Written in 65 minutes. Song at the end is Red Light Special (TLC)

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Luke’s was in full swing by the time Jason arrived to work the eight to two shift, and the club was packed to the brim for a band Luke had lured up from New York for a special week of performances. Most of the time, Jason didn’t mind the crowds — he didn’t much like people but when it was busy, the night went quickly and no one lingered at the bar. He could fill the orders without much thinking, leaving his mind to wander on more important things.

Tonight, all he really wanted to do was tell Elizabeth what he’d learned at the lawyer’s office, wondering what her reaction would be to learning that the divorce papers had been a ruse to lure Monica into admitting her part in the press leaks. Jason was partially relieved his former self hadn’t been a complete asshole, but he also thought it was still a stupid idea. Why bother making Monica admit anything? He could have just cut the entire family off.

But there was barely a quiet moment to be had that night — the music was pumping, echoing off the walls, the dance floor was packed, and he could barely keep up with the demands for Blue Moons, Budweisers, Rolling Rocks, and the occasional Guiness. Elizabeth was working as quickly as she could to fill the orders for martinis, margaritas, and other stupid mixed drink people could think of.

The tips rolled in, though, and Jason appreciated those. Sky diving lessons weren’t going to come cheap, he thought, and he was still holding out hope he’d be able to convince Elizabeth to try it. He thought it might be like the bike only a thousand times more intense.

“Behind,” Elizabeth called out, scooting past Jason with a tray of drinks she delivered to  waiting server, then twirled around past him again to grab another set of orders. He watched her for an extra minute, wondering how she kept all those drinks straight in her head and could fill the orders flawlessly. And she still found time to check in with everyone at the bar, offering quick smiles conversations—

“Well, one thing hasn’t changed.”

Jason whipped his head around at the familiar voice shouted over the music. Emily had wedged herself into the a space on the bar. “Just give me a Corona!” she shouted over the music. Jason grunted, grabbed a glass, filled it and set it in front of the bar.

“Did you go to see the lawyer today?” Emily wanted to know when Jason came back from getting a new rack of orders from the server.

“Yeah,” he said, pitching his voice loud enough to be heard. “Long story short, they’re real but it was a trick. Monica was feeding stories to the press.”

Emily winced. “Damn it.” Whatever she said next was lost in the wave of music. “Did you tell Liz yet?”

“No. Not yet. And don’t say anything to Monica until we know what we want to do,” Jason told her. He delivered a drink order.

“Whatever you guys need.” Emily tossed a twenty on the bar, took her drink and disappeared into the crowd. He lost her after a few minutes, and focused on getting through the shift.

The band finished their set around eleven, and the club thinned out by at least half. There was finally time to take a breath.

“Christ, I think I’m going to clear a grand tonight,” Elizabeth muttered, shoving another wad of bills into the tip jar secured beneath the bar. “But I’m glad to have a minute to myself.” She grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler behind them, rested it against the skin left bare by her scoop-necked tank top.

Jason leaned against the bar back, folding his arms. “I don’t know how you can stand this every day,” he admitted. “This is way too many people.”

Elizabeth grinned at him. “You’d much rather working the opening shift when we have twelve people, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes,” Jason said, immediately.

“This is definitely not your scene.” Elizabeth sipped her water, then handed him the bottle. “You should talk to Luke or Sonny about finding something else in the clubs. Less people, you know? I mean, I’d miss you back here,” she admitted. “But there’s no point working a job you hate.”

Jason took a long swig of water, handed it back. “I don’t hate it. But it’s not my favorite thing.”

“Did you like the warehouse when you worked there?” Elizabeth asked, before heading over to fill an order. She mixed some vodka with a spray of Coke, then delivered the drink.

“People left you alone. They gave you a task, and as long as you did, you weren’t bothered.”

“Sounds perfect for you. Seriously, when we get this conservatorship done, you should really think about what you want to do. You’ll have options again.”

“Maybe. You…you haven’t asked about the lawyer.”

Elizabeth sighed. “On purpose, I guess.” She looked towards the stage where the musicians were packing up. The live music had been replaced by the jukebox in the corner. “I don’t know about you, but I am really over dealing with the Quartermaines.”

“Since the moment I woke up,” Jason muttered, and she laughed. It was good, he thought, to see her happy. Whatever mind games Monica had tried to play, Elizabeth had brushed them off. She’d seemed much lighter in general since the day they’d packed up the second bedroom.

