Thanks for the response to Kismet, Part 1! I actually have a rough outline kind of mapped out for where I want this to go. I’m going to get some other series updated in the next few days, particularly Smoke and Mirrors and Fool Me Twice. And here is Part 2.
Here is the gif that inspired Kismet in the first place:
First touch #Liason19 pic.twitter.com/u8wv5dzwPD
— Shayma Shahshah (@Shaymashahshah) August 29, 2018
Written in 29 minutes.
Friday, December 5, 1997
Port Charles Police Department: Squad Room
As Jason Morgan stood in the middle of the squad room, his hands handcuffed behind his back, the dress shirt that once been snowy white now covered in splotches of blood, he remembered now why he usually tried to stay in at night.
When Jason went out to public events, something bad always happened, and he supposed he really couldn’t blame Anthony Moreno for thinking this might be a good time to take a shot at Jason. He was only in the first few months of his tenure as the head of the organization (and truth be told, Jason would happily just shove it all right back at Sonny Corinthos if he returned), and probably the weakest.
Jason stayed in to avoid making himself—or others—a target for anyone trying to prove himself.
But Luke Spencer was one of Sonny’s closest friends, and the Christmas Party at the club had been one of Sonny’s few favorite events, so when the invitation had come, Jason had felt obligated to the man who had given him his first job parking cars.
Now Luke’s stepson, Nikolas Cassadine, was fighting for his life while Jason was stuck in the police station with—he glanced to his side at the shell shocked brunette at his side—he thought it was one of Emily’s friends, but he didn’t really know her that well.
She wore a pale blue dress with silver swirls—it was now covered in blood which also stained her hands. He knew that because she kept staring down at them. She was wearing his suit jacket because she’d managed to keep her head about her during their…surgery, but once it was over—her pale bare shoulders had started to shake.
And then the crazy blonde woman had slapped her, and Taggert had dragged her into the department just to annoy Jason.
This was why he stayed in at night.
“Don’t say anything,” Jason murmured under his breath. “I’ll call my lawyer and we’ll be out of here in no time.”
She glanced up at him, her dark blue eyes still a bit wide with shock, tendrils of brown hair falling down around her face. Her skin was pale, save for the angry red mark on the side of her cheek. “I—I didn’t do anything,” she said faintly. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “But if he can help me go home sooner—I won’t say a word.”
“Good.” He grimaced as she rolled her shoulders and winced, remembering too late that she was handcuffed as well. Damn Taggert and his vendetta.
“Well, Anger Boy,” the man in question said, as he sauntered towards them. “You ready to make a statement?”
Jason stared at him. Said nothing. A muscle near Taggert’s mouth jumped and his jaw clenched. “Fine,” the detective snapped. He turned his attention to the brunette. “Miss…”
She licked her lips. “Um. Elizabeth Webber.”
“Webber?” Taggert raised his brows. “Aren’t you hospital royalty or something? Didn’t your grandparents basically found medicine in Port Charles?” He smirked. “And you’re hanging with scum like Anger Boy here. They must be real proud.”
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. Pressed her lips together, then stared straight ahead, though Jason could see it was costing her to remain silent.
“Yeah, you’re definitely with him. Both of you think the silent treatment will get you somewhere,” Taggert snarled.
Justus Ward, Jason’s cousin and lawyer, swept through the doors, dressed in a tuxedo which told Jason that he must have been at Luke’s and had followed them down there. He hadn’t even been able to call him yet.
“I know you don’t have my client in handcuffs,” Justus said with a good-natured smirk. He eyed Elizabeth Webber for a long a moment. “Your lawyer coming, darling?”
Elizabeth pursed her lips, slid a glance at him, and Jason realized she was really going to follow his advice to say nothing.
“You’re representing her,” Jason said, shortly.
“Oh, that’s bullshit,” Taggert declared with a stab of his finger at Elizabeth. “Conflict of interest. What if I want to her to testify again—”
“That’s a problem for the DA’s office to deal with,” Justus said, flashing him another smile. “Why don’t we use the interrogation room? I’ll take a moment with both my clients.” Justus glanced down at the metal bracelets circling Elizabeth’s wrists. “Take them off. Now.”
“I will not—”
“If they’re not uncuffed in five seconds, I will file a civil rights lawsuit against this department—”
“Fine, fine.” Taggert reached in his pocket for the cuffs.
Beside him, Jason felt the brunette take the first easy breath since they’d locked eyes over Nikolas Cassadine’s bloody body.
With in a few minutes, Justus had both of them released from their handcuffs and in the interrogation room. Elizabeth sat down in one of the chairs and examined her knees—which Jason saw now were bleeding and scraped from the gravel.
“All right. I got the gist from the scene, but no one was exactly sure what they saw, so—” Justus raised his brows. “What happened?”
“I heard the gunshots from inside the club,” Elizabeth said, flatly. She stared down at her hands again, rubbing at her blood-streaked palms, the dried blood stuck under nails. “When it was over, I went outside with Luke—”
“Why didn’t you stay inside?” Jason demanded.
She twisted in her chair to scowl at him, those eyes now crackling with irritation. “I don’t know. I’m a student nurse at General Hospital. And I just finished a rotation in the ER, so I guess I thought—let me run to the people who need help. Why didn’t you stay inside?”
