All the world is a stage
And everyone has their part
But how was I to know which way the story’d go
How was I to know you’d break
You’d break my heart
I’ve always been in love with you
Guess you’ve always known
You took my love for granted, why oh why
The show is over, say good-bye
– Take a Bow, Madonna

---

Monday, April 3, 2006

Greystone Manor: Living Room

Jason stalked into the living room, past a worried and flustered Mac, then slammed the double doors of the room closed behind him. “You put a guy on me.”

Sonny arched his brows and looked at him as he sat in the armchair, lounging with a tumbler of bourbon. “You met with Lorenzo Alcazar without telling me.” He shrugged. “Some of the guys got worried.”

Jason doubted that. “So instead of talking to me, asking what was going on, you sent some rookie to tail me,” Jason spat as he stared at his clearly former best friend, his fists clenched. “I made him in about five seconds, Sonny. What was the damn point?”

“To remind you who is in charge!” Sonny spat. He set the liquor aside, then surged to his feet. “You don’t meet with my enemies without my permission!”

Jason fell back a step with a scowl and bewildered. “You knew there was a situation with Ruiz and Skye. It needed to be dealt with. Manny made a move—”

“Yeah? You didn’t tell me—”

“Because you wouldn’t have listened. And I’m tired of waiting for you to deal with it. Alcazar is gone. He took Skye with him to Miami to finish the takeover of the Ruiz territory. With any luck, Ruiz will follow him—”

“And you took our best warehouse guard off his detail to follow a cop’s wife—” Sonny snorted. “Going to the cops, going to Alcazar—you know, I never thought I’d see the day when you’d turn on me—”

“Turn on you—” Jason repeated. He didn’t even know how to respond to that. “Cody isn’t following a cop’s wife. He’s following Elizabeth. Elizabeth, who put herself in between Manny and Skye. She’s the reason Manny couldn’t make his move. All I’m doing is keeping her safe—”

Sonny’s fury only deepened. “Elizabeth had her chance to walk on this side of the line. She got too scared and ran, so you know, it’s her cop husband’s job to look out for her. Or Alcazar. Why the hell isn’t—”

Jason took a deep breath. He’d known for weeks that Sonny was teetering on the balance of that dark place. If Jason gave in to the anger right now, if he gave into the fury that Sonny expected Jason to walk away from Elizabeth, then he’d never be able to salvage this.

“This isn’t like you,” Jason said finally. He let himself see the other signs he’d been denying— the way Sonny’s gaze kept darting around, the way his hand fumbled—even the slightly disheveled hair. The physical signs were usually something he noticed first, but Jason had been distracted. Sonny was headed for another breakdown at the worst possible time. This was what he’d been worried about all along — what he hadn’t wanted Emily to go through.

“Oh, don’t start with me—”

“She’s not just a cop’s wife, Sonny. And Elizabeth didn’t get scared and run away. That’s not why we broke up.” Jason could say that now with a confidence he hadn’t entirely believed only a few weeks ago. “She’s never flinched from who we are. Even when she should have. She came to us because Lucky refused to help her. Because the PCPD let her down. You know Elizabeth better than that.”

Sonny stared at him for a long time, then swallowed. He sat down in the chair, bowed his head, and dragged his hands through his hair. “It’s happening again, isn’t it?” he murmured.

“Sonny—”

“I know you’re right. I—” Sonny looked up, took a deep breath. “What do you mean, Elizabeth got in the middle of Manny and Skye? How?”

Briefly, Jason told him about Manny showing up again during Skye’s appointment — on a floor he wasn’t even assigned to work that day. And how Elizabeth kept him from following Skye around the hospital.

“Even if he didn’t make an actual move,” Jason said, “Elizabeth tipped her hand. He’s not stupid. He had to know she was deliberately separating him from Skye. And now Skye’s gone. He’s going to make the connection.”

“That girl is going to get herself killed one day trying to protect other people,” Sonny muttered. Jason breathed a sigh of relief. Because there it was. That was how he expected Sonny to react when learning that someone who had put herself on the line for them time and time again was in danger. “And you were already worried Manny was letting Elizabeth see her. Does he know about you and her?”

“That we—” Jason shook his head. “I don’t know. He saw us at the hospital together a few weeks ago, but he’d have to be following one of us.”

“And if he is?” Sonny arched his brow. “Would he have seen you two together?”

“Uh…” Jason hesitated, winced. “Yeah. A few times. It’s not like that, Sonny. She’s—”

“I didn’t say that—” Sonny pressed his lips together. “You got Cody on her. She’s at the hospital where Manny’s got guys on him. Fine.” He looked at Jason. “You…you haven’t said anything about Emily in the last few weeks. Not since…” He hesitated. “Not since that last day here.”

“No, I—” Jason shook his head. “I hate that you both lied to me. That you let yourself get distracted from things that were happening, and then refused to let me deal with anything. I’m not happy it’s happening.”

After a moment, when Sonny said nothing, Jason continued, “But it’s not my job to live Emily’s life or choose how she gets hurt. Or how you get hurt. I just—” He looked away. “She’s my sister, Sonny. And it’s not like it was with Courtney. It’s not about the danger.”

“Not that danger.” Sonny nodded after a long moment. “None of the things you said before…were entirely wrong,” he said finally. “But I never asked you to clean up after me.”

Jason nearly called him a liar because Sonny had always put him in the middle — first by making Jason be the one to jilt Brenda and humiliate her — and then he and Carly had both shoved him in the middle. But that wouldn’t help anything if he pointed that out. So Jason just nodded. “Okay.”

“And maybe it’s time you stopped.”

“Fine. Tell my sister to leave Sam and Elizabeth alone and stop dragging them into this.”

“You could try telling her yourself—”

Remembering Sam’s pale face and Elizabeth’s mortification, Jason shook his head. “I’m not ready to be in the same room with her yet.”

“She’s not going to apologize to you, Jase—” Sonny shrugged. “She doesn’t think she’s wrong—”

“Did she tell you what exactly she said?” Jason demanded. “Because she was wrong. She told Sam she was a whore who’d used her dead daughter to con her way into an engagement ring, she told me that all I do is hurt people and accused me of cheating on Elizabeth, and she told Elizabeth—” Jason shook his head. “Sam and Elizabeth had nothing to do with any of this. She can come at me all she wants. Not them.”

“Still juggling two women at a time,” Sonny smirked, picked up his bourbon. “And you tell me I treat women like trash.”

Jason blinked, shook his head, then took a deep breath. The mood swings were part of it. He just had to manage until Sonny either hit rock bottom or pulled out of it. “I am not—”

“I was pretty terrible to Sam, too. But you’re not making me promise to leave her alone or demanding an apology on her behalf. And you’ve been here convincing me of Elizabeth’s loyalty. Man, you really don’t hear yourself sometimes.”

“I’m going—”

“Emily’s not wrong about Sam, by the way,” Sonny called, but Jason didn’t even bother looking back. It wasn’t worth it.

Kelly’s: Courtyard

Elizabeth stepped out of the diner and winced as Cameron saw Emily first and wiggled out of her grasp to run over to where Emily was sitting at a table alone.

“Em, Em, Em!”

Emily picked Cameron up into a tight hug, kissed his cheeks, then tickled him. Cameron giggled manically. “Em!” He turned to look at his mother. “Mommy, it’s Em!”

“Yes, it is.” Elizabeth let Kelly’s door close behind her. “Hey, Em.”

“So, you’re talking to me?” Emily asked, with an arch of her brow. She let Cameron slid to the ground, but the toddler didn’t seem to notice the tension in the air. He climbed up into the seat next to her and looked his mother expectantly.

Elizabeth looked down at the brown bag that held their lunches. “He missed having breakfast with you last week. Can we join you?”

“Sure.” Emily’s smile was thin as Elizabeth sat down and set Cameron up with the food she’d ordered. “You haven’t returned my phone calls.”

“You mean the one time you called me last week?” Elizabeth shrugged. “Sorry I got busy. Gram’s out of town, and I had to find another baby sitter.” She handed Cameron his juice. “Are things better at home?”

“Well, Grandfather isn’t talking to me, but he stopped leaving the room when I walk in. And Dad and Mom have stopped threatening to throw me out, so I guess there’s that.” Emily lifted her chin. “Would have been nice to have your support, but I guess you couldn’t manage it.”

“You never gave me a chance to offer it,” Elizabeth murmured. “You came to work that first day ready to go to war. I tried to help you with Jason — I told him to give you a break—”

Emily snorted. “Yeah. A lot of good that did me when he stood by while his whore threw me out—”

“Stop it, Emily—” Elizabeth scowled and looked pointedly at Cameron, who blinked at his mother, but thankfully didn’t ask what a “whore” was. Emily winced. “I don’t want to get involved in this, I really don’t. But I’m sorry, I have to ask — did you even give him a chance to change his mind. Or did you go in the penthouse again to attack him? Did you attack Sam?”

“I—” Emily closed her mouth. “Why do you care?”

“I care because this—this is happening to me now, too. You dragged me into this.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Because Jason decided I had to know he’d never cheated on me. Which, you know, is a super fun conversation to have—”

Emily narrowed her eyes. “All I’m doing is the same thing you always did when it came to Jason.”

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose, shook her head. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” Emily said, flatly, “is you told a lot of people to go to hell that December. Your grandmother, Nikolas, me—anyone who ever gave a damn about you. We didn’t matter as long as you had Jason.”

Elizabeth stared at her best friend for a long moment. “That’s not what happened. And you know it—”

“Oh, okay—”

“What happened was that I saved your brother’s life. And then a bunch of people who I thought loved me decided they had a right to know what was going on. Nikolas followed me back to the studio and burst in on me, changing Jason’s bandage, and then he attacked him. So if you think I was wrong to lie to Nikolas about my relationship with Jason so that he would leave him alone, then I don’t know what to tell you.”

“What about me? Why didn’t you tell me what was going on? If Jason was that sick and you really weren’t sleeping together—”

“Because I don’t owe you anything.” Elizabeth smiled at Cameron. “Hey, buddy, Aunt Em has to get to the hospital, so we’re going to take our lunch to go after all.”

“Okay.” Cameron sighed. “Sorry, Em. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Emily said with a sigh as Elizabeth started packing up his sandwich. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to argue with you again—”

“This is the difference between what happened then and what’s going on now. I told a lot of people to go to hell because I wanted to control my own life. And no, I was not technically with Jason back then. But I wanted to be. And I was tired of being sad all the time. He didn’t want me, Emily. Not then.” And maybe not really ever, but she let that go.

She got to her feet. “None of that changes the fact that I never tore anyone else down to get what I wanted.”

Emily also stood. “Elizabeth—”

“I never threw your past in your face—all I ever said was that seeing you happy made it hard for me some times. That’s it. I never told your secrets to anyone else, I never used the thing you hate about yourself as a weapon. I never punched down, Em. And that’s all you’ve been doing. Right now—”

Elizabeth took a deep breath. “Right now, I could use my best friend. I’m—” Her voice broke. “I’m drowning. And you don’t see it. And I don’t ask you for help. Because I know I can’t go to you. You won’t be there.”

Stricken, Emily stepped back. “What—Elizabeth—”

“I told you what I told you about Jason in confidence. I never wanted to talk about it again. And now—” Elizabeth squeezed her hand into fists.

“Mommy?” Cam looked up at her, tugging on her pant leg. “You mad at Em? I like Em.”

“I like Em, too,” Elizabeth told her son. She looked at Emily. “I love you, Emily. I know you love me. I know you never meant to hurt me. And I know you love Jason. He’s dying over this. But you and Sonny—I don’t know, maybe you deserve each other.”

She took Cameron by the hand and headed for the parking lot. Emily, thankfully, did not follow.

“Mommy?” Cameron sniffled. “Are we mad at Em?”

“No, sweetie. But Aunt Emily is in timeout for a few days,” Elizabeth said with a sigh as they reached their car. She set their food on the driver’s seat so that she could put Cameron into his car seat.

“She was bad?”

“Little bit.”

“Like when I climbded the walls, and you got mad?”

“No, more like when you got into my lipstick and drew all over the sofa and yourself.” Elizabeth eyed her grinning son. “We can still see the color on the side of the sofa.”

“I like red.”

“Yeah, so you said when I was scrubbing it off you in the bathtub.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes. She closed the back door, then got into the front seat, shoving their food onto the passenger seat. She reached into her pocket for her keys and knocked her cell phone out at the same time.

She frowned. “I have a voice mail—I didn’t even hear it ring—”

“Who calleded, Mommy?”

She flipped open the phone and opened her voice mails. “Jason.” She looked at the ceiling of her car. “A whole year. I went basically an entire year without being around him, and it was fine. Why are you doing this?”

“Who you talking to? Mommy?” In her rearview mirror, she could see Cameron craning his head to look up.

“The world.”

“Oh, okay.”

Elizabeth took a deep breath, pressed play, and put the phone to her ear. “Hey, Elizabeth. It’s, uh, me. Jason. I—I wanted to let you know—We need to talk. About Manny. Call me when you get this.”

She wrinkled her nose and dialed his number. Well, at least she wouldn’t have to see him—

“Elizabeth?”

“Hey. I got your call.” Elizabeth turned in her seat to check on Cameron again. “What’s up?”

“Do you have time? Can—” She heard him pause. “Can we talk in person?” When she didn’t say anything right away, he added, “It’s important.”

No. Not a chance. She was changing her name and moving to Alaska. “Okay. Uh, can you give me about thirty minutes? I’m dropping Cameron off at Bobbie’s to play with Morgan.”

“Yeah, I’ll meet you on Elm Street Pier in thirty.”

Elm Street Pier

Elizabeth restlessly laced her fingers together as she watched Jason walk towards her from Pier 52 and the Corinthos-Morgan warehouse. She’d hoped for a few more days before she had to face him — what the hell had possessed her to tell him she loved him, too?

This…strange retread down memory lane with Jason was the absolutely last thing her life needed right now. Especially today, after that fight with Emily—

“Hey,” Jason said as he approached her. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. “Thanks for meeting me.”

“No problem. You said it was important—” Elizabeth gestured behind her. “And Cody’s here. He said he’d keep out of sight—”

“Yeah, hopefully, you won’t need him much longer, but…” Jason hesitated and looked at her. “I talked to Alcazar. Skye had already told him. He moved her to Miami. They were already moving there, so he just…pushed up the time table.”

“Oh.” She wrinkled her brow. “Is that what you needed to tell me? Because that really could have been said over the phone.”

Jason hesitated, a bit taken aback. “Part of it—”

“Skye called me this morning. She told me—” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “She told me they were in Miami. She didn’t want me to worry. And she was worried about me.”

“Oh.” Jason cleared his throat. “Right. Well, you have Cody for now—but Manny—” He cleared his throat. “That’s still a thing.”

Right. And that was the whole reason she’d gone to him in the first place. It was stupid to pretend that because Skye was on her guard and safe in Miami, that it was over. “At least for now.” Elizabeth chewed on her bottom lip. “Maybe he’ll leave.”

“We’re hoping. Not that I want Skye in danger in Miami, but Alcazar’s on high alert now, and hopefully so she is, too. If he follows them—”

“He’ll leave me alone.” Elizabeth sighed and sat on the bench. “You hope that’s what will happen, but you don’t think it will.”

“I—” Jason sat next to her, but this time made sure to keep a few feet between them. “No. I can’t afford to take any chances. Skye’s gone right after you put yourself in the middle. Manny’s not stupid.”

“You’re still annoyed I got involved.” Elizabeth looked at her hands in her lap. “I know you told me not to—”

“For all you knew, Manny would have jumped her in a stairwell or followed her after the appointment. You—” A corner of Jason’s mouth hitched up in a half-smile. “You told me you wouldn’t let someone get hurt. I should have believed you.”

“I should have thought about it more,” Elizabeth admitted. “It was stupid to do that. I could have offered to walk Skye downstairs or—” She frowned. “Or maybe Manny would have gone after us both. It’s not like I’m a lot of competition.”

“No, and maybe he wasn’t planning anything. He could have refused to go with you, he could have hurt you and gone after Skye anyway. He didn’t.” Jason exhaled slowly and looked out over the lake. “With anyone else, I might think he’d backed down and decided it was too risky. But that’s not Manny Ruiz. He plays games.”

“So, what do I do?”

“Stay on your toes,” Jason advised. “When do you work again?”

“Oh. Tomorrow. I’m on the 10-6 shift. Why?”

“I’m gonna call Alan, set up a meeting. You put yourself in danger to protect Skye, and he still thinks of her as his daughter. I want Cody at the hospital with you, but I don’t want anyone to know.”

“Okay, just keep me in the loop.” Elizabeth nodded. “And thanks. I appreciate it.”

“You took a risk coming to me with this info about Manny. And—” Jason jerked a shoulder, looked away from her. “I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.”

“Okay.” Go. Now. Elizabeth got to her feet. “I should go get Cam from Bobbie—”

“Wait—” He touched her elbow as he also stood. “Look, I just—about yesterday—”

She closed her eyes. “Can’t we just be done with all of that, Jason? I mean it. It’s been over for years. What does any of this matter anymore?”

“I don’t know,” Jason admitted. “I just—I don’t know. You were right. We shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Good, so—”

“But we did.”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together, turned, and faced him with a lift of her chin. “We cleared the air. It doesn’t matter.” It couldn’t matter. She didn’t have time for it to matter.

“If it doesn’t matter,” Jason said, his voice dropping slightly, “then why is it so difficult to talk about it?”

Her stomach rolled as Elizabeth struggled to speak past the lump in her throat. “It’s not supposed to matter,’’ she said softly. She met his eyes. “What do you want me to say? What’s left?”

“I don’t know. I guess—” Jason hesitated. “I always thought you left because I couldn’t tell you what was going on. Or maybe you were tired of being shot at. I don’t know.”

“And you never asked.” She tilted her head. “Are you asking me now?”

“I—” Jason swallowed. He stepped a bit closer to her. “I guess I am.”

She sighed, looked away for a long moment. She should tell him no. That there had been a time and place when it would have been useful to have this conversation. He hadn’t asked back then, and she hadn’t really pushed him. And there was a reason they hadn’t done the work. There had to be.

But she didn’t tell him no. She looked at him, at those eyes that she had fallen in love with first, then sighed.

Because even though it was more than three years too late, even though she knew it was a mistake—

He was asking.

“It’s been so long since I let myself think of that time,” Elizabeth admitted. “I put it away. I had to. It was the only way I could breathe. By the time Emily asked why I had left, it was easier to tell her I left because of Courtney. But that just…that was just how I explained it to myself.”

She folded her arms, looked at him again. “I left because you lied to me. Because I thought—I still think—I deserved to know the truth about what you and Sonny were doing. I thought—after all the lies I had told for you—all the ways I had protected you—that I deserved that much. I always understood I couldn’t know everything. I don’t want to know everything, but I think—”

Elizabeth broke off, shook her head. “Never mind.”

“No, finish it,” Jason said, his voice slightly hoarse. “What did you think?”

“I think—” She bit her lip. “I still think that when I—or anyone,” she added hastily, “step over to your side of the line, when I put my life in your hands, I should get to know things that put my life at risk.”

On a long slow breath, Jason exhaled, but he said nothing. Didn’t look away. So she continued.

“And Sonny faking his death put me at risk. It put Carly at risk. Because anyone could have come in to make trouble. That’s exactly what happened, wasn’t it? I thought you were out there, running everything, not coming home—to the penthouse,” she corrected, “and there were nights you didn’t come back, you didn’t call—I wondered if you were dead. If anyone would even remember to tell me.”

“Elizabeth—”

“And I thought—” A tear slid down her cheek. “That I had already sat through one relationship where I didn’t matter. Where I’d been patted on the head and lied to for my own good—and I just thought I deserved better. And I thought if you loved me, you wouldn’t do that to me. So I left.”

“I—” He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well…maybe if you’d asked me that question four years ago—” Elizabeth shrugged. “But you told me it had nothing to do with me. And I realized you were right. Because I wasn’t part of your life, and you’d made that clear. So I left. And when it didn’t seem to bother you, I told myself it was because of Courtney. Because you’d been falling in love with her, and that…I could live with that.”

She met his eyes as tears continued to slide down her cheeks. “But that’s not true. You can tell yourself that you loved me back then, but you didn’t trust me. Maybe you didn’t think I’d stick around, but it’s not like you gave me a reason to.”

“No,” Jason said finally. “I guess I didn’t.”

Elizabeth wiped at her cheeks. “Is that it? Any other questions you want me to answer? Can we finally be done with this?”

“No, there’s nothing else.” Jason cleared his throat. “You’re right. I didn’t think you’d stay. So when you left, I just…I expected it. I let it happen.”

“I get it. Maybe I even deserved it. After everything I did—”

“No—” Jason shook his head. “No. I just—it wasn’t about any of that. It was just—” He looked away. “I don’t know. I don’t know,” he said again.

“Can we be done with this?” Elizabeth asked again. “There’s no point to drag this back up, Jason. We just—we made mistakes. And we hurt each other. It’s over. It’s been over for a long time. It’s time to stop. Thank you for looking out for me with Manny. But maybe when he’s not a threat anymore, we should go back to the way things were.”

“We can’t—” He hesitated. “We can’t be friends?”

“We’re not just friends,” Elizabeth told him, kindly but firmly. “And we haven’t been just friends in a long time, Jason. It hurts too much.”

“Okay.” Jason scrubbed his hands over his face. “Okay. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well, it’s four years too late for any of this, but I’m sorry, too.”

“I should—I should get back to work.” But Jason waited a long moment before breaking eye contact as if she might say something else. Change her mind. But Elizabeth had made up her mind, so he left.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then sat back on the bench to collect her thoughts. It was better this way. If she was going to make her marriage work, if she was going to deal with Lucky and the life she’d built with him, she couldn’t have Jason around reminding her of all the chances she’d thrown away.

“I think you and I should have a chat.”

Elizabeth turned at the voice, then sighed as Sam came round the corner, with her brows lifted. “Sure, why not?” she murmured to the sky. “Just keep kicking me.”

---

Clearly, Elizabeth was unhappy with Sam’s presence, but Sam didn’t really care. She’d gone to the warehouse to talk to Jason, to try and get past this, but she’d seen him leave the warehouse and walk towards the pier. She’d wanted to catch up with him—had nearly called out after him—

Until she’d seen who he was meeting. So she’d ducked behind a corner to listen. Because she knew something was going on. And he was never going to tell her unless she had something to confront him with.

“So, what exactly were the two of you talking about yesterday?” Sam demanded. “That you shouldn’t have talked about?”

“If you have questions, then maybe you should have asked your fiance.” Elizabeth got to her feet. “He’s the one that owes you answers, not me—”

“Oh—not so fast.” Sam put out a hand to stop Elizabeth. “No, woman to woman, I’m asking you what the hell is going on. Because—” she grimaced. “You are not the type of woman to have an affair. Maybe if Jason were single, I could see it. But he’s not. I just can’t see you doing that to someone else.”

“We’re not—” Elizabeth bit off a protest. “Look, a long time ago, we were almost something. But we both ran from it. We both assumed we knew why the other ran. It might sound insane, but it’s just—I guess we never talked about it. It’s just closure, Sam—”

“Almost something,” Sam repeated. “Then why does it seem to be such a big deal now? It’s been years, Elizabeth. Why—” Her voice faltered. “Why can’t he seem to stop asking you? I heard you. You kept shutting him down—but he kept asking. Do you get it? He was desperate to understand what went wrong—”

“I—” Elizabeth hesitated. “Sam, I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t live in Jason’s head.”

“But—”

“You should talk to him,” she repeated.

“I keep trying,” Sam admitted. She scowled. “But we just—it’s like we’re speaking different languages. We’re fighting all the time—ever since that stupid maternity test—” She grimaced. “Apparently, I have you to thank for making sure he told me at all.”

“He would have told you, Sam. He was just—he loves you,” Elizabeth told her. “And he just wanted to protect you. He was wrong. I told him that. But he just wanted to help—”

“I don’t need that kind of help. It should have been up to me—”

“Yeah, you’re right. But that’s not how it worked out. Look, if you and Jason are arguing all the time, that just—it can’t be my problem. And I can’t be someone—” Elizabeth huffed. “I’m not doing this. I deserve better than this from literally everyone. Go to talk to your fiance.”

“Why can he just pour his heart out to you and not me?” Sam demanded as Elizabeth pushed past her.

“Is that what you think he was doing?” Elizabeth demanded as she spun around to face Sam again. “Were you even listening? I broke open a vein because he needed to know why the hell I left. And he couldn’t even be bothered to tell me why he treated me that way! I begged him to stop asking—”

“Then why did you answer him? Why even have the conversation?” Sam shot back.

“Because…” Elizabeth shook her head. “Maybe I’m selfish. Maybe I needed to know why he couldn’t love me. Why is it so hard to love me? To treat me with some damn respect? Is that so much to ask? Don’t I deserve that?”

“I—” Sam blinked. Because now they were having a completely different conversation, and she was less comfortable now. “Yeah. Elizabeth—”

Tears slid down the other woman’s face as her voice broke. “But there’s no way Jason loved me. No one ever has. Not my parents. My family. Ric. Lucky—he can’t even bring himself to love my son much less me—” She broke off with a shuddering sob as she tilted her head to the sky. “I don’t know what you want from me, Sam.”

“I don’t either,” Sam admitted on a shaky breath. “I don’t know what I want from myself most of the time. I guess—maybe it didn’t sound to you like Jason was opening up, but that’s more than he’s talked to me in weeks. I’m jealous. I want him to look at me like that, and I don’t think he ever has.”

Elizabeth looked at Sam. “Then why are you still here?”

“I don’t know,” Sam repeated. “Why are you? If Lucky doesn’t love you or your son—”

“Where am I going to go?” Elizabeth murmured. Her hands fell to her side. “Because if I’m not Lucky’s wife, who am I? That’s all I’ve ever been. No one even gives a damn about me. I don’t ever get to come first.”

“Because being unhappy and miserable is somehow better than being alone,” Sam finished with a slow nod. “I’m sorry. I should…I should take this to Jason.” She bit her lip. “But you know, you’re right. I don’t think you and Jason can ever be just friends. And that’s not fair to the people you promised to love.”

“No, it’s not. So, I’m just—I’m going to go home to my son and put all of this behind me. I’m tired.”

This time, Sam let Elizabeth go. She didn’t understand any of this any better than she had before she’d confronted Elizabeth, but she knew that this wasn’t the end of it. Despite Elizabeth’s protest, Sam had a sinking feeling that the worst was still to come.

I have never heard a silence quite so loud
I walk in the room and you don’t make a sound, make a sound
You’re good at making me feel small
If it doesn’t hurt me, why do I still cry?
If it didn’t kill me, then I’m half alive
– Something’s Gotta Give, Camila Cabello

---

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

Lucky & Elizabeth’s Apartment: Bedroom

Elizabeth pressed her hand to Cameron’s forehead and sighed. He was still running a fever.

He’d been fine yesterday, until sometime after dinner when suddenly, his face had looked flushed. He’d spent the entire night throwing up or using a lot of diapers. She’d barely slept, trying to keep him clean and calm, but now she and her son were both exhausted as Cameron lay on his back, looking at her with sad eyes.

“Tummy hurts,” he managed.

“I know, sweetheart. But Mommy can’t stay home—” She’d already asked Epiphany to move the schedule around enough with her grandmother out of town. Some of the other surgical nurses had complained about favoritism, and Elizabeth just knew if she called out sick today, she’d never hear the end of it.

“He any better?” Lucky asked from the doorway as he sipped a glass of water. “I barely got any sleep last night.”

Elizabeth turned away from her husband and pressed her lips together. Lucky had complained from the sofa bed and had done nothing to help. But she couldn’t worry about that right now.  “He’s not going to be able to go to the daycare. I’m not going to be the mother who makes other kids sick.” She braced herself. “Can you stay with him today?”

“Elizabeth—”

“I know, I know, but—” Elizabeth twisted to face him. “I’m sorry. I can’t miss another day.” Not after she’d ducked out on Friday’s shift early because he’d forgotten to pick Cameron up in the first place. “I might be able to get Epiphany to let me leave at four, but there’s no way I can miss the entire shift. We can’t afford it, and she’s already done me enough favors—”

Lucky scowled. “I only have a few more days to pass the physical—”

“I know that, but he’s sick, Lucky. Can’t you go tomorrow? Bobbie can watch him tomorrow during the day. I already called her—”

“Can’t you call someone else?”

“There’s no one else—” Elizabeth broke off as hysteria bubbled in her throat. “Lucky, please. I need this promotion to work out. As soon as I can start scrubbing into surgeries, I’ll have better hours. But I need to put in the grunt work first. We need this to work.”

“We need me to get back to active duty so you can stay home with him more.” Lucky shook his head. “I can’t miss therapy—”

“Lucky, I don’t ask you for a lot. I—I know better—”

“What does that mean?” Lucky demanded, narrowing his eyes and stepping towards her. She backed up a step. “What are you talking about?” He clenched his hands at his sides.

Her heart skipped a beat as Elizabeth swallowed hard. It was just a flicker she’d seen. It was gone now. “I mean, I know better than to ask you to give up time from your rehab. I don’t. Not after you made it clear when Gram decided to go to Memphis. I got that covered, didn’t I? Between Epiphany moving my schedule around and Bobbie—I haven’t asked you for much.”

“No, I—” Lucky exhaled slowly. “No, not really. I know how supportive you’ve tried to be. I know you’re in a tight spot, Elizabeth. I wish I could help—”

Help. Oh, God. She swallowed a sob. “Lucky, please don’t make me beg,” she said softly. “I’ll call in any favors I have left so that you can go to therapy tonight. I’ll do my best. But I need to go to work.”

Lucky sighed, rubbed the back of his neck. “All right,” he said finally. “I’ll figure something out about therapy. Maybe I can find someone who can watch him. But this is the last time. I need to pass that test on Friday, Elizabeth.”

“I know.” She managed a wobbly smile and didn’t even flinch when he kissed her cheek. “I know you need to pass the test.”

They all needed him to pass that test. If he didn’t get back to work soon, she was going to lose her mind. “Thank you,” she said. “This means a lot.”

When he smiled at her, she managed to keep her own expression upbeat. Even if everything inside her was screaming that something was terribly wrong with her marriage and this couldn’t keep happening.

“Anything for you,” Lucky said as he kissed her again. “I mean it.”

“I…need to get ready for work,” she managed as she ducked into the bathroom, closed the door, then pressed her head against the cool wood.

“Just a few more days,” she murmured. “I can do this a little longer. He’ll go back to work, and it’ll all be okay.”

Maybe if she said it enough, she would believe it.

General Hospital: Nurse’s Station

Elizabeth pressed a hand to her head and took a deep breath. She just…needed a nap. Maybe on her next break, she could manage twenty minutes.

“You okay?” Epiphany asked as she set down some charts. “You look beat.” She hesitated. “If you’re not well—”

“Cameron has a stomach virus,” Elizabeth said. “I needed to—I was up with him most of the night. Lucky has him now, but I didn’t sleep a lot. I can work, I promise. I won’t ask for any more time off.”

“Okay.” Epiphany sighed, then scowled as Manny pushed the janitor cart past them. He stopped to offer Elizabeth a jaunty salute. Her stomach pitched, then rolled as bile rose in her throat. Oh, man. She did not need that today. “I really hate him.”

“I guess he didn’t follow Skye to Miami after all,” Elizabeth managed. Her hands trembled as she picked up a chart. Maybe he hadn’t been planning anything nefarious for Skye. Maybe Elizabeth had overreacted.

Or maybe Jason was right, and Manny was just playing games.

“I need to talk to Stan again,” Epiphany said with a shake of her head. “You know, I hate what my boy does for a living, but you look at a man like Manny Ruiz, and you think…”

“Maybe sometimes taking the law into your own hands isn’t such a terrible idea,” Elizabeth muttered. They both watched as the janitor disappeared down the hall—whistling. “Jason said they’re watching him closely.”

“I bet it’s still too high profile. Another month, if we’re lucky, and maybe we can get rid of him.” Epiphany shrugged. “Anyway, I’ll try to get you some downtime in the break room—”

“Thanks,” Elizabeth said as the elevator doors slid open, and Jason stepped out of them. She winced as he headed straight for her. “Why does the universe hate me?”

“I ask myself that every day,” Epiphany said. “You want me to get rid of him?”

“No. If he’s here, it’s for a reason—” It had damn well better be.

Elizabeth stepped out of the nurse’s station and met Jason over in the waiting area. “Hey. What—um—why are you here?”

“I told you I had a meeting with Alan.” Jason glanced around. “Have you seen Manny today?”

“Yeah, just a few minutes ago. He—” Elizabeth swallowed hard. “He smiled at me and gave me a salute. So…you know, that was great.” She sighed. “What did Alan say?”

“Can we talk somewhere where Manny won’t see us together?”

Elizabeth scowled. “Why didn’t you think of that before you came to see me at my job—” She bit off the rest of her retort as the wheel of the custodian cart’s came into earshot. They both turned to see Manny rolling by again. He smiled at them both, a wide grin that did nothing to make Elizabeth feel any better.

“Oh. Good. That’s just—” She waited until the psycho had gone down another hall before grabbing Jason’s arm and dragging him towards an empty hospital room.

“Elizabeth—”

“Why? Why couldn’t you just call?” Elizabeth demanded. She dragged her hands through her hair. “Why? And he’s following me. You know he is. Because he just rolled that stupid cart by two minutes ago. It’s the third time he’s gone past the nurse’s station today—”

“I’ll tell Alan he needs to be reassigned—”

“I just don’t want any of this. I don’t want this—” She shoved down the hysteria that had been threatening to spill over since her argument with Lucky that morning. “I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said after a long moment and a deep breath. “I didn’t sleep well last night. Cam is sick. And I just—I know this Manny thing is something I brought on myself. I got involved. I’m not sorry I did, but I annoyed him on my own. That had nothing to do with you.”

“Elizabeth—”

“I just—I’m asking you not to make it worse.” She looked at him. “If you need to talk to me, call me. I don’t want Manny thinking anything stupid, okay? Maybe right now he hasn’t decided to do anything, but if he thinks—”

“If he thinks it’ll mess with me,” Jason said, “he might actually go after you. Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I just—I wanted to tell you that Alan was on board with any extra security I wanted to add to make sure you were okay. To keep Manny from hurting anyone. He’s trying to get Manny let go, but he’s part of some community service program—”

“Right.” Elizabeth folded her arms. “Okay. I just—” She bit her lip, looked down. “I meant what I said yesterday, Jason. I can’t do this anymore.”

