Chapter 3
Mac went down to the cells, seeing Sam McCall, sitting against the wall, he said "I thought you should know, Jason returned with Elizabeth and the boys. Customs said they presented a wedding certificate. You might want to consider a plea, my guess, is that right about now, they are learning the truth about Jake and that you knew he was alive."
Sam watched the man leave, then felt a slow smile grow on her face, soon, she should be out of here soon. No matter what else, Jason would get her out of jail; he always had come to her rescue.
Once out, she would be able to regain the ground she had lost. Frowning, a bit furious to recall her other misstep. She should have never told that FBI agent she was pregnant, the man had insisted on a test and when it had came back negative she had lost the ability to pretend being pregnant already.
Steven let Sarah know he was at the address Elizabeth had sent to him. "It's a brick house, on the corner of Spruce and Pine. Give me about twenty minutes."
Inside the house, Cam and Jason were sitting on the stairs talking quietly. The little boy clearly didn't trust Jason to be his father and Elizabeth had agreed to give them time to talk about it after she had overheard what Cam had said about Lucky.
In the family room Elizabeth was standing at the back window looking out over the large yard while trying to hide her tears. She had turned herself inside and out trying to provide her sons with the perfect family and one sentence from Cam made it clear that all she had done was made them as insecure as she had been as a child.
She had thought the kids loved Lucky, instead it became obvious that slowly but surely her ex-husband had killed that automatic love kids felt for their fathers. Looking back with regret, especially on the last few years, she could only promise that from here on out she would actually talk to her children instead of just believing she knew what was best for them.
When the door bell rang, she frowned wondering who it was because as far as she knew no one was aware they were home, nor where they were. Hearing her brother's voice in the entrance way she went to greet him and saw he was looking rather grim.
Steven hugged her then asked for them to sit down, that he had to talk to them. When she started to say no, he swallowed his rejection of her marriage and the mobster and said "This is about Jake."
Looking over to where Cam and Aidan now where, she said "Cam, we will be in here for a few minutes, will you boys be okay?"
The seven year old nodded and went back to playing with his toys. Moving a bit away, she sat down next to Jason on the sofa and together they looked at her brother. "Elizabeth, we never discussed Jake's accident because I didn't want to put you through discussing the details but now, I am afraid something has happened that means we must."
Elizabeth hesitated then told them about the accident. "I ran out right after I noticed he wasn't inside. Jake was lying in the middle of the street unconscious."
"Liz, how much blood was there?" Seeing Morgan's glare Steven said "Was he lying on his back, on his side, on his stomach?"
"O-on his side." she said painfully. "I really thought he was going to be fine, there wasn't a lot of blood, it didn't look that bad. Then when I got to the hospital-"
Steven said softly more to himself than to them. "When I got there, he was covered in blood, his face was a mess. I didn't want you to see him that way. It's why I didn't let you into the room."
"N-no, no, Steven Jake didn't look that bad. There was only a slight cut but I thought it was deeper when Patrick told me-"
Interrupting her, Steven said "I went to your place, found his clothes. They weren't cut off like is standard procedure with a head wound."
"Steven, what are you saying? I SAW Jake, I was in the observation room while they operated on Jake." said Jason. One of the things he was grateful to Sam for was her being there for him then. She had seen he was devastated and had for once been supportive without talking.
"There are other inconsistencies." said the man. "Patrick and I went looking for them over the last few days. We are trying to piece together what happened and who knew it when. Elizabeth Joss and Jake's blood type didn't match according to their PEDs files."
"No, that is impossible." said a frowning Elizabeth. "Steven just say whatever it is you are trying to say."
Hearing the doorbell, she frowned and said "I will get rid of whoever that is. Just stop the probing and tell us what is going on!"
Jason went to the door himself, opening it he saw the blond with someone suddenly hiding behind her. "Yes?"
"I am here to see my sister." said Sarah. She wasn't too sure she trusted Jason but after talking to several people got what the two had been doing. Both had been in pain and in a need to numb the pain had used people instead of drugs or alcohol.
"Sarah?" Elizabeth saw her sister but before she ask anything heard what sounded like Jake calling Mommy then a body hit her around the knees. Looking down in stunned disbelief at her supposedly dead son, then at Jason Elizabeth fell to the ground and pulled the small blond into her arms as she cried and hugged all over him.
