Dreams Change by MaggieWood

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 11


A feeling of déjà vu swept through her. She stood in front of her studio door just like she had this morning. It was the right thing to do, she reminded herself. She needed to tell Jason her decision, even if it hurt to turn him away. She took a deep breath and opened the door. She stopped at the threshold. Her mind couldn’t seem to register what her eyes were seeing. Lucky was sitting on her couch fingering through Jason’s travel book.

“Lucky, what are you doing here?” She put down the food she had brought Jason on the table.

“I came to see my best girl and see if I could steal her away from her painting,” he came up to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Gia’s photo shoot went quicker than I thought, so I have the rest of the day to spend with you.” He leaned down to kiss her. When he tried to deepen the kiss, she pulled away and turned to close the door. She glanced at the closet door. She knew Jason was in there. She looked back to Lucky and gave a tentative smile.

“That’s great,” she said uneasily.

Lucky sensed her unease, “I know you’re worried about Gia’s shoot, but you shouldn’t. You are ten times more beautiful than her. There’s no competition.”

She smiled. She had forgotten all about the Face of Deception. “I’m not worried,” she said, “I know Laura will choose the right person for the job.”

“Good. Now how about we get out of here and spend the rest of the day in bed.”

Her eyes went instantly to the closet door. Had he heard that? What was he thinking? Oh God, she hated this. She hated that she thought about Jason and what he was feeling when she should be thinking about Lucky.

“You know I would love to spend the rest of the day with you, but I need to finish this painting.”

He turned to the painting on the easel. “I was looking at it when I came in. It’s great, Elizabeth. Do you really need to finish it right now? It looks almost done. I’m sure you can do any finishing touches to it tomorrow.”

“I’d like to finish it while the feelings are still fresh in my head.”

For a moment he looked like he would argue and try to get her to change her mind, but he didn’t. Instead he sat back on the couch and grabbed the travel book.

“Okay, I’ll wait until you’re done. I’ll just sit here and read while you finish up,” he said. “Hey, since when do you want to go to Greece?”

Her mind was blank. She couldn’t figure out how to get out of this situation without getting into a fight with Lucky or revealing Jason’s presence. She went through the motions of gathering up her brushes and paint preparing to get to work. “What?” She asked. He held up the book to show her the cover. “Oh, yeah. Lucky you know I want to travel. Greece would be a wonderful place to go. After all those stories from Nikolas, I can’t wait to see all places he talked about.”

“When you’re the Face of Deception, we’ll be traveling all over the world. You’ll get to see all those places and more.”

She smiled, “I can’t wait.” She turned back to the canvas, trying to think of a way to get Lucky to leave without getting into an argument.

Lucky was quiet for a minute and then began moving around the studio. He stopped by the canvases Jason had stretched that morning. “Did you stretch these canvases yourself?”

She sighed. Lucky couldn’t seem to stay quiet. How was she suppose to work if he kept interrupting her? “Yeah, I’m going to need them.”

“Wow. Well, you know, I could have helped you.”

“Oh, well, doing it myself helps me think.”

“Yeah, like music helps me. What do you listen to while you paint?” He went to her portable stereo and began looking through her CDs.

She put her brush down and abandoned the canvas. She wasn’t going to get any work done. Lucky just wouldn’t let her. He needed to have her full attention. “Anything. Whatever Nikolas gives me from L&B, or the radio.” She reached for her coat, “Listen, why don’t we go take a nice walk around the docks?”

Lucky ignored her. He put in the CD he found and turned to her. He took the coat found her hand and tossed it on the couch. Just as the music began he gathered her in his arms, “Why don’t we dance instead?”

She was about to argue when she recognized the song. It was their song. Lucky pulled her tighter and they swayed to the music. Elizabeth tried to relax and let the song and Lucky’s arms around her take over but all she could think about was Jason and another time she danced to this song. She remembered the feeling of being in his arms. She had felt safe and protected. Now she felt like she was betraying Jason with Lucky. She knew Jason could hear the music. What was he feeling? Did he hate her? Did he feel she was destroying a moment that was special to them like she did? It was ironic. She had initiated the dance with Jason so she could feel close to Lucky and now that she was dancing with Lucky all she could think about was Jason.

Oh, God, she needed to end the song and get rid of Lucky. Get rid of Lucky? No she meant get rid of Jason. He had to leave so she could stop lying to Lucky. Then she could be with Lucky the way he wanted, the way he deserved. As the song neared the ending she pulled out of the embrace.

“That was wonderful,” she said hoping he couldn’t see the lie in her eyes, “but I really need to finish this and you’re distracting me. A good distraction, but a distraction nonetheless.”

“Elizabeth, you can finish this tomorrow,” he whined, “I want to spend some time with you. Don’t you want that too?”

“Of course, I do. I love you,” she replied. “Just give me two hours, okay? I’ll get this done, then I’m all yours.”

“Okay,” he sounded dejected like a boy whose favourite toy was broken. “But if you’re not at Kelly’s in two hours, I’m coming to get you.”

She chuckled and opened the door, “Don’t worry, I’ll be there.” She closed the door behind him and rested her head on it. It was quiet, then she heard Jason open the closet door.

“I’m sorry. I can’t believe this is happening,” she said softly as she turn and faced Jason. “Lucky thought he was alone with me. He would die if he found out you were listening.”

“Why would he?”

“Because, Jason, he doesn’t know about that night that you and I danced together and how I – how I pretended that it was him and it didn’t work because it was really you and – he just – he wouldn’t understand. He would feel betrayed.”

“Hold on, Elizabeth, I didn’t expect him to show up,” he said defensively. He hated seeing her this way. She was hurting and he knew it was his fault for putting her in this position.

She covered her face with her hands, “Oh, God. How long was he here for?”

He shrugged, “A while.”

“Oh. I am so sorry --,” she stopped. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t keep lying to Lucky. I can’t keep sending him away and apologizing to you because he came to see me. Lucky has the right to come to my studio. He has the right to be with me. I shouldn’t have to feel guilty about it.”

“Elizabeth.” He moved closer.

She stopped him with a raised hand, “No, Jason, I can’t. You have to go.”

He stood with his arms at his side repeatedly clenching his fists. “I didn’t mean for this to be so bad for you.”

She gave a small smile, “I know you didn’t. It’s not you fault. It’s mine and I have to make it right.”

He brought his hand to his face and pinched his nose, “I need one more day. This will all be over in 24 hours.”

She couldn’t stop herself from wondering what he meant. She wanted to know what was going to happen to tomorrow, would it be dangerous, could he get hurt, but she didn’t. She had to stop worrying about him. Jason was not her concern, Lucky was. She nodded, “Okay, one more day. Then you have to go.”

He nodded. He looked around hesitantly, “You know, Sonny needs me here, so, you know, you don’t have to come back until, you know, I’m gone.”

She was speechless. It didn’t sound like he meant just the studio. He was leaving, maybe for good. You told him to go. “Are you going to leave town again?”

“The less you know the better,” he knew he sounded cold, but he couldn’t help it.

Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. She knew it wasn’t fair, but it hurt. She didn’t want to lose him completely. “Everything was so clear from the back of your motorcycle,” she said quietly, “Cold, but perfectly clear. And nothing else mattered but going faster in the wind.”

His face softened, “I like that picture.”

She didn’t know what to say. “I’m really sorry,” she cried.

Jason reached for her and took him in his arms, “Hey, you don’t have to apologized for how you feel.”

For a second she savoured the feel of Jason’s arms around her, then pushed away from him. “I’ve got to get going,” she said picking up her coat.

He stopped her before she could leave. “I just want to thank you for letting me stay.”

She gave a sad smile. “You’re welcome,” she said and left the studio.

Chapter 12

Jason fitted the rifle butt to his shoulder and positioned the two-legged support stand on the windowsill. He peered through the telescopic sight to the warehouse below. The .308 high-powered rifle felt comfortable in his arms. It had been a while since he had held one, but his body had not forgotten the familiar weight. He focused the sight on a worker standing by the entrance of the warehouse. Soon Sorel would be standing there for his meeting with Sonny. When he made his move, Jason would be ready to take him out. Others might worry about the distance, but not Jason. He knew the range of the rifle and he knew his skill. He regarded his accuracy as a given. This was what he did, a part of who he was. When he was sure of his target, he loaded a round into the chamber. He was ready. Now he just had to wait.

He lowered the rifle to the ground and peered out the window with his arms crossed. Soon it would be over, and he would leave the studio. He thought of Elizabeth. When this was done, he would leave Port Charles, maybe for good this time. He was causing problems for her and he didn’t want that. He didn’t want Elizabeth to hurt because of him. He had come to, he admitted, not only for a place to stay, but to see how she was, to see if she was happy with Lucky.

He shook his head. If she had been happy with Lucky this wouldn’t be so hard. He would have done his job and left without any problem. But she wasn’t happy with Lucky. He could see that on the first day. Lucky was possessive and controlling. Elizabeth couldn’t see it but she was trying to change who she was to fit Lucky’s needs. Anger flowed through him. He wanted to hit Lucky, to make him see what he was doing to her. But he couldn’t and wouldn’t. Elizabeth needed to fight her own battles. She needed to stand up for herself, just like she had done that long ago Christmas. She needed to know that she was strong enough to make her own decisions. He just didn’t know if he could stay here and watch Elizabeth find herself with Lucky. It would be too much. He sighed and moved away from the window just as there was a knock on the door.

The door opened to reveal Elizabeth. “Hey, it’s just me.” What am I doing here? Elizabeth asked herself outside her studio. She shouldn’t be here. It was Valentine’s Day. She should be with Lucky exchanging gifts, but instead she was standing outside her studio. Lucky didn’t even know she was here. She had left before Lucky woke and had walked around Port Charles thinking about her life. Without realising it she had ended up here again. She couldn’t seem to stay away.

He was shocked to see her here. He glanced down to the rifle sure that she couldn’t see it. “Oh, man. I thought, - I thought you were going to stay clear until I left tonight,” he said.

“I knew you would be hungry, so I brought you lunch,” she said as she walked passed him and place the bag she was carrying onto the table. This was a bad idea. She shouldn’t have come, but she didn’t want to leave either.

“I would have been fine.” He was feeling many conflicting emotions. The meeting would be starting soon, he needed to be ready, but he was also happy that she came to see him. He didn’t think he would see her again.

“All right, then, I did it for me. If I had to think of you sitting here starving to death, my whole day would have been shot.” Don’t tell me to go, she said silently.

“It’s not your problem, but thank you.” He wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity to spend another few minutes with her. They could talk then he would get her to leave.

“Jason, I wish I could do more for you, but I can’t go on keeping a secret from Lucky.”

He sighed. He wanted to talk but not about Lucky. Jason turned toward to window again. “After today, it won’t be a problem.”

“What is so fascinating out that window?” Elizabeth moved toward him and looked down to see what he was looking at. She didn’t notice the rifle by his feet. “There’s Sonny going to the warehouse. So that’s the reason you wanted to stay here – because it has a good view of the warehouse.”

“That was one of the reasons,” he said, a little uncomfortable with Elizabeth being so close to him. “When I knew I’d have to keep out of sight, I thought of you and this place. I knew I could trust you, but I didn’t think enough about you and how tough this would be.” On you and me, he thought.

“Would you not thank me again?” Elizabeth walked back to the bag from Kelly’s. She dug her hand into the bag and pulled something out. She looked back at him hesitantly, “I brought you a present. It’s fudge. My version of Tammy’s recipe.” She handed the fudge over to Jason. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Taking the fudge from her, he didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t expected anything from her. “Thank you. You know, I don’t have anything for you.”

“Oh, no, it’s --,” she didn’t need anything from him. She felt guilty enough making him leave.

“No, no, no, wait a minute. I do.” He turned around searching for his bang. He remembered the glass. He had seen it in Italy one day and without thinking had bought it. He didn’t know what had possessed him.

“Jason, you don’t … have to give me anything.” Elizabeth was getting a little uncomfortable herself. She didn’t know why she had decided to give Jason the fudge. Valentine’s Day wasn’t even one of her favourite holidays. She just didn’t like to think of him being in the studio alone on Valentine’s Day. She should be with Lucky and give him his present, but she couldn’t seem to get Jason out of her head.

“No, when I went to Italy, okay, I saw these glass blowers, and they made all kinds of stuff.” What was he doing? He should have just taken the fudge. “Some of it was pretty junky – lots of gold and paint all over. But the colour of the glass was so intense; I brought back a piece to remind me. Look it’s – it’s kind of like a stained glass window at a church.”

Taking the glass from his hand, Elizabeth was shocked. ‘What an incredible red. Jason, you keep this. It’s important to you.”

“It’s not a ruby. It’s a hunk of glass. Take it. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“Thank you. It’s beautiful.”

They moved to the window and Jason raised her arm to allow light to pass through the glass. “Yeah. There, you kind of – you really need to take it outside to see the – to see the light coming through. And I’d go with you if I could.” He looked down at her uncertainly.

“It’s perfect here.” She looked up at him.

They stayed that way for a few moments until Jason dropped his hand and moved away. It felt good to have her in his arms. Too good. Elizabeth was with Lucky and the sooner he needed to remember that.

Elizabeth turned towards Jason. She had felt something a moment ago. Had he? Was that why he had walked away? It was the same thing she had felt when she’d kissed Jason that Christmas and when she thought Jason was going to kiss her yesterday.

“Do you ever think about what happened that Christmas?” Elizabeth asked quietly. What was she doing? She’d promised herself she wouldn’t bring it up. She didn’t think she wanted to have this discussion. Then why did you ask? She wasn’t sure but now that it was out she nervously waited for his answer.

Jason wondered where that had come from. How had she gone from Valentine’s Day to Christmas? He looked in her eyes and knew she was thinking about the kiss. “All the time,” he replied.

For a split second, Elizabeth could feel Jason’s lips on hers. It had been over a year ago, but it felt like it just happened. “I know I asked you to forget about the kiss, but I never did. I’d told you it was a mistake, but when you left I thought about it a lot. You showed me that I could feel desire. After the rape, I wasn’t sure if I would ever want a man. I was comfortable with Lucky. I had known him before it happened. When Lucky died, I thought I would never meet another man that I could feel that comfortable with to let him touch me. But you showed me that I was over the rape. That I could feel that desire.”

Jason tried to hide his disappointment. “I’m glad I was able to help you.” To him the kiss was the turning point in his life. He realized that Elizabeth had meant more to him than any other person in his life. At the time, he hadn’t been ready to deal with that information but now he knew that he had fallen in love with her. Somewhere deep inside he had hoped that she had felt the same way. It was stupid, especially when Lucky had returned. He knew how much she loved Lucky. But he couldn’t stop the hope from lurking inside him.

“Do you ever think about what would have happened if we hadn’t stopped?”

Jason was shocked. He couldn’t speak. He just looked at her. What did she want him to say? If they hadn’t stopped, he would have ripped off her clothes and they would have ended up having sex on her couch. He was sure of it. That’s what he had wanted to do. As soon as her lips touched his, every other thought but her had left his mind. A desire he hadn’t even known about had taken over. Does she want to know that? Does she want to know how he felt and still feels? She was with Lucky now. Why was she bringing up something that didn’t happen and wasn’t going to happen?

Elizabeth was shocked. What was she doing? She could see that her question had bothered Jason. He was staring at her but hadn’t said anything. What was he thinking? No, the idea of having sex with you was too revolting to think about. I was only kissing you to make you feel better. I never really wanted you. Why had she brought up this subject? What was she even doing here? She should be with Lucky. This was Valentine’s Day. The day you should spend with the person you love. Yet here she was with Jason, and she didn’t know where Lucky was.

Jason still hadn’t said anything. Oh my God! I think I going to die right this minute. Please, Jason, just say something, anything. I can’t take this silence, she thought. “You know what, forget I mentioned it, okay. It was nothing. I don’t even know why I asked. I think I’m going crazy, just ignored me.” Elizabeth couldn’t look at him. She turned around and started to clean up the brushes she had left on the easel the last night.

“Elizabeth…. Elizabeth… Elizabeth,” Jason tried to get her to stop but she moved quickly around him and walked to the table. Before she could run again Jason grabbed her arm and turned her around to face him. There was so much he wanted to say, but nothing came out. Instead he lowered his head and kissed her.

At first she just stood there, frozen in shock, but soon she was kissing him back. Just as before, the desire surged out of control. Without breaking apart, they walked toward the couch. Elizabeth began pushing Jason shirt above his torso and ran her hands over his muscular chest. She couldn’t think. All she knew was that she wanted him. She had never felt like that before. Not even with Lucky. Not since that first time at Christmas.

Did the earth just move? Before she could answer that question, Jason had stopped kissing her and was moving toward the window.

“What was that?” She asked. She slowly pushed herself off the couch and moved toward him. Her mind was still cloudy. It took a moment to understand what she was seeing. The Corinthos-Morgan Warehouse was on fire. “What happened?’

“The warehouse exploded. Elizabeth, call 911. I have to get Sonny!” Without looking back, Jason ran out the studio.

Elizabeth rushed to the phone. “Hello, 911? The Corinthos-Morgan warehouse just exploded. There are people inside. Please, you‘ve got to send help.” Elizabeth returned to the window to see Jason run into the burning building. Oh my God! What if he got hurt? She didn’t know how long she stood there staring out the window. All she knew was that he wasn’t coming out. Why wasn’t he coming out? This couldn’t be happening again. She had to go down there. She had to know that he would be okay. As she looked around for her jacket, she heard a knock at the door.

“Lucky!” What was he doing here?

“Hey.”

“Hey. Did you see the fire?” She really didn’t want to talk to him. All she could think about was Jason in the fire. “It’s Sonny’s warehouse. We have to go.” She had found her jacket and was hastily putting it on.

