourned him? Something for one of them or Michael no doubt. No—” Ric shook his head. “Drew wants his daughter, make no mistake, Molly. But on the subject of Danny? We all agree. Jason is the worst possible choice, and we intend to do whatever we can to prove it.”

—

Jason had hoped to catch Jake before he left the courtroom, but as soon as the judge had completed the hearing, the teen had been on his feet and out the door. Jason started to follow, only for Sonny to step in front of him, Carly hovering somewhat behind, Michael at Jason’s side, a little wary.

“I was hoping you might take a minute—Jase—” Sonny said when Jason tried to walk past him. “Please. Just give me a chance to make this right. For all our sake’s, okay?”

Jason grimaced. “Yeah, fine. Five minutes.”

—

Jake had already loosened the top few buttons on his shirt, looking forward to shedding the entire getup. He’d gone as moral support, but it had been a supremely uncomfortable scene especially standing with Sonny Corinthos as if the man hadn’t come into Jake’s house and attacked his mother and upended everything Jake understood about his life.

He fished his keys from his pocket, jingling them in his palm as he approached his mother’s car, hoping that there’d be some time to talk to his parents about a car. He’d had one before he left for Spain, but he’d decided to sell it for extra cash to spend at school. Regretting that, he thought somewhat darkly.

There were footsteps behind him, scratching at the concrete texture of the parking garage floor. Figuring it was his father or maybe Michael, Jake turned, grimacing when he realized it was neither.

“Drew,” Jake said flatly, and the older man stopped a few feet away. “Are you parked nearby or following me?” When Drew didn’t immediately answer, Jake’s stomach rolled slightly. “What do you want?”

“To make a deal.” Drew slid his hands into the pockets of his suit pants.  “Right now, my lawyer is informing Molly that I intend to testify for Alexis. Against your father.”

“Wow, the endorsement of a scumbag politician. Can’t wait to see that story on the news,” Jake said with a sneer. “Is that before or after you screw your nephew’s wife?”

“Cut the crap, kid. If you’d planned to use that, you already would have. But you probably promised Scout you’d keep your mouth shut.” Drew tipped his head. “Right? You got her to trust you, and now look at you, using her against me. What would she think?”

“Believe it or not, the opinion of a seven-year-old isn’t really my top priority,” Jake retorted. “If Scout finds out I told, well, at least she’ll know she wasn’t imagining things. That’s what you told her, isn’t it? That if she wasn’t sure, she’d hurt so many people. And she might not be allowed to live at the Qs anymore. That her mother would be disappointed in her.”

Drew lifted his chin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about—”

“Yeah, you do. And I’m not going to waste my breath asking what happened to you, to the guy I knew, to the one who said I’d always be like a son to him. There’s no point in trying to find any shame in you.” Jake’s hands were nearly trembling from nerves, from rage, so she shoved them in his pockets. “I just wish you’d stayed dead.”

“Like your dad did? At least I was kidnapped. What’s his excuse?” Drew demanded. “You don’t get to sit and judge me, Jake. You’re supporting the deadbeat who refused to claim you, refused to even give you his name—even now. And who left you for two years—” He shook his head. “You’ll understand one day, Jake. After you spend years bending over backwards to take care of everyone else. I looked out for everyone but me my entire life. My country, my family, but no one was ever looking out for me. So I’m going to take what I want, and everyone else is going to get out of my way.”

“Well, that’s a really shitty way to go through life, but whatever, dude. Just stop being a dick to your kid and sleeping with your relatives. It’s kind of creepy.”

Jake turned away, reaching for the handle to the car, but Drew’s voice stopped him. “I said I wanted to make a deal.”

He turned back to face the other man. “You have nothing I want.”

“Don’t be so sure.” Drew stepped closer. “You keep your mouth shut, and I’ll tell Ric that we’ll cooperate with your dad. Hell, I’ll even testify for him. And then Danny will get what he wants – to stay with his dad. Everyone is happy.”

“You mean you’ll be happy, since you just said no one else matters.”

“In this rare case, what I want is what you supposedly want. Or did I mistake you sitting behind your deadbeat dad in court?” Drew lifted his brows. “What’s it going to be?”

—

“That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Kristina said, following her mother out of the courthouse doors. “And they didn’t even tell us we had to give the kids back.”

“I’m sure that will come soon enough,” Alexis muttered, reaching her car. “Kristina—that was the easiest part of all of this. You know that, don’t you? What comes next—” She shook her head.

“What comes next is proving that you and I are the best people to raise those kids. Sam would want them to stay together. She only wrote what she did in her will because it wasn’t supposed to be like this,” Kristina insisted. “She wasn’t living the same reckless life! She thought she’d live forever. She should have. So whatever we have to do, Mom, I’m ready for it.”

Alexis hesitated, then remembered the joy of the last few days, waking up to find Danny and Scout in her home. These sweet reminders of her precious daughter, all she’d ever have of her now. “And so am I. Drew might be a difficult case to win, but Jason? That won’t be difficult at all.”

“Exactly. Where do we start?”

“With our strongest witness.” Alexis slid into the driver’s seat. “Elizabeth.”

—

Carly poked Sonny in the back. “Go ahead. We practiced this,” she told Jason, and Michael shook his head.

“Mom—why don’t you and I go in the hall—” He took his mother’s elbow. “Dad’s a big boy and he can clean up his own messes.”

“Right, but—” Carly was still protesting when Michael half-dragged her away, leaving Jason and Sonny alone in the court room.

“Talk,” Jason said flatly. “I have things to do.”

“I’m trying to apologize, but you’re not making it easy—that’s not—” Sonny winced, rubbed his temple. “That’s not your job, I know. But if you could just try to understand that I wanted to help. You know I would never hurt you or your kids. Not intentionally—”

“You think because you weren’t aiming at Jake that it matters? You knew what you were doing. You had time to think when they came through the door. You could have backed down. But you didn’t.” The familiar rage bubbled again. “I deserve to know why.”

“I just—I lost my temper. More than two decades of watching you fall on the sword for that woman—” Sonny winced when Jason walked past him. “I didn’t mean it that way—come on—”

“You don’t run my life, Sonny. You don’t make my choices—”

Sonny snorted. “That’s for damn sure—”

Jason stepped closer to him, and the smirk disappeared from Sonny’s face. “And I don’t make yours. You want me to start listing all the mistakes you’ve made this year? In the last few weeks? All the ways you’ve hurt people? You want me to start talking about your worst choices in front of your kids? Let me go find Donna and Avery. We can have a conversation about Agent Cates.”

“Shut up—”

“You made a choice, Sonny. You wanted to hurt Elizabeth, and you didn’t give a damn that my son was in the crossfire—”

“You’re not pissed about what I said in front of him, you’re pissed I said it to her—because you can’t do anything but defend her—”

“Yeah, it’s called loyalty, Sonny. To the woman who raised my son without a whole lot from me because I was usually saving your life or taking care of your kids. You’re damn right I’m angry you said it to Elizabeth, and if Jake hadn’t been there, we’d still be having this conversation. But he was there, and you don’t get how that changes things. You don’t get it because you don’t feel a damn sense of anything towards my sons. Either of them. You don’t care that Elizabeth has put herself on the line for me over and over again. You’re not loyal to anyone but yourself, Sonny. And we’re done here.”

+42

Written in 63 minutes.

Jason tugged at his tie, fighting the urge to yank it from his neck and shove it into his suit pocket. There was nothing he hated more than wearing one of these, but he knew that he was already fighting an uphill battle in family court with a judge who would, no doubt, be familiar with the name Jason Morgan from a lengthy police record. This was the one place where a judge probably wouldn’t be very impressed that he had many arrests, but only conviction — and that one had been a guilty plea.

Molly was waiting for him outside the court room, talking animatedly with Jake, clad in his own court room attire — sans the uncomfortable tie. Jason quickened his pace until he reached their side, unsure why his eldest son was there at all.

“Hey. Uh, I wasn’t—” Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “I wasn’t expecting you today. I thought there wouldn’t be testimony—” he said, looking at Molly.

“I’m not here for that,” Jake said. “Mom got called into cover a shift, and I knew…” He let out a little huff. “I knew she’d wanted to be here. Not that you need moral support—” He looked past Jason who turned to see Carly, Sonny, and Michael stepping off the elevator. Jason grimaced, but it wasn’t really the time for it.

“I’m always glad to see you,” he told Jake as the trio reached them.

“Hey.” Carly went to Jake, embraced him lightly, patting his shoulder. “I feel like you’ve grown another inch every time I see you, and you look more like your dad every day. Don’t you think, Sonny?” she asked, forcing a cheerful smile and looking at her ex.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah. Jason, do you, uh, have a minute—”

“No, I don’t.” Jason turned slightly, angling Sonny out of the conversation, focusing on Molly. “This is just a formality, right?”

Molly looked between Sonny and Jason with some concern, but then nodded. “I was just telling Jake, it’s really just to start the ball rolling. And honestly, we’ve already started behind the scenes. My mother—” She stopped, as if registering for the first time that she was arguing a case against Alexis, her own family. “She’s already filed for depositions this week.”

“I got served this morning,” Jake said, shifting slightly, edging away from Sonny.

“I got mine last week,” Michael told Jason. “Alexis isn’t wasting any time.”

“But it’s not going to matter,” Carly said, again with that bright smile that fooled no one. “Jason’s an excellent father. Michael will be able to testify to that, and you, too, of course, Jake.” She touched Jake’s shoulder. “And you know, I guess, your mother will do that, too.”

“The least she can do,” Sonny muttered, and Jason looked at him sharply. His friend’s cheeks colored slightly, but he didn’t retract his statement or say anything else.

“Anyway,” Molly said, forcing Jason to look at her. “The judge appoint lawyers for Danny and Scout, and get that started. I’m hoping Mom drops her case before they have to be interviewed.”

“She will. Alexis will see reason,” Carly insisted. She pursed her lips. “Though it would a first for her.”

Molly opened her mouth, maybe to defend her mother, then closed it, her eyes widening as she took in something behind them. Jason turned, his jaw clenching.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” Carly breathed.

Ric’s smile was wide as he approached, Drew in his wake. “Well, hello. Molly, it’s so good to see you.” He kissed his daughter’s cheek. “Looks like this will be a family affair.”

—

“Alexis, will you just—” Diane caught up to her law partner and friend just before Alexis could reach the elevators in the courthouse lobby. “Can we have a conversation?”

“Why?” Alexis jabbed the button. “You’ve made it painfully clear where you stand. Against me.”

“Not against—” Diane pursed her lips, then tried again. “I am not against you, Alexis. I simply don’t agree that this is the best way forward—”

The elevators opened, and Diane followed Alexis and Kristina onto the car. “There’s still time to stop this.”

“Jason and Drew can stop this,” Kristina said, lifting her chin. “All they have to do is what’s best for Scout and Danny. Which is Mom.”