Cam from the other room thought he had heard his brother and rushed to the other room. Seeing Jake, he shouted his name and they were soon hugging and talking to one another.
As Jake told Cam about missing Mommy and how he had been told Mommy was gone, Cam was just telling him that he was alive, that he was back home.
The Webber siblings stood off to the side watching as Jason and Elizabeth just looked at one another in shock then were soon hugging and making promises to never let anything like this happen again. When Jake looked at his mommy and said "I's hungry Mommy!"
All she could do was laugh and then look at Jason as they got there might not be any food in the kitchen. Hurrying to the large room, Elizabeth was relieved to see her boy's favorites of chicken nuggets and Mac-n-cheese.
"We will table this until they are in bed." said Steven who watched the three boys. Seeing Morgan wanted answers he said "It's best this part be done after they are in bed."
Sarah helped Liz cook, then wash up the boys while Jason felt a sense of pain that all Jake had said to him was hi then had ignored him since. As the four year old ate, he felt sick as it finally hit him all the time he had missed in his misguided attempt to protect those he loved.
Grimacing when before it was announced bedtime Jake only again waved at him, he stayed downstairs and made a few calls. Leaving messages on voice mail with Sonny, with Carly, then with Sam telling them he needed to talk to them all the next day; Jason saw the cool eyes of Steven Webber glaring at him.
"I have to tell them face to face that things are going to be changing. I won't allow them to try and separate us, never again."
"What about the kid, what are you going to do about that computer geek, because Morgan, Sam McCall got her way back into your life through him. He isn't going to be happy you are with Elizabeth. He wants you with Sam. And with his computer skills I wouldn't have put it past him to have tagged both of you to see if you were meeting."
His mind going back to the mysterious GPS unit on a vehicle the kid claimed was clear, Jason had the dark suspicion that things regarding Spinelli were no more like he believed then they were regarding Carly.
Sarah and Elizabeth were talking softly as they returned to the living room. "Okay, who had my son? Our son?"
Hearing about the adoption, the duped couple, Jason and Elizabeth felt a sense of gratitude for the care they gave their son but also felt a sense of pain for what they had lost. "Why?"
Being told that Suzanne had been looking for leverage against Jason for helping Brenda, Jason felt sick. "There is more."
Hearing about what Robin had told them was Brenda's reaction, Jason wasn't surprised, she had always been selfish, but that Sonny had reacted that way was a shock to him.
Elizabeth was angry but said to Jason. "You were worried about your job and once again it is something that was personal. This had nothing to do with the 'coffee business."
Wincing he said "I know and I am sorry."
"Me too." she said with a sigh. "Do you know how she pulled this off?"
"No and we doubt we are going to ever get any answers as to that. We do know how she found out about Jake, from Jason there." said Steven who saw the man frown. "You were talking to Michael about him. She had overheard."
Now that sick feeling was getting deeper for Jason but then he asked. "How did you find Jake?"
"We didn't, Mac Scorpio did. I will let him tell you that part of the story." said Sarah in a cold tone of voice. "We have something more urgent to speak to you about. Elizabeth do you remember my gene testing experiment that I used the boys blood in?"
Nodding Elizabeth said "I thought that was a long term thing."
"It would have been but we ran tests against the mothers, remember?" she asked.
"Yes, why?" she asked.
"Elizabeth there is no way to soften this blow but Aidan's genes didn't match your own. Nor Nik's?"
"What? Are you saying that Lucky brought back the wrong little boy?" she cried out in shock and pain. "That's not possible, I ran a test, yes Nik isn't his father but Lucky is."
"Yes, Lucky is his father and Aidan is the little boy you gave birth to." she said as gently as possible "However he isn't biologically. Helena Cassadine bought Lucky's sperm from a bank, then somehow got another woman's egg. From what I gather, she wanted to hurt the Spencer's and Alexis."
"Are you saying I gave birth to Alexis Davis' child?" she asked in shock.
"No, to Sam McCall's." said Steven. He saw the shock on Jason's face and said "Sarah told Lucky and Sam when some other news came out. You should know, the courts have already ruled on similar cases. Lucky sold his sperm, he has no rights. Since you are the woman who gave birth, Sam has no right to Aidan."