“We don’t have to get into the details, but you should know the papers weren’t for the court. They were to trick Monica into admitting something.”

Elizabeth looked at him for a long moment, then tipped her head. “So he didn’t mean any of it?”

“No. Not a single word.”

She looked forward again, nodded. “Okay.” She smiled. “Okay. That’s—that’s good. Thank you. But everything else?”

“It can wait,” Jason promised.

“Tonight, I just want to pretend none of that is out there,” Elizabeth told him, and then went to server waiting at the end of the bar.

—

Across town, Justus Ward was also looking forward to putting this case to bed and not being surrounded constantly by the Quartermaines. But he’d gone to the gatehouse with the file Jack Bingham had given them after the apppointment.

“He never told me he was doing any of this,” Ned murmured, sifting through the press articles. “I thought that the press mostly went away after the funeral.”

“WKPC did,” Justus said. “But the Herald and Sun kept printing. I didn’t know Jason was charged with assault after punching a reporter until Luke mentioned it a few weeks ago. Did you?”

“He said nothing.” Ned picked up an editorial about rich families throwing their weight around. “Which makes you wonder why he was cutting us both out of the loop. Did he think we might be the leak?”

“He didn’t tell anyone, including Emily. But look — he’s circling things in every article. Facts that no one could know unless they’d been told personally. Maybe you could find out where their apartment building was, but not the apartment number.  This article talks about Elizabeth’s shifts at the bar — which she hadn’t worked since before the baby.”

“He was tracking how much information was being shared.”

“And after he got the charges dropped against the reporter, the day after Christmas, he went to see Bingham and came up with a scheme to make Monica think he was on her side.”

“And wrote up these divorce papers, designed specifically to delight her.” Ned stroked his chin. “But why would Monica not use them? I can’t believe Alan and Edward would have agreed to keep these quiet—”

“I think she knew they weren’t real. She told Alan and Edward Jason wanted a divorce. I bet  that’s when Alan went for the power of attorney, and it snowballed from there.”

“She knew if Elizabeth saw these papers, she might have ask the lawyer—”

“I have that covered, too. Bingham was instructed to confirm Jason was a client and these papers were real if he was ever asked. Only Jason would ever have been able to get the rest of info. Jason said Monica was ready to bolt when he showed up at the bar.”

“She wanted to guilt Elizabeth into leaving, but not have Jason ask too many questions. That’s desperation.” Ned closed the folder. “Alan and Edward have been singing a different tune since your financial audit came back the other day. Edward’s going to be in touch in a day or two to return Elizabeth’s money. Alan wants to drop the conservatorship.”

“Desperation,” Justus repeated. “Monica made one last play to get Elizabeth out of Jason’s life. Well, it backfired, that’s for sure.”

“Oh, I can just imagine.” Ned looked at Justus. “You know who we haven’t talked to yet. The only person who was in the house that day and can tell us what Monica and Jason were talking about.”

“That’s a good point. Do you know if AJ can have any visitors in rehab?”

—

The club continued to empty out as the clock crawled towards two, and the final pair of college students staggered out ten minutes to the hour. Elizabeth locked the front door with a relieved flourish, then leaned against it. “Thank God.”

Jason was on the floor, clearing empty glasses into the rubber tub. “Luke told you to stop scheduling doubles when you do inventory.”

“Well, tell him to hire me a bartender who can mix drinks next time,” she replied with a smirk. She headed over to the jukebox and flipped on the freeplay mode so that it would cycle through the songs. “Let’s clear down and get the hell out of here.”

Jason continued to clear the dirty glassware, setting them in the kitchen for the dishwashers the next morning while Elizabeth cashed out the registers, matching orders to the cash on hand.

When he returned, she was counting out money from the tip jar. “After we’re done paying out to the servers, and bus boys—it’s just under eleven hundred for us both.”

“Good. That covers the first round of sky diving lessons.” Jason leaned against the front of the bar, watching her count. “I’ll sign us for our next off day.”

“You can keep trying,” Elizabeth said, flashing him a quick smile, “but there’s no chance you get me to jump out of airplane.”

“You love the turns on the bike,” Jason reminded her. “The wind rushing past your face so loud you can’t hear anything—you don’t think it might be fun to try it from a thousand feet in the air?”

