Written in 57 minutes. It’s shorter than usual because I honestly had zero clue where I was  going with this chapter until I started writing. Hope you like it, and let me know what you wanna see when they get to the island!

Maybe a stronger woman would have found the willpower to push Jason away. After all, he’d been pushing her away for weeks, hadn’t he? And the only reason he’d even kissed her today was to make her stop talking—no, she should definitely push him away and demand he have a conversation like an adult—

But a funny thing happened when Elizabeth raised her hands, intending to press them against his chest, to push him away—her fingers curled into the fabric instead and she gave in, let herself be swept back up in the moment. In how good it felt to be in Jason’s arms, to lose herself in his scent, the warmth, the dizzying weightlessness she’d felt only once before—that night in her studio—

His breath was hot, mingling with hers when he finally pulled back, his fingers still tangled in her hair. Elizabeth slid her hands up to cup his jaw, looked up so that their eyes met—held—and then she kissed him again, not really sure where she found the courage. His hand was warm, sliding across her skin, down her neck to the shoulder left bare by the shirt Sonny had given to her to wear.

Then both his hands were at her hips, sliding beneath the shirt, his fingers warm against her skin. She broke away, gasping for air, clinging to him. He swayed slightly, but held on, his arms around her waist, linked at the small of her back, his thumbs brushing against the bare skin of her spine. She buried her face in his chest, trembling.

“I’m a little confused,” Elizabeth said finally, pulling back to find him looking at her.

“So am I,” he confessed, and she smiled tremulously. There it was — the warmth in his eyes that she’d been missing all morning.

“You should be resting,” she murmured, resting her cheek against his chest again. “Laying down. Not that—” Her cheeks flamed. “I didn’t mean—”

But he laughed, his chest shaking slightly. “I know. And you’re right. I’m a terrible patient. If I’m honest—there’s some pain.”

“Some pain,” she echoed with a roll of her eyes. “How many laps around the bedroom did you do while I was out with Sonny?”

“Not that many,” he said, a little sheepish. He gingerly made his way over to the bed, his face creasing with pain as he sat down, spun slightly to put his legs up, but he sat up against the headboard. “I wanted to wash up.”

“And brush your teeth,” Elizabeth said, running her tongue across her taste. He lifted a brow, and she bit her lip, a little embarrassed. “I, um, could taste the mint.”

“You had coffee,” he said, and her flush only got deeper. He held out a hand. “Come here. I think we need to talk.”

“Another state of the union?” she asked, wrinkling her nose, but she sat on the edge of the bed, drawing one of her legs beneath her. “I’m sorry for…basically falling apart.”

“It’s been an interesting—” He glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand. “Eight hours? Is that it? It’s only ten?”

“I guess.” She picked at a loose thread in the comforter. “I meant what I said. I don’t want to go to the island if you don’t want me there. I’ve spent my whole life being somewhere I wasn’t wanted—”

“Not wanting you there isn’t the problem.”

“Then what it is?” She lifted her gaze to his again. “Sonny made it sound like the only option—”

“You have all the options you want to have, including going back to your life and forgetting any of this ever happened,” he said quietly. “I can put a guard on you, and we’ll go back to how it was.”

“Pretending I don’t exist?” Elizabeth challenged. “That’s what you want?”

Jason sighed, rubbed a hand down the side of his face. “No. No. It’s not. But it’s an option. I just—” He let his head fall back against the headboard. “Is that how you feel? That I’m testing you, waiting for you to fail?”

“N-No. Not exactly. It’s more like—” She pulled her other leg on the bed, sat cross-legged. “I guess maybe it’s me feeling like I have to prove myself. Like there’s some magical answer to all this and when I find it, you’ll change your mind, and I don’t know…we can stop having this conversation and go on to the next one.” She smiled weakly. “You know, like my parents. Always dangling their approval in front of me, and me deciding whether I want to try to earn it or thumb my nose at it so they can see how much I don’t want it. That’s on me, and I’m sorry. You’ve been pretty clear where you stand, and I’m the one who keeps pushing back.”

“I don’t know about that. I tried to be clear,” he admitted. “But I feel like we left a door open when we talked that night in the studio—”

“More like I wedged my foot in as you were trying to lock it,” Elizabeth cut in, and his quick grin felt like sunshine on her skin. “Then again, you’re the one who picked kissing me as a method to shut me up, so it’s probably not helping.”

“No, it’s not.” Jason studied her for a long moment, long enough that she wanted to squirm and look away. “Let’s try something different. What do you want?”

“What do I want?” Elizabeth repeated, bewildered. “Why? What do you mean?” She drew her brows back. “I want you to follow the doctors order and get better faster. I want you to not have been shot. To have told me. I want—” She looked down at her hands. “I don’t know. I want it to be like it used to be. When we could just talk and there wasn’t all of this in the middle. I don’t know why it has to be so hard. Or awkward.”

“I don’t know either. I don’t like it. It’s the last thing I wanted. All of this—” He paused. “I don’t know.”

“We just complicated something that didn’t need to be complicated,” Elizabeth decided. She scooted up towards the head of the bed and sat next to Jason shoulder to shoulder. “I should have just come straight to the garage the day after the show to tell you I was upset you didn’t show up or tell me you weren’t going. But I let it fester into this whole ball of resentment. And you—” She looked at him, found him looking back at her. “Can I be honest?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s like you pressed fast-forward button on something we hadn’t even talked about. I mean, Jason, we were just flirting, you know? And you were already planning how depressed I’d be about living with your life and trying to protect yourself from breaking up with me, and we hadn’t even gotten to a first date.”

