Written in 66 minutes. Wanted to get the ending right. It’s not quite there, but it’s close enough.

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Saturday, September 21, 2024

Harborview Towers: Lobby

Dante walked through the double door entrance to the building — and straight into chaos. He saw Danny first, standing off to the side, his cheeks flushed and stained with tears — then the security guards standing near the sofas, and two women on the ground —

Damn it.

Dante rushed forward and caught Sam around the waist just before his girlfriend could grab another chunk of Elizabeth’s hair. Sam’s legs were still kicking wildly as he lifted and shoved her behind him. She started forward again, trying to push past him, but he kept his grip on her tight.

“What the hell is going on?” he demanded, looking from her to Elizabeth, bewildered. “Are you insane?”

Elizabeth had a split lip and a cut just below her eye, already showing signs of bruising. She sat up, took a deep breath, then rolled to her feet, running her fingers through her hair. “Ask her that — she went after me!”

“We called the PCPD,” one of the security guards told him. “Couldn’t get them to separate—”

“Great. That’s just great,” Elizabeth bit out, her breathing still a bit fast. “Are you happy now, Sam? Is this what you wanted?”

“I wanted you to get out of my damn life! That’s all I’ve ever wanted!” Sam shot back. “Danny, go upstairs. I’m done with this game—”

Danny swallowed hard, swung his gaze to Elizabeth who grimaced. “You’d better go for now. Your dad’s on his way, and since I can’t take you with me without her screaming kidnapping —”

“What?” Dante demanded, returning his gaze back to Sam. “What the hell is going on here?”

“I came to talk to Mom, and Elizabeth drove me,” Danny said miserably. His shoulders were hunched, and he had both hands in his pockets. “She waited down here, but Mom figured it out, came down and then wouldn’t let us leave—”

“Damn it.” Dante scowled, focused on Sam. “What is wrong with you? Jason has custody—”

“Well, she’s not Jason, is she?” Sam spat. “Go ahead, walk out that door with my son. Find out what happens—you’d understand if you knew what I knew,” she told Dante. “She’s trying to turn Danny against me! She pushed him into therapy, and she’s going to the parent sessions!”

Dante scrubbed his hands down his face, took a deep breath, then looked at Danny. “Go with Elizabeth. I’ll handle the cops,” he told Elizabeth. “Sam might have thrown the first punch, but you should have known better than to show up here. What the hell were you thinking, bringing Danny here yourself?”

“I don’t know, I guess I was thinking about what Danny needed,” Elizabeth snapped. “He wanted to talk to his damn mother! And Jason is over at the Quartermaines trying to talk Drew into dropping this custody bullshit with Scout, so excuse me for thinking that was just as important.”

Dante closed his mouth, pressed his lips together. “Don’t pretend you didn’t realize it would be an issue—”

“Which is why I stayed downstairs—you know what—” Elizabeth held up both hands, palms outward. “I’m not doing this. You want to blame me for this mess, you do whatever you want. I’m done.” She looked to Danny. “If you want to wait for your dad, you can do that.”

“I don’t want to make anything worse,” Danny said. “If I leave with you, won’t it mess things up for you?”

“Only if your mother tries to have me taken in for kidnapping,” Elizabeth replied. She stared at Sam. “Try it. See what skeletons I dig out of the closet to make your custody case harder. Drew says you’re an unfit parent. Whose side do you want me on?”

Sam’s head snapped up and she went still, then swallowed hard. “Jason will just take him later,” she forced out. “Go. If you want to be away from me so badly.” And then she turned, stalked towards the staircase doors, and shoved the door open.

Danny folded his arms. “I’m sorry. This is my fault. I shouldn’t have come here today—”

“This isn’t on you, Danny.” Dante came forward, put his hands on Danny’s shoulders. “The adults in your life are acting like idiots, and that makes it our fault. I’ll talk to your mother. She’s upset—” He looked over at Elizabeth. “You should both go before the PCPD gets here. I’ll handle it. Go,” he said again to Danny when the teen didn’t move.

“Come on. Let’s call your dad and tell him to meet us at home,” Elizabeth said, gesturing to Danny. “Before he gets here and makes this even worse. I’ll meet you outside,” she added when Danny passed her. Danny, still looking miserable, nodded, then shoved the doors open.

When Danny was gone, Elizabeth looked at Dante. “You want to blame me to make things easier for you, go right ahead. But I brought Danny here to ask Sam to go to those damn parent sessions. He wanted her to be part of them. Both of you. No one knows how to sabotage herself better than Sam.”

