Sanctuary by Mashuta (Seq to Daddy)

[JRK Archiver]

This is the sequel to Daddy. Please read that story first.

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 1


Johnny was back to being dressed in his usual well-fitted black attire, the two-piece suit, starch white button up shirt and a holster under his shoulders. It was hard to believe that only a little while ago his daily uniform consisted of Hawaiian t-shirts and cargo pants—and a holster under his shoulders. Scanning the airport for the third time Johnny let out a sigh of relief when he spotted Jason’s blond head coming towards him. Danny was right beside him, as was Elizabeth.

Upon seeing Johnny standing among the crowds of people, Danny gave a moments hesitation before letting go of Jason’s hand and running over to the guard, lunging himself into his arms.

Ignoring the twinge of pain that came from his healing side, Johnny hugged the boy back. At least some ‘duties’ of this job were pleasant, he thought wryly. Upon getting released from the hospital, he demanded that Sonny let him get back to work—anything he begged his boss. He got chauffeur duty. It wasn’t the most prestige job; especially for someone who had proved himself more reliable and capable then pressing the gas paddle years ago, but at least it was something. He still got to go to meetings and even carry his gun—he just didn’t get to go into ‘interesting’ meetings or use the gun on anything other then beer cans.

Two more weeks, he reminded himself every day. Two more weeks until he can demand his job back.

“Where to Boss?” Johnny asked as everyone settled inside the spacious leather interior of the town car. Jason sat shotgun while Elizabeth and Danny relaxed in the back. The doors locked automatically from Johnny’s control panel and the windows were tinted and bullet proof, courtesy of C&M Coffee Warehouse. He loved this car.

“Penthouse.” Jason replied softly as he glanced into the rear view mirror to see if Elizabeth had any objections. She merely nodded and gave him an uneasy smile before turning her attention back to Danny.

Somehow they had managed to avoid the topic of Port Charles and what was going to happen when they got back entirely during the course of their short vacation.

“Isn’t that where grandma and grandpa live?” Danny asked as he pointed out the window. Elizabeth nodded at him, and he beamed proudly at himself. He didn’t notice the uneasy look that passed his mother’s face as she stared at the familiar street signs, or the glare that his father threw in the same direction.

“Mom?” After a few minutes Danny nudged her again. “Where are we going?”

“We are going to see where your fath—where Jason lives.” She amended quickly. Both she and Jason had decided to not force the issue with him, allowing him to get used to the idea of Jason being his father in his own time.

It wasn’t that she didn’t try to speak to him about how he felt about Jason. That was hardly the case but every time she brought up the subject, Danny merely shrugged and changed the topic to something else. Elizabeth hoped that she could get through to him soon, sometime before all the confusing emotions that he was undoubtedly feeling would eat him up inside.

Her throat welled up at the idea that her own selfish actions had caused her six year old boy to shut own oh her. To not trust her or anybody else enough to open up to them.

She cursed Lucky silently, she cursed herself too as she remembered all the chances that she had missed to her life and her son’s better. She failed him, she failed herself and she even failed Jason. He had always thought of her as being strong and brave, well she sure proved him wrong on both of those accounts.

“We are here.” Johnny’s voice broke through her thoughts and she immediately looked out the window. They were inside the Harbor view Towers garage; dozens of cars surrounded them—most undoubtedly belonging to Sonny or his acquaintances. Danny looked around awestruck as he took in all the shiny cars; she had a feeling that he was going to be easily entertained while they were here.

Two suited men with blank expressions of their faces made their way towards the car. One went around the back, while the other came to Danny’s door. Unconsciously Danny shrank back against his mother as he watched the massive giant reach for the handle.

“Miguel—“ Jason snapped suddenly as he exited from his own door. The guard’s attention went from the handle to his boss as he awaited further instruction. “Help with the luggage.”

Miguel looked at his boss in confusion since there were only two small bags inside the trunk. Both could be carried on one arm at once with no problems. “Right away—sir.” He looked back at his boss one more time for confirmation before he did what he was told, he knew better then to question him. Questioning Jason Morgan was not a good idea.

“It’s all right.” Jason said when he opened the door and allowed Danny to jump out. He automatically offered a hand to Elizabeth and was quite relieved when she allowed him to help her out of the vehicle. He didn’t let go of her and instead placed his hand on the small of her back as he directed her to the elevators on the far wall of the garage.


******


Johnny dutifully held the elevator doors open while everyone stepped out. “I had Miguel put your bags in your penthouse, Jason.”

“Thanks.” Jason murmured absently as he moved towards the penthouse doors, not realizing that Johnny had more to report.

“Also—Sonny said that he expects the three of you for dinner tonight.” Johnny took a step back as he saw Jason stiffen at his words.

“Tell Sonny—“ He began after a moment’s silence. “Tell Sonny that we will let him know later if that’s possible. I think that Danny and Elizabeth are tired from the flight.” He glanced over at them in reference.

The were standing near the front door only feet away, Danny was looking around in wonder while his mother just stared at Jason with question in her eyes. It would be too much for him to hope that she hadn’t heard his reply to Sonny’s invitation or that she would just let it slide.

Jason nodded at Johnny before letting them into the penthouse, leaving Johnny to stand guard.

No sooner had the door clicked shut that Elizabeth turned around and glanced at him wearily. He didn’t like this new habit of hers.

Years ago, if there was something she wanted to know from him she wouldn’t wait one minute before badgering him for the information. Now she would just sit quietly and stare at him, waiting for him to make the first move and tell her what she wanted to know. It drove him crazier then any nagging and pestering ever could.

This was definitely one of those things they were going to have to work on.

“I don’t feel like going over there tonight, and I’d think that you and Danny wouldn’t mind the extra night of privacy.” He muttered without looking up at her, instead focusing his attention on the new carpeting that was plastered on the floors. A nice brown tint with tiny red flowers making zigzag patterns all around.

“I didn’t ask.” She replied without much reluctance as she went to check on what Danny was doing.

There were definitely going to have to work on this.

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 2


The night proved to be one of the longest nights in history for Jason. His eyes remained wide open, his mind working a million thoughts a minute and his back ached from him opting to sleep on the couch.

His arms remained folded across his chest as he stared at the ceiling above him. He wasn’t tired and he really hadn’t tried to fall asleep through out the night. The darkness and the solitude gave him time to think, to go through things without being interrupted. Although the interruptions that the people upstairs provided were the type that he welcomed.

Elizabeth and Danny were sleeping in adjoining rooms upstairs. At first Elizabeth wanted to sleep in the same room with Danny in case he had nightmares or got scared at night but the boy refused the offer claiming that he wasn’t ‘a baby’ and would sleep in the room alone. Even though Jason would have preferred if one of them had stayed with him in the room, he was proud of his son’s independence.

Elizabeth didn’t feel the same way; she just stared at the partially closed door of their son’s bedroom with a lost look on her face. Jason tried convincing her that they would hear him if he had problems sleeping, that his room was only a wall away from her room but she wouldn’t budge from her spot in the hallway. He was convinced that she would camp out there the entire night unless he found a way to soothe her concerns. Luckily though, he remembered a box of old baby things that were still left over from Michael were in storage. Within it he dug up an old pair of baby monitors, replacing the batteries they were good as new. He placed one in a concealed location in Danny’s room and promised to hold the other one near him throughout the night as long as Elizabeth went to bed herself.

As she looked up at him with doubt on her face he could see a small spark in her eyes that wanted her to argue with him, to demand something of him—but she didn’t do either. Going into Danny’s room one more time to assure herself that he was alright she murmured a ‘thank you’ at Jason before doing as he asked and going to bed herself.

