Heat 09

"There's our little jailbird." Luke Spencer wore a crooked grin as he strolled down the hall toward the holding facility, a few steps behind a very worried Lulu. "Way to shoot the sheriff, Daughter-In-Law."

Elizabeth smiled wearily and slowly slid off the bench, making her way toward her in-laws. Lulu barely waited for the armed officer to fully open the door and lead them in; instead, she squeezed right past him and made a beeline for her older sister.

"Liz," she sighed, doing her best to hug the older woman between the bars. "We just got back from the Islands – hey, Mister Patrick – and heard that you got tossed in the slammer. What the hell happened? I mean, we know the official story and stuff, but….what the hell happened?"

Elizabeth shrugged, glancing over as Patrick shuffled forward as well to greet the Spencers. "You know about Sam's surgery." Luke and Lulu nodded. "Well, then you know that we performed it without proper authorization and Alexis took us down."

Lulu frowned, her small hands curling around the cold bars. "But…but, Sam's awake. What's the problem?"

"The problem is that Alexis Davis-Lansing sucks," Patrick muttered. "She's going after trained medical personnel when underground mafia bosses roam the streets freely." He considered his words for a moment then looked over at Elizabeth's cellmate. "…No offence, Jason."

The enforcer simply shrugged in reply, still lying on his back on the small cot. Elizabeth sighed and brushed her bangs out of her face, forcing a brave smile for her worried sister-in-law. "Don't worry, Lu, it won't hold up," she assured the girl, stroking her hand. "It's just like you said – Sam woke up. Alexis will get a call from the Mayor's department and suddenly start singing the hero song instead of the renegade doctor one, and we'll be sprung."

"Sooner or later," Patrick agreed with a shrug. "Although I'm personally betting on later."

"You are such a downer, do you know that?" Lulu frowned, her hands on her hips. "Even on the island – you just went around peeing on everyone's parade. I'm telling you, Mister Patrick, this whole pessimist thing you've got going on is majorly detracting from your hotness."

Patrick opened his mouth, but Luke stopped him with a pointed glare.

"Junior, you so much as spit one of your crusty lines at my Gumdrop and I'm going to pull some strings and make sure they've got you on some sort of rock-breaking chain gang come morning."

Elizabeth chuckled when her friend rolled his eyes. "Hey – he'd do it, too." She elbowed him roughly and then turned to her father-in-law. "Thanks for dropping by, though, really. Have you had a chance to see Robert yet?"

Lulu looked up at Luke, who nodded. "Yeah, I got a call from him as soon as we touched down. He's working the case himself and he says he's got a few promising leads that he's tracking down right now. Don't you worry, darlin'. Scorpio may be a lot of things – a crook, a cheat, a miser, a deadbeat-" he stopped to take a breath. "-a bounty hunter, a scallywag, a turncoat, a goody-goody and a guy in desperate need of some foot-flogging – but he's a detective first and foremost. He'll figure it out and get you four the hell out of here."

Elizabeth nodded confidently, biting her lip. "Yeah, I know. I know there are tons of people right now trying to get us sprung."

"Dad's going to talk to Natasha – I mean, Alexis – himself," Lulu supplied helpfully. "Aren't you, Dad?"

The older man was nodding. "I'll see if I can't knock some sense into the old girl. Natasha and I – we go way back. I'll see what I can do."

The brunette smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Luke. Justus is already on the case, and I bet Ric has been trying to talk to her, too. Robert said that Alan already had word on it and is standing by us, too. And I know that Lucky will do his best to pull strings inside the PCPD and get us out."

Her hesitant smile faded slightly when Luke and Lulu exchanged uncomfortable glances. "…What? What is it?"

Luke scratched the back of his head, shifting his weight from foot to foot, and Elizabeth's smile turned to a frown.

"What aren't you guys telling me?"

Lulu let out a small sigh and grasped her sister's hand through the bars. "Liz, we didn't want to make you worry, but…"

"Darlin', we've been trying to get in touch with Lucky," Luke informed her regretfully. "Ever since we got back and got Robert's call, we've been trying to call your place. We tried from the bar, from the Brownstone when I went to check in with Barbara, and even right outside the PCPD."

