A/N: Hi, my fellow GH fans! This is my first fanfic, so I'm really excited about it and I hope you guys like it! , Liason has always been my favorite couple, and I seriously think they have the best chemistry of any soap couple I've ever seen. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we see a reunion sometime soon! Anyway, this fic takes place after the pointless baby switch s/l that the writers are currently dragging us through wraps up. Part of it is what I think will happen, but most of it is what I hope will happen. There will be plenty of adventure, friendship, romance, and drama for Liason before its all said and done. So, enjoy and let me know what you guys think!
The frigid January night surrounded Jason Morgan. The black leather jacket he was wearing offered little protection from the below freezing temperatures. He wasn't entirely sure why he was at the pier at this moment. Normal people would be at home cuddled up next to the fireplace, soaking in its warmth. Not him. That lifeless penthouse was the last place that he wanted to be. It had never truly felt like a home to him, but it had suited him…at least in the past. He wasn't a family man. With his job, he couldn't be. His house reflected that. Now, he found himself craving a family to love and protect.
Because that was just the kind of person he was. It was true that he didn't show emotion very often. But when Jason loved, he loved with his whole heart. And he would fight for those that he loved with every fiber of his being. Right now, it wasn't working very well. He had a seven-month-old son, and had been allowed to see him a total of four times since the truth came out about Todd and Heather switching Sam's live baby with Tea's dead one. It didn't take much longer for it to come out that Heather had the paternity test switched, and that the child was his after all.
The truth had sent shockwaves through Port Charles. Heather had wound up back in Ferncliff while Todd had basically gotten off without paying for what he did at all. Knowing that Jason would probably be coming after him, Todd retreated back to Llanview. Jason resisted the urge to exact revenge. He just wanted to focus on his son. With the recent turn of events, he assumed that Sam would take him back. That things would go back to normal. But they didn't. Sam was still furious with him, and her feelings for John McBain had grown deeper and deeper. So, he gave her a divorce. She took the baby who she named Andrew, and moved in with McBain.
There was nothing Jason could do to stop her. Nothing to change her mind. And after awhile, he realized that he didn't even want to anymore. It was almost as if a light switch had been flipped. He couldn't even remember why he had ever loved her. Why he had tried so hard to work things out. Maybe it was because he had gotten so used to having her around. Because she was familiar, and he was so afraid of the unknown. And all of a sudden, losing her didn't hurt him anymore. She wasn't the one. Somewhere deep down, he had known it all along. He had settled for her because he couldn't have Elizabeth. The woman that he had always loved and still couldn't have. Because once again, she was with someone else. He considered himself lucky just to be able to call her a friend.
She was the one who had begged him not to give up on having a relationship with his son. Sam had made it almost impossible for him to be a part of Drew's life. No matter what Jason did, she wouldn't forgive him. He had gotten so tired of dealing with her. It would've been so easy to walk away. Elizabeth had been the one to convince him that his son was worth fighting for. She was right. After what happened with Jake, he was not capable of walking away from another child. But if this got drawn out in court, he knew that he wouldn't win. Sam was the mother, and there was no evidence to show that she was unfit in any way. He never thought that he would be in this situation. Even after things ended with Sam, he never imagined she would be this cruel.
But he would keep fighting. If he didn't wind up being a part of Drew's life, it wasn't going to be because he didn't try. He refused to hand another baby over to another man because the child would supposedly be safer being raised by someone else. It still stung to the core to think about Jake. About all the moments that he had missed out on in his short life. About all the moments that he could never get back. He had given Jake up thinking that he would be safer with Lucky as his dad. Jason had had nightmares of Jake being kidnapped or shot at by one of Sonny's enemies. He never dreamed he would get hit by a car. Life is unpredictable. And if he had that time in his life to do over, he would have made very different choices. But all he could do was take those mistakes, and make sure he didn't make them again.
He rubbed his hands together in a vain attempt to warm them as a blistering gust of wind hit him in the face. But he would take this a thousand times over before he went back to that lonely, empty house.
Elizabeth Webber watched him from a distance. She didn't know what had drawn her to the pier on this cold, unforgiving night. Her brother was watching the boys as she was supposed to be going out with Ewen tonight. But something had come up prompting him to cancel. Not that she was entirely disappointed. She had been seeing Ewen for a while now, but things had yet to really become serious. He was a nice guy and everything, but there just didn't seem to be any chemistry with them. But she would continue to give it a chance. Good guys really were incredibly hard to find, and her boys needed some kind of father figure in their lives.