Jason opened his mouth, then closed it, drawing his brows together. He looked forward. “I—when you put it like that—”

“And I  started to freak out about the physical side of things when you know, that hasn’t even come up. And I don’t think I’d be a girl to sleep with you on the first date.” She squinted, looked at him. “Well, maybe. You’re pretty hot.”

“I’m sorry?” He looked at her now, startled.

“I mean, I never thought about if I’d have a three date rule. You know, you’d have to buy me three dinners before you got under the clothes.” Elizabeth pursed her lip. “I never needed to develop that philosophy. But maybe I should.”

“You’ve lost me.”

“We were both skipping ahead, and skipping some stuff that might be fun. Like, remember when we were on the bike on the island? After we yelled at each other at those rocks. Going back to the house,” Elizabeth said. “I liked that. And walking on the beach in the moonlight, talking.” Her cheeks heated and she looked away. “And you know, on the terrace.”

He exhaled slowly. “So you’re saying we just throw out all the stuff we talked about last week.”

“No, no, because there’s some stuff in there that’s important. I feel like I just got a little crash into some of the things I might have to deal with, though I’m hoping the shooting and dragging you through a parking garage is, like, once a year tops, you know? Do you get shot more than that?”

“Uh—no, but—”

“And well, the physical stuff is going fine, I think. The first time might have been fluke where my brain just took a vacation, but it happened against today. I think I’m doing okay there. What do you think?”

“I—” Jason looked at her. “Yeah. That’s—that’s all good.”

“Good. But other than that, yeah, I think we throw it out. We’re going back to the island, and you have to get better anyway, so it’s not like you have to worry about me jumping you or anything.”

“That’s—that’s good to know.” His voice sounded slightly strangled. “So—”

“And we just let things happen. You know, live in the moment. Let tomorrow take care of itself. Maybe we’ll hate each other in a few weeks,” she told him, and the corner of his mouth curved up in a half smile.

“You think that’s possible?”

“Sure. I can be pretty annoying, I have it on good authority. Plus, you haven’t even see how much I ignore people when I’m painting. Sonny said he could get me art supplies. I didn’t even tell you! I signed a contract with the Jerome Galleries. I’m going to have an exhibit in August.”

He grinned. “That’s great. It’s exactly what you were hoping for.”

“Right? But it’s also super stressful because now I have to paint and create, and I will totally ignore you for hours at a time. And when I’m not, I talk too much. And you hate that.”

“I don’t—”

“I know, you said like to listen to me talk, but maybe that’s just because you haven’t really gotten to know me yet. So you know, give me two weeks to get on your nerves. And you! You might annoy me.”

“Maybe I’ll annoy you,” he said. “I don’t like to talk. Maybe you’ll get tired of carrying the conversation. And I hate watching TV. I don’t watch movies.”

“See? We don’t even have to worry about what happens in six months. We’re going to burn this out in, like a month tops. Problem solved.” She slid off the bed. “I have to go tell Sonny we’re all set. He’s getting me security so I can go to the pool house and pack.” She looked around and found her clothes folded on the top of the dresser where she’d left the night before. She scooped them up. “You’re going to rest, right? Don’t, like, start doing push-ups or whatever.”

“No, I’m going to rest.”

“Good. This is a good idea. You’re going to be happy we changed the plan.” And going on instinct, she leaned in and kissed him quickly. “I am very good at annoying people. Ask anyone. In a week, you’ll be begging Sonny to send me away—”

“Not going to happen.” He caught her arm, pulled her back to kiss her again, drawing it out. “I’ll see you when you get back.”

“No, you’ll be asleep. Rest. Or you’ll see how annoying I actually can be.”

+44

Written in 76 minutes. Sorry. The cat kept walking in front of the screen and then I had trouble ending the scene.

June 2000

Elizabeth sat at the dining room table in Sonny Corinthos’ penthouse, watching the rain pelt the windows overlooking downtown Port Charles and contemplated the insanity of her life in the last six months. The boy she thought she’d love forever had broken her heart, and somehow that had led her to the home of Port Charles Public Enemy Number One and in a complicated something with his right hand man.

And last night, she’d been shot at for nothing more than standing next to the wrong person in a parking lot.

Elizabeth scrubbed her hands over her face, trying to rub some common sense back into herself. Or maybe if she tried hard enough, she’d knock herself into reality, and all of this would go away because this really couldn’t be her life could it?

A door closed down the hall, and a few minutes later, Sonny appeared. The older man looked as tired as Elizabeth felt. She’d seen him in passing over the last few years, and had never known him to look anything but put together with designer suits and neatly combed back hair. Today, that same coal-black hair was disheveled, hanging in curls over his forehead, stubble lining his jaw, and he wore what must have seemed like casual lounging clothes to him — a pair of black pants and a slate gray shirt.

“Um, I was wondering if it was safe to go home now,” Elizabeth said after Sonny had headed for a mini bar set against the wall. He poured himself a glass of water. “I’m supposed to work at Kelly’s later today—”

“We should talk about what happens next, and the options on the table.” Sonny came to the table, sat across from her. “You’ve done remarkable all things considered. What are you, eighteen?”

“Nineteen. I’ll be twenty in a few months,” she muttered. She picked at the chipped polish on her thumb. “Why?”

“If you think I’m saying something about your age, I’m not. I know more than most that age is just a number. I was running the streets at fourteen. Working for Joe Scully by fifteen.” He folded his arms on the table, leaned forward. “And Jason? You know he’s only twenty-six.”

“Yeah—”

“Twenty-six,” Sonny murmured. He rubbed a finger across his lips. “You know, I left him everything a few years ago. He was twenty-four. Barely working for me maybe a year and a half. And I just handed him the keys to the empire I’d built.”

Elizabeth furrowed her brow. “I guess I never thought about that. Why would you trust someone so young so fast?”

