Author: Kelly (Emberdreamweaver) and Lis (CMJavaGirl)
Rating: PG 13 (possibly R in later chapters.)
Pairing: Matt Hunter & Elizabeth Webber (with a special appearance by Jason Morgan & Nadine Crowell)

Disclaimer:

I own nothing related to or affiliated with Disney, ABC Daytime, or General Hospital. Characters are not mine; they are merely being borrowed

AN:

Okay, Readers, a few things about this fic. It was started about two years ago and then tabled for, well, almost two years. I set out to write an Elizabeth and Matt story but wasn't sure what to do with Jason. I asked Lis (CMJavaGirl) what she thought, she being the most Jason first fan I know and she came up with an alternate pairing for Jason.

I wasn't so sure, but she was and I went with it. So, now, this fic is going to be published here and it is primarily a MIZ fic. There will be some Jason but then that falls off and Lis is going to continue it in a story at her site called 'Sometimes Things Just Happen' and it's the Jason and Nadine part of this story continued.

As always if you have any questions feel free to ask.

We hope you like it and we look forward to hearing what you think.

Enjoy,

Kelly and Lisa

Reawakening

Chapter One

Port Charles, New York
Mercy Hospital

February 2, 2009
7:48 PM EST

As he prowled the halls of Mercy Hospital he was surprised at the silence. Even with the flood of extra patients from General Hospital the place was so quiet. It wasn't hard to miss the differences between the two institutions. Maybe he just noticed it more being trapped at Mercy as a patient.

Matt shook his head trying not to focus on the last few days. I can't believe the amount of chaos one small decision could make. That decision...my decision cost so many people so much. It cost two people their lives...two people just doing their jobs, trying to help a sick man.

He sighed shaking his head as the unfamiliar feelings of despair and guilt hit him again. I don't kill people, I help people...I'm a doctor...how could this happen? I've got to stop asking that unanswerable question.

Accepting the fact that he was responsible for the deaths of two of his colleagues, didn't sit well with Matt. He was used to healing people, and he was finding it a bit hard to come back from his own personal bio-toxin disaster.

Now he found himself lurking right outside the room of Elizabeth Webber, surgical nurse and mother of two that he almost got killed. She was one of two nurses in the OR that night. But, that wasn't why he was here or even why he couldn't seem to make himself go in. No the reason was much simpler than that.

For reasons he couldn't even name himself he was attracted to the petite brunette. He had been since Patrick's failed wedding. At first, he ignored the feelings chalking them up to being lonely. But, deep down Matt knew that wasn't the case. He wasn't a player like his brother used to be. He might tease and flirt with the female staff like Patrick but, given the choice, Matt would rather be in a relationship.

And there was something about Elizabeth. She caught his attention, she invaded his thoughts, she interested him and so far nothing had caused that interest to wavier. Not even learning she had dated, the notorious and feared, Jason Morgan. I wonder what he is to her? What is she to him? They seem an odd combination...the mob kingpin and the nurse.He shook his head to clear those thoughts from his mind.

While not perfect Elizabeth was one of the nicer people he had met since coming to Port Charles. He admired the way she did her job; she was one of the better nurses at GH. He admired the way she took care of herself and her two boys. He admired the way she dealt with her deadbeat husband who became addicted to drugs and cheated on her. I can't stand men like that... throwing away a woman like Elizabeth? What was he thinking?Now there was a question – how did such a woman end up with an idiot like Spencer?

But for right now he was content to just watch her sleeping peacefully. She looked like an angel enveloped in the white sheets of the hospital bed. For tonight, it was enough to know that she survived his carelessness in the OR and it was enough to know that tomorrow she would awaken.

For now.

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Elizabeth didn't know what woke her. Maybe it was the feeling of being watched. She knew without a doubt someone was outside her room. For a moment she hoped that it was Jason. But, at the same time she knew it wasn't. She knew what it felt like when he was watching her. It felt warm, comforting, safe, loving.

This didn't feel like that. She felt as if someone had been studying her – curious about her – then she just put it down to being in a strange hospital being looked after by staff that didn't know her and that she didn't know. As she turned towards the glass wall of her room she thought she saw Dr. Hunter walking away. Why would he be outside her room? He was a patient himself.

As she laid back against the pillows she thought about the last time she saw Jason, except for tonight at the hospital. She knew he probably wanted to check on her. But, he didn't.

