Written in 60 minutes.

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Thursday, October 3, 2024

General Hospital: ICU Hallway

“Taking a break?”

Alexis turned, frowned slightly when she saw Sonny striding towards her, his coat over one arm, and a disposable cup holder in the other hand, two cups emblazoned with his coffee logo tucked inside. “What?”

“You’re out here, I thought you’d be in with Kristina.” Sonny held out the tray, then peered over Alexis’s shoulder to see their daughter still lying prone in her hospital bed, the tube of her ventilator snaking across the hospital bed.

“I can’t sit still. Probably the caffeine—” The liquid scalded her tongue, but Alexis drank it anyway, grateful for any feeling in her body. She’d been awake for more than twenty-four hours, and by now was fueled by little more than anxious worry. “It’s nearly ten, someone should have an update. Dante or Michael should have called—you know what? You need to go rent a helicopter and I’ll find my daughter damn it—”

“Okay.” Sonny set his things on the small sofa that was tucked in the corner, then put his hands in mock surrender. “I can see that the plan to ignore all of that until we knew something—”

“Ignore all of that? That? You mean my daughter caught in a flash flood and missing, presumed dead?” Alexis hissed. “That was your plan?”

Sonny exhaled slowly, the corners of his mouth drooping slightly. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he repeated when she shot him a nasty look. “I don’t know what we’re supposed to do. We can’t go out there and help, I can barely get Dante on the phone, I’m avoiding Jason, you’re avoiding Diane—I don’t have any answers.”

Alexis sat down on the sofa, hunched over, her arms crossd in her lap as she rocked back and forth. “I can’t sit next to her, Sonny. I can’t sit next to our daughter, waiting for her to wake up when the reason she and Sam were in that car was because I didn’t believe Sam. I didn’t—” She closed her eyes. “And I can’t begin to think about Molly because I’ve been completely absent to what she needed — it’s falling apart. Everything. And I started it.”

“Alexis—” Sonny sat next to her, touched her shoulder. “No—”

“I started it,” Alexis murmured. “When Kristina wanted me to draw up custody papers, and I didn’t tell her no. I argued, but I gave in. I always give in. That was the first domino.”

“I went after Ava for custody, didn’t I?” Sonny reminded her. “Is Kristina even in that room if I don’t do that? If that little girl makes it—” He rubbed his mouth. “But it’s not a game of dominos, Alexis. We all played a role in what happened, but it’s not as simple as pulling out one part and changing it all—”

“I just want that moment back. I want it back. I want to shake Kristina the first time she calls that baby Adela, and I want to shake Sam until her teeth rattles when she started playing games with Danny’s custody — if I had been a better mother—”

“And if I’d told them about the gun weeks ago?” Sonny asked quietly. Alexis looked at him, her eyes bloodshot. “If I’d handled Ava a decade ago when she killed Connie like I should I have. Do we sit here and keep making a list of all the ways we missed the signs?”

“What else is there? Wait for Kristina to wake up so we can demand answers, wait for someone to come through those doors and tell me they’ve found my daughter’s body—” Her voice broke and she dipped her head down. “What else can I do but retrace every horrible step that brought me here?”

Sonny started to answer, but the phone in his discarded jacket vibrated. He reached for it, and accepted the call from Michael, Alexis’s head snapping up when he greeted his son. “Hey. Do you got something?”

“Yeah. We’re, uh, on our way to Elizabeth’s to meet Jason there. Dad, they found Sam’s car about thirty minutes ago. It was snagged under a bridge with some other debris.” There was a heavy pause. “It took some time, but they…they got a look inside. She’s in there.”

Sonny closed his eyes, and Alexis pressed her fists to her mouth. “She didn’t make it, did she?”

“No. She didn’t.”

He’d known, of course, the possibility of finding her was slim, almost zero. She’d been trapped, the car had been swept away — injuries in the accident, dark, debris filled waters — the odds had been against her, but the odds had been against him, hadn’t they? And Sonny had found himself alive in Nixon Falls.

But a body changed the hope. Sam wouldn’t return in days, weeks, months, or years. Her story had ended that night, on a dark and stormy night, behind the wheel of the car — and, if the evidence was correct, at the hands of the sister Sam had spent most of her life protecting.

“When—when are they—”

“They have to do a few things before they can recover her, but it’s—it’s happening. We’re telling Danny. Drew is going to tell Scout. I don’t know what Alexis wants to do.”

“I don’t know either,” Sonny said, taking Alexis’s hand, holding it tight, tears falling quietly down her cheeks. “I’ll call you back.” He set the phone aside, then looked at her. “They’re telling Danny. Drew is handling Scout. They’re recovering the…they’re going to get her out of the car, but it’ll take some time before we know what happened. How it happened.”

Alexis closed her eyes, squeezed tight bit down hard, and Sonny just waited. Then she opened her eyes, exhaled a long, shaky breath. “I should be with Scout. Danny has support. He has his brother, but Scout—she doesn’t—she needs me. I need to see her. I need to see them both. I can’t—” She stopped. “You should stay here in case Kristina wakes up—”

“I—” Sonny stopped what he was about to say when he saw a familiar figure turn down the hallway. He got to his feet. “You’ve got no business here—”

Caldwell, flanked by Anna and Gia, stopped a few feet away. “You don’t make—”

Gia put a hand up to stop the abrasive agent from continuing to speak. “I’m here on behalf  of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office. We’re filing federal charges against your daughter.”

“And we’ll be filing locally,” Anna said coolly when Gia flicked her an irritating glance.

“What’s changed since last night?” Sonny said, and Anna held out a manila folder. He snatched it from her, flipped it open, then his face drained of emotion. Wordlessly, he handed the folder to Alexis, who glanced down, and sighed at the security footage of Kristina standing by a car, a metal box in her hand. “Elizabeth’s car,” she said, lifting her eyes to Gia. “I presume?”