“Elizabeth—”

“So if it can be a phone call—”

“Yeah, okay. Hey—” He didn’t say anything else until Elizabeth lifted her eyes to meet his. “Is Cam okay? Can I do anything?”

Tears burned at the back of her eyes as she struggled to form words. Why did he have to ask the one thing she didn’t have a defense against? “He’s just—a stomach thing. It’s fine. But thanks.”

“Okay,” Jason repeated. “I don’t—” His voice was rough now. “I don’t mean to make anything harder. I just—” He looked away. “I just want to take care of—” He broke off abruptly. “I want to make sure you’re taken care of,” he said instead, even though Elizabeth knew what he’d nearly said.

I just want to take care of you.

“I can take care of myself, but I appreciate you looking out for me with Manny,” Elizabeth said. “I need to get back to work.”

“Okay.”

They’d no sooner stepped back out into the hallway when Elizabeth heard a screaming child—her screaming child. She and Jason both turned to look as Lucky rounded the corner, a wailing Cameron in his arms.

“What the hell—” Elizabeth started. She darted forward. “Is he okay? Did his fever go higher—”

Lucky didn’t seem to notice Jason following Elizabeth until after he’d shoved Cameron into her arms. The force of it nearly knocked Elizabeth back as Cameron buried her face in her shoulder. Elizabeth wrapped her arms around her shaking son. “Mommy!”

“Hey, it’s okay, baby—Lucky, what’s wrong?” she asked him again.

“Nothing,” Lucky said. He finally seemed to notice the other man, then narrowed his eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“Why are you here?” Elizabeth demanded before Lucky could pick a fight with Jason. “Why is Cameron—”

“I watched him like I was supposed to. But I told you—I can’t miss another session, and I couldn’t find anyone to watch him—”

“What the hell is all this noise?” Epiphany demanded as she stalked towards them. She glared at the three of them. “Why is that child crying?”

Elizabeth pushed Cameron’s sweaty curls off his forehead as her son started to quiet down to just sniffles and occasional hiccups. “He still has a fever—and oh, God—” She found herself looking at Jason instead of Lucky as panic seeped in. “It’s worse than it was before.” She looked at Lucky now. “When did it get higher? Did you take his temperature?”

“I don’t know,” Lucky shrugged. “But you’ve got doctors here. I have to go, or I’ll be late.” He frowned at her for a moment, swayed slightly, his eyes glassy as if he’d been the one to stay up all night. “I’ll see you at home—”

“Wait, I have to work—”

But Lucky had already gone, with a wave of his hand over his shoulder as he left, turning the corner like he hadn’t just dumped Elizabeth’s sick son on her like a sack of potatoes.

“Mommy, my tummy hurts,” Cameron whimpered.

“Elizabeth,” Epiphany began.

But then Cameron coughed, and then—

Then he vomited, the mixture of mucus, food, and stomach juices violently launching out of his mouth and all over Elizabeth’s scrubs, her arms, and onto the floor. Elizabeth gasped as Cameron continued to heave.

Epiphany went across the hall to grab a phone to page a doctor, then passed Jason a plastic tub and towel from a linen cart. Jason wrapped the towel around Cameron and held the tub near his mouth as the toddler continued to retch.

“Oh, my God,” Elizabeth managed to choke out as her son started to cry again, scared by everyone’s reactions and his own pain and discomfort. Her cheeks were flaming with embarrassment as Jason used the towel to mop at Cameron’s face and her scrub top, some of her son’s vomit getting on him.

“Oh, God, I’m sorry—” she babbled as Patrick jogged up, his handsome face frowning at the sight.

“Elizabeth, what’s wrong—” He shuddered. “Oh, ew. What—”

Epiphany smacked him in the arm. “I swear to God, boy, if you don’t get yourself together—”

“Yeah, yeah, grab us an examining room. Ow,” he muttered as he approached Elizabeth and Jason. “What’s wrong with Cam?”

“It’s—it’s a stomach thing, and he was supposed to be at home, but—” Her throat closed up, and she couldn’t force a single word out. Her baby should have been resting at home, comfortable in his bed, but instead, Lucky had dragged him out of the house and probably hadn’t been too gentle about it.

Jason accepted another towel from Epiphany and gently lifted Cameron from Elizabeth’s arms, wrapped the toddler in it, and held him in his arms. “It’s okay,” he told her as tears slid down her cheeks. “Let’s go get him checked out and you can clean up—”

“You don’t have to—” But she couldn’t finish that sentence as Epiphany herded them into an empty patient room. Jason set Cameron on the bed, and Patrick gave Epiphany a few things he’d need.

“I’ll bring back a fresh set of scrubs, too,” Epiphany promised Elizabeth. She eyed Jason’s stained t-shirt. “And I’ll steal Drake Junior’s extra shirt from his locker.”

“I’d argue with her,” Patrick said as the other nurse left, “but she’d just hit me again.”

“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth apologized again. “You’re not a pediatrician, and—”

“But I did my time in that ward, so let’s just take a look.” Patrick shrugged. “You’re right about the stomach thing. It’s ripping through the hospital. And—” He pressed his hand to Cameron’s forehead. “I’m concerned about the fever. I’ll want to prescribe him something to bring that down. He needs rest—”

“He was—” Elizabeth swallowed down a sob. “He was supposed to be at home. Resting. B-But Lucky—” She shook her head, closing her eyes. Jason put an arm around her shoulder, and she couldn’t stop herself from curling into his embrace for just a moment.

For just one moment, she didn’t want to feel so damned alone. Even if Jason Morgan was the last person she should lean on for comfort.

Mercifully, Patrick let it drop as Epiphany returned with clothes and the thermometer Patrick had asked for. He did a quick exam on Cameron, who had grown a bit listless and laid on the bed with a glazed expression.

“I’ll write the prescription for something to bring down the fever,” Patrick told her. “I wouldn’t normally on a kid this age, but I’m worried. And he looks like he hasn’t kept much down—”

“Some juice and applesauce mostly. I tried but—” Elizabeth shook her head. “I had to go to work. Lucky—he was—”

“Well, get some of that Pedialyte stuff,” Patrick told her. He looked away, uncomfortable as if he wanted to say more.

“But I—” She looked at Epiphany. “I have to work, and my grandmother is still in Memphis—”

“You go on home and take care of your baby,” Epiphany told her. “I’ll clear it. I know you don’t want to use any more of your sick time, but—”

“I don’t have a choice,” she murmured. “Oh. Oh, God. Lucky probably didn’t leave me the car seat. We only have one, and I left it in his car because he was supposed to be with him—”

How was she supposed to—

Jason spoke up. “I’ll take you home,” he told her. “I have the SUV, so you can sit in the back with him and hold him. You don’t live that far.”

“Jason—”

“I’ll have someone take your car home—”

“I can’t ask you—”

“It seems like a good idea to me,” Epiphany said briskly. “Now, Jason, go into the bathroom there and change. Elizabeth, go take a shower and change in the locker room. I’ll look after your boy.”

“I—” Elizabeth sighed. “Thank you. Epiphany, Jason, and Patrick. Thank you. I just—” She sighed. “I’ll go wash up.”

When she’d left, Patrick scowled. “How the hell did Cameron end up here?” he demanded. “This kid is sick and shouldn’t be outside—”

“Lucky brought him here,” Jason said, a bit unnerved with the way Lucky had dumped the screaming child on his mother, clearly unconcerned with Cameron or his health. Anyone could see the kid was sick. And it killed him to see Elizabeth looking so lost, so fragile.

“He’s an asshole,” Epiphany muttered. “You make sure she has the medicine this kid needs, Morgan. You make sure she gets home and has everything she needs.” She turned her fish eye on Patrick Drake, who put his hands up in surrender. “And you make sure whatever prescription you gave her is covered by our insurance here.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay. But she’d be better off losing the husband.” He hesitated, shook his head. Jason frowned at him.

“That is something none of us can fix. All I can do is take care of her here at work.” She looked at Jason again. “And we’d all be better off if that psycho Manny Ruiz wasn’t breathing down our necks.”

“I’m trying,” Jason said, finding himself feeling oddly defensive. “I have people watching him. I’m not going to let him hurt anyone else.”

“See that you don’t. Now go change out of that shirt before Elizabeth comes in here and gets upset all over again that you’re covered in her kid’s throw-up.”

Lucky & Elizabeth’s Apartment: Street

By the time Elizabeth pushed open her apartment door an hour later, she’d become numb. The mixture of humiliation, fury, and sheer exhaustion had rendered her incapable of feeling. She’d sat in the backseat of the SUV Jason had driven to the hospital, cuddling her sick baby while he’d gone into the pharmacy to get whatever Patrick had told him to get.

She probably should have offered to pay, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak. Instead, as Jason pulled out of the parking lot, she found herself dozing off slightly, her head slumping against Cameron’s.

She didn’t know how much time passed before there was a gentle touch on her elbow. Elizabeth opened her eyes and realized Jason was standing in the street, the door open. “Hey, let me get you upstairs, and you can both get some sleep.”

Elizabeth sighed, closed her eyes, then nodded. “Okay.”

“Here, let me take him up.” Jason reached in and easily lifted the dozing toddler into his arms. The bag from the pharmacy was looped around one of his wrists. She should offer to take it from him.

But it took everything she could muster to get herself out of the car and upstairs. She must have been running at the hospital on sheer willpower because the moment she’d left, taking a single step had become the hardest thing.

“Is his bedroom through there?” Jason asked quietly as he stood with Elizabeth in the doorway, taking in the shambles of her apartment. Lucky had left laundry strewn all over the place, and breakfast dishes were still sitting on the end table, his sofa bed still pulled out.

She stared at it, wishing that she could just close her eyes and make it all disappear. Without waiting for an answer, Jason opened the door. Dimly she could hear his voice, soothing as Cameron stirred, then he must have fallen back asleep as Jason came out and gently closed the door.

The humiliation fought its way past the paralyzing exhaustion as Jason began to fold up the sofa bed. She stepped forward and touched his arm. “No, let me—”

“I don’t mind.” Jason looked at her for a long moment, a touch of worry in his light blue eyes. “I can’t make Cameron feel better, but I can do this. You look so tired, Elizabeth.”

“I just—” Couldn’t let herself depend on anyone. But she also didn’t quite have the strength to stop him, so Jason closed up the sofa bed, steered her to sit down, and then took the dishes into the kitchen.

Elizabeth scrubbed her hands over her face. Almost from the moment Cameron had thrown up, Jason had stuck. Hadn’t flinched when he’d been splashed with vomit or been confronted with her dingy, shabby apartment left a mess by the man who was supposed to love Cameron as his own.

When the water stopped running, Jason came back out and sat on the other end of the sofa. “You should get some sleep—”

“Thank you.” She cleared her throat, made eye contact with him. “I should—I should have said that before.”

“Yeah, of course.” They stared at one another for a long time before Jason pushed himself to his feet. “Do you need anything else? I put Cam’s medicine and the stuff Patrick told me to get him in the fridge.”

“Thank you,” she repeated. She stood up. “I—I had a moment at the hospital where I think I was going to fall apart. I didn’t. I think part of me knew you wouldn’t leave until I was okay. And…” Her voice broke. “There are just some days when you need that.”

“It’s none of my business,” Jason said slowly, “but I don’t…understand what happened. Or why Lucky—”

“Didn’t seem to care or notice how sick Cameron was?” Elizabeth finished. She shook her head. “I don’t know. I could make a list of excuses. I probably will before he gets home. I’ve always been good at that.” She offered a humorless smile. “I guess old habits never really die.”

“Why?” Jason scowled. “Why put yourself through it?”

“Maybe you might not understand this,” Elizabeth said slowly, “but there are just—there some things I can’t think about. Not right now. I know that doesn’t make the problems go away, but—”

“Elizabeth, I just—” He lifted both his hands. “You deserve better.”

“Maybe.” She could feel the tears sliding down her cheeks, the cool tracks they made on her skin. “But I can’t do this right now.”

“When?”

“Don’t—” She pressed her hands to her face. “Don’t ask me that. Please.”

“Okay.” Jason crossed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms, wrapping his strong arms around her for the second time that day. She let herself have ten seconds of that before she pulled away.

But she didn’t step away. Elizabeth glanced up at him to find him already looking at her, their faces close. With one of his hands, he cupped her cheek and wiped away a tear with his thumb.

“It kills me to see you like this. Let me help.”

“You did,” Elizabeth told him. “I know it doesn’t seem like a lot, but—” Impulse had her leaning forward slightly, tilting her head up just a bit to press her lips to his cheek. Stupid. Stupid.

Their breath mingled as she started to pull back, and instead of taking a giant step away from him—she leaned in. His lips brushed hers gently, and the soft touch sent a shock down her spine. She so badly just wanted to sink into him, to lose herself—

She nearly did—nearly forgot everything—until his hand cupped her jaw. The feel of his fingers on her skin jolted her back.

Elizabeth jerked away, putting half the room between them. “No. We—No.” She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I think—I think you should go.”

“Yeah.” Looking as stunned as she was, Jason swallowed hard. Nodded. “But if you need anything—”

“I’ll figure it out. You should go before Lucky comes home.”

With a sigh, Jason nodded. “Yeah, okay. But get some sleep. I’ll—” He fisted his hand at his side. “I’ll see you around,” he said finally.

And then he was gone.

Elizabeth closed her eyes, pressed her fingers to her lips, and, this time, didn’t fight the tears as the sobs wracked her body. Oh, God. What was she going to do now?

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

Jason was still a bit shaken when he went home after leaving Elizabeth’s apartment. He hadn’t—He’d never planned to—

He didn’t even know how it had happened, and he knew it shouldn’t happen again. She was married. He was engaged. And Elizabeth was right—they couldn’t be friends.

He dropped his keys on the desk and scrubbed his hands over his face.

“Since when do you wear dress shirts to work?” Sam asked from the top of the stairs. He looked up to find her on the landing, a duffel bag at her feet.

“I—I thought you’d left for the airport.”

“Not yet.” She came down to the bottom of the stairs, gestured at the blue shirt Jason wore. “Did I miss a party?”

“Uh—” Jason had forgotten he wore Patrick Drake’s borrowed shirt. “I—” He looked at Sam and realized he didn’t want to tell her. He wanted to lie to her, to make her stop looking at him, and asking questions. And if he didn’t tell her the truth, didn’t that mean something about their relationship?

Didn’t that mean something about how much he trusted Sam? He’d just kissed another woman—a woman he would have sworn a month ago he had put in his past.

“Jason,” Sam pressed when he didn’t answer. “What happened to your shirt?”

“I was at the hospital,” Jason said after a long moment, “arranging security at the hospital for Elizabeth. With Skye gone, I’m worried Manny will target her.”

“I know, but that doesn’t explain the shirt—”

“It’s Cameron’s,” Jason said finally. “I went to tell Elizabeth what Alan and I talked about, and he threw up. He’s sick.”

“I—” Sam frowned. “What was Cameron even doing there? And why—” She took a deep breath. “Why did you have to go and tell her in person?”

“I probably should have called,” Jason admitted. “But Lucky showed up and just—” He broke off. It felt wrong to describe that scene for anyone who hadn’t been there. As if he were betraying some secret Elizabeth would have rather kept to herself. “I didn’t want to leave her alone with a sick kid, so I stayed with her until I knew Cameron was okay.”

Sam exhaled slowly. “You know, I wasn’t going—I wasn’t going to do this. I wasn’t going to say anything because I didn’t think I’d want the answers. But I was on the docks. Yesterday.”

Jason blinked. “Yesterday.”

“I heard your conversation with Elizabeth. The entire conversation,” Sam clarified. “From the part where you told her Skye had left Port Charles straight on through to where Elizabeth told you couldn’t be friends anymore because it hurt too much—”

“Sam—”

“And you should know—” With a quiet dignity he hadn’t expected, Sam lifted her chin. “You should know that from someone who was just listening, it sounded like two people who’d never really moved on—”

“That’s not—” He shook his head. “That’s not how it was—” Except he was starting to think maybe that was exactly what it was, and Jason couldn’t begin to understand what to do with that.

“I listened to you all but beg her to tell you why she left. As if the reason could possibly matter after all this time.”

“Sam—”

“I don’t need you to reassure me. I don’t know if you could. I just—” She took a deep breath. “I need you to figure out what the hell is going on in your head. A month ago, Elizabeth Spencer wasn’t so much as a blip on either of our radars. And now, it’s like ever since you found out she thought you cheated on her, you’ve been obsessed with finding out why she left you. How do you think that makes me feel?”

He didn’t have an answer for that. He knew Sam was right. He’d gone from not even thinking about Elizabeth to only worrying about her. He’d just kissed her. Despite the promises he’d made to Sam, Jason hadn’t been thinking about his fiancée while standing in that apartment. And he didn’t think Sam would be comforted by the idea that this…situation with Elizabeth hadn’t started with the fight with Emily.

That he’d already been thinking about her.

And what kind of man did that make him?

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Because I think we both need to—” Sam looked away. “It’s like we keep bashing our heads together having the same arguments. But neither one of us is saying anything. You hate the fact that I’m going on this job, but you refuse to tell me why. How is what I’m doing any different than what you do?”

This was something he could explain. Because he’d always known what his issue was with her returning to work as a con artist.

“The life I live…” Jason hesitated. “It’s violent, and I commit crimes. I break laws. But the people who get hurt sign up for this life. The people I go after—they choose to be part of this. The people you pull these tricks on—they didn’t.”

“Oh, so what you do is honest, and what I do is a lie? Are you serious—”

“I didn’t say it makes sense,” Jason interrupted. “I said that’s how I see it. Manny Ruiz chose this life. His brother and their father—made that choice. But this woman you’re going to steal money from—she thinks the guy she’s dealing with is legit. You’re stealing from people who never asked to play the game. So, yeah, I think what you do is worse.”

Sam flinched, almost as if she’d been hit, then glared at him. “So you think a man who’s killed people and beaten people up for a living is somehow better than me? That’s what we’re getting to. You’re an honorable criminal, and I’m trash—”

“I never said that—”

“But somehow, my crimes are dirtier and more wrong.” Sam nodded. “Thanks. Thanks for clearing that up.” She pursed her lips, nodded again. “And while we’re being honest, I think you’re still in love with Elizabeth Spencer. I think that’s what Courtney meant when she told me I was a cheap substitute for you and for Sonny. She was talking about Elizabeth.”

“I—”

“And it was fine when you thought she’d left you because of your job. You could live with that. You could settle for me. But now you know she left because you hurt her and treated her like garbage. And it’s killing you. Because now settling doesn’t seem like it makes you happy anymore.”

Jason said nothing, and Sam nodded. “Thank you for not denying it.”

“I don’t know if anything you said is right, I just know—I know it’s not wrong,” Jason admitted painfully. “Sam—”

“She doesn’t want you, Jason. She has a husband and a new life. So you need to figure out if you can let her go. Because if you can’t, then I don’t know how I can stay.” She lifted up her duffel bag. “All I ask you is to just…stop having these heart to hearts where people can see you. Or hear you. I don’t deserve to be humiliated on top of everything else.”

“Sam—” he said again.

“I’m going to Florida. Let’s…both take this time to regroup. Because I deserve more than this. And so does she.”

Sam pushed past him, and Jason let her go. He didn’t even know what he could say to her, except she was right. Everyone deserved better than the way he was treating them, and he just—he needed to get things under control again.

Elizabeth wanted him to stay away if it wasn’t about Manny, and this time, he thought that was a good idea. Until he got his head on straight.

Lucky & Elizabeth’s Apartment: Living Room

By the time Lucky came home from therapy around seven that night, Elizabeth had slept and felt slightly more human. She had decided to ignore the entire…incident with Jason and explain it to her brain as stress and hysteria. She’d lost her mind for a few minutes, but she was okay now.

Whatever had happened with Jason, no matter how guilty she felt about it—it didn’t change what Lucky had done. Lucky had promised her to look after Cameron, and instead, he’d put his health at risk by dragging him out with a fever.

She gave Cameron another small glass of the Pedialyte juice Jason had purchased at the pharmacy. It was his second dose since he’d woken up from his earlier nap, and already he looked more comfortable. With Cameron feeling better, and a few hours of sleep behind her, Elizabeth felt ready to at least attempt to figure things out with Lucky.

Lucky dropped his keys on the coffee table and offered a sheepish grin. “Hey. Look, I know you’re angry—”

“Angry isn’t really the word.” She took a deep breath. “I lost half my shift at work, and it would have been more if Epiphany didn’t cover for me. You left me without a car seat, and Cameron had a fever. Did you even give a damn—”

“Of course I did!” Lucky’s cheeks flushed. “Did you? I told you I couldn’t miss another session—”

“And I—” She closed her eyes. “You agreed. Don’t pretend you didn’t. I had to beg you, but you agreed—”

“I only have three days before I lose my spot on the squad!” Lucky shot back. “Damn it, isn’t that supposed to be the most important thing? Get back on active duty and full pay so you can take off a fucking day work to take care of your kid?”

Your kid. God, she’d seen it for months, but she’d ignored it. After a year, Cameron was her kid. Not theirs. Not his. But he was Elizabeth’s responsibility, and Lucky had made it clear every time he put himself above what Cameron needed.

“No, the most important thing to me is my son. And he had a fever. Five seconds after you walked away, Lucky, Cameron threw up all over me and Jason. Epiphany had to call Patrick. He had a fever,” she repeated. “And you left me without his car seat. How the hell did you think I’d get home?”

“I—I forgot.” Lucky grimaced. “I’m sorry. I just—I figured if I left him with you, Epiphany would cover for you. She likes you.”

“But she has a job to do, and she can’t keep covering—” Elizabeth shook her head. “What is wrong with you, Lucky? You promised me—you swore we’d be a family—and every time I ask you to do something for Cameron, it’s like I’m asking you to commit a crime. He was sick, and he’s just a baby! How could you drag him all the way to the hospital and leave him like that? He was crying—”

“Oh, come on! This isn’t fair! He was crying here, too. And hey, it looks like he needed to go to the hospital if he’s still sick—”

Elizabeth could scarcely breathe as her throat closed, and the tears burned. “You said you wanted to adopt Cameron. You wanted us to be family. But Cameron doesn’t matter to you at all, does he?”

“Oh, calm down. It’s not that serious.” Lucky rolled his eyes. He stalked to the kitchen and yanked open the fridge to pull out a beer. He shoved aside Cameron’s orange Pedialyte and frowned at it. “What is this?”

“It’s for Cameron. He can’t keep a lot of food down.” Elizabeth dragged her hands through her hair. “Lucky—”

Lucky’s voice was quiet, almost contemplative, and she didn’t know what to think about that. “How did you get home? Did Emily drive you? Did you call a cab?”

When Elizabeth didn’t answer, Lucky frowned and turned away from the fridge, the Pedialyte still in his hand. “How much did the fucking cab cost? And what about this? Didn’t the pharmacy have their own brand? How much money did you spend today?”

“Jason drove us home,” Elizabeth said finally, and swallowed hard as Lucky stared at her, the color draining from his face. “He was there—you know that. And he was worried after Cameron threw up on me, on him—” She jumped as Lucky threw the plastic bottle in the sink, the flush returning to his cheeks. “He did me a favor, okay? I didn’t have a car seat, and—he went into the pharmacy for me. To get Cam’s prescription and anything else Patrick told him to—”

“Patrick Drake? That doctor who likes to screw all the nurses? You sleeping with him, too?” Lucky demanded. “Screwing the doctor, taking favors from criminals—anything else you want to tell me, Elizabeth?”

“It’s not—he—” She took a step back before she even realized it, holding her hands up. “He just wanted to help, okay?”

“Because he’s so much better than me, isn’t he?” Lucky growled. He stalked over to the sink and grabbed the Pedialyte, twisting the cap off. “My wife isn’t going to owe any fucking mobster a goddamn favor—”

“No, don’t!” Elizabeth sprang forward as Lucky started to dump the Pedialyte in the sink. Cameron needed that, and they couldn’t get any more at this hour—the pharmacy had already closed. She grabbed his arms, trying to get a grip on the bottle so she could wrench it away. Her baby needed that to get better—

“Let me go, you goddamn whore—” Lucky shoved his elbow back, putting the full force of his body into it as Elizabeth went flying back towards the arch that divided the kitchen from the living room.

Her temple slammed into the doorway, and pain exploded in her head, her vision dimming, filled with stars—were her ears ringing?

Elizabeth slumped to the ground, clutching the side of her head, not even sure what had just happened. Had…had Lucky actually pushed her? Oh, God, why couldn’t she focus?

“Oh my God, Elizabeth—” His voice sounded like it was coming from very far away. As she felt his hands on her shoulders, she managed to swat them away.

“Get—” She choked. “Get away from me—” She crawled a few feet as her head ached. Her vision finally righted itself even as her head continued to throb. She leaned against the sofa, facing the kitchen, taking in Lucky’s stricken face. “Get away,” she managed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—” He stopped his advance as she feebly kicked at him. “Let me get you an ice pack—”

“Stay away from me—” Elizabeth closed her eyes, swallowed the sobs. Oh, God. What did she do now?

“It was an accident. Oh, God, I’m so sorry. I would never hurt you. Please.”

Her Lucky was in those words, his voice, the boy she’d fallen in love with. She could hear him, but when she opened her eyes, she still didn’t know if she could see him. Lucky looked upset, but she didn’t—

She didn’t know what to do. What to think. Had he meant to hurt her? Send her flying like that? Or had he just reacted? And did it even matter?

“Cameron needs that…” Elizabeth finally managed. “Don’t…please don’t.”

“I’m sorry. I was mad.” Lucky got up and hurried to the sink. He showed her the bottle, half its contents gone. He screwed the cap back on and shoved it back in the fridge. “I was mad that Jason did something for you, and you’re right. I’m sorry. I never should have—I just—” He was crying now. “I’m sorry.”

“You should—” Everything hurt, and her head felt like she was swimming against a very rough tide. “You should go.”

“No, you need to believe me. I need to make this okay.” He knelt down, offering her hand. “Let me help you up—”

“D-Don’t touch me.” She slapped his hand away, and he backed away again. “Don’t—go away.”

“I can’t. If I leave, you’ll never forgive me. Please. It’s just—God, Elizabeth, I’m sorry. I just—I don’t know. I feel like if I could just get back on active duty, everything will be okay again, you know? You can stop working so much, and we can get a house. And we can be happy again. I’m sorry. Please. Please. I’d rather cut off my arm than hurt you.”

She wasn’t sure if she believed him because she needed to or if she thought he was sincere, Elizabeth finally allowed Lucky to pull her to feet and help her sit on the sofa. He hurried over with an ice pack that she pressed to the side of her face.

“I’m sorry—”

“Sorry doesn’t change anything,” Elizabeth murmured. “I just…I’m tired, Lucky. And I don’t want to argue anymore.”

“We won’t. I’m sorry. I won’t—I’m sorry,” he said again.

“I’m going to bed. I’m going to sleep in Cameron’s room. I just—” She shook her head as he started to follow her. “No, I just—God, I need some space.”

“Right, right. And he needs you, too.”

Elizabeth closed the door on Lucky’s eager, apologetic face, flipping the lock. She slid down the door, closing her eyes, and silently continued to cry.

Can you see me up here?
Would you bring me back down?
I’ve been living to see my fears
As they fall to the ground
I remind myself of somebody else
– Somebody Else’s Song, Lifehouse

---

Wednesday, April 5, 2006

General Hospital: Nurse’s Hub

“Hey, how’s Cameron this morning?” Epiphany asked as she stepped up behind Elizabeth in the hub and put a hand on her shoulder. “He doing better?”

“Oh, yeah.” Elizabeth flashed her supervisor a tired smile. “Thanks so much for covering for me. The medicine and some cuddling really perked him up. He slept last night, and he was okay to go to daycare.”

“Good, good. You know, we single moms have to stick together,” Epiphany told her. Elizabeth opened her mouth to protest the description of her as a single mother, but she pressed her lips together and looked away.

“Did I ever tell you about Stanford’s father?” Epiphany asked as the two of them continued their work. Elizabeth peered at her curiously, then shook her head.

“No. What happened to him?”

“We got divorced when Stan was younger. He wasn’t a bad man, mind you. I think he even meant the promises he made me when he proposed. But…I think life just disappointed him. I got what I wanted—I wanted to be a nurse. I wanted to be a mother. But David just never really got together. He wanted to be a doctor, but we couldn’t afford it. He was going to go back, but…” Epiphany sighed. “He just couldn’t handle the setbacks, you know?”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth exhaled slowly. “How…how did it end?”

“Without a lot of fanfare. We spent a couple of years drifting, mostly lying to each other. I wanted to keep things together for Stan, but David just…he thought there was something else out there for him, so one day, he went to find it. And we…we never heard from him again.”

“Never?” Elizabeth repeated. “I’m surprised. Stan never looked for him?”

“I asked him once if he was going to, but Stan wasn’t interested. He said he knew who had raised him, and the man that left didn’t matter enough to find..” Epiphany lifted a brow. “You know what I really regret about all of that?”

“What?”

“Letting him be the one that walked. I should have gone first. But I had a little boy, and I didn’t want to raise him alone. I didn’t want to be alone. I didn’t really get that I already was. David was gone long before he left for good. You see what I’m saying?”

“It’s…more complicated than that,” Elizabeth said finally.

“It usually is. But just in case—I want you to know that there are some people who will stand by you. You are not alone.”

Elizabeth sighed, and without thinking, shoved a piece of hair behind her ear. She realized what she’d done when she saw Epiphany’s sharp inhale of breath. She turned and winced at the anger she saw on the older woman’s face.

“It’s not what you think—”

“What I think is that you have a bruise on the side of your face that looks like someone shoved your face into something hard,” Epiphany bit out. Elizabeth brushed her hair forward. “Oh, you can’t unring that bell—”

“I fell—”

“Oh, don’t you try that—”

“Epiphany.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “Yes, Lucky and I got into a fight last night. Yes, we were yelling at each other. But he didn’t hit me. He didn’t.”

“There are a lot of ways to cause a bruise on a woman without a man laying his hand on her,” Epiphany said. “Elizabeth—”

“I can handle this. We argued. It’s—” Elizabeth took a deep breath. Lucky had been gone when she woke that morning, and she, honestly, hadn’t come to terms with any of it. If she could be given a choice, she might not have come to work at all. When she’d seen the dark purple bruise blooming on her cheek, she’d been worried.

Because maybe she could convince most of the people that it was an accident, but there were others who would never believe her. And thankfully, she thought Jason would probably stay away from her, at least for today.

She knew she’d never be able to lie to him. Not yet. In a few days, when she’d settled—she might be able to manage it.

“I tripped on a carpet and fell. Lucky was upset—he blamed himself, you know. And it just—we’re under a lot of stress. He’s struggling. He just wants to get back to work. Things will be okay when he gets back on the job—”

Epiphany hesitated, clearly wanting to say something else, but then nodded. “Okay. I hope so. I’m here if you need me.”

“Thank you.”

Elizabeth flinched when she heard the wheels of the custodian’s cart as Manny Ruiz slowly rolled past them. He stopped in front of the hub and flashed them his bright white teeth. “Hey, pretty ladies. Having a good day?”

“I was,” Epiphany said flatly.

“Elizabeth, I haven’t seen your pretty redheaded friend around.” Manny’s smile seemed to deepen. “I’m sorry she had to leave.”

“I’m sure she’s sorry she didn’t get a chance to say goodbye,” Elizabeth said, even as heart pounded. “I’m surprised you decided to make Port Charles home. With everything that’s happened here.”

“Oh, well, this is just a stop in my journey. But it’s nice to hear you’ve been thinking of me. I’m so lucky to be surrounded by such beautiful women.” His smile faded slightly, the corners of his mouth curving down slightly, giving him a sinister air. “Beautiful inside and out.”

Elizabeth couldn’t dredge up a reply at first as her throat went dry. “I should get back to work.”

“Me, too. But, hey, we should talk again sometime soon. You can never have too many friends. See ya, Pretty Girl.”

With a whistle, Manny returned to his duties as Elizabeth closed her eyes. Damn. Damn. Damn. Neither she nor Epiphany spoke until Manny was safely on the elevator and had left the floor.

“Elizabeth—”

“I need a few minutes,” Elizabeth told Epiphany finally, cutting off her supervisor. She sighed and left the hub to go over to the waiting area where Cody had set up to watch over her. He had dressed casually as a visitor with a newspaper and magazine. He was already looking at her as she approached.

“Miss Webber.”

She furrowed her brow, realizing it wasn’t the first time he’d addressed her by her maiden name.“Hey, um, I don’t know if this is something you should tell Jason, but Manny Ruiz—”

“I saw.” Cody got to his feet as he slid his cell phone out of his pocket. “I didn’t hear everything—”

“He commented about Skye being gone. Called me beautiful and said we should talk again. That we should be friends.”

“That is not good.” Cody winced. He dialed the phone. “Hey, Vic—yeah, I know—but I need you to come up to the surgery floor and stay on Elizabeth. I need to go to the boss. Emily isn’t the target. Yeah, okay—”

“Do you really think that’s necessary?” Elizabeth began.

“I do. Jason told me if Manny so much as looked at you to let him know immediately. And I want to tell him in person in case he needs me to do…” Cody hesitated. “I have my orders. But I’ll wait until Vic gets up here—”

“I’ll be okay—” When Cody shook his head, Elizabeth sighed. “But you have your orders.”

“You don’t get left alone in the hospital. I follow you to your apartment, and then I’m relieved by a night guard. It’s not perfect, but—”

“Okay, okay.” Elizabeth went back to the hub to finish paperwork, studiously avoiding looking at Cody until a man in an orderly uniform got off the elevator, went over to Cody. The two men talked for a few minutes before Cody left.

“I know it’s wrong,” Epiphany said, as they watched Elizabeth’s guard leaves, “but I feel better knowing someone is with you. And Lucky hasn’t noticed them?”

“They know better than to let a cop see them.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “I thought about telling him,” she admitted. Or at least she had until last night. “But he’d never understand.”

“No, I guess he wouldn’t. Well, we better get back to work. Psycho or not, we got patients to help.”

Morgan & Corinthos Warehouse: Sonny’s Office

Jason and Sonny were going over shipment schedules when Max knocked rapidly on Sonny’s door, then opened it. “Jase, Cody’s here—”

Jason was out of his seat before Max had even finished his statement, having spied Elizabeth’s guard over his shoulder. “Cody? Is Elizabeth with you?”

