Written in 20 minutes. No time for spellcheck.

---

“Get them on the bloody line!” Robert shouted at Anna as he snagged Patrick’s arm to keep the doctor from hurtling off into the trees. “You don’t even know where you’re going!” he barked at his son-in-law.

“Mom, Mom—” Robin focused on Anna’s dark eyes as she pressed her fingers to ear concentrating.

“Spinelli, can you get anything? Where are they?” Anna winced. “Elizabeth’s wound reopened on the way there. She was bleeding too much — Jason had to stop to rewrap and sent Sonny ahead with Jake.”

“All right, all right. Get Robin and Patrick back to the meeting point,” Robert told his ex-wife. “I’ll go after them—”

“Not alone you won’t—” Anna retorted, but then there was a crackling in her ear. “What? Tell me again—”

——

Jason barely had a minute to register the fury and hatred in Stavros Cassadine’s eyes before his head exploded in front of him. The older man dropped to the ground, a gory hole appearing in the side of his head.

“What—”

He felt for his gun—but it was gone—then he turned to Elizabeth who had pushed herself to a sitting position and now held his gun limply in her hands.

“He—” She closed her eyes, her breathing labored as Jason took the gun from her and returned to wrapping the wound. “He wasn’t—looking at—me—”

“That’s a good shot,” Jason managed as he tied the strip of shirt around her waist, knotting it tightly. “When did you learn how to do that?”

“You taught me. Didn’t mean to—” Elizabeth forced her eyes opened, looked at the remains of the Cassadine scion in front of her. “Wasn’t aiming for his head, but maybe…maybe this time he’ll stay dead.”

Jason’s laugh was shaky as he lifted her into his arms, shifting slightly as a crackling came through on his ear piece.

“Jason! What was that? Are you okay?”

“We’re—” Jason’s breath caught as Elizabeth slumped in his arms, her breathing shallow. “We’re heading back to the boat. Elizabeth got Stavros in the head.”

“Elizabeth?” Spinelli repeated.

Jason ignored him, all but running back to the inlet, hoping like hell Sonny and Laura hadn’t listened to him. If the boat was gone—if everyone had stuck to the plan and gotten Jake to safety at the meeting point—

Elizabeth would die on the island and there’d be nothing he could do to stop it.

He burst into the clearing at the edge of the island, searching the area—but the dinghy and boat were gone.

“Spinelli—”

“Hold on, hold on—Robert and Anna are on their way now—Laura—Laura promised Elizabeth.”

Jason gritted his teeth. “Promised her what?”

“As soon as Jake was safe, Laura would get him back to the mainland,” Spinelli’s voice was quiet. “Robert is two minutes out—”

“Damn it—”

Jason laid Elizabeth down on the ground, keeping one eye on the edge of the forest as he pressed his hand into her wound, sweat dribbling down his neck. “Elizabeth—” He tapped her cheek lightly. “Just open your eyes. Stay with me a little longer.”

Her lashes fluttered. “Signed…” She licked her lips. “Told Laura…boys…” Her eyes were a sliver of blue, slightly gazed. Jason pressed a hand to her forehead, hissing at the heat. She was going to end up with an infection. He never should have agreed to let her come—

“Boys…yours,” she slurred. “Promise…”

“Hey—” Jason shook his head. “No. We’re not doing that. Look at me—” He grasped her chin, turned her face towards him. “Just a little longer. We’ll be back on the mainland. Robert and Anna have a first aid kit. They have Patrick—and Robin.”

She smiled, but her eyes drifted closed again. “Should’ve said yes…” she murmured. “Sorry. Scared.”

“Not nearly as scared as I am right now.” Jason grimaced at the blood seeping through the retied shirt. He didn’t have anything else—

Then he heard a boat engine—Jason looked up—saw a dingy being dropped to the water as Patrick and Anna dropped into it. It look almost two more minutes before it was on the shore.

“We can’t stay,” Anna told Jason as Patrick helped Jason lift Elizabeth carefully into the dingy. “Not even to stabilize her. Spinelli said the guards are heading for the marina—”

“Let’s go,” Jason said. His mouth was tight, his lips nearly white as he pressed them together watching as Robert steered the dingy back to the boat and Patrick surveyed Elizabeth’s wound.

“She’s lost a lot of blood,” Patrick muttered, removing Jason’s makeshift bandages. Elizabeth winced. “Hey, Webber. This is not cool. You can’t leave me alone to raise those kids. They almost hijacked a plane.”

“Not alone…Robin…”

“Yeah, we got her—” Patrick didn’t spare a glance for his wife, carefully rewrapping Elizabeth’s wound with a clean bandage. “But those kids outnumber us. You need six kids just to keep Spencer under control. And there’s no telling what Joss adds to the mix.” Elizabeth smiled, but then her head slumped to the side and her eyes closed again.

“Give her here,” Robert said. In less than two more minutes, the boat was speeding back to the mainland, but Elizabeth remained unconsciousness.

“Patrick,” Robin said grimly as she took her husband aside. “How bad is it?”

“It’s—” Patrick took a deep breath. “It’s not good. I hope your surgical skills are still sharp and that your parents know where the hell to get some blood. She needs a transfusion. Fast.”

Written in 20 minutes. It might be terrible. Who knows.

---

“Shouldn’t we go back to the flat?” Patrick asked as Anna docked the boat, and Robert and Jason began lifting Elizabeth carefully to avoid jarring her. “We have to rethink—”

“No, Laura, Sonny, and Spinelli are already at the airport, and the flat may be compromised.” Anna turned to her son-in-law. “We have everything need on the plane and in our kits.”

“Even for an emergency transfusion?” Patrick demanded. “Damn it—and where hell is Luke and Lucky? I need someone to punch—”

“And mess with those hands?” Robin asked as he offered a hand for her to climb from the boat to the dock. “We’re gonna need them.”

Patrick looked at his wife—his miraculous wife who was standing in front of him as if the nightmare of the last year hadn’t happened—and swallowed hard. “She didn’t even get the chance to see Jake. Not really.”

“What happened to the man that did brain surgery by flash light?” Robin’s teasing tone fell short as she climbed into the van, looking away from Jason, cradling Elizabeth in the back seat. “Patrick—”

“I never should have let her come,” Patrick muttered. “We should have locked her up.” He took a deep breath. “But she’s like Cam and would have found a way to come anyway. Emma helped tie up your cousin, by the way.”

“Which knots did she use?” Robin asked.

—

The airport on Mykonos was still within sighting distance of Cassadine Island and Laura found herself watching the land, waiting for something.

“I thought you said the guards were coming to the marina,” she said to Spinelli as the tech scowled at his computer screens. “How much time do we have to get in the air?”

“I don’t know. I can’t track the boats, and I can’t—” Spinelli hissed as one of his screens went dark. “Damn it—” He turned as Sonny emerged from the bathroom, Jake still in his arms. Laura’s face softened.

“Jake. I didn’t get a chance to even look at you,” she murmured. “Thanks, Sonny.”

“You’re my grandma,” Jake said as Sonny set him on the ground. The little boy sniffed and swiped his nose with the back of his hand. “Uncle Nikolas showed me lots of pictures.”

“That’s how you knew your parents,” Sonny said. He exhaled slowly. “He went to Jason and Elizabeth,” he murmured to Spinelli. “If we’d known that, we could have kept Elizabeth home.”

“They’re on their way to the hangar now,” Spinelli said. He hesitated. “But Robert didn’t sound hopeful. It’s bad.” He turned back to Laura and Jake, found it in himself to smile. “But look at Little Stone Cold. He’s here. He’s alive. And he’s okay. That’s something. And they got Doctor Robin, didn’t they? Mission accomplished.”

There was a screech of wheels of the van pulled into the hangar. Laura stepped in front of Jake and Sonny hurried over to her. “We should get him on the plane before—”

“Mommy?” Jake said, his voice worried. “Why is Daddy carrying her? She’s—” He tugged on Laura’s pant leg. “She’s hurt.”

“We need to get her on the plane so we can help her. Sonny—” Laura looked at him. “Take him on the plane. But stay away from the back. That’s where Luke has Lucky locked up.”

“Should toss him out on the way back to New York,” Sonny muttered, but lifted Jake in his arms and strode towards the plane’s steps. Spinelli went after them, still cradling his laptop looking over the security cameras.

Laura blanched as she saw the spread of dried blood on Elizabeth’s midsection as Jason carefully set her in Robert’s arms so he could get out of the van. “Robin—” Laura touched the doctor’s shoulder. “I’m so glad to see you—”

“Me, too. Patrick and I are going to get washed up. We need to be in the air, but I want to get her stabilized so we can—” Robin shook her head and went after her father, Patrick, and Anna, leaving Laura with Jason for the moment.

“She made me promise,” Laura said. “I’m sorry, Jason, she made me promise I’d go as soon as Jake was safe.” She hesitated. “Did you—what happened to Nikolas?”

“I know. It’s—” Jason started to respond, but then the ground beneath them shook, and the sun all but disappeaerd as a cloud of dust, ash, and debris blotted out the early afternoon sky. “What the—”

“The island—” Laura stepped towards it, her eyes huge. “I—” The estate had once been dimly visible, the stone towering over the trees — but now it was covered in smoke and they could see the flames licking out behind the gray.

“We need to get in the air!” Anna called. “Let’s go—”

“But Nikolas—” Laura swallowed hard, nodded. “Let’s—let’s go.”

On board the plane, in the kitchen galley area, Robin paused while scrubbing her hands. She closed her eyes. “He didn’t know if he’d make it off in time.”

“Robin?”

She looked at her husband, her eyes pale and large. “That was the plan. It was always the plan. Nikolas was going to burn the estate to the ground with all of them inside But it wasn’t supposed to happen yet. He must—he must have triggered it. Oh, God. He didn’t make it off the island.”

Grimly, Patrick dried his hands. “Then he sacrificed himself to give us time to get out of here. Let’s go make sure it wasn’t for nothing.”

Written in 54 minutes. Checked for spelling errors, but not reread for typos.

---

There was nothing else that Jason could do.

He’d carried her to the edge of the shore, onto the bed, into the van, and then laid her down in the back room of the plane where a pale Patrick and Robin were hurriedly arranging the emergency supplies to stop the bleeding —

He’d wanted to stay in the room, to hold Elizabeth’s hand, to do something—but Robin had gently put a hand on his chest and pushed back until Jason was on the other side of the door.

“Right now,” Robin told him, her brown eyes somber, “Elizabeth would want you to be with the scared little boy who just got pulled off that island.”

