Written in 63 minutes.

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She had obviously not planned to blurt it out that way. Will you marry me? Everything inside of her was cringing, the heat crawling up her neck, into her cheeks.

Jason actually took a step back, his brows lifting almost meeting his hairline, his hands raised slightly in front of him. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

“I said we should get married, but don’t say no—” she said, the words falling out in a rush, jumbled and almost breathless. “Just let me explain—”

“I wasn’t going to—” he said at the same time, and they both stopped at the same time. Had all the air been sucked out of the room, she wondered? Why was it so hard to draw a full breath?

“I know it’s insane and completely out of nowhere, okay, but it’s a good plan.” Elizabeth snatched her purse up from where it had dropped next to the chair. “It makes it impossible for Alexis to use me against you, and it might give us more time to figure out the other problem. So don’t say no just yet, just—” She reached for the door. “Think about it, okay?”

“Wait, let’s talk—”

“I have a shift, sorry. I’ll call you or you call me or—whatever works.” She smiled brightly, sure her cheeks were flaming red, then jerked the door open and rushed out of the office,  closing the door behind her because he could follow.

—

Not far away from the warehouse, Molly stood in line at Kelly’s, still going over the deposition in her head. She’d thought it went all right, all things considered, but she could mostly understand why Elizabeth had been rattled.

At some point, probably around the child support question, Elizabeth had realized what Alexis planned to do — Molly hoped her mother hadn’t noticed that Elizabeth had started evading questions more after that point, but it was unlikely. Not only had Elizabeth’s direct answers shifted, but her entire body had tightened, her shoulders stiff, her hands fisted in her lap. But she hadn’t lost control and had finished the deposition, so whatever Elizabeth had been afraid of, it hadn’t happened.

Had it?

The person in front of her moved, and it was her turn to order. “Molly. Hey.” Joss Jacks flashed a friendly smile, with her order pad out. “To go?”

“Yeah, just a coffee.” Molly folded her arms. “Um, how are you?”

“I’m good, but—” Joss poured the hot liquid into the to-go cup. “I heard you took a leave from the DA’s office. Dex,” she added when Molly looked quizzical. “And Mom said you were on Jason’s case. I just—if you need anything. Like a character witness, you know? Jason’s been an honorary uncle—” Her mouth tightened. “More like a father figure, I guess. He’s been around more than my actual father. But seriously. Just say the word.” She set the coffee on the counter.

“I appreciate that.” Molly hesitated, didn’t pick up her order. “You used to be really close to Cameron, right? You were dating for a while.”

“Yeah, a little over a year.” Joss tipped her head. “Why? You think he could help? He totally would. Jason rescued him when Cyrus kidnapped him and Trina that one time—”

“Oh. I think I knew that at some point, but—no, I guess I was wondering if you were close to his family. His mother and brothers.”

“Oh for sure, Cam and I go way back. Our moms pretty much always hated each other, but that comes and goes. But Cam’s mom is the best. She’d be a great person to testify for Jason.”

“No, I know that—” Molly made a face. “Never mind—”

“Wait.”

Molly turned back, raised a brow. “Yeah?”

Joss glanced around, then leaned in, lowering her voice. “Obviously, I’m not saying anything or whatever, but I overheard my mom and Sonny arguing about this, and Mom’s worried Alexis is going to talk about Jason working for Sonny. And, like, that being the reason he wasn’t around Jake much. I mean, you know about Jason—” She winced. “I mean, you don’t know. But you know the rumors.”

“I do. That was a factor in why Jason wasn’t around Jake when he was younger?” Molly asked.

“Oh, yeah. I mean, I can’t tell you how much of one it was, because Cam never knew. But we used to talk about it sometimes, especially after Jason came back and we found out about Drew.” Joss shrugged. “The way Cam heard it, any chance of Jason stepping in and kicking Lucky Spencer out was over after Michael got shot. And he sort of remembers Jason being around a lot until he was five or six, and then completely gone until after the accident.” She paused. “None of that should matter when it comes to Danny, though. Should it?”

“Probably not. But it never hurts to think of all the angles. Thanks, Joss.”

Molly stepped away from the counter, her coffee in hand. That might explain Elizabeth’s nerves, she thought. If they’d agreed to keep Jason’s paternity quiet because of his work with Sonny, that would certainly be an area Elizabeth might want to avoid in deposition. But why would they be so nervous about it? Kristina was Sonny’s daughter — surely, her mother wasn’t going to bring that up in court.

But she also wouldn’t have believed her mother would draw up custody papers against TJ. Molly bit her lip, then headed for the parking lot. She had a lot of thinking to do — and maybe Elizabeth had been right to look rattled today.

She couldn’t let her mother win. Just couldn’t.

