She had the next day off, but as soon as Elizabeth woke up, she took a shower, ate a quick breakfast and headed to the hospital to check on Lucky.

Emily and Nikolas were in his room when she got there and once again the other woman hugged her tightly. “They said he came through better than they expected,” she reported cheerfully. “He’ll be in and out most of the day, but I couldn’t leave him.”

“I’m glad he’s okay,” Elizabeth remarked, casting a look towards the sleeping patient. “Do you want anything from the cafeteria?”

Emily nodded. “I’ll go with you. Nikolas, do you want a bagel and some coffee?”

“Sure,” Nikolas replied. He leaned back in his chair and stretched. “Don’t dawdle you two, I’m starving.”

Emily rolled her eyes as she steered the intern out of the room. “Okay, spill.”

Elizabeth frowned and turned down the hall towards the elevators. “Spill?”

“You left with my brother, I know you had a date last night. So…?” Emily tugged on her friend’s arm. “How’d he ask you out? What did you do last night?”

Elizabeth smiled and pushed the button for the elevator. “He came in yesterday to have his fingers checked. Your brother is so stubborn, Emily. He took the tape off a week ago, so of course they weren’t healed yet.”

“Ah…so you gave him some your own brand of medication,” Emily teased. She stepped onto the elevator and hit the button for the second floor where the cafeteria was.

“It wasn’t like that,” Elizabeth protested. “I was feeling the bones in his fingers and I looked up…and he was right there.”

“So it was like a magnetic pull or something?” Emily asked. She grinned. “You know, I’ve heard my brother is a good kisser.”

“Okay, we’re not having this conversation,” Elizabeth said, her cheeks flushed.

“Okay…so after you left last night, what happened?”

The doors opened and the two women stepped onto the second floor. Being staff members, they automatically turned to the left for the cafeteria. “Nothing. I was too tired to go out to dinner so he just took me home.”

“Are you going to see him again?” Emily asked. She reached for a tray and started in the line. Elizabeth followed her.

“Yeah…definitely,” Elizabeth agreed.

“Good. You know…Brenda and me…we told you so.”

“Yeah…okay…”

—

Brenda studied the thin scar on the palm of her hand. “It doesn’t look that bad,” she mused.

Jason glanced up from the card game they were playing. “What’s that?”

“The scar from where Sonny abused me.”

“From where you cut yourself,” Sonny corrected. He shuffled through his cards. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

“I’ll take two,” Brenda said, slipping the cards down. “Tell me again why we’re playing poker with three people?”

“Because Ned and Lois cancelled on us and there’s nothing else to do in Port Charles on a Sunday morning, save going to church,” Sonny said. He slid his wife two cards. “Jason?”

“I’m good,” Jason murmured.

“So, Jase, I notice that your hand is re-taped. Pay another visit to the good doctor?” Brenda asked. She reached for the bowl of chips and munched on one absently as she studied her cards.

“I had to go yesterday. My fingers weren’t healed,” Jason replied.

“I told you not to take the tape off,” Sonny reminded him. “I’ll call. Full House,” he announced, fanning his cards on the table.

“Bah,” Brenda muttered. “Two pair.”

“Royal Flush,” Jason said, setting his cards down. Sonny glared at his friend as the blond pulled the chips towards him.

“You didn’t even take any cards!” he complained.

“Lay off, Sonny. We’re not playing for money.” Brenda glanced down at her meager winnings. “Good thing, too.”

Jason started shuffling the cards and began dealing. “Brenda, I don’t know why you bother to play. If I’m not beating you, Lois is bankrupting us all.”

Brenda smirked. “My day is coming. I’m sure of it.” She decided to distract Jason as he studied his new cards. “So, Elizabeth Webber…you saw her yesterday right?”

“It’s not going to work, Brenda,” Jason said, organizing his cards.

“Ah…she rejected you,” Brenda said knowingly. “Well, I knew she was too good for you. Smart girl like that…why would she date you?”