It was that final scene with her that had kept him up the first half of the night. She always was stronger that people gave her credit for; he had learned that the first day he met her on the warm summer night at Jakes. She was so small, so fragile to the unknowing eye that made him feel protective of her even then. She thought she knew everything, could take on anyone and didn’t need anyone to help her. He admired that about her then and missed that about her now.

Even after Lucky had been killed, after they left the house and while they were on their much-deserved vacation she wasn’t completely relaxed. Yes, she did laugh when Danny did or said something funny and she had even taken him up on the offer to ride on his bike. But her laughter was restrained and she didn’t laugh when he sped the bike up to its limit and made the sharp turns that he knew she loved. Her grip would tighten on his jacket and he could see her eyes sparkling but she wouldn’t put her face into the wind like she used to, wouldn’t scream nor would she ask him to go faster when he slowed again.

He would watch her when she thought she was alone and he would see just how close she was from breaking down. He wanted her to. Wanted her to scream out her frustrations, her fears and her anger. He wanted to be there to catch her when she finally came crashing down, to help her stand up again. He knew it wouldn’t be easy on either of them and that they had a little boy to think about, a little boy that they always put before themselves.

That was what the rest of the night was spent on—his son. He liked the sound of that, son. Jason Morgan was a father and this time no one could say any different. This time he would be there no matter what, this time he wouldn’t fear that the next knock of the door would take his son away, that if he pissed of the mother she wouldn’t let him near the boy. There was some kind of satisfaction in knowing that Danny was his, a primitive male pride in having this little miniature version of himself to look at, to take care of. He never felt this way with Michael, even though he loved the child as much as any father could and would have given up his life for him in a second. Michael wasn’t his son and after a while he came to terms with it. With Danny, Jason knew that if someone took him away he would never be able to come to terms with it. That was the simple difference.

Much to Jason’s satisfaction Danny hadn’t woke up the entire night, not even for his usual glass of water at three in the morning. At one point Jason actually got worried about it and went up to check on him. He found him sprawled out on one side of the queen size bed with his arm hanging over one side, the blanket twisted under his legs and his mouth wide as he softly snored in his sleep. The flight and traveling must have tired him out more then Jason thought. Untwisting the blanket from Danny’s legs, Jason covered him up with it and then carefully shifted his body closer to the center of the bed to ensure he wouldn’t fall of. Placing a soft kiss on the child’s forehead, Jason checked the monitor one more time before finally leaving to go back downstairs.

He didn’t sleep that night, his eyes didn’t close even for a minute and his thoughts didn’t slow either. It wasn’t till he heard the stairs creak softly that he sat up. He knew it was Danny just by the way he moved, softly and carefully down the steps as a child only could. Danny craned his neck to look at him from the last step and smiled when he saw that he was awake.

“You awake?” he asked and then decided to jump down the last step, landing with a loud thump on the carpeted floor.

“Nope—“ Jason got up and rubbed his hands over his face to shake himself out of the mood he had been in. “But lets stay quiet so your mother can get some rest. K?”

“Mhm.” Danny grinned at him as he plopped himself on the couch and stared up at his father expectantly.

“Did you sleep ok?”

“That bed is huge!” he declared.

Jason grinned as he remembered how Danny’s small body looked in that bed. “We’ll have to get you something more your size later.” He decided absently.

“Did you sleep on this couch?” Danny fingered the soft fabric of the quilt lying beneath him. “Isn’t it uncomfortable?”

“I am used to it—you want some breakfast?”

“Ok!” Easily changing topics, Danny jumped of the couch and followed Jason into the kitchen. “What are we having?”

“I don’t know yet—“ Jason swung open the door of the refrigerator, peered inside and grimaced instantly. Empty. The entire refrigerator was empty, never mind the aged bottle of mustard and a six-pack of beer. “@#%$.” He swore softly.

“What’s a matter?” Danny came behind him and peered into the still open fridge. “Oh boy.” The expression on his face turning into a replica of Jason’s.

Jason knew that he couldn’t take them out to get breakfast, that would require them to go a restaurant where people knew them and he wasn’t sure that Elizabeth could handle that yet. His only options were to either go quickly to the nearest grocery store and buy some food or invite himself over to Sonny’s for breakfast. “You feel like some good home cooking?”

“Sure but what can you make from mustard and beer?” Danny asked him seriously.

“Food poisoning.” Jason muttered in reply before strolling out of the kitchen and to the front door. Opening it, he asked Johnny to come over and stay with Danny for a bit.

“You’re going to talk to Sonny?” Johnny inquired curiously as Danny positioned himself between the two men, trying to get into the conversation. Johnny grinned down at him and Jason patted him on the shoulders.

“Why?”

Johnny glanced at his boss wearily. “He wasn’t too happy that you didn’t come last night.”

“Well then I am about to make his day.” Jason replied with a smirk, leaving Danny and Johnny by themselves.

“What’s he talking about?” Danny looked up at his friend.

“You don’t want to know kid.” Johnny swung the six year old on his shoulders, causing the Danny to laugh. “Heck—I don’t even want to know.”

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 3


Awkward silence was something that Sonny Corinthos could never tolerate at his table—it always meant that either the food wasn’t good and no one wanted to insult the cook or the company wasn’t good and no one wanted to insult each other. Now he knew that some the world’s most prominent chefs would give their right arms for his famous French toast recipe and the coffee beans came from his own factory—so the problem obviously did not lie there.

Earlier that morning Sonny got an unexpected visit from Jason. Not that he thought that Jason wouldn’t try to make contact—eventually. Sonny was still a bit raw from having Jason reject his dinner invitation the night before and quite frankly didn’t expect Jason to show up at his door at eight in the morning. It wasn’t a social call either.

”My fridge is empty.” The younger man growled in greeting.

Never had Sonny seen Jason look as uncomfortable as he was then. His hands braced against the frame of the door, his body slightly bent and hunched over—his face the perfect combination of utter frustration and repressed anger. He made such a picture, that Sonny put him out of his misery and asked him to come back in half an hour for breakfast.

Forty-three minutes later—the four of them sat in silence around the mahogany dinner table. Jason and Sonny each at their own end while Elizabeth and Danny at the sides. The only one who seemed oblivious to the tension and truly was enjoying the meal was Danny—the maple syrup covering most of his face was proof of that. Elizabeth had already complimented him half a dozen times on the breakfast and thanked him for inviting them twice as many times. She asked him about the weather, about business about every topic she could think of but in the end she too had given up and instead took up playing with the breakfast on her plate.

Sonny didn’t think that she ate enough of the toast but refrained from mentioning anything, thinking that Jason probably noticed the same thing. The few times later he caught Jason stealing glances at her when she wasn’t looking and his suspicions were confirmed.

“So—“ Sonny took sip of his coffee, the bitter tasting liquid washed away the dryness of his throat. “What are your plans for the day?" He addressed Elizabeth—the more social one of the adults.

She glanced in Jason’s direction as though expecting him to answer, before doing so herself. “I think that we should visit Luke and Laura.”

“That’s sounds like a good idea. They would be happy to see you.” Sonny murmured, ignoring the glare he felt coming from Jason’s direction. Obviously he did not agree with him.

“We are going to go see Gramps and Grandma?” Danny asked and shoved another piece of toast in his mouth. “Are you commin’ Jason?”

“Danny—why don’t we all finish breakfast before deciding anything.” She smiled at him.

