“Sir, Elizabeth Morgan is here.”

Nikolas Cassadine set a file aside and smiled at his secretary. “Show her in, Gia? Thanks.”

After a moment, a flushed and clearly upset Elizabeth entered his office. “I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

Nikolas stood and rounded the desk. “It’s a slow day. I’m between appointments.” He gestured towards a seat. “I was actually expecting you. Jessica told Lucky what happened and he told me.”

Elizabeth frowned for a moment before shaking her head. “No. I’m not here about Olivia. I–I need…” She took a deep breath. “When Lily was born, did you and Emily have any problems?”

Nikolas sighed and took the seat next to her. “We had some adjustment problems at first. It was hard to find time together but eventually Lily started sleeping through the night. Emily quit her job here to stay home with her. Things just got easier.” He took a deep breath. “Honey, I know Jason is in town. Emily was worried about that.”

She sat back in her chair. “I love him, Nikolas. It’s as simple as that. He’s always been it for me and…for a long time–after the divorce I mean, I thought…I thought I might have just been another girl for him. Just someone he’d been comfortable with enough to marry and that if I hadn’t turned into such a hovering mother, he would have stayed.”

“I only met Jason during the few hearings and meetings we had,” Nikolas began, “but I got the distinct impression that he did love you. He never argued with the proposed alimony, doubled that and child support. He gave you a very generous custody agreement. He gets his kid for an average of three months a year while you get her the bulk of the time and also about a million a year in combined child support and alimony. He’d have to be either crazy or in love to have agreed to that.”

Elizabeth glanced at her hands. “He says he loves me. We…talked yesterday about it and for a little while, it felt like we still had a chance.”

“There’s always a chance,” Nikolas assured her. “Even the most bitter divorces…there was love once.”

“I picked a fight with him today,” Elizabeth admitted. “I can say that now. I purposely set him up to say something hurtful so I could have a reason to call it off.” She met his eyes with a sheepish smile. “I still know how his mind works to a certain extent.”

“Why did you do that?” Nikolas asked.

She took a deep shuddering breath. “Because I’m scared. Because some of the most vivid memories of my marriage are the times he walked out the door, leaving me with a nightmare.”

“He didn’t know you were suffering,” he reminded her gently. “What do you think he would have done if he had?”

“I…I never let myself trust him,” she confessed in a tiny broken voice. “Not with Olivia, not with my heart. I couldn’t. I knew…I knew all too well what our marriage could turn into if I let him have all of me.” She exhaled slowly. “I remember hearing my mother crying a lot when my father would be out for the night. I remember hearing their arguments and then later, all of the rumors about women and I just–this was the model I set my visions of marriage on.”

“So why’d you marry someone who had a lifestyle so close to your parents?” Nikolas asked curiously.

“Because I loved him,” Elizabeth told him tearfully. “And I swore to myself that I’d leave him the second I found out he was cheating on me. I also…I never gave him the chance at first. We went everywhere together. I went out with him every night a-and I did everything I could to make him want me–desire me. I worked over time to keep him focused on me.”

“You did this all consciously?” Nikolas asked surprised.

“No. Not at first. I loved him, Nikolas. Almost from the moment I saw him, I loved him and I was selfish enough to want him to be mine forever. I saw the way my mother tried…but she made mistakes, she let him go out too often by himself and she stayed back at the hotel or went to a spa and I just…I guess I figured that’s where she really went wrong. She let him out of her sight.” Elizabeth sighed, her cheeks stained with embarrassment. “I didn’t…after Jason and I got married, it didn’t seem like a lot of work. I really did want to be with him all the time and–” she hesitated.

“You can be blunt with me, Liz,” Nikolas assured her. “I can handle it.”

“Our sex life was good,” Elizabeth said. She took a deep breath. “Really good. And it was…it was constant. He always seemed to want me–even when I just woke up or when I’d be dressed in t-shirt and jeans. He couldn’t…it just felt like he wanted me all the time.”

“Was that a problem for you?” Nikolas asked.

She shook her head. “No. I wanted him just as much. He made me feel damn good, Nikolas. It really didn’t feel like it was real though. I mean…who has a husband who wants her day and night without it tapering off? It was like the honeymoon period never went away.”

“But you still didn’t trust it,” Nikolas said, voicing the obvious. “You didn’t trust him.”

She shook her head slowly. “Looking back, no, I didn’t. I didn’t realize a lot of this then, Nikolas. I really did love him and it never occurred to me at the time that I didn’t trust him. But I don’t. I don’t really trust anyone.”

“And now that he tells you he loves you and wants you back, it’s making you realize this,” Nikolas told her. “That now that you’re confronted with the idea of returning to being his wife, you realize that you put more work into it than you thought at the time.”

“Yeah. I’m scared, Nikolas. Because I want to trust him and I want this to work and it will never work without trust. And he knows I don’t trust him right now so he’s going to be working at trying to regain that but I don’t even know if I’m capable of trusting someone like that.”

“You said you want to trust him,” Nikolas said slowly. “You want to be married to him, to be with him. What’s really keeping you from doing that?”

“I…” Elizabeth hesitated and furrowed her brow. “I guess I’m scared. When you trust someone, you…give a part of yourself to them. And…Nikolas, it almost destroyed me when I ended my marriage. If I let him in…if I really give him my trust along with everything else…when it doesn’t work…what will I be left with?”

“Why are you so sure it won’t work?” Nikolas asked pointedly.

She frowned. “What?”

“You said when it doesn’t work…instead of if.” He shrugged. “Just sounds like you’re expecting it to fail.”

“I guess that goes back to my trust thing,” Elizabeth decided. “I think the only person I trust is Olivia and that’s because I’m always sure of where I stand in her life. I’m always going to be her mother. Nothing can change that. But what am I to Jason?”

Nikolas stood and gave her a small smile. “Maybe you should ask him.”

“You think I should talk to him about this?” Elizabeth asked. She stood and shook her head. “He wouldn’t understand. He’ll think he did something–that I didn’t trust him because of him and it’s not true. It’ll only hurt him–”

“You have to be honest with him, honey. You’ll never get anywhere if you’re not. That’s really where you went wrong the first time. You didn’t tell him about the pills because you didn’t trust him to stay. And he knows that. But he won’t ever understand unless you tell him why.”

“Thanks, Nikolas. As always, you’re the voice of sanity in my life.” She hugged him tightly. “I’m going back to the hospital okay?”

“Will you call me and tell me how it went?” Nikolas asked.

“Of course.”

---

Not long after Elizabeth had fled the room, Jason found himself calling Keesha’s number for the second time.

“Calm down, Morgan, I’ve barely gotten out of the city so I’m not lost yet,” Keesha said immediately.

He chuckled a little. “No. That’s not while I’m calling. What’s taking so long to get out of New York?”

“Traffic is a bitch.” Keesha paused. “If you’re not calling to rag on me, why are you calling?”

“Change of address.” Jason reeled off the penthouse instead. “I’m staying there.”

“What happened? Your motel kick you out?”

“No.” Jason hesitated. “I was staying with Elizabeth but now I’m at the penthouse.”

“Ah, shit. I knew you were doing something stupid. The second you said her name I knew–“

“I love her,” Jason interrupted. “If I do stupid things, it’s understandable. Now that I’ve admitted to myself what disastrous idea my marriage to Elise was, I want to get my life back. I want my wife back.”

“Uh huh. Have you told your wife this?”

“Yes. It’s…not going as well as I would have hoped but I’m optimistic,” Jason told her.

“Jason, I don’t think you should waste your time on–“

“She loves me, Keesha. I know it. And…I just…I have to earn her trust that’s all. I can do that.”

“Jason, what makes you think you even had her trust in the first place?” Keesha demanded. “It always felt like she was just waiting for a reason to end it.”

“You only say that because you don’t know her,” Jason argued. “She’s…she’s different. She grew up like I did but it was different for her. It hurt her in ways I don’t think she’s even realized yet.”

Keesha sighed. “You’re too nice, Morgan. You’ve always been a bleeding heart.”

