Standing in the doorway of his half empty penthouse, Jason Morgan forces himself to take a deep breath before entering his home, demanding the memories to stay at bay. Nothing good would come of that, of letting the memories flood his mind and seep into his heart, nothing good at all. She made her decision and he accepted it. There was no use looking back now.

Trudging upstairs to his bedroom, he works on autopilot, disrobing before working his way through a quick shower and right into his Carly approved attire. Tonight's his best friend's birthday, he had to be there, it was only right. In spite of the hell that has become his life, Jason owed it to Sonny to make an brief appearance. One of the many things he learnt from her.

Facing his reflection in the full length mirror, he forces himself to take in another deep breath, this time to steady his nerves. For a moment, just a brief moment, he felt like she would walk through the door and insist to do his tie. No matter how many times he has done it before in his life, she'd insist that he needed her to do it for him. And he'd let her.

Shaking his head abruptly, Jason turns away from the mirror, snatching up his suit jacket before he slams his bedroom door shut. He will not succumb to this. He refuses to let her affect him like this when she's wasn't even there. They're not a part of each other's lives anymore and he refuses to let her cloud his mind for a moment longer.

Revving his engine at a red light, his gaze is brought to the wedding band that still rests on his left ring finger, a constant reminder of all he had with her and all he lost. Balancing the bike, he brings his other hand over the wedding band, forming his fingers in a way to remove the trinket, but his fingers don't clasp and the ring remains on his finger. He was just that pathetic.

Forcing his gaze away from the mocking accessory, he slams his gas petal once the light turns green, focusing on the path ahead of him. If he can just keep his mind on his best friend's birthday, the rest will just fall away, even if only for tonight. Wit the way his thoughts have been lately, he'll take whatever diversion he can take claim to.


Soaking in her bathtub, surrounded by the soft scented bubbles of her favorite soap, Elizabeth Morgan stares at her wedding band that still rests upon her left ring finger. Many times she has tried to remove the mocking item from her hand, but every time she fails just as miserably as the time before. She couldn't part with it. No matter what her friends tell her, she could not remove the ring from her finger.

Removing her ring meant that it was really over. All the years they had fought to be together, all the obstacles that they had to overcome, all of it would be for nothing. The reality would sink in, the pain and loss would be undeniable, and she would be forced to think of a future without her husband. All the love that they had shared, all the ups and downs, everything would become her past. Nothing but memories of a love once felt.

"You better have a damn good reason why you're not at Sonny's party yet." Carly Corinthos's voice bellowed through her bedroom before the bathroom door swung open. "Seriously?! You're still taking a bath?"

"Carly!" Elizabeth snaps, growing tired of the woman's constant need to pull her out of her apartment. "I told you that I'm not going."

"Wrong!" she snatches the bathrobe off the sink, tossing it at Elizabeth's face. "Get up! You are going to Sonny's party even if I have to drag your ass there butt naked."

"Remember how I wanted us to be friends for Jason's sake?" Elizabeth counters, rising up out of the bathtub as she slid into her robe. "I take it back. I don't want to be friends with you anymore."

"Too late." Carly replies as she walks into the bedroom to grab her something to wear. "Once we're friends, there's no getting rid of me. You should know that better than anyone."

"Carly, stop!" Elizabeth practically shouts, stopping her from rummaging through the closet. "I can't go."

"Give me one good reason."

"Jason's going to be there."

"That's exactly the reason why you should go." Carly counters, a sly smirk on her face. "Now quit it with the childish antics and get dressed before I'm late for my husband's party."

"Fine." Elizabeth sighs before holding out her hand. "Give me the damn dress."

Against her better judgement, Elizabeth snatches the dress from Carly's hands before making her way back into the bathroom to get dressed. As much as she has grown used to Carly's constant nosy habits, Elizabeth will never get used to the woman's need to get her back together with Jason. After all the years of trying to tear them apart, she picks now of all times to decide that she was wrong. Go figure.

Finally dressed and presentable, to Carly's standards, Elizabeth forces herself to keep up with Carly as she drags her out of the house and into the waiting car. This had to be the worst mistake of the night, the absolute worst idea that Carly has come up with this week alone, yet she was still going along with it. So, in retrospect, who's the real lunatic? Carly for making her go somewhere Jason will be or her dumbass for going along with it?


Party underway, all guests in attendance, Sonny Corinthos looks around with a pleased dimpled smile on his face, thankful that all who were invited managed to make it to the celebration. Glancing around for his wife, he finds her in what looked like a heated argument between her and Elizabeth. Of course, it wasn't exactly unprecedented, especially not recently.