—

“This is a late shift for you,” Lucas said, stepping up behind Elizabeth into the nurse’s station. When Elizabeth jolted at the sound of his voice, he held up his hands. “Sorry, I thought you heard me come up.”

“I was distracted.” And staring at the same work schedule for the better part of ten minutes. Elizabeth blew out a breath, then looked at him. “I’m sorry, did you say something?”

“You had the deposition today, didn’t you?” Lucas asked, digging through a pile of charts. “I still can’t believe Alexis is doing this, even knowing what Sam’s will said.”

Elizabeth sighed, returned her attention to the schedule. “Alexis has always thought she knew best. If Sam wanted the kids to stay together, she’d have said so, right? I mean, it’s not easy when you have kids with different fathers, I know that.”

“I won’t claim to know what my sister was thinking, but I’m almost sure she’d hate to see what’s happened. Molly going against her mother, the kids in the middle.” Lucas grimaced, made a note in a chart. “Can I ask a ridiculous question? One that’s none of my business?”

“You can ask. I might not answer.”

“Fair enough.” He popped the pen back into his lab coat. “How did you have it? In your will. I know Cam’s an adult now, and Jake nearly is. But you must have worried.”

“Um, for a long time, it was my grandmother. I wanted the boys to stay together, and there wasn’t a lot of arguments. Cam doesn’t have any one else, and Lucky wasn’t going to argue with me. Maybe Laura might have wanted Aiden, but it was Gram who’s been their number one. But…when Jason came home all those years ago, back when we found out about Drew?” she asked. “I changed it. Jason had missed so much time with Jake, that I couldn’t stand thinking of him missing more, and I knew Gram might not make it easy on him.”

“So you were willing to separate them, then?”

“Yeah. I was. It wasn’t easy, but I also knew Jason would make sure Jake was around his brothers.” Elizabeth shrugged, tapped a few keys. “And if anything happened to Gram, he would have taken Aiden and Cam. There really wasn’t any question for me.” She looked at him. “Why?”

“Just thinking, I guess. The way kids get treated like objects sometimes.” Lucas leaned against the counter. “My parents got divorced when I was a kid, and it was bitter for a couple of years. Then…with Wiley, it was…I know it was the right choice. To give him back to Michael. Not to fight it, especially knowing Brad and I were done. But man, sometimes—” He exhaled slowly. “Anyway. It sucks for Danny and Scout. Being separated, and now being dragged into court. I wish Alexis weren’t doing this.”

“Well, she might be the best place for Scout, but Danny belongs with Jason.” Elizabeth logged out of the workstation, turned to him. “Alexis will see that. I won’t give up until she does.”

—

Michael slid into the booth across from Jason, a bottle of beer already in his hand. “Hey. I’m glad you called.”

“I didn’t interrupt anything, did I? It’s late—”

Michael waved it away, then took a swig form the bottle. “One of the good things about having young kids — they’re both in bed at nine, and I—” He grimaced. “For obvious reasons, I don’t really want to be alone with my wife right now. Better to go back when she’s asleep.”

“Michael—”

“Don’t want to talk about it tonight,” he interrupted. “Like I said, I’m glad you called. I didn’t think Jake would say anything to you—”

“Jake?” Jason frowned, shook his head. “Uh, no. Why? What’s wrong? Michael,” he said when the younger man made a face, looked away. “What’s going on?”

“Drew cornered Jake in the parking garage the other day,” Michael said, and Jason tensed. “He doesn’t know that I know, or that Jake’s already told us about Scout. Wanted to make a deal — Jake shuts up about what he knows, and Drew doesn’t help Alexis in the case—”

“Tell him to go to hell, I don’t care who he testifies for. Why didn’t Jake—”

“He thought you might rearrange Drew’s facial features again.” Michael lifted his brows. “Was he wrong?”

Jason grimaced, looked away. “No,” he muttered. “But one day—”

“Yeah, well, we’ll leave that plan in the drafts for now. If it’s not about Jake, what’s up? You said it was important.”

Jason hesitated. Now that he was in front of Michael, he wasn’t sure how to have this conversation. How to even describe the conversation with Elizabeth in his office — or why he couldn’t simply tell her yes or no. Why he didn’t know the answer.

“Was it the deposition? I know Elizabeth was scheduled to go today. She was worried, but I know she’d never do anything to hurt your case—”

“It wouldn’t be her fault.” Jason shifted slightly. “For one thing, Elizabeth is worried Alexis is going to dig into why I didn’t claim Jake those first four years. Sam left me over the job, and kept Danny from me as much as she could, even when I got home, so Alexis already knows that much. With Elizabeth…”

“You made that decision after I got shot,” Michael said, and Jason nodded, a bit reluctantly. “Well, Alexis can dig into it if she wants, but at the end of the day, she’s a Cassadine. Whose family kidnapped Jake. And you. And Drew. Throw that in her face.”

