Written in 20 minutes. No time for rereads.

Spinelli knocked lightly on the side of Ellie Trout’s work station, and his girlfriend turned to flash a bright and happy smile at him. “Spinelli!”

“Hey. Hope you don’t mind me dropping by.” He couldn’t quite get past how happy she looked to see him. It was still very strange to him that Ellie liked him, but he wasn’t complaining.

“No problem. On the phone you said it was, like, important, and that it had to be during Brad’s break—so…?” Ellie looked at him expectantly.

Spinelli winced, then sat on the spare tool in her cubicle. “Listen, here’s the deal. I have a friend—who is not a drama queen and dumb about this kind of thing—she is pretty sure Brad is acting very weird around her and it started when he ran a DNA test for her.”

Ellie furrowed her brow. “A DNA test? Those are pretty standard. Why would Brad be weird about it? Other than the fact that he is a major league tool,” she muttered darkly. “I hate him.”

“Duly noted. Uh, well, it turns out that my friend—who works here, making it, like, totally above board and all that good stuff—ran this test for a friend of mine—”

“Spinelli.” Ellie rolled her eyes. “Can you just bottom line it for me? You think Brad screwed up a test. You want me to run it again?”

“Well, that’s the other question I have — is it possible he just—left the original tests in the computer or something and just gave my friend the paper results?”

“Uh…” Ellie frowned. “I don’t know. Electronic results go into the database. Did she look them in there?”

“Yeah—they matched the paper, but you guys have different databases down here and I know—”

“Oh—you mean, like when we literally ran the test matching the sequence—can I pull up those results?” Ellie turned back to her terminal. “Yeah, probably. What’s the patient name?”

“I don’t know. I just have the file number.” He slid it across the table to her. “My friend ran it through the standard system, but, um, I think maybe the actual names weren’t attached to the file.”

“Well, we’ll see—” Ellie tapped a few keys. “Man, I’d love to nail Brad for something. He’s just a dink. He was supposed to be laid off, but noooo, Tracy Quartermaine just had to donate enough money—”

She turned back to him. “Okay, so what I have here is the original sequencer. Looks like he ran a marker test on a—four month old male? Does that sound right—”

“Yeah—”

“He ran those markers against three people—” Ellie squinted at the screen. “Two sets of male DNA and one set of female—”

“Two sets of male—” Spinelli straightened his shoulders. “Are there names?”

“Nope. Initials though. J, D, S, and F. Weird. We usually use numbers. I wonder why he did it like this—I mean, every tech has their own thing and it usually doesn’t matter because it’s our internal system but—”

“Ellie,” Spinelli said with a bit of impatience. “What were the original results?”

“Oh, right! Sorry—so, it looks like D is the son of S and F. Does—does that help?” She looked at him. “I mean—”

“Wait—” Spinelli frowned. “He ran a maternal and paternal DNA marker test? How is that possible? Those two male DNAs should be related—”

“Oh, nope. No one is related to anyone—except, S and F. To D.” Ellie pursed her lips. “Is there a point where I get to know names?”

“Uh…maybe. Can you print that out for me? I need to go, um, deal with this.”

——

Jason rocked back on his heels and studied Sam, uncomfortable to have been caught shopping for Elizabeth’s Christmas present. “No, I, uh, just don’t know what—” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Did you need anything?”

“No. No. I just—” Sam bit her lip. “I felt bad about the last time we talked. At Kelly’s, before Halloween.” She folded her arms. “I had no right to ask you that question. We’re—you know, we signed the papers and everything. I just—”

She looked at the lineoleum tile. “I don’t know. I know you saw me that day with John, and you didn’t say anything about it. And maybe I was mad. Because you hated me spending time with him before and now it’s like it doesn’t matter—”

“I didn’t like it before,” Jason said carefully, “because I knew you were telling him things we should have been handling together. I was angry because I knew I wasn’t treating you well. That I wasn’t there for you. I hated him for being able to help when I couldn’t.”

