Written 76 minutes. I got distracted by the Phillies game and my king Cristopher Sanchez setting a new franchise record, let’s goooooo.

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Thursday, October 3, 2024

Temporary FBI Headquarters: Conference Room

Reynolds slammed the door so hard that the frame and wall shook. Unfazed, Gia removed her reading glasses and rose to her feet. “Noah. You seem upset.”

“You have no authority to order the arrest of someone in my case. Pack your bags, you conniving bitch—”

Gia crossed her arms, arched a brow. “You’ll want to watch your tone when you speak to me, Noah. You’re not the one with the leverage in the room.”

“What the hell are you talking about—you lied your way into my case, sabotaged it—”

“Did I? Check the record, Noah. I told you that I lived here. I told you that I knew the players. My connection to Carly Corinthos and Nikolas Cassadine was a matter of public record. You knew my brother worked here for a time, that his family was here. You’re going to have hard time arguing that I’ve done anything wrong—”

“You know the goddamn suspect—”

“Still not an ethical violation. Diane Miller could have made it an issue. She chose not. I imagine she tucked it in her back pocket if she thought things were going south, but she chose to sit back and watch how I played it—”

“Because you were on her damn side—”

“I’m on the side of the truth. Where are you?” she demanded. She strode out from behind the table. “A detective from the PCPD suggested I go back over the case file — the one that they put together. And all the problems I’ve put on record with you were in their notes. They eliminated Morgan the day of the murder, and Elizabeth Webber was never a suspect. They investigated the tip, determined it was a red herring meant to distract them — and you and Caldwell leapt on it like a dog with a bone because you thought you could get back at Jason Morgan—”

“Everything I’ve done has been strictly by the book—”

“You were willing to walk into that court and argue a theory of the crime you knew was bullshit. You knew Elizabeth didn’t have enough time to get to the murder scene. You knew that her alibi was rock solid because why would someone with Michael Corinthos’s background ever call the police so close to the time of the crime—and you never bothered to investigate him. At all. You went after a woman and a pair of teenagers because you thought they’d break under the pressure and hand you Jason Morgan.”

“You think you have all the answers—”

“I think I’ve got Sonny’s daughter on camera planting the gun in Webber’s car.” She picked up the folder, flipped it open and sent it flying across the table. “You know what I found when I looked through the files from Cates’ computer? Records of a wiretap you filed for.” Gia lifted her brows. “Isn’t that strange? You have Sonny’s restaurant under surveillance, cameras and audio inside the building. And a federal judge signed off. Caldwell was stunned that you hadn’t turned any of that over. Because guess what I found?”

She tossed another photo — Kristina in Sonny’s office removing the gun and putting it in the safe. “That’s the gun from Sonny’s safe. She took it two days before Cates was murdered. That’s the same box the gun was found in. The same box in Elizabeth’s car.”

Reynolds faltered at this, picked up the photos, stared at the timestamps. “I didn’t—I didn’t know—”

“Because you didn’t turn over the wiretap to Caldwell. Who was supposed to take on Cates’ case after the fact.” Gia went back to her paperwork. “I had questions about that, but that would have been enough to get him on my side. He looked at it, and he’s the one that ordered Kristina to be placed under arrest. The PCPD filed suit with their own charges. Do you know what I’ve been doing this entire time, Noah?”

“Gia—” His tone had shifted completely, and he set the photos down. “All right, let’s have a conversation—”

“The warrants you filed with the court for this surveillance.” She tossed it at him. “Informant statements filled with garbage. Jason Morgan was never Cates’ informant. Not after Pikeman. It was just one more thing he lied about. All of that was on his computer.”

“I didn’t—” Now he looked ashen and had to sit down, staring at the photo of Kristina with the gun in Sonny’s office. “I didn’t know that.”

