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Elizabeth knocked lightly on Cameron’s open bedroom door where Danny was dumping out his duffel bag. She leaned against the door frame, folding her arms. “Anything you want for dinner? We usually order from Mama Mangione.”

“I’m not hungry,” Danny muttered, dropping onto the bed and staring down at the carpet, his shoulders hunched. “I won’t mess anything up in Cam’s room. So don’t worry—”

“I’m not.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “Your dad left for your grandmother’s, so it’s just us for a while. I can bring up a menu—”

“I’m not hungry,” Danny repeated, finally looking at her, his mouth pinched in a familiar expression — his mother’s, Elizabeth thought. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Danny, I know we talked a little at the Quartermaine’s, but maybe you and I should have a conversation, just you and me. Can I come in?”

“It’s your house.” Danny jerked a shoulder, dropped his gaze to the carpet again.

Deciding that would have to be enough, Elizabeth turned Cameron’s desk chair around, perched on the edge. “I know the last few months have been unfair, and you’ve been asked to deal with more than any kid your age should be—”

“I’m not a kid,” Danny muttered.

“You are,” Elizabeth said gently. “And I’m sorry that the adults in your life — that we haven’t done a better job of protecting you so that you get to stay that way a little while longer. I know you think I’m just here because of your dad—”

“Aren’t you? Didn’t you do all of this so he could win in court?” Danny asked, lifting his gaze to hers. “Mom used to say all you wanted was to marry my dad.”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together, counted to ten in her head. “I would worry about you regardless of your father. Because you’re Jake’s brother, and he loves you. It’s okay if you don’t believe me. It’s okay if you don’t like me—”

“I didn’t—” Danny took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I—you’ve always been nice to me. And I shouldn’t have said that about my mom. She stopped saying things like that a long time ago, I guess—” He made a face. “And I’m making you ask to get custody of my sister, so it’s not fair to be a dick—”

“You’re not making me do anything. Jason and I were already discussing with the rest of the family how to handle your sister’s situation. None of us want her with Drew. We just hadn’t considered that the right choice might be with us — mostly because we’ve only been an us for about—” She leaned over to get a glimpse of Cameron’s clock on the nightstand. “About twenty hours now.”

“Oh.” Danny paused, considered that information. “I’m just…it’s stupid to be mad because you didn’t do anything wrong. You’re not the reason my mother isn’t here. But if you and Dad get married, and we get Scout, you get to…you get to be the one who’s here. And I don’t remember a lot from before I was seven. Maybe Scout won’t remember my mom.”

“We’ll do everything we can to make sure Scout remembers her. There’s pictures, and you and your dad will tell her stories. Your grandmother, your aunts —” Elizabeth rose and went to Cameron’s dresser where a jumble of framed photos were scattered. He’d taken a few with him to California, but —

She sat next to him, held out the framed photo Danny. “Do you know who this is?”

Danny took the cheap plastic frame, studied it. “That’s my Aunt Emily. I never met her, but Mom and Uncle Drew named Scout for her.”

“She was my best friend in the whole world,” Elizabeth said. “And she loved my boys. She spoiled Cameron rotten, and that’s a photo of them at his last birthday party. She gave him a firetruck that lights up and makes the most annoying sounds. We passed it on to Jake —” Before the accident. “And then to Aiden. Jake doesn’t remember her. She died when he was a baby. And Cameron—oh, he doesn’t really remember her either now. She’s just—a warm feeling. When he thinks about her, he remembers the love, but not her face.”

“I don’t want it to be like that for Scout. For me. What if I start to forget her?” Danny asked. He gave her back the photo. “What if I like it here? You’re a good mom. Scout already likes you. She might call you Mom one day. Because she doesn’t remember ours.”

“Well, I hope you like it here. And I hope your sister gets to come with us, too. But Danny — you are never going to forget your mother. She loved you so much, you know. She didn’t know she’d be able to have kids for a long time. That was really tough on her, thinking that dream was over. But then you came along, and then your sister. I don’t want to replace her. I couldn’t.”

“I’m sorry for being an ass,” Danny said, though he dropped his eyes to the carpet. “I keep telling myself not to do it—”

“And the words leave your mouth anyway, and all you want to do is drag them back in?” Elizabeth finished. He offered her a weak smile. “I’ve raised three teenage boys, Danny. Don’t worry about me. And give yourself a break.” She got to her feet, set the photo back in its place, then looked back at Danny. “You know, your father once said something to me, a long time ago. You’ve been through so much these last few weeks, Danny, and everything is happening so fast, you can barely keep up. Things happen fast, and you have to live through them slow.”

“Sounds like something he’d say,” Danny said, flopping back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. “All mysterious and riddles.”

She smiled. “It just means, Danny, that all we can ever do is control our reaction to what happens to us. We take life one step at a time. I can’t slow down the world, but I can look after my corner of it which includes you, your dad, and your sister. So, I’m bringing you the menu, because if there’s something else I know about teenage boys, it’s how much you eat.”

—

Nina opened the door, smiling grimly at Michael and stepping aside so that he could come in. “You came fast,” she said. She looked over at Willow. “I’m going to head into the office, call me—call me if you need anything.”

“Thanks.” Willow rose to her feet, lacing her fingers together nervously. “You, um, didn’t argue when I asked you to come over.”

Michael combed his hand through his hair, shifting uncomfortably. “Well, I was gonna call you. Not about—not about you and me. Just—about something else. But—” He paused. “I’m sorry,” he said. “About how things happened at the PCPD. I should have told you a long time ago what I knew.”

