Written in 20  minutes. No time for edits.

Jason didn’t know what he was going to say to his sister, but was relieved when she agreed to meet him quietly in the gardens of the estate where she lived with her husband. He didn’t care that it meant he had to take the launch to Spoon Island — he wanted to meet with her discreetly and quietly.

Not in the middle of where she worked or anywhere else.

“Jason!” Emily enveloped him in a tight embrace. “I’m so glad you’re home!”

“It’s not—it’s not permanent—” He drew back from her, his hands on her shoulder. “I just—I need to do a few things, then I’m going—”

“What?” Emily blinked, stepped back. “Why? Oh—are you going to Boston? Liz is working there—”

“Elizabeth is here. In Port Charles. She came home for Carly’s funeral, but we’re both—” Jason studied his sister for a long moment. “She said that you two had argued—”

“I thought she should give you more time to deal with everything.” Uncomfortable, Emily folded her arms. “That, you know, you had to figure out to forgive yourself so you could be a family again. I mean, she waited three months. If she’d waited a little longer—” She forced a smile. “But you talked to her. That’s good—”

“It’s not—” Jason squinted. He hadn’t realized his sister would take his side—he’d never, for one moment, thought what he’d done was a good thing. He’d come home prepared to be given a cold shoulder by everyone.

Especially his sister, who had been like a sister to Elizabeth, who had been there after her marriage to Ric had fallen apart, after Lily’s death—

“We’re still—we’re still getting divorced,” Jason told her. “It’s—Justus told me it’s finalized in two weeks—”

“Is that what you want?” Emily demanded. “Because you could stop it—”

“Em—” Jason frowned, let his hands fall to his sides. “What do you know that we don’t?”

“What?” Emily’s eyes widened—just a little too much, and he swore under his breath. His sister was always a terrible liar.

“I left her—in the middle of the night—with absolutely no warning. I never contacted her, and the only thing I left behind was a letter telling her I was sorry.” Jason scowled. “And you took my side?”

“Well, no, not at first,” Emily said, with a roll of her eyes. “I thought you’d be gone a few weeks, and I was pissed. But then—then a month went by and I knew something was wrong.” She fidgeted, looked at the ground. “I asked— I asked Nikolas to try to find you, but he couldn’t. So I went to Steven, thinking maybe he’d know something—”

“Steven? Do you know where he is? He hasn’t contacted Elizabeth in a week—no one has seen him since Carly’s body was found—”

“I know. I know.” Emily shoved her hair out of her face. “This isn’t how any of this was supposed to go.” She bit her lip. “You’re not supposed to be getting divorced, and Steven is supposed to be fixing this, and Elizabeth was really not supposed to pick up and move away!”

“Emily,” Jason said flatly. “What the hell is going on?”

“I went to Steven to ask him what was going on,” Emily continued with a sigh. “And he told me that he couldn’t say anything—that he couldn’t even tell Elizabeth which was really bad because you know how much he loves her. He’d never hurt her like that—unless it had to be done.”

“Get to the point—”

“Well, all he would say was he understood why you’d left. And that everyone would when you came back—but then you didn’t. A month later, Elizabeth started talking about leaving, about divorce, and I was—I was almost ready to agree, but Steven told me I had to stop her—”

Jason narrowed his eyes. “Did Steven say the same to Elizabeth?”

“No. He said he to be completely on her side, but that everything would be worse if she left town and divorced you. I didn’t understand it, but he seemed—he seemed to feel like it was dangerous. I don’t know, maybe he needed Elizabeth to stay in Port Charles.” Emily bit her lip. “Jason, Steven never would have left her alone this long. Do you think—”

“I don’t know. I hope not.” Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “What else did Steven say?”

“Just—just that you had done something stupid, but you’d done it for the right reasons and when he could make everything right, Elizabeth would understand.” She paused. “I thought that meant the two of you were in contact—that you’d planned it together—but you didn’t?”

“No. I didn’t know—Steven was just a doctor who worked with us.” Wasn’t he? He exhaled, looked away. “This doesn’t make sense—”

“Why did you leave?” Emily asked. With a grimace, Jason told her briefly about Tommy Graviano, their suspicions about Sonny and Carly, and the shooting in Cairo as her face grew paler.

“Someone was trying to kill you? The whole time? It’s about you—”

“And now—Elizabeth thinks it’s Ric.”

Emily scowled. “Ric Lansing? Oh, of course. That son of a bitch has been obsessed with her since—you know he sent her flowers every May.”

“No,” Jason said tightly. “She never told me.”

“Oh. Well, maybe she knew you’d kill him,” Emily said. “Because you would have. I just—I don’t understand. Last year, he sent her those flowers, and then you’re saying he might have ordered a bomb. But did he want her dead or just you? Why go after you in Cairo with Elizabeth right here?”

“I don’t know. And I’m tired of the questions,” Jason snapped. “I want some answers. Now you’re telling me Steven knew something was up—” He dragged his hand through his hair. “Em—”

“None of this makes sense, Jason. If Carly picked up the bomb, but wasn’t in on it, how does she fit in? Does she?”

“She has to. She’s dead, isn’t she? And Sonny is apparently useless—locked in his room, refusing to see anyone.” He hesitated. “Can you think of anything else that might help us find Steven? He seems to be the key to all of this—”

“No, but Patrick was his best friend. Maybe he knows something,” Emily said. “Or—” She blinked. “Jason, when did you say you’d been shot in Cairo?”

“Two months ago.” Jason winced, thinking of the two weeks he’d spent in the hospital. “Why?”

“That’s about the time that I confronted Steven. When he told me I had to stop her from leaving. Jason—Steven was out of town. He left for a week in April. The last week of April.”

“That’s when I was shot—” Jason shook his head. “No—Steven wasn’t involved—”

“No? Because Elizabeth was going to go look for you,” Emily told him. “At first—after a few weeks, she told us she was leaving to look for you. Then she had a conversation with Steven. He left town after that—and she started talking about divorce.”

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