“Oh.” Sam met his eyes. “Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Um, you know, that’s part of the reason I don’t like Elizabeth. Like—she always seem to get you and—it’s not that I didn’t—but it always took me longer, and that was—I hated it. And I hated her. Then I hated you, and it just—” She exhaled on a huff of air. “It twisted everything inside, and I don’t know if we ever fixed it.”

“Sam—”

“And none of it really matters now,” she continued, “because we are divorced, and I don’t know, I think maybe it’s for the best?” Her voice trailed up—and he knew she was asking him the question.

Was he sorry their marriage was over?

“I’m sorry that I hurt you,” he said after a moment. “That we hurt each other. Back then, a year ago, a few months ago. But yeah, I think it’s for the best. The divorce.”

Sam did a slight double take, and he thought maybe—maybe she’d been hoping for something else.

But he was…happy now. Even if he didn’t know what to buy Elizabeth for Christmas, he’d been happy these last few weeks since Halloween, since the day she’d declared herself the Queen of Regrets and offered him the position of king.

He didn’t want to go back. Didn’t see a reason to.

“I’m dating John,” Sam told him. “I just—I thought you should know.”

“I hope you’re happy,” Jason told her. “That’s all I want.”

“Well, then you’re a better person than me,” Sam confessed. “Because I don’t think I’m ready to wish you the same. Not with her. Maybe one day.”

She walked away, leaving Jason at the jewelry counter. He’d promised to tell the truth and he wasn’t sorry for it. He just wish the truth didn’t always seem to hurt someone.

+10

Written in 20 minutes and no typos.

When Spinelli stepped off the elevator that afternoon, Elizabeth had a pretty good idea what he was going to tell her. His normally relaxed and spirited expression was muted as he approached her at the hub.

“Hey. Can we find a place to talk?” he asked, glancing over at the student nurses behind Elizabeth.

Elizabeth winced, the nodded. “Yeah, I can take a quick break. Sabrina, Felix — if anyone needs me, tell them to page me.”

“Sure—”

She walked Spinelli over to a conference room where she locked the door behind them, not wanting anyone to interrupt them. Her palms damp, she rubbed them against her scrub pants as she turned to face him.

“Well?”

“You were right,” Spinelli told her. He handed a print out to her. “Ellie found the original test in the computers. The markers on the maternity test indicate that the child tested is related to the mother.”

Elizabeth drew in a sharp breath as she looked down at the sheet, then frowned. “There’s—there’s more than one test—”

“Because Brad ran three DNA tests,” Spinelli told her. “One for Sam and Danny, then another for Danny with…two other men.”

Her heart began to pound, her mouth was dry as Elizabeth scanned the results — “These are initials—Brad tested Danny against Jason and Franco—”

“And Franco against Jason,” Spinelli finished. “The baby Tea Delgado is raising belongs to Sam, that’s true. But he’s also definitely Franco’s child.”

“And Jason isn’t—” Her fingers tightened, the paper wrinkling in her grasp. She looked at Spinelli. “They’re not related. He’s not Franco’s brother.”

“Which is a relief,” Spinelli admitted. “I know that was weighing on Jason. I mean, there’s a whole lot of questions — why would Heather lie—and what exactly was she lying about? Is there still a twin brother out there or was that all a lie?”

“Oh, man—” Elizabeth exhaled. “Okay. Well—well, I have to—I have to tell Jason.”

“We could do that,” Spinelli said. He hesitated. “Or we could take it right to Sam. Leave Jason out of it for now. That would—that would make it easier for you, wouldn’t it?”

Tears stung her eyes. “Easier yes,” Elizabeth murmured. Because taking the news directly to Sam put Sam in charge of the choices. She could go to Jason, she could elect not to—but to take it to Jason—

It meant Jason could give the news to Sam. To look at her and tell her that the child whose death he blamed himself for was alive.

“But it’s not the right thing to do,” Elizabeth finished. “Because Jason was the one who saw the possibility. And he—he feels so terrible for what happened last year. For not being there for her—”

Carefully, she folded the paper and met Spinelli’s eyes. “Not letting Jason be the one to make up for that—not letting him have the chance to make this choice, to look Sam in the eye and give her back her son—it’s just me not trusting him.”

