Detective Alex Garcia hung up the phone and sighed. "So apparently the plot thickens," he said.

Detective Allison Jordan shook her head. "I thought we decided you were going to retire that phrase."

Alex shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, be that way!"

"Well, with that lead in I'm guessing that you got the full toxicology back from the crime lab and it shows rohypanol?" Allison guessed. That would change things, although she wasn't sure that pointed towards Scott Baldwin more than anyone else and their DNA evidence and his alibi basically excluded him.

"No, actually the full toxicology only shows the cocaine, ecstasy, and alcohol that showed up on the labs from the emergency department. That came over while you were on the phone with Dr. Lake and I guess I forgot to mention it.

Allison rolled her eyes. "You forgot to mention it? Ok, so if that wasn't the crime lab then who were you talking to?"

"That was Officer Johnson, I helped him out with going through some of the security footage from Neptune's Net and came across someone interesting in the crowd."

"Let me guess, Tiffany Peterson?"

"Exactly, I had Fred have the tech guys pull some stills and clean them up as much as possible. He says that the tech's used linear facial recognition technology and confirmed it is her. More interestingly she left Neptune's Net with some unknown kid who could easily be a much younger version of Scott Baldwin."

"What time was that?"

"It looks like a little before ten. They got in some jeep in the parking lot. PA plates and we only have a partial plate but Fred was going to try to track that down."

"He can be quite industrious when given proper direction," Allison agreed. Although Officer Fred Johnson had become the butt of almost all PCPD jokes, Allison tended to believe he was a decent cop who for some reason couldn't seem to get out from under the shadow of his prior mistakes.

"Let's see if he gets anywhere with the partial plate before we start working on his commendation, ok?" Alex said.

"Sure, on that note, I think this is a great place to call it a day. We're supposed to meet with ADA Jensen for a progress update on this case at 8AM."

"I thought Tagglione was prosecuting this."

"Apparently Mayor McClintock had other plans. It has to be almost a moot point though since I can't see anyone in the DA's Office thinking they should bring this case before the grand jury."

"In the current office, no, however, I'm pretty sure that DA Schultz has gotten grand juries to indict more than a few of those proverbial ham sandwiches," Alex said.

XXXXXXXX

Danielle Ashley turned her key in the lock of their apartment in the River View complex on the Port Charles River Walk. As she opened the door, she remembered the day she had told Jake she was going to move to Port Charles.

July 6, 1997

Danielle Ashley pulled the eggplant parmesan out of her boyfriend's oven and hoped he would be home soon. Eggplant Parmesan was not something that reheated well. As if the universe could read her mind, and wanted to help her, the apartment door opened just as she completed her thought. Jake was home!

"Wow, that smells great! I thought you were going to head back to the city today," Dr. Jake Marshak said.

"I had a chance to do a lot of thinking while you were at the hospital. I think I'd like to just stay here, if you want me to that is?"

"Want you to? Of course, I want you to. I have missed you so much, but what about your auditions?"

"I don't have any coming up for a while. I need to get some kind of a job that pays in something more than experience anyway. I can do that in Port Charles," Danielle said.

"If you're sure. I can't think of anything I would like more than waking up and seeing your face every morning. I wanted to ask you to move with me but I thought that wouldn't be supportive of your career and I want to be."

"I'm sure. There isn't any other place I would rather be."

The memory was so bittersweet because of the embedded dishonesty. Jake had interpreted her willingness to move to Port Charles as commitment to him and their relationship. On some level it was all of that. But on another level the whole trip to Port Charles had been the result of her Uncle Rex's ultimatum and ulterior motives. When Jake had proposed a few weeks later and she had said yes and hoped that maybe they really could be happy. She still did, even if that hope seemed more fleeting by the day.

Danielle was halfway into the kitchen before she realized that Jake was sitting on the couch. "Oh, hi, you're home before seven, that's rare."

"I'm post-call. Even Dr. Burgess has to let me go by noon on post call days or she will be violating the work hour rules. I was about to call you and see if you wanted to meet at The Recovery Room but it looks like you came up with a better idea," Jake said pointing to the takeout bag from Eli's.

Danielle cringed as she realized she was about to embed a little more dishonesty into her relationship with Jake. She didn't have the heart to tell him that she had never intended those ribs for him. She had planned to come home long enough to leave him a note and then go to talk to Scott. She had been hoping she could use the ribs to break the ice and that somehow when everything was on the table Scott would still believe that she truly loved Serena and she would never intentionally hurt either of them. There wasn't any embedded dishonesty in that statement but she was afraid that Scott wouldn't see that.

XXXXXXXX

Dr. Alan Quartermaine scrutinized the chest x-ray on the PACS in the ED physician work room. It looked like both of his chest tubes were in good position, the lung had re-expanded, and his central line tip was in the Superior Vena Cava. Perhaps life wasn"t good but it was definitely better, he would take that.

"Ah, bilateral chest tubes, that's never a good sign," Dr. Tony Jones said as he came up behind him.

"I guess when it is a trauma patient that depends on whether a bilateral hemothorax is the alternative," Alan said.

"Fair enough. By the way, did you get my leave requests for December?" Tony asked.

"I did. I wanted to talk to you about that. Perhaps this is not the best place," Alan suggested. He and Tony had been friends for more than fifteen years but it had been months since they had conversed without tension and he didn't think either of them needed an audience.

"If you're planning to deny my FMLA rights then I think I would rather have a witness, or five," Tony said.

Alan had no intention of denying anyone's rights under FMLA. He just wasn't sure why Tony needed FMLA to care for a child that wasn't his in any sense. Frankly, when he had received the form, he had presumed that the form had been completed prior to Tony learning the truth about the paternity of Carly's baby. Tony's secretary was notorious for leaving completed paperwork on her desk for weeks before actually submitting it. He had truly believed that had happened and had tried to be sensitive to Tony's feelings by not bringing it up. Apparently, he had been wrong.

"I would never deny a legitimate FMLA request. So, if that is the case, then just submit the FMLA forms and we will figure out how to cover the neurosurgery call schedule for however long you need. If you can get those to me this week that would be great because we will probably need to try to bring in a locum neurosurgeon to help Dr. Muir, Dr. Kraznick, and Dr. Ross out with call," Alan said.

"It will be on your desk in the morning," Tony said and then he turned and stalked off.

Alan wasn't sure what to think. So instead he just logged out of the PAX, turned, and headed back down the hall to the trauma room 3.

XXXXXXXX

Carly Ashton surveyed her outfit in the full-length mirror in her dressing room. The long skirt and cardigan looked similar to what she had seen Ned's cousin AJ's girlfriend, Keesha, wearing at Sunday brunch. She couldn't believe she was copying Keesha Ward. Keesha was the epitome of prim, proper, and boring. Of course, all of Ned's family professed to love her so, maybe she was on to something. Or maybe she was just a prude!