Written in 20 minutes. No time for typos.

“Why can’t I be in the room?” Elizabeth demanded. She put her hands on her hips and glared at Chase. Now that she knew she hadn’t murdered Franco, that someone was setting her up, there was no way in hell she was going to let the PCPD push her around.

And she was absolutely going to be in the room when Chase questioned Cameron.

Chase sent Diane a pained look. “Ms. Miller, I agreed not to take Cameron down the station without talking to him first, but—”

“But what?” Elizabeth said, cutting off Diane’s answer earning her an irritated glare from her lawyer. “I am his mother. He is sixteen years old—”

“For the purposes of this warrent, Ms. Webber,” Chase said, “he’s an adult—”

“Mom,” Cameron murmured. He touched her elbow. “I’m okay. Diane’s here—”

“Diane doesn’t work for you,” Elizabeth told her. She turned her back on both Diane and Chase, her tone slightly pleading. “She works for Jason. Not us—”

“Gee, thanks—”

“I appreciate you coming down in the middle of the night, Diane, and taking care of things,” Elizabeth said flatly. “But I’m not paying for your legal services, am I? You’re here on retainer from Jason and Sonny. And their family.”

At those words, Diane’s mouth tightened as she took the hit. Diane might want to let bygones be bygones, but Elizabeth would never forget the way she’d been treated after her lie about Jake Doe had been revealed.

Diane had taken sides.

“Ms. Webber—”

Jason pushed open the door, relief crossing his expression when he saw them still there—then he sensed the tension in the room. “What’s wrong?”

“Elizabeth isn’t convinced I am working for her and her family,” Diane told him. “And she isn’t willing to let Cameron be questioned here, outside of an interrogation room—” This she said to Elizabeth slowly as if she was an idiot, “—without her present—”

“She’s his mother.” Jason squinted at Chase. “And if you’re here to arrest Cameron, then you must not consider Elizabeth a suspect. So why can’t she stay?”

Chase hesitated, then grimaced.

Surprised by Jason’s defense and that he wasn’t angry that she was questioning Diane’s loyalty, Elizabeth turned to the cop. “Did you get an arrest warrant for my son to force him into questioning?” she demanded in almost a hissed tone. “Because you know you can’t force him—”

“An arrest warrant is much easier and faster than a material witness order,” Diane said with nod. “That’s a very good question, Elizabeth. Detective Chase, maybe you can illuminate us on the evidence.” She reached out her hand. “I’d like to examine that warrant.”

Chase shoved it at her. “It wasn’t my idea, okay?” he said, his irritation on full display. “I wanted to reach out, but my commissioner and the DA—”

“The DA who railroaded Carly into Ferncliffe with the testimony of a known liar?” Elizabeth demanded. “She sent you here?”

“I’m just doing my job,” Chase said, exasperated. “And you already confessed,” he said to Elizabeth. “So let your kid tell his side, and this can be over—”

Diane pursed her lips. “I’ll have this arrest warrant squashed in five minutes in front of a judge. So you know what? You go back to the PCPD and tell them Cameron will surrender himself at three. He’s not a flight risk—”

“Oh, no? Then where was he last night and why didn’t his mother—his only biological relative—not know where he was?” Chase shot back.

“You never asked me where Cameron was,” Jason said quietly. All of them turned to look at him. “I didn’t know where Jake was. I didn’t know he was with his brothers. But I knew where Cameron was.”

“You—” Chase swallowed as Elizabeth and Cameron both stared at him in confusion. “What? When? And what do you mean I never asked—I made it clear—” He stopped. “You know what? No. I’m not doing this.” He turned to Cameron. “If you don’t answer questions now, kid, I’m taking you to the PCPD—”

“Not on this evidence you won’t,” Diane snarled. She yanked out her cell phone and started to dial. “I’ll have an injunction ordered before you can even get down to the car.” She pressed it to her ear. “Using coercion on an innocent teenage child to testify against his mother—oh, the press is going to love this. I’ll be on the phone with the Sun after this—”

“Fine. I’ll tell the station you’ll surrender at three,” Chase said to Cameron, obviously over the entire situation and not entirely sure he’d be able to put Cameron in cuffs without injury. “This wasn’t my choice,” he repeated as he stood in the doorway.

“No, but you sure as hell didn’t say no.” Elizabeth stalked over to the door and slammed the door shut—almost shoving the cop out. She dragged her hands through her hair and looked at Cameron. “If Diane can’t get an injunction filed, you don’t say a word. They’ll twist whatever you say—”

“Oh, so now I’m trust worthy?” Diane said with a roll of her eyes. She held up a finger and walked out of the room. “Judge Worth! Have I got a bone to pick with you—”

She disappeared down the hall while Elizabeth took a deep breath, looked at Jason. “Jake and Aiden are with Laura. I didn’t think you’d mind, but if you want Jake to stay here—”

“No, that’s fine—” Jason looked at Cameron. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Um, yeah.” Cameron sat on the couch. “Mom, I think Diane is okay—”

“If this is about what we talked about—Diane doesn’t work for anyone except me and Sonny,” Jason told Elizabeth. “So it’s not Diane you don’t trust. It’s us.”

“Mom?” Cameron frowned. “I thought—I thought you said we could trust Jason. What happened? What’s going on?”

When Elizabeth bit her lip and might not have said anything, Jason took the decision from her. “Your mom trusted me before we realized the most likely suspect is Sam. And she thinks I’ll throw you to the wolves to protect her.”

“Mom?” Cameron looked at his mother. “What’s going on?”

“It’s not that simple,” she said softly. “I just—I think we’d be better off if I got a lawyer that worked for us. I appreciate everything you’ve done, Jason—”

“No.” Cameron swallowed hard. “No, this isn’t fair, Mom—”

“Your mom has her reasons not to trust me where Sam is concerned,” Jason said quietly. He looked at Elizabeth. “And I can’t fix that in the next hour. Just—let Diane get the warrant squashed, and we’ll figure the rest of it out then. Okay?”

Feeling like the villain and not happy about it, Elizabeth threw up her hands. “Fine. It’s only my life and kids, so why not ignore me completely?” She stalked away, and a moment later, Jake’s bedroom door slammed shut.

Cameron looked at Jason, suddenly more guarded than before. “Why doesn’t my mom trust you now? What did you do to her?”

+8

Written in 19 minutes. No time for edits or typos.

Before Jason could even think about answering Cameron’s question, Diane strode back into the room, her cell phone still in her hands.

“Okay, I’ve got my assistant writing up an emergency motion that Judge Worth will sign at—” Diane checked the time on her phone. “Two. The arrest warrant will be squashed then.” She lifted her brow, looking around at the room. “Where did Elizabeth go?”

