Written in 20  minutes. No time for typos.

It was late when Justus finally left them alone in the penthouse that night and Jason didn’t really know what do once he was alone with his wife.

When he’d gotten the news that Tommy Graviano, their explosives guy, had been pulled out of the harbor with a broken neck no more than six hours after telling Jason that Carly Corinthos had been the one to pick up a device the day before the bomb —

Jason knew the danger wasn’t over. He’d always assumed he was the target — it hadn’t occured to him that Sonny or Carly would give a damn about Elizabeth or their daughter with Jason out of the picture — it was Jason that was the threat. He’d simply left, knowing that leaving Elizabeth completely in the dark would give her the best chance.

For six months, he’d kept moving forward, kept moving, kept the focus on him and he’d hadn’t thought far enough ahead to contemplate telling Elizabeth the truth.

With Justus gone, Elizabeth had gone upstairs to take a shower while Jason had remained in the penthouse, thinking over what they knew, who they might be able to trust—

“Why would Sonny or Carly want you dead?”

He blinked, turning at the desk to find Elizabeth at the bottom of the stairs, her hair slicked back from her head, her face still tired and pale. She was wearing only socks which explained why he hadn’t heard her on the stairs.

“What?” he asked, roughly, drinking her in. She’d always been slender, but she’d lost even more weight, and he found himself worried about her. He’d thought Steven would take care of her, but—

“Sonny and Carly.” Elizabeth sat on the sofa, curling her legs up in front of her. “I always understood why I would be targeted. Sonny didn’t want you to get married, and Carly was always jealous of the time you spent with me. But—”

“I think…” Jason pressed his lips together, looked back at the paperwork on his desk, the papers he’d been dragging around the world. “I think one of them found out I was talking to Robert.”

“Robert,” Elizabeth repeated. “Robert Scorpio—why—” She faltered. “Jason, why were you talking to a WSB agent? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t know if—” Jason scrubbed his hands over his face. “Because I didn’t know if it would work out. I didn’t know if Robert could get a deal, or if I could go through with it. And I didn’t want to get your hopes up—”

“A deal.” Elizabeth closed her eyes. “You were going to flip on Sonny?”

“I—” Jason dipped his head, then got to his feet. He couldn’t stand sitting down, being still right now. “I was thinking about it. With Lily—” He swallowed. “I wanted something else. I didn’t care when it was just me, and I know you said you were okay, but I didn’t want her in danger.”

She just stared at him. “How could you keep this from me?”

“Because I didn’t—it didn’t get that far.” But he fumbled on this because he didn’t have a good reason. He should have told her. “I don’t know. I don’t even know how it got started. After Michael nearly got killed—”

An inch of difference, and Michael would have been shot in the head.

“Robert came to me. He said that he could pull some strings—I told him no at first, but I kept thinking about Lily, about you—”

“I don’t know if I would have done it,” Jason repeated. “But for Sonny, considering it would have been enough.” He met her eyes. “I never thought he’d go after you. I never considered Carly. But you’re right, if Carly was involved—Sonny had to be.”

“How else would she have known where to go?” Elizabeth said softly, finishing the thought. “I never—” She sighed. “I never suspected her. She was kind to me when we lost Lily, and she was so angry when you left. Are you sure? Are you sure that Sonny didn’t frame her?”

“I—” Jason shook his head. “No.”

“Because you know they were never the same after Sonny had that last affair. She forgave Brenda because, you know, Sonny had a history with Brenda, but Sam—” Elizabeth pressed her fingers to her temple. “I don’t know, Jason. She hated Sonny. They were only together because of Michael. I can’t see it.”

“Someone didn’t like that Tommy talked,” Jason reminded her. “And someone shot me in Cairo.” And had tried to blow him up in Istanbul, but that could wait.

“I guess we’re not much better than we were six months ago,” she said faintly. “Except now Carly’s dead, my brother is gone, and Sonny isn’t talking to anyone.”

She paused. “Ric won’t talk to you, Jason, but you know—”

“Don’t—”

“He’ll talk to me.”

Jason shook his head. “No—”

“He’ll talk to me,” Elizabeth repeated. She got to her feet and crossed her arms. “And you don’t have the right to stop me.”

“Elizabeth—”

“Because it doesn’t matter that you were trying to protect me when you left,” Elizabeth said. She strode forward, took his hand, then shoved her rings into his hand. “You left. And we’ll be divorced in two weeks. Nothing has changed my mind about that.”

He stared down at the jewelry in his hands, then met her eyes and swallowed. “I know. But that doesn’t mean I want you to talk to Ric Lansing.”

“I’m the only one who can get in to see him,” she insisted. “He won’t talk to you. He hates you—”

“Because he never—” Jason bit off, irritated with himself.

“Because he never forgave me for leaving him and marrying you.”

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