This was all her fault.

Angry and hurt, she'd said things she hadn't meant, but once out of her mouth were too late to take back. She'd thought she'd grown, she'd thought she'd matured, but apparently she hadn't. She was still playing games, and they had once again gotten her into trouble. Only this time, the danger wasn't being stuck in some storm as she and Lucky went off to save Sarah from Nikolas. This time, she was going to lose her life.

No one would miss her until it was too late. No one was expecting her to be anywhere. She was alone, and she was slowly dying.

She had been angry when she discovered Sonny was alive; that all of her worry and concern for Jason and Carly had been for naught. That he wasn't staying away from her because he was out searching for his best friend's killer, he'd been staying away from her because he apparently hadn't wanted to accept her sympathy. It apparently hadn't mattered to him that she'd been sitting at his penthouse worried sick about him. That she wanted to see him not for foolish or selfish reason of wanting to be the one to hug him instead of Courtney, but because she wanted to offer him support much as he had once given her when everyone thought that Lucky was dead.

Instead, she'd been kept in the dark and lied to. Used by Carly - although that hadn't entirely surprised her - but also by Jason. To compound the whole thing, he hadn't come home for hours after the news broke. Sonny and Carly had returned home, a fact she'd blatantly eavesdropped on through the small opening of the front door in the hopes of hearing some tidbit about their supposed best friend. All she'd learned was that he'd taken Sonny's sister home, on Sonny's orders, and they didn't much care when he returned. Nobody gave any thought to her.

But then again, few people really did.

People only thought of her when they could get something from her. She was suddenly included when she was useful, and once she'd outlived it, she was cast aside like old shoes.

Her family had only needed her for holiday photos and to project the image of a wonderful, loving family. At home out of the spotlight, she was just the out of place child that nobody understood because she had no interest in medicine. Lucky had only talked to her in an attempt to get closer to Sarah. He'd asked her to the dance, but ditched her when Perfect Sarah suddenly became available. And then of course her rape had turned into her comforting and supporting him after he learned that his father had raped his mother. After that, it just continued. Sonny only talked to her when Jason wouldn't, and then to keep a connection to the man when the enforcer had left town. It had been years since Sonny had talked to her beyond mere grunts of hello and good-bye.

Bobbie no longer considered Elizabeth her go-to waitress. That honor was reserved for Courtney; Carly's new best friend and Jason's new girlfriend. Lucky and Luke had given her some money and sent her back on her way to Port Charles after she'd helped get the older man out of jail. Father and son were off to track down more information and Elizabeth was cursorily thanked and sent back to town with a pat on her head. Much like a dog. Even her grandmother didn't have a use for her; she'd gone off to spend some time with Steven and had left with only the briefest words to her granddaughter. Gram was still upset with her for living with Jason Morgan and even though she'd broken all ties with him, the older woman had apparently decided to hold a grudge.

Of course, Jason was the biggest disappointment of all, but that's where she knew this was entirely her fault. Hurt and upset, she'd walked out on him and then spurned him when he'd tried to talk to her. She couldn't process all that had happened, and she wasn't ready to talk to him the day afterwards. She just never imagined that would be the only attempt he would make. He had never stayed away from her before. Even when she'd been confused and torn between her loyalty to Lucky and her feelings for him, he'd never given up on her.

Apparently this time she'd jerked him around one times too many and he came to the same conclusion that everyone else had in her life. She wasn't worth it. He'd gone off and married Brenda, started an affair with Courtney and she wasn't even a bad afterthought. There was no thought in regards to her.

Once again, she was a nobody. Someone that people passed, but they didn't bother to think about once she was out of their line of sight. How else could it be explained that she could hear people passing by, but nobody noticed that she was here?

Cold water lapped at her, curled around her in an evil embrace and she was powerless to resist. Her body was numb, much as it had been that February night in the park as she'd bled on the frozen ground. She couldn't move, couldn't fight, she was powerless as energy left her body, taking her to a different plane. The bitter cold no longer hurt, shaking her limbs uncontrollably; now she felt a buoyant euphoria. Hopefully this meant she wouldn't hurt as she died.

Sluggish and tired, Elizabeth could no longer keep her eyes open, and soon she no longer tried. Help was not coming. There would be no miraculous rescue. Death had come for her, and perhaps it was a blessing. There would be no more hurt, no more sorrow, no more heartache. Her eyes slid shut one last time and she knew that soon, she would just be a frozen body in the harbor. Perhaps she would be found; perhaps she would merely join the other bodies she heard were rumored to be there.

It really no longer mattered because Death was here. His warm arms wrapped around her, carrying her and lifting her home. He called to her and she knew it was finally safe to let go.

He'd been given dry clothes to wear and he felt ridiculous changing into scrubs from the hospital. Despite insisting that he was fine, that he hadn't been in the water any longer than it had taken to pull Elizabeth out, the doctors in the emergency room had insisted that he sit under warm blankets and had taken all his belongings with him. He didn't have his cell phone and his little curtained off cubicle had no telephone. The one time he tried to get up and leave the cordoned off area he'd encountered a battleaxe of a charge nurse who fairly chased him back to bed and threatened to strap him down.

Eventually though they finally came to the medical determination of what he'd been trying to tell them all along. He was fine, he was not suffering from exposure, he did not need to sit in a cubicle. What he needed to do was find out how Elizabeth was.

When he'd pulled her out of the water, she'd been pale, she'd been stiff and she didn't respond when he called her. He couldn't tell if she'd slipped into a hypothermic coma and it only appeared she wasn't breathing, or if she'd already died. He'd called 911 before he stripped off his overcoat and dove into the frigid harbor and he was cutting away Elizabeth's water-sodden coat and placing his thick wool jacket over her when the EMTs rushed onto the docks and took over treatment.

Nobody would tell him how she was doing, despite the fact that he'd pulled her out of the water. He wasn't family and they would not even tell him if they had tried to contact anyone on her behalf. Somewhere around here, though, he would find a sympathetic medical personnel who would inform him about her condition and he was determined to keep asking until he found that someone. So clad in faded scrubs and socks with little rubber grips on the soles, he carried a plastic bag filled with his effects and went in search of answers.

Instead, what he found was more aggravation.

"Johnny!"

With a sigh he turned to face his boss.

"The hospital called and said you were brought in. They wouldn't give me any details, but said someone should come pick you up." Jason eyed him curiously and then asked, "What happened? Why are you dressed like that?"

"I found Elizabeth Webber in the harbor and I pulled her out." Jason's eyes went wide with shock. "I noticed there had been a fight on the docks; the snow was kicked up and disturbed, not completely covered by what had continued to fall. I got curious, I checked it out and then I realized there was a body out in the water."

"So you pulled her out?" the other man asked anxiously. "Is she alright? What have they said? Where is she?"

"I don't know," the guard shook his head. "But I'm sure it's nothing for you to be concerned about. I mean, how would you juggle another woman to worry about? You've got your wife, your mistress and your ex-girlfriend who continues to run your life like she's got you on a leash. You already forgot about Miss Webber, just keep on with that course of action. I'll look out for her."

And then he walked away, bringing his palm over the pocket where the button he pried out of Elizabeth's hand rested. Maybe he should have turned it over to the police when they questioned him, but he hadn't. He knew the button, he'd spent several hours in the company of the person wearing the jacket today and had seen it clearly every time she handed him another bag to hold while she continued on shopping. Elizabeth had fought with her attacker, and managed to end up with a piece of Courtney's coat in her hand. Johnny was in no hurry to tell Jason that because the other man would no doubt come up with some excuse to explain how it had happened. Of course he wouldn't believe that his precious little girlfriend could have had anything to do with the near demise of his former friend.

No, Johnny would keep this piece of information to himself and would share it with only one other person. Luis Alcazar was paying him handsomely for information on the organization and if this was something the other man could use to pull out at the right time and cripple Sonny and Jason, then it would be worth it. In the meantime, Johnny was going to call in a few favors and get Elizabeth transferred to a safe, secure, and far away location where she could recover without fear that anyone in Port Charles would try to complete the first attempt on her life, or once again toss her aside like yesterday's garbage and prove just how truly unworthy of the petite artist they truly were.

"Mr. Morgan."

Jason looked up into the tight, pinched face of Audrey Hardy. Elizabeth's grandmother was clearly not pleased to see him, yet she'd specifically sought him out. He didn't understand it, but he stood and asked if she would sit down.

"No," she shook her head, her lips turning down in a frown. "I want to know where you have my granddaughter."

Jason blinked at her and a frown of his own formed, "What?"

"I want to know where you have Elizabeth," she repeated, her tone of disapproval growing. "I returned to town to discover that my granddaughter had been pulled out of the harbor and had only spent a day at General Hospital before her transfer was arranged. Bobbie Spencer told me that one of your employees by the name of Johnny O'Brien arranged it."

Crossing her slender, aged arms over her chest, she leveled him with a piercing gaze. "I want to know where my granddaughter is and I want her returned. You aren't her family, you are only a criminal. I knew the minute Elizabeth moved into your penthouse that she would end up in trouble. I simply had no idea that you would marry someone else and take up with a mistress mere months after breaking up with Elizabeth, but then that shouldn't entirely surprise me. As someone who used to sleep with Carly Corinthos, you are not suitable for Elizabeth."

She sniffed and then said, "It's too bad that Elizabeth couldn't see this for the blessing that it was and instead was hurt over the whole turn of events."

That was news to Jason. Any time he'd ever seen Elizabeth she'd always been angry and lashing out at him. She'd never seemed hurt.

"So I don't care what Elizabeth may have asked for from you, or what you may have decided she needed," Audrey continued. "I am her grandmother and her family and I want to know where my granddaughter is."

"I don't know," Jason shook his head. "I...I didn't know she wasn't at the hospital anymore."

He'd left the night she'd been admitted because he'd been stunned by Johnny's words. He hadn't forgotten Elizabeth; how dare the guard say that. Yet, as he drove around that night, hoping to clear his head, he realized that he also hadn't really had much contact with her. He had married Brenda, gotten involved with Courtney and was once again busy cleaning up Sonny and Carly's dramas. The times that he had seen Elizabeth, it always upset Courtney and they got into terrible fights about his friendship with the brunette.

He was upset to realize that he couldn't remember when the last time was that he'd seen Elizabeth except in the briefest of passing moments. It had been even longer since they'd talked. While Johnny had been out of line to talk to Jason the way he had, there had been the smallest element of truth in the words. But why would Johnny transfer Elizabeth out of General Hospital? How had he done so? While Johnny had been the one to pull Elizabeth out of the water, why was he suddenly so interested in taking care of her?

The few times he'd called the hospital, he'd been told that they couldn't give out information to non-family members. And when he'd tried to stop by the hospital, he found Johnny standing watch outside her room, glaring at him like a momma bear protecting her cubs. He'd left so as to avoid a fight in the hospital, and then hadn't seen the guard since then.

"What do you mean you don't know where she is?" Audrey demanded, her voice getting louder and carrying across the small dining room of Kelly's. "You didn't move her?"

"No," he shook his head. "I...I didn't see her after she was admitted. I never spoke to her."

"Did you even try?" Audrey hissed. "Or did you just decide she wasn't worth it since you apparently didn't care you'd broken her heart?"

Jason reeled back from the barb once again thrown at him, but he didn't have time to think about it or process it as the older woman continued, "Then where is my granddaughter, Mr. Morgan? Johnny O'Brien does work for you, I presume? Bobbie told me he arranged her transfer, she thought it was on your orders, that was the only reason she went along with it and helped him. But she doesn't know where he took her."

A hint of desperation now colored the woman's voice. "I want to know where Elizabeth is, Mr. Morgan. I want to know where my granddaughter is and I want to know now!"

"I don't know where she is, Mrs. Hardy," he was saddened to say. "But I will find out for you. Alright? I promise you that I will find out what is going on and where Elizabeth is."

"You'd better, Mr. Morgan," she said, a shaky finger wagging in his direction. "Because otherwise I will go to the police and I will name Mr. O'Brien, you, Mr. Corinthos...anyone that I have to as accessories to kidnapping to find my granddaughter. Do you understand me?"

"I do," he assured her. "And I will get right on this."

He tossed some money down on the table to cover his cup of coffee, and then held the door open for Mrs. Hardy. He escorted her to he car, even though she didn't seem to want it. Then he climbed on his bike and left and completely forgot he was supposed to meet Carly and Courtney for lunch.

Johnny wasn't in his apartment. His neighbors hadn't seen him in a couple of days, but the landlord said his rent was sent in right on time at the first of the month so she wasn't worried. Nobody at the warehouse could recall seeing the guard in the last couple of days and nobody knew if he was out on an assignment. He was pacing Sonny's office at the warehouse, waiting for the older man to arrive and growing restless with each passing moment.

With an air of nonchalance, Sonny walked inside, and tossed his cashmere coat on the leather sofa. He poured a drink and then turned to Jason with a sigh, "Alright, what has you so upset that you practically order me to come down to the warehouse? Why couldn't you just come over to the penthouse?"

"I didn't want to be interrupted," he said.

With a laugh, the older man said, "Probably for the best. Carly and Courtney were upset you skipped out on them for lunch."

With an annoyed wave of his hand Jason tried to get his friend to focus, "I don't care about Carly or Courtney. I want to know where Johnny is."

"Johnny?" Sonny asked, with a shake of his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Nobody's seen him for days. Not at the warehouse, none of the other guards, nobody at his apartment." He put his hands on his hips, pushing back the sides of his leather jacket and sighed. "Audrey Hardy came up to me at Kelly's today and wanted to know where Elizabeth was. Bobbie told her that Johnny had arranged for Elizabeth to be transferred from the hospital and thought he was doing it on my orders and that's why she helped him. I didn't know that Elizabeth was gone, I have no idea where she is and Mrs. Hardy is upset enough that she's going to go to Mac and press charges against him and us for kidnapping if we don't help her find Elizabeth. You know that Taggert would jump all over this."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," the older man said with a shake of his head and holding up his hands. "What are you talking about? When was Elizabeth in the hospital?"

"'Bout a week ago, I got a call from the ER," he explained. "They said that Johnny had been brought in and someone should drive him home just to make sure he was alright. I show up and he's up and walking around and when I asked him what happened, he told me he pulled Elizabeth out of the harbor. Said he saw there had been a fight on the docks and when he investigated, he saw a body floating in the water. She was in severe hypothermia, unconscious, they weren't sure if she was going to make it."

"Did you see her?" Sonny asked, concern creasing his brow.

Jason shook his head. "No. She was in critical care; they weren't letting anyone near her. I didn't know how she was because when I called or stopped by, nobody would tell me anything. I saw Johnny sitting outside her room, or what I thought was her room, a couple of days after she supposedly was transferred. That was the last time I, or anyone else it seems, saw him."

"Why would he transfer her out of GH?" his boss asked. "That doesn't make sense. If she was suffering from hypothermia…that was the best place for her. Why would he do that?"

