Twenty One Candles

by mandymld

Elizabeth receives a box with special birthday candles in it, what happens when her wishes start to come true.

Twenty One Candles

As twenty one year old Elizabeth Webber went through the box of stuff her brother had shipped to her from Boulder, she gave a quick laugh at the box on top. He had included a note, scolding her about breaking a promise to herself.

Not sure what he was talking about at first, she laughed, what was in the box came to her. She lifted the box, placed it on her lap and then noticed the duct tape. Hearing footsteps, she saw her Grams in the doorway and hid her groan. Since New Years, Audrey had been repeatedly telling her how disappointed she was that Elizabeth had broken off her engagement with poor, sweet Lucky Spencer.

In SPITE of being there and hearing him say he no longer loved Elizabeth, in SPITE of Elizabeth telling her that she had seen Sarah and Lucky together recently and that it looked like they were dating. All her grams had said was that Lucky was rebounding after the damage that Elizabeth had done when she humiliated the boy by standing him up minutes before they were to be married.

That when Lucky recovered and went after Elizabeth who was the woman he clearly wanted, it would be her fault that Sarah would end up with a broken heart, that it was because Elizabeth was too fickle. Elizabeth wanted to snort, not likely, but just let it go, knowing that talking to these people lately was too much trouble, none of them seemed to get it, she wasn't upset... more embarrassed that Lucky could love Sarah after telling her all this time how they had a permanent lock and would always be it for one another.

When the woman without a word, walked past, then came back with a knife, Elizabeth just reached back inside the box and pulled out the Swiss Army Knife her father had given her years ago.

"Really, that was not an appropriate item for your brother to send you, here let me have it so that I can get rid of It." said Audrey holding out her hand. Looking up at the woman who was treating her like she was a kid, Elizabeth flicked open the knife blade.

"My FATHER gave me this knife, for when we would go hiking." Elizabeth said then looking around the pristine house, then back at the three boxes, only one of which was open, then at her Grams who looked like she had swallowed a lemon and went to the phone.

"Did you say what you meant about helping me with anything?" she asked the man on the other end when he had answered.

"Yeah, you have something in mind." asked Zander as he watched his boss and the man's soon to be ex-wife arguing yet again. Listening to what she wanted and hearing the old lady squawking at Liz in the background, he said "I will be right there."

Telling Sonny he had something to take care of, Zander left, sneering at the man who was chasing after a different woman and making his wife responsible for his mistakes. Poor Carly, she was being made to feel like she was the one in the wrong, yet Sonny didn't seem to think anything he did led to this mess.

Seeing Elizabeth on the sidewalk, the three boxes she described next to her. He pulled up in the Corinthos truck and said "How on earth did you get them outside?"

"Dragged them." she said ruefully. "Thanks Zander, I wasn't ready to hear lecture nine hundred and ninety nine about how I am the great disappointment to my family."

"And how your sister Saint Sarah can do no wrong?" he said understanding what she was going through. Tossing the boxes in the back, wanting to toss his middle finger up and blow raspberries at the old lady standing there in the doorway with pursed lips and crossed arms glaring at them, he watched until Elizabeth had climbed up into the truck then said "Where to madam?"

Laughing in relief as the stress faded she replied. "My studio if you don't mind. Zander, I really appreciate this, I mean I know about the letter from Emily. She wrote me too."

"It is what is; Elizabeth. A girl like Emily, like yourself, well you don't belong with men like me, like Sonny. It's why I don't understand this Carly bit; she is the perfect woman for her husband, just as immoral as we are. It's why Morgan doesn't belong in it, he has a conscious. I heard Sonny talking; he was saying he hoped Morgan came back, that he needed his help."

"Jason?" she asked looking at him. Seeing his knowing smirk, she flushed then said "I miss him."

"I know." With that he braked in front of her studio building, and then carried the boxes upstairs. "Elizabeth, Jason... look, he is trapped to a certain extent. Sonny is a user, I get that because I am the same way, I saw it clearly today, but he is good at manipulating people and he isn't going to let someone with Jason's skills walk away and he isn't going to like the two of you being involved.

"Why not?" she whispered a bit shocked to realize part of her wanted to be involved. She had thought she had come to accept that Jason would always be her dream, never her reality but that question, well it proved she hadn't truly come to accept that Jason Morgan would never be hers.

"Because Jason... Jason is more than likely already in love with you. Sonny wants to be first, he can't let go of Jason from a business standpoint. We are in trouble, big trouble and honestly, the only person who can save the business is the only person with a head for business."

Walking back up to her studio, Elizabeth thought about what Zander said, then was amused to notice how mature he had sounded. She knew that losing Emily had hurt the man, then he had been getting closer to Carly lately... she was hoping that that new maturity made him face that Carly was just as bad as Sonny.

Her stomach growling, Elizabeth heated up some leftovers, then decided she wanted chocolate cake for dessert. Arriving at Kelly's and hearing two females giggling; she saw Gia and Sarah talking to one another while clearly waiting for their boyfriends. Ordering her dessert to go, she was soon home at the rundown studio, unpacking the boxes.

Finding old stuffed animals, a couple of dolls, a photo album, and a large knitted blanket in the first one, she tossed the dolls in a box to give to the Jones girls, Maxie in spite of being a teenager liked to cut off their hair to her own idea of style and make clothes for them. The stuffed animals were looked over then added to the box, all except one.

Elizabeth had no idea why the hippo had always meant so much to her, but the lumpy, badly repaired lime green animal was placed in her closet. Setting the photo album on a shelf, she looked at the knitted blanket and recalled the day she had seen it at the arts and crafts fair and her dad's amusement when he had carried it up to her room.

It had been folded multiple times to fit onto her twin bed and as she had grown, Elizabeth had kept it. Tossing it onto the sofa, she went to the next box. Inside were some old clothes, including a t-shirt in light blue. Astonished to realize it matched the blue of Jason's eyes, she wondered why she had it, along with the few other shirts. A polo shirt with writing in French, one set of scrubs that from the looks of things had belonged to her father.

Squealing in excitement as she found the dress, she started to laugh at herself. She had seen it, when she had been about thirteen and had sworn to wear it to her prom. Looking at the full length ball gown Elizabeth looked around slightly embarrassed before trying it on. Dancing with an imaginary partner, she hung the now yellowing dress up in her closet, wondering if Mrs. Quartermaine might know someone who could fix it for her.

The last box had other mementos and a letter. Reading what Steven had to say, she looked around, then at herself before taking out a pen. "Okay, big brother, so that when I call you I won't be lying, I will write out a list."

Birthday Wish List

1. A fancy new studio, with all my dream painting supplies.
2. A wardrobe that won't make me look like a granny but yet won't draw the attention of every man I meet.
3. Enough money in the bank that I am comfortable, but I could care less about being rich, no, adding an exception to that, I wouldn't mind if it was because of my artwork.
4. The man who owns my heart, back here, where I can tell him the truth but first I want to know if he loved me too or thinks he might be able to love me.
5. Wait, I want to know what people really think of me, so I want to be able to trust those around me.
6. A car, nothing fancy, but a car would be nice.
7. A new job one where I didn't have to run into Lucky, Nik, Gia and the rest of the world every single day.
8. To be beautiful, well at least so that I am no longer called muffin faced.
9. Breasts.
10. To dance, at midnight, with Jason again, ending with a kiss.
11. For my parents to love me.
12. For my grams to respect me and my decisions.
13. Unlucky thirteen, how about something like to like artichokes.
14. World peace, (I know it doesn't fit the perimeters Steven, but it would be for me, selfish to want world peace) Okay, okay, how about just I don't know, no one else killed in Port Charles by the mob.
15. OHHHH, I know, I want to visit Italy, I would love to go with the person who first invited me but if not with him, then with friends.
16. A cell phone.
17. To finally know why sex is so enjoyable for others.
18. Emily, how could I forget Emily, for Emily to come home, walking and happy?
19. Zander, well, I really want him happy but since I know it wouldn't fit, how about, how about a family, of my own, one that will always love me.
20. Steven, for you to come to Port Charles, I hate that I am all alone.
21. Okay, last one... a happy life.

Elizabeth read her list, and then mailed a copy to her brother. She should have known that with him in Colorado he would remember her promise. Laughing a bit, as she recalled the lady at the fair, when she gave her the candles... it was too late... to see if they would have worked, but Elizabeth was a practical person and knew that getting what you wish for... never happens for people like her.

Opening the box, seeing the candles with the various numbers on them, she tried to figure out if they had to be lit in order. Thinking back, she was almost certain that no, they didn't have to be, but they did have to be lit, the wish made then blown out afterwords. Steven had bought some for himself and secretly done all of his in one day; she was going to savor the experience.

Almost giddy with excitement at the idea, she sat there, then struck the match as she let out a self conscious giggle before muttering that she would just reach in and grab a candle to light.

Hearing the wick catch on fire then her owe as she burnt her fingers putting out the match. "Okay, here goes nothing... I wish I liked artichokes."

When she left the studio amused at the idea of wishes coming true, to keep her thoughts cheerful during her busy and confusing day before heading over to have tea with Lila Quartermaine Elizabeth saw the side dishes coming in. "Ms. Quartermaine, are those artichokes?"

"Yes, dear. Is something wrong? Do you not like..." The elderly loved having Emily's best friend over for tea, Elizabeth was a joy to be around, even now when the young lady had so much riding on her young shoulders.

"May I try one." she said then tasted the smallest piece she could. It was bland, not at all delicious but she found she could eat it. "Um, it tastes okay, nothing like brownies."

Lila laughed then said "Oh, Elizabeth, it's an artichoke which means its good for you, not that it will taste good. Okay, is perfectly normal when it comes to them."

Heading home that night, Elizabeth was about to toss the candles away, but recalled her promise to Steven and put them next to her radio in the minuscule kitchen. Clearing up the clutter in her tiny studio, she was about to fall to sleep when she whispered "I hope you are safe Jason."

The man half way across the world, looked around at where he was, the woman a boat captain who had made it very clear she would be happy to have sex with him... then thought about another bar named Jake's and the reason he had come in here. Then back at the woman across from him. In spite of being as drunk as a skunk, he knew she was trouble... he would have been fine with that, but then Elizabeth had yet again popped up in his head...

"Night." he said then when she went to follow said "I am going back alone. It was nice talking to you, but I am too tired. Maybe later..." He had been about to make a mistake, but he would have sworn he heard the woman he still saw in his dreams.

When he was gone, the black haired woman who had been trying to cultivate the rich blond man just shrugged. Tomorrow she would take the progress she made tonight and would soon have him where she wanted. He had given her enough for her to know that he was more than he seemed and she liked what she had to work with.

Jason fell into his bed, it was almost dawn... but he couldn't sleep. His mind kept going back to the woman he was sure was Mrs. Lucky Spencer by now. Tossing and turning, he knew that the best way to deal with this was to go home and face his demons. Who knew maybe this time... his heart would listen to his body and let him move on?

The next morning, the con woman showed up at the small bed and breakfast and was not happy to find out he had checked out and was no where to be found.

Jason was on the plane, something was telling him now was the time to fix things, last night the dark haired woman, had reminded him of one of the reasons he had left town. While she had looked nothing like Carly, her attitude, her offering herself up to him without even knowing his name, reminded him that he had things he wanted to change.

On the second morning of April, Elizabeth lifted inside the box, pulled out the second candle and was amused to see it was number seven. "I wish I had a new job so that I wouldn't have to see Lucky, Gia and the rest of the world every single day."

It was almost seven in the morning when she entered the diner to see a blond talking to Bobbie. The red head smiled at Elizabeth then said "Elizabeth, this is Courtney Matthews; she needed a job so I hired her. Would you please show her what to do?"

Nodding and a bit surprised since they were already at full staff, Elizabeth showed around the blond. Within a few hours it was clear that while she was nice enough, Courtney didn't have a really good work ethic. She was fine with the waiting tables but clearly expected others to clean them off after she got her tip.

"Courtney, you have to clear your own tables' off." said Bobbie when she rejoined them a few hours later.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Jones. Elizabeth didn't tell me that." she said unaware that the brunette was listening. "And when do I get a break?"

"You haven't had a break yet?" asked Bobbie frowning a bit.

"No, Elizabeth said I would get one when she returned but she has been gone almost a hour." she stated.

Bobbie frowned a bit, and then saw the other girl entering. "Where have you been?"

"The post office, the bank for you and then I had to go and get the bread for the cook." she said showing her the bags. Bobbie sighed, she had forgotten asking Elizabeth to do all of that, but that doesn't excuse her not letting the blond go on break.

Nodding Elizabeth said "Here, the daily take."

Bobbie felt her eyes widen then said "Wait, we did all of this?"

"Yeah, it was a really busy lunch." Elizabeth said then saw Bobbie counting the register. "Wait, Elizabeth would you please go ask Johnny O'Brien to come over."

Nodding, she did as asked then Bobbie took them into the office and showed them money and then ran back the hidden camera. Swearing softly, she went back out and told Courtney that things weren't going to work out for her at the diner.

"Is there a problem?" she asked not even flinching at being fired.

"Yes, there is. You stole at least five hundred dollars from the register." accused Bobbie. Courtney burst into tears, and then played the red head for all she was worth. After listening to her story and with a sigh Bobbie said "I will arrange for a place here for you, but if I find so much as five dollars gone, you are fired."

In the office, she saw Elizabeth's shock at what was going on, hid her anger at the younger woman and said "I have been where she is, I can't just not help her."

"Bobbie, you saw the tape, she did nothing but wait on her tables and even then I had to do her refills and clear plates. If she was so worried about money, why wasn't she hustling to work?" Elizabeth couldn't believe that the red head was going to keep someone on who was a thief.

"Elizabeth, you have always had a family, such as it is, I understand where she is coming from can't you have a little compassion. She has no one, she is living in her car, and I have to help her. She will do better from now on."

O'Brien doubted it. The blond was sitting with a smile at the counter; he could see her on screen. Clearly Elizabeth did too, and then Bobbie went too far. "After all when you were first hired, you were a bit of trouble yourself."

"There is a difference between being a thief and being a brat." she noted. "Bobbie, you saw her, she was stealing more than just your money, I normally would do almost a hundred dollars for lunch, today I made sixty and we were busy..."

With a sigh, Bobbie gave her the difference and said "I know, but you need to understand... Elizabeth, I don't what has gotten into you, you used to be a more compassionate person. Just because Lucky broke your heart, doesn't mean you should be so hard."

"It's not being hard, Bobbie, she is going to be trouble." she said looking at the woman who she saw wasn't going to budge.

"I am sorry you feel that way, maybe it is time for you to move on, clearly you believe you have more rights here than you do." stated Bobbie. "I am not firing you; I am just suggesting maybe you should look for another job. If you had married Lucky... but Elizabeth, you aren't family."

Johnny almost gasped at what the woman was doing... what the heck was going on here. Thinking on the voice mail that had been left on his cell phone, all he could think was that between business and Elizabeth, his blond boss would be returning at the perfect time.

Bobbie thought about what Carly had been complaining about, how she felt like when she walked into Kelly's, that Elizabeth acted like she ran the place... she knew there was tension between the two women and if Carly took her up on her offer to run the diner... well this could solve a problem for the red head as to what to do.

Elizabeth saw the calculating look in Bobbie's eyes and knew that this was about Carly and said "You are right, consider this my two weeks notice. If I get a job elsewhere I won't finish it out since you are already overstaffed but Bobbie that hurt like you clearly meant it to. Funny how, I was family when you all needed me to save Lucky..."

Leaving, she didn't finish out her shift telling Courtney that she was done for the day before leaving. Heading to hospital, she was sitting there, stunned when she saw her grams approaching. "Elizabeth, I thought you were working today?"

Not telling her grams what was said since she would agree with the woman; she said "I am thinking of getting a different job, one where I would make a bit more money."

"Oh, Elizabeth, like money should be the most important part of having a job. Why can't you just admit you are making a mistake and that you regret losing Lucky? That he is the reason you are thinking on quitting." Audrey was not thrilled with this attitude; she didn't get what was up with Elizabeth lately, just when she had thought the girl was on the right path…

"Because Lucky isn't the reason; I am sick of getting the short shift, being the go to girl but getting no respect for all the extra work I do. I want a job where I can get some respect for my abilities without being used for them."

Skye Chandler Quartermaine had overheard the younger girl and wouldn't have done something to help her but she didn't know that Elizabeth would accept her help; after all she was friendly with Emily. Then listening to the retired head nurse berate her granddaughter, Skye called Edward and asked "What do you know about Elizabeth Webber?"

"Why?" he asked suspiciously. Listening he said "I will deal with it. You keep away from Emily's best friend."

An hour later, Elizabeth had left GH, sick and tired of being lectured so when she heard Edward Quartermaine calling out her name, she wanted to duck the old man. Heading home, she was curled up in bed, crying at the idea of no longer having the security of working at Kelly's.

Hearing her phone answering machine kick on, she hit the mute button not wanting to listen to anyone else, she had had enough. Looking at the blown out candle, she couldn't help remembering her wish that morning and knew that she was overreacting as she swore to not light one the next day.

Edward frowned when he hung up, and then hoped that Emily's young friend showed up in the morning. He had done some research and found out what Bobbie had discussed with Monica about Carly and frowned at yet another person getting the shaft for Carly Benson Corinthos.

Jason exited the airport and climbed into the non-descript car and said "Tell me everything."

By the time he got to the house where he would be staying temporarily, he was gritting his teeth, while Johnny just told him that Elizabeth had walked away without marrying Spencer and that his family was now giving her a rough time about things. "Take me to the studio."

"Are you sure that is a good idea?" asked the other man in the room.

Jason only glared then went to the garage. "I know a back way in; I will take care of things from there."

The enforcer slid the bug into the studio, hating to do it but needing to know what was going on without endangering Elizabeth. He listened to the young girl crying herself to sleep, and then sat there watching as finally morning came almost twelve and a half hours later.

Elizabeth got up, hit play then listened to her grams lecture and hit forward, then her brother asking if she had started to use her candles and then there were two hang ups. Jason winced, those had both been him, trying to find out if she was okay but without actually talking.

Her caller ID which Francis Corelli had insisted on her getting showed the calls as having come from Mexico then from Houston. Then came the next call, Elizabeth was getting dressed for her day at the diner while planning on what to wear later that afternoon as she went looking for a different job.

"Elizabeth, this is Edward Quartermaine. I was wondering if you would be interested in working on a special project for ELQ. If so, please contact my HR department as I would like you to start work sometime this week."

Stunned, she fell over her bar stool then looked at the phone, walking over she hit play again and then called the number he had left. "Uh, Edward Quartermaine told me to call you regarding a job."

"Would this be Elizabeth Webber?" asked the man in charge of Human Resources. When she nodded yes, then softly announced that yes, she was Elizabeth, she listened in shock as he told her that Mr. Quartermaine was interested in hiring her, the pay would be close to twice what she was making now and would be for working four days a week.

Not sure she should accept it, Elizabeth was going to hesitate but then she saw the apron she had worn the day before at Kelly's next to the blown out candle and said "I can start on Monday."

Seeing the candles, and then deciding that it was merely a coincidence. Elizabeth sat down then looked at the candles, then around her room. Picking up one at random, she lit it then closed her eyes to make the wish... she really doubted that this one would be too bad, since she knew it wouldn't come true. "I wish to know what people really think of me."

Jason meanwhile had stiffened wondering what the old man was up to, Edward Quartermaine was a lot of things… thinking on it, Jason just let it go for now, at least if Elizabeth was working at ELQ she was safe from the Spencers and what was about to go down.

Walking to the diner, she saw Courtney approaching and stop to flirt with a dark haired man. Getting a good look, she called out. "Hello, Zander, hey Courtney, do you know Zander?"

"We just met, I was actually looking for you." said the young mobster. Handing her a package he said "This fell out of your boxes the other day. I found it in the truck."

Elizabeth decided she needed to mind her own business as she took the package and tried to ignore the under currents between the two of them. Looking at the writing she smiled at him then saw Courtney scowl. "It's from my brother, thanks Zander. Do you have time for some coffee?"

"I wish, but I have a busy day. See yah, later Elizabeth." he said then left after a quick nod at the blond. Courtney scowled a bit as she followed Elizabeth into the diner.

"So Courtney, have you moved into the room above Kelly's yet?" she asked pleasantly then saw Penny who didn't look very happy as the waitress joined them at the counter. "Penny, you are not going to believe this... I am going to be working for ELQ; Mr. Quartermaine asked to work on some art stuff for him."

Hearing how happy Penny was of her, the brunette gave the girl a hug, thankful to know at least someone was genuinely happy for her.

After congratulating Elizabeth, she whispered quietly "Is it true, did Bobbie try to fire you?"

"She suggested I move on, but with the job offer from ELQ, she can take this job and do you know what. I just saw that Courtney is dressed to work, I worked here for years, before being given the day shifts, what is up with that?"

"I don't know, but luckily I graduate in two months." said Penny watching as Courtney pounced on the first customer to enter through the doors. Two and a half hours later, the blond was pouting when Bobbie came in. "Elizabeth, I got your message what was so urgent that I had to come down."

"Nothing, I just wanted to let you know, I have another job, and thought you should be aware that I am going to be working through the end of my shift today. I don't like working hard and not making money; especially when someone else feels the need to help them self to my money. Oh, the deposit hasn't gone to the bank, you need bread, yet again and the delivery came but hasn't been put away."

Taking off her apron, she saw Bobbie looking confused and smiled saying. "Is something wrong?"

"You always take care of the deposit, and the delivery, why didn't you today?" she asked confused. Elizabeth could hear the red head complaining to herself that she really didn't need to deal with this crap today; she had more important things to do.

"Bobbie, I was doing all of that because like you used to say, we were family. So I did some extra work, but you don't feel like I am family, why would I go to all that trouble for less than minimum wage. Oh, and you really need to arrange for a janitor, because I won't be closing tomorrow night, so the extra cleaning won't be getting done."

"But..." Bobbie saw the young girl and watched as she took her tips from her jar, then her apron before handing it to Penny. "Good luck and watch the blond."

Seeing Carly coming in, Elizabeth said "Oh, Carly. Your mom is short staffed, maybe you can help her out."

Rolling her eyes, the blond said "That is your job, muffin. You are the sad pathetic soul who works, I don't."

"We all know that, but Carly..." Elizabeth looked at the woman then at Bobbie and began laughing and said "I got it, I finally got it. Bobbie, you have got to be kidding, there is no way, none; Carly isn't going to work for you, running this place..."

"Oh course, not, I have better things to do with my time than wasting it and ruining my manicure by working here." she sneered. "Shouldn't you be working any how?"

"No, Carly, I shouldn't. I don't work here anymore."

"Momma finally got some sense and fired your rear, well good for her." she crowed. "Why don't you do the world a favor and move back wherever it is you came from."

"No, Carly I quit and why don't you take your own advice and go back... wait, that's right, those double wide trailers, they are on wheels aren't they. You probably can't locate that..." Carly slapped Elizabeth just as Taggert entered the diner.

"Mrs. Corinthos, you are under arrest, you have the right to remain silent, and I highly recommend you do so." he said then looking at Elizabeth said "You need to come to the station so that I can write up..."

"Elizabeth, if you do this..." warned Bobbie only for Elizabeth to say "Oh, I don't have to do anything, and strangely enough, Taggert, I am not going to be pressing charges. Carly, I let you get away with hitting me once before, do it again and I will hit you back."

"As if, like my guards..." she was interrupted by Elizabeth laughing.

"Carly, if you slap me first, then I hit you back and your guards interfere well, I hate to tell you this, but they got to jail, you go to jail for conspiracy and well I get to watch as you try to explain yourself to Sonny. Who from what I hear isn't too happy with you at the moment, something about the FBI?" she said with a grin.

Everyone saw Carly turn a very ugly red and heard her cursing without a word of regret for her close call; she just kept threatening the waitress with everything under the sun including her friendship with Jason.

Walking home, she missed the blond who had seen the whole thing. He went back to his hidey hole, having arrived a few hours before. Only two men knew he was in town and neither were the guards assigned to Carly.

Jason thought about what Francis had told him that things were tense business wise, that Sonny was losing it, but that he was also hell bent on getting Alexis Davis into bed.

Seeing Carly and her latest temper tantrum, Jason couldn't help understanding the reason why Sonny wanted to move on, but at the same time, he worried about Michael and about what they would do for an attorney when Sonny did his usual and moved on to the next woman.

Elizabeth put ice on her face as she stood at her counter, and then called over to speak to Mr. Quartermaine. Getting through proved difficult, until she had the sense to call his wife and get her to arrange for her to be allowed to speak to the man.

"Thank you, for the job, but why me?" she asked. "Can I come over, talk to you face to face."

"Certainly my dear and you're welcome." he said then when she showed up ordered his assistant to bring them a late lunch. "I was at General Hospital yesterday, my dear, I heard your grandmother then found out what was going on, and it is a disgrace."

"Your grandfather would be furious with Audrey, as for Bobbie, she is living in a dream world, that daughter of hers has no more intention of getting a job, than she does of letting our family visit with Michael." he said with a frown. "I know what you did to protect them only for the Spencers to turn on you when you didn't marry Lucky."

"Bobbie was so nice at first." she said quietly. "Then lately it seems like nothing I do is right."

"Elizabeth, she still had this idea, that you would go back to Lucky... now that she is being forced to let that go, she isn't happy, none of them are. Your sister doesn't let them walk all over her, so they are..."

Flinching a bit, she said "Mr. Quartermaine, I am not sure that I should accept this job, not if it is just charity, I thank you for the offer but..."

"It's not charity. It is a legitimate offer. The reason I was able to arrange for you to get the job is we have tried to get someone down from New York for a while, but no one wants to work with the small collection we have and then there is our art collection we keep at the hotel. Now, I expect to see you, on Monday, working with our art restoration, acting as a go between, working with our insurance cataloger."

While Elizabeth was out, a man entered the studio, walked around, and then saw the list. Reading it, he stood there in shock then decided that while he couldn't do much about some of the items on the list, a few he could take care of.

Hurrying back to his bolt hole, he made a few calls then said "I am in town, are you certain you can handle things for a few more days?"

"Yes, strangely enough, I have the perfect way of keeping him distracted when you are ready." said the man. "What are you up to?"

"Remember when I left last year, what you told Me." he asked. Hearing the laughter, he said "I need a few things; plus some men that can work quietly, discreetly and quickly."

"What sort of skills?" he was asked. Hearing the answer, the man on the phone all about fell down in hysteria as he said "About dang time."

Taking out the copy of the birthday list, some of the numbers amused him, others broke his heart, but a couple made him hard as a rock as he found a way to prove to her how wrong she was about those items. Jason was regretting all the time away he had wasted in self pity and self indulgence because of the fear of finding out she was with Lucky.

Making a few calls, he arranged for her to receive the first item when she got home that night.

Elizabeth had stopped to get take out from Kelly's and had had run into Lucky and Sarah. They had asked for a moment and then had had the nerve to ask her how she felt about things.

