She pulled away from him after a moment and took a step back. “We should get to the hospital,” she told him quietly. “Olivia’s probably wondering where we are.”

He gently grabbed her by her forearms to keep her in place. “Elizabeth, you can’t just drop this all on me and walk away. We have to talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” She shrugged. “It’s over. It’s ancient history. It was a bad time in my life and I got through it.”

“How?” he demanded. “You just said you were addicted to sleeping pills. I somehow doubt that it just went away because of the divorce.”

“I met Emily Cassadine through her husband–he was my lawyer during the divorce and I…” Elizabeth sighed. “I had a bad night and Emily stopped by the next morning to drop off some papers about the custody hearings and she saw the bottle.”

“How many were you taking?” he demanded.

“I don’t…I don’t really remember. Two or three. Just enough to help me to sleep at night, you know? Sometimes it was more and some nights I didn’t need them.” She rubbed her forehead. “Do we have to talk about this? I just want to get to the hospital.”

“What happened after she saw the bottle?” Jason pressed anyway. She’d been going through this even after he’d moved out. All the times he’d seen her at various divorce proceedings, she’d been dealing with this. He’d once known how to read her every mood–her every emotion. Had she gotten better at hiding it…or had he stopped looking?

“She, ah, she asked me about them. Wanted to know why I was taking them and then it just…I started to cry and she seemed to understand. She was a new mother herself and all. She introduced me to Jessica, because they’re sisters-in-law and I just…they started bringing their daughters over and I stopped needing the pills to sleep. And Olivia was starting to sleep through the night finally. It just kind of…it went away.”

“It just went away,” Jason repeated. “So you never saw any kind of counselor or anything?”

She glared at him. “Why? I didn’t need anyone. I got through it. I’m fine. I raised Olivia by myself and she’s fine.”

His jaw clenched. “You did not raise her by herself. She is still my daughter.”

“But I saw her on her first day of nursery school and kindergarten. You got her on summer vacations but I had to do the bulk of the parenting,” Elizabeth retorted.

He released her arms and stepped away. “We are not going to have this argument again. Maybe I haven’t always been there every time Olivia’s needed me but I am her father and I love her.”

“Whatever. Can we just go to the hospital now?” Elizabeth asked. “It’s been over an hour since you got here and I just…I need to see her.”

“Fine.” He left the kitchen, not even waiting for her to follow. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before following him.

---

Olivia was sitting up in bed, eating lunch when her parents arrived. She was on a steady stream of drugs so she couldn’t feel the different stitches and wounds and her bruises and cuts were already starting to heal.

“Mommy!” Olivia chirped. “You’re here!”

“Hey, baby,” Elizabeth greeted, kissing her daughter on the forehead. “I’m sorry I’m so late.”

“It’s okay. Daddy said you really tired from staying up the last two days and you slept in,” Olivia replied. “Did you forget to set your alarm clock again?” she chastised.

Elizabeth smiled and sat down. “Yeah. I fell asleep in the sun room and you know I don’t have the alarm in there.” Her smile was bright. “You feeling okay?”

Olivia nodded vigorously. “Dr. Jones gave me Robacko-syn,” she said. “He says I won’t feel a thing.”

“Robaxin,” Jason corrected. He sat in the chair next to Elizabeth. “And that was just through the testing this morning.”

Olivia shrugged. “Whatever.” She grinned a big toothy smile. “Guess what, Mommy? Daddy’s moving home!”

“I know,” Elizabeth replied. “I bet you’ll be glad when you don’t have to get on a plane for six hours to see him.”

Olivia nodded again. “Yeah and I been doing some thinking and I wanna be the flower girl.”

Elizabeth’s smile faltered and she traded a troubled look with Jason. “F-flower girl?”

Olivia nodded. “Yeah. Daddy’s coming home so you’re gonna have ta get married again. Kristina was a bridesmaid when her mommy married her daddy and she got to wear this really really pretty dress and carry flowers petals. Can I do that?”

Jason sighed and looked away. Elizabeth bit her lip. “Baby, I don’t think you quite understand.”

Some of the brightness in their daughter’s dimmed but her smile stayed strong. “Well if I can’t be the flower girl, can I still wear a really pretty dress?”

“Princess, I’m moving to Port Charles,” Jason told her gently. “But I’m not moving into the house. Elise and I are going live in a penthouse downtown.”

Olivia’s lower lip trembled. “B-but I thought you was coming home, Daddy. You said…you said I was gonna be your first pri-rity and I don’t really know what that means but home isn’t with Elise, it’s with me and Mommy.”

“Baby…” Elizabeth trailed off, not knowing to respond to her daughter’s words.

“You are going to be my first priority,” Jason told her, distraught at having upset her. “And that means I’m going to put you first–before anything else in my life. But my home isn’t at the house.”

The little girl’s eyes welled up with tears and she sniffled. “Don’t you love Mommy anymore?”

Elizabeth stood abruptly. “I’m going to leave the two of you alone.” She kissed Olivia. “I want to go talk to Dr. Jones, okay baby?”

Olivia started to cry. “Why don’t you want to come home, Daddy?”

Jason moved into Elizabeth’s vacated seat to be closer to her. “Baby, it’s not that I don’t want to come home–”

“Then do it,” she sobbed. She wrapped her arms around her tiny torso and started to rock back and forth. “If you love Mommy and she loves you, why can’t you just come home?”

“It doesn’t work like that, Olivia,” Jason tried to reason. He smoothed his hand over her hair. “We’ve talked about this.”

“But you never answer,” Olivia said mournfully. She wiped at her eyes and tried to calm down, her breaths coming in short hitching gasps. “You just say it doesn’t work like that but I don’t get it. You love Mommy don’t you?”

“More than anything in the world,” Jason confided. “You and your mother are very important to me and all that matters is your happiness.”

“We aren’t happy,” Olivia complained. “Mommy always looks sad a-and I don’t like when you’re not around.”

Jason filed her words about Elizabeth away for the moment. “I am going to be around. I’ll be ten minutes away and you can spend every weekend with me and I’ll even join the PTA thing that your mom does.”

“But you won’t be at home,” Olivia protested. “I can’t get up and go in to see you every morning a-and when I have a nightmare, you can’t come into my room and make the monsters go away.”

Jason lowered his head and took a deep breath. She was right. He couldn’t do that. He’d forfeited his right to be a full-time dad when he’d put his old life in front of his marriage. “I know,” he sighed. “But I can’t change how things are.”

“Yes you can,” she said stubbornly. “Leave Elise in Europe and come home. She likes it better there and Mommy misses you. She’s always lookin’ at pictures of you and stuff. If you come home, she won’t be so sad.”

“Baby, when you’re older, you’ll understand this better,” Jason told her. “But I’m not moving back into the house. It’s just not going to happen.”

Olivia slid down on the bed, wincing a little when the sheet would catch on one of her stitches. When she was flat on her back, she turned away from him, her tiny shoulders shaking with her sobs.

“I’m so sorry,” he said softly. He stood and left the room. He needed to get out of there and fast.

Elizabeth was leaning against the opposite wall. “Is she okay?” she asked.

Jason shook his head. “She’s still crying. I just…I hate disappointing her. All I want to do is give her what she wants and I can’t do that.”

“I wish we could have handled this better,” Elizabeth murmured. “Presented it in a way that she wouldn’t have gotten the wrong idea.”

He shook his head. “Let’s face it–neither one of us even thought she’d get this idea. I don’t…I don’t understand why this means so much to her. We haven’t been together since before she could remember.”

“I guess it’s because all of her friends are together. Port Charles is very provincial in that aspect. I had to call in a favor just to get Nikolas Cassadine to act as my divorce lawyer. Olivia’s the only child in her class with divorced parents.”

“She’ll get used to it,” Jason said, more to convince himself than her. “She will eventually. She’ll adjust a-and I’ll figure out how I can live in the same town and still not be a full-time parent.”

Elizabeth’s eyes softened. “You can see her whenever you want, you know that right?” She folded her arms across her chest. “The custody arrangement–we can change that now you’ll be closer.”

“I appreciate that,” he replied. He sighed. “Did you talk to the doctor?”

She shook her head. “No. He wasn’t in.” She took a deep breath. “We, ah, should go inside. Maybe she’s okay.”

“You go. I need to call Elise, I haven’t gotten in touch with her since I left,” he told her.

Her shoulders tensed at the mention of his second wife, but she just nodded and entered the hospital room while he went in search of a payphone.

---

Olivia’s cries had turned into sniffles and she looked at her mother tearfully when she entered.

“Baby, I’m so sorry you’re upset,” Elizabeth said, sitting down and sighing. “We didn’t think…”

“If you weren’t gonna stay together, you never shoulda had me,” Olivia said angrily.

Elizabeth blanched. “Don’t say that, Livvie. I love you so much and your daddy adores you–”

“People shouldn’t get divorced if they have kids,” her daughter cut in with an angry glare.

“It’s not that simple,” Elizabeth protested. “Having you in our lives has been the best thing for both of us. Some people just aren’t meant to be together.”

“I don’t get it. If you aren’t meant to be together, then why get married in the first place?”

“We thought we were,” Elizabeth tried to explain. “We were very young when we got married, baby. We didn’t realize how hard it could be–”

“Lots of things is hard,” Olivia interrupted. “Like when I had to learn how to print my name a-and you made me even though I couldn’t do it. You shoulda tried harder.”

“I did try, I tried so hard,” Elizabeth said, her throat tight and her eyes burning. “I wanted it to work, baby, you have to believe me. I loved your daddy so much and I loved you so much and I just wanted us to be a family–”

“Why can’t we?” she demanded. “Daddy still loves you, he told me so and you always say you love him. He could just leave Elise in Europe. She likes it there anyway a-and you can get married again and you could be in love together.”

“I think you misunderstood him. He’s married to someone else and he’s in love with her–”

“Nuh uh, they never ever said it to each other in front of me and Daddy’s never said anything about loving Elise. He said he loves you more than anything.”

Elizabeth’s breath caught in her throat and she looked away. “Baby–”

“He told me he wants to come home so it’s got to be you who won’t let him.” Olivia leaned forward. “So just tell him you want to be a family again.”

“It’s not going to happen,” Elizabeth told her sharply. She stood abruptly. “Just drop it.”

Olivia glared at her defiantly. “I hate you!”

Stung, Elizabeth looked away. “I’m going to the cafeteria to get something to drink. Do you want anything?”

“I want Daddy to come home!” she shrieked.

“I’ll be right back.” Elizabeth grabbed her purse and hurried out the door.

---

Jason rubbed his forehead. “El–Elise–Elise, just–Elise, listen to me for a second–”

“No!” his wife snapped. “You just decide we’re going to move to some hick little town so you can assuage your guilty complex about not being there when Liv needed you and you think I’m going to be okay with it?”

“It’s not like we still won’t be around the same friends,” Jason protested. “I just want to be around Olivia more. She’s going to have a long therapy process and she needs both her parents.”

“Well isn’t that just peachy,” Elise snapped. “Look, I let you pretty much decide our entire lives but this is unacceptable. When I agreed to marry you, I was expecting a certain quality of life and living in some crap town in upstate New York is not going to happen.”

“Elise–”

“So you want to live there, that’s fine, but don’t expect me to follow, do you understand?” The sound of a phone slamming down echoed in his ear and Jason gently put hung up the payphone. He hadn’t expected Elise to take the news well, but he hadn’t really expected her violent rejection of the idea either.

He started back towards Olivia’s room just as Elizabeth rushed out of it and took off down the hall. Concerned, he went after to her and caught up to her just as she reached the elevators.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

Elizabeth’s hands were shaking as she pushed the button to open the doors. “I’m going to get a soda. You–you should go sit with her.”

