Monday, June 23, 2014

Michael's Apartment: Living Room

Starr scowled at the budget for the Fourth of July party she and Lulu were putting together and studiously ignored her phone with missed calls from her mother, her father, her younger brother, her cousins, and, most dangerously, her best friend Langston. They had all seen the announcement of her engagement on the Nurse's Ball Facebook page, and the last thing Starr wanted to discuss was her future marriage.

Which seemed ridiculous. She loved Michael, she knew he loved her. They were great together, and the ring was beautiful. There was no reason on the planet not to marry this man who had stood by her during the worst tragedy of her life and helped her dig her way out.

Except every time the ring flashed on her finger as she scribbled some notes, something squeezed inside. She was making a mistake. A terrible mistake.

There was a knock on the door that broke Starr out of her maudlin thoughts, and with great gratitude, she threw down her pencil and reached for the door.

Langston Wilde-Cramer raised one of her dark brows. "You think you can spend twenty-four hours not answering your phone and not have me on your doorstep?"

"In retrospect, I should have seen it coming." Starr stepped back to allow her best friend to enter. "How's Markko?"

"Don't How's Markko me. You can't distract me." Langston sniffed. "You move up here to the middle of nowhere—"

"Um, it's larger than Llanview and we're five minutes from Rochester—"

"You don't call, you don't write—"

"I text all the time—"

"You barely talk about this Michael person and now…" Langston reached for Starr's hand, the diamond catching the sunlight streaming through the windows. "You're engaged. Without warning. This is something your mother would do."

Starr gasped and yanked her hand back. "Don't compare me to my mother—"

"Or Dorian—"

"Well, that's just not funny. This is nothing like my mother or Dorian." She stabbed a finger in Langston's direction. "And don't say it's like my father—"

"Well, no, even that's going too far. Marrying a man your family barely knows anything about is way more of a Cramer woman thing. If you'd been kidnapped by him or something, that'd be more of a Manning thing." Langston sighed. "Starr. Girl. What is going on?"

"Nothing." Starr dropped on the sofa. "Michael's great. We're happy together. He's everything I want."

"Which is fantastic." Langston sat next to her, dropping her purse and overnight bag at her side. "But it's not the truth. Starr, if Michael Corinthos—"

"It's Quartermaine, now—"

"Whatever, we'll come back to that. If this guy is everything you want in the world—if he treats you like gold—that's great. But you don't have to marry him because he's a great guy and makes you happy."

"Oh, really?" Starr raised a brow. "I should marry him because he's going to jail like the time I almost married Cole. Or because we're in the middle of some scheme like any of my mother or aunt's marriages, or—"

"No, you should marry him because you love him so much you can't imagine your life without him." Langston sighed. "Starr, if you were happy, if this is what you wanted—then you would have returned one of my phone calls. Your mother called me. Dorian called me. They all seem to think you were returning my phone calls at least. Jess and Natalie were extremely worried when you didn't call them back. Starr, if this is what you want—"

"I should want it," Starr said softly. She looked at her hands, at the beautiful ring she knew Michael had worried over, remembered his face, the light in his eyes, the beautifully grand gesture of performing at the Nurse's Ball. "I do love him, Langston. And I haven't been unhappy, but…" She sighed and looked around the apartment. "It's Port Charles I'm not happy in."

"Of course not," Langston said. She squeezed Starr's hands. "Cole and Hope died here. Your family isn't here. Some people can pick up and start a brand new life somewhere else. You're not one of those people. You're a family girl. And your dad putting down some roots here is not the same thing."

"I like the people I've met here," Starr argued. "I had fun at the Nurse's Ball this year—and last year. Lulu and Maxie are fun—they've been so nice to me. And Dillon, Michael's cousin, is a friend. I mean, they're all a bit older than me and Michael, but they're still really awesome. And Michael's family—"

"You're telling me that you don't miss your mother?" Langston asked. "You don't miss Dorian, Jess, Natalie? Jack and Sam? What about me and Markko?"

