Written in 61 minutes.

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Tuesday, September 17, 2024

General Hospital: Hallway

Elizabeth turned a corner just as the elevator doors slid open and Sam walked out. Elizabeth paused, considered backing up and turning around but before she could make a decision, Sam turned and their eyes met.

“Good. Now I won’t have to look for you.”

Elizabeth bit back the first thing she thought, forcing a smile. “My lucky day.”

“I need you to take a break.” Sam shoved her hands in the pockets of her jacket — the leather one Elizabeth hadn’t seen in a while, not since she’d started dating Dante. A shot across the bow, Elizabeth wondered, or just a coincidence?

“I don’t have more than a few minutes. I have a meeting in—”

“This won’t take long.” Sam walked past her towards the conference room around the corner, and Elizabeth grimaced then followed. Better to have whatever this was in private than make a public display.

Elizabeth closed the door once they were both inside and turned to face the other woman. “Is this about what Dante and I talked about?”

“I don’t know where you get off talking about my son to anyone, so yeah, we’re going to start there.”

Elizabeth exhaled slowly. Okay, so it was going to be that kind of confrontation. “I understand, and I’m not looking to get in the middle—”

“Don’t do that. Don’t play that innocent, America’s sweetheart act with me. We’ve known each other way too long for that. You knew exactly what you were doing—”

“And what did you think you were doing, Sam?” Elizabeth cut in sharply. “Danny’s staying at my house. Where did you think he would end up after you walked out on him? Across the hall from Jason at Bobbie’s? No, don’t bother answering that because you’re right, we’ve both known each other too long. You didn’t give a damn. You made a mess, and walked out, expecting everyone else to run to your rescue.”

“Don’t you dare suggest I don’t care about my son—”

“Then why are you here picking a fight with me instead of signing the paperwork I gave Dante so we can get Danny the help he needs—”

“Because I’m such a terrible mother, he needs to go to therapy?” Sam demanded. “No. No, if Danny wants to talk to someone, I can find him someone. I came here to tell you that my son is none of your business—”

“I cannot believe you’re doing this right now! Are you so insecure that you’d delay getting Danny treatment? Counseling? My God, Sam, I thought it was  bad enough when you ran around creating problems for Jason to save you from, but you’re a mother now! You’re supposed to be putting him first!”

“How dare you!” Sam seethed, stepping towards her, her eyes narrowed. “I have always put my son first—”

“Then prove it,” Elizabeth said flatly. “Sign the paperwork. Raymond Fletcher is one of the most well-respected doctors at his field, and we’re lucky enough to have him practicing at GH. He’s written journal articles and edited chapters about teenage substance abuse—but I bet you didn’t know that, did you?”

Sam scowled, but pressed her lips together, looking away, tears glinting at the corner of her eyes.

“No, you didn’t. I bet Dante didn’t get any further than telling you I found the doctor. He owes me a favor, so he’s taking Danny on even though he’s not accepting new patients. But you don’t care about that. You just care about proving that you’re better than me. You’ve been doing it for two decades, and I’m sick of it.”

“I don’t need to prove I’m better—I know it—”

“Why? Because Jason put a ring on your finger? Please,” Elizabeth scoffed. “We’re beyond that, aren’t? We were supposed to be. We had an understanding, Sam, didn’t we? That we might not like each other, but our boys were brothers and they loved each other. We wanted them to have each other—”

“Because their father was dead. He’s not anymore, is he? And here you are, chasing after him, trying to make yourself look good, trying to play mommy to his son. Well, Danny doesn’t need you,” Sam growled. “I am his mother—”

“It must be so sad to be you,” Elizabeth said. Sam’s eyes ignited, but Elizabeth continued. “To be so constantly convinced that you have to win a race no one asked you to enter. We’re not in competition, Sam, for anything. You’re Danny’s mother, and I’m—”

“Nothing to him. You’ll never  be anything to him—”

“There’s no point in having this conversation. You’re not even listening. Twenty years ago, you were so desperate to prove you were better for Jason and keep us apart, you made me your enemy even when I was married to someone else.” Elizabeth shook her head. “And now you’re doing it again. If you think Danny might care about me more than you, you should probably look in the mirror. This has nothing to do with me. Sign the paperwork or don’t, Sam. Either way, I’m not going anywhere. You’d think you’d know that by now.”

