Written in 80 minutes. The final scene just took forever to finish or get right, sorry!

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Monday, October 7, 2024

Port Charles Courthouse: Court Room

“Court is in recess.”

BANG

Kristina jolted when the judge’s gavel came down, her face white. She turned to her mother, sitting stone-faced at the table next to her. “What does that mean? What does that mean? Where—” A bailiff came forward, reaching for her arm. Kristina jerked it away and the bailiff scowled, reached for it again, this time with a tighter grip, yanking her out of her seat. “Mom! Ow, that hurts—”

“Kristina, don’t—” Behind them, in the front row of the gallery, Sonny was on his feet. “Don’t resist, you’ll just make it worse.”

“Where are you taking me—ow—” Kristina squirmed when the bailiff yanked both hands behind her back, fastening the cuffs around her wrists. “Mom, Dad—”

“Port Charles has officially ceded jurisdiction of the case to the federal government.” Alexis’s calm tone, blank expression might have suggested a lack of caring, but anyone who was looking closely would see her fingers trembling as she shuffled papers and folders, packing things back into her brief case. “Your lawyer will be in touch once the transfer is completed.”

“Mom, wait, wait—” Kristina’s protests faded when the bailiff pulled her back, and disappeared behind a door.

Alexis closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and looked at Sonny. “You’ll need to find her a lawyer. I can give you a few names, but I can’t—I can’t do this anymore—”

She lifted the case and was halfway out the door before Sonny could absorb the words, understood what he was being told. He hurried after her, taking two steps for every one of her longer strides toward the elevator.

“Alexis—what the hell—”

“I’m going back to the office and drawing up the withdrawal motion.” Alexis stepped inside the car, and Sonny followed, sure that if he wasn’t quick that she would abandon him, and end the conversation.

“Okay. Okay, let’s just talk about this—”

“There’s nothing to talk about it. I can’t do this. I can’t sit in court and I can’t defend her.” When the elevator beeped, indicating they’d hit the ground floor, Alexis walked out.

“Damn it. This deserves a conversation. You can’t just walk out on her like this—” Sonny closed his mouth when the first flash of camera hit, when the blinding lights of the local news cameras hit his eyes. He scowled, took Alexis by the elbow and pulled her towards the parking lot. “Goddamn vultures,” he bit out.

He didn’t attempt to continue the conversation again until they were in his car, Alexis on one side of the limo, against the driver’s seat, clutching her briefcase like it was a lifesaver keeping her aloft in the water. “I know the last week has been the worst of your life—”

“My daughter is dead, Sonny. My daughter. Sam is dead.” Alexis met his gaze, her eyes hard. “We haven’t even buried her yet. They haven’t released her body because they’re still investigating. Kristina could still face local charges the accident—”

“They can’t prove anything—”

Alexis just shook her head, looked out the window closer to her, her jaw clenched.”I didn’t believe her. I knew Kristina was involved, but I couldn’t believe Sam hadn’t been part of it. Hadn’t somehow masterminded all of it.  I didn’t believe her, and now, I will never be able to fix that. Danny—” Alexis looked back to Sonny. “Danny had to listen to his mother say goodbye to him, terrified for her life. Scout will never see her mother again. And all of it — all of it — is on Kristina. Molly won’t speak to me because I didn’t do right by her months ago. I made Kristina the priority. I—” She shook her head, couldn’t continue.

“Alexis, you can’t blame yourself—”

“Who else can I blame? Who wrote the custody papers?”Alexis challenged, and Sonny grimaced. “I can’t keep doing it, Sonny. I can’t stand next to her in that court and fight for her freedom when I don’t believe she should have it. She started it all.  She murdered that man, put Elizabeth and her kids through hell—” She pressed her lips together. “I can’t even talk about why. But I can’t stand next to her, Sonny. You can, and that’s fine. But I won’t do it.”