"Well, you guys don't live in Llanview…" Starr sighed. "Look, maybe it's not perfect now. I only just started working at the club a few months ago, and I like my classes. General Hospital would be an amazing place to intern—"

"Starr, don't—" Langston bit her lip. "Look, it's not that I'm trying to talk you out of anything. If Michael and Port Charles is what you want, then I'm going to make it happen. I'll help you plan the perfect wedding, and I'll calm you down when you're all Bridezilla on me, but—"

"I don't want to get married," Starr admitted in a quiet voice. "If I did, I would marry Michael. He's solid gold and there's nothing wrong with him. I just…I don't want to do it right now, and I think he's doing it to prove to himself he can handle all the work his family is throwing at him without sacrificing us. I don't know…I mean, you're not wrong, Langston—if it were right, I'd feel it—"

"Sometimes the guy can be perfect. Sometimes all the stars can align…" Langston tilted her head. "It doesn't matter if it's not right. Markko and I are going home for the summer. Come with us. You can come back to PC in the fall for classes. You haven't left this place since Cole and Hope—"

"I couldn't. Not at first," Starr interrupted. "If I left without Hope, then it meant she was really gone this time and I don't think I couldn't handle that. But maybe you're right. A few months to clear my head, to get away from all of this pressure…" She bit her lip. "I have responsibilities here. I have Michael—"

"You don't want to marry him. The kindest thing to do is to break it off now," her best friend told her. "Don't wait another day."

"He's been through so much with his father prosecuted for murder, then being murdered by his adoptive father, and then his uncle—"

"So don't put him through one more day of thinking you're going to marry him when you know you're not. Unless you think in three months you're going to feel differently."

Starr looked down at her hand and twisted the ring. "If Michael could come with me to Llanview, if we could both have some time away from this town, maybe I would—" She met Langston's warm brown eyes. "But if I married him, I'd make us both unhappy. And I don't think either one of us deserve that."

Drake Home: Living Room

"I'm glad I caught you at home before work," Anna said as she strode into the house that morning. "Emma get off to school all right?"

Patrick nodded as he closed the door. "She's annoyed that the high school and middle school kids are already out, but she'll be done on Thursday. I'm just finishing some paperwork before I go to the hospital."

"How's Simon doing?" Anna asked softly. "He's still getting stronger?"

"He is." Patrick offered her a wide grin. "Felix and I both got to hold him yesterday. The specialist thinks he can come home by the end of July. He'll be small and he'll still need a lot of follow-up, but everything is going well." He looked toward the mantel where a photo of Sabrina now sat next to one of Robin and Emma. "I just wish…"

"That she could have met her." Anna hesitated. "Speaking as a mother who lost a child soon after birth…" Patrick looked at her. "Leora. With David. She barely—anyway…" she sucked in a breath. "If I could have traded my life on the slimmest chance she would have a chance, I would have done it. I'm sure Sabrina felt the same."

"She did." Patrick leaned against the side of the sofa. "And that's something I'll be able to tell him when he's older. What brings you by?"

"Well, I mentioned at the Nurse's Ball that I had contacted Robert," Anna told him.

Patrick got to his feet. "Wait, you—" He hesitated. "You already called him—I thought that was something you were just thinking about—"

Anna frowned at him. "No, no, I had left a few messages for him last week, but he got in touch this morning. Apparently, he has some concerns of his own regarding Robin—"

"Anna, listen—"

"And I know you and Emma haven't heard from her—"

"That's true, but—"

"Neither have I, nor has Mac and Felicia. Perhaps I could understand not contacting Robert or myself, but she's always stayed in touch with Mac, and to not be in touch with her daughter, well…" Anna shook her head. "I've tried to find reasons to justify it, but there is no justification. So I've contacted Robert—" She tilted her head. "Patrick, what do you know?"

"Nothing," Patrick said quickly, his fingers already itching to call Elizabeth. He'd thought he could head off this Robert angle, but if Robin's father got involved, he might not wait to learn all the facts. "Anna—"

"Robert plans to be here this week. He simply has to finish up an aspect of his current assignment that can't be held off and then he's catching the next flight." Anna pursed her lips. "I'm sure you're angry with Robin—"

"It's not that—"

"Then what, Patrick?" Anna demanded. "Whether you want Robin to come home or not, there's something dreadfully wrong when she hasn't been in touch with any of the people I know she loves. She has written, called—it's been radio silence since she left for Africa, and that was not the arrangement she described—"

"Anna—"

"Is she in Africa or not, Patrick?" Anna demanded. She stepped towards him, her dark eyes narrowing in that dangerous slant Patrick had come to know and fear so well. "Where is my daughter?"

"I just—Robin had her reasons," Patrick said, lamely. "Anna—"

"Well, then she'll have to explain them to me." Anna drew back her shoulders. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to get to. I'll contact you when Robert arrives. I may not be able to get the answers out of you, but whatever you know…" She leaned forward, lowering her voice. "Robert hasn't my principles."