Diane fought the urge to shoot Kristina a malevolent look, choosing instead to step between mother and daughter so that she and Alexis were facing one another. “This is a bell you cannot unring. If you go in there and tell the judge you want full custody, he will order depositions and an investigation. Danny and Scout will be interviewed by family court representatives. They will be given guardian ad litems—”

“I’m familiar with the process—” Alexis interrupted impatiently.

“Alexis, I am trying to help you—”

“You’re trying to help Jason,” Kristina insisted. Diane whirled on her.

“And so what if I am? The man has done nothing but help you. He’s dug you out of every mess you’ve created, hasn’t he? Where’s your loyalty? Your gratitude?” Diane bit out.

“Where’s yours? My mother—”

“Stop it. Both of you.”

The elevators opened, and Alexis stepped out, then turned to face them. “No one is arguing, Diane, that Jason hasn’t played a pivotal role in helping my daughters. Kristina and Sam. But that does not make him fit to be a father to a son he scarcely knows—”

“You are going to regret this, Alexis. Mark my words. The day will come when you’ll wish you’d listened to me.” Diane touched her lips, then sighed. “But you won’t listen to me, that much is evident.” She stepped back onto the elevator. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t wish you luck.”

—

Elizabeth checked the time on her phone, then slid it back into her pocket. The hearing was due to start any minute, and she wished she there. But maybe it was for the best Jake had agreed readily to go in her stead.

“You’ve checked the time almost a dozen times,” Willow said, stepping up into the nurse’s station with a friendly smile. “Eager to be done?”

Elizabeth shook her head, then reached for another chart. “No, no, just…” She tipped her head to Willow. “I’m sure you know that Alexis is filing for custody of the kids. Their hearing is today.”

Willow bobbled the file in her hands, but caught it before it hit the counter. “Oh. Oh. Yes, I mean, of course. Michael, um, he mentioned it. Before he left. I think he was planning to go. You know, to show moral support for Jason and Drew.”

Elizabeth stepped next to the younger nurse, making a show of sorting through a stack of charts. “We talked about it on Thanksgiving, Michael and I. We’ve both been asked to sit for a deposition.”

“Right. He told me that, too. I know Michael hates this is happening, but I think he’s grateful to have an opportunity to stand up for his uncle.” Willow’s fingers tapped at the keyboard, her focus on the screen in front of her.

“Jason’s loved Michael like his own for his entire life. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for him.” Elizabeth folded her arms across her chest. “I’m glad he’s got Michael in his corner. I was surprised not to get anything from Drew. A deposition notice, I mean. I would have assumed he’d want someone to testify who’d co-parented with him. Even for a short-time.”

“Oh. He didn’t—” Willow looked at her. “He didn’t ask you?”

“Not yet. Maybe he hasn’t sent them yet. I know Jason hadn’t even made his list, but Alexis isn’t wasting any time. Did you get one from her?”

“No. I—” Willow bit her lip. “Drew’s been thinking about it though. He…asked me.”

“Did he?” Elizabeth nodded. “I suppose that makes sense. You live in the house with him, you see him with Scout. And you guys worked on the foundation together for a while. I guess you know more about Drew today than I would.”

Willow looked at her, eyes a little too wide. “What? What does that mean?”

“It means that you see him more regularly than I do.” Elizabeth tilted her head. “What did you think I meant?”

“N-Nothing.” Willow scooped up her files, hurried out of the station, almost crashing into Lucas in her haste to leave.

“Whoa—” Lucas lifted his arms, stepping out of her path. “Where’s she going in such a hurry?” he asked, coming over to the computer Willow had just left to begin his own notes.

“No idea, but I sure hope she does,” Elizabeth murmured, thinking of poor Michael and the audacity of Drew to ask Willow to testify for him. What would Willow think if she knew about Saturday? About the conversation Scout had related to Jake? Would she believe it?

“You look a thousand miles away,” Lucas said, pulling Elizabeth’s attention back to him. “Anything wrong?”

“No.” Elizabeth frowned. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no reason. I guess—” Lucas hesitated. “I went to Aunt Laura’s for dessert on Thanksgiving, and Lucky mentioned he was heading back to Africa. Cairo, I think he said.”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together, unhappily. “Laura said he was thinking about it. I didn’t know that he’d made a specific plan.”

“I think he’s waiting to hear back from Doctors Without Borders—” Lucas paused. “You really didn’t know? He didn’t talk to you about it?”

“What, did you think that because we share a son, he would have kept me in the loop?” Elizabeth smirked. “He hasn’t made me a part of his decisions in the last fifteen years, so why start now?”

“Elizabeth—”

“Did he talk about it with Aiden in the room? Does he know?” He hadn’t said a word to her about his father in days, and maybe Elizabeth should have seen that as a sign.

“No, it was while Aiden and Rocco were in another room with Kevin—” Lucas put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have brought it up if I’d realized you didn’t know.”

“It’s not your fault. It’s not. I just—” Elizabeth sighed. “I knew a long time ago Lucky and I weren’t going to have a happy ending, and Aiden is the only reason I can’t call the entire thing a mistake. I just wish I’d chosen a better father for my son.”

—

The judge leaned forward, her half-moon shaped glasses sliding down her nose to peer at those gathered in her court. “Let me see if I understand this petition correctly. Alexis Davis is filing for sole custody of her grandchildren, Daniel Edward Morgan and Emily Scout Quartermaine.” She glanced up. “And their fathers are objecting?”

“Vehemently objecting, your honor. Richard Lansing for Congressman-elect Andrew Quartermaine,” Ric said, rising to his feet. “My client has no intention of allowing his daughter to be raised by anyone other than himself.”

“Molly Lansing-Davis for Jason Morgan,” Molly said, hastily getting to her feet. “My client is also objecting. The children’s mother left custody to their respective fathers in her will.”

“Ah, yes, Samantha McCall. Passed away after a heart attack on October 31.” The judge shifted some papers. “My condolences for your loss.” She looked at Alexis. “The will is clear?”

“Yes, Your Honor.” Alexis rose. “My daughter did leave custody to Mr. Morgan and Mr. Quartermaine. But that does not mean she was right to do so. In fact, I currently have my grandchildren with me at my home where they have been for two days—”

“With my permission,” Drew snapped. “I allowed it—”

“My client was more than happy to allow his son to see his grandmother,” Molly interrupted Drew. “The children returned to the penthouse they’d shared with their mother prior to her passing, and it was…” She pressed a hand to her middle. “It was upsetting. Terribly so. Scout became inconsolable, and we all agreed that the best thing for them on that day was to spend some time with my mother—with their grandmother,” Molly corrected. “It was not, in any way, my client agreeing that it should be a permanent solution.”

The judge leaned back. “Richard Lansing, Alexis Davis, Molly Lansing-Davis. I take it that you’re all related?”

“My parents, Your Honor. Sam McCall is—was—my sister.” Molly lifted her chin. “I believe that the best choice for my niece and nephew is what my sister wanted. And we know, after you see all the evidence, you’ll agree.”

“I can see suggesting mediation would be futile as I see notice that Ms. Davis has already sent out notices of deposition.” The judge sighed. “All right then. I’m appointing guardian ad litems for the minor children and directing Family Services to begin their investigation. Let’s talk scheduling.”

+32

Hey, in an earlier part, I made some mentions of Liz and Michael going in for depositions in a few days. Please ignore. I didn’t research family court before writing that part and it was really a throwaway line. Since then, I’ve researched to make it more realistic.

Written in  58 minutes. My head is really stuffy from my cold, so sorry if there’s extra typos or mistakes. It was difficult to concentrate.

There was an unfamiliar car in front of Elizabeth’s house when she pulled her car into the driveway, Jason’s SUV pulling in behind her — but the man waiting at her door wasn’t a stranger.

Michael approached them as Elizabeth and Jake climbed out of their car and Jason joined them. “Hey. Hi. I was hoping you would all come back here eventually.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, I’m the one that called Molly, but Kristina called Alexis as soon as you left the pub—”

“That’s how they got there so fast,” Jason said. He looked at Elizabeth. “I didn’t leave Molly a lot of time to explain. I just told her to get there, and she said she and her mom were on their way. I’m glad you did,” he said, returning his attention to Michael. “They got there in time.”

“If that’s in time, I’d hate to see what too late looks like,” Jake muttered, brushing past the trio and heading for the house. With a sigh, Elizabeth followed, fishing in her purse for her house key but Jake already has his out. He shoved the door open. “I shouldn’t have gone. This is my fault—”

“It’s Drew’s fault,” Elizabeth corrected, closing the door after Michael and Jason followed her in. “He’s the one that escalated and told the kids he wanted to sell.”

“But I’m the one that antagonized him, and—” Jake grimaced, looked at Michael. “I’m sorry. I wanted him to leave. I wanted him to leave Scout alone and leave without her. He knows I talked to her.”

Elizabeth furrowed her brow, looked at Jason, then at Michael before looking at Jake again. “What’s going on? What was that about?”

“Nothing—” Jake started, but Michael shook his head.

“They already know,” Michael said shortly. He rubbed his head. “Everyone seems to know. Except Willow.”

Elizabeth exhaled in a short breath as the implication hit her. “Wait, is that you meant by Scout saw—oh, my God—” she touched her lips.

“Yeah, and Drew convinced her that she’d be lying if she told anyone,” Jake said with some bitterness. “Real father of year shit. I’m sorry, Michael. But he doesn’t know I told you. Or that you guys know—” He stopped, looked at his dad. “Whoa, wait. Is that why you kicked the crap out of him? I figured it was over something stupid, but you know what? Good choice.”

“This is getting ridiculous,” Michael muttered. He dragged a hand through his hair. “I have to go. I have to be at home for dinner.” He headed for the door and Elizabeth took a step, but Jason was already going after him.

—

They’d called a truce at the penthouse — Danny and Scout were all that mattered, and Molly just wanted her sister’s kids to be okay, and she was grateful Danny wanted to stick around and be there for Scout. But she really should have realized that her mother would already be planning six or seven steps ahead.

Kristina was at the house when Alexis opened the door, ushering Scout and Danny in with their things. She’d been pacing in front of the fireplace, then stopped when she saw them. “I’ve been so worried!” She hugged Danny, then knelt to gather Scout into a crushing hug.

Deciding to bite her tongue, Molly set her purse and Scout’s bag on the floor by the door. “How did you already know?”

“I was at Charlie’s when Danny called Jason.” Kristina stroked Scout’s hair, then climbed to her feet, focusing on her sister. “He sounded pretty mad, so I thought Mom should be there.” She tipped her head. “And of course, as soon as I did, Michael called you.”

“I’m glad,” Danny said, and they both looked at him. His eyes were rimmed with red. “Dad was handling things, but Drew wasn’t listening. He didn’t agree to leave Scout until Molly was there.”

“I’m sure Jason handling things with his usual…patience,” Kristina said, almost sneering, but Danny was barely listening to her.

Sensing the tension rising in the room, Alexis put a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Why don’t you take your sister upstairs, get settled for the night. We’ll talk about dinner later.”

