I don't know if any of you watch BBC America's Copper, but I am in love with the show. Anyhow someone died from poison on Sunday's episode and as a result, this gem has been percolating ever since.
Death By Brownies
Chapter One
Friday 1:00 PM
"The Superior Court session; presiding judge the Honorable Kevin Corcoran is now in progress."
"Please be seated." said the man wearing the long black robe and with a slight Irish accent as he sat behind the large wooden bench, looking around, he saw Scott Baldwin behind the desk in front of him and said "DA Baldwin, from what I understood this was a police matter, relating to recent deaths of several Port Charles citizens, but from what I was given to understand no criminal charges were to be brought, may I ask why you are sitting there instead of Commissioner Scorpio like I requested?"
Stuttering, not wanting to admit that he had tried to strong-arm Mac into letting him take the lead, well aware that if he worked his own version of the truth, he might be allowed to arrest several of his worst enemies, Scott just stepped back and said "Sir, I am just a place sitter until the Commissioner has arrived."
Mac who had been waiting outside was let into the courtroom, followed by several of his officers, all carrying dark gray boxes. Having them set them on the evidence table, he looked at the judge and said then at Scott and said: "We are ready sir."
Looking around the courtroom, seeing the Corinthos, Spencer and Quartermaine families as well as their hangers-on, he said: "If I may invite the following people to leave the room."
With that, he asked Audrey Hardy, Elizabeth Webber, Lila Quartermaine, Reginald Jennings, after verifying with Kevin Collins that Brenda Barrett was sane enough to testify, he asked her to leave too, along with Jasper Jacks, Johnny O'Brien who looked confused but did as ordered followed by Francis Corelli, Mitchell Coleman, Lucky Spencer, Bobbie Jones, who frowned at being asked to do so.
"Commissioner, how about instead of wasting our time removing people by name, why don't you simply say who can stay." the judge said as the man had already cleared two of the rows in the back.
"Yes, sir," Mac said then looking around the room, frowned then admitted. "Really I would like to have Alexis Davis leave, but she is an attorney representing an interested party, so if she stays, I would like to request she stay quiet and not speak to anyone I have asked to leave without my being present."
"Thank is fine." said the judge. "Ms. Davis, you are under a gag order, if you defy my wishes you will be arrested, pregnant or not. Do you understand this ruling."
She agreed then moved to where Mac asked her to sit next to Justus and Scott Baldwin along with Dara Jensen who had entered the room.
Mac continued, "Edward Quartermaine may stay, Alan and Monica too. Ned, you were an eyewitness, and while I don't need you to testify, you might need to verify what someone else has to say, so I would appreciate it if you were quiet for now."
Seeing Luke who looked bored, then Tony Jones, he said they both could stay. He shook his head at his daughters, they should be in school, but clearly, Maxie talked Georgie into skipping so that they could see how this turns out. Finally the last grouping.
"Mr. Corinthos and Mr. Morgan may stay since they are at the center of this mess," he said glaring at the two of them to the shock of no one but then he added. "They are also unknowingly the victims as well but I am more concerned with what may happen if I ask them to leave, so I would prefer they stay in spite of the fact that they will have to testify at some point."
Glancing around the room, he saw that pretty much everyone else was not involved except one. "I do need you to leave, Mr. Alcazar, however, it is clear it wouldn't be a good idea to place you with our witnesses, so this gentleman here will be taking you to the judge's chambers."
Sonny glared at the man who had come to town and wrecked so much havoc on Port Charles, being allowed to walk around instead of being locked up in a jail cell.
Taggert came over to the other desk, sat up the projector then hooked it up to the computer like Mac had requested. Then looking around, asked Georgie to follow her father's orders.
"Now that we are set, perhaps you can explain the need for all these theatrics?" Judge Corcoran asked Mac. "Was Faith Roscoe murdered and was it first-degree murder like was first thought?"
"I would like to address the second part first." Mac said grimly and said, "Yes, it was first-degree murder, she was poisoned with coniine, at first the medical examiner thought that she had too much nicotine in her system, but upon further testing, it was proven to be coniine which also goes by the more common description of hemlock."
There were a few murmurs around the room as most of the remaining spectators looked at Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan believing that they had been the ones to kill Faith Roscoe after her murderous spree.
"So there was intent to kill her." said the judge.
"There was intent to kill, yes," Mac said.
"Do you know who committed this crime?" he was asked.
"Yes, your honor, it was Faith Roscoe," Mac said and heard the mutters getting louder as the gallery began to question his competence and clearly the judge was wondering too as he asked if that meant Faith had committed suicide.
"No, your honor, Mrs. Roscoe didn't commit suicide. There is a reason I asked those witnesses to leave sir, please let me explain because I have been a cop for over a decade and been involved in law enforcement even longer than that and I can't believe this one," he said with a shake of his head.
Kevin looked around, thought about how it was a light load in the courthouse this week, then at the various spectators and decided that he would rather the truth be completely told than have innocents harmed by rumor and conjecture. "The ball is in your court, Commissioner Scorpio," he said.
"Okay, I have to go back to what we found Sunday morning," he said as he looked at Taggert and called him to the stand.
Taggert was sworn in by the bailiff, looked around the room and shook his head, this nonsense while as far as he was concerned was unnecessary, it would allow him to be in the courtroom when the various interested parties learned their part in the various deaths/murders that had gone on this weekend.
Arriving at the hotel suite, he asked the manager who the room was being rented out to and was thrilled to be told that Mrs. Faith Roscoe was the guest.
Entering, he was also thrilled to see that she was now the late Faith Roscoe and a murder victim. "Doc, what do you have?"
Pointing out the gunshot wound, the man saw that Taggert had brought the newest Port Charles Rookie detective with him and snapped "Officer Spencer, don't touch anything, this is a crime scene."
Taggert glared at Lucky and ordered him back to the hallway where he was supposed to be standing guard. "Why do you look so unhappy?"
"With this caliber of a gun, there should be more blood." the man said. "I am going to get her on my table, open her up and see what I can find."
With that, he gave orders for the forensics team to take photos and then gave them permission to remove the body. The men called out to have Lucky help them do so while Taggert explored the room, gleeful at the idea of arresting Morgan and or Corinthos for the murder.
"Doc, could this be important?" Groaning when they all say Lucky holding up the gun, more than likely the murder weapon with his bare hands, the team quickly took possession of it while Taggert inwardly became annoyed.
"It's a .22, yes, its the weapon or the right caliber anyhow." said the medical examiner. Taggert was shocked, that was a woman's weapon, after all not many men would be seen carrying that tiny gun, let alone in bright yellow.
"Taggert, would you please tell the court what you did next?"
Knocking on Morgan's penthouse door, Taggert decided to press him on the murder, just for the hell of it. When no one answered, he wasn't a happy camper but as he left, he overheard two guards gossiping about Sonny's sister having a stalker as a result of her job as a stripper and how Jason was spending all his time protecting the blond.