"Damn it," Patrick muttered when his mother-in-law had stalked away. Not only had he not been able to talk her out of contacting her ex-husband, but now Anna wanted to roast him over a fire pit. He was useless at this espionage bullshit. He dragged his cell phone out of his pocket and winced as he reached Elizabeth's voicemail. Damn it, she was in surgery.

"Webber, we've got a problem. Robert Scorpio will be here in a matter of days. So…I think this qualifies as an emergency."

Greystone Manor: Living Room

Carly dropped her purse on the table and glared at Sonny. "Am I never going to be done with this?" she demanded, shoving a piece of paper at him.

Sonny sighed and took the offending article. "It's a subpoena to testify against me next month when the trial starts." He nodded. "I expected you to be called. If not by the district attorney, then by me—"

"Why do they need me?" Carly demanded. "Yeah, AJ identified you, you admitted it to me, but there's a goddamn video and you're claiming self-defense. Why do any of you need to drag me into this?"

"Carly—"

"I don't want to go on that stand and admit to the world that I lied about a dying man's last words," Carly cut in. "It's bad enough Michael knows, but he's working on forgiving me. I want to think about him. He's getting married—I don't want to think about this anymore, Sonny. Can't you tell them you don't need me?"

Sonny sighed. "We shouldn't be talking about this—"

"Oh, now you're going to respect the damn law?" she retorted, her voice so scathing it could have burnt through the subpoena. "I don't want to testify, Sonny—"

"If you weren't testifying for Gia Campbell, you'd be testifying for me." Sonny moved to the minibar to pour himself a tumbler of bourbon. It was early, but it was Carly, and some things required stronger fortification.

"Why? For what possible reason—"

"I'm claiming self-defense, remember?" Sonny asked. "I have to prove that I had a reasonable belief that I was protecting myself or someone else—"

"You thought AJ killed Connie. You walked in on him strangling Ava. Case closed. You don't need me—"

"I need more than just my belief about Connie." Sonny stretched out in one of the armchairs, leaning back and getting comfortable. "I need to have people testify about everything violent act AJ has ever committed. Everything that colored my view of him."

"Oh, please, that's—" Her face went still and she swallowed. "You want me to testify about our son. About the first baby. The one—" She twisted her fingers together. "Don't—don't make me do that. Don't put me on the stand to assassinate AJ's character, Sonny—"

"You'll be a good witness—how many times has AJ terrorized you—"

"But all Gia Campbell has to do is ask me about my own past. She'll attack my credibility. You can't put me on the stand and ask me about my history with AJ. You'll open it all up—"

"If I want to stay out of jail—"

"Oh, screw you and jail!" Carly cried. "You want me to get on the stand and testify that AJ pushed me down the stairs and killed my baby. You want me to talk about when he faked Michael's death and kidnapped him? You think any decent attorney isn't going to ask about what I did? How I drugged and lied to AJ? Had an affair with him? They're going to ask me about repudiating his rights—"

"You don't have any personal knowledge of—" Sonny stopped. "Carly—"

"Zander told me what you did. You told me what you did. I know exactly how you forced AJ to give up his rights. I know that you blackmailed him. That you hung him on a meat hook." Carly closed her eyes. "Michael doesn't know that part. He knows about the drugging, he knows AJ kidnapped him, but he doesn't know what you did. And I just—why can't we have just a piece of Michael's innocence left intact? Why do you want to destroy it all?"

"I don't—" Sonny dipped his head. "Carly, if I get convicted, they're going to put me away for life. I'll never see Morgan grow up. I won't be able to see Kristina or Dante. My grandchildren. Maybe they'll visit me at first—" His throat closed at the thought. "Maybe I deserve to go to jail. I shot the bastard because I thought he was—"

"Because in that moment, you were protecting Connie and not Ava, I get it. Michael gets that—"

"But I left him to die. Thirty minutes he bled on that floor. Maybe with faster response—" Sonny sipped the bourbon, the warmth momentarily chilling his bones. "I don't know. But I shot him, and maybe he never hurt Connie."

