Morgan Penthouse

Elizabeth blinked. “What about the baby?”

Jason glanced away. He’d wanted to broach the topic that both Laura and Sonny had talked to him about. The more he thought about it—the more appealing the idea of really being a father to Elizabeth’s child became.

But instead, he just cleared his throat and said, “I wanted to tell you that anything you need for the nursery—just let me know, okay?”

“You’re okay with it?” she asked. “I hadn’t really thought about using one of the rooms but Carly—she had a point. I don’t want to go into labor and not have a place to put her when she comes home.”

“Right,” Jason agreed. “And anything you buy…you can move if that becomes the case.”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth twisted her hands. “So you’re going to the island?” she asked.

“I have to tell Courtney about the adoption in person,” Jason told her. “I can’t tell her over the phone.”

“Of course. When do you think you’ll go?”

“As soon as possible, I guess.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Are you okay? Is there anything that you need?”

Need. She was an obligation. Elizabeth shook her head. “I’m kind of tired—I’m going to go take a nap.”

July 26, 2003

Dara Jensen’s Office

“Okay, here are the first set of forms,” Dara said setting a stack of papers in front of Elizabeth at the table in her office. “This is the petition to strip Ric of his parental rights.”

“It asks for reasons,” Elizabeth told Jason. “What should I put?”

“The truth,” Jason answered. “He threatened your life and the life of your child.” He looked at Dara. “That should be enough for the courts, right?”

“Well, as long as Ric doesn’t show up, the judge doesn’t have a reason not to believe Elizabeth. We will have to show that we tried to locate Ric and inform him of this decision. Do you have any idea where he is?”

“No and I’d die happy if I never knew,” Elizabeth retorted.

Dara glanced at Jason who sighed. “The last any of our contacts heard was that he and Faith Roscoe were in London. They’ve left that country and we think they’re in Europe somewhere.”

“Well, we’ll send it to his last known address and he’ll have six weeks to contest it. If he doesn’t, the judge will probably grant the petition. I assume there are witnesses to his attempted abduction last month?”

Elizabeth hesitated and nodded. “I was closing Kelly’s and someone grabbed me when I was leaving the courtyard. My guard had been knocked out and I had—” she took a deep breath. “I had a can of mace in my purse. I sprayed it in his eyes and ran then. The Towers are only a few blocks from Kelly’s.”

“The guard is named Max Giambetti,” Jason informed Dara. “He’s available for questioning but he can’t tell you much more.”

“Well I don’t know that we’ll have to worry about it anyway. If Ric doesn’t contest it, the petition will go through.”

“And the adoption?” Elizabeth asked as she filled in her name and other required information on the petition.

“Well, there’s two things we can work with. One—if you are in a marriage when the child is born, the man you married to becomes legally responsible whether the child is biologically his.”

Jason shook his head. “That won’t be enough,” he told Elizabeth softly. Raising his voice, he went on. “We’d rather go through the actual process.”

“Well, as soon as Ric’s rights are terminated, we can start that. Since you’re both willing, all you’d have to do is talk to a social worker. I have a friend—she’s coming down this morning actually to do the preliminary work. If she recommends you,” she told Jason, “you should have it finalized in a matter of weeks.”

“What are the chances that she doesn’t recommend me?” Jason asked.

“Well…you have quite an arrest record,” Dara sighed. “And even though your conviction for Luis Alcazar’s murder was overturned, it might carry some weight. Plus you have a certain reputation—”

“But there’s nothing concrete,” Elizabeth interrupted. “There’s no proof that he’s ever done anything illegal. All the arrests in the world can’t matter if there’s no convictions and his reputation shouldn’t even come into play.”

Dara smiled thinly. “I was about to explain all the reasons you will get the recommendation. Elizabeth is obviously very vocal in your behalf and we can give Lauren—the social worker—a list of references. Emily Quartermaine, Nikolas Cassadine, Audrey Hardy—”

“My grandmother is out of the country and even if she were here, she wouldn’t testify for Jason,” Elizabeth informed Dara. She glanced at her hands. “She’s not very supportive of my decision to marry Jason so I doubt she’d support the adoption.”

“Well, that’s a setback since she’s a very well respected member of the community,” Dara sighed.

“Laura Spencer would probably be a good reference,” Jason suggested. “She and Elizabeth are close and she supports her.”

“Yes, Laura—Bobbie Spencer, too. Does that help?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes. They’re very respectable. However—I can’t keep Lauren from asking probing questions about you or your relationship with anyone in your life,” Dara told Jason. “Including your business relationship with Sonny or your marriage—or the fact that until very shortly before your marriage, you were dating someone else.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Elizabeth demanded.

“Well, the reason you are adopting her child is because you are married and you intend to raise the child, correct?” Dara asked.

Jason hesitated. “Well, yeah. I intend to provide for Elizabeth and the baby,” he answered.