Jason arched a brow at her. “I was already outside. Who do you think they were aiming at?”
“Children, if we could please.” Justus snapped his fingers. “And I didn’t hear that, Jason.”
Jason cleared his throat. “I had just started walking up to the club. I heard the shots and ducked. When it was over—I saw Nikolas in parking lot—you were already there,” he told Elizabeth. Their eyes met and she didn’t look away for a moment.
“He’d been shot in the throat.” Elizabeth turned her attention back to Justus. “It’s not that complicated. He needed an airway. Jason and I made an airway. He cut into Nikolas’s throat, I put the pen in—and then the paramedics—”
“Wait, wait—” Justus held up a hand. “Let me get this straight. The two of you risked your life to save someone else’s life and now you’ve been arrested? Oh, yeah.” Justus turned back to the door. “You’ll be out of here in about five minutes or I’m going to own this place.”
He strode out the door, slamming it behind him. Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “I think he’s enjoying himself.”
“It’s not the first time Taggert has arrested me without cause. It won’t be the last,” Jason said simply. “I’m sorry you got dragged into it.”
“Yeah, well, story of my life.” She reached up to rub her forehead, then stopped, staring at her hands again. “It’s different,” she murmured. “Outside of the hospital. I didn’t even blink. I ran right towards the danger to help.” She rubbed her fingers together, then looked at him again. “How did—how did you know how to do that? The tracheotomy, I mean?”
“I—” Jason hesitated. “You’re friends with my sister, aren’t you? You know about my accident.”
“She’s mentioned it,” Elizabeth said. “Only to explain why people say—anyway. You were in medical school before it happened.”
“I know things. I don’t have any memories—” He shrugged a shoulder. “But I know how to do a few things.”
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing you did. I knew what had to be done, I’m just not sure I could have—” Elizabeth sighed. “I hope he’ll be okay.”
“I can arrange to have someone take you home,” Jason said after a moment. “Justus will have us both out of here in a minute—”
“Yeah, Emily was my ride, but I’m sure she’s at the hospital, and I—” She looked at her hands and at her dress. “I really need to wash my hands. I’m at Harborview Towers. Do you know—”
“You live in the Towers?” Jason cut in, eyebrows raised. “So do I. Top floor penthouse.”
“Oh, well, lucky you. I’m on the second floor in a studio.” Elizabeth wiggled her shoulders, then examined her wrists which were red and scraped from the cuffs. “Man, Taggert really is a piece of a work.”
“I’m sorry you got dragged into this,” Jason said again. “This is my fault—”
“I don’t know. Maybe it wouldn’t have happened if you’d stayed home—but the part where I got arrested for saving a life?” Elizabeth shrugged and got to her feet. “I doubt that’s on you.”
Before he could answer, Justus opened the door, with a wide smile. Behind him, Taggert’s sullen face could be seen. “Free to go. As usual.”
Inspired by a gif on Twitter from @Shaymashahsha during the #Liason19 celebration, I recreated the shooting at Luke’s when Jason cut into Nikolas’s throat to help him breathe back in 1997. I kept Jason’s history, and changed Elizabeth’s age by about four or five years (depending on how you age her — technically, she was 15 that night because she turned 16 in 1998, but then she turned 18 in 1999, so yeah, anyway, she’s 20 in this, and Jason is about 24).
Written in 27 minutes. No editing. Quick note on the set up, though it’s probably relatively clear from the part that follows:
It picks up General Hospital canon in December 1997 with a few important changes:
– Jason’s history is as it was on the show. He had his accident in early 1996, went to work for Sonny, dated Robin, slept with Carly. He broke up with Robin, helped Sonny stand Brenda up at the altar, and then promised Carly he would help her with Michael.
– Elizabeth is slightly different. I’ve aged the group of teens. Nikolas and Sarah are both twenty-two, Lucky and Elizabeth are twenty, and Emily is nineteen. She and Sarah came to town to help with Audrey’s injury earlier in the summer. Sarah is in medical school, Elizabeth has enrolled in the nursing program.
And yes…I did look up the actual date of the shootout of Luke’s club — it was the Friday cliff hanger. I miss those days so much.
Friday, December 5, 1997
Luke’s Club
It was supposed to be a night of celebration, and to Elizabeth’s Webber’s way of thinking, a night of toleration.
How else would Emily Bowen-Quartermaine, the closest thing she had to a best friend in this town, have talked her into spending the evening at a private party with three of Elizabeth’s least favorite people.
“You just have to get to know them better,” Emily had told her earlier that day with big brown eyes wide with hope. “Please.”
“I know my sister as well as I’m ever going to know her, and Nikolas and Lucky both think she’s amazing, so that’s all I need to know about them.” Elizabeth had rolled her eyes, and Emily had pleaded, and she’d finally given in.
After all, she did want to celebrate finishing up her first official semester in General Hospital’s nursing program. Finishing. Surviving. The words meant the same thing. She still wasn’t sold on this career, but her internship at the hospital paid her bills and gave her time for her art.
That’s all she really wanted.