Getting Courtney's address from the DMV, Taggert was on his way over there and wondered if this was why Elizabeth Webber had left town with Lucky to track down his dad when Spencer had taken a week off of training.
Arriving at the building, he overheard AJ Quartermaine arguing with someone over his wife's absence the night before and wondered if maybe he should be inquiring as to her alibi. That stupid little gun, yeah, he could see Courtney Quartermaine carrying something like that.
Instead, though, he had gotten a call from the ME. "I need to see you, immediately, Mrs. Roscoe's tox screen is back and there is something odd in it."
Arriving back at the station, just as Mac joined him down in the morgue. Shivering at the chill, Taggert asked what was so important, that he had been chasing down a lead.
"Two things, first of all, the gunshot wound, it was self-inflicted," he stated.
"She killed herself?" Mac asked wanting to be sure.
"Yes, there was gunshot residue on her left hand, Mrs. Roscoe was left handed, but that isn't what killed her. My guess is that by that point, she was trying to end her own pain. Hale, down in forensics said that it looks like the angle of the wound is why we didn't find blood splatter, it all went into the mattress."
"Okay, but what do you mean it wasn't what killed her?" Mac asked.
"She had an unusually high level of nicotine in her body."
"Faith didn't smoke," said Taggert while Mac felt something tickling the back of his brain like he was missing something important.
"She doesn't need to, in fact, if she isn't a smoker, 60 milligrams, about a pack and a half absorbed through the skin can kill a person immediately."
"So someone poisoned her?" asked Taggert.
"Yes. There are creams sold over the counter that contain nicotine, but it is rare for someone to die from usage. They would notice they were sick and hopefully get help for the symptoms."
"Anyhow, I got a list of possible ways for her to have been poisoned and went to talk to my suspects, however, before I could interview them, I got a call from General Hospital. Bobbie Jones called to tell me that her nephew Lucky Spencer who was still supposed to be standing guard on the crime scene at the Port Charles hotel was in the hospital close to death."
Mac called in Doctor Ian Armitage who took the stand and was sworn in.
"We had been treating Mr. Spencer for an unknown poison when Detective Taggert entered the room. He said that they were investigating the murder of a woman who had been killed with nicotine poison. I started a new series of treatments and while Mr. Spencer shows some improvement, he was not out of the woods." explained the handsome young Scottish Doctor.
"Detective Taggert asked to speak to my patient and I insisted on being there during the interview so that I could monitor him." with that, the man shook his head as he recalled what had happened next.
The detective had questioned the young rookie and his answers had not only gotten him booted off the department already but had also been a surprise to the doctor at the younger man's stupidity.
"Lucky, I need you to tell me what you were touching when Doc asked you to stop," stated Taggert.
"Nothing, my hand was just on the table." Seeing Lucky's guilty expression, Taggert knew it was more than that as he asked him again.
"It was nothing, I was just, well I was hungry, you wouldn't let me get anything to eat before we left the station."
"You- 1, 2, 3, 4, no, it's not working. I am still wanting to slap you." fumed Taggert. "You ate something at a crime scene. Are you really that big of an idiot?"
"Well she was shot, what is the big deal," he said shrugging. "Anyhow, it doesn't matter, you made me go back outside and stand before I got anything more than a bite."
"What did you eat, Spencer." he snapped.
"Brownies, they weren't very good though," he said as if that excused his behavior. "When you let I went back in and tried to find something to drink."
At this point, Taggert was beyond astounded at the rookie's behavior so when he admitted that he had drunk the last of the whiskey that was left in the bottle, all he did was look at the doctor as if to say can you believe this guy.
"So Lucky was treated, but did he get well enough to be released."
"No, there was some improvement but he was not released just yet, there was a problem with his central nervous system." said the doctor.
Mac looked at the judge and said "That night, my fifteen-year-old daughter was doing her homework for World History. She was talking about Socrates and how he was murdered. It rang a bell for me. I went to look it up and then called over to the ME. He and Dr. Armitage both went looking and found that it wasn't nicotine poisoning."
"Hemlock." said the judge who remembered the very same studies from his own youth and what that particular poison did. "Faith Roscoe died from hemlock poisoning?" What he really wanted to say was that it couldn't have happened to a nicer person.
"More specifically from coniine poisoning, an ingredient in hemlock." said the doctor who hadn't been in the courtroom when Mac had already answered that question at the beginning. "We treated Mr. Spencer and he will live."
Mac pulled out the autopsy and gave the judge a copy. "Here is the final autopsy, it proves that Faith Roscoe was murdered. There was hemlock found in her system. The contents of her stomach were very interesting."
"Go on." said the judge.
"Brownies, tortellini bolognese, and whiskey." said Mac who then said, "Which leads us to the deaths of Carly Corinthos and Courtney Quartermaine."
"How are they connected?" asked the judge as he looked at Sonny Corinthos and wished that they could nail him on something, he was still pissed about the man faking his death earlier that month.
"Their deaths were declared accidental but during their autopsy reports we found tortellini bolognese and brownies," Mac said handing him copies of the autopsies for the dead women. "We had their tox screens reran and it was confirmed. The Corinthos and Quartermaine deaths were connected to the death of Faith Roscoe."
Mac asked the doctor to step down, thanked him for his help and called Brenda Barrett to the stand. When the flaky model had been sworn in, he asked her to tell him about her meal on Saturday.
"I was at the No Name with my husband, Jason Morgan," she said with a bright smile at Jason who flinched at the reminder. He was still not sure how the hell that had happened but somehow he had woken up in Vegas married to that annoying pain in the ass.
"The No Name?" Mac asked. "What did you have to eat? But first, why were you there?"
"A party was being thrown for my new husband and myself to celebrate our nuptials," she replied. "They had a whole assortment of foods but I was too tired to eat, Jason has kept me so very very busy at the penthouse."
By now, Jason was debating whether killing her now would be worth the loss of his freedom but Mac's next question had him all but laughing out loud as he interrogated Brenda.
"Would his keeping you busy have anything to do with your ex-husband Jasper Jacks spending the night. Before you answer, you should know, Mr. Jacks is well aware of the truth about your marriage, so think before answering. Do you really think he will commit perjury to cover for you."
Glaring at Mac, wondering how Robin's uncle could treat her this way, she crossed her arms and defied the man, to tell the truth in court as she once again tried to make it look like Jason and she had been having hot and heavy sex.
"I hate that I have to have you on the record about this next part, but did you have any visitors to the penthouse that evening," he asked with his jaw tense.
"No." she replied.
"So Carly Corinthos and Courtney Quartermaine didn't come over," he asked.
"Well yes, but you said visitors and according to Carly, I was the visitor, Courtney and she was the ones who belonged there," she replied trying to explain away that she had not mentioned the annoying blonds.
"You don't like either of those two women very much, do you?" he asked and hearing Scott object, he was about to answer when the judge reminded him this was an inquest, not a trial.