Jason sighed and debated telling Sonny about the diatribe Johnny had gone on about against him. The disgust and contempt was clear in the other man's voice, the anger that had floated just under the surface, and Jason had spent hours trying to puzzle it out. But he didn't because Sonny didn't actually know that he and Courtney were involved and he figured this wasn't the best time to divulge that. It wasn't entirely something that Jason was proud of, Courtney deserved better than to be considered his mistress even if his marriage to Brenda was in name only.

"I called you here to find out if you'd sent Johnny out on an assignment that nobody else knew about," Jason sidestepped the issue. "Otherwise, he's missing, along with Elizabeth and I don't doubt that Mrs. Hardy would name us as accessories to kidnapping. So we need to find them."

"Alright," the older man nodded. "Call Benny and Stan and get them on this. You said Bobbie helped Johnny? Then go talk to her and find out everything she remembers, no matter how small the detail. We need to find her, because we cannot have Taggert pulling us in on something like that right now. They'd bring in the Feds and with Alcazar breathing down our necks and causing all sorts of troubles, the last thing we need is something like this."

"Okay," Jason said. "I'll go talk to Bobbie."

It appeared his plan was falling into place. Jason and Sonny were now suddenly looking for Elizabeth Webber and distracted. The two men weren't looking for the petite woman because they were concerned about her; no, it was all about avoiding jail time and not having the FBI brought in on a kidnapping charge.

Johnny had actually been a little surprised that Jason had called the hospital trying to find out information on Elizabeth, and then even more so that he'd showed up once. He figured Jason would go back to the Corinthos family and his love nest with Courtney and just forget that he'd heard Elizabeth Webber was in the hospital. But Jason could never forget or ignore a wounded little creature and so Johnny thought that in time his conscience, or his guilt, would prick at him enough to make him try to check in on Elizabeth. That was why he'd sat outside an empty room and glowered at Jason when the enforcer had approached. Jason had paused, sighed, looked conflicted, but ultimately walked away. Something that was a common occurrence with him towards Elizabeth.

Johnny had played him beautifully and figured it was then safe to leave town now. There would be very little chance of Jason coming back a second time. He'd claim he made his token effort, he'd been foiled and then he'd just give up. Elizabeth just wasn't worth the trouble to keep fighting, not when he had an easy bed buddy waiting for him. Why chase after the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow when there was fool's gold readily available?

As Johnny put down the headphones he'd used to listen to the transmission from the bug in Sonny's office, he looked over at Elizabeth on the other side of the room and felt a momentary pang of guilt. They were keeping her in a medically induced coma because Luis declared it was better that way. She wouldn't be awake and get scared or try something stupid like escaping. Besides, she was still weak and recovering from the severe hypothermia and it was probably a blessing to keep her asleep. There was still concern that she might lose some of her extremities due to exposure. While she'd be a little clumsy while learning to re-walk with a couple of missing toes, she'd soon get the hang of it and be just fine.

He just hoped that she didn't lose any of her fingers. He knew that her art was important to her and it seemed unfair that she'd potentially risk losing that through no fault of her own. While Luis hadn't really cared, Johnny had talked to the doctor they'd hired to care for the young woman and tried to impress on the man just how important the artist's hands were. He felt better knowing that the doctor would do everything he could to keep her from being damaged.

For now, though, Johnny needed to talk to Luis. It was time to put their next phase of the plan into play. Jason and Sonny were distracted, worrying about possible charges from Taggert or the Feds, and so they wouldn't be paying as close attention to other things. Perfect opportunity to go after shipments, destroy property and strangle the shipping lanes Sonny so arrogantly presumed nobody could touch. Then when Mrs. Hardy did bring charges - Johnny hadn't used Bobbie as his accomplice at the hospital for nothing, he knew she'd mention him to the older woman - and their business was suffering, Luis would come in and offer up sliver of hope.

Give up the territories and Luis would help make the charges go away. Elizabeth would be miraculously found and all would be well. If they refused, Elizabeth would be woken up, told that Johnny had moved her to prevent Jason from coming back and finishing off the job Courtney had started, and then she would announce to all and sundry that Courtney was the one who had shoved her into the water. Sonny wouldn't want his sister to be charged with attempted murder, and his wife named as an accessory - after all, why would Courtney call Carly from the docks around the time Elizabeth went into the water if she hadn't confessed what she did? - and the weak man would easily cave.

Once Luis got his coveted territory, he'd mentioned he wouldn't have any further use for Elizabeth, but Johnny was determined not to let her be hurt. She didn't deserve that. But she probably could never return to Port Charles. He'd call in a few favors, Johnny was already looking at several options, and then he'd set her up with a new life. It seemed to be the least she deserved for her troubles.

"It's quite simple, Mr. Corinthos," Luis Alcazar said with a calm, but calculated, smile. "You are going to give me your territories. There will be no violence, there will be no bloodshed, there will be no war. You will give me your territories in Port Charles, your shipping routes, and everything connected to them, and then you will leave town."

The South American arms dealer leaned back in his chair and said, "I'm feeling generous, so I will allow you to keep the casino on your island. You will live there with your wife and child; you will never leave there. Any attempt to do so will be seen as an overt act of aggression and I will take necessary measures to stop you."

A corner of the Latino's mouth quirked up as he continued, "In exchange for my supreme act of generosity, I will take forty percent of your casino profits. That is non-negotiable."

Turning to look at Jason, the man said, "As for you, Mr. Morgan...you may join your boss if you wish. Or perhaps we can work something else out. But your life hangs equally in the balance and I urge you to counsel your boss here to agree to my terms."

The man was arrogant and sure of himself and Jason suspected that he was used to getting his way. This, however, was so ridiculous it was laughable. Just hand over the territory, leave town, never come back and give away almost half the profits from the casino. All because Alcazar said so.

"No," Jason said simply. He wasn't long-winded and he didn't go off into endless tirades. He was a man of few words and the action to back them up.

"Very well," the mobster said with a slight nod of his head. "Then I shall know how to act. I will have my associate give an anonymous tip to the police that leads them to new information regarding Elizabeth Webber's recent accident in the Port Charles Harbor. I'm aware of the fact that the police are trying to find out how she ended up in the water and then why she disappeared from the hospital based on the machinations of one of your employees."

Jason narrowed his eyes just the slightest bit. They had not discovered where Johnny O'Brien was, or where he'd taken Elizabeth and after a week of unproductive searches, Audrey Hardy had grown increasingly demanding that Jason find her granddaughter. When another week went by and she still didn't know where her Elizabeth was, she followed through on her threats and filed charges in her granddaughter's disappearance. Jason and Sonny were brought down for questioning and Justus had done some very swift talking and issued some threats of his own to get his clients released from jail.

Jason and Sonny were still persons of interest, but a warrant was out for Johnny's arrest, and Bobbie had been disciplined and let go from General Hospital for her part in the event. She thought Johnny was working on Jason's orders; the guard had lied to her and said he was, and when Jason said he had no idea that Johnny had done so, she'd grown worried herself. Carly's mother had apologized to her friend and colleague repeatedly, but Audrey Hardy was becoming frantic with grief and worry and she was not so forgiving of the redhead. Sonny was now helping provide for his mother-in-law because he felt bad that she'd trusted someone whom had worked for him and he had been unable to get her job at the hospital reinstated.

It was now weeks beyond that, and nobody in Port Charles had any idea where Elizabeth Webber was. The case had made the national news and was a frequent topic on cable legal channels. The national scrutiny brought more cameras, more attention, and more law enforcement to Port Charles which had been hard on the organization. Jason and Sonny were vigilant to make sure the FBI agents asking them questions didn't find anything that could incriminate them on other charges.

The federal agents' presence in town hadn't stopped Alcazar from continuing on with his bid to take over Sonny's territories, though. He attacked shipments, blew up boats, and the one time he was arrested by the PCPD and then was being held for questioning by the FBI, his high priced lawyer Ric Lansing had swept in with a sealed envelope, handed it to the judge, and thirty minutes later Alcazar was back out on the street. All charges against him were dropped, an injunction was in place against the police and FBI stating they couldn't question him, and the judge himself - a hard-line, law and order man whom the prosecution loved - had actually apologized to the criminal . All Sonny's informant in the courthouse was able to figure out was that the envelope was from the CIA by way of the Justice Department and there was speculation that because of his arms connections the United States government had determined he was too valuable to be jailed in some podunk upstate New York town.

His harassment of Sonny's territories and business had escalated after that and increasing scrutiny was giving Benny an ulcer, making the guards nervous and despite the aura he was projecting in public, in private Sonny was very worried. The organization was slowly being strangled, associates were less friendly and support was dwindling. They were going to go down unless they could mount a counteroffensive. But with the higher scrutiny they were under, the moment they did so they'd be arrested and this time there would probably be enough evidence to convict them. Then Alcazar could take over the territories anyways and Jason and Sonny would be in jail and unable to protect their families.

"I know that you've searched for Miss Webber," Alcazar continued on, sitting up straighter in his chair. "You actually helped me quite a bit there. Searching, letting the poor, elderly grandmother see your efforts but not producing results, causing her to be frantic enough to call in the FBI...you all played brilliantly into my hands. And now you will give me what I want."

"And why would I do that?" Sonny ground out with an angry snarl. "Why shouldn't I just shoot you where you sit and be done with this?"

"Because the police and the federal agents crawling all over town looking for Miss Webber will certainly discover you trying to dispose of my body and then you'll be arrested and sent to prison. And then who would protect your beautiful wife and child?" The corners of his lips twisted in gross delight. "And you will hand over your territories in order to protect your wife and your sister and keep them from going to prison for attempted murder and conspiracy."

"What are you talking about?" Sonny demanded. He was losing his temper and Jason wanted to rein him in, get him to think clearly, but he didn't want to give away any hint of a break in ranks in front of Alcazar by showing that he was trying to stop his boss. And at this point, Sonny wouldn't listen to him. The only way he'd get his friend to quiet down, was if he forcibly removed him from the meeting sight.

"Your sister attempted to murder Miss Webber by fighting with her on the pier and then shoving her into the water," Alcazar stated with no small measure of delight. "She then called your wife immediately afterwards, a call that was picked up from a cell tower near the waterfront. I'm sure the police will argue that she wasn't calling to discuss shopping or Miss Matthew's boyfriend. They'll argue that she was calling for help, calling for instructions, calling for guidance on what she should do. And since there is a distinct absence of her calling 911 or the police, then they would conclude that Mrs. Corinthos told her not to do anything. With any luck, Miss Webber would die and then they would no longer be bothered by her."

"There's no proof," Sonny shook his head. "Courtney would never try to hurt Elizabeth."

"Then why was a button from Miss Matthew's coat that Johnny O'Brien clearly remembers her wearing that day found in Miss Webber's hand after she was pulled from the water?" the Venezuelan asked with a smug lift of his brow as he leaned back and casually slung his arm over the back of his chair.

"Johnny gave you a button he pulled from Elizabeth's hand?" Jason asked, unable to stay out of the conversation any longer.

"Yes," Alcazar nodded. "See, he'd been growing dissatisfied with his current employment; his treatment, the behavior and attitude of his bosses, but he was still a loyal man and he resisted all attempts I'd made to gain inside information from him. But after pulling Miss Webber from the harbor and discovering the button in her hand, a button he'd seen on Miss Matthew's coat only an hour prior, he knew that she had been involved in the incident. He was concerned for Miss Webber's safety."

"If he was concerned about Elizabeth, why would he go to you?" Sonny scoffed.

"Because he was worried Mr. Morgan would cover up the fact that his mistress had attempted to kill Miss Webber."

Sonny missed the smirk on the arms dealer's face because he had turned to face Jason, enraged at the implication of the man's words. "Your mistress? You...you and Courtney...you've been...?"

"Yes," Alcazar confirmed. "Your enforcer and your sister have been carrying on a love affair behind your back. Or...perhaps he's just using her for cheap, rebound sex. Mr. O'Brien isn't entirely certain. He does know that Miss Webber and Mr. Morgan were dating, or at least living together, and then after your sudden return from beyond, she left. Mr. Morgan made a very half-hearted attempt at talking to her, ignored her…discarded her, really, and took up with your sister after marrying your ex-fiancée."

It was all totally false. Jason knew that Johnny's involvement with Alcazar did not begin after Elizabeth was pulled from the harbor, but for whatever reason, that was the way Alcazar was choosing to make it seem. He no doubt wanted to put a rift between Jason and Sonny. Based on the way Sonny was glaring at him, Jason was afraid it was working.

"Mr. O'Brien was concerned that Morgan would cover up the crime, or wouldn't stop Miss Matthews from coming back to finish the job. Concerned for the young woman he recalls guarding and who apparently sat with you, Mr. Corinthos, during some very painful and personal moments, he turned to me and asked me to help protect Miss Webber." He shrugged in an attempt to be casual, but every man knew it was cold and calculating. "I agreed; for a price. And now I'm extracting my payment. I want your territories Mr. Corinthos. You have until the end of this meeting to agree, otherwise I make a call and your sister and your wife will be arrested before you can even make it home."

He looked at the two men and asked, "What will it be, gentlemen? Will you save the women in your lives, or will your egos let them be sacrificed all so you can keep your power and your money?"

Alcazar clearly thought he was being generous by stepping out of the room and letting Jason and Sonny discuss the man's offer. The Venezuelan was smug, he was arrogant and he felt there was nothing for him to lose by giving the men a few moments to themselves. He no doubt expected them to acquiesce to his demands, so a little extra time didn't really matter in the long run.

"I can't believe you're sleeping with my sister," Sonny hissed the moment the door was closed. "How could you disrespect me like that?"

Jason clenched his jaw and stayed silent. His personal life wasn't Sonny's business, in spite of what the other man liked to believe.

"Jason?" the older man demanded.

"It's none of your business," he said tersely.

"Not my business? That's my sister!"

"When it was convenient for you," Jason shot back. "When she got away from A.J. and acted the way you wanted her to. Which meant acknowledging she was wrong about you and A.J. I...I didn't really..."

He trailed off and was silent. He had been about to say he hadn't really meant to sleep with Courtney. He certainly hadn't meant to keep sleeping with Courtney. But Carly had found out, she was excited, she was friends with her sister-in-law and there his friend was, telling him what a great thing this was. The four of them could hang out; be couples together. Sonny would come around in time, but for now they should keep it quiet. Especially when Jason was married to Brenda to try to keep her away from Luis Alcazar.

In the weeks since he'd discovered that Elizabeth was missing and Johnny seemed to be behind her disappearance, Jason hadn't been able to stop thinking about her. He especially hadn't been able to stop thinking about Audrey Hardy's accusations. Elizabeth had been heartbroken when she walked out of his penthouse? She had been hurt that things hadn't worked out. She had been in love with him?