Jason exhaled sharply, then nodded. “Okay. But if you need anything—“

“I know where to find you. Jason, she’s ours, too. And Patrick isn’t giving up.”

With that, she turned and closed the door.

Jason returned to the main part of the plane where Sonny was sitting on the sofa next to Jake.

Jake.

His son was sitting on the sofa next to Jason’s oldest friend, his cheeks stained with tears, his blonde hair ruffled and his face stained with dirt and soot—a scratch on his cheek probably from a passing branch as Sonny had carried him through the woods to safety.

“How is she?” Laura asked, leaving Spinelli, Robert, and Anna at a table, looking over satellite images.

“I—“ Jason shook his head. “They won’t tell me anything. Do you—“ Nikolas had tried to buy them time and if Stavros had shown up—if the island had blown up—

Laura had come here to save her children, too. He couldn’t forget that.

“We don’t know anything. And Robin is a little busy,” Laura murmured. She turned to look at the sofa, putting a hand on Jason’s arm. “When I saw Lucky for the first time,” she said, “I was so afraid to talk to him. To touch him. I was afraid that he would disappear. That I was imagining him.”

“He knew us,” Jason managed. “Nikolas told him about us. About me. He called me—he knew me.” He met Laura’s eyes. “I hope he got out.”

“Me, too.”

With that, Laura returned to the computers and Jason finally managed to go over to the sofa, kneeling down in front of Jake. “Hey.”

“Hi.” Jake studied him carefully. “Mommy’s hurt, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, she is, but Robin and Patrick are doing everything they can. She missed you so much, Jake.” Jason reached out to touch Jake’s cheek, but his hand faltered halfway, falling back to his side.

He didn’t dream, but he still couldn’t quite bring himself to believe this was their son sitting in front of him like the last two terrible years hadn’t happened.

“Are you okay?” Jason asked instead. “You got cut—“

“Sorry,” Sonny said, with a wince. “I didn’t—we were going to the boat—“ He pushed himself to his feet. “I’ll get something—“

Jason also stood. “Sonny—“ He cleared his throat. “Thank you. For getting him to the boat.”

“I didn’t want to go without you, but—“ Sonny shook his head. “Elizabeth made Laura promise she’d go as soon as Jake was safe, and I guess Laura—“

“It was the right choice,” Jason said. “Elizabeth knew the risks. We both did.”

Sonny went to find a first aid kit, and Jason gingerly perched on the edge of the sofa next to his son—his son—searching for the words.

He’d never been Jake’s father. Not when it had mattered. Not when Jake could have remembered. Elizabeth had brought this miracle into the world and had done every ounce of the work since that moment.

He’d never brought anything to Jake’s life, and now Jason didn’t even know where to start.

“Is Uncle Nikolas okay?” Jake asked. He rubbed a hand under his nose. “He said I was gonna go home before I was six, but then he left, and I don’t know where he is.”

“We’re looking for him,” Jason promised. “He was very brave today. He knew it was your best chance to go home. That it was Robin’s best chance to get back to her family.”

“But I wanted Mommy,” Jake admitted in a small voice. “Uncle Nik showed me pictures of you, and I know you’re my daddy, and you seem nice. You made sure Mommy got on the plane. Uncle Nik said when I came home, we’d be a family. But—“ Tears spilled over his lashes, sliding down his cheeks as his chest hitched and his voice broke. “I want Mommy.”

“I want her, too,” Jason admitted. He reached for his son and Jake launched himself into Jason’s arms, clinging tightly, his arms around Jason’s neck, the tears soaking into the shoulder of his shirt. Jason folded Jake into his arms, rocking him slowly as his son sobbed.

Sonny stopped just a few feet away, the kit in his hands as he took in the sight of Jason finally holding the son he’d believed to be lost for so long. He glanced over to find Laura watching them, tears glinting on her cheeks.

“I left her on that island,” Laura said softly so that no one but Sonny could hear her, “and I know it was the right choice. But I asked her to help us one more time with Lucky. Just once more.”

“You thought we could find out information,” Sonny began, but Laura shook her head.

“She came here to get her son, and my son might have killed her.” Laura looked at him. “Did she even get to see him? To look at him? Touch him, hold him?”

Sonny pressed his lips together, and Laura closed her eyes. “No,” he admitted. “She was bleeding before we got to the house, and we didn’t know this—but Jake recognized Jason. Elizabeth didn’t even have to be there. Jason gave me Jake, and took her.”

“If one single Cassadine made it off that estate,” Laura said, tightly, “I will spend the rest of my life hunting them down and eliminating them.”

“You and I agree on that,” Sonny promised. He turned at the sound of his voice, softly spoken from the back room. He hurried back, terrified that maybe Robin was telling him that Elizabeth hadn’t survived and he needed to help prepare Jason—

Oh, God, how was he—

But Robin didn’t give him that news. She pulled him into the room, and pushed him into a chair. “You and Elizabeth. You have the same blood type, right?” she asked. “I remember this. She donated to you once, didn’t she? You said—“

“Yeah. Yeah.” Sonny cleared his throat. “A lifetime ago.” He looked at Elizabeth, on the bed, a sheet covering her chest, her abdomen still bloody, and the wound that hadn’t looked so bad before they’d left on the boats—

He swallowed hard and focused on Robin. “What do you need?”

“A blood transfusion. She’s not going to make it, Sonny, otherwise. We can stitch her up again, but she’s so weak from the blood loss, she’ll go into shock—“

“Stop—“ Sonny rolled up his sleeve. “Take whatever you need. Take it all. She goes home with Jake or Jason. Alive. They get to be a family.”

—

It was some time before Jason realized that Sonny hadn’t returned. Jake had continue to cry for several more minutes, but they’d slowed into hiccups after a while, and then Jake had pulled back.

“Uncle Nik said my brothers missed me.”

“A lot,” Jason told him. “You know your cousin Spencer? He and Cameron and some of their friends tried to steal a plane because we wouldn’t let them help. And then they tied up Aunt Lulu and her friend to head to the airport. That’s how much Cam wants you to come home.”

“But Mommy—“ Jake looked towards the door where he knew his mother was. “She was hurt. Really hurt. Why didn’t that lady wait for you?”

“Because your mother wanted you safe,” Jason told him roughly. “We came here to bring you home. She got hurt before we got to you. All that matters is getting you home.” He paused, looked at Laura who had clearly overheard Jake’s question and was pale, her eyes haunted. “And that lady is your grandmother. She promised your mother.”

“That’s Mommy’s mom?” Jake asked, furrowing his brow. “I don’t—I thought that was Uncle Nik’s mom.”

“I am,” Laura told Jake, sitting on his other side. “But the universe brought your mother into my life, and she’s mine, too. The daughter of my heart. So yes, I am your grandmother. I wanted to wait for your mother. But I know what she wanted. We keep promises in this family.”

“Promises are important,” Jake said with a nod. He made a face as his stomach rumbled. “I didn’t eat lunch,” he admitted.

“Why don’t I take you over to the galley?” Laura offered, holding out a hand to him. “Jason, you can check in with Spinelli or Robin if she’ll let you.”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Jason scrubbed his hands over his face, then pushed himself to his feet. He could focus on Jake and shove Elizabeth out of his head when his son was there, but now his mind was racing as he joined Spinelli and the pair of WSB agents at the computers. “Where are the other Spencers?”

“In another room,” Robert said flatly. “The kid is still knocked out, but Spencer didn’t trust it.” He looked at Jason. “He’s sick over this, Morgan—“

“He can stay sick. What do we know?” Jason demanded. “Who was on the island?”

“Not much yet,” Spinelli admitted. “News media says the main estate is still engulfed in flames, and being on an island, hard to get much emergency help out there. No survivors have been reported yet, but seeing as how most of the people on that island are legally dead—“

“Robin said,” Anna said tightly, “on the way to get Elizabeth, that the plan was to blow up the island once Nikolas had gotten Jake and Robin to safety. They hadn’t been trying to reach Patrick very long. Nikolas was supposed to get Jake and Robin out, and Stefan was supposed to set the bombs.”

“Stefan,” Robert muttered. “I forgot about him.”

“He brought Robin her meals, and passed messages. To the extent he was an ally—“ Anna sighed, rubbed her eyes. “And there’s Valentin. Robin doesn’t think he was on the island yet. So he’s still out there—“

“If Stefan was supposed to trigger the bomb—“ Jason closed his eyes. “By the time we got to the cottage, Nikolas was already rushing to us. Stavros followed us. That’s why Nikolas wasn’t with us. He gave us Jake, and then went to stop him.”

“But you said—“ Spinelli twisted in his seat.

“Elizabeth couldn’t keep going. I had to rewrap her wound,” Jason continued. “I sent Sonny ahead, and Stavros caught up to us. Faster than I expected. Elizabeth shot him. And it was a head shot with brain matter. He’s not coming back this time,” he added to Robert and Anna. “He thought she wasn’t a threat, and she took the gun from my holster when he wasn’t looking.”

“Men underestimating us is always their downfall,” Anna murmured. “But he’d caught up to you. Which means Nikolas either went straight to the house—“

“Or Stavros stopped him.” Jason grimaced, looking towards the galley where he could just Laura handing Jake a sandwich. “We need to find out for sure. His son deserves to know what happened.”

“Jason?”

Jason turned to find Robin behind him, wiping her hands on a towel. “Robin, is she—“

“Come into the back.”

Patrick was just pulling a sheet over Elizabeth’s chest, tucking it under her shoulders as Robin led him in. Next to bed, Sonny was slowly rolling down his sleeve, his face pale.

“What—“

“Patrick,” Robin told her husband, “can you help Sonny to the kitchen? He needs to eat. And to rest.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Patrick dragged a hand through his hair, and Jason remembered that Elizabeth’s best friend hadn’t slept in days—just like the rest of them. There hadn’t been a quiet moment since Laura had arrived at the Webber House.

Had it just been a few days ago when he’d gone to the hockey game, and watched Patrick and Elizabeth scream at referees?

“What’s wrong with Sonny—“ Jason started to ask as Patrick walked behind Sonny, making sure the other man made it down the hall.

“Patrick and I have done what we can right now,” Robin told him. “But by the time she got to the plane, Jason, she’d lost so much blood—“

“Robin—“ Jason stared at her, his breath hitching. “No—“

“She was going into shock,” Robin continued, “and once that happens, the organs start to shut down, you know that—“

“But I can—“ He looked at Elizabeth, at her pale skin, her still figure—but her chest—it was rising. Falling.

