Written in 56 minutes. See you Monday!

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“Lock this one up, too.”

When Jake had learned the truth about Drew’s identity and had to reconcile himself to building a relationship with another father, he’d been devastated. He’d cried himself to sleep, and though he’d eventually agreed to spend time with Jason by the time his birthday rolled around, his relationship with Drew had remained important to him. Until Drew’s plane went missing, and he’d been feared dead.

And now, standing in the middle of the PCPD, Drew might as well have been a stranger — an alien to them all, rather than the man who had celebrated Jake’s return from the Cassadines and begged Jake at that Nurse’s Ball to remember how much they loved him, to break him free of the control Helena had wielded from beyond the grave.

Lock this one up, too.

As if Drew weren’t speaking about two boys he’d loved and raised as his own for more than a year—

“Over my dead body,” Elizabeth snapped, striding forward to put herself between the irate politician and her son. Jason reached for her, trying to stop her before she could get far but she was too quick. But she didn’t direct her anger towards Drew, rather she stabbed a finger at Mac. “If you put those cuffs on my son, you will regret—”

“I don’t think threats are going to help—” Anna began.

“Just let Danny go!” Alexis said, standing next to Drew and Ric. “You don’t need to do this!”

“He tried to assault me!”

“Everyone shut up!” Mac barked. He released Jake. “No one is arresting anyone else tonight. Now everyone take a step back. Now,” he said when Elizabeth only lifted her chin in defiance.

“Get your hands off my son—” she began hotly but Jason took her by the shoulders and gently steered her to the side, away from Drew. She nearly shook him off, but saw the clench of his jaw and the vein in his forehead. He was as angry as she was — but the last thing anyone needed was her making a scene. Not when she was supposed to put herself in front of the judge in the morning.

“Give her a break, Mac,” Jason said flatly when the chief of detectives’ harsh gaze didn’t ease. “She just saw what did Drew to my son. He’s lucky he’s not laying flat with her shoe shoved down his throat.”

“Is that a threat?” Drew called but Ric whacked him in the chest.

“Shut up and stop making this worse,” the lawyer hissed. He focused on Mac. “My client is upset, of course. It’s been a terrible evening for all of us—”

“You’re not the fourteen-year-old kid in cuffs with a black eye!” Elizabeth retorted, but subsided when Jason touched her shoulder. She folded her arms. “Mac, let Jake go. He’s not going to touch anyone.”

“I might,” Jake grumbled, but Mac released him anyway and he went to stand with his parents. “Where’s Danny?”

“In the interrogation room with Molly. He’s all right,” Jason said, then looked at Mac and Anna. “I want to take my kids home. You’ve seen Danny’s face—”

“What did he do?” Jake interrupted, but Jason kept speaking.

“—there’s no judge in the family court system that will let these charges stand. We’ll take Danny home—”

“What home?” Drew sneered.  “You can’t be bothered to live with your own kid! How’s that going to look for the custody court?”

“Shut your client up before I turn my back and pretend to be deaf and blind,” Mac told Ric. He looked at Jason. “This is out of my hands. Believe me, no one here wants to press charges—”

“Which the mayor will hear about. The commissioner who won’t take a strong hand against assault, the chief of detectives bowing to a criminal—Hey, Elizabeth, how is threatening a congressman going to look when your probation is up for dismissal in a few months?”

She curled her fingers into a fist, her nails digging into her palm, but forced her tone to remain even. “I don’t know, Drew. How will your constituents feel when they find out you slugged a grieving child?”

“You hit him? You son of a bitch!” Jake shot forward, only stopped at the last minute when his father and Mac both went  after him, Jason wrapping both arms around him and lifting Jake away just before he reached Drew.

“I want him arrested! Throw them all in jail!” Drew hollered. Ric put his head in his hands.

“That’s it! I have had—” Mac growled, but the squad doors rolled open and Michael strode in with Willow hot on his heels, and for the first time, Elizabeth realized Aiden had come with Jake. He must have been waiting in the lobby, and slid through security with Michael and his wife.

“Oh, great, that’s just what I need,” the older man grumbled. “Sonny and Carly on their way?”