Though he hadn’t exactly answered the question, Dara nodded. “So in Lauren’s mind, she’s going to want to know how stable your marriage is. How you could go from one woman to another in a matter of days.”

Elizabeth sighed and closed her eyes. “I knew this was a bad idea,” she murmured.

Dara frowned. “What’s that?”

“Elizabeth was originally apprehensive about going through this,” Jason admitted. “And I don’t think either of us realized just how…intrusive it would be. I assumed that because the mother supported it and we were married…”

“Ten years ago, it would have been. But everything is more difficult. Best interest of the child and all that,” Dara said. “I don’t recommend you lie to Lauren, but if you have to fudge a few details…elaborate in other instances. Really—if she does any kind of background check, she’ll learn that the two of you have been involved in some way for about four years now. You could just say that you’d been off and on and during an off period, you dated someone else before deciding to commit to Elizabeth.”

Jason nodded. “That works.” He took Elizabeth’s hand in hers. “It’s really okay. I can handle it.”

“Well, if you’re finished that form, I can file the petition and I’ll bring Lauren in while I do that, okay?”

“You won’t be here during the interview?” Elizabeth asked, concerned.

“I’ll only be gone a little while,” Dara assured her. “Don’t worry—Lauren’s a professional.”

She exited and a few moments later, a tall willowy woman with blonde hair tightly pulled into a ponytail entered. She sat across from the couple and set a few files down. “I’m Lauren Anderson,” she introduced herself. “You are Jason and Elizabeth Morgan?”

“Yes,” Jason answered shortly.

“When Dara called me yesterday, I immediately went to a contact at the PCPD and pulled both your files—what they’d release to me,” she flashed a white smile. “As well as going through various newspaper archives at the library, so in addition to what I already knew, those things and what Dara’s told me, I’m pretty well-versed in both of your lives.”

“I have a police file?” Elizabeth asked surprised.

“Well…yes,” Lauren shifted uncomfortably. “It mostly contains information about your rape—about the jail break you and Lucky Spencer orchestrated for Luke Spencer last fall, your car accident last year, etc. Nothing spectacular.” She glanced at Jason. “As for you, Mr. Morgan, you have a very long arrest record.” She laughed. “No convictions of course.”

“Of course,” Jason confirmed.

“However, a family court judge will probably want to know why you’d been brought in so often,” Lauren told them.

“Family court?” Elizabeth repeated. “I didn’t know we’d have to have a hearing—”

“Well, it’s really a formality that gets waived in most cases. However, I do think you’ll have to attend one sometime next month. It’ll be the final step.” She shifted a folder aside. “Okay, so how long have you known each other?”

“We met through his sister,” Elizabeth answered—as always being the talkative one. “Emily Bowen-Quartermaine. She and I attended high school together and we’ve been best friends ever since. Also my ex-boyfriend worked for Jason at one time.”

“Lucky Spencer?” Lauren asked. “Who was believed dead in a fire in a building that you owned, Mr. Morgan?” she asked him.

“That fire was caused by Helena Cassadine and she had Lucky kidnapped,” Elizabeth quickly explained. “Jason had nothing to do with it.”

“Of course not. So…you met while you were still in high school?” Lauren asked. She raised an eyebrow. “What’s the age difference?”

“I’m twenty-one,” Elizabeth answered, “and Jason’s twenty-eight right?” she glanced at him.

“Right,” he agreed.

“Seven years,” Lauren murmured, making a notation. “Did your relationship start while you were in school?”

Elizabeth frowned. “No. We didn’t become friends until I had graduated high school.”

“And when did your romantic relationship begin?” Lauren inquired. She checked her notes. “I have some information that you lived together during the winter of 1999 and 2000?”

“Yes,” Jason confirmed. He took a deep breath. “We…were attracted to each other at that point but I felt that she was too young and I was leaving town due to other personal reasons.”

“But you did have a romantic relationship at that point?” Lauren inquired.

“Yes,” Jason lied. “We were off and on again until early this summer when we decided to get married.”

“How off and on again?” Lauren asked.

“On again in the late summer of 2000,” Elizabeth answered. “And then in spring of 2001. And then not again until the summer of 2002.”

“And then you were off again until this summer?” Lauren asked.

“From October until June yes,” Elizabeth answered.

Lauren set her pen down. “So, why’d you decide to get married? After all this time?”

“Why does anyone get married?” Elizabeth asked shortly. “I don’t see what all of this has to do with Jason adopting my baby.”

“I want to be sure that your child be raised in a loving and stable home,” Lauren replied. “And since I have reports that Jason was dating another woman and you’re pregnant with someone else’s child, you can see why I’d wonder.”

“Ric was a mistake. A very short and regrettable mistake,” Elizabeth retorted. “He’s not a part of my life. He won’t be a part of my life.”

“And your other woman?” Lauren asked.

Jason’s mouth tightened at the implication that he’d been cheating on anyone. “I dated Courtney Matthews for a few months before we broke up in early June,” he said.

