Chapter 77- Carly's New Hope

Judge Carson held her hand up for all the whisperings in the room, then struck her gavel. "Silence, silence. I want order in my court!" The room went silent. "I have made my decision regarding custody. Even before that footage I had already made up my mind."

Felicia turned to Nelle who pursed her lips at Judge Carson.

The judge cleared her throat when she saw Nelle. "But that footage is really what has settled my decision and I wouldn't have been able to reach it without it…. I grant full physical custody of Ace Prince-Cassadine to his mother Esme Prince."

Esme smiled and sighed in relief. Felicia patted her shoulder. Spencer gritted his teeth.

"And based on the footage presented today, I am also issuing a warrant for the immediate arrest of Spencer Cassadine and Josslyn Jacks-Cassadine for the neglect and endangerment of Avery Jerome-Corinthos, Donna Corinthos, Wiley Corinthos, Amelia Corinthos, and Ace Prince-Cassadine resulting in one death of an adult and one fatal injury of a minor."

"What?" Carly called out. "That is absurd. You can't arrest my daughter."

"They will be held for 24 hours before they can receive a bail hearing. And if Mr. Cassadine should be granted bail, the restraining order against him approaching Miss Prince and her son will be re-instated due to the testimonies related to his unhealthy obsession of the child," Judge Carson continued. "Michael Corinthos Jr. will also have child neglect and child endangerment added to his charges. And I'm ordering an investigation of Carly Spencer, Michael Corinthos the Third, and Willow Corinthos on suspicions of child endangerment, however, there is no grounds to arrest them, only suspicions on the fact they allowed their children to continuously visit the home of Michael Corinthos Jr. Bailiff, arrest Mr. and Mrs. Cassadine. Case dismissed." She struck her gavel and left.

GHGHGH

Molly and Dante jumped off the elevator and rushed over to Kristina and Patrick.

"Mom, Sam, are they okay?" Molly asked.

"They've both suffered from smoke inhalation," Patrick explained. "Both are on oxygen. Sam is awake and coherent, but I'd like to keep her overnight to keep her on oxygen and for observation. She should be fine though."

"Thank goodness," Dante said.

"I'm more concerned about Alexis though," Patrick said.

"Why?" Kristina asked.

"What's wrong?" Molly asked.

"She's still unconscious," Patrick said. "And she's not responding well to the oxygen. I've put her on a ventilator. She was in the house longer than Sam was. And because she has a history of lung cancer, it's an extra concern and we need to monitor her closely."

"You don't think her cancer will return, do you?" Kristina asked.

"I can't give a hard yes or a hard no, but at this point I'm more just concerned because her lungs were weakened in the past that it might take her longer to recover than she would otherwise. You may visit them, two at a time, but alert the staff immediately if there's a change in Alexis."

"Thank you, Patrick," Dante said. "Why don't you girls go check on your mom and I'll go see Sam. My ma is picking up the kids from school, so I don't need to rush out of here."

"Actually, I'd like to speak to Kristina first." Chase walked out of Sam's room. "Sam told me that you called her and were talking to Alexis when the alarm went off and the phone went dead."

Kristina nodded as Molly went into Alexis' room and Dante went into Sam's room.

GHGHGH

Elizabeth entered Terry's office and sat in front of the desk. "How come you wanted to see me?"

"There were some medical supplies stolen from the supply room in the middle of the night," Terry explained. "There was only one key card used all night and it was yours. Do you know anything about this?"

Elizabeth was taken aback. "No. I was home last night." She checked her pockets. "I don't have it on me, unless it's in my locker."

"All right, maybe we should check it."

GHGHGH

Esme stared as the bailiff cuffed Spencer and a very pale Josslyn.

Carly squeezed Josslyn's arm. "Diane and I will meet you at the station. Don't say a word until we're there."

Felicia moved to the other side of the gate and smiled. "This is wonderful news, Frankie. I'm so happy Ace will be staying with—"

"Oh, Esme, darling!" Nelle brushed past Felicia and threw her arms around Esme. "This was amazing. Oh, and surprise! I'm your stepmother."

Esme pushed around her and stomped over to Spencer and Josslyn.

She punched Spencer in the nose.

"Frankie! Frankie!" Felicia grabbed her arms.

The bailiff said something into his walkie-talkie.

"How dare you?" Esme said, eyes brimming with tears. "How dare you leave my distraught son alone with kids to look after him when they're playing with guns!"

"I didn't know they had guns," Spencer said. "And we were in the same house! Use your head, Esme."

Esme laughed. "You're kidding, right? What if it was Ace who was shot in the head or worse killed while you and Josslyn were busy having sex downstairs? Do you know I was up with Ace for several nights after that? He couldn't sleep and he wasn't sick and he wasn't teething!"

"Esme, this was just a terrible, terrible accident," Carly said.

"You know I would never cause harm to Ace," Spencer said.

Esme made to hit him again, but Felicia held her back. "Let the justice system deal with him. Don't let them bring you down with him."

"First you let Nikolas kidnap him, then you left him alone with children who were playing with guns and that traumatized him," Esme cried. "You will never see him again!"

"Traumatize him? You're the one who's a danger to him," Spencer said. "I will figure out the legal stuff and Ace will be mine."

"You need to stop right now!" Laura scolded. "You will only make this worse for you, Spencer. You need to drop this and focus on the charges against you."