“No, but don’t worry. I pulled Vic and waited for him to switch before I left the hospital. I just didn’t want to do this over the phone. I was afraid someone would overhear me.”

“What happened?” Sonny asked as he also got to his feet. “Did Manny do something?”

“I don’t know if Elizabeth saw him, but Manny made a point to walk past her three times today, including just wheeling his cart past a patient room while she was in it. Then two more times while she was at the hub. But then the fourth time—”

“Four times—” Jason flinched. “When did her shift start?”

“At eight. It’s only been four hours.”

“That’s pretty fucking deliberate,” Sonny murmured. “Do you think he made you watching over her?”

“No. I don’t think so,” Cody answered. “Elizabeth knows how this works. She doesn’t make eye contact or even look at me unless she needs me. The reason I came over to tell you is Manny stopped at the hub and talked to her. Talked about missing Skye. He told Elizabeth that he was lucky to be around such beautiful women, inside and out. And that they should be friends. They’d be talking soon.”

“That’s…a pretty clear threat.” Jason frowned. “Why bother warning her?”

“To see what she’ll do,” Sonny said quietly. They all turned to look at him, and Sonny shrugged. “Manny had to know Elizabeth is the reason Skye is gone. He’s not an idiot. Elizabeth put herself in between them, then Skye disappears. Maybe he knows she told you, Jason. Or maybe he thinks Skye told Lorenzo. Either way, if he makes a threat towards her—”

“He thinks she’ll go tell someone.”

Jason took a deep breath. “And if she had come here today to tell me—”

“Manny might think there was a game worth playing. Instead, she might just be a nosy nurse who took away his plaything.”

“Uh, which one do we want it to be?” Cody asked with a frown. “Because both of those sound like bad things.”

“If he thinks Elizabeth mattered to me or even to Alcazar, he’d send us a threat. He’d want us to know. But he hasn’t said anything.” Jason hesitated. This was bad, but he didn’t know exactly how bad it was or if there was something they should do.

“What do you want to do?” Sonny asked Jason.

Surprised by the question, Jason hesitated. “I don’t know, but we need to do something.” He wasn’t interested in giving Manny any more time to focus on Elizabeth. He’d had long enough.

Sonny looked at Cody. “Stick to Elizabeth like glue. Make sure her night guard knows Manny remains a threat. See if there’s an empty apartment on her floor. I’d feel better if we could get closer inside. For now, nothing changes but tell Elizabeth to stay on her guard and keep doing what she’s doing. Don’t piss him off.”

“Yeah, all right.”

When Cody had closed the door, Sonny looked at Jason. “If she weren’t a cop’s wife, I’d tell you to send her away. To get her out of town. If you want to take Manny out, make it clean and untraceable to us.”

“I thought you said it was too high profile—”

“That was before he was making actual threats. If we wait on this, we might not get another chance.” Sonny sat down at the desk. “If Manny just disappeared, no body, I think the PCPD might not even bother. I know I’ve been shit on this, but I agree with you now. We can’t wait to deal with Ruiz anymore.”

Sonny hesitated. “If we wait, Jason, we run the risk of Manny finding out exactly how much Elizabeth Webber matters to you. And I think that’s the absolute last thing anyone wants.”

Jason frowned, looked at him with a shake of his head. “What does that mean?”

“It means that this is exactly the kind of thing a psycho like Manny would enjoy. A cop, his wife, and the mobster who…” Sonny hesitated. “I don’t know what you and Elizabeth are doing these days, but I know that look in your eye. And it’s not friendly.”

“It’s not that simple—”

“Yeah? Sam’s been gone a whole day, hasn’t she? You talked to her?”

Jason pressed lips together. Didn’t answer. But, no, he hadn’t spoken to Sam since she’d left the night before. And she was only in Miami—he could have called to see if her plane had landed, but he hadn’t.

“None of this matters, Sonny—”

“No? You telling me Manny wouldn’t find it entertaining as hell to play with the three of you like a cat hunting mice? You sure he wasn’t following her around before you put a guard on her?”

“I—No, I don’t know for sure.”

“Exactly. Why take a chance? Get rid of him. Make him disappear before he figures out Elizabeth is more than just some annoying nurse who got in his way.”

Miami, Florida: House

Sam had forgotten how much she loved the warmth and humidity of Florida. As soon as she’d arrived in Miami the night before, she’d headed out to the clubs and enjoyed a night out for the first time in months.

It had been years since she’d remembered she was only twenty-six and didn’t have to take life so damn seriously all the damn time.

The next afternoon, as she drove out to meet Paulie Rothstein, one of her dad’s frequent partners, Sam realized she hadn’t heard from Jason since she’d left the penthouse the day before.

It was kind of crazy to take a minute and just think about how much their relationship had fallen apart since Danny’s death five weeks earlier. Before the quarantine at General Hospital, Sam would have said their relationship was as solid as a rock. She’d been confident not only in her future with Jason but in herself.

But what had she actually been so upbeat about? She’d been wandering around Jason’s penthouse for nearly two years, and while it was nice to have access to his bank accounts without a lot of arguments about how she spent his money—Sam wondered if the restless feeling she’d developed in the last month had been inevitable.

Even on Sam’s best jobs, she’d wanted to move on. Shed the old identity, slip into a new life, a new challenge. She’d been bored, and it had taken the destruction of her old life to see just how empty it had been in the first place.

She pulled into the driveway of a mid-sized house and grinned when she saw the older man waiting at the front door.

“Paulie!” Sam called as she stepped out. He ambled down to meet her, and she kissed his cheek. “How long has it been?” He’d been like a second father once upon a time, a big grizzly bear of a man with thick hair he’d let go gray and a full beard to match. Paulie just oozed trust and charm, a skill that Cody and Sam had relied on often.

“Ah, not since your dad loaned you out on that father/daughter gig we pulled in…Seattle?”

“I thought it was Portland.” Sam shrugged and lifted the Coach purse from the passenger seat of her rented sports car. She’d had to stop at a store and stock up on her rich woman wardrobe—she’d discarded a lot of it ages ago when she’d gone after Jax. “All the Pacific Northwest towns feel the same.”

“I was surprised when your dad told me you’d gone off on your own. I thought he’d never let you get too far.” Paulie shook his head as he unlocked the door. “Where’d you end up?”

“I got tired of running the baby game,” Sam admitted. “I know Dad liked it, but…” She grimaced. “It got too hard.” And four abortions by the age of twenty—too risky for her health. Eventually, her luck would have run out.

“Yeah, I did warn Cody he might want to vary that one a bit, but you know your dad always thought he knew best. You probably made a mint at playing the trophy wife.”

“I did, but a lot of it went into Danny’s place in Hawaii.” Sam’s smile slid from her face as Paulie led her into the airy foyer. “You know it’s not cheap out there. I don’t…have to worry about that anymore.”

“I was sorry to hear about that. Danny wasn’t much use to your dad on the road, but he was a sweet kid.” Paulie shook his head. “I still can’t believe you were adopted, Sammy. Your dad never said a word.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of weird. Dad wasn’t one to run a game that needed kids. Not then. You don’t know what he was planning?”

“I think he was thinking about getting set up for a few years, and the single dad trick can give you a bit of comfort. Still, I thought Cody and I were close. Ah, well. I’m glad you decided to get back in the game.” Paulie raised a brow. “You are back, aren’t you?”

“This…” Sam bit her lip. “I promised my fiance this was a one-time thing, Paulie. He’s not a big fan of this.” She looked around at the large home with the acres of sunlight shining through. “It’s not like I can go back to my best tricks. I can’t run the trophy wife anymore.”

“No, I guess not. But real estate is always a solid investment. And I could always use another girl on a regular basis.” Paulie slung his arm around her shoulders. “You had a gift for this life, Sam. It’s a shame to see it go to waste.”

“I’m just visiting the old life,” Sam told him. “I live in the real world now.”

“That’s a shame, but I appreciate you doing me this favor. Let me get you up to speed.”

Lucky & Elizabeth’s Apartment: Living Room

Elizabeth had managed to get out of work by four that day and get home to be with Cameron while Lucky went to a late physical therapy session. She was sure Lucky was just avoiding her as her husband had barely spoken a word to her since he’d shoved her into a wall.

And that suited Elizabeth just fine. She didn’t even know what she’d say to Lucky at this point — she knew she’d lied when talking to Epiphany earlier that day about her bruise.

No, Lucky hadn’t hit her. But he’d shoved her so hard she’d been unable to stop herself from slamming her into the wall.

And every time Elizabeth glanced into the mirror, she saw the bruise. She’d taken the classes about domestic abuse—she knew that’s what had happened. But somehow…

Somehow she was still here. She hadn’t kicked him out. Hadn’t taken her son and left.

She didn’t really know why. She told herself and anyone who asked that things would be okay once Lucky was back at work, but Elizabeth didn’t really know if she believed that. Because, yeah, Lucky would be working again and they’d have more money.

But would that change Lucky’s relationship with Cameron? Could she really let her little boy grow up in a home where he wasn’t loved? Hadn’t that been difficult enough for her?

Elizabeth didn’t want to think about that now. Not on this night when she was alone with her son and could just cuddle on the sofa with him, watch some cartoons, and just enjoy him. She didn’t really get to do that all that often.

She grimaced at the knock on her door, then sighed as she went to answer it. “Don’t worry, buddy. We’ll send whoever it is away and go back to Spiderman,” she promised him.

“Okay, Mommy.” Cameron snuggled into the corner of the sofa more, laying his head down on the pillow, his eyes glued on the television screen.

Elizabeth visibly flinched when she opened the door to find Jason there. “What are—”

“I’m sorry,” Jason said at the same time. She scowled, stepped back away from the door, and grabbed his arm to yank him inside.

“Get in here before the neighbors see you,” she muttered. The last thing she needed was someone mentioning his visit to Lucky. “What are you—”

“I knowed you.” Cameron sat back up on the sofa, rubbed his eyes. “I trew up on you.”

“Uh—” Jason hesitated, then knelt down as the toddler rolled off the sofa and padded over to him. “Yeah, I guess you did. You were pretty sick. I’m surprised you remember me.”

“You didn’t yell,” Cameron said plainly. “Sorry I trew up. I trew up on Mommy, too. All night. And I messed up da bed. But she not yell too.” He looked up at Elizabeth with a bright smile, his tiny baby teeth flashing like pearls. “Mommy nice.”

“Yeah, your mom’s great. Are you feeling better?”

“Lots. Mommy says I need cuddles and juice. I gots both today. We watch Biderman.” He took Jason’s hand and led him over to the sofa. “You like Biderman?”

“Uh, can’t say I’m familiar with it—” But Jason, a bit mystified, sat on the sofa as Cameron climbed up next to him.

“It’s awesome. Biderman, Biderman,” Cameron sang. “Bider can!” He grinned at Jason. “He nice too.”

“It’s Cameron’s favorite cartoon,” Elizabeth said finally as she took a deep breath. She sat on the sofa, pulled Cameron into her lap. “Hey, can you do me a favor, baby? Why don’t you go to your room and pick your absolute three favorite toys to show Jason?”

“Tree?” Cameron repeated. He pursed his lips. “What about five?”

“Four.”

“Five.” Cameron nodded as if it had been agreed to. He slid down from Elizabeth’s lap and ran into his room.

“That’ll take him fifteen minutes, at least. He takes his favorite toys seriously.” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “Thank you. Cameron was scared yesterday, and I didn’t realize he’d remember you. But he did. And it’s a good memory now, not a bad one. I—I appreciate it.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m just glad he’s okay. He looks a lot better.” Jason looked back at her, his eyes narrowed. “What happened?” he asked, gesturing at her face.

“Oh.” She’d forgotten to leave her hair down. She pressed a hand over the tender skin. “It’s so silly—I was so tired yesterday, and I tripped on the rug going into the kitchen.” She stood up and walked away from him, hiding that side of her face. “Why are you here? I mean—”

“I’m sorry. I know you asked me to stay away.” Jason cleared his throat, also got to his feet. “I checked with your night guard, and he said Lucky had left. I’m not using them as a spy—”

“No, I appreciate you making sure he wasn’t home.” Elizabeth crossed her arms. “Is this about Manny?”

“Yeah. Cody came by the warehouse—I mean, you knew that.” A bit flustered, Jason looked away, scratched his temple. “I just—I wanted you to know that Sonny is taking this seriously—I am too, but I already was. But he—” He hesitated. “Manny isn’t going to be a problem much longer.”

“You could have given that message to Cody,” Elizabeth said. She found the courage to meet his eyes. “You could have called. Why are you here?”

“I—” Jason exhaled slowly. “I wanted to apologize. For yesterday. You—you were upset and tired. I took advantage—”

“I was upset and tired,” Elizabeth agreed. She bit her lip. “And man, I’d love to blame it on you. On that. But you didn’t take advantage. I—” She looked away, towards the bedroom door where she could hear Cameron rustling through his toys. “I had a weak moment, Jason. You should be used to them with me.”

“Elizabeth—”

“Look, I’m not going to pretend my marriage is…everything it should be. And right now, it’s not good. Okay? I can’t lie about it. And you—I don’t know. You were there, being kind at a moment I needed it, and I just—I lost my mind for a minute.” Her throat tightened. “I can’t afford to be weak, Jason. I have a little boy who depends on me—”

“You’re not weak, Elizabeth. You never were—”

“I wish I could always believe that.” Elizabeth paused. “We’ve been stirring up a lot of old memories, Jason. And I don’t think it’s a leap to say neither of us is happy with our relationships right now. But I married Lucky. I made promises to him. And you made promises to Sam. They both deserve better from us.”

“I know that.”

“If you need to get in touch with me about Manny, you need to call me. Or go through someone else. Cody. Vic, the other guard. Hell, send Sonny. But this needs to be it, Jason. Because I just…” She dipped her head down.

“Okay.” Jason stepped towards her, though, stopping just a few feet from her. “I don’t want you to be unhappy, Elizabeth. I’m sorry if anything I’ve done or said—I just want you to be okay. You and Cameron. So if me staying away is what you need—”

“I’m not even sure what I need,” Elizabeth admitted. She looked up, and their eyes met again for a long moment. “I’m just trying to get through this.”

“Okay,” Jason said again. He nodded. “You know if you ever need anything—”

“Yeah, I know.” She managed a half-smile. “Thanks.”

“Okay, Mr. Jason,” Cameron announced from his doorway. They both turned to look at him as he dragged one of his little yellow storage boxes behind him. “I know Mommy said five, but I counted just like Dora. I got eight.”

Elizabeth laughed, pressing her hands to her face as a few stray tears slid down her cheeks. “Cameron—”

“Eight of your favorite toys?” Jason asked, turning away from Elizabeth. “Let’s see what we got.”

Even though Cameron would have loved to linger over every toy and tell Jason elaborate stories about each and every action figure he’d dragged from his room, Elizabeth kept her eye on the clock. The absolute last thing she needed was Lucky to walk in and find Jason in his living room.

But she didn’t have the heart to hurry Cameron, and Jason didn’t look impatient. Her precious baby didn’t often get this kind of undivided attention from anyone other than Elizabeth or her grandmother. She couldn’t help but wish that Lucky could find it in himself to share this kind of moment with her son.

And wishing even for a minute that Lucky was as good with Cameron as Jason was…that was not the way to get herself together, so finally, after nearly a half-hour, Elizabeth flashed Jason a meaningful look, and he nodded.

“Thanks for showing me all your cool toys,” Jason told Cameron as he handed Cameron the Spiderman figurine. “I had a lot of fun.”

“Me, too.” Cameron offered his new friend a shy smile and climbed into his lap to hug him. “I gots lots more. You come back.”

“We’ll see,” Jason said as Elizabeth visibly relaxed, realizing Jason knew better than to make a firm commitment to a little boy. He hugged Cameron back. “I’m glad you’re feeling better. Have a great time with your mom and Spiderman.”

“Okay.”

“Go put away your toys,” Elizabeth told Jason. “Before Daddy gets home.”

“Okay, Mommy.” With a happy smile and a dance in his step, Cameron dragged the yellow box the way he had come.

“You should go, but…thank you. He…he had a lot of fun.”

“He’s a great kid.” Jason turned towards the front door just as they both saw the doorknob twist. Elizabeth’s throat closed tight as Lucky stepped inside the room.

Her husband frowned at first at the sight of Jason, as if not entirely understanding what he was seeing. “What the hell—”

“He came over to check on Cameron,” Elizabeth said quickly. “I told you, Jason drove us home yesterday. He just wanted to make sure Cameron was feeling better.”

Lucky scowled, then glared at Jason. “Get out of my house!”

Jason’s jaw clenched, but he looked at Elizabeth and nodded. “Yeah, no problem.” She relaxed only slightly when she realized he was really going to go without a fight or a scene. Of course, he’d never make things worse for her.

And she couldn’t blame him for still being there—Elizabeth should have sent him on his way a long time ago.

Lucky slammed the door behind Jason as the other man left and spun around to glare at Elizabeth again, his eyes reddened. “What the fuck was he doing here?”

“Keep your voice down,” Elizabeth hissed, keeping her eye on Cameron’s bedroom door, which was wide open. But Cameron remained in his room. She could see his curly head ducking down behind his bed. Her heart broke open. “I told you. He was worried about Cameron—”

“You keep that fucking criminal out of my house and away from my wife—I’m not going to put up with this bullshit—”

“What bullshit?” Elizabeth demanded, forgetting herself. “Someone giving a damn about my son? Yeah, I can see why that would piss you off—”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Later, Elizabeth would wish she could relive this moment and control her damn mouth. But she couldn’t stop herself. “It means that Jason has shown my son more kindness and compassion in the last half hour than you have since the day we moved into together!”

Lucky’s eyes narrowed into slits, and he strode forward to grab her arms. He wrapped his fingers around her forearms. He yanked her forward, then shook her. “Are you fucking him again? Is that what this is?”

“Get your hands off me!” Elizabeth shoved back at him. “Are you insane? No! I told you!”

“Because I’m not going to be humiliated in front of the whole town! Not again!”

“I never humiliated—”

Lucky grabbed her again, and when she tried to push him away again, he twisting her arm behind her back. Elizabeth gasped as pain radiated up to her shoulder.

Oh, God, oh, God—

“Lucky—”

With a hiss, Lucky released her abruptly, his face pale and his eyes wide. The pupils were so large and black that the blue of his irises was all but gone. He swallowed hard, then looked down at his hands. “What did I just do?” he murmured.

Silent tears rolled down Elizabeth’s face as she stared at her husband, at the boy she’d loved so much and for so long, and wished like hell she had the courage to grab her son and run. Jason probably hadn’t even managed to get to the front door of their building.

But her feet were like concrete as her heart pounded, and her mind screamed at her to move. She couldn’t make this work in her head—she couldn’t understand how this was happening.

“Mommy?”

Cameron’s plaintive voice from the doorway had both of them turning to look at them. His lower lip stuck out as his voice trembled. “Mommy, can we watch Biderman?”

“Cameron—” Elizabeth’s voice broke.

“I have to go,” Lucky cut in. He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I have to go.” He turned and left the apartment abruptly.

“Mommy.” Cameron slowly crept out of his room. “Did you hurt your arm?”

“Yes,” Elizabeth managed. She closed her eyes, sucked down a hysterical sob. She was this little boy’s world, and she needed to pull herself together. “I’ll be okay, though, baby. Come sit on the sofa, and I’ll go get an ice pack.”

“Okay.” Cameron climbed up, his Spiderman figure clutched in his hand. “I’m sorry you’re hurt.”

“Me, too,” Elizabeth murmured. She disappeared into the kitchen and pressed her head against the wall, trying to get herself under control and stop herself from running like an insane person after Jason.

She knew she’d just have to say the word, and he’d take her someplace safe. He’d pack Cameron and her up and take them someplace Lucky could never find them. She could call him now, and he’d be back before she’d be able to hang up.

But this wasn’t his problem to fix. It was hers. So she took an icepack from the freezer and went to watch cartoons with her son.

She’d fix it tomorrow.

Outside the apartment in the hallway, Lucky sank to the ground, standing at his hands like they didn’t belong to him. He’d put a mark on Elizabeth’s face—that terrible bruise on her delicate skin—and he’d shoved her, twisted her arm—

Lucky squeezed his eyes shut. He was just so angry, so upset that he’d let her down so much. He didn’t know how to stop letting her down, and she had the nerve to throw that criminal in his face like Jason Morgan was so much better than him—

Well, fuck that.

He’d run out of the last refill Santiago had given him. He didn’t have the courage to take the dealer up on his suggestion to buy the heroin, even if the sample taste had done more to eliminate Lucky’s pain that any amount of oxy.

He wasn’t a drug addict. He just needed to get through two more days so he could take the physical on Friday, pass, and go back to work.

He had to get back to work so he could treat Elizabeth the way she deserved it. She was only leaning on Jason Morgan because Lucky wasn’t doing right by her. She was weak like that—but Lucky had to be the strong one.

He took out his phone and slowly dialed Santiago’s number. “Yeah. Yeah, I need more. No—not—just the regular. Yeah, I’ll see you in thirty.”

Lucky closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then forced himself to his feet. Two more days and he could go back to being the one in charge, and Elizabeth would be the sweet girl he knew again.

Just two more days.

But I set fire to the rain
Watched it pour as I touched your face
Well, it burned while I cried
‘Cause I heard it screaming out your name,
Your name
– Set Fire to the Rain, Adele

---

Thursday, April 6, 2006

 Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

 Jason scowled at the tax paperwork and flipped over a form for what must have been the third time that morning. He’d always been able to focus—always been able to shove out everything else in his brain to concentrate on what was in front of him but lately—

But not today. Less than a month ago, his life had been under control. Sure, Sam was struggling with Danny’s death and looking for her birth mother, but that was a problem Jason could solve. He could be there for her, find the answers—

And then that had blown up in his face. He knew he never should have run the test behind Sam’s back, and in hindsight, asking Elizabeth, in particular, had been a mistake. He’d never gotten in the habit of thinking of her like an ex-girlfriend, but everyone else had.

It just felt like he’d never been able to get back on the right foot with Sam. Fighting about the test, about Alexis and Elizabeth—everything had been going wrong even before she’d decided to get back into cons. And then Emily—

Jason scrubbed a hand over his face, took a deep breath. None of that mattered. He just had to get things under control. Lucky would go back to work at the end of the week, and Elizabeth would be fine. She and Lucky always managed to work things out.

Jason knew that better than anyone. The last few weeks—the last few days—had just been…they’d just drifted towards each other the way they always did when things got tough. It didn’t mean anything.

It couldn’t mean anything.

He was grateful when the knock on the door came. Jason shoved himself away from the desk and crossed to the door, frowning when he saw Beto on the other side. He jerked the door open. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be on Manny—”

“I wanted to tell you in person—we lost him.” Beto shook his head. “He went to the motel last night like always, but he never came out this morning. I called Vic—Manny isn’t at the hospital either. He didn’t show for his shift.”

Jason grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. This was the last thing he needed. “Everything okay at the hospital?”

“Vic said things were good on his floor. Manny hasn’t been there much in the last few weeks. Never bothered Emily at all.”

Jason frowned, turned back to him. “What about ICU? Did Vic go to the sixth floor?”

“He went up there, but Manny wasn’t there either—” Beto hesitated. “This is good, right? He probably split after Alcazar and his lady.”

Probably, but it just—it felt too easy. Jason rubbed his chest absently, frowning. He could call Elizabeth, he could ask her—

But she’d asked him to stay away, and judging by the look on Lucky’s face, the last thing Jason wanted to do was make more trouble for her. He never should have gone to the apartment the night before.

He pulled out his cell phone and called Cody instead. “Hey. You got eyes on Elizabeth? She’s okay?”

“She’s good, Jase,” Cody answered. “We’re at the hospital, up in ICU. Just like always. Why?”

“Beto said Manny checked out of the motel at some point and never showed for work. Don’t—” Jason hesitated. “Don’t tell Elizabeth. We don’t know anything yet, and I don’t want to worry her. Just—just don’t let her out of your sight.”

“Got it, Jase. Nothing will happen to her on my watch.”

Jason stared at his phone for another long moment, wondering if he was making the right choice not telling Elizabeth Manny had disappeared.

“What do you want me to do? Should I go tell Mr. C?”

Jason blinked, looked up at Beto. “No, uh, I’ll do that. Ah—” He frowned. “We need to find Manny, but I want someone else at the hospital. Vic should stay on the fifth floor, but I want someone walking around on six. In case Manny makes a grab at Elizabeth—”

“Might be hard—that’s the ICU, and you need special permission to get around.”

Which meant Jason had to call Alan and ask for another favor. His father might agree—he hated Manny Ruiz, too. “I’ll take care of it. Just head over. Stick with Cody if nothing else.” He sighed. “I’ll contact Alcazar. Put him on alert.”

Beto raised his brows. “We’re…helping him?”

Jason glared at the guard. “If Manny goes after anyone else, it’ll be Skye. Alcazar should know Manny has disappeared. He can take care of Miami. And if Manny shows up down there, I want to know.” This was the problem of thinking in black and white, of always taking things personally. Alcazar had been a threat while looking for control in Port Charles, but in Miami, they’d need to work with him once in a while.

“Right, right. I’ll get moving. Maybe it’s over?” Beto suggested as Jason walked him to the door. “Wouldn’t it be great if it ended like this?”

“I don’t think we’re going to get that lucky,” Jason muttered. He closed the door, then leaned his forehead against it for a moment. He needed to call Sonny, put the organization on alert. Everyone needed to be looking for Manny.

He opened his phone again, intending to call Sonny but it rang before he could. He stared at the screen for a long moment when he saw Sam’s name scroll across, wondering if he should just let it go to voicemail.

And then he felt guilty for that, so he flipped open the phone and answered it. “Hey, Sam. What’s up?”

“Is this a bad time?” Sam asked. “You sound like you’re in a hurry.”

“I’m in the middle of a couple of things,” Jason bit out, but then took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. It’s fine. How’s it going down there?”

“I can call back—”

Jason clenched his jaw, then forced himself to stop being so damn annoyed. It wasn’t Sam’s fault she’d called at a bad time. Nothing that had happened was her fault.

“It’s fine,” he repeated. “How’s Florida?”

“Do you really want to know?” Sam asked after a long moment. “I know you were mad—”

“I really want to know,” Jason told her. “I was going to call—” He winced because that might be the first time he’d actually lied to her. “I didn’t think you’d want to hear from me.”

“I wasn’t sure I did,” she admitted. “But I didn’t want you to worry. Look—” She was quiet for a moment. “I know you don’t like what I’m doing. I know you have issues. But I need you to know that—God, Jason, this has been amazing. I forgot the rush. The thrill. You know what I mean. You know that’s what you like about your job.”

His stomach sank as he closed his eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, I know.”

“It’s never boring, and I didn’t even realize how bored I was. I ran the game with Paulie yesterday, and we’re running another one in a few hours. It’s just—he offered me a regular gig. A few times a year. Just doing the same thing.”

Jason scrubbed a hand over his face. Great. Just what he needed. “So, you’d keep going.”

“Yeah, but just this. Just the real estate, you know? I don’t want—I’m not going back to all the old games. I can’t run them if we’re together—”

“And how long before you get bored with just the real estate?”

Sam was quiet. “There are a lot of things I can do that have nothing to do with the trophy wife or mistress, Jason. Can’t you trust me to find a way to make this work for us?”

He realized that she’d sounded almost happy when he’d answered the phone—lighter than she had in weeks—he realized it now because her tone shifted. Dulled. He closed his eyes again.

What right did he have to judge her for finding her own way out of the depression she’d sunk in after her brother’s death? Sam had done nothing wrong in the last few weeks—nothing to deserve the way he’d been treating her.

He didn’t know what was going wrong, didn’t understand how it had started or why it always seemed to get worse. Sam hadn’t changed. He hadn’t changed.

Nothing had changed—not really. He knew why Elizabeth had left him. That was all. Nothing earth-shattering about any of it.

“I don’t know,” Jason said, finally, because he didn’t want to lie to her again. “But I’m willing to try.”

She took a deep breath. “That’s all I’m asking. I’ll be home on Saturday. We’ll—we’ll make this work—and this—we can just go back to how it used to be. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Jason said faintly. “That’s what I want.”

“I’ll see you on Saturday.” Sam paused. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He hung up the phone, then stared at it for a long moment. For the first time since he’d said those words to her a year earlier—

They felt like a lie, and he didn’t understand it.

He didn’t understand what had changed for him in the last month. He didn’t know how to explain why just being in the same room with Elizabeth, knowing that he’d broken her heart—that it had been his to break seemed to rip apart everything else.

He’d been with her the night before—sitting on the sofa, Cameron between them listening to the toddler talk about his toys in a mixture of toddler-speak and English. He’d caught Elizabeth’s eye a few times as they’d enjoyed Cameron and his enthusiasm.

Are you sorry…that it’s not her in this penthouse? That you didn’t marry her? Have a kid with her? Are you sorry that it’s me and not her standing in front of you?

He hadn’t been able to answer Sam when she’d asked him that question, but she’d shoved that thought in his head—

And for a moment—just a moment—last night, sitting on that sofa—

He’d wanted Cameron to be his—to have put that ring on Elizabeth’s finger—

He’d wanted that life to be his.

Jason exhaled slowly and opened his phone again to call Sonny. It was useless thinking of things that could never happen.

It didn’t matter what had or hadn’t happened four years ago. It didn’t change anything, and there was no point in pretending things could be different. She was right.

They couldn’t be friends anymore. He needed to get rid of Manny Ruiz, make sure Elizabeth and her son were safe—

And then get out of her life.

Kelly’s: Courtyard

 “We’ll just grab something to go,” Emily told Sonny as they walked into the courtyard. “I know you want to get back to Greystone in case something happens.”

Sonny frowned at her, stopping a few feet from the door. “What do you mean?”

Emily blinked. “I just—I talked to the guard on my floor earlier, Sonny. Vic, right? He told me Manny didn’t show up for work. He said Jason didn’t want Elizabeth to know, but I don’t have a guard, so he thought I should.” She furrowed her brow. “You do want to get back to Greystone for that, right? Isn’t that what you meant when you said you didn’t have a lot of time?”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t going to get into it,” Sonny said with a scowl. “And Vic shouldn’t tell you anything. I’ll talk to him. Jason doesn’t want Elizabeth to know anything because there’s no point. That’s why we gave her a guard.”

Emily pursed her lips, frowning. “No point? She might be in danger—”

“Emily—”

They both turned when the door swung open, and the woman in question stopped out. Elizabeth raised her brows, her hand wrapped around a to-go cup. “Am I interrupting?”

“No,” Emily said. She took a deep breath. She and Elizabeth hadn’t spoken in a few days—not since their blow up at Kelly’s. And because she had a bad feeling, she lifted her chin. “Did you see Manny at the hospital today?”

“Oh.” Elizabeth shook her head. “No. But he’s not always assigned to my floor.” She sighed. “Not that it seemed to matter, but—” She tilted her head to the side. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“Emily,” Sonny said with a shake of his head. “Let’s go inside—”

“Stop,” Emily said, slapping his hand as he tried to take her arm. “Stop it. She deserves to know. I don’t care if Jason doesn’t want to worry her.”

“Deserves to know what?” Elizabeth demanded. She stepped forward. “What’s going on—”

“Nothing,” Sonny began but was startled when Elizabeth shot him a nasty look. “What—”

“I get it, I’m not your problem. You made that loud and clear,” Elizabeth retorted. She took a deep breath, looked at Emily. “Em—”

“Manny’s missing,” Emily declared. “He didn’t show up to work, and he left the motel. Vic—the guy on Pediatrics? He said they’re trying to find him, but they don’t know where he is.”

Elizabeth’s face paled as she closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “And no one thought I should know.”

“What difference does it make if you know?” Sonny asked. “Your guard knows—”

“I might not have stopped for coffee—” Elizabeth pursed her lips. Shook her head. “Some things will never change,” she murmured. “I’m going home. Thanks, Emily.”

“Of course.” Emily offered her a smile. “I’m sure it’s fine. You know, he probably went after Skye, you know. Dad said she moved to Miami with Alcazar.”

“Does everyone know everything?” Sonny muttered.

“I’m sure that’s true,” Elizabeth said, “and Cameron hasn’t been feeling well, so maybe Jason didn’t think—” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Good night.”

“Good night—”

“Elizabeth,” Sonny said as she passed them. Elizabeth sighed, then turned back to face her. “Look, I’m sorry. I know—I know you wanted something done a while ago about Manny. I told Jason it wasn’t our problem.”

“You what—” Emily’s words sputtered as Sonny continued speaking.

“But I changed my mind. As soon as Manny made his first threat—and you’ve had Cody for almost a week—”

Elizabeth just stared at him for a long moment. “You changed your mind.” Her voice sounded a bit rusty as if she were forcing the words out. “When?”

“When?” Sonny repeated, then frowned. “Why does—” He nodded. “Yesterday,” he said finally. “Anything before then—that’s on Jason.”

Elizabeth stared at him for a long moment as Emily frowned. Why did it matter when Sonny had changed his mind? When Jason had given Elizabeth a personal guard?

But Elizabeth didn’t say anything to answer that question. She just nodded. “Okay. I need to go home.” She left then, and Emily blinked after her, before looking at Sonny with confusion.

“What was that about? What did she mean you told Jason it wasn’t your problem? What’s not your problem—”

Sonny exhaled slowly. “I’m not getting into it right now, Emily—”

“Oh, don’t even try it—” She flattened her hand against his chest, looked at him, trying to understand what was going on. “You didn’t want me to know what was going on. You didn’t want her to know. You weren’t even going to help her with Manny.”

And how had Emily not known Elizabeth was struggling with Manny for so long?

I’m drowning. And you don’t see it. And I don’t ask you for help. Because I know I can’t go to you. You won’t be there.

 Emily swallowed hard. “Why weren’t you going to help Elizabeth? How long has this been going on?”

Sonny grimaced, looked away. “Emily—”

“She’s my best friend, Sonny. And she’s hurting. I need to know—” Emily took a deep breath. “I need to understand why. Please.”

“Since before you and Jason had the fight—” Sonny admitted.

“That’s—Sonny, that’s like three weeks.” And she hadn’t seen it. God, Elizabeth was right. Emily hadn’t noticed a psychopath was going after her best friend. “And you weren’t going to help her? Why?”

“She’s married to a cop—”

“She’s Elizabeth,” Emily said flatly. “She’s always defended you. Always looked out for you and Jason. And you were going to let her twist in the wind because she married Lucky? She didn’t ask Lucky for help. She asked you—”

“She asked Jason,” Sonny retorted. “And I told him it wasn’t our problem.”

