Written in 64 minutes. Got a late start thanks to the cat napping in front of the keyboard.

---

Late June 2000

By the beginning of their second week on the island, Jason was up and moving around on his own schedule. He woke early and went for walks on the beach while Elizabeth slept in, enjoying her break from not opening Kelly’s at the crack of dawn. By the time she finally shuffled out of her room, Jason would have returned, showered, and made coffee.

This morning, she was still stifling a yawn when she emerged from her room, wearing a long pink wrap over her bikini, the top peeking out from where the wrap dipped down over her shoulder.

She slid onto the stool, accepting the coffee he handed her with a wrinkle of her nose. “Does the sun have to be so bright all the time?” she muttered. “It’s so aggressive.”

“How late were you up?” Jason asked, leaving the kitchen area and heading into the living room proper. He picked up one of his heavier travel books, then did a few reps with it, wincing slightly at the pull on his wound. It had mostly healed, but he’d yet to regain his full strength on his left and he couldn’t sprint for more than a few steps without losing his breath.

“Just until three,” Elizabeth said. She spun on the stool, watched him lift the book a few more times, and he waited for her to make a protest about pushing himself. But she just sipped her coffee. “I hit a groove with the canvas last night, and didn’t want to lose it. I don’t know if it’s good enough for the exhibition, but at least it’s progress.”

“Whatever you finish down here—” Jason set the book down, looked at her. “I’ll make sure it gets back to Port Charles safely. Just tell me what you need to ship it.”

“Did Sonny say something? Do we know when we’re going back?” Elizabeth slid off the stool, went into the kitchen to set her empty cup in the sink.

“No.” And that grated at Jason — he knew why he’d had to recuperate somewhere far away from Port Charles, but someone had tried to kill him—had nearly killed Elizabeth—and he was too far away to do anything about it. Relying on Sonny wasn’t nearly good enough. Maybe if he continued to recover at this rate, he could talk Elizabeth into staying on the island while he went home to finish this.

He watched Elizabeth as she rifled through her tote bag—they always went down to the beach after coffee. She liked to sit out and sketch and he’d do another walk. Tomorrow, he decided, tomorrow he’d be able to jog the full length of the beach, and then Sonny would have to let him come back.

“I’m ready whenever you are,” Elizabeth said, looping the strap over her shoulder. She slid a pair of sunglasses over her eyes.

“I’ll grab the towels,” Jason started to say, but the phone on the counter rang. He scooped it up. “Sonny?”

“Hey, is this a bad time?” his partner asked, the line a bit crackly.

“No, it’s good—” Jason made eye contact with Elizabeth and she nodded. She grabbed the second bag with the beach towels and gestured towards the beach. “It’s good,” he repeated after she’d stepped out on the terrace.

“Elizabeth around?”

“Just went down to the beach. I’m glad you called. Can we set up a flight for Friday?” Jason wanted to know. “I’m ready—or I will be by then—”

“Let’s hold off on that,” Sonny said. “I was actually calling to let you know that Taggert came sniffing again, looking for you. Mentioned making a stop to talk to Audrey who said Liz was on vacation and that’s all she knew. Liz is talking to her grandmother, isn’t she?”

Jason frowned. “Yeah, we said that’d be fine, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, yeah, I just didn’t expect Audrey Hardy not to be throwing a bigger fit over her granddaughter disappearing the night she was shot at. Taggert seemed perturbed at it, too. Wants to know if you’re dead.”

“All the more reason for me to come home on Friday, but it it’s not safe yet, maybe Elizabeth—”

“No, no, I wanna wait until at least this weekend. The longer you’re both gone with Liz still still keeping in touch, it lends weight to the cover story. You know, that you’re off somewhere together.”

Jason rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t care what people said about him, but he didn’t much like people speculating about Elizabeth behind her back. “Okay, but—”

“I also—I gotta work out a few things on my end, you know, so I’ll let you know what’s a good day. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

—

Emily pushed her fries around her plate, wondering why she always ordered extra when she never had the appetite to finish them.

“If you’re not going to eat them—” Nikolas reached across the table, tugged on her plate. He set aside his burger, then dumped ketchup on what was left. Emily watched him with her chin propped on her first.

“Remember when you were an elegant prince who’d never seen ketchup?”

“What can I say? America has corrupted me.” Nikolas popped a fry in his mouth. “What’s bugging you?”

“Nothing I can talk about with you—” Emily started, then made a face when she saw a familiar face heading their way from the parking lot. “I’m not in the mood for this.”

Nikolas twisted in his seat, saw his brother, and sighed. “Em—”

“I know, you’ve forgiven him, and that’s fine, but—”

“Hey.” Lucky stopped by their table, one of his hands tucked in the pocket of his jeans. “I was hoping to run into you here today.”

Emily wrinkled her nose. “I wasn’t.”

Lucky ignored the comment, took a seat. “I’m not here to apologize again or whatever. I just—” He looked down at his hands. “I know I acted like an idiot a few months ago, but I’ve been worried since the shooting at my dad’s place. I know Elizabeth was there that night, and I know she’s been gone since. I’m not stupid, Em. Jason and Elizabeth are both gone. One of them is hurt. I just—I wanted to know if she was okay.”

Emily lifted a brow. “I saw her the next day and she was fine. A few scratches from the gravel—Jason pushed her down in time.”

“Yeah, he’s got some experience in that area,” Nikolas said dryly. When Emily shot him a dirty look, he shrugged. “I got shot in the throat because of him, I get to have an opinion.”