The doors slid open and she hurried inside. Before they slid shut, he entered and pressed the button for the first floor where the cafeteria was located.

“What happened?” he demanded. Her cheeks were tearstained, her eyes were bloodshot. She’d looked fine ten minutes ago.

“I…Olivia kept asking why you couldn’t come home and I tried to tell her all the things we always prepared. About how sometimes people just shouldn’t live together a-and you’ve gotten married again but she kept pushing…” Elizabeth sucked in a deep shuddering breath. “She really wants this Jason. More than I ever suspected. She told me that you told her you wanted to come home and that you still loved me–and that I was the one keeping it from happening…” her voice broke and faltered. “When I told her it just wasn’t going to happen, she said–she said…”

Jason stepped closer to her and touched her arm. “What?”

“She said she hated me,” Elizabeth said tearfully. Her hands were trembling violently as she reached up to brush them away. “She’s never said that before and I just…I’ve sacrificed everything for her–I’ve tried so hard to be the kind of mother she deserves…how can she say that?”

Without thinking, Jason pulled her into his arms. “She didn’t mean it,” he told her quietly. Elizabeth wrapped her arms around him and leaned into the embrace gladly. She’d missed so much. “I’ve said it to my parents and you’ve said it yours. Kids say it. They don’t understand how much it hurts until their kids say it to them.”

“It just hurts so much more than I ever thought it could. It was like she just sliced right through my heart.” She pressed her face into his shirt and he could already feel her warm tears seeping through his shirt.

“It’s okay, baby, she didn’t mean it,” Jason soothed. He pressed a kiss to her hair and closed his eyes. “You’re so good to her, Elizabeth, you’re exactly the type of mother you wanted to be.”

“I just…I’m so tired,” she whispered. “You’re right. I live for her and it’s so unhealthy and I think I’ve known that all along but I just don’t know to change that and if she’s going to hate me, I don’t know what else to do.”

He smoothed a hand down her spine and then up again. “She doesn’t hate you. She didn’t mean it.”

“You weren’t there,” she whispered. “You didn’t see her face.”

He pulled away and gently kissed her forehead. “She loves you, Elizabeth,” he told her softly. The elevator doors opened then and she looked at him. “You go get your soda and I’ll meet you in the room, okay?”

“Okay,” she replied. She left the elevator and he hit the button for the tenth floor.

---

Olivia glared at her father as he opened the door and stood at the foot her bed, his face serious and his arms crossed.

“When your mother comes back in here, you’re going to apologize.”

“For what?”

“For saying that you hated her,” Jason replied. He frowned. “You disappoint me, you really do.”

Olivia scowled. “She won’t let you come home. I do hate her. This is all her fault!”

“This is not your mother’s fault.” Jason hesitated. “It’s mine. When you were born, I wasn’t ready to stop traveling like I do now and your mother wanted me to. She was upset and we fought a lot. We got divorced. It happens every day a thousand different places. Yes, we loved each other. And yeah, we probably still do but we’re not going to get back together and this is not her fault.”

“But you want to come back home and she won’t let you–”

Jason sighed. “Honey, that’s not what I said. Look, it’s complicated and sometime even your mom and me don’t understand. But we both love you and you really upset her by saying that.”

Olivia hesitated. “Did I?”

Jason nodded. “She was crying in the elevator. After everything she’s done to give you a better childhood than she had, you really disappoint me.”

“I didn’t mean to make her cry,” she said in a tiny voice.

“Because she sat here for two days straight waiting for you to wake up. I had to force her to leave the room or get something to eat. And she was more ecstatic than anyone when you did wake up, so now you telling her you hate her and making her cry, that’s not very nice of you, Olivia and I thought you were better than that.”

Her lower lip started to tremble. “I don’t hate her, Daddy. I was just mad. Cuz I want us to be a family.”

He sighed and sat next to her. “Baby, we are a family. You, me and your mother. We don’t live together like normal families, but that doesn’t make us any less of a family, okay?”

“Can I still wish you’d get married again?” Olivia asked hopefully.

“You can wish it, honey, but please don’t get angry when it doesn’t happen.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

The door opened and Elizabeth entered hesitantly, a can of Mountain Dew in her hand. “Hey.”

“Mommy!” Olivia cried. “I’m so sorry I said I hated you because I don’t hate you, I love you, and I’m really really sorry.”

Tears sprang to Elizabeth’s eyes and set her things down to go to her daughter and hugged her as tightly as she could without jarring any of the stitches. “It’s okay, baby, I love you, too.”

“I’m really sorry, Mommy, I didn’t mean to make you cry!”

“Shhh…it’s okay, it’s okay now.”

The door opened again and Dr. Jones entered. “Hey, I’m sorry to interrupt. But I need to examine Olivia and take her for some more tests.”

Elizabeth pulled away and wiped her eyes. “Sure. What kind of tests?”

“We’re trying to work out the best type of therapy for our little patient,” he said with a kind smile. “I’m sure Olivia wants to get started as soon as possible.”

Olivia nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

“While he’s doing that,” Elizabeth began, “can I talk to you in the hall?” she asked Jason.

“Sure.” He looked at Olivia. “We’ll be right back baby.”

Once they were outside, she surprised him by hugging him tightly. “Thank you,” she whispered into his chest. “I know you told her to do it, but it meant a lot to me.”

He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her slender shoulders. “I hate when you cry. I always try to fix it.”

“I know,” she sniffled. “It’s one of the reasons I loved you.”

The ride to the house was silent, drenched in tension. She hugged her body tightly and was as close to the passenger side as she could be without actually being outside the car.

His fingers were clenched around the wheel so rigidly that his knuckles were white. “Do you need a ride to the hospital in the morning?” he asked finally when they were ten minutes from the house.

Elizabeth shook her head. “I’ll call a cab.”

“Elizabeth–”

“I said, I’ll call a cab,” she said coldly.

“You can be mad at me all you want–you’re just angry you ended our marriage because of a mistake,” he replied.

“I know exactly why I ended our marriage,” Elizabeth retorted. She snorted and looked out the window. “You’re just like my father.”

Jason slammed his foot on the brake and the car squealed to a stop. He jerked it over to the shoulder of the car and put it in park. “Let’s get one thing straight,” he said, trying to keep his rage in check. He stared straight ahead through the window shield. “I am nothing like your father.”

“For all the trouble I went through to give Olivia a better life than I had, I sure failed since she got the same lying, cheating son of bitch for father that I had!” Elizabeth exploded.

His hands were shaking. He was so scared that he might hit her that he got out of the car and walked a few feet away, trying to regain his composure. How could she compare him to that son of a bitch? Christopher Webber had spent most of his marriage with other women, not even bothering to hide it from his wife or daughter and Elizabeth thought he was like him?

“Does it bother you?” Jason asked.

Elizabeth sighed and looked down at the London landscape from their penthouse suite. “Sure it bothers me. But my parents got married because it was the right thing to do not because they were in love.”

“It won’t be like that for us,” Jason remarked confidently.

Elizabeth laughed. “Oh, it won’t huh?”

“No.” He tucked her hair behind her ear and let his hand linger on her cheek. “Because I love you. And there’s no one else in this world I could imagine being with.”

“Promise?” she asked, her eyes searching his.

He brushed a gentle kiss on her lips. “I promise.”

The memory ended abruptly with the slam of a car door. “What’s the matter?” she asked acidly. “The truth hurt?”

He swiveled to face her. “I am nothing like him. When I took my marriage vows, they meant something to me.”

“Are you insinuating they didn’t mean anything to me?” Elizabeth demanded.

“It was pretty easy for you to throw it all away.”

“You threw it away!” she shouted. “You left me and you–”

“I swear, if you so much as say that I cheated on you again, so help me God, I will leave you here to walk home in the dark!” Jason cut in, furiously. “I think you were just waiting for an opportunity. Because no matter how much you said I wasn’t like him, you think all men are like your father and that’s pretty damn sad, Elizabeth.”

Her eyes burned with tears. “That’s not true.”

“I think it is true.” He shook his head. “And I think you know that I never touched that woman but you don’t want to admit that you threw our marriage away for nothing.”

Glaring at him, she jerked the car door opened and grabbed her purse from the seat. She slammed it shut and stalked to walk down the road.

“Where are you going?” he called after her.

“I’m going to walk home. I don’t want to be around you right now.”

“Elizabeth, I’m not going to run after you this time!”

“Good!” she called over her shoulder. “I don’t want you to.”

He swore under his breath and went towards the driver’s side door. He wasn’t going to chase after her. He wasn’t going to do it.

“Son of a bitch.” He shut the door and when he was just behind her, she spun around, her fist raised in the air as if to hit him. He ducked and put his shoulder into her midsection, lifting her and turning to carry her back to the car.

“Let me go!” she protested. She smacked his back with her hand, but she was tiny and didn’t really pack any punch. “Let me go right now.”

He shifted her weight to one side and opened the driver’s door with his free hand. He shoved her inside and pushed her over to the passenger side. Before she could get out, he put the power lock on and got into the car. Every time she popped the lock on her side, he relocked it.

“I don’t want to be around you right now!” she said, her face flushed and her eyes ignited in fury.

“That’s too damn bad because we’re going to have to present a united front for Olivia. I don’t want her see us fighting. Now if you love her as much as I think you do, you’ll agree.”

“Fine,” she said her teeth clenched. She folded her arms across her chest and looked out the window. He started the car and pulled back out onto the road. “When’s your little Barbie doll coming to town?” she bit out.

“She’s not a Barbie doll and she doesn’t know we’re moving here,” Jason replied, his voice tight with tension and anger. He wasn’t going to let her goad him into another explosion.

“I’m sure she’ll just love the idea of moving to a hick town in the middle of nowhere so you can spend time with your daughter,” Elizabeth retorted.

“Elise likes Olivia,” Jason shot back. “And you know what? Olivia loves her. So just shut up.”

“I’m so glad you finally have a wife that’ll bow down to you and do whatever you say,” Elizabeth said sarcastically. “You must love being the alpha male.”

“Yeah, because you never did let me win any real argument,” Jason replied angrily.

“We never really argued,” Elizabeth said quietly. She looked out the window. “Not until we moved here.”

He felt some of the tension ease from his body at her soft words. The fight was gone in her voice and he wondered why. She was right–there had never been any real disagreements from the time they met until the day he asked her to go to Paris and leave Olivia. It wasn’t that they’d always gotten along or thought the same about everything. He respected her and he’d thought she respected him. And that was important in a relationship. Just as important as trust. But like respect and love, that had also been an illusion in their marriage.

He pulled into the driveway of the large house they’d bought five years ago. It was an old-fashioned looking house with a large wrap-around porch, white trim and even a picket fence around the yard. He’d never been really attached to it–she’d picked it out, she’d decorated it and it had made her happy to do those things. And it made him happy to see her happy. It’d been his home because she was there.

“Are you sure you don’t need a ride tomorrow?” he asked.

“No,” Elizabeth said, stiffly. “I’ll be fine.” She popped the lock, opened the door and started up the walk. When she’d pulled open the screen door and had pushed open the heavy front door, he put the car in reverse and backed away.

Elizabeth watched his taillights disappear down the street until they were out of sight. She closed the door and locked them before going into her art studio.

She’d painted and sketched most of her life–she’d never done anything with it, despite Jason’s encouragement to try and sell some of it. It was her release, her escape. First from her life with her parents and then later from the divorce. When Olivia would be sleeping or at school, Elizabeth would spend the entire day or night in here, just painting or sketching. She’d forget to eat or sleep but she never forgot to wake Olivia up for the day or pick her up from school.

It was in the large sunroom at the east end of the house. The best sun came in the early dawn hours and she worked best then.

There was a desk in the corner of the room–she didn’t use it for anything important and it was mostly just storage space. In the bottom drawer on the right side, there was a gray metallic lockbox that she removed and sat down on the couch to look at. She fished the key from where it hung around her neck on a silver chain and unlocked it.