Rising. Falling.

“She’s alive,” he said in a rush.

“She is,” Robin said. “But I don’t know if she’ll stay that way. She needed a transfusion, and Sonny’s a match. He donated all he could safely. And he wanted us to keep going. But we couldn’t.”

Jason pressed his lips together. “She hasn’t even seen him.”

“I know.”

“You need—what can I do?”

“Sit with her. Keep her company. She might wake up,” Robin told him. “It’s just—we don’t know,” she admitted. “We don’t have monitors. We don’t have the testing. We could barely take in her pulse and heart rate. We don’t know,” she repeated. “How bad it was. She could be hanging on by a thread. She could be recovering.” She swallowed hard. “I’d never forgive myself if I told you she was okay, and then she never went home.”

Jason cleared his throat, then sat down on the edge of the bed, took Elizabeth’s slim hand in his. “She killed Stavros, you know.”

“Mom said.”

“She knew she’d sent Jake away, maybe never to see him again, and she was probably in so much pain she couldn’t breath.” Jason pushed Elizabeth’s hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear, letting his fingers drift down her cheek. “And she still got my gun, and saved my life.”

“She knew one of you had to get back to Jake.”

“It should be her,” Jason said tightly. “She nearly died to give him life. You remember?”

“I do—“

“She went into a fire for him.”

“I remember.”

“And losing him—“ Jason closed his eyes. “This isn’t how it ends. Not for her.”

“I don’t want it—“

“No.” Jason looked at Robin. “This isn’t how it ends,” he repeated. “Elizabeth doesn’t die from a stab wound meant for me because of the Cassadines. She doesn’t die before getting to be with Jake. She goes home to her boys. That’s how this ends.”

“I hope it will—“

Jason shook his head, returned his gaze to Elizabeth. “No.”

“Jason, you know better than that. You know sometimes we don’t get a miracle—“

“It’s not about a miracle,” he said roughly. “It’s about Elizabeth. And how strong she is. She made it to the beach. On to the boat. She’s still breathing now.” He nodded. “You got her the blood she needed. And when she wakes up, I’ll bring Jake to her one more time. That’s what I do. It’s all I’ve ever done. Jake gets kidnapped, and I bring him back to her.”

“Okay.” Robin nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Okay. You’re right. Elizabeth is too stubborn. She’ll fight. And we’ll fight with her.”

“Right.” Jason got to his feet. “But first, it’s time to deal with the man who put her here.”

Written in 48 minutes. I didn’t think I’d be able to start and finish the next scene in 12 minutes so I just stopped writing here since it was a good place. Checked for spelling but not typos.

---

Luke shot to his feet when Jason opened the door to the small room on the plane where Lucky was being kept. The younger man was slumped in chair, his hands shacked in a pair of cuffs attached to one of the chairs, and then both his feet were individually cuffed to the bottom. Lucky’s head lolled to the side, his face still bruised and bloody from whatever fight he’d been in with Robert and Luke who had dragged him away earlier that day—

Had it only been that morning?

“How’s Elizabeth?” Luke asked, stepping between his son and Jason. “Cowboy’s still out of it—“

“When he wakes up,” Jason said evenly, “you’re going to take him out of the country, and I never want to see him again. Elizabeth never has to see him again. He’s done.”

Luke swallowed hard. “Aiden—“

“Aiden doesn’t know him. If Elizabeth wants that to change one day, that’ll be up to her, but right now?” Jason arched a brow. “You want him to keep breathing, Luke? You’ll get him away me and my family.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” Luke said, his voice tinged with desperation as Jason turned away. “I wanted Laura and Elizabeth to help me save him. To save Jake—“

“You wanted them to do the work because you knew you couldn’t,” Jason retorted. “You know, people talk a lot about the hero you used to be. But I’ve never met the man who saved the world from Mikkos Cassadine. I’ve never met the man who took down Frank Smith. The only man I’ve ever known is the coward who couldn’t support his wife after she’d been raped and tortured at the hands of the Cassadines and made a teen aged girl responsible for his son.”

Luke swallowed hard. “I never was a hero,” he admitted in a low voice. “That was always Laura. She thought I was a good man. I wanted to be the man I saw in her eyes. I was for a little while. You know about that, Morgan. About the love of a woman who thinks you’re better than you are.”

Jason stared at him, then nodded. “I do.”

“Sometimes you can be,” Luke continued. “But it’s not in me. Luke and Lulu—they’re all the good I ever did in the world. My boy—“ He turned to look at Lucky, his eyes anguished. “You knew him once. You knew what I was trying to save. What would you do for your boy? For Jake? For Michael?” His mouth firmed and then Luke faced Jason. “What lines would you cross to save them?”

Jason took that in, then nodded. “All of them,” he admitted. “But Elizabeth wasn’t just a person, Luke. She’s not someone you should have been able to sacrifice. After everything she’s done for your family—you kept Jake from us. After what you did to him—“

“I needed her to save Lucky,” Luke said simply. “And you don’t get to stand there in judgment of me, Morgan, when I know your crimes aren’t better than mine. You hurt Elizabeth more than I ever did—“ He paused when Jason clenched his jaw. “I’m not talking about the accident. Not that. But everything else. You left your family, Morgan. Just like I did. You’re no better.”

There was enough truth in those words that Jason couldn’t find it in himself to argue. “You take him out of the country,” Jason repeated. “And the next time I see you or him will be because Elizabeth wants it.”

“Yeah, okay.” Luke exhaled slowly. “Can I finish the job?” he asked. “Laura will want to know about Nikolas. She deserves that—“

“If Laura wants your help, she can have it.” Jason opened the door and started away again—but Luke’s words stopped him.

“I wanted to be the man Laura saw when she looked at me, but I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t strong enough. I walked out on my family a long time before she got sick. Don’t make my mistake, Morgan. Be the man Elizabeth already thinks you are. She deserves it.”

—

Laura folded her arms, then brought her fingers to her mouth, her eyes intent on the satellite images as Spinelli scanned the island again for heat signatures. For any signs of life. It had been nearly three hours since the explosion—they were flying over France, and would be coming closer to the Atlantic.

And she still didn’t know if her son was alive.

“He might have gotten off the island,” Robert reminded her. Laura nodded absently. “Robin says it was the plan after all.”

“I know, but—“ Laura sighed. “Jason was right. If Stavros caught up to them that fast, then it’s likely—“ She closed her eyes. “How will I ever explain this to Spencer?”

“Spencer knew that his father was helping Jake,” Jason said as he rejoined them. “When we caught them trying to get Jax’s plan, Elizabeth told Spencer that Nikolas was trying to make things right.”

“If Nikolas doesn’t come home from this,” Sonny added, “then you tell Spencer his father gave his life to make sure the worst evil this world has ever known couldn’t come back again. You make him a hero, Laura.”

“It won’t be enough,” Laura murmured. “But it’ll be something.” She turned to Jason. “What did Luke say?” She paused. “What are you going to do about Lucky?”

“You can do whatever you want with them,” Jason said. “But Elizabeth doesn’t ever have to deal with either of them again if she doesn’t want to. She’ll decide how to handle things with Aiden, but he’s done with Cam and Jake. They’re mine.”

“I know,” Laura said softly. “And thank you. For letting him live when I know—I know it’s not what you want.”

“It’s not up to me,” Jason muttered. “And it’s not—there’s a chance it’s not all his fault,” he added with an irritated growl. “If Helena’s still brainwashing him—“

Laura’s breath released in a rush of air. “Thank you.”

“But you don’t ask Elizabeth for a single piece of help. She’s going to wake up,” Jason said, firmly, “and then we’re going home. If she wants to offer it later, that will be her decision. Luke already knows not to ask. She loves you, Laura. Don’t ask her.”

“I won’t. She’s going to wake up,” Laura said, with a nod. “And you’ll bring Jake to her. She’s done enough for the Spencers. I started this a long time ago. It’s on me to end it.”

Jason started back the hallway towards the room where Elizabeth was resting, when Sonny snagged his elbow. “You know there’s not a chance in hell Elizabeth is going to let Laura deal with alone.”

“No, and I’m not done with the Cassadines either,” Jason told Sonny in a low voice. “They took Jake from us and they put Elizabeth through hell for years. I’m not going to rest until every single one of them is dead. But Luke and Laura don’t need to know that yet.”

Sonny smirked, released Jason, then stepped back. “Letting them twist a bit. Good. They deserve it. Go sit with Elizabeth. Jake is resting. When he wakes up, I’ll come get you.”

“Thanks.”

—

He knew she would wake up. From the moment he’d realized that she was still breathing, Jason had known that Elizabeth would be okay. That she would make it to New York where he could get her to a hospital — but he’d never doubted her.

Two hours after he’d gone to sit with her, her lashes fluttered slightly and her head slowly moved—turning towards him. “What….” Her voice drifted in and out, the word rusty and nearly inaudible.

Jason took Elizabeth’s hand more tightly in his, leaning forward. “Elizabeth. Hey. Can you look at me? Please. Open your eyes. That’s all I need.”

Her lids drifted up slightly, just a sliver of those beautiful blue eyes peeking out before they disappeared. Her tongue darted out, the tip touching her dry lips. “What…happ…”

“Jake. We got him off the island. He’s safe. You’re okay. We got away,” Jason told her. “Elizabeth—“

Her eyes opened again, and this time she managed to hold them. “Jake. Jake. Not…not a dream. Oh—“ Elizabeth squeezed her eyes. “Oh, everything hurts.”

“You need something. I’ll get Patrick and Robin.” Jason kissed the palm of her hand. “I’ll get them. And then Jake. He wants you. He asked for you.”

“He asked…” A tear slid down her cheek. “He asked…”

“He did. I’ll get Patrick—“

Not wanting to be more than a few feet away from her, Jason went to the open doorway and called for Elizabeth’s best friend. Patrick came less than minute later, his wild hair and eyes matching Jason’s as he all but lunged to Elizabeth’s side. He reached for Elizabeth’s wrist to check her pulse.

“Patrick…” Elizabeth licked her lips. “On fire.”

“I bet,” Patrick muttered. “Pulse is racing.” He pressed a hand to her cheek. “Burning up. I think infection is setting in—“

“What—“ Jason’s breath quickened. “But she woke up—“

“No, no—it’s—“ Patrick closed his eyes, took a deep breath. “It’s okay. We can—she’s running a fever to fight the infection. That’s good. We can work with that. We have—we have some things we can give her.” He looked at Elizabeth. “You gave me a hell of a scare, Webber. Don’t do that.”

