Lucky leaned against one of the finished cars in Jason’s garage as he watched the owner work on one of the motorcycles. “So…what’d you think of Lizzie?”

Jason stood and headed for the sink to wash the grease off his hands. “What?”

“Lizzie–my friend…the girl whose car broke down an hour ago…” Lucky frowned. “Or have you blocked her out?”

“Why do you call her that?” Jason asked, wiping his hands on a towel.

“Call her what?” Lucky asked. “Lizzie? It’s a nickname.”

“She hates it,” Jason murmured, trying to get the grease out from under his fingernails. He tossed the towel aside and headed for the office.

“How can you tell?” Lucky asked, following him. “You met her for eight seconds.”

“You don’t see the way her mouth tightens when you call her that?” Jason asked, pulling the door open and entering.

Lucky grinned. “So you were checking her out.”

Jason turned and gave him a glare. “No. Any one who was looking would know.”

“All right, so I won’t call her Lizzie any more.” He shrugged. “So, what did you think of Elizabeth?”

“She’s nice,” Jason said. He looked up then, confusion painted on his face. “It was weird. She looks really familiar–like I’ve met her before.”

Lucky fiddled with one of the magnets on the filing cabinet. “She’s lived here for six years. You might have run into her before you moved.”

“It’s possible,” Jason replied. “Well, I’m closing. You done poking around?” he asked.

“I guess.” Lucky followed Jason to the front of the garage. “So what’re you doing tonight?”

“Dinner with Sonny and Brenda,” Jason replied, grimacing.

“Ah, the great Brenda Corinthos,” Lucky nodded knowingly. “She can be…a little…well…”

“Bitchy?” Jason supplied.

“If Brenda hears you calling her that, she’ll make it her business to make your life a living hell.”

Jason shrugged. “Yeah, well, it wouldn’t take much.”

“You still thinking about Carly?” Lucky asked abruptly. Jason stopped and stared at him and Lucky shrugged. “Well, I just wondered–I mean you dated the girl, you left town for her and she dumped you. I–”

“Drop it,” Jason said sharply. “I’ll see you later.”

—-

Brenda Barrett Corinthos was easily one of the most beautiful women in Port Charles. The former Face of Deception was always recognizable with her big dark eyes framed with long lashes, her long dark brown hair, medium complexion and full red lips.

Right now, the former model didn’t resemble the gracious and poised woman of society she’d once been. She was holding her bleeding hand and glaring at her husband of eight months, Sonny Corinthos.

“If you weren’t so damned anal, I wouldn’t be here,” she snapped.

“If you hadn’t been reaching for a glass while I was cooking,” Sonny Corinthos began, an amused smile on his face which only served to enrage his small wife more.

“You know what, Sonny–” Brenda let loose a string of profanities–mostly in Spanish. Jason stood off in a corner, wincing at Brenda called Sonny every name in the book–he could see the regret Sonny had for even teaching Brenda the language written on the mobster’s face.

“Hello,” a familiar voice said. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Dr. Elizabeth Webber, her long brown hair clipped up and a long white lab jacket covering a pair of jeans and a blue shirt, entered the room. “I’m Dr. Webber.”

“I’m Brenda Corinthos and I seemed to have cut my hand,” Brenda said, her charming smile back in place.

Elizabeth set her clipboard aside and took her hand. She frowned. “I’m going to have to get some antiseptic and clean this.” She turned away from Brenda to head over to a cabinet to retrieve the antiseptic and stopped when she noticed Jason. “Oh, hi.”

“Hey,” he greeted.

Sonny frowned. “You two know each other?” he asked, looking back between his best friend and his wife’s doctor.

Elizabeth turned to him and shook her head. “No. Not really. We just both know the same people.” She continued to the cabinet and fished out the antiseptic she was looking for.

She returned to Brenda and set about cleaning the hand. The second the antiseptic touched her skin, Brenda hissed and tried to draw back her hand. Elizabeth held it in a steady grip.

“I know, it stings.” Elizabeth gave her a warm smile. She started to talk to her as she cleaned. “I always hate having to use this stuff–I keep telling the hospital it’s too harsh on skin.”

“You’re telling me,” Brenda grumbled as the antiseptic bit into her skin. She grimaced. “This is almost as bad as Jason’s cooking.”

Jason didn’t respond to the remark but Elizabeth laughed. “I know how that is–my best friend Nikolas thinks he’s some sort of gourmet, but he nearly blew up my kitchen the last time he was in it.”