So here she was, trying to make small talk with Lucky Spencer, Emily’s other best friend, as they awaited Sarah’s arrival. Elizabeth had been highly suspicious when Emily had chirped about Nikolas attending considering that Nikolas was Nikolas Cassadine, and therefore, the equivalent to Lex Luthor.
The only Cassadine Elizabeth figured was allowed in Luke’s Club was the really hideous painting of evil matriarch Helena that hung near the bar. It gave her shivers to even think about it.
Emily was beaming, looking very happy, Elizabeth didn’t really think about shooting Lucky all that much, even though he kept checking his watch for Sarah—because Lucky didn’t even know Nikolas was supposed to be there. She wasn’t sure how Emily intended to get away with this, but that was going to be her problem.
The music was loud, and everyone was laughing and dancing. Luke stopped the music long enough to proclaim his sister-in-law Amy Vining the winner of something. More laughter.
And then—
POP! POP! POP!
Somewhere glass shattered. Someone screamed. Emily’s face was pale as Lucky put his hand on her shoulder and motioned for Elizabeth to get down as well.
POP! POP! POP!
Tires squealed—
The screams continued—from inside the club. Outside—
Elizabeth stumbled to her feet and towards the front door. She—she was supposed to be a nurse right? That was the plan, wasn’t it?
“Elizabeth!” Emily cried, her fingers missing the hem of Elizabeth’s dress as Elizabeth darted around the warm bodies moving away from the doors.
The shots had stopped—who ever was shooting was gone now—and maybe someone was hurt—
The bitter winter wind swirled around her bare shoulders as she shoved the door open, Luke Spencer on her heels. “Lizzie, my dear,” Lucky’s father began—but he stopped—
Because they both saw the prone body laying near their feet. Elizabeth leaned down, pressed two fingers to his neck and took in the gunshot to his head. No pulse. Not that she’d expected it—
“Oh, God, don’t—” Luke murmured, staring hard across the parking lot.
Elizabeth got back to her feet and saw another body laying in the lot—but his legs were jerking, his hands clutching his throat, blood spurting—
Nikolas.
She hauled her skirt up to in her hands and started to run towards him, her heels kicking up gravel. “Hey, hey—” She slid to her knees, wincing as the small rocks bit into her stocking knees. She pressed her hand to his wound, her fingers drenched in blood almost immediately. “Jesus—” She looked up, whipperd her head around for Luke. “I need—”
“What do you need, darling—”
“He can’t breathe—” Another voice chimed in as Jason Morgan, Emily’s older brother and the town’s resident mafia boss, fell to his knees and moved Elizabeth’s fingers until she was pressed more firmly down on the spot. “The blood is pooling—I need—” He looked up, his wide blue eyes meeting hers across Nikolas’s jerking body. “I need a pen.”
“A pen?” Luke repeated.
People started to crowd around them. There were more screams—Elizabeth recognized them now—her sister was crying shrilly.
“Get her away from him! She’s going to kill him—”
“We need a pen—if you can hollow it out like a tube,” Elizabeth told Luke. “And—something to cut his throat—”
“I’ve got that,” Jason murmured, as he slid his hand into his back pocket, drawing out a switch blade. He met her eyes again. “You never saw this.”
“Right. Luke?” Elizabeth looked up again to find a pen in her face. She quickly unscrewed it, slid out the ink until it was a tube. “I need more towels!”
She felt fingers clawing her her shoulders dragging her back—she lost her grip on the wound and blood spurted—Nikolas jerked, gasping—
“Get off of me—” Elizabeth batted at the hands, struggled forward.
“Emily!” Jason barked, his voice clipped, and rough.
Sarah was gone then, and Elizabeth didn’t look to see where she went. She had observed a tracheotomy only twice and now she was going to assist—and how the hell did Jason Morgan know how to perform one?
“Ready?” Jason asked her. “I’m going to make the cut—”
“I’m ready,” Elizabeth said as she moved her fingers slightly to allow Jason to press the tip of his knife into the right spot. He made the cut, she adjust the pen, and then—
Then Nikolas drew in a ragged breath, his dark eyes finding hers—wild with fear. Elizabeth took her hand in his, squeezing it hard.
The paramedics arrived then, a roar of sirens that rolled into the parking lot, followed by a couple of patrol cars and then an unmarked mud brown sedan.
The paramedics came over, and after another moment or two as they stabilized the rudimentary airway they’d created, Jason and Elizabeth were gently pushed aside.
Nikolas was loaded into an ambulance, and Luke climbed in after him. The doors closed—
And he was gone. No more then seven minutes after it all begun—
It was over.
Elizabeth’s breath started to come more rapidly then as the cold bit into her bare arms. She stared down at her hands, stained with blood that looked bright red even in the dim lights the parking lot.
“What did you do?” Sarah Webber’s shrill scream broke into her trance, and Elizabeth turned to face her sister, blinking. Almost immediately, her head snapped to the side as Sarah’s hand connected with her.
“Whoa!” Lucky shouted, shockd, as he put an arm around Sarah, dragging her away. “What the hell is your problem?”
“She probably killed him!” Sarah screamed.
Elizabeth stared at her, trans fixed until something heavy dropped onto her shoulders and she felt a presence at her side. She blinked and turned to Emily’s brother, who had been wearing a suit before—and now his jacket was around her.