Their marriage certificate sat on top and she moved her fingers over the raised seal. Jason Edward Morgan and Elizabeth Imogene Hardy Webber. Married on May 29, 1995. At the Sacre-Coeur Basilica Church in Paris, France.

Beneath the certificate, there was a picture of them on the day and after that, various clippings from different newspapers announcing their marriage. She’d been so ecstatic–so thrilled at being Mrs. Jason Morgan’s wife that she’d saved every mention of the event.

There were other pictures of them and cards. Cards congratulating them on their marriage, cards from Elizabeth to Jason on their anniversaries.

And at the bottom of the pile, there was two newspaper clippings. She stared at the picture of Jason and the blonde. Her arm was wrapped in his, her head against his arm. The caption readWall Street financier Jason Morgan out on town with Eloise de Beauchamp, the daughter of the Duke de Beauchamp.

So many tears shed over this simple picture. This picture had torn her entire world in two. She’d spent three years sure that Jason wasn’t like her father. And then this picture had shattered that illusion.

She took out the last newspaper clipping, this one from the New York Times. It was dated three years ago. Wall Street whiz kid Jason Morgan married Elise Jacoby in a Central Park wedding. Mr. Morgan has been divorced from former debutante Elizabeth Webber for over a year. The former Mrs. Morgan resides in upstate New York. He met the new Mrs. Morgan in Europe. The couple plan to base themselves out of New York City while traveling for his job.

She’d filed for divorce in early June of 1998, almost three years to the day they’d married. Olivia had been eight months old and the divorce had been finalized by that December. He’d married Elise in the summer of 2000 when Olivia had been two and a half. He’d now been married to the other woman for three years–a year less than their marriage had lasted.

Elizabeth studied Elise Jacoby-Morgan in the faded newspaper clipping. At that time, the woman had had chin-length dark hair and light skin but she couldn’t tell more than that from a picture and this was the only time Elizabeth had even seen her. She couldn’t allow herself to think that Jason had married someone who looked like her.

She set the clipping back in the box and laid back on the couch, her eyes to the ceiling. Had she been wrong all those years ago? Had Jason not cheated on her with Eloise, the daughter of a duke?

She closed her eyes, troubled at the idea that she’d seen the picture and immediately lumped Jason in with men like her father.

---

It was almost noon the next day when Jason found Elizabeth still deep asleep in the art studio. He’d gotten to the hospital around eight and was surprised that Elizabeth hadn’t made it there earlier.

Olivia had been sleeping but she woke up when breakfast arrived at nine and when she asked about her mother, Jason told her that Elizabeth had pretty much stayed by her bedside for the past two days and was completely exhausted. She’d be there soon.

But as noon approached, he became worried and he’d told Olivia he was going to get her mother.

And now, he found her passed out on the couch, dressed in yesterday’s clothes with an open metal box at her finger tips on the floor. He kneeled next to her and went to close it when he recognized the wedding announcement of himself and Elise on top.

He picked it up, concerned by the idea that Elizabeth had clipped it out and saved it. Underneath it was more pictures and clippings, but the one that stood out was the one that had tore their marriage apart. She’d saved it. After nearly four years, she still had it. That said something.

Underneath that, he found their marriage certificate and their own announcement from various newspapers. He smiled at the clipping from the New York Times. Jason Morgan, the son of Wall Street financier Chad Morgan, has married debutante Elizabeth Webber, the daughter of Christopher and Cheri Webber of Philadelphia. The two wed in an elegant and romantic ceremony for friends and family in Paris, France on May 29, 1995. They met last August while vacationing in Spain with their families. The couple plans to live in New York while traveling extensively.

She’d saved all the announcements. The one in the Times, one from the London paper, one from Philadelphia. And there was one from San Francisco as well. He hadn’t realized that at the time.

She’d come home after their fight the previous night and had gone through these old memories, going from the good to the bad. And she’d fallen asleep looking at his wedding announcement.

He sighed and set the clippings back in the box and then gently shook her shoulder. “Elizabeth…”

She blinked slowly and smiled involuntarily at the sight of Jason kneeling next to her. Another dream, she thought idly. “Hey…”

“Hey, ” he greeted, returning her smile. “Olivia was worried about you.”

Olivia. Oh…shit. Elizabeth jackknifed into a seated position and ran a hand through her hair. “What time is it?” she asked, disoriented.

“It’s almost noon. I came to check on you.”

“Noon?” Elizabeth repeated. She swung her legs over the couch and stood. “How could I have slept so late?”

“You were exhausted,” Jason told her. “You haven’t had any real sleep since the accident. Look, go get a shower and change. I’ll make you something to eat and we’ll go to the hospital.”

“Jason–”

“Just go. The more time you argue with me, the more time you’re wasting.”

She scowled at him. “Fine.” She stalked out of the studio and he heard her footsteps on the stairs a few moments later. He exhaled slowly before exiting the studio and heading towards the kitchen.

He made her a quick sandwich and set it on the table with a glass of iced tea. A few minutes after that, he heard a knock on the back door. A brunette entered without waiting for him to answer it.

“Oh.” She stopped awkwardly and shuffled her feet. “I didn’t realize Liz had, ah, a guest.” She jerked a thumb towards the door. “Just, um, tell her that Jessica stopped by–”

“I’m not a guest, I’m her ex-husband,” Jason interrupted.

“Oh.” She shifted again. “Jessica Spencer. I live behind the house–well, I live on the next street over but our backyards connect. Our daughters are friends. Olivia and Maja?” Jessica prompted.

“Olivia’s talked about her.” Jason hesitated. “I’m actually in town because Olivia was in a car accident.”

Jessica paled. “Oh my God. Is she okay? Where’s Liz? What happened?”

“The car rolled down a hill and crashed into a tractor trailer,” Jason related. “Olivia’s fine but she’s going to need some therapy for her legs. Elizabeth is upstairs taking a shower.”

Jessica pressed a hand to her heart. “Jesus. If Liz lost Liv, she’d just go insane. That girl is the best mother I’ve ever seen.”

Jason nodded and glanced towards the stairs. “Yeah, Elizabeth does love her.”

“So, Liz hasn’t really talked about you but Olivia just chatters on and on about her wonderful daddy,” Jessica related. “That girl worships you.”

“The feeling is entirely mutual,” Jason replied. He shoved his hands in his pockets. “So you’re married?”

Jessica nodded. “To Lucky Spencer, the photographer for the Port Charles Herald. We’ve been married for seven years.”

Elizabeth entered the kitchen then. “Jess!”

“Oh, honey.” Jessica crossed to her and embraced her tightly. “Your ex just told me about Liv, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Elizabeth replied, hugging her back. “Olivia’s fine. She’s awake. You could even bring Maja down in a few days to see her.”

“I just might do that.” Jessica pulled back and sighed. “Well, I guess you’re going to be going down to the hospital now so I’ll get out of your way. Call me if you need anything, okay?”

“I will.”

Jessica turned to Jason. “It was nice to finally meet you.” She smiled at Elizabeth again before leaving.

“Look, why don’t we just go?” Elizabeth asked. She put her hands in the pockets of her blue jeans. “I’m not hungry and I just want to get to Olivia.”

He pointed to the table. “Eat. You haven’t eaten since I got to town and if you don’t start eating soon, you’re going to get sick and Olivia needs you.”

She glared at him and sat down. “Fine.” She sipped the iced tea. “I don’t remember you being so bossy.”

“I don’t remember you being this destructive,” he shot back.

She glared at him. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means that you put Olivia before everything–including your health.” He shook his head. “You know, normal people manage to have kids and still keep their marriage together. Where the hell did we go wrong?”

Elizabeth didn’t respond. She just ate half of the sandwich, drained the glass and stood. “Can we go now?”

“Why were you looking at those clippings?” Jason demanded. Elizabeth halted in the doorway, her back to him. “The box was still open when I got here. You were looking at our wedding announcement, mine to Elise and that damn clipping from Paris.”

She slowly turned around and leveled a cool gaze at him. “What business is it of yours?”

“Since you fell asleep holding mine and Elise’s, I think it’s my business.” He folded his arms.

“It happened to be in the box,” Elizabeth bluffed. “I was saving it for Olivia. She does like Elise.”

“Why is it in a box full of our wedding memorabilia?” Jason demanded. “And don’t tell me you were saving that picture of me in that Paris paper for Olivia. You keep that around so you can remind yourself what a jackass I am?”

“Maybe,” Elizabeth hedged. “Can we just go? I don’t feel like having this argument anymore.”

“We keep having this argument because you refuse to believe me. I never touched that woman and until you accept that you were wrong, we’re going to keep having this argument.”

“Why does it matter if I believe you?” Elizabeth demanded. “You’re not married to me anymore. I’ll bet Elise doesn’t care what you do when you’re not with her.”

“It matters because you’re the mother of my daughter and inevitably, the way you feel about me will get transferred to her and when she starts asking questions about why we got divorced, she’s not going to want to hear that it was just because we didn’t get along anymore. And I don’t want you telling her some bullshit about me cheating on you,” Jason shot back.

Elizabeth paled. “I would never…I would never tell Olivia about this. This…this has nothing to do with her a-and that picture…that was just the last straw. It wasn’t the reason I wanted a divorce.”

“The hell it wasn’t.”

“Don’t try and tell me why I filed for divorce,” Elizabeth spat.

“You listed it on the divorce papers. Adultery.” He shook his head and looked away. “Do you have any idea what it feels to be accused of something that you didn’t do?”

“I was miserable,” Elizabeth whispered. “You were never home and I had this child–this little girl who was always crying and there were some nights I couldn’t make her stop. And then you’d blow in for a weekend or a night and expect me to be your wife when I was already failing at being a mother.” She took a deep shuddering breath. “I was miserable and when she was two months old, I was so tired from being up and down all the time that I started…I started to take sleeping pills to help me sleep at night.” She gripped the doorway. “I started to feel a little better–but one night I slept right through and I missed her crying.” Elizabeth closed her eyes, her throat was tight and she forced herself to keep talking. “She h-had a fever and I rushed her to the hospital and the day I brought her home, I saw the paper.”

“Jesus,” Jason breathed. He stepped towards her. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”

“Because you wanted your life.” She opened her eyes and looked at him, her eyes rimmed with red and tears threatening to fall. “You wanted to keep on living that life and I wanted you to be happy–to have what you wanted.” She shook her head. “I didn’t think you were adjusting well to being a father and I was–I was willing to wait the extra time until you did. And I didn’t tell you this then because I didn’t want you to feel any more pressure to change and I thought if you had to stay at home with a crying baby and a wife addicted to sleeping pills, you’d come to resent me for it.”

“You didn’t trust me.” And oh, man…that tore at him more than her thinking he’d cheated on her. She’d been in so much pain and all she’d had to do was tell him. He would have stayed home–gladly, he would have done it. He’d loved her so much and to find out she didn’t trust him…

“No, I guess I didn’t. Because you’re right.” She took a deep breath. “I do think all men are like my father and he was a playboy right up until he died. And I know for a fact he couldn’t have handled it. My mother would have protected him from that sort of thing just like he kept his affairs as discreet as possible.”

“You thought that you were protecting me,” Jason repeated. He sat down at the table and stared at the floor, stunned. He’d come home during that time for a few weekends and nights. He’d never noticed it. He’d never seen it.

“I was willing to go right on doing it. But I saw that paper and I–” she closed her eyes again. He deserved the truth. “I was so jealous. You were living the life that I had loved. You were her father and you were still carrying on like we hadn’t had a child. And I was stuck in Port Charles.” She leaned against the wall, her eyes glazed and unseeing. “You were living two lives. You’d come home, play the part of husband and father and then you’d go play international playboy and I had let myself sink into this world where I was just a mother. I resented you so much, Jason. You can’t imagine how much I resented you. And after I saw that picture, it was like everything passed in a blur. One second I was standing on the front porch, staring at the newspaper and the next, I was sitting on the couch and contemplating taking an entire bottle of sleeping pills.”

