Haven’t I come so far with banners in the last eleven years?
This is based on a challenge in which you had to write a story inspired by lyrics from Dixie Chicks’ Travelin’ Soldier. I decided to set it in the WWII era.
So it’s an alternate universe, set in 1940s Port Charles.
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I’m trying to remember what the inspiration for this story was. I can’t remember if it was a challenge response, though there’s no note of that anywhere. I think it was definitely related to wondering what might have happened if Sonny had died in the car bomb that actually killed Lily.
There’s some decent stuff in this, but again, as a writer back then, I was impatient and not as involved in laying foundations.
Remember Lily Rivera who died in that car bomb meant for Sonny in 1996? The car bomb killed Sonny. Lily went on to have a son named Michael Corinthos, Jr. She lives in Sonny’s old penthouse and Jason lives in the one across from her.
Elizabeth is a new character. Her maiden name is Webber–but she’s not Jeff’s daughter or Audrey’s granddaughter. She’s like a brand-new character. She moved to PC in 1997 and began dating Lucky. She became pregnant and they got married. Lucky was killed in a car accident a few months later. A month later, her daughter, Alexandria Mary (Lex) was born. Elizabeth worked in The Outback before she bought it with the money from Lucky’s insurance.
Nikolas and Lucky were close before his death. Nikolas and Liz never got along. Luke and Laura didn’t have their daughter, Lesley Lu. Lucky was their only child.
Alexis is Jason’s attorney. Brenda and Sonny broke up before his marriage to Lily and Brenda left town. Jason and Robin dated for three years before breaking up. Robin got fed up with both Jason and his life. She left for Paris, seemingly for good.
Carly is not Bobbie’s daughter and therefore never slept with Tony. She and AJ fell in love and married.
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I definitely remember where I got this. I used to post on a board Random Roswell Ramblings and their challenge thread was one of the most amazing I’ve ever seen. So many times you see challenges in soap operas that way too specific or just insane, but this thread was pretty awesome. I conceived the idea of Aurora Dawning from that thread as well.
So that original challenge was Max/Liz — Max would save Liz, who’d go on to become a doctor and learn about his intervention later. I just changed it to GH.
This story was written in 2002/03, and it’s one of my least favorite stories I’ve ever written. That being said, it’s part of my learning process so here it remains. Makes you really want to read it, huh? Heh.
A complete alternate universe. No one is related or has the history on the show unless otherwise indicated within the story. Emily and Jason are siblings, but their last name is Morgan. Lucky and Nikolas are siblings, but it’s the normal — mother divorced and remarried rather than mother was kidnapped and forced to breed actuality. God, GH is so twisted sometimes. Elizabeth is a brand new character, while Sonny and Brenda are married.
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This story begins on December 24, 2002. Everything up to that point happened.
Ha. I just wanted to preserve the above line, because I’m pretty sure that that’s the background that’s been on this story since I posted it at the original Crimson Glass website in 2004. Good grief. I don’t really remember what inspired this story now, except a desire to make all the bad stuff of Fall 2002 go away and do it in a Christmas story while finally using some stuff from 1999. How young and innocent I used to be, believing that the crap that year was the worst the morons at GH could throw at us. Ha.
This story picks up December 24, 2002. Crash course in Liason History: Elizabeth walks out on Jason that October, the ridiculous nonsense of Courtney and Jason has started but that’s not entirely relevant because it never comes up.
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This series is a rewrite of the first General Hospital fanfiction I wrote back in 2002 and the majority of the third story, Sweet Revenge, is lifted from my story, Deserving. I honestly can’t speak much to where my inspiration came from other than a desire to write something. I had watched GH off and on through high school, but in the summer of 2002, I was recovering from foot surgery and stuck in the house. I rediscovered my love for General Hospital and though I’ve walked away more than once, I’ve always gone back.