He hadn't seen it. And there was a part of him that didn't believe it at first. Until he spent his evenings avoiding Courtney and listening to Mrs. Hardy's words replay in his mind. Then he began to think. Elizabeth had been hurt when he returned on the evening Sonny came back from the dead. He'd come home, tired and worried about explaining everything to her, only to find her too angry to listen to him. Now he could piece things together and realize that she'd had hours to stew on the information she'd heard on the news and wonder why he hadn't come home sooner. So she lashed out. Repeatedly at him.

He'd come to realize it was a defense mechanism of hers. He'd seen her lash out at other people; using anger to cover up her intense feelings of hurt. She didn't like to be emotionally vulnerable, would rather project an aura of bravado and diffidence instead of showing the person she was talking to just how much they'd wounded her. In his confusion, his hurt, his own pain, he hadn't seen hers. He'd been angry wondering why she wouldn't let him explain. After all, she'd listened to Spencer time and time again, taking the kid back when he didn't deserve her. Why would she just shut down on him completely?

Had she covered up her pain by anger and feigned indifference just like he'd covered up his pain by marrying Brenda to save Carly and Sonny and then getting involved with Courtney? He realized now, that had she not been Sonny's sister, he wouldn't have continued to be with her. It may not have been fair or right to say so, but he'd at least been honest with himself. Jason knew, though, that if he said that to Sonny, the other man would not react well at all.

"I shouldn't have gotten involved with her," he finally admitted. "It...it was too soon."

He didn't have to say after Elizabeth. By the way the older man's eyes flared, it was clear he understood all too well.

"I didn't want to seem like I was using her, so I tried...to make it more. But I never should have." It wasn't something he was particularly proud of, but he felt that honesty - softened ever-so-slightly - was better than pretending it was something it wasn't. "I've realized that now."

"You were totally unfair to my sister," Sonny accused.

"I know," he admitted.

"And now we're stuck," his boss sighed heavily. "Alcazar wants the territories or Carly and Courtney go to jail. Do...do you think he really has proof?"

Based on the way Johnny acted towards Jason at the hospital the night Elizabeth was pulled out of the water, the enforcer believed it. Courtney had turned on Elizabeth once she and Jason began a relationship, and he'd seen her deliberately try to hurt the woman who had befriended her when she first arrived in town. Undoubtedly fueled by Carly, the animosity and bitterness had developed and that was one reason Jason had kept his distance from the brunette. Trying to keep the pain at bay and convincing himself that Courtney was the right woman for him was another. While he couldn't imagine the scenario that led to the fight or Elizabeth going into the water, it wasn't surprising for him to imagine that Courtney was behind the artist's accident.

"I do," he admitted. "I think Courtney was responsible and she called Carly and the D.A. will no doubt do everything in his power to paint a conspiracy and try to send both of them to jail or even try to put us in jail."

"So we give Alcazar the territory?" Sonny asked, raising his brow.

"He...he has us trapped," Jason voiced out loud. "And with the Feds in town...I don't know how we'd beat this."

"Why would Courtney go after Elizabeth?" the older man mused. "It doesn't make sense."

"She was jealous of Elizabeth and my relationship with her. And Carly probably didn't help there."

"You think my sister actually tried to kill Elizabeth? Or was it just an accident?"

"I don't think it was premeditated," he hedged. "But during the fight..."

"You think that Courtney deliberately shoved Elizabeth into the water?" Sonny asked incredulously. "How do we know Elizabeth didn't rip the button of Courtney's coat, or just end up with it, and then decide to get revenge on the woman who she thinks stole you away from her? She could have jumped into the harbor on her own and figured she'd either get rescued and blame it on Courtney or kill herself and bring suspicion upon my sister after she was dead. How could Courtney refute it if Elizabeth is dead?"

"Because Courtney called Carly while she was on the docks," Jason said. Sonny was once again getting irrational and looking for any excuse, anything he could spin to make it possible that it wasn't his sister's fault. "I...I know Courtney's your sister, but you remember what she was like when she first came to town. You know who her mother is. She...she may not be who we thought she was."

"You think my sister tried to kill Elizabeth," the mob boss spat out angrily. "You're sleeping with her, disrespecting her by making her your mistress, and you think that she would really try to kill Elizabeth Webber of all people? Why?"

"Because she knew, no matter what I said, that I would always care about Elizabeth. That we would always be connected because we were friends for years. She was...she was insecure about it. She had tried to hurt Elizabeth emotionally before..." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "What's to stop Courtney from trying to hurt her physically?"

"You're wrong," Sonny vehemently declared. "You're wrong. You...you just want Elizabeth back and you're ready to toss my sister into jail to make that possible. I won't do it. I won't let her or Carly be hurt. There has to be some way to keep them out of jail but keep our territories."

With a sad shake of his head, Jason said, "There isn't, Sonny. The Feds are crawling all over town. Alcazar's connected to the government, and not just ours, and...and if we don't agree, he'll turn Courtney and Carly in. He wants an answer now. He probably has people watching them. If we try to get them out of the country, he'd stop them, and turn them in whether we agree or not."

"So we give it all up, and you'll still want Elizabeth?" the older man sneered unattractively. "Fine, I know what to do. I'll protect my wife and sister, but don't think I'm making you part of the bargain. If you could really believe Carly and Courtney are capable of this, then you must be a turncoat like Johnny. Maybe Alcazar will cut a deal with you…or maybe you'll be the scapegoat. Either way...we're done."

"We have to go."

Through the haze of the drugs that she'd been on since she woke up, Elizabeth looked at Johnny O'Brien and frowned. She could never figure out why the guard was here, why she never saw any doctors or nurses she recognized from General Hospital or why her grandmother never came to visit her.

"Go?" she slurred. "Where are we going? I thought you said the doctors said I couldn't leave."

"Elizabeth," the guard said, his voice and demeanor very serious as he bent at the knees to look her in the eyes. "We have to go. Now. You're in danger if we don't leave right away."

"In danger?" she frowned. "From who? From..."

She trailed off, confusion forcing the memory away that teased the corner of her mind. Something had happened to her, but she couldn't remember what. All she remembered was waking up one day to a doctor telling her she was lucky to be alive. Her hands were wrapped in bandages and the few times she'd been awake for the dressing to be changed, her fingers had been stiff and sore and the doctor had been concerned. But he was doing all he could to make sure she regained use of her hands again; that she didn't lose any fingers like she'd lost several of her toes.

Johnny, apparently, had been insistent that the doctors amputate only as a last resort.

"Come on, Elizabeth," Johnny insisted as he pulled her up to sit and put her slippers on her feet before pulling the IV out of her arm. Wrapping his arm around her waist he pulled her to her feet and then supported her weight as her atrophied and weak legs wouldn't support her.

Once the door was open, he picked her up in his arms and stepped out into the hallway. As her head lulled against his shoulder she frowned, "This isn't General Hospital."

"No," the guard confirmed. "You're not at General Hospital."

"Mercy?" she asked.

"Elizabeth, I can't explain everything right now," the man sighed. "You're not in New York; you're not even in the United States. And we have to leave right now because when Luis Alcazar gets back, he'll decide he has no further use for you."

"Alcazar?" The name floated around in her brain as Johnny hurried down concrete stairs and out into a loading dock. "He...he was in Port Charles. He...he was after Sonny and Jason."

"He was," Johnny agreed. "And he...he got them."

"No," she shook her head lazily against the leather seat back. "Jason and Sonny don't get caught. They always win."

"Not this time, Elizabeth," he answered, sounding almost regretful. "Alcazar got what he wanted. Sonny gave up the business and is leaving town. And Jason..."

Memories lanced through her, not stopped by the pain medication she'd been given to keep her from restlessly moving her hands as they healed, and she turned her head away from Johnny's voice. "I don't want to know about Jason."

The guard sighed as he pulled the car away from the building. "Jason's in trouble, Elizabeth. Sonny turned on him and I don't know what Alcazar will do. I have to get you somewhere safe and then...then I need to try to help Jason. I didn't think he'd fight Sonny, I didn't think he'd do what he did...and now...now I feel like I owe to him to keep him alive."

A terrible storm beat against the house and Elizabeth shivered as she pulled her thick sweater tighter around her. She had been alone in the house that Johnny had brought her to for two days, and she was unsettled and on edge. The guard hadn't made much sense as they were traveling, but she was still feeling the effects of her medication and looking back now, with the unfortunate overanalyzing that comes from solitude, she began to doubt that she'd really understood him correctly. Johnny had talked about problems in Port Charles, that Jason and Sonny had turned on each other and Johnny now felt he needed to protect the enforcer from injury or death that would certainly come due to Alcazar's machinations or Sonny's wrath.

None of that made any sense to Elizabeth; Jason and Sonny were as thick as thieves. After all, Jason was now dating his boss' sister; Jason had lied to Elizabeth about Sonny being alive and they'd broken up over the bottom rung role she played in his life. Why would Sonny and Jason now be against each other?

Nor did it make any sense that Johnny had apparently turned against Jason and Sonny by working with Luis Alcazar. And now he was going to go against that man to go back and help Jason. Was he a double turncoat? A plant in Alcazar's organization? What exactly was going on, and why had she even been brought anywhere by Johnny in the first place and why was he now shielding her from the man he'd told her was going to protect her from Jason and Sonny?

Sitting on the cough, curled up in the corner with her knees tucked against the side, she sighed and rubbed at her temples. As the storm raged outside, one raged inside her head as well. The overwhelming urge to flee clawed at her. She wanted to run, to escape, to be anywhere but here. Because it wasn't just the storm that bothered her; the proximity of the house to the ocean unnerved her greatly and she was well on her way to having a full-blown panic attack. After thinking she was going to die in the Port Charles Harbor, the last place she wanted to be right now was anywhere near water.

A flash of light blazed through the sky, flooding the room with a brilliancy that blinded her just as a thundering boom was accompanied by the room plunging into darkness. Elizabeth's fingers were dug into the fabric of the sofa as terror gripped her heart. She had no idea how long she sat there, too terrified to move but cursing the fact that she wasn't up and doing something. As fear and self-preservation warred inside her, she heard sounds outside that seemed to be drawing closer.

Stumbling to her feet, she groped blindly in the dark until her fingers brushed against the tools located near the fireplace. She curled her trembling fingers around the cool metal and slowly lifted something from the holder. If someone was going to come after her, if Alcazar had tracked her down and was planning to take her back because Johnny was gone, she was not going to go without a fight. She hadn't forgotten that the reason she'd spent terrifying days in a crypt was because of him.

A faint hum could be heard outside and she heard the click of metal on the locks. The door opened just as the lights came back to life and Elizabeth was poised to strike out at whoever was coming inside. Thankfully the person had greater presence of mind than she did, and Johnny caught the metal poker and prevented her from hitting him.

"Elizabeth, Elizabeth," he said urgently in an attempt to calm her. "It's okay, it's me."

"Johnny," she cried out, letting go of her makeshift weapon and flying into his arms. She clung to him, disregarding the damp clothes sticking to the both of them now and making her shiver as they stood in the open door.

"It's alright," he insisted as he led her back into the room. "It's me. I saw that the lights were out when we arrived and I got the generator going. Are you okay?"

She nodded her head, trying to insist she was, despite the fact that she was trembling where she stood.

"No, you're not okay," he shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth. I caught the weather report on the way back; it's been storming since I left, hasn't it?"

A quick jerk of her head up and down answered his question.

"How long have you been sitting in the dark?"

She shrugged, her heart rate slowing as he continued to talk to her. He didn't seem to care that he was soaked to the skin; all he wanted to do was calm her and assure her that she was okay. Finally, she forced herself to unclench her fingers from his overcoat and she let out a breath. Looking away from Johnny's intense, searching gaze, she came face to face with Jason's worried countenance.

"Ja-Jason," she said in soft surprise as she stiffened and stepped back from Johnny. She felt like she'd been caught doing something wrong, and then immediately was angry at herself for feeling that way.

He was married to someone else and had a mistress. Jason certainly hadn't wasted any time in getting involved with another person while she had languished nursing hurt and a broken heart. So why should she feel guilty for hugging Johnny and feeling safe with him? It wasn't like she had done anything wrong, it wasn't like she had lied to Jason, and it wasn't like she had promised she wanted to try and then completely avoided him. She had absolutely nothing to feel guilty about here; especially considering the reason, and the person, that had caused her to be here.

Pulling away from Johnny and wrapping her arms around her, clutching her sweater tightly she said, "I see you found him."

"Elizabeth," Johnny began.

"I'm surprised he even came with you," she said venomously. "I mean, that meant going against Sonny's wishes and orders and walking away from his side."

Jason's jaw clenched slightly and his eyes hardened just a fraction. "Elizabeth...I know you're upset with Sonny."

"Jason, you have no idea what I'm feeling right now," she spat at him with an angry shake of her head. "But I can tell you. And I can show you."

"Elizabeth," Johnny said softly, taking a step towards her, but she stepped away and the guard wisely stopped.

"I can barely feel my fingers," she hissed at Jason, holding up a hand and wiggling it. "See, after your girlfriend shoved me into the harbor and I regained consciousness after momentarily blacking out because she hit me in the jaw, the cold had already started to steal my energy. I didn't have the strength to swim back; I couldn't fight against the current that was buffeting me about. My fingers might have been covered with gloves, but that wasn't much protection against the hypothermia and frostbite that set in."

Jason remained silent and swallowed so roughly she could actually hear it from where she stood.

"Johnny apparently fought with the doctor when he wanted to amputate a couple of my fingers," she continued and she saw the enforcer blink in shock at the news. "He fought to keep them so that I might be able to still be an artist. But they're stiff and they're sore and I was just starting physical therapy before he suddenly swooped in and pulled me out of the hospital. I may never paint again, Jason. I feel that.

"But you know what I don't feel?" she questioned and leaned against the arm of the chair next to her to pull off her slippers. Her socks followed. "What I don't feel are the toes that I lost."

She displayed her feet; first one, then the other. "I don't even feel phantom toes. But I do feel when I stumble because I'm still relearning my balance. I feel the extra room in my shoes. I feel the shame and the humiliation knowing that I will never wear a pair of sandals again, that I won't want people to see my feet. And do you know why I feel all that?"

His voice was thick and husky when he said, "Cour...Courtney."

"That's right," she answered, trembling with hurt, humiliation and rage. "Your girlfriend did this to me, Jason."

"I...I'm-"

"Don't you dare say you're sorry," she shook her head roughly. "I don't want your pity. I am so sick and tired of people only paying attention to me when it's convenient. But more than that, I hate when someone pities me or thinks I'm their obligation. You proved that I was nothing more than the girl you saved and gave a few rides on your bike to and then hated when your life touched me. I don't want you to tell me you're sorry and that you feel bad that I got hurt. Because it's all empty with you, Jason. When you actually do say words, they're cryptic, they're hard to understand and most of the time your actions never back them up."

