Written in 58 minutes.

Molly breathed a sigh of relief when the elevator doors slid open and Jason emerged, stepping to the side and holding the door open so that Elizabeth and her sons could follow him out. Elizabeth stopped and straightened the tie her youngest son wore, even as Aiden made a face, and Jake snickered behind his back. Behind them, Jason tugged at his own tie, then stood obediently when Elizabeth, satisfied that both boys looked presentable, turned her attention to him and fixed the lapels of his suit jacket.

If anyone else had been looking at the quartet, it would be hard to guess that a week ago, there’d been no engagement, no hint that anything permanent would form though Molly knew enough about her sister’s ex-husband to know Elizabeth Webber had always lurked in the wings — even if it was just the memory of something Sam couldn’t erase.

She didn’t know how she felt about Danny being absorbed into that picture — being another boy that Elizabeth would dote on, gently molding and pushing him towards adulthood. That it might be Elizabeth at the important moments — graduations, weddings, the birth of children — when it should have been Sam.

Molly fisted her hand against her middle, the swell of grief rising so sharply that she had to look away. It should be Sam, she told herself, but it couldn’t be. It wouldn’t be. And all that mattered, all that should ever matter was the best interest of Sam’s kids. And there was no argument that Elizabeth was an excellent mother with whom Danny would thrive.

Resolved, she forced herself to smile and approach the four of them. “I’m so glad you changed your mind and brought Jake and Aiden. You both are a huge part of the petition I filed,” she told the teenagers. “I don’t think he will, but are you both all right answering questions if the judge has any?”

“Whatever you need to get Danny home,” Jake said. He elbowed his brother. “Right?”

“Well, what if he asks about the living situation? Room assignments,” Aiden added when Molly frowned. “I tried to get that sorted last night, but everyone said it wasn’t important—ow—” He winced when Jake flicked him. “What? It might come up—”

“Ignore them. They know how to act normal when they have to,” Elizabeth said, silencing both boys with a lethal glare. She looked to Molly. “And the room situation isn’t an issue. We have Cam’s empty room. He’s not due home for another week or so, and that will give us time to make final decisions. Unless you think the judge—”

“No, as long as we have space for him, that should be enough.” Molly stopped when the elevators opened again and Drew stepped up, followed by another man she didn’t recognize. She tensed and didn’t miss how Elizabeth subtle shifted so that she stood between Drew and Jason.

Drew adjusted his tie, arched a brow in their direction, then headed for the court room. Molly followed his progress, noticing the other man followed him. Where was her father?

“We should get inside. I think everyone else is already here, and I don’t want to keep the judge waiting,” she said, shaking off her concern. All that mattered was Danny and getting him out of here. She’d worry about her father later.

—

Michael shifted on the hard courtroom bench, then got to his feet when he saw his uncle arrive with Molly, Elizabeth and the boys. “Hey. Hey.” He came out of the row,  and hugged Jason. “I’m sorry about last night—”

“No explanations needed,” Jason told him. “Is—is everything okay?”

“That depends on your definition—” he paused when he saw Willow come into the courtroom, followed by her mother. They locked eyes for a moment, then Willow and Nina sat in the final row. “I told Mom to stay home. I hope that was the right choice.”

“And she listened?” Jason asked, surprised.

“So far. We’ll see if she pops up. Uh—” he gestured at the row behind where Brook Lynn was seated with Dante and Gio. “Drew came to the mansion last night. Tried to pick up Scout. But Grandma and Aunt Tracy had already been cooking up a plan. She slapped with an order of protection.”

“An order—” Molly blinked. “Against Drew?”

“Yeah. Grandma has temporary custody, pending the investigation by CPS. I don’t have all the details yet, but Drew will challenge it. Definitely because of Grandma’s health, but Brook and I—we’re gonna try and see if one or both of us can get custody instead. At least for right now. But I know Danny worried—and I’m sure you did, too,” he said to Molly.

“I did. I’m…stunned,” she admitted. “But relieved. If Drew can’t go back to the Qs, and he doesn’t have Scout, that makes things a little easier for Danny if we can get him out of here today.” She saw her mother lingering in the doorway, looking uncertain. Molly nearly waved her forward to join them, but then Kristina appeared at her side, whispered something in Alexis’s ear, and they went to sit near Willow and Nina.

The door behind the judge’s bench opened, and a bailiff led Danny in. Overnight, the bruise had bloomed into a sickening black and purple mark that crawled up most of his cheek, with a deep cut on his bottom lip.

Molly made a sound, and Jason tensed up, glaring at Drew who had taken a seat on the other side of the court room. The other man made a show of examining his tie, keeping his eyes from meeting anyone’s.

Elizabeth touched Jason’s arm. “He doesn’t have a scratch on him,” she said to him softly. “And yet he’s trying to claim self-defense. This can only help us. He wants you to react.”

“We’d better take our seats,” Molly said, moving aside so that Jason, Elizabeth, and the boys could take their seats in the front row, directly behind the table where the bailiff had led her nephew. Michael slid into his seat next to his cousin.

“I believe in the law, I believe in the law,” Dante muttered, and Brook Lyn squeezed his hand.

“His day is gonna come, Dante. You heard what Liz said to Jason. Drew wants us to react. Our only shot at keeping those kids away from him and where they belong is show him we’re better than that.”

“At least for now,” Michael muttered, leveling another dark glare at the man who’d torn through the family like a one-man wrecking crew.

Molly embraced her nephew, then touched the bruise on his cheek. “Hey, baby. You doing okay?”

“I guess.” Danny looked impossibly small in the clothes they’d given him — the juvenile detention kids wore an ugly shade of gray and they’d given him a jump suit that was one size too big. He was fourteen, and taller than his aunt, but somehow he seemed like the little boy with a gap-toothed smile asking for another hug.

“We’re going to get you out of here today.” Molly gestured at the row behind them, and Jason was on his feet, hugging Danny over the bench, and Jake managed to get one in before the bailiff cleared his throat. “You let me handle everything,” she told Danny, then turned—stopping when she realized who was sitting at the other table.

Justine Turner had a pair of reading glasses on, examining a brief. The ambitious ADA who everyone knew planned to challenge Robert in the next election. She only worked high-profile felony cases. Not family court or juvenile offenses.

“Aunt Molly?” Danny asked. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” She looked at him, flashed a smile that she didn’t really feel. She looked back at the front row, and saw Jason looking at the prosecutor’s table, too, his brow furrowed. Did he also realize who Turner was? Did he know that things had just taken a very nasty turn?

“Order, order. All rise,” the bailiff barked, ripping Molly’s attention back to the front of the room. She swallowed hard. Whether she was ready or not — they were out of time.

—

“What’s wrong?” Elizabeth murmured, feeling Jason’s forearm behind her hand tense so tightly, he might as well as have been made out of stone.

“The ADA.” He looked at her, and she saw a flash of fear in his eyes. “She works felonies.”

Elizabeth inhaled sharply, then looked at the judge, shuffling through paperwork. An ADA who worked felonies handling a juvenile misdemeanor assault? No. She was here to prosecute the son of Jason Morgan. The crime didn’t matter.

The judge, an older man with a thick cap of white hair, slid his glasses down his nose to peer at the those gathered. “Whose representing the minor?”

Molly got to her feet. “Molly Lansing-Davis, representing Daniel Edward Morgan, Your Honor.”

“Justine Turner for the city, Your Honor.”

“Ms. Turner?” The judge’s brows lifted. “I don’t recall ever seeing you in my courtroom before. Did you lose your way? The press office is on the first floor.”

Justine’s lips parted in surprise, and Elizabeth drew in her first easy breath. She squeezed Jason’s hand. The judge didn’t seem happy to see the ADA, and maybe it would work in their favor.

“Your Honor, the case might seem minor, but the victim is Congressman-elect Andrew Quartermaine—”

“Yes, I’m familiar with him. Saw his all his commercials and posters. Former Navy SEAL and devoted father.” The judge lifted a brow. “I see you’ve joined us today, Congressman-elect.”

“Yes, Your Honor.” Drew rose, buttoning his suit jacket. “I appreciate your support.”

The judge pursed his lips. “Are your injuries documented? I didn’t see any in the file. Just, ah, the assailant’s bruises.” He looked at Danny,  then looked back at Drew. “Do you have some where we can’t see them?”

“Your Honor, I don’t think that’s pertinent to this hearing,” Justine said, flashing a tight smile. “This is merely a bail hearing. Whether the Congressman has any visible injures, there are more than a few witness statements—including the accused—who say the first punch was thrown by the minor. That is assault.”

“Yes, I’m familiar with the charge, ADA Turner.” The judge adjusted his glasses, then picked up a petition. “You’re asking to deny bail and to hold young Mr. Morgan in a juvenile detention center pending the outcome of trial. You don’t think that’s a little harsh considering the circumstances and his clean record?”

“No. I don’t. Daniel Morgan has a family with vast resources who can transport him somewhere extradition treaties won’t reach. And there’s a history in his family of disappearing off the face of the Earth with no trace—”

“Your Honor, if I may—” Molly interrupted, earning a dirty look from Justine. “Daniel has no criminal history whatsoever. Until October, he lived in a home with a decorated PCPD detective acting as stepfather. We ask that you release him on his own recognizance into the custody his father and his future stepmother.”

“And that would be who you described in this petition?” the judge asked. “Jason Morgan, whose, ah, history is colorful and long, and Elizabeth Webber?”

“Exactly, Your Honor. Ms. Lansing-Davis would have you return this child to the man who inspired this kind of behavior. Since the return of Jason Morgan from God knows where, Daniel Morgan has had an unstable living situation with no legal address—”

“Daniel Morgan’s mother died five weeks ago,” Molly snapped, then flushed when the judge lifted his brows at her. “Samantha McCall died from complications of a liver donation surgery. At that time, Mr. Morgan was ready, willing, and able to step up and take full custody of his son. But it was agreed by everyone involved what was best for Daniel and his sister was to remain with his younger sister for as long as he could. The Congressman intends to take his daughter to DC at the beginning of the year. He lives in the family home, where Mr. Morgan was raised, and where he is a frequent visitor. The home is filled with relatives who adore Daniel and his sister. The only instability has come from the so-called victim in this case.”

Molly didn’t even wait for the judge to take a breath before she continued. “Mr. Morgan is engaged to Elizabeth Webber, and plans to make a permanent home for Danny with her. She has three sons, one of whom she shares with Mr. Morgan. She is an excellent mother. Her oldest son is a Stanford pre-med student on a scholarship where he plays soccer. It’s one of the best teams in the country, and Cameron Webber—”

“Your son is Cameron Webber?” the judge interrupted, and Molly turned to find Elizabeth blinking in surprise.

“Ah, yes. He’s…in his junior year at Stanford—”

“I remember Mr. Webber. He had a little trouble a few years ago. Silliness,” the judge added. “He was trying to help a friend with cancer?”

“Yes,” Elizabeth said. “He was young, impulsive, and he took the punishment the court gave him. Fortunately, it didn’t hurt his chances at Stanford.”

“Always thought it was an overreach. Just as this is,” the judge said, switching his attention back to ADA Turner.

“Your Honor, perhaps you should recuse yourself—”

“ADA Turner, maybe you don’t know how things work here in family court. You ought to have asked a colleague before taking this case. You’ve got a young boy, grieving the loss of his mother with bruises on his face, and an adult pressing charges of assault. I’d think very carefully before you push this forward.”

“Your Honor—” Turner tried again.

“I’m releasing Daniel Morgan into the custody of his father and his fiancee. And Congressman—I hope you weren’t looking to be re-elected once this hits the papers. Court is adjourned.”

+46

Written in 68 minutes. Went a bit over because I ended up adding some stuff with Danny I wasn’t planning, but I’m happy with it, sooo….

See you on Monday!

Danny fidgeted as they approached the front entrance of the Quartermaine mansion, and looked back at his father. “You’re sure he’s not here?”

“I’m sure,” Jason repeated, reaching around Danny and pushing the door open. “Tracy wouldn’t let him through the door—”

He stopped when he realized the foyer wasn’t empty and that the double doors to the living room were open where more people were waiting. He glanced back at Elizabeth, Jake and Aiden. “Did Michael say something to you?”

“No, but I’m not surprised—”

“It’s about time you got here,” Tracy said sauntering forward, one hand on her hip. “We need to talk strategy.”

“Be afraid,” Michael warned coming from the hallway behind the staircase, Amelia in his arms. “Grandma gave her free reign.”

Dante ignored all of this and came forward to hug Danny. “Hey kiddo, you okay?” He ruffled Danny’s hair. “Chase and Mac took good care of you?”

“Yeah. Yeah. It wasn’t so bad. I was a little—” Danny made a face when Lois appeared at Dante’s side and turned his face to the side.

“That’s one hell of a shiner you’ve got there. Drew thinks he can get away with goin’ after you, he’s lost his mind—”

“Ma, you’re crowding him,” Brook Lynn said, trying to tug her mother back.

Jason swallowed the urge to turn around and leave, the memories of how overwhelming this family could be rising up. He felt a hand on his shoulders, and looked down to find Elizabeth at his side.

“On the bright side, every single person in this room hates Drew as much as we do,” she said. Then she made eye contact with Michael, lifted her brows meaningfully.