Cameron nodded. "Leave Esme and Ace alone. You and Josslyn have done enough."

"Come on, let's get you home to Ace." Felicia wrapped her arm around Esme.

They all turned when an officer walked in. "Miss Prince? You're under arrest for the physical assault of the detained in a room full of witnesses." He handcuffed her. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…."

"Josslyn?" Carly said. "Josslyn, are you okay?"

Everyone glanced over when Josslyn fainted in the bailiff's arms.

GHGHGH

"Kristina, where were you when you last spoke to your mother?" Chase asked when he and Kristina sat down on a bench.

"I was here at the hospital," Kristina said. "Donna and Avery had appointments with Lainey, and Mom called me."

"What did you and your mom talk about?"

"She said she just had a visit with Danny," Kristina explained. "And how much she enjoyed the visit but wasn't pleased that he skipped class. And she said she just told Sam about it. Then I brought the girls to see Lainey. And we talked about how Lainey helped me when I was traumatized when I was a kid. Then some alarm went off and the phone went dead. I tried calling her back, when I couldn't get through, I called Sam to see if she could check on her."

"Did Alexis say any more about her visit with Danny?" Chase asked.

"No. Just that it was a nice visit and he skipped class."

"Do you know if he went back to school?"

"I have no idea," Kristina said.

"Could he have been present when you were talking to Alexis?" Chase asked.

Kristina paused for a moment. "I don't know. Are you saying he could've been in the house too? Is he okay?"

"No one else was found in the house," Chase said. "I'll go ask Sam. See if she knows where he is."

GHGHGH

Josslyn tapped her fingers on the arm of the chair she was handcuffed to in a room in the ER. "How could they arrest me and Spencer?"

Carly glanced over at the officer guarding their door. "I don't know. They need to understand that it was an accident. But why did you faint?"

Josslyn shrugged. "I think I'm getting the stomach flu. I threw up this morning."

They looked up when Portia walked in. Her lips were tight, not pleased with how Josslyn treated Trina.

"Is Josslyn okay?" Carly asked.

Portia nodded. "She's pregnant."

Carly beamed and placed a hand over her heart. "I never dreamed of us being pregnant at the same time. Let's get you home. Officer, uncuff her."

The officer cleared his throat. "I need to take her in now."

Carly scoffed. "You can't be serious. She's pregnant."

"That makes no difference. You can take it up with the judge at the bail hearing."

GHGHGH

Elizabeth and Terry headed into the locker room and Elizabeth punched in the combination on her lock. It clicked open and she searched through her belongings.

"This is so weird," Elizabeth said. "I know I took it home with me last night."

GHGHGH

Chase arrived at the Quartermaine mansion where Olivia greeted him. "Hi Olivia, is Danny here? Sam thought he would be."

"He just texted Rocco and he's on his way," Olivia said. "When I picked up Leo, Scout, and Rocco from school, Danny wasn't there. Feel free to wait on the couch. Can I get you anything?"

"That's okay, thank you." Chase sat down on the couch and pulled out his phone when it rang. "What's up, Jordan?"

"We've discovered that a candle started the fire," Jordan said. "And we found fingerprints on the candle holder. They belong to Danny Morgan."

Chase glanced up when Danny walked in. "I'll have to get back to you. Danny just arrived." He put his phone away. "Hi Danny. I need to ask you some questions."

"About what?" Danny asked.

"Where were you today?" Chase asked. "Were you at school?"

Danny swallowed hard. "No."

"Then where were you?"

"Why do you want to know? Where's my mom? Why did Rocco tell me to come here?"

"Your mom is at the hospital," Chase said. "There was a fire at your grandmother's house."

Danny's breathing sped up. "Is she okay?"

"She has to stay overnight for observation, but she's going to be fine. Danny, in order to help your mom and grandmother, I need you to answer my questions. Where were you today?"

Danny stared at Chase's phone. "Who were you talking to just now?"

"I was talking to Jordan." Chase rose. "Danny, I'm going to need to take you in for questioning. We can let Olivia know and she can call you a lawyer. But we found your fingerprints—"

Danny darted out the front door and ran as fast as he could. He didn't even bother looking back. He just ran, his heart pumping hard in his ears. His eyes brimmed with tears. He scrambled down the stairs by the docks and sprinted towards the warehouses. He pushed the door open to one of them and hurried inside a room out of breath.

"Wh-Where's Dad?" Danny slouched over and put his hands on his knees.

"I was hoping you'd know," Jake said, standing over a blow-up mattress with one of Alexis' blankets over it. Gauze, bandages, rubbing alcohol, etc. were scattered around it.

GHGHGH

Carly returned home, muscles tensed, heart pounding. She couldn't believe the injustice of it all. Not only did her daughter and Spencer lose Ace but they were also in jail and now Carly and Michael would be investigated. She headed right for the stairs, feeling defeated. All she wanted to do was lay down and sleep away her troubles.

"Carly."

She froze halfway up the staircase at the familiar voice. She turned and her mouth dropped when she saw Jason staring back at her from the back doorway, clenching his side.

"Jason?"

Jason nodded. "It's me."

"It's you?" Carly cried. "It's really you?"

"It's really me."

Carly squalled and ran into his arms. Jason winced when she hit his side.

"You came back to me," Carly said. "You can back for me. You can fix everything."