Disclaimer: I do not own General Hospital. This is purely written for amusement, and not for profit. All characters and associations belong to ABC, I am just borrowing them to help better myself at writing.
Summary: After the reveal, Elizabeth watches Jason pull out of her life once again. Four months later, a huge misunderstanding unfolds thanks to a drunk Morgan, a jealous Jason, and Elizabeth who has enough of the bullcrap. When the misunderstanding clear up…will Liz and Jason finally get their act together?
Information: Liz didn't lie about Jason in this. Nicolas did, and let an unwitting Elizabeth romance Jason anyways without warning. The rest of history follows as canon.
Pairing: Elizabeth/Jason
Inspired by the story "Fabulous Beasts" by Stephanie James. There is a scene where the man guy thinks his woman has gone and hooked up with a younger man that is just enjoyable to read, the banter and the situation was just perfect, and it just inspired me to write this. (Also my inspiration comes from the fact that I feel that Elizabeth is getting a lot of hate from haters who champion a character who has done bad things, too. I understand Elizabeth isn't perfect, but when people write fics with the sole purpose to tear a character down, it's kind of crazy to me. Am I harsh to Sam in some stories? Yes, but my stories don't revolve around that or her. My story revolves around the couple that I love—Liason—and how I wish things would have played out. Sam, Patrick, Carly, Sonny are just minor notes in the grand scheme of it. I just wanted to write some pro Elizabeth stuff to counter act the hate.)
LOVE IS A BUMPY ROAD, BUCKLE UP!
By ThroughtheMirrorDarkly
Elizabeth was a reserved in love though most people would claim otherwise.
She never gave a hundred percent, too jaded by past experiences to have the heart to do so.
Yet with Jake Doe, she had given him just that. For the first time in long time, she had loved without reservations, without holding back. She had been walking down the wedding aisle—something she never thought she'd do again after all her failed marriages—when the world came crashing down around her shoulders with all the force of a hurricane. Just as vows were about to be exchanged, the doors to the church slammed open, and Carly came bursting in. At first, everyone had been concerned because Carly had obviously been in a bad accident, but the blond shrugged off their concern. She informed them in front of God and everyone—seeming to relish in ruining the day for her and Jake—that Jake Doe wasn't just a random person.
He was Jason Morgan, and to further rub the salt into the wound, Carly gleefully pointed out that Elizabeth's best friend, Nicolas Cassidine, knew the whole time. Elizabeth knew that Carly wanted to imply that somehow Elizabeth must have known too, but she hadn't. She hadn't known Jake was Jason, and bile rushed up the back of her throat. She had grabbed onto the nearest pew to steady her quaking legs, and her heart just broke.
All the dreams and hopes shattered in one moment.
She had stood there feeling like she was underwater, barely hearing Sam's blubbering—how quickly the woman forgot about Patrick—and she could feel Jason once again slipping away from her life. It was that all-consuming pain that she felt when Jason left her at the courthouse, the one that had destroyed her in ways that no one ever imagined. After he left her, she had been struggling. Struggling to stay afloat, struggling to find happiness, because what could compare to her soul mate? And that's what Jason was for her. No matter how much people tried to diminish their connection, or their history, Jason was the other piece of her soul even if they weren't together. The most painful part was she never knew if Jason truly felt the same way. There were moments, but they were fleeting as the world tore them from each other's lives again and again.
Even after four long months, the pain of that moment hadn't lessened, and Elizabeth hated the fact that she couldn't let it go. It boiled, and festered inside of her chest as much as she fought against it. She feigned politeness to a bitter Sam, a nasty Monica and snide Carly. She let Jake spend time with Danny because she would not let them try and twist her actions against her. She would not give them a leg to stand on, and claim that she putting her claws into Jason.
She took another swallow of her tequila, and leaned back in her chest, scoping out the Floating Rib with a critical gaze. She couldn't just sit at the house by herself tonight. Laura and Kevin were at Wyndemere, and invited all the boys over for a night of movies and popcorn. Elizabeth hadn't the heart to tell them no, but she never realized how the silence of that house would haunt her. The house that her and Jason were going to build a family in; that was only made more painful by the reality that they had built a family, Jake Doe and her in this last year only for him to abandon it so easily. Part of wanted to ask him how easily he could walk so he could teach her to do the same.