"Poor Sam." said Jason feeling for the woman who was so desperate to be a mother.
"My God!" Elizabeth was not sure what she felt, revulsion at what Helena did, yet at the same time she unlike Jason didn't feel bad for Sam, she could see that to Sam a child was an accessory, a way to control whoever she was with. Yet at the same time for Sam to know this.
"Elizabeth you should know, social services won't allow her contact with Aidan. He is YOUR SON." said Sarah.
"That isn't really fair to Sam, she didn't know about this." said Jason quietly.
"After the hell she put my sister through regarding Jake, this is poetic justice." retorted Sarah. "You don't know half the shit because my sister is too nice but there are a few things you need to be told."
When Elizabeth protested, Sarah said "Elizabeth, I love you but shut up for now."
Jason soon got an earful of being told Jake was dead during the first kidnapping, about confrontations, threats and verbal abuse. While he had understood from Cam how his going back to Sam had looked from the boys prospective, he now had a better understanding of how badly it had looked to Elizabeth.
Getting how she had ended up back with Lucky, how Nik had happened, he knew she had been doing exactly the same thing he did. They had been reeling and going back to what was known, never mind the pain and anguish they had been causing each other.
He also started to understand what John Zachara had said about his not knowing what was going on in his own life. Clearly being able to look at it from the outside, the storm that his life had been the younger man had seen the only way to fix things was to do what he had done.
"Thank you, Sarah. Elizabeth never told me any of this." he said grimly. Looking at the blond he asked "Why do I think there are other incidents involving Carly that are similar."
"Tons and tons. You both are idiots. She is the same way regarding Lucky." Sarah looked at her sister and said "Are you getting that your promise of a perfect family is what lead to this mess? Elizabeth, Lucky wanted control. Nik, Nik wanted to forget Emily. You were just looking for an escape. I think that this marriage, no matter how it came about and I don't know anything; I am only speculating is going to be good for both of you."
Feeling Jason lace his fingers with her, she looked at the blond and said "You are right about that. Regarding Aidan and Sam, I will have to work this out with Jason. Then talk to Lucky because regardless he is the father. I don't know that I can rightfully keep their child away from them. Besides, no matter what else, Alexis and Laura deserve to know their grandchild."
"Just don't let them suck you back in." she was asked by her sister who said as they were leaving "Nice house by the way."
There was silence after the door closed as Elizabeth looked at Jason and said "I will be honest and say I don't know what to think. I love that little boy and don't think Sam would be a good mother."
"Elizabeth..." Jason wasn't sure he was going to like where it sounded like this was going.
"Don't Elizabeth me." she snapped. "I don't want to let Lucky near Aidan either. Right now, I am thinking of Alexis and Laura who DO deserve to spend time with their grandson."
Jason sat down and said "Yes, Sam screwed a lot of things up, did a lot of bad things, but she is trying to turn that around, she is trying to atone for her mistakes."
"To atone for your mistakes, you have to admit you made them and not blame them on moments of weakness. It means admitting you actually meant to do what you did and she has NEVER, ever done that. Instead she blames everyone else. And then you have to apologize, I have never gotten an apology, Jake hasn't either. So, Jason who has she atoned to? You? You have got to be kidding me? Let me guess she tossed out an I'm sorry between moments of sex? Or what while she was asking for a child when Jake's body wasn't even yet cold? Or so we thought."
Jason winced then watched as Elizabeth folded her arms and stared at him. "So, Jason, did she sit down with you and say I am sorry for what I did or did she try to blame it on what happened in the past."
"Elizabeth, I was the reason she was shot, I was the one who dumped her." he pointed out.
"So what you are saying is that you forgave Ric for locking Carly in the panic room? After all he was the way he was because his mother abandoned him, then he believed Sonny caused my miscarriage."
"No it's not the same thing, Ric is an adult." he protested. "He hurt Carly, he hurt Michael and Morgan for something that Trevor and Adella did."
"So we now get to the truth. Because it was only Jake and I who were the victims..."
"NO! That isn't what I meant." he said getting frustrated. "You know that isn't what I meant."
"It's what you just said, Jason. What Sam did, it hurt me, it hurt Jake, and it hurt Cam."
Jason looked at Elizabeth and said "Sam was genuinely hurt by what I did. Ric was using it as an excuse."
