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Elizabeth belted herself into the seat and peered out the window, trying to concentrate on anything but their destination.

There’s a gentleness within

After nearly a month of switching identities and driving around in various rental cars, Jason had flown them to London under an alias and arranged for it to look as though they’d shared a hotel suite there since they’d left Port Charles.

Now a flight from Port Charles to London showed their names on the passenger lists for the day they’d actually flown to Seattle.

And they were returning home. To clear their names with the police, to show Sonny Corinthos that he couldn’t break them.

To start their respective lives over again. He was going to convince Courtney what the papers said wasn’t true…

And she wasn’t sure what she would do.

There’s a kindness that she’ll bring

Jason glanced over at her, mistaking her silence for something else. “It’s going to be okay,” he tried to assure her. “There’s no evidence against us.”

“I’m not worried about that,” she said softly. She met his eyes briefly before looking away.

He was about to say something else but the plane began its takeoff.

Through her eyes of sadness lies
All her love for him

Elizabeth pushed aside a curtain to peer down at the city. Three hours in the city and she could already feel the distance between them.

During the last month, they’d had to get along. Had to trust. Had to communicate. Their lives depended on it. She’d thought it meant something to him.

But he was in the next room, already on the phone with Courtney.

Imprisoned every day
A handsome price to pay

Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “Courtney–”

“No, I’m not listening. You have been gone for a month. If what they were saying wasn’t true, then you would have called. No, instead you take off with your ex-girlfriend and you don’t even come back for Carly’s funeral. We are through.”

He stared at the phone for a full minute after she’d hung up before sliding it into the back pockets of his jeans.

He walked into the bedroom and sighed when he saw Elizabeth curled up in a chair, staring out the window.

“You want something to eat?”

She shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”

“We should stay in tonight. Courtney knows we’re back so Sonny will know soon enough.”

“I’m sure she was glad to hear from you,” she murmured.

“Actually, she doesn’t believe a word I say.” He rubbed one of his eyebrows, a nervous tic she recognized all too well after having spent every second of every day for the last month with him.

She waited to feel sympathy for him–that his fiancée had broken their engagement off publicly and now refused to listen to the truth.

It never came.

Even when she’s done her time
She’ll insist that life is just fine

They received a visit from Scott Baldwin the next morning but Jason had their tickets from the plane to London and hotel bill from London. There was little Scott could do to break that alibi and he left–vowing he’d prove their guilt yet.

Neither of them had felt very worried about being charged for Ric’s murder. She also knew Jason wasn’t worried about Sonny–but she was.

Though none of Sonny’s men had caught up with them again after Seattle, she could still feel that man’s hands on her. He couldn’t protect her then and she wasn’t sure if he could protect her now.

“Sonny’s on the docks,” Jason said around noon that day. “Let’s go.”

“Go?” Elizabeth frowned. “Go where?”

“To the docks. To get this over with.”

Someday soon she’ll make her move
Seize her chance to shine

She stared at him before setting aside her sketch pad and standing. “You want to walk right up to him. Are you high?”

“We’re going to call his bluff. Put some shoes on.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Elizabeth said stubbornly. “This is your idea of protecting us? Taking us right to him?”

Jason exhaled slowly. “Elizabeth, you told me that you trusted me. Do you think I would put you in danger if I wasn’t sure of the outcome?”

“I think that you want to believe Sonny isn’t really serious about wanting you dead.” Elizabeth rubbed her arms. “All right,” she relented. “Let me find my sneakers.”

It’s all that she can do
To free herself from you

Whoever had told Jason Sonny was on the docks had left out the fact he was walking with his sister. Both were dressed in black–still grieving for Carly and her unborn child.

Jason and Elizabeth had been perpetuating the lie that most of Port Charles believed. His arm was around her shoulders and hers around his waist. From a distance, they looked like a normal couple.

To someone standing closer–they were stiff and uncomfortable.

“I thought you’d left town for good,” Sonny remarked.

“We had to come back and clear up a misunderstanding.” Jason’s arm tightened around her waist and she wondered if that was because Courtney was present or if he was overdoing it to convince Sonny of something.

Sonny exhaled slowly and whispered something to Courtney. She kissed his cheek, shot a nasty glare at the other two and walked away in the other direction.

“You and me…we go a long way back, Jason. A lot longer than either of us knew Carly.”

“I know.”

“I know that you didn’t want anything to happen to her–and I know what I asked you to do that last night…it was out of line.”

It’s her liberty (that she wants you to see)
It’s her liberty (that she wants you to free)

“It was,” Jason agreed. “I’m sorry about Carly. More than you’ll ever know.”

“Yeah.” Sonny cleared his throat. “Elizabeth, I know I can never make up for what I did to you. I was–I wasn’t in my right mind while she was gone and you know, we had to force Ric’s hand. It doesn’t make it right.”

There was nothing she could say to him. He wasn’t the man she’d been friends with once.

“I know that you’re just pretending to be together in order to get any charges dropped or head them off.” Sonny shrugged. “I’ve explained it to Courtney and–and with time I think she’ll get pass this.”

Elizabeth stepped away from Jason then–he would get his life back. He’d forgiven Sonny for sleeping with Carly–he’d forgive him anything it seemed. He’d get Courtney back.

And it would all be over.

Where has all her lifeblood gone
Will you ever see

“I don’t care if she forgives me,” Jason said simply. “There has to be trust and she didn’t trust me.”

“Come on, Jason–you disappeared with Elizabeth. You never called her–”

“Because she would tell you that I had and you would have tracked me down. So, I guess there wasn’t trust on either side.” He looked at Elizabeth. “Are you ready to go?”

“Actually…now that this is over…I need to go see Emily, my grandmother…just things I need to do.” She took another step away from him. “I’m sure you do too.”