“Sorry.” Elizabeth’s smile was faint. “Was it bad?”

“Bad enough,” Patrick said, “but you’re strong enough to run the fever. That’s good, Jason,” he told the enforcer. “The transfusion worked. She’ll make it to GH.”

“Jake’s out there?” Elizabeth asked. She winced, pressing her hands flat against the sheet, almost if she was trying to lift herself up. “Robin. I remember Robin. And Nikolas. Did they—“ She saw Jason’s face. “What happened?”

“Robin got out,” Jason assured her, as Patrick continued to search through his medical kit until he found a bottle of pills. “But there was an explosion after we reached the airport. We’re—there’s no sign of Nikolas.”

“Oh, God.” Elizabeth closed her eyes. “Oh, no.”

“We’ll sort that out. Here, take this.” Patrick slid two pills between her lips and brought a glass of water to her lip. “That’s an antibiotic and some pain meds. To take the edge off.”

“I want to see Jake. Can I see him? Will I scare him? He’s been through so much—“ Elizabeth reached for Jason’s hand. “But I just want to see my little boy—“

“He needs to see you, too,” Jason told her. He put his other hand on top of hers, engulfing her smaller one between his. He brought her fingertips to his lips again. “He talked to Cam. He was very impressed by the attempt to steal a plane to rescue him.”

Elizabeth laughed, then winced. “Oh, man.”

“I’ll go get Jake,” Patrick said, then left.

“The next time someone tries to stab me,” Jason told her roughly, “you let them. Do you understand me?”

“No problem,” Elizabeth said. She met his eyes. “Just as long as you agree that the next time someone tries to stab me, you let them.”

“That—“ Jason scowled. “That’s not the same.”

“Feels like it is.”

“Don’t—“

“Mommy!”

A burst of energy shot through the door and nearly launched himself onto the bed, but Jason caught the little boy before he could land his full weight on Elizabeth.

“Whoa, whoa,” Jason said, with a surprised burst of laughter, pulling Jake back into his lap. “Mommy just woke up and she’s still hurt. Let’s take a minute, okay?”

“Jake.” Elizabeth stared at him, then reached out a hand to trace the curve of his cheek. “You’re here.”

“Mommy, I was scared that you wouldn’t wake up. But you did, and Cam said you were awesome, and I’m gonna like my room—“ Jake’s voice wobbled slightly. “Uncle Nik isn’t here.”

“I know. Daddy told me.” Elizabeth reached for his hand. “But he brought you to us so we could get you away. He was so brave.”

“He said you wanted me to come home so much. That you cried all the time.” Jake sniffled, swiped his hand over his nose. “Did you get hurt helping me?”

“Sort of,” Elizabeth said. “But it’s okay. It’s worth it to see you. Oh, God, Jake—“ She leaned up, ignoring the pain in her side as she gathered Jake into her arms, and brought him down to lay beside her, tucked into her arms. “My baby.” She pressed her lips to his blond head. “My beautiful baby.”

“I saw pictures of you, Mommy,” Jake told her, his voice muffled where it was tucked into the crook of her neck. “You and Daddy with my brothers at Christmas. You were at a park in the snow. And you looked sad. Uncle Nik said it’s because you love Christmas but I wasn’t there.”

“We went to the tree lighting,” Jason told Jake, running a hand down his back, as Elizabeth just closed her eyes, tears sliding down her cheeks. “And we were remembering you. We have presents for you at home. Christmas and birthday.”

“Uncle Nik said he’d bring me home and we’d be a family, all of us. That you’d be okay when I came home.” Jake leaned up to look at his mother. “Are you okay now? I’m home.”

“Yeah,” Elizabeth managed. “Yeah, you’re home. I’m perfect.”

Written in 65 minutes. Sorry. Went a bit over. No time for spellcheck.

---

“I need you to run that by me just one more time.”

Patrick growled as he pushed past the speechless chief of staff and stalked towards an empty wheelchair. “I’ve got Elizabeth in the car—burning up from infection—and you’re gonna start with the jokes.”

“What do you expect from me?” Steven Webber demanded as he jogged after his best friend towards the SUV parked haphazardly at the curb. “You just told me you two days ago you and Bits were taking off without any damn notice, and now you’re saying my sister was stabbed in Greece—what the hell was—“

Then he stopped as the passenger door shoved open and Robin stepped out. His eyes grew wide as he looked back at Patrick who was carefully lifting Elizabeth out of the backseat, helped by Robert while Anna leaned over to let them know she was parking the car.

“What the absolute hell is going on right now?” he demanded. Steven jabbed a finger at Robin. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

“Supposed to be. I’m not. It runs in the family,” Robin said dryly as she followed Patrick and her father into the hospital. “Try to keep up.”

“Where the hell is Jason?” STeven demanded. “Why aren’t you dead? Where are my nephews? How did this—“

Elizabeth winced as she pressed a hand to her side. “Jason had to go home to be with the boys. He’ll be here later.” She offered Patrick a dry look. “Unless you were lying to him about me not dying.”

“Hey, all I ever promised was that I’d get you to GH alive,” Patrick said. He wheeled her up to the nurse’s desk where Epiphany Johnson merely lifted a brow. “Everything after that is on you.”

“Damn it, tell me what the hell is going on!” Steven exploded. “Who stabbed you? Was this because of Jason? I told you—“

“Actually—“ Elizabeth grimaced. “It was because of me. So shut up, get out of my way, and let Patrick give me some goddamn pain medication.”

—

Jason had wanted to go with Elizabeth to the hospital—hadn’t wanted to let her out of his sight, but she’d pushed him to take Jake home. To get back to Cameron and Spencer who were probably scared as hell.

It was one thing to stick together in the woods in Greece, sending Jake back to the boat with Sonny and refusing to leave her then—but they were parents now. The danger was over.

If she was going to be in the hospital, Jason had to step up at home.

Jason put the SUV into park in the driveway, and glanced over his shoulder at Jake in the booster seat in the back of the car, his head lolled over to the side, dozing gently, before looking at Laura in the passenger seat next to him.

Her face was grimly set as she stared at the house. “Maybe we should have put this off longer,” she murmured. “Dante could have kept the boys at Greystone.”

“He could have,” Jason said. “Laura—“

“It’s just—Spencer’s been through so much. And the last thing, I want him to tell him is that his father might not—“ Her voice broke slightly. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. This is so selfish. You want to be with Jake, and Jake needs his brothers. And Cameron—God, Cameron needs Jake—“

“Laura.”

Jason waited for her to meet his eyes. “I’m angry about what happened to Elizabeth,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t remember what you’re going through. Spencer needs you, but I think maybe it might help him to see Jake. To see what his father did. If Nikolas didn’t make it, I will always be grateful that the last thing he ever did was get my son away from Stavros Cassadine.”

“Thank you.” Laura took a deep breath. “Let’s go inside.”

Inside, Dante was at the dining room table with the trio of gathered around him, all of them picking at slices of pizza. When Laura pushed open the door, he shot to his feet. “Hey. You’re back.”

“You’re—“ Cameron swung his head around as Jason came in behind Laura, Jake cradled in his arms, still sleeping. His blue eyes were wide as he took in his brother. “That’s…that’s really him.”

Spencer was quiet as he got to his feet, shoving the chair out. He looked past Jason — but no one else was coming in. “Where’s everyone else?” he asked. “Where’s my dad?”

“Where’s Mom?” Cameron asked, his voice rising sharply. “Mom! Is she in the car?”

“Laura—“ Jason looked her, and she sighed.

“Dante, do me a favor,” Laura said to her son-in-law. “Come upstairs with me? We’ll take Jake up to finish his nap, and I can talk to Spencer. Jason needs to talk to Cameron.” She paused. “Emma, you can stay down here.”

“Okay,” Dante agreed as Cameron started to blink rapidly, his chest rising. He strode over to Jason, looking at the little boy cradled against Jason’s torso. “Hell of a thing,” he muttered as the older man gently transfered the precious little boy to Sonny’s son. “Look at him.”

“Spencer?” Laura said, gently.

“Okay.” Spencer looked at Cameron and Emma. “Whatever happens,” he said, taking a deep breath, “it’s okay. Because Jake is home. And that’s what everyone wanted. Honor—I think maybe honor is restored. And your mom would be happy.”

With that, he followed his grandmother up the stairs and Jason gestured for Cameron and Emma to come sit on the sofa.

“First, Mom’s okay,” Jason told Cameron who exhaled on a quick rush of air. “She got hurt, and we were worried for a minute. But Uncle Patrick took real good care of her.” He looked at Emma. “And so did your mother.”

“My—“ Emma’s eyes were round. “What? Wait. What.”

“Aunt Robin?” Cameron asked. “Wait—“

“The Cassadines didn’t just take Jake away,” Jason told them. “They made us all think Robin was gone, too. Emma, your mother is alive. And she’s at GH with your father, taking care of Elizabeth.”

“My mom—“ Emma’s lip trembled. “My mom is okay? She’s alive? She’s okay. She’s home. She’s here. My mom? Mommy—I want to talk to her. I want to see her.”

“I know. And I want that, too. She wants that. She wanted me to bring you to her.” He looked at Cameron. “And your mom wanted that, too. We just—we needed to bring Jake home. And Spencer needs to know—“

“His dad isn’t here,” Cameron said quietly as Emma swiped at her eyes. “He didn’t come home.”

“We don’t know where he is,” Jason said carefully. “When we got to Greece, everything happened very fast, and Nikolas got Jake to us, but he couldn’t leave with us. He wanted to make sure we got off the island safely. And we did. Except your mom was hurt, and we got slowed down. So he stayed behind. And there was an explosion.”

“Why is it always an explosion?” Emma wanted to know. “That’s how they said my mom died.” She turned to Cameron. “So maybe he’s okay, then. No one ever dies in those, do they?”

“Sometimes,” Cameron said tightly, his eyes on Jason. “Sometimes, they do.”

“Yeah, sometimes they do.” Jason paused. “Whatever happens, Nikolas helped us save Jake’s life. And your mother’s. If he doesn’t come back, Spencer is going to need his family. Even if sometimes he’s a pain.”

“His dad helped save my mom, too. We’ll take care of Spencer,” Emma promised. She looked towards the stairs, bit her lip. “I want to see my mom,” she admitted in a small voice. “Do we have to wait? We should, but—“

“No,” Jason said, with a shake of his head. “You don’t have to wait. No one blames you—“

“I want to,” Cameron said. He straightened his shoulders. “You can take Emma to the hospital. You should see your mom,” he told her. “But Spencer is my cousin whether he likes it or not.”