Danny pressed his lips together. “If you’re going to talk about my dad, you need to do it with me here—”

“But not with Scout here,” Molly said and her nephew fell silent, looking down at his little sister. “Please, Danny.”

“Fine. But this isn’t over.”

When Molly was sure that they were out of earshot, she looked at her mother. “You’re not selling the penthouse—”

“Of course not. Not right away,” Alexis said, with some exasperation. “Drew sent over the proposal, and I was going to tell him we needed to wait. Which I’m sure you were going to do on Jason’s behalf. The kids aren’t nearly ready for that kind of decision.” She lifted a brow. “But I notice Jason didn’t fight very hard to keep Danny with him tonight.”

Molly scowled. “You’re really going to use this against him? Scout was so upset! Drew would never agree to let her go home with Jason. You were just a compromise—”

“But it proves that they need to be together,” Kristina said, coming to her mother’s side. “And you’re right. Drew and Jason would never agree to let the other have custody. So Mom is the only compromise. Mols, you have to see this is the best place for them—”

“The best place for them is with Sam,” Molly snapped, “but that’s not an option. I can’t believe you’re going to—” She fisted her hand at her side. “I convinced Jason to go home, to leave Danny with us because Scout needed him. And you’re just going to use it as evidence he doesn’t have what it takes, aren’t you?”

“He outsources the difficult conversations, clearly. Molly—”

“You can’t even see that today proves Jason is the right choice! He put what Danny needed first!”

“And what Danny needs is his sister,” Alexis cut in sharply. “I will keep them together, Molly. No matter who stands in my way.”

“No, that’s right. You and Kristina always know best.” Molly snatched up her purse. “You’ve made that very clear. I’ll see you in court.”

—

Jason reached Michael just as the younger man opened his car door. He looked at his uncle with unhappy eyes. “Don’t ask me what I’m going to do. I don’t know.”

“Michael—”

“I want to go home and push Drew off the nearest balcony,” Michael muttered. “But that wouldn’t help me or you.”

“I’m not worried about me.” Jason laid a hand on the top of the car, blocking Michael from getting in and leaving. “You can talk to me.”

“I know. I know.” Michael exhaled slowly. “The thing is I know what to do. Go home, confront Willow. To tell her that this isn’t a secret anymore, that it’s hurting people. That Drew is using it to hurt Scout. God, that disgusts me. Jake found her crying a few nights ago, and I’m such a coward, I haven’t done anything stop it.”

“Once you open that door, you can’t close it again. No one blames you for not rushing this—”

“I blame me.” Michael looked at him. “But if I confront Willow, and she asks for a divorce, I could find myself in your position. Fighting for custody of my kids. I don’t want that. I can’t stand putting my kids through even a moment of what I went through as a kid.” He stared blindly at the ground. “I could ignore it. Maybe Willow get over whatever this is, and we could go back to how things were.”

Jason remained silent, knowing it was something Michael needed to say outloud, even if it was just to hear how unrealistic that was.

Michael lifted his gaze to his uncle. “I won’t do anything without talking to you. Now that Drew knows what Scout said to Jake, we both need to be smart about this. He’s already threatened to help Alexis—”

“I don’t care about that—”

“I care,” Michael cut in sharply, then he stopped, took another breath. “He’s already hurt my family. I can’t fix that. But I can try to stop it from spreading. I will. I promise. I’ll find away to stop Drew from hurting anyone else.”

—

Molly slammed the apartment door, the sound reverberating through the small space. She jumped when TJ stepped out of the hallway that led to the kitchen, lifting his brow. “Everything okay?”

“You scared me.” She leaned against the door. “I thought you were working later.”

“Switched with Lucas—” TJ tipped his head, tossed the dishtowel in his hands aside. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

Molly lifted her eyes to the ceiling. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“Try at the beginning.” He gestured for her to join him on the sofa, and after a moment, she did. “What happened?” he asked again. He listed as Molly recounted the day — from the terrible scene at the penthouse with Jason, Elizabeth, and Drew to the fight at her mothers.

When she finished, and TJ said nothing, she furrowed her brow. “Don’t tell me you agree with my mother. Or my sister. You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“I’m always on your side,” he reminded her, stroking her shoulder. “But that means telling you what I think. Your mom’s not wrong, Mols. Danny and Scout should be together.”

Molly felt tears stinging her cheeks, looked away, trying to speak over the lump in her throat. “Maybe. But Drew isn’t going to agree without a fight, so if the kids can’t be together anyway, why shouldn’t Danny be with his dad?”

“Maybe Drew’s fighting because Jason is.” TJ caught her chin, lightly tugging until their eyes met. “The kids are who matter, Mols. You know that.”

“I can’t stop Drew from fighting. I can’t—” Molly sucked in a breath. “I can’t make any of it stop. I know I’m doing the right thing, I know what Mom wants to do to Jason is wrong, but God—” She pressed her hands to her face. “Danny and Scout need each other. Why did Sam have to die?”

TJ pulled her into his arms, rocking her as she started to cry.

——

Jason returned to the living room to see Elizabeth handing Jake a set of keys. “Going back out?” he asked, closing the door.

“Yeah, a couple of friends are getting together to see a movie.” Jake slid the keys in his pocket. “Michael okay?”

“Yeah. He’ll be fine. Listen, about today—what you said to Drew—”

Jake stopped at the door, a slight grimace on his face. “I shouldn’t have said anything to him about Scout—”

“You did what you had to do to keep the situation from getting worse,” Jason told him. “But if Drew comes near you, if he tries to talk to you, avoid him.”

“I can’t make a promise I won’t keep.” Jake paused. “But yeah, I’ll do what I can.”

When he’d left, Elizabeth sighed, rubbed her arms. “I can’t decide if going to the penthouse was a good idea. Maybe we should have waited for Molly and Alexis.”

“Maybe.” Jason looked at her. “I’m sorry you’re getting dragged into this.” He hesitated. “Or that it won’t be ending any time soon. I know Alexis is already planning depositions, and Molly said the hearing tomorrow is going to order Danny and Scout be questioned.”

“I got my notice last week.” Elizabeth lifted her chin. “I’m ready to testify. I already called Laura’s brother, Martin, and he’ll represent me at the deposition whenever it is. We’re going to find a way to make this okay, Jason. I promise.

+34

Written in 56 minutes.

Already having second thoughts about driving over to Harborview Towers, Elizabeth entered the lobby with a slight hesitation in her step. She had no idea how security had changed since Jason had last lived there. She was vaguely aware that Sonny had moved back into his own penthouse. Would he have updated the security list for the top floor?

She headed for the security desk, then noticed the elevators down to the parking garage sliding open and Jason stepping out. He spied her almost immediately, furrowing his brow. They met in the middle of the lobby.

“What are you doing here?” he wanted to know.

“Jake sent me a text,” Elizabeth said, following him over to the residential elevators. “It was vague, just a 911 text and said to come as soon as possible—did he call you?”

“No, Danny did.” Jason’s mouth was pinched as he jabbed at the elevator button. “Drew said he’s selling the penthouse. Scout apparently ran upstairs, locked herself in her room, and Danny called me.”

They stepped on to the elevator and Jason punched in the access code for the top floor. She watched the numbers climb as the elevator rose. “I imagine that’s why Jake called me. Maybe he was worried what you might do.” She flicked a glance at him. “It’s not really a mystery where Drew’s bruises came from.”

“I’m not going to punch him again,” Jason muttered. “Not in front of the kids.”

“No, of course not, but Jason—” She touched his arm. “Let me be the one to fly off the handle if we have to, okay? You be all calm, cool, and logical. The you used to be with Taggert.”

“Yeah, Taggert was a cop. Can’t punch a cop every time they piss you off.”

“And Drew’s an elected member of Congress. Can’t punch him whenever you want either. No matter how much he deserves it,” Elizabeth added.

The doors opened, and Jason headed around the corner, leaving Elizabeth barely enough time to catch up with his longer strides. He shoved the door open to find a red-faced Danny glaring at Drew, his hands fisted at his side.  Jake was standing at the base of the stairs, Drew just a step below him.

“Dad, good. You’re here.” Danny scowled, jabbed a finger at Drew. “Tell him he can’t sell the penthouse.”

“He can’t, not on his own,” Jason said, stepping between Drew and Danny. “Which is what Molly told you when we filed an injunction.”

“And Alexis and I are handling that.” Drew looked to Elizabeth and lifted his brow. “Why am I not surprised to see you trotting after him?”

Elizabeth ignored the obvious bait, looked to Jake. “Where’s Scout? Is she okay?”

“My daughter is just fine, and if your son would let me go upstairs—” Drew shot Jake a dirty look, and to Elizabeth’s relief, Jake just rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, now that you’re pissed at me, I’m her son, but five minutes ago, you were all, we used to be a family—” Jake shook his head, pulled out his phone, made a show of scrolling through it as if he were bored. “You got that politician bullshit down.” He lifted his gaze to his mother. “She’s upstairs, locked in her room. You know, the one she hasn’t been in since her mother died,” he said to Drew with a sneer. “In case you forgot why we were here.”

Drew scowled. “You have no right to bar me from my own daughter, and the only reason I haven’t pushed you out of the way is because of our past relationship—”

“Emphasis on past, right? And don’t try to lie. You know if you put a hand on me, my mother will kill you, and my dad will hide the body.”

“Is that a threat?” Drew demanded. Before Jake could say something else, Jason stepped quickly between them, climbing two steps to do so.

“Back up. Now,” Jason said, and Drew must have recognized the tone or the murderous glint in his brother’s eyes because he obeyed. Jason pushed Jake gently to one side, looked at Elizabeth. “Take the boys, go upstairs and check on Scout.”

“Gladly,” Elizabeth said, ushering Danny in front of her to use the small pathway Jason had created.

Jake looked like he wanted to argue, but then made a face and followed after his mother, tossing another glare at Drew just before he went around the corner of the landing.

When they were gone, Jason climbed another step to put a bit of space between them. “You know you can’t legally sell this place without my signature on the papers. Why would you tell the kids anything else?”

“Because Alexis and I will outvote you. We may not agree on custody of my daughter,” Drew said backing down a few steps of his own until he was back on the floor. He folded his arms. “But we both agree that there’s no point in leaving this penthouse empty. Scout’s moving to DC with me, and Danny will have all the room he needs at her place—”

“And I can tie you up in court until Danny is eighteen and old enough to make his own decisions,” Jason interrupted. “What the hell is wrong with you? They just lost their mother. They haven’t even been back here, and you’re talking about selling the place?”

“It’s called being a realist. Sam is dead. This place is gathering dust. Alexis agrees with me—” Drew broke off. “I don’t know why the hell I’m explaining myself to you. I’ll deal with you in court. I’m getting my daughter, and we’re leaving.” He waited, but Jason didn’t move. “Get out of my way or I’m calling the police.”

Jason didn’t want let him past, but knew he didn’t have a reason to hold him anymore. He reluctantly stepped aside, but as soon as Drew was out of sight, he pulled out his phone to call his lawyer.