“I don’t know. Jason’s got a way about him. You know what I mean, don’t you? One second, he’s just this kid I’m helping out, and the next—he’s my best friend and practically the only person I’d trust my life with. Can’t tell you how or why it happened. Only that it did.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s how it was. He was just Emily’s brother. Or the guy who gave Lucky a job and a place to live. But he was always nice to me. Then—” Elizabeth pressed her lips together. “I don’t know. He listened, even when I didn’t think I needed to talk. And then the next thing I knew—” she trailed off, looked back at her hands. “I’m not some silly little girl with a crush.”

“I never thought you were.”

“Oh.” She lifted her eyes to him. “You said we had to talk about the options. I don’t know what that means. Jason’s going to be okay, isn’t he? And he just wanted me to be safe. I am now—”

“After we’re done here, you and me, I’m gonna send you in to have probably the same conversation with Jason. The thing is, I don’t know if he’s gonna sugarcoat the situation so that you don’t get too scared or maybe he’ll make it sound worse than it really is so you run away screaming, and he doesn’t have to keep pushing you away.”

“I think I know which one he’ll pick,” Elizabeth muttered, and Sonny grinned then, a dimple winking in his cheek.

“Me, too. Our boy is a little too self-sacrificing if you ask me, but we’ll worry about that later. The thing is Jason’s going to be okay, but he’s not there yet. He needs to rest and he needs to stay off the radar. What happened last night—well, the guy didn’t succeed in his goal.”

“Because Jason’s alive.”

“Bullseye. So he’s going to look for an opportunity to finish the job.” Sonny paused. “Now, that part’s easy. Jason’s gonna lay low, recuperate, and I’m gonna figure this out hopefully before he’s well enough to worry about it again. My worry is that if I take Jason off the board, this guy is going to get pissed. And he’s going to do whatever he has to so that he lures Jason out of hiding.”

Elizabeth exhaled on a rush of air. “There are other people. Better people—”

“There’s Emily and Michael and you. That’s it. That’s Jason’s circle at the moment. No one’s going to go all the way to Paris to dig up an ex-girlfriend, though it’s something to consider,” Sonny admitted. “So, fine, we add Robin to that list. Robin’s not here. Emily and Michael? Quartermaines. No one’s touching them. In fact, that’s what happened last night. This guy waited for Emily to leave, and took his shot. He did not care that you were there. But—”

“But Jason took me with him when he left instead of leaving me behind as a random witness,” Elizabeth murmured. “And Emily said the papers printed my name. That she got phone calls.”

“People know who you are. I don’t want you to be someone they can use against Jason, not when I need him to recover. I also just don’t want to see you hurt.”

“So what happens then? What are you asking me to do?” Elizabeth frowned. “I have to work, okay? And I didn’t—I didn’t tell anyone yet except my grandmother and Emily, but I signed a contract this week for an art exhibition the last week of August. I have to paint.”

“I can handle that second part. And I can make some calls. Luke’s a friend of mine, and he and Bobbie co-own Kelly’s with Ruby gone, don’t they?”

“Yes, but—”

“I know this isn’t fair. Especially since you and Jason aren’t exactly on the same page about what you’re doing. I got the idea last night that maybe you were having second thoughts about all of this.”

“Second thoughts? Try fifth and sixth.” Elizabeth sighed, leaned back in the chair. “I don’t know. I don’t know how anyone signs up for this life. To love someone in it, that seems impossible. To actually live it—how do you do it?” she asked, leaning forward. “Am I allowed to ask that? You can tell me to shut up. It’s none of my business—”

“No, but I don’t mind answering. Some people—they go into this world for the money. For the power. Some? They thrive on violence. They like to hurt people. Others?” Sonny sniffed. “They grow up in it, and it’s an inheritance, you get me? It’s an expectation, the way maybe your family thought you’d go into medicine, I’m sure, with all the doctors in your family.” He paused. “I had…a difficult childhood,” he said. “And I wanted to make sure no one could hurt me again. I needed the power to control my world. The rest of it? The money, that’s nice. I don’t care for the violence, but I don’t turn from it either. It doesn’t scare me, particularly. I’ve never known much peace in my life. I don’t think I’d know what to do with it.”

“I should run away screaming,” Elizabeth murmured. “Jason thinks I will, and there’s part of me that wants to stay just to prove him wrong. But that’s not—that’s not fair. To him or to me.” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

“I can’t help but notice that you haven’t run away screaming yet. Something’s holding you back.” Sonny tipped his head. “I asked you to stay last night. But I didn’t force you.”

“Last night, someone shot at me just because I was standing too close to Jason,” Elizabeth said slowly. “When you say it that way, you know, it makes it sound like it’s Jason’s fault. But he didn’t pull the trigger. I told everyone I had a date to this dance.” She looked down at her hands. “I told them that I had a date because I didn’t want them to think Lucky had hurt me by breaking off our plans to  go with my sister. I got dressed up, I let my grandmother take pictures of me, and I went to the movies. Afterwards, instead of going home, I walked through the park.” She met Sonny’s dark eyes. “I should have gone home, but it was too early. I sat on a bench to wait a little bit, to finish my popcorn. I told a lie, and that’s why I was raped.”

“That’s—” Sonny paused, took a deep breath. “You know that’s not why—”

“It’s why I was sitting on that bench in that moment. Because I lied. I know that doesn’t make it my fault. Just like standing too close to Jason doesn’t make it his fault if something happens. But I understand why he thinks it does. Because there’s part of me that won’t ever be able to forgive the silly little girl who told that lie.” She cleared her throat. “When Jason says he thinks one day I’ll change my mind and I’ll look at him like a monster, I think — well, maybe he’s right. Because I keep seeing myself in the mirror and blaming myself for what happened to me.” She let out a rush of breath. “I’m sorry. I know this isn’t what you wanted to talk about. You said there were options. I have to go away, too, right? Until Jason is okay, you think I’ll be safer if I go away.”