“But he didn’t listen.” Emily exhaled. “He gave her a guard—”

“Eventually. After Elizabeth made it clear she wasn’t going to let it go. This is why I don’t want you to know anything. Because you see what happens?” Sonny demanded. “Elizabeth thinks she knows so much better than everyone else—she put herself in danger—”

“What—”

“She was trying to help Skye, but she doesn’t understand this world. And neither do you if you think I’m going to talk about it with you—”

“This world,” Emily repeated. “Manny’s a psycho who already tried to kill my brother—who might be trying to kill my best friend—and you think that I shouldn’t—” Her stomach rolled, a sick, twisting, almost sour feeling settling in. “He’s been watching her,” she murmured. “For months.”

Sonny frowned. “What—No—that’s not—”

“We both used to work on the Pediatrics floor. We saw him all the time. That’s why I called Jason.” Emily took a deep breath. “Before the quarantine.” Before things had changed between her and Sonny. “But after—after he put the men at the hospital, I didn’t see Manny a lot. I thought it meant it was safe.”

Sonny frowned. “But Elizabeth saw him all the time—Jason told me—”

“She moved floors. She got promoted and went to the sixth floor. And kept seeing him. Because he followed her there.” Emily scowled. “If you’d just told me she was in trouble, maybe I could have seen it earlier. I could have told you that Manny is never on my floor anymore. But, apparently, he’s always on hers. And Skye isn’t someone who comes to the hospital a lot.”

Sonny swallowed hard. “So, he didn’t get the job trying to get to Skye.”

“No. No, he didn’t.” Emily’s eyes burned. “I missed it. I would have seen it, but I ignored her for you. She told me—”

I’m drowning.

 What else had she missed?

“But you should have told me,” Emily said. She jabbed a finger at him. “You should have told me Elizabeth was in trouble. You knew three weeks ago, and you said nothing.”

“You know how this works—”

“Bullshit,” Emily spat. “This is not a movie, Sonny. You are not Michael Corleone, and I’m not the kind of woman you can lie to and shut out. Not when people I love are in danger.” This—this is what Jason had meant when he’d told her she’d get hurt.

Because Sonny didn’t see her as a partner, as an equal. “You didn’t even want Elizabeth to know Manny was missing—”

“Neither did Jason—”

“No—” Emily shook her head. “No! That’s not the same. It’s not. He was trying to protect her, to keep her safe. You just didn’t want me to know, you didn’t want her to know. Because it’s not her business. Why? You had no problem using her to get information about Manny—”

“I wasn’t using her—” Sonny scowled. “That wasn’t me. That was Jason.” He grimaced. “He always tells her more than she needs to know—”

She lifted her chin. “Maybe that’s because he trusts her.”

Sonny hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah, he does.” He shook his head. “And maybe she’s earned it over the years in some ways—”

“I could have earned it, too. But you’re not even going to let me try.” She waited for him to deny it, but he just stared at her for a long time.

“Emily,” Sonny said, almost painfully. “It’s complicated more than that—”

“It’s really not. Someone I loved was in danger, and you shut me out to the point that it’s made everything worse.” Emily stepped back from him, seeing him more clearly now than she had in months. “I need to go.”

“Emily—”

She turned and walked back towards the parking lot.

And didn’t look back.

Lucky & Elizabeth’s Apartment: Living Room

Elizabeth hesitated when she pushed open the door and found Lucky sitting on the sofa inside. She sighed, set her purse down next to the door where she could grab it in a hurry, then returned her attention to the cell phone at her ear.

“Thanks, Bobbie. No, it’s really fine. I’m glad Cam’s having so much fun—No, I can come get him later.”

She hung up the phone and tucked it into her purse, then turned her attention to Lucky, who kept staring straight ahead at the television. She stared at him for a long moment before walking into the kitchen.

She should say something to him—they should, at least, talk about what had happened over the last forty-eight hours—

But Elizabeth was just tired.

She hadn’t told Lucky that Manny Ruiz had talked to her or that one of Jason’s guys was following her around, so she could hardly tell him now that Manny had disappeared—

She wished Jason had told her, but he was doing what she’d asked. Staying away. Keeping his distance. Cody was with her, and she knew she was relatively safe but—

Dealing with her marriage was just not something Elizabeth wanted to do tonight. She opened the freezer to take out a tray of ice cubes. When the Manny situation was sorted out, she and Lucky would deal with all of this—

She sighed, closed the freezer without the tray. She was just putting it off. Just—ignoring it. What would change if Manny was found in two days? Tomorrow?

Nothing. Lucky would have still—

She looked down at her wrist, gingerly pushing the sleeve to look at the angry marks on the underside of her arm. She touched them lightly with her other hand, then pulled down the sleeve.

Waiting wouldn’t make it go away. Wouldn’t make it not be true.

Lucky might not have punched her. Might not have slapped her—

But he’d hurt her. He’d put his hands on her, intending to inflict pain, and that was always going to be true.

She went back into the living room towards the doorway, not even realizing why until she was standing next to her purse, the doorknob within reach—

“We should talk,” Elizabeth said. Lucky blinked at her, turning to look at her. He stood, his face lined with exhaustion, his eyes bloodshot as if he hadn’t slept.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“For what exactly?” Elizabeth asked, with an arch of her brow. She gestured at her temple, where the bruise was still a harsh, angry purple at her hairline. “For this?” She shoved her sweater sleeve up. “What about for this?” she asked, revealing the angry purple fingerprints on her arm. She needed to hear him say it, to admit it.

“For all of it,” he said hoarsely. He raised his eyes from her arm to meet her eyes. “I’m ashamed. I’m no better than my father.”

“Your father?” Elizabeth repeated, taken aback by that. She hadn’t expected— “What—”

“I’m no better than Tom Baker. Or Connor Bishop.”

“No, that’s—” Some of her anger eased. “You’re not—you’re not a rapist, Lucky. But you need—you need to get yourself together. I have a little boy to raise—”

Lucky frowned at her. “What does that have to do with anything? I didn’t hit Cameron—I didn’t even hit you. Not really—” He scowled. “Are you telling people I hit you? Because I didn’t—”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together and fought back an angry response. It wasn’t worth the energy to argue over whether or not he technically hit her. She didn’t understand—he’d already admitted what he’d done was terrible—why did it matter what words she used? “I didn’t tell anyone—”

“I just—I lost my temper.” Lucky took a deep breath, and some of the angry red flush faded. “You just—I told you to stay away from Jason Morgan, and there he was again, in my face—in my house, with my wife—”

Elizabeth frowned and shook her head. Not this again. “I told you, he just wanted to check on Cameron. He’s always liked kids—”

“Well, he’s not going to like yours. Where the hell is Cameron? What, did you let Jason babysit?”

She couldn’t track the conversation, couldn’t predict what he’d say next or how he’d react to anything she’d say—His hands were shaking as he drove them through his hair. “Lucky, have you been drinking or something? You’re not making any sense—”

“Oh, because I don’t want my wife fucking a criminal, I’m the crazy one?” Lucky demanded as he stepped towards her.

“What are you talking about?” Elizabeth threw up her hands, her patience completely gone. “I just—you’re not acting like yourself—”

“I’m fucking tired! I’ve been in pain for six months, I’ve been killing myself in therapy and at work trying to keep my life from falling apart. You’re off gallivanting with criminals, letting them fucking buy you stuff! What the hell do you expect?” His nostrils flared. “And you didn’t tell me where Cameron is. Is he with Jason?”

“He’s with Bobbie, I told— I was on the phone with her when I came home—she was babysitting Morgan, and Cam’s having a good time—”

“Morgan? Sonny fucking Corinthos’s kid?”

“And Bobbie’s grandson—”

Why was she arguing with him? Why hadn’t she just picked up her purse and made that exit—

Because he might not let me leave.

Was she fast enough? Could she get the door open before he could grab her—

Oh. God.

“Lucky—”

“That fucking kid is not going to take after his whore of a mother and hang out with fucking criminals—”

Lucky started for the door, shoving Elizabeth to one side as he reached for the doorknob. Panicked now, Elizabeth grabbed at his arm, tugging him backward.

She couldn’t let him go, couldn’t let him go after her little boy—It didn’t matter what he did to her—she had to protect Cameron—

Lucky whirled around, grabbed both of her wrists, and shook her. He jerked her back and forth so hard she felt like her teeth rattled.

“Why do you keep making me do this?” he screamed at her, his eyes bulging, his face flushed. “Why do you keep making me so fucking mad? I asked you for one thing! One thing!”

“Let me go—” she tried to choke out the words, her heart pounding so hard in her chest she thought it might burst. “Lucky, you’re hurting me—”

He let her go abruptly, flinging her away from him with a violent shove. Elizabeth went flying backward into the end table, crashing into a heavy lamp that shattered on the floor. The table collapsed, and her shoulder slammed against the sofa before she finally hit the ground

She laid there for a moment, trying to understand—trying to think—her shoulder was screaming—her wrists were on fire—her cheek was throbbing—how—

Then she heard the door slam.

Elizabeth shook her head, trying to clear it, trying to turn it to the side to look—Lucky was gone.

 Oh, God. Oh, God.

 He was going to Bobbie’s.

When your tears are spent
On your last pretense
And your tired eyes refuse to close
And sleep in your defense
When it’s in your spine
Like you’ve walked for miles
And the only thing you want it just to
Be still for a while

– Beside You, Marianas Trench

---

Thursday, April 6, 2006

Lucky & Elizabeth’s Apartment: Living Room

Her shoulder was on fire, her face was throbbing, but Elizabeth couldn’t think about the way she felt. She had to get to a phone—she had to get to Bobbie—

She had to stop Lucky from getting his hands on Cameron.

She pushed herself up on her elbow, wincing and biting her lip as pain radiated down her arm. She half crawled, half slid short distance between the sofa and the door where she’d left her purse. She fished inside and found her phone, then pressed the speed dial for Bobbie.

“Elizabeth! I was just going to call you,” Bobbie said, her voice bright and breezy. “Cameron is having such a great time—Carly wanted to know if he could spend some time with Morgan this weekend.”

Elizabeth leaned against the door, closing her eyes as tears slid down her cheeks. She bit her lip again, then took a deep breath. “Hey, um, we can talk about that later—”

“What’s wrong?” Instantly, Bobbie’s tone sharpened.

“I’m f-fine,” Elizabeth managed to say. “I just—” She swallowed a sob. “Listen. Lucky is—I think he might come over to get Cameron. Can you—”

What did she even say? Keep your violent, crazy nephew away from the kids? Would Bobbie even believe her?

“Elizabeth?” Bobbie prompted.

“He’s worried about Cameron playing with Morgan—”

“With Morgan? What? Why?”

“Oh—” Elizabeth pulled herself to her feet, taking another deep breath. The pain in her shoulder was starting to fade to a dull ache. “You know, he’s Sonny kid, and—”

“That’s ridiculous—”

“Yeah, I know, but Lucky, he’s just—” Her voice faltered. “He’s under a lot of stress right now with the physical coming up.” She pressed the heel of her hand against her eye. “Um, can you just—can you just not let Lucky pick him up?”

Bobbie was quiet for a long moment. “Elizabeth,” the older woman said. “Morgan has a guard here. Would you like me to have him to keep Lucky from coming inside? So that the boys never even see him?”

“I—” She squeezed her hand around the phone and sucked in a deep breath. “No. I, um, maybe Lucas is around. Can he take Cameron away? Before Lucky gets there.” She paused, trying to find the words that would make Bobbie stop asking questions and just do what Elizabeth needed her to. “We’re just having a fight right now. And I don’t want to make it worse. You can just tell him Lucas is driving Cameron home. That I called. That I realized he was right.”

“Elizabeth—”

“Please. Bobbie, it would mean a lot to me.”

“All right.” There was a heavy pause. “I’ll have Lucas bring Cameron home—”

“No—no. Wait.” Elizabeth looked around the apartment, a place that was no longer safe for her. The lamp was shattered on the floor, the end table flipped over—one its legs snapped off. She stared at the shards of ceramic on the ground. “No. I think—can he bring Cam to my grandmother’s house? I’ll meet him there.”

“All right. Elizabeth, I love you. Please remember that.”

“I will.” Elizabeth closed her phone. She jumped as the phone vibrated in her hands a second later—

She looked down to find Emily’s name on the screen—then a notice that she had three missed calls. All from Emily. She sighed and put the phone in her purse. She couldn’t deal with anything except getting out of this apartment and to her grandmother’s house.

Because if Lucky showed up there, Elizabeth knew her guard wouldn’t let him in. She knew she’d be safe.

Quartermaine Mansion: Parlor

Emily scowled as her phone call to Elizabeth went unanswered — again. She just wanted to talk to her, to check in on her—

Maybe she should go over to the apartment and demand—

Emily took a deep breath and shook her head. No, no. That wasn’t the right way to handle any of this—

“Emily?”

She turned to find her grandfather standing in the entryway. She blinked—Edward hadn’t spoken more than a handful of words to her since this mess had started. “Grandfather.”

“You’re pacing.” Edward gestured at her. “What’s wrong? Has that reprobate hurt you? I knew he would—”

Emily sighed, then sank down on the sofa, setting her cell phone on the table. “No, not the way you think. I just—” She looked at him. “I’m worried about Elizabeth.”

“Elizabeth?” Taken aback, Edward frowned. “Why? What’s happened—”

“Manny Ruiz.” Briefly, Emily brought her grandfather up to date as he took a seat next to her. She told him about the kidnapping the previous fall and Manny being at the hospital—

“I’m sure Dad told you he let Jason send him two guys to work as orderlies at the hospital as extra security,” Emily said. “One of them stayed with me on Pediatrics, and the other has been following Manny around.” She stared down at her hands. “But someone should have been with Elizabeth weeks ago. He took the job to be close to her.”

“That is…upsetting,” Edward said finally. “But you said Jason had someone following him—”

“They lost him today. Maybe because of Skye going to Miami, but I just—Grandfather, I could have told them weeks ago that Manny was targeting Elizabeth. I should have seen it—”

“Emily—”

Emily pressed her lips together and looked at her grandfather. “But I didn’t. I was being selfish. Because Elizabeth didn’t immediately jump to my defense or take my side—I froze her out. And she didn’t tell me. I didn’t know Manny was watching her, that she was still seeing him all the time—I didn’t see it, Grandfather. And what’s worse—” Her lips trembled. “Sonny did know. He’s known for weeks.”

“Ah.” To his credit, Edward didn’t immediately launch into a diatribe against Sonny. “And you’re angry that he said nothing to you?”

“It’s—he knew she was in trouble. He knew that Manny was targeting Skye and possibly Elizabeth—but he didn’t think it was his problem. He didn’t want Jason to do anything to help—” Emily looked away. And how much worse had she made it by throwing their past in Jason and Elizabeth’s face right when Elizabeth needed Jason to keep her safe?

“And your brother listened?” Edward demanded.

“No, he ignored Sonny. He put a guard on Elizabeth, and he’s part of the reason Skye moved to Miami early—but—” Emily hesitated. “I threw away everything, Grandfather. I fought with everyone about Sonny. And it—it doesn’t matter.”

“Emily—”

“I thought he was different,” she murmured. “I really thought—” She closed her eyes. “And now my best friend needs me but doesn’t think I’ll be there. She tried to tell me, but I couldn’t hear her. I wouldn’t hear her,” she corrected.

“That might be true, and maybe Elizabeth isn’t ready to talk tonight.” Edward picked up the phone and handed it back to Emily. “But if you keep trying, she might be ready tomorrow—”

They both turned when they heard Alice’s voice in the foyer, raised as she told someone that they couldn’t just barge in—

“Emily!” Lucky bellowed. He pushed past Alice just as Emily reached the doorway to the family room. “Where is she? Is she here?”

“Is she—” Emily closed her mouth, looked back at Edward, who was crossing to join her. “Is who here—” She frowned at her oldest friend. “Lucky, what’s going on? You look like hell—”

His eyes were bloodshot, his hair disheveled, and were—were his hands shaking? “Lucky—”

“Elizabeth. She—” Lucky wiped his mouth with the back of his mouth. “We had a fight. I went to pick up Cameron, but Bobbie said Elizabeth had asked Lucas to take him somewhere. She wouldn’t tell me where—she’s not home—”

His eyes darted around wildly. “Is she upstairs? Where is she?”

“She’s not here, Lucky,” Emily said flatly. She folded her arms. “What did you fight about?”

“Nothing—” Lucky scowled. “None of your damn business. Just tell me where she is—” He stepped forward, towards Emily who found herself taking a step backward. Alice scowled and put herself between Lucky and Emily.

“It’s time for you to go,” Alice told him. “You can either go on your own, or I’ll toss you out. If that’s okay with you, Mr. Quartermaine.”

“That’s fine by me,” Edward said stiffly. “And you can be sure I’ll be calling Mac tomorrow—”

“Fine. I’m leaving. Just—” Lucky scowled. “Just tell Elizabeth to call me. She’s being dramatic—” But his hand was still shaking as he shoved his hands through his hair. “Tell her to stop hanging out with criminals, and we won’t have any problems.” His scowl deepened. “You should take that advice—”

“Out—” Alice said, pointing towards the door. “You have thirty seconds—”

“I’m going,” Lucky muttered. He jerked open the front door and slammed it behind him.

Emily let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. I’m drowning. Elizabeth had told her that—but now she wondered if Elizabeth had been talking about Manny that day—

Or if things with Lucky were really that bad.

“Emily?”

She looked down at the phone in her hand again, then at her grandfather. “I’m fine. I just—I need to find a way to help Elizabeth. Even if she won’t let me.”

She pressed a speed dial on her phone and waited for the call to connect—praying that Jason might look past all the damage they’d done to each other and answer the phone.

She sighed in relief as her brother’s curt and irritated voice came on the line. “What?”

“I need to talk to you.”

Hardy House: Front Porch

Elizabeth paced the small porch, back and forth, waiting for a pair of headlights to turn up the driveway. She could see Cody in his car, parked in front of the house. He’d been there since she’d pulled in the driveway, but hadn’t checked on her or asked any questions.

If he had come close to her at that point, Elizabeth knew it would have been difficult to keep him from calling Jason. If he’d seen her face—

When she’d arrived at her grandmother’s, she’d gone into the bathroom to wash her face, only to realize that she had a cut on her cheekbone with dried blood flaking on her skin. Her eyes were bloodshot, the bruise at her temple was turning a sickening green—

She looked like hell.

Elizabeth washed her face, carefully cleaning her cut and arranging her hair so that it hid the worst of the bruise. The dull ache in her shoulder was starting to sharpen again the more she used her shoulder—

She didn’t have a game plan, didn’t have the next step worked out—

She just wanted her little boy in her arms, safe and sound. She wanted to shut her door and lock away everyone—knowing that Cody would keep all the demons at bay. She couldn’t think too hard about Manny Ruiz right now—with any luck, he’d left Port Charles and was out of her life.

She couldn’t find the energy to worry about him.

Elizabeth sighed as a car finally pulled into the driveway. She saw Cody get out of his car and lean against it, waiting to see if she needed him.

Lucas pulled his car close to her bumper, then switched off the ignition. She stepped down off the porch and met him at the car as he opened the back door to get Cameron unhooked from his car seat.

“Thank you so much for doing this, Lucas,” Elizabeth said. She smiled brightly at Cameron, who blinked at the house behind her. “Hey, Cam. Did you have fun with Aunt Bobbie?”

“Yeah, but—” Cameron scrunched up his face. “Why we at Gram’s?”

She looked at Lucas, who arched his brow. “Lucas—”

“Mom said to remind you that she likes you more than Lucky,” Lucas said dryly. “Particularly right now because babysitting Morgan is easier with Cam around.” He hesitated, tilting his head to the side. “You okay? You want me to stick around in case Lucky shows up?”

Elizabeth bit her lip, then shook her head. “No—I have—” She nodded towards Cody at his car. “I have someone here.”

“Okay,” Lucas said, drawing out the word. “I’ll leave you alone then. Take care, buddy. Next time, I’ll show you how to play Mario Kart.”

“Bye, Lucas!” Cameron waved as Bobbie’s son climbed back into his car. She didn’t wait for Lucas to drive away or for Cody to get back int his car. She went straight into the house and locked the door behind her.

Greystone Manor: Living Room

Max had the good sense to get out of Jason’s way as he stormed past the guard in the foyer to confront Sonny in the living room—where he was, as usual, drinking.

“Were you even going to tell me?” Jason demanded.

Sonny turned to look at him, raised his brows, then sat down in the armchair. “Tell you what?”

“Don’t play with me, Sonny. Manny is missing, and Emily just told me that Manny hasn’t been on her floor since Elizabeth transferred—”

“So?” Sonny shrugged and sipped his bourbon. “We already knew that—”

“No—” Jason bit off his retort, tried to find the patience. “We knew that Manny was hanging around Emily and Elizabeth when they worked the same floor. We knew that Manny was hanging around when Skye was there. We did not know that Manny had stopped hanging around Emily—”

“Did you or did you not put Beto at the hospital so he’d know where Manny was?” Sonny demanded. “Don’t put this on me—”

“Manny was assigned all over the hospital,” Jason cut in sharply. “He was still on the Pediatrics floor. But he wasn’t following Emily. And Emily and Elizabeth weren’t working the same shifts anymore—Damn it, Sonny. You knew Elizabeth was having trouble with Manny weeks ago—”

“And it’s my fault that no one asked Emily about this?” Sonny got to his feet, went to refill his drink. “Maybe if you hadn’t thrown a hissy fit about my relationship with her—” He looked over his shoulder at Jason. “If you hadn’t encouraged Elizabeth to get involved—”

“I didn’t—” Jason scowled. “I didn’t encourage her—and it doesn’t have anything to do with that—Manny kidnapped her months ago when she wasn’t even in—” He took a deep breath. “She wasn’t in my life in October, and Manny went after her then. He obviously got the job to stay close to her—”

“That doesn’t make it my fault—”

“No, but you knew Emily wasn’t talking to Elizabeth. You knew she and I were fighting. And it didn’t occur to you once to let Emily know what was going on with Elizabeth.” And Jason couldn’t understand that—couldn’t understand how Sonny had seemed so oblivious to all the crap Emily had gone through because of their relationship—

He didn’t seem to care that Emily wasn’t talking to her best friend—the same way he hadn’t cared that Elizabeth might be in danger—

“Manny is missing,” Jason told him. “You knew that this morning. You knew hours ago that Elizabeth was probably the target, not Skye. And you said nothing to me.”

“I see Emily sucked up her pride to call you.” Sonny shrugged again, but his shoulders were tense. “Now, you know. And Elizabeth knows Manny is missing thanks to Emily.” He scowled. “When did we start telling women everything? What happened to the rules?”

Jason just stared at him, dumbfounded. “What are you talking about? Elizabeth is the one in danger— from a man you decided wasn’t our problem. How do the rules—” He stopped. “When you ask someone to be a part of your life, Sonny, you ask them to cross a line. They deserve to know when they’re in danger.”

Sonny’s smile was sour. “That sounds like something someone else told you. Was it Elizabeth? Is that how she talked you into letting her help with Manny?”

“No, that’s why she left me,” Jason said roughly. Sonny looked at him, a bit taken aback by that. “She deserved better from me. From you. And it sounds like you’re making the same mistake with Emily.” He shook his head. He hadn’t wanted to be right—part of him had hoped that it would be different this time—

But he wasn’t surprised.

“I don’t care if you don’t think Manny is our problem or not,” Jason told him. “I told Francis to put everyone on this.”

Sonny pursed his lips. “And if I told you to back off?” he asked quietly. He swirled the alcohol in his tumbler, then met Jason’s eyes. “If I reminded you that Elizabeth is married to a cop—”

“Is that what you’re telling me?” Jason said. He lifted his chin. “Are you telling me to drop it?”

“I have a feeling,” Sonny said slowly, “that I would lose that argument.” He looked down at his tumbler. “You’re making a mistake getting involved with her again.”

“It’s not like that—”

“No?” Sonny smirked, finished his bourbon. “You should listen to yourself once in a while—”

Jason just shook his head, scowling as he took out his phone. “I’m not having this argument with you,” he said. “I’m calling Cody. Elizabeth needs to know that she was probably the target all along.”

He needed to figure out how to keep her safe while not making more trouble with Lucky, but if it came down to it, he could live with Elizabeth hating him as long as she was safe. Emily had mentioned briefly that Lucky and Elizabeth were fighting again, but he hadn’t asked her for more details. He needed to deal with Manny, not worry about Elizabeth’s marriage.

“Cody, hey. You have eyes on Elizabeth?” Jason asked, waiting for the guard to tell him that she was safely at home or at the hospital.

“Uh, yeah, I do.” Cody’s voice sounded strange—hesitant even. “What’s up? Is there word on Manny?”

“It looks like Elizabeth might have been his target all along.” Jason pinched his nose and turned away from Sonny, who had poured himself yet another drink. “I need—I need to know if it’s okay if I come over. Is Lucky there?”

“Uh, actually, Jase—she’s not at the apartment. She’s at her grandmother’s house.”

“What?” Jason asked. “Why? Isn’t she in Memphis—”

“I guess, but Elizabeth came here on her own, then paced out front for a while until Lucas Jones arrived with Cameron. She went inside, and I haven’t seen her since. Do you want me to check on her?”

Jason exhaled slowly. “Yeah. Let her know I’m on my way to talk to her about Manny. That it’s important, or I wouldn’t bother her.”

“Got it.”

Jason hung up the phone. “I have to go—”

“Wait—” Sonny held up a hand. Jason sighed, but his partner shook his head. “Look, I get it. She’s in danger, and me being me not telling Emily anything—if that’s made it worse, I’m sorry. I was wrong. We should have done something sooner. As soon as Elizabeth got involved.”

Jason frowned at him “Sonny—”

“I might not like you being close with someone married to a cop, but you were right. It’s Elizabeth. And we should have done more.” Sonny hesitated. “I should have done more. So whatever you need, get it done. Keep her safe, and let’s get rid of Manny Ruiz for good.”

Hardy House: Living Room

She’d settled Cameron down on the sofa with the Spiderman movie DVD she always carried in her bag. She knew she needed to figure out something for dinner, but she was broke until payday, and her grandmother didn’t have much in the house since she’d planned to be gone for so long.

Her cell phone rang again, and Elizabeth looked at it, expecting it to be Emily—but it was Cody’s name that lit up the identification screen. With a sigh, she realized she couldn’t entirely ignore the world. At least the part of it that was determined to keep her safe. “Yeah?”

“Miss Webber, I wanted to let you know that Jason is on his way over. He, ah, needed to tell you something about Manny, so I had to tell him you were at your grandmother’s. Uh…sorry,” Cody added when Elizabeth remained silent.

Elizabeth flinched. She really didn’t need this tonight, but if Jason had news about Manny–

“It’s okay. Thanks for letting me know, Cody.” She hung up the phone.

“Mommy?” Cameron asked. He frowned at her. “Mommy, I’m hungry.”

“I know.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “Okay. Okay, I can do this.”

“You can do anything,” Cameron said, loyally. “Did you bring my toys?”

“No, but you have some upstairs—” Elizabeth rubbed her shoulder absently. The levels of pain came and went, but she didn’t want to get an ice pack in front of Cameron. And what was she going to do about dinner? Maybe she could check the balances on her credit cards again or find some dry cereal—

The doorbell rang before she could make a decision. Determined to get rid of Jason as quickly as possible, Elizabeth got up to let him in.

“Jason. Hey. Cody just told me you were coming by,” she said. She kept the door halfway closed, wondering if it was possible to keep him from coming in. She really wasn’t up to this tonight.

Jason frowned at her, and she looked away, hoping that he didn’t notice the way she was favoring her shoulder or that she had a cut on her face just below the bruise he’d yesterday. “Hey. I know we talked about me not coming by,” he said, “but something happened with Manny.”

“Yeah, Cody called.” She looked at him, waiting for him to volunteer the information. When Jason glanced at the door, then back at her, he exhaled slowly.

“Right. Uh, well—” He scratched the edge of his eyebrow.

“Mommy?” Cameron tugged on her pant leg as he came to the door. He peered out from behind her. “Hi, Mr. Jason. Did you come to see my toys?”

“Hey, Cameron.” Jason’s face relaxed as he knelt down. “No, but Morgan said you had the best Legos he’d ever played with.”

“I gots lots of Legos here.” Cameron looked at Elizabeth. “Mommy, is Mr. Jason staying?”

Jason met her eyes as he got back to his seat. “Uh, no—”

“Yes,” Elizabeth said at the same time. She stepped back, opening the door wider. She didn’t really think about it. Maybe she should have, but she just—she couldn’t turn away an opportunity to distract Cameron—to give him a bit of happiness.

“Are you sure?” Jason asked softly as he walked past her into the house. Elizabeth closed the door behind him.

“No,” she admitted, “but I know you wouldn’t come all the way over here if it wasn’t important, and Cameron—” She ruffled her son’s curls as he grinned at her. “Cameron does have a lot of Legos here.”

“Mommy, can we eat? I’m hungry.” Cameron looked at Jason. “I like pizza. Do you like pizza? We don’t got pizza here. Grammy is in Memdis forever—”

“For a few weeks,” Elizabeth corrected. “Cameron—” She wrinkled her nose, already regretting the impulse to invite Jason in. She folded her arms, wincing as her shoulder protested.

“Bobbie was gonna have pizza,” Cameron continued, “but Mommy made me come here.” He pursed his lips. “I like pizza,” he repeated.

Mortified beyond belief, Elizabeth just closed her eyes. Jason knelt down to match Cameron’s height. “What kind of pizza?”

“All pizza is good. Mommy says there no bad pizza. ‘Cept the ones with green stuff. We don’t like green stuff. Do you like green stuff?”

“Sometimes,” Jason said. He got back to his feet. “Do you want me to call for something?” he asked Elizabeth quietly.

“I—” Elizabeth took a deep breath. Her son came first. He always came first. “Yes. And I—I have to owe you. I don’t get paid until tomorrow.”

Jason nodded. “Yeah, sure.” She sighed—he’d never take the money from her, but she couldn’t deal with that right now. Cameron needed to eat. Jason stepped away to make a phone call while she looked at her son. “Cameron, why don’t you go upstairs and put together your favorite Lego pieces so you can show them to Jason?”

“Okay.” Cameron hesitated. “But no lights. Mommy, don’t like no lights. Dark.” He looked up at the dim stairwell and the dark hallway beyond it. She could switch on the lights for the stairs, but the hallway light was at the top of the stairs.

And she couldn’t lift him to take him up the stairs. Her throat felt thick as she struggled to think through the fog of it all. Her shoulder was still throbbed, an eternal reminder of why she was at her grandmother’s in the first place—

She just—God, she just wanted this to be over.

“Cameron,” Jason said from behind her. “Do you know which room is yours?”

“Yep!”

“I’ll take you, and Mommy can wait down here for the pizza, okay?” He lifted the toddler into his arms, looking back at Elizabeth. “Do you want me to call Emily? Or Bobbie?”

“I didn’t even want anyone to call you,” Elizabeth managed miserably. Emily and Bobbie might feel sorry for her, but they also might just tell her that she should think about Lucky—that she should give him another chance. He was so close to getting his job back.

And hadn’t she told everyone things would be okay when he was back to work? Hadn’t she told herself that?

“Okay,” Jason said, not looking remotely hurt by that. So he went upstairs, and Elizabeth sat on the sofa, trying to figure out how to get through the next few hours without Jason finding out exactly why she’d dragged her son to an empty house without any food.

A few minutes later, Jason came down with a plastic monitor in his hand. “Cam said his gram uses this when he plays alone.” He handed it to her, and she could hear her little boy singing to himself. “Biderman, Biderman, does a Bider can,” came his sweet voice.

“I know you don’t want to talk about what happened,” Jason said. She looked at him. “And I’m not going to ask. You’re here. You’re safe. Cody isn’t going to let anyone come in here. I promise.” He hesitated. “With Manny missing, I was hoping you might let one of the guys stay in the house tonight.”

“I—” That would be safest, wouldn’t it? But she hated the idea of it. She just wanted to be alone.

“But that’s not an option, I can see that now,” he said smoothly. “So I’ll set up shifts. Cody or someone out front. And then someone out back. They can sit on the back porch. I’m hoping we’ll have him found within a day or two. Can you stay here that long?”

“Yes.” Elizabeth took a deep breath, finding her feet again. “Yeah, I can manage that.” She looked at him. “Something happened that you’re not telling me because I’m upset. Something more than Manny going missing. You know I know that already.”

“I do, yeah, but—” Jason hesitated. “I came here to tell you, but I just—I don’t want to make things worse, Elizabeth. This last week—” He pressed his lips together. “I know it’s been tough.”

She nearly told him that Manny Ruiz and his threats had almost been a relief as it gave herself something else to worry about beyond her marriage. “I know. And I appreciate it. But you want me to be guarded twenty-four seven. You wanted someone down the hall from me. I have Cameron to think about.”

“Yeah. Yeah, okay.” Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “We think Manny might have taken the job at the hospital to get to you.”

She jolted at that, then got to her feet, putting some distance between them. “No, no, that’s not—there’s no reason for that. I don’t matter—You and Sonny—I didn’t matter—”

“Elizabeth—” Jason slowly stood, the frown on his face deepening. “You always mattered. But, no, there wouldn’t have been much of a reason for Manny to make a connection between us. Not then. But that’s not why he wanted you.”

“What—” Her stomach rolled over. “Oh. Oh, it’s not about getting to you. It’s just about me. You-you said Manny—women have gone missing.”

“Yeah. There’s never been any proof, but he’s got a reputation. I think—after he kidnapped you—”

She might have been targeted by a psycho killer who liked to hurt and torture women. Elizabeth closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “Okay. Well, then, in that case, please put a man in every single guest room of this house. And if you could find some sort of armor that covers houses—”

“Elizabeth—”

“No, no, I’m not being flippant. I’m not making a joke. I mean it. Lock this place down. I can’t—” Her heart started to pound again, and her lungs felt a thousand times too small for her chest. “He rapes women, doesn’t he?”

“I—” Jason took a few steps towards her. His hand raised slightly at his side as if he was going to reach out and touch her. He let it drop as he swallowed hard. “He’s not going to get to you, Elizabeth—”

“I know you mean that. I know that you are doing everything you can. But we both know you’re not Superman. And I don’t expect you to be.” Elizabeth took a deep breath, covered her face again, even as her shoulder protested. “If someone stays here tonight—in the house, I mean—can it be Cody? Or Vic? Marco still works for you guys, right? He was on your door when I lived with—” She hesitated. “Or Francis—Just someone I know?”