"So is Sam. Jason, do you think if you had ended things better with her, she wouldn't have gone after Jake and me? If you had decided to stay with her, that she wouldn't have wanted us gone?"
"Of course not. Sam was truly sorry, Elizabeth." he said "I know you have good reasons for feeling the way you do, but I know Sam a lot better than you do, she is at heart a good person. She had a lousy childhood and it affects everything she does. She deserves to at least get to know her child, a chance to be a part of his life."
"I am not so sure I want her around us, around my other children, nor around Aidan. I don't trust her." said Elizabeth her mind on what Sam had said to her that day about getting back at Elizabeth.
"Elizabeth, he is her son. Her flesh and blood. You were going to give Jax a child, walk away from that little one. Courtney would have been that baby's mother, are you saying that what Sam did was any less vile than what Courtney did?"
"Yes, I am. Courtney came after me; Sam went after children, Jason." Standing she said "Sarah told me that Mac knows more that we are going to have to meet with Diane in the morning. I need some sleep."
Jason stayed downstairs, looking out the window. He had made promises to Sam, ones that were made when he hadn't known the whole story but at the same time she didn't deserve to lose her child. Yet he was also Elizabeth's child.
While he was working on a future with Elizabeth, Sam was losing the promises he had made and to the woman who had her son. How did he reconcile being happy with Elizabeth while they were raising the child of the woman he had hurt so badly?
Then there was the mess with Carly. He was going to have to get her to let go and he didn't know how he was going to convince her that what she seemed to think should happen was never going to. He had for years believed one thing about his friend, that she had moved on accepted what little they had had was the past and that simply was not the case on her part.
Michael, Sonny, Spinelli, the list went on and on and were pretty much his entire list of friends... that alone made him face that things had to change. Looking back he could see his mistakes and where he had let others lead him where they wanted him to go. Now, that he was going to be setting up limits, boundaries would they accept them or would they just push and push until he had no choice but to push them away.
Morning came and all three boys were a handful as Sarah and Steven showed up. "I am going to stay with the boys while you go to the station."
Jason who had been helping dress Jake and Cam came down the stairs carrying a sock. "Who is wearing only one sock?"
Elizabeth looked down then raised her hand saying with a grin "Me!"
The boys giggled while Elizabeth handed Aidan to Jason who for the first time held the little boy. When he reached out for Jason's nose then his ears, all the enforcer saw was Elizabeth's son and that made him feel guilty about poor Sam. He had spent the night tossing and turning, trying to find a way for them to compromise but he knew that Sam wouldn't be happy no matter what they came up with nor would Elizabeth.
The one thing he had decided was that Elizabeth's happiness mattered more to him so whatever she decided he would go along with. The happiness of his family, that being Elizabeth, Cameron, Jake and Aidan were what mattered.
Arriving at the hospital where they were meeting Jason saw Michael who went to greet him then suddenly turned and quickly hurried the other way. "I wonder what that was about?"
"That is about Michael seeing me." said Mac who then let Jason know what had been happening regarding his nephew. "That you were willing to let him hang out with someone on probation, with a hooker? Morgan, I never thought of you as stupid, but I have to say, I am beginning to change my mind."
Jason sat down as it sank in that by allowing Michael to do whatever he wanted, he had almost let the boy go back to prison. "Mac, I had no idea that she was on probation."
"But you did know she was a former hooker?" he asked the other man. Jason saw Elizabeth's disgust and said with a sigh. "Yeah, she is a friend of Sam's."
"Why am I not surprised?" said Elizabeth who got up and went to the doorway. They were showing a unified position in public and not wanting to blow it; she walked off before giving Jason a piece of her mind.
"Morgan, there are no words." said Mac looking at him with annoyance. "Michael isn't allowed with fifty feet of his father, of you, of his mother nor of anyone else with so much as a single conviction on record. Talk to your attorney but you should know one more misstep and I won't give him another chance. He has had way too many of those."
"How can you keep him from his parents?" asked Jason in shock. "His family?"
"Because they and you are the reason he is what he is. Not because of the coffee business either." said Elizabeth. Seeing the warning in Jason's eyes she said "No, a few home truths, wasn't that what we agreed, on honesty. Michael's problem is his sense of entitlement; he has never faced discipline for anything. Add that to a mother like Carly and you have what you have."