"Well no, Carly was jumped up trailer trash and Courtney was playing follow the leader to the point that I married Jason to save him from their clutches," she said with a sunny smile that had the Quartermaines smiling back but Jason glaring convinced that this was more of Brenda's insanity.
"Would you please explain what you mean by saving Jason from their clutches," asked Mac, he had found this out and knew that if Morgan knew it would drive a wedge between Sonny and his enforcer.
"Okay, well when Jason had me hiding out with Sonny to protect me from Luiz and my own illness, I overheard Sonny talking to Carly about how he knew that Courtney had a crush on Jason and how he would take advantage of that to get Courtney away from AJ, her husband."
"How would he use that crush to do that and you never answered how you were saving him from Courtney and Carly by marrying him," Mac said while Sonny stiffened and leaned up to whisper to Justus to put a stop to this.
"Can't." his attorney said while inwardly enjoying that Corinthos was unnerved.
Jason listened as Brenda admitted that she had eavesdropped when Carly had visited Sonny and had heard their plan for Courtney to switch from AJ to Jason. "They said that there really wasn't anything to stand in the way, that after Courtney's marriage was over, he would send his sister away to school."
"Okay, anything else?" Mac asked wanting to strangle the woman.
"Yeah, once we were freed, I overheard the two blonds saying that their plan had worked and that the muffin faced loser was out of the penthouse and that having Sonny refuse to let Jason tell her about his faking his death had been inspired because the muffin had run straight back to Lucky."
Jason was growing tense as he looked at Sonny and saw not one ounce of regret at what he had done. Thinking back on what Elizabeth had said the last time they had spoken and he wanted to smash something as he got he had played right into Carly's hands.
"So you trapped Mr. Morgan into marriage to save him." Mac asked then said, "How did the two women react?"
"They first heard about it the other night and were pissed. They came to the penthouse and were demanding that I divorce Jason. I refused, we fought and they acted like six-year-old spoiled brats that they never matured past and took my brownies."
"Your brownies?" which was what Mac really needed to bring up.
"Yes, while at the Quartermaine mansion visiting Lila she gave me some brownies," Brenda said.
"That was the day that Carly and Courtney were both taken to the emergency room and died after being found unresponsive at Kelly's Saturday night?" Mac wanted that on the record.
"Yes," said Brenda who was asked if she had eaten anything else that evening.
"Some sort of pasta dish with rounded pasta that Sonny makes," she stated. "He brought it over to the penthouse earlier that day. I was saving the brownies for breakfast for myself."
"Thank you, Brenda." Mac let her go, knowing that Jason would discover the truth about his fake marriage, but he wasn't going to make it easy for the blond man, after all, it was his own sheer stupidity that had lead to all of this nonsense.
Jax came out and verified that he had been there when Carly had acted like a spoiled brat when she took Brenda's brownies. "Jax, was this the box the brownies came in?"
Seeing the very nice box with the label that said the item inside was courtesy of Brown's Brownies, Jax said: "It looks like the box."
"Thank you."
With that, Jax was let go and Mac called Johnny O'Brien to the stand who admitted that he had seen Carly and Courtney leaving the penthouse with the box, and yes it was the same box. "There is a tear in the box, right there."
"This is important?" Mac said.
Johnny looked at his boss and then how he had already quit and answered.
"Carly, I want one too." snickered Courtney as they walked right past Johnny like he wasn't there. "Those are the best brownies in town."
"I know," she said as she tried to get the box open. Seeing the tape, she frowned and said: "Usually they just slide the flap into the opening, wonder why they tape it shut."
"Who cares, just give me a damn brownie." snapped Courtney as she plopped down on the couch. When Carly kept trying to open it, Courtney ripped the side and got into the box.
Taking out a brownie, she bit into it and moaned at the goodness found inside. "This is the best fucking brownie in the world."
The two women ate the brownies, five for Courtney who was not happy that Carly had eaten seven of them but she reminded the other blond that without her help she would still be with AJ and have no chance at all with Jason.
"I know, I know," she said as she glared at the half-open door. "Aren't you worried about what the guard might tell Jason?"
"Nah, they know better. Every single time they have told on me, I always make them look like liars and they end up on warehouse patrol." bragged Carly who was unaware that Johnny was leaving the job and had plans to take her down on the way out.
"Okay, if you are sure," said Courtney as she shrugged. "So, how long do you think it will take to get rid of Brenda."
"Sonny said she is dying, that that is why she is married to Jason so that those that care about her won't have to be the one to end it for her," she said with a shrug. "From the sounds of it, she doesn't have long to live."
"I don't want to wait," Courtney said. "What do you think of me seducing Jason this weekend, maybe make it look like my stalker is still around."
"NO!" Carly snapped. "Do I have to explain everything to you. Now, you just make sure he knows how grateful you are. Just offer to cook dinner as thanks. Then get him a little drunk, I can give you something to help with that."
"I am not sure I want to do that to Jason." said an uneasy Courtney. She wanted the blond man, but she didn't want to end up caught.
"It will be fine, besides you need to make sure it is a sure thing to make sure that little miss muffin face sees the two of you together that early in the morning so that she gets the message."
"But she is flirting with the lawyer and you said she went off with her ex-boyfriend for a trip last week." pointed out Courtney.
"I don't trust Elizabeth, she will find a way to get back with him, if you don't nip it in the bud now," Carly said darkly.
"Objection!"
"Mr. Corinthos, you don't get to object. Now Mr. O'Brien has been ordered to produce the evidence of this conversation for the courts, I listened to it and he is not saying anything I didn't hear on the tape."
"Mr. O'Brien, what happened next?"
"Carly and Courtney were upset when Sonny called saying he would be delayed and they left the penthouse to go track down Jason."
"Mr. Morgan wasn't with his blushing bride?" asked Mac with a glare at Brenda who was now all but sitting on Jax's lap.
"No, he had found proof that Brenda wasn't dying and was double checking it with our doctors," Johnny stated.
"Did you leave with the women?" Mac knew that he hadn't, that the man had instead been speaking to his conspirator. That yet another man had fallen for the dubious charms of Brenda Barrett annoyed him.
"No two guards downstairs did, but Mrs. Corinthos and Mrs. Quartermaine quickly lost the guards and were out on the streets missing."
"When did you find out that the two women were dead?" he asked.
"Myself? Not to the next day when I spoke to Mr. Corelli who saw them down at Kelly's and went into the diner to keep an eye on them until new guards could get there to protect them." Johnny said.
Mac brought up how when Francis had gone in, they had found both women on the edge of death but all Johnny could say was that he hadn't heard until the next day again.
Mac then called Luiz Alcazar to the stand, knowing that he had to bring up this next so that he could keep to his timeline. "Mr. Alcazar, who is Richard Lansing?"
"My former business attorney," he replied.
"Did you see Mr. Lansing at any point last weekend, say from Thursday to Sunday?" Mac asked almost hiding his smirk at what he had been told by the medical examiner.