“Right. Right.” He handed Amelia to whoever was standing next to him — it happened to be Gio, then came to the center of the foyer. “Okay, I know everyone wants to show Danny our support, and to figure out what to do next, but we really don’t need everyone for this.” He folded his arms. “Danny, why don’t you and the rest of the kids head upstairs. Scout’s upstairs in the nursery with Wiley.”

“But this is about me—” Danny started to protest.

“We’ll catch you up,” Jason promised. “But we need to get your things. Drew is probably filing an injunction against that order right now, and if that happens before your charges are dropped, you can’t come back.”

“And I can’t see Scout.” Danny nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, okay.”

“Good.” Michael looked at the rest of the crowd. “And honestly, while everyone’s opinion and input is important, the only people who need to be involved in this are Jason, Elizabeth, Dante, and Aunt Tracy—”

“And you,” Jason said to Michael. “You said you and Brook Lynn were going to try to keep custody of Scout if the judge didn’t want to leave her in Monica’s care.”

“Right. Then, I guess Brook and I should stay.”

“But—” Lois began.

“I really think I could be helpful,” Ned said at the same time.

“If we’re talking about character witnesses—” Olivia added.

“I think I could add some insight,” Chase argued.

“Michael’s right,” Gio said, hitching Amelia higher in his arms. “The fewer voices in this, the better for everyone. I, for one, am going to bother Sasha in the kitchen for some snacks for the kids upstairs. Amelia, you wanna help?” he asked the toddler, not waiting for her answer as they headed back down the hallway towards the kitchen.

“I’ll go help them in the kitchen,” Aiden said. “Sasha said she had a baklava recipe she wanted give me anyway.”

“The only ones with any sense around here aren’t even related to this family. What is this world coming to?” Tracy muttered, turning and heading for the living room.

Jason just shook his head, took Elizabeth’s head, and reluctantly followed. Danny, Jake, and Rocco jogged up the stairs, their heavy thudding footsteps rumbling through the room.

“I did not miss the sound of teenagers in this house,” Tracy grumbled. She gestured at her granddaughter. “Make yourself useful and get me a martini.”

Brook Lynn rolled her eyes, and obeyed as Michael pulled the doors shut.

“I saw Alexis pull you over after the hearing,” Michael said to Jason. “What did she say?”

“She wanted to talk to me, but I told her getting Danny settled was more important. I don’t know if she’s changing her mind about me, but I expect her to double down on getting custody of Scout from Drew.”

“You’d think that would work in our favor,” Tracy said, taking a seat on the sofa and accepting the martini. She sipped it. “But I don’t trust her. And you shouldn’t, either. Look at how she turned on you after everything you did for that guttersnipe daughter of hers—”

“Granny, is that really necessary?” Brook Lynn demanded. “The woman’s dead.”

“And I popped the champagne out of the sight of the children. I’m not a monster,” Tracy said with a snort. Dante scowled.

Jason grimaced, then rubbed his temple. “Look, I don’t know what the point of any of this is. Alexis isn’t going to win in family court. Not with Danny.  He’s made it clear to her where he wants to live, and—”

“And you and Liz are pretending to be engaged, which is only going to strengthen your case,” Michael added.

“Pretending to be what?” Tracy got back to her feet. “When did this happen?”

“That’s risky, don’t you think?” Dante asked. “You don’t think a judge is gonna figure it out?”

“No, because we’re not pretending,” Jason said.

“Wait, you’re actually engaged?” Brook Lynn demanded. “Holy crap.” She whacked Dante’s chest. “I told you!”

“Never going to let this go,” he muttered, casting his eyes to the ceiling. He removed his wallet from his pocket, flicked out a ten. “Yeah, yeah. You win.”

“Should have bet double—”

“Can we please get back on topic?” Elizabeth interrupted. “As much as I hate to agree with Tracy—and I do,” she added when Tracy just raised her martini glass. “I don’t think we should bank on Alexis changing her mind. We’ve thought she’d see reason after what happened at the penthouse, and nothing changed. And Drew is going to fight the order.”

“And he’ll win if we can’t convince him to let Scout stay with us. Grandma isn’t…her health isn’t what it used to be,” Michael admitted. “She’s resting today. And Aunt Tracy—well, she might work, but we have to be ready.”

“We’ve got two offers on the table,” Brook Lynn told Jason. “One is obviously to just award emergency custody to Michael on his own, but we’re worried, ah, that the rumors about Willow will sour that situation. Sorry,” she added with a wince.

“Which is why Brook Lynn and Chase are a good substitute. Our first choice was Dante since he’s been her stepfather for the better part of two years, but—”

“But I’m not a blood relation,” Dante said, his voice a bit rough. “Sam and I…we were engaged for maybe an hour. I don’t think that’d help us in court.”

“I think Brook Lynn and Chase are a really good idea,” Elizabeth said. “You guys were so wonderful with Violet, and you already know Scout. I’d be happy to say so in any affidavit supporting the petition.”

“Good, that’s settled. Scout will stay here where she belongs.” Tracy sipped her martini. “Now. How do we destroy that pathetic excuse of a man she calls a father?”

—

Danny felt like he was moving at half speed, bunching up clothes and shoving them in a duffel bag. He’d barely brought anything here in the first place, and now he was packing them up again to go somewhere new.

Scout was sitting cross-legged on the bed, watching him with quiet, dark eyes, while Jake lingered by the window, one hand in his pocket.

“What was all of that in court?” he finally asked, drawing Jake’s attention. “I know what Dad said at the police station, but, like, are they serious? Are they actually getting married?”

“Who’s getting married?” Scout wanted to know.

Jake sighed. “Yeah, Aiden and I had questions last night. They told us it’s for real. That it’s something they’d been talking about, and I guess I’m not that surprised. I mean, you used to say it all the time, that I couldn’t get away with anything because my parents check with each other on everything.”

“I guess. I just—I’m gonna live with you guys? Like all the time? Even after you go back t Spain?”

“Danny’s supposed to come back here,” Scout said, her voice small. “I thought he was going to stay overnight. Y-you’re going away again?” Her eyes glimmered.

“I don’t have a choice, Scout. Your dad wants me to go to jail, so the judge only let me out if I go stay with Jake’s mom. Because they’re getting married and she’s supposed to be my stepmother.”

Scout’s lower lip trembled. “You…you’re gonna live with Jake and Aiden and ‘Lizabeth? You’re gonna have a new mom?”

“No!” Danny said forcefully. “It’s just for right now, okay? Dad bought a house, and we’re gonna live there. And Elizabeth isn’t my mother. She won’t ever be my mother.”

“Hey, come on—” Jake came closer. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen when this all cools off, but I think my parents are serious about the getting married thing. I don’t think living with Dad is gonna happen — not the way we talked about. But it’ll be okay. You like my mom—”

“I liked my mom—” Danny threw off the hand his brother tried to put on his shoulder. “This isn’t what we talked about! This isn’t fair! You guys are changing everything!”

“Hey, calm down—” Jake grimaced when Danny shoved him again. “Hey, dickhead, my mom stayed up half the night worried about your dumb ass, and Dad only, like, slept for ten minutes. All they could talk about was bringing you home—”

“It’s not my home! Scout won’t be there, will she?” Danny demanded, gesturing at his sister. “Rocco and Dante and my mom! They’re not there. So it’s not my home!”

“Fine, it’s not your home! But you’re the idiot who took a swing at a Congressman, not me! And all anyone can talk about is how to clean up the mess you made—”

“Shut up—” Danny shoved Jake again, and Jake pushed back, sending his brother towards the post of the bed.

“Stop stop stop stop stop stop!” Scout  scrambled off the bed, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Stop fighting! Stop fighting!”

Gio appeared in the open doorway, frowning. “Uh, we can hear you down the hall—whoa—” he backed up as Scout flew past him. “What’s going on?”

“You happy?” Jake demanded, shoving Danny again, then taking off after his cousin.

Danny’s chest was heaving, his eye was burning, and his lip stung like a mother fucker. He swiped at his eyes, his shoulders hitching, and the sob that crawled up his throat couldn’t be swallowed. He crumbled to the side of the bed, drew his legs up to his chest.

—

Ric knocked at the door, and had to act fast to stop Alexis from slamming it in his face. “Give me five minutes—”

“I wouldn’t give you five seconds, you filthy son of a bitch—”

“I withdrew as his lawyer,” Ric interrupted, and Alexis closed her mouth. She didn’t shut the door — but didn’t hold it open more than a foot. “I tried to get him to drop the charges last night, and I couldn’t convince him. And this morning—well, I can’t get into a lot of it. But I realized if I stayed on this case, if I helped him even a little—Molly would never forgive me.”

“That’s if she forgives you for taking the case in the first place,” Alexis said flatly. “After you took Ava’s—”

“Ava is innocent,” Ric added, and Alexis rolled her eyes. “But that’s not what I’m here to do. I just—I want to see my daughter. She’s not at home, or answering my calls. Is she here?”

—

“Hey man…” Gio’s voice was closer now, and Danny peered out of his one good eye to see that Gio was crouched down next to him. “Not having a great twenty-four hours, huh?”

“What do you know?” Danny said sullenly. “You just play the violin and smile all the damn time.”

Gio grinned then sat down, stretching his legs out. “My mom died, you know that, right?”

Danny grimaced. “Shit, I forgot—”

“You’re good, dude. It’s not easy, I get it. You have this world that seems perfect, you know? Especially when you got a good mom, like me. We were a team. Me and her against the world.” Gio hesitated. “Then she got sick, and the world stopped making sense. We thought she was gonna get better, and then she just—” He gestured with his hand in a descending motion. “It went bad, like, overnight, or at least that’s how it felt to me. I was twelve. A little younger than you,” he added. “And I had to leave everything. One second, I had a mom, and a life, and room, and a world. And then the next, I was living with Aunt Lois and Aunt Gloria, tryin’ to figure out a whole new situation. And none of it was fair.”

Danny sniffled, rested his forehead against his knees. “I like Jake’s mom. I just don’t want her to be mine.”

“Felt like Aunt Lois was trying to be my mom when I first came to live with them. She still hovers too much, and smothers me. But no one is ever gonna be your mom, Danny, except your mom.”

“It’s happening too fast. Too much. Mom was here, and then she wasn’t, and now I gotta move again, and m-maybe I-I gotta go to jail—” his breathing hitched again.

“You won’t go to jail. I overheard the last part of what your brother said. His mom up worrying all night with your dad? So was everyone here. You got a lot of people in your corner, Danny. Except the one person you want the most in the world because she’s gone. It sucks. And it never stops sucking, I’m sorry about that.”

Danny swiped at his eyes, wincing when he hit the bruised skin. “I know everyone just wants to help. I should—I should have been the one to go after my sister. It’s my job to take care of her.”

“Yeah, but you’re not the only one who can do that. It’s okay to let someone else clock in on that job. It’s okay not to be okay, Danny.” Gio got to his feet, held out his hand. Danny took it, let Gio pull him to his feet. “You can sit up here and keep sulking, or you can go down to check on your sister.”

—

“I can’t come back to this house for at least a week,” Jason muttered, folding his arms at the bottom of the stairs, tossing another dark glare at the closed double doors.

“Yeah, they’re a lot on a good day. And today—” Elizabeth sighed. “Today is not a good day.” She stroked his biceps. “But they’re on your side right now. We can avoid them later.”

“Yeah. And Michael’s plan is crazy enough to work, I just—I don’t know what Alexis is gonna want to do—” Jason stopped when they heard footsteps above them. They both looked towards the staircases in time to see Scout hurtling herself down the steps, Jake hot on her heels.

“Whoa, whoa—” Elizabeth met them at the bottom of the stairs, snagging Scout’s shoulder as she came past. “What happened? Are you okay?” The little girl’s face was swollen from crying, and Elizabeth snapped her fingers at her son who sighed and trotted over to fetch a box of tissues. “Scout, what happened?”

“D-Danny and J-Jake were f-fighting, and I wanted them to stop, and I want Danny to stay, and I don’t wanna go to DC, and you can’t make me! Danny’s getting a whole new family and a n-new mommy, and I don’t have a mommy anymore, and he has a daddy who likes him, and mine h-hates me—” the words poured out in a jumbled mess that ended on a wail, and Elizabeth instinctively pulled Scout into her arms, looking at Jason with alarm.

“Jake?” Jason prompted. “You and your brother were fighting?”

Jake grimaced. “I should have kept my cool, but I was tired, and he was being a jackass—it’s just a lot, Dad, you know? Getting arrested, in jail, and then finding out about you and Mom, then he has to go live with us—I know you guys didn’t want it this way, and he’ll get that it when he has a chance to cool off, but Scout’s…” He looked down at his cousin with a grim expression. “She’s getting a shitty end of the stick, you know? At least Danny’s got you on his side. Her dad sucks ass.”

Jason exhaled slowly, put an arm around Jake’s shoulders. “I know. We’re working on all of that—”

“Why can’t she come with us?” Jake wanted to know. “I mean, Scout’s not wrong. Her dad’s awful to her. And if Grandma Monica can get emergency custody, why can’t you and Mom? So Danny and Scout can stay together?”

Scout looked up, her breathing hitched. “C-Can you do that?” she asked Elizabeth. “I wanna stay with D-Danny. I don’t wanna go to DC, I wanna stay home. I w-want my mommy. Please don’t make me go! Please!”

There was another set of footsteps and Jason lifted his eyes to find Danny at the top. He shuffled down slowly, stopping a few steps above Scout, sitting down. “I know you’re all doing this because of me and what happened with Uncle Drew. But I don’t wanna come live with you. Not without Scout. You said I could stay with her until she went to DC.”