I don’t care much for this story, which is why I never finished my plans for it — it involved Emily returning to the fall out of events of Sweet Revenge and whatnot, but eh. It’s not that great, and I have no desire to deal with it, though I’ve always wanted to go back to summer 2002 😛
This is set in August 2002, before we knew why Brenda was back in town, before the warehouse explosion that took Kristina (Alexis’s sister)’s life, but after Elizabeth slept with Zander. Things to remember about that period of time: Felicia was dating Roy DiLucca (yeah, I didn’t understand it either), and Skye had signed a contract with Edward to bankrupt Jax because she thought he cheated on her. Additionally, the story reflects the fact that I used to be a huge Courtney/AJ fan, mostly because I hearted the crap out of Billy Warlock’s AJ and wanted him to have whatever he wanted.
Beyond a general decision to rewrite it, I don’t really know what I’ll be doing with it yet. I don’t know which elements will be saved, what will get jettisoned. So just stay tuned.
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Luis Alcazar |
I remember that this was a challenge response (possibly issued by Stephanie aka ILETUDRIVE) — what if Elizabeth turned out to be Jerry’s daughter? This was back in 2002, when Jerry was still the affable and lovable Julian Stone, who’d been on the show from about 1997-98, engaged to Bobbie. Now, of course, he’s the evil psychopath. I’ve mostly come to terms with the change, but I thought a disclaimer was necessary here.
Another note about this story: It’s one of the oldest stories on the site. I began writing it in October 2002. The only full-length story that’s older is Surviving the Past. So it’s not exactly fantastic, but I kind of think the Jax moments are hysterical, so there’s that.
I beg of you to remember that I was eighteen back then 😛
This story is set in the fall of 2002, after the Alcazar story wraps up. I don’t really care how–it has no effect on this story. Brenda’s dying but she’s not really in this story. Jax didn’t get shot, he’s not paralyzed and he didn’t try to push Skye away. Skye is insanely jealous and insecure about Brenda.
Sonny does not know about Alexis’s baby, so he and Carly are still tight. Roy left Port Charles and went to Miami. The scene with Elizabeth and Jason took place when she left. They’ve been avoiding each other for the past two months as it is now early December. Zander left for Florida. Gia left town. Lucky, Luke and Lulu are in London. Nikolas and Elizabeth are friends again.
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Inspiration
Along with Back at Jake’s, this is a story I wrote just kind of exploring the history of Jason and Elizabeth. I had been a huge LL2 fan back in the day, then tuned out for a few years due to high school. I came to Liason fanfiction late and didn’t really write a lot for LL2 back in the day. I was still really understanding their characters, and I took the opportunity to think about how Elizabeth might feel about her rape five years later. It’s definitely not one of my favorites of the early stuff, but it was part of the learning process so I’ve left it up.
Timeline
This is set in February of 2003 (obviously), and kind of exists outside the canon. Jason and Elizabeth are separated and dating Ric and Courtney, but they’re not really factors.
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February 14, 2003
It was early afternoon when Elizabeth Webber sat down on the stone bench in front of the fountain. She closed her eyes and forced herself not to think about five years ago when she’d been young and naïve enough to think that the park was safe.
She heard the crackling of footsteps and jumped up, startled. Lucky Spencer appeared from behind some bushes. “Hey. I thought I might find you here,” he stated simply, sticking his hands in his pockets.
Elizabeth chuckled nervously. “I guess I’m still a little jumpy,” she said, sitting back down. Lucky took a seat next to her. “Why were you looking for me?”
Lucky shrugged. “I woke up this morning and it hit me I guess. You know—there hasn’t been a Valentine’s Day that’s passed that I haven’t thought about it.”
“That makes two of us,” Elizabeth said softly. She rubbed her hands nervously over her jeans. “It’s funny. Sometimes days and even entire weeks will go by where I don’t think about it.”
“It’s been five years, Elizabeth,” Lucky replied. “You’re entitled to move on.”
“I know that. I just…it’s so easy to remember the days when it was all I thought about. It consumed me, took over my life until I could hardly recognize myself anymore.”
“I still think about what would have happened if I hadn’t taken Sarah to that stupid dance,” Lucky said. He shook his head and looked straight ahead towards the fountain. “I wonder if maybe we’d gone to the dance like we were supposed to…”
“I used to think about that at first, too,” Elizabeth admitted. “But in the end, it was me who made up the date, me who went to the movies and it was me who chose to walk through this park alone.”