“No,” Michael said warily, looking around the room, bewildered when he realized Jason had Jake in a bear hold, the teenager still struggling to get free. “No, but we were at the house when Scout got home. She told us what happened.”

“Scout. Danny’s so worried about her. Is she all right?” Elizabeth wanted to know.

“Sobbing hysterically, but physically fine.” Michael looked at Drew. “She said you hit Danny. Is that true?”

“It was self-defense,” Drew said. “He attacked me, and I was forced to fend him off. I wasn’t trying to hurt him, but he’s out of control. Must run in the family,” he said, sliding Jake a dark look.

“Let me go, Dad. I won’t kill him,” Jake said, but Jason could feel the tension in his son’s body, the rage leaving him trembling slightly. He loosened his grip slightly, but didn’t release him all the way. He didn’t trust that Jake had the impulse control he’d need to hold it together. Not when it was taking Jason every ounce of his own to keep from shoving Drew against another wall and finishing this time.

“I’m not arresting anyone else tonight,” Mac repeated. “Unless you want to overule me,” he said, looking at his former sister-in-law.

Anna pressed her lips together, took a deep breath. “Let’s all take a moment to cool down. Drew, pressing charges against Danny might seem like a good idea right now—”

“Do I have to make a call and force your hand?” Drew asked, lifting his brows. “I was assaulted. I want justice. I have the right to press charges. Do it, or I’ll make sure you regret it.”

Then he stalked out of the room, passing Michael and Willow on his way out. Ric followed him, and after a moment, so did Alexis, likely hoping to continue begging him to change his mind.

“There are far too many people here right now,” Anna decided. She rubbed her hands together. “Anyone who isn’t Danny’s father or lawyer is going home. Including his brother and his mother,” she said pointedly to Jake and Elizabeth.

“I’m not going anywhere without seeing my brother,” Jake said, and then without even waiting for Anna to say anything, headed for the interrogation room. When she might have protested, Mac stopped her.

Jake yanked the door open, stared at Danny seated at the table, then looked back at his father. The mixture of fury and helplessness in his eyes mirrored what Jason felt. All he’d wanted to do was protect his son, and somehow that had put Danny at the PCPD with a black eye and facing assault charges.

Jason scrubbed a hand down his face, looked at Michael. “I’m glad you came down, even if it was just so we could find out about Scout. Can you—” He nodded at Aiden, standing near Willow. “Can you stay with Aiden until we’re done?”

“Yeah, of course. Whatever you need. I mean that. I’ll call everyone in the morning.” Michael fished his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll start now, actually.” He gestured for Aiden to head into the lobby, then left, not saying a word to Willow. She followed after a moment.

Aiden trailed after Michael until they reached the PCPD lobby and watched as the CEO scrolled through his phone contacts and began typing texts.

“Michael—maybe we should go home. We could drop Aiden off,” Willow suggested, smiling nervously at Aiden. “I’m worried about the kids, and about Scout—she’s going to be so confused when Drew gets home without Danny—”

“You think us being there is going to help anything?” Michael demanded, lifting his head to level a hostile gaze at his wife. It clearly unsettled Willow as much as it did Aiden, because she took a step back, bit her lip, and looked at Aiden again before focusing on Michael again.

“I think that we all need to calm down. Tonight has been difficult, but in the morning, when Drew’s had a minute to calm down, I know he’ll change his mind. He’s a good—” Willow jumped when Michael kicked a chair, sending it flying across the lobby, hitting the wall. Her face lost its color, and her eyes widened. “M-Michael—”

“After all this—after what you just saw—” Michael gestured towards the doors leading back to the squad room. Then he curled that hand into a fist he raised in the air. “After all this, you still think he’s a good man? What will it take for you to get it?”

“I think we’re all upset—”

“He wants put Danny in prison, Willow! He’s trying to put my cousin in jail! Do you not get it?” Michael demanded, taking a step towards his wife. “He’s been there, he knows what could happen there! Drew almost died there, and he damn well knows what happened to me!”

“All right, I know—” Willow raised both hands, trying to soothe him. “But it’s one night and Danny will be in juvenile detention—”

“One night? You don’t know that! No one knows that!”