“She needed a minute.” Cameron turned away from Jason, folded his arms. “Why doesn’t my mom trust you?” he asked, directing the uncomfortable question to Diane who pursed her lips. “I don’t understand what’s going on—”

“Well,” Diane drawled, looking at Jason with a bit of regret. “After the truth about Jake Doe came out—the truth as we knew it back then—you remember that a lot of people weren’t happy with your mother.”

“Yeah,” Cameron said, darkly. “It rings a bell.” Jason frowned at him, wondering how bad it had been. “But what did you have to do with it? You were always my mother’s lawyer before then.”

“Because Jason asked me to take her on as a client,” Diane clarified. “I felt—I suppose—that my loyalty was to him. And as I thought she’d lied to him—” She cleared her throat delicately. “I may not have been kind or understanding.”

Cameron scowled. “Because no one in this town ever lies, right? God forbid my mother just acts like everyone else for five minutes.” He took his his wallet from his jeans and removed a crumbled five dollar bill. He set it on the counter in the kitchen. “I agree with my mother. I’d feel better if I were paying for my own lawyer. Does this work?”

Diane stared at the five dollars, which Jason knew would barely pay for her fancy coffee, then reached for it. She stared at the wrinkled bill, then raised her eyes to Cameron. “I regret the way I acted, and I owe her an apology. This works.”

She looked at Jason. “If you don’t mind, I think my new client and I need to have a frank conversation about what happens if the PCPD still manages to get him in the seat for questioning. I can keep him from getting arrested, but it might be harder to argue against a material witness order.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Jason said. “I have to go—” He left them talking and went down the hall. He gently knocked on Jake’s door.

“Come in,” Elizabeth called, her voice muffled.

He found her standing by the window, looking out over the view of the waterfront. From his apartment he could see the warehouse, the pier, Kelly’s—and even the corner of her old studio building.

“Should I apologize?” Elizabeth asked without turning around.

Jason exhaled slowly, then closed the door behind him. “Do you feel like you said anything that was wrong?” he asked.

“No.”

“Then, no.” Jason folded his arms, remaining by the door. “Cameron just hired Diane, by the way. For five dollars. She’s on his retainer now.”

Elizabeth smiled faintly, then looked at him. He was struck by the sadness in her eyes, the tenseness in her shoulders—all of the anger, the fire, and determination she’d exhibited in the living room with Diane, Chase, and Jason—it had dissipated, almost like it had never existed.

“I should probably apologize to Diane,” she admitted. “She wasn’t all that nice after everyone found out the truth, but no one was. And I know she takes her job seriously. I just—” Elizabeth said nothing for a moment, as if gathering her thoughts. “I don’t know. I guess I can’t see anything clearly when Sam’s involved.”

“I get it. She’s—she’s done a lot of damage over the years,” Jason told her. “And I know you don’t trust me—”

“It’s not that I don’t—” Elizabeth turned around to fully face him. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Jason. It’s that I don’t—” She bit her lip. “I hate her.”

“I know—”

“No, you don’t—” Elizabeth shook her head. “You don’t know. I mean, I hate her. For what she did to me with Jake—all those weeks of terror—of not knowing where my baby was—then those men with the guns in the park—I just—I don’t think I could ever forgive her for it.” Her eyes burned into his. “And I don’t know why you did. So, yeah, when it comes to Sam, Jason, I don’t entirely think you’d put me first. You never have before.”

She looked away again when he said nothing—he had no defense to any of that. Sam had commited those crimes against Elizabeth, and it wasn’t his job to talk her out of the anger or attempt to explain how he could—only two years later, allow Sam back into his life.

“Then again, I married Ric after what he did to Carly, right? And I took Lucky back after all the damage—you know, I nearly married Ric again a few years ago? And I lied about Danny. I kept another son from you. First Jake, then Danny—”

“Elizabeth—”

“I thought—I thought at first I would just to do to her what she did to me,” Elizabeth admitted. “I’d lost Jake. I’d lost him, and Sam had stolen time from me. I’d never get those weeks back. It seemed—God, it seemed so fair that I’d do the same for her. And I’d get to finally win.” A tear slid down her cheek. “I was going to wait the exact same amount of time Jake was kidnapped.”

“You barely managed a week,” he murmured. “And I never blamed you. I never told Sam.”

She looked at him with a small smile. “I know. I’d like to think you wouldn’t have told her, but you were shot and kidnapped soon after. So, we’ll never know for sure, right?”

“I never blamed you for lying about the test,” Jason repeated. “And I believe you about Sam. I think—I know she’s capable of this. I know her history. What she did as a con artist before she came to Port Charles.”

“Well, I guess that’s something,” Elizabeth murmured. She cleared her throat. “Should we tell the police or—”

They looked towards the door as they heard a door open in the front of the apartment. “Mom?” Cameron called. “Drew’s here! He needs to talk to you about Sam!”

+8

Written in 20 minutes. No time for typos or edits. I mean it. I do not reread this before I post them, and I am aware there are errors. Please assume I have basic spelling comprehension and know how to reread and revise. Thank you. I can’t write almost 1000 words in 20 minutes if I worry about spelling or typos.

When Jason and Elizabeth went into the living room, they found that Diane and Cameron had let Drew into the apartment. He immediately strode over to Elizabeth and wrapped her in a tight hug.

“Hey. I’m sorry I didn’t come by earlier—I didn’t—the PCPD wouldn’t tell me if you’d made bail—”

Elizabeth hugged him back briefly, then stepped back. She couldn’t forget that this was another man who had chosen Sam, who had protected her, She folded her arms, stepping gingerly away from the brothers, looking over at Cam. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Diane and I worked out a statement in case the PCPD gets a material witness order.” Cam flicked his eyes at his lawyer. “And she works for me now.”

“I should be able to buy a very nice pair of discount sneakers…on clearance,” Diane said dryly. She cleared her throat, looked at Elizabeth. “I’m…sorry…if what happened before gave you reason not to trust me. But—”

“It’s—” Elizabeth bit her lip, looked at Jason for a moment, before returning her attention to the redhead. “It’s fine. It’s just been a lot today.” She looked at Drew. “What are you doing here?”

“I—” Drew hesitated. “I’ve been trying to find Sam. I believe you—” he told Jason quickly who had furrowed his brow. “I—I hate that I do, but with what happened last year—” He looked Diane. “It could be her.”

“It is her,” Jason said flatly. “Elizabeth remembered seeing her there.”

Drew closed his eyes, absorbed the hit, and nodded. “Okay. Okay.” He dragged his hands through his hair, then down his face. “Okay. I tried to find her, but she’s not returning her calls. Alexis hasn’t heard her—”

“Spinelli is tracking her down,” Jason said. He folded his arms, then frowned. “What happened last year?”

“Sam got sick,” Elizabeth said softly. “After Scout was born, she was really sick. And she had some sort of—” She hesitated, looked at Drew. “What did Finn say? A kind of psychotic break?”