Davis & Miller: Alexis’s Office

Molly retrieved a folder from her bag and held it out to her mother. “I don’t really know when or if the U.S. Attorney’s Office will give this to you, but you should know what we’ve turned up.”

Alexis rose from her desk, sliding off her reading glasses. “Molly! I wasn’t expecting you today-” She took the file, set it on her desk. “Come in. Sit down—”

“I don’t really have time—” Molly started to turn away, but Alexis reached out, her fingers catching the sleeve of Molly’s blouse.

“Oh, please—just a minute. We’ll—we’ll talk about what you brought me—” She set her glasses back on her face, flipped open the folder and lifted the first report to skim it. “This is a digital analysis for John Cates’ computer—” Her voice faltered and she looked at Molly. “Are you serious?”

“The FBI took the evidence in themselves. The audio analysis is in there, too. But it’s pretty clear. Cates was researching ways to punch himself in his face so that it wouldn’t look self-inflicted, the best way to stab himself without causing damage—”

“And creating a file to lure Jason to the boathouse—” Alexis exhaled slowly. “My God, he was insane—”

“Desperate, definitely. He was so angry at Jason about the end of Pikeman. You could ask Jason, he’d probably give you a statement. Cates wanted to get Uncle Sonny, and wanted to force Jason into being his informant. He was probably maneuvering Kristina to turn on her dad in exchange for dropping the charges.”

Alexis sat in her chair, still clutching the report. “Which calls into question his investigation and credibility — he’s the only one who named Ava as a material witness. I could attack his motives and get the case dismissed.”

“And give the FBI headache by going public with it. I thought—I thought you’d need that. So—” Molly nodded. “There you go.”

“This is—this is a very nice thing you’ve done. We might have gotten this report in a few weeks, but I wouldn’t have known to ask for it. You—you’ve saved your sister a great deal of grief and worry.”

“I did it for you. Not her. Don’t, Mom. Don’t—” Molly’s voice faltered slightly. “I brought this to you because I love you, and it’s the right thing to do. But I can’t be around Kristina. Not after what I know she was planning.”

“I wouldn’t have let her do it—”

“You were planning to help her, Mom. Please. Please. I can’t do this. I have too much—there’s too much I have to do.  Take this. Make the FBI and the feds miserable. That’s all I need from you.”

Warehouse: Main Floor

“No, the overnight shift was supposed to—” Jason trailed off when he saw a trio of familiar faces on the other side of the warehouse, by his office. “Excuse me,” he said to the worker, then headed over to find out what would bring Jake, Danny, and Aiden to the warehouse after school.

“Did something happen?” Jason asked immediately. “You were supposed to take them straight home,” he said to Jake.

“I promise, we have a good reason,” Jake told his father. “Aiden, let’s go. Meet us at Bobbie’s when you’re done,” he said to Danny.

Jason frowned, but looked at his younger son. “What’s wrong?”

Danny lifted his chin slightly, but his eyes were miserable. “Mom’s not going to let me go.”

“Let you—okay, come in—” He took Danny’s shoulder, guided him to the office. “What’s going on?”

“Rocco. He told me Mom and Dante had a fight when he tried to get her to sign the paperwork so I could go to the counselor. She doesn’t want me to go.” Danny dropped his backpack on the ground, flopped onto the chair by his father’s desk. “She started a whole huge fight, and that’s my fault now, too. Rocco said his dad is starting to get really annoyed with Mom, and if they break up, it’ll be because of me—”

“That’s not how any of this works,” Jason said, then dragged a hand down his face. “Look, just—what exactly did Rocco say?”

“That Mom doesn’t a doctor that Elizabeth found. If I want to talk to someone, it has to be someone she found, but I don’t get it. Mom doesn’t even know any doctors. Elizabeth works at the hospital. And Mom was really mad, like I did something wrong asking to go. Or did I do something wrong talking to Elizabeth? Is that why she’s so mad at me?”