“We can…” Emma nodded. “We can wait a bit. Mom and Dad are probably busy yelling at people and taking care of Aunt Elizabeth.”

—

Dante went back downstairs, leaving Laura alone with her grandson in Cameron’s room. Spencer sat on the edge of the bed, digging his toe into the carpet. “You don’t have to say anything,” he muttered. “Dad’s not here. He’s dead.”

“We don’t know,” Laura said, sitting next to him. “There was an explosion, and we could—we couldn’t wait to to find out. Everything happened so fast—we were already at the airport—“

Spencer looked at her, his dark eyes so quiet and solemn. “So he might still be back there. He might be okay?”

“He might be. Cassadines don’t go down easy,” Laura told him. “But I also—“ she hesitated. “If he could have contacted us, I think he might have. I don’t know if he’s coming home, Spencer.”

Spencer pressed his lips together and was quiet for a long moment. “Was Aunt Elizabeth right?” he asked dully. “Was he a good guy? He was helping?”

“He gave up his chance to get off the island with the rest uof us to make sure Elizabeth had time to get back to the boat,” Laura told him. “By the time Jason and Elizabeth and Sonny got to the place where Jake was, she was hurt really bad and moving slow. She almost didn’t get out. But Nikolas distracted everyone else with the explosion, and gave them enough time to get away.” Better to think it was Nikolas who had set the explosion than the alternative—that Stavros had caught up with Jason and Elizabeth in the woods because Nikolas was already dead.

“So he’s a hero.”

“Yes. I will miss him if he’s gone. He’s my son, and I love him. But I love Jake and Elizabeth. They’re my family, too,” Laura told him. “And he would have wanted them to be okay.”

“He did a good thing,” Spencer said. His lower lip quivered but he firmed it quickly. “He did the honorable thing. That’s good. That’s important. I just—“ His voice faltered. “I wanted him to be here.”

“Me, too.” Laura drew him in for a tight hug, pressing her lips to the top of his dark head. “I wanted that, too, baby. This wasn’t the ending I wanted, either.”

He wrapped his arms around her tightly, clinging to her, and Laura sighed in relief as she finally felt him break and the tears start.

—

“I just want to go over this one more time,” Steven said at the nurse’s station as as Epiphany rolled her eyes and Patrick shoved a chart at the nurse behind the desk. “Elizabeth and Jason get news that maybe Jake is alive, and they take off to Greece. They don’t tell me—“

“Well, what are you gonna offer the situation?” Patrick wanted to know. “You don’t have any skills that are remotely useful in this situation—“

“And you do?” Steven demanded hotly. “You’re more useless than I am—“

“I’ve clocked more time in the field than you have. Robert,” Patrick said, nodding to his father-in-law on the other side of the counting, glaring at that phone in his hand. “Tell this dinkus about the Markaam Islands. I did good work there.”

“You did zero work,” Robin reported. “You ended up being helicoptered out of there after we nearly got shot by mercenaries holding my dad and Luke—“

“I did great undercover work,” Patrick retorted.

“Kissing me isn’t really undercover work—“

“Can we go back to the part where my nephew is alive?” Steven demanded. He glared at Epiphany. “Why are you smirking like that? Robin is alive. Jake is alive. Who the hell else is alive that I don’t know about?”

“Well, it is Port Charles. You learn to just go with it,” Epiphany suggested. Behind them, the elevator doors opened and Jason stepped out, followed by Cameron, then Emma.

Emma stopped in the middle of the hallway, her eyes wide as she took in her mother standing next to her father. “Mommy.”

“Emma.”

“Mommy!”

Emma took off like a lighting bolt, and Robin bent down to sweep her daughter in her arms, swinging her around in a circle, the two of them laughing and crying as the world around them came to a stop.

Jason took a deep breath as he stepped up to Epiphany. “Hey.”

“Hey, you.” Epiphany grinned, then peered down at Cameron. “Looks like we got ourself a whole lot of a good news today, huh? Emma’s got her mama back and Jake is home.”

“Yeah. I didn’t get to talk to him yet,” Cameron reported. “He was tired, and Grandma Laura is staying with him to make sure he’s not scared when he wakes up. But he’s home. We’re here to see Mommy.”

“I figured.” Epiphany looked over at Emma and her parents who were clustered around each other—then joined by Robert and Anna.

“Bits is down the hall,” Steven said, still trying to adjust to the entire situation. “At some point, do I get to know who exactly stabbed my sister?”

“Later,” Jason said, nodding to Cameron. “He wants to see his mother, and I—I haven’t seen her since we separated at the airport.”

“I’ll walk you down.”

Elizabeth was pale but awake when Cameron and Jason came in—Steven was a little irritated when Jason closed the door in his face, but Jason didn’t much care about that. Steven had always been one of the ones encouraging Elizabeth to go back to Lucky Spencer two years ago, so he didn’t have the time or patience for his questions right now.

“Mommy!” Cameron rushed over to her side, but stopped short of throwing himself at her the way Jake had done on the plane. “You’re okay? Jason said you were hurt.”

“I was, and it was scary,” Elizabeth admitted. She squeezed his hand. “But Uncle Patrick does pretty good work.” She looked at Jason. “They want to keep me a few days, but I’m going home tomorrow. I don’t want to be away from Jake—“

“You can stay here,” Cameron told her. “We’ll take care of Jake, and we’ll bring him to see you. You need to be okay, Mom.”

Elizabeth pursed her lips. “We’ll see. Did Emma come with you? Did she see Robin?”

“She did. It was really nice, Mom. I’m so glad Aunt Robin is home. I’m sorry Uncle Nikolas might not be, but I’m glad he took care of you and Jake,” Cameron told her.

“Me, too. How did Spencer take it?” she asked Jason.

“Okay, I think,” Jason said. “Emma and Cam wanted to make sure he was okay before we came to the hospital.” He put a hand on Cam’s shoulder. “Hey, why don’t I walk you down to the nurse’s station to hang out with Uncle Steven for a while? Your mom and I need to talk for a minute.”

“Okay.”

When they were out in the hallway, Cameron turned to him, squared his shoulders. “Before we go, though, I wanted you to know it’s okay if you changed your mind.”

Jason frowned. “About what?” He led Cameron over to a bench and they sat down.

“About me,” Cameron said. He swallowed hard. “You got Jake back now. And it’s okay. We’ll be a family anyway,” he added. “But it’s okay if you don’t need me anymore—“

“Need you?” Jason shook his head. “That’s not how this works, Cam. Not for me. Not now. In Greece, I came close to closing everything. It got—it was bad for a minute,” he admitted. “I didn’t know if me or your mom was coming home. And the last thing running through my head was not telling you myself how much I love you. It’s okay if you don’t want to make it legal, and I don’t expect you take to take my name. But you’re already mine, Cam. I love you. You, Jake, and Aiden. We’re a family.”

“You still—“ Cameron blinked at him. “You still want to be my dad? But I thought—“ He cleared his throat. “I thought maybe Jake was back. You had your real son—“

“There’s no such thing as real,” Jason insisted. “There’s blood connections, and that matters, yeah. But so does choice. My mother chose me, and my sister a long time ago. And she helped make us a family. She and my father. Just like your mom made us a family. I want to choose you, Cameron. I’d choose Aiden, too, if I could. But that’s different.”

“Because Lucky’s alive,” Cameron said soberly. He nodded. “Okay.” He nodded again. “Okay. Then I want to choose you, too. You came back. And you made sure Mom came back. That’s most important.” He leaned and hugged Jason. “But I’m gonna stay a Webber, because that’s what Mom is.”

“Then Webber it is,” Jason promised.

Halfway across the world, a man stood on the pier in Mykonos, staring out at the smoldering ruins of the great estate. He pursed his lips, and turned to the harbor master. “What happened out there?”

The man spoke in a rushed Grecian dialect, but the words were mostly clear — great explosion—but no casualties.

“No bodies? Really?” Surprised the man turned back to the island, considering it carefully. “They’re still looking?”

“Yes, yes, but no bodies. Island empty.” The harbormaster shrugged and went back to his work as Valentin Cassadine considered exactly what to do next.

Written in 58 minutes. No time for spellcheck or typos.

---

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Laura demanded as she watched Elizabeth sit down on the sofa, wincing slightly as the stitches in her side tugged. “You’ve only been home for three days—”

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Jason before he took the boys over to Carly’s house,” Elizabeth said. “I need to know what happened to Nikolas. If he’s alive and in hiding or if he’s—” She pressed her lips together. “We need answers, Laura. You need them, Spencer does—and so does Jake. He remembers his uncle as someone who promisd he’d bring him home. Nikolas made sure my little boy came home. I need to do that for him.”

“You don’t owe me—”

“This isn’t about that,” Elizabeth said, reaching forward to touch Laura’s hand. “This isn’t about what happened with Lucky. This is about me. I don’t just want answers about Nikolas. I want—” She hesitated. “I want revenge.”

“That’s a tricky path to tread,” Laura cautioned. “I know—I’ve gone down it myself.”

“Losing my little boy broke me into pieces,” Elizabeth said. “It made me someone else. I nearly lost my sanity and my children. My life.” Restless, she stood up and went over to the mantel where she’d had a photo of Jake at his last Christmas for the last few years. She’d replaced with a new photo—one of her three boys with Jake at the center.

“Helena doesn’t get to just walk away from this. Neither does any other Cassadine who helped it.” Elizabeth turned back to Laura. “I shot Stavros in the head, so at least there’s something. Robin said Stavros had taken my son and wanted to raise him as his own. I stopped that. But it’s not enough. They always come back, Laura. They’ve spent decades torturing all of us. I can’t bear to think that Spencer and Cameron might have to face another generation some day. It has to stop with us.”

“I wish I’d seen it,” Laura murmured. “Jason said there was brain matter, and maybe I shouldn’t take enjoyment from that, but I do.” She met Elizabeth’s eyes. “What does Jason think?”

“Jason wants Cassadine blood more than I do. He doesn’t really want me involved, but I think that’s because I’m not a hundred percent yet,” she admitted. “But I will be.”

“Before all of this started—” Laura tilted her head to the side. “You and I had a conversation about Jason. About your relationship with him. I wondered if maybe things had changed.”

“That feels like so long ago.” Elizabeth exhaled slowly. “When we got to Greece, Jason sat back and let you and I take charge. Did you notice that?”

“I did.”