—

Once they’d gone upstairs, Danny directed them to the room at the end of the hall. Elizabeth reached it first, lightly tapping. “Scout? It’s Jake’s mom, Elizabeth. I’m out here with Danny. Can we come in?”

There wasn’t a sound at first, and Elizabeth looked at Danny. “Can you—”

Danny knocked a bit more roughly. “Scout? Let me in, okay? Or I’ll tell Elizabeth where to find the key—”

They heard the click of the tumblers, then a little sliver of light when the door cracked open. “D-Danny?”

“Hey, kiddo.” Danny pushed it all the way open, and Scout moved backwards, crawling back on her bed, clutching a large teddy bear and a black sweater tightly in her arms, her big brown eyes looking miserable, her cheeks tear-stained.

“Hey, honey.” Elizabeth sat next to her on the bed. “I’m sorry this is so hard.” She touched the sweater. “Is this something special you left here?”

“It was Mommy’s.” Scout held it more tightly. “It smells like her.” Her face crumpled and she started to cry again. Elizabeth slid closer, and Scout didn’t make a protest when Elizabeth gathered her in her arms, the little girl’s sobs only growing louder.

“I should have punched him,” Danny muttered pacing the room angrily. “Dad can’t let him take Scout!”

“He won’t have a choice,” Jake told him. When Danny just shook his head, Jake grabbed his arm to keep him one place. “Hey. I don’t like it, but Dad can’t do anything. Scout’s his niece, not his daughter. And Drew hasn’t done anything but be a massive asshole. It’s not illegal.”

“But—” Danny started. “He—” He looked at at his sister. “He doesn’t even care that Mom is gone.”

“I don’t—” Jake grimaced. “I don’t know if that’s true, but—” They heard the thudding footsteps too late. By the time Jake got to the door to close it, Drew was already coming through it.

“Scout, we’re leaving. Now. We’ll come back for your things later.”

Scout burrowed into Elizabeth’s side, hiding her face, crying harder. Elizabeth stroked her hair, then glared at Drew. “Can’t you just give her some time to calm down? What is wrong with you?”

“I don’t think you have any right to ask me that question.” Drew came forward, and for a horrible minute, Elizabeth thought he was going to rip Scout of her arms, but he seemed to stop short. “Let her go.”

“I’m not letting her go like this. Just give me a minute to calm her down, okay? She’s devastated—”

“She’s not your daughter, damn it, and you don’t have a right to keep her from me.” Drew reached for Scout’s arm, started to pull. Reacting without thought, Elizabeth slapped at his hand.

“Don’t touch her!”

“Let her go—” Drew switched to Elizabeth’s arm, yanked her arm and she fell off the bed.

“Hey, don’t touch her!” Jake came forward, but Elizabeth was already on her feet, shoving at Drew to force him away from her. And maybe in another minute, the situation would have calmed down—Drew might have taken a breath and thought before he moved again.

But Jason was in the doorway just as Elizabeth was pushing Drew away, trying to get him to let her of her arm, and then Drew was gone, shoved up against the wall, with Jason’s first wrapped around his throat.

Elizabeth gestured frantically at Danny who moved like lightning to scoop up his sister and get her out of the room before Scout could really understand what was going on. Drew’s eyes bulged when he saw Scout being moved from the room, still crying.

“Let him go, Jason. Please. It was—” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “It was all just a mistake, okay? Drew, right?” She looked at him, the man she’d known so well once. The man she’d thought she knew. “We’re okay. The kids are okay.”

“He was threatening Jake, putting his hands on you, trying to drag his own kid out of the room-” Jason forced himself to lower his hand, let Drew’s feet hit the floor, his brother shoved him hard. Not expecting it, Jason fell back a few feet and might gone for the other man again if Elizabeth hadn’t flew between.

“Stop it. Stop it,” she hissed at Drew, who finally seemed to realize the situation was out of control. “Jason didn’t put a hand on you until you were threatening a woman and your own daughter, so don’t you dare think you can use this against him.”

Drew rubbed his throat, glaring malevolently at them. “Still defending him, huh? A violent thug who only knows how to hurt people—when I tell the cops about this—”

“It’ll be your word against everyone else’s,” Jake said, and all three of them looked over, almost as if they hadn’t realized he’d remained behind. “And the only person who might take your side, Drew, is Scout.” He tipped his head. “And you know, a little kid like that? She gets confused about what she sees right? Isn’t that you told her?”

Drew’s hands went to his side, and his face changed. Seemed to lose its colors. Elizabeth looked back to her son before looking at Jason, who seemed mystified.

“What are you talking about?” Drew said carefully.

“I’m talking about how little girls don’t always know what the truth is, right? And they need to be really careful what they say and to who. Because people will be mad if she lies.” Jake’s tone was almost careless, but his eyes were cold, his entire body taught with tension. “It’s a really shitty thing to do to your own kid, make them think no matter what they say, they won’t be believed.”

“Jake—”

“You’re going to walk out of here right now. You’re going to leave Scout here. My parents will calm her down, and we’ll take her home or to her grandmother’s. But you’re going. Right now. Or I’ll keep talking.”

Drew fisted his hand, then released it slowly. “You don’t know what you’re doing right now—”

“You heard him,” Jason said, stepping in front of Jake. “I’ve already called Molly. I told her to contact Alexis. They’ll be here any minute—” He paused, and they all heard it at the same time — the rush of voices, the sound of Scout crying, Alexis’s panicked voice. Then footsteps on the stairs.

“This isn’t over,” Drew said. “This—” He stopped when Molly appeared in the doorway, slightly flushed.

“We came as soon as we could. Is—” Molly looked from Drew and his flushed face to Jason and Elizabeth standing by the closet, her gaze honing in on the red mark left on Elizabeth’s arm from her brief tussle with Drew. “Is everything okay?”

“Where’s my daughter?” Drew asked, looking from Jake to Molly. “I’m taking her home now—”

“She’s upset, Drew. Let her stay here with Alexis a little longer,” Elizabeth said, and Drew looked at her. “With her mother’s things. There’s no harm in that. Jason and I—we’ll take the boys and leave. Or maybe Danny will want to stay here. The kids are what matters. Okay?” She touched Jason’s arm. “Right? We’ll all leave if Drew will give Scout and Danny the time they need here.”

“Yeah.” Jason cleared his throat. “We’ll go.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Molly told Drew. “You know Scout will be in great hands with my mom, and we—” Her eyes swept over the room, and it seemed to change the air a little. “It’s hard, Drew. Being here. For me, and I’m an adult. Sam and I painted this room when we found out she was pregnant again. She wanted a little girl so much, and now—” Molly picked up a picture from the night stand, of Sam and Molly at the beginning of the school year. “Let her have some time here. We’ll take bring her home tomorrow.”

Drew closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then nodded. “Yeah. Yeah. I’m not a monster,” he muttered. He dragged a hand through his hair, then left the room. When he was gone, Molly looked at the trio, then carefully set the picture back on the night stand.

“I think you’d better tell me what happened. And don’t leave anything out.”

+37

Written in 68 minutes. Sorry, me and my keyboard are having a fight right now, lol. Took longer than I wanted.

Jake swirled the spoon in his bowl of cerea, watching with some interest as Aiden packed up some baking materials in his bag. “Just what do you and Tobias do all day? Make cookies?”

Aiden smirked, and started to answer just as his mother swept into the kitchen, which made him close his mouth. “Hey, Mom.”

“Hey, honey.” Elizabeth kissed his cheek, then looked at Jake. “I know what Aiden’s doing today, but, ah, are you…” She touched her neck, always a clear sign she was a little uncomfortable. “Are you packing? Or maybe, um, you never unpacked?”

Jake made a face, shifted his seat. “I didn’t, no, but I have to go find my winter stuff. Winter in Barcelona isn’t the same as winter here, you know?” He tipped his head. “You know, Dad found a place like a block away, Mom. I’m not going far.”

“I know.” Elizabeth wiggled her shoulders a little, as if shaking off whatever she was feeling. “I know. And I’m in favor of this, you know that. I think this will be good for you and your dad. And for Danny. But it will be strange to have you in Port Charles and not at home. Not at my house,” she corrected.

“Yeah, but I’ll get the run of the house back,” Aiden said with a grin, and Jake flicked a Cheerio from his spoon at his brother.

“Well, I’m having lunch with your grandmother—Laura—” Elizabeth added, stirring sugar into her coffee. “You’re welcome to tag along.”

Jake shook his head. It was a relief to have an actual reason to continue to avoiding his grandmother. “Danny told me that Drew’s taking Scout over to Harborview today to get a few things. He decided to tag along, and I invited myself.” He dumped the remains of his bowl in the sink, switched on the faucet. “He’s worried about her, and I’m worried about him. It’s first time since…”

“Ah.” Elizabeth rubbed his back, between the shoulders for a minute. “Well, that’s good. Call me if you’re out too late, and we’ll think of something for dinner. Maybe Eli’s.”

“I never turn down ribs.”

—

Jason swept his gaze across the other side of Charlie’s Pub, scanning the bar for any sign of Kristina. Judging from the way Molly spoke about her sister, Jason knew she was on Alexis’s side in the custody fight, and the last thing he wanted to deal with today was someone else weighing in on his fitness as a parent.

Satisfied that Kristina was nowhere to be found, he sat across from Michael and picked up the menu, skimming it.

“You all set to move into your place this week?” Michael asked, idly flipping through the bar menu.

“Yeah, signing the lease on Monday. Jake’s coming later this week, and Danny not until after the holidays.” He didn’t mention why Danny was delaying the move — Michael already knew, and Jason had no interest in bringing Drew up as a topic of conversation.

But then Michael made a face, and set the menu down. “Yeah. I know. Drew’s big move to Washington. Can’t happen fast enough.” He rubbed his face. “I guess he feels pretty confident about the custody situation if he’s already making plans to take Scout there. Willow—” He took a deep breath. “She told me he’s been asking her about private schools in the area.”

Jason wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to that comment. Drew’s custody situation was different, and he wasn’t really interested in it beyond how it affected Danny and Jake. But he didn’t like the idea that Drew was still interacting with Michael’s wife.

“I can practically see the thought bubble above your head,” Michael muttered, picking up his water glass and taking a long drink. “Why are you letting your wife anywhere near him? Why aren’t you handling this?”

“That’s not what I was thinking—”

“Well, I was.” Michael set his glass down with a thud on the wooden table. “It’s not like it’s a secret. My entire family knows they fooled around over the summer. You know about Halloween. Elizabeth saw them together at the hospital, and—” he dipped his head. “Scout. She saw them somewhere. Jake told me on Thanksgiving.”

Jason hesitated. “Jake?”

“Don’t—” Michael shook his head. “Don’t say anything to him. Scout made him promise not to tell anyone, but Jake did enough hinting that I figured it out. He told her to not to tell anyone, Jase. That she didn’t see what she saw, and that even if she did—she was just confused. What kind of man does that? Lies to his own kid? Messes her up so bad that Jake finds her crying? And he’s just gonna drag her away from everything and everyone he knows—” Michael broke off, shook his head. “I know what I should do. I know what I should have already done, but I just…”

“It’s not easy,” Jason said, and Michael scoffed. “It’s not. It’s not just you and Willow. It’s a family.”