"Yes several times, but I only spoke to him twice."
"Would you please starting with Thursday tell me when you saw Mr. Lansing," he replied.
"Thursday night I saw him out with Mrs. Roscoe, she created a scene and was threatening him," Luis stated then went the next day. "Friday morning, I saw him with Elizabeth Webber at that diner. She was handing him a plate of what looked like brownies," he replied and heard the murmur of the crowd but kept speaking.
"I saw him again Friday afternoon in the company of Faith Roscoe," he replied. "Then Saturday morning, Mrs. Roscoe and he had a meeting with me, at which I rejected her business offer. They left together, she came back and offered me a reason to change my mind."
"That reason?" asked Mac.
"Sex," Luiz replied. "I told her that unlike Lansing, I don't mix business with pleasure. Besides, I had a date, Thursday evening with the very lovely Skye Chandler."
"Did you see Ms. Roscoe during this date?" Mac asked.
"Yes, she crashed our date then made several threats. I told her that she was a waste of air and money and then suggested that she stick close to Lansing because he was slipping away and without him, she had no one."
"One more thing, Mr. Alcazar, you went to Mr. Lansing's place on Sunday correct," he asked.
"Yes, he was lying naked on his floor, various parts of his body were bruised and he had uh, well ..."
"What Mr. Alcazar is trying to say is that Mr. Lansing died without getting his happy ending," Mac said showing the judge the photos of Ric with a hard on that never went away even after death. Thanking Luiz, he stopped the man just as he began to get off the stand. "Sir, one last question, were you aware of an incident at Kelly's diner the day you spoke to Mr. Lansing. To be concise on Friday last week."
"Yes, Carly Corinthos and her sister in law were arguing with Elizabeth Webber. Mrs. Corinthos slapped her across the face and then said that she was worthless, that Jason felt sorry for her and that was why he was letting her hang around. That he had moved on with the other blond woman."
"How did Ms. Webber react?" Mac asked.
"She laughed and said that Courtney was more than welcome to Jason. That she had no intentions of being second best in any relationship. That she had more pride than to take a back seat to Jason's job and his ridiculous friendship with Carly."
"Thank you."
With that, Mac showed the judge his latest evidence. "This fingerprint was found on a brownie bottom on the box of brownies that were given to Brenda Barrett. It is a match to a fingerprint for one Elizabeth Webber."
The murmuring in the crowd was getting bigger as instead of calling Elizabeth, Mac asked Mitchell Coleman to the stand. The sleazy strip club owner confessed to helping Courtney who had paid him to stalk her.
"Why would Mrs. Quartermaine do that when she was working for you to pay off her husband's damaged to your club," Mac asked.
"She wanted his brother, she was very honest about it. She had paid what she owed me already, I agreed to let her keep striping if she gave me the money and she agreed but then got some cash from someplace to pay me to make it look like she had a stalker."
"One more thing, do you know Richard Lansing?" Mac had seen the footage of the lawyer at the strip club along with an incident involving Faith.
"The attorney, yeah, he came into the club for a few times, I overheard him talking to someone on the phone. He said that there was no way he was using the blond to get close to Corinthos, that he couldn't stomach the idea of sexing her up. That he would use the beautiful brunette instead. That he would have no trouble sexing her up, that she was hot. I don't see it myself. I prefer the handful in bed to the princess." he leered.
"Okay, what about Mrs. Roscoe?" he asked.
"Only once, she came in and threw a fit at the idea of his even thinking of having any kind of relationship with Courtney Quartermaine. And wowza, when he told her that he was going to use the brunette, she pulled her gun out and threatened to kill him if he ever even thought of cheating on her. Said she would see them both dead first."
"You may go." Mac couldn't bring himself to thank the other man as he told the judge about the tape they had of the incident. Georgie double clicked the movie labeled Coleman and they saw Faith destroying the club and tossing a large sum of money at Coleman then threatening to destroy the little bunny before she got her man.
Mac called Reginald to the stand, the butler verified that Elizabeth had visited Ms. Lila on Friday and that she had brought with her a container filled with her famous brownies.
"Did they eat them?" Mac asked.
"No, Ms. Lila and Ms. Webber didn't end up having tea, Ms. Webber left crying and that is when Mrs. Morgan showed up. She saw the brownies and asked for them when she saw me boxing them up. Since Ms. Webber took her container with her, I went to the kitchen and found the box from Browns in the cabinet."
"Why would the Quartermaine family have an empty box from Brown's Brownies in the cupboard."
"It wasn't empty there was one remaining brownie in it. I put it on a plate and used the box to send the brownies home with Mrs. Morgan," said Reginald who then was asked about the remaining brownie.
With a slight look at the doctors Q, he said "Mr. Dr. Quartermaine ate it, he wasn't supposed to because of his diet, but he had them hidden so that his wife, Mrs. Dr. Quartermaine wouldn't know. His diet is why Ms. Lila sent home the brownies with Mrs. Morgan since the family is trying to keep sweets out of the house."
Mac called Audrey to the stand and the older woman raved about that poor sweet lawyer and how his death was such a sad thing. "Why may I ask would you care so much about Mr. Lansing."
"That nice young man, when Elizabeth was in trouble down thanks to her impulsive need to help Lucky and his father, I heard him mentioning being a lawyer at the hospital and he quickly got her out of harm's way."
With that, she beamed until Mac told her he was a mob attorney. "Well that is fine, I mean, it's not like he is one of them."
"Them?" Mac asked amused as the woman went to explain that just because the man's clients were criminals that didn't mean he was. "After all he has to work his way up. Like he said when he came to speak to me about courting Elizabeth, it's difficult being an attorney when you have no connections. He said that he was only working with that horrible Mrs. Roscoe until he could establish himself. I was so happy for Elizabeth."
When her shoulders dropped, Mac said: "And his death?"
"It was a shame, to have died of a heart attack at such a young age," she said as she remembered what the official cause of death had been. "Elizabeth had no idea what a catch he was. I mean, he sent her flowers, asked her out to dinner, you know to a real restaurant, not for rides on bikes and then just show up at that nasty bar down on the docks. He showed her that a real man, well he would put some time and effort into a relationship."
"Was Elizabeth appreciative?" asked Mac.
"No, that granddaughter of mine; I had to convince her to make him some of her brownies to say thank you. She had the nerve to point out he had been paid by Nik to represent them, I told her she should at least give him her personal thanks."
"Mrs. Hardy, did Elizabeth make brownies for Mr. Lansing?" Mac asked not wanting to get bogged down in that other stuff.
"Yes, I went and bought some mixes and she finally used them to make brownies for him," said Audrey who then continued. "She though decided to make some for the diner as well."
"Kelly's, correct?" he asked.
"Yes," she said then was asked to remain in the courtroom when she mentioned needing to go the hospital. Seated in the middle of the back row, she frowned when Francis Corelli was called to the stand.
