-"Forgive me if I'm impatient, Scott, but I don't understand why this is taking so long."

-"It's a very delicate situation, Ms. Davis. We have a suspect in custody based on evidence the police department worked hard to collect. There's a convincing case, and the people of Port Charles want me to be sure justice is served."

-"That's such bullshit, Scott. The case against Sam was weak to begin wi-"

-"Couldn't have been that weak, Alexis. The judge remanded her to custody," he snapped.

Alexis got louder, in spite of her efforts to keep her temper in check. "As I was saying: the case against my client is weak. It is based on circumstantial evidence. You have no weapon, you can't place her at the scene…"

-"We have photos of her at the scene, Ms. Davis. We have a witness who saw her enter the building," he responded pompously.

-"You have a grainy shot of a brunette walking into a building and an eyewitness who has disappeared."

Scott shifted uncomfortably and responded defensively, "she hasn't *disappeared*...she's just not reachable at the moment."

Throwing her hands up in the air as she rolled her eyes, Alexis took a few seconds to breathe. "Mr. District Attorney..."

-"Ms. Davis."

-"Even if you find her Scott, you know...you *know* you don't have a case. You have a suspect who confessed. That's reasonable doubt right there."

Baldwin continued to bloviate, "The suspect has a history of mental problems and can't be trusted. The police have to verify the story before we make any moves. I mean it, Alexis. I'm not going to be pressured here."

Her eyes flashed. "The suspect is a psychopath. He has a history of problems that have led to criminal acts. Many of them against my daughter."

He waved her off dismissively. "Not in the eyes of the law. Nothing's been proven."

Alexis shifted slightly. "Look, Scott. I sympathize with you. I really do. But you can't possibly stall this."

-"I'm the DA, Alexis. I can do what I want."

-"You're the DA as long as the people keep you there, Scott. What do you think the chances are of reelection once the press starts accusing you of abusing your office."

He scoffed. "I haven't abused my office."

-"You have a suspect in custody who has admitted to a double murder. You've wrongly accused a young mother who remains in Pentonville, separated from her son. All because the suspect is *your* son."

-"I'm being thorough. That's not abuse of power."

-"Great. Feel free to share that at my press conference."

Scott's eyes darted to her face. "What press conference?"

-"Starts in 20 minutes." She looked at him innocently. "The press was hounding me on the way in, Scott. I couldn't possibly deny them and the citizens of Port Charles an update on a terrible double murder. Especially when the new suspect is the genius Franco."

He sighed before mumbling, "I would love it if *one* time we could work on a case where you weren't constantly busting my balls, Alexis." Scott suddenly was quiet. "He's in the hospital. The gunshot wound started to get infected. They say he's gonna be ok but..."

Alexis took a minute and put a hand on his arm. "I am sorry, Scott. I am. But you can't leave my daughter in that prison when she didn't do it. She's been there almost a week now. Enough is enough."

-"Yeah," he said resignedly. "Let's get the judge."

Alexis stood in the squad room impatiently awaiting the transport from Pentonville. Sam would be in the holding cells until the paperwork was completed, and her lawyer was about ready to jump out of her skin. Victor had promised her daughter's freedom, but he was a liar, and Alexis was poised for the other shoe to drop.

Dante strode by and caught her eye. He seemed to consider the wisdom of approaching before walking over to her. "Alexis?" His words both a greeting and plea for forgiveness.

She wasn't ready to talk to him. For the amount of scheming she had worked through in the last 72 hours, Alexis had yet to work out the best way to approach the Spencers. Which attitude would best hide the new world order? Would an Alexis angry about the treatment of Sam arouse suspicion or would a forgiving hand offered in friendship better prepare them for her apparent ascent to the Cassadine throne? She split the difference. "Dante."

-"I'm glad Sam's getting released."

Immediately, Alexis flashed to their infuriating conversation in the bar nights before. Dante's mere presence was making it very hard to stay friendly. "I am, too, Officer Falconieri."

-"I just wanted to let you know that. And that I'm sorry Sam had to go through this."

-"Once again, you're reading my mind." Afraid the tone wasn't masking successfully the disgust she still felt for the PCPD, Alexis decided to focus her conversation on learning more about Victor's plans-specifically, those involving Det. Nagy. "How is your partner, anyway? I'm sure she echoes your sentiments about Sam's release."

-"Well, she may. But no one's seen her."

Alexis shook her head in confusion. "I thought you saw her this morning when you found Franco."

-"We did. But then she took off. No one knows where she is."

-"I hope she's OK." Alexis tried to lace her words with concern, but was fairly certain she couldn't make it convincing. "Seriously, Dante. Maybe she figured you were investigating her and ran."