“Yeah.” Sonny cleared his throat. “Yeah. And you’d be doing me a favor if you went with Jason to the island. He’s a terrible patient who never follows orders if someone doesn’t make him. I’ll make sure you have everything you need for your art. Just make a list. But yeah, I think that’s best.”

“The island? With Jason?” Elizabeth bit her lip. “And he knows this? He agreed already?”

“He did.” Sonny tipped his head. “Does that surprise you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it does. Um, but he agreed, so that must—it must be okay. I just—I don’t—you’re sure me going away doesn’t mean Emily or Michael would be the next up?” Elizabeth asked. “Because I—”

“As certain as I can be, but I’ll be keeping an eye on Emily. Michael’s a kid — it’s harder to use him. But I can put someone on her here.”

“Okay. Okay. If you’re sure this is the best way, and Jason already said okay, then we can do that. I just—I don’t want to do anything that will make this worse.”

“I can’t imagine how that would be possible. I appreciate this, Elizabeth. I’ll be able to work up here and not worry about either of you.”

——

Jason might have promised Sonny he’d lay down, but it wasn’t a promise he was able to keep. He knew Sonny was out there, explaining this horrible situation to Elizabeth, and he had no doubt Sonny was going to make it sound as dire as possible so that she’d agree to go to the island. After the way Jason had acted over the last twelve hours, there was no way she’d want go back there willingly.

There was a gentle knock on the door, and then it pushed open. Elizabeth stepped in, her brow furrowed. “You’re supposed to be laying down.”

“I need to move around—”

“You need—” She closed her mouth, then sighed. “I don’t know why Sonny thinks you’ll listen to me. That’s the whole reason he wants me to go with you, but if you won’t listen to a doctor, why would you listen to me?”

Chagrined, Jason clutched the post at the end of the bed, wrapping his hand around it, and holding the other against his bandaged side. “That’s what he said?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he was just trying to make it sound like I’d be useful instead of a terrible burden and someone he has to look after.” Elizabeth folded her arms, the oversized t-shirt sliding off her shoulder again. “It’s my fault,” she muttered. “If I hadn’t been there, you wouldn’t have worried about me, and maybe you wouldn’t have been shot—”

“What?” Jason cut in, bewildered. How had she turned this around to make it her fault? “They were shooting at me—”

“But I was there because I told the parking attendant to leave me for last.” She looked at him, her eyes swimming. “I could have gone first. Nikolas told me to go first, but I said it was fine for him. And I only did it because I was hoping you’d come out to say goodbye to Emily, so I waited like the stupid girl with the silly crush that I told you I wasn’t, except that’s exactly how I acted. I ignored everything you said, and now you and Sonny are both worried about my safety—”

“Okay, we need to back up—” Jason took a step towards her, but she shook her head.

“No, no, I keep going over it, and I listened when Sonny explained it all to me — I waited so we’d be out there alone, a-and then you were so worried about me you didn’t even take care of yourself, and now this guy who wants to hurt might try to use me which is exactly what you said would happen, and I promise I was listening—” She sucked in a sharp, quavering breath. “I promise I take this seriously, I just—”

“Hey.” Jason winced as he took a few more steps towards her. “Hey. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the one who made myself a target, okay? They were shooting at me—”

“And you got hurt when you pushed me down, so if I hadn’t been there—” Tears clung to her lashes when she lifted her gaze to his. “Sonny told me you agreed that I should go with you, but you don’t want that, do you? That’s the last thing you want. I’m not an idiot. That’s why Sonny talked to me. He said you agreed, but that doesn’t mean you want me to go—”

The fact that she was right—that his first instinct had been to reject the plan made Jason feel about two feet tall. He grimaced. “It’s not like that—”

“And now you’re looking at me like I’m insane, and trust me, I feel insane because I was fine out there talking to Sonny, but I came in here, and you’re standing up walking around like an idiot because you just got shot and you won’t take pain medication, you won’t rest—and it’s because you’re trying to get better faster because you don’t want to be alone with me, and that’s my fault. You think I’m going to push you into something you don’t want—” She pressed her fist to her mouth. “Because that’s what I was doing, right? Last night. In the hallway, and then in the parking lot—you said no, and I didn’t listen. Oh, God.” Horrified, her eyes widened. “Oh, God. You said no, and I didn’t care—what kind of person am I?”

Jason winced, reached for her hands to pull them away from her face. “Hey, okay, we need to take a deep breath. Elizabeth—” He took her chin in his hand. “Look at me. Hey.”

She closed her eyes. “Please don’t look at me. Please don’t. I’m making a fool of myself, and it’s going to be so much worse when you’re nice about it—”

“Well, I can’t do anything about that. Can you look at me? Please?”

Her lashes fluttered, and then her eyes were open again, misery in every line of her expression. “You should be resting.”

“I will. You’re right. I should be listening to the doctor. I’m sorry for worrying you.” He winced, because his side really did hurt like a son of a bitch, but he had to do this first. “Okay. First, I did not say no. And you did nothing that made me feel like that you didn’t listen to me the other night Or last night.”

“But—”

“I don’t think you’re trying to push me into anything. I don’t. And last night—” He sighed. “I was just about to offer you a ride on the bike before everything went to hell because I didn’t want you to just go home. So what if you made sure you were the last to leave? That’s not why I was hurt.”

He slid his hands down her shoulders to her arms down to her hands. “But if you’re asking if I think going to the island together is a good idea, no, I don’t. I think it’s going to make this harder for both of us. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s the best way to keep you safe, and to keep me from worrying about you off in some safe house with guards you don’t know.”

