See You Later – Part 1
"Yeah," Jason says as he answers his cell phone. He glances over at his wife who is getting dressed.
He listens intently to the voice on the other end of the phone and smiles as Elizabeth holds up two different sweaters in front of her as she stands in front of the mirror.
"Okay. Can we push it back about an hour, there's something important I need to take care of?" he asks, snapping his attention back to the caller. He rubs his temples with one hand, using his thumb and middle finger. "Right. No, I understand."
He snaps the phone shut and slowly turns around to face her.
"Don't tell me," she says, still looking at her reflection in the mirror.
"I'm sorry," cringing as he says it.
She takes a deep breath and shuts her eyes.
"We're going to get to find out the sex of the baby, today," she says, telling him like he doesn't already know.
He walks over to her and wraps one arm around her back and touches her slightly protruding belly with the other.
"I know," he says softly. "I have to handle this. With any luck, I'll be done in time to catch the last part of the ultrasound."
She looks up at him and studies his features. "I love you."
He leans down and captures her lips in a slow, lingering kiss. "I love you, too."
He rests his forehead against hers and they both shut their eyes.
When he steps back, he looks at her. His heart fills with so much love.
"I'll see you later."
When they got back together, they decided to never say goodbye to each other ever again.
"Yeah, I'll see you later," she smiles. "Be careful."
"Always," he says before leaving their room.
He stops by Jake's room, which prompts Jake to squeak out a "da da" very excitedly. Jason smiles, leans down and kisses his forehead. "I love you, buddy." Jake stares up at him with those big blue eyes and repeats, "Wuvwou."
Then Jason makes his way to Cameron's room. "Hey Cam."
"Hi," the little boy responds, not looking up from his train set.
"I have to go to work. You have fun at daycare, okay?" Jason asks as he squats down to Cam's level.
Cameron nods.
"I love you. Be good." He stands up and ruffles Cameron's hair.
"I will. You be good, too."
Jason smiles and chuckles to himself as he leaves the boy's bedroom.
"Hi Kelly," Elizabeth says as she walks up to the counter at General Hospital.
"Hi. How's one of my favorite patients?" Dr. Lee asks.
Elizabeth smiles. "Good, as long as this little one decides to let me in on his or her little secret," she says, rubbing her stomach.
"I have a good feeling he or she will," Kelly says as she rounds the counter. "Come on, let's go find out."
Elizabeth follows Kelly down the hall.
"Is Jason meeting you here?"
"No," Elizabeth shakes her head. "He got a phone call….some business he had to take care of." She glances at her watch. "He said he might be able to get here by the end of the ultrasound, so if you can take your time," she chuckles.
"I'll see what I can do," she says, opening the door for Elizabeth.
"I'm sorry Jason didn't make it," Kelly says once the appointment and ultrasound had been completed.
"I know, I'm sad, but now I get to tease him with the knowledge of the sex of the baby," she laughs.
"True."
As they approach the nurses' station, Epiphany hangs up the phone.
"Seems there's a shootout down at the Warehouse District. Dr. Lee, they're going need all the help they can get down in ER," she tells them.
"The Warehouse District?" Elizabeth repeats. "Did they say where, exactly?"
Epiphany shakes her head. "No, they didn't. Just that there are two different organizations involved and the police are there."
The color drains from Elizabeth's face. "I have to go down there."
"Elizabeth, I don't think…." Kelly starts to say, but it's too late, Elizabeth catches the elevator as it opens and pushes the down arrow button as quickly as possible to shut the doors.
Kelly looks over at Epiphany. "I should try to stop her."
"I think you need to go down to the ER. I'll try to call Jason and warn him."
Kelly nods.
Epiphany picks up the phone and calls Jason's cell phone but it goes to voicemail.
Elizabeth parks her car and walks down by the pier to one of her husband's warehouses. She hears the gun fire. Could it really still be going on? She tries not to panic and walks slowly toward the noise.
"Jason, please do not be here," she whispers to herself, knowing that he most likely is. "Just please be okay."
Tears start to stream down her face. In her gut, she knows something is wrong. Her breathing starts to become labored.
She finally stops on a part of the dock that overlooks the piers by the warehouse and she sees men hiding behind crates. She desperately tries to find Jason but doesn't see him.
She sees Cruz Rodriguez, Lucky's partner and then finally sees Lucky. She let's out a sigh of relief that he's okay.
Finally a group of four men emerge from the warehouse, shooting at each other. One of them is Jason.