“Something changed when we found out there was a chance Jake was alive. Not just—” Elizabeth chewed on her bottom lip. “I don’t know how to explain it. It just—it changed me. I looked at Jason, and I saw what he was doing here. He asked to adopt Cameron, Laura. And I—” She paused. “He wants this life with me. I didn’t trust it before, and I can’t tell you why I believe it now. But I do.”

Laura turned at the sound of an SUV pulling into the driveway. “Well, he’s back with Sonny, and I think Robert and Anna are pulling up behind him, so it’s time to find out what we know now that the reports from Greece are in and what’s next.”

The reports from Greece, however, weren’t encouraging.

“No bodies,” Sonny repeated. “I know enough about Cassadines to know that’s a bad sign.”

“No chance we’re looking at incineration?” Robin asked as she looked over the report her father handed her. “I mean, isn’t it possible?”

“They don’t think the fire got hot enough,” Robert said with a shake of his head. “The real problem is that the estate is a labrynth of tunnels and passageways. The main house collapsed on itself, and we’re still not all the way through it.”

“Any sign of Valentin?” Elizabeth asked. “The Cassadine they were waiting on to start whatever Helena had planned?”

“He made it to Mykonos, and as far as the harbor,” Robert responded. “Then disappeared. So he’s in the wind.”

“What do we know about Valentin?” Jason asked. “Spinelli said he couldn’t find much.”

“There isn’t much to find. He’s the illegitimate son of Mikkos — younger than Alexis,” Anna added. “He worked for the WSB for a time—I know, don’t start,” she said when Laura huffed. “But he turned rogue for DVX. Only worked there a few years before the wall fell and they were all out of a job. Rumors that he went KGB—”

“I hate Russians,” Sonny muttered.

“But he’s stayed under the radar, mostly working as a mercenary for hire in Russia and Eastern Europe.”

“What kind of mercenary do they need there?” Patrick asked, furrowing his brow. “I thought mercenaries were like Rambo—”

“Assassin,” Jason said, surprising them all. Robert lifted his brows as Jason ganced up, realizing no one had said anything else. “If he was working for the KGB in Eastern Europe, he probably took care of those journalists a few years ago. The ones in Bosnia? And then the one in Britain?”

“Correct,” Robert said. “WSB intel says Valentin is one of Putin’s best assassins. He specializes in poisons.”

“How did he get hired at the WSB as a Cassadine?” Sonny asked. “Wouldn’t that keep you out?”

“You’d think,” Anna said, “but Victor Cassadine is running our research program. I don’t make the calls,” she added, when Laura stared at her in disbelief. “I’m a field agent. Robert and I don’t do administration.”

“But I don’t remember Valentin being a player in Cassadine schemes,” Elizabeth said. “Nikolas never mentioned him, and I know he wasn’t someone you and Luke worried during Endgame.”

“No, Valentin wasn’t on the radar back then. After what happened to Alexis’s mother, he kept his affairs more quiet,” Laura said. “After Mikkos died, I think Valentin fell through the cracks. Helena wasn’t thinking about him.”

“Then why get involved now?” Sonny wanted to know. “I get that it was a huge reunion, but, uh, Helena never liked Mikkos’s bastards. She’s been half-trying to kill Alexis her whole damn life. Why invite one to the table?”

“If we knew why Valentin was there, we could maybe figure out if he’s a threat. If he’s not—” Robert began.

“He’s a Cassadine,” Jason said tightly. “They all go.”

Anna’s lips thinned as she hesitated. “This isn’t that kind of mission, Jason. I appreciate your anger over what happened to Jake, but if we’re involving you—”

“You can cut me out,” Jason said, locking eyes with the older woman, “but that won’t stop me. The Cassadines came after my family. And if Helena is still breathing, she’ll keep coming. She knows what Elizabeth and her boys mean to Laura. She’ll keep coming through them. She goes. They all go.”

“I agree with him,” Robert said, stunning Anna. “And that’s not from the head office. It’s not revenge, either,” he said before his ex-wife could open her mouth to protest. “The Cassadines are a threat to the world, but Morgan’s right. If Helena has breath left in that body, she’ll come for Laura. And she’ll come for Elizabeth. You made the kill shot on Stavros,” he said as Elizabeth sighed. “I don’t know if she knows that now, but she will. The only body we found was his. And the bullet matched your gun,” Robert told Jason. “I made the report disappear. Officially, none of us were on that island.”

“But Helena has her ways of learning information,” Laura said with a nod. “And even if she doesn’t know Elizabeth fired the shot, she’ll come for Jason through you. It’s not over because we have Jake.”

“Now that we’re all in agreement that the Cassadines need to go,” Sonny said, “anyone got any suggestions for what we do next? Or are we just spinning our wheels?”

“I’m heading back to Greece to start excavation of the estate,” Robert declared. “It might take a few months, but we’ll get to every damn stone of the island. I was hoping Robin might come back with me to look over the plans and tunnels.”

“I want to go, too,” Elizabeth said before Robin could say anything. “I want—” She paused. “I want to see where Jake was living. The cottage wasn’t blown up, was it?” she asked. “There might be something there that Nikolas left for me. Or—”

“Is it a good idea for you to go back into field?” Anna asked. “You’re still recovering—”

“I’m good enough,” she said. “Can I go?”

“Uh,” Robert pursed his lips. “Yeah, I guess. That’s probably a good idea,” he admitted. “If Robin can help us with the intel on her side of the island, you knew Nikolas longer and a bit better. Of course, Laura—” He eyed Jason and Sonny. “Are we bringing the whole gang?”

“Spinelli will want to go to see if there’s some networks he didn’t crack the first time,” Sonny said, “But I’ll stay behind with the kids to keep them from trying that unaccompanied minor crap.”

“I’m going if you are,” Jason told Elizabeth, and she smiled.

“I didn’t expect anything else.”

Later that night, after they’d put the kids to bed and made plans to leave for Greece in a few days, Elizabeth caught Jason watching her as she checked the stitches in her side—they were the dissolving kind and were already starting to heal into her skin.

“Thank you.”

“For what?” he asked, pulling the comforter back.

“Not arguing with me about Greece.” She twisted on the stool at her vanity table. “I know you don’t want me to go.”

“There are times I don’t want to let you out of this room,” Jason admitted. “But you’re right. If Nikolas left anything for anyone to find, it’d be you. It just makes sense.” He paused. “What are we going to tell the boys?”

“The same thing we did today when we sent them to Carly’s,” Elizabeth said. “Cameron knows how dangerous the Cassadines are, and obviously Jake does.” She paused. “I don’t want to leave him,” she said softly. “I’m afraid to let him out of my sight. I woke up in the hospital, and I thought—”

She looked at herself in the mirror. “I thought it was a dream. That I’d hallucinated everything. Like I did when I had pneumonia. Do you remember?”

“I do.” Jason sat on the edge of the bed. “It’s not a dream.”

“No. But every time I go to sleep, I’m terrified this is the night the dream ends. I’ll wake up and my baby is gone again. And we’ll be back to marking holidays without him, and I’ll wrapping gifts he doesn’t ever get to open—” She squeezed her eyes shut as he came up behind her, put his hands on her shoulders. “Laura told me I had to be careful about going after the Cassadines for revenge. I know she’s right. But I want Helena to pay for every day I woke up without Jake. For every day he had to beg Nikolas to bring him home, and Nikolas didn’t.”

“I know,” Jason said. He drew Elizabeth to her feet. “Because I want her to pay for every tear you cried. For every minute of pain she put Cameron through. But it doesn’t matter if I kill her or if you do. Revenge isn’t going to make it so none of that ever happened.”

“No, it won’t,” Elizabeth said. She lifted her eyes to meet his. “But killing her and every other Cassadine as evil as she is will make it over. We need to finish it, Jason, so that they never have to take up the fight. I don’t want to be like Laura, mourning both my boys because I didn’t do enough. Helena Casasdine and her damn family aren’t going to take one more thing from me.”

Written in 53 minutes.

---

Mykonos, Greece

So much of that insane trek through the woods on the island felt like a fever dream. Elizabeth scarcely remembered the cottage that had set at the edge of the clearing—there had only been stabbing pain and sweet joy of seeing her little boy for the moment before the world had gone insane.

Now, Jake and her boys were thousand of miles away, safe and sound, tucked away at Greystone with Sonny’s security keeping them in one piece. She stood here in the bedroom where Jake had lived for most of the two years he’d been gone.

The room looked like any other boy’s—the bed was a messy twin, with a tan comforter, pushed back as if who ever had been sleeping in it last had shoved it away and rolled out of bed without a second thought.

There were toys strewn across the floor, including a little red motorcycle. Elizabeth found it on the shelf and picked it up.

“Elizabeth?”

“This is Jake’s.”

Jason frowned, and came over to look at it. “I thought— I gave this to Cameron,” he murmured, taking it from her.

“I know. There’s a scratch from when Cameron crashed it into the fireplace.” Elizabeth ran her fingernail over the thin mar in the paint. “He gave it to Jake that last Christmas. Jake loved to play with it. I—I put it at his grave. The day the stone—” She closed her eyes. “They took this from his grave and brought it to Greece.”

She clutched the motorcycle to her chest. “The next time I went back, I thought—I just thought it was lost or that someone stole it—or that—but it was here. All this time—he was here—” She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to force down the waves of pain that radiated from everywhere.

“And he had something from his brother the whole time,” Jason reminded her. “This—” He tapped the handlebar. “Jake had part of me and Cam with him. Nikolas kept Cameron in his head, and Jake never forgot his brother. Or you.”

“Or you.” Elizabeth exhaled slowly. “I’m sorry. I just— I look around this room—and I’m trying to be grateful that Jake was treated well. That even his own twisted way, Stavros loved him. That’s—that’s better. And he’s young. Kevin Collins said he doesn’t see any of the same behaviors they saw in Lucky. No memory lapses. Nothing. He’s perfect.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that the Cassadines stole those years from us,” Jason said. “From you. Jake should have been with you and his brothers. Not here. We never should have had to buy a grave or a stone with his name on it.”

“Laura warned me about wanting revenge,” Elizabeth murmured, “but it’s all I can think about. I left my boys at home so I could hunt down the woman who did this. I could live with the WSB going after the rest of the Cassadines, you know? Mikkos, Valentin—that’s their problem. But Helena—”

She stared at the motorcycle. “I want to know where Nikolas is, I want to know what the hell the other Cassadines have planned—the world needs to be safe from them, and I meant what I said—I can’t bear for them to come back one day. But if we can get rid of Helena—” She met his eyes. “The boys could be safer with her gone.