“Hold on, hang on a second.” He grabbed her arm as she tried to walk through the door. “My gosh, you’re shaking. I’m sorry. Are you all right? I came running as soon a I heard the explosion and the sirens.”

“I saw Sonny go into the warehouse.” She desperately wanted to run, to find Jason and make sure he was okay.

“Yeah, but Elizabeth, the rescue teams are already there. I think he’s going to be okay. I’m sure he’s all right.” He pulled her back into the studio and closed the door.

She needed to calm down. She couldn’t let Lucky know that Jason was here. She sat back on the couch and finally noticed that Lucky was carrying flowers. “You brought me white roses.”

“Hey, Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“Thank you.” She took the flowers from him. “Uh, I left your present at Kelly’s.” She had to get down there. All she could think about was Jason running into the warehouse. “Can we just go down to the warehouse for a moment. I need to know that everyone is okay. Then we can go to Kelly’s and have dinner. How does that sound?”

“Okay, let’s go.”

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 13

Fire and medical people were everywhere. The warehouse was on fire and the firemen were trying diligently to put it out. The police had taped off the area around the warehouse. Elizabeth stood behind the tape frantically searching for Jason.

A second explosion hit. It was smaller than the first but its heat radiated from the warehouse hitting Elizabeth stinging her eyes. Jason can’t die, she silently pleaded. I need him too much. She felt a hand on her back.

“Elizabeth, let’s go. There’s nothing we can do here.”

She turned to look at Lucky. She had forgotten he was there. She couldn’t leave. Before she could reply she was a fireman walking near her. She touched his arm to get his attention. “Please, can you tell me if Sonny Corinthos has been found yet?”

The fire fighter looked down at her perspiration and smoke covered his face. “Not yet.” He turned and walked away without looking back to her.

Elizabeth looked back towards the warehouse. Jason, please be okay. She felt so helpless. After Lucky, she had promised herself she would never feel like that again. But she did now. An odd sense of déjà vu rushed through her. She was standing outside a burning building waiting helplessly as a person she loved was fighting for his life. Only this time, it was worse. Jason had saved her when Lucky had died, who would save her when Jason died?

She heard shouting from the warehouse. “They’re coming out!” She saw movement from the building’s entrance. At first she didn’t know what it was. There was too much smoke to make out who it was. She saw a figure walking through the smoke. He was moving slowly. He looked like he was dragging something. As the smoke cleared, she saw that it was Jason half carrying half dragging an unconscious Sonny. Jason released Sonny to the paramedics running toward them. He waved off the one trying to assess him. He wanted them to take care of Sonny.

Jason started coughing and bent forward, his hands resting on his knees. He looked up when he was able to catch his breath and stared straight into Elizabeth’s eyes. She was standing next to Lucky with a bunch of white roses in her arms. Her face was devoid of anything. She stood like a statue. He was worried. He had never seen her like that before. With Lucky standing beside her, he didn’t know if he should see if she was all right or just leave her. He wasn’t even sure he had enough strength to go over there. He wanted her to come to him. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her. He wanted to feel alive after almost dying and she was the only thing that really made him alive, but he knew she would never do that. She was with Lucky even now. He should know that by now.

Elizabeth stood frozen looking at Jason. Her mind couldn’t quite process what her eyes were seeing. Jason was all right. He wasn’t dead. He was covered in dirt, sweat and smoke, but he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life.

“Elizabeth, Sonny’s going to be okay. Let’s go to Kelly’s.” Lucky’s voice seemed to be coming from a far off place rather than just next to her. She looked at Sonny. The paramedics were placing him on a gurney. Carly was gripping his hand and touching his face. Tears were running down her face. Elizabeth hadn’t even known Carly was there. Her whole being had been fully concentrated on Jason and him being okay she hadn’t even seen Carly arrive. Jason! She looked back to the place where he was last. For a second she almost believed she hadn’t seen him. That he hadn’t come out of the building and had really died inside the warehouse. The panic rose deep inside her again. She closed her eyes. When she opened them again, he was there. He hadn’t moved from his position. He was still staring at her. She could see the need in his eyes. He needs me, she thought. He started to cough breaking their connection.

That seemed to snap her out of her frozen state. She moved to grab the police tape, dropping Lucky’s flowers. She barely registered Lucky calling after her as she ran toward Jason. She ran into him almost knocking him down, her arms going around him.

“You’re alive, you’re alive!” she said desperately tears forming in her eyes. She tightened her hold as if she would never let go again. “I thought you were going to die.”

“It’s all right. It’s all right.” Jason’s voice was husky and rough from the smoke. He held her for a second savouring the feel of her arms around him. As much as he wanted to hold her for the rest of his life, he saw Lucky approach and knew he had to let go. He tried to remove her arms from around his neck, but she held on tighter. “Elizabeth.” He tried again with a little more force. When she wouldn’t move, he used all the strength he had left to push her away. He looked into her eyes. Placing a reassuring hand on her cheek and looking into her eyes, he said, “Elizabeth, I’m okay.”

Before she could say anything, Lucky had caught up to her. “Elizabeth, what’s going on?” He was confused. He felt like he was interrupting something but he didn’t know what. She had run to Jason even though she had said she was concerned about Sonny. He didn’t think she even knew Jason was in town much less inside the warehouse.

She turned to look at him. “Jason saved Sonny’s life.”

“I see that. I didn’t know he was in town. Did you?”

She quickly turned her head back to Jason. “No, I didn’t. It was a shock seeing him coming out of the warehouse.” The lie flowed easily out of her mouth.

Lucky looked at her trying to decide if she was telling the truth. Her reaction seemed to contradict what she had said. He knew at one time she and Jason were friends or at least that was what she said. Nicholas had hinted at more. Looking at her now, he wondered if Nicholas was right.

Paramedics coming for Jason interrupted Lucky’s thoughts. He watched quietly as Jason refused to go to the hospital.

“Jason, you have to go to the hospital and make sure you’re okay,” she said forgetting about Lucky again.

“Elizabeth, I’m fine. I don’t need to go to the hospital,” he replied even as coughing overtook him again.

“You’re not fine. Please, for me?”

He looked at her for a moment then at Lucky. He could see that Lucky was suspicious. He wanted to be here for Elizabeth when Lucky starting asking more questions. He looked back to her and saw the pleading in her eyes. She didn’t just want him to go to the hospital to make sure he was all right; she also wanted him to get away from Lucky. She wanted to protect him from the questions she knew Lucky would ask. He didn’t know what to do. He saw the determination in her eyes and knew he couldn’t say no. With a shake of his head, he allowed the paramedics to walk him toward the ambulance.

It was only after Jason had been loaded into the ambulance and it had driven away did she turn back to Lucky. She saw the questions in his eyes. She knew she would have to answer them, but she didn’t know if she could. She needed to calm herself. Her emotions were all over the place. She didn’t like lying to Lucky but she also wanted to protect Jason.

“Can we talk about this at Kelly’s please?” she asked before he could say anything.

He looked at her. He wanted to know what was going on. “Did you know Jason was in the warehouse? Is that why you wanted to come down here?”

“Sonny is my friend. I was concerned for him. When I saw Jason there, my concern went to him as well. They are my friends Lucky. I needed to make sure they were okay.”

“They aren’t your friends. They’re dangerous. You shouldn’t be associating with them.”

“I’m not going to discuss this with you right now. Especially here,” she waved her arms around. There were still standing outside the burning warehouse. Fire, police and medical personnel were working tirelessly around them trying to put the fire out and take care of the injured. She was surprised they hadn’t been told to leave. “I’m going to Kelly’s. You can come with me if you want.” She turned and walked away without waiting for his reply.

As she walked to Kelly’s, she couldn’t get thoughts of the day out of her mind. She didn’t know what was happening or how she felt about it. This morning she had woken fully intending to spend Valentine’s Day with Lucky, the man she loved. Instead, she had kissed Jason and probably done more if the warehouse hadn’t exploded. Then she had almost lost him. She could still feel the panic inside her. It scared her. It was so intense. She had never felt like that before. Even with Lucky. She hadn’t thought it was possible. When Lucky had died, the pain had been so great she had wanted to die too. Just thinking that Jason was dead, Elizabeth had already felt dead. There was no pain, no hurt. There was nothing. With Lucky the nothingness came after the pain, after the crying. As she stood waiting to here that Jason was dead, she felt nothing. Her whole body had seemed to shut down. There was no pain, only emptiness. If Jason had died, she knew she couldn’t have survived. When had Jason become such an integral part of her life?

“Elizabeth? Are you all right?”

She looked up to see Emily coming out of Kelly’s. How did she get here?

“Elizabeth?” Emily was worried. Elizabeth looked dazed. Had something happened to Lucky? “Is it Lucky?”

“Lucky? No, it’s Jason.”

“Jason? What about Jason?”

“You need to go to the hospital. Jason’s there. There was an explosion at the warehouse.”

“What!” Emily took off before Elizabeth could say anything else.

Elizabeth made her way through Kelly’s and up to her room. She saw Lucky’s Valentine’s present lying on her bed. As she sat down and ran her hand over the scrapbook, she started to cry.


Chapter 14


Jason sat on a hospital bed in the ER of General Hospital. He didn’t want to be there. If Elizabeth hadn’t pleaded, he wouldn’t have bothered. He was fine. It was Sonny he was worried about. He hadn’t looked good when Jason had dragged him from the warehouse. He was concerned about Elizabeth too. He was worried about what Lucky would say. He didn’t want her hurt and he didn’t want to be the reason for that hurt.

“Jason?” He looked up to see Carly standing near the curtain. Her face was covered in tears. She walked closer to the bed and hugged him.

“Sonny?”

“He’s unconscious. The doctors are with him now. What happened? Were you inside when the bomb went off? When did you get back? Today?”

He didn’t know which question to answer first or not at all. “No, I saw Sonny go inside and then the warehouse exploded and I ran in to get him.”

She sat down next to him on the bed. “Did you just come back and had a meeting with him?”

“That’s what I would like to know?”

Lucky was walking toward them. “When did you get into town?”

Carly was confused. “Why do you care?” she asked.

“Because he hasn’t even been in Port Charles a day and he is already causing trouble for Elizabeth.” Lucky was angry. Elizabeth had walked away from him. She had never done that before. He knew it had something to do with Jason. Elizabeth only acted strangely when Jason was around.

Carly looked between the two men. “What does Elizabeth have to do with anything? Sonny and Jason’s warehouse exploded. Where does that twit fit in with that?”

“Carly,” Jason tried to stop her before she and Lucky started yelling at each other.

“What? Jason, you and Sonny almost died and all he can think about is little miss thing that’s not even around.”

“I know there is something going on between you and Elizabeth,” Lucky said ignoring Carly. “I want you to know that I won’t let it continue. You are not going to see her again. I don’t want you and your kind anywhere near her.”

When Jason remained quiet, Carly said, “I think you are losing your mind, Lucky. Jason only arrived today. How can there be something going on between him and Elizabeth.”

“I don’t care. Elizabeth doesn’t need his kind of trouble around her. I want her to stay away from you. I don’t want her to talk to you or to see you.”

Jason couldn’t keep quiet anymore. “You don’t own her and you don’t control her. She is her own person. If she wants to talk to me then she has every right talk to me.”

Lucky didn’t like what he has hearing. He didn’t like Jason. He didn’t want Jason associating with Elizabeth. “Elizabeth loves me. She’ll do anything for me. If I don’t want her to see you then she won’t see you.”

Carly was dumbfounded. She didn’t know what amazed her more, Lucky’s possessive attitude or Jason standing up for Elizabeth. She had thought his little obsession with her was over. “Lucky, if that’s the case then why are you here warning Jason? Maybe you’re afraid that now that Jason is back Elizabeth will see the boy you are and that she should be with a man like him.”

“Carly.”

“What, Jason, you know I’m right. What woman wouldn’t want you?”

Lucky had had enough. He pushed Carly aside and stood eye to eye with Jason. “You need to stay away from Elizabeth if you know what is good for you.” Not waiting for a reply, he turned and walked away.

“What just happened?”

Jason turned back to Carly. He didn’t want to get into this with her. He was tired. “Nothing. Carly go back to Sonny. I have to go.” He needed to go back to Elizabeth’s studio before she and Lucky returned to it. He needed to collect his things and get his room set up over at Jake’s. He left the hospital and made his way back to the studio. The lights were out. Elizabeth wasn’t there. He knew she would be with Lucky. As he opened the door his eyes went straight to her couch. He had kissed her. More importantly she had kissed him back. He wasn’t sure what would have happened if the warehouse hadn’t exploded. He had wanted it to happen but he wasn’t sure about Elizabeth. Did she regret what they had done and would have done? He didn’t understand regret. You couldn’t go back and change what you had done so why spend the energy regretting that you did it.

Even if he wanted to feel sorry about their kiss, he couldn’t. He had wanted to kiss her since their only kiss that Christmas. When he had returned last summer he had thought maybe they could have tried something. It had been year since Lucky had died and he thought that Elizabeth would have been more open to the idea than at Christmas. Neither of them had been ready to start something at Christmas. She hadn’t been over Lucky and he had been confused about Carly and Sonny. But when he’d come back, Lucky had returned. Elizabeth had been more confused than before. Lucky was jerking her around and she was hurting too much. All he could do was be there for her as a friend. He took her for rides and listened to her when she needed to talk. He could see she stilled loved Lucky and knew that even though they weren’t together that sooner or later they would be getting back together. He was right, since they were together now.

He scanned the room making sure he had taken everything that was his. He didn’t want anyone to find anything that belonged to him. He turned off the light, locked the door and headed for Jake’s.

~*~

The loud bang from the door woke Elizabeth. She must have fallen asleep after crying for what seemed like hours. She rubbed her eyes trying to focus on who was at the door. Not that she didn’t already know. Lucky stood in the open doorway. She didn’t know if she could do this right now. She didn’t know what she was feeling.

“Lucky,” she said quickly.

“I don’t want you to see him,” he stated brutally walking into the room. “You are never to go near him again. Do you understand?”

She was shocked. She knew Lucky wouldn’t like what had happened but she didn’t expect the demand. “What? Who are you talking about?”

He looked at her like she had lost her mind, “Jason, that’s who I’m talking about. I don’t want you to be anywhere near him.”

“Lucky, please calm down,” she climbed off the bed.

“I’ve already told him to stay away from you and now I’m telling you. You cannot be friends with Jason.”

She shook her head sure that the sleep was affecting her ears. Lucky didn’t just order her to do something. “What do you mean you already told Jason?”

He shrugged a little impatient for her to agree, “I went to the hospital and told him to stay away from you.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “You went to the hospital? The hospital!” Anger seeped through her. “Jason almost died and you were there bothering him. What were you thinking?”

It was Lucky’s turn to be shocked. He hadn’t expected her to be angry. “I was thinking that you are my girlfriend and that I don’t want Jason in your life.”

“You don’t get a say in that, Lucky. Jason is my friend.”

“He’s not your friend. He wants you. I saw it in his eyes at the warehouse and I heard it in his voice at the hospital. You are never to see him again, do you understand.”

“Lucky, I am not a child. You cannot tell me what to do. Jason is my friend and if I want to see him, I will.” She couldn’t believe Lucky was acting this way. She hadn’t thought Lucky would ever try to control her.

“Fine, that’s fine,” he huffed, “if you want to be Jason Morgan slut, that’s fine with me. After he’s done with you, you can move on to Sonny. I know he can’t wait to get a piece of your ass.” He stormed out of the room before she could say anything.

Not that she could say anything if she wanted to. She just stood motionless staring at the closed door to stunned to move. Lucky’s words kept echoing in her head. Slut, that’s what he thought of her. A slut not the love of his life not his soul mate, but a slut. She fell to her knees as the tears began to flow.

Her head whipped up when the door burst open again. Lucky marched in and dropped to his knees beside her and took her in his arms.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’m saying. Please forgive me,” he cried as he placed kisses all over her face. “I’m just so afraid of losing you. I can’t lose you, Elizabeth. I can’t live without you.” He buried his face in the crook her neck. “I would die.”

Elizabeth could feel his tears on her neck. “It’s okay, Lucky. It’s okay. I’m not leaving you. I love you.”

He pulled away to hold her face in his hands. He smiled, “I knew you wouldn’t let Jason get between us. I knew you’d see that Jason isn’t worth destroying us. I love you.” He leaned in the kissed her.

As he deepened the kiss, Elizabeth had no choice but to go with it. Had she just agreed to stop being friends with Jason? She wasn’t sure. All she knew was that Lucky needed her and she wasn’t going to disappoint him. He gently lowered her to the floor. She knew he needed this and even if she didn’t want to, she couldn’t tell him no.

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 15

The man doubled over in pain clutching his stomach.

“Tell me what I want to know and I can make this easier on you.” Jason leaned down to grab Martinez’s shoulders and shoved him against the wall.

“Mr. Morgan,” Martinez panted trying to catch his breathe, “I don’t know anything.”

He doubled over once more to Jason’s reply. He fell to his knees in pain. Jason grabbed his head and pressed his face onto the cold concrete. “You’re not listening to me. I know you work for Sorel. I know you were involved in the bombing of the warehouse. You will tell me everything I don’t know or your family won’t even have a little toe to place in your casket.”

He continued his pressure until Martinez was sure his skull was going to crack. “It was Rick,” he hissed.

Jason lowered his head so that he was even with Martinez’s still applying his full weight to the skull. “What was that?”

Martinez could hear the blood rushing to his head, could hear his heart pounding in his ears. IT was so loud, he could hardly hear the enforcer’s question. “It was Rick,” he said a little louder. If Jason didn’t let up soon, he was sure his eyes would pop out of their sockets.

Jason continued until he was sure Martinez was close to passing out. He released him and allowed him to stand. Martinez swayed and reached for the alley wall for support. He sighed in relief until one word told him it wasn’t over.

“Talk.”

