Written in 20  minutes. No time for edits.

Jason scowled and paced in front of the interview room of the PCPD, stopping every few seconds to glare into the window as if he could force Chase to let him into his mind.

“Any words on the kids yet?” Dante Falconieri asked quietly. Jason turned, fowning at his business partner’s son. “We’ve got an APB on Elizabeth’s car but it hasn’t hit yet.”

Jason shook his head and looked back at the window as a pale, exhausted Elizabeth put her face in her hands. Diane Miller, his attorney, put a hand on her shoulder, and said something Jason couldn’t hear to Chase and Jordan Ashford sitting across the table.

“You think she did it?”

Jason met Dante’s eyes. “I don’t care if you’re Sonny’s son. I’m not going to say anything to you without a lawyer.”

Dante shrugged. “Okay. Your kid is out there, missing, but I’m the bad guy—”

Jason ignored him and stared through the window again, his muscles tensing as Elizabeth started to cry. Jordan got to her feet and faced him into the window, raising her brows.

Then the door opened and the commissioner stepped out, a scowl on her face. “She says she won’t answer any questions until she can talk to you,” Jordan told Jason.

Without another word, the woman stalked off towards her office. Jason went into the room where Chase was gathering up his papers.

“Before you go, Detective Chase, I need you to uncuff my client,” Diane demanded. “Now—”

Chase grimaced but leaneed over to unhook Elizabeth’s cuffs from the table. He still left the silver bracelets on her wrists. “That’s as much as you get—”

“I don’t care, Diane—” Elizabeth began.

“Uncuff her now,” Jason said flatly. “She’s not going anywhere—”

“I need some questions answered,” Chase cut in. “Where are the kids? Why was Franco at your house tonight? Until I get some answers, she stays in the cuffs. You have five minutes to talk to Jason,” he told Elizabeth. “Then you’re going to be booked. So I’d think carefully about what happens next.”

“You know, I thought I was going to like him,” Diane muttered when the cop had left, slamming the door behind him. “I take it back.” She twisted in her seat. “Talk now—”

“It’s not important,” Elizabeth said with a shake of her head. “I don’t care what happens to me—” She turned her attention to Jason. “Cameron’s in my car with the boys. I told them to head for Canada. He has my old flip phone for emergencies. I told the cops he doesn’t have a phone—”

“I’m not hearing this,” Diane muttered as she pushed away from the table.

“Elizabeth—”

“I need you to call Cameron,” Elizabeth told him. “He knows not to answer the phone for anyone except for me or you. I—” Her eyes darted away, nervous for a second, then looked back. “You’ll help him, won’t you? I mean, with the boys—all of them—”

“Yes,” Jason took her trembling hands in his. “Elizabeth—”

“Call him. Find them, and then I need you—” She licked her lips, looked at Diane, then dropped her voice. “And then I need you to get him out of the country. Somewhere no one can touch him. Until this is over, okay? Until I’m sentenced—”

“Wait—” Jason shook his head. “No—”

“You have to—” She squeezed her eyes. “This is my fault. All my fault. I have to protect my boys. So until this is over, I just—I need you to help me. I don’t—” Her voice faltered. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to them—I need them to be okay. I need them to stay together. You—you’ll keep them together, won’t you?—”

“Hey—”

“Jason, we don’t have a lot of time,” Diane said, tapping her watch. “I’m still not listening, but whatever we do, we have to do it quickly. They’re claiming she confessed.” She glared at Elizabeth. “You know for someone who’s been hanging around Jason Morgan since she was a teenager, you sure don’t act like it—”

“Shut up, Diane—” Jason dismissed his irritable attorney, and focused on Elizabeth. “Elizabeth, I’ll get you out of this—”

“No, I don’t care about me, I just care about the boys—”

“I care about you, and so do they.” Jason looked at her for a long moment, then looked down at her hands. Her hands were stained with blood, and the rips he’d noticed earlier were evident. But now he saw the torn fingernails, and the scratches on her cheek. He exhaled slowly.

And her instructions echoed in her mind. Get Cameron out of the country. Somewhere with no extradition.

Cameron. Not Jake or Aiden, but Cameron.

“Whatever happens,” he told her, “I’m not letting you or Cameron—or any of the boys—pay for this—”

“I let him into our lives,” Elizabeth choked out. “I did this—”

“And I should have ended it a long time ago,” he said quietly. “I thought I had. So I’m going to fix it. Promise me you’ll cooperate with Diane.”

“I—” Elizabeth looked over at Diane. “You said that they had my confession—”

“I can work around that, but Elizabeth, it will be much easier to deal with this if the boys were here in Port Charles,” Diane told her. “So let’s get you out on bail and Jason can bring them home.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes. “Okay. Okay. Call Cameron. Bring them back. I’m sorry, I panicked—I just wanted them safe—”

“They will be.” He kissed her forehead, looked at Diane. “I’ll call you when we find them.”

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