I want to hide the truth
I want to shelter you
But with the beast inside
There’s nowhere we can hide
No matter what we breed
We still are made of greed
This is my kingdom come
– Demons, Imagine Dragons

---

Friday, May 12, 2006

General Hospital: Locker Room

“Hey, I was hoping to catch you.”

Elizabeth blinked up at her best friend as Emily took a seat next to her. “Hey. I thought your shift wasn’t for another hour.” She stifled a yawn. She hated the night shift and was grateful this had been the last one.

“It’s not, but I always have paperwork.” Emily unlocked her locker and pulled open the door. “I need to talk to you.”

“Is something wrong?” Elizabeth tossed her flats on the floor and slid her feet out of the sneakers she’d worn for her shift.

Emily bit her lip. “You told me Lucky has anger management twice a week.”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth sighed. “I don’t think it’s helping, but maybe in a few more weeks—”

“He’s not going.”

Emily’s words tumbled out over Elizabeth’s own, cutting her off in mid-statement. Elizabeth pressed her lips together and just stared at her friend. “What? What are you talking about?”

“I went to Jake’s last night with Robin and the others. And—Lucky was there.”

“So he went after his session—”

“Elizabeth—it was only nine. I thought you said his group therapy was from eight to ten?” Emily sighed. “I called some friends at Mercy. I know they’re not supposed to know these things, but well, Lucky’s face was in the paper. The guy who leads the meeting said Lucky went to the first one and never went back.”

“I don’t—” Elizabeth just stared at her. “This doesn’t make sense. He—he promised. He was going. Twice a week—are you telling me—”

“I asked Coleman. He told Lucky’s a new regular. Every Tuesday and Thursday. The same nights you told me he was at counseling.” Emily tilted her head. “You really didn’t suspect?”

“No, I—” Her throat closed as Elizabeth struggled to take a deep breath. “No, I just—I trusted him. I shouldn’t have. Obviously.” Why had she trusted him? After everything he’d done, how could she have trusted his word? Had she felt that guilty over her plans to leave?

“Elizabeth—” Emily didn’t say anything right away, but when it was clear Elizabeth wasn’t going to speak, Emily continued. “What are you going to do?”

“Do?” Elizabeth blinked at her blankly. “Oh.” She shoved her hair behind her ears. “I—I don’t know. I just—He promised,” she repeated. And did it matter? She was leaving.

So what if he hadn’t kept his promise to go to counseling? Was it more of a betrayal than hers?

“You know, Lucky’s been my friend longer than anyone else in Port Charles, but I just—” Emily shook her head. “I didn’t think you should stay before, Elizabeth. You asked Lucky for this one thing, and he couldn’t follow through.” She bit her lip. “Are things okay at home? I mean, are you guys still arguing the way you were? I know you had a bad night at Luke’s, but—””

“No.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “No,” she repeated. “Not like before. And yeah, he…he broke his promise.”

So did I.

And maybe that was why Elizabeth couldn’t quite push herself to be angry, to be anything more than slightly stunned. She’d asked Lucky to deal with his anger so that he wouldn’t abuse her.

He hadn’t touched her. Maybe he’d lied about counseling, but he’d kept that part of the promise.

And Elizabeth hadn’t kept her promise to keep Jason out of her life even a little bit. Both times she’d run into him had been an accident, but it didn’t change the fact that she’d been happy to see him. That she hadn’t wanted to walk away from him—she hadn’t been able to keep Jason out of her heart or her mind.

How was she any better than Lucky? He’d lied to her, but how was she any better?

“It’s not that simple, Em,” Elizabeth said finally. “I’ll—I’ll talk to him. He wanted to put it off until after the first round of rehab—”

“He lied to you—”

“I-I know. But—” She got to her feet. “I’ll talk to him,” she repeated. “Thank you for telling me. I’ll deal with it.”

“Okay,” Emily said warily. She sighed. “We still good for the carnival tomorrow?”

“Oh. Yeah, yeah, that’s fine. I’ll see you at the park.” Elizabeth picked up her purse. “Cameron is looking forward to it. Leticia’s going to bring Michael and Morgan, and I told Cam Morgan could spend the night with us for a change.”

Emily wrinkled her nose. “Does Lucky have a problem with it?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t ask him,” Elizabeth said flatly. “Cam’s been begging to have Morgan overnight, and it’s Sonny’s weekend with the boys, so he didn’t mind.” She pursed her lips. “ Don’t mention it to Lucky? I mean, about Sonny. He’s mostly okay with Cam being friends with Morgan when Carly is the only contact. If he thinks I’m talking to Sonny—”

“He’ll think you’re talking to Jason,” Emily finished. “Yeah, got it.” She raised her brows. “Have you? Talked to Jason, I mean.”

“I—” She was too tired for this, her head still swirling from Emily’s earlier reveal. “Not really. I have to go. I’ll see you later, Em.”

“Elizabeth—”

But Elizabeth had already pulled open the door to the locker room and left.

Corinthos-Morgan Warehouse: Sonny’s Office

Sonny grimaced as he stalked in from his morning meeting, tugging at his tie. He turned back to glare at Jason. “This is why you don’t let family in the business. Eventually, you get a fucking Fredo.”

Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “Mateo sounded like he wouldn’t mind if we took care of the problem—”

“Oh sure,” Sonny muttered. He eyed his mini bar but decided ten in the morning was too early for alcohol. “Do his dirty work, so when his sister complains about her son going missing, it’ll be on us, not him. Oldest trick in the book—”

“If Santiago insists on selling outside the Escobar’s boundaries,” Jason said, with a shake of his head, “then he’s got it coming. We could just send a warning, Sonny, but it might not be enough. The Escobars are pushing their luck. They’re trying to get at Kelly’s, there were those kids at the high school and Luke’s. They never stay where you put them. This is the same crap Moreno pulled.”

“And Sorel. Why don’t they ever learn?” Sonny scowled. “Start with a warning. Call Dougie. Find Santiago Escobar and make it worth his while to leave town.”

“Won’t someone else just take over for him?” Jason asked as the door opened, and Max came in with the tray of coffees he’d brought back from Kelly’s.

“Hey, Mr. C. Jase.” Max held out Jason’s coffee. Once Jason had it in his hand, Max tossed the container in the nearby trash, but didn’t leave. “Uh, Jase, not that I comment on your personal life—”

Jason frowned. “What?”

“I don’t listen to gossip either, but while I was picking up the order at Kelly’s…” Max shifted, looked at the two men, “I heard Maxie Jones talking with her boyfriend, that cop kid. They were talking about you and Miss Webber. On the docks.”

Jason winced. “When?” he asked. “I mean—what exactly did they say?”

“Uh,” Max hesitated, his nervous eyes darting back and forth between his bosses. “The cop saw you guys, but he didn’t know what you said. He thought that Lucky Spencer was gonna tear the roof off the place when his wife got home from work—”

“Beaudry thinks Lucky knows?” Sonny cut in. “Max—”

“Yeah, I think so. He called him this morning. Or left a voice mail last night. I don’t know. I couldn’t really tell. I just—” Max shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I don’t know, I just thought it was something you should know, Jase. In case Miss Webber should know.”

“Thanks,” Jason said as he pulled out his phone and contemplated his list of contacts.

“Jason—” Sonny said as Max left. “This isn’t your fault—”

“I know that. We ran into each other by accident,” Jason murmured. But they hadn’t walked away. She’d called after him—

And he’d answered.

His thumb hovered over her name, but he didn’t press it. Instead, he scrolled one name down. “Em? Yeah. Is Elizabeth still at work—Damn it. When did she leave? Okay.” He sighed. “Can you meet me—no? Okay. I’ll come to you. Yeah, it’s important. I don’t want to get into it on the phone.”

“You’re not even going to tell her yourself?” Sonny asked, his brows raised in surprise as Jason slid his cell phone into his pocket. “You’re wasting your time—”

“I’m not going to make it worse. Elizabeth worked the night shift. She’s already home. What if I call her now, with Lucky at home? It’s already too late to warn her. And I don’t know who’s at the hospital around Emily—”

“Jason—”

“I’ll send Dougie to take care of Santiago,” Jason promised. “But first, I need to go talk to Emily. Maybe Max misunderstood. Maybe—”

But he couldn’t stop himself from remembering Sonny’s warning the day before, and the anger he’d seen for himself the day Elizabeth had been kidnapped—

He didn’t want to make it worse, but he needed to do something.

Lucky & Elizabeth’s Apartment: Hallway

Elizabeth stifled a yawn as she shoved her key into the lock, but the door was jerked open before she was able to turn it. Stunned, she stared at the angry, red face of her husband as he grabbed her arm and yanked her inside, his fingers latching onto her wrist like a clamp.

“What the—”

Lucky released her just as quickly as he’d grabbed her. He flung her past him into the apartment. Elizabeth stumbled, dropping her purse. It fell to the ground, upending her wallet, cosmetics, and other random things she kept in the bag.

Her mind scrambled to adjust, trying to think through her exhaustion and confusion.

“Lucky—What the hell is going on—”

“I should ask you that, you goddamn bitch!” Lucky slammed the door shut. “I just got a call from Jesse—”

Elizabeth blinked, took a step back. “What are you talking about—”

“He saw you, Elizabeth,” Lucky said, drawing out her name like it was a condemnation. “On the docks. With Jason.”

She put up her hands, still trying to clear her head. She was so tired—she just wanted to make this go away. “Okay. I should have told you. I—I ran into him yesterday before work. It wasn’t planned, but I just—he gave Cameron a birthday present—” Damn it. She bit her tongue, wishing she could pull the words back. Why had she said that? His eyes went flat.

“Where?” He spun on his heel and stalked towards Cameron’s room, shoving the door open. He started to fling things around.

Stunned, her heart racing, Elizabeth followed him. She wanted him out of her son’s bedroom. “It’s not here—I didn’t bring it here. I left it at Carly’s—” She gasped as he took Cameron’s toy organizer and flipped it over, the bright yellow storage bins spilling out across the carpet.

“Lucky, stop!”

“Is that where you’ve been meeting him?” Lucky demanded. He turned again, so suddenly that Elizabeth stumbled backward into the door frame.

Get out, get out. He had that light in his eyes again. Damn it. Get out.

But she couldn’t quite make her feet move as Lucky’s blue eyes glared at her, the veins in his neck bulging. “N-No, that was the first time I’ve seen him since the hospital last month—”

“Liar! You’re always lying!” Lucky screamed, his voice nearly shrill. Elizabeth managed to slide just slightly to the left and through the doorway back into the living room. She hurried over to where her purse was still on the ground.

Shaking, she bent down to shove things back inside. “Stop—”

He grabbed her, jerking her to feet, knocking the purse out of her hand again. Lucky gripped both her shoulders and shook her hard.

“Stop! You promised!” Elizabeth cried. She shoved him back as hard she could, and Lucky, already off balance, fell backward to the floor. He glared to her, rolling to his side and sitting up. He shook his head as if to clear it.

Taking advantage of the moment, Elizabeth shoved her keys and wallet back into her purse, leaving the rest of her purse’s contents on the ground. Her hands shaking, she gripped her keys in her hands. “I know you’re not going to anger management!” she cried. “Emily saw you! You’ve been drinking at a bar the last two weeks!”

“So what?” Lucky snarled. “You lied to me!” He stood up and advanced on her. Elizabeth hastily moved away, trying to move around the sofa so she could circle him and get to the front door.

She never should have come back. Never should have given him a second chance.

“It’s not the same! I talked to Jason for five minutes! You’ve been lying for two weeks! I asked you for one thing, Lucky! One!” Tears streaming down her face, she shook her head. “You promised you wouldn’t hurt me—”

“I tried to go to the stupid meeting! But it wouldn’t work! It was never going to work!” Lucky’s chest was heaving as he screamed at her. “I’m tired of being the only one who’s wrong! It’s never your fault!”

Elizabeth made a dash for the door, trying to get around him —

Lucky grabbed her around the waist, wrapping one arm around her hips, and the other around her shoulders. Her mind froze for a second and then she started desperately clawing at his hands, screaming—

“Shut up, shut up!” Lucky shoved her away from him hard, and Elizabeth went flying toward the kitchen—

Slamming into the same doorway that had started all of this terror—

She hit it face first again, then slumped to the ground, dazed.

Again.

She closed her eyes, let her head rest back against the wooden door frame, and just waited for whatever would come next.

“Why do you make me do this?” Lucky cried. She could only dimly make out his voice from behind her as her vision wavered. “Why do you make me hurt you? You said you loved me! I know you don’t! You made me like this!”

She heard him sobbing behind her, but Elizabeth couldn’t quite gather herself. Couldn’t quite summon the energy to get up. She just wanted it over.

She heard the door slam.

Minutes passed before Elizabeth finally managed to get to her feet. She made her way into the bathroom where she looked at her face—and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when she realized that she hadn’t hurt herself as badly as the first time. There was no red mark—she might not even bruise. There was no evidence

Her cheeks were tear-stained, her eyes were bloodshot. She’d known she was going to leave—

She should have never come back.

Her phone was ringing. Elizabeth blinked at the sound, then took a deep breath. She was starting to come back to herself, beginning to adjust again. She went into the living room and found her phone in her purse.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Em. I just wanted—” Emily paused. “You okay, Elizabeth?”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth pressed her other hand to her cheek, took another breath. She cleared her throat. “Just tired. What’s up?”

“Jason is here. He said he wanted to tell you that Jesse Beaudry saw you talking to him on the docks. He thinks he told Lucky—he didn’t want to warn you himself—”

Elizabeth closed her eyes. “Yeah, I know. He just left.”

“Oh.” There was a long pause. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, we—” Her voice caught as she looked around the living room, at the contents of her purse, still mostly on the floor. At the mess in Cameron’s room, the toys strewn across the floor. The pillows from the sofa on the floor. The missing lamp, shattered the month before and never replaced.

“We had a fight. He left.”

“I can get someone to cover my shift—”

“No.” Elizabeth sighed, rubbed her forehead. “No. That’s okay. I’m okay.”

As she said the words, she knew they were a lie. But it was a lie she needed right now. She’d returned to an abusive marriage with a man who she didn’t love.

Maybe she did deserve what she’d gotten.

No. No.

She was done with all of that. She was done blaming herself, pretending that everything that had just happened was her fault.

She was just done. It was time to stop. It was time to think about what she needed.

What she wanted.

“Elizabeth—”

“Can you—” Elizabeth paused. “Can you ask Jason if—is he still there? Can I talk to him?”

“Uh, yeah, yeah—” She heard a muffled voice, then some rustling before Jason’s voice was on the line.

“Elizabeth?”

Some of the chill left her bones as she listened to him say her name. She’d always loved the way he said it. She didn’t even think about what she said next—for once, she just acted. “Can I see you?”

“What?”

“Can I see you?” Elizabeth repeated. She closed her eyes. “I understand if you don’t want—”

“No, no—I mean, yeah. Yes. When? Where?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore. Now, if you can. Just not—” She looked around the apartment, at the place she’d thought was supposed to be safe. “Just not at my place. Can I come see you? At the penthouse?”

“Yeah. I can be there in twenty minutes. Elizabeth—”

“I’ll see you then.”

She didn’t wait for him to respond, just closed the phone and shoved it in her bag. She looked around at the apartment for the third time, left everything exactly as it was, and left.

Courtland Street

Lucky was practically vibrating with rage, his hands shaking as he shoved open his car door and stalked towards the alley where Santiago could be found this time of day. His body felt like it was on fire, his heart racing.

Everything was burning—his brain, his arms, his back—he just wanted it to stop—he wanted to the pain to stop—the screaming in his head that he’d ruined his life—that Elizabeth would never ever come back to him now—that he’d thrown it all way—

Fuck her! Fuck her! She was the one who cheated! She’d broken her promise before she’d even known he was lying! And he didn’t need any fucking help. If she’d just keep her goddamn legs closed and stay away from fucking Jason Morgan, Lucky wouldn’t be so damn angry all the time—

“Yo, Spencer, you better not be here for a refill,” Santiago offered with a smirk as he nodded to the woman—probably a hooker—who sauntered down towards the other opening in the alley. “I just gave you enough for a week! And you still owe—”

“Shut the fuck up, asshole—” Lucky grabbed the dealer by the collar and shoved him against the wall. “If I wanted to, I could shut your ass down tonight!”

“Big talk from a junkie—” But Santiago’s flat eyes were a bit more nervous now, jumping back and forth. “What do you want, man?”

“The good stuff. I need more. The pills aren’t enough.” Lucky flung him away. “And stop giving me that shit about owing you. I told you, you’ll get paid—”

“I keep giving away the product, my uncle is gonna be bitchy.” Santiago climbed to his feet, brushing off his jacket. “You gotta pay up—”

“The fuck did I just say, asshole?” Lucky shoved him backward again. He needed this to go away. He needed it to all disappear now. “Give me my shit!”

“Fine, fine, fine.” Santiago dug into his pocket and pulled out a bag. He shoved it at Lucky. “But you don’t pay this time, I’m not responsible for what happens. I gotta break even with my uncle—”

“Just get the fuck away from me,” Lucky muttered as he shoved the bag into his pocket and lurched unevenly away from him, back towards the street and his car.

When he was out of earshot, Santiago scowled and pulled out his phone. “Yo, Hector. It’s time to send that cop a message.”

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

Jason hadn’t reached the Towers yet when Elizabeth arrived, so she had expected to wait down in the lobby. Instead, one of the guards told her she’d been cleared for the top floor and went upstairs with her to let her into the penthouse alone.

She hadn’t been inside the penthouse since the day after Emily’s fever broke, and she’d rushed to tell Jason, sure that the night of comfort and closeness they’d shared in the chapel was a sign…of something. Instead, she’d found a belligerent Courtney jumping down her throat. And only weeks before, Sam hadn’t let her over the threshold, deciding to scream at her in the hallway.

Elizabeth had never expected to set foot in this apartment again, especially not alone. She was too nervous, too upset to sit down, so she just paced the penthouse from the balcony windows to the door, then back.

The same path she’d often tread during those long nights she’d spent in the penthouse alone nearly four years ago.

Just when Elizabeth had made up her mind to leave, convinced she’d made a terrible mistake, she heard Jason’s key in the door.

Fidgeting, Elizabeth checked her sleeves to make sure they were down to her wrists, then wrapped her arms around her waist.

“Hey, I’m sorry—” Jason closed the door as he stepped inside, tossing his keys on the desk. Then he just stood there, several feet away from her. “I ran into traffic—”

“It’s okay. Um, one of the guys said I should wait inside. I hope that’s okay—”

“I called ahead,” Jason cut in, with a shake of his head. “I didn’t want you to—” He cleared his throat. “I didn’t want you to sit in the lobby. In case anyone—I mean, I don’t know if it matters if anyone sees you—”

He sounded flustered Unsure. She could count on one hand how often she’d heard him sound that way. But he was looking at her, and he didn’t seem irritated to see her.

Elizabeth licked her lips. “Um, I don’t even know why I—I wasn’t going to call you, I mean. It wasn’t my plan. But Emily called me, and she said you were with her, and I just—” Her voice faltered as she swallowed hard. “I don’t know. I thought if I could hear your voice, it would be okay.”

Her lip trembled, and she bit down. She didn’t want to fall apart. It wasn’t fair to Jason for her to walk away from him, then bring Lucky to his doorstep. Not again. “I’m sorry—”

“Don’t be sorry—” He took a step towards her. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” Elizabeth admitted. “I just—I’m sorry,” she repeated. “I know you hate when I say that, but I just—I’m standing here, and this is all so unfair to you, you know? Because I—I know what was going on with us, and I stopped it. I said it had to stop. And I know you think I always choose Lucky—I do, but—” She pressed her hands to her face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t do this to you.” Her shoulders started to tremble, but still—she fought the tears.

She just was so damn tired of crying.

“Hey.” Then he was in front of her, touching her shoulder and gently tugging her forward, pulling her into his arms. Elizabeth didn’t fight it—let herself fall against him, her face pressed into his chest, against the clean, smooth cotton of his t-shirt.

She felt his hand in her hair, his arms winding around her. She drank in his scent, in the warmth of his embrace—

Then the tears fell. It wasn’t a storm—she didn’t rage. Just a quiet release of sorrow—trickles of tears down her cheeks, dripping from her chin, sinking into his chest.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” Jason asked after a long while when the tears had passed.

Elizabeth sighed, then drew back, using the heels of her hands to wipe at her eyes. “No. Not really. You probably already know it. You were with Emily—” She backed up a few steps to lean against the arm of the sofa. Her breath was shaky, but she was through the worst of it. At least for now.

“Emily told me this morning that she saw Lucky at Jake’s last night. He’d—he’d lied to me. I told him—I made him promise me that if I stayed, he had to go to anger management. He tried to put it off, but I told him—he knew it was a big deal to me.” Elizabeth looked away. Jason didn’t need to know why it was a big deal. “I mean, you know how bad it was after the kidnapping, how he blamed me. He’s been angry for months—and I—I just—it had to stop. Or there was no point in pretending.”

“But he didn’t go last night?”

“No. Emily found out he’d gone to a meeting, but then didn’t go back.” Elizabeth sighed. “I don’t know what I was going to say to him. I guess—I mean, Emily told me he’d been lying to me, and all I could think—” Elizabeth looked at him, saw that he understood where she was going. “I broke my promise to him, too.”

Jason exhaled slowly. “Elizabeth—”

“I nearly forgave him. In my own head, before I even asked him about it,” Elizabeth said. She laughed a bit, startled at her own realization. “Because I saw you yesterday, and I didn’t walk away. And in my head, it felt like it was the same thing.” She dragged her hands through her hair. “God, how pathetic am I? Patrick was right. I did this to myself.”

She looked at Jason again, who hadn’t said anything, just listened to her patiently. “I thought—I broke my promise to him, so maybe he deserves a chance to explain himself, you know? Maybe there’s a reason. I thought—God, I thought—But I didn’t think about it. I didn’t even really want to think about why I broke it. I—” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I just—I saw you. And I missed you. And I was tired of missing you, and I hate myself for it—”

“Don’t—” Jason broke off in the middle of what he was going to say. “Why?”

“Because I promised.” Her voice broke. She opened her eyes again to find his. “I’m not—I can’t—I married him, Jason. I meant my promises then. They have to mean something.”

“Do they mean anything to him?” Jason asked, his voice low and a bit raspy. “Was he killing himself to keep them? “

“No,” Elizabeth admitted. A tear slid down her cheek, and she shoved it away. “No, but I’m tired of making promises that no one else seems to give a damn about.” She shoved away from the sofa and stalked across the room to stare out over the harbor. “Maybe I just wanted to make it a whole year. My second marriage and it barely hit six months. I think I always knew Ric was a mistake. But Lucky—that wasn’t supposed to end up like this.”

“Elizabeth—”

“And it’s stupid, I know it, to kill myself over this. Because I don’t love him anymore.” Some of the tightness in her chest eased as she admitted it finally. “I knew that weeks ago. I knew I was going to leave. But I needed to keep my promise. I did try. I did everything. I stayed away from you. I tried to be nice to his friends, even the ones I know hate me. I tried so hard, and it just never mattered to him—and I just—he didn’t love me. Not really. Not who I really am.” She pressed her hands to her mouth. “Why is it so hard to love me?”

“It’s not—”

She hadn’t heard him cross the room, but Jason was behind her. He turned her to face him and, again, pulled her against him, more roughly this time as if it was painful to listen to her. It probably was. How many times had she tortured him with Lucky over the years?

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I can’t keep doing this to you. You deserve better than this—”

“Don’t tell me what I deserve—”

“But you do.” She drew away from him again. “And I’m done putting you through it. You were right. I wasn’t choosing him last month. I didn’t even really choose him all those years ago. I chose being safe. Because I’m a coward—”

“Hey—”

“I am. When it matters. I put myself right back in a terrible marriage with a man who hates me most of the time, who doesn’t love my son, instead of—” Elizabeth shook her head. “Instead of just …once…reaching out for something I want. For something that terrifies me.”

Jason’s mouth tightened. “I terrify you—?”

“Not you—” Elizabeth winced. “Not you,” she repeated, more softly. “But the last time—when we almost—I didn’t know. I didn’t know where I stood with you. And the not knowing, the feeling that I wasn’t good enough, it drove me insane. And I did stupid things. I think I sabotaged it before we ever got started,” she added, thinking of that blackout mistake with Zander.

“I’ve been in love with my best friend before,” Elizabeth continued softly, her eyes locked on his. “And when it fell apart, I broke into a million pieces. I think maybe I knew letting it happen again—I wouldn’t come back from it. Not again.” A wobbly smile slid across her lips. “It was safer to be unhappy with someone else than to go through that a second time.”

“You weren’t the only one who messed up,” Jason said roughly. “I’ve been in love with my best friend before, too. And when it was over, my life was empty. There was nothing. I know what that feels like.”

“Because that’s pretty much where you were living, too,” she breathed. “Jason, it was never you I was running away from. Or him I was going towards. It was just—I couldn’t live with myself. I still don’t know if I can. I’ve hurt so many people. You, Cameron, myself, and Lucky, too. He didn’t deserve to be my obligation, my punishment for myself. I just—I want it to stop. I just don’t know how.”

He pressed his lips to her forehead, a lingering kiss that she felt to the tips of her toes. His hands were in her hair, just like they had been that long ago day they’d sat on the docks and he’d told her he’d had to go.

She’d been devastated then, so sure that she’d never see him again. She’d had to leave him first, knowing she might beg if she stayed. He’d kissed her forehead, and she’d touched his arm—briefly entertaining the insanity of lifting her head, pressing her lips to his—to just see once if what’d she’d dreamt about was real.

Elizabeth hadn’t kissed him then, not the shy eighteen-year-old who was just accepting there might be men out there who weren’t Lucky Spencer who’d make her heart race.

But today, Elizabeth did what she’d wanted to do seven years earlier. She leaned up and met his mouth with hers. The kiss was long, soft, and sweet—what it would have been then, she knew.

When Jason drew back, he rested his forehead against hers. “Are you going back to him?” he asked quietly. He kept his hand on her chain, his thumb brushing the soft skin under her bottom lip.

“No,” Elizabeth said finally. “I can’t. Not after today.”

Something in her voice must have sounded wrong, because Jason stepped back, his hand falling to his side. “Elizabeth, do you want to talk about it?”

“No,” she repeated. Feeling better, stronger, she shook her head. “No. It’s—it’s not important. I just—I have to stop lying to myself. To Lucky, to everyone. My marriage is over, and it’s been over for a long time.” She paused. “And it’s a relief,” she admitted. “To say that out loud. Carly said it would be like this.”

“Carly?” Jason lifted his brows.

“She said the day she gave up on Sonny ended up being the best day of her life.” Elizabeth smiled. “She was right. I don’t even understand why I was fighting so hard. I just—I’m done. And I’m glad to be done.”

And it was better this way. She’d leave Lucky, and everyone would think it was because of Jason and anger management—no one would even have to know he’d hurt her again. And Jason didn’t need to know at all.

He tucked her hair behind her ear, a slight smile on his lips. “You can’t tell Carly she was right. She’ll never let you forget it.”

Elizabeth laughed, some the tension breaking between. “Oh, God, I know. Right? She’s insufferable enough as it is.” She sighed.

“I should go, though. Cameron’s been at Carly’s since yesterday, and I miss him. I want to get a few things and go to my grandmother’s.” She grimaced. “I also worked the night shift and haven’t been able to sleep yet.”

“Okay. Can—” Jason hesitated. “Can I drive you? If you’re that tired—I can have someone take your car back to your grandmother’s.”

She hesitated, then looked at her watch. Lucky was supposed to be at work, then rehab, but she didn’t know if he’d keep either of those appointments. “Yeah, but if his car is outside the building, can you stay downstairs? I just—”

“I don’t want to make anything harder—”

“It’s fine.” She smiled. “Cameron will be happy to see you. And I—” She hesitated. “I don’t know what’s next,” she admitted. “I’m not—I’m not ready to make anyone any promises.”

“I’m not asking for any,” he told her. “I just want you to be okay. Whatever I need to do to make it happen.”

“Okay.” Her smile was even brighter this time as she followed him out of the penthouse. She was making the right decision.

Everything would be easier after this.

When you try your best but you don’t succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can’t sleep
Stuck in reverse
But high up above or down below
When you are too in love to let it show
Oh but if you never try you’ll never know
Just what you’re worth
– Fix You, Coldplay

---

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Port Charles Park: Playground

“How is Cameron handling it?” Emily asked as she took a seat next to Elizabeth and offered her a bottle of water. About a hundred feet away, Elizabeth could hear the sounds of the spring carnival—the music, the games, the rides, the crowds.

Emily eyed the guard standing off to the side, just by the hedges. “Is he here for you or for Morgan?” she asked.

Elizabeth frowned. “He’s Morgan’s guard. I don’t—I don’t need a guard. With Manny gone—that was just temporary.” She absently ran her hand from her elbow to her wrist, relieved she could wear the pink tank top without worry.

The best way to end her marriage was to put all of it out of her head. She hadn’t seen or talked to Lucky or anyone in his family since he’d left the apartment last night—and she didn’t intend to reach out until she had to. She’d been dodging calls and messages from Luke, Bobbie, and Lulu for nearly twenty-four hours. Thankfully, none from Lucky.

She wasn’t ready to talk to any of them yet.

“I guess I thought Jason might want someone with you once Lucky found out you were leaving.”

Elizabeth tensed as she shook her head. “No—he never—why would he?” Oh, God, did Emily know?

“I don’t know. You just sounded so upset on the phone, and Jason left the hospital so fast—” Emily pursed her lips. “Honestly, Elizabeth, when you asked me to meet you guys before the carnival, I thought you were going to tell me you and Jason were together.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth laughed nervously. “Oh. No. It’s not—it’s not like that. I mean—” She was quiet for a minute as she watched Cameron carefully climb the stairs to the slide. “I told you before that Jason and I had crossed the line.”

“You did.”

“I tried to step back. I did,” she corrected herself. “I did step back. Until Thursday, on the docks.” Elizabeth hesitated. “I wasn’t choosing Lucky, Emily. I was running away.” She bit her lip. “And then Patrick yelled at me. I found out Lucky wasn’t going to anger management—”

And then Lucky had broken the only promise she’d really wanted him to keep.

“I realized what I was giving up, and I didn’t want to do that anymore,” Elizabeth said finally.

“I don’t blame you. I’ve been there, Elizabeth. With Zander. You know that. I thought I was dying, so I agreed to marry him. But I didn’t love him. Not the way he deserved to be. And it didn’t matter how hard we both tried, that spark wasn’t there anymore. I was in love with Nikolas. We tried to stop it. Looking back, I still can’t believe how badly I handled everything.” Emily sighed. “But it was like there was a magnet attached to us. Every time we were within a few feet each other—”

“You couldn’t let him walk away,” Elizabeth finished. “Yeah. I get it, Em. I always did. Because it’s been that way for me. Jason made it easier before—he left the first time, and the second time—he got involved with someone else. With Courtney. But he’s not the only reason I’m leaving Lucky.”

“No, I figure the anger management was part of it, too.” Emily bit her lip. “You know I’m on your side, Elizabeth. And I love my brother. I think you’d be good together. But—”

“It’s not like that,” Elizabeth repeated. “We’re not—I’m not going to leave my husband on a Friday, and move in with another man on a Saturday. Cameron—” She looked at her son, giggling as he followed Morgan down the slide. “Cameron still thinks of Lucky as his father. That has to be dealt with. And I need—I need to be alone for a while.”

“I’m glad. I was prepared to be supportive if you and Jason were together, but—”

“You’re not wrong. I don’t know what’s going to happen there. But I know that I need to make a change.”

“Mommy, mommy…” Cameron rushed over. “Morgan says they’s cotton candy. I like cotton candy.”

“Mommy gave me money,” Morgan said with his sweet, careful smile. “I gots money.”

“We’ll head over to the carnival in a little bit.” She brushed some leaves out of his hair. “Cam, would you mind if Morgan’s Uncle Jason came by for a while?”

“I like Uncle Jason,” Morgan told Cam. “But sometimes, he won’t give me candy. He says Mommy gives me too much candy.”

“I like Mr. Jason. He playeded Biderman with me and Morgan and brought pizza.” Cameron nodded. “He can come.”

“Play for a little while longer, and we’ll head over to the carnival, okay?” Elizabeth asked.

“Okay!” Morgan tagged Cameron. “You’re it!” Then he took off running, and Cameron ran after him squealing.

“Jason’s coming?” Emily asked with her brow raised.

“I left Lucky,” Elizabeth said simply. “I don’t have to pretend we’re not friends anymore. And he likes my son. Cameron deserves all the love I can give him.”

Greystone Manor: Study

Sonny frowned as Jason checked the time on his phone for the third time since he’d arrived. “Am I keeping you from something?”

“What? No.” Jason shook his head. “I’m just—I’m supposed to be somewhere around three. What did Mateo have to say? Is he going to rein in Santiago?”

“He said he’d try, but I got something else that might be complicating it,” Sonny told him. “I put one of our guys on Courtland Street, just to get a sense of the traffic and customers. And he said that he thinks the cops have an undercover making buys.”

Jason grimaced. The last thing they needed was to get involved in a PCPD sting operation. They were just finally coming out from underneath the Manny crap. “Which cop?”