“Then we’ll find Helena and we’ll kill her,” Jason said simply. “Let’s search the rest of the cottage to see if Nikolas left anything for you.”

Two hours of taking the cottage apart, of searching every nook and cranny—even the mattresses once Jason had slit them open with the switch blade he had in his back pocket—

There was nothing.

Elizabeth sighed. “Maybe he just didn’t have time,” she murmured. “Is he dead? Did Stavros—”

“I thought so, too,” Jason admitted, “but now that we’re here—now that I’m looking at the island again with a clearer head—I don’t think so. Stavros wasn’t that far behind us. Maybe two or three minutes. If he’d killed Nikolas, he wouldn’t have time to deal with the body.”

“So he went to set the explosions instead?” Elizabeth asked. “Why hasn’t he gotten in touch? It’s been a week. Longer than—”

“I don’t know.” They left the cottage and headed back towards the main estate—the ruins of the old Gothic castle that seemed so out of place on a Mediterranean castle.

“I hope they’re having better luck with the tunnels,” Elizabeth said, rubbing her arms. “Who ever set those explosions knew what they were doing.”

“Not enough to make sure that everyone was dead.” Jason squinted, stopping in the field a few hundred yards away from the estate. He turned back to look out over the horizon here were blue waters of the Aegean sparkled against the sun.

“What are you thinking?”

“That day was a lot,” he said. “We landed here early in the morning,” he continued. “You were stabbed by nine—”

“And we were on our way to the island by four.”

“Stavros was minutes behind us,” Jason repeated. “But that whole confrontation in the woods—it was less than five minutes. I put you down, started to rewrap your wound—” He squinted. “Then Stavros was there, and I didn’t even get a chance to think before you shot him.”

“Sorry if I stole your thunder,” she said with a raised brow. He shook his head.

“No, I mean, it was fast. We were on that beach minutes after Laura left. And it felt like forever,” he admitted, “but Anna was there in another ten. We were on this island for maybe thirty minutes. Ten minutes to the cottage, ten minutes back, and ten minutes in between for everything else. And it might not have been that long.”

“Okay—”

“And look—we’re walking from the cottage—and we’re still, what—half a mile from the house? Even if he was running—Where did Robert say the bombs were set?” Jason turned his attention back to the crumbling remains.

“On the far side of the island, near the marine, and in the center of the house. But we don’t know if they were detonated manually or—” She paused. “But if Nikolas went to set the bombs, it would be manually. Not remote.”

“I don’t know. There’s just something about the time line that doesn’t make sense. If it was remotely, Nikolas could have come with us and set the bombs from the boat. If it was manual, he might have had enough time to get to the house but barely. The estate exploded when we go to the airport. The airport is five minutes from the pier.”

“So we’re saying that twenty minutes after after Nikolas brought Jake to us, the house exploded,” Elizabeth said slowly. She looked back at the cottage—it was a mile from the house. With adrenaline— “How fast can you do mile?”

“Maybe fifteen minutes,” Jason admitted. “Twelve if I push it. It’s not something I have to do much.”

“And you’re in better shape than Nikolas. Could he have—” She folded her arms. “We thought Stefan set one of the bombs. Maybe he set the one down at the marina to stop the guards from getting on the boats.”

“Maybe,” Jason said slowly, “or maybe the people at the house knew about the breach—” He turned to look at Elizabeth. “And knew that we’d be distracted by looking for bodies.”

“Oh.” She hissed. “You think the Cassadines blew up the damn estate themselves to get away from the WSB.”

“Which means they knew about the bombs being set and where they were.”

“Let’s get back to the house and talk to Robert and Laura.”

Bryanka, Ukraine

The woman crept through the door, closing it behind her, and breathing a sigh of relief. She’d made it to the rendezvous. Now it was time to regroup—

“What did you do to my boy?”

She paused as the voice behind her echoed in the empty room of the small house. A match was struck—and the room was dimly lit. She turned to find a candle in the middle of a beaten up and scratched table had been lit, and a man sat at table.

Helena Cassadine’s lips curved into a smile as she took in the presence of her oldest—and dearest—enemy. “Well, Luke Spencer, just when you think a man can’t surprise you anymore.”

“What,” Luke said, leaning forward, the candle’s flame illuminating his cold, dark blue eyes and the rage lit within, did you do to my boy?”

“What did I do to the precious Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, Junior?” Helena murmured, pausing deliberately on each word of the name. “Nothing.”

“That’s a lie!” Luke roared, lunging to his feet.

“Well, I’ve done nothing new,” Helena insisted, amused by his reaction. “It’s hardly my fault if you didn’t notice all the differences over the years. You tried to undo all my hard work, my dear, but his mind had been changed—”

“No, no, he was okay—he was my boy again—!”

“Was he?” Helena raised her brows. “Well, perhaps you were satisfied. Others clearly weren’t. How is Elizabeth? Has she recovered? I look forward to seeing her. We have unfinished business—and Laura—”

“Too long,” Luke said, “too long I’ve let you go after my family. I thought it was amusing to play with you, to toy with you. I should have gutted you the first time you put your hands on my son.”

“But you didn’t, and here we are—” Helena sighed. “How did you find me, anyway?”

“Sometimes, Mother—” Helena whirled around as another man bled out of the shadows. Her eyes bulged as Stefan stepped into the dim light of the candle. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

“No—no—” She turned to Luke, then back to Stefan. “You—you were part of it. I brought you back! I put you under my control! You were chipped—”

“I was,” Stefan murmured, “but I’m not anymore. Where is Father? He should have been with you.”

Drawing herself up regally, Helena lifted her chin, a woman who knew her time was running out. “You don’t know everything.”

“True.” Stefan flicked his eyes to Luke. “I’ll find him, but she’s all yours.”

Helena looked away from the eternal disappointment of her youngest son—she should have strangled him in the cradle. He’d never measure up to either his brother or father. “I’m surprised you came alone, Luke. No Elizabeth or Laura? I would have thought they’d be eager to finish me off.”

“They are. And so is Jason Morgan. You didn’t think that through, Hells,” Luke said, cracking his first grin. “That is a man you do not fuck with.”

“I’m alive so far—”

“I considered trussing you like a Christmas goose to deliver at my angel’s feet—to let Laura and Elizabeth decide what to do with you after what you’ve done to them.”

“That sounds like a fair thing to go. And they’re quite capable of dealing with me—”

“Oh, no doubt,” Luke said, “I think you’d be surprised by the streak of coldness that runs in Elizabeth’s veins. She’d probably slit your throat and bathe in the blood.”

Helena pressed her lips together. “How can you deny them that chance?”

“It’s simple.” Luke drew out a gun from the inside of her jacket, and her pulse started to race. “I know they could do it. I know they could end you and sleep like babies afterward. I just don’t see why they should have to when I can save them the trouble.”

“You always did monologue too much, Spencer,” Stefan said dryly.

“You never did appreciate the show,” Luke shot back. He focused on Helena. “I’m done asking Laura and Elizabeth do my dirty work.” He aimed the gun, then pulled the trigger.

The bullet exploded a hole in the front of Helena’s head—her elegant features destroyed in an instant as her lifeless body dropped to the floor.

Luke stared down at it, feeling nothing as the old woman’s blood seeped out, what was left of one eye remaining open. “Let them bring you back from that.”

Written in 62 minutes. No time for spell check.

---

Mykonos, Greece

“Our theory is now that one of the Cassadines blew up the island to make their escape.” Robert grimaced as he cast his gaze over the crowd of WSB agents and researchers scouring the remains of the estate—there were construction crews removing piles of stone, hoping to excavate the tunnels beneath the foundation.

“When we looked at the distance between the cottage and where the bombs were set,” Elizabeth said, folding her arms, “Jason and I just don’t think Nikolas could have made it all the way here and detonated them. And if they’d been remote—”

“He would have escaped with you guys,” Robin said, kicking a loose piece of stone out of her way. “They’ve got a point, Dad. It’s a mile between them, and Nikolas wasn’t much of a runner.”

“No, his idea of playing sports was polo or fencing. Jason doesn’t think he’d be able to make that distance in less than twelve minutes.” Elizabeth looked at Jason. “Right?”

“I don’t know how that changes what we’re looking for,” Jason told Robert, “but if the Cassadines blew the place up—”

“Then there’s probably not much here to find. Or whatever is here doesn’t give us much of puzzle.” Robert put his hands at his waist, his scowl deepening. “Can I just tell you how much I hate the bloody Cassadines?” He looked to Laura. “Why didn’t we blow up the whole family when we had the chance?”

“Well, in our defense, we didn’t know Helena was part of Mikko’s schemes,” Laura said, “and the sons were mostly playboys. We thought they were like Tony, and you saw how dumb he ended up being—”

“Didn’t Tony end up getting himself frozen to death?” Elizabeth said.

“That’s what I’m saying—”

“If we could—” Robert pressed his lips together. “No sign of any messages in the cottage?” he asked her.

“No, just some of Jake’s things. I was hoping we could box them up and take them with us,” Elizabeth said. “He’s doing okay so far, but it’s early and he’s just—he’s excited by the changes. I want him to have some familiar things.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ve swept the place, so take what you want.” Robert paused. “I’m sorry. It looks like this was a wasted trip.” He turned away to take a phone call.

“Maybe not,” Laura said. “Didn’t Jake say that his nanny brought him to the gardens to meet with Nikolas?” she asked Jason and Elizabeth.

“You think he’d leave something there?” Elizabeth asked doubtfully.

“If the cottage was worth checking,” Jason said, “then it wouldn’t hurt to try everything.” They glanced over as Robert muttered a curse under his breath, then shoved his phone back in his pocket.

“We’ve got a problem in Ukraine—” He dragged a hand over his eyes, digging the heel of his hand into his brow. “Luke apparently found one of our missing Cassadines, and used that one to get to the bitch herself.”

“Wait, what?” Elizabeth demanded. “Luke found Helena? Which one of the Cassadines—”

“Robert—”

“Dad—”

“Luke was apparently in contact with Stefan Cassadine during this whole operation—”

“I knew he wasn’t telling us everything—”

“What the hell—”

“Does he have Helena?” Jason said flatly, interrupting everyone else’s anger and exclamations. “When do we leave?”

“He has her. She’s dead.”

Elizabeth stared at the older man, then shook her head. “No, no I don’t believe that—” Not that easy. It couldn’t be that easy—could it—

“He wants me to come get her body. Seems like he doesn’t trust anyone else but me to dispose of her probably,” Robert said.