His head snapped up and he stared at her incredulously. “What?”

“It was at that point I realized that I had to do something. Something had to change and I obviously couldn’t change my role as Olivia’s mother but I could definitely change my role as your wife. I didn’t want to do it, but I had to. I was losing myself. I was trying so hard to keep it together when you were home and that morning, I realized that I couldn’t do it anymore. You wanted that life so much…you could have it.”

“So you didn’t think I cheated on you?” Jason asked. He stood up.

“No, I definitely thought that and like I said, that was the last straw. If I was going to be at home, taking care of Olivia and putting my life together, I was not going to let you come home when you felt like and then go back and be with other women. I couldn’t…I couldn’t do that.” She shook her head. “Maybe I should have called my mother and asked her how she dealt with it.”

Jason moved closer to her until he was right in front of her. “Elizabeth, I am so sorry that I didn’t see it. I–I don’t know how I missed it. Maybe I didn’t want to see it. If I could turn back time, I would do it.”

She met his eyes and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I was tired of you blaming this all on a picture. And it was just the last straw.”

He took her by the shoulders. “I didn’t cheat on you. Please tell me you believe me.”

“Jason, it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m not going to tell Olivia. In fact, I never want to her to know why we divorced.”

“Look, it doesn’t have anything to do with Olivia. I need you to believe me,” Jason told her. He slid his hands up to cradle her face. “Please.”

“Why does it matter so much?” she asked softly, her voice tinged with the exhaustion of having bared herself to him. “We’re divorced. It’s over.”

“Because I loved you with everything that was inside me and it has driven me nearly insane for the past four years knowing you thought I had been with another woman. I need you to believe me. I never cheated on you. I never even thought about it. It wouldn’t have occurred to me.”

The tears slid slowly down her cheeks and he could feel them on his hands. “Okay,” she whispered. “Okay, I believe you.”

A weight lifted off his shoulders and they slumped. He rested his forehead against hers. “Thank you.”

Jason blinked and slowly stood up from the chair. He stretched his arms over his head and rolled his head from side to side to work out some of the kinks in his neck.

Olivia was still sleeping and so was his ex-wife. Elizabeth’s head was resting the bed, her hair tangled and in her face.

He kissed Olivia’s pale forehead before kneeling down in front of Elizabeth to gently shake her awake. “Hey.”

She jerked her head up and blinked, trying to adjust to her surroundings. “What–?”

“We have a meeting with her doctor in a half hour,” he told her. “I thought you might want to get up, get a shower or something.”

She wiped her eyes and yawned. “Yeah. Thanks.” She stood and grabbed the bag from underneath the hospital bed and went into the private bathroom.

When he heard the water turn on, he took Elizabeth’s vacated seat and took Olivia’s tiny hand between his larger ones. “Hey, Princess. I wish you’d open those big blue eyes of yours. You’re really scaring your mother and I.”

“It’s a girl!” Dr. Meadows announced with a large smile as she handed the baby over to a nurse to clean and wrap in a bundle.

Elizabeth laughed and gripped Jason’s hand more tightly. “A girl…we have a daughter.”

He kissed her lightly as the nurse placed the baby in Elizabeth’s arms. “Look at her–she’s so tiny.”

“She’s perfect,” Elizabeth whispered. She looked up him, adoration and tenderness shining in her eyes. “I love you so much.”

He kissed her forehead. “I love you more.”

“You were the most beautiful baby I’d ever seen and I don’t think I’m biased because you’re my daughter.” He kissed her hand and sighed. “I know you want me around more and I’ve been thinking that I want to be around more. So, you can help me decorate your new room at the penthouse and maybe we can do more things as a family. You, me and your mom.”

He heard the shower click off and he sighed. “You’re lucky, baby, you’ve got a mother who would walk through fire for you and give up everything. I was dumped off with a nanny until I went to boarding school.” Jason shook his head. “I argued with your mother when she didn’t want to do the same thing and I was wrong–I was very wrong. I didn’t understand how much I could love another person. I thought I did–because I loved your mother more than anything else in this world. But, man, the first time I saw you, it was like my heart was going to burst. You were created out of the best love I’ve ever known and even though your mother and I aren’t together, I want you to always remember that.”

The bathroom door clicked shut at that point and he turned to see a freshly showered Elizabeth standing there with a soft look in her eyes. He hadn’t even heard the door open.

She crossed to the other side of the bed and kissed Olivia’s forehead. “It was the best love I’ve ever known, too,” she said softly. She met Jason’s eyes over the bed. “We should go meet the doctor.”

He cleared his throat and looked away. “Yeah, just let me change.” He grabbed his own bag and went into the bathroom. He was done in a few minutes.

They both kissed her goodbye before leaving the room and heading down the hall to Dr. Jones’s office. He was waiting for them outside and Elizabeth quickly introduced them.

“Well, Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, your daughter was extremely lucky. I’ve take a look at all the x-rays and the test results and I don’t think there’s a doubt in my mind that she’ll recover.”

Elizabeth let out a huge rush of breath and her eyes teared. “Oh, God, thank you.”

Without thinking about it, Jason reached across the space between their chairs and took her hand in his. “So she’ll wake up?”

“Yes, when her body’s had a chance to adjust to the trauma, she’ll wake up any time now,” Dr. Jones replied. “Now, we’re a little concerned about her spinal cord. It was severed in the accident, but we were able to reattach it. Now, she’ll need therapy and her mobility will be limited for a little while.”

“But you think she’ll regain full use of her legs?” Jason asked.

“With time and patience, I don’t see why not.” Dr. Jones hesitated. “This will be a very difficult time for Olivia. She’ll need a lot of love and a lot of attention. I understand the two of you are divorced.”

Jason frowned. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, I’ve come across patients whose parents fight over every little thing–from the type of flowers to put in the room to the therapy their child needs. I just want to be sure that it’s not the case here.”

“Nothing is more important to us than our daughter’s health,” Elizabeth said firmly. “Yes, we are divorced, but it was…” she took a deep breath. “It was mutual and amicable.”

Jason scowled. Amicable, yes. Mutual–never. He exhaled slowly. “She’s right. There was no bitterness and Olivia is our top priority.”

“Good. That’s good to hear,” Dr. Jones replied. “Until Olivia wakes up, we can’t make any plans, so that’s about it for right now.”

Once they were back in the hallway, Jason took a deep breath. “Don’t tell people our divorce was mutual, okay? That really pisses me off.”

Elizabeth frowned and shook her head. “What? We both agreed that–”

“You wanted a divorce and I gave it to you.” He looked away. “I never wanted it. I argued against it but you wanted it and I always tried to give you what you wanted.”

“You…you cheated on me,” Elizabeth replied, flustered. “Did you really think I’d stay with you after that?”

He had to get away from this conversation before he punched a hole in the wall. “I can’t have this argument again. I’m going to get something to eat. Do you want anything?”

“Yeah, sure.” After giving him a strange look she turned and went down the hall towards Olivia’s room.

She still thought–after all this time–she still thought he’d cheated on her. She still that that some nameless woman he couldn’t even remember had been in his bed. He’d been with a total of four women in his life and two of them had been before he’d ever met Elizabeth.

---

Elizabeth sank into her chair back in Olivia’s room. She rubbed her forehead. “God, baby, how did I ever get to this place in my life?” she whispered. “It feels like my whole life has just blurred past me and the only things that stand out are you and your daddy.”

She took Olivia’s hand in hers and rubbed it a little–her hand was so cold, so still. “You’re the only thing I have left, Livvie. If you don’t wake up, I don’t have anything else to live for.”

“That’s not a real healthy way to live,” Jason said from behind her. Elizabeth sat up, startled. He had a tray in his hands. Two cups and two plates. He set it on the little table across the room and beckoned to her. “Come on and eat before it gets cold.”

She shuffled over to one of the tiny chairs and sat down. He sat a plate in front of her with scrambled eggs, two sausage links and three pieces of toast–one with strawberry jam on it. He’d remembered her favorite breakfast.

“You used to have other interests besides Olivia,” Jason began. “What ever happened to your art?”

Elizabeth shrugged and picked at her food. “I still paint. Olivia’s my child. She’s my first priority.”

“Since the day she was born, she’s been your only priority,” Jason corrected. “What do you do when she’s with me?”

“I organize fundraisers,” Elizabeth murmured. “Go to charity events.” Tears burned at the back of her eyes. “Thanks for making me feel pathetic.”

He exhaled slowly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I just…your mother called me last winter. She’s worried about you.”

Elizabeth blinked. “My mother called you.” She ripped the top off her hot chocolate and tossed it to the side. “She always did take your side.”

“Because you were telling her that the way she raised you was wrong,” Jason reminded. “At that point, I was championing her ways. Of course she took my side.”

“What’d she tell you? That I was wasting my life in a hick town doing nothing but raising my daughter?” Elizabeth asked pointedly. She scooped some of the eggs onto her fork and shoved them in her mouth, already feeling the anger boiling in her blood. “I think you took my statement a little literally. I have a life here. I have friends. But none of that means shit if she doesn’t wake up.” She dropped her fork and put her head in her hands. “She’s the only thing I have left of a life that meant everything to me, do you get that? If she doesn’t wake up, no charity ball or fundraiser or PTA meeting is going to mean a damn thing to me.”

He sighed. “Okay. Yeah. I get that. I’m sorry–”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter anymore.” She pushed her chair back and returned to her seat, her breakfast mostly untouched.

The time passed slowly. Doctors and nurses were in and out, taking her vital signs, examining her, changing bandages. It was all blur to her and before she knew it, Jason was leaning forward to switch a lamp on.

She blinked in the sudden light and sat back, rubbing her head. “What time is it?”

“A little after six,” Jason replied. “I was going to go to the cafeteria to get some dinner. You need to eat.”

“I can’t,” she said softly. “I don’t think I could keep anything down right now.”

“I’m beginning to realize that no matter how long we sit here and stare at her, it’s not going to make her wake up any sooner.” He crossed to her chair and pulled her to her feet. “And when she does wake up, I don’t want you in a bed next to her being treated for dehydration, okay?”

“Okay. Fine. Get me a piece of bread or something,” Elizabeth murmured. She rubbed her head again.

“Do you have a headache or something?” he asked. “You keep rubbing your forehead.”

“I have a migraine.” Without thinking, Jason slipped a hand to the nape of her neck and put the other one on a pressure point just behind her ear. He started to move his fingers in a circular motion and the sensation made the pressure on her brain start to loosen. She closed her eyes and let out a little moan. Entranced by the sight, Jason moved a little closer. Feeling his breath on her face, Elizabeth opened her eyes to find his lips a few inches from hers. She licked her lips in anticipation.

“Mommy?”

A slurred voice broke them apart and Elizabeth whirled around to find Olivia blinking slowly.

“Oh, God,” Elizabeth choked. She rushed to the bedside and was aware of Jason hovering over her. “Baby, how are you feeling?”

“It hurts,” Olivia whimpered. “Daddy, is that you?”

“Yeah, Princess, it’s me.” Jason leaned down and kissed her forehead. “You scared us.”

“What happened?” Olivia asked. “Mommy?”

“You were in a car accident, sweetie,” Elizabeth said tearfully. “And we’ve been waiting all day for you to wake up.” She straightened. “I should get a doctor.” She touched Olivia’s hand. “I’ll be right back, okay baby?”

“Okay, Mommy.”

Elizabeth exited the room and Jason pulled a chair closer so he could sit down. “Do you want anything?”