“And your reason for ending that relationship?”

Jason shifted uncomfortably and glanced at Elizabeth. “She wasn’t Elizabeth,” he answered finally. “I decided that I had to—had to make a commitment to Elizabeth.”

“Uh huh. What business are you in, Mr. Morgan?”

“I’m the co-owner of Corinthos and Morgan Coffee,” Jason answered.

“And Mrs. Morgan?”

“I worked at Kelly’s until last month. I quit because of the pregnancy,” Elizabeth answered.

“Do you plan on returning to work after you give birth?”

“I hadn’t decided,” Elizabeth said. “It would have to depend on a number of factors.”

“But if you decided to stay at home and just raise the baby—you can afford it, right?” Lauren asked Jason.

“If Elizabeth doesn’t want to work, she doesn’t have to, no. I make plenty of money.”

“Mr. Morgan, you seem to be in the habit of claiming children who aren’t yours biologically. Do you not want children of your own?” Lauren asked.

“That’s out of line,” Elizabeth snapped. “Jason raised Michael when no one else could. And that has nothing to do with my child.”

“I do want a family, yes,” Jason answered. “Michael’s mother was going through a tough time when he was born and she was scared the biological father would take him away from her so she asked me to look after him. I did it, I don’t regret it and I would do it again.”

“Uh huh. So you and Elizabeth plan on having other children?” Lauren asked.

“Of course,” Elizabeth answered, following Jason’s lead. Besides—Lauren hadn’t asked if they wanted children with each other.

“And you would still treat the adopted child like your own?” Lauren asked Jason skeptically.

“The child is part of Elizabeth,” Jason answered. “It’d be ridiculous to assume that because I had a biological child, I wouldn’t still love Elizabeth’s child the same way. Once you love someone, you don’t take it back because someone else comes along.”

“All right,” Lauren nodded. “Fair enough.” She made a few notes. “I’ll need to come by and see your home. I also need to talk to a few people. Family members, business partners.”

“What family members?” Elizabeth asked with trepidation.

“Well, I have here that you are related to Audrey Hardy, head of the Nurses’s Department at General Hospital. All other relatives live out of state or country. Mr. Morgan has a rather large family—his parents, his grandparents—”

“I’m not a member of the Quartermaine family,” Jason cut in shortly. “Emily and Lila are the only ones I get along with. Sometimes Monica and rarely Alan. I really would appreciate if you left them out of it.”

“You don’t think your family would give you a favorable review?” Lauren asked with an amused smile.

“My grandmother is out of the country and she certainly wouldn’t give Jason a favorable response,” Elizabeth muttered.

“Why’s that?” Lauren asked, interested.

“She doesn’t like Jason. She refused to attend the wedding,” Elizabeth admitted. “And we’ve argued about it repeatedly.”

“Well, sometimes family just sucks,” Lauren nodded. “Okay, so I’ve got Emily Quartermaine, Lila Quartermaine, Sonny Corinthos, Carly Corinthos—”

“Laura Spencer and Bobbie Spencer are like family to me,” Elizabeth volunteered. “We’ve been close for years.”

Lauren wrote their names down. “At this time, I’m not inclined to recommend Jason for adoption,” she informed them.

Elizabeth blinked. “Excuse me?”

“To be quite honest, Mrs. Morgan, your answers are stilted and when you don’t hesitate and try to come up with a good one, they sound rehearsed. I don’t believe the two of you have a stable home and I myself have heard rumors that this marriage was only performed because Elizabeth was being threatened by a group of men known as the Five Families,” Lauren reported. “As you can plainly see, I have no interest in allowing a child to grow up in that environment when it’s common knowledge you plan to be divorced in a year.”

Jason tensed. “Should you really be making this decision based on groundless rumors and gossip?” he asked in a quiet tone.

“You don’t intimidate me, Mr. Morgan,” Lauren said coolly. She stood and gathered the various files in her arms. “Everyone knows what you are. You are a criminal, unfit to even look at a child, much less raise one—”

“How dare you?” Elizabeth snapped, lunging out of her seat. “How dare you sit in judgment on a situation you know nothing about? You’ve met Jason for all of ten minutes and you think that qualifies you to say something like that?”

“Your defense is quite lovely, Mrs. Morgan, but it’s a little late to be showing any kind of emotion towards your husband. I’m sorry but I’m also making a note that you yourself should be investigated as to your fitness as a mother.”

Elizabeth paled considerably. “Are you serious?”

“You have no income, no way of supporting yourself save for a part-time job at a diner.”

“She’s married,” Jason retorted, rising to his feet. “She doesn’t work because she’s pregnant.”

“And when you are finally prosecuted for your vast crimes?” Lauren asked sharply. “When you go to jail and your assets are seized? How does she live then?”

