Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or locations associated with General Hospital, they belong to the creators and ABC.

Author's Note: Well, first of all, I want to thank my Beta Reader, Michelle - Thanks so much for your help - I really appreciate it! Anyway, I hope that you all like this story - it's my first GH story since who knows when! So, tell me what you think!

God Bless,

Jesseca

The Ultimate Betrayal

Written by Fortuneteller's Melody

The ultimate betrayal – that's what Sonny had told him while he held the large silver gun in his hand, ready to aim and fire. But was it the ultimate betrayal? He was only trying to protect his sister – he didn't know what else to do – what other choice was Jason given?

Sonny and Emily had lied to his face – the two people that he'd trusted implicitly – the two people that he would've given his life for – and even now, betrayed by them, he would. Nobody understood – not even Sam – hell, not even Carly – she said that she understood his reasons but she didn't – nobody understood but Jason.

He knew that if Sonny were to ever hurt Emily, he would never forgive himself. Sure, it wouldn't be intentionally – but he'd hurt her – and Jason would have to murder him because of it – even though, Sonny didn't mean to hurt Emily.

Yes, nobody understood the "ultimate betrayal" – at least not the ultimate betrayal that Jason was talking about. Knowing that Sonny and Emily could blatantly lieto his face cut Jason like a knife – why couldn't they understand that? Of all people, they should understand – but they didn't.

Jason had lived by Sonny's code book of ethics for ten years – had followed his orders – had let go of people that he loved and basically handed them over to Sonny. And when he had one request – one thing that he asked of Sonny – he wouldn't do it.

The pain of knowing that was worse than the bullet in his side – was worse than any physical pain you could imagine. What made it all worse was the fact that Sonny could turn on him so easily – Jason had tried to protect Sonny. When he was told that he had to murder Sonny to insure their safety, he didn't – he shot Escobar, the man that had wanted Jason to kill Sonny in the first place.

So, how could Sonny shoot Jason so easily?

The ultimate betrayal – Jason had stolen Sonny's organization right out from under him – in other words he took away Sonny's life – all that he'd worked for. But Jason would've given it all back if Sonny did the one thing that he seemingly refused to do – give up Emily.

Jason knew that was being a hypocrite – after all, he'd been with Sonny's sister – nearly had a baby with her for heaven's sake. But he was afraid – afraid that one day

Sonny would finally break and hurt his sister – he wasn't used to that kind of fear.

Jason hadn't realized that the feeling that was keeping him up at night had been fear until Elizabeth had pointed it out to him. It was funny – out of all of the mess that had been made Elizabeth was the only thing that made sense to Jason.

She'd opened his eyes and had given him a reason for his behavior – fear. A fear that shook Jason down to the core – the fear of losing the two people that mattered most in his life. Even thought they had betrayed him, Jason couldn't erase the love that he had for them in his heart.

That was the reason that he'd done all of this – to protect them – to protect the two people that he loved from each other. Though Emily had been through hell and back, she wasn't prepared for the kind of life that she would lead if she were to stay with Sonny. And though Sonny could love Emily with all of his heart, if he were to snap, he would hurt her without a second thought, then lose his mind in the process.

Jason wanted to prevent all of that – why couldn't anyone understand that?

"She understands," thought Jason.

She did understand – she listened to him long enough to understand. And she didn't talk about what she thought – she listened to what his thoughts were instead. She understood him better than anyone in the entire scheme of things.

That's why he'd come there – he needed someone to understand because he didn't

understand himself.

How could he still love Sonny after he shot him – without hesitation – without guilt in his eyes? How could he forget all that they'd been through together? And how could Jason still love him like a brother?

"Jason?" her voice was soft and sweet, and nothing like Sam's voice. Hers was raspy and even when she tried to sooth him, her voice grated his nerves. Jason was the listener – Sam was the talker. And right now he needed a listener – Elizabeth was a listener.

"Jason, what happened to you?" asked Elizabeth, her hand coming up to cup the side of his face. Her skin was soft – softer than Sam's or Courtney's or anyone else's. Though, Jason wasn't sure exactly why he was comparing her skin to Sam's or Courtney's as she was engaged to marry Lucky. And besides, weren't they over?

"Sonny," he managed to choke out through his own physical and mental pain. Although, the pain was more mental than anything. He could make himself numb – numb to the physical pain – but his mental pain was too severe to ignore. "I didn't know where else to go," he added, weakly.

Elizabeth's porcelain hand caressed his cheek, "I'm glad you came here," she said.

Jason felt himself slipping into darkness faster and faster as her sweet voice touched his ears – touched his heart. His head lulled as his eyes closed, darkness pulling him farther and farther away from her sweet voice, "Jason, you've got to stay with me, okay?"

He tried his best to follow her orders as she slipped her arm around his waist, lifting him off of the ground. Thankfully, he wasn't at a point to where he couldn't bare his own body weight. Memories flooded his brain as she directed him toward the couch in her art studio.

He didn't know why but whenever he was in trouble he came to her – she was his refuge. Even when they weren't "together," he knew that he could come to her and she wouldn't turn him away. Jason hoped that would never change – that he could always come to her and not be turned away.

"I'm going to grab the first aid kit, okay?" said Elizabeth, as she draped the blanket, that had previously been on the back of the couch, over him. Jason's head just lulledand nodded as he tried his best to force his eyes to remain open while she retrieved the first aid.

There had been so many times that the same situation had taken place – although, this time it was a bit different – Jason was shot by the enemy, only this time the enemy had been his own best friend. "Oh, the irony," thought Jason.