"Elizabeth, please understand, we didn't do this to hurt you." said her sister.

"I just am not comfortable with the two of you dating. All I want is to not having it staring me in the face, can we agree to let it be for now." Elizabeth knew that if she tried to explain that it made her feel like a fool for the past year, they would act even more in her face, so she just let them think what they would.

Hearing Lucky telling her sister he thought she was going home to cry, pissed Elizabeth off because it was true, if not the for reason he thought. She was upset that the obligation she had been pushed to feel for him, had cost her the man she had come to face she had been in love with since she was eighteen years old.

Tossing her keys on the counter space, she saw the package with the block print handwriting and saw the note attached. "Happy belated Birthday!"

Opening it, she saw the phone, then that there was a number programmed in, along with a note telling her to call it in seven days... when she read the local area code, Elizabeth sat down, debating who had sent it to her, knowing her fantasy would have made it Jason, but no one had heard from him in a long time.

Smiling a bit at even the idea of Jason, she looked at the phone, then at the instruction manual. She spent the rest of the night reading it, finally falling asleep at two in the morning to the regret of the man lingering around.

The blond paced back and forth then thought about the list while waiting for her to fall asleep. After taking care of Sonny's problems, he had stopped in Boulder, found her family's direction, and then had actually met Elizabeth's brother. Steven had he had had a long talk, and then the blond had told Jason he was looking into something, something that hadn't made sense regarding Elizabeth.

When he had called the blond, Steven had told him that he knew that there was a secret regarding the parentage of the brunette who was his sister, he was not made aware of exactly what it was. But he would go and see what he could find out; in the meantime he would do what he could from Boulder to help Elizabeth. He had not been happy to find out Jason was already in Port Charles and the enforcer had made it clear he wasn't happy that Steven hadn't told him about the Lucky situation.

To his shock, he had found out that Steven hadn't known until three weeks earlier, that Audrey had lied to Jeff, told him his daughter's marriage had been postponed, not canceled. She had done the same thing when talking to Steven.

When Elizabeth woke the next morning, she saw that the candle was gone, a bit spooked, she went to the diner and was soon told that Bobbie had said she was not to work. Shrugging Elizabeth instead asked for a muffin and a hot cocoa.

Her head hurt from listening to the gleeful well broadcasted thoughts of Courtney, the blond seemed to think that she was all that and a bag of chips as she waited on tables. Hearing how she had befriended Carly, Elizabeth wanted to snort, yeah right, but just ate her breakfast, paid and left.

Seeing Zander, she asked if there was anything she could do for him, since he looked so upset. "Nothing, well, maybe. You know that Sonny is chasing after Alexis, I just am worried about Carly, I know you have good reason not to like her, but she didn't do anything wrong, not really."

"Zander, I am not going to tell you to not protect your friends, but face things head on. To us, Carly didn't do anything wrong, but to Sonny to the guards who would go to jail for what she was going to tell the FBI, yeah, she did do something wrong." Elizabeth quietly pointed out.

Not ready to go home, and enjoying the early spring warmth, Elizabeth walked along the docks until she ran into Alexis Davis who was kneeling on the ground and picking up assorted papers. Bending down, she helped the attorney who seems flustered.

"Here you go is everything okay, Miss Davis?" she asked as she helped the woman stand.

"Yes, thank you Elizabeth. I was just distracted and didn't notice the broken sidewalk until my heel got caught in it." she said showing her the broken point.

""You should be careful when wearing heels down here, I almost fell into the harbor once, and it's why I rarely wear heels anymore." she said smiling at the woman. "Look, my studio is over there if you want to wait and have someone bring you some shoes."

"I can't impose." she protested as she called her assistant but Elizabeth just said "All I have planned is to work on a painting, and since it is giving me trouble, you won't be imposing, more like saving me from making a mistake."

Following the younger woman up the stairs, she frowned a bit when she saw the rundown building. "Elizabeth, are you sure that this place is safe to live in?"

"I have lived here for almost three years now, the only trouble I had was when Moreno tried to plant a bomb in my studio back when Jason was hiding out in it." she replied then frowned when she heard the construction noise. "That started at eight this morning and no one in the building has any idea what is going on."

Letting Alexis in, Elizabeth went to see if any of her shoes would fit the woman who she found wandering around looking at her art work. "Elizabeth, these are incredible, why haven't you shown them?"

Looking at her paintings with a slight frown, Elizabeth said "The last few years, things have been complicated. I got stuck helping with that Deception thing, and then Lucky needed me to help save him, then all of that nonsense. I am just getting back into the painting, into being an artist."

Looking at the island scenes, Alexis said "These are interesting. They are brilliant, bright and yet, I can feel the confusion, the … the anger."

Sitting down, looking at Alexis, she said "I painted them when I was hiding out from Helena on Sonny's private island. I should have just kept the emotions I was feeling there. When I came back, I let myself be pushed back into being Lucky's Liz and forgot who Elizabeth was. The confusion was me wondering why it was okay for me to be in danger from Lucky's family, from Nik's, who my grams was all for me being around, yet all I heard when Jason was around was danger, danger, and danger."

"I get that, what about the anger?" she asked.

"When Jason left, he asked me to go with him; I wanted to, I desperately wanted to take his hand and leave. Everything but my head was saying, go, try and find out what this connection you feel for him is. And there I was, hiding, scared Helena was going to kill me and I was alone, yet again. I just regretted not giving in to my heart, I was angry with myself for not doing what was right for me and instead I was doing what was right for everyone else."

"Wow, I do get that." she said then looked around at the various paintings, including the Wind and said "This one, is pure joy, you can see the freedom in the colors."

"Yes." she said a bit surprised. "Alexis, how do you know so much about art?"

"I took several classes when I was in college." With a smile at Elizabeth she said "A long time ago, I knew an artist, fell in love with him. But I was barely a teenager and he, he was enjoying the free time he had, he was seventeen and had to go into the family business. You, my dear have what he always wanted, talent and time to paint."

"I just paint what I feel." she said softly.

Noticing the apron, Alexis said "Oh dear, you weren't on your way to work, were you, I will let Bobbie know..."

"No, I was sort of unofficially fired the other day." she replied telling the woman what had happened, missing seeing Alexis going to grab a pen and paper, nor seeing how her face had gotten so red as she listened to the young woman's story.

"Elizabeth what she did, what she had you doing was illegal. She took advantage of you, of your connections." she said quietly. "You have to let me talk to Luke and her about this. This was wrong."

"I don't care, I am done with it. I have a new job from Edward Quartermaine. I start Monday. I just want to let it go. I am looking on it as a lesson learned." she said proudly. Hearing footsteps, she opened her door to Alexis' assistant then when the woman had left, went to the art supply store, she had an idea she wanted to get down on paper.

Chapter 2

Alexis meanwhile, had canceled on Sonny, letting him know she would talk to him later before she went to Kelly's. Entering she saw the blond, then nodded at her assistant as they watched her steal tips from another waitresses section.

In between she sat at the counter and watched as Penny did most of the work. Getting photos as discreetly as possible, she went to the drug store and had them developed while she did some research. Calling Luke, and Bobbie she asked them to meet her at the Blues club office that evening.

When her photos were developed, Alexis thought about it and made yet another call. "Felicia, are you available to do some research on a few things for me. First, I want to know everything you can find on Courtney Matthews. Then I want you to research the Webber family, specifically Elizabeth and her parents, and I would prefer if Luke Spencer knew nothing about it."

Felicia winced, since her mistake with Luke; she had been warned repeatedly by clients of this very same thing. Sighing, she went to do the basics, and then called Mac. "I have to go to Atlantic City on a case, can you keep the girls."

"I will pick them up after school. Elizabeth Webber sent Maxie over a box of dolls; she said that they were for her to do with as she pleases. So Maxie will be happy." with that Mac hung up the phone.

Felicia regretted her mistake, it had cost her Mac, her girls were barely talking to her and she had been spending a lot of time with Bobbie's ex Roy DeLuca. Calling him, she said "I have a case; I will be back in a week."

She listened to what he had to say then gave him her itinerary "Colorado and New Jersey."

In the meantime, Elizabeth had no idea what was going on up on the top floor, as several men knocked out walls, secured bullet proof windows, put in plumbing and even a gas burning fireplace.

An hour later, there was a knock on her door, opening it to her neighbor across the hall, he started to talk then said "Wait, that smell isn't coming from in here. Miss Webber, what is that smell?"

In the hall, Elizabeth sniffed then said "Its plaster. I promise it isn't coming from my studio."

"I was just getting used to the oil and turpentine smells." he said with a sigh as he went back to his place. "Hey, rumor is that the owner is renovating the upper floors, do you think we have anything to worry about?"

Her eyes widening, she said "I wasn't aware of that."

"Yeah, I talked to one of the plumbers earlier; he said the owner had them turning the upper floor into one large studio. I was just worried, I like this place. You are quiet and I don't worry about security. I mean those two men who keep you safe; someday you are going to have to explain the bodyguards though."

"Bodyguards?" she parroted back at him. Then listening to his description, made a call and said "Mr. Corelli why are Johnny and you watching me. Is there something going on?"

"No, we just keep an eye on you when we are free. Jason made Sonny promise to keep you safe, but with business being the way it is, he seems to have forgotten. So we have been taking up the slack." he said looking at the blond man who was now frowning where he was standing across from him. "Elizabeth, I have to go, but I promise I will talk to you this weekend."

Jason saw the phone close and said dangerously. "There hasn't been a regular guard on Elizabeth, none at all?"

"No, Sonny sent her to the island like I told you, but no, no guard." he replied. "Johnny and a few of the men have been keeping an eye on her, especially when she would close the diner, but that was all we could do."

"I was told, by Sonny. That she had a guard, a regular one, he then had the nerve..." the blond was fuming, "He said he felt bad that sometimes it was just a newbie... that..."

"Like I said yesterday, things have been off and now... he tossed the office when Alexis canceled on lunch today." replied Francis grimly. "It's why you coming back now, is perfect."

Gripping his hands, Jason said "I didn't come back for this, I came back to see Elizabeth, to..."

"Jason, I know and I understand. Let's fix things but how do you fix Sonny?" he asked just as Johnny came in. "What?"

"I have Max on Sonny, he lost it. He cooked a complete dinner, and then went over to see if Alexis would join him. She wasn't there and when he called... she told him she would see him later with the files that she was at the club with a client... Jason the food, it ended up on the walls."

"Okay, I can't let Elizabeth know I am back yet. So first let's do some damage control. Tell me about Zander Smith and how he is working out." he stated.

"A few weeks ago, I would have wanted to kill him, but something has been going on, he has been thinking before acting. I am worried because he has a slight crush on Mrs. Corinthos since your sister dumped him. Then I heard him talking to Elizabeth, the same night he slept with that new waitress down at Kelly's. Anyhow, Zander, well he is fine short term and he knows it; knows the problems with the business."

"Okay, I will talk to him, get him out of it. Maybe use Carly to do it. Would he protect her if I sent them away together?" Jason wanted Carly gone, she didn't know it but he had been doing some research into her past and she had lied to him repeatedly. The only reason he wasn't taking Michael away, was well… he was going to let his brother do it. After all, AJ deserved the win over the blond. He just had to manipulate things like Carly had done before.

"Yeah, but Mrs. C doesn't intend to lose that title. She isn't going to go quietly." warned Francis then saw Jason's face and knew that losing the title of Mrs. Sonny Corinthos was the least of the brassy blonde's problems.

"Actually she is, after losing It." he said grimly. "I need you to make a call for me. Tell Sonny that an official from Puerto Rico called. Give him this information. It's what we are going to use to get Sonny out of the business."

"Maybe I should tell him face to face?" asked Johnny. Jason thought about it then nodded. Taking the faxed document, he went to the warehouse, stayed for the time stamp and then went to the Towers.

Knocking on the door, he let himself in after telling Max that something important had come up. "Sir, we got a call from San Juan about a document."

His eyes a swirling mess of black color, he snapped "What are you talking about?"

"There is a marriage license in here. For you to a woman named Olivia Falconari. She was looking for divorce papers since she wants to remarry but there aren't any. Sir, they are concerned because your marriage to your first wife and you one to Carly, well they might not be legal."

"This is nonsense." he said standing. "My marriage to Olivia was a trick; I pretended to marry her because she wouldn't sleep with me without the certificate. It wasn't legal."

"Sir that is the problem; turns out it was, sir. I called Alexis on my way over, she is looking into things." he stated, ever the good employee. "She has a copy and said that it looks authentic."

AT the blues club, Bobbie walked into the office where Luke was drinking bourbon and water. "Luke what have you done now?"

Laura followed in, sat down while watching as Alexis Davis entered. "Luke isn't the only reason I called this meeting. Bobbie, please have a seat."

Looking at each of them, she asked "How is Lucky?"

"Fine, soon things will be back to normal. He is almost past his infatuation with Sarah and will be back with the girl he truly loves and we can get back to our lives." said Laura. Luke frowned, but just looked at Alexis certain something was going on.

"Really, so you think Elizabeth will take him back?" she asked idly. "After Bobbie all but fired her?"

"What? Bobbie, if Elizabeth isn't working at Kelly's how do you expect them to get back together, you can't do that, you have to rehire her." said a frantic Laura. "You know that Lucky needs her."

"I know, I didn't fire Elizabeth, I just made it plain that I am the boss, she is the one who overreacted. She claims to have a new job, I am sure she is lying, but I won't bring her back for a couple of weeks, she needs to be more humble, because there is no way she can work for Carly otherwise."

Snorting at that one, Luke said "That is a pipe dream, Bobbie; Carly isn't going to run the diner for you."

"True, there might not even be a diner at that point." said Alexis looking around at these people and being amazed at how selfish they were. "Luke, did you know that Bobbie had Elizabeth illegally doing certain jobs at a servers pay?"

"So what, she is family." shrugged the red head.

"No, it' doesn't work that way. I talked to Elizabeth by the way, she doesn't care about the money but I have had just about enough of all of you. So here it is, Bobbie from my estimates you owe Elizabeth Webber over nine thousand dollars in back pay. I want a check tomorrow morning in my hand or three things are going to happen."

"And if I don't pay her?" she asked nervously. She didn't have that kind of money right now; she was lending Carly money constantly since Sonny had cut the amount he gave his now estranged wife.

"Well before we get to that there are some other changes. One is that none of you, and I am including you in this Laura are going to harass Elizabeth. She is not going to take up your slack regarding your son. She is disgusted he is sleeping with her sister, it isn't happening; take care of your own kid."

"But she-"

"Is a twenty-one year old woman and didn't give birth to your son, you did, you take care of him. Luke same for you, Bobbie, I would have let this go, but you... you were the one who pushed things. Elizabeth, drank poison for your family, was essentially emotional and mentally abused by Lucky, she was psychically abused to a certain extent but you all just said it was because of the brainwashing... that Lucky loved her, that she was family... until she stopped doing what you wanted, then she was tossed out... well good because she now sees all of you for the users you are."

"Elizabeth owes..." Alexis saw Luke's face and knew he got it. 'No, she doesn't, Laura, we owe her."

'Yes you do and I would start with that money she should have been getting paid all along. And if you don't have it, my first visit will be to the police station, Luke. Lucky has some lingering charges, ones that haven't been dismissed. Laura, I wouldn't count on Scott helping, he wants to be elected DA and is going to stay clear."

Seeing Luke's face she got he knew exactly what she was talking about. "Attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, another attempted murder. You can try saying he was brainwashed all you want, but we both know that courts don't really believe in that kind of stuff, it's too sci fic for them."

"Lucky needed help, not a jail cell." insisted Laura.

"Then why isn't he currently getting treatment if he needs help?" she asked then saw Laura flinch. "Yeah, I thought so."

"What are the other two?" asked Bobbie.

"Bobbie, Carly has a whole slew of charges that can be brought against her including assault, and I won't hesitate to make public her whole life, including her past before Port Charles and trust me it is a dozy. And one last thing, if I go to the government about issues with your diner, they will take a deeper look and that can't happen, can it Luke?"

Swallowing his fear as he thought about the basement and all he had stored in there over the years, he said "We will get you the money tomorrow."

"Certified check and I meant what I said, if anyone and I mean anyone in the Spencer family harasses Elizabeth all three of those things will happen."

Walking out, she made the call then sighed at what she was told. Heading to the Towers, she entered Sonny's penthouse and saw the mess. She didn't know how much longer she could keep working for this man. She had started with Jason, that was who her contract was with and she was just about ready to quit.

"Sonny, whether you intended for the marriage to be legal or not; you are legally married to one Olivia Falconari. I talked to her attorney, she is raging that you didn't file the divorce papers like she asked. I wouldn't recommend telling her that you never meant to marry her in the first place. It won't go over very well."

"The good news is that it makes getting rid of Carly easy." she said then saw his feral smile then gave him the bad news. "It does however cost you custody of Michael, since that was contingent on your being married."

Seeing him start to shout she said "But you have bigger problems. The Rivera family could legally claim back their half of your business since your marriage to Lily wasn't legal. I am looking into it, seeing if there is an heir but you might want to be prepared."

Sonny turned and looked at Johnny. "Get Zander here and find Jason, tell him he has to come home immediately."

"Zander is taking care of another issue regarding this." said Johnny quietly to Sonny. "I told him about the Carly problem, and more specifically the Michael issue, he is going to try and get her out of town."

"Good." he said. "Then you find out who is the heir to the Rivera business if my marriage isn't legal."

Johnny left and went back to where Jason was. "Okay, he is losing it. When do we send in the fake heir?"

"We don't. We have another problem, one I didn't anticipate. Olivia Falconari is on her way to town, and with her son." he said. His man said that Olivia was still angry, and then she had confronted a man Sonny had been friends with then, the woman now knew that the wedding hadn't been intended to be legal.

Elizabeth woke up on her crappy sofa, to the sound of someone banging on her door. Hearing her grandmother's voice, she opened it and said "My neighbor worked until three this morning, come in and be quiet."

"How..." she started to fume, and then looked at Elizabeth. Seeing her granddaughter, she shook her head then sneered. "Did you fall asleep in your clothes, you look terrible."

"I was up until one in the morning painting and it is barely six, why are you here?" she asked sitting down on top of the blankets. Frowning as she looked at them, she didn't recall covering herself up. "Grams?"

"I heard that you quit Kelly's, then I heard that you are threatening to sue Bobbie and Luke, seriously, Elizabeth what has gotten into you, you are reminding me of that wild child who came into town after I rejected taking you in." she huffed not noticing what she let slip as she walked around the room tsk; tsking at the mess.

"What?" the younger woman asked dangerously. "You did what? You know what, I don't care. I am done trying to get your approval, trying to do what you want so you will love me, because it is never enough, nothing I ever do is right. I mean, why are you even here, it's clear that you don't love me, it's clear that I am an embarrassment to you."

"Because someone has to keep you on the straight and narrow, so you don't turn out like your mother." she snapped. "A tramp that ended up with a kid she didn't want."

"What?" she was now passing shock, she had always thought Audrey liked Carolyn. It had never made any sense why, but she had. "My mother, while she is a lot of things, isn't a tramp."

"Yes she is, what kind of woman, girl really gets herself knocked up at fourteen and then thinks she is going to raise the kid. If Carolyn hadn't had a miscarriage, she would have never..."

"I'm adopted?" she asked sitting down in disbelief. "Carolyn and Jeff aren't my parents? Why would they adopt me if they didn't want a kid?"

"Jeff did, why I never knew, but he talked Carolyn into having another child, then when it didn't work out, she knew he would leave her and she found you." she said looking at Elizabeth. "I tried, I tried to love you, but you just... you just won't be like the rest of us. You are messy; you don't have any ambitions, other than to be an artist. You reject decent people like the Spencers, you talk to deviants like that Zander Smith kid, you are friendly with those dockworkers, and thank god you didn't actually get involved with that thug Jason Morgan. I give thanks every single day that that man left town."

Dazed, Elizabeth looked at her not so grandmother and said "Well let me do you a favor and cure you of your shame. I disown you. I am going to change my name, walk away and thankfully I won't have to ever see you again, now please leave my studio or the embarrassment will be from you getting arrested for trespassing."

Alexis had shown back up, needing for Elizabeth to come to her meeting with Bobbie and Luke, she had heard the tail end of the conversation, heard how Audrey was talking to her granddaughter and stood there feeling regret, she had let her need to win to fix things hurt this poor girl. "Elizabeth, I was coming to explain about Bobbie, but I am sorry about this, I had no idea..."

Looking in askance at the elderly woman she had always respected, Alexis said "I think you need to leave, now. And if Elizabeth wants, I will draw up some papers for you to sign, essentially creating a legal separation of the two of you."

Walking to the door, Audrey said "Elizabeth, you were always a disappointment, so this will be a relief. Ms Davis, I have to go to Arizona at the end of the week, please have those papers sent to me before hand so that I can have my attorney review them. As for you, I am certain Elizabeth that you will come to a bad end, women like you always do."

The younger girl shut the door then sat down. Standing she went over to the closet and pulled out the hippo, holding it, she sat down and had a very long and good cry while Alexis sat there, feeling sick while the man watching from upstairs, vowed to make someone pay for every single tear she dropped.

When she had stopped crying, Alexis hugged her and said again. "I am so sorry, Elizabeth. I had..."

"You didn't do this, I am grateful you did. I would have spent the rest of her life, trying to please her, trying to make her love me, but clearly that won't be happening." she said sadly. "And now I know why, I am not a Webber, never was."

Looking at her watch, Alexis said "We have to talk; I have to explain what I did."

"I need to shower and get changed." she said then stood mechanically and walked to the closet, gathered some clothes and went to the hallway. Showering and then returning she said "Shall we?"

Walking her to the diner, Elizabeth listened nodding where appropriate and then said "So how did you get them to do this, because the one thing I know, Bobbie is low on cash. Carly has been draining her for weeks."

At the diner, Bobbie had pulled out the big guns; she had Lucky and the rest of the Spencers there along with Nik who had the nerve to tell his aunt she was dead to him. "How could you turn on family?"

"Nik, you are my family, they aren't. These are the exact same people, you included who used Elizabeth to save yourselves and Lucky, but now act like she did something wrong by not marrying a man she didn't love, who didn't love her."

Lucky was doing his best wounded puppy routine but Elizabeth wasn't buying. Looking at them, she said "I didn't want this, not at first, but after one of you sent Audrey to my studio, got her all riled up and attacking me... I am taking this money, leaving this mess behind. I would prefer it if none of you ever approached me again."

"How dare you, you bitch." said Carly as she entered the room from the door. "Momma, don't do this, don't give this muffin faced lazy, flat-chested lying bitch anything. Alexis, wait until Sonny hears about this, you just wait... I am gunning for you, my attorney is going to make you look like a fool, and he says my prenup isn't worth the paper it is written on."

"Carly, Sonny has bigger issues and you obviously haven't gotten your copy of the paperwork, but you are right about that one, your pre nup." she said gleefully. "Mainly because it is contingent on your wedding being legal and I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it isn't. So to use your analogy, your wedding certificate isn't worth the paper it was written on because Sonny was a bigamist."

Elizabeth saw Laura look at her then shake her head while Luke tried to control his wife, well aware that Alexis wasn't going to back down. "Here, take the damn check."

"First, we all sign the paperwork." said Alexis. Showing Elizabeth she said "This states that you won't sue them in exchange for the agreed upon amount, nothing more or less than that. Luke, you and Bobbie both need to sign, in it you agree what you did was wrong and promise not to do it again."

Bobbie signed, tossing the pen down, then Luke took it up, read enough to know that Alexis hadn't screwed them, then signed. Elizabeth signed then took the check from Luke, reading it; she looked at Alexis and said "Six Thousand dollars? Wow?"

"No, hand it back to them, Luke, page two lists the amount and I believe you owe Elizabeth another three. I low balled the estimate in the original; don't make me take this to the labor board."

Not happy, he handed her the second check and just said "Darlin', I would be me if I didn't try."

Elizabeth gave both checks to Alexis who looked them over, including the memo line to make sure they said what they had agreed upon. After words, she called out "Scott, please join us."

When the blond did so, slightly embarrassed as he slunk out from where he had been hiding in the kitchen she said "Whoever else is back there, you too."

Two sheriff's came out of the back room, saying. "Ma'am, we are here to investigate this young woman, we were told she was blackmailing these people..."

"I am sure you were. I didn't come alone, Luke. Bobbie, you should know better." When Mac and Detective Capelli came from the outside, Alexis looked around and said "Do we all understand one another. Bobbie, while this does get you out of being sued, it doesn't clear you with the labor board. They can't get you for the money owed Elizabeth, but there are others, I talked to several of your past employees."

Flushing the red head said "How could you?"

"No, how could any of you." said Elizabeth. Looking at Lucky, then at Laura said "At one point I thought of all of you, well minus Carly as family... but like Bobbie said, I am not family. Oh, and you should know, if you try Audrey again. I just learned I am not a Webber either. I was adopted. So don't bother trying emotional blackmail using my family."

Leaving Alexis kept ignoring her ringing phone, drove them to Elizabeth's bank and watched as she deposited the money then frowned when given her slip. "Sir, something is wrong. I shouldn't have this much in the bank, only about twelve thousand in this account."

"Elizabeth, what is it?" asked Alexis then her eyes flared as she said "We need a copy of all records regarding Ms Webbers' account sent to my office by noon today."

"Certainly, we like to take care of our bigger accounts, personally." said the bank officer. The two women left, Elizabeth dazed as she read the balance. "Alexis, have you ever seen a bank account with this much money in it. I mean just a checking account."

"Not where the person who has the account doesn't know, but I will find out what is going on, I promise." she said then watched as Elizabeth carefully folded the small sheet that said she had almost a quarter of a million dollars in her bank.

Returning home, with some take out while Alexis went to work, Elizabeth placed her dessert next to the candles and saw that the one regarding a healthy amount in her bank account was gone.

Needing a distraction, Elizabeth painted, and then painted some more, while around town things happened that would fulfill more of her wish list.

Zander stopped over to talk to Carly Corinthos, confirming the news regarding Sonny. The blond started to rant, shouting about being used by the man…

"Carly, we have to get you out of town, without your marriage, Michael, AJ can go after Michael." he said then saw her face. "I have money, to get the two of you and me out of town, with Sonny's blessing until he calls to let us know it is safe to come back."

Carly was packed within minutes; ordered Leticia to pack up Michael's things then fired the woman as she drove off in Zander's SUV. The man called Johnny O'Brien. "Will you let Sonny know that I am getting them to safety and will be waiting for his call."

"Carly wants to talk to you." he said handing the surprised blond the phone who listened to the guard then said "No matter what, let me know the minute that Jason returns, the minute he wants us to come back."

Johnny didn't tell her that she wouldn't be coming back, that Jason was sending her someplace where they could keep an eye on her while she was with Michael. She would get a generous amount of money, but she wouldn't be wealthy enough to come back whenever she wanted without them knowing it and more importantly not enough to fight AJ.

Jason crossed the one regarding Elizabeth being called muffin faced, since she had always been beautiful, all that was left was to build up her self-confidence so that she saw what everyone else did when they looked at her.