Danny looked like he wanted to ask more questions but opted for stuffing another large piece of toast in his mouth instead. “This is real good, Sonny.” He tried to get out with a mouth full of food but a small piece managed to fall out and stick to the syrup already on his chin—causing all three adults to laugh at the picture he made.

“What?” Danny demanded, not understanding what was so funny all of a sudden.

“Nothing.” Sonny grinned at him reassuringly. “It’s just good to see a boy with a healthy appetite.”



******



Oh how tempting it was for him to drown his sorrows in a bottle of whiskey. To forget what was going on around him—to forget that his son was dead.

To accept that his son has been dead since the night his small apartment above Morgan’s garage went up in flames. Lucky’s body and memories might havecome back unharmed but his heart had been burned beyond repair.

Luke knew that there was something wrong with him the minute he set eyes on him at the bar, his suspicions only intensified when Lucky took a swing at him for no apparent reason. He saw the cold anger that was in him and it scared him half to death—so what did he do? He ignored it. Like the coward he was, he almost himself that there was nothing wrong with his son, that they could go back to the close knit family they were before the fire.

He was wrong—oh so wrong.

Lucky was angry—angry at everyone who crossed his path. Jason Morgan was the first one to see that and not ignore it. He didn’t care that Lucky was the golden boy of his family, that it was Lucky that held all the Spencers together and his life wouldn’t be
altered either way. But once again—Luke didn’t care. He actually justified Lucky’s anger toward Morgan, claiming that Lucky had every right to act possessive towards his girlfriend. Being possessive and protective of what’s theirs is passed through the Spencer genes!

Once Morgan left town, Luke hoped it would help Lucky get back into the swing of things. For a while it looked like that was exactly what was happening. Luck would have it—Elizabeth turned out to be pregnant. A blessing thought Luke. Lucky proposed to her and they were married within a month. Luke always loved Elizabeth like he loved his own two kids—she was a born Spencer. During her pregnancy Lucky was as attentive as he could be, it was almost as if the old Lucky was finally reclaiming his body again. Then Danny was born and all hell broke loose.

Being a mother definitely agreed with Elizabeth, she was a natural at it just like Laura was. She cooed and cuddled her son every second of the day. She was the one that got up at all hours of the night to feed and change him, to play with him and to stay up with him when he was sick. She never complained once, it was as though she didn’t want to bother Lucky by helping out with his child. She had it all covered.

The first time Luke saw bruises on her were when Danny was a little over two months old. She had them all over her upper arms. He asked her about it but she merely shrugged saying that she fell in the basement while doing the laundry. ‘Clumsy me’. She laughed and Luke was so desperate to believe her that he actually laughed back.

Now what did he have to laugh about? His daughter-in-law and grandson suffered years of abuse because he laughed! His only son was dead because he laughed! And his wife hadn’t said more then a word in two weeks since Lucky’s death and his daughter refused to spend more then a few hours at a time in this home.

Why?

Because he laughed!

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 4


"You know that you don't have to do this today." Jason reminded her gently. His eyes remained on the road ahead of him but his other senses were focused on her.

"I already put it of long enough. I should have come to see them three weeks ago, but I didn't." Elizabeth fidgeted nervously in her seat, pulling down the overhead mirror and checking her reflection for the third time. It was silly of her to think that Luke and Laura would care what she looked like at a time like this--but at least checking her hair and face gave her something else to think about. She did not want to be wandering about what her in-laws were thinking and feeling now. Would they welcome her and Danny into their home? Did they blame her for what happened? Did they blame him? How would they react to learning of Danny's paternity?

She stole a quick glance onto the backseat where her son was sitting Indian style, flipping through a coloring book Sonny had given him. He didn't understand what was going on--as far as he was concerned they were just going to visit his grandparents. She hoped that she could the visit was in fact that.

They pulled up to the curb in front of the Spencer home and Elizabeth suppressed the feelings of dejavu that swarmed around her. She reminded herself that the man behind the wheel wasn't Lucky this time that Jason wouldn't go and threaten her and Danny about behaving properly, about keeping their mouths shut and about not making him mad.

"Let's go!" Danny's impatient voice broke up her thoughts. She could already hear him struggling to get his seatbelt off.

"One second--I'll get you out." Jason grinned at him and with a final look in her direction, got out of the car and went around to Danny's side.

Just do it already! Elizabeth told herself and pushed her own door open. Jason automatically held out a hand to help her out even as he pushed Danny's door shut with his foot and took his hand with his free one.

"The minute you want to leave we'll go." He spoke softly in her hair, careful to keep his voice low enough for their son not to overhear. "Blame it on me if it will make it easier. Say I have to be somewhere later." What did he care what the Spencers thought of him?

Elizabeth gave him an uneasy smile as the three of them made their way to the front door. Danny immediately pushed up on his tipsy toes and pressed the buzzer--four times.

"Who the hell is it?" Luke's growl sounded from the opposite side before the door was swung open.

"Gramps!" Danny didn't wait for an invitation or acknowledgement from his grandfather before hurling himself at him.

Luke stumbled back a step at the unexpected hit in his midsection before he wrapped his arms around the child and turned the scowl on his face into full-blown smile. "What have you been eating Sport--you weigh a ton!" He picked Danny up.

"I missed you Gramps." Danny told him honestly, his small arms wrapping around Luke’s neck, even as his legs wrapped loosely around Luke's body.

“I missed you too—“ Luke placed a wet kiss on Danny’s cheek, making him giggle in pleasure and wipe his face against Luke’s shoulder.

It was then that Luke noticed his daughter in law standing rigidly at the doorway. He shifted Danny higher in his arms, his eyes solemn even as his voice took on a teasing tone. “And how are you doing sweet-thing?”

Her hair was longer then he remembered and was now curling past her shoulders. She wore no make up, lip-gloss at most. A silver necklace adorned her neck and she had worn simple brown sweater, blue jeans and plain white keds. She was still too thing in his opinion, but her face was beginning to fill out a bit at the cheeks. All in all, he had to admit that she looked better then she had the last couple of years.

He had to give that much credit to Morgan—that was the only credit he gave the younger man.

Jason—he noticed, had his usual ‘I dare you to @#%$ with me’ look on as he stood by Elizabeth. His eyes remained focused on either her or Danny as though he expected something to come out and hurt them any second.

“Better.” Elizabeth gave Luke half a smile.

“If your better then come here and give this old geezer a hug.” He held out a free arm for her. Apprehensively she stepped into his arms and gave him a light hug. If Luke noticed the way her body stiffened at the contact he didn’t say anything. Jason glared at Luke from his place at the doorway but restrained himself from doing or saying anything.

“When did you get back into town?” Luke casually ignored Jason and instead focused on Elizabeth.

“Last night—“ Unconsciously she stepped back from him. “We would have called but it was late and we were all tired and—“

“Nonsense! I am just glad you came today.” He reached out and squeezed her hand reassuringly. It was a simple gesture that he had come to do over the years just to show her that he cared—without actually having to say the words. “I just wish you left SuperBorg at home.”

“Super what?” Danny’s face scrunched up in confusion.

“That’s gramps’ special name for your friend over there.” Luke grinned at his grandson.

“Jason came because I asked him to.” Elizabeth put a hand on Luke’s arm in warning.

Luke grumbled something under his breath but opted to drop the issue. “Well if your going to stay then you might as well come in and sit down.”

Jason glanced over at Elizabeth, when she nodded he stepped inside the house and closed the door behind him. “We can’t stay long—I have to be somewhere later.” For the first time he allowed his eyes to meet Luke’s.

“So?” Not one to back down, Luke glared back. “You can go.”