“I just keep—” Michael picked up a napkin, began to rip it into small pieces. “I keep thinking about the first time I really remember going to court. When they broke up after Morgan was born, remember? They were arguing all the time, and they kept threatening to take me away. Dad would stop Mom from coming into the penthouse, and she’d get us back, and keep him away—I hated it. I guess I’m glad Morgan was too young to remember—”  He looked at his uncle. “I remember telling the judge I wanted to live with you. And Aunt Courtney. You guys were getting a divorce, too, but it was better at your place. Then they got back together for a while, but it was even worse then. I don’t want that for my kids.”

“I know. You don’t have to explain it to me—”

“I have to explain it to myself,” Michael muttered. “I wake up every morning in a bed with the woman I promised to love, the one who promised to love me, and man, I know I’m not perfect. I know I slept with Sasha after I found out about the kisses—” He sat back. “I have to end it. Before it’s Wiley or Amelia who sees them together next.” Michael looked at Jason. “I’m calling Diane after Christmas. I just…I want more holiday. One more for them. Do you think that’s stupid?”

Jason shook his head. “No. I’m not really into the holidays, but I know they’re important to kids. Especially at Wiley’s age. There’s nothing wrong with waiting, Michael.”

“Yeah, I guess—” Michael looked past Jason, through the window behind his uncle, and winced. “Listen, I promise I made sure that she wasn’t supposed to be here today, but—”

“What?” Jason began, but the door opened behind them, and he saw Kristina in the entrance. Sonny’s daughter saw the two of them, narrowed her eyes, and headed straight for them.

——

Jake had once been a regular visitor at Harborview Towers, considering it a second home. First when Drew had been living Jason’s life, before the twisted memory experiments had been revealed, and then later, after his dad had moved back into the penthouse. Before his breakup with Danny’s mother. And Jake always been there to visit Danny in the years since.

It was strange now, to wait for his brother in the lobby, flicking through his social media, and realize that he’d probably never come back here. His dad hadn’t even considered coming back here — Sam had continued living in the penthouse after all, and it wasn’t really Jason’s home anymore. But with Danny’s mom gone — the penthouse remained empty. No one lived there now, and Jake couldn’t imagine Danny or his sister ever wanting to come back permanently.

The circular glass doors in the lobby began to move, and Jake spied Danny and Scout followed by Drew making their way in. Drew hesitated, his mouth pinching when he saw Jake waiting for them.

“Jake. I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Sorry to intrude,” Jake said, shoving his phone in his pocket. “I just wanted to be here if Danny or Scout needed anything. Or help them.”

“I asked him,” Danny told his uncle. “I didn’t think you’d care.”

“I don’t,” Drew said with an obvious forced smile. “Let’s get this over with.”

Scout looked around the lobby, her brown eyes already glimmering with tears. What was it like for her, Jake wondered, to return for the first time in almost a month — to know this wasn’t home anymore?

“Scout?” Drew said, turning back when he realized his daughter hadn’t begun to move towards he elevators. “I told you. I can get someone to do this for you—”

“No, I wanna—I wanna go.” She slid her hand in her brother’s. “I want to get my dolls.”

Drew gestured for them to go in front. “After you princess.”  He shot Jake an irritated look, then followed them.

Jake plucked his phone out of his pocket, his fingers hovering over his dad’s contact info, then sighed, and put it back. What was the worst that could happen?

—

Almost from the moment Elizabeth sat across from Laura at the Metrocourt Hotel Restaurant, she wished she’d turn down this invitation.

“I’ve tried everything,” her former mother-in-law said with a sigh. “But he’s determined to go.” Laura leaned forward. “I was hoping that you could do something. Say something—”

Elizabeth reached for her iced tea, wishing it was something much stronger. “Laura, I’m not  getting into this with him again. He decided a decade ago that he wanted to spend his time running around other countries helping anyone he wasn’t related to. Lucky came home to help Lulu. He’s done that now. Or at least he’s waited long enough for her recover. What he does now is up to him.”

“How can you say that? You have a son together—”

“One that Lucky hasn’t been around to raise, Laura. At least Luke can say he was sort of involved with Lulu at the beginning and end of her childhood. Lucky hasn’t been a father to Aiden in any way that matters since he was almost five, and you know that.” Elizabeth sighed. “I’m sympathetic, I am. And I know it’s been a hard year, with losing Spencer and seeing Nikolas…” She winced when Laura fell silent. “I’m sorry, I am. But the benefit of not being Lucky’s wife anymore means this isn’t my problem. I’ve raised Aiden without him, and I don’t need him to finish the job.”

“I just don’t understand. I know Luke and I raised him like crazy nomads, but we tried to instill the importance of family.” Laura just shook her head again. “He was such a good father.”

How would you know, you were unconscious for most of it— But Elizabeth swallowed the petty retort. “Another benefit of divorce, Laura, is that he’s not my mystery to solve. I wish you luck, I do, but if he wants to leave Port Charles, I can’t—I won’t stop him. My son deserves a father who’s here. Who wants to be here, and doesn’t need to be shamed into staying.”

—

The last time he’d left the penthouse where he’d lived all his life, his mother had been alive. If he walked in there now, if he went inside, and saw all the pieces of his mother he’d been protected from seeing—

Danny stopped at the doorway, swallowing hard, his throat burning. “Maybe I could come back later. I—I’m not leaving the Quartermaines for weeks.” He looked at Drew. “We don’t have to do this now, do we?”

Drew turned the key in the lock and shoved the door open. “You and Jake can wait in the lobby. And Scout, if you don’t want to do this, that’s fine. I’ll pack things for you. But we’re already here—”

Scout’s small sob stopped him, and suddenly the little girl ran past them both into the living room. Draped over the arm of the sofa was a black cardigan sweater. Scout scooped it up and buried her face in it. “Mommy.” She raised her eyes, looked at her brother. “It’s Mommy’s. I can smell her perfume.”

Danny went to his sister, kneeling down and reaching for the sweater. How many times had his mother pulled this on last year? It was old and worn in some places, the threads at the cuff fraying. The kind of thing you only wore at home where no one but people you loved would see you.

His vision blurred as tears slid down his cheeks. He pulled his sister close to him, kissed her cheek. It was like all of this hadn’t happened, like she might come down the steps any minute and pluck the sweater from their arms, smiling at them. Asking them what movie they wanted to watch, or if they had homework—

Danny looked up, almost expecting to see her in the landing of the stairwell. But there was nothing. No sound, no life. Nothing in the entire penthouse.

The coffee table beside them had been untouched — a thin layer of dust over the wood. He swallowed hard. Because no one had been living here since Halloween. Since his mother had died.

At the door, Drew made another face. “I knew this was a bad idea,” he muttered. He snagged his phone from his pocket, began to scroll through his contacts. “Should have just left the whole thing for the professionals.”

“What’s your damage, dude? You leave your heart in Pentonville?” Jake demanded, and Drew snapped his head up.

“What did you say to me?” Drew straightened.

“I said you could cut them some slack. They lost their mom and this was their home their entire life. You used to love Sam, too, you know. Or maybe they beat it out of you when you got kidnapped. Whatever happened to you,” Jake muttered, looking ahead to his brother and Scout. “I don’t even recognize you anymore.”

“I’m sorry that I didn’t run my plans past a teenager who’s opinion doesn’t matter,”‘ Drew said coolly. He turned his attention to Danny and Scout. “Look, if you don’t want to do this, I told you. We can wait. They’ll be packing this place up in a few weeks anyway.”

Danny climbed to his feet, scowling. “What does that mean?” he demanded. “Who is they?”

“The movers. We have to clear out the personal effects,” Drew said. “Look, I’ll make sure all your things get boxed up. We won’t throw anything away. Or your mother’s—”

“No, you won’t because you’re not touching anything,” Danny shot back.

Scout shook her head. “I don’t understand. Danny?” She tugged on his shirt. “What’s going on?”

“What’s the rush?” Jake started but Drew walked past him, cutting him out of the conversation. He grimaced, pulled out his phone.

“I thought your grandmother would have said something. Or your father. He got the same papers I did. You can’t just let this place sit here,” Drew said. “It’s worth millions of dollars. That money will do much better in your trust fund than going to waste—”

“You’re not touching anything!” Danny shot back. “This is my mother’s penthouse! You can’t—”

“Your mother isn’t here anymore,” Drew cut in and Danny closed his mouth, stunned. “I’m sorry for that, God knows I wouldn’t want it this way. No one did. But your mother is gone. She’s not coming back, and there’s no point in all of us living like this—”

Scout shoved him hard, then took off running towards the stairs. Drew hissed, then headed after her— but a few seconds later, they heard a door slam shut, then angry knocking. “Emily Scout! Open this door right now!”

Danny scowled. “I’m calling Dad. He’ll stop this.”

Or get arrested kicking the shit out of Drew again, Jake thought, but he had his own phone out. Because if Danny was calling in reinforcements, they were going to need a mediator.

He flipped open a new text message.

hey mom 911…

+29

Written in 61 minutes.

For the first time in living memory, Thanksgiving dinner made it to the table at the Quartermaines. The family crowded around the large dining table, and maybe by some silent agreement, even Tracy kept her opinions to herself. After all, there was always after dinner.

“I’m actually kind of disappointed,” Danny said, following Jake into the foyer with a wrinkle of his nose. “I wanted the distraction of smoke alarms or one of the dogs getting to the turkey.”

Jake smirked, but some of his amusement faded as he watched Scout sit on the bottom step, her head in her hands again. Through the open double doors to the front sitting room, Drew was standing at the mini bar with Willow.

If Scout was to be believed — and Jake did — she’d seen her father kissing the much younger and very married wife of his own nephew. And then Drew had basically manipulated his own daughter into doubting herself to keep her quiet. Jake struggled to merge the image of the man he’d loved as a father for so long with a predatory older man seducing his own niece-in-law and gaslighting his daughter. Had prison rotted his brain?

And should Jake really keep this to himself? He’d promised Scout, but this really felt like something he should escalate to a higher being. Keeping the secret from Michael felt dirty, even wrong, especially after his cousin had been so supportive after everything had gone to hell.

“Jake, you almost ready?”

He turned to see his mother with her coat over one arm. His father stood slightly behind her, his own jacket already on. “Uh, actually—” He looked at Danny. “I was thinking if you want, I could stay and we could take another shot at that COD mission. We almost have it.”

Danny’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, that would be cool. If that’s okay,” he said to Elizabeth. “I know Jake was gone for a long time and you missed him.”

“No, it’s great,” Elizabeth said, fishing in her purse. She retrieved her keys. “If you want, why don’t you take the car, and Jason can give me a ride home.” She looked at Jake’s dad. “If that’s okay?”

“Sure.”

