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Undeniable

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Sun baking him in his leather jacket, Jason tried to figure out how he was supposed to get her to see reason. There had to be a way to break through to her, but he just couldn't see it. After everything that they had been through, he wasn't sure he'd be able to get her to see that he was truly trying to bear all. The last time he tried to get her to see reason, it had ended in the most horrible way, evident by the fact that she was now marrying the bastard. He didn't blame her for doing it, but he does wish she'd find it in her heart to hear him.

Coming home, finding Sam in love with someone else, Jason had hoped that it would make it easier for him to finally go after his heart's true desire. What he hadn't expected was for her to be with someone as volatile as Franco. The more he watched her with him, the more he understood just what she was doing. If only she'd believe him and accept that he really was trying to make their worlds right again. Standing outside her house, burning in the heat, Jason waits for her to give up the facade that she isn't home and open her door.

"What do you want?" Elizabeth voices when she finally opens the door in a robe. "I'm trying to get ready for my wedding."

"I know." he voices carefully. "We need to talk. Please."

"Talk?" Elizabeth looks at him curiously. "About Jake?"

"No. Not exactly."

"Then we have nothing to discuss..."

"Elizabeth." he says in the way he knows she loves, gaining a reaction because of it.

"Don't." Elizabeth states. "You don't get to do this to me."

"Please."

"No." she states. "I'm marrying Franco."

"If you're so certain of your love for him, talking to me won't change anything." Jason challenges, knowing she couldn't resist proving herself to him. "What's could a conversation truly hurt?"

"Fine." she concedes, stepping to the side to allow him entrance. "But make it fast. I have to be heading to the church soon."

Walking past her, he lets out a deep breath, thankful to have gotten this far. The last time he tried pulling this, she didn't even give him a chance to speak on it, she simply shut the door in his face and left him outside to do as he wished. Somehow Franco has taken claim to something he had no right claiming and he knows that if he can just break through to her, she'll see that she didn't have to stay with him.

"Don't marry him." he blurts out once the door is shut behind her.

"Seriously?" Elizabeth groans. "I don't understand why you can't just accept that I'm marrying him. You accepted Sam's marriage to Drew. Why can't you accept this?"

"Because Sam marrying Drew is from her heart." Jason states seriously. "She loves him."

"And you think I don't love Franco?!"

"I know you don't love Franco." he replies wholeheartedly. "I know you don't love him because I know you still love me."

"That is ridiculous!" Elizabeth snaps. "Of all the obnoxious things for you to say..."

"If you don't love me, why keep the secret?" Jason counters. "If you honestly didn't love me anymore, why were you ready to marry me?"

"That was Drew."

"Who you thought was me at the time." he reminds her. "You fell back on Franco when you thought I chose Sam. You fell back on him because he was the most destructive thing in your path and you hated yourself for keeping the truth."

"Shut up."

"Tell me I'm wrong." Jason takes a careful step towards her. "I know you, Elizabeth, I know you like I know my heart."

"You know nothing." Elizabeth replies with tears in her eyes.

"I know how much it hurt you to keep the truth. I know that you hated yourself for doing it, but you were desperate to finally have our chance that you swallowed your guilt." Jason says, taking a couple more steps towards her. "I know the kind of guilt that swallowed you whole once the truth finally came out because you were forced to see the consequences of your choices."

"Stop." Elizabeth pleads. "Please, just stop."

"I know that you turned to Franco because he was the best way to punish yourself. You turned to him because you believed it would be the sure way to cut all ties to me." Jason says, reaching out to caress her cheek. "But what you don't understand is that you could never do anything to stop me from loving you. There's nothing you could do that would ever make you less in my eyes. Something that Drew would never understand because he will never know you the way I do."

"Jason, you don't know me as well as you think you do." Elizabeth says, turning away from him. "You might have a long time ago, but you don't know me now. I care about Franco."

"You care about him." Jason repeats. "Strange how you said care and not love."

"Don't do that!" Elizabeth turns to him angrily. "Don't twist my words."

"I'm just repeating them." Jason counters. "You voiced them."

"Why are you doing this?" Elizabeth questions irritably. "Why now? Because Sam's married to Drew and doesn't want you anymore?! Is that it?"

"I love Sam, that's true, but I let her marry him because I knew that it was best for her." Jason says honestly. "The same way I let you marry Lucky because I knew he was best for you. No matter how much it hurt, I let you go because I knew that he was your first love and he would be good for you."

"And you think Franco's not?"

"I know he's not." Jason says with conviction. "If you can't be honest with me, at least be honest with yourself."

"I am being honest with myself." Elizabeth says firmly. "I'm with Franco because it's what I want. I want to be with Franco!"

"Because you feel it's what you deserve." Jason agrees. "You made mistakes, Liz, but you can't let them destroy your future. You can't punish yourself forever."

"Why can't you let me go?" she whispers, wrapping her arms around herself. "Why can't you let me marry Franco without making it harder on me?"

"Because I let you go before without a fight. I let you go because I believed that I deserved less than you." Jason says seriously. "I turned to Sam because I needed you to give up on me. All the mistakes I made in my life, I honestly didn't believe I deserved you. The same way you believe you don't deserve me because of what you did."

"Jason..."

"But you see, we're wrong. We're both wrong, Elizabeth." Jason walks over to her, taking both her hands in his. "We deserve each other because we love each other. I love you, Elizabeth, I always have."

"I've done things...I've..."

"You're not unforgivable." Jason says seriously, using his hold on her to stop her from pulling away. "Everything you've done, you did because you wanted a chance with me...you wanted to marry me. So, I'm here, asking you to give me that chance. Give me the chance to have the future with you that I've always wanted. The future we've always wanted. Give me that chance. Please."

"I'm not good for you." she shakes her head. "I'll only hurt you."

"What was it that you said to me all those years ago?" Jason counters, reaching up one hand to caress her face. "I don't hurt because of you. I hurt without you."

"Jason..."

"I know it won't be easy. I know it'll take a lot of effort on both our parts to get us to where I know we were always meant to be, but I'm willing to put in the work." Jason says wholeheartedly. "Please say you are willing to do the same. Say you'll give us another chance. Say you won't marry him."

"This can't be real." she whispers, staring into his deep blue eyes. "I've wanted to hear those words for so long...I just...I can't believe this is actually happening."

"It's happening." Jason assures. "I'm here. I'm here to fight for us, if that's what you still want, but I need you to say it. Say it and I'll never walk away from you again. No matter how hard it gets, no matter what life throws us, I won't walk away. No bailing."

"I can't decide if I'm a glutton for punishment or just plain old crazy, but I want this. I want us." she says softly, leaning into his touch. "It's always been you, Jason. It has always been you."

"No matter how badly I've fought it, it has always been and will always be you, Elizabeth." Jason says, tugging her closer. "There's no turning back now."

"Never." she whispers, her eyes slowly closing. "No bailing. No turning back. Ever."

Slowly he closes the gap between them, claiming what is so rightfully his while giving what is so rightfully hers. He knows that life won't be easy, many in their lives having done their best to get between them, but he doesn't care about all that. All he cares about is creating the life with Elizabeth that he should have built with her all those years ago. His time away had taught him so much and he refuses to sacrifice himself for anyone ever again. He will live his life for the people that matter. For his family. Elizabeth, their boys, all four of them, they are what matters in this life. He lost sight of that for a while, but he will never make that mistake again.

Note: Just a little love nugget I wanted to share. As always, its a rough one shot, but I still hope you enjoy. Usually with the one shots, I just type nonstop for an hour and post what's created from the deep dark honesty that is my inner psyche, lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I can't wait to hear what you thought.