Like a general moving his armies, Jason took care of a few other items on the list and hoped he was doing the right then, while away, Felicia Jones Scorpio had hit the jackpot as she caught the jet to Boulder Colorado to confirm what she already had.

At Sonny's penthouse, he heard the knock on the door, opening it; he saw Max and said "What is it?"

"Alexis called with an update. She has dealt with your bigamy; she arranged the funds for Zander to protect Michael and Carly. She also has checked there is no Rivera heir except Juan, Lily's son. She is checking on how fast she can get you divorced and wants you to find Jason. I told her you have O'Brien and Corelli on that, but she said there are a few problems with the stocks he signed over to you."

Sonny was now at the window, staring at the harbor, wondering why his life was going to crap when he heard a woman screeching at Max. Then a loud shout, then what sounded like Max screaming like a girl.

Opening his door, he saw the dark haired woman and said "What are you doing here and how did you find out where I lived?"

"Rather easily." she snapped then pushed her way in. "Sonny, we need to talk. You lied to me, you tried to cheat me and I have no intention of having that happen a second time. In exchange for a divorce since you are in serious trouble you are going to give me twenty million dollars and I keep your dirty little secrets..."

"I won't be blackmailed." snarled the man.

"Sonny, that isn't blackmail, it's a threat. Now, I am going to sit here, while you arrange for that money to be transferred to my bank account, and then I will leave peacefully." said Olivia as she glared at the man. She had to do this quickly, she had talked Dante into looking at the PCU campus, but she wasn't sure how long this would work.

There was a knock on the door, and then a blond man poked his head in to let his boss know he was now on the door. Seeing the Falconari woman, he just nodded then went back outside just as Alexis arrived.

Entering the penthouse, she saw the brunette, and then said "Sonny we need to speak privately."

"I am not leaving, Sonny, get your attorney here, I want you to take care of this now." said the woman with the broad accent.

"I am Alexis Davis, attorney at law, and would you be Olivia Falconari?" When she said yes, Alexis stated. "I will have papers for you to sign tomorrow, for now, I will arrange for you to stay at the Port Charles Hotel on Sonny's dime."

"Oh, I am not leaving here until my husband gives me alimony in the amount of at least twenty million dollars." she said sitting back and getting comfortable. Pulling a magazine out of her purse, she opened it and started to read.

Alexis pulled her boss off to the side then whispered. "Your marriage to Carly is over, Juan was disowned by Lily's father, so that money is yours free and clear, why don't you just give her part of that, to get rid of her."

Sonny watched as Alexis left, then went to call Benny. "Get twenty million dollars ready, for the morning."

Hanging up, he glared at the woman who was now sticking her glossy magazine back in her purse as he complained about her being the "Most expensive lay I ever had, hell you weren't even any good."

When she looked at him in shock, he continued. "I mean, if you had had any worth, I wouldn't have been chasing after you cousin, you had no ambition, no life, nothing out..."

There was a popping sound, and then Olivia looked at the man lying in a pool of blood. Whimpering, she was trying to leave when she saw the guard, fell to her knees and begged, please, please don't kill me, I have a son, a boy he needs..."

"Stand up." said Francis pushing her back inside. Making a call he said "The Sonny problem solved. His wife just shot him."

Checking his now dead boss' pulse, just to be sure, Francis said in annoyance. "What the heck are we going to do with you?"

Hearing a knock on her door, Elizabeth opened it to see a man wearing a medical uniform standing there. "Elizabeth Webber?"

"Yes, may I help you?" she asked then reading the note shouted yes then ran down the stairs leaving her door open. At the minivan parked in front of her building, she yanked open the back door and hugged the pretty brunette inside. "Emily!"

The two hugged, and then Elizabeth pulled back and said "Em, what is going on? I mean, can you walk or rather…"

"I wanted to come home, I have for a while, and it's why I ended things with Zander." She said with a smirk. "I knew that the best thing for both of us was for me to do that while I was in California. I dealt with a lot of things in consoling while there. Including a few issues I didn't even know I had."

She reached out and pulled Elizabeth inside the van then said "I had to see you, before heading home. You and Jason, but since he hasn't arrived yet, I still don't get that, he said he was heading this way when I last talked to him, then yesterday I got a call, asking when I was coming home then he said he wouldn't be there for a while, but I really…"

Out of breath, she saw Elizabeth laughing and hugged her friend. "I missed you, I missed this. I have been constantly getting calls from Nik and Lucky, telling me their side of the mess; I can't believe that Lucky thinks I am going to support his dating Sarah, I mean, his dating her last time was how you ended up in the park that night."

Shocked, Elizabeth was a bit thrown when she realized Emily was right. "Em, I am not getting back with Lucky, there is no way that I will make that mistake again. I can't, not for my own health."

With a sad sigh, she said "I know it's one of the things my doctor made me face. I am so sorry for pushing you back with him, all this time."

Hearing a knock on the window, she saw the intern and said "My driver is insisting on me heading home, I promised him I would stop for only ten minutes."

Looking at her watch, Elizabeth laughed then said "You and I have been talking for almost an hour. Oh, hey, one bit of news I will come over tomorrow and explain but as of Monday I am going to be working for ELQ."

Her jaw dropping, Emily said "Oh this has got to have a good story behind it."

Upstairs, she saw her phone was buzzing and answered it. "Elizabeth, this is Alexis. That money in your bank account, it came from someone who claims to have bought one of your paintings. One that was at PCU."

"Wait, someone paid that much money for one of my paintings?" she asked doubtfully.

"Er, something called The Motorcycle." She said shuffling a few papers and reading the names then frowning said "Oh, I see, Elizabeth this looks like some sort of series."

"It is, they sold it, and can they do that?" she asked doubtfully. "I mean, it was an assignment for School that I forgot to pick up. They were not actually paintings but a pen and ink set of mechanical drawings for one of my core classes." Sitting down, she giggled then said "Alexis, do you ever make wishes on your birthday?"

"Of course, though they rarely come true." She said sadly. "Why?"

"My brother, we went to this carnival years ago, there was this woman, a Roma, and she had these candles for sale. I wanted them but Carolyn, said no. Steven was already eighteen and he bought them for me. He has been cleaning out my parents' old house, and found them. He reminded me of my promise, to him. Anyhow, there were twenty one candles, they were supposed to be lit leading up to my birthday."

"Anyhow, the things on my list, they have been coming true." Elizabeth said slightly shocked. "I just, don't know why?"

"Because Elizabeth Webber, you have had a very rough couple of years and sometimes Karma looks out for those of us who are truly good." Said Alexis with a laugh as she read the name on the sale. She had a damn good idea who was making Elizabeth's dreams come true.

The brunette looked at the man across from her, certain she was about to die. "What are we going to do with you? I mean, darn it… why couldn't you hold off on killing him for at least a week, but now…"

"Find Max." said Johnny O'Brien grimly as he joined them. "I will talk to him, see what he knows, and then we will figure this out."

"We have to call the police." Said the woman looking at the dead body of the man she was married to. "Oh my god, what about Dante, what is going to happen to my little boy?"

"Ms. Falconari, uh, isn't your son ready to go to college?" asked Francis. He had been the one to run the report on her, there had been nothing, absolutely nothing on her having violent tendencies, it's why they had gone with the plan they had.

"He was, now what am I going to do, he will … he doesn't even know the truth about…" she burst into tears, leaving Francis to roll his eyes over her head as she bawled all over him. Hearing a knock, Johnny tensed then went to get the door. Seeing Max, he let the guard in.

"When you left, was there anyone here, besides Ms. Falconari, did anyone at all visit Mr. Corinthos today?" he asked grimly. The guard thought about it then said "Mr. Spencer, he borrowed some money, and then Lucky showed up. But they both left before that woman showed up and kicked me. Why?"

Johnny took the guard around to where the man was lying covered up, and said "He sent Olivia upstairs when Francis got here, Francis went up after her when she refused to come down, when they did, Sonny was dead."

"But—" Max tried to think, then said "I er, there was someone in Alexis' place earlier. The man that came to fix the plumbing but he was one of ours."

"Johnny, go talk to the man." Ordered Francis who then said "I talked to Jason, he was already on his way here; and he wants us to keep this quiet. We tell nothing to anyone until he arrives including Mrs. Corinthos, Max."

Nodding that he understood, Max went to the door then looked back and said "Francis, do you have a minute?"

"When we have someone else here to sit with Olivia." He said then told Max to stand guard for now. Turning to the woman he said "We are going to keep you out of this, there are some who would want revenge, luckily for you, and most of us aren't like that. I need you to tell me everything you told your son about your trip and I mean every single word you uttered."

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"To try and keep you out of prison and a graveyard." He said bluntly. When his phone rang about ten minutes after she gave him something to work with, he said "What do we do?"

"I hate to do this to you man, but you need to marry her." Said Jason even as he winced at the idea of what he was about to ask Francis to do. The man sat there staring at the woman then said "I am fine with it. Let me talk to Father Coates."

"Who is Father Coates?" asked the woman the minute he hung up.

"You told your son, you would introduce him to your fiancée after this trip right? And that this was a surprise for him, correct?" asked Francis making certain he had the facts correct. When she nodded yes, he said "Your cousin, Connie, do you know who her boyfriend is?"

"Some attorney, Lansing. I think, why?" she asked.

"Try the personal attorney for Sonny's biggest rival business wise, oh, and the father of Sonny's half brother and the man who forced his mother to give up her youngest child." Said Francis calmly. "To say he isn't a nice guy doesn't begin to cover it. And my guess would be he knows who the father of your son is."

Turning white, she said "Why does this matter?"

"Sonny, he has no biological children and with your marriage still being legal, well, his adoption of Michael wasn't. So here is the deal. I keep quiet about you killing Sonny and you; you are going to marry me. In name only, I promise." He said holding up his hand as if taking an oath.

"Why should I not go to the police?" she asked. "Why should I believe a word you are saying?"

"Go to the police, if you want but you will end up in a jail cell, and your son, will end up a pawn in this war. Whereas marrying me, you stay out of jail; your son won't be a pawn because no one will learn that Sonny is dead." He bargained. "We will make it look like he went on a trip."

Trying to find a way out of this, Olivia looked at the gun she had dropped, she knew her fingerprints were all over it, and she had gotten it from the bedside drawer of her cousin, who had said her lover Trevor had given it to her…

"Fine, but for now long?" she asked.

"Your son is to be a freshman in college, right?" he asked. When she nodded yes, Francis said "When he graduates, we get divorced."

"Annulled." She corrected.

"Agreed." With that Francis said "I will go and talk to Max, and then we will get married, and then go see your son. Get married again, with him as a witness."

Francis hurried outside, then sent Max inside to discuss what to do with the body. "We can't let it get out, not right now. Jason said things are too volatile right now."

Max agreed, but said "What are we going to do then?"

"Olivia and I are getting married, just in case. I need you to come with us, to San Juan, deal with their wedding certificate." Francis saw Max's eyes widen then he said "Alexis, I will deal with her before we leave later tonight."

Calling the attorney, Francis said "You need to stay away from the Towers this evening, and then I need you to arrange for Carly to get a lump sum of money from Sonny. Jason will explain why when he arrives."

"I know he is already in town." Said the lawyer. "Tell him to meet me where he is doing construction already."

"How do…" Francis thought about it then said "Never mind, I don't want to know. I seriously think you are part witch."

Elizabeth had had a burst of inspiration, and was still up painting at one in the morning. Thinking she heard Alexis in the hall, she opened the door and saw nothing. "Okay, you are so losing your mind."

Meanwhile a blond woman was letting herself into a nearly empty house when she felt a hand cover her mouth then heard a male voice say "Who are you?"

"Uh, I am a private investigator; I was hired by an attorney to look into something regarding a young girl who used to live here." Said Felicia, terrified she was going to die.

"What girl?" she was asked as she felt her arm going numb.

"Elizabeth Webber, my client is worried about her…" she stuttered. "Look, who are you, I was told no one was living here, that they hadn't since the Webbers went off to Europe."

Spinning her around, Steven looked at the woman then said "Wait, I know you. You are married to the police commissioner, Scorpio, isn't that his name? You have two daughters; one had a heart transplant several years ago."

"Maxie, yes, do I know you?" she asked.

"No, but I know who you are, who a lot of those people are. You had an affair recently with that sick bastard Luke Spencer. I uh, I am Steven Webber, Elizabeth is my sister and I would suggest telling me what attorney hired you."

The doctor saw her eyes widen at the comment about Luke Spencer, but he had no regrets calling things like he saw them.

"Let me call my client." She asked then dialed Alexis glad the woman was a night owl. "It's me; I was caught breaking and entering into the Webber home by Elizabeth's brother."

Alexis gave an annoyed sigh as she watched Jason pace back and forth in front of her. "Her brother? I thought Steven was a college student?"

"No, he looks to be a few years older than that." She said taking in the blond. "He wants to know who hired me."

"Tell him, its fine." She said then looked at Jason and said "I hired Felicia Jones to look into a few things regarding Elizabeth for me."

"Tell her to get back here." He ordered then said "Tell Steven to call me."

"Wait, you know Elizabeth's brother?" she asked mildly annoyed with the man.

"Turns out, we are cousins of a sorts." He said shrugging just as his phone rang. "You have to get here as soon as possible, things have happened that moved up the timeline."

"I can't get there for at least a week." He said frustrated. "Wait, this woman, she is a private eye, right, maybe she can help me."

"Keep her off the phone, at least keep her from talking to her husband, to Spencer and to a man named Roy DeLuca and we will have it handled." Said Jason who saw Alexis looking around the room. "Do you think she will like it?"

"If she doesn't, can I move in?" she asked in shock at she checked out the bathroom. "How did you get this done so quickly… never mind, stupid question."

"I can't tell her I am in town, at least not for another day." He said a bit flushed. "Uh, Alexis, there are a few things I have to tell you."

"Same here." She said. When they sat down, she gave him what she had and listened to what he had to tell her. "Oh my god, are you certain?"

"Yes, we ran the tests again. I should have known better but I just figured she was telling me the truth." He said softly then walking to the window said "With all of that, plus what is going on with Sonny, I don't know… I never wanted this business but I can't walk away as long as we need to keep the charade that Sonny is alive up."

"I will do what I can to help you, but how long do you think you are going to be able to deal with this. I have a sister, Jason. She is out of town, with Jasper Jacks, but she is going to be returning and I want to live my life."

"Me too, I a hoping that it will be wrapped up by the end of the year, Alexis." He told the woman. "I lost hope, thought I had lost any chance of Elizabeth… this is our chance, hers and mine."

"When are you going to tell her about the studio? Wait, the candles, did her brother tell you?"

"No, I broke in to her place the day I arrived in town, found them, and then called Steven. He explained how they were supposed to work. I just… things were already happening, by the way do you have any idea what Edward is up to, she is supposed to start working for him Monday and I don't want him using her." She could see the worry on Jason's face and for once was relieved that she could tell him why Edward was up to no good.

"He isn't. Skye overheard Audrey laying into Elizabeth at the hospital, it reminded her of her adopted father, she called Edward, and then the rest just happened." Said Alexis. Seeing his shocked expression, she said "I call and asked. I told him that I was worried about her, since she was so alone right now."

Friday morning, Elizabeth woke up and wondered why her sofa felt so off as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, then blinking looked around, closed her eyes then reopened them. "What the heck?"

Next Chapter 3

Kicking the blankets off, she stood then walked to the doorway, opened it and saw she was right at the stairs instead of a hallway. Then turned around and saw the note with her name in block letters. Reading the happy belated birthday, yet again, she turned her jaw dropping as she said "Oh my god."

Seeing the art supplies, the very ones she had drooled over, but had known were way too expensive for her to buy, the way her paintings and current art were stacked neatly against the walls, then looked around at all the space, then saw the doors.

Walking over, she saw the first one led to a bedroom which had two doors as well. The first was a bathroom, with a shower that made her grin while the bathtub made her imagine the scene from a book that Emily and she had once read.

Walking back out after rubbing her face against the soft towels she found, Elizabeth opened the other door and saw the clothes. There were lots of little drawers, opening them up; she found lots of silk and lace, purses, shoes, even stockings. Blushing when she picked up one of the lacy bits, she said "I really doubt that Jason picked these out."

Then thinking on it said "I really hope he didn't. I would hate to be jealous of the clerk who helped him pick them out. But wait, what if this isn't from Jason?" she said now frowning at the idea of someone touching her intimates. Seeing some of her own items mixed in with the new clothes, Elizabeth said as if to remind herself "Wishes really don't come true."

Finding the invitation, Elizabeth was wondering what was going on and why whoever was doing this hadn't just come forward; she sat down, just as she heard a soft ring. Lifting her phone, she saw the text message and went to call Emily.

"You are so not going to believe this." She said in shock and then told her best friend what was going on. Emily hid her laughter, she had had fun fulfilling Jason's request, and from the sound of it, Elizabeth was happy with her choices.

"Elizabeth, so did you get the invitation? I am happy for you, but when you called, I was hoping you were RSVP'ing." She pretended to scold the brunette who had no idea just how private the party was going to be.

"Yes, but Emily are you sure you are up to partying, I mean you just got home." She said. Her best friend was walking but it was still clearly a challenge for her.

"Since my parents are insisting on spending time, just the three of us, this will let me get used to being around them again, and then it will just be a private very small group, actually a party of two. Please Elizabeth, doesn't it sound fun."

Agreeing, Elizabeth said "What do you want me to bring?"

"Yourself, but dressed up, because there will be dinner in the grill, I want you to knock every single man you see sock's off." Emily giggled well aware that it would only be Jason and her best friend even if Elizabeth wasn't.

Jason fell into bed, exhausted. Francis had meet Dante; they had all been a bit shocked at his resemblance to Sonny. The not so happy couple, her son and the dead body of Sonny was heading to Puerto Rico, from where they would continue on to Jamaica.

"Sonny" would send a message to Port Charles, where Jason would once again take over, letting the family's know that there was a medical issue being dealt with. Then in a few months, hopefully by Christmas he could announce his partner's death.

The boy had been suspicious of the relationship between his mother and Francis, but he had seen how nicely the man had treated his mother so he had decided to keep quiet. Jason had called to let the know that he had made sure that Taggert knew he was in town, then that Sonny had gone out of town.

The cop had been belligerent, but Alexis had walked into the warehouse just then, told Jason she had the papers that Sonny wanted faxed and then asked the detective what he was doing there.

The cop had left, not happy and blissfully unaware that he had been used as he returned the station and told his boss. "The Borg is back, turns out Sonny had to go to San Juan."

"More than likely to solve his bigamy problems, what on earth was the man thinking?" Said Mac absentmindedly as he read the police report on his desk. "Look, I need you to head down to the diner, there is a problem. I have seen that waitress, the new blond one someplace, get a photo then run her." In truth, Felicia had called, warned him there was something she couldn't tell him but to get a cop to check out the blond.

Taggert took off, and then Mac called his ex-wife. "Okay, I did what you asked, what do you know?"

"I was hired to look into her, and I can't tell you." She said annoyed at not being able to warn him about who the blond was. "Just keep the girls away for now."

Hanging up she read the file then closed the drawer before going to look for Steven Webber who was working out his last few days of his residency. "Nothing, nothing at all. Are you sure that your parents actually filed adoption papers?"

"My dad is a stickler for the rules, so yeah, I mean, what about in Port Charles?" he asked.

"I will head back to town to check." She replied. "I need to deal with some stuff."

Calling Jason after she left, Steven let him know that she was on her way back. "We found nothing; absolutely nothing about Elizabeth's being adopted."

Elizabeth was exploring her new studio. The next day and a half passed quietly as she ignored the knocks from the Spencers on her door below.

She had heard about Carly leaving town from Alexis, how Bobbie had been upset when Courtney was arrested. Now they had come looking for her to fix things. What she didn't know was that her parents had found out what Audrey had done, were pissed. Jeff out of worry for his daughter, Carolyn that the person who had given the girl to her would find out.

Sarah had been ordered by her mother to join them in Moscow, the blond had argued then had been told something by her mother that had her high tailing her butt out of town.

But not before telling Lucky the only reason she had been dating him was to upset her sister, that he had been lousy in bed and that he should have stuck to Lizzie.

After pouting for the afternoon, Lucky decided that Elizabeth was the woman for him and had been stalking around the studio. He had even picked the lock. He had smirked, believing he was the reason for the lack of current painting that she had been pining for him.

Upstairs, Elizabeth had heard the Spencers, then Nik all trying to get her attention. She had taken pleasure in knowing she was safely away from their antics. Then frowning, called and warned Emily.

When it was close to the time she was to meet Emily, Elizabeth had wondered how to get rid of the man lurking in the hallway never seeing him talking to another man before leaving. She had only seen he was gone so she had showered, changed and pulled her hair up before slipping on the spring jacket so she could head out.

The man outside the studio called Spencer and said "Elizabeth just left, dressed up. She caught a taxi; I think I heard her say Port Charles Hotel."

Lucky quickly changed, then went to tell her he was willing to take her back.

At the Port Charles hotel, Elizabeth was directed the private lounge upstairs. "Ms. Quartermaine was quite insistent that we shut down the elevator."

"I understand." She said then when she arrived, the waiter took her coat, and then escorted her to a table. Hearing the soft music, the candles on the tables, and mood lighting and no Emily.

Worried Emily was trying to get her to talk to Lucky… she whirled at the sound of footsteps, determined to let her…"OH MY GOSH!"

She saw the man standing there in the black dress pants with the gray dress shirt, she felt her lips tremble in amusement when she saw he wasn't wearing a tie but was wearing dress shoes. A bit worried, Jason watched as she stood there seemingly frozen. "Eliz-"

Rushing across the room, she threw herself into his arms asking if this was a dream. He had had gripped her tightly, holding her against him, while one hand started to rub her back as she hurried her head into his shoulder and burst into tears.

"Hey, what is with the tears? I might think you are unhappy to see me." He teased when her head came off his shoulder and looked at him. "Now that is better. I have a lot to tell you but first, do you want to sit down and eat?"

"I don't want to let go of you." She said then felt herself pulled back into his arms as he gently kissed her lips then pulled back to look at her.

"I am going nowhere, at least not without you." He said his eyes staring intently into hers. "Do you hear me?"

"Yes." She said softly while he soon had them seated next to one another as she still hadn't let go of his hand. "Jason, where have you been?"

"Taking care of some things for the business." He said then after telling the waiter to deliver the food, watched as the man was paid off then locked out of the room. "There is so much I need to tell you. I will start with, I understood why you stayed, I didn't like it, but I understood it."

"You may, but I don't." she said annoyed. "I was so sure that I was the only one who could save Lucky. I can't help wondering if he was brainwashed or if it was me."

"You were doing what you do, saving people, I understand because I do the same thing, well did do the same thing." He said with a laugh then a hard sigh. "I left town to take care of business but while gone, I found out a few things that Sonny didn't want me to know. He was the aggressor, he told me it was Sorrell but no, when I took out Moreno, Sonny saw it as a chance to take over his territory in spite of there being an heir."

"Sonny? He… wow." Said Elizabeth shocked. "Why?"

"There is more, while gone, I ran into someone, the very much not dead Brenda Barrett to be exact." He said seeing her eyes widen he said "With a drug dealer, she was in the middle of a mess, I rescued her with the help of the man's twin, then talked to Brenda and she told me something that made me curious.

"I went to Bensonhurst where Sonny was from and found out it was true. So I walked away. I couldn't come back, I thought I had nothing to return to, that you had married Lucky, that Emily was now in rehab and I could see her there."

"What about Lila, what about Michael and Carly?" she asked a bit surprised at what he was saying.

"I talked to my grandmother, she tried to get me to return, I think she knows what I feel about you." He said "As for Michael, he was happy with Sonny and Carly. Then I heard about the divorce, then what Carly had done."

"I knew that the best thing for Michael was for Carly to stand on her own two feet, it's why I had Zander take her away. If she relies on me, she will never grow up." Said Jason. "I love that little boy, but Carly… I hope that if she is away she will do some growing up."

Seeing that Elizabeth doubted it, he said "I don't know that it will happen, but I won't deal with her. I won't let her keep manipulating me. I can't because if I do, she won't ever let me have my own life."

Serving them, he said "I came home last week, I uh, found your list and deci…"

Elizabeth flushed more than a bit embarrassed as she buried her face in her hands as she recalled the list and asked "Did you read everything on it."

"Yes and before the end of the month, I am going to make sure every single one of those wishes…" Elizabeth put her hand over his mouth, her eyes horrified as she asked "Including the ones about you is that why you are…"

Removing her hand, he looked at her then said "No, it just gave me the incentive to tell you what is in my heart, that I… that I love you, and have for a very long time."

Whispering, she wiped the tears that were blocking her view then said "I love you too, it took you leaving for me to even be able to admit it, but I do love you, I have for years… since you stayed with me in the studio. I just… felt like I owed Lucky but why?"

Leaning down, Jason gently kissed her again then said "There is a lot more I have to tell you, but I want you to know, that trip to Italy, I was thinking we could go in July, attend the Palio. But I was wondering…."

"Wondering…" she repeated then suddenly said "Emily, Emily that rat fink knew about this and didn't warn me."

Smiling as he watched her pouting he said "Yes, she did. I called her, told her to get her rear home that you missed her and while she was avoiding Zander, you needed her. Then since I couldn't be seen just yet, took care of all of this for me, including your clothes."

"I uh, I can't believe you…" she looked down the turned red as she said "I must have sounded so self-centered when you read that…"

"How would you get that? Elizabeth, you are the least…" There was a sound then one of the guards showed up. Jason stood then asked "What was it?"

"A dog, he managed to get past security downstairs and tried to interrupt your meal." Said the man with a straight-face as he recalled the look on Spencers face...

Jason sat down, then thought about Johnny's description of Lucky Spencer and knew that the idiot was trying to win Elizabeth back now that her sister was called out of town. Well too bad, he had stepped back once for the boy and the idiot had hurt Elizabeth terribly, well never again.

The young couple, ate, talked and filled each other in on all that had gone on over the previous year. "I uh, I was determined to let you be happy, then there was this woman, she reminded me of Carly. She kept hitting on me."

He said laughing at the memory. "Then I heard your voice, saying you missed me. I had, I just knew I had to come home."

"I am glad you did because I did miss you. I tried not to; after all I was the one who stupidly thought that leaving meant abandoning my family." She said clearly disgusted with herself. "But they weren't my family, heck, my family isn't my family."

"I don't get Mrs. Hardy; I would have sworn she loved you." He said softly. "That was one of the reasons I didn't push so hard when I left, I didn't want you to lose what little family you had. I met your brother by the way; Steven is looking into things, trying to find answers for you."

"I was too ashamed to call him, to tell him I wasn't his sister." She said looking down. Jason saw the time, and then stood, holding his hand out to her. "Come with me."

"Anywhere you want." She said standing then found herself led to the terrace, seeing the band, she said in shock. "Jason, what is this, you hate to dance."