“Danny—”

“And I know you said things have changed, but not the one thing that should. Scout needs to be here. With me and people who love her. She needs to be with us.” Danny lifted his chin. “So either we come to live with you together or I don’t wanna come at all.”

+37

Sorry, went over a bit. The cat kept moving positions on the desk and I had to keep moving the keyboard, lol. I also had a little trouble with the ending, but it’s good enough 😛 See you tomorrow!

“So either we come to live with you together or I don’t wanna come at all.”

Elizabeth looked at Jason with a hint of panic in her expression. Neither of them had had a lot of time to talk about what the next step looked like — Danny’s arrest had consumed every action and thought since the phone had rung — and now Danny was threatening to torpedo even the basic plan they’d scrabbled together.

He dragged a hand down his face, looked at the children gathered around him. Jake, leaning against the banister, his mother’s worry reflected back in his expression. Danny stood on the steps, both hands fisted at his side, one of his eyes nearly swollen shut from the hit he’d taken to the face, and Scout curled up next to Elizabeth a few steps below, cheeks tear stained and eyes red. How was he supposed to fix this? Where did he even begin?

Not in the Quartermaine foyer, that was for sure.

“Let’s talk about this somewhere we won’t be interrupted,” Jason said. He held a hand out to Scout, hoping she’d take it, but she just burrowed into Elizabeth’s side.

“Why, so you can tell us no and we’re just kids so we don’t get a say?” Danny demanded. He folded his arms, dropped to sit down. “No. You can do that here.”

“Danny,” Jake said. “That’s not fair—”

“We’re going to talk about this somewhere we won’t be interrupted,” Jason repeated, feeling a bit firmer in that choice. He looked at Jake. “Can you go get Aiden? Tell him to meet us in the living room.”

“Aiden?” Jake echoed.

“Yeah. Whatever we decide has to include him. I think he’s still in the kitchen with Sasha.”

“All right,” his son agreed, drawing out the word, then taking a few steps backwards before turning and heading down the hallway.

“C’mon, sweetheart,” Elizabeth murmured, rubbing Scout’s back. “Let’s go sit somewhere more comfortable, and we can talk about what’s going to happen.” She stood, pulling Scout up with her, who reluctantly let Elizabeth lead her towards the living room, her head bowed, her steps heavy.

Jason looked at Danny who kept his head bowed. “Danny—”

“It’s not fair,” Danny muttered. “You’re just going to say no and make me go with you and I won’t have any choices, and I never have any choices—”

“We’re going to make some choices now. And I will do my best to give you what you want. But I’m just one person, Danny, and I don’t even get to make all the decisions.”

His son sighed, then reached up for the bannister, pulling himself to his feet. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”  He slunk towards the living room, and Jason waited another beat, hoping that words to make all of this work would find him before he went through the doors.

—

“Did you see his face?” Willow demanded. She paced behind her mother’s sofa, wringing her hands. “He hit him! In the face—” She pressed a fist to her mouth. “How could any of that have happened—”

“Willow, I wish you’d eat something. You haven’t—” Nina’s hands fluttered to the side as Willow passed her again. “Honey.”

Willow halted, closed her eyes, and folded her arms around her middle. “I’m feeling sorry for myself again. Making it about me. I can’t stand this. Can’t stand any of this—” She turned, looked at Nina. “What matters is Danny. Making this go away.”

“Of course, and I know his family are doing everything they can—”

“I’m part of the family—or I was before—” Willow closed her eyes. “I’m part of that family. I have to find a way to help. To fix this. You still have friends at the Sun, don’t you? I know you’re not editing there anymore, but—”

Nina lifted her brows. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that this is what it took for me to see who Drew really is.” Willow lifted her chin. “I think it’s time that everyone else gets to see it, too. He shouldn’t be able to run from this.”

—

By the time Jake had retrieved Aiden and joined them in the living room, Danny was sulking on the sofa, leaning back in the corner; Scout next to him, sitting her hands and staring at the floor while Elizabeth and Jason stood somewhat uncomfortably on the other side of the table.

Jake saw that his father had pulled the double doors closed, and reached back to do the same through the back door he and Aiden had used. And hoped his father had a plan.

“Let’s start with something simple,” Jason said, finally. He sat on the edge of the coffee table. “About something you said, Scout. About Danny getting a new family.”

She lifted her eyes, dark and miserable, tears threatening at any minute. “I’ll be all alone.”

“You won’t because I’m not going anywhere,” Danny muttered. Scout sniffled, swiping at her eyes.

“There’s no new family here,” Jason said. “Nothing is changing except where we live. I know—” He held out a hand when Danny opened his mouth, his eyes flashing. “I know, that’s a big thing, and we’ll get there.” He looked at Scout again. “Yes, when Elizabeth and I get married, she would be his stepmother. But that’s not a replacement. No one could ever replace your mother.”

“B-but—” Scout took a shaky breath. “Danny still gets his daddy all the time and his brother, and he gets a new one—and I don’t get anyone, and I don’t wanna leave, I wanna stay—why can’t Mommy come back like you did?” she said. “Y-you were dead, and you weren’t. Mommy died, so maybe she can come back, too?”

Jason hesitated. “I wish she could. I do. I know how important mothers are, and yours deserved to be here. I’m sorry she can’t be. I’m sorry for all of this, Scout. I’ve tried really hard to keep you and Danny together as long as I could. Didn’t I?” he asked, looking at Danny.

Danny grimaced, then reluctantly nodded. “Dad told me a few weeks ago,” he told Scout. “And he’s had the house for like a week. I could have moved in then, I guess. And Dad’s the one that let Grandma take us to her house last weekend.” He made a face. “It’s my fault that I can’t stay here anymore—”

“You did nothing wrong,” Elizabeth cut in, and Danny looked at her, surprised. “You did exactly what you should have done. You’ve protected your sister, just like your mother would have wanted. None of the blame for any of this is on you, Danny. Not a single ounce.”

“I swung first,” Danny said weakly. “If I hadn’t—”

“An adult hit you,” Jason said, forcing his tone to remain even though just the reminder of how Danny had obtained the black made him want to shove something—or someone—through a window. “No one could — or should have — predicted that.”

“Maybe, but it still doesn’t change anything. I can’t stay here because the judge said I could go home because of Elizabeth.” Danny cleared his throat. “I didn’t mean it. About not going with you. I know I don’t have a choice—”

Elizabeth came up behind Jason, touched his shoulder in solidarity. “For right now, Danny. Just until we get these charges dealt with it. All of this happening so fast, it’s all right to be upset. To be angry. I’m angry, too. None of this is fair. And we’re asking you and your sister to be more mature than some of the adults in this situation have managed.”

“But why can’t you and Dad just, like, ask the court to give you Scout, too?” Jake asked, and Jason looked at him. “I know they might say no, but you could ask.”

“Yeah.” Danny sat up. “You said  Grandma and Aunt Tracy made it so Drew can’t take her with him, but how come that means she has to be here? Why can’t she be with us? We could be together. And you won’t have to do anything. I’ll do laundry or I don’t know how to cook,” he muttered. “But I could learn—”

“I would be really good,” Scout said, sniffling. “I can be really quiet. I can stay in my room all the time—”

“Honey.” Elizabeth sank onto the sofa next to her, stroked her hair. “I appreciate that you and your brother want to do anything you can to stay together. Believe me, that’s something your uncle has been agonizing over for weeks. But it’s not a matter of us wanting you—”

“The court has to agree,” Jason said, and Scout sighed.

“I don’t like them. They took Danny away, too. They’re mean.” She folded her arms.

“But you’ll ask?” Aiden asked, leaning forward. “Mom, you told me if you don’t ask, the answer is always no.”

“Well—” Jason hesitated, then met Elizabeth’s eyes. She lifted her brows, and he nodded. Why not, right? If there was a chance Chase and Brook Lynn could get custody, why not them?

“Well, if Aiden’s suggesting it and not asking about room assignments,” Elizabeth said, smiling when her youngest’s cheeks flushed. “Then I know he’s serious. If that’s something you both want us to do—but Scout, sweetheart. Are you sure about this? It’s a big thing, you know. Your daddy isn’t going to say yes, so we’re going to have depend on the judge to say yes, too. It might be hard for you.”

Scout was quiet for a long moment, then slid her pink sweater up her arm, revealing ugly bruises on her forearm, in a familiar finger-shaped pattern. Jason tensed, then laid a hand on Danny’s knee, recognizing the rage boiling in his son’s expression.

“Daddy doesn’t talk to me. Or know when I’m there. And he’s mad at me all the time. I don’t like when he grabs me and makes me do things.”

“Well—” Elizabeth’s voice was slightly strangled as she continued. “That settles that. Jake, can you get my phone? We should take some pictures of your arm. So we can give it to the judge, okay?” she asked Scout.

Scout nodded. “I can pack, too. I can be faster than Danny. You can take me home today—”

“We can’t, not yet,” Jason interrupted, and she looked at him, her lower lip trembling. “Not because we don’t want to, but we have to follow all the rules so the judge will say yes. And right now, you have to stay here, and Danny has to come with us. Just for a little while. Is that okay?”

Scout bit her lip, made a face. “Okay. I can do that. I can be strong, like Mommy. She would want me to be, right? I don’t want her to ever be mad or sad at me,” Scout told Jason.

“There’s nothing you could ever do that would have made your mother sad,” Jason reassured her. “I know she’s watching over you, and she’s really proud of you.”

Scout furrowed her brow. “Daddy told me Mommy would be sad if I lied. So I promise not to lie—” she looked at Jake with big eyes. “But I lied to him. I told Daddy I wouldn’t tell, and I told you—”

“It’s okay.” Jake leaned over the back of the sofa. “I found out what you told me was true from someone else who already knew. So you saw exactly what you thought. Your dad is the one who lied.”

“Oh.” Scout seemed relieved for a moment, then Jake’s words sank in. “But if I—if I saw Daddy kissing Aunt Willow, then he lied to me. Why did he do that?”

Because her father was a raging asshole who needed to be dropped in the harbor with a block of cement around his feet, Jason thought darkly. “Because he was wrong. But don’t worry about him, Scout. I’ll make sure he knows he was wrong, and if I can stop it, he won’t ever do it again.”

+46

Written in 61 minutes. See you tomorrow!

Elizabeth knocked lightly on Cameron’s open bedroom door where Danny was dumping out his duffel bag. She leaned against the door frame, folding her arms. “Anything you want for dinner? We usually order from Mama Mangione.”

“I’m not hungry,” Danny muttered, dropping onto the bed and staring down at the carpet, his shoulders hunched. “I won’t mess anything up in Cam’s room. So don’t worry—”

“I’m not.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “Your dad left for your grandmother’s, so it’s just us for a while. I can bring up a menu—”

“I’m not hungry,” Danny repeated, finally looking at her, his mouth pinched in a familiar expression — his mother’s, Elizabeth thought. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Danny, I know we talked a little at the Quartermaine’s, but maybe you and I should have a conversation, just you and me. Can I come in?”

“It’s your house.” Danny jerked a shoulder, dropped his gaze to the carpet again.

Deciding that would have to be enough, Elizabeth turned Cameron’s desk chair around, perched on the edge. “I know the last few months have been unfair, and you’ve been asked to deal with more than any kid your age should be—”

“I’m not a kid,” Danny muttered.

“You are,” Elizabeth said gently. “And I’m sorry that the adults in your life — that we haven’t done a better job of protecting you so that you get to stay that way a little while longer. I know you think I’m just here because of your dad—”

“Aren’t you? Didn’t you do all of this so he could win in court?” Danny asked, lifting his gaze to hers. “Mom used to say all you wanted was to marry my dad.”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together, counted to ten in her head. “I would worry about you regardless of your father. Because you’re Jake’s brother, and he loves you. It’s okay if you don’t believe me. It’s okay if you don’t like me—”

“I didn’t—” Danny took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I—you’ve always been nice to me. And I shouldn’t have said that about my mom. She stopped saying things like that a long time ago, I guess—” He made a face. “And I’m making you ask to get custody of my sister, so it’s not fair to be a dick—”

“You’re not making me do anything. Jason and I were already discussing with the rest of the family how to handle your sister’s situation. None of us want her with Drew. We just hadn’t considered that the right choice might be with us — mostly because we’ve only been an us for about—” She leaned over to get a glimpse of Cameron’s clock on the nightstand. “About twenty hours now.”

“Oh.” Danny paused, considered that information. “I’m just…it’s stupid to be mad because you didn’t do anything wrong. You’re not the reason my mother isn’t here. But if you and Dad get married, and we get Scout, you get to…you get to be the one who’s here. And I don’t remember a lot from before I was seven. Maybe Scout won’t remember my mom.”

“We’ll do everything we can to make sure Scout remembers her. There’s pictures, and you and your dad will tell her stories. Your grandmother, your aunts —” Elizabeth rose and went to Cameron’s dresser where a jumble of framed photos were scattered. He’d taken a few with him to California, but —

She sat next to him, held out the framed photo Danny. “Do you know who this is?”

Danny took the cheap plastic frame, studied it. “That’s my Aunt Emily. I never met her, but Mom and Uncle Drew named Scout for her.”

