The pain could be felt deep in her soul as her heart and mind began tearing her apart inside. Her mind reminds her of where her loyalties should lie, but her heart pulls her to believe what she already knows to be true. He'd never lie to her. Not after all they've been through. They've come to mean too much to each other to believe that he'd ever lie to her now. Knowing that's true, knowing he would never put her through this pain if he could avoid it, only one truth stood vividly before her. A truth she never wanted to believe. A truth too painful to accept yet there it was. The only scenario possible. Still, even with her known truth, she still finds herself sitting before the man she has come to care so much for, demanding the truth she already knows in her heart. Needing it to fall from his lips. To be spoken with his voice. Needing to hear it now more than ever.

"Tell me." she demands when he remains stoic in his seat, his eyes barely meeting hers. "Say it!"

"You won't believe me."

Reaching out her hands to hold his, she forces his gaze to meet hers before saying, "Try me."

"I was defending myself." Jason says plainly, searching her eyes for acceptance as he utters, "He attacked me with a knife."

A single tear drops down her cheek as her hold slips from his hands. Slowly rising to her feet without a single word, she turns her back on him, taking a deep breath before walking over to the door and pulling it open. As she's about to walk out the door, she hears her name fall from his lips, almost pleading with her to stop. This was all her fault. She allowed herself to fall for another man. She allowed him entrance to her heart and gave it freely without hesitation. Lucky went after him because her heart was no longer his for the taking and now she must make it right for Jason's sake.

"I..." Elizabeth breathes in deep before whispering, "I believe you."

With that said, she walks out of the interrogation room, swiftly shutting the door behind her. As she walks off to speak to the police commissioner on Jason's behalf, the man lets out a deep breath of relief as he relaxes into the metal chair beneath him. No one believes his version of things, not that he blamed them, it wasn't a far stretch from his usual endeavors. None of their opinions mattered, however, none but hers. He had feared she wouldn't believe him. That she would hate him for an act done simply out of self defense, but he finds relief in knowing she didn't feel that way toward him. Knowing she believed him above her childhood love, its all that mattered. No one else had to believe him. No one but her.

She knew it wouldn't be easy to convince the cops that Jason was innocent. It wasn't going to be easy to prove that a well known mob enforcer was simply defending himself, but she will find a way to prove it. She will do whatever it takes to get him out of that place. Not knowing any other way, Elizabeth makes the only choice available to her and that was to prove Lucky was lying. What other way than to get him to confess to the crime he committed against Jason. Though he didn't want to help her clear Jason's name by any means, a more pressing fact has Lieutenant Taggert at her side in her efforts to take claim of the truth.

"You sure you can handle this?" Taggert questions her, trying to get her to see what she was walking into. "Lucky is the man you love, isn't he?"

"This won't be easy. I know that." Elizabeth replies simply. "But what matters more to you, Lieutenant? My childhood love, as you put it, or getting an unstable man off the streets and into a place where he can receive the help he needs? Unless you'd prefer he spirals further out of control and one of your people is taken at knife point instead."

"Point made." Taggert concedes, pulling open the door to the closet. "I'll be right in here. Try to get this over with as fast as you can manage."

"Understood."

"And...be careful." Taggert comments. "Like you said, he's spiraling..."

"I'll handle getting the confession." Elizabeth says simply, sliding her hand over the handle as he walks into the closet. "You just make sure you walk out when I get it."

Before Taggert could say more than that, Elizabeth shuts the door in his face, taking in a deep breath to prepare herself for the conversation ahead. She's seen the signs, she's noticed all the changes that Lucky has undergone, she just never thought any of those would bring them to where they are now. Hearing the knock at the door, she puts on her bravest persona and opens the door, letting in the man she had loved for so long. Fighting off the tears, she gestures for him to enter before shutting the door behind him, skillfully placing herself in front of it in an attempt to block his exit.

"What's going on?" Lucky fires off, uncertainty in the way she's looking at him. "You said it was urgent."

"It is." Elizabeth replies. "I wanted you to hear it from me..."

"Hear what?"

"Jason..." Elizabeth shakes her head. "The police are releasing him soon."

"They're what?!" Lucky blurts out in anger. "Why would they do that? He attacked me!"

"For some reason, they're under the impression that you were the one that instigated the fight." Elizabeth counters firmly. "So, I gotta ask, Lucky, is it true? Did you attack Jason without cause?"

"Without cause? Are you kidding me?" Lucky looks at her in disbelief. "I had cause! Not that you'd care, but I did it for you!"

"For me? Are you serious?" Elizabeth stares at him like she was truly seeing him for the first time. "You attacked Jason with a knife for my benefit?! Have you seriously lost your damn mind, Lucky?"

"No, Elizabeth, its you that's lost your mind." Lucky snaps back. "You let him into your head...let him brainwash you...what did you really expect me to do? Not protect you?!"

"I expected you to trust me." Elizabeth says, pulling open the door the same time Taggert started to push open the closet. "Now...now, I expect you to answer for your crimes. He's all yours, Lieutenant."

"What is this? What's happening?!" Lucky shakes his head quickly, looking from Elizabeth to Taggert and back. "Elizabeth...you set me up?! Why? Why would you betray me like this?! Answer me, dammit!"

"Lucas Lorenzo Spencer Junior, you are under arrest for assault with a deadly weapon..." Lieutenant Taggert began reading him his charges and rights as he placed the handcuffs on his wrist.

Lucky barely acknowledged the question of comprehension to his rights as he stared at Elizabeth as he was escorted out of the studio. As soon as they cleared the threshold, Elizabeth quickly shuts the door behind them before dropping to her knees. How could it have come to this? How could they let things get this far out of hand with him? Tears falling as the pain spreads through her body, she allows herself to grieve before pulling herself together again. It was done. She corrected the wrong that was done by Lucky and now it was time to move forward. Now it was time to leave Port Charles behind once and for all.

It doesn't take too long for the police to process Lucky and release Jason from lockup. Among his things, he finds a letter from Elizabeth, courtesy of Lieutenant Taggert. Straddling his bike, Jason rushes to the studio, finding it empty sans a single painting sitting on an easel in the center of the room. Tearing open the letter he reads it, having nothing more that he could do at this point. Reading her letter, he almost wishes that she hadn't believed him. That she had believed Lucky and left him in that cell to rot. At least then she'd still be in Port Charles. Securing the studio, locking it up tight, Jason straddles his bike and takes off through the town. If she's not going to be in town then neither will he.