Sorry, went over a bit. The cat kept moving positions on the desk and I had to keep moving the keyboard, lol. I also had a little trouble with the ending, but it’s good enough 😛 See you tomorrow!

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“So either we come to live with you together or I don’t wanna come at all.”

Elizabeth looked at Jason with a hint of panic in her expression. Neither of them had had a lot of time to talk about what the next step looked like — Danny’s arrest had consumed every action and thought since the phone had rung — and now Danny was threatening to torpedo even the basic plan they’d scrabbled together.

He dragged a hand down his face, looked at the children gathered around him. Jake, leaning against the banister, his mother’s worry reflected back in his expression. Danny stood on the steps, both hands fisted at his side, one of his eyes nearly swollen shut from the hit he’d taken to the face, and Scout curled up next to Elizabeth a few steps below, cheeks tear stained and eyes red. How was he supposed to fix this? Where did he even begin?

Not in the Quartermaine foyer, that was for sure.

“Let’s talk about this somewhere we won’t be interrupted,” Jason said. He held a hand out to Scout, hoping she’d take it, but she just burrowed into Elizabeth’s side.

“Why, so you can tell us no and we’re just kids so we don’t get a say?” Danny demanded. He folded his arms, dropped to sit down. “No. You can do that here.”

“Danny,” Jake said. “That’s not fair—”

“We’re going to talk about this somewhere we won’t be interrupted,” Jason repeated, feeling a bit firmer in that choice. He looked at Jake. “Can you go get Aiden? Tell him to meet us in the living room.”

“Aiden?” Jake echoed.

“Yeah. Whatever we decide has to include him. I think he’s still in the kitchen with Sasha.”

“All right,” his son agreed, drawing out the word, then taking a few steps backwards before turning and heading down the hallway.

“C’mon, sweetheart,” Elizabeth murmured, rubbing Scout’s back. “Let’s go sit somewhere more comfortable, and we can talk about what’s going to happen.” She stood, pulling Scout up with her, who reluctantly let Elizabeth lead her towards the living room, her head bowed, her steps heavy.

Jason looked at Danny who kept his head bowed. “Danny—”

“It’s not fair,” Danny muttered. “You’re just going to say no and make me go with you and I won’t have any choices, and I never have any choices—”

“We’re going to make some choices now. And I will do my best to give you what you want. But I’m just one person, Danny, and I don’t even get to make all the decisions.”

His son sighed, then reached up for the bannister, pulling himself to his feet. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”  He slunk towards the living room, and Jason waited another beat, hoping that words to make all of this work would find him before he went through the doors.

—

“Did you see his face?” Willow demanded. She paced behind her mother’s sofa, wringing her hands. “He hit him! In the face—” She pressed a fist to her mouth. “How could any of that have happened—”

“Willow, I wish you’d eat something. You haven’t—” Nina’s hands fluttered to the side as Willow passed her again. “Honey.”

Willow halted, closed her eyes, and folded her arms around her middle. “I’m feeling sorry for myself again. Making it about me. I can’t stand this. Can’t stand any of this—” She turned, looked at Nina. “What matters is Danny. Making this go away.”

“Of course, and I know his family are doing everything they can—”

“I’m part of the family—or I was before—” Willow closed her eyes. “I’m part of that family. I have to find a way to help. To fix this. You still have friends at the Sun, don’t you? I know you’re not editing there anymore, but—”

Nina lifted her brows. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that this is what it took for me to see who Drew really is.” Willow lifted her chin. “I think it’s time that everyone else gets to see it, too. He shouldn’t be able to run from this.”

—

By the time Jake had retrieved Aiden and joined them in the living room, Danny was sulking on the sofa, leaning back in the corner; Scout next to him, sitting her hands and staring at the floor while Elizabeth and Jason stood somewhat uncomfortably on the other side of the table.

Jake saw that his father had pulled the double doors closed, and reached back to do the same through the back door he and Aiden had used. And hoped his father had a plan.

“Let’s start with something simple,” Jason said, finally. He sat on the edge of the coffee table. “About something you said, Scout. About Danny getting a new family.”

She lifted her eyes, dark and miserable, tears threatening at any minute. “I’ll be all alone.”

“You won’t because I’m not going anywhere,” Danny muttered. Scout sniffled, swiping at her eyes.

“There’s no new family here,” Jason said. “Nothing is changing except where we live. I know—” He held out a hand when Danny opened his mouth, his eyes flashing. “I know, that’s a big thing, and we’ll get there.” He looked at Scout again. “Yes, when Elizabeth and I get married, she would be his stepmother. But that’s not a replacement. No one could ever replace your mother.”

“B-but—” Scout took a shaky breath. “Danny still gets his daddy all the time and his brother, and he gets a new one—and I don’t get anyone, and I don’t wanna leave, I wanna stay—why can’t Mommy come back like you did?” she said. “Y-you were dead, and you weren’t. Mommy died, so maybe she can come back, too?”

Jason hesitated. “I wish she could. I do. I know how important mothers are, and yours deserved to be here. I’m sorry she can’t be. I’m sorry for all of this, Scout. I’ve tried really hard to keep you and Danny together as long as I could. Didn’t I?” he asked, looking at Danny.