“Elizabeth—”

“I don’t—I don’t want to be the consolation prize. If I don’t let Jason do this—if I don’t trust him—then it’s like…winning a contest no one else entered.” She bit her lip. “That makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“It does. You know Stone Cold loves you,” Spinelli told her. “He always has.”

“Never doubted that,” she murmured. “But love was never the problem.”

“Elizabeth—”

“Thank you for this,” Elizabeth told him. “I’ll make sure Jason knows you helped—that Sam knows it. But I think I need to tell him alone.”

——

She wanted to wait. She wanted to take the rest of her shift—to just close it down and not think about it— what was one more day?

Elizabeth went back to the hub, the test results burning a hole in her pocket. She tried to complete her paperwork, attempted to answer questions for Sabrina and Felix, the nursing students assigned to her—

But she couldn’t.

Holding this truth back because she was scared of what it would do to her and Jason — how was that different than what Sam had done to her once upon a time?

Sam had been desperate to keep Jason, had let Maureen Harper walk away with Jake, and not tell anyone—Elizabeth had lost three weeks with her little boy—three precious weeks she’d never get back.

If she did this to Sam now—if she waited even one more day—was Elizabeth any better?

She took out the DNA results. Stared at them, then reached for her cell phone.

——

Elizabeth waited for him on the roof like she had months ago with the original results. It was colder now—she’d had to stop for her jacket—the bitter December wind made the air feel like ice this high up—

But it felt right. This was there she’d handed him the false results.

Jason closed the roof door behind him. “Hey—” He approached her, dropping a kiss on her lips. “You’re cold—” He took her hands in his, warmed them. “What’s wrong? What’s the emergency?”

“The lab tech I told you—I’ve mentioned that he’s been weird the last few months?” Elizabeth told him. “Always jumpy, always looking at me weird—”

“Did he—” Jason frowned, drew his brows down as his tone chilled. “Did he do something?”

“Yeah, but not to me. I realized—I realized—his behavior started after he ran those tests for me.” Tears stung her eyes, but then froze before they could fall. “So I asked Spinelli to get me the original results.”

Jason blinked, stepped back. “What?”

“Tracy donated a lot of money to the hospital from ELQ,” Elizabeth continued. “And I think—I think she did it so Brad Cooper could keep his job. In return—” She handed him the results. “He gave us fake results. Danny’s alive, Jason. Sam’s son is alive.”

+9

Written in 19 minutes. No time for typos.

Jason stared at Elizabeth for a long time before looking down at the envelope she’d placed in his hands.

They had stood here in late August, in the same positions—she looking at him with sober, sad eyes, holding out a stark white envelope with General Hospital’s logo and Patrick’s Drake name scribbled across the front.

She was still looking at him with sober, sad eyes and he realized, even before he had opened the results—before he had confirmed that her words were true—that she was expecting the same outcome as she had three months ago.

That Jason would rush off to tell Sam, bring home her son, and reunite, saving their marriage, and getting a fresh start.

Jason exhaled slowly, drew out the folded paper, and read it. He furrowed his brow slightly at the notification a few tests—he’d look at that more carefully in a minute, but—

Sam’s son was alive. At least, according to this test, he was.

“Why didn’t you tell me you thought Brad Cooper was lying to you?” Jason said. He folded it again, slid it back into the envelope, and tucked it inside his jacket. “Why did you go to Spinelli?”

“Because I wanted to be wrong,” Elizabeth admitted. She folded her arms, tightly, as if she could hold herself together. “And I’m terrible for that. Terrible for hoping that Sam’s son stayed dead. I have to live with myself, knowing that I feel that way—”

“Elizabeth—”

“I just—” Elizabeth’s eyes squeezed shut as she turned away from him, looked out over the skyline of Port Charles. “I can’t stop hating myself. I almost—” She sucked in the breath. “I was going to wait. Until the end of my shift. To keep putting it off. I’m no better than Sam was when she kept the truth about Jake—”

“Elizabeth, how long did you have these results?” Jason asked. He put a hand on her shoulder, turned her back to face him. “An hour? Two?”