“Toxoplasmosis,” Drew clarified. “She—she tried to kill Sonny.” His smile was grim. “I ended up shot and nearly died. It was…she’s okay. She recovered—at least that’s what the doctors told her—”

“That’s what she said the doctors told her,” Diane pointed out. She folded her arms. “The PCPD dropped charges—they didn’t mandate reports from the doctors, so unless you spoke to Finn directly…?” she trailed off and Drew shook his head.

“No. I never—I took her word for it. I—” He looked at Elizabeth. “I thought she’d recovered, but maybe—maybe it explains it. I mean—I know she’s done terrible things, Elizabeth, but this—this is different.”

“Is it?” Elizabeth asked numbly. “You have no idea.” She closed her eyes. Maybe it was easier for Drew to believe that Sam was sick. Maybe he was right.

“Mom?” Cameron asked quietly. “What’s wrong? Why—what are they talking about? I know—I know Sam was part of what happened when the house caught on fire—she shouldn’t have been following Jake around—”

“Following Jake?” Jason said, sharply. “What?”

“She thought he was—she thought he was in trouble,” Drew said, almost faintly as if it sounded as ridiculous now as it had then.

“He got hit by a car—again—running away from her,” Elizabeth told Jason. “She came into my home, accused him of doing things that would make Drew want to come back. He got scared, and she fell down the stairs. He ran away and nearly died. Again.”

Jason exhaled slowly. “I—I didn’t know.”

“You wouldn’t. We don’t talk about Sam’s crimes very often.” Elizabeth flicked her eyes to Drew who couldn’t meet her gaze. “Somehow when she does it, there’s an explanation. A justification.”

“Elizabeth—”

“Mom—”

“Do you remember when Jake was kidnapped—the first time?” Elizabeth asked Cameron. “You were young. He had just been born.”

“Yeah.” Cameron rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. Everyone was crying a lot, but Jason found him. Brought him home.” He managed a faint smile. “I remember that.” His eyes widened. “Wait. Did—”

“Sam watched Maureen Harper take my child out of the stroller and walk away from him,” Elizabeth told her son. “Then she refused to let me and Lucky go on her show to beg for him back. She came over to my house — knowing where my baby was, knowing he was Jason’s son — and told me we were the same. We’d both lost a child. She never told the truth, by the way.”

“She would—” Drew trailed off, looked at Jason. “She would have—”

“No.” Jason met Elizabeth’s eyes. “No. She probably wouldn’t have.” He cleared his throat. “You never told me she came to the house.”

She raised a brow. “If I had, would you still have forgiven her? Married her?”

“I don’t understand,” Cameron said, holding up his hands. “I don’t—Sam basically kidnapped my little brother.” He turned his eyes on Drew and Jason, who both had the memory. “She has tormented my mother since Jake was born — I know that. I’ve been there for that. She made sure that Drew left Mom and enjoyed it, by the way,” he added sarcastically, “and you’re telling me—that you still—you both still—” He looked at his mother. “I don’t understand.”

“That makes two of us.” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “But as I am often reminded by everyone, I am not entirely innocent. So let’s put all that away. Sam hates me and has for years. I can understand if she’s sick again that it might have escalated like this. So—” she faced the brothers who were both extremely uncomfortable. “Did Spinelli find her?”

“He hasn’t called yet,” Drew said, looking at Jason. “Did he call you?”

“No.” Jason took out his cell phone. “I’ll check in with him again.

—

Spinelli had found Sam, but he hadn’t told either Drew or Jason. He wanted to help—he wanted to fix things. He was sure it was all a giant mistake.

He knew Sam—he knew she wouldn’t do something so awful to Elizabeth and her children. Jason and Drew—they were wrong.

So he went by himself to the motel where he’d tracked down one of her aliases and knocked on the door. “Sam? It’s Spinelli.”

Sam answered the door a moment later, then stepped back. “Spinelli, come on in.”

A bit unnerved at the welcome, at the empty expression on her face, Spinelli gingerly stepped past her, into the rundown room. He looked around that water stained walls, the cracked drywall. “Sam, what are you doing here? No one—your kids—they haven’t heard from you.”

“They’re safe,” Sam said, closing the door. She turned to face him. “I had to make sure they stayed safe.”

Spinelli swallowed hard, searched her eyes, looking for some hint, some trace of the woman he’d considered a member of his family for so long. “Have you heard the news? What happened to Franco? And Elizabeth? At her house last night.”

“Yes. I know what happened.” Sam’s lips curved into a smile. “It’s about time someone ended his existence, don’t you think?”

“Uh. Yeah. Sure. But, uh, don’t you—I mean, Elizabeth was hurt—attacked,” Spinelli told her. “And she’s been charged with his murder—”

“I saw that.” Sam leaned against the door, her smile deepening. “Karma, ain’t it a bitch?”

Spinelli blinked, then shook his head again. “No—”

“She protected a rapist for years.” Sam shrugged a shoulder. “And now she’s paying for it. People generally get what they deserve, Spinelli. And she deserves this.”

+8

Written in 20 minutes. No type for typos.

Spinelli took a step back from Sam, trying very hard not to look more worried than he actually was. So what if Sam had killed Franco? Franco had needed killing, and Jason had been trying for nearly a decade — but there was something in the look in her eyes that made Spinelli very uncomfortable.

“Uh, okay, well, then I’m glad I know—” Spinelli flashed her a smile he hoped looked casual. “I’ll just be—” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll just be going.”

Sam narrowed her eyes, walked towards him. “Going where?”

“Uh.” Spinelli pursed his lips. “To Portland. To, uh, Ellie and Georgie. My family. They need me, and I’m really getting too old for this crap—”

Sam folded her arms. “You know I did the right thing. Elizabeth will go to jail like she should have for what she did to me, and Jason will get Jake. That’s the right thing. Then Jason and I can pretend none of this ever happened.”

“That sounds like a plan,” Spinelli said slowly, though he wasn’t entirely sure that Elizabeth’s sins against Sam warranted such a drastic revenge considering Elizabeth had largely let Sam get away with all her shenanigans.

Either way, Spinelli very much wanted to make sure that he didn’t give Sam a reason to think that he did not agree with her. Because if he could just…get out of here, he could tell someone who could fix this.

Because this was not a Sam that he knew how to reason with.

“You agree that she deserves it for lying about Jason, don’t you?” Sam demanded. “For trying to steal him from me again?”

Not the time to mention that Elizabeth had actually been lying about Drew — Spinelli just nodded. “Uh, yeah. I mean, we were all mad about it, right? So…this is fair.”

Sam stepped away from the door, studied him for a long moment, then shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”

“Uh, listen—”

She walked over to the nightstand and Spinelli tried to inch towards the door. No quick movements, no fast talking — he slid his phone out of his pocket, behind his back, navigated to his emergency contact lists and hit a random number, hoping it would be Jason because, man, Ellie would not know how to deal with any of this crap in Portland—

“I need to make sure no one knows it was me,” Sam said as she turned back to him, a gun in her hand. Aimed at him.