Martinez tried to focus on Jason, but his eyes were too blurry. “Rick came to me two months ago. He had a bag full of cash and told me that all I had to do was cause a few accidents at the warehouse, mess up a shipment here and there. Nothing big.” He rubbed his eyes waiting for Jason’s response. Jason remained motionless. He knew there was more.

“Rick told me to meet Roscoe. He wanted to know all the shipping schedules and he wanted me to plant drugs in an incoming shipment. The police would be notified and Sonny was going to get caught.” Martinez began to shake with worry. Jason still hadn’t moved. He face unchanged from the cold menacing stare. “I didn’t bomb the warehouse. I swear. I was paid to plant the heroine. It was going to happen tomorrow. I was suppose to pick up the drugs from Roscoe tonight. I don’t know why they changed the plans. That’s all I know. I swear.”

Martinez shifted from one foot to the other. He looked around the alley desperately searching for a way to escape, but he knew it was pointless. There was no way out. He was going to die in this alley. He didn’t know what was worse, the brutal beating or standing there, waiting to die. What was Morgan doing? Jason Morgan is sadistic, he thought. He enjoyed inflicting pain and suffering on others.

“Thank you,” came from the still man.

Before Martinez could reply, he felt the bullets enter his torso. He fell back hitting the wall and slid to the ground. As the pain engulfed his body, his last image was of Sonny Corinthos’ enforcer raising the gun to his head.

Jason stared down at the dead man. No one would know it, but he was shocked. Rick. Rick had betrayed them. Jason had trained Rick himself, had shown him the ropes when Sonny had brought him into the organization. Sonny had trusted Rick to guard Carly and Michael. Jason had trusted Rick to watch his back when they had dealing with their enemies. The angrier he felt, the calmer he became. He slowly removed the silencer and tucked his gun into his waistband of his jeans. He looked up and down the alley then stepped into the shadows and disappeared.

~*~

He stood outside of Kelly’s wondering what he was doing there. It had been a long night and he was expecting an even longer day. Some time during the night Sonny had regained consciousness. Carly had left an excited message on his cell phone. Jason knew Sonny would be waiting his report. He was ready to deal with Rick and Sorel. He just needed the word from Sonny.

Jason sighed. He was tired. He knew he should go to the hospital, but he couldn’t. He just wanted to see her. He needed to know she was okay. Through the window, he searched for her, but she wasn’t there. She didn’t have the morning shift. He turned to leave when he heard his name. He looked back just in time to see Emily race through the door and fling herself into his arms. She hit him so hard, he almost fell down taking her with him.

“Jason! I’m so glad you’re all right,” she wrapped her arms around his neck and wouldn’t let go. “I was so scared. Elizabeth told me you were at the hospital, but when I got there, you had left. No one would tell me anything. All I knew was that there was a bombing at your warehouse.”

Jason pried Emily’s arms from around his neck and tried to quiet her. “Emily – Emily, I’m okay. I wasn’t hurt. I wasn’t in the warehouse when it exploded. I’m sorry you were worried.”

Emily didn’t look convinced, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine,” he replied reassuringly.

She reached up to hug him again. When he thought he would have to force her off him, she stepped out of his arms and punched him. “Hey, what was that for?” he asked rubbing the spot she had hit.

“Where have you been?” She asked angry now that she wasn’t worried about his safety. “You haven’t called me in over two months. I had visions of you rotting away in some God forsaking South American jail with no way to contact Sonny.”

He put his hands up to protect himself from another attack. “I’m sorry. I needed to do something for Sonny, and I didn’t have access to a phone.” He looked curiously at her. “Why? Did something happen? You know you just have to talk to Sonny.”

“No, nothing happened, unless you call my parents sending me to boarding school and worrying about Zander and what Sorel might do nothing. But now that you’re here, I know Zander will be okay. Sorel won’t try anything with you around.”

Jason smiled to himself. Soon Emily won’t have to worry about Sorel ever again, he thought. I’ll make sure of it.

Emily grabbed his hand and pulled him to the entrance. “Come on, I was just going to have some breakfast before school. Sit with me.”

He was about to decline when he saw Elizabeth coming down the stairs. She stopped when she saw him. He stared at her while Emily sat and reached for the menu. He sat across from Emily never taking his eyes off Elizabeth. She looked unsure, like she didn’t know if she wanted to talk to him or not. It looked like she was about to turn around and go back upstairs when Emily called her over.

“Elizabeth, come and have breakfast with us,” she said oblivious to the tension around her.

Elizabeth walked up to the table but didn’t sit down, “Emily, I can’t. I have class.”

Emily frowned, “That’s too bad. I guess I’ll just have to wait to hear about your romantic Valentine’s with Lucky.”

Elizabeth gave a sad smile, “Yeah, I’ll tell you all about it later.” She looked uncomfortable as she shifted her gaze from Emily to Jason. “Could I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure,” he said, “Em, could you get me a coffee, black. I’ll be right back.” He stood and walked out the restaurant with Elizabeth following behind.

“Elizabeth,” he began but she stopped him with a wave of her hand.

“I can’t do this here. Lucky could come by and see us. I need to talk to you. Can we meet somewhere later?”

He nodded, “I’m staying at Jake’s. You can meet me there tonight.”

She nodded in agreement and walked away without another word leaving Jason standing by the entrance. Her eyes were cold, he thought. She was trying to mask her emotions from him, to hide what she was feeling, but he could still tell. He could see the hurt she was feeling. Maybe it was because he was feeling it too. He knew he wasn’t going to like what she had to say. He could see she regretted what had happened. The realization cut his heart as easily as if he was stabbed.

“Jason?” He looked up to see Emily waiting for him by the door. After a final glance to her retreating form, he joined Emily in Kelly’s and finished his coffee.

~*~

Jason had seen Sonny look better, but he was sure had never seen him look worse. His face was covered in cuts and bruises. His left arm was wrapped but didn’t look broken. His eyes were closed making Jason wonder if Carly had been mistaken about Sonny regaining consciousness. Sonny opened his eyes at the sound of the door closing.

“Hey, man,” he said sluggishly.

Jason walked closer to the bed and sat in the chair adjacent to it. “Sonny, how are you feeling?”

“I’m not dead,” he grinned then winced when his face protested the movement. “You?”

Jason shrugged, “I’m good.”

Sonny’s face grew serious. “Tell me,” he commanded.

“It was Rick. He’s the one working for Sorel. He recruited Martinez to mess up some shipments.” His voice was devoid of emotion even though inside his angered raged when he thought about Rick’s betrayal.

“Who was it?”

“Rick. Martinez was ordered to hide a bag full of heroine in today’s shipment for the police to find. He didn’t know anything about the bomb yesterday.”

Sonny sighed, “Sorel must have changed his plans when he knew I’d be at the warehouse for the meeting. I guess he figured since shooting me didn’t work the last time, he would raise the stakes.”

Jason didn’t comment. He waited for the order he knew Sonny would give.

“Where is he now?”

“At the warehouse with the others.”

Sonny was quiet for a minute then ordered, “Get Johnny to take him to the safe house outside of town and keep him there. I want to talk to him myself. I want you to make my little problem go away.”

Jason nodded and got up to leave. Sonny stopped him at the door. “Jason, -- thank you.” Jason nodded again and walked out the hospital room.

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 16

Jason sat at a table at Jake’s nursing a beer. He’d been there for thirty minutes, but was still on his first drink. Make that his first and last drink. He needed to be alert for later when he took out Sorel. After leaving Sonny, he’d gone to the courthouse to hear the opening statements of Sorel’s murder trial. District Attorney Dara Jensen surprised the courtroom by requesting Sorel be charged in relation to the recent bombing to the Corinthos-Morgan warehouse. Sorel’s attorney objected arguing the incident was not connected to the crime his client was on trial for and therefore irrelevant. The judge agreed and suggested the DA deal with one crime at a time.

The DA then pushed for the court to reconsider the situation of bail. She wanted Sorel’s bail revoked and Sorel remanded into custody. She stressed it was for Sorel’s protection. She was afraid Sorel might not live to the completion of the trial. The judge declined the request and ordered the opening statements to begin. Jason sat quietly in the back and surveyed the courtroom as the two attorneys outlined their respective cases. Only two bodyguards sat behind Sorel. Jason didn’t consider them a threat. Not that he would take Sorel out in public. No he would wait until night to do the job. Jason knew Sorel only kept a small number of guards around him during the day, however at night his house was fully protected making the hit difficult but not impossible. After the court adjourned for the day, Jason made a couple of stops to pick up certain items he would need before returning to Jake’s. Everything was ready, he thought glancing at his watch. In three hours, the Sorel problem would be over.

“Jason, hi,” he looked up to see Elizabeth walking slowly to his table.

He stood, “Hi.”

She stopped in front of him and looked cautiously around. She’s nervous, he thought. He waved to the chair across from him and sat. She looked around again and sat down. She fiddled with a coaster on the table. She still hadn’t really looked at him. He didn’t want to push. He knew she would say what she wanted to say when she was ready.

“I just wanted you to know I didn’t tell Lucky anything. All he knows is that I saw you at the warehouse. He doesn’t suspect anything.” She fidgeted in the chair.

He heard the lie but didn’t call her on it. He could only image what Lucky thought. He squeezed to fist under the table. He wanted to knock some brains into Lucky. How could he love Elizabeth the way he says and treat her like a possession? “Okay.”

She leaned closer and whispered, “If Lucky ever finds out you stayed at my studio…”

“He won’t unless we tell him,” he interrupted before finishing his beer.

She nodded, “You make everything so simple.”

He shrugged, “It is sometimes.”

She gave a worried smile, “Just not at the moment.”

He didn’t know what to say to her. He didn’t know how to make this easier for her. He certainly didn’t want to make her life any more difficult. He watched her fidget again then start nibbling on the stale pretzels on the table. “Are you hungry?”

She dropped the pretzel, “Oh, no. The food here is dreadful.”

“Okay,” he said. He hated that she felt uncomfortable around him. He’d never wanted that. For a second he almost wished he hadn’t kissed her yesterday. As much as he didn’t regret kissing her if he knew their friendship would change, he might not have done it. When he couldn’t take the silence anymore, he asked, “Do you want to go for a ride?”

She smiled and her eyes met his for the first time, “I thought you’d never ask.”

~*~

Jason brought the bike to a stop and waited for Elizabeth to climb off. He killed the engine and sung his leg over to stand next to her.

She removed her helmet and looked around, “Where are we?”

He placed the helmet on the seat and looked down the road, “On a road to no where.”

“That’s poetic.”

He turned to her, “No, no, I mean it.” He pointed down the road. “There used to be a house out here, but it burned down a long time ago and the owners turned the property over to the state. All that’s left is this road and that bridge over the gorge.”

“Do you know where the house was?”

“Yeah, but they must have bulldozed the foundation or something. You can tell that the place was big, and a lot of gardens, a couple of old benches and some statues they didn’t take out.”

“What kind of statues?” She stepped closer and searched the horizon trying to see anything she could.

Jason rubbed his eyebrow, “Wow, uh, one’s a girl, she’s holding something and the other one’s a horse.”

She turned back to him, “Will you show me?”

He shifted awkwardly, “Uh, you know, I don’t, I don’t think I’d be able to find them in the dark. I’ll bring you out some afternoon. We can look around.”

“It was a mistake, Jason.” She couldn’t believe she had blurted it out like that. Since this morning when she saw him at Kelly’s, it was all she could think about. Never, in all the versions she’d gone through, did she imagine the discussion would begin with polite chitchat about statues in an abandoned estate. She didn’t know Jason could chitchat.

He sighed, “Elizabeth, …”

“It shouldn’t have happened,” she cried and moved away from him. “I love Lucky. He is who I want to be with.” She turned back to him, “This is all my fault.”

“No, it’s not,” he didn’t want her to take all the blame. He was the one who had kissed her.

“Yes, it is. I came to the studio when I said I wasn’t going to. I brought up Christmas and our first kiss.” She covered her face with her hands, “God, I even asked you what would have happened if we hadn’t stopped.”

“But I was the one who kissed you,” he stated.

“I practically begged you, Jason. I did everything but rip my clothes off and tell you to take me.”

“It wasn’t like that.”

She laughed, “Yeah? What was it like? Because that’s pretty much how I remember it.” When he didn’t reply, she knew he agreed with her. “See, you can’t even argue with me. If Lucky ever found out we kissed, I …”

“Who would tell him?”

She continued as if she hadn’t heard him, “Lucky was so mad yesterday just because I hugged you and cared that you hadn’t died. I don’t know what he would do if he found out that I betrayed him.”

Jason grabbed her shoulders and gave a little shake, “He’s not going to find out. The only people who know are you and me and I’m not going to tell him.”

Elizabeth could smell Jason’s scent. One small step and she would be in his arms. If she tilted her head up, she would be only fractions away from his lips. For a split second she wanted to give in. She wanted to feel the electricity that ran through her when his lips touched hers. She twisted out of his hold and turned her back to him. She couldn’t get through this if she looked at him. “Jason, we can’t be friends anymore.”

He dropped his arms and sighed. It was worse than he thought. “Lucky asked you to stay away from me.”

She turned and faced him angry that he knew without her having to tell him, “Can you blame him? He’s my boyfriend. He has the right to tell me not to see you. He may only suspect but I’ve given him reason to doubt me and my relationship with you. Even now, I’m with you right now when I should be with him.”

“I didn’t think you liked people telling you what to do.”

“He’s not telling me what to do. I’m choosing this on my own,” she argued. “You know, he’s never asked me to do anything for him before. Not directly. And I don’t think he’s being that unreasonable.”

“If you don’t mind him choosing your friends,” he needed to change her mind. He knew being her friend wouldn’t be easy, but he didn’t want to deal with not being her friend, of not being able to talk to her or go riding with her or hearing her mutter while she painted. He needed her like he needed his next breath.

“You’re more than a friend, Jason, and he knows it. He knows I care about you, and he’s threatened by that. I have to respect his wishes.” She wiped her hands under her eyes. “Please don’t be mad.”

He wanted to take her in his arms and take away all her hurt, but he knew she would push him away. “I’m, I’m not mad at you. I like riding with you. The way you yell when we’re going fast and how you, how you think of everything in pictures and you try to describe them to me. I like to hear about all the places that you’re going to see.”

She gave a sad smile, “You’re making this really difficult.”

“Is that wrong? I know you don’t really want to do this.”

“Part of me wanted you to understand and say it was for the best and wished me well, and the other part of me is so glad it all meant as much to you as it did to ma. I loved being free. But I love Lucky more. So could you do me a favour? Please accept that I’m doing this even though I don’t want to, and help me by staying away.” She needed to leave. If she stayed any longer, she would breakdown right in front of him.

He stared at her. She squirmed under his intense gaze. She felt like he was looking into her soul. “You want me to stay away from you?” he finally asked.

She looked into his eyes and knew she wouldn’t be able to lie to him, “I want to make Lucky happy.” For a second she thought he wasn’t going to agree. A part of her didn’t want him to. But then he nodded and walked silently to the bike. She followed and took the helmet he offered without speaking.

They drove back in silence. Elizabeth couldn’t quite enjoy the ride even though she knew she should savour it since it would be her last one. She just couldn’t put her heart into it. She wondered what Jason was thinking. She knew she had hurt him, and she had never wanted to do that. She wanted more than anything to take away his pain but knew that she couldn’t. She never thought she would ever have to hurt someone she cared about to make someone else happy.

Jason brought the bike to a stop in the alley behind Kelly’s and waited for Elizabeth to get off.

“Thank you for the ride,” she said quietly handing him the helmet.

There were so many things he wanted to say, but sure was all he could say. She walked to the door, but stopped before opening it. He stood waiting for her next move.

She hesitated then turned around. “The statue of the girl. Did she have a long dress or a short dress on?”

His heart sank, “It was long.”

She took a step closer to him, “Was she smiling?”

He took a step closer to her, “I don’t know. Why don’t you go hike up there and see it. Maybe you could go with Lucky.”

She sighed and looked away, “No. I hate this.”

He touched her cheek, “Then why are you doing it?”

He leaned down to kiss her. She raised her head to meet him, but before their lips could meet she turned her head and reached for the door. As she stepped through the doorway she looked back and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Jason stared at the closed door. He wanted to hit something. He thought maybe a bar fight would work, but then remembered something even better. Sorel was waiting.

Chapter 17


“Good morning, beautiful.”

Elizabeth opened her eyes to see Lucky staring down at her. He was already awake and dressed. When she came in last night, she’d been glad that Lucky was asleep. She knew she wouldn’t have been able to handle an argument with him about where she’d been. Her emotional state had been pretty much trashed after her talk with Jason. Looking at Lucky now, she wasn’t sure she could handle talking to him today either.

“Morning,” she said sluggishly as she rubbed her eyes and sat up in the bed.

“I didn’t hear you come in last night,” he said. “You must have worked really late.” She could hear the silent question loud and clear. Did you see Jason?

She wanted to be honest but didn’t want him to know exactly what happened between her and Jason. “I finished my painting and then I went to Jake’s to see Jason. I needed to make sure he was okay and to tell him that we couldn’t be friends anymore.” She closed her eyes and waited for the attack. It didn’t come.

He smiled, leaned over and kissed her. “I’ve got great news. Mom and Carly are going to organize a launch party to announce who will be the next Face of Deception. It’s going to be next week. I can’t wait for your name to be called and all those journalists start clamouring for your attention. You’re going to be a star, and we’ll get to live out our dream.”

Elizabeth was stunned. Lucky didn’t say anything about Jason. Had he changed his mind? Did he not care that she had seen him when she agreed not too? Maybe I didn’t try hard enough to make Lucky understand her connection with Jason. Did she even understand her connection with Jason?