“Keesha…just go to the penthouse. We’ll talk when you get in okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah. I’ll be calling you in an hour. I’m sure I’ll have gotten my self lost by then.”

He slipped the phone in his pocket and turned to look at Olivia who was still sleeping. He was going to make this family work if it killed him.

---

An hour after she’d run out on him, Elizabeth slowly pushed the door to the room open.

Jason was looking out the window and the bed was empty. “Hey,” she said softly. “Liv at therapy?”

He looked at her in obvious surprise. “You came back.”

“Yeah. We, ah…” she took a deep breath. “We need to talk.”

He stepped towards her. “Elizabeth, what I said before–I didn’t mean it–”

“No, I know that. I set you up to say it so it doesn’t matter.” Elizabeth sighed. “Come take a walk with me.”

Mystified, he followed her down the hall and into the elevator. “Where are we going?”

“The Port Charles park is next to the hospital,” Elizabeth answered. The elevator opened on the lobby floor and they left the hospital in silence.

They were nearly to the fountain before she started to speak. “I don’t want you to be hurt or misunderstand what I’m going to tell you because this isn’t really about you. It’s about me.”

“Elizabeth–”

“I deliberately picked a fight with you,” she told him. She sat on the edge of the stone fountain and looked up at him. “I know how your mind works and I set you up to say something that would give me an excuse to walk away.”

He inhaled sharply and his face paled. “You…you don’t want to work this out?” Jason asked in a quiet, stunned voice.

She closed her eyes. “See, I knew this was going to hurt you and God, Jason, that’s the last thing I want.”

“I don’t understand.” He sat next to her. “Elizabeth, if you didn’t want to get back together–”

“No, that’s not it. Please just let me explain.” She hesitated. “I was scared. When we were together before, it would have never occurred to you that I didn’t trust you. You always assumed that I did and now…now you have a pretty good idea that I don’t and you…you’d be working to make me trust you and that scares me.”

He took a deep breath and clasped his hands between his spread legs. “You didn’t trust me when we were married,” he concluded.

“I don’t trust anyone,” Elizabeth said softly. “I didn’t…I didn’t realize I didn’t trust you until it occurred to me that it didn’t surprise me about the clipping.”

He glanced at her with some confusion. “What?”

“When I saw that clipping of you with the woman, it hurt. It upset me. It made me want to scream and rip my hair out. But it didn’t surprise me.”

He stood suddenly and took a few steps away. He couldn’t look at her. Not only did she not trust him now, but she’d never trusted him. She’d always expected him to do what her father had. Oh, man…he’d never seen this coming.

“Some of the most vivid memories of my childhood are my parents fighting about other women,” Elizabeth confessed brokenly. “And you…you were so much like my father, Jason. You led the same life style, you had almost the same type of job. I just…I did everything I could to keep myself from being my mother and I did such a good job of it that I never even knew I was doing it.”

He turned to face her, her eyes bloodshot, her lips trembling. “What exactly do you mean by that?” Jason asked carefully.

“The reason I went to every business dinner I could…why I never really argued when you wanted to go out or take a spontaneous trip was because I wanted to avoid what I had obviously decided my mother had done wrong.”

“You didn’t want to let me out of your sight.” He blinked and swallowed hard. “You didn’t even trust me a little.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. She stood and hugged herself tightly. “I’m so sorry, Jason. I didn’t even realize I was doing it. Until I was faced with the idea of being with you again and it scared me. Because now you knew I didn’t trust you. And you would want me to trust you so you’d be working at it and I realized that I don’t…it terrifies me.”

He could see it. Her body was trembling, her arms were wrapped tightly around her upper body, her eyes were glossy with tears. “Why?” he asked hoarsely. “Why does the thought of giving your trust to me terrify you?”

“It’s not just you, it’s everyone,” she whispered. “When you trust, you give a piece of yourself away. It’s something that’s more intimate than love, that goes deeper than love, it’s something that is it at the very foundation of any relationship you ever have.” She took a deep breath. “I r-remember my mother crying so much. Because to the public, she was a society wife. One that expected her husband to seek a life outside her bedroom but she loved him. A-and it tore at her for him to be with other women.”

He stepped towards her. “You are not your mother and I am not your father. Baby, what we had–what we have is so different from them.”

“I know,” she managed to say past the tightness in her throat. “And that scares me. When I…after you packed your bags and moved out, I could barely function. It nearly destroyed me–losing you the first time. I only had Olivia to keep me going. But if I do this…if we make an attempt…and I give you my trust and something happens, I really think that it’ll be the end of me.”

He put a hand on her shoulder then. Slow, cautious steps. He didn’t want to spook her–she was already so shaky he was afraid she’d call the whole thing off right now. “Elizabeth, trust…it’s a risk and I want you to know that I understand. I know how much your parents marriage hurt you and that I think you’re still hurting from it. But I love you. I love you so much and when I lost you, it did destroy me. You can ask Keesha. I spent that first month in her apartment in New York. That’s why I didn’t respond to your attorney’s motions and letters. I wasn’t ignoring it, I couldn’t…I couldn’t deal with it.”

“I’m so sorry I hurt you,” she whispered. She stepped towards him and rested her forehead against his chest. “I’m so sorry…” she started to cry then and he took her in his arms them. “I just…I don’t want to be scared anymore.”

He held her tightly and after a few moments, her arms slowly moved around his waist and she clung to him.

The sound of his cell phone broke their embrace and he pulled away with an apologetic smile. He took it out of his pocket. “Hello?”

She was close enough to him that she could hear a woman’s voice. “Okay, so I was on the highway and I think I accidentally took an exit and it’s possible I’m on my way to Ohio or something.”

He started to laugh then. “Oh, Keesha, you really need to take some map courses.”

“Ah, bite me Morgan. Will you just get me back on the right road? I have no inclination to visit the Midwest today.”

Olivia was tired when she got back from therapy and didn’t even seem to notice the difference in her parents or the blood shot look in her mother’s eyes.

“Keesha will be here soon,” Jason told Elizabeth. He looked at Olivia. “You remember her, right Princess?”

Olivia nodded. “She bought me a doll last Christmas and came to see us in London.”

“That’s right.” He stood. “If I’m not in the parking garage when she pulls in, she’ll assume she’s in the wrong state.”

Elizabeth managed a weak laugh and closed her eyes when Jason kissed her forehead.

Olivia blinked. She’d never seen her daddy kiss her mommy before. Then again, before last month, she’d never seen them in the same room together.

“I’ll be back later, Princess,” he promised her. He kissed her cheek and left the room then.

“Daddy kissed you,” Olivia said immediately.

Elizabeth opened her eyes and sighed. “Yeah, he did, Baby. We’re getting along better now. No more fighting.”

Olivia nodded. “Good. Can I watch cartoons?”

—

He was standing next to the parking garage attendant’s booth when he saw Keesha’s dark curly hair behind the wheel of a black Jaguar.

She glared at him and he slowly followed her car until she parked it. “No faith in me huh?” She pushed the door open and grabbed a bag from the passenger’s seat.

“Well, I didn’t think I could trust you to find the penthouse,” he told her easily. “After all, you were the girl who confused Harvard and Yale. Twice.”

“It’s not like it’s that uncommon,” Keesha huffed. Jason took her bag from her and led her to the elevator.

“They’re in two different states.”

“Details,” she shrugged. “Anyway, I’m eager to find out how you’ve screwed up this time, oh and I want an update on the Liv babe.”

He punched the button for the penthouse floor. “We’ll start with Livvie. She was in the car accident but she seemed to be recovering from that when some god damn intern gave her the wrong medication.”

“Oh, Jesus…”

“She came out of that coma but the doctor thinks she’s going to have some problems and will therefore need additional therapy.” He sighed. “She’s had some trouble with her legs and now she’s going to have some trouble gripping things with her hand.”

“The poor kid,” Keesha sighed. “I’m so sorry, Jase. But she’s going to be okay, right? I mean, that’s all that matters.”

Jason nodded and looked at the row of numbers watching the elevator climb higher. “I think that if we’d lost her, we both might have gone insane.”