"Oh my God, Jason," she says to herself and covers her mouth with her hand. Tears are still falling. "Jason…behind you," she says, knowing he can't hear her.
One of the other men go down. It looks like Lucky and Cruz are trying to shoot the other men, not Jason.
Another man goes down and it's just Jason and one man left. Jason hides behind a crate and continues to shoot. When it seems like the other man runs out of bullets, Jason slowly stands up, his guns aimed at the "unarmed" man. Then, out of nowhere, a man pops up behind him and shoots Jason in the back…three times.
Elizabeth screams and jumps. She starts to run down the steps before Jason even hits the ground.
Rodriguez goes after the shooter while Lucky tends to Jason. He slowly turns him on his side so he can look at the wounds.
Elizabeth can still see them, but is too far for them to hear her screaming Jason's name.
Jason says something to Lucky and Lucky nods and Jason's head goes limp.
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo," Elizabeth screams.
She's close enough to see all of the blood.
Lucky looks up when he hears Elizabeth and grabs her before she gets too close to Jason.
"No, Elizabeth. You shouldn't be down here."
"I have to go to him. He needs medical attention," she says through her sobs.
"It's too late," Lucky says.
"The bastard got away," Cruz says when he returns.
The sirens get louder. Suddenly, there are cops everywhere. The original shooter that was left without bullets has been detained by another cop.
"Let me go to him," Elizabeth pleads. All she can focus on is the blood.
"Elizabeth," Lucky says, calmly.
She focuses her blurred vision on his face.
"I'm sorry. He's gone. I checked for a pulse. He was wearing a bullet proof vest but only to protect his chest."
Elizabeth shakes her head. "No. No. No, you're wrong. Let me check for his pulse. He can't be gone, Lucky."
She tries to free herself from his grasp again but he holds her tight.
The ambulance shows up and Cruz shows them to Jason's body.
"No," Elizabeth says with one more attempt to get away from Lucky. She succeeds and kneels down next to Jason. She kneels in blood but doesn't even notice or care at this point.
"Jason," she whispers wiping a tendril of hair that fell on his forehead. "Jason, it's me, Elizabeth. I love you, baby, don't leave me. You promised you'd be careful, remember? You can't leave me and Cameron and Jake and this little girl, Jason," she says, as she touches her stomach. "Our little girl. One you can spoil and overprotect," she smiles through her tears.
Lucky closes his eyes and gulps.
Tears are streaming down Elizabeth's face but her words are controlled. She slowly reaches over with shaking fingers to search for a pulse on his neck, but can't find one.
"No," she says, now angry. "You said see you later," she says through clenched teeth. "You pr-promised me."
She sits back on her heels and looks straight ahead to nothing, the shock starting to set in.
"What am I going to do now?" she asks no one in particular.
Lucky nods to the EMT's to go ahead and do whatever they need to do. He reaches down and touches Elizabeth's shoulders.
"Elizabeth, come on. I'm going to take you to the hospital."
At first she shakes him off and shakes her head but he doesn't let go. He forces her to stand up and he leads her away.
"I'm fine," she says blankly. "It's Jason who needs help. They're going to help him, right?"
"Yes," he lies.
He leads her over to another ambulance. He takes one of the EMT's aside and explains that she's pregnant and in shock over watching her husband get killed. He nods and takes over from there.
"Lucky?" Elizabeth says when she notices he's leaving.
"I'll be right over here," he says. "These men are going to help you."
"Thank you, but you need to help my husband," she says to one of them.
Lucky walks back over to the crime scene and closes his eyes when he hears her sobs start up again.
Elizabeth is wheeled into the ER and Dr. Lee rushes over to meet the gurney.
She nods as the EMT reads off her vitals.
"Take her to exam room five," Kelly tells them.
Lucky rushes in right after.
"Lucky," Kelly says. "Tell me what happened."
"Elizabeth watched as Jason was shot and killed. I think she went into shock. You have to help her, Kelly….her and the baby," he pleads.
"I will," she says, touching his arm.
She leaves the lobby and Lucky is left to stand alone. Once Jason's body was removed, he left Rodriguez to take care of the crime scene. He wanted to make sure every bit of detail was taken care of himself. Over the years, he and Jason weren't even close to being friends, but he was Elizabeth's husband and the step-father to Cameron, a child he thought of as his own. He didn't want to see things come to this, that's for sure.
"Lucky?" Nikolas says, seeing his brother standing in the middle of the lobby looking like a lost soul.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asks.