"Elizabeth is right." said Mac. "I see the same thing in Maxie. We indulged her after her transplant and now we are reaping the rewards. Kids need to hear no, they need to know they are the children and we are the adults. Michael acts like he is the one in charge. Even when I arrested him, he acted like I had no business there, like he wasn't out of prison on the skin of his teeth."
The blond teenager entered and glared at the cop, then at the brunette before saying to Mac. "You wanted me here."
"I just want to make sure you know, I told your uncle the consequences of what is going on. You should know. Abby was violated for her behavior. She is back in Albion already."
"You can't do that. Sam, Sam told us it was fine for us to meet. Abby had no idea."
"I had nothing to do with it, Mr. Corinthos. Her probation officer was doing his job and as for Ms. McCall; why on earth would you believe a high school dropout over talking to your attorney or even your own probation officer."
"Sam was on my side." he stated then looking at his uncle said "She wants me to be happy, that is all she wants. For those in Uncle Jason's life to be happy. That is why I asked her."
Jason asked Mac how long Abby was in for. "Five more years. She was first arrested for prostitution as a kid, given probation at 16. Released to the custody of her parents, she didn't stay with them long. Her father was a reverend and she didn't like his restrictive rules. She ran away, started selling drugs, probation was revoked after being caught."
Michael was blaming that on Brandon who he told Mac was abusive. Mac looked at the kid then said "She was then arrested for conning two men in Jacksonville with another con artist, care to guess who?"
"Sam?" asked Elizabeth who saw Michael glare at her while Jason frowned. Sam had told him she had just met Abby at the strip club but clearly that wasn't the truth.
"Yes, Sam McCall aka Angela Monroe." he told them showing the mug shot. "She jumped bail, came home and laid low. There she meets her husband, so Mr. Corinthos she was a criminal long before she met him."
"You are wrong, she told me that..." Michael protested then saw the look on his uncle's face and said "You are wrong, she loves me."
Jason sadly looked at the blond whose life he had ruined and said "Michael, I want to believe that but something doesn't feel right about this. I will ask Diane to look into things but I have to admit to having doubts. I am sorry; I should have never let this relationship start. I was in no place emotionally to be offering advice. I was making mistakes of my own, huge ones while trying to get through life in spite of losing my family."
"Uncle Jason, she loves me, I love her. She is the only one who understands what I have been through." he said softly, trying to get at least his uncle to see that they were wrong about Abby.
"Michael, I need to talk to Elizabeth and Jason now. I know that you were working, I will clear it with your boss to head back to the center." Mac did feel for the boy who clearly was being conned. His only question was how much had Sam McCall been involved.
Once it was just the Morgan's, Mac said "Alexis Davis is outside, I need her to come in for this part."
"I know about Aidan. I haven't made any decisions about what to do but until I do-"
"Elizabeth, this isn't about that." he said awkwardly. Letting in Alexis and Jagger Cates, he said looking between the married couple "This involves Jake's disappearance."
Sarah quietly came into the room behind the rest and stood silently waiting for them to hear what there was to hear. Alexis looked between Jason and Elizabeth then said "When Sam learned about Aidan, she came to me asking that I sue you for custody in spite of being told I would get nowhere. She told me she had the perfect leverage."
Elizabeth who had been holding Jason's hand, let go, glaring at her husband who sat there in shock at what he was hearing. "So much for Sam has changed, that she wouldn't have hurt us if you had only told the truth, right Jason?"
There was an awkward silence then Alexis continued. "She said when they were looking for Brenda's son, she had seen Jake. That she was keeping silent for now."
There was another moment of silence as Jason ducked his head, his mind on what he had told Michael about Abby and realized that he had spent the last few years being conned yet again.
"I convinced her that I would help her, and then called Agent Cates who I had met earlier that day. We set it up for Agent Cates to be at the bank as the manager. Then he opened the letter I convinced Sam to write." she said her voice shaking. "That was my end of it."
"I went to the house at the address Sam had written down. We found Jake and the people who had adopted him thinking he was an orphan. They were arrested then released when the Social Services agency showed up with the records."
"While Mac was dealing with that, I went to arrest Ms McCall. I found her at the MetroCourt hotel with Carly Jacks. I let them talk, wanting to know if I would be arresting one or two women."