"Mr. Corelli, you and I had a run a week ago, was that correct?" Mac asked the guard.
"Yes." the guard stated no elaborating anymore.
"During that incident, Detective Taggert searched you and we found in your possession a box of brownies, is that correct," he asked.
"Yes, Elizabeth made them for me," he said.
"Thank you, now I need you to stay in the room, I might have more questions," Mac stated as he called Lila Quartermaine to the stand.
"Mrs. Quartermaine, you have a standing tea date with Elizabeth Webber, is that correct?"
"Yes, when she isn't working and I am feeling well, we try to have tea once a week. I feel that that young woman needs someone in her life who isn't trying to make her live her life by their agendas." Lila replied.
"Could you explain?" Mac asked.
"Well, my granddaughter wants Elizabeth with Lucky, mainly to further her ambitions of being the future Princess Emily Cassadine. Lucky seems to have outgrown his need to control Elizabeth, but he also sees that she is mad at my grandson so he isn't currently jealous. Her grandmother, Audrey is a lovely woman but is blinded by her own prejudices and doesn't appreciate how lovely Elizabeth is."
"Thank you, you mentioned your grandson and that Ms. Webber is angry with him, would you please tell me what that is about?" he asked.
"I would if I knew the whole story but Elizabeth refused to answer my questions about the matter then when Brenda announced that she had married my grandson last week, I had a good idea what was going on. I wanted to smack that boy upside his head."
Jason winced at the words Lila was telling the courts as she went on to say "I figured out that Mr. Corinthos and that shrew of a wife of his had managed to do what they wanted and drive a wedge between Elizabeth and my grandson. What I hadn't expected was Brenda to stick her nose in and create an even bigger mess. Unfortunately, my grandson walked away from his alter ego's best qualities and only kept his worse, his pigheaded stubbornness and his blind devotion to those who don't deserve his respect."
Sonny saw the way she looked at him and wanted to protest. When she shook her head and said she was disappointed in those who were using Jason and Elizabeth for their own selfish needs, Sonny felt himself squirming in his chair.
"Anyhow, I had hoped to fix things but Elizabeth was already upset and Brenda didn't help matters." Lila finished.
"Do you know why Elizabeth was upset?" Mac asked.
"No, but Bobbie Jones does, like I told you the other day." with that Lila and her wheelchair were pushed down the aisle to a spot that Reginald had prepared for her.
When Elizabeth entered the courtroom, she felt sick to her stomach as she was sworn in. She had heard Lucky talking to a former co-worker and was shocked to realize that Carly and Courtney had died from her brownies.
Looking for her attorney, Alexis who smiled reassuringly at her, she looked at Mac who gently went through who she was and what had led up to her leaving Jason's penthouse. Then her trip to Alabama to rescue Luke.
"Your grandmother wanted you to send brownies to Mr. Lansing as thanks, is that correct?" Mac asked her with a smile hoping to reassure her.
"Yes, but I had no intentions of encouraging him any more than she already had," Mac asked her to explain and she did. "He was always coming into Kelly's and asking me out since the day he moved here."
"Were you interested?" Mac asked.
"No, I mean yes he was decent looking and charming, but there was something missing and I didn't trust him," she replied. "So when grams sent him to represent us, then Nik paid him, I was glad I didn't owe him anything."
"The brownies, would you explain what happened there?"
"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked frowning at the man.
"How did you deal with the brownies your grandmother wanted you to give him?" Mac asked.
"Well, I made sure to make several batches on Friday afternoon, just in case I couldn't get out of making some for him. I made some for Francis, who was my guard while Jason was out watching Courtney strip," she said as she glared at her more than a friend.
Jason felt sick but knew that it was too late to explain. "And I made some to take to the Quartermaine residence but while I was working my shift Saturday morning they went missing."
"Missing?" Mac asked.
"I have no idea, one minute they were under the counter and the next they were gone," she said bewildered because, in the end, they had returned.
"I can answer what happened." With that Mac had Georgie hit the box labeled Lucky Spencer and they soon saw the man wearing a rookie police uniform speaking to Elizabeth while she was working at the diner. "Do you remember this?"
"Yes, Lucky heard me talking to Miss. Lila on the phone, he was upset that I was going to visit her for tea. He wanted me to cancel going." she said.
"Where are you going here?" Mac asked and she looked at the tape of her leaving Kelly's with a delivery order.
Grimacing she explained. "There was an order for the warehouse that belongs to Sonny and Jason. I was taking the food over since Penny was not able to."
"When you came back is when you noticed the brownies were gone," Mac asked.
"Yes, instead a huge bouquet of flowers arrived before I could figure out what was going on," said Elizabeth her heart aching at the flowers that Courtney had received.
"Who were they from? Who sent them to you?"
"They weren't for me, they were for Courtney and it was signed Jason and it said he was sorry for canceling on her," she said unable to look at the blond man.
"Before we go any further. Mr. Morgan, did you send Mrs. Quartermaine flowers?" Mac asked determined to dig the wedge even deeper between Sonny and Jason.
"No." he answered. "With guard duty done, I hadn't seen her unless she came to visit her brother at the warehouse and or Carly at the Towers."
Elizabeth took that all in then was asked if Courtney had shown up at the diner that day. "Yes, she was pissed because she was told by Bobbie that she had to work. She had wanted to spend the afternoon getting ready for some party that Carly was throwing."
"So she was on the clock when you were still there?" Mac asked. When she nodded yes, he said he needed her to stay there but that he had brought Bobbie Jones in.
Bobbie came in, was sworn in and was asked a series of questions. In the end, she confirmed that flowers had arrived and that the brownies had been gone when Lucky had left and that they were returned almost an hour later, full. "I later saw that I was missing brownies from the kitchen and went to look at the tape and saw Lucky filling them."
"Did anything else happen?" Mac asked.
"My daughter and Courtney had come to eat lunch, there was a delivery in the back and when I returned Elizabeth had left."
"Georgie please hit play," he asked his daughter who had paused the footage at the flowers arriving. They saw the confrontation between Elizabeth and the blonds, Faith entering the diner and ordering coffee.
Elizabeth getting ready to visit Lila. They heard her saying that she wasn't so sure about something, but not the whole conversation. Then yet another argument between Elizabeth and Carly, this one the lies clearly heard and Jason felt sick to realize that he had been played by his so-called friend as she lied to Elizabeth about Jason and his supposed relationship with Courtney.
Lucky was seen showing up with the empty container and then seen filling it with brownies on the kitchen camera before sticking it back under the counter. Up next was a visit from Ric during which Faith had disappeared to the upper floors of the diner.
"Georgie stop the tape." With that Mac moved forward and showed them all what was barely visible. Someone in the kitchen, putting something on the brownies with a knife, spreading it along the top, they could see the skin of the hand.
"Now, normally we would automatically think that was a woman's hand, but Lucky's hand is the same size," Mac said as Georgie restarted the tape.