“Luke—“ Elizabeth began to get between the two men.

“I am not leaving without them.” Jason said simply, his voice void of all emotion.

“Well you sure as hell aren’t staying here with them!”

“Luke!” Elizabeth all but yelled at him. “We are already staying at the penthouse with Jason.” She told him softly.

“What?” Luke hiked Danny higher in his arms and tightened his arms around him. “ Why would you stay at the Mob castle when you have family right here.”

“Luke—“ She hissed at him, Danny didn’t need to be hearing this about his father.

“They would be safe here with us!”

“Right.” Jason scoffed. “Like they were safe with your family for the last six years.”



******



“Why did you say that to him?” Elizabeth demanded the minute Danny was asleep for the night.

“Hmm?” Jason looked up at her innocently from the couch. He had hoped that she wouldn’t bring it up until he could understand it himself. He wasn’t the type of man to let his inner feelings control how he spoke to people or how he reacted to them. That afternoon when started argue and bait Luke, it was as though he wasn’t in control of his actions anymore. He couldn’t stop until he had seen the pure hurt in the older man’s face. He wanted someone beside himself to feel the same rage that consumed him every time he had thought of what Elizabeth and Danny went through. Luke just got be that lucky person.

“You know damn well what I am talking about!”

“It was the truth.” He said simply. It was! He defended in his head. Luke could have put a stop to the abuse long before but he chose to keep his head deeply seated in his ass instead. In Jason’s opinion Luke deserved a hell lot more then a few hurtful words from him.

“It was not!”

“I didn’t tell him anything that he didn’t know already.”

Sighing, Elizabeth flopped down on the couch next to him and leaned back against the back of it. “Luke is family—I don’t want you to fight with him.” She turned her head toward him. “He is Danny’s grandfather—“

“Bullshit.” Jason muttered.

“Maybe not by blood—“

“He knew that Danny was being beaten by Lucky and yet he stood by and did nothing. He might as well have been doing it himself. That is not family.”

Elizabeth whispered helplessly. She knew that what Jason was saying was partially true but she also understood the pain that the Spencers were probably going through at the moment. She only saw Luke but that was enough. He was the strong one and he was on the verge of falling apart. That meant that Laura was twice and bad and Lulu—she would have to go and see how Lulu was too. She knew that once the whole truth would come out, the Spencers might not want to have anything to do with her so now she just had to do the best she could with them. “Danny loves him.” It was below the belt but she got the reaction she wanted out of Jason. He grunted and swore viciously under his breath—he couldn’t do much to argue that point.

“I don’t want Danny to be alone with him.”

“And I don’t want you to be fighting with Luke in front of Danny. He loves you both and it hurts him to see that.”

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow about it.”

“I still need to go back there and speak to them. Maybe without you and Danny this time.”

“Why—“
“I don’t want Danny to be there for obvious reasons and you—you being there will only make them more mad when they find out.”

“Fine.” He understood that—didn’t like it but he at least understood.

“We also—“ she hesitated for a moment. “We also have to talk about me and Danny moving out.”

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 5


“We also have to talk about me and Danny moving out.”

The words had come out of her mouth but he couldn’t understand what they meant. “W—Why?”

“You know why Jason.” Her voice was soft and she kept her eyes trained on the stack of magazines in front of her. “We can’t stay here forever.”

“Why not?” he asked bluntly.

She laughed bitterly at his question. “Because eventually I have to grow up and learn to stand on my own two feet. Without someone holding my hand all the time.”

“Eliza—“

“It’s true. First it was after the rape with Lucky, then when Lucky died it was you, Lucky came back it was you, you left and I depended on Lucky and the last couple of months you have been the only thing holding me together.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit—you would have found a way to deal with all of those situations alone if you had to.”


“But I didn’t. That’s the point. I come to depend on others to much to take care of my problems.”

“So your solution is to isolate yourself?”

“Don’t argue with me on this one Jase—“

The numbness that surrounded him after she dropped her little bombshell on him began to fade and the feeling of dread settled heavily in his stomach. “You’re not moving out.”

His words were spoken so calmly that had she not looked up at him and seen the rage building in his eyes she would have thought that he was taking the news rather well. “Jason—“

“No.” he ground out. “It’s out of the question. There is plenty of room here for everyone—I promised Danny we could go get him some furniture tomorrow for his room. I am not going to disappoint him by not going.”

“You can still do that.” She murmured. He wasn’t supposed to be putting up a fight—he was supposed to be relieved by the idea. They could finally get out of his way and he could get back his freedom that he always loved. “I just don’t feel right about you doing everything for us.”

“Danny is my son!” He pushed himself of the couch angrily. “I don’t want to miss anymore of his—

“I know!” Elizabeth cut him off. “You would still see him—I am not saying that I would move him on the other part of the continent. But this way we wouldn’t always be in your hair and you could get back to your life.” There. That was reasonable. Jason Morgan never argued with reason.

Out of his hair? Was she joking? “I won’t go back to my life. I have a son now—why would I want to?” He yelled in exasperation.

“Shh!” She shot up angrily. “Danny is sleeping and doesn’t need to be waking up to hear us fighting.” With a final warning glare in his direction, Elizabeth went up the stairs to check on their son.

“@#%$.” Jason shoved a hand through his hair, brushing the locks angrily of his face. She was right to glare at him—he was yelling. But dammit—he had a @#%$ right! After years of completely isolating himself from her, he not only had her in his life but also a son. Their son. And just as he was finally beginning to relax—she pulls the rug from under him again.

“He is still sleeping—but God knows how long that will last once we start fighting again.” Elizabeth said as she came down the stairs.

“We weren’t fighting!” he hissed in a loud whisper and immediately heard her snort in response. This is what he got for wishing that she got some of her old spunk back.

“I am not backing down from this Jason.” Her eyes didn’t waver from his face. “I think it’s for the best.”

“Like hell.” Jason muttered under his breath. His lack of control on the situation and his apparent none existent control over Elizabeth were only two of the factors that were fuming him further. Wasn’t it just a few hours ago when she told Luke Spencer that they were in fact staying with him? She didn’t say ‘for now’ or ‘at the moment’—so where the hell was this coming from?

“I got some money saved—its not a lot but it should cover first months rents until I can find a job.” She continued. “I don’t really know what I qualify for but if nothing else—there’s witnessing.”

“I have money.” He deliberately kept his voice softer, yelling at her wasn’t going to do either of them any good.

“That’s not an option.”

Screw not yelling at her. “Why the hell not?”

“Because it would defeat the whole purpose of me being able to take care of myself and of Danny.” She looked up at him, pleading for him not push her on this. “I need to do this.”

Perfect. She uses the one thing he can’t fight—the right for her to do things for her own benefit. “I don’t want you and Danny living in some run down shack on the corner of Courtland Street.” He turned away from her and faced the window.

“We won’t be.” Hopefully.

“I am going to buy a house.”

“No—“

“I am going to pay half of its total cost. The rest you can set up into mortgage payments and you can pay it of on your own. Half of the bills are mine also. That is the only way I am letting you move out.”

“Are those the only conditions?” She asked wearily.

“I can see Danny whenever I want.”

“That goes without saying.”

“I will pay for the basic furniture of the house and if you want—you can pay me back for everything other then Danny’s room later.”

A smile tugged on the corner of her mouth “Your making this way to easy for me.”

“No I am not.” He turned back around to face her. “You get your own job, you are going to pay mortgage and half the bills. In addition to that you’re going to have to be a constant barrier between me and Danny until we get to know each other better.”

“He really likes you.”