"He's not picking up," Lulu finished in a small voice. "I called Nikolas and he said he tried once or twice yesterday, but Lucky's not answering."

Patrick exchanged glances with Jason, who was alert now and also looking at the young nurse. Slowly, the doctor dropped a light hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Elizabeth was nodding slowly, her lips pursed together and stretching in a small, forced smile. "Okay. Okay, that's okay. He's probably asleep – he hasn't been feeling well lately. Okay. I know that when he hears the news, he'll come down as soon as he can. Yeah, that's what he'll do. He's probably just asleep. Thanks for telling me, though."

Luke and Lulu exchanged discreet glances. The girl opened her mouth to say something but her father's hand on her back stopped her. He shook his head just a fraction of an inch when her questioning eyes turned up to meet his, and smiled for his daughter-in-law.

"You take care, darlin'," the older man said, taking his daughter by the hand. "I would've slipped you a shiv, but I forgot it at the Brownstone. Would've come in handy if Junior over there got too frisky."

Patrick glared at him as the brunette chuckled.

"We'll be back soon," Lulu promised as her father all but dragged her away. "And we'll try to call Lucky again."

"Sit tight, Elizabeth," Luke repeated, his serious blue eyes meeting hers as the guard locked up the facility. "We're not going to let you rot in here."

The nurse nodded and smiled, even waved as her father- and sister-in-law disappeared from sight. As soon as they were gone, she heaved a heavy sigh and rubbed her temples, resting her forehead against the bar.

Patrick shifted, uncomfortable with her troubled expression. Abruptly, he reached out and poked her in the stomach through the bars. "Hey."

"Hey, what?" she groused, slapping his hand away.

"Cheer up," he replied simply. "Like you said, your husband wouldn't let you stay here. And we've got Justus, Alan, the Scorpios and the Spencers working overtime trying to get us out. It'll be all right – you'll see."

"Patrick Drake," she murmured, quirking him a half-smile. "You have a heart after all."

He narrowed his eyes at the amusement in her voice. "Hey, I could always just hit on you, you know."

Elizabeth chuckled, patting his arm through the bars. "Don't worry about me, Patrick. I can handle a little jail time. I'm a lot tougher than I look, you know."

The doctor grinned, leaning a hip against the bars. "Oh, yeah, you've got 'hardened criminal' written all over you."

The brunette's sapphire eyes twinkled. "Actually…"

Patrick's grin turned into a frown and he exchanged quizzical glances with Jason, who only shrugged. "What's that supposed to mean?" Her grin grew larger. "Oh, no. Elizabeth, what did you do?"

The brunette giggled despite herself. "Did I ever tell you about the time I dressed up as a hot biker chick and walked into an Atlantic City biker bar with Lucky to help save Luke?"

The doctor's jaw dropped. "No, I think you conveniently left that out at some point during our grand courtship."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and walked over to the bench, whirling around on her heels and sitting with a flourish. "What do you think of your little Girl Scout now, Patrick?"

"I think that she needs to tell me the whole story," he replied, following her to the bench. "And not just the Reader's Digest version."

"Well, it happened a few years ago when Luke disappeared and Lucky needed help tracking him down. We got word that he was in Atlantic City, so we followed him down and came up with disguises. I found these great leather pants and this leather tube top that ended above my bellybutton and this adorable little black leather hat," she started, not noticing the way Patrick and Jason both gaped at her.

"And I walked into this biker bar and grilled this one biker chick about Luke. Apparently, she'd seen him but she wasn't talking, and then her guy got up in my face and was a real jackass, so I opened up a can of Trailer Trash Whup-Ass on them and pretended like I was Luke's jilted ex-lover and I needed to track that weasely son of a bitch down because that man done did me wrong and-"

"Why the hell don't I have my video phone with me?" Patrick murmured, rubbing his chin with his hand as Jason did his best not to fall off the high cot in shock.

"And then we found out that he was part of this chain gang, right? So Lucky went in to try to get him out only he got thrown on the gang, too, so I went into town and sweet-talked this really cute local into letting me borrow his '67 Mustang, and I found this totally gaudy and sheer leopard top with a black mini and these amazing spiked heels that I still have and-"

"Stop," Patrick protested weakly, covering his ears. "Let me bask in the visual image."