“You cannot make this kind of decision based on cruel and malicious rumors,” Elizabeth spat out. “Go ahead. Make your recommendation. Do you think I’m scared of you? I know I’ll be a good mother and I know Jason is a good father and how dare you try and tell me differently. You say that because your intrusive and rude questions didn’t elicit answers that made you happy that means our marriage is fake? That we don’t care about each other?” Elizabeth raged.

Alarmed at how red she was getting and the sound of her breathing, Jason reached out and touched her shoulder. “Hey, deep breaths—it’s not worth it—”

“Did you hear what she said?” she asked him. “She says not only are you unfit but just because I married you and no longer work, I am too. Well, I’m not letting her get—” she broke off suddenly and gripped the table. “I don’t—I don’t feel so well,” she said softly.

Jason braced his arm around her waist and slowly helped her to sit down. “Are you okay? Are you in any pain?” he asked quickly.

Her breathing was coming more quickly now and she was gasping. “I can’t—I can’t breathe.”

“Okay, I’m taking you to the hospital,” he said immediately.

“Should I call an ambulance?” Lauren asked softly.

Jason glared at her. “You just sit in that chair and keep your mouth shut.” He hooked his arm under Elizabeth’s knees, swinging her into his arms.

As he reached the door, Dara entered. “Jesus, what’s going on?” she asked stepping aside so Jason could move out of the room.

“Ask your friend,” Jason said shortly before moving towards the elevators.

Dara trained her eyes on the shaken Lauren. “What the hell did you say to her?”

July 24, 2003

Morgan Penthouse

Elizabeth was leaning against his desk and had the phone pressed to her ear when Jason came home that night. “Gram, please just—this is the third time I’ve called and you’re still not letting me explain.”

“What’s there to explain?” Audrey said shortly. “You broke up with a Harvard lawyer and married into the mob. Explanation finished.”

“That’s not how it happened,” Elizabeth sighed.

“He’s a common thug Elizabeth—”

“Gram, stop calling him that!” Elizabeth cut in. “You might not like him but he’s my husband and that means the insults stop!”

“Elizabeth, you have done some incredibly irresponsible things in your life but trading in Ric Lansing for Jason Morgan was above and beyond the most idiotic—”

“You know nothing about Ric Lansing or the hell he wreaked on my life,” Elizabeth cried. “How can you stand there and make judgments when you know nothing that’s going on?”

“Are you pregnant, Elizabeth? Is that you married him?” Audrey demanded.

“Yes, I am pregnant but that has nothing to do—”

“Oh…you’re giving that criminal a child,” Audrey moaned. “Another criminal, just like him.”

“Oh, that is the end of it…that is it!” Elizabeth slammed her hand down on the desk. “That little criminal will be your great-grandchild and how dare you—”

In a flash, Jason yanked the phone from Elizabeth, alarmed at where the argument was going—the red in Elizabeth’s cheeks and her heavy breathing. “Just take deep breaths, okay?” he directed.

“Jason give me the phone,” Elizabeth seethed.

Instead, he pressed the receiver to his ear. “Mrs. Hardy?” he asked politely.

Audrey coughed. “Mr. Morgan.”

“Elizabeth is pregnant—and the last thing she needs to be get into argument after argument with you. You either respect her and her decisions or you don’t. She won’t beg you for the love you’re supposed to give unconditionally. Goodbye.” He hung up the phone. “Don’t call her again. It only gets you upset and you don’t need that right now.”

She glared at him. “Who do you think you are?” Elizabeth demanded. “You can’t tell me—”

“I’m not telling you this to control you,” Jason told her softly. “The more you argue with your grandmother, the more upset and hurt you’re going to get.”

“She called my baby a criminal,” Elizabeth pressed her lips together, her voice shaky. “Not even born yet and she’s labeling her. As if the father’s occupation or personality has anything to do with the baby—” she closed her eyes. “Oh, God, what if it does?”

“Hey, this child will never know Ric Lansing, there is no way that could ever happen, okay?” Jason assured her.

“Are you sure?” Elizabeth asked him. “I mean—we don’t even know where he is or what he’s planning.”

“If Ric so much as makes a move towards you or anyone else, we’ll know. Elizabeth, I promised I would keep you safe. Don’t you trust me?”

“You I trust,” Elizabeth sighed. “Ric—it just doesn’t make any sense for him to have disappeared like this or that no one can find him. What if…what if they never find him?” she asked. “What if we’re just…stuck here until like six years down the road when he decides it’s safe to come after us?” she demanded.

“It’s not going to be that long,” Jason remarked firmly.

“But how do you know?” she pressed.

There was a knock on the door that saved Jason from answering. He turned and pulled it open, revealing Sonny and Carly.

“Hey, we need to talk,” Sonny told him. “Carly came over to—” he glanced at his wife. “Why did you follow me?”

“It’s business,” Carly said, stone-faced. She pushed past Jason and stopped in front of Elizabeth. “We need to talk.”

“Oh really?” Elizabeth remarked. “You sound just like your husband.”

