January 27, 2014

Inspiration

This was a challenge from The Canvas, issued in early September. I’m so sorry that I can’t remember the username right now — I only remember that they wrote fanfiction I liked, lol. They wanted a montage like the good old days in the late 1990s and they specifically wanted the timestamps. This was right around the time Kelly Clarkson won the first season of American Idol, and I’d heard this song on the radio while driving to class.

 

Recap

This is set in September 2002, after Sonny faked his death, and Jason wasn’t coming home to the penthouse often. The story also features Carly and Sonny, AJ and Courtney, and Skye and Jax.



[00:00-00:18}
What if I told you
It was all meant to be
Would you believe me
Would you agree

Carly enters the room of the safe house. Her hand flies to her mouth as she sees Sonny standing before her. Tears fill her eyes as she drinks in the sight she thought she’d never see again.

[00:19-00:35]
It’s almost that feelin’
That we’ve met before
So tell me that you don’t think I’m crazy
When I tell you love has come here and now

AJ unlocks the door to the apartment and enters. He closes it behind him and turns to see the apartment decorated in candles. Courtney is leaning against their dining table, smiling. AJ closes his eyes and thanks whatever miracle brought him here.

[00:36-00:53]
A moment like this
Some people wait a lifetime
For a moment like this
Some people search forever
For that one special kiss

Skye’s eyes drift open and she looks over at Jax sleeping next to her. She can hear another storm raging outside—and she’s so thankful that she’s here, safe from her own personal thunder and rain.

[00:54-01:08]
Oh, I can’t believe it’s happening to me
Some people wait a lifetime
For a moment like this

Jason rubs his eyes as he enters the penthouse. He’d just dropped Carly off with Sonny—and he wasn’t looking forward to this moment. He spies Elizabeth sitting on the couch, wrapped in an afghan. A weak smile graces his face as he realizes she fell asleep sitting up, waiting for him.

[01:10-01:22]
Everything changes
But beauty remains
Something so tender
I can’t explain

Carly hesitates only a moment before throwing herself into Sonny’s arms. She clings to him, the tears she’d tried to desperately to hide spilling down her cheeks. Sonny wraps his arms tightly around her and hopes she’ll understand why he did this.

[01:23-01:40]
Well I may be dreamin
But still lie awake
Can we make this dream last forever
And I’ll cherish all the love we share

Courtney takes a short step from the table. AJ drops his keys next to the door and closes the rest of the distance. He touches her face, amazed at this beautiful woman who’s made his life worth living again.

[01:41-02:09]
A moment like this
Some people wait a lifetime
For a moment like this
Some people search forever
For that one special kiss
I can’t believe it’s happening to me
Some people wait a life time
For a moment like this

Skye tightens her grip on Jax and sighs. She’d be willing to elope tonight if he would let her. All she wanted to do was spend the rest of her life proving to him that trusting her again would not be a mistake.

[02:12-02:24]
Could this be the reign of love above
I wanna know that you will catch me when I fall

Jason crouches next to Elizabeth. Her head is resting on the armrest and her face is scrunched up. He knows he should go upstairs and not touch her but he can’t resist brushing a piece of hair out of her face.

[02:25-02:37]
So let me tell you this
Some people wait a lifetime
For a moment like this

Carly pulls away from Sonny and stares at him for a second. She shocks them both by slapping him—the sound echoing in the nearly empty room. She throws her arms around him all over again.

[02:38-02:47]
Some people spend two lifetimes
For a moment like this
Some people search forever

The dinner forgotten, AJ and Courtney are dancing to music only they can hear. He’s holding so tightly—he’s afraid that he ever lets go, she disappear like the angel that she is. He leans in to kiss her, relishing that for one moment in his life, it’s perfect.