“He doesn’t trust me or know me and I am not going to push him until he does. That’s where you come in. I want him to look at me like he does at you. Complete faith.”

“He already does that—in a way.” She defended.

“He looks at me like I am his hero—I want him to look at me like I am his father.” Jason didn’t want Danny to fear him like he feared Lucky nor did he want Danny to resent him like he himself resented Alan. If it was going to take another six years for that to happen—so be it. Eventually however, they were going to become a family.

Whoever said that Jason Morgan had no feelings, had no facial expression had obviously never spoken to him for too long. Now Elizabeth wished that he in fact showed no emotion, so that she wouldn’t be able to see the hurt that slicing through him at the thought of his own son not trusting him. She closed her eyes, blocking out his pained expression. “Good night Jason.”

“Good night—Elizabeth.”

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 6


“ This is a recent development—not even eight years old. The last and the only owners bought this house right after it was built and they took good care of it as you can see.” Marcy, the real estate agent reported cheerily. The house has been on the market for hardly a week and she already had perspective buyers for it. The last two couples she tried selling it to wound up to be ‘short on cash that month’—or so they claimed. They all loved the house and had tried getting loans from a bank to finance it but banks did not finance house this large for just anybody. She might have been new to Port Charles having moved here only a few months ago, but even she knew that Mr. Jason Morgan wasn’t just anybody.

Nope—the flesh and bone Adonis in front of her was definitely a somebody. A gorgeous, blue eyed somebody that was going to make a nice hunk of change for her.

From the rumors she heard, he could probably buy this house and its neighbors with just the money that was in his pockets. Commission was definitely going to be good from this sale—maybe she would press her luck and ask him to meet her for drinks that night.

“It’s really—big.” The petite brunette that came with him spoke up uneasily.

“Five bedrooms, three and half baths, a living room, dining room, a completely modernized kitchen in addition to the finished basement.” Marcy chirped happily. “You won’t find something that is in this good condition anywhere else around here.”

“Is the backyard fence is new right?” Jason asked, his eyes remaining on the brunette rather then the blonde real estate agent.

“Yes Mr. Morgan—the previous owners bought a poodle last year so they fenced the backyard then so he could run around in it.” She supplied unnecessarily.

“What do you think?” Jason asked Elizabeth. She didn’t know it but he already did a background check on this house before bring them here.

He liked it.

It was located in the middle of Port Charles, five-minute drive from the penthouse—fifteen-minute walk. He already planned on installing new locks on the front and back doors, in addition to the security system and the bulletproof windows. The fact that Max, one of Sonny’s bodyguards, lived directly across the street was also a big plus.

Now all he had to so was to convince Elizabeth that she liked it too.

“I don’t know Jason—do we really need something this extravagant? This huge?”

“It’s not huge—it’s practical. A room for you, one for Danny—“

“One for you Jason!” Danny piped up helpfully from his mother’s side. Danny had been understandably upset that morning when they had told him about the move, but the more they spoke of how the ‘three’ of them were still going to see each other daily, the more comfortable with the idea he became.

“One for me—“ He grinned at his son. Leave it to the six year old to bring up an issue that neither one his parents wanted to discuss yet. “One for your studio.”

“Jason—“ Elizabeth warned. She could only issue with one crisis at a time these days—today’s was buying the house—maybe in a month or a year she could find time to deal with her art. Or there lack of.

Oblivious to the tension between the two people, Marcy decided to try this sale at a different angle. Kneeling down to Danny’s level, she gave the apparently shy child a big reassuring smile. “Hi there!”

Danny buried his head more into his mother’s side as he studied the strange lady.

“Are you going to be going to the school here?” Marcy pressed more. She saw him glance at his mother before turning his attention back to her and nodding his head—once. “Yeah? There is an elementary school a few streets from here.” She turned her eyes to Elizabeth. “What grade is he going into?”

“He is going into first.” Elizabeth supplied—another matter she had to get to promptly. School would be starting again in a month and not only was Danny not registered in Port Charles yet but he hadn’t completed a full year of Kindergarten in his old school.

“Oh real—“

“Excuse me.” Jason interrupted the realtor curtly. “Could you give us a minute to discuss this before we give you our final answer.”?

Marcy stared up at him in shock and barely bit back the urge to yell at him for his rudeness. He had the money to buy this place and the commission on it would be excellent not to mention the envy of her fellow coworkers—but she would be damned if she asked him out for drinks after [i.]that[/i] “Of course—Sir.” She replied tartly and left the room.

“You didn’t have to be so rude, Jason.” Elizabeth scolded him. “She was just being friendly.”

“Sorry.” He shrugged, more for the sake of preventing a dumb argument then for actually being remorseful of his earlier actions. “What do you guys think of the house?”

“It’s neat!” Danny said decisively. “I can hide so good in here that mommy won’t be able to find me for days!”

“Wonderful—I’ll save on the food expenses.” Elizabeth replied teasingly, leaning down to brush a kiss on his head.

“Elizabeth?” Jason prompted.

“It’s nice.” She looked around the room again. “Really really nice.”

“And—“

“Can I pick my room now, Jason?” Danny interrupted, his eyes bright with excitement as he looked from floor to ceiling and back.

“You can if we decide to take the house.”

“Well me and you want it right?” Danny reasoned. “ So we have to get it cause there is two of us and only one of mommy!” Before either one of his parents could object to that statement, the six year old took of from his spot and ran out of the room. Within five seconds they heard his little feet running up the stairs, probably in search of his room.

“He is getting to smart for me.” Elizabeth grinned.

“For both of us.” Jason murmured. “You still didn’t tell me what you think of the house.”

“Its—“

“Other then the fact that it’s large.”

“The rooms upstairs look brand new.”

“The house is brand new itself—we won’t need to make any repairs on it.”

“Decorating it would be lot’s of fun.”

“I’ll give you full run of my credit cards.” He smiled. She was weakening.

“Jason—“ she warned but didn’t argue further then that. “Danny could probably walk to and from school on his own. The distance is really small.”

Like hell he would do that! “Maybe.” One battle at a time.

“The backyard is really nice.”

“I can set up a swing set or something out there for him to play in.”

“He’d like that.”

“MOM! THE WINDOWS ARE HUGE!” they heard Danny yelling from the top of the stairs.

“He really likes it doesn’t he?” Elizabeth asked but Jason didn’t bother “A bit over half a million.”

“What?” She gaped at him. “I can’t afford that! No way!”

“I can!” he countered. “You will pay what you can and the rest I’ll cover. You know I have the money for it!”

“Like hell! I will not allow you to pay for my hou—“

“No!” He cut her off angrily. “I am paying for my son’s house.”

“So? Have we made a decision?” Marcy came strolling into the room.

“Have we?” Jason didn’t take his eyes of Elizabeth.

“Mommy?” Danny came in at that second also.

Elizabeth looked around at them—all waiting for her to come to a decision—all wanting her to come to the same one. For Danny this would be a home he always wanted and the home she had always dreamed for him. For Jason it would be place where he could be a father, a role that he played to perfection. How could she refuse anything to the two men who meant the most to her?

“Where do I sign?”

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 7 *Used bad words--my bad. *


3: 18 the bright red digits on her bedside clock glowed angrily at her.

It was official—she wasn’t going to get one wink of sleep that night. As it was, she was running on no more then three to four hours of sleep on average—but completely no sleep was going to be a hell lot tougher to handle.

Their new house was ready to be moved into. They purchased the bare necessities of furniture—beds for her and Danny and a couch for the living room. The phone was installed the previous day and the kitchen was fully stocked with groceries. Everything was ready for them.

