Dante placed his hand lightly at her elbow, leaned over and whispered, "Alexis. You need to move. The next case is up." She turned to face him and jerked her arm away like he was made of fire. His eyes looked helpless and guilt-ridden, and Alexis was happy about it. It served him right.

The previous twenty minutes had been a blur, and she was trying to breathe after the gut punch of Sam's arraignment: no bail. Alexis wasn't all that surprised that Scott requested to hold Sam until trial; frankly, she had done that many times to suspects with cleaner records when she was DA. But she was overwhelmed when the judge remanded her eldest to custody, ordering the bailiff to take Sam back to a holding cell before her move to Pentonville. Her bright, beautiful daughter—who had spent so much time rebuilding her life—was going to jail when she was innocent.

Alexis's exit from the courtroom kept apace with her churning mind: a mile-a-minute. Someone—Dante maybe—tried to catch her, but she just plowed forward. They were missing something. They *had* to be. But before she could sit and work it out, she had to see Sam before the transfer. And before Alexis could do *that* she needed to calm down. Alexis veered and abruptly burst her way into the women's room, heading directly for the stall furthest from the door. She slammed the door shut far harder than was necessary, and—realizing she liked the feeling—slammed it shut again as the force bounced it out of its frame. Locking the stall, she pressed her forehead against the cool marble wall and let the tears of frustration fall. Her shoulders shaking, she focused on keeping as quiet as possible. After five minutes she started to take long, deep breaths to get herself under control. She emerged from the stall and went to the sink to minimize the evidence of her mini-breakdown. When she was satisfied she had covered up all that she could, she emerged from the restroom and headed to the cells to see Sam.

She stared at the ceiling, her thin frame stretched across an even thinner mattress. It had been a long time since she sat in a cell like this awaiting transfer, considering her uncertain future. But unlike those times previous, she was not regretting mistakes in her past: Sam hadn't made any. She wasn't in the cell because she was guilty; she was here in someone else's place.

From Sam's perspective there were two reasons why she waiting for a bus to Pentonville: she was serving as a convenient patsy for a killer who needed the Clays dead or the victims were murdered as a means to put Sam in prison. She and her parents had been operating under the assumption that the former was the case, and deep down she still felt that Madeleine Reeves was involved in her daughter's death. But Sam had nothing but time now, and her mind started to explore the second scenario. Who wanted her in prison? Who had she pissed off enough to kill two people and frame her for it? As she started to answer her own question, she became disheartened. There were the people she had defrauded when she was younger and the people she had helped put away as an adult. Then there were Jason's enemies, Sonny's enemies, Julian's enemies, and even her mother's.

Her mental list was interrupted by the rhythmic clicking of heel on tile, and her mother appeared in front of her accompanied by a uniformed member of the PCPD. Alexis looked determined and hard, but underneath there was a vulnerability Sam noticed—she'd been crying.

-"I'm sorry, sweetheart."

-"Mom. You don't have anything to be sorry for. With my record, it's not surprising I'm here." Sam put her hand over her mother's fingers that gripped one of the bars.

-"Don't say that. You didn't do this and you've turned your life around. You don't belong here and I'm going to get you out."

-"I know."

Alexis inhaled sharply. "OK. So they're going to transport you to Pentonville. I'm going to request another bail hearing, and try and schedule it ASAP. We'll get this reversed—I'll get testimonials from Monica, Felicia, Mac, Niko—," she stopped short and silently cursed herself for forgetting. "We'll get as many people with *legal* power and influence in Port Charles to speak on your behalf as possible. I'll get you bail. I promise."

Sam shook her head. "Mom, believe me I want out of here. But even if you get me bail…it's not going to help if I just end up back here after trial. You need to find who did this."

-"I know, and we're working on it. I promise. Your father and I are working on it."

Sam stared at her hard. "Where is he?"

-"I don't know, Sam."

-"You do know, Mom. You're lying to me. I don't know why but you are."

-"I promise Sam, I don't know where he is. He had to go away for work, but he should be back in a few days."

Her daughter sighed. "OK. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. I mean it's not fine, but I'm not going to spend these last minutes fighting with you about it. I want to talk about Danny."

Alexis felt tears well up in her eyes. "He'll be fine, sweetheart. Kristina's home, Molly's here, I'm here…we will take care of him…but God, my little man is going to miss you."

Sam started crying, "I don't think I can stand it, Mom. I can be here, I can do prison. But to be separated from Danny—from my boy, *again*..."

-"I know baby." Alexis put her arms through the bars to pull Sam into an embrace, but couldn't maneuver her close enough. She resigned herself to rubbing her daughter's arms to offer whatever comfort she could. "I'm going to fix this, I promise."

Alexis walked into a fairly empty Floating Rib and ordered a shot of vodka. She had stayed at the station until the bus came to take Sam to Pentonville. Alexis had wanted to follow it, but by the time Sam was transferred and went through processing it would be close to midnight. Alexis would need to wait until the morning. Her next thought was getting to Danny, but he was already in bed. Kristina and Molly had texted her numerous times across the day, but she wasn't ready to face them. Alexis was ashamed she hadn't been able to free their sister and couldn't bear to see the disappointment on their faces. So she sent them a brief message saying Sam wouldn't be coming home tonight and that she herself would be back late. Her plan was to wait them out until they went to sleep.

She had just slammed back her second shot when she felt a presence next to her. She turned her head slightly and shook her head, "What could you possibly want from me?"

Dante shifted awkwardly. "I'm worried about you."

-"You are? That's comforting, Dante. But I assure you, I'm fine. So you're free to run off…unless you wanted to arrest me, too?"