“Good, because I’m been practicing.” She turned back to the confused men. “You guys can have the downstairs, we call upstairs.” She started for the stairs and with a small shake of her head, Elizabeth followed.

Sonny closed the door and cleared his throat. “I might be overstepping here but I think I have to do something about this.”

“Something about what? Did one of the families come up with something?” Jason asked, crossing his arms.

“No, this is about this situation and how the two of you are handling it,” Sonny told him. “You both seem to be operating under the assumption that is a temporary situation.”

Jason frowned. “This is temporary.”

“Temporary in the sense that neither of you want to be married to the other for the next fifty years, yeah,” Sonny agreed. “But it’s not a matter of weeks or just two months. Elizabeth could very be living here for a year or two.”

Jason shifted. “Okay, yeah?”

“In a year, the baby will be here, living in this penthouse with you as the legal father. Jason—this is why I argued against adoption. I know you—I know that’s not going to be easy on you.”

Jason turned and went towards the couch. “I’m—I’m aware of that fact and I know that if Elizabeth has the baby while we’re still married—that it’ll be difficult for me not to want to help—to be a part of his life. Especially in the first few months when the baby won’t be sleeping through the night and Elizabeth will be tired from being up with him all night.”

He pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “Laura Spencer came by the warehouse today to talk to me about this very thing. And she asked me why I just didn’t ask Elizabeth to be the baby’s father.”

“Laura loves Elizabeth very much and I think it’s been very good for her to have her back. She has a point Jason. You will be in Elizabeth’s life for at least the next year or so. Certainly during this entire pregnancy and the first part of the baby’s life. Why not just make it easier on both of you—”

“Because this shouldn’t be about making it easy on me or Elizabeth. This should be about that child and what’s best for him,” Jason interrupted. “Yes, it would be easier if I were the full-time father and yes, that’s something I’ve thought about—something I could definitely see myself doing. But there are other factors here, Sonny.”

“Like?” Sonny prompted.

“Courtney, for one,” Jason told him. “She doesn’t even know about the adoption yet and you know she’s thinking this will be over in a few weeks. There’s also Elizabeth—who didn’t even want my name on the birth certificate. What makes you think she’ll want me to be in the baby’s life beyond that?”

“Elizabeth didn’t want to give her child a father in name only,” Sonny reminded him. “As for Courtney, there’s a lot of things you haven’t mentioned to her.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jason demanded.

“It means that you haven’t told her about the wedding—about that little kiss Tagliatti orchestrated, have you?” Sonny asked pointedly.

Guest Bedroom

Carly pushed open the door and strolled in, Elizabeth behind her. “Yes, I think this will do nicely,” she nodded.

“For?” Elizabeth asked.

“The nursery,” Carly said absently. She moved towards the windows to look at the view of the park. “I was looking at some books to decorate my nursery and I came across this adorable pale yellow room trimmed in pale green and I just thought it would be a good color scheme for this room.”

“Carly, I’m not…we’re not doing a nursery here,” Elizabeth told her. “There’s no point—”

“You don’t want to be prepared?” Carly asked, arching an eyebrow. “Say in five to six months when you’re still here, still married to Jason—you don’t want to go into labor and not have a place for the baby to sleep.”

“Well, that’s a good point.” Elizabeth touched her abdomen. “Yellow and green, you said?”

“Pale. Those are really good neutral colors since you don’t know if the baby’s a boy or a girl.” Carly shrugged. “I’m doing my nursery in blue because I know this is a boy,” she told her. “Sometimes…you just know.”

“I want a girl,” Elizabeth confessed. “A little girl named Laura.”

“Laura, huh?” Carly nodded. “So you got the gut feeling about the girl? That’s cool. Laura Morgan,” she tested it.

Elizabeth looked at her oddly. “She won’t be a Morgan forever.”

Carly snorted. “Yeah, okay. Elizabeth, were you even at the wedding?”

Knowing exactly where the blonde was going with this, “That was a mistake,” Elizabeth explained. “It hasn’t happened since and it’s not going to happen again.”

“Uh huh.” Carly shrugged. “Even so, she’ll always be considered Jason Morgan’s daughter. Whether or not she has your last name.”

“But everyone knows she’s not biologically his,” Elizabeth said faintly.

“Doesn’t matter. Michael isn’t Sonny’s biological child but he’s his son. Even when we weren’t together for that year and even though it’s only been the last few years—all people need to know is that you are married to him, you are pregnant and he is the legal father.”

“I—” Elizabeth just shook her head, unable to find the words.

“Does that bother you?” Carly demanded. “To know that Jason—a criminal, a man with no heart, no conscience—will be considered the—”

“Don’t you ever say those things about him,” Elizabeth broke in sharply. She stalked towards her. “Even to prove a point—even to get a rise—don’t you ever say those things about him. Those words don’t even belong in the same sentence as Jason—in the same universe, do you understand?”

Carly blinked. “Okay, if you’re in love with him, why not just let him have the kid? Be a family or whatever?”