“Well, the last three times we killed Helena, she just came back,” Laura retorted. “And it was definitely Luke’s turn the last time to get rid of the body. But she’s dead? How? When?”

“Last night. He shot her in the head. She’s dead, Laura.”

“Why didn’t he tell us?” Elizabeth fisted her hands at her side. “He knew we wanted her—” She closed her eyes.

“You wanted to find her to kill her,” Robin reminded her gently. “And that’s done now. That’s good, right? Helena was the one that was putting you and the boys in danger, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, but—” Elizabeth looked at Jason, and knew he understood. It wasn’t enough that Helena was dead.

She’d wanted to be the one to do it.

“Robin, would you run this operation while I head to Ukraine? I want to get my hands on that body and make sure it’s really her,” Robert said. “And if you’d like, I can truss up Spencer and drag him back here you so can scream at him.”

“It’s not worth it,” Laura muttered. “He’d just tell us he was doing us a favor. That would be like Luke,” she said to Elizabeth. “He should have killed her when we learned what she’d done to Lucky, but no, now he has to do it when it’s not even—” She took a deep breath. “You know what, Robert? Bring my ex-husband to me. We need to have some words.”

“I need to get out of here,” Elizabeth muttered. She spun on her heel and stalked off towards the gardens. Jason glowered at Robert—as if any of this was his fault—then followed her because there was no way in hell he was going to let her walk around Cassadine Island alone.

“Laura, at the end of the day—”

“At the end of the day, I wanted to rip her eyes out and shove them down her throat so she’d choke on them. Now I don’t even get to be in the room to watch her breath her last.” Laura took a deep breath. “I’ll have to find a way to be okay with that, but I will never forgive Luke for doing this. For any of this.”

—

They found the garden bench that Jake had described but Elizabeth didn’t know what she’d expected to find. She sat down, trying to picture her son sitting here with Nikolas —asking to go home.

“I’m sorry,” Jason said. “I know this isn’t how we wanted this to end.”

“We could still go after Mikkos and Valentin,” Elizabeth murmured, “but it’s not the same. They didn’t take Jake from me. They haven’t haunted me most of my life. They’re not even the ones that went after Laura or Lucky. They’re not the Cassadines I want to see rotting in hell.” She paused. “I mean, I’m sure they deserve it—but going after them personally when the WSB can handle it—”

She tilted her head back to look at the sky, at sun sinking beneath the horizon. “Helena took my son from me and made me live in hell for two years. And Nikolas found out the truth at some point. Luke—and Lucky—knew for months. And no one told us. No one told Laura or me. And now Luke just went—” She sighed. “I don’t have anywhere to put all of this anger. I just want to scream at him, but Laura’s right. He’ll have worked this out in his head that he was sparing us.”

“Maybe he has a point,” Jason said slowly. She frowned at him. “I wanted her blood, too. I wanted revenge. And I agree with you. Something about this feels different knowing she’s off the table. It doesn’t feel the same. I also—” He paused. “I’ve taken lives. You know that. My hands aren’t clean.”

“Neither are mine—”

Jason shook his head. “You shot a man going after Jake, and you made a mistake at the hospital,” he added. “It’s not the same. I’ve—” He paused. “I’ve killed for Sonny.”

She blinked at him. He’d never spoken about his job so plainly to her before. “I know that—”

“It stays with you,” he told her. “Helena might have deserved it—and I think you might have been okay with living with it, but part of me is glad you don’t have to.” He paused. “I know that’s selfish, and it doesn’t make what Luke did right—but I think he was trying to protect you.”

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe in a few months I’ll even be glad—but right now, I just feel angry—” She gripped the edge of the bench, then frowned as her fingers slid over something. “What’s this—”

Elizabeth reached under the bench and pulled out a picture. She ran her finger over it — it was a picture of her and Jake from just before the accident. Her precious baby was alive and home with his brothers, learning to play video games and get into trouble—he’d go back to school and he’d grow up and get to all the things she dreamed about—

She turned it over, then sucked in a sharp breath. “Nikolas.”

“What is it?” Jason slid closer to look over her shoulder. “Is it from him?”

“If you’re reading this, then something has gone wrong. I’m sorry. I should have told you, but I wanted to bring him back to you myself. I wanted to save him. I wanted you to forgive me.

I can’t come home until I’ve fixed this. Until they’re all gone. I have to make sure this never touches our children again. Take care of Spencer for me. Tell him I love him.

I kept this photo for Jake to always remind him that you were out there, waiting for him to come home. I leave it to you to remember what matters. I know you. You’ll want revenge, and you deserve it.

But you also deserve a life away from this. Go home to Jake and love him. Be happy.

Love, Nikolas”

Elizabeth hissed. “That infuriating piece—” She nearly crumbled up the photograph. “How many men today are going to tell me what I deserve? What I should feel? How I should live my life?” She launched herself off the bench, the photo falling to the ground. She whirled around on Jason. “Even you. You’re happier knowing that I’m not going to have Helena on my conscience—”

“That’s not what I said—”

“I would have burned her alive, buried the ashes, and danced on her grave,” Elizabeth shot back. “And I would have gone to sleep happy about it—better for having done it! Because I would have made sure my boys were safe—and you, Nikolas, Luke—” She growled. “You all think I’m some sort of fragile hothouse flower that can’t do both!”

“Again, not what I said,” Jason said, but since the other two men she was ready to set on fire weren’t there, he let it go.

“The nerve of telling me that I should give up revenge so I can go home and love my son! Have a life away from this! I can do both! I would have done both!”

“I know that—”

“He had no right—none of them—” Her chest started to heave as it all set in—as it crashed in who she was screaming at. Her sobs were ragged as she sank to the ground. She stared at the photo in her hands. “Two years, she had him. Two years, and I never knew—and I thought—I thought if I could just make it over—if I could be the one to make the world safe from her—maybe I could forgive myself.”

Jason exhaled slowly, then slid off the bench, crossing over to sit next to her on the ground. “I know. Because that’s what I wanted.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes, rested her head against his shoulder. “The accident—it was my fault—”

“Elizabeth—”

“And Helena coming after him—that was my fault. She must have thought he was Lucky’s son. That was my lie, Jason. I put Jake in her cross-hairs by lying about who he was—”

“No—”

“And then for two years, she had him here, and we can only pray he’ll be okay after all of that—and I just—I thought if I stopped it—” She squeezed her eyes shut. “But now I think nothing is going to take that away. Even if I’d killed her—if you’d killed her—it’s never going to make those years go away.”

“No, it won’t.” He kissed her forehead, then reached for the photo. “You did what you thought was best for Jake. We both did. And we were wrong. We have a chance to make it right. I thought—” He paused. “Last fall, I thought I was just getting a second chance to love you. To have a family. I never dreamed I’d get another chance with my son.”

“I want to go home. I want to be with our boys. I need to be with them.”

“Me, too.” Jason got to his feet, then pulled her up. “Remind me not to piss you off,” he said as they started back to the house and he put an arm around her shoulder. “You’re scarier than you used to be.”

Elizabeth smirked, snaking an arm around his waist, leaning into his embrace. “Damn right.”

When their voices faded, and he knew they were gone, Nikolas stepped out the shadows, his face twisted in a grimace. “That wasn’t the way I wanted that to go,” he muttered. “But at least she’s going home.” He looked at the man standing next to him. “Did you have to stab her?”

“I didn’t hit anything vital,” Lucky muttered. “She only almost died because she refused to stay home. And I got my ass kicked, you know! Morgan almost killed me this time!”

Nikolas rolled his eyes. “Come on, we need to go meet up with your dad and my uncle. We’ve got work to do.”

—

Laura was elated to receive news that her son was alive, but was as irritated by Nikolas’s note as Elizabeth was.

“I’m beginning to think it’s not just Spencer men who need to be set on fire,” was all she’d say before stomping off to go talk to Robin.

Jason and Elizabeth took the first boat to the mainland and were on their way home to Port Charles by the time the sun dipped below the horizon.

She was done hunting Cassadines.

Jason called ahead to Greystone to ask if Sonny would bring the boys to the house, and when his SUV pulled into the driveway the next day, Sonny’s car was parked at the curb.

“I am going to sleep for a week,” Elizabeth said. She closed her eyes, resting her head against the headrest. “But when I get up, I’m going to remember that my baby is home, my boys are together, my best friend is alive, and—” She twisted her head to look at him. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“You know I had my doubts about all of this,” she said softly. “When you moved in, you didn’t want to do that. You wanted to get married.”

“I wanted you,” he said with a shake of his head. “And you wanted time.”

“Time.” Elizabeth sighed. “You know, before all this started, I told Laura I was scared we were together now because of what happened before. We were in love before. We felt guilty about Jake. We were lonely…”

“And now?”

“Now I know I just was too scared to trust that we’d get it right. We never have before,” she continued, “and every time, it hurt so much more. I think if we messed it up this time—” Elizabeth paused. “But we’re not going to.”

“It’s not my plan,” Jason said. “But I’m not proposing anymore,” he added. “When you’re ready, you’ll tell me.”

“And if I never am?”

“Then we’re just going to live together forever, raise the boys, have grandchildren—” He shrugged. “And we’ll need more paperwork to file taxes.”

Elizaeth laughed. “Okay. Fair enough.” She pushed her door open and stepped out of the SUV. She could hear laughter and voices inside—the beautiful new voice of Jake mixed with Cameron and Aiden—and she could hear Morgan and Joss, too.

Jason frowned when she didn’t move. “Elizabeth?”

“I don’t want a big wedding,” she said, meeting his eyes. “And I want it soon.”

“Waiting time is three days,” Jason said slowly, walking towards her. His arms encircled her waist as he dipped his down to kiss her. “You want to get married on Friday?”

“I thought you said you weren’t proposing anymore,” she teased.

“Hey, this time, you proposed to me,” he said. Elizabeth laughed, then took his hand and they went inside to be with their boys. There was laughs, and hugs, and kisses—and when Elizabeth told them all about Friday—

Sonny grinned, Joss demanded to be a flower girl—and Cameron hugged her hard while Jake cheered, and Aiden smiled.

Elizabeth met Jason’s eyes over Cameron’s head and smiled at him. This was better than revenge, she decided. She’d been given a second chance, and she wasn’t going to waste it on hatred and bitterness, but on loving her boys, her future husband, and her friends.

But she still hoped Helena Cassadine was roasting in hell.

 

THE END FOR NOW