Elizabeth hadn't seen Jason since that day they gave their statements to the FBI at the courthouse and he told her of the trust fund he made for the boys from Emily. Our breakup is for the best, she told herself for the thousandth time, the boys and I will be safe and no one will go after Jake because of Jason. And Jason doesn't have to worry.

She knew it wasn't Jason watching her – he would never watch over her again like he used to in the past. And knowing that filled her heart with another ache that wouldn't go away, even if she told herself everyday that it was for the best.

She couldn't fall back to sleep and while her soul ached for the love she lost her mind reeled over all the reasons. Maybe her heartache and misery were her penance for repeatedly hurting Jason. Maybe it was payment for keeping Jake from his father, a father who would love him unconditionally. At first she hadn't meant to lie. Over time it had weighed on her until that terrifying February night when no one was sure if they would live or die by that madman Craig's whim. And telling Jason changed everything.

Then she had done the unthinkable by asking Jason to deny his son. She knew he would. Jason rarely demanded anything of anyone, and he always gave so much more. In the following months she knew he was hurting, she knew that he was allowing her to raise his son with a man who hated him and they existed in a sort of limbo. He was there when she needed him the night his son was born, but she watched as he handed his son to a man who hated him.

"I named him Jacob Martin." He looked at me in surprise realizing the initials were his. He nodded, "It's a strong name," he said softly looking at the son I held that I wouldn't let him claim. His voice thick with emotion I heard practically the first and last words he would say to his son, "Hey, Jake... you have the best Mom in the world."

The next time I saw him, at his coffee shop, the man raising his son arrested him. It was business as usual for Jason, but for me, it was heartbreaking to watch him trade his son for a pair of handcuffs.

He was there for me when Jake was kidnapped by a grief-stricken mother. The father of my children blamed me. Jason risked his freedom to bring back my son to me, his son.

And during his murder trial the limbo continued and by this time the dangerous aspects of Jason's life that I always knew were there became the over-riding reason to be apart. Plus, being in prison and on trial for murder pounded that 'dangerous life' excuse home. And after... after he was freed and after he had risked so much for the son he couldn't claim, we tried to stay apart.

Then Lucky found out about Jake and that same night Emily was murdered and Jason blamed himself. For a short time we leaned on each other, but we never really let the other in. Michael's shooting ripped us apart. Again, Jason blamed himself and pushed me away. Looking back Elizabeth understood why. Jason was trying to protect not only her and the boys, but himself.

And back to that odd limbo we went. And then, that one night in November we finally attempted to be together. We admitted our long-time feelings for each other, but ended up, as usual, taking one step

forward and three back.

I blamed him when Jake was kidnapped for the second time... I was angry with him, with myself, with everything. I railed against him... I was frightened and I blamed him. When it could just as easily have been Lucky's fault or Sam's. They were working against the Russians... not Jason. But, he brought our son... my son... home, as I knew he would. And he accepted the blame as his own, as I knew he would do as well.

That was the end of things between me and Jason. He knew, finally, that I didn't really trust him. And I knew, too, that this time I hurt him worse than ever before.

That last day Elizabeth saw him was at the courthouse – their final discussion about his son and hers. It wasn't filled with angry or harsh words. It was worse, it was filled with resignation and regret and longing for what could and would never be.

Since then she had just been existing, but she knew she couldn't live her life like this. For now she would just be grateful to be alive. For now she would just love her boys. And try to be happy that they were safe.

For now.

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Two Nights Earlier
Mercy Hospital

January 30, 2009
2:08 AM EST

She breathed a deep sigh and readjusted her pony tail, I can finally start to relax now,all the patients from GH had been transferred and comfortably settled in at Mercy. She had just seen to the last of the newly admitted patients the usually effervescent computer geek, Damian Spinelli or as she called him, Mr. Jackal.

As she left the room she turned to watch the large muscular man who sat vigil at the bedside of the young soft self-proclaimed Assassin of the Internet. She had to smile at that – the Assassin of the Internet being watched over by one of the most feared Mob Enforcers on the East Coast – maybe even better known than that, but she wasn't sure. She didn't really know that much about Jason Morgan. It's not that she never noticed him before, how could she not, he was unbelievably good looking with blue eyes that brought to mind the clearest Tennessee skies and his ubiquitous black leather jacket. Plus, he was always a featured player in the PC Herald as the mob kingpin of Port Charles.