So unable to stand her home, Elizabeth came to Jake's. It was almost as bad. Memories of her and Jason were here, too. But she couldn't go to the Metrocourt to get a drink because she didn't want to run into Carly, or the fun couple. So she swallowed another shot down, letting the burn wash over her as Morgan Corinthos attempted to hit on her. She endured it because the kid was in a bad place. His insecurities and self-doubts were ones that Elizabeth could understand because when she was with Lucky, or Ric, she had been the same way.
And she also didn't want to leave the kid here at the bar alone.
Now, she was not interested Morgan. Not in a million lifetimes would she be interested in Carly's middle child, but she saw how Ava Jerome was sitting in the booth, eyeing Morgan. She knew the older woman couldn't help herself when it came to Morgan, and she also knew Morgan while down in the dumps genuinely wanted to start anew with Kiki.
Falling into bed with Ava wouldn't help him, and Elizabeth couldn't in good conscious leave him to such a vulture, so she made a split second decision. "You're drunk, Morgan. Way beyond drunk, so I'm going to call us a cab and you can crash at my place, alright?" She asked, lightly.
Morgan stared at her with wide shocked eyes. "You're taking me home?"
"Yep." If Carly heard that, she would have an aneurism. A part of Elizabeth would like to see that.
After having the bartender send for a cab, Elizabeth helped the inebriated Morgan outside and into the vehicle. She ignored the slightly judgmental look from the cab driver, and settled into the seat. She flinched when Morgan hugged her, his head resting on her shoulder and just gave him a quelling look. The look was lost on him, and he just laid there with a morose expression on his face. "I'm such an idiot."
"You're not an idiot, Morgan," Elizabeth chided, gently. "Don't talk about yourself that way."
"But I am! I try to be better for Kiki, but I always fall short! I always mess up! Nothing I ever do is good enough!" Morgan babbled, with a sob.
"Oh, for the love of…if you want to do right by Kiki, then do right by yourself. If you can't love the person that you are, then you won't be able to trust the love of another person has for you. Besides, some relationships are not meant to last. Some are just building block that teaches you, and that will lead you to something better," Elizabeth told him, her tone sharp. She hoped that it would get through his thick skull, and settle in because she had seen the longing glances between Kiki and Dillion. While Morgan loved Kiki, sometimes love just wasn't enough. Morgan had a tough road, there was no denying that, with his bipolar issues and feeling like he was standing in the shadow of his older sibling—a thing Elizabeth could sympathize with. "Get yourself to a place where you feel good about yourself, where you feel steady before you decide to add another person into the equation. Otherwise, your life will get out of balance, and eventually coming crashing down. Trust me, I speak from a deep, deep well of experience."
There was a long beat of silence. And then…
"You're so MILF, Miss Webber," Morgan mumbled into her shoulder.
Elizabeth snorted, with a shake of her head. "I know you think you're being sweet, but stop."
"No. Like really! I mean, you are so awesome despite what my mother says—"
"Oh, and what does your mother say?" Elizabeth asked, changing the subject. The poor boy was really trying to flirt, and it was so painfully awkward because one, he was so drunk and two, it was never happening. Elizabeth also knew that he was going to be utterly mortified the next morning, which would be rather amusing for her to watch.
"I overheard her and S-Sam," Morgan slurred, drunkenly, "bitching about how Jason wasn't the same. How he didn't act like he wanted them in his life, and all that. They blame you."
Really? That was news to Elizabeth. She had assumed from Sam's clingy behavior, and the fact that everywhere she went, she seemed to bump into Jason with Sam panting after him that things had gone back to the way they were before Jason's "death." Was it wrong that a part of her took satisfaction that things weren't going well for Carly and Sam? It probably was, but Elizabeth couldn't find it in her to care. They had been smug over Elizabeth's mistakes, calling her out on them—which wouldn't be so bothersome, if the other women weren't such hypocrites. "That's nice," Elizabeth said, patting his shoulder gently.
"You know it's the latest trend."
"What is?"
"Men having affairs with women who are older."
"A trend you know a great deal about," Elizabeth said, "but it's not happening, Morgan. You'd regret it in the morning, and you know it. And I can't even look at you in that context, sorry."