“How do you feel about it now?” Lucky asked, hesitantly.
She shrugged. “I guess…for the most part…I’m over it. I mean, I still get a little jumpy at night when I’m by myself. I don’t trust anyone and I still don’t like coming here at night. But really, Lucky, I’m okay.” She smiled at him. “Thank you. Thank you for caring enough to find me today.”
“Elizabeth, I’m always going to love you,” Lucky told her. “Just because we’re not in love anymore…you know? You’ve been such a major person in my life…of course I care.”
“So, how’s your friend…Laura?” Elizabeth asked, eager to change the subject.
Lucky sighed. “I don’t know. Things…they’re weird right now. You women…you’re all so hard to figure out. I never know what you want.”
“That’s not true,” Elizabeth remarked. “You used to be pretty good at it.”
“Before the fire, yeah,” Lucky admitted. “Come on, Elizabeth. The reason we worked before the fire is because we were friends. We had all that time to know each other before we fell in love. We were best friends that turned into more. You can’t ask for anything better. You and me…we’re completely different from Laura and I.”
“I know. First love and all that,” Elizabeth replied. “Look, Lucky, if you really care about Laura…make her understand that. Don’t let her think for one second that you don’t. Don’t assume she knows, because it’s possible that she doesn’t. If you care about her and you want her, do both of you a favor…and fight for it.”
“Once again, there’s a cryptic remark that I just know has more to it than just friendly advice,” Lucky said. “It’s about you and Jason.”
“There is no me and Jason,” Elizabeth replied honestly. “I thought I knew what I wanted. I went after it until I got it and then I found out I had no idea what I wanted. I thought that I was in love with this great guy who cared about me, cared about my feelings, what I thought…someone who knew me and instead…I ended up with Sonny’s enforcer.”
“Hey, I’ll never be his biggest fan, but I don’t think that’s all there is,” Lucky replied. “He cares about you. I knew it back when we were still together. Probably why I tried to beat him up.”
“Anyone can care about a person,” Elizabeth replied. “I didn’t want Jason to care about me. I wanted him to love me. Was that too much to ask?”
“No,” Lucky said instantly. “You deserve that much, Elizabeth. At the very least, you deserve someone who loves you. Okay, so it didn’t work with Jason. Yeah, that sucks. And yeah, right now that hurts. But you got to ask yourself…are you going to let that determine the rest of your life?”
Elizabeth sighed and looked away, her eyes sad and distant. “I don’t know, Lucky. Sometimes I think I’m always going to be that girl in the snow, waiting for someone to come and pick me up.”
“You wouldn’t have waited,” Lucky replied. “You’re strong, Elizabeth. You would have picked yourself up. I just happened to come along first.”
“Thanks,” Elizabeth said. She leaned towards him and enveloped in a quick fierce hug. “You have no idea how much I needed you back then.”
“I needed you just as much,” Lucky said, kissing her on the cheek before releasing her. “I think Nikolas was looking for you, too.”
“Really?” Elizabeth asked, surprised. “Why?”
“Hey, no matter what’s gone down these past few years, you, me, Nikolas and Emily…we’re still family. You know? The best of friends.”
“The four Musketeers,” Elizabeth said, her eyes lighting up.
“One for all and all for one,” Lucky teased. She hit him playfully.
“Hey, that’s not any fair!” Elizabeth groaned. She laughed. “Okay, I’m going back to my studio. I wanted to call Em, today anyway. If you see Nikolas…tell him he can stop by.”
“I will,” Lucky said. He watched Elizabeth disappear in the bushes and sighed.
—-
He found the other man standing on the docks. He was standing, facing the water his hands clenched into fists at his side.
“Waiting for someone?” Lucky asked, smirking.
Jason Morgan turned and immediately glared at Elizabeth’s ex-boyfriend. “What do you want?”
Lucky shrugged. “Nothing. I just following Elizabeth back home, making sure she was safe.”