“Yeah, well—” Dante shook his head. “You know she’s insecure about you and Danny—you knew she was angry about all this therapy stuff and your involvement—”

“It’s not my job to hold her hand, and make her feel better about herself. But she’s the one that did this, Dante. She confronted me physically in front of Danny. She’s out of control, and as someone who’s seen what happens when she’s not reined in—” Elizabeth shook her head. “God help us all, but especially you.”

Penthouse: Living Room

Sam stalked from one end of the room to the other, her shoulders trembling, the adrenaline still coursing through her veins. She heard the click and turn of the tumblers a moment before the door opened and was already across the room when Dante came in. “What did you say to her? Why didn’t you come up right after me?”

“I wanted to talk to Danny,” Dante said, his expression grim. He closed the door, his hand laying flat against for a beat before it slid away. “Did you attack her first?”

“You’re taking her side, aren’t you—”

“Did you attack her first?” Dante repeated, louder, his cheeks flushed, and he turned to face her fully. “Damn it, Sam. Did you throw the first punch?”

Sam lifted her chin. “I grabbed her when she tried to leave with Danny, and yes, I did throw the first punch—but she was trying to take Danny—”

“Jason has custody of him right now. I know you hate that, but it’s the way it is. You made it this way, Sam, when you walked out of the station a week ago,” he continued as she flinched, and dropped her gaze.  “And then you refused to sign consent papers, so Jason went to the court. Legally, he had a right to give Elizabeth permission to take Danny anywhere he wanted to go. And she brought him here. To you. Is she right? Was Danny asking you to be part of his therapy?”

Now her mouth trembled. “Yes, but she’s going to be there, too! Like she’s important to him—”

“She is,” Dante said ruthlessly. “And that’s a situation you created. Remember? You said Jason could only see Danny when he was with Elizabeth and Jake. Supervised visitation. And you knew Jason was staying at her house when you walked out on him. What did you think would happen? No, don’t even bother trying to explain yourself,” he continued when Sam opened her mouth. “You can’t. You’re due in court on Monday, and all Drew has to do is find out about this mess today. You’ll look unhinged.”

Sam looked away, her vision blurred from tears. “And she’ll go right to him. You heard her. She’s only too happy to make this into a victory—”

“Maybe I think she was stupid for being the one to drive Danny here, but that doesn’t change how insane it was for you to attack her for it.”

She wrapped her arm tightly around her upper torso, embracing herself. “I can’t stand it. I can’t stand it. They took my kids from me, Dante. My kids. What am I supposed to do? Just let it happen—”

” I expect you to stop making it worse for you, for Danny, and for everyone around you. Otherwise, Sam, I don’t know how we come back from this. I’m still here because I love you,” he continued when tears continued unchecked down her cheeks. “But we’ve got a problem, and you refuse to see it. You’ve decided Elizabeth is the source of all these problems, and until you let go of this ridiculous jealousy, you’re going to keep losing.”

Webber House: Driveway

Elizabeth pulled her car into the parking spot just behind Jason’s SUV — whose brake lights were still lit, indicating he’d only just arrived, too.

The drive back from the Harborview had been silent — Elizabeth honestly hadn’t known what to say to Danny. Should she apologize? Explain things? She’d tried so hard to be neutral, even positive about Sam where Danny was concerned because it was the right thing to do. But to have Sam of all people threaten Elizabeth with kidnapping — and Sam had thrown the first punch —

Elizabeth had lost her mind, and the whole scene didn’t reflect well on either of them.

She switched off the engine, and Danny barreled out of the car, heading up the sidewalk at double speed. Ahead of them, Jake was out of the passenger side, chasing after his brother.

Elizabeth climbed out more slowly, rolling her shoulder, and Jason was coming towards her, wincing. “It looks worse than it is, I think,” she said when he reached her.

He took her chin in his hands, tipped it to the side. “You’re going to have a black eye.”

“Damn it. I hope I broke her goddamn nose,” Elizabeth muttered, and he sighed, making her feel worse. “I’m sorry. I didn’t start it, but I shouldn’t have tried to finish it either.”

“I’m sure Sam didn’t make it easy to walk away from her. Come on—” He put an arm around her shoulder, and she winced. “Did you hurt something else?”

“We rolled into the chairs, and I think I hit one of the posts—” She wrinkled her nose as they approached the door that Jake and Danny had left ajar in their haste to get inside. “Not my finest hour.”