“How is Elizabeth taking all of this?” Keesha asked. Despite having never been formally introduced to Jason’s ex-wife, after supporting Jason through the divorce and the last four years, she felt like she knew the other woman intimately.

“I think she’s doing better now,” Jason hedged.

“Better now?” Keesha echoed. “As opposed to last week?”

“As opposed to five hours ago,” Jason answered. “Look, I’ll tell you everything–let’s just get to the penthouse and let me do it in my own way.”

“Okay, it’s your life I’m criticizing, we’ll do it your way.”

—

She tossed her bag in the guest room and headed right for the stairs, intent on getting to the bottom of things. But there was an jar door and she thought she saw a crib, so Keesha pushed the door completely open.

There stood the nursery that they’d never taken down. Elizabeth had started decorating it even though she’d been on bed rest and there were things here she’d never moved to the new house. Stuffed animals, a mobile, the crib and a dresser.

A cluster of photos were on the dresser and Keesha moved closer into the room to get a better look. A picture of Olivia and Elizabeth in the hospital, one of Jason and Elizabeth holding Olivia and then just one of the happy parents before the birth. Jason had hid most his pictures with Elizabeth and this was the first chance Keesha had had to see them together.

She picked up the one of the three of them and studied it. They looked happy. Jason had the adoring husband/father look on his face, Elizabeth had the radiant new mother glow and Olivia’s face was all scrunched up. Elizabeth was in the hospital bed, cradling the baby and Jason was to her right, one of his arms braced over Elizabeth’s head. Just one big happy family.

“Keesha, there’s three rooms and a bathroom. I know you didn’t get lost!” Jason called to her.

Replacing the frame, Keesha closed the room. “I think I’m still in New York if it that helps.”

She went down the stairs and settled herself on the couch. “Okay, bard, tell me a story.”

He rolled his eyes. “You have problems.”

“So you’ve been telling me since we were five. Go please.”

Jason took a deep breath and crossed to the terrace doors where he had a view of the harbor. “Almost from the second I arrived, something was different.” He hesitated. “Maybe I shouldn’t say that. You know that Elizabeth and I didn’t see each other after the divorce was finalized. We spoke through our lawyers, through notes, through Olivia, but never on the phone, never in person.”

“I know. You said you didn’t want to fight with her but I got the distinct impression that it hurt too much to see her.”

Jason nodded. “But Olivia wanted me to see her room last month and I didn’t want to let her go. I hated when the summers ended and she had to fly back. Usually, I’d send her with someone but this time, I came in with her and…I brought her home.” He shook his head. “Elizabeth is so different from the girl I once knew. She’s grown up, she’s matured. I hoped that whatever her childhood had done to her had finally let her go.”

Keesha scoffed. “Oh, poor Elizabeth, having to grow up with a nanny and travel everywhere and go to a privileged school.”

“Keesha…” Jason shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. It’s her parents. Her father…her father cheated on her mother every second he could. Everyone knew it. Everyone including Elizabeth.”

Keesha sighed. “Yeah, I guess that would be hard to deal with.”

“I’d heard the rumors and once Elizabeth and I were together, we talked about it. Or at least, I tried. She never wanted to go into any kind of depth but she told me she used to hear her parents fighting viciously about the affairs, that her father would tell her mother he didn’t love her, that he needed to get satisfaction somewhere.” His eyes were distant. “She used fall asleep to the sound of her mother crying.”

“Why didn’t–” Keesha stopped. “That’s a stupid question to ask. Women in that world don’t leave their husbands.”

“No, they don’t. They deal with it in private and put on a good face for everyone else. I told you on the phone that it hurt her, the marriage did, the crying, the fighting, it hurt her and I thought I understood that. Even after the divorce, I thought I knew. But…I had no idea.”

“What do you mean?” Keesha asked. She stood and joined him by the window.

“There are some women who grow up with mothers who have a constantly revolving door of men…these women grow up either to be the same way or distrustful of men.”

Keesha nodded. “I know. I told you about that once–after a family psych class in college. Why do you bring it up now?”

“Elizabeth never had anyone she could depend on growing up,” Jason told her. “Her parents weren’t around much and when they were, they were always fighting. She lived in a suburb of Philadelphia and had as many as three nannies by the time she was nine and her parents deemed her old enough for boarding school and to join them on trips.”

“So you’re saying that Elizabeth grew up learning she couldn’t trust anyone?” Keesha sighed. “I suppose that makes sense. Not having your parents around at that crucial time in your development, she would have either not learned to trust at all or learned that it didn’t pay to trust because you just ended up abandoned.”

“I had the same life but I guess because my parents weren’t the same. Because my father wasn’t an asshole. He may not love my mother like I love Elizabeth, but he respects her and she respects him and they’re not those kinds of people.”

“I know. I know your parents. I think they love each other, I think they’re fond of each other. But no, it’s not the kind of love you have for Elizabeth and they’re happy with that.”

Jason nodded. “Right. So I was okay. But Elizabeth wasn’t.”

“Women who hate their fathers swear they’ll never marry someone like them but usually end up doing so,” Keesha said. “I wonder why that it is.”

“The only thing I had in common with that asshole was we both had jobs that travel. I would never cheat on Elizabeth–” he broke off. “But none of that explains the last week.”

“No, so why don’t we cut the psychological profile and get to the good stuff.”

“I brought Olivia home last month and Elizabeth was here of course and we all went upstairs to the bedroom. Olivia wanted to show me her things and Elizabeth unpacked her things.” Jason sighed. “It was fine at first. We weren’t really talking to each other but then Olivia tried to keep me there. She started crying and telling me she’d be good if I just stayed…” Jason scrubbed a hand over his face. “We tried to explain to her why it couldn’t happen but it didn’t work and eventually Elizabeth left the room.”

“After Olivia cried herself to sleep, I went downstairs and we ended up getting into a huge argument. She was upset and ran out of the room and I left.”

“You told me this last month when I came to Spain,” Keesha reminded him. “So what’s going on?”

“When I came to the hospital, Elizabeth was curled up in a chair, her eyes bloodshot and her face tearstained. I started to think about our past and we…talked about the day I proposed. Like I said, things felt different.”

“You still love her, Jase. There’s no shame in that. There are some men who never get over the great love of their life.”

“It’s not just that.” Feeling restless, Jason started to pace. “She loves me, too. I can feel it. And we’ve been talking about it all this week. What went wrong, why our marriage didn’t work. She…there were so many things I didn’t know back then, that I didn’t realize. We were so young when we got married that neither of us really thought about what we were getting into.”

Keesha nodded. “These days, a lot of young marriages end in divorce.”

“I was wrong to leave her alone with Olivia so much. I should have gotten a job based out of this town. But I left and I left her alone with a little baby that sometimes cried so much she couldn’t handle it.”

“Jase–”

“She started taking sleeping pills,” Jason said softly. “And the morning she saw that god damned clipping in the paper, she’d just brought Olivia home from the hospital after she’d slept through Olivia’s cries. She was tired and she was exhausted–”

“That doesn’t excuse her not believing you,” Keesha said. “She should have realized she was over her head–”

“It’s easy to look back and criticize her now but she did the best she could,” Jason interrupted. “I should have come home more. I should have realized she was unhappy–that she was miserable.”

“Jase–”

“She never trusted me,” he blurted out. “She told me that just today. That she realized she never trusted me. Not completely, not even when we were first marriage. That she realized that the clipping hurt her but it didn’t surprise her.”

“Oh, Jase, that must have been so hard to hear,” Keesha said. She touched his arm. “I’m so sorry.”

“It was hard to hear,” Jason admitted, “But it hurt more to stand in that park and watch her cry, watch her body trembling because she was trying to explain it in a way that wouldn’t hurt me. It tears me apart inside because I should have seen this then. No woman goes to ever business dinner, every party, every social function her husband asks her to.”

“She wasn’t going to let you out of her sight,” Keesha deduced. “She was keeping you from cheating on her.”

“It’s so easy now to look back and see it now. Why couldn’t I have seen this? And why didn’t I see her unhappiness after Olivia was born? She was always so tired and one night, I was home, we were kissing and well…” he hesitated.

