Written in 17 minutes.

---

Her least favorite time of the day was morning.

Specifically, it was the blurry moments that existed in the space between sleep and waking. When she was toasty and warm, the bed a soft pillow of cotton—

It was a moment before Elizabeth Webber realized something as wrong. Very, very wrong.

She was not toasty and warm, tucked into her comfy bed.

The mattress was a flat as a rock, the pillow might as well have not existed—and was that an arm over her waist?

Oh, what fresh hell was this?

She cracked her eyes a sliver and huffed—she was lying on her side away from the mysterious holder of the arm, but she could confirm she was in a crappy motel.

She slid slowly towards the edge of the mattress. If she could just get out of bed, she could find her things, ignore this ever happened, and go back to her boring life without ever looking at who over belonged to that arm.

But life was not on her side as Elizabeth set one foot on the floor and immediately tripped over a heavy shoe of some kind as she tried to extricate the other leg.

“Fucking hell,” she muttered as she flew forward, her arms flailing and her elbow catching the side of the nightstand.

“Elizabeth?”

Oh. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no.

“Oh, what did you do, girl?” she murmured to herself, squeezing her eyes shut. It wasn’t his voice. This wasn’t happening.

She was a good girl. With a safe life. Who lived a beige, bland existence.

She was a good girl.

“Elizabeth?”

Elizabeth opened her eyes, because maybe it was someone else with that voice who knew her, a girl could dream—but nope. Nope, that was Jason Morgan.

Of course.

“Oh. God. Why me?” Elizabeth muttered, putting her head in her hands. “Was a I war criminal in the last life? What did I do—”

She heard sheets rustle as he spoke again, amused. “Hey. It’s not that bad—”

“Not that bad?” Elizabeth struggled to her feet—realized she was stark naked and reached for a corner of the sheet to drag across her—which only left him a corner of the same sheet.

She looked at him for a long moment, taking in that golden smoothness—could a man look so chiseled? Was it even allowed—focus, damn it. This was what happened when you let Lizzie take charge.

Because now it was all coming back to her. Going to Jake’s. Taking tequila shots. Taking a lot of tequila shots. Seeing Jason in a booth, looking alone, sipping a solo beer.

She had taken some tequila to him, feeling sorry for him. And…then…she’d clearly…done something to have this happen.

“Um, things are a bit foggy,” Elizabeth managed. “I don’t—”

“I don’t either,” Jason confessed with a sheepish half smile. “I mostly just remember the tequila.” The amusement slid from his face. “Did I do anything—I don’t—”

“Oh.” Elizabeth shoved her hair out of her face, blinking at him. “Oh, no. Listen.” He seemed genuinely worried he’d taken advantage of her, but it was way more likely to be the other way around. She had….a thing about tequila. Her inhibitions seemed to evaporate and she was almost sure she had…suggested something illegal in a few states.

But how did you tell a guy you’d lusted after him for the better part of a decade and save face?

“Um.” Elizabeth tried to straighten. “I should…I’m gonna get dressed, I think.”

“Okay,” Jason said slowly. “If you—” The smile came back with a hint of wickedness that she had never seen before. The man was sex on a stick, and now she’d never remember it.

Fate was a cruel, cruel bitch.

“I’ll just close my eyes.” She did so, squeezing so hard she was sure she’d have a headache.

She felt him slide off the bed past her, and then some rustling as he gathered his clothing. “I’m going in the bathroom—let me—let me know when you’re done.”

When the door clicked, Elizabeth dressed in lightning speed, shoving her legs into her jeans, tugging the black tank top over her head, and locating her sandals and purse.

And then did the sensible, sane, mature thing.

She fled the room.

Because she’d just slept with her ex-boyfriend’s twin brother after said brother had just eloped with Jason’s fiance, and she was pretty sure you went to hell for things like that.

Follow up to Tequila Surprises. Written in 21 minutes.

---

Elizabeth managed to avoid Jason for almost six hours.

They had been a motel just a few streets from her apartment so she’d rushed there, showered, changed, and then left before he could find her there.

Why she had been so sure that Drew’s brother would track her down after a one-night stand, Elizabeth couldn’t really say but something told her that Jason would probably have not been thrilled to come out of the bathroom to find her gone.

For one thing, it meant that she had left him with the motel bill. Probably. Who had paid in the first place? That was something to think about.

She’d clocked in at General Hospital almost an hour early for her shift, thinking that Jason would be on his way to his own job at the PCPD.

Her luck ran out at one that afternoon as she stood in the nurse’s hub on the fifth floor, arguing with fellow nurse, Felix duBois over who would have checking on Harvey Matthews, their cantakerous patient recovering from exploratory surgery.