The move has already been put of long enough and now it was finally time—this was the last night the three of them were spending under one roof.

In a few hours she would have to get up and finish packing, most of their stuff was already at their but some toiletries and a few of Danny’s toys were still lying around the penthouse. Although sleep wasn’t an option anymore, neither was getting an early start on the day. She knew that the minute she would exit her room, Jason would hear her and demand to know why she wasn’t asleep. Well not exactly demand—that wouldn’t be like Jason. Instead he would try to coax the answer gently out of her, being completely understanding and tender to the point where all she wanted to was to—throttle him.

Sometimes she just wished that he would stop controlling his emotions around her all the time, wished that he would yell at her or criticize her—do anything other than treat her like she was some helpless child needing to be handled with kit gloves. Hell, she kept his child away from him for years, lied to everyone she knew and to top it all of she almost got all three of them killed. Not only did she expect a little wrath from him—she almost craved it.

She almost got what she wanted too, the night she told him that Danny and her were moving out. She didn’t ask him—she freaking told him. His eyes flickered coldly for a second before he was able to control it, but then that was it. No real fight, just a little squabble.

What did he see when he looked at her anyway? Did he think that wasn’t able to hold her own with him? Did he forget the amount of times they clashed in the past and how many times she defied him? Did he think that she changed that much?

No—allowing Jason to know just how little sleep she was getting was definitely not an option.



******



“Are you going to come eat breakfast with us at the new house too?” Danny badgered his father.

With everything packed up to go, they finally sat down for breakfast. Danny sat between his parents with his cereal in front of him while they had their identical cups of black coffee. “Maybe you should eat something before we go.” Jason eyed Elizabeth’s lack of food critically. She was too thin as it was—missing meals was not an option.

“Maybe you should do the same thing.“ she countered irritably. Coffee was the only thing her stomach could hold down at this rate, she hated the bitter taste of the black liquid but her head needed it. The burning sensation she got down her throat with each swallow helped her stay focused as well.

“I never eat—“

“Jason!” Danny tugged on Jason’s sleeve impatiently when no one answered his question.

“Oh sorry buddy—“ Jason gave her one final look before turning back to their son. What was the question again?

“Of course Jason will come to breakfast with us sometimes.” Elizabeth’s quick response saved him from looking like an ass.

“Sometimes?” Danny pressed. “What about lunch? Or dinner?”

“Danny, we discussed this.” Elizabeth said tightly, absently fixing the collar on his shirt. “Jason will come as much as he can.”

“How much is that?”

“Danny—“ she warned and he looked back down at his food immediately, pouting as he swiveled the multi colored marshmallows in his bowl. Feeling guilty for getting mad at him for acting like a child, she took another long swallow of her coffee.

Danny continued to sulk, his bottom lip trembling slightly even as no tears came. “You can call me at anytime remember?” Jason squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. “You still have the number I gave you right?”

“Yeah.”

“And you know how to use the phone, right?”

“I am not a baby.” He mumbled.

“Then you can call me at anytime and I can come over there or you can come over here.”

“Anytime?”

“Anytime.” Jason murmured. “Now finish your breakfast.” He brought attention at the still half full cereal bowl with a directing finger.

As always, Elizabeth watched the two of them interacting with her breath caught in her thought. She waited for both of their attentions to be momentarily diverted before letting it out achingly—another potentially disastrous situation bypassed.



******



Lu waited till she heard her mother’s bedroom door shut closed for the night before leaving her own room. This was how it had been for months now—the last couple of weeks being the most difficult with the death of Lucky.

She wasn’t sorry he was gone, just sorry at what his death had done to their once happy family. She still remembered a time where her mom was the strong one in the family, her father the big and goofy man and her brother—her idol. But that time was long over, her mother was a wreck, her father on the brink of depression and her brother—dead for over eight years now.

She couldn’t stay in this house, couldn’t let the old ghosts and the new ones consume her—she couldn’t become like them—like him. That’s what they all let happen, Lucky couldn’t let go of the past, and Laura couldn’t see the future and Luke can’t deal with either.

Lu heard her mother saying that Elizabeth was back in town with Danny. They were staying with the Morgan man, Luke had mentioned. Elizabeth—the woman that Lu felt more connection to then to her own brother, was her only chance.



******



Sonny Corinthos considered himself an important man, in fact most of the tri-state area and half the Caribbean considered him to be the same. No one ignored him, no one disrespected him and certainly kept him waiting.

No one except Caroline Roberts-Spencer-Quatermaine-Corinthos.

Impatiently Sonny checked his watch again—forty-five minutes late. Why didn’t he just teach her a lesson and leave? Why did he put up with a woman that had never shown much concern for anyone but herself?

Because he was crazy. Nuts. Practically certifiable.

And he loved her.

“Sorry I am late.” The bottle blonde breezed into the seat across from him. “Michael had soccer practice.”

“Michael doesn’t have soccer practice today.” Sonny reminded her. “In fact, Michael is with AJ in the Dominican this week.”

Not bothering to look sorry for using her son as an excuse Carly flagged down a waiter and ordered some mineral water for herself.

“What did you want this time Carly?”

“No need to be rude Sonny.” She scolded him mildly. “I just wanted to see how you were doing. Just because we aren’t married anymore doesn’t mean I don’t care about you.”

“Carly—“ His headache was coming back.

“And you know how I am about people I care about.” Her eyes burned with determination. “Especially people I haven’t seen or heard anything from in years.”

“@#%$.” Sonny swore under his breath, did he really need this @#%$ this early in the week?

“Where is he?” Carly demanded. “I have the right to know when my friend is in town and where he is—“

“You don’t have the right to know jack-@#%$.” Sonny snapped at her. Love her or not, she was a pain in his rear end. “And if your friend wants you to know where he is, your telephone number is listed in the phone book. He should have no troubles.”

“When he finds out that you wouldn’t tell me where he is—“

“He’ll thank me.” Sonny downed the rest of his scotch and stood up. Another hour shot to hell because of Carly. It wasn’t the first, wouldn’t be the last and he had gotten used to that long ago. “Was that all you needed or do you have any other questions that you don’t need answering.”

“@#%$ you.”

“Love you too, Sweetheart. Tell Michael to call me when he gets back, I have extra tickets to some baseball game he’s been badgering me about.” With a final grin at his ex, he turned and left.



******



“It’s a good thing we didn’t have a lot of stuff to unpack, even the few boxes were a whole day’s work.” Elizabeth said from her place on the couch. Danny was upstairs spreading his toys around his new room and Jason just finished programming the new cable box they had installed. Why he thought three hundred channels qualified as a ‘bare-necessity’ for them was beyond her.

“It was a whole day’s work because you kept making me and Danny rearrange the couch and the television a hundred times before you were satisfied.” His back ached and he cut his hand trying to figure out which wires went in which holes on the back of the TV, but he was in a good mood nevertheless.

“To watch all those channels you got us, we need to be comfortable.” She shot back.

“You could have—“ What ever he was about to say was broke of when the doorbell rung. “That must be the pizzas.”

“Good, I am starved.” Elizabeth got up and grabbed the money he extended at her. If she wasn’t so tired and hungry then she might have insisted on paying half of it, but her stomach growled at her even as she made her way to the door. This was not a battle she felt like starting. “Thank—“ she swung the door open, expecting the sight of a pimply-faced adolescent with pizza boxes up to his head. “Lu.”

“Hey Sis.” Lu smiled uneasily. “Feel like a slumber party?”

