This is a story that will be exclusive to The Liason Haven when it’s released in December, but I’m working on the first draft now. Here are the unedited first two scenes. These are FIRST drafts! I might entirely rewrite them before publication.

Basic Setup: This takes place in December 1997. Jason’s story is mostly as it aired on the show. He and Robin broke up in August over his job (but she’d been in and out of the show for almost a year at that point). They attempted a reconciliation in October, but it failed. Sonny jilted Brenda at the altar in September, but Jason was the one who had to deal with it and Brenda has hated Jason since and really struggled with the humiliation. (FIND THESE WEDDING SCENES ON YOUTUBE THEY ARE EPIC).  Elizabeth is still Steve and Audrey’s granddaughter, but she grew up in PC, so she knows everyone. She went to Denver for college and returned for the nursing program where she had run ins with Carly.

Hopefully that helps!

Note:  This story is written in three parts. Each part is set to a different song as a song fiction. The soundtrack for Part 1 is the absolute BOP by Gabbie Hanna: Bad Karma. The other songs are also by Gabbie: Dandelion and Glass House. Check them out.

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1
Skeletons in my closet
I got secrets that’ll shake you to your bonesWithin twenty four hours of agreeing not to blow up Carly Roberts’ lie about being the father of her child, Jason Morgan was regretting ever letting the toxic blonde back into his life.

She’d come to him, crying hysterically, terrified that Tony Jones would drag her into court over paternity of her son, forcing her to reveal that Jason’s half-brother, AJ Quartermaine, was actually the father.

And AJ, Carly had tearfully informed Jason, had threatened to take the baby and cut her out of his life entirely. He was a Quartermaine with more money and power. With the entire town against her, Carly would lose her baby. She’d done so many terrible things, but surely she didn’t deserve this, did she?

Carly had lied to them both, claiming Jason was the father of the baby due in a few weeks, and she’d begged Jason to keep the secret. Just for a little while. He could help her disappear after the baby was born safely, couldn’t he? He could help her escape the Quartermaines, just like he had. Didn’t he understand how dangerous they were?

And Jason, who loathed every single Quartermaine for the way they used their power and money to crush others, had agreed. After all — it was just a few weeks. What was the worst that would happen? Carly would leave, and he could eventually reveal the truth to anyone who gave a damn.

The evening after letting Carly into his penthouse at Harborview Towers, Jason had gone to Luke’s, the club that he co-owned (thanks to his boss and partner dumping everything on him a few months ago on his way out of town) to run the numbers and look over the books.

He’d left the office and went into the bar, thinking he might grab a beer before heading over to Jake’s to play a game of pool and see if the sexy brunette he’d had his eye on might be interested in giving him a reason to avoid Carly while she was staying there.

Instead, Jason found Brenda Barrett sitting at the bar, her long legs crossed elegantly, a martini grasped between her fingers. She met Jason’s eyes, sipped her drink, and raised a slim eyebrow. Then smirked.

The hair on the back of Jason’s neck stood up. The supermodel hadn’t offered him an ounce of kindness since that terrible September day when she’d been waiting at the end of the aisle in her wedding gown, and had turned to him expecting to see her beloved fiance, Sonny Corinthos.

Instead, Jason had been forced to humiliate her in front of nearly the entire town, informing her that Sonny had jilted her. He hadn’t wanted that, but she’d refused to talk quietly. He’d tried to take care of her, but all the hatred she now felt for Sonny had found him as target.

To see her smiling at him now—

“I heard the most interesting news at the hospital today,” Brenda said. She set the martini glass down, then leaned forward, her brown eyes sparkling with mischievous malice. Her words might be neutral, her mouth was smiling, but the tone of her voice could have frozen lava.

Warily, Jason folded his arms, keeping his own expression blank. He said nothing.

“Bobbie was commiserating with one of the other nurses,” Brenda continued, “about how Tony was humiliating her all over again. Apparently, he broke up with that bitch Carly Roberts right in the hospital and they had a huge scene.” Her smirk deepened. “Do you know what they fought about?”

He said nothing.

She leaned forward. “I guess congratulations are in order.” She paused. “Daddy.”

He narrowed his eyes. There was something else here. She had an angle she was going to play—

“Of course, I immediately asked Bobbie if she was sure. She had to be mistaken, you see.” She tilted her head. “Because Carly is due in a few weeks. How could you be the father, Jason, when Carly got pregnant in April?”

His stomach dropped and now it was harder to maintain his blank expression. Because now he knew why Brenda looked so gleeful. Now he understood why she was here.

Brenda leaned back, sipped her martini. “Naturally, Robin was devastated.”

Jason closed his eyes. Robin.

They’d dated off and on for more than a year, and he’d loved her with every ounce of his soul. She’d forgiven him for Carly when they’d first started dating. She’d understood that he hadn’t meant to hurt her—that Carly was a mistake. An urge that he hadn’t learned how to control.

He could do that now, and Carly didn’t tempt him anymore. She’d taunted Robin one too many times, had been too clingy, refusing to accept that their brief affair was over. He loved Robin.

“Why would you do that?” he asked, roughly. “She’s in Paris. This has nothing to do with her.”

“Nothing?” Brenda repeated. “Did I miss something, Jason? Did I confuse the timeline? When did you and Robin break up? When she did finally get sick and tired of waiting for you to die? Was it August?’

It had actually been October when Jason had finally given up on Robin changing her mind about the path he’d chosen for himself, the path that Robin had inadvertently set him on when she’d sent him to Sonny to return money he’d found on the docks. He’d let go of that dream and was trying to build another.

“August,” Brenda repeated. “Which, according to my calendar, comes after April.” She finished the last of her martini, the popped the olive between her lips. “Did you really think no one would do the math, Jason? Did you think that you could get away with this? No one cares about you, Jason,” she reminded him. “But people love Robin.” She shrugged. “If it wasn’t me, it would have been Mac or Felicia.”