Jason glanced at her, irritated. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well…you know…she’s from a wealthy family,” Brenda replied. “I’ll take three,” she told her husband. “She told me that her parents haven’t given up on her returning to San Francisco to marry a good boy and give up her foolish medicine.”

Jason shifted. “So?”

“So…word is she hasn’t actually broken off the engagement back home,” Brenda mused. She took some chips and tossed them into the middle. “I wouldn’t worry, though, Jase, even if she is nuts enough to go out with you…she hasn’t been back home for a few years so the guy must have bought a clue by now.”

Jason narrowed his eyes. “She told you this?” He absently slid a card to Sonny who handed him another.

“Yup. Told me and Emily over lunch last week. She and the guy were high school sweethearts but she came to PC before her senior year of college and he stayed in Boston for the last year. Her parents figure out of the two kids, Liz is the one with the best shot.”

“What about the other one?” Sonny cut in, trying to divert Brenda’s purpose of irritating Jason into losing.

“Johnny’s somewhere out west. Liz is always wiring him bail money for some thing or another. Apparently, he’s a loser of some sort, but Liz adores him so I guess there has to be something to him.” Brenda flipped through her cards again. “I’ll call.”

“When you say she hasn’t broken the engagement off,” Jason began, ignoring Brenda’s triumphant victory with another set of two pairs. He handed his useless cards back to Sonny. “What does that mean?”

“It means that her mother is still at home blissfully planning the wedding,” Brenda replied. She shrugged. “Mother Webber just never sets the date but the girl is always getting pictures of wedding dresses and addresses of wedding consultants in the mail.”

“She hasn’t just…told her mother that she’s not going to do it?” Jason asked pointedly.

“Saying no to your parents is a strange thing,” Brenda replied. She shuffled the cards and started dealing. “I’m sure in her own way, Elizabeth has tried, but sometimes you just can’t. I wouldn’t be surprised if Elizabeth was Mrs. Theodore Evans before her thirtieth birthday.”

Jason stood abruptly. “I need to go,” he told Sonny. Without another word, he left the penthouse and Brenda studied his substantial winnings.

“You want to split them?” she asked Sonny.

Sonny sighed and set his cards down. “Please tell me for Elizabeth’s sake…that what you said was true.”

Brenda widened her eyes and pressed a hand to her chest. “Are you accusing me of trying to hurt poor Jason just to win a poker game?” Sonny said nothing, just studied her. “Okay…I admit…I was trying to distract him, but what I said came straight from the horse’s mouth. Except that last part about her marrying the guy before her thirtieth birthday. I added it for effect.” Brenda shrugged. “I know he likes the girl, but when I talked to her, I didn’t get any kind of feeling from her.”

“Well, that’s changed,” Sonny said. He started to clean up the table. “I talked to Emily this morning about Lucky Spencer being hurt in the latest warehouse fire and she told me that Elizabeth and Jason had a date last night, so I’ll give you two guesses where our friend is heading.”

Brenda flushed. “Uh oh.”

—

He went to her apartment first, but when she wasn’t there, he headed straight for the hospital.

“She’s in the cafeteria with Emily,” an exhausted Nikolas told him. “When you find them, tell them to hurry up. I’m still waiting for my bagel and coffee.”

They were sitting in the cafeteria at a table in the corner, laughing over cups of hot chocolate and bagels of their own.

Jason strode towards them and startled them when he sat down abruptly.

“Jason!” Emily chastised, whacking him on the arm. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

Jason ignored his sister and focused on the other brunette. “Why didn’t you tell me you were engaged?”

Elizabeth’s mouth dropped open and Emily stifled a giggle. “I’d better take Nikolas’s breakfast to him,” she mumbled, standing up. “I’ll leave you two alone.” She stood and grabbed her tray with her trash and Nikolas’s food on it and walked away.

“Where did you hear about that?” Elizabeth asked finally.

Jason frowned. “From Brenda, so it’s true?”

“Well…” Elizabeth trailed off and stared at the table. “Sort of.”

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