“I wish you had,” Willow said. “Not because it would have changed anything, I guess. But I just—less time to think of how humiliated I feel would have been nice, though not your problem to solve. And we—we have to figure all of that out. We will.” She waited a beat. “But that’s not why I asked you to come over. Drew…he can’t get away with what he wants to do. The judge sounded like he didn’t like the charges against Danny, and I know Jason and your family are going to fight hard for him. I want to help — but I also — there’s Scout. If he could hurt Danny—”

“He left bruises on her the day he took her from Alexis’s,” Michael finished, and Willow closed her eyes. “You don’t have to worry about her. My family has emergency custody of her, and—well, Brooke and Chase were going to petition for guardianship, but then Jason and Elizabeth decided they wanted to.”

“Oh. Oh that makes such sense,” Willow said, sighing in relief. “They would get to stay together, and Elizabeth would be so good for them. But—Drew—he’ll fight.”

“Yeah, that’s why I thought—why I wanted to know if you’d be willing to help.” He met her gaze. “Because I have a plan to force him to walk away from Scout. It just—I need you to pull it off.”

“My answer is yes, but maybe you should start from the beginning and tell me exactly what you want me to do.”

—

“How’s Danny?” Molly asked, pulling the door open wider so Jason could come in. “Is he all right?”

“Handling it,” Jason said, then looked across the room to find Alexis waiting by the fireplace. Kristina sat on the sofa, her arms tightly folded, her eyes trained on the ground. “He’s with Elizabeth and the boys, so this is going to have to be quick.” He stepped down into the living room proper. “Before you start — ” he held up a hand when Alexis opened her mouth. “I want to make a few things clear. Elizabeth and I are getting married, and Danny will live with us. Molly, I want you to get started on a petition to award us guardianship of Scout. Monica has emergency custody, but it probably won’t hold us with her as the guardian.”

“No, not with her health. Um—” Molly bit her lip, looked at her mother, then back at Jason. “This—you guys decided this after court?”

“We had other plans, but Danny and Scout asked for this. Scout doesn’t want to be with her father—” He retrieved his phone from his pocket, scrolled to the right photo and handed it Molly who inhaled sharply. “I don’t know if this will give us enough to keep her, but it’s a start.” He looked back to Alexis who had remained silent. “So if you have anything to say that isn’t an offer to cooperate so that the kids stay with me, I don’t want to hear it.”

“Who do you think you are?” Kristina demanded, jumping to her feet. Molly threw her a dirty look. “No, he has no right to talk to us like that—”

“He does,” Alexis said finally, and Kristina looked at her mother, startled. “I—” She closed her eyes, pressed her hands to her face. “You came to me. You wanted to find a resolution. And you warned me Drew would come here. I just—I never—”

“Mom, you have nothing to apologize for,” Kristina said, stepping up to her mother. “We just wanted what was best for the kids—”

“Stop it. Just—” Alexis curled her hand into a fist. “What you showed Molly—it’s Scout. Drew hurt her. And the cops just let him. He dragged her out of here yesterday—” She turned away, her voice faltering. “I should have stopped him. I tried to, but he’d already hit Danny, and I was so worried Danny would get up and go after him again, especially when his sister started to cry—I thought I was doing the right thing, I thought—” She looked at Jason. “All I did was make everything worse.”

Jason exhaled slowly. Though he’d come here prepared for whatever Alexis might try, he hadn’t expected this. “Neither of us thought it would escalate this way. Even after the penthouse. I never thought he’d hurt the kids. I don’t blame you for yesterday. I blame Drew. And I blame the system who let this happen to Danny.  I don’t want to fight, Alexis. Not with you. The kids need you. They need all of you,” he said, looking at Kristina who pursed her lips, but dropped her gaze. “They need us to be a team, Alexis. With one goal. Keeping them safe and happy. I think that Elizabeth and I can make a good home for them, and you agree — or you wouldn’t have tried to turn Elizabeth into your witness.”

Alexis laughed, the sound little more than a broken sob mixed with a bite of sour humor. “Oh, yeah. She saw right through me, didn’t she?”

“Alexis—”

“Whatever you need me to do. Whatever you need the girls to do. All that matters is Danny and Scout. And stopping Drew.”

—

The door to Sonny’s office opened so fast, the door bounced off the wall and came flying back. Carly slapped her hand to keep it from hitting her, scowling at Sonny who’d barely blinked at her dramatic entrance. “I’m done sitting back and letting you destroy my friendship with Jason—”

“Oh, is that what I’m doing?” Sonny said with a smirk, leaning back. “I haven’t even spoken to him—”

“The hearing didn’t go well,” Carly said, and Sonny frowned at her. “Sure, Danny was released, but maybe you didn’t hear which illustrious member of the district attorney’s office picked up the case.”

Sonny exhaled slowly. “Who?”

“Justine Turner. And from the way Michael described it—” Carly lifted her brows. “Turner’s ready to throw the book at Danny, probably to twist the knife against Jason. Or get Jason on something to make Danny’s charges go away.”

“That’s bullshit.” Sonny scowled. “We can’t let that happen—”

“No, we can’t.” Carly paused. “Jason’s stood up for us, for our kids at every turn. Every time we needed him, he was there. At the cost of his own life, his own freedom, his time with his kids. I may not like what he did with the FBI and taking the hit for me, but he did it for me and the kids without even blinking. He did that for you, too. I don’t know how, Sonny, but God damn it, it’s our turn to do something for him. So get your ass out of that chair and do something good for once.”

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