She swallowed, and latched onto her anger to keep the tears repressed that were threatening to fall. "But I did hear you say something and I finally understood. I followed you back to Courtney's place...the place you got her so you could meet in secret. She asked if you ever loved me and you said no. I heard that, Jason, and I got the message loud and clear. I may have saved your life, you may have kissed me and if I hadn't stopped us, we would have slept together, and you told me there were no words for what you felt for me and I should know what I meant to you...but apparently that didn't mean love."

The last word wavered and she paused and took a breath. "I guess I really did make you up in my mind. I thought out of everyone in my life you were different, but you weren't. You were no different than Lucky or my family or even Johnny here. People only want me around, they only use me when it's convenient to them, and as soon as I've outlived my usefulness then they toss me away. I realize now that I did make up our relationship in my head just like Courtney said I had. Because I made you up."

Jason shook his head, his eyes moist, "Elizabeth...no. That's not-"

"You never loved me," she with a nod of her head. "And maybe seeing you face to face and realizing that will help me let go of my love for you. It will help me put you in my past. Where you belong."

She firmed her shoulders, refusing to let him know any more than she already had how much he'd hurt her. "You and Johnny can do whatever you need to do and figure out whatever it is you need to figure out. Evade Luis, go after Sonny...I frankly don't care any more. Because I'm done with Port Charles and I'm done with the people there; I'm going to turn my back on them as easily as they turned their backs on me."

Looking Jason square in the eye, she went for the parting shot which would hopefully ensure he stayed away from her for however long they were forced to be together. "But know this, Jason. No matter what happens from here forward, you will always remind me of Courtney. The woman you got involved with after you lied to me by claiming it was too dangerous to be with me instead of having the guts to tell me you just didn't want to be with me; the woman who tried to kill me so that I would be out of her life, and yours; and the woman who is responsible for the loss of my toes and the reason I may never paint again. You will always remind me of her, and I will never look at you without seeing her on the docks, laughing after she'd pushed me into the water."

Jason stood stock still, watching Elizabeth storm away from him, and for just a moment, his hurt wanted to turn into anger. Anger that she hadn't let him speak, anger that she'd just dismissed him, anger that she apparently believed he would join forces with Sonny in protecting the woman who had tried to kill her and turn his back on her. But he forced himself to stop, to remember and to not just immediately want to lash out or flee from the situation. He had done that the night Elizabeth walked out of his penthouse; shutting down, giving up and then moving on into a mistake that he now realized had only hurt her deeply and further eroded her trust in him.

He would not do that now.

He knew, despite the fact that it was painful, that Elizabeth lashed out when she was hurt. She may not do it intentionally to hurt others, but her defenses insisted that she protect herself with anger instead of showing the other person how deeply she'd been wounded. And this time, her wounds went deep. Courtney, a woman he'd slept with barely a month after Elizabeth had left his penthouse, had pushed her into the harbor. Fighting with Elizabeth about him it sounded like, and deliberately trying to hurt the artist. Maybe it hadn't been premeditated, but to hear that she'd laughed after Elizabeth had ended up in the water, that she had attacked the brunette...it made Jason's stomach churn with bile.

And then there were Elizabeth's extremities. Her fingers still had damage and it was uncertain if she'd ever be able to bend them enough, to hold them with enough finesse to paint again. She'd lost toes; she was forever going to be scarred by the woman she thought he chose over her. It hurt him and it killed a piece of his soul, but it also made him angry. Not at Elizabeth, but at himself. And definitely at Courtney. If she and Carly ended up in jail, he wasn't too sure that he really cared at this point. To think that they'd been going around without a care about Elizabeth, even after hearing Jason and Sonny talking about her, made him filled with loathing and disgust.

"Well," Johnny said awkwardly.

"She's angry," Jason shook his head, not looking at the other man. He had a lot of anger towards the former guard and right now, it was better to not look at him. "She lashes out when she's angry; goes for the most hurt whether it's intentional or not. I deserved a lot of that."

"Yeah," Johnny answered, a bit of surprise in his voice. "You did. You do."

Jason looked over at the other man sharply and said, "That's your one free pass, O'Brien. You went to work for Lorenzo and just because you pulled Elizabeth out of the water and just because you tracked me down, does not give you the right to start attacking me as well."

His former employee held up his hands away from his side and nodded. "Alright; fair enough. But what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to give her some space and let her cool down. She does this; she gets angry, she lashes out, then in a couple of days she starts to regret what she said and she might be willing to talk."

He had only approached her once after she walked out of his penthouse, and when she continued to be angry with him and walk away, he'd shut down and hadn't tried again. He turned his back on her, married Brenda, got involved with Courtney, and had apparently in the process hurt Elizabeth even more than when he'd kept the truth about Sonny's death from her. Then he approached her once at Luke's club, but when she still was defensive, he'd gotten angry and was more determined than ever that she was wrong, and he was right and he would make things work with Courtney. He realized now that she'd been trying to protect her heart, but had also been hopeful. Asking if that meant he wanted to get back together with her and when he'd apparently said the wrong thing, she once again went on the attack. If he had said he wanted her back, would she have agreed?

"But," he continued on to Johnny, "I'm not giving up. Not until I see that she truly does mean it; that she can't look at me without seeing Courtney. If I realize that it's not just anger and hurt fueling those words, but it's actual truth and I'm continuing to wound her with my presence, then I'll have to do something else. But for now...I'm not giving up."

For the first couple of days, Elizabeth's anger burned hot. She avoided Jason when absolutely possible, and when it wasn't, she did not speak to him. He was polite, would speak to her - like asking her to pass a dish at dinner, or asking if she was done in the bathroom before he went in to take his shower - but he didn't overwhelm her. He tried to give her space, but not so much that it would be easy enough to completely ignore him. In that regard he was aided by the small house Johnny had secured before coming to look for him. They each had their own bedroom, but there was only one common area that was right off the kitchen and so unless she spent the entire time in her bedroom, it wasn't easy to avoid him. And Elizabeth was too much of a social creature and the bedrooms were too dark and small for her to spend all her time hiding out there.

Jason wasn't sure if his strategy was going to work, but it was what he was prepared to try now. He didn't want to be seen as too calculating or overbearing, because then it would seem like he was dismissing her legitimate claims. He also didn't try to talk to her to explain his side because he knew that as long as her feelings were wounded and hurt, her hackles would be raised he if he tried to approach her. He wanted to apologize to her for hurting her, and he wanted to express his sympathy for all that had happened to her, but he could read her body language. Right now, she was too angry, too hurt, too ready to continue to fight for any real conversation and progress to be made.

So he needed to bide his time and wait, and hope that sooner, rather than later, Elizabeth's ire faded. No progress could be made until it did, but he would not force her. He understood that too many people had used her, too many people had hurt her, and too many people had expected her to conform to their whims and expectations and if he ever had a hope of changing things with her, he could not become one of those people. Any more than she already considered him one.

It simply was going to take time, and that was something he was fearful they would not have. When Sonny had turned on him, angry over the betrayal he perceived because Jason did not immediately want to sacrifice Elizabeth to Alcazar's demands, he knew that things would forever be changed between them. Sonny had ranted and raved and threatened him, despite the fact that both men knew the Cuban had grown soft in his time as mob boss and Jason was the man who carried out the threats and executions. Sonny had not wielded a gun well in years and while he could at times fire to defend himself when there was no one around, years of inactivity and neglect of practice left Sonny's shots wild and unfocused. Both men that knew in a fight where only one would walk away, it would be Jason. He would not miss his mark, and he would defend himself even in the fact of a so-called friend holding the gun on him.

Sonny had seen the writing on the wall and accepted Alcazar's demands. He ceded the territory and packed up his wife and his sister to escape to the island. He had pleaded for a few men, but then had barely batted an eyelash when Alcazar had killed the remaining guards and workers in the organization. Once he had secured his own life, Sonny gave little thought to the men who had served him loyally and faithfully through the years. He'd also made one request of Alcazar, though; kill Jason Morgan.

It was a request the Venezuelan had been happy to accept and had decided to fulfill with swiftness. Both men seemed to understand that Jason would not sit back and let the organization be handed over and then run by a man who didn't have the same code of ethics. Drugs would flood the city, ruthlessness would abound, and Luis Alcazar wanted his power and didn't want Jason to come back and try to avenge the take-over. Sonny feared that Jason would soon decide to make him pay for the cold and callous way his mentor, boss and former friend had cast him aside. Both men were correct in worrying.

Jason had fled, hiding out and making his way out of town, and slowly out of the country to a place he felt he could hide safely. Once there, he was planning to search for Elizabeth, fearing that Alcazar would decide he had no further use for her and not wanting to let her be a casualty in this mad quest for power any more than she already had become. And once he had found her, then he planned to figure out how to take care of Sonny and Alcazar. He had only briefly weighed the options and merits of going after Sonny first and then taking out Alcazar or the reverse. If he took out Alcazar, Sonny would swoop back in to take power, but would still want Jason dead. And if he took out Sonny first, Alcazar would be on his guard and would entrench in Port Charles firmly and Jason feared it would be difficult to dislodge him.

But Jason also knew that the longer they stayed in one place, that the chances were greater of them being discovered. Alcazar would undoubtedly be upset at Johnny's betrayal. Would it be great enough to cause the South American arms dealer to come after Johnny and Elizabeth? How much danger was Jason putting them in by being here since he had a bounty on his head?

"What are you thinking?"

A quiet voice broke through his early morning ruminations and Jason turned his head slightly to regard Johnny. While Jason knew that the other man had pulled Elizabeth from the harbor and gotten her to safety, he also knew that Johnny had handed her over to Alcazar. The Latino had kept her in a medical induced coma when there had been no need for it, other than it was easier to keep her subdued and powerless. He had also used the artist for his own games and hadn't truly cared about her medical issues. While Johnny had fought for her, he wouldn't have had to do that in the first place if he hadn't taken her out of General Hospital and decided to use her as a pawn to get back at Jason and Sonny.

The two men were uneasy around each other, but at least they had been willing to talk. Jason had vented his anger towards Johnny for the neglect in Elizabeth's care and blamed him for the fact that Elizabeth may never paint again, not to mention giving Alcazar the inside information to take over Port Charles. Then he'd sat there and listened while Johnny charged right back with accusations of becoming too cold, too indifferent, too dismissive like Sonny and while he didn't agree with all of it, he did acknowledge the man's complaints as being the reason he'd been willing to work with Alcazar in the first place. The fact that Jason hadn't gone along with Sonny and Johnny hadn't left Elizabeth defenseless had helped soften them towards the other person slightly.

"I'm worried," he admitted. "Worried that Alcazar is looking for me and that by staying here I could be putting you and Elizabeth in jeopardy."

"He wants you dead."

"Who?" Jason raised a brow.

"Take your pick," Johnny admitted with a tilt of his head. "But we know it's Alcazar who's going to come looking for you. Sonny's going to be too busy taking care of Carly and Courtney and trying to adjust to life on the island. He's going to have to deal with the fact that Alcazar won't let him leave there, that he's lost his power, and that even though he'll run the casino and maybe a few small operations on the island, Alcazar wants a cut of the profits and will do whatever it takes to get them. He'll be a figurehead now, a has-been. Even though he's really been that for years and you've been the one keeping things together, there will be no more denying it now. But he's not going to come looking for you."

The other man paused and then said, "That's why he asked Alcazar to kill you. He's afraid of you, Jason. He's afraid that you're going to come back to kill him. He's afraid that you have the loyalty and code of ethics that he does, and that you would turn on him and try to kill him as easily as he was willing to turn on you and order a hit."

Jason looked away, realizing that the assessment of Sonny was correct. Where he once had believed Sonny was honorable and moral as a person, despite his profession, he had come to realize that lately, Sonny was as corrupt, morally bankrupt and willing to turn on anyone as the men they had fought against.

"I'll be honest," Johnny continued. "I thought you were like him. But the fact that you wouldn't protect Courtney and Carly simply to save yourself, that you weren't willing to just cast aside Elizabeth and not care what happened to her, and that you flat out told Sonny you made a mistake by getting involved with Courtney...I realized that maybe Jason Morgan really did still have his honor.

"So it's not Sonny you need to worry about. He's too lazy to come after you. He's too afraid. That's why he asked Luis to kill you," the guard said. "Alcazar wants you dead because he knows you're the bigger threat. Even if you'd gone along with Sonny and gone down to the island, he probably would have tried to kill you in an accident because without you around, Sonny would be less likely to try to push back at some point. Now that you and Sonny split, he was only too happy to fulfill Sonny's request. Because Luis Alcazar knows that you were the real power behind the Corinthos Organization and you were the person who kept things together and carried out the orders and half the time, you were the person making the orders. You don't want the power, so you never challenged Sonny for it, that's why you got yourself into trouble because you wouldn't challenge him even on the things you wanted to. Like telling Elizabeth the truth, or fighting for things that were important to you."

Johnny turned to look at Jason and raised a challenging eyebrow. "Alcazar knows that if you wanted to, you could come back and take over Port Charles. You've broken from Sonny now and it's doubtful you'd just hand the reins back over to him, and if you did, you certainly wouldn't work for him. Alcazar's afraid that you'll eliminate him and take Port Charles for yourself, and that's why he wants to kill you."

The other man paused for a moment, looked away briefly and then said in a slow, deliberate manner, "So maybe you should think about doing what Alcazar fears you'll do. Go back and take over Port Charles. Eliminate him before he causes too much trouble for too many people there, people that you know and care about, and then when Sonny comes and tries to take back the business...don't let him. Maybe it's time for you to step up and actually run Port Charles, Jason."

Elizabeth leaned against the wall and pressed her fist over her mouth. She hadn't really meant to eavesdrop on Jason and Johnny's conversation, but once she heard them talking she hadn't been able to move away. Listening to them in their real, unguarded moment she finally saw the truth of Jason's situation.

It wasn't just pity or some warped, protective obligation - or even her grandmother's threats that Johnny had told her about - that made Jason show up. He seemed to be himself again, the man she'd first gotten to know, the man who had stood up to Sonny and Carly back in December. Without even saying much, he exuded a strength, a commanding presence that cut through her anger despite all her desire and attempts to hold onto it. He was quiet and contemplative, but she'd caught him staring at her more than once in a manner that accelerated her heart rate and made her remember those times together when she'd nearly forgotten her ridiculous claims to Lucky and had almost given into the desire she'd been frightened of and had tried to bury in her heart.

But listening to Johnny now, talking to him about all that had changed in Port Charles, to hear Jason say that his time with Courtney was a mistake...it shook Elizabeth.

He hadn't chosen to stand by the woman who had fought with her, who had yelled at her and derided her and tried to belittle her relationship with Jason. He hadn't chosen power and prestige over truth and decency. And for that, Sonny turned on him. Asked someone else to kill him. Turned his back on the man he always called family and the brother he'd never had, and had proven to be the selfish person Elizabeth had sadly seen emerging more and more. The man who talked with her about missing Jason, who visited her and watched over her, the man she sat beside when Carly lost the baby...that man was gone. In his place was someone who asked Luis Alcazar to kill Jason.