“Men,” Brenda snorted. “They think they know everything.” She leaned forward, not even paying attention as Elizabeth finished cleaning the hand. “You know how this happened?”

“How?” Elizabeth asked, opening a suture kit.

“I was getting a glass in our kitchen and Sonny–my husband,” Brenda paused to glare at him. “He was worried because I was grabbing the glass the wrong way–said I’d smudged it. He tried to get the glass, I tried holding it away…and well…as you can see—OW!”

Elizabeth kept her hand steady even Brenda cried out in pain. “Sorry, but I need to give you a few stitches. Try not to concentrate on it.”

Brenda gritted her teeth. “All right. How old are you?”

Elizabeth didn’t look up as she answered. “Twenty-seven.”

“How long have you lived in Port Charles?” Brenda asked, trying to pull her hand back.

“Six years. Try and keep your hand steady,” Elizabeth said. “It’ll make this go faster.”

“Got a boyfriend?” Brenda asked. She looked over Elizabeth’s shoulder at Jason and tilted her head towards the brunette as if saying, she’s cute. Go for it. Jason just glared at her.

“Nope,” Elizabeth murmured.

“Why’d you become a doctor?” Brenda asked.

Elizabeth finished the last suture and pulled out a roll of gauze to wrap the hand. “It’s a strange story actually.”

“Tell me,” Brenda said, now curious.

“Well,” Elizabeth began, “I was a senior in college and I didn’t know what I wanted to do. One day, I had an accident and the surgery that saved my life inspired me to go into medicine.”

Brenda flexed her hand and winced a little in pain. Elizabeth started writing out a prescription. “What sort of accident?” Brenda asked.

“Don’t mind my wife,” Sonny said, speaking for the first time since Elizabeth had entered the room. “She’s naturally nosy.”

“It’s fine,” Elizabeth said, throwing the other man a smile. She looked back to his wife. “I was attacked in an alley.”

Brenda bit her lip. “Oh, sorry.”

Behind them, Jason frowned. Attacked in alley.

“My b-back. I t-think–he’s s-s-stabbed….Oh god…it h-hurts.”

“Don’t be,” Elizabeth said, oblivious to Jason’s memory flashes. “I was stabbed in the back, but someone came along and called 911.”

“That was lucky,” Brenda replied, taking the prescription.

“You’re going to want to take two of those a day, for the pain,” Elizabeth said. “I won’t need to take the stitches out; they should disintegrate by themselves in about two or three weeks. If not, come back and we’ll take them out.”

“Thanks,” Brenda said. She looked up and gave the doctor a bright smile. “You’re nice.”

“Thanks,” Elizabeth said, obviously amused. She picked up her clipboard and made a few notations. “You’re nice too.”

Jason snorted and Brenda glared at him. “Quiet you,” she directed pointing a finger at him.

“All right, I’d better get you home,” Sonny said, coming forward. He looked to Elizabeth. “Are there any special instructions I should know about?”

“Nope,” Elizabeth said. “As long as she takes the pills and doesn’t get the stitches wet, she’ll be fine. Of course, I do have a suggestion.”

“Okay,” Sonny nodded.

“Maybe you shouldn’t fight with her over the glass,” Elizabeth said, unable to keep the smile off her face.

Sonny grinned. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Brenda hopped off the bed. “What’s your first name?” she asked, allowing Sonny to drape her coat over her shoulders.

“Elizabeth,” she replied.

Brenda held out her uninjured hand. “Brenda Corinthos. This is my husband, Sonny. And I like you.”

“You sure you didn’t give her any medicine yet?” Sonny asked.

Brenda glared at him. “You know, since Robin moved to Paris, I’ve had just you and that lawyer of yours as a friend. And let me tell you something–Jason ain’t a great conversationalist. Excuse me for trying to make a new friend.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Sonny said, holding his hands up in surrender.

“Nice to meet you, Brenda,” Elizabeth said. “And I know what you mean–I’ve got two brothers for best friends and it’s not easy.”

“Great. Then…” Brenda looked to Sonny. “Give me a piece of paper.”

“What?” Sonny asked.

“I want to give her my number. Give me a piece of paper.”

Elizabeth smiled and tore off a piece from the bottom of her notepad in her pocket. She handed it to Brenda along with the pen. Brenda accepted it and wrote her number. She handed the scrap back to her. “Here, call me when you get time off. I know how crazy these shifts can be.”

“I’ll do that,” Elizabeth said. “It was nice to meet you.”

She watched the trio leave and had turned back to clean up the trash. She didn’t notice the way Jason lingered at the doorway and stared at her for a moment before moving on.

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