“Rocco talked to him, and the guy just said it was a cop. Rocco didn’t think it mattered who, but I can ask. But if they’re watching the Escobars on Courtland Street—”

“They might be watching them at Kelly’s or the high school. Maybe that’s why the PCPD is on this.” Jason hesitated. “I don’t like them dealing this close to your turf, Sonny, but the last thing we need is the PCPD looking at us.”

“I get it, but I don’t like the Escobars thinking they can play around like this,” Sonny returned. He poured himself a tumbler of bourbon. “Right now, Mateo seems irritated, but if we don’t do something, we look weak.”

Jason waited a long moment before taking a deep breath. “Elizabeth left Lucky. Yesterday. She went to her grandmother’s yesterday. And…” He pressed his lips together. “That’s where I’m going. To the park to see her and Cameron with Morgan.”

Sonny squinted at him. “Are you two—uh—you together now?”

“No,” Jason told him. “No. Not—She needs time. And space. But we don’t have to pretend we’re not friends anymore.” It had been Elizabeth’s idea, but Jason hadn’t hesitated. Asking him to spend time together where anyone could see them meant she was serious about leaving Lucky. And he didn’t want her to wonder how much she mattered to him.

“But you hanging out in public with a cop’s wife after everything that happened last month is like waving a red flag at a bull,” Sonny stated. “You know that. That’s why you’re thinking we hang back on the Escobars. Don’t give them a reason to look at us funny.”

“Yeah.”

“Any point in asking you two to lay low until her divorce papers are filed? Or like…she’s even moved her stuff out?” Sonny scowled. “You really gotta go public today? Less than twenty-four hours later—”

“We’re not—” Jason broke off. Because it wasn’t an unreasonable request. But it still rankled at him to be asked to put off spending time with Elizabeth and Cameron because of business. “We’re not going public,” he repeated. “But I get it. People are going to think we are.”

“I don’t give a shit about people, I give a shit about keeping the cops from digging into our lives all over again.” Sonny wiped his mouth. “This is important to you? This…carnival?”

“No. But it’s important to Elizabeth. And she would have already told Cameron I was coming. And Morgan knows I’m going. I saw him this morning before Carly took him over to Elizabeth’s.”

Sonny groaned at those words—because he knew Jason didn’t disappoint Morgan or Michael unless he had to. And it went without saying that Elizabeth and Cameron had joined the list of people Jason would walk through fire for. He sipped his bourbon and sat in the armchair. “What made her finally leave?” he asked. “Because two days ago, you were avoiding each other. Was it the thing on the docks?”

“It was part of it, yeah. Why does it matter?”

“It matters because she’s left him before, hasn’t she?” Sonny pointed out. “In fact, didn’t she leave him just before the kidnapping? How do you know she’s sticking this time?”

“Because I do, Sonny.” Jason scowled. “I don’t have to get your approval on this kind of thing. It’s not your business—”

“Really? It’s a little bit my business. You start sleeping with a cop’s wife—”

“Don’t call her that,” Jason snapped. “She’s not some cop’s wife. She’s Elizabeth.”

Sonny fell silent, staring at him for a long moment. “Yeah. She’s Elizabeth. And she was in your life long before she became a cop’s wife. Fair enough. If you’re willing to take on the crap we’ll get in the papers and from the cops, then fine. I’ll find out more about the PCPD’s involvement with the Escobars.” He got to his feet. “Have a nice time at the carnival.”

Port Charles Park

Elizabeth waved at Emily as she took Cameron and Morgan to get cotton candy at a nearby stall while she sat on the park bench, hoping to avoid some of the people who were in line — she really didn’t want to see or hear from Jesse Beaudry right now.

He was near the top of the list of people that Elizabeth wasn’t really interested in seeing at the moment, but he wasn’t alone. She sighed when she saw Sam McCall heading her way and decided to just suck it up. She remained seated as the other brunette stopped in front of her.

Sam slid her hands into the pockets of her jeans and rocked back on her heels. “Uh, hey.”

“Hello.” Elizabeth lifted her brows and sat back against the bench. “I haven’t seen you around in a while.

“Yeah, I’ve been working in Florida for a few weeks. I actually just came back to Port Charles to finish up a few things, grab the last of my stuff, and then I’ll be gone.” She nodded towards the other side of the bench. “Mind if I sit for a minute?”

“Go ahead.” Elizabeth slid over as Sam sat down. “So, you’re leaving.”

“Yeah, there’s not much here for me. I—” She bit her lip. “One of the things I wanted to do was apologize for that last day at the hospital. Because I am sorry.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Sam. It was a bad day. And—”

“I know that I didn’t have a good reason to be so angry with you.” Sam shifted to face Elizabeth slightly. “But I think—God, I think I was mad at you before then. And not just because of Jason. I was mad because you knew.”

Elizabeth didn’t have to guess what Sam meant by that. She sighed. “I didn’t do anything, Sam. I just ran the test—”

“Jason told you. Those results came back, and he told you about them. I can’t—I couldn’t understand why he’d do that. It was none of your business. And he told you like it was nothing. I should have known then—I should have seen you as a threat—”

“Sam—”

“You didn’t do anything. I know that. It’s on Jason. It’s on me for not pushing him. For just being okay with the idea that he was still in love with you. I was willing to settle for scraps, Elizabeth, just to be with him. And that’s why the hospital happened. Why I did what I did.”

“It’s okay. We all just—we all handled this badly.” Elizabeth waited a minute. “You weren’t wrong. Jason and I never slept together, and I—it never really came to it. But we crossed a line. Physically and emotionally. And it wasn’t fair to you. I am sorry for that.”

“I had this out of body of experience—I could literally see myself screaming at you, I could see you falling apart, and I just—Jesus, when did I become that woman? How did I let a man drive me to that point? I hated who I was, Elizabeth. What you and Jason did was wrong because you made promises to other people. And, well, I can’t speak for Lucky, but I think deserved better.”

“You did. And Lucky did, too. I never should have stayed in a marriage where I was that unhappy. It doesn’t matter how he treated me.” Elizabeth sighed. “I never wanted any of this.” She looked over to the cotton candy stall, where Cameron and Morgan had just received their cotton candy. Emily hadn’t seen Sam yet, or she would have been glaring at Sam, Elizabeth was sure.

“But that’s life, right? We never get what we want. Or what we think we want. I got married in November, and I really thought it was going to be forever. It might have been. It might have been years before Lucky’s anger became an issue,” Elizabeth murmured. “But he can’t deal with failure. With setbacks. And that’s all the last six months have been. One disaster after another. And he couldn’t handle it.”

Sam sighed. “I know what you mean. I think things with Jason were fine until that day he came home and told me Alexis Davis was my mother, that he’d run the test behind my back, and that he’d told you. I had a choice in that moment. I could have focused on the real problem — the fact that a woman I hate threw me away like garbage. But I chose to focus on Jason, and I punished him for it. I refused to talk to him.” She smirked. “And then Emily hit us like a freight train.”

Emily caught sight of Sam and scowled. Elizabeth waved as if to indicate it was okay and that she should stay over there until Jesse and Maxie had left the area.

“She came at me hard when I was already low, and she threw Jason a fastball right to the face. I don’t think he even knew how he still felt about you, Elizabeth, until she told him you thought he’d cheated on you. He’d barely flinched through the rest of it—including the part where she’d called me a whore—but he was so upset that he let her keep spewing all her hate and rage while he tried to figure out exactly what he’d done to you.” Sam shook her head. “It was like watching a light bulb switch on his head. He’d locked you away, and then he couldn’t do it again.”

“Sam—”

“Instead of stopping to talk to him about it—instead of dealing with—I ran. I hid. I turned it into anger. Because that’s how it works in a relationship. You come to a fork in the road, and you either go the same way at the same time, or you take different paths. At every point, Jason and I walked away from each other. Until that day, when I found myself screaming at a woman who—I’m guessing—had already been blamed for her own kidnapping a thousand times by that point.”

“It was a bad day,” Elizabeth repeated softly. “I get it, Sam. Because I wanted to pretend my life was happy. And the first time I realized how just unhappy I was—the first time it got really bad, I didn’t make him leave. I didn’t walk away, either.”

Sam frowned, looked at her, furrowing her brow. “Elizabeth?”

“I knew he didn’t love my son, but I didn’t go then. I thought he’d get better. And then when it was clear how little he loved Cam, how angry he could get at me—I didn’t even blink. I just lied for him.” Her throat tightened as she forced the words out. Because suddenly—she needed to say it. And it seemed safe to tell Sam. “And I told everyone that I tripped and fell.”

Sam exhaled on a sharp breath. “Elizabeth—”

“And even after it got worse—even after that day in the hospital with you and knowing that there was a chance a better man might actually love me back, I stayed.” Elizabeth rubbed her chest.

“Are you—” Sam shook her head. “Are you still—”

“No. I left yesterday. And I think I mean it this time. I do.” She swallowed hard. “But I meant it the last time. And I still went back.”

“Why?”

“Why did you stay with Jason?” Elizabeth asked softly. “Because you did, didn’t you? Until that day at the hospital. You knew before then. I know you did. But you stayed.”

“It’s—” Sam waited a long moment, trying to gather her thoughts. “It’s not the same, Elizabeth. I thought we could be okay again. If you’d go away, if he’d forget about you, it would go back to being okay. And I thought it was worth waiting for it to be okay again—”

Sam cleared her throat, shook her head. “Ultimately, none of this matters anymore. I wasn’t happy here. Jason and I were always going to come to this because it turns out I’m a con artist, and I’m not ashamed of it. He was. And that’s a deal breaker for me. He doesn’t respect what I do or care that I love it.”

“And you deserve someone who does.” Elizabeth laughed a little. “Oh, God, I am so terrible at being a cop’s wife. Lucky always said that. I mean, I guess what you do is bad. But it’s not my life, and I’m not the one that has to live it. I’m sorry Jason didn’t accept it.”

“Yeah, well—” Sam shrugged. “At least with you being a nurse, you’ll have more patience for his Superman complex.” When Elizabeth just frowned, Sam continued, “The thing he has about saving people? He was so disappointed when Sonny didn’t want to do anything about Manny.” She smirked. “I told him—it’s not your job to fix the world, you know. You’re not Superman.”

“I—” Elizabeth blinked. “That’s so weird. I told him the same thing—”

“Yeah, but I think you and I meant different things. You expected him to be the kind of guy who wouldn’t abandon a pregnant woman being targeted by a psycho, and me?” Sam shrugged. “I figured it wasn’t his business.” She chuckled, a bit bitterly. “To think, I thought you wanting him to deal with that meant you didn’t understand him.”

“Sam—”

“Clearly, I was wrong about that. And—” Sam nodded towards a path in the distance where Jason was walking towards them quickly, “he’s not sorry how things turned out.”

“I don’t know what he is yet. But I’m sorry that you were hurt. I’m sorry for my part in it. Maybe I didn’t owe you anything as a friend, but I did owe you something as a woman. I’m sorry,” Elizabeth repeated. “And I know…I know you’re thinking of wrapping things up without talking to Alexis.”

“That’s going to be buried,” Sam said sharply. “I’m not dealing with that,” she added as Jason drew up to them.

“Is everything okay here?” Jason asked.

“Yeah, things are fine,” Elizabeth told him. To Sam, she continued, “And that’s fair. I don’t blame you. My parents abandoned me, too. Not by adoption, but they moved to Europe ten years ago, and I haven’t seen them since I moved to Port Charles. I always knew they didn’t love me the way they loved my brother or sister. Sometimes I think about asking them why. They probably wouldn’t have an answer. Or they’d tell me I was being silly. But it’d be nice to know.”

Sam chewed on her bottom lip as she got to her feet, Elizabeth also standing. “I’m sure if I told Alexis the truth, she’d tell me all the details I wanted to know before. Why she gave me up, how I ended up with Cody—I’m just not sure it’s worth the price of telling Alexis. I mean, she could have looked for me—”

“Maybe,” Elizabeth said, “but you don’t have a lot of experience with the Cassadines. Not like I do. If Alexis was sixteen, she was still under Mikkos’s control. He probably arranged everything. He was evil—worse than Manny Ruiz. I also know Alexis was terrified of Helena. Alexis sent her own sister away to protect her after Helena killed their mother.”

“I—” Sam glanced at Jason for a long moment as his expression remained blank. “I didn’t know that. Did you?”

“I did, but I didn’t think about it that way—” Jason frowned. “Elizabeth—”

“Don’t tell her, tell her—whatever you choose, I’m sure it’ll be the right thing for you. But you’ve seen the way she’s fought for Kristina, for Molly. Why do you think she wouldn’t fight for you in her own way?”

“I’ve just hated her for so long,” Sam said. “But if I’m going to leave Port Charles, it might be nice to take some answers with me. I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”

“How are things?” Emily asked as Cameron and Morgan bounded up behind her. Cameron immediately started tugged on Jason’s jeans—in which look liked a system they’d already settled on, Elizabeth realized as Jason leaned down to pick Cameron up in his arms.

“Hey, Cam,” Jason said. “Did you eat or wear that cotton candy?” he asked, pointing to the blue strands near Cameron’s mouth.

“I ateded it all up. Aunt Em says no more.”

“I told her we didn’t have to tell Daddy I got two,” Morgan told Elizabeth. “But no more candy.”

“I should get going,” Sam murmured, looking at the way Jason held Cameron. Elizabeth folded her arms, uncomfortable. She knew what it was like to watch the man you’d loved with another woman—and to see him with another child after they’d lost Sam’s daughter—

“Good luck, Sam,” Elizabeth offered as the brunette waved and disappeared down a path.

“Uh, what was that?” Emily demanded. She put her hands on her hips. “You were talking to her forever.”

“She just wanted to apologize before she left town,” Elizabeth told her. She knelt down next to Morgan and took out a napkin to wipe his face. “It was fine, Em.”

“Can we go on the rides?” Cameron asked. “Mommy said there’s some for us.”

“We just have to go to the ticket booth,” Elizabeth said as she straightened. “You ready?” she asked Emily.

“You mean, is Jesse Beaudry somewhere far away?” Emily snorted. “Yeah, he’s over by the bumper cars.”

“Well, then let’s go on some rides.”

---

A few hours later, both boys were still going strong and begging to go on the miniature kid’s roller coaster that had been set up on the far end of the park — which they could do as long as an adult would go on.

Elizabeth watched in stunned silence as Cameron and Morgan, in unison, looked directly at Jason, who didn’t even protest. He took their hands and got into line.

“Um—” Emily pursed her lips, nodded. “Okay. So that is my brother, riding a roller coaster. Jason Morgan. Excuse me—” She fished in her purse for her digital camera. “Mom is never going to believe this.”

She snapped a few photos as Jason and the boys boarded the small car. Cameron waved at them with a big grin as Jason made sure he was strapped in.

“Seriously, this has made my whole life—” Emily turned to Elizabeth, who hadn’t said anything. “You okay? You look upset.”

“I’m not. I’m just—” Elizabeth sighed. “It feels like another lifetime, but I asked Lucky to come with us earlier this week. I thought it’d be something fun we could do as a family, you know? I really was trying.”

“I know, but—”

“And now I’m standing here, watching my son have more fun with Jason than I think he ever did living with Lucky, and I—I’m so angry at myself for letting Cameron live like that. He loves Jason. And he deserved better from me. I can’t imagine Lucky here. I’m glad he said no. I’m glad I’m standing here with you, watching Jason with my son and his best friend.” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“I haven’t seen my brother look this relaxed or happy in years. And you two aren’t even really together.” Emily slid an arm around her shoulder, tugging her in for a half hug. “It makes me happy to see you both happy. And you know how much I love Cameron. I want him happy, too.”

They watched, laughing and taking more photos until the ride was over. After, Elizabeth bought one of the pictures snapped along the ride.

“Let’s get some dinner,” she suggested to Jason as she returned to their group. “Cameron will probably want hot dogs.”

“Hamburgers,” Morgan said. He grinned. “And cotton candy.”

Jason shook his head as they headed back towards the entrance of the park, away from the larger rides and towards more of the food and games. “No more cotton candy.”

Elizabeth met Morgan’s eyes and nodded. “Yes,” she mouthed. Morgan grinned and slid her hand in hers as they wound down one of the paths.

“Did Elizabeth tell you she’s going to scrub in on her first surgery this week,” Emily asked Jason. “After only a month—”

“I’m scrubbing in to observe,” Elizabeth corrected. “I have to do that for like three more months before Patrick will actually let me assist. He’s such a perfectionist. I can’t believe he wanted me on his team to begin with.”

“Mom wanted Elizabeth on her team, too,” Emily explained. “She, like, went to war with Patrick.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Emily—” But she flushed as they arrived in the large food area set up and started to look for a table. “Don’t start.”

“No, that’s good. I know you like your job, and I’m glad other people notice,” Jason said. He lifted Cameron onto the bench seat of a table. “What do we want? Emily and I can go get the food if you want to wait with the kids.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Elizabeth began, then she grimaced.

“Isn’t this cozy,” Jesse Beaudry snarled as he stalked towards them. Behind him, Maxie Jones followed with an irritated sigh. Her sister, Georgie, and her boyfriend, Dillon, were also in the group. And, to Elizabeth’s worry, so was Lulu.

“Hey, Liz.” Lulu folded her arms and looked at Jason, who still had his hands on Cameron’s shoulders after lifting him into his seat. She looked back at her sister-in-law. Lulu flashed a tight smile. “Dad’s been trying to call you—”

“I know. I was going to call him tomorrow,” Elizabeth said. “Lulu—”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll tell him.” Lulu cast a nervous look at her group. “Why don’t we just go? I didn’t want to come over here—”

“I think it’s shitty you didn’t even wait an entire day before flaunting yourself all over Port Charles with your criminal boyfriend—”

“There are kids here,” Maxie said, grasping at Jesse’s elbow. “C’mon, I told you—”

“No, Lucky’s entire life has been destroyed and this bitch—”

“You’re going to want to stop right there,” Jason said quietly. “Maxie’s right. There are kids here. You got a problem with me, that’s fine. But you should know better.”

“Kids—” Jesse sorted. “Sure—a mobster’s kid and the bastard she tried to foist off on my partner—”

Dillon, perhaps seeing the murderous light in Jason’s eyes or the way Elizabeth’s fists clenched, grabbed Jesse’s arm, tugging. “Seriously, dude. This is not okay.”

Morgan, likely used to his parents’ fighting, hunkered down at the table and put his head down while Cameron stood up on his tiny legs and turned to Jason, wrapping his arms around Jason’s forearm. “Jason, what’s a bastard?”

Elizabeth growled at the sound of that word in her little boy’s mouth and stepped in front of the table. “Jesse, you don’t like me, that’s fine. But you have no right to harass me or my child in public—”

“Lucky nearly died because of you, and you didn’t even have the decency to pretend you gave a damn for like ten seconds—”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. If you won’t leave, we will.” She turned to take Morgan into her arms. She nodded at Jason, who picked up Cameron. “Come on, guys. We’ll go to Kelly’s.”

“Running away seems to be your thing—” Jesse continued, but whatever words he might have said next were lost forever with the sound of a sharp CRACK!

Gunshots broke out over the roar of the crowd. Screams echoed in the air as people started to run, started to push and shove. At the familiar sound of gunfire, as she saw Jason grab her son and drop to the ground, Elizabeth grabbed Morgan around the waist and pushed down. She winced as a sharp pinch in her shoulder, then a slicing sensation through her skin like fire.

She shoved the bench out of the way and pushed Morgan towards Jason, Emily, and Cameron, rolling under after him. Jason pulled Morgan close to him, trying to cover both kids with his own body as Elizabeth and Emily huddled next to him.

Both boys were crying; Morgan was calling for both his mother and father as he burrowed his head down. Elizabeth heard more screaming—and as the gunfire faded—the screams became more distinct—

More familiar. A woman was screaming a name. Jesse’s name.

“Jesse!” Maxie screeched. Elizabeth turned and could see just beneath the plastic gingham cover that Jesse was sprawled on the ground, his face turned towards her—with blood seeping out onto the cement ground. Maxie was sobbing, her sister and Dillon were trying to drag her backward. Elizabeth couldn’t see where Lulu had gone.

“Wait here,” Jason ordered. “Cameron, I need to go make sure it’s safe—” Gently, he managed to settle Cameron with Elizabeth, Emily, and Morgan as he crawled from beneath the picnic table—

Elizabeth’s heart was racing as Emily also crawled out towards Jesse and Maxie.

But she waited. She was a nurse, and she should be helping, but Cameron and Morgan were her priority and—

And she knew how this worked. She stayed out of sight, protecting the boys. They cam first.

She met Emily’s eyes as the other woman frantically tried to stop the bleeding. Emily did not look confident, and Maxie’s anguished cries pulled at Elizabeth.

“Liz! Liz! Where’s Cam?” Lulu cried as she crawled into view. She joined them under the table. “Where’s Morgan—”

“They’re here. They’re safe—Stay with them—”

Elizabeth crawled out to help Jesse, but by then, it seemed like the whole world exploded—people were still running—still screaming—there were paramedics and security guards who’d been tasked with running the carnival.

Emily was pushed aside as a stretcher was brought over. Her hands were stained with blood as she shakily got to her feet. “Headshot,” she managed. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “It’d be a miracle if he makes it to the hospital,” she added as she watched a sobbing Maxie following the paramedics, held by Dillon and Georgie.

“You’re bleeding,” Emily said just as Jason returned to them, his gun already tucked back in his jeans, out of sight from the surrounding officers. He scowled, quickened his pace to be back at their side.

Elizabeth frowned, looking at him. “No, he’s not. He’s fine—” But then she felt it. The burning sensation on her upper shoulder, the blood dribbling down her arm. She looked down at her arm, left bare by her tank top. “Oh.”

She touched the blood and looked at it, looked at Jason. Managed a smile. “Just like before.”

But she didn’t faint this time. Emily helped her sit down while Lulu climbed out from under the table with the boys.

“Jesus, Liz, you got shot!” Lulu cried. “I should call Lucky—”

“Mommy!”

“I’m not—I just got grazed,” Elizabeth said with a wince. She looked at her son, still crying. “I’m okay, Cam. It’s okay. We’re okay.”

“But the angry man. He’s not okay.” Morgan sniffled, swiping his eyes. “I wanna go home.”

Emily frowned as she took off the light button-down shirt she’d been wearing over her tank top and, with the help of a pair of manicure scissors from her purse, cut the sleeve and tied it around Elizabeth’s arm. “You can wait for the paramedics to look at you,” she told her. “But—”

“But we need to get out of here,” Elizabeth said, looking at Jason, who exhaled slowly and nodded. “Morgan needs to get back to Greystone right away. That’s what’s supposed to happen.”

“Wait, what?” Lulu blinked. “What does that mean?”

“Yeah,” Jason said, ignoring the blonde. “Yeah. And—” He hesitated. “I want you and Cameron to come with us.”

Elizabeth didn’t even hesitate. She got to her feet, picked up Cameron, and handed him to Jason before taking Morgan into her arms. “Then let’s go before the PCPD gets here. Emily, you’re going to the hospital?”

“Yeah—”

“Liz, wait, why can’t you just wait for the paramedics?” Lulu began.

“I’m sure Lulu needs a ride,” Elizabeth said, turning to her sister-in-law. “To be with Maxie and the others.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Emily said. “C’mon, Lu. Let’s go to the hospital.”

“But—”

“Let’s go,” Elizabeth said to Jason. “Because I really don’t think you want the PCPD to find you at the scene of a cop shooting,” she said as they started towards the exit. She was running on adrenaline, she knew that. And when it stopped, she knew that she would have to think about the fact that she’d been shot at, standing next to Jason, with her son only inches away.

That was the last thing Elizabeth wanted to think about at the moment. Right now, she wanted to make sure Cameron was safe, and Sonny’s fortress at the edge of town was the best place to be.

Everything else would wait.

Port Charles Park: Parking Lot

Jason’s black SUV was parked next to Elizabeth’s car. He set Cameron on the front driver’s seat, then took the keys Elizabeth handed him so that he could get the car seats from her car and take them to his. Elizabeth also put Morgan on the front passenger’s seat, and, together, they efficiently fastened both seats into the SUV.

It might have made sense to someone else to take the car that had already been set up for two toddlers, but Elizabeth knew the SUV had bulletproof windows. Jason hadn’t even had to ask her to switch cars—she’d just known what to do.

“Mommy,” Cameron sniffled as Elizabeth fastened him into his seat. He pointed at her arm. “Mommy, you hurt.”

“I’m fine, baby.” She took a precious extra five seconds to brush his hair out of his face and hand him his Spiderman action figure. Next to him, Morgan had a G.I. Joe he never went anywhere without. “We’re going to go see Morgan’s daddy’s house. He’s got a lot of toys.”

“Yeah?” Cameron swiped at his face, his nose dripping. She took a wipe and blew his nose. “He gots Biderman movies?”

“I’m sure he does. But I have an extra in my bag. I never go anywhere without it,” she told her son. She caught Jason’s eye — they were out of time if they wanted to be out of the parking lot before the crowd told the responding officers Jason Morgan had been at the scene. “You ready?”

“Yeah. Okay, Mommy.”

She closed the door and got into the front seat. Jason had already put the car into reverse to back out of the parking spot before she’d closed her door and fastened her seatbelt.

“Your arm okay?” he asked, grimacing as the SUV got caught in a crowd of other cars fleeing the park. He could hear the sirens of police cars a few blocks away. His fingers tapped restlessly against the wheel, willing the cars in front of him to move. He looked at Elizabeth—the makeshift bandage Emily had tied around her arm was already beginning to fail, the thin cotton no match for the blood seeping through.

“It’s fine. Sonny still has a guard with some medical training, right?”

“Uh, yeah—”

“I remember from when you were shot. Sonny wanted him to come look at you, but I wouldn’t tell him where you were.” Elizabeth touched her arm, wincing. “It hurts, but it’s not much worse than the warehouse graze.”

He didn’t understand how she was so calm and collected after being caught in gunfire, after her son had been traumatized—after she’d been shot in front of her child.

“I know what you’re thinking, Jason. And I guess we have to have that conversation, but not right now, right?”

She looked at him as the cars in front of him finally shifted, and Jason was able to pull away from the park—just before the first group of cop cars broke through the intersection across the street from the park.

“Elizabeth—”

“Jason.” She shook her head. “You weren’t hit. Jesse was. Maybe it was a ricochet. Maybe it wasn’t. But you know better. Don’t assume until you know the facts, right?”

He frowned. “How—”

“You always thought I was reckless,” she murmured. “That I treated it like a game.”

“I—” He fell silent—because of course, he had. She’d used that busboy to lure him to Vista Point—

Because he’d been avoiding her. Not returning her calls.

“I’m sorry. I should have known better. I won’t make that mistake again.”

“Good.” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “Now, what are the chances that Carly blames me for this because I had Morgan with me?”

He laughed then, a surprising release of the tension. “About sixty-forty in favor. She’s probably not going to let you babysit again.”

“Well, then I’ll just have to remind her I took a bullet for him, and we’ll be good.” They exchanged quick, tense smiles before looking straight ahead at the highway ramp that would take them out of downtown Port Charles, towards Greystone Manor and the security of Sonny’s high walls and electrified gates.

The world’s on fire, it’s more than I can handle
Tap into the water, try to bring my share
Try to bring more, more than I can handle
Bring it to the table, bring what I am able
I watch the heavens but I find no calling
Something I can do to change what’s coming
Stay close to me while the sky is falling
I don’t wanna be left alone, don’t wanna be alone
– Worlds on Fire, Sarah McLachlan

---

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Greystone Manor: Living Room

Inside the house, Sonny and Carly were waiting. Sonny sat in his armchair, a bourbon in his hand, Michael was on the sofa playing a handheld video game while Carly was pacing from the terrace doors to the double doors, back and forth.

As soon as the gunshots had been reported by the news, Sonny had called Carly for a lockdown at the estate. She’d gone without an argument. It didn’t matter how long they had been divorced—she knew the procedure. Jason was with Morgan, and if he was okay, he’d be coming there as possible. She just wanted to be with her boys.

Morgan started crying almost as soon as Jason and Elizabeth crossed the threshold. He released Elizabeth’s hand and ran across the room so that his mother could sweep him up into a bear hug.

Sonny launched to his feet to join mother and son. “Hey, kiddo,” he said, running his hand down Morgan’s back. “You okay?”

“I ‘kay, Daddy.” Morgan sniffled. “Scared. Big ‘splosion.”

Jason exhaled slowly. “Sonny, I need you to get Richie here. Elizabeth was grazed, and we didn’t wait for the paramedics—”

“Oh my God, you were hit?” Carly looked at Elizabeth over Morgan’s head. “Is Cameron okay? What happened?” She looked at the other toddler, who had tucked his head into the space between Jason’s shoulder and neck , his cheeks tear-stained. “Cam, it’s Aunt Carly. You okay, baby?”

“Yeah,” he offered in a small voice as he looked suspiciously at Sonny. “Jason squished me. Morgan okay, too. Mommy squished him.”

“Mommy—” Carly’s face paled as she took in Elizabeth’s blood-stained bare arm. Jason was pushing her towards the sofa where a silent Michael just moved over. “You—got—you got shot with Morgan—” He set Cameron down next to her.

“It was just the sides of the table we were on,” Elizabeth murmured as some of the adrenaline began to wear off. Her knees felt like they were made of water, and she gratefully sat down. “We had gone to the food court to get something to eat, and—I just grabbed Morgan and went under the table.”

“Thank you,” Sonny said in a quiet voice. “I’ll go get Richie.”

Cameron tucked himself against her good side. “Mommy, does it hurt?”

Morgan perched on one hip, Carly came around to stand next to Jason. “What the hell is going on?” she demanded. “I thought Sonny said things were quiet—”

“They are. We don’t know what happened.” Jason rubbed the back of his neck, watching as a pale Elizabeth reassured her son. “Jesse Beaudry was hit. Headshot.”

“Beaudry,” Carly repeated. “That’s a cop, right? Was he near you?”

“He was at the table, yelling at Elizabeth,” Jason muttered.

“Well, maybe it was because of him,” Carly said. She pressed her lips to Morgan’s cheeks again. “Hey, baby. Talk to me. You must have been scared.”

“It was loud,” Morgan said in a small voice. “And the angry man was bleeding. Aunt Em tried to help, but I think he hurt real bad.”

“Elizabeth,” Carly said, turning back to the sofa. “Why don’t I take the boys upstairs to get settled? You can get cleaned up.” She sighed. “I brought a bag with a few changes of clothes. I didn’t know how long—but you can borrow something from me if you need it.”

“Thanks,” Elizabeth managed. To Cameron, she said, “Do you want to go see Morgan’s playroom? Maybe Aunt Carly—” the words fell a bit more naturally from her lips than she thought they might—“can get the Spiderman DVD from my bag.”

“Wanna stay wit’ you.” Cameron wrapped his arms around Elizabeth’s forearm and pressed his forehead against her shoulder.

“Well, Sonny and Jason are going to get someone who can clean my cut, Cam. And make sure it’s okay.” She pressed her lips to his head. “Go upstairs. I bet the playroom here is bigger than Aunt Carly’s.”

“It’s two rooms, Cameron,” Michael told him with a reassuring smile. He got to his feet, held out his hand. “Come on. We got lots of movies to watch. And Mom always has candy in her purse.” He was clearly a pro at this, and beyond the lack of color in his face, didn’t seem all that fazed by what was going on.

“Thanks for ratting me out, Mr. Man,” Carly muttered as Sonny returned in time for that last remark. “Sonny, I’m taking the boys upstairs.”

“Yeah, yeah, Richie’s on his way up from the guardhouse.” Sonny scrubbed his hands over his face. He waited until Carly had disappeared up the stairs with all three boys before turning back to Jason and Elizabeth. “Justus is on his way over. He’s already fielding calls from Mac. Seems like they know you were there, Jase. It’s only a matter of time before you get an official request to come in for questioning.”

Jason grimaced. “Any word on Beaudry? What about other injuries?”

“A few other bullet grazes,” Sonny said as a guard came in and sat down to look at Elizabeth’s arm. He pulled out a bag and started to unpack a few things. “But Beaudry is the worst. He’s still in surgery, but the guy at the hospital didn’t think it looked good.”

“That’s what Emily said on the scene,” Elizabeth offered, wincing as Richie carefully began to clean the wound. “But he made it to the hospital.”

“Can you guys tell me what happened?” Sonny asked. “Were you the target? How close were you to Beaudry?”

“It’s like we said. We were at one of the picnic tables,” Jason said. “Beaudry and some of the other kids he hangs out with were right there. The shots started, and Elizabeth and I just grabbed the boys and went for cover.”

“I was standing closest to Jesse,” Elizabeth murmured. “With Morgan. On one side of the table. Emily was next to me. Jesse was right in front of me.” She met Sonny’s eyes. “Jason was at least three feet away.”

“That is interesting,” Sonny mused, “and something to think about.” He eyed Jason, who pressed his lips together. “Richie, how does it look?”

“Just a superficial wound,” the guard told Elizabeth as he placed a bandage over it. “It bled a lot, but that serious. You won’t even need stitches. Might be some skin discoloration, but it’ll probably disappear with time.” He packed his things up. “You’re a nurse, right? You know to clean this if you have supplies?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

When Richie left, Elizabeth sighed. She knew Sonny probably wanted her out of the way, so she got to her feet. “I should call my grandmother to let her know we’re okay. Can I tell her where we are?”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s fine. But if it’s okay, Elizabeth, I’d like you and Cameron to spend the night. To make sure we know who the target was.” Sonny hesitated. “I’m…kind of concerned that Beaudry was the hardest hit, and he was next to you. I don’t know what that means, but you—” He looked at the remains of the blood-stained sleeve in her hands. “That bullet came close to my son, and he’s okay because you took care of him. Thank you.”