Grasping what the man had believed, Jason didn't bother defending either of the women, now getting what had been going on. "Sam was telling Carly how she was going to get custody of Aidan. Her theory was that Jason had married Elizabeth to help her out. That Jason, you would divorce Elizabeth and help her raise her son. Then after a little time, she would arrange for Jake to be found. You would of course agree to take custody away from Elizabeth. Her theory was that Elizabeth was a bad mother." snorted the agent.
"Ms. Jacks just reminded her that Jake was dead and that while she wasn't sad about it, Jake wasn't coming back to life."
Jason was then told that they had arrested Sam at that point. Elizabeth looked at Jason then at Alexis and said "She is going to prison, there is no way in hell she will ever see Aidan, not in this lifetime."
"I agree, Elizabeth, I am sorry." said Jason his head buried in her shoulder as he finally, finally got that all he had believed wasn't true. That the sacrifices he had made, the mistakes he had made were for nothing.
Elizabeth hadn't been safe, the boys hadn't been safe. Instead they had been pawns in other people's games. Sam, the woman he had believed at one point was the only acceptable choice because she didn't make demands, had seemed to accept that their life wasn't going to be any different, married or single had in fact not changed, hadn't regretted her mistakes.
That she had been biding her time, had been working him all this time. That he had lost so much for nothing. That his son had been kept from his family, that his wife, his sons had mourned, he had mourned for nothing.
It had started with his going out of his way to help Brenda, gone out of his way to forgive Sam, to move on out of a fear she had helped fester inside of him. He had walked away from his family to help Carly, to help Sonny, yet none of them had ever done anything to support him, to be supportive of Elizabeth.
Mac looked at Alexis who felt like now wasn't the time to continue as Jason and Elizabeth just held each other and cried. Sarah and the older two stepped outside. In the small room, all Jason could hear was Elizabeth's accusation during one of their arguments about his plans to have a kid with Sam.
The words were echoing through his head as he found himself not knowing what to do next. "Elizabeth, there is nothing, nothing I can say but that I am sorry. I can't believe that I was that blind."
"You didn't want to believe someone you loved would hurt you, I get that Jason. What I can't get is you loving the woman who had already done all she had done already." Standing, she moved away from the man she was married to. "I don't know how we do this, stay married to each other for the next five years when I can't stand to look at you."
"I get that, I do." he said "All I can ask is that you let us take the time, Elizabeth. Please understand that I will live my whole life with the regrets of the last few years. I would take it all back if I could, but I can't turn back time; I can't undo what has been done."
"I get that, Jason. I do, but how, someday are we going to face Jake, tell him what happened. How do we explain what happened in the last few years because John was right, he is going to hate both of us." she said her heart breaking as she got that while her son was home, someday there was going to be a reckoning and that someday the love she saw in her son's eyes was going to change. "While I did most of this a lot of this, actually. Sam, Sam is all on you. Our son is going to hate us."
"N-no, he won't." Jason walked to the door and opened it. Seeing Sarah out there talking to Alexis he said "What else haven't you told us?"
The two entered and Sarah said "Brenda's son was the little boy who really died. Her son with Jasper Jacks; Sonny turned on her when he found out. She went to their home and found him having sex with Carly on the back patio. She pulled a gun, they struggled and Carly was shot in the ass. When Sonny shoved Brenda away, he dropped the gun and shot himself in the head."
"Why the hell can't he stay out of trouble for one week? One lousy week so I could have my own life." Jason looked between them and said "What else?"
"Lucky and Dante were suspended, Lucky's wife was deported and he was fired. Dante was told he had to renounce his father to keep his job. He refused and was let go." said Alexis who then said "Elizabeth, I know this is the wrong time, but Aidan is my grandson."
"Alexis, you are right, this is the wrong time for this discussion." she snapped. "Right now, I want to do is deal with my family, my marriage and the rest of it can go hang."
Jason followed his wife out the door and found himself confronted by Carly who was hobbling down the hallway shouting out to him. "J-Jason, thank god you are back. I need you, Michael needs you. You won't believe it, Brenda shot me."