Elizabeth swatted his shoulder through the bars as Jason glared at the young doctor. "Anyway, so I dressed up and drove the car over to where the gang was working and I had already slashed the tire a bit, so it gave out right then. I got out and flashed some leg and asked the officers if they wouldn't mind helping poor, defenseless little me change my tire because they were just oh-so-strapping and strong."

She was laughing at the memory and using her innocent country girl voice, and Patrick couldn't help but join in as Jason simply watched on in disbelief.

"So they started changing it and I kept up the flirting while Lucky picked Luke's locks and got him out of there. Luke wasn't really right in the head back then, so he resisted, but Lucky got him away. Then the guards saw what had happened and opened fire, and that's when I got out of there. I met up with them at this abandoned little shed and we were just about to make our escape when we heard helicopters and the county sheriff on the megaphone. Luke was sooo pissed off at us."

She shrugged nonchalantly, scuffing one sneaker with the toe of the other. "So we got thrown in the slammer for a night until one of Luke's pals in the area heard about it and bailed us out."

"Well, criminy, Calamity Jane, that's quite a story," Patrick replied in his best Australian accent. "So you've done all this before, huh?"

Elizabeth looked up at him with a smile and nodded her head as Jason watched silently from atop the bed. "I've done all this before."

The four cellmates were all half-asleep by the time Robert Scorpio dropped in on them once more. He informed the group that his leads hadn't panned out as he had hoped, but that he had talked to his brother about the second corpse found in the nurse's locker room and convinced him that there was a very strong link between that man and the first sniper. There had been some DNA evidence that was found on the second man, and the tests were still being done on that to see if it could produce any answers. Jason and Elizabeth had thanked him and Robert had left in a hurry, but not before reluctantly telling Patrick that his daughter said she'd try to stop by after her rotation.

A few hours passed and still they sat. Epiphany occupied the cot while Patrick sat sprawled out on the lone bench. Jason and Elizabeth now shared their bench, but had yet to share any words of what had transpired earlier. She didn't renew her attempts to convince him to be with Sam, and he didn't broach the subject again.

Somewhere out in the hall, a lone clock ticked miserably, counting away the seconds that passed by. Elizabeth let out a sigh and debated whether or not to go to sleep as she heard the nighttime janitor take up his shift. Soon, the sound of sloshing water and the steady sweep of his mop provided the background melody for the drained foursome.

Jason leaned his head back against the hard, cold wall, his hands clasped in his lap as Elizabeth sat cross-legged next to him and tried to stifle a yawn. Patrick sighed heavily, picking at the stray threads at the bottom of his scrub top. He'd unravel the whole damn thing if he didn't quit it soon. Epiphany stared at the ceiling and hummed quietly to herself – some old Andrews Sisters tune that no one recognized.

The janitor was closer now, right outside the facility, but was hardly noticed. He wore a khaki-colored jumpsuit and a cap with the brim pulled low over his eyes. His nametag read Mario and he worked rhythmically, methodically, moving the mop over the tiles in smooth, circular motions.

Jason watched him quietly, his eyes trained on his back, and let out a sigh. Discreetly, he glanced over at Elizabeth who was still stifling yawns at his side. "You should get some sleep."

She shook her head stiffly and avoided his gaze. "I'm fine. Really."

"I wish I had a corn dog," Patrick murmured, rolling over onto his stomach and crossing his arms under his head. "…And some root beer. And a Twinkie."

Jason frowned as the doctor continued to mutter foreign food items. "What the hell is a Twinkie?"

"It's a pasty roll thing that you can store for 50 years and still eat," Elizabeth whispered back.

"…And licorice," Patrick continued to mutter, half-asleep now. "And a Philly cheese steak sandwich…and tater tots…and pizza rolls…and stale marshmallow Peeps…and waffles…and a case of insulin."

Elizabeth smiled to herself, playing with her fingers as the janitor let himself into their facility and resumed mopping up the floor. His cart was squeaky and followed him under protest, and he kept his back to them.

"Nite, Patrick."

"…And cotton candy."