She remembered the very first time she had seen him, on the docks trying to calm a very nervous Spinelli before he took her to the Black & While Ball – and she remembered Mr. Morgan's devastation when his sister was murdered that night, and his concern for Elizabeth when he brought her to the barn to stay safe from the madman running around the Ball. And she remembered that they were close, she could see that they loved each other – she saw it in his fear for her, in her acceptance of him, it was there that night and the nights she'd seen him sneak into Elizabeth's room when she got hurt last January, I wonder what she is to him? I wonder what he is to her? They were so close that night? And tonight he had such pain on his face when he saw her with her ex... what was that about?

After only a few days in Port Charles, she knew what he was, and what he did, and at first, at the Black & White Ball she thought him a bit scary. But since that time, she'd seen him sit vigil with Carly Jacks at the bedside of her young son, Michael Corinthos, and he'd come running home from places unknown but obviously from something important when Mr. Jackal got hit by that car last, he came immediately after Epiphany called him about his mother's car accident even after she had publicly humiliated him right in the hospital when he came face to face with that bomb guy, he came.

And here he sat, again, with Mr. Spinelli, leaving only for a short time to visit his mother one floor up. He had been going back and forth for the last few hours. He must be so tired. His face looked drawn and he was still covered in ash and soot. He worked with Dr. Drake and then Nikolas all night to help the hospital deal with the bio-toxin disaster. He didn't exert his mob boss power... he just did what ever Dr. Drake had asked to help the best way he could. He kind of reminded me of the guys at home on Aunt Rayleen's farm when they banded together to put out a barn fire or to get the livestock indoors when it was tornado season... they all just worked together.

It suddenly struck her that he had a lot of people in the hospital who were important to him that night, his mother, his irascible grandfather, Mrs. Jacks and Elizabeth Webber, she shook her head He looked like he'd been shot when he saw Elizabeth with Lucky..."[i]

She was surprised at her new interest in this fearsome man. But in the hospital she had seen the gentle side of him so many times. She also knew Spinelli, one of her first friends in Port Charles, thought that this man hung the moon, and while she knew his life was dangerous, she found herself questioning if that danger could be tolerated with a good man.

For now.

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He'd felt her watching him. He knew she was standing outside Spinelli's room and Mercy's glass-walled rooms allowed for little privacy.

It's not that he didn't know who she was – she was a friend to Spinelli, and she had been his very accepting date at the same Black and White Ball that marked the murder of his sister. She had seen him that night wielding his power and forcing Elizabeth and Lulu to stay in the barn. She had seen him that night after his sister was murdered and Anthony fell off the parapet and landed with two bullets in him from his gun.

He was used to being watched by people who didn't approve of him. He could almost feel their disapproval roll off them in waves. But, he didn't get that feeling from her.

She had been in and out of Spinelli's room several times to make the young man comfortable, to check his vitals, and to administer intravenous antibiotics. She came in and out so frequently that he was beginning to question if she was also, checking on him. He would not have thought that ordinarily, he was accustomed to not being fussed over or worried about, but for some reason – it just felt like that.

He had seen her tonight, too. He watched her through the doors to the Boardroom soothe his Grandfather. When she was released from the Boardroom and proven unharmed by the bio-toxin she had donned scrubs and pitched in helping with the patients as if it were her normal shift.

He'd seen her taking care of Elizabeth and Kate and Claudia and his mother. [i]She floated from person to person, she never seemed to lose her cool, or get ruffled, she was cheerful without sounding fake, and bright without being brassy like some of the nurses he remembered – the ones that irritated him. And she was nothing like her sister.

She's kind of like Elizabeth... but different. She has the same type of energy but somehow she seems... calmer more comfortable. Spinelli always talks about her as being happy, and kind... He shook his head, What am I thinking, I can't be interested in this woman... I would be as bad for her as I am for Elizabeth!

He knew she had a thing with Nikolas. He'd seen them arrive together for the fundraiser Carly put together for 'Children with Brain Injuries' in honor of Michael. And he knew if Nik was seeing someone else after loving his sister so fiercely that it had to be at least somewhat serious. I wonder if they are serious. It would be good for Nik to move on from Em. It wouldn't be good to grieve for Em forever and this nurse, Nadine... she seemed like a really good person.

He watched her go about her duties, smiling, comforting, joking when it was needed, he found himself admiring her. He saw the fear in her eyes, but he saw her work through it and knew that she was drawing on an inner strength.

He watched her watching him and though he knew nothing could or would come of it, he felt oddly comforted by it. After all the terror of this night, the loss of two innocent people to another madman, the loss of the hospital that was so important to so many and after losing the man he needed to save Spinelli from the Feds, it was nice to enjoy the comfort her presence gave him, even for a little while.

Just, for now.