Elizabeth was at the hub when she saw Jason hold out his arm to block Carly from throwing herself at him. Hitting the buttons on his phone, they soon heard all she had said in her rant. "Carly, go home, heal and move on. I am not coming back to you; I am not going to EVER choose you over my family. It is done, you are done."
"Jason?" she asked the man who was now standing in front of her, glaring at her like she was the one in the wrong. "Please, you can't let Elizabeth take you away from me."
"Why not?" asked the nurse from behind Carly. "You, you have tried repeatedly to take him away from his family, from Jake, from me. Why shouldn't I treat you the same way you have treated others?"
The blond turned and said "You, I hate you. You will not keep him. Jason always comes back to us, to his true family."
"Carly, Elizabeth and our sons are my true family. Michael is my nephew, not my son." Jason tried to reason with the blond.
"What about Jossalyn and Morgan, they are your Godchildren. I made sure of that, that you would always, always be there for them." she said looking at Jason, then with a triumphant smirk said "You will always, always be tied to me. You will never be free of me."
"Wow, talk about obsessive. I wonder Carly. Do you know how easy it is to change Godparents? All it takes is a talk with a priest." drawled Sarah.
"Jason would never do that to me." she said grinning at Elizabeth. "I will always be there waiting for just the right moment to take back what belongs to me. I will never go away."
"Strangely enough Carly, you will go away and you are the one who is fooling yourself if you believe otherwise." said the blond man behind her. Jax handed her paperwork then said to Jason. "Now, now do you see why I didn't want you in my daughter's life? Carly from the moment she found out she was pregnant after you ended things with Elizabeth has been planning on replacing me with you."
"Jax, it was never going to happen." he said quietly as he got that the blond man had truly believed at one point Carly would change. "I owe you an apology and if those are custody papers, I am more than willing to testify on your behalf. Clearly Carly has lost all common sense."
When Carly tried to grasp his arm, Jason shrugged her off then asked "What about Morgan, he now has nobody, Jason. He needs you."
Looking at Jax, meeting his eyes, Jason said "He has Jax, the man adopted him."
Across town, John was finishing with his people when he saw the blond outside. "I need your help."
Looking at Michael, he said "If this is about Abby, you need to let it go. I could have told you she was bad news, but hey, live and learn."
"You were going to help before." he said.
"That was when there was the possibility of using you against your father." Seeing the teenager look like he slapped him, Johnny added "Welcome to the real world, kid. Go home, get ready for your prom, do what normal kids your age do, but you need to understand, you aren't smart enough or quick enough to play with the big boys and you never will be. You are impulsive and have no sense of discipline."
"I know." That got John's attention. Sitting back down, then gesturing the blond into another chair as the boy continued. "I want, make that need to know, was she just conning me. Was I being played for a fool and why? I saw Uncle Jason's face when Mac told us; I think that Abby and Sam were working a con on me, on Uncle Jason."
"I don't know. All I can tell you is that when I bought this place to use as a base, I made a point of looking into the girls, made sure they knew it would be stripping and if I found out any of them were hooking on the side, they would be fired and banned at other clubs. Abby claimed she was running from her ex."
"So she might not have been playing me." he asked hopefully.
"I don't know what I do know is that he never showed up until you two started seeing each other and that I had seen him with a man who I know was good pals with Sam around here. I also noticed he disappeared the same night Brandon was killed. I also know that Brandon's killer was a woman."
"Abby, I was afraid he would get to her." said Michael.
"That's just it, no, it wasn't Abby. It was a woman, but the shoe size was too big to be Abby. I had my people check. As for helping her, I think that for your sake, you should walk away."
Michael left his mind on all he had learned as he went back to the halfway house. In his room, he sat down on the single bed and stared up at the ceiling as he began to put the puzzle pieces together.
When one of the counselors came by, he asked "Would it be possible for you to arrange for a session at GH?"
The blond had been rejecting the court ordered sessions since his arrival so the woman was a bit surprised but agreed. Calling her boss she was told by Mac to make sure that it was someone that dealt with the rape crisis center. "I have reason to believe that the young man was attacked and has been in denial."
Jason knew he had to deal with Spinelli and after talking to Elizabeth who was going to be with Sarah and the boys went to the penthouse. Entering it, he grimaced as he looked around only to be suddenly hugged.