Jake retrieved the keys. “Thanks, Mom. Really. What time are you going in tomorrow?”

“One, so be home in time.” She kissed his cheek and squeezed Danny’s arm. “Have a good time.”

“That’s the plan,” Jake said, tucking the keys in the pocket of his hanging jacket. He looked over at Scout, then at Danny. “Hey, before we play though, maybe we could do something with Scout. I think she was really upset before dinner.”

“Yeah, Drew signed the lease for a place in DC.” Danny made a face. “They’re going after the holidays, and he wants to her to pack. They’re going to the penthouse this weekend to pack her room.”

“Oh…has she…have either you been back…” Jake trailed off when Danny looked at the ground. “Sorry, stupid question.”

“No, it’s…it’s just a place, you know. But it’s…the last time I left home, I was gonna see my mom, and we were planning for her to come home.” Danny crossed his arms, then uncrossed them, leaving them dangling at his side. “Just…doesn’t feel right to go there without her.” He looked at his sister. “But I should go with Scout. When she goes, you know? I’m her brother. I should have realized she wasn’t feeling good today.”

“You’re dealing with this, too,” Jake told him. “That’s what I’m here for. To support you both. C’mon, let’s go see what Scout wants to do.”

—

Their feet crunched over the gravel-lined driveway as Elizabeth followed Jason to his SUV. “Sorry to just volunteer you as my chauffeur,” she said, reaching the passenger door. When she heard the beep of the remote locks, she tugged on the door.

“It’s fine.” Jason switched on the ignition, but didn’t change the gears, waiting for her to sort herself—place her purse on the floor, fasten her seatbelt. “But we should probably look into something for Jake. Unless—” he paused, looked at her. “I know he’s been rough, I mean behavior and attitude—”

“That’s part of the reason I wanted to drive with you.” She reached over, squeezed his forearm. “Whatever you said to him last week, after you guys talked to Danny, thank you. We talked this morning, and I really felt the difference, you know? He’s still upset and a little confused, but I don’t…the anger seems to have faded. Or maybe he’s hiding it better. I just felt like I was talking to my son again today.”

“I didn’t—”

“Don’t even say you didn’t do anything,” Elizabeth interrupted. She released his arm, folded her hands in her lap, leaning her head against the back of the chair, exhaled on a slow breath. “It’s been such a nightmare, dragging all that back. Having the same arguments with Lucky, reliving those awful decisions.” She looked back at him. “I know you forgave me, but I just…I have to say it again. I have so many regrets in my life, but that day in the penthouse, it’s number one. Followed by the day I asked you to give him up. It was so wrong to even ask it.”

“It was wrong to agree,” Jason said. He looked straight ahead, out into the darkness of the trees that bordered this side of the Quartermaine property. “I had my reasons, but agreeing to it, letting it continue, it just made you think I didn’t love him. That I didn’t want him.”

“I—” Elizabeth paused, tried to consider her words carefully. “I won’t say I didn’t doubt it. Especially at first. That day in the penthouse. Of course now, I can look back, and I can remember the way you looked, the way you sounded, and how it was just you making things all right for me. Like you always do—”

“You started to tell me a hundred times,” Jason told her quietly, and she stopped, their eyes meeting. She had, of course, nearly worked up the nerve so many times. “And I always said something that stopped you. Or you were interrupted by something else. We put this all to bed a long time ago, Elizabeth. It doesn’t—” He curled one hand around the steering wheel, his voice turning slightly gravelly. “It doesn’t do any good to look back, think of what could have been different. What should have been different.”

“I know.” She closed her eyes, feeling the familiar prick of tears. “I really thought I’d forgiven myself, you know. But it’s hard when Jake looks at me, and he asks these questions I just can’t answer. That I don’t want to answer. But he deserves to know, I think, a little bit of it. Maybe not all of it, but some.”

“I…thought I’d forgiven myself, too,” he said slowly, and she looked at him again, surprised. “For what happened after Michael was shot. That’s what I told Jake that day. For the choices I made when he was a baby, before he was born, for the choices I made two years ago.”

“We were scared,” she said. “We did the best we could—” she sighed, looked at the windshield. “I can’t say I regret how things turned out. I have Aiden, and you have Danny.”

There was a moment of quiet, and she thought he’d put the car into reverse and start the drive home. But he didn’t.

“We would have had more kids.”

Elizabeth turned her head to look at him, found him watching her. The corner of her mouth curved up. “Oh, probably. How many?”

“How many did you want?”

Thinking that maybe he was just trying to lighten the moment, talking about the dream children that would never exist, she forced herself to say something equally light-hearted. “Oh, dozens. To start with. You?”

“Whatever made you happy.”

Their eyes held for a long moment, and something seemed to happen, something in the air, a shift, something that sent her pulse racing, had her breath coming just a bit faster. Finally, he looked away, shifted the car out of park.

And they didn’t speak again.

—

After watching a movie with Scout, then playing Call of Duty for several hours, Danny crashed, but Jake couldn’t sleep.

He crept down the back staircase to the kitchen, hoping to raid the kitchen and find some of the leftover from dessert that night. But he wasn’t the only one with that plan—

Michael was at the counter, unwrapping the same pan of tiramisu Jake had in mind. His cousin paused, knife in hand, and grinned. “Oh, thank God. I thought you were Sasha. She hates when I get into the kitchen after she’s cleaned up for the night.” He tipped it towards Jake. “You wanna get a fork? I’m feeling hungry enough to finish what’s left.”

Jake was uneasy about being around Michael on his own, worried that the secret he was keeping was emblazoned across his forehead, but avoiding him wasn’t going to help Jake sleep any sooner. “Yeah, sure.”

When they were settled at the table with the pan between them and forks in hand, Jake asked, “So you come all the way up from the gatehouse a lot?”

“Since Sasha took over, yeah. Beats cooking for yourself, and she’s one of the best.” Michael shifted in his seat, took another bite. “I’m glad you’re hanging around Danny—and Scout. They need the distraction, you know?”

“Yeah. And we didn’t get a disaster shutting down dinner this year.” Jake swirled his fork in the pan. “You’re, like, a CEO, right? So you have to make hard decisions a lot.”

“I guess.” Michael tipped his head. “Why? Everything okay?”

Jake considered his words carefully. “What if you promised not to tell someone something before you found out what it was, and now that you know—you think maybe this is the kind of thing you shouldn’t be in charge of knowing?”

“You mean, is it ever morally right to break a promise if your intentions are to help the person?” Michael asked.

“Yeah, I guess that’s a good way to put it.”

“It depends. Is this person going to be hurt? Are they in danger?”

“Physically, no. Emotionally, maybe. And this thing—” Jake pressed his lips together. “It affects other people. And it makes me mad. I wanna do something stupid. Like pop tires. Or sugar in the gas tank.”

Michael’s fork stilled, and he looked at Jake. “But you’re not gonna do those things.”

“I said they were stupid,” Jake muttered. “You said that just like Cam would have.”

“Older brothers who have been there and done that. I’ve done some stupid things in my life—a lot of stupid things that I thought were a good idea at the time.” Michael set his fork down. “And I had a younger brother who was impulsive and did a lot of things without thinking.”

Right. Morgan. Jake hadn’t thought about him in a long time — he’d been just a kid when that had happened. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking—”

“I didn’t bring him up to make you feel bad. It’s just—I know how easy it is to give in to the anger. To the need to hurt someone else. My parents did it, so did my brother. I did. And I know my sister’s done it a time or two. I’m hoping I raise my kids better than that. And that I steer my little cousins in a better direction.” He folded his arms. “Now, this thing that makes you mad and might hurt other people. What happens if you tell the truth?”

“The person who told me won’t…they’ll be angry that I broke my promise. And maybe they won’t trust me or anyone else again. I don’t want them to feel alone.”

“Is this about Danny? I know he’s had a really hard time, especially since Alexis started all of this custody stuff. He’s trying not to talk about it, but—”

“It’s not Danny.” Jake took a deep breath. “It’s Scout. I found her crying earlier. Before dinner, sitting all alone in the nursery.” He looked down, missing the way Michael flinched at the mention of that room.

“It’s going to be really hard for her, going to DC. Danny has you and his dad, and all his family. Scout will be on her own. I wish…I wish Drew would leave her here, but—” Michael grimaced. “That’s a nonstarter for a lot of reasons.” He paused. “But something’s wrong, and you can’t tell anyone. It’s more than moving? More than her mom?”

“I guess all of that is part of it. Or making it worse.” Jake twirled the fork again. “Her dad did something pretty awful, and he’s making Scout lie about it, but it’s a really fucked up way. He told her she didn’t see it. But she did.”

Michael’s mouth tightened, and he dipped his head for a long moment. “And what she saw? This is the thing you don’t want to tell me? That will hurt people?”

“It’s what I promised to keep secret. But I think—I think she made me promise because of what Drew said to her. That she was bad if she lied, that maybe her mom would be disappointed in her, and that’s so messed up, you know? Maybe I should tell you because he’s an asshole, and shouldn’t get away with it—”

Michael held up his hand, and Jake stopped talking. “I think,” his older cousin began painfully, “that maybe you don’t have to tell me what she saw. She saw Drew, didn’t she? With someone else?”

There was a pit in his stomach, and Jake slowly nodded. “Yeah. You…you already know?”

“Yeah. I already know.” Michael dragged his hands down his face. “This is a goddamned nightmare,” he muttered, more to himself than to Jake. “They’re not even trying to keep this a secret. Are they trying to get caught?”

“Michael.”

“Where did she see them?” Michael wanted to know, dropping his hands. “She saw Drew with my wife, right? Where? When?”

“In the nursery—”

His face went white. “Oh, God, not the night her mother died. Tell me Scout didn’t see them that night.”

“I don’t—” Jake swallowed hard. “I don’t think so. She made it sound recent. Oh, oh, man. Michael, I’m so sorry—”

“Recent. So after the hospital where your mother saw them, and after the nursery when the nanny cam—” Michael stopped, took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. I’m going—don’t worry. I already knew. Scout never needs to know we had this conversation.”

“Michael—”

“Thank you. For telling me. Or working your way around it.” Michael got up, his hands trembling slightly, gripping the chair so hard, the knuckles were white. “You’re a good kid. A good brother. You don’t have to worry about this anymore, okay? I’ll take care of it.”

He left then, through the terrace leading outside, and Jake just stared after him, then looked at the soggy mess in the tin pan on the table.

He should have stayed upstairs.

+40

Written in 33 minutes.

Molly jolted when she felt hands rest on her shoulders, but she relaxed when she realized it was TJ. “You scared me,” she said, pressing a fist against her heart.

“Sorry, you just looked so far away.” TJ followed her gaze to the table that sat by the terrace. His uncle Curtis was teasing his aunt Stella about the place setting. By the television, his grandfather Marshall was watching the game with, of all people, Molly’s father Ric. “You all right?”

“Remember our first Thanksgiving after we moved in together?” she asked, leaning back against him. He slid his hands from his shoulder to wrap around her in a backward hug. “In our tiny apartment?”