"Dance with me." With that, he held her close as they danced to the soft orchestral music, "I will never forget the first time we did this, how badly I wanted you and hating myself for my attraction when I thought you only wanted to be my friend."

"I wanted more; I just didn't understand it, Jason. I have never… Lucky and I never… we uh, my rape then his death, plus he didn't love…" Jason cupped her neck with his hand, tilted her head up and gently kissed Elizabeth before deepening the kiss as he claimed her for his own.

Lifting his head to take a quick breath; Jason bent down and claimed her lips again and again, both of them forgetting about dancing as they explored one another openly for the first time since admitting their love. Pulling back just a bit, he said "When the time is right and it will be, you and I will be magic together."

Resting his head against hers, Jason said "However, the band is only here for another half hour, so let's dance."

Twirling her around like Emily had explained how to do, Jason then pulled her back in close, not liking her being so far away from him. As the bells of St. Agnes struck midnight, Jason kissed Elizabeth and told her he had one more thing to show her.

Johnny meanwhile paid off the band and sent them home while downstairs, Lucky who had woken up in the laundry chute had called his brother. "That thug Morgan is home and is trying to steal Elizabeth away from me."

Elizabeth was in a love filled haze as Jason helped her put on her coat then escorted her down to the lobby. Nik and Lucky who were just exiting the basement staircase tried to catch up but found themselves running into four of Jason's men who quickly made the twosome take a nap. "O'Brien, why are these idiots so persistent?"

"Take them to Wyndemere and dump them someplace." He said annoyed as he ignored the called from Carly Corinthos. "What is going on and why are all the morons coming out tonight."

Showing her the small car, he said with a smirk. "I know it's not a motorcycle, but for how, I think you should be able to feel the wind."

"Jason, you didn't have…" she sat down on the hood in shock. "Seriously, you shouldn't have."

"Yes, I should have, and Elizabeth if you don't want to hurt my feelings just say thank you." He teased. When she flushed then said thank you before looking in shock at the convertible coupe. "Besides, it's Italian."

Laughing, she hugged him then said "Yes I know, it's why I am having a heart attack." Looking at the Maserati coupe convertible, she felt like she was dreaming, there was no way all of her wishes were going to come true.

"Jason, do you have your bike with you?" she asked shyly only for him to laugh while pulling her into his arms.

"Yes, but we can't go for a ride this evening, I wish we could. There are things in play, things that need to be done so that we will be safe from here on out." He told her before escorting her to a car.

Looking at Johnny who was silently watching from the sidelines and smiling in approval he said "Keep her safe."

The Irishman gave him a grin then said "Like she is my own."

Jason moved in close to one of his most trusted guards and said threatening the man only half kidding "You had better not forget that she is mine."

Looking at the young girl, Johnny then looked at his boss and said "She certainly is, don't screw this up."

"I won't. I thought I had lost her, now that we have another chance, there is no way in hell that I will even give Spencer or any other man an opening to take her away from me." He stated before going to find out what Felicia Jones Scorpio had on Courtney Matthews.

An hour later as the blond finished explaining things, then admitting that Roy DeLuca had called her earlier and mentioned watching Elizabeth for Lucky, he made plans to deal with the mobster then said "She is Sonny's sister, does she know this?"

Being told yes, he tried to figure out what to do with the blond. When the man at the Towers called and said "Jason, a woman at the police station, she called claiming to need to talk to the boss, she says she is his sister."

"I will head down there. You take care of the shipment this evening." He ordered then told the man to hand the phone to Max. "I need you to come down to the station, with that attorney Sonny has been considering."

Lansing seemed to think that no one would connect him to Sonny and the man's past, but Jason had already been putting things together after Brenda and Luis Alcazar. He truly didn't like what he was finding out.

Max brought the man down; Jason was not at all surprised to meet Ric Lansing.
"Mr. Corinthos had to go to one of our Casinos, so I need you to prove yourself by getting Ms. Matthews out of jail then arranging for her to get the lightest sentence possible." Jason had no problems using this man to make it seem like Sonny was still alive.

Ric was thrilled, he had been worried when he had heard that Sonny had left to head down to his own private island but clearly if he trusted him with this assignment, that meant he might let him come work for him, giving him the trust he needed to destroy his brother for their mother choosing Sonny over himself.

Fifteen minutes later, Courtney was told she was free to go that she had a court date in a week by the attorney who had come to get her out of jail. "You will plead guilty to petty theft and will pay restitution."

"I don't have any money." She whined only to be told her brother was going to take care of it. "Okay, when can I see my brother, I really need to find out about our father."

"Mike Corbin, if he is your father lives here in Port Charles." Jason announced as he walked up to where the blond was standing rather closely to Ric Lansing.

Courtney's eyes widened as she took in the very handsome blond wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Simpering as she smiled and said "Thank you, could you please take me to my father."

"I will run you over, Ms. Matthews." Ric said eagerly. Courtney at first dismissed the attorney, after all he only worked for her brother and the other man was hot, but when they left the police station, the blond hopped on a bike and the attorney had a Mercedes.

"Thank you, Mr. Lansing." She said as she looked over the man and thought he wasn't bad looking and clearly he had money. Too bad that the blond didn't, she thought to herself as she was soon knocking on her father's door.

The drunk let her into the shabby apartment then snidely told her that Sonny would not help her out, "He only helps me out because of his wife, but now that he has dumped Carly, I am out in the cold. As for that lawyer, don't trust him. His father once employed Sonny's mother as a maid and took advantage of her. He won't treat you any better. You would be better off with Morgan."

Pouting a bit at the failed reunion, Courtney went back to the diner then convinced Bobbie she had been wronged. "It's fine, Courtney, I heard you are related to my grandson's father, I knew there was something about you, the moment I saw you. I heard Sonny is out of town, how did you get out of jail?"

"Some attorney, Ric Lansing who works for my brother, he and one of the guards that work for my brother showed up. He was handsome, but there is no way I will let myself fall for just a pretty face no matter how handsome." She sniffed.

"Sounds like you met Johnny O'Brien, wait, you already knew him from when you first came to work for me." She said puzzled.

"No, this one is blond, he left the station on a motorcycle." She said sneering. "He was dressed in jeans and a leather jacket; he looked like a step up from a vagabond."

"That is your brother's partner, Jason Morgan. I had no idea he was back in town." Said Bobbie feeling slightly ill at ease, and then dismissed it before telling Courtney to take the morning off then come down and help with the lunch crowd.

Pouting a bit because if the hottie was her brother's partner he had to be just as rich as Sonny and she wanted to track him down, Courtney went to her room and got some sleep never knowing that she was about to make the biggest mistake of her life.

Ric Lansing had seen her interest and while he had been planning on going after his brother's attorney and love interest, this; this would work so much better. Courtney Matthews was his way inside and nothing was going to get between him and winning out over his brother.

Elizabeth woke up to the sound of pounding on a door the floor below. Hearing Lucky shouting and cursing as he banged on her old door, Elizabeth smirked then called Mac Scorpio. "Sir, Lucky Spencer is at my door and I am scared to answer it. He sounds like he is drunk and keeps calling me filthy names."

Five minutes later, an officer showed up and arrested Lucky, telling him they had had complaints from the neighbors about a drunk and disorderly.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked while the officer backed up a bit after getting a whiff of the smell of the alcohol. "Besides, this is my girl friends studio, I am allowed here."

Once the man had Lucky out of the building, Elizabeth got changed into one of her new outfits, called Alexis and then drove her new car to the station while Francis followed; amused to see how cautiously she was driving the car Jason had gotten her.

Entering she saw Mac talking to Taggert and Capelli. "Mac, are you sure that Elizabeth isn't dating Morgan like Lucky is saying?"

"That doesn't matter, Taggert. It doesn't change that she asked him to leave, that we have had several calls from her neighbors and it doesn't change that no man should get away with calling a woman the names he was." Mac had not been happy to hear what Lucky was saying about Elizabeth, as a father it made him want to slug the annoying Spencer kid.

"I'm not saying it does, but it does mitigate the circumstances, he is more than likely…" Taggert couldn't believe that Lucky would do something like this.

"Jealous. Is that what you are going to say or that he is worried about me?" Elizabeth said as she stopped next to Mac. "Either way, it is none of Lucky's business who I date. He is suddenly so interested because my sister dumped him after telling him how lousy he is on bed. She called and left a message on my machine. As for safety, please, do any of you recall me drinking poison to protect Jason or Sonny?"

When they all nodded no, she said "Well I did to protect Lucky and the Spencers, I have been repeatedly threatened, I was shot, I was almost killed repeatedly, Taggert. Where were you with your warning then? Or do you only warn me about Jason, but hey, if I get killed because of the Cassadines or the Spencers that is okay, is that what you are saying?"

"No, but Elizabeth, Jason Morgan is dangerous." He warned the young woman as he back off on what he had been saying regarding the Spencer kid. "Or do you not recall the bomb in your studio?"

"Actually, I do, Taggert. I also recall that you are the reason that Jason almost went to jail after saving my life." She said quietly. "Yet, I don't recall you ever arresting Lucky and he has been physically abusive to me."

Taggert looked from Elizabeth to the man in Interrogation One and entered the room. "What could you have to say for yourself, what are you thinking Lucky?"

"That my bitch of a girlfriend is fucking Jason Morgan. I saw them together, at the hotel. She is whoring herself out to that thug, I mean, after all I have done for her, for that slut to treat me this way, she is nothing, I mean nothing without me. I was the one who saved her, she is mine." Lucky couldn't believe after everything, Elizabeth would dare become involved with Jason Morgan.

"Spencer do you have any idea how delusional you sound?" he asked while inwardly glad that Elizabeth had gotten away from the younger man. He had always thought Lucky Spencer was better than his old man, better than most after he had been so patient with Elizabeth that day at the station several years ago, but clearly he wasn't who Taggert had thought he was.

Trying to convince the man he was wrong, the cop just kept arguing, and instead of convincing the kid he was wrong, all he got were more four letter words and filthy names.

Getting that he was getting no where, Taggert saw Laura Spencer and her ex-husband entering the station, leaving the small room he saw his boss and said "Mac, Spencer alert."

Mac sent Elizabeth with Capelli to his office where the detective asked her questions so he could write up a police report.

Alexis walked in right after the not so happy couple and heard Laura shrieking at Mac for arresting her little boy. "Mac, he is sick, he needs help and yet you arrest him. I mean, he was only visiting Elizabeth, you should be able to understand why he is upset, after all you didn't like Robin spending time with Jason Morgan either."

"I also didn't show up at Morgan's place or where Robin was; drunk and creating a disturbance like Lucky did. Your son blew a 2.1 on my machine and that he is still standing is a miracle. Add to that several of the neighbors heard Lucky calling Elizabeth a whore, and a few other names including … here, read the report."

Laura read what the uniformed officer had written and said "Mac, you don't know that any of this is true, I mean Jason Morgan could have bribed these people to say these things."

"Did he bribe Taggert and me? I just heard your son spouting some of the vilest crap I have ever heard in my life and let me tell you, those weren't the words of a man in love, more like a man who needs to spend a very long time in a jail cell."

Taggert looked at Spencer then at his wife who saying that Lucky was just mad because he had found out Elizabeth was speaking to Jason Morgan. When Alexis started to talk, Taggert said "I don't care if Lucky walked in on Elizabeth and Jason having sex, there is no excuse, none for the garbage spewing out of Lucky's mouth, Laura. But then a woman that married her rapist might not have a problem with it, but most normal people do."

There was silence in the room for a few minutes as Taggert's words echoed thought the suddenly quiet station. Laura Spencer had turned chalk white and when Luke turned on the detective and threatened to have his badge, Alexis said quietly.

"I would be the first person to stand up and say that while Detective Taggert isn't what I would prefer in a police officer, he was correct in this instance, and then I would point out your family's various unpleasant acts regarding Elizabeth Webber, including how Laura could be charged with poisoning her. You do remember convincing a barely twenty year old girl to drink poison, to save your family."

"Taggert was right, clearly there is an issue with Laura if she thinks what Lucky said was in any way appropriate, even if he was rather blunt about it. One more thing to think about, Luke, those rape charges, they are still listed as an open case." Warned Mac then looking at the two of them said "Your son is going to be facing charges; you might want to get him an attorney."

Capelli finished with Elizabeth and the brunette was leaving the small office just as Laura was given the bad news that Scott was NOT going to help her son out of this problems, when she had asked Alexis, pointing out she was Nik's aunt, the woman said "Elizabeth Webber is my client, I won't represent the man attacking her."

"MY SON DIDN'T ATTACK HER, WHY ARE ALL OF YOU ACTING LIKE LUCKY IS IN THE WRONG. He saw the woman he loves with Jason Morgan, the man is stealing Elizabeth away from her family, from those who love her best."

"Good lord, is this the crap you have been spewing to my daughter?" asked Jeff as he entered the station with his son. Steven saw Elizabeth in the doorway where she had been standing unnoticed by the Spencer family until that moment.

"Elizabeth, Elizabeth, you know that Lucky loves you, you know that you mean the world to him, how can you do this, how can you treat him this way, after all he has done for you, after all we have done for you?" asked Laura as she went to approach the young woman.

Jeff stepped in front of the blond and prevented her from getting close to his daughter. "Enough, Laura. I know about Lucky have a relationship with my other daughter, I know about how Lucky's so called love only reemerged when Sarah dumped him. Now, I suggest, you stay away from my daughter or I will give the police just enough to reopen a certain murder of Leslie's late boyfriend, you know the one I am talking about, don't you?"

Flinching, Laura looked at Jeff and said "Why are you here, I heard that Elizabeth is adopted and that your family disowned her, why would you even care?"

"Well I didn't disown her, her brother didn't either. Audrey had issues with Elizabeth's parentage, I never did, and I just wanted the best for her, it's why I thought she was here in Port Charles. I had no idea, none of what was going on in this town and right now, as angry as I am, you might want to back off."

Looking at her father's back, Elizabeth felt Steven pull her into his arms and then heard him telling Laura. "That is why you thought you could get away with this nonsense, why you are all so upset with Elizabeth's relationship with Jason. Not because of whom he is, but because he is someone that will stand up for my sister, someone who won't let you walk all over her. Audrey did because she was certain that being with Lucky Spencer was more respectable than being with Jason Morgan, otherwise she would have hated Lucky too."

"We are more respectable than that gangster." Spat out the blond while her ex-husband saw the ironic look in the doctor's eyes then his sneer as he watched them impassively.

"Wow, you really are forgetting Luke's past aren't you, as for you, Laura, well what kind of mother abandons one son, goes home, has two more kids then practically spits in the first son's face when he saves her daughter's life? I see nothing, absolutely nothing respectable about the Spencer family. As for Bobbie, has she completely forgotten her past, how she worked in the family business?"

When they all glared, Jeff turned and said "Elizabeth, have you signed everything you have to press charges against this boy?"

Nodding yes, still slightly stunned to have her father standing in front of her, as well as having Steven there, she meekly followed them out the door. That ended when she saw Emily and Monica outside. The blond was glaring at her father while the brunette rushed to hug her best friend.

"Are you okay? Jason wanted to come but Mom pointed out that his showing up might make things worse, I promised to bring you to him right away but Mom said that you had to have lunch with grandmother first, something about artichokes."

"Elizabeth hates artichokes." Said Jeff with a slight frown. "Come to think of it, all of my children hated them."

"I don't hate them." Said Elizabeth who added lamely. "I just don't like them very much. They are rather bland. Emily, can I borrow you phone to call Jason, I left my cell phone at my studio."

Handing her phone over, Emily was amused to realize Elizabeth had talked Jason into joining them at tea with her grandmother, and then saw her looking at her father then hugging her brother. "When did you arrive?"

"I finished packing things up, then dad showed up. We talked and I told him what was going on, he was in shock and insisted on me letting the movers take care of the rest." Said Steven with a smirk. "Besides, Dad was looking for some shirts of his; I seemed to recall them in your stuff."

Elizabeth had an old memory flash then looked at her dad and said "Emily, will you call Jason back for me, let him know that I need to talk to my dad, that I will see him later and let your grandmother know that I will need a rain check when it comes to lunch. Something has come up."

Nodding when she saw the serious expression on Elizabeth's face and then the one of Dr. Webber's face and her mother's, she said "Mom do you know what this is about?"

With a sad smile she said "Yes, Jeff and I talked about it a few years ago, I am going to let the driver take you home, Jeff if you don't mind, I am going to tag along while you talk with your children."

Nodding, he said "How about the Hardy house?"

Meanwhile Alexis and the DA talked and he went with her to see Judge Greenblant, within minutes the man had the restraining orders written, then he called over to Mac Scorpio and said "I want Detective Taggert to deliver these, personally with his usual disregard for the law."

Mac got the message, he wanted Marcus to make it clear to the Spencers that there would be no contact, none between any of them and Elizabeth Webber, or her family or place of business or residence...

Jason got the message then thought about the one that Steven left him and drove his bike down Maple and parked behind the stone house that the Hardy matron had lived in.

Knocking on the door when he saw the rental car and Elizabeth's new vehicle parked behind it. "Dr. Webber, my name is Jason Morgan."

"I know, er, well I knew you as Jason Quartermaine." He said soberly then opened the door just enough for the blond to come in. "We were just about to talk and I guess it is appropriate for you to be here, Elizabeth is going to need you."

Jeff sat down across from his daughter, then looked at Monica who had helped him arrange for the care that his daughter had needed all those years ago. "Elizabeth do you remember having a car accident when you were about eight?"

Thinking back, the brunette frowned then said "No, I remember being in the hospital, but not really why, around Christmas time."

"That was when this happened. We had visited your Uncle Rick and his wife Ginny at that time. Your Uncle was arguing with your mother as we made plans to visit my father and Audrey here in Port Charles. See, we had never told anyone the truth about your adoption up to that point."

"But Grams, Audrey said…" she stopped talking when she saw her father shaking his head no, and then taking a deep breath.

"No one. Anyhow, Sarah and you were fighting on the car ride, and I needed to talk to your Uncle. We did a switch, you went with Ginny in her car and your Uncle came with us. There was an accident. You were badly hurt. Your cousin Mike died."

"I don't remember." She said softly. "Why don't I remember?"

"Elizabeth, the car flipped and Mike was ejected, you were wearing a seat belt and when we pulled you out, you were fine. Then… the car rolled again. You were trapped underneath it because we had no idea you were that close, Rick had lost it because Mike was dead. Ginny was screaming… and when we got you to GH, your blood type, well it was strangely enough a match."

"How could it be a match if you weren't my father?" she asked confused.

"At the time I didn't know, we just donated blood and saved your life. However, Carolyn told your grams the truth, then something happened, a man showed up, asking questions, an attorney who was various curious about you." At that point, Jeff looked like he had swallowed a lemon before he walked to the window and stared out, his mind going back to that time.

"I am her father; she is my child, Mr. Lansing. You need to leave." He told the attorney who kept trying to get in to see Elizabeth. "I have no idea why you are so fascinated with my child but if you don't stay away I am going to ask Bert Ramsey to file a restraining order against you."

Watching the man walk away, he heard his wife hissing his name. "Jeff what are you thinking, that man is offering us a lot of money. You should have at least talked to me about this before telling him no."

Staring at his wife, he said "I am not selling my daughter for five billion dollars let alone five million. You know, nothing and I mean nothing about that man yet you would offer up our innocent little girl like she was a house or a car."

"Jeff, he is a lawyer, you saw the suit he was wearing, you saw the way he arrived, the limo. How bad could he be?" she asked annoyed. "Seriously Jeff, she has never fit in with us, she is always daydreaming, getting dirty and then there are the stories she tells. About being a princess and how she is going to do this and that some day."

"Carolyn, our daughter isn't up for sale." He said sternly then went to talk to Bert Ramsey like his father had suggested. Hearing the cop talking to someone on the phone, he was shocked to realize that the man was agreeing with someone that he would cover up his kidnapping a child.

Terrified that it was his child, Jeff quickly turned to his ex-wife Monica and her on and off again husband Alan. Between the three of them, they drove to Boulder with Elizabeth in an ambulance with their fifteen year old son, Jason along for the ride.

Since they didn't have any clothes and Elizabeth couldn't have anything too tight, she had slept in her fathers and Jason's shirts the entire five day drive home. Then Carolyn had been disappointed to find out that Lansing senior when he showed up no longer wanted Elizabeth, and had started to take it out on their daughter.

Within three years things were tense in the Webber household made worse when his wife had found out that Jeff had been talking to an old co-worker and ex-girlfriend. Then had come the day that Jeff could vividly recall, the day that Trevor Lansing had returned and tried to blackmail him and his wife for custody of Elizabeth.

He had made arrangements for Sarah to go to Port Charles, certain that she would be safe there, after all this man's obsession seemed to be with Elizabeth, then had let Steven know they were closing down the house to head overseas with DWB.

Everyone was to think Elizabeth had gone with them, but she was supposed to go and live with Ginny, who had always been overly concerned with Elizabeth after losing her son. She had unnerved Carolyn by suggesting she would have been a better mother to the young girl, had even at one point threatened to take them to court for custody of the girl who had replaced her son in her mind.

His sister Terri had promised to move closer so that Elizabeth would have a support system, Ginny had agreed to counseling, Rick had even agreed to step up and help. He had left Boulder certain his children were safe as they could be… too bad that had been a false sense of security.

Instead Rick had been offered a large amount of money to take a job on the West coast; Ginny had committed suicide when he had demanded a divorce telling her that his mistress was expecting his child. Terri had been told Elizabeth was with Audrey, by Rick who had promised to make sure she got there safely.

His mistress had had a miscarriage, he had forgotten his promise for almost three months then washed his hands of the matter when he found out that Elizabeth had somehow on her own ended up in Port Charles, he had pocketed the large sum of money Jeff had left for Elizabeth as well.

Jeff would only find out the truth when Sarah had fled Port Charles after graduating and when he had confronted his wife, found out she had taken a large sum of money to leave Elizabeth in Port Charles without anyone but Audrey to supervise. Jeff had checked on Lansing only to find the man hadn't come to town so he thought things would be fine.

When Sarah had shown up the previous day after her second visit to Port Charles, Jeff had eavesdropped as she had talked to her mother, complained about how Saint Elizabeth could do no wrong, and how she managed to land on her feet in spite of Sarah stealing her fiancée and trying to make her miserable like her mother had wanted.

Jeff had done another check of their finances and sure enough there was another payment from Trevor Lansing in regards to something that Carolyn had done for him. With in ten minutes of talking to Steven he had caught a flight to Boulder, with an hour of talking to his son then were on their way to Port Charles.

"Dad?" Tuning back in, he looked at Elizabeth and sat down explaining all that he had been thinking about, he saw her quick grin at Jason then her wry "I can't believe I forgot I knew you."

He was slightly ill at ease when the blond leaned down and gave his daughter a quick kiss and then grinned at her and said "I forgive you, after all I don't remember either."

"Dad, why does this Trevor Lansing keep interfering in my life so much?" she asked a bit confused. "And who is he?"

"I can answer the who." Said Jason grimly. "Trevor Lansing is the personal business attorney of the Zachara family. They run Crimson Point the way Sonny does here, but Zachara, the head of the family, he is ruthless, downright terrifying. Rumor is that the man is insane and that Trevor is really the person running things."

"That poor man, doesn't he have any family?" asked softhearted Elizabeth.

"A son, a few years younger than you, maybe about eighteen and a daughter my age, imagine Carly with a gun and a worse attitude." Said Jason grimly. "She works for the Uncle in Milan; rumor is she was sent off by her father after she had an affair with Trevor who has a son a few years older than her. That son, Ric is the product of an affair that Trevor had with Sonny's mother."

"What?" asked Monica in shock. "Sonny has a brother; I thought I heard rumors about a sister from Amy."

"The sister part we are still checking on, Courtney Matthews story so far is adding up, including Mike verifying that he was there when the girl was younger. As for Ric, it's true. When Adella, Sonny's mother was pregnant, from what we have found out, Lansing Sr told her she had to chose between her two sons and she left Ric with his father and kept Sonny, more than likely because he had virtually no one else at the time." Said Jason with a sigh.

"Courtney Matthews?" asked Elizabeth surprised as she told her family and Jason all about the blond and what had happened at Kelly's, "I just don't see it, she looks nothing like Sonny."

"We are discreetly running DNA tests even as we speak." Said Jason. "Sonny is on the island and is going to stay there until we find out the truth."

"Why though, why was Trevor Lansing so interested in Elizabeth?" asked Monica her mind trying to figure this puzzle out.

"I might have the answer to that." Said Zander as he walked into the door. Looking at Jason he said "Carly fled taking Michael with her, I have guards on her but I came home to deal with a little mess of my own."

"Tell us about Lansing first." Ordered Jason looking at the young man he was shocked to realize had changed quite a bit.

"When I worked for Sorell, back when I was dealing…" he said with a sigh when he saw the disgusted looked on Elizabeth's family's face he added "I was a very angry young man, let's leave it at that. As I was saying, Lansing works for Anthony Zachara and they were all connected."

"So what do you know?" asked Jason who saw his uncomfortable face and said "Would it be easier to just tell me in private."

"No, it's better to just get this out of the way." He replied. "Zachara's son ran away from home, he was eighteen at the time. It was a year before I met Emily and Elizabeth. Anyhow, Sorrell sent me to bring him back. I had a meeting with Trevor, then when we had the kid back I heard Lansing talking about Port Charles. He wanted leverage to gain control of the docks that Cassadine owns. Said he had a secret weapon, a young woman who could throw the Cassadine family into a tizzy. His words not mine."

"You think that the woman is me?" asked Elizabeth then frowned a bit. "Helena, remember when she wanted me to marry Nik? Do you think this is connected to that?"

"Maybe, but how are we going to find out?" asked Jason as he held his girlfriend's hand. "Do you think anyone in that family would tell you the truth?"

"We don't need them to, Elizabeth if you are related to Nik then you would be related to Alexis. Maybe you can ask her to take a DNA test, explain what is going on." Said Monica handing her the phone.

Elizabeth called her attorney then asked her to come over and met her at the Hardy residence without giving her anymore information.

Chapter 4

Ric Lansing was sitting in Kelly's talking to Courtney Matthews his way into the inner circle of his brother. When she suddenly seemed to be acting like she was better than him, then at the end of her shift asked if he could take her to see her brother, he said "Mr. Corinthos is out of town."

"Well then I want to talk to his partner, this Jason Morgan guy." She said then told him to wait as she went upstairs to shower and change. Dressed in her best outfit, Courtney slipped on the high heels that matched it and was now waiting for the man.

Ric finished his meal then decided to drive her over to the Towers, maybe this would get him closer to Sonny. "We are here to see Jason Morgan."

Carly who was sneaking in as quietly as possible, took a look at the blond wearing the skin tight dress and the sleazy lawyer and at first decided they were a couple but when she opened the door, she was amazed when the blond's eyes narrowed at her being there then looked at the attorney and dismissed him.

"Thank you Mr. Lansing, you may go now. I will be sure to let my brother's partner know that you did an adequate job getting me here."