“I’ll concede you probably trusted him enough to file on his say so,” Gia said. “But you dropped those charges against Kristina fast, didn’t you? And turned back to the murder case. You started talking about going after Morgan harder. Revoking Elizabeth’s bail, which you were sure would break her or those boys. Maybe make her desperate enough to say anything against Jason to get out, right? Because you knew the murder case was never getting past a jury.”

Noah scrubbed his hands down his face. “You need to understand—”

“You dragged that poor boy’s mistakes in court, and you did it even after you saw him sitting in the gallery. You can’t prove Elizabeth had anything to do with that incident other than be the owner of the home. But you wanted to put more and more pressure on her.” Gia leaned in, standing over him. “Here’s something I didn’t tell you, Noah, something that you might already picked up. Elizabeth Webber stays loyal until the bitter end. She was never, ever going to turn on Jason Morgan. And that’s why I thought she was covering for him. That’s why I got involved. Because I remember being a hypocritical bitch who loves to point fingers at people for their crimes, but she won’t look at the man in her bed, no matter who he is at the time. And I would have happily prosecuted her for that — if she did it.” Gia straightened. “But she didn’t. And neither did he.” She stabbed a finger at the photo. “And if you’d turned over that wiretap, you’d have known that weeks ago.”

“We can’t use those photos,” Noah said. He looked up at her. “Cates lied—”

“We can’t use them against Sonny, no. But we can use them against his daughter.” Gia pulled out a chair, sat down, and leaned back. “This is what is going to happen. Caldwell is eager to move on from this — he’ll admit he had tunnel vision and should have seen the red flags. He’ll keep his mouth shut about you keeping crucial information about his case to himself. He’s already started his part by arranging the arrest and the guard at the hospital.” She arched a brow. “You’ll keep your mouth shut about my lack of candor about the connection I had to Elizabeth, and I’ll do the same about what I found in the files. As far as anyone knows, we only just dug into the surveillance files on Cates’ computer and we’re going to inform Diane Miller that our evidence matches hers. You’ll drop the charges against Elizabeth and upgrade Kristina to murder.”

“It’s not that simple—”

“It is. Kristina doesn’t have an expectation of privacy in her father’s office. The wiretap being bullshit won’t matter. You can’t use it against Sonny, and Cates really screwed you there, didn’t he? He didn’t get anything you could use on Morgan, Elizabeth — but he got Sonny on tape talking about so many things—such a shame you’ll never be able to use them. That’s your punishment, Noah. For caring about your vendetta more than the truth.”

Noah glared at her. “You’re loving this, aren’t you?”

“Being right? Of course. And you won’t have to worry about seeing me around the office. I’ll submit my letter of resignation.” She sat back. “I have other plans for my future employment.”

Quartermaine Estate: Foyer

“We can’t put it off any longer,” Willow said, folding her arms. “Drew, half the people in this house already know. She might overhear it—”

Drew was saved from having to respond by the doorbell. And then he saw who was on the other side. His expression immediately went blank. “Alexis.”

“I want to see my granddaughter.” Alexis strode past him, barely acknowledging his presence. “Willow? Where is she—”

“Alexis. I’m so sorry,” Willow said. She held out her hands, but Alexis ignored them, shook her head. “We were just talking about how to talk to Scout.”

“She doesn’t know yet—” Alexis whipped his head around, looked at Drew still at the entrance, the door now closed. “It’s been hours.”

“It’s not an easy piece of news to share,” Drew said. “I haven’t even said it outloud for myself—”

“Don’t pretend you give a damn now,” Alexis retorted. “You made a difficult situation nearly unbearable—” She stabbed a finger at him. “If you’d left Scout in her mother’s custody, all of this would be different—”

“I had no choice—”

“Danny was out of the home, damn it. And so was Rocco. In fact, Rocco lives in this house now, doesn’t he?” Alexis bit out. “But no one is trying to take your child away, are they? You wanted the optics of being a good parent, and you didn’t care about actually being one.”