“What does she need you do that for?” Jason demanded.
Oh, yeah. Jason still cares about Elizabeth. A lot. Lucky resisted the urge to needle the other man and forced himself to be casual. “You know…with the day being what it is. I was worried.”
“I know what day it is,” Jason snapped, irritated.
“Have you even gone to see her?” Lucky demanded.
“No,” he admitted.
Lucky snorted. “And to think, she used to defend you. Jason’s my friend,” he mocked. “Jason lets me be myself. Jason listens to me. Jason’s there for me–”
“Shut the hell up!” Jason growled. “You don’t know anything about me and Elizabeth–”
“I know she walked out and that you let her go,” Lucky shot back.
“Shut up,” Jason warned him.
“What kind of friend are you that you haven’t even gone to see her on the anniversary of one of the worst days of her life?” Lucky demanded.
“She’d just slam the door in my face,” Jason muttered turning his attention back to the water.
“I thought Elizabeth was just trying to rationalize everything, but she’s right. She really did make you up,” Lucky said, incredulously. “She thought you were someone who really knew her, who understood her. You don’t know a damn thing about her, do you?”
“Just shut up, Lucky,” Jason said, shaking his head. “I don’t have the patience for this.”
“You act like you’ve never had a door slammed in your face before,” Lucky remarked. “Think about it, Jason. You really care about Elizabeth? I mean, if you really do…you need to show her. She’s been through a lot of shit in her life–none of which she deserved. The last she needs is someone else jerking her around. Dangling his love in front of her, making her jump through hoops to prove she deserve it–”
“I never did that!” Jason exploded finally. “I’m not you, Lucky. I don’t mess with other people’s lives. Elizabeth knows how I feel about her–”
“Right,” Lucky drawled sarcastically. “You sure about that, Jase? Have you ever actually said the words? Because she deserves that much.” Lucky just shook his head. “You know what, I don’t care what you do. Go see her, don’t go see her. It’s all the same to me. She doesn’t expect anything from you, so if you don’t show up, at least she won’t be crying about it.” Lucky glared at him a moment before stalking away.
Jason muttered something under his breath, dragged his fingers through his hair and stalked in the opposite direction.
—-
Elizabeth glanced up from her sketch when she heard the knock. “Nikolas?” she called.
“No.” There was a pause. “It’s Jason.”
Elizabeth’s breath caught in her throat as she crossed the studio to flip open the locks. “W-what are you doing here?” she asked, opening the door.
“I…” Jason shook his head. “Shit,” he grumbled. “I argued with myself the entire day about coming to see you and then I ran into Lucky on the docks–”
Elizabeth sighed. “I knew I shouldn’t have said anything to him,” she muttered. “Jerk never could mind his own business.”
“I just…I wanted to know if you were okay,” Jason finally said. “I know…I know today is…is well..”
“I’m okay,” Elizabeth gratefully. “Thank you for asking.”
“Uh…” Jason took a deep breath. “I don’t suppose you’d…want to go for a ride…”
“Really?” Elizabeth asked, her eyes lighting up at the prospect.
“Yeah,” Jason replied, feeling a little more confident. “Really. Maybe…we could talk.”
She flashed him a brief smile. “I’d like that,” she said softly.
Back in August of 2002, we still thought as a fanbase that we had a chance. Little did we know that the nonsense in August 2002 was just prologue to the crap we would have to go through for the next eighteen years. (I…am not bitter. Or salty.)
Anyway, this takes place around August 27, 2002. At this point, Jason and Elizabeth are still apart — he was hurt over Zander, then pushed her away after the warehouse explosion worried she’d get hurt. Elizabeth is struggling with that decision.
It’s another one of my early efforts that I think is interesting and worth reading only to see the progression of how I developed. I was still a new Liason fan and learning their history, so this is was also me just exploring their relationship and dynamics. I don’t think I had a handle on either of these characters at this point, but it’s always fun to go back and look at how I learned to write them.
Elizabeth sat on the curb outside Jake’s and let herself get lost in the memories. She could see her self three years ago, dressed in next to nothing and waltzing into the bar looking for trouble. She could remember talking to Jason as if it were yesterday. At the time, he’d been Emily’s older brother and nothing more.