“You’d do the same for mine.” She looked at Jason. “I’ll go and call her. I’m sure you and Sonny have things to talk about that I don’t need to hear.”

“Yeah.” Jason looked at her for a long time as if he wanted to say more as if he wanted to do something. But he remained rooted to the ground, not moving towards her. Elizabeth just sighed, shook her head, and went upstairs.

“I called Mateo,” Sonny offered once Elizabeth was out of earshot. “He doesn’t know what the hell is going on. This isn’t from him.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s not from the guys he can’t control,” Jason muttered. “Something isn’t right about this, Sonny. There were two shooters—they both got away because I couldn’t—the kids were there—”

“I didn’t think you should abandon Elizabeth and Emily with toddlers so you could go get shot by someone else,” Sonny said dryly. “You did what needed to be done. The kids come first. Two shooters?”

“Unless the guy had a machine, definitely more than one shooter. But opening fire on crowded carnival?” Jason shook his head. “I don’t think the shots were coming from far away. A decent shot would have taken me out—I wasn’t expecting any trouble. But I didn’t even get grazed. Elizabeth did. And the cop took the full brunt.”

“You think Beaudry was the undercover working Courtland Street?” Sonny asked. “Maybe we weren’t the targets?”

“I don’t know.”

His partner frowned at him. “Are you sure you’re not just hoping it wasn’t about us?” Sonny asked. “You’re out in public with Elizabeth and her kid for the first time. He ends up in danger—that’s not a good sign.”

“She’s handling it,” Jason said flatly. “Better than most. No, I don’t want this to be about us. Because it means we missed something. We knew there were issues with the Escobars, but this is an escalation that we didn’t see coming. Do you want to admit we missed it?”

“No.” Sonny frowned as the front door opened, and Max shoved open the door to the living room. “What’s up, Max?”

“Uh, Lucky Spencer is at the guardhouse, demanding to talk to his wife and son.” Max winced as he looked at Jason. “I didn’t know what to say to him. He said if I just turned him away, he’d have the PCPD here to come get Cameron. I don’t know if that’s a thing he can do, but I thought Miss Webber ought to know.”

Jason sighed, nodded. “Yeah, I’ll go get her. See how she wants to handle it.”

He went up the stairs and found Elizabeth coming out of one of the guest rooms, her blood-stained tank top exchanged for a long-sleeved shirt that covered her wound. “Hey—I didn’t think you’d be done with Sonny so quickly. I didn’t even get to call Gram yet—” She frowned. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Lucky’s at the guardhouse,” he said after a long moment. “Demanding to see you and Cameron. He threatened to bring the PCPD to get Cameron. I’m sure he threw the words kidnapping around.”

Elizabeth hesitated. “The last thing I want to do is deal with Lucky,” she admitted.

“I’ll make him go away—”

But as Jason turned to go, she caught his sleeve and stopped him. “But I think I should go down myself.”

He frowned down at her, shaking his head slightly. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do—”

“No, I—” Elizabeth pressed her lips together and looked at him. “No, I don’t. But I need to do this. Plus, if I don’t send him away myself, he’ll just make more trouble at the PCPD.”

Greystone Manor: Guard House

Lucky was pacing back and forth in the driveway that led up to the estate, his car parked haphazardly behind him, one of the wheels on the curb.

Elizabeth folded her arms as she approached the gate, Jason on her heels.

“Let me in!” Lucky yelled. He pulled at the gate again, but the iron bars didn’t move. “Damn it! I’m a fucking a cop!”

“Yeah? No warrant, no service,” Max Giambetti shot back with a smirk. “Try again—”

But Lucky had seen Elizabeth walk up behind Max and another guard. His eyes were bloodshot, and she grimaced, wondering if he’d been at Jake’s drinking again. “Elizabeth, you have to come with me!”

“I don’t have to go anywhere with you.” Though the gate was between them, Elizabeth stayed behind the guards. She didn’t want to get within arm’s reach of Lucky—

She didn’t trust him not to grab her through the bars.

“Elizabeth, Elizabeth, you need to be safe—you need to come out here now!” Lucky stretched his arm through the bars. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to do it—”

“I’m safe right where I am,” she said flatly. “You need to go.”

“God damn it—” His scowl deepened, his face flushed even darker as he focused on Jason behind her. “You ran straight to him, didn’t you? You fucking whore—”

“Let’s go back inside,” Jason told her as Elizabeth shook her head. She met his eyes. “He can’t get through the gate without a warrant, and he can’t tell the PCPD we’re keeping you against your will.”

“No, but he can still find a way to make trouble,” she murmured. She looked back at Lucky, at the man that, until yesterday, she’d been trying to save. Her husband. “He always does.”

The boy she loved was gone, and she couldn’t even find a trace of the man she’d promised to love forever, barely six months earlier. It was the first time she could look at him and not feel the choking weight of obligation, guilt, and regret.

She felt nothing.

“Go away, Lucky. And don’t come back.”

She turned and walked back to the house.

Greystone Manor: Foyer

Elizabeth dragged her hands through her hair as she walked into the foyer. Jason closed the door behind them. “Well, that was fun.”

“You didn’t have to go,” Jason told her, cocking his head to the side. “You knew he couldn’t come on the grounds without a warrant. And if the PCPD tried to take Cam, you’re here to stop that.”

“Yeah, I know that—”

“So, why did you go?” Jason asked, his tone quiet, his eyes searching hers. “I would have made him go away—”

“I needed to do it,” she admitted. “And maybe I didn’t even understand that until I went out there and saw him. Yesterday—” She blew out a breath. “Yesterday, he was the one that left. It should have been me. I should have left him weeks ago. I shouldn’t have gone back in the first place.”

Elizabeth bit her lip. “I needed to be the one who left,” she said again, more to herself. Then she met his eyes. “And I think maybe I needed you to know that. To see that.”

“Elizabeth—”

“Because I know the conversation—” She forced a smile on her face. “The argument we’re going to have later—when this is—when things are calmer.”

Jason looked away, and she just sighed. Elizabeth wasn’t sure she had it in her for that particular argument, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t going to happen all the same.

“But I needed you to see that I’m the one walking away from him this time.” Elizabeth’s chest eased. “And I’m not going back.”

Jason nodded. “Okay—”

They both turned when the double doors to the living room opened, and Sonny peered at them. “Lucky gone?” he asked.

“I’m sure he is by now,” Elizabeth said.

“Good. Jase, we got work to do. Elizabeth—”

“Got it.” She looked at Jason as Sonny went back into the living room, the doors still open. “Come find me later when you and Sonny are done talking, okay? We’ll have that argument.”

“Yeah,” he repeated. He kissed her forehead, lingering for a moment. “I’m sorry.”

“Me, too.” She squeezed his hand, then let him go. She went up the main stairs while he closed the doors.

Greystone Manor: Living Room

“She okay?” Sonny asked. He retrieved his forgotten bourbon from the coffee table and offered Jason a drink of his own. Jason didn’t usually drink with Sonny, but this time he accepted. Sonny went to the minibar to pour him a glass.

“She’s dealing. She’s—” Jason hesitated, sipped his drink. “She’s always been good under pressure. And she’s a nurse.”

“Trained to think in a crisis,” Sonny said. “Well, that’s your issue to deal with as long as Spencer doesn’t make any more problems for us.” He was quiet for a long moment. “You think this is any kind of payback for Manny?”

“Who’s left to get payback?” Jason asked. “The only brother left alive is a priest, and Roy said he never had anything to do with the family. We can call down to Miami, but I doubt anyone is missing the Ruiz family.”

“Fair. There’s always Alcazar. He’s in Miami now—”

“He owes me a favor,” Jason said. “And he knows Skye likes Elizabeth. He’s not going after her for Manny. Not after what happened last month.”

“Then I don’t know what the hell is going on. If it’s the Escobars committing suicide by going after an undercover cop, well…” Sonny shrugged. “I’ll do what I can to turn the PCPD towards them. It’d be nice to know if you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“First time for everything.”

Greystone Manor: Guest Suite

Jason and Sonny stayed holed up in the living room for several more hours as guards came and went to check in. Just after Carly and Elizabeth had fed the boys dinner and put Morgan and Cameron down to sleep, they got the word from the hospital that Jesse Beaudry had died from his injuries.

They’d gone to a guest suite with a bedroom and sitting room attached to it to eat their own food. She’d called her grandmother shortly after Jason told her Lucky was at the entrance, and Audrey had been livid to learn she was at Greystone with no plans to leave.

And now…to learn that Jesse had died…Elizabeth didn’t know what to think. She’d hoped that the worst was behind her, but somehow she knew that his death would only make things worse.

She was tired of thinking she’d hit bottom only to learn there were several levels of hell beneath it.

Carly shook her head as the guard left, having reported the news to them. She crossed to the window that overlooked the main drive leading down to the guardhouse and gated entrance. “The PCPD will be back, probably with an arrest warrant.”

“But Jason wasn’t the shooter. There will be witnesses to that. I mean, I know Maxie is probably too upset, but the others—” Elizabeth grimaced. “But yeah, they’re not going to let this go.”

Carly bit at her nails, staring out the window. “What do you think? Do you think this was about Jason and Sonny?” She turned back to Elizabeth, who was pouring herself a glass of wine. “I mean, this isn’t your first shooting.”

Elizabeth pursed her lips. “No, it’s not. Jason made us both stay at the penthouse when Alcazar shot at me and Zander in the hospital. It was a few days before he’d let me go back to work at Kelly’s, but even then, I had a guard and stayed with him. This isn’t like that. And I guess there was the warehouse fire that year, too. And the kidnapping.”

“Yeah, that was a busy couple of months.” Carly huffed. “This does feel different. We’re in lockdown, but it’s like—do you think it was even about Jason or Sonny?” she repeated.

“I don’t know. I can’t—” Elizabeth sighed. “If it was, they sent the wrong guys to do the job. I think Jason said something in the car about it being more than one guy. They were a terrible shot if Jason was the target.”

“Or you. Your back was to the shooters, yeah? Because Jesse got hit in the head.” Carly started to pace. “They could have hit you. They didn’t. You got grazed, but the cop got shot.” She wrinkled her nose. “The PCPD isn’t going to care about any of that.”

“No, they won’t.”

“Especially since you were there with Jason. Crappy ending to a date, huh?” Carly raised her brows as Elizabeth recognized she was fishing for information. Elizabeth handed her a glass of wine.

“It wasn’t a date, but no, that’s not how it was supposed to go. It was just supposed to be fun. I wanted Cameron to have a good day without me rushing off to work or him going to sleep somewhere else without me. And he loves Jason. I wanted that for them.”

Carly sipped her wine. “And now, you’re remembering why you ran away in the first place.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Good God, does everyone think I’m some kind of idiot? Carly, the first time I met Jason, he was leaning over Nikolas’s bleeding body because Nikolas got shot standing next to him. I’ve taken care of his bullet wounds. Hid him from people who wanted him dead. I got kidnapped because of him. This is actually the second time I’ve been almost shot standing in the same area as him.”

“Uh huh.” Carly nodded. “But you didn’t have a kid before. And I’m not interested in watching Jason fall in love with a kid only to have you walk away—”

“A little hypocritical coming from you, don’t you think?” Elizabeth asked coolly.

“Starting to remember why I don’t like you,” Carly muttered as she took another sip of her drink.

“Because I have a long memory?”

“Because you are annoying,” Carly said through clenched teeth. “I’m just—Yes. I hurt Jason a long time ago. I’ve been trying to make up for it, okay? So if you’re going to use this as an excuse to run away again, I’d rather you did it now instead of later. Before Jason can get more attached.”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I didn’t run the last time. Jason shoved me out the door because of the danger. And if anyone walks away because of this, it won’t be me.” Elizabeth sat down. “Can I eat my dinner now, or do you have anything else irritating to say?”

Carly narrowed her eyes, then sat down across from her. “Thank you, by the way. For taking care of Morgan.” With a sigh, “I’m never going to like you, Elizabeth, but you’re a good mother. I know I can trust my boys with you.”

“That might be the first thing we can agree about.”

Blue and red lights flashed through the sheer curtains. They went to the window as Carly sighed. “Well, the PCPD are back.”

“And they got through the gates.” Elizabeth let the curtain fall back in place. She exchanged a troubled look with the blonde because they knew what that meant.

Port Charles Police Department: Squad Room

Jason scowled when he and Sonny walked through the double doors of the room. He didn’t mind the dirty looks from the cops. He’d expected to be dragged to the station once they’d learned Beaudry hadn’t survived the trip to the hospital. He’d been an asshole, but Jason knew a dead cop would only make all of this worse.

No, what he really wasn’t in the mood for was seeing Lucky Spencer and Audrey Hardy standing with Mac Scorpio.

Sonny followed his gaze and sighed. “Well, this should be fun. You think Justus is here yet?”

“You need to send a car out,” Lucky told Mac, his face flushed. He threw his hands up, gesturing at Jason and Sonny. “They’re keeping her locked out there—I can’t see my wife or son—I don’t know if they’re hurt—”

Jason scowled. They couldn’t get a search warrant for the estate, but if Mac thought he had exigent circumstances, they could get onto the property.

“Damn it,” Sonny muttered. He twisted around. “Where the hell is Justus—”

As Lucky continued to rant, Jason watched Elizabeth’s grandmother because he had a bad feeling if she backed up Lucky’s demands, Mac might be swayed. Tempers were running high, and Lucky was clearly irate. But Audrey knew Elizabeth had moved out—

“Tell them, Audrey! Tell them they wouldn’t let me see my own kid!” Lucky growled. “You need to let me get them, Mac! I need to know they’re safe!”

Mac hesitated, looked over at Jason and Sonny with an irritated look, then looked back at Lucky. “Look, I can’t just search the property, Lucky. I need proof that they’re hurt or in danger.”

“Audrey—” Lucky looked at his wife’s grandmother, pleading. “Tell them. You know Elizabeth needs me. She’s making a mistake. She’s not safe there.”

Audrey hesitated, looked at Lucky again, then frowned at him. Jason wished he knew what the older woman was thinking, if she was at all disturbed by the rage shaking Lucky’s shoulders, the trembling of his hands, the fury glinting in his eyes.

This was not a man that Jason wanted near anyone, much less Elizabeth, but Audrey Hardy had always thought any man would be safer for her granddaughter than him.

“If she says yes,” Sonny muttered, “I am not in the mood for this bullshit. I told you not to fuck with a cop’s wife.”

Jason sent him an irritated glare but said nothing.

Finally, Audrey sighed and looked at Mac. “I talked to Elizabeth no less than an hour ago, Mac. She was shaken up, but she said she was fine. She and Jason took Morgan home to be with his parents. The little boy was upset. Elizabeth stayed there because Cameron and Morgan are close, and she wanted them to feel better.”

Jason released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He hadn’t expected Audrey to back Elizabeth up, but they’d gotten lucky. For tonight, at least, Audrey had decided to take Elizabeth at her word.

“Finally!” Sonny said as Justus entered the room behind them. “Can you get us out of here?”

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Greystone Manor: Guest Room

It was after midnight before Elizabeth saw the gates open again. She should have gone to sleep hours ago, but she’d hoped Justus would get Jason and Sonny released quickly.

And she wasn’t going to be able to rest until she and Jason were able to talk.

Carly had left her after dinner, leaving Elizabeth to pace the confines of the room, switch the television off and on, getting annoyed every time the news mentioned the shooting and seemed to blame it on Jason.

She’d talked briefly to Emily, to Robin and Patrick, to check on them. She’d gone to check on Cameron, but he and Morgan were snuggled in Morgan’s bed and sleeping like the dead.

She’d sent Jason a text message telling him that she’d wait up to talk to him as soon as he could see her.

Not long after the gates opened, there was a light knock on her door. She pulled it open, relieved to see Jason standing there—even if he looked like he’d rather be anywhere else.

“Hey,” he said as she closed the door behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and he pulled her tight against him—she just wanted to be close to him. To know he was okay. They stood in silence for a long moment. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I was just worried they would keep you overnight. Carly and I knew we had to stay upstairs, but—” Elizabeth sighed, pressing her forehead against his chest. “I hated not knowing.”

“Justus came pretty quickly,” Jason told her. He hesitated. “Your grandmother was there. I think she was waiting to talk to Mac, but—Lucky was there. He was trying to get Mac to come back here and get you.”

“I guess I’m just glad Mac didn’t try—”

“That’s because your grandmother told Mac she’d already talked to you and that you were fine.”

“Really?” Elizabeth raised her brows. “I would have thought she’d want Mac to drag me out of here kicking and screaming—”

“I think Lucky made her uncomfortable.” Jason exhaled slowly. “I also think your grandmother didn’t want you to be in the middle of that.”

He crossed the room to the sitting area, and she followed him. “I appreciate you—that you just did what I needed you to do today. I know you don’t like being told what to do—”

“I don’t, but that wasn’t an ordinary situation. When it comes to my son’s safety, I’ll do what has to be done.” She sighed. “I know you feel guilty about today, but—you never would have gone out with us in the open if you’d thought there might be violence.”

“That’s just it—I can’t ever know—” Jason scowled and sat on the sofa, putting his head in his hands. “I can’t ever know for sure—”

“No one can.” She paused, remembering what she and Sam had talked about earlier. “You’re not Superman, Jason. I keep telling you that.” She sat next to him, pulling his arm down so he’d look at her. “You can’t control the world. You can’t save everyone.”

“I don’t—” Jason stopped, shook his head. “That’s not what I’m trying to do—”

“No? Jason, you and I were at a carnival full of people. Someone took a shot at a cop, and he died. I get why you have to take precautions, but—” She lifted a shoulder. “I think you also have to admit there’s a decent chance this was about Jesse.” Elizabeth winced. “This sounds terrible, but it’s not that hard for me to believe he pissed someone off to the point of violence.”

“Elizabeth—”

She took his hand between both of hers, waiting until he met her eyes. “I know all the things you want to say to me. It’s the same conversation we’ve been having since we met. And my answer is still the same. You’re the one that keeps wanting to choose for me.” Her eyes burned. “You said that you were sorry you’d made that choice for me. You said that. Months ago, when it was about Emily and Sonny, when it was about Sam.”

“I—” Jason just stared at her. “How can you want this? Forget about you. What about Cameron?”

“We’re really back to this.” Elizabeth closed her eyes. Had it only been yesterday that she’d ended her marriage? Was she doomed to repeat the same mistakes forever? She’d gone through the same cycle with Lucky as she had five years ago. Now she was having this conversation with Jason again.

Was Ric next? Was she really that stupid?

“I wish I could wrap my son in a bubble and protect him from the entire world. I can’t. Because there is danger everywhere. Yeah, some of it comes from standing next to you. But it also comes from fire, from car accidents, from illnesses, from people who are supposed to love you—” She broke off as she realized what she was really saying.

Cameron had been in danger every day she’d let him live in a home with an abusive husband. Because one day, Lucky’s anger might have turned to her son. And she’d let it happen. She’d let Cameron watch Lucky hurt her and done nothing.

“I can’t control the world, Jason. I just can’t. All I can do is surround my little boy with love. With people who want the best for him and love him.”

“I do love him,” Jason said in a low voice. “Elizabeth—” He shook his head. “Maybe this isn’t the right time.” He pushed himself to his feet. “I should let you get some sleep—”

She grabbed his arm as he started to walk past her. “I told you yesterday I wasn’t—that I wasn’t ready to go anywhere with this. Not yet. But we need to get this out of the way because I don’t want to push this conversation down the road five more months. I am tired, Jason, of standing in front of you, begging you to love me.”

“Elizabeth—” Stunned, he turned to face her. “That’s not what this is—”

“Then what is it? Why can you take a chance with other women but never with me?”

“I—” Jason swallowed. “I don’t know. I just—” He looked at her arm, where the bullet wound lay hidden beneath the shirt she’d borrowed from Carly. “I don’t want to watch you bleed. I just want you to be safe.”

“Safe,” Elizabeth repeated. She didn’t even know what that word meant anymore. She couldn’t remember that last time she’d felt truly safe. She exhaled. “Fine. Fine.”

“Elizabeth—”

“I can’t do this anymore. I just can’t. Because I’ve told you over and over again—I’m willing to take that risk. And you’re not. Maybe you never will be.” Her chest hurt as she turned away, putting her hands over her face. How many times was she going to do this to herself?

“I’d rather you be alive and hate me than stay with me and get hurt,” Jason said finally. “I can live with that. I need you to be safe. I can’t—” He just shook his head. “I can’t get this right.”

“And what does safe mean?” she asked softly. “Because Manny kidnapped me, went after me—” Elizabeth stabbed a finger at him. “And don’t tell me he only went after me the second time because of you—because he was always going to come for me. And that happened while I was with Lucky. Was I safer then?”

“I—” Jason exhaled slowly, looked away. “No. I guess not.”

“What about the crap I went through with Cassadines—with Helena trying to kill me for years because of the Spencers? Was I safe then? What about Ric? Was I safe then—what the hell does safe mean?” she demanded. “Does it mean alive? Well, great. I’ve been breathing for the past four years. You got what you wanted. I’m safe.”

She stalked away towards the window, dragging her hands through her hair, digging her fingers into her scalp. And he didn’t even know the worst of it.

Would he really be standing here telling her she was safer away from him if she told him about how much Lucky had really hurt her? If he knew about the bruises she’d hidden—the cuts she’d lied about—

“How long do you think I’ll have to stay here?” Elizabeth asked dully.

“We’ll hear back from Mateo Escobar tomorrow,” Jason said. She turned at the sound of his voice—realizing he’d walked up behind her. “He runs a small gang out of Courtland Street. He’s the only one who could have done this, and we don’t even think it’s likely to be him. Not directly.” He sighed. “You’re right. Beaudry was probably the target.”

“Well, he really was an asshole, but I’m sorry that he’ll never get the chance to grow up. And I’m sorry for Maxie. She’ll have a tough time ahead of her.”

Elizabeth turned to look up at him. “I get it, Jason. You don’t want me to get hurt because of you. You don’t want anything to happen to me, or to Cameron. But that’s my choice to make. Not yours. You either respect that, or you don’t.”

“I do.” Jason traced the line of her jaw. “I’m sorry. I keep messing this up. I don’t want you to walk away. I don’t want to lose the chance that, at some point, you’ll be ready. But I won’t apologize for not wanting you hurt. For wanting you to be safe.”

“Then you need to redefine what safe means to you,” Elizabeth told him. She fisted her hands in his shirt. “Because safe shouldn’t mean unhappy. And that’s all it’s ever been to me.”

He leaned his forehead against hers, their breaths mingling as their lips brushed against each other. “Elizabeth—”

“And tonight…I don’t want to be safe.” She slid her hand around the back of his neck to kiss him fully, to press her body against his. His breathing was shallow when their lips parted. “Stay with me.”

“Elizabeth—” His hands, tangled in her hair, tightened a bit, lifting her chin so he could deepen the kiss. “Are you sure—I don’t want to rush you—”

“I’m tired of not taking chances.”

Jason drew back slightly, his thumb brushing the bottom of her lip. His eyes searched hers. The air around them seemed to crackle with electricity as her breath quickened. Elizabeth’s heart pounded an erratic rhythm. He reclaimed her lips, crushing her against him.

They stumbled towards the bed as she clumsily reached for the bottom of his t-shirt. Elizabeth fell backward against the soft mattress. Jason was more careful as he stripped the shirt from her, easing it over her shoulder. He brushed his lips against her bandage, trailing his mouth from her wrist to her shoulder, then to her collar bone.

She wrapped her arms around his neck as he lifted her with one arm, settling her back against the pillows. She couldn’t help but giggle breathlessly as her jeans joined his on the floor.

Jason looked at her with a wicked grin she’d never seen before. “What’s so funny?” he murmured, his breath hot against her neck.

“Just—” Elizabeth moaned slightly as that mouth drifted lower again. “Just that I wish I’d worn something more interesting if I’d—I’d known it was going to be seen by someone else—”

He brushed her hair out of her face, pausing to look at her. “You’re perfect,” he told her in a gravelly, rough tone that sent shivers cascading throughout her body. “Just the way you are.”

She slid her hand around the nape of his neck and pulled him down to her, kissing him hungrily, the way she’d always wanted to, the way she had in all her dreams over the years.

This was what she deserved, and Elizabeth didn’t want to waste a minute of it.

Hey, you call me up again just to break me like a promise
So casually cruel in the name of being honest
I’m a crumpled up piece of paper lying here
‘Cause I remember it all, all, all too well
Time won’t fly, it’s like I’m paralyzed by it
I’d like to be my old self again, but I’m still trying to find it
– All Too Well, Taylor Swift

---

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Greystone: Guest Room

Elizabeth stirred awake as she heard sounds in the room around her. Forgetting momentarily where she was, she rolled over and opened her eyes. She expected to see Cameron bounding out of his bedroom to climb onto her sofa bed and ask for something to eat.

Instead, she found the dimly lit, luxuriously furnished guest room at Sonny’s estate, the hint of the morning sun sliding between the openings in the curtains—

And across the room, Jason Morgan was pulling on a pair of black cotton briefs.

Oh, right.

She closed her eyes and fell on her back, staring up at the cream-colored ceiling, pulling the sheet up under her shoulders.

She’d slept with Jason. She’d asked him to stay—and he had.

“Hey.”

She felt the bed dip under his weight as his voice came closer. Elizabeth opened her eyes again, turning her head again to find that Jason was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at her.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” he murmured. “I was worried that Cameron might come in.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth sat up, clutching the sheet to her chest and dragging a hand through her hair. “Um, what time is it?” she asked as she looked around for a clock. “It’s…almost six?”

“Yeah, you should go back to sleep,” he told her. “We, ah—” Jason cleared his throat. “We didn’t go to bed until a few hours ago.”

Her cheeks flushed. “No, but—” She took a deep breath. “Cam wakes up at seven most of the time, so there’s no point.” Elizabeth met his eyes, but it was hard to read the expression in the dim room. “So. Hey.”

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. “Hey.”

“So, this, um—” Elizabeth laughed, shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t—I feel so silly. I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.” He tipped his head to the side. “Are you okay? With…”

“I don’t know,” Elizabeth answered honestly. “I…I’m not sorry. I don’t have any regrets,” she added in a hurry when he sighed. “I just…um, I didn’t wake up yesterday and think today’s the day I’m going to—” She huffed. “I’m not explaining this right.”

“Elizabeth.”

She bit her lip and met his eyes again. “I’m not sorry. Yesterday was insane. And I was scared. For you, for me, for the boys, and Emily. I hate that they saw that. And I was irritated because I knew we were going to have to have that fight, you know? And I just—” She leaned back against the headboard. “I didn’t think we’d have to have that conversation for a while.”

“I’m sorry.” He took a deep breath. “I know it feels like we always have the same fight.”

“Because we do.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes and huffed. “And I manage to win in the moment, but it’s like—I win the battle, but I never get to stop fighting the war. I don’t want to do this again next year, in two years.” She met his eyes. “This is the last time, Jason. I don’t know what I want tomorrow to look like. But I know that I’m done convincing you that this is something I am choosing with my eyes wide open. You either accept that, or you don’t.”

“And I accept it,” he said simply. “You’re right. And I get it. This wasn’t something either of us was planning to deal with yet. So if you…” He gestured at the bed, at the sheet she was still clutching against her like a suit of armor. “If you’re not ready, you’re not ready.”

“I just—I don’t know,” Elizabeth answered. “I just know that I don’t want to hurt you. I’ve done that enough. I’m not going back to Lucky. But I just don’t know that I’m ready to choose this. Not yet. I want to be. And last night…” She reached out to touch his cheek. “Last night wasn’t a decision I made lightly. I wanted to be with you. And I’m not sorry.”

“I’m not sorry, either.”

“So what happens today?” she asked. “With all of this—I know you hate to talk about business with me—”

Jason hesitated. “It’s not that I hate it—that’s a rule Sonny taught me. Don’t tell anyone who needs plausible deniability. But it’s also an easy way to keep people out. Sonny does that. And I don’t want to do that. Not again.” He paused. “And you were right when you said if you choose this, if you walk over that line, you deserve to understand the risk.”

He’d remembered. “Thank you.”

“You’ve proven you can be trusted. And you’re here because I asked you to come. The way Carly just drops everything and brings Michael and Morgan if she’s asked to. That’s just something she does, no matter how terrible things are with Sonny or how much they argue. Thank you for that.”

“It’s what you needed, and it was the safest place for my son. There was no contest.”

“I told you last night we were waiting to hear from Mateo Escobar. He’s a small-time guy, runs a couple of clubs over on Courtland Street. They run the drugs in Port Charles,” Jason admitted. “Sonny used to try to keep them out, but—”

“But they just kept coming. Moreno, Sorel, Roscoe…” Elizabeth nodded. “I remember. I know some of the Escobars. They were always in the ER being stitched up when I was on my rotation there. Why would they come after you?”

“They’ve been pushing out of their territory lately,” Jason admitted. “Luke’s, the high school, Kelly’s. Sonny hadn’t decided to do anything about it yet, which is why yesterday doesn’t make sense. It’s…” He shook his head. “I don’t know. If it’s not the Escobars—I don’t know. And I hate that. It’s one thing to think it’s probably not us, but I’d rather know for sure.”

“So….I guess Cameron and I might be here a while?” she asked, unsure how she would ever explain that to her grandmother without an argument. And she still had to deal with the end of her marriage—

But Jason was already shaking his head. “No. Jesse Beaudry is—a cop’s dead. No one is going to want to keep the heat going. But…” He sighed. “I’m sorry. I don’t know. Maybe one more night to be safe—”

“Okay.” She flashed him a smile when he didn’t look convinced. “Really, Jason. It’s okay. We’ll wait to see what happens after Sonny meets with this guy. I better get up and get showered. Maybe I can get something to eat before Cameron gets going.”

“I should go before he gets up.” He winced. “Or before Carly does. I’m not in the mood to have that argument.”

“Me either,” Elizabeth offered dryly, as she watched him finish dressing. She got out of bed and found the robe Carly had left for her. She tied the belt as Jason pulled on his shirt and picked up his boots.

Before he left, she went to him to lightly brush her lips over his. “I meant it. I’m not sorry,” she told him softly.

“Me, either.” He kissed her again, then left.

No Name Restaurant: Private Room

Sonny frowned as the door closed on Mateo Escobar and his entourage. He turned to Jason, gestured back at the door. “What do you think about that?”

“I don’t like it,” Jason said with a shake of his head. “He thinks we should relax because it was his nephew who ordered the shooting, and he’s being dealt with.” Jason shook his head. “No. He refused to give us the name of the customer or tell us what the problem was so we could check up on it..”

“And why the hell they picked that moment to shoot at a crowd of kids? With my kid and enforcer standing right in the line of fire?” Sonny shook his head and sipped the coffee as Jason paced the small room. “That idiot Santiago felt secure enough to order a hit that killed a cop—”

“You think he’s lying about the target? You still think it was Beaudry?” Jason went to the window to watch as Mateo’s car pulled out of the parking lot, followed by two more SUVs. “Pretty dumb to take out a cop, even if he was undercover.”

Sonny squinted. “The only thing I am sure of is that Carly and Elizabeth can take the kids home. We don’t have to stay on the estate—”

Jason looked at him, bewildered. “We don’t know who the target was—Elizabeth was still in the line of fire—”

“She was, but she was grazed. Beaudry was hit with a headshot. He picked the wrong moment to get bitchy with her—it was probably the first time he was facing the shooters—” Sonny got to his feet. “I don’t think we’re out of the woods as far as the Escobars are concerned, but I also don’t think we need to worry about Carly or Elizabeth and the kids.”

Jason shook his head. “Sonny—”

“Look—” His partner looked at him as he stood by the door, his hand on the handle. “I get it. You and Elizabeth aren’t sure what you are, and she was lucky yesterday. The boys being there, Emily being there—it’s a lot. But I’m not locking Carly up any longer than I have to. She only agrees to come to the estate if I don’t push it.”

When Jason said nothing, Sonny sighed. “If you’re really not convinced Elizabeth and Cameron are safe, then take them to your place. They’d probably be more comfortable there anyway.” Sonny tilted his head. “Or maybe you’re worried if you push it another night, Elizabeth might not want to stay—”

Jason shook his head. He wished Sonny would stop saying shit like that—dropping hints that whatever was happening with Elizabeth was that weak. After yesterday—after last night—he knew without a doubt that Elizabeth wouldn’t balk at spending a night at his place to keep Cameron safe.

She’d never blinked, never hesitated—not once in all these weeks. Stalked and kidnapped by a psychopath, shot it in front of her son, locked on an estate for nearly twenty-four hours—

And the only time she’d been ready to walk was when he hadn’t been ready to trust her to stay.

He wouldn’t make that mistake again.

“Elizabeth will do whatever’s necessary to make sure Cameron is safe,” Jason said flatly. “I already talked to her about it. I think you’re wrong. I think Mateo knows exactly what the hell is going on and isn’t telling us. You should think about why that’s a problem—”

“Jase—I know he’s lying to us. I’m just not sure it’s our problem to solve. He needs to get his boys under control, but if it’s an internal power struggle, it’s really not our business—”

“They’re having this fight out in the open, Sonny,” Jason retorted. “They’re dealing at the high school, pushing in at Kelly’s and Luke’s—and they just shot up a park in broad daylight!”