“Alexis—”

“Don’t try to defend him,” Alexis snapped at Willow who closed her mouth immediately. “If Sam had had her daughter in the home, she would have been home with her—”

“You mean, if Sam hadn’t lost custody of both her children, Kristina might not have felt it necessary to try to screw with Elizabeth’s bail,” Drew interrupted coldly, and Alexis pressed her lips together. “Let’s rewind here, Alexis. I didn’t kidnap my daughter away in the middle of the night. I put the facts in front of a judge, just like Jason did. A judge determined that Sam was acting irrationally and that the children weren’t safe with her. Now, I’m not going to pretend I couldn’t have done things differently,” Drew added. “I was too harsh. Too unforgiving. And Sam deserved better than that. But I didn’t do this alone, Alexis. And Kristina still chose to interfere.”

“You could debate who bears the burden of guilt until the sun sets,” Willow said before Alexis could respond. “But it doesn’t change anything, Alexis. There’s a little girl upstairs who has had her entire world upended in the last few weeks, and she doesn’t even know that she’ll never see her mother again. That needs to be the priority here. Not pointing the finger.”

“I can’t turn back time, Alexis,” Drew said, his tone gentled, and Alexis closed her eyes. “Neither can you. How many choices are you going over in your head, all the little things you said or did that put you on the road to this day? Willow’s right. Scout comes first. Danny comes first.”

“They need to be together. Scout is going to want her brother,” Willow said, looking at Drew. “So you’re done forbidding him access. He needs his family around him, Drew. And so does she.”

“Of course.” Drew touched Willow’s shoulder, then looked at Alexis. “Absolutely. Whatever Scout needs. Whatever you need to get through this. I’m glad you’re here with me. Scout will find a great deal of comfort in your presence.”

“I find everything you say to be so incredibly condescending and obsequious—” Alexis put out  her hands. “I actually feel nauseous being in the same room with you. Let’s just get this over with.”

General Hospital: ICU

Kristina turned her head slightly, her lashes fluttering against her pale skin. They opened, her dark eyes unfocused as Sonny came into view. “D-Dad.”

“Hey, sweetie. Just relax. You were in an accident.” Sonny stroked her forehead. “Rest. Don’t worry about anything.”

Kristina closed her eyes, her mouth going slack, indicating she’d drifted back into sleep, and Sonny exhaled slowly, rubbing his chest.

“Don’t worry about anything. What a joke.”

The words, delivered in a tone so acidic that he half-expected the floor to dissolve beneath his  feet, came from behind him, and Sonny turned to find Molly in the doorway, her arms tightly folded, her eyes swollen and bloodshot.

“Molly—”

She put out a hand, and Sonny stopped. Hesitated. “Molly—”

“I’m on my way to the morgue,” Molly said flatly, and Sonny went still. “They pulled my sister’s dead body from the river, and they need an official identification.”

“I’m so sorry—”

“Kristina has never had to worry about anything, has she? Not really. Not without you or Mom to bail her out. Not without Jason or—” Molly’s voice faltered and she looked away,  her eyes glittering with tears. “Not without one of us to clean it up. Well, she should worry. Because she’s going to jail for the rest of her life. And if there’s any justice in this world, Sam will haunt her every waking moment. So you can hire her a lawyer, you can do whatever you want, Sonny, but I promise you this — I’ll be on the other side of the aisle, doing everything I can to make sure she pays for what she’s done.”

“I didn’t know—”

“I don’t believe you. I just don’t. You tell my mother if she participates in Kristina’s defense, if she lifts a finger to help the bitch who murdered my sister, I will never speak to her again.”

Sonny let Molly leave — there was nothing that could be said to her in this moment, no words of comfort or reassurance. Molly’s world had already been shattered with the death of her daughter, and all of this had cracked what little she’d attempted to rebuild.

He looked back at his daughter, at his little girl, and exhaled slowly. No easy answers. No clear way forward.

Webber House: Kitchen

“Thank you.” Michael accepted the coffee Jason handed him. “I think I have more caffeine than blood right now. I, uh, wanted to say—hey,” he said to Elizabeth who rejoined them in the kitchen, followed by Jake and Aiden. “How’s Danny?”