“I—” Elizabeth drew in a shaky breath. “I’m sorry for falling apart. It’s not exactly doing much to reassure you that I could do this if you gave me the chance.”

“I don’t want you to worry about that—”

“I can’t help it.” She smiled, though it was a thin one, and it didn’t reach her eyes. “I was so scared last night when I realized you’d been hurt. And, God, I was so mad.” The color returned to her cheeks. “Why didn’t you say anything? You didn’t tell me you were hurt, and I was looking for my stupid shoe—”

“I wasn’t thinking about it—” Jason winced when she just narrowed her eyes. “I just knew I didn’t have a lot of time to get you somewhere safe—”

“You matter, too, okay? I don’t want any of this macho crap where you think I’m some damsel in distress you have to rescue—” She poked him in the chest. “So if that’s what you think—”

“I don’t—”

“Because I dragged you off your bike and to the elevators, and I don’t think some flimsy princess could do that—and I did it without shoes—so I think I get extra credit for that.”

“Is there a test I don’t know about?” he asked, confused. “I mean, I’m grateful—”

“All of this is a test. You didn’t set it up,” Elizabeth said, letting her hand fall to her side, “but that doesn’t mean you aren’t grading me. Tell the truth. You thought this would be enough to send me running. Maybe you were hoping it would. Is what you want? Really? For me to go?” Her tone had shifted again. “Because I’ll tell Sonny that I’ll go to the island and stay somewhere else like the resort or something. I don’t want to be somewhere I’m not wanted.”

Jason opened his mouth to respond, then shook his head, and did something truly insane. He cupped the back of her head and pulled her against him, claiming her mouth with his.

+43

Written in 57 minutes. I had a little trouble getting the first part of the scene together, so writing went a little slower than I wanted.

June 2000

He didn’t recognize the wallpaper. Jason squinted, his bleary gaze trying to make sense of the dark-colored wall in front of him. His bedroom was a bland white, so he wasn’t home. And the ache he felt when he moved his hand, the fire that raced down his side as soon as he tried to shift on the bed stopped any movement of his body. So he turned his head, slowly until his right cheek was resting against the pillow.

Beside him lay Elizabeth, curled up on her side, her curly hair spilling over her shoulders, one hand tucked beneath her cheek, the other wrapped around her waist. She had a shirt that was too big for her—something gray that slid off one shoulder. Jason squinted. There was a cut on the skin left bare. And a scrape. Was she hurt? Why was she sleeping next to him?

And then it came back in a rush—the parking lot, the headlights, shoving her to the ground, the look in her eye when she was looking for her shoe—and then the rest of it was gone. He didn’t remember anything else.

Jason looked past her, to the door, then exhaled slowly. That he recognized. His old room at Sonny’s, when he’d first moved in. He hadn’t gone upstairs until after Michael was born, and he’d needed to be closer.

He’d made it to the Towers, he thought, remembering now that had been his goal. Get Elizabeth to Sonny. He’d done that. She was safe.

Jason touched his side, hissing when the pain lanced through him again. He tried to sit up, sliding one leg to the side and barely managed to lift his upper body up, hanging on to the edge of the nightstand with a death grip. “Damn it,” he muttered. He just wanted to get to the bathroom or to a mirror to see how bad it was.

He heard rustling behind him, and sighed. He’d wanted to be out of bed before she woke up, hadn’t wanted that picture in his head, of knowing what she looked like when just opening her eyes.

“Jason?” Her voice was sleepy, his name half-yawned, then spoken. Then she said it again, worried. “Jason! What are you doing? You got shot!”

“Yeah, I figured,” he grunted, but she’d already raced around the side of the bed, had a hand on his shoulder.

“You have to lay down. The doctor said you needed to rest. I’ll get Sonny, okay? A-and if you’re in pain—” She released his shoulder, then to look at the night table, picked up some bottles. “There’s something here for that—”

“I don’t like pain medication,” he said.

“But—”

“I don’t want it,” he cut in, and his voice was sharp enough that Elizabeth flinched, set the bottle down. “I don’t like the way it makes me feel.”

“I know—”

“How would you know that?” he demanded, then felt like an asshole when she dropped her eyes. “Look, I just—I need to talk to Sonny—”

“He told me you wouldn’t want pain medication when you woke up,” Elizabeth said, and he closed his mouth. “That’s how I know. And that’s why I stayed in here. Because he said the minute you were up, you’d try to get up and you weren’t supposed to. He said you’re a terrible patient who never listens to the doctors, so he thought maybe you’d listen to me.” Her lips curved into a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Well, I guess on that he was wrong. It’s not pain medication. Not that way.” She showed him the bottle. “It’s just something to help with the inflammation.”

“I’m—” Jason grimaced, looked down at the carpet, though that didn’t help because her bare feet were in front of him, and they were painted the same color she’d been wearing the night before, a bright pink that made him think of throwing her to the ground, scaring her. “I’m sorry,” he muttered.

“You got shot, you’re entitled to be cranky.” But she kept her eyes averted. “I’ll get Sonny. I know you’ll want to talk to him.”

“Elizabeth—” He called after her, but she was already in the hallway. Damn it. He dragged a hand over his face, feeling the stubble beneath his fingers.