Shrugging off the kid, he saw Spinelli was about to open his mouth and covered it a bit more forcefully than was necessary. "Sit down, shut up. I don't want to hear a word out of you."
Scurrying to one of the chairs, Spinelli started to speak when Jason just said "Not a word."
Upstairs, about to come down and tell Jason how she needed his help Brenda got an earful as he said to the geek. "I know about you tagging my car and Elizabeth's with a GPS unit. I know about the set ups with Sam. I know everything you have been doing in the last couple of years. You would be dead if I wouldn't be the first suspect."
"But master-" Spinelli saw Jason walk to the desk and pick up the plastic bag there. Seeing the gray tape, he was shocked when his mouth was taped then the tape brought around his head repeatedly before his hands were taped.
"I can't believe I took you in and you betrayed me like that." he said coldly. "You knew how much I loved Elizabeth and still you pushed Sam. I couldn't figure out why and truly don't care why you were so gung ho on Sam but this is what is going to happen."
"Two men will be arriving, your entire room will be packed up, the office has already been cleared out. All computers, all hard drives and anything else electronic will be staying. You on the other hand have been offered up to whatever government agency agrees to my offer."
Hearing the muffled no, no, no, Jason said "Yes. You will forget I exist, that my family exists. If you don't. You will go to prison and end up some big man's bitch in a prison cell and I won't let any of my people protect you."
"Jason, don't you think that is a little harsh?" asked Brenda revealing herself as she came down the stairs.
"No, I do think you should mind your own business. Spinelli went too far, there is a good chance we would have learned the truth about your son, my son wouldn't have been in danger. For the first time I get what Lorenzo Alcazar meant about the kid outliving his usefulness. I let him stay because I felt bad he was trapped by Ric coming after me. Well no more. He CHOSE to work for Alcazar; he chose to work for me."
Brenda said with a sigh "You sound like Sonny right now."
"Good because for once he would have been right. Spinelli betrayed me every single time he opened his mouth, every single time he covered for Sam. I made enough of my own mistakes and will make more in the future but the time for letting other people's mistakes create problems for us is over."
Brenda sat down next to the kid leaning over to wipe his tears. "Look at how pitiful he is, how can you do this to him. You and this job are all he has."
"Brenda that is the problem; he has been in town for almost five years, he has no friends that aren't connected to me. He has no life outside of mine. I helped set him up in a business; he had friends like Georgie and a few nurses. He pushes them away and hooks up with a baby Sam in Maxie. He had a chance he chose not to take it. I don't care where he ends up, as long as he is far away from me and mine."
Hearing a knock, Jason let in Anna DeVane who looked at the kid then said "Here are the papers Morgan. Are you sure about this?"
"Yes, for my family's sake, this nonsense has to end." he said tersely.
Diane came in minutes later, read what the woman had, then told Jason that they were what was agreed to. Within moments everything in Spinelli's room was cleared out, the computers, the phones, everything that was to stay behind was piled on the desk.
Two agents came in, took the kid off and strip searched him then handed over a couple more items before carrying the kid out in a set of sweats. Brenda sat there stunned as she listened to what Anna was saying. "I heard about Carly. I am glad you finally woke up to what she was."
"It was too late to save Michael." he replied with a sigh. "Anna, if Spinelli ever comes back, I won't be kind."
"I get that." she said then followed behind as the man was brought along. Jason called the new IT guy then said to Brenda. "I understand that Social Services took the boy you thought was your son."
"Yes, they did. Jason, you have to help me find out who his parents are." she said reaching out for his hands. "Please?"
"Brenda I am going to be rather busy running the business since you shot Sonny and spending time with my family. If you want help, why don't you ask Dante, I understand that he has rejected the offer from the police department?"
"Jason, I need the best, I need someone who will make it their top priority. Please, I need you." she begged.
"No, because it won't be my top priority. That is going to be my family. The woman you put down while talking to Mac, my children, our sons. Brenda, while I was mourning my son, Sonny and you sat there, having a birthday party. You didn't even give a damn. I am done doing favors for people who talk about being my friend but in truth are only using me."
At the door, Jason looked around then at her before saying. "I am selling the penthouse. You need to find someplace else to live by the end of the week."
Hearing footsteps, Jason let in the men who carried out the computers. "Tell him I want everything gone over carefully. I want to know what he finds."
TBC