Sonny exhaled slowly as if he was trying to find the patience to deal with a tantrum, and Jason narrowed his eyes. “Okay. So we make it clear to Mateo he needs to get the boys under control. We’ll take care of Santiago ourselves if he doesn’t clean it up. But beyond that? This is the same fight we’ve been having for months. Do you want to go to war with the Escobars? Is that it?”

“No,” Jason said after a long moment. “Fine. We’ll give Mateo the chance to fix things. But they’re getting bolder. This time, it was a cop that we don’t give a damn about—next time—”

He shook his head and pushed past Sonny to head to the parking lot. Jason was done arguing with Sonny. He wasn’t going to change his mind, and Jason knew he was going to have to deal with it on his own.

Greystone Manor: Living Room

Carly and Elizabeth were waiting for them when Sonny and Jason returned to the state. Carly stood up from the sofa, crossed her arms, and arched her brows.

“I don’t need any details. I just want to know if me and the boys are safe? Can we go?”

“Uh, yeah, you can go.” Sonny grimaced. “Thanks for this, Carly. I know you hate it.”

Elizabeth looked at Jason and Sonny. “That goes for me and Cam, right? We’re okay?”

“You’re okay to leave,” Sonny said before Jason could say anything. “Why?”

She didn’t answer him but looked at Carly instead. “I need to go by the apartment to pack a few things,” Elizabeth told her. “And I don’t want Cameron somewhere where Lucky might…” She sighed. “My grandmother might let Lucky see or even take Cameron. I hate to ask you, but could you watch him for a few hours? I can pick him up later—”

“Sure. I get it. I’ve been through a messy divorce or two.” She eyed Sonny. “Or three.” Carly shrugged and went upstairs. Sonny scowled, then followed her.

Elizabeth looked at Jason, who didn’t look as relieved as she might have expected upon learning that they were safe to leave. “What’s wrong? Do you not want us to go?”

“No, it’s not—” Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not satisfied with Mateo’s explanations.” He walked closer to her, dropping his voice slightly. “He said his nephew was behind it. That there was some kind of mistake about a customer. He said it had nothing to do with me or Sonny. I believe that. I just don’t think he was telling us everything.”

“Okay.” Elizabeth waited a minute, but he said nothing else. “Jason, do you want me to stay here another night?”

“No, no. I just—” He shook his head, sighed. “Sonny doesn’t feel the same way, and we’ve already had an argument about it. Carly wasn’t at the park, and they’re divorced, so it’s simple for him.”

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “You were shot at. I don’t know why they’d be shooting at you, but I didn’t realize until it was too late that Manny was after you. I just don’t want to make the mistake and think things are okay if they’re not—”

Elizabeth bit her lip. “Why don’t Cam and I come to the penthouse? We’ll stay the night, and maybe you’ll feel better about everything tomorrow. I don’t want you to worry about me, and I don’t want to take any chances either—I want to make sure Cameron is safe.”

“You can stay in the guest room,” Jason said immediately. “I was going to ask you to come stay with me, but I didn’t want it to feel like I was assuming anything or—I don’t know—that it might make you think about the last time you were there—”

“That was four years ago. I also know how to say no, Jason.” She managed a smile. “And I know you know how to hear it. But I meant it about needing some things from my apartment. I really just went to my grandmother’s with a few things. So, let me call Luke or Bobbie, and make sure Lucky is with one of them. Is it okay if Carly still takes Cam with her?”

“Yeah, yeah. They’ll have the guards at their place just like usual.”

“Okay.” Elizabeth paused. “Thank you. For being honest with me about this.” She pressed her hand to his chest, over his heart. He covered it with his own. “It means a lot to me that you’ve listened to me.”

“I don’t want to make the same mistakes again.”

“We won’t.” She kissed his cheek. “I’ll go get my things together and let Cameron know the plan.”

Port Charles Municipal Building: DA’s Office

Alexis Davis grimaced as she checked the list of voice mails she had, her head down as she walked through the entrance of her suite. “Ronnie, hold my calls,” she barked to her secretary. “I have a meeting with the mayor in an hour and Mac still doesn’t have any news on the shooter in the park—”

“Uh, Ms. Davis—” Her secretary cleared her throat and stepped in front of Alexis’s office door, forcing the district attorney to look up and focus on her. “Um, someone says they need to meet with you and won’t leave until you do.”

Alexis frowned and turned away to look at the woman sitting in one of the armchairs in the waiting area. “What are you doing here?”

Sam got to her feet and folded her arms. “I have a few things I need to ask you about.”

Alexis sighed, impatient, really not in the mood to be accused of whatever was going wrong in Sam’s life this week. “Make it quick. I have a meeting—”

“With the mayor, yeah, I heard.” Sam arched a dark brow. “You’re very important. But I think we might want some privacy for this.”

Alexis rolled her eyes and looked at her secretary. “Give me ten minutes.” She turned back to Sam. “Let’s ago.”

When Alexis’s door was closed, and the two of them were alone in her office, Alexis dropped her briefcase on the desk and looked expectantly at Sam. “Well?”

“Well, Natasha…” Sam tilted her head to the side. “That’s your real name, isn’t it? Natasha?”

“Common knowledge—”

“Well, Natasha, I’d like to know who my father is,” Sam told her. “Since the birth certificate on file with the state of Maine says unknown. Oh, and did you even bother to name me before you threw me away?”

Lucky & Elizabeth’s Apartment: Living Room

Elizabeth opened the door and stepped inside, followed by Jason. She was nervous about being back here, not having been inside she’d left on Friday. According to a quick conversation with Bobbie, Lucky was at the police station and would be there most of the day.

She realized now that she’d forgotten just how the apartment looked before she’d left on Friday—or that it could look even worse. The table next to the sofa had been turned over, the coffee table had been flipped, and one of the legs was broken.

Cameron’s toys had been strewn all over his room. She dimly remembered now that Lucky had thrown the toy organizer across the room, scattering toys everywhere. But now—she realized he had come back into the room at some point and continued the rampage.

Elizabeth stared at the destruction of her son’s room, of the space she’d given her little boy to feel safe and happy, and wanted to weep all over again for the choices she’d made.

Jason drew in a sharp breath—likely remembering Cameron’s careful pride in his toys. Some of the action figures had been stomped on and broken into pieces—including one of the race cars he’d shown Jason that night.

Jason knelt down to pick up pieces of the plastic. He turned them over in his hands, then looked at Elizabeth. She just closed her eyes, praying he wouldn’t ask what he must be thinking.

“Let’s put the broken ones aside,” Jason said finally. “W can replace them. Maybe I can do that before he knows they’re gone.”

Elizabeth wanted to argue with him, but God, he was doing it for Cameron. And that was the most important thing. She just nodded and knelt beside him, and they started to sort the toys back into the containers. She’d planned to just bring some of his favorites and come for the rest later, but—

If she left them here again, how did she even know they’d be here the next time?

“I’ll take them down to the SUV,” Jason told her. “There’s not that many containers. I can do do it in a few trips. Or, if you want, I can get a few guys with boxes. We’ll get everything cleared out today.”

“I—” Her throat was so tight, she almost couldn’t breathe. “I want to say no,” she said finally. “But I can’t. Yeah. Can you do that? I don’t care about my stuff, but Cameron—these are his—” A tear slid down her cheek. “Oh, God.” She pressed her hands to her face. “What have I done—”

“It’s over now,” Jason told her. He drew her to her feet. “It’s over. You’re leaving. Right? You’re not coming back. So don’t focus on that anymore. Let’s get things packed. I’ll go call Cody. They’ll be here in ten minutes. They can just grab some boxes from the warehouses, and we’ll store it wherever you want.”

“Okay. Okay. Thank you.” She managed a smile. “Thank you. For caring about his things as much as I do. I need to replace them. I might have to borrow money or—” When he just stared at her, she laughed lightly. “Right. Stupid. But thank you. Knowing that you love my little boy is just—it makes this easier.”

“He’s easy to love.” He kissed her forehead. “Keep packing. I’ll call Cody.”

He stepped into the living room while Elizabeth finished packing Cameron’s toys back into their plastic containers. Then she started to sort through his clothes, stacking them so they could easily be put into boxes. When Cameron’s things were organized, she moved on to the dresser she kept in the bedroom.

She put her own clothes into piles on the bed, setting aside things to take to Jason’s and others to leave for her grandmother’s. When she was done, she started to lift her jewelry box from the top of the dresser—then stopped as her wedding ring flashed in her face.

Elizabeth stared at it, then yanked it off her finger. She nearly threw it across the room, but then thought better of it. She could always sell or pawn it later. She lifted the top of the jewelry box—then just stared.

It was nearly empty. All that was left was some of the costume jewelry that she wore on an everyday basis—anything valuable was missing. The bracelet her grandmother had given her, a pair of earrings her parents had sent one year for her birthday, a necklace—

“Elizabeth—”

“My jewelry is gone,” she said softly. She turned to look at Jason, stunned. “Everything that was worth more than twenty bucks.”

Jason swallowed hard, then walked forward. “When was the last time you saw it?”

“Thursday, before I left for work,” Elizabeth said. She dropped her wedding ring in the box. “I wear this necklace—” She pressed her hand to her chest, picking up the thin gold strand with her thumb. “My grandmother gave it to me for my last birthday—” She closed her eyes. “Why would he take them?”

“I don’t know,” Jason said. “Maybe—maybe Luke or Bobbie could find out for you.” There was something in the tone of his voice that made her look at him with some hesitation. “Cody is on his way. He’ll be here in ten minutes with two other guys. He’s bringing a van in case you want to bring anything else that won’t fit in my SUV.”

“We should get packing.” Elizabeth set the jewelry box back on her dresser and went to her closet.

She never wanted to come back here again.

Port Charles Municipal Building: DA’s Office

Alexis swallowed hard as she stared at Sam. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Could you—” She took a deep breath. “Could you start from the beginning?”

“Never mind—this was a terrible idea,” Sam muttered. She didn’t know why she was here—why she had taken Elizabeth’s advice—

She’d been arranging her plane ticket out of Port Charles this morning and was just struck with a desperate urge to know why she’d been given away. She had thought Alexis would deny it, that she would even refuse to see her—that she’d do something other than look at her with a devastated expression.

She turned and started for the door, but Alexis rushed past her, flattening herself against the office door.

“No. No.” Alexis just stared at her. “No. There must be a mistake. Mikkos—he took you—and I looked—I looked, but they said you’d died. I looked. There must be a mistake.”

Sam took a step back, shook her head again. “What are you talking about? The records were right there. I mean, we had to hack into them because Maine refused to tell me anything legally, but—”

“I—” Alexis raised a hand in the air, curled it into a first. “Just give me a second. My head is spinning. I—” She took another deep breath. “I was sixteen. I was in a girl’s school in Vermont, and I’d snuck out for the night a college bar. I didn’t know the boy very well. I don’t even—” Her cheeks flushed. “I didn’t get his last name, but his name was Julian. He was very sweet, and we were both very drunk. I never saw him again. I got caught sneaking out, and Mikkos moved me to a stricter school.”

“Okay.” Sam folded her arms, lifted her chin. “So he forced you to give up your kid for adoption. But he died like eight minutes later, so—”

“He did. But you don’t know what Mikkos Cassadine was like—” Alexis shook her head. “You don’t know what Helena was like. Not really. She killed my mother. I hid my sister away to protect her. That’s why I became a lawyer. I thought I could be in charge then. After I graduated from law school, I went to Maine. I tried to find—I find to find the clinic, the agency, but it was all gone. Mikkos had created both just to hide everything—and then had closed them as soon as the baby was—”

Alexis’s voice trembled. “But I looked, Sam. I looked anyway. And they told me that my little girl had been adopted into a family and had died at the age of seven in a car accident. I was devastated. I never—I don’t know if there was a mistake or if Mikkos put something in the system in case I ever tried to look—”

“Well, there’s no mistake now,” Sam muttered, looking away from the shattered look in the older woman’s eyes. “Jason had his suspicions when we were told my mother’s name on the birth certificate was Natasha Davis. So he ran a DNA test behind my back.”

“A DNA—” Alexis closed her eyes. “Oh, God, you must have been horrified. I know how you feel about me.”

“Well, you don’t think much of me either—”

“It’s—” Alexis shook her head. “Sam, none of that matters now. I just—” She pressed her lips together. “I didn’t know your father, but yes, you had a name. I named you for my mother. Kristin. In my head, I always called you Kristie.” Tears were sliding down her cheeks as she laughed. She pressed her hands to her cheeks. “That sounds silly now, doesn’t it? Can you imagine growing up as Kristie?”

Sam’s chest was tightened. “Yeah, maybe. I’ve seen you with Kristina and Molly, so maybe I can imagine what it might have been like to have a mother.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “This isn’t going the way I wanted it to.”

“Sam—”

“You’re not my mother. This isn’t—” She huffed, looked away. “I’m not looking for a family. I’m not looking for sisters or a mother. And definitely not a stepfather.”

“I get that—”

“I only—” Sam threw up her hands. “I only came because I’m leaving Port Charles, and I guess I just—someone told me not to leave anything unfinished. Now I think I should have told her to mind her own damn business.”

“Please—don’t—don’t go—”

But Sam reached past Alexis and tugged open the door. “Have a nice life—”

“Don’t go—”

But Sam had already left, leaving her mother in tears.

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

“Thanks for letting me use the storage space here at the Towers,” Elizabeth said as Jason closed the door behind him. “And I guess it’s a good thing that Cam wanted to sleep over with Morgan again. Do you think I’m wrong for letting him? He’s spent so much time at Carly’s this week—”

“I think it might be easier for him there,” Jason said slowly, “than having to sleep in another new place tonight. He loves Morgan’s house, and he’s comfortable there. You’re not wrong to let him.”

“I guess. Maybe I should be concerned that my two-year-old has no problems sleeping in a house without me.” Elizabeth sighed and rubbed her cheeks, her eyes aching from crying again. She just wanted to be done with the tears. “I want to be with him, but you’re right. Another new place would be hard for him. And Morgan has a playroom that’s bigger than our apartment.”

“You’re a great mother,” Jason told her. He put his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them slightly. “You’ve raised a great, funny kid who’s comfortable around people he knows he can trust. And he’s starting nursery school in the fall, isn’t he? He’ll be socialized and ready.”

“You always know how to make me feel better,” Elizabeth said, her chest relaxing. “Thanks. You’re right, of course.” She sighed. “I’m just—” She shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s been a crazy forty-eight hours.”

“It has—”

The phone rang on the desk, and Jason answered it. “Hello? Hey, Walt. Yeah, okay. Yeah, that’s fine.” He put the phone down. “Robin’s on her way up.”

“Robin?” Elizabeth frowned. “How did she know I was here? I was going to call Emily, but—”

There was a knock on the door a few minutes later, and Robin smiled sheepishly when Jason pulled it open. “Hey, I hope it’s okay that I popped over. I ran into Bobbie at GH, and she mentioned you were staying here tonight. I managed to stop Patrick and Emily from rushing over and bombarding you.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth nodded, still a bit confused. “Yeah. I guess that makes sense. Um—”

“I wanted to check in with you. Because, you know, I talked to Emily. And I know what’s been happening.” She pressed her lips together. “And because of Jesse.”

“Oh,” Elizabeth repeated. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I’ve been thinking about Maxie. How are you all holding up?”

“I’m okay. I didn’t know Jesse well, and well, you know we didn’t get along, “Robin admitted. “But Maxie is devastated. Felicia and Georgie are with her.”

“I’m gonna let you guys talk,” Jason said. He hesitated, looking at Elizabeth. “I need to go check on a few things. Cody will be downstairs if you want to go out.”

“I wasn’t planning on it since I’m off today, but thanks. I’ll see you when you get back.” She watched him leave before looking back at Robin. “I guess you’re really here because Bobbie said I left Lucky.”

“Emily told me that last night. We were talking about what happened,” Robin said. “And she said Jesse was fighting with you about Lucky, about you being at the park with Jason. And I guess—I don’t know—I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I am…” Elizabeth stopped, thinking about her answer. “I don’t know. But I think I’m getting there.”

She moved to sit on the sofa, and Robin followed her. “I went home on Friday morning after my shift, and he was already—he was already out of control. I don’t have any bruises to show for it, but he grabbed my wrist, he pushed me into the wall again—” Elizabeth rubbed her face. “And I just—I knew I had to be done. Part of me had already walked away weeks ago.”

“I’m sorry you went through that. I’m glad you’re standing in front of me now.” Robin pursed her lips. “But this is the most dangerous time, you know that, right? After leaving. Have you talked to Jason about this yet?”

“I wasn’t going to,” Elizabeth admitted. “I thought maybe I could hide it. Everyone would think we’d divorced over Jason or Lucky’s job, or something else. I almost think I’d rather they think I’m unfaithful than the truth.” She laughed bitterly. “I guess I am technically unfaithful with everything that’s happened with Jason.”

“Elizabeth—”

“I wasn’t going to,” she repeated. “And then Jason and I had this stupid argument we’ve been having since the second we became more than friends. He wanted to talk to me about safety. He wants me to be safe. And I just—safe, Robin. Was I safe with Lucky? I mean, if I’m not safe being married to a cop—” She threw up her hands. “When am I supposed to be safe? What does that even mean?”

“Not much, I guess, from your perspective. Elizabeth—”

“I’m not ready to jump into anything with Jason. Not—not officially. But we both know it’s something we want. And I just—I guess I think I might need to him understand why this is a risk I’m willing to take. Because every time he decides I should be safe with someone else, I just end up miserable.” Elizabeth sighed. “I don’t want to be safe if it means I’m unhappy. Why can’t there be something in the middle?”

“I don’t know if there can be. And I don’t know what’s going to happen with Jason, but I think you should tell him what you’ve been through. Because you need to tell the people that matter. I mean, Patrick and I matter, sure,” Robin said before Elizabeth could protest, “but not the way Jason does. Not the way Emily does. And not the way your grandmother does.”

“I—”

“Because as long as you don’t tell the people who you love the most—the people who are your family—you’re still hiding it, Elizabeth. And hiding it means you’re not dealing with it.”

“I know.” Elizabeth sighed. “I almost told Jason last night. I wanted to tell him today. But we went to the apartment, and Lucky had busted up Cameron’s room. He broke some of his toys—”

“Oh, Elizabeth—”

“Jason just looked at them—he knows how much Cameron loves those toys—and he didn’t look at me with any kind of disgust or blame for going back to Lucky. He just—he just wanted to sort the broken ones so they could be replaced before Cameron knew they were gone. He loves my son, Robin. And I—we haven’t said it—but I think we love each other. And maybe it’s insane, but I don’t care about the rest of it. Because that’s what’s important.”

“Then be honest with him,” Robin advised. “And put Lucky in the past where he belongs.” She took Elizabeth’s hand in hers. “I think maybe you file a police report with my uncle. He’ll listen.”

“Would he? He didn’t after the kidnapping—”

“He will when you show him the pictures I took before Manny kidnapped you. He will when I back you up.” Robin nodded. “I’ll bring you the pictures. Just—just think about it. Because leaving Lucky—that’s important. That’s the hard part, I know, but the scary part comes now. When Lucky realizes you mean it. He already broke your son’s toys. You need to make a report—even if it goes nowhere—because it needs to be on the record.”

“I’ll—” Elizabeth managed a weak smile. “I don’t know if I’m ready for Mac. But I think—I think I do need to tell Jason. And Emily and my grandmother. I need to stop hiding and pretending it will go away.”

One day she will tell you that she has had enough
It’s coming round again
Do you feel like a man
When you push her around?
Do you feel better now, as she falls to the ground?
Well I’ll tell you my friend, one day this world’s got to end
As your lies crumble down, a new life she has found
– Facedown, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

---

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Courtland Street: Alley

Jason parked his bike a block away from the area where he knew Santiago Escobar dealt drugs and did most of his business. He didn’t want the engine to give him away.

The night before, when Lucky had shown up at the gatehouse, there had been a light in his eyes, a weird energy in the way he carried himself—Jason had wondered at the source but hadn’t let the thought really take control. He didn’t have time to worry about Lucky Spencer, not with Elizabeth looking more done with him than ever before.

She’d walked away from Spencer last night without blinking, and he’d planned to follow her lead. Until he’d seen Lucky at the PCPD the night before—until this morning when Elizabeth’s jewelry was missing. The valuable pieces that might bring some decent cash at a pawnshop.

The cop buying drugs from the Escobars, a problem with a customer, stolen jewelry—it all added up, and Jason didn’t know how any of them had missed it. He’d avoided Lucky, and he knew Elizabeth felt guilty—

But it was clear to him that Lucky had become addicted to something in the last few months which meant Elizabeth had been the target last night—and Beaudry, the victim of a ricochet by a young, immature idiot who didn’t know better.

Santiago Escobar had his back to the street, dealing with a customer when Jason reached the entrance to the alley. The greasy man buying from Santiago paled when he realized who was standing behind his dealer.

“Uh, never mind—” He spun and took off down the alley, tripping and falling into a pile of trash.

“What the hell—” Santiago started to call after him, but his words were choked out as Jason grabbed him by the shoulders, threw him up against the brick wall of the building. He pressed his forearm against the dealer’s neck, watching as Santiago’s eyes bulged slightly.

“Morgan—what—”

“Didn’t your uncle tell you we were interested in you?” Jason shook his head. “Because I am. Do you know who was at the park yesterday?”

“Listen—it was a misunderstanding—a customer—”

“Who’s the customer?” Jason increased the pressure slightly, and Santiago gasped. “Who?”

“Uncle Matty told me not—”

“You think you can take a shot at me and walk away—”

“It wasn’t you—it was—”

“You shot at Elizabeth, didn’t you?” Jason demanded. “Because Lucky Spencer wasn’t paying his bills?” When Santiago gulped, Jason knew he’d been right. He released the dealer suddenly, letting him drop onto the filthy concrete ground.

Santiago was on all fours, gasping for air. “I didn’t know—”

“You’re too stupid to live,” Jason said, nearly as insulted as he was furious. He grabbed Santiago by the hair and threw him back against the wall. “You didn’t know who Elizabeth Webber is? You don’t pay attention to the news?”

“Her name is Spencer, dude—” Santiago wheezed as Jason slammed his fist into the asshole’s gut. “Oh, shit, shit. Shit. She was there with you?” His eyes bulged in horror. “Oh, shit.”

“Yeah, oh, shit,” Jason repeated. Without breaking a sweat, he threw Santiago against the other brick building. He slumped, falling to the ground. “You touch her or her kid—you even breathe in her direction, I’ll make you sorry you were ever born.”

“It was a mistake,” Santiago blubbered. Blood was seeping from a deep gash on his forehead. “A mistake—”

“You sent two shooters to a crowded park full of kids and innocent people so you could shoot at a customer’s wife because he owed you money?” Jason crouched down to look at the nearly incoherent drug dealer. “The only reason you’re not already dead is because your uncle said he’d deal with you.”

“B-But—”

“You stay away from Kelly’s. The high school—Luke’s—” Jason stood up and looked around the alley. “You see this alley? This is yours. You don’t leave again. You or anyone else. This is the only warning you get.”

“You—” Santiago rolled over onto his side, coughing. “Sonny would never go against my uncle—”

Jason kicked him hard—Santiago fell onto his back, moaning. “This isn’t about your uncle or Sonny. This is about you.” Jason knelt one more time. “Don’t make me regret leaving you alive.”

When Santiago just nodded, finally out of his bravado, Jason took a deep breath. “Now tell me about Lucky Spencer.”

Greystone Manor: Living Room

Sonny frowned when Jason walked back into the room three hours after he’d left. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Jason took a deep breath and looked at him. “I know what happened yesterday. Mateo swore it wasn’t about us. It wasn’t, but Elizabeth was the target. He just didn’t know who she was.”

“How can you be so sure?” Sonny wandered over the minibar, then winced. It was barely two in the afternoon. Without pouring the bourbon, he turned back to his partner. “Where have you been?”

“I took Elizabeth to the apartment to pack a few things, and when we got there—” Jason swallowed hard, remembering the destruction of Cameron’s bedroom, of the broken pieces of plastic that had once been the toddler’s prized toys. “It looked like Lucky had gone on a rampage. Things were torn up everywhere.”

Sonny winced. “Oh, man—”

“And Elizabeth realized her jewelry was missing. Jewelry that was there on Thursday. Before the shooting.”

Sonny furrowed his brow, but Jason could see his point was getting through to the other man. “What kind of pieces?”

“Elizabeth said they were relatively valuable. Not insanely expensive, but not cheap. A few things passed from her family. Something that might interest a pawnshop.”

“The cop we thought might be undercover,” Sonny said slowly, “was a cop making a legit buy. A cop who might want something to relieve the pain.” He exhaled slowly. “Damn it.”

“I went to Courtland Street,” Jason said flatly. “And I found Santiago Escobar. He confirmed it. Lucky Spencer’s been buying from him since March. At first, it was just oxycontin. But in the last month, he’s been buying heroin—”

“Christ—”

“On credit,” Jason finished. “When Lucky refused to pay on Friday, Santiago told his boys to send him a message. They were supposed to shoot at Elizabeth to make it clear to Lucky they could get to his family. Beaudry—it was a ricochet or something—”

He shook his head. “Lucky stole her jewelry and pawned it along with anything else he could find in the apartment. Their television was missing, too. Elizabeth didn’t realize it when we were, but I went back to the apartment to check. He made good with the Escobars today. Because he knew that the Escobars had shot up the park and why.”

“Oh, man—this is—” Sonny sat in the armchair. “They really are dumb as hell—” He stared at Jason. “That’s why Lucky was looking for Elizabeth last night. Why he was so desperate for her to come with him. He knew they were shooting at her.”

“The Escobars aren’t like you, Sonny. They’re not even like Moreno or Sorel. Or they weren’t. Mateo’s always been happy as long as you let him run his product in his territory. But Santiago is greedy, and he didn’t even think twice about going after a cop’s family. That’s a special kind of stupid.”

“So Elizabeth was, again, the target for something that had nothing to do with us.”

“Yeah.” Jason exhaled. And he’d nearly walked away from her again, thinking she might be safer without him. “I put Stan on the pawnshops — I want to get her things back. But I have to tell her, Sonny.”

“She didn’t know about the drugs? She never said anything?”

“No, but—” Jason hesitated. “She never got into the details of what was wrong with Lucky. I thought it was mostly about me, but maybe—maybe it wasn’t.” He shook his head. “I don’t think she knew.”

Sonny sighed. “You should go tell Elizabeth. She needs to get that divorce filed immediately and make it known to the world she’s not to blame for that idiot husband. Man, Lucky was such a great kid. I don’t know what the hell happened to him.” He grimaced. “And I’ll talk to Mateo again. We need to put a lid on this before the PCPD makes trouble for us all.”

Jason shook his head—it wasn’t the action he wanted Sonny to take, but he hadn’t expected much anyway. He’d have to keep a closer eye on the Escobars himself and step up if Sonny wouldn’t.

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

Elizabeth sighed as she wrote down the name of the fifth broken toy from the box she’d had one of the guards bring up from storage. She wanted to get Cameron’s things replaced as soon as possible—she didn’t want him to even know they were missing.

She turned over the Spiderman figure—one of four Cameron owned—and searched in the box until she found the missing leg. It had been broken into two pieces—

This had been deliberate. Lucky to have smashed it with his heel. Some of the pieces had been so obliterated, they were still shards of plastic in the carpet back at the apartment.

She’d save this toy, save these broken pieces as a reminder of why she could never—ever—go back.

Elizabeth turned at the sound of the key in the lock and managed a half-smile for Jason as he returned, tossing his keys onto the table. “Hey.” She got to her feet and folded her arms. “I was just thinking about dinner. I haven’t eaten since—” She stopped at the look on his face. “What’s wrong?”

Jason scratched his brow, then looked at the broken toys she’d been sorting through. “Let’s—let’s sit for a minute.”

“No, Jason. Tell me what’s wrong.” She crossed the room to him and put a hand on his forearm. “What happened?” She turned his hand over to look at his knuckles. The skin was broken slightly, and a bruise was forming. “Jason?”

“I know what happened to your jewelry,” Jason said after a long moment. He stripped off his jacket and tossed it on the sofa behind them. “Lucky pawned it to pay off Santiago Escobar.”

“Pay off—” Elizabeth closed her eyes. “You said he was a drug dealer. Patrick refused to write him a new prescription for his pain pills a few months ago,” she said in a soft voice. “I know Lucky struggled with that. I thought he’d figured it out—Patrick said he’d stopped screaming at him for a new script. He just…found someone else to give him the pills.”

“Yeah, I talked to Escobar. Lucky started going to him in March. And then…last month, he started buying heroin regularly. It’s a stronger high—Lucky probably had built a tolerance—”

Elizabeth shook her head. “You don’t—” Her mind spun for a moment. “You don’t have to explain. I get it. He’s been on drugs. For months.” She hadn’t even thought—hadn’t even considered—

“Yeah.”

Elizabeth turned away from him and dragged her hands through her hair. “Oh, man. I didn’t—I knew he was in pain. I knew he was angry all the time. But I was just—I was so wrapped up in my own guilt about what was happening with you, and then Manny—I didn’t see it—didn’t carry it to the logical conclusion.” She turned back. “He pawned my jewelry to pay them off. Which meant he owed them money. That’s what yesterday was about?”

“It was just supposed to be a warning to Lucky,” Jason said. “It looks like Beaudry really was an accident. Lucky paid up this morning.”

“Oh, my God—” She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. “Oh, my God. I let my son live in a home with a man high on drugs—I left Cameron alone with him—That day—at the hospital—he drove Cameron there—”

“Elizabeth—”

“There were probably drugs in the apartment. What if Cameron had gotten his hands on them—”

“He didn’t.” Jason reached for her hands and pulled them away from her face, forcing her to look at him. “Hey. He didn’t. He’s safe. You left, and Cameron is safe. We can go get him if you need to see for yourself—”

“I just—”

Elizabeth collapsed onto the sofa, feeling like she’d been punched in the gut. “I went back to him. I—” Her lip trembled. “You don’t even know the half of it, Jason. You don’t know how bad it was. And I went back because I thought I could save him. I thought if I could just be patient—but he was doing drugs—heroin. He was on heroin. And—”

Jason sat next to her and picked up the broken Spiderman. He stared at it for a long moment before looking back at her. “How bad was it?” he asked softly.

She clasped her hands into her lap. “The first time was the day Cameron got sick. You remember? You went into the store, and you bought him that Pedialyte because he couldn’t eat.”

“I remember.”

“You wouldn’t let me pay you back, and I—I—it was name brand. I wouldn’t have bought it. We can’t afford that. When Lucky came home, and he realized you had bought it—he was angry. I hadn’t seen him that angry since—”

Since the brainwashing. Since he’d attacked Jason with a knife.

Elizabeth swallowed hard and looked at Jason. His face hadn’t changed, although she was sure he knew where this conversation was going. “He was screaming at me about taking favors from you, and then he started to dump it out—and I was so tired—I even—Cameron needed that, Jason. He needed it. And I just—I tried to st-stop him.”

She didn’t even realize she was tapping her foot so hard her knee was bouncing until Jason put a hand over her clasped hands, the weight of his arm keeping her leg down. “I think it really was an accident the first time. He pushed me away from him—and I just—I went flying. I guess—I don’t weigh a lot.” She sighed. “Maybe I need to think it was an accident.”

“The bruise on your face,” Jason said slowly.

“I hit the door frame of the kitchen.” Tears slid down her cheeks. “He was so upset. I told him to leave, but he was crying, and he said he was sorry—and I just—I thought—it was an accident.”

He swallowed hard. “You said it was the first time.”

“The next night. We—we were fighting.”

“Because I was there—” Jason closed his eyes, shook his head slightly. “I’m sorry—”

“No, don’t be—I knew I should make you leave. I knew he would be angry if you were still there, but Cameron—he just fell in love with you, Jason. And he was so happy—” Elizabeth dipped her head. “He grabbed me that day. Left bruises.”

“The next day, you left him. That Thursday before you were kidnapped.” Jason straightened. “You had a cut on your face. And you looked like your shoulder was hurt.” He shook his head, disgusted.

“Lucky found out Cameron was with Morgan. He—he said he was going to the Brownstone, and I thought maybe he was going after my son, so I had to stop him—and it was just—he shoved me, and I hit the table, fell over, and the lamp broke—I—”

She wept bitterly now, sobs spilling from deep inside—because just recounting it out loud, saying it like this—

How could she ever have gone back—how could she have forgotten—

Jason drew her close, put an arm around her shoulder, pressed his lips to her forehead. “Hey. Hey—”

“I went back. I felt so guilty—that’s why Lucky—Manny saw the bruises. He kidnapped Lucky because he hurt me—how fucked up is that, Jason? And Manny was telling him about you on my speed dial, and Lucky was looking at me—and I was so scared—because I thought if Manny let him go—”

She drew in a deep, shuddering breath. “But I went back. I went back. Because Luke asked me to. He just—he asked me to fight for the boy. Again. And I didn’t want to, but I thought—well, Lucky never gave up on me—”

“Damn it, Elizabeth—” Jason muttered under his breath. “Do you really think this is the same thing?”

“No, of course not.” Elizabeth swiped at her cheeks, trying to get herself under control. “No. I know it’s not. But I think—God, I think I needed to go back, Jason. I need to stop making excuses. I thought if I could love him enough, if I could be a good wife, I could save him. But it’s not my job to save Lucky. And I don’t want to. I don’t think he can be saved.”