“I do. But I don’t mind having a bigger place.” He kissed her temple. “We can still call your mom.”

“I don’t know if it would be a good idea for us to be in the same room. We’re starting depositions next week.”

TJ was quiet for a minute. “I know you hoped your mother would back off—”

“She will. She has to.” Especially as Molly had scheduled Elizabeth and Jake to be deposed first. Her mother’s entire case depended on proving Jason as an unfit father. Who better to weigh in and make her mother see how doomed it was than the mother of his son? And his son?

“What if she doesn’t, Mol? When if it gets to having Danny and Scout see a therapist?”

“It’s my worst nightmare, but it’s not me doing this, TJ. It’s not Jason. Mom always thinks she has the right answers. I don’t know what gives her that kind of delusional confidence.” She took a deep breath. “But that’s the last time I talk about her or my sister. Let’s go see if anyone needs help in the kitchen.”

—

Despite her long friendship with Emily and history with Jason, Elizabeth hadn’t attended any Thanksgiving dinners before today. It was a little nerve-wracking, she thought, circulating from the sofa where she’d been catching up with Ned and Lois to the fireplace where Monica was holding court, sparring with Tracy. Jason’s mother had spent most of the last year ill, and unable to get around much. It was good to see her up and part of the family again.

As Elizabeth approached, she saw Tracy shoot Drew a fulminating glare and turn her back to the new Congressman. Her brows lifted at the coldness, but she kept her mouth closed, focusing on Monica. “I can’t tell you how much we miss you at GH. It doesn’t…it doesn’t feel right not to have a Quartermaine on staff.”

Monica sighed, and Elizabeth winced. “I’m sorry, I never meant—”

“No, no. Of course.” Monica patted her hand. “It’s the first time in more than fifty years. It’s…the reality.” She looked towards the foyer. “But perhaps someone will take up the mantel. Jake…he’s set on art?”

“He is.”

“A shame. His father was a talented, intelligent young man.” Tracy sniffed, lifted her glass of wine to her lips.

“I hear Cameron is pre-med, though,” Monica said, ignoring her sister-in-law. “Steve would be so proud of you both for carrying on the Hardy legacy.”

“I hope so. I had very big shoes to fill as head nurse.”

“Still not a Quartermaine, but Quartermaine adjacent. I’ll allow it,” Tracy decided, then clenched her jaw. “A better representation than some others who carry the name,” she muttered.

Elizabeth didn’t even have to look to know who Tracy was glaring at. “I feel like I’ve missed something. Everyone is a bit…” Frosty.

“It’s a little awkward,” Monica explained. She touched her chin. “It hasn’t been long since, ah—”

“Let’s just say the only quality Drew inherited from my brother is being an absolutely unfaithful alley cat. Sorry,” she added as an aside to Monica. “Though you were hardly better.”

“You either,” Monica challenged.

Elizabeth started to press for more, but saw Michael pull away from Brook Lyn and Chase and head down the back hall to the kitchen. “I’ll…I’ll be back.”

She left them, followed Michael, calling out his name just before he reached the threshold of the kitchen. He turned and smiled at her. “Hey. I was hoping to get a minute to see you.”

“Same.” She kissed his cheek. “Do you have a few minutes? Can we talk somewhere?”

“Yeah, sure—” Michael gestured to another hall, leading her down to one of the sitting rooms near the front of the house. “Is everything okay? With Jason’s case? I got the subpoena. I think I’m supposed to be deposed sometime next week.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth blinked. “I didn’t realize that—but that makes sense. Molly said she wanted to start the depositions strong. I’m on Monday.” She pressed a hand to her belly. “I know it’s silly, but I’m nervous. It’s so important that these go well and that we get Alexis to back down before it goes as far as ordering Danny or Scout to talk to someone. They’ve been through so much. It’s bad enough Jake is up after me.”

Michael made a face, then scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I hate the idea of that, too. Danny’s…you know, he can probably hold his own. But Scout…she’s just a kid. Kids—” He looked past her, his eyes slightly unfocused. “Kids shouldn’t be weapons.”

“No, they shouldn’t. And Michael—” She waited until he looked at her. “No matter what happens with you or Willow, I know you won’t let it happen to yours.”

“That’s the plan, but it’s harder than it should be.” He shook his head slightly. “So what did you want to talk to me about if it’s not Jason’s case?”

“Well, it is, but—” Elizabeth bit her lip. “A few days ago, Jason came over to talk to Danny and ran into Drew. Drew threatened to get involved with the custody case. Maybe even cooperate with Alexis.”

Michael pressed his lips together. “That’s bullshit—”

“I’m worried that a judge might think differently if Drew lets Scout stay with Alexis. Or just generally make all of this worse.” Elizabeth paused. “Your uncle didn’t want you to know this. But I can’t let Drew just throw around threats like this.”

Michael sighed, perched on the arm of a chair. “He didn’t want me to know because I’m pretending nothing is wrong. Pretending that my wife—” He closed his eyes. “Protecting me could cost him his son. Why would—”

“That isn’t how he looks at it. He doesn’t, Michael. Hey—” she touched his arm. “He doesn’t see it as an even exchange, and neither do I. We see it as Drew being a terrible person who isn’t afraid to hurt people to get what he wants. The only person putting you in the middle is him. Because we both know why Drew would want Jason to lose custody.”

“I could make his life uncomfortable,” Michael muttered. He looked at Elizabeth. “I’ve thought about it. Bankrupting him, going after Aurora, I don’t know, something. Anything so that Willow stops seeing him as a hero.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll talk to Jason. I can keep your name out of it—”

“Don’t worry about that. And I didn’t tell you because I think you should do something about the case. Jason can handle it, and I’m there if he needs anything. I told you because you needed to know what Drew is doing.”

Michael managed a faint smile. “I’m glad you’re back in my uncle’s life. You know? That he’s…he’s okay. After the way he came home—” He shook his head. “He’s lucky to have you in his corner.”

“I’m in your corner, too, Michael. What you’re dealing with…there are no easy answers. No simple ways out. I trust that you’ll find something that works for you. I just don’t think Drew should get away with pretending he’s applying for sainthood in the meantime.”

—

Jake tossed down the video controller with some disgust. “This is rigged. No way you got that good since I went to school.”

Next to him, Danny shrugged, tossed his own controller aside. “Haven’t had a lot to do except play.” He switched off the console, then rose and stretched. “Maybe we should go downstairs. See if dinner is happening.”

“Or if it’s pizza.” Jake got to his feet. He’d done his best to keep his brother distracted from thinking about how Thanksgiving was supposed to include Dante and Rocco. Though his mother had encouraged, Dante hadn’t felt right about being there without Sam. They came to the Quartermaines because of Danny’s connection, not Dante’s. They’d gone to Jake’s other grandmother instead.

It was stupid, Jake thought. They were all connected. Why bother with two separate meals and make people choose? But it wouldn’t have changed anything. Because last year, Danny hadn’t been living at the Quartermaines.

He’d been with his mother.

Danny looked around the room, frowning. “Scout was here, wasn’t she? She was gonna watch us play.”

“I guess she got bored. Maybe she went downstairs.”

“Maybe.” Danny’s stomach rumbled, and he rubbed it. “I’m gonna go down, find something to eat.”

“Yeah, let’s go.” They headed into the hallway, but Jake stopped after a few feet, realizing the nursery door was slightly open. “Hey, you go ahead, I’m gonna see if Scout is still up here and grab her.”

“Tell her not to wait too long or the sweet potatoes will be gone,” Danny suggested. He disappeared around a corner, and Jake headed towards the nursery.

His intuition was right on the mark — Scout was sitting in the window seat, curled up, and looking out the window. He leaned against the doorframe. “Hey, kid. You wanna go down and get some appetizers?”

She looked at him, and he realized with a start there were tearstains on her cheek. He was looking after Danny the best he could, and he’d just assumed Danny was looking out for his sister—

But Danny shouldn’t have to, Jake decided. He was dealing with enough. “You want to be alone? I could put on the television for you or—”

Scout shook her head, then buried her head in her drawn up knees, her shoulders shaking. Jake shoved his hands in his pockets and crossed the room, perching on the edge of the window seat, pushing aside a few teddy bears. “Can I do anything?”

Scout looked up, her eyes splotchy. “I want my mom. You can’t fix that.”

“No, I can’t.”

Her lips trembled. “And Danny’s going to live with you. He said I can’t come.”

Jake cleared his throat. “He’s coming to live with his dad. And I’m going to stay, too. But you’re going to have an adventure. A whole new city, and school. Lots of friends to make.”

“D-don’t wanna make friends. Daddy says I have to stay with him. That I have to be a g-good girl and brave.” The last words were barely audible, more of a hiccup sob.

“It’s not easy to be in a new place,” Jake told her, lowering his voice. “When I was your age, I came home after a long time away. I didn’t know anyone, not even my mom or my brothers.”

Scout’s eyes widened. “You didn’t?”

“It was scary, but I…” Had managed it. Cam had been there to look after him, and his mom had never flinched, even when Jake had made trouble. Or accidentally blown up their house. But Scout wouldn’t have a Cam or Mom.  Or Danny.

She’d have Drew.

“We’re going to write you all the time. And call as much as your dad lets us. Danny says every day, and I’ll make sure he doesn’t forget. And you know my dad will bring him to see you as much.”

“B-but w-what if—” Scout took another heaving breath. “What if I mess up? What if I say something? Daddy will be mad and he might send me to school. Danny can’t come see me.”

“Say something?” Jake echoed. He tilted his head. “What does that mean?”

Scout shook her head fiercely. “Can’t tell anyone. Can’t say. It wasn’t real, and Daddy says I can’t tell lies. Mommy would be so mad at me. I d-don’t want Mommy to be mad.” Her face crumpled and she started to cry, and rock back and forth. “Can’t tell anyone.”

“You can tell me,” Jake told her. “You tell me what’s wrong, and I won’t tell anyone. No one,” he repeated.

Scout lifted her head, looking miserable and wretched. “You promise? Really, really promise?”

“Yeah, of course. We’re cousins, right? And you know what? Our dads are twins, so we’re, like, super cousins,” Jake told her. “That’s almost as good as siblings. You tell me, and I won’t tell anyone. Not even Danny. It’ll be our secret.”

“O-Okay.” Scout dragged a hand across her face. “I-I s-saw Daddy kissing Aunt Willow. He says I didn’t, but I know I did. And not like friends. Like Brook Lyn and Chase.”

+32

Written in 59 minutes. See you next Tuesday!

Jake stood at the threshold of the kitchen, watching his mother clean up the dishes from the quick breakfast they’d thrown together before Aiden had been picked up by his father for Thanksgiving with the Spencers. Aiden was still on the outs with his father, but he loved his grandmother enough to put it aside for now.

As for Jake, he’d been invited, too, but it felt weird to him right now to be part of the Spencer family, even in an honorary fashion. He’d decided to go to the Quartermaines instead, and his mother had agreed to go, too. There had been a weird tension between his mother and Lucky, so she’d probably been relieved to have a reason to duck out of obligations with Grandma Laura.