“Yeah, that could work. Except there are no Cassadines left. Helena is dead, and so is that Victor guy. Valentin’s on the run, I guess, but no one’s said he’s dangerous.”

“While my dad is probably still under investigation for what happened last summer.” Michael stared down at the table, took a deep breath, then looked up again. “That’s a problem, I guess. But it would be a lot of rumors and unsubstantiated cases. Is that what worries you?”

“Enough to know it’s not a small problem. The thing is—Elizabeth’s deposition—she got the idea that Alexis is gonna try to make it seem like she’s the reason Jake is who he is. And that I did nothing to contribute.”

“And Elizabeth shut her down, right? I know she did,” Michael said immediately. “She can try it, but it’s bullshit.” When Jason didn’t respond, Michael scowled. “It’s bullshit, Jase,” he repeated. “And you need to get in your head before you testify and make that face like she’s right.”

“That’s—we can deal with that some other time—”

“Damn it—”

“Elizabeth thinks — and Molly agreed — Alexis plans to use her as evidence I can’t be a full-time father, that I’ve barely been a part-time father. She has…she has a plan to make Alexis drop that entire line of questioning. And maybe even drop the whole case.”

Michael tipped his head. “Does she have a plan the way my mom has plans, or is it an actual plan?”

Jason closed his mouth, considered the question. “I think there’s a strong possibility it’s both. It has elements of a plan, but it’s—that’s not—it’s not something I think I can do.”

“What? We get rid of Alexis? No, Elizabeth wouldn’t say that. Mom would, but not—” Michael squinted. “Short of murder, Jason, I can’t think of anything you can’t do.”

“She said—” Oh, man he couldn’t even say it. He picked up his beer, took a long pull, then looked at Michael. “We should get married.”

Michael didn’t respond right away, then frowned. “That’s it? That’s the plan?”

“That’s it.”

“Oh.” He leaned back, rubbed his chin. “You made me think it was—I mean, it’s not a perfect solution, but I kind of see the point. Alexis thinks Elizabeth is so amazing, that everything about Jake is all about her, well then she should be happy Danny will have such a great stepmom there to support you. You get the right sexist judge who still thinks moms do most of the work—” Michael stopped, leaned forward. “But you told her no?”

“She wouldn’t let me—no, I haven’t yet.”

“Yet. So you’re going to say no.”

“I don’t—” Jason picked up the beer again, shook his head.

Michael was quiet for a long beat, then folded his arms on the table. “I know first hand that getting married for a custody battle doesn’t always work long-term. Willow and I had…there was good in there, and Amelia—I wouldn’t change her for the world. But all things considered, it probably wasn’t the best choice. That being said, Willow and I barely knew each other back then. You and Liz? You guys have known each other my whole life. You know her. You can trust her to do this, and to be amazing with Danny—”

“That’s—” Jason looked away, struggling to put his order his thoughts. “Of course she would. That’s not the problem. I’d trust Elizabeth with my life. And my son.”

“Just not your name,” Michael said, and Jason winced. “I mean, I guess you’ve got the problem of an exit strategy. Danny’s, what, like fourteen? Four years he’s off to college, but there’s no chance Alexis comes back if she loses on this round. So how do you do that? You guys set a end date? Like we divorce in year two, year three?”

“That’s…” Jason shifted again. “That’s part of it.”

“Or,” Michael said, drawing out the word until Jason looked at him. “You don’t divorce at all. Is that the problem? It’s not that you don’t want to marry her. You don’t want to marry her like this.”

“I—” Hearing it put so starkly startled him, and he didn’t have a response right away. “Yeah. I guess—we’ve been talking a lot about when Jake was younger. That we…I know we both regret the way we handled things. Letting fear get in the way.” They’d had that conversation on Thanksgiving in the car, and he hadn’t quite been able to forget it.

“We would have had more kids.”

“Oh, probably. How many?”

“How many did you want?”

“Oh, dozens. To start with. You?”

“Whatever made you happy.”

“I’m not going to tell you that this the universe kicking at you, putting another chance in front of you. That’s not how the world works,” Michael said, and Jason looked at him. “And I know I don’t know everything about you and Liz, beyond the fact that you’ve always been close. I obviously knew you guys were a thing because Jake exists, but I never really asked you beyond that. Elizabeth is opening a door to a future you wanted once. Maybe she’s really only doing it because of the custody. But maybe she’s doing it because she’s having those regrets, right? Maybe there’s a reason it’s something she offers.”

“Maybe.”

“Because if you knew the answer no, Jase, you’d have told her that already. So talk to her. What does she want? Is she thinking one year and out, or maybe—” Michael shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe she’s not. But you won’t know until you talk to her.”

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