Morgan didn't hear a word. He was already passed out.
Elizabeth awoke to the sound of pounding on the door.
It took her a moment to realize that someone was actually knocking, because at first, she thought it was merely the pounding pain that came from inside her head. It had been a long time since Elizabeth had a hangover, and she was grateful the boys stayed the night with Laura and Kevin. She groaned into her pillow, and slapped a hand against the floor. "What am I doing on the floor?" She asked, lifting her head just a fraction. Thank goodness the curtains were closed, or the daylight would have killed her. Looking at her couch, she spotted Morgan and last night came flooding back. "Oh, that's right."
The knocking on the front door came once again.
"Ugh. Fine, I'm coming," Elizabeth said, weakly as she pushed herself off the floor. She regretted drinking alcohol. It had been years since she had drank so much to have a hangover. She had to concentrate all her strength to make it across the room, and to the door. Her mind scrambled for a plan, any kind of plan to get rid of her earlier morning knocker, and then she had to get Morgan up and out of her house.
And then—since Laura and Kevin had plans to take the boys to the zoo—she was going to take a nice long soak in the tub while a fresh pot of coffee brewed. Yes, that sounded lovely. "Do you mind stopping all that damn pounding?" Elizabeth said, resentfully as she wretched open the door. Her poor head couldn't take much more of it, and then her stomach lurched painfully when she realized exactly who was on her front door. "Wha…Jason?"
Jason had his hand up in the air from where he had been knocking loudly on the door, and he stared with wide eyes as the rumpled, disheveled Elizabeth in front of him. His expression was one of astonishment that quietly melted into disapproval. "What happened to you?" He asked, frowning.
Elizabeth stood there, staring. It took her a moment to realize none of the curse words that had shot through her mind made it out of her mouth, and she desperately tried to gather her wits. "Jason, hey," Elizabeth swallowed, her mouth dry and tasted like something had died. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to see you. I thought that'd be rather obvious," he said, his eyes flickered from her head down to her toes, taking in the blue dress she wore and the fact that she was missing a high heel. "What on earth is going on here? You look like…"
"Something the cat drug in?" Elizabeth asked, with a brow arched. She didn't know what he was doing here. He had barely even said two words to her in the last four months, and to show up out of the blue left her baffled and brought up all those confusing emotions she did not want to be feeling right now. Was this a dream? A nightmare? Very slowly she extended one hand and touched the unyielding surface of his white t-shirt he was wearing, and then made a face. "You're real!"
"Elizabeth, look, I don't know what is going on," Jason started, but Elizabeth wasn't having it.
"Well, maybe if you called every once in a while you'd be clued in more," Elizabeth snapped, turning on her heel and marching back into her house with Jason chasing her at her heels. "Since you are here, you can help get Morgan out of my house."
"Morgan?" Jason's voice took on a sharp edge. "Sonny's son?"
"Yes, he spent the night," Elizabeth said, without adding context.
Elizabeth watched with a morbid fascination as Jason's face went blank, and then some unfurled in that steel blue gaze of his. A look of sheer rage that she'd be happy never seeing on his face ever again, and when he spot, his voice was cold and deadly, "For the sake of sanity, let's run through a couple of quick explanations before I beat the living hell out of him, and take you over my knee!"
This wasn't how this was supposed to go.
His reunion with Elizabeth wasn't supposed to start with anger or shouts, but with kisses and soft proclamations of love. At least, his daydreams had been like that, but reality was so far different from them, and it left him with an angry, bitter taste in his mouth. He had never known this kind of masculine outrage in his life; it was a primitive feeling that engulfed from his head down to his feet, and burned deep within the marrow of his bones as he took in the compromising situation that he found Elizabeth in.
He couldn't even wrap his mind around it as he stared at Morgan, who had been awoken by his shout. A brief flare of satisfaction was gained when he saw the horrified expression on Morgan's face, but it was stamped out by the sarcastic smirk on Elizabeth's. "I, uh, I think I should go," Morgan stuttered, pushing himself off the couch. He used the coffee table to keep something in between him and Jason. "I should check in with my dad…"
"You are going nowhere, Morgan," Jason said, his teeth clenched. "I am going to be needed an explanation."
"Leave him alone, Jason!"