"Courtney, Jason is your brother, let me guess, Alan slept with yet another woman?" she sneered then sat down and said as she got that Jason having a sister other than Emily was a good thing. "I knew we were meant to be friends."

Hearing the little boy crying, Courtney looked at the red head and said "Who's that, your son with Sonny?"

"No, actually Jason is his father." She said smugly. "I let Sonny adopted him when we were married but no, Sonny wasn't his father."

Her own eyes narrowing, Courtney kept quiet as to why she was there to see Jason, clearly the man had been involved with Carly before the woman had married Sonny, so she might just be competition, but clearly the woman wasn't a true blond, plus she had a kid and was definitely older, way too old for the man she had met.

"Sonny, I am trying to locate Sonny. Mike Corbin is my father." She said sadly. "He abandoned my family in Atlantic City, but I grew up on tales of my old brother the mobster."

Carly relaxed jut a bit, clearly this dumb blond wasn't a threat as far as Jason was concerned, he would never get involved with Sonny's sister, and he would never disrespect his boss that way. "That is so terrible, I mean, I know Mike, he has had some issues, but I thought he was getting clean of the drinking and the gambling."

Courtney wasn't too thrilled to see Carly playing lady of the manor until she found out they were at Sonny's penthouse that this wasn't where Jason Morgan lived. "Do you know where my brother is, I was really hoping to speak to him?"

"He is in hiding, something happened that caused Jason to send me out of town and Sonny more than likely went to his private island until it is safe for him to come back." She said with a shrug. "It could take a while, but if you want, you can move in with me. There is plenty of room and it looks like Sonny had some stuff remodeled."

Courtney said "Thank you for the offer, I will consider it, but I really need to talk to this Jason then if Sonny isn't available. I sort of stole some money to get here, and Jason arranged for me to be bailed out of jail by that attorney. But I am worried what comes next?"

"Wait, it wasn't a female attorney, Alexis Davis?" asked Carly in a shrill tone. "Then where is Alexis?"

"Maybe they fired her for working for Elizabeth Webber." She replied. "You know all the stuff she has been pulling."

"No, Sonny…" Carly started to call around, first she asked her mother. "Momma have you seen Alexis?"

"Not in a couple of days, we have been dealing with Lucky getting arrested." She said. "Luke might know, let me call him and then call you back."

The red head used her cell phone in the stairwell at GH, never noticing AJ Quartermaine was eavesdropping on her. The Quartermaine heir grinned as she asked her brother about Alexis then let it slip that she thought Carly had come back to Port Charles.

Calling his cousin and attorney Justus, he announced. "Sonny is hiding Carly at the Towers, can you file my paperwork."

"On Monday, the courts will be busy and that is the best day to get it past anyone that Sonny has watching." Said the attorney before adding. "You need to find out if Sonny has a new lawyer yet, Alexis Davis officially resigned from working for him. She is strictly your brother's attorney now."

"That explains why Carly is tracking her down, she has to know that Jason will do whatever she wants." He groaned. "Wait, who is now Sonny's attorney?"

"A man out of New York, Richard Lansing. He is mainly a mob attorney, something that surprises me, usually Sonny tries to avoid the appearance of being a criminal." Announced Justus as he frowned then said "Alexis just came out of Judge Pafins office. Let me call you back."

Stopping his fellow bar member, he asked "Are you going to represent Carly Corinthos in her upcoming custody battle?"

"No, I refuse to work for Sonny, Jason is well aware of that." She stated then continued. "If you are going to represent AJ, you might want to consider a couple of things. The first being that Jason doesn't want either Carly or AJ to have custody, he is going to talk to Alan and Monica. The second is, you might want to call Zander Smith to the stand, he might have an interesting story to tell."

Walking away, she mentally tried to figure out if she had broken any rules and decided she hadn't as she drove to see what was up at the Hardy residence. Arriving, she was surprised to see Elizabeth's father and brother were talking amicably with Jason and an apparently in town Zander Smith.

When Monica and Elizabeth came down the stairs, she said "Elizabeth what is going on?"

"Before we explain, what happened at the station?" she asked needing to know if Lucky was going to be an immediate problem.

"Okay, Lucky was charged and then the judge set his bail, Nik paid it, cash but there is a restraining order to keep him away from you. Jason, you might want to make sure her guards stick in close, because we all know how well the Spencer family obeys the law. Mac also has talked to Kevin Collins because the lawyer is trying to use diminished capacity."

"The doctor who treated Lucky before?" asked a surprised Elizabeth. "Why would he be helpful?"

"I spent the morning reading what the law has to say about brainwashing and anything that has gone on before regarding it. The closest the law covers it is involving cults. If the DA can prove that Lucky knew he was sick and chose to not get treatment, he will still be held accountable. Now Mac said that Kevin told him a few years ago when they agreed to drop the charges regarding Lucas Jones that Lucky was going to need treatment for years, maybe for the rest of his life… Laura, Luke and his Aunt were all present at this meeting."

"So, he can be charged and have them reject the brainwashing argument, he can have them accept the brainwashing and still face jail time because he didn't get treatment in spite of knowing he needed it, or he could get away with it?" asked Jeff.

"That is the beauty of their mistake." Said Alexis. "No, he won't be getting away with stalking Elizabeth and that is what they are charging him with. It is only the first two options for Lucky. He is either in a jail cell or Roselawn. The rest of the Spencers are the ones who might be in serious trouble regarding not getting him help and the more they push this off on it being Elizabeth's fault… they look worse and worse."

"Alexis, we have another issue." Said Elizabeth after thanking the attorney who said she did nothing, that it was the DA who was responsible and Mac.

"What is it?" she asked seeing the looks around the room.

"Something weird has come up. You know that I am adopted, but what you don't know is…" Elizabeth let her father explain about Trevor Lansing and then Jason explained who the man was before Zander told her what Sorrell and the attorney had discussed.

"Wait, this was BEFORE the crush that Nik had on you, so that means it wasn't because… what do you think it means?" she asked.

"What if I am related somehow, someway to the Cassadines." Said Elizabeth. "What if 22 years ago Stefan or I hate to say it Stavros had an affair. Maybe I am the result…"

"Elizabeth…" Alexis voice came out tiney as she looked at the young girl in front of her. "I uh, Jeff how old was Elizabeth when she came to you?"

"A couple months old. Why?" he asked.

"Like six or seven months?" she asked intently.

"She was only three months from the tests we had run, why?" he asked the woman who looked like she was about to pass out. "Ms. Davis, are you okay?"

"No." she said "Elizabeth do you remember my boyfriend, the artist I told you about?"

"Yes, wh…" Alexis saw Elizabeth's eyes widen as she looked at her then sit down carefully on the sofa. "Are I?"

"Possibly, I never have talked about this, but when I was fourteen I got pregnant. I was told I gave birth to a boy; this was in May of the same year you were born. Helena was the only person there with me because I went into labor early."

"From what I know of Helena Cassadine wouldn't she kill your child?" asked Monica.

"Unless there was a reason to keep them alive." Said Alexis grimly. "I think we need a DNA test, can we keep it quiet though."

Jason's phone rang just then along with Zanders. Both of them listened to the guards then looked at one another. "Okay, Paulie, I need you to tell Sonny's sister that I am dealing with business, then tell Carly that I am dealing with Michael's issues. She will keep out of my hair if she thinks it benefits herself."

Hanging up, he said "We need to get those tests, Mom I need to talk to AJ, I have some very bad news for him. There is no easy way to say it but Michael isn't his son."

"Are you…" Elizabeth wasn't thrilled that she might be dealing with Carly for years only to see Jason's smirk and said "Wait, are you telling me…"

"Yes, Tony Jones is Michael's father. I don't know how she keeps manipulating the tests but I ran one after saving Georgie Jones who had crashed her bike on the docks one day. She has a birthmark on her lower back, just like one that Michael has."

"Why on earth would Carly lie, I mean she came to town to ruin Bobbie, she still loathed her when she gave birth to Michael." Said Monica.

"Money, more specifically she knew that Tony wouldn't let her stay involved and she needed a way to keep me dancing to her tune, and if it was AJ, who I was still blaming for what he cost me…" said Jason softly. ""I played right into her hands, so did Sonny for that matter. I don't know what really happened but now I am having some doubts as to her story that AJ pushed her down those stairs."

"He claims he didn't." said Monica and then sadly saw Alexis looking at Elizabeth and said "Alexis, don't think of what you lost if she is your daughter, think of the time you have together going forward if it is true."

"How?" Alexis saw Monica's sad smile then said "Is this about Skye or Emily?"

"No, I had a daughter, Dawn. She uh, I gave her up for adoption, I was a poor teen who knew that I wanted better for my child, it was what would end up propelling me to med school." Stated Monica. "When she came back into my life, it was the most wonderful time, in spite of losing her a few years later."

"What happened?" asked the lawyer.

"She was dating this man and someone was jealous about it, the second man killed my daughter. Edge, the first young man, he stayed in town for a few years, tried to get over it, but then he was murdered while helping Frisco Jones. It was why Frisco became a cop." She stated. "But that little time I had, I cherish. My one regret however was that I didn't have photos or anyone who would tell me what her childhood was like, you however… have…"

With a grin Steven finished "The father who carried a video camera or photographed every single event in our lives until he had to leave town. I found tons of old VHS tapes of us, especially Elizabeth when it came to sports, and then there are the ones she doesn't know about."

"I do now, so spill." She ordered her brother as she advanced on him. "Steven Lars Webber, why are you grinning at me like that?"

Laughing so hard he was snorting he said "Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, dad has tapes of you practicing your act in the… garage, umph!" there was a flinging of a pillow as Elizabeth looked at her father horrified and whispering in shock. "You taped me, why would you do that?"

"Because you were absolutely adorable using my flashlight as a microphone, then there were the boots, someday you are going to have to explain where you got those things."

He replied unrepentantly. "It's what fathers do. Hey, I have your brother making his first move on Cecily Frank and getting rejected, it is blackmail material someday."

Zander felt his lips twitching then heard Elizabeth muttering about her baseball bat and kept his laughing under control while she glared at all of them including Jason who was strangely quiet.

Steven quickly made up an excuse to head out, then stopped when Monica said she needed to draw some blood from Alexis who followed her to the bathroom. When the two were finished, Jeff offered to buy Alexis lunch while they waited for the results since Steven agreed to run the tests himself.

Elizabeth hugged the woman, saying she hoped it was true. Meanwhile Monica quietly told Jason she would talk to AJ, making sure that Alan was there before telling him she was going to tell Tony Jones since she knew that Jason wouldn't want to be part of that discussion.

Elizabeth watched them all leave then asked "Jason, why are you so quiet?"

"I just… Elizabeth, if this is true, you have a family. One that is going to love you be there for you, but I am not sure…"

"Don't you dare try to dump me Jason Morgan." She said with her hands on her hips. "I love you, and from the sounds of it, I had a family all along. I have memories of this Ginny and she was wonderful to me, even before Mike died, I remember when I asked Uncle Rick about it a few years ago, he said she died, he never told me the rest. What a jerk, did you know he is in town, trying to head up a takeover of GH for some HMO."

"I love you too." He said quietly as he held her. "I just don't know what I did to deserve you."

"Well, it must have been pretty bad." She replied with a grin. When his head came up in alarm she said "I can't cook, I clean my studio up only when I can no longer find things or need to do laundry. I get lost in painting and forget the real world quite frequently. I have a pain in the rear ex-boyfriend whose family is nuts and if it turns out to be true that I am Alexis' daughter, well then I am a Cassadine and that is worse than even being a Spencer."

Holding her tightly he said "I love that about you, you see the world and try to make it better."

"Let's get out of here, I want to show you something." She said with a grin. "Did I tell you that I sold a couple of my paintings?"

"A couple?" he said frowning a bit. He had arranged for one of his people to buy one painting. Bernie had mentioned that only one was available, did that mean…

"At the university, I was a bit surprised. Alexis has been suggesting I have a showing, she saw them the day she broke her heel." She replied then looking at Jason as they walked out the door and she saw the bike. "Can we go no where?"

Within minutes, they were heading out the cliff roads, Elizabeth closing her eyes, her face to the wind. When she felt the motorcycle stopping, she blinked then saw the bridge and hugged Jason tightly before saying. "I love you, so much. Thank you for this."

Sliding off his bike, then helping her off, he led her to the other side then said "I love you too. How are you doing with all this upheaval?"

"It's strange, the candles well, they were me feeling alone and now, it turns out... I have a possible family, and the one I grew up with, it turns out my dad has loved me all along. I remember this Aunt Ginny, she was so sad when Mike died. I kinda remember this Terri as well... yet, I believe..."

Jason saw her trail off, then her eyes seemed to tear up before she continued. "I just thought I owed Lucky, so I stayed because to me the Spencers were family. When they attack me, when they say these horrible things, it hurts, but it's like cauterizing a wound in a way. The more they hurt me, the easier it makes walking away."

"I am sorry for what they are doing." he said quietly. "Alexis told me about the diner, what has been going on there with you doing all this extra work at no pay, how she fixed that. She feels bad, like she should have kept it quiet, for your sake."

With a laugh, Elizabeth said "No, that is the one thing that helps, that she felt the need to try and fix things for me. In spite of everything going on, then to learn she might be my mother, I like Alexis. She is smart, independent and doesn't let anyone take advantage of her. I just am curious about the blood, and how dad's blood saved my life."

Suddenly looking up at Jason, she said "I would understand if you don't want to answer, but why did Carly think she would get away with doing what she did?"

"Because she pitted AJ and me against each other. It was what made it work, because we never sat down, compared her stories." he said sadly. "I feel so bad for Michael, and even Tony Jones in a way."

"I know he was so mean to you, when you were hurt." she said softly. "She might have thought that if you were angry, if you learned the truth... you might still help keep Michael from his dad."

"No, I did that to AJ because I thought he hurt Carly, when she was pregnant... now... well she set him up before. I wonder if she didn't just slip and then blame AJ, knowing that I would help her." he said bleakly. "She manipulated things, me, and I let her."

Reaching up, she ran her hands through Jason's hair as if to comfort him, then said "Michael was the one she hurt the worst. I know that learning all of this stuff, about my parentage, it hurts, badly. Hopefully though, for Michael's sake, things will work out."

Jason didn't have the heart to tell her that he was almost positive that a very ugly court battle was about to happen, one that would tear various parts of this town apart as sides were taken.

At the Quartermaine mansion, AJ entered the study and saw his father looking confused, while Alexis and Monica were talking to Tony Jones and Mac Scorpio who looked like he had a headache. "What is going on?"

"Sit down." she ordered. "Now, I was talking to Jason..."

"Let me guess, golden boy was trying to get you to help Carl..."

"Enough, stop interrupting me, that was not what he was doing." she scolded. Then looking between the two men, then at her husband and son, she just asked what she needed to. "AJ, can you tell me about Michael's birthmark?"

"What birthmark?" asked Tony confused.

"Michael has a birthmark, in the lower part of his back. It's about the size of a dime." said AJ not sure why his mother was mentioning it. "It has darkened a bit, in the pictures I saw of him."

"Mac, does Georgie have a birthmark?" she asked as Tony tensed up as he looked at Monica and got that something earthshaking was about to happen.

"Yes, its in the same spot, Maxie does as well, but Georgie's is a little more pronounced." he answered then looked around the room getting the undercurrents were over his head.

"Mom, no, we ran tests." AJ said while he felt his heart breaking just a bit.

"Jason said he saw Georgie last spring, that she had a bike accident on the docks, he saw the birthmark but didn't think anything about it at first, then when one of his men sent photos of Michael at the beach with Sonny a couple of months ago, he saw Michael's looked a lot like hers."

"Are you saying Michael is my son?" spat out, Tony, furious with the blond homewrecker.

"Jason had tests run, as soon as he came home. Yes, Tony, Michael is your son. He is trying to find out who Carly had alter the tests, but he is sure she did. He has her at Sonny's penthouse, he left town after a confrontation with some woman he tried to fake a marriage to."

"He is on his island, he left quietly when Jason returned. Taggert had a run in with Jason the same day. It certainly explains why he took off." said Mac as he continued. "While AJ might have a difficult time going for custody of the little boy, with his history... Tony..."

"Has a damn good case, and when you add that Carly knew you kidnapped your own son, that she lied in court, that she shot you... well she was foolish to return." said Alexis with a wide grin as she got what Jason did. "He set her up, sent her out of town, with Zander, knowing she would run right back when she knew he had returned."

"He knew this before she left town." said Tony planning on getting revenge, "Mac, you can charge him with kidnapping, for that."

"No, actually I can't." he snapped annoyed with the doctor. "Tony, he didn't have to tell you, he could have kept quiet and you would have never know... don't let your pride get in the way of the life you could have had, or I will think you have been spending too much time with those damn Spencers."

"What do you mean?" asked Tony who then listened in shock as he was told what Lucky had done, then what the family was saying. "I can't let my child be raised in that mess."

"You won't have to." said Alexis, "I represented Jason in his custody battle, I have never actually been paid a dime by Carly Corinthos, I can help."

"Why would you? What would..." Tony found himself shutting up when the attorney glared at him. "What, it is a legitimate concern."

Alan led his shellshocked son out of the room and up to his own. "Let's get out of here, for a day or two. Maybe head up to the cabin."

Shaking his father's hand off, AJ said "No, I am not going to drink, I don't need a keeper."

With a bitter laugh, he said "I loved that little boy, I still do and all this time... how could she..."

"Because Carly is a viper who cares only about herself, this wasn't for Michael, this was her, trying to keep your brother around." said Monica as she joined them, along with a white faced Emily who sat down next to her brother and hugged him.

"I am so sorry, AJ." she whispered. "I talked to Jason after eavesdropping on what was going on, Elizabeth and he were heading back to town. He said he had no idea, none what she had been doing."

Standing, AJ said "I uh, I need to head out of town, I can't be here..."

Entering, the couple looked sadly as the man in front of them seemed to be trying to control his sobs, then at each other, before Elizabeth drew Emily out of the room, then Monica did the same with Alan. She was almost at the doorway, when she stopped to grab the Ming vase Lila had given her the year before. She wasn't completely certain but was worried that their bedroom was about to be trashed by their sons, but that it might be a good thing in the long run.

"AJ.." Turning, the older brother looked at the man his younger brother had become and wanted to slug him, wanted to hurt him, but it wouldn't help.

"What, you here to rub it in?" he asked caustically.

"No, I came to say I am sorry." Jason said with a heavy sigh. "I have no idea, none how she did this... it wasn't anyone who worked for Sonny, I talked to people, so did Zander... by the way... he had gone to Alexis, on his own about testifying about what he did to you."

"Did you know, what he was going to do?" asked AJ as he sat there staring at his brother. "Was your being gone, well was it so that it wouldn't be you?"

"No, I didn't." he said with a sigh. "Look, I left town because I was dealing with business, business that it turns out Sonny created by being greedy but more importantly, I left town because I was in love with Elizabeth Webber."

AJ's eyes widened then said "Emily's little friend, jesus Jason, she is just a kid."

"I fell in love with her when she was barely eighteen." he said softly then added. "But things kept keeping us a part. Now, we are together, well working on being together. I am not letting her go."

"Carly and Sonny aren't going to like that." pointed out his brother. "They..."

"Sonny might be gone, for a while." he stated. "Things are ugly right now for him. He is now hiding from a woman, one he married and fathered a child with. Turns out he was dating her cousin, then faked a wedding to get this Olivia into bed."

"As for Carly... she is going to be leaving town, as soon as Tony does what he needs to. AJ. Damn, I just... there are no words..."

Leaning against his mother's settee, he looked at his brother then out the window and said in a monotone, "Heck, I don't blame you, you never wanted me to know I was possibly the father... that was Robin, she was the one who told me I was a dad."

"There is more, but you can't tell anyone, just yet." he said with a sigh. "I ran into Brenda, while gone."

"Brenda?" AJ asked looking at Jason like he was delusional. "Brenda is dead, at least if we are talking Barrett."

"No, she isn't. She is looking to talk to Jax, but well... he is dating Skye, right now. I just don't know what to do, I don't like her, but I heard..."

"They are getting close, I think he is about to propose." groaned AJ. "Anything else, does Emily have an evil twin, Aunt Tracy is a Russian spy, I know, Grandfather is in trouble with the IRS."

"No, to Emily, as for Tracy, that is always a possibility and Edward, well I am shocked, I thought he just bribed them so he wouldn't have to pay." said Jason idly.

"Did you just try to make a joke?" asked AJ looking at his brother in shock.

"I guess not." said Jason ruefully as he thought about what Johnny O had said regarding his lack of humor. "I don't know what to say here, it's just not me. I just wanted to tell you I was sorry."

AJ stood, then said "Mom thought we were going to fight, but I have no more fight left in me. I am leaving town, getting away. I can't stay here."

"You need to stay for at least long enough to testify for Tony." he was warned. "I have to go, but AJ. Once again, I am sorry."

Emily was sitting on the stairs looking at Elizabeth like she was crazy. "Let me get this straight, you might be Alexis Davis' daughter."

When her friend started to laugh, Elizabeth was slightly in shock but when she just about fell down the stairs, she snapped "What is wrong with that?"

"Do you realize that Ned would have been your stepfather, that Jason your sort of relation."

"Technically in a weird sort of way..." Alan had come with his wife to find out what had his daughter so hysterical and sat down before continuing. Grimacing at the hardness of the marble, he said "Jason and Elizabeth's brother are cousins, Monica used to be married to Jeff... so serious, stranger things could have happened... though, if you want to seriously confused, how about this one. Laura Webber Spencer is your stepcousin."

"Thanks, Mr. Quartermaine." said a now laughing Elizabeth. "I guess being related to the Cassadines, could be worse."

"Not really, a low life, degenerate family like that..." grumbled Edward as he came to the stairs from his room. "Alexis is the only decent one in the bunch even if she fled from marrying poor Ned. Now why are you all sitting on the steps, did Monica have all the furniture donated again, or has she forbidden you to sit on it again, Alan?"

"Neither." said his son standing. "I stopped to talk to the girls and now,you and I are going to the library and having a very long talk. One where I am going to be doing the speaking and if you open your mouth, I will have that thug son of mine duct tape your mouth."

"Well I have never been spoken..." Alan escorted his father down the stairs, while in the shadows, Lila gave a little chuckle as her son closed the door down below. "So ladies, I gather our interrupted tea is the reason for all the hub bub, shall we?"

The two women followed Lila to her room, while Jason stopped them and gave Elizabeth a kiss before telling her he had to go and deal with Carly and the other blond. "Let me know, the minute Steven gets the results. I am going to be doing some checking on that man your father mentioned."

Meanwhile Jeff and Zander Smith were looking at each other, the younger man having had Steven call his father so they could discuss some things. "I know you don't like what you know about me. I was not a nice person, your daughter and Emily, they helped change that."

"You are still working for the mob, how different could it be?" asked Jeff as he looked around the warehouse with a shudder.

"Jason, well he isn't like what you think. As for me, well I have changed my life. I was almost out when he asked me to take Carly out of town. When she came back, I knew that she wasn't who I had been hoping she was. I will be leaving as soon as I help right a wrong."

"Why did you want to talk to me?" asked Jeff as he sat down on a crate, then carefully placed his hands in his pockets to avoid leaving fingerprints. Zander saw that and gave a slight laugh.

"My dad, he is a doctor, Cameron Lewis. He deals with post traumatic stress disorder, a lot. I never wanted to follow his footsteps, then my brother... it was not a pretty scene. I ran away from home, changed my name, dealt drugs to survive. Now, I am not looking for sympathy, that isn't why I told you what I did."

"Have you ever heard that phrase about doctors not treating their family..."

Jeff got the feeling this wasn't an idle question and answered yes. "My dad, when my brother died, I felt guilt, anger, resentment... I blamed myself, my dad, even god. The well regarded, well published Dr. Lewis kept saying I was going through a phase, that I wasn't having a breakdown."

"A few months ago, I did something for Sonny, something that gave me nightmares, something that made me realize that this wasn't the life for me... but I did something well most people would consider normal but in the import business isn't well thought of. I went to see someone... and was told I had PTSD."

"I gather you are getting help." said Jeff clinically.

"Yeah, but that isn't the point. I honestly think that Elizabeth is suffering from it too. When Mrs. Hardy left town, more like fled recently... I broke in, went up to her room and did some checking around... I stole this."

Taking his daughter's journal in hand, Jeff said "She has never liked writing in this..."

"There are pictures, they start about the time of her rape. There are good days, bad days and most important, when I look at the pictures, I understand them because I felt that same confusion, that rage, that anger... that pain."

"Have you told anyone else about this?" he asked as he opened the book and looked at the various dates and pictures.

"Yes, Jason's second in command since I wasn't sure Jason would listen to me. He has never really liked me after what I did a few years ago. He accepts me, but no, he doesn't trust me."

"Why?" he asked bluntly.

"Because Francis is one of the most loyal people in the world and next to Johnny the man who in the organization has Jason's back and to a certain extent would kill anyone that so much as looked sideways at Elizabeth. Now that the gloves are off regarding Lucky... my guess is that he never so much as gets within ten feet of her. They let this morning happen so that when they kill him, it becomes self defense or defending their charge."

"What did he say?"

"He told Jason, then he mentioned to me that Elizabeth, since ending things with Lucky has been going to rape counseling at Mercy since Audrey was involved with GH's. I uh, I wanted you to know, because I really doubt that you knew how bad things were for your daughter. For my friend, especially since her attacker is in prison and Emily made Jason make a promise that I know kills him to this day."

"What promise is that?"

"Not to kill the sick bastard. I was in love with Emily, when she told me what she did, knowing that this monster hurt her friend as well as her. Now, that I am past it, I know that she was concerned about her own conscious, but honestly I am a bit pissed she didn't think about Elizabeth's wants in this case."

"Do you think my daughter wants him dead?" asked Jeff, he was a doctor he had promised to protect all life, but he knew that if he ran into the man who had hurt his daughter so brutally, he would cheerfully kill him.

"Zander, what is going on?" asked Johnny as he entered the warehouse and saw the other man. "Why is Jeff Webber here?"

"How do you know who I am?" asked Jeff bewildered.

"Because Francis and I once plotted your death, strictly as an academic exercise you understand." said the man with the feral grin but cold eyes. Jeff shivered as he got that his life had hung in the balance with this man more than once. "Then, recently we got the truth, thanks to your motor mouthed blond daughter and your wife. When you showed up, well you came off of our hit list."

Not sure what to say to that one, Jeff said "What did you learn?"

"Not much, just that like most mushrooms, you grow in the dark. You doctor, clearly your single minded approach, well it doesn't work. Zander, Francis called, he wants a few words. I would call him back quickly."

"Why do I think that those words include Carly, that I am a moron and that warehouse duty is coming up." he said as he reluctantly took out his phone while leaving.

Johnny looked at Jeff then said "Zander means well, Elizabeth truly is one of his few friends but relax, she is getting help, she isn't suffering from PTSD, but she was in danger of losing herself. What you can do for her, is help her find out the truth, but even after, don't walk away."