[02:48-02:58]
For that one special kiss
Oh I can’t believe it’s happening to me
Some people wait a lifetime

Jax opens his eyes to look at Skye sleeping peacefully. Some might say he was justifiably insane for accepting her back in his life—but he couldn’t honestly imagine his life without the fiery redhead that made everything worth it.

[02:59-03:06]
For a moment like this

Elizabeth opens her eyes sleepily and smiles. Jason is home—he’s safe. “Hi,” she whispers. “I made you a sandwich—it’s in the fridge.” He stares at her, his blue eyes filled with emotion. Elizabeth notices his hair is wet and runs her hand through it. “You’ll catch a cold.” He clasps her hand as it traces his jaw and presses a soft kiss to her palm.

[03:07-03:22]
Oh, like this
Some people search forever oh yeah

Carly kisses Sonny passionately—scared to death that that he’ll disappear. She can’t quite believe he’s here with her. She just buried him—and now she’s standing here, with him. His warm body pressed against hers—Carly was floating and never wanted to come down.

[03:23-03:30]
Some people wait a lifetime
For a moment

Jason released her hand and moves to stand. She reaches out both hands and grasps his shoulders to keep him at eye level. “I’m glad you’re home.” Home. A foreign concept to Jason that he thinks might get used to.

“I had someone to come home to,” Jason whispers, touching her face. She smiles. And for one brief moment in his constantly changing and moving world—for this moment—he lets himself love her.

[03:31-03:36]
Like this

Inspiration

As with my other Faith short, I was obsessed with her character on the show. I wrote this after she pushed Elizabeth down the stairs, sparing us a LiRic baby.

Timeline

This is set in late May 2003 after Faith pushed Elizabeth down the stairs, leading to her miscarriage. Faith targeted Elizabeth on several occasions, hoping to win Ric for herself.


Banner


All alone I didn’t like the feeling
All alone I sat and cried

For the first time since her husband died, she thought she might have found someone.

Someone who challenged her. Who felt the same burning need she did.

To take what Sonny Corinthos held dear and destroy it. Because he’d destroyed both their worlds without a second glance.

He’d taken Ric’s mother from him.

He’d taken her husband from her.

Mickey Roscoe had been her whole world. Her entire reason for breathing, for waking in the morning.

The reason she wasn’t another statistic.

All alone I had to find some meaning
In the center of the pain I felt inside

He’d saved her from a life on the streets at age seventeen Until the moment she’d met Michael “Mickey” Roscoe, her life had been a series of bad dreams and nightmarish events.

From her molesting and rapist father—whom she’d killed at age fifteen—to the mother who’d never really seen her, never really cared about her.

She didn’t remember pulling the trigger when she’d killed her father. She just remembered he’d come to her bedroom and she knew he wanted to rape her. Again.

Like he had for the past five years.

And she couldn’t take it anymore.

She’d shot him. And she’d decided that no man had the right to tell her what to do and would never hold that power again.

All alone I came into this world
All alone I will someday die

Mickey had understood that and she’d thought Ric had, too. She thought Ric understood why Sonny had to pay. He’d stolen their families, their worlds.

She’d been pregnant when Sonny had Mickey killed and she’d lost the child only months later. There’d been no one tell—no one to help her grieve. She’d channeled all her anger, all her misery into one goal.

Destroying Sonny.

And Ric should have seen that. He should have understood.

But he didn’t, not anymore. Not since that excruciatingly lame waitress had managed to trap him into a marriage.

But she needed Ric back. And she’d only begun to understand why.

Solid stone is just sand and water, baby
Sand and water, and a million years gone by

For the first time since Mickey had died, she’d been able to envision the future. She’d seen a good one, too. When Sonny was gone, she and Ric would have his empire and they’re rule with an iron fist.

It was a dream she’d cultivated for months, and now she understood why she needed Ric with her.

Because she’d fallen in love with him.

And when she loved someone, it was with her whole entire body and soul. And she’d been unable to accept the fact that he didn’t love her back.