“Elizabeth–”

“Thanks…for everything.” Not trusting herself to be any closer to him, she just smiled weakly and walked away.

Even if she understood
Is it written that she should

Jason watched her go, almost forgetting Sonny standing behind him. Was that it? Thanks for everything? That was all she had to say about the last month? Had it meant nothing to her?

“I know we have a lot to work out before our friendship resembles anything from before.”

Sonny’s voice broke into his thoughts and he turned back. “I’m not sure it ever will. I know how you get sometimes, Sonny. But you sent men to kill me, to kill Elizabeth. I’m not sure if I can ever forgive you for that.”

“And I accept that.” Sonny shifted. “But do you have to forgive me to be my friend?”

“I don’t know, Sonny. A lot of things changed this last month. A lot.”

Sonny nodded. “Then maybe you and Elizabeth aren’t pretending. You know–I proposed to Brenda right after we’d saved each other’s lives. The moment I felt the most close to her–when I knew that I trusted her with my life. Being in danger and only having that one person to trust–it can change things that you don’t even realize were staying still.”

Come and see him when she is gone
He’s surprised but knows he is wrong

Elizabeth knelt in front of the tombstone, brushing her fingers over the words etched in the marble stone. Richard Lansing.

She closed her eyes and tried to remember the last time that she’d seen him. The morning of the day Jason found her on the docks. He’d smiled at her, kissed her goodbye and told her that he loved her.

While a pregnant Carly was locked somewhere.

She’d never asked Jason for the details of Carly’s whereabouts during the time she’d been missing. She hadn’t wanted to know how deep Ric’s deception went.

A simple case of do or die
And now she’s cut and run

She wondered what his last moments were like. If he knew that she was safe. If he even gave a damn. Did he believe Sonny would give the order? He must have–since he returned Carly.

But he’d waited and if it’d been any other man in the room that night instead of Jason–she would have been dead.

Would she ever really matter to anyone?

Your vision let you down
You almost let her drown

“Emily told me you might be here.”

Elizabeth didn’t turn around, just wiped the tears from her eyes. “My grandmother buried him. She didn’t know he’d taken Carly–only that he’d been her granddaughter’s husband and no one else would claim his body.”

“Your grandmother’s a good woman,” Jason said simply.

“She didn’t believe the papers. That I had killed Ric and run off with you. She knew that I would come home and I would explain it to her. She believed in me and when I told her the truth, she still believed me.”

“You told her everything?” Jason asked, surprised. He stepped closer to her.

“I’m tired of lying, Jason.”

It’s her liberty (That she wants you to see)
It’s her liberty (That she wants you free)

“Yeah…I know how that is.” He slid his hands into his jean pockets. “Do you remember that last night in my penthouse? Not the night you left–but the one before that? Before Sonny faked his death?”

“What about it?” Elizabeth asked. She stood and stared down at the tombstone, thinking it would be easier if she didn’t turn around.

“You said that the Christmas we were in your studio, the red glass I gave you…the post card…you said those things changed you and you were hoping they changed me too.”

“I remember.”

“They did. I didn’t answer your question that night and I should have. Elizabeth…this last month changed me. I trust you in a way I’ve never trusted anyone.”

Where has all her lifeblood gone
Will you ever see

Elizabeth turned slowly and frowned. “What are you trying to tell me, Jason? I know that you trust me. You know that I trust you. We had no choice.”

Jason exhaled slowly. “Sonny accepts that I will most likely never forgive him for what he did. But he wants to make a fresh start.”

“He’d just lost his wife and child. I suppose with his history–it makes sense that he lost it for a little while,” Elizabeth murmured. She raised her eyes to his. “I’m glad–that you were able to pick your life like you’d planned.”

“But that’s just what I’m trying to tell you. All this month–the whole time we were gone, I thought I knew what we were trying to do. We were trying to stay alive long enough to come back home–back to our lives.”

“Right,” Elizabeth said slowly. “And we succeeded.”

“But that changed for me. I don’t want to go back to my life and for you to go back to yours.”

Even if she understood
Is it written that she should

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. “I don’t–Jason, I don’t understand. What do you want from me?”

“Why’d you come here?” Jason asked instead. She bit back a groan at his abrupt change in topic.

“Because I wanted to say goodbye. I wanted to try and remember something good about our life together.” She sighed and cast a glance over her shoulder. “It didn’t work. It’s all tainted. Every time I try to think of something good, I wonder what stage he was in his plan to kidnap Carly.”

“I want to be in your life, Elizabeth. Be part of it. ”

It’s her liberty (That she wants you to see)
It’s her liberty (That she wants you free)

“I want that too,” Elizabeth admitted. “But I don’t think we mean the same thing.”

“I think we do,” Jason stepped towards her. “I think the reason you walked away from the docks today is because you didn’t think I had changed–that my feelings had. That because Sonny was no longer a threat, we were finished.”

She hesitated and then nodded reluctantly. “I know you protected me out of obligation a-and I didn’t want to hope for more.”

“I thought the reason I protected you was because we’d once meant more to each other,” Jason admitted. “But I’ve come to realize that you still mean more.”

“So what now?” Elizabeth asked hesitantly.

After a moment of thought, Jason held out his hand. “Come with me?”

She met his eyes, bewildered and even a little amused at the feeling of déjà vu. “Where would we go?” she asked.

“Anywhere. It doesn’t matter as long as you’re with me.”

It’s her liberty (That she wants you to see)

Elizabeth stared at the hand she’d once turned down and then raised her eyes to his. “I think you should take me to Italy,” she remarked. “After all–you promised to show me the light.”

She slid her hand in his and he wrapped his own around it tightly–deciding that this time, he’d never let her go.

It’s her liberty (That she wants you free)

Song: Liberty by Olive

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