Sonny exhaled slowly, rubbed his chin. “I saw Jason this morning. Before court,” he told her, and Alexis looked at him. “Do you know he’s not even angry with me? Or you? Not angry. Not disappointed. He just looked—” He squinted. “He looked done. With me. Not just the business, but with all of it. He thinks I would have taken Kristina out of the country, let Elizabeth take her chances with the jury.”

Alexis lifted her brows. “And he’s right, isn’t he? If we’d known before the accident — I would have helped you. Maybe even gone with her. But she was going to let Sam take the fall for trying to sabotage Elizabeth’s bail. Permanently damage Sam’s relationship with her son. Kristina was willing to do that. I thought—I thought I’d raised my girls better than that.” She leaned back against the seat. “I’ve failed every single one of them. I have to figure out how to hold on to what I have left. You do what you want, Sonny. But I can’t help her anymore.”

General Hospital: Fletcher’s Office

Dr. Fletcher settled into his seat across from Jason and Elizabeth, sitting next to each other on the small sofa. “I know you were hoping that I could see Danny today, but it’s more important, I think, for us to have a conversation before I can see him. To understand how he’s handling this so far.”

“He’s not,” Jason said, and Elizabeth reached for his hand, laced their fingers together. He squeezed it in return, then returned his attention to the doctor. “He’s mostly stayed in his room. He talks to his sister every day, but I only know that because of what I hear from my nephew, Michael.”

“From your nephew? Not her father?” Fletcher pressed.

“That’s—we don’t get along,” Jason said simply. “It’s simpler to go through Michael.”

“He’s playing video games, mostly,” Elizabeth offered. “He’ll go to Aiden’s room or they’ll use a headset, sometimes. Aiden won’t say how it’s going, but I guess that’s a good sign.”

Fletcher made some notes. “He’s talked about Aiden during his sessions. It’s good that he’s in contact with the people in his usual circle. Is he eating?”

“Not as much as usual, but yes. He comes down for dinner,” Elizabeth said. “But I don’t see him for the other meals.”

“He comes down during the night,” Jason said. “I hear him moving around, but I haven’t—I haven’t gone to talk to him. I thought I’d let him decide how much contact he wants.”

“I’m just so worried that he’s feeling guilt or taking blame on himself. Jason told you about the call he got from Sam, right?” Elizabeth asked. When the doctor nodded, she continued, “He let the first call go to voicemail. And she tried to talk to him earlier that day. Jake told me he’s going over every moment they’ve had, thinking about what he wasted.”

“That’s normal. We don’t want him to get locked in that, but I’d be more worried if he didn’t feel some measure of guilt,” Fletcher said. “It’s natural when you lose someone suddenly, you think about the state of the relationship. But Danny feels a heavy dose of responsibility for his sister, for his friends and family—”

“But I don’t want him to think he has to be okay for any of them,” Elizabeth said. “I don’t want him to put on a mask or feel like he can’t talk to us. Or feel his grief. And I really don’t want him to think I’m trying to replace his mother.” Jason squeezed her hand, knowing that she was thinking of the grief she’d experienced when she was a little older than Danny, after the fire over the garage.

“It’ll be hard to avoid all of those things. You’re doing everything right. You’re letting him be alone, to choose his level of contact. But the time is going to come when he’ll crash. When he’ll break and the walls will come down. There’s no way to predict when that will happen.” Fletcher paused. “And if I’m correct, Danny’s grief has another layer. He’s lost his mother, and he’s learned that the anger he felt towards her was misplaced. That his aunt is responsible for what happened to you, Elizabeth. And that she played a role in his mother’s death. It’s a heavy wight for any one, much less a teenager. At this point, this early? We’ll need to take our cues from Danny, and take the situation as it comes.”

District Attorney’s Suite: Robert’s Office

Robert removed his reading glasses, set them down when he saw Molly at his door. “I hope you’re not here to protest the transfer of your sister’s case.”

“Oh.” Molly furrowed her brows, came fully into the office, folding her arms. “I didn’t know that was happening. I just—you told Jack not to assign me more cases, and I wanted to tell you it wasn’t necessary.” She bit her lip. “You transferred Kristina’s case?”