“Ten minutes,” she said with a wince. “But I thought it—”

“And I thought about strangling Lucky Spencer every time he puts his hands on you or Jake,” Jason said in a low voice. “I didn’t do it. You didn’t lie to me, Elizabeth. And you didn’t let anyone walk away from Danny. You didn’t watch whatever happened—you didn’t see it happen.”

He paused. “And this isn’t August,” Jason continued. “Things are different now—”

“Jason—”

“I can’t tell you what would have happened if we’d…if we’d learned this back then,” Jason said slowly. “I can only tell you what changes today. And it’s nothing.”

She met his eyes, frowning slightly. “I—”

“I mean, we’ll take this to Sam, and let her handle it. And then I’ll go deal with Tracy because she had no right to do this—” Jason squinted. “And was there another test in there that compared my DNA to Franco’s?”

“Uh—” Elizabeth scratched her temple. “Yeah. Um, I guess Tracy wanted—you’re not Franco’s brother. I mean—DNA wise, there’s no blood—”

And that was a relief—a weight off his shoulders. “Okay. But that’s all that changes.”

“I—”

“I love you,” he told her quietly. “But I understand that you don’t trust that.”

“It’s not that I don’t—” She drew her bottom lip between her teeth, bit down. “It’s not that I don’t trust you—”

“You don’t trust me to stay,” Jason told her, with a shake of his head. “And that’s because I didn’t. When it mattered. It matters now. You did this, even worried that it meant I’d leave you. And that means—” He took out the test again. Really thought about the risk she’d taken—believed she’d been taking.

“I hope it means part of you does trust me,” Jason added, “but it also reminds me that I can trust you. To always be honest. Even when it might hurt us both. And that’s—” He hesitated. “That’s not something we’ve always shared.”

“No, I guess that’s true.” Elizabeth’s smile was tentative. “So—I mean—”

He leaned down, brushed her lips with his. “Nothing has changed for me. I love you. And I love the life we’re building together. I’m glad I get to tell Sam her son is alive, but I want to do that with you. She should know that you were part of it.”

“I can probably get Epiphany to cover the rest of my shift,” Elizabeth admitted. “I’d—I’d like to be there when Sam finds out.” She stood on the tips of her toes, kissed him. “I love you, too.”

——

Jason called Sam and asked her to meet him in the park — on neutral ground. Sam had seemed confused with the call, but he told her that he and Elizabeth wanted to talk to her about something.

He’d heard the pain in her voice as she asked him if he was telling her they were getting married. He assured her that it wasn’t the case, and she agreed.

Still — Jason wasn’t entirely unsurprised when Sam walked into the park with John McBain at her side.

Sam never liked to walk into any battle outnumbered—and everything was a battle to her.

“Jason—” Sam looked at Elizabeth, standing at his side. “What’s going on?”

“A few months ago, I met Tea Delgado’s son,” Jason told her. “And I got suspicious because her son was born the same night as yours—”

“Jason—”

“And there were other reasons,” he continued, “that I won’t get into right now, but I told Elizabeth about my theory. She arranged a DNA test.” He looked at Elizabeth.

“The first test came back negative,” Elizabeth told Sam, “but the lab tech who ran it was nearly fired due to budget cuts. Budget cuts that were solved by a donation from ELQ—from Tracy Quartermaine—”

Sam closed her eyes, her face pale, her hands shaking as she put them up. “What are you saying—”

“I was worried the tech had lied to me,” Elizabeth said. “So I asked Spinelli if he could track down the original test.”

She held out the envelope. “And the original test confirmed Jason’s theory. Tea Delgado’s son is Danny. She’s raising him in Llanview, but he’s—”

Sam gasped, choking on a sob. “What—What? Are you—”

“Danny is alive, Sam. Your son is alive.”

+10

Written in 20 minutes. No time for edits.

Elizabeth watched the news wash over Sam’s the face — the shock—the flash of denial—the desperate hope—

What she wouldn’t give for just the briefest glimpse of that same hope her little boy would come home—

Sam took the results from Elizabeth’s hands, ripped open the results—her hand was shaking so bad that she couldn’t get the paper out of the envelope. At her side, an ashen John McBain helped her—

“How could this have happened?” Sam demanded as she looked over the results. SHe shook her head. “What—these are just—initials—”

“Tracy had Brad run two DNA tests,” Jason told her. “The baby with your DNA, Franco’s, and mine—”

Sam’s eyes flew to meet Jason as she flinched. “Why? We—we already knew—”

“I guess Tracy wanted independent confirmation,” Elizabeth said softly.