Elizabeth returned from the small bathroom off of the main area of the studio, with the first aid and some bath towels. Jason would've never thought all of those times that she'd "patched him up," that she'd become a nurse – although, she always had been good at "patching him up."

"It was a clean shot," he heard Liz say, her voice full of relief, but he really didn't hear her. He allowed her voice to put him in a place somewhere between light and darkness. She was keeping him balanced in his darkest hour.

"Jason?" he heard her say in a louder voice than usual, drawing him out of his "light/dark" state. His eyes fluttered open, still looking sleepy as he placed them on her. She was wiping her hands with one of the towels that she'd brought out – her engagement ring caught his eye, the sparkle of it making his stomach twist into a large knot.

He didn't understand his jealousy – he didn't love Elizabeth, did he?

"Jason?" said Elizabeth, placing her hands on his bare shoulders to shake him out of his "sparkly" state. She looked beautiful with her long brown hair thrown into a sloppy pony tail, most likely so it wouldn't flop into her face while taking care of him. And her tiny frame was covered in jeans and a white tank top – she was so plain yet so beautiful.

"Huh?" asked Jason, his long arm raising and his calloused fingers rubbing his eyes.

He felt like he'd just taken one of those antihistamines – he just couldn't seem to wake up.

"I want you to take these pills," said Elizabeth, holding up a glass of water and a few orange colored pills. If Jason wasn't in such a "hazy," state he probably would've protested, but instead he took the pills willingly, washing them down with the water that had been provided. "Good," she smiled, tucking a piece of her brown hair behind her ear.

Jason's lips curved into a smile as he reached out to touch her delicate hand – so unlike his "manly" hand. Her skin was so soft, if he hadn't already mentioned that – he wanted to touch every inch of it. He wanted his rough skin next to her soft skin – he wanted her.

"I love you, Liz," he whispered as his head lulled and his eyes closed – only this time it wasn't for a momentary rest – this time he was out for a while.

Elizabeth smiled, softly, the same smile that made Jason weak in the knees and pulled the blanket over his bare chest. She kissed his cheek, then went to tend to the painting that she'd been working on when he'd arrived.

"You performed the ultimate betrayal, Jason," he heard Sonny's voice say. He could see the barrel of Sonny's gun – he was actually going to shoot him – or was he? "You stole everything for me – everything that I built – how could you do that?"

Jason wasn't able to speak – how could he respond? He'd tried to reason with Sonny – he'd tried to tell Sonny how he felt but Sonny didn't listen – he didn't want to listen. "You can't answer, can you?" said Sonny, his voice so dangerous sounding that even Jason felt his body twitch. "I taught you everything – and this is how you repay me? Betrayal?"

Jason saw as Sonny's finger glided over the trigger – how could it be so easy to kill your best friend?

"A disgrace – that's what you are," said Sonny, his voice so low that Jason could barely hear him, "And that's why I have to do this." He raised the gun, causing Jason's breath to hitch – he was cornered – there wasn't anyway out. But for some reason or another, he couldn't fight it – this was his fate wether he liked it or not – this is what it had come down to.

"Sonny, don't!" he heard his sister say from out of the shadows – but it was too late – a bullet had already rung out. Sonny had shot – maybe, even killed – his best friend.

"No!" said Jason, as he shot up from the sofa. The memory – it was too real – too painful. But Jason knew that for as long as he lived he wouldn't be able to forget it – block it out – or change it. Sonny had shot him – he'd shot him in cold blood without hesitation and he'd have to live with that for the rest of his life.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Elizabeth, who out of nowhere was standing in front of him. She held her paint brush inhand as her sapphire eyes looked at him, worriedly. Jason wanted to erase that worry from her eyes.

"Yeah," was all that Jason could manage to say. Although it was a lie – he wasn't okay. The person that he'd trusted for all of what he could remember of his life had shot him – intending to kill him – how could you recover from something like that?

"No, you're not," said Elizabeth, as she sat next to him on the sofa. She raised her hand to touch the side of his cheek – her fingers covered in dried paint. Elizabeth wanted to erase the horror in his eyes just like he wanted to erase the worry and the fear from hers.

"He was going to kill me," whispered Jason, nearly inaudibly. Saying the words were saying that it was true – that Sonny was actually going to kill him that night if it wasn't for Emily. But would Emily have really even cared if he was dead or alive?

It didn't seem so those last couple of weeks – all she cared about was if Sonny was breathing or not – if Sonny was okay or not – not how Jason felt or if his heart was even beating.

"I'm sorry, Jase," said Elizabeth, her hand moving from his cheek to his arm and onto his own hand – her fingers intertwining with his. She cared – she cared if he was okay – she cared if he was breathing – she was the only one who cared about him.

"He didn't even hesitate," said Jason, tilting his head to the side to meet her matching blue eyes. Elizabeth saw so much pain inside of his eyes – it was heartbreaking for her. And it was all because of Sonny and Emily. They had hurt him beyond measure – nearly unknowingly – it was unbelievable as far as Elizabeth was concerned.

"Then she came," he added, his voice shaky with emotion. "She caught him off guard – if she hadn't, he probably would've shot me in the heart." The heart – did he have a heart anymore? Sometimes, he wondered if he did? Or had it been stomped on and chewed up so many times there was nothing left?

"Oh, Jase," said Elizabeth as she drew him in her arms and rocked him like an infant in her arms. Nobody had let him cry – nobody had let him talk – nobody had let him release all of the emotions that he'd been holding inside of him since all of this had begun.

But tonight she would hold him and let him cry until he had no more tears left. Because even though they'd both moved on – even though she knew that tomorrow things would return to the way that they were – she was going to show him love tonight.

The End