“She was my best friend in the whole world,” Elizabeth said. “And she loved my boys. She spoiled Cameron rotten, and that’s a photo of them at his last birthday party. She gave him a firetruck that lights up and makes the most annoying sounds. We passed it on to Jake —” Before the accident. “And then to Aiden. Jake doesn’t remember her. She died when he was a baby. And Cameron—oh, he doesn’t really remember her either now. She’s just—a warm feeling. When he thinks about her, he remembers the love, but not her face.”

“I don’t want it to be like that for Scout. For me. What if I start to forget her?” Danny asked. He gave her back the photo. “What if I like it here? You’re a good mom. Scout already likes you. She might call you Mom one day. Because she doesn’t remember ours.”

“Well, I hope you like it here. And I hope your sister gets to come with us, too. But Danny — you are never going to forget your mother. She loved you so much, you know. She didn’t know she’d be able to have kids for a long time. That was really tough on her, thinking that dream was over. But then you came along, and then your sister. I don’t want to replace her. I couldn’t.”

“I’m sorry for being an ass,” Danny said, though he dropped his eyes to the carpet. “I keep telling myself not to do it—”

“And the words leave your mouth anyway, and all you want to do is drag them back in?” Elizabeth finished. He offered her a weak smile. “I’ve raised three teenage boys, Danny. Don’t worry about me. And give yourself a break.” She got to her feet, set the photo back in its place, then looked back at Danny. “You know, your father once said something to me, a long time ago. You’ve been through so much these last few weeks, Danny, and everything is happening so fast, you can barely keep up. Things happen fast, and you have to live through them slow.”

“Sounds like something he’d say,” Danny said, flopping back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. “All mysterious and riddles.”

She smiled. “It just means, Danny, that all we can ever do is control our reaction to what happens to us. We take life one step at a time. I can’t slow down the world, but I can look after my corner of it which includes you, your dad, and your sister. So, I’m bringing you the menu, because if there’s something else I know about teenage boys, it’s how much you eat.”

—

Nina opened the door, smiling grimly at Michael and stepping aside so that he could come in. “You came fast,” she said. She looked over at Willow. “I’m going to head into the office, call me—call me if you need anything.”

“Thanks.” Willow rose to her feet, lacing her fingers together nervously. “You, um, didn’t argue when I asked you to come over.”

Michael combed his hand through his hair, shifting uncomfortably. “Well, I was gonna call you. Not about—not about you and me. Just—about something else. But—” He paused. “I’m sorry,” he said. “About how things happened at the PCPD. I should have told you a long time ago what I knew.”

“I wish you had,” Willow said. “Not because it would have changed anything, I guess. But I just—less time to think of how humiliated I feel would have been nice, though not your problem to solve. And we—we have to figure all of that out. We will.” She waited a beat. “But that’s not why I asked you to come over. Drew…he can’t get away with what he wants to do. The judge sounded like he didn’t like the charges against Danny, and I know Jason and your family are going to fight hard for him. I want to help — but I also — there’s Scout. If he could hurt Danny—”

“He left bruises on her the day he took her from Alexis’s,” Michael finished, and Willow closed her eyes. “You don’t have to worry about her. My family has emergency custody of her, and—well, Brooke and Chase were going to petition for guardianship, but then Jason and Elizabeth decided they wanted to.”

“Oh. Oh that makes such sense,” Willow said, sighing in relief. “They would get to stay together, and Elizabeth would be so good for them. But—Drew—he’ll fight.”

“Yeah, that’s why I thought—why I wanted to know if you’d be willing to help.” He met her gaze. “Because I have a plan to force him to walk away from Scout. It just—I need you to pull it off.”

“My answer is yes, but maybe you should start from the beginning and tell me exactly what you want me to do.”

—

“How’s Danny?” Molly asked, pulling the door open wider so Jason could come in. “Is he all right?”

“Handling it,” Jason said, then looked across the room to find Alexis waiting by the fireplace. Kristina sat on the sofa, her arms tightly folded, her eyes trained on the ground. “He’s with Elizabeth and the boys, so this is going to have to be quick.” He stepped down into the living room proper. “Before you start — ” he held up a hand when Alexis opened her mouth. “I want to make a few things clear. Elizabeth and I are getting married, and Danny will live with us. Molly, I want you to get started on a petition to award us guardianship of Scout. Monica has emergency custody, but it probably won’t hold us with her as the guardian.”

“No, not with her health. Um—” Molly bit her lip, looked at her mother, then back at Jason. “This—you guys decided this after court?”

“We had other plans, but Danny and Scout asked for this. Scout doesn’t want to be with her father—” He retrieved his phone from his pocket, scrolled to the right photo and handed it Molly who inhaled sharply. “I don’t know if this will give us enough to keep her, but it’s a start.” He looked back to Alexis who had remained silent. “So if you have anything to say that isn’t an offer to cooperate so that the kids stay with me, I don’t want to hear it.”

“Who do you think you are?” Kristina demanded, jumping to her feet. Molly threw her a dirty look. “No, he has no right to talk to us like that—”

“He does,” Alexis said finally, and Kristina looked at her mother, startled. “I—” She closed her eyes, pressed her hands to her face. “You came to me. You wanted to find a resolution. And you warned me Drew would come here. I just—I never—”

“Mom, you have nothing to apologize for,” Kristina said, stepping up to her mother. “We just wanted what was best for the kids—”

“Stop it. Just—” Alexis curled her hand into a fist. “What you showed Molly—it’s Scout. Drew hurt her. And the cops just let him. He dragged her out of here yesterday—” She turned away, her voice faltering. “I should have stopped him. I tried to, but he’d already hit Danny, and I was so worried Danny would get up and go after him again, especially when his sister started to cry—I thought I was doing the right thing, I thought—” She looked at Jason. “All I did was make everything worse.”

Jason exhaled slowly. Though he’d come here prepared for whatever Alexis might try, he hadn’t expected this. “Neither of us thought it would escalate this way. Even after the penthouse. I never thought he’d hurt the kids. I don’t blame you for yesterday. I blame Drew. And I blame the system who let this happen to Danny.  I don’t want to fight, Alexis. Not with you. The kids need you. They need all of you,” he said, looking at Kristina who pursed her lips, but dropped her gaze. “They need us to be a team, Alexis. With one goal. Keeping them safe and happy. I think that Elizabeth and I can make a good home for them, and you agree — or you wouldn’t have tried to turn Elizabeth into your witness.”

Alexis laughed, the sound little more than a broken sob mixed with a bite of sour humor. “Oh, yeah. She saw right through me, didn’t she?”

“Alexis—”

“Whatever you need me to do. Whatever you need the girls to do. All that matters is Danny and Scout. And stopping Drew.”

—

The door to Sonny’s office opened so fast, the door bounced off the wall and came flying back. Carly slapped her hand to keep it from hitting her, scowling at Sonny who’d barely blinked at her dramatic entrance. “I’m done sitting back and letting you destroy my friendship with Jason—”

“Oh, is that what I’m doing?” Sonny said with a smirk, leaning back. “I haven’t even spoken to him—”

“The hearing didn’t go well,” Carly said, and Sonny frowned at her. “Sure, Danny was released, but maybe you didn’t hear which illustrious member of the district attorney’s office picked up the case.”

Sonny exhaled slowly. “Who?”

“Justine Turner. And from the way Michael described it—” Carly lifted her brows. “Turner’s ready to throw the book at Danny, probably to twist the knife against Jason. Or get Jason on something to make Danny’s charges go away.”

“That’s bullshit.” Sonny scowled. “We can’t let that happen—”

“No, we can’t.” Carly paused. “Jason’s stood up for us, for our kids at every turn. Every time we needed him, he was there. At the cost of his own life, his own freedom, his time with his kids. I may not like what he did with the FBI and taking the hit for me, but he did it for me and the kids without even blinking. He did that for you, too. I don’t know how, Sonny, but God damn it, it’s our turn to do something for him. So get your ass out of that chair and do something good for once.”

+46

Written in 63 minutes. Sorry, I just went a little overboard writing the teens. You know I love to write teen dialogue.

Jason raised his hand hesitantly to knock at the front door, then reminded himself he didn’t have to do that anymore. He lowered his hand, twisted the door knob, and came in to find all three boys in the living room having a heated argument over a controller and something on the television screen.

“I called it, I get to go first!” Aiden grimaced, jerking the controller from Jake only to lose when Jake tried to put it behind his back and Danny snagged it.

“Hey!”

“I might go to jail forever, I should get to play first—”

“He doesn’t get to use that! That’s not fair!”

Jason considered intervening, but noticed that Elizabeth was in the kitchen, ignoring the entire scene and decided that she likely knew better than he did what was serious and what was…ridiculous.

He met her in the kitchen, then jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Should we be worried?”

“No.” A smile twitched on her lips as she listened to the boys bicker. “Path to Exile 2 came out today, and it just finished downloading onto the console. I’ve missed listening to the boys argue about games since Jake went to Spain.”

None of those words made any sense to Jason, but he let it go. “Fair enough.”

“How did it go with Alexis?” Elizabeth asked. She turned back to the cabinet and leaned up to reach for a stack of paper plates. “Is she going to be a problem?”

“No.” Jason brushed her aside to retrieve the plates more easily, then handed them to her. “Alexis is on board. She wants the kids to stay together, and doesn’t want to fight anymore.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth furrowed her brow, bit her lip. “I wasn’t expecting that honestly. She fought so hard and seemed so sure — you said you went to see her the other day and it was like talking to a brick wall.”

“Having Danny hauled out of her house in cuffs and watching Drew put his hands on Scout—” Jason grimaced, set the plates on the counter. “She’s withdrawing her case and will cooperate with us.”

“Well, that’s good.” Elizabeth smiled when a new sound came from the living room, a swell of music. “They must have decided or one of them knocked the third one out. There’s only two controllers,” she added when Jason looked mystified. She went to the doorway to check. “Danny and Aiden. Jake is sulking in the corner of the sofa.” She turned back to the counter to find Jason watching her. “What?”

“Nothing. I just—” He tipped his head. “You make all this look easy. You always did, you know. When they were younger. Now. I get why Alexis thought you’d be the linchpin for her case.” He looked back to the living room. “I don’t know what to say to Danny half the time, and it’s a miracle Jake is even talking to me—”

“You got a little out of practice.” Elizabeth slid onto one of the stools. “But you were always so good with Michael. And look how you handled Jake after Sonny dropped that horrible bomb on him. This stuff—” She shrugged. “You’ll get used to it.”

“That’s the plan.” He reached for her hand, rubbed his thumb across the stone. “I’m sorry. So much of these last few weeks—this last week—you’ve had to put your whole life on hold to deal with this. Everything with Lucky and Sonny—that started because of me—”

“—because of Sonny—” she interrupted, but he continued as if she hadn’t cut in.

“—the deposition, court—”

“Just like I told Danny earlier today — I would still be worried about those kids even if you hadn’t come home. They’re Jake’s family. They’re your family. It’s just fortunate that you did come home, and I get to help.”

He started to respond but the door opened again behind them, and before he could turn around fully to see who had come through, Elizabeth was off the stool like she’d been shot from the cannon.

“Cameron! What are you doing here?” she demanded with a laughing grin, hugging her oldest son tightly, even before he’d fully come through the door.

Cameron hugged her back, then looked around the room. “Well, Jake called me yesterday and I got the idea that I might be needed at home.” He looked at his mother, lifting his brows the same way she always did to ask a question. “Am I too late?”

—

“There’s got to be someone who wants to make some damn money,” Drew muttered, tossing his phone aside after yet another attorney declined to take his case. He scrubbed his hands down his face. “What the hell.”

There was a light knock at his door, and he looked up—then jerked to his feet. “Come crawling back?” Drew asked with some derision.

“No. Just dropping off a copy of the official withdrawal from the case.” Ric set it on his desk. “And as my last act — a copy of something that was filed in your case. For your next lawyer—”

Drew snatched the papers from him, read through the first paragraph, hissed. “The Qs think they can steal my daughter? What the hell—”

“They know the right people, Drew, and you don’t. You might think about finding a way out of this. Before it hits the papers full force.”

“And why should I listen to you?” Drew demanded. “You don’t give a damn about me. Or my daughter. Or anyone but yourself.”

“You don’t want to take my advice? Suit yourself. But don’t blame me when you don’t even have your political career to fall back on.”

—

Cameron shed his jacket, handing it to his mother. “Jake said something about needing your favorite and best son at home—”

“You wish,” his brother sneered, but looked at his mother. “I thought he could get here in time, but I didn’t say anything when he couldn’t find a flight.  You know, a pre-med Stanford soccer star to show off your mom skills. We might still need you, so are you okay to stay a few days?”

“I thought we needed to get Danny out of the clink.” Cameron nodded at the boy in question. “Hey, Danny. Heard you decked a Congressman.” He winced. “But it looks like you took a pretty bad hit. How come he’s the one who got charged?” he asked his mother.

“World is stupid,” Jake offered. “We need to keep Danny out of jail, but the plan’s changed—”

“Whoa, wait. Let’s just—” Elizabeth hissed when there was another knock at the door. “Grand Central Station tonight,” she muttered, turning to look out the window. “Oh, that’s dinner—”

“I’ll get it,” Jason told  her, stepping behind her and opening the door.

“What did Jake tell you? Other than Danny?” Elizabeth wanted to know.

“Did he tell you about Lucky?”

“Lucky?” Cameron turned his younger brother. “No. Why?”

“That’s for later,” Jake interrupted before Aiden could speak again.