“And Franco—” Sam closed her eyes. “It’s okay. It’s okay,” she said softly. “I knew it. I can—I can live with it. John—”

John took the results from her, scanned them for himself. “And the second test?” he asked. “Is—”

“There’s no blood relationship between Franco and me,” Jason reported. “I guess—Tracy figured while she was at it—”

“I will kill her for doing this to me—” Sam pressed her hands to her face. “Okay, okay, what do I do? What do I do? Tea—” She looked at John. “She wouldn’t—this isn’t something—”

“Tea wouldn’t do this,” John said slowly. “Not willingly or knowingly.” His face screwed up in distaste. “Todd,” he muttered. “He delivered Victor—and this isn’t even the first time he would have done this—I told you what he did to Blair and Jack—”

“How—” Sam took a deep breath. “How do I tell her it’s—her baby is gone—how do I tell her that—” She hesitated. “What do I do?” she repeated to John, and Elizabeth was surprised — Sam hadn’t even spared much more than a glance for Jason.

“Well, first things first, I need talk to Tea,” John said. He folded the results, tucked them into his coat pocket. “I think—I think I can talk her into getting Victor tested. If that doesn’t work, we can try a court—” He looked at Jason and Elizabeth. “Was this test—was it done—”

“It was all above board. Jason gave me the samples, and Patrick wrote the test order for me. We put it through the lab,” Elizabeth explained. She folded her arms. “Brad gave me a false set of paper results, but the original test is in the General Hospital computers, and Spinelli told me he and his girlfriend have already put a lock on the file to keep it from getting corrupted.”

“Thank you.” Sam looked at Jason, finally, meeting his eyes briefly before looking at Elizabeth. “Thank for doing this. For—for thinking it was a possibility, and then not giving up. I just—I think—I think John and I can handle it. I mean, he knows Tea, so—” She paused. “What do we do about Tracy?”

“Leave Tracy to me,” Jason said. “I’ll take care of that. Good luck, Sam.”

“Thank you. Oh, God, my son—” Sam’s eyes were shining with tears and joy as she turned to John. “Danny—”

“Let’s go, talk to your mother,” John told her. He put an arm around her shoulders and they left.

Elizabeth hadn’t known what to expect, but to see Sam walk away—to not even ask Jason for help getting Danny back—

“So what are you going to do to Tracy?” Elizabeth said, finally. Jason tugged lightly on her elbow as they walked in the opposite direction, walking back towards the parking lot.

“I don’t know,” Jason admitted. “I doubt she’ll be sorry. She never liked Sam, and she knew that if—” He winced. “If Sam and I had been together—not divorced—Danny legally would have been mine and then—”

“Entitled to ELQ shares when Edward passes away.” Elizabeth put her hand on the car door, then looked up at him. “She did this because Danny might have inherited stock? She lied about this baby just to—”

“There’s not a lot Tracy wouldn’t do to protect ELQ from anyone she thinks might hurt it.”

Inside the car, he rubbed his face. “This is why I left the Quartermaines,” he muttered. “Because this is what they do. This is what they always do—”

“Not Quartermaines. Tracy. And maybe—” Elizabeth leaned back against the seat with a smirk. “Maybe we should give her a taste of her own medicine.

Jason eyed her out of the corner of his eye. “What are you thinking?” he asked, a mixture of nerves and curiosity in his eyes.

“When Emily turned eighteen,” Elizabeth said, looking at him, “she inherited stock. Like you and AJ did. And when she passed away—she left it to Cameron and Jake.”

“She—” Jason stared straight ahead. “I didn’t know that.”

“No, and Tracy was very annoyed by that,” she told him. “She wanted to buy it back from me, but it’s all my boys would ever have from Emily, so I told her that I would agree to let her vote their proxy. Because I knew she’d protect ELQ, and that was fine. But I think maybe it’s time I tell her I want to sell to someone else.”