Elizabeth turned around and jolted when she saw him there, clutching the dish towel to her chest. “Oh, God, I didn’t even hear you come down the stairs.” She tossed the towel on the counter. “Did you want to head over to your grandmother’s early?”

“Uh, maybe a little but not yet.” Jake slid his hands into the back pockets of his jeans, then crossed his arms for a second before moving them a second time. He didn’t really know what to do with them. Or how to have this conversation.

A conversation they really needed to have.

“Um, I just wanted to say…you know Dad found a place, right?”

“Yeah, he left a message last night,” his mother said, but she was walking past him and he couldn’t see her face, couldn’t make out  her expression. “About a block away, so that’s…that’s nice, I guess. For you. Familiarity.” She kept moving, straightening magazines that didn’t need it, refolding a blanket that had already been neatly laying on the sofa.

“Yeah. And for you. Because I know you don’t really want me to go.”

Elizabeth hesitated, pressing the throw blanket against her chest, then looked at him. “I don’t know what you want me to say to that.”

“I don’t know either. I, um, just…” He paused. “I think maybe I just wanted to make sure you know I didn’t agree to this because of…how things are. I mean, it’s part of it, but it’s not…” He dragged a hand through his hair, then cupped the back of his neck. “And it started that way. But it’s not why I’m going through with it.”

“Jake—”

“Because things have been frosty the last few days, mostly because I didn’t know what to say. To you. Or to Aiden. I, um, I’m sorry. For telling him anything about his dad. Cam would have kicked my ass if he knew what I did.”

She sighed, dropped down to the sofa, the blanket now laying across her lap. “You thought you were doing the right thing—”

Jake sat in the armchair, then shook his head. “Under no circumstances is telling my brother the dad that abandoned him was a drug addict who had an affair — that’s not the right way to handle it. And then Lucky made it worse because he ignored Aiden’s calls, and got in my face about how Dad told the story, and then I started poking at you about anything that might have happened when Aiden was a kid—” He grimaced, looked down at his hands. “I thought it was the right thing. But it wasn’t. And I did it because I was upset. I was angry. And I didn’t really care who I hurt.”

“It’s okay—”

“It’s not. You need to know that I know it’s not.” He lifted his gaze to his mother. “I guess Dad told you what we talked about in the car last week. When he brought me home from the Qs. Before I told him about Drew.”

“Your father and I don’t compare notes, Jake. Anything you say to me or to him, we don’t share it. Not as a rule. And no, I think what you said about Drew distracted him enough. He just said he thought things were a little better. Not great, but better.” She bit her lip. “Is not—was he wrong?”

“No. Not really. I still—” Jake stopped, trying to articulate his thoughts. “I’m still angry. I don’t know how you stop being angry about your dad playing dead for two years. But I get that he regrets it, and I guess it helps that as soon as he could, he came to see me. And he’s…he’s trying.” He waited, but his mother said nothing. “The thing is going to see Danny…it just…it just put things in perspective. I thought I was scared last year when we might be split up, but it’s nothing compared to what he and Scout are dealing with.”

“I hate that this happened. They were so happy. Sam, Dante, all three of the kids. It’s…there’s been too much death,” Elizabeth said with a sad sigh. “And unfortunately, I…I can tell you that there’s no miracle here. There’s no Cassadine in the wings to pay off the staff. Helena used the transplant team to cover up kidnapping you, Jason’s body was never found, but…”

“But you were there. When his mom died.”

“Yeah. I…” Elizabeth closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “I pronounced it. And was with her family. With Jason when he found out. It was a terrible day, Jake, and it keeps rippling out. While I’m not happy with how you did it, I am proud of you for coming home. For seeing that your  brother needs you.”

“Even if I can’t go back to school for whatever reason, it doesn’t matter. I need to be here. But seeing Danny, hearing Dad have to explain to him that there’s nothing they can do to keep him with his sister, it was awful. Scout’s upset, and it’s…they never get to see their mother again. And I’ve been horrible to you. You’re my mom. If something—” Jake stopped, shook his head.

“Honey.” Elizabeth left the sofa, came to perch at the edge of the coffee table, in front of her son. “We’re going to fight. Especially now. You’re nearly an adult, making big choices that effect the rest of your life. This is such a crazy time in your life, and mistakes will be made. You’ll hurt people. That’s just how it goes.”

Jake nodded. “Yeah, I get that, it’s just…” He stayed silent for a beat, considering his next words. “Dad said…he said that you were like this when you were younger. That sometimes you got hurt so you…were…I don’t remember how he put it, but that you, like, would try to hurt someone else. Or that person—” He winced. “He didn’t say it to be mean—”

Elizabeth rubbed Jake’s knee, smiling slightly in a way that told Jake she was almost amused, which eased the tightness in his chest. “He said it as someone I’ve hurt. And I did hurt your dad. More than once. We hurt each other, and he’ll tell you he never kept score. Which is probably why he still talks to me.”

“W-Why? Why did you—why am I like this?” Jake wanted to know. “How did you fix it? How did you stop?”

“You’re not going to like this, baby, but time. Time and experience. Maturity. It’s not something you can do overnight. You have to let go of the tiny satisfaction you feel when you know you’ve landed a blow. When you see that other person wince or flinch, and you think—” She pointed a finger. “There. Now you know how I feel. It feels good in the moment to score that point. But you always regret it. Always. Words won’t leave physical wounds, but they cut all the same.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Jake exhaled in a slow breath. “Anyway. I just thought you should know I’m not mad the way I was. But I still…don’t know how I feel about any of it, Mom. I see you and Dad, and you guys get along so well. And you clearly think he’s a good father. You’re always defending him. And Lucky’s awful. He’s been awful to Aiden for years. How could you pick him?”

“Isn’t that the million dollar question?” Elizabeth murmured. She sighed, then rose to her feet. “Jake—”

“And I get it. I get it. It’s not my business. It happened before I was born, and I guess it shouldn’t change things. But it does for me. I know Dad keeps telling me it’s not your fault he wasn’t my dad for the first few years, and I know he believes that. I know he blames himself—”

“I blame us both,” Elizabeth said, folding her arms. “I blame us for being too afraid after Michael’s injury, I blame myself for not pushing harder or finding the right words, and I blame your father for not saying no to me. For believing that a mother had a right to choose who she wanted in her child’s life. We made mistakes, Jake. But it started with me, Jake. If I hadn’t lied, if I hadn’t been too scared to tell him the truth that first day—” She looked away, her eyes slightly unfocused. “So many mistakes,” she murmured, more to herself than to him. Then she looked back, smiled thinly. “If you’re not careful Jake, you can let your regrets, whatifs, and maybes drown you. I made my choices. Your father made his. There’s no time travel to change any of it.”

Jake nodded—his father had said much the same thing, and there was no point in arguing any different. “I just think maybe I need time. To deal with it. That’s why I’m gonna go live with Dad for a while. Not forever, I guess. But he asked, you know? And that matters. He never did before. It was never a question where my home was. But he doesn’t really have one now, and neither does Danny. Maybe it’s okay if we make a new one.”

“I think that’s a lovely idea, and it’s why, when your father asked me—no, when he told me he was going to ask you, I was on board. I love you, and I missed you every day that you were gone. I’ll miss you every day that you live with your father. But…” Elizabeth straightened the collar of Jake’s shirt, then smiled up at him. “You were always going to leave me, you know. Cam, you, and some day Aiden. We can’t stand still, Jake, and we can’t go back. I know that you and your dad will find a way to help Danny move forward.”

—

Alexis grimaced at the phone in her hand, willing Molly to reply to the message that she’d left for her hours ago.

Across the room, at the dining table, Kristina dropped the take out bag from the Chinese restaurant. “I don’t know why you’re looking at that thing like its the Holy Grail, Mom. She’s not going to call.”

“She might.” Alexis rubbed her forehead, trying not to think about the year before. The house had been filled — Molly and TJ, exuberantly planning their surrogacy journey, Kristina bubbling over, trying to help with them.

Sam at the dinner table with her children, rolling her eyes and smiling at her sisters.

The house had been noisy, messy—

Today, there was no one but she and Kristina. Molly and TJ had gone to the Ashfords — it was their turn, Alexis reminded herself, though it didn’t help much. Molly had been alternating holidays for years, and it was just a coincidence that this year, Molly hadn’t even talked about maybe doing dessert.

And Sam—

Sam was dead. Buried six feet under miles away.

Alexis closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then went over to the table. She touched the paper bag. “Noodle Buddha. This…it was your sister’s favorite.”

“I thought it was a way we could have Sam with us today.” Kristina set a container of food on the table. “Next year, when Danny and Scout are here, it’ll be better.”

“Yes. It will.” When Sam’s children were together and with her, it would be better. Molly would see that it was the best place for them. “Let’s eat.”

—

It still felt strange to walk through the front door of the mansion when he’d used the terrace door in the library for years, Jason thought. He closed the door behind him, laid a hand on the wood, thinking of those days. Of the time he now regretted throwing away with the family he’d never made peace with. He’d spent so much time avoiding Alan, Monica, and Edward, sneaking in to see Lila or his sister—

“Already making a run for it?”

The thin, weak voice startled Jason and he turned to find Monica in the doorway, sitting in an electric wheelchair not unlike his grandmother’s, her hand hovering over the control. All that she needed was a devoted family servant like Reginald to wait on her.

She was rarely well enough to come downstairs these days, and Jason did his best to visit once a week in her suite upstairs. But to see her, dressed for the day, smiling at him—

He took a breath. “No, I think I’ve run enough, don’t you?”

“I never blamed you,” Monica said, then winced. “That’s an awful lie. I did blame you, but it’s all right.” She held out her other hand, and Jason reached for it, wrapped it between his own.

He remembered another homecoming, another realization of the time he’d lost. When he’d come home for good twenty years earlier to find that his grandmother had lost some of her spirit. That she’d begun to fade away, that she was nothing more than a mortal human who would be gone one day.

And still, Jason hadn’t prioritized his grandmother or bent at all. He’d buried her, and continued his life, running after Sonny and Carly, then later Sam. His father had died, and then his sister—

“It’s not,” Jason said, and she tilted her head at him. “But that was a long time ago. I’m glad to be home now.”

She smiled, and her eyes sparkled. “Having you around these days—” She stopped when the door opened again, and Jake came through, then held the door for his mother.

“Sorry we’re late,” Jake said. He grinned at his grandmother. “Hey! I didn’t know you were coming downstairs, Grandma. I was gonna smuggle dessert up to you.”

“Well, when I found out all my grandchildren would be here today, how could I stay away?” Monica looked past Jake. “And I hope Elizabeth brought her brownies. We’ll need something when the turkey goes wrong.”

“I can’t wait to see how dinner gets ruined,” Elizabeth said, hanging up her coat and coming up next to Jason. “Maybe this year will be different.” She looked at him, smiled hesitantly. “You never know, right?”

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