Pairing: Jason/Liz.
Title: A Convenient Proposal
AN: This is goes back to the night where the Metro Court explosion caused the revelation of a lifetime for Jason Morgan. Elizabeth finally admits to Jason that he is indeed the father of the child she is carrying. However, instead of saying no, Elizabeth does something unexpected and consequences ensue.
"We can make this work. Just marry me."
As she lay in bed with the warm rays of the morning sun streaming down upon her, Elizabeth inhaled deeply and closed her eyes tightly. One moment and her life was turned upside down. Her thumb ran down the length of her ring finger. The cool metal band slid around her finger easily. Peeking from underneath her long lashes, she stared at the twenty carat jewel that sparkled under the dancing rays. "What did I do?" she whispered to herself as her other hand ran unconsciously over the large mound that had been growing for over seven months now.
Everything had been a blur. Before that night, Elizabeth truly believed that she would be a single mother, raising both her children on her own. Of course there would be minor input from Lucky, whom she had lied to and about being the father. No one would know about her indiscretion, especially Lucky, with Jason. Except now, everyone knew.
There had been moments when she had wanted to take back her answer. Her off-the-cuff 'yes' that had been said without considering the consequences. Elizabeth groaned out loud. "This is why you always think things through," she chided herself. "Then you wouldn't get yourself into situations like this." Elizabeth pulled the down cover over her head. "Slow and cautious..."
There was a knock at her door. Elizabeth froze, closing her eyes and holding her breath. She felt like she had just made the biggest mistake of her life.
"Elizabeth?" Jason's voice called to her softly. "Elizabeth are you awake?"
Pulling the covers slowly from her face, Liz peeked above them and saw Jason's head poke through the slight opening in the doorway. "Yes," she squeaked. She winced at the tone of her voice. Suddenly she felt like she was a teenager again and hiding from her Grams when she didn't want to face her after doing something stupid.
"I hope I didn't wake you." Jason's strong, muscular form appeared from behind the door. "I was about to head out and just wanted to check on you."
"No." Pushing herself into an upright position, Elizabeth cleared her voice and smoothed back her probably disheveled hair. "I'm fine," she replied softly, patting down the lurxious duvet. "Actually, I was about to get ready for work." Just act natural. That was what she was trying to do. Try to act natural around the man you just married after he proposed, in not a very 'real' proposal way, so that your child could have a real family. Of course living in separate rooms. And don't forget the fact that Lucky was stunned and destroyed by the revelation of her lies and Sam despised her even more than before and be happy. Inside, she rolled her eyes at herself.
"You're going to work?" Jason asked with a slightly confused expression.
"Um yeah," she smiled sheepishly, swung her legs towards the edge of the bed. "At least that's what the schedule said last time I looked. Why?"
"Well," he shrugged thoughtfully, "I thought you'd take time off since we just got married."
And jet off to our Italian honeymoon?
Elizabeth plastered a smile on and pushed that thought from the forefront of her mind. "Well, Jason, this was kind of last minute," she chuckled, waving her engagment and wedding band clad finger in the air. "It's not like the hospital had much time to call up a replacement. Besides, it's fine. It's not like we have anywhere to go, right?" Waddling over to the foot of the bed, she grabbed the fluffy robe and slipped it around her more than full figure.
"Are you having second thoughts?" His hands slid down the length of her arm until they found her hands.
Elizabeth closed her eyes and sucked in a little breath, trying not to listen to all of the voices in her head twisting and turning her already hormonal emotions. "I...I, don't know," she answered honestly. Elizabeth did not want to open her eyes to those baby blues that always had a way of making her knees weak. "I just keep seeing all of those faces, Jason. They looked at me in disgust and disdain. And...and Lucky..." She breathed out the name as if someone had punched her in the gut. She had never felt so much guilt and heartache over what she had done to him.
"But you told the truth," Jason said soothingly. "You've told everyone the truth now and now there are no more lies."
"But how can I face everyone?" Truthfully, if she would be honest with herself, part of the reason she married Jason was because he seemed to be the only one who understood and had forgiven her for what she had done. "Jason, I lied to everyone and now their lives are torn to shreds."
"Listen to me, Elizabeth, the truth would have come out sooner or later," he stated matter-of-factly. "And it's better that they less hurt now, than hurt more later."
She couldn't imagine what the response would have been if the truth had come out years from now. Part of her anxiety and fear had been swallowed up in that scenario. It had been so long since she willfully deceived anyone with such malice. And it was. What she had done, even though she kept deceving herself into believing it was to save everyone so much pain, was malicious. The only one she was thinking about was herself when she lied to Sonny. "I know," she breathed, finally opening her eyes and looking up at the man she had begun to allow into her heart. Over the course of the days and months of going back and forth over telling Jason the truth, she saw the man he truly was - strong, loving, caring, kind, and unassuming. They were things she knew. But as Elizabeth began to watch more closely, scrutinizing everything about him trying to find some fault to excuse her lies, she knew there was no reason to keep this child from knowing his/her father. "But Jason, maybe getting married isn't the best thing for us."
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the flash of her engagement ring upon her finger. It really hadn't even been a proposal. It had felt more like an agreement - a business agreement. Elizabeth knew in his heart Jason loved Sam. And she...
. "We can make this work," he interrupted her thoughts. "I know we can." He pulled her close, running his hand over her unruly hair. "I care about you, Elizabeth. You're the mother of our child."
Elizabeth felt her breath catch in her throat and her heart stop for just a moment. The way he was looking at her right then, it reminded her of that one special night where nothing existed except them. She knew how wrong it was to let herself feel these things. He wasn't hers to have. This child was the only reason they were married. He hadn't married her because he loved her - at least not in that way. And this was something she would have to learn to accept.
She was other woman.