Olivia frowned. “Are you gonna leave again?”

Feeling his heart break, Jason’s throat tightened. “No, baby. I’m not going anywhere. In fact, I’m going to move to Port Charles. I want to be around you more.”

Olivia smiled brightly. “Really, Daddy?”

“I’ve made so many mistakes, Princess, but from now on, you’re my first priority, okay?”

“Okay.” Olivia yawned. “I’m so tired, Daddy.”

“Then go to sleep, baby.”

Her eyes fluttered shut and Jason sat back in his chair. He should have moved to Port Charles years ago.

He never should have left.

“The doctor will be here in a few minutes–” Elizabeth froze when she saw Olivia’s eyes closed. “She’s just sleeping right?”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his eyes. “Thank God she woke up.” He hesitated. “I’m going to move to Port Charles. I can’t…she’s gonna have a long recovery time and she needs both her parents in the same town.”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together and looked away. Which meant she’d probably come face to face with the second Mrs. Morgan. “That’s good,” she told him. “Olivia would love that.”

“If it’s okay, I’m going to stay in the penthouse. I know its yours–”

Elizabeth waved a hand. “No. I don’t even go there anymore. You can have it.”

The door opened then and Dr. Jones entered with a smile. “I hear our girl woke up.”

“Yeah, but she was tired and went back to sleep. Is that okay?” Jason asked.

Dr. Jones nodded. “That’s fine.” He rubbed his hands together. “We’re going to have spend most of the night giving her tests so the two of you can go on home if you’d like. She won’t wake up before morning anyway.”

“Come on, Elizabeth,” Jason said before she could protest. He put a hand on the small of her back and grabbed their things in the other hand. “You could use a good night’s sleep.”

“I don’t have a car,” Elizabeth realized in the hallway.

“I’ll give you a ride.” He steered her towards the elevators.

“What if she wakes up and I’m not here?” Elizabeth asked. She turned abruptly. “I should stay here.”

Jason blocked her path. “No. You heard the doctor. Look, you’re no good to her if you’re exhausted and cranky from lack of sleep.”

Elizabeth scowled. “I do not get cranky.”

“Yes you do,” Jason argued. “If you don’t have at least ten hours of sleep, you get all cranky and irritable. You could make a grown man cry on those days.”

“Maybe four years ago, but having a small baby to take care of all by myself kind of made me adjust to less than eight hours,” Elizabeth retorted.

“You made that choice by yourself,” Jason shot back. “Even before the divorce, you’d never let me get up in the middle of the night. And afterwards, well, you brought that on yourself. Instead of trusting me–”

“It’s been four years–why can’t you just admit what you did!” she hissed.

He took her by the elbow and roughly pulled her towards the elevators. He jabbed the button roughly. “We are not having this conversation in the middle of the hospital hallway.”

“What does it matter? It’s not like you’re going to tell me the truth!”

The doors opened and thankfully, the car was empty. He all but pushed her inside and then pushed the button for the third parking garage level. When the doors slid shut, he turned to her. “I never cheated on you. God damn it, Elizabeth, how many times am I going to have tell you that before you believe it?”

“Because I’m not stupid!” Elizabeth snapped. “You abandoned your wife and your child to go cavorting in Europe. I remember how you hate going places alone. Hell, you probably got married again so you wouldn’t have to travel alone!”

“This is the only life I’ve ever known!” Jason exploded. “You wanted me to change everything about me and you weren’t even going to give me any time!”

“I told you to go and do whatever the hell you wanted, just not to expect me to hand Olivia off to some nanny! I’m not my mother!”

“And I was wrong! I know that–but I got tired of competing with Olivia for your time!”

She frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“From the moment she was born, she’s all you ever thought about. It was all Olivia and I couldn’t take it! You wouldn’t even let your mother fly in and stay with her for a weekend while we went away!”

“So you’re saying I drove you to adultery?” Elizabeth asked, scathingly.

“I never cheated on you!”

She stepped off the elevator into the dark garage and started to stalk away before she realized she didn’t know which car was Jason’s. She had to get out of this conversation. Immediately.

He shook his head as he stormed past her. “There wasn’t an us anymore, Elizabeth. There was just you and Olivia and some guy who donated sperm.”

“That’s not true!” she cried.

He halted and turned around. “Look, I get that you wanted Olivia to grow up differently. I really do understand that now. But I was twenty-four years old then and that life was all I knew. I thought it was great–we both grew up the same way and we were fine.”

“You were fine, I wasn’t!” she burst out. “You might have been okay with never knowing your parents but I wasn’t! Jesus, Jason, I thought my nanny was my mother until I was almost five years old!” Her eyes were glossy with tears and they started to slide her cheeks. “My daughter was never going to think someone else was her mother! Never!”

“Okay, okay, I get that. But I’m explaining how I felt then. We were young and we were perfect and for a while I thought Olivia brought us closer together–”

“Don’t you dare blame our daughter for the end of our marriage!” she hissed.

“I don’t, I blame you,” he accused. “You were never willing to look past Olivia and see me. And that’s the reason I went to Paris anyway and that’s the reason I kept living the only life I knew. Because I could have stayed in this stupid little town forever, doing whatever you wanted me to and you still would have lived for her!”

“I’m her mother, that’s what I supposed to do!”

“You’re supposed to live for yourself,” Jason retorted. He fished his keys out of his pocket. “Our marriage was supposed mean something to you.”

“You self-centered jackass!” She tore the keys from his hands and moved in front of him. “She is my daughter and maybe I went a little too far trying to give her life I thought she deserved but I don’t regret a damn moment I’ve spent with her. Maybe I shouldn’t live for her, but that little girl has brought me more happiness in the past four years than anything else. She saved me from falling into depression after the divorce and the only thing I wanted to do was give her a life that far exceeded mine. If that’s wrong, fine, but don’t you dare stand and tell me our marriage didn’t mean anything to me because it meant everything!”

She slammed the keys into his chest and stalked away. “I’ll call a cab,” she called over her shoulder.

“Damn it,” he swore. He shoved his keys back in his pocket and went after her. “Elizabeth–”

“Just leave me alone!” Elizabeth exploded. She whirled around and shoved him. “Go away!”

“I made that mistake once, I’m not doing it again.” He took a deep breath. “I can’t change the way I feel about the divorce. You wanted it, I gave it to you. End of story. You were miserable and I wanted to make that end. I didn’t know how else to do it so I tried giving you what you wanted. But I never wanted it. I never cheated on you. In fact, there wasn’t another woman in my mind from the day I met you until the day I met Elise and if you don’t believe me, that’s your problem, not mine.”

“Stay in here, baby, I’m gonna run in and get some bread for your lunch tomorrow, okay?”

Olivia nodded and pulled out her etch-a-sketch and started to fiddle with it. “Yes, Mommy.”

Elizabeth put the car in park and left the ignition on because Olivia liked to listen to the radio. She grabbed her purse and headed into the convenience store.

“Hey, Mrs. Morgan,” Georgie Jones chirped as she started to ring up the bread and the candy bar Elizabeth had grabbed for Olivia. “Is this it?”

“Yes,” Elizabeth remarked. She started to count out the change when she heard a high-pitched scream. Her head snapped up. “Olivia!”

She dashed for the door and got outside just in time to watch her gray Mercedes crash into a tractor trailer. She screamed, horrified.

“Oh my God!” Georgie shrieked, heading back inside to call 911.

Elizabeth rushed towards the car and nearly passed out when she realized that the entire front of the car had been crumpled in, trapping her little girl inside. “Olivia!”

“Mrs. Morgan!” Georgie cried, jogging down towards her. “I called 911 and they’ll be in here in a second and they said you shouldn’t try to move her or anything–”

She was numb now. She couldn’t even feel her legs as they gave out and she crumpled to the ground.

---

“Mrs. Morgan, your daughter’s spinal cord was severed in the accident. We managed to repair most of the damage, but only time will tell if she’ll be able to walk.” The doctor frowned when he realized that his patient’s mother was sitting, blindly staring into space. “Mrs. Morgan, is there someone I can call? Your husband?”

At the word husband, Elizabeth blinked and licked her dry lips. “I’m…I’ll call him. Is there a payphone?”

“Just down the hall.” He helped her to stand and he led her there. “I’ll be in my office when you’re ready.”

Elizabeth shakily put some quarters into the phone and started to dial the direct line to Jason’s cell phone.

A soft voice answered. “Hello?”

She was shaking violently now, her voice hoarse. “Is Jason there?”

“Yes, he is. Who’s calling please?”

This must be Elise, she thought idly. “It’s…it’s Elizabeth.”

“Oh. Um. Let me get him.” She heard the voice call for him and then she heard his voice asking–he was irritated—who it was.

“Yeah?”

“Jason. It’s–”

“I know. What’s going on?”

She closed her eyes at the curt tone. “It’s, uh, it’s Olivia.”

There was silence for a moment. “What’s wrong?” Jason asked, the tone gentle and alarmed.

“There was an accident and she was hurt pretty badly,” Elizabeth whispered. Her voice hitched. “You have to–you should get here.”

“Jesus, what happened? Is she okay?” he demanded.

“The car rolled down a hill and crashed into a tractor trailer,” Elizabeth replied. She felt dizzy again. She needed to sit down. “A-and the doctors…her spinal cord was severed…Oh, God, and she hasn’t woken up.”

“She was in the car?” he asked. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine–I wasn’t in there. I was–” Elizabeth broke off abruptly, bracing her hand against the wall. “I have to go sit down. Will you come?”

“I’ll be on the next plane.”

---

Olivia had been moved to a private room by the time Jason arrived. Elizabeth was curled up in a little ball on a nearby chair, her face pale, her hair limp and her eyes wide open and blood shot.

Jason stopped just inside the room and had to grip the doorway when he saw his daughter lying prone in a hospital bed. Her face was translucent, her long dark hair limp against the white pillow. There were all kinds of machines hooked up to her and her tiny delicate face had bruises and cuts.

“Jesus,” he breathed.

At the sound of his voice, Elizabeth blinked and looked over at him. “Jason.”

“What happened?” he asked numbly. He entered the room completely, not taking his eyes off the bed.

“I stopped at a convenience store to get some bread for her lunch tomorrow,” Elizabeth whispered. “It was only going to take a minute or two and it takes twice as long to get her unhooked from the seatbelt and inside. So I just left her in the car like I have a dozen times.”

He stared at her. “You left a five-year-old little girl in a car by herself.”

“I put in park but I left it on because she likes the radio and it keeps her occupied,” she continued, closing her eyes to ward off his accusing stare. “I went inside and it couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds when I heard her scream.” Her voice hitched. “She’d put the car in drive and it started rolling down the hill. She was screaming because she couldn’t get it to stop and she couldn’t get her seatbelt unhooked.” She broke off on a sob and had to take a moment to get her emotions under control. “There was a tractor trailer at the end of the hill and the car barreled right into it, and she was trapped inside.”

“Jesus.” He lowered himself into an empty chair. His hands started to shake. “What do the doctors say?”

“They reattached her spinal cord,” Elizabeth replied. “But they won’t know anything until she wakes up.” Her voice was tiny and incredibly hoarse from hours of crying but he heard her next words clear as day. “If she wakes up.”

“If?” Jason repeated sharply.

“She hit her head on the dashboard,” Elizabeth said painfully. She covered the mouth to try and control her sobs. “She’s in a coma.”

“You left a little girl in a running car by herself,” Jason remarked incredulously. “I can’t believe this.”

She closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. Oh, God, I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry isn’t going to make her live,” Jason told her angrily. He lunged to his feet. “If she dies, this will be your fault.”

Elizabeth stared at the floor blankly. “I know,” she said bleakly. “It should have been me. I should have been in that car.”