Bewildered, Cameron shrugged. He edged out of the way as Jason came back in the door with several plastic bags and headed for the kitchen. “Okay, we’ll follow up on that later, I guess. All Jake told me was that Danny decked Drew and got arrested, Jason and you are getting married, Danny’s coming to live here, and we need to make Drew disappear.” Cameron frowned. “I’m mostly confused on the Drew part. Didn’t we like him?”

“That was before he gave Danny a black eye,” Aiden supplied.

“And slept with Michael’s wife,” Jake said.

“And hurt my sister,” Danny finished.

Cameron looked at them, then back at his mother. “Okay, so we should probably start at the beginning. Oh, is that Mama Mangione’s? Hell, yeah.” He kissed his mother’s cheek. “Yo, Jason, let me get some of that garlic bread.”

—

Brook Lynn was waiting when Michael returned from Nina’s and handed him a tumbler of bourbon as soon as he came in the room. “Figured you might want that no matter how the situation went.”

“You’re not wrong,” Michael muttered, taking a sip. “Where’s the rest of the family?”

“Told them to give you some space. It’s been nothing but chaos here for days, and you’ve been at the center of it. I’m sorry,” Brook Lynn added when he just sighed. “This really sucks.”

“Yeah.” Michael made a face. “I told Willow about Scout. About the conversation Jake had with her on Thanksgiving about what she saw in the nursery. And how Drew handled it.”

“Gaslighting piece of garbage,” Brook Lynn muttered. “Telling his own kid she didn’t see what she saw and playin’ her like a violin. Nasty—”

“Willow confirmed it happened. She never saw Scout. Drew came to her that day at the hospital — Elizabeth saw them. He tried to get her to leave me. She refused, and he tried again later.” He stared into the dark liquor. “Claimed Scout was at school. Didn’t know or care that she wasn’t. Willow was mortified.”

“She should be. Sleeping with her uncle. I’m sorry, Michael, I support whatever you end up doing about her, but I gotta tell you, even for the Qs, this is pretty twisted. At least my dad didn’t know who Aunt Monica was before they slept together.”

Michael pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead. “Brook—”

“Sorry. Sorry. I just get so heated thinking about poor Scout. She’s got bruises on her arm, and she thinks her daddy hates her, but, like it’s just worse because maybe he doesn’t even give a damn about her. You know, Sam told me last year Drew was up in arms about sending her off to boarding school and only backed down when Sam was like, fuck that—” Brook Lynn took a deep breath. “It’s just awful who Drew turned out to be. If you got a kid, you gotta do whatever you can to keep them safe. To give them their best life. Even if it hurts you or might want something else. That kid has got to come first—” She paused when the door started to open. “Oh, hey, Gio.”

“Sorry, sorry, just forgot my case in here earlier—” Gio scooped up the case in question. “Oh, and hey, good luck doing whatever you’re doing with Drew. I hope you win.”

“So do we,” Brook said with a smile. When he was gone, she looked back at Michael. “Okay, so back to what we were talking about before I started ranting. What did Willow say? I mean, is she in?”

“Yeah. She’s in.”

—

Cameron scooped another forkful of spaghetti on to his garlic bread. “Okay, so really all I have to do is show up in court, look awesome, and make you look good,” he said to his mother. “I can handle that.”

“I know you can,” Elizabeth said, passing behind him. Jason couldn’t help but notice she seemed to have a new bounce in her step — and realized it was the first time she’d had all her boys at home in more than a year.

“I,  um, I put my stuff in your room,” Danny said a bit nervously, and Cam looked at him. “I didn’t know you were coming back today. I can do the sofa—”

“See, this is why I told you we had to figure out the rooms,” Aiden said, looking a little smug. Then he winced. “Ow!” He leaned over, rubbed his shin. “That hurt!”

“Bring up rooms again, see what happens,” Jake threatened.

“I’m cool on the sofa, Danny,” Cameron said with a shrug. “Or I can call some friends and bunk with them—”

“Oh, no, we can can figure something out—” Elizabeth said. “What about—”

“I think Aiden’s right,” Jason said, and Aiden stuck his tongue out at Jake. “We should probably have a conversation. Especially with what we’ve talked about earlier. I was going to talk to you tonight—” he told Elizabeth. “Run it past you first—”

“We’ve always decided things together,” Elizabeth said, taking her seat again. “And I don’t mind saying no in front of them.”

“She’s ruthless,” Cameron said, with a shake of his head. “Cuts a dream to shreds.”

“Your dream was to get a tattoo, dude. Of Joss’s name. Mom called that one,” Jake reminded him and Cameron scowled. “Hey, I’m not the one with bad ideas.”

Cameron opened his mouth to likely list at least a dozen examples, but a glare from his mother had him hunching his shoulders.

“What was your idea?” Elizabeth asked, ignoring her sons.

“The house. It’s still—I mean, it’s two blocks over. Pretty close. There’s nothing in it now,” Jason continued. “But I thought maybe Cam might want to use it. He’s been on his own for a while now. He’d still be close,” he hurried when Elizabeth hesitated, but Cameron’s eyes had already lit up — which is why he’d planned to bring it up later.

“See—this is why you’re my favorite.” Cameron stabbed a fork at Jason. “Best ideas.”

“Didn’t you try to shoot him once?” Aiden asked.

“You tried to shoot my dad?” Danny furrowed her brow. “Wait—”

Cameron scowled, dropped his fork to the table. “Hey, if we start talking about all the dumb things people at this table have done, I’ll start with—”

“And to think I wanted them to come home,” Elizabeth said, with a groan as the boys started to argue. She put her fingers to her temples.

“Sorry,” Jason said. “I should have waited to suggest this to you later—”

“No, your idea is perfect. Cameron absolutely should have some independence. And space. And I can see Jake wanting some, too, later. After he goes back to school next fall.” Elizabeth squeezed his hand. “It’s a great idea. And he’ll be really close.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. Yes,” she repeated when he still looked a little hesitant. “Let me get them back under control before you think I raised a bunch of heathens.” She turned back to the table, and raising her voice, said, “Okay, before Jason and Danny run from this house to escape you lunatics—Jake, Aiden, stop messing with your brother. Cam, stop giving them reasons.”

She took a deep breath. “It’s a great idea, Cam. And for tonight, you and Jake can share. Danny’s just getting settled—”

“But then Danny and I will share,” Jake said. “Because Scout’s a girl and she’ll need her own room.” He looked at his parents. “Right? Isn’t that what you and Danny’s grandma talked about? We’re gonna get, Scout, aren’t?”

“Yeah.” Jason took Elizabeth’s hand again, looked at her, then looked at the boys. “Yeah, we are.”

+40

Written in 59 minutes.

Molly peered through the peephole, then rested her forehead against the door, wishing she were anywhere else today. Or that TJ wasn’t working so that she’d have someone else in the room for this conversation.

“I can see the shadow on the ground, Molly. I know you’re in there,” came her father’s muffled voice.

She made a face, then reluctantly slid back the bolt and flicked off the chain before twisting the knob. She pulled the door open just a little, and lifted her brows. “This is as far as you get, Dad.”

Ric sighed, then nodded. “That’s fair. I just—I needed you to know that I’ve resigned from Drew’s case. Officially. You’ll be getting the notice tomorrow.”

“You took the case—”

“And you took Jason’s. Because we both thought your mother was out of line filing in the first place,” Ric interrupted, and she looked away. “My only mistake was trying to make a deal with Alexis to make Drew’s case go away—”

“You were with him in the station yesterday, Dad. You left with him—Even after you saw what he did to Danny—”

“I tried to get him to back down—sweetheart, please, can we just—” He gestured to the door, but Molly didn’t budge. “I wanted to make this go away—”

“You didn’t care about Danny or Scout or Drew, Dad. Don’t pretend that this wasn’t personal. Especially when you saw Elizabeth on Jason’s side. You’ve always hated him, and resented her for not marrying you again. Even though you were lying. Again.” Molly’s eyes burned. “You always do this. You make me think you’re here for me, but you never are. You take Ava’s case because it’s a poke at Sonny, and you take Drew’s case to stick it to Jason, but it’s never about me.”

“Molly—”

“I’m done. I’m just—I am so done.” And then she closed the door.

—

“Um—” Willow folded her arms nervously as Michael locked the front door to the gatehouse. “Thank you. For inviting me to dinner. It—it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. With…everything knowing. And for…not letting the kids know things are weird right now. It was good to be with them for bedtime.”

“Remind me to tell you some stories about my grandparents sometime, and you’ll understand,” Michael said dryly. He leaned against the door. “And I asked you to come home not because this is okay. Or that we’re okay. I don’t even know if I want it to be okay.”

“I get that. And…well, after what you said this morning, I don’t know if I want that either.” She exhaled, looked away. “Which sounds insane, I guess. To be angry that you cheated, too.   But I am.”

“I know.” Michael waited, but she didn’t say anything else, just looked awkwardly at the floor. “I’ll sleep in the guest room tonight, and we’ll figure out something. But first — ”

“First we deal with Drew.” Willow nodded. “Let’s go over the plan again.”

—

Cam wrinkled his nose at the double bed in Jake’s room. “You know, I’m the guest. I should get the bed, you should get the floor.”

“It’s share or the floor.” Jake sat on the bed cross-legged. “If you play your cards right, maybe we can get my dad’s credit card and not Mom’s, and we can actually do something with that place he bought that isn’t card tables and folding chairs.”

“Yeah, what’s all that about?” Cameron grunted, kicking off his sneakers. “How come Jason bought a house in the first place?”

“Before they decided to get married, me, Dad, and Danny were gonna live there.” Jake made a face. “Feels like forever ago we decided that, but it was really just, like a month. Back when Sonny dumped all that on me and Aiden, and Dad went nuclear on him.”

“Sorry I couldn’t tell you guys more.” Cameron twisted slightly to look at him. “Mom was really good about keeping most of that from me. And I was always at Gram’s back in the day anyway. When she had overnights, and Lucky, I guess, didn’t want to deal with me. So I couldn’t tell you when we moved out or back in. And I sort of remember living altogether at the big house, but that was like…five seconds. And I think I only remember from pictures. Mostly, I just remember the old house and Gram’s. Lucky wasn’t around much anyway. I don’t even remember calling him Dad.”

“Me either.” Jake waited as Cameron disappeared behind the closet door, then came back with his jeans and sweatshirt balled up, wearing basketball shorts and a t-shirt. “You didn’t say much about Mom getting married. I figured you’d have questions.”

“Not really. I mean, I guess the one thing I do remember from that time was Jason. He came around a lot. Or Mom ran into him a lot, too. More after you came along. And when you were…gone,” Cameron added, “before he got snatched, too, he was around. And you know whenever one of us had a problem, Mom was calling Jason.”

“Yeah, like when Cyrus kidnapped you that time, I don’t even think she called the police.”

“Nope.” Cameron crawled into the bed. “I guess maybe I’m surprised because Mom seemed pretty done with all of that after Franco died. Finn was obviously not the guy.” He wrinkled his nose. “I never liked him.”

“I tolerated him, but man, if Mom had wanted to marry him—” Jake wiggled his shoulders. “No, thanks. Especially since he turned out to be a drunk. Mom was right to drop kick him. And—Dad gave her backup for that.”

“See? Feels like it was kind of inevitable.” Cam shoved a pillow against the headboard, then sat back. “The real question is, how do we feel about our merry band of three becoming a quintet. Danny and Scout coming to live here full time?”

“It’s what needs to happen,” Jake said firmly. “Danny needs to be with Dad, and Scout deserves better than her asshole dad.”

“Crazy how all that’s played out,” Cameron mused. “There was a time Drew was solid, you know? When he was Jake Doe, when he was supposed to be Jason, and then even when he found out he was Drew — he was always there. But the way you’ve been telling it—”

“He said it was prison. That he took the heat for Joss’s mom, and figured out no one was ever gonna put him first. Maybe that’s true, but I also think he got his brains scrambled a few times too many and lost his damn mind. He almost went after Mom, Cam. I thought Dad was gonna put him through the wall. Or the harbor.”

“Yeah, Jason doesn’t fuck around when it comes to Mom.” Cameron looked at him. “You know, Jason and Drew are twins. And they were identical twins before Drew’s face got screwed up. So even though you and Scout are, like, cousins, you’re biologically siblings.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So you know how Mom tells us that half doesn’t mean anything, and the only time she ever got really mad at me as when I said something about Aiden only being half my brother, so I didn’t have to play with him — ” Cameron shook his head. “Feared for my life that day. You were still dead,” he added. “Anyway,” he continued when Jake rolled his eyes. “I just mean that Scout’s basically your sister anyway. And any sibling of yours — they’re mine, too. And Aiden’s. Plus, this whole thing gets me a house of my own—”

“Which we’re supposed to share after I go back to school and come home on break,” Jake reminded him, whacking him with a pillow. “It’ll be cool for Mom, you know, to have a girl around. She’s always been so outnumbered, and the only girly thing any of us have ever liked was baking—ow—” He winced when Cameron whipped the pillow at him. “Hey!”

“Baking’s not girly, and you don’t say that shit where Aiden can hear you,” Cameron threatened. “And you like watercolors, so who’s the girl now asshole?” He ducked the first return throw from Jake, but couldn’t escape the second. And then it was war.

—

Elizabeth stood in the doorway of her room for another minute, listening to thuds and whacks coming from down the hall, and closed her eyes, savoring it.