Jason frowned. “Who? She’d never believe you’d sell it to Sam—”

“No, but she’d believe me if I said I wanted to give it to Nikolas. You know, since he and Emily were engaged at the time, and he might have inherited it otherwise through their kids.”

“Letting Tracy think Cassadine Industries might get a foothold in ELQ—” Jason squinted. “Let me make a few calls. I think we can get a few other people on board.”

+8

Written in 20 minutes. No time for typos.

“Miss Tracy is in the library,” Alice told Jason and Elizabeth as she let them into the mansion a few days later. She frowned. “Are you sure you want to see her? Because Dr. Q is at the hospital—”

“It’s definitely Tracy,” Elizabeth told her. “But, um, Jason isn’t going in with me. He’s going to wait outside. Is…can you not tell her that he’s here?”

Alice sighed. “Miss Tracy is up to something again? All right. I’ll go let her know just you’re here, Miss Webber.”

Elizabeth handed her coat to Alice, keeping hold of the paperwork in her hand. “You’re the best, Alice. Thanks.”

In the library, Elizabeth found Tracy scowling at a newspaper and holding a glass of orange juice. “What do you want?” the older woman demanded.

“It’s December, Tracy,” Elizabeth said blandly. “You know that what means.”

“Oh—right.” She sighed, set down the juice and newspaper. “Time to sign over the proxy for another year—” She peered at her. “Have you reconsidered my offer to buy you out? Neither of you are DNA relatives—”

“No, but Jake was, and I inherited his stock—we’ve been over this, Tracy,” Elizabeth said with a roll of her eyes. “Emily left this stock to my boys. They—” Her voice tightened and Tracy looked away. “Cameron can do whatever he wants when he’s eighteen.”

“I’m sorry. I—” Tracy pursed her lips. “Of course. Then maybe sign the proxy until he’s 18? There’s no reason—”

“Actually, I wanted to let you know that I’m planning to sell my shares,” she told Tracy. “I know that Emily’s stock should have passed to her children, and she should be raising Spencer—”

“Elizabeth—”

“I spoke Nikolas in Greece,” Elizabeth continued, watching as Tracy’s face paled. “I’m not a Quartermaine, and my little boy is gone. Emily is gone. I think these shares should go to the other little boy she loved. So Nikolas is going to buy them in Spencer’s name—”

“You’re selling part of my company to Nikolas Cassadine?” Tracy hissed. “You—you can’t do that—we—we had an agreement!”

“We did. Every year, I re-authorize the proxy. And we’ll continue doing that for Cameron—because Emily left those to him. But Emily loved Spencer like her own. This wasn’t my idea,” Elizabeth assured her. “Nikolas approached me. He’s been working on this for a while, I guess. I think he said Jason sold his stock to him as well—”

“That reprobate! It was all we could do to wrestle his back from Sonny, then my bloody mother had to leave him stock all over again—”

“And you know, Skye adored Emily—she wouldn’t sell all of it—”

“You—” Tracy jabbed a finger at her. “You’re not—you’re not serious! No, no—there’s no way you’ve orchestrated the sale of almost twenty-five percent—”

“No, it’s more like forty percent,” Elizabeth said. “Because Jason talked to Carly, and you know Michael has fifteen percent from Lila and AJ—”

“I—” Tracy stumbled over to the sofa, sat down. “How could you do this—how—” Suddenly, she focused on her, squinted her eyes. “You know, don’t you? You know what I did?”

“I do,” Elizabeth said coolly.

“I never knew about Jake!” Tracy lunged back up. “You have to understand—when I changed that will—I never knew about Jake!”

Elizabeth put her hands up, took a step back. “Wait—wait—what will?”

“Alan’s—” Tracy’s eyes bulged. “Oh—you don’t—”

“No, we don’t know,” Jason said, stepping in from the hallway, his tone like ice. “But maybe you should tell us.” He stepped up next to Elizabeth. “What did you do to my son?”