“I’m not—” Elizabeth shook her head again. “That’s not it at all.”

“I get it…” Carly smiled thinly. “You’re afraid that living the illusion of a happy family will hurt too much when this is over and he goes back to Courtney. That if you let Jason play daddy, you won’t want to let him go when the time comes.”

“You should know better than anyone how much Jason loves children, how unfair it would be to let him be the father to a child that isn’t his.”

“Yeah, it would be unfair and what I did to him…it will haunt me forever.” She pressed a hand to her chest, covering her heart. “It tears me up inside sometimes, Elizabeth, because no matter how good a father Sonny is or how much he loves Michael, I know I broke Jason’s heart when I concocted that plan all those years ago. I know what it cost him because I see it every day when he looks at Michael.”

“Losing that little boy nearly destroyed him and I refuse to put him through that again,” Elizabeth said softly.

“Why would you have to?” Carly demanded. “The only man who wants your baby is Ric and I don’t see you giving in to him.”

“You never saw yourself giving in to AJ.”

Carly exhaled slowly. “Point taken. But I thought AJ would take Michael from me. Ric can’t take Laura from you. Jason would die before that happens. Everyone knows that Ric is the biological father. You’re not hiding that. Elizabeth, the only person that would ever take her from him…is you.”

“Jason’s only married to me because there was no other option. He’s adopting this child because there is no other option. He doesn’t want to be the actual father. He doesn’t want to be in the delivery room when she’s born, rock her to sleep after she wakes up in the middle of the night—he doesn’t want my daughter so why do we have to have this conversation?” Elizabeth asked, her voice trembling.

“I know that’s not your brain talking, Elizabeth, that’s your fear, so I’m going to let it slide. I don’t like you. We have never gotten along.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

“I’m looking out for Jason,” Carly retorted. “I know him better than he thinks. He thinks he’s in love with Courtney. But he agreed to marry you—knowing it could go on indefinitely. He agreed to adopt your child—agreed to let you move in here and play house. Agreed to send the woman he supposedly loves a thousand miles away while he shacks up with his ex-girlfriend.”

Carly stepped towards her. “And he kissed his ex-girlfriend on their wedding day. A kiss that was not faked, was not planned and was not appropriate given his commitment to Courtney. I know Jason. He never got over you, Elizabeth and it is completely clear to me that you never got over him.”

“None of that matters,” Elizabeth remarked softly. “It just doesn’t.”

“I don’t have anyone right now, Courtney’s gone and my mother has her own life. I don’t have a female friend and I never particularly wanted one until I had Courtney in my life. I miss her, and I miss having someone to talk to—someone who’d sneak me junk food,” Carly admitted.

“What’s your point?” she asked.

“My point is that your own best friend isn’t speaking to you because she can’t take her own head out of her ass long enough to realize that is not about her. It’s not about her petty problems or jealousies. It’s about you and keeping you and your baby safe. I went through my first pregnancy terrified and alone. I don’t see why you should, too.”

Elizabeth hesitated. “It would be nice if we didn’t fight as much,” she told Carly. “And—I would like to have someone close that I could talk about…the baby and stuff with.”

Carly nodded. “And in return I get potato chips,” she said firmly.

“Yeah, sure.”

“And you’ll think about what I said…about Jason and Laura?” Carly prompted.

“Okay,” Elizabeth agreed reluctantly.

Living Room

Jason cleared his throat. “What about it?” he asked.

Sonny shook his head. “Never mind. No point in forcing something you’re not ready to deal with. Uh, if you want, we get you to the island in the next few days. So you can tell Courtney about the adoption in person.”

“Yeah.” Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay. Sounds good.”

“What sounds good?” Carly asked, making her way down the steps with Elizabeth in tow. She kissed Sonny’s cheek.

“I’m going to arrange for Jason to visit Courtney,” Sonny admitted. “To talk to her about the adoption.”

Elizabeth shifted and took a deep breath. “Did you call Dara about that?” she asked Jason.

“Yeah, we need to go down there. Sign some paperwork. There’s some social worker that I need to talk to,” he told her. “Tomorrow good?”

“It’ll have to be in the morning,” Carly announced. “We’re getting lunch and going shopping after that.”

Sonny raised his eyebrows. “Was that what the business was about?” he asked.

“I suggested that she might start thinking about decorating the spare room for Laura,” Carly said. She shrugged. “Paint some murals on the walls or something right?”

“Right,” Elizabeth agreed. She flicked her eyes up to Jason. “If it’s okay with you, I mean.”

“Yeah, sure, good idea,” Jason nodded. “Listen, I have to make some calls, so…”

“Yeah, we’re going,” Carly told him. She took Sonny’s arm. “Let’s go.”

When they had left, Elizabeth took a deep breath and forced herself to relax. It wouldn’t do any good to be nervous and tense around him all the time. “I think I’m going to go sketch upstairs. Let you make your calls—”

“I don’t have to make any calls,” Jason caught her elbow as she turned away. “I just said that to get rid of Sonny and Carly.”