"I loved that little girl the minute she was placed in my arms and looked up at me with what I thought was a grin then gave me the dirtiest diaper I have ever changed." he stated then saw Johnny's eyes laughing.

"I wish I dared tell her." said the Irishman. "But I like living."

"You are some big bad mobster, scared of my little girl?" stated Jeff as he tried not to snort in disbelief.

"Elizabeth has a temper, not one you see often, but it is there. And wowza when it blows. A few years ago, she got into it with Carly, told her she wasn't an angel and slapped her across the face. It was a thing of beauty."

Jeff wanted to know this version of his little girl, but some part of him, felt left out, alone as these people talked about a strong sweet girl who was winning hearts of some very hard hearted men.

Jason listened to Roy on the phone with Luke Spencer, then when the man hung up, stepped out of the shadows and stated. "You need to walk away, because if you help him, that is going to put you in conflict with me. I was already watching you, before this, I know about Alcazar, I know about the money you got from his attorney Ric Lansing. I also know that you are using Felicia Jones to cover up your dirty deeds."

Snorting a bit, Roy looked at the man standing in his apartment and saw the darkness in his eyes and said "I am protected."

"Maybe, but since Sonny left town, Luis took his obsession elsewhere, my guess... he wants his money back and soon." Jason replied. "Roy, you and I have never had a problem with one another, but now, this helping Luke and his son, well if you go through with it, we will be in conflict with one another."

"Is that a threat?" Roy blustered.

"No, a promise, there is no way I will let Lucky Spencer get near Elizabeth, he has already done enough damage, he doesn't get another chance, none of the Spencers do."

"Elizabeth won't let you..."

"She already agreed that if Lucky comes after her, if he even speaks her name, I am going to punish him. That a man, one with a daughter, would consider helping Luke, makes me wonder if you are the man I had always thought you to be."

Roy watched Jason leave, then made a call to South America. Being told that Luis was no longer in charge, he hesitated for a moment then asked. "Who is?"

When he was told it was the man's twin brother, he relaxed and went to see his old friend. "Spencer, I had a visit tonight, from Jason Morgan. It came with a warning, that if I help you with Lucky, he would make me pay."

"We both know that Sonny won't allow that, he has too much to lose." said Luke confident in his agreement with the mobster. "I have a plan, are you in or has Morgan scared you off?"

"I am in, Lucky doesn't need to be in jail, not after what Faison did to him.." said Roy slightly resigned to helping the brother of his old flame. "What do we need to do?"

"Can you get access to a boat, we are going to have to leave for a while, until Laura can convince Elizabeth to drop the charges." he replied then added. "What about you, can you take the heat?"

"Like you said, Sonny won't chance it. As for the boat, Alcazar has one leaving at one in the morning. We can smuggle you on board, there are suites."

Luke went to get his son, leaving Roy to make a call. "Lansing, what is going on in Caracas, I called and was told Luis was no longer in charge."

Ric swore, then hung up. Lorenzo didn't trust him, Luis was the only member of that family he dealt with. Deciding he needed to push things with his half brother, Ric thought about the blond who was also related to Sonny, then went to do some research.

He had just started to go though his father's old files when his phone rang. "Lansing, Sonny called, he has an assignment for you."

Hiding his elation, Ric said "What does Mr. Corinthos require Jason."

The blond smirked at the attempt to make him less than Sonny's equal and said "He would like you to take care of his sister, make her comfortable since he is currently unavailable. He would like you to do a little investigative work, find out if she is who she claims to be."

At that, Ric smiled then said "It will be my pleasure. How far does he want me to go, or rather do you want me to go."

Laughing internally at how transparent the attorney was, Jason said "Sonny said for you to make her feel safe and comfortable, however you do that, is your business."

When he hung up the phone, Ric was about to call Courtney when he decided to stop over at the penthouse where she was supposedly staying with Carly.

Jason came up the stairs, nodded at the guard he had outside and went in to deal with his supposed best friend. "Carly, we need to talk."

"Jason!" she shouted as she crossed the room and deliberately hugged him tightly in front of the predatory blond. "Where have you been, do you have any idea how much I missed you? How much Michael missed you."

"We need to talk, but I want Leticia to take Michael over to my penthouse." he said firmly.

"I fired her, she was asking question about why we were leaving and was just generally being a nuisance." huffed Carly while Courtney watched their interaction and decided the blond was no threat. It was clear that Jason was annoyed with the woman, she had hugged him, he had not returned the affection.

"I know, I talked to her yesterday and right now, she is staying next door, now that Alexis has moved into her new house." he revealed. "I asked her to come over and take him to my place."

"You are moving back into your penthouse?" she all but squealed in excitement. "That is wonderful, I am glad you kicked that lying cheating bitch out. She is helping to ruin my mother."

When the guard let in Leticia, Jason watched as she silently walked past Carly and up the stairs, returning a few minutes later, holding an excited Michael's hand as they walked past the three of them and out the door.

Once the guard had closed the door, Jason looked at the other blond and said "Courtney, this is to be a private conversation, but we need to speak afterwords."

Knowing that raising a fuss would only make him think that she was like Carly, Courtney smiled then went up the stairs to the room she had taken over at her sister in law's invitation.

Downstairs, there was silence as Carly saw the expression on Jason's face and started to get nervous and decided to ask. "Jase, are you angry with me? I am sorry but Sonny was acting strangely and you weren't here to fix things and I didn't know what to do."

"So you went to the feds? That was your solution?" he mocked. "Carly, what you did, right or wrong, well that isn't my worry. That is between Sonny and you, though you should know, that the guards, well they are rightfully angry. What you did, it would have hurt them the worst, they were the ones who would have gone to prison, or didn't it occur to you that the very men who were protecting you from Sonny's enemies are the ones you sold out?"

"But I had to do it, I had to protect Michael and me since you weren't here to do it, you left us, all because that bitch played with you." she raged.

"No, I left to take care of business, Sonny screwed something up and I had to fix it." he stated coldly. "Carly, that isn't what this is about. We need to talk about what Sonny did to AJ."

"He deserved it, he was trying to take Michael away from me, I couldn't allow him to do that, I couldn't allow him to take away my son." she said fearfully. "Jason, we know, we both know what AJ did to me, what he would do to Michael, he isn't fit to be that little boys father."

"AJ could never be Michael's father." he stated then saw her smile and wanted to make things clear. "Carly, I know what you did and guess what... right this minute, Tony Jones is next door, in that penthouse, getting to know his son."

Shaking her head, certain she heard Jason wrong, she said "What did you just say? I could have sworn..." It started to sink in and Carly looked at Jason, her face a mask as she tried to figure out how to fix this, how to spin what she had done. "Jason, I mean, that isn't funny, I can't believe you would even joke like that after he kidnapped my son."

"Carly, it's not a joke. Judge Duffer issued a court order allowing Tony to spend supervised time with his son. I have seen the results of the blood tests, Carly. I don't know who helped you, I don't care why they did, but right this minute, that man, the man you manipulated so badly is spending time with the little boy that my guess is, the court gives custody to."

"Jason, please Jason, you know that is wrong, you know what a horrible person Tony is, what he did to me, what he said about you." she begged as she reached out, gripping his arm. "Jason, I can't believe this, what has gotten into you... to hurt me this way, to act like this..."

"Nothing got into me, except I got tired of being lied to, by the way, this truth, this is the real reason that Sonny fled. You lied to him too, thanks to you, AJ was tortured, and for what? So that you could keep your cover up going. You lied, now you pay."

"B-but what about Michael, you promised to always be there for him." she pointed out desperately. "Jason, you promised."

"That was when I thought he was a fatherless little boy who had no one but his selfish, self centered bitch of a mother." he replied. Carly flinched with every single word he said. "Carly, I know that Sonny set up some funds for you. More than enough for you to get started elsewhere. Take them, because legally he doesn't owe you a dime and go someplace else."

"I won't abandon my son, I won't let you do this..." she shrieked loud enough to draw Courtney to the stairs. When she saw the blond, she looked at Jason and said "Sonny, I want to talk to Sonny, he won't let you get away with this, he won't let you take my son away from me."

"Carly, Sonny doesn't want to talk to you, he made it clear that I was to have you out of town before he returned." replied the blond as he looked at the woman who had set him up from the get go. "You have two choices, leave on your own, or I will have Johnny O'Brien arrange for you to go."

"You bastard, after all we meant to each other, how could you turn on me this way?" she asked feeling like she was suffering the ultimate betrayal. "Jason, why?"

"Carly, what exactly did you think we meant to each other. When you slept with Sonny, yeah, I was developing feelings for you, mainly because I thought you were growing, becoming a good mother, but instead you weren't. You were attacking my friends, lying to me, lying to everyone. Looking back, I can't believe I let you into my life. All we have ever had is sex and I have had sex with a lot of women, you were nothing special."

Carly felt herself slapping him, as she sat down, in shock at the way he was treating her. "Jase, please, please, don't do this to me, not after..."

"Tomorrow morning, Carly. There will be papers delivered, you will sign them and leave town. For every single day you stick around, another hundred thousand will be taken away, until there is nothing left." Jason then looked up and saw the other blond and said "Meet me at the other penthouse, I have a message from your brother. And I won't tell you this again, don't trust Carly. She will only lead you down the garden path until you are the one left holding the bag."

Courtney went back upstairs, grabbed her bag then came back down them and said "If I leave here, I can't go back to Kelly's, her mom owns it."

"Not a problem, your brother authorized me to give you some money and set you up in one of the penthouses." he stated then when they walked to the door, looked back on the wrecked blond who sat there, staring into space. "Carly, tomorrow will be here quickly. Sonny also said you can take anything you want from here, anything at all."

Carly sat there, after Jason had left, the words he had just said to her, bouncing around in her head as she contemplated how she was going to keep her son. "I won't let them take him away, I won't."

Next door, Courtney and Jason entered the penthouse where Tony Jones was sitting on the floor, along with Lucas who seemed shocked to see Jason with the blond his mother had working for her. "Don't, you two stay. Courtney follow me."

In the small room off the kitchen, Jason looked at the blond and said "What you just heard, your brother would appreciate it if it was kept quiet. Now, onto what h has arranged for you. Your legal issues with that family are taken care of, Sonny returned the money you stole."

Courtney started to protest but with an assessing glance realized that Jason was a mobster, he had no room to criticize her. "Thank you, anything else I need to know?"

"This penthouse, you are welcome to stay here, I have arranged for you to receive some money but you should know, that until Sonny can return, this is all I can give you." With that he gave her the check for fifty thousand dollars. "Spend it wisely because Sonny might be gone about a year or so."

Shrugging off his worry, certain that by then she would have him as a boyfriend or even a husband, Courtney asked. "Which room is yours, so that I don't take over your bed."

"I can crash in any of the rooms when I am here." he said not adding that he had no intention of doing that. "Right now, I have to deal with a few things, if you need anything, Ric Lansing has your brother's utmost respect and will soon be the lead attorney for Corinthos enterprises. You can trust him with anything you need, except money because like me, he has only limited access to funds."

With that Jason smoothly sent her to the upper floors then asked Tony for a minute of his time. "Did Monica explain what is going to happen tomorrow."

"Yes, and if your expecting me to thank you, don't." he said shortly. "Most of this, is your fault. You refused to face who Carly is."

"I agree, but from this moment on, you need to understand something. Carly is still Michael's mother, that is never going to change. At some point, Michael is going to ask questions, you need to understand that I won't let you lie to that little boy or tell only your twisted version." Jason said fiercely. "I didn't do this for you, but for that young child. He is going to need you to be open minded and try to forgive Carly. Notice I said forgive, not forget. She doesn't deserve that and my guess is never will."

"Why should I stand here, listening..."

"Because Tony, you will love your son, you probably already do and it is what is in his best interests, not yours." he said quietly. "Now, I have to head out, you might want to be careful around the blond, she is Sonny's sister and I am not sure what she is up to."

"Then why is she staying in your penthouse?" he asked then flushed at the nosy question he had asked.

"I don't live here." he replied then walked out the front door and called to find out what Spencer was up to. "How the hell did he get past you? I told you..."

"Jason, listen..." Johnny looked down at the dead body of Roy De Luca and saw Mac Scorpio cover the man's head with the white cloth. "He's dead, from the looks of things, Luke and Roy were arguing when Taggert and Scorpio approached me on the docks, the three of us saw it go down. There was nothing we could do. Spencer shot Roy when they found the ship missing, then he tried to drag Lucky off someplace when Lucky lifted the gun off of Roy and went to shoot his father."

"So where is Lucky?" he asked annoyed with the man.

"Jason, Taggert, he shot Lucky. He is gone, dead, man." replied the guard in shock at the police doing what he had planned to do. "Now what?"

"Come back to the Towers, this is going to be ugly. Wait, not the Towers, how about Jake's?" sighed Jason as he figured out what had happened.

Steven Webber took a sample from himself, then started to run his already mapped out DNA against them. "This is weird."

"What's weird?" asked Alan Quartermaine from the doorway. "Besides you talking to yourself.

"There is an anomaly. I took a sample of Alexis Davis' blood, of dad's blood and Elizabeth's blood. They are all related. Then uh. I did something I shouldn't have." he said slightly flushed. "I found a sample of Nik's DNA in the system. He is getting a blood test done, so he can get married. I sort of helped myself after running the tests for that."

"What did you find?" asked the doctor as he sat down on one of the stools and grimaced at how hard they were.

"I am checking my sample, first. Then I will offer up what I think is going on. Let's just say that Grams is going to have crow on her face, big time." he smirked.

Fifteen minutes later, the printer spat out the data and Steven read it then handed it to Alan Quartermaine who gave a quick laugh as he read them. "So, let me get this straight, Jeff and Alexis are related."

"They share the same DNA, they are cousins, with the same grandmother on dad's mom's side. That makes Alexis' mother and my grandmother sisters."

"So this Helene Webber, was... we need to find your dad and your sister. I will try Jason, you track down your relatives, including Alexis."

"Look, I know everyone wants answers tonight, but I am truly beat." said Steven. "I am going to call them, tell them I have the results and ask that we meet in the morning, but where?"

"This studio of Elizabeth's." he stated then went to track down those he needed to.

Jason let himself into Elizabeth's studio at two in the morning after getting updates from his men. Silently slipping his boots off, then his jeans, he went to lie on the sofa until it was a decent time.

Placing his gun on the coffee table in front of him, he went to sit down and found something soft and lumpy letting out an oamff. "Jason?"

Shooting up off the sofa like he had been shoot, Jason reached out for the nearby lamp and turned it one. "Elizabeth? Why are you here, why aren't you in your bed?"

Sitting up, holding the sheet to her chest, she blushed then said "I wanted to wait up for you, but I must have fallen asleep."

"I uh, I will head out." he said hiding his reaction to her skin that was glowing in the soft light. "I uh, I uh, you need your... uh, what... sleep."

Reaching out, she pulled him back down to where her feet had been and said "No, that's fine, unless you are tired."

"No, I am fine." he said then reached behind him to place the pillow in his lap. Hearing laughter he looked up and saw her eyes on his hand holding the pillow close to himself.

"Jason, it's not working. I know that you uh, are uh, well you know." she said awkwardly then asked. "Is that because of well me, or is it because..."

"You." he said hoarsely. "You have to know, that I uh, I only need to think of you in any way and this can be the result but right now, well we have some things we need to talk about."

"I know, I know about Lucky. It was on the news." she said softly. "I can't believe it, they said he shot Luke, that he shot Roy DeLuca of all people, that one makes no sense."

"Roy was helping him escape and things went wrong." he answered. "I had our people watching but well things happened."

"Jason, this isn't your fault, it's Lucky's, it's Luke and Lauras." she said sadly. "I just can't believe it. I was so scared, so worried about Lucky hurting me. About his threats and now, it's gone, along with the boy he once was before Helena."

He wasn't so sure that Helena did as much damage as Elizabeth's thought, he had spent some of his time away, recalling the past and couldn't help wondering if Lucky had always been this selfish, this bent on destroying himself.

Laura sat there, looking on in rage at the State Police trooper who had come to give her the news. "Ma'am, we have to ask, did you know what your ex-husband and your son were up to?"

"Can't you leave my family alone, do you have any idea the pain we are in right now." snarled Nik as Stefan deftly maneuvered the man out the door. "Sir, I will vouch for Mrs. Spencer, she had no idea, none what her loose cannon ex-husband was up to."

No one really believed that, not even the trooper as he went out the door then he heard the weak voice of the blond ask. "Who did it, who murdered my poor sweet confused little boy?"

"Ma'am, your son was shot while the officers were trying to apprehend him after he had shot at his father, he was trying to jump bail, ma'am, after he had been in a shooting with his father, with a Mr. DeLuca. No one murdered your son."

"Who shot Lucky then?" asked Nik, needing to know the answer. "Was it Scorpio, did he kill my brother. He hated Luke for having an affair with his wife, so who was it?"

"A detective Taggert." announced the officer. Gia who was on the sofa, holding Lulu froze and wanted to deny what the man was saying, there was no way, none.. but then she thought about it, yes, her brother would have shot Lucky, he wouldn't do anything less.

"Gia, your brother did this?" asked Laura in disbelief as she stood, her hands grasping each other, shaking in the need to scream and shout. "Why if he did this, if your brother murdered my son, why are you here, what are you trying to prove, you just get out, leave, my house."

"But I didn't..." Gia felt the sting of the slap across the face and stared at the family, all of whom were now glaring at her. "Why are you treating me this way, you know that I loved Lucky like a brother, how can..."

Bobbie who had entered from the kitchen hissed at the tall thin woman to leave, then reached out as she took Lulu away. "Get out and don't come back."

Chapter 5

The word spread quickly that Lucky Spencer had tried to kill his father, that he had been fleeing town and had been stopped but not before Roy Deluca and Luke had ended up dead. Carly had been called, she just sat there, wondering how she was going to get Jason to change his mind, never once thinking about her mother, or her cousins.

At seven in the morning, she showered, dressed and went next door to see her son. When Courtney answered the door, wearing her nightgown, the already furious blonds' eyes narrowed as she pushed her way in. "Where is my son?"

Shrugging, Courtney said. "I have no idea. When I went upstairs, that doctor was down here with the kid and your nanny. You know, she was awfully friendly with the man."

"Where is Jason?" she snapped. "And why are you here, if you think that this is going to get you into Jason's bed, it won't work. You are so not his type."

There was another knock on the door and then Ric Lansing was shown in by the guards. "Ms. Matthews, your brother sent me to make sure you have everything you need. I am supposed to help you pick out a new car."

Courtney tossed a grin at Carly, then said "I have to shower and get dressed."

Ric looked at Carly, then thought about the stories that were slowly spreading. "Ms. Corinthos, I heard about your son, if there is anything I can do for you, just let me know."

"No thank you, I have an attorney." she replied then went out the door and into her penthouse. Making a few calls, she was no longer very happy. Her first call had been to Scott Baldwin, only to be told he was too busy helping Laura Spencer deal with her losses.

Since she knew that Alexis wouldn't help her, she considered calling Justus since AJ was no longer a factor but when she reached his secretary, the woman hung up as soon as she said her name. Frowning a bit, she went to Kelly's, then thought about it... Ric Lansing, while he worked for Sonny, there was no exclusive agreement between Sonny and him.

Making the call, she said "I need an attorney and did some calling around to check on you. Can you meet me at the diner?" When she had his agreement, Carly went to see her mother.

After pretending sympathy, she hurried back to her penthouse. Johnny O'Brien was once again on duty. "Where is Max?"

"Max is with Sonny." he replied. "His brother Milo went as well."

"Francis, where is Francis?" asked the annoyed blond. She had never really cared for the smug Irishman and now, he was on her last nerves. "Why am I stuck with you?"

"I am not here for you." he replied. "I am watching Sonny's sister and the penthouses, you, you no longer have guards. You were warned to stay out of town, you chose to came back on your own."

Carly went into the penthouse, slamming the door as she tossed her purse on the desk. "Carly, I have those papers that you have to sign in regards to Michael."

Turning, Carly glared at Alexis and then told her to get the hell out of her home. "Carly, Jason said to tell you, that your five million just became 4.9. And I would sign these, no one, there is no one who is going to come to your rescue."

"Jason, he won't let me lose my son." she said even as she faced that this time he wasn't coming to her rescue. Walking to the door, she opened it and said "Now get out and you can tell Tony Jones that I said that will be getting my son back."

Elizabeth was sitting with Emily while her brother and Alan entered the room. "Where is dad?"

"He said to tell you he would be a few minutes late." Elizabeth stated then gave a nervous smile when Jason came in with Monica. Standing she went over to her boyfriend and gave him a hug. "Where were you when I woke up?"

Leaning down he kissed her then pulled her off a bit. "I was dealing with business. Francis got married, by the way."

"To who?" she asked a bit shocked. When she heard who the blond man had married she gave Jason a knowing look, sure that there had to be more to the story than what she was being told.

Hearing the sound of Alexis greeting Jeff outside in the hallway, they were all soon seated around the table. "Okay, what did you find out?"

"First things first, Elizabeth you are Alexis' daughter." Steven told his sister.

"Wow, I really guess, I mean, I don't know what to say. I was kind of expecting that to be the result, but..." Elizabeth trailed off when she saw the tears in Alexis' eyes as she gripped tightly onto her hand.

"I am glad, I can't wait to introduce you to your Aunt. Kristina is going to be excited to have more family than just me." said Alexis as she smiled at Elizabeth through her tears.

"Then she really is going to love what I have to tell you next." said Steven with a very smug grin as he looked at Alexis then said "I mean, she is not only gaining a niece but a couple of cousins, distant but related."

"What?" asked a confused Monica who glared when she saw her husband's smug grin. "What do you know Alan?"

"Dad, you once said that our grandmother had a sister, that they were lost to the family when the Nazi's took over Francs, correct?" asked Steven.

"Yes, are you saying that Alexis is somehow related to Sabine?" he replied. "How is that possible?"

"We did some checking, her complete name was Sabine Kirsten Armand. Baby sister of Helene Imogene." Steven showed them the records with a smug grin at his sister. "I don't know the how, but somehow, you managed to adopt Grandmere's long lost sisters granddaughter."

Shaking her head at the strange sentence, Elizabeth said "So, we are all related?"

"Dad and Alexis are first cousins. You and I biologically are second cousins, just like Jason and I are." he told his sister who just stared at him in astonishment. "We have no idea of the how, but my guess is that when the nuns placed Elizabeth up for adoption, the fact that she had an usual blood type and that dad had the same type, made them decide he would be a perfect match."

Alexis smiled at Elizabeth and said "It looks like I not only gained a daughter, but an entire family."

"What do we do now, do we tell anyone?" asked Emily, she had been sitting there quietly, but now, she wanted to know if she could tell other people what they had learned.

"Not immediately. We still don't know what Trevor Lansing is up to, we also don't know how the Cassadines might take to the news and why Trevor is certain that my daughter is the key to taking down that family."

As they started to break up the group, Monica and Alan along with Steven went to work and Jeff went to have a very long talk with his ex lover Bobbie Spencer, one she wasn't going to like to have. Emily meanwhile was reminding Elizabeth that she had to head over to the ELQ building for her first day of work.

Jason asked his sister to give him a few minutes with Elizabeth, so she went into the hall where she saw Skye talking to AJ who seemed a little less despondent. "Hey, how are you doing?"

"Better, I gave a statement to the police about what happened with Carly and Sonny, then heard the DA agreeing to give Zander Smith a deal in exchange for his testimony against Sonny. He actually apologized, afterwords." AJ stated. "I had gone down there, furious, determined to send him to prison, but then we were talking... Mac came in and I just couldn't do it."

Zander and he had left the station together, the now ex-mobster explaining that he had gone to Alexis before leaving town and told her the truth. "She advised me to tell the truth then, but I had to take care of an assignment for Jason first."

He didn't tell the former drunk that he had been taking Carly out of town, that would not be helpful for anyone.

Back in the small room, Jason was holding onto Elizabeth who had burst into tears the moment the room had emptied. Out. Rubbing her back, he waited until the storm had subsided then gently eased her down into one of the chairs. "What is it?"

"I just, I felt so alone, for so long. Like I never fit in, like I was unwanted. Yet, my dad did want me, my brother did love me... I let Carolyn and the woman I thought was my grandmother make me feel unloved. The Spencers, when I first got involved with Lucky, it was one of the reasons it was so hard to walk away, they made me feel like part of the family, at least at first..."

"I wish I had known you when you first came to town, before all of this happened." he quietly admitted while kneeling in front of her. "This, listening to you talk about how you feel about your family... I have been thinking a lot, about my own.. about the Quartermaines and what happened."

Looking at him, she shyly ducked her head then said "I uh, I have always liked being around them, when they start to argue like they do, its kind of fun, since its never directed at me."

Standing, he pulled her up then heading to the large picture window, held her loosely in his arms and asked. "What do you think of having Alexis for a mom?"

"I kind of like the idea." she said with a soft laugh. "I mean, she is a bit neurotic but I mean, I have been friends with Emily for years, after all this time, I understand neurotic."

Resting his head on top of hers, Jason thought about the changes coming up and asked. "I uh, I have to deal with some business this afternoon, but afterwords, what do you say to a ride?"

"On the bike?" When he smiled then said yes, she quickly added "Can I drive?"

"Not this time, I thought we would go fast..." he said then regretfully released her. "What are your plans after dealing with Edward?"

"Well, he wants me to work with the cataloger, we are going to be doing some inventorying, then some research into the various paintings, so I doubt I will actually see the head of the company."

Jason had no doubt that his grandfather who by now, was more than likely plotting for their future grandchildren would stay away but he just told her he would pick her up at six before heading to the door.

Emily fell in with an unapologetic grin when he opened the office door. "Elizabeth, we have to head over to the office."

Laughing, Elizabeth asked if her makeup looked alright as she helped her friend up when Jason just shook his head and stepped over his little sister and went to the elevator. "You look fine, like you always do. We are so going to have to celebrate."

"What are we celebrating? Remember, they want us to keep this quiet, Emily." Elizabeth reminded her best friend.

"Then instead of having the party in honor of you being her daughter, we can have it in honor of you not being Sarah's sister." she said with a smirk then dragged her friend out the door and down the hallway.

Just as they were heading to the stairs, a woman with long dark braids and mascara running down her face stepped out of a hospital room and asked Emily if she had a moment. "Gia, what do you want?"

"I-I need your help. Nik is blaming me for my brother shooting Lucky, I need you to tell him it wasn't my fault, that I am not responsible, you should see the way they looked at me, they kicked me out of the house, then..."

The model wanna be burst into tears and the two younger women looked at her not sure what to say or do. Emily really wanted to say that she had been warned but in truth, she understood that Gia just didn't get it because she was just as selfish as the Spencers.

"Gia, they aren't going to listen to us, they are even angrier with us, than with you." Elizabeth tried to reason with the woman.

