The Way It Should Be

Part 1

Rated PG

6 weeks from now

Jason straightens his tie as he looks in the mirror. Spinelli dramatically opens the door to the small room and stops when he sees "Stone Cold" in a suit. He's seen him in a suit before, just never for an occasion such as this.

"Uh…Stone Cold? They're ready," Spinelli says with a smile on his face.

Jason takes a deep breath and nods. "Okay. Let's do this," he says, patting Spinelli on the back as he walks past him.

Jason takes his place at the front of the church and gives a small smile to Carly and Bobbie who are sitting in the front pew.

"He looks nervous," Carly whispers to her mom. "Maybe he shouldn't go through with this."

"I think he looks very handsome," Bobbie says, patting Carly's knee.

Father Coates walks to the middle of the altar and gives a smile and quick nod to Jason.

"You ready?" he asks.

Jason takes another deep breath and nods. "Yes…I've been ready for this for a long time."

He smiles when the music starts.

~*~

Present Day

"Lucky, I'm fine, really, you don't have to keep hovering over me," Elizabeth says as Lucky props another pillow behind her back.

"I just want to make sure you're comfortable," he says, sitting down on the couch next to her.

"I'm comfortable," she chuckles.

He smiles at her.

"You want something to eat?" he asks, point over his shoulder to the kitchen.

"No, we just ate. Seriously…I'm fine. You can go, you don't need to hover over me, I can take care of myself," she says, smiling at him.

"I don't have any plans and I'm off work today. What if Jake wakes up from his nap and needs something?"

"Uh, I'll get it for him?" she asks, confused about his question.

"What if it's too much exertion for you? The Doctor said that it would still be hard for you to breathe normally for awhile."

"Lucky, I'm fine. Really. I have the breathing treatments and time off from work…" Her voice fades when she says this, realizing there isn't really a building left for her to work in.

"Hey," he says, rubbing her leg through the blanket he placed over them a few minutes ago. "GH will be back soon and better than ever. I talked to Nikolas and he said that Edward is getting all the finances together," he says, reassuringly.

"I know, it's just sad…"

He nods.

"You want a book to read?"

She groans and throws her head back. "What I really want right now is for you to stop hovering…even though I do appreciate it," she adds quickly.

He tries to cover his hurt. "Okay. But if you need anything…and I mean anything, just call me, okay?"

He stands up and grabs his jacket off of the chair.

"I will."

He walks to the door. "Tell the boys I love them."

"Okay," she smiles. "Lucky?" she says, stopping him before he walks out the door. "Thank you…for just being there for me."

He smiles. "I wouldn't be anywhere else."

She watches as he walks out the door and closes it behind him. She sighs and rests her head back on the pillows and wonders what Jason is doing.

During the crisis at the hospital, she had no idea Jason was even stuck in the building with them. She overheard someone mentioning it when she was recovering at Mercy. She tired not to let it hurt her that he never came to see her and kept telling herself that he was staying away from her for her own good. It was better this way.

She nodded her head to confirm their decision to stay apart. Her hand moves to her heart and she rubs that spot, like rubbing it will make her heartache go away or feel better.

The doorbell rang and she groaned.

"Lucky…really, I'm fine," she says, pushing herself up from the couch to answer the door.

"Robin…hi," she says, surprised by her visitor.

"Hey. I didn't want to bother you, if you're resting, but Patrick and I wanted to make sure you had some food," she says, holding out a casserole dish.

Elizabeth motions for her to come in. "That was very sweet of you. I already ate, but I'll put this in the fridge for later," she says, taking the dish from her friend.

When Elizabeth returns from the kitchen she motions for Robin to sit down. She shrugs off her coat and sits down on the couch, picking up one of the magazines from the coffee table.

"Car Digest?" Robin chuckles before setting it back down.

Elizabeth rolls her eyes. "It's Lucky's. He wanted to make sure I had something to read and that's all he had with him."

Robin smiles and nods. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, now that I'm home. How is Emma?"

Robin's face lights up. "Emma is good. She's getting chubbier and cuter by the day."

Elizabeth sticks her lower lip out. "Awww I bet."

"We haven't had a chance to talk in awhile," Robin suddenly realizes. "I mean with the almost wedding and Emma being born and then…." She pauses when she was going to mention Jake's kidnapping. "And then my real wedding and the honeymoon…"

Elizabeth nods. "Yeah, we've both been busy," she says, biting her lower lip.

"Everything happened so fast and then you went out of town, I didn't get to tell you how glad I was that Jake was okay."

Elizabeth feels the tears stinging her eyes and she nods.

"Thanks."

"You and Lucky must have been beside yourselves."

"Yeah, we were. I think deep down I knew Jason would find him and bring him home…."

"Like he did the first time?"

Elizabeth nods. "Yeah," she says softly.

"Do you….have you talked to him lately?" she asks, curious about the current state of her friends' relationship.

Elizabeth sighs and shakes her head. "No. Not since after what happened to Jake."

Robin gives her a confused look.

"The Russians took Jake to get at Jason. They knew he'd go after his girlfriend's son."

"Girlfriend?" Robin asks.

"Jason and I had finally decided to try to make it work….again. I mean, we hadn't made any living arrangements or anything but we decided to take the steps to be a family…"

"And then this happened."

"Right."

"Elizabeth….I'm so sorry. You know I was rooting for the two of you."

Elizabeth hides her sad eyes behind her smile. "I know. This is for the best."

"Is it, really?"

"For the safety of my boys….yes, it is," she says, looking up with sad eyes.

"But what about you, Elizabeth? How can your sons be happy when you're not?"

"I'll be fine," Elizabeth says, picking invisible lint off of her jeans. "I have them to keep me busy…and work."

Robin raises her eyebrows. "Which won't be around for a couple of months."

"I have good friends," she gestures to Robin. "You, Patrick, Nikolas and Lucky…."

"You know, I admire you," Robin says, sitting back on the couch.

"Why is that?" Elizabeth asks, giving her a strange look.

"Because, even after all you and Lucky have been through, you can still remain friends."

"Well, we do it for the boys. I don't know how close we'd be if he wasn't helping me raise them."