And now… she drew in a deep breath. Well, she wasn’t quite sure what Jason was to her. He’d been her best friend, the only person who’d been able to get through to her. At one point, before her kidnapping, she’d even let herself wonder what it would be like to if they could be more. Well, she’d ruined that chance. Ruin wasn’t the right word. Decimated, shattered…those words were more like it.
She hugged her knees into her chest and sighed. What she wouldn’t give to be here, three years ago. She’d do the entire thing over. At first, she’d make the same decisions. But if she could…she’d handle the whole Lucky/Jason situation completely different. She would tell Lucky from the start that she’d been attracted to Jason the first time around. And she would tell him that he couldn’t choose her friends and she wasn’t going to stop hanging out with Jason.
She would take his hand that day in the park. God help her, if she could do that day over again, she’d take his hand and follow him anywhere he wanted to go.
“What’re you doing here?”
She didn’t need to look up. She knew it was Jason. She could see his boots, she recognized his voice. She loved his voice.
She sighed. “I’m reminiscing. You don’t live here anymore, so I figured I wasn’t breaking any rules.”
He sat down next to her on the curb. She had to smirk. She was small; she could curl up on the curb. He was too tall to sit comfortably. Good. “Reminiscing about what?”
“The day my life turned around,” Elizabeth replied, quietly. “August 27, 1999. I came here trying to forget my pain and I found you instead.”
“I didn’t realize,” Jason said. She still didn’t look at him. “I’m glad I could help.”
She shrugged. “Back then, I like to think our friendship was a bit more equal. You listened about Lucky, I listened about Michael. You pulled me back from the edge, took me riding. I found you in the snow.” She sighed. “Our friendship had so much potential.”
“Potential?” Jason asked, confused. “You say that like we didn’t keep on being friends.”
“We didn’t,” Elizabeth replied. “Not really. You left that January and you weren’t back that long the second time. When you came back in 2001, we were still on an equal footing. I gave you a place to stay and you listened about Lucky. And then I started using you. That’s when it went all downhill.”
“What do you mean?” Jason wanted to look into her eyes. See what she was thinking, feeling. She was still staring straight ahead–at a row of motorcycles.
“I started jerking you around. Telling you I couldn’t see you, running to you the next, not believing you–” she broke off. “Tell me, what did I do for you that was any good?”
“You were confused,” Jason replied. “You were dealing with Lucky and he wasn’t right. You knew that. I knew that. You did what you had to do.”
“All right. Then what about this time around?” Elizabeth asked. “I think, once again we were off to a good start. Then I got kidnapped. You searched for me, saved my life again and how I do repay you?” She could feel the tears in the back of her eyes and willed them back. This was not about how she felt. “I sleep with a man that I’m not in love with and he throws it in your face. Instead of throwing him out, I defend him every chance I get. I use our friendship,” she said saying the word sarcastically, “to keep him safe. He sets you up, breaks into your apartment, shoots me and I still went home with him.” She shook her head. “The only thing I’ve done right is tell Zander that I won’t go to Florida with him. Not that he took that well. I haven’t seen him since.”
“I don’t blame you for any of those things,” Jason said.
She laughed, bitterly. “Of course not, Jason. You never do. Which makes this worse. God, why can’t you just be mad at me?” She angrily swiped at her eyes. “If you could be mad, I could be spending my energy on trying to get you to forgive me and instead, I hate myself. I’m mad at myself.” She drew in a shaky breath. “But if you’re not mad at me, that’s your choice. I can’t change that. I just wish…” she trailed off. “I just wish I could do things differently.”
“What–” Jason stopped and breathed deeply. “What would you do differently?”
She looked at him then–met his eyes for the first time. Her eyes were watery and full of pain. “There so many things I’d do differently but the biggie?” She sucked in a breath. “The one thing I wish I could over more than anything else in the world…” She reached a hand out and touched his face. “I would have taken your hand and followed you anywhere.” Her hand traced his jaw line. “You mean so much to me, Jason. I don’t think you know just how much.”