“Yeah.” He hesitated. “Not me,” he said finally. “It can’t be me.”

“No.” Elizabeth managed a smile at him as they both locked eyes, uncomfortable with the suggestion. “No, it really can’t be you. Not after—it just can’t.”

“Okay. Can you stay home tomorrow? With Cameron?”

“I—” Elizabeth shook her head. “No. I mean, Epiphany could probably cover my shift if I had to, but I’ve been…I’ve missed a few since I started upstairs, and some of the nurses are—’” Less than friendly. “I’m not making any friends. And I can’t afford to lose the hours—”

“I could—”

“And even if you told me you could make up the difference, it doesn’t resolve my long-term problem. I can’t keep asking Epiphany for favors. And it’s not something we can take to the chief of staff. Because it doesn’t change the fact I have to work with these people when Manny is just a memory.”

“Okay. Cody stays on you at the hospital. He drives you to and from, though. You don’t go on your own.”

Thinking of Lucky and how he’d take that information, Elizabeth grimaced. “Okay.”

“I’m sorry—”

“Why are you apologizing? You’re keeping me safe from a psycho who wants to rape and torture me. I just wish I could lock myself in here until this was over. But I can’t.” She sighed. “I’ll find a way to explain it to Lucky.”

Jason paused. “You…I thought you were here for a reason.”

“I am,” Elizabeth said. But she hadn’t entirely wrapped her mind around any of that, and it was just—it was a reflex to think of how to manage Lucky’s anger, which was a depressing realization. “Which means on top of everything else, I don’t need another argument with Lucky about me owing criminals favors. Even if I went to the cops, they couldn’t do anything.” She lifted her chin. “And we’re not talking about Lucky.”

“Okay.” He hesitated.

“But Cameron—” Elizabeth shook her head. “I can’t take him to daycare.”

“No, but Morgan will be at Carly’s tomorrow with Leticia and Michael. They have guards. Carly said Cam has been over to play with Morgan a few times.”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth’s chest eased. “And I know how seriously Carly takes Michael and Morgan’s safety. Cameron would feel safe there, and he’d have a good time. He wouldn’t think anything was wrong.”

“Are you—” Jason hesitated. “This is a lot—”

“This is necessary. And I am okay.” She was okay, Elizabeth was realizing. She’d had a terrible couple of days, but she’d left. She’d gotten out. And even though she was in danger from another threat, she knew that Jason would do everything he could to look out for her. If Manny got to her anyway, it wouldn’t be because Jason hadn’t tried to protect her.

“I’m okay,” Elizabeth repeated. “I can handle this.”

“I know you can. You always handled this kind of stuff well.” Jason hesitated. “Maybe better than I ever gave you credit for. You never flinched from any of it. From the bomb, from the guns, from Sorel. From Roscoe’s guys. Alcazar. I should have trusted that. I should have remembered that—”

Elizabeth shook her head. She tried to fold her arms again, wincing as she’d forgotten her shoulder again. She rubbed her hand over the sore area. “We’re not talking about it,” she bit out. “Now, if you want, because Cameron will probably ask, you can stay for dinner. You can let him tell you all the stories he wants about his toys. He might even ask you to watch Spiderman before I put him to bed. You can do that if you want. Because he needs kindness and comfort right now. But we are done talking about everything else.”

“I—” Jason stared at her. “Elizabeth—”

“Because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. It happened. I’m glad we understand each other better, but we can’t go back. And it’s not fair to anyone else, including Sam—and Lucky—for us to keep dragging all of that up.”

“No. No, you’re right. I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “I won’t do it again. I’m sorry. But if it’s okay, I’d like to stay until Cameron goes to bed. I’ll make some calls, make you sure have food and supplies here, so you don’t have to go out in the open,” he told her as she started to open her mouth. “You’re going to work tomorrow because you have to, I get it, but I’m sorry, I can’t—” He hesitated. “I would appreciate it if you’d let me do this.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

“And I’ll track down someone you know to stay the night. In addition to the guards at the back,” he told her. “I don’t think we’ll need to use every room, but I’ll make sure you’re safe here before I leave.”

“I know you will.” She took a deep breath. “Thank you.”

“This will be over soon,” Jason told her as she went towards the stairs to check on Cameron. “I promise.”

“One way or another,” Elizabeth murmured.

Wake me up inside
Wake me up inside
Call my name and save me from the dark
Bid my blood to run
Before I come undone
Save me from the nothing I’ve become
– Bring Me to Life, Evanescence

---

Friday, April 7, 2006

General Hospital: Nurse’s Hub

Elizabeth winced and rolled her arm again, trying to gingerly move her shoulder. She’d asked for the paperwork detail again because it would keep her in one place longer. It also allowed Cody to watch over her better as well as doing a favor for the other nurses who hated paperwork. It might go a long way to boosting her reputation with them.

But she really just wanted to crawl back into bed with an ice pack. She’d slept uneasily, even knowing that Cody had taken one of the guest rooms down the hall and that there were two more guards outside the house. Jason had stayed for dinner and nearly all of Spiderman 2, but with Cameron there to keep them from conversations they should not have, it had been almost a relaxing evening.

If she didn’t think about the reasons she was at her grandmother’s with Cameron or why Jason was there.

She glanced up as the elevator doors opened, and she saw Bobbie step out with a frown on her face. Elizabeth wrinkled her nose as Lucky’s aunt approached her.

“Elizabeth, I was hoping I’d see you today. Do you have a minute?”

“I have so much paperwork,” Elizabeth began, but then Bobbie just arched her brow, and Elizabeth remembered how much she owed this woman. With a sigh, she set down her pen and followed Bobbie over to the waiting area where Cody sat, pretending to be interested in a newspaper.

“I know you,” Bobbie said to him. “You—I’ve seen you at Sonny’s—”

Cody winced, then got to his feet. “I’ll be over by the elevators,” he told Elizabeth, folding his newspaper under his arm. Bobbie watched him go, her eyebrows knitted together.

“Why do you have a guard?” Bobbie asked. “What did Lucky do—”

“Oh—” Elizabeth flushed, and smoothed her hair, making sure it was arranged over the bruise. “Oh, that’s nothing. That’s about Manny.” She briefly told Bobbie about Manny and the reasons he might have targeted her. “It’s just a precaution.”

“Is that why Lucky was so mad about Cameron hanging out with Morgan? Because I talked to Carly and she said—”

“Carly’s doing me a favor by letting Cam play with Morgan today,” Elizabeth interrupted. She folded her arms. “I didn’t want him in daycare. And Lucky—it’s fine. It’s not like the PCPD can do anything.”

“Elizabeth.” Bobbie pressed her lips together and stared at her for a long moment. “You called me last night, sounding upset. You didn’t want Lucky to pick up his own son—insisted I have my son drive him to Audrey’s when she’s out of town—Lucas told me you had a cut on your face and that you’d been crying—”

“I fell,” Elizabeth insisted. “I was tired, and I tripped on the carpet. C’mon, Bobbie. You know what the hours are like here. And I have a toddler—”

“I do know that.” Bobbie stared at her for another long moment. “Let’s sit.”

“I should get back to work—”

“Just for a moment,” Bobbie said, a thin thread of steel in her tone. With a sigh, Elizabeth sat on the sofa. Bobbie sat next to her. “Have I ever told you about one of my first husbands? D.L. Brock?”

“I—” Elizabeth shook her head. “No, I guess I didn’t—I really only knew about Tony and Stefan.”

“Well, D.L. came a lot earlier. Before Tony. He was not a kind man.” Bobbie hesitated. “He was abusive—”

“Bobbie, I don’t know what you’re thinking—”

“I’m thinking that you need to stop interrupting me,” Bobbie said gently. “Because I have something I’d like you to hear. He beat me one night, and I had to have a hysterectomy. That’s why there’s only Carly. Why Lucas was adopted. Because I trusted someone who hurt me.”

“I’m sorry that you went through that,” Elizabeth managed, her eyes blurring with tears. “It’s horrible.”

“It was. But what was more terrible was thinking I was alone. That I couldn’t tell anyone. I don’t know what’s going on with Lucky, Elizabeth. But don’t you ever forget that I love you, too. Every bit as much as I love my nephew. You are part of my family, and that has nothing to do with his marriage to you.”

“Bobbie—”

Bobbie leaned forward and gently tucked Elizabeth’s hair behind her ear, letting her fingers drift over the bruise, the angry purple fading into a sickening mix of green and yellow. Over the cut by her cheekbone. “I love you,” she repeated. “And when you need someone, you come to me. Because you are not alone. And I know that Lucky is not the boy we knew.”

Elizabeth wanted to tell her so desperately, but she couldn’t form the words. She didn’t know why. Bobbie clearly knew. And she was ready to hear it.

But Elizabeth wasn’t to say it.

“I have to get back to work,” Elizabeth finally said. She got to her feet. “Thank you for coming by. And for helping so much with Cameron. He loves you.”

“I love him,” Bobbie said. She kissed Elizabeth’s cheek, just above the cut. “When you’re ready, you know where to find me.”

“I know.”

Bobbie left then, and Elizabeth watched her go. Cody returned to his post in the armchair, armed with his newspaper. She looked at him. “No news?”

“Not a single sighting.”

She sighed, rubbed her face. “That’s not good, is it?”

“No,” Cody admitted. “If he’d just left town—” He shrugged. “Don’t worry, Miss Webber.”

“I won’t. I know you won’t leave me alone.”

General Hospital: Pediatrics Floor

Emily frowned as she walked past a patient’s room, stopped, and backed up a few steps to find her brother in a room with Epiphany and Alan.

“What’s going on?” she demanded.

“Emily,” Alan began, but Emily wasn’t in the mood to be batted aside by another well-meaning man. Not today.

“Is Elizabeth okay? Is Manny in the hospital? Where’s Cameron?”

Jason sighed and looked at Alan and Epiphany before looking back at his sister. “Em, give me a minute, and we’ll talk.” He turned back to Alan “Thank you for letting Stan into the security room,” Jason said. “I know this makes you uncomfortable.”

“It does,” Alan said with a sigh. “But I didn’t want the board to hire Manny. And the PCPD has their hands tied. I don’t love this, Jason, but if you’re right, then one of my nurses has been targeted under my watch. I won’t stand for it. Whatever you need. Just—” He grimaced. “Catch this psycho.”

He left the room, then, and with a pointed look at Jason, Epiphany followed. Emily folded her arms. “Well?”

Jason closed the door and turned to his sister. “You said that Manny used to hang out on this floor all the time. Until Elizabeth got moved.”

Emily nodded. “Yeah, and then it was like I never saw him.”

“But Skye was here a lot the last few weeks, wasn’t she? Doing a charity thing for the hospital?”

“She was—” Emily frowned. “But Manny was never around. He was always upstairs—Oh, man.” She swallowed, letting her hands fall to her sides. “He really was watching her. Oh, God, Jason. I thought she was just overreacting—”

“I did, too. But she’s got a guard, and I’ve got people on her grandmother’s house—”

Emily exhaled slowly. “So she went to Audrey’s. I was wondering—do you know why? What happened?”

Jason shook his head. “You should ask her about it—”

“No—” Emily touched his arm. “No. C’mon. What’s going on?”

“You should ask Elizabeth,” Jason repeated gently.

“Hard since she’s not talking to me,” Emily muttered. She looked away, then flashed her brother an irritated glare. “This is mostly your fault, you know. If you hadn’t been such a…jackass…I never would have—” She stopped.

“Attacked me?” Jason demanded. “Told me something you knew Elizabeth would be embarrassed about? Do you want me to apologize to you, Emily? Because I don’t really know what the hell I did wrong.”

And sometimes when Emily thought about it, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it either. “Well, you should have let me make my own choices because I figured out pretty quick that Sonny is…not a good idea.”

Jason frowned at her. “What? What does that mean?”

“It means,” Emily said through gritted teeth, “that you were right. I hate it, but you were right. Sonny doesn’t—he doesn’t respect me. He refused to talk to me about Manny even though he’d already told you it wasn’t his problem. He can’t have it both ways—”

Jason exhaled slowly. “Sonny has a thing about women and the business.”

“Yeah, I’m sure there’s a good reason for that. But this isn’t business. This is a psychotic asshole who might try to hurt my best friend. And it’s bullshit because you let Elizabeth help all the time and clearly he doesn’t have a problem with it—” She broke off when she saw Jason hesitate. “What?”

“I didn’t plan it. But—that winter when I got shot—Elizabeth just—she fell in the middle of it. And then the bomb in her studio—I mean—look, it’s not important. It’s just—Sonny really doesn’t want Elizabeth involved either. I always…almost always,” he corrected softly, “told her more than he wanted.”

Emily swallowed hard. “Almost always,” she repeated. “Except that one time. When Sonny didn’t want her to know about faking his death.”

“Yeah. And I listened to him. I shouldn’t—” Jason stopped. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m sorry you’re hurt, Emily, but—”

“But Sonny doesn’t respect women,” Emily said. “Even women he says he loves.” She nodded. “Okay. Well, that clears up a lot. He doesn’t respect or trust me—”

“That’s—probably a little harsh, but—no, not really.”

“And that’s what you wanted to protect me from.” Emily folded her arms, hugging her patient’s chart to her chest. “I figured it out on my own, Jason. I can take care of myself.”

“You’re my sister. I’m always going to want to take care of you. Stop you from getting hurt.”

“Yeah. I know. You’re my brother. And I’m always going to want to take care of you,” she told him. He flinched. “Hey, what’s good for the goose and all that, Jase—we both went about it the wrong way, but neither of us was wrong. You told me that Sonny would hurt me. That he’d never be what I needed. And you were right.”

“Emily—”

“And maybe I did it the wrong way, but I’m not wrong. You deserve better than Sam McCall. I’m glad I told you what Elizabeth said. I wish I’d done it three years ago when it might have made a difference.”

Jason looked at her for a long moment. “Why didn’t you?” he asked finally.

Emily frowned. “Because I—well, you’d moved on with Courtney. And I guess—I don’t know. I thought it was true. And if you really did cheat on Elizabeth, then maybe she was better off.” She tilted her head. “Would it have changed something? Has it changed something?”

“I need to get going.”

Jason started past her, but Emily grabbed his arm. “Jase, she’s married now.”

“I know that—”

“And she’s dealing with a lot. Lucky’s not doing great with this setback, I know that. They’re fighting a lot. He told me that—”

“You’ve seen him?” Jason turned back to her, his interest engaged again. “When?”

“Last night. He came to the Quartermaines looking for Elizabeth. I guess—you said she’s at Audrey’s.” Emily sighed. “He said something about you hanging around and it’s—it’s—I don’t know. I’m just worried. Judging by how he looked last night, he’s probably going to fail his physical today, and it’s going to make things worse.”

“Worse,” Jason repeated. “So…you haven’t seen her?”

“I saw her yesterday, but—” Emily frowned. What didn’t she know? How bad were things with Lucky and Elizabeth? “You’re not telling me something.”

“It’s—it’s nothing. Elizabeth already told me we can’t be friends. I’ve accepted that. You don’t have to worry, Emily. I’m not trying to get between them.” He shook his head. “I learned that lesson a long time ago.”

He left this time, and Emily stared after her brother, troubled. “You never had to try,” she muttered as she left the room. Jason seemed to drive a wedge between Lucky and Elizabeth simply by breathing.

She couldn’t wait for this Manny crap to be over, so everything could just go back to the way it used to be.

Luke’s: Back Office

Luke frowned as his sister walked in. He pulled his feet off the desk and got up. “Barbara, was I expecting you?”

“No, but I was hoping you might know where to find your son.” Bobbie set her purse down and took off her jacket. “Have you seen him lately?”

“No, he’s been avoiding me, truth be told, since he borrowed money to pay their car insurance—” Luke shook his head. “I tried to tell him he could move into the house, save themselves some rent, but he refused.” He gestured for Bobbie to take a seat, but she shook her head. “They both have good jobs — I don’t know why they’re struggling—”

“Speaking like a man who’s never had to worry about child care,” Bobbie said sourly. “Lucky’s on half-pay because he can’t work a full shift. And part of Elizabeth’s paycheck goes to daycare. They’re stretched pretty thin. And that’s before the hospital bills.”

“How—” Luke hesitated. “Does he tell you all this?”

“No, but I made it my business to find out. Audrey went to Memphis for a month to visit her grandson, and your son refused to change his schedule around, so Elizabeth didn’t have to pay extra for daycare.” Bobbie tilted her head to the side. “I’m afraid Lucky is more like his father every day.”

“Well…” Luke cleared his throat. “That doesn’t, ah, sound very complimentary, Barbara Jean.” He got up and walked towards the front of the club, where he poured himself a drink. “What did my gender do now?”

“Not your gender. Your bloodline. You weren’t, and still aren’t, very fond of your stepson—”

“Oh, come on—” Luke set the bottle of whiskey down with a thud. “That’s not fair. The Dark Prince is…” He wiggled his fingers. “Dark. He’s a Cassadine—”

“And you made Laura’s life hell because of it. Forced her to choose. To feel guilty.”

Luke scowled and sipped his drink. “I love when you stop by, sister dear. Always a boost to the ego.”

“Lucky is doing the same thing to Elizabeth. He doesn’t…” Bobbie shook her head. “He doesn’t love that little boy.”

“That’s not—” He sighed. “How can you possibly know that?”

“I asked Mac. And he said that he offered to cover Lucky at work so he could use that time to go to physical therapy. If Cameron stays in daycare between four and seven, Elizabeth has to pay nearly two hundred extra dollars a week. Lucky refused to take Mac’s offer, not even to save Elizabeth money.”

“I—” Luke hesitated. “He’s…” But there weren’t words. “Okay, so he’s selfish. No crime in that. And maybe he’s just too focused on getting back on the job—”

“Elizabeth asked me to help. I already watch Morgan a few nights a week, and I rearranged my schedule to make sure I could be there. Because Lucky outright refused. I tried to ask him why, and he told me it’s not his problem. Elizabeth asked him to pick Cameron up from my place exactly once. And Lucky forgot.”

None of this was good evidence. “Okay, so Cowboy isn’t a good father. That…” Luke winced. “That does run in the family.”

“I think he’s hurting Elizabeth.”

Luke stared at his sister for a long time before swallowed hard. “And you don’t mean emotionally.”

“No, I don’t. She has a bruise on her face, and I saw her holding her shoulder as she was in pain. Last night, she called me, Luke, and I could hear it in her voice. She was crying, trying to control herself. Begged me not to let Lucky pick up Cameron. To have Lucas take him to Audrey’s. Because she would be there.”

Luke rubbed a hand over his face. “Damn it, Barbara Jean. That’s not—Lucky loves that girl. He’s always loved her. Don’t you remember how careful he was with her? He used to—” His voice thickened. “He used to…”

“He used to,” Bobbie repeated softly. “He used to worship her. He used to think about how to make her happy. He used to watch her. Watched the world around her. Tried to anticipate anything that might hurt her. All of that is past tense.”

“It’s—it’s been a tough year—” But Luke couldn’t even finish it.

“Worse than the year she was raped, and he found out about…” Bobbie gestured at him. “Worse than that? Because that rocked his world. Yes, he’s been sick. He’s been hurt. But I’m worried—”

“Did she actually tell you he’s hurt her?” Luke asked, desperate to find a way out of this. “Elizabeth’s a strong girl, she wouldn’t stand for it—”

“Oh, like she wouldn’t sit around for a year dealing with brainwashing while Lucky treated her like crap? How many times did we all tell her just to have patience? That if we loved Lucky enough, he’d come back to us—”

“This isn’t our fault—”

“No. It’s not. But if we don’t do something now, whatever happens next will be our fault. Have you seen Lucky today?” Bobbie repeated.

“No. I—I haven’t.” Luke reached for his cell phone. “But I’ll call him—”

“I’ve left voice mails. He’s not picking up.” Bobbie reached over, touched his hand. “Luke, she’s not ready to face it. I know that. I’ve been there. We’ve both been there.” She cleared her throat. “We watched Mama go through it—”

“I’m not talking about it, Barbara Jean—”

“There’s something rotten in the Spencer blood. Daddy used to beat Mama like it was nothing. And she died. You—”

“You don’t have to tell me what I did,” Luke muttered. “I know what’s in me. What I did to my angel. What I can never take back. But Lucky was different. He was going—” He looked back at his sister. “He was going to be better than all of us.”

“And maybe he still can be. But only if we stop it now. Before he really does something he can’t take back. I love that girl, Luke. Laura loved her, too. What would she want us to do?”

“She’d want us to look out for Elizabeth.” Luke sighed. “Yeah, okay, we’ll track him down. We’ll make this right.”

General Hospital: Hallway

“I’m gonna ask her,” Patrick declared with a firm nod of his head. He shook his finger at Robin Scorpio. “Don’t talk me out of it—”

“Couldn’t be done if I wanted to—” Robin grimaced as she watched Elizabeth working at the hub. The nurse winced as she lifted a pile of charts. “Can’t we just tie her up and force her to let one of us look at her shoulder?”

“I like the way you think. Clearly, I have great taste.” Patrick slung an arm around her shoulders. “But it’ll look weird if I do it, so I’ll distract her, and you get the rope—”

“The two of you are dumb as hell.”

The doctors jumped at the bark behind them and spun around to find Epiphany scowling at both of them. “You want to ask her? Just ask her. She ain’t gonna tell you fools nothing.”

“But we can’t just…” Patrick gestured in Elizabeth’s direction. “We can’t let it go. Can we?” He looked at Robin, and she knew he was thinking about the conversation they’d had the month before. His worry over something in Lucky’s medical history that would spill over to Elizabeth.

It looked like his worst fears had come true.

Robin forced a smile on her face and turned to the nurse. “He’s learning empathy,” she told Epiphany, trying to lighten the moment. “It’s cute. Really.”

Patrick scowled. “Great. The two of you have jokes, but I’m over here—”

“Just follow me,” Epiphany said with a roll of her eyes. “Now.” She stalked across the hallway and meekly, the doctors followed.

Elizabeth looked up to find the trio standing in front of her, their expressions resolute. “Uh…can I help you?”

“Here’s what is going to happen,” Epiphany told her. “You’re going to let one of these idiots take a look at that shoulder. You’re going to let the other one take pictures of your injuries. We’re not going to ask you any questions. But you will have them if you need them.”

Elizabeth stared at her supervisor for a long moment before shaking her head. “I’m fine—”

“Girl,” Epiphany began, but Robin, taking her life in her hands, interrupted.

“Just me, then, Liz. You and me. We’ll go do a quick exam, and I promise. I’m not going to ask any questions.”

“There aren’t questions to ask—”

“You have a son you need to be able to carry,” Robin told her, stepping to the front of the trio. “Don’t risk making it worse.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes. “Fine. But just you.” She eyed Patrick and Epiphany suspiciously as Robin took her by the elbow. “And no questions.”

“Not even one.”

When they were in the room, Elizabeth sighed, realizing Robin had clearly prepared for this. “You went to see the S.A.N.E nurse,” she murmured.

“I did,” Robin said as she unpacked the kit. “I wanted to take pictures, and this has a disposable camera and measuring stick. We…” She looked at Elizabeth. “We don’t need any of the other stuff, do we?”

“No.” Elizabeth hesitated, then slowly peeled off her scrub top, wincing.

She moved on to the long-sleeved knit top she wore underneath. Robin helped Elizabeth ease it over her head, revealing the purple bruise on her shoulder blade, the fingerprints on her arm, and to Elizabeth’s surprise, another bruise wrapping around her abdomen. She frowned at it as Robin stood her in front of the wall and handed her the measuring tape.

“I didn’t see that,” she murmured. Oh, God, she was covered in bruises. She’d tried so hard not to look at herself in the shower in this morning, but—

Robin thankfully remained silent and merely handed Elizabeth a hairband. She tied her hair back to reveal the sickening bruise at her hairline.

“I know I said no questions,” Robin said, “and I mean that, but um, the shoulder injury…I just need to know what you…” She sighed, looked at Elizabeth. “No questions,” she repeated.

Elizabeth met her gaze for a long time, then nodded. She gestured at her face. “The first bruise is three days old. That’s from hitting the wall. And these…” She gestured at the first set of fingerprints on her right arm. “That’s two days ago. The, uh, cut on my face…and the rest of them…” She closed her eyes. “I fell backward over a table and into a lamp. Then I hit the floor.”

“Okay.”

Robin gently rotated Elizabeth’s shoulder for a minute, then nodded. “I think it’s just a bad contusion. Are you taking anything for it? Motrin?”

“Motrin and ice.”

“That’ll probably be good.” Robin handed Elizabeth her shirt. “I’ll take the camera to a one hour place. It’ll be dated today. And if…you ever need anyone to certify when they were taken, I’ll do it.”

Elizabeth held her clothes to her chest, her eyes burning. “You’re really not asking questions.”

“If you want me to ask them, I will. But I don’t think I need to.” Robin bit her lip. “Are you safe?”

“Right now? Yes.”

“I don’t know you that well, Elizabeth. But I like you. And I remember Lucky from growing up here.”

“You said—”

“I’m just stating facts. I know that there will be some people who will either never believe you or assume you did something to deserve it.” Robin met her eyes. “You never deserved it. And I will believe you. When you’re ready to answer those questions.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay. Thank you.”

“Let me know if that shoulder feels worse, okay? We might want an MRI, but it doesn’t look that serious.”

When Elizabeth had gotten changed, she followed Robin back out to the nurse’s station, where she found Patrick and Epiphany still waiting. She arched a brow. “Don’t you people have jobs?”

“Yes, I’m going to go do it in a minute.” Patrick scowled. “I don’t like people.”

“This is not news to me—”

“And I think your husband is a giant asshole—”

“Patrick,” Robin hissed, whacking him in the shoulder as Elizabeth blanched.

“But since I’m not allowed to say that,” Patrick continued, “so I’ll just say that you are one of the few people that I like. And it pisses me off I can’t do more to help.” He paused. “It really pisses me off.”

“You…” Elizabeth hesitated. “You are helping. Thank you for your concern. I’ve got this under control.” She looked at Epiphany. “Can I clock out early? I only have fifteen more minutes—”

“Yeah, but grab your guard,” Epiphany told her. They watched as Elizabeth got on the elevator with Cody.

“Well, what did she say?” Patrick demanded as soon as the doors had shut. “How bad is it?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Robin said with a roll of her eyes. She muttered under her breath and stalked away.

“I’m worried,” Patrick told Epiphany. “If she doesn’t say what he did to her, she might talk herself into going back—”

“All we can do is be there for her. You forget — he’s not just her husband. He’s a cop,” Epiphany said with a shrug. “And they’ll stick by him.”

Patrick wanted to argue, but simply couldn’t. So he just went back to his shift.

General Hospital: Parking Garage

Elizabeth hung back slightly as they approached the dark black sedan Cody had driven her to work in. She waited as Cody walked around the car, looking for evidence that it had been broken into or tampered with.

He stooped on the ground to look under the car, completing the bomb check. Then she heard him hiss. Her pulse kicked up as she took another step back. “What is it?” she demanded.

“A flat tire.” Cody scowled as he got back to his feet and dusted some grit and dirt from his suit jacket. “Damn it.” He pulled his phone from his coat. “I’ll call for another car.”

Elizabeth exhaled, relieved. She just wanted all of this to be over. “Okay—but—” She frowned. “Don’t you think it’s weird that we have a flat? Don’t Jason and Sonny do, like, routine maintenance?”

Cody glanced up, frowned at her, then looked back at the car. “Shit. Let’s go back inside—”

A shadow darted around them, and Elizabeth screamed as Manny Ruiz lurched out from behind a car and ran at Cody, who didn’t even have a chance to pull his gun before the tire iron smacked the side of his skull.

“Run,” Cody choked out as he fell against the car. Elizabeth took off, the pads of her sneakers slapping against the concrete floor as she dashed back towards the emergency stairs, knowing she’d never get to the elevator.

Just as she reached the door and started to twist the handle, a hand slid over her mouth, and Manny’s voice panted in her ear. “Not so fast, Pretty Girl. You’re all mine.”

Elizabeth bit his hand, then screamed. Manny swore, spun her around, then backhanded her. Elizabeth flew into a car, then falling onto the ground.

With a moan, Elizabeth tried to crawl away. She could see Cody in the distance, laying sprawled out by his car.

“Help…”

She cried out as Manny yanked her head back—then dimly saw the car bumper in front of her before pain exploded in her head, and her vision went black.

Being me can only mean
Feeling scared to breathe
If you leave me then I’ll be afraid of everything
That makes me anxious, gives me patience, calms me down
Lets me face this, let me sleep, and when I wake up
Let me breathe
– Afraid, Neighborhood

---

Friday, April 7, 2006

General Hospital: Emergency Room

Jason stalked into the emergency room, Sonny and Max hot on his heels. He stopped to scan the cubicles and swore when he saw Cody lying on one of the gurneys, his face pale, blood staining his shirt. At his side, Patrick and Robin were working.

Alan and Monica were both just outside the curtain, talking to Emily. Alan turned and gestured for Jason to join them, even as he scowled upon sighting Sonny.

“We called you as soon as we got the warning from the security room,” Alan told him. “The PCPD has already been through.”

“What did they say? Did they tell you anything?”

“No, they were told the guard can’t help since he hasn’t woken up. We gave them the description of the car Manny was driving and a copy of the security tape. I think Mac said he was going to find Lucky and put an APB out to the airports and the train station.” Monica shook her head. “How did he get into the parking garage?”

“Stan said he’d try to find out,” Sonny said to Jason. “But I told him it’s not the priority.”

“No, but it might tell us where he’s hiding.” Jason exhaled slowly. “What about Cody? What did you find in the parking garage?”

“Flat tire. I guess Manny used it as a distraction.” Alan hesitated and exchanged a look with Monica. “Cody was on the ground by the car, but we found blood nearer the stairwell. Blood and….hair on a bumper.”

“Elizabeth’s hair,” Emily managed, her voice hoarse. Her eyes were puffy. “It looks like she ran for the stairs and almost made it. He must have slammed her head into the car—” She couldn’t. She looked back at the guard. “She should have stayed home.”

Jason followed her gaze, troubled by the pallor of his guard’s face. Somewhere, Manny Ruiz had Elizabeth. She was hurt, terrified—

“Cameron’s still at Carly’s,” Jason said, swallowing hard. “You don’t have to worry about him, Em. I put more men there—”

“A lot of good it did us here,” Emily snapped, and Jason flinched.

“Emily,” Alan murmured. “Short of locking Elizabeth in a room until Manny was dealt with, I don’t know what your brother could have done. And to be honest, I have a feeling the fault is in the hospital security.” He looked at Jason. “I’m sorry. You were right. I should have pushed harder to get Manny Ruiz out of this hospital.”

Emily sighed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just—” She folded her arms. “I’m just scared. I know you did your best to protect her.”

You’re not Superman.

 Elizabeth’s voice echoed in his brain as Jason tried to think of the next step. No one had seen Manny Ruiz since Wednesday afternoon when he’d clocked out of his shift. Forty-eight hours, and his men still hadn’t found the psycho. They didn’t even have a lead.

“Jason?”

He looked to find Robin trying to get his attention. “Yeah?”

“Cody has a fractured skull. We’re taking him up for surgery. You’re his medical power of attorney, so…” Robin held out a clipboard. “He was conscious when they found him. He was drifting in and out, but he kept saying Elizabeth’s name over and over again. Telling her to run.”

“I should have done more,” Jason said. He scribbled his name.

“You’re not Superman,” Robin said, and he looked at her with a start. “What? What did I say?”

And I don’t expect you to be.

“Nothing,” he swallowed. “Em—”

“Yeah?”

“Call her grandmother in Memphis.” Jason scratched his temple. “Sonny—” He turned to his partner. “Go to Carly’s—” Sonny grimaced. “Stay with Cameron. If Manny’s trying to get Elizabeth out of town…I don’t know, he might be crazy enough to go for her son. To take him along. I just—I know we have guys there, but—”

“No, I got it. Call me if you find anything.”

When Sonny had left, Emily touched his arm. “What are you going to do? Do you have any ideas?”

“No, I don’t,” Jason admitted. “But I’m going down to security. I don’t—I don’t know, Emily. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry,” she echoed with a sigh. “Because I think I’m going to give you something else to worry about. I’ve been trying to call Lucky since Elizabeth went missing, but he’s not picking up his phone. His dad said he’d been trying to find him all day, but it’s like he’s disappeared.”

Jason frowned at her. “Why—”

“I don’t know if it’s related,” Emily said, “but it’s weird, right?” She bit her lip. “Isn’t it?”

Jason did think it was troubling that Lucky was missing at the same time Elizabeth had been kidnapped, but he couldn’t think of how it was related. “I don’t know. I’ll see if anyone knows anything, but—”

“Right.” Emily nodded. “It’s not a priority. I know. I just wanted to let you know.” She took a deep breath. “Just—just find her, Jason.”

“I will.”

Warehouse: Room

Elizabeth moaned slightly, shook her head, and opened her eyes. She winced from the light. “What—” She couldn’t finish the words.

“I’m sorry.” The bright light flashed, then dimmed. She opened her eyes again to find the room much darker. She was sitting in a chair, her hands tied behind her.

In another chair, a few feet in front of her sat Manny Ruiz.

“W-What—” Elizabeth’s body just froze, and she couldn’t speak. “Oh, God. What are you—”

“You can scream if you like,” Manny said with a smile. “No one will hear you. We’re too close to the docks. Too far away from everything else.” He tipped his head to the side. “I’m sorry I had to hurt you, Elizabeth. You were always so nice to me. But you ran, and, well, plans change.”

“I—” She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. “What are you going to do?”

“I know you’ve talked about me to Jason Morgan. He must have told you all the rumors.” Manny’s grin widened, and he got to his feet. He picked up a long knife from a table, then pointed it at her, the blade a dull glint in the dim lights. She flinched. “I have…high expectations, and sometimes it’s hard to make me happy.”

A tear slid down her cheek as she tried to find the words. She had to be able to make this stop. “Please—”

“But you’re strong, you know. I’ve been watching you. I think you might be the one I’ve been looking for.” He knelt in front of her, touching her chin with the tip of the knife. She hissed as it bit into her skin slightly.

“But if you disappoint me, well…you’ll go with the others. Pretty women with big blue eyes and skin as pale as yours…” He got to his feet. “They turn a nice profit in many places.”