"Sonny, I'm just—I get why you think I'd be a good witness, but I just—Gia Campbell isn't just someone new who's going after you. She knows me. She knows the gossip. She knows exactly where to dig—she's friends with Elizabeth—"

"Elizabeth won't…" Sonny trailed off. Because Elizabeth had been around forever. Whatever she hadn't witnessed personally, she would have knowledge of. She'd been close with Emily, with Jason, with AJ at the end—and she'd known Gia for nearly as long. Maybe Carly wasn't so paranoid. "Carly, I have to call you to talk about that night. My testimony won't be enough—"

"Gia will attack my credibility—" Carly swallowed hard. "She doesn't need to protect that, not with the video or—why is she even subpoenaing me? She doesn't need me—"

"Maybe she's attacking my claim of self-defense by calling someone who knows all of the things I've done to AJ." Sonny rubbed his chin and found himself, for some damn reason, smiling. "Well, I'll be damned. A district attorney who knows what the hell she's doing."

"Why are you so happy?" Carly demanded. "She's going to nail you to the wall—"

"She's going to try. I'll talk to Vince, Carly, but I can't make any promises, okay? If we don't call you, it looks like Gia might." He rose to his feet. "Carly, if you're worried about more damaging information coming out that might hurt Michael, maybe you ought to be the one that tells him." He sighed and looked down into the remainder of his drink. "Don't make the mistakes we've made all his life. Don't protect him."

PCPD: Conference Room

"All right, Sly, Parisa." Anna set her notepad down. "Dazzle me with some news about our resident psycho artist."

Sly pulled out his own report. "Well, we searched hotel footage from top to bottom. If he was in the hotel, he missed the cameras. He wasn't picked up. There were some odd shadows backstage on Saturday, but nothing we can pin down to being him. No one has seen him since Jason Morgan supposedly did away with him in January of 2013 and no one has heard from him since—"

"But we only have Jason Morgan's word on that. That was supposed to have been self-defense and after all the damage Franco had inflicted…" Anna sighed. "Mac declined to inquire further. Have you asked Morgan for more details?"

"He referred us to his lawyer," Parisa murmured. "So I doubt any will be forthcoming. However…" She pursed her lips. "Sly and I did the deep background check you asked for and we hit a snag on Franco's birth records. He shows up with his mother in New York City in 1984 and registers for first grade. She claims he was homeschooled before then—no other records. But she never managed to submit his birth certificate, and it fell through the cracks."

Anna straightened in her seat, watched as Dante and Nathan did the same. "He was born in 1978. He would have been six years old—"

"We know who his mother is, we've met her—"

Parisa pushed forward a set of documents. "Birth certificate for Robert Frank, mother Elizabeth Frank. Both were killed in a car accident…when Robert was three months old."

Anna sighed. "Oldest trick in the book. Use social security number for a child who died the same year he was born. And with the mother dying at the same time—"

"A single mother without any other family to claim social security benefits," Nathan added. "New York didn't have any safeguards at that point. If a death wasn't reported to Social Security, there are no flags against using the information. But why change identities?"

"Well, if Betsy illegally adopted Franco, then maybe someone caught up with her—"

"Illegally adopted a child no one knew existed," Dante reminded them. "Susan Moore never knew she had twins, and you can bet the Quartermaines didn't know about it. If it's a true story. This…" He tapped the birth and death certificates. "This indicates it might not be quite accurate."

"How does that help us, though?" Anna asked. "Do we think he might be going by his former identity?"

"I think we might want to get his mother in custody," Sly suggested. "We can arrest her on kidnapping charges. No statute of limitations on that. Maybe we fingerprint her, an old warrant comes up—"

"Kidnapping case is flimsy," Anna said. "We have no proof it happened—"

"We could ask her to come in for questioning about her son, then," Parisa suggested. "I mean, we do have this story about a possible kidnapping. I'm sure the Quartermaines would like Franco's paternity cleared up, what with the ELQ shares being tied to blood relations. And with Jason Morgan alive, he may be interested in knowing whether he has a twin brother."

"We give her some water, some coffee," Nathan leaned forward. "Fingerprint that. If there's an old warrant out there, we might be able to get something from that. She might give up her son to get out of more serious charges. It's worth a shot."

"Track her down," Anna told Sly and Parisa. "Have an informal conversation with her. Get her prints on something, maybe a photo of her son. Just tell her we have a crazy lunatic claiming to have sold her a baby." Satisfied, she looked to Dante and Nathan. "What about our missing teenagers?"

"We have nothing," Nathan said. "I mean, we have requests into the former directors of the Ward foundation. We wanted to talk to the old resident director at the home, but—"

"So we confirmed that the Ward House lost its credentials to run as a group home in the first week of April. Within a week, the house had emptied. Laura Spencer is doing renovations before reapplying. The files themselves are a mess. The volunteer program through the school was closed down at the same time, but Ian and Holly told friends they were still volunteering twice a week."