When Sonny came in a few minutes later, Jason had hobbled to his feet, using the headboard for balance. The older man just sighed. “So much for hoping a pretty face would make you a a better patient. Sit back down before you tear open those stitches—”

“I just want to see—” But Sonny was in front of him, and Jason had no choice but back up, then to sit down, wincing at the pressure on his side. “I just wanted to see how bad it is—”

“Entry and exit wound. No internal damage, you lucky son of a bitch. If you follow orders, you might be up and moving in a few days, and back to your normal in a few weeks—”

“I don’t have a few weeks—”

“Sure you do. Now take your medicine.” Sonny held out two pills and a glass of water. “Start thinking of ways to apologize to that very nice young woman who dragged your sorry ass from the parking garage up here—”

“What?” Jason demanded, but Sonny just lifted his brows, pressed his lips closed. “Fine,” he muttered. He took the pills, chased them with the water. “What are you talking about? I got her back here—”

“You got as far as the parking garage and practically keeled over. And instead of calling 911 like a normal person might or running away screaming, Elizabeth managed to drag you to the elevators. You don’t remember any of that?”

“No—” Open your eyes. Lean on me. He winced. “A little.”

“And she agreed to stay here while I tried to get to the bottom of whatever the hell happened last night. But maybe I should have put her in a safe house considering she looked miserable when she came down to get me.”

“Do you know what happened?” Jason asked, ignoring the rest of it.

Sonny stroked his jaw. “Yeah. We got the shooter. Don’t get too excited — he’s not one of Moreno’s men so we can’t neatly tie it. He got a contract.”

“A contract—” Jason repeated. “What—”

“Shooter got the contract directly from an old friend of ours. You remember David Reece?”

Jason squinted, then realized how he knew the name. “Messenger for the cartels? The one who told you that there was a hit on you before the wedding?”

“Yeah. Shooter can’t connect us to Moreno, so I can’t say for sure it was him. I don’t know who else it would be,” Sonny said. He ambled over to the window, peered through the blinds. “But a contract makes sense for how it got set up. He picked the contract up yesterday morning, but couldn’t get a clear shot of you until last night.”

“But—”

“You were always around other people, and he had orders to minimize casualties. And to under no circumstances open fire with Emily around. No one wants the kind of heat she’d bring. Shooter waited until she left last night, and after that—” Sonny slid his hands in his pockets. “He didn’t much care about who was next to you. So you were worried Elizabeth was part of it, she wasn’t.”

“She was just standing next to me.” Jason closed his eyes. Just like Nikolas Cassadine that night at Luke’s.

“If she’d gone with Emily, he would have shot you then.”

“Okay. Okay. So Elizabeth is safe. That’s all that mattered.” And after last night and this morning, he figured that had put the period on whatever relationship she thought she wanted. She’d be running in the other direction.

“Well—”

Jason lifted his head, not liking the tone of Sonny’s voice. “What? What’s the rest?”

“Shooter doesn’t know who paid him, so he only talked to David Reece. We caught him on the phone with Reece.” Sonny hesitated. “They know you’re alive — and they know you didn’t go back inside the club like maybe you could have. And the brunette? Her name is in the paper this morning as a person of interest. The PCPD have been calling Audrey Hardy and Emily down at the pool house.”

“Shit.” Jason dropped his head in his hands, wincing at the pain. “So if they didn’t—”

“If there was any chance of thinking she was just a random woman standing next to you, everyone knows now it was Elizabeth Webber, roommate to your little sister. Add that in to the fact that you made sure she was with you when you left the scene—”

“Damn it. Damn it. I should just gone back inside.” Jason gripped the headboard again, pushed himself to his feet. “I should have called you—”

“You’d been shot, Jason. You didn’t know if you’d pass out, if Luke was still inside the club, if they were going to come back. Give yourself a break. All you wanted was to get Elizabeth somewhere you were sure was safe. And you did that.”

“And made it worse—”

“You couldn’t have known that. Look, we can complain about how we got here, or we can deal with the situation as it is. The contract is unfilled, so Reece is just going to hand it out to someone else. You’re in no shape to be seen in public. The PCPD will have a thousand questions if they find out you’ve been shot. And Elizabeth—”

“Will get dragged in, too. Okay. Okay. So I’ll go away. I’ll go down to the island until I can walk—”

“Exactly.” Sonny paused. “Except for the part if you disappear from public, you’ve just David Reece and probably Anthony Moreno all the ammunition they need to pull you back.”

“Elizabeth. She’ll be a target. So will you, but—”

“But I’m already a target. And it’s not like they’ll kill her right away. They’ll hold her hostage, lure you in—”

“Stop talking. I got the point,” Jason bit out. He swayed slightly, his head spinning. “Safe house. You have to keep her safe until I can come back and handle this.”

“Right. I’ll put her with some strange guards she’s never seen before, tell her to pack up her whole life for a few weeks while you recuperate in the Caribbean.” Sonny cleared his throat. “And you’ll be just fine and normal, following doctor’s orders down there, not worried about her at all.”

“No,” Jason bit out, because he knew the only answer to all of this. He’d gone out of his way to keep Elizabeth away from this part of his life, but in a moment of weakness he’d gotten her those stupid tickets so he could make her smile, and maybe make up for how he’d hurt her—and he’d ruined everything. She’d been shot at, thrown around, and had, apparently, been left to deal with him after he’d passed out from the gunshot.

He wouldn’t have to worry about keeping his hands off her on the island. She’d probably insist on a room on the other side of the house, if she agreed to go at all.

“She has to go with me,” he said, and saw Sonny’s shoulders relax. “You should have just said that from the beginning—”

“And miss watching you tie yourself in knots trying to get out of it?” Sonny scoffed. “Not a chance. You needed to realize for yourself this is the best way. I won’t have to worry about you, because you already bit her head off about following’s doctors orders and you feel bad so you’re not doing it again, right?”

Jason clenched his jaw. “She told you that?”

“No, I’m freaking Colombo putting together clues. You’re on your feet, and she was upset. Now, lay back down and I’ll arrange things. And I’ll be the one telling her because you—” Sonny stabbed a finger at him. “—need to practice not making that face when she’s in the room. She saved your life last night, idiot. Don’t make me or her regret that.”