She moaned slightly as her vision blurred. Oh, God. He was going to rape and torture her until he was bored, and then…

“Please…”

“But I don’t want you to think I don’t care about you.” Manny shook his head. “No, no. It’s just the opposite. You’re such a bright light. Such a sweet, sweet girl. I want to give you something. I want you to see how much I want to please you. I got you a present.”

Oh, no. Oh, God. What if he’d gone to Carly’s—what if her little boy—

“Come with me. No, no, don’t fight—” Manny cut the bonds on her wrist, but held the knife to her. “Come on.”

Very aware of the warm blood trickling from the cut on her chin, the ache in her head from whatever he’d hit with her at the parking garage, and the cool press of the knife against her scrub top—she gulped down a breath and forced herself to stay quiet as he dragged her along.

Elizabeth followed him out of the room into the warehouse’s vast, empty center room. She stumbled in the dark, but Manny hauled her back to her feet and kept dragging her.

“Please. Just let me go—”

“I’ve waited so long for this moment. I had a plan that was better than this, but then, well, you forced my hand, Elizabeth. I had to save you.”

“Save me?” she repeated. “What—”

“I saw those bruises.” Manny shook his head. “When we talked on Wednesday. I saw what he did to you.” He looked at her, somehow his teeth bright white in the dark as he flashed her another smile. “You’ll thank me when this is done.”

A chill danced down her spine as he shoved her through another doorway. She bit back a cry as she saw who Manny had tied to a chair, bleeding and bruised…

Lucky.

General Hospital: Security Room

Learning that Jason was going to talk to her son, Epiphany had followed him down to the security room. Jason didn’t have the time to argue, particularly with someone he knew that was so loyal to Elizabeth.

“I would have given her the time off,” Epiphany said as they neared the room. “I would have made it work. That girl never asks for help when she really needs it. She—”

“Epiphany—” He turned and just shook his head. “No, she doesn’t. But let’s not—we can’t think about any of that right now.”

“Right. I’m sorry.”

Jason went into the room to find it emptier than he’d thought. He frowned and looked at Stan and the other guard. “No cops?”

“They thought they got everything they needed with the tape of her abduction.” Stan spun on the chair and looked at him with a bit trepidation. “You don’t need to see it. We’re scanning the rest of the footage to see how he got in—”

“I want to see it,” Jason said firmly.

Stan sighed, turned back to a monitor, and pressed play. Jason watched as ten minutes before Elizabeth had clocked out, Manny crept out of the shadows, knelt by the car, then disappeared again.

“He dug an icepick into the tire. We found it near Cody,” Stan said as the video continued to run. From the elevators, Jason watched as Cody and Elizabeth walked towards the car.

She’d done everything right. She’d waited to leave the elevator until Cody had swept the area. Then she stayed directly next to him, on the side next to the roadway, not somewhere where she could be grabbed in the shadows.

She’d paused by the car so that he could do a bomb sweep. She knew the routine better than Jason had remembered. And then Cody pulled out his phone—

“We don’t know who he was gonna call. Maybe Vic,” Stan said, continuing to narrate. They both flinched as Manny jumped out of the shadows and whacked Cody hard with the tire iron.

Elizabeth hadn’t hesitated. Just like he’d always told her. Don’t worry about the guard. Just run. She’d screamed, then darted away towards safety—

“She almost got away,” Epiphany murmured. “Just a second more—”

Jason watched, stone-faced, as Manny caught up to Elizabeth at the door, threw her against the car, then grabbed her by the hair and bashed her head against the bumper. Elizabeth slumped down to the floor. Her body was limp as Manny carried her out of camera range.

“She did everything I told her to do,” Jason said. He exhaled slowly. “And it wasn’t enough. How many cars left the garage after this?”

“Twelve. We’ve been tracking all of them, trying to find the one that might have been—”

“I think I’ve got it,” the other security guard said. “This one—registered to a Doctor Leo Ramsey.” He grimaced. “Look at the footage of the car entering the garage around 1 PM—”

And there it was, Manny behind the wheel, just driving like he had a right to be there. The guard switched to another view, and they saw Manny parking the car. Then moving it—

“He waited in the garage until a car near Elizabeth’s moved so he could be closer. He planned this. And he must have been planning this for a long time—do we know where the doctor is?”

“No, but if we find the car—” Stan waited as Jason called Alan and told him the make and model to pass on to the cops. “Does this get us closer to Manny?”

“No,” Jason admitted. “Because I don’t think he’s at the doctor’s house.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t know where to look,” he admitted.

“She’s tough, Jason,” Epiphany told him. “And she’s got that little boy to keep her going. Nothing is gonna stop Elizabeth coming home to him.” She nodded to the screen. “Keep looking, Stanford. We’ll go up and wait for word from the guard. He might know something. C’mon.”

Outside the security room, Jason slumped against the wall for a minute, trying to collect his thoughts. “I told her I wouldn’t let anything happen to her. And I couldn’t keep that promise—”

“Jason.”

He frowned, looked up at the frowning nurse. “What?”

“Manny knew what car Elizabeth drove to work today.”

Jason straightened, hissed. “She didn’t drive her car. She drove with Cody. He was following her from Audrey’s.” Which meant he’d been following her all along. Damn it. How had they missed it—he thought of the rookie guard who had done a shit job of following him.

“They keep saying they can’t find Lucky Spencer. And I can’t help but think—he went missing after an argument with Elizabeth that sent her running to her grandmother’s.” Epiphany hesitated. “You tell me Manny was targeting Elizabeth because he’s obsessed with her.”

“Maybe…”

“Maybe Manny wants to punish Lucky for hurting Elizabeth.” Epiphany shook her head. “It’s almost a shame you didn’t hurt her, Jason. Maybe he’d come find you.”

Warehouse: Room

Lucky blearily opened his eyes, looked at both of them, and coughed. “What the hell, Elizabeth—”

“Lucky—” Elizabeth looked at Manny with wide eyes. “What did you do?”

“Nothing much. I found him in an alley on Courtland Street.” Manny grabbed Lucky by his hair, dragged his head back. Brought the tip of his knife to her husband’s throat. “I saw the bruises, Elizabeth.”

“Elizabeth,” Lucky choked, trying to look at her, but Manny wouldn’t release his head, wouldn’t let him move.

“Do you have any other bruises?” Manny asked idly. “Or just the one on your face?”

“I—”

“She has such a lovely face,” Manny told Lucky, his voice almost sing-song. “You messed it up. Such pretty skin. Soft. You know that.”

“How can you…how can you be so angry at him for hurting me?” Elizabeth managed, desperate to get that knife away from her husband. “You—you’re planning to rape me.”

“No, no…” Manny released Lucky’s hair. “No, I’ll wait until you’re ready. You’ll want it, too.” He licked his lips, his tongue sweeping out with lasciviousness. “I’m good at making women want me.”

“I’ll never—”

“I know you got a taste for the bad boys.”

Elizabeth’s eyes widened as she took a step back. “What does—what do you mean?”

“It means I saw you, my sweet, pretty Elizabeth. All the times you met with Jason Morgan.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes. Oh, God. It just got worse. He’d been following her, he knew—he knew—all of her worst fears—

“I just wanted to get your attention with Skye. That was just a game to see what you’d do. How would you try to save her? I knew you would. I knew you couldn’t help yourself. I thought you’d go to the chief of staff, the police, your husband. But no—” He wagged a finger at her, then turned back to Lucky, who was glaring at Elizabeth now, his lips curled in a sneer, his eyes burning.

Manny laughed again. “Oh, see, Lucky knows what I’m trying to say. He gets it. He knows who you ran to.” He ripped Lucky’s head back again, yanking on his hair, his voice dropping the sing-song quality. “That’s why you hurt her, isn’t it? You knew she was a faithless whore, didn’t you?”

General Hospital: ICU

Jason scowled as he peered at Cody through one of the transparent walls of the ICU. “I was hoping he might wake up tonight,” he told Robin.

“I know. But we can’t do anything about that.” Robin bit her lip. “You really don’t have any leads—”

“No, but—” Jason grimaced. “I can’t just sit here. I need to do something. Look somewhere—” He broke off.

“What?” Robin touched his arm. “I know that look—”

“The waterfront,” Jason said. He met her worried gaze. “There’s a lot of abandoned buildings with cargo docks. It’s a way to escape, to get out of Port Charles under the radar.”

He could go look. He could do something instead of waiting here at the hospital for something to break. “I’ll go take a look. Maybe find some activity or just—something.”

Robin tipped her head towards the elevator. “Go. I’ll call you if anything changes with Cody.”

Warehouse

“What is he talking about?” Lucky demanded. Elizabeth just shook her head. No, not now. Not this. She couldn’t process this, couldn’t make herself accept that her husband was worrying about an affair while they were being held at knifepoint—

“You know, I wondered why a cop’s wife ran to Jason Morgan every time I so much as said boo to her.” Manny shook his head. “Never ran to you,” he said to Lucky, who growled.

“Just—just stop—let him go, okay?” Elizabeth knew if she tried to run, Manny would just kill Lucky and come after her. She was tired, her leg hurt from something—her shoulder was on fire—

She’d never be able to outrun Manny, and she knew she was alone. No one would know where she was, and Lucky clearly wasn’t going to be able to do anything.

She had to find a way out.

“Let him go, and I’ll—” She swallowed hard. “I’ll go with you.”

Lucky stared at her in shock. “No! No! Elizabeth, you can’t—”

“Well…” Manny lifted his brows, lowering his knife slightly. “If I had known the way to your heart was threatening to carve up the man who hurt you, I wouldn’t have planned the second part of this game.”

“S-Second part?” Elizabeth sputtered. “What—”

Manny reached into his pocket with his free hand and showed her a cell phone. Her phone. “Funny. Did you know she has Jason Morgan on speed dial?” Lucky’s eyes flashed with murderous rage, and Manny laughed. “Yes, it’s very upsetting. You’re not on the list. But he’s number two and since one is for emergency—”

“What?” Lucky bit out. He turned his glare back on her. “What the fucking hell?”

“I can explain—” Her world spun for a moment. “I just—with all this Manny stuff, I needed to—”

How could she explain she’d done it the night before when Jason had asked her to make sure she could call him if she needed him. She didn’t need Lucky on speed dial, and having Jason at the top—it just made sense—

But Lucky was looking at her with such hatred that she couldn’t force the words out. This couldn’t be happening.

“Why don’t we call him? We can ask Jason Morgan—” Manny grinned at Elizabeth’s stricken face. “Let’s invite him to the party—”

“Are you absolutely insane?” Elizabeth bit out. Why the hell would Manny want to invite one of the most feared enforcers on the East coast?

“It’s sweet; she’s worried about me,” he told Lucky. To Elizabeth, he continued, “I’ve got something he wants, pretty girl. And it might be nice for you to say goodbye to your lover before I whisk you away somewhere nice. I might not even hurt him much if you ask as nicely as you did for your husband here.”

He pressed the speed dial and put the phone against his ear.

Roscoe Trucking: Parking Lot

He’d parked his bike a block away, not wanting the sound of it to alert anyone who might be in the area. Mickey Roscoe had run a trucking company for Sorel as a front, and Faith had maintained it after his death. It had been abandoned since her death the year before.

It was a medium-sized building on the edge of the docks. The chain-link fence that surrounded it had fallen into disrepair due to negligence and vandalism. Just as Jason ducked under a broken section, his cell phone rang.

His heart began to race when he saw Elizabeth’s name on his identification screen. “Elizabeth?” he demanded when he answered the phone.

“Oh, you sound so hopeful. No, sorry to disappoint you, but it’s just me.”

Manny’s smooth voice sounded so normal that it startled Jason. Did he even have her? Or just her phone? “Where is she?”

“She’s safer with me than she is out in the world. Oh, look, she doesn’t agree, does she? She’s shaking her head—”

“Jason, don’t listen to him—”

He closed his eyes at the sound of Elizabeth’s voice. She was panicked but alive. And that was more information than he’d had thirty seconds ago. He could cling to that.

“What do you want? I can get you out of the country if you let her go—”

“Oh, no, no, it’s nothing that simple. You see, I’m taking my sweet Elizabeth with me, but I have to clear up old business before she can go. She worries, you know, and I’m just…” Manny sighed. “I’m afraid she won’t be able to concentrate on me.”

“What do you want?” Jason repeated.

“I want you to join our party. I have something special before we leave. A present that I want you to give it to her. I’m at Roscoe Trucking. You know the place. You took care of its owner.”

Jason closed his eyes in relief. Thank God. He was here, and he’d arrived nearly ten minutes before Manny could expect him to show up. He’d be able to surprise them.

“Yeah, I’ll be there.”

“Make it quick,” Manny said, then hung up.

Before he went inside, Jason called Robin. When she picked up, he said, “I need you to call Sonny and the PCPD. Tell them to go to Roscoe Trucking, but to be careful. He has Elizabeth, and I’m pretty sure I heard Lucky in the background.”

“Lucky!” Robin repeated, but Jason had already hung up. He needed to stop Manny Ruiz and get Elizabeth to safety. He wouldn’t break another promise to her.

Warehouse: Room

“He sounded so concerned,” Manny said with a sigh. “He must really love you,” he said to Elizabeth. “All the times he was at your apartment, all those close moments on the docks, at the warehouse—did he ever tell you?”

Elizabeth’s hands were shaking as she dragged her hands through her hair. “Why are you doing this to me?” she choked out. “Why are you—” She looked at Lucky, and something inside her shriveled up and died.

Because why—in the middle of being kidnapped and mentally tortured—should she have to explain herself to the abusive husband she’d just fled—

Why?

Why was this happening?

“Because I think it might be hard for you to enjoy yourself if I’m the one that kills this piece of shit.” Manny backhanded Lucky, who moaned in pain. “But maybe if I tell Jason Morgan where you got that bruise, he’ll take care of it for me—”

“That’s your plan?” Elizabeth demanded. “He’d never do that to me. He’ll kill you first.”

“She has a lot of faith in him,” Manny said, his tone apologetic as he looked at Lucky. “I was angry with her at first when I realized she was unfaithful. Just like you are now. No, don’t deny it,” Manny murmured when Lucky shook his head. “I thought she deserved to be punished. But then, Lucky, you know what changed?”

“What?” Lucky muttered. He winced as Manny pinched his cheek. “What?”

“I saw her face. And I realized she was just lonely. Desperate for someone to treat her right. So I’ll leave Jason Morgan to take care of you, and I’ll take her somewhere where you can’t hurt her again.”

A sob broke, escaped her lips as Elizabeth shook her head. How could she make this stop? How could she save herself? How could she get back to her son?

“I never hit her,” Lucky hissed. “Tell him, Elizabeth—I never hit you—”

“We don’t have time for lies.” Manny cut Lucky’s bonds, then shoved her husband to the floor. Lucky screamed as Manny ground his heel into his back—right at the part of the spine where Lucky had been injured.

“Stop! Stop! I told you I’ll go with you!” Elizabeth rushed forward to grab Manny’s arm to stop him from kicking Lucky again.

“He shouldn’t lie to me,” Manny panted. He stomped one more time, then grabbed Elizabeth by her wrists. “Come on. We need to be on the docks before Morgan gets here—”

“What? Why—” But Elizabeth could barely catch her breath as he dragged her. “I thought you wanted him here—”

“Not until I’m ready for him.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to argue with him again, but then—

Then she saw him. Just the corner of his leather jacket outside the large loading dock door. A cry of relief nearly bubbled out of her throat, because she knew—God, she knew she’d be okay.

Jason was already here. He’d found her. Somehow, he’d been close when Manny called, and he was here before Manny would expect him.

“I told you,” Manny was saying, “I have a plan.”

“And so do I.” Elizabeth spit in his face.

When Manny reared back, she kicked at the back of his knees until Manny went sprawling. Not even waiting to see if he’d hit the ground, Elizabeth took off, finding a burst of adrenaline somehow—

She exploded out onto the docks, hearing Manny’s angry shouts behind her—Jason was there, shoving her behind him, his arm outstretched, the gun pointed at Manny who skidded to a stop with a growl and look of loathing at Elizabeth.

“You fucking bitch!”

Elizabeth expected Jason to open fire—to shoot Manny where he stood until he was dead. But he didn’t. Because she was standing there. Watching him. “Jason—”

“That’s so sweet,” Manny said with a shake of his head. He looked around, his hands up. “Can’t bear to make her see you as a killer. Must be true love. I guess I’ll just find a way to meet you again—”

“Jason, no, you can’t let him go—”

Manny’s grin only widened—until Jason pulled the trigger. Twice in rapid succession, two shots to the chest that sent Manny flying backward, skidding across the docks. Elizabeth sank to her knees, dizzy with relief.

“I needed a heart shot,” Jason said flatly. He tucked his gun away, then sighed as he heard the whirl of police sirens. He took Elizabeth’s hand and pulled her back to her feet, crushing her into a tight hug. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” He pulled away, framed her face in his hands, searching her eyes.

“Just a hit on the head when he grabbed me.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I was so scared. He called you, and I thought—I was so scared—” Elizabeth threw herself back into his arms. “But you came—”

“And you got yourself away from him.” He turned his face, pressed his lips to her hair. “You saved yourself. I just finished the job.”

“I—” Elizabeth drew back on a shaky breath. She met his eyes. “How did you find me? How did you know we were back here—”

“I just—” He swallowed. “I just did.” Their eyes held for a long moment.

Elizabeth’s head was spinning, and then— “Oh, God. Lucky. He was hurt—”

She drew back, blanching as she saw several police officers standing in the doorway, including Mac Scorpio, who was just raising his brows.

“Your husband is being loaded into an ambulance—if you care,” Mac said with a coldness in his tone she’d never heard before. He nodded to Manny. “He dead?”

“Yeah.” Jason lifted his chin as if daring Mac to do something about it.

“About time.” Mac shrugged and walked away, back inside the warehouse. Elizabeth sagged against Jason.

“Asshole,” Jason muttered as he put an arm around her shoulder and helped her limp back inside. “He could have asked you if you were okay—”

“I can’t worry about that,” Elizabeth sighed as they neared the front of the building. But then she could hear Lucky’s voice. She rushed towards him. “Lucky, are you okay?”

She tried to touch his arm, but he slapped her hand away. “What do you care?” Lucky bit out. “I heard what Manny said. Go be with your lover, you bitch!”

“W-What—” Elizabeth stepped back, stung. She looked around at the paramedics, at the other officers who avoided making eye contact before looking at Jason, still standing by the warehouse door. She looked back at Lucky. “Manny—he was lying, Lucky. It wasn’t like that—”

“He was right about one thing. Faithless whore. That’s what you are. What you’ve always been—”

“Elizabeth, he’s in a lot of pain right now,” Mac finally said, putting a hand on her arm, drawing her away. “Let’s give him a minute.”

“I—” She looked at Mac. “I—”

“And what did you expect, hanging out with Jason Morgan?” Lucky’s partner, Jesse Beaudry, snapped. “What did you think people would say?”

Her knees buckled as she took in all of the people who had listened to Lucky—who believed him—

She’d been kidnapped, held at knifepoint, threatened with unimaginable rape and torture—had managed to survive it—had just about rescued herself—

And it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter.

She didn’t matter.

Tears burned in her throat as she slowly took a step back. She stumbled over a rock and fell to the ground. No one moved to help her. She sat on the gravel for a long minute, just staring at her hands, now scraped from the rocks.

“Come on,” Jason murmured. He knelt next to her and got her to her feet. “Let’s go to the hospital. Robin’s waiting. And Emily. Everyone’s worried.”

“Are they?” Elizabeth asked dully. She closed her eyes to shut out all the stares, the accusations and let Jason steer her towards a car, only belatedly realizing that Sonny and Max had arrived.

“Yeah, they are. Come on,” he repeated. “Let’s go.”

“Okay.” With a shaky sigh, she slid into the backseat of the car and looked one more time towards the ambulance whose back doors had also closed.

She should feel relief. Manny was dead. The nightmare was over.

Except it felt like it was just beginning.

Will we burn in heaven
Like we do down here?
Will the change come while we’re waiting?
Everyone is waiting
– Witness, Sarah McLachlan

---

Friday, April 7, 2006

General Hospital: Emergency Room Trauma Room

Emily rushed into the trauma room, snapping on gloves as paramedics rolled Lucky in. Her best friend was bloody and bruised, his face nearly unrecognizable with cuts and a swollen right eye, and he was writhing on the stretcher, screaming at the top of his lungs—

“We tried to calm him down in the ambulance,” one of the paramedics said with a sigh to Patrick as he handed him a chart. “But he saw his wife get in a car with the guy she’s been having an affair with. It set him off all over again—”

“What?” Emily demanded, her eyes wide. “What the hell—”

And then she heard Lucky’s screams. She heard the words

“Fucking whore! This is her fault! She did this to me! She did this!”

Emily’s head spun as she looked across the stretcher to find Patrick’s blank face, stark-white. He swallowed hard, met Emily’s eyes, then looked at the other attending in the room. He slapped the chart into his chest.

“No way in hell am I treating him.”

Then he stalked out—shoving past Alan, who stumbled back in surprise. When he saw that Monica had arrived, he took off after the neurosurgeon as her mother took the chart from the other attending.

“Emily—” Monica closed her eyes, maybe to block out the word whore as it echoed in the room. “Can you deal with this?”

She took a deep breath. “Yeah. Yeah, I can.”

“Where is she? Where is that cheating bitch? Is her asshole boyfriend with her?”

“Good. Get some goddamn meds and shut him up,” Monica barked to the attending. “I don’t want to hear his voice anymore—”

General Hospital: Emergency Room

The world felt like it was spinning around her. People kept talking to her, walking past her, but Elizabeth just sat on a gurney in the emergency room, holding a bleeding arm in her lap, staring straight ahead at the curtain. Jason paced next to her, glaring out at the emergency room through the cubicle’s drawn curtains again.

“Where the hell are all the doctors?” he muttered.

“With Lucky, I think,” Elizabeth said. She closed her eyes. Her voice didn’t even feel attached to her. Was she floating? What did shock feel like? Her body swayed slightly. “I’m fine—”

“Where the hell is everybody?” Epiphany demanded as she jerked the curtain back. She jabbed her finger at someone. “You! Go drag Junior Drake from wherever he is—I don’t give a flying fuck if a cop is bleeding on the table. One of our own is hurt. She comes first—”

“Epiphany,” Elizabeth said, then shook her head as her supervisor came in. She winced as Epiphany touched her chin, turned it. “He didn’t—”

“You gonna tell me he didn’t hurt you? I watched the tape. I know he hit you, obviously cut you with that knife—” Epiphany glared at Jason. “Why you still standing there? Go find Drake and get him here—”

“I’m here, I’m here,” Patrick muttered as he and Robin arrived, pushing the curtain back. “I’m sorry. I was having a difference of opinion with the Chief of Staff.”

“You’re going to get suspended,” Robin said idly as the neurosurgeon pulled on some gloves.

“Yeah? Won’t even be the first time this year.” Patrick tipped Elizabeth’s head back and shined a light in her eyes. “She’s shocky. Pupils dilated. Pulse is rapid—”

“Jason,” Robin said softly as she eyed the cluster of cops standing on the other side of the emergency room. “Maybe…you should be somewhere else.”

Elizabeth blinked at him. Tried to focus on his face, but it was blurry, and she couldn’t quite manage it. She took a deep breath, realized Robin and Jason had continued speaking while she was…

Trying to float back to reality.

Jason turned and scowled at them. “Why? Because they couldn’t be bothered to help her?”

He shook his head, took Robin’s arm, and walked a few feet from the cubicle. “None of the paramedics even asked her if she was okay. I had to bring her to the hospital.” His blood boiled, remembering the confusion and hurt in her eyes when she’d fallen to the ground and just stayed there. Waiting for the first responders to help her. Men and women who were supposed to be better than him.

“What?” Robin’s scowl matched his as she shot a dark look at them. “Why? Because of the bullshit Lucky is spewing?”

“He’s still—” Jason swore under his breath. “What’s he saying now?”

“That’s why Patrick is in trouble. He got into the room and heard Lucky demanding to know where the cheating bitch and if her asshole boyfriend was with her—” Robin grimaced. “Pretty sure he means you. Patrick listened to exactly one sentence of that and walked out.”

Jason liked Patrick Drake more and more. “So?”

“So, he can’t just refuse to treat a patient,” Robin said with a roll of her eyes. “Even if I kind of want to set him on fire, too. I mean, Jesus…” She looked back at the cops, saw her uncle had joined them. “But I guess they believe him.”

“I don’t know what happened. I never saw Lucky until it was over.”

“I don’t know either. But…” Robin hesitated. “It’s not that…I’m not judging, but if there’s any truth—”

Jason hesitated, and Robin raised her brows. “It’s…complicated,” he muttered.

“Okay—” Robin closed her mouth as her uncle approached them. “Uncle Mac, if you’re here to talk to Liz—”

“Jesse’s going to take her statement. She looked like she was okay at the docks, so we just want to know how Lucky ended up down there—” Mac began.

“Why—” Robin narrowed her eyes. “Why does that matter now? Manny’s dead.”

“Yeah, and that’s what we want to talk to Jason about. Care to answer some questions about what the hell happened?” Mac demanded, turning his attention to Jason.

Jason hesitated. If he’d thought this was about Elizabeth’s kidnapping and cleaning up loose ends, he might have agreed. But clearly, they were focusing on Lucky and the attempted murder of a cop. “Yeah, just let me call Justus—”

“Do you really need your lawyer for this?”

“You know, I hear the first responders didn’t bother to check on Elizabeth or offer medical assistance,” Robin said flatly. “She’s in shock, you know that, right? And she has a head injury. I’d hate the PCPD to get slapped with a civil rights suit.”

“Robin—” Mac sighed, looked back at Jason. “Get your damn lawyer down here. I’ll wait.”

“You’ll wait over there,” Robin snapped, pointing back to the main desk. “And I notice you didn’t deny it. I expected better from you, Uncle Mac.”

“Yeah, well, I expected better from Elizabeth Spencer, so I guess we’re even.”

Mac stalked away as Jason exhaled slowly. “They’re never going to believe this had nothing to do with me,” he murmured.

Robin folded her arms. “No, they probably won’t. I’m sorry. This is probably going to get a lot worse for Elizabeth. Which brings me back to my original point—”

“I should stay away from her,” Jason said. He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. She doesn’t need any of this. I don’t want to make it worse.” He looked back at the curtain. “Robin—”

“I’m not going to leave her alone. Emily is in with Lucky, her grandmother is flying in from Memphis as soon as she can get a flight. I have to go in there and talk Patrick into doing his job, but I promise you—” She touched Jason’s arm. “She won’t be alone. And I’m not going to let anyone push her around.”

“Thanks. I’ll go call Justus.”

Robin stepped back behind the curtain to find Patrick carefully placing a butterfly bandage on the cut on her chin. “Jason had to go call his lawyer,” she told Elizabeth. “Mac wants to question him.”

“Great,” Elizabeth murmured. “I’m sure he’s looking forward to that.”

Patrick turned to Epiphany. “I want her overnight for the head wound. We’re going to run an MRI on the head, wrist, and shoulder just to be sure. Get her a room.”

“Patrick—” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “You should go take care of Lucky.”

“What? I never said—”

“I know what he said back at the warehouse.” Her head swayed, and she pressed a hand to her forehead. “Is he still calling me a faithless whore?”

“Uh—”

“Manny called me that, too.” Elizabeth managed a sour smile. “Funny, isn’t it?”

“Not even a little bit,” Patrick muttered. “Elizabeth—”

“He’s hurt. And you’re a doctor. You should go help him. Don’t get into trouble because of me.”

“All right,” Patrick said carefully. He looked at Robin. “You gonna scrub in with me?”

“No, I’m waiting for Emily to get here. I promised Jason someone would stay with you,” Robin told Elizabeth, who just sighed.

“And that’s why he went somewhere else to call Justus. Because the last place he should be is with me. That’s going to make everything worse.”

Epiphany huffed. “Don’t you worry about any of that right now. Robin, go scrub in with Patrick. I’ll stay—”

“Elizabeth?” Jesse Beaudry appeared in the opening of the curtain. “I need your statement—”

“No,” Patrick said with a glare. “Number one, you don’t come near my patient without a goddamn handwritten engraved invitation. I’m talking calligraphy—”

Robin put a hand on her boyfriend’s arm. “Jesse,” she said to the other man, “we’re admitting Elizabeth to the hospital. Let’s wait until she’s settled and has some time. She’s been through a lot tonight.” She arched one slim brow. “You do remember she’s the victim, right? Not just Lucky?”

Jesse swept his eyes over Elizabeth, then snorted. “Doesn’t look much like a victim to me, but fine, have it your way.”

“What the actual fuck is going on right now?” Patrick demanded as Maxie’s boyfriend sauntered off. “What happened to protect and serve?”

“It’s simple.” Elizabeth laid back against the gurney. “They think I’m having an affair with Jason, and that’s why I got kidnapped. And Lucky—a brother in blue—got hurt because of it. So not only do they not care about what happened to me—I bet some of them think I deserved it.”

Robin pressed her lips together as her eyes burned. The flat affect in Elizabeth’s voice, coupled with the brutal statement, broke her heart. Elizabeth didn’t expect much from anyone at this point. The odds that she’d ever go public with what that brother in blue had done to her sl ipped from unlikely to not a chance in hell.

“Come on,” she told Patrick. “Let’s go. Epiphany will take care of her.”

“And I will slap the silly shit out of anyone else who comes in this room tonight,” Epiphany said with a firm nod. She shoved up the long-sleeved shirt she wore under her scrubs to her elbows. “Just try me.”

Outside the cubicle, Patrick scowled. “I do not want to spend one more minute of my life trying to help that abusive little piece of shit—did you hear her in there—I knew it! I knew I should have told her about the drugs—that’s what he’s on, you know that, right?”

When Robin just shook her head and sighed, Patrick continued. “He’s in withdrawal because Manny probably grabbed him before he could get his next fix, and he’s ready to set everything on fire—”

“Patrick—”

“I’m telling her—”

“You can’t. She’s a nurse, Patrick. She’ll understand when she does know. And she will find out—these things never stay hidden for long. You shouldn’t have even said that to me right now.”

“Yeah, but—”

Robin leaned up and pressed her lips against his. “I love you that you want to do something to help her. But I also heard her tell you not to get in trouble over this. And she’s had enough of people not respecting her tonight.”

“Damn it. Damn it. That’s a good point.” Patrick was still scowling as they made their way over towards the trauma room. “You’re a pain in the ass sometimes.”

“Part of my charm.”

General Hospital: Hospital Room

It was another thirty minutes before Elizabeth was admitted to one of the general wards. Bobbie had stopped by for a few minutes to let her know that Carly was keeping Cameron overnight and that Elizabeth shouldn’t worry. Cameron was ridiculously excited to have a sleepover with his new best friend, who happened to have a playroom bigger than Elizabeth’s entire apartment.

Then Emily had finally been able to leave Lucky when he went into surgery and come up to sit with Elizabeth. She’d stayed by Elizabeth’s side as Epiphany wheeled her upstairs into her own room, sending glares to anyone who even attempted to talk to Elizabeth.

While she and Emily hadn’t really spoken the last days, Elizabeth was grateful for her presence. They hadn’t even spoken a word about the fight they’d been having—Emily just planted herself at Elizabeth’s bedside and refused to leave.

Then Jesse Beaudry showed up to take Elizabeth’s statement.

Emily let Lucky’s partner in and just glared when Jesse suggested she leave the room. “Not a chance in hell.”

“Okay,” Jesse drawled. He set himself at the end of Elizabeth’s hospital bed, standing with his feet slightly apart. He nodded at the brace around her wrist. “I didn’t think you were hurt.”

Elizabeth blinked, then looked down at her wrist. “Oh. I strained it. I—” She grimaced. “I’m not sure when. I think when Manny dragged me…” She exhaled slowly. “But yeah, it’s a strain.”

“Why did Manny kidnap Lucky, too?” Jesse asked. “Did you know Manny was targeting him?”

Elizabeth turned her face away from him. “Not until he dragged me into the room. Manny said…” She swallowed hard. She didn’t think they’d believe her about the bruises. Not now, when she was covered in them thanks to Manny Ruiz. “Manny said he’d seen me fight with Lucky.”

“Uh-huh. You weren’t at your apartment last night? Manny knew you were in a different car, so he followed you to work, didn’t he?”

“I stayed at my grandmother’s house—”

“How is any of this relevant?” Emily demanded. “Manny kidnapped her, then took Lucky. He’s dead now. You can thank my brother any time—”

“Em—”

“It’s important we understand the details. You don’t want Jason to be arrested for murder, do you?” Jesse sneered.

At that, Elizabeth turned back abruptly at the smug cop. “What? Why?”

“Manny was unarmed when we found him. Jason shot him in cold blood.” Jesse shrugged. “You’d already escaped from him—How can he argue defense of others?”

“This is bullshit—” Emily scowled.

Elizabeth struggled to breathe as her heart began to race. “Manny came after me. He followed me. He kidnapped me. He tried to kill my guard—”

“Yeah, how do you explain a cop’s wife being followed around by one of Jason’s goons? Manny came after you. Why?”

She closed her eyes. “I told you. He kidnapped me last fall. I filed a report. He…he told me he was obsessed with me.”

“Really? Because he also stalked Sam McCall. Jason Morgan’s fiancée Are you sure it was you that caught his attraction and not…” Jesse sneered. “Your connection to the local mob element?”

“Okay, that is absolutely it. You are done here.” Emily strode forward and yanked open the hospital door. “Get out—”

“It wasn’t about them,” Elizabeth tried to explain even though she knew he wouldn’t listen to her. “It was me. Manny got a job here because of me.”

“Sure. You and Jason Morgan used to date, didn’t you?” Jesse glanced down at his notebook. “I asked around, and you’ve been off and on for the last seven years, going back to when you were eighteen—how long have you been on again?”

Elizabeth felt a sob bubble up in her throat. “We’re not—”

“Get out,” Emily repeated. “Get out, or I’ll have hospital security remove you.” She stepped up to Jesse, who rolled his eyes. “How dare you come into this room and use this moment to go after my brother—Elizabeth was kidnapped! She has a concussion, a strained wrist, and shoulder—she was threatened with rape and torture at knifepoint, watched her husband be beaten in front of her and you’re in here—”

“Her husband was beaten in front of her because she got herself mixed up with criminals,” Jesse retorted, but Emily had already stopped listening. She stalked out into the hallway. Jesse turned back to Elizabeth.