"Ah. Well, that's a wrinkle. If they were both telling the same lie, it might explain why they were both at the library—or claiming to be." Anna touched her chin. "Did either of them keep a journal? What do we have on social media?"

"Holly's laptop is password encrypted. The tech department is working on getting into it, but it's been a low priority," Dante answered. "We're still waiting on social media companies to respond to our subpoenas. Bank records are in, but there's not much there. They both had savings accounts. No activity."

"So we have two students telling lies to their friends, disappearing for two days a week—probably together, and a laptop we can't get into." Anna made a note to follow up on the social media companies. Perhaps a phone call from the commissioner might hasten things. It was possible their Facebook accounts may have some private messaging. "Dante, talk to Spinelli. He's in town, and I think it's worth employing him as a tech consult. These teens have been missing for two weeks without a word. I'm getting nervous."

"Sure, sure. He'll probably be in their accounts in twenty minutes." Dante hesitated. "Did—there's nothing for my aunt's murder?"

Sly and Parisa exchanged a look before Parisa answered. "We're waiting for a few leads to come in. Some sources to tug loose. We're trying, Dante. I know you and your mom want to know, but we honestly don't have enough to move forward as is." She looked to Anna. "We'll head to Ithaca and interview Betsy Frank in the morning."

Lake House: Living Room

Alexis embraced her former partner-in-crime. "I am so relieved to see you, Luke."

"If you've asked for my help, Natasha, then we're in serious trouble." Luke Spencer turned to Julian and eyed the younger man with an air of suspicion. "Julian Jerome. Your reputation precedes you."

"Yours does as well," Julian remarked dryly. "Let's hope it's earned. According to Alexis, we have a problem only you can solve."

"Ah, well…" Luke ambled over towards Alexis's makeshift minibar and poured himself a whee bit of whiskey. "I haven't committed to anything. A man doesn't agree to take on the Cassadines without a great deal of consideration."

"Luke—"

"You asked me to come and hear you out, Natasha." Luke turned. "You tell me Victor Cassadine has tangled himself up with this one's sister. I don't know him, and I don't know the sister. I got no dog in this fight. Victor's one of the crazy Cassadines. I'm no super hero, and I'm out of world-saving business."

"It's a bit more complicated than just Ava," Alexis said, her face and voice taking on an air of desperation Luke didn't often see from his old friend. "And you might want to help Elizabeth."

"Elizabeth? My Elizabeth? Webber?" Luke repeated. Hell, if the girl was involved in more Cassadine trouble, he would be morally obligated to get her out of it. "How'd she get herself tangled up with Cassadines again? I thought that was over after her…" He waved his hand. "Whatever with the Dark Prince."

"Technically, it's not really her, but Victor has threatened her. Because of Jake. Because of her boys, and all of their connection to Jason Morgan," Alexis clarified.

"Well, now you've got my attention. I'll make myself comfortable and let you start at the beginning."

So Luke settled himself on a very comfortable sofa and listened with a bit of reluctant horror as Alexis described Jason's kidnapping and captivity, the role of Robin Scorpio in waking him up, and the existence of a twin brother tormenting and terrorizing Elizabeth and Alexis's daughter.

And then she finished with the information that Victor had worked with DVX and trained with Cesar Faison, a man who had been in town and likely played a role in the scheme as he had helped fake Jason's death and worked with Joe Scully, Jr.

"Hell." Luke straightened. "I gotta tell you, kid, I was gonna pay you some lip service about getting out while you were ahead. Robert called me and wanted my help to track down Robin—he's heading into town to meet up with me in a day or so. But you're telling me Robin is messed up in this? And Victor threatened Elizabeth, Robin, and the boys to keep Jason in line?"

"I see you've got his interest now," Julian remarked to Alexis.

"Hey, I got no reason to risk me and mine to take on the crazy wing of the Cassadines," Luke retorted. "I did my time. I paid my dues. I don't owe anyone a damn thing. You don't know Victor Cassadine. You didn't know his brothers. They were as crazy as they came. Mikkos wanted to plant his ass on a Russian throne that doesn't exist anymore, and when he thought he'd never get rid of the communist bastards, he decided to freeze the damn world in retaliation—"

"So that's why he did it? It seemed a bit over the top in the stories," Julian said. "But there's almost a bit of beauty of it. If he couldn't run the world, no one could."