She smiled at Lucky’s excited expression. He was happy and that’s all she ever wanted. “That’s great,” she said trying to match Lucky’s excitement, but not quite achieving it. With everything that had occurred in the last two days, she had forgotten all about becoming a model. She remembered what she told Jason. She didn’t want to be a model, but she would do it to make Lucky happy.

She climbed out of bed and reached for her bathrobe. “Let me take a quick shower and get ready, okay. Then you can tell me all the plans for the party.”

He gathered her up in his arms and kissed her again, “Want some company?”

She hit him playfully on the arm and opened the door. “You know Bobbie would never allow that,” she laughed. “Go down and order some breakfast. I’ll be ready by the time it’s served.” She headed for the bathroom before he could reply.

Her smile lasted until the bathroom door closed. She looked at herself and couldn’t believe what she saw. Her eyes looked lifeless, devoid of emotion. She looked years older than she was. I’m so tired, she thought. She tired to smile but her mouth wouldn’t cooperate. It’s only been one day, she thought. It will get better. She knew it. It had to.

~*~

Jason stepped cautiously into Kelly’s scanning the diner looking for her. She wasn’t scheduled to work, but there was always the chance she could be sitting with Lucky and Emily just hanging out. He was a fool. Why else would he torture himself like this? He should find another place to get his coffee, then he wouldn’t be putting Elizabeth in the awkward position of accidentally running into him. A better man would do just that, but he wasn’t a better man.

He ordered a coffee and sat down at the counter. He wondered when Taggert would be paying him a visit. Soon he figured since Sorel’s body would be found by now. He knew he was going to be Taggert’s one and only suspect. Sometimes he felt sorry for Taggert. He could only imagine the frustration Taggert felt from desperately trying to take him and Sonny down and never being able to. It would make any man crazy. He knew the law thought he was a criminal, but he didn’t think so. He didn’t go around killing or hurting any regular person on the street. He just dealt with the people who tried to go against Sonny. Their life didn’t follow the normal rules as the normal everyday person’s did. It had their own rules and he was the one to who enforced those rules. Those involved with this life know the rules when they enter, so he felt no guilt when they have to be punished for breaking those rules. He would expect the same kind of treatment if he broke a rule. That’s the life he agreed to when he’d accepted Sonny job offer.

“What are you doing here, Morgan?”

He turned to see Lucky standing behind him. “You don’t belong here.”

Jason brought his cup to his lips and just stared at Lucky. “The last I checked this was a free country. I can go where I please.”

Lucky stepped closer getting into Jason’s face. “She doesn’t want you, Morgan. Is that too complicated for your brain-damaged head to understand? Elizabeth is with me,” he snarled.

Jason was so tired of Lucky. He wished he could take him to a deserted alley and just beat the shit out of him. It would make him happy, but he knew Elizabeth wouldn’t like it. He couldn’t see what she thought was so special about him. He clenched and unclenched his fists. “Lucky, I don’t have time for you and your insecurities,” he said swinging his chair back to the counter.

Lucky grabbed Jason’s shoulder and forced him back around, “Well make time, because you’re not leaving until I know you’re going to leave Elizabeth alone. She doesn’t need you stalking her.”

Jason brushed Lucky’s hand off his shoulder and stood. Lucky took a step back prepared to attack at any provocation from Jason, but none came. Jason picked up his coffee and turned to leave. Anger covered Lucky’s face. He shoved Jason when he tried to pass. Jason fell back against the counter dropping his cup.

“Lucky, what is wrong with you?”

Emily stood by the entrance shocked at what she had just seen. Lucky had shoved her brother and looked like he was ready to do more.

Lucky turned to face her, “Nothing, Jason and I were just talking.”

She moved closer to Lucky. “It looked to me like you were about to do more than just talk. It looked like you were about to hit my brother.”

“Emily, it’s okay,” Jason said in a clam voice. That seemed to make Lucky even angrier. Hatred seem to radiate from him.

“No, Jason, it’s not,” she would not let it go, “I want to know what’s going on.”

“Your brother and I were just discussing something, and I needed to make sure he understood what I was telling him,” Lucky said. His distaste for Jason covered every word he spoke.

“By shoving him in the middle of Kelly’s? What were you thinking?” She didn’t understand where Lucky’s hatred was coming from.

“What’s going on here?” Taggert surveyed the situation from Kelly’s entrance.

“This doesn’t concern you, Taggert,” yelled Lucky.

Taggert smiled and entered the building, “Anything dealing with Morgan here concerns me.”

Jason sighed, “What do you want, Taggert?”

“It seems Joseph Sorel was killed in his home last night,” he raised his hand and poked Jason with his finger. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would you?”

“What! Sorel’s dead,” Emily screeched. “What about Zander? Is he all right?”

Taggert ignored Emily and kept his eyes on Jason hoping to see some kind of reaction to his news. A small smile or a twinkle in the eye, anything to show that Morgan knew about Sorel’s death before he showed up, but all he saw was a blank expression. He didn’t know why he expected a reaction. Morgan was never one to brag about his work. He just wished one day Morgan would screw up, just once. “Turn around,” he said. “You’re under arrest for the murder of Joseph Sorel. You have the right to remain silent, but you already know that don’t you. You have the right to an attorney, if …”

Jason tuned Taggert out and turned without comment. He placed his hands behind his back without protest. He was expecting to be arrested and wasn’t worried. He knew nothing would come of it. The police didn’t have any evidence to tie him to the murder. He just wished that Emily didn’t have to be present when Taggert did his job.

“You can’t do that,” Emily objected grabbing Taggert’s hand to prevent him from handcuffing Jason. “You don’t have a warrant.”

“Emily, be quiet,” Lucky pulled her out of the way as Taggert tightened the handcuffs.

“Lucky-,” she was about to argue when she saw Jason’s expression.

“Don’t worry,” he said moving towards the door, Taggert falling in behind him. “They can’t hold me. I’ll be out in an hour.”

Taggert gave a sly smile, “I wouldn’t count on it, Morgan. This time you’re going down.”

Emily was confused. What was going on? First Lucky shoved Jason, then Jason was arrested and Sorel was dead. She felt like if she had entered a parallel universe when she stepped into Kelly’s, but then realized that this was just the same old Port Charles. Her time away must have affected her more than she originally thought.

She looked back at Lucky. “Please tell me what was going on between you and Jason.”

“What about Lucky and Jason?” Elizabeth asked stopping beside Emily.

“That’s what I would like to know,” exclaimed Emily. “When I got here Lucky was about to punch Jason.”

“What?” Elizabeth shifted her gaze to Lucky. “You hit Jason?”

“No, I didn’t,” he replied giving Emily an angry look.

She ignored it. “You would have if I hadn’t interrupted you,” she stated. “Then just as I was trying to get either one of them to talk, Taggert showed up and arrested Jason.”

Elizabeth’s eyes widened in shock, “Because of the fight?”

“Because he’s a killer,” he muttered quietly.

“Lucky!” Emily could not believe the words coming out of Lucky’s mouth.

He shrugged, “What? It’s the truth. You may not want to accept it, but he kills people for a living. He belongs in jail.”

“Wait,” Elizabeth interrupted. She needed to know why Jason was arrested. “Why did Taggert arrest Jason?”

Emily gave a quick glance at Lucky and answered, “Sorel was murdered last night and Taggert thinks Jason did it.”

“What? When? Did Jason say anything? Do you know if they have any evidence against him?”

Emily looked strangely at her, “That’s all I know. Why? Do you know something?”

Elizabeth didn’t answer. She looked to Lucky and knew he would be upset about what she was going to say next, but she needed to help Jason. “I have to go to the police station.”

Lucky grabbed her arm to stop her, “No, you don’t.”

“Lucky, Jason didn’t do this,” she said. She wasn’t entirely sure of that, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t want Jason to go to prison even if he did kill Joseph Sorel. She didn’t care about Sorel. He had shot Jason that Christmas two years ago. He was probably the one that bombed the warehouse. He needed to be punished. If the Jasonor someone else did it, it didn’t matter to her.

“Elizabeth, you promised,” Lucky whined.

“I know, but this is important. I can’t just let Jason go to jail when I know I can help him.” She ran out of Kelly’s without a backward glance.

“Damn it!” Lucky yelled and stalked off towards the stairs leaving Emily alone in the middle of the diner. Something was going on, and she was going to find out what.

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 18

“It takes balls, Morgan, I’ll give you that,” Taggert sat across from Jason and slapped a thick file on the table, “to walk right into Sorel’s compound with dozens of guards and take him out.” He paused to make sure Jason was listening. “But I think you’re getting cocky in your old age because you made a stupid mistake and now you’re going down. Maybe that brain damage is finally showing its ugly head.” Taggert was trying to get a rise out of Jason but so far nothing. Not a sound, not a raised eyebrow, not a blink, Jason never faltered from his stone cold expression.

“Let me see if I can guess how it went down last night,” Taggert stood and began to pace around the room. “You took out the guards at the gate each with a single bullet to the head preventing them from signalling the alarm. You were able to enter the house without being seen and made your way to Sorel’s bedroom. There you killed the guard by the door with a knife to the throat before entering the room. Everything to that point pretty standard for Sonny Corinthos’ go to guy. It’s inside that I’m confused about.” Taggert stopped briefly to sit back down and face Jason head on. “You didn’t just kill Sorel. You took the time to beat him senseless before finally ending his life with a bullet.” He gave a curious expression, “Why? Why risk getting caught when you didn’t have to?”

If he could have, Jason would have smiled. Taggert wasn’t as stupid as Sony thought. He’d pretty much described what had happened last night, but he wasn’t going to let Taggert know that. He leaned closer to the table, “I want my phone call.”

Taggert feigned surprised and made his way to the door, “You want to call super attorney Alexis Davis or the Godfather Sonny Corinthos? Neither one can help you this time. What you may not be aware of is that the police had Sorel’s compound under surveillance last night,” he said with a sadistic smile. “Everything that you did last night was caught on tape.”

Taggert walked slowly to his desk and wondered when he would take the phone in for Morgan to use. No rush, he thought, let him sit and squirm for a while. Jason Morgan was finally going to jail. He felt such a rush that he could kiss the next person that walked through the precinct doors.

Elizabeth entered the PCPD with determination. She wanted to see Jason and no one was going to stop her. She headed straight for Taggert’s desk.

He gave her a wide smile, “Miss. Webber, what can I do for you?”

“Jason did not kill Joseph Sorel,” she got right to the point.

Taggert was grateful he was already sitting in a chair. If he hadn’t he probably would have landed on his ass. “You want to run that by me again.”

“Jason was with me last night. He couldn’t have killed Sorel.”

Taggert was speechless. This couldn’t be happening. Elizabeth Webber was not standing in front of him attempting to give Morgan an alibi. “Well, I have video surveillance that tells me otherwise.”

Elizabeth face never changed, “Well your video tape is wrong. Jason was with me.”

Taggert stood knocking his chair over. He was losing his patience. “Look, I don’t know what you hope to accomplish but let me tell you this is not a game.”

She didn’t flinch and stared straight into his eyes, “I’m not playing.”

He stared at her dumbfounded. When would anything dealing with Corinthos and Morgan ever be simple? He rubbed his temples with his hand. He was beginning to get a headache. He took a deep breath and looked back to Elizabeth her stance unchanged. He needed to make her see that she was only going to cause problems for herself by lying about Morgan’s whereabouts at the time of the murder.

“Taggert,” Detective Capelli called to him. “The preliminary forensics report is in.”

Taggert gave an impatient look towards Elizabeth. “Don’t go anywhere,” he said before conferring with Capelli.

Elizabeth looked around the squad room to where Taggert and Capelli were huddled going through the file in Capelli’s hand. She may appear confident but inside she was shaking. A video tape? How was she going to argue with a video tape? She scanned the room again to make sure no one was paying her any attention. Everybody was diligently working on other things. She began to wander nonchalantly closer to the two policemen hoping she didn’t cause any suspicion. She had never been very good at the cloak-and-dagger stuff. As she got closer she pretended to look through the window on the near wall and was surprised to see Jason. She’d thought he’d be in jail. She took one more casual step and strained to hear Taggert and Capelli.

“Sorel was killed about midnight last night. One bullet to the head,” Capelli spoke with no emotion. Sorel was not the typical murder victim to warrant any sympathy. “”Not that it mattered. The coroner says the beating would probably have killed him. He had several broken ribs and a skull fracture along with numerous bruises covering his face and torso. The coroner thinks the skull fracture was caused maybe by a boot. He’s not sure until he does a few more tests.”

“The gun?”

“Nothing. It wasn’t left at the crime scene and we found nothing at Morgan’s room above Jake’s. I mean nothing. It doesn’t even look like he lives there,” Capelli said. “Morgan didn’t even have any personal items like pictures or mementoes. How can a person live that way?”

Taggert didn’t care about that. Morgan wasn’t a real person anyway. “What about the surveillance tape from Moore and Henderson?”

“I don’t know,” Capelli answered.

“Well, find out,” Taggert yelled and glanced back to his desk to see Elizabeth standing a few feet away from them. He grabbed her and practically dragged her back to his desk. “What are you doing? This is police business not some adventure. You need to go back to Kelly’s and forget about this childish hero worship you have for Jason Morgan.”

Elizabeth yanked her arm from his grip. “I am not a child.”

“Taggert, will I be needing to file a police brutality charge against you on Elizabeth’s behalf?” Alexis was standing by the wooden gates to the precinct. She had just witnessed the exchange and couldn’t understand the anger Taggert had projected towards Elizabeth Webber.

Taggert took a quick look at Morgan before facing Alexis. “Did your trusty lawyer sense tingle warning you that the boy wonder had been brought in?”

Alexis walked up and placed her briefcase on his desk. “Emily called me and told me you arrested Jason at Kelly’s for the murder of Joseph Sorel.”

Good news travels fast, he thought. “That’s right. And I guess you’re here to try and use your legal skills to twist the evidence and try and get him off.”

Elizabeth jumped in before Alexis could reply. “Alexis, Jason didn’t kill Sorel. He was with me last night, but Taggert won’t listen.”

Alexis looked knowingly at Taggert, “Really?”

“She’s lying. We have him on tape,” he insisted.

“We’ll see,” Alexis countered and turned her attention back to Elizabeth. “Elizabeth, I’ll take care of it. Why don’t know you go back to Kelly’s?”

Elizabeth wouldn’t hear of it, “I’m not leaving until I see him.”

“Okay, have a seat then,” she waved towards the seats along the wall. “I need to talk to Jason and find out exactly what is going on. Taggert?”

He sighed and pointed her towards the interrogation room.

Jason was startled out of musings. He’d been thinking about Elizabeth and her face last night in the alley. She was hurting, and it was his fault. He didn’t want her to hurt because of him. Even though he hated it, he would honour her wishes and stay away from her. Maybe then she could be truly happy with Lucky.

“Alexis, how did you know I was here?”

Alexis was about to respond when she realized Taggert hadn’t left the room. “Thank you, Lieutenant.” She waited for him to leave before taking the chair across from Jason and sitting down. “Emily called me. So tell me what I’m in for this time.”

He smiled. He liked Alexis. She never asked if he did the crime or not. He didn’t think she wanted to know. It was her way of ignoring what he did for a living. If she didn’t know he had committed the crime, she wouldn't have to feel guilty about getting him off. “Sorel was killed last night,”

“I know that. What I don’t know is why you got Elizabeth involved. You don’t usually bring outsiders into this.”

“What!” He couldn’t have heard her correctly.

Alexis looked over her should through the window, “Elizabeth is out there. She’s adamant that you were with her when Sorel was killed.”

He couldn’t believe it. A part of him was excited. Why was she here when last he knew she was going to avoid him? What did this mean? The other part wanted her to go away. He didn’t want her involved in this. “Alexis, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. You need to tell her to go before she talks to anyone else.”

Alexis could see the concern in his eyes. He loves her, she thought amazed at seeing this new dimension in Jason. “I don’t think I can, Jason. She was already here when I arrived and it looked like something had happened between her and Taggert.”

“What! What did Taggert do?”

“He was holding her arm and telling her to stay out of police business,” Alexis replied sorry she had told him when his expression became cold and business like. If Taggert had been in the room, Jason would be charged for assaulting a policeman as well as murder. “Jason, you need to focus on why you’re here. Is Elizabeth right? Were you with her when Sorel was killed? Because if you were, then you have an alibi and I can get you out in fifteen minutes.”

“I don’t need an alibi. They don’t have any evidence that I was involved.” He didn’t want to use Elizabeth even if it looked like she wanted him to.

Alexis was worried. Why was Jason refusing to admit to an alibi? Then it came to her. Maybe Lucky had something to do with it. Last she knew Elizabeth was with Lucky. Was Jason trying to protect Elizabeth from Lucky finding out? As much as she admired what his intent, she couldn’t believe he was willing to take the risk with his life. “What about this tape Taggert says they have?”

“That won’t be a problem,” he said with confidence.

“How do you know? Did you … you know I don’t want to know. Let me get Taggert in here and find out exactly what they have against you.” She stood and singled the Lieutenant through the window.

“Well, I guess it would be too much to hope your client is going to confess,” he grinned walking into the room. “Not that we need it. We have everything we need to put him away.”

“Lieutenant, I suggest you save your victory dance until you get a conviction and show me what you have,” Alexis was not amused by Taggert’s little show of confidence. She’d been through this too many times to know that if Jason said the tape wasn’t a problem then it wasn’t a problem.

Before Taggert could begin, Capelli stuck his head in the door, “Taggert, I need to talk to you.”

“Not now,” yelled Taggert.

“You’ll want to see this,” he said holding up a file.

“What is it?” He grabbed the file and scanned the contents. His expression became darker with each page he read. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He closed the file and gave it back to Capelli. He needed to calm down or he knew would lose it.