“I don’t care if Lucky’s been in a bad mood lately,” Jesse snapped. “He deserved more loyalty from you. Even if you weren’t screwing Jason Morgan, you were clearly up to something with him. Why else would Manny Ruiz give a damn about you?”

“Get out of this room right now,” Alan Quartermaine thundered as he stormed into the room, Emily hot on his heels. “And don’t come near this patient again!”

“She’s a witness—”

“She’s the victim, you son of a bitch!” Emily tried to push past her father, but Alan held her back. “What the hell is this?”

“Get out,” the chief of staff ordered again. “You’ll be hearing from the hospital’s attorney. Don’t come in here again.”

“I’ll be in touch—”

“You’ll be in touch with her lawyer!” Emily retorted. “Justus Ward, the family attorney—”

“Yeah, I know him. He’s downstairs defending Morgan from another murder charge.” Jesse shook his head as if he were disappointed in them all. “Man. This town has its priorities screwed up.”

He left, and Alan went after him to make sure he got on the elevator. Emily turned back to Elizabeth, who was silently crying in the bed.

“Don’t listen to him—none of this is your fault—”

“Manny kidnapped Lucky because of me—”

“Because he was insane—” Emily shook her head, took Elizabeth’s hand. “None of this is your fault. And I’m not going to let anyone tell you it was. Lucky will understand that when he wakes up.” She hesitated. “When he calms down. He’s just hurt right now. And Jason isn’t going to jail. Justus won’t let that happen.”

“I just want this to be over. I just want it to be done.” Elizabeth closed her eyes. “Why can’t it just stop?”

“It will. I’ll go get your doctor. I’ll find Robin. You need to sleep. You need to rest.” Emily rushed out to find someone. Within ten minutes, she’d located her mother, who prescribed sedation for Elizabeth without argument.

As Monica and Emily watched Elizabeth slip into sleep, Emily squared her shoulders and looked at her mother. “I’m gonna go check on Jason. He should know what the cops are doing to Elizabeth. I also want to make sure Justus will represent her.”

“I’ll wait here with her until someone else comes to sit with her,” Monica promised.

General Hospital: Conference Room

Jason had been interrogated maybe a hundred times in the last ten years and was generally pretty good at keeping himself under control. He let Justus deal with most of the questions initially, ferreting out what Justus thought was okay to answer.

No, he had no evidence that Manny was actually targeting Elizabeth. That’s why he didn’t go to the cops. No, Jason didn’t know why Manny had kidnapped and beaten a cop. No, Jason didn’t know Manny was unarmed when he shot him.

Jason thought the conversation was nearing the end when Mac introduced a new topic — one he’d never thought Robin’s uncle would actually bring up.

“And how long have you and Elizabeth Spencer been sleeping together?”

Justus put up a hand to ward off Jason’s immediate response. “We’re not commenting on gossip.”

“It’s not gossip,” Mac said blandly. He looked at Jason. “Before Lucky Spencer went into surgery, he claimed that Manny Ruiz told him he’d followed Elizabeth to see you several times. Apparently, Elizabeth didn’t deny it when Manny confronted her. Then Manny also told Lucky had he’d been kidnapped and beaten to get him out of the way.” He paused.

Jason squinted and looked at Justus. “What—” Jason broke off. “I don’t understand.”

“I do,” Justus said, grimly. “You’re suggesting that Jason was working with Manny somehow to get Spencer out of the way so he could have his wife, and what, Manny Ruiz went rogue?”

“That’s the story Spencer is telling—”

Jason pressed his lips together, shook his head. Justus sighed, looked at Jason, then looked back at Mac. “Give us the room for a minute. I want to talk to my client.”

Jason scowled as Mac left. “There’s nothing to talk about. It’s crap—”

“Of course it is. But you shot an unarmed man, and if Lucky Spencer sticks to this story, it’s going to create some serious shit for you. And for Elizabeth.” Justus hesitated. “Is that what you want?”

“No. I don’t care about me. But Elizabeth—” Jason sighed. “What do you want me to do?”

“You need to talk to this man about your relationship. You also need to give him something he can work with. You know Mac. He’s not a bad guy. But he’s a guy that has a cop who’s hurt and blaming the local mob. A lot of his guys are not making this easy on him. They stick together, and you don’t want them thinking Elizabeth is the enemy.”

“Fine.” Jason scowled. “Bring him back in.”

When Mac sat back down, Jason told him, “I’m only going to say this once. Elizabeth and I have been friends for years. We are not sleeping together.” That much, at least he could say without lying. “We’ve never slept together—”

Mac hesitated, looked at Justus. “Is—But everyone knows—”

“Everyone knows what they think they know. I asked her for a favor a few weeks ago, and then my sister…” He sighed. “Emily and Sonny were in the tabloids—it got complicated. We talked a few times about that. And then Elizabeth noticed that Skye was being followed by Manny.”

“Skye,” Mac repeated.

“She told Lucky who said the PCPD couldn’t do anything. And she was worried. So…” Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “She asked me to look out for Skye. Elizabeth cares about other people. She didn’t want Skye to get hurt. Eventually, I told Alcazar, and Skye went to Miami. That’s it. That’s what Manny thinks he saw.”

“Lucky seemed pretty convinced,” Mac said, but he was hesitating. “Why do you think he’d believe—”

“You’ll have to ask him that. Manny called me tonight because I’m on Elizabeth’s speed dial. She put me on there last night when Manny went missing. I was worried. I put guards on her because I wanted her to be safe. We’re friends,” Jason stressed.

“And the PCPD wouldn’t have had any reason to suspect Manny at that time,” Justus reminded Mac. “You couldn’t have spared the resources. As to the reason Detective Spencer was kidnapped, you might want to wait for Elizabeth’s statement as she was in the room—”

“Oh, Elizabeth isn’t giving any more damn statements,” Emily said as she stood in the open doorway of the conference room. “And you keep your asshole cops away from her from now on.”

“Emily—” Mac said, getting to his feet. “What are you—”

“My best friend has been terrorized and traumatized enough by one psycho. The next time the PCPD wants to talk to her, they can ask Justus. Or any other lawyer I find for her. Because this—”

“Emily, what happened?” Jason asked, worried. “Is Elizabeth okay?”

“Oh you mean, is she okay after Jesse accused her of having an affair and told her this was her fault—if she’d stayed away from my brother, she might not have been kidnapped? Blaming everything on her?”

Mac muttered under his breath as Justus scowled, and Jason’s jaw clenched. “You know, it’s one thing for you to come after Jason with a bullshit charge,” Justus began as he clipped his briefcase closed. “But a terrorized victim barely an hour after she escaped a man who kidnapped her and threatened to rape and torture her? That’s low. Even for the PCPD—”

“That was not what was—” Mac closed his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said finally. “He shouldn’t have asked it that way—”

“What does that mean?” Emily demanded, incensed beyond practicality now.

“Look, I like Elizabeth. I always have. But let’s not pretend that she doesn’t share at least a portion of the blame here—”

Jason growled and took a step forward. Justus shoved him back. “Don’t make this worse, Jason,” he hissed.

“Worse?” Jason repeated. “How can I make this worse? Are you listening to this? No one gives a damn about what happened to Elizabeth—”

“I can’t even find out what happened to her,” Mac said, throwing up his hands.

“All you had to do was ask her,” Justus said. “But don’t worry. You can ask her when hell freezes over. My clients are finished speaking with you. You want to talk to them again, you bring an arrest warrant.” He glared at the commissioner. “You have daughters. Would you want them treated this way? Would you want Robin to be treated this way?”

Mac exhaled slowly. “I’ll talk to my men,” he said after a long moment. He looked at Emily. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not the one you should apologize to.” She stepped aside. “Get out of this hospital, or I’ll have my father escort you out the way he did Jesse.”

“I’ll be in touch,” Mac told Justus, then left.

Emily collapsed into a chair, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Why are they doing this? They’re supposed to be the good guys!”

Jason just shook his head. “I’m sorry, Emily—”

“And Elizabeth—God, she was expecting it. She knew it was coming, but it didn’t make it any less—” Emily scrubbed her hands over her face. “I never thought I’d say this, but I miss Taggert.”

Justus snorted. “Taggert hated Jason—”

“But he didn’t hate Elizabeth,” Jason said quietly. “He never would have treated her this way. And he would have kicked anyone else’s ass who tried it.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. He’d tried to be open, tried to avoid it, but this was a disaster spiraling out of control.

“Jason, you need to stay away from Elizabeth until this blows over,” Justus told him. “Let me handle any communication—”

Jason scowled, letting his hands fall back to his sides. “That’s not fair—”

“It’s what she needs right now,” Emily told him. “She’s exhausted. And she just wants this to be over. We need to make it over. Whatever it takes.”

“I’ll make some phone calls, but you should brace yourself for the morning papers.” Justus offered Emily a grim smile. “Because what’s about to happen will be much worse than your little scandal.”

General Hospital: Elizabeth’s Room

Elizabeth blinked, blearily, trying to adjust her vision to the darkened hospital room. As she turned her head, the events of the last day came back to her—from her mad dash to her grandmother’s, to taking photos of her injuries…

To the kidnapping. To the aftermath.

To the questioning.

“Elizabeth?”

She blinked again as a light switched on near her bed. “Patrick—” she licked her dry lips. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re taking shifts,” Patrick said as he stifled a yawn. “Emily didn’t want you left alone in case the PCPD came back. Justus left his card. Don’t talk to them without him. They’ve got some bullshit story about Jason going after Lucky and using Manny—” He shook his head. “Never mind. We can talk about that tomorrow—”

“What—” Elizabeth winced as she tried to sit back. Patrick reached for the bed remote and gently raised the bed. “That’s crazy. Manny kidnapped Lucky because of me. Because he thought Lucky had…” She trailed off. Looked at Patrick, then swallowed. “Because he thought Lucky left the bruise on my face.”

“But you didn’t tell them that,” Patrick said after a long moment.

“I didn’t think they’d believe me, and after all of this…” She closed her eyes. “I know they wouldn’t. They blame me.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think it’s going to get better once they find out…” Patrick hesitated. “Whatever Manny did to Lucky’s back—”

“He stomped on him. Repeatedly. Ground his heel into his spine.” Her stomach rolled just at the memory of it. “Oh, God, if you’re here, then his surgery is done.”

“It is. Lucky has an incomplete injury of the lumbar—” He sighed. “The technical stuff doesn’t matter. Basically, Manny aggravated the injury from the car accident—the same discs that were originally injured in November. I’m sorry. It’s bad.”

“Is he…paralyzed?”

“No. He’ll need another surgery, and he’ll be able to walk okay. But there’s no way I’ll ever be able to clear him for active duty again. He’s finished as a cop, Elizabeth.”

“Oh.” She leaned back and looked at the shadows on the ceiling. “Does he know?”

“No. He’s still out from the surgery. Elizabeth, this isn’t your fault—”

“Yes, it is,” she insisted. “I shouldn’t have made Lucky so angry. He asked me to stay from Jason, and I didn’t—I thought I had a good reason—”

“You did. Manny was stalking people, and a danger to everyone—” Patrick leaned forward. “And that’s bullshit that you made him angry. Lucky took a swing at me at one of our appointments. He’s an angry, violent man.” He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “You are not responsible for what he does—”

“Yes, I am. If I just—” She turned her face away. “If I could just love him better, if I were a better wife—”

“Elizabeth.” Patrick sighed, dipped his head. “I am so not equipped for this bullshit,” he muttered to himself. “Look at me.”

She turned back to him, her eyes damp with tears. “It’s my fault.”

“Because you made Lucky angry,” Patrick said. When she nodded, he shook his head. “No. A man doesn’t hit a woman. Full stop. End of story. I don’t care if he walked into the apartment and found you in the middle of a gang bang with the Five Families, he doesn’t get to put his hands on you.”

His scowl deepened. “I don’t care what bullshit excuse he gives you. I don’t care how much pain he’s in or how he’s managing it. You don’t take it out on the person you promised to love. End of story,” he repeated.

“I—” Elizabeth bit her lip. “I know you’re right. You are right,” she repeated. “I think—” She sighed. “I feel guilty.”

“Why?”

“Because I did…I didn’t sleep with Jason. We’re not—that’s not what happened.” She met his eyes. “But it still felt wrong. I think…I don’t know. I feel like I cheated on Lucky. Jason and I—we just talked about—about before. When we were together. And it just—we never told—”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “I never knew he loved me then. And it shouldn’t matter. But it does. And I hate myself. I blame myself.”

“Why is it always me?” he asked the ceiling. Patrick rubbed the side of his face. “Promise me you’ll get some rest tonight. I’ll give you something to sleep, okay? Just—this is all really fresh for you. And it’s going to get worse before it gets better. But you just—I don’t care what the hell is going on with you and Jason, Lucky Spencer does not get to use that as an excuse to hurt you.”

Elizabeth released a shaky sigh. “No, I know that. I just…I can’t explain it.”

“Then don’t. We’ll talk tomorrow. Everything can wait that long. And I’ll find you someone who does not suck at this.” Patrick leaned over to do something with her IV.

“You’re not so terrible,” she murmured even as the world fell away again.

When the world is falling down
And another breaks then another falls
For losers always make the winner’s day
Stand climb and fall
Carry the weight
Can’t carry it all
– Stanley Climbfall, Lifehouse

---

Saturday, April 8, 2006

 Kelly’s: Dining Room

From the moment Sam had stepped into the diner, people had been looking at her whispering. She’d arrived in Port Charles around five that morning and gone straight to the Towers to sleep. She hadn’t thought much of Jason not being home—he’d probably had something to do at the warehouse.

Then she’d come here for coffee—and people just would not stop whispering about her.

With a scowl, Sam stepped up to the counter. She leaned in towards Maxie Jones, who didn’t look all that happy about her morning shift. “What the hell is going on?” she demanded. “Do I have something on my face?”

“Oh.” Maxie shrugged. “They probably saw the papers. It’s worse than Sonny and Emily. I mean…I’m sorry for you, but it’s just the kind of stuff this town eats up—”

Sam stopped her before Maxie could walk away. “What do you mean they saw the papers? I’ve been out of town since Tuesday—”

Maxie’s eyes widened. In an instant, her boredom vanished, and her eyes lit up. “Wait. So you don’t know? Oh my God, I get to tell you! This is, like, what I was born for. Wait right here—”

She dashed into the back kitchen as Sam continued to seethe. If the news about her mother had gotten out, she’d be so goddamn pissed—

Maxie shoved the Port Charles Sun at her. “It’s the full cover—”

Sam stared down at the front page, trying to understand what she was looking at. A photograph of Lucky and Elizabeth from their wedding next to one of Jason’s many mug shots — COP’S WIFE & GANGSTER IN SHOCKING AFFAIR with REVEALED DURING ATTEMPTED MURDER PLOT GONE WRONG in smaller letters.

“What. Is. This?” Sam demanded in a low, angry voice. “What the hell is this?”

“Manny kidnapped Lucky yesterday.” She blinked, a bit taken aback at Sam’s hostile reaction. “He kidnapped Liz later, but the papers are saying that Jason was trying to get rid of Lucky because Liz wouldn’t leave her husband for him, so he used Manny. Only Manny went rogue—”

Sam exhaled slowly. That was insane. And ridiculous. The pressure on her chest began to ease. “Oh. Well, that’s stupid—”

“Probably,” Maxie agreed. She studied the headlines. “But everyone heard Lucky accuse Liz to her face, and Jason was the one that rescued her. I overheard Mac telling my mom about it—when the police got there, Lucky was gravely injured in a room, Manny was dead, and Liz and Jason were, like, totally making out on the docks—”

“They were—” Sam held up a hand. “I’m sorry. I need you to explain.”

“Hugging, fine. Whatever.” Maxie sighed. “I’m sorry. I really shouldn’t be so mean, right? I mean, you guys were totally engaged—”

“We’re still engaged,” Sam retorted. She shook her head. “This…this is all just a misunderstanding.”

“I don’t know. I mean, I know Jason didn’t try to have Lucky killed, but this affair stuff can’t be totally wrong, right? I mean, why else would Manny call Jason?”

“Manny called—” Sam ran her hands through her hair. “Maxie, I need you to stop enjoying this so damn much and tell me what happened.”

“Jesse told me that Manny kidnapped Lucky first, then grabbed Liz. Then he called Jason. And if Liz was really so scared and terrified and traumatized or whatever, why would Lucky accuse her of having an affair? I mean, he’d know, right? Maybe Lucky caught Jason and Liz together—”

“Maxie, you just—”

“And then Jason drove Liz to the hospital and, like, refused to leave her alone until Mac had to question him. Plus, Liz is totally refusing to talk to the cops without a lawyer. And she hired Justus. Who is Jason’s lawyer.” Maxie shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry, Sam, but I mean, everyone knows they’re like obsessed with each other.” She leaned in and whispered, “It’s not even the first time Liz has screwed Lucky over for Jason. Some people just never learn.”

“Okay. I’m going to go.” Sam slid off the stool. “You’re just—you’re wrong. Jason and I are engaged. Liz is married. It looks like she’s married an asshole, but none of that other stuff is true.”

“Maybe not the way the papers have written it,” Maxie told her, “but where there’s smoke, there’s fire. It can’t all be rumors.”

“Yeah, it can. So, stop enjoying this so damn much.” Sam stormed out of the diner, letting the diner door slam shut behind her.

General Hospital: Elizabeth’s Room

When Elizabeth woke the next morning, she saw her grandmother sitting next to her, grimacing at a copy of the Sun. Elizabeth saw her picture on the front page and sighed. “How bad is it?” she murmured.

Audrey looked up and managed a grim smile. “Hello, darling. How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been hit by a truck.” Elizabeth sighed because her grandmother hadn’t answered the question. That wasn’t a good sign. “When did you get here?”

“About an hour ago. Steven nearly came with me, but I told him to stay. That we’d call him if we needed him.” Audrey closed the Sun and leaned over to kiss Elizabeth’s forehead. “I checked in on Lucky before I came in.” She paused. “If you care.”

“Of course—” Elizabeth closed her eyes. “It’s not true, Gram.”

“Oh, well, this particular story, maybe not. But the fact of the matter is that you wouldn’t be in this bed if you’d stayed away from Jason Morgan.”

“No, I’d still be with Manny Ruiz, being raped and tortured,” Elizabeth snapped. Audrey scowled.

“I don’t understand how you got tangled up with Jason again. Haven’t we talked about this at length? Look at you. Your husband’s career is over thanks to this, your son spent the night with Carly Corinthos, and you’re in this bed, bruised from head to toe. Was it worth it?”

“You know,” Elizabeth said softly, “it wasn’t fun when the police accused me of being a whore, but this is even less amusing.”

“Elizabeth—”

“I’ve learned something very valuable from all of this,” she continued. “That literally everyone thinks I’m a garbage person.”

“No one thinks that—” Audrey took a deep breath. “I’m sorry—”

“You are always are.” Elizabeth turned her face away. “For what it’s worth, this had nothing to do with Jason. Manny was obsessed with me. He tried to kill Lucky because of me. And I am here alive because Jason killed him.”

“Elizabeth, there is no reason for Manny Ruiz to have targeted you—”

“Gram, can you just…” Elizabeth shook her head. “Can you go to Carly’s house and get Cameron? Take him back to your place. I don’t want to argue with you anymore. Nothing I say matters anyway.”

Audrey hesitated. “Elizabeth—”

“Please.”

“All right. I’ll go get Cameron.” Audrey got to her feet, with another shake of her head. “I’m only trying to protect you. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I know that, Gram.”

“I just…I love you.”

“I know.”

Elizabeth kept her eyes closed until Audrey had left, then opened them and reached for the paper she’d left behind. The headline was about as terrible as she’d thought it’d be. She thumbed through to skim the article.

Naturally, the paper had decided to go through all of their old gossip columns and brought up the stupid Christmas party from a lifetime ago, and her kidnapping from four years earlier—and someone had told the Sun’s reporters that Jason Morgan had had guards in the hospital protecting his mistress for weeks—

“Great.” Elizabeth flung the paper across the room and grimaced. Now the entire town thought she was a cheating bitch. There was little mention of the fact that she’d been chased down, thrown against a car, and abducted by a psychopath.

Lucky hadn’t cared. The police hadn’t cared. Neither had her own grandmother.

Manny being gone was supposed to solve her problems—instead, his death had just made everything so much worse.

Morgan Penthouse: Master Bedroom

Jason stepped out of the bathroom, towel drying his hair. He went to his dresser to drag out some clothes so that he could get to the warehouse and start doing damage control.

He’d spent the night at the there, working off his frustration by loading and unloading coffee shipments. When he’d finally returned home, he’d seen Sam’s luggage at the bottom of the stairs and winced. He was not looking forward to whatever conversation his fiancée wanted to have. Not after she saw the papers.

Which was, of course, a whole other problem he wasn’t interested in dealing with. He was doing a lot of avoiding these days.

He heard the door slam shut downstairs and footsteps on the stairs. Jason pulled on his jeans and was just tugging on his shirt when Sam shoved open the door.

“What was the one thing I asked you for when I left?” Sam demanded. She shoved the Sun at him, as well as the more sedate Herald.

“Sam—”

“I asked you not to make me a laughingstock. To humiliate me in front of everyone. Do you know what happened when I went to Kelly’s for coffee?”

Jason sighed as he reached for the Herald. He hadn’t seen their headline yet — COP INJURED IN BOTCHED KIDNAPPING; RUIZ SHOT DEAD. He shook his head. Like the PCPD, everyone seemed to forget that it had been Elizabeth who’d been the target.

“I’m sorry about the gossip,” Jason told her. When Sam snorted, he scowled. “I didn’t plan it. Manny grabbed Elizabeth, and while we were looking for her, he called me from her phone. By the time I got to the warehouse, she had managed to get away from him long enough that I could take a shot.”

Sam hesitated. “You…then what the hell does Lucky have to do with this? And what about Mac Scorpio seeing the two of you on the docks?” But some of the flush had left her cheeks.

“I’m not sure. Elizabeth wasn’t in any condition to get into it last night, but it looks like Manny was stalking her. She had a fight with Lucky and went to her grandmother’s. We thought maybe Lucky was grabbed because of that.”

“Because Manny was obsessed with her?” Sam bit her lip. “How come the papers don’t say that? Why is it all about you?”

“Because when Lucky was being loaded into the ambulance, he made a big scene and called Elizabeth—” Jason swallowed hard. “Some names I’m not gonna repeat. The cops didn’t even bother to talk to her. They didn’t even examine her. I had to drive her to the hospital.”

Sam pursed her lips and looked down at the papers now on the floor. “No,” she said finally. “I don’t buy it.” She met his eyes. “What happened between you two while I was gone? I told you to figure out what you were feeling. Do you think that I’m the only one who knew? That Lucky didn’t know what was going on?”

“Nothing was going on,” Jason snapped, then immediately regretted it. Because that was a lie. “Damn it, Sam—”

“Are you gonna tell me you didn’t have another one of your conversations with her while I was gone? That you weren’t alone with her?”

Jason hesitated. “I was, Sam, but—”

“And that Lucky didn’t know it?”

He remembered going to her place on Wednesday night, Lucky walking in on them. “I—yeah, but—”

“But nothing. Lucky saw something was going on, I saw it. And now the whole fucking world knows it. And then he gets kidnapped—” Sam pressed her lips together. “He blames her, doesn’t he? Manny never would have gone near her if it wasn’t for whatever the hell is going on here with you.”

“I don’t know that. He might have—he took the job at the hospital to be closer to her—”

“How the hell would—” Sam bit off her protest, then took another deep breath. “Jason, I get it. She was in trouble. You had to help her. I’m not—it’s not that—it’s—” She picked up the Sun. “The whole world is talking about it. They’re pointing at me. Laughing, snickering behind my back.”

“Sam…” Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry.”

“Do you love her?” Sam asked softly.

Jason blinked at the change in topic. “What?”

“You heard me.” Sam met his eyes. “Do you love her?”

Jason looked away, out the window, towards the hospital. Sam followed his gaze and scowled. He didn’t know how to answer that question. He didn’t know if the answer yes. He just…

He knew it wasn’t no.

“I don’t know,” Jason finally said. “I’m sorry.”

“Does she love you?” Sam pressed.

“I don’t—I don’t know the answer to that.” When Sam didn’t say anything else, he sighed. “Sam, I’m sorry—”

“Why? You were honest with me. And now…” She set the paper on his dresser and looked at him again. “Do you want me to leave?”

“No,” Jason said. But he waited a moment too long, and even he could hear the uncertainty in his tone. Sam sighed. “No, “ he repeated, careful to be more firm this time. “I—I asked you to marry me. I meant that—”

“Then you need to stay away from her,” Sam told him. “Manny’s dead. It’s over. You need to delete her number. Forget her name. You need to put her in your past. Because there’s no point in us doing this if you can’t do that.”

He knew she was right. He opened his mouth to agree but then closed it and just looked at her. “It’s not over,” he finally said. “The cops are still trying to pin Manny’s murder on me—”

She just sighed again and shook her head. “I think that I’ve been understanding,” Sam said, “to the point of insanity. But you’re standing here telling me with one breath that you might be in love with another woman but that you still want to marry me—what am I supposed to think?”

“I—”

“Are the papers lying? Was there actually an affair?” Sam demanded, the flush in her cheeks rising again. “Why can’t you just stop this? How do you think this makes me feel?”

“We weren’t having an affair,” Jason said, but the words felt automatic. Robotic. And not entirely true. He didn’t know how to explain any of it to himself, much less to her. Should he tell her about the kiss he and Elizabeth had shared in her apartment? Would that make it worse?

And it was obvious Sam didn’t believe him any more than he believed himself. “I wish…God, I wish I believed you.”

She turned and left.

General Hospital: Elizabeth’s Room

“I’m surprised there’s no guard on your door.”

Elizabeth had moved from the bed to the loveseat underneath one of the windows. She looked over to find Mac Scorpio in the doorway. She turned her attention back to the window. “I don’t need a guard anymore. Manny’s dead.”

“Uh-huh. Did you want me to call your lawyer?” Mac asked. “Emily told me you wanted Justus present.”

Elizabeth knew that she should send Mac away and call for Justus, but she was tired. And she just wanted it over. “Are you planning to call me a whore?”

Mac flinched, then shook his head. “No. I’m sorry if Jesse offended you. I’ll remind him that we don’t make the judgments. We just investigate and take the evidence where it leads us.” Mac approached her, stopping at the foot of the bed. “How are you feeling today?”

“Tired. Sore.”

“You haven’t been to see Lucky yet,” Mac said. “I looked at his visitor’s list.”

How could she go near the man that had started this roller coaster? If she’d gone to the PCPD the first time he’d pushed her, would they have believed her? Lucky had shoved her, screamed at her during her own kidnapping, then proclaimed her a whore when they were rescued—

And of course, no one thought Elizabeth might have a good reason for being cold to her husband. She was clearly in the wrong.

“No, I haven’t. I saw the papers. I don’t really want to see anyone.”

“Yeah, they did take some liberties,” Mac admitted. “I’m sure it’ll calm down. Lucky’s not awake yet, so I guess he doesn’t know he won’t be back on active duty.” He tipped his head. “How do you think he’ll take that?”

“Badly.” She looked at Mac. “Do you blame me, too?”

“Blame is a strong word,” Mac said. “I think you’ve been through a lot, and I’m sorry for it. I wish we could have done more to keep Manny off the streets.” He paused. “I also think that maybe if you chose your friends better, this might have been avoided.”

Elizabeth looked at him, saw the kind, well-meaning man that she’d known for years, who had always tried his best.

She looked at him and saw the face of everyone who would make this her fault. “And if I hadn’t walked through the park one night, I wouldn’t have been raped.”

Mac shook his head. “It’s not the same thing—”

“I wasn’t supposed to be in the park. I lied to my grandmother. I always did that, you know. And I lied to everyone. I sat in the park, and I wore a short dress. That’s what Tom Baker told me when he confessed to me—that he couldn’t help it. So it was my fault then, too.”

“No.” Mac sighed. “That’s not—”

“Is that what you’d tell your daughters? Didn’t Georgie get kidnapped by Diego Alcazar last fall?” Elizabeth looked back out the window. “Did you tell her it was her fault for being too nice? For being kind to the wrong people?”

“Elizabeth—”

“Manny kidnapped me last fall because he needed a nurse to take care of him. Women are known to disappear around him. He took a job at the hospital before the quarantine. He followed me around. And all of that happened before Jason and I ever spoke. Jason and I hadn’t been friends for more than two years—had barely even been in the same room for almost a year. Manny targeted me because he’s sick and likes to play games—”

“All of that might have been true,” Mac said. “But he only kidnapped you after he found out you were…friends with Jason Morgan.”

Tears burned at the back of her eyes, but she refused to let this man see her cry. To see how it broke her to know she wasn’t going to be believed. No matter how rational she was. How calm.

“Okay. Well, let me make this clear for you. Manny kidnapped me. He kidnapped Lucky and told me it was because he saw me fighting with Lucky and thought it would make me happy. He called Jason because he thought Jason might be tricked into killing Lucky for him. I think. I don’t know. That part of his plan was never clear—”

“Elizabeth—”

“He threatened me with a knife, hit me with a rock, ground his heel into Lucky’s spine, and when I managed to get free of him for a minute, Jason shot him to protect me and to save Lucky’s life. That’s it. That’s your statement. I’m not saying another word without a lawyer.”

“I figured we’d get to that sooner or later. Are you planning to use Jason’s lawyer?”

“No, I’m planning to ask Emily’s cousin to represent me. It’s not my fault they’re the same person.” Elizabeth met Mac’s eyes. “I didn’t deserve any of this—”

“I never said you did—”

“And I don’t deserve to be treated this way. You can go. Don’t come back. If you question me again without Justus present, I’ll file a harassment suit. No one gave a damn about me back at that warehouse. You decided it was my fault that a fellow cop had been hurt, and I’ve been treated like garbage ever since.”

She got to her feet. “It wasn’t my fault that Tom Baker raped me. And it wasn’t my fault that Manny Ruiz kidnapped me.”

“No one is saying what happened to you as a kid was your fault, Elizabeth. But you’re an adult now. You should take responsibility for your actions. You decided to get involved with a man like Jason Morgan. And now Lucky is paying for it—”

“Get out.”

Mac shook his head, but then he left. Elizabeth slowly sat back down as the pressure built in her chest and her shoulders started to shake. She’d managed to keep it together until the commissioner had left, but oh, God, he was right, wasn’t he? Maybe Manny wouldn’t have gone after her if he didn’t think it would get Jason’s attention—was this somehow her fault?

Could she have prevented this? And how was she supposed to live in this town now? If she left Lucky—how could she ever show her face? No one would understand, and she knew now that no one would believe her about the abuse.

Lucky was the heroic cop who’d been grievously injured, and she was the whore who had ruined his career.

And no one would ever be convinced otherwise.

General Hospital: Fourth Floor Stairwell

Jason took a deep breath and approached Epiphany, who was waiting at the door like a guard—her arm braced against it so that it could not be opened until she moved.

“Thanks for doing this,” he told her. “I figured it’d be easier to see her this way—”

“Have you seen the papers?” Epiphany demanded. “The filth they’re writing?”

Jason sighed, nodded. “Yeah, I saw them. Did she—”

“She did. Her grandmother was kind enough to leave them for her.” Epiphany raised her brows. “So that Elizabeth could consider the consequences of her actions with all the pertinent information.” She said the last part of it in a tone that indicated she was directly quoting Audrey Hardy.

Jason flinched and looked away. Audrey had never been his biggest fan. “Is she okay?”

“Well, I don’t know, because, after that visit, Mac Scorpio showed up, and she decided to give him a statement without a lawyer.” She pursed her lips. “She ended up throwing him out of her room, so I don’t think she’ll be making that mistake again.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Epiphany—”

“So, the only way you’re getting through this door is if you tell me what you got to say to her is important enough that you need to bother her.” Epiphany lifted her chin. “Because her husband is two flights up in ICU. He’s an asshole, but he’s a man. And you know what happens when a man starts screaming about how terrible a woman is?”

“Epiphany—”

“Everyone believes him. It doesn’t matter how hard Elizabeth works in this hospital, how long she’s lived in this town. No one cares how many people she’s helped or how many lives she saved during the quarantine—none of that matters. Because he’s a cop. So her word means nothing.”

He dipped his head, exhaled slowly. “Okay—” Jason shook his head. “Okay, I’ll go. I don’t want to make it worse.”

Epiphany sighed. “Wait—”

“You’re right. It’s not worth the risk. She’s been through enough.” He hesitated. “And I’m being selfish. I just—I haven’t seen her. I don’t know if she’s okay. Is she?”

“No.” But she lowered her arm and stepped back. “But it might do her some good to see someone who doesn’t believe the worst.” She huffed. “Don’t get caught.”

General Hospital: Elizabeth’s Room

Patrick had tried to talk Elizabeth into staying another night at the hospital, but she wanted to be alone. She wanted to get her son, go home to her apartment, and sort herself out.

And she knew she probably should be in the room when Lucky found he’d never be a cop again. Not the way he wanted to be. If she wasn’t there—well, it would just give people one more reason to talk.

And Elizabeth just didn’t want anyone to look at her anymore.

In an hour, Patrick had promised, he’d come back and sign her discharge papers. He’d even drive her home personally. She knew that no one would bother her with Patrick around—the surgeon was pretty good at the fuck off face.

“Elizabeth?”

She turned at the sound of Jason’s voice. She knew she shouldn’t feel happy to see him—that his being there was literally the worst thing right now, but she hadn’t seen him since the night before, and she didn’t really remember a lot from the emergency room.

At least he wasn’t going to call her a whore or blame her for her own kidnapping.

Jason glanced down the hall, then closed the door behind him. “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t be here.”

“Probably not.” Elizabeth sat back on the love seat. “Did anyone see you?”

“No, I called Epiphany, and she let me up the service stairs.” He sat next to her, turned slightly toward to face her. “I…I’m sorry about the papers—”

“None of this is your fault, Jason. It’s….” She sighed and looked down at her hands. “I don’t know. It’s the newspapers for not caring about the truth. It’s mine. It’s Lucky’s—”

“And it’s mine,” Jason pressed. She glanced up, met his eyes briefly, saw the worry. “You told me to stay away. And I didn’t. I don’t know what got into Lucky to make him think—”

“Manny did.” Elizabeth’s voice trembled, and goosebumps made her skin feel cold. “Manny told him that we’d been meeting. A-And Lucky didn’t even—” She closed her eyes. “Anyway. You know, Lucky doesn’t need a reason. He hates you. He has for years.”