Shaken by the idea of Elizabeth lying in the hospital bed rather than Olivia, Jason started to pace before ending up at a window across the room. The last time he’d been in a hospital room had been the day he brought Olivia home from the hospital. She’d been so tiny–so delicate. He was afraid to hold her for fear he’d break her.

Elizabeth had been born to be a mother, Jason thought reluctantly. The moment Olivia had been born, there’d been no one else more important in Elizabeth’s life. And motherhood had agreed with her, Jason remembered painfully. She’d been so beautiful in the months after Olivia’s birth. Not that she hadn’t been stunning before but there was something that just ignited in her when she became a mother. She glowed–she sparkled. He’d thought he was going to die when he was told she had to wait six weeks after childbirth to make love again.

From the moment he’d seen her across the hotel room in Spain, she’d been his whole world. He’d be at Yale and would spend whole classes thinking about her–about her smile, her laugh, her voice. He’d known almost immediately he wanted to spend his whole life with her. And then that Christmas when she’d told him she loved him–he thought he could fly.

He could still picture her the day she walked down the aisle in a church in Paris, dressed in a simple white silk dress with flowers twisted in her hair and lilies in her hands. He’d never wanted anything else but her. He hadn’t been lying when he told her she was his home. Elizabeth Webber was the first person that he’d ever really trusted–depended on.

They’d come to Port Charles so he could make a business deal and they’d been out to dinner when she’d suddenly fainted. Jason could still feel the terror he’d known then as he’d rushed her to the hospital.

He’d barely survived their divorce and part of him wondered if she was right. If maybe he’d been too unwilling to compromise. He could understand her love for their daughter. God knows, he thought the sun rose and fell on Olivia. And until he’d met Elise, Jason had been working out ways to prove to Elizabeth how much he loved her.

If Jason wanted to be honest with himself, he’d admit that Elise was just another version of Elizabeth. She was a petite brunette with porcelain skin and blue eyes. They were almost the same height and Elise reminded him a lot of Elizabeth the first years he’d known her. They’d gone into the marriage knowing there was no love on either side. Elise liked the money and the influence Jason wielded in his world and he liked having someone to hold at night–he’d gotten too used to that during his marriage.

Elise never argued–picked up and went where he wanted to go. And the only time she’d complained was when she’d gotten sun poisoning in Egypt. She’d put her foot down and told him she wasn’t going to go on any of those trips anymore. When he was going out on his so-called adventures, she’d be in a spa, thank you very much.

He couldn’t blame her–but he couldn’t help but compare her reaction to Elizabeth’s during the first year of their marriage.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Jason remarked, lathering hydrocortisone cream over Elizabeth’s boiling skin. She just moaned and buried her face in a pillow. “Maybe you should stay in the hotel tomorrow.”

Elizabeth abruptly lifted her head and looked at him oddly. “But you’re going to the pyramids tomorrow.”

“I know.” He took out an anti-histamine tablet and handed it to her along with a glass of water. She took it and swallowed it quickly.

“It’s just a case of sunburn. I can go.”

“It’s sun poisoning and I don’t think it’s a good idea,” he told her stubbornly. “You could get heatstroke or pass out.” He brushed her hair off her face and smiled at her tenderly. “Listen, I’ll skip the tour group and we can hang out here.”

“You’re not skipping just because I’ve got some sunburn,” Elizabeth protested. “You’ve been looking forward to this for weeks.”

“You’re more important to me than some stupid pyramids. We can come back.”

“No, you go tomorrow. I’ll be fine in the hotel.”

He leaned down and kissed her softly. “If you’re not going, I’m not going.” He kissed her again. She moaned and tried to pull him closer but his skin brushed a particularly sensitive area of her sun poison. She broke away and winced.

“I guess I’m not getting any tonight,” he remarked amused.

She laughed and kissed him lightly. “Jason, please go tomorrow. I’ll be right here waiting when you get back.”

“You promise?” Though he meant the question to be light, it came out serious and his eyes were sad. As if he’d been disappointed by people before–and he had. His parents had missed a lot of birthday parties, his middle school graduation, his high school graduation and his college graduation. The only person who’d never let him down was her.

And she knew that.

She threaded her fingers in his hair and smiled up at him. “I’ll always be here waiting for you,” she replied softly before pulling him into another kiss.

The memory faded and he turned to look at her. She was still curled up in a ball, her arms wrapped around her knees, her eyes trained on the hospital bed. God, he’d loved her. She’d been his first thought when he woke and his last before he went to sleep. Even after his daughter had been born, he’d lived for his wife. For her smiles, for her laughs, for her happiness.

But he’d failed. The most important thing he’d ever had in his life–he’d failed. She’d been miserable with him and he could see that during that horrible week she’d begged him for a divorce. Such misery and loneliness in her eyes. He’d just wanted to take her in his arms and forget the rest of the world. They’d had that ability once. To just crawl under the covers and make love until nothing else existed.

And in that week, he realized that somewhere, they’d lost that. He’d spent a lot time trying to figure out exactly when and he thought it might be after that first fight about her not traveling. Before he brought up the spring trip to Paris, they’d still had the illusion of happiness. He still kissed her on the neck when he came up behind her. They still made love every moment they could find. He’d thought at one point Olivia brought them closer together. God, she was the mother of his child. Elizabeth was perfect, Olivia was perfect–he’d thought their entire life was perfect.

But after that fight–after he’d left for three weeks in Paris, things changed. If they made love, it was perfunctory and almost an afterthought. He’d slip into bed with her, she’d turn into his embrace during her drowsy period between dreams and reality and as usual, just the touch of her–the smell of her–it would arouse him and he would initiate it. If they kissed, it was quick as he was leaving the house or when he came home. Things were just different.

He’d noticed it then but he’d thought it was an adjustment period–that eventually they’d get into a new rhythm and things would be like before. She had probably thought the same thing. And maybe it would have worked itself out on its own.

But that picture…that damn picture. Nearly five years later, he couldn’t remember the woman’s name or even what she looked like but there was a picture of her on his arm at some fundraiser in Paris and it’d gotten printed in a French paper–Elizabeth’s favorite to read. And then just like that, he’d lost her. She’d stopped trusting him somewhere along the way and the picture had been the last straw.

It still tore at him that she didn’t believe him–that she thought he’d touch another woman while he had the perfect one at home. Nothing had hurt more than the look in her eyes when she’d showed him the clipping. He’d thought he was going to die when she’d asked him to sign divorce papers. He’d literally felt like she’d reached in and tore his heart out. She wanted a divorce. The best thing that had ever happened to him was meeting her–loving her–and she wanted to end it.

He’d argued against it–he would have promised her anything at that point. If she’d never wanted him to set foot outside the house again, he’d have done it gladly. But she didn’t want that. She didn’t want to compromise. She just wanted it over.

And in the end, the only thing he’d ever wanted was to make sure she had everything she wanted.

So he agreed.

A rustling sound roused him from his thoughts and he looked over to see Elizabeth standing next to Olivia’s bed, adjusting her sheets, tucking her in. She smoothed Olivia’s hair away from her face and kissed her forehead before sitting back in her seat. She sat forward, her elbows digging into her knees, her shoulders hunched.

“I shouldn’t have said it.”

His voice broke the tense silence and she looked up at him, startled. She cleared her throat. “What?”

“It’s not your fault.” He drove his fingers through his hair and exhaled slowly. “I know you’d walk through fire for her and that you’d trade places with her in a second.”

She stared at him, surprised at his words. “Where is this coming from?” she asked softly.

“And that thing I said last month when I dropped Olivia off about being better off if I’d made my own martini–I didn’t mean that.”

Elizabeth stood and rounded the bed to stand in front of him. “Jason–”

“You were the best thing that ever happened to me,” he found himself telling her. “You have to know that. Tell me you know that.”

Her eyes softened. “Jason–”

“I’m glad I asked you for that martini, I’m even more glad that I stayed in Spain and most especially I’m glad I asked you to marry me,” he continued. Her eyes were bloodshot and if she hadn’t already exhausted her poor body of tears, she would have cried at the tenderness in his eyes. He hadn’t looked at her like that for so long–she didn’t realize how much she’d missed that look.

“I’m glad I said yes,” she said tremulous.

“Do you remember that day?” he asked. He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ears. “We hadn’t even known each other for a year, but I think I knew that day in Spain I wanted to spend my life with you.”

“I think I knew the second you kissed me,” she whispered.

“We were in Ireland,” he continued in a hushed voice, his hand lingering at her cheek. “Outside one of those small villages you used to love to visit. It was my spring break from Yale and I’d convinced you to skip the week of classes with me. God, I wanted to spend every moment with you.”

“The feeling was entirely mutual,” Elizabeth breathed.

“I bought the ring after winter break, after we said I love you, after the first time we made love. I carried it around for weeks, practicing the way I would propose.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “But in the end, I did it outside a little village in Ireland. A gust of wind blew your hair in your face and you pushed it back. You were laughing and you just…you took my breath away. I’ve never known someone as beautiful as you–inside and out. I knew in that moment I could never love anyone the way I loved you.”

“You just blurted it out,” Elizabeth remembered with a soft smile. “One second we were just walking and the next you were asking me to marry you.”

“You didn’t even hesitate. I was terrified you would say no–that you’d look at me like I was nuts. Because, God, you deserved a romantic proposal. I even made reservations at a restaurant in Dublin. Violins and candlelight. It was going to be perfect. Instead I stumbled over the words I’d practiced a-and I fumbled like I was a ten-year-old idiot. But I got it out and the second I closed my mouth, you jumped into my arms and you were saying it over and over again. Yes. I thought nothing would ever top that moment.” He opened his eyes to find her staring at him, tears streaming down her face. “God, I loved you so much, Elizabeth. All I ever wanted to do was make you happy.”

“You did,” she whispered painfully. “You did.”

He still loved her. Right this second–in this moment, he loved her. God, he wished he could say it. He wanted to tell her and pull him to her and kiss her. He wanted her back. He wanted turn back time to that day he’d tried to make her to go Paris and tell her that of course he understood how she felt and he wasn’t going to Paris either. Because what if Olivia rolled over and he missed it? Or what if Elizabeth smiled and he missed it?

Jason cleared his throat and looked away. “I need to check in at a hotel. I came straight here from the airport.”

She opened her mouth to offer him a guest room at the house but then she saw that the wall was down in his eyes again. Like the past ten minutes they’d spent reminiscing about the day he proposed hadn’t happened.

Elizabeth blinked and took a few steps away from him. “I got the penthouse as part of the settlement–you know we never sold it even after we moved out. The keys are at the house.”

Jason nodded. “Just let me know where they are and I’ll get them. I want to go and get back.”

She went back to the other side of the bed and fumbled in her purse for her house keys. She found them and gave the ring to him. As he took them from her, he gripped her hand for a moment. “You, ah, you still wear your wedding ring.”

She flushed and stared down at the golden band around her ring finger. It was accompanied by the delicate diamond ring he’d given her that day in Ireland. She cleared her throat. “I tried taking them off after it was final, b-but my hand felt different–it just…” she faltered. “Olivia would think I didn’t love you anymore.”

His grip tightened for a moment before letting it drop. His throat felt tight and he had to look away for a moment. “Is there anything you need from the house?”

“Could you grab some of her stuffed animals?” Elizabeth asked, casting a look at the plain room. “And some of her picture frames. It looks…it’s too white in here–too sterile.”

“I was thinking more along the lines of clothes for you but I can grab some of Olivia’s things, too.” He hesitated. “You still keep your luggage pieces in the closet in the hallway?”

“Yeah,” Elizabeth replied softly. “Thank you. The, ah, keys for the penthouse are in my desk in my bedroom–they should be in the first drawer on the left.”

“I…I’ll be right back.”