“Are you okay?” Jason asked, his voice low.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” came the drawl of one of the detectives who had climbed out of the sedan. He broke away from a uniform who had been giving him a report. “You juggling yet another woman, Anger Boy?”
Jason’s concern slipped from his features almost as if it hadn’t been there—his chiseled features appearing now as if etched from stone. He said nothing.
“She tried to kill Nikolas!” Sarah’s hysterical cry came from behind them.
“Jesus Christ,” Emily said with a roll of her eyes. Her voice was shaky as she continued. “Jason and Elizabeth saved his life, Taggert—”
“Nothing to say there, Anger Boy?” the bald-headed cop demanded, stepping right up to Jason, tilting his chin slightly so their eyes met. “She’s covered in blood, so I guess she belongs to you.”
Elizabeth knew she should say something—that she should correct him—but her words wouldn’t come. She’d rushed out into a potentially dangerous situation, seen a dead man with a gunshot to the eye, helped Nikolas breathe while covered in his blood—
She couldn’t seem to find the words.
And that was probably how she found herself in the back of a patrol car, handcuffed next to Jason Morgan, on her way to the Port Charles Police Department.
On this, the anniversary of the day Jason and Elizabeth came crashing into our lives (August 27, 1999), I wanted to do a recap of what’s happened at CG this summer and what you can (firmly) expect from CG in the fall.
First a word on Liason
When Lucky died in that fire in April 1999, I was not yet an Elizabeth Fan the way I am now. I loved her, don’t get me wrong, but she wasn’t yet my favorite character on the show. I had watched Jonathan Jackson grow up on GH, and while I really really liked Liz when she first started, I probably paid her more attention because she was part of JJ’s group on screen. I liked her better than Sarah, and definitely wanted them together. Liz & Lucky were my first love, and it was so hard to let go of that. When they killed Lucky off, I was pretty inconsolable, and like Liz, I wasn’t really sure how to go on. (I was 14 and VERY dramatic.) Liz became my spirit animal and whatever she wanted, I wanted it for her.
Soap Opera Digest previewed the Jason and Liz scene from that August, and I remember rolling my eyes, because seriously? No one was ever going to replace Lucky. I didn’t really watch a lot of OG Liason because I went back to school, I was super busy with activities, and I tuned back in briefly the next summer only to learn that my beloved Lucky had been RUINED by Jacob Young. (I will NEVER forgive GH for casting him as Lucky.) I saw a few scenes with Jason and I was mildly intrigued, but then summer was over and I left GH behind again.
In the summer of 2002, I was recovering from foot surgery, and I watched Jason rescue Liz from the crypt. I watched their scenes, went to the web, found The Canvas, and because I was stuck in bed for a month, I devoured fanfiction. And I will say, my love for Liason began first as fanfiction, and then as I gradually watched clips and really got to experience 1999 and 2001, I fell in love. I started to write fanfiction that summer, and since then, no other couple has grabbed my attention.
I’m not really sure why this is the Liz pairing I’ve stuck with. I’ve liked her other pairings — I didn’t love Liz and Ric, but I liked the material it gave Liz. I loved Liz and Lucky with GV in the role, but I was okay with them exploding. I didn’t get into Niz because I was sorry that the lovely platonic friendship was lost. I loved Liz with Jake Doe, and I adored Liz and AJ.
But nothing has ever made me as happy or given me so much anxiety like Liason, and for me, the anniversary of falling in love with them happened last month with the sixteenth anniversary of the crypt rescue, but it’s hard to deny that August is a special month for our couple. So happy nineteenth anniversary and let’s hope our twentieth happens with our couple and GH still on screen next year.
On to Crimson Glass
Believe it or not, this was a very productive summer. I reorganized the Workshop and revived Flash Fiction, of which ten new entries have been posted. I also briefly brought back Bittersweet and wrote a new short story. For Camp NaNoWriMo, I wrote Mad World, Book 1.
Going forward, I have official posting dates for two of my projects: Mad World, Book 1, and Bittersweet‘s final eight chapters. On September 5, Bittersweet will return. I will be posting two chapters a week until it’s completion on October 1.
Also in September, I am participating in the GHWhoDunIt at The Liason Haven. On September 6, you will get the first part of a mystery, then guess the guilty party. On September 10, I will post the second part at the Haven. After that, the full story will be posted here.
And then on October 3, 2018, you will be getting Mad World, Book 1. I will be posting two chapters a week (Mondays & Wednesdays) which brings us into the first week of December. At that point, I’m hoping to start posting Book 2. I’m scheduled to finish writing that by the end of October, but if this graduate semester takes a lot more energy than I anticipate, we might push posting Book 2 back until January.
In November, I will start a new project for NaNoWriMo. You still have a chance to choose the project. I’ve posted seven options in a poll that will continue until September 15. At that point, the top two options will go into a run off until October 1. Right now, Signs of Life and Life for Rent are leading. In December, I will change gears and start writing Damaged, Season 3 which is scheduled to be posted in February 2019.
Starting today, synopses from Patreon are now posted as part of the poll, so if you’ve already voted and now want to change your vote, I think you can if you clear your cookies 😛
And along with those planned updates, I will continue with Flash Fiction a few times a week. I’ve tried to schedule them, but sometimes I get an extra 20 minutes so we go with it.