Her head was reeling as she tried to fully understand it, and her heart raced with fear for him. Fear that Alcazar would hunt him down and if that didn't work, that Sonny himself might come for Jason. She didn't want him to die. Despite the anger and hurt she still felt, she could never wish for Jason to die. She knew his work was dangerous, and it had scared her when he'd gone out to do something, or she'd found him hurt; she worried for him even when she tried to not burden him with it. But she couldn't imagine how she would feel if he were dead. Just the mere thought of it left her feeling bereft and adrift on a tumultuous sea.

That fear was compounded by the thought of Jason becoming the man in charge. He wouldn't just be taking orders; he would be in charge of things. He would have an even bigger target on his back now. People would try to blow up his cars and his house and shoot at him like they had tried with Sonny and it frightened Elizabeth. Made her want to run out there and tell him that he'd be absolutely crazy to go back to Port Charles. Let Sonny fight for the city if he wanted, Jason owed him nothing. It wasn't up to him to protect Sonny's precious territory.

However, Elizabeth knew that wasn't the only reason he would consider it. Power had never mattered to him. It was the people around him that he cared about. And Jason still had family back in Port Charles. Even if Emily was out of the state, it was common knowledge that she and Lila were the people Jason cared about the most. And although he might not care about the rest of the Quartermaines as much, Elizabeth knew enough about Jason to know that he wouldn't want something to happen to them because of one of his enemies. He wouldn't want them hurt as a way to get to him or send a message.

"I don't know," Jason's voice drifted down the hallway to her hiding spot. "I have enough money; I don't need to fight Alcazar."

"It's not the money and we both know that," Johnny countered. "It's the people in Port Charles. Your family, others. You and Sonny have done your best to keep drugs out of the city, and while you can't stop them all, you don't run them. Do you really think Alcazar will care? Kids will be getting their hands on drugs, on guns, and you know what happens then. Violence will go up, families will be torn apart, lives will be lost. Young lives. Can you live with that?"

There was a long pause and then Jason said, "It'll be a bloodbath cleaning Alcazar's men out of the city. Sonny turned everything over to him. How am I supposed to get back there and get close enough to take him out when he's trying to kill me?"

Then he asked, "And what about you? What about Elizabeth?"

"I can take care of Elizabeth," Johnny assured him.

"And I'm supposed to just trust you with her?" Jason shot back. "You turned her over to Alcazar. You were angry at me and Sonny and you were working for him, and you thought, after finding Courtney's button in Elizabeth's hand, that she would make a great bargaining chip. And that's exactly what happened, Johnny. Alcazar threatened to produce Elizabeth, turn over the button, and then promised that Carly and Courtney would go to jail."

There was a scraping sound, sharp as something forcefully slid across something else, and then a crash and the unmistakable sound of items breaking on the floor.

Jason's voice was loud with anger as he continued, "You took her out of the hospital, you took her to a place where she was kept in a medically induced coma all because Alcazar wanted to keep her under control. How do we know that didn't do something to Elizabeth? That she's not going to suffer long-term damages from that? What if that contributed to the problems she still has with her hands? She's an artist, Johnny! I can't always make out what she's done, but when she tells it to me, I see it. And she has talent."

Elizabeth covered her mouth, not this time to stifle a gasp of horror, but to keep her tears silent. The emotion in his voice was so raw, so powerful that it flew at her. It pierced her, working its way through the defenses she'd tried to keep erected.

"I know that Courtney shoved her in the water, and she's to blame for the hypothermia and the reason Elizabeth lost some toes. And I know..." Jason paused and his voice was thick and tight as he said, "And I know that I'm also responsible for that, because I wasn't completely true to Courtney and she sensed that, and she knew that I still cared about Elizabeth no matter what I said or claimed. I'm the reason Courtney went after Elizabeth and she's justified to hate me for it.

"But despite you telling the doctor to try to save her fingers," Jason continued, his voice slightly softer, slightly calmer...sadder. "Despite you doing that, Johnny, Elizabeth wasn't able to participate in her recovery. Because she was kept unnecessarily drugged so she'd be docile, easier to control, and you are responsible for that because you turned her over to Alcazar."

"I know, Jason," the other man agreed sadly. "I know."

"And you might have gotten her out of there and you found a safe place for her when you were afraid Alcazar would kill her because he didn't have a need for her anymore, but that doesn't completely erase what you did. That she was there in the first place because you handed her over on a silver platter." Jason let out a breath, "So despite knowing all that, I'm still reluctant to walk off and trust you with her."

"And why should I trust you to not turn your back on her again?" Johnny countered, his voice becoming sharper. "Sure you're sticking around and you're trying to give her space, but you're also staying where she can see you and you say you're determined this time, and you're not going to toss her aside again, but how do I really know?"

"Because I do say," Jason said on a growl.

"Then I guess if I'm supposed to trust you, then you're just going to have to trust me," Johnny stated.

"I don't know why we're even arguing about this," Jason huffed out. "I haven't said I'm going back to Port Charles."

"Why not?" the guard asked. "Alcazar will terrorize that town."

"And who's fault is that?" he demanded. "You gave him Elizabeth as leverage to take down Sonny because you didn't like the way he was acting. If I hadn't broken from Sonny, if I hadn't looked for Elizabeth but instead stuck by Courtney's side, if I'd proved you right, would you have cared? Would you really have cared what terror Alcazar did to Port Charles? Or would you have been by his side helping him out so long as it meant getting one over on Sonny? Heck of a time to get a conscience now, Johnny."

"Alright," the other man conceded. "I was wrong. And I'm partly responsible for Alcazar being in power. And I realize now that I made a deal with the devil. You and I know what he'll do to Port Charles."

"Yeah," Jason agreed. "But how are we supposed to go after him? Someone has to protect Elizabeth; he could still try to come after her as a way to get at me and she's suffered enough under his hands. I will not leave her open and vulnerable to be hurt again because of me. I won't do it. So if one of us is guarding Elizabeth, then who do we send on a suicide mission to Port Charles? Because one man, going back there, going against all Alcazar's men..."

"It's as good as sending him to his grave," Johnny said heavily.

Elizabeth licked her lips and then stepped out of the hallway, "Then the two of you go together so you can watch the other person's back."

"Elizabeth," Jason breathed out, his head jerking up to gaze at her. Then he immediately shook it. "No. I'm not leaving you unprotected."

"So you're going to let Port Charles be overrun?" she asked him. "Your grandmother lives there, and so does mine. What if Alcazar decides to go after Emily, or your parents? How would that hurt you, how would that hurt Lila? Alcazar doesn't care about anybody. I've experienced his hospitality twice, I was shot at in a hospital, he kidnapped Georgie and Maxie Jones; he won't care about your grandmother or your sister sitting in a rehab hospital."

She looked at him intently and said, "You need to get rid of him. He'll ruin Port Charles, he'll hurt the people we all care about and Sonny won't stop him. There is only one person who can do that. You need to go back to Port Charles and you need to take Johnny with you."

Her voice wavered and she fought to keep it from cracking, "Because you need to stay safe. You...you can't die, Jason. You...you have to stay alive to stop him."

"I have to keep you safe, Elizabeth," he told her intently, the depth of his gaze, the openness of it - containing everything she had tried to deny - pierced her and she tried to look away but was unable.

"I'm just one person," she protested.

"You're the only one who matters right now," he countered.

She believed him, and it absolutely terrified her. He wasn't saying it because he thought that's what she wanted, or what he should say. He was saying it because at this moment he absolutely meant it. There was no other person more important than her at this moment. To know that, to feel it to her core, it scared her because it made it harder to keep her distance from him. It made it harder to feel his betrayal from months ago. It made her feel selfish and petulant to not give him a chance to speak when she had blasted him so angrily. She was the one dictating everything and he was going along with it, but also trying to change her mind. She knew it, and she'd fought against it, but it was harder to deny it any longer. Especially in this moment.

"I can't be," she shook her head at him. "I can't be more important than your family, or even the people in Port Charles."

He looked pained, "Elizabeth. I...I am not going to leave you unprotected."

"We could call Francis," Johnny suggested softly from the corner. "I know he left the organization; he's not down on the island. He could watch Elizabeth and keep her from being taken again by Alcazar."

"Then he's another person who could go with you to keep you safe."

Jason shot her a look so pointed that she snapped her mouth shut and backed down. "I'll take Johnny, but I am not leaving you unprotected, Elizabeth. Don't ask it of me."

"Okay," she nodded.

His shoulders softened with relief and then his face became pensive. "Are-are you okay with this? Me going back and-and taking over?"

She licked her lips and said, "I-I don't know, Jason. I...I can't think about you running everything right now. The only thing I know is that Alcazar will try to kill you, and he'll keep trying. And I-I don't want you to die, Jason. So if that means you need to do this to protect yourself, then that's what you need to do."

She shrugged, feeling like she wasn't giving him what he needed, but she knew he wanted her to be honest more than anything. "As for everything else, and what this means regarding Sonny...I don't know. Maybe...maybe we'll just have to deal with it when it comes."

His lips moved slightly, almost imperceptivity forming the word we and his head nodded just the smallest bit. "Okay," he agreed. "Then we need to contact Francis because I'm not leaving until I know you're safe."

"Are you okay with this?"

Elizabeth looked away, trying to avoid his gaze, but for the first time since he'd arrived here at this seaside house, Jason didn't back off when he sensed she was truly uncomfortable. Johnny had left to retrieve Francis from the airport and Jason felt that he needed to take advantage of the time he had with her.

"Jason," she tried to hedge. "It's not up to me."

"It's important to me to know," he persisted.

She turned to pierce him with her deep blue eyes and asked, "Why?"

"Because I need to know," he pressed. "If...if you don't like the idea of me taking over Port Charles, then I won't. I'll make sure Alcazar's taken care of and then I'll make a deal with the Five Families. I'll split the territory with them and I'll leave town."

Her eyes widened at his response. "You...you'd leave the mob?"

"You can never really leave," he shook his head sadly. "But I'd leave. I'd make arrangements with the Families, go under their protection for the assurance that I'll never try to take Port Charles back."

"Jason," she shook her head, her tone conveying her overwhelmed emotions.

"I know that you're angry with me right now," he told her. "And I understand. I...I didn't treat the way I should have. I told you that you were my friend, that you meant more to me than just friendship and I didn't treat you that way. And I hurt you by getting involved with Courtney and never stepping up to stop her or Carly's attacks on you.

"I-I was hiding," he admitted. "I was hurt and I was upset over what you'd said and I told myself that you were wrong and I got involved with Courtney to try to prove that. She...she was a mistake but by then I was caught in this web where I felt that I couldn't disrespect Sonny by making his sister a one-night stand and I let things get away from me. I...I put Sonny before everything; just like you accused me of."

She shook her head, her eyes large and brimming with hurt, "Jason, I am...I am so sorry I said those things to you. I felt foolish and I was hurt and I wanted to hurt you. Just like I wanted to hurt you when you came down here; that's why I lashed out."

"I know," he agreed softly. "I realized that lashing out is a defense mechanism for you and then you regret it. If I hadn't given up so easily, maybe we wouldn't have been so angry at each other for so long."

"Maybe," she agreed. "But you taught me that you can't look back like that."

"And I learned from you that sometimes you can't just walk away and never think about something."

Reaching out slowly, fearful of her rejection, he took her hand lightly in his. "That's why I need to know if you're okay with this."

Once more she looked away from him, but she didn't withdraw her hand. "Why is it so important to you?"

"Because you're important," he told her. "I-I care about you, Elizabeth, and I don't expect it to be immediate, but I'm not giving up this time. I want you in my life."

He'd pushed her and he'd spooked her and she pulled her hand from his and crossed her arms over her middle. But he had to keep going.

"And if me taking over Port Charles keeps you from being a part of my life," he shook his head, "then I won't do it."

"You can't-you can't put that on me," she protested strongly with a shake of her head. "I...I don't hate you, Jason. Even when I'm angry with you or hurt, I don't hate you. But that's...that's different than being a part of your life. I know what you want and I just...I don't know if I can promise you that."

"I'm not looking for promises," he negated. "Not right now. But-"

"I don't know," she finally admitted, her eyes filling with moisture. "I don't know. You haven't been in that position since I've known you. I don't know how it would really be different than you taking orders. Would you be gone more? Would you push me away again if someone came after me? I can't...I don't want you making decisions for me, Jason. You hurt me when you walked away from me after Sorrel approached me. I can't open my heart to you again and have you suddenly walk away. I just...I can't. I don't think I'm strong enough to have you break my heart again by abandoning me."

Jason closed his eyes, and then reached out to pull Elizabeth close to him. He couldn't bear to see her in so much pain and not do something. She allowed him to comfort her for a moment and then she once again stepped back.

"It may not be fair to bring up the past, Jason," she said with a shake of her head, "but it's how I feel."

"And you have a right to feel that way," he told her softly. "It will be different, and it will be dangerous. You'd have to have guards. And at first, it may be safer for you to be away, to stay here with Francis."

"What if you meet someone else?" she voiced. "What if they want you to marry one of their daughters or nieces to solidify your power?"

"No power is worth that," Jason told her firmly. "And I was with someone else, and it was a mistake. I want you, Elizabeth. But I won't do this if you're afraid. We can stay here. We can go somewhere else. We'll go anywhere you want to if that's what you want."

She was silent, but he could tell she was thinking very seriously. He watched her mentally war, and then could tell when she'd reached a decision. Her eyes became firm with resolution, and her shoulders straightened.

"You would do that for me," she said, a hint of awe - or maybe disbelief - lacing it. "You really would."

"I would," he affirmed.

"Then I'll do this for you," Elizabeth said. "You need to deal with Alcazar. You can't leave Port Charles and everyone we care about vulnerable to him. And you have to take over, or there will be fighting among the other Families and Sonny will try to come back and he'll come after you, Jason. You know he will."

Sadly, he believed she was correct.

"You have to be the one to do it," she repeated. "And I...I will try to support you. I-I won't run without letting you talk, and I'll listen to you...and we'll just have to take it one day at a time right now. Which means you have to go to Port Charles."

He drew her to him, and was glad when she didn't fight him. Closing his eyes as he held her, he lowered his head and breathed in her scent, imprinting it in his memory. If things went bad and he never returned to her, he would at least have her strength to carry him through until the end came.

Port Charles was a mess.

Pimps and drug dealers had moved out of the shadows where Sonny and Jason had pushed them to, and were operating openly in territory once held by the two men. Violent crimes had taken a sharp spike in the time Alcazar had taken over, and it wasn't just due to him cleaning house of Sonny's men. Newspaper headlines were hyperbolic and dire, and Johnny found an editorial in the Sunday paper stating that for all the PCPD's claims that Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan were evil, vile men who deserved to be locked up, at least the city had never been quite so out of control when they were around. Now that the two men were missing and some presumed them to be dead, though there were stronger rumors that they were in hiding, the PCPD was unable to keep up with the criminal element of the city.