"I expect he saw one too many damn Bond movies and took a shine to some of the villains," Luke returned with a glare. "Victor and Anthony were younger. Half-brothers, their mother was Italian, which accounts for their less than dastardly ways. Tony just wanted the money. But Victor? Victor wanted the glory. He wanted his brother's respect."

"Wait…" Julian held up a hand. "Just—just…wait." He looked to Alexis. "What did Ava say? Victor wanted unfettered access to ship from South America to Russia? What's the top two products smuggled between those two locations?"

"Drugs…and…" Alexis pressed a fist to her mouth. "Oh. You have got to be fucking kidding me."

"When Natasha swears, you know we're in trouble now," Luke told Julian. "If Victor wants to ship weapons to Russia, then maybe he has an aim of completing his brother's greatest glory. Establishing a Cassadine dynasty in Russia."

"That's insane," Julian said baldly. "It would never work—"

"This is a family that attempted to freeze the world," Luke cut in. "They're not overly concerned with rational thought. Damn it. Damn it, damn it. If this is Victor's plan, there's no fucking way he'll go down without a fight."

"What does it mean when he swears?" Julian asked Alexis, but she wasn't in much of a mood for snark.

"Why does my family have to be so damned insane?" she demanded. "We can't be normal villains? We have to go and be Darth Vader."

"I'll call Robert, make sure he doesn't make a move without knowing the facts," Luke told her. "I'll take down the damn Cassadines. Again. But this time we're getting rid of the entire goddamn generation. Stavros and Helena are gone, we'll get—" His face fell when Alexis shook her head. "Natasha, no. I froze that son of a bitch. I shot Helena—"

"Victor didn't just get Robin to care for Jason and his twin brother," Alexis said with a sigh. "She's also been charged with resurrecting Stavros and Helena."

Luke twisted his face in disgust. "How the hell am I supposed to get rid of a family that just refuses to die? You're like cockroaches."

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

"Lisa Griggs is not going to be happy her perfect boyfriend is married," Sam murmured as she made a notation of Prince Charming's marriage certificate and lack of divorce on record. Doing background checks for bleeding hearts wasn't exactly her dream job, but it would pay the bills considering her financial situation was up in the air.

The estate settlement with Elizabeth was obviously not in play and her divorce settlement that should technically be in effect had left her with some money, but Sam wasn't going to wait around anymore. She had a business, it was time to start acting like it.

She glanced at her phone and smiled at the text she'd received from Kristina and Molly who had taken Danny to a local park for the day. She had amazing sisters, and her newfound brother wasn't turning out so bad.

As Sam began to reply to her sister's text message, there was a knock at her door. She sighed, hoping it wasn't her mother to check up on her again. She was fine and it was easier to pretend that was true when everyone pretended along with her.

She set down her notebook and closed her laptop before getting up from the desk and opening the door. She furrowed her brow. "Jason. Um. Hey."

"Hey." Jason leaned against the door frame. "I had some extra time today—I wanted to see if Danny was around."

She tilted her head to the side at his easy tone, but let it go. "No, sorry, my sisters took him to the park. Um, I guess we should really work out a more permanent schedule for him." She stepped back to let Jason step in. "I didn't want to ask my mom to contact Diane about custody. I mean, I just…maybe we could figure it out between ourselves."

"Sure. Let's leave lawyers out of this." Jason walked forward until he reached the sofa, then turned to face her, leaning against it. "You've made some changes since…"

"Well, the pool table didn't really seem useful when you weren't here," Sam murmured. "Are you…are you okay? I mean, you just…the last time we talked—"

"It's been a…difficult time," Jason told her. "Hard being home. I've had to make choices." He hesitated. "Decisions maybe I didn't want to."

Sam folded her arms. "We're not going to do this anymore, Jason. I told you that last summer if you wanted Elizabeth, you should go to her. Maybe it took your death and some extra time, but you made that choice—" Oh, God. Why was he doing this to her? Why was he coming around? He was giving her that stupid look he had before, making her think she mattered.

But it was a lie. It had to be. Because he would go home to Elizabeth.

"I just…I haven't been able to make myself clear." Jason straightened. "To explain things to you. I know you don't understand why things are happening and I can't tell you. I wish I could. I don't like what's happening to any of us—"

"Look, maybe we should get the lawyers involved—"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. No need to talk to your mother." Jason gestured towards the door. "I'll go, okay? I just…I don't want things to be like this between us."