Dante eyed her. "Maybe. Or maybe she anticipated her colleagues wouldn't be very happy when they realized that her actions were getting the Commissioner fired."

-"What?" Alexis snapped her head around. "Anna's fired?"

-"Not yet," Dante sighed. "But that's the word on the street. Dina allegedly manufactured evidence. That's what I was investigating. Not just on Sam's case. On one or two others. But this one is the big one."

Her eyes narrowed. "What did she manufacture?"

-"The photo. For all we know the witness testimony, too. Since no one can find Rosalie Martinez, it's hard to confirm that." Dante looked at her apologetically. "Look, Alexis...for what it's worth, even if Franco never showed up we were only a few days away from sharing this info with the DA. And with you. Sam was going to get out."

Alexis smiled sadly. She knew that this wasn't Cassadine sloppiness. Anna's termination was clearly most likely Victor's design, and Alexis was fairly certain her uncle would have found another way of keeping her daughter behind bars. It suddenly became difficult to blame Dante, who was as much a pawn as Sam was.

Sam stood fidgeting, the fingers of her left hand linked with those of her attorney. The judge seemed to be taking his time to process the new facts of the case-more time than Sam had taken. She had been sitting in her cell in Pentonville, sure the guard was taking her to a meeting with her lawyer and not to a prisoner transport back to Port Charles. The guard, who had no answers to any questions, escorted her to the white van three hours earlier. And now she stood here-next to her mother-on the cusp of seeing her son, and all she wanted to do was vomit from the anticipation. When the gavel slammed down, she was wrapped in her mother's embrace unable to breathe for how hard she was held. As she managed to disentangle herself from a reluctant Alexis, her mother wiped the tears that had pooled in the corners of her eyes. "You're free, baby."

There was something in her mother's eyes other than relief. Sam wasn't sure what it was-dread? resignation?-but it didn't belong there. And as curious as she was to find out how her mother-or her father-had managed to discover and expose Franco's crime, all she wanted was to see her son.

-"Danny?" she asked excitedly.

-"Outside the station with your sisters. I didn't think you want-"

-"Of course, of course," Sam silenced her mother. "So let's go."

Alexis smiled. "Right."

He was so tiny next as he stood next to Kristina, clutching her hand. Sam was momentarily taken aback-he had been wary of his prodigal aunt when she first arrived back in town. Now he clung to her as he excitedly pointed to the police cars. How much had Sam missed in the last week? She shook off the feeling as she squatted and smiled widely. "Daaaannnyyy," she cooed to her son.

The grin took over his face. "Mama, mama." He looked to Kristina and pointed to Sam, as though explaining his next course of action. Then he took off for Sam's arms. He giggled when he landed there, and Sam swooped him up kissing his face, his forehead and his cheeks. He put a chubby hand to her face.

-"Does mama get a kiss? Huh, little man?"

Danny gave her a wet smack on her cheeks, and then cuddled into the crook of her neck. And for the first time in almost a week, Sam felt calm. She exhaled.

Alexis stood behind as Kristina and Molly rushed to Sam. She was overwhelmed with joy. The tableau was a relief-her daughters and grandson safe with one another. Everything precious to her tightly entwined in a huddle of limbs, tears, laughter and hugs. But she also saw it as a warning. Victor could and would easily remove a piece if he felt her wavering. Hell, even if he *didn't* feel her wavering he could easily use it as a reminder of what more she could lose. The thought brought a constriction to her chest, and she felt her airwaves tightened as she sought to breathe through the frozen smile that still plastered her face.

Feeling the hug incomplete, Molly looked up to see her mother standing slightly panicked to the side. Unable to extract herself from the group hug, she pinched Kristina who caught the direction of Molly's stare before she turned her own head to see her mother behind them. She let go of of Sam's shoulders and took two steps toward her mother with her hand extended. It was some seconds before Alexis registered her presence, much less her gesture, and grabbed her fingers, entwining them as she had with Sam earlier. "Sweetheart," she smiled.

Kristina was momentarily assuaged by the smile, but she still felt her mother was too far away. She tugged her mothers hand, pulling her into the Davis girl hug. As Alexis wrapped her arms around Molly, Sam and Danny, Kristina wrapped herself around her, resting her head on Alexis's upper back. She could hear her mother's shallow breaths start to deepen, and hugged her a little tighter to further soothe her.

Unable to shake the feeling that something was still amiss, Kristina opted to ignore it for the time being. Sam was free, Molly was smiling, her mother was coming home. Whatever may still be threatening the closeness they all felt, it didn't appear ready to strike at that moment. So Kristina smiled and relaxed, even as she extended her arms to capture her entire family in her protective embrace.