She sighed. “I went back because I thought maybe it was a crazy couple of days. Because Lucky had never ever hurt me like that before, and I really thought if he could acknowledge it, get counseling, it was something that we could get past. I don’t know if I really thought I was staying forever when Luke asked—he only asked me to stay for a little while. Until Lucky was out of the hospital and had recovered.”

“He didn’t have any right to—”

“He knew that, Jason.” She shook her head as Jason scowled. “I’m not making excuses for him. Luke told me he hated himself for asking. He’s Lucky’s father. You know what it is to love a child. Is there anything you wouldn’t do for Michael?”

“If Michael were an abusive asshole who took his anger out on someone who loved him, I wouldn’t be asking the woman to go back,” Jason said. He got to his feet. “I’d be kicking the shit out of Michael and asking who the hell raised him—” He took a quick, sharp breath. “I’m sorry. You don’t need this from me.”

“I went back because I thought there was still a chance I could help him. And if I hadn’t done it, Jason, I might have lived for the rest of my life thinking there might be a chance.” Elizabeth stood up as well, hugging her arms around her torso. “There’s not. I know that now. I know it with every breath in my body. I knew it before that last day on Friday. I was already done. I just didn’t get the chance to tell him before—”

“Did he—” Jason fisted his hands at his side.

“He grabbed me from behind the way Tom Baker did, and then threw me against the wall,” Elizabeth said in a flat tone. “And I sat there, and I just—I just wanted it to be over. He left. Blaming me. Because he knew I didn’t love him. And—man—for a few minutes there, I thought, ‘This is my fault’—”

“No—”

“Because I went back to him knowing I didn’t love him. I wanted my vows to mean something, but I forgot the most important one. To love and to cherish. I don’t love him, and he didn’t cherish me. Because the vows—it doesn’t matter if I was keeping any of those promises—we both had to keep them. And we didn’t.”

She felt stronger now, more at peace with this now. “I wasn’t going to tell you, Jason. I was going to let you think we’d fought over you and me at the docks, about anger management—but yesterday—you tried to push me away again because you wanted me to be safe.”

Jason just looked at her, anguish in his eyes. “I didn’t know—” His voice was rough, pained.

“I’m tired of being safe. Of taking the easy way out. Of lying to myself. I don’t love Lucky. And I don’t want to be safe. I want to be happy, and I was last night with you. Yesterday at the carnival, when you were on that silly roller coaster with boys—I just—”

She smiled at him. “I saw our future. I saw what I thought I might want if we didn’t run away again. And that’s what I want. You make me feel safe and happy.”

“I was happy, too,” he said in a low voice. “Because—” He shook his head. “No. Not yet.” Jason took a deep breath. “You want to take this slow, and that’s what I want for you. Since we know the reason behind the shooting, you don’t have to stay if you don’t want—”

“I do want to stay,” Elizabeth said softly. “But that’s why I should go. Because the next time I spend the night in your arms, Jason, I want it to because I’m ready for it to be a permanent step.”

She sighed. “I should go home. Because you’re not the only person who deserves to hear this from me. I need to tell my grandmother. And Emily. Robin thinks I should tell her uncle—to make a report—”

“Robin knows?” Jason frowned. “What—”

“She and Patrick saw the bruises, and she convinced me to take pictures the day I was kidnapped. So she has those if I file a report.” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “And I think I should. Because Robin said something else. I did the hard part — I left. But now I have to make it count. I should call Justus and make it permanent.” She sighed. “And yeah, I should call Mac. Not just about the abuse. If Lucky’s on drugs, I’m not the only person who should know that.”

Hardy House: Living Room

Audrey must have heard the car pull up in the driveway or seen them through the window, because she was already on her feet, in the middle of the living room with a scowl fixed on her face.

“Gram—”

“I cannot believe you’re still with him,” Audrey said flatly. “Where’s Cameron? Is he still with Sonny Corinthos?”

“No, he’s with Carly and Morgan,” Elizabeth said, already feeling exhausted. “Gram—”

“I don’t know what’s going on here. One second, you’re married to Lucky, and now you’re spending the night with Jason Morgan—” Audrey looked at Jason. “You should leave, Mr. Morgan—”

“I should,” Jason agreed, touching Elizabeth’s elbow. “I don’t want to make this any harder than it already is—”

“No—don’t—” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “Not yet.”

“Elizabeth—” Audrey began.

“Do you remember when I told you Manny Ruiz kidnapped me because he was obsessed with me? That it had nothing to do with Jason and you decided that wasn’t true? Just like the PCPD, you ignored that.”

“I—” Audrey hesitated. The certainty, the righteousness, faded from her face. “Elizabeth—”

“The shooters at the carnival were there for me. To shoot at me. Not to kill me, but to send a message to someone that they could get to me at any time or place.”

And she could see the minute it was starting to click for her grandmother because, of course, Elizabeth wasn’t referring to Jason—why would Jason still be there?

Audrey’s hands fell to her side. “Send a message to who?”

“You saw him last night, Mrs. Hardy,” Jason offered, his voice quiet, respectful. “You know something is wrong with Lucky. You told Mac you knew Elizabeth was safe where she was. You didn’t help him.”

Audrey touched her throat, took a deep breath. “I have to admit—there was something in his eyes that I didn’t like. Something in the way—” She looked at Elizabeth. “Oh. Oh. It is the same.”

“Gram—”

“Just like Tom.” Color slid from her grandmother’s cheek, the angry red flush paling into a stark white. “Oh, Elizabeth.” She strode forward. “Are you all right?”

“I am now.” Elizabeth took Audrey’s hand in hers. “Because I left. I wasn’t going to tell anyone, but last night—” She looked at Jason, who looked a bit mystified at Audrey’s turn around. “Last night, I realized that pretending it didn’t happen is the wrong thing to do. I need to face it. I need to tell the people who matter to me.”

Audrey touched her face, then looked at Jason again, with a gentler expression. “I—I’m sorry. I shouldn’t jump to conclusions—”

“It’s okay, Mrs. Hardy—”

“It’s not,” Elizabeth said fiercely. “I love you, Gram. But Jason is part of my life. He loves Cameron. He loves my little boy more than Lucky ever has. I’m not—it’s not like I’m running out to divorce Lucky so I can move in with Jason. But he’s important to me. And he’s important to Cameron. I need to know if that’s something you can deal with.”

“Well, I suppose that since I’ve suggested you stay with Ric Lansing and Lucky Spencer, my ability to judge a person’s character is lacking,” Audrey said finally. She looked at Jason. “I can accept that.”

Jason’s phone buzzed. When he saw Stan’s name on the voice mail list, he sighed. “I have to go take this. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay. Can you go get Cameron for me? I want him home with me, and with Gram.”

“I’ll be back in a little while.” He nodded to Audrey, then left.

“Darling, do you want to talk about it?” Audrey asked.

“No, but I need to,” Elizabeth said with a sigh as she followed her grandmother to the sofa. And then told her everything.

This is a song for the broken girl
The one pushed aside by the cold, cold world
You are
Hear me when I say
You’re not the worthless they made you feel
There is a love they can never steal away
You don’t have to stay the broken girl
– Broken Girl, Matthew West

---

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Hardy Home: Living Room

Elizabeth was crying again as she finished telling her grandmother about Friday, about the final time Lucky had hurt her. Audrey was in tears, too, her voice trembling as she hugged Elizabeth. The two of them rocked back and forth on the sofa.

“I’m so sorry, darling, that I didn’t see it. That I didn’t make you feel safe enough to tell me—” Audrey drew back and wiped tears from Elizabeth’s face. “I love you so very much, and all I’ve ever wanted is for you to be happy. But you haven’t been. I blamed you, and I had no right—”

“No, Gram, you did the same thing to me that I did to myself—”

“But I know better. I saw you after the kidnapping.” Audrey pressed her lips together, tried to get herself under control. “I saw the way you broke down—and I kept going. I kept blaming Jason. But it’s never been his fault. It’s mine. And Jason is right. I saw Lucky last night. I should have seen the signs.”

“I should have had more courage and faith in myself. I knew I wasn’t in love with Lucky weeks ago. I don’t know when it changed—” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “Gram, I had an affair with Jason. I knew it. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t stop myself. And I let my guilt over that blind me to what was happening in my marriage. I couldn’t see that Lucky’s anger was dangerous, I didn’t see that he taking drugs—and I didn’t just put myself in that situation, I let it happen to Cameron—”

“I put myself back into a marriage with a man that nearly destroyed me,” Audrey told her. “You know that. I could say times were different — and they were. The judge wouldn’t give me custody of Tommy unless I stayed with his father. And, of course, in the state of New York—” She sighed.

“A husband couldn’t rape his wife,” Elizabeth said with a sour taste in her throat. “I know. It was never that bad with Lucky, and part of me wants to say it never would have been, but I also—”

She swiped tears from her cheeks. “I never thought it would be like that with Lucky at all. I kept thinking we could have the magic back. I never once stopped to ask myself if I even wanted it.”

“I’m sorry, darling. But you’ve left him now, and I won’t ever let you change your mind.” Audrey hesitated. “And…this…affair with Jason…is it—well, is it still—”

“When I went back to Lucky, Jason and I stopped seeing each other. I promise. I ran into him last week on the docks by accident. We weren’t sleeping together. It was just…a few kisses. A few conversations we shouldn’t have had. But it was enough, and I should have listened to my heart.”

Elizabeth waited a moment, but Audrey didn’t say anything, so she continued. “But yes. Now it’s…something. I’ve told Jason that I want to take it slow. I want to end my marriage, I want to take a breath and give myself space. But I don’t want either of us to ignore how we felt. How we feel. I don’t want to miss my chance again. He loves Cameron, Gram.”

“Does he love you?” Audrey asked carefully.

“I—”

Elizabeth’s answer was cut off as there was a harsh knock on the door. Elizabeth frowned and went to the door to look through the peephole. She grimaced, stepping away. “Go away, Lucky!”

“Let me in! Now! You’re my wife, and I’ll be damned if you’re going to keep humiliating me—” Lucky hit the door, kicking it so hard that it shook in the frame.

“Lucky Spencer, you leave this property right now, or I will call the police,” Audrey shouted back.

“Open this goddamn door, Elizabeth, or I will break it down!”

Her heart pounding, Elizabeth fumbled for her phone. “I’m calling Jason—he can send a guard or—”

“I’m calling 911 right now!” Audrey shouted as she grabbed the landline. She went to the window where she could see Lucky on her doorstep. She held up the phone, so he could watch her dial. “Get off my property!”

“This isn’t over, Elizabeth!” Lucky slammed his fist against the door again but finally stalked away.

Elizabeth closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “Gram—”

“Darling—”

“Don’t call 911. Call Mac Scorpio. Robin was right. I need to report him. Because this isn’t over.”

And while Audrey was calling Mac, Elizabeth made two phone calls of her own. One to Emily, to ask her to come over, and the other to Justus to make an appointment for the next day.

She was done hiding.

Kelly’s: Diner

Jason opened the door and found his tech guy sitting with one of the guards at one of the back tables. Jason hurried over to sit by Stan. “Were you able to find it?”

“Yep.” Stan sipped his iced tea then nodded to Marco, who drew out two plastic bags of jewelry. “Everything Lucky Spencer pawned since March. I just told the owner you were an interested party, and he couldn’t give them to me fast enough.”

Jason took the bags and frowned at the first bag—a man’s wedding ring. “He pawned his wedding ring?”

Stan leaned forward. “Oh. Yeah. Guy said Lucky pawned it in March, and never reclaimed it. Came in yesterday around nine, looking all wild-eyed—typical addict crap—and pawned the rest of it.” He looked at Jason. “That’s what you wanted, right? You didn’t care about the television, right?”

“Yeah, I just wanted the jewelry.” Jason exhaled slowly, then shoved the bags into his pocket. “What do we owe the owner? Did you tell him we’d make it worth his while, or did you just threaten him?”

“Turns out your name is apparently enough to make the guy crap in his pants,” Marco said with a grin. “Probably could have cleaned him out of the diamonds if I’d been interested.”

“Thanks. Keep this to yourself, okay?”

“We’re protecting a cop?” Stan asked with some confusion. “Isn’t he Elizabeth’s husband? I mean, maybe I’m overstepping, but wouldn’t it be easier for you if he got in trouble—”

“We’re protecting the woman who owns the jewelry,” Jason said flatly. He got to his feet. “Thanks for doing this so quickly.”

Stan accepted his danger and sat back with a shrug. “No problem. We got a break — it was at the second store we contacted.”

Jason left them then, intent on heading to Carly’s house to pick up Cameron. He wanted to keep moving, to keep focusing on what was next—

Because if he stopped, he’d have to think about the fact that he’d seen the bruises on Elizabeth, had seen her that last night with a cut on her face, with an injured shoulder—

And had never once questioned if Lucky was hurting her. Not even after Sonny had suggested it might be possible. And hadn’t Jason told himself then that she’d never confide in him about it—

How could he blame the rest of the world for not seeing it? He hadn’t. And now he’d have to live with the guilt.

He shoved open the door to Kelly’s and ran straight into Robin. “Sorry—”

“Oh, hey, I was hoping to run into you.” She frowned. “You look upset.” She tipped her head to the side, squinted her eyes. “Have you been back to the penthouse?”

“Uh, yeah.” He let the door to Kelly’s close behind him. “I know—” Jason shook his head. “I know. Elizabeth told me. And she told me you knew.”

“She told you what?” Robin asked slowly, drawing out the words with a suspicious furrowing of her brows.

“Robin.” Jason just sighed. “I know what she’s been through. And that you were there for her. That you encouraged her to tell me. Thank you. I’m glad she had someone.”

“Okay.” Robin folded her arms. “A lot of good it did her — she wouldn’t listen to me back when it happened. I wanted her to leave then. I thought about telling you.”

“You should have,” Jason said flatly. “Someone should have told me—”

“Or maybe you should have seen it—” Robin scowled. “I mean, it was right in front of your face. Patrick and I both saw it—” She pursed her lips. “But I should have told you. I knew if you knew—if Emily knew—she might not have gone back. But—” She shrugged a shoulder. “Water under the bridge. She told you. She left. And now—” She bit her lip. “She did the hard part.”

She arched a brow. “Now comes the dangerous part. Most women in an abusive relationship are hurt worse after they leave. Does she have a guard?”

Jason scowled. “No.” Damn it. And he’d seen Lucky the night before. He knew exactly how angry he could get. He pulled out his phone. “I’ll send Cody over. I promised her I’d get Cameron and bring him home.” He started out of the courtyard.

“Tell her I have those pictures,” Robin called after him. “She’ll need them when she calls my uncle.”

He turned back to her for a minute. “Okay. Thanks. For being there.”

“I like Elizabeth, too, Jason. And I want her happy. She’s been through enough.”

That was something they could agree on. So Jason left, leaving Cody a voice mail to head over to the Hardy house in case Lucky showed up.

Hardy House: Living Room

Mac arrived just after Emily did, and the police commissioner was in a rotten mood. Elizabeth understood that—he’d lost a police officer the night before, and she knew Maxie must be traumatized. It was only out of respect for Audrey and her grandfather that Mac had even taken Audrey’s call and come over as quickly as he had.

“I don’t have a lot of time,” Mac snapped as Audrey closed the door behind him. “What’s this about?”

“You will not take that tone with me, Mac Scorpio,” Audrey snapped.

Emily looked back and forth between Elizabeth’s grandmother and Mac before meeting Elizabeth’s tired and puffy eyes. “What’s going on? What’s happened since last night?”

“Yeah, that’s what I’d like to know. I’ve been trying to find you for nearly twenty-four hours,” Mac retorted. “You fled the scene of a crime—you’re lucky I don’t have an arrest warrant—”

Elizabeth arched a brow. “You mean, I fled a place where a maniac was shooting at people? Yeah, I can see why that would be suspicious. You can’t get an arrest warrant for that. If you could make those charges stick, Jason would still be at the PCPD.”

“Don’t get me started on that—”

“You’re here because I need to file charges against Lucky,” Elizabeth said. Emily’s head snapped up, and she stared at Elizabeth, startled. “For assault.”

“Assault,” Mac repeated, slowly. He tensed with the air of a man who knew what was coming but was hoping like hell he was wrong. “Against who?”

“Me.” Elizabeth folded her arms tightly. “On four separate occasions, Lucky assaulted me, the last being Friday night.”

Mac cleared his throat. He scrubbed a hand over his face, then sighed. “Okay, uh, let’s just—let’s just start from the beginning. What happened?”

So Elizabeth told him. She told him in the same detail as she had Jason, but this time she was able to keep herself together. Some of the details were new for Audrey, who was weeping again. Emily put an arm around Audrey’s shoulder, her own face pale, her expression frozen like granite.

“And then Lucky left the apartment,” Elizabeth finished finally. “I got up, looked at myself in the mirror, took a call from Emily, and then left. I didn’t see Lucky again until last night when he came to Greystone and tried to get on the grounds to make me leave.”

Mac frowned, squinting. “You—You saw Lucky last night—when—”

“Before Jason and Sonny were arrested,” Elizabeth told him. “He knew where I was and knew I was there because I wanted to be.”

“Which is a very different story than he told either of us at the station last night,” Audrey reminded Mac.

“Yeah, I caught that,” Mac muttered. “Your grandmother said you’d seen him today—”

“Yeah, about a half hour ago, when he came to Gram’s door and threatened to break it down.”

Mac closed his notebook and stared down at it for a long moment. “He’s been under a little pressure,” he said, but it was clear from his tone even he didn’t believe that.

“You should have him drug tested,” Elizabeth said. “Because I’m pretty sure he pawned my jewelry to pay off his drug dealer. I think he started buying oxycontin on the street because he was always taking pills, and Patrick cut him off months ago.”

“You’re accusing him of taking drugs, too?” Mac said. “Look, I can—I can believe the rest of it, but do you have proof of this? I know this has been a rough time for you, and maybe you want to make sure Lucky can’t see your son—”

“Don’t you dare,” Emily said in a tightly controlled voice. “Because if you’re about to accuse her of lying, I will call my grandfather and make sure he calls the mayor. I am done watching you and the rest of the PCPD treat Elizabeth like this.”

“I didn’t even get a chance—” Mac looked at Elizabeth. “I believe you,” he repeated. “I don’t know about the drugs, but I don’t think you’d accuse him of the abuse if it weren’t true. I know that Lucky’s been under a lot of pressure from the job, and the injuries didn’t help. That doesn’t excuse it, but it means I believe you.”

“But?” Elizabeth prompted. “Because I can hear you saying it.”

“But it would be your word against his without evidence. The incidents that caused injury were from a month ago, and you didn’t report it—”

“Robin took pictures,” Elizabeth said. “They’re dated. Before Manny kidnapped me that night. So hopefully, you’d believe her.”

“I…” Mac pursed his lips. “I would, yes.”

“And Patrick has seen Lucky screaming at me. He’s a witness to the anger.”

“Elizabeth—”

“But you’re not going to do anything. Even with the pictures.”

“I’m going to file the report,” Mac told her. “And I’ll interview Robin and Patrick. I’ll get the pictures. I’ll take it to the DA, but Alexis probably won’t look at the case because she’s related to Lucky’s brother. And I don’t know that another DA would file charges.”

“Why?” Audrey demanded. “My granddaughter is a credible witness with proof!”

“Because of Jason,” Elizabeth said with a sinking feeling. Mac looked away. “For the same reason no one believed me about Manny. No one believed me that I hadn’t been kidnapped because of Jason. Because people will blame me for it. There are members of your department who think I got what I deserved when Manny kidnapped me. And they’ll think that I deserved what Lucky did.”

“I’m not one of them—”

“But that’s what will happen.”

Mac sighed. “Look, you did the right thing. You got out. And I’ll put together a report. There will be a paper trail. I’ll talk to Lucky about leaving you alone. And I’ll encourage him to get counseling. And a drug test. Elizabeth—”

“This is bullshit,” Emily said flatly. “I can’t believe you’re not going to do more—”

“There’s nothing else he can do,” Elizabeth said with a sad sigh. “Because he’s right. The DA’s office will never take this case. Even if it were Alexis. Because Lucky would never plead guilty. And a jury would never convict him. They’d just—they’d see the same thing everyone else does. A cop’s wife who had an affair with a criminal and ended his career. And got what she deserved for it.”

Mac, at least, had the decency to look ashamed as he nodded. “I think that might be the outcome, yeah. I’m sorry, Elizabeth. I work in the system, I can’t always make it do the right thing.”

“Especially when you agree.”

Audrey’s voice was carefully controlled as Mac looked at her. Elizabeth blinked at her in surprise, but her grandmother kept her eyes on the commissioner.

“You could push the DA. You could remind them that Jason has never once been convicted of a single thing. You could also remind them that he is, nominally, a Quartermaine. But you’re giving up. Because you think if my granddaughter had not been around Jason Morgan, none of this would have happened.”

Mac hesitated. “I wouldn’t go that far, but I think we’re forgetting that a good cop is dead because he was standing too close to Jason Morgan—”

“He’s dead because he came over to scream at me for being a whore and was standing too close to me,” Elizabeth said flatly. “Because Lucky’s drug dealer was sending him a message about paying his bills. You might believe me about some of it, but you clearly have your own narrative.”

“Elizabeth—”

“You can go. Thanks for coming. Let me know when the report is ready, so I can ask Justus to get a copy for my divorce petition.”

“I’m sorry,” Mac repeated, but he left.

“I cannot believe—” Emily took a deep breath, then dragged her hands through her hair. “Are you okay?” she asked, looking at Elizabeth. “I’m so sorry. I should have seen it—”

Elizabeth shook her head. “I didn’t want you to see it—” She sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to find out while I was telling Mac—I didn’t know how fast he’d get here—”

“You don’t have to apologize to me.” Emily took her hands in hers. “You didn’t tell me because I think a part of you was scared I might tell you the same thing I’m sure Luke did. That this isn’t Lucky, that the Lucky we know and love would never do this to you. That’s what he told you to make you stay, right? He told you had to fight for the boy who we used to know.”

“Em—”

“Because that’s the crap I used to say to you all the time. Never again,” Emily declared with a shake of her hand. “Because the boy I knew wouldn’t do that. The man he is today? I believe it. He doesn’t get one more minute of my time. You and Cameron are who matter to me.” She embraced Elizabeth tightly. “Let the Spencers worry about Lucky. He’s their problem. He never has to be yours again.”

Jake’s: Upstairs Hallway

Sam shoved open her door and frowned when she saw Alexis waiting in the hallway. “How did you know—”

“You said you were leaving, so I had someone find out which flight you were on. And I took a chance you’d be staying at Jake’s because it’s under the radar.” Alexis looked down at the duffel bad in Sam’s hand. “You have to leave today? Now?”

“There’s nothing here for me,” Sam said with a shrug. “What’s the point? What are you doing here?”

“I’m here because there’s something I need to say before you walk away forever.” Alexis waited, but Sam didn’t drop the bag or offer to let her in. “Fine. We’ll do this it this way. I understand you were disappointed to learn I was your biological mother—”

Sam snorted. “Disappointed isn’t the word—”

“And being connected by blood doesn’t mean anything. I’m a Cassadine. We spend a lot of time running from our blood relatives.” Alexis folded her arms. “Sometimes, we get to choose our family, Sam, but I understand that right now, you don’t have a lot of interest in choosing me.”

“No, I don’t. Can I go now—”

“But you’re not just turning me away,” Alexis continued. “You’re walking away from Kristina and Molly. I know how close you were to your brother. How fiercely devoted you were to him.”

“Don’t talk to me about Danny—” Her throat tightened. “How dare you—”

“My girls could use an older sister who loves like that.” Alexis stepped to the side. “You can go, Sam. Knowing you’re alive, that you’re in the world—that gives me peace. For so long, you were a devastating memory. I blamed myself for a long time for not being stronger, for not finding a way to keep you. I thought you’d died because I was weak.”

Sam just stared at her biological mother as Alexis took a bracing breath. “But you’re alive, Sam. And that’s enough for me. I can make it enough.”

“I’m going to go now.” Sam started down the hallway, but she heard Alexis following her. When they reached the empty bar downstairs—it hadn’t yet opened up for the night rush—Sam turned to her. “I don’t need you. I don’t need your kids. I don’t need a family. I’m fine on my own.”

“If you ever change your mind,” Alexis said, “I’ll be here.”

“I won’t.”

And then Sam left.

Hardy House: Front Porch

Emily stayed for a little while longer, but then she had to get back to the hospital. About an hour after she’d left, there was another knock at the door.

Audrey had gone upstairs to start putting together a list of people to call in case Elizabeth decided she wanted to go war against the PCPD and force charges to be filed.

Elizabeth didn’t think she was going to go that far, but she appreciated how much support her grandmother had offered her since she’d come home. She knew Audrey wasn’t totally sold on Jason, but she was willing to lay down her guard and give him a chance.

She hoped it was Jason at her doorstep, bringing Cameron back to her—and when she opened the door to find her grinning son, smiling sunnily at her from Jason’s arms, Elizabeth couldn’t help but grin back.

“Hi, Mommy. Jason bringed me home.” He leaned forward to hug her, and Jason transferred Cameron into her arms. “Love you, Mommy.”

“I love you, too, Cam.” She closed her eyes and hugged him tightly. “Did you have fun with Aunt Carly and Morgan?”

“We eated lots of sugar. All the candy. Morgan says it’s cuz his daddy says no fun, and his mommy says too much fun.” He grinned at her, flashing his baby teeth. “Then Jason comed, and said I get to go home to Gram. He said my toys be here later.”

“Cody is bringing over Cameron’s things,” Jason told her. “The toys and clothes at least. I figured you’d want them.” He hesitated. “I can go—”

“No, no—wait—” She pressed a kiss to Cameron’s cheek. “Guess what? Gram is upstairs in her room, and I think she needs a great, big Cam hug.”

“I go do that. I love my Gram.” Cameron waved, then started for the stairs. She and Jason watched he gradually climbed the staircase, carefully holding onto the railing as he lifted his tiny legs onto the next step.

He waved again from the top of the stairs, then disappeared down the hall. Elizabeth smiled after him, then looked back at Jason. “Let’s talk outside. “It’s a nice day, and I’m tired of being inside.”

Jason nodded. “Uh, when Cody gets back, I asked him to hang out—”

“I was going to ask you about that,” she said as she leaned against the wall of her house. “Because Lucky showed up here, and I just—I don’t want to deal with it. I’d rather someone stopped him before he got that close again. I don’t want my grandmother or Cameron to have to worry.”

“You won’t have to worry about him anymore.” Jason paused. “I have something for you—” He reached into his jacket and drew out two plastic bags. “I thought about leaving these with the pawnshops because I didn’t know if you’d want to report them stolen, but—”

“You found my jewelry.” Pleased, Elizabeth took the bags. “I thought about filing charges of theft, but—we’ll get into that—” She hesitated, looking at the bag with just the wedding ring. “Well, at least he didn’t just pawn my stuff—”

“He pawned it in March.”

Elizabeth blinked at Jason, then looked back at the bag, with the pawn slip attached. “March 27,” she murmured. “Less than two weeks after Patrick cut him off, he was already out of money for the drugs. I know you said it had been that long, but I guess—” She shook her head. “You know what makes me sad about this? I mean, more than the rest of it. What really gets me?”

“What?”

She met his eyes. “I never noticed his wedding ring was gone. All those weeks—and I never noticed.” She opened the door slightly and tossed both bags on a table just inside the door, then closed the door again. “I’ll give it to Luke or Bobbie. They can give it to him. It’s not my problem.”

Jason nodded. “How did, uh, how did your grandmother take it?”

“She was upset. You know she felt bad for how hard she’d been on me. And then when Lucky showed up, she wanted to call Mac. So I agreed. I called Emily, too. They both came over.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “I filed a report, but Mac doesn’t think the DA’s office will press charges. Even with the pictures Robin took.”

“Because Lucky’s a cop,” Jason said. “And—”

“And the department still thinks I’m the whore that ruined his career,” Elizabeth finished. “Yeah, pretty much. Mac believes me, he said, but he’s not willing to push for it either. So…” She shrugged. “I did what I could. And Emily is—she’s taking my side. Which I’m not sure I one hundred percent expected. I made an appointment with Justus to file for divorce.”

“Good.” Jason nodded. “And Santiago Escobar will not be a problem,” he told her. “Don’t worry about that.”

“I figured.” She smiled up at him. “You know how hard as this day has been, I’m glad I did it. I’m glad I told you, that I told Emily and my grandmother—that I stopped hiding.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t see it—” Jason shook his head. “I should have—”

“We were both swimming in guilt, Jason,” she said softly. “I realize now part of me thought I deserved it. Because maybe he was right. Maybe if I had loved him better or at all—it wouldn’t have been that way.”

“Elizabeth—”

“I know that’s not true—that I didn’t deserve it. But that’s why I could hide it. Because to you, it looked like guilt for what we were doing. You felt it, too. For what you were doing to Sam.” She bit her lip. “I’m not proud of what we did, Jason. But I don’t know if we could have stopped it. We should have.”

“I—” He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I guess we should have.”

“I don’t want to live my life in the dark like that again.” She met his eyes. “I know you’re okay with taking it slow. I need it. I need this time and space. But I also need you. And I’m not sure how we make that work.”

“We’ll figure it out,” he told her. Then he tipped his head to the side. “I love you.”

Elizabeth blinked. “I—” Her chest tightened as tears stung her eyes. God, she hadn’t realized how much she’d wanted to hear him say it. Even if she knew it was probably true—

She really had needed to hear him say it. At least once.

“Jason—” Her voice faltered, and she looked down.

He shook his head. “I didn’t say it so you’d say it back. I just—I didn’t want you to think that it needed to be a secret. It’s not something you have to pry out of me. I know I don’t…that I don’t always tell you what I should.”

“I begged you once to ask me,” she murmured. Elizabeth lifted her eyes to meet his. “And I wanted you to do that. I wanted it to be your move. I didn’t want to be brave. It seemed easier if it was a question. But you were right. If you had to ask me, then I wasn’t ready to offer it.”

Elizabeth fisted her hand in his shirt and drew him in for a long, slow kiss — right on her front porch where anyone driving past could see them. “I love you, too,” she murmured when he pulled back. “I know whatever happens next might be hard, but I just—I don’t want us to throw it away again.”

“We won’t.” He kissed her again. “I promise.”

“Stay for dinner,” she said. “Cameron will want pizza and his Spiderman movie. And I want my grandmother to see you with him.”

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

She smiled at him as she pushed open the door and they went inside. She stood at the bottom of the stairs. “Hey, Cameron, Gram—we’re going to order pizza for dinner! Jason’s staying—”

“YAY!” came her son’s excited shout. She heard his footsteps as he ran down the hallway and started to hurry down the steps. Audrey came to the top of the stairs just as Jason met Cameron halfway, both obviously worried Cameron might fall.

Audrey smiled as Cameron threw himself into Jason’s arms. “We watch Biderman?” Cameron demanded. “Get sausage pizza?”

“Yeah, but you have to sing the song for me again. I forgot how it goes,” Jason said as they came to the bottom of the stairs.

“Biderman, Biderman, Biderman. Does what Biders can! Look out! Biderman!” Cameron sang loudly as Elizabeth caught her grandmother’s sparkling eyes as Audrey fought a smile.

Then Elizabeth laughed, watching her son sing happily with his new best friend, excited to watch his favorite movie for the hundredth time.

She couldn’t think of a better way to end the day.

THE END

Being me can only mean
Feeling scared to breathe
If you leave me then I’ll be afraid of everything
That makes me anxious, gives me patience, calms me down
Lets me face this, let me sleep, and when I wake up
Let me breathe
– Afraid, Neighborhood

---

Friday, April 7, 2006

General Hospital: Emergency Room

Jason stalked into the emergency room, Sonny and Max hot on his heels. He stopped to scan the cubicles and swore when he saw Cody lying on one of the gurneys, his face pale, blood staining his shirt. At his side, Patrick and Robin were working.

Alan and Monica were both just outside the curtain, talking to Emily. Alan turned and gestured for Jason to join them, even as he scowled upon sighting Sonny.

“We called you as soon as we got the warning from the security room,” Alan told him. “The PCPD has already been through.”

“What did they say? Did they tell you anything?”

“No, they were told the guard can’t help since he hasn’t woken up. We gave them the description of the car Manny was driving and a copy of the security tape. I think Mac said he was going to find Lucky and put an APB out to the airports and the train station.” Monica shook her head. “How did he get into the parking garage?”

“Stan said he’d try to find out,” Sonny said to Jason. “But I told him it’s not the priority.”

“No, but it might tell us where he’s hiding.” Jason exhaled slowly. “What about Cody? What did you find in the parking garage?”

“Flat tire. I guess Manny used it as a distraction.” Alan hesitated and exchanged a look with Monica. “Cody was on the ground by the car, but we found blood nearer the stairwell. Blood and….hair on a bumper.”

“Elizabeth’s hair,” Emily managed, her voice hoarse. Her eyes were puffy. “It looks like she ran for the stairs and almost made it. He must have slammed her head into the car—” She couldn’t. She looked back at the guard. “She should have stayed home.”

Jason followed her gaze, troubled by the pallor of his guard’s face. Somewhere, Manny Ruiz had Elizabeth. She was hurt, terrified—

“Cameron’s still at Carly’s,” Jason said, swallowing hard. “You don’t have to worry about him, Em. I put more men there—”

“A lot of good it did us here,” Emily snapped, and Jason flinched.