Danny grimaced, then reluctantly nodded. “Dad told me a few weeks ago,” he told Scout. “And he’s had the house for like a week. I could have moved in then, I guess. And Dad’s the one that let Grandma take us to her house last weekend.” He made a face. “It’s my fault that I can’t stay here anymore—”

“You did nothing wrong,” Elizabeth cut in, and Danny looked at her, surprised. “You did exactly what you should have done. You’ve protected your sister, just like your mother would have wanted. None of the blame for any of this is on you, Danny. Not a single ounce.”

“I swung first,” Danny said weakly. “If I hadn’t—”

“An adult hit you,” Jason said, forcing his tone to remain even though just the reminder of how Danny had obtained the black made him want to shove something—or someone—through a window. “No one could — or should have — predicted that.”

“Maybe, but it still doesn’t change anything. I can’t stay here because the judge said I could go home because of Elizabeth.” Danny cleared his throat. “I didn’t mean it. About not going with you. I know I don’t have a choice—”

Elizabeth came up behind Jason, touched his shoulder in solidarity. “For right now, Danny. Just until we get these charges dealt with it. All of this happening so fast, it’s all right to be upset. To be angry. I’m angry, too. None of this is fair. And we’re asking you and your sister to be more mature than some of the adults in this situation have managed.”

“But why can’t you and Dad just, like, ask the court to give you Scout, too?” Jake asked, and Jason looked at him. “I know they might say no, but you could ask.”

“Yeah.” Danny sat up. “You said  Grandma and Aunt Tracy made it so Drew can’t take her with him, but how come that means she has to be here? Why can’t she be with us? We could be together. And you won’t have to do anything. I’ll do laundry or I don’t know how to cook,” he muttered. “But I could learn—”

“I would be really good,” Scout said, sniffling. “I can be really quiet. I can stay in my room all the time—”

“Honey.” Elizabeth sank onto the sofa next to her, stroked her hair. “I appreciate that you and your brother want to do anything you can to stay together. Believe me, that’s something your uncle has been agonizing over for weeks. But it’s not a matter of us wanting you—”

“The court has to agree,” Jason said, and Scout sighed.

“I don’t like them. They took Danny away, too. They’re mean.” She folded her arms.

“But you’ll ask?” Aiden asked, leaning forward. “Mom, you told me if you don’t ask, the answer is always no.”

“Well—” Jason hesitated, then met Elizabeth’s eyes. She lifted her brows, and he nodded. Why not, right? If there was a chance Chase and Brook Lynn could get custody, why not them?

“Well, if Aiden’s suggesting it and not asking about room assignments,” Elizabeth said, smiling when her youngest’s cheeks flushed. “Then I know he’s serious. If that’s something you both want us to do—but Scout, sweetheart. Are you sure about this? It’s a big thing, you know. Your daddy isn’t going to say yes, so we’re going to have depend on the judge to say yes, too. It might be hard for you.”

Scout was quiet for a long moment, then slid her pink sweater up her arm, revealing ugly bruises on her forearm, in a familiar finger-shaped pattern. Jason tensed, then laid a hand on Danny’s knee, recognizing the rage boiling in his son’s expression.

“Daddy doesn’t talk to me. Or know when I’m there. And he’s mad at me all the time. I don’t like when he grabs me and makes me do things.”

“Well—” Elizabeth’s voice was slightly strangled as she continued. “That settles that. Jake, can you get my phone? We should take some pictures of your arm. So we can give it to the judge, okay?” she asked Scout.

Scout nodded. “I can pack, too. I can be faster than Danny. You can take me home today—”

“We can’t, not yet,” Jason interrupted, and she looked at him, her lower lip trembling. “Not because we don’t want to, but we have to follow all the rules so the judge will say yes. And right now, you have to stay here, and Danny has to come with us. Just for a little while. Is that okay?”

Scout bit her lip, made a face. “Okay. I can do that. I can be strong, like Mommy. She would want me to be, right? I don’t want her to ever be mad or sad at me,” Scout told Jason.

“There’s nothing you could ever do that would have made your mother sad,” Jason reassured her. “I know she’s watching over you, and she’s really proud of you.”

Scout furrowed her brow. “Daddy told me Mommy would be sad if I lied. So I promise not to lie—” she looked at Jake with big eyes. “But I lied to him. I told Daddy I wouldn’t tell, and I told you—”

“It’s okay.” Jake leaned over the back of the sofa. “I found out what you told me was true from someone else who already knew. So you saw exactly what you thought. Your dad is the one who lied.”

“Oh.” Scout seemed relieved for a moment, then Jake’s words sank in. “But if I—if I saw Daddy kissing Aunt Willow, then he lied to me. Why did he do that?”

Because her father was a raging asshole who needed to be dropped in the harbor with a block of cement around his feet, Jason thought darkly. “Because he was wrong. But don’t worry about him, Scout. I’ll make sure he knows he was wrong, and if I can stop it, he won’t ever do it again.”

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