Starting September 5, you are guaranteed two updates a week for at least three months. I’m pretty excited about that because all of that content is ALREADY written. I’ve been trying to get myself into this position for years, and I finally got there. At least for now.
Thanks guys for sticking by me and thanks those of you who have supported Crimson Glass at Patreon. I’m glad that beta drafts of Mad World and Bittersweet were good rewards 🙂 If you can’t support the site, don’t worry. You support me every time you click and read something I write. Leave a comment to let me know–feedback is always the best way to show appreciation! There is no content at Patreon that will not be eventually posted here at Crimson Glass, so don’t worry about that.
Thanks for sticking it out for so long, and I’m glad that Fall 2018 is almost here! I’m so excited for you guys to read the rest of Bittersweet and Mad World!
I’m trying to get into a routine of writing Flash Fiction on Fridays, but just when I was going to start writing last night, I had an asthma attack. Apparently, I am more sensitive to my scented candles than I was a week ago. Ugh. Growing old is stupid.
Thanks again to everyone who signed up for Patreon this month. I didn’t have the account set up so that you were charged as soon as you pledged so you don’t get charged until September 1. I don’t know if that means you can’t get access to any of the benefits. Can someone let me know if that’s true? Because maybe there’s something I can to fix that.
I wrote Smoke and Mirrors, Part 4 today as part of my first Flash Fiction. I had set my timer for 20 minutes, but then I was writing the scene and couldn’t quite finish, so I kept going. I finished in 35 minutes which is still under 60 minutes which is my maximum. I’m going to try to get to Fool Me Twice tonight.
I don’t yet have a date for Bittersweet’s return but I really don’t want to wait longer than the first week of September, so hopefully I’ll be able to figure out something. I may just post un-beta’d chapters here and then repost when they’re beta read. We’ll see.
If you don’t follow me on Twitter, then you probably don’t know how Mad World, Book 2 is going. It’s a bit slower than Book 1, but it’s possibly because I wrote 77,000 words in July and my brain is still recovering. I’m still writing every day — I’m just not writing entire chapters every day. I’m on Ch. 26 (which means I’ve written 5 1/2 chapters in Book 2), and I hope to get some of my mojo back next week. My goal is to get through 10 chapters a month, which puts me at a finish line of the end of October. We’ll see 😛
Written in 35 minutes.
Though she had known Jason for several years before they both ended up working at the same place, the garage held bittersweet memories. She’d taken the job while pregnant with Cameron, had gone into labor while working behind the desk, and had very nearly given birth there.
Cameron was her impatient baby who had to do everything as soon as he thought about it, so Elizabeth was unsurprised her first child had actually been born in the hospital parking lot. Jason and one of the other workers had driven her to the hospital, Max Giambetti driving like a lunatic while Jason was holding her hand in the back. The startled thrill when she’d given birth to a son. She’d never even bothered with a gender report from her doctor—Devane women had girls.
And then she and Jason had started to flirt while working together, gradually building themselves up to a date. And then the best year of her life. Elizabeth had really thought it was her turn to be happy.
Until Jason had brought the garage and suggested they move into the rooms above. Together. As a family.
She still hadn’t told him all her deep, dark secrets and Jason was talking about a future? Elizabeth had freaked out, split, and gone to a party with her cousin.
The one time she had tried to bond with her hostile family member and it had shattered her life.
With the passage of time and the maturity one gathered parenting two rambunctious boys, Elizabeth could see now that she’d missed the signals—that Jason had always clearly intended a future for them, and for him, moving into together had likely been a compromise. He probably would have rather proposed and this had been a middle ground.
She pulled into the parking lot and bit her lip. She could do this. She needed to do this. Jason had to have all the facts if Elizabeth expected him to take on Jake—and possibly Cameron—if the worst happened. She hoped Jason would keep her boys together. He’d loved Cameron once.
And now that she knew he hadn’t rejected Jake at all—it seemed like less of a far-fetched fantasy.
She got out of her car and walked up the sidewalk to the concrete building, and pulled open the door.
The interior looked the same as it had the day she’d fled almost eight years earlier, down to the dingy desk in front of the manager’s office. There was a larger computer screen now, and a young man with lanky brown hair tucked under a backwards black ball cap, and eyes that seemed to bulge slightly.
“Excuse me?”
“Oh!” He jumped, startled. “Oh. Profound apologies, ma’am. I was—” They both looked at the computer screen where he’d clearly been playing a video game. “I was multi-tasking. Can I help you? Interest you in an oil change?”
“No. I was wondering if Jason Morgan was around—he said—”
“You must be Elizabeth.” He stood with a flourish and bowed. “Greetings. I am Damien Spinelli, Jackal of Cyberspace and Stone Cold is my Yoda. Everyone calls me Spinelli.”
Elizabeth furrowed her brow. “Stone Cold—is that—is that Jason?”
“But of course. He said to bring you right back as soon as you arrived.” Spinelli gestured for her to come behind the desk and rushed in front of her to push open the door to the office. “Stone Cold, your VIP guest hsa arrived—”
She saw Jason wince from behind the desk. “Spinelli—”
“I have brought her back forthwith just as instructed—”
Jason pushed himself to his feet, crossed the room, took Spinelli by the shoulder and gently directed him back out. “Thank you. Go.” He closed the door and shook his head. “Sorry. He…gets carried away.”