“I took the last three turns,” Felix declared. “It is your turn—”

“Yeah, but I had to change his bed pan, and you know the rules—that counts for four rounds—”

“Where is that in the rules?” he demanded. He pulled out his phone. “I demand a recount.” He looked Nadine Crowell who had been present the night they’d drunkenly divided up duties for their shifts together, but the blonde just held up her hands in protest.

“I’m just standing here, man. Don’t drag me into this.”

Elizabeth opened her mouth to deliver what she was sure would have been stinging retort only to find that the elevator doors were opening, and Detective Jason Morgan was stepping out onto her floor.

She gulped, spun around, and grabbed the chart from Felix. “I’ll take it.”

“Oh, what? Now what’s up with you?” Felix said. No one sniffed out the gossip like he did. “No, maybe I need to take this.”

“You are going to get kicked in the teeth,” she hissed between clenched teeth.

“Ah, Elizabeth. Do you have a minute?”

Tequila had ruined everything.

She’d known Jason Morgan for years and had always acknowledged he was an incredibly good-looking man. After all, he was Drew’s fraternal twin brother and they looked enough alike—

Anyway. She’d heard his voice a thousand times in the six years since she’d moved to Port Charles to attend college. Millions, even.

And not once had it sent her pulse racing but of course, now she remembered the way he used that voice in bed, that low raspy—

God damn it. She was cursed and going to hell.

“I will make you pay for this every day for the rest of your life,” she told Felix, shoving the chart into his chest. “You’re taking the next six calls from Harvey.”

“That’s not in the rules,” Felix complained as Elizabeth stepped out of the hub and gestured for Jason to follow her to waiting area.

“Actually, it is. It’s asterisk B,” Nadine said, holding her phone up and showing him the memos they’d cobbled together from a series of drunken voicemails that night. “If one of us interferes with someone else’s escape from any situation, they are liable to take a penalty of the victim’s choosing.”

“How drunk was I?” Felix demanded. “Why does it sound like—that’s it. We’re not inviting Kristina Davis to anymore nights out. Trust a lawyer to make everything a goddamn federal case.”

Over in the waiting area, Elizabeth folded her arms and stared anywhere except Jason’s face.

“So,” Jason said, with a lift of one brow. He slid his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. She preferred him before he’d left his uniform behind, because the leather was just not fair.

And now that she knew exactly how delicious he looked without clothes—

STOP IT.

“I had a shift,” Elizabeth said with a clearing of her throat. Christ, could she sound anymore lame? “Sorry. I had—I had forgotten I had to work today.”

“Yeah.” Jason scratched his temple—something she knew he did when he was uncomfortable. Damn it, just how much attention had she been paying to this man over the years?

Oh, God, had she secretly lusted after him even when dating his brother? She wasn’t…she wasn’t that woman…was she?

She took a mental check and hissed. Damn it. She was that woman.

“Yesterday was…a lot,” he confessed with a half smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I, um, wanted to apologize.”

“Apologize?” Elizabeth repeated, her voice lifting an octave in pitch. “What? Why? I mean—” She exhaled in a whoosh. “We didn’t—I mean you—yeah, we were both drinking, but really, it’s me. I should apologize, I mean you were clearly going through a thing, and I think—” She winced. “I think I hit on you. I can’t—”

She had a brief flash of her leaning into him at a booth at Jake’s, the local dive bar, her chin practically resting on his shoulder as she downed another shot of tequila.

“No, I mean—I—” Jason laughed a bit nervously. “You sat down with me because you felt sorry for me, and I didn’t—I should have told I wasn’t drinking myself miserable.”

“What?” Elizabeth frowned. “Of course you were. I—Emily told me that Sam took off for Vegas with Drew. I mean, you guys have been engaged forever—”

“Yeah, well, the forever should have been a clue.” He shook his head. “I was at Jake’s to meet with a buddy from work, and he didn’t show. You did, and I thought maybe you were upset because of Drew—”

“Wait, wait—” Elizabeth held up her hands. “Wait. Drew and I broke up six months ago. When did you and Sam break up?”

“Last week—” Jason squinted at her. “Did you run out because you thought I was thinking about Sam?”

“Um. No.” Yes. She was a tiny, petite, brunette just like Samantha McCall, after all. She wasn’t crazy. “I don’t know.

“Did you—because you felt sorry for me?”

“No. Um.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I slept with you because you’re really sexy and I wanted to see if Carly was making it all up when she said you were best she’d ever had.”

All right, let the Lord strike her dead now.because there was no way she was gonna come back from that.