“I’d like to see that, Detective,” Alexis knew the file had something to do with her client. Capelli hesitated but handed over the file. Alexis was quiet as she read the contents. When she was done, she took off her glasses and turned towards Taggert. “So let me get this straight. You dragged my client from Kelly’s causing me to leave an important business lunch and you have no evidence. Is that what I am to understand?” She handed the file back to him. “The tape you were so sure would convict my client came up with nothing, just snow. Ballistics matched the bullet found in Sorel to an unsolved murder where one of Sorel’s guards was the prime suspect. There was no physical evidence placing my client at the crime scene and his alibi is sitting in a chair outside,” she paused in her listings to look at Elizabeth. “Let me tell you, Lieutenant, you better uncuff Jason right now and let him leave or else you won’t be happy with what I do next.”

Taggert looked like he would argue. He knew in his gut that Morgan did it, but he couldn’t do anything. He felt like punching his hand through the door. Every time, he thought. Morgan got away every time. Every time he thought the law would win and Morgan would be put away for his crimes, there would be something to get him off. He didn’t understand how Morgan did it. He sighed in defeat and nodded towards Capelli to remove the handcuffs before slamming the door as he stalked out the room. He couldn’t stomach seeing Morgan be released one more time.

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 19

Elizabeth sat nervously watching the policemen going about their business. With each passing minute, her bravado slipped. The video tape was worrying her. If Taggert had a tape of Jason at the crime scene then he would know she was lying. Well, she wasn’t really lying, she figured. She had been with Jason last night – just not at the time of the murder. From what she had overheard, Jason must have left her and gone to Sorel. She didn’t know how she felt about that. The idea that he could leave her and go and kill someone, made her a little uneasy. The entire time he was with her he was thinking about what he was going to do later. She actually felt guilty and a little selfish. Sonny was still in the hospital for God’s sakes. Jason had a lot to deal with and all she had done was cause him more stress by telling him she couldn’t see him anymore. She thought about the beating Sorel had suffered. Was that her fault? Was Jason that angry that he could do something like that?

She snapped back to reality when Taggert slammed the interrogation room door.
He didn’t look happy. She cautiously stood unsure if she should approach him. Then Alexis and Jason exited the room with Detective Capelli following behind. Jason was rubbing his wrists. She rushed over to him.

“Jason, are you all right?”

“Of course he’s all right,” replied Taggert angrily. “Why wouldn’t he? He commits a crime and then gets off scot-free.”

She looked at Taggert then back to the three people in front of her. “What? How?”

Alexis touched Jason’s arm, “Why don’t you take Elizabeth back to Kelly’s and fill her in while I finish up here, okay?”

Jason nodded and guided Elizabeth out the police station without a backward glance. They walked for a while in silence. Both were uncomfortable and didn’t know what to say. It was strange. Talking to each other had never been a problem for them before. Elizabeth knew she responsible for that.

When they reached the docks, she knew she couldn’t wait any longer. “Are you okay? I don’t know how I would feel if I was just arrested for murder.”

Jason stopped walking. “I get arrested a lot.”

She gave him a weak smile, “Yeah, I guess.”

Jason pinched his nose, “Why did you come down to the station?”

“I couldn’t let you go to prison, Jason – not if it was in my power to help you.” She couldn’t believe Jason even questioned it. “You’re still my friend. I still care about you. That hasn’t changed.”

“Why are you doing this, Elizabeth?” His tone a harsher than he intended. He didn’t like this back and forth game she seemed to be playing.

She looked confused, “I told you. I could give you an alibi. I wasn’t going to let you rot in prison when I could help.”

He sighed, “I don’t mean that. I mean what are you doing here? We could have parted at the police station. You didn’t need me to walk you to Kelly’s.”

She didn’t know what to say to him. Why was she still with him? “I wanted to make sure you were okay,” she said weakly.

“Well, I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’m sorry you’re angry,” she cried. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“You’re hurting more,” he said. He could see the dark circles under her eyes. He could see the pain she was trying to hide. “Why are you doing this to yourself? You don’t want this life.” He took her face in his hands. “You don’t want to be a model. You don’t want your picture taken and looked at by strangers. You want to paint and feel free. You want to feel the wind in your face when you’re on the back of my bike. Why are you living a life that you don’t want?”

She stepped out of his reach. “Love,” she said wiping the tears from her eyes. “When you love someone you do what they need, even if it hurts, and I love Lucky.”

Jason couldn’t take it anymore. “Then what about Lucky?”

She was confused, “Lucky?”

“He keeps telling me he loves you every time I see him. Why isn’t he sacrificing a part of himself for you? Why isn’t he changing himself to make you happy?”

She stared at him in bewilderment. She didn’t have an answer to his questions. She tried to think of something Lucky had done since his return to make her happy. Something, anything, that he hadn’t wanted to do but did anyway because it was something she wanted. She couldn’t.

“Elizabeth?” A voice called from behind her. She turned to see Lucky standing by the stairs.

“Lucky! What are you doing here?”

He walked closer to them gripping his hands together, “I was looking for you. Isn’t it interesting that when I find you, you’re with Jason.”

She hesitated, “You know that I went to the police station to help Jason. I told you. He was released, and we just going back to Kelly’s.”

He stopped and stood purposely between them. “I see,” he said shifting his gaze from Elizabeth to Jason. “Well, I’m here now. Jason can go back to whatever rock he crawled out of and leave us alone.”

“Lucky, please don’t be that way,” she pleaded. She didn’t want Lucky to start anything with Jason. She was worried he might end up in the hospital.

“What way? Don’t I have a right to be upset when I find you with the one person I asked you not to be around? Don’t you think I have cause to be angry?”

“Hey, Lucky, just relax,” Jason said trying to keep Lucky’s attention on him and not Elizabeth.

Lucky turned his angry stare on him, “This conversation is between me and her.”

“I’m just telling you, take it easy.” The subtle warning not escaping Lucky’s ears.

Lucky laughed, “Oh, that’s right. You’re Elizabeth’s big defender. What are you going to do, Jason - make me disappear?”

“Lucky…” Elizabeth tried to take control of the situation, but he ignored her and kept his eyes on Jason.

“You trying to impress her? You know, I don’t want you hanging around her anymore.”

Jason was so tired of Lucky and his demands, “That’s not your decision.”

“Really? Because we discussed it and Elizabeth has already agreed,” he turned back to her. “Unless, of course, you lied about that.”

Elizabeth felt lost. She didn’t know what to do or say to fix this problem. “You know I didn’t, but…”

Lucky didn’t let her finish. “Then tell Jason goodbye and let’s go,” he ordered. He walked towards the stairs fully expecting Elizabeth to follow.

Her legs didn’t want to move. She just kept staring at Jason. She couldn’t tell him goodbye. He mouth wouldn’t form the words. Jason reached out to touch her arm, but dropped his hand when she took a step back.

“Elizabeth, you don’t have to do this,” he said quietly so that Lucky couldn’t hear.

“Elizabeth!” She turned to see Lucky standing impatiently by the stairs.

She looked back to Jason. As much as it hurt her, she needed to let him go. “I’m sorry,” she whispered so softly Jason wasn’t even sure she’d said anything. She wiped a tear from her face and walked away leaving Jason standing alone on the docks.

Jason wasn’t sure how long he stood there but knew it had been some time. He’d made a decision. He would do what she wanted. As much as it killed him to do it, he would find a way to stay away from her. He wanted her to be happy even if she couldn’t be happy with him. If being with Lucky was what she needed to be happy then he would not get in the way. He glanced at this watch. He needed to see Sonny before visiting hours were over. He gave a final glance to where he had last seen her and walked in the opposite direction.

~*~

Carly was in with Sonny when he arrived at the hospital room. He almost turned to leave knowing he couldn’t deal with her right now, but she saw him before he could go.

“Jason? Where are you going?” She got off the bed to grab his arm and drag him into the room. “You need to hear the good news,” she smiled. “Sonny is getting out of this hell hole tomorrow. Isn’t that great?”

“Yeah, it is,” he said.

She looked at him concerned. “What is it? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. I just need to talk to Sonny about business.”

She shook her head. “No, no, the doctors just gave us good news. He doesn’t need to hear anything bad right now. Just leave it for tomorrow, okay.”

“Carly,” Sonny took her hand to calm her down, “it’s okay. I need to talk to Jason. Why don’t you go and see Bobbie for a few minutes.”

She started to argue but knew she wouldn’t win. “Okay, but you have only twenty minutes before visiting hours are over so I’ll be back then to say goodbye.” She picked up her purse and left the room.

Sonny waited a few moments before asking, “How did it go?”

“Our problem has been eliminated.”

Sonny nodded his understanding, “Good. What about the warehouse?”

Jason shrugged, “The fire marshal gave us the okay to start rebuilding. A crew will arrive first thing tomorrow to remove all the debris and start the reconstruction. Our shipments are being sent to the empty warehouse we have on pier 52. Our customers were quite understanding about their delays, especially when I agreed to give them a discount on their next shipment.”

Sonny nodded again. He like everything he was hearing. “Roscoe?”

“He got away, but I’m not worried. He doesn’t have anywhere to go. With Sorel gone the little power Roscoe had is gone too. He can’t hurt us.”

Sonny agreed, “Taggert?”

Jason paused unsure if he should mention Elizabeth. “He arrested me around lunch time.”

Sonny looked concern, “How did it go?”

Jason shrugged, “Same as always. Taggert confident that he’s got me until Capelli came in to break the bad news.”

“Who did you use as an alibi? Johnny?”

“Uh, no, I was going to, but Elizabeth showed up at the police station and said she was with me.” He waited for Sonny’s reaction.

“She did, did she?” He smiled, “Were you with her, or did she just make that up in her head?”

Jason almost blushed under Sonny scrutiny, “We went for a ride and then I dropped her off.”

Sonny’s smile became a grin, “A ride, huh?”

“It wasn’t like that,” he replied. “In fact, we’re not friends anymore.”

Sonny’s grin vanished, “What are you talking about?” When Jason remained silent he tried again. “Jason, what happened?”

Jason was quiet for a moment then blurted out, “I kissed her.”

“What? When?” He knew Jason had feeling for Elizabeth but he’d never thought he would have acted on it.

Jason got up and began pacing the room. “In her studio on Valentine’s day. Last night she said it was a mistake. That she loved Lucky and she couldn’t be my friend anymore. Lucky is jealous about our past relationship, and she wants to make him happy,” he said the last word as if it was a curse.

Sonny stared at his best friend and hated when he couldn’t control the world. He didn’t know how to make this better for Jason. The woman he loved was in love with another man. It couldn’t get any worse than that. And he wasn’t going to make it any better. “You know I’d let you take off if you wanted to, but I need you here. The five families will be sniffing around looking for any weaknesses. I need you here as show of strength. I’m sorry.”

Jason struggled to keep his face expressionless, “I understand.” He nodded and moved to leave.

Carly jumped away from the door and quickly made her way around the corner. That bitch, she thought. She’d warned that little nobody to stay away from Jason. Elizabeth was obviously too stupid to listen and now she’d hurt her best friend. Carly’s anger grew. She wasn’t going to let that goody-goody muffin face get away with it


Chapter 20


Her face hurt. She didn’t think she could smile for one more second. Flash bulbs seemed to go off every five minutes blinding so much that she found it hard to focus on the people around her. Not that she wanted to. Journalists and photographs eager to find out everything there was to know about the future Face of Deception surrounded her. She had arrived to the launch of the new Deception line over an hour ago, and they had yet to leave her alone. They didn’t seem to think any question was off limits. They asked about her dysfunctional relationship with her family. They wanted to know about her feeling about the police not being able to convict her rapist. How did they even know about that?

Then there were the boyfriend questions. One journalist even hinted that the competition was rigged since her boyfriend’s mother co-owned Deception. He didn’t know or cared that Gia was Laura’s other son’s girlfriend as well. And then there was Jason. Somehow they knew about her previous relationship with Jason and wanted to know about her connection with organized crime. One brought up the recent bombing and Jason’s involvement with the death of Joseph Sorel. Another suggested that she worked secretly for Sonny since she had provided Jason with an alibi, or if not, maybe she was having an affair with him. That comment elicited a weak laugh from her.

She strained to look over their shoulders to find Lucky. Where was he? She didn’t think she could take anymore. She needed to get away from all the questions and cameras. She wished the vultures would just leave her alone. The only thing keeping her from bolting out the door was the knowledge that it was almost over. Soon Laura would be announcing Gia as the new Face of Deception and she could go back to her quiet life with Lucky and her painting. She knew it with every fibre of her being. Elizabeth had seen Gia’s pictures earlier in the week in Lucky’s darkroom at Deception. They were amazing. Laura had agreed when she had seen her the next day. She had finally gathered up enough courage to see her and tell her she didn’t want to be a model. Laura had tried to argue but she didn’t really put her full self into it. When she saw that Elizabeth was serious, she had been relieved. It seemed the decision had already been made, but Laura hadn’t know how to tell her. Laura was also worried about Lucky. Elizabeth told her she would deal with Lucky when the time was right.

She looked over and saw Gia standing across the room with her own share of photographers and journalists. But unlike her, Gia was soaking up the attention. She looked like she belonged in the limelight, while Elizabeth cringed when a flash bulb went off. She was cut out for the job and everyone knew it but Lucky. She knew he would be disappointed when Laura picked Gia but was ready to consol him about fulfilling their dreams together but separate. She thought back to their original dream. She was going to paint and he was going to play the guitar. That dream could still happen. The only change would be Lucky being a photograph rather than a guitarist. She had to make him see that.

Another flash bulb brought her back to the present. She gave another winning smile and took another question. She would get through this, she thought. She didn’t know her unlikely rescuer was about to appear.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen,” Sonny Corinthos made his way through the crowd. The only visible sign that he came close to dying was a black sling holding up his left arm. Other than that he looked fit and healthy in the tuxedo. “Let’s give the girl a few minutes, okay. This is a party and she hasn’t been able to relax and enjoy it since she arrived.”

“Mr. Corinthos, is it true that Joseph Sorel was involved in the bombing of your warehouse that almost killed and that you retaliated by ordering your enforcer Jason Morgan to kill him?” One ambitious journalist asked. He couldn’t let a golden opportunity pass him by.

Sonny didn’t even blink. “This night isn’t about me. I am here to support my lovely wife Carly and her business partner Laura Spencer in their new endeavour. I know Carly would be glad to answer any questions you might have about the re-launching of Deception. Now give Miss Webber some space.”

When the journalist saw that Sonny wasn’t going waver from his silence regarding the bombing, they silently moved their attention to the other important people at the party. With each departing journalist, the tension around Elizabeth’s head lessened until she was able to breathe a sigh of relief when the last photograph turned his camera at an some up and coming singer nearby. She looked to Sonny grateful for his help, yet a little apprehensive. She wasn’t sure what Sonny knew about her dealings with Jason.

“Thank you, Sonny,” she said. “I didn’t know if I could answer one more question. How do you handle the press?”

He shrugged, “They don’t have any power over me, so I don’t worry about them.”

“Aren’t you afraid one of them might dig up something about you that they shouldn’t?”

He grinned, “There’s nothing to find, Elizabeth. My life is an open book.”

She smiled. She more than anyone knew that wasn’t the case. She felt special that Sonny and Jason trusted her to let her into that part of their lives even if it was only a small part. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” he replied. “Carly’s been taking good care of me all week. Except when she was planning this party, she hasn’t really left my side. And she won’t let me go back to work.”

Elizabeth had to laugh at that. She couldn’t imagine Sonny letting Carly tell him what to do. “I can understand her being a little possessive. She almost lost you.”

Sonny was quiet studying her, “Yeah, but now Jason has to do all the work to get the warehouse up and running again.”

She couldn’t look Sonny in the eye. She brought a hand up and fiddled with her hair. She wondered if he would mention Jason. The pier was the last time she had seen him and that was a week ago. He stopped coming into Kelly’s for coffee. Emily had confided that she thought he had left town. It had felt like someone had ripped her heart out. She couldn’t believe he would leave again without telling her goodbye. “Emily was worried that he was away on business. She hasn’t seen him lately.”

“No, no, he’s still at Jake’s. He just hasn’t had a lot of time to stop in at Kelly’s,” he gave her a pointed look.

He knows, she thought. Jason must have needed someone to talk to. She shifted uncomfortably knowing that Sonny would side with his best friend. “How is he?”

Sonny continued his study of her, “Do you really want to know?” At her slow nod, he replied, “He’s burying himself in his work trying to ignore the pain he’s feeling.”

She could feel the tears forming in her eyes. “I never meant to hurt him,” she said quietly.

“I know, but you did. I can see that you’re hurting too,” he stated.

“It has to be this way,” she couldn’t go over this again. Her emotions couldn’t take it.

“Why?”

“I need to make Lucky happy, and Lucky is jealous of Jason.”

Sonny needed to know, “Does he have reason to be?”

“No,” she replied a little too quickly. “I love Lucky.”

“I know you do. The question is what do feel about Jason?”

She was quiet for long time. “I love Jason, but as a friend. That’s all.”

Sonny gave her a knowing look. “Are you sure?”

Before she could answer, Carly came up and hugged Sonny. “It’s almost time and I want you to be beside me when we make the announcement,” she said barely acknowledging Elizabeth’s presence. She took Sonny’s good hand in hers and turned to walk to the stage. When Elizabeth thought Carly would completely ignore her, she turned and gave her quick look. Elizabeth was shocked to see so much hatred in Carly’s eyes. She knew Carly didn’t like her, but she didn’t think Carly hated her.

Before she could give it any thought, Lucky cam from behind and circled her waist with his arms. “It’s time. Soon the world will know how beautiful you are.”

She gave a weak smile and leaned into his body. Lucky would be so disappointed, but she knew he would get over it. Gia was the right person to be the Face of Deception and he would see that in time.