“He seems nice.” Elizabeth bit her lip, gripped the strap of her purse at her shoulder. “So. Hey.”
“Hey.” He cleared his throat, dragged his hand through hair, then gestured at the rickety wooden chair in front of his desk. “Um, do you want to sit—”
“You should probably be the one sitting,” Elizabeth admitted. She frowned down at the chair. “Is that the same chair that’s been here since Pete owned this place?”
“Yeah, I didn’t see the point—” Jason cleared his throat again. “It’s fine. I don’t get a lot of visitors.”
“Okay.” Elizabeth reached into her purse—really a tote bag—and drew out a thin photo album. “I, um, thought you might want—I keep an album of the boys. Every year, I add another page with the important—I just—”
Jason took it, his fingers gripping the bright blue fabric tightly. “Yeah. Yeah. We should talk about—”
“There’s a lot I have to talk to you about before we get to—” Elizabeth sat down and Jason returned to his desk. “I’m not sure where to start. You know…there are things I never told you. Why I came to live with Anna, why I was…” She wiggled her fingers. “Insane before I got pregnant.”
“Elizabeth—”
“But I don’t know—” Elizabeth bit her lip. “And maybe I should start there because it’s kind of why it all went off the rails. I just…” She laughed weakly. “Because it doesn’t even start when I was fifteen.”
“Elizabeth.” Jason met her eyes. “I just want you to talk to me. Wherever you start is fine.”
“Okay.” Elizabeth hesitated, thinking about it for a minute. “You know that my mother died when I was born, and that my father didn’t really like my aunt. I grew up on the other side of Port Charles. I didn’t know there were reasons Anna and my dad didn’t talk. Until I was twelve, and I tried to kill myself.”
Jason swallowed hard. “At… twelve.”
“Yeah, I…a few months before I turned twelve, things started…to change. I started to think I was insane. Because I could…I could see colors around people.” Elizabeth’s eyes darted away. “And I thought I could see what people were feeling. Not their thoughts, but their feelings. I knew when my dad was angry, because the world around him just vibrated red—”
“Are—” Jason swallowed. “You saw colors and emotions.” He was looking at her when she dared to meet his eyes again. “Okay.”
“And my dad thought I was crazy. He started sending me to doctors, and they kept giving me these medications, and it made it worse because I could see that they thought I was crazy, and it was getting worse anyway, because I started to see the colors and emotions everywhere, and they were screaming at me all the time—I was having nightmares—” Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut. “So I took a bunch of the medications.”
“Jesus—”
“My dad called my aunt, and it turns out Dad knew I wasn’t crazy.” Her voice faltered. “Because he knew about my mom. My mom, my aunts—every female in my family for generations—and probably some of the men, but I’m the first one to have boys in like sixty years, so it’s harder to be sure—”
“Anna has…she can see emotions, too?” Jason said hesitantly. He cleared his throat. “Sorry. I don’t mean to sound—I’m just…I’m trying to process…”
“No, we all have abilities, but they manifest in different ways.” She licked her lips. “Apparently, I’m pretty rare. I’m an empath. And…I can do some healing.”
“Healing,” Jason repeated.
“Yeah…” Elizabeth got to her feet and rounded the desk. She held out her hand and he hesitantly stood, giving her his hand. She ran her fingertips over the calluses of his fingers and found what she was looking for. A cut. She concentrated, pressed the tip of her index finger to it, and….
It was gone.
Jason stared down at his hand and nodded. “Okay. All right. So you—you’re…” He squinted at her, trying to figure out what to say next.
“We don’t really like the term witch, but it’s okay if you want to use it. Um, so Anna came to see me in the hospital, and for three years, she tried to convince my father to let me live with her. He finally agreed when I was fifteen. It didn’t matter. Anna didn’t know how to help me. Empaths are rare, like I said. We have to figure out how to block our powers, and I just—I couldn’t.”
“So—”
“I tried to drown them out. Anyway I could. And drinking helped better than anything else.” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “And, yeah, I slept around. Because sometimes that helped. Anna thought I was going nowhere. She threatened to throw me out a lot, and then she finally did. And Robin hated me because I could heal people—”
“Hey—” He tightened his hand around hers, letting the other drift through her hair. “You don’t have to tell me all of this—”
“I do, because it’s all part of it. I got pregnant and I was kind of terrified. I stopped everything, and I started trying to figure out how to do this on my own. I cleaned up my life, but no one believed I could. Until you.” She looked at him, tears sliding down her cheeks. “You believed in me.”
“Then—” He hesitated. “Why did you leave that day—Why—”
“Because it was too much. I went to that stupid party, and—” Elizabeth tried to pull her hand back. “And I was drinking. Robin’s boyfriend—he gave me a drink. A—and the next thing I rememeber…I was laying on my back, and he was on top of me—”
Her voice broke and she turned. “When it was over, he laughed at me, and poured more of his drink on me. He said to go ahead and tell Robin. No one would ever believe me because she made sure everyone knew I was a whore.”