“Still in his room. I’m hoping Dante will be a comfort to him.” She touched Michael’s shoulder then started to make her own cup of coffee. “Have you slept?”

“No. I don’t really think anyone has.” Michael set the cup aside. “Look, I just wanted to apologize. Dante and I—on Tuesday, after the hearing, after he’d talked to Sam, we went over the whole thing, and he started to piece together that maybe Kristina was involved—with the email to the court,” he added hastily when Jason straightened, his expression turning cold. “Not the murder. I didn’t know Dante was suspecting that. He never said a word to me.”

“If he had?” Jake wanted to know. “Would you have still kept quiet?”

“Jake,” Jason began, but his son wasn’t interested in whatever Jason had to say.

“No, I want to know how many people knew Kristina was completely insane and said nothing,” Jake retorted.

Michael grimaced. “If I knew what Dante was thinking, I would have said so — maybe I would have asked Diane first—no, you asked a question, Jake. At least have the respect to listen to my answer. How easy it would it be to turn your brother in for murder?” he demanded. “If you knew he was up to bullshit—”

“You couldn’t even tell on Danny when you caught him with a vape,” Elizabeth reminded Jake gently. “It’s not easy—”

“Danny was being an asshole, sure, but he wasn’t hurting anyone but himself, was he? As soon as I realized how bad it was, I did say something–”

“You’re talking about the murder of an FBI agent,” Michael said. “Do you think it’s so easy to think something so terrible of my sister?”

Jake started to shake his head, but Aiden bumped his lightly. “What?”

“If someone came home and told you I killed someone,” Aiden said, “you gonna believe it? And hell, what if you did suspect it, if Cam suspected it, what are we doing first? I’m calling Cam. I’m going for help—”

“This wouldn’t happen to us,” Jake snapped, then leveled a glare at Michael. “Because yeah, my dad’s a criminal—sorry,” he added as aside to Jason, “—but no one ever raised us to think of murder as goddamn solution—”

“Jake.” Jason stepped forward, between the cousins. “That’s not fair—”

“No, he’s right,” Michael said, holding up a hand. “This wouldn’t happen to you or your brothers,” he said. “Your mother’s not perfect, no, but Elizabeth always made sure you three were the priority.”

“Michael—”

“My parents didn’t do that,” Michael said, cutting off Elizabeth’s protest. “Why do you think Jason had to practically raise me from over their shoulder? You think that I got any sense of morality  growing up with Sonny or Carly Corinthos? The first time I really started to fuck up and think that I was untouchable, your dad practically ripped my head off and told me I was acting like a little bitch. So, no, Jake, this wouldn’t happen to you or your brothers. But it happened to me. And my sister did this to your family. She did this to—” He looked at Jason who was already shaking his head. “She did this to my family. She did this to you, Jason. I’m so sorry I didn’t see it. That I didn’t stop it—”

“I’m not blaming you,” Jason said. “I’m not blaming anyone but Kristina,” he added, looking at his son. “And neither should you. No matter what you think they’re doing, it’s not easy to turn on family. Or to think the worst of them, Jake.”

“Also—” Aiden coughed lightly. “Cam did sort of think of murder as a solution that one time—” Jake whacked him in the stomach. “Right, right. Never mind.”

“Okay, I think we change the subject.” Elizabeth went to Jake, touched his shoulder. “Being angry is okay. This is an awful situation that just seems to get worse no matter we do, but we’re family, Jake. And Michael’s doing his best. Dante did his best. I’m not interested in vengeance.”

“I am—” Jake muttered, but lowered his gaze when Jason sent him an exasperated glance. “Okay. Fine. As long as your charges are dropped, and Kristina rots in hell, I guess we can let that be enough. But if she gets away with it—”

“We’ll deal with it as it comes. All I care about is that this nightmare is over, that my charges will go away, and we do everything we can to support your brother and Scout.”

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