"I wasn't talking to you, this is all your fault. You are the reason that this all happened. I mean, if you hadn't been cheating on Lucky with Jason, then pretending to take him back then none of this would have happened." she hissed at the woman she considered her rival in spite of the Deception campaign ending quite a while ago.

"Hey, don't talk to Elizabeth that way." protested Emily. "She didn't do anything wrong, anymore than you did. What you are seeing, the way the Spencers are acting, that is how they truly are. You seem to think that I have some influence on them, but let me tell you, if I did, they wouldn't have ever treated Elizabeth the way they did."

"She is the..." Gia stood there in shock as Emily grabbed Elizabeth's arm and hurried past her and towards the stairs. "Hey, where are you going, I need you to help me."

"If you truly want my help, heed my warning, you had a very close call with almost marrying into that family. You were lucky to escape when you did." coldly stated Emily as they let the door slam between them and the annoying woman.

Elizabeth got into her car, then sat there and started to giggle for a minute, then sobered up before saying. "i would feel sorry for her, but she would come into Kelly's, with my sister and try and make my life miserable... but you are right, she had a very lucky escape if she would only see it."

"I doubt it, I really think that she wants to marry Prince Cassadine, not Nik." Emily replied thoughtfully. When the car started up and they drove off, they missed seeing Carly arriving, looking for Jason. Her mother had heard from Amy Vining that he had been there with several others people.

Jason called Francis and asked how things were going?

"I am dealing with business, but as for Olivia, she is concerned about her son. What are we going to do about the Lansing situation?" he queried.

"I talked to the sane Alcazar brother, he told me that they cut off DeLuca, he was told he was no longer in business with them, then he gave me a bit of information, turns out that Ric doesn't actually get along with his father. They are on the outs and his being here, well that there was a good chance it was about revenge."

"Any thing else?" asked Francis frowning a bit when the son of his wife approached him with another teenager. Listening to Jason's plan, he laughed and said "Couldn't happen to a nicer person."

After hanging up, he was amused by Dante's request then watched as they took out the powerboat. "Thank you, for how you are treating him."

Turning to his wife, Francis suggested she sit down, then said "Dante is a good kid, you don't have to thank me for letting him drive that boat. We really need to talk though."

"About?" asked Olivia cautiously.

"Sonny, your son needs to be told the truth, about his father." he said gently as he could. "Olivia, these type of secrets, they don't stay hidden forever and right now, might be a good time to explain to him what happened and why."

"And then what, tell him I married a man who is in the same occupation as his father?" she asked skeptically. "How do I do that without looking like a hypocrite? Plus, you don't know Dante, when he learns about who his father is, he is going to want to confront him, how do we keep that from happening?"

"Olivia, you have to trust me, there are too many people who know. My boss has dealt with the Sonny situation, that he is dead is going to have to come out, in a few days, it can't be kept quiet any longer than that." he said quietly.

"Okay, but I want to do it, alone." she said after sitting silently for a few minutes.

"Good, there are a few other things. I have arranged for you to receive the money you would have in a divorce settlement from Sonny, it's in a bank account back in Port Charles, I also arranged for I guess you could call it back child support to be put into an account for Dante. Or rather Sonny's accountant thinks he did it on Sonny's orders."

Wanting to protest she didn't want Sonny Corinthos filthy money, Olivia watched as her son and his new acquaintance were out on the ocean and said "Okay, anything else?"

"I uh, we are going to move into Jason's old penthouse, mainly because it is the safest place for us to be, for now. I have a house, but I wasn't certain how you would feel about moving in."

"I almost would prefer a house, I mean, I grew up in apartments in Bensonhurst." she mumbled a bit embarrassed by her answer.

"Okay, when things have quieted down, we can move into it. It's fairly decent sized, on the outskirts of town." he stated. "There are four bedrooms, so there is plenty of space. I know you are personal assistant in the city, if you want, I can arrange a few job interviews for you, in town."

Hesitating she continued after thinking about it. "I uh, I have to deal with Phillip, the man I was going to marry, as well."

"I have an idea on that since you really can't actually do more than tell him you met and married me, not without leaving us exposed." he said then with a grimace said "We have to tell him that you are pregnant, in a few months time, we announce that it was a false positive."

"I hate that, I just hate it. He is a good man, and now, thanks to my mistakes, I am going to hurt him badly." she replied. "Then there is Kate aka Connie, what do I tell her?"

"The same thing you told Phillip, now, do you want to work, or you can stay home."

"No, I prefer working and I would prefer getting my own job." she stated primly while Francis rolled his eyes mentally.

"Fine, I won't interfere." agreed the mobster as he went to check on lunch.

Jason called Ric Lansing and said "I need you to attend a meeting with me."

Ric hurried over to the coffee warehouse, already plotting for when it would be him ordering the workers about as he listened to Jason. "You wanted me."

"No, Sonny wants me to take you to this meeting, wants me to get a feel for how you will deal with our business." he said then asked. "Did you check in on Courtney today?"

"I called her, she said she was making lunch at the penthouse then agreed to meet me at one thirty regarding charges." he said. "Will I be back in time?"

"Of course, the meeting is here in Port Charles." Jason stated then looked at Lansing and said "There are some files on the desk in the main office, get up to date on them."

Ric wanted to snort at the orders coming out of the blond's mouth but he knew that he didn't dare mouth back, at least not until he had gotten the goods on how to get the enforcer out of his way.

In the office, he wanted to look through files so badly he could taste it, but he knew that if he did, there was a good change Morgan had the office bugged in some way.

Reminding himself that he needed patience he was soon knee deep in shipping lanes and cargo.

Outside, Jason had Stan watching the lawyer closely while he held the necessary meeting with his foreman then went to slip on a suit. When Ric was called out to the limo, he saw how uncomfortable the man looked and said "Shouldn't you be wearing a tie?"

"Lansing, do the job we are considering hiring you for, I don't need a fashion consultant and if I did, you wouldn't be the person for the job." he growled more than ready to end the man's life.

Carly was upset when she couldn't find Jason at the hospital before driving over to the Brownstone. There she saw Tony Jones talking to her mother, then the doctor shut the door in her face while her mother sat staring blankly at the empty fireplace.

She was about to open the door and give him a piece of her mind when she heard her cell phone ring. Seeing that it said Jason, she quickly answered it, while frowning as Tony came out and with a nod at her walked out the door. "Jason, I am so glad you called..."

"Carly, I am talking to Sonny's attorney, I had a call from him and he wanted me to let both of you hear this message." Hitting play, Jason hoped that Stan was as good as he claimed with that computer of his.

"Jason, tell that attorney if he works with my ex-wife, I will consider it a betrayal. I don't want him working for us and her. I won't be able to trust him. Tell her that I have something in the works, regarding Michael and if she screws this up with one of her 'plans, I will take Michael away so far she will never see him again."
shouted the recording of the man.

Ric's lips thinned and tightened a bit, Carly would have been a nice way to screw over his brother, but clearly the man wouldn't care if he had sex with her and it might keep him from getting the job he so desperately needed.

"But Jason..." squawked Carly as she heard her husband bad-mouthing her. "No one will work for me."

"Carly, you heard Sonny and you need to remember what he had me tell you yesterday. You already lost a hundred thousand, don't let your pride get in the way of common sense." he ordered.

"Jason, please, I need you, I need you to fix this for me, I can't lose my son, I won't last if I don't have you in my life, on my side..." she begged.

With a heavy sigh, Jason hung up then looked at the attorney. "Sonny doesn't give second chances, get involved with her on any level and you not only won't get the job, but will more than likely find your life expectancy is nil."

Ric got the message and stood silently next to Jason as the man sat down at the inner table with the rest of the other organizations, thinking it should be him in the chair, representing his brother's interests, not some brain dead thug who didn't have the ability to think for himself.

He tuned in, paid close attention to what Jason Morgan was saying and doing and knew that his brother had to be a fool to place his business in this man's hands as he offered up one of the more lucrative lanes in exchange for information.

Keeping silent as they went back to Port Charles, he was soon at the diner where he was staying. Meanwhile at the Towers, Courtney was taking the meatloaf out of the over and looked around grinning at the changes she had made to the penthouse.

"This is definitely more homey." she said looking at the dishes, the pans and the food she had bought with the money she had been given. Then checking her makeup, went to the living room where she soon had the food under domes on the dining room table.

With a snobbish sniff, she said "Like anyone would want a pool table where the dinner table should be."

Looking at the clock, she went back to the kitchen and looked again at the calendar that said Jason would be there for a lunch that day. She was amazed at how straight his handwriting was and even more so that he kept it so up to date even as she heard the door opening.

Walking back to the entrance way, carrying the wine glass full of chilled white wine, she gave a huge smile and walked through the door saying. "Welcome home."

Alexis yelped and tossed her purse into the air as she looked at the tall blond and felt her jaw dropping at what she was wearing before looking around at the penthouse. "Oh my god, what did you do to Morgan's penthouse?"

"Do you like it, I just made it feel more homey, I got rid of that terrible leather furniture, that pool table, and replaced it with real furniture." she said then pouting a bit said "You need to leave, Jason is supposed to be here at any minute and I cooked him lunch."

"Jason? Why would he be here, he doesn't live here and why on earth would you be cooking for him?" she asked in shock.

"As a thank you for his letting me stay when I had no place else to go." she said with a smile. "He has been absolutely wonderful to me."

Alexis got it when she saw the table with the candles, then the glass of wine. "Uh, Courtney, you do know that Jason has a girlfriend, don't you?"

"I met Carly, is that who you are talking about?" she said with a great big sunny grin. "Because she really isn't a very nice person, I swear I am much nicer than her."

"Well being much nicer than Carly isn't really raising the bar all that much, Attila the Hun is nicer than Carly." muttered Alexis then she cautiously asked. "Uh, do you remember meeting me, at Kelly's, I was talking to Elizabeth Webber?"

"No, but then I try not to remember the customers, it really is too confusing." she stated as she sat down then said "Look, can you please leave, I really want to make things nice for Jason."

"Courtney, Jason isn't coming. That calendar, that is my meeting with a client of mine. Jason lets this place out to me, I moved out but forgot I scheduled a meeting here before I did." she said looking around and wincing at the field day Jasper Jacks was going to have with the penthouse. She had had to beg him to come there, he hadn't wanted to, but had finally given in.

"Then your information is out of date, Jason himself let me in last night, told me I could stay here as long as I wished, that I could use any of the bedrooms I wanted that he could sleep anywhere."

"That is because he doesn't sleep here at all." emphasized Alexis. "Courtney, Jason lives with his girlfriend."

Shrugging her shoulders cause clearly this woman didn't know what she was talking about, Courtney said "Well I have no time for you and if you don't live here, I would really like you to leave."

There was a knock on the door and a triumphant Courtney answered it, saying. "See, I told you that Jason... who are you?"

Seeing Kristina standing there, Alexis said "Did Jax just drop you off?"

"No, he is on the phone with Skye Chandler about the club." she said with a smile as she entered and hugged her sister. Looking at the blond, she said "Is this Elizabeth?"

"No." snorted Courtney. "I am Courtney Matthews, Sonny Corinthos is my brother. How on earth could you mistake me for that sad pathetic Elizabeth Webber, seriously, she is a little thing."

Raising her eyebrow at her sister, Kristina said "Do I smell lunch, is that why this Courtney is here, did she cook for you?"

"No, we are eating out. I didn't have time to get a message to all of you, I moved out of the penthouse, so I came here. Let's go find Jax." said Alexis as she picked up her purse and started to tell Courtney that Jason wasn't coming, but looked at the blond wearing a dress with heels and her makeup was on perfectly and decided that if she wouldn't listen, she wasn't going to bother saving her from the truth because she truly didn't deserve it anyhow.

"Okay, because I am seriously in need of a milkshake and a burger." replied Kristina as they went to find Jax.

In the penthouse, Courtney sat down, wondering where Jason was or if the attorney had been correct. Hearing a quiet knock, she let in her attorney and said "I will be right back down, I need to change."

Looking on as the clearly dispirited blond came back down in jeans and a shirt, Ric set about cheering her up, talking up how good the meatloaf was when she offered him something to eat, in spite of it tasting like cardboard with ketchup on it.

An hour later, he had an idea and said "I have to drive to Montreal for your brother, would you like to get out of town for a few days? With Morgan gone, I doubt your brother is going to come back to town."

Hiding her tears at the idea of Jason not even telling her she was leaving, Courtney thought about her difficulty in finding something to wear earlier and said "That sounds like fun, maybe I can go shopping while we are up there."

On the drive, she was almost wishing he was richer and had a more powerful job for her brother as he charmed her and flattered her for the entire four hours. Being lead to the penthouse suite, she quietly thanked him then said "I am hungry, do you have time for us to get something to eat together?"

In Port Charles, Jason let himself into the studio and saw Elizabeth playing with the wish candles and asked "How many wishes do you have left?"

With a smile she said "I should be asking you that, since you are the one making my wishes come true. But only a few, and most of them are really pipe dreams anyhow."

"No, no they are not." he said as he leaned down to kiss her. "Because I have been having those exact same thoughts and we both know that I don't dream."

Leaning her head against his shoulder Elizabeth said "Alexis called, Kristina is in town and she wants to wait until after they have buried Lucky but then make an announcement regarding my being her daughter."

"What about you, what do you want?" he asked even as he rubbed her back.

"To tell the world I have a family that wants me, to finally be able to find out what it feels like to have a mom who is proud of me." she confessed. "Alexis, has been wonderful, but I am worried a bit about Stefan and of course Nik. Nik and I haven't talked in ages without it ending int a fight about Lucky or you."

"I am..." he started to say sorry but she just placed her hand on his mouth and said don't, you aren't responsible for his problems.

"By the way, I spent some time talking to Skye today, she surprised me." Elizabeth admitted. "She kept it about art, admitted that she had an ulterior motive when it came to me and then confessed that I reminded her of someone. That it was why she called Edward after hearing Audrey and I arguing."

"Be careful, she tends to hide what she is up to." he warned but then added. "She is going to have a few problems soon, she is dating Jax and when he finds out about Brenda..."

"He will be doing nothing." said the blond in the doorway with the two women. Looking towards the sound of the voice, Jason and Elizabeth saw Alexis with a red head and Jax who as soon as they were all inside, closed the door and said "Morgan, why on earth are you having private conversations with the door ajar."

Groaning, he looked at the annoying blond then at Elizabeth and said "I was just coming to take you for a bike ride and got distracted."

She longingly looked towards her coat then at her newly discovered mother then at Jason who said "We can always go for a ride later."

Jax looked around the clearly freshly renovated studio and then sat down on one of the bar stools while watching as Kristina and Elizabeth seemed to stare at one another. "Alexis, she looks a bit like you."

"I know." said the attorney while moving over to her daughter. "Kristina I would like to introduce you to my daughter, Elizabeth. Elizabeth this is your aunt Kristina. Elizabeth, you know, Jax right?"

Looking at the blond, she said "We have meet a couple of times."

The Australian looked at Elizabeth then said, "Yes, I have met my stepdaughter on a couple of occasions."

There was some giggling between Elizabeth, Kristina and Alexis while Jason rolled his eyes the way the tall blond man was flirting with his straitlaced attorney. "Jason, do you have a moment?"

Once outside, Jax said "I was wondering if we could talk privately?"

"Follow me." he said nodding at the guard he had in the hallway as he lead Jax down to Elizabeth's old studio. Once inside, he looked at the other man and said "What can I do for you?"

"I had a call, from Brenda Barrett. She let me know that she is fine, that she is alive and not coming home." he reported. "She told me how you rescued her, that she wasn't up to returning to Port Charles, that she couldn't face Sonny."

One floor up, as the three spent some time getting to know each other, Elizabeth was explaining to Kristina about her birthday candles and how she had made a few wishes.

"Seriously?" asked a shocked Kristina who was shown the candles then handed Elizabeth's wish list, the younger woman blushing at some of the rather selfish requests on it.

"A new studio, with art supplies. I guess that this would be it. So did your fairy godfather arrange all this?" asked the red head, then she looked at this list then nodded and said "Of course he did. I assume you got the new wardrobe as well?"

"Jason had his sister and my best friend pick it out." she admitted. "It's the art work that is the strange one, Jason arranged to buy one of my pieces but it turns out that the school had someone else approach them about the other paintings."

"Wow, so besides your boyfriend, you have an art patron." Then reading number four said "Was Jason gone?"

"He left town to take care of business last year about this time." she said softly. "He told me he was on some Island when he thought he heard me talking to him, it's what made him come home."

"As for five, I think you were getting that one, all on your own." said Alexis. "You knew the answers, I think you just had to face that the Spencers weren't who you wanted them to be."

Nodding a bit, Elizabeth said "I feel sick that Luke and Lucky died, but I also know that he wasn't going to let me walk away, there was truly something wrong with him and I hate to say it but that whole family."

"So did you get a car and what kind." she was asked then the red head sat down in shock and weakly replied. "A Maserati? Seriously?"

With a shy nod, Elizabeth looked at the next item on her wish list and said "The next one, I sort of got on my own too. Edward offered me a job using my art degree after Skye overheard me arguing with my family. But before that, I had had enough and quit working at Kelly's."

"About time too, that Bobbie got away with using you for so long, I still can't believe it. As for number eight, Elizabeth you're one of the most beautiful young women I know, and I am not just saying that because you are my daughter."

"Why would anyone call you muffin faced? And what does that mean?" asked her aunt.

"That was Carly." she told them.

"Enough said, talk about green eyed with jealously." answered Alexis. "As for breasts, well hate to say it but I think that you have as good as they are going to get. If you look, Kristina and I are probably the same cup size."

Blushing a bit at that one, Elizabeth admitted. "Uh, that one, well I had seen this woman at the hospital while visiting grams, she was talking to some gray haired man, and he couldn't take his eyes off of them, so I included it."

"What about the dance, have you managed that one?"

"Jason did it, with Emily's help. He borrowed the restaurant at the Port Charles Hotel, hired a band and there was most definitely a kiss..." she offered up and then lowered her head at the knowing look on Alexis' face.

"Well eleven came true, from the moment Alexis told me about you, all I have heard is how you are an art student, that you are brilliant and she definitely likes Jason and you together." teased Kristina. "So, what about the artichokes and why?"

"It was unlucky thirteen." she shrugged. "As for fourteen and fifteen, well they haven't come true yet."

Alexis couldn't help thinking that with Sonny out of town and more than likely going to be gone for a good long while, that one just might come true, as for Italy, Jason had been checking to find out if Elizabeth had a passport or if they needed to get her one.

"I can see the cell phone and the Emily you mentioned, would that be Emily Quartermaine?" asked Kristina. She had met the younger girl earlier that day when Jax and she had stopped over to talk to Ned, her sister's ex fiancee.

"The family wish, Elizabeth, didn't you already make that one?"

"I meant, a family of my own..." she told them. "I didn't mean for that one to happen right away, but I do in the future."

"Why do I think that those children, that you want a few of them to have bright, very light blue eyes." joked her aunt as she moved to the window in time to see Jax driving off. He had mentioned having something to take care of, but she had thought that was to do with Jason. Kristina turned and went to the bar and said "Steven, that would be the cousin I am meeting later tonight?"

"Yes and as for number seventeen, can we just not talk about it?" she pleaded with the two women who agreed but Alexis thought about what she discovered when she had asked Mac about Elizabeth' background then groaned as she forgot his request.

"Elizabeth, at some point tomorrow, Maxie Jones wants to see you, I sort of forgot to pass the message along a few days ago." she said with a frown then added "Something about a doll fashion show?"

"I gave her my old dolls. When I was staying at the Brownstone, she was always making clothes and cutting their hair, I think she wants to be a designer. I thought about introducing her to Chloe but then..." she trailed off as she remembered that Alexis had been good friends with the late designer.

"She would have loved that, she once told me that was what got her started, she hadn't liked what was available to dress her dolls in." said Alexis wistfully remembering the loss of life caused by Stavros Cassadine. "Elizabeth, I don't know what to do with Steven and Nik."

"Me either." she stated. "I don't think that they are going to be too happy to find out about me."

Jason entered the studio, then offered to get some food only to be told that Kristina and Alexis were heading back to the Quartermaine residence for a meeting with Ned and Jax.

Elizabeth grabbed her jacket while Jason and the three women headed out, never seeing Nik Cassadine standing in the shadows. He had been heading back to the island but seeing his aunts with the woman he blamed for his brother's death angered the prince.

Once home, he walked into the study and paced back and forth, complaining to his uncle who just said. "Nik, I have let this go on long enough. Laura is understandably upset, but Elizabeth Webber isn't responsible- for what happened, she was the victim. There was something wrong with your brother."

"Yes, and if she had stuck with him, he would have been fine." he retorted. "She dumped him as fast as she could."

"He didn't love her, he admitted it then very openly had an affair with her sister, I don't think you are facing that Lucky is the one who created this mess. I can't help thinking our coming here was a bad move for you. In the last few years, you have forgotten what you owe your people and taken on the worst traits of the Spencer family."

When the boy he had raised into manhood walked out of the room without answering, Stefan sat down behind the large hand carved mahogany desk and thought about what he had learned from his private meeting with Mac Scorpio and tried to find a way to get Nik out of town as soon as possible.

Sighing, he admitted to himself that the only good thing that had come of this mess was that Gia Campbell was now out of Nik's life. She tended to feed into his idea that he could do no wrong.

Nik meanwhile had gone up to his suite of rooms and sat down and vowed to honor his brother by protecting the woman he loved from Jason Morgan any way he could...

Early the next morning, in Montreal, Courtney woke up naked in a bed. Everything ached and when she opened her eyes she saw Ric Lansing was now wearing a robe and weaving as he went to the bathroom.

Listening in disgust as he threw up, she was about to tell him that this had all been a mistake when she saw the ring of her hand and jumped out of bed in shock. On her own way to the bathroom, she saw the cream colored paper on the dresser and stopped to pick it up.

In spite of the document being in a foreign language she had a damn good idea what it as as she grabbed it and pushed her way into the bathroom where Ric was now showering. Shoving it under his nose, she shrieked then fell to her knees holding her head. "What is this?"

With a shaky wet hand, he reached out and blinking read in a dead voice "It's a marriage license, between the two of us."

"You? I married you?" she shouted and then screamed again before tossing her cookies into the toilet. "How, I mean, why would I marry a nobody like you, you are nothing, just a lawyer, I am going to marry Jason Morgan. I already decided that, not some nobody, what did you do to me?"

Stiffening a bit, Ric grabbed a towel and wrapped it around himself and then reached out and tightly grasped her arm as she continued to denigrate him. "Shut the hell up, do you really think that marrying you does anything for me? It doesn't, you would be fine to fuck and forget but marriage, not hardly."

Hearing his sneering tone, she said "Oh please, you just wanted to marry the boss' sister, to get a leg up. I heard you talking to Jason, I know that my brother is only testing you, that he hasn't hired you yet, that is why you did this?"

"You stupid bitch, you think you know everything, don't you?" he spat out in anger. "But you know nothing. I don't need you to get close to my brother... yeah, that's right, my brother, Sonny Corinthos is my brother."

"No, that is impossible, why would you marry your own sister?" she said sick to her stomach.

"That thankfully isn't what happened." he sneered, "You and your drunk waste of space father are no relation to me. Sonny Corinthos and I share a mother, one he worships above all others. Its why his marriages and relationships are so screwed up, no one, none have every measured up to the Sainthood of Adella Corinthos."

Courtney looked at Ric and had the sick feeling he was telling the truth. Sitting on the edge of the tub, she looked at him and said "Now what do we do?"

"We keep this quiet, until we can get it annulled." Ric heard the soft chime of the doorbell and said "That should be the coffee I ordered. Go answer it."

Starting to protest, Courtney did as he ordered then stood back as room service wheeled in two carts then a third. "What is all of this?"

"Complements of a Mr. Trudeau wishing you well on you marriage." said the head waiter. "He sent a message along as well, Mrs. Lansing."

Ric had come to the door at what he was hearing and stood there listening in sick fascination as the man announced. "He said to tell you that it was a pleasure to let your family's know how happy you two are. Mr. Lansing's father is a good friend of his and that he is well acquainted with your former boss."

The staff left and Ric took the offered paper and soon was reading his wedding announcement. With a quick call, he looked at the blond then sat down and numbly said "We were set up. That was the newspaper, they were sent an announcement yesterday within minutes of our arriving in town."

"What does that mean?" she asked while pouring coffee.

"What it means is that Jason Morgan isn't as dumb as I thought." he said as he read the announcement with the compete history of the blond he was now stuck with. "That he and our brother were well aware of our history before we even came to town.

"What history?" she asked blinking.

"Courtney, lose the innocent act, I am not buying it. I know, I know about your deal with your mother, about your plans to marry a rich man, well guess what, you didn't. All I have, well that was the end of my money."

"That's okay, when Sonny learns..."

"You really are a thick stupid women aren't you. There is going to be nothing, zilch, nada from our brother. We are screwed..." he said mournfully.

Chapter

Elizabeth had finished work when she saw Skye talking to Jax as they were leaving ELQ, the red head was clearly upset about something, and she had the feeling that something was Brenda Barrett's return to life. Skye had been told the day before by Jax and had shared the knowledge with her whole family.

There had been shock, then the usual Quartermaine family melee before things had settled down, except in regards to the red head who was dating the man most still believed still in love with the model. Elizabeth had seen Skye during the day as she had worked on the hallway paintings by the Hudson River School.

The red head had given her a weak smile before going to greet her boyfriend. Seeing them leaving for lunch, Elizabeth called Emily and asked what she was doing for lunch?

"I am actually having lunch with a very handsome young man." she replied to the amusement of the blond across from her. Then giggling said "Seriously, you won't believe this, but he is charming, good looking, I love his family, I don't really think he has any flaws."

Thinking on it, Elizabeth then smirked and said dryly "Really, well when we were kids, he snored when he slept on his back. The only thing Sarah and I ever agreed upon anything was the time we went camping and we considered smothering him in his sleep, there are quieter jackhammers out there."

At that point, Steven took the phone after hearing his sister's well, she was, he had already decided that, just like his dad still considered her his daughter. "Play nice, after all there are lots of stories I can share with your friend and her brother. Like the time you convinced little Larry Alcott that he should climb the tree with the bees nest in it."

"Fine, be that way." she replied with a laugh, "I guess I will have to find someone else to have lunch with poor lonesome, lonely me."

There was some laughter as he asked. "What happened to your boyfriend?"

"He had to work, Alexis as well. I should try Kristina, see if she is interested in getting something to eat."

"Elizabeth..." Turning to see Edward, she quickly told her brother she would talk to him later and hung up. "I overheard what you were saying and wondered if you would be interested in having lunch with me."

Looking at the elderly man, she regretfully turned him down. "Sir, I would say yes, but Jason is right. If I did, you would have our grandchildren's lives plans before we are even married and had our first child."

A very smug grin grew on the man's face, then Elizabeth groaned as she got what he was thinking. "Sir, Jason and I have not made any plans more concrete than a trip to Italy when we get the time... we haven't even slept..."