“Yes. While I don’t believe Agent Cates was killed in the line of duty, I think for everyone’s sake, it’s best if this office isn’t handling the trial.” He paused. “Your sister is being transferred to federal custody as we speak.”

“I hope to the same jail where Elizabeth was held,” Molly said. She lifted her chin. “It’s the least she deserves.”

“I can’t pretend to know what you’re dealing with, Molly. Perhaps you should take some time—”

“No. No,” Molly repeated when her first denial seemed to harsh. “No,” she said a third time. “I need the distraction. I need something else to think about. Work—it’s the only thing that makes it go away. Makes it stop for a little a while.”

Robert gestured at the chair in front of his desk. “Have a seat. Please,” he added when she hesitated. When she’d taken the seat, he continued, “I’ll agree to keep you on active cases under one condition. No trials. I’ll have Jack assign you cases that are pleading out or likely to. And anything that seems like it might be going to court, pass the case. Just for a few weeks,” he added.

Molly made a face, but nodded. “Okay, that’s fair. I need something to distract me, but I don’t want someone’s life on the line.” She paused. “Did…did the accident report come back yet? Do…do they know what happened to Sam’s car?”

Robert sifted through some open files, pulled out from a stack and opened. “The preliminary report is done, but they’re still examining the car for any mechanical failures. Detective Chase was following the car — said it appeared to swerve across the median, then went over the embankment and rolled.”

“Swerved like Sam lost control of the car? Like someone tried to grab the wheel?” Molly asked tightly.

“The timeline does appear to match the phone call recording Damien Spinelli surrendered to the office.”

“Will you charge Kristina?” Molly demanded. “She killed my sister—”

“Is that you want?” Robert wanted to know. “And before you answer,” he said, “I want you to think about what it would mean for us to charge Kristina with some sort of manslaughter charge. Danny would be a witness. He’d have to give a formal statement about the phone calls from his mother. We’d be putting your mother—”

“We don’t play favorites,” Molly said flatly. “We don’t think about any of that when we try other cases, do we? We don’t think about the witnesses or the people who might be hurt? We look at the law. And the law says if you cause a car accident that leads to someone’s death, if you do it deliberately, you deserve to be punished.” She got to her feet. “Charge her or don’t. But don’t use my nephew as an excuse to let Kristina get away with murder.”

Elm Street Pier

The water was choppy, and storm clouds were in the horizon, a dark gray swirl looming out over the lake. Another storm would reach them by night fall, but for now, it was safe to walk on the docks, to sit on the bench, and to avoid returning to real life just a little longer.

Elizabeth curled her hands more tightly around her hot chocolate.”I don’t think there’s anywhere else in Port Charles that feels more like home to me than these docks,” she murmured. She looked at Jason. “I slept under these docks once, I told you that, didn’t I?”

“When you ran away with Lucky, right?”

“Mmm. Drove my grandmother crazy that spring. I thought running away would mean we didn’t have to go to school, but Lucky made us go anyway.” Her lips curved in slight smile. “He’d break some rules, but he cared about getting an education, I guess. He was strange that way.” She slid an arm through Jason’s. “I’m sorry. I know you were hoping Fletcher would have more advice. Something real we could do for Danny.”

“I don’t like doing nothing,” Jason acknowledged, but then he sighed. “But sometimes that’s the answer. You can’t do everything for your kids.”

“If we don’t let them stumble through life a little, then you end up like Sonny and Alexis, I guess,” Elizabeth said, and winced. “That’s probably not fair. I’m sorry—”

“Why? It’s the truth.” He paused. “I saw Sonny this morning. Before our appointment. He thought we needed to clear the air.”

“That must have been…awkward.”