“Emily,” Alan murmured. “Short of locking Elizabeth in a room until Manny was dealt with, I don’t know what your brother could have done. And to be honest, I have a feeling the fault is in the hospital security.” He looked at Jason. “I’m sorry. You were right. I should have pushed harder to get Manny Ruiz out of this hospital.”

Emily sighed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just—” She folded her arms. “I’m just scared. I know you did your best to protect her.”

You’re not Superman.

 Elizabeth’s voice echoed in his brain as Jason tried to think of the next step. No one had seen Manny Ruiz since Wednesday afternoon when he’d clocked out of his shift. Forty-eight hours, and his men still hadn’t found the psycho. They didn’t even have a lead.

“Jason?”

He looked to find Robin trying to get his attention. “Yeah?”

“Cody has a fractured skull. We’re taking him up for surgery. You’re his medical power of attorney, so…” Robin held out a clipboard. “He was conscious when they found him. He was drifting in and out, but he kept saying Elizabeth’s name over and over again. Telling her to run.”

“I should have done more,” Jason said. He scribbled his name.

“You’re not Superman,” Robin said, and he looked at her with a start. “What? What did I say?”

And I don’t expect you to be.

“Nothing,” he swallowed. “Em—”

“Yeah?”

“Call her grandmother in Memphis.” Jason scratched his temple. “Sonny—” He turned to his partner. “Go to Carly’s—” Sonny grimaced. “Stay with Cameron. If Manny’s trying to get Elizabeth out of town…I don’t know, he might be crazy enough to go for her son. To take him along. I just—I know we have guys there, but—”

“No, I got it. Call me if you find anything.”

When Sonny had left, Emily touched his arm. “What are you going to do? Do you have any ideas?”

“No, I don’t,” Jason admitted. “But I’m going down to security. I don’t—I don’t know, Emily. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry,” she echoed with a sigh. “Because I think I’m going to give you something else to worry about. I’ve been trying to call Lucky since Elizabeth went missing, but he’s not picking up his phone. His dad said he’d been trying to find him all day, but it’s like he’s disappeared.”

Jason frowned at her. “Why—”

“I don’t know if it’s related,” Emily said, “but it’s weird, right?” She bit her lip. “Isn’t it?”

Jason did think it was troubling that Lucky was missing at the same time Elizabeth had been kidnapped, but he couldn’t think of how it was related. “I don’t know. I’ll see if anyone knows anything, but—”

“Right.” Emily nodded. “It’s not a priority. I know. I just wanted to let you know.” She took a deep breath. “Just—just find her, Jason.”

“I will.”

Warehouse: Room

Elizabeth moaned slightly, shook her head, and opened her eyes. She winced from the light. “What—” She couldn’t finish the words.

“I’m sorry.” The bright light flashed, then dimmed. She opened her eyes again to find the room much darker. She was sitting in a chair, her hands tied behind her.

In another chair, a few feet in front of her sat Manny Ruiz.

“W-What—” Elizabeth’s body just froze, and she couldn’t speak. “Oh, God. What are you—”

“You can scream if you like,” Manny said with a smile. “No one will hear you. We’re too close to the docks. Too far away from everything else.” He tipped his head to the side. “I’m sorry I had to hurt you, Elizabeth. You were always so nice to me. But you ran, and, well, plans change.”

“I—” She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. “What are you going to do?”

“I know you’ve talked about me to Jason Morgan. He must have told you all the rumors.” Manny’s grin widened, and he got to his feet. He picked up a long knife from a table, then pointed it at her, the blade a dull glint in the dim lights. She flinched. “I have…high expectations, and sometimes it’s hard to make me happy.”

A tear slid down her cheek as she tried to find the words. She had to be able to make this stop. “Please—”

“But you’re strong, you know. I’ve been watching you. I think you might be the one I’ve been looking for.” He knelt in front of her, touching her chin with the tip of the knife. She hissed as it bit into her skin slightly.

“But if you disappoint me, well…you’ll go with the others. Pretty women with big blue eyes and skin as pale as yours…” He got to his feet. “They turn a nice profit in many places.”

She moaned slightly as her vision blurred. Oh, God. He was going to rape and torture her until he was bored, and then…

“Please…”

“But I don’t want you to think I don’t care about you.” Manny shook his head. “No, no. It’s just the opposite. You’re such a bright light. Such a sweet, sweet girl. I want to give you something. I want you to see how much I want to please you. I got you a present.”

Oh, no. Oh, God. What if he’d gone to Carly’s—what if her little boy—

“Come with me. No, no, don’t fight—” Manny cut the bonds on her wrist, but held the knife to her. “Come on.”

Very aware of the warm blood trickling from the cut on her chin, the ache in her head from whatever he’d hit with her at the parking garage, and the cool press of the knife against her scrub top—she gulped down a breath and forced herself to stay quiet as he dragged her along.

Elizabeth followed him out of the room into the warehouse’s vast, empty center room. She stumbled in the dark, but Manny hauled her back to her feet and kept dragging her.

“Please. Just let me go—”

“I’ve waited so long for this moment. I had a plan that was better than this, but then, well, you forced my hand, Elizabeth. I had to save you.”

“Save me?” she repeated. “What—”

“I saw those bruises.” Manny shook his head. “When we talked on Wednesday. I saw what he did to you.” He looked at her, somehow his teeth bright white in the dark as he flashed her another smile. “You’ll thank me when this is done.”

A chill danced down her spine as he shoved her through another doorway. She bit back a cry as she saw who Manny had tied to a chair, bleeding and bruised…

Lucky.

General Hospital: Security Room

Learning that Jason was going to talk to her son, Epiphany had followed him down to the security room. Jason didn’t have the time to argue, particularly with someone he knew that was so loyal to Elizabeth.

“I would have given her the time off,” Epiphany said as they neared the room. “I would have made it work. That girl never asks for help when she really needs it. She—”

“Epiphany—” He turned and just shook his head. “No, she doesn’t. But let’s not—we can’t think about any of that right now.”

“Right. I’m sorry.”

Jason went into the room to find it emptier than he’d thought. He frowned and looked at Stan and the other guard. “No cops?”

“They thought they got everything they needed with the tape of her abduction.” Stan spun on the chair and looked at him with a bit trepidation. “You don’t need to see it. We’re scanning the rest of the footage to see how he got in—”

“I want to see it,” Jason said firmly.

Stan sighed, turned back to a monitor, and pressed play. Jason watched as ten minutes before Elizabeth had clocked out, Manny crept out of the shadows, knelt by the car, then disappeared again.

“He dug an icepick into the tire. We found it near Cody,” Stan said as the video continued to run. From the elevators, Jason watched as Cody and Elizabeth walked towards the car.

She’d done everything right. She’d waited to leave the elevator until Cody had swept the area. Then she stayed directly next to him, on the side next to the roadway, not somewhere where she could be grabbed in the shadows.

She’d paused by the car so that he could do a bomb sweep. She knew the routine better than Jason had remembered. And then Cody pulled out his phone—

“We don’t know who he was gonna call. Maybe Vic,” Stan said, continuing to narrate. They both flinched as Manny jumped out of the shadows and whacked Cody hard with the tire iron.

Elizabeth hadn’t hesitated. Just like he’d always told her. Don’t worry about the guard. Just run. She’d screamed, then darted away towards safety—

“She almost got away,” Epiphany murmured. “Just a second more—”

Jason watched, stone-faced, as Manny caught up to Elizabeth at the door, threw her against the car, then grabbed her by the hair and bashed her head against the bumper. Elizabeth slumped down to the floor. Her body was limp as Manny carried her out of camera range.

“She did everything I told her to do,” Jason said. He exhaled slowly. “And it wasn’t enough. How many cars left the garage after this?”

“Twelve. We’ve been tracking all of them, trying to find the one that might have been—”

“I think I’ve got it,” the other security guard said. “This one—registered to a Doctor Leo Ramsey.” He grimaced. “Look at the footage of the car entering the garage around 1 PM—”

And there it was, Manny behind the wheel, just driving like he had a right to be there. The guard switched to another view, and they saw Manny parking the car. Then moving it—

“He waited in the garage until a car near Elizabeth’s moved so he could be closer. He planned this. And he must have been planning this for a long time—do we know where the doctor is?”

“No, but if we find the car—” Stan waited as Jason called Alan and told him the make and model to pass on to the cops. “Does this get us closer to Manny?”

“No,” Jason admitted. “Because I don’t think he’s at the doctor’s house.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t know where to look,” he admitted.

“She’s tough, Jason,” Epiphany told him. “And she’s got that little boy to keep her going. Nothing is gonna stop Elizabeth coming home to him.” She nodded to the screen. “Keep looking, Stanford. We’ll go up and wait for word from the guard. He might know something. C’mon.”

Outside the security room, Jason slumped against the wall for a minute, trying to collect his thoughts. “I told her I wouldn’t let anything happen to her. And I couldn’t keep that promise—”

“Jason.”

He frowned, looked up at the frowning nurse. “What?”

“Manny knew what car Elizabeth drove to work today.”

Jason straightened, hissed. “She didn’t drive her car. She drove with Cody. He was following her from Audrey’s.” Which meant he’d been following her all along. Damn it. How had they missed it—he thought of the rookie guard who had done a shit job of following him.

“They keep saying they can’t find Lucky Spencer. And I can’t help but think—he went missing after an argument with Elizabeth that sent her running to her grandmother’s.” Epiphany hesitated. “You tell me Manny was targeting Elizabeth because he’s obsessed with her.”

“Maybe…”

“Maybe Manny wants to punish Lucky for hurting Elizabeth.” Epiphany shook her head. “It’s almost a shame you didn’t hurt her, Jason. Maybe he’d come find you.”

Warehouse: Room

Lucky blearily opened his eyes, looked at both of them, and coughed. “What the hell, Elizabeth—”

“Lucky—” Elizabeth looked at Manny with wide eyes. “What did you do?”

“Nothing much. I found him in an alley on Courtland Street.” Manny grabbed Lucky by his hair, dragged his head back. Brought the tip of his knife to her husband’s throat. “I saw the bruises, Elizabeth.”

“Elizabeth,” Lucky choked, trying to look at her, but Manny wouldn’t release his head, wouldn’t let him move.

“Do you have any other bruises?” Manny asked idly. “Or just the one on your face?”

“I—”

“She has such a lovely face,” Manny told Lucky, his voice almost sing-song. “You messed it up. Such pretty skin. Soft. You know that.”

“How can you…how can you be so angry at him for hurting me?” Elizabeth managed, desperate to get that knife away from her husband. “You—you’re planning to rape me.”

“No, no…” Manny released Lucky’s hair. “No, I’ll wait until you’re ready. You’ll want it, too.” He licked his lips, his tongue sweeping out with lasciviousness. “I’m good at making women want me.”

“I’ll never—”

“I know you got a taste for the bad boys.”

Elizabeth’s eyes widened as she took a step back. “What does—what do you mean?”

“It means I saw you, my sweet, pretty Elizabeth. All the times you met with Jason Morgan.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes. Oh, God. It just got worse. He’d been following her, he knew—he knew—all of her worst fears—

“I just wanted to get your attention with Skye. That was just a game to see what you’d do. How would you try to save her? I knew you would. I knew you couldn’t help yourself. I thought you’d go to the chief of staff, the police, your husband. But no—” He wagged a finger at her, then turned back to Lucky, who was glaring at Elizabeth now, his lips curled in a sneer, his eyes burning.

Manny laughed again. “Oh, see, Lucky knows what I’m trying to say. He gets it. He knows who you ran to.” He ripped Lucky’s head back again, yanking on his hair, his voice dropping the sing-song quality. “That’s why you hurt her, isn’t it? You knew she was a faithless whore, didn’t you?”

General Hospital: ICU

Jason scowled as he peered at Cody through one of the transparent walls of the ICU. “I was hoping he might wake up tonight,” he told Robin.

“I know. But we can’t do anything about that.” Robin bit her lip. “You really don’t have any leads—”

“No, but—” Jason grimaced. “I can’t just sit here. I need to do something. Look somewhere—” He broke off.

“What?” Robin touched his arm. “I know that look—”

“The waterfront,” Jason said. He met her worried gaze. “There’s a lot of abandoned buildings with cargo docks. It’s a way to escape, to get out of Port Charles under the radar.”

He could go look. He could do something instead of waiting here at the hospital for something to break. “I’ll go take a look. Maybe find some activity or just—something.”

Robin tipped her head towards the elevator. “Go. I’ll call you if anything changes with Cody.”

Warehouse

“What is he talking about?” Lucky demanded. Elizabeth just shook her head. No, not now. Not this. She couldn’t process this, couldn’t make herself accept that her husband was worrying about an affair while they were being held at knifepoint—

“You know, I wondered why a cop’s wife ran to Jason Morgan every time I so much as said boo to her.” Manny shook his head. “Never ran to you,” he said to Lucky, who growled.

“Just—just stop—let him go, okay?” Elizabeth knew if she tried to run, Manny would just kill Lucky and come after her. She was tired, her leg hurt from something—her shoulder was on fire—

She’d never be able to outrun Manny, and she knew she was alone. No one would know where she was, and Lucky clearly wasn’t going to be able to do anything.

She had to find a way out.

“Let him go, and I’ll—” She swallowed hard. “I’ll go with you.”

Lucky stared at her in shock. “No! No! Elizabeth, you can’t—”

“Well…” Manny lifted his brows, lowering his knife slightly. “If I had known the way to your heart was threatening to carve up the man who hurt you, I wouldn’t have planned the second part of this game.”

“S-Second part?” Elizabeth sputtered. “What—”

Manny reached into his pocket with his free hand and showed her a cell phone. Her phone. “Funny. Did you know she has Jason Morgan on speed dial?” Lucky’s eyes flashed with murderous rage, and Manny laughed. “Yes, it’s very upsetting. You’re not on the list. But he’s number two and since one is for emergency—”

“What?” Lucky bit out. He turned his glare back on her. “What the fucking hell?”

“I can explain—” Her world spun for a moment. “I just—with all this Manny stuff, I needed to—”

How could she explain she’d done it the night before when Jason had asked her to make sure she could call him if she needed him. She didn’t need Lucky on speed dial, and having Jason at the top—it just made sense—

But Lucky was looking at her with such hatred that she couldn’t force the words out. This couldn’t be happening.

“Why don’t we call him? We can ask Jason Morgan—” Manny grinned at Elizabeth’s stricken face. “Let’s invite him to the party—”

“Are you absolutely insane?” Elizabeth bit out. Why the hell would Manny want to invite one of the most feared enforcers on the East coast?

“It’s sweet; she’s worried about me,” he told Lucky. To Elizabeth, he continued, “I’ve got something he wants, pretty girl. And it might be nice for you to say goodbye to your lover before I whisk you away somewhere nice. I might not even hurt him much if you ask as nicely as you did for your husband here.”

He pressed the speed dial and put the phone against his ear.

Roscoe Trucking: Parking Lot

He’d parked his bike a block away, not wanting the sound of it to alert anyone who might be in the area. Mickey Roscoe had run a trucking company for Sorel as a front, and Faith had maintained it after his death. It had been abandoned since her death the year before.

It was a medium-sized building on the edge of the docks. The chain-link fence that surrounded it had fallen into disrepair due to negligence and vandalism. Just as Jason ducked under a broken section, his cell phone rang.

His heart began to race when he saw Elizabeth’s name on his identification screen. “Elizabeth?” he demanded when he answered the phone.

“Oh, you sound so hopeful. No, sorry to disappoint you, but it’s just me.”

Manny’s smooth voice sounded so normal that it startled Jason. Did he even have her? Or just her phone? “Where is she?”

“She’s safer with me than she is out in the world. Oh, look, she doesn’t agree, does she? She’s shaking her head—”

“Jason, don’t listen to him—”

He closed his eyes at the sound of Elizabeth’s voice. She was panicked but alive. And that was more information than he’d had thirty seconds ago. He could cling to that.

“What do you want? I can get you out of the country if you let her go—”

“Oh, no, no, it’s nothing that simple. You see, I’m taking my sweet Elizabeth with me, but I have to clear up old business before she can go. She worries, you know, and I’m just…” Manny sighed. “I’m afraid she won’t be able to concentrate on me.”

“What do you want?” Jason repeated.

“I want you to join our party. I have something special before we leave. A present that I want you to give it to her. I’m at Roscoe Trucking. You know the place. You took care of its owner.”

Jason closed his eyes in relief. Thank God. He was here, and he’d arrived nearly ten minutes before Manny could expect him to show up. He’d be able to surprise them.

“Yeah, I’ll be there.”

“Make it quick,” Manny said, then hung up.

Before he went inside, Jason called Robin. When she picked up, he said, “I need you to call Sonny and the PCPD. Tell them to go to Roscoe Trucking, but to be careful. He has Elizabeth, and I’m pretty sure I heard Lucky in the background.”

“Lucky!” Robin repeated, but Jason had already hung up. He needed to stop Manny Ruiz and get Elizabeth to safety. He wouldn’t break another promise to her.

Warehouse: Room

“He sounded so concerned,” Manny said with a sigh. “He must really love you,” he said to Elizabeth. “All the times he was at your apartment, all those close moments on the docks, at the warehouse—did he ever tell you?”

Elizabeth’s hands were shaking as she dragged her hands through her hair. “Why are you doing this to me?” she choked out. “Why are you—” She looked at Lucky, and something inside her shriveled up and died.

Because why—in the middle of being kidnapped and mentally tortured—should she have to explain herself to the abusive husband she’d just fled—

Why?

Why was this happening?

“Because I think it might be hard for you to enjoy yourself if I’m the one that kills this piece of shit.” Manny backhanded Lucky, who moaned in pain. “But maybe if I tell Jason Morgan where you got that bruise, he’ll take care of it for me—”

“That’s your plan?” Elizabeth demanded. “He’d never do that to me. He’ll kill you first.”

“She has a lot of faith in him,” Manny said, his tone apologetic as he looked at Lucky. “I was angry with her at first when I realized she was unfaithful. Just like you are now. No, don’t deny it,” Manny murmured when Lucky shook his head. “I thought she deserved to be punished. But then, Lucky, you know what changed?”

“What?” Lucky muttered. He winced as Manny pinched his cheek. “What?”

“I saw her face. And I realized she was just lonely. Desperate for someone to treat her right. So I’ll leave Jason Morgan to take care of you, and I’ll take her somewhere where you can’t hurt her again.”

A sob broke, escaped her lips as Elizabeth shook her head. How could she make this stop? How could she save herself? How could she get back to her son?

“I never hit her,” Lucky hissed. “Tell him, Elizabeth—I never hit you—”

“We don’t have time for lies.” Manny cut Lucky’s bonds, then shoved her husband to the floor. Lucky screamed as Manny ground his heel into his back—right at the part of the spine where Lucky had been injured.

“Stop! Stop! I told you I’ll go with you!” Elizabeth rushed forward to grab Manny’s arm to stop him from kicking Lucky again.

“He shouldn’t lie to me,” Manny panted. He stomped one more time, then grabbed Elizabeth by her wrists. “Come on. We need to be on the docks before Morgan gets here—”

“What? Why—” But Elizabeth could barely catch her breath as he dragged her. “I thought you wanted him here—”

“Not until I’m ready for him.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to argue with him again, but then—

Then she saw him. Just the corner of his leather jacket outside the large loading dock door. A cry of relief nearly bubbled out of her throat, because she knew—God, she knew she’d be okay.

Jason was already here. He’d found her. Somehow, he’d been close when Manny called, and he was here before Manny would expect him.

“I told you,” Manny was saying, “I have a plan.”

“And so do I.” Elizabeth spit in his face.

When Manny reared back, she kicked at the back of his knees until Manny went sprawling. Not even waiting to see if he’d hit the ground, Elizabeth took off, finding a burst of adrenaline somehow—

She exploded out onto the docks, hearing Manny’s angry shouts behind her—Jason was there, shoving her behind him, his arm outstretched, the gun pointed at Manny who skidded to a stop with a growl and look of loathing at Elizabeth.

“You fucking bitch!”

Elizabeth expected Jason to open fire—to shoot Manny where he stood until he was dead. But he didn’t. Because she was standing there. Watching him. “Jason—”

“That’s so sweet,” Manny said with a shake of his head. He looked around, his hands up. “Can’t bear to make her see you as a killer. Must be true love. I guess I’ll just find a way to meet you again—”

“Jason, no, you can’t let him go—”

Manny’s grin only widened—until Jason pulled the trigger. Twice in rapid succession, two shots to the chest that sent Manny flying backward, skidding across the docks. Elizabeth sank to her knees, dizzy with relief.

“I needed a heart shot,” Jason said flatly. He tucked his gun away, then sighed as he heard the whirl of police sirens. He took Elizabeth’s hand and pulled her back to her feet, crushing her into a tight hug. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” He pulled away, framed her face in his hands, searching her eyes.

“Just a hit on the head when he grabbed me.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I was so scared. He called you, and I thought—I was so scared—” Elizabeth threw herself back into his arms. “But you came—”

“And you got yourself away from him.” He turned his face, pressed his lips to her hair. “You saved yourself. I just finished the job.”

“I—” Elizabeth drew back on a shaky breath. She met his eyes. “How did you find me? How did you know we were back here—”

“I just—” He swallowed. “I just did.” Their eyes held for a long moment.

Elizabeth’s head was spinning, and then— “Oh, God. Lucky. He was hurt—”

She drew back, blanching as she saw several police officers standing in the doorway, including Mac Scorpio, who was just raising his brows.

“Your husband is being loaded into an ambulance—if you care,” Mac said with a coldness in his tone she’d never heard before. He nodded to Manny. “He dead?”

“Yeah.” Jason lifted his chin as if daring Mac to do something about it.

“About time.” Mac shrugged and walked away, back inside the warehouse. Elizabeth sagged against Jason.

“Asshole,” Jason muttered as he put an arm around her shoulder and helped her limp back inside. “He could have asked you if you were okay—”

“I can’t worry about that,” Elizabeth sighed as they neared the front of the building. But then she could hear Lucky’s voice. She rushed towards him. “Lucky, are you okay?”

She tried to touch his arm, but he slapped her hand away. “What do you care?” Lucky bit out. “I heard what Manny said. Go be with your lover, you bitch!”

“W-What—” Elizabeth stepped back, stung. She looked around at the paramedics, at the other officers who avoided making eye contact before looking at Jason, still standing by the warehouse door. She looked back at Lucky. “Manny—he was lying, Lucky. It wasn’t like that—”

“He was right about one thing. Faithless whore. That’s what you are. What you’ve always been—”

“Elizabeth, he’s in a lot of pain right now,” Mac finally said, putting a hand on her arm, drawing her away. “Let’s give him a minute.”

“I—” She looked at Mac. “I—”

“And what did you expect, hanging out with Jason Morgan?” Lucky’s partner, Jesse Beaudry, snapped. “What did you think people would say?”

Her knees buckled as she took in all of the people who had listened to Lucky—who believed him—

She’d been kidnapped, held at knifepoint, threatened with unimaginable rape and torture—had managed to survive it—had just about rescued herself—

And it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter.

She didn’t matter.

Tears burned in her throat as she slowly took a step back. She stumbled over a rock and fell to the ground. No one moved to help her. She sat on the gravel for a long minute, just staring at her hands, now scraped from the rocks.

“Come on,” Jason murmured. He knelt next to her and got her to her feet. “Let’s go to the hospital. Robin’s waiting. And Emily. Everyone’s worried.”

“Are they?” Elizabeth asked dully. She closed her eyes to shut out all the stares, the accusations and let Jason steer her towards a car, only belatedly realizing that Sonny and Max had arrived.

“Yeah, they are. Come on,” he repeated. “Let’s go.”

“Okay.” With a shaky sigh, she slid into the backseat of the car and looked one more time towards the ambulance whose back doors had also closed.

She should feel relief. Manny was dead. The nightmare was over.

Except it felt like it was just beginning.

Wake me up inside
Wake me up inside
Call my name and save me from the dark
Bid my blood to run
Before I come undone
Save me from the nothing I’ve become
– Bring Me to Life, Evanescence

---

Friday, April 7, 2006

General Hospital: Nurse’s Hub

Elizabeth winced and rolled her arm again, trying to gingerly move her shoulder. She’d asked for the paperwork detail again because it would keep her in one place longer. It also allowed Cody to watch over her better as well as doing a favor for the other nurses who hated paperwork. It might go a long way to boosting her reputation with them.

But she really just wanted to crawl back into bed with an ice pack. She’d slept uneasily, even knowing that Cody had taken one of the guest rooms down the hall and that there were two more guards outside the house. Jason had stayed for dinner and nearly all of Spiderman 2, but with Cameron there to keep them from conversations they should not have, it had been almost a relaxing evening.

If she didn’t think about the reasons she was at her grandmother’s with Cameron or why Jason was there.

She glanced up as the elevator doors opened, and she saw Bobbie step out with a frown on her face. Elizabeth wrinkled her nose as Lucky’s aunt approached her.

“Elizabeth, I was hoping I’d see you today. Do you have a minute?”

“I have so much paperwork,” Elizabeth began, but then Bobbie just arched her brow, and Elizabeth remembered how much she owed this woman. With a sigh, she set down her pen and followed Bobbie over to the waiting area where Cody sat, pretending to be interested in a newspaper.

“I know you,” Bobbie said to him. “You—I’ve seen you at Sonny’s—”

Cody winced, then got to his feet. “I’ll be over by the elevators,” he told Elizabeth, folding his newspaper under his arm. Bobbie watched him go, her eyebrows knitted together.

“Why do you have a guard?” Bobbie asked. “What did Lucky do—”

“Oh—” Elizabeth flushed, and smoothed her hair, making sure it was arranged over the bruise. “Oh, that’s nothing. That’s about Manny.” She briefly told Bobbie about Manny and the reasons he might have targeted her. “It’s just a precaution.”

“Is that why Lucky was so mad about Cameron hanging out with Morgan? Because I talked to Carly and she said—”

“Carly’s doing me a favor by letting Cam play with Morgan today,” Elizabeth interrupted. She folded her arms. “I didn’t want him in daycare. And Lucky—it’s fine. It’s not like the PCPD can do anything.”

“Elizabeth.” Bobbie pressed her lips together and stared at her for a long moment. “You called me last night, sounding upset. You didn’t want Lucky to pick up his own son—insisted I have my son drive him to Audrey’s when she’s out of town—Lucas told me you had a cut on your face and that you’d been crying—”

“I fell,” Elizabeth insisted. “I was tired, and I tripped on the carpet. C’mon, Bobbie. You know what the hours are like here. And I have a toddler—”

“I do know that.” Bobbie stared at her for another long moment. “Let’s sit.”

“I should get back to work—”

“Just for a moment,” Bobbie said, a thin thread of steel in her tone. With a sigh, Elizabeth sat on the sofa. Bobbie sat next to her. “Have I ever told you about one of my first husbands? D.L. Brock?”

“I—” Elizabeth shook her head. “No, I guess I didn’t—I really only knew about Tony and Stefan.”

“Well, D.L. came a lot earlier. Before Tony. He was not a kind man.” Bobbie hesitated. “He was abusive—”

“Bobbie, I don’t know what you’re thinking—”

“I’m thinking that you need to stop interrupting me,” Bobbie said gently. “Because I have something I’d like you to hear. He beat me one night, and I had to have a hysterectomy. That’s why there’s only Carly. Why Lucas was adopted. Because I trusted someone who hurt me.”

“I’m sorry that you went through that,” Elizabeth managed, her eyes blurring with tears. “It’s horrible.”

“It was. But what was more terrible was thinking I was alone. That I couldn’t tell anyone. I don’t know what’s going on with Lucky, Elizabeth. But don’t you ever forget that I love you, too. Every bit as much as I love my nephew. You are part of my family, and that has nothing to do with his marriage to you.”

“Bobbie—”

Bobbie leaned forward and gently tucked Elizabeth’s hair behind her ear, letting her fingers drift over the bruise, the angry purple fading into a sickening mix of green and yellow. Over the cut by her cheekbone. “I love you,” she repeated. “And when you need someone, you come to me. Because you are not alone. And I know that Lucky is not the boy we knew.”

Elizabeth wanted to tell her so desperately, but she couldn’t form the words. She didn’t know why. Bobbie clearly knew. And she was ready to hear it.

But Elizabeth wasn’t to say it.

“I have to get back to work,” Elizabeth finally said. She got to her feet. “Thank you for coming by. And for helping so much with Cameron. He loves you.”

“I love him,” Bobbie said. She kissed Elizabeth’s cheek, just above the cut. “When you’re ready, you know where to find me.”

“I know.”

Bobbie left then, and Elizabeth watched her go. Cody returned to his post in the armchair, armed with his newspaper. She looked at him. “No news?”

“Not a single sighting.”

She sighed, rubbed her face. “That’s not good, is it?”

“No,” Cody admitted. “If he’d just left town—” He shrugged. “Don’t worry, Miss Webber.”

“I won’t. I know you won’t leave me alone.”

General Hospital: Pediatrics Floor

Emily frowned as she walked past a patient’s room, stopped, and backed up a few steps to find her brother in a room with Epiphany and Alan.

“What’s going on?” she demanded.

“Emily,” Alan began, but Emily wasn’t in the mood to be batted aside by another well-meaning man. Not today.

“Is Elizabeth okay? Is Manny in the hospital? Where’s Cameron?”

Jason sighed and looked at Alan and Epiphany before looking back at his sister. “Em, give me a minute, and we’ll talk.” He turned back to Alan “Thank you for letting Stan into the security room,” Jason said. “I know this makes you uncomfortable.”

“It does,” Alan said with a sigh. “But I didn’t want the board to hire Manny. And the PCPD has their hands tied. I don’t love this, Jason, but if you’re right, then one of my nurses has been targeted under my watch. I won’t stand for it. Whatever you need. Just—” He grimaced. “Catch this psycho.”

He left the room, then, and with a pointed look at Jason, Epiphany followed. Emily folded her arms. “Well?”

Jason closed the door and turned to his sister. “You said that Manny used to hang out on this floor all the time. Until Elizabeth got moved.”

Emily nodded. “Yeah, and then it was like I never saw him.”

“But Skye was here a lot the last few weeks, wasn’t she? Doing a charity thing for the hospital?”

“She was—” Emily frowned. “But Manny was never around. He was always upstairs—Oh, man.” She swallowed, letting her hands fall to her sides. “He really was watching her. Oh, God, Jason. I thought she was just overreacting—”

“I did, too. But she’s got a guard, and I’ve got people on her grandmother’s house—”

Emily exhaled slowly. “So she went to Audrey’s. I was wondering—do you know why? What happened?”

Jason shook his head. “You should ask her about it—”

“No—” Emily touched his arm. “No. C’mon. What’s going on?”

“You should ask Elizabeth,” Jason repeated gently.

“Hard since she’s not talking to me,” Emily muttered. She looked away, then flashed her brother an irritated glare. “This is mostly your fault, you know. If you hadn’t been such a…jackass…I never would have—” She stopped.

“Attacked me?” Jason demanded. “Told me something you knew Elizabeth would be embarrassed about? Do you want me to apologize to you, Emily? Because I don’t really know what the hell I did wrong.”

And sometimes when Emily thought about it, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it either. “Well, you should have let me make my own choices because I figured out pretty quick that Sonny is…not a good idea.”

Jason frowned at her. “What? What does that mean?”

“It means,” Emily said through gritted teeth, “that you were right. I hate it, but you were right. Sonny doesn’t—he doesn’t respect me. He refused to talk to me about Manny even though he’d already told you it wasn’t his problem. He can’t have it both ways—”

Jason exhaled slowly. “Sonny has a thing about women and the business.”

“Yeah, I’m sure there’s a good reason for that. But this isn’t business. This is a psychotic asshole who might try to hurt my best friend. And it’s bullshit because you let Elizabeth help all the time and clearly he doesn’t have a problem with it—” She broke off when she saw Jason hesitate. “What?”

“I didn’t plan it. But—that winter when I got shot—Elizabeth just—she fell in the middle of it. And then the bomb in her studio—I mean—look, it’s not important. It’s just—Sonny really doesn’t want Elizabeth involved either. I always…almost always,” he corrected softly, “told her more than he wanted.”

Emily swallowed hard. “Almost always,” she repeated. “Except that one time. When Sonny didn’t want her to know about faking his death.”

“Yeah. And I listened to him. I shouldn’t—” Jason stopped. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m sorry you’re hurt, Emily, but—”

“But Sonny doesn’t respect women,” Emily said. “Even women he says he loves.” She nodded. “Okay. Well, that clears up a lot. He doesn’t respect or trust me—”

“That’s—probably a little harsh, but—no, not really.”

“And that’s what you wanted to protect me from.” Emily folded her arms, hugging her patient’s chart to her chest. “I figured it out on my own, Jason. I can take care of myself.”

“You’re my sister. I’m always going to want to take care of you. Stop you from getting hurt.”

“Yeah. I know. You’re my brother. And I’m always going to want to take care of you,” she told him. He flinched. “Hey, what’s good for the goose and all that, Jase—we both went about it the wrong way, but neither of us was wrong. You told me that Sonny would hurt me. That he’d never be what I needed. And you were right.”

“Emily—”

“And maybe I did it the wrong way, but I’m not wrong. You deserve better than Sam McCall. I’m glad I told you what Elizabeth said. I wish I’d done it three years ago when it might have made a difference.”