Calls were made for the mayor and the D.A. to resign. People were calling for Mac's resignation as well. Hospitals were overwhelmed, morgues were filling up, and only the brave, or the incredibly foolish, went out after dark. It appalled and shocked Jason at how quickly things had deteriorated.

"This is why you had to come back," Johnny said, the same dismay in his voice that Jason held. "I had no idea he would do this."

Jason said nothing, just continued to watch the docks from their perch in Elizabeth's old studio. It had surprised him that Alcazar hadn't had someone watching it, but perhaps the arms dealer thought Jason was too afraid to come back to Port Charles. Or that maybe he'd find Elizabeth and run and therefore he never thought about watching his own backyard. Whatever the case, Jason was grateful for the place, and for the slight connection and buoyancy he felt while ensconced here.

"What are you thinking?" the other man asked. They had spent days watching the piers, trailing Alcazar's men, hoping to discover patterns, weaknesses, anything that might give them an advantage.

"We have to eliminate Alcazar first," Jason said. "We can't start from the bottom and work our way up."

"Right," Johnny agreed. "He'll get nervous, entrench himself and it will be harder to get at him."

Exactly. They needed to strike while the other mobster had no idea they were here. But it would have to be soon because the longer they stayed here, the greater their chances became of being discovered. They would only get one shot at this and it needed to be perfect.

"So," the guard continued as Jason fell silent and contemplative. "How do we do it?"

"He's guarded heavily at night and at the warehouses. His limo is heavily armored and swept daily for bombs. Getting close will be difficult."

It seemed almost impossible, but then Johnny fell upon what Jason had already been toying with. "Long range. A sniper's rifle."

The guard's eyebrow rose appreciatively. "You're one of the best snipers I know."

Then the man's shoulders fell. "But where? You don't want to do it somewhere too public because you run the risk of hitting an innocent bystander. And too near the docks and his holdings and his men will be watching the buildings."

"They don't know about this place," Jason said, even as a pang of disgust hit him.

He shouldn't be thinking about using Elizabeth's studio as a sniper's nest. While he'd once hidden here to observe the warehouse and look for the traitor in the organization, he had not conducted his business here beyond meeting with Sonny. Now he was thinking about killing from Elizabeth's sanctuary. It felt wrong, somehow; like he was tainting the goodness of Elizabeth and this place to go for the kill shot from the window she'd looked out of.

Jason had to force himself to push that down, though. He could only hope that she would understand if she found out, but sometimes necessity outweighed everything else. They needed to eliminate Alcazar soon, and this was their best chance of doing so. They had a clear shot of the docks. People didn't come down near the waterfront anymore; especially after dark. Alcazar didn't come through here every night, but he did come through several times a week. It was their best chance, and Jason knew that.

"From here?" Johnny asked.

"It's our best position," Jason declared. "It's not on a roof where his men will be looking. We've been here for a couple of weeks and nobody's come by to check on the place. The building's practically abandoned."

"How do we get out of here?" the guard asked.

"Quickly," he replied. "There's a back stairway, on the other side of the building. It leads into the alleyways; we go there, get lost in the mazes around here, even go into the tunnels if we have to. Once Alcazar's dead, his men will be disorganized. We then start picking off other people, let the petty crooks and those we've dealt with but weren't on our payroll...we let them know that I'm back and Alcazar's not running things anymore."

"You want to scare them into backing off, scaling back their operations."

"Yes. That leaves us free to go after the rest of his men who will foolishly try to stick around and think they can take over."

Johnny pondered things for a moment and then said, "Alright. It just might work. Now we just need to get supplies."

Jason nodded, "Yeah. Because once we have them, we don't leave here until Alcazar's dead."

Jason never wanted to run the business. He had before, when Sonny left Brenda at the alter and fled to the island, but he'd never liked the trappings and inherent headaches that came with the power. Power had never appealed to him. Not for merely the sake of having power. He did things because he followed someone's order, or deviated from an order because he felt it was the right thing to do. He didn't do this for money, he didn't do this to have people defer to him or offer obeisance. He liked his life simple, and uncomplicated, and there was nothing simple or uncomplicated about being the head of the organization. He couldn't leave whenever he wanted to and take a ride along the cliffs; he couldn't decide he was tired of living in a penthouse and move back above Jake's; and he couldn't decide he no longer wanted to live in Port Charles but would rather see the world.

However, as he sat in Elizabeth's studio, the loaded gun against the wall, waiting for Alcazar to appear on the docks, he knew exactly what would happen after he took the kill shot. He would become the head of the organization. He would be responsible for the shipments, the workers, the product getting through. If people died, it would be on his head. When someone new came into the territory and wanted to take over, they would be coming for him. He would be the boss. He would be the person in charge, and already he could feel an oppressive weight settling onto his shoulders.

He also knew that there was going to be a showdown with Sonny. Word would reach his former friend down on the island and the older man would no doubt believe that Jason had done this all for him. For the almighty Sonny Corinthos to return triumphantly to Port Charles and once more reign from on high. Or he would think that Jason was a disloyal upstart who still needed to die. Either way, it was going to be an ugly and messy battle that he was not looking forward to at all.

Shifting slightly to stretch his cramping muscles due to inactivity, he brought up a hand to rub wearily over his eyes. Despite the many times he'd told himself that this was the only way to ensure the greater good, despite Johnny offering him the same assurance, he still didn't like it. He still did not relish the thought of eliminating Alcazar and stepping up to take over Port Charles, and he did not anticipate the inevitable confrontation with Sonny.

The door behind him opened and closed quickly and Jason flexed his fingers around the grip of his gun until he saw that it was Johnny. The guard was returning from a quick perimeter sweep to ensure that nobody had clued into their location and was coming for them. Based on the easy manner the other man exuded, all was clear downstairs.

"There is nobody out there tonight," Johnny shook his head, rubbing his gloved hands together. "It's almost eerie how calm it is. I don't even think the rats are out. I think something's about to go down."

Jason turned his gaze back down to the docks and nodded almost imperceptibly. The docks had been empty the past several nights, only the briefest patrols of Alcazar's men going through. The weather was changing tonight, though. A cold front was moving in, freezing temperatures but too dry for snow. It would be miserable and very few people would be out. It was the perfect time to land a shipment. He and Sonny had done it all the time.

The guards and workers would stay inside as long as they could, and then work quickly to unload the shipment. It worked to keep them warm and also not expose them too long to anyone who might try to disrupt the operation. If Alcazar was going to land a shipment tonight, it would make sense to follow the same procedure. Which meant that maybe they'd get lucky and Alcazar would come down to the docks tonight.

"Maybe we should try to disrupt the shipment," Johnny suggested. "Mess with the equipment or something in the hopes that they'll call Alcazar."

"I don't know," Jason mused. "If we do anything to try to draw him out, it might make him suspicious. We're better off just waiting for him to show up than to try to force the situation. It's only been a couple of days; there's no sense to get impatient now."

"Yeah," the guard agreed. "I suppose you're right. Especially since the guard detail just came out and they seem to be sweeping the area."

"Looks like a shipment will be coming in tonight," he said, flexing his hands and reaching for his gloves. He had never handled the weapon without gloves on and he was going to be prepared. "Stay alert; maybe we'll catch a break tonight."

Elizabeth sat at the table, absently toying with the spoon in her cereal bowl as she stared sightlessly at the burgundy placemats. She knew that when Jason and Johnny left that it could be weeks before they sent word back to her and Francis. Despite knowing that, it hadn't abated her worry. Every morning when she got up and every night when she went to bed, she sent up a prayer asking for Jason and the guard's safety. Maybe it was sacrilegious to ask for divine help when the pair would be committing sin, but it didn't stop her. It was the only recourse she had against the worry that took up residence the day he and Johnny walked out the door and he looked back long enough to try to assure her, yet she could see his uncertainty and worry as well.

"Good morning, Elizabeth," Francis greeted her as he walked into the kitchen. He carried a newspaper under his arm and she suspected he'd been out doing a perimeter check before joining her.

"Morning," she returned the greeting less enthusiastically and then lifted the spoon to her mouth to take a bite of now-soggy cereal.

"There's an interesting article in the paper," the guard said casually, placing it beside her. It was folded to a section in the middle and then in quarters to display the article prominently. "Thought you might like to read it."

Under World News there was an article about a Venezuelan arms dealer found dead in Port Charles, New York. The apparent victim of a sniper's rifle. Police had no suspects, although the police chief did think it was too much of a coincidence that Jason Morgan, reputed mobster despite what his tax returns of coffee importer said, had shown up in town shortly afterwards.

The article went on to mention that the city which had been in the grips of a crime wave, now suddenly felt safer. Drug deaths were taking as sharp a decline as they had quickly risen. Burglaries, car jackings, muggings...they were all down. Even the docks were once again safer, at least during the day. Citizens were still warned to stay away at night, especially since that's where Mr. Alcazar was found dead. In front of Mr. Morgan's warehouse. The shot had come from a nearly abandoned building along the waterfront that had once housed art studios and other cheap rooms.

Police, FBI and ATF were continuing to investigate Mr. Alcazar's death, but there were no official suspects at this time. Details would be provided as soon as there were any worth noting.

Elizabeth closed her eyes and let out a breath of relief. Jason was alive. He had survived the showdown with Alcazar; at least so far. The real danger, Elizabeth knew, was going to be from the men left behind who were loyal to Alcazar. And then the greater threat was going to be whatever Sonny decided to do.

Francis was a great guard and he kept her safe. He was vigilant, despite the fact that they rarely left the house, and had a clear view of all roads and approaches to the house. What Elizabeth appreciated most was his honest talk with her. He didn't divulge secrets, but he was open and up front with her about what Jason would be facing. Both in Port Charles and with Sonny Corinthos. Both of them knew that Sonny would not stand idly by and just accept that Alcazar was dead and Jason would be taking over the territory. Sonny would want the power back, and he would probably want Jason gone. The bigger threat lay not in the remnants left behind in Port Charles, but from an egomaniacal despot on an island to the south.

He was not going to get away with this.

Sonny heard the news; he had people on the island loyal to him who kept him informed and was being watched by Alcazar's men who said things. The news was clear. Alcazar was dead and Jason had probably killed him. There were few people who could use a rifle like Jason, and even if the cops couldn't pin it on him, everyone would know that Jason had eliminated the Venezuelan.

They also knew that he was taking over Port Charles.

Sonny refused to allow that. After dishonoring Courtney, turning his back on him, there was no way he was going to allow Jason to take over his territory. He owned Port Charles. He'd taken it over and he'd built it up and he'd held off other rivals and upstarts who thought they could come in and steal his hard work. Just because he'd taught Jason everything and had once considered him a brother did not mean Sonny was going to stand back and let the younger man run things.

Jason had turned on him. Chose someone else over Sonny and his family and for that, there was no forgiveness. There was no going their separate ways and letting things go. Sonny was not going to just accept Alcazar's decrees now that the arms' dealer was dead. Hew as not going to hide out on his island and let Jason Morgan run the territory that should be his. He was going to get it back.

He'd met with his people on the island, devising a plan to elude Alcazar's men who thought they would be able to keep him here, and he'd go back to Port Charles. There he'd find the traitor who thought he could take over his territory and he'd do what he should have done in the first place. He would kill Jason Morgan. He realized now that asking Alcazar to do it was a mistake; Sonny was going to have to take care of it himself.

He was working late tonight in his office at the casino, going over the numbers and profits for the week, while also setting things up for his absence and return to power. Courtney and Carly had to be protected in case the remnants of Alcazar's men who hadn't seen the light and accepted Sonny's offer to come work for him, decided to go after his family. It would probably be safer for them to move out of the villa and into the casino. There on the top floor, with security and limited access, they would be better protected.

He also realized he needed a better accountant. He'd never been that good with numbers, relying on Benny or Jason to keep track of things. That had been a mistake and going over the books and the creative accounting procedures was taking longer than it would have taken either of those men. Sonny didn't like wasting his time on menial tasks, but he knew until he had someone in place he could truly trust he would have to do this himself.

The door to the outer office opened and Sonny knew it would be one of the guards coming in to give him an update as the shifts changed. It was late and he knew that the numbers were still going to take hours. He should just leave this for the morning and work on finalizing his plan for Port Charles. His lead man here, Roberto, wouldn't mind staying late to offer his input.

But Roberto never came. Instead, a black shadow slithered into the room, the silver of his gun glinting in the light. Sonny's gun was too far away and when he made an attempt to go for it, Jason shook his head and tightened his finger slightly on the trigger.

"I know you're planning to come back to Port Charles," the younger man spoke. His voice was quiet, but lethal in firmness. "That would be a very big mistake, Sonny."

Sonny scoffed as he looked at Jason, shaking his head while a smug smirk formed on his lips. "You're here to tell me you'd stop me from coming back to Port Charles? You won't stop me, Jason."

"I will," Jason affirmed, his arm not fatigued at all as he leveled the gun against his former mentor. "You will not come back to Port Charles. You will stay on your island with your family and I'll allow you to live."

That upset the older man. "You'll allow me to live?! Who do you think you are, telling me you'll allow me to live?"

"The man that you asked to be killed," he answered. "You remember that, right? You called me your brother, you took me in, and you called me your friend. But that only went so far as I agreed with you, as long as I didn't challenge you, as long as I went along with everything you said."

Sonny waved his hand through the air, "It was your job. You're supposed to follow orders."

"Unless I don't agree with them," he said, tilting his head to the side. "You told me that I also had to go with my conscience, and we could talk about things. And you forget, Sonny, but I know you. I know that you get off sometimes. That you make rash and irrational demands and commands and you told me I needed to help you in times like that."

"I'm not crazy!" the other man shouted. "I knew what I was doing when I asked Alcazar to kill you."

"And that's why I'm telling you that you will never come back to Port Charles," Jason informed him. "You turned your territory over to protect your sister and your wife."

"That was to Alcazar," Sonny countered.

"Nothing's changed," the new mob boss said, a little bit of regret entering him as he stated it. "Elizabeth is alive, and she remembers Courtney pushing her into the water. She remembers what your sister said right before she did it, and she remembers her standing on the pier doing nothing, except reaching for her cell phone, as Elizabeth struggled with consciousness and thought she was going to drown."

Jason's jaw hardened, "I still have Johnny and I have the button from Courtney's coat, and if you try to come back to Port Charles I will turn all the evidence and statements over to the police."

"Courtney would still be on the island," the older man said, a hint of arrogance entering his voice as if that would stop Jason from doing what he threatened.

"I know where the island is and I can very easily give the directions to the cops. The local government has an extradition treaty with the U.S."