"There's nothing to explain! I was at Jake's and got drunk and Elizabeth took me home, but nothing happened!" Morgan explained, hurriedly. His throat bobbed, and he looked like he was about to pee himself. "I just passed out! I swear! Tell him, Elizabeth!"
"I wish you would both leave," Elizabeth shouted, then pressed her hands to her face as a pitiful groan slipped through her lips. She had thought Jason shouting had been bad, but her own voice slammed around in her skull like a boomerang.
"What happened last night?" Jason ignored her demand.
Morgan shook his head side to side, and held up his hands in surrender. "Nothing. I swear!"
"Nothing happened, Jason," Elizabeth said, rubbing her temples. "Now let the boy go."
Jason narrowed his eyes, but then inclined his head sharply.
Morgan took that as his cue and fled the house as if the hounds of hell were chasing him down.
"What the hell did you want with a kid like that?" Jason demanded, sharply.
Elizabeth let out a low growl of annoyance. Who the hell did Jason think he was? He had no right to barge in here like a jealous lover! "Well, it's a trend you see," she said, caustically. Her blue eyes shut tightly, and her expression twisted with pain. "Young men looking for an older woman."
"I am about at the end of my patience. The only reason I have not flew off the handle right now is the fact that I know you didn't actually sleep with him," Jason stalked forward another step, his knuckles whitening as he gripped the back of the couch.
"How do you know?" she taunted, giving him a glare.
"You are both fully dressed. You still have your pantyhose on. Those who have a wild night of abandon usually lose those along the way. It's obvious he slept on the couch, and you on the floor. One of your shoes is still wedged underneath the edge of the table," Jason listed out, furiously.
She gave him a baleful look. "How observant."
Jason didn't know how one woman could simultaneously make him want to kiss her, and strangle her in the same moment. Biting back his rage because it had gotten him nowhere, he took a deep breath and struggled to find some semblance of calm. "How is your head?" He asked, his tone very light.
"Hurts," she admitted.
Jason worked his jaw before he walked past her and into the kitchen. Elizabeth stood there, leaning forward as she listened to him search around the cabinets before he returned with a glass of water and a couple of asprin. "Here. Take them."
"Four months, Jason," Elizabeth whispered, taking the pills out of his hands. She tossed them into her mouth, and chased it down with a huge gulp of water. Her quaking fingers clutched at the cool glass, and she looked away from him. "Four months since you practically abandon whatever life we had built, and didn't look back. You don't get to storm in and micromanage things now."
"I'm not here to micromanage your life," Jason told her, with a small shake of his head.
"Then why?" Elizabeth asked, taking a seat at her dining room table.
Jason pulled out a chair, and followed suit. "Because I want you, and I need you, Elizabeth," he said, watching her intently. He watched the torrent of emotions cascade across her face, and his heart kicked painfully against his ribs. "I love you. That hasn't changed in the last four months."
Elizabeth flinched. "Love me? Love me? Jason, you left! I could understand having to deal with being married to Sam, or figure out things for Danny's sake, but you cut me out of your life. How can you sit here and say that you still love me?"
"Because I didn't want to give Sam, or anyone else a reason to say that you were using our engagement or this last year to trick me into staying with you," Jason stated, seriously. It had been hard these last four months, trying to sift through the ashes of his life and figure out what to do from there, but there was never a doubt in his mind that Elizabeth was going to be a part of his future. Not to him. "I remember little bits of my past, Elizabeth. I remember that every time we would try to be together, our so called friends and family would fight to keep us apart. I wanted to settle things in my old life so I could move forward, and I figured it would be easier to do that if they believed you were out of the picture. Sam thinks I signed the divorce papers because I want a new start. She believes that means with her, but it was never her that I wanted a new start with. No matter what memories that have come back, my heart is still yours."
Elizabeth swallowed thickly. "I don't know what to do with that, Jason."
"Elizabeth," Jason whispered, reaching out to touch her hand.
She pulled it away, and gnawed on her lower lip. "People are always going to be against us. For selfish reasons, for stupid reasons, maybe even for valid ones. You getting all your affairs in order isn't going to stop them."