Damn it.

—

“I can’t just sit here and wait for Spinelli to find something,” Cam said as he got off the sofa and started to pace. “He’s not returning calls—his phone tracker is off—”

Elizabeth pressed her hand to her eyes. She just wanted to go back to the world she’d gone to sleep in — with nothing more than regrets about a bad boyfriend in her thoughts — not this elaborate revenge plot that had put her boys in the middle of it, shoved her past with Sam into the forefront—

She was exhausted by life right now, and the fact that any hope rested on one Damien Spinelli did not give her any optimism.

There was a sharp knock at the door. Diane frowned at it, walked over to it, and opened it, narrowing her eyes at Chase.

“I’m not happy about this either,” the beleaguered cop snapped.

“You’re not taking my son—” Elizabeth stepped in front of Cameron.

“Cameron?” Drew said, looking back and forth between the cop and Cameron whose face had paled. “Why the hell—”

“I’m here because we got DNA results back for blood under Franco’s nails,” Chase told them. He looked at Elizabeth. “It’s a match. For you.”

“For me?” Elizabeth shook her head, looked at her hands, at her arms— “I don’t have any scratches on me—”

“Circumstantial,” Diane sniffed. “They used to be in relationship—”

“No,” Elizabeth snapped at the redhead who scowled at her. “You’re not going to explain this away by suggesting I scratched him during sex. We broke up a month ago. I am not going to lie and say anything differently—” Her throat closed, her stomach pitched.

“Mom—” Cameron put a hand on her shoulder as Jason and Drew both started towards her. The teenager halted them both with a hot look. “Mom, he was trying to hurt you last night. Is it—” He cleared his throat as she looked at him blindly. “We know you didn’t kill him. But maybe—before I got there—it was worse than you thought—”

“Cameron,” Diane hissed. “Don’t—”

“Shut up!” Cameron threw at her. “My mom didn’t kill him! I didn’t kill him! I’m tired of all of this—tired of being protected—I’m not a kid anymore!”

“He didn’t,” Elizabeth managed. She squeezed her eyes. “He didn’t—” She exhaled slowly. “He tried—but he didn’t.”

“If I could?” Chase suggested with a mixture of irritation and discomfort. “I didn’t see any evidence of injuries last night that would have drawn blood the way you’d need to in order get these results.” He hesitated. “We found a pool of blood in the living room. The results aren’t back, but it looks smeared.”

“Someone dragged his hands through her blood?” Drew made a face. “Christ.”

“It’s time to stop protecting each other, Mom.” Cameron found his mother’s eyes. “We were victims. And if Chase thinks someone else was there, we should tell him who it might be.”

Chase lifted his brows. “We’re still working the scene. We might find more evidence to support a third party, but yeah, I’m thinking someone else had to be there. No other way to explain the timeline. Who was it?”

Drew exchanged an uncomfortable look with Jason, started to open his mouth, but his brother got there first.

“We think it was Sam.”

Before Chase could process that, Jason’s phone rang. “It’s Spinelli—” He answered it, putting it on speaker. “Spinelli—”

“Hey—listen, put away the gun, and we’ll talk about it—” Spinelli’s tinned voice echoed in the silence.

“No! There’s no talking!” The shriek was unmistakeable. Then a gunshot rang out over line, and they heard a phone hit the ground.

“What—” Sam’s voice was closer as she came towards the phone. “Is—did you try to call Jason—damn it—” Then the phone clicked off.

+6

Written in 20 minutes. No time for typos.

“Damn it,” Chase swore. He looked at Jason. “Do you have that app? Can you track Spinelli’s phone—”

Jason frowned at him, then looked down at the phone. “Uh, no—”

“Yeah, you do.” Cameron snagged the phone from him, his fingers trembling as he navigated the touch screen. “All Apple phone users have it. Didn’t Spinelli set up your phone when you came back?”

He showed the Find Friends app screen to him — “Look, he linked your phone with his.”

“Where does the phone say he is?” Chase demanded, clearly itching to grab the phone. “Where?”

“I don’t know—”

Jason squinted at the screen and then zoomed in— “The only place he might be is that motel—” He looked at Drew, knowing the shared the memory. “Where Danny was born.”

“Okay, okay. What’s the name of that motel?” Chase demanded. “What’s the address?” When Drew reeled off the information, the cop pulled out his own phone and started to cal it in. “Okay, you stay here, and I’ll handle this—”

“The hell we will—” Drew snarled but Chase was already out the door, slamming the door behind him.

“Give him five minutes to get out of the building,” Jason said flatly to Drew. “Then we’ll go. He can’t stop us if he doesn’t know we’re on our way. I’m not—” He looked at Elizabeth and Cameron. “We’ll call you when we know—”

“Not a chance in hell—”

“I don’t want to argue with you about this,” Jason told her. He stalked over to a cabinet, unlocked it with his keys and drew out a set of boxes. He slid a gun into the back of his jeans, looked at Drew. “You want to carry?”

“Uh—” Drew scratched his temple. “Yeah. Sure—” He looked at Elizabeth. “Look, I know you can handle yourself, but you’ve been through enough—”

“How do we know you won’t find Sam and get her out of the country?” Cameron demanded. “Sam needs to get arrested so Mom is exonerated—”

“I get why you don’t trust me—” Drew flinched when Cameron rolled his eyes. “I just want to figure out what set this off.” He looked at Elizabeth. “I know there’s bad blood, I know that—but this is not right. You know that. Something had to have happened—”

Elizabeth frowned. “Last year—when she got sick—she went after Sonny. You think she’s going after me and Franco—”

“I think,” Drew said, with a sigh, “that it’s also because of Danny.” He took the gun from Jason, tucked it behind his back. “We found out before she took off that his cancer was back. I thought she was just having trouble handling it, you know? But then she didn’t contact me. Even to check on Danny.”

“That’s no excuse—” Cameron began but Elizabeth held up a hand.

“That might be true. But I’m still going with you.”

“No, you’re not.” Jason pulled open the door. “Let’s go, Drew.”

Elizabeth scowled and charged after the brothers as they left the apartment. A moment later, Cameron went after them.

He stayed out of their sight, taking the service stairs when they took the elevator. He didn’t know why either Jason or Drew was bothering to argue with his mother. He knew that look on her face —

He reached the street before they did, and found Jason’s SUV parked out front. He quickly went to the other side of the car—then heard their voices still arguing as the trio approached the car.

Cameron waited for the snick of the car lock, silently opened the door, climbed into the back seat—then into the empty space in the back of the car. He sat against the seats, holding in his breath, hoping they’d been distracted arguing.

“You haven’t won an argument with me in twenty years,” he heard Elizabeth snap when the door opened and she slid into the back seat. “I don’t know you even tried it today.”

Cameron sighed in relief as he heard the engine switch on — he’d managed to get in without being detected.