“You were about to do the nasty?” Keesha supplied.

“Yeah, for want of a better phrase. I went to turn off the light and when I turned back to her, she was asleep.” He sighed and rubbed his temples. “I knew she was with Olivia a lot and I just assumed she was tired.”

“It was the sleeping pills, wasn’t it?”

He nodded. “She’d taken some before I’d showed up at home unexpectedly. And they kicked in.” He sighed. “Why didn’t I see that? How could I miss her pain? Her lack of trust?”

“Because you weren’t looking for it and men tend to be oblivious.” Keesha sighed. “Look, I’m not saying I’m not sympathetic towards her. I haven’t met her but the way you talk about her–the way you’ve always talked about her…it speaks volumes about both you and her. You guys made each other your entire world when you were together and there’s nothing wrong with that. But Jason, you’re divorced now–”

“I want her back,” Jason interrupted. “I love her and she loves me. And we’re going to get back together.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” she asked. “I mean, with Olivia’s recovery and the obvious problems Elizabeth is still suffering from…to put a reconciliation on top of that…”

“I can’t live without her and if it takes years before she’s ready to get married again, I’ll wait that long,” Jason told her. “Keesha, Elise was a mistake–an attempt for me to get a piece of Elizabeth in my life. It didn’t work and all I want is the real thing. I want her in my life.”

“Fair enough,” Keesha sighed. “I just want you to be careful, Jase. Take this slow.”

“I plan to. Elizabeth and I have done the whirlwind relationship and now I want give her the life and love she deserves. To give us both the family we never had, to give Olivia the parents she needs.”

“All right.” Keesha shrugged. “I’m not going to try and talk you out of this because I don’t really want to. I want you to be happy and you’re happy with her–or at least when you’re talking about her or thinking about her. That’s all I really want for you.”

“Thanks, Keesha.”

“Of course, I want to meet her,” she told him. “So, set that meeting up. It’s time I met the woman who’s turned you into this blubbering mess.”

Olivia was doing some of the gripping exercises that her therapist had given her when Jason and Keesha came into the room a little while later.

Her eyes lit up. “Daddy! Aunt Keesh!”

“Hey, Liv babe,” Keesha said. She plopped right in the seat next to the bed that Elizabeth had hardly vacated and dropped an oversize teddy bear on the bed. “This dude is for you.”

Olivia reached for the caramel colored animal with a bright smile. “He’s so fluffy,” she said, enthused. “Thanks!”

“Where’s your mother, Princess?” Jason asked, kissing his daughter on the cheek.

“Aunt Emily came by with Lily and they’re in the cafeteria.” Olivia pouted. “They wouldn’t let Lily in to see me. That’s so mean.”

“They don’t let little kids to visit in the hospital all that often but maybe we could sneak her in later,” Jason suggested. “How hard did your mother fight before she finally went?”

“Ten minutes,” Olivia replied. “I told her that I would be just fine by myself for a little while so she finally went. I think that Mommy needs a nap. She’s awfully cranky.”

“Mommy’s been worried about you,” Jason reminded her. “Now we know you’re going to be okay, she’ll get some sleep.”

“Good.” Olivia smiled brightly. “You know what I think Daddy?” she asked.

“Oh, no, Jase, it’s that smile,” Keesha said, tickling Olivia’s neck. She giggled.

“What do you think?” Jason asked.

“I think that you should take Mommy out to dinner,” Olivia announced. “I don’t think I seen her eat the whole time I’ve been awake. You should make her eat something.”

Keesha shook her head. “Where do you get that devilish gene?” she asked with smile.

“You know what, honey?” Jason kissed her forehead. “You have a very good point. Now that you’re getting better, we should really turn our attentions to your mother. She’s definitely not eating enough.”

Olivia beamed. “So you’ll take Mommy out on a date?” she asked, hopefully.

Jason took a deep breath. “You’re a big girl, right Olivia?”

“I’m five years old. That’s older than four,” she said seriously.

“Right. So I’m going to try and tell you something and you really have to listen to me here, baby, okay?”

Olivia nodded. “Okay.”

“I love your mother very much,” Jason informed her. “And she loves me. And when we were younger, we thought that was all we ever needed.”

“Love is all you need,” Olivia recited. “Lil’s dad likes that song.”

“Love is important but it’s not always enough in a marriage,” Jason tried to explain. “I was young and I was stupid.”

Olivia giggled. “Daddy was stupid,” she told Keesha gleefully.

“He sure was,” Keesha agreed.

With a glare at his best friend, Jason continued. “And we got divorced.”

Olivia sighed impatiently. “I know that, Daddy, and I know you’re not getting back together again–”

“That’s not entirely true,” Jason admitted.

Olivia blinked. “I don’t understand, Daddy.”

“We’re trying to see if maybe we could,” he told her.

“You mean…we might be a family again?” Olivia asked. Her eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Maybe,” Jason stressed. “I didn’t want to get your hopes up and your mother was concerned that you might be really upset if it didn’t end up working out.”

“Why wouldn’t it?” Olivia asked innocently.

“Because grown up relationships are complicated,” Keesha explained. “And sometimes…no matter how much two people love each other, it doesn’t always work.”

“Right, so I need you to be a big girl and try to understand that while we’re trying to work it out, it might not happen.”

Olivia nodded. “Okay, Daddy, but just for the record, I think you will.”

He kissed her forehead. “I think we will, too but don’t tell your mother I told you.”

“Cross my heart.”

---

Emily stirred her hot chocolate. “You look better,” she told Elizabeth. “But you still look tired.”

“Yeah…I haven’t gotten a lot of sleep this last week,” she sighed. “But now that we know for sure Olivia’s going to be okay…”

“So, this reconciliation with Jason…” Emily trailed off. “Are you sure about it? I mean…you worked so hard to put your life back together after the divorce. I don’t want anything to ruin that.”

“I am sure about it,” Elizabeth replied. “I love Jason, Em. Since I was nineteen years old, I knew he was the one for me. We made mistakes and…a lot of them were mine and a lot of them were his. We were so young when we got married–too young to know any better.”

“I agree with that but it still doesn’t change the fact that he left you with a newborn to fly all over the world.”

“No, it doesn’t. And it doesn’t change the fact that I didn’t trust him enough with my heart or our daughter. I didn’t trust him enough to tell him about the sleeping pills.”

“Okay, okay, you know what you want and I really hope it works out for you.”

Elizabeth finished her hot chocolate and stood. “I want to get back upstairs. Jason’s bringing his best friend Keesha Ward by to see Olivia and I’m dying to finally meet her.”

---

The first thought that entered Keesha’s mind when Elizabeth Morgan entered Olivia’s hospital room was Wow, Jason really had gone and found her look alike in Elise.

“Keesha, this is Elizabeth,” Jason introduced them. He stood and crossed to his ex-wife. “Elizabeth, Keesha Ward.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” Elizabeth said warmly shaking the other woman’s hand. “I was beginning to think you didn’t exist,” she joked.

“Yeah, I can’t believe y’all were married for three years and we never even met,” Keesha replied. She leveled a glare at Jason. “I blame him.”

“And this is my best friend, Emily Cassadine,” Elizabeth stepped back. “Emily, you remember Jason.”

“Yes…our first meeting wasn’t exactly a good one,” Emily remarked sheepishly. “That was the night of um…Ric. And Jason was just being–well, I shouldn’t have been so…I’m sorry.”

“No–I was in a really bad mood that night,” Jason apologized. “I’m sorry.”

“Clean slate?” Emily proposed.

“Sure.”

“Cassadine,” Keesha murmured. “Why does that sound familiar?” she asked Jason.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Because you kept sending letters and stuff back to him for the first month afterwards…” he trailed off.

“Ah…the lawyer’s wife.”

“Daddy,” Olivia whined.

Jason turned and sat on her bed. “What is it, honey? Do you need anything?”

“Ask her,” she whispered loudly.

“Ask who what?” Elizabeth asked suspiciously.

“Ask her,” Olivia huffed impatiently.

“Okay, okay.” Jason stood and took Elizabeth by the elbow. “I need to speak with you in the hallway for a minute.”