“Oh, God, not even a little bit,” she said with a shudder. “The bike is still on the ground.”

“You want me to try new things, but you won’t?” Jason asked. “Didn’t I let you teach me to dance?”

“I’m sorry, we’re definitely not calling what you tried to do dancing—”

“I managed the slower one,” Jason said, insulted. “I could do it if I wanted.”

Elizabeth just laughed and slid his share of the tips across the bar. “I’m sure you could. But I’m not skydiving, and you’re not dancing.”

“They’re not the same thing—”

“Ha! Exactly. You want me to jump out of a plane, you have to d something nearly as scary in return.”

Jason furrowed his brow. “Like what? What am I supposed to be scared of?”

“I don’t know, but when we think of something, we can trade the plane for it.” Elizabeth pocketed her tips. “But if you want to think of something smaller for me to do with you, like—I don’t know. What about roller coasters?”

“Roller coasters,” Jason repeated. “I don’t know if it’d be the same but we can talk about it. But I get something in return, don’t I?”

“Yeah, sure.” She propped her elbows on the bar, leaned forward, with a smirk on her lips. “What do you have in mind?”

Jason was stumped for a minute, but then the jukebox clipped to a different song, and the music was slower, not that different from that night in the apartment.

Take a good look at it look at it now
Might be the last time you’ll have a go round

“Dance with me.”

Elizabeth shrugged, came around the bar. “Okay, I was expecting some a bit more demanding but—”

He set his hands at her hips, pulled her close, and she smiled, tilting her head back to look at him. “Oh, okay, I see what you’re doing.”

I’ll let you touch it if you like to go down
I’ll let you go further if you take this southern route

“What am I doing?” he asked, sliding one hand into the back pockets of her jeans, the other resting on the strip of skin left bare between the hem of her tank top and her jeans.

Elizabeth curled an arm around his neck, her nails lightly scratching against the nape of his neck. “So you like this kind of dancing?”

Don’t go too fast don’t go too slow
You got to let your body flow

“I like anything that lets me touch you,” Jason told her, and the flush he liked so much rose from her chest into her cheeks. She rested a hand over his chest.

I like ’em attentive and I like ’em in control

“I like it, too,” she murmured, then leaned her head against his chest, curling into his arms, their dancing little more than just gently swaying to the slow pulsing music. The last time they’d danced, she’d still been nervous, he thought. But it was different now after all these weeks together.

Baby, it’s yours, all yours, if you want it tonight
I’ll give you the red light special all through the night

He stroked her back, from the base of her spine to the nape of her neck, then back again.

Baby, it’s yours, all yours, if you want it tonight
Come through my door, take off my clothes and turn on the red light

“Maybe we should go home,” Elizabeth murmured. She tipped her head up, her eyes dark and hooded. “If you’re ready.”

“We could do that,” Jason said, leaning down, brushing his lips against hers, lightly first—once, twice, then sinking in, drawing it out until they were both breathing heavily. “But I have a better idea—”

“I don’t think I’d ever be able to look Luke in the eye again if we had sex on his desk,” she quipped, and for that, he lightly pinched her butt. She laughed, but he kissed her again, cutting it off, dragging her hard against him.

I know that you want me, I can see it in your eyes
You might as well be honest, ’cause the body never lies

“I still have the key for the room upstairs,” he whispered in her ear. “Unless you really want to go all the home first—”

Tell me your secrets and I’ll, I’ll tell you mine
I’m feelin’ quite sexy and I want you for tonight

“Say less,” Elizabeth said, fisting her hand in his shirt and dragging him towards the back stairs. He laughed, following her up the steps and down the hall. She dug into his back pocket where he kept his keys, making sure to let her fingers return the pinch he’d given her. He put his hand at her neck and dragged her against him for a hard, intense kiss while fumbling with the keys in the lock.

If I move too fast (too fast) just let me know (just let me know)
‘Cause it means you move too slow

The door suddenly opened, and they fell through it,  Jason landing first with Elizabeth on top of him. She flattened her hand on either side of his head, and grinned. “Well, you know, the bed’s a good idea, but the floor will do just fine.”

He grinned, used a leg to kick the door closed, then dragged her top over her head. “For the first time anyway. We’ll get to the bed eventually.”

I like some excitement and I like a man that goes
Baby, it’s yours, all yours, if you want it tonight

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