"No, but maybe not. But if I had stayed with you, they would have attacked you and blamed you when the truth is I am the problem. I don't want my old life, and this way they can't claim that I didn't try. I spent time with Sam, and yes, I had a few memories about her. They don't stir me like yours do, and I don't see her in that light. I did a few things for Sonny, because he had once been a good friend, but the violence leaves a bitter taste in the back of my mouth. Carly wants me to clean up every single mess that she makes like she is toddler who doesn't know better. I tried to step back into my old life, to assuage any doubts in my head, but there was something missing," Jason explained, his voice filled with sorrow and he looked at her with a lifetime of regrets swimming in his gaze. "You."
Elizabeth pressed a hand over her mouth, holding back the sob that threatened to tear through her. His words were unraveling her resolve, the walls that she built to keep him out of her heart, and she was afraid. She didn't know if she could survive giving him another chance, and not completely lose herself in the process.
"Every kept telling me that I just needed to get used to my old life," Jason shook his head. "But it was like wearing another man's life. It didn't fit, it didn't feel like mine. Being Jason Morgan, mob enforcer is something I just couldn't do, but I needed to know that. I needed to know that for us because I want to be your man without reservations. I want there to be no room for doubt to grow between us because you are right…there is going to be hell to pay when everyone finds out about us, but I would through all of hell to be by your side. Just…Just give me this one last chance."
Elizabeth sniffled, wiping away the tears before they fell. "And if I told you I couldn't give you that chance? What would you do?" She asked, having to know to his answer to that before she could give him a solid answer.
"I would spend every last waking moment trying to get you to change your mind," Jason told her, honestly. He couldn't imagine a life without her. He didn't know how he had managed to lock his heart up before his "death", to keep that dream tucked away so it couldn't tempt him, but he couldn't go through life like that again. He couldn't go through live day by day like a zombie barely feeling or caring. He wanted to be alive, and free, and the only person that made him feel like that was Elizabeth. "I would move heaven and earth to get you to give me a second chance."
"And when it gets too tough? When your friends are pulling you in an opposite direction? When they make things difficult for us to be together?" Elizabeth questioned, lightly. Hope vibrated in her heart, a shaky and unsteady rhythm, and she wrapped her arms around herself tightly as if to keep it hidden from plain view. She wanted a life with Jason. Ever since he stayed in her apartment in 1999, she had wanted a life with him. But stupid reasons, obligations, and mistakes pulled them apart time and time again. They both had messed up where the other was concerned, and Elizabeth didn't want this to be another ride on the same old rollercoaster. If her and Jason were going to try, it had been a fresh new start with both of them free from their past. Elizabeth had spent years shaking off the chains of her past, but would Jason be able to do the same—especially now when the people in his life were so desperate for things to go back to the way they were?
"If they can't support me unconditionally like I have them, then they aren't very good friends to begin with," Jason said, bluntly. "I'll give them a chance for our past's sake, but if they cross a line then I'm done with them. I'm tired of not being able to put my family and myself first. Maybe that's selfish, but I'd rather be a selfish man than live without you or the boys."
Elizabeth sucked in a deep breath. Her mind raced to process his words, and with a shaking hand, she reached out to take his. The spaces between her fingers perfectly completed by his, and the movement so natural and fluid like the earth and moon caught in the gentle throes of gravity. "Yes."
"Yes?" Jason blinked.
"Yes. I will give you a second chance."
Love was a bumpy road. It didn't matter who was on, only that one needed to buckle up tight.
A lot had happened in Port Charles in the next few weeks. Patrick had taken Emma, and moved away when it was clear that as soon as Jason was back that Sam was obsessed with him. Even Patrick could tell that Jason was merely placating Sam until he was able to freely be with Elizabeth, but Patrick wasn't waiting around for Sam to wise up and come around again. He wouldn't be a second choice.
Sam acted like she could have cared less which proved that the cold and callous woman was still there underneath the saintly persona that she so desperately tried to portray over the last few years. It really got ugly when Elizabeth and Jason forged ahead with their relationship after the divorce was settled. It had set Sam on a warpath, and the woman tried every trick in the book to garner sympathy. She had whispered into Monica's ear that Elizabeth was tricking Jason with a baby like she had with Jake, and fed Carly's anger by constantly reminding her that Elizabeth would have Jason kick the blond out of his life. None of that however fractured the couple's relationship. They were steadfast, with the past neatly squared and away after they sat down and talked about it instead of avoiding it. Something Sam hadn't counted on.