He closed the door behind them and took a deep breath. “I told Olivia about the reconciliation.”

Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “Why?” she demanded. “Jesus, Jason, I thought we agreed–”

“We agreed that we wouldn’t tell her because we didn’t think she’d understand.” He took her hand in his. “She does understand. I told her that while we were going to try our best–it might not work out and she said that was okay.”

“I just–I don’t to hurt her anymore than she already has.” Elizabeth massaged her temple with her free hand. “But if you think she understands then I believe you.”

She was looking down at the ground and didn’t notice the surprise in his eyes. She trusted him. Just a little right now–but it was a start.

And he was determined to build on that.

“She suggested I take you out to dinner,” Jason informed her.

Elizabeth glanced up, a small smile on her face. “Oh, she did, huh?”

“Yeah, she’s concerned you’re not eating,” Jason said, returning the smile. “So…I was thinking maybe tonight…we could go out to dinner–do some dancing…like we used too?”

“I’m not that girl anymore,” Elizabeth told him. She slid her hand up his arm and rested it on his shoulder. “When I go out dancing these days, it’s for charity events and you know how much I hate those.”

“Okay, so what girl are you now?” Jason teased.

“Tell you what. Pick me up at seven. Wear jeans, okay?” she suggested. She kissed his cheek, “I’ll drive.”

---

“Liz?” Jessica called, shutting the kitchen door behind her. “Maj, go color at the table,” she told her daughter. Maja obediently climbed on to one of the chairs and spread her coloring book and crayon box out.

“Liz?” Jessica called again.

Elizabeth entered the kitchen as she finished hooking a hoop earring in to left ear. She’d showered and let her hair dry out in her natural curls. For the first time since Jessica could remember, Elizabeth was wearing makeup. Not just light touches here and there for her social events but–smoky gray eye shadow, black eyeliner, black mascara, pink lip gloss. She wore a tight melon-colored tank top with a tan suede jacket thrown over top.

“Are those the jeans I made you buy last year?” Jessica demanded with a grin on her face. “The tight ones that showed off your ass?”

“You mean the ones that have been sitting in my closet since I bought them?” Elizabeth teased. “Yes.”

“You look fabulous–where are you going? I know that’s not for sitting around Livvie’s hospital room.”

“I want to see Liv!” Maja piped up.

“Soon, baby,” Jess promised. “Well?” she prompted.

“I’m taking Jason out for a night on the town,” Elizabeth informed her friend. She slid into a pair of high-heeled sandals and crouched down to fasten them.

“Ah. I can’t see Jason in something that matches what you’re wearing. All I’ve seen are pictures of him in suits.”

“Oh…he has jeans,” Elizabeth assured her. “He never wears them in public. His parents never let him when he was younger so he just…never did it any differently.”

“Freaky,” Jessica mused. “Where are you taking him?”

“He wanted to go dancing–do all the smooth, sophisticated stuff we did when we first met,” Elizabeth replied. She ruffled Maja’s hair as she passed by her and opened the fridge to take out a bottle of water. “That was fun when I was younger but I’m a whole new person now and I think Jason needs to be introduced to her.”

“So…?” Jessica slid her hands in her jeans pockets. “Kelly’s? You don’t think it’s a bit much for a man of the world?”

“He needs to understand that I haven’t just been existing–suspended in air without him. I have a life–I know people, people know me–I have friends, you know?” She sighed and took a long gulp of the water. “I want him to know me, Jess. I want this to work.”

“Okay, Kelly’s is a good place to start. What about afterwards?”

“Some ice cream–a walk on the docks. I need to know if he can live a life–that’s so ordinary.”

“Ah…you both kill me. What time are you meeting him?”

“He’s coming over here in about fifteen minutes and then I’m going to drive.” Elizabeth smiled. “For once–I’m wearing the pants in this relationship.”

---

Jason shifted uncomfortably in the jeans, sneakers and t-shirt he’d bought that afternoon. Not all of his clothes had been shipped from Spain yet and even so–he wasn’t even sure he owned a pair of jeans.

He knocked on the door and Elizabeth opened it so quickly, he wondered if she’d been looking for him out the window.

“Hey, good you’re on time.” She stepped onto the porch and locked the door behind her.

He dragged his eyes over her body and decided that he could learn to like jeans very much.

“So where are we going?” Jason asked as he followed Elizabeth to her car. She unlocked her door and then hit the automatic lock to open his side.

“I’m going to show you what we small town people do for fun,” she said. “Buckle up.”

---

Jason stepped inside the small diner hesitantly. Elizabeth had taken him on a small tour of the town that had been his home for a year and it saddened him that he couldn’t even remember small details.

“Come on.” She tugged his hand and led him towards the counter. “Hey, Maxie,” she greeted the blonde waitress warmly. “How’s school?”

“It’s okay,” Maxie replied. “I heard about Livvie, how’s she doing?”

“Much better,” Elizabeth took a handful of Jason’s blue t-shirt and yanked him towards the counter. “Maxie, this is my husband, Jason. Jason–this is Maxie Jones. She and her sister baby-sit for Olivia sometimes.”

“Okay, yeah, she’s told me about you guys,” Jason said.

Maxie frowned. “I thought you were divorced.”

“We are,” Elizabeth replied. “But hey, you live in this town. How many divorced couples are actually divorced?”

Maxie laughed. “Good point. Well, have a seat and Lucas will be right with you.” She leaned towards Elizabeth. “He’s out back with his girlfriend, Sage,” she confided in a hushed voice.

“We’re not in a hurry.” Elizabeth pushed Jason towards a table. “There’s menus at the table,” she told him.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever eaten in a place like this,” Jason remarked, pulling out a chair for her before taking a seat across from her. “You seem friendly with the people who work here.”

“Well, yeah, like I told you–Maxie and Georgie baby-sit Olivia. This is her favorite place to eat, so we know everyone who comes in and out of here and Georgie works at a convenience store up the street from our house, so I know her. Does that bother you?”

“No. It’s just different.” Jason plucked the menu out of the stand. “What’s good here?”

“Elizabeth Morgan–I haven’t seen you in here in almost two weeks!”

Elizabeth stood and embraced a redheaded older woman. “Bobbie! Hey, how’s Carly and the boys?”

“Oh, they’re great. Just got back from the Caribbean with their stepfather,” Bobbie replied. “Carly’s so tan and Michael’s sunburned,” she laughed. “How’s Olivia? I heard about the accident. I’ve been on vacation myself with Lucas out in California or I would have stopped by.”

“We were worried for a while but she’s doing really well now.” Elizabeth touched Jason’s shoulder. “Jason, this is Bobbie Spencer. She owns the place and she’s a nurse at the hospital. Bobbie, this is my husband, Jason.”

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Bobbie said, shaking Jason’s hand. Jason stood.

“Nice to meet you,” Jason said politely.

“Are you two…back together?” Bobbie asked with a smile towards Elizabeth.

“Working on it,” Elizabeth said. “This is Jason’s first time here, actually.”

“Oh, well then he has to have the chili.” She touched Jason’s arm. “My aunt’s recipe. She passed away a few years ago but Kelly’s will always be known for Ruby’s chili.”

“I’m sorry?” Jason offered, crinkling his eyes.

Bobbie laughed. “I’m making him uncomfortable. He’s adorable, honey,” she kissed Elizabeth’s cheek. “I’ll stop by and see Olivia this week, okay?”

“See ya,” Elizabeth took her seat and after a moment, Jason sat back down, too.

He tilted his head to the side. “Everyone knows we’re divorced?”

“Everyone knows everything in this town,” Elizabeth told him. “It’s just the way things are. If you really mean it–about living here–you need to come to terms with that.”

Jason frowned. “What is this…some sort of test?” he asked. “Did you bring me here to see if I could handle people knowing everything about me before we even met?”

“I brought you here because it’s my favorite diner, because it’s our daughter’s favorite diner, because it’s where everyone goes to eat out. Everyone who is ordinary and boring–whose highlight of the day was their kid’s finger painting or something at work. Yeah–I’m curious if you can really live in a place like this.”