“I don’t know what he expected from me,” Jason admitted. “When he and Alexis realized Kristina was involved in all of this, he didn’t come to me. He didn’t go to you. Or Diane. They were on their way to Kristina. To fix it. He’d have put her on the plane to the island, and that would have been the end of it. He’d have let Diane use Kristina as an alternative suspect with the jury, and hoped you’d be acquitted. And to him, that would have been good enough.”

“It probably would have been,” Elizabeth said softly. “Diane was going over it with me. She fit all the evidence even better than I did. An actual motive, the right height. Even without the security footage or wiretap.”

“He was willing to gamble with your life. Your freedom, Elizabeth. He’d never have gambled with Carly’s this way,” Jason told her. “He was willing to put you and the boys through a trial, knowing the truth.”

“Jason—” Elizabeth bit her lip. “I’m not going to tell you it doesn’t disappoint me, because it does. But—no, listen to me—” she said, when Jason shook his head, started to move away. “I don’t know if I’m comfortable condemning him for something he didn’t actually do. Yes, maybe he would have put Kristina on a plane. But how long did he actually know for sure what she did? An hour? The length of the car ride? You’re going to throw out a lifetime of friendship for what he might have done? Would it have been so easy for you to choose? To choose your friend over your own child?” she pressed.

“I—” Jason paused. “I thought he was my family,” he confessed. “Even after all of this. Because I did choose my friend over my family. I let you all think I was dead—”

“You didn’t just choose Carly. You chose our whole life,” Elizabeth reminded him. “It wasn’t Carly on murder charges. It was RICO. You remember what you said to me weeks ago. They would have torn apart the finances, and everyone Sonny or you had ever donated money to, spent money on — the hospital, the hotel, Deception,  ELQ — all of our lives would have been changed. You made a sacrifice for all of us, Jason. Not just Carly. Because if anything, this entire disaster has made it very clear — the FBI doesn’t play fair. Or straight.”

“I know that’s true—”

“Other people want to make it sound like you chose Carly over your sons, and that’s fine for them. If Sonny wants to think of it that way, if Carly does — but I won’t let you forget that you were protecting all of us. Do I hate it? Do I wish you hadn’t gone? Of course. Of course I’m angry at you for being gone, for putting Jake through it. But the why matters for me, Jason. And I won’t apologize for that.”

“Okay. Okay,” he repeated when her scowl didn’t change. He slid slightly so that they were facing each other. “I’m not trying to talk you into being angry at me—”

“I know. And I’m sorry. I just—the scope of sacrifice isn’t nearly the same. Because you wanted to protect all of us. Carly just happened to benefit directly. Sonny would have protected his daughter from a mess she created and made worse. Kristina should have come to him or to you, and you’d have fixed it. She chose to burn down our lives, and destroy her own sister. I can’t fathom what Sonny and Alexis are dealing with, to look at the little girl they raised, and loved and, yes, coddled and spoiled. To realize what she grew up to be. What they must have been thinking that night.”

Jason sighed, looked down at their intertwined hands. “All of that is true. I know it.”

“I’m not trying to talk you out of being angry with Sonny or Alexis. I’m sorry if that’s what it sounds like. And I was furious with them the night this happened. It’s just…I can’t hold on to my anger when I think of Alexis, putting Sam in the ground, knowing that Kristina put her there. To think of Sonny, trying to navigate the horror I know he must feel at what Kristina did — and to know that he’s blaming himself, for the life and world he raised her in, feeling responsible for it. I just don’t know if I have it in me to feel anything but sorry for them.” Her lips curved slightly. “But I always forgive too easily. You know that.”

“I do.” He put an arm around her shoulders, brought her close so he could kiss her forehead, feel the warmth of her body against his. “And I know you’re right. You are. And I’m not even that angry with either of them. I think it’s just…I don’t understand how we got here,” he admitted. “I don’t know what to do with any of it.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “I’m not very supportive right now, am I?”

“You’re fine,” Jason told her, squeezing her hand again. “There’s no right or wrong answer to any of this, I guess.” He got to his feet, pulled her up with him. “Come on, let’s go home.”

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