-"Kristina called me."

-"Did she yell at you? She should have."

-"No. She hadn't heard from you. So I thought I'd try here or the MetroCourt on my way home."

Alexis sighed. "Dante, really. I'm fine. Well, OK. I'm not fine. But I'm functional. I'm not going to be making any stupid decisions. I'm not going to drive anywhere. I just want to be left alone. Really. I need some time to lick my wounds. Can you just let me do that?"

-"I promised Kristina I'd take you home."

-"Dammit Dante. I mean, did you wake up this morning and decide 'hey! I'm going to screw with Alexis today?' Just walk away. I'll get home on my own."

He sat on the stool next to her. "I know I have that coming, but Alexis…I don't want any of this."

-"I know."

His eyes lowered, and he looked both ashamed and contrite. "I never should have grabbed Kristina like that. I just needed her to calm down."

Alexis put a hand on his arm. "I'm actually happy she pushed you."

Dante turned to her with a small smile. "I know. I was so proud of her in that moment. I mean she fought back. And I hate myself for not even thinking about how she would react."

The bartender came over and Alexis looked at Dante, he indicated his preference and she ordered another shot and a beer.

-"Are you sure that shot's a great idea?"

-"Yup."

-"You're the boss."

Alexis nodded after a few beats. "So you're off Sam's case now."

-"I requested it."

She shook her head. "Dante…I'm not going to lie. I'm so angry at you right now. I am beyond mad. But I need you to understand that I would never, *ever* let my feelings about you in this case change Spencer's future."

-"That's really generous of you."

-"It's not generosity, Dante. I'm a lawyer. I *was* the DA. I know what this case against Sam looks like. I know you're just doing your job."

Dante idly peeled the label off of his beer bottle. "That's not why I'm not on the case anymore."

-"Huh?"

-"Spencer. He's not the reason why I'm not on the case. I mean, sure—he's the excuse I'm using. I can't very well reach an equitable custody arrangement with a woman whose child I'm investigating. It's a clear conflict of interest. And that's the reason I'm *saying* I'm off the case. But that's not what's really driving this."

Alexis looked puzzled. "Then I'm not sure I understand. Why would you leave? I need you on that case, Dante. You know she didn't do this."

-"I do."

-"Then why is she in jail, Dante." Her voice rose.

Dante turned to face her and made a gesture to silence her. "I need you to be pissed at me Alexis, but I need for you to be pissed at me for the right reasons."

-"What are you talking about?"

-"OK. Let's say hypothetically Sam did kill Nina and Silas."

-"Let's not, Dante."

-"Bear with me. Let's say she did. The only conceivable way Sam is killing two people is if it's a crime of passion or temporary insanity or self-defense. She's not meticulously plotting their deaths and carrying out a plot."

Alexis stared at him. "I'm listening."

-"So it's a crime of passion. Those aren't meticulous, Alexis. Those are sloppy. Where's the forensic evidence? Where's the weapon? Sure, her prints are all over the apartment…but they're not on Nina's chair. They're not on Nina's stuff. You can easily dismiss those prints as having been there from her time as Silas's lover."

-"I'm sorry. I don't understand. If you know she didn't do this then why are you off the case?"

-"Because something's not right. The photo? That Rosalie statement? Those are fishy as hell, Alexis."

Alexis was starting to fume. "Then why is she in jail, Dante? Why is my daughter separated from her child?"

-"I'm trying to figure that out. Anna wanted me off the case officially so I could continue to look….unofficially." Alexis shook her head in disbelief. "There's a lot of pressure on Scott to arrest Sam. We had that arrest warrant for three days, Alexis. And then that arrest this morning? Anna had told Dina to arrange Sam's surrender with you. But when I came in this morning, Dina insisted we had to go to the house to pick her up. There's something about her. I don't know what it is, but it's not right."

-"Just so we're clear, Dante. You're telling me there's a member of the PCPD who you don't trust who is basically leading the charge to keep my daughter in jail. That is what you're telling me right?"

-"Sort of."

-"And you're also telling me that the Commissioner is aware of this and that instead of pulling her off the case, you're doing some kind of low-rent, half-assed investigation off to the side to prove my daughter's innocence?"

-"No. There's more to it than that. There are other concerns about my partner."

-"Oh, so it's not a low-rent, half-assed investigation, then? It's a low-rent sting to capture your partner in the act?"

Dante squirmed in his seat. "I can't tell you everything."

-"Apparently." She ordered her fourth and final shot. "All I know, Dante, is that my baby girl didn't do this. And you're telling me that *everyone* seems to know this but yet she's in Pentonville tonight and my grandson is going to wake up tomorrow and ask for his mother. Who he can't see."

-"It won't be for too long, Alexis. I promise."

Alexis smiled ruefully. "I've said 'I promise' to Sam at least four times today. And I broke all of them—she's still in Pentonville." She slammed back the last shot. "You tell your boss that I'm not going to wait for her to figure out how fucked up her department is before my baby comes home. I'm going to get her out, Dante." She stood up off the stool.

-"Let me give you a ride home."

-"Nope, I've called a cab."

-"I promised Kristina."

-"Well, you're gonna have to break it." He looked down at his shoes. "You need to stop fraternizing with the pretend enemy Dante. You were undercover, you should know that." She squeezed his arm. "We'll be OK, you know. I just need a couple of days to get over how unbelievably furious I am at you."

Dante smiled grimly. "Well, since we're going to be meeting tomorrow afternoon to discuss Nikolas's memorial service I guess you're going to need to speed up your timeline.

Alexis closed her eyes and shook her head as she turned to exit the bar and meet her taxi.