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 8


“Lu?” Elizabeth stared at her sister-in-law flabbergasted. “What—“

Lu shrugged and pushed her way past Elizabeth into the brightly lit house. “Nice digs.” She complemented and started her way out of the hallway into the main house when Elizabeth grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

“What are you doing here?” Elizabeth asked in an almost panicked voice. “Did something happen to Luke or Laura?”

“Chill Liz—everybody is fine.” Lu pulled out of Elizabeth’s grasp but didn’t try to move further into the house this time.

“Then what’s going on?”

“I haven’t seen you since you got—back.”

“Yeah.” Closing the door behind her, Elizabeth came closer over to the younger woman. “When me and Danny visited, you weren’t there and the few times I called Luke said you were in school or out. I haven’t spoken to Laura either.”

“You aren’t the only one.” Lu muttered but couldn’t say more because there was a knock on the door.

“That must be the pizza.” Elizabeth reached over and opened the door, paid the delivery boy and took their boxes. “Did she go somewhere? Luke didn’t say she was out of town.”

“She isn’t—she is just taking Luck—“ Lu abruptly stopped what she was saying and waited for Elizabeth to react.

“She is taking his death hard.” Elizabeth finished for her. “You can say his name around me but don’t do it in front of Danny or Jason, ok?”

“Jason?” Lu asked, shocked. “What does Jason have to do with it?” Her voice rising with each word.

“Lu—“Taking a deep breath, she placed the pizza boxes on a near by table. “It’s not—“

“Dad said you were staying with him!” She accused, taking a step closer to her sister. “Why don’t you stay with mom and dad? It would probably be good for them to have Danny around.”

“I am not staying with Jason!” Elizabeth spat back, not really know why she felt the need to defend herself. “And I am certainly not staying with you and your parents either.”

“Well then—neither am I!”

“Neither are—what the hell are you talking about?” Elizabeth asked, taken aback for a minute before turning to the younger woman and asking suspiciously. “Where then are you staying?”

“With you!” Lu grinned confidently.



******



Racing down the stairs, Danny bypassed his aunt and mother in the hallway without notice and flew into the living room where Jason was still crouched in front of the television.

“Did you fix it?” He looked over Jason’s shoulders, trying to see what he was doing.

“Almost.” Jason lied. He hated technology—all of it. Tomorrow he would call a technician to come over and set this thing up, tonight however he had to find a way to keep Danny from wanting to watch it. No need for the kid to figure out that his father was a complete spaz when it came to this stuff.

“Can we watch cartoons soon?”

Crap. “We could—but why don’t we leave that for tomorrow.” Jason urged, as he continued to fumble with the wires, pushing them into every hole until they seemed to fit.

“Why?” Danny asked, confused.

“Because…because it’s almost time for you to go to bed.”

“Is not!” Danny protested and looked at his neon orange and green wristwatch for proof. “I still have another—hour and five, six, seven—another hour and seven minutes before bed!”

Strike One.

“Well how about we go and unpack your toys.” He was grasping at straws.

“I did that but mommy said that I shouldn’t unpack all of them until we get me a toy box and a closet to put them in.”

Strike Two.

“Well, there aren’t any cartoons on now. I checked.” Jason muttered.

Danny looked doubtfully at the blank television set and then looked back at Jason with clear amusement written in his blue eyes. “You can’t fix it can ya?”

“What?” When did kids become so perceptive anyway?

“The T.V. You can’t fix it! You can’t fix it!” Danny sang happily.

“Oh you think so?” One corner of his mouth turned upward as he watched Danny dance around him, clearly amused at his father’s incompetence. “I know one thing I can sure fix!” And with that Jason latched onto Danny’s waist and threw him in the air, causing the boy to squeal happily. “You still think I can’t fix it?” He threatened, setting him over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes.

“Yea—Yeah!” He said between giggles and hiccups, as he struggled to sit upright.



******



“What was that?” Lu turned towards the rest of the house when she heard Danny scream.

Elizabeth just stared at her in complete shock, not saying a word.

“Elizabeth, was that Danny that screamed?” Lu pressed.

“Prob—probably.” She shook her head in complete disbelief. “What do you mean your living here?”

“Shouldn’t we check on him?”

“He’s alright, Jason with him. Answer my question.”

“Jason is here???”

“Yes. He is helping us move in.” Elizabeth answered absentmindedly, her mind still on the bombshell that Lu threw on her.

“Well isn’t that just @#%$ sweet of him.” Lu shot back angrily. “Maybe later he can tuck both of you into bed.”

“Lu!” She snapped. “Watch your mouth!”

“You are worried about me swearing in front of Danny, but having a criminal as a major figure in his life is all right?”

“Jason…Jason saved his life and they get along well.”

“So? Say thanks and be done with it!”

“This isn’t up for discussion!”

“What’s going on here?” Jason came into the hallway; Danny still perched in his arms. He studied the two women, critically. Both were obviously holding on the last strands of their tempers.

“LU!” Danny screamed happily at the sight of her, and struggled to get down.

“Hey Dan!” Lu kneeled down to his level and hugged him to her. God she missed him. “You have gotten so big, buddy!” She pushed him back slightly to study him.

“I’ve grown a whole inch!” Danny declared proudly. “Jason says that soon I’ll be taller then him!”

“Taller.” Lu glared over at the man in question.

“Danny why don’t you and Jason go and set the table. Extra plate for Lu.” Elizabeth asked him, and passed the boxes of pizza to Jason.

“But mom—“ He whined. “Lu just got here.”

“Lu will be here for a bit, so you can still spend time with her.”

“For a long bit.” Lu added under her breath, loud enough for only Elizabeth to hear.

“But—“ Danny continued to pout.

“Come on, Champ.” Jason put his hand on Danny’s shoulder and urged him out of the room. “If you don’t tell your mom, I’ll give you a sip of beer.”

“Did you just hear that?” Lu accused.

“Root beer. He gives him a sip of it every other night. It makes Danny feel like he is an adult.” Elizabeth explained with a grin. “Now what’s this about you moving in?”

“I don’t want to stay in that house anymore.” Lu pleaded. “Mom is completely depressed and out of it, Dad is pitiful almost. All he does is drink and sleep and once in a while he will go to his bar and drink and sleep there. I am the only sane one there!”

“They miss him.”

“What’s there to miss? He was always an @#%$ to both of them, treating them like they’re not worth more then the dirt on the bottom of his shoes.”

“He wasn’t always like that.”

“He was as long as I can remember!” And he hasn’t been my brother since the moment he knocked me face down on the ground.

“Lu—“

“Don’t you defend him too, Liz. He hurt you more then anybody. So don’t you start defending him too.”

“I’m not. I am just trying to make you see what your parents must be feeling.”

“I don’t give a flying hoot what they are feeling at this moment!”

“You don’t mean that.”

“Maybe…Maybe I don’t.” She shrugged. “I just know that I can’t stay in that house another minute and not loose some of my sanity.”

“We don’t have beds yet.”

“I don’t mind the floor.”

“You have to call your parents tomorrow and tell them where you are.”

“Tomorrow night—let them worry about me for a change.” She replied stubbornly.

“You will be helping me with babysitting Danny when I go job hunting and you will help me with whatever I need to help set this house up. That will be your rent pay.”

“Slave driver.”

“Jason will be coming over a lot.” Elizabeth dared her to argue on this. “You can’t be a bitch to him, at least in front of Danny.”

“I’ll wait till Danny is out of the room.”

“You don’t mention anything about Jason to Danny.”

“And take the chance that Jason wont be the kid’s hero anymore? I wouldn’t dare.” Lu replied sarcastically.