The petite brunette heard Justus calling out to Edward and muttered about being saved by the lawyer as she quickly said goodbye and fled. "Edward, I don't know what you are up to, but rein it in, before Jason steps in."

Looking at his grandson who was warning him, he said "Well, then lets talk about why you having got married, what happened with that lady lawyer down at the police station?"

Seriously considering throwing Jason and Elizabeth under the bus, Justus just gave a weak smile then suggested the discuss what was going on with AJ's legal issues. "He is going to sue Sonny and Carly, for what happened to him regarding the torture, but he is leaving town immediately afterwords, but we have to figure out what happens until then with his job?"

"He will keep it, this is the age of computers, he can do his work anyplace in the world." insisted Edward who was unaware that his grandson was stepping down from his position, he had only told his cousin,well aware that his grandfather would be upset and his sister jockeying for position.

Elizabeth had reached the park, looking around to make sure she was alone, at least without Spencers' around, before sitting down on the nearest bench. She was well aware that there were guards on her, that they would keep her safe but she would like to avoid a confrontation just then.

Her mind went back to her arrival in town, how she had been forced to hitchhike in between taking buses and then how things had been at her grandmothers. Her meeting with the Spencers, Lucky especially... Ruby. She wondered what the brassy and blunt woman would think of her, and the changes she had made in her life.

Then she thought about her rape, then Lucky's helping her. Finally she went to the part where things truly changed, the day Lucky died. She could still feel Sonny catching her as she fell, the coldness in the air. Then as time went on, the feeling that things were getting better.

But the reason she was there, thinking like that, made her regret the time she wasted as she got the reason things had gotten better had been that Lucky had been out of her life... that she hadn't felt unsettled and off kilter like she had when they had been involved when she was younger.

She had taken it as teenage love, now she had come to face that yes, she had loved Lucky, but that it had been an uninformed love... if she had met Jason, what would the differences be? Elizabeth couldn't help wondering if she would have felt a sense of growing up much sooner and would they have connected when she had been that young, that confused.

Now, as she had grown older, Elizabeth had come to face that she was in control of her own destiny, that she was the one making the changes, the one finding her way. Jason was paving it for her, but only after she had decided on the path. With a smile she thought of how things were moving along and the changes still to come.

Finally, she stood and left the park, coming to the stairs where Jason had asked her to leave with him and she had stayed behind out of love and obligation and for the first time admitted to herself that she had been a coward, that some part of her had turned him down out of fear of her own heart.

"Well, well. If it isn't the girl who caused my cousin's death." sneered Carly.

Seeing the guard moving in closer, Elizabeth just looked at Carly in disbelief before saying. "Is that the best you have got? I mean, Carly, you don't give a damn about Lucky, never did."

"Like you would know." she sneered.

"Carly, I know a lot, I know that you altered tests to prove that AJ was Micheal's father instead of your son's real father, Tony Jones. I know that you were told to leave town and that as of this morning you are now down to 4.8 Million. I also know that you were told to leave Sonny's penthouse and that he refuses to come home as long as you are there."

"You know nothing..." she hissed at the other girl but was stopped from slapping her by the guard. "Do you have any idea what Sonny is going to do to you, let me go."

When she jerked her arm out of the man's hand, he looked at her and said "Yeah, he will give me a bonus. All the men have heard how there is a bonus to any guard who keeps you away from the Corinthos Morgan interests that my boss wants you gone in the worst way."

Flouncing away in anger, Carly threw back that they had no idea who they were messing with, that she would get her son back, that she would be back with Jason, that Sonny would make them pay for hurting her.

"She is nuts." said Elizabeth as she continued on to her car. "What is your name, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Marco, ma'am. Johnny O'Brien said that I am to call you Elizabeth, is that right Ma'am."

With a quick grin she said "Yes, it is Marco. So, how do you feel about some lunch at Kelly's?"

"Ma'am, er Elizabeth, they are having the wake for Lucky and Luke Spencer there this afternoon." he told her.

"Oh, I had forgot." she said lamely then led him into GH and down to the cafeteria. "I like the salads here."

Soon sitting with his charge, finding himself telling her all of his secrets, Marco quickly got what Francis and Johnny had told him about the very charming Elizabeth Webber. "What about you, Ms. Webber, what do you do for fun?"

Bobbie watched her eyes narrowed as she saw the younger woman with the guard. She had had a visit from her ex-boyfriend Jeff as well as he ex-husband, both of their opinions swirling through her mind.

"I know, I can't believe she had the nerve to bring that man into this hospital, does she have no shame." fumed Audrey. She had come home early this morning to find suitcases in the guest bedroom and was hoping Jeff was here to straighten that young woman out. She was an embarrassment to the Hardy name.

"Its the lifestyle, now at least poor Carly is out of it. Sonny is down south dealing with his extra wife." said Bobbie. "Did you hear about poor Lucky?"

"I can't believe that that man shot him. He must have ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. How is your family holding up, my dear." she asked sympatherically.

"Its been rather terrible, we held the wake at Kelly's, no one really showed up after the lies that have been being spread around town about my nephew." said Bobbie. "Mike Corbin, a few of Luke's old cronies, but then I am not surprised, only in Port Charles could you be shunned for trying to save your child..."

Snorting Monica said "I see you are going to ignore Tony's suggests, Bobbie. Audrey, Jeff is looking for you."

"I will let his daughter know that he is in town, clearly she doesn't otherwise she wouldn't dare show up here, spending time with one of those thug guards." she said heading towards her granddaughter only to be stopped by Monica.

"Elizabeth is well aware that Jeff is in town. He is actually looking for you to tell you that he located the daughter and granddaughter of his biological mother's sister." she said then looking at Bobbie who was on her way out of the cafeteria.

"You might want to consider taking Tony up on his offer. Memphis would be a clean start for you."

"My daughter deserves to be a mother to her child, she was only looking out for his best interests. This proves her point that Tony would take her little boy away from her." she stated. Then with a sniff she looked at the woman who had been one of her closest friends for years and said "I can't believe you didn't even show up, I thought we were friends."

"Bobbie, so did I, but then I thought I knew you. That you and your family are blaming all of this on Elizabeth, instead of on Helena, on Lucky's parents, tells me a lot about you. And none of it is very pretty." she stated then pointedly walked over to where her son's girlfriend was sitting.

"Audrey is in town, your father is telling her even as we speak about things. Just that he located them, not who they are." With that, she went back upstairs in time to see Stefan Cassadine walking into the board room.

An hour later, after checking on her patients she saw her husband leaving along with most of the board who were shaking hands with Stefan who was telling them that he would have Alexis draw up the papers.

"What about Rick Webber's subterfuge regarding the HMO?" asked Alan.

"Don't worry, Mr. Webber was ran out of town when he showed up earlier to offer his condolences to Laura." he told them grimly then went home.

Tracking Nik down in the stables, he gave his nephew the news. "We have to head to Greece at the end of the week. Are you wanting to take Sheba with us?"

"No, I mean we won't be gone that long will we?" he asked. Then said "I want you to assign a guard to Elizabeth Webber, eventually she is going to wake up and face that Jason Morgan is a killer and I want to protect her, for Lucky."

"No, because I had a visit from Mr. Morgan, he made it very clear that if any of our people were found near Elizabeth, he would take it as a threat from your grandmother and he would kill them." he told the younger man who started to protest just as Stefan's butler came in and said "Alexis Davis is in your study waiting to speak to the two of you, Mr. Cassadine."

"Fine, lets go see what your aunt wants." said Stefan then when they were all in the ornate room sat down behind the desk while Nik avoided Alexis and sat behind his uncle. "Alexis, is there something I can do for you."

"I just wanted to let you know, I found my child." she looked at Stefan who felt his eyes widen in shock then when he seemed to gain control she added. "Kristina and I are going to make a formal announcement, do you want to attend the party?"

"What child?" asked Nik. "I didn't know you ever had a baby."

"Your grandmother made me believe my son had died. In truth, an attorney named Trevor Lansing helped her put my child up for adoption."

"More than likely he betrayed her and sold the child." said Stefan idly. Nik meanwhile was wondering what this meant as far as his inheritance. Looking at the younger man, Stefan nipped this in the bud. "No, Alexis child can't inherit."

"Good, I have worked hard to earn this title, I am sorry Aunt Alexis, but your behavior of late, of betraying my family shows me where your loyalties lie." said Nik standing. "Now if you will excuse me, I have to find a guard to assign to Elizabeth to protect her from that thug. I can't believe you would have anything to do with the mob, seriously, maybe Uncle Stefan should look for another attorney if you are going to keep up..."

"Nik, sit down." said Alexis, when he just raised his eyebrow as if to dare her to repeat her order, she said "I am not done. But before I get into things, this attorney, Lansing, he works for Helena, a lot. He was her attorney when she was in town last. She also made a deal with one of his other clients to borrow staff."

"And we care why? My grandmother has been dealt with." he said almost at the door.

"Anthony Zachara, Trevor Lansing he works for Anthony Zachara, even you have to know that name. As for this family we have never been lily white. We have done business with whoever had whatever product we wanted. And Nik, to the world, we are decedents of terrorists, something to keep in mind the next time you decide to call Morgan a thug." she told him.

"Fine, well..."

"Nik, Elizabeth is never ever going to return your affections. Just because you want her, doesn't mean she is ever going to be interested in you." she tossed out there hoping she was wrong.

"I never said I expected her to, but in honor of my relationship with my brother, I intend to make her my bride. After all Helena is the reason..."

"Nik, Elizabeth is my daughter, there is no way, none that will ever happen." Alexis said trying to be gently. When she saw him stagger then turn to look at her, she saw his face and knew, she knew he had had feelings for Elizabeth and that they had nothing to do with Lucky no matter what he claimed. "Yes, she is my daughter."

"No." he said needing it not to be true. Leaving he went across the harbor, seeing Elizabeth greeting Jason outside the studio building, he was about to call out to her when he saw it, the resemblance to Alexis and went to Jake's.

AT GH, Audrey was sitting on her husbands old office and when Jeff finally joined her asked. "When are you going to get that daughter of yours under control. Even as we are speaking she is at this hospital, with one of those thugs that belong to Jason Morgan. You need to get her under control instead of chasing down relatives your family hasn't heard from since after WW2."

"Audrey, I was at the house, where are the pictures of Elizabeth?" he asked. When she started to answer, he said "Oh yeah, you took them down when you had the nerve to disown my father's granddaughter. Well, I want them and you know what, my father would be ashamed of you and what you are doing."

"You, you are the one who brought that child into this family, she has never acted like the rest of us, she is too different." she stated standing. "It's why I never wanted her here, she is messy and way too loud and then there is the constant drama, she can't stay out of trouble."

"Yet, you kept pushing her with Spencer, who was the cause of a good portion of that drama. You pushed her to be with him after he publicly humiliated her at their almost wedding then taking up with her sister. Sarah has already heard from me on that topic and I will tell you like I did the Spencers. I wouldn't have let that happen, never again. Audrey, you can disown Elizabeth, but it means you disown me as well."

"Jeff, stop being over dramatic." she said. "We need to find out what to do about the problems she is causing."

"If you are talking about Elizabeth, she is doing nothing wrong. I am proud of my daughter. She is strong independent and unlike my middle child doesn't kiss anyone's rear thinking that it means she will be in the will. Yeah, your precious Sarah, she thinks you are old, staid and boring but she lies to your face, wanting to inherit whatever you leave when you die. That is who you prefer, the granddaughter that was telling her mother that after you had surgery with a drill that it was a shame you got better from that stroke. What is it with you, Audrey, this is the type of person you want around, a yes woman who is waiting for you to die?" he asked.

Audrey stood then walked to the window and said "Anyhow, who is your mother's sister?"

"Her name was changed to Kristen Bergman, she was an opera sister. You might know her daughters, Alexis Davis and Kristina Cassadine." he tossed out.

"Alexis was a wonderful woman, another one of those dragged down by her legal association with Sonny Corinthos, but I think I heard she quit working for him, maybe she can talk to Elizabeth, make her wake up to that fact she is throwing her life away."

"I don't care, either way, she has a daughter." he added. "A very lovely young woman who has been pretty much on her own since she was fifteen, she works for ELQ, dating a young businessman locally."

"Now, that is the sort of granddaughter I want." she said with approval. "Do I know her? Maybe we should have dinner with her and her young man, sounds like they are my kind of people."

"No, because you disowned her. That description was Elizabeth. And Audrey, I checked, Jason has never actually been charged with a crime, and even if you suddenly decided you want to be around my daughter, I wouldn't want you around here. Here, this is for you, by the way." he said offering her a check. "Payment for your inconvenience. I will be moving into the Port Charles Hotel this evening. Like I said, I think if a few people knew what you are doing, they would be ashamed to know you."

Jason was holding onto a laughing Elizabeth as she tried to light the next candle and asked her what she was going to wish for. "I was thinking about the one wanting happiness for Zander."

"Not a bad idea, can we have him find it elsewhere." he said with a smirk. Once she had lit the candle and then blown it out, he said "What next?"

"I have some stuff downstairs, that I have to bring up here." she said Once he had helped her bring up the boxes, they had the guards take the remaining ones to the local charity shop or the dumpster behind the building.

Jason found the hippo and holding it up asked "And what is this?"

"My best friend for several years." she said laughing as she tried to get the lumpy stuffed lime green animal from him. When he just moved his hand higher, she gave him an innocent smile then on her tiptoes, she leaned up to kiss him on the his cheek.

Tossing the hippo, Jason said "I have never seen a hippo in the wild who is that very particular color."

"Really, you just missed them, that's all." she said her voice growing husky as she felt the hardness of his body against hers. The hippo was soon forgotten as he moved his head down to capture her lips in a kiss.

As they deepened the kiss, he encircled her hips with his hands as he pulled her closer and closer until there was no space between them. Jason felt her hands in his hair, as he reached behind her and lifted her a bit, while placing his knee on the sofa.

"Jason?" Hearing his sister's voice, he lifted his head and glared as the young brunette entered the newly renovated studio. "Elizabeth, did you forget we were supposed to go to the Scorpio house?"

"Huh?" she asked, her mind still on the heat that had been generated between Jason and her. "Emily, did you want something?"

"Yes, let my brother go, go take a cold shower and then change. We promised to head over to the Scorpio house. Now go." she said shoving her best friend away from her brother. "Jason, what is up at your penthouse? That blond Courtney was in the lobby demanding to speak to you. It wasn't pretty."

"She was on her honeymoon, according to one of my associates." said Jason with as straight a face as he could manage. "She married that lawyer who was hanging around, Ric Lansing."

Elizabeth had washed her face, then rejoined them. "Emily, are you ready?"

Laughing, Emily stopped her from kissing Jason and said "You two can play kissy face later. Maxie is very eagerly awaiting us."

Jason watched as Elizabeth was dragged out of the studio and shook his head wondering if he could strangle his sister. Heading out, he went to deal with business.

"Jason, Ric Lansing is back in town with his new wife. He made a couple of calls to his father, then went to file divorce papers." snickered Johnny O'Brien. "He is looking for a new job, by the way. Do you want me to have him grabbed?"

"Yes, lets make things clear." he said then added. "Has our police contact called yet?"

"They should identify his body tonight." he replied. "Francis is coming home with Olivia and the kid. This Dante is going to college here at PCU, we pulled some strings."

"Good, good, now what about Alcazar?" he asked.

"He sent us everything he had on Lansing Sr. and Jr." he replied. "I do have a question, what are we going to do about Carly?"

"Is she still in town?" he asked pretending amazement. Calling Benny, he got the accountants information. "So, she is down to 4.6. What about her lawyer, has she found one yet?"

"No, no one will touch the case. She even tried to call a few out of town, there was this Diane Miller, she is pretty good, but told Carly she didn't do family law. A couple from Landview, that didn't work either. I think she is going to have to give in and sign off on it."

"Good, keep up the pressure. She will get the hint eventually." he said then added "If she doesn't then I will make sure she doesn't get anything at all."

Mac was talking to Felicia when Maxie's two guests arrived. Emily and Elizabeth were pulled upstairs with barely a smile at the couple. "Well, don't forget to rescue them after an hour."

Felicia said "Elizabeth gave her the dolls and she brought this on herself."

Mac's phone rang and was told to call San Juan. "Is this Malcolm Scorpio I was asked to call your commandant."

"Sir, this is Hector Daga, I have a dead body here. With connections to your town. The body is a mess, looks like he drowned."

"You have an identification?"

"Yes, it is Michael Sonny Corinthos. According to his men, he took a blond out on his new boat, by himself with a hired crew. There are a few body parts, eaten by a shark from the teeth. They have a tattoo that we identified as belonging to one of Mr. Corinthos guards." said the man. "Our people would like to know if you can contact Mr. Corinthos family, let them know that he won't be coming home."

"You're saying that Sonny is dead, that he drowned?" he asked disbelieving what they were saying.

"No, it looks like pirates from Venezuela hijacked his new toy. There have been several other incidents in these waters." Within a few minutes, Mac called the station and asked to speak to Taggert. "Met me at Corinthos Morgan warehouse."

Jason saw Mac and Taggert entering and saw that the bald cop looked confused when Mac told them he had had a call from San Juan.

"I know why you are here, my contacts down on the Island called, gave me the message." he said. "I am going to arrange for his body to be shipped up here."

"Whose body?" asked Taggert.

"Sonny, his boat was hijacked." said Jason then saw Taggert looking like he didn't believe him. "Our people were aware of this problem for a while, with our ships traveling through those lanes."

Taggert started to accuse Jason, then stopped. If he knew one thing, it was that Morgan didn't want the business. "Morgan, when are you going to tell those that need to know."

"I will take care of it. There is only Mike, his sister Courtney and Carly." he told them. When the two men left, neither pretending to be heartbroken about Sonny's death. Jason made a few calls, including one he didn't want to.

"Carly, I need you to meet me at the Warehouse."

"Lansing, find your wife, then meet me at the Warehouse."

"Mike, it's Jason, meet me at the Warehouse."

Jason made the announcement to the workers, then told them to continue on with their jobs. "There will be a service later this week."

Once the foursome were sitting in the office, Jason looked at Francis and Johnny who were with him then just bluntly made the announcement. "It looks like Sonny met a blond on the island, then they went out on his new yacht. They found his body along with the blond's."

Carly started to crying while Mike looked at Jason and said "What are you going to do about it?"

"It would require a war, what I want to know Mr. Lansing, is they found the pirates, they were connected to your former employer, Mr. Alcazar. Care to offer any explanations?"

"I had nothing to do with any of this." he said stiffly as he got that he had been caught and he had no choice, none but to leave.

"Good." said Jason looking at the two 'lovebirds' then said "I know that you are Adella's son with Trevor Lansing. I find it rather interesting that you married Sonny's sister."

"What?" asked Mike in shock as he looked at his daughter. "You married this man, I thought you were interested in Jason?"

"She might have been, but I have no interest in her." said Jason looking at them annoyed. When Carly stood and tried to bawl on his shoulder, he looked at Johnny who pried her fingers off of his boss's arm and edged her to the door. "There will be a service in a few days. Carly this doesn't change a thing about your deal with Sonny. As long as you stick around, you will lose money."

Carly kept her eyes down, then saw Ric and had an idea. "You, you can represent me now."

Snorting, he said "I was only offering to get an in with my brother, now, now, you have nothing, absolutely nothing to offer me."

Courtney was shocked at his tone, then said "Wait, what about me?"

"As soon as our marriage is dissolved we will never have to see you again. Chase after Morgan all you want, but I doubt you get anywhere. Like my father said, he won't let that woman get away, she is his way of taking control."

"Oh please, as if." snorted Carly.

"Why are you still here?" asked Ric as he glared at the other blond.

Carly started to argue with him, but then left, not wanting to give up, not yet.

Nik meanwhile was at Jake's.

"I need a bottle, of your strongest stuff." he said before paying and going to a booth.

"Nik? Can we talk?" asked Gia hopefully when she entered. She had seen his car in the parking lot and in spite of being kicked out of the admittedly lame wake for his brother and Luke Spencer had hoped without his family there he would talk to her.

"No, keep the ring, sell it, move on with your life." he replied then when she tried to sit down, stood and moved to another booth. "Gia, there is nothing left for you, it was hanging on by a thread before that, now, now I am just done."

"Nik, you don't mean, we love one another." she said the tears sliding down her face. "How can you do this, how can you treat me like I am Elizabeth, she is the one, the one who walked away from Lucky, not me. I have been there, waiting for you, in spite of everything, your grandmother, your uncle who barely tolerates me, because I thought you love me, I stayed..."

"Gia, don 't bother wasting any more of your time." he announced then when she didn't move, gave a sigh of annoyance, just the signal the woman who had been sitting at the bar, who had seen his huge bankroll and decided to see what she needed to do.

"Sweetie, take a walk, he just isn't interested." she said walking up. Gia looked at the tramp and said "Oh please, like I need a ten dollar hooker to tell me about my own fiancee."

"The man just told you it was over, buy a little self respect and walk away." she told the tall dark skinned woman who just looked at the man drinking straight from the bottle.

"Nik, I will be waiting, but don't take too long. I would have no trouble leaving." she warned.

"Good, move on, find a new man." he said then looked at the hooker and said "Join me."

Gia was beyond shock when she left the small bar. Seeing Zander following her out, she said "What, you want to take a potshot at me too?"

"No, but I know how you are feeling. Look. Gia, Nik... he is..." There was nothing he could say. "I am heading out of town at the end of the week, to Florida. If you decide you want to get away, let me know. I wouldn't mind the company."

"Why would I shame my brother by getting involved with the mob?" she asked.

"Because you did just shame him, by chasing after that man inside. And I am no longer working in the coffee business." he added. "Let me know, soon, okay?"

Inside, Nik had the brunette in one of the bathroom stalls, then looking around, sneered at the mess and said "Here, meet me here."

The woman took the card, stuck it her bra and said "Sounds like a plan."

When the residents of Port Charles watched the eleven o'clock news, the lead story about Sonny Corinthos dying on his yacht caught every one's attention. There were various reactions around town.

From the Quartermaine residence where there was just relief and from AJ a bit of self satisfaction. AT the Jones household, Tony was watching his son, who had been asking for the man. He knew that tomorrow he was going to have to sit down with Gail Baldwin and figure out how to give the four year old the news.

Mac had told Felicia who had called Bobbie only to be told that she knew, that Carly was at the house. Hanging up, she looked at her ex-husband and said "Carly is already worried about the will."

"Oh course she is." he said slightly disgusted. "Taggert was a bit shocked, then annoyed that he hadn't gotten to arrest him. With Gia talking about moving to Philly, my guess is that I end up needing a new detective."

Ric was thinking hard, wondering if Sonny had had time to change his will, to include his sister. Then there was the business, he knew that Sonny didn't have any other blood relatives other than Mike and Courtney, he might be able to make a play for the company.

Francis and his new wife, were talking to her son. Dante had no intention of grieving for the man. He had done some research on his biological father and he wasn't anyone he wanted near him.

Jason meanwhile was at the studio with Elizabeth. They were planning their vacation for the end of the summer. Jason was planning on taking her to Italy when things had settled down.

"Jason, are you thinking about Sonny?" she asked the now silent man.

"No, yes, I am hoping that I haven't missed something, that he didn't do anything that would bite me on the rear." he said then reaching for her hands, cupping them between hers and said "I want no reason for us to be delayed. How much longer are going to be working for Edward?"

"Not too much longer. He wanted me to stick around, but I told him that I was going to go to Italy then return to graduate this fall." she said while leaning back onto his chest. "I was wondering about Michael, how is he going to take the news?"

"I don't know, I talked to Monica, she said Tony is working with Gail Baldwin to help Michael adjust." he said feeling slightly worried. "I am more concerned about what Carly might do."

"Are you worried she might go after Michael?"

"More than that, I have no idea what is in Sonny's will." he explained. "Sonny tended to not worry about stuff like that. For all I know, it could leave everything to Brenda."

"I hope not." she said shivering at the rage she was certain that Carly would have. When she yawned, Jason said "I should let you get to bed."

"Wait, you aren't staying?" she asked surprised. "I thought..."

With a firm kiss, but pulling back, he said "You in your bed, me on the sofa."

Seeing her confusion and seeing that she was feeling a bit rejected, he said "No, don't think like that. I just want us, to be together, when we have time to enjoy to explore, but I know that there is a good chance either Francis or Johnny could have to come and get me this evening."

"Okay." she said then kissing him said "I will feel a bit lonely in that great big comfy bed you got for us."

Groaning as he counted to ten, trying to get control of his body when she stopped at the door, looked at the various obvious reaction to her words and said "Soon."

Resting his head against the window, he counted to ten, then twenty and was almost at fifty when he heard the quiet knock. Letting in Johnny, he said "Let go down to the old studio."

Talking to the guard on the door, he let Marco know that Elizabeth had gone to bed. The tall Italian nodded then Jason hurried down to find out what was going on.

"Things are quiet, but there are a few things I need to share. We had a man on Cassadine. Here, you need to hear this."

Listening to them talking after sex; he said "What is this?"

"Wait for it." he said. Then they heard the phone ringing. Then Stefan ordering Nik to head home. Then the sound of him paying off the hooker. Then Nik leaving and then the sound of the woman talking to a voice they recognized.

"Wait, that is Lansing. What on earth? Does he not know?"

"No, but we can use this. This woman is going to tell Alexis she is her kid."

"I know her from someplace." Jason said looking at the photo then grinned "She was in Java when I was there, she is a con artist. Have Stan do some research then we will have someone make an anonymous call to Scorpio. Do you think she knows that she had sex with Alexis' nephew?"

"No, at least I don't think so. But you heard him paying her." said Johnny.

"Okay, well for now, lets just wait for Benny." he replied.

"I'm here." said the man. "Sonny's will, its pretty standard. Carly is cut out, with his bigamy. Pretty much the hospital inherits, a few other charities, but you get the business due to the partner agreement along with the island."

"Who has it?" he asked.

"Alexis, but he gave me a copy of it." said Benny. "What worries me is that Mike only gets a million, in a trust."

Elizabeth meanwhile couldn't sleep, tossing and turning she just didn't get to sleep. Finally getting out of bed, she took the comforter to the sofa, along with her pillow and curled up to yet again wait for Jason.

When the blond returned, he lifted her and carried her into her bedroom. Trying to leave, he heard her waking up. "Go to sleep."

"Stay with me." she said her voice sleep softened.

"Elizabeth..." he said his body already reaction to her.

"Jason, come to bed." she ordered. Standing still for a few minutes, he took off his shirt, kicked off his boots and then went to unsnap his jeans, then hesitated before seeing the challenge in her eyes.

Lowering the zipper, he moaned then said "Close those eyes or we won't be doing any sleeping tonight."

"Promises, promises." she said with a throaty longing voice.

"You are going to pay for that." he said as he slid into the bed next to her. Pulling her close, he said "Now behave."

"Yes sir." she joked then Jason loomed over her, leaned down to kiss her and tormented and teased her. Then laying down on his back, he said "Now go to sleep."

TBC