Kristina sat on the couch, watching Sam play with Danny on the floor. Her sister hadn't left her nephew's side in the hours since she'd been home-going so far as to sleep in the chair in his room while he napped. She eyed the time on the DVR before gently prodding Sam, "it's late, Sam. He's never going to get up tomorrow."

-"Mmmmhmmm," Sam murmured. She looked at the woman sitting on the couch. "OK, Krissy," she sighed. "Let me give him a bath first."

-"I can do that, Sam. You must be exhausted."

-"Nope. I'm doing it. I'll jump in the shower after if you can put his PJs on."

Kristina nodded. "Of course. I can put him to bed if you want. You must be exhausted."

-"I am exhausted," Sam admitted. "But Danny and I are snuggling tonight. Mommy's going to bed when her big boy is, right Danny?"

-"Oh, of course." Kristina stumbled trying to hide her disappointment. She needed to talk to someone about the nagging feeling she had about her mother. Molly was not a receptive partner at the moment. While she cared for Alexis, she was more likely to attribute any changes in her behavior to sneaking around with Julian. Kristina hoped that was the case, but she wasn't that optimistic. If her mother *was* engaging in secret liaisons with a forbidden lover she'd at least have a little color in her cheeks. But Alexis was spent.

Her train of thought was brought to a screeching halt by a defensive Sam. "What? Look, Krissy. It's just one night. I missed my baby. I don't think there's anything wrong with it."

-"No, no, no. I'm so sorry. That's not what I meant." Krissy tripped over herself as she tried to cover for the thoughtless tone to her voice. "Of *course* you want to spend time with him. I don't think I'd get him to bed without you anyway. You're all he's asked about for a week."

-"OK. It's just that you sounded like you thought I was crazy or something. It came off as a little judgey."

-"I'm sorry. I was just disappointed. You're home, and I want to see you. I've missed you, and I'm so relieved you're free. I don't want you to disappear again...even if it's to your bedroom."

Sam smiled. "I know. There was a point where I was afraid I wasn't coming home. I don't know why I felt that way. I feel a little guilty, about it. Doubting Mom like that."

Kristina nodded. "I think we all felt bad. It's hard to remember sometimes how Mom can work miracles." She smiled. "OK, you two go up and get Danny that bath. I'll get his PJs and stuff ready for his field trip to Mommy's room."

-"We can talk tomorrow, Krissy. I want to hear everything." Sam looked her in the eyes. "I know that Mom has been acting weird lately. Between that and Sonny-I don't know how you held it together for Danny. But you did, and I owe you."

The younger woman smiled with relief. "Thank God. You saw the Mom thing, too. So I'm not crazy."

-"Well, I don't know if you're crazy, but something with Mom *is* off. Maybe it's just Nikolas is hitting her now that I'm free...I don't know. But we should talk about it." Sam hugged her. "Thank you for taking such good care of my boy."

-"I wasn't alone you know."

Sam smiled. "Maybe not physically." She kissed her forehead and then took Danny upstairs.

Alexis woke in the penthouse to find an arm draped over her waist. She touched the fingers and smiled softly. Kristina. Her daughter had come in last night to ask about dinner, and Alexis tried to talk to her about her father's upcoming life sentence in Pentonville. But Kristina dodged the topic, and they planned a Davis Girls outing instead. Kristina had been pushing for the next morning, but Alexis deferred, explaining another trip to New York to wrap up some business. Her daughter had started to protest but appeared to think better of it before agreeing to her mother's timeline. Alexis smirked at the thought, wondering when Kristina had learned restraint. She turned over so she was facing her daughter. "Krissy, honey," she whispered in her ear.

-"Mmmffppfpf."

-"Turn over."

-"What going on?" she asked through a fog of sleep.

-"Nothing, sweetheart." Alexis stroked the hair off her forehead. "I just need you to roll over."

Kristina slowly followed her mother's request, and Alexis threw the comforter over her form. She then snuggled up into her back, reversing their positions from earlier in the evening. She smelled her daughter's hair, convinced she could smell Baby Kristina. It was most likely a memory-the coconut shampoo and conditioner, hairspray, gel and whatever else she put in there to tame the curly legacy inherited from both her parents formed a powerful barrier that would not easily be breached. But she was happy to pretend, unsure when the next moments she would have alone with her daughter. She hugged her tighter, hoping to magically transfer whatever wisdom and tools she'd had yet to impart during her daughter's first twenty-something odd years of life.

Alexis continued to stroke idly her daughter's hair until she saw the clock read 4 am. She rolled out of bed and quietly changed into a t-shirt and jeans. She grabbed her already packed overnight bag, and tiptoed out of the room. When she made it outside of Sam's building, she felt the first chills of autumn. Alexis hailed a taxi, but she wasn't going to the airport. She opened her phone to send a text and laid her head against the back of the car, shutting her eyes.