"Well, that's the choice you made. We all have to live with it." Sam yanked the door open. "Just go. I'm not doing this anymore."

After Jason had left, she closed the door after him and pressed her forehead against it. What the hell was he doing? Why did he have to come around to make her feel like things weren't settled? They had to be. Whatever Jason's reasons were, she couldn't do this anymore.

She wouldn't call her mother just yet, but maybe it would be a good idea to get Diane and Alexis to hammer out some sort of custody agreement where Sam didn't have to set eyes on Jason.

If it weren't for Danny, for Jake—maybe it would have been better if Jason had stayed dead. Nothing good had happened since he'd come home.

Scorpio Home: Living Room

"She's so beautiful," Maxie whispered to Spinelli as they stood over the portable bassinet in her mother's living room as their daughter napped. "And she's mine again."

"She's ours," Spinelli said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and kissing her cheek. "I told you the judge would give you custody. You worked hard."

"Still." Maxie turned to find the celebration of their custody hearing in full swing. Dante and Lulu were at the dining room table with Dillon and Nathan, both laughing and talking. Her parents were with her aunt Bobbie— "Hey, what's up with the adults?"

Spinelli rolled his eyes. "You're an adult, Maxie—"

She waved her hand at him. "No, look at them. They're all serious like. It's a party, people."

Lulu joined them. "Oh, Dante was just telling me about a case they're working on. One of Aunt Bobbie's friends at the hospital—her daughter is missing."

"Oh." Some of the joy leeched out of the day. "Oh. How long? Wait, this is that teenager case? We did a brief item a few weeks ago." They joined Dante and Nathan back at the table. "You still don't have any leads on those kids?"

Dante and Nathan exchanged a look, and Maxie held up a hand. "No, no, I'm not asking for the Sun. I'm just—" She gestured towards her parents and Bobbie. "I didn't realize Aunt Bobbie knew her mother. It's…going to touch a nerve for her. And my mother." She looked to Nathan. "Aunt Bobbie's daughter BJ died in a car accident when she was ten. And you know…"

"Your sister." Nathan picked up his can of soda. "To answer your question, no. I mean, there's still some things we're looking into it, but…" He sighed, his handsome featured twisted into an uncharacteristic grimace.

"Unless something shakes loose, it's a dead end," Dante admitted. "And I don't want to have to tell her mother that. Holly's mom is—she doesn't have anyone else. No siblings. It was just the two of them. Not that it would be better for Ian Hamilton's family—"

"But to lose someone when you're already alone in the world…" Spinelli looked at back where their daughter lay sleeping. "To lose your child…I'm not sure I realized how devastating that could be before our Georgie."

"Let's change the subject to something else," Lulu suggested, wiggling her shoulders. "We just got our kids back in our lives, right? Let's not talk about losing them. What about Franco?"

"What?" Maxie asked, sharply. "What about him?" She flicked her eyes to Nathan. "There's—you haven't seen him, have you? I thought there was no sign—"

"No, but Anna wanted Sly and Parisa to look into him to be sure." Dante tapped his fingers on the wood table. "They haven't found anything except—"

"Julian asked me to do some background work on Franco," Maxie interrupted. "I hate it. I just want him to be dead, and instead…" She huffed. "I mean, it's stupid. I was looking at his stupid art bio and it said he'd been born in Burlington, Vermont, but you know, there's no record of him there, so it's just another lie in a line of twisted lies. Who lies about where they grew up?"

Nathan and Dante exchanged a look that had goosebumps breaking out on her arms. "Guys. What do you know?"

"We can't talk about investigations," Nathan said. "I'm sorry, Maxie—"

"It's not just an investigation, Nathan," Maxie snapped. "I'm not just some stupid reporter asking. He tried to kill Lulu. He kidnapped a baby. He's a dangerous psycho—"

Dante put a hand over hers. "Hey. Look, Nathan's right. We can't talk specifics—"

"Dante—"

"But we can tell you that there's no sign that what Lucy saw was actually Franco, okay?" He leaned forward slightly. "Trust me, Maxie. If there was a threat, if I thought Franco was alive and back in Port Charles, it's not something we'd hide."

"I'm sorry, Maxie," Nathan apologized. "I mean, we're doing a background check on him to ferret any possible aliases. I can tell you that much."