---

It felt surreal to be standing in the bedroom where he’d once made love to her–where he’d known some of most intimate moments of his life. During those nights Olivia would cry to be fed or changed, they would often be making love or just talking softly. He always held her at night–whether they were both on their sides or he laid on his back–he held her tight as if scared she’d slip away during the night.

He would watch her get up–no matter what they were doing, the second Olivia began crying, she was out of bed and on her way to her. She’d slip out of bed and reach for the turquoise silk robe her mother had sent her after the baby was born. She’d knot the tie and leave the room, his eyes trained on her every step of the way.

And now, four years later, he was standing in a bedroom that was no longer theirs but hers. He was in a house that he didn’t have keys to. He was married to a woman that wasn’t Elizabeth.

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. All this regret was coming a little too late, he decided. Besides, he had to get this done, drop his things at the penthouse and get back to the hospital to see his daughter.

He pulled open the first drawer on the right and it was halfway open before he remembered the keys were in the first drawer on the left. But his eye caught a couple of photographs and he pulled them out.

They were of him and Elizabeth. The one on top was taken just after they’d returned from their honeymoon cruise in the Greek Islands. They’d gone to some party that his parents threw and she wore this red dress with a slit to her mid-thigh and a corset top. Her hair was in messy curls, her makeup smoky and her mouth was open in mid-laugh.

The rest of the photos brought back other pleasant memories. One taken on their Ireland trip, a picture of an Elizabeth with sun poisoning, smiling proudly at his side as they stood in front of majestic Egyptian pyramids and then one taken at the San Francisco Opera. This one was a newspaper clipping. They were smiling–truly ecstatic smiles. The caption read Jason Morgan, the son of Wall Street financier Chad Morgan, announced at a performance of La Bohème that his wife of a year is expecting their first child.

He closed his eyes, picturing Elizabeth in his mind the moment she’d announced her pregnancy. She’d been so scared he wouldn’t want the baby–that he’d be upset. He’d never loved her more than in the moment she told him they were going to be parents. That their love had created another life.

He coughed, clearing his throat. He set the photographs back in the drawer and shut it tightly. He grabbed the keys from the other drawer, threw some things in a bag for Elizabeth before moving to Olivia’s room.

He put some of her stuffed animals into her pink suitcase before heading for the shelf full of picture frames. He found one of himself and Olivia as well as one of Elizabeth and Olivia. He put those in the bag, added the picture of the three of them the day they came home from the hospital and left the room.

---

Elizabeth bit down on her nail nervously as her watched her little girl sleep. The doctors had been in and told her that as long as Olivia continued to breathe on her own that it was a good sign. She was still alive–she still had a very strong chance to pull out of the woods.

The door clicked open and Jason entered. He set Elizabeth’s bag by the door and put Olivia’s next to the bed. He had a two paper cups in his hand. “I got coffee but I know you hate it so I got you a hot chocolate,” he said, handing her one of them.

“Thanks,” she said softly, taking it. It warmed her cold hands. “The doctors came by while you were gone. They said that it’s a good sign she’s breathing on her own.”

“Good. That’s good.”

After a moment, Elizabeth took a deep breath and looked down into her hot chocolate. “Did, ah, did Elise come with you?”

He shook his head. “No. She stayed back in Spain.”

She winced at the mention of Spain and bit her lip. “You don’t normally go to Spain this time of year. It was always too hot.”

“Elise likes it. She’s got a favorite spa.” He didn’t want to talk about Elise. He wanted to talk about her–to tell her that he still remembered the look in her eyes right before he’d kissed her for the first time. He didn’t tell her that but he didn’t talk about his wife either.

He unzipped Olivia’s suitcase and took out the picture frames first, arranging them on the table next to him. Then he took out the stuffed dog he’d given her on her third birthday. He set it next to her on the bed before reaching in for a soft brown teddy bear. He set it next to the dog and slid the suitcase under the bed.

“Did the doctors say when she would wake up?” Jason asked.

Elizabeth shook her head. “It could be five minutes from now, it could be tomorrow…”

He exhaled slowly and sat back in his chair to wait.

The first time Elizabeth Webber saw him, she was nineteen and vacationing in Spain with her parents. The only child of wealthy jet-set parents, she’d spent most of her childhood traveling Europe, Asia and South America.

But she’d never seen anyone as handsome and charming as Jason Morgan. He was the twenty-one-year-old son of some of her parents’ friends. He grew up the same way she did–traveling from place to place.

She met him at a party in her parents’ penthouse suite of their hotel. She was dressed to the nines–looking far more mature and sophisticated than her nineteen years. Standing near the bar and serving–that was her job at these things.

He came up to her, smoothly asked for a dry martini. She served him with a graceful smile.

“I’ve never seen you at one of these before,” he remarked.

“I’m with my parents,” Elizabeth replied. “I’m on summer break from Cambridge University.”

“Which ones belong to you?”

“Cheri and Chris Webber–they’re over by the piano player,” Elizabeth gestured. “What about you?”

“I’m on break from Yale,” he told her. “And mine are the ones next to your parents–Heather and Chad Morgan.”

They’d bonded over their similar childhoods and exchanged stories about all the different places they’d been. He’d convinced her to abandon the bar and join him out on the terrace.

“So what are you studying at Cambridge?” he asked, sipping his second martini of the night.

“English Literature,” Elizabeth replied. She laughed. “I’m really only getting my degree because my parents insisted. I’d rather just continue living like they have–from place to place, you know?”

“Is that what you plan on doing after graduation?”

She nodded. “If I can, I’m going to graduate this year–early. I really want to travel without my parents. They’re always monitoring the places I go.”

“I feel the same way. I’m graduating this year from Yale and after that, I get my trust fund.”

She smiled and tilted her head to the side. “I guess we’ve got quite a lot in common.”

He’d kissed her for the first time that night. As night slid into dawn, he slid his hand over the nape of her neck and tugged her close to him. He was intoxicating–his smell, his taste, his touch–she wanted to drown in him.

She was in Spain for two weeks and even though his parents were leaving the next day, he stayed behind to be with her. They spent every moment of those two weeks together and by the time it was over, she knew he was the one.

But at the end of the summer, he went to Connecticut and she went to England. They wrote and called each other–she flew to see him over Thanksgiving and he came to England for Christmas.

It was over Christmas that she realized he was just as serious about them as she was. He rented the biggest suite in the most lavish hotel in London for the week he was there. She pretty much moved in with him during that time and she’d been floored when he mentioned his preference for that.

“This feels right,” he told her, wrapping his arms around her waist as they stood out on the large terrace. “I like going to sleep holding you and waking up with you.”

She smiled. “It doesn’t bother you that we haven’t slept together yet?”

“No, not really,” Jason replied. He kissed her neck. “When you’re ready, and it’s right it’ll happen. We have the rest of our lives.”

“We do?” she asked a little surprised. She twisted to look at him.

“Yeah.” He smiled at her–the little tender half-smile that never failed to make her melt. “I love you.”

She turned his arms and slid her fingers through his hair. “I love you, too,” she whispered.

They’d married the day after she graduated from Cambridge. He went to work at his father’s investment firm, taking a job that allowed him to travel extensively. And for the first two years, it was perfect. They were in love and doing exactly what they wanted when they wanted.

They’d been staying in San Francisco the cold winter during their second year of marriage. She’d been feeling kind of ill and she’d suspected she might be pregnant for almost a month before she finally bought the test.

And when she’d seen the positive result, a cold and clammy fear gripped her heart. Jason liked their life as it was. Would he welcome a baby? A baby that would throw their entire lives into whack–disrupt their every routine and change them–who they were, what they did…would he want that?

As soon as he’d come in from a meeting, she’d thrown herself into his arms, burying her face in his neck. Alarmed, he held her tightly, smoothing her hair down. “Baby?”

“I’m pregnant,” she reported, her voice muffled.

He drew away then, forcing him to look at her. Her eyes were wide with fear and she was shaking. “Pregnant?” he repeated.

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“Pregnant.”

“Yeah.”

He grinned then and twirled her in a circle before setting her on her feet and kissing her with more passion and desire than ever before. He broke it off abruptly and fell to his knees to raise her shirt over her stomach and kiss it gently. The action brought tears to her eyes and they slid down her cheeks soundlessly.

He got back to his feet and kissed her again, brushing the tears from her skin. “This is incredible,” he breathed. “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world.”

“You’re happy?” Elizabeth asked, genuinely surprised. “Really, truly happy?”

“Aren’t you?” he asked, suddenly paling. “Elizabeth–“

“Oh, God, I am happy,” she assured him, pressing a kiss to his lips. “Wildly ecstatically happy. I just…didn’t know if you would be.”

“I’m thrilled,” he replied. He kissed her again, his hands covering her abdomen. “We’re having a baby,” he whispered against her lips. She laughed and threw her arms around his neck and he twirled her again.

Her pregnancy had been relatively normal until the seventh month when she’d been diagnosed with hypertension and restricted to bed rest. Jason had promptly bought a large penthouse apartment in the town they were in at that moment–Port Charles, New York–and he told her in no uncertain terms that they weren’t moving until the baby was born.

Olivia Webber Morgan had come into the world eight weeks later and the moment Elizabeth held her tiny precious daughter, she’d fallen head over heels for her and decided that she would have the life Elizabeth hadn’t.

Jason was just as smitten with her. Within days, the nursery at the penthouse was overflowing with stuffed animals and all kinds of toys that Olivia wouldn’t be able to play with for years. Touched by her husband’s bottomless love for their daughter, Elizabeth decided it was a good time to tell him her decision.

“I want us to spend more time in one place,” she told him one night while breast feeding the baby. “I want Olivia to have the home I didn’t.”

“Whatever you want, baby,” Jason promised, kissing her forehead.

“I’d like to buy a house here in Port Charles,” Elizabeth continued. “And you can still travel but right now I want to be home with her.”

“I completely understand.”

She’d thought he did. She’d really believed it. But he didn’t. He expected her to do the same thing his mother and her mother had done. Spend time with Olivia for a few months and then put her in the care of well-trained nannies while they continued their former life. When Olivia was old enough and on vacation from whatever boarding school she was attending, she’d join them.

But Elizabeth didn’t want that. She wanted to raise her daughter herself–to be present when she took her first step, said her first word. She wanted to take her to her first day of kindergarten. She wanted Olivia to have a normal childhood.

And once Jason realized that Elizabeth intended on staying in Port Charles permanently…that’s when the trouble began.

“We always go to Paris in the spring,” he argued.

“Olivia’s not old enough to travel,” Elizabeth replied. She finished changing the baby and set her back in her crib. She smiled at the cherubic face. “Maybe I’ll go next year.”

He frowned. “We can just hire someone. I don’t know why we’re putting it off. We’re going to need to do it before the summer season anyway.”

Elizabeth sighed and pushed him out of the nursery before closing the door softly. “We’re not hiring anyone. I’m her mother.”

“I understand that, honey, but–“

“And I’m not going anywhere this summer. She might start talking and I don’t want to miss that.”

Jason slid his hands in his pockets and peered at her closely. “What are you saying Elizabeth?”

She bit her lip and looked down at the ground. “I’m not going to travel anymore–not like we did before.”

“Baby…that’s how we met,” Jason protested. “That’s all we know together.” He slid her hair through his fingers and smiled at her. “We’re good at that.”

She shook her head. “And now we’re parents and I want to be good at that.”

“Elizabeth, your whole life can’t revolve around Olivia,” Jason argued.

“Why not?” she challenged. “Other people do it. They spend their days carting their children from place to place. And they’re happy doing it.”

“Yeah, normal people. We’re not like them.”

“I hated not knowing my parents until I was old enough to join them on summer vacations. When I was four, I thought my nanny was my mother.” She shook her head. “Olivia needs this time with us. To learn our voices and become attached–to realize that we’re her parents. This is the time when bonds are formed. I can’t abandon her.”