+38

Written in 65 minutes.

June 2000

She hit the ground hard, a heavy weight falling on top of her, the gravel beneath digging into the skin left bare by the hot pink tube top that had seemed like a great idea six hours earlier—

Elizabeth barely had time to cover her head with her hands before the last blast of gunfire exploded, and she heard the spark and sizzle of something electrical shorting out—tires squealed—

“Stay down—” The words were little more than hot air breathed against her neck, and then the weight pressing her down vanished. There were a few screams, some shouts, horns and cars braking on the nearby streets, but Elizabeth didn’t move. He’d told her stay still, and if there was one time to follow directions, it was when the guy who’d been shot at a thousand times told you not to move.

But then she was being lifted, rolled over, Jason’s hands wrapping around her biceps, pulling her to a sitting position, almost like a rag doll. Those hands kept moving, tracing down her sides. “Are you hit? Are you hurt?—”

Elizabeth finally raised her head, met his frantic eyes. “N-No—are you—”

“We have to get out of here.” He hauled her to her feet, wrapping an arm around her waist when she stumbled, one of those platform wedges she loved so much having fallen off. She turned slightly, as if to find it. “What is it?’ he demanded.

“My s-shoe—” She swallowed hard, her hands trembling as she brought them up to rake her hands through her hair. “I c-can’t find my shoe—”

Another night flashed through her head. Being thrown to the ground. Her shoe was lost. The lights whirled around her and Elizabeth lost her breath for a minute, slapped at the hands holding her. “Don’t—” The breath vanished and she couldn’t form any more words. She just moved away, backing up, then falling—the height difference between her feet thanks to the missing shoe throwing her off balance.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Jason knelt down, wincing, his expression still tense but his tone softer. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—we just—” He raked his hands though his hair. “I have to get you somewhere safe. Okay? Please. They might come back, and you were with me. I don’t know—”

The lights swirled again, and Elizabeth took a deep breath. She sat up, kicked off her remaining platform. “I lost my other shoe somewhere,” she said. “I’m okay. Let’s go.” Jason stood, wincing again, and held out his hand, pulling her to her feet.

“I’ll buy you a dozen pairs, but—”

“No, we can go. I can go. We’re okay.” It wasn’t two years ago. It wasn’t cold beneath her back. She could do this. “Let’s go,” she said.

—

He’d scared her, Jason realized. Throwing her to the ground, hauling her around like a sack of coffee. He hadn’t meant to do that, and if he’d taken his time, if he’d just thought about it, they might not have wasted precious minutes standing here—

Time he really didn’t have as the fire in his side only burned hotter, blood dripping, clinging to his skin, sliding down. He just had to get her to Sonny. If he could get to Sonny, she’d be safe, and it didn’t matter what happened to him.

Her eyes had cleared of that terrible look, and Jason hurried her over to the bike, handing her the helmet, clenching his teeth when he swung his leg over the side, and he nearly bit his tongue when Elizabeth’s hand slid past the wound.

“Jason—are you okay—”

“I’m fine. We have to go.” He switched on the ignition, and she tightened her hold on him. He roared out of the parking lot, just seconds ahead of the police sirens. The PCPD would come find them eventually, but not until he’d made sure Elizabeth was safe.

——

There was something terribly wrong. Elizabeth knew it even as they raced away from Luke’s, towards the buildings where she knew he and Sonny lived at Harborview Towers, but she thought it was his worry, his obvious fear that whoever had taken those shots would come back.

When they pulled into a spot in the parking garage, Elizabeth drew hands back, unsnapped the helmet, and swung her leg over the side. She set the helmet on the back of the bike, then stared at her left hand, almost not registering the meaning of the red smeared across her skin.

With trembling fingers, she lifted her eyes to Jason slumped over the front of the bike, the black cotton T-shirt having masked the blood until they were in the bright lights of the garage.

“J-ason—” Elizabeth tugged at his shoulder. “Jason, you have to—oh my God—” All while he’d been checking on her, dragging her to safety, he’d been shot—”Jason, open your eyes, please—”

“Sonny.” Jason’s eyes, just a sliver of blue as he forced them open. “He’ll—” And then he slumped again, this time losing his balance, falling over into her, nearly taking the bike with him. Elizabeth gasped, wrapping her arms around his torso, shoving back with all her strength.

“Jason, you have to help me. I have to get you upstairs—” She twisted her head, frantically looking for someone, anyone. Why wasn’t anyone coming to help? Did she call, scream for help? Or would that get him in trouble?

She swallowed her sobs, shoved again, and somehow, someway, she was able to get Jason back into a sitting position, the bike teetering, but staying up. “Oh, God. Jason, you have to help me. Please. I—” She bit her lip. “I’m not safe yet, okay? I don’t know where to go. Where he lives.” She touched his face, her fingers softly combing through the hair just above his ear. “Jason. Please. I need your help.”

Jason stirred again, his eyes opened. “Eliza…”

“Hey. Hey, no, no, don’t close your eyes again—” She stroked his face. “Stay with me. Help me. I don’t know where to go. You can show me, can’t you? Where does Sonny live? I can—” She wound one of his heavy arms over her shoulder. “You got on the bike right? We can—we can get off the same way. Just lean on me.”

“Have to get upstairs—” He took a deep breath, slightly more conscious now, his words still slurred.

Somehow, maybe through a miracle from heaven, she got Jason off the bike, and once on his feet, he seemed to fall into autopilot. Step by step, towards the bank of elevators.

“Fifteenth floor.” Jason grunted, leaning against the concrete wall. He closed his eyes. “Sonny can send someone for me—”

“I got you this far,” Elizabeth muttered, jabbing the button again. “Don’t—” She darted forward, caught his arm over her shoulder again as he started to slump. “We’re almost there, okay? We’ll get upstairs and someone will be able to help.”