Carly looked down to the woman that had hurt her friend. She wanted Elizabeth to suffer. All evening she and her assistant had been supplying the journalists with everything she knew about Elizabeth. Bobbie had been willing to tell her all about little Elizabeth Webber - how she ran away from home at 14, her rape when she was 15, everything. As the journalists bombarded Elizabeth with questions, Carly had quietly stood nearby relishing every wince and cringe Elizabeth had felt. After a while Carly thought maybe she had had enough, but then Sonny had intervened. Carly’s anger grew as she saw Elizabeth trying to work Sonny as well. Carly knew Elizabeth hadn’t suffered enough.

Carly stood in front of the podium and brought everyone to attention. This was it, she thought, the beginning of her new venture. She wanted to be happy, but she couldn’t. All she could see was Jason and how much Elizabeth had hurt him. A wicked idea came to her. In minutes she would be announcing Gia Campbell’s name as the new Face of Deception. A week ago, she had thought that that was going to be her way of hurting Elizabeth. But then Laura informed her that Elizabeth didn’t want the job. Laura told her Elizabeth associated it with her rapist and couldn’t go through it anymore. Now Carly knew it was the perfect way of paying her back for the pain she caused.

She waited for the noise to quiet down before she began. “Ladies and gentlemen, my partner Laura Spencer and I would like to thank you for coming to the re-launching of Deception cosmetics. We are very pleased you would take time out of your busy schedules to help us introduced the new Face of Deception.” The audience cheered. She smile, “Well, I have to say it was a difficult decision. Laura and I argued many long hours over who,” she pointed to Gia, “the exotic beauty or,” then to Elizabeth, “the classic beauty would get the job.”

“I am here now to tell you that a decision couldn’t be made.” Carly smiled at the shocked expression on Elizabeth’s face. She ignored Laura’s attempt to get her attention and continued, “Instead we will leave it up to the public. That’s right. We will produce ads with both girls and have the public decide who they like best. The campaign will be “Who is the true Face of Deception?’” Carly scanned the crowd as they applauded the new campaign. The only person not clapping was Elizabeth. She seemed to be frozen where she stood. Carly smiled with glee. Oh, yeah, she thought, just wait little girl. You won’t know what hit you.

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 21

Emily was worried. In the thirty minutes since Jason entered Kelly’s, he hadn’t smiled once. Anyone else wouldn’t even notice, but she was only one of a few people who knew the real Jason; the kinder, gentler, loving side he kept from the world. He hadn’t let his guard down since he arrived to the deserted diner. Even when she had rushed up and hugged him, she’d felt a distance from him. He usually laughed and held her tight, but this time the hug had been awkward like he had never hugged anyone before.

She’d spent the last thirty minutes trying to get him to lighten up but got nowhere. She gave a quick look to Zander begging him to do something. He reciprocated with raised eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t have a clue. She scanned the diner grateful there weren’t any other customers. There was only fifteen minutes before closing. She didn’t think Bobbie would be too upset if she closed up early. She excused herself and went to lock the door.

She looked back to her brother. He was hurting and she wanted to help. She knew it had something to do with Elizabeth. Emily remembered how distraught Elizabeth had been on Valentine’s Day, but she didn’t think Jason rescuing Sonny was the cause. Did something happen between Jason and Elizabeth? No, that was crazy, she thought. Elizabeth was in love with Lucky. Besides Jason had just arrived in Port Charles. How could something have happened between them? But if Jason and Elizabeth were just friends, then what was going on with Jason and Lucky the other day? Did Lucky think something was going on between them, too? Is that why he shoved Jason? It would certainly explain why Jason stopped coming into Kelly’s for coffee and lunch. She’d thought Jason had left town, but Jake assured her that he had paid for the month. When she found him at the warehouse, his excuse had been work.

She intended to get to the bottom of the problem, but didn’t know how to approach the subject with him. If Jason had a thing for Elizabeth, she wouldn’t know what to say. Elizabeth and Lucky belong together. They were the storybook couple. Emily took a deep breath and signalled Zander as casually as she could. She wanted him to go upstairs so that she could talk to Jason alone. After a few head waves, he finally got the message and headed fort he stairs. She hesitated, not sure how to begin.

“What is it you want to ask me, Emily? Whatever you’re struggling with just spit it out,” Jason said without turning to face her.

Emily shuffled her feet. “Are you in love with Elizabeth?” The question was out before she could stop it. That wasn’t what she’d wanted to ask.

Jason was silent. He didn’t think he could lie to his sister, not about something like this. He turned to face her. “Why do you ask?”

She nervously gripped her hands in front of her. “Well, it’s the only thing that makes sense with what’s going on. First Elizabeth comes here crying like she’d just lost her best friend or something. Then Lucky tries to start a fight with you two days later. Finally, you have been avoiding Kelly’s.”

Jason ran his hand over his face. “I told you why I haven’t been by. The warehouse …”

“Yeah, I know you’ve been busy with the warehouse. But you’ve been busy before and you’ve still found time to spend with me. I’m sure if I were still at the mansion, you would come and see me everyday. And those people you threat like the plague. So there must be a reason you’re not coming to Kelly’s.”

Jason remained silent and tried to give her a blank stare. He couldn’t do it. His most intimidating stares wouldn’t work on Emily. She knew he would never hurt her.

She saw the truth in his eyes. “How does Elizabeth feel?”

“She wants to be with Lucky,” he stated matter-of-factly.

She took his hands in hers. “I’m sorry, Jason. Maybe if Lucky hadn’t returned …”

“Emily, I really don’t want to talk about this,” he said removing his hands from her grip.

“I’m sorry. I understand. I won’t bring it up again. But Jason, please don’t avoid me. I need my brother in my life,” she pleaded.

Jason silently cringed. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I know. It’s not your fault. Maybe we could meet at Jake’s instead of here,” she suggested.

He chuckled, “I don’t think the Quatermaines would like you hanging out in a bar.”

She laughed, “Since when have you ever cared what the Quartermaines like or dislike. Besides they probably won’t even mind when they find out that Zander and I will be moving in together.”

“What?” His little sister was moving in with Zander?

She nodded, “I love him. I almost lost him because of Sorel. I want to spend every moment I can with him.” She could see Jason didn’t really like the idea of her living with Zander. “It’s a mute point anyway. Nothing is going to happen until Zander gets a job and not many people are willing to hire an ex-drug dealer with no experience.”

Jason studied her. He could see she knew what she wanted, and she wanted to be with Zander. “Okay,” he said getting up and grabbing his coat. “Tell him if he wants there might be a job for him at the warehouse. Tell him to come and see me tomorrow.”

“Really!” She didn’t wait for his reply. She jumped into his arms and hugged him. This time he returned the hug with just as much enthusiasm as her. She pulled back and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re the greatest brother in the whole world.”

“What’s going on?” They turned to see Lucky and Elizabeth enter the diner.

Emily smiled and pulled away from her brother. “Jason is going to give Zander a job. He is just the best brother there ever was.”

“I’m sure he is,” replied Lucky sarcastically giving Jason a menacing look but not acknowledging him.

An awkward silence filled the room. Emily tried her best to ease the tension. She looked at Elizabeth. “So tell me! Are you famous yet?”

Elizabeth, who had remained silent until then, gave a weak smile. “Well, …” she began but lucky interrupted her.

“Cousin Carly pulled a fast one,” he looked at Jason as if whatever Carly did was his fault. “She claimed they couldn’t decide, so she’s letting the public vote on who will be the next Face of Deception.”

Emily was confused. “So this means you’re still going to be a model, right?”

Elizabeth opened her mouth to answer, but Lucky spoke again. “Yeah, both Elizabeth and Gia are going to be in the campaign. Carly’s set up the first shoot for next weak.”

Emily was so excited. She rushed to Elizabeth and hugged her. “This is so exciting. My best friend is going to be famous.” She took Elizabeth’s hands and practically dragged her to the counter. “Tell me everything that happened.”

Lucky grabbed Elizabeth’s arm to stop her. “You know, it’s been a long day. Elizabeth’s tired. Why doesn’t she tell you all about it tomorrow?”

“Lucky, it’s okay. I’m not that tired,” Elizabeth insisted. She wanted to talk to Emily. She needed to talk to someone and she couldn’t go to Jason. She gave him a quick glance. She couldn’t risk anything longer for fear of Lucky’s reaction. She was afraid he would start a fight, and she didn’t want that.

Lucky was adamant. “You need your beauty sleep. I want you looking your best for next week’s shoot.”

Both Emily and Jason could see that Elizabeth wanted to stay, but instead of taking a seat, she quietly followed Lucky without complaint. She stopped at the base of the stairs and gave Jason another look. For a second, his heart jumped anxious that she might come to him. It fell when she continued up the stairs.

“What is up with Lucky?”

It took Jason a moment to realize Emily had spoken. He was worried. Elizabeth was allowing Lucky to control more than just her friendship with him. Lucky was speaking for her and making decisions for her. Anger flowed through his entire body, but he didn’t know who it was directed at. Lucky for treating Elizabeth as a possession, or Elizabeth for letting him do it.

“Jason, are you okay?” Emily touched his arm to get his attention.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he didn’t know what else to say.

“God, I hate this,” Emily sighed in frustration. “I hate Elizabeth for hurting you.”

Jason didn’t want to hear that. Emily couldn’t turn against Elizabeth. She needed to stay close to Elizabeth and be there for her when she needed it. “Emily, don’t let this come between you and Elizabeth. She’s going to need you soon.”

“What do you mean?”

Jason hesitated. He didn’t know how much he should tell Emily about Elizabeth. He didn’t think she would like him discussing her problems with someone else, even Emily. “Just, just don’t turn her away if she wants to talk to you.” He looked back to the stairs. “I have to go. I’ll see you soon.” He gave her a quick hug and left the diner.

Emily stared after him. She wished there was something she could do to make him happy. Life sucks, she thought. For Jason to be happy, Lucky would have to suffer. It wasn’t fair. She sighed then made sure Kelly’s was locked up tight before heading upstairs to Zander.


Chapter 22

Elizabeth quietly closed the door behind her. Lucky was asleep, and she didn’t want to wake him. She needed a few minutes to herself away from Lucky. He hadn’t left her side all week. He wanted to go with her to the studio. He stationed himself at the table near the window at Kelly’s for all her shifts. He wouldn’t leave her alone.

She took a seat by the counter and dropped her head in her hands. Her life was falling apart. There was no way she would be able to continue pretending she was happy about being a model. It had already taken so much out of her already. She couldn’t believe it. Why did Carly change her mind? From the beginning, Carly had never wanted her for the job, and now when the person she had chosen was going to get the position, she changed her mind. Elizabeth thought about the strange look Carly had given her after she made the announcement. It had caused the back of her neck to tingle. Carly was up to something. She wanted to hurt and humiliate her. Elizabeth was sure of it. But why? Carly had always hated her because of Jason – because he accepted Elizabeth’s help when he was shot and not hers. But that was a long time ago. She couldn’t still be mad about that, could she?

No, Carly’s always treated her like a pest, but she’s never set out to hurt her, Elizabeth thought. It had to be more than just the past. She thought about seeing Jason earlier tonight. He hadn’t even talked to her – tell her hello. What did she expect, a smile and a big hug? A part of her screamed, yes! That was what she had wanted. At that moment, all she’d wanted was to have Jason’s arms around her protecting her and taking her worries away.

Why was it so hard to forget Jason? She’d gotten on with her life the other times he’d left. But he didn’t leave, she thought. She told him he couldn’t be her friend and now both were suffering.

She thought back to Sony’s question. Was she sure she only loved Jason as a friend or was there something more? She hadn’t had an answer earlier, and she didn’t have an answer now. She didn’t know how she felt anymore. All she knew was that she missed him. Almost every other thought was about him and what he was doing. She’d cried when she realized after two days that Jason wasn’t going to be stopping by Kelly’s for coffee.

One day she’d been tempted to go to Jake’s to see him. She’d wanted to just talk to him, but she didn’t get passed Kelly’s entrance. Lucky had come in just as she was going out and stopped her from leaving. He’d wanted to spend the day with her. It was as if he could read her mind and knew she was going to see Jason. She had felt guilty for the rest of the day.

“Elizabeth, you couldn’t sleep?”

She looked up to see Emily coming down the stairs. “Me, either.”

Elizabeth patted the seat beside her. “Well, pull up a chair.”

“How about some hot chocolate,” Emily entered the kitchen rather than taking a seat, “with chocolate syrup and sprinkles?”

Elizabeth agreed, “And three packets split two ways. That’s just what I need right now.”

Emily returned some time later with two cups in each hand. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

Elizabeth accepted the cup and raised it to her lips. “So what’s keeping you up?”

Emily sat down in the chair next to Elizabeth and pondered the question. “I’m just excited I guess and a little worried. With the new job Jason’s giving Zander, we’ll be able to have enough money for an apartment. Living together is a big step. I know my family will freak when they find out. I’m only eighteen. They won’t understand why it’s so important to me.”

Elizabeth didn’t even understand why Emily was taking such a big step. “Explain it to me,” she suggested. “If you can tell me, then you can tell your family.”

Emily was quiet for a long time. “When Zander was shot over Christmas, I realized how close I came to losing him. I felt like a part of me was dying. I knew then that I really loved him. It wasn’t like the love I felt for Juan. It was more than that – a hundred times more. I just couldn’t see my life without him in it. I know you think I’m rushing, but you’ve been there. You know what’s it’s like to lose the love of your life.”

Yes, she did, Elizabeth thought. She knew Emily was referring to Lucky, but she didn’t have to think that far back. That’s how she’d felt when she thought Jason was going to die in the warehouse. She envied Emily and her relationship with Zander. Emily seemed to have everything figured out. Unlike her, who seemed to be caught in a tidal wave that was taking her away from what she really wanted in life.

“I’m sorry, Elizabeth,” Emily said. “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories for you.”

“No, no, you didn’t,” she insisted not sure what to say. She couldn’t tell Emily she was thinking of Jason. “I was just thinking about this modelling thing.”

Emily could see Elizabeth wasn’t as excited as Emily thought she would be. “So, give me all the details about tonight.”

Elizabeth took a deep breath. “Okay. So, the party, okay,” she didn’t know where to begin. “Let me think. It was pretty much a nightmare. From start to finish, there were reporters everywhere, cameras flashing. My face hurts so bad from smiling. God, they kept asking the most personal questions, about the rape, Lucky’s connection to Laura, even how I knew Sonny. It was horrible. Then Carly made her announcement.”

Emily hesitated, “So, what, you don’t want to be the new Face of Deception? I thought this was you dream coming true.”

Elizabeth ran her hands through her hair. “I’m beginning to wonder whose dream this is – ours or just Lucky’s.”

“What do you mean?”

“I hate being a model. I hate having my picture taken even if Lucky is taking the pictures. I don’t want my face on billboards or in magazines.” Elizabeth felt relieved, like a weight had been lifted. She didn’t have to keep it from Emily anymore.

Emily on the other hand was stunned. Was she so preoccupied with Zander that she didn’t see her friend was suffering. “If you don’t want to be a model, then just do something else.”

If it were only that simple, Elizabeth thought. “But Lucky has his heart set on it,” she said.

“Even when he knows you don’t want to?” Emily couldn’t believe Lucky wouldn’t care about his girlfriend’s happiness.

Elizabeth stared down to her cup. “Actually, I haven’t quite told him yet,” she admitted.

“Why not?”

“He’s so excited about this photography thing, being a photographer. He has this wonderful image in his head about us working together and travelling the world. How can I disappoint him? He’s the happiest I’ve seen him in months. I don’t want to change that.”

Emily didn’t like the desperate tone in her friend’s voice. “I’m sure he wouldn’t be happy if he knew you weren’t.”

Elizabeth stood and began to pace. “You don’t understand, Emily. If I tried to tell him I’m not happy, he’ll go crazy. He’ll see this as my way of destroying our dreams. He’ll think I don’t love him.”

Emily didn’t believe that. “Lucky knows how much you love him. He’ll understand.”

“No,” Elizabeth insisted, “he won’t. He won’t understand. You don’t know him like I do. You haven’t been around him lately. He’s not the same as he was before the fire. He needs constant reassurance that I’ll never leave him. He thinks me wanting to spend even an hour by myself is my way of saying I don’t love him. He thinks my friendship with Jason means I don’t want to be with him.”

Emily thought back to tonight when Lucky wouldn’t let Elizabeth speak for herself. Was this what Jason was trying to tell her earlier. Was Lucky trying to control Elizabeth? “What about Jason?”

Elizabeth stopped pacing. “What about Jason?”

“How do you feel about Jason?” Emily needed to know. If Elizabeth and Lucky weren’t the storybook couple she thought they were, then maybe she’d been wrong about Elizabeth’s feelings for Jason.

She didn’t know what to say. How could she put what she felt about Jason into words? She didn’t think she could or even if she wanted to. Emily was Jason’s sister. She couldn’t be objective about this.

“Jason’s my friend, nothing more,” she said trying to sound as casual as she could.

Emily didn’t quite believe her. “Are you sure?”

Elizabeth couldn’t believe it. This was the second time tonight that someone questioned her feelings for Jason. First Sonny and now Emily. Did they know something that she didn’t?

“You’re the second person to ask me that,” she told Emily.

“Oh, really. Who else asked you?”

“Sonny came to my rescue with some photographers, and we started talking. I told him I loved Jason as a friend, and he asked if I was sure.” She sat back down emotionally drained.

Emily tried to remain calm. “What did you say?”

She gave a small nervous laugh. “Nothing, Carly interrupted us to make her announcement.”

“What would you have said?”

Elizabeth was quiet for a long time. Everything was so mixed up inside her. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “All I know is that I miss him. He was the first person I wanted to see after Carly’s big announcement. I don’t know how, but I knew he would make everything all right.” She shook her head. “But that’s wrong, Emily.”

Emily was confused. “Why?”