——

“Can you at least wait at the SUV?” Drew asked as they pulled into the motel parking lot. He frowned at the sight of ambulances and police cars. They parked near the entrance, the side of the motel that looked over the woods.

“Why are you still arguing?” Jason asked Drew. He turned off the car, looked at Elizabeth. “Stay behind us.”

“That I can do since you wouldn’t give me a gun,” Elizabeth muttered. SHe climbed out of the car, and Chase was already striding towards them, his face flushed with irritation.

“Can’t you just stay in one place?” he demanded of them. “She’s already gone—”

“What about Spinelli?” Jason asked.

“He’s being loaded into the ambulance now—” Chase gestured in that direction. “Why don’t you head over to the hospital?” He stalked away.

“Maybe she’s still in the area,” Drew suggested.

In the SUV, Cameron slid out of the back seat, silently opening the door, grimacing as he realized that he’d have to show himself to his mother — he hadn’t really thought out this part of the plan —

“Don’t move—” Sam’s voice was hot in his ear, behind him, something hard shoved into his back. “Come with me.”

“Listen — Sam —”

“Or I’ll kill her right here and I don’t care if I get caught.”

+6

Written in 20 minutes. No time for rereads.

“Let’s go to the hospital,” Jason told Drew and Elizabeth as the ambulance pulled out of the parking lot of the motel. “When Spinelli wakes up—”

Elizabeth walked to the passenger side of the SUV and nearly pulled open the door before she saw the phone laying on the ground.

She knew that phone case, of course, because Cameron had begged for it for weeks and she’d reluctantly bought it—why a teenager needed something plastic that cost seventy-five dollars—

“That’s Cameron’s phone.”

In front of her, at the passenger door, Drew touched her arm. “Elizabeth—”

“Cameron—” She picked up the phone—the screen was smashed. “Oh my God—was he in the car?”

“No, we left him in the apartment—” Drew began as Jason joined them. Elizabeth frantically shook her head.

“No, no! He had his phone in the apartment, he loves this stupid thing—he can’t breathe without it—”

“Cameron!” she screamed, turning towards the woods. “Cameron!” She saw a sneaker at the edge of the brush—Cameron’s sneaker—another stupid purchase he’d just had to have—

Elizabeth started to run—

“Get Chase!” Jason snapped at Drew as he took off after her. He had longer legs — it should have been easy to catch up with her but Elizabeth had a brief head start and the adrenaline of a mother whose child was in danger—

Cameron loved that phone—he’d never let anything happen to it—

Elizabeth crashed through the woods, screaming Cameron’s name, not even blinking as branches whipped past her. She stumbled over a root, hit the ground on her knees, wincing before shoving herself back to her feet and taking off again.

“Cameron!”

She stumbled into a clearing—her fall had allowed Jason and Drew to catch up—

Sam stood in the small area, a gun shoved under Cameron’s chin—it was almost laughable—Cameron had shot up in the last two years and was nearly a head taller than Sam—

But with one arm around Cameron’s neck, the other at the trigger — Sam had all the power and she knew it. She must have heard Elizabeth screaming after Cameron in the woods—had stopped—

Or had planned it.

“Sam, what the hell are you doing?” Drew demanded. “What’s going on?”

“Sam—put down the gun,” Jason told her. He edged closer to her. “We can talk about this—”

“Talk about what?” Sam snarled. She lifted her chin. “This is fair. A son for a son! You killed mine, I’m taking yours!”

“That doesn’t—” Drew shook his head, looked at Jason and Elizabeth blankly. “Danny’s alive—”

“Not anymore! Julian won’t donate again! You heard him!” she screamed. “He refused—”

“That—that was a misunderstanding—”

“How is that my mother’s fault?” Cameron choked out. “Let me go, you crazy bitch—”

“Cameron,” Jason snapped. “Don’t talk—”

“Why? No one is asking any questions that make fucking sense—” Cameron broke off as Sam shoved the barrel into his throat.

“I would never hurt Danny. Do you want to test Jake?” Elizabekth asked, her hands up, her voice quiet. “Did you think I wouldn’t—”

Sam laughed, a bitter long, dark sound that caused chills to dance down Elizabeth’s spine. “Jake won’t help. Nothing will help—Jason’s family didn’t match five years ago. Do you know why?”

“It’s—” Jason looked at Drew, but Drew shook his head. He hadn’t been around during Danny’s cancer the first time. He looked at Elizabeth who just frowned. “It’s one of those things—”

“That’s what we thought then—but I wanted to test again—I wanted to test Jake—” Sam’s voice broke. “I found a hairbrush he left when he was t here—a-and it didn’t match—”

Elizabeth’s heart sank as she and Jason traded a stunned glance. “Jason’s not—but—the results—”

“You think I’d get that lucky?” Sam snarled. “You think I didn’t think that? I tested Jason. Jason isn’t Danny’s father!” she shrieked.

Elizabeth sucked in a startled gasp, her hands flying to her mouth. “Oh my God. Oh my God—”

“Wait, what—” Cameron’s eyes darted back and forth. “What’s going on—”

“I knew it was a lie—I always knew it was a lie,” Sam retorted. “You all swallowed it, but I always knew he raped me—”

“Sam—” Drew edged closer to her. “Please. Let Cameron go. We’ll figure this out—”

“No! Franco matched! Franco matched! And he refused to help me! He refused! And I thought well I’ll make him, I’ll make him help me! I’ll—I’ll follow him, and I’ll kidnap him or I’ll shoot him—I will make him help me!” Sam screamed.

“But you killed him instead,” Drew said quietly. “You didn’t mean for him to die.”

“I followed him to her house. I knew you were weak,” Sam snarled at Elizabeth who just stared at him. “I waited for him to leave your room—but he didn’t—you made the boys leave—I knocked you out so I could get to him but—”

Her voice trembled. “Franco caught me, and I had to kill him, and it’s your fault—I couldn’t get him out—I had to kill him and now my baby is going to die—” Her fingers trembled. “I had to kill him—if you hadn’t let him—if you hadn’t—”

“He came there to attack me.” Elizabeth swallowed hard. “To force me to take him back. I wouldn’t—I would have helped you,” she said softly. “If you’d told me, Sam. I still can. We can—there are other people we can look for—please, don’t take my baby from me. I can help you—”

“Please, Sam—” Jason locked eyes with Cameron’s terrfied blue ones. “Just let him go—they’ll udnerstand what you did—”

“You protected a rapist all these years!” Sam raged. “It’s your fault! You can’t get away with it!”

“Then shoot me—kill me—” Elizabeth pressed her hands to her chest. “Take your revenge on me, Sam. Not Cameron. He never did anything to you—”

“Mom—no—”

“I’m the one you hate. Who you’ve always hated. Take me, not him—”

Sam’s eyes were wild as she shoved Cameron to the ground, aimed the gun at Elizabeth, and pulled the trigger.

+6

Written in 20 minutes. No time for typos.