He reached up and took her small hand and grasped it in his larger ones. Her hand was cold against his warmer ones. He stared at her pale hand, so small, so fragile and soft–completely different than his. “Tell me.” He looked up and met her eyes. “Tell me,” he repeated quietly.
She took a deep breath. Once she told him there would be going back, no taking the words back. She took her other hand and put on top of his. She stared at their joined hands. She raised her eyes and met his. “I love you.”
His blue eyes burned into hers. “Say it again,” he said, urgently.
“I love you,” she repeated, her eyes searching his for some indication of what he was feeling.
A moment later, he’d pulled her towards him and kissed her. The surprise Elizabeth felt melted away as she opened her mouth and let her tongue trace his lips. He wrapped his arms around her waist to drag her closer and opened his mouth to deepen the kiss further. She snaked her arms around his neck and tried to get even closer to him.
They pulled apart after a while, their breathing erratic and ragged. She kept her arms wrapped around him and buried her face in his neck unwilling to break contact with his body. He rested his head next to hers. Jason was the first to recover. “I love you,” he whispered, his breath warm against her neck. “God, I love you so much.”
She pulled away and kissed him gently. She took his hands in hers and stood up, bringing him with her. “Take me for a ride,” Elizabeth said, her eyes gleaming. “Let’s take the cliff road and go fast.” She hesitated. “Unless…you have somewhere else to be.”
Jason paused. It was nine-thirty. Courtney’s shift started in a half hour. He couldn’t let Sonny down–he’d promised him. He looked down at the woman in front of him. They’d been through so much, both together and apart and despite all of the pain and suffering and the separation and the obstacles…here they were. Three years later, back at Jake’s. He couldn’t walk away from her. Not again. She wanted to be with him. They could worry about the danger tomorrow. Tonight…tonight was theirs. “Give me a second, okay?”
She nodded. He walked away a few steps and took out his cell phone. He dialed Sonny’s number.
“Corinthos.”
“Sonny, it’s me. I can’t watch Courtney tonight.”
“Why not?”
“Something came up.”
“What? Jason, this is important to me.”
“Yeah, well, so this is important to me. You can get someone else to do it, can’t you?”
“That’s not the point, Jason. You told me you’d do this.”
“Well, I gotta do this. It’s one night, Sonny. I don’t ask for much.”
Sonny hesitated. “You’re right. You don’t. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Jason hung up the phone and turned back to Elizabeth, who was smiling hopefully. “You ready to go?”
She nodded eagerly and he led her to his bike. He handed her the helmet. As she was putting it on, “Are you sure there’s no where you have to be?”
He put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “There’s no where else I’d rather be.”
She smiled. “Good. Go really fast all right? I love those turns.”
“Yeah, I know.” He straddled the bike and she got on behind him. She wrapped her arms around him tightly and he turned on the bike.
Set vaguely after Elizabeth left the penthouse in 2002, like close to the end of the year in November or December but it’s not really important. This was written as Canvas Flash Fiction Challenge, written in 60 minutes. The prompt was: Power is the ability to walk away from something you desire to protect someone you love. It’s kind of crazy to look back and see how much shorter my Flash Fiction 60 minute entries were. I’m much faster now, LOL.
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“I’m sorry.”
“Goodbye.”
They were words that had ceased to have meaning for Elizabeth Webber. She’d heard them so many times over the past three years. From her parents. From her friends. From everyone in her life.
Her mother was sorry they missed her ballet recital–Sarah had to go shopping for her Homecoming dress. Her father was sorry he’d missed the concert in which she had a Christmas solo–Steven had a ice hockey game.
Her parents were always sorry when they passed her over for Sarah and Steven. They were always apologetic and they tried to find ways to make it up to her. Mostly through gifts and money.
Material possessions and money became the way Elizabeth measured her parents love. The more she received, the more they loved her. It didn’t matter that they never said they loved her or that they were always too busy with Sarah and Steven to really care about her.