“Elizabeth—”

“I just—I wasn’t prepared for everyone else. I always knew no one would believe me—” She bit her lip, horrified to realize she’d very nearly told Jason the truth. It was one thing to tell Patrick who didn’t really know her or Lucky—that somehow seemed safe.

But if she told Jason, if she said it out loud to someone who knew them—

It would be true. It would always be her reality. And she couldn’t take that back.

“Elizabeth—”

“Emily told me that a few weeks ago—no one believed us back then. After the Christmas Party.” With a smile she didn’t really feel, Elizabeth sighed. “I don’t just mean the world, I mean—”

“Emily didn’t believe us.”

“Neither did Nikolas. And they both told Lucky. Apparently, he’s believed I was lying all these years.” She swiped at her eyes. “So, yeah, Lucky didn’t really need much more than a push—”

“Elizabeth—” Jason stretched his arm across the back of the sofa. “I wish I could make this go away.”

“Yeah, well, until we figure out time travel, that’s never going to happen.” She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, though. I—I forgot about Sam. And she wasn’t really happy with us either before all this. I never…” She pressed a hand to her chest. “I never told you that she saw us on the docks—”

“No, but she did.” Jason squinted. “How did you know?

“She and I…” Elizabeth shrugged. “We talked. Don’t worry,” she continued when he sat up, looking alarmed. “It wasn’t—” She sighed. “It wasn’t angry. And I think we walked away understanding each other. But Jason, I keep telling you—”

“That we can’t be friends—”

“You know we keep saying that word like…” She hesitated. “Like that’s what this is. Like, I’m saying we can’t hang out anymore. And that’s just…” Elizabeth turned slightly, angling her body towards him. And somehow found the courage to meet his eyes. “That’s not what we’re doing. And that’s not what we’ve ever done. Not since the morning I found you in the snow.”

“Yeah.” His voice was just above a rasp. “I know.”

“And maybe not even since that night at Jake’s. I used to think you were my safe place. Someone I could trust with…” She bit her lip. “Everything.”

“You can—”

“But that’s not something I should share with anyone who isn’t the man I married. And to be honest—” Her chest tightened as a tear slid down her cheek. “That’s not something you ever gave me.”

“What?” Jason blinked, pulled back slightly, looking stunned. “What—”

“You never opened your life to me. You always kept me at arm’s length—”

“That’s not—”

“So when I say that you and I need to stop this, I mean I need to stop this. I need to walk away and stop giving away pieces of myself to people who won’t take care of them—” She broke off, then shook her head. Because she should be saying to this to Lucky, not Jason.

Shaken, Jason just stared at her. “That’s not how it was—”

“I’m sorry—” Elizabeth sighed. “That’s not fair—I don’t—I didn’t mean—”

“Well, I see some people never learn.”

The cold, bitter voice snapped them both out of their bubble, and Jason and Elizabeth turned to find her grandmother glaring at them from the doorway.

“Mrs. Hardy.” Jason climbed to his feet and instinctively steadied Elizabeth’s elbow as she also stood. “I was just—”

“Making everything worse,” Audrey snapped. “Or do you enjoy the notoriety that comes with your job?” She let the hospital door swing shut behind her, her hands at her hips. “What in the world are you thinking, Elizabeth, to carry on with him here? Of all places—”

Elizabeth just closed her eyes, then looked at Jason. He looked irritated but said nothing waiting for her to handle it. “Thank you for checking on me, Jason. I’m doing fine, as you can see. So, you should go now.”

“Are you sure—”

“Yes. And when Cody wakes up, can you tell him how much I appreciate him? I’ll try to stop by—”

“Oh, sure, keep making it worse—” Audrey snarled.

“Cody nearly died trying to save my life,” Elizabeth snapped at her grandmother, her cheeks flushing. “Don’t you dare suggest I don’t owe my life to Cody and Jason. If it weren’t for them, I’d be somewhere being raped and tortured by a raging psychopath until he got tired of me and killed me. Or sold me. You know what that’s what he threatened to do, don’t you? Pretty women like me make a lot of money.”

“Elizabeth—” Audrey swallowed. Her face was ghastly white. “I didn’t realize—”

“No, you didn’t. Because you didn’t ask. Jason came to check on the guard who saved my life. And, yes, he wanted to make sure I was okay. Because thanks to the PCPD, I haven’t been able to thank him since I was admitted.”

“I’ll go,” Jason said when the room was quiet for a beat. “I’ll—” He looked at Elizabeth, then shook his head. “I’ll go.”

“You do that.” Audrey stepped aside to let Jason leave. “And don’t come back.”

When the door had shut, Audrey turned back to Elizabeth with that omnipresent disappointment in her eyes. “I cannot believe you. I cannot believe this is the girl I raised. What if Luke or Bobbie had come by? What if the cops had come back? How would it look to find the two of you cuddled up on a sofa while your husband was unconscious two floors away—”

And Elizabeth couldn’t take it anymore. She reached for the pitcher of water on the table and threw it across the room, sending a stream of water in its wake. The plastic clattered to the floor, skidding with the momentum. “Just stop!”

Audrey’s tirade broke off abruptly as her eyes widened. “Elizabeth!”

“Can’t you just—stop—for one minute!” Elizabeth pressed her hands to her hair, digging her fingers into the scalp. “Just stop.”

“I just—” Audrey hesitated. “I’m sorry. I just worry about you so much, Elizabeth. You’re so impulsive, and it gets you into so much trouble. If you would just think before you did things, how much trouble could you have saved yourself over the years?”

“And you still—you don’t stop. You don’t take a breath. It’s always how I’m doing it wrong. How can people tell me in one breath they love me and then just—” Her eyes ached from the tears, but they kept streaming. How did she have any tears left? “How can you tell me you love me and do this to me?”

“Elizabeth—”

“I was kidnapped last night. Manny Ruiz chased me down in the parking garage, grabbed me from behind, knocked me out—he nearly killed the man whose only job it was to keep me alive. Then he dragged me to a warehouse, threatened to rape me—and then my own husband—” Her throat closed. “My own husband, who promised to love me, to cherish me—how could he do this to me?”

Her knees buckled, and Elizabeth sank to the floor, the linoleum chilled beneath the sweat pants she wore. “How could he do this to me?” she gasped, her chest tight as she struggled to force out a full breath. “How can he tell me he loves me and hurt me?”

“I’m—Darling—”

“I can’t do this anymore.”

“Elizabeth, Lucky isn’t the one that hurt you—that was Manny—because of Jason—”

“Audrey.”

Elizabeth looked up at the new voice, frowning as she saw Bobbie gently taking Audrey’s elbow and leading her out of the room. After a moment, Bobbie came back and knelt down. She pulled Elizabeth to her feet.

“How are you, sweetheart?” Bobbie asked, smoothing Elizabeth’s hair out of her eyes, tucking it behind her ears before taking Elizabeth’s face in her hands. “What can I do?”

“I think…” Elizabeth just closed her eyes. Her face felt heavy and swollen from the barrage of tears. “There’s nothing. There’s nothing to do.”

“Okay.”

“I just—I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep apologizing—”

“You have nothing to apologize for. I’ll talk to your grandmother.” Bobbie kissed her forehead. “I came to tell you that Patrick had an opening to take Lucky went back into surgery a little while ago. He wanted you to go on home. I came to take care of your discharge and drive you.”

Elizabeth felt her entire body shudder. “You don’t blame me?”

“Blame you?” Bobbie sighed. “I blame myself. I blame Lucky. I blame his father. The only person in this entire mess that I don’t blame is you.”

And that just made Elizabeth sob harder. So Bobbie just put her arms around Elizabeth and let her cry.

All alone, I came into the world
All alone, I will someday die
Solid stone is just sand and water, baby
Sand and water, and a million years gone by
– Sand and Water, Beth Neilsen Chapman

---

Saturday, April 8, 2006

Lucky & Elizabeth’s Apartment: Living Room

It was just past midnight when a knock came at her door. Elizabeth, who hadn’t been able to sleep after putting Cameron down for the night, went to the door and looked through the peephole. Then she pressed her forehead against the door for a long moment before unlocking it.

“Why?” she asked as Jason looked at her at the other side of the threshold. “What’s left to say?”

“I—” He swallowed hard. “I don’t know. I just didn’t want to leave it that way.”

She stepped back to let him in, feeling secure at least that her grandmother wouldn’t be stopping by in the middle of the night, and that Lucky was still unconscious at General Hospital.

“This has to stop,” she told Jason. “I mean it.”

“I know. And it will. I just—I was worried when I left. And then I ran into Bobbie when I was checking on Cody—”

Elizabeth looked at him sharply as she switched on a lamp behind the sofa, casting the room into uneven shadows. “What did Bobbie say?”

“She wouldn’t say anything, just that I shouldn’t try to talk to you again until you’d left the hospital.” Jason hesitated. “I’m sorry. I never should have gone there. I shouldn’t be here—”

“But you were worried.” Elizabeth bit her lip, folded her arms. “And that matters more than what I need? What I want?” She laughed, the sound harsh and low. “Story of my life.”

“No. You’re right. This is me being selfish. And—” Jason just looked at her. “I wanted to tell you that you were right.”

“About what?” Elizabeth asked, exhausted from it all. Wishing that she had just left the door locked.

“About what you said earlier. About not ever letting you in.” He swallowed hard. “Except in the beginning. You were the only person I let get close. After losing Robin and Michael. But I didn’t know how to do it again. Or maybe I just didn’t want to.”

“I’m sorry—” Elizabeth looked away. “I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t even really mean it. I know that it’s not true. I’m just—” She exhaled slowly. “Maybe we were closer back then. Before it got complicated. That last summer—” She hesitated, rubbed the side of her head. “I don’t know. I think we just kept getting in our own way. Or maybe we missed our chance a long time ago.”

Jason shook his head. “No—”

“No?” She arched her brows. “Then explain Brenda and Courtney to me, Jason. Explain Sam. You’ve been married, Jason. Twice. Even if Brenda didn’t count, at least she got—” Her voice trembled. “She got more than I did. And you asked Sam to marry you. You never even told me you loved me. So why are you here right now? Why aren’t you at home with her?”

“I—”

“If you’re here because you feel guilty, then don’t. Because I don’t have room in my life right now to deal with any of this anymore. I just—” Her eyes felt swollen from all the crying she’d done, and she just wanted it to be over. “My entire life is destroyed. This can’t matter anymore. So can you just—” She exhaled on a shaky breath. “What do you want from me?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted painfully. “I—I just—for years, I thought I knew why I’d lost you. I thought I’d accepted it. But I didn’t have any idea how much I hurt you. And it kills me that you didn’t know how I felt.”

“How you felt. Past tense. It was four years ago, Jason.”

“It’s not—” He pressed his lips together. “Okay.”

Elizabeth blinked, then tipped her head to the side as something insane began to whisper in the back of her head. She stepped towards him. “No. Finish what you were going to say. Because until you get this out of your head, you’re going to keep coming up with reasons to see me, and I would just rather we get this done—”

“It’s not past tense,” Jason bit out. “I know it is for you, but it’s not for me—”

She put her hands up in front of her as if to protect herself. “Wait. What? What are you saying?”

“You don’t need this now. This is just selfish,” he muttered as he turned to go.

“No, don’t you dare—” Elizabeth dashed around him and flattened herself against the door as he tried to reach for the doorknob. “You’re never selfish.” Elizabeth tried to look into his eyes, tried to read them, but the room was still too dark for that. “The entire time I’ve known you—you’ve never been selfish. So what’s going on?”

“Sam asked me today if I still loved you.”

Elizabeth drew in a sharp breath, her hands falling to her sides uselessly. “And what did you say to her?”

“I told her I didn’t know.” Jason scowled. “But that was a lie. I knew it when I said it.”

She swallowed hard. Her brain was buzzing as if it had exploded into a million pieces inside her skull. She couldn’t find a single thing to say in response to that.

“And then she asked me if—” Jason shook his head. “If you still loved me. I told her I didn’t know. I never asked you.”

Their eyes met again, and Elizabeth felt it down to the tips of her toes. This was insane. This was the absolute last conversation she should be having right now while the entire world was on fire outside.

This was the moment. This was the chance she’d never believed could come again. All she had to do was tell him yes. Because, of course, the answer was yes. It had always been yes.

But Elizabeth couldn’t force the words past her lips. Her eyes burned. “If you ask me, I’ll answer.”

“I know.” He reached up to cup her cheek, gently wiping away her tears. “But I can’t ask you. Not tonight. Because this isn’t fair to you.”

“I decide what’s fair to me,” she told him, putting her hand over his, leaning into his touch. Just for a moment. She just wanted to have this fantasy for a little while.

But reality set in as a police siren wailed somewhere outside of the apartment. She pulled her hand away, and Jason stepped back.

“I won’t come back,” Jason told her in a low, raspy voice. “Because I don’t think I trust either one of us if I did.”

“Me either.” Elizabeth stepped back, folding her arms again. “And we still made promises to other people.”

“But if you need me…” He pulled open the door, then turned to look at her, his face all but impossible to make out in the dark hall. “For anything…”

“I know where to call.” And even though she knew it was wrong, that it was a mistake, Elizabeth leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. For just a moment.

Because a moment was all they were ever allowed. Their lips brushed, and she felt his hand gently on her shoulder, at first curling around as if it to draw her in closer…then gently pushing her away.

“I need to go.”

“I know.”

But they stood there another moment, in the shadows of her doorway, and Elizabeth just wanted desperately to be brave. To answer the question he’d left unasked. She closed her eyes as his lips touched her forehead.

“I’ll see you later,” he murmured against her hair.

“See you later,” she said softly as Jason finally pulled away and left.

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

When Jason walked through the door around two that morning, he went straight for the stairs. The light next to the sofa switched on just as he stepped onto the bottom step. He spun around, surprised to find Sam on the sofa.

Waiting for him.

He blinked, then stepped towards her. “What—What are you doing up? I thought you’d gone to bed—”

“Yeah. I did. And then I heard your door close. So I decided to wait up. Your phone didn’t ring, and you don’t normally leave in the middle of the night unless it’s planned.” Sam unfolded her legs and got to her feet. She didn’t turn on any other lights—most of the room was still plunged in shadows.

He didn’t know what to say to her. Didn’t know how to stop any of this. He knew that what he’d done tonight—the conversations, the words he’d said to Elizabeth—the kiss they’d shared as he left—all of it was wrong.

They both knew it. And they knew it had to stop.

“Did you go to the warehouse?” Sam asked.

“No,” he answered. But he didn’t volunteer anything else. He didn’t want to hurt her. If she didn’t ask—maybe they could both push this conversation away—

And that thought—the idea that he was leaving it up to Sam to make this choice—it suddenly struck him as wrong, and he didn’t feel comfortable with it. He didn’t know how to navigate this situation—he was sure Emily would tell him this was like Carly and Robin, but it didn’t feel that way.

He’d always loved Robin more than Carly, had always preferred a future with Robin. But Carly had had Michael, and he’d been swept away by the idea of a family with her. To keep Michael, he thought he’d have to take on Carly. And he knew that he’d bungled things badly with Robin, that he’d hurt her by not being what she needed him to be. By pretending long past their expiration date that there was a future for them.

That wasn’t happening here. Was it?

“I went to Elizabeth’s.”

Sam closed her eyes, nodded. “Yeah. I figured.” She took a deep breath as if bracing herself for whatever came next. She opened her eyes and looked at him. “Are you having an affair with her? Are you sleeping with her?”

Jason hesitated. He couldn’t answer the first question. He thought anything he might say would be a lie. The answer wasn’t yes, but it definitely wasn’t no. “No, we’re not sleeping together.”

She waited, but he said nothing more. “Okay.” Sam curled her fingers into a fist, pressed into her abdomen. “I asked you a question earlier. But I think you lied to me. Or maybe you’re lying to yourself. I don’t really don’t care which. It has to stop. I don’t deserve this.”

“I know—”

“I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m still the same woman I was when you asked me to marry you. Two months ago, I found out my entire life was a lie. And the only family that isn’t you—it doesn’t belong to me. I don’t understand how you can just stop…” Sam shook her head. “How can you tell me you love me and hurt me like this?”

“I—” Jason swallowed hard. “I don’t know. I don’t know what’s changed, Sam. I know it’s not you—”

“Is it because I couldn’t let go of what happened with Alexis? Or because I wanted to go back to my old work?” Sam stepped closer to him, her dark eyes wet with tears, darting back and forth, searching his expression. “Or is it what your sister said? About how we started? Because I know I said I conned you at the beginning, but it wasn’t all about that.”

“Sam—” He curled his fingers around her forearms, just below the elbow. “I know that—”

“But you don’t look at me the way you used to, and I don’t know why. It can’t just be Elizabeth. It can’t. Because we were happy.”

“I know we were—”

“If you just—” She sniffled, sucking in a choking sob. “If you just promise to stay away from her, I’ll turn down the job with Paulie, okay? We can—we can go to the island. Or to Hawaii—”

Her fingers clung to his black T-shirt, and he dipped his forehead down to rest against hers. Part of him wanted to say yes. To do what he could to get back the life she talked about. They had been happy. He had been satisfied with their life—and he didn’t know if Elizabeth was planning to leave Lucky. Even after all Lucky had put her through. He’d done worse, and she’d stayed. Hadn’t Jason learned his lesson a thousand times where they were concerned?

“Just tell me you don’t love her. That you still love me. And we can just pretend this never happened.”

Jason exhaled slowly, then gently lifted his head, pressing a kiss to her forehead as he did so. Then he took a step back. “I can’t tell you any of that, Sam. I’m sorry. I don’t want to lie to you. Or to myself. Not anymore.”

Her shoulders jerked as if she’d been slapped, and she also took a step back. “So, what? After everything we’ve been through? You’re leaving me? For Elizabeth Spencer?”

“No.” Jason rubbed his chest. “That’s not an option for me. I don’t—” And oh, man, it hurt to admit, but — “I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.”

“Fine.” With a careful nod, Sam drew in a breath. “So, where does that leave us?”

“I don’t know.”

“I guess I have to decide if I want to keep sharing space in your head with another woman.” She dragged her hands through her hair and heaved a heavy sigh. “I’m going to bed.”

“Sam—” Jason caught her elbow as she walked past him. “This isn’t what I want—”

“Yeah, well—” She turned slightly to face him, then arched his brow. “Tell me this, Jason. If Elizabeth showed up at your door tonight and asked you to run away with her, would you even hesitate?”

“I—Sam—” Jason shook his head.

“The truth. I can take it.”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I…” He might take some time to think about it, but—

“Yeah. That’s what I thought. I’m going to bed,” Sam repeated. And this time, Jason didn’t stop her.

Sunday, April 9, 2006

Brownstone: Kitchen

Bobbie poured coffee into her brother’s mug and just sighed. “I’m not looking forward to seeing Lucky today,” she admitted. “Elizabeth asked me not to be there when Patrick was going to tell him.”

Luke frowned as he sipped his coffee, black. “She asked me to stay away, too. Why?”

“I think…” Bobbie sat on the stool at the island and sipped her own coffee. “I think she’s afraid his reaction is going to be humiliating for her. I told her that she shouldn’t go. She’s only there because of what everyone is saying.”

“Yeah.” Luke looked away. “What happens to my boy when she leaves him, Barbara Jean? What’s he gonna have to fight for when he loses his career and family all at once?”

“Luke.” Bobbie set her coffee down with a thud of the porcelain against the granite counter. “Don’t you dare ask that girl to stay—”

“I know they hit a rough patch—”

“A rough patch—” Bobbie scowled. “Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, is that you’re going to call it? You and I both know he hit Elizabeth—”

“We don’t know anything—”

“Don’t we?” Bobbie asked, pointedly.

Luke dipped his head, looked away. “Barbara—”

“Why should Elizabeth stay with a man who has been verbally and physically abusive?” Bobbie challenged. “Because he needs her? That’s what Mama used to say—”

“Now, don’t start any of that—” Luke got off the stool and started to pace. “That’s not fair. This isn’t about us—”

“No, because you never wanted Mama to stay, and you’re asking Elizabeth to do the one thing we both know got our mother killed.” Bobbie scowled. “Why is it her job to save him, Luke? Why did we ever put that on her?”

“What? When? What are you talking about? All I’m saying is maybe asking her to give him a chance to turn it around—”

“And I’m asking you why the hell she should have to. Should I have waited for D.L. to turn it around?” Bobbie snapped. “Maybe he could have been a better man with a better wife, right?”

“You know that’s not the same thing. Barbara Jean! Lucky isn’t Pop, and he sure as hell isn’t the asshole who went after you. How can you even compare them?”

“Do you think I want to admit that this is what’s happened to him? That I wanted his marriage to Elizabeth to fall apart like this?” Bobbie’s lip trembled. “I love that boy, Luke. Like he was my own. When we lost him, it was like losing BJ all over again. And Elizabeth grieved. She broke apart. That’s what I saw yesterday when Audrey was berating her about Jason. Elizabeth has been betrayed by the man who promised to love her, and you think she should stay?”

Luke dipped his head. “No. I don’t think she should,” he admitted, the words forced out from small deep, dark, place inside. “I think maybe she should take her boy and run. But I can’t—I can’t put her first. Because Lucky’s my son. And I have to fight dirty if we’re gonna fix this—”

“You can ask Elizabeth to do whatever you want, but I won’t be apart of it.” Bobbie lifted her chin. “I called Nikolas. I tried to get him to come home. But he refused. He’s not ready. He’s still too much in pain, but Lulu agreed to come. Do you want Lulu to be alone with Lucky? Knowing that he put bruises on Elizabeth?”

Luke hesitated. “Barbara—” He just shook his head. “Elizabeth can’t be my priority. I’m sorry. I wish I were a better man—”

“So do I. Laura would be…” Bobbie pressed her lips together. “You know what? I’d like to think Laura would be on my side, but I already know what the two of you have done to Elizabeth. You’re still looking for the boy we lost in the fire, Luke. He’s dead. He’s never coming home.”

“I know that—”

“Then stop pretending this can be fixed—”

“I am never going to give up on my son, and there’s no way I’m going to let his family walk away from him without at least trying to fight for them.” Luke scowled at her. “You handle this your way, Barbara Jean. And I’ll do it mine.”

General Hospital: Hallway

Patrick stopped Elizabeth before she reached for the handle of Lucky’s door. “I’m telling you. You probably shouldn’t go in here.”

Elizabeth sighed and nodded. “I know it’s going to be terrible. I know that he’s going to be angry. He’s going to say terrible things.” She folded her arms tightly, wishing she could disappear into herself. “But I need to do this.”

“Why?” her friend demanded. “After everything he’s put you through—”

“Don’t—” Elizabeth looked around, put a hand on his arm. “Can we just—look, right now the PCPD thinks I’m a garbage whore and that this—” She gestured to the door. “This is my fault. And they believe that so much that Justus told me they’re thinking of filing charges against Jason for murder.”

“I—” Patrick pressed his lips together. “So, what, you’re going to perform the part of the devoted wife to…get rid of suspicions?”

“If I stick to my story, if I can get past this and get Lucky to calm down, I might be able to get him to back down on the rest of it. I can explain everything to Lucky. I know I—” She chewed on her bottom lip. “I think I can convince him Jason and I weren’t having an affair. That’s why he’s so mad—”

“That might be why he’s mad. It’s not why he’s an abusive dick hole,” Patrick muttered. “Stop blaming yourself—”

“I’m not—” She was, and she wasn’t sure how to stop it. “I’m just—I’m just trying to find a way out of this mess that doesn’t mean I have to keep listening to people point and stare. Whispering behind my back—” She grimaced. “It’s—I don’t like it.”

“Ignore it—”

“I can’t. It’s like—” Elizabeth shook her head. “I…was raped when I was a teenager, and for months, I felt like everyone knew. Everyone was staring. I couldn’t stand for anyone to even look at me. Make eye contact. It made my skin crawl—”

“Elizabeth.” Patrick dragged a hand through his hair. “Shit. I’m sorry. Okay. Okay.” He squared his shoulders. “So, your plan is to do whatever you can to make the gossip stop.”

“It won’t ever stop,” Elizabeth admitted. “But if I can just…make it less obvious. If I can make it less interesting—if I don’t give them anything to talk about…they’ll move on. And then you and Robin will have a fight or Epiphany will slap the crap out of the orderly that keeps pinching the nurses—”

“Who?” Patrick demanded, distracted.

A smile touched her lips. “Never mind. She’s got a plan. I’m just—I just need to get through this right now. That means doing what people expect from a wife who doesn’t know what the hell her idiot husband is talking about.”

“Uh-huh.” Patrick shook his head. “Okay. It’s your life. I’m just here to keep him from throwing things.”

She shot him a dark look as he opened the door for her, but didn’t say anything else. They went inside the room where Lucky had woken up about an hour before and was finally fully conscious.

She hadn’t really been able to see the extent of Lucky’s injuries before, but his face was cut and bruised badly from whatever beating Manny had given him. Her stomach pitched — she never wanted him to be in the middle of any of this. No matter how she felt about what had happened between them.

“Lucky.” Patrick picked up his chart and looked over the notes. “How you feeling?”

“Like everything is on fire.” Lucky licked his dry lips, looked at Elizabeth with a bit of confusion. “Why are you here?” he demanded flatly.

“Lucky, I know things were confusing at the warehouse. And we’ll talk about all of it—” Elizabeth looked at Patrick, who just shrugged as if to say, I told you so. “It wasn’t true. None of it.”

“Sure,” Lucky snarled. “Jason’s number wasn’t in your phone, and you weren’t cuddling up to him five seconds after he shot a man—whatever helps you sleep at night.” He turned to Patrick. “When can I get out of here? When can I go back to work?”

Patrick looked at Elizabeth again, giving her another opportunity to leave, but Elizabeth just lifted her chin. She knew the only way to get through any of this was to forge ahead with her plan to make it like nothing had changed.

“Lucky,” Patrick said after a long moment, “while you’ll be able to walk again with some therapy—”

“Walk again?” Lucky sputtered. He tried to sit up, crying out in pain. “What the hell—”

“You injured the spinal cord. I can get technical if you want, but I thought you might want the bottom line. You’re not going back on active duty.”

Patrick’s blunt words hung in the room like a thunder cloud as Lucky just stared at the surgeon, his eyes bulging, his face cherry red. “What does that mean?”

“It means unless you decide to go on desk duty permanently, you’re finished as a cop. No doctor will ever clear you to go back on the job,” Patrick told him. “I’m sorry. We did everything we could, but with the injury from February still not fully healed, the existing damage from November—”

“You did this,” Lucky hissed to Elizabeth, his fists clenched at his sides, the knuckles so white they nearly matched the sheets. “You fucking whore.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “No—No, I never meant for any of this to happen—”

“No? You got yourself kidnapped by one of Jason’s enemies, Elizabeth. What the fuck did you think would happen?” Lucky demanded. “How long have you been fucking him? Did you ever even stop? Has it been all this time?”

“No, we never—”

“Stop lying to me!” Lucky screamed, his voice bouncing off the walls and surely carrying out to the hallway. “You’re always lying to me!”

“I—”

“Elizabeth, go,” Patrick muttered to her, obviously alarmed by the quick rise in fury in his patient. Elizabeth was suddenly convinced if Lucky could have stood—

“Why are you protecting her? What do you think I’ll do?” Lucky’s rage continued to boil over. “Do you think I’ll hurt her? She can’t be hurt. There’s nothing inside her. Nothing but lies! You’ve always been a liar!”

“I—” Her voice faltered. She’d known it would be bad—that it would hurt—but she realized now what a terrible decision this had been. This wasn’t worth it. Nothing was worth this. “I never—”

“What happened to you?” Lucky continued, his words slashing at her like knives. “To the girl who crawled out of the snow? Where did she go?”

“Out of the snow…” Bile rose in her throat. “You mean…after the rape…” Oh, God. “What are you—” Tears stung her eyes, and her hands slid to her sides as she tried to fight what his words meant. He couldn’t—no—

“That’s my Elizabeth. You’ve killed her. She’s gone. Get out of here! Whore!”

“Go,” Patrick ordered, but Elizabeth had already turned, fumbling with the latch on the door before fleeing.

“Whore,” Lucky muttered, laying back against his bed. “The nerve of that bitch coming in here—”

Patrick quietly hung Lucky’s chart on the bed again. “You can go to hell,” he told his patient. “They can suspend me. They can fire me. But I am done.”

Then he left, deciding he needed to hunt down Emily or Robin—a woman who would know how to convince Elizabeth to get out. Because he was pretty close to just locking her in a room until she came to her damn senses.

General Hospital: Nurse’s Station

Sam had just stepped off the elevator when Elizabeth came barreling down one of the hallways, almost slamming right into her.

“Whoa, are you okay?” Sam put out her hands to steady Elizabeth’s trembling shoulders. She winced at the bruises on Elizabeth’s face. Even though she wasn’t overly fond of the other woman, she could take a step back and understand that Elizabeth wasn’t even really the enemy.

“Sam—” Elizabeth’s face paled. “Oh, God. Why are you here? Why can’t this just stop—” She put her hands against her face, pressing them to her cheeks. “I just want it to stop.”

“What? What are you even running from?” Sam demanded. “And why shouldn’t I be here?”

“What?” Elizabeth blinked at her, trying to focus on her. “No, I just mean—” She sighed. “I’m sorry. I can’t seem to get my thoughts straight. I just—” She swallowed hard. “Lucky just found out he won’t be able to go back to active duty.”

“Uh-huh, that sucks.” Sam tipped her head. “And…I’m guessing he blames you. I’ve heard the gossip. I know he’s where most of it got started.”

“I just— I don’t understand how any of this—I was just minding my own business, and now I can’t get anyone to leave me alone—Why won’t they just leave me alone?” Elizabeth delivered the last part at the top of her lungs to a pair of nurses who were giggling behind the nurse’s desk.

Sam narrowed her eyes. “You can’t get anyone to leave you alone? What does that mean? Are you talking about Jason? Because I know—” She bit off her words, realizing she’d nearly confronted Elizabeth about the midnight visit in the middle of the hospital.

Because that wouldn’t make any of this go away.

“Oh, God, that’s why you’re here? He told you?” A startled flush was the only color on Elizabeth’s chalk-white face. “Why would he do that?”

Later, Sam would decide this was the moment she should have walked away. She could see Elizabeth was in distress, and she knew that the other woman had been terrorized by Manny. She could see the evidence of it on her face, in the bruises and cuts, in the brace on her wrist.

But she couldn’t. Because Jason kept everything close to his chest. Talked around the problem—absolutely refused to just tell her what was going on—

And Sam knew how to push someone’s buttons. If she wanted to know what Jason was telling Elizabeth—

Well, there was one way to find out.

“I guess because he feels guilty,” Sam said slowly. “You both do, don’t you? You should.”

With a low moan, Elizabeth started to walk away, to jab at the elevator buttons. Sam’s stomach sank. She hadn’t denied it. They felt guilty. It was just about the words. That’s all.

Because it was one thing for them to talk about emotions—but if—if there was more—if there was more—

Sam didn’t even know why it was worse, somehow. If Jason had put his hands on this woman and still come home to her—she didn’t know how to deal with that. She’d always been the other woman.

Is this how those women had felt when Sam had slipped into their lives, stolen their husbands, convinced them to leave? This stinging sense of betrayal? Maybe she could accept she didn’t own Jason’s heart, but the least the bastard could do was keep his body to himself—

“It’s—I can’t do this. I can’t do this right now—”

“Can’t do what? I’m so sick of you and Jason pretending you’re some epic romance,” Sam hissed. “You’re nothing. You know you’re nothing. He came home to me last night—”

“I—” Elizabeth nodded. “I know. I know. I told him we had to stop. That we promised people things, and I don’t break promises. I can’t be that person. I’m not a liar—” her voice climbed unsteadily. “I don’t care what anyone says. I can’t be a liar—”

“Then stop lying to me,” Sam snapped. “Stop lying to Lucky. Stop letting Jason lie to me. You two aren’t just damn friends, are you? Something happened while I was gone—”

And the guilt in Elizabeth’s face, the wince, the helpless flutter of her hands as she tried to stop crying—Sam’s world stopped spinning. “I didn’t—It’s not like that. I won’t let it be like that. I’m not that person. I don’t want to be that person.”

“What happened?” Sam pushed, and Elizabeth shook her head, obviously forgetting that Sam had said she already knew. “Damn it. You tell me you’re not a liar. Well, stop lying to me!”

“It was just—” Her voice faltered. “Just a kiss. That’s it. I never—it never would have—I’m sorry. I stopped it. And then he stopped it—”

“Twice? He kissed you twice?” Once, maybe, Sam could deal with that—but twice—Christ. “What, three times, and you’ll just jump into bed? How the hell am I supposed to trust you? Trust him? How do I know you’re not lying to me now? What’s wrong with you? Why can’t you just stay away!”

Elizabeth sucked in a nasty sob that sounded like her entire body was curling up and dying. “I tried,” she managed.

“What the hell is going on here?” Epiphany demanded as she stalked over and put herself between the two women.

“Stay out of this,” Sam ordered. “This is between me and this lying bitch! You kept coming to him! I saw you! You called him!”

“Epiphany, get her out of here!” Patrick all but skidded to a stop as he slid between the two women. “Now! Elizabeth, go home!”

“I—” Elizabeth looked around, and now Sam did, too. As if just realizing that it wasn’t just the two nurses from earlier. Several people were staring at them. Almost a dozen had stopped. “I did stay away,” she managed faintly. “It didn’t work.”

And Sam knew then. Knew that Elizabeth was telling the truth. That, at some point, it hadn’t been Elizabeth doing the seeking. After all, hadn’t Jason made the midnight visit? Her face felt hot and itchy as she really saw Elizabeth for the first time, the fragility in the other woman’s posture, the bloodshot eyes, the trembling body—

Elizabeth had been on the edge of a breakdown, and Sam had just shoved her right over. She stepped back. “I’m sorry,” she said faintly. “I didn’t mean—”

“Let’s go,” Epiphany said as she put an arm around Elizabeth’s shoulders and hustled her away. “Don’t come near her again.”

Feeling sick, Sam nodded as Epiphany took the devastated woman away. She looked at Patrick, who looked as if he might cheerfully murder her. “I shouldn’t have—”

“She’s not your friend. Or your sister. She owes you nothing. Get out,” Patrick said flatly. “Before I have security remove you.”

Numb, Sam nodded and pressed the elevator button. Mercifully, this time, the doors opened, and she stepped inside.

What the hell had she just done?