“Okay…well, then did you want something?” she asked him.

“Yeah…to talk to you,” he replied. He hesitated. “About the baby.”

July 24, 2003

The Morgan Penthouse

Elizabeth set a cup of coffee in front of Laura and took a seat next to her on the couch. “And then Dr. Meadows asked if Jason would be coming next month,” she sighed.

“Aw…” Laura sipped the hot liquid and shook her head. “There’s really no easy way to tell her that the marriage is fake and Jason won’t be coming ever, huh?”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth stared into her tea. “Is it wrong to want it to be different?” she asked softly. “For us to be married…and having a family for real?”

“Oh, honey…” Laura reached out and her free hand squeezed Elizabeth’s wrist. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting the fantasy to become a reality. You just…you have to be careful.”

“I know.” Elizabeth sighed again. “I’m just…I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, Laura. I haven’t felt like myself in so long. How can I possibly provide for a child when I’ve never been any good at taking care of myself?”

“Being a mother gives you this…this feeling like you can do anything,” Laura told her. “It’s a feeling of power, of peace. There are going to be times when you feel like you’re drowning—when you haven’t had a shower in three days or when your baby is so sick you’re scared he’s going to die and you wonder how you ever got yourself in this situation to begin with.” She smiled. “And then there are times when it’s all perfect. When you look at this life…this beautiful creature that’s part of you and you just think…how could I have ever been blessed like that?”

“I don’t have a place to live, I don’t have a job,” Elizabeth began to tick things off on her fingers. “I don’t even have a crib for the baby to sleep in. What if this thing goes on longer than we think? Ric and Faith could stay under the radar for years. And Sonny isn’t going to go after them—he wants to keep the status quo. You know…as long as I’m safe.”

“Well, isn’t that what matters?” Laura pressed. “What does it matter if they’re never found? You and the baby are safe. From the families, from Ric. From Faith. From everyone.”

Elizabeth stood and wrapped her arms around her abdomen protectively. “So my child and I are left in this limbo for who knows how long. I get raise my child but at what cost? An indefinite marriage to a man who doesn’t want me, who doesn’t want my child?”

Laura rose and put her hands on Elizabeth’s shoulders. “When I was your age, I was living with Stavros Cassadine and forced into a marriage with him. There were days when I wanted to die. When the only thing I wanted to just throw myself off a cliff. They told me Luke was dead and I didn’t think there was anything else for me. So I had made up my mind to do it. To just…end it. End the misery. Because…then Luke and I would be together.”

“And you found out you were pregnant with Nikolas?” Elizabeth asked.

Laura nodded. “At first…I hated the idea. Of giving birth to a child that was the product of a rape. But Nikolas was such a sweet and beautiful baby—it broke my heart to leave him. But I knew Stefan would care for him. Nikolas made the time worth it.”

“And you think my child will make this worth it?” Elizabeth asked.

“I agree that it’s not fair situation. To be deprived of love…to live in an environment with a man who isn’t in love with you and isn’t interested in being a father to your child…but it’s what you make of it.” Laura kissed Elizabeth’s cheek. “You stopped being your top priority the moment you found out you had a life growing inside of you.”

“You’re right,” Elizabeth agreed. She smiled and swiped her tears away with a swipe of her sleeve. “I just…it’s so hard.”

“You call me if you need me,” Laura instructed her. “It’s going to take some time until Audrey can accept this decision but until then I’m here. Any time, day or night…Luke and I are here. Nikolas and Lucky, too. You are not alone, Elizabeth. And if at any time this gets to be too much…you come home with me okay?”

“What about this arrangement and…” Elizabeth sighed. “I can do this, Laura. I just…one day at a time, right?”

“Right.”

The Corinthos Penthouse

Carly thumbed through yet another catalogue of baby furniture. “You know what would be cute?” she asked as she sipped a strawberry smoothie she’d talked Sonny into making her.

“Yeah?” Sonny asked absently mindedly from his desk where he was filling out some paperwork for the office.

“If I had a boy and Elizabeth had a girl, we could get matching nursery furniture. You know…pink and blue, whatever. They’re going to be cousins and I’ve decided that I’m going to be nice to her because of that.” Carly flipped to another page. “We need all the family we can get.”

“Right.”

“And since I’m ordering this set today, maybe I’ll order the matching in a pink…you know, like a baby present for Elizabeth?”

“Uh huh.”

“What room in the penthouse do you think they’ll use for the nursery?” Carly pondered. “I mean…do you think she’ll even want to set one up?”

“Right.”

Carly narrowed her eyes. “You’re not even listening to me.”

“Right.”

“So when I say I’m going to grab Elizabeth and we’re going to pig out on all the unhealthy food we can find and then we’re going skinny dipping at the lake…?”

That got Sonny’s attention and he turned to look at her on the couch. “What are you talking about over there?”