They’d said goodbye when leaving her at the Johnsons. They’d been offered the chance of a lifetime–to take care of soldiers in Bosnia. They’d always wanted to make a difference. Steven was in college by the time this happened, Sarah a senior in high school and Elizabeth a sophomore.
They’d only be gone a year–they’d keep in touch.
She didn’t see them again. A year in Bosnia led to one in Switzerland which led to two in Russia. After that, they decided they preferred Europe and were going to stay. Steven and Sarah decided they preferred Europe as well.
Elizabeth Webber lived alone in a cold and drafty studio. Her only family–her grandmother Audrey Hardy—had a massive coronary on Christmas Eve and died in the early hours of December 27.
She had no one else in the small town of Port Charles, save for a few friends and a couple of former friends.
She’d been sitting at Audrey’s bedside when she heard the news that Brenda Barrett and Jasper Jacks had fled the jurisdiction. Jax couldn’t be prosecuted for the murder of Luis Alcazar and Brenda wouldn’t have to testify.
She’d been making the funeral arrangements for Audrey when the murder charges were dropped and the divorce for both Jax and Brenda came through. Skye had a change of heart or something along those lines and had granted the divorce. Jason Morgan signed the divorce papers when it became clear Brenda wasn’t returning.
She was packing up Audrey’s house when she heard that Courtney Quartermaine was pregnant.
And that was the final piece of news that sealed her decision. Courtney Quartermaine was pregnant and she’d been sleeping with Jason for a little over a month. She said the baby was his.
It didn’t matter that even Elizabeth could tell the other woman was lying–that she couldn’t be sure if AJ or Jason were the father.
Jason didn’t think so. He believed Courtney.
Carly Corinthos had decided that she didn’t want Courtney and Jason together after all and came to tell Elizabeth that Sonny had blown a gasket when Courtney turned up pregnant. He’d all but ordered Jason to marry Courtney.
Carly told Elizabeth that Jason had argued very logically that the baby could be AJ’s. And Sonny had countered with a threat.
Carly had filed for divorce and came to tell Elizabeth that she was sorry for the way she’d treated her after Sonny had faked his death. Carly said that Elizabeth had had a right to know.
She asked Elizabeth if there was anyway to change Elizabeth’s mind–if maybe she’d try and give Jason another chance.
Elizabeth explained very simply that she couldn’t do that. She confided that she still loved Jason very much, but he was no longer the man she’d fallen in love with. The man that never would have slept with Courtney while they were each still married. The man that would never have let Sonny Corinthos order him around.
She couldn’t give their relationship another chance. No matter how much she loved Jason, she wouldn’t allow herself to settle for a shadow of the man he’d used to be.
She’d done that once before and it hadn’t worked out. She wouldn’t compromise who she was again.
She’d walked away from something she desired to protect someone she loved.
Herself.
And she wasn’t going to turn around.
The day Jason Morgan married for the second time, Elizabeth Webber got a flight to Venice, Italy.
This was a response to the Flash Fiction challenges at The Canvas in October 2002. The prompt was “missing in action” and is set very shortly after Elizabeth left the penthouse in October 2002. She was pulled briefly into the Spencer drama where Luke had disappeared following Laura’s breakdown, and Lucky was trying to find him.
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Elizabeth Webber shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she stood at a pay phone on the docks. She’d been on hold for ten minutes and had already had to feed more money into the machine. “Come on,” she muttered.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jason stalking towards her and she grimaced. He must have found out what she was up to. Knowing it wouldn’t do any good, she turned her body away to give her more time.
“Yes. I need two bus tickets to Atlantic City. Right. Atlantic–yes, tonight. As soon as possible–directly–” the phone was jerked out of her hands and she was roughly turned around.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.
She raised an eyebrow. “It’s a little late to be interested in my activities, don’t you think?”
He didn’t even flinch. “That’s a low blow.”
“Too bad,” Elizabeth snapped. She turned back to the phone, already digging in her pocket for more money. She really needed a cell phone. “How’d you find out anyway?”
“One of the waitresses at Kelly’s,” Jason replied.