Jason exhaled slowly. “You think you did Robin a favor,” he told her quietly. “You think you were doing the right thing. But you hurt her to get back at me. I never meant to hurt you, Brenda.”

Her eyes glittered. “Don’t you dare—”

“I didn’t tell you to walk down the aisle before Sonny showed up. I tried to get you to leave the church. But you wouldn’t let me. What happened wasn’t something I did on purpose, Brenda, but you wanted to hurt Robin because you knew it’d hurt me.” He exhaled slowly. “Congratulations. That makes you just as selfish as the man who left you at the altar and made me pick up the pieces.”

He stalked out of the bar, digging his keys out of his jacket. He needed to get his mind off of this. He needed to stop thinking about Brenda and Robin and Carly and all the damage he’d left in his wake during the two short years since emerging from his coma without memories.

He headed for Jake’s, that game of pool, and hoped that Elizabeth would be there. He needed someone who would listen to him.

2

It ain’t worth all the drama
Might be easier if I just die alone

 Elizabeth Webber smirked as she counted out the twenties that Zander Smith had just slapped down on the pool table. “I don’t know why we do this every week,” she said, folding the bills in half and sliding them into the back pockets of her jeans.

Zander glared at her, snagging his beer from the edge of the table. “You’re just a goddamn shark. Pretending you barely played in college–”

“Is that how I described it?” Elizabeth asked the man slouched against the wall. “I thought I was pretty clear—”

“Your college team won nationals and you were MVP,” Johnny Zacchara replied with a jerk of a shoulder. “His fault for not asking for more details.”

“Ah, fuck you.” Sour, the man slunk off towards the bar to order another drink.

Elizabeth snorted, then started to chalk up her cue. “You wanna take me on?” she asked Johnny.

“Not even a little bit,” he said pleasantly. “You kicked my ass the first time. Unlike Smith, I don’t make the same mistake twice.”

“Spoilsport,” she muttered. Most of Jake’s regulars had played and lost to her at least once, and very few came for a second round. She’d been able to almost pay off her car hanging at the bar over the last year—

And the only man who’d ever given her a run for her money wasn’t here tonight. Not that she was mad about it. He had his hands full right now, and she wasn’t going to take that ride. Not after what she’d heard.

It was a shame, she thought wistfully, as she lined up a shot to break the table. She’d wanted to know how good his ass looked out of those jeans—

“Good, Morgan’s here to stop your reign of terror,” Johnny said. Surprised, she jerked up and missed her shot, the cue ball slapping uselessly against the felt walls of the table. She turned to the darkened hall that led to the entrance, wincing when the familiar form of Jason Morgan entered the bar.

“You’re just in time,” Johnny said to Jason, tossing a cue at him. “She’s already murdered the new guy and Smith was dumb enough to play her again.” He picked up his whiskey. “I need a refill. You want something?” he asked Jason.

“I’ll get it,” Jason told him, and Johnny nodded, sauntering off to the bar. Elizabeth wrinkled her nose as her sort of friend left her mostly alone with the man she was trying to avoid.

“I didn’t think I’d see you here tonight,” Elizabeth said, meeting his eyes briefly, then glancing away, sliding around him so he could line up his own shot. She’d play him, keep it light, and then send him on his way.

“It’s Friday,” Jason said, narrowing his eyes. “We always—” His fingers curled tightly around the stick. “What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean?” she asked. She hooked her thumbs in the belt loops of her jeans. “I just didn’t think you’d be here. You’ve got a lot on your mind.” When he took a step towards her, she stepped back and his eyes darkened. “Look—”

“You heard,” he said flatly and she flushed, her cheeks heating. “Who told you?”

“I work at the hospital, Jason,” Elizabeth said. She dragged a hand through her hair. “It’s everywhere.”

He stepped towards her again, but this time she held her ground, tilting her head up to meet his eyes, the light blue almost black in the shadows of the bar. Their bodies brushed against one another, and the shivers slid down her spine. They’d been doing the dance for a few weeks—since Thanksgiving—and if he was anyone other than Jason Morgan, newly minted leader of the Port Charles underground, she’d have jumped him the first time he gave her the green light.

But you didn’t hop into bed with the local godfather on a whim, even if it was just sex, so she’d bided her time, making sure he was worth the trouble.

And she was glad now she’d waited.

“Look, it’s nothing personal,” she managed, licking her lips. “It’s just I made a rule a long time ago that I was going to stay as far away from Carly Roberts as I could—”

“What does she have to do with this?” Jason demanded. “We’re not together—”

“She’s the mother of your child—”

He hissed, then looked up at the ceiling. “Goddamn it.”

“She’s a terrible person—”

“But I’m not her—”

“She’s living with you, isn’t she? That’s what Dr. Jones told Bobbie today,” she said. “Carly took her stuff and left. I mean, look, it’s great that you’re stepping up and all that, but you’re about to be connected to that viper for next eighteen years if not longer. There’s no way in hell I’m getting on that roller coaster—”

He gritted his teeth, tossed the pool cue on the table and wrapped his fingers around her wrist. “Come with me.”

“Hey, hands off—” She slapped at his chest and he released her immediately. “We flirted a few times, but you don’t get to drag me anywhere—”

“That’s not—” Jason took a deep breath, dipped his head. When he looked back up and met her gaze, he looked more his old self — like the sweet, sexy, frustrating guy she’d been flirting with all these nights, not the angry, irritated jackass who had clearly come to the bar to grab at her ass. “I need to talk to someone,” he said finally. “I was hoping you’d let me explain.”

She pursed her lips. “Okay,” Elizabeth finally said. Man, she hoped she didn’t regret this.