Jason was already in motion from the second that Sam had shoved Cameron aside—Drew had leapt for the teenager, covering him with his body while Jason tried to get to Elizabeth—

But his reflexes weren’t as quick as they’d been once and Elizabeth was just a little too far away—

He tackled her to the ground, then rolled her, as she pressed her hand to her abdomen, her face pale with shock, breaking out in sweat and tears.

Jason covered his hand with hers, trying to press down, his heart pounding as the blood continued to gush—

“Elizabeth—” He cupped her head with his hand, trying to make eye contact but hers were already rolling back in her eyes—

“Get away from her!” Sam cried. She was closer now, her voice shaking even more. “She has to pay! She protected him! She took him back!”

“Elizabeth, look at me—” Jason said, ignoring her, angling himself so that he was between Sam and Elizabeth—to shoot again, she’d have to put a bullet in him—

“Mom!”

Cameron tried to rush at his mother, but Drew held him back with one hand, drawing his weapon with the other. He stared at his wife, at the mother of his child—then slowly raised the gun. “Put it down, Sam.”

Sam blinked, turned away from Elizabeth, towards Drew. “Don’t you understand?” she demanded. “Why don’t you get it? I had to kill Danny’s last chance—”

“Don’t make me do this,” Drew begged. Cameron swallowed hard as he watched Jason carefully lift Elizabeth in his arms, taking advantage of Sam’s distraction. He was going to get to her to the ambulances—the PCPD was still at the motel—surely someone had heard the gunshots—

“She has to pay!” Sam sobbed, her hands were shaking. “She has to—” She turned back but Jason and Elizabeth were gone. “No!” she screeched. She started to run—but Drew rushed after her, tackling her—the gun went flying and Cameron scrambled to get it off the ground, away from Sam’s clutches—

“She has to pay!” Sam continued to sob even as Drew sat up and started to rock her back and forth, his face creased with tears of his own. “She has to…”

—

Chase met them halfway with a squad of officers—they had heard the shot and were rushing towards them. Jason barely took a second to tell them what they’d find — he knew Drew would protect Cameron, but Elizabeth’s eyes were closed, she was pale, and losing blood fast—

He broke out of the woods, finding another ambulance there. He laid Elizabeth down on the ground as paramedics rushed him, pushing him out of the way.

Jason couldn’t stop it—couldn’t fix it—had to trust that they knew what they were doing—

Cameron crashed out of the woods, almost tumbling into Jason. “Mom! Mom!”

Jason grabbed his arm before the teenager could rush towards them. “Let them—let them work—”

“We need to get her to GH,” one of the medics barked. In a flurry of activity, they had Elizabeth on the stretcher and were hustling her towards the ambulance. Jason dragged Cameron towards the SUV.

——

Jason was pacing the emergency room, his hands and shirt stained with blood. Cameron was sitting blankly on the chair, staring straight ahead. Elizabeth had made it to the hospital and was in surgery—

But she was still in critical condition and might not survive.

Another stretcher came into the ER, and Jason could hear screaming and crying even from the waiting room. He put a hand for Cameron to stay seated as Sam was rushed past them, restrained to the gurney, pulling and resisting, her hair whipping back and forth. Drew was with her, tried to follow — but a doctor pushed him back.

Drew turned to Jason, swallowing hard as he took in the blood. “Where—is she—”

“Surgery,” Jason said flatly. He turned to Chase and Jordan Ashford who had walked in after Sam and Drew. “What do you want?”

“To take statements—” Chase began, but Jason shook his head and walked away to sit next to Cameron.

He wasn’t talking to anyone until Elizabeth was out of surgery. A few minutes later, a nurse told them to go upstairs, to the surgical waiting room. Drew looked back at the cubicle, looked at Jason and Cameron.

“I should stay with her,” he told them. “I’m sorry—I just—”

“Come on, Cam,” Jason said, taking the still quiet teenager’s arm and lightly directing him towards the elevator.

As they boarded, Cameron finally spoke. He looked at Jason with loathing. “You should have killed Franco years ago. And Sam never should have been allowed near my mother or brother after everything she did to them. I will never forgive you for this. If she dies, it will be your fault. ”

Jason exhaled slowly, then pressed the button and closed the doors. “I know.”

They rode the rest of the way in silence.

+7

Written in 20 minutes. No time for edits.

Jason and Cameron weren’t alone in the waiting room for long — Carly showed up soon after they had with Joss in tow. Joss immediately flew to Cameron’s aside, the first she’d been able to see her best friend since the news had hit that morning.

Carly’s arms were tightly folded as she took in the blood on Jason’s shirt and hands. “Is there any point in asking you to get cleaned up?” she asked.

Jason shook his head wordlessly, then looked over as Drew walked in. Cameron shot his feet, glaring the man who had remained behind with Sam —

“What do you want?” Cameron demanded as Joss put a hand on his elbow. “No! I don’t want him in here! Or you—” he finally said, turning to Jason. “Neither of you deserve to be anywhere near my mother—”

“Cam—”

“What is that about?” Carly demanded as a pale Drew joined them, and Joss took Cameron aside. “What the hell—”

“He got a crash course in my—” Drew closed his eyes. “In Sam’s history with Elizabeth. And everything she’s done.”

“Done?” Carly repeated. She furrowed her brows. “What? I mean, I know she slept with Lucky while he was married to Elizabeth, but beyond that—” She looked back and forth between them. “Oh, is this something that’s going to piss me off?”

“It’s not important right now,” Drew said, dismissing Carly. “And none of your business—”

“Hey—”

“Sam’s been sedated,” Drew told Jason. “And Alexis is with her now. I just—I came to find out how Elizabeth is—”

“When were you going to tell me my son has cancer again?” Jason demanded, roughly. “Why didn’t you tell me—” He held up a hand to keep Carly from butting in again. He didn’t have the time or patience to rein her in at the moment.

“Sam wanted to—” Drew took a deep breath. “Sam wanted to keep it to herself, and after Julian refused to donate a second time—”

“He did what—”

“Carly, stop—” Jason snapped and she pressed her lips together in a mutinuous line. “I thought you said Sam left town—that you hadn’t heard from her—”

“That’s true,” Drew told him. “But Danny—I talked to Julian. I got Kiki to talk to him, and it’s already been—Danny’s already scheduled for the procedure, and Finn is confident he’ll go into remission again—” He scowled. “But I guess—I don’t know. If her condition came back, or maybe Julian’s refusal just sent her over the edge—then finding out about Franco—”

He rubbed his chest, then clenched his hand into a fist. “I don’t know,” he repeated. “She took off, and I’ve been trying to get in touch with her. If she’d just—if she’d called me—I could have told her—”

Carly opened her mouth, then closed it again, clearly trying to obey Jason’s order to be quiet.

“You did what?” Joss screeched, and Drew winced as the trio turned to the teens in the corner.