Jason looked at her for a long moment. “Why didn’t you?” he asked finally.

Emily frowned. “Because I—well, you’d moved on with Courtney. And I guess—I don’t know. I thought it was true. And if you really did cheat on Elizabeth, then maybe she was better off.” She tilted her head. “Would it have changed something? Has it changed something?”

“I need to get going.”

Jason started past her, but Emily grabbed his arm. “Jase, she’s married now.”

“I know that—”

“And she’s dealing with a lot. Lucky’s not doing great with this setback, I know that. They’re fighting a lot. He told me that—”

“You’ve seen him?” Jason turned back to her, his interest engaged again. “When?”

“Last night. He came to the Quartermaines looking for Elizabeth. I guess—you said she’s at Audrey’s.” Emily sighed. “He said something about you hanging around and it’s—it’s—I don’t know. I’m just worried. Judging by how he looked last night, he’s probably going to fail his physical today, and it’s going to make things worse.”

“Worse,” Jason repeated. “So…you haven’t seen her?”

“I saw her yesterday, but—” Emily frowned. What didn’t she know? How bad were things with Lucky and Elizabeth? “You’re not telling me something.”

“It’s—it’s nothing. Elizabeth already told me we can’t be friends. I’ve accepted that. You don’t have to worry, Emily. I’m not trying to get between them.” He shook his head. “I learned that lesson a long time ago.”

He left this time, and Emily stared after her brother, troubled. “You never had to try,” she muttered as she left the room. Jason seemed to drive a wedge between Lucky and Elizabeth simply by breathing.

She couldn’t wait for this Manny crap to be over, so everything could just go back to the way it used to be.

Luke’s: Back Office

Luke frowned as his sister walked in. He pulled his feet off the desk and got up. “Barbara, was I expecting you?”

“No, but I was hoping you might know where to find your son.” Bobbie set her purse down and took off her jacket. “Have you seen him lately?”

“No, he’s been avoiding me, truth be told, since he borrowed money to pay their car insurance—” Luke shook his head. “I tried to tell him he could move into the house, save themselves some rent, but he refused.” He gestured for Bobbie to take a seat, but she shook her head. “They both have good jobs — I don’t know why they’re struggling—”

“Speaking like a man who’s never had to worry about child care,” Bobbie said sourly. “Lucky’s on half-pay because he can’t work a full shift. And part of Elizabeth’s paycheck goes to daycare. They’re stretched pretty thin. And that’s before the hospital bills.”

“How—” Luke hesitated. “Does he tell you all this?”

“No, but I made it my business to find out. Audrey went to Memphis for a month to visit her grandson, and your son refused to change his schedule around, so Elizabeth didn’t have to pay extra for daycare.” Bobbie tilted her head to the side. “I’m afraid Lucky is more like his father every day.”

“Well…” Luke cleared his throat. “That doesn’t, ah, sound very complimentary, Barbara Jean.” He got up and walked towards the front of the club, where he poured himself a drink. “What did my gender do now?”

“Not your gender. Your bloodline. You weren’t, and still aren’t, very fond of your stepson—”

“Oh, come on—” Luke set the bottle of whiskey down with a thud. “That’s not fair. The Dark Prince is…” He wiggled his fingers. “Dark. He’s a Cassadine—”

“And you made Laura’s life hell because of it. Forced her to choose. To feel guilty.”

Luke scowled and sipped his drink. “I love when you stop by, sister dear. Always a boost to the ego.”

“Lucky is doing the same thing to Elizabeth. He doesn’t…” Bobbie shook her head. “He doesn’t love that little boy.”

“That’s not—” He sighed. “How can you possibly know that?”

“I asked Mac. And he said that he offered to cover Lucky at work so he could use that time to go to physical therapy. If Cameron stays in daycare between four and seven, Elizabeth has to pay nearly two hundred extra dollars a week. Lucky refused to take Mac’s offer, not even to save Elizabeth money.”

“I—” Luke hesitated. “He’s…” But there weren’t words. “Okay, so he’s selfish. No crime in that. And maybe he’s just too focused on getting back on the job—”

“Elizabeth asked me to help. I already watch Morgan a few nights a week, and I rearranged my schedule to make sure I could be there. Because Lucky outright refused. I tried to ask him why, and he told me it’s not his problem. Elizabeth asked him to pick Cameron up from my place exactly once. And Lucky forgot.”

None of this was good evidence. “Okay, so Cowboy isn’t a good father. That…” Luke winced. “That does run in the family.”

“I think he’s hurting Elizabeth.”

Luke stared at his sister for a long time before swallowed hard. “And you don’t mean emotionally.”

“No, I don’t. She has a bruise on her face, and I saw her holding her shoulder as she was in pain. Last night, she called me, Luke, and I could hear it in her voice. She was crying, trying to control herself. Begged me not to let Lucky pick up Cameron. To have Lucas take him to Audrey’s. Because she would be there.”

Luke rubbed a hand over his face. “Damn it, Barbara Jean. That’s not—Lucky loves that girl. He’s always loved her. Don’t you remember how careful he was with her? He used to—” His voice thickened. “He used to…”

“He used to,” Bobbie repeated softly. “He used to worship her. He used to think about how to make her happy. He used to watch her. Watched the world around her. Tried to anticipate anything that might hurt her. All of that is past tense.”

“It’s—it’s been a tough year—” But Luke couldn’t even finish it.

“Worse than the year she was raped, and he found out about…” Bobbie gestured at him. “Worse than that? Because that rocked his world. Yes, he’s been sick. He’s been hurt. But I’m worried—”

“Did she actually tell you he’s hurt her?” Luke asked, desperate to find a way out of this. “Elizabeth’s a strong girl, she wouldn’t stand for it—”

“Oh, like she wouldn’t sit around for a year dealing with brainwashing while Lucky treated her like crap? How many times did we all tell her just to have patience? That if we loved Lucky enough, he’d come back to us—”

“This isn’t our fault—”

“No. It’s not. But if we don’t do something now, whatever happens next will be our fault. Have you seen Lucky today?” Bobbie repeated.

“No. I—I haven’t.” Luke reached for his cell phone. “But I’ll call him—”

“I’ve left voice mails. He’s not picking up.” Bobbie reached over, touched his hand. “Luke, she’s not ready to face it. I know that. I’ve been there. We’ve both been there.” She cleared her throat. “We watched Mama go through it—”

“I’m not talking about it, Barbara Jean—”

“There’s something rotten in the Spencer blood. Daddy used to beat Mama like it was nothing. And she died. You—”

“You don’t have to tell me what I did,” Luke muttered. “I know what’s in me. What I did to my angel. What I can never take back. But Lucky was different. He was going—” He looked back at his sister. “He was going to be better than all of us.”

“And maybe he still can be. But only if we stop it now. Before he really does something he can’t take back. I love that girl, Luke. Laura loved her, too. What would she want us to do?”

“She’d want us to look out for Elizabeth.” Luke sighed. “Yeah, okay, we’ll track him down. We’ll make this right.”

General Hospital: Hallway

“I’m gonna ask her,” Patrick declared with a firm nod of his head. He shook his finger at Robin Scorpio. “Don’t talk me out of it—”

“Couldn’t be done if I wanted to—” Robin grimaced as she watched Elizabeth working at the hub. The nurse winced as she lifted a pile of charts. “Can’t we just tie her up and force her to let one of us look at her shoulder?”

“I like the way you think. Clearly, I have great taste.” Patrick slung an arm around her shoulders. “But it’ll look weird if I do it, so I’ll distract her, and you get the rope—”

“The two of you are dumb as hell.”

The doctors jumped at the bark behind them and spun around to find Epiphany scowling at both of them. “You want to ask her? Just ask her. She ain’t gonna tell you fools nothing.”

“But we can’t just…” Patrick gestured in Elizabeth’s direction. “We can’t let it go. Can we?” He looked at Robin, and she knew he was thinking about the conversation they’d had the month before. His worry over something in Lucky’s medical history that would spill over to Elizabeth.

It looked like his worst fears had come true.

Robin forced a smile on her face and turned to the nurse. “He’s learning empathy,” she told Epiphany, trying to lighten the moment. “It’s cute. Really.”

Patrick scowled. “Great. The two of you have jokes, but I’m over here—”

“Just follow me,” Epiphany said with a roll of her eyes. “Now.” She stalked across the hallway and meekly, the doctors followed.

Elizabeth looked up to find the trio standing in front of her, their expressions resolute. “Uh…can I help you?”

“Here’s what is going to happen,” Epiphany told her. “You’re going to let one of these idiots take a look at that shoulder. You’re going to let the other one take pictures of your injuries. We’re not going to ask you any questions. But you will have them if you need them.”

Elizabeth stared at her supervisor for a long moment before shaking her head. “I’m fine—”

“Girl,” Epiphany began, but Robin, taking her life in her hands, interrupted.

“Just me, then, Liz. You and me. We’ll go do a quick exam, and I promise. I’m not going to ask any questions.”

“There aren’t questions to ask—”

“You have a son you need to be able to carry,” Robin told her, stepping to the front of the trio. “Don’t risk making it worse.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes. “Fine. But just you.” She eyed Patrick and Epiphany suspiciously as Robin took her by the elbow. “And no questions.”

“Not even one.”

When they were in the room, Elizabeth sighed, realizing Robin had clearly prepared for this. “You went to see the S.A.N.E nurse,” she murmured.

“I did,” Robin said as she unpacked the kit. “I wanted to take pictures, and this has a disposable camera and measuring stick. We…” She looked at Elizabeth. “We don’t need any of the other stuff, do we?”

“No.” Elizabeth hesitated, then slowly peeled off her scrub top, wincing.

She moved on to the long-sleeved knit top she wore underneath. Robin helped Elizabeth ease it over her head, revealing the purple bruise on her shoulder blade, the fingerprints on her arm, and to Elizabeth’s surprise, another bruise wrapping around her abdomen. She frowned at it as Robin stood her in front of the wall and handed her the measuring tape.

“I didn’t see that,” she murmured. Oh, God, she was covered in bruises. She’d tried so hard not to look at herself in the shower in this morning, but—

Robin thankfully remained silent and merely handed Elizabeth a hairband. She tied her hair back to reveal the sickening bruise at her hairline.

“I know I said no questions,” Robin said, “and I mean that, but um, the shoulder injury…I just need to know what you…” She sighed, looked at Elizabeth. “No questions,” she repeated.

Elizabeth met her gaze for a long time, then nodded. She gestured at her face. “The first bruise is three days old. That’s from hitting the wall. And these…” She gestured at the first set of fingerprints on her right arm. “That’s two days ago. The, uh, cut on my face…and the rest of them…” She closed her eyes. “I fell backward over a table and into a lamp. Then I hit the floor.”

“Okay.”

Robin gently rotated Elizabeth’s shoulder for a minute, then nodded. “I think it’s just a bad contusion. Are you taking anything for it? Motrin?”

“Motrin and ice.”

“That’ll probably be good.” Robin handed Elizabeth her shirt. “I’ll take the camera to a one hour place. It’ll be dated today. And if…you ever need anyone to certify when they were taken, I’ll do it.”

Elizabeth held her clothes to her chest, her eyes burning. “You’re really not asking questions.”

“If you want me to ask them, I will. But I don’t think I need to.” Robin bit her lip. “Are you safe?”

“Right now? Yes.”

“I don’t know you that well, Elizabeth. But I like you. And I remember Lucky from growing up here.”

“You said—”

“I’m just stating facts. I know that there will be some people who will either never believe you or assume you did something to deserve it.” Robin met her eyes. “You never deserved it. And I will believe you. When you’re ready to answer those questions.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay. Thank you.”

“Let me know if that shoulder feels worse, okay? We might want an MRI, but it doesn’t look that serious.”

When Elizabeth had gotten changed, she followed Robin back out to the nurse’s station, where she found Patrick and Epiphany still waiting. She arched a brow. “Don’t you people have jobs?”

“Yes, I’m going to go do it in a minute.” Patrick scowled. “I don’t like people.”

“This is not news to me—”

“And I think your husband is a giant asshole—”

“Patrick,” Robin hissed, whacking him in the shoulder as Elizabeth blanched.

“But since I’m not allowed to say that,” Patrick continued, “so I’ll just say that you are one of the few people that I like. And it pisses me off I can’t do more to help.” He paused. “It really pisses me off.”

“You…” Elizabeth hesitated. “You are helping. Thank you for your concern. I’ve got this under control.” She looked at Epiphany. “Can I clock out early? I only have fifteen more minutes—”

“Yeah, but grab your guard,” Epiphany told her. They watched as Elizabeth got on the elevator with Cody.

“Well, what did she say?” Patrick demanded as soon as the doors had shut. “How bad is it?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Robin said with a roll of her eyes. She muttered under her breath and stalked away.

“I’m worried,” Patrick told Epiphany. “If she doesn’t say what he did to her, she might talk herself into going back—”

“All we can do is be there for her. You forget — he’s not just her husband. He’s a cop,” Epiphany said with a shrug. “And they’ll stick by him.”

Patrick wanted to argue, but simply couldn’t. So he just went back to his shift.

General Hospital: Parking Garage

Elizabeth hung back slightly as they approached the dark black sedan Cody had driven her to work in. She waited as Cody walked around the car, looking for evidence that it had been broken into or tampered with.

He stooped on the ground to look under the car, completing the bomb check. Then she heard him hiss. Her pulse kicked up as she took another step back. “What is it?” she demanded.

“A flat tire.” Cody scowled as he got back to his feet and dusted some grit and dirt from his suit jacket. “Damn it.” He pulled his phone from his coat. “I’ll call for another car.”

Elizabeth exhaled, relieved. She just wanted all of this to be over. “Okay—but—” She frowned. “Don’t you think it’s weird that we have a flat? Don’t Jason and Sonny do, like, routine maintenance?”

Cody glanced up, frowned at her, then looked back at the car. “Shit. Let’s go back inside—”

A shadow darted around them, and Elizabeth screamed as Manny Ruiz lurched out from behind a car and ran at Cody, who didn’t even have a chance to pull his gun before the tire iron smacked the side of his skull.

“Run,” Cody choked out as he fell against the car. Elizabeth took off, the pads of her sneakers slapping against the concrete floor as she dashed back towards the emergency stairs, knowing she’d never get to the elevator.

Just as she reached the door and started to twist the handle, a hand slid over her mouth, and Manny’s voice panted in her ear. “Not so fast, Pretty Girl. You’re all mine.”

Elizabeth bit his hand, then screamed. Manny swore, spun her around, then backhanded her. Elizabeth flew into a car, then falling onto the ground.

With a moan, Elizabeth tried to crawl away. She could see Cody in the distance, laying sprawled out by his car.

“Help…”

She cried out as Manny yanked her head back—then dimly saw the car bumper in front of her before pain exploded in her head, and her vision went black.

When your tears are spent
On your last pretense
And your tired eyes refuse to close
And sleep in your defense
When it’s in your spine
Like you’ve walked for miles
And the only thing you want it just to
Be still for a while

– Beside You, Marianas Trench

---

Thursday, April 6, 2006

Lucky & Elizabeth’s Apartment: Living Room

Her shoulder was on fire, her face was throbbing, but Elizabeth couldn’t think about the way she felt. She had to get to a phone—she had to get to Bobbie—

She had to stop Lucky from getting his hands on Cameron.

She pushed herself up on her elbow, wincing and biting her lip as pain radiated down her arm. She half crawled, half slid short distance between the sofa and the door where she’d left her purse. She fished inside and found her phone, then pressed the speed dial for Bobbie.

“Elizabeth! I was just going to call you,” Bobbie said, her voice bright and breezy. “Cameron is having such a great time—Carly wanted to know if he could spend some time with Morgan this weekend.”

Elizabeth leaned against the door, closing her eyes as tears slid down her cheeks. She bit her lip again, then took a deep breath. “Hey, um, we can talk about that later—”

“What’s wrong?” Instantly, Bobbie’s tone sharpened.

“I’m f-fine,” Elizabeth managed to say. “I just—” She swallowed a sob. “Listen. Lucky is—I think he might come over to get Cameron. Can you—”

What did she even say? Keep your violent, crazy nephew away from the kids? Would Bobbie even believe her?

“Elizabeth?” Bobbie prompted.

“He’s worried about Cameron playing with Morgan—”

“With Morgan? What? Why?”

“Oh—” Elizabeth pulled herself to her feet, taking another deep breath. The pain in her shoulder was starting to fade to a dull ache. “You know, he’s Sonny kid, and—”

“That’s ridiculous—”

“Yeah, I know, but Lucky, he’s just—” Her voice faltered. “He’s under a lot of stress right now with the physical coming up.” She pressed the heel of her hand against her eye. “Um, can you just—can you just not let Lucky pick him up?”

Bobbie was quiet for a long moment. “Elizabeth,” the older woman said. “Morgan has a guard here. Would you like me to have him to keep Lucky from coming inside? So that the boys never even see him?”

“I—” She squeezed her hand around the phone and sucked in a deep breath. “No. I, um, maybe Lucas is around. Can he take Cameron away? Before Lucky gets there.” She paused, trying to find the words that would make Bobbie stop asking questions and just do what Elizabeth needed her to. “We’re just having a fight right now. And I don’t want to make it worse. You can just tell him Lucas is driving Cameron home. That I called. That I realized he was right.”

“Elizabeth—”

“Please. Bobbie, it would mean a lot to me.”

“All right.” There was a heavy pause. “I’ll have Lucas bring Cameron home—”

“No—no. Wait.” Elizabeth looked around the apartment, a place that was no longer safe for her. The lamp was shattered on the floor, the end table flipped over—one its legs snapped off. She stared at the shards of ceramic on the ground. “No. I think—can he bring Cam to my grandmother’s house? I’ll meet him there.”

“All right. Elizabeth, I love you. Please remember that.”

“I will.” Elizabeth closed her phone. She jumped as the phone vibrated in her hands a second later—

She looked down to find Emily’s name on the screen—then a notice that she had three missed calls. All from Emily. She sighed and put the phone in her purse. She couldn’t deal with anything except getting out of this apartment and to her grandmother’s house.

Because if Lucky showed up there, Elizabeth knew her guard wouldn’t let him in. She knew she’d be safe.

Quartermaine Mansion: Parlor

Emily scowled as her phone call to Elizabeth went unanswered — again. She just wanted to talk to her, to check in on her—

Maybe she should go over to the apartment and demand—

Emily took a deep breath and shook her head. No, no. That wasn’t the right way to handle any of this—

“Emily?”

She turned to find her grandfather standing in the entryway. She blinked—Edward hadn’t spoken more than a handful of words to her since this mess had started. “Grandfather.”

“You’re pacing.” Edward gestured at her. “What’s wrong? Has that reprobate hurt you? I knew he would—”

Emily sighed, then sank down on the sofa, setting her cell phone on the table. “No, not the way you think. I just—” She looked at him. “I’m worried about Elizabeth.”

“Elizabeth?” Taken aback, Edward frowned. “Why? What’s happened—”

“Manny Ruiz.” Briefly, Emily brought her grandfather up to date as he took a seat next to her. She told him about the kidnapping the previous fall and Manny being at the hospital—

“I’m sure Dad told you he let Jason send him two guys to work as orderlies at the hospital as extra security,” Emily said. “One of them stayed with me on Pediatrics, and the other has been following Manny around.” She stared down at her hands. “But someone should have been with Elizabeth weeks ago. He took the job to be close to her.”

“That is…upsetting,” Edward said finally. “But you said Jason had someone following him—”

“They lost him today. Maybe because of Skye going to Miami, but I just—Grandfather, I could have told them weeks ago that Manny was targeting Elizabeth. I should have seen it—”

“Emily—”

Emily pressed her lips together and looked at her grandfather. “But I didn’t. I was being selfish. Because Elizabeth didn’t immediately jump to my defense or take my side—I froze her out. And she didn’t tell me. I didn’t know Manny was watching her, that she was still seeing him all the time—I didn’t see it, Grandfather. And what’s worse—” Her lips trembled. “Sonny did know. He’s known for weeks.”

“Ah.” To his credit, Edward didn’t immediately launch into a diatribe against Sonny. “And you’re angry that he said nothing to you?”

“It’s—he knew she was in trouble. He knew that Manny was targeting Skye and possibly Elizabeth—but he didn’t think it was his problem. He didn’t want Jason to do anything to help—” Emily looked away. And how much worse had she made it by throwing their past in Jason and Elizabeth’s face right when Elizabeth needed Jason to keep her safe?

“And your brother listened?” Edward demanded.

“No, he ignored Sonny. He put a guard on Elizabeth, and he’s part of the reason Skye moved to Miami early—but—” Emily hesitated. “I threw away everything, Grandfather. I fought with everyone about Sonny. And it—it doesn’t matter.”

“Emily—”

“I thought he was different,” she murmured. “I really thought—” She closed her eyes. “And now my best friend needs me but doesn’t think I’ll be there. She tried to tell me, but I couldn’t hear her. I wouldn’t hear her,” she corrected.

“That might be true, and maybe Elizabeth isn’t ready to talk tonight.” Edward picked up the phone and handed it back to Emily. “But if you keep trying, she might be ready tomorrow—”

They both turned when they heard Alice’s voice in the foyer, raised as she told someone that they couldn’t just barge in—

“Emily!” Lucky bellowed. He pushed past Alice just as Emily reached the doorway to the family room. “Where is she? Is she here?”

“Is she—” Emily closed her mouth, looked back at Edward, who was crossing to join her. “Is who here—” She frowned at her oldest friend. “Lucky, what’s going on? You look like hell—”

His eyes were bloodshot, his hair disheveled, and were—were his hands shaking? “Lucky—”

“Elizabeth. She—” Lucky wiped his mouth with the back of his mouth. “We had a fight. I went to pick up Cameron, but Bobbie said Elizabeth had asked Lucas to take him somewhere. She wouldn’t tell me where—she’s not home—”

His eyes darted around wildly. “Is she upstairs? Where is she?”

“She’s not here, Lucky,” Emily said flatly. She folded her arms. “What did you fight about?”

“Nothing—” Lucky scowled. “None of your damn business. Just tell me where she is—” He stepped forward, towards Emily who found herself taking a step backward. Alice scowled and put herself between Lucky and Emily.

“It’s time for you to go,” Alice told him. “You can either go on your own, or I’ll toss you out. If that’s okay with you, Mr. Quartermaine.”

“That’s fine by me,” Edward said stiffly. “And you can be sure I’ll be calling Mac tomorrow—”

“Fine. I’m leaving. Just—” Lucky scowled. “Just tell Elizabeth to call me. She’s being dramatic—” But his hand was still shaking as he shoved his hands through his hair. “Tell her to stop hanging out with criminals, and we won’t have any problems.” His scowl deepened. “You should take that advice—”

“Out—” Alice said, pointing towards the door. “You have thirty seconds—”

“I’m going,” Lucky muttered. He jerked open the front door and slammed it behind him.

Emily let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. I’m drowning. Elizabeth had told her that—but now she wondered if Elizabeth had been talking about Manny that day—

Or if things with Lucky were really that bad.

“Emily?”

She looked down at the phone in her hand again, then at her grandfather. “I’m fine. I just—I need to find a way to help Elizabeth. Even if she won’t let me.”

She pressed a speed dial on her phone and waited for the call to connect—praying that Jason might look past all the damage they’d done to each other and answer the phone.

She sighed in relief as her brother’s curt and irritated voice came on the line. “What?”

“I need to talk to you.”

Hardy House: Front Porch

Elizabeth paced the small porch, back and forth, waiting for a pair of headlights to turn up the driveway. She could see Cody in his car, parked in front of the house. He’d been there since she’d pulled in the driveway, but hadn’t checked on her or asked any questions.

If he had come close to her at that point, Elizabeth knew it would have been difficult to keep him from calling Jason. If he’d seen her face—

When she’d arrived at her grandmother’s, she’d gone into the bathroom to wash her face, only to realize that she had a cut on her cheekbone with dried blood flaking on her skin. Her eyes were bloodshot, the bruise at her temple was turning a sickening green—

She looked like hell.

Elizabeth washed her face, carefully cleaning her cut and arranging her hair so that it hid the worst of the bruise. The dull ache in her shoulder was starting to sharpen again the more she used her shoulder—

She didn’t have a game plan, didn’t have the next step worked out—

She just wanted her little boy in her arms, safe and sound. She wanted to shut her door and lock away everyone—knowing that Cody would keep all the demons at bay. She couldn’t think too hard about Manny Ruiz right now—with any luck, he’d left Port Charles and was out of her life.

She couldn’t find the energy to worry about him.

Elizabeth sighed as a car finally pulled into the driveway. She saw Cody get out of his car and lean against it, waiting to see if she needed him.

Lucas pulled his car close to her bumper, then switched off the ignition. She stepped down off the porch and met him at the car as he opened the back door to get Cameron unhooked from his car seat.

“Thank you so much for doing this, Lucas,” Elizabeth said. She smiled brightly at Cameron, who blinked at the house behind her. “Hey, Cam. Did you have fun with Aunt Bobbie?”

“Yeah, but—” Cameron scrunched up his face. “Why we at Gram’s?”

She looked at Lucas, who arched his brow. “Lucas—”

“Mom said to remind you that she likes you more than Lucky,” Lucas said dryly. “Particularly right now because babysitting Morgan is easier with Cam around.” He hesitated, tilting his head to the side. “You okay? You want me to stick around in case Lucky shows up?”

Elizabeth bit her lip, then shook her head. “No—I have—” She nodded towards Cody at his car. “I have someone here.”

“Okay,” Lucas said, drawing out the word. “I’ll leave you alone then. Take care, buddy. Next time, I’ll show you how to play Mario Kart.”

“Bye, Lucas!” Cameron waved as Bobbie’s son climbed back into his car. She didn’t wait for Lucas to drive away or for Cody to get back int his car. She went straight into the house and locked the door behind her.

Greystone Manor: Living Room

Max had the good sense to get out of Jason’s way as he stormed past the guard in the foyer to confront Sonny in the living room—where he was, as usual, drinking.

“Were you even going to tell me?” Jason demanded.

Sonny turned to look at him, raised his brows, then sat down in the armchair. “Tell you what?”

“Don’t play with me, Sonny. Manny is missing, and Emily just told me that Manny hasn’t been on her floor since Elizabeth transferred—”

“So?” Sonny shrugged and sipped his bourbon. “We already knew that—”

“No—” Jason bit off his retort, tried to find the patience. “We knew that Manny was hanging around Emily and Elizabeth when they worked the same floor. We knew that Manny was hanging around when Skye was there. We did not know that Manny had stopped hanging around Emily—”

“Did you or did you not put Beto at the hospital so he’d know where Manny was?” Sonny demanded. “Don’t put this on me—”

“Manny was assigned all over the hospital,” Jason cut in sharply. “He was still on the Pediatrics floor. But he wasn’t following Emily. And Emily and Elizabeth weren’t working the same shifts anymore—Damn it, Sonny. You knew Elizabeth was having trouble with Manny weeks ago—”

“And it’s my fault that no one asked Emily about this?” Sonny got to his feet, went to refill his drink. “Maybe if you hadn’t thrown a hissy fit about my relationship with her—” He looked over his shoulder at Jason. “If you hadn’t encouraged Elizabeth to get involved—”

“I didn’t—” Jason scowled. “I didn’t encourage her—and it doesn’t have anything to do with that—Manny kidnapped her months ago when she wasn’t even in—” He took a deep breath. “She wasn’t in my life in October, and Manny went after her then. He obviously got the job to stay close to her—”

“That doesn’t make it my fault—”

“No, but you knew Emily wasn’t talking to Elizabeth. You knew she and I were fighting. And it didn’t occur to you once to let Emily know what was going on with Elizabeth.” And Jason couldn’t understand that—couldn’t understand how Sonny had seemed so oblivious to all the crap Emily had gone through because of their relationship—

He didn’t seem to care that Emily wasn’t talking to her best friend—the same way he hadn’t cared that Elizabeth might be in danger—

“Manny is missing,” Jason told him. “You knew that this morning. You knew hours ago that Elizabeth was probably the target, not Skye. And you said nothing to me.”

“I see Emily sucked up her pride to call you.” Sonny shrugged again, but his shoulders were tense. “Now, you know. And Elizabeth knows Manny is missing thanks to Emily.” He scowled. “When did we start telling women everything? What happened to the rules?”

Jason just stared at him, dumbfounded. “What are you talking about? Elizabeth is the one in danger— from a man you decided wasn’t our problem. How do the rules—” He stopped. “When you ask someone to be a part of your life, Sonny, you ask them to cross a line. They deserve to know when they’re in danger.”

Sonny’s smile was sour. “That sounds like something someone else told you. Was it Elizabeth? Is that how she talked you into letting her help with Manny?”

“No, that’s why she left me,” Jason said roughly. Sonny looked at him, a bit taken aback by that. “She deserved better from me. From you. And it sounds like you’re making the same mistake with Emily.” He shook his head. He hadn’t wanted to be right—part of him had hoped that it would be different this time—

But he wasn’t surprised.

“I don’t care if you don’t think Manny is our problem or not,” Jason told him. “I told Francis to put everyone on this.”

Sonny pursed his lips. “And if I told you to back off?” he asked quietly. He swirled the alcohol in his tumbler, then met Jason’s eyes. “If I reminded you that Elizabeth is married to a cop—”

“Is that what you’re telling me?” Jason said. He lifted his chin. “Are you telling me to drop it?”

“I have a feeling,” Sonny said slowly, “that I would lose that argument.” He looked down at his tumbler. “You’re making a mistake getting involved with her again.”

“It’s not like that—”

“No?” Sonny smirked, finished his bourbon. “You should listen to yourself once in a while—”

Jason just shook his head, scowling as he took out his phone. “I’m not having this argument with you,” he said. “I’m calling Cody. Elizabeth needs to know that she was probably the target all along.”

He needed to figure out how to keep her safe while not making more trouble with Lucky, but if it came down to it, he could live with Elizabeth hating him as long as she was safe. Emily had mentioned briefly that Lucky and Elizabeth were fighting again, but he hadn’t asked her for more details. He needed to deal with Manny, not worry about Elizabeth’s marriage.

“Cody, hey. You have eyes on Elizabeth?” Jason asked, waiting for the guard to tell him that she was safely at home or at the hospital.

“Uh, yeah, I do.” Cody’s voice sounded strange—hesitant even. “What’s up? Is there word on Manny?”

“It looks like Elizabeth might have been his target all along.” Jason pinched his nose and turned away from Sonny, who had poured himself yet another drink. “I need—I need to know if it’s okay if I come over. Is Lucky there?”

“Uh, actually, Jase—she’s not at the apartment. She’s at her grandmother’s house.”

“What?” Jason asked. “Why? Isn’t she in Memphis—”

“I guess, but Elizabeth came here on her own, then paced out front for a while until Lucas Jones arrived with Cameron. She went inside, and I haven’t seen her since. Do you want me to check on her?”

Jason exhaled slowly. “Yeah. Let her know I’m on my way to talk to her about Manny. That it’s important, or I wouldn’t bother her.”

“Got it.”

Jason hung up the phone. “I have to go—”

“Wait—” Sonny held up a hand. Jason sighed, but his partner shook his head. “Look, I get it. She’s in danger, and me being me not telling Emily anything—if that’s made it worse, I’m sorry. I was wrong. We should have done something sooner. As soon as Elizabeth got involved.”

Jason frowned at him “Sonny—”

“I might not like you being close with someone married to a cop, but you were right. It’s Elizabeth. And we should have done more.” Sonny hesitated. “I should have done more. So whatever you need, get it done. Keep her safe, and let’s get rid of Manny Ruiz for good.”

Hardy House: Living Room

She’d settled Cameron down on the sofa with the Spiderman movie DVD she always carried in her bag. She knew she needed to figure out something for dinner, but she was broke until payday, and her grandmother didn’t have much in the house since she’d planned to be gone for so long.

Her cell phone rang again, and Elizabeth looked at it, expecting it to be Emily—but it was Cody’s name that lit up the identification screen. With a sigh, she realized she couldn’t entirely ignore the world. At least the part of it that was determined to keep her safe. “Yeah?”

“Miss Webber, I wanted to let you know that Jason is on his way over. He, ah, needed to tell you something about Manny, so I had to tell him you were at your grandmother’s. Uh…sorry,” Cody added when Elizabeth remained silent.

Elizabeth flinched. She really didn’t need this tonight, but if Jason had news about Manny–

“It’s okay. Thanks for letting me know, Cody.” She hung up the phone.

“Mommy?” Cameron asked. He frowned at her. “Mommy, I’m hungry.”

“I know.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “Okay. Okay, I can do this.”

“You can do anything,” Cameron said, loyally. “Did you bring my toys?”

“No, but you have some upstairs—” Elizabeth rubbed her shoulder absently. The levels of pain came and went, but she didn’t want to get an ice pack in front of Cameron. And what was she going to do about dinner? Maybe she could check the balances on her credit cards again or find some dry cereal—

The doorbell rang before she could make a decision. Determined to get rid of Jason as quickly as possible, Elizabeth got up to let him in.

“Jason. Hey. Cody just told me you were coming by,” she said. She kept the door halfway closed, wondering if it was possible to keep him from coming in. She really wasn’t up to this tonight.

Jason frowned at her, and she looked away, hoping that he didn’t notice the way she was favoring her shoulder or that she had a cut on her face just below the bruise he’d yesterday. “Hey. I know we talked about me not coming by,” he said, “but something happened with Manny.”