They all soon saw Elizabeth leaving the diner with the brownies. "Elizabeth did anyone see you the entire time between the diner and the Quartermaine mansion?"
"No," she said in a shaky tone of voice. "I uh, was alone in my car. I drove over there and went inside."
"Elizabeth, one more thing, did you give Mr. Lansing his brownies?" Mac asked.
"Yes," she said clearly annoyed at having done so as she explained that her grams had browbeaten her until she had done so. "She drove me over there while the brownies were still warm on Friday. He asked me out and my grams insisted we go out on a date that very evening. We went to early dinner and at the end, I lied and said I drove to the diner to get away from him saying I had an early morning shift at the diner. It was humiliating."
"Thank you, Elizabeth," he said and she got off the stand, wondering what the heck was going on.
"I need you to return Mr. Corelli." with that the guard did as requested.
"Now, that you are aware of the camera footage, do you wish to alter your testimony," Mac asked.
Groaning, Francis looked at Elizabeth and then at Jason before stating. "Fine. I will tell the truth."
With a deep breath, he said "I was watching Mr. Lansing because I was suspicious of him for reasons I can't get into. And while watching him, I saw him picking up a vial from an unknown male. I am still trying to find out who, but I watched as Mr. Lansing poured it into Elizabeth's drink during their date."
"I tried to switch the drinks out but Mr. Lansing ended up drinking whatever it was instead. Elizabeth quickly escaped at Kelly's and Mr. Lansing looked confused. Mr. Lansing went upstairs to his room and I followed intending on relieving him of Ms. Webber's brownies."
"Why would you do that?" Mac asked.
"Because that scumbag doesn't deserve them," he replied. "But Mrs. Roscoe was there and I heard them discussing the brownies and I found out that Mr. Lansing was allergic to nuts and that he couldn't eat them."
"He told Mrs. Roscoe that he was going to use them as an excuse to make inroads with Elizabeth by offering to take her on a picnic and share them. Mrs. Roscoe flew into a rage and left the diner saying she wouldn't be second best to anyone. I heard her making a call as she walked out and I tried to tell Jason, but he was unreachable."
"Okay, what happened next?" Mac asked.
"I was given some brownies by Elizabeth the next morning, was going to tell her to be careful around Mrs. Roscoe but before I could, you rousted me," he stated.
"Then what happened," Mac asked.
"I don't know, I never got back to the diner," he said frustrated.
Mac said "Well I do know, from testimony and forensics. Elizabeth had given Bobbie two pans of brownies to sell and when Lucky realized that Jason was now married to Brenda, he knew he had to return his stolen property since he would be a suspect. He already confessed and knows that he is in trouble with his aunt."
"Anyhow, he put the full pan back under the counter, it had a blue lid on it." Mac showed them and saw Elizabeth stiffen as she realized the importance of that. "Now, we see Elizabeth leaving the diner, the brownies she is carrying has a red lid."
"I had two red lids, two green lids, and one blue lid. Bobbie and Ric got red lids, Francis and the diner got green lids and I was taking the blue to see Lila."
"I thought Bobbie had replaced them," Elizabeth said as she looked in astonishment at the containers and lids that Mac was unpacking from his boxes.
"As you can see, I am missing one of the containers," Mac said as he asked them to bring in Lucky Spencer.
Lucky blanched when he saw the containers and blustered. "All this because I ate some of Liz's brownies?"
"Where Mr. Spencer did you get those brownies?" asked Mac with an icy tone.
Lucky looked around the room, saw his dad and began to whine that he didn't see what the big deal was after all Faith had to have stolen the brownies in the first place.
"You are getting to the point where I am about to toss you in jail, Spencer." Mac snapped. "Where. Did. You. Find. That. Container. Of Brownies?"
His jaw locked, Lucky wasn't going to answer but Taggert said "Then I will tell where I found the container. In the laundry chute at the Port Charles hotel, Lucky."
Muttering, Lucky said, "I don't know what the big deal was, so I ate the damn brownies that were in her room, it's not like it was part of the case."
"Spencer, you idiot, luckily for you, we are smarter than you are or Elizabeth might have gone to jail for the deaths of Faith, Carly, and Courtney," Taggert growled.
"Huh?" Lucky said while Edward was asking how on earth anyone could ever suspect Elizabeth of harming even Carly Corinthos.
"Edward, enough, like I said, thankfully we looked deeper than anyone thought," Mac said almost snapping his words.
"Fine." While Jason was looking at Mac who seemed to get angrier as time went on.
"As I was saying, it looks like on Saturday while Carly and her best friend were giving Elizabeth trouble at the diner, her brownies were switched out. Now, Mr. Alcazar do you wish to tell me what Mrs. Roscoe wanted when she called you on Saturday evening?"
With a put-upon expression, Luiz said: "She called to tell me she had accidentally killed Ric Lansing during sex, she agreed to give up her business interests to me if I helped her get out of town and to cover it up."
"Since she was still creating trouble on Sunday, I gather you refused?" Mac asked. When the man barely nodded yes, Mac continued. "The autopsy for Ric Lansing had some interesting bits and pieces to it. Among the tastier is that he is blood-related to you, Mr. Corinthos. Were you aware of this fact?"
Seeing him frowning, Mac said "Yes, we already knew the answer, Mr. Lansing didn't seem to realize that a man with secrets, shouldn't keep diaries. He came to town to destroy you, something about how your mother loved you more."
When Sonny looked affronted, Mac said "Yes, and you know what, if it wasn't for Elizabeth's instincts, he would have found his way in. You wanted to use Jason to get rid of AJ out of your sister's life and you almost gave Lansing a way to use her. Thankfully, Elizabeth you I would guess are still too pissed to date anyone right now."
Just bowing her head, still embarrassed at how stupid she had been regarding Jason, Elizabeth heard her grams say that there was no way that that nice young man had been so horrible.
"Mrs. Hardy, a thug in a suit with a Harvard degree is still a thug." Mac snapped. "Just because he looks like someone your friends would approve of, it doesn't mean he isn't rolling around in the mud with the other pigs when no one is looking. Lansing was sleeping with Faith Roscoe, its how he died. She didn't use gloves when she poisoned the brownies then needed to distract Lansing."
"So?" asked Lucky who found Taggert's hand on his shoulder forcing him to sit down.
"If you really must know, a print of that hand was found on Mr. Lansing's private parts, along with evidence of the drugs she poured on the brownies to attempt to kill Elizabeth," Mac said.
Hearing a few gasps, Mac said "Yes, Elizabeth was to be the victim of the poison. Francis, shall we continue your daily log from the day of the incident."
Francis looked at Mac then said "Jason has me keeping an eye on Elizabeth. He was furious when she got away from Johnny and ended up in Alabama and in danger. He assigned Elizabeth to me and has Johnny on another assignment."
"Were you following her that day after we had rousted you?" Mac asked.
"No, at least I didn't catch back up with her until she left the Quartermaines," he admitted.