Elizabeth turned back around and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because Marisa would just jumping to tell you I was leaving town. How’d you really find out?”
“One of the waitresses came up to Courtney and told her.”
“Oh, you were with Courtney. There’s a surprise,” Elizabeth remarked. “Do you have a problem with me leaving or something? Because it’s a little late to act like you give a damn.”
“Elizabeth, you can’t just go to Atlantic City with Lucky Spencer to…” Jason stopped. “Why are you going with Lucky?”
Elizabeth frowned. “Wait a second. You’re all worked up just because I’m going with Lucky…not because we’re going to look for Luke?”
“You’re looking for Luke,” Jason repeated. “Are you insane?”
“No,” Elizabeth said, defensively. “You know what? Go back to Courtney. The big bad stalker’s probably attacking her at this second.”
“That’s not funny,” Jason said, his expression dark.
“I think it’s hysterical,” Elizabeth muttered. She began fishing through her purse. “I know I have change in here somewhere… You know what really irritates me? You guard her personally. That’s what so infuriating. I get shot at, my life’s actually in danger and you stick me in a penthouse, but aww…Skipper gets a little scared by some heavy breathing and there goes Super Jase–off to save the day!”
“What are you talking about?” Jason demanded. “Are you jealous?”
She looked up from her purse, her eyes blazing. “Jealous? Jealous? You self-centered pig!” She put the purse on the ledge of the pay phone and shoved at him. He didn’t move an inch, but she got her point across. “You think I’d be jealous of that little…that little twit?” she raged.
“Then what’s wrong?” Jason asked, throwing his arms up in frustration. “You’re not making sense!”
“Why are you the only one that can protect her?” Elizabeth demanded. “Why does she get you when I got a nameless guard? What? Does she mean more? Are you in love with her? You sleeping with her? Was AJ actually right?”
“You know you don’t really think that.”
“Then why does Courtney get your personal attention? Why?” Elizabeth asked. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. You’re not my boyfriend–and I don’t give a damn how you spend your time.” She grabbed her purse and stalked away.
He followed her and grabbed her arm. “You can’t just go searching for a fugitive, Elizabeth.”
She whirled around and shoved him again. “You know what, Jason? Go to hell! The only reason you care is because I’m doing something that doesn’t involve you! You’re the one who’s jealous–you came here all upset at me because I’m going somewhere with Lucky–and then you go and accuse me of being jealous of Courtney? Make up your damn mind!”
“That’s not it and you know it. Don’t you know how dangerous–”
“Oh, shut up!” she groaned. “I don’t think looking for Lucky’s father is any more dangerous than being with you, so just save your breath and go back to Courtney. I’m sure she saw her shadow or something.”
“Will you stop that?”
“Stop what?” Elizabeth demanded. “Jason, it’s too late to act like you care about who I see and who I’m with. You had your shot and you blew it. You’re the one who never called, who never came home, who let me worry for no good reason.”
“We’re back to that?”
Elizabeth was positively hysterical with rage now. “You knew I was worried sick–you knew I was scared for you and you let me sit in that penthouse wondering if you were dead or alive while you and Sonny were out there perpetuating a lie, so don’t act like you’re innocent. This was never about Sonny faking his death and you not telling me–this was about you making me feel like I was worth next to shit in your life. Well, you know what? I’m through–I’m through waiting around for you to wake up and see what you’re missing–you let me walk away so you deal with that. I have some phone calls to make.”
He let go of her arm and stepped back. “Just…just be careful.”
The anger seemed to drain out of her body as she just stared at him. “You really are an idiot aren’t you?”
“What did I do now?” he asked, irritated.
“You always do this!” she cried. “You make me think you care and then you just stop–you shut down. What is wrong with you?”
“What? I’ve made it clear I don’t agree with this–but you’re going to do what you want anyway!”
“Damn right I am, but–” Elizabeth just stopped and shook her head. “Fine. Just remember something–when you’re done protecting Courtney and taking care of Carly and doing what Sonny tells you…and you go home to that empty penthouse of yours…remember that it’s no one’s fault but your own.” She turned around then and stalked away.