He took a deep breath. “I love you, Elizabeth. I love Olivia. If this is the life you guys live–then this is the life I want to live to. I’m tired of living in hotels–never unpacking, never having my own place.” He ran a hand over his face. “Of not being to tuck my daughter in at night or waking up next to you in the morning. I’m twenty-eight years old, Elizabeth and I’m tired of just existing.”

Jason slid his hand into Elizabeth’s and glanced over at her as she offered him her vanilla ice cream cone. He declined, content to watch her tongue dart out for tiny licks.

They’d dropped serious discussion over dinner and afterwards, she’d taken him to an ice cream vendor and he’d insisted on paying for her ice cream. This was a date, he’d told her, and he was going to do this right.

“It looks even better during the winter,” Elizabeth broke the silence. She smiled up at him. “With all the snow and the lake freezes over just a little–not enough for skating or anything–it feeds into the river, you know and the current’s too strong to freeze over.”

“Isn’t it too cold to walk here in the winter?” Jason asked.

“It’s more than too cold,” Elizabeth admitted. “But I don’t care. I bundle Olivia up in layers of clothing and I wear like eight sweaters but it’s so worth it.”

“Well then I guess I better get some winter clothes,” he remarked casually.

“Yeah–I remember you never did like to winter anywhere where it felt like the actual season,” she laughed. She finished her ice cream and offered him the cone again. “Want to eat the cone?”

He shook his head and she tossed into a nearby trash can, licking the excess vanilla from her hands. “We should talk about Olivia,” he said.

She sighed and stopped walking. She slid her hands in the pockets of her suede jacket. “What about her?” Elizabeth asked.

“I know we talked about me staying at the house and that we decided it was a bad idea,” Jason began, “but she’s going to be home in a few weeks and we don’t know what stage of her recovery she’s going to be at and I want to be there for her–”

“We don’t know what stage in our reconciliation we’ll be at in a few weeks,” Elizabeth interrupted.

He regarded her with suspicious eyes. “I’m not exactly sure what pint you’re trying to make there.”

“Well…” Elizabeth drawled. She danced her fingertips across his broad chest and smiled up at him. “If I were to ask you to come with me tonight…”

He caught her hand in his and brought them to his lips. He kissed each finger softly and shook his head. “As tempting as that offer would be, I would say no.”

She surprised him then by smiling brightly. “And that’s exactly why I think everything is going to be just fine.” She stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips chastely to his. “If we’re not at the stage where we’re ready to be living together when she comes home, there’s always the guest room.”

“You sure about that?” Jason asked apprehensively.

Elizabeth nodded. “I love you, Jason and I love that you love our daughter. I remember when she was born and you just–went insane,” she laughed. “You bought out FAO Schwarz–you bought all these things–some them she still can’t use…”

Jason shrugged and ducked to hide his smile. “I couldn’t help it. You know–I have to admit that I always thought I’d be disappointed if I didn’t have a boy but I wasn’t. When you told me you were pregnant–I didn’t even care if we had a boy or a girl–just the thought of us having a baby…”

“I thought you’d hate the idea–having a baby would tie us to one place more–we couldn’t just pick up and leave anymore–” Elizabeth sighed. “You’re a good father, Jason. I don’t know if that’s important to you or not but it’s important to me–”

“It is important to me.” Jason twined his fingers in hers and they started walking again. “The older I get and the more time I spend with Olivia, the more I realize you were right. It appalls me that I was willing to do what my parents did to me.” He glanced down at her. “What your parents did to you.”

“Your childhood–it was different than mine. Your father–if he’s ever had an affair, I’ve certainly never heard of it and he clearly loves your mother even if it’s a safe, friendship kind of love, you know? And I happen to like your parents.”

“Yeah–I have to admit what they lacked in affection they made up for by at least pretending they were my parents.” He shrugged. “But they still missed important things in my life. Graduations, birthdays–our wedding.” Jason rubbed his thumb over her wedding and engagement rings. “I’ve missed all of Olivia’s birthdays because I was an idiot.”

“Jason–I was so horrible to you,” she sighed. “I didn’t trust you–not with me, not with Olivia and you never did anything to deserve that mistrust and I didn’t give you much of a warning that I wanted to change our lives.”

“You were my wife, Elizabeth. My entire life.” They started up the dock stairs to where her car was parked near Kelly’s. “I should have made whatever sacrifice was necessary to keep you in my life.”

He stopped her when they reached her car and gripped her shoulders. “You and Olivia are still my life–the most important people in the world to me and I want to make sure you believe that. No matter how long it takes for you to trust me.”

Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek against his chest. “Do you remember what you said about not needing a pile of bricks because I was your home?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“You were my home, too…I just didn’t realize it until I lost you.”

---

Keesha was studying a map of New York State when he came into the penthouse a little later. “It’s amazing how big this state is,” she murmured. “No wonder I always get lost.”

“You got lost in Rhode Island,” Jason reminded her.

Keesha shrugged. “It’s a gift. How did it go?”

He lifted her feet up and sat down on the couch, putting her legs in his lap. He thought about his answer for a few moments as Keesha tried to calculate the distance between New York City and Port Charles. It looked like it was three inches apart but that couldn’t be right.

“It was–a little weird at first. She took me to this diner where she knew everyone and everyone knew me.”

“Sounds like the Cheers theme song.”

“Everyone knew we were divorced and I bet they even know why–it’s like a real small town, Keesha. No one has any privacy.”

She wrinkled her nose. “God, I’d never survive here.”

“It’s–it explains why she’s so different than she used to be. She was always an incredible woman but–” he shook his head, a little awed by the whole idea. “There’s whole air about her now–like she’s really happy here. I never realized how much setting down roots could matter to her but it’s really been good for her.”

“She’s different,” Keesha said slowly. “Too different?”

“No–I wasn’t in love with her because she loved to travel or play the socialite–those were things people in our crowd do but it was always different with her. She went to Egypt with me, to Siberia, Turkey–China. So many places that no respectable woman would. She got sun poisoning but still went to the pyramids with me because she knew I’d stay with her and miss the tour group otherwise. She got pneumonia in Siberia.”

“A sane woman would have let you traipse on your own,” Keesha grimaced. “I’d have stayed behind in a hotel with room service.”

“Elise did after the first few trips,” Jason said quietly. “I took her for granted, Keesha. I didn’t realize just how incredible Elizabeth was until I was married to someone else.”

“So…tonight?” Keesha prompted.

“Tonight–I got to return the favor. She went to exotic places with me–smiled through it and I think she really enjoyed some of it–and tonight, I spent an ordinary evening eating hamburger and fries at a diner where everyone knew everything about me before I opened my mouth. I walked on the docks with her and bought her a vanilla ice cream cone.”

He looked at his best friend with a small smile. “And I really enjoyed it. I could do this, Keesha. I could live here, live this life and it would be okay. I could really do it.”

“And never resent giving up the life you live now.” Keesha sighed. “It’s a beautiful fantasy life you lead there, Jase.”

“What life do I have, Keesha? All of my possessions can be packed in forty-five minutes. I don’t see my daughter three thirds of the year–I’ve never celebrated her birthday with her, I’ve missed three out of five Christmases, I missed her ballet recital…”

Jason shook his head. “And I missed seeing Elizabeth smile every day–missed holding her and being with her. If I could go back in time and fix it so that I hadn’t missed a thing, I’d pay any price in the world. But since I can’t change the past, I’m sure as hell going to prevent the rest of my life being that miserable.”

“I want you to be happy,” Keesha assured him. “I just want you to be sure that you’ve thought this through.”

“I have. I’m told Elizabeth this tonight and now I’m telling you. I’m twenty-eight years old and I’m tired of just existing. I want my life back–I want Elizabeth back. Our marriage worked before because I loved her–because I was with her. It had nothing to do with the parties, the money, the hotels. I love my daughter and I want to be there for her every moment of her life. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, Keesha and I don’t aim to make them over and over again.”

---

Elizabeth pulled the thin blanket over her legs and reached over to switch off her bedside lamp. The room plunged into darkness and just before her eyes got too heavy, the phone rang.