She wondered what Jason was doing at the pier on such a freezing night. She wasn't sure if she should make her presence known or not. He looked so absorbed in his thoughts, oblivious to the world around him. He had been going through such a difficult time lately. She just wanted to be there for him. To tell him that everything is going to be okay. It angered her to watch what Sam was doing to him. But at the same time, she couldn't judge the other woman. Not when she had done the exact same thing. Though she suspected Sam was keeping Jason from his child out of spite more than anything.
Elizabeth had so many regrets about the choices she made for her own son. Jason should have been Jake's father, not Lucky. Lucky didn't even want to be a father to his own biological son. When things got tough, he just skipped town. She could never imagine Jason doing that to two young children who were depending on him. He was so protective of the people that he loved. He would do everything in his power to make sure that they were safe. She desperately wanted that kind of father for her kids.
She slowly approached him. "Hey", she said softly.
Jason looked up in surprise to see Elizabeth standing behind him. "Hey. What are you doing here?"
"I don't know", she answered as she pulled her coat tighter to her body. "I went for a walk, and I just kind of ended up here. What about you?"
He looked down. "I guess I just needed some time to think."
A slight smile appeared on her face. "You would rather think in 25 degree temperatures instead of a warm penthouse?"
"Kind of crazy, huh?", he said with a hint of a smile. "But I couldn't stay in the house."
Elizabeth sat down on the bench next to him. "No, I get it. Sometimes, I have to get out too. Have some time to myself."
Jason considered the irony of it all. She didn't have enough time for herself. He had way too much. The loneliness was driving him crazy.
"The last thing I need is time to myself", he sighed.
She looked into his baby blue eyes that shined so brightly against the darkness of the night. She could see the pain reflected through them. He was so good at keeping his emotions in check, but his eyes were his vulnerability. One look into them nearly always told her how he was feeling.
It killed her to see him this way. To sense the emptiness that was in his heart. Jason was one of the most loyal, fiercely protective people Elizabeth had ever met. He needed someone to love. Someone to protect. For so long, she had wanted to be that person for him. Now, he was the one who needed her support. Her friendship. She would do just about anything for him. But she couldn't give him either of his sons back. Right now, he was so lost. As if he didn't have anything to live for anymore.
She reluctantly placed her hand on top of his. The heat radiating from her touch gave him a small sense of comfort, of hope. She always seemed to have that effect on him.
"I wish I could tell you to just hang on", Elizabeth breathed. "That everything is going to be okay. But I can't tell the future. I don't know what's going to happen. The one thing I do know is that I'm going to be here for you no matter what. I want to be the rock for you like you've been for me so many times. And I want you to know that it's okay to lean on me. I'm not going to break."
Jason's hand lightly brushed her cold cheek. "I know you won't. You're one of the strongest people I know. And I want you to know how much your support means to me."
"You're always going to have my support. It just hurts me to see you like this. I want you to be happy, Jason. And I know how happy being a father would make you. I should have never asked you to walk away from Jake. That is something that I'm always going to regret."
"Hey, you were doing what you thought was best for Jake", he said softly. "That was you being a good mother. You couldn't have known. None of us could've."
She tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes. "You have no idea how many times I have played that night over and over in my head. How I could have missed Jake running out the door. I was so distracted, and I wasn't even supposed to have the boys that night. Lucky was. But he couldn't take them because he was marrying Siobhan that night, and then there was the whole thing with Aiden's paternity test. There are just so many what ifs that I think about every day. What if I hadn't been reading that letter? What if Lucky had been able to take them? There are so many things that I could've done differently to prevent it from happening."
He wished that he could take some of the guilt she was feeling away. They had both made so many mistakes, but that accident was just one of those fluke things. It wasn't anyone's fault. Except maybe Luke's. But he was going to have to live with what he had done for the rest of his life. Jason couldn't think of a worse punishment. He actually felt sorry for Luke. He wasn't a bad guy. He just made a really bad choice.
Jason put his arm around Elizabeth, and pulled her closer to him. "Jake knew how much you loved him", he whispered. "He was very lucky to have a mother as amazing as you."
She clung to him as tears rolled down her cheeks. "No. I was the lucky one. I miss him so much."
"I do too. But we just have to keep going. We can't keep dwelling on these mistakes. I don't think Jake would want that. I think he would want us to be happy."
"He would", she agreed as she wiped her eyes. "He always wanted to make everyone else happy. I would give anything to be able to hold him in my arms one more time."
"One day, our time here will be finished. And you'll get to hold him again", Jason pointed out. "But in the meantime, would you settle for me?"
Elizabeth smiled as she snuggled closer to him. Even the icy wind couldn't touch her now. She felt so warm. So safe. At that moment, she wished that he would never let go. That the moment could last forever. Because when he was holding her in his arms, everything was right with the world. There was no more pain. No more heartache. Only two people bound together by a magnetic force that was too strong to be broken. They completed each other. That's when she knew. She was still in love with him.