"They would raid the casinos, I wouldn't hide the books; you would get charged right along with me."

"I'm no longer a part of the casinos," Jason pointed out. When Sonny signed everything over to Alcazar, the casinos remained in Sonny's name. Only his name. "If you've been cooking the books, I can always claim to have no knowledge of it. The IRS has never found out anything wrong with my tax statements or accounting ledgers. All that would do was leave you vulnerable to RICO charges and you'd end up in prison."

Sonny looked at him in disbelief. "You would really turn on me? How can you do that? I taught you everything!"

"And you turned on me, so I guess I just learned from you," he said, no malice in his voice. "You wanted me dead, and it didn't happen. I'm telling you now. I will let you live, I won't even charge you a percentage like Alcazar was going to, but you will stay on the island. The moment you try to step foot off it, the moment you try to hire someone else to kill me, I will come after you with the full fury you taught me to mete out. I will kill you, Sonny, if you leave me no choice."

Jason swallowed and licked his lips, "I'm offering you a choice, Sonny. You can stay here on the island. Run your casinos and your loansharking and your other operations, but you stay on the island. Try to come back anywhere in the U.S., but especially Port Charles, try to hire someone to come after me thinking that if I'm gone you can take over, try to do anything but stay on your island and run your stuff down here, and there will be no more kindness. There will be no more second chances. There will be no warnings. I will kill you and I will take over everything and then Carly and Courtney, the two women who are responsible for the fact that Elizabeth lost part of her toes due to frostbite and hypothermia and may never regain complete function of her hands again…they will be left at my mercy. So think very carefully about what you want to do."

"You're bluffing," Sonny shook his head. "You won't do that."

"I don't bluff," the younger man refuted. "I always mean what I say, especially my threats. And I will carry them out."

"You won't kill me," Sonny repeated, sounding though a little less sure of himself this time.

"I don't want to," Jason admitted. "But don't mistake that for weakness. I will kill you if I have to. This is your one warning, your one chance. I owe that to you after everything, but after this...there are no more."

He took a step back and gave this last caution, "The choice is yours. If I kill you, I won't feel bad. Because you forced the issue; you made your choice."

Then he left the room. He wasn't stupid enough to think that this was the end of his problems with Sonny. He knew the older man was too addicted to the power, craved the prestige and the position too much to ever really let it go. He would have cowered from Alcazar, for a time, but eventually he would have pushed back against the Venezuelan. Jason knew, from his own instincts and knowledge of his friend, that Sonny would make a move against him. He would see Jason as weak, or think that the younger man would just hand everything over.

As much as it pained him, he knew that things were irrevocably broken with the Latino. Jason had to let the older man know that he was in charge and that Sonny was not welcome back in Port Charles. He'd done his duty, he'd discharged his debt to his former friend; now he just had to find a way to deal with the inevitable when it happened.

Francis had said nothing beyond "Pack your back and come with me. We're going to Port Charles."

Elizabeth didn't know if Jason had called him, if Johnny had, or if this was a decision the guard had made himself. All she knew was that they were returning to Port Charles. All through the plain ride, she went through scenarios in her mind. What would she find? Was Jason hurt? Had she been in danger at the other location and that was why Francis decided they were leaving?

As they neared New York, though, her thoughts shifted focus. She wasn't so concerned about what she'd find, as what she would do. Jason and Johnny had arranged for her to call her grandmother, to let the older woman know she was alive and well - or at least relatively so - and calm the near franticness that she'd reached in the time Elizabeth had been missing. She'd tried not to go into too much detail about the deal with Alcazar and why Johnny had taken her from General Hospital, but she'd said enough and her grandmother had discerned enough from the papers to know that she'd once again been pulled back into Jason's world. Despite it not being Elizabeth's fault, or really even Jason's, the disapproval had been clear in Gram's voice.

Her grandmother would expect Elizabeth to come home, to stay with her and to stay away from Jason Morgan. Elizabeth wasn't sure she could, or even wanted to do that. Despite her best efforts, things had gotten complicated between her and the mobster again. She hadn't been able to hold onto her anger and resentment towards him. The fact that he had given up so much, had risked his life for her, had turned his back on the people she thought would always come first in his life, and he didn't do it because he had to, he did it because he thought it was right...it was hard to stay angry in the face of that.

His willingness, his insistence to discuss returning to Port Charles with her, telling her bluntly that she mattered to him and that if she didn't like it then he wouldn't do it, had convinced her that he was sincere. He wasn't just going to give up and walk away again just because things got a little complicated. He was finally fighting for her, something she had wished so many different times would happen. So now that he was doing it, how could she be the coward once again? How could she give up and walk away and spit in the face of all that he was offering her, putting himself out there emotionally to show her?

That meant that she was going to have to be honest with her grandmother. That meant that she could very possibly lose her close relationship with one of the last remaining relatives who actually cared about her. But sometimes, that's what love called for. It required taking that leap, stepping out into uncertainty and the unknown and taking a chance. Jason had always been the chance she was too afraid to take. It was time for her to stop hiding.

So she was relieved when Francis ushered her into the waiting car at the airport and told the driver to take them to Harborview. At least she didn't have to put her heart in her hand to the guard and counteract his order. She could save the emotional reveal for Jason.

When the door opened to his penthouse, the last person Jason expected to see was Elizabeth. He looked at her in confusion, and then looked at the guards in annoyance. They must have taken it upon themselves to bring her here, undoubtedly thinking that it was safe to do so. Or perhaps that he needed her. Either way, it was an independent move that he didn't appreciate.

"Jason?" she said quietly, uncertainly, as she stepped into the room. He didn't rise from the couch to greet her; instead, he just picked up his shot glass and took a drink.

"Go on in," Johnny said softly in the background. Then the door clicked closed and Jason knew the two of them were alone.

"You shouldn't be here," he dismissed her.

"Yes," she countered. "I should be. You need me."

He clenched his jaw, but remained silent. He wanted to tell her that he didn't need anybody, but he couldn't bring himself to tell the lie. It might save her, but it would also hurt her, and he couldn't do that. Not to her.

"When Johnny brought you to the house, I didn't want you there. I wanted you anywhere but there. I wanted to wallow in my hurt, to drown in my self-pity and I wanted to be consumed by my hate for you. But you didn't go away. You weren't overbearing and you didn't try to force me daily to change my mind, but you were there. You let me know with your presence, with your quiet and gentle nature that you weren't going to give up. That you were there for me, that you weren't going to leave me."

She deposited her purse and coat on the desk and then walked towards the couch. He expected her to sit beside him, to touch him and try to comfort him. Instead, she sat on the chair adjacent to the couch and drew her feet up underneath her.

"I'm not going to go away, Jason," she told him. "I'm not going to abandon you and let you drown in your guilt. Johnny told me what happened, and I understand that you're upset. That you feel bad. But I also know it wasn't your fault, Jason."

"Yes, it was."

"How?" Elizabeth questioned.

"I killed him," he stated bluntly. "I killed Sonny."

"Yes," she agreed. "You did. Because he was going to kill you. How many men have you killed, Jason? How many of those were because they were going to kill you?"

He looked up at her sharply; he would never answer that question.

"I know what you do for a living, Jason. And does it bother me sometimes? Yes, sometimes it does. But I also can separate what you do from who you are. Who you are when you interact with those who matter to you, like your grandmother and your sister. And me. I've found you hurt and bleeding before, and I don't have any delusions about your life."

"I killed my best friend."

"No," she shook her head. "You killed the man who tried to kill you. You told him you would let him live as long as he stayed on the island."

"I never thought he would," Jason admitted in spite of himself. He didn't want to have this conversation with Elizabeth. He didn't want to tell her these things. But somehow he found himself saying them anyways. "I always knew that he'd come after me one day and that I'd have to choose. I just never..."

"You didn't expect it quite so suddenly," she surmised. "Jason, you weren't even off the island. He came after you with the full intention of killing you because he was selfish, spiteful man."

"I killed him in front of his wife," Jason said in anguish. "Michael could have been there. I...I could have shot him in front of his son."

"And it still wouldn't have been your fault, Jason," she told him with a forcefulness to her words that surprised him. "It was his choice. He was the one who chased you as you were leaving the building. He was the one waving a gun around wildly when there were innocent people around, including his wife. He saw her there, he knew she was there, and he didn't care anyways. He would have shot you in front of her and he wouldn't have thought twice about it. Do you think he would be sitting here upset at what happened if the outcome had been different?"

He took a drink and winced. Then he finally said, "No."

"No," she repeated softly. "I'm sorry, Jason, that this happened. That you were forced to be put into this position. But it's not your fault. Sonny came after you in front of people; you didn't chase him down and decide that you would murder him in front of his wife. You were defending yourself, and I'm glad you did."

Rubbing his hand over his forehead he looked at her and she firmed her shoulders. "We all knew that this day would come and that only one of you would walk away from the confrontation with Sonny. I will not lie to you and say that I'm sorry it's you. I'm glad it's you. I'm sorry he's dead, I'm sorry you have to go through this, I'm sorry that Carly yelled at you and I'm sorry you feel guilty for taking Michael's father away from him."

She slid off her chair and onto her knees, coming up beside him and looking up into his eyes when he tried to hide his gaze from her. "I'm sorry for all of that, Jason. But I will never be sorry that you were the one who walked away. I will never be sorry that you were an honorable man who gave him a chance and then was forced into a horrible situation."

Touching his arm briefly she said, "I won't push you, and I won't make you talk about it, but I am not going to go away. I will not let you punish yourself for something that wasn't your fault. I will not let you paralyze yourself with guilt over something you had no control over. I will support you, and I will be here for you, and I will help you the only way I can right now. By never giving up on you, Jason."

"I'm not leaving."

Jason paused halfway down the stairs and wondered if Elizabeth was going to start their daily fight before she even saw him now. In the days since the guards had brought her back to Port Charles, he had argued with her daily trying to get her to leave. He told her that it was for her own good. That it was better if she left. She could go to her family, they could take care of her, and maybe she could even start physical therapy to work on regaining full use of her hands, any number of reasons to get her to go. Sometimes he would tell her that it wasn't safe for her to be here. Someone could still try to fill Alcazar's hit on him, the other mobsters would be coming after him and see her as a way to get leverage, this was her chance to walk away now and be free of it all.

Elizabeth stubbornly refused to go. She told him that she would accept guards, that she wouldn't fight him on her safety, but she was not going to leave. He knew that right now it was to keep him from drowning in guilt over Sonny's death, but he sensed there was an underlying resolve there. That she wasn't talking just about sticking around until he accepted killing his former friend.

"Elizabeth, darling."

Jason was glad he'd stopped. Elizabeth wasn't fighting with him; she was talking with her grandmother.

"Gram," the younger woman sighed. "I really don't want to fight with you on this. But I'm not changing my mind."

"Elizabeth," Audrey Hardy tsked in disappointment. "You nearly died because of him."

"Not because of his work," her granddaughter countered. "What happened with Courtney had nothing to do with Jason's job."

"But it was still because of Jason Morgan."

"Then I guess I should have cut Lucky out of my life considering that his father's enemy wanted me dead. I should have stopped being friends with Nikolas considering that it was his grandmother that wanted me to poison him. I should stop being friends with Emily merely because Jason is her brother. I shouldn't even speak to Bobbie and neither should you considering that she's Luke Spencer's brother and Helena Cassadine hates all Spencers and ordered Lucky to poison his cousin." She sighed and said, "Do you realize that anyone can be considered dangerous and unseemly and unsuitable, Gram?"

"But none of those people have chosen Jason Morgan's profession," the older woman countered.

There was a scoff before Elizabeth said, "You do remember that Luke was involved with Frank Smith, and he was in the mob, he was Sonny's business partner, his entire family is the mortal, sworn enemy of a family who tried to freeze the world and routinely tries to poison and murder people? And yet you didn't have any problem with me and Lucky, even though Lucky was following in his father's footsteps."

A heavy silence descended and Jason could feel it as it pressed its way upstairs. Finally Elizabeth said softly, "That's what I'm trying to point out. It's very hypocritical of you to use one man's profession against him, and not against another. Jason is a good man."

"Who could get you killed," Audrey tried again.

"I took poison for Lucky and that had nothing to do with Jason. I was grabbed off a park bench and that had nothing to do with Jason. I've learned long ago, Gram, that danger and bad things can come from anywhere. I'm not going to stop being friends with Jason merely because you want me to. You remember that nice attorney you encouraged me to date after you saw him talking to me at Kelly's?" the younger woman asked.

"Yes."

"I saw him in an argument with a woman in an alleyway and he hit her," Elizabeth said bluntly. "Should I date him just because he's an attorney and ignore the fact that he hit a woman? Jason has never hit me, he has never tried to control me, he has always treated me with respect. What a person does for a living does not define their character."

"Oh, Elizabeth," the older woman sighed sadly. "I thought you'd gotten over this infatuation with Jason Morgan. I thought that after he hurt you and began dating Sonny Corinthos' sister that you would finally realize he wasn't worthy of you."

"I don't consider Jason unworthy," Elizabeth said firmly. "And it's not just an infatuation with Jason. That makes it sound cheap or makes me sound stupid and it demeans me by making me seem like I'm fifteen or something."

There was another pause and then finally, the nurse asked, "Do you love Jason Morgan?"

"That's really none of your business," the younger woman answered. "How I feel about Jason is between the two of us. I don't have to justify my feelings to anybody, and I'm not going to do it for you."

"Loving Jason Morgan can only lead to bad things," Audrey tried.

"Loving Lucky Spencer didn't do me much good," Elizabeth countered. "It's called love because it's not always rational. That's because we don't love with our heads, we love with our hearts.

"I love you, Gram," she continued on, her voice softening. "But I'm an adult, and I'm capable of making my own decisions and living with the consequences. I'm staying here with Jason and if you can't accept that, then we really have nothing further to discuss."

"I think you're making a very foolish mistake, Elizabeth," her grandmother said, disappointment heavy in her voice. "And I hope you'll actually be alive when you realize that."

There was a soft click and then Elizabeth's voice drifted upstairs, though it seemed father away. Jason realized that was because she'd stepped partially out into the hall. "Marco, would you make sure my grandmother gets to her car safely? And then could you have someone follow her home? I want to make sure she's safe."

"Of course, Miss Webber," the guard answered.

After it had fallen quiet for several minutes and he was certain Mrs. Hardy was gone, Jason slowly continued downstairs. He saw Elizabeth sitting on the couch, her head back against the cushions and her eyes closed. She absently rubbed her forehead and he even saw her take a swipe at her eyes. For as much as he was touched by her defense of him, he couldn't understand it. He certainly didn't deserve it. This just reinforced why it was better for her to go.

"I heard your grandmother's voice," he said softly. "She's right, Elizabeth, it's not safe around me."