“Elizabeth—” Jason’s voice was raspy, strained. “Elizabeth—”
“I thought—I thought Robin can see things. That’s her power. She can see truth. I knew she’d have to believe me, even if she hated me.” She pressed her hands to her face. “So I tried to put myself together. I tried to find her, but he was already there. And she already—she was already crying and screaming at him. He told her I had seduced him. That it had been my idea, and she believed him. And when she looked at me, I could—I knew she was too hurt, too angry to let the truth—she couldn’t see.”
He put an hand on her shoulder gently, turned her back to face him. “So when you came to see me—”
“Our powers—they’re not always reliable, you know.” Elizabeth inhaled a sharp breath. “Our own emotions—they can warp what we see. I—I didn’t know that then. So when I got to your place, Robin was already there. And she was already telling her what she thought was true—and I could see you—and I don’t know if it was just her overlapping onto you or just me seeing what I thought—” She bit her lip. “So I fled. I wanted to go to tell my aunt. I thought—I thought she’d help me figure it out but that was—”
She was sobbing now, her breath hitching. “But Anna had Cameron and she told me she wouldn’t give him back to me. That I was going to ruin him like I ruined myself and she wouldn’t let it happen—I managed to get him out of the house—and so I ran. I ran from this place.”
Jason’s breath was shaky as he exhaled, his eyes rimmed with red. “I don’t—I don’t know what to say to you. To know you were going through that—and then felt like I had rejected not just you but our son—” He cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing away some of her tears. “Why would you ever come back to this place?”
“Because you’re all the family my boys have,” Elizabeth managed. “And here’s a good change that a stupid family curse that we thought was broken—that I might die.”
Hello! First, let me say how genuinely surprised and excited I am that less than 24 hours after I posted my Patreon page for Crimson Glass that several of you guys already signed up to support the site. Thanks you guys, I can now cover my web host costs.
Second, I added some more content to the Patreon benefits. All of the synopses for the November NanoWriMo poll are now posted, and you can have access to that for only $1. I also added a new benefit for the $1 tier — you can two day early access to new chapters. When Bittersweet returns (which I think should be within the next two weeks), you’ll get chapters on Patreon on Monday while the rest of the public gets them on Wednesday.
Thanks those of you who signed up for $5 tier–I hope the beta draft of Mad World is worth it!
As a thank you, I wrote a new flash fiction — Part 3 of Smoke and Mirrors which has now been moved to the Flash Fiction page where you can find the rest of the story. It was written in 20 minutes because that’s all I really had time for today.
Written in 20 minutes
Elizabeth spent the rest of her evening waiting. She had been so sure that Jason would have called someone in her family—maybe Robin—and that one of them would show up on her doorstep.
But no one ever did, so Elizabeth carved pumpkins with her boys, fed them, and put them to sleep. The next morning, she woke up, got the boys off to school, and tried to decide the next step.
It was clear that for now, Jason was willing to take her lead, and she appreciated that. She’d initally scoffed at his pretense of not knowing Jake—but then something had shimmered in her aura. It had been years since she’d tried to read him and she’d hadn’t been good at it back then, but the basic emotions of disbelief, regret, and happiness had swirled around him so strongly that even she had to accept the truth.
It didn’t change the facts—Jason had been the one person in her life to support her, but at the slightest opportunity he’d proven to be like everyone else. And to make it clear that she’d meant nothing to him, he’d married and knocked up another woman within a year of their breakup.
Should she start with Jason, try to find the words to explain what had happened all those years ago? Or was it better to leave that truth on the shelf because the reason she’d come home meant explaining the secrets she’d kept from him—
She’d never told him she had power, that her family had been cursed, or why exactly she’d had the reputation of being a drunken whore when she’d fallen pregnant with Cameron at the age of twenty.
But maybe she ought to start with her aunt—the woman who had raised her after her father had thrown her out, disgusted by Elizabeth’s behavior and convinced she was deeply disturbed. After all, she’d been talking about seeing auras and being able to heal people—it didn’t matter that she’d shown him by healing a bruise on his arm.
That had only made it worse.
Anna Devane had taken her in, but Elizabeth had already been running wild and beyond help. Empaths were rare in their world, and even rarer in their family line. Unlike Nadine and Robin, whose powers Anna had understood and nurtured, there was no helping Elizabeth.
But starting with her aunt meant that Robin and Nadine would learn she was back. She was less worried about Nadine who hadn’t been around when everything went to hell. She’d always gotten along with her more than Robin.
Robin had resented her almost from the moment they met—she’d wanted to be a doctor and had bitterly resented Elizabeth developing abilities that she wanted.
Maybe Anna had some answers—maybe Elizabeth wasn’t the only one with the mark—and wouldn’t it be nice if she could go to Jason with some explanation of why, after a lifetime of feeling free from the curse, she’d been stricken down?
Her decision made, Elizabeth got into her car and drove across town to Charles Street, one of the oldest residential areas in the city. The house still looked the same—as if it been extracted from one of those 1950s sitcoms. A two story Colonial with white paint and blue shutters, a rose garden lining the front.
Elizabeth stepped out of her car, walked up the path—but before she could even arrive at the door, it opened. Of course—her aunt was a powerful woman with a rare double power. She could not only connect to the dead as a spiritual medium but had the ability of foresight.