"Well let me tell you what we know. Elizabeth made the brownies, Lucky stole them, then replaced them. Faith found out she was going to be eating them and liked the idea of taking out Morgan's family too, so she poisoned the ones for Ric and switched them."
"Elizabeth unknowingly took the poisoned ones to the Quartermaines where Reginald used a spatula to put them on a silver serving dish put them out for the tea. Lila my guess trying to fix Jason and Elizabeth soap opera of a life, accidentally told Elizabeth he had idiotically believed Brenda about marrying her."
Hearing Edward gasp, Mac said "No license on record and I checked, the paper is faked. Brenda, Mr. O'Brien confessed to his part in your little game."
Brenda looked around and saw the glares and just said: "I was trying to save Jason."
"My dear, you were trying to save yourself and if it helped Jason, all the better but we both know that that was a secondary result," Lila said as gently as she could. "Otherwise, if you really believed that Jason had someone he loved out there, you wouldn't have been so vocal about the marriage."
"I thought it was Robin," she muttered only for Jax to groan and make her say it louder. "I just thought that it was Robin and he regretted his mistakes, how was I supposed to know it was some kid that used to date Lucky Spencer."
Mac shook his head then continued. "Anyhow, Brenda shows up at the Quartermaines, I am not sure why, but we can all guess. She wants the Brownies, Reginald packs them up in the Brown's box."
"At that point, thankfully, no one had eaten any of them but it had allowed the poison to really soak into the brownies and from what I heard from various interviews, including one with Ned, Faith Roscoe was very, very eager to see or hear the result of her attempted murder plot."
Mac saw the expressions and then looked at the judge. "And as Brenda told us next, the unholy trio of Carly, Courtney, and Sonny invited Jason to dinner at the no name, he smartly brought Brenda but it set the two women's back up. They were now determined to make her go away."
"So they show up, see the brownies, think that they were from some expensive store downtown and steal them?" asked Sonny. "That makes no sense."
"To me, it makes perfect sense. Your wife had no boundaries, she had no respect for anyone who wasn't richer or more powerful than herself. Karma is a bitch." Maxie said with a smirk.
Sonny glared at the blond teenager who just glared back. She had been sitting silently as she got it. "So Carly and Courtney died from gluttony, and Faith, well she did herself in."
"Wait, how did Faith die?" asked Lucky. "And why did I get sick if she had brownies that weren't tainted?"
"Lucky she didn't wear gloves and my guess, she ate one of the brownies on her way to the No Name to create the scene she did thereafter unintentionally killing Ric," said Taggert. "You just touched where the coniine was, which is why you are still alive."
Judge Corcoran had to admit that there was no one to be charged in the case as he file judgment that Faith Roscoe was responsible for the deaths of Carly Benson Corinthos, Courtney Matthews Quartermaine, and Richard Lansing as well as her own death.
Making it official, he looked out over his courtroom and said "Ms. Barrett, I sent my assistant a message, he did some checking with the Las Vegas city clerks office, there is no record of you getting married and before we leave, I want you to tell this gentleman that truth regarding your non marriage."
"I am sorry, Jason. We didn't really get married. I just needed someone to keep me from doing something stupid, so I made you think we were married." she confessed only for Jason to look at her with no expression on his face then turn and walk out the door.
Out there, he heard Sonny calling his name and stopped. Looking at his partner, his so-called friend and as of this very minute former boss, he said "There is nothing for us to say to one another. I am done, you lied to me, you used me and Elizabeth for your own goals."
"What about Michael?" Sonny asked wincing at using Carly's oldest trick but was not happy when Jason asked: "What about him?"
"Are you just going to walk away from your nephew?" he asked. "For what, a little white lie, it's not like Courtney really seduced you. It's not her fault that Elizabeth is too weak to trust you."
Shaking his head, Jason just said "Sonny, make a deal with the Quartermaines because I won't be here to prevent them from getting custody. I am done, you want to be the big boss, you be the big boss. But we will see how long you last without me."
With that, he walked away and left the courthouse, needing some time to clear his head and figure out how to fix things. Driving off on his bike, he missed hearing Elizabeth asking Sonny how he could do this to her. "I thought we were friends."
"Friends, yes, but not family and my family matters more," he said as he began to walk away.
Elizabeth flinched then seeing how her grams was now hugging Lucky and trying to wave her over, Elizabeth pretended not to and saw the city bus about to pass.
Flagging it down, she put in her two dollars and sat down. At the end of the line, out near the airport, Elizabeth went inside and sat down in the small coffee show drinking coffee.
Making up her mind, she called Bobbie and quit the diner. "I am so sorry, but I need to make changes in my life. I will work until the end of the week but would you please not tell anyone I am quitting."
Bobbie said she understood and when she hung up looked at the photo of her eldest child and realized that in the end, Carly had been her own worst enemy.
Elizabeth thought about all the money she had been saving, intending on using it to go to Italy and get a job over there. Packing up her studio, she called Francis who promptly came over.
"Johnny left town," he said as a greeting. "He left a note for you."
Elizabeth read how the guard was sorry for not thinking of her when he had helped Brenda, then crumpled it up as she wiped away the single tear that was falling down her cheek. "Francis, I am leaving town."
"Now?" he asked shocked.
"Yes, and I need you to promise not to tell anyone. Please, for me?" she asked. He could see her pain and agreed if she promised to keep him up to date as to where she was going.
"I will, and I need one more thing. I have some money set up to pay for my studio, I don't want to store anything at my grandmother's, will you take care of it for me, with Barney?"
"Yes," he said grimacing. He had forgotten that Liz still didn't know that Jason owned the building she lived in. They had set it up as a shell company that made it look like their accountant owned the building.
Hugging her as she explained needing to get away, Francis watched as she slowly wrapped up a painting in brown packing paper. "And one more thing, the last I promise. Will you give this to Jason."
Inwardly thinking oh shit, Francis agreed reluctantly and then went to find his boss and yank his head out of his rear end. No one knew where Jason was and the guards at the penthouse said that Sonny was having a fit to end all fits.
Almost wishing he could follow Johnny O'Brien out the door, Francis went to keep Sonny from doing something that Jason would regret. Listening to his boss, he had an idea and suggested that Sonny head down to the island. "Then Jason will have to stay and run things for a while."
"Great idea," said Sonny as he went to pack. Realizing that he didn't hear Michael, he went back downstairs and was reminded that Michael had been sent away when they hadn't known why Carly was killed.
"I want him sent to me, down to the island. Tell Leticia to pack him what he needs for a long stay." Sonny said as he went to his room to finish packing. An hour later, he was on a jet south and had no idea that Francis had called Jason and left a message.
Jason was on his way back when he realized he had never turned his phone back on. Seeing the many many messages from Francis, he listened to them in reverse order and had an idea. Calling him back, he made the blond Italian laugh as he agreed to work with the man he was putting in charge.
Elizabeth waited until she knew her grams was at work and went to her house. Getting her passport out of her safe, Elizabeth went home to her studio and looked around the now almost empty space.