Jason smirked to himself and was about to close his eyes when he heard the janitor stop his mopping. Curiously, he peeked out through half-open eyes and watched as the man returned his mop to the cart and fiddled with the zipper of his jumpsuit. The zipper was pulled down and he heard a faint rustle of paper, and then the zipper was pulled back up.

The janitor turned and faced them, quietly making his way over the slightly wet floor to the cell. The bill of his cap hung low over his eyes, and the sparse and dim lighting further concealed his face in shadows.

Jason straightened on the bench, suddenly alert, and narrowed his eyes. The janitor came to a stop directly in front of Elizabeth, who also looked up curiously.

"I'm sorry, can I help-"

Patrick pushed his heavy lids up at the sound of Elizabeth's voice, and then his sleepy eyes flew open at her sharp gasp. He turned toward the janitor, who had straightened fully and removed his cap, and now stood staring directly at the stricken brunette.

Manny Ruiz.

In an instant, Jason was on his feet and blocking Elizabeth from the killer's view. His hands were curled into fists and Patrick knew instantly that this was not going to end well. He glanced over at Epiphany who was now also alert and staring hard in Manny's direction. Gulping quietly, he straightened on the bench but remained sitting, reluctant to make any sudden moves that might provoke the madman.

But Manny appeared perfectly calm and agreeable. His dark eyes darted toward Jason and the corner of his mouth twitched. "I'm not here for you, Jason. You have nothing to worry about. I'm here to see the nurse – the pretty little one that helps me when I'm not feeling well. How are you, sweet Elizabeth?"

If the man hadn't been standing just outside of his reach, Jason would have hauled him up to the bars and choked him instantly. But as it was, he could do nothing but stubbornly block the young woman from Manny's view.

This in turn wore on the other man's patience. "Don't spoil our reunion, Jason," he warned in a silky voice. "I've been waiting for so long to see Elizabeth again. How are you, Nurse Webber? How's your husband?"

"…Fine," the brunette replied slowly, easing off the bench and standing up. Patrick reached out for her instinctively, not wanting her to move, but wasn't quick enough. "W-What are you doing here?"

"I came here to see you, like I said," Manny replied sweetly, peering at her despite Jason's best attempts. "I even brought you a little present."

"She doesn't want anything from you," Jason seethed quietly, knowing that he was at a grave disadvantage. Manny had produced the envelope he now held from within his bulky jumpsuit; he could very well have a gun underneath there as well. He had no way of knowing what the psycho's plans were, but all he could do was make sure he didn't get close to Elizabeth.

"Oh, I think she'll want this," Manny disagreed, tapping the envelope. "Don't you, sweetness? Don't be afraid, Elizabeth; I'd never hurt you. Well, not if I had the choice. There's already such a shortage of pure, sweet girls in this world. No, I wouldn't hurt you. Don't you want to see what I have for you?"

Her small hands were curled into fists and she eyed him suspiciously. "Do I?"

Jason was surprised to hear her respond but when he looked over his shoulder, Elizabeth's eyes were glued to Manny's obsidian ones. They shared a look, teasing and grave at the same time. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it appeared as if they shared their own peculiar connection. And he didn't like it. "Elizabeth…"

"It's okay, sweet Elizabeth," Manny soothed, extending the envelope. "Look, look at what I'm doing." He slid the packet onto the metal ledge used to deposit food trays and backed away, his hands in the air. "It's up to you, Elizabeth. It's always up to you. You don't have to open it if you don't want to; you know I'd never force you to do anything you didn't want to."

He wasn't familiar with Manny's humor when it came to the young woman at his side, but Jason instantly saw the irony of it. Elizabeth had told him that when Manny first kidnapped her, he had actually bothered to stop and apologize for the inconvenience. Manny was, if nothing else, at least marginally polite to the women he held captive at gunpoint.

"I'm sorry, Elizabeth." Manny fiddled with his cap, an uncharacteristic display of hesitance and regret. He had backed away and now stood by the gate leading to the facility. Jason glowered menacingly in his direction, inwardly overwhelmingly relieved that he was leaving without a fuss. But Manny wasn't paying any attention to the matronly nurse or the doctor and enforcer that flanked the young nurse that had his full attention at the moment.