I will see you in the light of a thousand suns
I will hear you in the sound of the waves

Sex was cheap. Sex was easy. She had the looks, the body, the charm. She could get it when she wanted it. She’d been able to goad Ric into one night, hadn’t she?

But Ric was hung up on that twit—especially now that she was pregnant. He’d never leave her now. Not while he had the chance at a family.

Mickey had always told her to go after what she wanted and to make no apologies for her methods. Mickey had been a wonderful person with potential—someone who could have run Port Charles far better than Sonny ever could.

I will know you when I come, as we all will come
Through the doors beyond the grave

So she felt no remorse for tossing the little Webber angel down the steps. The girl had survived, hadn’t she?

She’d seen a threat and sought to remove it. Elizabeth’s pregnancy threatened her dream, her fantasy.

And threats were removed. That was the first rule in this business. Threats couldn’t be tolerated.

All alone I heal this heart of sorrow
All alone I raise this child

Sometimes she compared Ric and Mickey, and Ric always came up short. Not because he didn’t love her—she thought that maybe even if he did, it would never measure up to Mickey.

Mickey had known her—known her inside and out and he’d loved her anyway. He knew her father had molested her—that he’d worked his way up to rape. He knew she’d killed him and had sold her body to survive.

He’d known the deepest darkest blackest parts of her heart and he’d loved her anyway. Unconditional love was new to her, something she’d never experienced before.

Something she’d never have again.

Flesh and bone, he’s just
Bursting towards tomorrow

Ric, even if she could convince him to love her, would never know her like that. He could ask where the scars came from and maybe she’d be able to tell him, but she’d never cry herself to sleep in his arms because of it.

She’d never let him see one of her tantrums, one of her breakdowns. She’d never let him see one of her nightmares, where she woke up sweating, feeling dirty and clammy hands covering her body.

Because even if he did love her, she had a feeling that her past wouldn’t be good enough for him. And even if it was, he’d never really understand.

And his laughter fills my world and wears your smile
All alone I came into this world

But he was the first man since Mickey that she’d even considered a future with. And that had to mean something. Didn’t it?

He’d leave the little girl eventually when he started to feel suffocated by having to suppress his feelings of rage.

He’d come back to her and together, they’d finally destroy Sonny.

Ric would do it for his father, for the mother he’d never known.

And she would do it for the family that’d been ripped from her and the dreams that Sonny had crushed.

All alone I will someday die
Solid stone is just sand and water, baby

And maybe when she finally had Ric, she could stop missing her husband.

She could stop loving him.

Sand and water, and a million years gone by

Inspiration

This was written after Sonny had faked his death in early September 2002. It was quickly apparent that Elizabeth didn’t know he was alive, and that Jason was unhappy to be lying to her. I heard this song by Corey Taylor and it just put me into the mind of Jason and how I thought he must be feeling. It remains one of my all-time favorite songs.


Recap

In September 2002, Sonny faked his death to throw off Luis Alcazar who had ordered Roy DiLucca to carry out the hit. He shot Sonny to death outside of St. Timothy’s (Or Queen of Angels, I can never remember which church is which), the same church where Sonny left Brenda at the altar. Jason found Brenda there and got her away. Later, we learned that Elizabeth was not brought into the plan, despite living with Jason at the penthouse and their conversation about wanting to be together.

This particular story is an episode tag — Elizabeth has just heard about Sonny’s death, opened the penthouse door, and found Courtney hugging Jason.



Wish I was too dead to cry
My self-affliction fades
Stones to throw at my creator
Masochists to which
I cater

His hand pauses at the penthouse door. Jason knows once he opens it, there’s no turning back. He walks in—Elizabeth will have heard the news of Sonny’s death. She’ll try to comfort him.

And he’ll have to lie to her.