“You’re not abandoning her–“

“I’m not going, Jason. And that’s final.”

She’d thought it would be okay. That eventually, he’d understand and he’d even appreciate the love she had for their daughter. She didn’t even begrudge him his own trips. She knew he loved to travel–he went to the posh places that people in their set was expected to go but he also went other places. He’d been thrilled to go to Hong Kong and Cairo. He’d visited Russia and Argentina, Kenya and Israel. He lived for those kinds of trips and she’d always understood. When she’d gotten sun poisoning in Egypt so he could visit the pyramids and when she’d gotten pneumonia visiting Siberia…she’d just accepted it as part of loving him.

He went about his own schedule–their usual one. He’d come in for some weekends but most of the time she rarely saw him and then the day came when she opened up a newspaper from France and she’d seen a picture of him attending some stupid party with a busty blonde on his arm.

Her heart had shattered and she wasn’t sure that it had ever recovered. While she was at home raising their daughter and setting roots down in the community for their daughter to thrive on…he was off in France, substituting a blonde for her.

When he’d come home from that particular trip, she’d given him both the newspaper and a copy of divorce papers. She loved him but she couldn’t–wouldn’t–deal with infidelity. He’d fought her–insisted that they’d just posed for the picture together. He loved her, he said, but he couldn’t understand why she didn’t love him anymore.

The thought that she didn’t love him was absurd–just because she wouldn’t put their daughter in the care of nannies and be like their parents–she loved him with everything inside her. She’d screamed that at him but he only shook his head. If she loved him, she’d compromise. And if he loved her, he would understand why she couldn’t.

And in the end, it’d been left at that. After days of arguing and getting nowhere, he’d thrown his hands up and signed the papers. He’d moved out the same day.

The actual divorce proceedings had been simple. She asked for nothing and wanted nothing. He’d argued for joint custody and it’d been awarded. Olivia would spend summers and various vacations with him while spending the bulk of her time in Port Charles with Elizabeth.

Jason had insisted on child support and signed an agreement to pay both support and alimony. After the divorce had been granted, he’d taken off for Europe.

And Elizabeth, shattered, had thrown her life into Olivia. After a while, her entire world revolved around the angelic little girl. Anything that didn’t have to do with her Elizabeth didn’t allow herself to think about it. When Jason remarried two years later to a woman named Elise Jacoby, she’d allowed herself one night to cry and scream before going on with her life.

The times Olivia was staying with Jason, Elizabeth would numbly move through her life, attending charity functions and doing various fundraisers. She never dated–never even thought about another man. Jason had been it for her and she’d always known that.

The spring that Olivia turned five years old marked the fourth year of their divorce. By this time, Olivia had spent half her life traveling on yachts and planes while Elizabeth served on the PTA, the Knights of Columbus and joined the country club.

For the first time since their divorce, Jason brought Olivia home personally instead of sending her with a driver or something. The young girl had been ecstatic–practically forcing her father inside the home to see her bedroom.

It was the first time Jason had seen the house since moving out four years earlier and the first time he’d seen Elizabeth since their last divorce hearing three and a half years ago.

The changes between the vivacious and carefree girl she’d been and the mature and demure woman she was now stunned him. She wore her long brown hair straight, her makeup was natural, her sundresses and evening gowns exchanged for a pair of blue jeans and a tank top.

“Elizabeth,” Jason said, nodding at her.

“Daddy’s gonna see my room!” Olivia announced gleefully. She tugged on her father’s hand. “Come on Daddy!”

Elizabeth barely had time to greet her daughter after not seeing her for two months before she’d dragged Jason up to the second floor. A little hurt and thrown by seeing Jason after so long, she followed them.

“This is my bathroom,” Olivia directed, “and that’s Mommy’s room–”

Jason glanced inside Elizabeth’s open bedroom door and saw that it looked exactly as it had the last time he’d been home–down to the comforter and sheets. Before he could see anymore than that Olivia was dragging him to the large and open room at the end of the hall.

“This isn’t the room we had the nursery in,” Jason thought out loud as he took in the room that had once served as his wife’s art studio.

“She liked this room the best,” Elizabeth said softly from behind him. He turned. “My studio is downstairs in the sunroom.”

“Look, Daddy,” Olivia gushed, holding up a picture frame. “That’s you and Mommy and me!”

He took it from her, drinking in the photograph that his mother had taken the day he’d brought Elizabeth and Olivia home from the hospital. His arm was around her shoulders, holding her to him tightly while she cradled their daughter. “I remember the day this was taken.”

“Mommy says it was the day I came home,” Olivia said, excitedly. Her face fell. “It’s the only picture I have of us.”

Elizabeth came forward. “What did you do this summer?” she asked, setting Olivia’s princess pink suitcase on her bed.

“Daddy and Elise took me to see the big clock in E-gland,” Olivia said, hopping onto the bed. “It was so cool, Mommy. Have you ever seen it?”

“Your mother went to school in England,” Jason reported, trying to divert Elizabeth’s attention from the mention of Elise. Elizabeth had never met his second wife and he preferred it that way.

“Wow, that’s so cool. I wish I went to school in E-gland,” Olivia chirped.

Elizabeth smiled. “Well, maybe you can go to college like I did. But if you went to actual school, you couldn’t see Maja or Lily.”

Olivia frowned. “Yeah, because I’d be in school all year and then summers with Daddy. I wouldn’t be able to play in the playground or go to Kelly’s with Em and Lily.” She scowled. “I wouldn’t get to see you either.”

“Who’s Maja, Lily and Em?” Jason asked curiously.

“Maja Spencer and Lily Cassadine,” Elizabeth replied. “They’re Olivia’s best friends from kindergarten this year.” She looked at him pointedly. “She loves her school.”

“Yeah, Daddy, I was in a play this year and Mommy says I can take ballet lessons with Maja this year.” She frowned. “You didn’t come to the play.”

Jason sighed and tousled his daughter’s dark hair. “I didn’t know or I would have been in the front row.”

Elizabeth snorted. “Perhaps you should check with your secretary since I left a message about it three times,” she muttered.

“Will you come see me in a ballet recital this year?” Olivia asked hopefully.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Jason swore. He checked his watch and sighed. “I gotta go, Princess. I don’t want to miss my flight.”

Olivia crossed her arms stubbornly. “I want you to,” she pouted. “Because then you could stay here and we could be family again.”

Elizabeth froze in the middle of the packing, her back to her ex-husband and daughter. Oh, God. They’d tried to make life as normal for Olivia as possible but when she saw people like Emily and Nikolas Cassadine or Lucky and Jessica Spencer…she had to know that her parents living on opposite ends of the earth wasn’t normal.

“We are a family,” Jason said, kneeling in front of her. He rested his hands on her scabby knees and smiled at her. “You, me, your mother and Elise. We’re a family.”

Elizabeth gripped the dresser tightly at the mention of his new wife. Elise Jacoby-Morgan was not part of her family. Not now. Not ever. She didn’t even have to meet the woman to know she despised her.

“Nobody else I know has two mommies,” Olivia sniffled.

A sharp pain lanced through Elizabeth’s heart at the very idea that Elise was Olivia’s mother. This is what she’d wanted to avoid all those years ago when she refused to hire a nanny.

“You don’t have two mommies,” Jason corrected. “Elise is not your mother. She’s just my wife. Elizabeth is your mother and no one else, baby.”

“Then why don’t we live together like a real family?” Olivia asked, her big blue eyes welling up with tears. “Nobody else I know has an Elise.”

Elizabeth shut the last dresser door and sat down next to her daughter. “Sometimes adults don’t get along enough to live together,” she said softly, wrapping an arm around Olivia. The little girl burrowed into her mother’s side. “That doesn’t mean they don’t love each other or you. It’s just that they’re better off apart.”

“Maja’s parents fight and they still live together.”

“We’re not Maja’s parents,” Jason told her softly. “”And everyone has different fights.”

“Then you should find a way to work it out,” Olivia remarked stubbornly. She pouted. “If I have to work it out with old meanie Kristina Davis then you should do it too.”

“It’s not the same thing as when Kristina threw sand in your hair,” Elizabeth replied. She kissed her on top of the head. “Say goodbye to Daddy so he doesn’t miss his flight.”

Olivia pulled away from Elizabeth and threw herself into Jason’s arms. “Don’t go, Daddy, please!” she cried, burrowing her face into his neck. “I’ll be really really good and Mommy will be, too. Just stay.”

Elizabeth stood and left the room abruptly. She couldn’t do this anymore–couldn’t sit there and answer her daughter’s questions about why she and Jason weren’t together anymore because truthfully Elizabeth wasn’t even sure anymore. God, she’d loved him. She still did. She didn’t know how he could have married someone else when she couldn’t imagine being anyone else’s wife.

She busied herself in the living room downstairs working on another fundraiser for the PTA. After a few moments, she heard Jason clearing his throat in the doorway.

“She’s asleep,” he told her quietly. “Cried herself there.”

Elizabeth exhaled slowly. “I’ll take care of it,” she told him. She hesitated. “Thank you for what you said about her not having two mothers.”

He shrugged. “You might not think I was listening back when you explained all the reasons why you didn’t want to hire a nanny, but I was. I had the same childhood you did, Elizabeth. And it didn’t hurt either one of us. So why would you think it’d hurt Olivia?”

Her eyes burned with tears. “You mean any worse than we’re hurting her now?” she asked in a pained voice. She pressed a hand to her forehead and turned away. “Just go, Jason. I don’t feel like having the same argument again. It’s over.”

“Sometimes I think I would have been better off making my own martini that first night,” he told her.

Stung, she turned to him, the tears sliding down her cheeks. “What?”

“If I’d just avoided talking to you, then I wouldn’t have to watch my daughter cry and beg me to stay every time I leave.”

“You wouldn’t have your daughter,” Elizabeth said coldly. “And don’t you dare make this all my fault. I’m not the one who broke my marriage vows.”

“God, Elizabeth, how many times do we have to go over this?” he demanded. “I just posed for a damn picture with her. I don’t even remember her name.”

She snorted. “Yeah. Whatever.”

“I never touched her. You were the only woman I wanted–even if you were being incredibly unreasonable,” he spat.

“It was unreasonable to want to raise my own child? To want to have a home?” she asked, stunned. “That’s unreasonable?”

“You wouldn’t bend–not even a little,” he retorted. “You wouldn’t leave her a weekend to go away with me. It was always Olivia with you. It’s like the second she was born, your first thought was about her. You stopped caring what I wanted–”

“You stopped caring first,” Elizabeth interrupted. “You were the one who would go on trips for weeks at a time. Half the time you never called, and when you did, you wouldn’t even ask about her.”

“I didn’t need to have a house in some hick town to have a home,” Jason replied, irritated. “You were my home. I never needed some stupid pile of bricks to make me feel secure.”

“You bought this house,” Elizabeth accused. “You decided we were going to stay in Port Charles.”

“I bought a penthouse until she was born. You wanted this house and I bought it because I thought it would be temporary,” Jason retorted.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Elizabeth cried. She whirled and pushed her way out of the living room and into the kitchen where she leaned against the wall. Oh, God, she still loved him. How was that possible? After all they’d done to each other, why were they still going in the same circles?

She heard a soft knock. “Elizabeth, I really do have to go. Tell Olivia that I love her.”

“Okay.”

“And Elizabeth?”

She closed her eyes. She’d always loved the way he said her name. His voice always dropped an octave and sometimes two after they made love. “What?” she asked painfully.

“I…I never wanted to hurt you. You know that right?”

“I never wanted to hurt you either,” she whispered.

“Goodbye.”

She heard his footsteps walking across the living room and then the door opened and then closed. She sank to the floor and started to cry.