“Because I shouldn’t need to run to Jason to feel better. I shouldn’t need Jason to make everything all right. I’m with Lucky. Everything is supposed to be perfect. And even if it wasn’t, that’s what Lucky is for. I should be going to Lucky, but all I do is lie to him about everything.”

“Maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you something. Maybe you really want to be with Jason,” Emily suggested.

“No, no, that can’t be right,” Elizabeth insisted. “Ever since I was 15, I have wanted to be with Lucky. We dreamed of being together.”

“Yeah, but then you lost him,” Emily interjected. “You met Jason and built a new life without Lucky. You started new dreams. It’s okay to have new dreams Elizabeth - dreams change over time.”

Elizabeth shook her head. She didn’t want to hear this. “Lucky coming back was a miracle. I can’t turn away from a miracle. I love him.”

Emily wanted to shake Elizabeth until she opened her eyes. “I know you love Lucky, but do you love the Lucky he is now or are you still in love with the old Lucky?”

Elizabeth didn’t understand the question. Weren’t they the same person? Before she could reply, she heard footsteps at the top of the stairs.

“Elizabeth, what are you doing down there?” Lucky’s voice carried to the lower level. “Come back to bed. You need your rest.”

Elizabeth looked at Emily then headed upstairs without another word.

Emily took a deep breath. After her talk with Jason, she had wanted to hate Elizabeth for hurting him. But now she couldn’t. She could see that Elizabeth was suffering just as much as Jason. And Lucky, she realized, was becoming a control freak. How could she not know what was going on around her? It was time she took off the rose coloured glasses she had about Elizabeth and Lucky. They weren’t the perfect couple she thought they were. She was worried about Elizabeth and what would happen when she finally told Lucky the truth.

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 23

Elizabeth legs wouldn’t move. It felt like she was frozen to the ground. Her eyes must be playing tricks on her. Lucky did not just walk into the building that once housed her rapist’s photography studio. This could not be where the shoot was to take place. It just couldn’t.

Lucky stuck his head out the door. “Why’d you stop?”

Maybe he didn’t know where we were, she thought. “Lucky, do you know what building this is?”

“Yeah, it’s where Carly wants to do the shoot.” He came out and took her hand. “Come on, you need to get ready.”

She couldn’t believe it. Lucky didn’t know or didn’t seem to care. “I don’t think I can do this?”

“What do you mean? Of course you can. You’re just nervous, but you don’t need to be. You’re going to be great.” He gave her a small pull. She went along not really putting up too much resistance. It was only a building. It couldn’t hurt her. She didn’t have to be afraid.

It was the same. Everything looked exactly the same. Was that because it really was the same or was she just imaging it? She’d never wanted to come back here again, so what was she doing here? The reason was standing in front of her oblivious to her anxiety.

He directed her to the makeup room and introduced her to Mercedes and Erica. They were going to do her hair and makeup. It seemed to take hours for them to do whatever they needed to do. They pulled and poked and brushed and spritzed and blow-dried. To Elizabeth it was torture. Her fingers itched to draw, but she couldn’t move.

When Mercedes and Erica were done, they turned her around to admire their work. Elizabeth felt horrible as she looked at their expectant faces. They wanted her to gush about what a great job they had done, but she couldn’t. She hated it. Her face was caked with makeup. It felt stiff. She was afraid to move a muscle in case the foundation cracked and ruined all of their work. She couldn’t touch her hair for fear it would fall apart. She was so uncomfortable and it was only the beginning. Wardrobe was next.

When Erica showed her to wardrobe, Elizabeth was hit with another surprise. The only thing hanging on the rack was a red dress. It looked eerily like the dress she had worn many years ago. A dress she had not quite been able to forget. She stopped Erica from leaving and asked her to get Lucky for her.

Lucky found her in the same spot minutes later. “Wow, Elizabeth. You look great,” he said unaware of her rigid posture.

“Lucky, I don’t want to wear that dress for the photo shoot,” she said quietly. “Can we find something else for me to wear?”

He took her hands, “It’s only a dress. It won’t hurt you. I think you look great in red. You’re going to blow them all away with your beauty.”

“But can’t we get another colour?”

He shook his head. “No, it’s been decided that Gia will wear black in her ads and you will wear red. Besides, It’s time you stopped letting the past affect you.” He glanced at his watch. “Come on, you need to be ready in ten minutes, so get dressed.”

Before Elizabeth could argue, he was gone. How could he be so uncaring? How could he not take her feeling into consideration? My God, she was doing all of this for him, and he didn’t care that she was unhappy. What am I doing here? Why am I doing this? I love Lucky, she thought. I want to make him happy. She walked over to the dress and felt the fabric. It was beautiful. She’d been wrong. Expect for the colour, it wasn’t anything like her old dress. She took a deep breath. It wouldn’t be that hard, she thought. It’s only going to be for a few hours. She could do this.

Memories engulfed her as she stepped into the dress and pulled it up. She remembered how excited she’d been when Lucky had invited her to the Valentine’s Dance, how she had stood in front of her mirror admiring herself and wondering if Lucky would think she was beautiful. She remembered the shock and dismay she’d felt when she’d walked into the decorated gymnasium to see Lucky dancing with her sister. She had run from the room in tears.

They were only memories, she said to herself. They would only hurt if she let them. She finished dressing and made her way to the set. She saw Lucky setting up the cameras and walked towards him not really seeing the backdrop. She smiled to see him so taken up with his knew vocation. Seeing him in this surrounding reinforced her belief that she was doing the right thing.

“My God, you’re beautiful,” Lucky said.

She flushed. “I’m not sure.”

He wrapped an arm around her waist. “Well, I’m sure. You’re going to be great.”

“Are we going to get this started or what?”

Elizabeth turned to see Carly entering the set. She hadn’t known Carly was going to be present. This was going to be hard enough as it is. She knew Carly was only going to make it worse.

She stopped in front of Elizabeth and gave her the once over. “Well, Liz, you don’t look half bad.” That was as close to a compliment as Carly could get.

“Thanks, Carly,” Elizabeth said sarcastically. “That means a whole lot coming from you.”

Carly looked to Lucky. “So, are we going to do this?”

Lucky jumped to attention. “Yeah, let’s get started. Elizabeth, I need you over by the bench.”

Bench? What bench? She looked across the room to see the backdrop they were going to use. It was a park scene with a wooden bench and light post. This couldn’t be happening, she thought. First the building, then the dress and now the park setting. Someone was trying to recreate the night of her rape. She turned to Carly and caught a glint in her eye. Now she understood the look in Carly had given her at the party. Carly wanted to hurt her and she was using her rape to do it. How did Carly know so much about her? Why was she using it to hurt her?

Her feet refused to move. “Lucky, I can’t do this.”

“Yes, you can,” he insisted. “Do it for us.”

“Do we have a problem here?” Carly was having fun. Her plan was working perfectly. They hadn’t even started shooting yet and already Miss Angel was having problem.

“No, no,” Lucky replied. “There’s no problem. Elizabeth just needs a minute.”

“Well, times money so let’s get a move on it,” she said relishing the look on the younger girl’s face.

Lucky pulled Elizabeth aside and spoke quietly so no one could hear. “Don’t worry. I’m here,” he said. “Noting is going to happen to you.”

“But, Lucky, I don’t feel comfortable doing this.” She waved her hands down the length of her body. “Not any of it.”

“This is our dream, Elizabeth. We’re almost there. You can’t let it go now. You have to go up there and be beautiful.” He could see she wasn’t going to agree. “Look, just try it for a few minutes. If you still don’t feel comfortable, we can stop, okay.”

She reluctantly agreed and slowly made her way to the bench. Lucky retrieved his camera and began to take some shots. She was so tense she couldn’t move, couldn’t smile. She jumped with each camera flash. She felt like her heart was about to jump out of her chest.

“She’s too stiff. She looks like a statue. Would it hurt her to smile?” Carly’s voice came from across the room. “If she can’t do it right, there’s no point to the competition.”

“Elizabeth, try to relax,” said Lucky from behind the camera.

Relax? How was she suppose to relax with Carly pointing out everything she was doing wrong? How could she smile when flashes were going off every five seconds blinding her? How could she concentrate when all she saw were images of hands over her mouth? It was like she was reliving the worst night of her life. Her body wasn’t going to relax.

“I can’t,” her voice trembled. She stood and headed back to her change room.

Lucky grabbed her arm as she tried to pass. “A few more minutes, please. You’ll see. You just need a few more minutes.”

He walked her back to the bench and picked up his camera. A few more minutes made no difference. She could not relax and no matter how long they stayed there she wasn’t going to. As much as she didn’t want to hurt Lucky, she couldn’t force her body to comply.

She was so caught up in her anxiety that she didn’t notice the figure coming up behind her. When the hand touched her shoulder, she screamed. Before the man could do anything, Elizabeth has stood and shoved him into the backdrop tearing it. She’d had enough. There was no way she was going to stay and take anymore of Carly’s garbage. She stalked over to Carly and punched her in the face knocking her down. She heard Carly yelling “You bitch,” but she didn’t wait for the fallout. She just headed straight for the exit door. Lucky reached her before she could escape.

“Did you know?” She came out attacking. “Did you know Carly was going to do this?”

“No, I didn’t know she had hired a model to come up behind you. How can you think that of me?”

She turned to see the man she shoved getting up and brushing off his tux. In her panic, she hadn’t noticed what he was wearing. She felt sorry that she had shoved him. It wasn’t his fault that Carly was a bitch and using him to hurt her. She turned her attention back to Lucky. “You knew what building we were coming to before we got here didn’t you? You knew about the dress, too and the backdrop. You weren’t surprised by any of it.”

He didn’t say no or yes. He didn’t say anything at all, but that was enough. She had gotten her answer. “How could you bring me here knowing what I would have to wear and where I’d have to sit? Did you think about me at all?”

“This is our dream, Elizabeth. I wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of that.”

“No, Lucky, it’s your dream. I never wanted any of this. I just wanted you to be happy. Now I could care less.” She tried to walk around him but he moved to block her way. “Get away from me,” she yelled.

“You don’t mean that,” he insisted. “You love me.”

“The Lucky I loved wouldn’t have put me through this. The Lucky I loved would do anything to make me happy,” she said a little stunned. She was seeing Lucky for the first time, and she didn’t like what she saw. “I don’t even know who you are anymore. You don’t love me. You just want to control me.”

Lucky tried to grab her arm, “That’s not true.”

“Don’t touch me! It is true. I’ve just been too stupid to realize it. I kept hoping that if I did everything to make you happy then I would be happy too. But it doesn’t work that way. I can’t live for you anymore. I have to do what’s right for me. And none of this is what I want.” She tried once more to pass him, but again he stood in her way.

“I’m not letting you leave me, Elizabeth. You’re mine. You can’t walk out on me,” he face had changed to pure hatred. She couldn’t believe this was the same Lucky she fell in love with. For a second she feared him, but then decided she wasn’t going to let him control her again.

“Get out of my way.” She shoved him out her way and left without looking back.

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 24

She walked for what seemed like hours. She had no clear destination when she left. She walked for the sake of walking. She needed to clear her head. What had become of her life? How did she get to this point? This was not how she had pictured her life with Lucky being. They were supposed to love and respect each other, but that wasn’t the case. She was beginning to think he didn’t love her. He certainly didn’t respect her. If Lucky felt either, he wouldn’t have let today happen. He didn’t think of her at all. He was thought of their dream. She was so sick of their dream. It was more like a nightmare. How could she have let this happen? When did she stop making her own decisions?

When Lucky came back.

She’d been so happy. Her prayers had been answered. Lucky had returned to her. Since then she had done everything to make sure he didn’t leave her again. She took his rejection. She took his insults and blamed herself when Lucky got angry with her. She took his possessive behaviour. She stopped painting. She lied and kept her feelings to herself. She turned Jason away. Slowly without realizing it, she’d let Lucky control her life. She thought about what Jason and Emily had tried to tell her, but she’d refused to listen. She remembered Emily’s question. Did she love the Lucky he was today or was she still clinging to the Lucky she remembered? A week ago, she’d been confidant of her answer. Now she wasn’t so sure. She didn’t know anything any more.

Without realizing it she found herself standing in front a door. There wasn’t anything special about the door expect for the man she hoped was behind it. She knocked before she changed her mind. She waited for him to answer the door, but he didn’t appear. He wasn’t home. A feeling of despair washed through her. She wanted to laugh but knew she’d end up crying. What did she expect? Did she really think he would be sitting around waiting for her? She’d told him they couldn’t be friends. Why would he even want to see her, anyway?

She turned and ran straight into someone coming up the stairs. She couldn’t deal with other people right now. She needed to get out of there and find someplace to go, only she didn’t know where. Hands reached out to steady her. She looked up and saw the face that had been in her dreams for two weeks.

“Jason,” she cried and wrapped her arms around his waist laying her head on his shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

Jason just stood there unsure of what to do. He wasn’t even sure if Elizabeth was in his arms. His mind had played tricks on him before. After the accident, the doctors had told him he wouldn’t experience dreams again, but these last two weeks had proved them wrong. He’d seen her in many places – sometimes at Jake’s, or by his bike, or even at the warehouse. She would smile and hold her hand out to him, but whenever he reached out to take it, she would disappear. This time she was in his arms holding him like she never wanted to let go. It must be real or else his mind was more brain damaged than he thought.

Elizabeth stepped away when she realized Jason wasn’t really hugging her back. This was her fault. She was the one to end their friendship. He was probably trying to figure out what she was doing there in a red evening gown. There was an awkward silence where neither moved. Jason finally decided to open his door and go inside. Once there, he turned realizing that Elizabeth was still standing in the hall a look of apprehension on her face.

“You want to come in?”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks,” she said as she entered. She had never been in Jason’s room before. There wasn’t much to it. He only had the bare necessities – a bed, a desk, 2 chairs and a dresser. Only the travel books on the desk came from Jason. “Doesn’t even look like you live here,” she commented.

He shrugged, “Yeah, I don’t have a lot of stuff.” He could see she was upset about something. “You want to go for a ride?”

She smiled, “I can’t, not in the stupid dress. I don’t mean stupid. It’s beautiful. It’s elegant. It’s suppose to transform me.”

He wasn’t sure if he heard sarcasm in her tone or not. “Into what?”

She twirled around. “The most beautiful woman in the world. What do you think?”

“You don’t need anything to make you beautiful,” he said matter-of-factly. “Are you going to a party?” He couldn’t understand why she was so dressed up in the middle on the day.

She laughed at his expression. “A costume party? No, I ran out of a photo shoot.”

He began to see the problem. “Did something happen?”

She sat on the edge of the bed. “Someone happened, more like it. I let Carly get to me.”

“What does Carly have to do with it?”

“You remember the whole Face of Deception thing?” At his nod, she continued, “Well, today was the first shoot for Carly’s new campaign. She set the whole thing up. She picked the location, the dress, and the backdrop. It was all her. I knew she was up to something, but I didn’t think she would do something so hurtful.”

“I don’t understand.”

“She recreated the night of my rape right down to the bushes and a man coming up behind me.” Tears began to form in her eyes. “It was awful. I jumped at each camera flash. I couldn’t stop the memories from coming back. It was like I was there. I could feel his hand over my mouth and the cold ground on my back. I could hear my dress ripping.” The tears were following. Once she started they wouldn’t stop. “Why would she do that? How could she hurt me like that?”

He moved to stand beside her and reached out his hand to her. At first she didn’t move, but then she placed her hand in his. He gave her a gentle pull and took her into his arms.

As much as she wanted to stay in his arms forever, she stepped away and sat back down.

“I’m sorry.”

She was stunned, “For what? You didn’t have anything to do with it.”

He sighed, “Carly hates you because of me, because you helped me when I turned her away. I never thought she would do anything to hurt you.”

“Jason, this is not your fault. You didn’t make Carly do anything. She did this all on her own with a little help from Lucky.”

“What?”

“He knew all about her plans. Maybe not the part about the man but everything else. He didn’t seem to care about my feelings. As soon as we entered the building I didn’t want to go through with it. I knew something was wrong, but I let Lucky talk me into it. God, I only did this modelling thing for him and then he let me go through that. I looked at him today and it was like I was seeing him for the first time. I didn’t like what I was seeing. You were right, Jason. I’m not living the life I want. I don’t know what I want anymore.” She wiped the tears away from her cheeks. Her hands were covered with mascara. “Oh, I must look terrible. My face feels like all porcelain, like they painted on the makeup and then baked it in.”

Jason looked to his bathroom. “I’ll get you something to wash it off.” What did this mean? Was she having doubts about her feelings for Lucky? Why did she come here? What did it mean?

He returned with a washcloth, but instead of handing it to her, he knelt and took her face his in hand. “All right, close your eyes.” He placed the cloth on her eyelid and gently began to wipe. She was so beautiful, he thought. He wished he could wipe her pain away as easily as the makeup on her face.

“Don’t be afraid. Just scrub because I want this stuff off in the worst way, okay?”

They were quiet while Jason continued wiping the makeup off her face. She opened her eyes to see his blue ones staring back at her. They seemed to look right inside her very soul. She didn’t think she could hide anything from him. She broke the connection and let her eyes travel over his face. They rested on his lips. She remember how they felt on hers, how it felt to kiss him. She had dreamed of his mouth on her lips and other parts of her body. She licked her lower lip knowing she was only inches from making her dreams a reality. At that moment she wanted to forget about everything and everyone and just be with him. Before she could think herself out of it, she leaned over and kissed him.

Jason was too surprised to respond. What was happening? He pulled away just enough to look at her. He searched her eyes for an intense moment. He saw the desire in her eyes. She wanted him, forever or just for the night, he wasn’t sure. He didn’t think she knew. He probably shouldn’t. She wasn’t thinking clearly. When she was, he knew she would regret whatever was about to happen. He should step away and tell her to leave, but he couldn’t. He had wanted this for so long, he wasn’t strong enough to fight against it.