“How long have you known I was in Port Charles?” Elizabeth asked as she stood several feet away from the tall willowy woman on her doorstep.
“Only since you pulled up.” Anna lifted one dark brow. “You’ve learned to block very well.”
“I had no choice,” Elizabeth said as she drew closer. “Learning to shut others out was the only way I would survive.” She managed a smile—just a slight lift of her lips. “I bet you’re surprised I made it this far.”
“I’ve been expecting you for several weeks.” Anna stepped back and gestured. “I’ve also been dreading your return.”
That stung and Elizabeth inhaled sharply as she followed Anna down the hallway to the large airy kitchen at the back of the house with a built in breakfast nook. Anna gestured for her to take a seat. “It’s nice to be loved.”
“I spoke badly.” Anna sat across from her. “I apologize. Late last summer, Nadine found a mark on her palm. I had worried—I worried about you, but as the weeks passed and there was no word, I thought perhaps you had escaped the curse.”
“Oh.” Some of the pressure released from her chest. Elizabeth held up her hand. “Well, I always did have the worst luck.”
Anna closed her eyes. “I don’t understand. The curse has always manifested at birth. If you had the mark, you passed the curse. I did not, so Robin didn’t—but the curse has never appeared decades later.” She looked at her niece. “You’ve brought your son? Cameron?”
“I have,” Elizabeth confirmed. “I’ve brought them both.” She paused. “I had another son eight months after I left. Jason ran into Jake yesterday, so I was left with no choice but to come forward.”
“Another boy?” Anna pursed her lips. “Two boys born to the same mother after generations of girls. This makes even less sense.” She tilted her head. “Neither of them have the marks?”
“No.” Elizabeth shook her head. “I came to Port Charles for answers, for a miracle, but mostly because I knew that if I were to die, Jake and Cam would have no one. At least…I hope that Jason will take them on. He…liked Cameron once.”
“I would—” Anna offered.
“I wouldn’t allow my children within five hundred feet of this house or your daughter,” Elizabeth told her aunt sharply. “Do you have any answers? Why is this happening?”
“I don’t know,” Anna said. “I know that you and Robin have had your differences—”
Elizabeth rose to her feet. “I have other places to be today. I’ll be in touch.”
I’ve had a Patreon account for Crimson Glass for a while. I put up a support page last year about it, but I was never super happy about what I was offering as a benefit.
So a few reasons why I’ve put up a Patreon page. The hosting service I currently use for the website runs on a virtual private server, which allows me to use WordPress and the mailing list and use up a ton of resources with unlimited space and data. It’s a great plan but it costs $25 a month. Domain costs are about $10-13 a year depending on whether I renew during a sale.
Right now, I work two part-time jobs and attend graduate school. My budget has slim margins, and there are definitely months when $25 represents a big portion of my gross pay. I love this site, and I pay it, but it would be nice to feel less pressure. Last year, I was a student teacher who couldn’t even really work the two jobs which is why I opened the Patreon page.
I’ve updated the Patreon page with new benefits and goals. I’ve created three levels of benefits. If you donate $1, you get access to a synopsis for any story not yet posted. Why does that matter? If you notice a description of my stories, they tend to be one or two sentences with just a brief glimpse of the story. A synopsis introduces the world and the main plot and runs 4-7 paragraphs. Several of these synopses are already available, the rest being added tomorrow.
If you donate $5, you get access to beta drafts of all my stories. This means when I stop writing and send my work to my beta, I will also post the draft at Patreon where you can get access to the entire draft months before everyone else and even have a say in revisions and changes. Right now, the complete Book 1 for Mad World is already available and I’ll be adding the remaining chapters of Bittersweet tomorrow.
You’ll not only get the beta draft for Book 1, you’ll get all future beta drafts including Book 2, Damaged Season 3, and whatever project I get for NaNoWriMo. This is probably the best tier because for a low cost, you get 20 weeks of content at once without waiting for my updates.
If you donate $10, you can tell me a plot or story idea and I will write it for you. I think that’s kind of a cool benefit — if there’s something you’ve always wanted to see, I can find a way to make it happen.
You can donate just once, get everything posted for your tier at Patreon, and then not renew if you want. You get charged on the first of every month.
I set a few goals that I’d love to hit. The first two are the ones I really want to focus on — $25 to take care of my webhosting costs, and $35 to take care of hosting plus renewing my domains.
The third goal is just a, hey, this is a thing I’d love to have. I mentioned that I’m planning to invest in entire years of GH for the years I tend to write about the most with a focus on 2006-08 since most of my upcoming plans are for that period. Each year costs $225, two years is $400 and three years is $600. I set a goal for $225 just for fun. I do not expect to get anywhere close to that. Investing in full years is really great because my current couple DVDs don’t tend to include all of that character’s stories.
Anyway, this is just a long explanation to let you know how you can support Crimson Glass. I think what I offer here is kind of unique — I am a solo GH author who has more than 20 novels and over a hundred short stories written over a period of 18 years. I have content planned and already written that will take us at least halfway through 2019, so you wouldn’t be supporting me without anything to show for it. Plus, I think the new benefits are kind of cool.
You can support me at Patreon 🙂 Let me know if you have any other ideas for benefits. I would love to keep adding things to make it worth your while.