Only one last thing to pack, she thought to herself as she pulled up the floorboard. Instead of an empty space covering her hidey hole, she saw the bank bag and froze for a moment.
Taking the blue bag out, she opened it and saw a large amount of money and a note. Reading it, stunned, she sat there, unable to believe what it said and who it was from.
Debating sending it back, she realized she had no idea how to do so as she tried to figure out what to do. Then looking around, she decided to put it into her bank account and get traveler's checks for the rest.
When she left town, two days later without seeing Jason once, she felt her heart break as she wrote letters to those who needed them and made a visit to the Quartermaine mansion.
Lila just made her promise to send postcards and helped her wipe the tears that had fallen when she admitted to loving Jason, she never saw the blond man who had come to tell his grandmother goodbye, wink at the woman in question and slip back out across the grounds.
Elizabeth was on the jet when she finally let it hit her. Holding it together as she arrived in Italy, she was in her taxi, admiring the view as she went to the address that Francis had gotten for her. She had argued with the guard but he had been very insistent on helping her get away.
Walking to the second floor, she unlocked the door and went inside. Tossing her backpack onto the ground, seeing that the rest of her luggage was already there, she fell onto her already prepared bed and sobbed. She had always wanted to come to Italy, this just wasn't how she had wanted to be travel, alone missing the man she had fallen in love with.
She slowly cried herself to sleep and when she woke up, Elizabeth moved to the small balcony outside her kitchen and thought about Johnny O'Brien and the money he had put in her studio. Part of her still wanted to reject it but another part of her was so badly hurt by his actions she was thinking of keeping it.
Hearing the sound of people speaking, Elizabeth looked over the edge and saw a young mother getting her son ready for school and was charmed to watch as they went down the alleyway.
Then she saw the bike nearby parked on a sidewalk and was reminded of Jason. The large dark motorcycle was almost a replica of the bike she still dreamed about. Deciding to go back inside and let go of her dreams of Jason, she was eating toast when she heard the knock on her door.
Opening it, stunned by the sight of the man standing there with a sheepish expression on his face, she said: "Jason, what are you doing here?"
"I don't know. I thought about asking to borrow sugar like Francis suggested, but that isn't you and I. Then I considered telling you I needed back up but that was being flippant, so instead how about I tell you that I have loved you for almost three years and I really really am sorry for the mistakes I have made since I came home this time."
"Oh Jason," she said not sure how to respond. "I made mistakes too. I was so angry, my pride so hurt but I don't get why I was angry at you. I should have been mad at Sonny, at Carly but I took it out on you."
Letting him into the studio, she said: "I guess I should have started with this though, I love you too."
With that, he choked and pulled her into his arms. "That is all you have to say. Nothing else matters."
At Christmas time, the Quartermaines were their usual argumentative self with a few new additions. Dillon had come home and was driving them all insane, so had Emily who was upset at first by the news Elizabeth had left town but had gotten over it when she had dated her prince.
Alexis had ended up married to Jax who had felt betrayed yet again by Brenda when she had found out she wasn't dying and had gone to Sonny to console him on Jason's betrayal.
Lorenzo Alcazar was now running Sonny's old business and was married to Skye who had fallen for the good brother when he had shown up to force his younger brother home. Sonny had attempted to take him out and had killed Luis instead.
Michael was now living at the mansion, a ward of both sets of his grandparents. Bobbie and Monica often tag-teamed Alan who had not been willing shut up at first about Sonny until he had realized the damage he was doing to his grandson.
AJ had moved on, he saw his son but now that the battle was won and Carly was out of the picture, he was an absentee father at best. That suited his parents fine as they worked to fix the mistakes they had made with their own sons.
"Grandmother who is that from?" asked Dillon when he saw the mysterious box that matched the one she had gotten the year before. This time however instead of taking it up to her room, she had had Reginald bring it into the living room for the whole family to see.
"Its more presents my dear," she said as she handed him the lid and began to pass gaily wrapped boxes out. Emily saw the tag and gasped when she saw it was from Elizabeth and her brother. "I wonder why Elizabeth signed Jason's name to them."
"Because they were married on Elizabeth's birthday, my dear," Lila said and saw Emily's first reaction was to go towards the phone. "Emily, calling Lucky will do you no good. She has been with Jason now over a year and a half they are married, let go of this fantasy of the four of you together."
Emily wasn't happy but she sat down and opened her present. Seeing the delicate snow globe, she gasped when she that the small scene inside was of two young women drinking hot cocoa in what looked like a small conservatory.
Alan and Monica were stunned at the small vase they received and even more so that it was signed in their son's handwriting to Mom and Dad. Lila had already opened her present upstairs and she kept a close eye on Edward as Michael excitedly showed them his newest globe.
Edward was sitting in his chair, unable to move as he looked at the photo in the very nice frame he had received. It was a photo of his great-grandson. "His name is Jacob Edward Morgan, he will be allowed to do whatever he wants. Whether that is to be an artist, a doctor or who knows maybe even someday head of ELQ. He is also your great-grandson and hopefully, he will get a chance to get to know you."
There was an address on the card with the words Edward had read out loud and he looked at his Lila and said: "They are home."
"Yes, Edward, they are home." with that, she told the rest of the family the news. "Elizabeth and Jason purchased the old South Hills estate. They came home because they want their children to know us. Hopefully, we will have learned to behave well enough to be introduced to my great-grandchild."
Emily saw the photo, the way her brother looked at his wife, the way he looked at his son and put away childish dreams as she looked at the address on the card and went to hopefully visit her brother and now new sister.
Arriving on the property, happy to see that one of the guards remembered her, she was escorted to the house. Standing in the doorway, watching as Elizabeth kissed Jason while holding their son, she backed up and straight into Francis.
"Emily," he said.
"Will you tell them I am waiting for an invite." with that she left, letting the small family be, just glad that she would have a chance to watch them grow.
Jason pressed a kiss to his wife's belly and said: "So Jake, I think we should have a little girl this time."
"Jason, I am barely four weeks pregnant," Elizabeth said as she took their five-month-old son and placed him into this playpen. "So, what do you think Emily wanted."
"Simply to say she would see you when you are ready," said Francis. He now worked for Lorenzo but the Morgan family was under their protection since Jason was out and had found he enjoyed working with his hands. Amazingly enough, he had ended up owning a business with another local former mob connection.
They restored vintage cars and bikes and were bringing their International business to the states. The Morgans had missed their families, even Audrey had come to accept Jason, of course, that had only happened after Lucky had been caught sleeping with the same hooker as his father. That had been the end of it for the retired nurse.
Jake just looked at his parents, he had no idea what a lucky boy he was as he played with his feet and dreamed of that soft spot where he took his nap. He had no idea he was going to have a little sister in eight months, nor that his parents had gone through so much to be together.
All he knew was that they were his parents. And that was all he needed to know.
The End.