Worried that it was the hospital, Elizabeth snatched the receiver up. “Hello?” she said urgently.

“Hey–it’s just me,” Jason said. “It’s not about Olivia.”

She exhaled slowly. “Thank God. I called her when I got home earlier and she seemed fine so–” she shook her head. “Sorry–hi.”

He laughed. “It’s okay, I would have been worried it was the hospital too.”

“So–what’s up? Why’re you calling this late?” Elizabeth asked.

“I’m trying to fall asleep and I realized why I couldn’t.”

“Oh, really?” Elizabeth’s lips curved into a smile. There were nights when they’d both been separated by an ocean, stranded at their respective schools and though England was in a different time zone, she loved the late night calls from Jason. They’d spend hours talking on the phone, yearning for the next time they could steal a weekend to see one another.

“Yeah–see, I had this incredible date tonight,” Jason began. “And I just can’t get this girl out of my head.”

“Sounds bad,” Elizabeth said. She closed her eyes. “Why do you think you can’t stop thinking about her?”

“Because she’s just–amazing. I think I’m in love and I couldn’t sleep without hearing her voice again.”

“Well–you’re in luck. I had a date with the cutest guy I’ve ever seen,” Elizabeth teased. “And I couldn’t sleep without hearing his voice again.”

“I–I love you, Elizabeth.”

“I love you, too.”

“Good night.”

“Good night.”

There was a pause and she could still hear his breath on the line. “You going to hang up?”

“You first.”

“Ha–I remember these arguments. What was the record? An hour to decide who’d hang up first?” Elizabeth recalled fondly.

“Yeah–but we’re not nineteen and twenty-one anymore,” Jason sighed. “We have a daughter who’s going to want to see us before therapy tomorrow.”

“Mmm…yeah, and this twenty-six year old would like some hot chocolate in the morning. With scrambled eggs, toast and bacon.”

“That place–Kelly’s…does it serve breakfast?” Jason asked curiously.

“Sure does, best eggs in town.” Elizabeth yawned. “Okay–so I’ll pick you up around eight?”

“It’s my turn to pick you up. Eight it is. Good night, Elizabeth.” There was a click this time and she smiled.

“Good night, Jason.”

Three Weeks Later

Olivia struggled up the front walk with her crutches and bit her lip as she concentrated on her next step.

Jason was in front of her, taking a step backwards for every step his daughter took towards him and Elizabeth followed behind Olivia.

“You okay, baby?” Jason asked when he saw her tiny arms shake a little.

“It’s hard,” Olivia admitted in a small voice. She stopped moving. “Why can’t I walk anymore?”

“Your accident hurt your spine,” he kneeled down. “But you’re doing so much better than when you woke up. You remember being in the wheelchair?”

Olivia nodded miserably. “You and Mommy had to push me around all the time and I couldn’t go nowhere without you.” She sniffled. “Still can’t.”

“But you can use the crutches now,” Elizabeth pointed out. “And with all the therapy, you’ll be back to normal in no time.”

“Now let’s get you in the house,” Jason stood up.

Olivia shook her head. “I can’t go any further.”

Dr. Jones had told them not to push her more than she was comfortable so Jason didn’t argue. He took the crutches from her and lifted her into his arms. “Come on, honey.”

Elizabeth retrieved the crutches and shifted Olivia’s bag higher on her shoulder as she followed her husband and daughter into the house.

---

“Do you want something to eat? Something to drink?” Jason asked as he settled Olivia on top of the her bed and moved to take her sneakers off.

Elizabeth set the crutches by the door and started to unpack the bag, dumping most of the clothes into the hamper and setting Olivia’s stuffed animals and pictures back in their proper places.

Olivia nodded. “Could I have some apple juice? And maybe you could get my Beauty and the Beast tape from downstairs?”

Jason nodded and kissed her forehead before moving towards the door. Without thinking he kissed Elizabeth before exiting the room.

Olivia’s eyes lit up. “You really are getting back together!” she cried with glee.

Elizabeth flushed and approached the bed, tucking her hands in her back pockets. “We’re working on it, baby. I know how much you want us to be together.”

“I do,” Olivia nodded. “But…” she bit her lip. “I only want it if you guys still love each other.”

Elizabeth’s eyes filled with tears and she sat on the edge of the bed. “I love your father–more than anything else in this world. The reason we’re getting back together is not solely because of you, baby. It’s because I can’t live without him and I’m tired of pretending I can.”

Olivia nodded. “But it is a little because of me, right?”

“Right.” Elizabeth ruffled her daughter’s hair. “If we hadn’t had you, we would have gotten divorced and never seen each other again. Having you in our lives has been such a blessing, honey. You know that we love you more than anything else in this world.”

“Up to the sky and around the world,” Olivia said, repeating one of her father’s favorite sayings. “And Mommy? I love you the same way and I know Daddy loves you.”

“I know it, too.”

“Mommy?” Olivia struggled to sit up a little. “What if I never walk right again?”

“Baby–” Elizabeth hesitated, not wanting to lie to her. “The doctors say that if you try hard and work at your therapy, there’s no chance you won’t walk again.”

“But what if I can’t?” Olivia’s lip trembled. “I was gonna do ballet this year, Mommy. What if I can’t do that anymore?”

“We will make sure that never happens,” Elizabeth promised. “If we have to search the whole world for a doctor, a treatment, a surgery…you’ll be okay again.”

Jason reentered the room–glass in one hand and video tape in the other. He set the tape on top of Olivia’s TV and crossed the room to hand her the apple juice.

Olivia reached for it and Jason waited as she tried to grip it. Finally, she had to use both her hands to wrap around the glass and even though it was difficult for her.

Elizabeth swallowed hard and clenched her hands in Olivia’s bedspread. After a long moment, Olivia was able to sip from the glass. She looked at her father hopefully. “Will you and Mommy watch the movie with me?”

“Sure, honey.” He got up to turn on the TV and put the tape in. He grabbed the remote and sat back on the bed, kicking his shoes off and putting his legs up. Elizabeth mimicked the motions and Olivia reveled in the idea of spending time with her parents like they were an actual family.

---

Olivia fell asleep during Belle and the Beast’s snowball fight so the two turned off the television and tucked her in.

“It’s good to have her home,” Elizabeth remarked as they moved downstairs. “This house didn’t feel the same without her.” She glanced at him as he followed her into the kitchen. “Are you okay with being in the guest room?”

Jason took a glass out of the cabinet and poured some iced tea from a pitcher in the fridge. “Elizabeth–we agreed three weeks ago on this arrangement. You’re not ready to go back to the bedroom.”

“It’s not that I’m not ready–it’s more that…I haven’t made love with anyone since you,” Elizabeth admitted.

Though he’d figured as much since her date with Ric Lansing had been her first and only foray into post-divorce dating, it was still jarring to hear it out loud. His wife was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever met and it humbled him to know that he was the only man to be inside her bedroom.

She flushed and looked away. “How–many women…?” she trailed off.

“Just Elise,” Jason assured her, wishing he could tell her no one. Elise had been a distraction from the void his divorce left in him and nothing more. He tucked her hair behind her ear and trailed a finger down her jaw. “There have been four women in my life and two of them were before I laid eyes on you.”

She took the iced tea from him and set it on the counter before wrapping her arms around his neck. “You know…the last time we made love was in this kitchen.”

“Yeah?” He slid his arms around waist and rested his hands on the small of her back.

“Mmm-hmm.” Elizabeth stood on the tips of her toes and started planting soft kisses on her ex-husband’s jaw. “I was doing the dishes and you came up behind me and kissed my neck.”

He did that now–having missed the taste of her skin. He nipped at it and she giggled. “Mmm, yeah, just like that.”

“I turned around to get you to stop and instead, you kissed me and we made love…” she closed her eyes as his mouth moved from her neck to the curve of her jaw. “Right…against…this…counter.”

He lifted her onto the counter and kissed her hard. She wrapped her legs around his waist and clung to him, opening her mouth to deepen the kiss.

Jason slid his hands underneath her t-shirt and wrapped them around her rib cage unwilling to go further without some sort of sign from her. Elizabeth threaded her fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp with her nails.