Turning away from their back and forth bickering, he searches out his best friend, finding him exactly where he thought he'd be. At the bar. With a low chuckle to himself, he makes his way through the crowd, ordering up one of the most expensive glasses of scotch before turning his inquiring gaze to the man beside him.

"Don't." Jason states beneath his breath before he downs the last of his beer.

"Don't what?" Sonny questions with innocence, use the full force of his dimpled grin to emphasis it.

"Playing stupid doesn't become you, Sonny." Jason turns away from the bar to look at him. "We're bound to run into each other. Its not exactly New York City."

"Still..." Sonny tilts his head questioningly.

"You know what, I'm gonna get some air." Jason says before his best friend could voice anything further. "Even hint at my failed marriage when I get back and I'm gone. Understood?"

Before Sonny could think to respond or retort, he started walking away, making his way to the door. Just as he was about to pull it open, as if by instinct, he turns his gaze to his wife, meeting her gaze when she looks over at him. Strange how, even with them being separated, they were still just as connected as ever. Anger flooding him when she forces herself to look away, Jason slams the door open before leaving the building.

"You see that, Carly?" Elizabeth gestures to the door as it closes behind Jason. "That's why I never should have come here."

"Once again, muffin face, you couldn't be more wrong." Carly sighs, gesturing to the door. "That's exactly the reason why you coming here was a good idea."

"You're insane."

"And you two are worse than me and Sonny ever were." she counters with anger, growing tired of this foolish battle between husband and wife. "One disagreement and you take it so damn personally."

"Disagreement?" Elizabeth looked at her disbelievingly. "So, that's what you're calling it?"

"Disagreement, fight, whatever the hell you want to call it, you both are still two stubborn idiots that don't know when to give in." Carly didn't care anymore, she's done playing subtle. Not that she was any good at it to begin with. "Jason did what he thought was necessary and you, well, you were you."

"You know what, I'm out of here."

"Not so fast, runaway wife." Carly grabs her arm, stopping her from moving towards the door. "You need to accept that you were both wrong. Him for shutting you out and you for not trusting him."

"Goodbye, Carly." Elizabeth yanks her arm free of her grasp before heading to the door. "Tell Sonny I left."

"You know I'm right!" Carly shouted after her. "You can fight it as much as you want, but deep down you know that I'm right!"

The worst part of it for Elizabeth was that she couldn't contradict that. Carly's right. And when Carly's right about anything, you know you've screwed up worse than you had ever thought possible. Refusing to admit that, though, Elizabeth makes her way out of the club, deciding that going home was the safest move for her tonight. Of course, she got as far as the parking lot before she realized that she didn't drive there.

"Leaving?" her husband's voice is plain as he speaks to her, causing her to turn and look at him.

"Trying to." she admits, remaining where she is, a good distance away from him. "It would be a lot easier if Carly hadn't driven me here."

"The bike's over there." Jason could hear the words coming from his mouth before his brain could catch up. "I can drop you home, if you want."

"I don't." she replies, knowing just how badly she wanted to be on the back of his bike, but also knowing just how bad of an idea that was. "I'll get home on my own."

"So that's what we've become?" Jason questions her with pure irritation. "Have we really come to a place where I can't even drop you home?"

"I'm not your problem anymore." she turns away from him to look out at the parking lot. "We're getting divorced. Any obligation that you may have had in regard to me no longer matters."

"You're still my wife." Jason snaps, forcing her to look at him. "I get to care about your safety and well being if I want!"

"Jason, stop."

"Stop what?" he counters, staring deeply into her eyes. "Stop caring about you? Stop loving you? Stop wishing that I could wake up from this twisted nightmare to find you laying beside me in bed? You're better off asking me to stop breathing."

"I'm not doing this with you." her voice is firm, unwavering, despite her inner turmoil. "We're getting divorced. After which, you and I will go our separate ways, free to move on as we please."

"You see, your mouth is saying all the right things, but your eyes..." he shakes his head. "...your eyes give you away. They always have."

"Jason...stop"

"Look me in the eye and tell me that you're not in love with me anymore." Jason insists, refusing to allow her to walk away, a fire igniting in him that he had thought was dead. "That you don't miss me the very second that you wake up in the morning and find that I'm not laying there beside you. That you don't ache for me to hold you as you fall asleep every night! Look me in the eye and swear to me that you really want this to be over...that you really want to divorce me. Do that and I'll give you what you want. I'll sign the divorce papers and you'll never have to see me again for as long as you live."

"Goodbye, Jason."