You don’t need to bother
I don’t need to be
I’ll keep slipping farther
But once I hold on
I won’t let go ’til it bleeds

Elizabeth sits on the other side of the door. She is staring into space—a plate of brownies still in her hand. She doesn’t know why she made them—brownies would never make up for Carly’s loss. Maybe making the brownies is a way for Elizabeth to feel useful.

She tries to remain calm and rational. Courtney is—was—Sonny’s sister. She’s probably upset, Elizabeth tells herself. She ran into Jason and he was comforting her. Jason is a good person—he’d never let anyone sit and cry.

Wish I was too dead to care
If indeed I cared at all
Never had a voice to protest
So you fed me shit to digest

Jason’s hand falls away from the knob. He promised her once he’d be honest with her—and he doesn’t want to break that promise. But he doesn’t see how it would be possible to keep that promise to Elizabeth and remain loyal to Sonny’s wishes.

And Sonny’s wishes were clear. Only Carly. And only after the funeral. Jason doesn’t agree—he saw Carly just a few moments ago. She’s barely holding it together. Jason takes a deep breath and turns the knob.

I wish I had a reason
My flaws are open season
For this, I gave up trying
One good turn deserves my dying

He enters and frowns as he sees Elizabeth sitting on the couch, a plate of brownies in her hand. She’s not eating them—she’s staring into space. At the sound of his entry, her head snaps to him. The plate clatters to the floor as she jumps up and practically throws herself into his arms.

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” she whispers. She decides to forget what she saw in the hallway. She trusts Jason and she trusts Courtney. “I’m so sorry about Sonny.”

You don’t need to bother
I don’t need to be
I’ll keep slipping farther
But once I hold on
I won’t let go ’til it bleeds

Jason tenses at the mention of Sonny. For one brief second, he allowed himself to forget that he was keeping this from her—that he was allowing her to grieve someone she cared about—and he didn’t want her false comfort. Because he thought that might make it worse.

Elizabeth feels him tense and pulls away. Something’s not right. He’s not looking at her and his arms fall away from her. She takes a step back and studies him. She decides something is definitely off. He’s sad—but she senses it’s not for Sonny.

Wish I’d died instead of lived
A zombie hides my face
Shell forgotten
With its memories
Diaries left
With cryptic entries

“Jason—” she begins.

“I just came to let you know I was all right,” he cuts in, not wanting to hear her say she was sorry again or to ask how he was. Because he’s afraid that if she asks, he might tell her.

And that he might go against Sonny without even thinking about it is a terrifying idea that he doesn’t want to have think about it right now.

Because he realizes now that he can’t lie to her. Just as he can read her eyes, she can read his. And somehow, she’d see the truth. And she’ll try to find out.

And then Jason would really have to lie to her then.

And you don’t need to bother
I don’t need to be
I’ll keep slipping farther
But once I hold on
I won’t let go ’til it bleeds

He heads towards the steps, head down. He’s hurting her and he knows it. He’s already broke the promise that seemed important to Elizabeth. But he also knows lying is much worse—after Sarah and Lucky, he desperately didn’t want to be the next person who lied.

But he’s also not telling her the truth—and he knows she’ll consider that a lie. And when found out, Jason knows there’s a very good possibility she’d walk out that door and never look back.

Part of Jason realizes that would be the best thing. She’d be safe—and he’d be safe too. But a much larger and dominant part of Jason realizes that if she walked out that door, part of him would too. And somehow, he has a feeling that he might not be able to handle that.

So Jason will be selfish—he won’t tell her the truth. He’ll have faith that Elizabeth will trust him—trust that he wanted to tell her, but couldn’t. And the first chance he got, he would tell her so. That he’d hurt to her so he wouldn’t have to lie. And she might forgive that.

You don’t need to bother
I don’t need to be
I’ll keep slipping farther
But once I hold on
I’ll never live down my deceit

But Jason would never forgive himself for walking up the stairs from the woman he loved—who only wanted to comfort him and be there for him.

And somehow, the idea that someone would want to…is harder to accept that the idea that he had to lie.