“Lu—“

“Fine. Fine. Let the kid live in delusion. But the moment I see a miniature leather jacket on him, the deal is off.”

Too late, Elizabeth grinned silently. “Then you can get one of the sleeping bags Jason brought over and bunk with me for the night. Tomorrow we will finish this.”

“Oooh. Dinner.”

“That is if you can make it through dinner without insulting Jason” Elizabeth added wickedly.

“Great. I have to play nice with the devil. What have I gotten myself into?”

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 9


Lu didn’t know what woke her. It was barely seven in the morning and she was wide-awake. She could blame it on the hard floor below her sleeping bag or the fact she was sleeping in an unfamiliar place. Those however were not the reasons for her being awake—being a Spencer has taught her to make do with what ever she had. No—the real reason was that she couldn’t seem to put last night’s dinner out of her mind.

She tried to behave herself—honestly she did. She really didn’t have much against Jason other than what she heard from other people. She only met him a handful of times and that was years ago. He seemed polite and with her family’s track record, she really had no right to pass judgment on him.

Her father said that Jason used to do books for him and park cars at Luke’s, but that was years ago. Lu didn’t remember that time, the time when Luke’s was prospering and Jason Morgan was nothing more than another kid. Luke said that there was even a time when Lucky was close friends with Jason, when they respected one another.

And then Lucky got ‘killed’. The next time she heard of Jason Morgan was when her mother was speaking to a friend of hers about how he was taking advantage of Elizabeth. How he was praying on her trusting and naïve nature. If it was one thing Lu knew it was that Elizabeth has never been naïve in her life. Kind and trusting maybe, but even that was on reserved bases.

Her father even went as far as to claim that Elizabeth was too fragile to be dealing with Morgan.

‘Fragile? Elizabeth? Elizabeth Webber?’ Lu remembered asking her father with wide eyes. Were they talking of the same woman? At the time Elizabeth was her hero, her role model. Lu thought of her as the invincible woman, the ideal. Heck—everybody thought that—her brother and her parents as well as most of Port Charles. No wonder they were all convinced that the only way that perfect Elizabeth could be involved with Port Charles head ‘mobster’ was if he was manipulating her in some way. Lu, however knew better. If Elizabeth was really involved with Jason Morgan, she knew exactly what she was doing.

It wasn’t until Lucky came home with a broken arm and bruises all over his body, that Lu really began to dislike Jason. She remembered how Lucky and Nikolas would rant for hours about how Jason was messing up their lives. Lucky raved about how Jason was trying to steal his girlfriend, Nikolas feeding his hatred telling him about the rumors he heard about them while Lucky was ‘dead’. Lu had had to bite her tongue not to point out that while those stories were rumors, Nikolas’s obsession with Elizabeth was a fact. She didn’t say anything about that to Lucky because families stick together and if he wanted to hate Morgan, then she would to.

Now years later, she wondered just how justified that hatred was. Even if Jason was after Elizabeth, who could blame him? He was a man and she was a beautiful woman, they had been friends for years at that point—why wouldn’t he go after her?

That’s what was really bothering her. She saw the way he was looking at Elizabeth last night, the way he was watching her. In all the years Elizabeth was married to Lucky, Lu had never seen Lucky look at her that way. And then there was the way Jason interacted with Danny, the way her nephew copied his every move. Something was definitely going on with the three of them—and Lu wasn’t sure she was going to like it when she found out what.

There was no use trying to get more sleep, Lu decided as she wiggled her way out of the sleeping bag and stretched. Looking over to Elizabeth’s bed she noted that her sister in law wasn’t in there. When did she get up that Lu didn’t hear her? She had been awake for hours, how could she have missed Elizabeth leaving the room?

Carefully, as to not wake anyone who still might be sleeping Lu made her way down the long hallway to the stairs.



******



“Are you sure that that’s enough chocolate chips in there?” Danny stood on a chair and peered over his mother’s shoulder at the mixing bowl.

“There’s more chocolate chips in here then there is dough!”

“Well I like chocolate and so do you and so does Lu! Does Jason like chocolate?” He stuck his finger into the mixing bowl and earned a playful swat from his mother.

“You can’t eat raw dough, silly.” Elizabeth reached up and kissed him on the cheek. What a picture he made, standing tall on the chair in his superman pajamas covered head to toe in flour.

“Can I pour them onto the skillet?” Danny reached for the ladle lying next to the bowl. “I’ll be really careful, please?” he pleaded.

Looking uneasily to the heating skillet, Elizabeth reduced the flame under it before pushing Danny’s chair along with Danny closer to the stove. “You have to be really careful and do what I tell you, deal?”

“Aha.” Danny nodded his head enthusiastically before pushing the ladle into the batter until it was filled. “Now?” he asked his mother.

“Really careful, Sweetie.”

Lip caught between his front teeth, Danny carefully poured the batter onto the steaming skillet. “How’s that?”

Moving his chair a bit back from the stove, Elizabeth pretended to study his work. “Wow—that’s better then mine. Are you trying to take my job?” she accused him playfully.

“No.” Danny giggled at her. “You can still make my breakfast—sometimes.”

“Aren’t you two up bright and early?” Lu came into the kitchen, smiling at them.

“We’ve been making breakfast.” Danny declared proudly.

“I never would have guessed.” Lu commented dryly as she studied the messy counter and stove. “You have any coffee? I know you do, cause I could smell it all the way upstairs.”

“You shouldn’t drink that, it will stunt your growth.” Elizabeth murmured automatically.

“Stunt my growth? Excuse me, but I am five inches taller then you already. Half the guys in my class hardly reach my chin. I want my growth to be stunted!” Lu laughed as she poured herself a cup of coffee. “And since do you drink it?”

“It’s a recent habit.” Elizabeth vaguely replied and flipped over the giant pancake.

“You drink your coffee black too?” Danny asked his aunt.

“Yeah.” Lu laughed at his odd question. “And what do you mean ‘too’?”

“Jason drinks it black too—and so do I!”

“You don’t drink coffee.” His mother reminded him.

“Well I will when I am bigga’!”

“So—what time did Jason leave last night? It must have been late ‘cuz I went to sleep around midnight and he was still here.” Lu asked.

“He didn’t leave.” Elizabeth answered softly.

Almost choking on her coffee, Lu carefully placed the mug onto the counter top before making her way over to Elizabeth. “What do you mean he didn’t leave?” she demanded.

“I mean he stayed over last night.” Elizabeth replied irritably. As far as she remembered, Lu had never been this nosy before.

No wonder she didn’t hear her leave the room that morning, she probably was with Jason all night! Lu forced herself to calm down a bit; Elizabeth was an adult after all. If she wanted to become a mobster’s—a mobster’s anything that was her decision. She didn’t need to answer to anyone on that account—Danny however was a whole different matter. “Should—should you really be doing that with your son right down the hall?” Lu hissed.

Taken aback by Lu’s attitude, Elizabeth turned to her. “What was I doing that I shouldn’t do in front of my son?”

“Don’t play dumb Elizabeth, I am not a child anymore. I know exactly what you were doing?”

“Oh you do, do you?” Realizing what Lu was implying only fueled Elizabeth’s temper. “Not that I have to explain myself to you, but since you are obviously going to take your anger out on Jason or Danny—‘

“Not Danny.”

“Or anyone else—then I will explain to you that it would be pretty hard for me to be doing anything with Jason since he slept the entire night in Danny’s bedroom!”

“Mornin Jason!” They heard Danny exclaim and watched as the child launched himself at Jason.