“She sure does take after you,” Drew muttered as Joss shot out of her chair, her hands on her hips.

“You snuck into the car, you stupid idiot—” Joss smacked Cameron hard in the shoulder. “What the hell are you thinking?”

“Hey—” Cameron lunged to his feet, glaring right back at her. “I was thinking that my mother was going off with two idiots who never ever fucking do anything to stop Sam from hurting her and I wanted to be there if she needed anything—”

His face crumpled then as he sank back onto the chair, his head in his hands. “But it’s my fault. Sam grabbed me. Mom came after me—”

Drew started towards him, but Jason held him back. “I’m the one that forgave Sam after she was part of getting Jake kidnapped,” he reminded him. “Everything else is on me, not you.”

“I have my regrets,” Drew muttered but let Jason walk over to Cameron as Drew stayed next to Carly who, mirroring her daughter, smacked Drew in the shoulder.

“She did what to Jake?”

Jason ignored them and sat next to Cameron. “Your mother would walk through fire for you. She would not want you to blame yourself for this—”

“She dared Sam to shoot her instead of me,” Cameron said dully. “It should be me in there—”

“No,” Joss shook her head. “No, Cam—”

“And then your mother would be out here, terrified of losing another son. Jake might have come back, but she—” Jason drew in a sharp breath. “She never would have forgiven herself if it was you. You know that.”

“How could you let her back into your life?” Cameron demanded. “How could you let her hurt my mother like that? Why did you stop—” He shook his head, looked away.

“I made a mistake,” Jason said slowly. “When I broke up with your mother after Jake was kidnapped. You were four years old, I don’t know if you remember—” He paused. “And by the time I regretted it, your mother had moved on, and I thought I had lost my chance. I was lonely. And I’m sorry.”

Cameron swallowed hard. “If you broke up with her to keep her safe, it didn’t work.”

“No, it didn’t,” Jason admitted. “I’m sorry, Cameron. I can’t—I can’t change what I did. I can only promise to do better.”

Cameron looked at him, must have seen something in his eyes that convinced him, so he nodded. “Okay. But I don’t care what happens to Sam. She doesn’t come near my mother ever again.”

“Agreed,” Jason said, though he wasn’t entirely sure how they’d make that happen. He looked over at Drew who was still being whacked in the shoulder by Carly — he must have explained Maureen Harper.

“It wasn’t me, damn it, Carly—”

“Oh, I will get him later, don’t you worry—I always knew she was trash—”

Joss rolled her eyes. “My mother. The hypocrite.”

The door opened then, and Griffin came in, frowning as he saw Carly whack Drew one more time before Drew got out of the way.

“Uh, I just came to let you know we finished the surgery,” he said, still casting a side-eye at Carly and Drew before focusing on Jason and Cameron. “Elizabeth’s in post-op and should make a full recovery.”

+7

Written in 20 minutes. No time for typos.

A week later, Elizabeth was released from the hospital. Since waking up in post-op, she hadn’t really wanted to talk about anything that had happened since Franco had broken into her home. The boys had stayed with Laura, and Jason wasn’t really sure what would happen when Elizabeth went home.

“Are you ready to go?” Jason asked, knocking on the door. He frowned when he saw her alone in the room, standing by the window. “You shouldn’t be up—I thought Epiphany was bringing a wheel chair—”

“I can walk a little,” Elizabeth murmured. She looked at him. “I haven’t been to the house since…” She bit her lip, focused on the view outside the hospital again. “Since it happened.”

“The PCPD released the scene a few days ago, and I had someone come in—I got it cleaned up. If you’re worried about that.”

“We just moved there.” Elizabeth rubbed her chest absently. “I wanted a fresh start. Away from Franco. And he ruined that. I have no one to blame but myself.” She exhaled slowly. “Are the boys still with Laura? I don’t know if I can—if I can go there at the same time and see them—”

“Laura said she’d bring Jake and Aiden over when you wanted them. I couldn’t keep Cam away. He went to the house with Joss to make sure things were ready.” Jason approached her slowly. “I’m sorry.”

“I want to be angry with you. In fact, some of the last few days, I’ve been really good at making myself hate you.” Elizabeth met his eyes. “It’d be so easy to blame you for what happened. For not killing Franco all those years ago. For forgiving Sam. But at the end of the day, she—” She closed her eyes. “She wasn’t wrong. He raped her. And I spent years defending him. How do I live with that?”

“You didn’t know—”

“The signs were there. And I know she’s sick, but I just—finding out the truth about Danny while going through all of this with his cancer—I can understand how it broke her.” She cleared her throat. “I did a lot of terrible things while I was grieving Jake. Did—do you know what’s going to happen to her?”

“Elizabeth—” Jason shook his head. It wasn’t the moment to convince that what happened wasn’t her fault. So he answered her question. “The DA’s office charged her with Franco and your shooting, but I don’t think she’ll be found competent to stand trial. Drew is trying to get her admitted to Ferncliffe. I—” He paused. “I don’t know other than that.”

“How’s Danny? I didn’t—I haven’t—the cancer?”

“Julian is donating again,” Jason told her. “And we’re hopeful. I talked to Drew—even though we told Danny I was his father, he and I aren’t—he’s closer to Drew. He still calls him Dad.”

“I’m glad. I hope you and Drew can really work through all of this.” Elizabeth turned away from the window. “I’m ready to go home—well, I’m ready to leave the hospital.”

“All right.” Jason went over to get her bag. “Let’s go.”

—

As Jason’s SUV wound through the streets of Port Charles towards her house, she touched his elbow gently at a light. “Can you turn down here?”

“Here?” Jason repeated. He looked around with a frown. “But—”

“I just—can we go down Lexington?”

Jason looked at her for a moment. “Lexington? Where your old house was?”

“Yeah. I just want to see—” The last place she’d felt like she’d been home. A few turns and blocks later, Jason pulled up in front of the old house.

The last time she’d been here, the house had been a charred shell, but the developer she’d sold it to had gutted and rebuilt it. It looked nearly as it had the last time she’d left it.

“I loved this house,” Elizabeth said, staring at it out the window, resting her head against the seat. “Emily helped me find it. You know? And she loaned me money for the down payment. I raised my boys here.” She looked at him. “I don’t know what to do. How to feel. What to think. All of this—what happened with Franco, with Sam—and I know Cameron is hurting, too—it’s too big, Jason. I can’t do this.”

“One thing at a time,” he told her quietly. “Look at the front yard.”

Elizabeth frowned, then turned back. “For Sale,” she murmured. “Oh—Oh, I want go home.” Her vision blurred as tears spilled down her cheek. “I want to go home. Can—can you help me?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll get Diane on the phone.” Jason reached over and took her hand. “I know everything happened fast,” he told her. “But we’ll just—one thing at a time,” he repeated.

She smiled faintly. “What did you used to tell me? Sometimes things happen fast, but you have to live through them slow?”

“Yeah. I should take my own advice.”