“Anyway,” Emily said, rolling her eyes, “like I said, she’s fine. She’s just taking some time to work on her exhibition for next month—”

“She’s with Jason, you mean. So he  got hurt—”

“I’m not answering any other questions—”

“It’s my fault. All of this.” Lucky sat back. “If I hadn’t have introduced Elizabeth to him, or gone to work for Jason, then she wouldn’t be in danger now—”

“Jason’s my brother, so Elizabeth was always going to be around him,” Emily said without thinking and Lucky scowled. “Not that she’s with him now, I’m just saying—”

“You know, maybe I was off base about Elizabeth being into her before we broke up, but we both know I wasn’t wrong about him—”

“Maybe you were off base?” Nikolas said. Lucky ignored him, focused on Emily.

“He was into Liz for months—”

“Whatever Jason thought or felt isn’t the point. The only person who screwed up your relationship is you. Jason could have paraded naked in front of her, and Elizabeth wouldn’t have looked at him. She loved you.” Emily rolled her eyes. “Is that why you’re still talking trash about him? Because you want him to admit that he had the hots for your girlfriend? Big freaking deal. I had the hots for Nikolas when he was dating Sarah. Didn’t matter at all.”

Nikolas frowned. “What?”

“Oh, don’t be stupid. We both know I had a huge crush on you before I actually got to know you,” Emily said, waving her hand at him. “I kissed you.”

“Yeah, but you were high—”

“Which is why I had the courage—never mind.” Emily dismissed him, focused on Lucky. “Jason doesn’t owe you answers. So if that’s why you’re still aggravating him, I’d stop if I were you. It’s starting to look desperate and pathetic. I should know, that’s where I was two years ago over this one.”

“I really don’t think I like this conversation,” Nikolas decided.

“All I want to do was see if Elizabeth was okay,” Lucky said stiffly. “So thanks for that.” He got to his feet. “Sorry to bother you.”

Emily watched him go, then shook her head. “He’s so dramatic. It’s honestly annoying.”

—

Elizabeth wasn’t sure how long Jason would be with Sonny, but the last few times they’d talked, it had been at least ten or fifteen minutes. She decided to take advantage of his absence to get in the water and cool off.

This time on the island, she’d been a little self-conscious about stripping off her cover-up and going in the ocean when he was around. Her red bikini wasn’t too revealing, but after things had changed between them, it suddenly felt like being naked around him.

And while Elizabeth thought maybe she was almost ready for that step, she knew it wasn’t definitely.

She dumped her bags near their usual spot, laid out her beach towel, then tugged her cover-up over her head. She’d do a quick dip, get her hair wet and cool, then towel off and cover up again. No problem.

Except she was in the water, covered to her chin when she saw Jason on the terrace, then crossing the sand towards the shoreline. Damn it. And of course, Jason wasn’t the least bit self-conscious trudging towards her with a pair of shorts hit just above his knee and the rest of his body completely bare—

Maybe she could just live in the water from now on. This could be her home. She might get wrinkled like a prune or starve to death, but at least she didn’t have to walk in front of Jason in nothing more than a wet bikini.

Okay, she was definitely overreacting, and she wasn’t actually naked as long as the straps didn’t come undone and humiliate her on the way back to the shore.

If she wanted to be an adult in a real relationship with the hope of physical intimacy in her future, she was gonna have to take the first step.

Elizabeth took a deep breath and stared to walk towards to the shore, emerging from the water, droplets streaming down her skin. The hot air hit her cooled skin, and she shivered slightly as she came towards the edge of the water.

Jason had stopped by their towels, and he was watching her. When she drew closer she saw that his eyes dip down, then slowly drag their way back up to meet her gaze. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Elizabeth reached him, her foot sinking into the hot sand. She fought the urge to fold her arms because that would only draw attention to that area. “I thought—you usually talk to Sonny, um, longer.” The towel she wanted to use to dry off was behind him on the ground.

“You—you could keep swimming.” Jason swallowed hard, his eyes dropping again briefly before lifting again. “You don’t have to stop.”

“I just wanted to, um, cool off a little. It’s…hotter today.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “I, um, need my—” She gestured behind him. “My towel. It’s, um—”

Jason blinked, then cleared his throat, jumping as if he’d been put on fire. “Yeah, yeah, right. Okay.” He scooped up the towel, then held it out to her.

Elizabeth touched the rough fabric, curling her fingers around a piece of it, but he didn’t let go, and he was looking at her with something different in his eyes—something she didn’t really know what to do with or hadn’t seen before, but somehow, instinctively, she knew what it was. Desire. Physical. He was looking at her, and he wanted her.

She understood that feeling—hadn’t she felt the same way that night on the terrace when he’d been dripping wet, and those drops had slid down that smooth, golden chest—

She didn’t know who moved first or if they’d moved together, but the towel was tossed aside, and she was in his arms, her hands in his hair, and he was kissing her, devouring, and all that heat she’d seen in his eyes was pouring off him now, radiating through her until she was  burning, too.

They fell to the ground, and she was beneath him, panting as his lips left hers, cruised down her neck to the hollow of  her throat, and she jolted when he nipped at the soft sensitive skin,  his hands gliding up and down her body, hooking her leg over his waist. His mouth came back to hers, and a hurricane could have rained down on them, and Elizabeth wouldn’t have known the difference. She’d waited her whole life to feel like this, to be touched like this—

And then she moved her other leg, and Jason drew back with a wince, pain flashing across his face. “Damn it,” he muttered, sitting up, holding one hand to his side.

It was like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her head. Trembling, Elizabeth sat up. “Are—are you—I’m sorry. I didn’t—” She snatched up the towel she’d wanted earlier, held it against her chest. “I’m sorry.” She leapt to her feet and took off for the house.

← Flash Fiction: Warning Shots – Part 28 | Flash Fiction: Warning Shots – Part 30 →