“She’s not—” Jason bit off the words that nearly spilled out. Sam’s goddamn inferiority complex. Who cared how good the doctor was? All Sam cared about was who got the credit for finding him. For helping Danny. He took a moment to consider his words carefully. “I didn’t think your mom would have any issues, and I guess I should have found another way to talk to her instead of passing the paperwork through Elizabeth and Dante. I just—” Elizabeth had the details and knew how to explain the process to Dante. And Dante had always been able to talk sense into Sam—

But it seemed even that bond was starting to fray at the edges.

“I’ll handle this, okay?” Jason told Danny. “I don’t want you to worry about anything—” He glanced up at the knock on the office door. “Just wait a second. Let me get rid—” He stopped in mid-sentence when he pulled open the door to find Elizabeth on the other side. “Hey.”

“Hey. We have a problem. Sam came to see me—” She stopped when she saw Danny in the office, her eyes troubled. “Never mind.”

“Mom came to see you?” Danny wanted to know. “About therapy right? She said I can’t go. I told you, Dad. It’s just like Rocco told me. Mom doesn’t want me to go unless she’s in charge. She’s always like this. It always has to be her way.”

“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth mouthed to Jason, and he shook his head lightly. It wasn’t her fault. Or Danny’s. It was his. For not handling it himself.

“Danny, you weren’t sure yesterday if you really wanted to go,” Jason said to him. He closed the door when Elizabeth came all the way inside. “I don’t want you to feel forced into going. But I also don’t want you to say no because you’re worried you might upset anyone. This is about what you need. No one else.”

Danny grimaced. “I don’t want Mom and Dante to fight. A-and I don’t want to make problems for you. Or Elizabeth. Jake said maybe we could just stay because you were back together, and I don’t want to mess anything up—”

“All that matters is you,” Elizabeth repeated. “And what you need. Your father and I will will make sure you get what you need. And I know your mother loves you. We just need—we need to find another way to talk to her.” She looked at Jason. “Another person who can help us make her understand.”

Someone like a lawyer, Jason thought grimly. Sam might have the right to make medical decisions right now, but that was about to end. “You don’t need to decide right now, Danny. We can talk about this later—”

“I—I don’t know. I just—I know this all sucks. And—” He looked away, down at the floor. “Can you promise not to tell Dante something?”

“It depends on what it is,” Jason said. “Within reason, yes.”

“Rocco…figured out how to get away from his grandmother at the Q estate when he’s supposed to be working. He wanted me to come work there, too, so we could—” Danny’s cheeks flushed. “You know. We had some stuff still stashed. Not at the boathouse. Somewhere else. And—and I was gonna say yes. But then I thought about your brother, and how you got in that accident. And Jake’s accident—and how he was gone, and I don’t remember that, but I just—” His eyes glittered. “I got in so much trouble and I made so many of you mad, but I almost said yes, and that’s so stupid. Why did I do that?”

Elizabeth took a step forward, then looked at Jason who had to take a deep breath to steady himself, then met his son’s troubled gaze. “I’m going to take care of this, Danny.” He retrieved his wallet, removed a few bills. “Why don’t you head over to the diner? Tell your brother and Aiden to order something for dinner. Elizabeth and I will make some calls. I’m going to make this okay.”

“Okay.” Danny took the money. “You’re not mad?”

“No. I’m not. Thank you for telling me. That was—” He put a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “I know that was hard, and it means a lot that you knew you could tell us. I’m not going to tell Dante.”

“Okay. Okay. Thank you. I don’t want to get anyone else in trouble, okay? I’ll—I’ll get dinner.”

Danny snatched up his backpack, and headed out. Jason dragged both hands down his face, then looked at Elizabeth.

“You’re really not going to tell Dante?” she wanted to know, skeptically. “Because I don’t think me telling him is a loophole—”

“No, but I’m going to tell Michael to have someone keep a very close eye on Rocco, and catch him doing something stupid before he can actually do it.”

“I can’t believe Rocco hasn’t learned anything since Saturday,” Elizabeth said, and Jason just shook his head as he pulled out his phone.

“I can. He’s a Spencer.” He lifted the phone to his ear, and when the call connected, he said, “Diane. Hey. I know you’re dealing with a lot, so you can give this to someone else or recommend another lawyer. But I need an emergency petition in family court. Full custody of Danny and the sole power to make medical decisions. I need it as soon as possible.”

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