Desperate, Sam had tried to severe the only thing she thought connected Jason and Elizabeth—forgetting that Jason and Elizabeth had history way before she entered the picture—and tried to change the results of Jake's paternity to make it look like Elizabeth had lied. Unfortunately for her, the gossip Amy had seen Sam in the records room and reported it to security. Security saved the video footage on a DVD before Spinelli was able to delete it, (and Jason told Spinelli after the incident that he was no longer allowed anywhere near him, or his family) and Sam was arrested that very same day. When her prints hit the system, a lot of arrest warrants and a long rap sheet came propping up on the computer screen. Alexis rushed to try and get her daughter out of jail, but it didn't look like Sam would be seeing the light of day any time soon with so many states vying for a chance to try and convict her.
Monica had tried to use Danny as a bargaining chip. She had believed the twisted version of truth that Sam had fed her over the years, and saw Elizabeth as a bad influence in Jason's life. But Jason knew the Quartermaine all too well, and Diane had secured him custody of his son before Monica could even attempt to. That hadn't stopped the doctor from openly attacking Elizabeth at work, being very unprofessional and it got to the point that the hospital board voted to have her taken a long, long leave of absence. Tracy eventually got Monica to agree to an evaluation at Mercy—because she refused to step foot in General Hospital until she was able to go back to work—and they found a brain tumor. It had been a major cause of her mood swings, going from genial and kind one moment to hateful and angry the next. While the explanation didn't fix the problems between her and her son's family, it gave hope that with treatment and time that perhaps there wouldn't always be such distance.
Sonny accepted everything more gracefully than the rest of them. He had known from the start that Jason wasn't the same, and he couldn't force the man into his old life. It had taken him a few hard years to realize that he could do his job without Jason, and he realized that he had gotten complacent and relied on Jason so much that he stole a good portion of his brother in everything, but bloods life away. It was a bitter pill to swallow, and Sonny knew that it was time he stepped up and be the brother he always claimed he was. He apologized to Elizabeth, to how he wronged her all those years ago, and the two talked clearly the air. He had never been more grateful than to know a forgiving soul like Elizabeth than he was in that moment. He also talked the Families and got it cleared that Jason was considered protected, and that he was out of the business. He called Francis back form the island, and built Jason a security firm. While they weren't close as they once were, Jason still considered Sonny a friend.
Carly had not accepted it. Still had not accepted it. Every time Jason was within earshot, she laid into him about making the biggest mistake of his life and how Elizabeth wasn't good enough for him. Finally, Jason told her that she either accepted Elizabeth, or she didn't, and if she didn't then he would have nothing to do with her. He told her that the love of his life shouldn't have to deal with it which had made Carly let out a noise like a dying cow. Carly was now on the outside of Jason's life now, looking in, and it was only Sonny keeping her from spiraling out of control.
But Jason and Elizabeth were still going strong despite all that was against them. Elizabeth was happily against Jason as they sat on the sofa, and her world seemed warm and right. She gave a content sigh, and ran her fingers down the front of Jason's chest. His arms tightened around her in response, and she could feel his lips curve against her forehead. "I love you," she whispered out.
"When did you realize it?" he asked, gently.
"When I first pulled you out of the snow," Elizabeth admitted, with a big smile. "I was young and foolish, so lost in my pain over Lucky's supposed death to realize that you had somehow wormed your way into my heart. I wish I could have seen it then as easily as I do now. It would have saved us a lot of heartache."
"I don't mind the heartache because I still came back to you," Jason whispered.
Elizabeth nuzzled his neck, and looked up at him from the corner of her eye. "When did you realize you were in love with me?"
"When we danced at Kelly's," he told her, with a ready smile. "I remember looking at you, and holding you in my arms, and it was the first perfect moment for me. It was a moment when everything made sense, and the world didn't seem so bad anymore."
Elizabeth felt a warmth flutter in her heart, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, straddling his hips in one movement. His blue eyes heated with desire, almost turning the color of molten silver. "Are you trying to seduce me, Miss Webber?"
"Thinking about it," Elizabeth said, with a sultry smirk. "You have a problem with it?"
"Not one bit."