Written in 20 minutes. No time for edits.

Jason and Cameron weren’t alone in the waiting room for long — Carly showed up soon after they had with Joss in tow. Joss immediately flew to Cameron’s aside, the first she’d been able to see her best friend since the news had hit that morning.

Carly’s arms were tightly folded as she took in the blood on Jason’s shirt and hands. “Is there any point in asking you to get cleaned up?” she asked.

Jason shook his head wordlessly, then looked over as Drew walked in. Cameron shot his feet, glaring the man who had remained behind with Sam —

“What do you want?” Cameron demanded as Joss put a hand on his elbow. “No! I don’t want him in here! Or you—” he finally said, turning to Jason. “Neither of you deserve to be anywhere near my mother—”

“Cam—”

“What is that about?” Carly demanded as a pale Drew joined them, and Joss took Cameron aside. “What the hell—”

“He got a crash course in my—” Drew closed his eyes. “In Sam’s history with Elizabeth. And everything she’s done.”

“Done?” Carly repeated. She furrowed her brows. “What? I mean, I know she slept with Lucky while he was married to Elizabeth, but beyond that—” She looked back and forth between them. “Oh, is this something that’s going to piss me off?”

“It’s not important right now,” Drew said, dismissing Carly. “And none of your business—”

“Hey—”

“Sam’s been sedated,” Drew told Jason. “And Alexis is with her now. I just—I came to find out how Elizabeth is—”

“When were you going to tell me my son has cancer again?” Jason demanded, roughly. “Why didn’t you tell me—” He held up a hand to keep Carly from butting in again. He didn’t have the time or patience to rein her in at the moment.

“Sam wanted to—” Drew took a deep breath. “Sam wanted to keep it to herself, and after Julian refused to donate a second time—”

“He did what—”

“Carly, stop—” Jason snapped and she pressed her lips together in a mutinuous line. “I thought you said Sam left town—that you hadn’t heard from her—”

“That’s true,” Drew told him. “But Danny—I talked to Julian. I got Kiki to talk to him, and it’s already been—Danny’s already scheduled for the procedure, and Finn is confident he’ll go into remission again—” He scowled. “But I guess—I don’t know. If her condition came back, or maybe Julian’s refusal just sent her over the edge—then finding out about Franco—”

He rubbed his chest, then clenched his hand into a fist. “I don’t know,” he repeated. “She took off, and I’ve been trying to get in touch with her. If she’d just—if she’d called me—I could have told her—”

Carly opened her mouth, then closed it again, clearly trying to obey Jason’s order to be quiet.

“You did what?” Joss screeched, and Drew winced as the trio turned to the teens in the corner.

“She sure does take after you,” Drew muttered as Joss shot out of her chair, her hands on her hips.

“You snuck into the car, you stupid idiot—” Joss smacked Cameron hard in the shoulder. “What the hell are you thinking?”

“Hey—” Cameron lunged to his feet, glaring right back at her. “I was thinking that my mother was going off with two idiots who never ever fucking do anything to stop Sam from hurting her and I wanted to be there if she needed anything—”

His face crumpled then as he sank back onto the chair, his head in his hands. “But it’s my fault. Sam grabbed me. Mom came after me—”

Drew started towards him, but Jason held him back. “I’m the one that forgave Sam after she was part of getting Jake kidnapped,” he reminded him. “Everything else is on me, not you.”

“I have my regrets,” Drew muttered but let Jason walk over to Cameron as Drew stayed next to Carly who, mirroring her daughter, smacked Drew in the shoulder.

“She did what to Jake?”

Jason ignored them and sat next to Cameron. “Your mother would walk through fire for you. She would not want you to blame yourself for this—”

“She dared Sam to shoot her instead of me,” Cameron said dully. “It should be me in there—”

“No,” Joss shook her head. “No, Cam—”

“And then your mother would be out here, terrified of losing another son. Jake might have come back, but she—” Jason drew in a sharp breath. “She never would have forgiven herself if it was you. You know that.”

“How could you let her back into your life?” Cameron demanded. “How could you let her hurt my mother like that? Why did you stop—” He shook his head, looked away.

“I made a mistake,” Jason said slowly. “When I broke up with your mother after Jake was kidnapped. You were four years old, I don’t know if you remember—” He paused. “And by the time I regretted it, your mother had moved on, and I thought I had lost my chance. I was lonely. And I’m sorry.”

Cameron swallowed hard. “If you broke up with her to keep her safe, it didn’t work.”

“No, it didn’t,” Jason admitted. “I’m sorry, Cameron. I can’t—I can’t change what I did. I can only promise to do better.”

Cameron looked at him, must have seen something in his eyes that convinced him, so he nodded. “Okay. But I don’t care what happens to Sam. She doesn’t come near my mother ever again.”

“Agreed,” Jason said, though he wasn’t entirely sure how they’d make that happen. He looked over at Drew who was still being whacked in the shoulder by Carly — he must have explained Maureen Harper.

“It wasn’t me, damn it, Carly—”

“Oh, I will get him later, don’t you worry—I always knew she was trash—”

Joss rolled her eyes. “My mother. The hypocrite.”

The door opened then, and Griffin came in, frowning as he saw Carly whack Drew one more time before Drew got out of the way.

“Uh, I just came to let you know we finished the surgery,” he said, still casting a side-eye at Carly and Drew before focusing on Jason and Cameron. “Elizabeth’s in post-op and should make a full recovery.”

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