“You’re not worried they’re going to kill each other?”

She turned to find Jason sitting on the bed — perched on the edge, as if ready to take flight, and her smile deepened. She closed the door, leaned against it. “Do you know how many times I’ve dreamed about this moment?”

“Listening to your kids attempt murder?” he asked, but there was a line of amusement threading through the words.

“Well, yeah, a little bit of that, but—” she opened her eyes, tipped her head. “Having all my boys under one roof — and you in the same house. Danny’s a new addition to the dream, but I’m already adjusting to it.”

“You’re sure it’s a good idea for me to be in here tonight?” he rose to his feet and crossed to her. “I could have done the sofa again—”

She laid her hands on his shoulders, across the thin fabric of the t-shirt he’d changed into. “I think it’s important that we begin on the right note. This is Danny’s first night here, and I want him to feel at home. He was so uncomfortable taking Cam’s room with Cam here — I don’t him to feel like his dad is a guest here, too.”

“You’re right, and I want to be here—” He touched her chin, stroking the soft skin with his thumb. “I just—this is all happening so fast—”

“Well, this being the first night we’ve ever spent under the same roof together with our seventeen-year-old son, some might suggest it’s not  fast enough,” she teased, and she was rewarded with his smile. “And hey, we shared our first apartment four months after we met—”

“Is that how we’re describing recovering from a gunshot in your studio with no heat in December?” he asked dryly.

“It was cozy, and you loved it. Until Bobbie guilted you into leaving.” She leaned up to press her lips briefly to his, but he slid his hands up to cup her jaw and held her against him longer, deepening the embrace until her senses spun, and she gripped his shoulders to stay up right.

“One of my favorite places to be was that firetrap,” he murmured against her mouth, and she laughed, and he kissed her forehead when she started to pull back. “I just don’t want the boys to be uncomfortable with it.”

“And if they were younger, maybe we’d have a different conversation. But they’ll get used to it. Don’t worry,” she said, kissing his chin, “all I have in mind tonight is sleep. I’m not planning to seduce you.”

“You wouldn’t have try very hard.” He kissed the inside of her palm, then held her hand a little longer. “But—”

“But the timing isn’t right,” she said and he nodded. “We do suck at that most of the time. But I think our luck is beginning to change.”

“I hope so. We’ve…made a lot of promises to the boys. To Scout.” Some of the amusement faded. “I know we told them it might not work, but I don’t think they’re prepared for any outcome where we lose.”

“We’re going to do everything we can, and if Michael’s plan works—by Christmas, this will all be over.”

—

It had a been a long, excruciating, and irritating day — that had begun with just a little bit of promise but had ended with a tense meeting with her boss.

Robert Scorpio had not been happy with her trip to family court this morning.

Still smarting from his rebuke—and from the judge’s attitude, Justine Turner closed the door to her condo, kicked off her heels, and mentally began to pour herself a drink.

And then the light switched on. She hissed, whirled around and stopped in her tracks.

Sitting on her sofa sat Sonny Corinthos, his hand still on the lamp he’d turned on.

“ADA Turner. I was wondering when you’d get home. You work very late,” he said with a lift of his brows. “It’s hard work building a prosecution against a teenager, I suppose.”

Justine fished in her purse. “You are insane — out of your mind — you and your partner. I’ll have you arrested—”

“Oh. I wouldn’t do that. Not if you want Mommy Dearest to remain in that five star nursing home you’ve mortgaged your condo to pay for. And how are those student loans doing, Justine? Struggling to make ends meet?”

Her fingers stilled on the phone, and then she lifted her eyes to the mobster. “What?”

“You and I should do each other a favor. I’ll make your life easier, and in exchange, you drop the charges against Danny Morgan.” Sonny’s lips curved into a smile, the dimples winking. “And then we pretend this never happened.”

Her hand tightened around the phone, and for a long beat, they just considered each other. Then she sighed, the sound escaping with an exasperated huff. She tossed the phone on the sofa. “I don’t like family court anyway. Pour me a drink, and let’s make a deal.”

+40

Written in 68 minutes. Sorry, went over because the cat was being a pain and the first scene took a bit of extra time but I figure you won’t argue.

Jason opened his eyes, instantly awake. In the shadows of the room, lit by nothing more than the streetlights outside, he saw the white ceiling above him, not the popcorn ceiling of his room at the diner, and took a moment to orient himself.

He turned his head to the side, and saw Elizabeth curled on her side, both hands clasped and tucked under her chin, strands of her dark hair laying across her cheek, her eyes moving just slightly beneath her lids, indicating she was still in deep sleep. In the short stretches of time they’d had together, he’d only woken beside her a handful of times — and only once after spending an entire night together.

And yet, laying here, watching her sleep, her chest rising slightly, it seemed as natural as taking his own breath. It had been that way for them in the beginning, the night they’d met at the bar, and he wondered what it meant that after all they’d been through, after all the stops and starts, tears and angry words, the months of not seeing each other at all — that they could slip back into each other’s lives like no time had passed at all.

Now, he laid in her bed, with their sons asleep in various rooms along the hallway. Hers, his, and theirs. It was the first time Jason had slept under the same roof as Jake and Danny in years, and it was better than the handful of nights when he’d had them before. Better because this wouldn’t be a a visit — this would be forever. Even if they moved houses or Jake went back to Spain or Danny went away to college —

He looked back at Elizabeth, at the ring glinting in the shadows. It hadn’t even been two full days since that day at the other house, when he’d stood in an empty kitchen and asked her for just one more chance to show that he wanted to be with her, to renew those promises they’d made a life time ago — even laying here with her, it didn’t seem real. Too good to be true.

“I can feel you staring at me,” came her soft murmur, her eyes still closed. “You should sleep more. It’s early.”

“You haven’t even looked at a clock,” he teased, though she was right — it wasn’t even five.

“Mom superpower.” Her lashes fluttered, and her lips curved when she looked at him. “Can’t sleep?”

“I never need a lot of sleep. Not like you,” he teased, and her smile deepened.

She opened her eyes more fully, and lifted a hand to stroke his cheek. “But you didn’t sleep almost at all the other night.”

“I’m okay. But you should get a few more hours—” he started, but she was already sitting up, bracing her upper body on her elbow. “I didn’t meant to wake you up.”

“Well, you did, but you can make it up to me.” Elizabeth leaned down, brushed her lips gently against his. He cradled her jaw, then stroked the sides of her torso before sliding his fingers beneath the soft, stretchy fabric of her tank to the heated skin beneath.

It should have felt awkward, and strange after all these years of not touching her, but he’d know her anywhere, her voice, her scent, the way she felt, he’d be able to find her in a dark room, the way her breathing hitched when he cupped her breasts, stripping the tank over her head.

He rolled them so that she was on her back, and her hands were stroking his chest, across the scars she recognized, and the ones that she didn’t—her fingertips dancing across the tattoos he’d acquired in his travels—and then dipping below the waist of his sweatpants, using her legs to tug the material down his legs until they joined her shirt on the floor, then her shorts—

They were quiet, just soft whispers, words that barely made any sense or were even audible—he knew just where to touch, to stroke, to use his mouth to make her eyes roll back and her back arch from the bed, but so did she, and showed him with that wicked smile that he only saw in these moments, when there was nothing between them but skin, no tomorrow, no today, no yesterdays, just this moment and how much he needed her. Did she know? Could she know?

She curled up on his damp chest after, their bodies cooling in the chilled room, her nails lightly stroking at his collarbone. “Wasn’t how I planned to seduce you,” she murmured. “But it’ll do.”

He laughed, his arm curled around her waist, his heart thudding. “Yeah, not bad.”

“Now go back to sleep or I’ll do it again,” Elizabeth said, closing her eyes. He nearly laughed again, but didn’t want to disturb her. He tugged the sheet up from the bottom of the bed with his leg until he could reach it, then pulled it over them — more for her than him, closed his eyes, and slid back into a light doze.

—

Several hours later, across town, Kristina paced from the fireplace to the landing by the front door, then back again, trying very hard not to peer over her mother’s shoulder. “We should take a few days, Mom. To really think about this. Let’s let Danny’s charges get dismissed—”

“Kristina—” Alexis looked at her, then sighed. She turned back to the petition she was drafting — the petition to withdraw her custody suits against Jason and Drew. “All I wanted was to do right by Danny and Scout. I was wrong about what that was, but I’m making the right choice now—”

“But Jason—”

“Jason wouldn’t have been my choice, but he was your sister’s. And he’s Danny’s.” Alexis tapped the print command, then got to her feet. “I’m doing what’s right. If you can’t—or won’t—support it, then you don’t have to go with me to court. But this is happening.”

—

“I have to go to school?” Aiden dropped his spoon back in the cereal bowl. “Mom. Come on—why am I the only one—”

“You have to go to school because it’s the law,” Elizabeth said, setting down a glass of orange juice.

“And don’t smirk, Danny. I made an appointment with your guidance counselor tomorrow to find out about getting you caught up,” Jason said, and the smirk in question faded.

“Oh, come on, Dad. Don’t you think I’ve been through enough?” Danny grumbled, but picked up spoon. “I don’t want to go back there with this bruise—”

“We’re going to see about getting homeschooling approved until this is all figured out,” Jason said, “but, yeah, you’re going back.” His phone rang, and he tugged it out of his pocket. “I have to take this,” he said, looking at Elizabeth. He slid off the stool at the counter, and headed to the kichen.

“And hey, remember, we’re supposed to be pretending to be perfect kids,” Cameron reminded Danny. “You want Jason and my mom to get custody of your little sister, right? So  you gotta play the Webber way and make the honor roll. Mom goes easier on you when you bring home that little gold card.”

“I never made you get on the honor roll, Cameron,” Elizabeth protested. “I wouldn’t—you don’t need to do that,” she said to Danny hastily. “You’re going to make him think I’m strict—”

“But Cam’s right. If I get good grades and stay out of trouble, it looks better for you and Dad in court, and I want Scout to live here.”

“I’m always right,” Cameron said. “We’ll get along better when you figure that out.”

“If by always you mean never,” Jake retorted.

“Don’t start—” Elizabeth said, but stopped when Jason returned. “What’s up?”

“That was Molly. Uh—” Jason cleared his throat. “The DA’s office just dropped the charges against Danny.”

“Whoa—what?” Danny straightened, his eyes wide. “I don’t have to go back to jail?”

“That was fast—” Elizabeth said. “It’s not even eight — did she drop them last night, or — ”

“She got the call from Turner — apparently she did it first thing when she got in this morning. It still needs to go through the court process, but—” Jason released his first easy breath, looked at Danny. “It’s over.”

“That’s awesome, but I—I thought you said it might be a few days—” Danny said. He furrowed his brow. “How come they dropped them now and not today?”

“Maybe this is why.” Aiden slid his phone across the counter to his mother who snatched it up when she saw the headline on the social media post.

“Elizabeth?” Jason asked. “What is it?” He came around the counter, hoping to look over her shoulder.

“It’s the Sun. Front-page news — Congressman-elect accused of child abuse—” Elizabeth looked at Jason with wide eyes. “There’s pictures of Danny and Scout. With the bruises.”

—

The headlines had made their way around town, and by nine am, Curtis Ashford was in his office at Aurora, fielding calls from the media, national and local. “I hope you’re sure about this,” he said to Michael who was across the room, staring out the window at the street below. “Are you really prepared for this level of scrutiny?”

“Nothing you printed this morning was a lie,” Michael said.

Curtis opened his mouth to respond, but the office door crashed open, and Drew stalked in, a copy of the newspaper crumpled in his hand. He didn’t notice Michael right away, who took advantage of that to send a handful of texts.

“What the hell is the point of this? What were you thinking?” Drew demanded. “You’ve destroyed my career!”

“Not yet, he hasn’t,” Michael said, pressing send on the last text. Drew whirled around to face his nephew. “But if you don’t sign this—” He tossed a sheaf of legal papers towards Drew who caught them with one hand, and tossed the newspaper aside. “Then we’ll finish what we started.”

“You got a lot of nerve—” Drew looked down at it, snorted. “You’re insane if you think I’m signing over guardianship and custody of my daughter to Jason. There’s nothing you could do to me that would ever make me —”

“Sorry to hear that.” Michael looked at Curtis. “What do you think, digital today and print tomorrow?”

“Oh, yeah. We give it to the gossip sites first. TMZ is old reliable—” Curtis picked up his phone.

“What the hell are you talking about? What’s worse than this?” Drew shook the paper at them.

“Worse than abusing two minor children in your family?” Michael lifted his brows. “Not much. But I guarantee if there’s anyone left who wants to take your call, after Willow publishes her story, they won’t even remember your name.”

“Willow—” Drew went still. “What are you talking about?”

“You know, my wife whom you lured away from her job at the hospital, manipulated her into working for you—” Michael paused. “Then stalked and harassed her until she slept with you. You’re in the wrong party, Uncle Drew, if you want to get away with that kind of thing. But hey maybe the other guys will want to take your call.”

+43

Written in 61 minutes. Ending is a little awkward, but I was out of time 😛

Drew snorted, tossed the newspaper on the desk. “You’re really desperate if you think you something like that is going to tank my career or if you think I’d give up my daughter for that.” He folded his arms. “You can’t just publish something like without proof, and we both know Willow would never have anything to do with this. Unlike the rest of this family, she still believes in the truth.”