Elizabeth looked back at the house. “I’ll be okay. I’ll take my boys, and we’ll go home. And then we can figure everything else out.”

+8

Written in 25 minutes. No time for typos. Took a little extra time to end it well.

Elizabeth knocked lightly on the door to Cameron’s bedroom and smiled at him. “Hey. You almost done packing?”

“Yeah, just a few more things.” Cameron looked around the room with a grimace. “I didn’t really finish unpacking,” he admitted.

“I know, I’m sorry.” She sat on his bed. “I know we’ve moved a lot this last year, but—”

“It’s okay, Mom.” Cameron sat next to her. “You feeling okay? Should you be moving around so much?” He drew his brows together. “You’ve only been out of the hospital for—”

“Three weeks. I just a have a slight twing in my side and I still get tired a lot.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “You don’t have to come today. You can relax here with the boys. Make sure they’re packed—”

“Grandma Laura has that covered,” Cameron said with a shake of his head. “I want to go. I mean—” He got to his feet and went over to his bureau to check the drawers again. “I guess I want to make sure she’s really going away.

“You found out a lot about Sam that day, Cam. And a lot about Jason and Drew. I know you’ve struggled with it—”

“Look, I get it—Jason’s a big part of your life, and I guess you’ll always feel guilty about Drew. But we don’t need them.” Cameron turned her, his blue eyes fierce. He lifted his chin. “I can take care of us. I can take care of you—” His voice cracked on the final word.

“I know you can. And it’s not about that. Did you know that I lied to Jason about being Jake’s father?” Elizabeth rose. “That I asked him the day he buried his father to keep lying? That after Emily died, we continued the lie?”

Cameron exhaled slowly. “No, I didn’t know that. Why—”

“Because I am not perfect, Cameron. I’ve made terrible mistakes. And so have Jason and Drew.” Elizabeth closed her eyes. “And so has Sam. We’ve all paid for them with a little bit of our sanity and souls. But I don’t want that for you. Yes, Jason forgave the woman who kidnapped Jake. But I entered into a relationship with a serial killer who kidnapped Aiden. Why do my sins matter less?”

“Because you’re my mother.” Cameron looked away. “Jason never blinked when he found out it was Sam,” he admitted. “And maybe you were right. Maybe we could trust him. I just—” He met his mother’s eyes. “Are you really okay with her not going to jail?”

“She’s sick, Cam. And heartbroken. I can’t forgive her for what she put us through, but I can move on and let her get the help she needs. She’ll go to Ferncliffe, get treatment, and maybe one day come home to her kids.”

“It doesn’t seem fair. After everything we went through—you nearly died, Mom—”

“But I didn’t.” Elizabeth framed his face. “I love you, you know. My brave little boy. All grown up.”

“I love you, too. And I’m glad we’re going home.”

“Me, too. I’ll meet you downstairs when it’s time to go.”

——

Jason stood up from the bench in the hallway when he saw Elizabeth and Cameron step off the elevator. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to come,” he said, surprised and a little relieved when Cameron met his eyes.

It was the first time Cam had looked at him since Elizabeth had been released from the hospital. “Sorry. We got carried away. The moving truck will be at the house tomorrow, and I wanted to make sure everything was ready,” Elizabeth said. She looked at Cameron. “I’m sure Joss and Trina are already inside if you want to get a seat.”

Cameron eyed them both suspiciously, then sent Jason a dark look before walking away, into the courtroom.

“Everything okay with the paperwork? Diane said—”

“Diane said you pulled in every favor and some of Sonny’s to get us into the house this quickly.” Elizabeth folded her arms, offered him a smile. “Thank you. The boys are excited to be going home. So am I. And Diane said there’s already been an offer on the place I’m at now, so I’ll be able to pay you back.”

When Jason opened her mouth, she shook her head. “Don’t argue. It’s important to me.” She looked to the court room. “Have you talked to Drew yet?”

“No. He’s been in the back with Sam, her lawyer, and the doctor assigned to her. Elizabeth—”

“I don’t want any more apologies. It’s over. And we’ve all made mistakes. Let’s just—let’s just get this over with. I want to get back to my life.”

She went into the courtroom, and Jason followed her, unsure where that left them or their friendship.

The hearing was little more than a formality. The court appointed doctor had found Sam incompetent to stand trials on charges of murder and attempted murder. She had a glassy-eyed look and swayed slightly as the judge committed her to Ferncliffe until a doctor found her competent.

Sam never looked behind her—not even at Drew. And when the hearing was over, she was led out of the room.

Cameron exhaled. “I think I expected something more,” he admitted.

“Well, it’s Port Charles,” Trina Robinson said, patting his shoulder. “There might still be a bomb.”

“Oh, that is not funny,” Joss muttered as she followed the pair into the hallway. “Neither of you have ever been blown up. I have—”

“She’s going to need therapy one day, isn’t she?” Carly asked Jason and Elizabeth idly, then went after her daughter.

“Speaking of therapy,” Drew said dryly as he approached them. “Do you think Cam should—”

“Kevin’s already met with him a few times,” Elizabeth assured him. “Nothing formal. Just check-ins, really.” She took a deep breath. “Thank you. Both of you.” She said, looking at Jason. “For helping Cameron and I out of trouble. I know he’d say it was your fault, but we both know that it’s not the simple.”

“I’m sorry, Elizabeth. I wish I could have done more—”

Elizabeth shook her head at Drew. “No. I don’t want to dwell on it. Me and the boys—we’re going home. And that’s all I need.” She flashed a smile at both of them then walked after her son.

“She’s doing that thing again,” Drew muttered. “Lying right to my damn face like I can’t tell.”

Jason cast him a dark look, knowing that Drew was dipping into Jason’s memories of Elizabeth for that. “I know that. You worry about getting Sam committed. I’ll take care of Elizabeth and the boys.”

“Well, that would be a first,” Drew retorted, then walked away.

—

The next day, Elizabeth stepped out on the porch of the house on Lexington Avenue, then turned to look across the street where Patrick and Robin had once lived. She could hear the boys arguing inside over what to order for dinner for their first night in their new home—

Then Jason’s deep voice telling them they were getting pizza, and to knock it off. She smiled briefly, hearing the door open. She turned to him. “They argue over everything.”

“Yeah, I know. I think Jake does it on purpose just to get Cam mad.” Jason stepped up next to her. “He gets that from you.”

“Oh, sure.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Because you don’t rile anyone up for fun. I’ve seen you with Carly.”

Jason winced. “Point taken.” He hesitated. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly. She looked at him, thought about lying, then shrugged looking back out over the street — the street that Jake had nearly on twice, but also the street where they’d learned to ride their bikes and play street hockey.

Where they gone trick or treating—the street where they’d hugged Emily goodbye for the last time—

“No,” Elizabeth said finally. She smiled at him. “But I’m going to be. I’m home. It’s a start.”

+9