Prompt: When it appears that you have killed the monster, never check to see if it's really dead.
-1-
The very first time Elizabeth Webber caught sight of Jason Morgan was exactly—give or take a couple nanoseconds—one second before she fell flat on her face.
Known for her grace and poise, this was a very disturbing encounter for her. Not only had she just fell right in front of her apartment building, where she was sure many of her neighbors—known for their nosy behavior—had seen from the view out their apartment window. But she had also fallen in front of who could only be described as the most gorgeous man she had ever laid eyes on.
And she had only seen him for about a second.
It didn't help that she had sulked in her misery while she was still sprawled out on the pavement before all of Harborview Towers and the very man who had caused her to miss her step in the first place. It was his fault, really. One could not walk around with that body, that hair and those eyes without a warning sign allowing women—like herself—to prepare themselves for such a shock at seeing Mr. Perfect.
Actually, she couldn't really call him Mr. Perfect, she mused as she had continued to lay there on the pavement, he just looked like Mr. Perfect.
But when she had felt a gentle hand on her back as another snaked around her arm to pull her off of the pavement—since she seemed quite incapable of helping herself at the moment—and looked into the same eyes that had stopped her heart only moments before, Elizabeth knew that he was Mr. Perfect.
He had been nothing but concern as he lifted her to her feet, asking if she was ok, running his eyes along the length of her to see if she was injured anywhere. He was the perfect gentlemen, and Elizabeth was finally able to believe in the saying "love at first sight."
And also "fell head over heels in love." It was quite fitting, actually.
If Elizabeth had been her normal self at that moment, she would have berated herself for her idiotic behavior. She was an independent woman, for goodness sake. She was not the type of woman to stare with her mouth agape as an attractive man tried to converse with her.
But it was exactly what she had done. Up until the point where Jason, still a complete stranger at the time, had asked her if she hit her head hard, snapping his fingers in front of her glazed eyes, worry causing his crystal blue eyes to narrow.
It was at that point that Elizabeth had realized she was acting like a complete idiot. She hadn't even hit her head.
"No…" she croaked, clearing her throat, deciding to lie. Why embarrass herself even more, might as well have an excuse for acting as she did. "No, I just bumped it a little."
His hand reached out immediately, touching the side of her head. She jerked away, nervous at his touch but causing him to think he hurt her.
He winced, dropping his hand. "Sorry. Maybe you should go to the hospital to get that looked at."
"No, really, I'm fine. Embarrassed," she laughed slightly, mentally patting herself on the back for gaining some of her brains back, "but fine."
He didn't quite believe her; she could see it in his expression, so she tried to move on. Tilting her head to the side, she gave him a crooked smile, "Thank you for helping me."
He shrugged, looking away before startling her with his direct gaze again. "You're sure you're ok?"
"Yes," she nodded, clearing her throat when she hadn't any clue what else to say. It seemed rude to just say thanks again and then walk away. Plus, she didn't want to leave just yet. It wasn't everyday she met Mr. Perfect. "I'm not usually that clumsy," she blushed, tucking a hair behind her ear. "I guess I was just in too much of a hurry that I wasn't looking where I was going."
Mr. Perfect just nodded. Elizabeth sighed, so much for making this last as long as possible. "Well, thank you again. But I should go before I'm late."
"I'm glad you're ok," he said, smiling slightly and causing even more butterflies to flutter in her already uneasy stomach. Was there anything about him that wasn't attractive?
"Me, too," she returned his smile, before walking past him, only to stop and turn around suddenly. A girlish thrill ran through her as she caught him watching her walk away. "I didn't catch your name," she said. "It seems that I should know the name of the only person kind enough to help me off the ground," she directed a pointed stare at the doorman who looked away and blushed, before turning her gaze back to Mr. Perfect.
He took a step towards her, then another until he was close to her again. God, he even smelt delicious. "Jason Morgan," he said, raising his eyebrows as he obliviously waited for her to return with her name.
She stuck her hand out—really, she grumbled to herself, a handshake?—plastering a smile on her face even though she felt rather silly. "My name's Elizabeth Webber."
He grasped her hand lightly and what was most likely the most delicious feeling spread throughout her body. His hand was rough, but gentle in its grasp. His fingers long, curling around hers.
Though she wanted to stare at his hand engulfing hers all day, she made her eyes travel up his arm, across his shoulders—who could blame her taking a bit of a detour—up his thick neck, quickly past his lips and nose, and finally meeting his eyes again.