"I just…I want us to be safe for a while," Maxie said. She looked to Lulu, to Dillon, who'd been uncharacteristically silent. "I have my daughter. Lulu has her son. After the Cassadines, after last year—I just want us to have a few moments that aren't surrounded by death and mayhem and just…insanity. Is that so much to ask?"

"You're right," Dillon said. "This is a happy event." He raised his soda can in the air. "To Maxie and Spinelli, becoming parents. It couldn't happen to a luckier little girl."

Webber Home: Living Room

Elizabeth hung up her cell phone and looked to Jason as he leaned he helped Jake spell a word for his homework. "That was Shadybrooke."

Jason straightened and looked at her. "About Heather?"

"Who's Heather?" Jake asked, tilting his face up.

"Must be crazy Heather Webber," Cameron told his brother from his chair where he was comfortably reading a graphic novel. "Shadybrooke is for nutsos."

"Cameron—"

"I'm not wrong, Mom," her eldest responded blandly without taking his eyes off his book. "She's Uncle Steven's crazy mother."

"Crazy is not nice word," Aidan declared as he jabbed a blue crayon in Cam's direction.

"Only when it's not true, and Heather Webber is as crazy as a loon," Cam retorted.

"Why is Shadybrooke calling?" Jake asked, ignoring both his brothers. "Mom, you don't like Heather."

"No, I don't, but…" Elizabeth sighed. She should have waited until the boys were in bed, but some things were just too important to hold off another a few hours. "Uncle Steven wants me to take her a letter, so your dad is going to go with me."

"Oh. Okay, yeah, that makes sense. You can't go see Heather alone," Jake said. "She's pretty awful. She stabbed Uncle Steven. She made Olivia go crazy for a while. She helped steal Danny—" He looked back at his father. "Did you know that?"

"Dude, why wouldn't he know that?" Cameron demanded. "He rescued Danny from her. He was dead for two years, not stupid."

"That doesn't even make sense!" Jake retorted hotly.

Elizabeth frowned at Jake's words, then gestured for Jason to join her while the three boys argued about the semantics of whether Jason had been dead or not.

"Do they always argue like this?" Jason asked as he crossed the room.

"Pretty much, though Aidan is just learning how to do it." She winced when Aidan let a crayon go flying when Cameron called him a baby. "Aidan, no throwing!" To Jason, she said, "I know you said you were going to tell Jake as much of the truth as you could, but—you told him about the five years?"

"I didn't see a way around it," Jason admitted. "I know it's a lot to trust him with, but…" He looked back at his son who, with Cameron, were now using Aidan's crayons to simulate a duel. "I wanted him to trust me. I should have…I should have talked with you first, or told you—"

"No, it's…he's your son. And you've been doing so well. I guess I'm just worried about Jake dealing with that, but God knows, he's dealt with much more." She wiggled her shoulders. "Anyway. We can go see Heather on Wednesday. I got Steven's email today with the message he wanted to send, so…"

"So, maybe we'll get some answers." Jason rubbed the back of his neck. "I called Alexis about Robert. I thought maybe she could get a hold of Luke to head him off."

"Oh, I hope she can. I mean, I don't blame Anna or Robert for wanting answers about Robin. We just got her back, and then she disappeared." Elizabeth sighed. "What did Alexis say?"

"That Luke arrived today," Jason said. "And apparently, Robert had already asked for Luke's help to get Robin home, so Luke was all set to tell Alexis to deal with the Cassadines on her own—"

"Until he realized the two were related." Elizabeth pursed her lips. "So Luke will get Robert on board. I feel better with both of them involved. I mean, Robert isn't going to do anything to mess with Robin coming home safely, so I think we can trust them—"

Jason looked away for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the more people know the truth, the more complicated it's going to be—"

"But we need people who've fought this fight before," Elizabeth interrupted. "Jason, if this were Anthony Zacchara or Luis Alcazar, it'd already be over. The Cassadines—"

"I know," Jason interrupted, his tone a bit more sharp than she expected. He swallowed. "I'm sorry. I just—I know the Cassadines are different, that I'm not in any shape or position to take Victor on single-handedly. I-I just don't want to do anything that might compromise you and the boys. Everyone else has their priorities. You and the boys are mine."

"Okay." Elizabeth wasn't entirely convinced, but Cameron had broken Aidan's favorite shade of green during his duel with Jake, so she rushed over before her five-year-old tried to kill her eldest son. She'd get to the bottom of Jason's hesitation later.