"I was in a meeting upstairs when I heard about Jason. Is it true?" Nikolas asks.
Lucky nods. "Yeah. And Elizabeth saw it happen. She's in with Dr. Lee right now, making sure the baby is okay."
"Oh God," Nikolas sighs. "I wasn't a fan of Jason's but he was Emily's brother and I know how Elizabeth feels….felt for him."
Lucky nods and stares at the curtain of the exam room.
Lucky checks his watch. "Hey, would you mind sticking around for Dr. Lee? I need to wrap something up with the investigation."
"Sure," Nikolas says, patting his brother on the back.
"Thanks," Lucky says before walking down the hall.
"Elizabeth," Kelly says as she takes Elizabeth's pulse. "Come on, sweetie, wake up."
Elizabeth keeps murmuring something but won't open her eyes.
"My heart is breaking," Nadine says as she watches Dr. Lee.
"She's going to be fine. The baby's fine. Did you hear that, Elizabeth, this little girl is strong, she needs her mommy to be strong," Kelly says a little louder.
"A girl?" Nadine asks.
Kelly nods.
Suddenly Elizabeth sits up and gasps for air and then lets out a blood curdling scream.
Nadine and Kelly try to push her back down but Elizabeth starts to cry uncontrollably. Nikolas rushes into the room when he hears the scream.
Nadine moves out of the way and Nikolas stands by Elizabeth's side. "Elizabeth. Calm down, honey. You have to try to breathe slowly or you'll hurt yourself or the baby. You don't want to do that, do you?"
Kelly rattles off something to Nadine who nods and reaches over to a tray. She puts something in a vial and hands it over to Dr. Lee.
"What's that?" Nikolas asks.
"It's a sedative that won't harm the baby."
"You sure?" Nikolas asks.
Dr. Lee nods. "Yes. I was only going to use it as a last resort…."
Nikolas holds Elizabeth as still as he can while Kelly gives her the shot. Elizabeth's body starts to go limp and her crying subsides. He slowly lowers her down onto the bed and wipes her tears away.
Epiphany pokes her head into the room.
"Room 819 is available if you need it," she says.
Kelly nods. "I'll take it. I want to keep an eye on her and the baby overnight. I want a fetal monitor, just in case."
Epiphany nods and leaves the room.
"You can stay with her until we need to take her up to her room, if you'd like," Kelly tells Nikolas.
"Thanks, I will. At least until Lucky gets back."
Kelly nods, touches Elizabeth's leg and leaves the room with Nadine right behind.
"Elizabeth," Nikolas says softly. "I'm so sorry. I know what you're feeling right now. The numbness. The denial. The shock. Remember? You were there for me when I was going through that after we lost Emily."
She doesn't move, or look at him. A single tear falls down her cheek as she stares up at the ceiling.
Nikolas stays with her, holding her hand, until the attendants come to take her to her room.
Later that night, Elizabeth is in the hospital room, sleeping. Kelly gave her another sedative to help her sleep.
Someone slowly opens the door and keeps the lights turned off.
They sit next to the bed and reach for her cheek to gently stroke it.
She doesn't even move when this person sniffs to hold back the tears.
"God, Elizabeth. Why did you have to come down to the pier?" the voice whispers, hoarsely. "This wasn't the way it was planned."
Elizabeth starts to stir a little bit. The voice in her head sounds like Jason's, but her eyes won't focus very well.
"Jason?" she mumbles, still very groggy from the sedative. "Jason…I'm so glad you're here. I wanted to tell you…."
Her speech is very slurred and very slow and she pauses for a few seconds, which leads him to believe she fell asleep.
"We're going to have a girl," she mumbles.
Jason can't keep the tears back this time.
A daughter. One that will look like Elizabeth.
She'll be beautiful and strong and smart….just like her mommy.
"I'm so sorry," he whispers. "But, I'm doing this for all of us."
He touches her cheek again and Elizabeth softly moans and turns her head again.
"I love you so much. With every fiber of my being. That's why I need to do this. I just pray that you'll understand one day."
She doesn't move. Her breathing is steady.
There are 3 slow knocks on the door and it slowly opens.
"Jason, we've got to go now," Lucky whispers.
Jason nods and stands up. He leans over Elizabeth and places one last kiss on her lips.
"Be strong….for the baby."
He starts to cry so he takes the opportunity to leave while he still has the guts to.
He wipes the tears away and takes a deep breath before opening the door.
"Let's go," he tells Lucky.