They finally broke apart a few moments later, breathing heavily. Elizabeth rested her forehead against kiss and smiled. “I’ve missed that.”

“Me, too.”

He pulled her off the counter and kissed the top of her head. “I don’t want to do anything you’re not ready to do, Elizabeth. But I love you.”

She bit her lip and smoothed her hands down his shirt. “Maybe…you could move back into the bedroom,” she began. “We don’t–we don’t have to do anything.”

“Kind of like London?” Jason asked. “We would just hold each other at night?”

She nodded. “I know we’re older than that–I’m not some naïve virgin anymore b-but in a way, I feel like I am.”

“It’s a good idea. Sex isn’t everything,” he assured her. “You’re not ready go back there and neither am I.” He stepped away from her. “It seems to me that while things were good in the bedroom–they weren’t so good out of it and I really want to make them better here before we take this in there.”

Elizabeth nodded and smiled easily. “I agree. And I think we’re already doing better so–acting more married would be the next step.”

“Also…” Jason hesitated. “I think I’d like us to get remarried before we make love again.”

Surprised, Elizabeth blinked. “Really?”

“Maybe it’s a little–old-fashioned,” Jason admitted, “but I think it would help to make a fresh start.”

“I just…I never thought you’d make a suggestion like that.” Elizabeth shrugged. “It’s surprising.”

“Bad surprising or good surprising?”

“It’s good surprising.” She pressed a light kiss to his mouth. “And I think it’s a great idea.”

“Good.” Jason reached into his back pocket and withdrew a long velvet jewelry case. She hesitated as she took it, knowing some slinky sophisticated bracelet or necklace would be inside. He used to give her these before parties–they’d been be specifically picked out complement what she’d be wearing that night.

And somehow, it wouldn’t seem right to her now. To be given diamonds, sapphires or pearls while she wore a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that proclaimed her to be a PTA mom. She wore a pair of tennis shoes and her hair was in a messy pony tail.

The days of sophisticated party dresses, high heels and extravagant jewelry could no longer be her every day life and she was terrified Jason hadn’t accepted that yet.

So when she opened the case and saw a simple gold chain with a charm that read #1 MOM, she burst into tears.

Alarmed, Jason yanked some paper towels from the roll on the counter and handed them to her. “You don’t like it? Did you want something else? I just–”

“I love it,” Elizabeth said, holding it out of his reach when he went to take it back. “It’s perfect…I was just expecting…”

“Some horribly inappropriate diamond necklace?” Jason asked wryly.

She flushed and nodded. “Yeah–I just–it’s hard to believe that you’re really accepting this life–where we stay in and we eat hamburgers instead of caviar and where the only jewelry I wear are my rings…”

“I know–but this life appeals to me now,” Jason told her. “I like the idea that we’re a family–that I don’t have to constantly share you with everyone.”

She took the necklace out of the case and held it out to him. “Put it on?” She turned so he could drape it around her neck and fix the clasp.

“How does it look?” Elizabeth asked, turning back around.

“Perfect.” Jason kissed her forehead. “Absolutely perfect.”

“I can hardly believe it’s Christmas Eve,” Elizabeth murmured, tilting her face up to the falling snowflakes.

Jessica lifted her daughter Maja into her arms. “Look at the Christmas tree, Maja-bear. It’s bigger than last year, isn’t it?”

“Daddy takes pictures,” Maja said decisively. “They’ll be on the front page.”

“That’s right.” Jessica kissed Maja’s cheek. “And Liv and Lily will be here soon and you can all play while us grown ups do boring things.”

Maja squirmed. “Wanna play now!”

Jessica lowered her to the ground and watched as Maja ran off to join the crowd of children watching city council members decorate the large tree in the courtyard outside General Hospital. “Today’s Liv’s last therapy appointment isn’t it?”

“Mm…Dr. Jones said that as long as she keeps doing her exercises at home and come in for some follow ups this spring, she’s healed.” Elizabeth smiled at her best friend shyly. “We told her last month she’d be the flower girl at our wedding and it seemed to help her progress.”

“Yes, the omniscient wedding which there is no date for yet.”

“And no agreement about,” Elizabeth nodded. “But it’s going to happen, Jess, I know.”

“Hey, I know the sucker’s crazy for you and I applaud the abstinence thing. I just…don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I know but these last three months have been the most incredible of my life,” Elizabeth murmured. “I’ve loved Jason since I was nineteen years old but I’ve fallen in love with him all over again. He’s just…he’s so warm and generous–he’s still the man he used to be only…”

“Not a jackass,” Jessica said dryly.

“Yeah, there’s that.” Elizabeth slid her hands into the pockets of her winter jacket. “Jason and I were meant to be a family, Jess.”

“Speaking of the family…” Jessica nodded to the front doors where Jason was exiting with Olivia in his arms. He set the girl on her feet and she ran unsteadily towards her friends.

“Livvie!” Maja chirped. “You didn’t miss the star!”

“Oh, I hope she doesn’t try to climb the tree again this year,” Jessica muttered as she moved quickly to supervise.

“It’s so good to see her running,” Elizabeth murmured as Jason joined her side. She toyed with the necklace hanging around her neck. “How did the appointment go?”

“Dr. Jones is very pleased with her progress. She’ll be walking and gripping normally by this time next year and she’ll be doing it so well, you would never know she was sick.” Jason wrapped an arm around her shoulder and tugged her to his side.

“You ready to be woken up around dawn and spend most of the day putting together those ridiculous presents you bought her?” Elizabeth asked, smiling up at him.

“Am I ready to spend my first Christmas with my daughter?” Jason asked instead. “To spend the day with my family? Yeah, I think I can handle it.”

---

A few hours later, a fire lit was in their living room. Olivia had been fed and bathed and was sitting between them on the couch as Jason read her ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas.

“Nothing against Mommy,” Olivia said as Jason closed the book, “but it’s really nice to have you read the book with.” She hugged him tightly. “Do I get to open a present tonight?”

“Well…” Elizabeth hesitated and then smiled at Jason. “Sure.”

“Excellent.” Olivia scrambled off the couch and stood in front of them in her long blue cotton nightgown with a lacy collar. “Can I pick the present?”

“Whatever you want, Princess.”

Olivia reached under the tree and pulled out a tiny wrapped box. “Okay, so I’ve got a present for Mommy that I want her to open and it’s kind of for Daddy. And when you open it, Mommy, I’ll tell you which present I want.”

Elizabeth smiled and took the box from her daughter. She opened the top and blinked at the ring inside.

“It was in the gumball machine at the hospital,” Olivia explained. “Kristina told me that you guys can’t married again without a ring so I got one that looks like the one Daddy gave you before.”

Jason looked at Elizabeth’s stunned expression. “She kind of jumped the gun on me,” he said, with a half smile as he reached into his pocket and removed a velvet box. He flipped the lid open to reveal an amethyst stone set in a gold band. “It’s Olivia’s birthstone, I didn’t want you to feel you had to choose between the rings.”

Elizabeth licked her lips. “Jason…”

“Say yes, Mommy,” Olivia stamped her foot impatiently. “I wanna be a flower girl.”

Elizabeth laughed and pressed a hand to her eyes to wipe a few errant tears. “Well, how can I say no to that?” she murmured. She slid the ring from Olivia onto her pinky and then looked at Jason. “Yes.”

He took the ring from the box and slid it onto the ring finger of her right hand and then used that hand to tug her into his lap where he kissed her. “I’m going to make you so happy this time, I promise you that.”

“Yay!” Olivia squealed. “Now I can tell you the rest of my present!”

Elizabeth and Jason turned to their daughter. “What is it Princess?”

Olivia grinned. “A baby brother.” She frowned. “Or a sister. It doesn’t really matter–I’m not picky.”

“Oh, really?” Elizabeth grabbed Olivia around the waist and planted her daughter in her own lap. “Well, maybe if you’re really good, Santa will bring you one next year.”

“Oh, he will,” Olivia said seriously. “I asked for Daddy to come home last year and look, now he’s home.” She planted a kiss on her father’s cheek. “Santa freaking rocks.”

The End