“Gee, Curtis, he seems very confident.” Michael leaned back against the desk, with a smirk of his own.

“Worst kind of politician,” Curtis replied. “He actually believes his own bullshit.”

“Do it, Curtis, and I’ll have my lawyers sue this paper for defamation and fire you so fast—”

“Oh—well, that’ll be a little difficult considering—” Michael lifted his brows. “You no longer own the majority share. Curtis?”

“There’s a new majority stakeholder in Aurora Media,” Curtis reported. “You know, the shares you put on the market to finance your run for office?”

“That wouldn’t be enough to tip the balance—”

“They would be if the shareholder in question already owned a substantial portion.”

Drew’s smug expression faded just a little at Michael’s interruption. “What?”

“I bought them,” Michael said. “As an independent shareholder. Because you were family, and you’d helped save Willow’s life. I wanted to support you. Over the last few days, I’ve made calls to a number of shareholders of Aurora Media, who were all happy to sell me their shares for market price. But the final piece I needed? That was easy. All I had to do was talk to the trustee of your daughter’s inheritance from her mother.”

Drew exhaled a slow breath. “Sam had stock—”

“Stock you gifted her when you purchased the company. Stock she gave to her children in her will. Stock controlled by the trustee of their trust fund.” Michael held out the contract. “After you brutalized her grandchildren, Alexis was only to happy to help fund your downfall.” He straightened. “So. You’re out, Drew. Of Aurora, of this family, and time.”

“This—this can’t—” Drew ignored the contract in Michael’s hands, whipped out his cell phone, and began furiously swiping to get to the stock app. “You can’t do this—”

“I can, and I have. Oh, and Aunt Tracy filed an injunction against your name change. It wasn’t permanent yet,” Michael added when Drew whipped his head up. “Did you think you could bulldoze your way through my family and walk away with everything you wanted?” he asked coolly.

“I know you’re angry about what happened with Willow, Michael. But I promise you—it just happened. It was one of those things—you understand. You’ve been in my place before,” Drew said, stepping towards Michael. “You had an affair with Willow, too. Monogamy—after what she went through in that cult—it’s just not the same to her—she has the morals of an alley cat—”

Drew’s words were cut off abruptly when Michael backhanded him, sending him flying, hitting a chair on the way down. “You dumb son of a bitch—” Drew hurtled to his feet, and his first clipped Michael in the jaw, but Michael had moved just at the right minute, so most of the force was wasted, and Drew went back to the ground.

Willow rushed in, drawing up short when she saw Drew on the floor, Michael standing over him, chest heaving. “I’m sorry, I know I’m supposed to wait, but—” Her voice was shaky. “I thought he was killing you—”

“Stay down,” Curtis advised, planting a foot on Drew’s chest.

Michael looked at Willow. “You don’t have to do this anymore—he doesn’t deserve the break we’re giving him—”

“Stealing my company and destroying my life is a break—” Drew grunted, shoving Curtis in the leg. He rolled to his hands and knees. “Willow, you know it wasn’t like that between us—”

“I don’t know why you’re appealing to me with my lack of morality,” Willow bit out, and Drew winced. “Is that the story you’re going with? Really? I seduced you? You son of a bitch. You gave me a job, booked trip after trip where we were alone! You kissed me! And when I told you to leave me alone, you kept showing  up everywhere I went. When I was out with Michael, at work—”

Drew climbed to his feet. “Oh, and you’re blameless—”

“No, I’m not—” Tears glimmered in Willow’s eyes now. “I thought I saw something in you, something that mattered enough to blow up my entire world, but you’re nothing but a selfish, greedy, evil bastard. What you did to your daughter, to Danny, to Michael—you’re right,” she said to Michael. “He doesn’t deserve this break, but Danny and Scout do. And this makes it over faster.”

Michael made a face, looked at his uncle. “Sign guardianship over to Jason. Keep Scout and Danny together. You can tell whatever political story you want. You can keep the goddamn name. But you go to DC, and after you’re done there, you take some lobbyist job that keeps you far away from this family.”

“You think I’m giving up Aurora and my daughter so your wife can save face?” Drew demanded. “Go to hell—”

“You’re going to lose your daughter anyway. Witness after witness will talk about how little you’ve given a damn about her since you came back from prison. Trying to send her to a boarding school against her wishes? Leaving bruises? Barely talking to her day after day?” Michael shook his head. “Once family services gets involved Drew, there’s no turning back. Sign that, and an investigation ends—”

“It’s in the papers—” Drew growled. “It’s already out there—”

“It’s the Port Charles Sun. You’re not even a Congressman yet,” Curtis said coolly. “Maybe it’s a scandal for a few days, but then something in DC will happen and it’ll go away. Or I can keep printing stories. Willow can give her side. Maybe a bigger media market picks it up—”

Drew scrubbed his hands over his face. “This is some bullshit,”  he bit out. “I didn’t do anything wrong—”

“Sign this, and the shares I bought in Aurora — they get turned over to Scout when she’s of age. That’s the deal, Drew. And it’s good for five more minutes.” Michael held out the agreement. “Take it or leave it.”

—

Sonny stirred some sugar into his coffee, glancing up only briefly when Jason appeared in the doorway of the restaurant. “Wondered if you’d come by today.” He held up the Sun. “Hell of a story, isn’t it? Drew’s going down in flames.”

Jason hadn’t seen a print copy of the paper yet, and pulled it from Sonny’s grasp. Scout’s face had been blurred, but Danny’s face, the bruises from the first night, stared back at him. “We just heard from Molly. The charges got dropped.”

“Is that so?” Sonny shrugged, went over to a booth, sat down with his coffee. “Not surprised. It was a bad case.”

“Yeah. We knew it would happen. Just—” Jason tipped his head. “We figured after the story hit the papers this morning. But Turner dropped the charges first.” He pressed his lips together. “Did you do something?”

Sonny hesitated, then looked at his old friend. “I made it worth Turner’s while to make the charges go away. And don’t worry, I got Spinelli to cook it up so that it’s above board. None of her financial obligations are gone. She just won’t be the one paying them. And the only deal is for Danny. She still gets to go after me — or you, though, uh, I’m guessing you’re pretty much done with that part of your life.”

“As done as I get to be with what it’s in my past.” Jason laid the paper table. “We were handling it—”

“And it would have worked out. Turner’s heart wasn’t in it — she barely even threatened to call the PCPD. But—” Sonny took a moment. “I didn’t like it. When you came down on me for the way I’ve handled my kids. I took it personally because if you think you shouldn’t be a father because your life, well, what does that say about me?” When Jason just looked away, Sonny nodded. “Yeah, well. I’ve got my regrets, like anyone else. And I don’t like to apologize. I double down. Which is what I did in court last week. I’m—” He made a face. “I’m sorry.”

“Do you really think that fixes everything?” Jason wanted to know.

“No.” Sonny sipped his coffee. “Because I did what I did. You were right, you know. About me not seeing your boys as part of my circle. As being on the same level as maybe Dante or Kristina or Michael. They didn’t matter to me the way they should have. I could blame you for making them part of your life—but that’s still not an excuse. Jake and Danny are your sons. And I should have been better.”

He stared down at the white tablecloth. “Danny’s about the age I was when I got rung up on my first charges. I was scared as hell, thought it was all over. I watched Michael go through that, Kristina nearly got pulled into it. And Christ, Morgan—my blood gave him nothing but darkness—” Sonny rubbed the side of his face. “I don’t want your boys to have the life I’ve had. The one you’ve had. We came out okay on the other side, I guess. But that doesn’t mean I don’t get wanting more. Wanting better.”

Jason shoved his hands in his pockets. “I wish I could tell you that we’re good now, but—”

“But I said what I said, and I did what I did. And I can’t imagine I’m Elizabeth’s favorite person right now. I, uh, heard about the engagement. Carly said it came up in court.”

Jason winced. “I didn’t think about her finding out that way. She hasn’t said anything—”

“We both got a wake-up call, Jase. Whether you care that we learned our lesson or not, we did. I can’t promise she won’t say something eventually, but —” Sonny got to his feet. “It’s a good thing you didn’t listen to me. Because you obviously know what you want and need better than I do. And from now on, I’m gonna respect that. You tell Elizabeth that if and when she’s ready for an apology, I’ll offer it, but until then, I’ll take my cue from you.”

“Thank you.” Jason paused. “For making sure Danny doesn’t have to have that hanging over his head. We were handling it, but it’s…it’s a relief knowing he doesn’t have to think about it again.” He started for the door, but he looked back when Sonny called his name. “Yeah?”

“You’re good now, right? Happy, I mean? With Elizabeth and the boys? This is what you want?”

“It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

—

Elizabeth flicked through a few screens on the computer screen, wincing at the schedule, wondering how to stretch the nursing schedule even further — then heard a familar voice clear their throat. She didn’t take her eyes off the screen. “Can I help you, Carly?”

“I went by the house, but the kids said you were at work. You…you must be happy Cam’s home.”

Now Elizabeth looked at her, saw that Carly’s expression was almost friendly. Suspicious, but almost intrigued, she turned to fully face her. “I am. I don’t get to have all three of them together much these days, so it’s always nice.”

“And Danny—he seemed to be—he seems to be okay. With…being there.” Carly made a face, and the first twitch of her lips that suggested she was trying very hard to be civil. “I’m…glad you were there. At court. To give the judge a place for Danny to go. I mean, I would have been happy to stand up—”

“But we wanted Danny to be with his brother and father,” Elizabeth finished, and Carly’s lips twitched again.

“Right. There’s that. Michael said you and Jason are….still getting married. Even with Alexis settling the custody case.” She pursed her lips. “And you’re after custody of Scout now, too.”

“Michael’s accurate.” Elizabeth picked up some charts. “Is there anything else—”

“All I ever wanted was for Jason to have his boys. He has them now,” Carly said. “And it has to be you, I guess I can live with that.”

“Gee, thanks, Carly—”  When Carly snagged her arm as Elizabeth tried to pass, she sighed, looked back at the blonde. “Carly—”

“We’re never going to be friends. Which is fine by me. But your kids are pretty great. Which means you can’t be that bad. I’m glad Danny has you. And I hope Scout gets to have you and Jason, too.”

Elizabeth tipped her head to the side. “Thank you. That means a lot, coming from you.”

Carly squinted, trying to find the insult, then her expression eased when she didn’t detect one. “Okay. So—how are we getting rid of Drew and is there anything I can do to help?”

—

Jason stepped inside Alexis’s living room, relieved when only Michael and Molly were in the room. He didn’t feel like going another round with Kristina. “Hey. How did it go this morning?”

“Well, Michael almost got arrested for assault,” Molly said, throwing her cousin a dirty look.

Michael shrugged. “Worth it.”

“But otherwise—” Molly extended a sheaf of legal papers. “He signed it. Guardianship of Emily Scout Cain, awarded to you and to Elizabeth. The papers say he’s supposed to have one visit a month, but unofficially—”

“He’s agreed that no visitation starts until Scout gives the okay.” Michael put a hand at his waist, his suit jacket falling back. “In return, a majority stake in Aurora Media  gets put in her name, all proceeds to go to a trust fund controlled by Alexis.  And no investigation with family services.”

“Which I hate,” Alexis muttered, folding her arms. “He should be raked across the coals and run from town by pitchfork for what he did to those kids—”

“I agree,” Jason said, and she smiled faintly. “But we all agreed that we needed to make this painless for Danny and Scout. They’ve dealt with enough since Sam died. At least now, we can finally get some normalcy for them. Thank you. Both. For everything you’ve done,” he said to Molly and Michael. He looked at Alexis. “I’m going to depend on you, Molly—and Kristina—to be a huge part of their lives. To keep Sam alive for them. I know you’d do it without asking, but I want you know that I understand how important it is for them to have their mother’s family part of their lives.”

“Considering the hell I’ve put you through—” Alexis’s voice broke for a moment, and she looked away. “Thank you. For keeping them together. It’s all I wanted.” Molly reached out, squeezed her mother’s hand.

“Do you want to come with me?” Jason asked. “To tell them it’s over and Scout’s coming with us?”

“No. No.” Alexis took a deep breath. “You and Elizabeth should do that together. They’re going to be so happy.”

There are only two updates left, and then Dear Reader moves into the editing phase. But since it’s part of the Taylor Swift Midnights collection, I’ll be editing it this fall, so please let me know anything you’d like to see flesh out, maybe scenes or characters you wanted more from, etc.

The next few flash fiction series will be from the Midnights collection because, A, I need to actually get some work done on the Swift project, and B, the theme of that album is Taylor writing about what she’s thought during sleepless nights, and ha, I tend to mostly only think about Flash these days 😛

See you in the next update!

+34

Written in 60 minutes.

TJ leaned against the doorway to the kitchen, tilted his head. “I guess we get our dining table back.”

Molly paused, a legal pad in her hand, with nearly every page scrawled on, littered with notes on all the depositions that never happened. “Yeah, I’m putting all of this in storage. My short foray into family law is over.” She stowed the legal pad in the box, on top of some of the legal papers she’d printed out and other law books. “Robert said I can start back as soon as I want, but, I—” She took a breath, looked at him. “I asked him to take some more time. The holidays, and maybe—maybe after Ava’s trial.”

He crossed to her, tugged her back against him with one arm around her shoulders, then kissed the side of her head. “I know what happened to Danny and Scout was awful, but this is the best possible ending, Mols. You and your mom aren’t going after each other, the kids are together in the home they both wanted to be in — you did what you set out to do.”