“Yeah, Cody called.” She looked at him, waiting for him to volunteer the information. When Jason glanced at the door, then back at her, he exhaled slowly.

“Right. Uh, well—” He scratched the edge of his eyebrow.

“Mommy?” Cameron tugged on her pant leg as he came to the door. He peered out from behind her. “Hi, Mr. Jason. Did you come to see my toys?”

“Hey, Cameron.” Jason’s face relaxed as he knelt down. “No, but Morgan said you had the best Legos he’d ever played with.”

“I gots lots of Legos here.” Cameron looked at Elizabeth. “Mommy, is Mr. Jason staying?”

Jason met her eyes as he got back to his seat. “Uh, no—”

“Yes,” Elizabeth said at the same time. She stepped back, opening the door wider. She didn’t really think about it. Maybe she should have, but she just—she couldn’t turn away an opportunity to distract Cameron—to give him a bit of happiness.

“Are you sure?” Jason asked softly as he walked past her into the house. Elizabeth closed the door behind him.

“No,” she admitted, “but I know you wouldn’t come all the way over here if it wasn’t important, and Cameron—” She ruffled her son’s curls as he grinned at her. “Cameron does have a lot of Legos here.”

“Mommy, can we eat? I’m hungry.” Cameron looked at Jason. “I like pizza. Do you like pizza? We don’t got pizza here. Grammy is in Memdis forever—”

“For a few weeks,” Elizabeth corrected. “Cameron—” She wrinkled her nose, already regretting the impulse to invite Jason in. She folded her arms, wincing as her shoulder protested.

“Bobbie was gonna have pizza,” Cameron continued, “but Mommy made me come here.” He pursed his lips. “I like pizza,” he repeated.

Mortified beyond belief, Elizabeth just closed her eyes. Jason knelt down to match Cameron’s height. “What kind of pizza?”

“All pizza is good. Mommy says there no bad pizza. ‘Cept the ones with green stuff. We don’t like green stuff. Do you like green stuff?”

“Sometimes,” Jason said. He got back to his feet. “Do you want me to call for something?” he asked Elizabeth quietly.

“I—” Elizabeth took a deep breath. Her son came first. He always came first. “Yes. And I—I have to owe you. I don’t get paid until tomorrow.”

Jason nodded. “Yeah, sure.” She sighed—he’d never take the money from her, but she couldn’t deal with that right now. Cameron needed to eat. Jason stepped away to make a phone call while she looked at her son. “Cameron, why don’t you go upstairs and put together your favorite Lego pieces so you can show them to Jason?”

“Okay.” Cameron hesitated. “But no lights. Mommy, don’t like no lights. Dark.” He looked up at the dim stairwell and the dark hallway beyond it. She could switch on the lights for the stairs, but the hallway light was at the top of the stairs.

And she couldn’t lift him to take him up the stairs. Her throat felt thick as she struggled to think through the fog of it all. Her shoulder was still throbbed, an eternal reminder of why she was at her grandmother’s in the first place—

She just—God, she just wanted this to be over.

“Cameron,” Jason said from behind her. “Do you know which room is yours?”

“Yep!”

“I’ll take you, and Mommy can wait down here for the pizza, okay?” He lifted the toddler into his arms, looking back at Elizabeth. “Do you want me to call Emily? Or Bobbie?”

“I didn’t even want anyone to call you,” Elizabeth managed miserably. Emily and Bobbie might feel sorry for her, but they also might just tell her that she should think about Lucky—that she should give him another chance. He was so close to getting his job back.

And hadn’t she told everyone things would be okay when he was back to work? Hadn’t she told herself that?

“Okay,” Jason said, not looking remotely hurt by that. So he went upstairs, and Elizabeth sat on the sofa, trying to figure out how to get through the next few hours without Jason finding out exactly why she’d dragged her son to an empty house without any food.

A few minutes later, Jason came down with a plastic monitor in his hand. “Cam said his gram uses this when he plays alone.” He handed it to her, and she could hear her little boy singing to himself. “Biderman, Biderman, does a Bider can,” came his sweet voice.

“I know you don’t want to talk about what happened,” Jason said. She looked at him. “And I’m not going to ask. You’re here. You’re safe. Cody isn’t going to let anyone come in here. I promise.” He hesitated. “With Manny missing, I was hoping you might let one of the guys stay in the house tonight.”

“I—” That would be safest, wouldn’t it? But she hated the idea of it. She just wanted to be alone.

“But that’s not an option, I can see that now,” he said smoothly. “So I’ll set up shifts. Cody or someone out front. And then someone out back. They can sit on the back porch. I’m hoping we’ll have him found within a day or two. Can you stay here that long?”

“Yes.” Elizabeth took a deep breath, finding her feet again. “Yeah, I can manage that.” She looked at him. “Something happened that you’re not telling me because I’m upset. Something more than Manny going missing. You know I know that already.”

“I do, yeah, but—” Jason hesitated. “I came here to tell you, but I just—I don’t want to make things worse, Elizabeth. This last week—” He pressed his lips together. “I know it’s been tough.”

She nearly told him that Manny Ruiz and his threats had almost been a relief as it gave herself something else to worry about beyond her marriage. “I know. And I appreciate it. But you want me to be guarded twenty-four seven. You wanted someone down the hall from me. I have Cameron to think about.”

“Yeah. Yeah, okay.” Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “We think Manny might have taken the job at the hospital to get to you.”

She jolted at that, then got to her feet, putting some distance between them. “No, no, that’s not—there’s no reason for that. I don’t matter—You and Sonny—I didn’t matter—”

“Elizabeth—” Jason slowly stood, the frown on his face deepening. “You always mattered. But, no, there wouldn’t have been much of a reason for Manny to make a connection between us. Not then. But that’s not why he wanted you.”

“What—” Her stomach rolled over. “Oh. Oh, it’s not about getting to you. It’s just about me. You-you said Manny—women have gone missing.”

“Yeah. There’s never been any proof, but he’s got a reputation. I think—after he kidnapped you—”

She might have been targeted by a psycho killer who liked to hurt and torture women. Elizabeth closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “Okay. Well, then, in that case, please put a man in every single guest room of this house. And if you could find some sort of armor that covers houses—”

“Elizabeth—”

“No, no, I’m not being flippant. I’m not making a joke. I mean it. Lock this place down. I can’t—” Her heart started to pound again, and her lungs felt a thousand times too small for her chest. “He rapes women, doesn’t he?”

“I—” Jason took a few steps towards her. His hand raised slightly at his side as if he was going to reach out and touch her. He let it drop as he swallowed hard. “He’s not going to get to you, Elizabeth—”

“I know you mean that. I know that you are doing everything you can. But we both know you’re not Superman. And I don’t expect you to be.” Elizabeth took a deep breath, covered her face again, even as her shoulder protested. “If someone stays here tonight—in the house, I mean—can it be Cody? Or Vic? Marco still works for you guys, right? He was on your door when I lived with—” She hesitated. “Or Francis—Just someone I know?”

“Yeah.” He hesitated. “Not me,” he said finally. “It can’t be me.”

“No.” Elizabeth managed a smile at him as they both locked eyes, uncomfortable with the suggestion. “No, it really can’t be you. Not after—it just can’t.”

“Okay. Can you stay home tomorrow? With Cameron?”

“I—” Elizabeth shook her head. “No. I mean, Epiphany could probably cover my shift if I had to, but I’ve been…I’ve missed a few since I started upstairs, and some of the nurses are—’” Less than friendly. “I’m not making any friends. And I can’t afford to lose the hours—”

“I could—”

“And even if you told me you could make up the difference, it doesn’t resolve my long-term problem. I can’t keep asking Epiphany for favors. And it’s not something we can take to the chief of staff. Because it doesn’t change the fact I have to work with these people when Manny is just a memory.”

“Okay. Cody stays on you at the hospital. He drives you to and from, though. You don’t go on your own.”

Thinking of Lucky and how he’d take that information, Elizabeth grimaced. “Okay.”

“I’m sorry—”

“Why are you apologizing? You’re keeping me safe from a psycho who wants to rape and torture me. I just wish I could lock myself in here until this was over. But I can’t.” She sighed. “I’ll find a way to explain it to Lucky.”

Jason paused. “You…I thought you were here for a reason.”

“I am,” Elizabeth said. But she hadn’t entirely wrapped her mind around any of that, and it was just—it was a reflex to think of how to manage Lucky’s anger, which was a depressing realization. “Which means on top of everything else, I don’t need another argument with Lucky about me owing criminals favors. Even if I went to the cops, they couldn’t do anything.” She lifted her chin. “And we’re not talking about Lucky.”

“Okay.” He hesitated.

“But Cameron—” Elizabeth shook her head. “I can’t take him to daycare.”

“No, but Morgan will be at Carly’s tomorrow with Leticia and Michael. They have guards. Carly said Cam has been over to play with Morgan a few times.”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth’s chest eased. “And I know how seriously Carly takes Michael and Morgan’s safety. Cameron would feel safe there, and he’d have a good time. He wouldn’t think anything was wrong.”

“Are you—” Jason hesitated. “This is a lot—”

“This is necessary. And I am okay.” She was okay, Elizabeth was realizing. She’d had a terrible couple of days, but she’d left. She’d gotten out. And even though she was in danger from another threat, she knew that Jason would do everything he could to look out for her. If Manny got to her anyway, it wouldn’t be because Jason hadn’t tried to protect her.

“I’m okay,” Elizabeth repeated. “I can handle this.”

“I know you can. You always handled this kind of stuff well.” Jason hesitated. “Maybe better than I ever gave you credit for. You never flinched from any of it. From the bomb, from the guns, from Sorel. From Roscoe’s guys. Alcazar. I should have trusted that. I should have remembered that—”

Elizabeth shook her head. She tried to fold her arms again, wincing as she’d forgotten her shoulder again. She rubbed her hand over the sore area. “We’re not talking about it,” she bit out. “Now, if you want, because Cameron will probably ask, you can stay for dinner. You can let him tell you all the stories he wants about his toys. He might even ask you to watch Spiderman before I put him to bed. You can do that if you want. Because he needs kindness and comfort right now. But we are done talking about everything else.”

“I—” Jason stared at her. “Elizabeth—”

“Because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. It happened. I’m glad we understand each other better, but we can’t go back. And it’s not fair to anyone else, including Sam—and Lucky—for us to keep dragging all of that up.”

“No. No, you’re right. I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “I won’t do it again. I’m sorry. But if it’s okay, I’d like to stay until Cameron goes to bed. I’ll make some calls, make you sure have food and supplies here, so you don’t have to go out in the open,” he told her as she started to open her mouth. “You’re going to work tomorrow because you have to, I get it, but I’m sorry, I can’t—” He hesitated. “I would appreciate it if you’d let me do this.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

“And I’ll track down someone you know to stay the night. In addition to the guards at the back,” he told her. “I don’t think we’ll need to use every room, but I’ll make sure you’re safe here before I leave.”

“I know you will.” She took a deep breath. “Thank you.”

“This will be over soon,” Jason told her as she went towards the stairs to check on Cameron. “I promise.”

“One way or another,” Elizabeth murmured.

But I set fire to the rain
Watched it pour as I touched your face
Well, it burned while I cried
‘Cause I heard it screaming out your name,
Your name
– Set Fire to the Rain, Adele

---

Thursday, April 6, 2006

 Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

 Jason scowled at the tax paperwork and flipped over a form for what must have been the third time that morning. He’d always been able to focus—always been able to shove out everything else in his brain to concentrate on what was in front of him but lately—

But not today. Less than a month ago, his life had been under control. Sure, Sam was struggling with Danny’s death and looking for her birth mother, but that was a problem Jason could solve. He could be there for her, find the answers—

And then that had blown up in his face. He knew he never should have run the test behind Sam’s back, and in hindsight, asking Elizabeth, in particular, had been a mistake. He’d never gotten in the habit of thinking of her like an ex-girlfriend, but everyone else had.

It just felt like he’d never been able to get back on the right foot with Sam. Fighting about the test, about Alexis and Elizabeth—everything had been going wrong even before she’d decided to get back into cons. And then Emily—

Jason scrubbed a hand over his face, took a deep breath. None of that mattered. He just had to get things under control. Lucky would go back to work at the end of the week, and Elizabeth would be fine. She and Lucky always managed to work things out.

Jason knew that better than anyone. The last few weeks—the last few days—had just been…they’d just drifted towards each other the way they always did when things got tough. It didn’t mean anything.

It couldn’t mean anything.

He was grateful when the knock on the door came. Jason shoved himself away from the desk and crossed to the door, frowning when he saw Beto on the other side. He jerked the door open. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be on Manny—”

“I wanted to tell you in person—we lost him.” Beto shook his head. “He went to the motel last night like always, but he never came out this morning. I called Vic—Manny isn’t at the hospital either. He didn’t show for his shift.”

Jason grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. This was the last thing he needed. “Everything okay at the hospital?”

“Vic said things were good on his floor. Manny hasn’t been there much in the last few weeks. Never bothered Emily at all.”

Jason frowned, turned back to him. “What about ICU? Did Vic go to the sixth floor?”

“He went up there, but Manny wasn’t there either—” Beto hesitated. “This is good, right? He probably split after Alcazar and his lady.”

Probably, but it just—it felt too easy. Jason rubbed his chest absently, frowning. He could call Elizabeth, he could ask her—

But she’d asked him to stay away, and judging by the look on Lucky’s face, the last thing Jason wanted to do was make more trouble for her. He never should have gone to the apartment the night before.

He pulled out his cell phone and called Cody instead. “Hey. You got eyes on Elizabeth? She’s okay?”

“She’s good, Jase,” Cody answered. “We’re at the hospital, up in ICU. Just like always. Why?”

“Beto said Manny checked out of the motel at some point and never showed for work. Don’t—” Jason hesitated. “Don’t tell Elizabeth. We don’t know anything yet, and I don’t want to worry her. Just—just don’t let her out of your sight.”

“Got it, Jase. Nothing will happen to her on my watch.”

Jason stared at his phone for another long moment, wondering if he was making the right choice not telling Elizabeth Manny had disappeared.

“What do you want me to do? Should I go tell Mr. C?”

Jason blinked, looked up at Beto. “No, uh, I’ll do that. Ah—” He frowned. “We need to find Manny, but I want someone else at the hospital. Vic should stay on the fifth floor, but I want someone walking around on six. In case Manny makes a grab at Elizabeth—”

“Might be hard—that’s the ICU, and you need special permission to get around.”

Which meant Jason had to call Alan and ask for another favor. His father might agree—he hated Manny Ruiz, too. “I’ll take care of it. Just head over. Stick with Cody if nothing else.” He sighed. “I’ll contact Alcazar. Put him on alert.”

Beto raised his brows. “We’re…helping him?”

Jason glared at the guard. “If Manny goes after anyone else, it’ll be Skye. Alcazar should know Manny has disappeared. He can take care of Miami. And if Manny shows up down there, I want to know.” This was the problem of thinking in black and white, of always taking things personally. Alcazar had been a threat while looking for control in Port Charles, but in Miami, they’d need to work with him once in a while.

“Right, right. I’ll get moving. Maybe it’s over?” Beto suggested as Jason walked him to the door. “Wouldn’t it be great if it ended like this?”

“I don’t think we’re going to get that lucky,” Jason muttered. He closed the door, then leaned his forehead against it for a moment. He needed to call Sonny, put the organization on alert. Everyone needed to be looking for Manny.

He opened his phone again, intending to call Sonny but it rang before he could. He stared at the screen for a long moment when he saw Sam’s name scroll across, wondering if he should just let it go to voicemail.

And then he felt guilty for that, so he flipped open the phone and answered it. “Hey, Sam. What’s up?”

“Is this a bad time?” Sam asked. “You sound like you’re in a hurry.”

“I’m in the middle of a couple of things,” Jason bit out, but then took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. It’s fine. How’s it going down there?”

“I can call back—”

Jason clenched his jaw, then forced himself to stop being so damn annoyed. It wasn’t Sam’s fault she’d called at a bad time. Nothing that had happened was her fault.

“It’s fine,” he repeated. “How’s Florida?”

“Do you really want to know?” Sam asked after a long moment. “I know you were mad—”

“I really want to know,” Jason told her. “I was going to call—” He winced because that might be the first time he’d actually lied to her. “I didn’t think you’d want to hear from me.”

“I wasn’t sure I did,” she admitted. “But I didn’t want you to worry. Look—” She was quiet for a moment. “I know you don’t like what I’m doing. I know you have issues. But I need you to know that—God, Jason, this has been amazing. I forgot the rush. The thrill. You know what I mean. You know that’s what you like about your job.”

His stomach sank as he closed his eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, I know.”

“It’s never boring, and I didn’t even realize how bored I was. I ran the game with Paulie yesterday, and we’re running another one in a few hours. It’s just—he offered me a regular gig. A few times a year. Just doing the same thing.”

Jason scrubbed a hand over his face. Great. Just what he needed. “So, you’d keep going.”

“Yeah, but just this. Just the real estate, you know? I don’t want—I’m not going back to all the old games. I can’t run them if we’re together—”

“And how long before you get bored with just the real estate?”

Sam was quiet. “There are a lot of things I can do that have nothing to do with the trophy wife or mistress, Jason. Can’t you trust me to find a way to make this work for us?”

He realized that she’d sounded almost happy when he’d answered the phone—lighter than she had in weeks—he realized it now because her tone shifted. Dulled. He closed his eyes again.

What right did he have to judge her for finding her own way out of the depression she’d sunk in after her brother’s death? Sam had done nothing wrong in the last few weeks—nothing to deserve the way he’d been treating her.

He didn’t know what was going wrong, didn’t understand how it had started or why it always seemed to get worse. Sam hadn’t changed. He hadn’t changed.

Nothing had changed—not really. He knew why Elizabeth had left him. That was all. Nothing earth-shattering about any of it.

“I don’t know,” Jason said, finally, because he didn’t want to lie to her again. “But I’m willing to try.”

She took a deep breath. “That’s all I’m asking. I’ll be home on Saturday. We’ll—we’ll make this work—and this—we can just go back to how it used to be. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Jason said faintly. “That’s what I want.”

“I’ll see you on Saturday.” Sam paused. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He hung up the phone, then stared at it for a long moment. For the first time since he’d said those words to her a year earlier—

They felt like a lie, and he didn’t understand it.

He didn’t understand what had changed for him in the last month. He didn’t know how to explain why just being in the same room with Elizabeth, knowing that he’d broken her heart—that it had been his to break seemed to rip apart everything else.

He’d been with her the night before—sitting on the sofa, Cameron between them listening to the toddler talk about his toys in a mixture of toddler-speak and English. He’d caught Elizabeth’s eye a few times as they’d enjoyed Cameron and his enthusiasm.

Are you sorry…that it’s not her in this penthouse? That you didn’t marry her? Have a kid with her? Are you sorry that it’s me and not her standing in front of you?

He hadn’t been able to answer Sam when she’d asked him that question, but she’d shoved that thought in his head—

And for a moment—just a moment—last night, sitting on that sofa—

He’d wanted Cameron to be his—to have put that ring on Elizabeth’s finger—

He’d wanted that life to be his.

Jason exhaled slowly and opened his phone again to call Sonny. It was useless thinking of things that could never happen.

It didn’t matter what had or hadn’t happened four years ago. It didn’t change anything, and there was no point in pretending things could be different. She was right.

They couldn’t be friends anymore. He needed to get rid of Manny Ruiz, make sure Elizabeth and her son were safe—

And then get out of her life.

Kelly’s: Courtyard

 “We’ll just grab something to go,” Emily told Sonny as they walked into the courtyard. “I know you want to get back to Greystone in case something happens.”

Sonny frowned at her, stopping a few feet from the door. “What do you mean?”

Emily blinked. “I just—I talked to the guard on my floor earlier, Sonny. Vic, right? He told me Manny didn’t show up for work. He said Jason didn’t want Elizabeth to know, but I don’t have a guard, so he thought I should.” She furrowed her brow. “You do want to get back to Greystone for that, right? Isn’t that what you meant when you said you didn’t have a lot of time?”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t going to get into it,” Sonny said with a scowl. “And Vic shouldn’t tell you anything. I’ll talk to him. Jason doesn’t want Elizabeth to know anything because there’s no point. That’s why we gave her a guard.”

Emily pursed her lips, frowning. “No point? She might be in danger—”

“Emily—”

They both turned when the door swung open, and the woman in question stopped out. Elizabeth raised her brows, her hand wrapped around a to-go cup. “Am I interrupting?”

“No,” Emily said. She took a deep breath. She and Elizabeth hadn’t spoken in a few days—not since their blow up at Kelly’s. And because she had a bad feeling, she lifted her chin. “Did you see Manny at the hospital today?”

“Oh.” Elizabeth shook her head. “No. But he’s not always assigned to my floor.” She sighed. “Not that it seemed to matter, but—” She tilted her head to the side. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“Emily,” Sonny said with a shake of his head. “Let’s go inside—”

“Stop,” Emily said, slapping his hand as he tried to take her arm. “Stop it. She deserves to know. I don’t care if Jason doesn’t want to worry her.”

“Deserves to know what?” Elizabeth demanded. She stepped forward. “What’s going on—”

“Nothing,” Sonny began but was startled when Elizabeth shot him a nasty look. “What—”

“I get it, I’m not your problem. You made that loud and clear,” Elizabeth retorted. She took a deep breath, looked at Emily. “Em—”

“Manny’s missing,” Emily declared. “He didn’t show up to work, and he left the motel. Vic—the guy on Pediatrics? He said they’re trying to find him, but they don’t know where he is.”

Elizabeth’s face paled as she closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “And no one thought I should know.”

“What difference does it make if you know?” Sonny asked. “Your guard knows—”

“I might not have stopped for coffee—” Elizabeth pursed her lips. Shook her head. “Some things will never change,” she murmured. “I’m going home. Thanks, Emily.”

“Of course.” Emily offered her a smile. “I’m sure it’s fine. You know, he probably went after Skye, you know. Dad said she moved to Miami with Alcazar.”

“Does everyone know everything?” Sonny muttered.

“I’m sure that’s true,” Elizabeth said, “and Cameron hasn’t been feeling well, so maybe Jason didn’t think—” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Good night.”

“Good night—”

“Elizabeth,” Sonny said as she passed them. Elizabeth sighed, then turned back to face her. “Look, I’m sorry. I know—I know you wanted something done a while ago about Manny. I told Jason it wasn’t our problem.”

“You what—” Emily’s words sputtered as Sonny continued speaking.

“But I changed my mind. As soon as Manny made his first threat—and you’ve had Cody for almost a week—”

Elizabeth just stared at him for a long moment. “You changed your mind.” Her voice sounded a bit rusty as if she were forcing the words out. “When?”

“When?” Sonny repeated, then frowned. “Why does—” He nodded. “Yesterday,” he said finally. “Anything before then—that’s on Jason.”

Elizabeth stared at him for a long moment as Emily frowned. Why did it matter when Sonny had changed his mind? When Jason had given Elizabeth a personal guard?

But Elizabeth didn’t say anything to answer that question. She just nodded. “Okay. I need to go home.” She left then, and Emily blinked after her, before looking at Sonny with confusion.

“What was that about? What did she mean you told Jason it wasn’t your problem? What’s not your problem—”

Sonny exhaled slowly. “I’m not getting into it right now, Emily—”

“Oh, don’t even try it—” She flattened her hand against his chest, looked at him, trying to understand what was going on. “You didn’t want me to know what was going on. You didn’t want her to know. You weren’t even going to help her with Manny.”

And how had Emily not known Elizabeth was struggling with Manny for so long?

I’m drowning. And you don’t see it. And I don’t ask you for help. Because I know I can’t go to you. You won’t be there.

 Emily swallowed hard. “Why weren’t you going to help Elizabeth? How long has this been going on?”

Sonny grimaced, looked away. “Emily—”

“She’s my best friend, Sonny. And she’s hurting. I need to know—” Emily took a deep breath. “I need to understand why. Please.”

“Since before you and Jason had the fight—” Sonny admitted.

“That’s—Sonny, that’s like three weeks.” And she hadn’t seen it. God, Elizabeth was right. Emily hadn’t noticed a psychopath was going after her best friend. “And you weren’t going to help her? Why?”

“She’s married to a cop—”

“She’s Elizabeth,” Emily said flatly. “She’s always defended you. Always looked out for you and Jason. And you were going to let her twist in the wind because she married Lucky? She didn’t ask Lucky for help. She asked you—”

“She asked Jason,” Sonny retorted. “And I told him it wasn’t our problem.”

“But he didn’t listen.” Emily exhaled. “He gave her a guard—”

“Eventually. After Elizabeth made it clear she wasn’t going to let it go. This is why I don’t want you to know anything. Because you see what happens?” Sonny demanded. “Elizabeth thinks she knows so much better than everyone else—she put herself in danger—”

“What—”

“She was trying to help Skye, but she doesn’t understand this world. And neither do you if you think I’m going to talk about it with you—”

“This world,” Emily repeated. “Manny’s a psycho who already tried to kill my brother—who might be trying to kill my best friend—and you think that I shouldn’t—” Her stomach rolled, a sick, twisting, almost sour feeling settling in. “He’s been watching her,” she murmured. “For months.”

Sonny frowned. “What—No—that’s not—”

“We both used to work on the Pediatrics floor. We saw him all the time. That’s why I called Jason.” Emily took a deep breath. “Before the quarantine.” Before things had changed between her and Sonny. “But after—after he put the men at the hospital, I didn’t see Manny a lot. I thought it meant it was safe.”

Sonny frowned. “But Elizabeth saw him all the time—Jason told me—”

“She moved floors. She got promoted and went to the sixth floor. And kept seeing him. Because he followed her there.” Emily scowled. “If you’d just told me she was in trouble, maybe I could have seen it earlier. I could have told you that Manny is never on my floor anymore. But, apparently, he’s always on hers. And Skye isn’t someone who comes to the hospital a lot.”

Sonny swallowed hard. “So, he didn’t get the job trying to get to Skye.”

“No. No, he didn’t.” Emily’s eyes burned. “I missed it. I would have seen it, but I ignored her for you. She told me—”

I’m drowning.

 What else had she missed?

“But you should have told me,” Emily said. She jabbed a finger at him. “You should have told me Elizabeth was in trouble. You knew three weeks ago, and you said nothing.”

“You know how this works—”

“Bullshit,” Emily spat. “This is not a movie, Sonny. You are not Michael Corleone, and I’m not the kind of woman you can lie to and shut out. Not when people I love are in danger.” This—this is what Jason had meant when he’d told her she’d get hurt.

Because Sonny didn’t see her as a partner, as an equal. “You didn’t even want Elizabeth to know Manny was missing—”

“Neither did Jason—”

“No—” Emily shook her head. “No! That’s not the same. It’s not. He was trying to protect her, to keep her safe. You just didn’t want me to know, you didn’t want her to know. Because it’s not her business. Why? You had no problem using her to get information about Manny—”

“I wasn’t using her—” Sonny scowled. “That wasn’t me. That was Jason.” He grimaced. “He always tells her more than she needs to know—”

She lifted her chin. “Maybe that’s because he trusts her.”

Sonny hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah, he does.” He shook his head. “And maybe she’s earned it over the years in some ways—”

“I could have earned it, too. But you’re not even going to let me try.” She waited for him to deny it, but he just stared at her for a long time.

“Emily,” Sonny said, almost painfully. “It’s complicated more than that—”

“It’s really not. Someone I loved was in danger, and you shut me out to the point that it’s made everything worse.” Emily stepped back from him, seeing him more clearly now than she had in months. “I need to go.”

“Emily—”

She turned and walked back towards the parking lot.

And didn’t look back.

Lucky & Elizabeth’s Apartment: Living Room

Elizabeth hesitated when she pushed open the door and found Lucky sitting on the sofa inside. She sighed, set her purse down next to the door where she could grab it in a hurry, then returned her attention to the cell phone at her ear.

“Thanks, Bobbie. No, it’s really fine. I’m glad Cam’s having so much fun—No, I can come get him later.”

She hung up the phone and tucked it into her purse, then turned her attention to Lucky, who kept staring straight ahead at the television. She stared at him for a long moment before walking into the kitchen.

She should say something to him—they should, at least, talk about what had happened over the last forty-eight hours—

But Elizabeth was just tired.

She hadn’t told Lucky that Manny Ruiz had talked to her or that one of Jason’s guys was following her around, so she could hardly tell him now that Manny had disappeared—

She wished Jason had told her, but he was doing what she’d asked. Staying away. Keeping his distance. Cody was with her, and she knew she was relatively safe but—

Dealing with her marriage was just not something Elizabeth wanted to do tonight. She opened the freezer to take out a tray of ice cubes. When the Manny situation was sorted out, she and Lucky would deal with all of this—

She sighed, closed the freezer without the tray. She was just putting it off. Just—ignoring it. What would change if Manny was found in two days? Tomorrow?

Nothing. Lucky would have still—

She looked down at her wrist, gingerly pushing the sleeve to look at the angry marks on the underside of her arm. She touched them lightly with her other hand, then pulled down the sleeve.

Waiting wouldn’t make it go away. Wouldn’t make it not be true.

Lucky might not have punched her. Might not have slapped her—

But he’d hurt her. He’d put his hands on her, intending to inflict pain, and that was always going to be true.

She went back into the living room towards the doorway, not even realizing why until she was standing next to her purse, the doorknob within reach—

“We should talk,” Elizabeth said. Lucky blinked at her, turning to look at her. He stood, his face lined with exhaustion, his eyes bloodshot as if he hadn’t slept.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“For what exactly?” Elizabeth asked, with an arch of her brow. She gestured at her temple, where the bruise was still a harsh, angry purple at her hairline. “For this?” She shoved her sweater sleeve up. “What about for this?” she asked, revealing the angry purple fingerprints on her arm. She needed to hear him say it, to admit it.

“For all of it,” he said hoarsely. He raised his eyes from her arm to meet her eyes. “I’m ashamed. I’m no better than my father.”

“Your father?” Elizabeth repeated, taken aback by that. She hadn’t expected— “What—”

“I’m no better than Tom Baker. Or Connor Bishop.”

“No, that’s—” Some of her anger eased. “You’re not—you’re not a rapist, Lucky. But you need—you need to get yourself together. I have a little boy to raise—”

Lucky frowned at her. “What does that have to do with anything? I didn’t hit Cameron—I didn’t even hit you. Not really—” He scowled. “Are you telling people I hit you? Because I didn’t—”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together and fought back an angry response. It wasn’t worth the energy to argue over whether or not he technically hit her. She didn’t understand—he’d already admitted what he’d done was terrible—why did it matter what words she used? “I didn’t tell anyone—”

“I just—I lost my temper.” Lucky took a deep breath, and some of the angry red flush faded. “You just—I told you to stay away from Jason Morgan, and there he was again, in my face—in my house, with my wife—”

Elizabeth frowned and shook her head. Not this again. “I told you, he just wanted to check on Cameron. He’s always liked kids—”

“Well, he’s not going to like yours. Where the hell is Cameron? What, did you let Jason babysit?”

She couldn’t track the conversation, couldn’t predict what he’d say next or how he’d react to anything she’d say—His hands were shaking as he drove them through his hair. “Lucky, have you been drinking or something? You’re not making any sense—”

“Oh, because I don’t want my wife fucking a criminal, I’m the crazy one?” Lucky demanded as he stepped towards her.

“What are you talking about?” Elizabeth threw up her hands, her patience completely gone. “I just—you’re not acting like yourself—”

“I’m fucking tired! I’ve been in pain for six months, I’ve been killing myself in therapy and at work trying to keep my life from falling apart. You’re off gallivanting with criminals, letting them fucking buy you stuff! What the hell do you expect?” His nostrils flared. “And you didn’t tell me where Cameron is. Is he with Jason?”

“He’s with Bobbie, I told— I was on the phone with her when I came home—she was babysitting Morgan, and Cam’s having a good time—”

“Morgan? Sonny fucking Corinthos’s kid?”

“And Bobbie’s grandson—”

Why was she arguing with him? Why hadn’t she just picked up her purse and made that exit—

Because he might not let me leave.

Was she fast enough? Could she get the door open before he could grab her—

Oh. God.

“Lucky—”

“That fucking kid is not going to take after his whore of a mother and hang out with fucking criminals—”

Lucky started for the door, shoving Elizabeth to one side as he reached for the doorknob. Panicked now, Elizabeth grabbed at his arm, tugging him backward.

She couldn’t let him go, couldn’t let him go after her little boy—It didn’t matter what he did to her—she had to protect Cameron—

Lucky whirled around, grabbed both of her wrists, and shook her. He jerked her back and forth so hard she felt like her teeth rattled.

“Why do you keep making me do this?” he screamed at her, his eyes bulging, his face flushed. “Why do you keep making me so fucking mad? I asked you for one thing! One thing!”

“Let me go—” she tried to choke out the words, her heart pounding so hard in her chest she thought it might burst. “Lucky, you’re hurting me—”

He let her go abruptly, flinging her away from him with a violent shove. Elizabeth went flying backward into the end table, crashing into a heavy lamp that shattered on the floor. The table collapsed, and her shoulder slammed against the sofa before she finally hit the ground

She laid there for a moment, trying to understand—trying to think—her shoulder was screaming—her wrists were on fire—her cheek was throbbing—how—

Then she heard the door slam.

Elizabeth shook her head, trying to clear it, trying to turn it to the side to look—Lucky was gone.

 Oh, God. Oh, God.

 He was going to Bobbie’s.