The elevator ride was the longest of her life, and Elizabeth couldn’t even begin to think about what she’d say if the car stopped along the way because there was no hiding the mangled mess of blood of Jason’s side, the blood streaked across her hands, his face, and probably hers now, too.

But the doors never opened until the top floor, until they’d reached the fifteenth floor. The car doors opened, and step by painful step, Elizabeth guided Jason out of the car, and into the hallway.

“I’ll go get help—” she started, but she could already hear footsteps, and a man in a dark suit came around, his eyes wide.

“Jason! Holy hell!”

The man raced back to the penthouse, shoved open the door. “Mr. C! Mr. C! Jason’s been shot!”

—

It wasn’t every day that Sonny found bleeding man on his doorstep, but it happened often enough that he didn’t even blink. He and Max half-carried, half-dragged Jason into the penthouse, Sonny barking at the terrified brunette to follow them. He didn’t think about her again until he’d settled Jason on a bed in the unused maid’s room on the first floor, and told Max to make a call to their doctor while he took stock of Jason’s injuries.

Entry and exit wound, so that accounted for the blood, Sonny thought, using a pair of scissors from the first aid kit to cut away the t-shirt around the wound.

“S-Sonny.”

Sonny grunted, not glancing up from applying pressure against the wound. “A little busy here.”

“Elizabeth.”

“She’s fine. Dragged your sorry ass up from the parking garage—how the hell did you get here from Luke’s?” Sonny demanded.

“Bike.” Jason clenched his jaw, and the pain ripped across his face. “Had to get her here. They—they waited.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone gone. Just me. Just her.” Jason reached forward, gripped Sonny’s shoulder. “Could—they could have waited for her to go, but they didn’t. You—you’ll make sure—”

“I’ll make sure she’s safe. You just focus on not dying on me, you got it? Leave the rest of it to me.”

—

Finally, their doctor arrived and Sonny was able to think about Elizabeth. He was a little impressed that rather than giving into instinct when Jason had started to pass out and calling 911, she’d brought him up here.

He found her in the kitchen, sitting on a stool at the island, staring her blood-streaked hands. Her curly hair hanging limply around her shoulders, her mascara and eyeliner had run enough to give her slight raccoon eyes, and there some light scratches and cuts along her shoulders.

Sonny took the stool across from her. “Well, this isn’t the way I wanted us to meet.”

He was rewarded when the corner of her mouth tugged upwards. “No, not really in the top five, I guess.”

“Sonny Corinthos. Thanks for getting him upstairs.” He tipped his head. “You didn’t wash your hands yet.”

“Didn’t want to until I knew—” She licked her lips, then finally met his eyes. “Is he okay? I mean, will he be okay?”

“Probably.” Sonny scratched his jaw. “He drove you here? On the bike?”

“I didn’t—I didn’t know he was hurt. He wouldn’t let me ask—I wouldn’t have let him leave that way—I would have refused—” Her eyes filled. “But he kept saying they might come back and he wanted me to be safe.”

“He was right. Until I know what happened, it’s better if you stay here. If that’s what you want.”

She didn’t say anything for a long moment, and Sonny went over to the sink. He wet a dishcloth, then brought it to her. “I’m sure this was a lot—”

“Not the worst night I’ve ever had,” she said softly. She wiped the blood from her hands, almost mechanically. “This is what he meant, isn’t it? Tonight. This is why he thinks he has to be alone.”

Surprised, Sonny took the stool next to her. “Maybe. Is that he said?”

“He said my face would change.” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “That knowing what he does is one thing, but living with it is another, and this is what he meant. This feeling. Worried he might die. That’s going to happen again, isn’t it?”

Sonny considered very carefully how to answer her question. “It’s not like this every day,” he said finally. “But it’s also not not never. Not everyone wants to sign for it.” He waited for her to look at him. “Jason’s been through that,” he admitted, “with someone he loved very much. She promised she could handle it, and couldn’t. And also, to a lesser extent, with someone else who liked the power and money. I can understand him not wanting to do it again. To watch someone walk away. Or—not wanting you to go through it all.”

Elizabeth nodded, almost absently. “I told him we’d have to trust each other. There are things that terrify me, too. And I-I think I’m there. That I could—but he’s not ready.”

“He might not ever be ready. But it doesn’t really matter if you’re not. Jason’s a good guy who deserves to have someone special in his life. I know he cares about you.”

“The way I feel right now, this would happen again. He’ll go out, and I won’t know until I seem him again if he’s okay.” Elizabeth rose from the stool, went to the sink to rinse her hands. “Living with that uncertainty, it’s…”

“Too much?” Sonny asked.

“I don’t know.” She dried her hands, turned back to him. “Do I have to know that tonight? Is that a fair thing to ask when we don’t even know if this is anything more than just—” Her cheeks pinked up. “More than what it is. Maybe it’s just physical.”

“Do you believe that?”

“No,” she said softly. She looked at her hands again, clean though Sonny thought she might see the blood for the rest of her life. “I think it would be just easier if that’s all it was.”

“Maybe.” Sonny got to his feet. “I’m going to check on the doctor. You should call Emily. Let her know you’re both safe and you’ll call her in the morning.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Sonny was at the door when she called out his name. “Yeah?”

“Did I do the right thing? I mean, what he would have wanted me to do?”

“Jason wanted you to leave him on the floor of the parking garage and get to me so you’d be safe.” Sonny’s smile was slight. “Aren’t we both lucky that’s not the kind of woman you are?” Her cheeks flushed, and she looked away. “When the doctor’s done, if you want to stay with him, you can. I’ll find you some clothes.” He paused. “It was nice to meet you, Elizabeth.”

+39