“I know.” Molly pressed her lips together. “I offered to fight for Jason on the principle, you know. Because I was so mad at my mother, at Kristina, at the world, for what we’d gone through—for what they wanted to put us through if we hadn’t lost Irene—” She turned in his arms. “But I believe now, in a way I didn’t before, that Danny and Scout are exactly where they should be. You’re right. This is the best ending.” She rubbed his arms, then stepped out of his embrace, and lifting the box.

“Then why do you look so sad?” he murmured.

Molly opened the door to the apartment, intending to head to the storage room in the basement, looked back at him. “Because my sister is still gone. I think—I think as long as I had something or someone to fight—I could hold on to her. But she’s gone. She’s buried, and it’s just—she’s gone. Just like Irene. And there’s nothing that changes that.”

—

Elizabeth slowed to a stop behind Jason’s SUV in the Quartermaine driveway, put the car in park, then hurried up to the front entrance where Jason was waiting for her. “Sorry, it was impossible to get out of the hospital on time, and then traffic—”

He reached for her hand to pull her in for a long, lingering kiss, cutting off her apology. “I just got here,” Jason said, drawing back slightly. “I thought about picking up Danny first to tell them together, but…” He stopped. “There’s a few things I thought you and I should talk to her about one-on-one, and I don’t want her to feel like she has to do what her brother wants.”

“Is this about the visitation Alexis wrote into the petition?” Elizabeth asked, following him inside where the foyer was, surprisingly deserted. “You think she might want Drew to come see her?”

“Maybe. I don’t like it, but I also—” Jason considered his words. “If Drew abides by the agreement, Scout’s ours. Not just Danny’s sisters. But ours. I thought maybe if we always talked to her with Danny or the other boys—”

“She’d always feel like we did this to make Danny happy. Like she doesn’t really belong.” Elizabeth leaned up to kiss him again, laying her hands at his collar. “You’re right. If we’re doing this, she deserves to feel like we’re listening to her, and what she wants is important.”

“I thought I heard voices—” They both turned, hearing both the voice and the whirring of a wheelchair. Monica came from the back hallway, trailed by Brook Lynn. “I’m hoping that seeing the two of you means this is over?” she asked hopefully.

“Yeah, tell me that Drew’s been tossed out on his ass,” Brook Lynn added. “I just know he’s slimy enough to pick his career over that little girl.”

“He agreed,” Jason told them, and Monica smiled. “He’s leaving for DC as soon as it can be arranged, and he’s signed over guardianship of Scout. I don’t know if he’ll stay gone, but for now—it’s over.”

“We came to tell her,” Elizabeth said, shedding her coat and purse. “Is she upstairs in the nursery?”

“She is. Oh, I’m so grateful that this has worked out this way,” Monica said. She reached for Elizabeth’s hand. “So grateful that you’ll be part of this family. Officially. It’s taken long enough.”

“Long enough that Jason didn’t even make a face when you said that, Aunt Monica,” Brook Lynn teased, and now Jason wrinkle his nose, realizing the younger woman was right.

“Well, you’re not wrong. It’s taken long enough.” Jason reached for Elizabeth’s hand. “You ready?”

“Always.”

—

Willow extracted Amelia from her winter coat, smiling as the toddler skipped over to the play area next to the Christmas tree — still undecorated. They’d brought it days ago, intending to spend the weekend decking it out.

“Today went a little…crazier than we planned,” Michael said, closing the door behind her. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Willow forced a smile, folding her arms. “We got what we wanted. Drew’s gone, I don’t have to go public with what happened, which makes this easier for you and kids. I mean, for me, too, but—” She lifted her chin. “And more importantly, Danny and Scout are safe.”

Michael flexed his hand, still a little sore from slugging Drew. “Yeah, but I didn’t really expect him to throw you under the bus that way. It must have been hard to hear—”

“It was good to hear it. To know what he thought of me. I have a way of repressing the awful things people do and say.” She smiled wryly, looked over at Amelia. “Only way to survive living with Harmony and the Dawn of Day.” She returned her gaze to Michael. “I think we should separate. I mean, if you want to…file for divorce, I’d understand. But I was hoping we could just…take some time. To just take time.”

“I’m not in any hurry, Willow, to end our marriage. Maybe I should be, but—” He hesitated. “There’s a lot of good here. We both…we both slept with other people—”

“What I did was so much worse, Michael. Don’t—” Willow bit her lip, looked at her hands. “I think I should talk to someone. I mean we could try counseling, but I think I should — myself — talk to someone. Maybe Drew’s not wrong. Maybe there’s more screwed up in my head than I thought.”

“He was just trying to save himself—”

“I loved our life, Michael. Our family, our little world down here, the future we were building—” Her voice thickened. “And I threw it away. I can’t undo that. And I need to understand why I did that to myself. To us.”

“All right.” Michael stroked her arms, and her chest eased. He was always so kind — too kind. “You’re right. Separation — it’s the right way. But I don’t—I want to make this as easy as we can for the kids. So…I don’t want them to have to go back and forth.”

“No, me either.” Willow brushed the tears away. “I think I should stay with my mother and maybe we could take turns. You know, we’re the ones that switch and the kids stay here.”

“We can try that.”

“Good. Good. I, um, I’ll pack a few things—” He caught her arm when she started for the stairs. “Michael—”

“It can wait until after the holidays.  If we can’t—if we can’t fix this — then I want them to have one more holiday with the both of us. Can we do that?” Michael asked.

“It’s more than I deserve. Thank you.” She squeezed his hand. “Why don’t you go pick up Wiley at the main house? I’ll make dinner.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

—

Jason knocked lightly at Scout’s bedroom door, already slightly open. “Scout?”

“Uncle Jason?” Scout climbed to her feet from where she was playing with her doll house. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Can we come in?” Jason asked, stepping aside to reveal Elizabeth with him.

“Okay.” Scout worried her bottom lip, her dark eyes wide. “You’re here to tell me I have stay. That I can’t come with you, aren’t you?”

“We’re here to tell you that we talked to your dad, and he agreed that you should stay with us and Danny while he’s in DC,” Jason said carefully. He waited for Elizabeth to sit down in one of the armchairs before sitting on the window seat. “So you can come live with us.”

“Oh.” Scout was quiet for a moment, absorbing that. “He didn’t want me?”

“He did,” Elizabeth said. “But we all agreed that it was better for you to stay here with your school and your friends and your brother. We thought that was what you wanted.” She looked at Jason, and he could tell she was worried.

Scout sat down, kneeling on the carpet, and picking up one of her dolls. “I guess. You went away,” she said to Jason. “For a long time, and Danny was really sad. Did you miss Danny? And Jake?”

“More than anything. I thought about them every day I was gone, and they were the first people I wanted to see when it was possible.” And safe, Jason finished silently.

“I don’t think my daddy misses me when I’m not there,” Scout said. “Before Grandma made him leave, we lived here for days and days and days, and he only saw me sometimes. He said he was really busy. Do all daddies go away? And mommies? Did you ever go away?” she asked Elizabeth. “For years and months and days?”

“I went to stay at a hospital for a few weeks,” Elizabeth told her. “And Rocco’s grandmother took care of my boys and kept them safe until I could come home.”

Scout considered that. “But my mommy can’t come home. She went to heaven. Do you think she thinks about me?”

“I’m sure she does. She loved you a whole lot,” Jason told her. “Scout, if you want us to make sure you can still see your dad, we can do that. We can take you to DC or —” He hesitated, then forced the words out. “We can do something here. This is up to you. Whatever you want.”

Scout turned the doll over her in her hands and was quiet so long Jason worried they’d made a mistake. Maybe she’d felt like she’d had to agree with what her brother wanted.  Finally, she looked up at him. “We’ll all live together in ‘Lizabeth’s house?”

“That’s the plan. You’ll have your own room there,” Elizabeth said.

“And we’ll see each other every day? Do I have to stay in my room all day?” Scout wanted to know. “Will the boys be mean to me? Sometimes Danny was mean to me. Not since….not since. But maybe he’ll forget and be mean again.”

“Well, if Danny’s mean to you again, you come and tell me, and I’ll handle it, but you already know Jake and Elizabeth’s other two boys are really great kids. Cameron lives in California most of the time, but he’s always been a pretty good older brother. And Aiden likes to bake.”

Scout brightened. “Bake? Like cookies?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Elizabeth said.  “And you know, he always needs an assistant in the kitchen. Jake and Cam were away at school, and I just know he’d love having someone to test all his cookies and everything else he makes.”

“That might be fun. Is he making Christmas cookies? I could help.”

“I’m sure he is. So you still want to come with us?” Elizabeth asked.

Scout took a deep breath. “Daddy was really mad at me. Maybe when he stops being so mad, he might love me again, and I can stay with him. But it was scary when he was mad. Is it okay if I stay with you until he stops being mad at me?”

Not really sure how he’d be able keep that particularly promise, Jason looked at Elizabeth, a bit helpless.

She slid off the chair and knelt next to Scout, stroking back her hair. “I think that we should check in with your Daddy once in a while, and see how you feel. And when you’re ready, we can make changes. But until then, I would love if you lived with us.”

Scout looked at her. “Okay. When can I have cookies?”

+47

WRitten in — well, honestly written in 26 minutes because until 2:34 my brain refused to work so this isn’t exactly what I wanted, but close enough. Its done.

Jason paused on the landing of the stairs, and as he’d done often in the last week, stood back and observed.

Scout sat on the sofa between Cameron and Danny, her hands clutched around a gray controller, her small brow furrowed. “And if I press this button and this one at the same time—”

“Yeah, that combination will activate the punch—” Cameron winced. “Okay, but without the  X, it’s just a punch to the air, so—”

Elizabeth emerged from the kitchen, a plate of cookies in her hands. “Okay, Aiden said these were better—”

“Since the last ones were black on the bottom—” Jake, sitting on the armchair sideways, his legs slung over the side and a sketch pad in his lap, leaned over to snag a cookie as his mother set them on the table. “We told you not to help, Mom.”

“That was not my fault,” Elizabeth huffed, then flicked Jake on the shoulder as she turned around, and spotted Jason. Instead of calling attention to him, she just smiled and came over to him. “Hey. Enjoying the quiet before we go to the Quartermaines tomorrow?”

Nothing about the house was quiet — Cameron hadn’t finished moving into the house around the corner yet so he and Jake were still sharing, and Danny hadn’t wanted Scout to be alone at the mansion anymore, so he’d dumped his things with Aiden. And then Elizabeth had insisted on a whirlwind twenty-four hours to redecorate Cameron’s bedroom to something more suited to a seven-year-old—

With four boys and one girl sharing the limited space, quiet wasn’t something Jason often found these days —

Or something he looked for.

He reached for Elizabeth’s hand and she came up the two steps to stand next to him. “No, just wondering how much longer they’ll all get along.”

“Don’t ask questions, just enjoy it for as long as we have it.” She leaned into his side. “Molly called while you were upstairs. The guardianship was approved by the court, and Drew cleaned out his office at Aurora.”

It had been little more than a formality, but with the holiday slow down, it had taken longer than expected to have the courts sign off on everything — it’d been the last loose end in the whole nightmare. It was over.

And yet—

“It feels strange,” Jason said, and she frowned at him. “Not that—it happened. This—it’s what I want. Being with you, having them together—all of this—” He paused, trying to find the right words. “I just—I don’t know. I didn’t expect it to come together so fast. I thought we’d be fighting Alexis for months. Or that Turner would force Danny to go to trial—but it’s over. And I didn’t—” He met her curious gaze. “I didn’t have to do much to make it happen.”

She smiled, then laced their fingers together again. “It must feel strange not to have to do the rescuing for a change.”

Jason made a face. “I don’t need to rescue people—”

“I know. But you’ve done it for so long, it’s hard to know how to react when you’re on the other hand.” She leaned up to kiss him briefly. “It must be hard to let everyone else save the day. It was our turn.”

“I guess. Or maybe I’m just surprised Carly didn’t make everything worse,” Jason admitted, and she laughed.

“No, not that hallway—” Danny tried to wrestle the controller from his sister. “You suck at this, and you’re gonna ruin the whole campaign—”

“You told me to hit that button—” Scout grunted, and tugged so hard that when Danny let go, it went flying and knocked Jake’s water glass over—sending the liquid casading onto Jake and his sketchpad.

He yelped, got to his feet. “Hey, watch it!”

Cameron dropped his controller, bored already with the game, and headed for the kitchen — where a few seconds later, Aiden yelped, “Don’t lick that! I’m not done with at spoon—”

“I guess the answer to your question was two minutes,” Elizabeth said, with a heavy sigh. “I’ll take the kitchen—”

“I’ve got this—” Jason gestured towards the trio, where cookies were now flying through the air.

“It was nice while it lasted,” Elizabeth said, backing into the kitchen with a grin. “But probably a good idea we didn’t have a dozen kids, right?” She turned back to the boys in the kitchen, where Cameron and Aiden were furiously fencing with a soup ladle and a chocolate-covered spoon.

Never a dull moment, Jason thought, snagging Danny’s hand before another water glass could go flying, and grabbing the tray of cookies with the other. A far cry from a year ago, when he’d been sitting in some dive bar in Malaysia, plotting another job to get him closer to Pikeman, to his freedom —

But there was nowhere else he’d rather be.

THE END

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