Carly rolled her eyes. “I’m talking about a baby present for Elizabeth. A matching nursery set—mine blue and hers pink.”

“That’s a very good idea but what if you have a boy and she has a boy, too? Or you both have girls? Or—”

“So, we’ll fix it later.” Carly glared at him. “I’m trying to be nice to her for Jason’s sake and for her pregnancy’s sake. But now I’m debating on whether furniture would be a good idea because I don’t even know if she’d set up a nursery at the penthouse.”

Sonny frowned at that. “That’s a good point. I mean we’re all treating this like a temporary situation but I have to admit…I don’t know where Ric and Faith are, they’re not making any waves and I don’t want to disrupt the peace. I don’t really care to find them—as long as they stay away from here. Let the families hunt him down.”

“So this marriage could last…indefinitely?” Carly asked, troubled. She stood and crossed over to him to lean against the desk. “That hardly seems fair to either of them. Jason might be adopting this baby but you’re just planning on that to be safety measure. How is he going to be around a baby that’s legally his for so long and have to give her up?”

“And Elizabeth and Jason both have to get ready for the possibility that they might be raising this child together after all.”

“So should I order the matching furniture?” Carly asked.

Warehouse

“Yeah. Yeah, that shipment will arrive sometime today,” Jason hesitated when Laura Spencer appeared in his doorway. “Okay…so call if there are any problems. Bye.”

“Hey, Jason, the receptionist told me I should just come on back,” Laura told him. “I’ sorry if I’m interrupting anything.”

“No, it’s fine. Can I help you with something?” Remembering that Laura was supposed to have lunch with Elizabeth at the penthouse today, he frowned. “Is Elizabeth okay?”

Laura hesitated. “Yes and no. Do you have a moment?”

Resigned, Jason nodded and Laura closed the door. “I just wanted to let you know that I’ve extended an offer for Elizabeth to stay with Luke and myself…whenever and however long she wants.”

“Did…she take you up on that?” Jason asked. “Because it’s not part of the arrangement—”

“With the pregnancy…the arrangement might be causing her a little bit of undue stress,” Laura told him. “And I just…I want her to be safe and I want the baby to be safe.”

“She had a doctor’s appointment yesterday,” Jason said. “Was her blood pressure still high?”

“No, it was back to normal, but the longer this goes on…the more it’s going to wear on her. She’s just in a delicate place right now and I want it understood that I really don’t agree with the route you all took,” Laura said. “If I’d been home a little earlier, I would have argued against it. Pregnant women do not need to be in false marriages with death threats over their heads.”

“I agree but my first priority was keeping Elizabeth alive and we couldn’t see any other way to keep the families away from her,” Jason answered. “Laura…we’ve been over it all before. I don’t mean any disrespect but Elizabeth can’t go and stay with you. Not if we want to keep her safe.”

Laura narrowed her eyes. “Jason, she’s in a marriage with a man who doesn’t love her and who’s adopting a child he doesn’t intend to raise with her. She’s got the fear of Ric and Faith popping out at any turn and not to mention the idiotic five families out for blood and did I mention that she lives across the hall from my bloodsucker of a niece? If Elizabeth wants a break from that situation, she’s welcome at my home. And I don’t mean any disrespect,” she added with a touch of sarcasm.

Feeling uncomfortable, Jason shifted. “The adoption is…look…I would—” he took a deep breath. “I know how much it means to Elizabeth to have your support—and for you to be home. Especially since Mrs. Hardy isn’t being very supportive herself so I want you to know that I will do whatever Elizabeth wants me to do. If she decides against the adoption, we’ll come up with another solution. I don’t feel comfortable with the idea of putting my name on a birth certificate for a baby I’ll never get to see grow up or be a father too but I promised her that she and the baby would be safe.”

“Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you could be a father to the baby?” Laura pressed. “That you could adopt her? Be her father? You don’t even have to be married to Elizabeth to have that.”

Jason shook his head. “I would have no right to ask Elizabeth for joint custody.”

“So…it has occurred to you,” Laura replied.

“Yeah,” Jason allowed. “But it’s not an option. Elizabeth doesn’t want to be married to me—she’s not going to want me to be her baby’s father. She walked away from my life a year ago—she won’t want her child in it.”

“It’s a little late for that don’t you think?” Laura asked. “For the rest of this child’s life, she will either be the daughter of Ric Lansing or Jason Morgan. The baby is already in your life whether you ask for the responsibility or not.” She flushed. “I really shouldn’t be meddling. This isn’t any of my business. I’m just letting you know that if I think this is too much for her, I will take her back home with me. Whether she wants it or not.”

“Agreed. And I will do everything in my power to see that she doesn’t have to feel that way.” Jason stood. “Was there anything else?”

“You’re a good man, Jason and I know what a good father you were to Michael,” Laura told him. “You deserve that chance again.” She left then, leaving Jason with a lot to think about.