"I'm so sorry." The brunette hesitantly reached out and grasped the envelope, jerking it back and holding it against his chest as the other man watched.

"It's going to hurt you," he told her softly, still fiddling with his cap. "And I apologize for that – for the pain you're going to feel, sweet Elizabeth. But I won't apologize for bringing it to you. It's something you need to be aware of."

Patrick stood close by Elizabeth side as they all stared at the killer. He pulled the gate shut in front of him and walked back, standing in the hallway now.

"I can't save you from everything, sweet Elizabeth," he murmured, one hand on the bars in a half-hearted and peculiar goodbye. "As much as I try to, I can't always save you from everything."

Her sharp gasp tore through the silent room, and then he was gone.

Jason and Patrick stared at Elizabeth who had suddenly gone as pale as a sheet. She reached out and grasped a bar with one hand, using her grip to support herself, and didn't even notice when Patrick's hand closed over hers.

"Oh, my God," she murmured, clutching the envelope to her chest even tighter. "It was him. It was him all along."

"Who? Manny?" The doctor's eyes frantically searched her unresponsive sapphire ones. "Elizabeth, what're you talking about?"

"Manny," she whispered, bowing her head with her eyes closed. "It was Manny."

"Who was Manny?" Patrick persisted. "Elizabeth, you're not making any sen-"

"Manny shot Sam," she got out, her grip on the bar so tight now that her knuckles were turning alabaster from the lack of circulation. "Manny. He saw me on the roof at the Metrocourt. He killed the sniper that was after me, then shot at Sam. He followed me into the hospital and then killed the assassin in the locker room. It was Manny all along."

A moment of stunned silence followed, broken first by Epiphany. "We'll have to tell the commissioner to get word to Robert Scorpio in the morning – immediately," she murmured, reverting to her all-business tone because she simply didn't know what else to say.

Patrick's eyes were still on his petrified friend. "Are…Are you sure?"

"He's always had a soft spot for me," she murmured, absently fingering the envelope. "And he said…he said just now that he tried to protect me. It has to be him. It has to be. I don't…I don't know why…"

Her gaze fell to the envelope as if she were suddenly noticing it for the first time. With a small sigh, she removed her hand from the bar and turned the slim packet over in her hands. It took her a minute to work up the presence of mind to take one wobbling step and then another until she was a few paces away from Patrick and Jason.

Slowly, she pulled open the tab and ripped through the paper with her index finger. Elizabeth licked her lips and hesitantly peeked into the envelope as if expecting something heinous. Instead, all she saw were a few sheets of paper.

Jason watched quietly as she pulled the contents out with her index and middle finger, then turned them over. He couldn't make out the papers from a distance, but he knew one bore text and the other was a grainy photograph.

Elizabeth lowered the packet, concealing it so that neither Jason nor Patrick could see. Slowly, she unfolded the letter and began to read it, her eyes widening with each scrawled word. The paper crumpled as she pulled it away and fumbled for the accompanying photograph, her frantic eyes hungrily swallowing the details of the grainy shot.

Patrick could have sworn that he heard her heart break. The brunette's shoulders slumped and her arms fell slack at her sides. He tried to catch a glimpse at whatever it was that Manny had given her that had upset her so, but he couldn't make it out.

Jason, too, exchanged nervous glances with the doctor and then hesitantly moved forward to her. But Elizabeth jerked away almost as if she anticipated his touch when he reached out for her and quickly moved out of the way.

Her movements were quick and jerky as she hastily stuffed the papers back into the envelope and tucked it tightly under her arm. The brunette's eyes were dazed and bright as she looked at Jason without even seeing him and blindly moved toward her cot.

"You know," she got out in a thick, strained voice. "I think I will get some sleep."

Patrick and Epiphany frowned at each other as Elizabeth stumbled toward her cot and collapsed on top of the sheets, curling into a tight ball and keeping the envelope clutched tightly to her chest.

The doctor stared at her back, his eyes softening as he saw how small and helpless she suddenly looked. Without knowing what it was that Elizabeth had seen, he knew that there would be very little he could do to cheer her up this time.