"Just stop it, Jason," she said, her voice sharp. "Just stop it. I do not want another round of why it's better if I go. Right now I am so sick and tired of people telling me what I should do and telling me it's the right thing or the safe thing or the smart thing or the good girl thing. I am sick of it."

Jason felt frozen in his tracks. He could sense exasperation rolling off Elizabeth and wasn't entirely sure why it was directed at him.

With quick, almost jerky movements that indicated her turbulent feelings, she stood from the couch and paced away from him. "Let's clear a few things up here."

Turning to face him she asked, "Do you object to me being here because you don't want anyone here, or is it just specifically me?"

He frowned and asked, "What?"

"If it was Carly or Courtney here trying to comfort you, or Emily or Lila, would you be telling them to leave? Would you be shutting them out as well? Or is it me that you seemed to find so distasteful to have around?"

Distasteful? He was confused and apparently he'd remained silent for too long because Elizabeth continued on.

"Maybe I misread everything," she shrugged. "I thought we'd reached some kind of understanding back at the safe house, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe it was just the fact that we were away from Port Charles. Or maybe you were just trying to assuage your guilt by playing on my emotions and getting me to forgive you."

"I wouldn't do that to you," he interjected strongly.

"Well then I'm confused here, Jason. You asked if I was okay with you coming back to Port Charles. You told me that if I wasn't, you wouldn't do it. I told you that we would take things as they came, that we would face them together and it seemed like you agreed." She spread her hands out to the side and said, "Well here I am, Jason. You came to Port Charles and took over, I'm here and I'm supporting you, I'm by your side like I said I would be, and you're shutting me out. You're telling me to leave, you're trying to shove me away and you're treating me like you don't want me here. So what is it, Jason? Which is the real you? The guy here in Port Charles who finds it easy to shove me aside, to forget about me, to dismiss me - not just now but lots of times, or the guy when we're alone, the guy who broke through my anger and my defenses and made me trust him again?"

"I killed Sonny," he shouted at her. "I'm not a good person, Elizabeth, despite what you tell your grandmother or even yourself. Why would you want someone like me? I'm not capable of being the man you deserve, of being someone worthy of you."

Elizabeth's countenance changed, softened from the anger and hurt it had held, and she let out a breath. "Oh, Jason. It's not about deserving or worthy, or some ideal that you think I want or should have. I don't care about that. I want you in my life. All of you; the good and the bad and the in between."

She took a small step towards him, "Besides, I feel the same. How could you want someone like me in your life? How am I worthy to even be your friend after all that I've done to you, after all the times I've hurt and chosen someone else over you and walked away? I'm just a scared little girl who wants to pretend I'm okay with the image of the bad boy."

"That's not true," he shook his head forcefully. "You don't have to apologize for who you are or what you've done."

"Neither do you," she told him softly.

"It's not the same," Jason countered, his voice barely above a whisper. It was cracked and ruined from the constant beating of his emotions.

"But see, that's the beauty of love," Elizabeth said, taking another step. "It doesn't have to make sense. It doesn't have to be logical. It's love and it's beyond all of that."

He looked at her in disbelief. She wasn't saying what it sounded like; he didn't understand her. But it was hard to claim that when she took another step and then another until she was right in front of him and she reached out slowly to touch him. Her soft fingertips caressed his arm in slow circles for a moment, and then traveled upwards. Once they reached his shoulders, she brought them to his face and held them there, forcing him to keep his head still and not look away from her.

"I love you, Jason. For so many years, I've loved you, even when I've tried to deny it or make it go away. I know who you are and what you've done and what you'll have to do, but I love you. You might not think you're worthy of it, or that I don't deserve someone like you, but you are the man that I'm in love with. And you have my heart."

He groaned deep in his throat, "Elizabeth."

"I need you to know that, Jason," she continued. "I need you to know that there is goodness in you, and I love you. And despite what you may think, you are worthy, because I say so."

With a gentle pressure that he could break at any time if he wanted to, Elizabeth began to pull his face towards her while slowly rising up on her toes. There was no mistaking her intention and it finally broke through to Jason. He finally understood what she was offering to him, and he accepted it. He allowed himself to be led, and he closed his eyes as her lips gently touched his. Then his control snapped and he whipped his arm around her waist to pull her tightly against him. His other hand came up to cradle her face, exerting just enough pressure on her to change the angle of the kiss, allow him to deepen it. He didn't pull back to tell her he loved her as well; he refused to give up his present occupation. So he settled for trying to pour every ounce of what he felt for her into the kiss. Later when he'd drank his fill from her mouth...then he'd tell her.

"You're sure about this?"

Elizabeth smiled indulgently and nodded her head. "I'm sure."

"You're not going to change your mind in two weeks and walk out?"

"Emily," she said, her voice slightly less tolerant than it was before. "I'm sure. I'm moving in with Jason, I'm not going to change my mind; I'm not going to back out and walk away. So why don't you tell me what's really going on?"

The other brunette sighed and sat down on the couch, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I just..."

"You think I'm going to change my mind and bolt," Elizabeth said flatly. "After all, I've done it Jason before, why wouldn't I do it now? Right? So...who sent you over here?"

"What?" Emily shook her head, "No, Elizabeth, that's not...I'm not...nobody..."

"Was it Lucky?" she asked. Despite them not being together for a while, her first boyfriend had nearly come unhinged when he heard that Elizabeth was back in town and staying at Jason Morgan's place. He came over and told Elizabeth that no good would come of the situation, that Jason was just using her, she was just using Jason and a bunch of other nonsense that only stopped when Jason came home and told the guards to escort Lucky from the building and not let him back in the future.

"Was it Nikolas?" she questioned. Lucky's brother had met her one day at Kelly's and disapproval was clear in his eyes as he shook his head and said that there were easier ways to get Lucky's attention than by sleeping with Jason Morgan. She'd walked out of the diner, not dignifying his comments with a rebuttal and not feeling bad that Bobbie was left with unpaid food. It was the last time she'd returned to the place she used to work.

"Was it Bobbie?" she tried another person. Carly's mother had demanded that Jason owed it to her daughter and grandson to let the blonde come home. Jason told the nurse in no uncertain terms that Carly was free to leave the island if she chose, but he'd made it very clear to her that it would be in her best interest to remain there. He had someone down there running the operation, she received Sonny's monthly share of the profits, she could live quite comfortably there, jet off to Paris or Milan to do her shopping, even New York City. But his friendship with her was over. When she supported Courtney's cover-up after Elizabeth was pushed into the harbor, it was over between them. He would keep guards on her, make sure she was given the money she was due as Sonny's widow, but any further contact should be directed through an attorney. He had no more desire to speak to her. Bobbie couldn't understand how Jason could be so callous and turn his back on the people he'd once taken care of. He'd stopped trying to explain it to her, nobody knew about the button from Courtney's coat that they still had, and that was when he stopped going to Kelly's and the diner lost its discount on its coffee contract.

"Or Zander?" Elizabeth continued on. The younger man had come to Jason asking to have a position in the organization and then couldn't understand when Jason wouldn't give him one. It wasn't about once sleeping with Elizabeth, despite what Zander claimed, it was because Jason couldn't trust him. Zander had tried to sell out Sonny and Jason before and there was no way Jason would ever let him back in. In retaliation, Zander had been the one to call Emily and tell her that Elizabeth was using Jason somehow and maybe she should come home and save her brother.

"Was it my grandmother?" she offered as a possibility. Audrey was having a hard time reconciling herself to the fact that Elizabeth loved Jason and was going to be with him, even though he was the head of the mob. She couldn't believe that Elizabeth would willingly surround herself with violence and guards and cut herself off from the people who loved her. What her grandmother unfortunately did not understand was that Jason was the one who loved her. Everyone else had no interest in listening to her when she spoke; they all just thought that they could tell her what to do. Jason supported her, he listened to her, and he did his best to make her happy, and never once made her feel like his affection would be withdrawn if she did something he didn't approve of. Unconditional love was such an amazing gift and she realized that she'd been lacking that for many years in her life.

"Or do you really just hate the thought of me and your brother together so much that you would come over here and once again tell the both of that we're making a horrible mistake? That Jason will only come to regret being with me and killing his best friend because of me, and I'm just an ungrateful person who doesn't know what she wants and in a couple of weeks I'll decide to shave my head and move to California." When Emily's eyes widened slightly, Elizabeth spared no venom as she said, "Yes, Jason and I talk about your visits and we tell each other what you've said. He told me that you tried to convince him to rethink the whole thing, and I told him that you said I'd no doubt sleep with one of the guards in some act of revenge and then walk away."

"Elizabeth, that's not... It's not how it sounds like," Emily said weakly.

Arching a brow she said, "Really? I'm not sure how it could be any different than how it sounds. You did say those words, so you must have believed the sentiment behind them."

"I'm sorry," the other woman said feebly.

"So am I," Elizabeth answered. "Because after everything that we went through together, Emily, I would have thought I deserved better from you. I have supported you in your relationships, and even when I worried for you and tried to caution you, I never went to the lengths you've gone to recently. I'm sorry that you won't get to believe in fairytales anymore; that I'm not going to have my happily ever after with my first love who came back from the dead and was saved by my love for him. I'm sorry that I slept with Zander and broke the girlfriend code of not sleeping with exes. I'm sorry for the times that I've hurt your brother. But I'm not sorry that I love him."

Firming her shoulders she continued, "I've apologized to Jason and Jason's apologized to me for things that have happened between us. We've worked through those things. It's our relationship; not anybody else's. I'm sorry that you've got such a problem with us and are going to be like everybody else in this town and look down on us and tell us that we're wrong. But it's not going to stop me."

She stood up in clear indication that her guest should do the same. "I'm moving in with Jason. Making it official as it were since I haven't lived anywhere else since I've returned to town. I'm just bringing everything here that's scattered around in different places. This is my home now. I love your brother. Maybe one day you'll come to accept that. Or maybe at least stop hurting your brother by fighting with him every time you see him."

"I wasn't trying to hurt you," Emily said softly, tears collecting in her eyes. "I just...I was surprised when Zander called me. I...I was planning on coming home anyways and surprising my family with my recovery, but I just... The last I'd heard, Jason was with Courtney, and suddenly you're moving in, Sonny's dead, Jason's the mob boss and Nikolas and Lucky were saying things and I just..."

"You should have come to me first and asked me what I was thinking, or how I felt, instead of coming in with guns blazing and telling Jason and I we were making horrible mistakes and trying to get us to change our minds."

"I know," the other woman whispered. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth, I really am. I didn't come here to fight with you today. I...I came to apologize. I can see now how much you love my brother. You…you're stronger, somehow. You know that you want to be with Jason and you're not going to let anybody sway you this time and I just...I see that now.

"You're right," Elizabeth agreed, softening her voice slightly into a less hostile tone. "Nothing is going to stop me. I've let my own fears and other people's expectations stop me from doing what I really want. I want to be with Jason and I'm not going to do something different in the hopes of having someone else love me and accept me. My friends and family will either love me and accept me for who I am now or they won't; I'm not going to change who I really am just to please them. Jason loves me. Not some image he wants me to be, or on some kind of behavior he wants me to do, he loves me for who I am, right here, right now."

Elizabeth looked beyond her friend to the door she could only hope Jason entered soon through and said, "Having that unconditional love, that support, that acceptance, it is so liberating. I feel like I can do anything. I don't feel like I have to apologize for not living up to someone's ideal. And it's also so grounding. Jason's my anchor. When things get to be overwhelming, when I feel like I'm about to lose sight of everything that's truly important, or when I'm just adrift, Jason's there to anchor me."

Looking back at Emily she said, "I was ready to die a couple of months ago. I felt so lost when I was floating in the harbor, unable to swim to safety, knowing that I was going to lose consciousness and sink. I almost prayed for it to happen because I realized that everyone around me only saw me when they wanted me to do something for them. They didn't see me. I don't feel that way anymore. If I fell into the harbor today I would fight with everything in me to make it back to safety, to hang on until someone could help me, to not give up no matter what because I know that your brother is there for me. That he loves me and accepts my love. I have that and I'm not giving it up for anybody."

Tears were now trekking down Emily's cheeks and she said, "And you shouldn't. You deserve happiness Elizabeth and you deserve love and so does Jason. I see it, now. I do; really. The way you talk about him, the way your voice softens and your eyes light up. You love him very much."

"I do," Elizabeth confirmed.

"And Jason loves you; I can see it in him. He loves you."

Elizabeth just nodded her head. She knew Jason loved her, she knew he wanted to be with her. He wasn't fighting to push her away; he was holding her close and doing everything in his power to ensure her safety. She was supporting him the best way she knew how. Loving him, accepting his decisions, helping him when he still struggled sometimes by giving him whatever strength she could. It wasn't always perfect, and it wasn't always right, but they were determined to make it work this time. After realizing that she could have died in the harbor or that Sonny could have killed him, they weren't going to waste what time they did have in life together.

If that meant that people didn't understand their relationship or disapproved, then that was that. They couldn't change it by worrying about it, or trying to make the other person accept their choices. They could only focus on themselves and their lives and their own decisions.

"I want you to be happy, Elizabeth," Emily said as she came and hugged her.

"Thank you, Emily. I hope things are better now."

"Me too," the other woman whispered and then wiped at her cheeks as she turned for the door. "I'm going to go."

Elizabeth followed slightly behind her, intending to ask one of the guards to drive her home. She didn't want Emily to drive while she was upset. But the door opened and Jason stepped inside and then paused when he saw them. He frowned at the sight of Emily and said, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," his sister said quickly shaking her head. "I didn't fight with Elizabeth...I came to apologize. And to you, Jason. I'm sorry for not supporting you, for not seeing how much you love Elizabeth and how much happier you are to be with her."

Quickly she hugged Jason and then fled from the room. Jason stared at the door, and then looked over at Elizabeth. "What happened?"

"We talked," she answered. "I don't know if she came here with the intention of apologizing, or just finally realized that we're not changing our minds after I talked to her. That we really do love each other. But I think...I hope we're done fighting."

She could see the relief wash through him as he heard her words. The only person who had truly seemed happy for them was Lila, and Monica seemed to support them, but while Jason didn't care about the other people in town, Elizabeth knew that it hurt him to have his sister fighting with him. The thought that it might be over was a relief.

"I hope so," Jason said as he pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes. "I hate that everyone's fighting with you about your choices all the time. It would be nice if you had someone to talk to."

"I do," she corrected him, placing a kiss on him through his t-shirt. "I have you, Jason. People will either see that I'm serious and I'm not going to change my mind and we'll reach some tentative agreement, or we won't. I hope that in time we will, but what's most important to me is being with you. Not making you my entire life, but having you in my life. With me, through all things; that's what I want."

He pulled back enough to lift her chin with his fingers so they were looking at each other. "That's what I want, too, Elizabeth. And now that I have it, I will do everything I can to keep it."

She nodded and rose up on her toes to kiss him. Glad that finally they were in the same place at the same time and in agreement on what they really wanted in their lives.

The End