He lowered his mouth but not to hers. Instead, he kissed each eyelid before claiming her mouth. It was just like she remembered, even more so. The hunger engulfed them and when she opened her mouth, he deepened the kiss. He kissed her as if he couldn’t get enough of her… and she moaned matching him kiss for kiss. But soon kissing wasn’t enough. She needed to feel him. She wanted to feel his skin on hers. Her hands moved between them down to his waist. She grabbed his shirt and pulled it up his chest. She caressed his exposed skin while he trailed his mouth down her neck. He continued his oral assault easing the gown’s spaghetti strap off her shoulder. When he was done with the one side, he turned to the other then moved back to her mouth.

He gently pushed her back on the bed. She tugged on his shirt forcing him to stop his exploration of her mouth to raise and remove it. He threw it to the ground and devoured her mouth again. He wanted to explore every part of her. He rolled them and reached for the zipper of her dress.

The sound snapped her back to reality. What was she doing? Only hours ago she was fighting with Lucky and now she was about to have sex with Jason. She pushed herself off of him and moved away from the bed. She kept her back to him. He couldn’t face him. “I’m sorry,” she cried. “I don’t know what I’m doing.” Her body was on fire. It screamed for her to rejoin Jason on the bed and give in to the desire ragging through her, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t use Jason that way.

Jason covered his face with his hands and took a deep breath. He needed to get his body under control. When he spoke, his voice was calm. “Okay.”

Elizabeth’s emotions were all over the place. How could Jason be so calm, as if nothing had happened? “Okay? That’s it? Just ‘okay’.”

He stood and bent to retrieve his shirt. “What do you want me to tell you?”

“I have no idea.” She practically fell into the chair, her legs refusing to hold her up. She buried her head in her hands unable to look at him. “Oh, God, What is wrong with me?”

He knelt beside her and held her chin forcing her to look at him. “Nothing, Elizabeth, nothing. There is nothing wrong with you.”

She didn’t believe him. “Oh, so it’s okay for me to come here after I told you we couldn’t be friends. It’s okay for me to cry all over you and throw myself at you and then change my mind?”

“Yeah.”

“How can you say that, Jason? Ever since you came back all I’ve done is give you mixed signals. I’m not being fair to you.” A lone tear fell down her face.

“I decide what’s fair for me,” he said wiping away the tear with his thumb.

“I didn’t mean for this to happen. I was upset. I ran out not knowing where I was going. I just knew I had to leave. I don’t know how it happened, but I ended up here and I knew. I knew this was where I wanted to be. With you. I’ve missed you so much. I didn’t think it would be so hard to stay away from you. Every day I would think about you and wonder what you were doing. If anything happened, you were the first person I wanted to tell. I’m sorry I didn’t value our friendship more. I never wanted to hurt you.”

“I know you didn’t. That’s why I’ve kept my distance. I didn’t want to cause you any more trouble with Lucky. I just want you to be happy.”

“Why would you even care after everything I’ve put you through?”

Jason couldn’t speak. He didn’t know what her reaction would be if he told her the truth. Would she rum from him or take his hand? He had to take the chance. “I love you, Elizabeth. I have for a long time. I would do anything to make you happy.”

It was her turn to be speechless. Jason loved her. He loved her. No, he couldn’t love her, not that way. She waited for the panic and anxiety to hit her, but it didn’t come. Where was the impulse to run? Instead of fear all she felt was joy.

Looking into his eyes and seeing the love he felt there made everything clear to her. All the confusion she’d felt seemed to disappear. She loved him. She was in love with Jason. Everything seemed to make sense. She should have seen it before now. There were so many clues – why she couldn’t stay away from her studio when Jason was hiding out, how devastated she’d felt when she thought he was going to die, how she thought her heart had been ripped out of her chest in the alley the last time they spoke.

Emily was right. She didn’t love the Lucky he was now. She loved the memory. That’s why it was so hard to be with him. She had been so caught up in trying to her claim her lost love that she hadn’t realized she didn’t love him anymore. She hadn’t for a long time, maybe before he even returned. She had let go of Lucky and moved on without knowing it. Had Lucky not returned she probably would have realized it sooner. She remembered when Jason returned the first time. She had run to him full of happiness that he was back. She was probably in love with him then, but Lucky had gotten in the way. Looking up at Jason, she realized she had wasted so much time.

Jason didn’t know what to do. The longer she remained silent the worse he felt. It couldn’t be a good sign. He stood and moved to the desk. She was going to tell him she wanted to be with Lucky. He wasn’t sure he could hear that one more time.

“Jason, I love you, too,” she said in a quiet voice.

He was afraid to turn around for fear his ears were playing tricks on him. He flinched when her hand touched his shoulder. He reluctantly turned to face her.

“I love you, too,” she repeated her voice was steady and determined.

She sounded sure but still he couldn’t quite believe it. “Are you sure?”

She smiled. The pressure and heaviness around her heart lessoned. Yes, this was what she wanted. “More than anything else in my life. I want to be with you, Jason. You make me happy. I love you. I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long to figure it out.”

“It doesn’t matter. None of that matters now,” he said before claiming her mouth with his.

This kiss was slow and sweet filled with love and promise. When she felt he would deepen the kiss, she pulled away. “We need to slow down,” she said gasped breathless. “Everything is happening so fast.”

He nodded. He didn’t want to rush her. It was enough that she loved him. Everything else would come in time. “Tell me what you want to do.”

“I need to talk to Lucky before we do anything.”

He sighed to mask his sudden fear. Would she change her mind when she saw him? For a second he felt possessive. He wanted her to stay away from Lucky. He didn’t want her to go anywhere near him. He suppressed that feeling. He knew she had to face Lucky. It was the chance he had to take. She needed to stand up to Lucky and deal with their relationship without the lies and the fear. It would either fix their problems and they would stay together, or it would allow her to close that part of her life to begin something with him. He was hoping for the latter. “Okay, I understand. Will you meet me later? We can go for a ride.”

She smiled. Jason was so accepting. That was one of the things she loved most about him. “There isn’t anything I’d like more than to go for a ride with you.”

She fixed her dress and hair while Jason called her a cab. They descended to stairs hand in hand and waited for the cab to arrive. She reached up to kiss him one last time before entering the taxi. “I’ll see you later. I love you.”

Jason waited until the taxi drove away before heading to his bike. He needed to talk to Sonny and Carly. He was so deep in thought he didn’t notice the person stepping out the shadows to trail behind him.

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 25

Elizabeth entered Kelly’s from the back alley. She didn’t want anyone to see her. It would be hard to explain the dress without going into detail about everything that happened today. Not that hse didn't want everyone to know about her new relationship with Jason. First before anyone else, she needed to talk to Lucky. The sooner she did the better it would be for her and for Lucky. He may not realize it, but she knew she was doing the right thing. He would only end up hating her later when their relationship didn’t work out. She managed to make it to her room without too many stares. She removed the gown and selected jeans and a sweater for tonight’s ride with Jason. She wished she could throw the gown in the trash, but she knew Laura and Carly wouldn’t be too happy if she did. The gown probably cost more money than she’d ever made working at Kelly’s. If it was just Carly, Elizabeth would tear up the gown and send it back to her in a gift-wrapped box, but she couldn’t do that to Laura.

She stared at herself in the mirror. She was happy. She smiled and it covered her whole face. Gone were the sad eyes and the fake smile. For the first time in a long time she didn’t have to pretend. She was happy, truly happy.

~*~

Jason opened the penthouse door to see Carly sitting on the couch with an ice pack on her face. He smiled thinking of Elizabeth punching her in the face.

“What are you so happy about?” Carly’s face hurt to talk.

He approached her with his arms crossed. “I’m just imagining Elizabeth punching you in the face.”

“Oh, what? Did she go running to you and cry the victim?” She stood to face him. “Look at me, Jason. I’m the victim.”

“Carly, you made her relive the worst moment of her life and you say you’re the victim. You’re lucky a punch was all she did. What could she have possibly done to warrant that?” Sometimes he wondered what possessed her to do the things she did.

She could see he wasn’t going to believe it was Elizabeth’s fault. “She deserved it, Jason, after the way she hurt you.”

He sighed. He knew this was about him. Why couldn’t Carly stay out of his life? “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Now that she had started, she couldn’t stop. “I overheard you talking to Sonny at the hospital. I know you love her and that she turned you away to be with my idiot of a cousin. Did you think I would just let it go? She deserved everything she got for the way she hurt you.”

Jason grabbed both of her arms. He had never been this angry at Carly before, not even when she had married AJ. “You don’t have the right to judge Elizabeth and her decisions. You don’t have the right to do what you did to her for what you think she did to me.”

Carly stared into the cold menacing eyes. Jason had never looked at her like that before. She felt a moment of fear, but would not give in to it. “She did hurt you, I know it. I don’t understand what you see in her. She’s not good enough for you.”

He released her and crossed the room. He needed to put distance between them before he did something he wouldn’t normally do. “That is not your decision. This is my life, Carly, and if I want Elizabeth is my life then she will be.”

“What?” Carly wasn’t sure if she had heard that right. “Please tell me you did not just say you are going to let that little twit back into your life.”

“Carly.” His voice was full of warning.

“For the past two weeks, you have been suffering because of that girl. There is no way I’m going to let that go. There is no way I’m going to be okay with her being in your life.”

He sighed. “When are you going to understand that you don’t have a say in my life? I love you, but if you continue to make trouble for Elizabeth then you and I won’t be friends anymore.”

“I can’t believe this.” Carly was stunned. Jason was going to end their friendship over Elizabeth Webber. He couldn’t be serious. She studied him for a long moment. She could see he meant what he said. “She means that much to you?”

“Yes, she does,” he admitted.

She didn’t think she could do it. She couldn’t be nice to Elizabeth. She had spent the past year hating her and blaming her for everything that had gone wrong between her and Jason, even though she knew it wasn’t Elizabeth’s fault. Carly only had herself to blame for hurting Jason last year, and if she persisted she would only have herself to blame for hurting him now. As hard as it would be, she knew she had to put her feeling foe Elizabeth aside. If she didn’t she would lose Jason, and she couldn’t let that happen. She couldn’t live without him.

“Okay. For you, I’ll try to be nice to her,” she said.

“You will apologise to her for what you did,” he pushed.

“What?!”

“Carly.”

“Fine,” she relented. “I’ll apologise and be nice to her from now on. But if she does anything to hurt you again then all bets are off. You better tell her that because if she hurts you again, I’ll make her life a living hell. Are we still friends?”

He was quiet for a moment. Carly was going to be Carly no matter what he did. He knew what she was like when he met her. She wasn’t going to change now. Not that he wanted her to change. She just needed to respect Elizabeth and his decisions. “Carly, you don’t have to worry about me.”

“Yes, I do,” she insisted. “Jason, I’m finally happy. Sonny and I are together and with Michael, we’ve made a family. I want you to have everything I do. I want you to be happy.”

“I am happy, so please just let me handle my own life.”

“Okay, I’ll try. I’ll leave Elizabeth alone. I love you, you know that right?”

He nodded and hugged her. “I love you, too.”

~*~

Elizabeth stood in front of Lucky’s office at Deception. So far she’d checked his room at Kelly’s and her studio and hadn’t found him. Deception was her next stop. She figured he’d come back here after the photo shoot. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. She knocked again, but no one answered the door. Maybe he was in his darkroom and didn’t hear her knocking. She tried the knob and opened the door. She looked around before heading for the darkroom.

“Lucky,” she called out. The red light wasn’t on, so she knew she could go in without damaging any film. He wasn’t there. She wondered where he could be. She picked up the phone and called Laura. She didn’t know where he was either. Neither did Nikolas, Gia or Emily. A feeling went through her that she couldn’t identify. Something bad was about to happen, she thought. She rushed through the door. She needed to see Jason.

~*~

Jason walked quickly through the park on his way to the hospital. Carly told him Sonny was at a doctor’s appointment checking out his arm. Jason needed to see him and inform him that Jason would be making Max Elizabeth’s guard. He was worried about Lucky. Elizabeth might not admit it, but he knew Lucky was not going to take their break up well. He feared Lucky was going to do something to Elizabeth. She needed to have a guard on her until he could deal with Lucky himself.

He cut through the field and was about to exit the park when he sensed something was wrong.

“Don’t move,” said a voice came from behind.

Jason recognised the voice and knew it wasn’t some punk who didn’t realize he was attempting to mug Jason Morgan. He turned to face the man Elizabeth had wanted to sacrifice her happiness for. “What do you want?”

Lucky stood just out of reach of Jason with a gun in his hand. “You out of Elizabeth’s life,” he sneered. “I warned you before to stay away from her, but I guess you’re too stupid to understand. Elizabeth is my girlfriend. She belongs to me.”

Jason remained silent. He was relieved. Lucky wasn’t going to hurt Elizabeth. He was going after him, but Jason didn’t want to get into this with Lucky here. The park was too open. The potential for witnesses was too great. He needed to get control of the situation. He needed to get the gun away from Lucky. He made a quick scan of the surrounding area. If someone came by, there was no telling what Lucky might do.

Lucky mistook Jason’s silence for fear. He loved the idea of scaring Sonny Corinthos’ number one enforcer. “I’m going to make sure you can’t go near Elizabeth again.”

He raised the gun and was about to pull the trigger when a voice yelled, “No!”

Elizabeth came running down the steps towards the two men. “Lucky, what are you doing?”

“Elizabeth, leave. I don’t want you to get hurt,” Jason spoke before Lucky could reply to her question. He was worried Lucky would turn the gun on her.

“Oh, isn’t that touching,” Lucky said sarcastically. “Jason Morgan protector till the end.”

Elizabeth refused to leave. They were in this situation because of her. She needed to fix this. She needed to get Lucky to put down the gun before someone got hurt. “Lucky, please put the gun down,” she begged. “We’ll go to Kelly’s and talk, okay.”

“No, Elizabeth. I know what you want to talk about. I know you were with him today. I followed you from the photo shoot. You broke your promise to me. You can’t go running to Jason every time you’re upset. You’re supposed to come to me. If you can’t do that, if he is too tempting, then I’ll remove the temptation.”

Elizabeth took a step closer to Jason. “Killing Jason won’t make me come to you. Please, let’s go back to my studio and we’ll talk about this.”

Jason wanted to argue. He didn’t want her going anywhere with Lucky. He couldn’t keep her safe if she left with him. Looking at Lucky, Jason could see he was capable of anything at that moment. He wasn’t willing to give Lucky an opportunity to hurt Elizabeth. “Elizabeth, please. You need to leave before something happens. I’ve got this under control.”

“You really are stupid, Morgan,” Lucky snarled. "I’m the one in control. I have the gun.” He raised his hand again ready to pull the trigger. He didn’t care if Elizabeth was present. It was probably better this way, he thought. Then she couldn’t pretend it didn’t happen.

“Lucky, no,” she cried again. “You can’t do this.”

“He is getting in the way of our dreams. Can’t you see that? I’ve already warned him but he won’t listen. I won’t let him destroy our future together.”

Elizabeth took another step closer to Jason. She didn’t want to have this discussion like this but couldn’t see any alternative. “Lucky, I’ve tried to be the person you want me to be, but I can’t do it. I’m sorry but I’m not in love with you. I was in love with a memory not the real you.”

Lucky shook his head. “You’re lying. Jason is making you say that. We promised each other forever, remember. He’s trying to control you. Once he’s gone, you’ll love me again.”

“No, I won’t,” she said more harshly than she intended. “We are not the same people we were when we made that promise. We were children. We didn’t know what would happen when we left the church and stepped into the real world. We didn’t know we’d be separated for a year. We grew apart.”

“We didn’t grow apart,” he shouted. “I was kept prisoner by a psycho old woman and a deranged man. They tried to brainwash me. I was tortured and beaten almost everyday. The only thing that kept me going was you. I fought to come back to you, so we could live out those dreams we promised each other. I’m not going to let this brain damaged thug get in the way of that. I love you.”

Tears filled her eyes thinking of all the hell he had gone through. “You don’t love me. You love the picture you made up in your head. I can’t be that person, Lucky.”

“Yes, you can,” he insisted. “You are that person. Jason’s just confusing you. He’s manipulating you. Can’t you see that? He wants to take you away from me.”

Jason could see Lucky was reaching his limit. He needed to act soon before Lucky lost it completely. He had to find the right moment to grab the gun. He was just worried about Elizabeth. She was too close. If he made a mistake, she was in the direct line of fire.

Elizabeth couldn’t believe this was Lucky. Where was the man she had pledged undying love to that Valentine’s Day in the church? How could she have not seen how troubled he was? Did she just close her eyes to his problems because she was so happy to have him back in her life? Had she been so afraid to stand up for herself that she was willing to ignore the warning signs he had given her? She thought of his insane jealousy of Sonny and his constant need for reassurance about her love. If she hadn’t been so afraid to tell him the truth, she might have realized sooner that there was something wrong with Lucky. She needed to finally tell the truth and make Lucky see that he needed to get help.

“I haven’t been honest with you. I’ve been lying to you for months before Jason even came back. I don’t want to be a model Lucky. I don’t want that dream. That was your dream and I was too afraid to tell you the truth. I don’t want my picture used to advertise perfume. Jason didn’t manipulate me into changing my mind. He’s just given me the courage to say what I couldn’t before. He’s reminded me what I was giving up to make you happy.” She paused to see if Lucky was really listening to her. “I was giving up myself to be with you, and I can’t do that anymore. I realized I fell in love with Jason when you were gone. I’m sorry, but we can’t live in the past anymore. We have to move on. If you search your heart, you’ll see that I’m right. You don’t love me. You haven’t for a long time.”

Lucky refused to listen, “No, we said we would always be together. A permanent lock. You’ll see. When Jason’s gone, you’ll see that we are meant to be together.”

Someone yelled, “No”, just as Lucky pulled the trigger.