Eyes that clearly sparkled with amusement. Whether at her handshake or her slight perusal of him, Elizabeth would never know.
His hand tightened around hers as his lips softened into a smile. "Do you live here?" He asked, tilting his head back to gesture towards Harborview Towers.
"For about six months now," she answered.
His smile widened and Elizabeth's heart just about melted. His hand still held hers, his gaze still lingered on hers directly, and now his smile made her lips twitch to match it and she didn't even know what in the world he was smiling about.
"I guess we'll be neighbors, then."
"We will?" she breathed, not at all believing that she could possibly start her day off as badly as falling flat on her face and get such luck as this.
"My friend owns this building and he always keeps an apartment open for me when I come home."
He let go of her hand as he spoke and Elizabeth wanted to scream her protest. Thankfully, she held back and didn't even show her disappointment.
She hoped.
"I guess I'll be seeing you around, then." She gave her most flirtatious smile, tilting her head to the side.
"Yeah," his smile turned into a lopsided, oozing with sex grin. "I guess so."
As Elizabeth walked away that day, she couldn't help but anticipate the next time she would see him again. Granted, she hadn't known at the time that he was going to be living just down the hall from her, but she still had a feeling that she was going to be seeing quite a bit of Jason Morgan.
Which could only mean that she was not going to be taking any more quick trips to the mail room in her comfy pajamas with the fuzzy slippers that felt like heaven on her overtired feet. It would be a small price to pay, but there was no way she would be caught dead in her normal comfy attire in front of that man. She had the feeling he was used to the sexy clothes wearing type of women that Elizabeth couldn't stand.
And as the months went by and Elizabeth began to see more and more of Jason, she had never hated her instincts as much as she did when it came to that man. Not only was he interested in the slutiest women of Port Charles, but he always seemed to find a new one every week, bringing her home at exactly the same time Elizabeth would get home from work.
She had spent many a nights wondering if the awful man planned parading his… his… his hoochies—Elizabeth had never been good at coming up with names—in front of her, but she had always quickly shut that idea down. Being a nurse, her schedule fluctuated so much that he couldn't possibly know when she was coming home every Friday night.
It was just bad luck that the man she thought to be Mr. Perfect was really Mr. Jerk, Mr. Insensitive, Mr. Slut-magnet, Mr. Asshole—maybe she wasn't so bad at the name calling after all—and only treated her like a good friend, a buddy, a damn women he felt no attraction to and no shame at letting her see his flavor of the week.
Jason Morgan was turning out to be not so Mr. Perfect.
She agonized for weeks as to why she ever thought he might be interested in her. She thought she saw attraction in his sparkling blue eyes at their first meeting. Maybe it was just pity because she had made a fool of herself by falling.
Maybe there was attraction there at first but when Elizabeth didn't show enough skin every time Jason saw her, he probably just lost interest in her. He was a sexy man and sexy men usually tended to want sexy women.
Elizabeth's ideal of a sexy evening was sitting on the sofa, watching a movie curled up against Jason's side, and falling asleep with her head resting against his shoulder.
Hell, that had happened enough in their friendship the past couple of months that Elizabeth knew that was exactly what her idea of a sexy night was. Well, maybe some love making afterwards, but its not like that ever happened.
She hated that he treated her only like a friend. A very good friend, one he claimed he felt like he could tell anything to. But she wanted more than that, damn it. And she hated him for that.
She hated that she loved him. Hated that she felt so comfortable with him but couldn't tell him how she really felt.
Hated that she had never been kissed by him until that night. Scowling, Elizabeth pulled the silky covers that concealed her naked form from sight—not like anyone was looking—higher against her chest, fighting back the tears that wanted to fall so desperately.
She wouldn't look at him, she repeated to herself over and over again. How could she look at him and still be angry with him when she knew how gentle and peaceful he looked while he slept—she should know, since she watched him sleep plenty when he was the one to fall asleep first at times during one of their movie nights.
She needed to stay mad a him. It was the only thing that kept her from crying from having one of her biggest dreams shattered.
Sleeping with Jason Morgan was not supposed to turn out like this.
Against her better judgment, Elizabeth turned slightly to see him lying on his stomach, snoring softly as he drooled on the PC Hotels silky pillowcase—only the finest for the hotels very best suite. What turned out as a train wreck of a Halloween party ended as a train wreck of a night, of a week… of a lifetime, she thought dejectedly.
Elizabeth poked Jason in his side as he let out a loud snore.
It only took her a couple of months to figure it out, but Mr. Perfect was definitely more of a Mr. Asshole.