“I—I—” Tracy scowled. “I didn’t know about Jake! Alan left his stock to your children! And your children were going to be from that lying, gold digging con artist! I was never going to let Sam get a single piece of this company!” She hesitated. “Wait, if you didn’t know about the will—”

“We know about the the DNA test,” Elizabeth said, slightly shaken. “What you did to Sam and her child—all so you could keep her out of the company?”

“You—” Tracy stabbed her finger at Jason. “This is your fault! If you knew that child was Sam’s, that bitch would have gotten her claws back into you, and my father would have given him shares!”

“So, instead you let Sam think her son was dead. That is—” Elizabeth shook her head. “I would think that’s the worst thing you could do, but Emily told me enough stories. I know you’re capable of cruelty.”

Tracy lifted her chin. “I wanted to protect my family—” Then she exhaled slowly. “What are you going to do?”

“I could report you to the police,” Elizabeth said. “You participated in kidnapping an infant—” Tracy’s eyes bulged, “—bribery, extortion—falsification of medical records—”

“I—I—”

“But I’ll settle for Alan’s shares,” Jason said. “You’ll sign them over to Elizabeth. Now. They belonged to my son. They should be hers—”

“Jason—”

“You can split them between Cam and Aiden, I don’t care,” Jason told her. “But she’s not keeping them.”

“I—” Tracy shook her head. “How would I ever explain that?”

“I don’t care,” Jason told her. “You stole from my father. If I had known the contents of his will—Jake would have had his inheritance—I might—” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. They belonged to him. And you’re not keeping them.”

“Okay, okay—but you’re not selling to Nikolas?” Tracy asked, worried. “And Jason isn’t—”

“Michael’s thinking about business school,” Jason said, with a shrug. “He might want ELQ one day. And Cam and Aiden might want to go to college.” He paused. “Diane will be in touch with the paperwork.”

—

“You don’t think we let her off easy?” Elizabeth asked as they got into the car. “I mean, she’s losing shares—but she’ll probably inherit from Edward—” Jason’s mouth tightened at the mention of his grandfather—they knew he was ill and would pass soon. “She’s not going to learn anything.”

“I’ll talk to Monica about the will. Tracy didn’t do this alone. And I know who’d she ask to help.” Jason looked at her. “Who do you think Tracy would go to? Five years ago?”

“Luke.” Elizabeth stared straight ahead. “Well, at least you know he feels guilty enough to tell the truth. After what he did.”

+10

Written in 20 minutes. No time for edits or typos.

A few weeks later, Elizabeth was sitting at the table, struggling to wrap the last gift that needed to go under the tree. She usually did a pretty decent job of not shopping until the last minute but despite eight years of being a mother—she’d never managed to finish wrapping before Christmas Eve.

Now it was nearly midnight, and she still had to put the boxes under the tree. She wrinkled her nose as she stared at the closet where she had hid the gifts while the boys were in school that day — she hadn’t been able to hide them at home since Cameron had learned to climb.

The door opened then, and a rush of swirling ice and wind came through as Jason entered, closing the door softly behind him. “Hey.” He joined her at the table, brushing a light against her lips. “Sorry, I’m late. It took longer than I thought to put together the bike.”

“But it’s in the garage?” Elizabeth asked, wrinkling her eyebrows. “It’s the only thing Cameron really asked for—”

“It’s in the garage,” he confirmed. He stripped off his jacket and tossed it on the hook. “What else can I do?”

“I just need to finish wrapping this last one, then I can start putting things under the tree—” She nodded at the closet door. “Everything is in there if you want to start, and I’ll be over in a second—” She handed him the key to the closet, and he went to unlock it.

He stared at it for a long moment, then turned to her with raised eyebrows. “Did you leave anything in the stores?”

“Listen. At this age, it’s about quantity. When they’re teenagers or grown adults, I can start cutting back.” The last box in her hands, she went to the tree and set it down. “Let’s do Cameron’s on this side, and then Aiden on the other—”

Jason handed her boxes, and she arranged them—they worked in silence, hoping to get everything done quickly and quietly so that boys wouldn’t wake up — it had been incredibly hard to get Cameron to sleep that night, and Aiden always fed off his brother’s energy.