“Michael—”

“What’s it  going to take for you to see what he is?” Michael demanded. He dragged a hand through his hair, turning away for a moment, forcing himself to think. He looked back. “He tried to drag Scout forcibly from the penthouse a few days ago, and ended up putting hands on Elizabeth. And then today, he actually drags Scout from Alexis, and she’s crying. Danny tries to stop him, and he hit him! He’s had him arrested! He tried to have Jake arrested!”

“Well, Jake was threatening—” Willow stopped when Michael growled. “Michael—”

“You won’t see him. You refuse to see him. Well, then fine.” He scrolled through his phone, then shoved it at her. “I tried to pretend I didn’t know, I tried to forget it, because I thought you’d get over it, but I can’t do this anymore. I can’t. Drew’s lost his damn mind, he’s hurting people I love, and I can’t do this anymore.”

Willow’s face paled as she looked at something on the phone, then raised stunned eyes to her husband’s. “You…you’ve had this all along? Sam—Sam died a month ago!”

Aiden frowned — he’d been following the argument well enough until now, but he was bewildered by this turn of events. What was on the phone—

“You think I’m the bad guy here, Willow? While his grieving daughter slept down the hall, when our kids could have come in at any moment, you were fucking my uncle next to the doll house and teddy bears.”

“Oh damn,” Aiden said. Willow looked over at  him, her cheeks flooding with flushed red. She dropped the phone, then ran out of the station, disappearing into the night.

Michael crouched down, picked up the phone, then stood. He looked at Aiden. “Tell Jason I had to go. He knows what—he knows what you just overheard. He’ll understand. Don’t leave the lobby.”

“Yeah, sure—” Aiden watched him go, then exhaled slowly. “What the hell just had happened?” he asked the empty room.

—

When Jason got back into the interrogation room, Jake was hugging Danny. “We’re going to get you out, okay? Dad won’t let you stay here.”

“Longer than a night,” Jason said, closing the door once Elizabeth had come in with him. He looked at Molly. “Drew won’t drop the charges.”

“I don’t understand. I just don’t—” Molly pressed her hands her to her face. “How can he thinks this will make him look good? How can he think any of this makes him look good?”

“I don’t know what happened to him in prison,” Elizabeth said. She folded her arms. “Maybe they broke something in him. He’s not the same man. He’s just—” She shuddered, took a deep breath. Looked at Jason. “We can’t leave Scout with him. Not this way. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”

“I need to talk to my mother again,” Molly said. “She has to see—she has to see how much you love Danny. And once she finds out that you and Elizabeth are getting married, I know it will help ease her mind so much—”

Jake snapped his head up, looked at them. “What was that? What is she talking about—”

Molly pressed a fist to her mouth. “Oh, no, I didn’t—I forgot you said—”

“It’s all right.” Elizabeth touched her arm. “It’s not a state secret. It’s just—” she looked at Jake. “And it’s not something we were keeping from you. It literally—it happened today. He put the ring on my finger and we got the call, Jake. I promise—”

“Yeah—I—” Jake looked at Danny, then looked back at his parents. “Yeah, I get that. I just—it’s kind all—” He released Danny, ran a hand through his head a bit nervously. “It’s just a lot.”

“Aunt Molly said it means that maybe they’ll let your mom take me home tomorrow. Since she has room for me.” Danny’s lips trembled. “I wanna go home now.” He looked at his father. “I don’t wanna stay here. Don’t make me stay here.”

“I don’t—” Jason came around the table, took Danny in his arms again. “I can’t stop it. I’m sorry. I’m doing everything I can, and I’ll—I’ll—”

“Should have let me get a punch in, and I could be in the cell with him,” Jake said. “Hey, it’s not too late. You think—”

“You’re not getting yourself sent to jail,” Elizabeth said, taking Jake by the arm. “That wouldn’t help anyone.”

“Maybe not, but I’d feel better,” Jake muttered.

“We’re going to get you out as soon as we can,” Molly said, coming to Danny’s side, stroking his back. She met Jason’s eyes, as resolute as her own, before looking back at her nephew. “I promise. One night.”

“Whatever we have to do, Danny. I won’t let it be longer than one night,” Jason promised. “I promise.”

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