“Yes. Kristina Corinthos-Davis is under arrest, charged with aiding and abetting the murder of a federal agent.”

“Aiding?” Sonny retorted. “What the hell—”

“Well, I’m arresting her for the murder, but I suppose the FBI will have to catch up with what we already know—”

“Don’t you have an international fugitive to sleep with?” Caldwell demanded. Anna scowled at him.

“I don’t have the time and energy for whatever the hell this is,” Alexis snapped. She looked at Sonny. “Handle this. Get her a lawyer. I don’t give a damn. I have somewhere else to be.” She slapped the folder at Sonny and stalked off.

“This couldn’t have waited?” Sonny asked. “Even an hour? I expected better of you, Anna. You know that we just found out Sam’s body was just found. Or are you even more incompetent than I thought?”

Gia pursed her lips, looked oddly at the commissioner. “What?”

“The accident,” Anna said, keeping her tone even. “The suspect’s sister was missing, presumed dead. It wasn’t pertinent to the case, and well, I assumed it was only a matter of time, Sonny, before you got your wits about you and we lost our chance to secure Kristina’s custody.”

“Yeah, you know all about absconding from justice and evading arrest, don’t ya, Anna?” Sonny smiled, his teeth slightly bared. “Your time is coming, you know.”

“Right after yours, I’m sure.”

“Are we done with the games?” Gia demanded. “Caldwell, put a guard on the door and read the suspect her rights as soon as she’s conscious. Sonny—”

“Oh, we’re done pretending you don’t know any of us?” Sonny retorted. “How’s your boss like it that you and Elizabeth were enemies back in the day?”

Gia tipped her head to the side, her lips curved in a smile. She didn’t answer him right away, and the silence sent a chill down his spine. “That might have worried me yesterday, but I spent all night pouring over this case file. Over the Pikeman investigation. I have everything I need to make sure I come out smelling like a daisy. Can’t say the same for your daughter.” She looked towards the door, then back to Sonny. “When did you suspect her, Sonny? Before or after Elizabeth was put in federal custody, strip searched, and kept from her kids?”

Sonny furrowed his brow. “What?”

“Elizabeth’s defense team secured this footage, Sonny, but I spent the night looking at all the files John Cates put together. Verifying the information, of course, because well, he wasn’t entirely above board.” Gia took a step towards him. “He had surveillance on the restaurant, did you know that? A warrant for inside and out. Cameras. He didn’t tell anyone that. He and Reynolds kept that to themselves all this time.”

Sonny lifted his chin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about—”

“No? You didn’t look in the folder. The charges we’re filing are preliminary, Sonny. I’m going to upgrade them to murder in the next few days. Because I’ve got your little girl on camera taking the gun from your safe. And I’ve got you looking for that gun twenty-four hours after Cates was killed.” She smirked. “I’ve got your daughter on first degree murder, Sonny. And there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Should have covered up for her sooner.”

Webber House: Living Room

He knew, of course. Before his father even opened his mouth, Danny knew.

He sat on the sofa, staring hard at the wood grain pattern on the coffee table, words slipping in and out, no real awareness of how they fit together. Recovery, hours, quick…

When he heard nothing, when he realized there was no more sounds, no more voices, he lifted his head to find his father sitting next to him, and he had to look away quickly — because the pain in his father’s eyes hit like a laser, searing his flesh, the grief bubbling up in his throat, and Danny could get through this if he just didn’t look at anyone.

“When—” He stopped, surprised by the crack in his voice, the effort it took to start again. “When will we know?”

Jason frowned, tilted his head. “Know?” he echoed.

“If she…” Danny licked his lips. “If it hurt.”

“Danny, man—” Jake sat on his other side, a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “You can’t think like that—”

“I just wanna know if she knew. Or if it was quick. Or if we had a chance. If I’d answered the phone—” He looked his father, averting his eyes quickly again. “I didn’t. I didn’t pick up the first time, but maybe if I had—”

“I don’t know if it would have helped,” Jason told him gently. “And your mother wouldn’t want you to think about that—”

“Well, we don’t know that, do we?” Danny said, lunging to his feet. “We don’t know anything, because she’s dead!”

He darted for the stairs, and Jason slowly rose, looking after him with tired eyes. Behind the sofa, standing in front of the book shelf, Elizabeth met his eyes, her own filled with worry. “I can call Fletcher. Get him into see Danny as soon as possible.”

“Yeah. Yeah. That’s—” Jason scrubbed his hands over his face. “Yeah, okay.”

As she reached for her phone, it rang, startling all of them. She answered it, turning away to begin the conversation.

“I don’t know if there was any way to tell him without it going bad,” Jake said, trying to lift his father’s spirits. “There’s not really much we can say to make it better, you know?”

“Yeah, I know.” Jason stopped, cutting off whatever he was going to say next as Elizabeth came back over, her phone clutched against her chest. “What is it?”

“Diane. She—she sent the report over like we talked about, but apparently it was—it was extra. Because the FBI had something else. They’ve put a guard on her room and they’re putting her under arrest—”

“What?” Jake asked. “What does that mean? What’s going on?”

“Are they dropping the charges?” Jason demanded.

“Not yet. It’s—it’s complicated. But it’s…” Elizabeth looked at their son. “They know who put the gun in my trunk, Jake. They have proof now. It was Sam’s sister.”

“Kristina?” Jake said, bewildered. “She framed you? Wasn’t she the one who got brainwashed into a cult? Didn’t you save her from that?” he asked his father. “Why did she want to hurt Mom?”

“I don’t know, but I guess we’ll find out when she wakes up.”

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