Halfway through the closet, Jason hesitated with a box in his hand. He looked at her, then looked back at the tag. “This is, uh, it says Jake—”

“Oh.” Elizabeth took the brightly colored gift, smoothing her thumb over his name. “I should have—I—” She cleared her throat. “Last year—it was the first year—” She paused. “I had ordered something for his birthday, and it came after he died. It was the first time I saw him—I saw him riding the little bike I’d bought for him—and I—”

Jason put his arm around her shoulders, drawing her close. “I’m sorry.”

“Last year, when I went shopping, I didn’t mean to—but I bought something for him. I got home from Wyndham’s and I just—I wrapped it, and I put his name on it. And I felt good about it. Because if I don’t buy presents for all of them, it’ll be like I don’t have three boys anymore. And I guess—” A tear slid down her cheek. “It’s silly.”

“It’s not. I know how much you love Christmas.”

“Jake did, too. More than Cameron. He loved the magic of it—that last year—when he was just three—it was the first year he didn’t cry sitting on Santa’s lap—he was so excited, and he babbled on for ten minutes about everything he wanted—”

Elizabeth sat on the sofa. “I know it gets easier to live with it,” she told him as he sat next to her. “And it has—I mean, I don’t think about him every day. But someone will ask me how many kids I have—and it’s wrong to say two. I have three beautiful boys. I had—” She put the gift on the coffee table. “I’m okay. Christmas is hard. But I don’t want Cameron to know it. I don’t want him to think about this as being a sad time.”

“He won’t. And one day, he and Aiden will be grateful you kept Jake’s memory alive for them. For all of us.” He kissed her, pressing his forehead against hers. “I don’t have enough memories of him,” Jason told her, his voice a bit rough. “That’s my fault.”

“Well, I’ll share all mine. You gave me that beautiful boy and kept him safe for me all those years. You always brought him back to me.” She touched his face. “It’s okay. We’ll put this upstairs with last year’s gift. And the birthday gifts I bought.”

Elizabeth scrubbed her hands over her cheeks. “I forgot to ask—you were supposed to meet with Diane to finalize the ELQ stuff today. Did Tracy sign over her shares?”

“Yeah, Diane has it ready for you after Christmas. She was kind of curious why Tracy was giving you another ten percent—”

“I still wish you’d take it—you’re the Quartermaine—” She grinned when he scowled at her. “I’m kidding. It’s okay. I’ll hold on to the extra fifteen percent, and then divide it among the boys when they’re old enough so they have equal shares.”

“Diane also told me that Sam has a hearing after Christmas about custody,” Jason went on as Elizabeth started to put away the trash and supplies she’d used for wrapping. “Tea is fighting her on custody—”

“Hard to blame her. I think, even if I knew the truth, I’d want to keep my baby. Six months is a long time.” Elizabeth sighed. “But she’ll get her baby back.” She looked at the Christmas tree, smiling at the paper chains that decorated it. “It looks a lot like that first tree, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Jason stood her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to draw her back against him. “With an angel to watch over things.”

“It helps,” Elizabeth murmured. “To think of Jake being safe with Emily, you know? She’ll take care of him until we’re together again.” She took a deep breath, looked at him and smiled. “We’re going to have a great Christmas. I can’t wait until the boys get up tomorrow.”

“Me either.” He kissed her again. “Let’s get cleaned up and get some sleep before they get up at dawn.”

——

Meanwhile, in Greece…

Nikolas Cassadine sighed and pushed open the door to the cottage on his estate. It was a small and modest set of rooms, tucked away from any visitors.

“Hello? Anyone here?”

“Uncle Nikolas!”

A little boy with blonde hair and blue eyes dashed out of the back room, followed by his nanny and another man with dark hair and dark eyes.

“Hey—” Nikolas lifted the boy into his arms and smiled at him. He looked at the older man. “Father.”

“Nikolas. Jake and I were just getting ready to have dinner. Will you join us?”

“Sure. Yeah.” Nikolas looked at Jake, flincing slightly as he smiled. He looked so much like Elizabeth.

Soon. Soon, he’d be able to bring her son back to her.

THE END

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