“I threatened to make Drew disappear,” Jason told her and she stopped, looked at him with surprise. “I didn’t punch him. So you still win for worst day.”

“I don’t know why that makes me feel better,” Elizabeth said after a moment, “but it does.”

Webber House: Cameron/Danny’s Room

 

Danny didn’t stop until he hit the third floor and threw himself across the bed, burying his face in the pillow. He heard Jake’s footsteps thudding after him. “Go away.”

“Not a chance. Come on—”

Danny felt the bed dip, and he reluctantly rolled over to find Jake sitting on the edge. “They called the cops. Dante said he’ll fix it, but what if he can’t?”

“Yeah, I don’t know.” Jake exhaled slowly. “What happened? Mom’s not exactly one to lose her mind like that—”

“No, but mine is,” Danny muttered. He flopped back against the pillows, staring at the ceiling. “Mom said if Elizabeth tried to leave with me, she’d say it was kidnapping. And Mom grabbed her, punched her. Then your mom got mine by the throat, and it just—” he swallowed hard. “It was bad, Jake. Really bad.”

Jake sighed, laid back next to him, and they laid in silence, both staring at the same white ceiling paint. “Dante’s a good guy. He’ll get the cops to realize it’s not a big deal—”

“People will find out. And maybe Drew will use it to keep Scout away.” He forced himself to continue. “And maybe he should. I was…I was scared today. Of my mom. What she might do if she thinks someone trying to keep me away.” He twisted his head to look at Jake. “I don’t know what I supposed to do. She makes me feel like I’m doing something wrong by talking to your mom or like, I dunno, acting like she’s part of my family.”

“Then your mom is crazy.” Jake sat up, folded his legs. “I’m sorry, Danny, but it’s just the way it is. You’re my brother, which means we’re family. And Mom’s practically your step mom. How come it’s okay for Dante to be like your second dad? She’s a hypocrite.”

“I know. I just….” Danny rolled away, to lay on his side. “I hate it. I want it to stop. But it’s just going to get worse. I just know it.”

Webber House: Kitchen

Elizabeth winced when Jason pressed the ice pack against her cheek. “Ow—” She covered the pack with her own hand to hold it in place.

“Careful, hold still—” He reached for the towel he’d already dampened to blot at the cut in her lip. “I’m sorry. I should have taken Danny to the Towers.”

“Yeah, well, if she’d just stayed upstairs, we wouldn’t have this problem,” Elizabeth muttered. “God, I’m so sick of her acting like I’m the bad guy! It’s not like I stole Danny from her — not that it’s really about that. She still thinks I manipulated you twenty years ago, you know, and it’s so annoying because I was literally on her side the whole time. I told you over and over again to talk to her, didn’t I?”

“I know.” Jason crumpled up the towel, threw it in the trash can. “Dante will probably keep things quiet — this looks worse for her than it does for you,” he added when Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “You’re not the one fighting a custody battle right now. And there are witnesses — you reacted in self-defense—”

“Do you really think the FBI is going to care?” Elizabeth wanted to know. “They’re going to get desperate, you know. We both know they only let me out on bail because they thought we’d make a mistake and lead them to evidence they can use against you. It has to be clear by now we won’t want to do that, so if they can revoke my bail, they will.”

Jason met her worried eyes, then dropped his back to washing his hands, and drying them. “The injunction Michael filed to keep them off the crime scene will probably be dismissed in a few days. And they’re going to go back to search for the missing bullet. They find that—” He shook his head. “It’s hard to sit on my hands and let everyone else look for answers. I’m over at the Quartermaines trying to help Sam, and she’s making all of this harder for everyone. For Danny, for your case—”

“You were trying to help Danny. Just like I was. We both thought the best thing to do was to help Sam win her case against Drew, but honestly, Jason—she was going to file kidnapping charges against me. Yes, they would have been dropped — but she didn’t even think—” Elizabeth looked away. “She never seems to remember how much patience I’ve shown her over the years. I kept a secret for twenty-four hours. She never would have said a word about Maureen Harper if she hadn’t been caught.”

“I blamed myself for creating the situation, so I believed her when she cried, when she claimed to regret it and begged to be forgiven her. But she was never sorry. She’s made that clear. She’s resented you since that summer, and Jake since he was born. You did what you did with Jake Doe and with that maternity test, but none of it comes close to what she did in the park. Either time. Maybe she needs to be reminded of that.”

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